In His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings

First things first picking out Christmas trees is a gift and once one is given that gift it never leads. Also I promise not to pick out a tree over 18 feet and it won't be downhill from the car... at least I'll try not to but hey sometimes it's hard to find the perfect tree!

Second this week has had many things to be grateful for:

The temple; Even though we saw the old movie my heart is full at the opportunity to be in the Lord's house. (Gives me an excuse to go down the street when I get home and spend a good chunk of time catching up.) It was hard to actualize that we were at the temple it almost seemed like a dream. Tuesday went by so fast. This whole week flew by. I really don't think it is fair how fast this last week went by. Though I am grateful for my opportunity to witness so many ordinances of the gospel.  

Pumpkin Pie; We had Thanksgiving dinner with Sister Kovac. She is the only active member in her household. She is a trooper. There is a lot of temptation that she has to withstand everyday. We call her Grandma Pam (by her request) and she is like another Grandma to me. Love her so much and it is so hard to say goodbye to her. I am very thankful that we could spend Thanksgiving with her family.

MLC; It is one of my favorite meetings as a missionary and is always a very rich spiritual experience.

Water; It teaches me patience. I am also very thankful that I have only been in charge of filling the font once on my mission. Waiting for it to fill is killer especially because we're not allowed to leave it. I about drove Sister Marion crazy checking it every 5 minutes. I am thankful for great ward mission leaders that just goes with my crazy ideas and helps make them happen. I am also grateful for running water. The water in our apartment was turned off this morning because they were checking for leaks. I forgot several times and was very confused/frustrated every time I tried to wash my hands and Sister Marion would just laugh at me.

Testimony meeting; David got up to bare his testimony this Sunday. I had a feeling that if I got up he would as well. Sister Marion and I were both holding our breath while he was up there. We have been teaching him. He is a wonderful young man and knows so much. I'm pretty sure that he has studied every religion there is. Anyways a pervious time he had given his testimony he testified that there would be a temple in Independence MI. It is wonderful how his testimony has grown and blossomed in such a short amount of time. It was a tender mercy to hear his testimony yesterday and compare it to when we first met him. I've worried about him at times but he's going to do great. He will make a great missionary some day.

It still isn't real that I will be in Oregon this week. I didn't start packing until today and it was a big mental exercise to do it even now. Yes, I am overjoyed at the opportunity to see and be in the presence of my family but Virginia has become much of who I am. I am thankful for the plan of my Father. In His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings.

Love you!

Sister Olsen

Bears and the Temple

This week is going to be a week of white, ordinance white.

Well tomorrow I get to go to the Temple for the first time in 17 months. Cannot begin to explain my emotions about that. On one had and cannot wait but then the practical side of me is just a little stressed because a million things are happening. My poor companion I have to leave her here to juggle it all tomorrow. However it will work out, it always works out. I know that the Lord supports his servants I have seen it so many times and I know that Lord will accomplish this work in his way not in mine, so it might be better if I have to take a step back and not micro manage.

This week we had Zone Conference. President Wilson did it differently than he normally does. He broke us up into small groups and for a good hour and a half of the meeting we role played. Someone would video tape us and then we would review it and discuss how we can be better. It was probably the best Zone conference I have been to. It was a bit nerve racking though because President Wilson was the one video taping Sister Marion and I for most of the conference.

It was also super fun because many of the lessons we role played we went out to teach that night. So we knew exactly what to do. The Sisters that pretended to be our investigators said almost the exact same things our investigators said. Yes, I love role playing. I don't think I could ever do it enough.

Yesterday we had dinner with our ward mission leader and one of our investigators. We ate bear, and it was actually pretty good. Brother Murrell loves to hunt and his favorite is bear. I'm pretty sure that was the bulk of the conversation last night (how to cook bear and how bear meet was better than any other kind of meet). I'm glad that our investigator thought it was funny, because it could have gone either way. I feel that this is how most things in missionary work are.

Also the quote of the week is from Sister Marion (after a struggle to coordinate with the ward); "This is a classic example of good, better, best. Satan knows baptisms are best. Family events and Scout outings are good but when they get in the way of baptisms they are bad!"

Don't worry all is well. Mechanicsville is Zion but honestly members are not allowed to leave town during a baptism. (I may be a little biased on this one.) I am very thankful for the members of our ward. They sacrifice so much for missionary work, and are wonderful member missionaries.

