Letter #13 (Jan. 22, 2008)

It snowed In North Carolina! The world is ending soon! JK. Not yet! I still have to get married and have 11 kids. So, yeah, it snowed 5 inches in North Carolina and the temperature hit the teens. They shut down everything. I still went out in the snow and worked.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I serve in the Knightdale area which is an annex to Raleigh. Raleigh is where the center of the mission is, where the mission president lives and where the mission office is at. Raleigh is a city that is fairly populated. It's pretty urban. It has some skyscrapers (5-story buildings). Well, I live in Knightdale. It's more rural. It's a developing area and its predicted to double its population in a few years. There's 10 zones in my mission (2 are Spanish and the rest are English-speaking zones). I'm in the Raleigh zone. My companion is the district leader for the knightdale district. My first companion was also a district leader and now is a zone leader in Fayetteville. I love my companion and I also love my district. I'm so amazed by the knowledge and commitment to the work these missionaries (that goes for the mission as well) have. They're so mature for their age. This mission has been blessed. I've noticed that they look up to me or have respect for me. I admire them as well. This is a hard work, but its the most rewarding and most fulfilling work you can do on this earth.

I've had a roller coaster week. About 2 months ago when i was in Raleigh one day on exchange with one of the elders from the Raleigh 4th ward, I met this guy in the streets named Peter. He told he was from Harlem. I taught him about the gospel. He didn't give me his info because he said that he was moving. Well, last week as we were knocking on doors, Peter opened one of them. He was surprised to see me and i was surprised to see him. He let us in. He said that it was a miracle that we bumped into each other. He just happened to be home because he took the day off from work. We taught him the restoration of the gospel. The Spirit was very strong. We gave him a Book of Mormon and set up to see him last Monday. We went and saw him. His wife was there. We invited her to get taught but she kindly rejected our invitation because she's set in her church. How disappointing! I hope that she changes her mind and that Peter would sway her for them to take the discussions. Wendy Church said she was going to church and we arranged for someone to pick her up. She didn't come to her door when the person came to pick her up. She didn't make it again!

Nevertheless, I've seen many miracles during the week. God is a God of miracles and i love this work.
Elder Olaya