May 6, 2013

(Just a glimpse of what he might look like when he is older!! --  I love it!)

Querida familia mia!

I have to apologize soo much because I have like no time today due to the fact that I forgot my wallet and now my companions are waiting on me so I have very short time! I will try to get as much as I can! Yes we are skyping. I will have to skype you right before your church time so like 3 or 4 our time which is 12 or 1 your time. We have church at 11:30 to 2:30 our time so we will be running as fast as we can to a members house to be able to skype. I will probably call you on Saturday to fill you all in but be ready if I don’t. I am happy to be coming home. I am very sure that it will be the best thing and I can’t wait to see you guys.

This week was a little slower because we had so many meetings but we did get to see the most important people. Joe hasn’t taught us anything yet but wants to and we hope to do it soon. Mom your Mothers Day gift will be late I am trying to figure everything out but it might come after I get home. :( Well this week Manny lost his job.... But then because he was such a great worker his boss got him another one and he starts today. (They had to fire him because some guy was harassing an old lady and Manny stepped in and pretty much swore the guy out. But man did it humble him! He promised to never lose his temper like that again. Satan works hard but Heavenly Father works harder! haha We also were able to help out our zone a little bit by organizing a huge blitz! It was pretty cool and we taught this black family. Super nice people and I think Heavenly Father made me look like a fool to open their hearts up a little because I asked about this picture on their wall that looked like a drawing of Jesus and I asked about it.... ends up being Bob Marley! hahahaha Then I asked whose daughter was the little girl runnin around.... ends up being a boy. hahahahaha So they are bustin’ up laughing and they tell us we need to come back! So that was really cool and they really liked the peace and blessing we gave them. Sometimes that southern hospitality is just beautiful. Anyways this week was awesome-- I will tell you more about it later on Sunday! I love you and hope to talk to you all soon!
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

April 29, 2013

FAMILIA MIA,

Well just to break the news nice and quick......... I am now coming home the 29^th of May. Nothing big really happened but after talking with President a little --he quoted to me and Elder Vasher the words of the prophet "Missionaries are to go home on time and get on with life." So that is what we are doing. 4 weeks and I will be back! That is quite the time cut eh? hahaha I am super confident in this decision because I feel good about it. It was exciting while we had it going but it must not have been the Lords will because it didn’t work out so hot. Plus we had a missionary return and I just really got the feeling that that’s exactly what we also need to do. SO May 29^th and all is well. As for you guys I am soo happy everything worked out so great. Fantastic pictures by the way ;) hahha way to go clay!! CONGRATULATIONS CHELSEY!!! I am super proud of you and so happy that you have been able to graduate from college-- what an accomplishment! I hope it was everything you hoped it would be. Also super glad to hear about all the missionaries going out! It’s going to be sooo cool and exciting. Well I have to let you know that this morning I had another unconscious talking in the which I sat up (we wake up early in order to have an hour work out) and all I say is "para ser sexy verdad?" which basically means "gotta be sexy right?" hahaha yea my companions are having a good time with all the weird things that come out of my mouth. I don’t remember saying it at all. But anyways the octopus was really good. President goes home in July and the new mission president is President Cusick. Also Bishop Catmull is now the first counselor in the stake presidency here and came to our church meetings this week and he still has great Spanish! Pretty weird seeing him around all the time not going to lie. Great guy though-- its just like as if I were home. Also weather is great not too hot yet which is strange, and yes my clothes are goin to make it but I am gonna need just about new everything when I get home. I am pretty much bringing my two suits 2 pants a few white shirts and some ties. Maybe like 3 pairs of garments, pretty much no socks (pretty holey) and a few pairs of shoes. I also don’t know if you think we should get the bike shipped home. Its pretty beat up and Elder Vasher actually took it down to Immokalee because his bike is a road bike and that place is all torn up. Well needless to say he had to replace some parts and such but he says it’s still a great bike. Talk to Scott he might have need of it. and I would totally ship it to him. Also we think the baptisms are going to go through but we will see. We made a lot of progress this week and now the Garridos are back on track. They just needed a little talking to. Manny is doing good and his son is doing great also. We also found this new guy named Joe who is awesome. He already believed in the pre -existence before we even told him about it. He loves when we are over and is already marking his Book of Mormon. He is a big guy and wants to teach us a little bit of fighting that he has learned so we might have a few fun pdays. hahahaha He is super into it! Then the Hernandez family is doing really good also. They now are all at every lesson and they are ready and prepared for when we come over. It’s been pretty cool to see them progress a little. We are just doing awesome and having so much fun! We also found these new Cubans and Maria committed to read the whole Book of Mormon in one week! She committed herself to it! She is just super desirous to know. We will see if she can get it done! Pretty cool right? The Lord is just blessing us so much. I love this work and it has been such a blessing to serve and work in this area! Preaching the gospel has probably been the most satisfying and fulfilling thing I have ever done! I love the scriptures and I really hope that you guys are making time to read them. I hope you all know how much I love you and how excited I am for everything to come. I know its going to be like heaven when I get to hug you all and tell you how much I love you. I hope you know that I know this gospel is true. It is the biggest and most merciful blessing the Lord has ever given us to be able to be members of the true restored church. I know the scriptures are the words of our loving God given to His prophets and that as we study them and act according to them we will find more peace and happiness in this life than ever before. There is a reason that the Mormons are a happy people and that God’s people have always been a delightsome and happy people. The atonement is infinite and will work every time. I love it and I use it every day. I know that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer and to serve as his disciple has been life changing and shaping. I love my Heavenly Father. He knows me and I have felt His love in so many ways. I hope you also look and seek after His love. It will be the foundation upon which no one will fall. Sorry this letter is so haphazard...

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I hope you have an awesome and wonderful birthday and know that I love you sooo much.

LOVE ELDER OLIVER

Ps Yes I will skype you next week! hahahaa like two weeks before I go home!



April 22, 2013

Querida Familia Mia!

Well this was quite the week, let me tell you! Sounds like you guys are also having the time of your lives! hahahaha Hopefully everything works out for you and that it all goes smoothly and that you just enjoy the good moments. As Christ would say peace be unto you--don’t forget to include the Lord in all these things. I am sure you do. I love you guys and I hope you also know how excited I am to see you guys! It’s coming quick! The days are just crossing themselves off. haha Also I will probably be home around the 28 or the 29 of June because President wants us out before the new mission president arrives. So take off 2 or three more days! hahaha

As for the questions, Everything is great and wonderful. We love our new son who is dorky and funny and just a great guy set on learning the language. We definitely got the best one. His name is Elder Beach. So we call him Elder Playa because Hispanics have a hard time pronouncing his name so a lot of bad words are goin’ around when they try! hahahaaha Manny is still heading towards May and hopefully he can get there! Not only that-- his son wants us to baptize him too. About Flavio, he is still a great guy. We actually are seeing him on Tuesday, he just is going through a really stressful moment, and we kinda put some more on when we told him he needed to come to church. Hopefully we can get in and settle him a little before it goes to far. However we were able to go back and see the Colon’s and they are doing terribly. We knew they would and it is just soo sad to have to watch it. They are very open and they even tell us that they have not felt peace since we left. They tell us they knew it was true and that what we taught really helped them out, They recognize that everything has gone down and that life is empty without the gospel. The Hermana is a lot nicer and she never really wanted to leave but she supports her husband who kinda got prideful and after he got all that he wanted, decided to try and find what is wrong with us rather than continue to search for

truth. So she tries to be supportive of him but I can just look in her eyes and see the hurt and the desire to start learning again. We are the only people her husband has ever listened to about God. So we are trying to get back in there and start up what has been stopped but the Hermano is hurt. He knows that what he has done is his fault and he will have to overcome much pride to get back to where he was. We are excited and I know its gonna happen! hopefully... I feel like lately I have just been able to love with my heart a little more wide open. I feel like I have been a little better at understanding the whole situation rather than just the surface. We also are working with the Hernandez and they are doing great but we are going to have to move the date because we just found out that they are actually not married. SOOO we will see when that happens. We also are doing great with finding many more people and actually happened across a woman who is friends with a member in our ward and hopefully we will be able to see them soon. We are seeing our less actives become active and we are making great progress it just takes a maximum amount of patience and humility. I love it and it has been such a blessing for me. As for the extension I don’t want you guys to get excited or worried but we are looking into it a little and a couple sad things have happened so we are not so sure about it anymore. I am just praying my lights out to know what to do because I am sooooooo excited to see you guys but the service I can give the Lord is priceless and blesses my life so richly. I have been talking with the President about it and hope to find out soon what is up. I am sorry but today is a little short due to a couple things we have to do.

