Sister Olds the II: OOHHHHIIIIIOOOOO

First of all, I miss the MTC!!! The last few days were so wonderful there!! It was so hard to say goodbye to my amazing district and wonderful zone. We grew so close!! As well as our incredible teachers. We learned so much from them!! They were all so great.Sunday all of the Elders in our district gave us sisters a blessing before we parted ways. There were 4 elders and 4 sisters so it worked out perfectly that they could each give one. The spirit was so strong and they were all such beautiful blessings. We all grew to love each other so much and were like our own little family. They are all going to be such amazing missionaries.

Getting to Ohio was pretty crazy. We left the MTC at 3am. Flew to Minneapolis. (On that flight the lady that was sitting next to me was TERRIFIED of flying and would cling to me and hold my hand during take off, landing, and any turbulance. I got woken up to her clawing at me numerous times. It was pretty funny....and painful.) Then we all had to book it to our gate because our layover was only 40 minutes and that airport was HUGE!! We were running through the airport and thankfully made it in time for our flight. President and Sister Vellinga met us at the airport and we were all so excited to meet them!!! We had lunch at the mission office, iinterviews, and a meeting. When we first got there, a senior sister missionary walked up to me, Sister Olsen, and just asks, "Are you Rosalie Bunker's granddaughter?" WHAT THE?!?!?!?!?!?! I got SO excited of course!!! Turns out she is from Mesquite. NV and so she knew her!!!! It made me so happy to know that someone here knows my sweet Gran. Sadly I had to break the news to her that she passed away a little bit ago. But she agreed she is much happier with Kent now.

That night we had dinner at the mission home and then went to bed early (thankfully. We were all so exhausted!!)

The next day was Kirtland!! Oh my goodness. Everyone needs to add that to their Bucket List. We went through the Kirtland temple and the spirit there is absolutely indescribable. It was so amazing to stand in the same room where both Heavenly Father and Christ have stood. We sat in Joseph Smith's office and read out of Doctrine and Covenants the revelations that he received in that very room. Honestly words could never do it justice to describe that experience. It was absolutely amazing. Afterwards we went to the N.K. Whitney store and the School of the Prophets. Heavenly Father and Christ also appeared there as well. I wish you had all been there with me to feel the strength of the spirit there and feel it for yourself.

Afterwards we met our companions!!!! No doubt in my mind that Heavenly Father knows exactly who we need to be companions with. Sister Stringham is PERFECT!!! In the first 3 minutes we found out that we have a mutual friend!! She found out I was from Gilbert, Arizona and she goes, "Oh! I have some friends that moved there. Do you know Jaden and Jenae Feddock?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! Jenae is one of my best friends!!! hahaha so of course we hit it off great right from the start. We were so stoked!!!! So Sister Laura Stringham is from Calgary, Alberta and we are seriously like the same person almost. We have all the same interests and get along so well already!! She is such a wonderful trainer!! I am learning so much!! I am so so so grateful that I got her as my trainer! I love her so much!!

This past week has definitely been the most exhausting week of my life!! I have never been so tired before. Sister Stringham says that it is just my body adjusting and that eventually I will get used to it and not be so tired all the time. Thank goodness. My eyelids have never felt so heavy. But she is putting me right to work and I am loving it!! We are in the Lorain East area and so we cover Avon, Avon Lake, and Sheffield. I am seriously in the CUTEST area in the world! The best way to describe it is pretty much Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. Every house we pass I just go, " Oh that's so cute!! That one's even cuter! Oh look at that house!! It's so cute!!" haha And Sister Stringham gets a kick out of me getting excited over every single squirrell I see. I'm a desert girl! We're used to scorpions, not adorable little squirrells everywhere!

The ward here is AMAZING!! My first Sunday here they gave all of the missionaries inthe ward this HUGE Christmas present!!! I'll send a picture. It is ridiculous!! It had everything in there!! Shampoo, soap, lotion, candy, food, nerf guns, toothpaste, etc. It was so sweet!!! We were so spoiled!! Also we live with a couple from the ward! The Buchanons. They are so great!!!! Their house is nice and it always smells like Christmas :) They have two dogs named LuLu and Max. They are so cute!! It makes me miss my Sophie girl so much!

I feel like there is so much more to say, but I have no idea what!! My mind is still so flustered!! But I am transitioning smoothly. Oh I have a new address!! This one will send straight to me instead of through the mission office first.

3106 Jaycox Rd.

Avon, Ohio 44011

But the other address will still work. They will forward my mail to me. Well I have a ton of pictures to send this week too!! I love and miss you all so much!!! Have a most wonderful Christmas!!!