Tuesday, November 27, 2012

I love being a missionary!

 Dariana's baptism
 Dariana's baptism
 

 Thanksgiving

Janie's baptism

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Thank you to everyone that wrote me this week: Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Jennifer, Corinne (I got your letter this week-definitely a kickin letter!), Mom (I got the jump rope and all else), Kate, Allie G, and anyone else (sorry if I forgot someone. I dont have my list!) Oh thanks to all my B306 girls for the letter, chocolate, and window clings. I loved it all!

This week was pretty uneventful. We had 2 Noches de Hogar [Family Home Evenings]. We did one with the Lopez family about being grateful because it was right before thanksgiving and we had another one last night with the Garcia family and we talked about the Restoration and focused on Prophets.

We also had a pretty cool meeting with a man on our ward list. We thought he was inactive but then found out he was going to the English ward although not every Sunday. It was a miracle that we found him too. He works all the time at his job or just doing service for people. But we met him once and set up an appointment. Here comes another miracle. He was late coming home from work and we almost left before he came home. But he got home just as we were leaving. But you may be wondering why it is so important that we met with him. Well, he told us that it has been YEARS since missionaries have knocked on his door, and even longer since Spanish speaking missionaries have knocked on his door. He told us that he was praying for direction in his life. He was glad we came over because of the sweet Spirit all missionaries bring. He is a really cool guy and was inactive for a while but is starting to come back. It was fun to talk to him and I think he is a great guy and can really help the Buenavista Branch a lot. He is considering coming to the Spanish Branch.

This week we did a lot of door knocking and visiting referrals. But we are starting to find some people! We contacted into the Flores family and they had been meeting with the missionaries for a while and seemed fine having us come back. They actually remembered my companion (Hna. Marcum served her first transfer in Logan/Hyde Park 8 months ago). We have also been able to get some referrals by knocking on houses. Most of the time we run into English Speaking people that are members and more than willing to tell us where non-member Spanish people live. One lady even gave us a phone book that we can go through and look for Spanish names. I feel like we have become ultimate creepers, but that is a price I am willing to pay to help someone come unto Christ and receive the gift of Eternal Life and Salvation.

We found another family and she said she would call us because she had no idea when would be a good time and she wanted her whole family to be able to listen. She took a folleto (pamphlet) and said she would read it before we asked her to read it. So hopefully she will call.

Thanksgiving was lots of fun. Admittedly I was a little homesick, but it was one of the best Thanksgivings I have ever had. We spent Wed. night at the other Hermanas place and made construction paper hand traced turkeys. Then we wrote a gratitude scripture on them, thanked them for all that they do and signed them, Love the Sister Missionaries. We spent the whole day delivering them. We would tape them to the door and drive to the next house. We got caught once and had a few close calls. It was fun being sneaky and doing service. We delivered about 40 turkeys. For dinner 6 of us sister missionaries got together and had a FEAST. There were few things we did not have. We had turkey, ham, vegetables, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pie, rolls, etc. It was a good dinner and fun to cook with all the sisters.

On Saturday, the Lord showed me just how much he loves me. He let me sleep in until 8:15. Oops. I forgot to set my alarm! That was a weird morning. I woke up and I felt refreshed. I remember lying in bed thinking, I feel good, wait, that is weird. I usually can't open my eyes. Why is it so light out? What time is it? "Oh FREAK" I said out loud. "Hermana. It's 8:15" I said to my companion. She bolts up. "What. Freak. Oh. well, we can't do anything about it." And the best part was, I thought I was going to be really mad at myself. But I didn't care. I decided that the Lord wanted us to sleep in. We had been really tired and there have been times when I haven't set the alarm (in the MTC) but we still got up on time or just a few minutes late because I woke up feeling like I needed to check the time. Hna. Marcum told me she has had similar experiences where she wakes up needing to check the time. I guess Heavenly Father just decided to give us a break. 9 1/2 hours of sleep. It felt so good!

Janie got baptized on Saturday! She is the 10 year old that says the sweetest most heartfelt prayers. I did teach her a few lessons, but missionaries had been teaching her before so I wouldn't really count this as one of my baptisms. But that did not stop me from feeling such immense joy when she entered the waters of baptism.

