7/6/2015 Last email

Well, nobody got baptized this week, which was a bummer. I really had my hopes up that we were going to see either Y or R take that step of faith, but that's all right. Some day they will do it, and that is the most important.

This week we had a bunch of miracles.  On Tuesday we found a couple of panicked swedes lost in the streets of mazarron. We approached them and asked if we could help them. They told us that they had parked the car by a park, and now had gotten lost in the labyrinth of mazarron. The woman was having a meltdown, so instead of just showing them how to go to the park, we walked with them there. As we walked, they saw our name tags and asked if we were Christians. We were a little surprised, and replied, well of course! We're missionaries. Then they said, "we just said a prayer that God would send somebody to help us find our car. Thank you so much". We were impressed that the Lord had responded so quickly and so exactly to their prayer.

We got to meet the new mission president this week. He is a great man. Under his direction, this mission is going to grow so much, and all the missionaries are going to learn a ton. He was a stake president for 9 years in Idaho, so he isn't new to church leadership positions.

This week we helped a new family move into the branch. There are six of them. They will be a huge help to this little branch. We also had my little despedida party (farewell) on Friday and had a wonderful time. I love the members here, despite their constant tardiness. However, I'm not perfect either.

Anyways, were you waiting for a tacky email talking about all the things I learned and what these two years in the Lord's service have meant to me? Sorry. You all already know what these years have meant to me. You already know that I love my Heavenly Father, and my brother Jesus Christ, whose servant I am. I learned many things here. But they are very sacred to me, so maybe someday I'll tell you in person what they are.

I love you all. I love my Savior and Redeemer. I love the people in Spain, and I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to be here and serve.

I'm excited to get home and baptize the whole world.

Os quiero mucho. Mucho más que podéis imaginar.
See you soon.

Elder Hayden Oliver
Signing off.

6/29/15

Wait guys!

I haven't gone home yet! Why have you forgotten me! Everybody except 3 people. And the mission office, which my bus ticket to the mission home next week, haha.

President Deere goes home this week. On Wednesday, I believe. We'll be going to Fuengirola next week on Wednesday so I will have a normal p-day on Monday, District meeting on Tuesday, and ...

Anyways, I'll fill you in on the week.

This week was another very busy week, full of traveling, teaching, and feeling the Spirit of God.

On Monday we worked a normal day, because we were going to be in Cartagena all day on Friday whether or not we wanted to (for baptism stuff in the 1st ward). So we went and shared with P a quick spiritual thought and helped Y, the Bulgarian girl, who we've been teaching since I arrived here, understand a couple of the Strength of Youth standards. We kind of got off track in the lesson for the first half an hour, but the last 15 minutes ended pretty well.

Tuesday we had district meeting again. My penultimate district meeting:( Anyways, we had a good time with the Elders and Sisters there, and I am really sad to leave them. They are a great bunch of missionaries. I have learned so much from every single one of them. To show my thanks for them next week, I'm going to cook them one last paella. (pa-ey-ya)

Wednesday we were in Mazarron all day, and we were able to teach a handful of lessons. R, a Honduran that we found a few weeks ago had a couple of good questions regarding the plan of salvation, and we were able to clear them up for her. We climbed up a mountain with another investigator and had a great lesson with him up on the top. Haha, I'll send you photos soon.

Had my dying interview with President on Thursday, needless to say, I know that he is an inspired man. Since Thursday, I have felt overwhelmingly full of the Holy Spirit.

Friday we had another baptism in the 1st ward so we were in Cartagena.

Saturday we came home. My comp taught an investigator a little bit on how to make EDM (electronic dance music). It was pretty fun.

Sunday, we had miracles. Amazing lesson with Y. She is so prepared to take the step of baptism, and yesterday we were able to find out all of her doubts and worries. Today we have a follow up appointment with her. In about 10 minutes, so I bid you farewell, and may God grant us his spirit that we may be useful tools in his hands.

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

Next week I'll try and include some more details and photos:)

6/22/15

This week was another busy week, full of meetings, bus rides, and walking under the merciless sun.

Monday was, like I may have told you, the most boring p-day of my entire mission. Wow. There was a holiday here in Mazarrón, and every single store was closed. My goodness, we were so frustrated! There was literally nothing to do, so we went back to the apartment and cleaned for a few hours. 

Tuesday we traveled to Murcia for a dual-zone conference with President, and there were all sorts of surprises. Well, actually, the only surprise was that it was my last zone conference ever. So, they invited me up to the front to bear my testimony and some things that I have learned and felt out here in the mission.

Wednesday was one of the few ''normal'' days of this week. We were able to teach 4 lessons, and our friends are progressing just as slowly as usual. However, we found a woman from Honduras who is very interested in the gospel message. She doesn't look any older than 40, but already has 9 daughters. 7 of whom are already married... I don't really know how she achieved that, but she did.

