Almost December

Hey Everybody!

Elder Oliver here once again! coming live from Lomas de Atizapán México! haha. I am just sending an update on how everything is going with me! I am healthy and safe! We had a really good week! We worked hard and we are having a little trouble finding new people to teach. But hey that is the Mission. Something That I love about the mission is that it gives me the chance to try and figure out new ways to find solutions to the problems that we face. As my dad would say CRITICAL THINKING! Something that I was never very good at before the mission haha. So I am grateful for the opportunity that the Lord has given me to develop characteristics that I lack. We are doing alright though. We have been having a lot of fun when it comes to the work. This a great area. It is fun to see these people making the changes in there lives to see the gospel change them and see them become more and more happy! It is something really awesome! 

So I read a really good talk this week it is called "believing Christ a practical approach to the atonement" I would suggest to everyone to go read it or even better listen to it on speeches.byu.edu. It is great! I cannot remember who gave it...but it is really good! I helped me think about my savior and really how much power the atonement has in our lives. It does not matter what we have done..We can be clean through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We can overcome anything. The only thing that we need to do is believe it. It is true but sometimes we feel so bad about something or we feel so overwhelmed with a calling in the church or our responsibilities. That we feel like we cannot make into the celestial kingdom! It is possible for everyone. EVERYONE! That is so awesome to think about. That our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he has given us and everybody the opportunity to live with him again. He gave his firstborn son as a sacrifice so that all of us can be with him. I cant explain how much love I feel. When I think about that. I know that God loves us and he wants us to be as happy as he is. It is possible all we need to do is be faithful and make sure our live are in a agreement with his laws and commandments. It is possible. I loved this talk and it really helped me see how all we need to do is trust him. He will catch and us and carry us where we need to go if we let him! I thought it was something really awesome and beautiful to think about. 

I am so grateful for all the support and love you all give me! Thanks so much for the letters and the prayers they mean so much! i hope you have a great week! I love you all so much until next week! 

Con Amor Elder Oliver

Mexican Construction Cone

Hey Everybody!!!

Elder Oliver once again in a little internet server here in Mexico! So to start off I am doing very well! I am healthy and having a great time here Mexico! Today we went bowling with a few other elders! And guess what??????? I had a 4 bagger! if you do not know what that means it is 4 strikes in a row! And anybody who knows how great of a bowler I am you know that it is a straight up miracle! So that was awesome. It was funny because I started off with 4 gutter balls in a row and followed it up with 4 strikes haha. I am just silly sometimes. So to explain why I named this letter Mexican construction cone....I put a picture of a hole in the road here in my area. And what they do to warn people that there is a giant hole in the road is they put a bunch of branches in it. haha. But it gets the job done! So I definitely cannot judge! 

So we had a good week of work! We found some new investigators and we had a few that went to church for the first time. We had 7 people come to church so that was really exciting! We have been working really hard with the families of Imelda and Iliana. They are really great people and they just need to trust in the Lord but right now they fault a the faith. But that is why we are here to give them the opportunity for their faith to grow. It has been great trying to help them receive the gospel. We have an investigator who we found that has recently lost his wife. It has been less than a year since she passed. When we found him he said that he was really sad and that he missed his wife. He was somebody who needed the gospel. I mean obviously everybody needs the gospel. But he was someone who needed hope. He needed to know that it was possible for him to see his wife again. We had a few lessons with him and then we lost contact. He didn´t answer our phone calls he didn´t try and make contact after we had called. We ended up finding him this week! We are really excited to start teaching him again! He is a really great person and has a great family! They need these blessings! 

Sometimes in the mission when people fall through or we have to drop an investigator it makes you reflect. It makes you reflect on how you are doing as a missionary if you are really doing all that you can to help these people. It is something that is good to think about because I am able to find so many things that I can do better. I am grateful for the mission because not only am I helping other people become better! But I am helping myself become better too. I am sooooooooo far from where I need to be that sometimes I can feel overwhelmed. I think a lot people feel that way sometimes. But that is what is so awesome about the gospel that we can always repent everyday and become better and better little by little. Perfecting ourselves one step at a time. There is a quote I like that I am pretty sure is from David O. Mckay that says "the gospel is to make bad men good, and good men better" I love it! We are never done there never comes a point that  we can say "Yup I sure got this gospel thing down" We are always going to have something that we can improve. I think it is so great. Great, great, great. Anyways if you are ever feeling down there are to great scriptures that always help pick me up. Joshua 1:9. and D&C 68:6. 

I love the mission! I love all of you! For the support you give me! Your prayers and letters and packages and love! I hope that all of you have a great thanksgiving! I will be thinking of you all! I hope you all are safe on black Friday or as my dad told me it sounds like it will be starting 9 on Thursday. which is a little crazy. Here in Mexico black Friday is a week long and it is this week too so we will see how that goes! haha. Love you all so much Have a great week! Till next time!

Con Amor Elder Oliver

 

How sweet it is...

Hey Everybody! 

