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!
No comments:
Post a Comment