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