Week 32

Kia Ora Whanau 

Well first things first, we are getting whitewashed so I am getting transfered after only 3 weeks in Oamaru. So sad! This transfer I have had to learn the importance of planting seeds. I am going back to Timaru and my companions will be Sister Tu'i'onetoa and Sister Mamea.

Tuesday was all about the Prophet! We had a special missionary fireside broadcasted from Auckand in the morning and it was great. We only got to watch half of it because of technical difficulties which was a bummer but the part we saw was so inspiring.  One thing that stood out to me is President Nelson talked about how in the Book of Mormon there are prophesies that talk about how the gospel will go out to all the earth in the last days and so every time we open our mouth to share the gospel, we are fulfilling prophecy. Then in the evening we watched the general New Zealand broadcast in Oamaru. Again because of technical difficulties we only got to see half but what really stood out to me is the power of prayer. Sister Nelson shared how before she even met President Nelson, she was praying about what she needed to do to find an eternal companion and the Lord gave her very specific introduction on how to prepare. Each time she acted on the instruction, the Lord would give her another, more specific, piece of instruction that would prepare her. Eventually she was even told to buy a black leather recliner for her husband whom she had not yet met. She said that because she followed the answers to her prayers, when she did meet President Nelson she was perfectly prepared to join her life with his. 

Wednesday was interesting. We had a super cool lesson with Mina where we talked about temples. The cool part about it was that it was totally normal and natural. We talked about how when you go to the temples you forget about all the stresses and worries of the world and you feel so peaceful. Then she said "ya I feel like that when I come to church sometimes." We were like okay what the heck! I have never heard someone say that before. It was so cool, she is so prepared. So that was really great and we were planning to go back the next day and set a date with her to be baptized but then the APs called to tell us that we were getting whitewashed this coming transfer. We we so shocked. I 100% thought I was going to stay, but President Soloai received revelation and so we are going with it. Mission life. 

So the news of the white wash didn't stop us from going back to invite Mina to be baptized. We went over on Thursday and had probably the coolest lesson I've ever been a part of. We asked her how the Book of Mormon reading was going and she told us how she's up to 1 Nephi 3. She then told us what she's been reading and understanding. Then she said "after I read it I was thinking about how this applies to me and I realized that Sona (her member brother) is Nephi and the rest of my family (all not members of the church) are Laman and Lemuel and I'm Sam, following the righteous example of my brother." I was blown away by this! No has ever before in my mission applied the scriptures to themself without me or my companions inviting them to. It was soooooooo cool and so powerful. After talking about the Book of Mormon we taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized. She said yes she will be baptized! But she doesn't feel ready yet, but her goal is to be baptized! Freak I was so excited and so happy and I felt so grateful that she was straight up and honest about not feeling ready. I'm so sad about the whitewash because she is the coolest person to teach and I'm going to miss her. But my companions and I were able to plant the seeds and they will just keep growing from here. 

The rest of the week was pretty much consumed with preparing the area for the white wash. Sunday was pretty spectacular because so many people showed up to church! Like literally I have never had more less active people that we've been working with come to church it was awesome. Also Mina put in the effort to switch her shift at work so that she could come. It was awesome. 

My spiritual thought this week comes from something that was said in sacrament meeting. A member said "the spirit doesn't tell at you so you have to be attentive and pay attention."  This is so true! I know that if we are really looking for the answers to our prayers, then we will see them because the Lord is ragnar to give you revelation. 

Ofa Atu

Sister Olson










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 51

Image
Kia Ora Whanau!  Okay this week was a roller coaster but it was good and we saw the hand of the Lord.  So on Monday, we had to wake up really early in the morning and drive 1.75 hours to Tawa, where Sister Tapumanaia had her self reliance course before she went home. So I spent the day with Sister Bailey, being her companion. It was super fun, but I'll be honest I just had so much stress over the fact that Sister Tapumanaia was going home. It just made me so sad. I hate changes and I hate saying goodbye to people I love.  Anyways, on Tuesday was intake day, so all the new missionaries came to the mission office for orientation  and met their trainers! My trainee is Sister Siale and she is from Tonga. She is so incredible and onto it, I am so blessed to be her companion! I love training, the new missionaries are always so special and throughout the week I have been able to tell that she is exactly the companion that I need at this point on my mission...
Read more

Advice from the night you were set apart

Mom: My advice to you was to be humble. The church website about humility says this: To be humble is to recognize gratefully our dependence on the Lord—to understand that we have constant need for His support. Humility is an acknowledgment that our talents and abilities are gifts from God. It is not a sign of weakness, timidity, or fear; it is an indication that we know where our true strength lies. We can be both humble and fearless. We can be both humble and courageous. My thought was to advise you to remember that you have something to learn from everyone you meet. Dad: Dad said to remember the big picture of why you are serving a mission. Programs and key indicators are not the mission. Of course we need organization and we need to keep rules, but the real purpose of serving a mission is to share the gospel. When times are tough, remind yourself of your purpose. Grandma: Grandma said that she is so proud of you. She said you are such an effervescent p...
Read more

Week 30

Image
Kia Ora Whanau  Its officially been a week since I've moved to Oamaru and it's been interesting. Both wards that we cover are basically made up of one giant family so I already know everyone's name (brother and sister Kaufana) lol.  There were ups and downs. Most of the people that we are working with and Tongan and so for alot of the week I had no clue what was going on because I don't speak Tongan but my companions do.  On Tuesday we had a little miracle occur. We were meeting with a part member family and at the end we asked if we could say a prayer. The father, who is normally against the missionaries, went outside and called all the kids in for the prayer. His attitude did a 180 and he was so supportive of everything. It was so cool.  Tuesday evening, we had a failotu (prayer service) for a recent convert who just passed away. We sang hymns and messages were shared. It was really spiritual and a great missionary opportunity because his non m...
Read more