QUICK LIGHTNING ROUND

I ate octopus tentacles this week and it wasn’t half bad

I am still weighing about 185 so I am a bigger boy

I am very lacking on movie quotes nowadays

I am Abraham, Elder Durrant is Sarah and Elder Beach is Isaac (because we bore a child in our old age)

I can't wait to see pictures of all the stuff going on this week

I like spicy stuff but it always gives me the hiccups

I witnessed a man eat 15 pancakes from Dennys

I witnessed the eating of a 28 inch pizza

I got to have a papaya smoothie that was actually very good

We got 2 more companionships in our zone

We have 9 companionships in our zone

We have 6 dates set right now (some will be moved back)

Did you hear about the Boston bombing?

My Spanish is getting better

I can almost quote all of Finding Faith in Christ in Spanish also The Testaments

I love Hispanic music, and have much to listen to when I get home

I set a goal with a member who wants to take me and Elder Durrant to Columbia next summer

I also am having weird dreams

I am a weird guy while still in sleep mode and am known to say many a weird things that don’t make sense and then never remember saying them

I LOVE YOU!
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

April 15, 2013

Buena’s Dias Herman’s, Hermanas, Papa, Y Mama,

Ha-ha this was a beautiful week here in Tampa and things are just going to keep getting even better! Yep Manny is getting baptized in May and now so is his son. President has not been able to come with us lately because of transfer preparations but now that that is over he should be coming. Garridos are going a little slower now. They have very catholic backgrounds and it is gonna be a bigger jump than they expected. They also have some family issues (a 22 year old anti-social daughter who does not want them to join who only wants to spend time with them on Sunday), But aside from that the Hermana is starting to really read the Book of Mormon and the father is just swell. However the coolest part is their little daughter named Alexa. She is super smart and loves us! She is 4!! However she sets up all her dolls in her room and teaches them about Joseph Smith and Nephi and Lehi and Alma and how we have to be baptized and repent and how we can be together as families if we are good. On top of that she doesn’t watch little kid movies anymore because she prefers to watch the Book of Mormon stories (the still life pictures with narration) or listen to them on the radio. So her mom and dad are always hearing about Nephi and the barca, Ammon and the brazos, Moroni and the planchas. Pretty cool right?? hahaha She is soo special! Oh she acts out all our family nights too! We once did this activity where I got up and did a little jig singing "Quiero Bailar" and then had everyone try to copy me exactly. Well there is a cough at the beginning so we were always saying "casi hermano! pero no fue perfecto" or "oh so close but it wasn’t perfect. So one day this little girl is

teaching her dolls and doing the jig and everything and her parents walk in on her and somehow they got her to do it later on film so we could all see it! haha It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. As for the transfer calls we just got-- I am staying here for the next 6 weeks and Elder Durrant is staying too but we are getting a third companion who is a new missionary waiting for his visa to Argentina. So we are super excited and get to pick up our baby tomorrow! And my son (Elder Russell) is having a son (training) so I will have a grandson!!!!! Being a ripe old age has its blessings. Now I can spoil the lad and leave him to papa. hahahaha Can’t wait to actually be old!

As for our week we were able to meet and exceed all of our goals except for sacrament... We were somehow just very blessed and things just worked out very very well. However I had the phone when one of our favorite investigators Flavio called and pretty much told me we were a sect and that he could never believe in our church and that he had prayed really hard the night before because we had passed by--and he had a question come to his mind so he set out to find it. Well he called some missionaries that served in Puerto Rico quite a few years ago that had been the ones to start teaching him and to our beautiful luck they have gone off the deep end and are now Baptist pastors, BOTH OF THEM. Well they most kindly led him to much anti-doctrine and many a beautiful website that led him to believe that we are a cult and we have nothing but lies. I graciously took it and kinda told him that if he believed everything on the internet then we would have to come by and show him our horns, and a couple other things people like to say about Mormons. It ended up terribly but he said we could still come by we just couldn’t invite him to church nor talk about the Book of Mormon nor Joseph Smith nor anything like it. So we being called to work with they who are ready and humble of heart and poor in spirit will have to visit him occasionally now. Anyways asides from that we set 6 baptismal dates this week, 4 with the Hernandez family and 2 with Manny and his son. Then we found Isalivett who is super interested and is 11 and now she is reading the Book of Mormon and having her mom read it too! Pretty cool. She understands more than anyone I know. She comes over to the Hernandez home every time we are there so she can learn too. Because her mom is a little less interested. We also met a woman named Diana who has had probably one of the roughest lives I have ever heard of. She is from Mexico and had to go through so many things. I can’t believe she is still normal and believes in God. But it was probably one of the most special opportunities for me to be able to tell her that the message we share brings peace and comfort to those who are willing and ready to hear. She wants to learn soooo bad! She has some awesome stories about crossing the border too. Like after much happening she was alone in the desert bleeding and being chased by a dog when the border patrol lady called off the dog and told her which way to go to make it. She then realized she couldn’t go on any longer not having eaten or had anything to drink in a long time. She said she stretched out her hand and said "God I am in your hands, I cannot do this, carry me please." She said she closed her eyes and felt something guide her. Well she ends up in a city two hours drive from where she was. She had no idea how she got there. Just closed her eyes and pleaded. She then was reunited with her children and able to come here to Florida. She has been through sooo much more. I felt so much love and caught another glimpse of what the Savior had to suffer there in the garden as He performed the infinite atonement. We also just got introduced to a new Cuban family who was referred to us by a member. They had been really looking for a church and when Enrique (the son of the member) came to their house they asked what religion he was. He told them Mormon so the dad went online and found much info and then proceeded to ask Enrique who clarified some of it, The dad went back to the internet and then the next day or 2 we show up and for some reason I felt inspired to tell them we don’t believe in more than one wife and that we don’t worship Joseph Smith. We then gave him a mormon.org card and told him to go there without knowing about any of this. He was super grateful and super excited to know more about us. They asked us to help move some things but that they would then love to have us over to teach. So super cool experience eh? The member called and told us that later that night. But asides from that we had some great lessons and a couple other cool experiences that have really helped settle me for the last full transfer before the extension. I am super excited and I love this work.

Hope you guys are all having lots of fun and getting ready because I am coming home soon!!! I love you with all my heart or as the Spanish say "con todo mi corazon!"

