Sister Jenn Olsen Blog

7/27/10 - Pictures from Watford

2010-07-27T14:13:00.001-07:00

This is our garden and what the elders did to us. Their prank...i think we got them back :)

We made time to get the ELDERS back for a prank they did to us. It was fun! "I dont get mad, I get even"...right dad? THAT'S MY GIRL !!!! :-)

Email 07/27/10 - Last email from England!

2010-07-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

How are you doing? It has been such a crazy, busy and weird week. Everyone has been trying to see us and get us over for dinner. I have never been fed so much on my mission. Every single day at least one dinner appointment. And saying goodbye to everyone is not the greatest thing to do. Everyone keeps asking me what I am going to do when I get home and I just tell them, I don't know. Too much to think about. I know I have been out on my mission for 18 months and a week and I am supposed to have learn to set goals and make plans....I will get there I guess. I never have planned out my life passed my mission. It's going to be interesting.

Anyway, so many great things happened this week. The Elders here in the ward had another baptism this week and we were able to give 2 baptismal dates. We have 3 ready to be baptized in the month of August. I am so sad I will not be able to see them but I am grateful I have been able to be a part of their journey. This area is exploding and we are still meeting so many wonderful people that are prepared the hear the gospel. We had a miracle on Sunday. Sister Anderson and I have 3 investigators to church on Sunday and the Elders had 3 also. We had a total of 6 investigators in the ward on Sunday and the overwhelming feeling of love for each one of them came over me. I am so happy for all these investigators for the strength that they have to make such a big step in their life. It must not be easy. I have been so blessed toward the end of my mission and I am so grateful for that.

Sister Anderson and I have had so much fun together and I will miss her so much. She is a hard working missionary and I hope her new companion will be able to keep up with her. Her new companion, I have never served around so I don't know how it will be for her, but I think she is also form Utah.

This Ward is one of the best. They are so good in their missionary work. We have been able to do service this week and it has been fun to spend time with the members. I will miss them but the work will so go forward.

I don't know if I have shared this story or not, but I found out that on Saturday someone that sister Anderson and I talked to got baptized! During one of Sister Anderson's first p-days we went to the town center to pick up some things she needed. And we were in the mall and were dressed in our missionary clothes with our badges on and a girl was working and wanted to sell us something and we said no thank you. But then after we walked off she yelled to stop us again and we didn't look back but by the third time we did and she asked if we were from the Mormon church and we told her yes. she said that she was supposed to be baptized but then she moved and got a new phone number and hasn't been able to get in touch with the missionaries again. So we asked where she lived and it was in a different missionary's area. So we got her information and referred it to the Elders in her area. She has now gotten baptized and confirmed. AMAZING! We get to see these miracles every day, and even though I didn't get to teach her or anything, I am grateful that I was obedient and doing the things we should be doing so I could be that instrument that Heavenly Father wants me to be.

OH I AM GOING TO MISS THIS SO SO MUCH!

But, that's all for now. I just want to thank all of you for you support, prayers, letters, emails, etc...I could go on forever. I know I wouldn't have been able to do what I have done here without your support and prayers. I love you and and I will be looking forward to seeing you soon.

Love,

Sister Jennifer LaMay Olsen

7/19/2010 - Stake Athletics Day and Baptism

2010-07-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

We held a baptism for Amanda. The Elders and Us have both taught her. She is wonderful!

We had stake athletics where all the different wards competed against one another in feild events. We competed in the 3 leggad race and lost :( But it was still fun!

Sister Anderson and I won 1st in the Missionary Race for the sisters :) (too bad we were the only sister missionaries)

Email 07/19/2010 - Busy in Watford

2010-07-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well how is everyone doing?
This week has been so crazy! We had Stake Activities, a baptism for Amanda on Friday. We found 2 new investigators that came to church. It was such a great week! We have been working on this man who is Orthodox and he was so against coming to church when we first met him but this Sunday he humbled himself and walked halfway to church. It was truly a miracle! We also have had a lot of support from the ward members and the work is so busy right now in Watford. We are finding so many potential investigators and the work is going to sky rocket. It really makes me not to want to leave it all because we are being so blessed. I love being a missionary and to be training the last transfer. We are having so much fun!
I love you all! See you soon!
Love,
Sister Olsen

07/12/10 - P-Day fun!

2010-07-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

We went to the wax Muesum and it was great. We had so much fun last p-day.

Mission Impossible????

Jim Carrey!

picture - 07/12/10

2010-07-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Sister Shattuck and I at Zone Conference. We had to say our good byes :(

Email 07/12/10 - Just a little update

2010-07-12T12:21:00.001-07:00

Hiya all!

It's been a wonderful week as always. We have been so busy like always and have had some exciting things happen, like Sister Anderson having to climb through an investigator's window (she was wearing all white) because she got locked out of her house. Also we had a carnival this week that we had a booth at and talked to a lot of people. We also made dinner for a less active whose kitchen is under construction. We even had Zone Conference in London and it was a great motivation to us all. President is wonderful! It was full of fun. Also, Susan was able to receive the Holy Ghost on Sunday and she was able to get 2 out of her 3 children blessed with a name. The spirit was amazing and to see not only Susan coming into the church but even her children. This gospel is amazing and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to serve and to teach and testify of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon. The spirit is the best feeling we can receive and I am so grateful I get to feel it in such an abundance every day.
Thank you all for your support! I love you all! Take care and remember the church is true!

Love,
Sister Olsen

7/5/10 - A Great Baptism Day!

2010-07-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Picture is of Sister Anderson, Me, Susan and the Bishop who baptized her. Neat day!

Email 07/05/10 - Waited for 7 years...Finally got baptized!!

2010-07-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

HI!
How is everyone doing? This week has been just wonderful! We worked so hard and we were able to see so many things come from our efforts. First of all Susan got baptized. She has been waiting for 7 year and had had a STRONG testimony about the Book of Mormon for 4 years. The Spirit was so strong when she got baptized and you knew that she had gone through so much to get there. Her husband has been the set-back but finally agreed to be there for support. He is pretty against the church, but the service went very well and he started to open up to everyone after time went on. She bore her testimony at the baptism and it was so beautiful and powerful She invited all her non member friends and she has already give them all a Book of Mormon. She is a great missionary already.
Also this week we were able to receive 7 new investigators and one of the new ones came to church. Daren is his name and he has researched about us on the Internet but does not believe or take any notice of the anti-literature. He is great! And his daughter is 15 and likes to listen in the lessons. She didn't want to wake up for church so she didn't end up coming. We also have Nick who is supposed to be baptized on the 7th of Aug. He has stopping smoking and we gave him some lollies (Popsicles) to help him stop. So hopefully that will help. He is so good! The spirit is always so strong in our lessons with him. We also met a man last week and we found out that his flat mate was baptized in our church in Ghana is 2006 and he has not been to church since he has lived in the UK. So we are going to activate one and baptize the other. We are being so blessed to find these people.
We have been asked by the mission president to focus on the hours of finding and to get people to church. We also have been given "SOS" S-Spirit O-Obedience S-Skills. We need the spirit to guide us and to have the best navigational system and we need obedience to be able to get all the blessing we stand in need of and we need to have the best skills for when we find the elect to help them understand the gospel. So that is what we have been working on.
And this week we have Zone Conference which will sadly be my last one but I will make it the BEST! Sister Anderson is so funny, we have good times together and she just loves old cars and every time we see an old car she wants to knock on that persons door and convert them. I know that we will convert someone just because they have a nice old car. She is also talking about Physics all the time and I am always trying to learn so I can be smarter.
Well time is up and I don't have much more to talk about.
I love you all!
Take care!
Sister Olsen

Email 06/28/10 - Being a missionary is wonderful!

2010-06-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hello all...
I don't have time to write much but this week has been full of sun and it makes me so happy! I have been getting a good farmer's tan and burn. Don't worry Mom, I am not putting any sunscreen on :) I'M FINE! But really its been beautiful and the work has been so busy and wonderful. We are preparing for a BAPTISM this Saturday and we are so excited! We have been finding more people to teach and we are been so blessed. So much has happened but I have no time. Just know that I am staying happy and Sister Anderson and I get a long great and we are seeing miracles happen. We also did a service project all day on Saturday for the community and painted a fence. It's fun! Well got to go! I love you all and keep in touch!

Love,
Sister Olsen

06/21/10 - Pictures from Watford

2010-06-25T12:14:00.001-07:00

Picture 1: Sister Niji and Sister Nyman who has left me but we had good times :)

Picture 2: Sister Shattuck and I when we just received our greenies. Sister Anderson has the blonde hair and Sister Shattuck's companion is from New Zealand. Her name is Sister Campbell.

Email 06/21/10 - What a wonder week with my new greenie!

2010-06-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

HiYa!

Oh it has been such a great week! Now too much exciting things happening but I got a new companion. Her name is Sister Anderson and she is from Provo, Utah and she went to BYU and took one class at UVU. She was going to school before the mission and majoring in Mechanical Engineering. She is a smart one and so I am learning a lot and she like to work on cars. She is teaching me a lot about it all. Ha! She is such a wonderful person. She just turned 21 and has one sister and 2 step brothers and 1 step sister. She has a strong testimony and is willing to work hard. We get along really well and are having fun together.

We found out this week that we have to have 17 hours of finding in the week instead of 15. And president urged all of us trainers to get the hours starting this week. Sister Anderson was such a trooper and endured it all for her first week. She works hard and she is better then I was at being a greenie and talking to people. We have found a few potential investigators this week and its exciting to teach them. We also had Nick come to church and he stayed for all the meetings. He is great and we are excited to see him progress, He has stopped smoking and is willing to keep the commandments. the spirit is so strong when we teach him. Also, Susan, she passed her Baptism interview yesterday and she is absolutely amazing! She will be baptized on July 3. We have been so blessed even though the weather has been cold this week we are loving the weather today with blue skies and it should be nice the rest of the week.

We also have been able to see some former investigators that were solid before but just stopped coming to church all of a sudden. We were are to teach them and we found out that they had been reading Anti Mormon and talking to their old priest. It was hard to hear that was the reason why they were not coming but we were able to answer a lot of their concerns and invite them to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a true prophet and its amazing that even though we are thrown with a lot of negativity as missionaries. We have the opportunity to TESTIFY boldly and the spirit is always so strong in those lessons. I am so grateful for the knowledge and testimony that I have.

Watford is a great area and it has been a lot of fun getting to know Sister Anderson. We are having another Zone P-day today and so I have been way behind on writing. I promise I will write soon. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all your prayers and love.

Take Care!

Love, Sister Olsen

Email 06/15/10 - I'm Training Again!!!

2010-06-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Oh my goodness! This week has been full of excitement and surprises. It has been so busy from getting bikes so that we go get places faster when the buses are not efficient and also being able to watch the World Cup for football here. USA played England and its the biggest thing of the year for them so we couldn't do missionary work that night and we were able to actually watch it. It wasn't that exciting but it was fun. Also we have been blessed to have the Women who has been investigating for 4 years, set her baptism date for July 3rd. We are so excited for her and I will be able to see it! I am staying in Watford and Sister Nyman is moving to Stevenage. I will be getting a brand new missionary! I was shocked when I heard that I was training for my last transfers. Its time to set the bar a little higher. I am actually super excited about it, but I also have to remember all that I'm supposed to do when I train. It has been so long. But I don't know where she is from. Sister Shattuck is also training. Only 2 sisters are coming out and we both have the privilege to train them. I know that the new missionaries are from New Zealand and the other from Utah, I think Salt Lake area, but that's all that I know. Tomorrow we will pick them up and have a training and then come back to Watford and get to work. It will be a lot of fun. Plus we have been able to see so many wonderful things happen lately.

We have an Investigator who is great and has been prepared. He has a girlfriend and she has a daughter who is 12. They ended up coming to a lesson we had and they asked the best questions and the spirit was so strong. The 12 year old wants to become christen and her mom said she would support her. It has been so wonderful to see people that are interested in learning about the TRUTH. I love teaching it and I'm excited to see them more.

But that's about all I have time for this week. I am so excited to train again. I ask for your prayers. I love you all and thanks for your support and love. Missionary work is the best! Love you!

Sister Olsen

Email 06/07/10 - Busy Busy Week

2010-06-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hello!
How are you all doing? This week has been so busy and we have been working really, really hard and finding a lot. The days have been beautiful. It has warmed up this week again but it looks like next week will be England weather. RAIN! so pray for us! ha, the work still goes on. But really we have been able to find people and teach them on the spot because they are interested in learning more. This week I have come to realize how much I love teaching the gospel and helping people understand how they can come to know for themselves of the truthfulness. I love testifying and being a tool in Heavenly Father's hands. I don't have much time this week. We are going down to London for a zone P-day.
I love you all and I am so grateful for all your prayers and love.
I love you all!
Sister Olsen

email 05/30/10 - Carry on! Carry on! Carry on!

2010-06-01T21:56:00.000-07:00

Hiya all!

How is everyone doing? It has been great to hear everyone is having fun with birthdays and lake trips and so on. Things here have been GREAT! We had a wedding this week in the ward. A less active member got married and hopefully her husband will want to be baptized and become a member. He had been prepared. Also, we had Zone Conference in London and that was very inspiring and always uplifting. I have found out that a past investigator is getting married in July so that she can get baptized. AMAZING! We also had a missionary lesson for our 3rd hour at church and it was a lot of fun! The ward mission leader asked if we could share who or what inspired you to go on a mission. And I thought of it through out the hours of church and I went through everyone. In a different way each one of you had inspired me to make this wonderful decision and to serve a mission. I have learned so so much and I am so grateful for each one of you. Thank you so much!

We have seen a lot of things happen this week, We were talking to people in the town center on Tuesday and everyone was rejecting us pretty hard core, but as we were diligent and kept going there was a man who stopped us. He is 43 and asked if we were promoting something. It was actually pretty funny. He told us he knew of the latter-day saints because in 2001 he had played some football (soccer) with the ward at a park. So now 9 years later we have been placed in his path and he want to learn more. We asked if he had time and he did, so we taught him on a bench and then went again to teach him before Sunday and he came to church. He is really interested and can see Heavenly Father has prepared him for this. It was truly a miracle. We are being so blessed in different ways.

Thank you all for your prayers! I know they are helping us to work so much here is England and hopefully we will be able to see many more baptisms. The joy that comes when we share the gospel is like none else.

I love you all. Take Care!

Sister Olsen

P.s. I was thinking this week about being rejected a lot then I thought of Joseph Smith and how he was preaching the gospel and how everyone was rejecting him and even persecuting him and eventually killed him. Being rejected is nothing compared to that. I am so blessed and to know that I can help people that are ready to receive the gospel, brings me joy and overpowers the rejection :)

05/24/10 - Pictures from Watford!

2010-06-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

At our Sake Culture Event Activity, Ha, reminds me of the picture you take at the MTC

Sister Nyman and I in our garden (back yard)...yes we need to mow the lawn. :)

Email 05/24/10 - Sunny Watford!

2010-06-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

How is everyone doing? It has been super crazy this week and we have been so busy. It's been wonderful! We received 5 new investigators, they might not be the most solid people but we are getting new people to teach. I think we have dropped 2 of them already because we are looking for those that are prepared and ready to learn more. The people here are willing to learn and we are helping them wanting to change and act and the feelings that they feel when we teach them. We started teaching a man who has been addicted to smoking and drinking and gambling and he wanting to change his life around and when we taught him, after the lesson he didn't have another smoke. We are going to have to give him to the Elders in the ward because he might be interested in more then the gospel. So we will see what happens with him :)

Also the People that were at the less actives home, were there again this week so we taught them the first lesson and it was great because they want learn more. So we are being blessed with all these tender mercies and our hard work of finding is paying off. We have been finding a lot this week also and it has been sunny and hot for 3 days straight which doesn't happen a lot here. It's so beautiful. I have gotten sunburned already, a nice farmers burn :) But hey, I will take what I can get. People are more happy with the sun out and more people come out, so we have more people to talk to. It's great!

Our Sunday was just great too. We had a new investigator come to church. She is in her 20s and she is Catholic, originally, but she is open to going to other churches. She came in jeans and a tank top yet she fit in so well. She was wonderful and she told us she wants to change a lot in her life and she actually wants to feel beautiful and quit smoking and she said that there was no doubt that she was going to come to church next week. I am really happy for her. We met her on the street. YAHOO! We will see what happens.

Also one more, sorry this week has been full of things, Susan is her name and she has been coming to church for 4 years now and has a strong testimony of the church being true and the Book of Mormon. She has had the missionary lessons twice and so pretty much she is a "dry Mormon" Her husband does not let the missionaries around or let them teach her anymore and it has been a long road. She finally asked him for his OK to be baptized in June. His heart has been softened and he gave her the OK and said he would be there for her. MIRACLE! Susan came up to us and said she can be baptized now. AMAZING! We are so excited for her.

We also taught Primary, and it was crazy! 5 year olds are just full of energy and can't sit on their chair for very long. We are teaching them again this week. Wish us luck! Reminds me of JD.

Things as you can tell are moving along and we are being so blessed. Thank you call for your prayers and support. I love you and continue to keep me posted!

Love

Sister Olsen

05/17/10 - Pictures!

2010-06-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

Making French toast and crepes for the zone. SO FUN! YUMMY!

Some of the elders in the zone playing the word game. It was great! We all had great laughs when they couldn't spell the word because they didn't have the extra letter :) THANKS DAD!

Email 05/17/10 - The Work and the Call moving on

2010-06-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

Hi all my loved ones!

How are you all doing? It was so so good to talk to everyone yesterday. I really enjoyed it. The time went by so fast, but that is how it always goes.

So things here in Watford are doing well! We had a full week of finding! :) We had a lot of potential investigator appointments and they ended up not happening so we just keep looking for the ELECT until we find them. I know they are out there. I can feel it. Heavenly Father is making sure we are willing to do the work to find them. So its great and we have a lot more potential investigators that we have scheduled this week that we are praying and hoping something comes out from them.

The Elders in the ward had a baptism this last weekend and so we are still baptizing in the ward and its great to see the success from the ward. The last two baptisms were from member referral. BEST WAY TO DO MISSIONARY WORK! Its wonderful and the ward is great! We just continue to love them and be there for them.

We did have an experience of going to a less active home. Later in the week I was asking myself if we were just seeing this family to just see them and get a number or if we really needed to teach them. I didn't think much of that after, but once we got there and taught them they had their friends over and we invited them to be apart of the lesson. We taught 10 commandments and they wanted to stay and listen. Then they wanted to come back and learn more about the ten commandments. We are praying for them that we can help them. AMAZING!

The Lord knows how to do his work and we are just here to be there for him and its lovely! Thank you all for your support and prayers. I really appreciate them. I love you all and keep me in touch!

Love Sister Jenn Olsen

05/10/10 - Pictures

2010-05-11T10:21:00.001-07:00

Sorry this is not the best picture but my companion, Sister Nyman is in the yellow, from Sweden, and we are at a members house having a French Traditional meal called Raclette

Fun Stuff!

Email 05/10/10 - Called to serve and loving it!

2010-05-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

It has been such a great and busy week. Sister Nyman and I have been so busy and have been finding a lot of great potential investigators. We have 2 investigators right now and they are great and came to Stake Conference and even came to the Recent Convert meeting that we had before the general meeting. The spirit was strong. Sachin and Tamil are their names and they are an Indian couple that have converted to Christianity and are progressing. But we have a lot of time to find new investigators. It's great! We just got a new Ward Mission Leader and he is great! The ward is wonderful and this area has such great potential. I am so happy to be here.

We had interviews with the president this week and it is always great to talk to him and feel the power that he has and his guidance. We also had Stake Conference and an area Elder of the 70's came and spoke and it was spiritual and uplifting. They always speak to the members about missionary work when they come, so it is always wonderful! The main message was the rescue those that need rescuing. :)

We had a miracle happen to us this week when we just prayed to know where to go finding and we chose this street and the 4th door we knocked on, it was a lady named Jennifer who had heard a little bit of our church and was Catholic and was really interested in the Book of Mormon. She invited us in when we hadn't even said anything. When people are prepared, we don't have to do anything but be the tools in the Lord's hands. I am so so grateful to be apart of this work and the see such wonderful things happening. The only bad part about it was she was part of the Elders part of the ward. :-) But we are still being blessed.

Love you all!

Take care,

Sister Olsen

05/04/10 - Pictures

2010-05-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

Nice's Baptism, 11 years old. She is so cute!

All my companions that have not gone home (at the mission conference)

Lion King with part of our zone

Email 05/04/10 - STAYING IN WATFORD

2010-05-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

HI YA!

Yes I am staying in Watford and I am so relieved. I am so excited to stay here. I can feel that amazing things are going to happen here and that I am supposed to stay here. I love this area and I really do hope I stay the rest of my mission. It would be amazing! So Sister Christensen is moving to my old area in Britanna where the singles ward is in Central London and she is so excited. She loves London. And I am getting Sister Newman who is from Sweden and has been out about 6 months or so. I am so excited. I will miss Sister Christensen but it will be a good change and we will work hard and see so many miracles. Sister Newman I don't really know but she seems really sweet and a hard worker. So that's what's up for moves.

We had our baptism of Nice this Saturday and it was amazing! The family was so happy and you can just feel the strength of the family and how it brought them closer together. The spirit was strong and it was wonderful to be seeing a baptism again. We also had 2 investigators come to church. They usually just stay for Sacrament and then just leave but they stayed this Sunday and it was amazing to just see their sacrifice that they were willing to do for the Lord. We are being blessed so much and it's been wonderful. The weather has not been the best and the buses are pretty rubbish but he work still moves on :)

We had our Mission Conference on Friday and it was just amazing! We had so much fun taking a mission photo and seeing all the missionaries. Yes Dad I did do some stupid sticks and it was great! And I got to see Sister Shattuck and talk to her forever and it was so much fun! I miss her! We learned so much and the theme of it all was to have a vision of what you can do and who you can become. It was inspiring and I was also able to talk to Elder Snow about being from St George and knowing the Nuffers who he worked with. He enjoyed that.

