Halloween Week Happenings!

 

Here come the Men In Black...and our pug!

Hey everyone!! Well...all I gotta say is this week was quite the "treat" hahaha. Did you get it?...Halloween...treat...anyway..sorry.. Before we get to the subject of Halloween, I better say that this was a rather exciting week! We thought we had a little earthquake here as the ground shook, while we were studying one morning and without a boom or anything! But come to find out, the limestone factory about 5 miles away had an explosion of some sort. It was still kind of cool!  Then we found out that the movie "Jeepers Creepers" was filmed partly in Sumter County! It was the perfect fun fact being that Halloween was this week. I mean.. That explains a lot. This area has all those overhanging trees haha!

Halloween Day wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. The night before, we went out "Reverse Trunk or Treating" which basically means a small group of us got the list of members with children under the age of 18 and went out delivering a little bowl of candy and such to them!! It was really cool to see how happy it made those members to see that we still care, even if they don't! We got to meet lots of families that haven't attended or that we didn't know very well. It was definitely a blessing right there. We even had someone say they wanted to come back to church! On Halloween Day we just did the usual work, which was visiting families and investigators. We dressed as the "Men in Black", or missionaries, whatever one works. Someone asked if we were the Blues Brothers though haha!

But really, the highlight of this week was Saturday Morning. We had worked out a plan with the Branch President to do something exciting! Our awesome branch mission leader is in a wheelchair, so it's harder for him and his wife to keep up their property. But he never asks for help and is always on call whenever ANYONE needs help. He is Truly an amazing man! So we played a little trick on him, saying we needed to meet with him to discuss some events coming up.  Little did he know we had about twenty individuals with helping hands to come and clean up. They mowed the yards, cut down trees, pulled some weeds, etc. It was such a blessing in so many ways! Service is amazing because you know that your Father in Heaven looks down with a huge smile. It was absolutely amazing! We had some non-members come. They were friends of some of the helpers. They knew, and commented that it was a special group of Priesthood holders gathered, helping someone out and that they could feel the Spirit. He loved it and was even able to drive down and attend our Services! Like it states in the scriptures, "When you are in the service of your fellow being, you are in the service of your God." I encourage you to look around at those who may need that helping hand. Life can get crazy, and we can get carried away. Those you serve will feel of their worth, and you will feel of the Savior's love as you do so.

I'm grateful for a Father in Heaven that loves me enough to send His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, who willingly submitted to the pain, afflictions, temptations, and death for me and you. I know and can testify that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the only thing that is going to allow us to progress in this life. We would have no purpose without it!  This allows us to change, to grow, to become better. We don't have to be the best, that's impossible, but we do have to be better and continue being better! I know that the Atonement is for everyone and that no matter what you have done, who you are, who you were, because of the love and grace of the Savior, you do not have to be what you once have been.

Anyway, that's about it! That's my week!! Thanks for everything everyone!! You guys are truly the best! I hope you all have an amazing first week of November! WOO! I love and miss you all!

-Elder A. Olson