LOVE, ELDER OLIVER

April 8 2013

Familia Mia,

Well this last week was pretty crazy. We had so many things to do and it ended up just flying by like lightning--holy camole. I loved every moment of it and we were really blessed by the Lord this week. Yes I did get the Easter package and thank you so very much! I truly appreciate it and it was not only delicious but scrumptious as I put on that beautiful nice tie! ha-ha Thank you so much. You guys are the greatest. MY WHAT CAME TO YOU GUYS? Holy camole that came quick! Hahaha So there goes almost two years... hahahahaha I am super excited and just really grateful for everything I get to do and experience out here. I really cannot wait for Cassie and Clay to just continue it and to excel in every way. I know they will! So please don’t write Arabia on that paper or anything eh? haha Also I do hope you (mom and dad) know that I do want to go on vacation. Why in the world would I not??  In all honesty the arguments that have been had on family vacations have been the greatest. I have had many a quarrel out here with companions and what is really funny is that those usually become the ones I love the most. I don’t think it would be as much fun or as much of an adventure if there were not the occasional quarrel. Plus heavens to Betsy please forgive me for ever being a sack and sitting around waiting for you guys to do everything. I couldn’t even pack my own bag back then or do my chores. HAHAHAHA Chores.... We have some of the most intense inspections out here and I am not very easy on my companions because if they decided to do a half way job we get a terrestrial instead of a celestial. We scrub a dub dub and that’s after many other elders destroying the apartments before. What I have come to realize is that video games stink. haha But anyways I hope you know that I never would not want to go or have anything else more important in my life than the wonderful time we get to spend as a family. Is that not exactly what was taught at the general conference?? By the way I LOVED conference. We watched all 10 hours and I felt like it was more of 10 min. Goodness I am all out of General Conference sessions on my mission. But the things that were taught have seriously touched, engrained and fanned my fire. I have never felt as good as I do now. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father-- they know me. But a little about the progress, Manny is doing good we didn’t get to see him because he was on work call, Hernandez is doing great kinda, The girls are seriously opening up to us and talking with us more openly but the mom and dad were not there for both lessons this week. We had to bring Omar but he is also doing good. I hope you know I bought him the mission library for 12 dollars on the home card because our cards don’t let us do transactions online. So he is diving into Jesus the Christ. But while we were teaching the Hernandez girls they brought a friend named Isa. She listened in very well and understood the Book of Mormon better than the girls we were teaching. Well later she got up the courage and asked us for a Book of Mormon. We told her we would get her one and found out that her and her mom had been taking lessons in Puerto Rico. We have a lesson with them on Tuesday. The Lord provided about 3 more great referrals and we found another family. His name is Hector and he was out raking leaves when we asked if he needed help. Kindly he declined but then Elder Durrant points to all the chickens in his back yard. So he takes us back there and we end up starting a great relationship with him. His wife then comes out and ends up being pretty interested also because the man is actually a drunk. So she got super excited and invited us over for the next day. Well when we went over she intently listened and told us she wanted to go to our church. However she is leaving for Columbia in 2 days for a month! So that is kinda bad but we can still work with her husband. Then we were able to find out why some of the recent converts in this area are not coming and sadly it is because of cancer. I feel like the Lord is trying to teach me the concept to love those who need to be loved, mourn with those that mourn, be happy with those who are happy because sometimes I feel like from house to house to house my emotions are on a rickety ol ghost rider rollercoaster. We are happy at one, crying at another, feeling pain at the next, seeing the buds of hope in another, and enjoying the peace and gratitude that comes from having made the decisions and seeing the blessing that come. It is wonderful and beautiful. I love this mission. We also had some great meetings as we had district meeting and zone leader meeting and all the conferences and such and a couple other normal things but they kept us quite busy.

Wow I hope you all got some great things from conference. I felt like it was centered on being able to find peace in this life and how to share that with others. It is interesting because the only emotion or feeling that Satan cannot imitate is peace. We are bringers and producers of this peace and we have the fountain. We find peace in this life as we obey, as we come to know who we are and why we are here, as we understand why we have trials and how to overcome them, as we fast and search the sacred and holy scriptures, as we learn to keep our virtue and how to inspire that in others, and as we build an everlasting and firm foundation upon the Savior as we open our hearts to Him in earnest prayer seeking to do His will and trying our best to have His will be ours. I loved each and every one of those talks. I realized that some of them inspired me on how to do something, some inspired me what to do, and some inspired me to go and do. All are so effective and have already helped me as a missionary. I feel so much more love and gratitude also as I realized just how big of a blessing it is to be born in the church. We really struck the lotto, because there is a .24% or .00241667 of being a Mormon. We truly are blessed by our loving Heavenly Father. I love Him with all my heart. I hope you guys also begin to share what you have and that you study. The only way to get a testimony is to do what everyone else has done before which is to read and pray sincerely. I love this gospel. It is so simple and yet so complex and wonderful. I love you guys with all my heart and wish I could talk with you all day. I hope you are preparing to talk a lot of gospel with me because that has been my language and my topic of speaking with everyone for two years. hahaha I hope to never change that. Be ye an example of the believers. You guys are the greatest. Chelsey Cassie and Clay I love you so much and think about you guys a lot. I love the letters whenever they come. Carlee, Cami and Chloe I love you also and truly hope to give you guys the biggest hug when I get home. Mom and dad you guys have established and taught me in the ways of righteousness and I am forever grateful to you for that. I have come to the realization that everything has changed, that you guys won’t be or look the same when I get back but neither will I. I know this church is the true church; I love you all with all my heart.

LOVE,  ELDER OLIVER

March 26, 2013

Bendita Familia mia,

Wow this has just been a fantastic week!! Not only did I have such an awesome wonderful birthday filled with much gratitude for a very loving family, but we have just spent the last 3 days in the presence of an apostle!! Elder Neal L Anderson came and MAN did he have some things to say!! I was very surprised but also felt a renewed surge to carry out this work. Thank you guys sooo much for the great birthday! It really meant so much to me and the ring is beautiful!! Holy cow. It fits or at least on my index finger when it is cold and on my ring finger when it is warm. It is awesome. Also all the cards were great and I can’t wait to hand out all those little bracelets and such to the little kids here. They loved the last ones. So I love you guys so much and Mom I really hope you know that your gift is in process. I did not forget. I really got the idea like the week before and I am going to need some time to get it all nice. Plus a couple women in the ward were trying to help me out with it. But I hope you had an awesome day and that the family took great care of you. I love you! As for me here I was well taken care of. We got to be with all the other missionaries for the apostles’ special training and then the Llanos family who is like one of my favorites made us a wonderful meal and then sang Happy Birthday. I was treated very well. That’s why emails are today. We also had a wonderful family night last night where we watched the movie “On the Lords Errand” in Spanish. It was awesome and the Garrido family really liked it.

As for the week it went awesome! We had some great lessons and some good exchanges and just everything went pretty smoothly. However we did get thrown out of many places because they say we are soliciting. But they can’t throw us out if people ask us to come so they can never really throw us out. We are finding many more prepared people every week and hopefully the new ones we found this week will turn out great. Also I did just get all signed up for my classes. I have classes on Tuesday and Thursday only starting at 730 til about 545 with some small breaks in between--oh and a lunch hour. So things are looking great but I can always change it whenever I need to.

Couple stories real fast. We are setting a baptismal date with the whole Hernandez family this week hopefully so that’s 6 or 7 people progressing towards baptism. pretty cool. They came to stake conference and liked it a lot. We are now working with the nonmembers in the Dominican family we just found and they are reading the Book of Mormon even though she was a Jehovah Witness before. I LOVE DOMINICANS. We are so close with the Garrido family I can smell it! hahaha The dad is now to the point where he no longer agrees with the wife if she has a complaint about the church or a concern. It’s kinda hard because now she is solo--so she feels like she has to be tougher. We are having a DVD of the bible videos put together to help everyone understand the power and reality of the atonement and this week is usually one of the only Sundays where everyone goes to church!! hahahaha so we have high hopes. And quite a few other good lessons. I love this work! Now for what the apostle said. Two things that really surprised me. One, he asked what do we do when we go home teaching and they slam the door on us? We don’t go back.... I was like dumbfounded. He goes on to explain that we don’t compel anyone to come to church. We respect free agency. He said it’s different when they have excuses or they just can’t do it but he told us that sometimes we just focus on statistics too much and that we should focus on the quality. Also he told us that there are many people who do not need a home teacher. He related to us a story about how his home teachers came over faithfully to teach him the message and one time he just told the guy "Paul I am taught by President Packard almost every day I don’t need this! Be with my son! Go to his games participate in his life. etc." He just tried to explain what our real purpose as home teachers is. Then he also said that one of the best parts of the gospel is that not everyone makes it! I was o my dearin pretty badly at that part. He said the blessing of the gospel is knowing we have it and get to be one of the few recipients who will have all that the Father has. It really made me think a lot about how we can go to church and fulfill callings and do all kinds of stuff but if the gospel never gets to our hearts and into our souls we may not make it. I just think about how simple it is but how few people actually get it. I think about how little I really get it! I just feel like I am going to be doing a lot more and pushing a lot harder to secure myself. However it does all come little by little and precept upon precept. There were many other things that happened and were taught but the thing I remember the most is how I felt during it. I remember coming to the realization that he is just a man. But that he has an undying light inside him that has helped him become gigantic spiritually. I knew that if anybody gets it he does and that he knows and most likely if I read his implications right has seen our loving Savior. I love this gospel and I know it is true! I also love you all and can’t wait to get home to see you. You are my biggest blessing. I hope you all are staying swell and dandy.

