December 26, 2011

Hola Familia otra vez!
Well well well it was ever so pleasant to chat and gabble with you all yesterday. I did find my fancies tickled in ever such a peculiar way. It was the weirdest thing watching you all go off the screen especially because dad was still talking when I hit the button hahahaha. Sorry dad. I just couldn’t believe that I had already made it to the first time when I would get to call my family! It has been soooo long, beautiful but long. Well first to get some business out of the way. Yes everything you sent was awesome and is going to work out great. The shirts all fit, the pants are just the right size and waist, I loved both of the books and I was so very grateful for them. I was happy you sent The Giving Tree seeing as it is also one of my favorites. But I do want to say that I really miss you guys and that all of you look super good. The little girls look so grown up and Clay is a beast soon to be like unto the statue of David (but with more than a leaf) and mom you always look pretty, and dad is still my dad peter pan. You seriously are the best family ever. I also liked how everyone got wands. However I must have been backfired upon by my obliviate spell and now the wands belonging to Chelsey and Cassie have slipped my mind. One is ginnys? and the other I cannot recall. So please inform me of this serious situation so I may again begin to live in comfort. Also I will send back the glasses with the case along with my memory card. So please send the other guy out pronto. Now as for how things went this week and what is coming up in the future. Transfers are on the 17 of January. I personally prophesy to stay here for a very very long time. This I do because there are no new missionaries who speak Spanish coming in for a very very long time. Neither are there any leaving. Elder Clark thinks he is out of here this transfer and he hopes to head to Tampa. That could very well be true. I will keep you posted especially because this is something I have become very fond of. Making predictions. It’s weird how people react when you predict something they don’t want. It’s like you are spitting filth at them . hahaha just makes it all the more interesting because the Lord has his plan and no one can change it. So I don’t get why we need to be bothered. But I do like to see if I can guess what is going to happen. As for this week things are going pretty good. Like I explained we are doing alright. We need to find again and get some NEW people going. We are still increasing but it will take quite a while to see some of these baptisms through. And personally I am here to find the people the lord has prepared for me not the ones who need to be prepared. I don’t mean I skip ya if you aren’t getting baptized right away but we use our judgment and ask Heavenly Father for His help to know what to do and right now it is all up to finding new. Really it was a slow week but I did find out why Hermano Juarez won’t go to church which he has never told anyone yet. It’s his pride. He told me sometimes in the church he cries because he feels the spirit and he doesn’t like to cry in front of people because it makes him look weak. Well it sounds like a dumb excuse but this is coming from a guy whose whole life was about having other people fear him. He was picked on a lot and he had to defend a lot of people and so his reputation had to be "don’t mess with me." I understand and we realize that it will come in time and right now we are just working to explain that power comes from the spirit and feeling the spirit is a way of becoming more powerful and then maybe give him example of great heroes that were filled so full with the spirit that they were overwhelmed. Things like that. We got to eat lots of tamales this week because they are Mexican tradition around Christmas time. And let me tell ya I had some pretty delicious ones. Most of this week was a lot of less actives and a few investigators because it was Christmas and we were sharing the message of His birth with everyone. Plus many people were gone so that made it just a little harder. But all in all things were great. I don’t have much time left so I will just say that I love you a ton and I miss every one of you. I hope everything was good and fun and that you really enjoyed this Christmas. It was special for me and I really hope it was for you. You are the best family in the whole zaboomafo-altion.
LOVE ELDER OLIVER
PS Another desire of my heart was answered this week when we had the opportunity to save a Christmas. This family had a fire in their house and had been moved to some shabby ol apartment like 2 days before Christmas. So doing everything we could to help them out we gave them a ton of goodies and my Christmas tree and a couple other things. I am just really appreciative that Heavenly Father keeps on giving me these opportunities. They are great and help me to remember who is my God and that he loves me soo much.

December 19, 2011

Dear Mom,
Hey here’s the business for the week. I did get your two packages you sent and I can’t tell you how grateful I was to get them both! The banner with all the Christ pictures was awesome and had such cool pictures some of which I have never seen. Second the 12 days is going well and in all honesty I am being patient and only opening one per day. They are all soo cool and they have all been things that I have just kinda needed. SO thank you very much. Also tell Grama and papa that I received their package and that the shoes are perfect! They really are very cool and I can now where a different pair of shoes and save my nice ones. They also are super comfy and they make me look good hahaha. Please relay that to them also tell them thanks for the money and that I believe their plan will be awesome with the whole money situation. I have not yet got the package from Grammy and Grampy but it should probably get here soon. Also could you tell the Weeches that I got the package from them and that it is quite scrumptious! hahaha It was a sweet popcorn box filled with lots of goodies. Tell them I miss them all and that I will really try super hard to get some sort of a letter out to them this week. Oh also the pants you sent are far too small. If I squat they will blow. haha. Also is a little bit of a hassle to pull them on. hahahahaha But I love you and appreciate everything you are doing to make this Christmas special for me too! I love you soooo much.

