Week 37

Hi Family!

Transfers came and went and Sister Swain and I are still together! wahoo! We love the people here in South Jordan!

Last p-day, Sister Swain and I planned a zone activity for our zone. It was really fun! We have an AMAZING sister who is like our mission mom. She opened her home for our activity. She has a tennis/basketball court, swing set, and we put out Frisbees and croquet. She even made lots of food! It was pretty great p-day! The Assistant Presidents (APs) came too! See photo below of our zone.

We're still struggling to build our teaching pool, but we have some new leads and hope and pray that these people will be open and receptive to the message of the restored gospel. Our former investigators are fizzling out and aren't progressing. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Please keep them in your prayers.

We also taught in Relief Society. Our lesson was from Elder Oaks talk, "No other Gods." (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/no-other-gods?lang=eng) Think about how we put other "priorities" in front of God. "What is our ultimate priority? Are we serving priorities or gods ahead of the God we profess to worship?" We talked about the need for balance. We all have priorities in life but we need to remember Heavenly Father's plan of happiness and where we want to go. Think about it.

K folks, love you!

Sister Olszowka

P.S. The other photo is of my district before transfers. We all stayed, but Sister Rogers (next to me) was transferred to Draper.

Week 36

Hi friends and family,

The schools in the area were on spring break so a lot of people were out of town. So somewhat of a slower week, but we ran into many people that have Hawai'i ties.

We had a lesson with our investigator and invited him to church. He didn't make it because he was sick, BUT his wife who is less active came and brought their kids! It was truly a miracle! We sat with her and her neighbors who are awesome! They said they've invited them to church and activities for the last FOUR years and they haven't come but yesterday they CAME! It was awesome and she stayed for all 3 hours!

Being on a mission during Easter has really opened my eyes to the love my Savior and His great sacrifice. That video I shared last week, (http://easter.mormon.org) we shared it all week long with EVERYONE we met. And every time I watched it I got teary eyed. Because of Him, death is not the end, we have second chances, new beginnings, clean slates, we can start over again, again and again. Such a powerful message displayed in less than 3 minutes. If you haven't watched it, WATCH IT!

May you all have a blessed week and find a way to service someone. Be more loving, more giving, more kind.

Mom, have a happy birthday! I'll be thinking of you on Friday!

Love you!

Sister Olszowka

Week 35

Hi Family and Friends!

Remember a few months ago I mentioned we were teaching a woman in Sandy and her name was Nola? Well she got baptized yesterday! She decided she was ready and willing to follow our Savior Jesus Christ. I was able to go back to Sandy for her baptism. See photo below. Boone her step-dad pictured at the end has been coming back to church after being away for 40 years! I'm so happy for them both. It was truly a miracle!

We also went on exchanges with two sets of Sisters this past week. Sister Riggs shown below is finishing up her mission at the end of this transfer (April 23). She's from Alaska and served in the area I'm currently in.

I helped Sister Jensen finished another puzzle. hehe. I actually enjoy doing puzzle. After a long day and evening planning, I come home and help her with a few pictures.

Miracles are happening left and right. Small miracles, but regardless they are truly miracles! We are working hard and have faith. Everything will happen in the Lord's will and timing. We need to be patience. Sister Swain and I are teaching a new investigator, Anthony. Keep him in your prayers.

In closing, with Easter Sunday approaching I invite you to watch this video.

http://easter.mormon.org/

#BecauseofHim

Love you all!

Sister Olszowka

Week 34

Man! What a BUSY week!

We had lots of meetings this past week, especially now that I'm a part of the Mission Leadership Council. We had interviews with President Chambers as well and he's such a great leader. I definitely appreciate him and his wife so much!

General Conference was this past weekend. We were able to take our investigator Mitch to the Saturday morning session. We took TRAX to and from downtown. Good thing we took our jackets, because it was sunny in South Jordan but when we got downtown it was somewhat cloudy, windy and overcast.

It was really awesome being in the conference center and seeing the Prophet and Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All the talks were really great. I really enjoyed Elder Hales talk about obedience. We need to be careful who we follow. Are we following the Savior? or are we following Satan? Think about it. The Savior said, "follow thou me." 2 Nephi 31:10. We read in John 14:15 "if ye love me, keep my commandments." By being obedient is the way I express my love for my Savior. We need to do what is right and let the consequence follow. We cannot pick and choose the commandments  that we will obey and disobey. Obedience brings blessings. I invite all of you to reflect upon your life and make changes to follow the example of our Savior.

Also as we were leaving the Conference Center, I ran into a old friend from Olympia, Melissa. She recently moved to Utah and is a teacher too.