LOVE,

ELDER OLIVER

March 18, 2013



BUENAS

Well my dear chaps I might say that this was just a fantastic week. We had a lot of success and I really have no idea where it came from. Not only did we have success but our zone took off!! We almost met every one of our goals as a zone and we had set some pretty high goals. I could not believe it! Just a sweet tender mercy from the Lord. For us alone we were able to get part of the Hernandez family to church and have the rest of the family committed for next week. We also got 4 new investigators and they are all pretty positive-- 2 of them live with our recent converts! So we are pretty excited. Oh and one of the members who left to Wauchula came back and is doing great and texted us to come over to his house to visit. We also found a Dominican family that is already part of the church except for her 9 year old daughter. She came to church with us this week and hopefully we can also start to teach her mother. I feel like I am good at attracting Dominicans. Also we are super close to getting a couple baptisms! like 3 super soon I hope. Then we also had a great family night and another less active came and participated in it with us. So now Monday night is a BIG night. We have like 1 or 2 investigator families attending and now quite a few less actives. We are also trying to get another set up with some members so hopefully that goes through this week. I went on an exchange with one of the district leaders in my old area of Tampa 5c and we got to see some people that I have really missed. We also got to find a new family because we knocked a door twice in a row. The mother told us that they had been looking for a church where they would just "get that feeling." Then her husband and I have played soccer together before and he recognized me so that was pretty cool because it’s been like 4 months. Also we got a very less active man back to church this Sunday who hasn’t been in a long time named Narciso. He came and loved it again. We really just saw so many blessings and it was so beautiful. I love this work! I know the Lord is speeding His work. I am so glad that I get to be a part of it and for everything I had to learn in the process. I remember back at the beginning when I had no idea about anything just a big ol desire to be the best I could. Well the Lord has taken that and with MUCH time and MUCH pressure I feel like things are just starting to come a little better. We are happy as clams and swell as whales. Plus the ward is doing awesome here too. Given the bishop had to pass through a stroke but that has not stopped him one bit. FIGHT FOR ZION HHOOOO HAAAAA!!! (I just wrote that so you all could hear mom say that as she reads this letter out loud. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha)   Family please join in the following;

HHAAAPPPYY BIIIRRRTTTHHHHDDDAAAAYYYY TOOO YYYYOOOOUUUUU!! HHHHAAAAAPPPPYYYY BBBIIIIRRRTTTTHHHHDDDAAAAYYYY TOOO YYYYYOOOOOUUUUU!!! HHHHHAAAPPPYYY BBBBIIIRRRRTTTTHHHHDDDAAAAAYYYYY MMMMMAAAAAMMMMMAAAAA OOOOOOLLLIIIIVVVEEERRRR (OHLIBER EN ESPANOL) HHHHHHAAAAAPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYY BBBIIIIIIIRRRRRTTTTHHHHHHDDDDAAAAYYYYYYYYYY TTTTOOOOOOOOOO YYYYYYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday mom! I love you soo very much! I hope you know I did remember your birthday and I have been trying to think about what I could give you but the idea didn’t come till just recently so it will have to be like a birthday mother’s day type thing. Please forgive me for my inabilities. But I am super excited to hear that you guys had such a fun trip. I hope it was everything you wanted it to be. Little girls I am so happy you had so much fun. Sorry to hear that the gorilla was so bipolar. It’s just that he’s jealous that he’s not a red haired gorilla. I have my schedule for all my classes because I had an appointment with my counselor. I am taking CIS 105 something about computers information, Microeconomics, Statistics, Sociology 101 and Public speaking. All of these classes will be on Tuesday and Thursday from about 9 in the morning till 6 at night. So not bad. I also have a break in between and I think I will keep it there and just take early morning institute. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Well I love you and have to go sorry this letter is so sporadic and terrible but next weeks will be better. I love you guys with all my heart, and can”t wait to see you all soon.
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

March 11, 2013



Querida Familia Mia,

Well it has been a great and wonderful week. I feel like a lot of great things have happened and I am happy to report back to you all. Super happy to hear that you guys get to go to Utah and that Aly is getting married. How beautiful is that? What a blessing to have found a priesthood holder to take her into the temple and to be sealed for time and eternity beginning the greatest adventure life can ever give us. Tell her how much I love her and how excited I am that this is happening! But as for you all I hope you enjoy your stay and vacation and that you really find time to relax and do some fun things. I love you guys so much and can’t wait to be there for probably the next one!!!! hahaha
As for this week I have some cool little things to share with you. So that family I talked about in the last letter is even more interesting! There are six of them that listen participate and ask good questions. They are from Mexico and actually studied with the Jehovah Witnesses for two years. (JW are really big over here but they try to avoid Mormons so there aren’t many in Arizona) So they were asking all sorts of questions and the mom already had a friend who tried to anti her but she completely rejected it and said she wanted to hear it from our mouths. hahhaha Also--we had contacted this guy on the street once named Pablo and he told us we could come over. So we have been calling him for a while and he is always very nice but says he is working. Well he happened to be one of the guys who live in that house!! Yea how crazy right? So they are doing good. It might be hard to get them to church because the mom and dad work on Sunday but they have 3 daughters and a brother who do not. It’s the Hernandez family by the way. We are excited to start with them. We also finally saw Flavio again and he is way positive and introduced us to his wife who he had said is very very Catholic and wanted nothing to do with us. He made great friends with Omar and then Omar helped him find work and a bike!! Yea Omar is on fire. We had an awesome lesson on faith and they asked us to come back. Also we caught up with Manny with President Summerhays and he is doing well. He is preparing to get married quickly so he can get baptized. He already knows and is ready for baptism he just has to get married. (It’s a weird financial thing) But something cool I wanted to share were two revelations I had recently. I had been praying for help with my investigators and some less actives when these two examples came to me. I have really been trying to write down revelations because the more care we give to what the Lord gives us the more He gives us. So these investigators have some addictions and its stopping them from progressing. Well I was asking for help to be able to say something that would make the difference and this is what came. We are like little infants learning to walk. After much time in the arms of our parents we find enough strength to stand on our own and soon to move. But those first times when we start moving we fall a lot. As we have seen in countless home videos usually whoever is trying to walk is super happy to be moving and then gets frustrated every time they fall and they cry and lay down and try to give up. Just like we do. We feel excited and are happy-- filled with joy at our accomplishments,and then we fall and feel disappointment with ourselves and many times get tired of trying, We get those "what’s the point" feelings as we kinda rub our faces in the carpet. Well just like in those videos usually the loving father and mother just smile and encourage, with such understanding, picking the little infant back up and setting it in position to begin to move again. Allowing the second chance and then the third and then however many it takes till they just start walking. In that very same way our Father in Heaven works with us. His love and patience is infinite. He will wait for us. We are his children. He knows our potential and He knows we can do it. When we fall His love becomes larger picking us up and putting us back at the starting position. Waiting for that day when we will finally begin to walk. Some times it takes longer to learn but we will learn as we allow Him to embrace us and we accept His encouragement knowing that He has faith in us. When we were able to share that with our less active He began to cry and I knew that that revelation had been specifically for him. I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father sees fit to use us as missionaries in bringing His sheep back. Second--leaving addictions and habits are like leaving water without a towel. We feel so cold at first and begin to shiver and shake as the winds blow upon the water droplets on our body. We want to return to the warmth we had in the water. But as we begin to dry we realize that it is better out of the water and that soon the water actually ends up being irritatingly cold and our desire ceases to be returning. I have never seen how powerful addictions can get until my mission. We will shake and shiver as the effects of what we got accustomed to wears off. We will want to return as the cold winds nip us even to the bone. I then realized that there is another heat source which we can look to while out of the water. That being Jesus Christ. As we embrace the Savior we feel the heat of His love and not only that but He also takes upon Himself the water that was on our body, helping us to recover more quickly. He truly atoned for our sins and was and is willing to bare our burdens if we will embrace Him and His atonement. I know and have witnessed the love of the Savior so many times on my mission. His forgiveness is unconditional. He has and will continue to lighten our loads and bring us to the peace, happiness and light of the gospel. I know He lives. I have never felt more than I do now that He is my older brother. I have prayed to Him so personally and have seen His hand in many things. I am still prescription 10 and sometimes those eggs are right in front of my face but I have seen and noticed His tender mercies. I have and do feel His love as I testify each and every chance I get. This is His work and I get to be a beautiful part of it. These stories are also tied into a one liner my president always says here in the mission that I actually had engraved in my heart before I even got to the field. "Repentance is a Beautiful thing." I encourage you all to never postpone any repentance that may need to be done. To do it now and with as much humility as you can muster. The Lord will not punish but you will feel His love and mercy as you come to realize how much you really do need Him. He is everything! I love you guys and hope you are growing spiritually each day. I cannot wait for the adventures ahead!
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

