Week 73

Kia Ora Whanau

This week we went on back to back exchanges which was good but a struggle. I was away from my area for 48hours which was not my favourite. I love my area and my companion! 

Our ward had its ministering night on Tuesday and we made so many posts on facebook to make sure people knew about it so that the members would come and they did! I was so excited because this was the first time members actually showed up! It was great because we had enough members to go with each companionship. We had so many great reports and our Bishop was so excited about it. We took a photo afterwards and posted it on the ward facebook to try and encourage people to come next month.

Wednesday I was on exchanges and we just walked and visited people. One lady that we visited talked for forever it was crazy haha. I don't think I've ever met someone who had so much to say before haha. 

On Thursday we were still on exchanges and then Sister Crichton called me and said we have to end the exchange right away because our bishop wanted us to sing on the radio in an hour. I was so confused! Anyways we ended the exchange and called Sister Taroni and Sister Siale to come help us sound good and we went to the plains.fm radio station and sang "Love at Home" in samoan. It was so random and cool. It is apparently going to be a monthly thing and the cool thing is so many less active members heard us and were so happy to hear a samoan hymn on the radio. 

Friday we did weekly planning and we had sport night. I love sport night because we meet so many people and make so many contacts! 

Saturday was super fun because the elders in the samoan ward in Ashburton had a wedding-baptism. It was quite the experience. A very small wedding, most of the guests were missionaries and a really beautiful baptism. I felt like I was on an episode of the district lol. 

We also had a family home evening with a part member family and our ward mission leaders family. We read Helaman 5:12 with them and had rocks that each of us wrote what we could do to build our foundation on the rock of Christ. Then Sister Crichton invited the non member dad to take the lessons and our ward mission leader testified that now is the time for each of us to prepare spiritually and he said yes! The whole time all I did was pray with all my might that they would say the right things and that the spirit would be there and my prayers were answered! 

Sunday we had church and we had a family home evening with a family in our ward. It was really good. We watched the restoration video and the spirit filled the room. I really enjoyed church on Sunday as well because even though I don't understand, the sacrament is the main focus and is blessed by the same preisthood power and I still feel the power of the atonement when I partake of it. 

This week I was reading 2 Corinthians 4:6 “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." As I studied this I realized that the Lord created physical light and spiritual light, the gospel. The beautiful part of gospel light is that it is constant. Physical light can fade into darkness but the light of Christ is always there and you can be relied on. When you feel like in your life you are in a time of darkness, you can always turn to the gospel of Jesus Christ and receive a little bit more light in your life. 

Ofa Atu

Sister Olson