Dec 29 Email--Os deseo lo mejor

Well I don't really have much to say either. This week was Christmas and it was great and all and we loved talking to our families and such, but really it just felt like another p-day. We couldn't go out and proselyte at all, and everybody was at their houses enjoying the company of family and friends and good food and stuff. So, we went to a restaurant and I ate some truly delicious boquerones (anchovies?).

This weekend we were supposed to have 4 investigators at church, but none of them showed. It was rather depressing, but we've learned to deal with that, and we plan to visit all of them tonight. 

The best thing of this Christmas was probably the Christmas caroling. We went to Málaga as a zone to go sing Christmas carols in the Plaza de la Constitución, and there were thousands of people everywhere. It blew my mind how many people there were in one little city center. Wow.

Needless to say, I sang really loud and had a lot of fun. We had a decent sized crowd listening for a while as missionaries began to go out and contact them. The best part: There was a cute little couple getting far too lovey-dovey right next to where we were singing, so what did we do? The APs went over and contacted them. I hope they gave them a law of Chastity pamphlet, haha.  Aside from that, we got all sorts of potential investigators and met some amazing and some weird people.

Anyways, I love you all, and if you want me to include anything in particular next week, please, email me questions or something like that, that way I can focus my thoughts.

Thanks!

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

Dec 23 Email

Hey there! All you people not here in Spain are really missing out. Well, the weather is pretty much identical to weather in AZ right now. Sunny, 15 degrees (Celsius) and a slight breeze. It couldn't be better. However I am still praying that we get some random snowfall here on Christmas, because I still haven't seen snow out here.

That's all right though, there are other things that are good. Like being a missionary. I have felt the spirit so much this week and it has changed me. I know that God loves us, and he teaches us the things that we need to learn even if it's not what we want to learn.

Along those lines, yesterday we had a great tri-zone conference here in Málaga. We were able to listen to President Deere and his wife and his assistants. They told us yesterday that they had the opportunity to meet the new mission president and his wife. They are Pres. and Sister Andersen from Blackfoot, ID. We are hoping to prepare the way for them so that their transition is smooth, and so that all the missionaries are working their hardest to be obedient and to find, teach, and baptize. 

This year as a mission we have done well. In fact, we have done spectacularly. However, we haven't met some of our goals, so this year we have set new goals. We have new weekly standards of excellence and we are working on bettering ourselves and becoming more excellent people. We have a goal of baptizing 50 people in this first month of January 2015 to start out the year well. Please pray for us us and join us in this push to find and teach.

If you haven't shared the gospel yet for Christmas, I invite you to invite somebody to church. To listen to the missionaries, or to even watch a short little Mormon message. Anything that will help them to feel the spirit. Will you do it?

Fill me in on how it goes.

This week we have been able to share the gospel (surprise! haha) with lots of people, and I got to bust out the violin again. That is probably the best purchase I have made so far out here in Spain. I have been able to share my testimony throught the strings of my violin. I love that. I speak so much more fluently on the violin that in English or Spanish.

Anyways, we will see each other on Thursday at 4 pm! (my time)

I hope you all have a great day tomorrow eating mini-shishkebabs. I will be thinking of you, but not too much! ;)

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

Dec 15 Email

How is everybody doing this week?

I saw the video you sent me of the orchestra concert. It was fantastic! haha, I loved it so much, and I am so SO proud of Porter and his friends. You guys rock. I wish I could have been there to cheer you on, but keep up the good work!  Was somebody playing an electric violin in the back? If so, who was it?

This week was way better than last week. Elder Moore and I have been working really hard here in Marbella to find, teach, and baptize. I don't know if I told you last week, but our car is in the shop again. Something in the moter has gone kaput, and we have been trying to figure out what missionary work is like without a car again, haha. It is extremely difficult in our area to take the buses everywhere, and rather expensive, but we have been making do. We should get the car this afternoon. Whew! (After 2 weeks of car-lessness).