March 4, 2013

(talking to Chantz on Christmas--can't believe he will be home in 3 1/2 months!!)

Familia Mia!

Well I am just right and dandy. Things have been quite a bit of a rollercoaster this week let me tell ya. We had a lot of great things and a lot of pretty sad and disappointing things too. But they weren’t really disappointing. First off though sounds like the family is doing great and that everything is coming together pretty well. I love to hear that you guys are all doing great and that things are awesome. Congratulations to Cassie!! I cannot believe you graduated from hair school!! I am so excited for sweet haircuts! hahhaha Well I must say I am fairly trained with a buzzer. I have cut my hair and quite a few others hair too but a few times it was pretty embarrassing. So I trust you will do a much better job than I could ever do. Mom “Elder Juice” is super healthy! It helps the body functions right and actually has helped our members lose a lot of weight just with better body function. It maintains his diabetes and his sleeping patterns have returned to normal! Plus we have been sleeping like champs! hahaha We wake up way easier now than before. The only downfall is Mr. Gift. hahahaha But that adds color to life. Actually the member once let one slip! It was quite funny. I did get readmitted this week and my scholarship is back on and I almost have my major changed to Business Entrepreneurship. I got my ASU account back up and I am ready to register by March 26. So we were lucky because Elder Durrant just got in to BYU so he had a bunch of stuff to do on the computer so I just did all mine too! hahah I will have to look the classes up and give you a list of all the ones I need. So you guys can go on and do it on the 26th. I feel a lot more organized and capable nowadays.. hahhaa Blessings I tell ya. Manny is well and we have an appointment with him on Thursday because transfer week was busy. By the way I am staying with Elder Durrant and will probably finish here. For my birthday just save the money please because I am telling you right now none of my pants are going to fit and any shirt smaller than a large is not going to either. hahaha Plus I have plenty out here to make it the last 4 months. But I would ask for some fresh garments for when I come home. Two years and a lot of bike riding and sweat have done some work. I feel like I am 20 but nowadays people are guessing like 23 to 25 so I don’t know. This is going by soooooo fast! haha Well we also just got the car back for full car again which means sisters here are now on car share and so is everyone else who is not zone leader. haha

Well as for the work and my week--like I said it’s quite the rollercoaster. We had a beautiful family night with our two most progressing investigators the Garrido family and the Colon family and our ward mission leader-- The Betancourt family. We watched the Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration video and it was great! They liked it a lot, or so we thought. Well last week the Colon family had come to church and had said they really liked it but then when we had planned to go over this week they ended up dropping us pretty hard. They sat us down and begin to tell us how they didn’t think the movie had talked enough about God, and how church should have been longer, yea longer! Then they start into how we talk too much about prophets because the talks were quoted with many lines from prophets and such on Sunday. Then after really trying to follow the Spirit because they were like wrenching my heart we get them to admit that every time they prayed to know if this is the true church they have felt peace, and they recognize all the blessings they have gotten since starting with us. It came to the point where I realized my Heavenly Father was teaching me something. The line from preach my gospel that says "Even after you have done all you can do, People still have their agency." The quote kept coming to my mind and reminding me that I have to accept that and let go. In that moment when I decided to let go I can honestly say I began to cry. I felt so much love and have tried so hard to love these people but allowing them their free agency was just all I could do. I realize now that it takes even greater love to give in and let others make that choice. I witnessed what Heavenly Father must feel when we make wrong choices. Letting go and letting them do something that will destroy all they have obtained by respecting free agency requires Great love. I did not cry because I believe this is the end, I did not cry because I may not see them baptized I cried because just as the scripture says in 2 Nephi 28 :30 they will lose everything they have been given. They will be brought to their knees in humility and they will have to realize what they have done. I do not want them to suffer what they have chosen to suffer but repentance is a beautiful thing. I love that I was able to experience this. That my Heavenly Father saw fit to teach me this concept. I feel it will take a lot longer to be good at it but its starting. Also that same day we got a message from one of my favorite investigators because she is a little bit of a battle, saying that she did not want to continue with us either, that her pastor from Puerto Rico had told her many things about us and that she no longer wanted to see us. So over the phone I reminded her about the peace she had felt with us and begged to be permitted to answer questions. Well--we go over and in a short and very easy loving manner we were able to reconvince her and to settle her nerves. I love the gospel because it is true and brings peace to our souls where other things cannot. Well she ends up sharing with us how she thinks of missionaries as angels. Omar was with us and he also begins to share how that’s exactly how he feels. That they come when needed and when we are standing-- they must leave to help others. It was very intesting because in a study I did back in Wauchula I followed a chain of scriptures and words and was led to the understanding that missionaries are angels. And I always thought that was very cool and interesting but to live it and hear it from the mouth of someone else is a whole different experience. I felt so much love again as I realized the blessing it is to serve, to be those angels, to bring peace, love and happiness to those who are seriously in need of it. To go among the poor of spirit and to share the message of the restoration, to teach the plan of salvation and to help others realize they are heirs to the kingdom of God. It’s a very beautiful thing. However we had the Garrido family finally at church and it was awesome! The Spirit was SUPER strong and they left happy as clams. haha However we just got news not five minutes ago that they were in a car accident and that it was serious. We are going to see them in the hospital soon. Also our bishop just had a stroke and is also in the hospital. So many ups and downs for this week. We also got a new investigator who is super into learning. Not to mention we had been thinking about knocking this one certain house that our investigator lady wanted us to go to, but we were at a lesson with someone else when this lady asks us to come to her house and it ends up being that exact house!! How crazy is that? I am sooo stoked to go over and start teaching. She is sooo nice and was actually interested enough to give us her information and ask us to come over. We really didn’t even do anything! haha I can just promise that the Lord provides when we ask and act.

Lightning round. 2 Nephi 28: 30 is my favorite verse to help people feel comfort with us and was actually something that really helped me on my mission because I thought I had to be awesome from day one till going home. I hope you all know any success I have is not from what I do but from what the Lord does for us. I believe the Book of Mormon to have powers that we can’t even comprehend. I weigh 185 still. I love fasting. It almost snowed in Florida. I am almost done with Jesus the Christ and have developed a hunger for it. I LOVE EMPANADAS. I hope you know we always have a place to stay here in Florida. I may be sending a guy named Sergio who is an awesome return missionary who served in California to come and visit you. The cancer in the father of the Berrios family has completely gone away. although we had to give him to the sisters here. I am super excited for all of you to get to serve a mission and I know it will be the greatest adventure of your life. Any preparation you do now will help. Watch the District videos online. They will help your desire. I love you and miss you guys so much!

LOVE, ELDER OLIVER

February 25, 2013

BUENAS DIAS!

Hey I am kinda sorry about this but I don’t have much time because I had to do a bunch of picture stuff and my time is really short! I am trying to get the cards out to you this week but you might be disappointed at how little amount of new ones there are. But anyways as for this week it has been awesome. Just some highlights.

