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