I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. -Job 30:29

Guess who has two thumbs and gained 75 lbs this week!! THIS GIRL!!! Kidding. But that's how it has felt since Thanksgiving Day. Oh. My. Lanta. We got fed SO WELL on Thanksgiving. We started out at the Felvers and they had a HUGE Thanksgiving feast. There was so much food. And all of it was so ridiculously delicious. Honestly words can't really describe the Felvers or their awesome house [and the barn] so I will send lots of pictures :) [I'll apologize now for blowing up your inbox this week] After the Felvers we headed over to the Roodes to have our 2nd Thanksgiving meal. They made rivlets which were kind of like dumplings, but better. SO GOOD!! All four of us sisters kind of went into a food coma sitting there on their couches and just watching their cats. But the day was not done!! We ended by going over to the Davis' for pie. [As if we weren't full enough already] The members here seriously took SUCH good care of us! I love them all so much! For some reason this has been my easiest transition to a new ward....well, branch :) It really is just like our own little family out here in St. Mary's :) I LOVE IT!!!!

RAMIRO AND SANDRO ARE MORMONS!!!!!!!!!!! Their baptism was so so so so so wonderful!!!! Of course we were stressing about it all week long [#lifeofasister] but it honestly could not have gone any more perfect!! Well, maybe if the water was warm....but the cold didn't deter them at all! It was really neat because it was an english./ spanish baptism! I love how everyone there could feel the spirit even if they didn't know Spanish. The gospel is true and the spirit will always testify of it. They looked SO incredibly happy after they were baptized and even happier after their confirmations on Sunday. After Sacrament Meeting I asked Ramiro how he felt and he just got the biggest smile on his face and goes, "I feel goooooood!" They are so precious.

Can you believe that it is already December? And even better, can you believe that in 3 days I will have been on my mission for ONE YEAR?!?!?! [Even just typing that feels surreal. Not gonna lie, got a little teary eyed.] I remember, and will always remember, December 4, 2013 like it was yesterday. The experiences I have had over the past year are amazing. Being a missionary is truly the greatest calling ever. 

Christmas is just around the corner!! I am so excited to skype you all in a few short weeks!! I'm sure you have all already seen the "He is the Gift" video, but if not then go watch it right now! It is so easy to get caught up in all the tinsel, shopping, and distractions this time of year, but we must remember what we are truly celebrating. Our Heavenly Father sent His son to us to be our Savior. Can you even imagine a better gift than that? I hope that we will all keep Christ at the center of our lives; not only at Christmas time, but all the time. 

Well I have to keep it shorter this week because we have less time today. We are driving down to Cleveland tonight for Mission Conference tomorrow. I am so excited!!!!! All of the OCM Missionaries in the Kirtland Temple. It is going to be such an amazing experience. 

Love you more and more. See you all before you know it ;)

Sister Amber Olds

More of the Felvers kitties eating their Thanksgiving turkey. I love the chicken just chillin out there too. "You can't feed the chicken chicken!!!"

This is Frank, one of the Felvers many cats. He loves loves. ><

This is poppy :) She is one of our investigators cats and she sat on my lap for a majority of the lesson. I loved it.

They have all been hiding in St. Mary's!!!! I love them all so much :)

BOBO THE CAT!!! :D We are best friends, obviously.

The cats kept jumping on the table and for some reason we all thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. [side effects of turkey day comas I suppose...]

They have a cat game on their iPad....

EATING SQUIRREL

I'll go where you want me to go.....even to the Boonies! (Nov 24)

We're not in Cleveland anymore Toto!!

I got transferred to the furthest part of the mission.... St. Mary's! I never thought that I would get to serve this far from Cleveland! St. Mary's is in the very farthest southwest corner of the mission. My area touches the border of Indiana! The drive from Kirtland [transfer meeting] to St. Mary's took almost 4 1/2 hours. I am closer to the Columbus Mission Home and the Cincinnati Mission Home. It's kind of crazy, but also exciting. The closest missionaries to us [besides the other two sisters we live with] are 45 minutes away. I guess President just got sick of having me so close so he had to send me as far away as possible! Or he just really loves me and so he sent me to the BEST AREA EVER!!!!!!!!! I LOVE ST. MARY'S SO MUCH!!!! This email really could be 70 pages long if I were to tell you all of the wonderful things about this place. I will do my best to try to shorten it....but we'll see.