Hola Familia!
Well here it is the week of Christmas and things are going very well here in Wauchula. We are having fun, seeing little miracles, and growing lots. But might I first say that I love all the emails and letters you guys send. They are awesome and they really help to change a day from bad to good or from good to great when I don’t have the strength to do so myself. haha I am soo excited for this Christmas. It just is coming very slowly probably because I am soo excited for it. I can’t wait to talk and see you all and maybe laugh a ton and who knows what else. I do really hope that you all still have an awesome Christmas and that things go very well. Christmas on Sunday should be really cool too. We either are going to have a ton of people in church or none at all haha. But I thought I would let you know that we hit 96 people in church last week which was 4 off from our goal of 100. So we have high hopes and strong desires to work super hard this week. This last week was something kind of like a window of heaven opening and all my little hearts desires coming true. haha. Maybe its kinda Heavenly Fathers Christmas present for me. hahaha. But I got to do some very cool things which I have been wanting to do for a long time. To start off, lately I have really been wanting to service for some reason we never get the chance to do any kind of service out here. Meanwhile the English elders and Spanish sisters over in Seabring got to demolish a house in whatever way they could manage to do it. They ran through walls took sludge hammers to doors and punched everything in their way. SO of course having always wanted to do that and not being perfect I became slightly jealous and desired to have our own service to do. Well I never voiced it aloud like I should have but apparently the lord knew the desires of my heart because we had 4 opportunities to serve. The first was to paint a room for the Deleon family. (dads nonmember and their son just finally said he wants to get baptized) SO we painted and I got to do the baseboard and trim which is rather tricky at times hahaa but it was way fun and we all just talked and had a good time while doin a little service. Second we got to help Marcelina make 15 dozens of tamales. She doesn’t have very much money so in order to get money to buy gifts and make Christmas for the kids she decided to make about 100 dozens of tamales and then sell them for 10 dollars each. So we asked if we could help and then her daughter (Epi who is not a member) said we had better help them. haha So we get going and about two hours later there are 15 dozens done and meanwhile we had an awesome talk with Epi about the gospel in which many things were cleared up. 85 more to go and I barely made a dent in the HUGE pot of dough (I was the one who pressed all the dough into the husks) haha. Then the next day we come back to help a little more but this time another dream came true when Marcelina lifts these two huge chunks of meat onto the table, the two hind quarters of a pig. Then she hands us a knife and says go ta town. hahahaha Well I know it sounds gruesome but that’s was a ton of fun. The skin was still on and the fat was everywhere and the meat was still deep red and I was just going to town on this thing. The only sad part is I only got a picture when I was nearly done so my chunk looks rather small. haha I don’t know why that was a dream come true but it was. Then for the fourth we got to help the Deleon family again by putting up the new blinds in this newly painted room. Quite a hassle because the polls weren’t long enough so we jimmy rigged it and after a couple extra holes in the new walls it looked good. hahaha then afterwards they took us to this guy’s birthday party for some reason but it was cool because he happens to be the son of one of our investigators and he seemed to like us because he told us to come back some time. By the way if we got this guy or his dad baptized we would be able to pretty much baptize all of Zolfo because it is seriously his family that takes it all up. Ha-ha Then on top of all this we set up a soccer game on Saturday instead of going to frizbee. This way we are with our investigators and our members and we are saving miles. SO a win win win. Oh and its soccer you really can’t get much better. But wait.... it did. Chito who is a member that we have been working a lot with because he just got the Melchizedek priesthood, gave me a soccer jersey that didn’t fit him anymore. It’s a firefly and it’s blue with black stripes and just looks and feels awesome. So that amped up the game not to mention we had a Christmas branch party on Friday night, and Hermano Abrego made a ton of horchata but showed up late so he gave it to us so that we would have something good to drink during the game. Well the game was awesome and I scored twice but we got kicked off the public field (most likely because we were mexicans) so we went to the church and played dodge ball. Also way fun. Afterwards though there was still a ton of horchata (by the way I love horchata and have wanted some for a very long time but haven’t had the money to purchase it so another desire of my heart answered) So we took it all home and well we had about 10 pitchers full in our refrigerator. hahaha over abundance. Then Chito called us over to come and eat some barbeque that night and to top all these great little blessings President Martinez gave us a bag of ties (he is very wealthy and they were very nice, well most of them were) and told us to take whatever we wanted. Well I took like 4 or five awesome ones and elder Clark took the other good ones and then that night I traded him two ties for one of his very nice ties that came with cuff links. It’s this light green and blue shiny paisley tie that is super awesome. Oh and we had 19 lessons this week which is 1 away from 20 which so far has never been done here in a long time. Really this Christmas time is just awesome and we are seeing soo many little and beautiful blessings in our lives. I would write more but I am out of time and I am once again sorry to Cassie because it is your turn and I have now put it off two weeks when you have always written me. But I promise I won’t forget and I will write you soon. I love you guys so much and hope everything is going well. Merry Christmas and know that I have a testimony that Jesus Christ lives and that He was born into this world to save all of us individually and personally. He is the perfect example and if we ever want to be happy or happier we just have to try to be more like Him. He is our heavenly brother and the love that He has for each and everyone of us is divine and eternal. Because of Him we have hope to know that we can always be forgiven and we can always become something better. I give my witness that He is always with us and that He carries us when we can not go on any longer. I know that He is my Savior and redeemer and that because of Him everything will be fair in this life and in the life to come. I love Jesus Christ so much and I can’t wait for the day when I can sit and talk with Him and tell Him how grateful I am for what He did. I know this Christmas will be special. I don’t think I will ever forget it. I love you all so much and hope that everything is smooth sailing. Good luck with finals and little girls I love you sooooo much more than you guys know, and Mom and Dad I will always love and respect you forever, and Chelsey and Cassie and Clay I miss you all a ton and wish that I could be there to live up the memories and be the dorks we all know we are, You all are always in my prayers and I cant wait to talk to you on Sunday. If you think you need to talk to me think of how much I need to talk to you. hahahaha
LOVE ELDER OLIVER
PS Clay I don’t know what I weigh right now because no one has scales. but I will find it out soon. Meanwhile voy a estar en pos de excelencia!