On sunday me and Hna Marcum had to go on splits. We had a church meeting and an appointment at the same time. The Logan Hermanas were not doing anything so we did the splits with them. Hermana Marcum and Marin went to the appointment which fell through so they visited people while me and Hna. Judy (also waiting for Visa for the Spain Madrid Mission) went to the church meeting. It was a missionary meeting to see how we were doing and it is a meeting we go to to get referrals. It was with the English wards but they know their Spanish neighbors. It was my first time being the missionary in charge of reporting on people we visited and any help we needed. It was a good opportunity though.

On sunday, we had two dinners. Luckily for me though, we only picked the first one up. Her husband was really sick and she didn't want us to get sick. So I didn't eat any of that one. This was good, because our second dinner fed us a ton! We started with bread and really good, filling chicken noodle soup. Then she brought out a big plate of salad and a whole chicken. She made it clear she wanted us to eat it all. So the four of us Sisters ate a whole chicken and most of the salad. Then we had popsicles for dessert. See why I need the jump rope mom?

I am learning how to conduct music. The Hermanas found out i don't know how, and Hna Marcum is teaching me. She said I am going to be conducting on sunday. Please pray for me, I am not musically coordinated or talented in any way! But I am told I will need this skill in Spain.

Also, Lola is getting baptized. She is the investigator that we found because she started coming to church. I am not teaching her anymore, but I have such love for her I am really happy. The Logan Hermanas told us last night.

Yesterday we had a specialty training for all sister missionaries and district leaders. We talked a lot about being bold but doing it with love. Pray for me to be bold, it is not easy.

We also visited a less active Hermana last night. I have so much love for her. She has been inactive for about 7 months and this is the Hermana that we had the Noche de Hogar [FHE] with and she started crying as she bore testimony about her conversion. But last night we went to visit and she told us "Thank you for coming to save the one lost sheep." She is so sweet, and I am so happy for her desire to want to come back.

I love being a missionary. I love changing peoples lives. I LOVE IT!

Con Amor,
Hermana Olsen

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

What a week

 Me and Hna. Pena (she came up for Darina's baptism.  it was SOOOO good to see her again)


Beautiful Logan Mountains!

Hola Familia y amigos,

I hope every one is well.  It has been an up and down week for me, but a really good end.  Thanks Mom for the package and the blog posts / emails.

Okay, this week really was an emotional up and down, but overall good.  Really, not much happened because we have no investigators and we are still sharing a car with the Logan Hermanas.

It was a hard week for me because I was just really frustrated all week.  It is REALLY hard to share a car.  They should be getting a car soon, and I hope so because I want to be able to focus on my area and my work rather than wasting time driving the other Hermanas around.  I know it has to be done, because they have investigators and we don't.  But I can't help but think, we don't have investigators because we are not spending enough time looking for them.  

It is really hard to be in an area with so little.  It is hard to start from scratch.  I was also frustrated this week because the other Hermanas are having so much success.  I think I was feeling a little jealous. It is deeper though, I was not jealous that they are having success, I was jealous that they were having success with investigators that used to be mine.  They visit people that I helped find and I started teaching.  They are teaching people that I know and love.  These investigators, these dear people that I LOVE, are progressing and will likely get baptized this transfer or next.  I think I was feeling jealous because it is all happening without me.  Something that used to be mine isn't anymore, but I am still close enough to see it.  Which is a blessing because I can go to their baptisms and see them when they come to church, but it is really hard to drop the Hermanas off at a lesson with someone I love so much and not be able to go in and teach/ talk with them too. 

I have also been frustrated this week, because what I want more than ANYTHING is to change someone's life. I want to bring someone unto Christ.  I want to help someone enter the waters of Baptism so that they can have eternal life and Salvation.  I want to see miracles.  I want to have the spirit work through me more fully.  I miss teaching.  I think we taught 3 times this week.  I want these things so badly, and I am trying to work hard and have faith.  I guess I just need patience now.

