I know these are a little old but he hasn't sent any pictures lately--and I love how these show how happy and crazy he is!

Right before he left the MTC for Florida

November 7, 2011

Hola Familia!
So the Disneyland trip pulls through again huh? and this time sounds like it was a little bit better than previous years according to the rain and rides and better shoes to walk in and good food and such. Well let me tell you guys I am glad to hear that all was swell and dandy. I am however disappointed that star tours seemed to decrease in its level of interest. I was really hoping the new one would be out of this world or something. but oh well. Disney is known for consistently producing worse seconds than first. hahaaha. It is also sweet that Chloe can now make it onto Indiana Jones therefore making our team of delta force squadron an impenetrable Disneyland destroying terror. haha Now we can really get to town when we go there. So props to Chloe this trip for sprouting those last little inches and a couple to Cami for overcoming the tower of terror, and some to mom for finally realizing how much fun Disneyland is in tennis shoes and a baseball hat, some to Chelsey for getting wet, haha, and some to clay for sleeping in the car, and some to dad for most likely sitting on the edge of his seat, leaning over the edge a little, to get the full "California Soarin" experience hahaha just kidding dad doesn't need props he already has to much. But good good good to hear. Things are great and the work is fine. We had like 17 visits this week which is the most I have ever gotten. I also had a ton of fun playing volleyball and ultimate frisbee this week which is something we do every week with a bunch of less actives. I also have been able to use my wrestling skill to befriend this really less active family because they are all about the ultimate fighting. We found an awesome new investigator who came to church, his name is Nelson and he is awesome. He talks spanglish so bad that i cant help but laugh. his most famous phrase is " Idrinkadabeer" mexican accented. So yep things are good and fun. I really enjoy being out here and serving as hard as I can and Elder Clark and I are getting along very well. Spanish is doing good. and the weather is perfect. Its hard having full car because I love to ride bike but alas it is what it is. Not only that but the weather is amazing. Breezy cool and refreshing. I couldn't ask for much more. haha but things with investigators and such are going well. well they have their ups and downs. Some are really progressing but some like Jessica are not at all and they are the ones that we are dying to help. haha We have two kids and a mom that just told us they want to get baptized and another lady wants to start being taught. It really is awesome how much the members out here help., They pretty much do all the hard work for us and we just go around and teach and hopefully baptize. haha I love it a lot. WE have great activities and great programs like university night which is where the members hold all sorts of classes that anyone can come to and we have family nights with lots of people and we have splits every week all sorts of stuff. Not to mention the members are awesome in and of themselves. they are so kind and nice and always feed us whenever we are over. It pretty much rocks and I don't have to buy very much food because we usually get feed. But we are having some drama over here. There is this member named Russell who was a boxer and now has theories about life and god and stuff and he was going around and teaching lots of the other members of his family and even some other members about it. So we got some complaints from some of the members and it was enough that we decided to take it to the branch president. He told us to confront him about it and see if we could resolve it. SO we did. we sat him and his wife down and had a little chat about teaching only doctrinal sound things. OF course there was a twist. Russell does not like elder Clark at all for some unknown reason. He says it is because elder Clark is not missionary material. SO elder Clark is trying his best to deal with that and then be nice as we have to tell these two not to preach false doctrine. haha Ends up pretty alright or so we think... Later that night we get a text from them laying down the rules for us missionaries. things like no talking to our kids unless one of us is present, (by the way their kids and I are already close), no teaching anyone in their family anything without their consent and things like that. oh yea and we were officially uninvited to family night, which is a family night with like 40 people that we use to build relationships and get tons of referrals. SO the laws laid and then a couple other things but they are all in the past and hopefully don't affect the future but we are kinda worried because apparently only Russell made the decision to uninvited us and no one else knew and so now they are all kinda mad. well I will tell you how it turns out. Aside from that we are working with nelson and he came to church after he invited himself which was awesome. haha we just sit and listen to him go on and on and he pretty much just figures it out himself. haha he will be baptized in no time. not only that but he also brought his friend to church with him and they both said they enjoyed it. SOOO the lord blesses once again. haha With the less active ultimate fighting lovers that I now have a bond with, we are also working (Yoda) I got to be friends with one of the 18 year old boys because I can sit there and talk about fighting and wrestling forever. haha not only that but their dad listens to me too and likes to talk and share stories. The best part is that the boy wanted to wrestle me. probably thought he would womp on me but we waited till Friday night which is when we play volleyball with all their family and extended family and then he came over and started trying to wrestle me. well lets just say hes a fish. I whipped him sooooooooo bad like 20 times. hahaha Just have a little more experience. but the thing is is that he thought it was cool and so did all the men in the family so they all came over and watched and then started talking and joking with me and saying things like "hey you better watch out or Ill sick elder Oliver on you" haha It was awesome and I never thought they would but my wrestling talents have really come into play here and I have some ideas on how to use them to get this family to church. hahahaha well we will see. Anyways I love you and miss you but most of all I hope the best for all of you. YOU ARE THE BEST FAMILY IN THE WHOLE HUGHNIJALTION!!!
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