So many miracles happened this week and I cannot begin to explain my gratitude for them. I'm grateful for the restored gospel. It is the Lord's church and it is headed by his prophet. I am grateful for the restoration of the priesthood and the ability to finish the repentance process by making covenants (Moroni 8:25-26). I am grateful for this calling I have been entrusted with to invite and help others make this covenant and teach them how to have faith and repent. I am grateful that I can invite everyone to come unto Christ! I am grateful for my family and the covenant we have made with each other to endure to the end. I have so many things to be thankful for in this season of thanks giving.

Repentence

Sister's pday was today and we spent a considerable amount of it in the car. Anyways it was fun we went to down town Richmond and went to the Holocaust museum. It was good but probably not my favorite thing to do as a missionary. It is great to see all the sisters.

 

To be honest I am not a perfect missionary (not much of a surprise but just trying to communicate well), so repentance is necessary. This week especially I have been grateful for the opportunity that I can repent daily and even hourly. I know that I did not understand repentance before my mission and I still don't understand it. However, in these short few months my understanding has increased and with that understanding my frequency increases as well. This week the necessity of the sacrament dawned on me. Repentance isn't complete with out it. That is why it is so urgent for converts to be baptized, because before it the repentance process isn't complete. The reasoning is they have not yet humbled themselves completely to Christ and submitted themselves to his will.

 

This week I was reading in Alma 37 and this is a chapter that I don't always pay attention to because I'm racing to get to Alma 40 because of it's teachings about the plan of salvation. This time I slowed down and let it sink in a little. In verse 33 of chapter 37 Alma is giving to his son what to teach when he goes out to preach the gospel. This is Helaman's missionary purpose. It is by our humility, our meekness and lowliness of heart that we are able to overcome the temptations of the devil. Love the scriptures. Trying to finish the Book of Mormon in the next two weeks (I still have 200 pages left), wish me luck. There is never enough time in the day!

 

Missionary Selfie

We had a wonderful miracle this past week. We took a member with us on Monday to see a certain investigator and this member felt like he needed a blessing. So we coordinated for her and her husband to come with us Wednesday to see him. We got to the door and his grandson answered and motioned that no one was there. As we walked away I muttered under my breath "well that was anticlimactic." As we walked away the boy's mother called out to us (she normally avoids us whenever we see her father). Then had a wonderful conversation with one of the brethren that we had with us. He committed her to come to church. It was wonderful! We then turned to leave again (our investigator was still not home and his daughter set up a return appointment for us). As we got to the car here he comes around the corner. (my jaw drops)

 

The member then talks to him as we walk back to his house. The blessing was beautiful and then after his blessing his daughter jumps up and asks for one too. As she received her blessing she starts crying. She's a singly mother and has been under a lot of stress lately. The blessing is all about her learning about the gospel and finding comfort in the atonement. It was a beautiful night and was most definitely not anticlimactic. 

 

Love you more than Germany,

Sister Olsen

The Art of Happiness

This last Saturday our mission did a social media day. The Book of Mormon musical played in Richmond all week so on Saturday in an effort to explain what missionaries really do we had a member follow us around all day and post about the things we did. Madison came with us. She is a recent convert of a couple months. It was fun because we ran into some of her parents friends (her parents are not members as well as the friends) and were able to have a good talk with them. We also set her sights on the temple, we tried to bring up the temple in every lesson we taught. By the end of the day she kept talking about when she goes on a mission. So very excited for her because she will be quite a wonderful missionary.

She has a wonderful conversion story. She sought out the church herself and went up to the missionaries that were serving then and asked the missionaries when she could be baptized and she learned all the missionary lessons beforehand so meeting with the missionaries was more of a formality than a necessity. It has made getting the new member lessons difficult because they aren't top priority but most of them were covered this last Saturday.

The Lord is very aware of her and I know that all the wonderful miracles that happened on Saturday were for her. At one point we took her tacting (I am always a bit wary of taking members tracting because it is either really really good or the reason they don't come out with us anymore). She picked the neighborhood and she picked which houses we knocked on. It was wonderful, everyone was golden. She has a wonderful spirit and is quick to follow the promptings of the spirit. I know that is how she found the church. So grateful for the spirit, I don't know what I would do without it!

 These are a few of the pictures that Madison posted (she is a recent convert as of June and we spent the day convincing her that she needed to serve a mission :)) 

Starting from the top, we gave a church tour in the morning and decided to pose next to the sign. Then we did service at a local members house by helping them collect wood and prepare for the cold storm that is coming this week. (We didn't get good pictures of the lessons we taught that afternoon but that's alright we taught David, Tallin, and Izy.) Madison then took us out to dinner. After dinner we went out tracting (hence the picture of Christ knocking on a door). Then before heading in we got gas and met some wonderful people doing it. Last of all checking, the mail box and it not being empty. Madison was pooped by the end of the day and laid on the floor instead of helping us plan.

