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

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

What a wonderful week

The Logan Temple

Hola Everyone!

Thank you to those who wrote me this week!

So this week was somewhat uneventful.  Not a whole lot happened, but it was a great week!

We went to visit a referral and they opened the door and told us that they had met with missionaries and needed time to get an answer and to come back in November (which was like 8 days away at the time) but we will be back in 2 days.

In the beginning of my mission, I would tell people I was from Michigan and sometimes they would joke and say oh Michocan?  (which sounds like michigan with a spanish accent, but is actually a city in Mexico)  I would say yes and then they would laugh because I mis-understood.  But I don't do that anymore.

I got to call to make the dinner appointment once this week.  It was a bit scary but the phone was on speaker phone and so my companions could help me.  I did fine and only needed a bit of help at the end.

I love going to an investigators house and just hoping they are home, and then they are and you get to teach when it wasn't planned.  The chance to teach when you weren't expecting to is so wonderful!  We have 2 investigators with a date! Janie is 10 and from a less active family.  Her date is Nov 24 and Lavinia is the investigator who speaks really fast.  We taught her yesterday and the spirit was so strong, she set her own baptism date!  Nov. 14th!

We have also been teaching Lola this week.  She started coming to church on her own and seems to really enjoy everything.  She is fun to teach because she has a lot of really good questions.

Another contact we made this week was really funny.  We knocked on the door and heard a voice call, "Quien?" (who) so not sure what to say, I respond, "Las Misioneras"  This was not the best idea, because she didn't open the door then.

We also got a contact for an older man who is living in a nursing home in north Logan.  His name is Rodrigo and he was not interested until he realized that we were Mormon.  Then he got really excited.  So we visited him a second time and we brought a Book of Mormon on audio because he cannot read.  When we arrived, his nurse was there trying to help him find $13,000 and the cops were on the way to help and figure out what happened!  The nurse left and Rodrigo tried to give us another 11,000 because he was scared it was going to be taken from him (he knew he wasn't supposed to have the money-the nurse told us they keep all hospital residents money in a safe).  But we did not take the money.  The cops arrived and we told them that he had more and Hna. Marin got to fill out a police report.  We get into the craziest experiences as missionaries!

Speaking of funny experiences.  On Friday, we lost our phone.  We had pulled up to a lesson, and we saw all the lights in the house go off so we got out of the car as quickly as we could.  Then Hna Pena says, "oh freak" and tells us that she dropped the phone down the sewer!  We were freaking out and I was laughing.  Long story short, our ward mission leader who was there to help teach lifted the grate off and we were lucky because it wasn't a deep sewer and it was only full of leaves, no water.  He reached down, pulled out the back of the phone, the front of the phone, and finally the battery.  The phone still works! whoo!

This week, the English sisters had a baptism and we took our 12 year old investigator to it. She said it was beautiful but thought it was going to be in a river!  

Also this week we got to go to the SLC Latino cultural event Luz de las Naciones.  It was a bunch of dances from Spanish speaking countries celebrating the Book of Mormon.  We also had a mission wide fireside with songs and testimonies. We had 1,000 people there!

Tomorrow is halloween and we have to be home by 6pm.

Not much else has happened.  I have been a little stressed, but not bad.  We went to the Temple this morning (I thought of you Kaylie Moon. One day you will get to go, it was BEAUTIFUL!!) and that helped.  My doubt was resolved.

Con amor,

Hermana Olsen