Sister Billings, Hailey, Sister Olsen

Hailey's baptism was a good experience. It wasn't perfect, but it went well. She is truly a sweetheart. We are still working with her family. I hope the ward reaches out to them and they continue to make good changes. The baptism was great and I felt the Spirit there. Hailey, her older sister, her little brother, and us were able to sing "I am a Child of God" for the special musical number. It was awesome.

I feel like our teaching pool is about to grow.....we have some good potentials. For now Lois and Shona are in Newfoundland. But Lois comes back on Monday. But we're excited about our potentials. We'll see what happens in the next little while...

We went on exchanges for the first time this week! I went to Halifax with Sister Crofts and Sister Billings stayed here with Sister Johnson. It was great. That place has changed so much it seems. It felt good to be there. But more than that, I feel like it was closure for me. Being in a really hard area right now has helped me to realize what is and isn't within our control. It's helped me to not be so hard on myself. I have to say, when I left Halifax I didn't know if I had done everything I was supposed to do.....but being there this week, I realized I really did give it my all. I worked so hard there. I did my best. May not have been THE best. But it was all I could give. And that felt so good. I could not realize that at the time because I was being sooo hard on myself. Sister Billings has helped me a lot with that, because she is the complete opposite.

Last week was also zone conference. The mission health advisor came and talked to us. She is a psychologist that over sees 27 of the eastern states missions. She is a widow maybe in her 70s? Any missionary can call her at any time during our missions. But it was cool. She taught us as a group and I also got to meet with her for a few minutes afterwards. During her training to us all though she talked about the power of our thoughts. And she said, if you don't like the product of yourself, take a look back at your thoughts. We literally program ourselves to be the way that we think. I really like that. I feel like I sabotage myself and my potential a lot of the time with my thoughts. If I can fix what is going on up there, then I think so many things would just resolve themselves and fall into place. Anyway, I thought that was neat. And something maybe you can all think about. There is a great chapter in the Miracle of Forgiveness that talks about the power of thought. I think her coming was an answer to a lot of prayers. She gave us all some practical advice. Ooh, also it was cool/scary that she said that the person we become on our mission is the person that we will be for the rest of our lives. That the way we treat our companions also, is the way we will treat our future spouses. Food for thought eh?.....

I love you all and hope you're doing well. Enjoying your summer....and take care. Have a great week! Love, Sister Olsen