June 5, 2012

Slumber Party -- Missionary style

Hola Familia,
Well Well Well I always knew my family was made of steel eh? hahaha Congratulations on conquering that which is known as the trek. What a feat and it sounds like you came out of it with more than just aches and pains. How awesome it is to struggle and grow not only physically but also spiritually and mentally. I am just so glad to hear it was so good!   Also sounds like we have some soon to be Broadway dancers huh? I can’t wait to get to see them when I get home. Trust me I believe you when you say they are the best! Well In all honesty this may not be another great letter because I am with about 12 other elders in a library and we are all going to play some sports and have tons of fun this pday but I don’t think they write as much as I do or read as many letters as I do hahaha! Let me tell you it is so great to be back into the midst of many an elder. I was kinda losing it there in Wauchula because we are away from everyone but now I have got 12 new guys who are tons of fun and happy to be around me. I really couldn’t ask for more. This morning we cooked about 4 dozen eggs 6 pds of sausage and 2 packs of bacon soo now we are content and juiced up for a great day hahahaahaha. Being an elder is awesome. To answer a few quick questions yes this is suppose to be a strong season for hurricanes because the heat is different and they are predicting at least one if not two as far as I can tell. ON the upside our shack of a house is located in the red zone or the most likely to be destroyed if a hurricane came. hahaha so we may have a couple of adventures coming our way. Also the Chicken turned out great! We marinated it for 24 hours and then we stuffed it with onions and ham and such and then we tossed it in tin foil and cooked it in a fire. Turned out great except for it stank of fecie. It tasted great it was just an overwhelming aroma. We think elder shields stabbed the fecal bag. hahaha yea but don’t worry we had cleaned it well and we are fine after like 4 days of eating it. As for the area things are going great. I think there is a ton of potential for this area we just are trying to figure it out and pinpoint where we need to strike. For ex we hold a sports night every week and this week there were more investigators than members there at the church playing ball. Not to mention we had a guy come to
English class and then another guy just called us but the one who actually came said he was interested in our message. So we will see how all this goes. Also my Spanish is coming back like lightning! Muscle memory or something haha because it is really getting pretty good not to be prideful or anything. Just self measurement and there is always room for improvement. Also this week we got 5 member presents which hasn’t been done in this area in a long time and we ended the week with 16 lessons. Before it was like 12 or 13 so we are on our way up and things are going great. However we did just have a man in the branch die this week. His name was Alfonzo (fonsi) and everyone loved him a lot. I met him once and I already loved him. He was very funny and just had a light about him that made you really happy hence why he got the nickname fonsi, just a goof who although his health was terrible was full of life and never complained not once. So when we heard he died we were kinda down and worried about how his less active family would take it. (They just had their grandfather die like 2 months ago also) Well All we can do is be there to support them and try to cheer them up and hope the best for them. There is just a lot going on and we are really trying our hardest to do it all. You have got to tell walker that his call is awesome! He will come back speaking BEAUTIFUL Spanish and correctly.
As for you guys might I say that these letters for some reason really kinda touched me spiritually. I just kept getting those chills as I read each and every one. It was just like a tingle of excitement and the best hope for you guys. Yes we are all getting older but I can’t wait to become like every Mexican family out here and have like 40 kids each! Hahahaha I know the lord is taking care of you guys and I am just very glad I don’t really have to worry about it. That is something that hurts many missionaries out here as they try to serve but keep getting freaky letters from back home. Some of which they have shown me that truly made me grow up and see life for what it really is.  They are all the greatest of people but they each come from such hard backgrounds. Just trust me when I say we have it easy. Anyways I love you guys and I am so happy to always hear from you. It makes the wonderful day of pday that much better and helps the week go by with a lot less worry. Sorry I also don’t have much time but I will write back next week hopefully a little bit longer of a letter.
LOVE,  ELDER OLIVER

May 29, 2012

Hola Familia Oliverio!

