Another week gone...holy crazy!
Really quick today! We missed emailing yesterday and I don't feel good today so short and sweet for sure but know that overall, things here in California are still golden!
The other day was HILARIOUS! Elder Ford and Elder Nielson have an investigator named Merisha and the Elders have told us multiple times she has clothes she wants to give us! They helped her move boxes in and she has 2 closets full of them. Wellllll, in true male form they severely underestimated and underdescribed the situation. SHE HAS A WRECK! The Elders could only carry boxes up to the door and then see from the doorstep. We get there Wednesday and she has boxes piled FLOOR TO CEILING through her whole apartment. The front door barely opens. The two closests full of clothes are the least of concerns here.... For two hours we worked (cause the Elders can't actually come IN the house in their defense. She's an older lady from Poland who lives alone and they teach her at members homes.) and only made it through 3 boxes. It. Is. Nuts.
They were teaching her that day so they showed up a little before four so she could follow them to the house they'd planned. Sister Hacker and I were cracking up like "uhh Elders you left out a few details!" They thanked us over and over for going over there because apparently Mint Canyon Ward won't help people move... ??? Weird. I swear that's HALF of what the wards do... And like I said, the Elders can't go in. We were all walking out to the cars together, carrying stuff to get rid of, and one of the Elders said "These Sisters are pretty great aren't they Merisha?" She responds "Yes! I just love them! And I don't know if you've noticed how pretty they are! Aren't they lovely?" Instantly awkward. We started laughing and were already trying to get ahead of them. Merisha then realllly buries us... "They have great legs! Have you really looked at their legs?" I was laughing too hard to hear how they talked their way out of that one. Cheers to being an awkward awkward missionary that I have become!
We dropped an investigator this week. It was so rough! We've been working with a LOT and she's set two baptismal dates in the past but she just isn't progressing. For weeks now she hasn't been reading her scriptures or coming to church. We had the WORST lesson this week. It's like the Spirit wasn't just killed, it was shot point blank in the face. So. Bad. So we decided we needed to really evaluate where it was heading and if our efforts were enough.
She's told us before when she prays about baptism that she feels like God tells her right now. I really struggled with that. I kept thinking well you aren't really praying about it! Or you are and He's actually saying YES and you're scared of that so then you tell us that he said no. Or maybe she isn't praying the RIGHT way or praying hard enough. Lots of frustrations were there because in my mind, being baptized is a good thing and there is just NO WAY that God would tell somebody not to be baptized! I've struggled with that for awhile and it wasn't until we were actually meeting with her and in the middle of explaining why we were "dropping" her that the Lord humbled me and humbled me good!!!
As much as I try sometimes, this really isn't the Church of Chantel Olsen of Latter-Day Saints. It's the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints. The Spirit in that lesson was one of the strongests it's ever been for me while on my mission. I had complete and total peace that we were doing the right thing. I thought about when I did mission papers the first time. Yeah, it was a good thing. But I had a lot that I still needed to learn and experience before I would have been even remotely ready for this. And God knew that. God knew a mission, like baptism, is a good thing but only if we're serious and if we're ready.And that's exactly what's going on for Jennifer. I know she's gonna get baptized. I feel it! But it's not up to Sister Olsen for when. I just have to do everything I can on my part, follow the Spirit and then turn it back over to the Lord.
And boy am I grateful it's not up to Chantel Olsen. That's a scary thought... I am so incredibly grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows not only what we need, but WHEN we need it! I love that He sees the whole picture. It's hard and frustrating sometimes but I know that when we stay close to the Lord, play by the rules, and do things according to HIS will, that that is when we are gonna be the happiest in life. That's when things work out for the best :)
I seriously love being a missionary :) I am so glad I get to be a part of these peoples lives and see the little miracles on a day to day basis. It's been incredible to get the tiniest little glimpse of how God feels for us, and His love for alllll His children. And I know that God is with us for every step of the way, whether at home or on missions. LOVE YOU ALL! Until next week...
