March 9, 2015

March 9, 2015

I can't believe that Amy gets home this week!  Give her a big hug, and be her friend.  Make sure she is okay!

We had a crazy week.  Like always.

Monday, P-day.  We don't really have time to do many things on p-day after all of our studies, shopping, cleaning, etc.  We saw Sister Tomassino in our ward.  She was so cute!  She lives in a little one room apartment and she is embarrassed about it.  She has such a strong testimony and love of the Gospel.  We had a wonderful time visiting with her and doing family mission plans.

Tuesday we went to Gite Ami, the homeless shelter where we do service every week with the Elders.  There the Elders started talking to an eighteen year old boy.  After they left, we continued to talked to him.  His father had passed away to years ago and he had run away from home.  Since then, he has lived through many traumatic experiences.  He was getting ready to go to rehab in two days so that he could go home and be a big brother for his siblings.  We gave him a Book a Mormon and talked about God's love and the Savior and said a prayer with him.  We were so impacted by the things this boy had experienced and we felt so blessed to be instruments in the Lord's hands to help him learn about the Atonement and the power it can have in our lives.  It was an amazing experience.  During our talk with him, we had a call from an unknown number.  I looked but didn't answer it.  Afterwards, we listen to a voice mail that this man had left.  He didn't give us any of his information, he just said, "I was looking for Sister Olsen, but I think I have the wrong number, sorry!".  I was so devastated!  I was feeling so bad.  As I was talking to Sister Carpenter about it and apologizing, we received another call! This time the number showed up!  It turns out it was John.  John is a man that called us before Christmas last year from another untraceable number.  His friend Neil, who sister Wright and I had met but had not been able to get his information, had give John our phone number.  He was afraid to die and was looking for comfort.  However, he did not want to meet with us.  So we pointed him to the website.  He thanked us and hung up.  We were so excited to hear from him!  He told us how much comfort the website had given him and agreed to meet with us.  We went and saw him the next day on Wednesday! 

Wednesday morning was transfers so we were at the bus station early with the missionaries being transferred.  Sister Narraidoo from France went home. It was so hard saying goodbye to her.  Her companion Sister Matos is now training a new missionary, Sister Arizmendi from Mexico.  She is so cute!  Sister Hinkson and Sister Smith switched places.  We miss Sister Hinkson but it is so fun having Sister Smith here in Ottawa with me!  It's the best!  So anyway, Wednesday we spent the whole day with Sister Ladd while she was waiting for Sister Smith to get here.  We saw Sorayah and Isabelle and then John (who is anglophone so we passed him off the the zone leaders but it was an awesome lesson!) Then we saw Moise and his son Yan.  It was way fun spending the day with Sister Ladd!  We were sad when we had to give her up.

Thursday was awesome!  Thanks so much for the packages!  They made my whole day!  I have the best family ever!  Thanks for all the cute notes and treats!  Thanks SO much for my camera and new outfit!  Much needed.  It was the best birthday!  We had district meeting and then went out for Indian food with Sister Ladd and Sister Smith in our district.  It was super fun!  Afterwards we saw a former investigator Amy and had a lesson with her and cake and Camille  tea.  (I have had so much herbal tea on my misson...I don't like it. I prefer warm milk and sugar.  You've got to try it!  It's African... i think.)  Then we had a lesson with Isaac and then Jocelyne about covenants.  It was kind of scary.  She started getting mad that we were talking about baptism.  But things turned out okay!  She is so close!

