Sister Ashlee Olsen: The Power of the Nametag

Hi family!

I have ten minutes to write you this week. When I prayed about what to share with you, two experiences we had this week came to my mind.

The first one happened earlier in the week. The past two weeks we have had to slow down a little bit because of my companions health. Don't worry, all is well. We have just had to take a few walks here and there between important tasks and appointments.

There is a busy road (don't worry dad, it has a side walk) in our area called Mentone Blvd. It's where you can find all the awesome Mentone Regs :) We have spent a lot of time walking down the street and waving at everyone we see.

Apparently, the other sisters in the neighboring area have been doing the same thing. A non member noticed all of these missionaries walking around, took a picture of the other sisters and posted it on facebook. There were several likes, views, shares, (whatever kids are calling it these days) and nonmembers and members were commenting. Everyone was talking about how much they love the Redlands missionaries and how helpful and loving we are to everyone. It was so cool! You never know the good you do! Even just a simple wave at someone you don't know can make such a difference!

The other thing I wanted to talk about was my departing temple trip. Yes. That happened. At the end of every transfer president and sister VanCott take all the departing missionaries to the temple and have a meeting and lunch after. We talked about going home and what's going to happen and other things such as dating. It was really weird. Not going to lie. Since this was the Van Cott's last departing temple trip, they invited all the missionaries going home from now until August to go.

When I walked into the main room of the temple with all the seats, it was FULL of missionaries. I can not even begin to describe to you the peace that I felt walking into the room. I just felt like there were angels everywhere. The Spirit was so THICK. My heart felt so full. When I walked into the next room, President and Sister Van Cott were in there waiting to greet all the missionaries. It was so... well it was weird... But I don't know. I can't describe to you how it felt to be in the temple with that many missionaries.

There is no place I would rather be then the temple. I know Heavenly Father wants all of us to make it there. We need to do everything we can to get to the temple- to get home.

I hope you have a great week! I love you all so much!

Love your missionary,

Sister Olsen