General Conference + Upcoming Baptism News!

 

Off Roading in a Jeep!!

Hello everyone! Hope the week was rest for you, cause I know we here in Lake Placid had a pretty solid week!! Tuesday we had transfers, and I took the long journey the 20 minutes south to my new area, Lake Placid! It's strange because I've been here before on many exchanges, so to actually be serving here in the Lake Placid Branch is unique! It has been a blast so far!! So yeah, Tuesday we had exchanges. Elder Rowley and I just went to town on the lessons. We met up with a couple that we actually contacted on exchanges in Sebring, Mike and Tonya. We met them a while back and got their address, so we went and visited with them. They are both super awesome! We learned a lot too, and saw some blessings for sure. They have trust issues, especially when it comes to people they don't know, so going to church has always been an issue, but they explained that the love they feel in our church from meeting us, and other members has been amazing. That they feel of our love for them and most importantly Gods love for them! So we are excited to see where that will take them!

A lot of this week was just me getting to know the people here, meeting the people they were working with and the members around. We met with this family that are all working towards baptism! The three kids are actually being baptized this Saturday too! The cool thing about it was I knew these people previously because of exchanges.Elder Goff and I were actually the ones who taught the first and second lessons with them. So they already knew who I was!  So this Saturday should be a great time! We have TJ, Quay, and Ashanti getting baptized this weekend. Our branch President will be baptizing TJ, Elder Rowley will baptize Quay, and I will be baptizing Ashanti!! So i will definitely let y'all know how it goes next week!

We also got a good taste of what Florida off-roading is like!! After our dinner lesson with a less active young adult in our branch, he took us out in his jeep in the back country off roading! It was LEGIT! They had HUGE mud puddles, and all these sand/mud paths going through all the trees. It was cool.

Also this weekend was of course General Conference which was AMAZING. The talks were perfect and it definitely helped answer all of the questions I had! It was great to hear and sustain our beloved Prophet and his counselors, and the rest of the seers and general authorities of the church. I'm grateful for them, their love, and their service to us, and to God. They gave some very good advice on a lot of important topics, such as: Family Roles, Faith during Trials, the Atonement, Repentance, the Holy Ghost and much more! If you weren't able to watch it, I highly recommend you do. I could feel the spirit so strongly, and it helped in my overall progression towards God in strengthening my faith and testimony! 

Here is a little quote/summary of one of the many wonderful talks we heard this weekend, given by Jeffery R Holland. "With the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the strength of heaven to help us, we can improve, and the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed. Please remember tomorrow, and all the days after that, that the Lord blesses those who want to improve, who accept the need for commandments and try to keep them, who cherish Christlike virtues and strive to the best of their ability to acquire them. If you stumble in that pursuit, so does everyone; the Savior is there to help you keep going. …Brothers and sisters, the first great commandment of all eternity is to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. That’s the first great commandment. But the first great truth of all eternity is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind, and strength. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."

Anyways, I'm having a blast! Elder Rowley and I are working super hard, and doing great! Thanks for all the support, I hope you all had an amazing General Conference weekend and also have a wonderful week ahead of you!! Love and miss you all!

-Elder A. Olson