We saw Lion King and that was wonderful and a lot of fun to see. We also had a interfaith thing going on yesterday and we talked to people at a booth and people came up to us and asked us questions about the church. It was so cool! That never happens as a missionary. It was a great missionary activity for us and got to talk to a lot of people and got return appointments to see them. We also taught primary this Sunday to the 5 and 4 years olds. It was so much fun! Kids are crazy but they are so so cute.

Well that's about all for this week. I wish you all the best! Have a good Mothers Day

Love,

Sister Olsen

Email 04/26/10 - Finally in Watford and Blessed with a BAPTISM!

2010-05-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

HiYa!

How is everyone doing? Things have finally started to pick up and so many thing have happened this week. We have been so busy with moving and having Zone Conference also this week. We moved in on Tuesday last week and it was so nice to get that all done and we are still trying to get all fully moved in. If you remember the family that I was talking about last week that is finally together so now their 11 year old little girl can be baptized by her father. Well....she is in our area and we have been teaching her this last week and she is going to be baptized this Saturday. What a Miracle! We know we are blessed with being able to have this experience to teach her and baptize her because we have been diligent, obedient and praying with faith that we would see a baptism this transfers. The Lord knows all and knows we are trying our best with the circumstances that we were in. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to help others to come closer to our Heavenly Father. We are super excited and this ward has just helped us so much and they are the best! We had a Sunday of all missionaries speaking in sacrament meeting and it was very spiritual.

We have been blessed by seeing people and teaching many. We are finding more and more. We have noticed that taking the buses is taking a lot of time waiting and they are not as efficient as other places. So we are looking for bikes. So we will see how that goes. :) ha! But other then that it is sunny and bright and beautiful! It is warming up finally and I love it!

A really cool thing that is going to happen this week is the Mission Conference. The whole mission is getting together in Central London and we are hearing from Elder Snow of the Seventy. We are all really excited to hear from him and what he has to say to help the mission. I am super excited to see Sister Shattuck again. I haven't seen her since I left Lowestoft and then my Trainer Sister Abellan has already left ( I must be getting old...) but it will be fun to see all the missionaries I served around with. Also as a mission we get to choose a play or a game to go to. And our Zone is going to be going to Lion King on Wednesday. We are taking our p-day that day. We are way excited.

Well that's about all that is going on. We found out our ward mission leader is going to be released so we are waiting to see what will happen with that also. We have been so blessed and I am so grateful to be here. I know this is where I am supposed to be and its wonderful!

You all take care.

I send my prayers,

Love Sister Olsen

Email 04/19/10 - Almost to Watford

2010-04-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

HIYA ALL!
It's been just a great week. We have been able to do more missionary work this week and it has been so much better. We had interviews this week with the president and it was wonderful. He always ensures us that we are supposed to be serving in the areas that we are called and I have a huge testimony that it is correct. I have always felt positive about the places that I go and that I am suppose to be there. It's wonderful and comforting to know. Watford is such a wonderful area. The more and more I am there, the more I love it more. Sunday is always wonderful and the ward is just amazing with missionary work. We are working more with the members this week and helping them gain our trust. We have the Zone Leaders also in our ward so we have a big competition and since we are new in the ward we have to gain their [the ward members] trust even more. They are wonderful people. There is about 130 in the ward that come to church every Sunday, the most attended ward in this stake and it's wonderful! (sorry if I have repeated myself from my past emails) We have been finding a lot this past week and our week looks a lot more exciting and more work will be happening. It's exciting to see the missionary work progress in such a short amount of time. This week we were able to teach a couple investigators but not many. When we first taught one, it was amazing and the spirit was so so strong!!!!! We both came out with smiles from cheek to cheek because it had been awhile since we taught an investigator. It's wonderful to be a missionary and feel the spirit so strong and the guidance it gives us as missionaries. Not much more as been happening. Just traveling a lot and getting to know the area. In the ward we are seeing miracles and there is a family that has not been able to be together for 4 years because the mom was stuck in Ghana while the father and kids were in England. Now they are back together and the 11 year old never got baptized because he wanted his dad to do it. Now he can. Amazing! I love the blessings of the gospel and the happiness that we receive from it. When we do what is right we deserve being blessed. Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be happy. I love you all and I am so grateful for your support and love. I want to invite anyone who reads this to pray fro a missionary opportunity. As we pray fro these opportunities. Our Heavenly Father will see that we want to help him and have faith that it can actually happen. Prayer is Amazing and he will always answer our prayers.
Take Care and I wish you the best this week.
Love,
Sister Jenn Olsen

Called to serve!

2010-04-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

Sister Christensen and I. Called to Serve!

Email 04/12/10 - Still waiting to move...

2010-04-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Well its been another interesting week. We found out that the flat we were supposed to get fell through and so on Thursday we had to all day look at flats and schedule viewings to see them on Friday. It has been very hard to do missionary work and I can not wait to get back into the swing of things. We found a place that won't be ready till next Tuesday. So we have put a deposit down and hopefully this one will all work out. So we will be doing the moving next week. But for now, we are still in Wembley and training up to Watford everyday and night. It takes about 30 mins for the train ride. So it takes time out of our day.
We are trying our best to find new investigators and to get to know all the members in the ward. We have a wonderful ward! The Bishop is actually American, HA! It's crazy how the bishopric really changes the feeling of a ward. I am so excited to be here in Watford. We had a great Fast and Testimony meeting and Sister Christensen and I bore our testimonies at the beginning to introduce ourselves. The ward is a huge missionary attitude ward. It's wonderful! We are continuing to fast and pray to find new investigators. We had 2 investigators already come to church. They are Indian and they are wonderful. So we are being blessed in many ways. We are happy to have the flat all figured out so this week we can focus more on missionary work. I love being a missionary and sharing the good news with people. There are more people on the streets here to stop and its great! We have a Wonderful Ward Mission Leader and works really hard to make sure the work is progressing. Oh and last but not least the sun is out and it is getting warmer. It's Wonderful!

I want to thank all those who are writing and emailing. I love you all and I am so behind in writing. Please forgive me, I will have time today to write. Take care and may the Lord bless you in anything you stand in need off.

You're all in my Prayers!

Love,

Sister Jenn Olsen

P.S. If you want to write me. Write to the mission office and I will get post from them every week or so. THANKS!

Email 04/05/10 - Still on the Moves...

2010-04-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Hello all...

Here is England has been great. We have gotten rain, hail, wind, and sun all in one day. The weather is great! But it is getting warmer. I love not having to bundle up every time we go out side. Currently I am in Wembly living with the Senior Missionaries till we can get into our flat in Watford. We have been taking the train back and forth from Milton Keynes and Watford all week and its been crazy. Its about a 45 min train ride so it takes time. We have been busy teaching the new Elders in Milton Keynes the buses and to help them get to know the ward and investigators. It has been a weird week because we haven't been doing "normal" missionary work. It has been sad to say good bye to all our promising investigators but we are glad the Elders that are taking over are good Elders. So our week has been very weird. I cant wait to get back to normal missionary work.

Sister Christensen and I were invited to attend a leadership meeting in London and that was fun to meet with all the zone leaders and talk about how we can help the mission and things like that.

Also an amazing thing happened this week. General Conference of course. Oh the spirit was so strong! I loved the theme of it all. It was pretty much about families and how you can strengthen the home and family. It really is the most important thing and it was just great to hear about that from our prophets. I had the opportunity to watch Priesthood session and I loved the talk about patience and also President Monson talked about the basics of the strength of youth. It was so powerful and spiritual. The stories that were told were wonderful! I loved President Monson's story from the Sunday Morning session about the 2 boys who went to serve on both sides of the veil. I am so grateful to have to time to serve the Lord and to share this wonderful gift that we have to others. I love it! I am excited to go to Watford and meet those wonderful people there. It was really neat also at conference I was able to see some of the people from the Enfield ward and it was great to talk to them and see their families that have grown in the gospel. I love the people here. I know there is more that I wanted to say but I have now forgotten. Things have just been so crazy! We had our Zone P-day today and I will send some pictures of it. I love you and and know that I am praying for you all the time. Take Care. Remember to pray, read and go to church :)

Love

Sister Olsen

Email 03/30/10 - Moving Again to....

2010-03-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

Guess what everyone!
I'M MOVING TO WATFORD! and the best thing about it is that I am staying with Sister Chirstensen and we are opening a new area. It has been closed for awhile and the President promised he would open it up again when it is time. It is time! So we got a call Monday morning to tell us that we need to go look at flats and see which one we wanted. So we had to cancel our appts and go. We picked a flat and now we are just waiting if they accept the offer. The Watford Ward is in the same stake as Enfield (my greenie area.) So for General Conference all the members go to the Watford chapel to watch it. It is the stake center and that is where it will be broadcasted, so this means that I will have the chance to see all the members again and those that I have baptized! I am so excited! It will be fun! Elders are taking over Milton Keynes and they will be staying at a members house till we can move to our flat in Watford. So we are staying in Milton Keynes for a bit to show them around and to help them get comfortable with the area. We are not sure how long but we will be between the areas for a week or so. President is aware of our situation and having so many new investigators and investigators with a baptism date he is willing to let us introduce the Elders to out investigators. It all works our perfectly! We have been so blessed and to see the Milton Keynes area improve from when we first got here is Amazing!
So in Watford the Zone Leaders there are over the ward but they have such a big area and great ward and the best ward mission leader in the mission (they say?) They need another pair of missionaries so we are splitting the area with the Zone Leaders there. In England its rare to have 2 sets of missionaries in one ward. So we are ready to WORK :)
We are also so excited for General Conference. I wanted to invite everyone to watch conference and listen to the words from our leaders. They are the words of God. And go with a question to Conference and I promise you that that question will be answered in some way whether it be by your thoughts or by what someone says. I'm excited!
Also, we have been doing a lot of service this week to help people, its been wonderful. Service is something that will never get old. The feelings after doing service is something that you can never get enough of. The missionary work has been so great here in Milton Keynes and Sister Christensen and I are going to miss it a lot. It's nice to finally figure out the fastest way to get places and get comfortable but that is the time where we need to move on and learn more. We know it's going to be hard at first and finding the elect 24/7 but we know as we have faith, are obedient, and diligent...we can see miracles. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Keep us in your prayers and know that you all are in mine.Thanks for the support
Love,
Sister Jennifer Olsen

Email 03/22/10 - Miracles are happening!

2010-03-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hiya Everyone!

Its been a great and eventful week. There has been a lot of up and downs but the ups outweigh the downs by far. This week we were able to help 3 investigators come to church which is amazing! We have had one of out investigators commit to baptism in May and another one call us today and said she is ready to be baptized now that she had figured her life out and the other asked us on Sunday if she gets married this month could she get baptized the day after. It is truly amazing to see the blessings that we are receiving.

On Tuesday night we were working on finding new people to teach and was being obedient and doing our TTI's (Teaching, Testifying, and Inviting) and our goal is to get 10 a day. We had only gotten 9 on Tuesday as we were walking to the bus and saying we will need to get our last one on the bus. So then we got to the Bus stop and there was a man there. We started talking to him and come to find out in Ghana, where he is from, he was very close to being baptized but then he moved and couldn't find missionaries in the area he moved to and then he moved here. His brothers and sisters joined the church in Ghana and he was so happy to see us. It was amazing to be able to be there at that time to talk to him and we will see him this week. We are excited about it.

Another thing we did this week was fast for other Elders in our District who have been having a hard time getting new investigators. So we fasted for them as a district and went into their area to help them find new investigators. It was GREAT! I have such a HUGE testimony on fasting. It works EVERYTIME, I'm not even kidding you. We found 2 solid people for them to teach in our efforts. Even a man that we gave our number out on the bus called us this day and wanted to learn more and he was in their area. Miracles are happening and its great to be able to experience them.

Then last but not least out investigator Charlie. She is our age and has a little girl who is 3 and living with her partner. Her partner is the son of the less-actives that we visited the one day the spirit directed us to visit them and they were thinking about us the day before. This whole experience has been a miracle in itself. We met with Charlie again this week and taught her part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong, and we all felt it and Charlie asked so many good questions. We couldn't talk about baptism but she wanted to hear about it so bad. So she asked us at the end of the lesson. What does she need to do to be baptized. And then the Less Active members were giving the hint that she needs to take her time and that she needed to be married before and they are not planning on getting married till December in Vegas. HA....So we told her that she cant be living with him and for at least 30 days and she has to be living the word of wisdom. She was completely fine with that but she knew her partner would not take her kicking him out. So we decided to fast and pray for the partner to soften his heart and that everything will work out. And then that day, which was Sunday, she came to us and asked if she could be baptized right after she gets married here. She is so excited and wants to be baptized ASAP. She is amazing and knows that what she is learning is true. Now we are praying that all will go well and that her partner will want the same thing and get married sooner.

Well time is up. I love this gospel and I love the work. I will leave you with this scripture from Alma 26:12

Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength.....

Love you Sister Olsen

3/15/10 - Baptism in Milton Keynes

2010-03-25T17:53:00.001-07:00

Picture of Kwame's Baptism
Kwame is the shorter man

Email 3/15/10 - A baptism in Milton Keynes!

2010-03-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

HIYA!

How is everyone doing? Its been such a great week. The sun has been shinning more and more. Its been wonderful to enjoy the sun even though its cold. So as you know we were planning on a baptism this week and it all turned out wonderfully! The spirit was so strong and Kwame couldn't stop smiling. In the picture I sent he is the short one. He is going to be such a great addition to the ward and we were telling him how he will get the priesthood soon and we are going to continue to teach him. He told us I want to learn as much as I can before I get another job or something else comes up that I can't meet with you as much and learn. He is great and has such a strong testimony. So everything went well and Kwame is the newest member of the Milton Keynes Ward.

Also this week I have gotten pictures of another baptism that happened in Lowestoft. Danny the young man Sister Shattuck and I taught is baptizing one of his teachers. It's wonderful to see the excitement of recent converts sharing the gospel with their loved ones and those they care about.

The work has been busy and moving forward. We are concentrating on finding new investigators now and making the investigators we have now progress toward baptism. This area has grown so much since I have been here. The Lord is Blessing us always.

This week we had Zone Conference and it was motivational and inspiring. We received new standards that we should be accounting for every week. We got a new thing added which are TTI's (teach, testify, invite) So that is a new goal we will be doing to make our finding more effective.

Thanks to all of you for your support and help. I love you and I wish the best for you this week.

Love

Sister Jenn Olsen

Email 3/8/10 - 3 Investigators to church!

2010-03-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

How is everyone doing? What I have heard is that everyone is getting a new house and growing up way too fast :) On the movies you sent me. I loved them! And Ryan when he spoke I just couldn't stop laughing. His voice is so deep! And Garrett on the phone is the cutest thing ever! Sage is growing so fast. Its fun to see everyone. Thanks Beth!

So this week has been exciting. We have been very busy as usual and been planning for our up-coming baptism. ITS GREAT! Its been almost a year since this ward has seen a baptism and its funny because the last couple people that have been baptised have gone less active so the members have been sketchy to have someone. But we have been bringing him into members homes and they quiz him to make sure he knows what promises he is making and he has such and strong testimony. Its great! Kuame is progressing well and he passed his interview with the president yesterday. So we are getting everyone ready for that to happen and we have a family that is leaving so right after we have been planning a going-away party. So our weekend will be eventful. Plus we have Zone Conference this week which is always GREAT!

This week we have dropped about 4 investigators who have not been progressing but we know there are more that will progress. And the blessings we are receiving are referrals and 3 investigators at church. Its a miracle for Milton Keynes! We are being blessed. So thanks for your prayers and fasting. As for Geoff, we push him and he doesn't have too much interest in the anti literature which is wonderful. And Peter, we are trying to get to church. He has an exam this week. So after that we should be good to go to help him progress.

So as you can see we are being blessed and even with the weather the sun has been shinning these last couple days. Makes me HAPPY!

Missionary work is wonderful. And its lovely to see the sun is shinning and that people will be out and about more so we can share the gospel with everyone. I'm so excited to experience another baptism and I know I have had nothing to really do with it but be there to teach and support Kuame along the way.

A great story for the week before I go. We got a referral from the Elders close to our area and so we went to this area to contact him and he did not answer but as we were looking at the map we saw that there were less actives that were living in the area. So we decided to go visit them and get to know them because we had never met them. So we went and come to find out that they were thinking about us the day before and also about going to church on Sunday. After we taught them a lesson we found out that their grand daughter is wanting to learn more about the gospel and will be at their home next week. So we are teaching her next week. Amazing how the Lord works and the Holy Ghost that leads us. We weren't supposed to contact that referral. We were suppose to meet them to be able to teach their daughter in law. Its wonderful to see these experiences.

I love you all and I hope the best this next week

Pray for Kuame! :)

With Much Love-

Sister Olsen

Email 03/01/10 - In London!

2010-03-01T19:43:00.000-08:00

Ha! Hi EVERYONE!

We are in London for the day because we have interviews with the president. They went great! Its always great to see him. We had a good week and it was very busy seeing as many people and talking to everyone! Its wonderful! I don't have much time due to the keyboard being retarded. But Geoff is talking to his sons and it's great! But his sons have a lot of questions from anti things so we will see how that goes. Kuame is awesome! and still planning on being baptized on the 13 of March EXCITING!!!!!!
I talked in church this week on the blessings of a living prophet and it was fun. We had Sister Christensen's birthday and celebrated. She is 23 now. It was fun! Thanks for the cake mom and dad. IT WAS THE BEST!!!
Also, Peter, we found out is a police for the transport. Fun stuff! We only got one investigator to church but we are working hard to progress everyone. Its very cold but some days it's warm which gives us hope that there is warmth and the sun lives :)
I love you all. Sorry it's short. Take care! Thanks for your prayers and emails and letters.

LOVE YOU!
Sister Jennifer Olsen

2/22/10 - Snow in Milton Keynes

2010-02-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

Hiya! Here are some pictures of the view and places we walk. This all just happened in one night. ITS COLD! :) Fun to be a missionary! I love you all! Sister Olsen

Email 02/22/10 - Milton Keynes is growing!

2010-02-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hiya!
This week for missionary work has been crazy busy! So usually we count and record how many active members we see a week and it counts for our time. Now it doesn't unless an investigator or less active is present. So, we are not going to be visiting the active members much. We still can but then it takes away from all our other hours and then the President doesn't see that we are using our time effective. So yeah, that is a huge change this week. We are getting to know a lot more less actives and trying to find more new investigators. We have been very blessed to see so many miracles and how we contact new investigators and how they become new investigators. The guy that called our number last week, we met with him and he is AMAZING! He know he needs more in life then just the Catholic or the Church of England. He has been going to the same church ever since he was born and he knows the Book of Mormon can help him. When we taught him the spirit was so so strong! We invited him to pray and read and come to church. He has other things for the next 2 weeks but can't wait to come. We called him later this week and he has read 3 Nephi 11 to chapter 28. Its crazy! He asked how much he should read from it and how many times. He reads it every day and he is hooked! It's the Book of Mormon that converts! I know the that Book of Mormon is a true book and its the most powerful book then any other book. Isn't that just amazing!?! I love it! As for the weather, it is cold (as you can tell from the pictures) but the sun doesn't go down till 5 now. So that is GREAT! We actually get more sunlight now.
Here is another fun story. We knocked on this door this week of a man and he was from Ireland and was funny. He wanted to learn more because he had some ideas on what we believed but he was proud to be Irish. You could tell. So I asked him why he moved here because he sounded like he didn't like it here. He wasn't joking at all. But he said...would you believe me if I told you I came here when I was 18 to rob a bank? HA! It was crazy! He said he has learned a lot in his life. But there ya go. We meet fun people everyday :) Missionary work is fun and spiritually uplifting. I love it and I am grateful to be here.
Thanks for all and your prayers and letter emails and love. Keep me updated!
Love,
Sister Jennifer Olsen

2/16/10 - Teaching primary

2010-02-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

Picture is of Sister Christensen and I teaching the 4 and 5 year olds. There were only two in class today.

Email 02/16/10 - Missionary work is still moving forward!

2010-02-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!
How is everyone? How was everyone's Valentines Day? This week has been really eventful! We have been very busy and been so blessed. Oh, by the way, I am staying in Milton Keynes. We kinda already knew that but just to make sure you know. We are getting a new District Leader and the AP will be our Zone Leader. Fun stuff! So a really neat story. My whole mission (I was taught from the beginning from my south SLC trainer to write our number on every card and pamphlet we give out) So when I got here in London they didn't do that but I continued to do it. I told myself even if only one person calls back and becomes a member due to me writing our number down then I would be happy. So, guess what!?! It happened this week. My whole mission I have never had anyone call us back and I have given a lot of things away and told them our number is on it. And this week a man we tracted into a couple weeks ago called us because we put our number on the pamphlet. I know its something so small but it made my week! HA! He called and asked how he can learn more about the Restoration and how much a Book of Mormon was. Yeah we thought we were in a dream. We see him later today and we are so excited to share the gospel with him. The Lord is blessing us with more people to teach thanks to your prayers. They do get answered! It was just amazing to see that he can feel the spirit and got the guts to call us. WONDERFUL! So there ya go.

We have had a hard time in the last weeks to get a hold of the families we were teaching. We were able to get into contact with them this week which was great and teach them more. And invite them the church. We also have been seeing Kuame is his name. He is from Ghana and we have him a baptism date in March. We are so excited! He knows the BOM is true and has been prepared throughout the years and has been coming to church since the beginning of the year. So we are stocked for him and teach him a lot. Geoff the old guy is still trying to figure everything out. We are still working with him. And the guy that I met in the library last week. We see him tomorrow. So the work as you can tell is progressing and we are being so blessed. I love missionary work. Even though its cold its still great! I love serving others and sharing the gospel with them. Every single time we talk to others about the gospel and they don't understand the truth and have so many questions about life and are so confused. It strengthens my testimony and I am so grateful to know the truth and to have that in my life. Thanks mom and dad! :) Well I love you all and I am so grateful for all the letters I get from everyone. It's always great getting letters as a missionary. Take Care and till next week...
Love,
Sister Jennifer Olsen

Email 02/08/10 - Cold in Milton Keynes but still being BLESSED!