We have learned a lot this week about following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. As we strive to purify ourselves and become more like Christ, center our lives in him, we have seen his guiding hand in many things. Elder Moore and I taught several lessons this week, and while we were teaching, we both felt prompted to change the topic of our lesson at the same moment to the same thing. So we did just as we were prompted and the Holy Spirit testified to the truth of what we were teaching. He was there, and we all felt it. It was a great lesson. There were a few other cases of similar experiences this week, all of which sacred and memorable.

Elder Moore continues to suffer from assorted health problems and he is having a dificult time with them, please pray for him. Despite the trials and affliction that is he going through, he continues to amaze me every day in so many ways. I am so glad I have the privilege of being his companion and his trainer. I feel like I learn more from him than he from me sometimes.

Christmas is fast approaching, and my Christmas spirit is here! I am always singing or whistling some form of Christmas music and it just makes me happy:)

Things are looking up here in Marbella. Our new friends that we have made have begun to read the Book of Mormon, and ask some really good questions. We have also found some slippery people that we haven't been able to get a hold of in a few months. 

This Sunday, Bishop walked up to me and said, ''We're short one speaker today. Could you help us out?     '''Sure thing, Bishop!     ....we'll see how this goes.''  But, everything went really well. I only spoke for 10 minutes, but apparently everybody liked what I said. All I said was centered on Christ, because Christmas is coming soon. And I liked it too. Nothing too deep or boring. Just simple Christmas love. John 3:16

Please join in the Christmas Cheer!  #sharethegift

Os quiero mucho

Elder Oliver

YAY CHRISTMASSSS!!!! (Dec 8 2014)

This week was a really good week. We learned a lot about diligence, using time wisely, and patience. You may read this and think, wow, they had a terrible week. Did we? In some ways, yes. In others, no. We have been stricken with a bout of bad health this week and we weren't able to get out and work nearly as much as we wanted to. And those appointments that we did set up, mostly fell through on us.

Despite being confined to the little apartment that we have for almost three days straight, I learned a lot. As in I had plenty of down time to study. Haha, I learned all sorts of things. After watching every church video you could imagine I began to study a lot in the scriptures. After I became exhausted from studying so much, I learned how to form sentences and identify poetic marks in Hebrew literature. I translated a few verses from the Hebrew Old Testament into English, compared it to the KJV, and it turns out that I didn't do so badly. Then, I read some more of my Bible in Spanish and in German, and ate a ton of chocolate.

That was most of my week. My companion has suffered a lot, but after a quick chat with some doctors we think we have it all figured out.

I sent some pictures in dropbox today! First time in a long time. I haven't been that big of a picture taker this transfer. I will make sure that I take lots of photos this transfer! Hey, guess what! I am going to stay at least one more transfer here in Marbella! I am so happy. This will be the area that I am in longest out of all my areas so far. So hopefully, we will see some baptisms here soon. We have all sorts of good friends that have expressed interest in coming to church, and we are working tirelessly to help make that possible.

The sisters in Fuengirola had a baptism this last weekend. And nice old man named ..... He owns a kiosk down by the beach. It was a fantastic service this Saturday, and he was confirmed on Sunday. One more soul on the right track.

It was definitely a good weekend for Sister Fulsom. She's dying (going home from her mission) this week, so it was a great way to end a mission. She'll be headed back to Seattle this week and off to Provo in January, so good luck to her! (She knows Gavin Brown. I believe they met at an EFY activity a few years ago, haha)

Anyways, not much more to report this week. I love you all. I hope that you can enjoy the real spirit and meaning of Christmas this year.

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

 Apparently he was excited about the cookies.  He made all the cookies! 

 The caption for this was Exodus 20:17.

 Thanksgiving Dinner!

 Thanksgiving Selfie!

 A Young Man in their ward that just got a mission call.

 The car that was on fire a week or two ago.  His caption was, "Not our car."

Sisters from his MTC District.

I found Stollen! (Dec 1 2014)

Wow, you have had a crazy week! I can't believe how much you have been able to do. You are the craziest family ever.

This week was a good week. This Tuesday we went to Fuengirola (we actually went to Fuengirola every day this week... Way too much time in the car) and did a good companion exchange. I went with Elder Berry, who also started the mission in Torrevieja, right before me, and my comp, Elder Moore went with Elder Hampel and they worked in Fuengirola. My companion is such a machine. They went out and set 2 baptismal dates that evening. That really helped out their area. They've been struggling lately by no fault of their own.

