Sister Ashlee Olsen: New Beginnings!!!

BEFORE I FORGET! I have forgotten this the past two weeks! My STL's last transfers were in the Tongan ward. They get to speak Tongan and have Tongan name tags and everything! When I went on exchanges, Sister Peterson helped me write my testimony in Tongan. Here it is:

Fakatonga Fakamo'oni

Fakamo'oni oku ou ilo kow hoku tamai hevani ofa kia kitautolu kotoa pe. Oku ou ilo na'e teuteu'i e he otua ha palani ke tau toe foki kiate la pea ke tau ke ma'u ha nonga moe fiemalie. Oku mo'oni ae Tohi a Molamona. Pea moe kapau te tau lau eni i he aho kotoa pe oku e lava ke tau mo'ui fiefia. Oku ou ilo ko ha palofita'a Tomasi S. Monsoni. Oku kitautolu kapau fanonga ki hono lea ke lava ke tau mo'ui ke ma'u ha fiefia. Oku ou ilo koe famili koe uho e he ae palani oe otua pea ke lava ketau nofo aki etau ngaahi famili ke he taengata. Oku'ou fai eni i'he huafa o'sisu Kalaisi, emen.

Isn't that a mouthful!

Alright. So the transfer has ended! I am staying in the Summit ward. Sister Hamblin is getting transferred to Rialto. My new companion will be Sister Shin. Sister Hamblin and Sister Shin were companions in the MTC. I have met Sister Shin before AND SHE IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are going to be Sister Training Leaders this transfer. Sooooo STL round 2 for me...

For the past two weeks I have been praying for my new companion even though I had no idea who she was. For all I knew, I could have been praying for Sister Hamblin because we could have both just stayed. But I prayed and prayed and PRAYED that my companion for the next transfer would be prepared. I prayed that I would have a wonderful companion that would help me and push me to become a better missionary. I prayed that I would have a companion that I could just work my butt off with. I am SO grateful that I know Sister Shin and that Heavenly Father has answered my prayer with a wonderful companion!

This week was crazy! We have been seeing Juan a LOT to prepare him for baptism. We have officially set his baptism date for Saturday June 13th at 3:30 p.m. I swear he is going to be a bishop someday...maybe even a stake president. Sister Hamblin and I learn so much from him.

We also met Rose this week. Rose and Toni are two older sisters that the Sister Missionaries before I was here street contacted. Sister Hamblin said that last time she saw them they were nice, but not really interested. For the past few weeks Sister Hamblin has felt like we needed to visit them. Our less-active appointment fell through on Saturday night so we decided to just walk over to see Rose and Toni. Rose answered the door, let us in (WHICH NEVER HAPPENS IN THIS AREA!), and started to weep. She told us that Toni had died the last week of April. We sat there with her and hugged her and listened to her and just let her cry. After a while, I showed her the Mormon Message "Mountains to Climb" (WATCH IT!) and she just bawled through the whole thing. I bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it has helped me in my life go through trials. We read Helaman 5:12. She said she would read the Book of Mormon. She didn't want to start taking the lessons, but she said she would let us help her go through some of Toni's things and help her get the house in order (which I don't really know what she wants us to do because her house is spotless...). She said that she knew God sent us to comfort her, but she doesn't want to give up her Catholic believes.

We have another new investigator named Paul that we met while he was fixing his truck in his driveway. His wife is deaf and very ill and wants a priesthood blessing.

I cannot express to you how grateful I am that Heavenly Father is blessing me. I have been trying so hard to work hard. I keep reading President Ritchie's letters about the Miracle Workers- stories of missionaries that had 20+ nonmembers at church and 11+ baptisms in 6 weeks. I want to do that. I just want to work until I physically can't work- and then work some more. Even though our numbers have been sooooo low, Heavenly Father is still blessing us with people to teach. And Juan is getting baptized this week. This transfer has been so hard, but I have learned so much! I have learned that I can do hard things. I have learned (or at least improved) how to be patient. I have prayed with all my heart that I can just love people and see how Heavenly Father sees them. There is a HUGE difference when I am not praying for that. I have been blessed with an AMAZING ward mission leader that has really helped me. It's not just that I can do hard things- because of HIM I can do hard things. And we all can. He won't give us anything that we can't handle.

I know that this past year has been really hard for all of you. Moving and adjusting are hard. BUT YOU DID IT! I am so proud of all of you! Keep praying and reading daily because you will become stronger than you can imagine!

Watch out world! The Olsen's are moving mountains!

Love you family!

Love, Ashlee

Yay for bad selfies!! These are all the awesome Hermanas that live in our apartment complex: Wright (she is related to Erastus Bingham!), Jimenez (Wright and Jimenez are my awesome roommates that I love to death! Hermana Wright is going home the same time I am), Stubor, West, Hamblin and Killpack