"You...you look like a warrior."

So every Monday [or Tuesday in this case] I get so excited to go email. I love reading everyone's emails and seeing who actually remembers that I am alive. [I love you all dearly for that, I really do] And then I get done reading all my emails and think, "Ugh, now I have to write back." Sorry!! But it's true. I feel like most times people dont actually care what's going on, but I know some actually do :) So this goes out to all of you who do actually care what is happening in the life of Sister Olds! :)

This past week we found a STELLAR new investigator! Last Monday night we were doing some potential stop by's. We were at our last one and no one answered. We started to get in the car to leave when a lady came around from the back. We asked for the guy we were looking for and we ended up finding him in the backyard on a ladder cutting down a tree. We offered to help him and he took one look at our skirts and Sister Genster's boot on her foot [which is now gone! yay! :)] And said he was just fine. We offered to come back the next day in work clothes though to help him out and he accepted. [With a little arm twisting on my part...] We gave him our card with our number on it and he said, "Ya know what I'll have ya do? Go to the second black car in the parking lot and open the back door. There will be a Book of Mormon on the back seat, stick it in there. But make sure I can see it!'.....WHAT?!?! We thought he was kidding at first. But nope! Sure enough we opened the car door and there it was! That little blue book sitting right there on the top of his seat. It wasn't even tucked away or hidden or anything. We were in shock! 

The next day after District Meeting we helped him in his garden for about an hour and a half while he asked us lots of different questions. Some super awesome gospel questions. And some questions that I will probably never ever know the answer to. [Sometimes people think that missionaries know the answer to everything. Gospel related or not. "Sorry, nope. Don't know why the Europeans were more technologically advanced than the rest of the world." "Nope, don't know everything there is to know about aborigines." The questions we get sometimes...cracks me up.] Anyways! We did the best we could to answer all of his questions. It was so great! It was one of those moments where I just thought "YES! This is what missionary work is all about." Then after we weeded out his tomato plants and rose bushes he was so appreciative and then says, "Well, I'm willing to listen to ya girls. What do ya have to teach me?" Yeeeeeees! Perfect. We then sat there for the next hour and a half talking about the Book of Mormon. We were planning on just going over parts of the introduction. But he went through the entire introduction, testimonies of the witnesses, Joseph Smith's testimony, and the brief overview. He wanted to talk about more but we figured that three hours had given him plenty to think over for now and pray about. He told us that he was going to start reading that night! We are so stoked about him! We are meeting with him again tomorrow. 

Hmm...what else happened this past week. I don't even know. Everything blends together after a while. Did I walk off the plane this week? Who knows. Oh! I know! I totally have a testimony of cookies! It kind of cracks me up. People will yell at us at the door and not want to talk to us. Then we bring them cookies and all of a sudden they are our best friends. Works like a charm! "Cookies soften hearts!"

We got to go to Avon this past week!! I was super excited...Sister Genster not too much. But her root canal went well and she is feeling great now. 

I got some sad news this week though. I found out that Sister Looney passed away last Wednesday. Ultimately I was happy for her because she was in so much pain towards the end of her life, but I was still so sad to hear that she had passed away. I know that I was sent to that area to help her. I will be forever grateful for that opportunity. She was such a big part of my mission and I loved her as if she were my own grandmother. I'm sure she is having a grand ole time up there now though! I am trying to get permission to go to her funeral next weekend but I highly doubt that that will happen. 

I love my mission! I don't always like it, that is for sure. But I do always love it. I know that I am supposed to be here in the Ohio Cleveland Mission at this point in my life. It has been amazing to see the impact that missionaries have on other people's lives, as well as the impact that other people have on missionaries' lives. This past week at church a guy was visiting our ward from England who had served here 20 years ago. He still remembered so many people! How cool is that? I am so grateful for this time that I have to devote everything to serving others and to serving my Heavenly Father. 

Our awesome district this transfer!! Every companionship is changing except for me and Sister Genster :) 

First root canal in America! Woohoo! 

This picture doesn't do justice at all to how badly I destroyed our kitchen by cutting up this watermelon! It seriously looked like I had killed something in there! Thankfully though I had it all cleaned up by the time Sister Genster woke up from her lunchtime nap :) Although when she woke up she asked what I was giggling about in the kitchen....hahaha

We've had lots of rain lately....I want one of these geese to bring home with me!! :) 

I found this rockin outfit at the thrift shop. I just wanted the skirt, but it came as a set. But hey, for $2 I was more than happy to take it all. I did a fashion show for Sister Genster. She loved it. Of course.

Everyone needs to stop talking about going home! Okay just kidding. But two of my friends got home from their missions last week and two sisters in our district [one in our apartment] go home tomorrow. It's all around!! So grateful I still have so much time left on my mission. And how cute is this wall?!

Okay, so yes I am a total creep. But this son and dad were SO PRECIOUS!! The dad was out mowing the lawn and his little son was running behind him with his little play lawn mower and the son stops and is yelling after his Dad, "Dad....Dad!...Dad!" And so the Dad stops and asks, "yeah?" And the kid just goes, "I love you!!" It was the sweetest little scene ever!