Then on Thursday, we had THANKSGIVING!! We were able to go and eat a great thanksgiving feast with the rest of the Málaga Zone and a few of the other Americans that live nearby. It was great! The only thing missing was my family, and pumpkin pie. I made a huge batch of Chocolate chip cookies. That night I froze the remaining dough, and then accidentally froze my tongue to the spoon the next morning. Ouch!

We worked really hard to get lots of our new friends to church this week and most said that they would come, however, only one of our friends came to church. Ana is the woman that contacted us in the streets in San Pedro, and we met with her on Tuesday. She told us she would love to come to church, and then, BAM!!! She came to church. That was awesome. Especially because it was the Primary program this week. I am pretty sure that everybody loved it. And she wasn't scared off either, which is a huge blessing, haha.

We saw lots of little miracles and have felt the spirit of Christmas really pick up around here. I love Christmas. And I love it even more here in Spain. There are decorations on all the streets and everybody is gearing up to celebrate and commemorate the birth of our Savior. There really is nothing better than being a missionary at this time of the year. People are more receptive to the message of the restored gospel as they try to find the true spirit of Christmas.

And, speaking of the true spirit of Christmas, have you seen the ''He is the Gift'' initiative that the church has started? Check out the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjFEMmM0Xs

This is why all us are here! This is why we are missionaries. I got a really clear picture of that this week. But really, He is the Gift. Please share the Gift.

Love you all lots and lots!

I hope you have a fantastic week!

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

ps. I found a store that sells weihnachtsstollen!!! Estoy contento.

pps. Pray for my comp. He is suffering from bad migraines.

Letter from 11/24/14

Hey, so I just remembered, that I have been forgetting to fill you in on many big and exciting events that have been going on of late.

First of all, Stake Conference! Stake Conference was super fun. I got to drive the whole way (it was pretty far) to Granada and we listened to many fantastic talks by the Stake Presidency and President Deere. And, best of all, I got to see some of my fellow missionaries from the MTC at the conference! I haven't seen them since we came to the field, so that was nice to chat for a few minutes and catch up. Then, I drove all the way home, while everybody else slept... Grumblegrumblegrumble. That's all right though, I just listened to a bunch of McConkie talks.

We are focusing really hard as a mission and as the Stakes of Southern Spain on integrating the members into our work. We have been having a bit more success lately with our young men and getting them to be part of missionary work. However, we can't tell if they are really excited about missionary work because of the success that we have had of late, or if they are just excited that there will soon be a few more young women in the ward, haha.

We have been having some difficulties lately trying to get a hold of our friends with baptismal dates. Things just keep getting in the way of being able to see them, but we have decided to call them to teach them. We have been keeping near daily contact with all three of them for the last week and a half, but as the baptismal date looms closer we are starting to get more and more worried about if they'll go through with it or not.

This last week we had a fantastic HUGE zone conference in Málaga. Half the mission was there, and we were privileged to have Elder Patrick Kearon from the first quorum of the Seventy address us and give us a really good training. I learned so much from him. And more importantly, I felt the Spirit so strongly in that meeting. This is God's work, and he has been helping us to become the best we can be, so as to become the most effective missionaries possible. I was also called to play a musical number in the meeting, so I recruited Sister Fulsom and Elders Hampel and Mercado to jam with me. We performed ''Gethsemane'' by Sally DeFord and wow, it turned out super well, despite our lack of extensive preparation (they gave us about a week to put something together).

After the meeting, I met a bunch of other elders that play violin and other assorted stringed instruments, so I'll be praying that they get transfered to the district of Fuengirola so we can do some duets and stuff like that. In fact, one of the violinists was the Elder that was trained in Torrevieja by Elder Larios right when I went to Algeciras, so that is cool.

This week hasn't been the fastest week ever, but we did find a good crop of new friends to teach and guide them towards eternal life.