With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
One Year Older & Wiser Too-Nov 4th
HAPPPPPY NOVEMBER! I hope everyone had a great and SAFE Halloween! There were three people who died out here :( It's crazy! Holy cow I still feel like I was just in Hawaii on New Years! I can not believe how fast this year is going by!!! This week has been fabulous! I felt incredibly loved!
Sister Hacker is the best! I woke up to our house fully decorated, sweet rolls and bacon cooking, and Mt. Dew and lifesavers on my desk :) Companion of the year award right there! I felt almost overwhelmed with all the emails and mail I got that day. Thank you thank you thank you!!! It seriously made my whole month! It was a different birthday than usual, but still a great one!
We had my 6 weeks follow up and Sister Hackers' one week follow up all this week. Kinda funny going to those so close together! However, I ended up getting out of the one week follow up. Sister Abbott and Sister Young are in our zone and on bikes. Sister Abbott has been sick almost as long as I've been here. We had been at one week for about an hour when she text and asked if I could take her to the hospital. Sister Camargo and I talked to President, left our new companions with each other and took off. They ended up doing blood work and a CT so we were there from 10-3, grabbed lunch at Jack in the Box and made it back at 4 for the last hour of follow up. A pretty great birthday actually :) :) It was almost relaxing to be back in the hospital environment!!!
We have NO time today but I'll send a bunch of pictures from this week! I LOVE being here! And I love getting to work with Sister Hacker :) God is goooood! I read my blessing this week from when I got set apart and it's crazy how much I needed that even in these short 8 weeks.
LOVE YOU ALL!
With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen
Sister Hacker is the best! I woke up to our house fully decorated, sweet rolls and bacon cooking, and Mt. Dew and lifesavers on my desk :) Companion of the year award right there! I felt almost overwhelmed with all the emails and mail I got that day. Thank you thank you thank you!!! It seriously made my whole month! It was a different birthday than usual, but still a great one!
We had my 6 weeks follow up and Sister Hackers' one week follow up all this week. Kinda funny going to those so close together! However, I ended up getting out of the one week follow up. Sister Abbott and Sister Young are in our zone and on bikes. Sister Abbott has been sick almost as long as I've been here. We had been at one week for about an hour when she text and asked if I could take her to the hospital. Sister Camargo and I talked to President, left our new companions with each other and took off. They ended up doing blood work and a CT so we were there from 10-3, grabbed lunch at Jack in the Box and made it back at 4 for the last hour of follow up. A pretty great birthday actually :) :) It was almost relaxing to be back in the hospital environment!!!
We have NO time today but I'll send a bunch of pictures from this week! I LOVE being here! And I love getting to work with Sister Hacker :) God is goooood! I read my blessing this week from when I got set apart and it's crazy how much I needed that even in these short 8 weeks.
LOVE YOU ALL!
With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen
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| Brother Potter is the high council member over the YSA ward. He's the best! He had us over for dinner on my birthday! They had the table all decorated, made us HUGE Hawaiian hamburgers and chocolate cakes and milkshakes.AND cake to take home! I was well taken care of to say the least! |
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| Sister Hacker had our house all decked out :) |
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| Okay dad, you're right! Bobbing for apples is DISGUSTING! But I'm pretty pumped I can finally say I have tried it! Alex and I went first and then watching everyone else after made me gag.... |
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| HERMANA FRANCIS! I love her! We came out together but she came from Mexico MTC and we spent the first two days together. She is so cute and hilarious! She's been frustrated her Spanish isn't very good so she keeps telling her members "Yo necessity ayudar." |
I was...a missionary for Halloween! I'm sure you're shocked haha Lindsey Orton sent me cute missionary socks I wore that night though while we were planning haha
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| District meetings=Blazers day! Sister Hacker, Sister Abbott and me |
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| The ORIGINAL District! Our Sultry Six! Definitely still missing Sister Humpherys! And pardon Elder Bowman in the back... |
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| Companionship unity! HAPPPPY HALLOWEEN! Carving pumpkins with the zone |
Friday, November 1, 2013
And There Was Much Rejoicing.....October 28th
Welp we did it! We made it to Sunday :) This week has been INCREDIBLE! A lot harder than I thought it would be and I think I'm more tired today than I have been my whole mission, but it has been really really good!