It has also been a hard week because my Companion has expected a lot of me.  She makes me do phone calls to the English people, sometimes Spanish, take the lead in doing more contacts, and she even let me plan a whole day of who to visit and when, and what numbers to set as goals.  She also let me take the lead in planning some lessons.  This has turned out to be a huge blessing in the end because I have learned so much and it has given me more confidence in myself.  But it was really stressful at first because I didn't know what I was doing or if I was capable of what she thought I could do.  

It was scary to plan a lesson and really hope that the spirit was guiding me.  What if I did not give the lesson they needed?  It was scary to get up to a door and have my companion say, okay this one is all yours.  Or to get home one night and have my companion say, okay what should we do tomorrow?  As stressful as it made the week, I am beyond grateful that she is making me do these things because I actually feel like i am being trained and learning and that I can be a part of my companionship.  I don't have to sit back and not do anything.  I do have power.  I do know what to say/do.  I do know how to help.  I do have good ideas.

We had a lesson this week, and I was so excited because one of the investigator’s good friends was going to come and we were going to have a member present.  It was just like the district video too.  The member is a neighbor to our investigator Adella.  And we met with her before the lesson to tell her what we had planned and what we wanted her to do.  I was so excited for this lesson.  We had studied really hard in the morning and the Spirit had guided us with such a great lesson plan about the Atonement and how we can access it more fully only after baptism.  I was a little worried that the lesson would not go well or that I would ruin something by not following the Spirit or something.  

I shouldn't have worried about it at all though.  Our member talked the whole lesson.  She took control and hardly let anyone get a word in.  It was awful and we could tell Adella didn't really like that we had brought her.  But we have a lesson with her tomorrow, pray for me that this one will go better.  One more thing to say about Adella.  She knows she needs to get baptized (She has a really strong testimony), and she would do it in a heartbeat if a certain person would baptize her.  President Uchtdorf.  She loves him, and really wants him to baptize her.  I had to try so hard not to laugh when she first told us this.  She is so serious about it.  I hope we can make her understand that she doesn't need him to do it.  (her son is a member and we want him to baptize her!)

This week we did find a few people, and have not had the chance to go back so we don't know if there will be any success.  But we met Josue knocking on doors and we gave him a book of Mormon and one for his Wife.  He opened the door and told us he was watching a soccer game.  I thought he was going to ask us to leave or be quick.  But when we asked him if we could give him the Book of Mormons he said yes even though he is Catholic.  We even had to run back to the car to get them.  I thought he would go inside and shut the door, but we got back and he was still there.  He has a cute little girl, and I REALLY hope we can find him this week.  We also met a 15 year old boy who we gave some plan of salvation folletos (pamphlets) to.  Hopefully we can find his whole family.

This week we did a service project.  We raked leaves for a member.  It took us 3 hours.  I was soooo sore the next few days.  But it was fun to do service.

We went to a public library this week to make copies of something.  I didn't realize how bad I missed books until I saw all those books that I can't read right now. I almost picked one up and started reading but realized that I can't.  It was so hard to be there, but I keep busy so  I don't think about it much. Amanda, you should be able to take pitty on me for this.  Since we are both English Majors and the same person.

We fasted for Lavinia this Sunday to help her be able to stop smoking and get baptized. She should be picking a date soon.  She went to church on Sunday!

Highlight of the week:  Are you all ready for this.... DARIANA GOT BAPTIZED!  Dariana is the 12 year old that just came about a month ago from El Salvador.  I taught her some of the lessons and she is someone I have great love for.  I don't know if I would call this my first Baptism, but I did teach her and I felt the spirit sooooo strongly at her baptism.  Highlight of my mission.

Other highlights of this week include the 2 Family Home Evening's we taught yesterday.

The first one was actually in the Morning and I planned the activity.  I felt like we needed to do it on the book of Mormon.  It was with a family that has a 2 and 4 year old, both boys.  They are a really active family and so I was a little concerned about committing them to read their scriptures every week because I figured they already did.  But we did a little scavenger hunt as we read a story from the Book of Mormon picture book.  The little boys loved it.  (thanks for doing scavenger hunts for birthdays mom, thats where I got the idea).  We committed the family to read their scriptures every night and the parents told us that they were really good about praying as a family but didn't read their scriptures often because it was hard to keep the boys interested.  I know that I was inspired and directed in planning this lesson.

