Oh my goodness-- well this is the week!! My big
brother is getting married!! Chantz and Kenzi I just want you to know how
excited I am for you! I know that this it a wonderful time for both of you and
I am so sad to miss it! I know that the families out here need to be
sealed just like you will be and so I
will keep you in my prayers! I love you both and know that this is part of
Heavenly Fathers plan for the both of you!Wow!! what an amazing experience it sounds like
y'all had at the cultural celebration! I know that the spirit had to have been
there and I know that it is something that you will always remember! Remember
the Spirit that was there and I know that you will always be reminded of the
happiness that can come when we feel the Spirit!! I just feel like my heart has
been so full lately and I know that the Spirit is the only one who can make us
feel that way! Well as for this week-- it has been a crazy one! For your
questions Mom-- I don’t know how long I will be in Pembroke. Hopefully another
transfer after this one but I have no idea.
It is crazy to think that I am two transfers away from half my mission!
The time honestly just flies! I wish it would stop but I know that the Lord has
big plans for each of us and we just have to hop on the train and go along for
the ride!! This week has been another great one as always! I have really come
to learn so much more about myself! I always have the question in my head of
why was it so important for me to serve a mission that Heavenly Father took no
chances and said it straight out... I know that this is exactly where I need to
be and I am so grateful for the chance that I have to serve! Everyone always
says it is a great time to be a missionary and that is so true! The work is
hastening so quickly and, truth be told, Heavenly Fathers work is going to get
done either way-- it just is our choice if we want to be a part of those
blessings or not! Now for a warning… there might be some of my friends from
hair school at Chantz’s wedding and if you want you can let them know that I am
coming for them when I get home!! hahaha (just kidding) That might be a little
creepy!! Honestly there is so much work
to be done and I love being in the middle of it!! Well
we are still meeting with Adriana and it is the best! She has her kids reading
every night from the Book of Mormon and we didn’t even tell her to! She is so
elect! This week we went on exchanges again and the new missionary came with me
in Pembroke! You could tell how scared she was and it made me wonder if I was
like that... I am pretty sure I was but I am glad that I have gotten over that
phase! We went to Brother Lee’s to meet with Angelique and she ended up calling
us and telling us she didn’t want to take the lessons anymore. Sister Cowley
wasn’t with me and I was a tad worried that my disappointment would show but I
have learned so much from Sister Cowley on being positive and I know that the
Lord has a bigger plan than what we see right now! She will come around I know
it! I know that she has felt the Spirit and that is the greatest part! The next
morning we went to one of our former investigators house idk if you remember
she was the one that told us we came to her in a dream... but anyways we had an
amazing lesson and we were able to get three new investigators at her house! That doesn't even include the rest of her family!! They are all amazing and you can
just see how it doesn't matter where people come from or what circumstances they are in
the Gospel is always for them! It always helps! We had a pretty great rest of
the week I think I have pushed more cars out of the mud in the last month than I
probably will ever do for the rest of my life! On Saturday we went to Fort
Bragg (a military base) to stay the night with the sisters over there! We had a
meeting in Apex the next morning so we wanted to cut down the early morning
travel time a little bit. We had to sleep on the floor and as Sister Cowley
and I were laying there we only had a pillow and a blanket and we look at each
other and remember that these sisters had bed bugs a month ago!!!! They said
they got rid of them but I guess we will see.
We checked today for bites but you never know!! As you can imagine I
think I got about 3 hours of sleep that night but kind of a little miracle-- we
were saying our prayers and their neighbors had their TV playing loud and as
soon as I said please bless that they will turn their TV off or that we could
fall asleep quickly it shut off! It was like a light switch! Pretty amazing! Then the next morning all the
Sister leaders and Zone leaders met with President and Sister Bernhisel, the
temple presidency, all the stake presidencies and our Area Seventy --Elder Parker! It was such an amazing meeting
and a little scary! Elder Parker was the one who set the plan for
the meeting and what was said was so inspiring! I am telling y'all the work is
moving forward!! Our goal is to more than double our baptisms! Every missionary
is suppose to baptize 6 people a year when it was 3.7 and even then that might
not be good enough!! A huge goal for every companionship is 20 lessons a week!
Sister Cowley and I usually hit 19 or 20 but we see so many miracles!!
Everything depends on our members and that is you all!! We plan to ask our
members to invite people over for dinners to pray for families and to do all
they can to open their mouths! I know that this is what the Lord needs
done! There are so many blessings that
are waiting!! I am so excited to go out and see what is waiting to happen! I
hope y'all know how much I love you and what you mean to me!! I am so excited
to have Kenzi in our family and I know that everything will go well!! I know
that this church is true and that Heavenly Father is watching over each of us!
Love forever and ever
Sister Oliver
ps. We are suppose to get a huge storm today!
The weather is changing so quickly! It
is hot all of a sudden and they cancelled schools out here!! Hopefully we have a
hurricane!! It’s gonna be nuts!! Oh and this one man that we taught this week
had as all hold hands and get in a circle for a prayer and you could tell he
was probably a preacher of some sort... well anyways, he starts praying and
everyone is prayer talking shouting hallelujahs and all that jazz! It was pretty funny! I felt like they were gonna start dancing in a
circle or something!
pps Oh yeah and I had oyster this week and
gumbo soup! It was really good!