2010-02-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

Oh it has been a busy week. We are still getting to know the members and getting in contact with the less actives. It's been wonderful to get to know them. We had a lot of less actives come to church which is great! We also got a referral from the Elders that serve close by to our area and we have been trying to contact her for a couple weeks. Clara is her name and she is a busy lady who works in London. We went by her house later at night and contacted her and she is looking for a church that she can go to and feel like a new person when she come out. She has an open heart. We saw here after and taught her lesson one and she understood everything and wants to pray to know about Joseph Smith. She is great. So we will be hoping to get her to church this week. Geoff is still going. He was sick last week so we didn't get to teach him but he still came to church and he always has great questions in Gospel Principles. We have a lot of people who are potential investigators and we have been finding a lot and the work is progressing. Its WONDERFUL! We found a lady tracting the other day and she had met with missionaries when she was 21. She let us in her home and we pretty much taught all of lesson 1. The spirit was strong and she is more interested now then she was before. I think she is in her 50's now. Crazy! And here is another miracle! I was waiting in the library to get on a computer and a guy that was on a computer saw my name tag and said, "NO WAY! You are from that church?" He said that he lost his phone and went out of town and was learning about the restoration awhile ago from Elders. And he said can you come by again. So I got his information. How cool is that! Fasting is amazing! It always works and thanks for all those who pray and fast for the work. It's great being a missionary! Also another exciting thing happened this week. All the sister missionaries, but Sister Christensen and I, got moved early. They had an emergency transfer because of my trainer. It was her time to go home at the end of this next move, which is the 17th of February, but due to medical conditions she is going home and her family came and picked her up. So we knew nothing about it until I saw a email from Sister Shattuck saying she is moving. So all the sisters moved but us. Way crazy. So we are here for a reason together and are working hard. That's about it for now. Remember I love you all and I know the gospel blesses lives. Happy Valentines Day also on Sunday! :) YAHOO! best day for a missionary :)Take Care!Love,

Sister Jenn Olsen

2/1/10 - Pictures from Milton Keynes

2010-02-01T09:44:00.000-08:00

First Photo is of what it used to look like

Second photo is what it looks like now but it is still COLD :)

Third photo is of Sister Christensen and I at Zone Conference YAHOO!

Email 02/01/10 - It's still cold in Milton Keynes!

2010-02-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

Hello All!
So the work here is coming along. This week has been the better out of them all. It always gets better though. That's what's great about missionary work and making goals all the time. Always striving to be better and do better. This week we found another family. Shelly and Kaylee and Taylor. The kids are 10 and 12. They are so smart and are begging their mom to go to church. We had stake conference this last Sunday so we couldn't get anyone to travel that far to go. But this week we are hoping for both families to come. Its great to teach families and to see them have questions and to learn together. The more and more I go tracting, the more and more my testimony grows. People are so lost in the world and need some guidance and direction. That is what we are blessed to have. Its been a busy week full of tracting and teaching. We are getting to know more of the less active members and seeing them more regularly. We are getting used to the buses also and things have just been going great. We also had zone conference this week and it is always motivating and the topic of it was faith. We need to have so much faith in the Lord while we are here. But even in our every day lives. That is what keeps us going. It is so important!
Oh and one thing I wanted to say. So it is so cold and we have gloves on all the time so when tracting its hard to knock and mom was going to send a gold ball, but here we don't need them. We have the mail flap to use. They are usually metal and you have to lift up the flat to put the mail in the doors. And here. We just open and close it and it makes a loud noise. Its great! I know it sounds dumb but what else are missionaries going to talk about, right? Also this week we have been teaching the older man who is an investigator and he accepted to be baptized! YAHOO! We gave him a date for march and he said he was thinking Nov or Dec.....ha.... he wont be able to wait that long. The holy ghost will get to him. We are really excited about it. Even if I don't get to see his baptism it's great that he has accepted. He has been learning for a year. So its about time :) HA!
Well I think that is about it for now. This week has been full of the spirit and learning new things. I watched the movie on Thomas S Monson, his life story. IT'S WONDERFUL! I invite all of you who have not seen it to watch it. It's called, On the Lords Errand I think? Well I love you all and really appreciate all your love and support.

Love,
Sister Jenn Olsen

Me and my new companion!

2010-01-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

Sister Olsen and her new companion Sister Christensen

New address and new email

2010-01-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

My new address is:

88A Germander Place
Conniburrow
Milton Keynes
MK14 7DP

My new email address is:
jennifer.olsen@myldsmail.net

Email 01/25/10 - Sister Olsen still loves sharing the gospel

2010-01-25T09:03:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

How is everyone doing? Here in Milton Keynes it has been warmer, which has been so nice. It is still cold but you can at least stand it. This week we have been busy with finding and doing a lot of tracting and still figuring out where we go on the buses. But being in Conniburrow we are a lot close to the city center which makes it so much nicer to get to different places because all the buses go through there. Also this week we have been teaching out investigator Geoff. He is an old man probably in his 70's and he does not see the hurry for baptism. He has been taught for a year now but doesn't really retain all the information. We told him we were going to extend an invitation to be baptized every lesson. The first one he said. I can't say yes and I can't say no. then the second lesson he said. Well, yeah, sooner or later. So he is progressing. A bit… We also have been blessed to find new investigators who is from Ghana and her name is Matilia and she has 4 children. 14, 12, 8, 4. They are so cute! It’s a FAMILY! I have been waiting to teach a whole family. She is born again but she understands the priesthood and how important it is. She wants to know if it is true so that her children can be brought up in the correct church. She said the closing prayer and asked for revelation to know it to be true. It was a powerful lesson and the spirit was there. I know this is the true church and that we have the right authority given from God to guide his church and to do saving ordinances. Its amazing! I love sharing and teaching the gospel to others. Because I KNOW what I teach is TRUE! Also, on Sunday we had a great day where they asked me to bear my testimony. It was great to do it for the new ward. I found out this week that there are about 80 people that come to church on an average Sunday. And there are 300 people on records. That shows the inactivity in the ward. So we prayerfully have to choose who to meet with. This ward is great at missionary work though. So we are going to help them out. So that’s about all that has been happening. The Lord is helping us and I will keep you updated. Thanks for all who write and pray for me. It is the best thing I could ask for. I am learning so much and Sister Christensen and I have so much fun together. It never get boring when we tract. We always have great stories to share with each other. Thanks to my great childhood!
I love you all and I invite you to pray for missionary experiences. They will come!
Love,
Sister Olsen!

Email 01/18/10 - Milton Keynes - new flat

2010-01-25T08:47:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!

WOW this week has been so crazy! We just finished moving yesterday and the members were so great in helping us out. This ward is pretty small. It actually has a lot of members but more then half are less active. So we have a lot of work to do. A good story for the week. On Friday and Saturday morning we went to go out for the day and went down stairs and there was smoke everywhere. We could not breath. We hurried and got out of the building and called 999. At first we didn't know what to call. Then a lady started screaming and telling us about the smoke. She was over doing it. She jumped out of her window which she could have just walked out the door. HA. Anyways they sent 3 fire trucks and it was this huge deal and then come to find out it was an electric fire. Not bad. But it was a great experience. Especially seeing the lady freak out! Also we have been working a lot with the members this week and it has been so effective, trying to help them get more missionary experiences and they have so much potential. Its great! We also got a new ward mission leader and his is so GREAT! I am so excited to work with him. So yes we only have 1 investigator right now but we have so much potential and are working really hard. The Lord has provided people for us to teach we are just going to find them. Sorry so short this week but I love you all! Take care!

Love Sister Olsen!
P.s My companion and I work great together! :)

Email 01/11/10 - I'm here in Milton Keynes!

2010-01-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

Hi Fam!
Wow I have a lot to say and not a lot of time. First of all its is cold! :) ha ha. White everywhere. The people said that it has not been this cold for the amount of time period that it has been cold since 30 years ago. PERFECT for me :) But it does not stop the work! We are walking in the snow everywhere. My legs are getting a lot of muscle :) So yes...No snow plows for the streets. It's insane and snow is still everywhere. We are moving into another flat so I am living out of the suitcase right now. I don't have my address but next week I will. So Milton Keynes, it is a more modern town in England so the streets are bigger and the place is more like an american town. We have a Mall here, which you don't get anywhere but central London. The area has not had a baptism for a long time. 2 baptisms I think last mouth and our goal is to get one a month. So we are ready to save some souls. The members here are great and are so willing to help and its great! we just need to use them! The area has so much potential we are excited to get moving. Sister Chirstsensen (Sister C) has only been here 3 weeks because she came for an emergency moves so we are pretty much white washing. Figuring out the area and who lives where and the buses and all that fun stuff. She is a hard worker and we are going to work so well together. This area is going to change a lot. So we are excited. Its going to be hard work but it is all going to be worth it! I know as we show our obedience, faith, and diligence to the Lord he will bless us in ways we would never imagine. We have 2 investigators now that have been going to church and we are going to continue to help them but we will also be doing a lot of finding! This work is the best work ever and it is so nice to be with someone that is willing to work also. I have been so blessed with companions. So, yes mom, I am the senior Companion but that doesn't really mean anything. I just have been out longer that's all. But we have fun together and oh to correct myself Sister C. is from Idaho Falls but went to BYU and was Miss Southern Idaho Falls and that stuff. She is great. So there ya go! I love you all and thank you for all the prayers and support again! Chelle! Good LUCK with the baby!

Love Sister Olsen!

Email 1/5/10 - I AM MOVING ON......TO MILTON KEYNES

2010-01-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!

What a great week it has been and very eventful also. I can't believe how much has happened this week. With the new year and everything!

First of all yes...I am moving. Leaving Sister Shattuck which is very sad and we will just have to remember the good times. I'm getting a new companion from Utah, I think. I think she was Miss Utah once too? But I will give you more info next week. Her Name is Sister Christensen. She seems way cute and nice. I have met her at some of the zone conferences. So I am excited. A chance for another new start. Pretty crazy!
So the first day of this year was AMAZING! It was the perfect way to start off the new year :)
We taught Danny, the 19 year old. We taught the 1st half of the plan of salvation with emphasis the importance of baptism. He had the assignment to pray for a date to be baptized the lesson before, so we just needed to follow up. We prayed and prayed and I was not getting an answer for a date for him to be baptized. Then part of me thought, as I was praying, that maybe Danny is supposed to be the one to get the date. So when we asked him if he had prayed for a date he said Yes, the 17th. We were shocked! for how soon and how definite and no question about it. He couldn't get that date our of his head so we told him that would be the day he would be getting the holy ghost and then on the 16th he can be baptized! He accepted and so now he will be taught almost everyday so he will be prepared. AMAZING! The best way to start it off. Then we have seen him 2 times after and he had been reading the book of mormon non stop. He started it from the beginning and tells us all about Nephi and Lehi and his brothers. He texts all the youth in the church and tells them how much he loves the scriptures. I am really bummed I don't get to see his baptism and to hear all his comments and questions he has in lesson but I am so happy for him. I know it is by the spirit and the Book of Mormon that Danny has been converted. And I am so grateful to have been the instrument and to be the one to experience the joy of it all.
So there ya go. Also some fun things happened this week. For New Years we went to a family's house and watched the Field is White DVD and it was GREAT! So interesting especially being here. Also, we went on a New Years Day walk with the ward by the beach. Yes it was cold but SO beautiful! And we made the family that had us over for New Years Eve a american breakfast. Made them blueberry pancakes and my famous french toast. HA! home made syrup too. We made a lot and they all sat down and said it wasn't going to be enough so I got up to make more and whipped it all together and by the time I brought more out they were all full and could not eat anymore. HA! They didn't know how filling it was because they never had it before. But they LOVED IT! It was a lot of fun to do it. Yummy!

We also went to a pantomime, which is a play that makes fun of other plays or stories.. It was great! The costumes were AMAZING! We got the good-to-go from the mission pres because a Less Active wanted to take us. It was Cinderella and it was funny. They pick on usually one person in the crowd and it was me! They were so amazed that I had come all the way from the USA. Dad and MOM you would have LOVED IT! What a great thing to do.
Then the last thing. We were able to be blessed with 4 investigators to come to church. I know that is from fasting and prayers. Thanks for all who are helping me out. We had Danny and Renata the lady from Brazil and the the 2 Indian couple we have been teaching. The spirit was so strong and Sister Shattuck and I were able to bear our testimony and then the theme of the meeting was missionary work. I love when that happens! Missionary Life is great!
I love you all and next time I will probably have a lot to say with being in a new area! Thanks for all the support and prayers. I love you all and keep me updated. Thanks also for all those who have sent me letters. I love them!

Love Sister Olsen!

Also this week I have gotten a cold which is just fun and dandy and now my nose is raw but hey! The work still goes on. I just sound like a man. :)

New address:
24 Calcott Lodge
Akerlea Close
Netherfield
Milton Keynes MK6 4JW

Email 12/29/09 It was a great Christmas!

2009-12-29T11:18:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for all the gifts, cards and letters. Sister Shattuck and I have had such a great Christmas. And the best part was being able to tech Danny the 19 year old. The spirit was so strong and he understands so much! I love knowing that people want to change their life for the better. Sometimes we have to give up a lot but in the eternal perspective it is not much. :) So Christmas we were at the bishops house and played games like Uno and Guesstures. Also was able to see Polar Express which was so much fun! I've never seen it so it was a perfect movie. We had great meals and the tradition over here are crackers or poppers before you eat. It's their celebration and you get a little joke in it and a hat and a gift. Its fun. On Christmas Eve we were at the old Stake President's house and played lots of fun games and went caroling. There will be some games that the family will have so much fun playing. Can't wait to teach you them :) On Boxing Day we went to the Felton's family home and had yummy food and fun games also played. Its nice to just relax for a while and be with the family. They are a lot like an american family so we both felt like home. It was fun! Watched the Olsen Family Trailer. Our family never gets old. HA! Love you all! Also this week we were blessed to have 2 investigators come to church. Renata the Portuguese speaker from Brazil and Danny. Danny had a hard time waking up but he is just going to have to get used to it :) ha and the we had a lady from the Thetford Ward which is full of American Air Force families. A lady came that went to Brazil on her mission and it had been 12 years since she went and was still able to translate perfectly. We taught her a lesson after church and she committed to come every Sunday. We are seeing miracles and it is such a great blessing!We also have been trying to find more investigators to teach that are more solid and we were blessed and guided to a lady who has been introduced before to the gospel and has 4 children under the age of 9 and by her self. She is Portuguese and speaks english also. PERFECT for a friend for Renata. She invited us into her home and we are going back this week. It's been amazing to see all these miracles and to be able to feel the true meaning of Christmas and to share the best thing I have with others. I love you all and I hope the BEST for the NEW YEAR!The perfect new years resolution: READ THE BOOK OF MORMON EVERY DAY! :) It will BLESS YOU! It has blessed me so much and has changed my life for the BEST!

Love Sister Olsen!

Email 12/21/09 - Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-26T16:04:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

I just want to say that I love you all and I hope you have the best Christmas ever! It has been so beautiful here is Lowestoft. It snowed on Friday and Saturday and so we woke up to a winter wonderland when we got up to go to church. We had a Christmas carol concert also on Sunday and an amazing thing happened. A young man who has been going to the activities for a couple years now decided to be in the choir because we would practice for it when they had young mens. And after the concert was done he asked if Church was like this. He really liked the feeling and how friendly everyone was. He asked about baptism and is coming to church for the first time. The youth and amazing here and they are the ones that are making it happen. Just making friends and inviting them to the church activities can change someone's life! We will be teaching him this week and preparing him for baptism and he also comes from a broken family. We are so EXCITED!
We have been tracting a lot more in the cold which is not too bad. It is so fun meeting new people even though we get yelled at too :)
Thanks for all your prayers and I just wanted to share that story with you. Hope you all have fun and stay WARM! Thanks for your prayers.
Love Sister Jenn Olsen!

Email 12/14/09 - Hello! From cold Lowestoft!

2009-12-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

This week has been very busy with going down to London to go to Zone Confernce and getting council form the Area President. WOW! What a powerful man! We learned so much and a lot of new things are happening. We will be tracting ALOT more and making appointments shorter and missionary work is just going to be even more busier. I am excited for it.
We have seen miracles again happening. We have been trying to see this investigator that was golden when we first got here. Then she had a death in her family and so she wanted time. We have not been able to get a hold of her and we saw her on the street the other day and was able to talk to her and she wants us to come around. It is amazing! I know prayers are answered and Heavenly Father wants the best for us. The mission is great and we have been in the Christmas Spirit and seeing such wonderful people.

I love you all and hope the best. Share the Gospel!
Love
Sister Jenn Olsen!

Email 12/07/09 - It's "Not Too Bad" English saying :)

2009-12-12T09:09:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

First off thank you so much for all the prayers and the support. The Lord is giving us miracles and so many things are happening and it is so busy with missionary work here. Its CRAZY and I LOVE IT!
This month, we as a mission, are reading through Preach My Gospel so it is a lot of reading everyday. And also we have Zone Conference next week in London because the Area President is coming. We are way EXCITED!! it's like a 3 hour train ride, which is no fun though. But we will make it fun :)
This week Aisha has been progressing and loves being a member and bore her testimony in RS and Sacrament. It was wonderful to hear the feelings she had and how the gospel has changed her life. She has been through so much and I am so grateful to have made the decision to go on a mission and help her and others. Its wonderful. This time of year is the best. Everyone is so happy and says hi and the spirit of Christmas is for sure in the air!
This week we went to Halesworth which is 30 mins away from us. A member took us to see this family that we received their records from Idaho. We found out they were from the city right under Spokane, Washington and their kids live there. They are a less active family but we are hoping to help them out and get them active. They were way out into the country side where there were fields that never stopped and all so GREEN. It was beautiful!
Also we taught Seminary this week. That was so much fun to work with the youth and to see how strong they are. They learn so much and we taught later in the day so they were more awake. It was so much fun. I never thought I would like teaching. Ha. How things change when you are a missionary :)
We had Interviews with the president this week. I love that time. President Patch is called of God and gains such great inspiration for the mission. He was talking about how long Sister Shattuck and I have been together. I was telling him we have not been together that long. I think for sure one of us will be moving next moves. But at least we are together for Christmas and there is still so much to be done before one of us leaves. Its crazy but fun also! :)
We have a new investigator that was investigating last year sometime and has been able to figure a lot of her life and has been coming back to church and wants to get baptized. But we found out that she is homeless and needs to be stable before we baptize her. So we are going to help her find a place to live because she can't live at her fiends and mothers home due to government issues. So that is what we are working on but she is wonderful and we are wishing for the best for her :)
So as you can tell the work is great and moving forward. I love you all and thanks for the letters and emails.
Love you!
Sister Olsen!

Aisha's Baptism

2009-12-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Aishas BAPTISM with John the Provider who baptized her! Myself, and Sister Shattuck.

Email 11/30/09 - Spiritually Filled weekend

2009-12-12T08:49:00.000-08:00

Needed to re-post this one to keep things in chronological order. Sorry! Just another goof up! - Dan

HELLO!
Wow! This week has been interesting. Not having the car for the first week. It has not rained too much on us but the weather is COLD! We are hoping we get used to it more and more as we are walking a lot more. The members have been helping us a lot by driving us to appt's and places. It has been great. I hate asking people for help so it is testing me to let others serve us. The Work has been moving along GREAT! I am so excited to stay here because it seems like the Lord knows that we still have a lot to do before we move. This week we have been seeing people and tracting and walking and being late a lot. But it has been good overall. We were able to go to a excommunicated members baptism. He is great! The feeling there is a lot different at the baptism. Not in a bad way but just different. So it has been great to him him finally progress and make that step back onto the narrow path. You can now see the light in him and he is always smiling and talking more to others. He is a new man. I love to see these miracles happen. Its only through the Atonement that we get to see these things happen. I love it!
Aisha also was baptized!!!! YAHOO! She is amazing! The day was so busy but everything worked out. The talks were great and we had the Portuguese speaker come to the baptism and we were able to get a translator which was a miracle in itself and 2 other investigators came to witness it and the spirit was so strong and everyone left with smiles on their faces. Satan was trying everything though. After the talks we went to go to the font and there was a leak it so it was way too low for them. So we had everyone go back till we got it filled and we all sang songs. It all worked out and she got wet and all. It was AMAZING and she is great! Also, got the Holy Ghost on her birthday which was Sunday. Best gift you can get for your birthday. The week has been great and the spirit was so strong. I am grateful I was able to be there for her and to see the other investigators and share feelings with each other. I love missionary work :) I'm a geek, i know...
I don't really have a story to tell like I usually do but this week was the first time that I had something unusual to eat. Something not NORMAL. They are called pork scrappings. The skin of the pig with the hair coming out.. AH!!!! Oh it was nasty. Something I kept burping up and I just could not stand the taste any longer. They love it here. the hair coming out of it is what turned me off of it. when you eat it, it is very crunchy and taste like a pig. GROSS! Anyway, I don't recommend anyone eat it but if you do, shave the pig first :s
Anyway...so there ya go. This week I have learned a lot in having a positive attitude no matter what the weather is like and it helps so much. we are seeing miracles and being able to witness them all the time. Even though Aisha got baptized the Lord knows we are ready for more children. :) The members are helping us a lot and we had a lady come to church that really enjoyed the feeling in her friends home and came to church and is looking for that happiness in her life. We are so lucky to have the gospel. This is the perfect time to share it with everyone. People might be more receptive to the message. Share it with other. Give a BOM to someone. It is the best present to give to someone. I love you all. I love being a missionary and to be serving a mission. Stay Strong! Love you all!
Love, Sister Jenn Olsen!