The one we had last night was even better.  It was with a family that has been inactive for about 10 months.  We got there late and were really worried about it, but they let us in and the whole family (except the dad) was gathered around the table with their scriptures and their hymn books.  We had such a good lesson about how we can get answers to questions.  We had each person close their eyes and imagine that they were in their room doing homework or something.  We told them to imagine that someone walked into their room, and that it was Jesus Christ.  We asked them to think of a question they would ask him and to write the question on a paper and then we went around answering the questions with the scriptures and what not.  Some of the best parts were when the Mom marked a scripture that I shared and then her little son copied her and marked the scripture too.  Also amazing was when we were answering one of the kids questions about how the church was true and the Mom told her story of how she knew.  She started crying and the spirit filled the room.  We committed the family to pray, read the scriptures, and come to church.  They said yes, and I really hope they will.  Please pray for this family!

I LOVE MY MISSION.  The church is true!  The spirit that I feel and the opportunity to help people realize what is important is amazing.  I love that as I help these wonderful people that I love so much, I help myself.  By bringing others unto Christ I bring myself unto Christ.  I get the chance to help others and help myself.

For Thanksgiving, we actually didn't get a solid invite for dinner, so six of us sisters are getting together and cooking our own thanksgiving dinner.  I am really excited.  We bought a lot of good stuff.  

 Con Amor,
Hermana Olsen

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Buenavista 2

 me and a departing Sister
 
My end of Alma Party (my family has a tradition to normally eat a cake or have some sort of celebration when we finish Alma since it is the longest book in the Book of Mormon.  Just because I am on my mission doesn't mean I will let that tradition die!)


My hair cut

Hola,

I hope everyone has had a fantastic week.  Thanks for the letters, Kate, and Mom.  My address for mail has not changed....

So, this has been a CRAZY week.  But definitely an awesome one.  On P-day after writing emails we ran lots of errands to get ready for the transfers.  We went shopping, I printed pictures finally,  I bought some food, and....I GOT A HAIR CUT!  Mostly I just got my hair thinned, but I also cut 2 inches off!  See the attached pictures.

Okay, this week has been a lot of planning and we haven't been able to do as much work as I would like, but it takes time to open a new area.  So after transfers we spent a lot of time figuring out how to divide our area and we divided our area book ( a list of all the people that have had interaction with the missionaries over the years and what experiences they had).  The Assistants to the Mission President (AP'S) finally split our area for us.  Me and my new Companion Hna. Marcum now cover Hyde Park and the other Hnas. cover Logan.  

Before the area split we didn't have any investigators in Hyde Park, so that is why it is basically like opening a new area.  Our area is a lot of farm land too, and Logan has a lot of investigators/referrals.  The hardest part has been the car.  We need the car because the people are so spread out and we need to find people, but the other Hnas. need the car to visit the many people they have begun to establish relationships with.  However, the AP's gave us the car.  We have been trying to share it, and we are hoping the other sisters will get a car soon, because they really do need one.

First day of transfer was a lot of planning and unpacking.  Then in the evening we traveled down to Ogden for a farewell devotional for the three missionaries leaving.  They bore such powerful testimonies.  I got kind of emotional and really scared to go home.  As much as I miss everyone, that fireside really made me feel like I never want to go home.

One day, we were trying to visit members and talk with them, and gain their trust and begin to develop relationships with them, when we ran into this really nice English family.  We spent a long time talking to them and their 4 kids who all want to go on missions.  They invited us over for Christmas dinner, gave us bread, and gave us some Spanish speaker referrals.  I love how nice people are to the missionaries here.  I am fully aware that I am spoiled and I am very grateful to be serving in the Utah Ogden Mission!

