Week 34

Kia Ora Whanau 

This week was a week of road trips. Serving on the south island is super different from serving on the north for several reasons, one of them being that everything is so far away! So Monday night, we drove 2 hours to Christchurch and spent the night there because we had combined zone conference the next day. At zone conference on Tuesday, we had alot of really great training. It was all about our personal studies that we do each morning. I was really grateful for it because I have been struggling with coming up with new ideas for how to study to keep them effective. I also received some strong counsel from the spirit that was a little hard to take but as I've tried to apply it, I have seen the blessings. That's one thing I have learned about the spirit, is that it's not always warm happy feelings, sometimes it's a little bit harsh because we need to change. But when we listen to the spirit we always come away better because of it. After zone conference we drove back down to Timaru and did missioanry work. 

Tuesday night, we went and saw Donald and Teresa. They had a turtle at their house (they were getting rid of it) and so I started to call it 'Olson'. While we were visiting with them, the people who were taking it came and as they were leaving I said "by Olson!" The lady who was taking the turtle home turned around and said "is that what you named it? Olson, I think I'll keep that." So I got a turtle named after me haha. 

We talked to Donald and Teresa about the Book of Mormon. Donald has been meeting with the missionaries for years and so he knows what it is, but Teresa wasnt so sure. We explained it and the spirit was so strong as we testified of its truth. Donald was super into it and said he was going to start reading it again right away. Teresa is from the Philippines and so I think there is a little bit of a language barrier so she was a little more hesitant to commit to anything. But we will keep praying for her and for the spirit to touch both of their hearts.

On Wednesday we did heaps of biking which was fun! The weather was so nice. About halfway through the day, we got a call from the senior couple in our zone and they told us to be in Dunedin by 9am tomorrow morning for flu shots. So we dropped our plans and drove 3 hours down to Dunedin. It was an interesting drive because for some reason, they dont beleive in street lights here in New Zealand so we drove 3 hours on the motorway relying on the high beams of the car.

Thursday was good because we got to see Mina again. The Elders in Oamaru have asked us to help in teaching her because of the relationship we have with her so we got to go see her and continue to teach her. She hasn't really been reading her Book of Mormon so we read 1 Nephi 3 with her. After reading I asked her what she learned and she said she learned to be like Nephi. So I pushed and I asked in what ways does she need to be like Nephi. She said to do what the Lord has been telling her to do. I pushed her again and asked her if there is something that the Lord has been asking her to do. She said yes, and then I said will you do it? She said she will so hopefully she will begin to progress more. 

Thursday night we went to contact a family the elders had been working with in Timaru last transfer. We just showed up to there house and they let us in and were so nice, they even made us dinner and invited us back for dinner next week. At the end of visiting with them I felt very prompted to share Moroni 10:3-5 with them. As my companions and I testified, the spirit was so strong and they were all so enraptured in the message. It was pretty surreal. Such a cool experience that I'm grateful I got to have. 

Friday we stayed home because Sister Mamea got the chills from the flu shot. All I have to say about Friday is please remember to respect everyone, especially the missionaries. They're going through enough hard stuff as it is so please think about your actions and their consequences before you do something stupid. 

Saturday was okay. We drove out to Geraldine to go contact all the less active members that live out there just to find out that all but one of the families have moved. The one family who still lives there said they couldn't meet with us because it was their "day off". So that was interesting. We had one person avoid us as we were knocking on their door, then as we were sitting in the car looking up the next address they drove out of their driveway and right past us. We were like "okay we only wanted to offer you eternal life but that's your choice." We also had ministering night in Oamaru. It was so fun to see the ward members there. They are such incredible people. We also saw Mina briefly and she has been reading the Book of Mormon! It's always so exciting when people keep commitments. 

On Sunday literally no one was at church. There was like 20 people. It was so weird, so after church we went and visited everyone and they had all been dropping people off at the airport because a bunch of people are going back to Samoa. We also contacted alot of people that the other missionaries had lowkey been working with before we took over the area. I met some of the nicest people ever. They were all so excited to see the missionaries and know that we hadn't forgotten about them. We also had our final lesson with Vaha before her baptism on Saturday! Its was a good day. 

My spiritual thought today comes from Matthew 5:44 which says "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." This scripture is Christ teaching his disciples about the higher law. To be honest this scripture asks us to do something super hard. It asks us to have charity and love for those who hurt us. It asks us to love them so much that we pray for them, the way that Enos prayed for the lamanites, for their own benefit with no alterior motives. It is a hard thing to do. However it is worth it. I have started to take steps to better live the higher law and pray for those who despitfully use and persecute me. It's hard but it is worth it because it allows me to feel the pure love of Christ. It also allows me to grow because I am not allowing others to hold me back. I would like to invite all of you to prayerfully consider, who despitefully uses and persecutes you that you should pray for, and then sincerely pray for them. I promise you that you will feel Heavenly Fathers love for them and for you. It will also allow you to grow and to heal. 

Ofa Atu

Sister Olson 

Pictures: 
- All the missionaries currently serving on the south island, minus 2 sisters
- we got lost trying to find someone house but it was pretty so we took pictures
-we come to our investigators house at 1pm and she was still in her pjs Haha, must be nice
- plus side of having to go to Dunedin is I got Startbucks haha.. it's not that popular of thing here 
- another picture of me when we got lost 






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