Week 46

Hi Family,

All is well with me. Thank you for your emails and letters. I always look forward to Mondays. We've had a busy week. We had Mission Leadership Council (MLC) on Wednesday where all the leadership meets and discuss the missionary efforts in the mission. We also receive training from President Chambers. He's such an inspired man and I appreciate the opportunity I have to work with him and all of the other awesome leadership.

We went on exchanges with a set of sisters this past week, Sister Gough and Mobley. Sister Gough came to my area and we contacted a lot of the people that day. None of them interested in learning more about the gospel, but we continue to push forward with faith and hope.

Our Sunday was pretty busy. We taught the youth at a morning side fireside about the Book of Mormon; bore testimony of the Book of Mormon in the 5th Sunday lesson with one of the Bishops and to top it off we taught sharing time in Junior and Senior primary about how priesthood ordinances blesses our families. Man, I've missed working with little kids, it was fun.

Dad, we've had the opportunity to serve. I've become REALLY good at pulling weeds. :) Everyone has a yard here in South Jordan and an indoor dog(s). haha!

Funny story, our landlady got her furnace and air-conditioner replaced and somehow they messed with the water heater. So when we went to take showers Sunday morning the water was FREEZING COLD. Like ice. I tried to shower, but I couldn't, it was WAY too cold. So we called another member, she used to have the missionaries living in her basement and told us come on over! I can see why the Lord didn't send me to some foreign place because He knew I couldn't handle cold showers. I remember when I went to Tahiti back in 2007 and we had to bathe in cold water and I almost cried. haha!

We picked up another new investigator this past week, but he's not interested in becoming a part of the church. He's somewhat meeting with us out of obligation. But the spirit can change us so we continue to pray for him and his wife who was our new investigator last week.

Okay, until next week.

Love you all! Have a Happy 4th of July!

Today marks 11 months! I'll see you in 7 months! :)

Sister Olszowka

p.s. pictures of the car we drive, I got my hair trimmed thanks to Jess and this is a sign that hangs in her home.

Week 45

Hi Family and Friends,

Keeping this super short today. I didn't take many photos this week.

The weather is getting HOT. Super hot. The kine where you drink lots of water and you're still thirsty. oka! A sweet member bought us a Brita water filter; since we live in an older home the water tastes small kine different.

Sister Swain made spam musubi this past week. They were yummy.

We went on exchanges this week. I went with Sister Cheng to West Jordan. She's from Hong Kong and actually went to BYUH for a semester. She even worked at PCC, but different dining. We got to ride our bikes.

Did I tell you my bike story? Well I requested a bike from the mission office because we wanted to exercise in the morning. Sister Swain's knees have been hurting since we've been running. So I even picked a bike out at the mission office, but for some reason when transfers happen the Elder over bikes and vehicles let my bike walk off. So the zone leaders and him went to three pond shops in Sandy to get me a bike! yeah, they spent $75 bucks and when they delivered it to us, it was broke! the breaks didn't work! oh gosh. anyways a member helped us fix it and now we're good! Yay for bikes!

We have a new investigator as well. She didn't make it to church, but we have a lesson set up with her this week and she's said that she's been reading the Book of Mormon.

Love you all, until next week!

Sister Olszowka

Week 44

Man, it seems like this has been a really LONG week.

We went to the Temple today. It's always such a nice experience to go to the Temple. 

Sister Swain and I were able to go to Sandy and visit Brother Birch and the Divine family. It was such a nice visit. He's doing okay, he has great neighbors and his family is really watching out and supporting him. We sang his favorite hymn, "I stand all amazed" and shared a scripture. The Spirit was strong and we knew Sister Birch was there too.

Sister Dillon's son, Braden got his mission call this week. See photo below. He's like our brother. Seriously. We were there when he opened his call. I guessed he was going Spanish speaking. There were about 80 people at his opening. He's headed to Mexico, Mexico City East mission. He reports in October.

A family went to Hawai'i this past week and brought us back a lei. See photo.

k got to go, love you all!

Sister Olszowka

Week 43

Hi Family,
 

It's been a little bit of an emotional week. I received a call on Tuesday that Brother Birch (the 89 year old man I taught in Sandy) he's wife, Beverley Birch, passed away. It came as a shock. I asked President Chambers if I could attend her funeral, but he suggested I not attend but visit Brother Birch at his home sometime this week.  It gives me much comfort to know that Sister Birch is now resting free from all of her pain. She was such a sweet woman. Her daughter, Wendy, sent me a sweet note saying that her mom told her that I was the one who influenced her the most. and man, that just touched me. The Lord is so mindful of His children. I recognize I'm just an instrument in the Lord's hand and I'm here to serve others.

Transfers happen this week, and Sister Swain and I both stayed in our area. Sister Swain thought she'd be transferred, but we're together for another six weeks for sure. So from the photo below that my old district. My new district leader is from Kahuku, Elder Medeiros. yeah, three Hawaiians all in the same district.

There's a family in our area that recently moved into our area, and they're from La'ie. The Uyehara family. We attended their son's baptism. They had a 'ono kine grindz BBQ after with all their local friends, who all lived La'ie too. Dad, PLENTY people know you! Mom, the grandpa of this little boy used to be your boss! small world. See photo below.

Hey! There's a awesome talk given by Elder Bednar, title "In the Strength of the Lord" that I read this morning and I suggest you read it. It's a little long, but really awesome. Talking about the gospel of the Savior is not simply about avoiding bad in our lives; it also is essentially about doing and becoming good. The Atonement provides help for us to overcome and avoid bad and to do and become good.

Thank you for your prayers and love.

Love,
Sister Olszowka

p.s. one woman gives us chocolate milk every time we visit. haha.

Week 42

Happy JUNE!!

It's definitely getting HOT! For Memorial Day we went on a hike! We went with the Dillon family, they're awesome! We hiked in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was still pretty snowy so we didn't make it all the way up, but we saw some rushing waters and felt the warm summer sun. I even put on sunblock! It was super weird. I was telling myself, "I haven't worn sunblock in 10 months!" haha!

Transfers are happening on Tuesday. I'll most likely stay here in South Jordan but you never know; it's all in the Lord's hands and where we're needed.

We have a baptism coming up in July. An 11 year old boy told his step dad he wanted to be baptized so we taught him on Saturday evening and now he has a set date in July. Miracles are happening in the stake.

Hmm. Did I mention we have a new car? Yeah! A 2014 Toyota Corolla! I'll send a pic next week. It's pretty nice. Once cars reach a certain amount of miles they're switched out. Mahalo for all the faithful tithe payers, we appreciate the wonderful blessing to use a car to help us get around quickly.

Congratulations to Danica and Chase Johnson on their baby boy! Welcome to the world Baby Tell! :)

Time is up, I love you all!

Sister Olszowka