Sweaty, Headache-y, Spanish, Biking week! 3/24/2014

Sounds like you have a fancy computer now!  2 things, before I forget!!

1- Sister S.M. comes in April 9! She is in the Apollo Beach ward and I absolutely love her! Look after her! She has come out with us to teach a few times and she is such a sweetheart!  She just gave her farewell talk on Sunday and it was wonderful!!  She is going to Denver South, Colorado! :)

2- HERMANA THEA OLSON! WHAT THE ?!?!?!!?!?!??!?!?!?! How did you find out?!?  Did she call you?!  Give me DETAILS! I am soooooooooooooooooooo freaking excited, I can not even explain!!  Whats the mission called to again?!  She leaves in June, is that right?  How did she decide?!?!  Do you have her email? and her current address?  Is Joe going too? Where?!?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay. I am just really super duper pumped! But i want to know more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

(Thea... I think you really need to write her!)

This week was wonderful! if I can sum it up in a few words it would be this:

Sweaty, Headache-y, Spanish, Biking Week!

And here is why!

We have had a few contentious lessons this week. (people that were potentials, but turns out they just want to bash with us.)  One particular incident that I will mention is with a Haitian family or rather that father.  We had already taught The Restoration to him and his wife, and on Tuesday we went over to introduce The Book of Mormon.  To cut to the point.. He didn't like it.  Like, at all.  He kept telling us that it contradicted the Bible. Which it doesn't.  Anyways.. 1 hour and a migraine later, and I am alive to tell the tale. And the tale I want to tell is that I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I know this because I have read it.  I have studied it, and I have asked God.  I know that He has blessed us with another witness and testament of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the World.  I know that it is something we can all know, if we have a true desire.  Just ask Him! :)  We were able to testify so boldly that it is true.  And I know that even though he did not listen, my testimony is not shaken- only maybe a little stronger.  (I was very tempted to stand on top of his table and shout it at him, that it is true!.... but I didn't.)

Another experience involved us biking for 18 miles in one day to find someone on the ward roster... best part... when we got there, it turns out that is the address to an animal preserve.  So that was awesome. hahahahha.  We were able to meet soooo many people along the way though! and we prayed with a few families!

Something I have been working on is my Espanol! -side note, Vincent, if you read this.. I need your help!-  I have been practicing while biking and it is kind of ridiculous the amount of Hispanics we have been meeting!  I am getting better at my introduction and asking them questions and we have gotten more referrals than I can count on my hands for the Spanish elders.  My frustration has come, however with not being able to understand what they say back to me! hahaha, I catch words or phrases, but I was getting annoyed because I would ask them a question: for example: quiere aprender mas sobre JesuCristo? and then they go off and I don't even know what they answer with! hahaha

So yesterday we were biking all day and it was getting to be about 5pm.. we went to an appointment and she wasn't home so across the street we met a lady sitting outside her house.  She told us she didn't know English so I gave her my little recited Spanish and she invited us to sit down. (mind you I had been praying while biking to understand what the Spanish people say back to me.) Sister J. got out a restoration pamphlet and I bore a simple testimony in Spanish and she told me what she knew about Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, in perfect English.  Well she was telling a story and I looked over at Sister J's confused face and I realized she wasn't speaking English, but I knew all the words she was speaking. 

It was amazing. I promise you I'm not lying, because this sounds crazy!  But everything she was saying made sense and I heard it all in English.  I started translating it to Sister J. and we were both in shock but I just kept going.  I could barely respond to what she said because I would start replying in English and she was like, no! hahahaha. Then I got frustrated that I couldn't speak to her more and answer her questions.  It was such a blessing, because the Spanish elders were near by and we called them and introduced them and they were able to teach her a lesson!! WHA!?!

I KNOW that the spirit blesses us with gifts.  I got a massive headache from focusing that much after! hahaha but it was truly incredible!!

oh, the sweaty comes from two parts- first we have biked A LOT this week, AND our AC is out! yay! :) hahaha

Many more miracles that I don't have time to share!

We had a church tour with Wade and we set a baptismal date with him for April 12!! :D

I love you all so much!

See you in a week,

Sister Ormsby

They made salmon, mushrooms, & mozzerella on tomatoes! YUM!

                  They found these AMAZING tacos at a bus in Wimauma while biking!

Yummy Tacos make us excited!

Cockroach Bay ... about the 1/2 way point of their biking misadventure.

Feeding a cow that had sweet goat ears!

Happy St. Patricks Day & her Miracle Journal! 3/17/2014

I am so glad to hear that I will get pictures this week.. I'm afraid I cant fully believe that until I see it! ;)

I cant believe how quickly all the kiddies are growing up!!! WHA?!  They need to stop it, tell them I need them to stop it please.

