August 28, 2017
Hello Everyone!
I can't believe that i have been out for 15 months!
We are all safe here in San Antonio. Hurricane Harvey didn't affect us too bad. Everyone was prepared for the worst, but luckily it wasn't as bad as people expected. They did cancel church and the activities for the weekend. They were planning on having a stake women's conference on Saturday. We had helped a member prepare a big pasta salad on Friday. I am not quite sure what she did with 36 hard boiled eggs.
This week we had interviews with President Polley. I always love being able to talk to him. He is always so encouraging. We have zone conference tomorrow and I am super excited. We also were able to talk to a man this week. He told us his whole background story and how he used to spend his time with a bad group of people. It was a pretty interesting conversation. We left him with a couple scriptures from the Book of Mormon to read. We had met him briefly a couple of weeks ago and had stopped by last week when he wasn't home. We left a note and he said that it meant a lot to him. He was having a bad day and he appreciated that someone cared about him. It was another one of the many example that I have had of how we can impact people for good and never realize it.
Hope y'all have a great week!
Sister Olsen
September 4, 2017
Hi everyone!
It was a great week here in San Antonio. The big news for our mission
this week is that we will now be able to use Facebook and Skype in our
missionary efforts! I am looking forward to the different ways that we
will be able to use the additional technology. I know that it will
help us, especially in the young single adult ward.
This week we went on exchanges. I had the privilege of being with
Sister Wells her last full day as a missionary. I have learned so much
from her from the different exchanges that we have gone on for the
last 5 transfers. We were able to talk to a lot of people including
one lady with adorable puppy.
We also had a less with a new investigator in the family ward.
Whenever we have a lesson, we carefully consider who would be the best
member to bring with us. We decided to ask a member who was baptized
a couple months ago. She was so happy to be able to go with us. She
said that she was struggling because her husband just left for basic
training. She prayed for an opportunity to serve and help her get her
mind off of him being gone. That night we called her to come to the
lesson! We both we able to see how Heavenly Father was able to answer
her prayer. I know that Heavenly Father always hears and answers our
prayers. He may not always answer in the way that we expect, but it is
always the best way.
Have a great week!
Sister Olsen
It was a great week here in San Antonio. The big news for our mission
this week is that we will now be able to use Facebook and Skype in our
missionary efforts! I am looking forward to the different ways that we
will be able to use the additional technology. I know that it will
help us, especially in the young single adult ward.
This week we went on exchanges. I had the privilege of being with
Sister Wells her last full day as a missionary. I have learned so much
from her from the different exchanges that we have gone on for the
last 5 transfers. We were able to talk to a lot of people including
one lady with adorable puppy.
We also had a less with a new investigator in the family ward.
Whenever we have a lesson, we carefully consider who would be the best
member to bring with us. We decided to ask a member who was baptized
a couple months ago. She was so happy to be able to go with us. She
said that she was struggling because her husband just left for basic
training. She prayed for an opportunity to serve and help her get her
mind off of him being gone. That night we called her to come to the
lesson! We both we able to see how Heavenly Father was able to answer
her prayer. I know that Heavenly Father always hears and answers our
prayers. He may not always answer in the way that we expect, but it is
always the best way.
Have a great week!
Sister Olsen
Pictures: exchanges, Sister Loveridge (it has been over a year since
we have seen each other), and zone conference
September 11, 2017
Hi everyone!
It was a great week! The weather hasn't been as hot and we have a couple new Investigators that we are working with! On Saturday we got a text about someone who has been meeting with the missionaries in New Mexico. She is going to be in town for the next couple of weeks and wants to be baptized. She wants us to teach her while she prepares for baptism. She will probably will be baptized back in New Mexico, but I am excited to teach her and help her prepare for baptism.
Yesterday we also had a man that just showed up to church! He has a friend who is at BYU and he wanted to learn more. He enjoyed church and how friendly everyone is. We have a lesson set up tomorrow. :) I know that situations like this are a blessing from Heavenly Father. As we try our best to find people to teach and do what we can, Heavenly Father blesses us with people who were prepared by other means.
We went and hiked Enchanted Rock which is in Fredericksburg. It is a huge pink granite rock. It was super fun!
September 18, 2017
Hello Everyone!
It has been a great week! Sister Swarts and I are going to be staying together for another transfer! The only difference is that I will be a Sister Training leader again. It is a little crazy for me since I have been here since January, however I am excited because we have some great new people that we are working with. We had a great lesson Tuesday night with one of our investigators in the YSA ward. I loved teaching the Restoration and helping people when they are just first learning about the gospel.
