Thursday, August 29, 2013

August 29, 2013--Letter from Elder Oliver---His week has evidently been "super cool" :)

I don't know were to start!!!! I miss all my friends and my family a ton, but I know this is where I need to be, and this is the only place I would want to be! We went to the temple last Thurs and I decided to go through without a translator... It was super hard, but I understand some. I get to go back through later today, so hopefully it'll be a little bit easier! It's a very beutiful temple and I learned something super cool! When they said the prayer in the prayer circle they prayed for the missionairies and I realized that that was me and all my friends! I think that's super cool! Last, Friday we had our first one on one interviews with Presidente Openshaw, and wow! He is so caring and so inteligent and spiritual! He can list almost any scripture and tell you pretty much word for word what's in it! In his devotional he uses a ton of scriptures and we learn so much! It's amazing! Friday one of the Hermanas in our district was sick and so I guess Presidente O. told her to ask Elder Hansen, the District Leader, to give her a blessing and being his companions, Elder Smart and I got to help! It was super cool to be able to do that! The even cooler thing was Saturday she felt great! It was a neat experience to be able to see the power we really do have as missionairies! All the missionaries in the MTC left on Tues so it was super lonely with just 13 people here, but we got Mcdonalds because of it and it was super great! Not that the foods bad here, its actually super good, but it was good to eat some american food! I got kind of a calling here in the CCM. I'm in charge of setting up the electronics on Sundays and starting up the projector and movies for devotionals and on sundays. It's actually super complicated, but its really fun! All the new people are coming in today so that'll be super exciting! Actually, 13 Latinos came in yesterday and we no 0 Spanish!!! Actually I did really good talking to them, but it's still hard because of there accents and how fast they speak though! I've actually learned alot! I probably learned 2 years of Spanish in the first week and almost the entire 3rd year this week. It's wild! It's kind of scary that on Saturday we will be out proselyting in the real world, even though we don't know Spanish! I think it'll be a big help on learning the language and it'll just be fun to not be stuck in the CCM!!!! My comps, Elder Smart and Elder Hansen, are a little bit farther behind than me on Spanish, so I have a feeling I'll be doing most of the talking but its ok! Its really hard to have 2 comps, but its ok! The hardest part is trying to plan a lesson with 3 different opinions..... Elder Hansen is good at taking advice, but Elder Smart gets offended when you dont use his ideas. Its annoying, but I love these guys a ton!! There good guys! Oh!!! The other day during our physical activity time this kid from across the street was talking to us through the fence! He was 13 years old and spoke really good English. We asked him his name and hes like Elder Nicholas, like you guys, cuz we always wear our tags even out there. It was super cool! Even though he's Catholic he wants to be like us. We almost gave him a BoM, but I dont think his parents would like that... I think thats all that happened this week.
 
In my devotionals I've learned a lot! A couple things. I need to listen and recognize the Holy Ghost better! Even if I think I feel the spirit, but I'm not sure, I should act on it, even if its not the spirit. Because, I want to show HF that even if I just think maybe it might be the Spirit Im going to trust it and act on it! Also, I need to serve my mission with a question in mind. At the end of my mission I will ask the Lord if he accepts my mission. So I need to serve my mission thinking everyday, "Lord, do you accept what I've done today?" Plus its the small rules that help keep us obedient. It's also the little rules we may start to not follow that lead to the big things. These are just a couple of the things that I learned, other than Spanish, this week.
 
Could you send me a list of where everyone served a mission and how long ago? Didn't Uncle Shawn serve in Chile? My CCM president was the mish pres there.
 
I love you tons mom! I miss you, but I'm lovin it out here! 
 
Still no pictures even though I asked about it.  He should really use his expensive camera to enlighten us.  Also, it seems he has forgotten a lot of his grammer rules, but I guess I will forgive him!
 

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