5 1/2 weeks!!!!

Hey everyone!

This has been another a week in the MTC! ha In the MTC everything is routine so I am so sorry if I do not have a ton of stuff to write but I am going to do my best! So on sunday We got to watch a movie after the fireside. The Fireside was given by the MTC president and it was super good! He talked about how God gave all of us different talents and how it is absolutely necessary to use these talents in the field. It was so good! I kept giving Elder Richardson a hard time because he is amazing at the piano...Not just good but like amazing he has been playing since he was 6 and took lessons the entire time. It's incredible. So ya it was fun for me to give him a hard time about it but he knew it was out love and hopefully he doesn't hate me too bad... :) So we will skip ahead to wednesday! My sisters birthday!!!!Happy birthday mandy! I was thinking about you all day and praying that you were having a wonderful day! Wednesday was also rough day for me though...There was an elder here who I have become very close with. His name is elder benson. he is not in my district but he is in my zone. so I saw him all the time and it was great. But Wednesday he came in to my clase and pulled me out. He told me he had to head home that night because he had to clear some stuff up and you could tell it was killing him. I felt so bad for him. But I also was so happy that he was doing the right thing! He is a great missionary and I know that when he comes back in 6 months he is going to be great! So that was definitely a downer. But we are praying for him and are proud of him for doing the right thing.

So....Spanish is coming along great! I am still horrible...... hahahah. But I learn more and more each day! My lessons are getting easier and easier to explain the teachings of the gospel effectively to my investigator. I love my teachers hermano davis and hermano crowley are so great and are so great at teaching us with the spirit! I learn so much every day. I have been learning more and more about the gospel and I am 20 pages from finishing the BOM so that is super exciting it is going slow because I am really studying each scripture as I go. That is what I have learned since coming into the mtc, the difference between reading the scriptures and studying them. It is amazing how much I am learning. I love it. I look forward to personal study every day. Today we went to the temple and it was so amazing! I don't know why today was just different. I think it might have had something to do elder benson leaving but I do not know...I felt so much relief though. I felt peace about all the concerns I have about my mission and everything in my life. I am so glad for temples and the spirit i feel everytime I attend! it is such a blessing! Well i am out of time. But I love everybody! Thank you so much for the letters and all the love! I am glad to hear about all my boys returning from their missions and getting back into the swing of things I miss you guys so much! but I know I need to be here! I love you all!

 

HALF WAY!!!!!!!!!! hopefully.....

Hey Everyone!,

So this week has been great as usual!!! ha the mtc is so much fun! So I hate to say it but I have not had anything to exciting this week!!! i know crazy!!!! But I want to thank everyone for there packages and letters for valentines day! I am so sad that I wasn't able to watch the bachelor the day after valentines day! But that is ok...haha just kidding! So last sunday I was called to district leader! and I said yes. It is nothing...haaha I am glad I have the oppurtunity to help the people in my district but now have more busy work along with everything else. Ha but its great I am grateful for the oppurtunity. So I set a goal to finish the book of mormon by this up coming sunday a had a 130 pages left and i still have 60 to go...I dont think I am going to get it but that is ok! This week I really learned how to study the scriptures this week and look deeper into it than just reading and scanning the pages. So if I don't hit my goal that is ok because I am actually getting something out of my study everytime even if I just read one verse! I love it! I am so sorry That my letter isn't very long this week. Oh real fast it was a good week but it was sad too. Elder Shuler and Elder Dove my romates left for Mesa Arizona on a tempory assignment they are going to my same mission but visa problems are very common in mexico. So PLEASE PRAY FOR MY VISA!!! haha I know that If i get reassgined for a while it is for a reason and the Lord wants me too. But I would love to get to Mexico ASAP! ha so it was sad seeing those guys go since we had become so close. Me and Elder Richardson are great still I am very lucky to have him as a companion. I can't email pictures here at the mtc but I can print some off! so I will do that later today and hopefully send them some time this week! Everyone happy valentines day I love you all so much and thank you so much for your letters and packages! they mean so much! I love you all talk to next week!

 

P.S. I am about halfway done in the MTC! crazy!

