Week 11

Hi Family and Friends,

What a crazy week. Remember I said Sister Dazey and I would become a trio with Sister Crandell? Well we were a trio for only three days! Sister Lopez came in on Saturday and she's a visa waiter for Brazil and is companions with Sister Crandell. Sister Lopez is from Oregon! We did pack our bags and moved over to Sister Crandell's apartment which is a lot more spacious than our little place. We were fortunate to use the car this past week. Sister Crandell is a crazy driver. There's certain rules in order to drive the car, you have to be the designated driver which I'm not so I seriously pray every time before I get into the car with her. ahh!

Transfers are coming up on Nov. 6. I'm pretty sure that I'll be staying in my area and will be training a new missionary! We'll see what happens, but I'm ready to train if need be.

We have a baptism this coming Saturday, our 88 year old. We're excited for him and he came to church yesterday as well. President Chambers (the mission president) and his wife are planning to attend.

Our other investigator whose baptism was scheduled for Nov. 9 dropped us. It was really strange. We had a lesson with him on Saturday and it went REALLY well. The Spirit was really strong and he understood and agreed with what we were teaching. Then he texted us later that night and said thanks for our time, but he doesn't want to meet with us anymore and doesn't want to be baptized. We called him up to discuss his concerns. He doesn't agree with some of the things written in the Book of Mormon. So please keep him in your prayers. We're going to try again this week to meet with him.

Other than that, I'm good family! Thanks mom for the new shoes! I like them a lot! Also the surprise Halloween package was awesome!

Everyday is a new day, make the most of it. Tomorrow isn't granted. Remember and give thanks to our Savior Jesus Christ. Rely on Him. Pray for strength and guidance. The Gospel brings so much happiness into my life. I've been truly blessed.

I've included some photos of the beautiful fall colors.

Look at these twins! Pieper and Penny! They are sooo cute! I love this little family. Their parents are always so willing to give us rides and let us come into their home when it cold outside. We appreciate them.

Aloha,
Sister Olszowka

p.s. this cat that I'm hold cost $1,000 dollars!!! crazy!! The owner is artist, Glenda Gleaves, checkout her stuff.

Week 10

My heart is so full of thanksgiving and gratitude to my Heavenly Father. He has blessed us with opportunities to teach and invite others to come unto Jesus Christ. This past weekend was filled with happiness and joy. There were two baptizes on Saturday. Although the Portuguese Elders taught the investigator we contacted, he wanted us (Sisters) to be a part of his special day. The service was in Portuguese which was pretty cool. Also our 10 year old investigator's baptism was this weekend. We're so proud of him and his decision to follow Jesus Christ. He's going to grow up to be a great young man.

Our 88 year old investigator made it to church and he loves it! He's expressed he should have come sooner! He's so funny. He's ready to be baptized! November 2nd. Also our new investigator that we found last week came to one of the baptisms this past weekend AND came to church! :) He's baptism is scheduled for Nov 9.

This is my district. Elder Jensen, Sister Crandell, Sister Nelson, Me, Sister Dazey and Elder Horn pictured below. Sister Nelson got her visa for Argentina and will be leaving us on Wednesday. So that means the other three sisters will become a trio! We're in two different stakes so when we combine we'll cover two different stakes, a total of 7 wards. Transfers are coming up on Nov. 6 so I'm most likely will be training a new missionaries. I'm ready for it!

Fall is in full swing. It's chilly, but the colors are beautiful.

We went out for district lunch (happens every Tuesday) and we were walking past a new pizza place, Pie Five. The owner came out and offered us free pizza! He was really good and then One Sweet Slice, a cupcake shop, they were on Cupcake Wars and they won! Gave us a WHOLE box of cupcakes and they were REALLY good! The people here in Utah are really nice and always giving.

We also had the opportunity to do some service! We cleaned out a vegetable garden and trimmed some trees.

Got to go, but remember to pray. Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.

oh! HAPPY early BIRTHDAY DAD!! I'm so lucky to have a dad like you! I hope you have a great day! I'll be thinking of you on Wednesday.

love ya all!

Week 9

Hi Family and Friends!