 

On Friday we got a new investigator!  She is a media referral named Joanna, and she has a cousin that lives in Utah that is Mormon. When her sister was visiting her cousin, she took the missionary lessons!  Small world.  So we are excited about her.  After our lesson with her we saw Irene with our member Tchoha!  I love it when the members take over.  They make such a difference!  Her mom's funeral was on Saturday in Cote d'Ivoire, and it's been really hard for her.  We talked about temples.  It was a beautiful lesson.  The Spirit was so strong!  Then we had an unexpected change of plans when the zone leaders called us and told us we had to drive down to Montreal tonight rather than taking the buses in the morning.  So we drove down and got lost for TWO HOURS!  Maybe not quite two.... but a long time!  We finally called an Elder in Montreal who was able to help us get to the sisters apartment.  I think we finally got there at like 11:30 pm. We stayed the night in downtown Montreal with Sister Arriaga and Sister Jeter (other STLs).  It was super fun!  They are adorable!  Ha,ha.  Sister carp and I feel so out of our element in Montreal.  It is a different world!  We love Ottawa and never want to leave!

The next morning we went to a chapel in Montreal and had mission leadership council with the seventy Elder Kasher.  It was so inspiring!  He talked about changing our mindsets.  Too often we have the mind set that either we can't do it, or that we can do it if we work hard and follow the Spirit.  But rather than faith, or a lack of faith in ourselves, we need to have faith in Christ.  When we have faith in Christ, we are not worried about our own inadequacies.  We know that He can do it and we will be instruments in His hands has we are obedient and diligent and searching the Spirit.  It was such a powerful experience!  He talked about how we as leaders need to change our mindsets.  Sister Carpenter and I learned a lot and were really edified and set some goals to improve. Afterwards we all had lunch and then Sister Carp and I headed back up to Ottawa.  Thank goodness!  For dinner we went and got Sharwma.

Sunday!  Stake changes.  We are getting a new ward and boundaries are changing.  The English ward in our geographical boundaries, Champlain, will now be in our building with us.

Okay!  Sorry, I didn't write in my journal this week.  So I wanted to get everything down!

DJIM AND ISABELLE ARE GETTING MARRIED ON THURSDAY!   WE are so excited!  Church is true!  I love being a missionary!

Soeur Olsen

STAYING IN GATINEAU WITH SISTER CARPENTER!

March 2, 2015

Heavenly Father is so good to me!  I am so happy.  I am never leaving Gatineau or Sister Carpenter!  I love it here!  Want to know other good news of transfers?  Remember my old companion Sister Smith? (Not the Sister Wright-soon-to-be-Sister-Smith)  yeah, she's coming to Chapel Hill!  Chapel Hill is the other ward in my district!  We get to be together again and we will get to do exchanges together!  Being a missionary is the best!

So I missed lots of things last week.

1. We saw a wolf in the church parking lot in Ottawa at zone  conference last week.  It ran right past our car.  A REAL CANADIAN BALTO.

2.  Sister Carpenter and I were invited to a stake priesthood leader meeting that was the MOST UNCOMFORTABLE THING EVER.  We were the only women.  The stake president acknowledged the "brethren and sister trainers" ever few sentences.  Super uncomfortable.

3. We are having a big new change in our stake this next week that is top secret.  It sounds like there will be boundary changes.  The Champlain ward, the English ward in our geographical boundaries, will be coming to our building.  We won't be alone any more!  We have a special stake meeting next week to hear the details.

4. You know we have a zone goal of 10 baptisms in March?  The most we have ever had in one month in the last two years is 8.  We are so excited!  During zone conference we put up 19 names on the chalkboard of who could be baptized within the month of March.  We put up Isabelle, Soriah, and Ivilise.  We pray for all 19 of these people every day and we had a zone fast for them yesterday.  There has been such power in being unified as a zone in combining our faith and efforts.  We have seen so many miracles from this throughout the teams and the  zone.

Okay, this week!

We were talking with our ZL Elder Anderson last Sunday night and he told him about this miraculous experience he had in one of his former areas where he got 30 lessons in a week.  Sister Carpenter and I were inspired, so we decided we were going to do the same thing this week.  We were determined to do it.  Well, Satan hates us more than Elder Anderson apparently.  (And apparently his ward council set up 15 of the lessons). We got 16 lessons and we are exhausted!  We were working so hard to the very last day to make it happen.  We are going to get it!  Our faith is not weakened!

