Elder Mitchell Oliphant - August 5, 2014

Hey guys, thank you so much for your letters, they always brighten my day and week. I love you guys. And i appreciate everything that you have done for me. So- this week has been good. We are just starting to teach a couple of new people- Angelique, Mark, and Carl Tate. Angelique is amazing and wants to learn everything we can teach her, she does struggle to know that Jesus is there and that he loves her. Mark is a hilarious black guy that is 50, he is on house arrest tho so i don't know how im gonna baptize him, first time i met him he explained to me that he is a gangster at sole and a hustler for life.. hahahaha... Carl Tate is the husband to Sis Tate who is already a member, He is hard to get a hold of cause he is always working. He said he wants to get Baptized tho, so im gonna be the one to Dunk him! He just doesn't know it yet. He is sooo ready to be baptized he just needs to take the freeking lessons. Im not going to push it too much tho cause i know that its not an easy or short process, nor should it be. 

 Those pics are awesome haha. I can see Why Bishop is going to put them in his office hahaha. It sounds like you guys are having fun! Im glad! :] Tell Holly and Karl that Im soooooooooooooo Proud of them and their diligence in progressing to Baptism! They set a great example of faith to me. I pray for them always. And cant wait to see them along with everyone else when i get home. BTW thank you for working on getting me music! I cant wait to get it! Also Nick- I miss ya a bunch tooo! Keep working hard, always give 100% that's why i was tough. Katie- I miss you a bunch, yes it has rained several times hahahah. Josh- I miss ya bud! keep working hard in school! Mom and dad- love you guys and im glad that you feel better dad. 

Love Elder Oliphant

Sister Courtnee Wood - We Love Recent Converts

I am writing this with a big smile on my face, because I am so grateful for all of things that Heavenly Father has blessed me with! So if I am writing this with a smile, you can all read it with a smile. :) 

My life in San Nicolas continues on! Our week comprised of mostly teaching recent converts haha. We taught 24 lessons of just recent converts, so that kind of gives you an idea. But we put a dent in their reteaching, so I am happy! So listen, last monday I had a dream that one of the recent converts was pregnant, and we went their the night after, and they told us that she is waiting to find out if she is pregnant! Way weird... but super sweet at the same time. I have actually enjoyed reteaching the recent converts, we gotta help them keep strengthening their testimony. There is one recent convert family that is preparing to be sealed in the temple in September! So cool to see.

Being a missionary is just really funny sometimes, and even though you are a missionary, there are times you just do stupid things on accident haha. We thought this man named Charito was a long less active member of the church, so we went and found him and told him we just want to teach you for 5 minutes if that is all you have. In the meantime he is going off about how the Catholic church is the true church and I just keep saying, "Brother what are you talking about? You are a member of the true church of Jesus Christ!" Basically just saying stop saying that you are already a member of the only true church haha. Come to find out after about 10 minutes of this talk that he has never even been baptized and had only come to our church once when he was taking his kids there. Hahaha oh my gosh I laughed forever and just kept saying sorry. That was my fault, and we need to ask more questions haha!  Then right after that we were walking down the road and we saw some people roasting a full dog. That was my first encounter of that haha. It looked like a dalmation,

We are teaching a really cute family. (the kids in the photo) They all came to church on Sunday. They are so cute. She washed my clothes for me this week. They have a baptism date for August 30th. We will keep visiting them and helping them prepare! 

So there is actually a 7-11 here. But it is not as good as at home. We do reporting every saturday and then walk to 7-11 afterwards since it is just down the street from the church. Convenient right? Haha also too convenient for the members to leave church and break the sabbath day on sundays! But i got a hot chocolate cause it has been way rainy. It almost tasted the same as at home. 

Also, I am reading the book Jesus the Christ. HOLY smokes, it is blowing my mind. In the best possible way. It is such a cool book. If you have not read it, buy it and read it. Most people say that it is so deep, but really I know that the Holy Ghost helps you to understand it because I have been reading it just like any ordinary book! I am learning so much. President Barrientos once said that there is no such thing as deep doctrine, it is just deep understanding. SO TRUE. I am really learning who Christ was, his personality, his miracles... and it is making me grow closer to him. EVERYONE, read it. 

I also found out that Sister Willson is coming to the US of A next year for conference. I AM SO EXCITED! It is going to be a blast. Seriously I will just say it again, that I have made the best friends here on my mission. I AM SO LUCKY! 

Well, I know I am sorry this isn't the longest e-mail I have every written, but I feel like that is about it for the week! Love you all. 

Sister Wood

xoxox

Sister Wood's desk

Sister Wood's bed - Guess which one is hers:)

See that bucket in the corner? Yep, that where she showers!