Humpherys..Hoffmann...HACKER! My new companion is Sister Hacker from Houston Texas and I just love her! When the new missionaries came walking into transfer meeting, I saw her and just had this feeling it was going to be her! I told Sister Scrivner next to me "I bet it's the one in the white!" And it was! She told me the next day that Sister Hall said in the new missionary meeting "There's one Sister in there who has only been here six weeks herself!" And Sister Hacker thought "I bet I'm with her" so it was pretty funny that we both anticipated it coming.
Before transfer meeting, there's a meeting on one side of the building for the trainers and the other side of the building has the new missionaries. When we got into the trainer meeting Sister Hall started with us and she said "Ahh! Sister Olsen is our only 6 week trainer this time. Welcome!" She gave a short training about being the cheerleader for our new companions. She said this is one of the quietest group of new missionaries they've ever seen. I don't remember the rest of what she said honestly cause I was sitting there pretty panicked again like "There is no way I can already be training somebody else." But the more she kept talking, I finally came back to my point of peace with it.
Then President Hall came in. He looked at me and just smiled. I was waiting for him to say "Ohh! We made a mistake! Sister Olsen you aren't supposed to be in here!" Especially since this go around I was the only 6 week-er. And that would have been fine with me! He didn't though. He was with us for about an hour and it was REALLY helpful! The closer it got to 10:30 the harder it got to pay attention though cause it was almost time to go into the chapel which was obviously the "moment we'd all been waiting for." He stood at the door and shook all of our hands before he went to meet up with Sister Hall to walk the new missionaries again. I made sure to make eye contact with him, still waiting for him to realize "Oh you aren't supposed to be here." And again, he didn't.
We got into the chapel and the assistants stood up reminding us we were in the chapel and to remain reverent, we'll be starting soon. They go and stand at the doors into the chapel where they can see down the hallway. When President and Sister Hall were almost to the doors (leading the new missionaries) they motioned to the chorister and the organist and of course "CALLED TO SERVE" started up! It was like conference! Everybody instantly jumped up and started singing. I still get chills every time we sing that out here!! And being on the "singing" end this time instead of the "receiving" was pretty powerful as well, in different ways! It was amazing! They had about 20 new ones so this time they were all in by the end of the first verse and everybody was standing together to sing the last of it. I was laughing though because they all looked TERRIFIED! All except for one Elder. He came in totally deer in the headlights look but just grinning! It was hilarious! Sister Scrivner leaned over and said "You laugh but that was you in your group!"
When he finally got to our zone, I STILL was waiting for President Hall to say "Oh we made a mistake! Sister Olsen you aren't supposed to be here."....Aaaand he didn't. Sister Hacker turned around, I waved at her and when we were moving seats to sit by our new companions, it made me think about a mission call in general.
God knows where we're supposed to be in life. He knows what we need and He's not just gonna call us to California and then peace out on us after that! I was pretty scared to be training but the Lord has helped me these last few days more than I can even express!!! As a missionary for myself but also as a companion and most importantly, in trying to help Sister Hacker the best I can to make these first weeks a good experience for her. God is gooooood!
When we left the church, the first thing we did was go to this place called Todd Longshore Park. (It's the best lookout point I have found so far.) President Hall told us at OUR one week follow up, when he got set apart the quorum of the twelve member who did it told them to find places where they can see the people they have stewardship over and it will change their perspective of missionary work. So I felt like that was a good place to start with her.
We sat up there and talked for quite a while. You better believe we talked about EXACT obedience! ;) We set a bunch of goals for ending the year and talked about what kind of missionaries and what kind of companionship we want to be.
I am so so so so grateful for so many things today! I never understood why people say missions are so sacred and personal until now. I have seen the Spirit guide us incredibly this last week. In many many small ways, aaaand...we set our first baptismal date!!!!! :) :) :) Saturday afternoon with a guy named Justin Roddy. From feeling like we needed to go and see him, to stalking him on the street (hahah long story) while we waited for him to get off the phone, to actually setting the date, the Spirit was driving us the whole way. We weren't even going to be in his town that day.
