Very Little Information but A LOT of Pictures!

September 3, 2016

Hello!!

Just a quick update this week, everything's good, I'm good, my leg is
getting better, I still haven't started physical therapy though, the
insurance made out an appointment for me, but the appointment was in
Hamburg! Haha, and I can't travel 250+ kilometers two to three times a
week just for that, so I have to wait a little longer until I can get
an appointment in Berlin. It's a little annoying, but I can wait a
little longer.

In bigger, better news, the Freiberg Temple is going to be
re-dedicated tomorrow! Woohoo!! We're all SOOO EXCITED!! The
dedication will be broadcast to all of the chapels in Germany, so
we'll all get to see it and participate! It's gonna be a good one!

Well, sorry for the super short email this week. Keep being awesome! Love you!

LG Elder Oliphant

August 27, 2016

Hey hey hey! How are you on this beautiful, hot, August day? Man, I don't know how it is in the rest of the world, but it is roasting up in here! 

Anyway, I wanted to start with a shout out to a true hero from this last week: my mom, the one and only Julie Oliphant. Last week she got my flight plans, and noticed that they were for the 29th of September instead of the 30th. She wrote me and asked if that was correct. Well, that wasn't correct, they had made a mistake in Salt lake and booked the wrong tickets! The tickets were booked while the whole office staff was gone helping the new missionaries in Freiberg, so we didn't notice it, and if my dear mother hadn't pointed that out, we would've been in big trouble.  So, thanks mom! You rock!

Anyway, this week was more of the normal stuff. Life as an office elder can be fun at sometimes, but also really boring at others. A big part of our job is trying to fix problems in the mission, but sometimes these problems are just way over us. For example, one thing that we do a lot is buy train tickets for traveling missionaries online through the train company, DeutscheBahn. Well, we don't know why, but we are somehow being blocked from buying tickets. It's really, really annoying. We've called DeutscheBahn, they said it was a problem with the bank. We called the bank, they said it was a problem with DeutscheBahn. We would just use another method of transportation, but DB has a total monopoly on the train system, so there's no other option. It's really dumb, I hope we can get it sorted out quickly!

Well, what else is new... Oh, this week I got a package! There was no return address, only a postage mark from England. I opened it up, and what was inside? A potato! with a message from my mom. Haha, I was so confused, but it was really funny, the whole office staff got a good laugh out of that one.

Well, that's all from me. Bis später, Alligator!

A little free time...

They needed a new toilet seat 

The District on July 4th

Roller Coaster!

Hey mom!

So, this week was a roller coaster! That's the best way to describe
it. So, let's break it down.

Monday: Berlin! We had a little bit of time to see part of the city,
and man, it was so cool! There is a ton of history in that city. We
were just in a place called Alexander platz, but in this little area
they have giant malls, PRIMARK, and some other pretty cool stuff. It's
a really pretty city, and I hope I have the opportunity to serve
there.

After our little time in Berlin, we were picked up by the elders that
we were staying the night with. We stayed in a part of Berlin called
Marzahn. Guess who serves there? Elder Glissmeyer!! And then Elder
Winkel also stayed the night with us there. Oh we had a fun night.

Tuesday: Zone conference. What a Great experience. Elder Adler of the
3rd Quorum of the seventy came, and we had a great, very spiritual
time with him. But it wasn't all fun and games. We also had to say
goodbye to president and sister Kosak. It was really sad, I'm not
going to lie. President Kosak has taught me so much in my short time
with him. He has been a great example to me. I will truly miss him.
But really, it's ok. President fingerle is going to be awesome too!

So... The conference was in Berlin. Do you remember what happened the
last time we were in Berlin? Well, this time we decided we were going
to plan better, and we did. We found a train route that would have
gotten us home a little after 9. No problem, right? WRONG! We left the
conference, and walked over to the bus stop, but, of course, the bus
didn't come! So... We ended up walking to the train station (only
about 2 kilometers) and we missed our train. We were a little upset,
but we found another train that left an hour later, so we took that
one to Leipzig, and funny enough, we were on it with the exact same
people as last time. Small world, right? So with this train we would
have just enough time to catch our train to Freiberg, and be home at
10. Still not too bad. Well... Our train to Leipzig was late. So we
missed our train to Freiberg. We thought we were going to have to stay
the night again, but the zone leaders just told us to go home, and we
got there at 11:30. Let's just say I hate Leipzig.