This week has been exhausting as always! BUT full of miracles!!!

I usually write a miracle a day in my journal at night but now with this fancy pants iPad, Sis. J. I take turns writing  typing it out and then we just air drop it to each other!  Its a lot less work, and here come the part you'll love.... I can email them all to you!  So you have each of my miracles from that week to read as well as my letter! win win, right?!?!

OKAY! I will send that off my iPad once I finish this email!

Here is the low-down on some potential/ actual investigators that need added prayers!!

First- We are teaching Dan! He is soooo prepared! He works with Brother S. from the ward and Brother S. just asked him to take the lessons!!  It has been pretty great! and we are teaching him again tonight.  He has great faith in Jesus Christ and he really wants to follow Him.  He is praying every night and right now we are trying to help him recognize his answers from the Spirit, so that he will commit to baptism!  He went to church on Sunday!!!  So that is fantastic! we will find out more tonight about whether he loved it or not! and we are hoping to invite him to baptism again, and hopefully set a date.. March 29th!  We will see! but pray for him to recognize his answers and have a desire to act on the answer he gets!

Then- Monika and her family! This is the golden family I told you about a while ago that we helped move in.  They are always busy so it is hard to get in with them very often, and they haven't been progressing really because we haven't given them good enough commitments.  They haven't been to church yet and that is the biggest things we have been trying to focus them on so they can feel of the spirit and make friends there.  They are desperate for their 12 year old daughter to have good friends and gain good self worth so we have explained the young women program and they are really excited about that!  The thing is just getting them there, pray for them to understand the messages we teach and for the spirit to answer their prayers.

Wade! I met Wade while i was on exchanges with Hermana Y. We were just walking in a neighbourhood and trying to talk to people and invite them.  Wade was outside washing his car with his 7 year old daughter. he was all wet and soapy but I just asked if I could give him a mormon.org card and invited him to check out the website, he was super friendly and said he would.  I asked him if we could say a prayer with his family sometime and he said we could come back in an hour!  So we went and exchanged back quickly, then Sister J. and I headed over there to pray with him. Long story short he has just been making better decisions in his life to turn it all around.  He has 2 young daughters and he lives around the corner from the chapel.  He has just began reading the Bible from the beginning so he can get closer to the Lord. We have taught him the first lesson, and explained the Book of Mormon to him. He has been so positive and always excited about learning more. He was happy to start reading the Book of Mormon once we went over the book and testified of the blessings that come from reading and praying.  Sadly, he didn't come to church! :( we were pretty bummed.  But we have an appointment this week with him and we'll find out what happened.  Pray for him to realize we are representatives of Jesus Christ and that the Spirit will help him follow Him.

Stephanie! She was a referral from her neighbour that we met while walking one day.  She is going through a tough time right now and when we prayed with her the spirit was so strong she was crying.  She has 3 kids under 11 years old and she invited us back to do a lesson with her kids.  We are going to teach them a family home evening lesson tonight, we are actually going to do the tie thing that you did in young womens forever ago, where you fold your arms like your praying and it works. we are going to tie it into the atonement and how because of Christ we can do hard things.  Please pray for comfort and peace for their family and help them feel the spirit in their home.

There are a lot more... but that ought to keep some covered for a little while! THANK YOU SO MUCH! for the 3 things that you know :) I LOVED it!!!!!  Does dad want to write me a letter? he's allowed... even if I'm bad at responding...

ALSO! new rule, that we are allowed to read our emails from home any day of the week!  We still can't respond until P day.. but we can read them because it is basically the same as reading a letter from you. Just in case you wanted to know, my emails are wide open for anyone out there who wants to drop a quick line! :)

I LOVE YOU MUCHLY!

See you in a week!
Sister Ormsby

ps- Brother Hales has been released from the hospital!! IT IS A MIRACLE! Pray for his strength and his family, and they will get through this! :)

My feet look dirty, but I did shower this morning... This is my 

marvelous shoe tan from the week.. I swear it appeared overnight!

Haha

Sister Ormsby still love her strawberry tortillas!

She loves to cook :)

Don't you just love her!