This last week was all about being happy. The lesson has been taught to me over and over again all week but it really hit me Friday morning when we got a text from one of the sisters saying that she gave up. We had noticed that something was wrong and that there was some contention in the companionship but I felt like this came out of nowhere. So after consulting with President Wilson we did an emergency exchange to try to get to the root of the problem. Watering everything down it came to a lack of communication. So we helped them start companion inventory and then left. We followed up later on and everything had worked itself out. Funny how something so simple can be the cause of a failed companionship or even going home early. Maybe I'm a little weird but I love weekly planning and I am going to do it for the rest of my life and I know that companionship inventory is one of the most important parts.

If we are going to be happy we need to communicate. I have learned that with repentance. It is less effective for our happiness to simply stop doing something. When we ask for forgiveness and strength to overcome the process of changing can happen much more easily. 

We had a wonderful sacrament meeting, one of the speakers talked about safe guarding against your strengths. It was well put and got me thinking, I am prideful and I need to work on that. I am grateful for the experiences on the mission that remind me that I need to have a good conversation with my Father in Heaven. 

Drama for this week: a member called us and for ten minutes bore her testimony on member dinners and chastised us and told us that we need to make them top priority and that all our lessons need to be scheduled around them. I understand that they are important but I like teaching more than I like eating, but I promise that I don't cancel member dinners on purpose. A couple of weeks ago one of our dinners canceled and so we scheduled a lesson and then an hour before the lesson we got a call telling us that we now had a dinner so we canceled the dinner instead of the lesson. It may have happened another time as well but I don't remember why we did it. Anyways in our mission we do not have dinners after 6pm because it is prime proselytizing time so there is always drama with the members about feeding us. Love food, love members, but all things have their time and place! Love this ward, we are so blessed :)

Love you all!

Sister Olsen

PS Give thanks for all things! "Every day is Thanksgiving." -Sister Brown

It is raining leaves!

I feel like the leaves change color over night but they are as bright and colorful as ever. I've been trying to deny the fact that fall is upon us but it hit us in the face this week. We had a ward party outside and it was so cold and windy and rainy! Despite the cold we all stayed pretty warm with good food :) This is such a great ward and we are finally getting the hang of working with them. Not saying there isn't still room for improvement but that it is much better than it was before. 

We met some pretty interesting people this week. I feel as of lately that most people we meet have a deep background in other religions. It is fun because it has been really challenging my knowledge of the gospel. I have a firm testimony that the Lord does't give you more than you can handle; now that I know a little bit more than I did last year more is required of me. Love how life is personally fitted. 

There is this one young man that we meet last Sunday that I'm pretty sure has studied with every religion. It's his hobby to go to religious historical markers. He's been to Nauvoo and knows more about Independence, Missouri than I do. He came to church yesterday and Brother Scott, the gospel principles teacher, was teaching about the plan of salvation and then he raised his hand and explained the creation and the fall of Adam. He does go off on random tangents sometimes of things that aren't super important but it is so much fun to be teaching him the gospel. 

President Wilson did companion study with us this morning. We talked about a lot of different things but one that I want to talk about is the Holy Spirit of Promise. Each ordinance that we do we try our best to make sure that it is done correctly. For example when someone does not go underwater completely they are baptized again. It may seem like a silly thing but it is an act of obedience. We have been asked by God to do ordinances in a certain way. We aren't perfect but we try our best to do as He has asked. This is a sign of Love for Him. The way we live our life is a manifestation of our love for Him. 

We won't know until judgment if something has been sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise because this sealing is our enduring to the end. Doing an ordinance correctly is just the beginning, living our life correctly is the process of re-coating our covenant with the Lord with sealant. Most importantly ordinances don't mean anything unless you want them to. We must receive the promises we have made with willing hearts. 

A mission only changes you if you want it to. It would be so easy to come home and be the same person you were before. However, as you internalize the things you have learned and continue to reseal your commitment to the Lord you will use the mission as a platform for your life.

Just some things I've been thinking about. 

Also we found and Egyptian family two weeks ago. They speak very little English. They best way of communication is through their six year old son. This Saturday we went over to help the mother learn English. We ended up helping her son with his homework. He can't read yet and his mother couldn't read the instructions either. When he finished his homework his mother was so excited and hugged us and in her broken English told us that it was his first time doing his homework. I am so grateful to know how to read and write. I do not think I fully understand what a blessing it has been to my life. There is a lot of power in the ability to write and read. It allows us to communicate with people all over the world and in different time eras.  

