October 21, 2013

What’s peepin dogs--

Well wow what a week!  I feel like it went by so quickly it is not even funny but I love hearing from all of you. Like last week I am going to print them and write back letters-- I hope you enjoy the letters because I always look forward to writing them!! and I loved all the pics-- Clay keep me posted. PS--Mom I can see the pics you are taking on my phone so I saw the ones of Chantz and the girls at the movies and you all look beautiful!  I miss you all!!  Chloe dem boots be lookin fly!! hahah  Well this week-- where to begin-- ok well first did you see Elder Cardon's talk in the Ensign?  It was great!   I bet he is a great General Authority! Oh and this week we are having two members from the Quorum of the 70 speak to us and then next month Elder Baxter from the 70 is touring our mission!! Yay-- we are super excited! He spoke to us in the MTC as well! As for my blanket I still haven’t gotten it but it is all right I can buy one out here if our order didn’t go through or something.  I will just wait-- I might be here in Pembroke for 7 months so we have time. hahah  Yes,  you can send to the po box--we pick it up in the mail room so send whatever to that address! Ok so as for the work-- this week has been amazing! Half of our investigators showed up to church and I literally started crying because I was so happy!  The worst part was I was on the stage to sing-- yes we are in the choir and it is us, the Elders and about two other members so it is like we are singing a solo every week!   I didn’t want anyone to see I was crying so luckily it was during the sacrament prayer but anyways that was such a tender mercy! Round here church is the hardest commitment.  Let me just give you some background-- we have a ward list of about 20 pages and only 100 people show up to church every week so lets just say everyone has been baptized but no one is active.   So yes-- that is a huge goal for us. We spend a lot of time with less actives and their families because it usually is one of the parents that doesn’t attend and if they were to attend their family of about 20 would come as well and their children and grandchildren would be baptized! So that is kinda what we focus on. But anyways, we visited with this sister named Sister Gertha and to give you a picture she looks like she could be on Thumbelina.  She is three weeks off smoking so she has a very raspy voice and loves to feed us fudge and chocolate!  She is really great and she came to church for the first time in about 20 yrs yesterday!  Then there is Tamara who isn’t a member and she is one of my favorites-- they are all my favorites but limiting our lessons to only an hour is one of our struggles in being exactly obedient! She is the sweetest and she has the strongest testimony already. She knows it is true but  she knows that when she is baptized it is like she is entering into war so our job is to prepare her for that war! Her family is very very Baptist and they fight with her all the time about how she is meeting with us. It doesn’t help that her whole family lives on the same street she lives on!  She knows what her answer is about the church  she just wants the answers for them when they question her so that is kinda what we are working on.  She is in the choir and is singing a solo in two weeks in sacrament!! She has an amazing voice! Well as for Seneca and Mineka-- I think I told you all about them. They are one of my other favorites! This week was super rough for them because they have a family and they got their power turned off which isn’t unusual around here.  They have three kids and it is starting to get cold.  Seneca works till 3 or 4 in the morning and she goes to school and Mineka is trying to get a job driving trucks which everyone around here thinks that is one of the best paying jobs so they all try to do it! But anyways-- we meet with them as much as we can and they are really progressing!! The work out here is just amazing! I love teaching it and learning more about it everyday!! Clay I am so excited for you and all you girls as well. Missions are honestly so fun--and you will love it! Sometimes I feel like the guy on “The Best Two Years” because I just get so excited meeting new people especially at church because everyone is so nice and they just all give you hugs! I am so excited to spend Christmas and the holidays over here!! One because everyone is family so there are about two houses that everyone will be at-- the Locklears and the Chavises.  The grandparents of both those families are also the two doctors in the town and pretty much the only ones with homes and not trailers! hahaha I love it out here! We eat so well-- oh and let me tell you they have this tradition where everyone makes 30-layered cakes literally 30 layers!!! Crazy I love it!! My favorite thing that I have eaten was--Sister Teresa made sweet potatoes like we make at Thanksgiving except they probably had more sugar and 5 more sticks of butter!!  They were soooo good--she actually sent us home with the whole pan! Now Sister Teresa is a Locklear and she is married to the new bishop who is Bishop Ferris Locklar but we just call him Bishop Ferris because the previous bishop was Bishop locklear and so it would be pretty confusing.  We just got a new bishop yesterday because Bishop Locklears memory is pretty bad.  It gets pretty funny when sacrament meeting consists of everything but sacrament because he forgot to announce it... (We still had sacrament it is just an example) but yeah I truly love it out here!  There is so much to do and I feel so busy all the time--just the way I like it!! On Saturday nights I also get to go to this sister’s house, her name is Sister Cathy Locklears.  She is in a wheel chair and I braid her hair for Sunday! It is one of my favorite things to do because she is amazing! She crawls around on her knees most of the time because she loves to garden and she doesn’t like to sit around so she bought army pads and goes on her knees!    One thing that is super sad out here is almost half the families in the ward have had someone murdered from there direct family whether it is a son or a husband.  There is just a lot of crime out here so it is super sad because that is where they gain their faith.  My testimony has also grown about eternal marriage! It is one of my most cherished blessings because no one out here is sealed and that is why it is so hard to hear about their families so we  set a lot of  goals for them  to go to the temple. The sealing power is amazing because I get to be with you guys forever!!! You are my most cherished blessings! I love you all so much I hope you have the greatest week and expect letters soon! 

Love always and forever

Sister Oliver

ps sorry if this totally doesn’t make sense I tried hahahaha