D&C 20:10-12

10 And thy brother Oliver shall continue in bearing my name before the world, and also to the church. And he shall not suppose that he can say enough in my cause; and lo, I am with him to the end.

11 In me he shall have glory, and not of himself, whether in weakness or in strength, whether in bonds or free;

12 And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Almost Dead, But with New Life July 14 Letter

So, as you know, my comp only has 2 months left in the mission. When missionaries go home, they die. And the trend, is that missionaries that are on their deathbeds change. They either become more disobedient to the rules that we have, because they feel like it is not important anymore, or they become more obedient, because they recognize that their days are numbered. Elder S has been in the first group of missionaries, but this last week he has changed. He has had a change of heart, from what I can see, and now the two of us have a more powerful desire to BE obedient.  Now, neither of us are perfect, but we are getting better. We both want to get better, and we are doing the things that will carry us to a higher level. 

He and I have both learned a lot from each other. We both get along super well. Did you know that his sister just went to the MTC last week? So, they won't see each other for quite some time. There are only 2 months separating them, but those two months turn into 3 years and 4 months without seeing each other. However, his Sister is going to serve in Sweden, so he said he'll stop by and drop off a care package to her apartment, haha.

This change in Elder S has taught me something very important. He has taught me that once you get near the end, and the going gets tough, you just have got to finish. You don't let off the gas. You don't throw down the test booklet right before you reach the last page. You've got to finish strong. It is imperative.

Let's look at a few examples,

Moses, was miraculously preserved to free the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. After many years in the wilderness, he was sent by God to go deliver the Israelites. When he got to Egypt, Pharaoh increased the workload of the people, and refused many times to let them go. When he finally gave up, Moses and the Israelites escaped ASAP, and ended up coming to the shores of the Red Sea. There were the waters ahead of them, and then to make things really bad, Pharaoh had changed his mind about letting them free, and was on his way in his chariots to destroy the people. Now did Moses start crying when the situation looked hopeless? Nope, he put his faith in God, and the waters of the Red Sea were opened up to provide safe passage to the Israelites.

David, when he was a boy, went to the battle grounds to deliver supplies to his older brothers that were engaged in the war. He heard the voice of Goliath, and decided to go up against him. He prepared himself through prayer, much thought, and searched for stones fit to use in his sling, and then walked out to meet Goliath in battle.  When he got down there, he saw how big Goliath was, and I am sure he had some second thoughts. However, his people's liberty was in jeopardy, and he trusted in the Lord to deliver him. He didn't put the stones back in his pocket and run back to camp. He hurled that stone with all his strength.

And most importantly, Christ. Christ suffered for our sins in Gethsamane and on the cross. When the Romans savagely beat him and tortured him, did he ever say, ''Okay! I give up!  I'm done!'' and retaliate? No. Not at all.

So, when we come really close to our goals, what do we do? Satan, of course, will try to do everything in his power to discourage us, to make us lose hope, and to try to get us to throw in the towel. However, nothing of any worth was ever easy to achieve. We have to give our 100%.   When I was in my first semester of senior year, I was trying to balance a schedule of hard classes, seminary, church assignments, Swim team, and finishing my eagle scout.  Instead of curling up and giving up, I decided to give everything I had left.  How did I do? I did well. I wasn't perfect, but I got good grades, I had perfect attendance at seminary, I was working harder than ever in my church calling, I made it to the State Championship Final in the 100 yard Butterfly, and I finished my eagle Scout award and turned in the papers on time (1 hour before I turned 18:/   ) Was it easy? Heck no. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

I just invite everybody to stick it out to the end. There is no glory in giving up at the last moment. Only tragedy. 

The same is with this life. If we give up, all that waits for us is tragedy. If we hold on tight until the end, we will receive the reward which has been promised us.

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." 2 Nephi 31:20



Os quiero mucho!
Elder Oliver

ps. The rest of the week went really well. Investigators are doing great, and we had a great time in Málaga for a tri-zone conference with President!
pps. Happy Birthday to my Uncle Kurt!    

         Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

July 7 Letter

Hey Family and friends!
This week was a really good week. And I have tons of great stories to tell you. But I won't because I don't have all that much time. Suffice it to say, that we taught a congregation of 10 evangelical and Jehovah's Witnesses the Plan of Salvation that our Heavenly Father designed for us. It all went really well, and at the end, a deaf man entered, and we taught him the restoration, through another man that speaks signs. That went really well too, and then we got to the part where Peter, James, and John, now resurrected beings were sent by God to confer the Higher Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. The man doing the signing for me stopped, looked at me and said. ''You are teaching false doctrine!'' 

