February 13, 2012

Buenas dias Familia!
I am so grateful for the letters that you guys sent this week they were awesome! I really love hearing about each one of you and about how you are doing. I get really excited every week to hear from you. So thank you so much for putting the time in to writing me even though its and every week thing. Transfers are coming in two weeks! sooo quickly does time fly! (yoda) But I really hope to stay here with Elder Berry. We are doing so great together and we are just enjoying every minute of it. We have reached the point where our jokes start to play off of one another and they make it that much funnier! haha Not to be prideful but we are loved by the people here and it just is such a blessing. So as for what seems to be going on with you guys that sounds awesome. Glad to hear that another week full of events has happened and that you guys are never stopping. I really like hearing about your experiences just as much as you like hearing about mine. Thank you mom and dad for being patient and examples to me. I really appreciate it and will always remember it.

As for what we are up to over here there is a lot going on. We had only 19 lessons this week but it’s ok because we had to have some very long lessons in order to prepare our three baptisms that we have planned for the end of this week. We are not going to let that stop us from getting 20 again but I prefer quality over quantity. haha So we are preparing Jose Deleon for baptism and he is super excited to do it! He keeps saying things like "yea I really want this it’s my time." and then Elena and Monica are also super pumped and read the scriptures every night and have awesome questions. They also just gave up tea and coffee because we got them some Gatorade powder. On top of that 3 of the Juarez families showed up to church on Sunday! Weo and Amanda, Raul (gran poopaw) and Ofelia, and Liz and Jose. Oh not to mention we just set another baptismal date with some of the kids who live with Monica for the middle of march, and Gerardo her son just got the priesthood and is going to the temple this Saturday with the young men. And We got some new investigators this week one of which is super positive and she is all ready to change and is coming to church this week! All in all things are just going awesome this week! We are so excited and the lord is blessing us soooo much. I really don’t have any reason to ever feel down. I LOVE being out here and being a part of this. I love seeing people change. I love this gospel and now I have an awesome companion who shares it with others very well with me. We haven’t had anything to crazy happen but I can just see the lords hand in all these things. I love you guys and I am sorry this is short today but we have to do some other things today because we have all our checks this week. I miss you and hope you guys are doing great! You’re the best family in the whole Huffandpuffaltion.
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

February 6, 2012

I think this picture is of the pig Chantz got to cut up--looks like he's enjoying it!

Hola Familia!
Here we are another week down and things are still awesome and wonderful and I am still having tons of fun and enjoying every minute of my mission. We had an awesome week, yes with twenty lessons again, and we got to see some small miracles happen this week. Thank you for all the comments about the pictures and videos. I have a TON more because the other card has a lot more on it now but I will send that when you send the other guy back. I will also try to send a few today. I am very glad that Cami enjoyed the present. I hope you know that I wear a hat just like that every morning as I study to keep me warm. It looks funny because I have my church clothes on and a silly hat but it kinda helps me focus and helps me think. Also I wanted to thank you guys for always caring so much. It means a lot that you wish the best for me and I understand your concern. I will love you forever for being the best parents a crazy guy like me could ask for.