Well it has been quite the week and many good things are a happenen. I am super happy to hear that you guys are now finished with school for a while and that you are now able to relax and enjoy the free time! I challenge all of you to have as many crazy adventures as you can think up and then write me back about them. I personally have already started my adventures for the summer but that will come a bit later in this letter. haha Congratulations! to Cassie Mcgraduate Oliver! You have finally successfully passed through that known as High School and now the real big adventure begins. Don’t forget that death is the ultimate adventure but that this is a mighty and great one. I am so happy that Chelsey our wonderful and very wise sister was there to give her love and support as you finished the great adventure. Trust me when I say that family is where it is at when it comes to starting anew and fresh. So you are lucky to be part of a beautiful and caring family. Just keep me posted on how everything goes. I am sorry to you guys that I did not write yesterday. Of course Memorial Day means no libraries are open and therefore we the Elders of Apollo Beach have no means of communication

Now as for me over here in Florida. Apollo Beach has turned out to be great. I have an awesome companion Elder Shields who is definitely a worker and super fun to be around. He is calm and serious but knows how to love people and definitely knows how to be fun. It’s like we are already best friends. haha However this area is really slowing down lately so it’s up to us to pick it back up and keep going. It’s funny because I actually had a dream where people where telling me this and telling me that right now we are the only ones capable of doing it. It actually really impacted me a lot and kinda made my fire burn just a bit brighter than it already was. So we are pumped and ready to go and do. Also yes Elder Shields is super into working out so we go to the church every morning to do p90x and it has been going great. Not only that but he loves eggs so all we have eaten is egg after egg hahaha protein.... So things are going well and the members already seem to like us and now we are starting to get a little deeper into it. Like setting up splitz and family nights and ward activities and a couple other things so it should be great. But here is a little something interesting. We live in pretty much a shack. Like 20 by 15. so not much and we live in a very woodsy area so there are many a bug-- and big ones they are. We have already killed about 3 spiders as big as my hand one of which I paid Elder Shields five dollars to eat and we have a guardian gecko named Pedro who keeps out the roaches. We have billions of ants in our back yard, we found a grasshopper the side of half a dill pickle (the ones Grampy gave us as kids) and there are chickens everywhere. Now here’s where the cool stuff comes in. Because we are near the end of the month we do not have miles nor money for food so being p-day yesterday we thought about what we could do to satisfy miles and food problems. So we ended up having to stay at the house but to make the day interesting we decided to get us some food by hunting the neighborhood chickens. hahaha (they belong to no one so they are free game. We made two spears and proceeded to hunt. Long story short we got one and now he is cleaned out well and in a marinade waiting to be cooked over a fire either by us or an investigator who said she wanted to cook it for us. hahaha Yep we can make huge fires in our backyard because Florida is wet and it’s not against the laws so we sometimes just whip up a fire for like a half hour before we go to bed. Yep so we have been having quite the bit of fun. Oh yea we also got to do service and while we were there the lady has a mini horse and she said we could go play with it so after using my horse whispering skill I mounted and rode into the wind! hahaha It was actually pretty cool. We also have had a couple of very spiritual experiences where I happened to say something that apparently meant a lot to Elder Shields about things that he has been thinking of and we almost set a baptismal date. The spirit was so strong that the lady was actually crying probably because she knew she needs to do it but something is holding her back that must be pretty hard so we will continue working and testifying. I just really already like this area and I am super excited to get even more into it. I love this work and I can’t believe I have already hit a year! HOLY SMOKE! haha its going by too quick! I have nightmares that I am back home and I don’t feel like I completed my mission and you guys keep asking me what did I learn like 5000 times and then it resounds in my head all day! hahaha So apparently as much as I would love to be home my heart is here in the work for right now and I am loving every minute of it. I feel like I have already learned a ton but there must be more for me to learn otherwise this dream would cease to repeat itself haha. Well I love you all very much and I really do miss you. It makes a guy happy to know that everything is well back home. You guys are the best family!