Email 11/24/09 - Song: I'll be (in Lowestoft) for Christmas

2009-12-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry everyone! I missed this email (along with others) :-0 I'll try and do better! - Dan

Hi Everyone!
YEP YEP!!!!! It was moves this week and Sister Shattuck and I are staying in Lowestoft TOGETHER! We were so excited to hear that and be able to be with each other for Christmas. YAHOO!! So we will be able to see Aishas baptism this Sat and we also have an excommunicated member being baptized on Friday. The work has been crazy this last week and this week it is picking up.
Sad News...We lost our car today. We had to give it away. Perfect time for the horrible weather :( We are way sad and still don't know how we ride bikes in the wind with rain in our faces and in skirts? Who knows? It will be an adventure. More laughs.
So yes, things have been wonderful this week and Sunday we had a lot of people come from less active to investigators that we have started to teach. It has been great. I know I am not doing anything. The Lord has the power and he is blessing us and thanks to all you and your prayers and fasting we have been blessed. Missionary work is great! We have the best support group, our families and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
This week we got together with others faiths. It was a great opportunity for missionary work. It was international faith week. We got together with other faiths and everyone shared what they believed in. Most all would say where they belonged but was not too strong in it and felt that something was missing. And as Sister Shattuck and I were sitting there. Our testimonies grew stronger and stronger to know that we are so blessed to have the truth, the whole truth. As we introduced ourselves we also bore our testimony. It was such a great experience to see all these people from so many other faiths and yet we have the truth. There is no way I can deny but these people are lost and we all need to help them. The gospel is TRUE and it blesses our life and it is the only way we can inherit the kingdom of heaven :)
We also had a board in the college one of the days of the week to get any college students involved and we gave out a good amount of Book of Mormons. It was great! And as I was looking at all the kids walking around it did not make me miss college and so happy to be a missionary. Its the best!
We also taught Renata the Portuguese speaker. We got there and she told us she wants to come to Aisha's baptism even though she wont have a port. speaker to translate. She doesn't care. She is AMAZING! She also talks to all her friends in Brazil where she is from and talks about the church and gives the the website to the church. Her friends tell her, "I want to have missionaries to visit me." and she didn't know if there were any by her. We told her if we get their information we can have missionaries go. She was so excited. We are teaching her english and she told us her prayers have been answered because she had been praying for someone to help her learn english. The Lord provides a way, no matter what.
Missionary work is there to bless others lives and I am so grateful to be able to see all the lives that are being blessed because of it.
Pray for AISHA! We are excited for this weekend.
I love you all and hope you have a great THANKSGIVING with out me :)
Stay strong and keep me updated. I love you and pray for you!
Love Sister Jenn Olsen!

Email 11/16/09 - Getting Cold!

2009-11-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

"HIYA....you doing alright?"
they say that instead of "hi, how are you?" Fun stuff! Well this week has been getting colder and winder and wetter. :) Also might be losing our car in a couple weeks which is NO FUN! but we will see. The public transport is rubbish out here and so we are going to get cold. Right in time for the real WINTER they call it.
So This week has been great. Missionary work is slowing down a little but we are ready to work harder. One morning there was a hurricane with the windows shaking and rain going upwards and sideways. It was crazy. Then 2 seconds later it was sunny. That's England for you. The clouds move fast. Well sorry enough of the weather. Making soup a lot which is SO GOOD! Thanks to mom and dad :) also we had stake conference this week which was FANTASTIC! We had E Teciria and E Curr. come and they talked so much about missionary work which was so good for us. I guess the church has grown everywhere else but in Europe the last 10 years. So they are getting on them. Which they need to . We are doing all we can do. Everyone said they were found by tracting. They think the world is the same as 50 years ago. Its funny. But one thing I wanted to share was the difference between knowledge and understanding. For our testimonies we gain the knowledge to share with others what we have. But Understanding is what we all should have, which is the acquiring knowledge of truth that has been taught and APPLIED in life. And that is the biggest part. So they spoke on how we all have the knowledge. now we need to use that knowledge and UNDERSTAND IT. It was so good. Pretty much calling all the members unto repentance. In a kind way of course :) But really the members are great. They just need a lot of boosting for missionary work.
Last Night we met with John and Shelia who really love us coming to their home and recognizing the spirit every time we go. They said they wont be converted still but they ask so many questions and we talked about baptism and prophets and they are planning on going to Aishas baptism. We are so excited for them. So we will see how it goes.
Sports night is great and a lot of fun. The work is moving forward in different ways.
Well sorry it's short this week I love you all and good luck with the Christmas lights. I am telling people to watch the Olsen Christmas vacation trailer. So they understand the crazy family I come from :) I love you all and thanks for the emails and prayers.
Keep READING! It will bless and help you everyday!
-Love Sister Jenn Olsen!

Email 11/09/09 - Lowestoft is still exciting!

2009-11-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

HIYA! FAMILY!
How are you all? Its sounds like it is very busy in the Olsen residence. Here is Lowestoft it has been getting cold and the wind is starting to burn. But... they say it is not cold yet! Ha! (I always have to start with the weather.) So this week Nov 5th was "Guy Fox Day." It's their 4th of July. They have fireworks going off everywhere! Pretty much all week. We were able to sleep through it so that was a blessing. We got to see a lot of cool fireworks though from our flat. Also this week was Zone Conference and it was such a great spiritual upliftment and the President has such great insights how to help out the mission and make the work move forward. Its great! We had american drinks for our lunch there. And we also cleaned the car last p-day with John the Provider who is always helping us out. The mission gave out a clean car award. We won it! Yahoo! Nothing too exciting but it happened so why not tell you? :-) We visited with the couple that had gone to temple square and felt great about it but don't want to be converted. We saw them and talked to them. We didn't make it sound like a lesson but we taught, sang a song at the end and said a prayer to leave a blessing on their home. They were so delighted in having us there. John, the man told us, "I just want you to know this room is a totally different place when you sisters are here. It feels warm and happy and I really enjoy it and I hope this wont be the last time you come and see us." We asked if he wanted to know what that feeling was and he said no I don't need a label for it. Ha! but as we left with a prayer we thanked Heavenly Father for blessing us with feeling the SPIRIT! So we are hoping they continue to progress. step by step. He cried as we sang though. It was so spiritual! I loved it!
We had FHE and it is going so good! We got 9 people there this time and less actives are coming to church because they feel more involved and it has been such a great success. I love the members here. They are so fun! We make them play fun games that helps them get out of their comfort zone. It's great! So this week has also been eventful with a lot of investigators dropping us. So we have been working on ways to find more people like Aisha who is just so solid! We had been trying to get a hold on to one of the potential investigators, in the area book, and finally got an appointment this last week. The spirit was strong and it was a lady and her grand son who we got to go to sports night on Friday. They didn't come to church but things seem to be looking up again. Just got to stay motivated. even in the cold.
So another neat thing happened to me which I was very honored. We went to a baptism this week in another area to have Aisha be able to see a baptism before she gets baptised. Sister Shattuck and I also sang but that's besides the point. It went good. But Aisha was able to see and feel the spirit and how it all goes. Then on Sunday she came up to me and told me she didn't realize how personal the baptism program is and that she would rather have me be a speaker at her baptism then someone else she had chosen. I felt privileged to do it. I am not sure if I will be there. But it is an honor that she asked me. She is great! I love her and always will. She is Amazing! One day you all will have to meet her :) So missionary work is the best and if any of you can do it. DO IT! :)
Thanks for all your prayers. It means a lot. I love you all so much! And thanks for all the birthday wishes and all you have done for me to give me support.
Love Sister Jennifer LaMay Olsen!

Email 11/02/09 - Great Comp. to have and great place to be for a BIRTHDAY!

2009-11-04T23:01:00.000-08:00

Hi Family!!
It has been a great week! The missionary work has been so busy and also has been exciting with so many surprises. I wasn't expecting much being on the mission and all. But this week has been great!
First of all I got the Zone to get together and everyone bought a can a spray paint and their shirts and then we all made shirts! It was so much fun! I had to get some motivated to do theirs because you know it does take a good amount of time. But after they saw ho we made a super man stencil for one of the elders they all wanted to make their shirt look cool. It was a lot of fun! S. Shattuck and I did the same thing on ours for our companionship shirt. We took pictures so I will send them. It reminded me of how long it took to do all our Disneyland shirts from the time we printed things out to make the stencils to spraying all the shirts blue in the park by Disneyland. What a project but so worth it to see us all in the end. Fun stuff!
We also had a dinner apt with a young family just like Beth and Jeff. They had a 2 year old boy and just had a brand new baby. They are really cute and the 2 year old boy reminded me so much like Garrett. I was just picturing Garrett talking like that and being a big kid like that little boy. It was crazy! I will have to take a picture of him and see what you think. Obviously he is not as cute but it was fun to see them and reminded me and Beth and Jeff.
We also have been getting the FHE going with those that don't have families in the church to do it. Its funny because they are all 50 or older and Sister Shattuck and I fit in and just laugh as we teach and they all are such like little kids. Its crazy that I am fitting in with adults like that. I guess I am OLD! Ha! It's a lot of fun though.
We have been working with the less-actives a lot. Met with a couple that had pretty much lost their testimony about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. So we showed him Elder Holland's talk. After that he didn't have much to say but "he told me" ha it was funny but we continue to work with them Great people here! Just need to look at the ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE!
So mom will like this and Ryan probably. We go to so many different houses. And all the ones that have cats always come and sit on my lap. I do nothing to tell them to come and sit. They just can sense that I have 5 cats a home. Weird animals. Then I'm all harry. I DON NOT MISS THAT! :)
So as you can tell the work is going great even though it is getting cold.
So about my birthday. It was fun! We had Weekly Planning so we didn't teach much. We were home all day. We did in the morning Eternal Marraige which was a lot of fun. then S. Shattuck took me out to lunch. Bless her. and then I made Faye's cake. SO GOOD! and we had top Roman for lunch that an elder got off of the air force base for us. Its funny how we take things for granted. It was very good! Ha! Then we had a dinner apt with a recent convert. She is great and has 3 little kids. The father is not a member but he is a chef and made me taco. YUMMY! They made me a chocolate cake and sang happy birthday. It was very sweet and perfect. Then we gave a lesson from the Book of Mormon children's book and the littlest boy has ADHD like Ryan and never pays attention but as we were reading his face was pasted to the book and kept asking who Nephi was. That was a great birthday present for me :) reminded me of Ryan! So much potential they have :) Then we went to practice choir at the chapel but we got there late and they had mutual. The bishop is an artist and was painting all the youths faces and then they had to take pictures and stuff. Anyway since we didn't have that much time left of the night Sister Shattuck and I got our faces painted, too. So we got to celebrate Halloween a bit. I'll send pictures. Its great! He did so good!!!! Then the bishop's wife had made me a cake and put 20 candles on it and after mutual they all sang to me. You know you are getting old when they can't fit all the candles on the cake. HA! It was fun! Had a great day! Thanks to all of you who helped me have a good one and the best present you gave me was fasting for me. It means so much to me. Thank you so so much! I love you all and I hope you keep looking for missionary opportunities.
BTW The baby! Mckinley! ADORABLE! Cutest thing ever!
Love you all! The new and improved Sister Missionary who is old (23<--that's weird!)
Sister Olsen!
P.S. Sister shattuck made whip cream from what I remembered how you made it dad and IT tasted the exact same as yours! AMAZING! :)

Email 10/26/09 - I've made it half way!

2009-11-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Family!
Mission is fun. Yesterday I spoke in Sacrament meeting about missionary work. I decided to use the direction of sharing the book of Mormon and used Elder Holland's talk. I have watched it so many times. It is great! I love it and it never gets old. Get chills every single time I watch it. That talk will help anyone's testimony who is even doubting a little bit of the Book of Mormon. So we tried to get more investigators to church and Aisha came. She is solid. We love her and see her 2 to 3 times a week. She is so prepared. She is going thorough a lot though still. We had a fireside of the stake president speaking. He was so powerful and the spirit was there is a huge abundance.
So we had Sports night Friday with the youth and young adults. We got 13 people there. First night, that's a good turn out. People are inviting non member friends and it is working out well. I'm excited to see what happens with it in the future.
We also had interviews this week. President Patch is great! He is very inspiring and helps us out a lot. He wants to help in anyway and truly has that revelation for the mission. Gave another boost for this month. He can see how Sister Shattuck and I have grown the ward and can see the work progress. Its great! I love getting along so well with my companions. I have been so spoiled or blessed, you can say, to have such great companions that are diligent and willing to be obedient with exactness :)
We had the night of excellence with the young women and they showed off their dresses that they made. It was so fun. I took pictures so you will be able to see them later. It was all on about preparing themselves for the temple. It was great! I was looking at them in their wedding dresses they made and said, "Maybe one day I will be there." Or not! ha it was a lot of fun though :) They are such cute girls and so strong with their morals. Love them!
Also great news for me. We turned our clocks back an hour so we were able to get another hour of sleep! AWESOME!!!!! I loved it! I helped so much! ha as a missionary that is like the best thing in the world.
Well sorry it's short. But that's all I got for you this week. I love you all and think of you often. Keep up your missionary opportunities.
Love you all!
-Sister Olsen!

Email 10/19/09 - Missionary Work is AMAZING!

2009-11-04T22:45:00.000-08:00

Hiya (is what they say here)
How is everyone doing? Sounds like life for the family has been very eventful. That is GREAT! It has also been eventful here in the mission in good ole ENGLAND!
So to start off...Sunday (yesterday.) It was a spirit filled day! We had all 3 recent converts come to church and a couple less active that we have been working with. It was great! And then Aisha came. She is AMAZING! I love her, she is so cute, she whispered to me in Relief Society if this would be ok to announce her baptism at. Ha! She is so funny. Then in Gospel Principles we talked about obedience S. Shattuck was talking about being compelled to be humble and how you don't want to be and stuff then Aisha come out of the blue and said yes can I share this scripture? It was Alma and it was that scripture S. Shattuck was talking about. It was so funny. You could not wipe the smile off out faces. She has been so prepared for the gospel. I love teaching her. She has been having a lot of hard times with being separated from her husband and so I invited her to have a blessing and explained to her what it is. Then she had one on Sunday and she was a completely different person when she came to church then after the blessing. All I remember her saying was "I know what I have to do now." with a big smile. It was so spiritual. I love the priesthood and the power that is has. Then later on Sunday, if that wasn't blessing enough, a recent convert, John (the one who is always providing for us water and food) was baptized like 4 months ago and he talked to someone about the church on the beach and we are seeing him tomorrow. WE called him today and he told us, yes I want to learn more about your religion. I was shocked! and then I asked when can we see you. He said later today or tomorrow. Today being our p-day we had no time so we are seeing him tomorrow. I will keep you posted. We have been so blessed. We have been doing this purification that the missionaries do here. Where you fast from something that takes your mind away from the work like other music or not waking up or whatever it be and S. Shattuck and I have been doing that. No afters or pudding (which is desert and sweets (candy)) So its been very good and you do it for 40 days and then you have gotten that habit and you continue to do it. It helps so much for you to see how you can always be better and be more obedient. Its great! So we are seeing blessings as you can tell.
So Chris and Carrie every time we see them it is always great! This time Carrie who is 23, her b/f and friends were asking us all these questions about the WOW and things like that. It was great and they thought highly of us. Chris is watching General Conf talks and Carrie we will start to teach this week and she said she will read anything we give her. She loves reading. We are really excited to see how it goes. They are great people. Want me to make them French Toast. So we will see.
Oh so I had an experience this week having Toad in a Pool and it was NASTY! My stomach did not like it, neither did my taste buds. Wow! It is sausage bread stuff. Not my favorite, also had beef stew which is a traditional English dish and I loved it. So we are getting fed good and it still seems like thanksgiving dinners every time we eat. So no worries. They might not celebrate thanksgiving but I have had my share to make up for the thanksgiving dinner but not the PEACH PIE :( Ha!
Oh another great experience! :) Ha...so John & Shelia. We knocked on their door the first couple weeks we were here and they had gone to the temple square like 10 years ago and still remember the feeling and how neat of an experience it was. Well, they have never let us in when we go by and say hi when we are in the area. This week we went down and they invited us in. I think the cold helps that also :) but anyway...he had questions and we were answering them and they agree with everything we said and we pretty much taught the whole 1st lesson. The reason why before they didn't want us to go it was because they didn't want to get too deep. :) So we didn't say a payer but we sang at the end and John had tears in his eyes and then told us before we left that he hopes that it wont be the last time he sees us. Ha! Slowly but surely he will be baptized! He keeps telling us, Oh but you wont convert me. It was great! You can tell he thrives for the spirit. Missionary Work is AMAZING!
So there ya go! Mission work is doing great! We can see the work progressing along. Thank you again SO MUCH for all the prayers and support. It helps so much! I love you all and am praying for you also. Keep Smiling, Heavenly Father loves you all and wants you to be Happy! Serve one Another. Its the best thing EVER! Love you!
-Love- Sister Jenn Olsen

Email 10/12/09 - Im Staying in good ole LOWESTOFT!

2009-11-04T22:35:00.000-08:00

FAMILY!
We have another great addition to the family. Can't wait to see that little girl. Till then keep her well loved till I get there. Also, I am staying in Lowestoft with Sister Shattuck which we are so excited about and excited to have more amazing miracles happening here. But not excited about the cold that will be coming. Everyone said it has been very dry already and warmer then it should be this time of year. So I am counting my blessing :) But I can tell it is going to get COLD! Enough of the weather. That's a perfect thing to talk about here so I think that's why I am always talking about the weather. Its great to start a conversation. Anyway...So this week has been WONDERFUL! Some of the things that have happened. We gave Aisha a baptism date when she told us she wanted to be baptised on Nov. 28. Seems like forever but its on the Lords time. It will be 3 days after next moves so hopefully me and Sister Shattuck will stay here for another moves. We will see. Aisha is AMAZING! She is like our mom that has adopted us. She is always wanting to take care of us. But we take care of her also. She just moved and so we went to iron and unpack since she came to an enrichment activity. She is one who is so friendly with everyone. She fits in so well. We are doing a sports night for the young ones every Friday night to see if we can get less actives involved and maybe even her children. We taught her word of wisdom and she said, "ok when do I start." I told her. "Today!" She said...you would do that too me, I just bought a big bag of tea. It was great. We love her. She also keeps in touch with the guy who spoke to her on the plane and lives in Big Bear, CA, kinda by Lancaster. That's fun! :)
Another cool thing happened this week...We met with a lady who is 99 years old. She just had her birthday this week and was a nurse in WW2. How cool is that! She still walks up and down stairs and has had her hip replaced and that's it. He eye sight is also going but she always is saying how lovely her life has been and how she counts her blessings and knows she is being watched over. We sat a talked for awhile and she showed us her wardrobe and all the closes she has are still from when she was 18 and 20s working as a nurse. CRAZY! She has never been married but she has loved life and she told us many stories of her and having to hide in cupboards in WW2 when the bombs came and how she had to get people out of places. It was so interesting. You know me. I could have stayed there for hours just listening to her stories. It was great. She is so cute! We sang count your many blessings and She absolutely loved it. Maybe we can baptize her! Ha...I'll let you know when we do :~)
We also got a referral that is from a ways away from Lowestoft, but still in our area. His name is Tony and he went to temple square and liked what he saw and heard. So we will start teaching him this week. I am excited about that.
The work is progressing very well. We are getting to know more less-actives and its been great! Seeing less-actives come to church is just as good and seeing investigators come to church.
I love it! It has been a slow week but good things have been happening.
Thanks again for all you do and your prayers. Don't forget the amazing talks from conference. I was finally able to watch E. Holland's talk and it was so powerful and motivates me to flood LOWESTOFT with the BOM and teaching of it. I love this gospel and I know this is the work of the Lord. He is guiding us and loves us.
Love you ALL!
-Love Sister Olsen!

Email 10/04/09 - Conference Week!

2009-11-04T22:30:00.000-08:00

Hello Fam!
Oh what a great conference it was! I am sorry I don't have much time this week due to looking at pictures. Thanks. I love them. Conference. One thing I loved was to hear about the FHE, Prayer, Study...It is so true and I was laughing of all the times we had and the great memories. Maybe it wasn't effective at the time but I can look back and see the affect on me today. GOOD JOB MOM AND DAD! Keep it up! :) Also they talked about the natural man a lot which is getting to everyone I can see.
So about the area. A lot is happening. Just trying to get to know everyone still and way involved with the ward it is great! This week we went to a potential investigators house and tried to answer all his questions. Pretty much his concern came down to why is there so many bad things happening in the world if there is a god. That concern is probably the number 1. We answered it by the spirit and now he wants to learn more. I love teaching by the spirit. It is the best way and it is the only way.
One thing to know. It is getting cold and its windy. They call the wind LAZY because it doesn't go around you...it just goes through you...you can tell I'm excited...ha...not.
I really do love being a missionary and bearing my testimony to everyone. It is the best thing. I'm glad that I have decided to do this in my life and have this experience. Thanks to everyone for all the support and prayers I can tell they are helping.
Beth and Jeff! Good Luck if the baby comes before I get to email next week! I am so excited to see what she looks Like.
Love you all!
Pray for Missionary oppurtunities.
-Love- Sister Jennifer Olsen!

Email 09/28/09 - A daughter of God has entered into the way!

