Hey everyone, it’s me!! Okay maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say so let me try again.
Hey everyone, my name is Allyson Petersen and I am writing a guest blog about the one and only Olivia (Marie) Wouters.
I thought about titling this blog post ‘our favorite michiganian’ (i don’t know if thats a word…) but then I realized I have two (another girl on our team is from Michigan) then I was like okay I can title it ‘our favorite Floridian’ (idk what you Florida people are called, someone help me out) and again I realized that another girl on our team is from Florida so I have two faves! So that’s where I got the title of ‘our favorite team (hope) leader’!!
We (and I know I can speak for everyone) absolutely LOOOVEEE Olivia around here. With that being said I am going to share a few memories that I and the team share with Olivia!
We go alllll the way back to July at training camp…oh those were the days. I remember showing up to squad wars and seeing olives face COMEPLETELY yellow because that was our squad color!!! I knew as soon as I saw, that I would love her personality and we would get along juuuuuuust fine! She was very outgoing, never afraid of what others would think, and was very much so a team player!
Then September came and it was my birthday. She and the rest of the team planned out the BEST birthday for me as a surprise! I am so thankful that she has such a loving and caring heart that she is TOTALLY willing to share with others!
We cant forget time when we were on our way to Banos, Ecuador and she got her snack out of her bag to eat. It wasn’t just any snack but it was an avocado and plantain chips. It doesn’t sound the most weird but here is what was so weird about it: she PEELED the avocado then scooped the avocado out with the chips…I understand that sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do but this was so strange to me in the moment. (I thought it was so weird that on the bus ride back to Quito I have to admit I got an avocado and plantain chips to eat just the way she did…)
She is the best prankster I know— I think Kate Goeler would agree with me on this. Just in the first month of being in Ecuador Olivia pulled off the best prank on our mentor. One was a red mask that we found at a grocery store for super cheap so we decided to buy it and scare Kate. Olivia put it in Kates bed to where it looked like there was someone laying in her bed with the red mask on but the funny thing is that there was NOBODY in her bed, it was just the mask! I’ve never 1) heard someone yell so loud and 2) I’ve never seen so many people run so fast to see what was happening!
Olivia is so intentional with her relationships here on the race. She makes us feel so loved no matter what. She is an amazing woman of God who cares for us deeply. She’s not scared of hard conversations and that is so evident. Because of Olivia I can say that I am more likely to have a hard conversation with someone just because of how much fruit can come it of it. She is an amazing comforter in times of struggling, fear, rejection, hopelessness and so much more and she does it all through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I am so sad that in just a week Olivia is headed back to the states. She led us so well and I know that even when she is in the states she will continue to love and bless us in all the ways she knows how.
P.S. I believe our team name is HOPE because the Lord wanted me to not lose the hope that maybe you would just stay on the race with us and not go back to the states…..just a thought….
I LOVE YOU TOOOONSSS, OLIVIA!!