October 31 -- Happy Halloween

Hola y buenas dias mi querido y amado familia!
Just a little bit of some Spanish magic haha just kidding. but it tis once again the blessed time known to all missionaries as family communication. haha I loved all the letters and hearing about all the adventures and activities that are going on back in Arizona and that success is ever present for the Olivers like always. haha. So Halloween down and on to the Disneyland trip eh? time is going tooo fast. I already have 5 months down in the mission and that means I only have about 19 more! way to little. But anyways things are going right swift and swell. I arrived down here in Wauchula on Tuesday and let me tell you it was very hard to leave Naples. All the haitainaries and sister missionaries came to see me off due to the fact that we were all pretty close friends and we took pics and such but the drive was just so lonely haha. Its ok though because like always the rumors are not true. Wauchula is actually an awesome area so far and it has tons of potential. We are teaching families and because its such a small town every family has more family and friends who have all their family who have their family, so it ends up being a great system for referrals and member present lessons and such. Also because we are a branch everyone here is hungry and dying to become a ward. in other words everyone here is super aggressive and helpful for the missionaries. And everyone knows each other and there are great bonds and it really is an awesome area. I even speak Spanish quite often. It usually is only because i try everything I can to have others speak Spanish to me instead of just going back to English. It works and my Spanish is getting a lot better. I don't want to sound like I am getting a big head or anything But I had like 15 members tell me I had fantastic spanish. SO Heavenly father is definitely helping me out quite a bit. Sometimes I wonder though how much of it is true. haha I am still trying to work on completely understanding and a lot of other grammatical things but its comin and going and I trust that all good things come with time. But as for a little bit more of this area we have full car... It stinks because I love riding my bike and be able to stop and talk to everyone but my comp who has never even rode his bike doesn't want to start. haha By the way things with him and I are going very well. He apologized for the mtc stuff and we have been getting along great. He really is just a good guy and he loves the people here so much that I think he would go to any length to make sure we stay good and the work continues. Its quite an example of charity to me. haha Not only that but he is a great planner so we have lots of good things planned and there are alot of cool activities that we have every week that attract a ton of the less actives. They have volleyball nights and ultimate frisbee every Saturday so tons of people come and most are less active recent converts and some members. The secret is that it doesn't even have to be like a huge turn up. it just has to be enough to play a good solid game.... anyways though we have some sweet families who I am seriously already in love with. There is this lady named Jessica who has 5 kids and I seriously love them after like 3 days. haha she is working and getting close to baptism for all of them so we are really working hard with her. then we have her mom, and then we have the whole Juarez family who is about 50 percent of the population here. (most are less actives or recent converts) and we have the Figueroa's and the Maurilia and her 2 little boys. SO this place is a gold mine really. And we have a branch president who has a library of church literature and he sometimes gets called by apostles for what he knows about things. So he is super cool and ready to put us into action. He also is very led by the spirit and guides us and pushes us to grow. For an example I got a call at 10 saturday night and asked to give a 15 min talk on whatever I wanted to talk about. So i did and it was in complete spanish and everyone thought it was pretty good so once again the lord provides. haha I actually find it very easy to teach now. For another ex. Last week I had to teach an hour class on marriage for the gospel principle class. also went pretty well. haha but anyways yep things are good the work is kickin and deep fried chicken is ever present because only mexicans live here. haha I love this area and I love being out here. Missions are soo cool and satisfying. I also was reading and i found that one of our purposes on this earth is to be missionaries. In more serious words we had better be opening our mouths and fellowshipping otherwise we are not fulfilling our purpose here on this earth. I just love you guys and miss ya a lot but I also love my mission. I am always really happy to know that you are all doing so good and that you are still having tons of adventures. Keep writing and I will always try my best to get back to ya. I will love you forever and for always.
LOVE ELDER OLIVER
PS yes I did get the cookies and yes I did get your package and yes my heart is full of gratitude for the both of them, and yes you guys are the best , and yes we should switch cards because yes I do want you to see whats going on, but could you also send me the link to my blog? that would be great.