50 years is a long time to be alive, not that long mind you, but it's still quite a feat. Although I'm not going to accomplish that anytime soon, I know someone who has. Happy 50th birthday to my mom! Her birthday was on the 16th, and at a dinner with our investigator Lillian, I noticed some pirouette cookies and said, "Aww my mom loves these... It's her birthday today." To which Lillian responded, "Well then we have to call her and say happy birthday!" My heart leapt at the idea, but I quickly told her we weren't allowed to talk to our families on the telephone (other than Mother's Day and Christmas of course).
"I never said you would talk to her, I will." She said. We decided that was kosher and I then gave her my home phone number. When there was no one picked up, she called my dads cell phone. When my dad answered, Lillian told him to make sure my mom has a happy birthday, and that Sister Petty is doing good work and Sister Phelps is doing a great job with me. I was so touched and grateful for Lillian's thoughtfulness. She then turned to Sister Phelps and said, "so when is your moms birthday?"
Speaking of absolutely amazing investigators, Amy had her baptismal interview last night! And she passed with flying colors 😊 Amy and her daughters were at church yesterday, and the girls even got speaking parts in the upcoming primary program! They are so excited! Chloe (the 9yr old) is even memorizing the articles of faith already! They amaze me constantly and I am so happy for their family to receive the blessings that the restored gospel brings in this life, and the life to come. I'm so excited! Ah!
More exciting news: Sister Missionaries of the Florida Orlando Mission are now authorized to wear pants! Apparently the Zika virus is becoming more prevalent in the southern and central Florida areas, and so we now have the option to wear pants during usual missionary activities. We still wear skirts and dresses to church and other meetings, but we can choose to wear pants when we're out tracting or riding bikes! Sister Phelps and I went to go buy some pants today, the mission will reimburse a certain amount of money for them so that's pretty nifty. We're both not too sure how we feel about it yet- we're just so used to the skirts and dresses and our wardrobes have been carefully crafted around them. But after Zone Conference, we warmed up to the idea. Especially when we're out walking the backwoods of Umatilla.
In fact, because of this huge change, we had a general authority of the seventy come to my very first Zone conference! Elder Schwitzer talked to us sisters more about why we are now taking this step of mosquito protection and prevention. When the final decision was presented to President Monson he said, "Of course. We want to do everything we can to keep our sisters safe." After hearing about that, Sister Phelps and I were sold.
The rest of Zone conference was fantastic! I loved the discussions given, feeling the Spirit, and seeing so many missionaries; including a lot of members of my former district at the MTC. We got to have a sneak peak at the video for the new Christmas initiative #LightTheWorld! It's launching the day after thanksgiving on lds.org and you seriously need to check it out, it's awesome.
At the end of conference there was also car checks and flu shots. I was actually glad to get the shot, because I actually haven't had one since 2003, even though I was supposed to get one before I came out 😬
We're stoked for thanksgiving this week, we're having dinner at the Richard's house who are (secretly my favorite) members of the ward. We're also going to visit Lillian and we're really looking forward to spending some time with her.
I'm thankful to be an ambassador of the Lord, and to be serving His children here in the Belleview South area. I'm thankful for my loving earthly parents, who celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary yesterday, and I'm grateful for my younger sisters, all of whom I miss and love very much. I'm grateful for such a kind and caring companion, for a loving ward, and most importantly for my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
(I'm also pretty thankful for our car, during car checks I found out it's probably the nicest one in the whole mission. #blessed)
Stay Humble,
-Sister Olivia Petty 🦃
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| outside of the Lake Mary chapel after Zone Conference 11.18.16 |
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| Me with a bird of unusual size in Lake Mary 11.18.16 |
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| exchanges 11.15.16 |
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