This week we also had stake conference. It was super great because they spent a large part of the time talking about how members and missionaries can work more together. It was great to see the excitement from the members. I know that the Lord's way to do missionary work is having the members and missionaries working side by side.
This morning we also got a call that there is a YSA in another ward who is ready to be baptized! He has been attending another ward for years and now is ready. He is on date for Oct 7 and so we should be really busy the next couple of weeks teaching him all of the lessons.
I know that Heavenly Father always is watching out for us. His way is always the right way. As we follow our Savior we will be blessed with peace and hope.
Sister Olsen
Picture 1 zone picture
Picture 2 Today we went to El Mercado, it reminds me a lot of old town in San Diego :)
September 25, 2017
Hi Everyone,
It was another great week here in the TSAM! We were able to teach one of our investigators Preston about the Plan of Salvation. The funny part about his lesson is that when we went to to unlock the church building for the lesson our key didn't work. We had given our building keys for a couple of the other church buildings to another set of sisters. We thought that we must of had given them the key to our building on accident. We ended up having the lesson in the pavilion. That night a small rainstorm decided to come through. The lesson ended up being a little extra windy and rainy, but it still went really well. The best part was that a couple days later we realized that the door was broken and that we had the right key after all.
We also had a couple lessons with our new investigator Jacob. He isn't on date for the 7th of October, but he still wants to he still wants to be baptized. My favorite part from his lessons is that after we invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, he told us that he already had! He then told us more of his experience of how he received an answer.
The Encino Park ward had their primary program ( the primary program is when the little kids are the ones singing and speaking during the main meeting at church). The little kids were super cute. A couple of the members brought their friends to watch and we were able to talk with them afterwards. This week I wanted to share part of one of my favorite primary songs. We shared part of it in Preston lesson and we could tell that he really like it too.
I know that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. I know that as we pray, attend church, and read our scriptures that he can guide and direct us in our lives.
Have a great week!
Sister Olsen
It is currently raining really hard/ Sister Swarts and I realized we hadn't taken any pictures this week....
October 2, 2017
Hi everyone!
It was a great week! On Tuesday we had a lesson with one of our investigators and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was so strong! It really was one of my favorite lessons from my mission. The members that we had there bore powerful testimonies of the Book of Mormon and on baptism. This week we also had MLC and General Conference! It was a great weekend.
Here is a couple highlights from those conferences
MLC
President Polley gave a training about how Christ is the Good Shepherd. He explained how sheep know the voice of the Shepherd and follow him. They can recognize the difference between the voice of the Shepherd and someone trying to imitate the voice of the Shepherd. This analogy taught me how important it is to come to know the Savior so that we can recognize and heed his words. We then must help others to recognize the voice of the Savior.
What a better way to come to learn the voice of the Savior then by listening to his chosen servants and Apostles!
General Conference
There are so many things that I could share, but this was one of my favorites.
"Lasting joy is found in focusing on our Savior, Jesus Christ, and living the gospel as demonstrated and taught by Him. The more we learn about, have faith in, and emulate Jesus Christ, the more we come to understand that He is the source of all healing, peace, and eternal progress." - Sister Bingham
Overall I felt that one of the main messages of conference was that there is peace, happiness, and hope for all those who seek to become more like Christ. I know that serving others truly brings happiness! I love all of the opportunities my mission has allowed me to serve others.
Have a great week!
Sister Olsen
Pictures: 1. MLC 2. YSA that we watched conference with 3. Zone p-day
October 9, 2017
Hello Everyone!
It was a great week here in Texas! We had another great lesson with Pete this week. He accepted a baptismal date of November 24th! The members have been super great at reaching out and fellowshipping him. They all encouraged him and bore powerful testimonies which helped him set a date. I love lessons in the YSA Ward. It is fun to be with a group of YSA and to feel the Spirit strongly as we all talk about how faith in the Savior has blessed our lives.
This week I had the opportunity to go to Fredericksburg on exchanges! It is a cute little country town that I have been wanting to go to since I got to Texas. I was with Sister Rice and she is an amazing missionary. I enjoyed exchanging ideas about missionary work with her.
I love the opportunity that I have to focus on helping others come closer to Christ everyday. Sometimes it seems like a sacrifice to serve a mission, but it really isn't. It is such a blessing and I am going to miss it when my mission is over.
Hope you have a great week!
Sister Olsen
Pictures 1-2 exchanges
3 Halloween package
4 The river walk
October 16, 2017
Hi everyone!