We got the Colon family to come to church, We have 3 people committed for next week, We found a new investigator who asked us when we are coming back, We just got a ton of food and we just got a juice named ELDER JUICE after us. We had a bunch of awesome really good lessons where many a doubt was brought out and tonight we have a family night with 2 investigator families--and 1 other investigator (lady in the picture with the old guy ((that’s Omar our recent convert who is on fire))) We just got a referral from the ward and she is interested, We almost set a baptismal date with a guy named Manny who is awesome. He’s a super tough Puerto Rican but he super respects President Summerhayes so we brought him with us and the lesson went great. President Summerhayes is going to work with us together to get him baptized before we go home. So there is a lot of good things and much more to come. “Elder Juice” is super good for you it’s just blended up fruits and veggies that pretty much have saved people from cancer but at the same time give a man enough "magic" to offend some people close by if you know what I am saying;) hahahahaha Also Mom and Dad I am starting the process of getting signed back up to go to school on permission of President. I hope to be able to do that quickly and get everything I need. Apparently classes are already open for choosing! My comp is looking at going there so.... I really love your letters and I have really been trying to write well but this week you must excuse me. I feel like I just got slapped with a pan and all of a sudden I realized oh yea there is life after the mission and I have to sign up soon or I will have to go through what I went through last time. I am changing to business and that means the whole process of changing a major too. In other words-- I feel a little stressed right now and hope this week allows me to take care of everything and still get all the work done we need to.  Lightning round, We had a beautiful lesson on the spirit and how to recognize it with the Garrido family, We were able to solve a huge problem for the Colon family and they recognized that as God telling them to go to church. So they came. Migdalia didn’t want to have us over but we promised it would make her happy and that she would feel hope if she let us come over so she did and we brought a member that was saying the exact things she needed to hear and now she told us that she wants to go to our church because we make her feel happy and peace. I love the gospel and I testify of the power it has to bring peace and happiness and joy into our lives. The gospel is the good news and it produces better people. I love to share it and I have felt myself let go a little more and trust in the care of my Heavenly Father. He is there. I can feel it every time I kneel down to pray. I LOVE YOU GUYS AND MISS YOU MUCH.

LOVE ELDER OLIVER

February 19, 2013



HEYO FAMILYO!
Well this week was quite different. Beautiful in many ways and kinda slow at the same time. But first I must thank you guys for the wonderful and greatly detailed letters. I truly appreciate them. Mom I will try to send you my pictures but I don’t know how many more I have really taken. I will see if I can send home my hard-drive and my most recent camera card. By the way I found the other one that I thought you had lost.... Yep I admit it and I am repenting of it. So very sorry about that. Also I did get the package! It was awesome and I destroyed it! hahaha I love those cookie and creme drops!!! Also I think it did get here on Valentines Day. It may have been on the day before but hey I ain’t complainin. Thank you so much for always making my holidays more special!

So this week I had some of the most beautiful moments of my life! It was one of those pay off weeks. I just had it reconfirmed to me that my work is good and that I am doing well. In other words--there were many a tender mercies going around. To start off (not really a tender mercy) I won in racquetball and stayed as king of the court the whole entire time!! hahahaha but just barely. Aside from that we have been able to change our teaching methods a little and the results are fantastic!! We have the two families, Colon and Garrido, and they are both progressing very well but kinda not progressing because they can never come to church. So we have kinda been thinking about maybe slowing down with them, plus I am kinda the type to want to work only with those who are on fire, Ready and prepared to receive the gospel and make covenants. But--with these two families I have learned so much patience and my ability to love has grown so much more. First we had a wonderful lesson with the Colon’s on Tuesday where we went back over the plan of salvation and we invited them to say a 5 min prayer asking only one question and just waiting in prayer to see if an answer came. Well we went back on Thursday and when we asked about how the prayers had gone the father (who has always kinda been against religion but likes to listen to us and has said multiple times "I won’t get baptized till I know for sure that it’s the right one") doesn’t really answer the question but he looks at me and says "You know the other day I was talking with my wife and it’s kinda personal stuff but I feel like I am getting there. I feel like I want to do this and I will probably do it before you leave." I felt the spirit so strong in that moment. Realizing how much he had to have come to say that. It’s hard to describe what he was like before but it is a big change and he said instead of being baptized after his wife he would like to lead her there. I just know this gospel is true. I wish you could be here to see and feel what I felt when he said that. I felt so humbled and privileged to be able to hear it. In all honesty it’s not that huge but really it is. Then with the Garridos we really were able to have an awesome lesson with them about prayers and we shared experiences about when we had felt the spirit. It was the first time in a long time that someone had asked me to share my story of conversion. I like always-- felt again the same feeling I felt then. It was fantastic and they are really diving into the Book of Mormon now. Also we went on exchanges yesterday and today and I went back to my old area--Tampa 5c. Well I felt bad because I pretty much planned the day out for the elders because Jaqueline and the llanos family had asked me when I was coming down and if I would go see them. So we went to see llanos (we got to baptize their daughter Brideli) and they cooked me what I had asked them to cook me which were empanadas. But not the Mcdonalds apple pastry kind. The really good kind. It was just very fun to be over there and I felt so much love for that family. The Hermana had kinda been less active before we went over and now she just got called to be the Relief Society secretary. She was so grateful and just kept expressing how grateful she was for all the help we had been able to give her. I felt again my love increase not only for her and her family but also for my loving Heavenly Father. He truly knows me. I can’t wait to be able to see her and her parents enter the temple again someday to be sealed for all time and eternity. Then we went to Jaqueline’s house and well it was also beautiful. We had helped her move in and so I got to see it all complete and it was beautiful! Not to mention after I left she was able to get baptized due to some very serious things happening. Anyways she had bought cake and cookies to share with us and then on top of that she bought me and Elder Russell (which we are not even her elders anymore) cologne which was so nice and then she expressed her gratitude for everything we had done to help her and for having shared the gospel with her. Sometimes as missionaries we forget what we are sharing and the power it has to change lives, but last night I was reminded of how marvelous and wonderful it is. The gospel is a light unto the world. It brings peace to those who have none and offers comfort to the weary. I love it with all my heart and wish that I could do this forever! Of course you all would have to move here to Florida because I don’t know how much longer I can make it. I feel so much joy and happiness and have come to know so much more strongly than ever before. I love you guys and miss you so much.
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