Now for the week that I had and for the little miracles we got to see. This week started off awesome. We got to go on an exchange and Elder Spendlove came down here to Wauchula and Elder Berry went over to Sebring. We went from the end of pday to Wednesday morning at dm. We do this so as to save many a mile. But the exchange was way fun and everybody here in Wauchula loved Elder Spendlove. It was definitely an inspired exchange. We got five lessons on Tuesday and one on Monday night which was the family night. But because Elder Spendlove is Elder Spendlove the whole Juarez family was talking with us and tellin jokes and what not. Apparently he just had an ability to connect with them. haha Then luckily Elder Spendlove likes to work on cars because we head over to Jose Deleon’s house and there we find him locked out of his own house workin on his truck--waiting for his wife Liz to get home. hahahaha Well Elder Spendlove hits it off with him too because they both are super into auto hoopla. haha It was awesome and we just had some great lessons together. But I was definitely excited to get Elder Berry back. We are doing Super awesome! He is a ton of fun and we get along super well. Not to mention we teach very well together. Not to mention he understands and speaks Spanish extremely well so it’s like learning from the master Chifu of Spanish. haha But he doesn’t brag or nothing, he gives me my time to talk in lessons and helps me out a lot. Not to mention we could go all day talking in Spanish because he understands everything I say and I understand him. Needless to say it has been a full turn around of our first transfer. haha Heavenly father knows that I am a guy who needs a second chantz to get things right. We also this week have been sending Elena scriptures every night (Elena is an investigator who set a baptismal date but changed her mind on a number of different occasions) and now she has a super burning desire to read the book of Mormon. She has it all marked up and asked us for a highlighter and to send her more than one scripture a night! I have never seen so much change in one person. Not two Fridays ago she told us she wasn’t going to get baptized and that her baby was getting baptized in the Catholic Church. Wow miracles.... haha For another little miracle we had HERMANO JUAREZ el gran POOPAA de la Familia JUAREZ come to church this week! He came and totally enjoyed it and we hope to have him back next week. haha What a start. ON top of that we had a fantastic lesson with the Olmos family again and this time their daughter sat in and asked great questions and read along in the scriptures with us, and afterwards we left with like 5 tomales. hahaha We have to be careful otherwise a deathly experience could pass us again. haha This week we also had some sweet splits in the which I got to serve with a guy in our ward named Brother Todd. He is a returned missionary who speaks Spanish that he learned on his mission and then he got his records moved so he and his family could be in our branch. Pretty awesome, not to mention I learned a lot about being more bold and how to do it kindly. Sometimes we just get scared to ask people to make a commitment when we know they are trying to beat around the bush. We always get the "voy a tratar" "I am going to try." But hermano Todd persisted through and asked if he could either have a yes or a no. then he bore testimony and then asked again. When she said "voy a tratar" again he said then excuse us but we have to get going. haha A little bold but Powerful and hopefully that lady learns that the church isn’t just something that we kinda flow with. We either do or we do not. No wall sitters permitted. It is actually worse to be a wall sitter than on the other side. Just one more quick story. There we were walking down the street in the early morning to go to the spot where we get picked up to go to frisbee on Saturday morning, when all of a sudden a guy walks up and compliments my hat (the one that looks like cami's). He kinda came out of nowhere. But anyways it’s funny because before we can really say anything he goes off on gospel such. Like do you guys believe in God? To this we laugh on the inside thinking "you don’t even know who you are talking to." hahahaa (you must remember that we are in workout clothes with just name tags on) We casually reply Yes sir we believe in God we actually are missionaries for our church. His whole face changes in that instant, but he keeps up pretty well and continues to try and tell us we don’t know it but we are in the wrong path. One way he tries to come by it is asking "are you 100 % sure that you are in the right spot?" To this I look at him with firm but trying to look kind eyes and say "Yes sir we are a hundred percent sure" he then asks a few other questions and kinda comes back to the same question because apparently I didn’t look like I was too sure of myself when I said that. This time a little more firmly I state "Sir I am absolutely 100% sure that I am in the right church and that I have everything I need to make it back to live with god again." at this the man just kinda smirks and walks off. Kind of a weird experience but it reminded me that I need to look and appear to be 100% sure of what I am doing. We can’t just look like we are just 90% percent of the way in or even 99% We need to be and act and follow with 100% of everything we have to be a member of this church which is the only true church here on this earth. I give my testimony that I know that I am in the right path. I know where this path leads and I am a 100% sure that It will take me and you where we need to go. I love this gospel so much and I give my witness that it changes us in so many ways. The spirit enlarges our natural abilities and allows us to become what god would have us become. I give my witness of that as I get to see it happen everyday. I love you guys and I miss you lots. You will never know unless you serve a mission how much the letters and packages from home mean. What a blessing it is to have you guys. You are the BEST!

Love,

Elder Oliver

January 30, 2012

Buenas dias Mi familia grande que quiero mucho!
Well it has been quite the week and we have been blessed to make the goal of 20 lessons. We have seen many a changes and we are super excited for the things to come. I can promise you all that this is the greatest adventure ever! haha I just love serving and being out here and doing the work. It brings satisfaction on a level that not many can comprehend. What a blessing it is! haha Well To start off, thank you for all the wonderful and awesome emails that you guys wrote. Like I always say they help in more ways than you know especially because it’s hard for me to write you guys and such. But I do have a plan and I just have to put it into action so you guys can expect letters soon.

