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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
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