Guess what? I have a new companion!! I know only 3 weeks into the transfer. Transfers are normally 6 weeks. A visa waiter (we have other missionaries that come to the SLC-South mission and work in our mission while they wait for their visa to go their assigned country) received her visa to Spain so Sister Monarrez was needed back in the Spanish assignment so she packed all her things, she had a TON of clothes and we were at the mission office at 7am this morning! Sister Dazey is my new companion. We entered into the mission field at the same time so I know her from the MTC. She's 24 and is from North Carolina.

Both our investigators made it church which was great! They really enjoyed fast and testimony meeting. Our 10 year old investigator has been praying really hard. He's been asking Heavenly Father for strength and courage to talk to his dad about being baptized. We followed up with him and he talked with his dad and he dad said yes! Brothers and sisters, this is just another testimony of prayer! Heavenly Father hears and answers us.  Heavenly Father promises us blessings. He need to ask in faith and trust in the Lord.

We also found a NEW investigator! We taught him last night and he's really interested in learning about the church.

We helped a Thai lady clean out her garage the other day and she was funny! She claims an animal scratched the bottom of her front door and now bugs can get into her house. When it actuality it's wear and tear of the home and she's put phone books and a can of paint by the door so the "bugs" don't get in. Oh gosh. She’s a funny elderly lady. We're always looking for service opportunities and we were happy that we could help her.

Here are more pictures of Sister Monarrez and I. I will miss her dearly, but I'm definitely going to Chicago to visit her after the mission!

Love,

Sister Olszowka

p.s. these peanut butters are sooo good! just sayin'....

Week 8

Family and Friends,

 I hope you were able to watch General Conference! It was great! We watched both days of Conference at Members' home. All of the messages were so inspirational. I can't pick just one speaker, they all have wonderful messages. If you can have time, go to lds.org to read them! Henry B Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf were two of my favorites. oh! there was a hour long special about the PCC, Hawai'i Temple and BYU-Hawai'i! It was on in between the two Sunday sessions, it was called Voyage of Faith! It was really nice! I was so excited to see La'ie and people I knew!

The temple on Tuesday was great too! It was so peaceful and refreshing to attend the temple. Here's a picture of Sister Monarrez and I at the doors.

Sister Monarrez and I doing well. Getting along great! she's really fun! We're always looking for more opportunities to teach, but the work is slowly progressing. Our investigators are still on date for their baptisms. yay! 

Funny story. We knocked on a door and no one was home so as we were walking out of the drive way we saw the older lady pulling in. She didn't give us eye contact, but we thought we'd wait for her to get out of her car so we could talk to her. She pulled into her garage and proceeded to shut to door on us! obviously she didn't want to talk to us, but in the process of closing the garage door it hit the back of her car! haha! It was pretty funny.

It's starting to get REALLY cold! The leaves are changing colors which is really pretty! oh yeah, remember how I said we might get a car? yeah no car. The zone leaders in another zone are getting it. So we're still walking in the cold but I'm learning how to dress warmly.

Enjoy the pictures this week! Until next week. Love you all!

Sister Olszowka

Week 7

Dear Family,

Today is Tuesday! Our preparation day is usually Monday, but we're going to the Draper Temple today! Since we only go to the temple once a quarter, the day we go to the temple will become our preparation day. Make sense?

Transfers happened and I have a new companion!! Sister Monarrez! She's 21, from Chicago and has been serving the last nine months in Draper in the Spanish speaking assignment. She's awesome! She's bold, approachable, fun and experienced. I love her. Maybe I'll pick up some Spanish. :)

We've had a few miracles this past week. We have another investigator on date! He's 10 years old and comes from a part-member family. It was great meeting with his family this past Sunday. In our lesson his older brother who is 12 testified about how great it is to be a Member of the church and receiving the gift of the holy ghost after he's baptized. We have two more potential investigator who we're working on and helping them build their faith in Jesus Christ.

The weather has been COLD! oh gosh! and I don't have any of my winter clothes yet. It's definitely no fun walking in the cold weather, especially at night. There was snow in the mountains the other day, but it's warmed up again this week.

The picture below are my first pair of shoes that were wore out the first week I was here! Sad day for that pair of shoes. The District leader called the other night and said we might be getting a car. We'll be sharing the car with the other set of sisters in our district.

Hope your week is going well!

Love,
Sister Olszowka