December 5

Alrighty mctighty I be here once again ta babble about them going ons here in da mishun. Many of dem tings arrr swell an dandy an beuiful. haha Well it’s been a whole week since last I wrote and let me tell ya things are awesome. As always though the business needs to be taken care of. Thank you for saving my pictures please do so when I send them. Everyone of them. haha Also thank you for remembering my patriarachle blessing. I really need it out here. I can’t believe I forgot it. haha Alright now as for you all. WOW sounds like you guys are soooo busy! By the way I must give a rousing HOLLA HOLLA for my big ol birthday babe MMMMMMIIIIIIIISSSSSSS CAAAAAARRRRRRLLLLLEEEE HAAAPPPPYY BBIIRRTTHHDDAAYY!!!!!!! I was so excited to hear that you guys had so much fun and that dinner was great and that now you are old enough to babysit. I always knew you would be a very popular babysitter. Also good to hear that the bleach is still coming out strong in our family. Crazy bunch. haha Also just so everyone knows Chelsey is getting the personal letter this week and then the order follows I guess haha. Just as always it is super cool to hear that everything is still awesome and going swell. Cassie good to hear winter formal was bomb. make sure every minute of senior year is awesome! Clay sounds like you have become a workaholic. Always knew you would be. haha Keep making and saving that money for the most precious thing money can buy which is your mission. Carlee Cami and Chloe keep on truckin and having tons of fun and doing crazy things and being silly. Then after tell me about all the silly things you did. hahaha.