Con Mucho Amor Elder Oliver

3 Weeks Down!

It has been a crazy week....I am learning a lot of spanish and gettting more and more effective in my lessons! I am learning so much in the scriptures and building my testimony it them has been great! I am hoping to send some printed pictures home soon but is hard to find the time to get them developed! So this week like I said has been crazy! tons of spiritual moments and other sad ones, some at the same time. Elder Taylor from my district is being sent home today....we have known for a couple of days that it was happening, and he has really been struggling to keep himself composed. I felt so bad for him. He suffered a lot to come and serve his mission and now he has to go home. For the past couple days I had been trying to figure out how i can best help him...And I didn't know...I asked the Lord how can I serve my friend...and I know an answer came. Last night after he met with the branch President to get everything worked out he came in and talked to us for a second and we all told him that we loved him and were there for him. Then I had a strong impression to pull him off to the side and talk to him one on one. So that is what I did! I had know idea what I was going to say...So I sat there just thinking and listening for something. Then the 2nd Cor 1:7 poppped in my mind. I know I talk about that scripture all the time and it is propably annoying to all of you by now haha. but I really felt i needed to share this with him. And it has so much personal meaning in my life. So i did. I told him how we accepted the challenge to come to earth and be tested and we understood that we would be the partakers of suffering. and how we looked Jesus and our father in the eyes and said yes we accept your challenge because we love you and want to follow you and live with you forever. As I bore me testimony on this scripture I honestly I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. and He just broke down and thanked me for sharing that scripture. I was so happy that I could help him just for that one little moment. I told him that it is going to be hard however long it takes him to overcome his trial. but he needs to do anything and everything to get back on his mission and he is going to be a better missionary if he handles this experience well. I was saying this and the spirit was testifying to me just as much as him and it was so spiritual and sad and happy. happy because he is doing the necessary things in his life to make him come closer to Christ. I was so proud of him. So ya. it has been a very interesting week and I am so grateful for the oppurtunities I have had to grow. Me and Elder Richardson are also sad because Elder Dove and Elder Shuler are leaving tuesday for mesa arizona. Not mexico becuase of visa troubles. So ya we are pretty sad but we are very excited for them. I can't wait for the day I leave the MTC and start my real mission! it is going to be great! I love what I am learning here and testimony is srengthened diariamente....(daily) spanish for ya :) love you everybody! thanks so much for the love! I feel it everyday! thanks! Love you guys!

 

Con Amor Elder Oliver

 

P.S. We watched the Joseph Smith movie on Sunday...It is amazing and if you haven't seen it go see right this second!

 

50 Year Anniversary

HOLA!

Hey everybody! I want to start off by thanking everybody who has written me! I am doing my best to get letters back! I am a slow writer and only have a few hours during laundry time on friday to write! So please forgive me!

This week has been amazing! It seems like time is going fast sometimes and then other times it goes super slow. But that is not important haha. I am learning a lot of spanish! Teaching my investigators is getting easier! (people I teach who are interested in the church. But in the MTC they are not real...they are just my teachers but it feels real because they speak spanish the whole time.) I love teaching; the spirit is so strong! So i think last time i wrote I said Rafael was my investigator. Well he "moved back to puerto rico" haha. So now I am teaching my teacher Hermano Davis/Canducho and Hermano Crawley/rafael/Nelson haha. It is getting better and better each time we teach because we are getting better at spanish and getting better at recognizing the spirit. Elder Richardson and I are really getting along well! he really is so funny! he loves Donald Trump....LIKE A LOT!!!!!! is muy comico para mi.(funny for me).

SO..........The 50 year anniversary of the MTC was on tuesday and it was one the most spiritual experiences/days I have ever had in my life. So the day really wasn't anything special until about 5:50. we skipped dinner to go wait in line because there was a lot of hype about who might be speaking. We waited for two hours.  it was so bad I hated it! But we finally got in and there was just electricity in the air about who it will be giving the talk! so we started singing as we usual do (we sing a lot in the MTC....) ha but during the second hymn We saw that the speakers were coming through the door... and boom!!!! everyone in the whole gym just stood up at once to show respect to the TWO general authorities that walked in. Russel M. Neilson, and Jeffrey R. Holland. I was literally punched in the face with spirit. It was incredible It was the first time I had ever seen a general authority in person. It was incredible. Jeffrey R. Holland just bore his testimony on missionary work and it was incredible. I loved it. It made me feel even stronger about what I am doing and how right it is for me. And then Russel M. Nelson talked about he history of missionary work and there were some missionaries in the beginning of the church that literallly baptized thousands of people. That was so powerful. I know I won't do that. But I am excited to bring joy into peoples lives. I cannot wait. Then after the Devotional we had District testimony meeting and it was so powerful. I love my district. there are some people I dont see eye to eye with but that is ok i am just trying my best to set a good example so we can all enjoy our time in the mtc because it is not easy. Its hard work 16 hour days of studying and we are together almost the whole time. So i am glad I enjoy their company! The spirit was so strong at the meeting. I love hearing people talk about their feeling and experiences because mine are so different from everyone else's. I love it I learn so much from other people sharing. That is why they tell us to teach with our testimony, it is the biggest tool we have against satan. I am praying more than I ever have and read more. I am doing my best to be dilligent. Its not easy but it is important. I loved this week and I love you all so much! talk to you next week!!!

Ciao,

Elder Oliver