I love Sister Hacker! I'm so glad and grateful that she's ready to work hard too! And that she's trying and willing to learn everything that she can. I'm grateful we get a long and don't have obedience problems. Things are goooood here in Santa Clarita! I know God is in control. Sometimes I forget for a minute and think this is actually The Church of Sister Olsen of Latter-Day Saints but he very lovingly and kindly punches me in the face to remind me it's The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints. He's gotten me this far and He hasn't forgot me yet. Hallelujah!!
I LOVE being able to drive again! AHHH! Words can't even express. And I know people are praying for us before we haven't gotten lost even once yet :) :) So I appreciate the prayers immensely! I feel the impact of them daily in many ways. I'm SUPER grateful for everybody's love and support! It makes a world of difference for sure. Keeeep praying for us cause there's still a long way to go haha
Love you all!
With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen
Humpherys..Hoffmann...HACKER! My new companion is Sister Hacker from Houston Texas and I just love her! When the new missionaries came walking into transfer meeting, I saw her and just had this feeling it was going to be her! I told Sister Scrivner next to me "I bet it's the one in the white!" And it was! She told me the next day that Sister Hall said in the new missionary meeting "There's one Sister in there who has only been here six weeks herself!" And Sister Hacker thought "I bet I'm with her" so it was pretty funny that we both anticipated it coming.
Before transfer meeting, there's a meeting on one side of the building for the trainers and the other side of the building has the new missionaries. When we got into the trainer meeting Sister Hall started with us and she said "Ahh! Sister Olsen is our only 6 week trainer this time. Welcome!" She gave a short training about being the cheerleader for our new companions. She said this is one of the quietest group of new missionaries they've ever seen. I don't remember the rest of what she said honestly cause I was sitting there pretty panicked again like "There is no way I can already be training somebody else." But the more she kept talking, I finally came back to my point of peace with it.
Then President Hall came in. He looked at me and just smiled. I was waiting for him to say "Ohh! We made a mistake! Sister Olsen you aren't supposed to be in here!" Especially since this go around I was the only 6 week-er. And that would have been fine with me! He didn't though. He was with us for about an hour and it was REALLY helpful! The closer it got to 10:30 the harder it got to pay attention though cause it was almost time to go into the chapel which was obviously the "moment we'd all been waiting for." He stood at the door and shook all of our hands before he went to meet up with Sister Hall to walk the new missionaries again. I made sure to make eye contact with him, still waiting for him to realize "Oh you aren't supposed to be here." And again, he didn't.
We got into the chapel and the assistants stood up reminding us we were in the chapel and to remain reverent, we'll be starting soon. They go and stand at the doors into the chapel where they can see down the hallway. When President and Sister Hall were almost to the doors (leading the new missionaries) they motioned to the chorister and the organist and of course "CALLED TO SERVE" started up! It was like conference! Everybody instantly jumped up and started singing. I still get chills every time we sing that out here!! And being on the "singing" end this time instead of the "receiving" was pretty powerful as well, in different ways! It was amazing! They had about 20 new ones so this time they were all in by the end of the first verse and everybody was standing together to sing the last of it. I was laughing though because they all looked TERRIFIED! All except for one Elder. He came in totally deer in the headlights look but just grinning! It was hilarious! Sister Scrivner leaned over and said "You laugh but that was you in your group!"
When he finally got to our zone, I STILL was waiting for President Hall to say "Oh we made a mistake! Sister Olsen you aren't supposed to be here."....Aaaand he didn't. Sister Hacker turned around, I waved at her and when we were moving seats to sit by our new companions, it made me think about a mission call in general.
God knows where we're supposed to be in life. He knows what we need and He's not just gonna call us to California and then peace out on us after that! I was pretty scared to be training but the Lord has helped me these last few days more than I can even express!!! As a missionary for myself but also as a companion and most importantly, in trying to help Sister Hacker the best I can to make these first weeks a good experience for her. God is gooooood!