2009-10-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!
Oh it has just been a WONDERFUL week. We had a baptism which was obviously the high light of the week. I was amazing! The spirit was so strong! The day before Tracey was having so much opposition which I was waiting for because it is normal but it was very close that she was going to cancel. Her daughter who is 18 was having a hard time with her mom doing it without her as it would separate them. It was really hard for her but we saw her the morning before her baptism and helped her as much as we could and it was a miracle. The next day she felt so peaceful and was really excited for the baptism. We just went to talk to her to keep her excitement going. Then that night she felt so so good. S. Shattuck sings and sang a beautiful song and she cried. She is not one to cry so the spirit touched her. It was so great to see her so happy and to know her husband will be able to be baptized and then sealed later on. Being a missionary is the best! It's funny because here in Lowestoft there is not much for anyone to do on a Friday or Saturday night so everyone just gets drunk. The pubs are so full. So we were driving by them on the way home from the baptisms and saying how we were such on a spiritual high and we don't need to drink to have it :) and we will get up and still feel good :) it's the best way out! It was fun! Also Jenny, our other amazing investigator, came to the baptism and LOVED IT! She is amazing and is progressing so well! She is like in her 60's and I just love her already! :)
So another great story this week. We were tracting on Sat. and tracted into a women who had investigated the church 15 years ago! I was like 8...hello! She still has the strongest testimony ever but needs to get her life straightened out. Like marry the man she is living with. She was going to be baptized 15 years ago but then they wouldn't let her. Long story and don't have much time to write about it but she is amazing and I am so excited to get to know her more. She defends the LDS all the time when people talk about them and tells the JW's that come to her door that she is a Mormon. She is great!
We had Zone Conference this week also. It was so inspiring! Got to see all the missionaries that were in the mtc with me. It was fun! I love zone conferences. They motivate you, it never fails!
We also got a new DL because our other one left half way through the transfer but he was done with his mission. Our new DL has only been out 4 1/2 months! CRAZY! Half of the mission has been out less then 3 months. But we are still going strong! Also, I don't know if I told you, my Zone Leader is from Denmark. His accent is so funny. We talk about abelseavers too.
Something is this ward that we are doing has been working with the YW. Oh, it is so much fun! I love the young women. They are so strong! They have their evening of Excelence soon so we are helping them out. They are making wedding dresses out of paper and toilet paper. They are all so creative. It's fun to do something creative for a change :) ha
So there ya go. That is the week in a nut shell. Sister Shattuck and I are seeing so many miracles and it is so much fun! It has not gotten too cold yet ....I am just waiting...
Things are going great! Missionary work is hard but it is so worth it! I love you all so much! I pray for you all the time! Keep on having fun for me! ENJOY THE LAKE!
Love your Sister Olsen

Email 09/21/09 - Lowestoft is GREAT!

2009-09-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Well, Well, Well.... It sounds like a busy week for everyone! This week has been busy for us too. Not as busy as last week but as missionaries you are always busy. :) It has been a beautiful week with the sun shinning but I am beginning to think that its going to be the last of it for awhile. It already gets dark around 7 and we are going to be having to put clocks back. So we will see. So this week we have been busy trying to get Tracey the sister that is going to be baptised on Saturday and we have been trying to get all the lessons in that she needs so that she can get baptised in time. She is wonderful and is willing to keep all the commandments. She didn't come to church due to things getting in the way but she is pretty solid so pray for her if you can and we will be able to see her life change. I am so excited! She used to live the life and now is wanting to change it forever and her husband was excommunicated and getting ready to be baptised again in Dec. or somewhere around there and they want to be sealed. AMAZING! that's even better then a baptism I think! They are a cute couple. She reminds me a lot of Lisa. Its fun to talk to her and teach her. And then as for Jenny. We saw her with a member this week and she is AMAZING! She has been keeping commitment and reading a lot and has the best questions and wants to learn. The member and her got along so well and now she wants to come to the enrichment activity on Wed because she can't come to church. Ill keep you updated. She is great! :) We love her! Also this week, to pay off the lady that let us stay at her house when we got locked but of the house, we did her garden. Picked weeds and all that fun stuff! Ha! Yes mom I am getting my share in so when I come home I wont have to do it anymore :) It was fun though. She is such a lovely lady and it is the least we can do for her for all that she helps us with. Ok so I don't really have a great spiritual story this week. It just has been crazy but we have been meeting with a lot of the members and still getting to know them. My goal is to love the people more here. EVERY one is pretty much old and so it is making me stretch and helping me gain a lot of patience to sit there and listen to all their stories about 5 times and just talk talk talk that's all they do. I can not believe it, I am making myself be interested in all the stories. It just gets hard after 30 mins of the same thing. Ha! it makes me laugh though. I am so ready for bed though when it comes to that time. Its exhausting! fun stuff! But really the work is moving along. We had a dinner appt with a investigator who is Portuguese and that is saying a lot when an investigator invites you over for dinner. They really trust you. It was great they made very good pork. Nothing too crazy but we told them we will have to make them a American breakfast. I'll talk more about them later. I don't have much more time. I love you all and thanks for all the prayers and the support. LOVE THE WEATHER FOR ME!-Love you all, the church is TRUE!-Sister Olsen

btw we had the primary program this Sunday about Families...made me think of you! and there is always that one kid that yells out the songs. Oh and next week we sing Hie to Kolob in the choir. wish me luck! :) LOVES!

Email 09/14/09 - Lowestoft what a unique place! :)

2009-09-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!!!
Well this week had been so busy! (I think I probably say that every week huh?) Anyway... Starting off we were able to witness a blessing of a home. I have never experienced this before. There is a family in the ward. The only black family and they had their 14 or 15 year old son die about 3 months ago from him playing around with a tie on his bunk bed and hung himself. So this family has 6 children and they are so strong. They had us over for dinner and the stake pres came over to bless the home and the spirit there was absolutely AMAZING! I felt very privileged that they wanted me and s. Shattuck to be there for our spirits. We then sang how great thou art. Tears were very close to coming. They are such a good family and I am sure it is so hard for them I am truly blessed! So that was a great experience. Then we taught out new investigator Jenny who is in her 60s and she is GREAT! She loves us coming and just feels so good (which obviously it is the spirit) We watched the restoration with her and she cried. It has been so good to see people be able to feel of the spirit. She didn't come to church but she is very involved in her church so we hope things change. Its hard because she has been going to this Church of England church for a long time. But we love her and will continue to pray for her to progress more.
Oh and by the way...They EAT SO MUCH FOOD!!! These plates they have are FULL! We don't dish ourselves up. They do it for us. So you just have to eat it all. Its horrible. Plus I am getting down the way they eat here. Their etiquette they have, the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right hand and you use your knife to push all the food on your fork and the fork is turned upside down so it is really hard to eat peas and corn unless you squish it on with mashed potatoes or something. Ha! Its funny, but there ya go.
Another great story...It was the 1st time in my mission while I was teaching that someone started falling asleep. HA! It totally reminded me of dad. It was so funny I had to laugh. GREAT STORIES on the MISH!
We have a lot of less actives here. SO many people less active. We have a lot of work to do and so trying to get them to church and the less actives. It keeps us busy.
A really big change that President Patch has addressed us this week. Our standards has been 15 hours of finding for the week. Well he took it away. I CANT BELIEVE IT! But the new thing is... Our Standard is to get 4 new investigators in one week. So we are to do everything we can to get those 4 new investigators. So me and Sister Shattuck have been trying to be creative to find new people and look through the Area Book and so on. We are trying to follow the spirit in any way we can. It is a challenge but through faith I know we can do it. Even though this ward is known to have lower number of baptisms. I can take the challenge. Sister Shattuck and I are very driven and want to make changes even though this ward might freak out because they like the way they do everything. FUN STUFF!
Oh I am so glad that your keeping up on studying the scriptures. Its one of the best things that we can do to grow spiritually and physically. Keep on going, you will be blessed! :) (It sounds like a missionary, huh? ha)
Ok so another neat thing happened. We have a lady, Tracy, who is supposed to be baptised on the 26th of September. We saw her earlier this week and the first thing she said was that she was canceling it. She is someone that has a very strong personality so not some one to be pushy. So we just talked and asked questions to figure out her concern. By the end of the lesson she said, well I think I am going to think about my baptism still and I will call you later on tonight to let you know. We got a call that night. She is going to continue to do it! YAHOO!!! Blessings! I am so excited for her. She is great. She teaches karate and is busy all the time so we are trying to see her as much as we can to get all the lessons in before the baptism. :) I'm excited!
Another Miracle that has happened this week...We had an investigator who came into the church on Sunday. She was only able to stay for an hour. Her name is Aisha from South America or South Africa. I forget. But she said that awhile ago she met some man on the plane coming home and they talked forever. He being a member and gave her the address to the chapel even though he is about 4 hours away from the Lowestoft chapel. So on Saturday she was looking for a house and she didn't realize that is was to the church and someone was there and gave her the hours to the church services. Her family does not want anything to do with religion but this is something she wants for herself. She is also a lawyer so she is very smart and so we are excited to start teaching her. She wants us to come and she told us she loves the feeling of the meetings. She is great. So I will keep you updated on her.
Well...there ya go. There was our full week this week. We are finally getting to know the members more and I love it! It is so fun! Thanks for everything, the package I got this week was the best! I love you all! Look for those missionary opportunities. It will bless a missionary later in life. LIKE ME! Thanks to that man! LOVE YOU ALL!
-Sister Jennifer Olsen!

Email 09/07/09 - Lowestoft Area!

2009-09-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

It has been another eventful week. It is a great area seeing the ocean and trees. It feels like I am not stuck in one area even though I am :) So this area there was sisters before. There have been missionaries for years but we are both new here so we didn't know the members or streets or investigators. Everyone has to come up an introduce themselves. We have an investigator that is getting ready for baptism and she had to come up to us at church and tell us whom she was. It was weird. It is supposed to be the other way around... Anyway, this week we found a new investigator. (Btw everyone is old here) ha ha she is 60s I would say and she is so open to learn more. She is in a Church of England church and everything we told her makes sense. She didn’t get the Trinity she saw them as three people and we told her they were. And she doesn’t feel her sermon says the right things. She has been searching...waiting for us to find her. She is so nice and we had her pray at the end of the lesson. I think that is the best thing to hear on your mission. Is hearing these investigators to pray for the first time from their heart and not from something that is written down. The spirit just touches your heart and knowing that they see you as a servant from the Lord. I LOVE IT! So neat.
Also this week we have been getting to know the fewer actives and all the ones we taught decided to come to church. Everyone here knows everyone or is related so getting those less actives to church means a lot to them. Very close ward. We are also in the Choir because the other sisters were. Fun stuff :)I struggle at speaking, but it helps them to have another voice. :) So now I know what you did dad. Ha
Another eventful experience happened this week. Last night, Sunday night, we left the keys in the flat. The landlord lived far away so we had to stay at a member’s house till this morning. Yeah, I am a forgetful person and hopefully we learned from it. I just laughed because it always happens to me but now sister Shattuck had to deal with it. Good story though. So we were homeless last night. Good thing we have a member that will do anything for us. She is amazing! Serves EVERYONE she can. Still I don’t like asking anyone for help.
We tracted a lot this week and didn’t find really anyone but had some good conversations about people not wanting eternal life. HA these old people are crazy! But we meet some one that went to SLC for a trip and loved the feeling there and they said they don’t want to be converted. But we are going to just casually talk and stuff and they will be converted :) they like us. Ha. Its fun to talk to old people, sometimes they just never stop talking. Well...most of the time, we just hear story after story.
Another cool thing, we went to the stake president’s house for dinner on Sunday and the house they live in used to be used as a hospital for WW1 and WW2 and also a place where servants did the washing and so on forever ago. They have remodeled it but they dug up their bath that was in the yard and have it and they have a cellar. It is so cool! It looks way nice now but you can imagine how it used to look like. I love history. Fun stuff and I thought dad you would like to hear that :)
Oh and as for driving...it is crazy. Sister Shattuck cant look at a map while I am driving so we get LOST A LOT...works my patience a lot but we are getting better. I am trying to figure it out before we leave the house. It will come. But being on the other side of the road is not bad since I have not driven for 7 months.
Things are moving along. The spirit is so strong but we are already getting cold. We were in church with our coats on and everyone was asking us if we were going somewhere. WE were just cold. So I think it’s going to be a joke the whole time we are here. I love you all
Keep me updated. The church is true!
Love Sister Jenn Olsen!

Email 09/01/09 - MOVED AGAIN!!!!

2009-09-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!!!!!
WOW!!! I have a ton of things to update you all on. So first of all I moved again...CRAZY! I am whitewashing with Sister Shattuck. We usually move tomorrow but the president had us move Sunday morning. It has been very hectic lately. I can't believe it. I am way excited to be with Sister Shattuck, we get along really well and have fun and both work hard and have strengths in different areas that make us work so well together. So yes...the area I am in is in Lowestoft. It is the most eastern point in England. We live right by the Sea. The North Sea I think it is called. We have the beach breeze and the seagulls everywhere. It is beautiful here. A lot different then central London, that's for sure. Also I AM DRIVING!!!! The president didn't even consider me when he thought of moves and how I have never driven here. Anyway so it is crazy but I seem to be getting the hang of it. It has been two days and no crash yet. There are crazy roundabouts everywhere also. So yes... the ward here is a type of ward that is wonderful and everyone is related. We are slowly getting to know them. The bishop is great and we have been having a lot of fun getting to know them. Its crazy to not know anything again. But the president said we probably will be here for a couple months. I hear when a sister gets in this area they stay her for 6-9 months. But I guess we will see. Sister Abellan was here before Enfield and was telling me how cold they were in the winter. One of the coolest places in the London Mission because of the coast. FIGURES! I would be serving in it during the winter. It is still pretty nice the wind makes it cooler. :(
So yeah about our last area. We left giving 3 baptismal dates to the two Chinese people and a guy from Brazil who is absolutely amazing. Frederico is his name and we found him at the triathlon that what being held in central London. We taught him and found out that he needed something in his life. He got a job and a new place to live because his flat mate was no good. Drugs and all and he didn't like it. Anyway, we taught him almost everyday when he didn't have a job so it was so nice. Saturday was his birthday and that was when we had to tell him the news of us leaving. He was so sad he started to cry. I couldn't believe the things he said on how we touched his life. It was amazing to hear how humble he was. Funny story about him. We went to shake his hand to say goodbye and he said wait I can't hug you? We said not as missionaries. Then as innocent as he was. He pointed up and said, can I ask him if I can...Ha it was so funny! We really are going to miss teaching him but we know he is in good hands and will be looking forward to the news of his baptism on September 19. Another neat thing about Frederico was that we wanted to watch a movie one night and invited another non member. She came and was having a hard time in her life. Frederico was there and ended up testifying to her. It was nuts and so good to see that he realizes the blessings of the gospel in his life. :)
This week we also have had companionship study with Sister Patch because she lived so close to us. It was such a great experience to have her spirit there and the insights she shared with us.
So, being in this new area. Our flat is pretty spacious and works out well. But yesterday morning was a bank holiday so no one was working and our shower went out while I was in the middle of my shower. All soapy. I couldn't believe that is was happening. Being in a new area and already trails. HA! I just laughed and told Sister Shattuck to start bringing in buckets. We still have not gotten it fixed so we have been doing it the old fashion way. Fun to be a missionary! Ha! :)
One also really neat thing is that one of the members in the ward always looks after the sister missionaries very well. She is such a neat lady. Works at a charity shop and all. We were sitting down with her talking about the ward and how we are so excited to be in Lowestoft and do the work our Heavenly Father wants us to do out here. We have felt a lot of comfort that we are supposed to be here. It has been really neat. I thought I would be very stressed out being the trainer in a totally new area, driving, and everything. No cold sore yet! (knock on wood. ha!) But really I have been so blessed to feel the comfort. So thanks everyone for the prayers and support. It has helped so much, I can feel it. But anyway the Sister we were talking to told me that she feels like she has met me before! CRAZY! That is the second person on the mission that has sincerely said that to me. Every time I get the chills and know I am supposed to be here.
It has been great to be here. Sis. Shattuck and I had a great bike ride right by the shore of the beach this morning for our workout. It was LOVELY! :) Everyone is English here and I am noticing a little change of how I talk. People are very nice and love to chat. A lot more old people here also.
So I don't remember what else is there but the members feed us really well here...I liked controlling what I ate before. But I will do what I can to stay healthy.
Love you all fam! It's so great to get your emails and all.
The church is true and continue to read your scriptures. They are the BEST! I have learned so so much!
MUCH LOVE - SISTER OLSEN - :)

Email 08/24/09 - The work is moving forward

2009-08-25T17:00:00.001-07:00

Thanks for all the updates on your week. Sounds like the Lake was fun but different...Glad you like the pictures. If you think of anything I can take pictures of that you would like to see let me know. I am immune to everything now. So yeah. Oh and Moves are next week. I will know if I move on Monday next week. So Tuesday is our P-day next week just to let you know. Well we went shopping today and I saw so many cute things and I just tell myself this is double the money and don't get anything. Sister Shattuck LOVES to shop. I guess mom prepared me for that one. :) ha ha.

So this week was great! Things are moving along. We got a new golden investigator named Fredrico from Brazil. We saw him last week and he came to a baptism that the Elders had and to church. After church he asked us how he can become a member of the church!!!!! I had to ask him to say it again to make sure I heard him correctly. I was amazing! I hope I will stay for his baptism but if not I know the Lord wants me somewhere else. We only have one sister coming in this Move and one leaving so there is still a odd number of sisters. So I am thinking we are staying together. But who knows?

We went on 3 way splits this week also and it was very successful. Each one of us went with another member. So a girl from Arizona came with me and she went to Romania on her mission. Before we finished we stopped a Romanian who should be coming to church and wants to change her life. It was amazing and I love it! The spirit was guiding us.
This Sunday was also amazing. No a/c and it was very hot. But the spirit was strong and the members are so good at fellowshipping our investigators so they feel welcomed. Also the guy we stopped in the street when no one was on the street came to institute and really enjoyed it. We are so blessed to have all these things that people can come and feel the spirit. Our Chinese investigators are learning slowly but they are great and love learning more and more.
Things this week have been great. I passed my 7th month mark and not even knowing it. The time is going faster and faster. I love being here and seeing how people have the desire to change. It is great to be here and serve. We are getting more busy but we still walk a lot.

I love you all and keep enjoying the sun and get a tan for me! Love you!
-Love Sister Olsen!

Email 08/17/09 - Another week in London!

2009-08-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!

So some things about this week. Things are picking up more and we actually feel like we know what we are doing and more comfortable with the ward. So we found a girl Karmen 23 and she works here and is from Spain but speaks good English. She is awesome! We met her on the street and she came to the church for a Tour and then after the tour she wanted to learn more about the religion and was very interested in how we were so optimistic and happy. She told us the day we stopped her that she was actually thinking that she needs to do better things in her life and straighten up. Crazy how the spirit works. I love it!
Also this week we found where there are dorms of a college so we can go around there and find all the single adults! Yahoo! I'm excited! Hopefully it will be a good place to start to find people.
We also had Zone Conference this week and it went very well! President Patch is great and knows exactly what we need as missionaries. His wife is great also and takes care of us. So don't worry about it mom :)

So also another story, they are all about finding people because that is what mostly we do these days. We were walking somewhere and there was no one really there on the street. Then a guy comes around the corner and we started talking to him and he was actually trying to get out of his house because he lives with a alcoholic and wants to get out. We were telling him about the church and how they can help him find a job and he was so excited to actually get to know better people with high standards. So I'll let you know what happens with that. Hopefully we can help him and his life!!!
Another good story, we were walking down a really busy street called Oxford Street where all tourists are pretty much. I was praying in my heart to know the reason why we are there and who we are supposed to stop and talk to. Then 5 mins later I got to see John, an investigator from my old area in Enfield. It was so awesome to see him. And talk to him and get him more motivated to get baptized. It made me happy :)
Also this week we had a baptism and it was awesome! A late 20 guy from South Africa the other elders in our ward taught him. It was so spiritual and very very good. It is so awesome to see all these baptisms and see the happiness that they get. Its so cool!!!!
We had a lunch with the Senior Couple. They are the cutest thing ever! They will be married for 50 years this year and they are over all the young adults and pretty much want to be our grandparents and want to help us in anyway. So we are being taken care of. No worries. Elder Little gives us hugs too. Ha, he said we need one every once in awhile. They are great!
Well that's it for this week. Sister Umurshadyan birthday is tomorrow also and so we are going to see some other fun stuff today. Our p-days are not any longer relaxing. We are always on the go. Fun stuff!
I love you all, the prayers are working and I love them. Pray for missionary moments for yourselves :) Love you all
Sister Jenn LaMay Olsen!

Three Musketeers!

2009-08-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

Us three! The three musketeers! YAHOO!

Email 08/10/09 - Brit Ward, always new things happening!

2009-08-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hello FAM!
Well things in Central London have been great! We did another 21 hours of finding people this week, walking and all. That's a lot of talking and walking :) ha ha.
First tell JD HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR ME! 4 years old! Holy Cow! that is crazy! I know he will be spoiled and have so much fun. Chelle let me know how it goes.
So this week we went to an american style mexican food restaurant and it was AWESOME! I miss chips and salsa and good food! ha ha. We went for the AP birthday. We have the AP and the office elders in our district so it is a lot of fun, but doing trainings in front of the AP are very different :) ha ha I love it though. we learn a lot of good things from them. Also we went on splits and Alex form the Enfield ward came down and we went together. She told me all the updates in Enfield. It seems like tons of things are happening and I'm excited to see how many people get baptized. Also found out the people we left, that we were living with there, have swine flu. Glad I got out! :) But we have been finding more people that seemed to be more solid and interested. We saw a place while tracting that looks like Venice in France which was neat. There is so many cool things that we see while walking around. It never gets boring :)
We also had our 1st dinner appt here in the singles ward. It was very good! And the members are so awesome and helping us out.
So a miracle that happened this week. We have been trying to find a Mandarin speaker from china that can help us teach our Chinese investigators. On Sunday we were having a meeting and a guy walks in the mission office wanting the number to the Chinese branch. He happens to speak Mandarin!!! Just walks in, CRAZY! Our prayers have been answered and he is willing to come to all the lessons. We are so excited!
It has been an awesome week. We had a lot of members bring non member friends and investigators bring their friends too. It is amazing! I love it here and looking forward to another great week!
Thanks for all you do!
Love you all
Sister Olsen!

Email 08/03/09 - In London again!

2009-08-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! So this week has been good. We have been doing a lot of walking again...Still trying to find people waiting the hear the gospel. It has been hard work but the more and more we do it the better it gets. We went finding with the presidents wife and it was so funny how she would stop people. Gave me a different way to approach people. Ha. One of the people she stopped came for a chapel tour and wants to come to church this next Sunday. It is pretty exciting! Then We have Sam and Gaing who are Chinese and we are teaching them and they are understanding and liking what they are hearing. They are slow learners but It is so good to teach them. We also have been see the members to get to know them more and gain their trust. Sunday was awesome! I miss those college ward testimony meetings. They are so awesome! I really like it here. I run in Hyde Park Almost every morning if my companions come and it is so Beautiful! It is a huge Park and a lot to keep my mind distracted instead of a garage park. ha. The work is moving forward. My companions are a lot of fun just Striving to do our best! :)
got to go
Thanks for everything!
Love SIster Olsen!