Speaking of which, on Wednesday, we were walking along the streets of one of our pueblos, and a man seated at a bar calls us over, and asks, ''Are you the JWs?'' in English. ''Nope! We're the Mormons!'' His eyes got all wide (however, he was a little tipsy) and he said, ''I'm a Jew. I'm from Berlin. I am not practicing any religion, and I have never been baptized. I am a free bird.''  I checked his German, and sure enough, he is German, so that led me to believe that he was telling the truth about the other things too. Then he tells us something rather surprising.  ''I want to become Mormon. I want to get baptized. It is good that we are in Spain, because if we were in other parts of the world they would cut your f------ heads off.'' 

That was surprising. Haha, about baptism and about terrorism. Anyways, he asked what it took to become Mormon, and then looked at his cigarette and his glass of alcohol, and said, ''I probably need to stop this, don't I?''

So, it was a great week. We got the guy's number, and we are going to meet with him this Wednesday (because the last appointment we had, he was wasted when we got there).

I love missionary work. It is seriously the best. I love you all! Tell all your friends about the gospel!

Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

Another Week in the Lives of the Elders

First I want to start out with the most interesting thing that happened here this week.

We were relaxing in our apartment after lunch on Saturday, getting ready to start language study, and BOOOM.  Elder Moore and I look at each other, thinking, ''What in the world was that?''   We look out the window and see a little VW Polo. However, this poor little Polo was on fire. We sat there for a second, a little bewildered and mesmerized, and then I realized that the burning car wasn't a spectacle to be viewed, but an emergency. Then, the fire reached the gas tank, and then there was a huge jet of flame for a good 20 seconds. While this was happening, I was calling emergency,

(But all in spanish)

''Emergency Response''

''Uh, hi. I'm here in Marbella on Such-and-such Street, and, well, a car just exploded.''

''And what is the nature of the emergency? Is there anything on fire?''

--Seriously??--

''Yes. A car.

And some bushes. In fact, the bushes right next my house!''

''We'll be there right away.''

That's right, you'd better be here right away. And they were, surprisingly, haha. We had a good time watching the firefighters and policemen move cars and pressure wash that little sucker. After all that, the little VW Polo was more of a VW Ashes. There was not much left of the front half of the car.

Aside from that, we've had a pretty slow week here in Marbella. Lots of people fell through on us, and we have been unable to meet with our Golden Investigators, because they were preparing and competing in a Fencing tournament in Cádiz.

We set a baptismal fecha with M. The son of a less active here in Marbella. However, we are having a few problems with his mom with trying to get him baptized. Pray for him and her. They are great people, but just can't see it in the bigger picture.

Really, this week was hard. A little hard on my morale, mostly because I haven't felt like as good of a trainer as I want to be. However, I am changing everyday. I am getting better. Everyday, I seek to be a better missionary, and to be a better follower of Christ.

I love being a missionary, because everyday I get to talk to everybody about how much God loves us. That He sent His son to atone for our sins, and that these blessings are available to us for free. We just have to let him in our lives.

As we get closer to the Christmas season, I have been reflecting a lot about giving. What more I can give. Whom else I can help come unto Christ.

I was listening to an interesting talk this morning by an Elder Skousen, and he said that the miracle of Christ's birth wasn't really that he was born, but what the world gained by his life (which obviously comes after being born). I thought about it and felt such a desire to help more people come unto Christ.

Let's get out there and help more people!

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

¡Bautismos por mí les habra!

I love missionary work.  Haha, you are probably all sick of hearing me say that. But that's all right. Good things are worth repeating.

This week we worked a lot with a young man here, D-----. He is awesome. He has a superstrong testimony, and he has a huge desire to do missionary work. His family is great too. They are going through a pretty hard time (divorce) but his dad and his little sister are super strong as well. A few weeks ago when I played my violin with the primary, his little sister was relentlessly staring at me. Turns out, that she is in love with the violin, and wants to become like Lindsey Stirling (she's 6 years old). So, last night after working with D----- for a few hours we went back to his house, and I brought my violin. Surprise!! Imagine her face when she saw the missionaries there with the violin. She was ecstatic. I played a few songs, and her dad was recording many of them. Then, D----- and I played a duet, Viva la vida, and that went sweet.

