One small step for Anne, one giant leap for Sister Olson

Big News!

Well, it's time to announce the biggest decision of my life thus far.  I'm going to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I will be serving as a full time missionary for 18 months in the Canada Montreal mission, speaking French. I report to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) October 3rd. I received my mission call, which is a letter sent to me from church headquarters in Salt Lake City to tell me where and when I'll be serving my mission, earlier today. Before I got my mission call in the mail I had to go complete a long application process in which I filled out lots of paperwork, went to many appointments for doctor's physicals and dentist's checkups, and interviewed with leaders of my church.

What!

As a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Sainst I'll be devoting 18 months of my life to teaching people about Christ and sharing the teachings of our church.  More than that I'll be serving people in the communities in which I'm assigned to labor in.  In essence, a mission is a year and a half of service.  During this year and a half I'll be assigned a companion to work with and will be with that companion 24/7.  About every 6 weeks I'll have the possible opportunity of being assigned to a new companion and area within the mission field that I've been called to serve in.  A missionary's typical day follows a rigorous schedule, beginning with waking up at 6:30, exercising for half an hour, an hour of personal scripture study, an hour of study with my companion, language study time, and then the rest of the day is used to visit people we've set appointments with, do service, meet new people whereever we are and invite them to hear our message, and sometimes even go door to door to invite individuals and families to learn about Christ.  Part of being a missionary means completely dedicating my time to the Lord and church.  That means refraining from anything that is a distraction from my ability to dedicate myself to the work.  Such distractions include television, movies, phone calls to family and friends back home (except on Mother's Day and Christmas when do we get some time to call our families), dating, and any kind of activity that would keep me from being able to focus on why I'm out on my mission and the work that I have to do there.  If you're interested in reading more detailed information about what I'll be doing as a missionary this link will take you to a page all about missionary service. 
Why!

I've decided to serve a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because I truly desire to share the message of my church with others and teach people about Jesus Christ.  Learning about Christ and refocusing my life to try to follow His teachings and be like Him has brought me such an indescribable joy in my life that I can't think of anything better than sharing that with others.  The peace that I feel when studying about the life of Jesus Christ and when striving to live the principles He taught is something that I wish and hope everyone can feel in their lives and I'm so excited to go to Canada to teach and serve people and help them feel that peace. A year and half may seem like a long time to "put your life on hold" and it may seem like a "waste of time" to some people.  But to me, it's such a small moment in comparison to the rest of my life. My Savior Jesus Christ gave the ultimate sacrifice for me-- I'm so excited to sacrifice just a year and half of my life for Him.  Most of all, I'm excited to be completely engaged in service for 18 months and to stop thinking about myself for a change. :)

For more information!

For anyone who is interested in learning more about the LDS church, what we believe, or simply about missionary work in general, please feel free to visit mormon.org where you can get more information and even chat with live representatives from our church.