February 9, 2015 "Lay it all on the line"

I had one of the most amazing weeks I have ever had on mission.  It has just been amazing.  President has asked us for the month of February to try and be exactly obedient and to lay it all on the line.  Give our all this month and to test the Lord and to see if he really will bless us.  Well we have been doing that and HE HAS BLESSED US!  It is amazing to see the miracles that just keep coming and coming.  There was one day when we got out into our area and we had nothing to do and so we went tracting and I decided that I was going to tract with more purpose to find someone than I ever have in my whole life!! 

We were tracting and it was 10:30 in the morning and honestly we probably could have done a more effective way of finding but I felt like I needed to tract... So, as I was walking I had this strong impression to knock on this one house so I almost ran to the gate and knocked on it.  About a minute later a lady came to the gate and said "Can I help you?" We introduced ourselfs as missionaries and before we could say anything else she said "Oh, no thank you.  I am fine..."  I walked out and as I was walking out I said to my companion, "Why would I have such a strong feeling to go to that door if she was to turn me away?"  He said, "Let's try the next one".  So we did and this man was sooo receptive to the gospel and we set up an appointment with him! 

I think it is funny the way the Lord works with me, he tests me to see if I am worthy of his prize.  That is the same with all of us.  This life is a probationary state where the Lord is testing us.  He will give us blessings in this life but he will withhold greater blessing till the next life and as long as we never quit and endure to the end those blessings are ours!  In the Book of Mormon it always says "and it came to pass" and that is the same with our trials, our let downs and discouragements.  They will all come to pass and then we will reap what we have sown. 

Another sweet miracle was this girl in our branch was going on mission and she promised us that she would find someone for us to teach before she left.  We had our hopes up but I knew how busy I got before mission so I knew it would be a stretch.  So the night before she left we stopped by her house and she had her cousin there and told us that we could teach her! I was shocked so we did a BRT (building a relationship of trust) with her and she said that she is sooo excited and would love to learn from us!  I know that the Lord is providing us with these amazing experiences because we are testing him and he is proving us.  But ya life is good I am happy and mission is fun!

Elder Olson