Thursday we started the day doing weekly planning, and then went on splits with the Elders in Cartagena so that I could see how Elder Harris is doing and how well he's learned the area. He's been out about a year, and he is doing really well. I have a feeling that he is going to be the next district leader in Cartagena. He is a natural leader, and a funny guy. That evening, we went to the chapel (in Cartagena, of course) and I got to do another baptismal interview with a young woman who got baptized on Friday.

Friday, Elder Harris and I walked in the sun for three hours looking for people that would listen to us. Later that evening, we met back up with Elder Salcedo and Datwyler and went to the baptism of the girl that I interviewed. It was a great program. After the baptism, there was a farewell party for a young man in Cartagena who is heading off to the MTC in Madrid next week. He'll be serving in Barcelona.

Saturday we worked here in Mazarrón (finally!) and we had a good day walking around in the sun, again. Later, we went and played some soccer with an investigator kid, and we had a great time.

Sunday was a day of miracles. We started church a few minutes late, mostly because of the lack of people at 11 o'clock. However, as we kept going, family after family trickled in, and in the end, there were 21 people at church. There were several families that have never come to church here before in Mazarrón. It was a huge surprise, but another member had invited them to church, AND THEY CAME!! One of them, after the meeting said, "I need to come back to church. I need to serve and help lift this little branch," so BINGO! One more priesthood holder. We are going to get him to talk to bishop to make sure that everything is going fine, and then we are going to be able to (potentially) be a branch!  Plus, another family from Cartagena is moving here this week +6!! He is the older brother of C Jr., a member here. He is also in the bishopric of Cartagena 1st ward. It was a good week.

Today is not p-day for us. We are writing during our mediodía time, because we have changed our p-day to this friday, because we were already going to be there (that way, we don't lose so much proselyting time.)  Love you all!

I hope that you have a great day!

And happy Fathers day, Dad! I love you a ton!

¡Os quiero!

Elder Oliver

T-3 weeks (6/15/15)

Well, this week has been pretty good. Filled with all sorts of fun adventures.

Monday was p-day (obviously). We didn't do much ('cause there's not much to do here in Mazarron, so we chilled in the apartment and I slept a little bit, then we left to go teach and find. We saw P that night, who last week had had a relapse into alcohol.

Tuesday we went up to Cartagena and had district meeting. I assigned a couple of talks about setting and meeting goals, and the missionaries who spoke did a great job! Then I spoke about baptism. We set a district goal of 5 baptisms before the end of the transfer, and we were all feeling super pumped to go out and teach that day. 

We felt the spirit so strong, and as we left we were ready to go. As a district that day, we set 3 baptismal dates. We set a date with our friend C, the boyfriend of Tatiana (a member who has recently started coming back to church). However, the date is for September, because they have to get married first... But that's alright! That's not the first family that I've taught and committed to baptism in that situation.

Wednesday we had a surprise meeting in Fuengirola with president Deere. It was a district leader's training, so I got to make the journey to Fuengirola yet again! That's all right. We had a great time, and I got to see a whole bunch of my friends that I haven't seen in many months. We all talked about how the mission has gone, and I feel like we've done pretty well as a group out here. Not a single elder from my group went home early, and the great majority of us are still holding out to the end (as in, not getting too trunky). Later that night we had a great meeting with president Deere, and he taught us all sorts of good stuff. We are really working hard on preparing the missionaries for the mission president change. We're excited, and most people are pretty sad that pres. Deere is leaving, but seeing as he goes home with my group, we won't have to go through the change.

Thursday I came home (as in, I went back to mazarron), and we had just a little bit of time to visit P and his family again that night. They're doing all right. We just wanted to help boost his ánimo and not feel too bad about not being perfect. We just wanted him to know that God is looking out for him, and that he will forgive us, because he loves us, even though we are just a bunch of hopeless sinners. 

Friday we had a pretty rough evening. Everybody fell through on us in the evening so we went to a place called -las canchas- where all the South Americans get together to hang out on the weekends. It was a ton of fun! We played basketball and ate BBQ and got home exhausted. We saw a ton of our friends there, and we got a bunch of funny looks. Just picture me, red-faced and sweating, wrecking everybody at basketball, wearing a tie, white shirt and slacks. It was pretty great.

Saturday we had a lesson with a new friend of ours, A, who is a pastor at a local evangelical church. He is a great guy, and he seemed pretty open to listening to our message. He just doesn't understand why God would give us more scripture. He just kept on comparing it to a two cups and water saying "if I'm thirsty and I get a glass of water, why would I pour it into another glass before I drink it? It's all the same, the bible teaches us everything we need to know. Why would God give us another book?" Considering that all we really need to be saved from the effects of sin and the fall of man is faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, confirmation, and enduring to end, then yes. The bible teaches us that. Not very clearly sometimes, but yes. However, the Book of Mormon helps us understand the why, who, how, when of everything. And it is so much more clearly stated. (READ THE BOOK OF MORMON!)