She really wanted to play the violin, so I gave her a mini lesson, how to hold the violin and bow, and we played the Monkey song. She was so happy.

N---- is a girl that we have been working with a lot lately. She and her mom have been reading the Book of Mormon together a lot lately. She and her mom have a baptismal date as of last Wednesday. D----- accompanied us to the appointment and the spirit was so strong there. We really had a great lesson, despite the screaming 2 year old. They decided that they want to get baptized, and then D----- was super excited to do missionary work, because he had just been part of one of the best moments of missionary work.

This week was great. Elder Moore is doing super, and he and I get along super well. There are all sorts of miracles going on right now in our area, and I wish that we had time to document them all in this weekly email. 

Just know that we are being obedient, and we are working hard to fulfil our purpose as missionaries, which is to invite others to come unto Christ.

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

"I hope my English is as bad as yours"

So, this week was a lot of change.

I'll give you a quick day by day update.

Monday,

Elder Vera and I got haircuts and then went out to Málaga to play softball with the rest of our (new) zone. It was a ton of fun. Perhaps the most fun p-day that I have ever had. We had a great time there, and then went home to finish packing up his suitcases (he got transfered), and then we went and taught G, the recent convert here in Marbella. She is awesome, and we are trying to get her to prepare to serve a mission.

Tuesday,

My last district meeting as Fuengirola District leader.  Elder Vera and I prepared for the district meeting by going and eating Churros and chocolate (they were super good...)

And then we drove out to Fuengirola to meet up with the rest of the district. We had a good meeting, and afterwards, we spent some time writing memories and stuff to each other. That was good. Afterwards, I picked up one of the office elders and Hermana Fulsom, dropped off Elder Vera and Hermana Hurtado at the train station, and we went to the mission home to prepare for Trainer's training.

Then, I got my son!!!

Elder Moore is a machine. He is from Florida, plays soccer, trombone, and is just as nerdy and quirky as me! I am so happy. We are going to get along super well these next 3 months.

We are super obedient, super hard workers, and together, we are super humble.

However, his first day he said to me, ''Elder Oliver, I hope you take this as a compliment, but I hope that when I have 15 months in the mission, my English is as bad as yours.''

...


...

Thanks...

Haha, well, at least I know my Spanish is really good. That makes 1 out of 3 languages.

Due to our super-obedience and dedication to give everything to the Lord, we have seen some pretty serious miracles here in Marbella. Our investigators are progressing, and Golden investigators fall out of the sky as if we had the Midas Touch.

We've taught lots of lessons, and found lots of new people. And have had lots of car problems. Left and right. Up and down... Seriously, sometimes I feel like I don't ever want to buy a car of my own after the mission.

(Duct tape repair job)

I love the mission. There is nowhere I would rather be. This song describes my feelings here in the mission field. Every day I leave my apartment. Every person that I find on the streets and in their homes. Listen to it. Think of your memories of the mission, or future opportunities to serve. (He posted Phil Collins' song "On My Way.")

Love you all!

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

Oh yeah, and My birthday is this week!! Woohoo! 20!!

I'm Just Tired (Letter from Oct 27)

As you can see, the subject of this email explains how we feel after this week.

Every night, crashing on the bed, dead. No energy left, and the only thing that matters is sleep.

That's all right. It feels good to have worked so hard. I know that the Lord is pleased with what we gave this week.

As a mission, we had a goal of finding 888 new investigators in one week. As a mission, we dedicated ourselves to working harder than ever. Finding in every situation, and teaching while we were finding. Sunday night, we got a text message, 

''For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it beaccording to their faith.'' 2 Nephi 27:23

It is how it is. We did it... 897

It was quite the week. As a companionship, we didn't make our goal of 25 new investigators. However, we did really well, and as a district, we averaged 10 new investigators each companionship.

We worked hard with the youth this last week. Driving to and from the pueblos, knocking on doors, and contacting in the street. They really learned how missionary work should be. Hard, but fun.

J should be getting his mission call within the next 3 weeks, and R should be getting his in January. I'm really excited for these two machines to get out into the field. They are going to be fantastic missionaries.

