An Elder Oliver Sighting

I was searching around the blog world and found a blog of another missionary serving in the same mission as Hayden.  I looked through his pictures from his latest post and found one that had our favorite missionary in it!  Yay for technology!

Do you see him?  Standing in the back of the bus?  Love it!  

I Will Never be an Ex-Missionary

First off, I got some letters in the mail this week, and I am sincerely grateful for them.  I love getting mail, and it always brings a smile to my face!

 

This week has been mostly uneventful. We have eaten a lot of food, most of it wasn´t actually very good. We didn't have any gazpacho this week, so that is good and bad. Good, because it is revolting. Bad, because I was starting to like it. It still takes some choking to get it down though.

 

Elder Parkinson has been having some stomach problems this week. On Tuesday he and I went to the equivalent of an urgent care, and he was advised to take more ibuprofen... Which is what he had been doing already. Then he went to the hospital, where they advised him to take more ibuprofen.  The medical facilities are pretty dirty here. I hope I don´t get sick for the next two years... Anyways, during the visit at the urgent care, he and I talked to a woman that figured out we were Mormons (I wonder what gave it away?). She then commenced to tell us about how she visited the USA and met Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. It sufficeth me to say that I didn´t really believe her.

 

Our district had great success at the park this Saturday. Altogether we placed 19 BoM's, and got nearly as many referrals. However, I have yet to place a Book of Mormon. The missionaries in this area don´t have to do any of the work finding investigators. They just feed off of the harvest at the park and singing at the temple steps.

 

My Spanish is coming along great. I feel more and more ready to go out into the field... Until I listen to Spaniards that aren´t working at the MTC. It is a little bit intimidating. They talk so fast.

 

Elder Smiley has the best stories. He'll say, "ONE TIME..." and commence to relate a story to us, lightly based on the happenings of that day or such, but do so as if he were a pirate. They are pretty hilarious.  I am really going to miss my new family here when we all go out to the field.

 

WHICH I will be going out to NEXT WEEK. This Tuesday I am getting on a train to Málaga, and then we are going to go to the mission home and get assigned our trainers and our first areas.

 

Last night I realized while I was laying there trying to fall asleep, "When, at the end of two years, I fly back to that place I come from (home), I am going to be a returned missionary. However, I WILL NOT be an ex-missionary." I realized that if I am really becoming a missionary, then I will be a missionary the rest of my life, nametag or not.

 

I´m so excited for the next couple of days. These are defining moments in my mission, which moments and desicions will affect me for the rest of my life.

  

I love the people of Spain, and I am excited to get to go to Málaga next week. I look forward to hearing from everybody!

 

Love,

Élder Oliver

Uneventful Week--I like them that way!

Hey! I´ve gotten the letters from you and from Porter and Brodie. I really enjoyed hearing from you. (Porter and Brodie sent him pictures to help decorate his room.)

Hey... I know I said this last week, but could you have people email me? I got 3 emails this week, and I'm feeling a little bit forgotten.

 

Anyways, This last week has been slightly uneventful. It is all the same stuff, Gospel, Spanish, crappy cafeteria food, Gospel and more Spanish. I don´t mind the uneventfulness though.  Actually, Sunday was really eventful. Sister Sitterud (The MTC President's wife)  fell down and broke her arm. She took it like a champ though, she didn´t cry or whine, or pass out. She is doing better now.

 

I hope you are still teaching social skills to the kids, because there is this Hermana in my district who has none. At all, and I really feel quite bad for her. Oh well, maybe that´s how she will grow during her mission.

 

There are over 100 missionaries at the CCM (Spanish for MTC) now. This week we just got 17 new Elders and Hermanas that are native Spanish speakers. It´s really cool to talk to them, but they talk so fast. It´s embarrassing. The temple sessions are all in English for us, but I listen to it in Spanish, and I am actually doing pretty well understanding what they are saying.

 

Yes, you can attach photos and videos to your emails. I think I am going to start doing voice recordings as my main form of communication with you, because then I can say more to you. The problem is, is that you have to transcribe whatever you want. Hotel life is good, there is a washing machine that sounds like a jet turbine, and a shower that really isn´t very good, but it is better than the dorm rooms. I have a pull out couch/bed, so I can actually stretch out.  We use the bus and the Metro to get around town. Everybody here in the MTC is reporting the same day. We all just hop on a train and ride out to our mission homes in 10 days. We´re all so excited. My companion and I are getting along pretty well, but there are occasional things that hamper our gettingalongitude. (We make up words all the time that end in -itude.  This is a prime example.)

 

I´m so happy for the all the kids, doing awesome at everything. Tell Porter to send me more artwork, because I really was quite pleased with the "Hayden as a pinkie."

 

I´m glad Turner is alright, and I hope everybody has a safe week. (Turner fell off the very top of the triple bunk bed when he was sleeping earlier this week.)  Today we are going to the mall, and I am going to buy some stuff. It would be really great if you would keep me updated on how much money I have in the account. Thanks!