February 11, 2013



Mi super chevre familia,

Well I am super sorry but this is one of those not so much time to write and get out everything I would like to weeks but I will try my best. The reason is we are getting two new sister missionaries in our zone and they are opening an area that was previously run by elders. We as zone leaders have to make sure that everything goes smoothly because its not transfer week but these sisters left the MTC early. (One of the sisters will be older who is opening the area) So we are doing that and we have to give our car up and we have to pick up Elders from South Tampa so they can come up to pday. So a bunch of little things and I just hope we are able to enjoy pday enough to be satisfied and ready for the week. I find that a pday enjoyed is super important, because if Elders cant get it out on pday sometimes they will find other times during the week to play games or something. So we try to make pdays great. hahaha Also I have no idea about transfers because I really could leave but if I don’t-- most likely I will finish my mission here... Yes tracting has been going on a lot lately mostly because a bunch of our positive people have been slowing down due to new jobs or illness or something but hopefully this week picks right back up. Plus all the members and stuff are starting to set appts with us so I think its mostly just because I am taking this area after one transfer so there is a little de-bumping to do. But it's getting better. Plus I love tracting. We found a new guy named Flavio who was learning with the missionaries for a year and a half in Puerto Rico and now wants to start learning again. Hopefully we can really help him out. We also found a pretty cool new family called the Montez family from Cuba and they have yet to listen to us but have invited us over this week. So there is some good things coming from it. The districts are doing good and getting a lot better. We have been doing a lot of accountability and
holding people responsible for the goals they set and its awesome to see their improvements. They get excited to report when they see success so they strive for it. Plus I feel so much love and excitement too when I hear and see their happiness. The work is going forth.As for meeting with the missionaries-- we have district meeting on Wed and we alternate which district we go to, We also have zone conference once every other month and we as zone leaders have zone leader council and then with our zone-- zone leader training (its like a district meeting but we give the training) also we usually have zone leader district leader council where all the district leaders and zone leaders go. So as zone leaders we see other people pretty often. As for talking with President Summerhayes, yes we talk quite a bit, especially as of lately considering his excitement for us extending--the areas in our zone opening-- questions that come from our zone-- presidents breakfast (every 5th week of the transfer)-- planning for our extension-- giving trainings, and all the councils and meetings. So yes we do. hahaha With members we do eat a lot but like I said it is just taking time for me to get a hold on this area and to know everyone’s time and such but we now have about 5-6 set meals every week--whether they are lunch or dinner. Also about Bryant that is so exciting!! I am super happy to hear that he finally gets to hit the field. I know he is going to be an awesome missionary and that he will see much success! I feel like Ammon hahaha My brethren going out to preach the restored and most wonderful gospel. There is no better thing.
As for this week I truly appreciate all the fill ins you always give me. They are super appreciated and I am glad to hear that everything is going so well. Keep it up! As for what’s going on here its getting good. We finally had some people come to church and IT was awesome. Since I have been in Tampa soo long the ward knows me and trusts me a lot. Like if I ask for some friend-shipping with certain people-- they are all on it! We were taught about the 15 names list and I set up all the appts and meetings and now they are just really trying to go for it. The bishopric just got changed so things are catching fire and things are being done right. Its the first actual Hispanic bishop in the Hispanic ward I believe in forever. So they, the Hispanics, are just pumped to show their stuff. But to return to the people at church it was the Berrios (who sadly we actually have to hand over to the sisters coming in) and I was sooo happy to see them there at church. All the leaders came over to me asked their names and then I really didn’t have to do anything else. They were seated near the front, I think the whole ward shook their hand and gave them the Hispanic kiss. They were taught how to read the hymns, told about how the meetings will go, showed and explained the symbolism and sacredness of everything and then the mother actually got up and sang with the whole Relief Society!! She was crying and I just know the Spirit was burning inside them. I can not describe how happy I was to see the members taking such good care of these people who we have tried so hard to work with. It was really a tender mercy of the Lord and now the sisters are pretty much guaranteed two to 4 (they have two daughters who didn’t come) baptisms. Fellowshipping is a responsibility we have as members in the church, You never know the effect you will have on someone’s life just by introducing yourself. Remember Brother Bailey and dad?? Also I really wanted to share an experience I had just last night. We were trying to go to see a family but we were stuck outside the gate of the complex. We called the member (Omar Betancourt) who is our ward missionary and recent convert (he is on fire! gospel wise) and he ends up having to come and get us at the gate. So you have to understand that Omar is an older guy, Very active and very talkative and personable, but he is kinda lonely because he has his wife who works and his dog who almost eats us and then he is retired and has diabetes. So he studies and comes out with us whenever we need him. The only thing is that when we go to his house it’s at least an hour before we leave due to him loving to have us over. So--he signals us to come over to his house and thinking about that family I really wanted to say no but something just relaxed inside and we headed over to his house. We get there and have a great conversation but somehow as we are talking it comes out, It being his greatest regret. I have never seen Omar cry but last night he did as I felt something I have never felt before or at least so strongly. He is talking to us and with diabetes he knows he probably doesn’t have much more time to live. So as he’s talking he says "my biggest regret is that I didn’t get to know the church sooner, for if I had known I could have done so much more for my Lord." Those words really kinda hit me in the core. I had been thinking about how my mission is just like a mini life cycle. We get pre-trained, we come to "the field", we learn and grow through experiences and trials, we teach two years and then we "die" and return to our family our mothers and fathers. I realized that our lives are the same. I realized when Omar said that-- how blessed I have been to be born under the covenant, to have been born into the true church, the only one on the face of the earth, to have been raised by wonderful parents who taught me about the scriptures and doctrines.  It put into my heart a new fire as I realized just how little time is left and how much I have to do. I felt the spirit so strong witness once again the importance of what I am doing and the blessing it is to be out here. I am so glad that I have been blessed and allowed to serve a mission to my Heavenly Father and to have been able to give Him everything I have and to still be able to do that today and tomorrow for a little more time. I just know this church is true and that the work I am doing will leave everlasting effects upon so many people. I feel like Omar and hope with all my might that I am able to do as much good as I can.  We have the greatest treasure in all the world!! I can’t tell you the joy I feel sharing this treasure with anyone who will listen. I know this gospel will change our lives and I am really starting to understand who is my Father in Heaven and what He has in store for me. I love you guys and hope that everything goes great this week. Happy Valentines day! You guys truly are my greatest blessing.
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

February 4, 2013

FAMILIA MIA,

Well might I say that this has been yet again a great and marvelous week in the work of the Lord. I am sorry to say but I have not much time once again and I think I might even set the habit of talking a little more about what’s going on here in the work than following up on how everything is going. I love you and I love hearing about you and I am so thankful for all the letters and updates you guys always make sure to give me. They still mean a lot to me and I hope you know how much I miss you guys. But wow I am so close to done! I have to just kill this last part and then rejoice with you all at the end. I love this work and I hope you all know how much it means to me. There is a joy and peace and excitement that comes from serving our Heavenly Father one that I have never before experienced or even thought of. I love the Savior and my personal relationship grows and is still growing everyday with Him. I hope and pray that you are all doing something everyday to get closer to your Father in Heaven and to get to know who is your Savior in a very personal way! I would exhort you all to read the scriptures.

Well this week for us here in Tampa was somewhat of a rough one. We had a lot of success but also many many fall throughs. We found some new and pretty positive families and hope to be able to start the life changing process of conversion. We also, with our new bishop (who is finally a Hispanic because before there has always been a white bishop) are really starting to take fire with the ward. A bunch of very inspired callings were made and we are getting ready to function like a ward should. 33 baptisms this year is the goal and I know we can do it. We already have 2 dates set in my area alone and they are pretty set in stone-- given they are for the 9th of March with the Garrido family but it is only due to the fact that the Hermano just had his prostate removed. They wanted to get baptized the 16th of Feb but after the operation they very humbly asked to change it to the 9th of March. I just really hope I am here to see that through. I love that family and they somehow have just been very prepared. Every prayer they ask that we be their family and that we always come back! haha Also after quite a bit of boldness we got them truly reading the Book of Mormon. The father loves it and the wife has even found him up late at night like 3 in the morning just reading. Its awesome because at the same time they are really opening up to us. We came to find out just how much prayer (not recited) helps him with the stress he has being the father and provider and not being able to work. It is so bad that he can’t sleep. So he reads and he explained that in a very real way he is coming to the knowledge of who is his Savior and Lord as he pleads constantly for the help and means to provide. I love hearing what they tell us for it always reminds me who is my Savior and what He does for me every day. We also came to get the wife to open up as she shared so tenderly her fear for her daughter. I realized probably more than ever before the love that a mother has for her children. Of all the things she has to worry about, of all the hardships and struggles she is going through the thing that worries her the most is her daughter. She shared how much she cries unto the Lord pleading for her that she might be softened of heart and that she has success in this life. And at this point I just realized how much I love my mother. I felt a deep gratitude that the Lord in all His mercy and love saw fit to give me the best mother in the world. And not only that, but the fact that He even gave His wonderful tender daughters to us men that we might have joy and experience the Saviors love through them. How grateful I am to my wonderful Savior. Asides from them we are working with the Berrios who are also an awesome family. We have kinda been having a really hard time getting with them because recently the father received some bad news from the doctors. He had received a diagnosis a year ago that said he only had 6 months to live yet here he is still living. What a blessing it has been to the family and now in the moment when they were striving to become even better he received news that he has two tumors in his body. We have been praying for them and asking to know what we can do to help and as we went to zone leader meeting this week we knelt down in mighty prayer and a beautiful revelation came to me. It was small and simple but the answer is to do just as the Savior would. We will show them our love and encourage them to go on. I have full faith that my Father in Heaven is leading this work and in a very real sense leading me by the hand. I can’t explain the joy that comes from living as a missionary. I feel my love growing and my heart becoming more tender, I feel greater understanding and a undying hope for everyone I come in contact with. I feel more patience to endure my trials and a humility that has brought me to my knees to plead before my loving Father in Heaven for people that I have barely come to know and for myself personally. I feel a fire and hunger for the truths of the gospel and a strong desire to live the very best I can. I feel sad for those who are sad and happy for they who are happy. And for just small little instances I have begun and continue to see people and myself as our Heavenly Father sees us. The potential in every one of us is unlimited and the mercy for each of us is eternal. We have been so blessed in our lives to be in the true church and to feel the comfort and surety that comes as the spirit whispers these things are true. I hope and pray that all of you are doing everything you can to build your relationship with Him and to establish a firm foundation so when the whirlwinds and storms come you will not fall. Otherwise I will go to the ends of the earth to ensure that we ALL make it back together. This is it, This is His church, These are the last days. It is coming quickly to an end. Prepare personally and privately. I love you and hope you know again the love I feel when I think about you all. The day is coming quickly when I will come home and a whole new adventure will start. I cannot wait for that day and I look forward to it.

