Baptism Date Set, Wild Weather and Horse Cloud, More From General Conference.

 

Check out that car!

It's totally Radford!

This week has been a complete adventure!!! It's has kind of just been a non-stop, rushing week. We set a baptismal date with Kedecia late last week. It was originally set for Saturday the 18^th, but she was able to get a new job and had been scheduled to work that day.  Transfers are coming up and she wanted us both to be there, so last night she called and moved her baptism to this Thursday the 16th!  WOOHOO!  Plus on top of that, she has asked that I baptize her! so I'm very excited for that! I cannot wait! So that will basically be the highlight of this upcoming week. Also, on the 18th is when the "transfer doctrine" call of who's staying and who is leaving comes in.  Either way, I'm actually pretty happy, and I've come to really enjoy and love Ocoee/Pine Hills!  It’s crazy to think I've already been here 4 1/2 months and so who knows what could happen. Only 8 days though!

Also, we've been meeting with another store owner in JMart, named Desiree. She sells religious t-shirts for a living. That's where I got my "real men love Jesus" shirt. Anyway, she has been sitting in on our discussions and has come to church twice and has absolutely LOVED it! She skipped her church to come join in on ours yesterday. She promised she would be there next week and we are going on a temple tour with her and Edwina on Wednesday.  She is awesome and also assured us that she is going to pray about being baptized into our church.  So that's another little bit of awesome news! She shared a story of how her mother and sister were members of our church before her mother passed away. Her mother always wanted her to come, but she never did. In fact, she avoided the missionaries! But it just goes to show you that patience and time is all that's needed! It's been great!

The weather here has been INSANE this week. We've had extremes from temperatures being at 106 degrees, to a tornado warning like 40 miles away!
I also saw a cloud shaped like a horse....so that was cool...picture below.

Horse Cloud!

I really enjoyed General Conference, and have been able to re-watch a good portion of them. They were all amazing and I'm always in awe after listening to those powerful words. Lately I've been focusing on the Atonement in my studies, along with the love our Savior and Heavenly Father have for us. So here is a pretty sweet quote for Dieter F. Uchtdorf:  "I marvel to think that the Son of God would condescend to save us, as imperfect, impure, mistake-prone, and ungrateful as we often are. I have tried to understand the Savior’s Atonement with my finite mind, and the only explanation I can come up with is this: God loves us deeply, perfectly, and everlastingly." 

The Atonement is HUGE and has impacted our lives in ways we can physically see, mentally tell, or spiritually recognize as well as in ways that we may be absolutely blind too, but are still there. But when it comes down to it all, when we recognize that personal imperfection is just an opportunity to change, that's when we notice the Atonement the most in our lives! Our Father in Heaven loves us, he sent His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to come down and pay for the sins of everyone. EVERYONE! No matter who we once were, or where we are, it applies to us all! We will never be perfect, but we can always strive to be!

I love and miss you all! And I hope you have recognized Heavenly Fathers hand in your life! I hope and pray you all have a fun and safe week and thank you for all the support, thoughts, prayers, letters, and email towards my family and me.  Have a great week! I love you guys!

-Elder A. Olson

Got me an In N Out shirt for a dollar!!