Hhhhooollllllaaaaa everyone, 

So I would just like to start out by saying that I am so sorry for the Taylor family and that they are in my prayers. When I read the email from my dad today about Mason passing away I was pretty much in shock. Two years working together at Frostbite were the best and I am going to miss Mason very much, and I know many of you will as well. So grateful for the plan of salvation and the knowledge that we will see our loved ones again one day. 

Well let's see what happened this week... Oh, Tuesday, I went to counseling at the JSM building and my counselor showed me an awesome video that I would like to talk about with all of you at the end :) Later on Tuesday I went out with a cute couple in our ward that's engaged and we visited a few people without any luck then felt prompted to visit one of our investigators, Sandra. And she answered! We taught a short lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really well. 

Wednesday was a crazy day. During the day we were just busy biking, biking, biking all afternoon. We had a lesson with a new investigator of ours and it was awesome! We are excited to start working with her. And at the end of the day after we biked 4 1/2 hours, we realized that all of our lessons fell through, but one. Haha that's missionary work for you. But it's okay because we were working hard and it was great! 

Thursday morning we weeded for 3 1/2 hours for the family that we live with because they are going to have a wedding reception on Saturday so they needed some help. We thought it was going to be super quick, yeh that didn't happen. But that's okay. In the evening we met as missionaries in the stake with the High Councilman over missionary work and talked about the work that we were doing in the ward. We got to meet our new district leader, Elder Lindsey. He seems cool. 

Friday we had district meeting. Our district is so small. It's only 3 companion ships, so there are only 6 people in our district, and we are the only sisters. Haha it was super fun though and we are excited for this next transfer to learn from our district. Oh and one of the cute laurels that comes out with us got her mission call so we went to her opening and she is going to the Adriatic south Mission (which covers like 3 countries in Europe) Albanian speaking! We are so excited for Natalie! 

Saturday was crazy. So in the morning we helped the young men clean the chapel and then we helped the Daltons with last minute wedding reception food and such. Then we went around and tried to visit everyone we teach because we were having a capilla abierta in the evening and we wanted EVERYONE to be there. The capilla abierta went really well. So basically what happened was that temple square sisters came and set up some posters of gospel topics and people went on a tour of our chapel with them while they discussed the gospel topics and then they went around and toured the different auxiliaries that are in the church and what each church organization does. It was pretty successful. No investigators came but we had 4 less active members come and a ton of members. It was a really spiritual experience and we got over 23 referrals for all over the place! 

We had a great day on Sunday as well. After sacrament meeting a member walks up to us with her friend and was like, "Hermanas this is my friend, she has been taught before but she wants to be taught the lessons in my home, she wants to come to church and be baptized!" We were super excited, but then she told us where she lives, and it happens to be outside of the mission, so we cannot teach her #exactobedience so we got her information and we sent it to the missionaries in the Ogden mission! We are excited for her. Then like 10 minutes later we go to gospel principles and there is this non member there that too wants to get baptized and was going to a long time ago as a kid but didn't because of his parents. But he too lives out of the mission. But he might move into our area, so we might get to teach him! So that was some crazy cool experiences! Sunday evening we had an awesome lesson with a less active family, the Ariza family. We talked about patriarchal blessings. And afterwards we played a fun game, called "pie face" or something like that. Haha it was way fun. 

Okay so the video is a new Mormon message called "Like a Broken Vessel" from Elder Holland. It is based off of his 2013 general conference talk. And it talks about mental illnesses, specifically depression. I really like that it focuses on that we need to focus on our Savior and rely on Him. We are all still loved of our Heavenly Father. Everyone of us is worth feeling loved and worth being healed. There is HOPE. That hope is found in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. None of us are alone. REMEMBER THAT! So I really love that Mormon message and I want all of you to watch it because mental illnesses are real and while they may seem scary, they are, well i don't want to say normal, but they are common and more people should be aware of them :) so don't be ashamed if you have a mental illness. It is just another trial given to some of us so we can rely on our savior and our loving Heavenly Father more. 