Elder Oliver here once again! I hope all of you are doing wonderful! Sounds like a lot of snow dumped on the ole Salt Lake Valley! I hope that nobody had a car accident or anything like that. I am doing well here healthy and safe. We have been working really hard here in Alamedas. It has been fun! 

This week we had another baptism! Hermana Imelda got baptized yesterday. It was a really special service and we were all really excited for her and the step that she was taking with baptism. She is a really special lady who only wants the best for her family. We have been teaching her for awhile and she has told us that she wants her family to grow with God in their lives. We know that in the church it is more than possible for her to reach her dream. She was the only one who got baptized today but we are going to keep working with whole family because she has 4 kids two of them are of age to get baptized and also her husband. It is tough to make a decision like she did alone. She was willing to put the example for all of her family and show them how much the gospel can bless our lives. We are really excited to keep working with her family and we are hoping to have some more baptisms soon! 

The mission is something that is really awesome. I named this email how sweet it is because that is how I feel! Here in the mission watching these people change their lives is the most beautiful thing. Seeing them apply the atonement in their lives and seeing them receive the blessings of the gospel is such a rich experience. Helping these people to get closer to entering the temple to be sealed as an eternal family is something that I cannot thank Heavenly Father enough for. We are trying really hard to help these people get the blessings of the gospel and find what they are looking for in their lives. I love being here in Mexico! I love speaking Spanish I am still not fluent but that is ok I am studying to get better everyday. I love being her to help these people to receive the blessings of the Gospel it is awesome! 

I love you all so much and i am so grateful for the support that you all give me! I love you all and I hope that you all have a splendid week! Until next week! 

Con Amor Elder Oliver

 

Santa Clara

Hey Everybody!!!

How is it going?? I hope that everything is going well! I am doing well once again. This week we got news of the transfers....and guess what???  Elder Nilsson is going to stay here one more transfer! So that was exciting news he is going to be here in this area for 6 and half months! haha. It is a lot. but it is great also we have been working really hard and having a lot fun in the process. We had a baptism this week of the Hermana Iliana! I hope that you enjoy the pictures! It was really beautiful the service. We are really happy for her and the changes that she has made in her life so that she could come and receive the blessings of the gospel! She has overcome a lot and still has a long way to go. The other lady in the picture is her mom Margarita. We are hoping to work with her and help her get to receive these blessings as well. Because she is very special too. They are a family that have a very dysfunctional household. There are aunts and uncles who live there that are always fighting. It is kind of interesting because we never know what we are going to walk into when we visit them. But we are so happy for her and we are hoping that the family can feel the spirit and receive an answer that is the correct path for them too! 

We are also planning another baptism this upcoming week. We are really excited for Imelda who is really excited to get baptized and be apart of the church. She is really special too! We are trying to work with her kids and her husband because they are great family and they would be wonderful members all of them. The husband says that he has vices that he does not want to give up. haha. We explained to him the things that he needs to do in order to be part of the church. He seemed a little more interested because he realized that it is not that much! haha. He is a good man and I think that the hermana is going to help bring him in along with her kids. We are hoping to have some more success with these two families. Because we all know that it is god for one person to join the church but it is better for the whole family to receive the blessings of the gospel and enter the temple to be sealed! So pray for these families that they can receive answers that this is the one and only true church on the earth! PLEASE! haha. 

I love you all so much! I am so grateful for the support you give me! I feel your love and your prayers everyday! It is something really special to have the support I have! I am so grateful! I hope that you all have a great week and I will talk to y´all next week! :)

Con Amor Elder Oliver

Bandarillas!

Hey Everybody!

Elder Oliver here once again! How is everybody doing? Good? I sure do hope so! I am doing well here in Mexico. Healthy and happy! We had a good week of work! But before I get to that I want to explain the pictures! First This week we had a zone conference. And I was able to see Elder Hyde and Elder Shuler my old buddies from the MTC. SO that was really awesome Elder Shuler is the one on the right! Hyde in middle and of course me on the left :) Next it is just a picture of me modeling the city. And last....I know you are probably wondering what the heck I am eating...Well it is a little restaurant that one of the members have here in the ward. They are called Bandarillas. What I am eating is a shishkabob (hope thats right) that has cheese and banana and it is deep fried. haha Yes it is horrible for me but I must admit that it was delightful! It has frosting and caramel. Oh....it was wonderful and I plan returning soon!

So like I said we had another good week of work! We are preparing a baptism this week for Iliana! We are really excited for her! We have a lot investigators who are progressing and it seems that our teaching pool is increasing everyday. We had a bummer this week though we were expecting one of our investigators to come to church. We had a member pass by to pick them up. We were waiting in the door and when we saw the member come in alone we asked what happened and she told us that her husband got really upset when he heard that she was talking to the missionaries and did not let her go. He is very catholic. It is a problem in all of Mexico! Catholicism is huge. Everybody is catholic haha. But it was sad. We are hoping that we will be able to find her this week and see what we can do to help her and talk with her husband. Because it is hard for us to teach just one person in the family for reasons like this. So we hope that we can find him and her this week to help resolve some doubts and concerns. But besides that one incident we have been doing very well!

