January 27, 2014

I HAVE DANDRUFF!!! CALL ME DANDRUFF DANNY!!! Ahhh can you believe that I have dandruff!!  I can’t get rid of it-- I don’t know how!!! I count my blessings that it isn’t lice but seriously I just about died when Sister Angela told me! Anyways enough for my freak out-- Wow what a great week you all had!!!  I really do miss you all so much and your letters mean the world to me!! Sometimes the weeks go by so fast that I forget what it is like not being a missionary! But I am always reminded of my amazing family that I have back at home and I remember that we have a home that is beautiful with a shower that works and a clean uncluttered kitchen! Well anyways I just am so grateful for everything that I have been given and yes we are very blessed out here as missionaries but there are a few things that I appreciate in Arizona! Mom, my beach cruiser is perfect I love it!! We ride bikes a lot and it makes it enjoyable!! As for the almond milk I love it and it makes me feel a lot better! I am going off diet coke again and we are starting to drink half our body weight in water!  The temple sounds amazing and I am so excited for Chantz and Kenzi! Please send me the engagement pictures because I know that I could probably find them on Fb somewhere and it is a struggle everyday not to look! hahah   I am just  really excited for them! It sounds like y'all have been super busy and that is great! I love being busy it makes everyday more enjoyable! Sometimes we get through planning at night and realize we forgot to put in lunch! haha  The days get crazy but I count my blessings that Pembroke is busy!  

Well this week has been so good!! We have been working with Leslie and she is coming along great! She loves to read and meets with us about every other day! We are meeting with Angelique as well.  We don’t hear from Stefanie any more but Angelique and her mom don’t get along so we have been working with her and she is so fun!! At first she was really hard to work with because she is black and she acts like she is going to beat us up every time we teach her but then on Friday we had dinner with her at Brother Goodman’s and she opened up!!! It was perfect! I don’t know how it happened but I know the Spirit works miracles! It also helped that we were all just about dying because we had goat, or the fact that Brother Goodman asked me to dye his hair and that was really funny but I did it!  It was such a great night! Plus I love Brother Goodman and Sister Mary-- they are definitely some of my favorite people here and it will be hard to say goodbye to them.  Since I have been here, I have been able to see them grow so much and I love spending time over there! Then Angelique came to church and she likes it! We keep meeting with her and seeing the change of her heart has been one of my favorite experiences out here! I love Angelique! Last night we taught her about the Atonement and she  told us that some things have happened that she doesn’t think she can be forgiven for.  She used to be in a gang, but being able to explain to her the peace and happiness that comes from having a hope for something better in this life and letting her know that she can feel that burden lifted off her shoulders was one for the books.  The spirit was so strong and I couldn’t help but be reminded of how merciful our Savior is.  He is our Mediator and through Him we can be forgiven for anything that we have done when we ask for forgiveness. We had a member with us who was just recently re-baptized after being excommunicated and her testimony was so strong! Other than that-- this week has been filled with everything that is great about missionary work!  Oh I almost forgot-- we were teaching this family and all of a sudden this huge spider came down it's web right onto the mom’s shoulder... I died and Sister Cowley calmly says,  “Um there is a spider on your shoulder.”  The mom gets up and says that rascal and claps the spider right in her hands and kills it!! haha She just acts like it is nothing and goes and washes the guts off... you think I am joking... we had to try so hard not to laugh.   There are just so many things that happen that when  Sister Cowley and I get home we laugh so hard!! Oh like a couple weeks ago-- remember I told you about that big man who got mad at me for saying the church is perfect... ok well we had dinner with them and he fed us meat that was still mooing! It was sooooo nasty! He asked Sister Cowley how she likes her meat and she just politely says,  “um that’s good.”  He had already stared cutting it and the blood was just squishing out... so that happened and then we went back over there last night and he had his dog eat a piece of meat out of his mouth!!  This man looks like Dumbledore mixed with Mad-eye Moody. He had to part his long gray hair from his eyes in order for the dog to find the meat!! It was so nasty!!   I had to hold my breath not to laugh! It was too good! But yeah other than all of that I hope you have the best week! You are the best family I could ever ask for and I am so grateful for you!!

Love always and forever

Sister Oliver

January 20, 2014

I am so far behind again!!  I know this picture is a little blurry but I couldn't believe the size of the collards!!

Hola Familia! 