We saw all sorts of miracles this week. Our week before the week of finding, was one of the slowest weeks that I have had in months. Since Algeciras. We were really nervous about the week of finding, and having to try and lead a district by example in finding. So, we set really high goals, worked our behinds off, and the Lord saw our sacrifice and was glad. By His hand we found many people, and of these many people, many of them are truly searching for the truth. 

Let us give thanks to Him for all that He gives us!

And best of all, We're going to play baseball!!! Our district got changed to the Málaga zone, and today we are going out there to go play baseball and have a BBQ!!

Like I said, the mission should be hard work, and hard play.

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

So many things to do; so little time!

This week, we are having a week of finding, as a mission. We have a goal of finding 888 new investigators this week in preparation for the the new transfer. That means each companionship needs to find 9 or more news this week.

Elder Vera and I have lots of faith. We like to set high goals, even though sometimes we don't meet them. This week he and I have set a goal of finding 25 new investigators. That is a lot. Like, so many I can't even describe how absurd somebody sounds when they say they want to find that many news. However, we've got Jesus on our side-- the same Jesus that helped us out in our week of 100 futures. And we also have Rodrigo!  Seriously, if this ward does one thing really well, it is create young men that want to serve. Rodrigo recently decided to serve a mission, so we are doing week-long splits this week. I am working all the pueblos (which really never have been worked before) and Elder Vera is working Marbella. We have gotten 4 so far this week!

I don't have much time to write today, because we have sacrificed our preparation day in hope that we will be able to find lots of news this week. It is something that you don't do very often in the mission, because P-day time is next to sacred, haha. However, if the Lord sees our sacrifice, he will reward our efforts, right?   Right.

I just want you all to know, that I am still loving this work. There is nothing I would rather be doing right now with my life, than this. I find such joy in inviting others to come unto Christ because I know that they can be happy just like me, if they apply the teachings of the Gospel to their lives.

I'm excited to train. It will be a good experience. I no longer am afraid that I won't be good enough or that we won't get along, because nothing like that will get in my way of helping other people come unto Christ. 

I love you all! Read your scriptures! Say your Prayers! Listen to the voice of God!

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

Gemelos!

As I embark on my journey through the college application process (which I should have done before the mission) I realize that I have some severe disadvantages. The main one, is that I really struggle putting together sentences in an educated manner.

Expansive vocabulary? Nope. Ability to deftly dance through English's syntactical sea? Tampoco.

Words, structure, and process of other languages? Que va!

Anyway, I have had a fantastic week so far. We have working really hard on helping people progress spiritually by leaving them commitments. Very specific, and very personal commitments, so that as they go about doing these things, they can look back and say, woah! I really have changed!

That is the best. Change. In fact, this week we taught a woman the Plan of Salvation.
(http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/plan-of-salvation)

During the lesson, she made several intuitive leaps, commenting on things she learned by processing the new information. As we finished explaining the plan, she said something really awesome, for a missionary. ''Knowing that I was with God before, really makes my life more meaningful. It makes my relationship with him more personal. I want to do everything that I can to be able to return to him.''

We sat there for a few moments, and let the Holy Spirit work his magic. This woman remembered! She realized that God really is her Father, and that he has created a plan for her. Through faith, repentance, and baptism, she can receive the Holy Ghost, which will help her to learn and progress until the end.

We have seen all sorts of nice little miracles this week, things that have really helped us feel like we are doing the Lord's work in the way that he wants us to do it.

I got a call on Friday night from one of the sister missionaries in my district. I answered the phone, and she says 'you're going to be a dad again!' And I thought, 'wow, that sounds really weird.' Just to fill you in, in the Mission, when a missionary is chosen to train a new missionary, they become the Dad, or Mom. Depending if they are an Elder or a Sister. Now, missionaries need two parents, so if there is a new elder, the oldest sister missionary is his mom. If a new sister missionary comes, the District Leader is the dad. So, Sister F was called to train another missionary (her 4th trainee, by the way) and I am the District leader, so I am Dad! Haha.  I already have one daughter, Hermana H, the current trainee of Hermana F.