LOVE, ELDER OLIVER

May 21, 2012

Hola Querido Familia,
Let it be known that I have just finished one of the most successful and life changing weeks of my life and that if I am to explain any of it I cant talk so much about you guys even though I really want to! We are just getting back from Port Charlotte where we spent our last pday as a zone and district together and now we are sharing the computers so I really am going to try and fit everything in real quick like. First off I am soooo excited for all the things going on in your lives! These truly are the best of times and will help to make the everlasting memories we dream about haha. I am just super proud of all of you and my heart feels relief to know that everything is going so well and that you guys are pulling through everything. I love you and miss you very very much and I hope the best for you in everything you do this following final week!
As for me, Yes I am getting transferred. I am now going to Apollo Beach which is like the second best area in the mission and it is all Spanish speaking! Not to mention I am going to be with like one of the coolest elders in the mission! Elder Shields. haha Pretty exciting and let me tell you one of the saddest thing I have ever come to hear. I kinda knew I was going and everyone kinda knew it too so this week was full of a ton of final moments that have seriously changed my life! It was one of those times where the Lord tells you how grateful He is for you and how proud He is of the person you are becoming. I seriously was just so worried that I hadn' t done everything right and that maybe I should have been different when all of a sudden the Lord took the time to tell me otherwise. I dont think I have ever felt so much love and compassion as I have in these last couple days! To start we did some splitz this week with our boys Leo and Esteban who (for as strong in the church as they are) are having questions about things and it was one of those moments where I knew I was in the right place at the right time because they had the same questions I remember having when I was their age. It was just such a testimony to me as I answered their questions and was able to comfort them. Not to mention on our splitz they have been a little down because they haven't been seeing success already and for some reason they kinda were like why do we even do this. So of course the Lord provided two lessons one with each of them in the which the Spirit was felt very strongly and they saw the change in people taking place and it ignited the fire once more. I was just so happy to have had the opportunity to show them what missionary work is really all about. Not to mention when two boys who are 18 and 16 start to cry and tell you they are gonna miss you it really makes you feel like you did good. Then we set some time aside to go and see as many people as possible and it was just so weird because sometimes you just never realize how much of an effect you have on people until you tell them you are leaving. I had Cruz in secrecy buy me an "I love Jesus Ring" (not to strong of a member yet) even when he has absolutely no money and nothing but he went out and found me something that I can and will keep forever. Then Abuela (mama Juarez) knitted me a red and blue beanie and gave me a box of really good chocolates and I had quite a few people make me promise I would come back and that they would provide me and my parents with a place to live. One guy even told me he would take us up to Disney World and a couple other places. So lots of love was felt and I can not believe how hard it will be to leave this area. I now have come to know that I do know how to love and that the Lord is changing me. Finally for the finale I got to give a talk on the Book of Mormon as my last testimony here in this area. Well people afterwards were calling me cry baby but telling me it was great and trust me they are just as big of cry babies as I am! hahaha I just love this area and I am going to miss it so much. I took a ton of pictures so I could show you guys everyone but I might lack a little. haha I LOVE YOU and miss you all but I have to go! I hope you guys are all having as great of a time as I am and I keep you all in my prayers every day.

