Once Upon A Time.......there was conference. And Sister Olsen was SO excited. Possibly more than she ever had been before. And so grateful too that she didn't have to worry about satellite issues or anything. Anyway I sat down to listen to the prelude broadcast in the chapel Saturday morning.....and it's about to start...3, 2, 1.........and then.......NOTHING. The Satellite decided to stop working right as it began! We ended up missing the first hour before someone was able to fix it and make a laptop work. We just sang hymns and waited. It was fine, but I was sad to miss those talks! So besides the technical difficulties, I LOVED conference!! We ended up having to go to Cole Harbor to watch on Sunday. It was all so great! I can't wait to read them again. Suprisingly there weren't many people out to the church buildings to watch, but I hope they were at home with their families watching it online! The messages really spoke to me about family and motherhood roles. How grateful I am to have the most amazing parents in the whole world!!! We had one investigator come, one recent convert, and one less active, so that was great.
Margret is our investigator who came. She loved it. She is doing so great. We feel the Spirit when we teach here so much! The Elders met her as a media referral and taught her the first, dragged her to Terry's baptism, and now we are teaching her! She's really neat. We definitely have some things to work out before she's ready for baptism (aka living with boyfriend) but she has it as a goal for herself. She loves the BOM and is eating it up! She said last night that she knows it is true! I love that. My love for the BOM grows everyday as well. I know whole heartedly it is meant for our day.
So things have been really good lately. Really hard, but good. Lots of experiences that have tested my faith......but I'm a tryin! So....I wrote a poem. Ever since the beginning of my mission, poetry has kind of been a creative outlet for me. But anyway, someone in church a couple weeks ago was saying how soil needs to be turned and aerated in order for it to be healthy and for new plants and flowers to grow....and they related it to repentance. I really loved that analogy! And so I wrote a poem the other morning and decided to share it with you.
Dried. Cracked. Pale brown.
A seed would wither in my ground.
Memories of flowers past
mock my now unpleasant state.
Water for nourishment
unable to sink deep --
to pass the layers of my surface
and bring me needed relief.
It takes a Hand,
to cultivate my hard ground.
To break up my soil,
no matter how painful the turning.
Hard work -- yes;
A process I need, again and again.
Then I find myself prepared
to house new flowers of life.
To be rich. Dark. Arid!
Nourished and stronger you see.
Bring blossoms of color and beauty.
Becoming what He knew I could be.
My Master Gardener --
who has vision, capacity, and love.
Who is patient, kind and willing
to do as He sees fit from above.
And in time and process
I grow stronger and see,
I am able to house the beauty
of the garden He always meant me to be.
So there you have it.
So tomorrow is THE day we hand over our car and say goodbye! haha. I'm a little nervous. But I think it'll be fine. And fun really. It's just gonna get crazy! Our Zone Leaders are trading in their car for a minivan, and so we'll have special permission to take that to the temple if we want to and can. So that'll be great. But anyway..........I need to end this now, it's getting long! But I hope everyone is doing well. Easter was BEAUTIFUL! I hope you all enjoyed it. Sunday morning before the sessions started, we were out street contacting in the most amazing weather and we walked through a graveyard. It was such an amazing experience to be there and ponder the day of resurrection someday in the future. I have always felt the Spirit in graveyards, but it was especially amazing on that Easter morning. :)
I love you all! Write me and tell me whats up!
P.S. Brigham I FINALLY went in a Winners. Now I know what you were talking about! It's like a Ross store. haha.
Sister Jen Olsen
Margret is our investigator who came. She loved it. She is doing so great. We feel the Spirit when we teach here so much! The Elders met her as a media referral and taught her the first, dragged her to Terry's baptism, and now we are teaching her! She's really neat. We definitely have some things to work out before she's ready for baptism (aka living with boyfriend) but she has it as a goal for herself. She loves the BOM and is eating it up! She said last night that she knows it is true! I love that. My love for the BOM grows everyday as well. I know whole heartedly it is meant for our day.
So things have been really good lately. Really hard, but good. Lots of experiences that have tested my faith......but I'm a tryin! So....I wrote a poem. Ever since the beginning of my mission, poetry has kind of been a creative outlet for me. But anyway, someone in church a couple weeks ago was saying how soil needs to be turned and aerated in order for it to be healthy and for new plants and flowers to grow....and they related it to repentance. I really loved that analogy! And so I wrote a poem the other morning and decided to share it with you.
Dried. Cracked. Pale brown.
A seed would wither in my ground.
Memories of flowers past
mock my now unpleasant state.
Water for nourishment
unable to sink deep --
to pass the layers of my surface
and bring me needed relief.
It takes a Hand,
to cultivate my hard ground.
To break up my soil,
no matter how painful the turning.
Hard work -- yes;
A process I need, again and again.
Then I find myself prepared
to house new flowers of life.
To be rich. Dark. Arid!
Nourished and stronger you see.
Bring blossoms of color and beauty.
Becoming what He knew I could be.
My Master Gardener --
who has vision, capacity, and love.
Who is patient, kind and willing
to do as He sees fit from above.
And in time and process
I grow stronger and see,
I am able to house the beauty
of the garden He always meant me to be.
So there you have it.
So tomorrow is THE day we hand over our car and say goodbye! haha. I'm a little nervous. But I think it'll be fine. And fun really. It's just gonna get crazy! Our Zone Leaders are trading in their car for a minivan, and so we'll have special permission to take that to the temple if we want to and can. So that'll be great. But anyway..........I need to end this now, it's getting long! But I hope everyone is doing well. Easter was BEAUTIFUL! I hope you all enjoyed it. Sunday morning before the sessions started, we were out street contacting in the most amazing weather and we walked through a graveyard. It was such an amazing experience to be there and ponder the day of resurrection someday in the future. I have always felt the Spirit in graveyards, but it was especially amazing on that Easter morning. :)
I love you all! Write me and tell me whats up!
P.S. Brigham I FINALLY went in a Winners. Now I know what you were talking about! It's like a Ross store. haha.
Sister Jen Olsen
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