Week 61

Greetings from SANDY Young Single Adult Stake (YSA)!!!

Yes, transfers happened and I was transferred back to SANDY! Like any transfer, it's always a little bitter sweet to leave and move on, but I know I did my best and worked hard in South Jordan. I can definitely say with the Lord's help, I left the area better than it was before I got there. Sister Cook stayed in the area and I was a little worried about how she'd do, but I know she'll be okay. Our car that we used also was taken out of the area and another set of sisters use it in South Jordan.

My companion is Sister Aldridge from Missouri and she's been out 13 months. She came into the mission the transfer after me. She has worked in the area for 3 months so she is filling me in on things. Working with Sandy YSA is totally different than working in a homeward. We work with adults ages 18-30 yrs. and our area is pretty big, it's pretty much half of Sandy. There are two sets of missionaries in the YSA stake. Although we only cover five out of nine YSA wards, each ward is made up two family stakes. So with that said, I'm somewhat back in my first area! I past the streets I walked on for the first 6 months of my mission daily.

We work mostly off of referrals, so we're constantly asking people who they know who is a young single adult and would be interesting in hearing from the missionaries. Or there's a lot of activities that happen, such as Family Home Evening, institute class, ward prayer, volleyball, etc. that we invite people to. There's a lot of reactivation work too. Lots of young adults lose sight of the importance of the gospel. I can't tell you how many doors I've knocked on in just the last 5 days and the person we're looking for doesn't live there anymore or they say they're "too busy" to come to church.

Here's my gospel message of the week:

I love you all! Continue to pray unto the Lord for continuous guidance and strength

Sister Olszowka

Photos below:

 I love Melba! She's the sweet neighbor in South Jordan, we always did service for her.

 Cute harvest decorations

 Sunset in South Jordan

 Braden Dillon, little brother reports to the MTC this Wednesday! He's going to be an AWESOME missionary!

 Being funny!

Sister Aldridge and I

Week 60

Greetings!

What a busy week it has been!

We had a meeting with all of the Sisters in the mission on Wednesday; basically training and good words of wisdom from President and Sister Chambers. We met as a mission on Thursday to watch the documentary "Meet the Mormons." I highly encourage you to watch it, it was AWESOME! The film was produced by the church and captures six individuals who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) in all their reality and humanity. "These husbands and wives, fathers and mothers share their experiences as they try to balance faith and family with work, hobbies, and culture. The film shows that even though members of the Church are very diverse, they are all part of a big family striving for the same goals."(Ensign, October 2014)

Then to top it off, it was General Conference weekend! I love conference. It's so amazing to hear words and counsel from our prophet and leaders of the church. I didn't bring my notebook to share what I really enjoyed, but look out for next week for that post. Saturday morning some of the missionaries and I caught trax to downtown. It was fun to go as a group, especially with Sister Swain. We sat really close to the pulpit (see photo below). When conference was over and we were walking out I ran into people from Hau'ula, I saw Drake Auna and his wife! Crazy! We watched the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning sessions with Sister Jensen, our landlady, and then Sunday afternoon we had lunch and watched conference with the Harris family. They have Hawai'i ties so it was lots of food of course!

As far as missionary work, we're always looking for people to teach and share the restored gospel. We spoke with a woman on the street last night, she's from Arizona and she invited us back so we'll see how that goes. Our other two investigators, both kids, will most likely be baptized in November so we continue to teach them weekly.

Transfers are this week. I love you all! Continue to do what is right and be obedient.

Love,
Sister Olszowka

Week 59

Thank goodness for rainboots! :)

Yes sirree, it's rained all day Saturday. It wasn't the most effective proselyting day, but we followed up with lots people so we stayed dried .See photo below of me holding a worm.

Remember the miracle I shared last week? Well we had our lesson with this family and it went well! We have a return appointment and will continue to teach her. We hope she can be baptized in early November. We have a few referrals that we're planning to contact this week and hope we can start teaching them as well.

We had two meetings this past week at the mission office. I saw Sister Swain, she's doing well! I miss her plenty kine.

Oh! last p-day, we went to the local mall in Sandy and I ran into a college friend! See photo below. She said, "hey Jade!" and I looked around and I was shocked! It was crazy to see someone I knew! We had a nice little visit in the middle of Macy's. haha!

General Conference is this weekend! woot woot! I look forward to the words and counsel from the Prophet and leaders of the church. I have a ticket for the Saturday morning session. I'm going with 20 other missionaries from the mission.

My time is short today, here's my gospel message for this week:

Love you all!

Sister Olszowka

Week 58

Hi family and friends!

A miracle happened this morning! A sister in one of the wards we cover called us and said she has a daughter that hasn't been baptized and would like us to start teaching her. We're exciting for this teaching opportunity. We express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for answering our prayers and fast.