LOVE ELDER OLIVER

April 23, 2012

HOLA FAMILIA!
Well well well is it good to finally get to write you guys! We have had an awesome week that was busy again but we are finally back on track. We had 18 lessons this week and many were very good and inspired so it was awesome to participate in some of them. But to first start off with. Business. Well Thank you so very much for getting my whole eye thing taken care of. It truly means a lot and I sincerely appreciate it. My eyes do do better out here due to the MOISSS CHURE (nammy gum gums from master of disguise for all who could not guess it.) So it makes it a lot easier. Also I am so very sorry for not having written very many people back. I definitely do need to get on that it's just we have been so busy and now we are doing the Book of Mormon read and all sorts of other stuff so really these are excuses but I promise to try and get some out not to mention birthday stuff. Plus Not to spoil it but there might be a little somethin somethin in the mail for you mom finally.... No more will I say about that. Just Enjoy. Also yes being the district leader just means being an example and having a couple more responsibilities like leading District meeting and doing switches with all the elders in our area.
I am very sorry but once again this letter has to be small again. We had a service project in the morning which is awesome because I have been praying for service opportunities and such and then we had to get much done so now I am here late today and family night is here at the church because we are going to play volleyball. So just a couple comments. Thank you soo much for the pictures! They are super good and Everyone is looking so georgeous let me tell ya. I just feel very blessed to have such a wonderful and loving family because some of my companions do not and it is actually very sad! So thank you guys for being normal and happy hahaha.  That kinda brings me to what happened this week for us. So we had a bunch of little cool experiences and we are super close on like 6 baptismal dates. We have Lucy Xavier Delilah Nancy Benjamin and Eli. Yep we are going to town with these people and hope to soon see them enter the waters of baptism! It is kinda just like a waiting game though because most of them have some kind of health problems. Also we have now found a bunch of people to take on splitz with us so we are most likely going to kick up the member presents pretty well too. Things are going great and I am doing awesome. We have had two awesome performances and are having the third one this weekend so we are all pretty excited and it should be really good. Also I have now completed the first round of p90x and it is making me lose weight! I almost fit back in my suit again! hahaha Hopefully I reach my goal of 200 by the end of the mission! I was actually pretty happy to see the Catmulls because it is really weird to see someone from home but it was pretty comforting and such hahaha. Bishop Catmull started talking in spanish with me and it really kinda surprised me! haha Hes such a good guy and their boys are huge now! Man oh Man I feel like I am gonna get back and need to wear high heels just to even be taller that Carlee!! sheesh. I also am having quite the learning experience out here. Its just funny how many things you learn when you are on your own and you realize what you had before hahaha. But I love this mission and I love the people of this area sooo much they are my family and they love me as much as a non blood person could. I seriously see so many family members in the people I work with. For instance Maria Rojas is like the Mexican form of Grammy to me! hahaha It is so weird because I totally know how to be around her and what to say because it is just like grammy. My companion is like Lincoln Liz Deleon is like Mom I haven't found dad but this lady named Mindy looks nothing like Chelsey but reminds me so much of her. Anyways its just funny how much people are alike and it just makes me love them even more. I LOVE being out here and I just enjoy every minute of it. I can learn so much in such a short time but these are things that are deep and take time to change. Let me tell ya my Heavenly Father likes to give me trials and I think He just likes to watch me grow. haha Anyways I am sorry I dont have much more time So I love you and hope you all have an awesome week!
Love, ELDER OLIVER

April 16, 2012

Hola y buenas dias mi familia!
Yes indeed it has been quite the week let me tell ya! haha First week of the transfer already down and now it’s pday again. Wow time is just going too quickly! We are doing great as a companionship. Elder Weddell is awesome and a very fun guy to be around. He actually is a little older than me by 6 weeks and I have served around him before but now we are comps and that is a little different. haha Well as for the pictures situation I am very sorry for the lack of them but do remember that many pictures were not taken because my camera broke so the only way I have them is on my hard drive. Not to mention one of the cards cannot be read by anything-- card readers, cords that connect the camera or really anything. It is just been a pain but I will try to send you it this week. Also as District Leader it really just means that I have to go to some extra training meetings, lead district meeting, be an example, get the numbers at the end of the week, and make the follow ups on the district. And things a like hahaha. Anyways I do have a little bad news. So the other day I was sittin there listening to a talk during our lunch hour when I fade out of consciousness and happen to wake up to broken glasses. Yea I have no idea how it happened and neither did Elder Berry-- not only that but I have no more contacts. SO super glue is what I have been using to survive hahaha. But asides from that everything is really good! P90X is going very well and it is actually giving me a lot more energy to use throughout the day! Haha Thank you so much for sending it out here.
Well as for me and my week a little bit. I have never been so ridiculously strained on time! We had pday then the switches on Tuesday which means waiting for everyone to get everywhere. Then zldlc in Sarasota on Wed, then singing practice in Sarasota on Thursday, and then district meeting on Friday and then service on Sat and Sunday was our first performance in Lakeland so we went out there right after church so we could be there for the last practice and for the performance later that night. Luckily for that one a member drove us and it was the Juarez family so they got to see it and they loved it! So I guess that’s pretty good news. Needless to say we had barely any lessons and now we have been left desolate for miles. Looks like we are pulling out the bikes this week maybe hahaha. Anyways we did get a decent amount of visits for how little time we had to do it but not as much as we wanted. So now we have a ton to do this week. So hopefully it all plays out well and we get to meet our goals and see some people make some changes. I don’t really have much to say this week because not very much happened besides meetings plus we have to deep clean our apartments this week so that’s gonna take some time out of the day off hahaha. Anyways I love you guys very much and I really hope you guys are all doing well and that you have an awesome week and that you make the most of what comes! I love you more than you know!
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