Sunday was a good day, we had a baby blessing in sacrament meeting, and later bishop, who was here for the day (he normally meets in Cartagena, with the rest of the ward) gave an interesting/good Sunday school class. 

Later, we went to the A's house (the really strong member family) to celebrate the baby blessing with the other family by having a BBQ. We were there for a while, so I had to do district numbers in their backyard, where I got reception. However, the moment I finished numbers I got nailed with a water balloon. And another. And a bucket of water. My goodness, I was soaked. However, instead of turning the other cheek, I quickly found a three gallon bucket, and managed to avenge those wrongs done unto me. It was a great day, haha :) 

Anyways. Today was the most boring p-day in the history of the world. EVERYTHING was closed. Stupid holidays... 

I am so excited to get home and see you all. Start making lists of questions to ask and things to talk about, because I am going to want to sleep for at least 3 days after getting home, haha. Make sure you're ready to share the gospel, too!

District Leader training!

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

6/8/2015

This week was a good week. Not nearly as stressful as last, but we did lots of things.

However, I don't have much time today, so just know that I am still working hard out here. Still being obedient. I'm not going to relax my last weeks out here.

We had an awesome stake conference this weekend, and one of the investigators that we had come later had a dream that President Deere invited him to be baptized.

He has opened up a ton this week, and is excited to move foward.

Next week I promise a better letter.

Love you lots!

Elder Oliver

6/1/2015

Dear family (and friends),


This week has been an interesting week, to say the least. I'll start at the beginning, and  I'll give you lots of details... 
Monday, we had p-day. We were already in Cartegena for a baptism Sunday night, and there was no bus to bring us back home, so we bunked with the elders, there and stayed there for p-day. We spent the p-day with the zone, and caught the bus back home so we could buy the ingredients to make a paella.

Tuesday we had district meeting, and I prepared a short little lesson about the Book of Mormon, and then when we finished the meeting we sang the mission hymn, and we were pretty sad, because every companionship in the district was changed this transfer. The elders area in ward 1 got merged into the sisters area, so both elder simón and elder child were getting transferred. Sisters stradling and knowles also were getting transferred out.  So, after district meeting, everybody started writing their farewells, and taking pictures as I made a bomb paella (it was so flippin' good). I made it from chicken this time, and it turned out super good. But like, so good that everybody was just blown away by how delicious it was.

It wasn't perfect, but this life is the time for men to prepare to make perfect paella. I think the next one I'm going to make is going to be a rabbit paella. I think that could be delicious.

Later, we said our goodbyes to the district and headed home. Upon arriving home, we checked our bank accounts to try and pull out some cash, and it turned out that between elder pond and I, we had about 2,50€. We were a little worried, because that evening we were going to cook chipotle style burritos for the branch, and we had no ingredients besides the veggies. So, I made a couple of phone calls to the members and assigned them beans, rice, drinks, etc. so that with what little we had, we'd be able to get this done. We got to the activity, and wow, it was so much fun. Elder pond taught everybody how to make Mexican tortillas and we served the burritos, and they were a hit. Everybody loved it. At the end of the activity, elder pond and I needed to head out early to go print out his bus tickets (which will be another story later). Turns out that all of the members wanted to gather in a circle and say one thing that they love about elder pond, and something that would miss about him. They all said some pretty nice things about him, and when it came to be my turn, I couldn't speak. The words choked up in my throat, and a few manly tears rolled down my cheek. It had just hit me that one of my best friends ever was going to have to leave soon, and that was so hard. Man, that was hard. He really is like my little brother, and it was almost as hard to have to send him away as it was to say goodbye to my brothers and sister back home. After the crying fest, we ran to the locutorio to print out his bus tickets, and we had a horrible realization. The office elders had bought us tickets from the wrong city, and 2,50€ wasn't going to get us to where we needed to be the next day. So, we went home, packed his bags cleaned the apartment, and prayed that God would help us find a way out of that mess.

After he packed, elder pond and I brought our mattresses up to our roof, and my paella burner, and we totally had a camp out. The only problem is that we didn't have any s'mores.

Wednesday, we woke up, and realized that not a single problem from the night before had magically been resolved, and our money still hadn't arrived, so we totally missed his bus to get to Murcia. The office elders wouldn't answer their phone (it was the end of the month, and everybody was broke because the reimbursements didn't come on time, so everybody was probably having the same problems as us), so we called our ward mission leader, explained him the situation, and he drove from cartegena to mazarron to pick us up to take us to cartegena, where we could probably bum some money off of the other elders. We arrived to cartegena, and the elders informed us that the money had just arrived, so we literally ran to the bank(making a pit stop at a döner kebab on the way to order) and I pulled out my money. However, elder ponds money didn't arrive, so his kebab was on me, and I had to buy his bus ticket to Murcia. 

