Monday, October 26, 2015

Winds of Change...



Hey y'all!

We have had a very exciting week, but first of all, the activity we
planned for this week of going to the art museum fell out, so we ended
up making a makeshift ping pong table in our apartment, and we went to
globetrotter, the cool store with a cold room. They also have a little
pool where you can test out canoes and kayaks! It was a ton of fun!

We've been super busy, and it's awesome! Our work has started to pay
off. We met with a less active member this week who joined the church
a few years ago, but then he moved to New Zealand for work, and wile
he was there it was really hard for him to stay active. He came back a
few weeks ago, and we finally had the opportunity to meet with him! He
is super cool! We talked about the restoration with him, and asked him
how he ended up joining the church, then his mom came in to the
lesson, and we started teaching her as well! It was very spiritual,
and then he came to church this week! One other thing that makes this
guy super cool is... You ready? He's a RAPPER! And he can rap his
testimony! So cool! The church is true, and it's for everybody!

We've been doing a lot more work with less actives recently, and we
had three less active families that we teach come to church this week.
It's been great to be able to work with the other ward members here to
help fellowship them, and help them feel comfortable coming back to
church.

We had several other appointments this week, members, less actives,
and investigators, but the highlight of the week was Definitely this
weekend. On Friday we had three appointments, plus weekly planning,
and then On top of that we had to go to the city of Görlitz for a
stake missionary weekend. Görlitz is a really cool city. It was built
around a river, which after World War II became the border dividing
Poland and Germany. So half of the city is in Poland, and the
missionaries there have permission to go to Poland. For this weekend
we had 10 elders and 4 sisters come to the city and we went on splits
with all of the young men and women from 16-18 in the stake. I got to
go out with a young man named Jeffrey Lehmann, and we had a blast
together. We went out for a few hours and just did missionary work in
Görlitz for a few hours. It was great, and we really helped these kids
prepare for their missions!



I have had a great time here in Dresden, it has been wonderful to
serve here, but, sadly, all good things must come to an end. I have
been transferred, and will be going to Erfurt, the Capitol of
Thüringen, where I will be the district leader. It's not too far away,
and it's still in east Germany. Plus I've heard that the best
bratwurst in Germany comes from Thüringen, so, I'm excited :) my new
companion will be elder Griffen, I don't know him at all, so we're in
for an adventure! But, I'll have a car! Woo hoo! (Yes it is still DDR, my comp is elder griffin, and he will be driving because i don't have a drivers license yet, but ill get one when i get there) As I got the call,
I'll be honest, I wasn't very happy. I love Dresden. I love the
members, I love the other missionaries, I love my investigators, I
just love everything about it, and I really didn't want to leave! I
didn't know why I had to go, it didn't seem fair. Then, as I was
sitting in church listening to the prelude music, the organist started
playing "Ich gehe wohin du mich heißt"(I'll go where you want me to
go) and it just reminded me that this isn't my mission, it's the
Lords. He is sending me their for a reason, and I don't need to know
why, I just need to go forward in faith. I will truly miss Dresden,
but I'm excited for a new experience in "uncharted territory" (Erfurt
was added to my mission only a few months ago).
I love you all, and I am so thankful for your prayers and support.
Have a great week

LG Elder Oliphant


Apparently they are trying to conserve on dishes by not using silverware?






1 comment:

  1. Love that you are sharing this blog, and the pictures. I have fond memories of my stake when I lived in Germany, and of the missionaries that taught me, and refound me when I fell away. Thank you for all you do! What a great missionary you are!
    Elder David Adams' Mom! ;)

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