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

January 13, 2014

Goooood Niggghhhhtt!! It has been a crazy one!! I literally feel like I fall asleep before I lay down most days. After we pray at night, we usually wait for each other and we talk about our day together and about all of our tender mercies and almost everyday this week one of us was asleep by the time the other was finished praying! haha  That just means that it is a great week! The more tired you are the better it is! We love being busy! As for Sister Cowley she is great I love her!! She is super funny and always makes me laugh!! Well Mom, Sister Angila’s ring is just the plain black CTR ring like the crest one and she is a size 6. She wears it on her pinkie.  Anyways, I hope the girls get to dance that would be so amazing and so fun!! Plus Tara is the best! Cami, Happy Birthday and know that I am thinking about you!! We have a deep clean day tomorrow so I will whistle while I work the Happy Birthday song!! haha Our whole mission is deep cleaning!! I hope Josh is ok and I can’t believe Clay is getting ready!!! yyyayyy!! He will be the best missionary out there... does that mean there will be a snip snip coming?! nooooooo! But it is for the best I guess!  I can’t believe Chantz is getting married I am pumped!  As for everything else I hope it goes well! Know that I am so jealous about the temple! You know how I love the temple!!  It will be amazing! I want to go the day after I get home! It will be great! Well as for this week’s weather... it’s been crazy! One day it was freezing and they canceled school and then the next it is raining so hard that no one goes on the roads and now we live in a swamp... no joke our yard type thing is flooded! But it has been super fun and Sister Cowley and I secretly pray for a tornado sometimes because we think it would be neat to see!!  Anyways this week we have good and bad news... good news we found a man named Clement and he never wears a shirt... he is this old man and he always smokes through our whole lesson and has his huge belly hanging out... but other than that he is amazing!! He is super interested in learning and he wants his whole family to know about the gospel! You kind of just fall in love with him when you meet him but he lives in this crummy single-wide and as soon as we left his cousin told us that he is a multi-millionaire!! hahah We died laughing but we were wondering why each of his grandkids came in asking for money or just took his cards haha he is great! Other good news we are working with Tanya Melton to commit her to stop smoking. She just got out of the hospital so when would be a better time! On Wednesday I took her cigarette case and taped a picture of Christ to it when she wasn’t looking she said it made her feel guilty when she went to smoke later that day! We are down to 2 cigarettes a day--but she will get there! The other good news is Brother Goodman brought a new investigator to church her name is Angelique we met with her last night and the bad news is that we found out that she is Stefanie’s daughter and now Stefanie thinks that we are crazy and she doesn’t want to meet with us. One thing I have learned out here is that we all have our free agency, we can’t force people to choose but when they know it is true and they choose not to act-- it breaks my heart to watch it happen, so we had to let her go.  Hopefully, Angelique will be an example to her!! hahah Other than that, we have had a pretty great week! We are still meeting with some of our other investigators and they are coming along! Our ward is doing a challenge of reading the whole standard works this year and so we are all kind of in the same general area. We read the Pearl of Great Price first and now we are in Genesis, I really love Abraham! He has such great faith and Sister Cowley and I talk all the time about how in Heaven we can’t wait to watch family movies with all these people and to ask them questions! I hope that one day I have faith like Abraham! I think that sometimes we feel lost and like our Heavenly Father leaves us.  Since I have been out, I have really been searching to find the way that the Lord speaks to me personally. When we find the way He speaks to us we are able to look for His promptings! Everyday I feel like I learn something new or I recognize the Spirit in my life a different way. Sometimes it is just the peace I get when I lay in bed and remember that everything that happened that day the Lord had already planned out. There is such a bigger picture to this life and I have noticed that when things cancel or don’t work out it is because the Lord has something else for us to do! It then is our job to figure out what that work is, and when we find out it is usually the most rewarding time. This week all our appointments cancelled on Friday night and we went to find some less actives that we have never met and we passed by one of the bishops houses from our ward. He is pretty much the founder of the Pembroke ward--a missionary hero!!  We passed his house and I asked if we could turn around and just stop for a second and have a lesson with him. He is old and lonely because his wife died about 10 years ago.  We had a lesson with him and the spirit was so strong in his house and I just started to cry. When we were leaving we said thank you to him and he said, “No sisters, I cant explain how much I needed that.” I love finding out what the Lord has planned for me each day and I am so grateful that He leads and guides me! I hope you all know how much I love you!! You are the greatest family!! You mean so much to me and I hope you know that!! Have the best week!!