We taught a couple of lessons.  We have 2 investigators that have been taught over the years.  They both basically know that it is true, they are just scared.  Jenny has such a strong testimony of everything, except Joseph Smith.  She can't make the connection that if the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet.  But we had a really good lesson with her and we are hopefully going to meet with her again soon, because we have a really good plan for our next lesson.  We are confident and it is our goal to really help her make the decision to enter the waters of Baptism.  Her family are members, and her Husband is so sweet and patient with her.  I think she has been investigating for 13 years.

Adella is our other investigator who has been investigating for a while.  She know it is true but is scared and a little doubtful as to why God lets good things happen to bad people.  We are going to work with her too, and hope that we can help her enter the waters of Baptism. 

Please pray for me and my companion, and these 2 wonderful ladies.

We went to jail this week.  We got a referral for a 17 year old boy in a Juvenile center.  We visited with him and talked a lot about how we can change (he really wants to change) and how God and Jesus Christ can help us do that.  I think he really wants to change his life, I just don't know if he wants to do that with religion.

I should not have bore my testimony last week, because they realized just how much Spanish I know and all 4 of us Hnas. gave talks on Sunday.  It was weird though, because giving that talk was not as scary as giving my farewell talk.  Weird because my farewell talk was in my native language and the talk I gave on Sunday was in Spanish.  Don't get me wrong, I was still scared, and I read it word for word, but it was okay.  I even could have spoke longer, but time was running out and my companion still had to speak.

I am truly being changed on my mission. Probably one of the best experiences this week was Sunday night.  We returned a little early because we hadn't done any of our studying (we had correlation meetings all day!) and our car was running low on gas and our tire was low on pressure.  But I had the very subtlest thought that we should go visit one of our referrals for an inactive family.  I voiced my concern that we should maybe visit them but that I was worried this was not a prompting because it was late and they were probably in bed.  We went to visit and as we pulled up, all the lights were off.  This confirmed my thought that they were asleep.  But, we knocked and to my great surprise they answered the door.  We set up a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with them for Monday.  It fell through because the Mom was not feeling well, but at least we have contact with the family and they know we care.

I should describe my apartment now.  We live in an apartment under members houses.  It is really nice.  We have our own kitchen, laundry room, bedroom, study room, and even a little sitting room with 2 soft couches.  The only downside is the spiders.  It is right under/next to the garage, so there are always spiders in the apartment.  I have killed one every day (except Sunday-Lords day of rest in all respects, I guess).  Any suggestions on how to get rid of Spiders, please tell me!  It is okay, but I really am not a fan of spiders....

We have a door to our apartment and then we have a stair case and there is another door that goes to the outside of the house.  This second door, is almost impossible to open.  The other day we were trying to leave to go visit someone and we could not open the door.  I finally offered up a prayer telling God that we really wanted to leave our apartment so we could go visit his Children.  I felt so silly, but after I closed the prayer, we finally got the door open!

This week, we also visited the Relief Society President and asked her if we could help with anything.  She gave us a list of people she wanted to visit but just did not have time for.  We are going to visit them for her, because missionaries are really good at visiting people!  We also told her that we want to have less active or investigators at our dinner appointments and so we want to do an activity with the Relief Society sisters to help them feel more comfortable sharing the gospel and inviting their friends to meet with us.

Also, yesterday we had a cool experience when we were knocking a referral and then we decided to go visit a member that lived down the street.  She is from Guatemala and was going through a hard time because I guess there are a lot of earthquakes in Guatemala right now.  She said that her home town was hit really hard and she is scared for her family and friends.  We talked a little bit about the end of the world, and what a blessing it was to have the Gospel in our lives.  She was extremely grateful that we stopped by and could listen to her.  She asked us to pray for the people of Guatemala and seemed really happy that she could ask someone else to pray for these people.  These experiences were a testimony that the Lord knows who we need to visit and that everyone needs strength sometimes.  We were able to help the Relief Society President who is a strong active member, and the Hna. from Guatemala.

So, I LOVE Hna. Marcum my new companion.  She definitely is on the same page with me as to working hard.  I think we will see a lot of success this transfer, and if not, we will get Hyde Park ready to be a successful area, because right now we don't have much.  The only downside is that she does not know as much Spanish as my former companions.  But she has been out for 9 months, and is a really good companion.  She is also finishing my training in the 12 week program, and I am really starting to feel like I am being trained.  Hna Marcum has a lot of confidence in me and trusts my promptings and lets me take the lead in some situations.  I think I will learn a lot with her and am very excited for this transfer.

