January 12, 2015

Dear FAM, 

Mom, I know what you mean about meetings in the morning--it  can be brutal. On Sundays we go to Milton for Spanish branch council and then to Walla Walla for English council then to Spanish for all three hours and then to English for all three hours!! haha  So Sunday is just church all day err day! But mom it really is the best thing being out here on a mission serving the Lord! 

      As for my week! It’s getting colder--which is fun haha! I like it and people are a lot nicer to us haha!! They'll either invite us in because it’s cold or just close the door haha so it’s always a party! Elder Schulzke is a great missionary!  The apartment (we call it the teepee because our zone is the Walla Walla tribe haha) is awesome! It’s nice to be living with other guys too!! haha  This week was amazing!! CHRIS GOT BAPTIZED!!!! Ahh it was the coolest thing ever! Elder Hooper was able to come to it and actually baptize him so it was the coolest thing ever! He’s come so far and changed so many things it was awesome to see him and give him a hug afterwards!! Then on Saturday Adri (his daughter) got her interview and passed!! So it’s this week!! Then on Sunday I had the opportunity to give Chris the Holy Ghost and then later he got the priesthood!!! Ahh man, it was by far the best Sunday ever! So this next Saturday he will be baptizing his daughter Adri... coolest thing ever! He was literally glowing and I asked him how he felt and he was like "good--kinda tingly" hahaha! I love Chris! So Adri is still doing super good! We keep trying to get her twin involved but I don’t know if she is too down haha! Then we've got Jaye, who has actually been really sick but did make it to the baptism and it was so cool.  She was talking to a ward member afterwards and said, "I came here to just see how it all happened. But now I know with no doubt that this is the true church and the right thing to do." So cool. Of course when the member told me I was just tearing up. It’s kinda gotten bad haha!! Friday was a good day! The last awesome miracle that happened was by the time the baptism got over it was like 8:30-8:40 ish and it would’ve just been easy to go home early. It was a good day and it would’ve been good just to go in, but we aren’t suppose to go in until 9.  So I decided we should just stay out and go knock even though it’s late.  And…we ran into this awesome Spanish family!! Just a miracle haha! It was so awesome! We talked for a little and they invited us back for dinner on Tuesday. Who does that?? 2 random strangers! It was so awesome and now I know more than ever that this really is our Saviors work and we are just little tools in his hands haha!  I love this church so much and just seeing Chris’s face after baptism showed me of the happiness it can bring everyone!! There is nothing better than being a missionary! 

      I love you guys so much and miss you a ton! Hope you have the best week ever! 

Love Elder Clay Oliver

January 5, 2015

Heyyy family—

So speed round-- Yes the cinnamon roles were just from walmart but what people don’t know doesn’t hurt them! hahaha Sounds like an awesome New Years-- kinda like what we did! haha Came home and studied! haha It was one of my favorite New Years! That’s too bad to hear about dad’s head but I mean-- he did pay 50 dollars for an all day pass so you have to get everything out of it haha!! Don’t worry dad-- I’m right there with you! But I miss you guys and sounds like you’re just killin it! 

But as for my week, it was kinda crazy. So Elder Hooper left to go be a zone leader in Pasco which-- not gonna lie-- was pretty sad because he’s amazing!! But it’s all right the Lord wants him in Pasco. It was just the hardest telling all of our investigators.haha  They all were crying so that was kinda hard for him. My new comp is Elder Schulzke!!! He is a great guy! We kinda have two totally different personalities but it’s all good because as long as we both have the same goals and just do the Lord’s work it doesn’t really matter! Yes-- Elder Nelson moved in to our apartment!!!! It’s the best thing ever! Hahaha I feel bad because we just talk about everything and laugh all the time-- it’s just so awesome to be serving with him! He’s my zone leader so we work really close! He’s amazing! But other than that miracles are just pouring out haha!! Seriously though-- I love this place! Chris got interviewed and passed so his baptism is this week and we're so stoked! Elder Hooper actually gets to come back for that so we're stoked! Then Adri his daughter, is still loving it! Every time we go over there it’s so awesome to see where they are now as compare to before—they are  still doing great! Adri’s baptism is next week if everything goes well! Then Jaye-- where to begin with her. She’s amazing! Such an example to me! Every lesson we have with her is so awesome and so spiritual it’s amazing! When we walk in, it’s just like a wall of spirit haha!! It’s crazy but super cool! She is actually going through a really hard time and is kinda sad but every time she is just so thankful for the church because of the happiness it has  brought her. So every time I’m just in tears when she shares her testimony... it’s kinda getting bad haha!! but no, she’s amazing!   So there is a new kid who just accepted a baptism date!!!!! He came to this little girls baptism in the Spanish branch and said how awesome and cool he felt.  Then he came to church where everyone bore awesome testimonies.   Then we went over that night and he was like, I want to be able to say what they said and feel how that girl felt.  What 15 year old says that-- it was so awesome! So the date is the 23rd! Emanuel--that’s his name, I forgot to tell you haha!  But he's so awesome! I don’t know-- missionary work is the best and it’s weird to think but I really wouldn’t want to be doing anything else! I love it out here! I love this church and really know with all my heart that it is true and it does bring people happiness! The Book of Mormon is so true and there are so many answers to anything in it! I just love this church hahaha! 