I got to thinking about how much time in the mission I have, about everything that I have learned here, and then though, oh no! I don't have a successor! I have no sons! I commented this to Elder V, and said, ''I think it would be cool to have a son. But maybe that isn't what the Lord wants. Maybe this isn't the right moment. Maybe I'm like Abraham. Maybe I'm just sterile.''

Not two seconds had passed by after saying this, than I got a phone call. I thought to myself, 'haha, that would be funny if that were president Deere' and I looked at the phone. 

----Pres. Deere----

and my stomach dropped.

I knew why he was calling, and suddenly, I felt really weak, incapable, and like I just wasn't ready to take on more responsibility.

''Hey President! This is Elder Oliver!''

''Hey Elder Oliver! How are you?    ----a little bit of chatting/small talk-----

Elder Oliver, I have an assignment for you. Are you willing to accept?

Sure thing, president!

So, not only will I have a daughter this transfer, but I will have a son as well! Gemelos!

He called me to train a new Elder, which is a pretty serious responsibility. The trainer is frequently the most important companion that a missionary will have. I have had lots of thoughts on whether or not I will be a good Dad. Will I trust in the Lord enough? Will I be a good example? Will he even like me? But then I look to the example of my Dad, Elder R. I have learned a lot from him. And I feel like the Lord will help me be whatever he needs me to be. Just pray with me that I can be humble and be teachable.

What should I name him? Haha.

Love you lots!

Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

Have a great week!!

A Long, Detailed Email (According to Elder Oliver)

Well, this week was an interesting week. We saw lots of little miracles, and we were able to feel the love of the Lord in our lives.

We had the opportunity to listen to the living prophet and the 12 apostles this weekend discourse about various topics. I really loved the underlying theme of love and service. How we need to be more Christlike.

As a mission, we are reading the Book of Mormon together, and we are going to finish before the end of the year. Right now, I am in the middle of the Isaiah quotes of 2 Nephi, and, for the first time in my life, it doesn't confuse me! I'm not saying that I understand everything, (especially because I am reading in Spanish) but that I am not boggled by his writings.

One thing that could be helping me out, is that I am studying Hebrew...   WHAT?? WHY?? You may ask, haha. That is alright, I don't really know. I just had a desire to learn something completely new that would allow me to expand my learning and application of the gospel to my life. I can read the language, and I have a basic understanding of the grammar now. What is even cooler, is that as I learn, bits and pieces of Hebrew words that I have picked up through my life (random Hebrew words in the Bible, Fiddler on the Roof, etc.) have started falling into place.

I suddenly have a much better understanding of the style of Isaiah's writings, and his use of imagery.

My district here is the best. We have had a lot of fun watching the General Conference together. We learned so much that can help the people we know.

To follow up on the woman that got kicked out of her house, just know, that God is taking care of them. They are living in a little cabin for a few more days, and then they will move on. It is a rough process, moving between house and house. But since when were the people of God not nomadic?

At the end of this transfer, we are losing one of my dear Arizona buddies, Elder Oldroyd. He's heading back to Mesa.

I hope to be as good a missionary as him some day.

We have started teaching a whole bunch of English speakers, and yesterday we set 2 baptismal dates (for the 25th of October). Pray for us! Pray for them!

Keep up the good work, and let the Lord work miracles in our lives.

Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

He sent some pictures (and if a picture is worth a thousand words, then I guess it is a long email after all), but no descriptions, so your guess is as good as mine.

 Looks like he's making green smoothies?  Good boy, getting his veggies!

 Pajama day?  I'm not quite sure what's going on here!  

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Hey ya'll!

I believe yall is the informal 2nd person plural of American English. Unused in most lands, but prevalent in Southern territories. 

So, regarding the title of this email, this week was even rougher than the last. With the sudden change of weather, people have changed. Which was the least of our problems. We just talk to more people, so we can continue finding as many as we used to.

Remember the woman that was going to be kicked out of her house? Well, she got kicked out, and this week was really hard and really stressful for all of us, because the ward was not capable of helping (there are lots of people here that have needed help). The situation was dismal. There was little hope that she would be able to find a roof under which to sleep, and there was increasing amounts of rain, which makes sleeping on the streets even less appealing.