We really are out in the boonies! We cover a number of teeny tiny towns and they are all so cute! It's like a whole bunch of tiny Bunkervilles! But they have corn fields instead of cow farms. We serve in a small branch but the work is BOOMING out here!! We had 5 investigators at church yesterday and we have 2 baptisms this next week!!! They both speak Spanish and so our lessons are pretty interesting! Thankfully there are a few members in the branch here that speak spanish that can help us out. Also there is a HUGE Marshallese population out here. So I thought I was going on an english speaking mission, but don't be surprised if I come home speaking spanish and marshallese. Also, there are so many cats out here!!! I love it!! EVERYONE has a dog out in Cleveland and I have missed all my little kitties so much. Now everyone has kitties out here! They call me the cat whisperer because all the kitties here love me. [Really though I just pester them until they become my best friend] 

My new companion is Sister Thomas and she is AMAZING!!!!  So Sister Pound and I got to the apartment before her and Sister Hunter did Wednesday evening. Then when we saw them pull up I went and opened the front door to see Sister Thomas bolting towards me and giving me the biggest bear hug in the world! Can you even imagine a better way to start a companionship?? I can't. It made me so happy!! And she didn't even know that I was her companion yet! All four of us became instant best friends! We have so much fun together! 

Well pictures can tell you about St. Mary's much better than I can, so I will send lots of those :) I really do love it here so much. And the people here are the nicest ever!!! I already feel like part of the branch family! I haven't been to a branch since Ukraine! I love it!! Our little chapel is the cutest!! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! I love this time of year. There are so so SO many things that I have to be grateful for this year. I am so grateful to be a missionary at this time in my life and for this amazing message of the gospel that I get to share with people each and every day. I am especially grateful for all of the support I have received from all of you. I honestly could not do this if I didn't know that I had so many friends and family back home cheering me on and praying for me. I love you all more than you know. 

Sister Amber Olds

Seriously, I love St. Mary's. This was last night at our dinner appointment with the Davis'....they have chickens!!!!! Clearly I was really excited/ terrified to be holding it.

Malley's: The cutest chocolate shop in the world. And they have the BEST desserts ever!

My last night in North Olmsted the Activity Day girls fed us dinner at the church. It was so much fun!! They were all so cute and so sweet. 

Isn't it so beautiful?? :)

You can't tell at all in that picture, but our church building is so tiny and so cute!!

I'm officially a true Ohioan...I made buckeyes!! They are the most delicious thing ever. 

It was so much fun!! We made them with the Hernandez's. 

Those are real Buckeyes. 

I already love her so much :)

Our fun fuzzy socks!! [Thanks Ben!]

Dog killer in a winter wonderland (Nov 18)

Where did all of this come from?!?!? So. Much. SNOW!!! Seriously in one day we went from a beautiful fall to the dead of winter! It is 10 degrees outside right now! Thank you magic coat for keeping me warm. Oh yeah! I was on exchanges in Lakewood this past week for most of the downfall and so we walked 4 miles into their area the first night through the snow and then were biking through it the next day. It was quite the adventure! [It actually was super fun :)]

I almost killed a members dog this week.....We were doing service for them and I was cleaning out their fridge and accidentally dropped a container that had some chicken drumsticks in it. The dog was faster than me and beat me to them. I was literally wrestling the dog trying to get them out of his mouth but he swallowed one of them whole!!! I felt so bad!! Then they told me that they had a dog before that died from eating a chicken bone....GREAT!! They tried to get the dog to throw it back up but nothing was working. She finally ended up just googling it to see what would be the best thing to do and thankfully it said that it is only a problem if they chew the bones because they break into shards and can cut their throat or something. I was praying so hard the next couple of days that Maxwell would live! Thankfully they sat next to us Sunday at Church and he is doing just fine :)