Filipino Breakfast

Elder Stetson Wood - Exchanges

Exchanges

Elder Wood

This week we had exchanges on  with the zone leaders and i stayed up here in St. Paul. 
Elder Sorenson is who i was with and he is total stud of a missionary. We Tracted the whole time pretty much because we didnt have any appointments but we found 3 new potential Investigators in one night! It was great. We already taught one of them again about the restoration and things are going great with her:) 
Things are starting to pick up here in the St. Paul area! We have a lot of less actives in the area so that has been a big focus lately to meet with all of them and get things goin so that is what we have been doin a lot lately. 
This week the primary president asked if i would teach in sharing time about the Holy Ghost so this week I prepared for that and then Friday night our 2nd councelor in the branch presidency called and asked us if we would speak in sacrament meeting... So last second we had to throw stuff together and get talks ready for Sunday. I spoke on the role of members in missionary work and my companion spoke on the Plan of Salvation. Kinda random but it was good. Our branch takes about 15 min to get started and get through the sacrament. I wasnt even thinking about that! I spoke first and talked for like 15 min then i got done and we still had like 35 min! hahaha i sat down and my companion look at me and just said. " you suck so bad. " I looked at the clock and I almost lost it up on the stand. hahahaha:) by time he got done we had like 20 minutes till it ended so our branch president just got up and talked a little bit. It was good sacrament though. And the talk in sharing time went great! We had a big primaryon Sunday because of visitors (10 kids). 
That was my week in a nut shell... 
Have a great week,
Elder Wood

Studying hard

Elder Mitchell Oliphant - July 27, 2014

Hey!
 
Okay so this is one experience. We were riding back from a recent converts apartment and as we were riding we heard someone say ''hey Elders!'' It was this homeless man that was behind a grocery store down where the trucks drop off produce. So we rode our bikes down and began talking with him. He told us that he could always tell that the LDS missionary's were coming cause of the warm feeling he would get. I told him that was the Holy Ghost, he said that he was a member of the church and he already new thats what it was. So we continued talking and found out that he would be getting a call the next day concerning some pretty serious medical issues, and that he wanted a blessing. So we went over to some stairs and gave him a blessing. Even with all the sounds of traffic and other things the spirit was there. After the blessing he wanted a Book of Mormon, and the address to the church. Unfortunately he doesn't live in our area. But i can see he has potential. Also ive noticed that i have got some very specific answers and blessings to my prayers and i have noticed how much the lord has changed me and how much more i need to be changed. Ive learned a lot of things out here. So there's that.. Could you guys tell the Hoopers thanks for the cards and Swedish fish for me and sorry for not emailing them. Ive been pretty busy, but i will email them. I dont mind long emails btw, they are kind of nice. Thanks for taking care of the music thing for me :] i appreciate it. I love you guys! 

Elder Brandon Wallis - July 23, 2014

Calf at Church

Baptism

Hey family! There's tarantulas out here! Lots of snakes too. I killed one by our trailer. I'm working on getting a rabbit... and catching a lizard. Some of the lizards get up to a foot or longer! We also had a calf get into the church lot. It snuck around the cattle guard! So me and Elder Ah Loy went and cornered it and tackled it to the ground and walked it out of the lot. That was an adventure!

There's a Womanhood Ceremony this week, and the Navajo's are wanting the belegaana gamalii's (white Mormons) to slaughter the sheep for the event on Saturday!  Apparently its quite an honor to do it for a big event like this. They don't use guns to slaughter sheep out here though... They slit their throats and rip the head off... I'll admit I'm a little nervous.

Julia, Lyn, and Suzie Johnson were baptized and confirmed this last weekend! It's a really cool story of how we found this family. At the beginning of the transfer our Stake President called us and told us that we needed to have a goal of getting three baptisms this transfer. We thought it was a good goal, and started fasting and praying that we would find three people that were prepared to enter the waters of baptism this transfer. Later on we went teaching with a member of the branch and he brought us to this family's home. Just like everyone on the Rez, he was related to them somehow! We taught them the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to baptism. We set a goal with them for about 3 weeks out, and they kept all their commitments to make that date. This family was prepared and willing to make changes to allow God's influence into their lives. I'm so happy that I've been able to be a part of all of that! There is a brighter spirit about their home now. They are happier. Everyone wants to be happy in this life, and it's great to see people figure out that through Jesus Christ is how we can be the happiest. I know this Church is true. I know that in this Church, Jesus Christ's Church, we have the fullness of His Gospel restored again. This came about by people just like you and me that were willing to act on promptings and commandments of the Lord. People that asked questions and sought diligently for answers. I have had some incredible tender mercies as I have dedicated myself more and more fully to this Gospel. Faith is a verb. We act using our faith, to repent and make covenants with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. We are blessed to have the immeasurable power of the Atonement at our disposal when we come short. Jesus Christ doesn't make up the difference. He makes ALL the difference. We don't push through life on our own until we're tired and worn down and then pass off our load to the Savior. He is there the entire time pulling with us. IF we are willing to humble ourselves and ACT on our faith and USE the Atonement. I'm now down to 6 months left on my mission. It's a real bummer! I feel like I have finally figured it out, and it's coming to a close. The people here on Alamo need this light in their life. I am called as a messenger to bring them that light and invite them to plug in their faith so it can illuminate their lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So this is what I will do. Until my Stake President takes my tag off I will serve as a called representative of our Savior. However, it doesn't stop there. Those of us who have taken upon ourselves the Covenant of Baptism have a solemn and sacred responsibility to take this light into the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters. Every member a missionary. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all! I hope you enjoy your week and have some opportunities to share this light with our brothers and sisters! If you aren't already, pray for missionary experiences, and your testimony will grow as you open your mouth and share this wonderful message.