When we left the church, the first thing we did was go to this place called Todd Longshore Park. (It's the best lookout point I have found so far.) President Hall told us at OUR one week follow up, when he got set apart the quorum of the twelve member who did it told them to find places where they can see the people they have stewardship over and it will change their perspective of missionary work. So I felt like that was a good place to start with her.
We sat up there and talked for quite a while. You better believe we talked about EXACT obedience! ;) We set a bunch of goals for ending the year and talked about what kind of missionaries and what kind of companionship we want to be.
I am so so so so grateful for so many things today! I never understood why people say missions are so sacred and personal until now. I have seen the Spirit guide us incredibly this last week. In many many small ways, aaaand...we set our first baptismal date!!!!! :) :) :) Saturday afternoon with a guy named Justin Roddy. From feeling like we needed to go and see him, to stalking him on the street (hahah long story) while we waited for him to get off the phone, to actually setting the date, the Spirit was driving us the whole way. We weren't even going to be in his town that day.
I love Sister Hacker! I'm so glad and grateful that she's ready to work hard too! And that she's trying and willing to learn everything that she can. I'm grateful we get a long and don't have obedience problems. Things are goooood here in Santa Clarita! I know God is in control. Sometimes I forget for a minute and think this is actually The Church of Sister Olsen of Latter-Day Saints but he very lovingly and kindly punches me in the face to remind me it's The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints. He's gotten me this far and He hasn't forgot me yet. Hallelujah!!
I LOVE being able to drive again! AHHH! Words can't even express. And I know people are praying for us before we haven't gotten lost even once yet :) :) So I appreciate the prayers immensely! I feel the impact of them daily in many ways. I'm SUPER grateful for everybody's love and support! It makes a world of difference for sure. Keeeep praying for us cause there's still a long way to go haha
Love you all!
With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen
October 28th--Photos
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| Back in the driver seat :) :) :) |
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| Celebratory drinks after meeting with Justin :) |
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| One of our members, Kyle Risser, is awesome! He loves to have us over for dinner. His mom had to work yesterday so Kyle and his dad invited their grandma over so we could still come. I LOVE HER! Oh my gosh I want to be her. She's hilarious and talked me into having a Mt. Dew with her hahaha She went sky diving 3 years ago for her 80th birthday!!! |
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| It's still about 95 degrees here and clouds are incredibly rare so this was another reason for much rejoicing this week! haha And a tiny bit of our apartment. |
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| Todd Longshore Park with Sister Hacker :) Don't mind my face...the lady kept talking to us while she was taking the picture |
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| Elder Pisa and Elder Ah Chee (in the green) are from Samoa! Elder Ah Chee went home this last transfer. Elder Schick (purple) and Elder Dunn are our zone leaders. These four are awesome! Elder Dunn goes home in about 3 transfers. |
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| This little kids were killing me at dinner the other night! Our high councilor has us over for dinner but they were watching their grandkids that night too. Same ages as Jax and Kez even. |
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| PROVO GIRLS! Becky Dayton and Jessica Li are in my ward but they both went to Provo High! Becky was actually born at CASTLEVIEW! Crazy |
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| hahaha awful picture cause I was totally creeping but this cat was Coda to a T!!! |
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| Handing over the car keys :) |
Monday, October 21, 2013
Buckle Your Seatbelts......October 21st
Oh boy!! Transfer meeting is tomorrow....and we will be there! We got called Saturday night that Sister Hoffmann is being transferred out of the YSA Ward. I really am going to miss her! We've had an interesting 6 weeks but overall we've had a lot of fun and seen a lot of cool things. I have learned a LOT to say the very least!
I guess I should have been more specific in my prayers last week that I was talking about because... I AM GOING TO BE TRAINING!!!! The assistants called Saturday (before the zone leaders) and said "Sister Olsen are you willing to train a new missionary?" I sat there shocked for a couple of seconds. I wanted to say "You know I'M a new missionary right?!" But all that managed to come out was "Yeah."