We said our goodbyes, sent him away, and started to relax a little. However, there is no rest for the weary. I got a phone call from the zone leaders in Murcia asking if elder pond was almost there, because his other bus was about to leave, and I told them that he wouldn't be arriving for a while. So, in the end, he arrived late to Murcia, and had to wait there for about 4 hours to catch the next bus. I don't know how many phone calls I made trying to organize people and send them to the right places to make sure my hijo arrived safely. He arrived to his area super late, but he did arrive. His new comp is elder day, from my group.

I returned to the bus station to meet up with my new comp, elder salcedo. We hopped on the bus back to mazarron, where he chatted my ear off. Actually, we didn't talk that much but after everything that had just happened, I just wanted to sleep. We got home, he unpacked his bags a little, and we went out to visit a couple of members before returning to Cartagena that night (for an important meeting the next morning--I wasn't feeling like waking up at 5 the next morning. We got to their apartment, and met the new elder to Cartagena. Elder harris (elder Datwyler was here already) has got about 9 months in the mission. He is huge. Like, we walked into their apartment, and elder salcedo looked rather frightened. Elder harris is about 6'1" and used to be a bodybuilder. Enough said.

Thursday was the day we've been waiting for! The mission wide digital upgrade finally came! We're officially missionaries of the 21st century. There are all sorts of restrictions on the devices, but that really doesn't bother me that much. However, we've got a bunch of great language learning tools, teaching tools, and assorted useful tools (like the hammer app, or the cutting board app, jaja)

Friday was a normal day (if you only have one normal day a transfer, does that make it a abnormal day?) we did some cool online training for the online proselyting, and we organized a big activity here in mazarron for Saturday, la cosecha, or harvest. I took mazarron and divided it up on google earth and dropped it into my device from which I'd be able to wirelessly transfer it to anybody else with a device.

Saturday was the cosecha. All the missionaries from the zone came, and we had an amazing time. A ton of members came, so we were all able to go on splits. I had the privilege of working with Ángel, with whom I did the baptismal interview two weeks back. He was super excited to go out and share the gospel, and he and I found a decent number of people who are willing to listen together. At the end of the activity, we all got together again at the chapel and our ward mission leader made a huge paella. It was so delicious, and all 70 of us there to eat left stuffed. It was a good day, and we ended by getting 77 references that day. That's a lot of people. (Organizing all of the names, we realized that couple had been contacted twice, by two different sets of missionaries, and had given them both the same information. I guess those are going to be the most open? Jaja)

Sunday was a pretty chill day. Two people that had been contacted on Saturday came to church, and as they left at the end, they told me that they loved the meeting and that would come back next week, so we'll see.  Later I commenced with taking the district's numbers and it was super weird using an electronic device. However, it went over pretty well.

Monday again, elder salcedo and I went to a barbers, and got our hair cut (if you want to know how many, I got all of them cut). Now we're just chilling here in the apartment typing up our emails to send when we get to the locutorio.

I hope y'all have a great day!

Os quiero mucho,

Elder Oliver

¡Baptisms por miles habrá!

ps. Happy Birthday Dad,  I hope you enjoy the long email:)

5/26/2015

Hey, so sorry I didn't get that email out yesterday. We've been 100% busy, running to and fro doing everything that we have needed to do. Elder Pond is getting transferred, and we have been in Cartagena more often than not, so our time here in Mazarrón is limited, and we are very pressed for time. I will be staying here and my comp will be Elder Salcedo, from Perú. I hope that he and I have as great a time as Elder Pond and I have. These really have been the best 2 transfers ever. 

Thursday we will be getting the ipads! We'll be traveling (surprise!) again to Cartagena, where we are going to get all the details, and we are going to be learning how to use them. I am pretty excited:)

Anyways, sorry for the super-lousy email this week. I just hope that the sheer amount of work we've done in these last few days makes up for it.

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

Ps. You know you're old in the mission when both Assistants to the President haven't been around as long.

t-50 (5/18/15)

Well, I have had a great week. 

Monday- We really didn't do much that day. I bought some chocolate.

Tuesday- Went and taught some of our friends, but one was drunk, and the lesson didn't last very long. We had a great day teaching, and had a full schedule.

Wednesday- We traveled up to Cartegena for interviews with President. I had a great talk with him. I love that guy so much. He really is one of the best people ever. Then Elder Pond went back to Mazarrón with Elder Simón, another elder in the district, and I stayed here in Cartagena with Elder Child, a young elder from Idaho. We had a good time working there, and it was so hot there. Cartagena is so humid, it is ridiculous.