April 9, 2012

Hola!
Well this has been quite the last week. We had many experiences and opportunities that I really think have put a new perspective in my eyes as a missionary. Well to start with is business of course. Madre tu eres lo mas amorosa persona que conozco. No te precupes de los discos que me dio. Esta bien todo y no hay una problema mas. Really I am just grateful for the discs in the first place. Plus they are working fine now, I just had to learn how to jiggle the disc in right. Trust me it plays great and I am getting the workout of a lifetime! I love you and your concern for me it is quite the sign of a wonderful mother.

Well as for some of the going- ons here, We did just get transfers and I am staying again. I will probably finish about 9 months here in Wauchula because not only am I staying but I also am getting a new companion. Elder Wedell is his name. He is a little bit of a hard elder to be with is what everyone says but I have always liked Elder Wedell and I am sure we will have a great and fantastic transfer if not two. But the sad part is that Elder Berry is leaving. I can now say that I really will miss the guy. We were becoming such close friends that there was a few times that we would say the exact same things at the exact same time or react in the exact same way. For ex. we were reading an email he got once and we both leaned back and said "what?!? No Way..... then we both looked at each other and laughed and couldn’t stop laughing because it was like we were ha ha haing at the exact same time and it really was quite embarrassing! haha So he will be dearly missed as he goes to Fort Meyers to be a zone leader. Meanwhile I did just get called to be the district leader here which is cool.
Now as for you guys I am soo happy that Easter was great. For me it was like I have never before experienced it. I was thinking so much of the Savior and all that He did that I was more happy and more in tune to the Spirit than I ever have been before. We tried to do a couple things to just make us think more about Him some of those being listening to talks or carrying our favorite picture of the Savior in our pockets. It actually really helped. My favorite picture is " I AM" by Simon Dewey that I cut out of my calendar haha. It of course was the picture for my favorite month.. March hahaha So sounds like the activities were tons of fun and that you guys are really getting busy. By the way to break a little secret I had I also have been practicing the piano because we found a keyboard in our apartment. I am now able to play two handed for most of the hymns. well we have a little booklet that has hymns done easy or something so its not too complicated. But asides from that I hope all keeps going up! I am so happy you guys all got to see Chelsey. It makes such a difference and makes it a lot more important to see your family members when they are usually not there. Its like a relief and just makes the day worth it haha. I get to feel that way out here a lot. We do have family out here and sometimes going too long without visiting someone really makes you ache for them. haha

