In Da Hood, Sad Saturday, Coyote, Smoking Apartment and Power of Prayer

CHEDDAR PENGUINS = BOSS!!

Hey everyone!!! It’s been another crazy and eventful week here in Ocoee! If there were two words to describe this week, it would probably be "Never Ending."  It felt like this week went on and on. I had exchanges this week with our District Leader and we went to Olympia, which is crazy because it's like 15 minutes from Ocoee, but WAY nicer!!  It was nice to get away for a bit.

Saturday was a terribly tough day. We had our baptism for Jessica set for that day. But sadly, stress and anxiety got to her and she smoked some cigarettes and so we will have to move her baptism day. On top of that, all of our set appointments for that day fell through. It was such a rough day! Things just weren't going my way and it wasn't fun but it's okay!!

Ocoee is so ”In the hood”, I'm totally getting me a grill so I can fit in. Gold teeth are totally in around here.  JK!!.. But seriously. I might get removable ones.

Fortunately, we did also have some awesome things happen this week!! Friday night we had to go late to the church to get our service clothing and as we pulled into the parking lot, I saw a dang COYOTE!! Well, we chased him around in the car to get him away from the residential area next to it because he was HUGE!  But he ended up running into a storm drain...so....yup!  I want him as a pet..Kinda...haha   

Also the next night we attempted to have a fire in our apartment fireplace, because it was in the low 30's, surprisingly!!! It was SOOO nice! But anyway, we started the fire and quickly realized that the chimney was sealed….so like the smoke clouded our apartment. So I was fanning a box to keep the smoke away from the detectors hahah!! It was quite the adventure! So instead of an ACTUAL fire, we put two candles inside of the fireplace and called it good!!!

This area is just so weird to me.  The bishop asked me to speak in church 15 minutes before church started!!! Talk about late notice! But luckily, it wasn't hard and i feel it ended up pretty well. I am just having trouble connecting with this area unlike DeLand. The people don't care as much here, and it's just so odd. BUT we've also seen some amazing miracles this week. We had a lesson at the mall, not too far away from us. Right after the lesson, we started walking to the car and one of the people working in a store asked if we wanted a case for our phone. SUCH Ann easy contact! All we had to say was we were missionaries so it's technically not our phone. Come to find out, her name is Christina, and she has actually been LOOKING FOR and WANTING to go back to a church!! She is solid and we will begin teaching her this week! It's so nice when people are prepared and placed right in our path!! MIRACLES!

But recently, I've truly seen the power of prayer. Since I've been in this area it's been harder mentally, physically, and emotionally. I've been asking, and fasting for help. And although it might be small, I can tell there is a difference! I've gained a few more friendships in this area, which is definitely helping, because I feel like people actually care I'm there.

I know our Father in Heaven wants to hear from each and every one of us. He wants us to turn to Him. The more we avoid those fundamental things like: praying, reading scriptures, and attending church, we don't and we can't progress spiritually. We all know our physical bodies need physical substance, food and water. But to grow spiritually we need a spiritual substance as well! That's where the base of our testimony and faith come from. Without those things, it's easy to become distant from our families, our happiness, and our Heavenly Father!

I love and miss you all dearly. I very much appreciate all you have done for me and my family! I'm thankful for all the thoughts, prayers, letters and everything! I hope you all have an awesome week and a safe one as well!

--Elder A. Olson

GHETTO SERVICE CLOTHING TO THE MAXX!!