Thursday- We started the day running to the chapel (in Cartagena still) to play basketball. Everybody wanted to play b-ball, but because they thought that Elder Pond was going to be in Cartagena (he loves basketball). It was rather funny showing up the chapel, and everybody was like ''oh man, elder Pond isn't here...'   ...Gee, thanks guys, haha. We had a great time though.  Later that evening Elder Pond came back to Cartagena, and we bought a TON of food. Then, we went to Murcia for a Doctor's appointment (don't worry, we're not going to die), and it was so HOT THERE. But it was amazing. It was 107 degrees there, and absolutely bone dry. It was so awesome, and then I started thinking about Arizona a lot. I was thinking about home just about the entire night, until we got back to Cartagena and bunked with the other Elders for the night (there was not another bus at that hour to Mazarrón).

Friday- So that --TON-- of food that we bought on Thursday was for zone meeting on Friday. Elder Pond and I prepared and cooked some good old Mexican burritos for the entire zone. They were a hit. And we were über exhausted afterwards. Finally, we were able to go home to Mazarrón. 

Saturday- We had an un-eventful morning, other than buying churros (and finding out that I have about €4,50 to my name right now (could you put like 20 bucks in my account por favor) due to buying so many bus tickets of late. We then used €4,25 to travel to Cartagena AGAIN for a stake Priesthood meeting, which totally filled me with strength to finish strong. It was such a great conference. Then we stayed another night in Cartagena, because there are no late buses on Saturdays, so we ate döner kebab and played chess that night (watch out Turner, I'm going to whoop you when I get home, haha)

Sunday- Great Sunday. Ward mission leader came to church, basically helped us out a ton in every way, and we had some great lessons with our other friends.

¡Os quiero mucho!

Love,

Elder Oliver

Well, what do I say now? (5/11/15)

As usual, I don't have many words to share with you this week, because yesterday we talked on skype. That always scrambles my brain. This week was good. We had a great meeting in Sevilla. We learned a ton. Later, Elder Pond and I made some super bomb burritos al mejicano.

Today we made more burritos (we learned how to make our own flour tortillas), and now I am working on some documents for church here in the locutorio.

I am so excited for you, Porter! You're going to ALASKA! And you're going to freeze. Coming straight out of Phoenix, haha. Good luck.

Anyways. I love you all.

Go get to work!

Love,

Elder Oliver

Viva Sevilla! (5/4/15)

Well this week we head out to the enchanting city of Sevilla. We will be heading out tomorrow, and on Thursday we'll come back being filled with inspired messages and good food. However the delivery of the things that were promised us is a bit behind.

This week was something called consecration week. We have worked really hard this week to find new people searching for answers, and to strictly obey both the commandments and the mission rules. And we have seen miracles.

Keep in mind, I don't share the most personal or spiritual things on this email, because they are personal, spiritual things. However I will share a few small miracles that we witnessed this week.

First, a lady we have been working with since forever ago, who is widely known in this town as the alchoholic (she got so drunk one time that she lit a cigarette, and literally burned off half her face.)  Three weeks ago, we found her in the street (super-drunk... Surprise!) and talked for a little while. We convinced her not to give up the fight, and that O.D. really is not the answer. We hadn't seen her since then up until this Friday at A's house (another friend of ours with a drinking problem). We saw her, but we saw somebody else, and I'll explain. She was glowing. She looked happy. She wasn't drunk.

She told us that about 3 weeks earlier she was praying very very intently, that God would help her overcome her addictions. He didn't just help her overcome them. He took them away. Completely. She has no desire to drink, and even tempting offers from friends have no effect. She has not gotten drunk in 3 weeks time, and is now working on quitting smoking.

So, we were blown away at the change that had been worked in the life of this woman. We were so humbled. The Spirit filled the room as we testified of the power of the atonement of Christ, and she said that she wants to prepare to be baptized and follow him. Mostly in attitude of thanksgiving. Pray for A. She will be baptized the 23rd of May.

Elder Pond and I are having a great time here. Last night we used our knowledge of computers and electronics to set up a stoplight system for a miniature city model for one of our friends kids who is in 5th grade. WHEN she wins, she'll get 36€.

I have been exercising a lot lately. I have almost gotten up to 10 pulls ups in a row! I ain't comin' home soft!

Anyways, I've got a lot of time out here left! Still more than two months, so I can't think too much on home;)

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

4/27/2015

Oy, I've done it now.

As in, I have bought a paellera! A huge pan. About 50cm across. What does that mean? Dinner is on me on the 9th of July.  I'll send you a list of ingredients that I will need. 

You'll be amazed at my newly developed chef powers.

This week was a great week. My comp got to pick up his residency card in Málaga on Monday and Tuesday. That kind of threw off our groove for the week, but we're doing well out here again.