Love always

Sister Oliver

January 6, 2013

Well this week-- wow I can’t believe it has only been a week.  Someday it feels like time flies but then looking back it seems so long ago! Probably just because so much happens in one day that I just can't even explain it!! Well so last Monday we locked ourselves out, so we walked to the church because our whole district was playing bball.  We took our last picture together and  then we went to Sister Teresa’s and saw her grandbaby.   Anyways, then we went to a couple appointments and afterwards, Yarnell called and told us to come back and have a bonfire with them so we did and it was so fun!! It was for all the leaving missionaries.  We all had s,mores and spent time with our favorite people. Oh ps yes his name is Yarnell (haha)  weirdest name-- Yarnell Hondo Locklear-- I think you met him when we were skyping.  Anyways, then we went to transfers and Sister Cowley is my new companion. She is great!!! She is a little "sister missionary" but that is great!! I couldn’t have asked for a better companion! She is super great at being obedient so obviously the Lord sent her to me to learn and that is exactly what I am doing!! It is great and she is super sweet!! She always boosts me up and loves to give hugs! She is a year out so she is almost done but she is from Utah and she is healthy!! It’s really nice!! We went to Sister Teresa’s family’s house on New Years and I think it was a bit of a culture shock for Sister Cowley but she is getting used to it! New Years out here is pretty funny because everyone eats black-eyed peas for luck, collards for wealth, and cornbread for good health! hahaha  Oh and NO one does there laundry on New Years Day because that means you are washing away the memories of your loved ones that have passed! haha They are nuts out here but I love it!! Then we had sparkling cider with Sister Angela at 10:30 sharp to bring in the New Year! So yes I kept the tradition as well mama! As for the rest of the week we didn’t get to meet with Stefanie because her father passed last week and so she was busy.  Summer is doing pretty great as well!  We had a lot of people cancel this week so it was a little slow but we are getting back into the swing and I just have a feeling things will pick up this week!!! Oh yeah it is freeeezzzziiing here!! Like below 20 tomorrow but it just freezes over and bites you! As people say its riiiiigght EErrish out der!! hahahaha  As for everything else, the dog that usually chases us and barks at us in the morning has been lazy lately probably because he is cold but we count it as a blessing to us!! This week I have been growing a lot!! I always think of that quote that says, “There is no room for growth without discomfort”, and that is so true!! Even though sometimes when we feel uncomfortable and worry and feel like we can't keep going that is when we learn and grow the most.  We have to then rely on the power of the Atonement to give us the capacity to endure our trials. I love growing because I feel myself become closer to my Savior but it also is hard for us sometimes to realize the blessings that come from our struggles. Being on a mission has really helped me to feel my Saviors love... I am so excited for you all to experience the happiness that comes from the Gospel! I know that as a new temple comes it will be a really great time to do missionary work! I promise you that if you pray for missionary opportunities that they will come!! I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us each day. When we tune into the Spirit and look for the promptings of the Spirit--  you will find them!  Yes,  I know that is when it becomes scary and you are probably thinking that I just won’t pray for any missionary opportunities so then I won’t have to open my mouth... well at least I know that is what I probably would have been thinking but I know that the Lord will bless each one of you when you do His work and serve Him!! I am so grateful to be a missionary, I love serving the Lord and reminding people of the happiness that comes from the Gospel! I love you all and hope you have the greatest week!!

Love always and forever 

cass

December 30, 2013

Okay we are back on and I read some of your letters!! It sounded like Christmas was great!! Cami,  I can’t believe you are a big kid now!!! woohooo! You all look so beautiful in those pictures Chelsey sent me!!! Thanks Chels for sending them!!! Oh okay-- so Sister Lewis is leaving me tomorrow... we have to go to Raleigh and get my new companion but I am sure whoever it is will be great!! As for the rest of the week here... it has been really slow but it has also been great! Our appointments fell through almost everyday but we did lots and lots of service!! I cut 8 heads of hair on Thursday!!!  Friday we went to see Stefani but it ended up she had a panic attack and went to the hospital!!  We talked to her and she is doing better so we went to Brother Goodman’s again last night to meet her and she didn’t show up but no worries Brother Lee and Sister Mary kept us company talking about how funny it was that the crazy man’s street name is Wimp but anyways we hope this week goes a lot better! I’m telling you the windows of Heaven are opened right above Pembroke, North Carolina! It is a great place to be!!  Anyways this week we don’t know for sure what the rules will be for New Years but usually we can’t visit on holidays unless we are asked to come over.  We usually have a bonfire of some sort and it always ends up being fun!! So hopefully that happens but mainly what I wanted to tell you all this week that I think I forgot to tell you on the phone is how much I love you! I really am so grateful that I am part of our family and that I have fun talking to you on the phone!! I love you all so much.  I really hope you all know that! 

Love forever and always Sister Oliver

ps tell Grammy and Grampy I was gonna write them all this week but we locked ourselves out of our house... well Sister Lewis locked the keys inside so we have been walking everywhere!! haha  Hopefully next week! We have to wait for mama Ang to get home