 

Love,
Elder Oliver

Then I got a second email:

Tell Porter and Landon and Regan and Turner and Cooper that I love them!

Then I got a third email:

Who all has gotten their mission calls in the Stake? Where/when?  What are their emails/ or addresses?

 

 

I was looking at the genealogy chart, and there is an error.  My seventh generation. Elizabeth Beach, parent of both the 6th generation offspring. It´s incorrect, unless it was incest. then it is very incorrect.

 

Money update please!

 

 

Thanks Mom,

I love you!

Elder Oliver

All the other pictures of the MTC choir are of them singing.  I like this one that looks like they're relaxing for a moment.

 And a closer shot.  Hayden is spacing out.  I wonder what is going through his mind?

 I like this view with the conductor in the foreground.

 And a candid shot of the missionaries in the classroom.  This is reality for Hayden right now.

Singing in Spanish!

Another video was posted this morning of the missionaries singing on the steps of the Madrid temple, but this time they are singing in Spanish!  Instead of copying everything, I am just going to send you on over to the blog that posted it, a senior missionary couple serving in the Madrid temple.  Bless them for updating us crazy missionary moms so often!  :)

http://missionarycoupleinmadridspain.blogspot.com/2013/08/madrid-mtc-18-august-2013.html

And here is the video!

A Hunger for the Scriptures

Hey! To answer some of your questions that you sent me in the letter, Elder Ward had to go home to get surgery, but it was successful, and he has already been cleared to come back to Spain when he has the strength. Miracle!  My companion and I are getting along great! We have had some issues, but they were minor, and we worked them out. I´m picking up the language very quickly. I'm amazed at how easy Spanish is coming along. It is a lot of work, but I don´t feel stressed about it anymore. I´ve just studied and learned.

  

The Bernabeu was really a fantastic trip! It was ridiculous how big it was. I can't imagine the noise of a sold out game.

 

Lately, I´ve been studying out of  Jesus the Christ, and I have learned SO much. I really recommend reading it with a set of scriptures open next to you. No matter what religion you are, it will help you understand more about Christ than you have ever thought possible.

 

Today we are going to the Museo del Prado. It is the main national art museum in Spain! I´m pretty stoked! There are going to be a lot of really cool paintings, but my companion isn´t very excited about art.

 

We were playing some MOTAB (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) in the classroom during personal study time the other day (without knowing it was against the rules), and I was doing some seriously intensive study on the nature of the Holy Spirit. During that 30-40 minutes of reading and pondering and praying, the song The Spirit of God started playing. It was definitely a special experience, and I felt the Holy Ghost there, confirming that which I had theretofore read.

 

I rolled my ankle twice this week playing soccer. It is so fun, but I can´t walk properly, and my ankle is all swollen. I also got drilled in the shin, and have a big bruise right where my socks press. Not so much fun. However, the soccer never gets old. I am getting better and better (except when I can´t walk). By the time I get home I´ll have played enough soccer to get me onto a College soccer team. (ha!)

 

I have developed a hunger lately. I can´t get enough of the scriptures. Especially the Old Testament, and Pearl of Great Price. [mostly concerning the temple stuff] Everyday I learn so much about the gospel, and how it just makes perfect sense! The Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price all work in perfect synchronicity to confess that Jesus is the Christ, and that this Gospel is Perfect! I love it!

 

Romans 15:24

 

Much Love,

Elder Oliver

Street Performer

This week has been pretty great so far. There are all sorts of things going on here at the CCM.  One of the new sister missionaries in our district was having some trouble assimilating into the group (one of the ones from the Provo MTC). The other day she asked us for a blessing, and all of the Elders in our district were in the circle. It was a neat experience.  Our investigators are doing great (they are fake investigators). We challenged them to baptism the other day, and kind of got a yes. It was more like, I'll think about it while I'm out of town, kind of thing. we accidentally told one of our investigators something in a very tactless manner, but it's hard to be tactful when you don´t really know how to speak their language.

The temple here is gorgeous. Every P-day we get to do a session. It's kind of a small temple though. It´s a little cramped.  Last Saturday we got to go to the park again. It went really badly for me and my temporary companion. He was too proud and confident and I was too frustrated with the language. We seriously only talked to 3 people in 1.5 hours. The best part of the park was something amazing, so I´ll give you some background.

Brother Tindale is a teacher here. He is from England, moved to Málaga when he was 10 years old. He served his mission in Madrid. His Spanish is perfect. He is also a musician. He is a very talented pianist and is teaching himself to play the violin. which means he brought a violin and lets me play it during free time (we´re going to do a musical number one of these days).

 Anyway, I brought the violin to the park, and was playing some hymns and similar stuff like that, when I heard a street performer on the saxophone  I went over to investigate, and he saw me and the violin and invited me over. He started to play La Cucaracha and I joined in. We were going back and forth having a jam-session/battle kind of thing. It was awesome! During the performance, there was a crowd of about 50 people standing around us, cheering and smiling and doing all sorts of crowdy stuff. Look to see if anybody posted a video of it on YouTube!