Well here’s the low down for the week. Transfers came and went and nobody changed which means most likely I will be here for a very long long time. But as for the miracles and such here they come. This week we had our two baptisms named Gerardo and Maria who are 11 and 9 and they seriously are the coolest most gentle and humble kids I have ever seen. They make me soo happy and I just love to visit them and teach them. Pure would be a good word. Their baptism went amazingly also because they had tons of people show up for it. Many people we have talked to before. But the best part was when I got to baptize Maria. She was soo smiley and happy and when we entered the water you could seriously just feel something different. When she came up I just had these feelings of hope. I just know this is something that she will remember forever and I will too. Not to mention when Elder Clark baptized Gerardo, he came up out of the water so happy he was laughing! Like laughter but not in an irreverent way just laughter from pure happiness. It sent chills down my spine haha. I wish everyone in the world was just like them. They are the children our Heavenly Father wants us to become like. Not to mention after the confirmations their mom said she wanted to get baptized too. So we might just have another here in a couple weeks. haha
As for the guy we met in the store. Ramon is doing awesome. He invites us over everyday and is almost angry when we can’t make it due to our packed schedules. Haha he loves joking with us and he listens intently to every lesson. The only problem is he can’t set a baptismal date for some unknown reason. We told him to pray about it and have a date for us by the next time we come so we will see if he figures it out. Also I have to tell you guys that the whole inactive side of the Juarez family is now actively participating in our family nights. It’s just the start. Not to mention we are working very hard with all of them individually. The miracle with them is that one of the families (we call it Liz's Family) is really starting to change. They way it happened is this. They have this boy named Oscar. Oscar is a little nugget. He is nine and he reminds me exactly of clay when he was younger, just by the way he acts. He refused to be baptized though for a long time just because he kinda likes to be a punk. So the first night I met him I decided to put all of my training with clay as a nugget to use. We became pretty much best friends instantly. We built ramps for his cars and we drew pictures of skulls and fire on it and deemed the name ramp of destruction worthy. haha sound like clay? Well this doesn’t seem like missionary work. but now every time he sees me he wants to talk to me and we imagine crazy things and talk about how we will make the ramp better. Well because we are great friends now he listens when I talk to him and he likes to do whatever I am doing. So when I talk about prophets he asks me to help him find one and then I tell him the story. Well this last week we were there I talked about baptism and he finally said he wanted to do it. His mom started crying and this Sunday they were all at church including their nonmember father. His name is Jose Deleon and he has told us he would get baptized he is just waiting for the right time and he is a little more not so easy to just discuss things with. But alas he was there at church and it was awesome to see them all. Then for the last little miracle this week... We were out and about when we decided to stop by this investigator house named the family Olmos. Well they were outside their house talking to another family so we park the car and walk over to them. Ends up being an awesome conversation and we find out that the family of the family Olmos is related to a family in our ward who happens to be in the hospital because their dad got in a car crash. Just little things and awesome testimony builders. haha
Well I just want to let you guys know how much I love you. You are all the best and I really just miss you tons. Make sure you are always being good and staying close. You are the best family in the whole MUHAHAHAltion
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

November 28th

This must be at a zone conference--but doesn't Chantz look great!! I also thought I would share this video he sent of his iniation into the Wachula area. I think he held it together pretty well considering he doesn't like really hot spicy things! (still trying to get it to load!!)

