Sister Carmen Olson

Kia Ora Whanau This week flew. They are always fast but for some reason this week was extra fast.  So this week we weeded a garden for a nice young couple who had their property inspection coming up. We've been trying to get into their home for a while now to share a message with them but they just had a baby so they've been crazy busy. So we did some service for them a) because that's what Chrsit would do, but also b) because we were hoping that doing some service would help us have the opportunity to share the gospel with them. We spent a few hours on it (it's a pretty big garden) and while we were weeding, Sister Crichton found some hedge trimmers and started to cut dead branches off plants. She got a little carried away though and cut down 3 perfectly healthy plants. When I asked her what she was thinking she said "I wanted it to look nice." Man she was so fiapoko (samoan word for thinking you know better when you don't). Anyways, after we fin

Kia Ora Whanau, First off I just want to say that all the missionaries are safe. The events in Christchurch were horrible and we are praying and fasting for those affected by the actions of others. We are grateful for all of your prayers and concern.  This week not much happened. Sister Crichton got sick on Wednesday so we spent the majority of the week inside. It was pretty boring but I got a decent amount of stuff done. One thing that I got done while she was sick is I finished the Book of Mormon! I read for like 4 hours straight and finished the whole thing. There is a special witness of its truth that comes when you read it all the way through. You don't have to finish it to know that it's true, but when you finish it and then act on the invitation in Moroni 10:3-5 to pray and ask Heavenly Father if it's true, you get a special confirmation that is undeniable. The Book of Mormon is a special volume of scripture that testifies of Christ all the way through a

Kia Ora Whanau!  What a week! Every week goes so fast but they're also so long because so much stuff happens.  Tuesday was transfer day so we drove to Wellington really early in the morning to drop Sister Mamea off at the bus station and then we went to the mission office for intake and I met my new companion Sister Crichton! She is from American Samoa (for those who have no idea what that is, it's an American territory, a little island just west of Samoa), she is 19 years old, she is part of the American army, her best friend was in the MTC with me, she says her English isn't very good but it's actually really impressive. She is so cute and enthusiastic and probably the most freely loving person I have ever met. She just radiates with charity. She's the only new missionary this transfer which is crazy because last transfer we got heaps of new missionaries. She is teaching me more Samoan so hopefully I'll be able to speak more by the time transfers come

Kia Ora Whanau First things first I'm going to be a mom again! Transfer calls went out this week and I'm staying in the Hutt and I'm also training again. All I know about my trainee is that her name is Sister Crichton and I'm pretty sure the she is from Samoa. I will have more information about her next week. Also, yes, that means I will be spending 6 months in the Hutt. Crazy. So last week Monday was my birthday and the members spoiled me. One of the members has the same birthday as me so she threw a little party and decorated her house all cute and even put framed pictures of me on her wall lolol. It was so fun! One big plus of staying in a area for so long is you really get to build relationships with people. Also thank you everyone for the birthday messages! I could feel of your love all the way from the other side of the world.  On Tuesday I had exchanges with Sister Mamea. At the beginning of the exchange she said that she had a goal to get a new inve

Kia Ora Whanau This week was long but also really fast. Summer is coming to an end here and it' starting to rain again. It's sad but also really nice because it's making the cicadas quiet.  This week from Monday night to Tuesday night I had an exchange with Sister Tauru. It's the first exchange of the transfer which is so bad becuase the transfer is alomost over, but everytime we schedule an exchange people get sick so we've had to postpone it so much. It was a really awesome exchange though. It was super fun and we accomplished a lot. We taught Jenny about the Plan of Salvation and she is slowly starting to remember why she had a desire to be baptised 2 years ago. Hopefully we can keep the progression going! We also did some service and we had our ward ministering night which is always such a positive. It was really cool to get to work with Sister Tauru because we came out together and when we left the MTC she was so quiet and her English was still at the