I love you guys and miss you so much!

Love Elder Oliver 

December 29,2014

Dear Mom y familia

Ahhh it was so good seeing you guys! You all looked so good!! That was awesome! 

As for this week, well some really bad news. Transfer calls came Saturday night and Elder Hooper my mission dad is leaving :( He’s going to be a zone leader over in Pasco which I really can’t complain because he’s an awesome missionary and is going to kill it. But it’s just crazy thinking of how hard we have worked here and I just hope my next comp is a hard worker haha!!  When we work hard that’s when its the best! So he leaves on Wednesday and I am dreading it haha!! He’s been amazing buuuuut-- AMAZING news!! Elder Nelson is moving in to my apartment to be the zone leader over here!!! Ahhh I’m so excited! haha I knew I probably wasn’t going to get to serve with him but this is the next best thing so I’m stoked!! haha So I don’t know how to feel about these transfers-- I have mixed emotions.  Other than that, everyone is super sad that Elder Hooper is leaving but still excited for their baptism date! We’re stoked!  I think he'll be able to come back for at least one so it'll be good! As for what we did on Christmas-- we baked a bunch of cinnamon rolls and went caroling hahah!! Just me and Elder Hooper. It was so fun and I didn’t even care how awkward it was haha!! I think everyone really liked the cinnamon rolls! So that was super fun! Also on Christmas Eve we went caroling at an old persons home, which was super cool! It was awesome to see them come out and just listen.  I don’t know-- we do a bunch of random stuff but it’s all awesome and I love it! Honestly I’ve never been happier in my life! It’s too much fun out here! Seriously though talking to you guys was the best! Everyone just looks so good! And yes my hair is really short. But it’s nice for a mission because otherwise I would have to cut it like every week haha!! I hope you guys have the best New Year/ week ever! Set some awesome goals! Miss you guys and enjoy relaxing! 

Love Elder Oliver 

December 21, 2014

So first some business-- the time that’s best for us to skype is one thirty. I hope that works.  I have been talking to some people and unless we are all paying for our skype accounts I don’t think we can 3 way call.   So it’s super sad but we might have to do Cassie and I at different times.   The members that we are going over to have a Mac so we could face time which would be a lot better connection and everything for the  Mac in your room Mom! Also I will get a 5-minute call on Christmas Eve to set it up before so make sure you and Dad have your phones on loud. Haha! I miss you guys so much and can’t wait to see and talk to you!  Also little side note.. So my hair grows extremely fast so if I don’t cut it super short it’d be like every other week. So I’m getting my hair cut today and it’ll probably be really short haha!!  Just a warning! haha!  

So for this week it was really amazing! haha  I know I say that every week but it really was great! So I’ll get the bad news over first haha!! Chris had to have an interview with someone from the Mission Presidency  because he got a DUI and now he has to push his date back again.  So now it’s the 10th but the worst part is that it is  after transfers so one of us could easily be going and probably not see it.  So  that’s hard to think about but it’s good because I think now Chris really understands the seriousness of baptism so he's super solid now but it’s still hard.  His daughter Adri is going to get baptized as well and it’s awesome because she has really brightened up!   I’ve never seen both of them this happy in a long time. It’s really awesome!   Jaye is doing just amazing! We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she was like "yeah that makes total sense" haha!   It was awesome! She was like-- give me a week to end coffee and then I’ll do it! So we were just stoked haha!! She even came to the ward party--which was amazing!! haha It was the best party I’ve been to. All the less-actives we have worked with were there so that was awesome! And they had live music haha!! I don’t know it was just way cool! Just a small town but it ended up being amazing! I don’t know I was going nuts about how cool it was and I’m sure Elder Hooper was getting annoyed haha!! But… it was good! So kind of a funny random story-- we were walking and saw this small Mexican (in the middle of the day) just walking and singing so loud! He was just so drunk haha!! Then we start talking to him and he starts going off reciting this poem that was so intense and he was so into it! haha!  He was just drunk acting and then we started  talking about why he drinks—and he said he knew it was bad. Then he starts bursting into tears... I didn’t understand too much and then all of a sudden-- just this 50 year old man crying. It was actually really sad just to see him so low. But we had a little lesson with him and hopefully another this week so we're stoked!  Other than that this week was amazing and I’m just so stoked for Christmas! 

I love and miss you guys so much and hope you have the best Christmas week ever! See you in 3 days!!!

Love Elder Oliver