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.

October 24, 2011

I love these pictures!! My kids have always wanted to eat a huge plate of spaghetti (after watching Gameplan) and now that Chantz is on his mission he was finally able to do it! (no mom around to tell him it's too much!!) I also think this was his first haircut they did on their own--I think it looks great!
Carlee had sent this to Chantz and he being the great older brother--sewed it on his backpack so it reminds him of her! She was pretty excited to see this and now the other girls want to send him one too!

October 24, 2011

Well HEELLOO!
Time for the weekly furious typing to commence and for the hand cramps to
be ever present hahaha. They are definitely worth it though. Well Transfers
happened and I guess the Lord has seen fit to put me in a little bit of a trial
haha. Lets just say I am going to the middle of nowhere where they speak
extremely small amounts of spanish, the nearest other missionaries are a half
hour away, we are full car due to the distances of everyone... Yes everyone I
have been exiled (I only say exiled because this is seriously the place that
everyone calls exile) to WAUCHULA to serve with guess who? My MTC companion.
Elder Clark. I can honestly say I am kinda nervous which is weird for me because
usually I don't get to nervous about anything hence the crazyness. haha NAW I am actually kinda excited. Adventures await and I most likely will grow and learn a lot. We have become better friends since the MTC so we'll see. All of this was made just a little worse because as I am starting to say my goodbyes at church and get pictures a couple people got a little teary eyed and then the
bishop had me give my testimony and I looked out over the ward and it really kind of hit me how much of a part of it I was. Everyone was looking at me. Like all the kids and every adult and all of seriously everyone. haha It was cool and I really just felt soo much love and care for all of them. Each and every person had something so special and had given me some sort of an experience as a beginning missionary. Not gonna lie it will be super hard to leave this place. We took some pictures and stuff and I still have to say some of my goodbyes but I leave tomorrow. Oh yea we had a couple dinners last night too with some of our more favorite families (not that I don't like all of them just that some are a little more closer to the heart) and after dinner one of the kids in the families gave me a teddy bear and a note that said I would be missed Very much. haha It reminded me so much of my little sisters and how every birthday they give me one of their precious toys hahaha awww I am seriously going to miss this place. The lord always waits for us to get comfortable and then he kinda chucks us into the purifying fire. haha For example. I am in an awesome area with pretty much only spanish, with a best friend for a companion, tons of new investigators, a ward that started to love me, other missionary friends to build me up, weights to work out with, Pdays filled with tons of stuff to do, and not to mention two baptismal dates for this week. but all is swell. I am headed on to a bigger adventure one that might actually prove hard haha But i look forward to it and I know I can overcome all things with my Lord and Savior. He understands us when no one else can. I love my Heavenly Father and I love Jesus Christ and I will go and do whatever is required. or at least I will give it the best chantz attempt possible haha. As for other and more upbeat but in the past stuff, we did have some cool things happen this week. We had a Culture night where everyone in the ward set up a table and brought a certain plate and decorations from their country. We had quite a good turn out and the food was awesome. Lots of cool dances and singing and all sorts of cultural things that really just interested me. It helps us to understand why people are different from others or why certain things are cool
with certain people while with others it is not. haha What I really learned is that Latinos have quite a bit of patriotism to their country. It was almost a battle for who could have the best food and who ate the most from which table and things like that. We as missionaries even set up a table for America and we had half a table for spiritual since right now that is our culture. SO one half had burgers, brownies, and roast beef, while the other had BOMs and Pamphlets and Pass a Longs. We provided people a way to never hunger or thirst again haha it was our slogan that we tried to use to get others to take the books and things haha. Always doing missionary work. We also did a youth activity where the youth came tracting with us and they had to give out a book of mormon to someone with us. it turned out pretty interesting and I think our kid got way
freaked out. We ran into like 4 houses that reeked of pot and one lady said she used to be mormon but was judged and left this she did while her half naked husband came and pretty much shooed us away. Hows that for strange. haha Poor kid.... hahahaahahaha Good times good times. Well we also had quite a few visits and we are starting to get return appts. so we are excited for that but I am leaving so I am as excited as you think I am. haha Now as for you all. Wow I loved the letters this week. They were fantastic and I love seeing how all of them fit you so much. haha Good to hear that everything is still going good. I am however surprised to hear Scott's getting married. He is quite the legend out here let me tell ya. Everyone knew him and liked him. So I'm not surprised he is a go getter done but that just seemed rather swift like. Well I guarantee they will be able to make it though. They both are just awesome. Send me the pictures and tell Scott all the other missionaries around me while writing this letter
(Larson, Paget, Lopez, Volgelsburg, Marchetti, and titmus) think its awesome.Well I love you guys and I really do miss you but I am on quite the adventure out here and if we compare the mission to a video game I am headed for the boss battle. Should be epic and legendary. hahaha I will keep you all posted on how things play out.
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

This is a picture of Chantz's first baptism--it is not the one he is talking about in his letter but we haven't gotten any recent pictures.

