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!!

Rough Week....Sweet Week! Exotic Cars, Upcoming Baptism and Temple Palm Trees!

 

Alex Selfie with his Zelda Sword

Hi All!  Man, this week in Ocoee was such a sweet one, yet a very difficult one. I don't think I've seen so many deaths due to car accidents in my life!  There have been four that I've seen this past week and also someone riding a bike was hit and killed by our apartment! So that was tough...It was difficult because no matter what I would do, my thoughts were usually directed towards home. This area is sometimes just filled with drama... It made things hard and teaching rough, But I managed to get through! Phew.. BUT on the flip side, it was a very solid week and we had a total of 25 full lessons! 17 of those we had member fellowship lessons! So I was very happy and our zone leaders and president called to tell us “Good Job” and so that was a HUGE blessing!  That was the sweet part of the week!

Possibly one of my favorite parts about serving in Florida, is the fact that I see exotic cars all the time. Like today on our way to the temple, I saw a Ferrari 458 Italia, and a Lamborghini Diablo! SOO SWEET! So yeah! Happy day I guess hahah!

This week, a member of a different ward took us out to lunch. And although he had never met me before, he recognized me!...but from where?  Apparently, he saw my picture on a website that had pictures of family Skypes from Christmas and where the missionary was serving. So he saw me by accident on that website even before he met me!!! CRAZY!!!... And kind of weird!

But this week is going to be so awesome! One of our investigators (Jessica) is getting baptized on Saturday!! She's been waiting for this for an entire YEAR! She is WAY awesome and I'm so excited for her to finally be baptized!! She's been attending so long everyone thought she already was baptized hahah! Also, we have temple service tomorrow!! Basically our temple service is outdoor maintenance and yard work. The last time we worked at the temple, Elder Peay (who's from Salem and is AWESOME!) and I trimmed Palm trees, which includes cutting the dead Palms and Palm nuts off of them! It’s not too exciting, but hey, I'm at the temple so I couldn't be happier!!

On January 16th we get to go through the Orlando Temple for a Session!!!! YAAAAY!! It only happens 4 times on your mission! WOO!

Anyway..here is a little quote for you guys I found. "Hope is being able to see there is LIGHT despite all of the darkness" - Desmond Tutu

I'm so grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission. Time is really flying and I'm excited to continue serving my Lord and help bring his children back home. I love and appreciate all of you and what you do and mean to me!! I miss and love you all!

Have an AMAZING week!!

-Elder A. Olson