Week 53

Hi family and friends!

It's just crazy how we're already half way through August! eek! This week was pretty great! Elder Don Clarke came to the mission and WOW! It was an awesome experience to receive guidance from him. He definitely tells it how it is. He helped me refocus on my purpose as a missionary and as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I took what I learned and am applying it.

Here's an experience that I'd like to share. There's a recent convert that moved into one of our apartment complexes. She was baptized a year and a half ago in Vegas. The missionaries knocked on her door and taught her. She's been transferred to Utah for work and she recently lost her dad and her brother within the last year. She hasn't been to church since May. So I felt impressed to drive by her place Saturday, it was 8:30pm, we were wrapping up for the night. I thought let's call her. We did, she was having a tough day so we stopped in. We invited her to come to church. She has a crazy work schedule and this was the only sunday she'd have off. She sounded a little hesitant when we left about coming to church. Sunday morning rolled around, I felt that we needed to go knock on her door and wake her up. Knocked once, waited, no answer. Sister Prenatt was looking at me like I was crazy. But I knocked again and she opened. She said she was not feeling well and couldn't make it to church. I insisted that she come, this was her only Sunday off and church is where she needed to be. She wasn't going to make it to her assigned ward, but  she came to 11am church. She later expressed that she felt relaxed and was thankful that we helped her get to church.

I look at this experience and I think I'm fulfilling my purpose as a missionary, which is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I am so grateful and blessed to be a small part of Heavenly Father's glorious plan. This is truly Christ church and we are all brothers and sisters of a loving Heavenly Father. May we follow the prompting of the Holy Ghost and continue to help those that are seeking strength and guidance.

That's all the time I have for today. I love you all.

Sister Olszowka

P.S. The pictures below are some the animals I see daily. It's somewhat strange to see them and then right across the street are HUGE homes. haha! Then the sunrise this morning as we went out to run and my new running shoes.