I was a little taken aback, wondering why he said that, and then he told me that they would not be able to do what we claim they did, because they were long dead.  Then, the first thing that came to my mind was when Jesus went up into the mountain and was transfigured (Matt. 17, Mark 9, Luke 9), that Moses and Elijah came down from heaven as translated beings, to do God's work. So, I went home and studied that, and the next day we had a good discussion about that and how God works through his chosen servants.

Anyways, it was a great week, we were busy, and we worked really hard!

Os quiero mucho!
Elder Oliver

ps. Shoutout to Mark and Grandma! Thanks for the great emails this week! I loved them!

June 30 Letter

Well in some ways, this week wasn't nearly as interesting as last week, and in other ways, this week will be one of the most memorable weeks of my mission.

I will fill you in on the miracles first. This week I fasted, even though it wasn't Fast Sunday. Why did I fast? Was it because I wanted to deprive my body of nutrients under the hot desert sun, or show everybody how Spiritual I am? Nope. Neither one of those. 

I'll tell you, at least partially. I have way too many weakness. I am stubborn, prideful of the things I do well, lazy (sometimes), disorganized, blah blah blah, you get it. I am Hayden. I fasted this week to ask the Lord if he would help qualify me to be a better servant. Be stronger. Place the clay into the furnace. The ore into the melting pot. 

Then, after church we had a meeting as missionaries. At first I thought to myself, rather sarcastically, so this is the blessing I get for fasting? Another meeting before I get to eat? But, I was really touched. The things that were said there helped me to focus on what I need to do better to help every person I come in contact with to come unto Christ. 

So, results from the fast? Yesterday evening we went to visit an investigator family that came to church for the first time in many many weeks, and we watched Finding Faith in Christ. I think I was the one most captivated by the video out of the whole group, haha, and at the end I almost cried--- This whole mission thing has made me a really emotional person... I cry over all sorts of stuff now, but never because I am sad.--- Anyways, I gained a deeper understanding of what Christ's relationship is to me.  I truly felt his love. I felt a whole lot lighted, like a load had been lifted from my shoulders, which, physically didn't happen, because I weigh more now than in just about any other time of my life:/

But, wow. I felt the spirit!  Then, we vistited a member who has one of the most amazing conversions I have ever seen. He recounted his story of conversion and repentance, and brought me to tears... big surprise there... But we talked of Christ. And we rejoiced in Christ. Then, after reading a few scriptures we left, and headed outside, not exactly knowing where we were going to go. It was late, so we thought about going home a little early, because at 10:00 at night nobody really wants you to talk to them in the street or knock on their door, however, I realized that I had just finished fasting to become a better missionary, and had better not spoil it so quickly, so we went to another family nearby.  

As we arrived at their apartment, I saw the parents sitting on the sidewalk outside the building. I motioned to Elder S and we headed over to talk to them, and then to our great surprise, they were holding cigarettes in their hands. Elder S let out a blasting whistle, which startled them, to say the least, and they hurriedly stamped out the cigs and hid the butts. But, we knew what we saw. We sat down and talked to them, and we read 1 Nephi 3:7 and Mosiah 26:19-20 and talked about Christ's love, repentance and the atonement. They finally admitted that they smoked, and then told us the situation. The stress they were under, and how they got a hold of some smokes. 

And instead of thinking, 'oh great, another couple of moochers that just got baptized to recieve assistance' I thought, 'wow. This breaks my heart'.  And it did, but rather as a seed is broken to give way to the tender bud. In that moment, I really felt the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us. I truly felt it. You could say, my heart grew three sizes that day.  I love that family. I know that they have such a bright future ahead of them, if they stay strong and fight harder against the temptations that Satan pushes into their lives. And that Satan guy? He's such a jerk. He's always making everybodies lives so much harder.

But, I testify that the power of Christ will always overcome the power of Satan, because Evil Never Wins.    
Asides from that not much happened.   Hey! Do any of you guys actually watch the World Cup? Who do you think will win? I'm hoping that the energy of Independence Day will carry us to a World victory!!!   WHOOO    


USA!!
USA!!!
USA!!!!