Hola familia!
Time has once again flown by with the quickness of ten gazelle and here I am to tell you that it has once again been filled by miracles, hardships and happiness. What else would a mission be without those things? haha So first to start off I think I will give the low down on The Day of Thanks. Sounds like you guys had an awesome time and that it was tons of fun! I love hearing all the stories and knowing who made what and how the pumpkin crisp turned out alright. haha I must say I thought a lot about you guys and what you were probably doing as I was having my own thanksgivings with other people. Well let me start by saying that I was WELL taken care of.
To start our thanksgiving wonder we woke up and headed out to play ultimate frisbee in Seabring because president gave us the ok to do so on thanksgiving. It was tons of fun and we happened to win 2 out of 3 and there was lots of cool plays made and we really just had quite the time. Then after that we went and caught up with the other missionaries and played football with their bishop and some less actives. That also was super fun. I made two interceptions and the last one happened to be one that I ran back for the winning touch down. It was a lot of luck and a good team but it made for a very interesting game. haha Then it was over to the Todds house who is a white family in our Spanish branch because the father speaks Spanish due to the mission he served. We showered there and had a great big ol traditional feast. I weighed 171 before with sweaty gym clothes and shoes on and after 177 with church clothes on haha.
Then after them we ate again with the Juarez family (the active side) and that was delicious too and then we went over to Marceline’s where we drove up just in time to catch her dancing. (she is about 65-70) and man is she goin to town hahaha just jivin and such and I happened to get it on film because the music was so loud and she was in a little trance so we got pretty up close and she had no idea what was going on. hahaha We then spent the rest of the night talking with her and her nonmember daughter who is kinda tough but I made friends with her and we are excited to see if we can get her to church. But we also took some dancing lessons from Marceline and I also filmed myself trying to jive mexican style. haha so be prepped for what will be viewed when you get the next card. Then on Friday we had another thanksgiving meal that was probably the best one at the inactive Juarez house. It was delicious and we just had a good time talking to all of them.
But the miracle came this week after the Juarez house. we went to Wal-Mart to get some more milk and of course protein and as I am squatin and looking at the different types and such a guy walks up to us and starts speaking in Spanish. he asks if we are the Mormon missionaries to which we say of course and then he tells us that he had been learning about our church in new jersey like 3 months ago and then he came to Florida and has been trying to find us ever since. Of course we offer to start teaching him again and he gladly obliges. We went over that night and had an awesome lesson with him and he said he would get baptized but he just wants to know a little more before he does. Then we visited him again on Saturday and invited him to church because he said he wanted to go. Well at our visit he tells us that he has to work on Sunday because he doesn’t have any money. Well I felt prompted at this time to ask him to show his faith by coming to church. but of course I get a little nervous and I don’t get it out the first time and this causes quite the awkward moment because now I am raging war inside. I really am still learning how to be swift with the whisperings of the spirit. But anyways I came up with another way to get it out and I end up asking him after reading Alma 32 20 and 21 "so will you show your faith by coming to church tomorrow instead of going to work?" He looks at me and just is puzzled but then he comes to and says. "Yea yea I will I should not have put things like money and worldly things before god thanks for helping me see that" IN all honesty that’s what he says! (all of this is in Spanish.) I felt soooooooooooooooooooooooo relieved and the next day there he was in church wearing a suit and talking and making friends with everyone and participating in classes because he went to all three hours and even attended the baptismal service afterwards. (sisters had a baptism) WOW such a cool experience and it just makes me want to do it all over again. He then called us today to ask us if we could come over. haha HE IS SOO COOL. He even knows a lot about working out. He likes talking to me about fitness stuff because he caught us while we were looking at protein. So he always gives me hints on how to get big and stuff haha Like after the baptism while we were eating he kept saying "You need another plate if you’re gonna get any bigger." haha Well Also at the baptismal service I was again prompted by the Holy Ghost to talk to this kid named OLIVER of course. He by the way is the brother of the girl who got baptized and last week his mom got baptized. So now he is the only one not baptized and we are close because he is a skater and we kinda just get along well. Well as we were sittin there waiting for the service to start and I end up finding out that he does not want to be baptized because he was scared that he couldn’t stay perfect after the baptism. Well I of course explained to him that that is actually the whole point of baptism is just to say that we will be followers of Christ and that every time we mess up we will repent and that we are actually suppose to mess up so that we can grow. He said he felt a lot different after that and that it didn’t seem like such a difficult thing anymore but I wish I could have talked to him a little more. Anyways it was cool and I am really hopeful for him.
However I do have to relate some sad things to you guys. First off our investigator nelson who was progressing began to drink and he was drinking so badly that his girlfriend kicked him out and now we can’t find him. The last phone call went like this "Hey nelson how’s is it going?"
"oh hey ESTOY BIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN BOOOOORRRAAACCCHHHHOO!"
Yep in other words I am super drunk. SO we are worried about him and we have no idea what’s going on with him so keep this guy in your prayers. Also we had one of our members this week get in a car crash and is was only a one-car crash. He is so badly damaged and is in the hospital still after a week and he might be getting worse. SO pray for him too. His name is Cruz Herrera.
Asides from all this though things are awesome and we are doing great. We have two baptisms this weekend and we hope for a couple more soon. I am soo grateful to be out here and I really do love this area. IT is awesome. I love you all and miss you so very much. Thank you for always writing and making sure I get to hear what’s going on. You are the best Family in the Whole TUNAALTION. (made of fish)
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