Oh another change that has happened. With the new crazy and great news that President Monson gave us in conference about the age change for the missionaries. There has been a lot more missionaries applying to go to the mission. The MTCs dont have enough space for all of them haha. I am talking about the one here Mexico I don't know about Provo or anything but here in Mexico. So what they are doing to counteract this problem is changing the program for the Mexican missionaries to 2 weeks instead of three in the MTC. So what I am trying to get at is that there is a another change on when I will be coming home. haha. I had told you that I would be coming home three weeks early. But that no longer is the case I will be coming home on the day that was originally scheduled haha. It is a lot of changing but that is alright. So just thought I would let you guys know that the new change of the age is something really awesome. There are so many more missionaries that the MTC does not have room! haha. I think it is awesome!

Anyway I love you all so much! I hope you all had a great week and I hope you have a good one this week! Thanks so much for you prayers and support! It means so much"! Until next time!

Elder Oliver

Little by Little

Hey Everybody,

It is Elder Oliver reporting live from a small cafe in the center of atizapan. It has been a wonderful week and the weather has been gorgeous. Ok...not really it has been really hot! But that is alright more exercise! haha. Which is really good! Here they give us a lot more food and am trying really hard to make sure that it does not show. Hopefully I can win the fight haha. But I am doing fine! Healthy and strong and working hard. 

So Elder Nilsson and I are getting along really well. We have been working hard and trying to find new people to teach. We have a few investigators that are progressing towards baptism. The first one is named Iliana! We have been teaching her ever since I got here and a little before that. She is really awesome and she received her answer. She has some difficult things that are going on her life and she would not commit to baptism. It was really hard for us because she was somebody who had been doing so well in the gospel and church but was refusing the blessings that come with it. She wanted to get through the problems that she was having and get baptized in December. Well we know that the blessings are to be had now and there is no need to wait. We challenged her to say a prayer and Ask God when she should get baptized. Well this week we went and visited her and she told us that she got her answer for the 4th of November. It was a special lesson as she explained that she new she had to get baptized and that she was afraid of the change it was going to be. We know that it is a big change but it is a change for the best! We are really excited for her and we hope that she can keep reading and praying to get ready for her baptism. 

We also have another investigator and she is progressing too. She is going to get baptized the same day we hope as Iliana. Imelda loves the Church. She got her answer and ever since she has been doing great and she is really excited. Her only concern is that she wants her family to grow in the gospel with her. It has been hard for us to try and help her with her family because they are never there. As missionaries we want the whole family to be involved with the church obviously. She is really concerned about her kids and her husband. We have a lot of work to do with them so that they can all receive the blessings of the gospel. And can continue growing in the church as a family and hopefully one day get sealed. 

The area is really coming along we still have a lot of work to do. We are going to keep at and hope that we can help these families become more united. Thank you so much for all the love and support you guys give me I feel your prayers every day! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

Con Amor Elder Olvier

A Good Week!

Hey Everybody!!!

Elder Oliver writing in a little internet cafe here in Mexico! Just to start off I am doing very well! I am healthy and today we were able to enjoy a whopper from burger king so I cant complain. :) it has been my second fast food experience here in Mexico I think my second week I went to KFC. haha. It is nice to get a break from beans and salsa. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy them! But some good American greasy food was a nice change :)

So this week Me and Elder Nilsson enjoyed many blessings. Besides the whopper we were able to have a lot of lessons this week. The area here in Alamedas is really progressing. We were able to find some new people and they were able to come to church and feel the peace and comfort the being in the house of the Lord brings. We are hoping to have some baptisms by the end of the Month but we need to keep working hard to make sure that they can receive all the blessings that the  Lord has prepared for them. 

One thing from conference that I have been thinking a lot about is from the talk of Elder Richard G Scott. I know this was not the point of his message. But when he was reading journal entries from his wife`s journal. I thought that was such a special experience. It made me reflect here in the mission. I am having some awesome incredible experiences. And I sometimes arrive at the house so exhausted from walking up the hills all day that I don't take the time to write in my journal. It is something that I felt really bad about. Because this is a special time I have here in the mission. I don't want to forget all the things that are happening. So I am going to be more diligent in writing in my journal. That was my moment of reflection for the week haha. 

I also received some great news today. That the Arizmendi Family got baptized and confirmed this week. Along with sister Rosalia. They are the family of 5 and the other investigator I had when I was with Elder Cruz in Pensamiento. So here are the pictures from there baptisms and Elder Cruz on the left with his new companion on the right. It really was such a special moment for me to here that they got baptized. I really came to love them and I am sad that I could not be there for their baptism but I know that the Lord needed me here in my new area. But I was just so happy for them and I cannot wait for the day when they are going to be sealed in the temple. I hope that I have the opportunity to be with there when it happens! It would be really special. But that was news I received today and it was a great way to cap off a great week. 

I hope that you all had a great week. I am really hoping that everybody is doing well. I pray for you all everyday! And I am grateful for your love and your prayers and support you have no idea how much they mean to me!!!

Con MUCHO AMOR Elder Oliver