Scott and I have a jump drive we put all of our pictures and documents on. When we plug it into a USB port, it shows up as Olga. We chose that name because it sounds funny… Olga Molgard. Scott has always said he wants to name a daughter Olga. This has been vetoed, which is why our jump drive is Olga. that´s the only Olga Scott will ever have.
During our stay in Utupampa, Steph, Amanda and I were doing some door to door visitations (Utupampa´s population is about 500 people, so it´s not tough to hit most of the houses), sharing Jesus with the people we met. Tuesday morning we met Olga. Amanda wasn´t feeling great, and was kind of out of comission on our walk, and we didn´t have a translator, so Steph filled in that gap. As we came to Olga´s house we were invited out of the rain to sit down and chat with her.
She explained that her kids go to pastor Marino´s church, but she doesn´t. Further in the conversation she told us that her husband lives over an hour away and only comes up to give money to her kids. She was obviously a little distraught over the status of her family. At that point I had a chance to share with her how men and women were designed, but that we´re sinful people, so we won´t have perfect lives, perfect marriages. It was an open door to share with her why we need Jesus.
By the end of our conversation Olga made the decision to begin a personal relationship with Jesus. Steph translated for me as I led her in the sinner´s prayer. Steph was translating one part of it when she accidentally translated ¨I fart¨instead of ¨I ask¨ (which are very similar words). We laughed and then continued the prayer.
We made plans to go back to see her and do some discipling. That night Olga showed up at church, and pastor Marino made her come up front as we sang a congratulation song for her becoming a new believer. the whole church came forward to give her hugs and encouraging words. I think she has needed to feel loved like this for a long time.
Steph and I returned the next day to see if she had any questions or to see what else she wanted to learn. We were there for over an hour teaching her about grace, about judging others, about love. It was a wonderful time for all of us.
By Saturday night she had begun to be friendly with Maragarita, Marino´s wife. and Sunday she even helped prepare our going away meal with all of the women from the church. As I hugged her goodbye, she said she was going to miss me, and that she loves me. In one week, eternal bonds have been formed. I will be with Olga forever in eternity, just because of one week in Utupampa.