Skipped a week--but catchin' up November 21

Hola Familia!
Well it has been quite swell out here in Wauchula Florida. We are staying super busy and the blessings never stop coming. First though I like to get the business out of the way. Yes I did receive the package. Thank you very much for it and the letter was awesome! I am sending back the other card with the turkey I made but I did need to know if you saved all the pictures? If you don’t want them I still do so I will keep them until I know if you saved them all.So to start off this week has been great. We have seen a lot of really cool things happen and success is coming to us. We had like 3 people come to us and tell us they want to get baptized! haha It’s pretty cool when that happens to you as a missionary. Two are kids and their mom will probably be baptized right after them, and the other is a woman who started coming to church with one of our recent converts and she said she liked it and wants to be baptized some day. Well it is off to work. The kids told us a while ago so they are supposed to be getting baptized this weekend but it might get pushed back one because the mom is starting to get the "we are going to fast deal" really we have almost been teaching them for three weeks now. Usually you can do it in two. but as always Satan dips his filthy little hand into the midst of all the wonders and now we are going to have to really strive to push past and guide them in. haha we also are having some success with the Juarez family. We have really been trying to remind them and to help them start thinking back to when they were super active and things were awesome but these people in all honesty are kinda hard in their hearts. We organized a family night tonight and we hope to really take a swing at em in a gospel sense of course. So thank you so much for fasting we are really gonna need it. Also we have another investigator named nelson who we are working hard with. I have told you a little bit about him before but this week we went over to his house and he came outside and pretty much spilled his beans. He has such a rough life and it leads him to drink and smoke and things but he hates that he does it so it makes him think almost suicidal. he said "I think Ima gonna go for da jail ya es mejor que dis house" or other things but I think I will skip the other things he said. He ended up crying and pretty much saying there is no hope for him and that he is worthless. But we just kinda listened and put our arms around him and told him there is hope and that hope is Jesus Christ. I really think it got to him a little because he came to church and now he’s reading the book of Mormon and he trusts everything we say. haha not only that but all the men in the branch went over and talked to him a little and just made him feel so much better. The lord prepares his people I tell ya. Not only that but then we also went on splits this week and I went to visit a referral with our awesome member hermano abrego. He is an awesome missionary! he is just so sincere and kind and patient and has this amazing testimony. I learned a ton from him that night. Rafael, the guy we visited, is now interested and is starting to take our lessons, on top of that the lady and her family who live with Rafael (not married or dating or anything) wants us to come over and teach them. Really good stuff going on. Oh and we have two investigators named Caesar, who is married to Vicki Juarez, and Amanda, who is married to woe Juarez. They have never really been progressing but that same splits night a lot of stuff happened and now they are both reading the book of Mormon and said they would pray about it.
Now for a little miracle for the week, we were getting back from a lesson in Zolfo which is like 10 min drive from our house and it’s about 830 so we decide to not go in early but to go and knock some doors. Well we pull up in this trailer park and the first thing that happens is this creepy looking lady walks up to our car and we are a little like what in the world? So elder Clark cracks open the window and she gets up close and asks "hey do you guys have any money? I need gas, I have a can over there and I need money to fill it."
Well little does this lady know, but I had been praying kinda in my heart for an opportunity to prove my charity/law of consecration like dad did that one time with the guy on the bike. So realizing that this is my chantz I reach into my backpack and pull out everything I could give her. I had no cash so all I could give her was my change bag that I save up and use to buy little things that I want or need. It had spilled in my backpack so I grabbed it all out and the last three coins I pulled out were quarters.. Yea big money right there. I sat there and just thought hmmm should I give her these three precious quarters? I am a missionary and really I don’t have much money at all, but then dads story popped in and I handed ALL the money over. She of course just ran off to do who knows what with the money but I felt accomplished. hahaha well of course blessings come by obedience to law upon which it is predicated so having been obedient here comes the blessing. First door we knock, a guy with no shirt on is sittin there and in a lively manner asks "hola que tal?" well we do our little introduction and then we ask if he works I have no idea why but that question sent him inside where he grabbed a bag, like a big ol bag of tomatoes and gave them all to us. And then invited us to come back on another day to visit him. At about 59 cents per pound of tomato we racked in quite the amount of change I would say. hahahaha yea I don’t even like tomatoes but the lord does bless. hahahahahahaha Just miracles that tickle me on the insides as I realize how much my heavenly father loves me even if sometimes it seems like a joke. hahaha
Well I love you all and I love what your writing and telling me and I miss you all soooo very much. You truly are a source of inspiration and strength for me out here. I can feel it no matter how far I am!
You are the best family in the whole zumbatrialtoombabamboozaagrandpoopaaloozaltion!
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

I know these are a little old but he hasn't sent any pictures lately--and I love how these show how happy and crazy he is!