In other news, someone hit our car last week in a parking lot. I forgot to tell ya. No sorry note or anything. Sad day. See photo below. I had to take it to sandy to get it estimated, and the guy said, "hey you look familiar." I told him I was there last December. Remember when the elderly woman backed into our parked car? Yeah, the mission told me to take it to the same place to be looked at. Anyways, we're safe, but Nalu (car's name) has a sad looking dent on the rear bumper.

In my studies, I've been studying the topic of sacrifice. Sacrifice means giving to the Lord whatever he requires of our time, our earthly possessions, and our energies to further his work. I mentioned this scripture a few weeks ago, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." (Matt 6:33) Our willingness to sacrifice is an indication of our devotion to God. Only through sacrifice can we become worthy to live in the presence of God. Only through sacrifice can we enjoy eternal life.

Some have asked, "why are you serving a mission?" Simple. I love the Savior and my Heavenly Father. The gospel of Jesus Christ has brought me so much happiness and peace and I want to share that with others. I know Jesus Christ lives; He is my Savior and Redeemer. I am willing to sacrifice my time, my energy, my career to serve my Father in Heaven. My purpose has a missionary is to invite others come unto Christ by helping them received 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. Jesus Christ atone for all of mankind. I know by following in His footsteps, we'll be able to return to live in God's presence.

So I'd like to ask, what are you willing to sacrifice to follow the Savior and Heavenly Father?

Have a blessed week!

Love,

Sister Olszowka

P.S.  Flower is Jasmine (pikake) from someone's yard. It reminded me of home sooo much! 

Week 57

Hello family and friends!

My time is short today. We attended the Oquirrh Mountain temple this morning. It's always a wonderful experience when we have the opportunity to go to the temple.

We had interviews with President this past week. He mostly asked about how my trainee was doing and how my area was. We're still seeking for people to teach. Our potentials in the last few weeks have been avoiding us. Bummer. However we have the faith that something will come about. We continue to work hard and meet people.

It's been another week of service. We helped a sister can peaches, it was fun! See photo below. Cleaned out someone's fridge, vacuumed someone else's house and picked up more peaches!

Here's my gospel nugget of the week:

Ponder this. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer. He atoned for the sins of all mankind. May we all have more trust and faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ. Let us be spiritually changed and transformed.

Love you all!

Sister Olszowka

P.S. yes, I'm holding someone's PET RAT. eek!

Week 56

Welcome PEACH season!

Yes, we've helped pick tons of peaches this past week. Shucks I should have taken a picture. Sister Jensen has been canning and making jam like no one's business! I've come to realize Utahans really enjoy jams. I have a cupboard full of jam. Not only peach, but strawberry, raspberry, choke cherry, apricot, you name it, I probably got it. I'm not sure what to do with it all. oka.  However, I love all the raw fruits and veggies this time of year.

We received a call out of the blue this past week from someone I talked to on the street a few weeks ago. She said she wanted to meet with us and needed some help. We met with her briefly and she mentioned she was baptized when she was younger, but hasn't been active since. She’s now looking to learn more. Bam! That's what missionaries do! Teach others about our Savior Jesus Christ. We have a lesson set up with her this evening and her children haven't been baptized. I have a testimony of talking to EVERYONE. This woman was walking her dog and I just stopped and starting talking to her, invited her to come to church, told her where it was and left our number. One of the best ways to teach more people is to MEET more people.

My time is short today, but I wanted to leave this clip with you. Watch it.

The Hope of God's Light

Love you all,
Sister Olszowka

Week 55

August came and went and now September is here!

With that said, transfers happen! Sister Prenatt was transferred to West Jordan and I stayed in South Jordan with the calling of training a new sister missionary. Yes, I'm training again, wahoo! Sister Cook is 19 years old and is from Iowa. She was raised in the church and both of her parents are return missionaries. She's pretty quiet and shy, but I hope that I can help her bloom into an outgoing BOLD missionary.

The work continues to be slow goin' but things are happening. We prayed and fasted yesterday for our area. This is going to be a good transfer, I have great faith. We knocked on a door and I've met this young man before, really nice, chatted a bit and invited him to meet with the missionaries and he agreed. Since he's 20 years old we had to pass him off to the Elders over the Young Single Adult ward since they're assigned to work with 18-30 yr olds. They have a appointment set up for this coming week.

In my studies I've been studying the importance of baptism. In the Bible, we read in John 3:5,

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man beborn of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

We cannot enter into the kingdom of God if we are not baptized. We continue to read in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 27:19

19 And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.

So we need to be clean in order to enter into the kingdom of God as well. Think about it. What are we doing that isn't in line with God's will? What is keeping us from living with Heavenly Father? If we're doing things that are unpleasing and are not living the commandments, we need to stop and change. Repent. Rely on the Savior and His Atonement for help and guidance.

I love you all. Have a blessed week,

Sister Olszowka