Hi family!
This is
so flipping weird. I still feel like I am going to be on my mission for
the rest of my life. The past 18 months have definitely not "flown
by" as they say, but they are going to end next week. NEXT WEEK. I
have been saying for the past few months that I never wanted my mission
to end. I think that was super silly of me. Everything is slowly coming
into perspective for me. I had no idea what I was getting myself into
two years ago when I decided to serve a mission. I had no idea what
missionary work was. I never really had a lesson on it in church (if I
did I wasn't paying attention). I literally had no clue what
missionaries did. And I had no idea why Heavenly Father even suggested a
mission in the first place.
Truth is,
I still don't know everything. In fact, I would say I don't know most
things. But I do have a greater perspective of who God is, what His plan
is for all of us, and what that means for me.
At the
beginning I was so focused on others. I thought the whole thing was to
bring other people to Christ. Which, don't get me wrong, that's a huge
part of my mission. I don't want to seem selfish when I say this, but my
mission is about me. My success as a missionary will not be measured by
the number of people I taught. My success as a missionary will be
measured 20 years from now. If I am actively living the gospel of
Jesus Christ and raising my family on gospel principles, then I will
know that I served a successful mission.
I know
that God loves each and every one of us. He wants us to return and live
with him again. Our lives are about us earning our salvation. The way we
do it may be through loosing our lives in the service of others and
keeping our covenants, but I'm pretty sure at judgement day, my
conversation with God won't be about the guy in my plans for three o'clock in the afternoon. It will be about
me; the choices I made and if I kept my covenants. The past
couple days I have been getting really excited to experience my life. I
think it's been childish of me to be depressed about going home. Life is
a journey and a part of it is change. I should be excited
about experiencing new things and seeing what my Heavenly Father has in
store for me. Change is good. I'm super nervous because everyone has
been telling me that adjusting back to normal life is hard, but I know
my Savior (and mom) will help me. I'm just excited for a new chapter and
to apply everything I have learned from my mission. Basically, my
mission has been the MTC for my life. I'm ready to live it!
This week
I am just going to focus on making sure these sisters are ready to take
over the area. We are going to find a new family to teach and I'm pretty
excited! I told Heavenly Father that I just really want to enjoy this
last week and see a ton of miracles! What I am going to miss most is how
I feel when I talk with people. This week, we went on exchanges with the
Spanish sisters again. While Sister West was teaching this woman in
Spanish, I was teaching her husband in English. There was a lot he
didn't understand about repentance. So I taught him super simply and
just felt overwhelming love for him. I felt what his Heavenly Father
wanted him to hear. I feel that
all the time when I'm talking with people. I know it comes with the
calling of being the Lord's missionary, but I hope it doesn't go away!
Anyway.
Have a great week. We are going to knock 'em dead here in Millcreek!
Love you all. Thank you so much for all the support you have given me on
my mission. There is no way I could have done all of this
alone.
Jesus
Christ lives. I know that he is more than aware of everything we are
going through. He has experienced all of it himself. I know that Thomas
S. Monson is His prophet on the earth today. I know that His church has
been restored to the earth. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints isn't just some other church. It is literally run by God himself.
He wants us to come to him. I know that a lot of people that read my
blog are not members of the church. I know they might have questions or
wonder why I would leave my family, school, dating, etc. for 18 months
to go to a place where I knew no one to just talk to people about the
restored gospel. Please feel free to ask me! I love talking about the
gospel and my mission. Ask me about my experiences. Ask me about my
beliefs. I promise I won't push or pry or make you feel uncomfortable in
any way. If my church was a cake, it would be the biggest most
delicious, delectable, desirable, scrumptious, cake ever! I just want to
share with everyone! It's fun to share the gospel! And if you don't like
it, that's totally okay. I'll still be your friend and love you to
death. But you have nothing to loose and everything to gain :)
Love your
missionary,
Sister
Olsen
P.s. Just
because I'm loosing the badge doesn't mean my mission ends! The field is
white and already to harvest in Tennessee and Logan Utah, too. Watch out
world, because when I come home it's going to be missionary
work unleashed!