Love you all more than books!

Sister Olsen

Joseph Smith

This last week was a blast. We went on a crazy exchange last weekend that carried over to Tuesday. Sister Marion and I were both so tired this last week because we were basically running from place to place all weekend. Then and hour before transfer meeting we received a text from the assistants asking us to come and help out. It was a blessing because I got to say good bye to Sister Vance and got a good workout in from moving all the luggage around. Some missionaries have too many things!

 

Last Sunday President Wilson came to our ward and spoke. It was strange because every time President speaks with the missionaries you can feel the love he has for them and they have for him. With the ward they did not know him and did not show in the same kind of love. It was strange to see this different side. I also think it is silly because members make such a big deal out of things that shouldn't be a problem any more. When President Wilson was first made mission president he changed the rules on dinners (we need to be out of the house before 6pm so dinners are generally at 5pm and you cannot have more than one missionary companionship at dinner). It has been this way for over a year but still people are fighting it. Obedience we just do it. Plus there are so many better things we can be doing at 6pm other than eating dinner. 

Also I was grateful that we could be there for both the youth and the adult sessions yesterday with President Wilson. I noticed that the youth have the same excitement level as the adults and also their thought processes are very similar (the things they said were almost word for word the same). Their level of respect was the same as well. It concerns me because I feel that there is a great deal of room for improvement. I was grateful that President Wilson was an example of teaching yesterday and I hope others noticed how he taught not just the things he said. I hope they noticed the difference between making a telling opportunity and waiting for them to be ready to learn. It is very clear to me that if we as adults are not missionary minded our children will not be. If we as adults are not respectful and eager to learn our children will not be either. Humility is the key to not falling back into the pride cycle! 

So this last Saturday was a bit interesting. Apparently the local news paper published something about Joesph Smith. Anti Mormon literature is every where! But it was cool how we were led to people that day that were looking for truth and to members that were struggling with their testimonies. I don't know how something like that got into the local news paper but it's disgusting how it's okay for this pointed aggression to be shown to a specific religious group. It confirms my testimony that this is the truth because why else would Satan be trying to spread so many lies. I know that wherever God's work is there will be opposition. 

I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and like was prophesied hundreds of years ago "his name will be had for good and evil." Those that are looking for truth look at the fruit of this gospel. The lives that have been turned to Jesus Christ and the suffering that has been done away with because of this man. I know he was human and he was not perfect you don't have to lie to prove that's true but I know that he was a man of God and did the best with what he knew.

I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know that more than I know anything else in my life. It is not only the same gospel that is taught to us in the Holy Bible it is written for us to understand. The word of this week was simple. Every person we read the Book of Mormon with us commented that is was much more simpler than anything else they had read. 

As I kept telling myself Saturday, "don't worry the book is true!!"

Sacrament Meetings

I feel repetitive sometimes but this week has been crazy. For the past three days we have been covering two areas and scheduling has been a bit of a nightmare. Sister Elliott joined our companionship until she receives a new one tomorrow. Her companion went home three days early. It has been quite a party and it's strange how dynamics change with one person. As always life is an emotional roller coaster. 

We went to both ward's sacrament meetings yesterday. It was fun because in our ward there was a missionary farewell and then in the Chikahomaniy ward there was a homecoming. Fun to contrast the two.

One of our investigators was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. She received a blessing Saturday night and I am so thankful for the support the ward has been to her. We really are blessed to be in such a Christlike ward. There are several members that will drop everything to serve. They are such great examples to me. 

This last transfer we have really been struggling with finding new investigators which is weird for me because I've never struggled with that. This last weekly planning session we assessed  everything we have been doing, are our investigators progressing, do we need to drop them, how are we at talking to everyone, are we spending enough time finding, etc. We got to a point when we told Heavenly Father that if he wanted we would drop all our investigators and "whitewash" the area by starting anew. I'm really grateful that he didn't end up asking for that but we were willing. After we got to this point we started seeing miracles. 

We've been teaching a 15 year old boy and he is prepared for baptism but hasn't been coming to church and set a baptismal date for himself three months away which is forever! He was someone that we had talked for a long time about during planning. When we sat down for his lesson (sang a song said a prayer and asked an inspired question) he opened up and then said I'm ready. I'm coming to church this Sunday and I want to be baptized sooner. In my head I was thinking "wow Heavenly Father, that was fast." There have been so many other tender mercies (we found a family!!!) as the spirit has worked on those that we are teaching to help them progress and to allow us to be led to those that are prepared to hear the gospel. 

Love, 

Sister Olsen