I understand that those of you who will be reading this blog will be the ones supporting me…either prayerfully, financially, or by actually traveling by my side on The World Race! Man! Even typing that phrase just warms my heart and gets my adreneline pumping!
Why? Because it excites me soooo much to see the body of Christ in action! Ahhhh I cannot contain my excitement haha! (I just ran a couple of excitment laps through my kitchen and living room not even joking! 
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So I just want to start this out by saying thank you to each one of you who reads this that you would care to get to know me.
So here it goes:
I am a firm believer that each person has a specific name given to them by God for a reason and our names explain who we are and who we will be! So I am going to explain the meaning of my name and how it fully represents me. 
My name is Marie Victoria Olson:
Olson: (last name first so I can tell you about my amazing family – blood relation and in Christ)
I am an Olson by birth so that automatically means that I am ornery, determined, intense, an artistic out-of-the-box thinker, and I love to laugh. I am the oldest of eight children: me, then five amazingly handsome brothers, and then two gorgeous sisters (I also am blessed to have another beautiful sister added to the family through marriage!) We are originally from Kansas City but I am honored to say that for the past couple of years God has called us to be full time missionaries to Branson, MO!
Since we have been called here our family has grown with each new team member that has joined us feeling the call to bring service and love to this area! We have embarked on a journey of faith and endurance.Our service is carried out through a vision that God gave to my dad called The Awakening Branson. Our ultimate goal is to see an Awakening happen in each individual we come in contact with here in the States and throughout the entire world.
Our first step was to start a prayer room and to set up a base in Branson to ground each of us in prayer and worship and a passionate pursuit of Christ! Our second step is, after building up our team members, to send them out into the local community, the US, and into the world. Hence, my call to The World Race. I will be serving on behalf and as an extention of The Awakening Branson in the 11 months I am with The World Race!
Victoria: (Definition: to conquer; victory)
The biggest part of my testimony is that God has helped me become an overcomer in many areas of my life. Even since I was little I have always been very committed and driven. This is a good thing of course but as we all know, when our eyes are not fixed on the Lord the enemy will use whatever he can to destroy us. I have a very addictive and obsessive personality. I now understand that the Lord created me with this personality so that I can have a drive and passion for Him and to see Him glorified in a huge way. Unfortunately, growing up my eyes were fixed on myself and pleasing others. The enemy used fear and shame to hold me in a string of lies and addictions for many years. I feared what others would think of me so when I accepted salvation in my eighth grade year, on the outside I portrayed a good christian image but on the inside was constant chaos, insecurity, and fear. By my junior year of high school I was confused, tired, and a little fed up with the whole God thing so I started resisiting anything that had to do with God. That spring my mom literally dragged me to a womans seminar and it was there that I was introduced to the Holy Spirit and His incredible power! I remember reading the passage in Ephesians chapter 5 that talks about light exposing darkness so I began to pray for the deep dark secrets and addictions that I was stuck in to be revealed by His light. My friends, let me attest to this truth…be careful what you pray for because PRAYER WORKS haha! Since the beginning of the time that I began praying that prayer God has delivered me from fear, anger, bitterness, addictions, selfishness and much much more! I am definitely a work in progress but daily I claim that God has made me more than a conquerer through Christ and what He has done for me! I am free!!!!!!!!!! Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and it is for freedom's sake that He has set us free! So let us live as free and not as slaves to what we once lived for! That is my lifes work: To preach the gospel message of freedom, joy, and victory in Christ!
Marie: (Definition: Bitter)
Here are some adjectives that describe bitter: Bold, Different, and Intense (I actually just looked the definition of bitter up and these words were in the definition)
I am bold – I speak my mind. I am learning to speak the truth in love for sure! Humility is my best friend right now haha…I am a woman who fears very little (that is totally God because before He set me free from fear I was a total coward in every way! Praise God!)…I love leading. I love worship. I love public speaking. I love meeting new people. I love change. I love danger (God is teaching me wisdom daily and that is why I am alive).
I am different – I'm no hipster haha. But all throughout my life I have always known that I would never be normal. At first I struggled with that fact, and to be honest, still do at times. But I am not called to the things of this world. I do not long for a career, I have resolved to "waste" my life in pursuit of Jesus. I am not drawn to material things, I am drawn to give all I have for the cause of Christ. I do not desire to settle down and call a place home, I will settle down and be home when I am in Heaven with Jesus. Are any of these things bad? Nope. Do I look down on anyone who desires these things? Not at all. God has created each of us different and called us according to HIS purpose for our lives. I long for adventure! I long for true artistic expression! A few of my nicknames given me by friends are: Nomad, Gypsy, and Hippy. But honestly I am none of these things. I am merely a follower of my beloved Jesus and I am madly in love with Him and will seek Him with everything within me until I see Him face to face!
Intense – Actually those who really know me, know that I'm pretty light hearted and love fun. But when it comes to the things of the Lord I am intense (as you can probably tell from my writing above haha) When people think of intense they think of someone who is serious, harsh, and maybe even a little bit boring. The actuall words to describe "Intense" are: extreme, zealous, determined, energetic, passionate, and a deep feeler. I am an intense worshiper: I am very focused on the ultimate goal, to see the face of God! I am an intense student of the Word: I diligently seek God's wisdom and study to show myself approved! I am an intense worker: I work with determination and energy until the job is done. And I am intense friends: I am a deep feeler and a passionate lover of those God has put in my path to live life with!
And that is me! I know this was long so I thank those who took the time to read all of this 🙂 You have proven your desire to know me and now we can be best friends haha (I joke I joke…sort of 
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In honor of my light-hearted and humorous side I will leave you with a few random facts about me that you should know:
– I have two different color eyes.
– I am extremely directionally challenged (like I was a freshman in highschool before I truly grasped the concept of right and left haha)
– I slept with a basketball named Fred from 3rd grade until about two years ago because my 3rd grade basketball coach told me that it would help me be a better ball handler (I'm a basketball fanatic)
– I'm in love! I'm in love and I don't care who knows it….with my guitar named Martin (I'll bet you can guess why its named Martin!)
– I secretly want to be a ninja (oops secrets out)
– I love classical music, reading classic novels (I literally read Pride and Prejudice four times before my tenth birthday) Shakespeare, History, and anything that has to do with politics (My inner nerd hath come forth)
I am so excited to set out on this journey and so honored that you would partner with me, however that may look like!
Blessings to you and may you genuinely encounter our Lord Jesus Christ in new ways every single day!
With Joy,
Marie Victoria Olson
