Thanks to all that wrote me this week. I do not have
my list, so don't feel bad if I forget everyone who wrote me. Thanks to
Mom, Sydney, Amanda, Jordan (Can someone thank him for me...and tell him I
liked the cow), Keith, Dad, Kate, Steven, Grandma and Grandpa, and anyone else.
Sorry if I forgot you!
So this week has been an interesting one. On Tuesday
not long after sending off my email, we went to the bus station (not allowed to
use cars during P-day) to catch a bus to Pizza Pie Cafe. We barely missed
it--we were running after it and watched it drive away. Really hungry and
a little frustrated were were about to sit down and wait for the next one when
this lady comes up to us speaking Spanish looking for someone who knows Spanish
and English to help her father buy a ticket to Mexico. We were able to
help her father and talk to her. She was so nice and really interested in
our message (she has Mormon neighbors and really likes what she has heard).
At this moment, I KNEW the Lord had a hand in us missing that bus.
We taught her, Amalia, yesterday. She loved what we had to say and
seems golden. I am so excited to keep teaching her! I LOVE THE
GOSPEL!
This week I have been feeling a little overwhelmed. I
have been telling myself that i am not doing enough and that I am not working
hard enough. When i make a mistake I would feel bad, like what if I put
someones salvation at risk because I didn't ask for a reference or I didn't
talk to that person. I have also been feeling a little bad about my
Spanish. It is embarrassing when people ask why I am so quiet
(do they not understand that I am learning a new language!) or speak English
just because they see my white skin (not often, but it has happened).
Sometimes I can tell that people are talking about me but i
cannot understand what they are saying. I also worry what the people
think of me. I feel like I have such a fun loving happy personality, but
I have a hard time showing it because I cannot speak the way I want to. I
want to be friends with these people and I want them to trust me, but I don't
know what they think of me. But I have been working hard to think more
positively. I know I am making mistakes, but I haven't been out long.
I continue to improve every day, and I know God does not expect me to be
perfect. So it has been a hard week for this, but I am doing well, and
things are just fine!
We are teaching 3 children whose mom is less active but
really wants to come back to church. The children are 11,12, and 14.
We have only taught them once, but they seem interested enough. I
just hope we are teaching them in a way that they will truly be converted
rather than joining just because their mom wants them too.
Wednesday afternoon my companion Hna. Marin got a text that
one of her best friends in the mission (serving in Ogden) was going home about
a month early because of knee problems. She would be leaving the next
day. So she called our district leader and got permission to go to Ogden
to say good bye. She sensed that I did not like this, and so I got
dropped off with the Brigham sisters so I could still do work. I was so
happy about this! So Wednesday night and Thursday until around
1:30 I spent in Brigham. We helped someone move all her stuff from
this little farm town (nothing more than cows and hay) called....CORINNE UTAH
to Brigham. It was so weird being in Corinne, Utah. It was fun to
do service though and help this investigator move.
Thursday Night around 8pm I was back in Brigham. This
time we were doing exchanges so it was legit. So I spent all of Friday in
Brigham on exchanges. I was with Sister Hernandez who goes home at the
end of the next transfer. It was a fun day, neither of us can drive so we
spent the whole day walking around Brigham knocking on doors. It was
really good practice for me.
On Saturday, we went to a baptism. It was for an 8
year old in our branch. We taught her all the missionary lessons because
her mom wanted us too, but her baptism would have happened regardless of us.
But it was so good to see her baptism. We had so much fun and she
is such a cute little girl. And some good may come of it. Her
father is less active, but we met him for the first time at the Baptism, and we
got to talk to him about the church later that night at a little gathering.
Sunday was SO GOOD. There is a non-member who has
started coming to church (we met her at church a few weeks back) and we have
been trying to visit her because she is obviously interested, but we had a hard
time finding her house. So it is good to know that she is still coming to
church even though we did not visit her. We have better directions now
though!
There was another investigator at church and we are going to
visit her tomorrow I think. Sunday was kind of unproductive because Hna.
Pena was sick for a while, and we had a hard time finding people. We
visited some members because we couldn't find anyone else to visit. So it
wasn't terrible, but it was not the best use of our time. We stayed at
the member’s house for 2 1/2 hours!
Our ward mission leader is INSANE! In a good way.
He always has referrals for us and he always wants to be involved in what
we are doing. He is really good at finding people. If things go well, we
may have 5 or so baptisms by the end of this transfer. So we taught a
lesson to a 12 year old yesterday and I think it went pretty well. But it
is hard to teach children, because I have a hard time knowing if they are
taking lessons because they want to or their parents want them to. I want
to have baptisms on my mission, but I want EVERYONE I convert to actually be
converted and to get baptized because they have a testimony and they know it is
true. Not because their parents want them too.
Monday night we drove down to Ogden for a SISTERS SLEEPOVER!
It was so fun. We dressed up in our halloween costumes and just had
a fun evening. And we got to stay up past our bed time! And now it is
P-day. We came straight from the Sleepover to the library, so I don't
have my camera cord. Lots of pictures next week. I PROMISE!
One other thing. Our apartment is HAUNTED. It
started a few days ago, with a knock on the door. It was a loud knock and
all three of us heard it. We ran to the door but nobody was there.
We looked around back to see if we could find anyone, but nobody was in
sight. Then one night, Hna Marin heard this awful screaming. She
said it was about 10:35 (which means I definitely had not fallen asleep) and
that it was really loud. But me and Hna. Pena did not hear it at all.
Then on Sunday, Hna Pena had a hallucination (best word I can think of to
describe what happened). She was sick, so she was taking a nap and she
told us that a woman (that looked like Hna Marin) came in and pulled her leg,
poked her side, and sat on her. Like she saw and felt all these things
happen. She said she couldn't speak and she couldn't open her eyes all
the way but it looked like Hna. Marin. But me and Hna. Marin were
upstairs studying the whole time she was napping! Nobody touched her.
And yesterday, we were doing our companion study and we heard this huge
crash. Me and Hna. Marin went downstairs to see what (or who?!) it was.
Our laundry detergent had somehow fallen off the shelf and landed on top
of the washer. We have now idea how it fell. It was pushed back and
very securely on the shelf. But it fell. We have had a fun week
being "scared" by our "haunted" apartment.
Well I love you all. I know this Gospel is true and
that I am doing the work I need to do!
I am writing letters, but our apartment does not have
a place for sending letters, so I have not sent any yet. Hopefully I can
figure that out today!
Con Amor,
Hermana Olsen
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