December 5

Alrighty mctighty I be here once again ta babble about them going ons here in da mishun. Many of dem tings arrr swell an dandy an beuiful. haha Well it’s been a whole week since last I wrote and let me tell ya things are awesome. As always though the business needs to be taken care of. Thank you for saving my pictures please do so when I send them. Everyone of them. haha Also thank you for remembering my patriarachle blessing. I really need it out here. I can’t believe I forgot it. haha Alright now as for you all. WOW sounds like you guys are soooo busy! By the way I must give a rousing HOLLA HOLLA for my big ol birthday babe MMMMMMIIIIIIIISSSSSSS CAAAAAARRRRRRLLLLLEEEE HAAAPPPPYY BBIIRRTTHHDDAAYY!!!!!!! I was so excited to hear that you guys had so much fun and that dinner was great and that now you are old enough to babysit. I always knew you would be a very popular babysitter. Also good to hear that the bleach is still coming out strong in our family. Crazy bunch. haha Also just so everyone knows Chelsey is getting the personal letter this week and then the order follows I guess haha. Just as always it is super cool to hear that everything is still awesome and going swell. Cassie good to hear winter formal was bomb. make sure every minute of senior year is awesome! Clay sounds like you have become a workaholic. Always knew you would be. haha Keep making and saving that money for the most precious thing money can buy which is your mission. Carlee Cami and Chloe keep on truckin and having tons of fun and doing crazy things and being silly. Then after tell me about all the silly things you did. hahaha.

Well here’s the low down for the week. Transfers came and went and nobody changed which means most likely I will be here for a very long long time. But as for the miracles and such here they come. This week we had our two baptisms named Gerardo and Maria who are 11 and 9 and they seriously are the coolest most gentle and humble kids I have ever seen. They make me soo happy and I just love to visit them and teach them. Pure would be a good word. Their baptism went amazingly also because they had tons of people show up for it. Many people we have talked to before. But the best part was when I got to baptize Maria. She was soo smiley and happy and when we entered the water you could seriously just feel something different. When she came up I just had these feelings of hope. I just know this is something that she will remember forever and I will too. Not to mention when Elder Clark baptized Gerardo, he came up out of the water so happy he was laughing! Like laughter but not in an irreverent way just laughter from pure happiness. It sent chills down my spine haha. I wish everyone in the world was just like them. They are the children our Heavenly Father wants us to become like. Not to mention after the confirmations their mom said she wanted to get baptized too. So we might just have another here in a couple weeks. haha
As for the guy we met in the store. Ramon is doing awesome. He invites us over everyday and is almost angry when we can’t make it due to our packed schedules. Haha he loves joking with us and he listens intently to every lesson. The only problem is he can’t set a baptismal date for some unknown reason. We told him to pray about it and have a date for us by the next time we come so we will see if he figures it out. Also I have to tell you guys that the whole inactive side of the Juarez family is now actively participating in our family nights. It’s just the start. Not to mention we are working very hard with all of them individually. The miracle with them is that one of the families (we call it Liz's Family) is really starting to change. They way it happened is this. They have this boy named Oscar. Oscar is a little nugget. He is nine and he reminds me exactly of clay when he was younger, just by the way he acts. He refused to be baptized though for a long time just because he kinda likes to be a punk. So the first night I met him I decided to put all of my training with clay as a nugget to use. We became pretty much best friends instantly. We built ramps for his cars and we drew pictures of skulls and fire on it and deemed the name ramp of destruction worthy. haha sound like clay? Well this doesn’t seem like missionary work. but now every time he sees me he wants to talk to me and we imagine crazy things and talk about how we will make the ramp better. Well because we are great friends now he listens when I talk to him and he likes to do whatever I am doing. So when I talk about prophets he asks me to help him find one and then I tell him the story. Well this last week we were there I talked about baptism and he finally said he wanted to do it. His mom started crying and this Sunday they were all at church including their nonmember father. His name is Jose Deleon and he has told us he would get baptized he is just waiting for the right time and he is a little more not so easy to just discuss things with. But alas he was there at church and it was awesome to see them all. Then for the last little miracle this week... We were out and about when we decided to stop by this investigator house named the family Olmos. Well they were outside their house talking to another family so we park the car and walk over to them. Ends up being an awesome conversation and we find out that the family of the family Olmos is related to a family in our ward who happens to be in the hospital because their dad got in a car crash. Just little things and awesome testimony builders. haha
Well I just want to let you guys know how much I love you. You are all the best and I really just miss you tons. Make sure you are always being good and staying close. You are the best family in the whole MUHAHAHAltion
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

November 28th

This must be at a zone conference--but doesn't Chantz look great!! I also thought I would share this video he sent of his iniation into the Wachula area. I think he held it together pretty well considering he doesn't like really hot spicy things! (still trying to get it to load!!)