Mom and Dad how great that you got to go out and enjoy your anniversary. I really think that is something that doesn’t usually happen with many couples. I have got to see a lot of that lately and it’s funny how many times we as missionaries have had to give advice to couples who couldn’t seem to make it work. We are actually working with a couple right now. Vicki and Cesar and then the other is Weo and Amanda. Vicki and Cesar are way worse though than Weo and Amanda but they are prego and have a daughter together. It’s really quite sad. I am so happy that you guys have a great marriage and that it is one that has been sealed in the temple.
As for me this week like I said it went very well. We actually did get back up to 20 lessons a week but quite a few of the lessons we had this week were pretty rough. We had to go back and reteach the word of wisdom to a few of our members. Not to mention another discovery channel episode tried to explain how we are polygamists to our new members. haha It really has been quite the week. I also am now off the mass gainer that I have been taking for probably the past month. It came to me in a serious whippin that I should not be taking it anymore. Let me explain. So I take two shakes each day one in the morning and one at night. both with 2 percent milk and about 2-3 tablespoons of peanut butter. So each drink ranges in from about 800 to 1000 calories and about 160 carbs and about 65 grams of protein-- with all of the other necessary things in order to do some serious growing. hahaha well lets just say that these drinks make one feel very full. Most very full indeed. like after little mimis full. And I got to feel like that everyday for a month. haha Well on top of that I think Heavenly Father was like "oh you wanna gain weight eh? well here it comes!" haha We have been given so much food! Everywhere we go now they feed and feed and feed us. "Elder are you sure you don’t want anymore? Why are you so slow at eating? Eat up eat up. We made so much so you guys could eat as much as you could." Yea its love and that feels good but not when you are consistently full and then you have to somehow find room to squish all their food down and not to mention a lot of it. Really we did not get fed very much until the day I started mass gainer. Like it really is like a joke. Well I think Heavenly Father really wanted me to quit pretty bad though because I had an experience that would lead me to believe he really wanted it. There we were at the infamous OLMOS house. They are doing awesome and are starting to try to come to church kinda... but we know we are doing good because they are not members and they invited us to come and eat with them. So we come over and have a lesson and then they invite us in. now let me explain the background. Not two hours before I had pounded 3 beefy 5 layer burritos and I had drank the other half of the mass gainer I had not been able to finish that morning. Well I don’t really know what I was thinking but I thought I could just digest in two hours worth of time. The answer to that myth is no. I entered that house full to the brim. Not stuffed but definitely content. haha Well for dinner they decide to serve enchiladas which were delicious but she gives me four enchiladas and a heaping side of beans and rice. So I start, now you must know that missionaries have to learn talent with eating. We have to eat quick but well paced other wise you could probably kill yourself. hahaha jk but you will leave sick or with an upset investigator/member. So I make it through my first two enchiladas pretty quickly and then the third but by the fourth I was reaching stuffed beyond stuffed. Well I somehow get it down and start to look at the beans as they whisper "my little pretty you’ll never be able to eat us!" Well that of course gives me courage so I plunge my fork in them when all of a sudden two more enchiladas drop on my plate like an atomic bomb. "Eat up elder!" :()
Well I can honestly say my heart sank and I had no idea what to do. I started on the enchiladas hoping to at least finish the main part before I took on the heaping pile of side dishes. I get though but just barely.... It’s at this point that I start to go a little crazy and very quiet as my head starts to churn with thoughts of "How do I get out of here?" Well it came to me that I must suffer through these beans and rice. I decide it is time to pray because this is a crisis. This is a family who will be baptized hopefully and they have so much family that it would be like a whole new city in the church overnight, so they cant be offended but at the same time my stomach was about to just blow. It was to the point where everything tasted horrible. I just realized the only way I am getting through this is with his help. So I pray and promise to quit mass gainer for the time being if he will help me make it through this. Also you must know I am breathing very heavily. Well I don’t know how but bite by bite by bite the pile starts to disappear. I really think that the food was disappearing on its own because there was no way I could have done it. We finally make it through and guess what she offers us dessert! It’s at this point that I exclaim that we have another appt to which we are late to and as politely as I could I ask if we could take it with us. She says sure and off we go. me about on the edge of death due to overeating and my body trying to over process and elder berry who had not eaten that much before saying he was hurting from eating so much. Quite the experience and one to never forget. It didn’t even stop hurting until about lunch the next day!
Well for the better parts we are working with Monica and her daughter Elena who have baptismal dates and slowly but surely we are working out every doubt they have. Its funny because we leave and they are so excited to get baptized and then we come back and there is some doubt that has driven them into like a hole of despair so we have to dig them back out and make them excited again. Such is missionary work. We also finally got to get together with the Deleon family again and this time their friends who are part of the (drumroll) OLMOS family were there and we just talked and laughed and shared some awesome scriptures and then afterwards the OLMOS guy told us he would invite us over for some of his barbeque chicken some time. How cool is that? Not to mention we are doing awesome with the Juarez family. Slowly but surely they are changing in a lot of ways. It’s like teaching little kids how to love and show their love and what you do because you love someone. We have family night every Monday night and each time more and more are seriously paying attention and asking questions and saying better comments and not joking so much or they will just straight up say awesome and powerful things about the gospel. We are soo happy for them and are very excited to see where they go. Well really things are going awesome. Elder Berry and I Me are already having lots of fun and enjoying this second time we get to serve together. I love being out here I love what I am doing and I miss all you guys terribly so. Please keep writing even though I don’t. I really will try harder this week to get some out.

