Spiders!

July 21, 2014

Famille!

Okay, apologies in advance, I am emailing in a French library- I have a French library card!- and the keyboard and punctuations are different.

I am so excited to hear about James Fox`s mission call!  I can`t believe you guys forgot to tell me.  Tell him congratulations from me though; he will be so so amazing!

Sarah is home!  She sounds as funny as ever.  Give her a really big hug, and don`t do any tim tam shots without me!

No sorry, we are actually living in the basement of the member, and it wouldn`t be very polite for us to use their mailbox, so keep sending things to the mission home.  It does take a while because we are about two hours out, so I only get mail once a month, I think, at zone conferences.  Maybe I`ll dig up the address of our home and send it next week just in case you need to get something to me quickly, but don`t plan on using it regularly.

I am so relieved to hear that you didn`t call President Patrick!  I promise, it`s just fine.  My trainer knows what she is doing, and we are always listening for the Spirit.  Yes we ALWAYS have members with us, and yes we are NEVER alone with them.  We can`t even give them rides.  All the rules that are put in place keep us safe.  And they aren`t actually a gang.  That`s just what we call them.  They are really really nice.  And usually the worst thing is that they step out and take a smoke during the lesson.  Don`t worry about me!  We are being smart and following the rules and the Spirit.  Don`t call President.  I have an interview with him this week so I will ask him about it if it makes you feel better.

Thanks so much for going to Diggy farewell!  It`s so fun to hear how everyone is doing. Thanks for snagging me some things from Grandma and Grandpa`s house!

I`m appalled to hear Dad that you don`t like wasabi peas.  I am sure that Anne is not really taller than me.

Sorry I forgot my camera cord today so no pictures!  Although my Elders from the MTC keep sending me ugly pictures of me so maybe I forward some of those along.

This week so awesome!  It was definitely hard, but still full of miracles.  I went on my first split!  It was stressful. They kept me in my own area, so that was really mean.  But it was okay because I went with Sister Craven who was Sister Wright`s companion in this area before me.  So all of her old investigators were excited to see her, but it was stressful having to take the lead with all of our new amis.

Denis and Ines are getting baptized on Saturday!  I think.  They just changed the rule, so now we teach Lesson 5 BEFORE baptism (it includes eternal marriage, temple work, missionary work, etc.)  So we taught about temples and eternal marriage this week.  It was so special because Denis` wife passed away six years ago this week.  The Spirit was unbelievably strong.  I love teaching people about eternal families!  But just before we left Denis and Ines said that they were still kind of on the fence about baptism.  So we are going to go talk to them this week.  Ines is going to girls camp though, so we told her to pray about it then.  She is going to text us Saturday when she gets back from camp to let us know whether or not she is getting baptized that day.  So definitely be praying for out little Cote d`Ivoire family!  They are so prepared and so, so ready.

Hey Badou- Senegal ami- came to a baptism this week!  And then Hydress- Congo ami- came to church!

Okay, worst thing ever this week.  Wednesday night, when we were on splits and Sister Craven was sleeping over, I felt something crawling across my lips, and went to touch them, and there was something there!  I swiped it off and threw my blankets off my bed.  It was so horrible.  Our house has been infested with spiders.  I hate it.  I spent like 30 minutes in the bathroom trying to calm down and make sure it wasn`t in my hair.  I came back and try to subtly examine my bed with the flash light.  Sister Craven thought I was crazy.  I ended up sleeping with a wash cloth on my arm for the rest of the night because my towel was still wet and my covers were infested with spiders I`m sure.  I keep having nightmares about spiders now.

Okay sorry, that`s all I have time for!  I hope you have a wonderful week!  Don`t worry about me, I am happy and healthy and loving everything about being a missionary up here in Canada!  Happy Pioneer Day!

Love,

Soeur Olsen

Oh and p.s. we went to a family`s house for dinner this week.  Look up Val de Mont (ou peut etre Val des Monts).  It was unbelievably gorgeous.  Their house sits on Lac Claire (ou Clair).  Apparently they own like five lakes up there!  It is way cool!



(I'm not sure if this is from the MTC or not)