Email 07/27/09 - CENTRAL LONDON WATCH OUT!

2009-07-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
So just to answer some questions first. Mail to the Mission Home. We are about a 5 min walk away. Sister Shattuck, she read and commented on my blog before she came out, so when she heard I was her trainer she was so excited because she already knew me. So that's fun. Her parents live in Ceder Hills, Utah but moved there about 2 years ago from Hollister, CA. She knows Shellie and her daughter and all that fun stuff. Ha.
I will not take the driving part of my test till I go into a car area. Now we are just walking EVERYWHERE!!!!! I have never walked so much in my life! We are finding almost 9 hours a day walking non stop. Looking for investigators. CRAZY! And being a trainer you have to be the one that encourages and no complaining. It is way different from the Enfield area but it gets better every day. I can't believe I am walking the streets in Central London everyday. I never thought that would happen. There is a college not too far from the church, like across the street, and we are looking for single adults. The ward is AMAZING! They are so supportive and so many people and just begging us to go out with us and teach with us. I can't believe how much they help us out. We have 2 investigators we are teaching not like 10 in Enfield but they both are from China. We meet everyone from EVERYWHERE! They are very receptive to the gospel and we will continue to teach them. I met a lady from the Philippines on the bus and I am excited to teach her. I am talking to so many people. I never thought I would be like that. I always was hesitant to talk. But now I am the example and here I am having to challenge myself more. Its great though.
The Flat was disgusting when we got into it. We have been cleaning a lot and now we finally feel the spirit there. It's a lot bigger flat then where I came from. We live in the basement and President said it is the most expensive flat in the mission. CRAZY! Anyway. I love my new companions. They are great! I am excited to get things moving forward. Being a trainer is alright... I am sure I will get better and trying to show my greenie that I know what I am doing. Good thing I like to be organized. There is a lot to do but it is all working out.
I am excited to be here. We are going to look at the sites today so that everyone can focus on the work instead of what is around us. HA! I am the only one that has seen the sites so the other two sisters get distracted very easily. I love it here though. The spirit is strong. We are protected and things are moving forward. Slowly but surely :)
Love you all. THANK YOU so much for the prayers and support. I need all I can get right now. The church is true and the work will go forth boldly!
Love your Sister Olsen!

Email 07/21/09 - I'M MOVING & TRAINING!!!! AH!!!

2009-07-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow FAMILY!!!!
It has been such an eventful week! I probably won't even be able to write everything that has been going on.
First of all...I am MOVING and TRAINING!!! I can not believe it! Me and Sister Abellan are moving and Elders will be coming into this area. A lot of the members are sad and our investigators. (Including Jacqui, but I'll keep in touch with her. She is one I would like to see after the mission. She said she wants to meet my parents :) ha) But yeah I am sad to leave but everything seems to be working out. We just had our 4th baptism for this area. In the mission we are getting 20 new missionaries and so there are a lot of new trainers. The AP is taking this area, so it is on good hands.
So I am going to be in a triple companionship. I think the other sister is from Russia/Georgia and then We will be getting a new greenie tomorrow. I can't believe it. We are also white washing into an area that is in downtown London. They are splitting the downtown area. I will be over the Britannia Ward which is the single adults ward. WEIRD! But now I will be walking the streets of the REAL LONDON and not the ghetto part. It is more posh (rich) downtown so it will be harder to find those people with an open heart but I am willing to find them because I know the Lord prepares people.
So today we had a trainers training and it was really good. I'm excited to train but now I got to watch what I am doing. HA! I don't know what my address is yet but the mission home address works because that is where we will be going to church and we are not too far away from it. So mission home works for now. Oh and we found a brand new flat for the Elders so we were excited to get it but now they get it. The only thing that is good is that we don't have to move all the stuff. I'm happy about that because you all know how much I love moving. ha...not!!
So Mom or Dad I want pictures of Lake Powell :) ha ha I need to look at it at least :) like send to me in picture form and not over the internet :) THANK YOU!
So we had our baptism this last Sat. It was very spiritual and it was so good to see him get baptized after 3 years of investigating the church. He told us he couldn't have done it without our help. But we explained to him that is was the spirit and Heavenly Father helping him through us. Amazing!
We bore our testimonies in Sacrament Meeting because the bishop asked us to. Obviously he knew we were leaving. It was very spiritual and I have gained such a love for these people here. It has been such a great experience to be here. Ready for more and better ones to come in my new area. :)
My thoughts are pretty much everywhere since we have a lot of people to call and see and write notes, and so on, to. But this week had been just great. I love being a missionary and meeting new people and teaching them the best thing that can help them in their life.
So yeah....you're at the lake with the whole family and you better be having a GREAT time for me! :) Its raining a lot here but still warm. Weather here changes all the time.
Well I love you all and thank you so much for all the support and prayers, I have felt the love and support. I couldn't ask for a better family! :)
Love SISTER JENNIFER OLSEN!!!

P.s. This week I got an insight I would like to share. The question was. WHY DOES JESUS CHRIST GIVE US THE HOLY GHOST AS A GIFT AFTER BAPTISM INSTEAD OF ANY OTHER GIFT? There is no way we would be able to endure to the end without the Holy Ghost. That is the next step after getting baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost. It such a special and precious gift. We should all take it for what it is worth and use it the best that we can. LISTEN and FOLLOW the prompting it gives us and that is the way we can be happy for ETERNITY! :) Love you all!

Email 07/13/09 - Another one coming into the fold :)

2009-07-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
It was so good to hear from you all. Note that next p-day will be on Tuesday due to moves. I don't think I will be moving but you never know having this new mission president and all. So we will see. So I will be emailing on Tues. We had Zone Conference this week and it was very spiritual and uplifting. Learned how we can involve the members more with the missionary work, because they are essential for people to come to Christ. We taught the Romanian family with a translator and it went very well. They didn't come to church but we will continue to work with them. They are a very nice and humble family. We had FHE with the members and Richard the one that stopped smoking and is supposed to be baptized this Sat. went with us and we were talking about the priesthood and what it is and so on. He was answering a lot of the members questions. He is amazing and will be a very good priesthood holder. I am excited for Saturday. Wish us luck! :) Oh and just a note, I passed the Theory Car Driving Test. I couldn't believe how well I did. For sure the Lord is with me and watching over me. I couldn't believe it! So my next test will be on the road behind the wheel. SCARY! These drivers are crazy! but I am not sure when I will do that. I might wait until I get into a area where I drive a car and not public transport. So this Sunday we got 7 investigators to come to church. That is like unheard of. We have been so blessed by always trying to work hard. It is amazing to see all of these people love the feeling they get when they come to church. One of those was a lady we have been trying to get to church since March. So it was really neat! The lord does provide a way! So that's about all the updates I have for you. It has been raining on and off but it has not been too bad. The work is busy here in the Enfield area, it is going very good. I love helping people change their life. The church is TRUE! I'm am so grateful to have been born in such a great family so now I can help others have the same blessing I have. I love you all! Take CARE!

Love,
Sister Jenn Olsen!

Email 7/6/09 - It's sunny and raining in London

2009-07-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

So this email is going to be all over the place. Just trying to get everything in it. Thanks so much for the pictures!!!! I am glad you got a chance to go to the Oquirrh Temple and experience the spirit that is there and to see the sealing rooms. Helps you notice the eternal perspective and makes everything else in life seem like it doesn't matter as much. I love the temple and I miss going but I am glad you got to go. Sad you didn't get to see my companions. Speaking of them. I got letters from them and a ton of pictures. It was the best thing ever to get. All the people I was teaching there, except one family, have been baptised. Seeing those pictures and know I had the opportunity to help them understand the gospel and the happiness they can have for the rest of their lives. It is such a great feeling. The scripture that says how great your joy will be for bringing one soul unto him will be great. And the joy of bringing more than one is beyond any kind of joy. It is absolutely true. It was so so good to see them all and I am excited to come home to visit them and see how they are doing.

So glad you did something for the 4th of July. I ate some watermelon and that's about it to celebrate. Ha! fun to be a missionary! The talk I gave was just short and sweet. Nothing too fancy just shared Ether 12:27. I love that one. then talked about it. The flat we were supposed to move in did not work out which stinks so we are still looking. I am still not sure when we are moving and so yeah...sorry. So the New mission President is AWESOME! I already am looking forward to the changes that will be happening. We will be having Zone Conference this week so I'm sure a lot will change. We had interviews this week to meet him and so he could meet us. He is from Orem Utah and was over the Institute and so we talked a lot about that and the teachers. But the first thing he was telling to us was the difference between president Hinckley and Monson. ha ha good stories. He worked in the church office building so he has a lot of them. He reminds me of President Monson. He is telling us stories all the time. The difference between the two, President Patch told us, was that Hinckley was on time and started the meeting right when he got there and was straight to the point. Then Monson came along and waits for who ever is late even it if it's been 15 mins after the meeting and he will just tell his drivers he needs to go see someone. He follows the spirit to a "T" It was just good to have him here and know all changes might be hard but for our good. So the week has been good and eventful with the new mission president. We went on work overs. Another Sister came here and Sister Abellan went to another area. It went very well. It was fun. We found a family from tracting from Romania and they came to church the next day. It was a miracle. Things are doing good here. I love it! :) Well I got to go Love you all! Enjoy your hot week!
Love,
Sister Olsen!

Email 6/29/09 - Still in Same ole England :)

2009-06-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hiya family!
So the Email this week is being retarded so sorry if this is short.
So we had "helping hand" this week. It is where the Stake gets together and we all go somewhere in the woods and help the community. We had a very good turn out and our investigator came. We pulled weeds and took down a fence and all that kind of fun stuff. We were dead after that day and it was a hot and sunny day also. I forget I like the heat when you can go to the lake and cool off. Ha! It's all good though. We enjoyed ourselves and had a bbq after. Ribs were served. They reminded me of yours dad. But of course, not as good :)
This week we had one of our investigators come to a member's house so we could teach him there. The problem was that they both were flirting in front of me and Sister Abellan the whole time. It was so hard to concentrate and keep the spirit there. They are like 50 or late 40s. It was so so awkward! Ha! it was an experience I will not forget. That's for sure. The mission is awesome! There are always good stories, spiritually, awkward, funny, and so on.
So not that you really care but I just thought I would share that. But yeah I am doing very good here! Still working hard and by the end of the day I am ready for bed.
Things are progressing. We might be having 2 baptisms this next mouth so that is very exciting! We have been tracting a lot to find people and its been sunny then raining 2 hours after. the weather is so so weird. But I can tell my arms are getting some sun but other then that, I am WHITE like Mom! YAHOO! not ha ha
Oh I also spoke Sunday again because they needed last min speakers. It was way nice. The spirit was strong and I am getting more comfortable. The ward is awesome and it has been so fun getting to know them.
Thanks for all the support. We get a new president this week. Crazy!
Love you all!
God bless you! I pray for you every day. Continue to read the scriptures :)
Love Sister Jennifer LaMay Olsen

Email 06/22/09 - Another week in London

2009-06-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!
How are you all doing?
This week was just wonderful! We had a mini Zone Meeting with President Foulger and his wife to say good bye. They will be leaving the 1st of July and the new president Patch will be in. Crazy! And so we had testimony meetings and training. President Foulger is a powerful good man. We will miss him. So yeah we had a good week with meetings with the members. Sister Shah, the ward mission leaders wife (and Sara Ott's former companion) came out with us one day and we went on splits. I went with Sister Shah. It was weird because I was the only missionary there to lead. Usually I am being led but I was in charge. It was strange but also very good. We had a good time and met a lot of people. I also made pancakes one morning with home made maple syrup (that they don't have here.) It was so good. Ha ha it's crazy what you don't miss until you don't have it anymore.
Story of the week. Its of Jacqui again. She is amazing! We taught her a great lesson about the gospel and the spirit was so strong. She called us last night and told us that she woke up in the morning and the first thing she that came to her mind was to pray. She did and she said she never yelled at her kids. She was so positive. Her husband was so happy and she said it was the best day of her life. She has never been that happy and she knows its from applying the gospel in her life. She has had so much opposition and its been so so hard for her because she thinks she is going to lose all her friends and everything but she can't get over the fact that she is so so happy. She loves the feelings she is having. Its going to be a long up and down roller coaster for her but we continue to pray that she will be strong.
It so neat to see peoples lives change for the better. Also seeing Shola, the one we recently baptised still involved in the church and coming to church is so amazing to see. I know it is only with Heavenly Fathers help. I love it here. It been so much fun getting to know everyone from everywhere and helping them come unto Christ.
Thanks for all the support and love you have given me.
I love you all. When is Leslie getting married? and Melissa?

Much Love -
Sister Olsen!

Pics from England

2009-06-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

Men waiting for the priesthood session of stake conference when President Uchtdorf and Elder Andersen were visiting. Reminded me of General Conference in Salt Lake City

Sister Abellan and I in a park in front of "The Eye"

A full box of 40 Book of Mormons. I carried them too long of a way. My arms were so tired! At this time I was barely holding onto the box!

Baptism of Shola Cole. She is amazing! I love her! She's from Nigeria.

Sister Leidia showing me how it's done. She is a funny lady. Reminds me a lot of Grandma Gardemann so it's fun. Always wants help in her garden.

Entrance to Buckingham Palace. So huge! and beautiful. Where the Queen lives.

Email 06/15/09 - Everything is good!

2009-06-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
How is everyone doing?
Sounds like the wedding and bobby and the family are good. I bet it was so weird to see Lauren get married. I think it is crazy myself but I am happy for her and I have heard that the Portland temple is very pretty. I am glad you got there safe and were able to go and support her. When you send pictures try to re-size them if you can. :) Thanks!
I am so excited that you are going to the Oaker Mt temple open house. Let me know how it is and tell sister Toney and sister Vevea I love them and hi for me. They will be there for sure helping out

Well this week was very good!
Something I totally forgot about telling you last week that was also one of the highlights of the week but I didn’t have enough time to type was, Shaking Elder Ucduorf and Elder Andersons hands. It was amazing! All the missionaries got together from the south London mission and London mission. Sister Abellan and I were asked to sing in the choir. There were about 18 of us. I felt privileged even though I don't sing well but I sat right behind Elder Anderson. They were amazing and their testimonies were so powerful. We had Stake Conference that Sunday after and the spoke again and it was amazing! Living in Utah and being able to go to General Conference is different then being a missionary and being able to have a meeting just for us and speaking just to us England missionaries on what we can do to help the work here. I loved it!
Also one thing the President has gotten on me about taking my drivers test. So I have been studying a lot for it and I will take it July 7th so we will see. I just hear it is so so hard but I guess ill just study and do my best. I didn’t think I would feel like I was at college out here. ha! That stress I do not miss. That is for sure :)
And this week we saw Jacqui again and it was wonderful! She had so many questions about 3 Nephi 11 and wrote them down and it shows that she is serious about learning more and really wants to change her life. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and what she needs to do to get to live with god. She knew what kingdom she is now and wants to be in the celestial kingdom but it’s going to take time. When we talked about this life was the time to prepare ourselves to meet god, she is very sensitive on baptism and repenting and we explained how repentance is not a bad this, that she in a way had been repenting by wanting to change her life to be a better person. Everything went well. She is smart and has very good questions; through the Holy Ghost we were able to teach how she needed it and to answer her questions. It was amazing. And she said the closing prayer again. She can't wait for us to come back.
This next week will be the last zone conference with President Foulger and then soon we will be getting a new president. I am prepared for a lot to change. But it will be good.
The mission is amazing and getting to go to London was so so much fun! I miss traveling and UI am hoping sister abellan will want to go again so we don't have to rush so much next time. Just seeing everything was so much fun. We live kind of in the ghetto of London. Just some facts you might be interested in about London. They are having a tube strike so everyone is having a hard time getting to work in downtown and back, they have a lot of parks and that is where everyone goes because there is not much more to do. They also tan there because the only pools they have are in gums that are inside so everyone is at the park. Fanta is the big drink here. They love juice and the juice is still not as good as our juice in America. The fish and chips I don't really like. Too greasy and not a fan of them. Not many fast food here like you can find everywhere in Utah. 16 years is when they can smoke legally here so its really sad and they can drink at 18. Its crazy! You are still stupid then. We see police flying down the roads at least 5 times a day. Ha (don't worry mom we are protected) the sun is so nice here but then it rains. I don't think we get a whole summer it just goes on and off. Its not the end of the world though. It does not get dark till 10pm and I hear in Oct to march it is dark at 3. Weird! And dad there is no air conditioning anywhere. None in bus or flats. So yeah there ya go. If you want to know more I will try and think of more but let me know
I love you all. Better get going.
I love being here and thanks for all the support.
We have not moved flats yet but in the process of looking.
Love you all
Sister Olsen!

Mom have fun with Rachelle and Reed and JD I am sure you will
Dad Have a good fathers day and let me know how it goes. Sorry I cannot be there
Rachelle I hope you feel better and you enjoy the time with mom. Go shopping for me! :)
Jeff thanks for all you do and keep up the wakeboarding, looks like you are passing me up on the height. Just like when you got home from your mission and I passed you up with Halo. I guess its pay back huh? :) Ha
Annalisa hope all is well and your not dating too many guys. Enjoy your summer while you can
Ryan stop growing I will not be able to recognize you. :)

London!

2009-06-09T22:45:00.001-07:00

Went to London today. It was AMAZING! This is a picture of Parliament square. It was huge and beautiful!

Email 6/09/09 - What a week! London is amazing!

2009-06-09T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well hello everyone!!!!
WOW What a week! I am staying here in Enfeild still with Sister Abellan so we will be working hard together to keep the work moving forward. I am excited. I have nothing to complain about. We are trying to move flats so anyone that writes please write to the mission office address till I tell you more information. Thanks!

So yes this week eventful! We had to drop an investigator. My first time having to do that. I was so disappointed but I didn't let it get to me. It is not her time. But the most amazing thing also happened this week. We are teaching a lady named Jacqui and she was a referral by someone in America. Found out this lady is from St George. Her name is Wendy Bateman. lives in Washington. Jacqui met her on face book and they became friends. Jacqui loves talking to her and through time she has noticed something about her that is amazing and she cant describe it. Jacqui was telling us how she just has "something amazing that I want." Wendy has been talking to her for 4 months now and has send a Book of Mormon and has been talking here and there. So we saw Jacqui for the first time this week and she does not really believe it god and trust him. She thinks she has done everything in her life to get where she is. But all she knows is that she wants what Wendy has. So we explained to her everything and it was amazing! She told me, I have what Wendy has and that I remind her of Wendy. It made me know that I needed to be there at that time and gave me that re assurance this is where I am supposed to be. It's by the spirit that people are converted. WOW! I could not believe it. Jacqui prayed at the end of the visit and can't wait for us to come back. It was amazing! I am so glad to be here to help people see the light and want to change there life. I am also grateful for Wendy and being obedient to the commandments so that she can show and share that light to others. They haven't even met. It so crazy. Well I don't have much more time. I love you all so much! Thanks for all your support. Things have been wonderful and we are working hard. The church is true.
Love you!
Sister Olsen!

Costco in London

2009-06-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

Costco in London, It was so much fun. One thing we forgot that they didnt give us bags. So we were carrying boxes around town with food. It was a sight to see. ha ha. Love you all!

Email 6/01/09 - I love this work!

2009-06-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

hey hey!
So the family went to the lake, Annalisa graduated, Ryan is a teenager and it sounds like a fun week for you.
My week had been great! I got your package and love it. When is fathers day? I forgot? sorry that was random.
Well I talked on Sunday about helping the one? I had no idea what to talk about. I wrote what I was going to talk on and I never looked at what I wrote. It was weird and I don't know if anyone could understand me but I completely told stories and said a bunch of stuff. I felt the spirit, so that is good :) ha ha. It was a great Sunday though. Shola is still coming to church and we are trying to get her husband so they can be sealed together. That would be so neat.
I got my hair cut today and I don't think it has been this short for a very long long time. It seems short but you know how it is. Promise dad I wont cut it too short I just don't want to have to cut it a lot out here. Things have been busy and we have been finding new investigators and we did more tracting this week with the nice weather and didn't teach as much. I like teaching a lot more, but we need to find those to teach.
Moves are next week. I don't think I will be moving but if I am I will let you know. I have been in this area for 2 months. It seems like not that long but I am getting a lot more comfortable with the buses and things like that. I have been reading the Ensign since we missed the last session and I love it. Also the priesthood session. The scriptures touch me so different out here and I love the reading them all the time. Next week I will be going to London so hopefully I can send pictures. I'm pretty excited. Hopefully it works out this time.
Thanks for every ones support. Things are looking up, even though I don't have a cool story for you. I love you all and I better get going.
The church is true no matter where you go.
Look at the eternal Perspective.
Love you!
-Sister Jenn Olsen!!!

Email 5/25/09 What a great weekend!

2009-05-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
Thanks for all the emails. I love them! And so this week was just great! We had Zone Conference and got to be trained from our leaders and that one sister Missionary I met in the store she is here and I have seen her again. It was fun to talk about that moment. Zone Conference was so great! It is motivating and the president is a great man. He is going to be leaving next month or the next. Great news for me. We are having Elder Uchdorf and Elder Anderson and Elder Oaks come to our area on June 6 and 7. We have stake conference with 3 stakes and we actually get to go to the meeting where they will be and at two of the stakes they will be broadcasting. So we are lucky and I am so excited! They said to come with questions you would want to ask an apostle. What would you want to ask an apostle if you could? I'm way excited. Even though I have seen them in General Conference. This will be way different.
Also this week we had a baptism. It was absolutely amazing! I loved it! Shola is going to be such a great addition to the Enfield ward. Her whole family came. She is the oldest of 4 kids and her 2 brothers and sister are all teenagers and they loved it also. They said they are going to be coming to our church and we have referred the family to the elders where they live. I am sure that they will be baptized also. Shola got up to bear her testimony and she said earlier in the day she had Satan working on her and she told herself that she was not going to be baptized. Then I guess she changed her mind and she showed up and when she was telling us she could not describe the feeling she has felt and encouraged her whole family to be baptized and that she is so so grateful to have met the church when she did because she just had a baby 5 months ago. It was just so good to sit there and know that it was only through heavenly father and her faith that she was baptised. I am so grateful to be here to just help her understand what we believe in. She also asked me to give a talk at her baptism so I felt really privileged to have. She is amazing and its great that the work is moving forward.
Also we met with a family from Ghana in the ward and had dinner. So the culture is that they eat dinner by themselves and then the guests eat before or after. so me and sister Abeallan sit and eat and they don't talk while you eat. It is so so different then us. Like I just want to talk to everyone when we talk and get to know them but that's not how you do it. It is so weird. I feel awkward just eating in silence. Nothing like our family dinners at all. ha ha

Annalisa, I'm sure you are a free women now, graduating and all. Have fun while you can before more school! Ha ha tell me how it all went and grad night and the lake and what you felt.
Well I better get going. Sorry I emailed late today, we had an activity that 100 people sang the efy melody of sisters in Zion and army of Helaman to all different religions. It was amazing and a great experience. Enjoy the lake.