Miracle journal 

March 15, 2014 

We taught Wade about the Book Of Mormon this morning and he SOAKED IT
UP! It was so cool to see his excitement bloom! He is going to read it
in 1 month! We also met an awesome Spanish family today too! The
father, Ed, kept telling us he was catholic at first so we just
offered to pray with them. His wife, Rosa, doesn't know much English
but 3 of their kids were there and we said a prayer and the spirit was
so strong. They all felt it, afterwards Rosa got off her chair and
gave it to me, they both told us to sit down. Sister J started
teaching The Restoration and it he was really open and willing to
learn. He talked about his Spanish copy of the Bible and we were able
to set up a time for the Spanish elders to go back and share The Plan
of Salvation and the Book Of Mormon with them all! At first, we
weren't sure how receptive they would be.. But! Total miracle that
they are prepared! He said he would be baptized :)

March 14, 2013

March 13, 2014 

Tonight we showed a video to the Bennett's after dinner. It was Elder
Russell M. Nelson sharing a personal story about having faith and
being encouraged even when we feel 'weak in the heart'. The spirit was
there! Pat listened to the whole video and we were able to discuss
that there are people that seek for perfection before they turn to The
Lord, and how having faith in Him strengthens us before we have to go
through the hard times. We are all weak in heart, and that is okay.
Our hearts can find strength with Christ. Pat was friendlier than ever
tonight and I am so grateful that The Lord is strengthening his heart! 

March 12, 2014 

We met C's referral.... Stephanie. At first we didn't think we were going to be able to pray with her because her ex-in-laws
didn't want a prayer, told us she was Baptist, and she was on the
phone. But when she got off the phone she did INDEED want a prayer...
And she loved it!!! Sister Ormsby was filled with the Spirit. We
prayed for her mother who is getting surgery tomorrow and for her
children (she is going though a divorce). She cried. We setup a return
appointment for Monday the whole family. It was so cool. Then we asked
C's daughter if anyone needed a prayer and she said her friend and
his family. Aka: Stephanie's son. Inspired much? Yes! So grateful!

Saying goodbye never gets easier! 3/10/2014

Hard week! This week has really seemed to drag on, too! I am so glad email time is here

This week Sister L. and I held each other for the last time in our apartment, and we had a mad dash of packing to do before Tuesday morning! There were many tears. Many. Many. Many. Like basically, A LOT! I miss my sister sooooooo much!

It is a HUGE adjustment I am making now. I haven't really been a missionary without Sister L.  I feel mostly really lost that I am doing this all without her!  And this area is just ours, you know?! PLEASE! somebody tell me of a companion they had for 7 months (and LOVED) and how they dealt with having to be away from each other.. because I feel like it would be hard if it had just been a short time! But we were together forever!!!!!

My new companion is Sister J! She is from Orem! The youngest of NINE! and her parents are on a mission in Tallahassee. Yes, she is a shorty! She is almost a foot shorter than me! haha. She was in our zone before this, and Sis L. and I were actually her STL's!! She came from Seffner. She is the most hard working person you will ever meet! She always wants to be perfect and she is always bubbly and smiling! She has been on her mission for 15 months! So she goes home in May (2 transfers) we figure that either I will go this next transfer, or I will be in Apollo beach for 3 more! (which would be almost 1 year in 1 area!!!... if its gotta be one area, I want it to be here.)

I don't know if that really made sense.. haha, but anyways- She is great! She is really pushing me to be a better missionary. 

This week we have had a lot of awesome experiences because we did HEAPS of street contacting! And it has been really cool!  It is soooooo easy to talk to people now, after going to metro!  And it is amazing how many more people the Lord puts in our path as we seek to talk to all the ones around us! 

This week has been really tough, like I have cried a lot. It was probably the worst when I saw Sis. L. with another comp... hahaha, and then when we had to say goodbye I was such a mess.. I couldn't stop sobbing... SO EMBARRASSING! lol

Poor Sister J. has had to deal with my messy-ness! I feel bad for her! haha, but it is just really hard being here without Sister L., the first couple days were the worst. It felt like an exchange because Sister J. doesn't know the area or the people and i just had to decide what we were doing and when.  It was really hard, but on Thursday morning I said my "sacred grove prayer" and I basically pleaded with Heavenly Father for strength and comfort. I needed to vent to someone and explain all everything that I was going through to someone who knows me, you know?  Well Sis L. wasn't there to talk to and I hadn't heard from our STL's, and I couldn't call Martina. So I just spilled my heart to the Lord. I talked to Him about everything I was feeling. And then we had 3 hours of planning to do, so I might have cried some more during that time.. 

My super-wonderfully fantastic bishop just knows Sister L. and I so well, so he kept checking up on me. We went to the chapel on Wednesday and oh man when he just gives me this look I start crying!  Its like this 'fatherly, I love you and how are you doing?' look.. but it gets me every time and I just start crying and he was like why do you cry every time you look at me?!  I DON'T KNOW!!! hahaha, but the good news was, that after my melt down Thursday morning and my prayer, I didn't cry when I saw him that night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was pretty much a miracle and I was very proud! I then didn't cry ALL DAY Friday!! miracle. I know.