 

PS (lightning round, I like dogs now, My favorite personal item I have received on my mission from members is a box of dominos that came directly from Cuba handcrafted, I love my companion, he lives on Higley and Southern, YEP two miles from our house, He understands about QT and how much it dominates Maverick and any other gas station, He is also a red head so we are just two peas in a Hispanic pod, I am thinking about playing a lot of soccer when I get home)

LOVE ELDER OLIVER

January 28, 2013

Querida Familia Mia,

Well I am so grateful for all the news I was able to catch up on! It sounds like you guys are doing awesome and that things are going super awesome. I love to hear that!! I am so proud at how much you guys can all accomplish and do in such a small amount of time! haha But this letter is going to be a little different, I am going to talk a lot more about things here and answer your questions that you always ask me. The only thing is I won’t be able to talk so much about everything over there.  As for transfers they came and Elder Vasher is leaving to Immokalee to finish training a new missionary. Also my son Elder Russell is going to St Petersburg. I am staying here and getting a red head from Arizona who knew a bunch of my friends and lived in Mesa but never knew me named Elder Durrant. He is actually more friends with Alys friends than my friends. So we are pretty excited to finally get to serve together. He is quite a spiritual giant. However this transfer is only 5 weeks rather than 6. On top of that-- they are combining my old area and the other Spanish area so that actually is causing problems because my old area is putting out about a baptism a month while the other really has nothing going on. And as the leader I am kinda in the middle of it and trying to maintain the peace hahahaaha. But I talked to President and he told me a lot of things that really helped us be able to kinda force solve the problem. We are getting two sets of sisters here in Tampa next transfer and we are losing a pair of Elders at the same time. SO they are closing an area instead of combining. Sad but sometimes it has to be done in order to keep the spirit with those Elders. They are all super good-- its just they love their people and their investigators and it’s hard to leave people you have worked hard for... As for the families they are going awesome!! They have told us they want to get baptized in February so we hope to see those through soon. Maybe a couple more also because this week we got 8 new investigators and 4 are super positive while the others are pretty positive. We are gonna work our tails! hahaha As for dad’s questions, Yes that is similar to a traveling AP, but we are not APs. We will just be like training the mission. hahaha As for my experience being a zone leader it has been awesome. The cool part is you are sure to be with an awesome Elder so like all those little miracles are a lot more present. It’s easier to become friends and form relationships with members and investigators and its way easier to teach. I also just like having to take change and make decisions when others can’t. It’s really helped me become more confident in the things I do and I feel more sure about myself. It’s been pretty humbling too. I just hope to be what everyone else needs me to be. I feel like as I get excited it’s easier to see others excited and its like all my compliments mean a whole lot more nowadays. hahaha We are really trying to teach our zones about how to work and how even good things can be distractions from better things. Just kinda focusing on what is good to do, what is better to do, and what is the best to do. I feel like sometimes we really see others thinking that they can do things their way or that they know the area and the people and how to run the place and stuff, We also see time wasted on things that are important but not the most important. For example, it took me forever to realize that just doing less actives to get a number is a complete waste of time. We are called to go and get them but if they are not willing and ready to come back we need to move on to better and best. Those willing and ready to change are the best. So even if it means knocking doors it is better than visiting a less active who has shown no interest in changing. Sometimes it’s just hard to explain to others. I feel that that is one reason why we are seeing many more baptisms lately. My last two areas have had like no less actives in them. So the work is focused on finding teaching and baptizing. We also are really trying to focus on making every process a revelatory process. Specific prayers and then massive efforts.

If I were to share something with you about teaching the gospel it would be this. It is simple. The doctrines we have are perfect. Do not fear the answer no-- rather learn to enjoy it and ask why. All we have to do is testify that we know these things are true and then you can refer them to the missionaries!! hahaha It is so easy to share the gospel. People are in desperate need! Look for each and every opportunity the Lord sees fit to give you. If we love our Savior Jesus Christ and if we truly are grateful for what He did for us we will "feed His sheep" or share His gospel. Just invite someone, befriend another, Look for those people in church who have no one to sit with or who are dressed informally, invite them to sit with our family. Tell them how happy you are to see them. Trust that the Lord will fill you with what to do what to say where to go and how to do it. Forget traditions forget yourself and give everything you have to the Lord. The happiness you will find will be everlasting as you realize those small and simple things meant everything. The Lord loves us and has promised to never leave us if we are in His work. There are so many more things but I will leave it at that for now. Some small miracles that we have seen lately are that we have been led to find so many people. We are in the right place at just the right time always. I love working. I had been praying lately to know that the Book of Mormon was true and I have never felt so strongly in my heart the power of compassionate love of my Father in Heaven. I also have been able to be living all those little stories you always hear about. Like the "so yesterday we were talking and we were saying "wow where are all the Mormons?"  next day you guys knocked on our door." or the "I don’t know if I know now that these things are true but you make me want to know" or the "I was just wishing you guys would come and talk to me because I have been praying to be able to change my life for a long time now." or recently we had a man ask us "If you could ask God anything what would you ask?" I responded "I would ask to be able to do this for the rest of my life, to testify of the Book of Mormon and the power it contains." (actually it kinda surprised me when it left my mouth) but then he said "I would ask for wisdom about the word of God" and I said to him "and if the Lord told you he was going to send two young men with white shirts and ties to give you a book that would give you that wisdom would you read it?" He pondered and accepted to read the Book of Mormon even though as a Pentecostal he thinks it is of the devil. Or each and every lesson is becoming better and better and the spirit stronger and stronger. I feel like I cry a lot more and my heart is more receptive. I am working on virtue and seeing the good in all things and finding Christ in everything. Read D&C 121 last 4 verses and focus on the promises it leaves us. Read it very slow. Virtue is beautiful. I feel my patience and love have grown a lot. I feel like I can let things go or that I don’t really need the approval of anyone else except my Father in Heaven. I just need to know that I am good to him. Revelation and Inspiration is always a huge part. We pray and pray for it every day. I feel it happen a lot more often and it always makes me feel so simple minded hahaha. It’s quite humbling. With my few more months that I have left I hope to build a desire that will never waiver. I hope to give that and teach it to other people. Just the desire to be better each and every day. I love this work and I love trying to become something I never thought I could be. I love the Savior and my Father in Heaven. I could never repay anything he has done for me. I Love you guys and hope I answered some questions.

Lightning--I ate chicken insides the other day, It is getting colder, We play soccer shoot out for pday. And a game called bang. We also wrestle and play murder in the dark. I love soccer and get about 4 to 5 goals a game even with all the Hispanics. haha I love chapter 6 of Moroni. I love the whole Book of Ether. Chapter 2 and 9 of second Nephi is awesome. Repentance is a beautiful thing.

I love you guys!!

LOVE ELDER OLIVER