Hola familia!
Time has once again flown by with the quickness of ten gazelle and here I am to tell you that it has once again been filled by miracles, hardships and happiness. What else would a mission be without those things? haha So first to start off I think I will give the low down on The Day of Thanks. Sounds like you guys had an awesome time and that it was tons of fun! I love hearing all the stories and knowing who made what and how the pumpkin crisp turned out alright. haha I must say I thought a lot about you guys and what you were probably doing as I was having my own thanksgivings with other people. Well let me start by saying that I was WELL taken care of.
To start our thanksgiving wonder we woke up and headed out to play ultimate frisbee in Seabring because president gave us the ok to do so on thanksgiving. It was tons of fun and we happened to win 2 out of 3 and there was lots of cool plays made and we really just had quite the time. Then after that we went and caught up with the other missionaries and played football with their bishop and some less actives. That also was super fun. I made two interceptions and the last one happened to be one that I ran back for the winning touch down. It was a lot of luck and a good team but it made for a very interesting game. haha Then it was over to the Todds house who is a white family in our Spanish branch because the father speaks Spanish due to the mission he served. We showered there and had a great big ol traditional feast. I weighed 171 before with sweaty gym clothes and shoes on and after 177 with church clothes on haha.
Then after them we ate again with the Juarez family (the active side) and that was delicious too and then we went over to Marceline’s where we drove up just in time to catch her dancing. (she is about 65-70) and man is she goin to town hahaha just jivin and such and I happened to get it on film because the music was so loud and she was in a little trance so we got pretty up close and she had no idea what was going on. hahaha We then spent the rest of the night talking with her and her nonmember daughter who is kinda tough but I made friends with her and we are excited to see if we can get her to church. But we also took some dancing lessons from Marceline and I also filmed myself trying to jive mexican style. haha so be prepped for what will be viewed when you get the next card. Then on Friday we had another thanksgiving meal that was probably the best one at the inactive Juarez house. It was delicious and we just had a good time talking to all of them.
But the miracle came this week after the Juarez house. we went to Wal-Mart to get some more milk and of course protein and as I am squatin and looking at the different types and such a guy walks up to us and starts speaking in Spanish. he asks if we are the Mormon missionaries to which we say of course and then he tells us that he had been learning about our church in new jersey like 3 months ago and then he came to Florida and has been trying to find us ever since. Of course we offer to start teaching him again and he gladly obliges. We went over that night and had an awesome lesson with him and he said he would get baptized but he just wants to know a little more before he does. Then we visited him again on Saturday and invited him to church because he said he wanted to go. Well at our visit he tells us that he has to work on Sunday because he doesn’t have any money. Well I felt prompted at this time to ask him to show his faith by coming to church. but of course I get a little nervous and I don’t get it out the first time and this causes quite the awkward moment because now I am raging war inside. I really am still learning how to be swift with the whisperings of the spirit. But anyways I came up with another way to get it out and I end up asking him after reading Alma 32 20 and 21 "so will you show your faith by coming to church tomorrow instead of going to work?" He looks at me and just is puzzled but then he comes to and says. "Yea yea I will I should not have put things like money and worldly things before god thanks for helping me see that" IN all honesty that’s what he says! (all of this is in Spanish.) I felt soooooooooooooooooooooooo relieved and the next day there he was in church wearing a suit and talking and making friends with everyone and participating in classes because he went to all three hours and even attended the baptismal service afterwards. (sisters had a baptism) WOW such a cool experience and it just makes me want to do it all over again. He then called us today to ask us if we could come over. haha HE IS SOO COOL. He even knows a lot about working out. He likes talking to me about fitness stuff because he caught us while we were looking at protein. So he always gives me hints on how to get big and stuff haha Like after the baptism while we were eating he kept saying "You need another plate if you’re gonna get any bigger." haha Well Also at the baptismal service I was again prompted by the Holy Ghost to talk to this kid named OLIVER of course. He by the way is the brother of the girl who got baptized and last week his mom got baptized. So now he is the only one not baptized and we are close because he is a skater and we kinda just get along well. Well as we were sittin there waiting for the service to start and I end up finding out that he does not want to be baptized because he was scared that he couldn’t stay perfect after the baptism. Well I of course explained to him that that is actually the whole point of baptism is just to say that we will be followers of Christ and that every time we mess up we will repent and that we are actually suppose to mess up so that we can grow. He said he felt a lot different after that and that it didn’t seem like such a difficult thing anymore but I wish I could have talked to him a little more. Anyways it was cool and I am really hopeful for him.
However I do have to relate some sad things to you guys. First off our investigator nelson who was progressing began to drink and he was drinking so badly that his girlfriend kicked him out and now we can’t find him. The last phone call went like this "Hey nelson how’s is it going?"
"oh hey ESTOY BIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN BOOOOORRRAAACCCHHHHOO!"
Yep in other words I am super drunk. SO we are worried about him and we have no idea what’s going on with him so keep this guy in your prayers. Also we had one of our members this week get in a car crash and is was only a one-car crash. He is so badly damaged and is in the hospital still after a week and he might be getting worse. SO pray for him too. His name is Cruz Herrera.
Asides from all this though things are awesome and we are doing great. We have two baptisms this weekend and we hope for a couple more soon. I am soo grateful to be out here and I really do love this area. IT is awesome. I love you all and miss you so very much. Thank you for always writing and making sure I get to hear what’s going on. You are the best Family in the Whole TUNAALTION. (made of fish)
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