Haha I feel like I have to start it off like that!  Wow! What a week for yall!! It sounds like it was pretty good and a little rough! Well Cami I am so sorry you were sick on your birthday but I hope your party made up for it!! It sounds like it was a lot of fun! I can’t believe how fast time flies by either Mom!! I feel like it goes so fast! But I love it I guess that is all you really can do is love every moment! I am so excited for you to have a brand new Temple!! You know how much I love the Temple and I sure am jealous!!  I know it will be there when I get back! I hope the bathrooms go well!!  I promise I will do a better job of cleaning them when I get home-- forgive me for being so lazy! haha  Well anyways, first off I just love you all so much! You really are the best family in the world and I am so grateful to have you! This week has been amazing!! I feel like the weeks get better and better! Sister Cowley is such an amazing example to me and I am so lucky to have her.  I learn so much from her everyday and I swear she is the most positive person ever!! We have been listening to a lot of classical music and I really love it!  I have realized what a change the music I listen to makes especially out here! When we listen to uplifting music it changes our whole day!! Well this week we have been doing a lot of bike riding--which I love!!  I bought a beach cruiser and it has changed my life! haha (a little dramatic but it is really great!) Sister Cowley makes homemade bread every week for us and I drink almond milk now! It is so good! We are really trying to cut back on what we eat because I am pretty sure I am gonna have diabetes pretty soon here! Other than that-- biking makes the work so much more fun! We have been talking to so many more people and it makes you energized for the next day! It is always an adventure of who you are going to talk to each day!! We had a really amazing experience this week.  We were riding down to Summer and Elsee’s house and we had to pass UNCP (the college).  As we were riding there—we saw a group of people and Sister Cowley and I made it a goal to talk with everyone. So I was in front and I started turning towards them and then I got nervous so I tried to think to myself what to do and I personally didn’t feel to bad about not stopping!! So I just kept going and I heard Sister Cowley say... “they probably didn’t need the gospel no big deal”... hahaha We started laughing and we were about to turn around and then we just both decided to keep going and a little farther down this little boy was pointing at us.  I stopped and we started talking to his mom.  We taught her and set up a return appointment. We taught her again last night and let me tell you she is so elect!! She has so many questions and she kept telling us she was really excited to read the Book of Mormon! She committed to be baptized and is doing great! After we met her, Sister Cowley and I were talking and we just knew the Lord was guiding us to keep going so that we could meet her... not that the other people didn’t need the gospel as well but I know that we were put in the right place at the right time so that we could meet Leslie and start teaching her! We are so excited! As for Clemet, the man with no shirt, he is great!! We taught him on Saturday and he had a shirt on! Plus he really enjoys learning about Joseph Smith so that is always a plus around here! As for Brother Goodman’s house-- we have started teaching Angelique who is Stefanie, our former investigators daughter... she is a little rough but mainly because she is our same age and she has lived a really hard life but she is coming along and she always has really funny comments! We like teaching her! We actually went over to the Goodman’s last night to teach her, but when we got down there she didn’t show up.  Brother Goodman had another man there that he found on the side of the road on the way home from church that was having car troubles.  The man was from Haiti and he was living in NYC.  He and his son were moving to Florida and their car broke down so they were staying with Brother Goodman for the next couple of days while he fixed their car... Did I tell you he knows how to do that as well... honestly there are so many secrets about that man it is not even funny! He used to own a yacht! haha  But anyways,  when we got to Brother Goodman’s house we started teaching this man.  I don’t know if anything will come from it but Brother Goodman was his good samaritan for the night and hopefully the missionaries in Florida catch up with him! As for everything else around here, the work is just great!  I love it so much!! I am so excited for Clay to get our here! It is funny because as I have been trying to read the standard works I have been finishing up the Book of Mormon as well and it just so happened that they are both talking about the same thing as I read them!   I love learning from them everyday! I am in Exodus right now and it has been talking about Moses.  I can’t remember where exactly and I don’t have my Bible with me right now-- but it pretty much is just when the Lord is telling Moses what he needs to do and Moses says I stumble over my words and I am not eloquent enough for this job. (in other words the way we all feel when it comes to being on the Lords errand)  Then the Lord just simply says,  "I am not the one who made you, anything that I ask can be done if you have the faith to do it!"  Just like in 1 Nephi 3:7 it says,  “I will go I will do the things the Lord commands I know the Lord provides a way He wants me to obey”.  I know that the Lord does not give us a task that we can’t accomplish! If we have the faith and rely on Him we are able to do anything that we have been asked to do! So as this new Temple comes around I know that it is going to be a huge missionary experience and I know that if each of you have the faith to open your mouth that everything will work out! The Lord will guide you in everything that you do! I know this to be true because I see it everyday! I stumble over my words and I feel like I don’t know what I am going to say a lot of the time but some how when I open my mouth things just start to flow and thoughts come to my mind. I love being a missionary! This is the most exciting work and I am so blessed to be a part of it! I hope you all know how much I love you and have the best week!!

Love always

Cass/ Sister Oliver