Hmm. what else? Lately, after nightly planning, I've helped Sister Jensen with her puzzle. I usually don't have the patience for these kind of things, but I actually somewhat enjoy puzzles. Mom, I know you LOVE puzzles! The final product is shown below. Cute yeah?

Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Olszowka

Week 33

"Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions."
How true is this quote? :)

In a talk entitled Desire by Elder Dallin H. Oaks talks about "to achieve our eternal destiny, we will desire and work for the qualities required to become an eternal being."  It was really eye opening. I encourage you all to read it.  (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/desire?lang=eng)

This week went by really fast! We Went on exchanges with Sister Meyers and Moberg. I went to West Jordan with Sister Meyers, she's from Oregon and has been out 2 months. We worked really hard that day and had 8 lessons with less active members. We walked and it had been raining so I had some pretty bad blisters by the time I got back to South Jordan.

We had a mission conference with all 256 missionaries. It was really awesome! I saw some of the missionaries from my MTC district which I haven't seen at all since coming out to the field. Then of course I saw Sister Monarrez and Sister Paredes who were previous companions. Anyways, this one man came and talked about how he climbed Mt. Everest! What I took away from the conference was to set goals and achieve them.

Other than that, Sister Swain and I are doing good. A little bit of a set back with our investigators, but we continue to pray for them. We're still hoping to go to General Conference this week with our investigator Mitch and his girlfriend.

Funny story. Last week on our P-day, is was super sunny but still somewhat windy. But Sister Swain and I wanted to lay out in the sunshine. So we were laying in the backyard and Sister Jensen, our elderly Landlady's cat, Raja came and joined us. I feel bad for him, he's super old and doesn't get much attention. poor guy. So I let him chill with us, even though I don't like cats much.

I'd just like to close with another excerpt from Elder Oaks talk..." I hope each of us will search our hearts to determine what we really desire and how we rank our most important desires."

Love you!
Sister Olszowka

P.S. The picture of me holding my hands in an 8, sister swain is holding 10 and the last Elder is holding 11, we're all from Kamehameha. Holding our graduating years...here's a better photos of us...me , Sister Swain and Elder Clark (his mission is pau in April)

Week 32

Greetings!

It's been a great week! We did some service for our landlady, Sister Jensen, she's 83. She has 1/2 an acre in the backyard with some fruit bearing trees. Someone came to prune them, but I guess the service didn't include branch removal! We had fun helping her. She was also in the hospital this past week so we held down the fort at home.

We also did some service for the Young Women's in the 3rd ward. They're having their New Beginnings this week and the theme is "The adventure awaits" so Sister Swain and I painted the little playhouse, pictured below. Isn't it cute?! I think so :)

The Lord has blessed us with two new investigators. They are pretty great people and are searching for the truth. We have appointments set up with them this week to teach them more. I know that when we are diligent and have faith, the Lord will provide miracles. We'll continue to make more contacts this week.

We also went on exchanges on Friday. I went to West Jordan and was companions with Sister Lopez. She's from Texas and is a great missionary, see photo below. We got to ride bikes! I have a bike, but haven't used it much during proselyting. But Sister Lopez and her companion bike in their area, it's pretty flat. So I got to use Sister McLean's bike and we definitely got to places a lot faster than walking. However, I didn't dress warm enough so I was pretty cold when the evening rolled around.
Hmm what else? We taught the 8th Relief Society lesson. It was based on Elder Hales' conference talk. He spoke about how we should take what we hear, learn and feel from General Conference and apply it into our lives.

That's it for now. Love you lots!

Sister Olszowka

Week 31

AHHH!!!

I was transferred!! Totally unexpected, but guess who's my companion?! It's SISTER SWAIN!!! :) :) The two Hawaiian sistahs are together and in action! I'm still in South Jordan but now in the Country Crossing Stake. We cover 11 wards and 1 branch. There are A LOT of apartments. We're trying to build our teaching pool so we're knocking on doors and looking into former investigators. We picked up a new investigator this week; her name is Dakota and is from a part member family. We're hoping to teach another new investigator, her name is Robyn and is from Montana. We also hold leadership positions in the mission now. We're the Sister Training Leaders. We cover 5 other companionships and basically we encourage, support and help the Sisters. We have 24 hour exchanges with them. We swap companions for 24hrs and help them find and teach.

We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple today as well. It was awesome. I've been to all three temples in the valley now.

The picture below is of my former landlords, Brother and Sister Jolley. She's from South Africa. I'll definitely miss them.

Alrighty, that's all the time I have today, until next week. Love you lots!

Sister Olszowka