BIG NEWS

We were talking to B, one of our friends here. He told us,  ''You know, I'm 35 years old. I am my own man, and I am tired of not making decisions. If I don't make the decision to follow Christ and be baptized or not, nobody will make it for me. I will just continue in the same place, and never leave, maybe until I die.  (and then the kicker)  Elders, I want to get baptized.

Me--    ... ¿Cómo?   (Come again?)

Jaja. That caught me by surprise. But, B now has a baptismal date for the 9th of May. And he is prepared. He has changed his life in these last 2 months for the better, and now he wants to show God that he is ready to follow him.

On the 6th we'll be heading out to Sevilla. I am so excited. I get to see all the missionaries here in the mission. It's just sad that most of my best friends aren't going to be there, for they have all gone home.

This week we are doing a consecration week. We are going to be as obedient as possible to prepare for the changes.

Keep me in your prayers!

Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

4/20/2015

Sorry, but I am going to send more details probably on Wednesday or Thursday. My companion is in Fuengirola today getting his residency card, so I am here in Cartagena with the other elders. We have had a great p-day visiting a Spanish military museum and eating kebab, and I have enjoyed this fantastic weather.

As a mission, we are really focusing on just becoming more and more obedient.  Haha, I almost forgot that I get to talk to you soon! I am so excited.

This week has been great! I have really felt on top of my game. However, I have also felt really trunky (missionary term for thinking too much about home.) but not to the point of losing proselyting time or anything like that. Last night Elder Pond was listening to some Disney music, and a song came on that almost put me in a trunky coma. But that is all right. I am working my booty off out here, and I plan on continuing to do so until the very last day!

WOOHOO!! Scholarship! That is so exciting!

And such a RELIEF!

Anyways,

¡Os quiero mucho!

4/13/2015

Well, I'm heading out to Sevilla!

And so is my comp. But only for one day.

Anyways, this week at church a member family arrived about 20 minutes late. Just after the sacrament was passed out. After the meetings as we were all leaving, S, C's daughter (4 years old) starting crying and almost threw a fit, because she didn't get to take the sacrament. Tears streaming down her face on to her dad's shoulder, she said, ''Why did we even come to church if I didn't get to eat the bread and water?''

Now, we all know what a 4 year old was thinking, and what she meant to say. However, there is a profound truth to what she said. If we just go through the motions in our lives, why are we even doing the things we are doing? We've got to get into the groove of doing things because we want to and because the are worth it.

Anyways, Elder Pond and I have been getting along really great this week. We have teamed up to try and make an amazing paella (typical delicious Spanish meal). We bought all the ingredients (except saffron), and we are going to give it a try.

We invited lots of people to be baptized this week. We cooked a mean batch of hash...browns. And we are planning on being even more obedient and diligent this week than last.

The weather has been funky, but that is nothing that we can't handle.

Anyways, Y, V, K, and P y familia, are all doing really well.

Os quiero muchísimo.

Elder Oliver

ps. I have been called to be the district leader of the Cartagena 2 District. Let's see if round 2 I do better.

pps. I will send pictures next week!

4/6/2015

Haha, that was probably one of the greatest Uchtdorf moments ever. We didn't get to watch it live, but going back and watching a little bit of it this morning I had a good laugh:) 

I have to say, I really had a fantastic general conference. There were so many things that just touched my heart, and I felt like every single talk was directed straight to me. However, I have already heard several people say that same thing, and I am starting to think that we are either all perfect clones of each other or we have been touched by the Holy Ghost.

Anyways, which was your favorite talk this time-round? I really, really enjoyed Elder Holland's talk on Sunday morning. I needed to a little cheer-booster to fuel me for these last 3 months of the mission, and that was exactly what I needed. There is nothing better for me that helping other people experience the powerful life-changing effects of Christ's atonement.

Anyways, this week was a good week. We have been working really hard on trying to get organized and cleaned up (apartment checks are tomorrow, and we don't know who is going to be checked), and getting the members to be more united. To help us out with that, we have decided to bake some true blue American Chocolate Chip Cookies for them. We made a quadruple batch of cookies, and we may have to eat all of them. Why? I'll tell you why.

I started out the cookies by browning the butter. I did it perfectly, and after adding the rest of the wet ingredients we threw in everything else that we needed. Mixing it up, we realized that we had just made the most delicious batch of cookies known to man. It was so creamy. The vanilla was perfect. There were enormous chunks of chocolate drowning in butter. Is this why we have to eat it all? Nope.

So, it was late. Almost time to go to bed, so we stuck a loosely fitted lid to the pot, and stuck it in the fridge overnight. I didn't realize that I had a pot of fishy stew in the fridge as well, and that is what threw a wrench in the whole program.