I do have quite the stores for you this week. First off though we did have a very low number week. It was very difficult because we had about 4 days out of work. We had music practice Monday and Tuesday then Wednesday we had dm and our splits was gone because the branch asked us to participate in a youth activity. Then Friday we went to a baseball game for a less active family in the ward and spent some time with them. But here’s the cool parts of the week. On Saturday we get up and get our transfer calls then after many phone calls from other missionaries we head out to frisbee where we had 10 on 10 which is the largest it has ever been. Then we get back and we were asked to participate in the primary easter activity so that was like 3 hours setting up and cleaning up and all, then here’s the really interesting part. We had been asked by an investigator named Mitch Kuck to go see what is called "The Story of Noah" Its kinda like an Easter Pagent kinda thing but its put on by a different church and instead of Christ during Easter they choose Noah. Anyways its suppose to be this huge deal and the tickets cost 20 bucks each so we were pretty excited to go. Plus it was such a good way to spend time with this investigator who is having a rough patch in his life. Oh yea and he took us out to eat at Giovanni's an italian restaurant. Well to skip a lot the play starts and its pretty intense. Like a great set! There are camels and all sorts of cool animals and they have real wooden carts and everything. Well to depict the wickedness back in the day they have some pretty graphic and intense moments. Not to mention like a lot of chastity comments like slaves being sold as "fresh meat" kinda deal. Oh yea and there is this scene where this really buff guy lifts a kid up by his neck and runs him through with a sword. So in other words very graphic. haha especially for a play where little kids are watching. Not to mention the music for the background is like Christian rock where these pubescent boys are wailing about Jesus. Yea just very very different from the Easter Pagent. haha Anyways its actually pretty good and entertaining until the end--like all the way to the last scene. Well the last scene is called the end of all times. So of course they bring out the white, red, black, and pale horse stuff and start showing like death stuff and seriously like freaking us out. Then all of a sudden out comes the boyish christian band music and Who else but black Jesus comes riding out on this beautiful horse at which the whole stands start stomping the stands and clapping and screaming! Yea so you got the drum beat, sparks going all over, black Jesus flying across the stage on his stallion sword in hand, wailing boy voices singing about Jesus, some other Jesus dancing some form of a modern dance with zombies praising him and moving with him, girls with flags dressed in white, and about 400 people shouting praise Jesus and screaming all kinds of other things. Elder berry and I were utterly bewildered. I seriously felt like I was participating in idol worship from the olden days. It was all emotion and no spirit. Well after a long while of this entourage the thing finally closes and the pastor of this church who was Noah runs out to the middle of the stage and gets on the mic. " Well ladies and gentlemen lets here it for Jesus!" "YEAA :ASLKHFPOE!!!!" Thank you so much for coming out tonight...... blah blah blah....... so we are sending out angels among you with buckets (at which about 40 people done up as angels run out throughout the crowd) Not gonna beat around the bush these buckets are for money. If you feel so inspired to through some in we would really appreciate it. (okay these angels are like funneling the stairs and ways to get out so you have to pass by them) Not only that but if you feel so inspired that tonight you need Jesus we are going to be able to help you do that TONIGHT right behind these doors just come up this hill here after I am done. We even are doing free baptisms! right over there in that pool. We already had a bunch of people do it last week so just come over if you feel so inspired. Not to mention we have clothes and towels and anything else you will need. Everyone else have a great night! JESUS BLESS! well needless to say we hustled our way out and I almost donated because I have been listening to a lot of talks lately and I was thinking what would the apostles and prophets do. then I realized i had to pay tithing the next day so i didn’t and i really kinda felt bad about it. The Lord would have. Anyways I learned only one thing from this experience and that is how to explain the Holy Ghost. It IS NOT emotions like the kind you get listening to an intense song rather it is a sweet and tender quite voice that touches your heart with peace and happiness in a most respectful and beautiful way. I was soo sickened by this performance. It really was well done but the sickening part is how lost everyone is. They don’t even realize that they are the ones outside the boat when the doors are closing! ahhhh I just almost lost it! I just feel so much more of a need now to go out and teach people how to feel the Holy Ghost. What a missing piece of the puzzle. I promised to push myself harder than ever to save those people from the "flood" that is coming.
Also we got to celebrate Easter with the Juarez family and they ended up surprise attacking us with a shaving cream fight in the which everyone was covered in shaving cream. Good thing I had chosen to wear bad clothes. hahaha. I took pics so I will try to get them to you. I just really hope you guys know that this was the most special week in the history of time as it is the very time to remember the greatest accomplishment ever made. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I promise to get as many of his children as I can back to him. I love you all and miss you much but there is just too much work to do. SO Back to work!
LOVE ELDER OLIVER