LOVE, ELDER OLIVER

January 22, 2012

Well dear ol family of mine who I cherish so dearly I am quite sorry to tell you that I am short on time today. We had a breakfast with a member who was halfway to Sebring where we planned on spending the day and then we had to go somewhere else to use the computers and now I have to hurry because Elder berry hasn’t even started his email yet. SO Lightning question round! Mom I am doing great and eating a lot. I actually have had 3 members tell me I am looking more heavier and like a man. haha Also the card is on the way. I have found a way to send them online but of course I have no time today so expect them later. I really apologize for the delay and realize my laziness all these things will be taken care of shortly. Dad as for my comp we are great and I am quite sure that it was divinely inspired. I think now that time has passed and a couple key things happened we will become great friends. He is hypoglycemic. Meaning he can’t eat sugar almost at all because it sends him on a ride of emotion and anger and tiredness and unfocus. It’s the opposite of diabetes. So I can see a change in him and a light that comes from the hope he has, because before he thought he was just going crazy.Well Things here are going awesome. We only got 16 lessons this week but a lot of the time was spent getting to know members and we had some rotten luck with some set appts but we have only grown in our desire to obtain our goals again. Something cool is that elder berry and I can both speak Spanish well and we understand what people are saying. So we can have some awesome and powerful lessons which definitely happened this week. There was one lesson with Elena where we asked just the right questions and she started to cry and by the end she was just saying that she wanted to be baptized and she was soo happy. I really can’t even explain the joy that comes from knowing that you actually were a tool in the hand of god for a short time and that you were able to carry out a work that seemed so impossible. We also did catch up with the Olmos family and they like us so much that the mother asked us to come over for dinner so we could try her best meals. haha Blessing coming and comin. We also were able to do service where we painted a house and helped move a guy out which took all day but I was able to establish the relationships I need to get into ALL the Juarez households. haha if that makes sense. It is just more likely that we will be invited over because apparently they like me and elder berry a lot. It really has been a super fun week and we found a new less active to work with who has 7 kids and none of them are baptized so we are excited and she seems to like us and she seems to be changing little by little. However I really do have to go. I feel so sad that I can’t fill you in very much or send you my pics or very much this week but it sufficeth me to say that the work is going forward and that I am happy and progressing every day. I love what I am doing and your prayers are working. I get to see them every day! I love you and miss you sooooo much you are the best family in the whole zorrodeldesierto-altion (that’s my nickname here) (means desert fox)
LOVE ELDER OLIVER