Monday, June 22, 2015

How to catch a frog

hey good afternoon

Well this week has been really interesting!  but the biggest moments I think that really strike me to write about is Mirium (whose name is Marian.. whoops) is still on for getting baptized. we were worried for a little while because we weren't able to get an appointment with her. we kept trying but everything kept falling through. we needed to teach the word of wisdom but we weren't sure how we were going to do that after not seeing her for awhile, and just popping in and saying "oh hey you need to quit smoking in less than a month to be baptized" so we weren't sure how smooth that was going to go over but we proceeded and had faith that we would be given the correct words to say. Words that would be full of love and encouragement. So we went in, luckily a member was able to come, and we taught. can i just say it was very powerful. she apparently had already been trying quit smoking for the past two months just because she didn't want to buy them anymore, so she said that this wouldn't be too big of a deal. i can say that because the spirit was right and we focused on having the faith to quit she was touched by the spirit of love. (gal. 5:22) we ended up going over there three times that day to 1. teach 2. get a priesthood holder to give her a blessing 3. to give her some food. but that's another story for a different time. 

the other thing that is major is i need to mention Cottie Oliver. i know in one of my first emails since i have been out here i mentioned her and we talked about the Restoration, and the next time she told us she didn't want to be apart of a religion that was different from hers. so she gave us back the Book of Mormon and left us in the dust... well story 2 with Cottie is that we felt impressed to go back to see her and ask if there was anything that we could do for her.. just so she knows that we are still thinking of her, and her facial expression when from bright and happy to straight disgust as she slammed the door in our face.... so i know that isn't quite exactly what you were thinking i was going to say.. but hey its life not all moments are wonderful. but the main point i want to share is that yea she didn't automatically say she wants the gospel, baptize me, but we followed the spirit. maybe nothing came from it now, but we did what we were asked. our purpose in our life is to just do what our hevenly father asks us to do. we can either follow or not. but the choice is certainly ours. i still love Cottie and i will never forget our first lesson we had with her and the spirit that was felt. but i will most definitely never forget the peace i felt after acting on the impression to go and see her. it took awhile to feel that peace of course. there was of course a little tears here and there. (because i wanted to know why God would impress me to go back if it was for 'nothing'? or how could she just slam the door in our face after being so nice?) but the important thing is to; after a trial or a test of faith, is to take  a minute afterward and evaluate why? and What? we were supposed to learn that thing in that way. This may be scrambled and not make a whole lot of sense but this week was hard and I learned a lot! nothing is easy when you are bearing the name of God, battling the battles against satan. Ex. Christ, Joseph Smith, every prophet that had to guide the people towards 'all' righteousness! 

Highlights:

mon: we tried to catch a frog and ended up seeing a wild turtle and had a very random day in Farmville which consisted of an old 1800's Victorian house tours

tues: Marian's (aka Mirium)  lesson was phenomenal. also we cleaned our car in 105 degrees and who knows how much humidity.... lets just say my back was very wet... nasty

wed: Zone Conference, we won and received a certificate for third cleanest car in the zone (special thanks to my sister Joanna and my dad for teaching me to clean cars the RIGHT way ;D)

thurs: very slow day.. not too eventful... oh we finshed weekly planning on time!!

Friday: Had dinner with Sister Quasbarth and it was so nice she reminds me a lot of Tatiana Touhy, very kind and so full of joy.

Saturday: we caught Stanley our frog on stantonsburg Rd. on our way home from our last appointment. 

Sun: Ann who has been investigating for a year. has committed to a baptisimal date!! (read 'how to leave the harbor' it is in June's ensign)

-sister Olesen





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