It's Official-- I've Been Home For a Year!

Dear family and friends,

This Friday marked one year since I ended my mission.  I posted this on Facebook and would like to share it on my blog.  It's in Spanish and Enlgish.

Ha pasado un año desde yo terminé la misión. No he olvidado las experiencias que tuve. No he olvidado las personas a quienes conocí. Personas que ahora son mis amigos—mi familia. No he olvidado el cambio de corazón que sentí como misionera. Aprendí tanto del amor de Dios y el poder de la Expiación durante mi misión. Ne he olvidado los milagros que vi cada día. Siempre voy a recordar las experiencias y los sentimientos que me pasaban. Siempre voy a recordar las dificultades, pero aun más, voy a recordar el gozo que sentí. Me encantaba la misión. Nunca voy a olvidarla, y siempre voy a recordar los que conocí. ¡Les quiero mucho!

It's been a year since I finished my mission. I have not forgotten the experiences I had. I have not forgotten the people that I met. People that are now my friends--my family. I have not forgotten the change of heart that I felt as a missionary. I learned so much about the love of God and the power of the Atonement during my mission. I have not forgotten the miracles that i saw every day. I will always remember the experiences and the feelings that I had. I am always going to remember the difficulties, but even more, I am going to remember the joy I felt. I loved my mission. I'm never going to forget it, and I'm always going to remember those that I met. I love you all lots!

I am truly grateful for my mission.  I have such a strong testimony of the gospel.  I know my Savior lives.  He suffered and died for me and for all of us.  When we do wrong we can repent.  And he can help us through that painful process.  Not only did he provide a way for us to repent, but he doesn't ask us to do it alone! God is merciful.  He loves us so much he wants us to come home to Him.  If I know anything, I know the Atonement is real.  I saw its power working in my life.  I saw it in the lives of those I taught.  And I see it in the lives of those around me.  We all need its power.  Every one of us.  We are or were all broken.  But when we apply the atonement to our lives and repent.  We are made whole and as it says in D&C 58: 42, "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more."  I love that.  God remembers our sins no more.  It's like it never happened.  If He forgives and forgets, shouldn't we do the same?  It's hard.  I'm not good at it.  I have the hardest time forgiving myself, but I can work on it.

Con amor,

S. Olsen

Poetry

Dear family and friends,

I am taking an amazing creative writing class and we just finished our poetry unit.  I have never considered myself a poet and was quite terrified to write poetry.  But I have come a long way since then, and although I do not consider myself an expert, I would like to share some of the poems I have not written.  They are not perfect, and may not even be good, but hopefully you can get something out of them.

Peace

Its euphoria trickles

 into your soul and

becomes a light

 that whispers,

 “everything is going to be okay.”

You close your eyes,

not because you want to forget,

but because you want to remember.

You want to channel that feeling

 into your heart,

so that it will seep

 into your veins

permeate who you are,

And you will have it forever.

But you know it cannot be.

Just as quickly as the feeling came,

it is gone,

leaving you with nothing

 more than a memory.

The Door that Haunts my Dreams

On the third floor

of an apartment in Madrid

there is a door.

A real door, made of fake wood

with a brass doorknob placed dead center.

If one were to put the key in the lock,

they would see the scratches—

a sign of the many people that passed through this door.

Upon opening the door,

They would be met with

a cornucopia of memories and emotions:

a handful of devastating ones,

like the wedding that failed;

a basket of sad ones,

like transfers separating companions

or the challenge of teaching a second lesson;

and a flood of joyous ones,

like the excitement after a long day’s success,

or the phone call when he tells you he wants to be baptized,

and the morning study where the perfect scripture was found.

I dream of this door often,

and it haunts me,

because I know I will never see it again.

The Hospital

His lips touching mine

no longer

lingers

with me.

All his memories

have faded

into

a blur.

My husband speaking

“I love you”

takes his

last breath.

Con amor,
S. Olsen

The Importance of Goals

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been hard, but AMAZING!  I have really learned the importance of having good goals, and I have seen the blessings of the Lord helping me achieve my righteous desires.

I've been trying to balance school and the other important things going on in my life--some of which I think might be more important than school.  But, school is still important, and I've been struggling to manage my time in order to get everything done.

Although it has been hard, I have seen many blessings from the Lord.  Everything always ends up getting done.  And as I have prayed to be able to do everything, I have seen the Lord guide me.  He has helped me make time to do everything and he has helped me know that he is pleased with what I am doing and that I am on the right path to reaching my goals.

Today at church we were given temple recommend card holders and they had amazing goals for us.  I want to share them:

Discipleship
I study and strive to understand the breadth and depth of the Atonement
I study the scriptures and ponder daily.
I offer deep and meaningful personal prayers.
I pay a full tithe and generous fast offering
I strive to keep all activity contrary to the moral teachings of the gospel out of my life.
I magnify my church calling.
I seek inspiration and follow promptings.

Temple
I have a current recommend.
I understand and keep the covenants I made in the temple.
I am getting the temple in me.

Relationships
I am worthy and prepared for a temple marriage.
I treat the opposite sex with dignity, tenderness, and respect.
I diligently search for an eternal companion.
I am preparing to be a righteous parent in Zion.

Some of these goals are a little silly in their wording, but they are beautiful goals and I am making a personal commitment to follow them!  I invite you all to do the same.

Con amor,
S. Olsen