Skipped a week--but catchin' up November 21

Hola Familia!
Well it has been quite swell out here in Wauchula Florida. We are staying super busy and the blessings never stop coming. First though I like to get the business out of the way. Yes I did receive the package. Thank you very much for it and the letter was awesome! I am sending back the other card with the turkey I made but I did need to know if you saved all the pictures? If you don’t want them I still do so I will keep them until I know if you saved them all.So to start off this week has been great. We have seen a lot of really cool things happen and success is coming to us. We had like 3 people come to us and tell us they want to get baptized! haha It’s pretty cool when that happens to you as a missionary. Two are kids and their mom will probably be baptized right after them, and the other is a woman who started coming to church with one of our recent converts and she said she liked it and wants to be baptized some day. Well it is off to work. The kids told us a while ago so they are supposed to be getting baptized this weekend but it might get pushed back one because the mom is starting to get the "we are going to fast deal" really we have almost been teaching them for three weeks now. Usually you can do it in two. but as always Satan dips his filthy little hand into the midst of all the wonders and now we are going to have to really strive to push past and guide them in. haha we also are having some success with the Juarez family. We have really been trying to remind them and to help them start thinking back to when they were super active and things were awesome but these people in all honesty are kinda hard in their hearts. We organized a family night tonight and we hope to really take a swing at em in a gospel sense of course. So thank you so much for fasting we are really gonna need it. Also we have another investigator named nelson who we are working hard with. I have told you a little bit about him before but this week we went over to his house and he came outside and pretty much spilled his beans. He has such a rough life and it leads him to drink and smoke and things but he hates that he does it so it makes him think almost suicidal. he said "I think Ima gonna go for da jail ya es mejor que dis house" or other things but I think I will skip the other things he said. He ended up crying and pretty much saying there is no hope for him and that he is worthless. But we just kinda listened and put our arms around him and told him there is hope and that hope is Jesus Christ. I really think it got to him a little because he came to church and now he’s reading the book of Mormon and he trusts everything we say. haha not only that but all the men in the branch went over and talked to him a little and just made him feel so much better. The lord prepares his people I tell ya. Not only that but then we also went on splits this week and I went to visit a referral with our awesome member hermano abrego. He is an awesome missionary! he is just so sincere and kind and patient and has this amazing testimony. I learned a ton from him that night. Rafael, the guy we visited, is now interested and is starting to take our lessons, on top of that the lady and her family who live with Rafael (not married or dating or anything) wants us to come over and teach them. Really good stuff going on. Oh and we have two investigators named Caesar, who is married to Vicki Juarez, and Amanda, who is married to woe Juarez. They have never really been progressing but that same splits night a lot of stuff happened and now they are both reading the book of Mormon and said they would pray about it.
Now for a little miracle for the week, we were getting back from a lesson in Zolfo which is like 10 min drive from our house and it’s about 830 so we decide to not go in early but to go and knock some doors. Well we pull up in this trailer park and the first thing that happens is this creepy looking lady walks up to our car and we are a little like what in the world? So elder Clark cracks open the window and she gets up close and asks "hey do you guys have any money? I need gas, I have a can over there and I need money to fill it."
Well little does this lady know, but I had been praying kinda in my heart for an opportunity to prove my charity/law of consecration like dad did that one time with the guy on the bike. So realizing that this is my chantz I reach into my backpack and pull out everything I could give her. I had no cash so all I could give her was my change bag that I save up and use to buy little things that I want or need. It had spilled in my backpack so I grabbed it all out and the last three coins I pulled out were quarters.. Yea big money right there. I sat there and just thought hmmm should I give her these three precious quarters? I am a missionary and really I don’t have much money at all, but then dads story popped in and I handed ALL the money over. She of course just ran off to do who knows what with the money but I felt accomplished. hahaha well of course blessings come by obedience to law upon which it is predicated so having been obedient here comes the blessing. First door we knock, a guy with no shirt on is sittin there and in a lively manner asks "hola que tal?" well we do our little introduction and then we ask if he works I have no idea why but that question sent him inside where he grabbed a bag, like a big ol bag of tomatoes and gave them all to us. And then invited us to come back on another day to visit him. At about 59 cents per pound of tomato we racked in quite the amount of change I would say. hahahaha yea I don’t even like tomatoes but the lord does bless. hahahahahahaha Just miracles that tickle me on the insides as I realize how much my heavenly father loves me even if sometimes it seems like a joke. hahaha
Well I love you all and I love what your writing and telling me and I miss you all soooo very much. You truly are a source of inspiration and strength for me out here. I can feel it no matter how far I am!
You are the best family in the whole zumbatrialtoombabamboozaagrandpoopaaloozaltion!
LOVE ELDER OLIVER