August 20, 2012

             I think this was after the last huge storm they had before Isaac--it is the backyard of his apartment.

Buenas Dias!

Well were to begin? I LOVE my new area. Here in Tampa things are awesome! I feel a renewed desire to be and follow the Lords will more closely and I desire to serve harder than ever before. I don’t know why I just like the area and things are awesome. My new comp Elder Jarquin is awesome. He is a dork who loves being himself and he is respectful and super positive and he is kind and really an example to me. He is from Honduras and so his Spanish is awesome although he grew up speaking mostly English. So after two small transfers he is able to keep up and most of the time dominates me in my Spanish. Pretty humbling and I love it because it makes me want to study more and practice all day. Also there is a ward here and it is huge! Like 100 to 150 people came this week! Pretty exciting and it is nice to be back in a ward that is bumpin instead of a branch that is struggling. Plus the members are awesome and just are ready to help us in any way possible. Plus we get groceries bought and given to us all the time! I have never eaten so well in my life! I made a triple stacker overeasy egg cheese and meat sandwich that blew my mind and exploded in my mouth many wonders. haha So the area is awesome--plus there is a small gym in our complex that is great and my comp wants to get big with me so we are working out hard in the mornings and then biking is a lot more fun than I thought. I just feel like it’s more of an adventure on bike! I LOVE it haha weird but that’s how it is. We just sweat and sweat and then the members just take care of us as they see us in our state of humility hahahahaa. They love us here!
OH YEAH! The first day I got here we set a baptismal date with this guy and now he is coming to church and is super excited to get baptized. Sept 1st is the day and I have no doubt it will be awesome. He is already participating in the classes and trying to answer questions. His name is Mario and he is Dominican. He looks like the nicest guy and he is all smiles.We taught him the first lesson and the spirit was super strong as we testified of the restoration of the restored gospel and that this is the church that Jesus Christ set up so long ago. He loved it and we just could tell how prepared he had been. It was one of those oh yea I shouldn’t wait around for those people who do nothing because there are so many out there who have already been prepared! Plus he must like me because when I commented on his paperboy hat he later ended up giving it to me! haha So now I can pape it up. Not to mention some lady is getting us shirts and we just got more eggs and milk! It’s awesome! So this week we had a lot of stuff go down. I said my good byes on Sunday and Monday . Still loved it and all but I think Tampa has already won it over. Plus district meetings are in Spanish! haha  We also had an awesome activity this week and I got to meet a ton of members and we played soccer. Missionaries verses the Hispanics and at first we dominated so we were chanting USA USA USA!!!! haha and then it got a little more intense and some other men from the ward came over and owned us! haha we left utterly obliterated. hahahahaha Poor USA we have disgraced you!! Then we got to give some families the peace and blessing of the lord and it was awesome! They loved it and were like all gung-ho about the church after that. Pretty sweet. However here in Tampa I am learning about what type of woman I will marry. I have met many an attractive ladies who are just not attractive to me anymore. Crazy eh? Like all I know is I can now recognize things about girls that I didn’t before. All I can say to my sisters is keep as pure and virtuous as possible because it makes you very attractive to another who is the same. There aren’t many of those these days so you’re rare to be one. I loved all the letters and the pictures were awesome. I am sorry to hear that all the stuff is starting back up and that time is going too fast.
Dad I loved your letter and well we will talk when I get home about all the mish stuff but you look mighty nice in all those pics. I am diggin the pants and striped polo. Oh and the hoodie of course. I feel like my tooth for sugar is becoming more like yours everyday because I have come to just taking a finger full of icing and eating it many times throughout the day. hahahaa You were right brownie mix makes a great desert! hahaha But I love the pic of you and mom. REAL LOVE! eh? hahaha Mom you look way good! I miss you and I love the letters. I like how you always tell me about your lessons they always inspire me and I want to go and read and teach about them too! Time is flying by and I will almost hit my 15 month mark. The family is getting big quick! I say we hit Neverland for a few years. I bet there is a lot of people waiting for the gospel there. I mean why else would they be called the LOST boys?
Well I love you guys so much and miss seeing you. The time however is short and will be over soon. I am loving it here and things are great! I have never felt better and I am so excited to work work work and to be exactly obedient. I have some work to do but it will come with time. You guys are the best family!
LOVE,  ELDER OLIVER