Right before he left the MTC for Florida

November 7, 2011

Hola Familia!
So the Disneyland trip pulls through again huh? and this time sounds like it was a little bit better than previous years according to the rain and rides and better shoes to walk in and good food and such. Well let me tell you guys I am glad to hear that all was swell and dandy. I am however disappointed that star tours seemed to decrease in its level of interest. I was really hoping the new one would be out of this world or something. but oh well. Disney is known for consistently producing worse seconds than first. hahaaha. It is also sweet that Chloe can now make it onto Indiana Jones therefore making our team of delta force squadron an impenetrable Disneyland destroying terror. haha Now we can really get to town when we go there. So props to Chloe this trip for sprouting those last little inches and a couple to Cami for overcoming the tower of terror, and some to mom for finally realizing how much fun Disneyland is in tennis shoes and a baseball hat, some to Chelsey for getting wet, haha, and some to clay for sleeping in the car, and some to dad for most likely sitting on the edge of his seat, leaning over the edge a little, to get the full "California Soarin" experience hahaha just kidding dad doesn't need props he already has to much. But good good good to hear. Things are great and the work is fine. We had like 17 visits this week which is the most I have ever gotten. I also had a ton of fun playing volleyball and ultimate frisbee this week which is something we do every week with a bunch of less actives. I also have been able to use my wrestling skill to befriend this really less active family because they are all about the ultimate fighting. We found an awesome new investigator who came to church, his name is Nelson and he is awesome. He talks spanglish so bad that i cant help but laugh. his most famous phrase is " Idrinkadabeer" mexican accented. So yep things are good and fun. I really enjoy being out here and serving as hard as I can and Elder Clark and I are getting along very well. Spanish is doing good. and the weather is perfect. Its hard having full car because I love to ride bike but alas it is what it is. Not only that but the weather is amazing. Breezy cool and refreshing. I couldn't ask for much more. haha but things with investigators and such are going well. well they have their ups and downs. Some are really progressing but some like Jessica are not at all and they are the ones that we are dying to help. haha We have two kids and a mom that just told us they want to get baptized and another lady wants to start being taught. It really is awesome how much the members out here help., They pretty much do all the hard work for us and we just go around and teach and hopefully baptize. haha I love it a lot. WE have great activities and great programs like university night which is where the members hold all sorts of classes that anyone can come to and we have family nights with lots of people and we have splits every week all sorts of stuff. Not to mention the members are awesome in and of themselves. they are so kind and nice and always feed us whenever we are over. It pretty much rocks and I don't have to buy very much food because we usually get feed. But we are having some drama over here. There is this member named Russell who was a boxer and now has theories about life and god and stuff and he was going around and teaching lots of the other members of his family and even some other members about it. So we got some complaints from some of the members and it was enough that we decided to take it to the branch president. He told us to confront him about it and see if we could resolve it. SO we did. we sat him and his wife down and had a little chat about teaching only doctrinal sound things. OF course there was a twist. Russell does not like elder Clark at all for some unknown reason. He says it is because elder Clark is not missionary material. SO elder Clark is trying his best to deal with that and then be nice as we have to tell these two not to preach false doctrine. haha Ends up pretty alright or so we think... Later that night we get a text from them laying down the rules for us missionaries. things like no talking to our kids unless one of us is present, (by the way their kids and I are already close), no teaching anyone in their family anything without their consent and things like that. oh yea and we were officially uninvited to family night, which is a family night with like 40 people that we use to build relationships and get tons of referrals. SO the laws laid and then a couple other things but they are all in the past and hopefully don't affect the future but we are kinda worried because apparently only Russell made the decision to uninvited us and no one else knew and so now they are all kinda mad. well I will tell you how it turns out. Aside from that we are working with nelson and he came to church after he invited himself which was awesome. haha we just sit and listen to him go on and on and he pretty much just figures it out himself. haha he will be baptized in no time. not only that but he also brought his friend to church with him and they both said they enjoyed it. SOOO the lord blesses once again. haha With the less active ultimate fighting lovers that I now have a bond with, we are also working (Yoda) I got to be friends with one of the 18 year old boys because I can sit there and talk about fighting and wrestling forever. haha not only that but their dad listens to me too and likes to talk and share stories. The best part is that the boy wanted to wrestle me. probably thought he would womp on me but we waited till Friday night which is when we play volleyball with all their family and extended family and then he came over and started trying to wrestle me. well lets just say hes a fish. I whipped him sooooooooo bad like 20 times. hahaha Just have a little more experience. but the thing is is that he thought it was cool and so did all the men in the family so they all came over and watched and then started talking and joking with me and saying things like "hey you better watch out or Ill sick elder Oliver on you" haha It was awesome and I never thought they would but my wrestling talents have really come into play here and I have some ideas on how to use them to get this family to church. hahahaha well we will see. Anyways I love you and miss you but most of all I hope the best for all of you. YOU ARE THE BEST FAMILY IN THE WHOLE HUGHNIJALTION!!!
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