So, fast forward to yesterday, right after conference. We were in the apartment baking cookies, and after the first sheet came out, we both tried a cookie (or two). However, we didn't enjoy each cookie as much as we thought we were going to. There was a distinct flavor that we couldn't pinpoint. Could it have been the browned butter? Was it the type of flour we were using? And then.  Uh oh.  We both realized that our dough had infused the smell of the fish soup. And nobody wants to eat chocolate fish and chip cookies.

The cookies aren't terrible. In fact, they really are delicious. However, if you focus, you can distinctly taste the fish. So, we're not really planning on handing out those cookies to our members.

Anyways. Our investigators are doing really well. Y is progressing, and she fasted with us on Friday! We are going to follow up with her tonight to see how it went and what she learned from conference.

¡Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

ps. Since I will be missing the 4th of July (by 3 days) we had better have a BBQ when I get home:)

3/30/2015

This morning we went on a hike, Elder Pond and I. We marched around the mines here, found a couple bottomless pits, and ate some kebab for lunch. I think I am going to eat more kebab on p-days, because the money I spent on kebab was less than the amount of money I saved on NOT buying junk-food at the grocery store, haha.

Anyways, this week has been a really weird week. Among the weird things, we managed to help a lot of people this week. There have been lots of opportunities for us to serve our members. On Saturday C moved from a little development that is far away from Mazarrón, to Mazarrón itself.

This last Sunday we didn't have a very good turn out. There were only 5 of us at church, and instead of having Sunday School, we went out and searched for those members that weren't at church. Turns out that most were sick, so we gave one a priesthood blessing, and had good chats with the others. It doesn't help that the hour changed, so a lot of people were probably still sleeping.

Don't forget to see the new video from the church, and share it. Think on Christ. He is the one that can save us from our own destruction. We can become better through and through, by him.

Y has been progressing of late, but she just doesn't think that she is ready to take the first step of showing her faith by being baptized. We are going to pray and fast with her soon to help her realize that she is ready.

Sorry for the short email today. Myldsmail was down for a while, and I wasn't able to respond to most of you, however, know that I love you all.

Os quiero mucho.
Elder Oliver

3/23/2015

This week has been a really good week out here in Mazarrón, but WOW! Not nearly as interesting as your week! You guys are awesome. I can't believe Porter and the gang won the rock competition.

Rock on...

Anyways, this week we did all sorts of cool things, we fixed a computer, took a bus to Murcia, and taught one of our friends every day!

Whats more, we did some math, studied the scriptures, and made lots of phone calls!

Doesn't my week sound super interesting?

I bet.

Anyways, the math was a miracle, not that we were able to figure out the problem, but that in helping J (a less active here) with his math homework in the locutorio, he has totally opened up. He used to be pretty indifferent to us,  Now he actually smiles at us when we come into the locutorio. It's pretty awesome. Maybe he'll come to church this week with us.

As a companionship we have a goal of getting 11 of our 13 members that live in Mazarrón to church this week. We had 8 this week. 9, the week before. We were happy with the turnout. But not satisfied. We will never be satisfied until we get 13 of 13. 

The Good Shepherd isn't satisfied either. 99 of 100 isn't enough, but 100 of 100 is. Y is progressing pretty well, but she didn't come to church this last Sunday. She has been reading my copy of True to the faith still, and loves it. Now her excuse of not enough information doesn't count, haha.

V didn't come to church either this Sunday, however, he is doing well. He has done a lot of the paperwork to be able to bring his son to Spain, and he is on track to be able to repair his shattered family. He started reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning this week. He told us about the first couple of chapters, and he totally loved it. He really like the second chapter of Nephi.

C came to church, and he is working a ton now. He is really happy of late. We have not been able to meet with him, but he has come to church on his own again. 

Elder Pond is doing great. He really is proof of the benefits of study before the mission. He shows all sorts of potential in just about every aspect of missionary work. He and I have been having a great time here in Mazarrón. Tons of fun, and we are helping to pull this place together, and make them more united.

Pray with me that we will will be able to set a baptismal date on these three people. And that those fighting to be able to get married will be able to get married ASAP.

I have been practicing the violin a lot lately. And getting better. My hands are a little rusty, but despite that, my improv skillz have improved a ton since I left. I need to practice a bit more, so I am going to be spending my spare time on my violin.

That was basically this week.

I love you all, and I hope that this week can be just as awesome as last week.

Keep on rockin'!

Os quiero mucho

Elder Oliver

3/16/2015

Lots of good news this week!

First off, Elder Pond is doing great! His language skills are developing rapidly (he has a good teacher ;)  ),  working super hard, and having a blast playing ping-pong in our apartment.

