At 3:00 in the morning on Oct 28, my phone rang. I just happen to put the phone on the night stand One of our young sisters was calling. I answered the phone and spent 45 mins listening. She obviously was going through a horrible situation. I have learned to listen more and talk less. When she was ready to hang up she said she could breathe again and that she felt loved and not alone.
The next day, I called to see how the rest of the night had gone. She knows God loves her and she is going to make it. I am sure there will be difficult days ahead, but I pray that she will always feel like she can call and talk no matter what the time.
Prayer is interesting that way also. There is never any message like Press 1 if you want...or Press 2 if you want..etc, No call waiting message, no silence when you need to hear what only God knows can help you through whatever you are facing.
I have learned to trust God more, while serving out here. I have learned to listen more for the still small voice. I have learned to love the people we serve. to celebrate differences and not be so quick to decide what the problem is. Sometimes things are much different than you first think they are. We also have to be so careful when we listen. One of my favorite songs has the words, "In the quiet heart is hidden, sorrow that the eye cannot see."
I think we are often guilty of judging by appearance only and not looking into the heart. So many people carry such heavy loads. I hope we cheer more and stop throwing so many rocks. We are here to help and to love one another.
I wasn't planning on writing all that, but I guess there is a reason.
We just finished what I call our "Fruit Season" The Stake President orders Peaches, Pears, and Apples. We just finished with the Apple Order. It is fun to watch the sisters order and bottle their fruit. They are doing a great job of it too.
We have lots going on all the time The young Elders are meeting more people through the gardening initiative. People love to talk about their gardens and that opens right up to the blessings of the Lord.
We had Stake Conference this weekend. President Justice is such an amazing Stake President. He speaks with great power and insight. There is no doubt that he loves the Lord and seeks His guiding spirit in how to direct the affairs of the Stake. He is amazing.
His comments last night centered around Obedience and Sacrifice. He said we all know how to go without, but do we know how to sacrifice.
He shared the sacrifice that Abraham was willing to make and the widow who feed the prophet and then prepared to die. Her sacrifice blessed her life and sustained her until the situation changed. Are we willing to make such a sacrifice as they did? We feel so blessed to work with such great people, who have strengthened their understanding of the gospel and the principles that we came here to learn.
We cannot always understand the WHY of things, but we can trust that God does and that he will never leave us nor forsake us.
He focused on the blessings of paying a full tithe and being Temple worthy. He told the people of this Stake that if they also would be willing to sacrifice that they would never go without the necessities of life, but that they had to be committed. It was such an amazing thing to be a witness of.
We will have Fast Sunday next week and then on the 16th we will have the Phx Temple Dedication. We are really looking forward to that.
The time change is great because now I don't have to figure out two different time zones and what time my appts. are. Is it our time or the other time???? Now when you go through the intersection it is still the same time. LOL
We love you.
Sister Olson
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