Sister Olds the II: "When someone says 'Jesus' you just snap your neck and say'Okay!'" -Cierra

Yada yada yada....

I never know how to start these emails.

We had our very first English class this week!!! It went way better than we were expecting. Not that we were expecting it to be awful or anything...but we just really felt like we had no idea what we were doing. Unfortunately none of the Marshallese came, but all 5 of the Hombres came!! It was so much fun and they said that it actually helped them a lot and are going to be coming every week! I never thought that I would get to do English Classes on my mission, but finally my experience of teaching English in Ukraine came in handy!

Remember how all of the members of the St. Marys Branch are pretty much the most incredible people in Ohio? Oh, what's that? You felt the spirit?? Yeah that's because it's true. They are all such awesome missionaries! The Bissegger's had us and Sam over for dinner and a lesson at their home and it was so fun and so great! I have seen so many awesome examples of member missionaries and what miracles happen when it is done right. Being a member missionary looks like so much fun! I can't wait to do it in a couple months! Anyways, back to Sam's lesson. We taught about temples, eternal marriage, and family history work. He had actually seen a picture of the temple on facebook last week and then read a whole bunch of the comments. He said how he could tell who the Mormons were and who weren't. The Mormons were all so respectful while the other people were bashing on temples and Mormon beliefs. Then Sam started referring to the Mormons as "we" and "us". All of us just kind of smiled at each other. It's only a matter of time my friend!!

Yesterday we had a Regional Stake Conference broadcast from Salt Lake City. I had never had one of those before. It was so neat! We heard from Larry S. Kacher, Linda S. Reeves, Elder Neil A. Andersen, and Elder Robert D. Hales. It was kind of like our own mini General Conference! Also, we had 8 people at church!!! [Investigators, less actives, and recent converts!] We were so stoked!!!!

My favorite thing that was said at the conference was from Larry S. Kacher. He said:

"Each day we decide the degree of our discipleship."

I love that!! Every single day we get to decide what we are going to do and who we are going to be. Will we be better than we were yesterday? Will we make the right choices today? Who we are and who we become is completely based on the choices that we make. Getting to this point of my mission it has been so neat to look back throughout my mission [and my life] and see what my choices have helped me to become.