This week we had exchanges with the Fallowfield Sisters.  Sister Hill came to Gatineau again with me and Sister Carp was with her cute new greenie, Sister Ladron de Geurava who's from Montreal!  She is so cute!  Sister Hill and I had a blast!

Isabelle and Djim are getting married March 13th and Isabelle and her daughter Soriah are getting baptized on the 20th!  And I get to be here!  I am so happy!  Heavenly Father is so good to me!  Did you hear the miracle that happened there?  The ban for the marriage had to be published a la Palais De Justice and at the chapel by the 20th of February.  We had our zone conference, so we gave it to Frere Allard.  His car broke down, so he didn't get it in.  We talked to bishop and he said if we tried to still get the marriage published for the same day, they would reject it and we would have to start the process all over and we would have to wait until APRIL.  So he said to just push back the date and not even try.  We told Frere Allard that but he wouldn't hear of it.  He did not want to push the date back again.  We told him it was the law but he didn't listen to us and did it anyway!  AND IT WORKED!  It was such a huge miracle.  I know it was because of the prayers of all the missionaries.  It was such a testimony builder to me that Heavenly Father was aware of our zone goal and the promises He has made to us. He saw our faith and our efforts and He was blessing us for it.  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!  So they are getting baptized!

Jocelyne has been progressing so well.  She wants to get baptized!!!  We still don't know when.  But I am not worried.  I know she's can do it!

Isaac is praying for a baptismal date!

Irene's mom passed away.  She received a blessing from Elder Christenson, the senior couple in our area.

Cecile Annie is praying to know if she needs to be rebaptized.  She is an investigator from when Sister Wright was here that we dropped for a little while.

Samuel has been praying!  He hasn't received an answer yet, but it will come!  I love them.  He is praying sister Carpenter and I husbands from Africa.

Isabelle was so relieved we weren't being transferred!  She was praying for us to stay.  That's not a good thing, but she is so sweet!  I love her!

We had an awesome lesson with Patrick and Esther and committed them to pray and read the Book of Mormon.

Taught a new family Tharcila and Martin, young couple from Burundi that we found on a list of potentials from two years ago!  They are awesome.

Denis had an awesome experience where he committed to himself and the Lord that he would pay his tithing and he got a 30% raise at work!  The church is true.

We had our district meeting with the ZLs last week.  At the end our Elders whipped out a cake they had bought me and sang to me-- they had no faith that I would stay.  It was super sweet!  Elder Cameron drew a blue icing dragon on it.  Our Elders are hilarious.  They also left us several musical voice mails this week.

We went to Champlain's district meeting.

We had a sister's activity today!  We bought tim bits, chocolate and honey cruller.  Best ones AND THEN WE WENT TO PANDA!  I have been craving Panda since I got out on my mission and there is only one in the whole mission and it's in Ottawa! I am not sure if that is actually doctrine, but it might be!  It was the best!  Then we each bought a bag of fortune cookies to take home.

Sister Narraidoo is going home this week, and sister Hinkson is switching places with Sister Smith.  We are going to miss both of them so much.  Sister Matos is getting a greenie to train!

THANK YOU for my valentine's day package!  I LOVED IT!  I have the best family in the world!  And I love the garland.  You are the best famille!

I will be in mission leadership council in Montreal this Friday so.... you know what that means.  Thanks so much Liz for the letters!  I just got yours from November ;)

I accidentally went a whole day with out my missionary tag!  I lost the one on my coat and forgot to put one on my shirt.  It was the worst day ever.  I never want to not be a missionary!

Okay!  So I know I am forgetting something like always but I had an awesome week!  I am so happy!  And yes, it is so warm!  We didn't even wear our coats one day.  IT was sunny and felt so good!  We felt like we were in California. Hopefully I will get to have all four seasons in Gatineau.

P.S.  Any church music I am allowed to listen to so if you ever want to send any cds my way, I would love that.  Sister carp is getting sick of our music.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Love,

Almost-no-longer-a-teenage-american-that-doesn't-speak-french-soeur olsen!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRSTIE!  YOU ARE SO OLD!