 

Today we are going to go to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which is one of the biggest soccer stadiums in the world, home of Real Madrid. I´m not a soccer nut, but it is pretty exciting. It seats around 90,000 spectators. That's a lot. Last week we went to the Plaza Mayor, and that was pretty cool, too. We saw the royal palace, and a bunch of gypsies chased us around asking for money. We play soccer at the nearby field almost every day. The other day I left my t-shirt and shorts at the hotel and played in my slacks and white shirt. It was interesting. That teacher that sent the picture of me in front of the temple left today. He is Frere Protellano, the French teacher. He is officially my first french friend. We were so sad when he left.

 

Our district is pretty cool. We are all pretty good friends now. It´s like a little family, that actually isn´t little because there are 10 of us. 6 Elders 4 Hermanas.

 

Anyways, it´s always great to hear from people! I really would appreciate letters from people in the mail. It´s kind of depressing when everybody else has a letter in the mail except me...   But I was super happy when I got a letter from Melissa and Brooklyn! Thank you so much.

 

 

I hope all is well at home and with all my other missionary friends.

Love,

Elder Oliver

 ????  Super model????

 The Beautiful Madrid Temple.

 The MTC is inside this red building.

Singing on the temple steps, Sunday, August 4th.

A Hayden Sighting!

I happened to be on Facebook today and saw a post by "LDS Mission Calls." It was a video of a bunch of missionaries singing in front of the Madrid temple. My heart literally started racing. I watched it and sure enough, there was my boy! I did a little investigative work and found the website of a senior couple who work at the Madrid temple. They have a great blog! On the blog you will see more pictures of the temple singing and a video! Enjoy!


http://missionarycoupleinmadridspain.blogspot.com/2013/08/madrid-mtc-missionaries-sing-on-4.html?m=1

Proselyting in the Park

Hey all!

Today is our first P-day, so please don´t get mad at me for not replying to all of your emails! We only have .5 hours each week on p-day to email, so I don´t have much time.

 

That email I sent to you was from a different person because I was unable to log into my own email, which was quite discouraging. The teachers here are awesome! All of them are bi-lingual, and most of them are tri-lingual or more. It´s amazing!

 

 The elders in my district are all really chill. We are all pretty good friends now. Two days ago we got called into the President's office and he told us that the elders in our district had been chosen to move out to a hotel 10 minutes away because there was a new wave of elders coming into the MTC. It´s pretty cool, because they totally trust us, which was a surprise considering how much we laugh and mess around.

 

The food is kind of gross at the CCM (MTC in Spanish), but they have told us the food is better out in the real world. We´re in Spain, but I feel trapped here, because we aren´t allowed outside of the MTC except for special occasions. We live on three floors, and it is kind of cramped.

 

On Saturdays we all go out to the park to proselyte.  It is MASSIVE, like, as big as central park(?).  I don´t know, I´ve never been there. We have to go and make contacts with real people, and try and talk to them in the limited Spanish we know. It´s really difficult to do that. My companion and I were having no success for quite some time, and we were getting discouraged. We went to go talk to some Sister missionaries because we didn´t know what to do. They pointed us over to a girl sitting on a bench, looking at the trees. We went over and introduced ourselves, told her that we are missionaries, and started talking. It turns out she is from Ohio, and was on a backpacking trip around Europe that took 2 months. It was pretty cool. It´s funny how much like ´´The Best Two Years´´ it was for us. ("The Best Two Years" is a movie about missionaries serving in the Netherlands.  It's an Oliver family favorite.) She was totally American and spoke English with us for about half an hour.

 

We play soccer everyday in a ghetto concrete field about half a mile from here. It is seriously the most amazing thing, but when real Spaniards are there watching they make fun of us. I´m getting pretty good at Spanish and fútbol now, so it´s pretty exciting.

 

Today our district is going out to the Centro de Madrid, and we are going to go and shop and explore the inner city. I´m excited!

 

Anyways, I don´t have much time, so I´ll email you next week!

 

 

I love you all,

Elder Oliver

 

p.s. I´ve attached some pictures of our Sunday choir on the temple steps. It attracted quite the crowd! 

***Note from Hayden's mom:  Many of you may have heard about the train wreck in Spain last week.  It happened the same day that Hayden arrived at the Spain MTC.  A young man that had just finished his training at the Spain MTC had just left that day, Elder Ward, was on the train that wrecked.  Fortunately, he survived the accident, about 80 people were killed in the wreck, and about 130 injured.  He must have gone back to the MTC while he heals from his accident, because he is pictured in two of the three pictures.  He is the young man in the back right.  We continue to pray for his healing, and for the other injured passengers, and families of all those affected.  What a tragic accident.