Hola,

Explanation of the subject. We went over to a members house to eat
dinner. We had mole verde, bean soup, and this salsa/salad thing (what
I consider salsa they call salad... no sé) but the salad had cheese,
onion, tomatoes, and what looked like peppers of some sort. But it
wasn't peppers it was CACTUS so I ate cactus this week. It was good.
This week has been good. It's getting cold here. And when I say that I
mean that it snowed. It didn't stick to the ground but the mountains
now have some snow. I her it's going to be a cold winter, I might
freeze, but it's okay because I love the snow.
I love the area I serve in. I love having to opportunity to drive
through downtown every day. I love all of the different houses in
downtown as well. Most are old and small but sometimes there will be a
random large modern house in the neighborhood. I love that all the
houses are different. It's weird to think that I am in downtown at
times because downtown salt lake is NOT like downtown Las Vegas. In
Las Vegas you wouldn't walk around at night in downtown, but here it's
pretty safe. It's a small town feel but I am in the heart of the city.
This week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges. An exchange is
when one companionship goes with another companionship and they switch
companions for 24 hours. I was able to go to Sister Greens area with
her and her companion went with my companion to our area. I had the
opportunity to serve in an English area in Rose Park. Usually Rose
Park has a bad rep from members in my area because a long time ago it
was ghetto. But it's cleaned up now. The boundaries of the stake are
basically the boundaries of my home Ward. It's crazy. But I got to
visit a family who's son (Elder McConkie) was in my MTC district. So
that was cool. I learned a lot and it amazes me how small English
wards are here.
Okay I have a question about the Catholic Church. Why is the Virgin
Mary a worshiped person? I don't want to sound offensive, I am simply
curious. So if anyone would like to enlighten me on this that would be
great. We work with a lot of Catholics and they always have Virgin
Mary's all over there house, but I don't ask them because I wouldn't
understand their answer in Spanish...
Anyways, funny story for the week. We were at a members home for
dinner (she doesn't speak much English) and we were talking about my
companion's accent. My companion has been told that she sounds
Argentinian but the member told her that she just sounds American. I
already know how white I sound when I speak Spanish but we kept
talking. Then Hermana Corrales (the member) makes fun of my accent.
Basically she was making fun of  American's accents by speaking
Spanish but sounding white. It was great. Hopefully one day I can
sound more authentic and not so gringa but for now I will just focus
on learning the language. Haha
We were able to go to a baptism this week for our Zone Leaders
investigators. We brought our investigator Yesenia and her family.
They all enjoyed the baptism and were able to feel the spirit. Yesenia
wants to be baptized and we are working on her family. And we had 9
investigators at church! That's more than all of the church attendance
for the past few feels combined!!
Oh Ana Maria Garcia, our "golden" investigator, has fallen off the
face of this earth. We haven't taught her in 2-3 weeks and we can't
get a hold of her. It happens. Hopefully she will want to meet with us
again and we can get her back on date for baptism. But I do have some
good news. Every Monday we do family home evening at the Madrids home.
Everyone except the dad is a member. They even have a daughter serving
in Riverside CA. The dad has been investigating the church ever since
his family was converted 3 years ago. Every time a missionary has
extended the baptismal invitation he has always said "no not yet I
need to learn more." While I was bearing my testimony at the end I
felt prompted to extend the invitation once more. HE ACCEPTED!! We
won't commit to a date yet but he accepted. We want him to get
baptized on Christmas, but we shall see.
I am very grateful that I am serving here in SLC. It's great. Granted,
I have had more people question and "hate on my religion" here than I
ever had in Sin City, but that's the life of a missionary. Miracles
are happening and I can't wait to see how everything progresses! Have
a great week mis amigos! Les amo!

Con amor,
Hermana Olivas