Saturday morning we had a Relief Society Conference for Visiting Teaching and it was soooooo nice!!! There was a yummy brunch and fantastic speakers! That was the first time I got to see Martina and when she hugged me I didn't want to let go!  My eyes filled with tears and so did hers! I recovered myself though, for the rest of the meeting. When it finished we sang I'll go where you want me to go.. so I was basically trying not to cry!  Afterwards, I went to throw away our plates in the rubbish and bishop stopped me to ask how I was, with his famous look, and I couldn't really say anything because I didn't want to cry.. so I just gave him a thumbs up and he smiled, so I started to walk away and he said, you know you're amazing, right?!  I turned around and he gave me 'that look' so I teared up and tried to nod at him. He asked me if I wanted to get a blessing at church tomorrow or right then, I just looked at him and he said, go get your companion, we'll go now. 

So Bishop has this amazing gift to always know what I'm thinking and feeling.  And he always says the right thing.  He talked with us a bit and then it was my turn for a blessing. It gave me so much peace! Like I can't express.

So everyday is still HARD! but I have found a new strength to handle it all.

Bottom line, I know that God has a plan for me and I know that this is a part of it. There is something to learn from all of this. this is to help me grow. 

Sister J. and I both spoke in church yesterday and I really didn't prepare a talk because so many other things got in the way! 

But, Bishop asked me to speak on 'What I have learned from my mission'. Couldn't be more broad of a topic, right?!?!? hahaha

But as I prayed and thought about what the ward needed to hear, I kept thinking of something Pres asked us all to do at the transfer meeting. 

Think about 3 things that you KNOW.

Here are mine:

1. I KNOW that God loves each of His children.

2. I KNOW that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is for all of us, and isn't just for repentance.

3. I KNOW that the Spirit teaches each of us and guides us. 

Basically, I figured out- halfway through speaking that the things I know actually make up the 1st Article of Faith, so that was cool. hahaha

I am running out of time or else I would elaborate more on those points.. but study Matthew 11:28-30. Definitely some of my fav. verses!!

I love you so so so so so much! I know that God has a beautiful plan for me, so don't you ever worry about me! I am being taken care of :)

I LOVE YOU!

See you in a week,

Sister Ormsby

P.S- Think of 3 things that you KNOW! and get back to me on what they are :)
       OH! and I have interviews with president this week!!

                           Sister Ormsby trying hard to be happy at transfers!

New companion Sister J.  :)

Transfers are confirmed! 3/3/2014

Her email this week began with the sad news that she and her companion of almost 7 months will be split on Tuesday of this week.  Sister Ormsby is staying put in Apollo Beach and getting a new companion.  Sister L.  is moving somewhere else with her new companion.   It is truly bitter sweet!  They love each other like sisters......  But then she went on with the following:

Here we go... missionary stuff!

awesome experience this week!

Our RS president gave us a list of names to check out for her so she can learn more about them.. so on Thursday, I think.. we went to go find one lady and her daughter who should both be in RS. so, we drove to their place, it was in a trailer park, and when we went in, we drove past a trailer with 4 people outside it and we knew we should go talk to them.. but we decided to try these sisters first, and talk to them on our way out. Okay, so the trailer we went to ended up being the wrong address because the lady didn't know what we were talking about.. But whenever that happens, we know that we were put there for a reason, and there is someone we need to find!  So we left our car parked and walked to the trailer out the front to give a card to the people outside, but they were gone already. BUMMER!  So we started walking back to the car and a guy opened his bedroom window and asked us who we were looking for! Sister L. told him, we thought there was people outside that we could invite to church, and asked him if he might like to come! SO basically it was a miracle. His name is Joseph and he was super prepared!!!!  He told us he had just prayed the night before for the first time in a long time!  He had decided he need to turn his life around and find a church! CRAZY, right?!?!?! We told him a bit about the restoration and we said a prayer with him as it was pouring rain in the mud at a trailer park, but the spirit was really strong! I know God put us there at the right time, even Joseph knew it, because he told us, people always walk past my window, but I knew you were sent from Jesus Christ and that I needed to talk to you! He said he could feel it! How awesome, right?!!? :)

Well, he is in the elders area, but hopefully they will start teaching him! :D

That's one of my miracles from this week! 

I love you lots!

Don't worry about me, just keep the prayers coming and I know it will all work out, if not how we want.. always how the Lord wants. 

Our super-fantastic Bishop gave Sister L. and I both blessings on Sunday. He is the sweetest guy and the only person I really wish I could HUG! hahahaha, I really love him though! He cares about us so much, and he always knows what to say :) In my blessing he told me that Sister L. and I will be eternal friends, and that whichever one of us leaves this earth first, will be waiting with open arms for the other one in heaven! Isnt that the sweetest thing?! We were sobbing! hahaha there were so many other perfect things he told us :) So i know we will be okay!

You should video the kids playing! I wanna see photos!! or ANYTHING!

I LOVE YOU LOTS!!!
See you in a week,

Sister Ormsby