October 31 -- Happy Halloween

Hola y buenas dias mi querido y amado familia!
Just a little bit of some Spanish magic haha just kidding. but it tis once again the blessed time known to all missionaries as family communication. haha I loved all the letters and hearing about all the adventures and activities that are going on back in Arizona and that success is ever present for the Olivers like always. haha. So Halloween down and on to the Disneyland trip eh? time is going tooo fast. I already have 5 months down in the mission and that means I only have about 19 more! way to little. But anyways things are going right swift and swell. I arrived down here in Wauchula on Tuesday and let me tell you it was very hard to leave Naples. All the haitainaries and sister missionaries came to see me off due to the fact that we were all pretty close friends and we took pics and such but the drive was just so lonely haha. Its ok though because like always the rumors are not true. Wauchula is actually an awesome area so far and it has tons of potential. We are teaching families and because its such a small town every family has more family and friends who have all their family who have their family, so it ends up being a great system for referrals and member present lessons and such. Also because we are a branch everyone here is hungry and dying to become a ward. in other words everyone here is super aggressive and helpful for the missionaries. And everyone knows each other and there are great bonds and it really is an awesome area. I even speak Spanish quite often. It usually is only because i try everything I can to have others speak Spanish to me instead of just going back to English. It works and my Spanish is getting a lot better. I don't want to sound like I am getting a big head or anything But I had like 15 members tell me I had fantastic spanish. SO Heavenly father is definitely helping me out quite a bit. Sometimes I wonder though how much of it is true. haha I am still trying to work on completely understanding and a lot of other grammatical things but its comin and going and I trust that all good things come with time. But as for a little bit more of this area we have full car... It stinks because I love riding my bike and be able to stop and talk to everyone but my comp who has never even rode his bike doesn't want to start. haha By the way things with him and I are going very well. He apologized for the mtc stuff and we have been getting along great. He really is just a good guy and he loves the people here so much that I think he would go to any length to make sure we stay good and the work continues. Its quite an example of charity to me. haha Not only that but he is a great planner so we have lots of good things planned and there are alot of cool activities that we have every week that attract a ton of the less actives. They have volleyball nights and ultimate frisbee every Saturday so tons of people come and most are less active recent converts and some members. The secret is that it doesn't even have to be like a huge turn up. it just has to be enough to play a good solid game.... anyways though we have some sweet families who I am seriously already in love with. There is this lady named Jessica who has 5 kids and I seriously love them after like 3 days. haha she is working and getting close to baptism for all of them so we are really working hard with her. then we have her mom, and then we have the whole Juarez family who is about 50 percent of the population here. (most are less actives or recent converts) and we have the Figueroa's and the Maurilia and her 2 little boys. SO this place is a gold mine really. And we have a branch president who has a library of church literature and he sometimes gets called by apostles for what he knows about things. So he is super cool and ready to put us into action. He also is very led by the spirit and guides us and pushes us to grow. For an example I got a call at 10 saturday night and asked to give a 15 min talk on whatever I wanted to talk about. So i did and it was in complete spanish and everyone thought it was pretty good so once again the lord provides. haha I actually find it very easy to teach now. For another ex. Last week I had to teach an hour class on marriage for the gospel principle class. also went pretty well. haha but anyways yep things are good the work is kickin and deep fried chicken is ever present because only mexicans live here. haha I love this area and I love being out here. Missions are soo cool and satisfying. I also was reading and i found that one of our purposes on this earth is to be missionaries. In more serious words we had better be opening our mouths and fellowshipping otherwise we are not fulfilling our purpose here on this earth. I just love you guys and miss ya a lot but I also love my mission. I am always really happy to know that you are all doing so good and that you are still having tons of adventures. Keep writing and I will always try my best to get back to ya. I will love you forever and for always.
LOVE ELDER OLIVER
PS yes I did get the cookies and yes I did get your package and yes my heart is full of gratitude for the both of them, and yes you guys are the best , and yes we should switch cards because yes I do want you to see whats going on, but could you also send me the link to my blog? that would be great.