It was a great week! We were able to continue to teach Pete this week. He is doing great and is super ready to accept all of the commandments that we are teaching him. We also were able to have a Skype lesson with Ryan this week. It is nice to be able to option to Skype because it helps us work around people's busy schedules.
This week we also had zone conference and our Mission President invited us to study and ponder the Book of Mormon everyday. They invited us to focus on the Doctrine of Christ and to highlight whenever it talks about faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. It was great because earlier in the week I decided that I wanted to work to increase my love and testimony for the Book of Mormon.
Later this week we had a lesson with a less active YSA who I have taught a couple times. He has a desire to come to church, but finds it difficult to be motivated to come. In the past we have talked about the importance of Church attendance, but this time I felt that we should just focus on the Book of Mormon. I know that as we read the Book of Mormon everyday that we receive many blessings. One of them is that we have a greater power to accomplish our goals. I told him that the Book of Mormon helps us do the things that we can't make ourselves do. I could tell that this resonated with him. He left happy and motivated to read the Book of Mormon. He saw the Book of Mormon as a tool to help him accomplish his goal of coming to church. This Sunday he was able to come to Sacrament meeting and renew his baptismal covenants. I know that coming to church is important because it allows us to have the Holy Ghost with us more throughout the rest of our week. As missionaries, we can't make people do the things that will bring them closer to Christ. I love and care for all the people that we teach. However, I can't make people's choices for them. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon because I know that if people will simply read and ponder the Book of Mormon that their faith in Christ will increase. As their faith increase, they will have a desire to make the further choices in their life to bring them closer to Christ.
Hope y'all have a great week!
Sister Olsen
October 21, 2017
Hi Everyone,
It was a great week. Last Monday night we had a lesson with one of our investigators, Jacob, on the temple grounds. The spirit was so strong. I love the temple and being able to walk around the grounds. The San Antonio Temple has really pretty stain glass windows. We have a lesson with Preston at the temple this week. I am excited to be able to go with him and go to the temple again.
In our mission we are working on going ministering visits with the ward members . We had a meeting this week with all of the missionaries, ward mission leaders, a couple of the other Stake leaders in our stake this week. We were able to discuss the ways that we have been successful in working together with the members. I feel that we all learned a lot and we were able to come out with new ideas. We also had the Fredericksburg sisters stay the night with us. So that was a lot of fun!
We had a lesson with Brenda this week and taught the Plan of Salvation. As we taught, she kept saying that it makes sense. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. It is his work and Glory to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life (Moses 1:39). I know that he has a perfect plan for us and that it is centered on Jesus Christ.
Have a great week!
Sister Olsen
The temple, Zone picture, and carving pumpkins :)
October 29, 2017
Hi Everyone!
Have a great week!
October 29, 2017
Hi Everyone!
It is crazy that I am now entering my final transfer. I am going to be finishing out my mission in ... Alamo 1st and Encino Park ( the area that I have been in since January) ! I will be getting a brand new missionary on Thursday. Sister Swarts is going to be the senior companion in one of the other YSA branches in San Antonio. It has been fun to be her companion and to see her learn and grow. I know that she is going to great things in her next area. I am excited to stay with the people that I have grown to love so much.
This week we had a lesson with one of our investigators Brenda. As I studied on how we could teach her about how you can recognize the Holy Ghost, I felt the Spirit testify to me how important it is for us to learn how to recognize the Spirit. We learn from the scriptures that the way we feel the spirit is through feelings of "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, [and] temperance" (Galatians 5:22-23). The opportunities that I have had to really feel the Spirit are my most cherished memories. I recognize what a privilege and a blessing it is to help other learn to recognize the Spirit as well. In the lesson, I was able to share my testimony of the Holy Ghost and share how much we want her to be able to experience the blessings of having the Spirit.
As I was studying I read part of one of Elder Packer's talks that was addressed to missionaries. "Now, as a missionary, you will mature, develop a confidence, learn to speak up, to organize, to set goals. You will learn about people and places, you will learn to learn, and many other things. These are lasting benefits that come as something of a reward for your dedicated service.
But these things do not compare with the most lasting reward. The choicest pearl, the one of great price, is to learn at an early age how one is guided by the Spirit of the Lord—a supernal gift. Indeed, it is a guide and a protection." (Candle of the Lord)
As I have served my mission, I have experienced the blessings that he first talks about. I add my testimony that the greatest blessing has been to learn how to be guided by the Spirit. I hope that we may all be able to seek to have the Holy Ghost more in our life so that we can all be able experience the love and peace that the Spirit brings.
Sister Olsen
Exchanges!