Saturday night was fairly nerve wracking. Go figure... I started questioning how much I really knew the area, the people, everything! I've only been out for one transfer!! Yesterday I felt much better about it. After ward council Bishop Rock came up to me and gave me a handshake with both of his hands and told me how grateful he is that I'll be staying. He said he loves how hard we've been working and the way the energy and enthusiasm in the ward has come up this last month. He said he's excited I can keep building on that. I wanted to hug the man!!!! I sat in Sacrament going over names in my head and trying to picture where they live and "where they're at in life" and I got this calm(or as calm as I could be) that things are gonna work out.
Me being on a mission in general is already a miracle! The Lord has blessed me beyond belief in these six weeks and helped me in ways I never imagined. I know he'll continue to do that. "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." Honestly, I'm a tiny bit terrified! I'll be driving again now too! But I sat down last night and thought about exactly the type of missionary I want to be, what I wanted to learn these last six weeks and what I want to help Sister Unknown learn/feel her first weeks out here. So it's scary and nerve wracking and I have no idea how we're gonna survive but I'm excited!! If nothing else, think of the cool stories that will be coming our way ;)
This work is amazing! It's crazy and I don't understand how it works but every single night I look back and still am SO thankful for being able to be out here! I'm thankful the Lord trusts me to be out here and to be helping the people of California and even more for his confidence in thinking I can help "shape" this new missionary coming out tomorrow.
There's a guy out here named Jason Beal who is a recent convert that we've been meeting with. He had us over for pizza Saturday night and out of nowhere, he asked a super personal question. I was definitely taken back for a second. My first thought was "Uhh how can I go around this?" But I had the strong feeling I needed to be open and tell him a certain painful story. After, he said he feels like he relates me to very well and that we're pretty similar. He opened up a TON right then on stuff he was struggling with and where he's at right now. We talked for a long time about how the Lord is always with us and helping us in life, even if we don't feel like we can see it at the time. I was grateful I followed the prompting.
Driving home that night, I imagined the Lord being like "come on Sister Olsen! DUH!" I know that we're called to our specific missions for a specific reason and that all of these "personal" "painful" experiences are rough to talk about BUT THAT'S WHY WE'RE HERE!
Elder Kopiske challenged us to think about our dreams and goals for our missions. Why are we REALLY here and what do we want to accomplish? My most prominent reason in being here is wanting to help at least one person to learn about the Atonement, USE IT, and make peace with stuff they never imagined they could make peace with. But I can only do that by not being dumb and opening up about my own experiences. So it was definitely a good reminder for me.
Life out here in California is goooood! When I think about getting a brand new missionary tomorrow I think of the first week in the MTC. Everybody tells you "just make it to Sunday! If you can make it to Sunday you're good!" So when I go pick up Sister Unknown tomorrow, we're just gonna make it to Sunday. After that we're good :)
With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen
I guess I should have been more specific in my prayers last week that I was talking about because... I AM GOING TO BE TRAINING!!!! The assistants called Saturday (before the zone leaders) and said "Sister Olsen are you willing to train a new missionary?" I sat there shocked for a couple of seconds. I wanted to say "You know I'M a new missionary right?!" But all that managed to come out was "Yeah."
Saturday night was fairly nerve wracking. Go figure... I started questioning how much I really knew the area, the people, everything! I've only been out for one transfer!! Yesterday I felt much better about it. After ward council Bishop Rock came up to me and gave me a handshake with both of his hands and told me how grateful he is that I'll be staying. He said he loves how hard we've been working and the way the energy and enthusiasm in the ward has come up this last month. He said he's excited I can keep building on that. I wanted to hug the man!!!! I sat in Sacrament going over names in my head and trying to picture where they live and "where they're at in life" and I got this calm(or as calm as I could be) that things are gonna work out.