"Until that hour when Christ’s consummate gift is evident to us all, may we live by faith, hold fast to hope, and show 'compassion one of another.'" -Elder Holland

LOVE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!! 

Link to the video:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-06-2001-like-a-broken-vessel?lang=eng

Hermana Olivas

Utah Salt Lake City Mission

Hello everyone! Everything has been getting better!! How are all of you?!?!?!

I went on exchanges this week with sister Allen and it was a PARTAY!!! Oh my goodness we had too much fun. Okay so on Tuesday we were walking and she was like, sister Olivas left or right? So I picked right, and we determined that it was inspired because we were able to find a potential new investigator for them. There is this lady in their area and her granddaughter is living with her and her granddaughter is soul searching right now, so we were able to meet the granddaughter, Sierra and we helped her make these awesome cupcakes for her co-worker and we talked about the gospel and the Book of Mormon and it was awesome. Then we walked, no hiked, up these giant hills. Later in the day we had a Book of Mormon reading club with these cute old ladies in their area. I also realized that English people are a lot more rude than Spanish people, like they just close the door in your face where in the Spanish program they will let you in, offer you water, you have a lesson, then they will tell you they aren't interested. We then walked to dinner, and it was death. But it wasn't that bad haha. But the poor members at dinner thought I was going to die or something because my poor whiteface gets so darn red but I really wasn't that hot or anything. I just red really easily... After dinner we walked around a lot and we street contacted a ton. Then before exchanges ended Sister Allen took me to a really nice part of her area, her area is the 2nd richest area in the mission basically, and we saw some crazy HUGE houses and some amazing views. (Pictures below) it was a great exchange and I learned to much from sister Allen. Oh I learned that Lucas Gabriel, like Sharpay's brother from High School Musical, lives in my area, with his husband... But I saw his house!! So that's cool.

Wednesday Hermana Thetford and I biked in the afternoon and once angina I got a sunburn, but on my arms. I now have Aloe Vera gel and sunscreen. But we biked up huge hills, well I should really say that I walked my bike and Hermana Thetford rode her bike. She's a champ. 

Thursday Hermana Thetford went on exchanges so sister Fisher came into our area. It was fun. We had a few spontaneous lessons so that was always great. And Sister Fisher is a crack up. She has so much energy. It was a good day. 

I had what I thought was a headache but it lasted for 2 days until I went to the doctor and it turns out it was a migraine... So I got a shot in my hip and some mess. I also was able to drink some Dr Pepper, which is normally not allowed but I guess caffeine is good for migraines so I was able to do that haha. Still have some pain in my head but the work must go on. 

we had an awesome training from our mission president on Thursday. We focused a lot about how we as missionaries need to be motivated by our missionary purpose, which is: "to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end." so we all received a sticker of a scripture to put on the back of our name tags to help us remember to focus on our purpose. I am very excited to be able to focus on the missionary purpose more and not be so robotic And just going through the motions of missionary work. In the MTC my teachers talked to my companion and I about having a personality in our lessons and it was something I struggled with in the very beginning of my mission but I feel like I have improved a lot and I am ready to improve more. It all has to do with the love we feel for the people we meet and teach. We aren't just teaching numbers, we are teaching our brothers and sisters. Charity and love are really the motivating factors behind missionary work. I love this work and I am so grateful that I can be serving a mission right now here in Salt Lake City. I know that I am here for a reason  and I couldn't be more happy than to serve here. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father and I know that they love and know us individually. Missionary work is the work of Salvation. And I am honored to be able to preach it to everyone I meet. Have a great week! Send me pics of your lives! Love you all! 

Lucas Gabriel's home

Love my companion

On the phone with the elders.... We got bored

Name tag

Doctor....

Hermana Olivas

Utah Salt Lake City Mission