A highlight of the week was that all of the missionaries in our zone were invited to go to youth conference! They had us come for about an hour to talk to the youth about 1. Inviting others to come to church 2. Giving away a Book of Mormon, and 3. The points of our first lesson (The Restoration). The theme of the youth conference was "Mission: Possible" so they sent out "mission calls" to all the youth in the stake a week or two beforehand that told them where they were going, which meant what group they'd be in. So they had a companionship from our zone go in to a "mission" or group. We were assigned the New Zealand mission! I was so excited! I was so excited in fact, that I forgot to take a picture in front of the sign. It was so much fun to be there with the youth. One of my favorite things to do as a missionary is answer questions and give advice to future and potential missionaries. This is because it is answers and advice I can finally give, and it was hard won. I wanted to be where I am today as a missionary for so long, almost all my life, and now I am finally here and I am so grateful.
But the most exciting thing that has happened during the last two weeks combined were exchanges on Saturday. Sister Knox went to Winter Park for a day with Sister Bond while Sister Hill and I got to stay in Winter Garden. With whom, you may ask? Well none other than SISTER EVANS. Our short lived celestial trio was reunited again! I believe that Sister Evans put it well in her weekly update, which she prefaced with the scripture Alma 27:16-18:
"16 And it came to pass that as Ammon was going forth into the land, that he and his brethren met Alma, over in the place of which has been spoken; and behold, this was a joyful meeting.
17 Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth.
18 Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness. "
(Continuing Sister Evans update) "We went on exchanges with... WINTER GARDEN! Who is in winter garden you might ask????? MY BELOVED SISTER HILL AND SISTER PETTY! I was so pumped to go on an exchange with them. (Before any of you guys think it was my idea it wasn't. Sister Bond recommended it and the Lord was pretty insistent.) When Sister Bond and Sister Knox left I kid you not Sister Petty hit the floor which was followed by me flopping to the ground, and Sister Hill turning around and seeing the action flung herself gracefully to the floor. We proceeded to cry happy tears for a good five minutes because we were so happy to be back in our Celestial trio. We promise we don't hate our comps, we just love each other so much and we're really close during our transfer together. Man I love them both so much."
We had a splendid 24 hours wherein we got to teach, testify and serve.
Due to scheduling conflicts, Sister Hill, Sister Knox and I were without our regularly occurring community service projects last week. We hadn't been able to find a niche for us to get into offering personal service in our area yet because we didn't know it well enough. So we prayed and sought out any service opportunities we could and the Lord answered our prayers and provided ample opportunities to help those in our area. One with the sweetest elderly woman (seriously when you think cute old lady, it's her) who is a less active member who wants to be more involved in the church than she is able to be with her health right now. She is hooked up to oxygen and doesn't have much strength to do basic household chores, so we're starting to go over each week and help her out! Heavenly Father also uses our gifts and talents to bless others, because I was able to help her with her iPad to figure out basic tips settings and she was so grateful.
That wasn't the only time the Lord used my tech savvy abilities; we had a member call us and tell us that her elderly neighbor (notice how I tend to gravitate toward the elderly? Why is that?) got a new television and antenna and needed help setting it up. Granted, these things did not require a professional by any means, but to people born before man landed on the moon, it appears as rocket science. We were able to help her neighbor get all hooked up and able to watch The Price is Right before dinner. She was happy and so was our member. We were told we made a positive impact and we think we are softening her neighbors heart.
But wait, there's more! We have a family that we have been visiting, the Bain's, and we were able to help them organize and pack when they found out that they were packing up and moving in 9 days. It was a super stressful time for them, but we were able to help them get so much done and it was really neat to see how much of difference we made in their progress and morale. We're super sad to see them go, but we are glad we got to serve them!
Going on with the theme of service, we got to help a member give her hedgehog a bath. Now wether this was us serving her or her serving us, I don't know. But either way it certainly served our prickly friend H.G. Wells. Also, have you ever seen a hedgehog swim?! If not, look it up, it's adorable.
As we've finally been able to fine tune our teaching pool we have been zeroing in on and focused on our most promising Investigators and helping them fulfill Heavenly Fathers wants for them. The one that we have been teaching the most consistently and has been making the most progress is Jimmy. He's been meeting with the Elders for a few months, and the day we came into the area he messaged the Elders and let them know that he received his answer that the Book of Mormon is true! However he still isn't too hip on the idea of organized religion. So we've been working on that. This week we had an awesome lesson about prophets and he's getting there, he just needs to connect the dots.
To end my email this week, I feel I should update on something that weighed heavy on me and my family this week as I received word from home that my beloved dog of 11 years passed away. This may sound peripheral, but for me it was actually quite devastating. When I left for my mission I cried harder saying goodbye to him than I did the rest of my family. It was a great fear of mine that he would die while I was gone and it was often a fervent prayer of mine to the Lord that He would protect my dog Milo, and if at all possible prolong his life just long enough for him to greet me at the door when I return home, just like always. However, now I'll have to wait a little bit longer before that ever happens again.
My heart has been very raw with all that has happened in my and my families lives the past few weeks. I've been feeling greatly saddened that I have not been able to be there to help my family through these times, to give and receive comfort with them, especially not being there to say a final goodbye to my puppy.
I found myself wondering how I can move forward in a healthy productive way, and so I turned to Adjusting to Missionary Life. (Which is one of my very favorite inspired resources.) I decided that I would consciously give these things that I have missed while on my mission as a gift of sacrifice and thanks to the Savior. Rather than dwelling on my unhappiness and guilt of missing out on these things, I want to humbly and willingly offer it up to the Lord as if to say, "Here are the things I have sacrificed in Thy service, please consecrate it for good; not for my good, but for the good of those I love and serve."
I have such a strong faith and testimony in this work, and that I am exactly where the Lord wants and needs me to be at the time He has chosen. For this time in my life I have to opportunity to serve full-time I am eternally grateful.
Remember to love all creatures of our God and King,
-Sister Olivia Petty🐶
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| The last time I got to see my puppy. 5.14.17 |
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| When you give a bath a hedgehog 7.18.17 |
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| Sincerely yours, 7.22.17 |
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| Saying goodbye to Sister Bain 7.29.17 |
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| Exchanges 7.30.17 |
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