I have been feeling pretty good this week about everything.  I think the hardest thing for me is still Spanish.  I am a little frustrated that we find so many English speakers, because when we teach so many lessons in English I feel like my Spanish is not going to improve.  But I am trying  to tell myself that they are all God's children and it doesn't matter if my Spanish improves right now, I will have plenty of time for that later.  But, I have gotten better at speaking more.  I wish I could write more about my feelings, but things are going well, and I don't know what else I feel. haha.

I have such a testimony of this Gospel.  I LOVE talking to people.  I am still terrified to do it sometimes, but man is it fun to talk to people and hope to improve their lives.  I am really excited to see what this transfer brings.  I know that this church is true.  I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer.  I know that he has a great plan for me and that he sees my potential.  I know that through Him I can reach my potential.  I look back on who I used to be, and see that He has already helped me start the journey.  I know the Book of Mormon is true with all my heart.  I have read and prayed about it.  The Holy Ghost has confirmed to me that it is true.  The Holy Ghost can do the same for you, if you read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  If you want to know, you can.

I love my mission.  I love how I have the chance to change the lives of people, and how I am changing my life as well.  I love waking up at 6:30.  I love studying for hours on end.  I love talking to random people I have never met.  I love driving around all day.  I love knowing that God will guide us to people in need because he has done it before.  I love praying.  I love being a missionary!  I love knowing that I am not the best missionary, but that I have time and the ability to improve.

I love you all, and I hope you are all making the most of your lives!

As for my Visa I have heard Mid to End December.  So don't worry about sending letters.  I probably have at least a month left here.  Also, to the few of you who it may concern (tI really hope few of you were thinking about this) I do not want anything for Christmas.  My suitcases are already pushing the weight limit for when I fly to Spain. If you have to do something, write me a nice letter.  But yeah, I am fine, and I don't need anything.

Con Amor,
Hermana Olsen

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Transfers tomorrow

 Picture from last P-day.  We went putt-putt golfing.  I got a hole in 1 so somebody owes me skittles or something :)
 This picture is when Sis. Pena did my hair for me (a few days ago).



This picture is from this morning.  We had a bonfire in the mountains and we all found out who was being transferred and what not.

Hola Familia y amigos,

Thank you Mom for the small package.  I LOVE the cookies and the leaves almost made me cry!  So beautiful!  I have not recieved any other letters because of Transfers.  They haven't sent mail out since Friday i think.

Speaking of Transfers.  I am being transfered, but not.  They are splitting our area and there will be 4 Spanish sisters covering our Branch.  So I will be serving with Sister Marcum (I've heard good things about her) and we don't know exactly how our area is splitting but I will be moving into an apartment in Hyde Park just north of Logan.  Hermana Marin is staying in Logan with another Visa Waiter.  Hermana Pena is being transfered to Ogden.  I am very sad to see her go, we have grown very close.  The Lord truly loves me, because I did not want to leave Logan, but I was wanting to live somewhere else (3 missionaries in our small apartment has been a bit hard.)  Now I can still go to my investigators baptisms and everything!

This week was good.  I am trying to remember what happened. Apparently it is a mission tradition to burn things depending on how long you have been out.  So we got to go to a burning party.  An elder going home burnt a suit (pants and coat) some sisters burnt socks, elders that have hit a year burnt ties.  It was interesting, but a fun tradition I guess.

Halloween was a fun day for the missionaries.  We had a mission conference with Elder Falabela (of the '70? or something).  He taught us some really good stuff and it was a great day of training and instruction.  I learned a lot.  After we visited with a few investigators, and then we picked up some of the English sisters, went out to eat and were in our apartment at 6:25 (we were supposed to be home at 6).  But we had a fun night laughing and watching Mormon messages with the English sisters.  We even had one trick-or-treater.  We luckily had a little candy, so I gave it to him and then we turned our light off.  We took the sisters home around 9:30.  It was nice of our president to give us permission to have a little fun.

