God Is With You All The Way

March 24th
Greetings from my favorite ghetto!

This week was not at all what we had planned! Kinda a rough week but the Lord sent me many tender mercies!! We met a guy who was so excited I'm from Utah and come to find out, he grew up in Emery County. I pretended like I'd never heard of it before and he said "Yeah most people haven't." Then I told him I was actually born in Price. Go figure that even out here Carbon and Emery can still manage to run into each other... He showed us a few pictures from his last trip home going to Moab and Nine Mile Canyon. I forgot for a second how beautiful Utah is!!!

There was some health stuff that came up this week and Thursday I was in bed almost all day. That night, I woke up for a minute and for the first time in 7 months....IT WAS TOTALLY SILENT! As much as I've grown to love the city sounds, it was amazing and so comforting to have that moment of silence. Our fridge was quiet, no cars were on our busy busy street, no sirens were going, no dogs or neighbors going crazy ...NOTHING! I said a quick prayer of gratitude and was grateful the Lord had me in His thoughts for sure.

I was also reminded just how grateful I am for the priesthood and for the men who stay worthy of it. Tuesday stuff came up, Wednesday I freaked out most of the day, Thursday I woke up worse and asked the zone leaders for a blessing. I love that with every blessing I've been given I instantly feel better from when they say my name. The burden is lifted immediately. After the blessing I had a Brad Paisley Christmas song in my head that says "You have nothing to fear because you know, God is with you all the way" As comforting as the words of the blessing were, it was even more comforting to know that the blessings and promises behind them were real and lasting!

Yesterday we were able to get out to go to a baptism. Holly played the piano and I lead the music. Faced that fear... We were sitting down right before the actual baptism and she leaned over and said "THIS IS TORTURE!" I'm so excited for her! When we set her date back on December 10th it felt like it would never come and now it's just two weeks away. Everytime I see her and Rebecca I'm reminded of how real this work is. Rebecca has changed so much!!! I love seeing how happy she is. We read with her this week and it was fun to see her working through the Isaiah chapters and sticking with it even though it's hard.

I'm glad the Lord reminded me again just how much I love the priesthood :) I remember when I was at Dixie and asked Brett for a blessing at 2am, it was the first time I've seen what it meant to have priesthood in our home vs. having to ask others. And I think I'd forgotten how important that is to me! I'm glad the Lord shows that He's still got me even in the difficult weeks. And I'm grateful this week IS going to be better but this past one was good too :) LOVE YOU ALL!

With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen

Aaaand Shirley Temple had a house in my area! My skirts haven't gotten tighter, the wind has gotten fiercer

PS...horses also showed up in the middle of CSUN campus this week! Turns out "My Little Pony" is real...