Me being on a mission in general is already a miracle! The Lord has blessed me beyond belief in these six weeks and helped me in ways I never imagined. I know he'll continue to do that. "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." Honestly, I'm a tiny bit terrified! I'll be driving again now too! But I sat down last night and thought about exactly the type of missionary I want to be, what I wanted to learn these last six weeks and what I want to help Sister Unknown learn/feel her first weeks out here. So it's scary and nerve wracking and I have no idea how we're gonna survive but I'm excited!! If nothing else, think of the cool stories that will be coming our way ;)
This work is amazing! It's crazy and I don't understand how it works but every single night I look back and still am SO thankful for being able to be out here! I'm thankful the Lord trusts me to be out here and to be helping the people of California and even more for his confidence in thinking I can help "shape" this new missionary coming out tomorrow.
There's a guy out here named Jason Beal who is a recent convert that we've been meeting with. He had us over for pizza Saturday night and out of nowhere, he asked a super personal question. I was definitely taken back for a second. My first thought was "Uhh how can I go around this?" But I had the strong feeling I needed to be open and tell him a certain painful story. After, he said he feels like he relates me to very well and that we're pretty similar. He opened up a TON right then on stuff he was struggling with and where he's at right now. We talked for a long time about how the Lord is always with us and helping us in life, even if we don't feel like we can see it at the time. I was grateful I followed the prompting.
Driving home that night, I imagined the Lord being like "come on Sister Olsen! DUH!" I know that we're called to our specific missions for a specific reason and that all of these "personal" "painful" experiences are rough to talk about BUT THAT'S WHY WE'RE HERE!
Elder Kopiske challenged us to think about our dreams and goals for our missions. Why are we REALLY here and what do we want to accomplish? My most prominent reason in being here is wanting to help at least one person to learn about the Atonement, USE IT, and make peace with stuff they never imagined they could make peace with. But I can only do that by not being dumb and opening up about my own experiences. So it was definitely a good reminder for me.
Life out here in California is goooood! When I think about getting a brand new missionary tomorrow I think of the first week in the MTC. Everybody tells you "just make it to Sunday! If you can make it to Sunday you're good!" So when I go pick up Sister Unknown tomorrow, we're just gonna make it to Sunday. After that we're good :)
With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen
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| This guy Dirk keeps asking if he can take us shooting! Which we aren't allowed to do. But he still had guns out the other day when we went over. I told him "My family will think this is a really good idea!" haha Look out Cali! |
Goooooooooin' to the Temple-Oct 17th
HELLO! So today ended up being my preparation day and Monday we did regular work. I just got back from LA! Turns out we do indeed get to go to the temple the month of our birthdays if a member goes. Sunday night, a member text us saying she wanted to go. YAY! To be honest I had partially forgotten about that so I'm glad she said something or else I may have missed it...
Even better, is we are allowed to go down to the grounds/visitor center once a transfer if we have an investigator who wants to go. So last night I was also in LA :) :) It was awesome!! Last night made me so excited to be getting to turn around and come back this morning. We have a bunch of missionaries going home this transfer and today was also their "departing" temple trip with President Hall. Soooo it was a session full of missionaries! Very cool!
When we were in the Celestial Room after, I remebered Elder Geary talking in the MTC. He told us about how he wanted to be a Marine to stand with the very best. He said only after entering the MTC did he realize THAT'S where the very best are! Sitting in the Celestial Room I just started crying! (I do a lot of that as a missionary haha) It was cool to watch alllll of these Elders hugging each other (we were literally the only sisters in there) and so close to going home. Watching them and being in that room was being WITH the best, IN the best! It was pretttty neat.
NOT so neat? I had to rent one of those envelopes for the session right? Yeah they still have the old school veils. Which a. I couldn't figure out b. was old and stretched out so the elastic on top was no good! How many sisters does it take to help Sister Olsen get her veil on? That would be five. FIVE! And of course today is the first thing we have been on time to in our companionship so we were in the very front!! So of the five, the representative "wife" and the ordinance worker were included. And I'm of course 2 feet taller than all of them as they're struggling trying to help me haha it took EVERYTHING I had in me not to bust out laughing cause we were seriously standing there for a good six or seven minutes after everybody else had sat down. It was ridiculous! That's a moment I'll re-play in heaven....