Hola Querido Familia!
Once again another week has gone by with the swiftness of a gazelle and much has happened. To start, like always I want to thank you for all the nice letters. THey are super importante out here as they remind me of why I came out and that I always have a family who loves and supports me. Thanks. As for the money issue with me I might need some more money on my card because this week i had to pay for new bike tires and I had to get my bike fixed. I had tried everything to fix it on my own but my brakes were just messed up and because the brakes are so important I thought maybe i should just get this fixed. haha And the money came off my card because I have to make it through the month on my jp morgan with food. And now that i weigh a little more I eat quite a bit more so food is rather important. hahaha But I really am happy everything is going so swell and that life is still exciting back there in az haha I love reading all the stories and hearing how you all are doing.
As for me and how things are going here, Things are pretty great. My comp and I are like best friends and we enjoy going out everyday and we push each other to become better so its quite the relationship. Not to mention we now have hit the point where wrestling matches after planning are almost inevitable. haha Its a pretty fair fight because he is a farm boy and has quite a bit of weight and strength over me but I have the moves. haha so good times good times. We work and we work and we work and then we plan and then we are out the door and we work. haha its crazy because these past six weeks have gone by too fast. We both are hoping for a couple more transfers together, which I think might happen. I dont know too much about it all I know is that in my presidents interview he told us he wanted me and elder larson to start the twelve week program which is the program for all the new missionaries coming in so either we train of me and elder larson have twelve more weeks together! Score! haha As for the Other missionaries here things are awesome. I love all of them and I really think it will make me so sad to leave this language zone when I have to. But asides from that the work is going well. We are finding and teaching many new people and we are starting to get into the second lessons with some of them but we are yet to get some confirmed and stable people. Like I said when my last comp left I had three people to work with. Lupita who was baptized and jose who we are really working on and Glielber who is an eternigator or someone who will never change and progress but listens to the lessons. So Not much let me tell ya. haha But now we have about 7 progressing investigators with about 15 or 16 investigators and about 30 or more potentials who told us we could come back. haha We are actually starting to get to the point where we are getting about 3 or 4 lessons a day instead of 1 or 2 and I am aiming to have about 5 to 6 so we are really trying to buckle down and get some serious work done. haha Its awesome because this area that I am in used to be despised I guess haha because it was soo slow or something at least thats what all the other missionaries say. But now things are awesome and we are finding and the ward is picking up and things are really starting to move along. We just Baptized Lupita Guillen and now we have a baptismal date with rachel Perez (15 year old girl who has been progressing like soo slowly.) and with this lady named marina who is very difficult to get to actually do stuff because she has an autistic child named jacklyn and she has no car and she works at the mall. So things are tricky with her but she said she wants to be baptized and that she recieved an answer to her prayers. sooo We are working very hard with her. We also are working with This guy named Jose Dirienzo. he is 18 and is kinda a skater punk partier but we were talking to him this week and we discovered that he really is kinda depressed because he doesnt like doing those things but its what all his friends do and he doesnt like to drink so his friends make fun of him and then after all that he has to take care of them at the end of the night. So it really kinda stinks for him. We talked with him for like two hours but by the end he was all happy and super positive and was like when are you guys coming back? haha so cool things come to those who listen. Asides from that we have some other investigators that were progressing but for the past little while we have had some trouble finding time to get with them. But With the other investigators who are not yet considered progressing (which is only because we have only had a first lesson with them) but the cool thing is is that they are families not just ones or twos but like 3 or 4 and we are super excited to get working with them! The lord guides us when we are trying our best. haha As for a story I have quite a tale for you all. So there we were riding around trying to get some return appts set with some of our potentials and then as we ride up to veronicas house we are stopped by her little boy jose who i have pictures of. He is a little nugget just like clay was and I serious think he is the most awesome kid ever. haha Well he is the son of veronica and he decides he wants to show us all his shoes and a bunch of his toys. So were being shown all these things and all of a sudden out of nowhere like 15 or 16 kids come up to us and start talking and showing off and racing and having a good time with us BIG missionaries hahaha. pretty much everykid in the neighborhood was there by the end of it. haha We stayed and watched them show off and we played games with them and while we are playing with them veronica comes out and of course she uses the lame excuse of "Oh Sorry I am making tortillas right now" even though we didnt even say anything to her hahaha. well it goes well and we had to leave but now everytime we go back all the kids wave and say hi and come and talk to us and its really kinda funny because all the adults are like giving us kinda the who are these guys look but all the kids are so funny and cute and we feel so Loved. I know good things are going to come from this! Well I dont have much time left so I love you and I hope you enjoy this letter expect a package in the mail. LOVE YOU ALL
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

Up and Running!

I am so excited I have finally got this blog going! Chantz has almost been out for 20 weeks...I know, hard to believe! Chantz loves his mission and has had so many great experiences--we want to share with family and friends. Hopefully I can keep this up to date--

Just a little rainy--I hope his clothes hold up!
Elder Oliver and Elder Berry