March 5, 2012
Lai Lai Lai Lai Li Lai Lai! HOLA Familia!
Well I thought this week I might explain some of the pictures and videos considering you may not understand why they were taken and how they work unless you are out here. I realize that some of them might actually have been frightening. hahahaha To start off, Sister Beck is a new sister missionary. She actually is very cool and I really like her a lot for as much as an elder can think of a sister. We the elders find lots of joy and comfort in messing around with the sister missionaries with every opportunity we get. This one was particularly a good time to mess with her considering she had just got to the mission field and not to mention she is serving with Vogelsburg so we thought we would give her a little love. haha Also yes that is a bucket of gel and me and Elder Spendlove had quite the wonderful time but it like fried our heads. Also Thank you for all the great comments about the movie they always make a guy feel good. haha We have a couple others but they are on my hardrive because my camera couldn’t film them at the time. I think there is also a picture where I am like dancing with a very painful face on. We had been doing ballet poses at Monica’s for Elder Clark’s last pics with them and when I went to ballet position my leg cramped up soooo bad that I yelped and everyone started busted up laughing. It actually was a very funny/embarrassing moment in my life. So if you have anymore concerns or worries please ask! hahahaa

As for me and my week, thing were alright this week. Our number of lessons this week shot way low because we were so busy with so many other things. This week we had pday so that takes up most of the day then we had zldc ( a conference for district leaders and zone leaders because Elder Berry is district leader) followed by singing practice for 2 and a half hours and then we had to drive 1 hour and a half home. so Wednesday was gone, then Thursday we had district meeting in Sebring so like 3/4 of our day was gone, then Friday was weekly planning in the which much had to be planned out and talked about, then Saturday was frisbee and then Elder Berry had a baptism in Apollo beach so we went out there for the rest of the day only to come back and have Elder Clark, Elder Parkinson and Elder Clark’s companion Elder Nelson at our house for the night because Jose was getting baptized on Sunday. Sunday is a day where we drive pretty far to spend some time with some recent converts and their nonmember mom and less active dad not to mention they live with another family who is also investigating so we spend a good amount of time there. Oh yea and we had to get Jose interviewed by the zone leaders. OH my it was quite the busy week and therefore not so many lessons were had. But we did finally have the baptism of Jose who has investigated the church for 13 years and his son who is 8 and they had their baby blessing all in the same day. Well Jose is a brother in law to the Juarez inactive side so guess what?! Every member of the entire Juarez inactive family was at church! Every one of them! It was awesome and they were all so happy and all their non member spouses were there and they had a good time! The only bad part is that all the active side did not come... the grand poopa of all the Juarez family is bleeding internally at 90 years old and went in on Sunday to be operated on. So everyone was at the hospital leaving us with about 60 people at church instead of the about 120 we could've had. But that’s ok and what really is important is that Buela (abuela) is ok and recovers. She is the nicest most oldest mexican I have ever met and I love her a lot. She is the epitome of genuine and humble. I really hope she is ok. We will see how the operation goes. But the baptism was awesome and super spiritual. I have so much faith in the gospel and how it can take the most wicked men and make them into spiritual warriors of God. I also had a very special tender mercy this week. During sacrament meeting which was fast and testimony meeting I was sitting there stressing about the baptism and things that needed to be done and how we were going to do everything, this is already after I bore my testimony, so its not that kind of stress, And there I was praying in my heart that Heavenly Father would help me calm down and find a way to get everything done when all of a sudden a little girl walks up to the stand. Well it was Maria the girl who I just barely baptized. She gets up there probably being the newest member of the whole branch and she bears the sweetest tender testimony I have ever heard. It filled my heart with so much peace and happiness that I really just began to cry. It was like a little ray of light telling me that I was doing ok and that I have already made a difference. I really felt a divine love letting me know that He is there. I testify to you that He is there and that He loves each and every one of us and that He is proud of what we have done in our lives. We are His sons and daughters and this is His gospel restored by a prophet Joseph Smith. The keys of the kingdom are here on this earth and all we have to do is grab a hold of them never to let go again. I Just love being out here. I love my mission it is an inspiring motivational learning and growing experience that will never be forgotten. I despise how fast time is flying by. It fills me with urgency to do everything I can! I love you guys and miss you tons you really are a light in the dark to me in ways that you don’t even know. You guys are my eternal and celestial family that I would not trade for all the world!
LOVE, ELDER OLIVER