Today was all Ollie!
This morning, he shared his beautiful feelings in a talk
in church along with Gigs and Christian.
He shared his love for the Savior and his honor
and excitement to serve a full-time
two-year mission in Brazil. He talked about our family
and the "FOR HIM" theme in 2019 and quoted Elder Ryan K. Olsen:
"To those who will choose to serve, I can attest to the blessings
that will come as you heed a prophet's call.
Serving is not about you; it is about the Savior.
You will be called to a place, but more importantly,
you will be called to a people. You will have the great responsibility
and blessing of helping new friends understand that the answer is Jesus."
Nicholas talked about allowing
the Lord to shape him into what He wants him to be so he can be his best self.
He likened it to his fingerboard skateboard, which he held up for
the congregation to see, and explained how he made his
own fingerboard in a vise at home. It was awesome!
Chrisitan shared with the congregation, since Ollie had invited nine friends,
including two teachers, to church for the first time,
a little about his responsibilities as a missionary.
It was awesome!
Claire finished the meeting with a beautiful prayer in Portuguese.
I always say this, but my heart bursts with PRIDE and gratitude
for my children. I love them so much!
After the meeting, we had a little gathering with donuts
for all those who had come to support him.
It was remarkable to have Russ and Mary, who
had flown in from Arizona to support Oliver.
After church, we had burritos back at
Stillestead then, Chrisitan, Claire, Ollie, and I
took Claire to the airport to catch her flight back to Phoenix since
she officially starts working in the burn center on Monday.
But not before Gigs had Candance the snake say goodbye to Claire.
She loved that!
It was a sad farewell because so much can happen in two years;
where will Claire be? It's just so unknown.
But we have great faith in the Lord, who we trust
as we put our futures and lives in his hands.
In the evening, we drove to the Stake Center, where we met with our
Stake President Chris Bingham who officially set
Ollie apart as a full-time missionary
and gave him a beautiful blessing about
working, serving, and giving everything
to his mission and the people.
He blessed Ollie with more energy than he'd ever had before.
It was awesome.
Then Ollie put on his missionary tag and all of a sudden transformed into a
man right before my eyes.
Here we go again, another missionary in my clan!