So, we don't have a ping pong table, or a net. But we have paddles, balls, a jump rope, and an empty room. So we laid the jump rope on the ground, and we have developed our own little ping-pong/raquetball sport, so that is what we do in the mornings for excercise.

Our apartment is not the best one in the mission. The floor tiles are chipped, so the give the appearance of ALWAYS BEING DIRTY. We actually live pretty clean (and organized! Surprise!), and it always looks dirty. We spent some time this week going to hardware stores and repairing all the broken appliances and walls and doors, etc. I'm turning into a real handy-man.

Anyways! I have just realized that Elder Pond is my little brother. I think his name is Porter Pond (his name is actually Andrew, but oh well). He likes to tinker with electronics, built a forge in his backyard, made bows and arrows, knives, etc. He is seriously a clone of Porter! I feel so blessed, to have one of my last companions be somebody so easy to get along with. He makes me think a lot about my brother. I miss him. And all the others. They're the best brothers/sister ever.

This week we found C! He dropped off the map for about 2 weeks, and we were really worried about him, but he came to church out of the blue yesterday and is doing really well. He is working a ton, and recognizes it as a huge blessing from God.

V and Y also came to church this Sunday. We have seen them both a few times this week and they are doing really well. I gave Y a copy of True to the Faith in Spanish, and she has been reading that and has resolved many of her questions. V is doing well and has been searching for ways to continue solving his many problems, and he really is progressing with that.

Life is good. Tomorrow we're going to Murcia for a tri-zone conference. Last week we taught tons of lessons (good start to the mission!) and everything is going better:)

I love you all!

Have a great week, and go do some cool stuff.

Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

3/9/2015 email

So, these last 2 weeks have been a lot of work, tiredness, and stress. We had to get to Cartegena for interviews with President on Tuesday (the 24th) and we spent the entire day there in the chapel waiting for our interviews.

In my interview President told me how much he trusts me and then BOOM!  ''Elder Oliver, I'd like you to train a new missionary this transfer. Will you accept?

             --sudden jolt of nervousness--

''Of course, President''

So yeah. I was super sad that Elder Q had to leave Mazarrón. He was such a machine and we saw miracles everyday together. He is heading out to Sevilla and he will be missed here in Mazarrón. His companion will be Elder F, another missionary from my group.

The craziness started that day. He started packing and I started figuring out how I was going to train again. What I can do better and how I can learn even more. 

That Saturday, we celebrated Elder Q's birthday, even though he doesn't have a birthday this year, and we got ready for Sunday. Sunday was a miracle. We had 26 people at church and the spirit was so strong there. We had 12 of our non-member friends come to church, and that was awesome. Some of them even went up to the pulpit and bore their testimonies of Christ. 

Monday was a long day. We said our farewells at the bus station in Cartegena, and then we all went our separate ways. I was on a bus all the way to Málaga, and it was a long ride. The nice thing about it though, was that we were on a nice bus, the SUPRA. I watched Wile E. Coyote for most of the ride.

We arrived in Málaga, and met up with a bunch of Elders who were basically on their Deathbed. This week, Elder Larios, Dansie, and Berry all died (a few of my past companions).  That evening, we spent the night in the mission home, had a little trainer's meeting, and ate a delicious pulled pork dinner. We stayed the night with Elder Bean and Berry in Fuengirola.

Tuesday, President let us have a p-day of sorts. Elder Bird (yeah! Elder BIRD!!!) and I chilled in Fuengirola all day and we got caught up on everything that has happened in the last 10 months. He is training an Elder right now, from Washington. Elder Gozart, I think. Later that evening we were presented to our new companions. My new comp is Elder Pond, from Pennsylvania. He is a great kid. He is helping me out a lot with BYU stuff, because he has already gone to BYU for a semester or two. He and I get along great, and I don't think that we will have any problems. We have our top pet-peeves in common, so we won't be bothering each other. His Spanish is great. He likes learning, and is a really hard worker.

Y and V continue resolving their doubts, and they are really progressing in their study of the Book of Mormon (it's true!   -the book-), and they have been feeling the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

I love you all, and I am very grateful for everything that God has given us. Keep being awesome! I loved your emails this week.

Next week I will send some more photos. My camera died just now, so I have to go back and charge it.

Os quiero mucho!

Elder Oliver

2/28/2015 email

Well, great news about BYU! And great news out here in Mazarrón!  I have been called to train a new missionary again, and Elder Q has been assigned to the Sevilla 2 ward as a Zone Leader. He is seriously the YOUNGEST zone leader that I have ever heard of.

The reason I am writing you today, is that I don't think I will be able to write you on Monday. I will be on the bus all day heading towards Fuengirola and that evening we will have meetings. I don't know if on Tuesday we will be able to email, and Wednesday we will be heading back to Mazarrón.

I hope you have a great day! Love you a ton!

Os quiero mucho:)

Elder Oliver