We have another baptismal date.  Our investigator that is 12 and went to the baptism with us is going to be baptized on December 1st.  I LOVE this gospel!

Time for some funny stories.  We went to visit one of our investigators and she lives right in front of this soccer field.  So we parked on the road right in between the soccer field and her house.  These boys were playing soccer and their ball rolls up this hill right by the car.  So I think to myself, I am a missionary, I should do service and kick the ball back.  So I do, and as I see the ball rolling down the hill I also see my SHOE flying in the air.  I kicked my shoe off too!  I quickly ran down the hill got my shoe, and we went to visit our investigator, with my companions laughing their heads off.

Also this week we were at a dinner appointment and the sister serving us asked if we wanted water or Ponche.  I asked what punche was and everyone starts laughing.  Apparently ponche is Spanish for punch.  We all got a good laugh out of that one. (Hno. Tonson- este experiencia "reminded me" de Hola y no nintendo.)

We eat so much!  Tacos, Tacos, Tacos.  The food is really good, but they feed us soooo much.  I like it, and I do a good job finishing my food (most of the time) but it is really greasy sometimes.  I am grateful though, because a lot of these people probably don't have the money to feed us, but they do anyway.

This week our branch had an activity at the Logan Temple.  We just met outside and an Hermano in our branch that knows a lot about the temple talked about its history and a little bit about what happens inside.  We were able to bring the Herrera family.  The parents are less active members and want to start coming back, and the 3 children are not baptized.  Nor are they super interested.  THey are 11, 13, and 14 so it is hard for them.  But we are working with them.  We had a really good lesson with them, and the opportunity to take them to the temple really helped.  The kids enjoyed it, and I think they will be more interested now.  I hope so.  I sure felt the spirit, I hope they felt something.  But we took pictures of the whole family with the Temple in the background and we are going to print them and give them to the family at an FHE we are doing with them.  It was really special to bring investigators to the temple and to see the whole family there, together. 

Hermana Pena told me this week that she was grateful for my example of obedience.  That made me feel good.

Sunday morning we had a meeting at 6:30 am and i didn't wake up until 6:20 (my 6:00 alarm did not go off!)  But then Hna Marin told us that it was daylight savings time.  So I got to go back to bed.  Sacrament meeting was so good on Sunday.  It was fast sunday and my 2 companions got up to bear their testimonies and so I went too, not sure if we had to sit together. And I had kind of been feeling like I ought to bear my testimony, so I did.  In front of a lot of people, and of course it was in SPANISH.  I know i did it at the MTC, but this was with many more people and they all knew really good Spanish.  But, I was not nervous at all during my testimony (before is a different story).  It was actually really fun.  Weird right?

Then, i went on splits with some English sisters, because one of them was really sick and they needed someone else so that they could go to their appointments.  Since i am in a Trio it worked just fine.  So I went to a church meeting with a bunch of ward mission leaders and a dinner appointment.  The american food (chicken alfredo) was a good change.  My companions had tacos.

Yesterday we had a really cool zone meeting.  Since it was the last district/zone meeting before transfers we had a testimony meeting.  It was so fun because everyone bore their testimony.  It was really powerful!  I love my zone.  I am so grateful that I am staying!  Yesterday, was a good day.  We got to visit a lot of people.  The best was having a Family home evening (FHE) with a less active.  Although, she has been doing really good coming to church.  But we had a short lesson and then just had fun talking to her.  She is a single mother, and we have been visiting her a lot because it really helps.  I have grown really close to her (she is probably my favorite person in Logan) and so I wrote her a note and gave it to her last night.  I really thought i was getting transferred and wasn't sure if I would see her again, so I wrote her a note.  It took me an hour to write, but wasn't very long.  I wanted it to be grammatically correct, so i had to look up a lot of words and grammar principals. 

It is going to be an exciting transfer, with a new companion and we are opening a new area.  Kind of.  I think I will have the chance to really work hard, and i am very excited for this transfer!

Con Amor,
Hermana Olsen