I would be lying if I said that my heart wasn't torn out of my chest last night. [Don't worry, not literally. We would have much bigger issues at hand if that were the case...] I am so heart broken to be leaving North Olmsted!! I LOVE this ward and this area SO MUCH!! I have met so many incredible people here that have made such a huge influence and impact in my life. I know without a doubt that I was sent to this area for a purpose and for specific people. Last night as Sister Maddox was praying after our planning session and she was going through all of our people I just broke down crying. I couldn't bear the thought of having to leave them all. Then I got the most distinct impression from Heavenly Father that I had done what He had sent me to this ward and to this area to do, and now He needed me somewhere else. That was most definitely reassuring. I am still nervous about what will happen in North Olmsted and where I will be headed, but wherever it is I know it is where Heavenly Father needs me the most right now. I am excited for this new adventure!! I will most definitely miss serving so close to the Vellingas. I have loved getting to know them so much better.  

Well, it is on to the next adventure for me!! I can't wait to find out where I am going tomorrow!! 

Love love LOVE you!! 

Sister Amber Olds

How cute is our district?!?! I am so sad to be leaving them. 

Welcome to the District

"If I weren't a Mormon, I would totally be a Hungarian 7th Day Adventist!"

I love being a missionary!!!! We get to have so many awesome, amazing, crazy, and incredible experiences that we honestly probably would never have otherwise. This week we went to a Hungarian 7th Day Adventist Baptism. It was quite the experience! So our landlady is hungarian and invited us to her sons baptism and said how she would be so honored if we came. [She is so adorable] We invited her to the Gladys Knight Fireside and her and her husband loved it! There were a few similarities as well as a lot of differences. They baptize by immersion, they like music [a lot! a majority of the 2 hour program was music], and they have Come, Come Ye Saints in their hymnals! [that one was a shock]. I think for me the most interesting part was just the difference in how I felt. It was such a huge testimony builder to me. It helped me to better understand how our investigators feel coming to our church for the first time and feeling the change in the spirit there. Almost all of it was in Hungarian but thankfully there was a translator there. Are you all planning our trip to Budapest next summer cause I am ready to go back!!  Of course we weren't proselyting there, but our name tags do more proselyting than we ever could. We met so many nice people there that were so welcoming. Also, tons of people came up to us and told us their different connections with the church. It was awesome!! 

Zone Conference!! I love conferences so much as a missionary. We got to watch Meet the Mormons again! Have you all seen it yet? If not, stop reading this email and go see it. Right now. Seriously. It is SO SPECTACULAR!!! New favorite movie. [Whoa! Beat out The Restoration and The Testaments!] But really though it is so well done. 

Hmm...honestly I think that is about it for this week. I'm all out of stuff to write! Y'all should ask more questions so I can answer those in my email home. Things out here really are going great. I love this area and especially this ward SO MUCH!! Transfers are coming up next week [so next week Preparation day will be on Tuesday] and I keep having this knot in my stomach that makes me think I am leaving :( It breaks my heart, but just as with the Lorain Ward and the North Olmsted Ward, I know I will love my next ward just as much. 

Everyone should go read 1 Nephi 18. I love that chapter so much. We were reading the Book of Mormon with Sister Kane this past week and that was the chapter she was on. For some reason it really stood out to me this time. My favorite was in the first verse how he says, " the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work". Sometimes I feel like I need the Lord's direction and guidance in EVERY little decision I make.  Especially here on my mission. Am I the only one guilty of this? Heavenly Father wants to help us through our missions, educations, jobs, relationships, etc., but He also gave us our agency for a reason; to use it! He will give us direction "from time to time", but we also must do our part. I love the scripture so much. So there's your little spiritual nugget from Ohio for this week!

Ohio is making us fat....

West Side Market crepes this morning!!

MACAROONS!!!!

We also had like 7 contacts there this morning. It was sweet!