We were at her house-- which she was able to stay in until Sunday-- and she had all her suitcases packed. Today (Monday) she will be leaving. We sat and talked for a while about how the Lord tests us, and how sometimes, he waits until the very last second to rescue us. 

So, we prayed fervently with her that the Lord might deliver her from having to live on the street, and we read the story about Abraham, when they go up to the mountain to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. We talked about how Abraham must have thought, 'What am I to do? This is my only son!' And he thought that until he got to the altar. Pleading, 'Lord, deliver us!' as he tied up his son. Even till he raised the knife. But, he passed the test. The Lord delivered Isaac out of danger, and provided a lamb, that they might offer a sacrifice. 

Abraham had his suitcases packed, and was handing the keys to the Landlord, but he kept the faith. And we see what the end was.

So, how did this conversation end? We prayed, and we humbled ourselves, and we offered all the faith that we had to God. And then, the phone rang.

On the line was an Angel. The rescuing angel that brought the answer to all of our problems. Well, for a week. But, it was a man that offered this poor family a room for a week, which keeps them off the streets one week more.

A week isn't very long, but the Lord only gave the Israelites 1 days worth of Manna, every day.

Seamos humildes.

Dejemos que obre milagros el Señor.

Love you lots.

Not much else happened that is worth writing. Other major miracles occurred this week, but I won't share them today.

Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

Padre nuestro, que estás en los cielos

So, I want to start out by saying that this has been one of the strangest weeks of my mission. Lots of weird things have happened. Lots of good and bad things have happened, and we have worked our fannies off.

I'll start at Sunday and work backwards.

So, this Sunday, we weren't able to get any investigators to church. Which was a huge bummer, but my day was made in Sacrament meeting. The bishopric had forgotten to ask somebody to offer the first prayer, so during the welcome, the brother that directed the meeting said '...we'd like to ask Brother _____ to offer the pray for us this morning.' So, after the opening hymn, Brother _____ went up to the stand, and began to talk. 

'I'd like to thank the bishopric this morning for allowing me to offer the prayer, and I hope that all of us can be edified today through my faith'

---At this point, we were all a little bewildered at what was going on, and then---

BAM!! The clincher,

'my prayer today is taken from 3 Nephi.'

And then he recited the The Lord's prayer, as found in 3 Nephi (Slightly different from the one in Matthew 6).

Seriously the weirdest way to start a sacrament meeting. EVER. I almost busted out laughing in the middle of his prayer. Sorry, it was just too much man, too much!

Anyways, after that, we had a spiritually edifying meeting, so I guess his prayer worked! Haha:)

Now for the more chungo part of the week. We had a lot of investigators drop us, and we had to drop a few as well. That was a bummer, however, most of them gave us food, maybe to soften the blow. It was really quite weird. If they gave us food, they dropped us. Needless to say, we were a little worried when we left the apartment on Sunday on the way to church. We had specifically asked Heavenly Father to not let anybody else give us food to drop us, and as we left the building, we found a bag of food (jam and bread). We didn't take it, for fear that God would drop us after that. Oh the life of a missionary.

One of our investigators from Ecuador got robbed. ALL her information got stolen. Her DNI, her Passport, all her cards, her phone, medical cards, everything. She was a little stressed out yesterday.

Remember the Bulgarian girl that got baptized a few weeks ago? Well, she is now homeless. She and her grandma got kicked out of their house, and now all they have are a few suitcases and 300€.  They are a little bit worried.

So we have been working hard on figuring out how to keep them off the streets. Please pray for a miracle.

We got to see a little miracle this week in the lives of one of our investigator families. M told us that if she didn't see a change in the behavior of her son, she didn't want us to come back (...right after giving us some food). So we have been praying a lot, and we had a good talk with the son, who is 12 years old, about loving and honoring his mom and sister, and guess what!!  The next day, M told us that her son had completely changed. That now he is nice, and loving, and respectful.  WOW, that happened fast.

It's just nice to know the Lord is watching out for us:)

Love you lots!

¡Os quiero mucho!
Elder Oliver

ps. Congrats Porter! For finishing your Eagle Scout. I'm glad you didn't procrastinate it as badly as I did!