I'll email again on Monday. Transfers are Tuesday! That is NUTS! I can't believe I have already been here for my whole first transfer!!! GAHHH! I started laughing when I was praying the other night....Things with the companion have been better but it is ROUGH! I know it's not up to me but I started laughing cause I realized I didn't know if I should keep praying for things to get better cause then the Lord will keep us together another transfer! Or be grateful for salvaging this last week, be grateful and let it go.
Really though, things have been SO much better! The other night she was in my journal. I was ready to totally blow! What is it with people reading my freakin journal?! I prayed that night like I have never prayed before!!! And amazingly enough I woke up the next morning and had not total peace with her, but a good 85%! Elder Kopiske of the seventy was in our mission last week!! AMAAZING! He talked allll about the Atonement. He said "On a mission you can pray for a divorce, or a transfer. But in real life you can not!" The Lord incredibly humbled me though! I was determined not to pray for patience my whole mission....yeah that didn't happen. He broke me down last week haha
Until Monday, LOVE YOU ALLLLL!
With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen
Even better, is we are allowed to go down to the grounds/visitor center once a transfer if we have an investigator who wants to go. So last night I was also in LA :) :) It was awesome!! Last night made me so excited to be getting to turn around and come back this morning. We have a bunch of missionaries going home this transfer and today was also their "departing" temple trip with President Hall. Soooo it was a session full of missionaries! Very cool!
When we were in the Celestial Room after, I remebered Elder Geary talking in the MTC. He told us about how he wanted to be a Marine to stand with the very best. He said only after entering the MTC did he realize THAT'S where the very best are! Sitting in the Celestial Room I just started crying! (I do a lot of that as a missionary haha) It was cool to watch alllll of these Elders hugging each other (we were literally the only sisters in there) and so close to going home. Watching them and being in that room was being WITH the best, IN the best! It was pretttty neat.
NOT so neat? I had to rent one of those envelopes for the session right? Yeah they still have the old school veils. Which a. I couldn't figure out b. was old and stretched out so the elastic on top was no good! How many sisters does it take to help Sister Olsen get her veil on? That would be five. FIVE! And of course today is the first thing we have been on time to in our companionship so we were in the very front!! So of the five, the representative "wife" and the ordinance worker were included. And I'm of course 2 feet taller than all of them as they're struggling trying to help me haha it took EVERYTHING I had in me not to bust out laughing cause we were seriously standing there for a good six or seven minutes after everybody else had sat down. It was ridiculous! That's a moment I'll re-play in heaven....
I'll email again on Monday. Transfers are Tuesday! That is NUTS! I can't believe I have already been here for my whole first transfer!!! GAHHH! I started laughing when I was praying the other night....Things with the companion have been better but it is ROUGH! I know it's not up to me but I started laughing cause I realized I didn't know if I should keep praying for things to get better cause then the Lord will keep us together another transfer! Or be grateful for salvaging this last week, be grateful and let it go.
Really though, things have been SO much better! The other night she was in my journal. I was ready to totally blow! What is it with people reading my freakin journal?! I prayed that night like I have never prayed before!!! And amazingly enough I woke up the next morning and had not total peace with her, but a good 85%! Elder Kopiske of the seventy was in our mission last week!! AMAAZING! He talked allll about the Atonement. He said "On a mission you can pray for a divorce, or a transfer. But in real life you can not!" The Lord incredibly humbled me though! I was determined not to pray for patience my whole mission....yeah that didn't happen. He broke me down last week haha
Until Monday, LOVE YOU ALLLLL!
With faith in every footstep,
Sister Olsen
October 17th-Life As of Late
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| Guess who finally got email time???? |
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| This little gem made me miss my Kezy girl! Even down to the red boots :( |
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| Heart attacking like a month ago. It's become kinda cool again as a missionary haha |
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| I GOT TO GO ON EXCHANGES WITH SISTER WALGREN! It was glorious! I love this girl |
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| BIGGEST apple pie of my life!!! I was so happy |
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| "California girls they're un-avoidable! Reallll long skirts and nametags on top" |
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