Oh and moves are on ~June 10th so June 9th will be the p-day that week. but next week should still be Monday.I love you all so much
Thanks for all your support and prayers!
Preach the Gospel everywhere!
Love-Sister Olsen

Email 10/18/09 What a Great Week!

2009-05-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

England is wonderful. It has rained this week here and there but the sun comes out here and there also. When it rains, after the smell is wonderful and not stuffy with smoke and all. So its all good I guess.We had 1 baptism happen this week Lauren the 11 year old got baptised on Tuesday and it was amazing! Very spiritual and it was the last of the family to be baptised and the are 5 children and so everyone was so happy and it was really neat to experience. Dorcus did not get baptised. She does not want to be baptised twice and we explained to her everything so we are going to teach her everything again and she just needs to gain a testimony and have time to pray and know for sure. So its all good but we love her and have not given up on her yet. We have a baptism this Saturday though. Shola, the lady that came up to the church so see what time we started. She was a miracle and she is so excited to get baptised and invited her husband and mom and grandma and sister to church Sunday and they all want to go again. they don't live in our area but we will refer them. It was amazing! I am so excited for her and she is so ready to be baptised. So pray for her to continue to have that surety :) Annalisa I can't believe she will not be in school for awhile. Crazy!! That's exciting though. Yell loud for me since I can't be there at graduation! Go Pine View! Last grad from there! Make it meaningful! ha ha Father and sons sounds fun also Ryan don't get better then me with a gun! I bet you loved getting into the mountains again dad, its been awhile for you.
So yeah we have had a busy week but it has been good. Here is a great experience we had: Terry is a lady that just came to church one day and she is amazing and we are continuing to teach her. she needs to be married before she can get baptized. But anyway we have been teaching her for 2 weeks or so. We found another lady on a bus named Norma. She lives far away from where we live, like 1 hour and a half. We were not going to visit her but I said no we need to. we will study on the bus on our way there so we wont lose too much time for the work. So we got there and taught Norma. She is wonderful and asks very great questions and wants to learn everything. We later found out that she was from Zimbabwe where Terry is from and we told her that we were teaching someone else from there. Norma said oh I have a friend named terry that I have not been able to get a hold of for 3 years because she moved and I moved and I lost my phone and got a new number. Well we invited them both to church. They both came and Terry was the lady Norma was talking about. Friends from the past that found each other through the Lord. It was amazing! They were so excited and they both have a little child so they were going crazy but it really shows that the Lord is helping us out and through the spirit we can help these people. I am loving the people here more and more. I don't want to leave this area. They are my family over here. Its been so good though, doing this work. Well I better get going. Thanks for all your support.

You're all in my prayers!
Love Sister Olsen!

Email 5/10/09 Mother's Day!

2009-05-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

Family!
It was so good to hear from you all. I love you so much! Thanks for all your support. Keep striving to do your best and I will too. The spirit is strong here and is waiting for us to listen. I don't have much to say. Trying to get all my pictures organized so I can send them.
The Work is moving forward, Sister Abellan and me and continuing to work hard and find the elect waiting to hear the gospel. It is such a blessing to have the knowledge that we all are going to live together forever and no one can stop that.
Cherish your testimony and share it to all your friends.
Jeff and Beth I'm so excited to have a niece and mom don't spoil her too much :) I'm so so excited that she will be in our family. She is lucky to be :)
I love you all and continue to pray for me.
We have two baptisms this week but the closer the investigators get, the more opposition they receive. I have never seen or heard of so much opposition when someone is getting baptised. I know Satan is working on us really hard when we are close to doing the best thing in our life. Only the Lord can make it happen, only through his help we can overcome it.
I love it here and the people are very nice.
Thanks for all you do
Love you all
Sister Olsen!

p.s. I thought it was funny how it was mothers day call but dad was the one to take charge :) Love you!

Email 05/04/09 - Miracles Happen!

2009-05-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hello my blessed family!
How is everyone doing? I hope you week was good! Mine had ups and downs but the good times always out weight the bad. So Dorcus, an investigator that we have been teaching and was supposed to have a baptism this coming sat but she is not ready yet so we are postponing for a week hopefully it pulls through. Her family has a hard time with it. But she knows the feelings that she gets when we teach her and she can not deny it. But she will be baptised soon. So sunday was just amazing! Fast and testimony meeting... we had Shola, our investigator who came up to the church to see what time we meet. She got up to bear her testimony. Not a member yet and have only taught her lesson one. It was amazing! She shared an experience that she has been trying to pass the driving test (it is very hard here) and this was her 7th time. It was the week we met her and after we taught her a couple days later she went to take it and passed! She called us right after and she knew that she is doing something right in her life. She can feel the change already. It was just so amazing to feel her spirit as a non member. Also a lady came to RS and Sunday school because she didn't know when we had church and it was her first time and we have an apt to teach her tonight and already loves the church. Miracles are happening and we have a huge area and not enough missionaries to cover it and the Lord is still blessing us. It is amazing! I'm excited for more weeks to come.
Also Feliomena is the lady we met on the train. We have not been able to meet with her for about 2 weeks but we saw her this week and she has been reading the Book of Mormon and before she had troubles with her blood, and now she can tell the difference from reading that book. She realizes the blessing it has in her life. The spirit is amazing and it is the only thing that will tell these people what is true and will change their life forever! I am just a tool to help them realize it.
That is the hardest thing, is to get these new investigators to realize that this is the only true church and no one else has that proper authority and it is by faith and the HG to make them know its true.
So it was a good week this week, busy and full of finding people and teaching. I am getting to know the members more also and its been so fun! I love it.

Well I better get going and I will try to send a picture as well. let me know if your getting them. I guess I'll TALK to you on Sunday!!! Love you all thanks for all the prayers and support. I can feel and see the blessings.

All my love -Sister Olsen!

P.s. we went to the science museum today and I felt like a little kid playing with all the fun things. and it had one of those shadow rooms. reminded me of the video when we were all young. Love you all!

Email 04/28/09 - The Church is True

2009-04-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hey family!
Thanks so much for all your emails and the updates from everyone. It is so good to hear what is going on. Sorry I forgot to tell you last week that this week is moves so our p-day is on Tuesday. Me and Sister Abellan are staying here. I am so excited! I am just getting used to it and loving it. There is so much work to do before I want to leave. I could stay here my whole mission :) ha ha
But mom and dad, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the package. It was the best thing ever!!! I absolutely loved it. Nothing could have been better. You couldn't wipe to smile off my face when I got it and was looking through it. Chapstick I think I am good the rest of my mission and 2 years after :) and the cards are wonderful. we gave one to Denise to congratulate her on her baptism and everyone that sees it thinks they are the best things ever. Mom your business would be huge here. not saying you should move here but there are so many stay at home moms that would love doing Stampin Up. the memory book is perfect and more then I thought it would be. Love the oatmeal, I will be eating that a lot. The pasta is very good also. Thanks so much!!!! Cookies made it perfectly with how you packed them mom, your so smart. They were the best ones yet. could have been sweeter though. ha ha.
But mom it sounds like your primary is doing great and you still love your calling. I have not heard of the lady you were talking about but I am getting used to the accents here. Its not too hard, the Nigerian people are the ones that I have to focus really hard to know what they are saying when they are speaking fast. ha ha
Mom I have already took pictures of the tulips before you even asked because I knew you would love them. I know you too well I think from all the traveling and saying take a picture of that flower and that one...then we have a whole roll of flowers with no one in them. I remember :) And tell grandma that I say hi and want to know the updates on her and a possible mission :)
So dad the feet are doing great! I love walking around but yes I am very tired by the end of the day. I did not go to London today due to not knowing if I was going to have money on my card.
So yes anyway...This week was just amazing!
So much happened, we had the Elders come into our area and find people for us to teach and we have gotten so many people that want to learn more.
We are being so blessed and people are ready to learn the truth. An amazing experience. I was on splitz with a sister in the ward and we were teaching a recent convert in front on the chapel because it was a nice day. and a lady came to the front doors of the chapel trying to get in. We asked if she needed anything and she had just moved close by and wanted to see how are church was and has seen it in Nigeria and she was not really happy with Catholic. I was like....this can not be happening. We told her we could meet her before Sunday and then she can come to church. We taught her and was very interested. She came to church including 3 of our other investigators and she said she was defiantly coming back. It was amazing! Seeing people finally finding the truth is amazing!
Also Denise the lady that was recently baptised. She is amazing! We were talking about baptism in gospel principles and she gave her testimony which she never wanted to share before her baptism and told us how she does not believe in miracles. but after her baptism she couldn't believe she didn't remember so much from her past and how free she felt. It was so amazing to know that through the holy ghost these people can change their life forever. I love being the tool to help these people.
One other thing before I go, last night we had FHE with the members, they get together at one house with the people that are just couples and don't have children and so on, it was so much fun to get to know the members better and hear their strong amazing testimonies. I taught the lesson about the ten commandments and how they can remember them through actions that I learns in the SLC mission.
Things here are going great. The good times out way the hard times. It is all worth it.

Thanks so much for everything, all your support. I love you all so so much!
Dad did you print the pmg with your printer? it looks amazing! all the elders are envy of me now. ha ha it really is like the best present ever!!! you should sell them. I know it is illegal but every mission wishes for one :)
And Annalisa is beautiful!!! nice pictures and shirt :)
Mom about pulling weeds, don't worry I got my share and old lady needs help in her garden so I am sure I will be helping.

I better go thanks for all you do! Take care and continue to work hard. It will pay off in the end.
What is the day Annalisa graduates?

Love you
Sister Olsen!!!

E-mail 4/20/09

2009-04-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

Mom thanks so much for the package. Sorry I need so much. I will let you know if I get it and when so we know more or less how long it takes to send. Wow Ronnie got a puppy!!! Holy Cow he needed something else to mess up the place:) ha ha just kidding. That’s fun though. I guess it goes through the family. Maverick wasn't enough. :)
And yes I know Jim. He worked in the lab behind the office. That is very sad but it was his time and he will be an amazing missionary up there. Let me know if you went to the funeral. I bet it will be very good. He was a good man., always telling me how cute I was. ha ha.
I will send pictures. I will try to remember to put on dates. I’m sorry; I am still a forgetful person. Sorry mom. It just costs so much money to develop them and I don't know how much more it is to put on a CD. But I will do what I can. I would attach some but it takes 8 mins to do it and takes time out of emailing so we will see. You have the MTC ones. but ill get some to you.
So dad sounds like you have been busy. But your Sundays seem as busy as mine. My companion and I get way tired on Sundays like we are supposed to have a day of rest or something??? ha but we are way busy and have to keep moving forward and get to know as many people as we can. Always good days.
I could use my card today but hopefully it will be ok. I wanted to dry clean my coat. But I found out there is a Costco here. I had dinner with the bishop’s family. They are absolutely amazing! They know so much of the BOM. The 10 year old knows more then I do. I couldn't believe it. We were teaching the 10 commandments and every single one knew what they meant. And more... They read the BOM as a family every morning and learn so so much. The mom says they have retained the information and stories through out the years. Just continuing to do it blesses them :) We had the chicken from Costco and it was the first familiar taste. I was like in heaven!!!!! I knew it was Costco food so I would love for you to send me my card. It is in my green purse that in is a box probably. But I would love that :) Thanks dad!
So as for the amazing week!!!!
We had interviews with the president last Monday good guy and then district meeting we have every Tues. or Monday. I had to teach the lessons to the DL which was nerve racking but I made it through. Later that night my arm went numb in places. I think my shoulder got too over used by all the things I was transporting and holding in my bag. Not so good... But I went to sleep and it was fine in the morning. No worries :)
So we had a really neat experience. We have had the name of a less active family since I got here and they live 1 hour away by bus and so the sisters have not gotten a chance to go. So one planning night they came to my head and said we need to see that less active family tomorrow. We did not have their number so we were hoping that they would be home so we wouldn't have wasted all the time. WE got there and the lady was HOME!!!! She was so excited for us to be there and wanted us to come again for dinner and we talked to her for a long time. She has epilepsy and it hard for her to get anywhere. She has had a death in her extended family and she has no one to turn to but her family has been praying for us to come visit. It was amazing to feel that the spirit was guiding us to her. I usually don't realize that it’s the spirit till after. That is why faith is so important in this life and gospel. We need to show our faith and miracles will happen. Ether 12 talks so much about this. Read it this morning. But anyway we are going to help her family and her sister who lost a child because Sister Abellan lost her brother when he was 16 and she was 18. Crazy but amazing!
The lord is blessing us so much! We have been able to put 2 people on date for baptism who are pretty solid and then yesterday at church a less active family asked when we were going to teach their daughter. We are so blessed and helping people come to the waters of baptism. So thank you so much for all your prayers. They are helping out; I can feel it all the time.
So we had a baptism this week also, Denise got baptized. She was so iffy all week and we were so worried she was going to back out. She was an hour late for the baptism but it all worked out and her family who are from other faiths came and loved it. It was amazing and the spirit was so strong. She can't wait for us to come visit her again, where before this last week we couldn't even get a hold of her.
Well I don't have much more time I love you all.
One thing that is funny, the McDonald’s here look like clubs and are all decked out. It’s funny. That’s where everyone hangs out and dad I had duck the other day. You would have been proud. :)
Love you all and good luck with this next week. I will be looking forward to hearing from you next week. I might be going to London to see things but we will see...
This gospel is amazing and the missionary work is going forth. Love you all!!!

Sister Jennifer Olsen!

Me and Sister Abellan on the Train

2009-04-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

Email 04/13/09

2009-04-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hi Family!

Our week was very very busy. We did so much tracting and walking. We are supposed to do 15 hours of tracting at least in one week. Its crazy. Tracted in the rain with no umbrella because the weather changes so rapidly. That was an experience... but we have been finding a lot of people and Heavenly father is watching over us all the time. A story: We were going to meet a new investigator family from Ghana and they ended up not being home and I brought 3 books of mormon with me. So I said how about you talk to people and walk back home so that I can drop these off because my shoulder was killing me. We stopped a lady and she asked if we had a book of mormon and we did and then as we were talking to her, another lady walked by and said. Are you giving those book of mormons out for free. Ha! I was like what? Are you kidding me? She had friends from africa that went to the lds church and wanted one. CRAZY! Is there a better way to get rid of the books than to give them to some one. It was amazing!
Then Denise, the lady that is getting baptized this Sat. had her interview sunday morning and she was not physically ready for it. and wanted to postpone her baptism and not do the interview. We were so bummed. She called us that morning. We had one of our zone leaders and the bishop give her a priesthood blessing. and Bishop comforted her and she came to church and is pumped to be baptized. It was a miracle. And we had 3 less active families that we are trying to get sealed come to church. It was such a good Sunday.
A sister missionary came home from her mission this week also and guess who she served with. Sara Ott. Crazy! She is awesome! She wants to come to all of our lessons and help out with anything we need. She is still a missionary. It is funny and an answer to our prayers.
So yes things are very busy, we had zone conference this week and the president is a strong man. It was amazing! We learned so much to become better missionaries. It was a great week.
We taught a less active lady and her husband has left her for the moment. She is pregnant and has 5 kids already in a little flat. She is stressed and over whelmed. Her husband won’t let the kids and her go to church due to things that the bishop wouldn't let the dad baptize his son. Anyway, she treats her kids not the best. She looks at them like they are always getting in trouble but does not see the good in them. It reminded me of when we were small and got on each others nerves as a family but still we all loved each other so much and still do. It should how grateful I am for my family and parents. It’s amazing how you have to see things to make you grateful for your own. Love each other. Never know when we won't see each other again.

Well I better get going. I love you all so much thanks for the prayers and the emails and letters.
It helps the work move forward. Weeks are moving faster. Can't imagine how it is when I am out longer.
Remember that we are not alone and we are always being watched and taken care of. I love you all. Miss ya!

Sister Jennifer Olsen :)
Preach the Gospel! Bear Testimony!

Email 04/06/09 - General Conference was Amazing!

2009-04-06T10:23:00.001-07:00

Hello Family,
Hey Conference!!! It seems like the talk of the week for sure! :) I absolutely loved it! It was Fantastic! I have never wanted to watch conference so bad in my life. We were having a hard time to get lifts (a ride) to the stake center which was about an hour away and no one could drive us. Our zone leaders had to come pick us up. But we saw both Sat. sessions and Sunday morning. We were not able to watch Sunday afternoon which we were really bummed out about so we are just going to have to wait for the Ensign to come out! Sounds like the game was fun. I took so many notes I looked back and I don't remember looking up off of my paper most of the time. ha. So planting a garden? huh? That sounds like fun I do remember the old one. I don't think I have ever eaten so much fruit than I do here. I love it. I try to make that my munchy instead of rubbish food :) So good for you.I miss going to the store and knowing what is good and what isn't and what everything actually is. Its weird here. But ya know. Ill get used to it.They have a store here that I think Jeff would appreciate, It is called Argos and you look in a magazine what you want and you select what you want in a computer and then they bring it out to you. Lazy or what? ha ha its neat.My area is north of London but is still considered London. No country side. Just town.Dad I got your emails of my account and it sounds like you and mom or mom had fun dancing :) The good ole days. At least dance for me because I miss it.So I did not have any hand warmers in the MTC and I don't think I will need them for awhile. It is warming up here now. The days are really nice but it does get really cold at night time. But ya know, ill live with it :) Ryan looks good with his report I bet it went well. He is an amazing kid!So conference again. Sorry this is so random but I am replying to your emails first as I write you. But My favorite Talk out of the ones I saw was Elder Holland about the Atonement and feeling alone and what he went through for us. It was so powerful and amazing! The whole conference had a theme to it, like most of the time they do. But it was mostly about how we are all going through trials and that we can get through them through faith and doing the right things. Its amazing, I loved it.And the talk about the London buses I have seen both of the buses it was crazy that I was all the way over here and still I felt like I was at home. The spirit was so strong. We got one of our investigators there on Saturday and she is getting baptized April 18. She is amazing and knows this is the time for her. She can't wait. She is from The Caribbean somewhere.So yeah this week was good. We did a lot of finding this week and not so many lessons. It was a busy week. We have a huge area and try to find everyone we need to. We are finding people here and there but we pray we find the ones that are willing to be baptized and really have that desire to want to know the true church. Its hard for people to realize that there is only one true church because religion here is huge so everyone has their own faith and so on. Many people have not heard of the Mormons which I think is so nice because then they don't have the bad conception of what people say about us.I love it out here. Serving the Lord. It still doesn't feel like I am in London. Its crazy but things are moving a long and I thank you all for your prayers and support.I don't have much more time. Love you all so much! Glad you were able to watch conference.HAPPY EASTER next week. have a good dinner for me. I miss that food. :) Thanks for everything you all do.

