So much happened this week!!

Also Hermana Erickson says oh my word every second and I think it’s so funny.

An Hermana in our ward invited all the missionaries over to her house to teach us how to make pupusas and they were SO GOOD!! We wrote all the steps down so we can remember how to make them when we get home. Her way too! They were so delicious. Pupusas are hard to explain but they’re like meat and tomatoes and onions and peppers all smashed together with spices in between almost like two pancakes but like not. Idk haha something like that. If you have a better way to describe it let me know. 

Every Monday night at the church building members in our ward get together for noche de hogar which is family home evening and they have a lesson and afterwards there is always food and it’s literally they best. It’s also just so fun because we get to just sit and talk with all the members and get to know them more and its just so fun. I love the members in this ward SO much and oh my goodness I don’t ever want to leave them!! 

This week we had another exchange and I went with Sister Quists companion Sister Balls! I finally got to teach a lesson in English and no surprise it was so much easier. I went to their district council where we discuss our weekly progress with friends and afterwards we all went out to eat. We decided to go to Panda Express and when we got there and were ordering our food this guy went up to the cashier and told her that he got all our meals. I was like WHAT!! He was a member of the church just visiting Minnesota for work and he was so nice!! He talked with all of us and he told us he served his mission in England. He was so nice oh my goodness, I just love people. 

It seems like all I talk about in my emails is food. We are either teaching or eating. Food is definitely how people show their love here. I have had a lot of traditional Nicaraguan food here in Minnesota and it’s so delicious. We started teaching a member in our wards older brothers! They have been taught a lot in the past but we have been able to start teaching them and they are all the best. They are from Nicaragua and we get to eat their traditional Nicaraguan meals and they’re all just so fun! 

We went and visited the CUTEST old lady this week. Her name is Visenta and she isn’t able to come to church because she’s too old and cant get around very well. We went and visited her and oh my goodness I love her. She loves singing and she asked us to sing angels we have heard on high, her favorite song, precious. We sang it to her and she would try and sing along with us and it was seriously just the most precious thing in the world. We just talked with her and got to hear more about her. The spirit was so so strong in her home. 

We got to go to the temple this week!  Oh my goodness it was so amazing. The temple is in St Paul and we got to go because our friend Jauna that just got baptized was going! The temple is so tiny. It’s the cutest little thing. We invited two members in our ward to come with us and we got to do baptisms for the dead. You could just see the joy and happiness Juana felt being at the temple. She was just beaming with light. We don’t have the opportunity to go to the temple a lot as missionaries so I am so so grateful I got to go! I absolutely love the temple and the love and the spirit I feel when I am there. Afterwards we went to this taco place and got the yummiest tacos. Mmm I’m starting to become a huge taco fan!

We have exchanges this week and I am praying PRAYING that I stay with Hermana Erickson and that I stay in North Minnie! I love it here so so much and I love Hermana Erickson seriously so much!! Everyone has been telling me that exchange days are the worst and the week is so stressful leading up to it! Anything can happen. 

This week has been pretty rainy and I love it. One night we had a huge thunder and lighting storm and Hermana Erickson and I just sat and watched it. The thunder was so loud and the lighting was crazy! But I loved it! 

Hermana Erickson and I had a couple “movie nights” this week and we watched the addiction recovery videos on the gospel library app. Oh my goodness they were so good. We watched almost all of them in one night. We got snacks and had our blankets. But seriously these videos were amazing. These people and their recovery stories were so powerful and Hermana Erickson and I were on the verge of tears half the time lol.

We went to a member’s house for dinner one night and when we walked into her house it smelt like straight fish and I was a little hesitant at first because I’m not the biggest fan of fish, but I was like it’s whatever, it’ll be good. We all sat down and the Hermana asked us if we liked shrimp. Hermana Erickson and I looked at each other and we were like yes……. she brought us all over a bowl with 5 full shrimp in it. Whole body and everything. We were like uhhhh. We somehow ate it all and thought we got through the worst part. Then she brought us out enchiladas with mole. Oh my goodness it was somehow worse. I’ve never tried mole before so I had no idea what to expect and when I took a bite I literally didn’t know what to do. All I know is that God helped me finish those enchiladas. And there were so many too! Don’t think I’m the worst and I promise I’m grateful for any food given to me but this meal was just hard hahaha. It was the first meal I didn’t like. Everyone has one and I had to share it. 

We have a couple cute little old ladies in our ward and I ABSOLUTELY love them!! They are seriously so cute and the most precious people in the world. They are all so little and I just love them haha! I made sure to get a picture with all of them! They always say to us “hola mis niñas preciosas, princesas, bonitas” I just love them, like really, I want to be them. 

We went to a member in our ward Brayans house this week, all of the missionaries which is 8 of us in one ward, literally crazy, and he said he made so much taco meat and to be ready to eat! We were. Between all 8 of us we had over 85 tacos. SO MANY and so worth it. They were so delicious. Brayans brother gave Hermana Erickson the bone of the chicken and told her to eat it. They said they love it and Hermana Erickson was like literally what. It’s almost like eating cartilage, it was interesting.

This Sunday there was a baptism after church! It was one of the Elders friends Josue. Josue is seriously a genius. He’s only been the in the United States for 6 months and he speaks fluent English and he learned it literally in the 6 months he has been here. He also knows like 3 other languages. Anways he’s so smart and is just so interested in learning more about the gospel and I am just so happy for him! 

Today is our last pday with this district! We have transfers this week so it’s a little sad. We played some volleyball at the church and just all hung out. It’s been a crazy week and this week will probably be even crazier! 

I love you all so so much and I pray for all of you! I hope you all know that God loves you and He knows you. He wants us to be happy and feel pure joy. I am so grateful for my Father in Heaven and for the countless blessings that I recieve when I follow His example and do my best to be better everyday. I know that my Savior lives and that He died for us because He loves us. I know that this gospel is restored back onto the earth and I know that we can all return and live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. 

Favorite scripture this week:

Alma 32:21

21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

Hermana Olsen ❤