Love,

Elder Wallis

Elder Kaden Barlow - July 22, 2014

Hey Family! How is everyone? 

Let’s see the big part about our week is we have no water!! It’s kinda ridiculous. What happened is the pump that pumps the water into the sistena, which is the big underground storage that then gets pumped to the tenacos(the buckets on the roofs that give us our water,) broke. So we just had the water left in our tenaco. Well they hired a truck to come fill the sistena, so after our tenaco ran out of water the first time it got filled again. But that was just a temp. fix and they are asking 800 pesos from every apt. to buy a new pump. But freaking first off that is a lot of money that they would be getting so everyone is protesting and no one knows when we will get water and it is just a joke. I spent a good 12 minutes talking on the phone with Elder Mortenson trying to figure out what to do and basically we are just on our own praying for water... the only thing they can do is if we don't get water at the end of the month they won't pay rent. So tonight I will be washing my clothes in a member’s house :) because also there is never light here until night time so you can never wash in the mornings. Oh boy... I miss nice cold showers where I could relax after a super hot day.... yeah never thought I would say that did ya? haha but tis true.

Last night I almost ended up in a Dominican hospital! I got super sick yesterday I had a fever of 104 and was throwing up all day and in lots of pain. We couldn't get a hold of anyone either for some reason. In the night time we finally got a hold of Doctor Walker and they were gonna come get me to take me to the clinic because they had no idea what was wrong. It could have been a relapse of Chikungunya, Dengue, Appendicitis, Kidney Stones, (this is what they were telling me). Luckily my fever dropped to 103 so they decided to let me rest the night and if I wasn't better in the morning they were going to come get me. Luckily when I woke up my fever was gone and I was able to drink without throwing anything up!! :) So I still don't feel my best but I’m alive :)

This week we did an intercambio and I went to Alimirante, which is the ward that shares the chapel with Villa Carmen, and I ran into a few people that I knew. I went with my District Leader, Elder Marroquin. He is super cool and we had some great lessons. It was nice to have a quick break from my area and from my comp. On the intercambio we were walking down the street and on the other side a power line blew up... kinda freaky. Everyone in the street starts screaming… Once we see that we are out of harm’s way, we pull out the phone and start recording it. It was crazy!

So we have this investigator named Samuel. He is super cool. He first got interested in the church through David Archuleta!! Crazy, right? He has tons of his music and sometimes when we get there it’s playing and it kinda makes me trunky! haha But he is evangelical but actually wants to learn. It’s super cool and he never contends with us so we will see what happens with him. I just thought it was awesome that he knew who David Archuleta was.

Let’s see what else, um... We have a baptism coming up the 2nd of August... of course nothing is ever for sure but so far so good. He is a 16 yr old named Pablito and is super awesome. Always studies and loves to learn and has tons of animo. Funny story, we were teaching him the word of wisdom last Saturday night, and he had two friends over that wanted to contend with us. Also Elder Cortes was a little mad with me because I didn't let him stay and play dominoes with some people because we had a cita and so he tried to contend with them, and I was just sitting there watching. When he finally didn't have anything to say I began to teaching trying to invite the spirit and the whole tone of the lesson changed and none of them argued with me and it turned into a really cool lesson. It just goes to show that contending never works!

Well that’s about it. Love you guys lots!!

Kaden

Elder Zach Taylor - July 21, 2014

Some great news from this week.. Thursday I officially finished my 1st year as a missionary! Sometimes I can`t believe that much has gone by already.

But anyway, this week was pretty fun. We´ve been teaching this young couple for a few weeks, Ivan and Lilian. They`re really fun people, but they have almost no concept of how religion or how god has a place in their lives. We´ve been teaching them little by little, but it`s still kind of hard for them to believe even that heaven exists. Anyway, we went over to visit them on Tuesday night and found that Lillian was there alone and she was crying. She came out and told us that she had had a fight with her mom. Ivan was gone working for a couple days, so she felt really alone and sad because she had no one to talk to about it. When we showed up she was so happy because finally she had someone to talk to. Sometimes being a missionary just means being there for people. Experiences like that really help me to expand my love for others. It makes me feel like I`m doing things the Savior would do. 

Wednesday we had a district meeting.. and since the mission completed it`s first year this month, we got mission t shirts! They`re pretty cool looking. The computer I'm using is a little busted, so I´ll send pictures next week.

There`s this guy that lives on the first floor of our apartment that asked us for a Book of Mormon the other day. He said he`s a really curious person and wanted to know what that book was all about. I`ll let you know if anything becomes of this.

Church was great this week. I had been studying about the sacrament this week and decided I was going to try to make that a more special moment this week. It`s a whole different experience when you stay focused on the Savior while you take the bread and water. Also, when we were singing the opening hymn in sacrament meeting, the branch president stood up and stopped everyone because he didn`t think the congregation was singing well enough. Reminded me of a similar experience I had back home... ha ;) 

Well if you´ve made it this far, I thank you for reading the whole letter. haha See you next week!

Elder Taylor