Love Sister Jennifer Olsen

Jeff: Thanks for doing that for me, and I am writing in my journal but I will put more insightful things in it like you were talking about and I need to take more pictures you are right but I don't want to take too many that I look like a tourist :) but I do need to take more. Thanks for the help and things I can do to remember my mission. Its amazing! Sounds like 311 was fun and GJ is doing good. Hope Beth is too. gtg. love you Mom I want to see if you can find out Lindsey flakes address and Shawna Orlando's address for their missions so I can write them.I need :) Floridex toothpaste. I think I have a box in the small plastic drawers. and my make up powder (coffee) color from Linda Kindred. Everything else is want :) ha. Like regular food Mom I would love a small preach my gospel book. you can cut the note taking areas out and so on. I would like to carry it with me but It would need to be small. Let me know what you think? :) THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Email 03/30/09

2009-03-30T09:15:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!!How are you all doing? Hawaii sounds like fun. How was the trip to rachelles, Annalisa? How was having Annalisa, RAchelle? How did the 311 concert go? How did ryan's presentation go?So dad we have not had any problem with political stuff and I didnt hear of it either. Scout camp in Hawaii! Do I get to come? :) That would me fun! ha ha And my Spanish... learning a bit here and there. Mostly when we are knocking doors I try and learn. No good! ha. We find a lot of people on the buses. You just say hi and how are you and they usually like to talk back. If not. then oh well. The members are awesome here. WE had an Enrichment Stake thing this weekend and it was fun to get to know the Relief Society more. Nice people. My favorite are the ladies from Gauna. The members fed us a lot lastweek but we have no apts this mounth with anyone. I sure it will change, but we ate with the Bishop and his family. I think it was lamb? Not bad but it was green and big bones. I didnt really want to ask what it was. I just ate it. ha. It reminded me of the cruises. Good thing I had that experince so I am willing to eat food I don't know what it is :) I havent had anything that I really liked. They have no mexican food here or anything that I can make a burrito. way sad. I am going to miss that. I had a horrible dessert. It was stale bread with seeds in it and it soaked in eggs and not cooked all the way. Horrible! It was a tradition english dessert in the old days I guess.Dad I got your letter when you sent it with all the stuff. Thank you. It was good to have when I got here.Mom there are 2 missionaries in 1 ward.And no I am not that warm. I am cold everywhere. I wear my scarf and coat pretty much all the time. even inside. HA. I don't have time to really shop for anything but maybe next pday.When we knock on doors is when I get really cold. We were tracting in the Hail the other day adn it was windy. It was amazing! ha. One thing out here is that people don't answer their doors. They will stand inside and talk to us through the doors or the windows. People keep to themselves a lot here. But the African people are so nice and are willing to listen to anything. There are a ton of different people here. WE ran into a lot of Turkish people. Its crazy!.Pretty much everyone smokes here. I am getting used to the smell like the Vegas smell. In the morning I run. Sister Abellan just sits and watches because she has a bad heart so she can't do anything but walk slow. so she is nice to sit in the cold while I try to stay in shape. I get way sore easily though. We walk a lot and alot. I am dead by the time I get in to sleep.So on Saterday night as I was getting into my bed Sister Abellan was telling me I needed to prepare the Gospel Doctrine Lesson for Sunday. I was like! ha thanks for the info. I didnt have any time to get it ready but it all worked out. I like teaching now. Weird? haI invite everyone to watch the testaments if you have not seen it in awhile. we watched it with a member the other day and it just confirms to me the amazing Christ we have and everything he did for us and how happy I am to be out here to serve him. There is nothing better to be doing right now. So watch it!!! So good! :)So I will leave you with an amazing spiritual story we had this week. We were on our way to Liverpool where we were dropping off sister strunk for moves. On our way back, Sister Abellan was talking to a lady who is from protagul and she spoke spanish with her. We gave her our number. She called us back. We met with her and found out she had lessons taught to her in portagul from elders and then moved and lost contact. She said it was a miricle and we gave her the bom and she said before we gave it to her that it was going to change her life. She remembered hearing about joseph smith and loved the story. She is amazing and I am so excited to teach her more. Miracles are happening out here. Thanks to our Heavenly father who prepares the people to listen and axcept the gospel.I better get going. I hope all is going well with everyone.I love you all and my prayers are with you.Love Sister Jennifer Olsen

Email 03/24/09 - I'm in London!!! Home sweet home! :)

2009-03-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

hey Family I am here in London and I love it! It really feels like I am on a trip. Like all the places we go and visit. It reminds me of a lot like Washington DC. My flight went good. The people I was sitting by did not speak English and one was deaf. I tried to help her with drinks and stuff but it was hard. I didn't sleep much but that is what I was expecting.
So my P-days are usually on Monday. I will be emailing at this time probably every Monday except when we have moves (transfers). So I am writing Tues. I think it is 2 or 3 in the morning for you. We have spring forward this sat night so its another hour I will lose. AH! so just note that :) So mom if you can't sleep you can get my email. :) ha Anyway I have 2 companions right now and Sister Strunk is from Bend Oregan and know Uncle Bobby. She knows Lauren and worked with her in the relief society. Fun stuff. She is fun. She has been here for 4 1/2 months and is moving tomorrow. It will be my first time as just two of us. CRAZY!
So my companion, Sister Abellan (pron abbyin) is from Barsolona Spain and she is such a spiritual giant. She speaks Spanish so if we approach some one that speaks they love knowing she does and listens to her. I help her with English so its fun. I learn so much from her and excited to learn more. She teaches with so much passion. I learned here as you teach you need to be more bold to make these people understand how important it is to keep the commandments and pray to know if these things we teach them are true.
I live at a members flat (house) and everything is so small. Condensed times 10. Its crazy! Ill have to take pictures to show you. But I live in Edmonton and our Area is Enfeild. Its considered in London. Our mission president lets the missionaries go to one Broadway show if they live in London. So I get to go see the sights while I am here and see a show. I am excited. Probably choose wicked? we will see.
So the People really are from everywhere here. The ward is amazing! We are just over one ward and the radius of our boundaries are huge!
We use public transportation to get places. Buses most of the time. And a lot of walking. I like it though. WE have to take 3 different buses to get to the church and it takes us about 45 mins on a good day :) Not like Utah :) But the members testimonies are amazing! They are so strong and will back them self in any situation. They might not be a large number but the members that are active are so spiritual. I love it!
When I first got here I was so so tired but it is getting better and I am able to actually stay awake. Church was rough to stay awake in but I will get used to it.
The work is progressing forward here. Its amazing! The lord really does prepare people to receive the gospel. We have met people on the trai and the buses that tell us they would like to hear what we have to say because they have been looking for a church. Its amazing how the Lord works. Miracles are happening.
One thing we teach a lot out here is the Word of Wisdom. Everyone either drinks tea, smokes or coffee. EVERYONE! They are always offering. Its not polite to say no but obviously we do. But it directs us to talk about it. Fun stuff :)
So I have been so blessed! The lord knew I was coming here. It has been sunny everyday since I have been here and it has rained once for 20 mins. I love it :) Makes me happy!
One thing I ask. Will you ask Tracy Morley the places she served and stuff so I can see if we can see them and whats going on? and what were the chocolates that were good so I can send some home :)
And dad you can send attachments. I am not sure if I told you or not.
So right when I got here the Assistants picked us up and on of them. Elder Allan some how we got to the conclusion that he is in Mark Evans home ward. It was strange, he didn't really tell me if he knew me but it was awkward.
Mom I would like to have a calender of everyone's birthdays and important dates. Even just a list would be fine. I would like that. I did it for you but I forgot that would be helpful to me. Thanks though :)
We have been teaching a lot and eating a lot. We had 2 dinner appointments one night and I thought I was just going to explode. We haven't done much tracting which it weird but we are teaching so much right now. Plus traveling takes a lot of time out of the schedule. But that is why we find on the buses on the way.
Peoples accents are so cool. I am already saying cheers (thanks and good bye) and rubbish (trash) and so on. Its funny!
The name of the Family that are ansestors to hyrum smith are Valdez Family.
Sounds like the trek will be way fun. I know you will take pictures but send them to me or attach some to an email. Might be faster that way :) ha
Mom and Dad have fun in Hawaii for me. Go to the beach and get some sun! :) Love you all so much thanks for your prayers and support.
Get ready for General Conference. Watch it all. you have that opportunity. I might only get to watch 2 sessions because the others ones are too late for missionaries. With the time change and all. We have to travel a good amount of way to see it to.
God BLess you all. your in my prayers Always

Love Sister Jennifer Olsen

Email 03/16/09 - I'm Going to England!

2009-03-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!
Well the Visa is here and I will be leaving Mar 18th from the SLC airport. I am way excited! I have a lot of families that are really sad to see me go. The Family we are teaching (the Robbins) they want to write me. They are doing so well. The only think is that they are not sure if they are ready to give up drinking. But we will see. I told them I will come back to visit them when they are baptized and I get off my mission. They laughed :) So then Jackie, the lady that is firends with the American Idol dude is getting baptized this saterday and She is really sad to see me go. She is cute. The American Idol (austin S.) will be singing Come Thou Fount. My favorite song. :( sad story. Im going to see if they can recored it for me. Then Easton, the 18 year old is not getting baptized till April and the family that fellowshiops him is the best. We have eatten at their house 4 times with in the last 3 weeks. They remind me of our family dinners. They are desendants of Hyrum Smith, they do firesides with ancient things that they have. Like the box the plates came out of, and the clock hyrum died in. Stuff like that. Its really neat. I have not sean any of it but if you are interested. you should give them a call. even to just chat with them I love that family. 801-253-9015 is their number. Anyway. The work this week was pretty slow but Sat was the last day of the Open House. Crazy! It was neat. Didnt really see any more people I knew.
Mom and Dad got the package thanks so much! Cookies are good and dad I love you blanket! That is awesome!!! I am jealous :) Mom I don't need new stationary yet. I am still doing good.
We picked up a new investigator yesterday. Austin is 11. His dad is Less active and wants to get back to church and his wife does not want to get into the chruch? not sure what happened before? but she is a product consultant oe whatever it is called at stampin up. Neat huh! She says she knows you calling in and waits for more numbers when you just said 5. Her name is Marie Fountaine. Small world! It was fun talking to her about it. But the cool thing about our visit with this family. We had the dad say the closing prayer and he started crying in the middle of it. He is so ready to get back to church so he can baptize his son. The spirit is amazing out here. Hevenly father is waiting for us to ask him for help and guidence. When we do it, he will bless us so much!
WE had Zone conference this week and it was amzing! So motivating! It was about the book of mormon and how we need to flood the earth with it. The book of mormon is what converts people. It is a blessing in our lives. Learned so much about it. I invite you when you read the BOM and after you read it or while you are reading it as a family, discuss what you are reading. Study it. Not just read it. I don't know much of the BOM and I think if we did that as a family. I would have been able to understand the stories and how I can relate it to my life. Let me know what you think? I love you all!
Well I know this is a short letter but I have to email the mission president still.
But when I call you I can tell you more. I love you family, thanks for all the support and love!

This Gospel is true!
Love Sister Jennifer LaMay Olsen

Email 03/09/09 Still in SLC South

2009-03-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!
How are all of you doing? Thanks dad and mom for letting me know what everyone is up to. Sounds like it is a busy house. Full of fun things :)
So another week full of greatNESS! :) We are teaching a guy named Easton. He is 18 and is so ready to be baptized but his family is another religion and is giving him a hard time. We give him reading assignments and he comes back with notes he wrote from it and teaches us. He has a testimony and the bishop does not think he is ready but the bishop is not there listening to him either. anyway... we teach him at a members family house and the first time we taught him the family could not figure out who was the senior companion until they asked. ha! good news for me :) He was set on date for this weekend to get baptized but is postponing it till April. Sadly I told him I probably wont be there. But life goes on I guess
I am sending you pictures from the MTC today and so if you have any questions let me know
So the Draper Temple Open house. This is the last week! How crazy! I will actually get to study and have a real p-day and so on :) but it has been really fun. There are 5 Chapels that people park at before the temple. I am in the Green one so I might not see Sister Wilkey if she does not go there. I have seen Mark Evans room mate, Guy from pageant the last time I went (josh bishop) and Chantel!!! I was way surprised. She is so cute. I was really happy to see her. She also told me that you have not given my address to anyone so no one knows where I am :( I know I might be leaving but still... I also saw Stacy Musso. My companion, Sister Toney knows stacy really well. Small world. She went to Sara Otts farwell when she was visiting Stacy. Weird! And mom I told you about the Eternal Family song that you were going to teach. I am glad it went well and the kids are loving it. Now that you have a new calling :) Sounds like a blast! Camp Director I think that would be the funnest calling. So make camp the best for those girls!
This mission goes to the Jordan River Temple every Tues. It was pretty. It was an older temple but its really neat to see all the different types there are. Can't wait to go through a lot more.
So in our new area that we have. We have been meeting the bishops and stuff. I never knew how excited people got when Sister came into their area. Holy Cow they give us referrals that they would never give Elders and they just love us. It's weird, never thought it would be like that. And Utah Missionaries, They are so spoiled!!! We get meals paid for all the time, car washes, anything. People do a lot for us. We pretty much have a dinner every night and we get to live in members houses with the washing machine in the same place. We are so spoiled. trying not to get to used to it. ha.
We had our new missionary training this week. It was so good. I love it! We role play a lot and we practiced giving baptismal dates and commitments. Since we commit them to a date on the first lesson here in Utah. The work moves fast but it is not always easy.
So Mom we email in the Chapel just north of Stampin Up. I knew we were close but didnt know we were that close. It is crazy! Fun stuff :)
So this Sunday I spoke again. It went well. Didn't have a lot of time to prepare since we have the open house but after I was done I felt better. Always stressing before. Speaking 3 times this next Sunday! AH! scary!But one of our stakes had stake conference and it was so good! I forget that stake conference is good. ha. but our family that we are teaching went to the sat meeting instead of the Sunday meeting because they have fears of crowds and they absolutely loved it. Good things happening here.
The Spirit is amazing and that is the only way I can make it through these lessons. I am grateful to have it help me and touch those I teach. Lessons are getting easier as I teach them more so its nice. The Baptism we had on Sat went well. It was really fun to see someone get baptized that through the lord to me she was able to be a member of the church.
So mom my clothes are good. I just am thinking about getting leggings because tights are just not doing it. plus my skirts are that fabric that makes you cold. Anyway just letting you know. And I LOVE my pillow case! Thanks you so much! I really love it. Thanks mom!
So Grandma is thinking about going on a mission again? That would be so neat. I really think she should do it. Talking to her about my mission I just knew she was amazing and still can touch so many others lives.
Dad sorry about the video camera. I have no idea where it would be??? That is not good :( And dad good job conducting...haha!!!! I can just imagine it all happening. :) Miss you!
So only email me to myldsmail because I can't check anything else. Just a note. And I will pray for Rachel Wilkey. Well I know I haven't told you that much about what is going on but things are happeing and we are busy all the time! I got to go but it was nice hearing from you all. I love and Miss you!
This gospel is amazing! Keep up your praying and reading the scriptures! :)

Love Sister Jennifer LaMay Olsen

Email 02/23/09 - In SLC South Mission

2009-02-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

Ok Family!
Holy Cow! So much has happened this last week in a half. Well as you know. My P-day is on Monday. We don't get much of a P-day because half the day we are at the Open House in Draper working. from 7:30-1:00 then we have 3 lessons scheduled today. So not much of a P-day and Sister Johnson, one of my companions is leaving tomorrow to go home to San Fransisco. So its been really crazy! Sister Toney is my other companion and she has been out since Oct. She is from Indiana and is really fun. we have transfers tomorrow so half the people I have taught I will not be teaching anymore. Because we are moving. So sister Johnson is going home and Sister Toney and I are going to get a new companion and will be moving to another house.
We were living in the down stairs of a members house and they are splitting up the areas. I know this probably sounds confusing but we are over 3 stakes right now in South Jordan. and have 28 wards. I think we will have 2 stakes in our new area.
We have not had much time to do anything since half of our day we are at the Open house. M,W,F we are there in the mornings for 8 hours and then T,Th,S same thing in the afternoon to night. Then the other time we fit as many lessons in as we can or check referrals or have meetings with bishops, Ward mission leaders and so on.
We have no time for studying. I have had Personal study once. The whole temple open house thing is throwing off the whole mission scheduling stuff. But it has been good. Crazy busy but good.
Ok so... more info... SLC south mission is the highest baptizing mission. When I first got to the Mission I was asked to say the prayer in the Meeting. Scary! Then we had Zone meeting and District meeting so I met everyone and they asked to say the prayer there also. Guess I needed more blessings :) they don't take time to get you going. ha. We have our Zone Meetings in Riverton. Weird! So close yet so far away from home. Chantel lives in Riverton but not in our area. so yeah. So the second day I got to the Mission field I taught my first lesson and it was to a kid named Cory. He is kind of slow but wants to be baptized. It was really hard for my to simplify the lesson but everything worked out and we taught him again today. I think we are moving away from his area so we won't teach him again. I have totally decided change STINKS! I hate it but I guess I am going to have to get used to it. And also to moving since I have had to do it 3 times already and I will again soon.
So we have dinner apts every night and good food :) The other night we had Costco rolls and reminded me of our family and how you would serve them to missionaries too. It's fun though to get to know the people here.
So mom I do have to write notes to remember everything because so much happens in one week. Sleeping is a lot better. I actually slept all the way through the night last night for the first time. It felt way nice! and I have sent you my address I hope you got it Ill type it here again
Sister Olsen
Utah Salt Lake City South Mission
8060 S. 615 E.
Sandy, UT 84070
Oh and I got my package today. I get mail only on P-day. It is cold here but I am not dying yet since we are mostly inside. Sundays are so busy for me dad. Just like you. I spoke in 2 sacrament meetings yesterday and scheduled to speak in 3 this next Sunday. I rather not speak but I am thinking I am just going to have to start to like it since I will probably be doing it every Sunday on different topics. I just get up there and just want to sit right back down. Ha. But that is so fun that Bro Parke is teaching Annalisa. That is like how it was for me when I was in his class. She is going to love it. He is just awesome! Great stories :)
So dad thanks for the insight about Faith it is so important out here. If no one had any faith nothing would be happening. No one would pray because they would have no faith for someone they were praying to and so on... but us as a mission, we have a challenge to read a faith scripture every day and it is awesome! I love it.
Well I don't have much more time but I want to finish with the family that we are teaching. They just moved here 3 weeks ago from Las Vegas and has been going to our church every week. They are not members but everyone has fellowshipped them so much they have had the best experience here. We taught them the 1st lesson about Joseph Smith and how to recognize the spirit. The spirit was so strong! I could not believe it! They are so excited to learn more and we have the father and son on date for baptism on March 14th. I hope it stays that way. The mom has a past and is scared what to tell her family so we are working on here. The Lord works in amazing ways! This church is true! I love the work going on here and it is so fun to see all the little families going through the temple. I don't have anymore time. I love you all so much and if you ever getr the chance tesify to anyone. No one can take your testimony away. Even if they reject you. They can't take away your testimony.

Have a great week and I will do the same! Ill hear from you on Monday.

Love Sister Olsen

Arrived in SLC South Mission

2009-02-19T18:13:00.001-08:00

Dear Brother and Sister Olsen:

What a pleasure it was to welcome your daughter, Sister Jennifer Olsen, to the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission while she waits for her visa to clear so she can report to the England London South Mission.

After prayerful consideration, Sister Amber Toney and Sister Candice Johnson have been assigned to be her trainers and missionary companions. Upon her arrival at the mission, she received instruction, met her trainers, and went to work.

She is happy and in good spirits and we look forward to getting to know her as she serves in our mission. We will be happy to have her here as long as is necessary.

May the Lord's choicest blessings be yours.

Sincerely,

G. Steven Laney

Mission President

Email 02/12/09

2009-02-12T08:41:00.001-08:00

Hello Everyone! I loves P-days. I get so excited to email you and tell you all thats going on. I wish I couls email you every day. But instead I just write in my journal. So alot has changed since I last emailed you. I got to talk to you on the phone and I loved it. Made me miss you all, but thats all part of it :) So I was put into a new district. All the England Missionaries that are stuck here were made into one district. there are 3 sisters and 4 elders. Elder Zemp was in my old district but every one else has left to Tempe, AZ. So I still have one family member left. Which is nice and he is the new DL. I got new companions, Sister Chase from Quna, Idaho (by boise) and Sister Anderson from New Mexico, carlsbad. Sister Anderson is going to London with me and Sister Chase is going to South London. They are cute girls, they were companions before so I am kinda the odd one out, but they seem fun and we get a long. I moved rooms and no longer living with Sister Safoilou. I miss her but I still get to see her around. So when I get home I will have an excuse to visit Hawaii :) Im excited! So sundays here are the best days. We get to relax, unlike the mission feild. We have sacrament and relief society and a meeting with one of the branch presidentcy. Then study and personal time and its nicew and relaxing. then a Fireside at night which is always inspiring and motivationg. Not too many meeting :) We learned the new Primary song mom and how we can help Primary out in the mission feild. The song that every Primary will be learning called "Eternal Family" You will have fun teaching it I am sure. Made me think of you.I had a missionary in our old district. Elder Benson, he reminds me of how Ryan will be on his mission. He has ADHD and is slow at reading but from day one to the day he left his reading skills improved so much! IIts amazing how the Lord works. He has simple teaching skills which touches everyone in many ways. Everytime he bears his testuimony it reminds me of Ryan. Love you Ryan! and thanks for your note! I love it! Happy Valentines Day to everyone!So Sister Hunt left Monday for Canada, my old companion. werid to think she is already out teaching real people. The RC this week I was able to invite many misionaries to peoples houses which is fun do do to know they will have this amazing gospel introduced into their lives. Can't wait to get out there and do it. It is snowing on and off here. It is very cold but I have learned to deal with it. Sister Si and I would always pretend we were in Hawaii by the beach. :) She is so cute!I went into Sister Si Mongolian class when sister hunt had left, I just studied but they were learning the laungage. Holy Cow! I am so glad I don't have to learn a laungage. That is so hard :) she is doing very well with it though.Probably the biggest thing I miss is hugs. Im so used to getting them all the time and having new companions its differernt again but I miss hugs so much! So don't ever take them for granted :)Thanks mom for the tights. I have not used them yet but I am sure they are warm.So Our new teacher for our district is from Engand and went on her mission to Scotland. She was telling us all the words they use, how to eat, where to shop for the best deals, and so on. She is very happy to teach us. She has always wanted to teach england missionaries but knew she would never because they all go to preston. She is really cute and I think we will learn a lot from her. Its a bummer to still be here, but I am going to try to make the best of it and learn as much as a I can. Obviously I am here to learn something new to change some one in England's Life. Positive Attitude!!! :)They still don't have any neew information on the departure date. We have changed mail box to #339 and on my address you can put ENG-LON 0225 instead of 0209 if that makes sense.Dad your calling seems like fun! and way busy! Seems like everything is going to change for the better. Good Luck and I am proud of you! :) And that sounds like so much fun to go to colorado and set apart John. Let me know how that goes. You will have fun visiting him again.Tell Happy Birthday to Mike, Aubrey, Ciera, Grandma and that I wish the best and to have a great year!Mom you should just have Annalisa make cookies for me :) can;t wait for them.Well the time is up and I better go. Thanks for all your support and letters. I miss you all so much! Keep up the scripture reading it will bless the family so much! this church is true.I love you all and Happy Valentines day!Love Sister Olsen!

Letter 02/08/09

2009-02-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

BAD NEWS!!! :(
I just got back from taking a walk to the temple. I was getting a picture taken and the Elder taking the picture dropped my camera. :( It won't focus. It landed on the lens pretty hard, and I tried to play around with it. It won't take any pictures. :( I would like to see if we can take it back to Costco. I kept the box and I'll send everything you should need to take it back. The box should be in the closet downstairs if you didn't pack it. The card needs to be taken back with it too, But pictures need to be taken off before you do that. I would like the pictures somewhere when I come home. :) Most of them are of Christmas and Disneyland. Thanks family. I would like the camera back asap. It would be nice to have. :) You know me, taking pictures. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks so much though. If you need to Dear Elder me and let me know what's going on, that would work. Love you!

Love,
Sister Olsen

P.S. I could use more stamps. :)
**WAIT WAIT** I tried my camera later tonight, and it still works, but I don't know when it will stop. What should I do? I can send it..or....yeah. Let me know asap. Dear Elder me.