Wednesday morning. Woke up, and it was my birthday! And it was one
I'll remember! I LOVE the package you sent, thank you, it was really
nice :) with the next one you send, can you send me some more inserts
for my shoes? I have destroyed all of the extra ones I brought, and I
haven't really found any good ones here. Thanks 

One of the families in my ward brought us a giant pot of soup, and a
bunch of chocolate, and then one of our Chinese members gave me a set
of really nice chopsticks. We were super tired because of how late we
got back, but it was a good day still.

Wednesday afternoon - Saturday morning. We had no appointments so we
set off and went finding, and man, it was awful! No one would talk to
us. Everyone either said "Nein, danke" or "Keine zeit" (no time). It
was really hard. I didn't understand why no one wanted to talk to us.
And on top of that, the weather all of a sudden decided to be summer
and it was 90 degrees in the shade! With no air conditioning. Not the
best.

Saturday afternoon. We came back to the apartment to take a little
break and rehydrate, and it was hard not to just stay in the apartment
for the rest of the evening, but I knew that there was something that
I needed to learn, and that the lord would send blessing when we just
worked hard. Well, I was right! We went out and after 15 minutes met
"John and Matt" they're two super cool guys from Ghana! We asked them
if they believed in Christ and they got super excited! Then when we
told them about the Book of Mormon, they were even more excited! It
was so cool to meet them, and we're going to keep teaching them! Then,
that night, a man that we met on the street a couple weeks ago called
us and wanted to set up an appointment. We're meeting with him on
Tuesday :)

And finally, SUNDAY. So, in our ward we have a "monat des einladungs"
(month of invitation) where the bishopric printed out a bunch of
really cool invitations and gave them all to members to pass out.
Well, the first week in June was a big success! We had 6 people at
church who were invited by members, 3 of which now want to start
meeting with us! It was so cool to see all that, but that's not all!
Right after church ended two families walked into the church and
wanted to learn more about the temple. What??? We asked them why they
came, and it turns out there's an exchange program for students in
Provo to come to Meissen! Two kids on this exchange told their host
families about the temple, and they wanted to come see it, and learn
more.

Wow... This week was jam packed full of fun. It had its up and downs,
just like life. Yea. Loved it!

Hope you have a great week!



Sent from my iPad

November 3, 2014

Well mom, I made it. I´m here in Germany!! Oh my goodness, so to answer your questions yes, I knew how to use the pay phone, I can´t tell you about the lightsaber, it´s a secret, I tried to sleep on the flight, but I couldn´t really. The flight was SOOO LONG! I still have jet lag, but it´s starting to go away. I gave president Kosak the Taco seasoning, and he was grateful, but how did you know he likes tacos?? Yes I am in Leer :) I plan to visit the castle today. My district includes myself and Elder Smith, Elders Wilde(district leader) and Williams, Elders Youngblood and Rasband(Zone Leaders) and then we have two senior couples the Porters and the Bensons. Everyone in our district is super nice. I love them all. 

So the Leer area is one of the biggest in the mission, about twice as big as the other two areas in our district, and it´s just us two Elders, and we walk almost everywhere. We have bikes which we use on occasion, but they´re really old and broken. Not very nice. I love this area. The people here are actually really nice for the most part, and I love our branch. All of the members are super nice, and most of them speak English very well. It´s fun, I practice my German with them, and they practice their English with me! All in all I love Germany. It´s funny though. I wanted to serve in Berlin, so naturally I was sent as far away as possible... Cool.

I´m just kidding. I love this area. It´s cold, but I love it :)

What I did instead of sleeping

Everything fits!

The stuff that didn't fit 

See you later Elder G

Dinner table

View from apartment

Home Gym

I like the pillow on the floor for praying

At the Airport

Hello family and friends! The MTC is still pretty great :) i can't complain too much, except the food is still not very good, but I've found a system that works very well. For breakfast I get a bagel with Creme Cheese, maybe a bowl of Cereal and some fruit. For Lunch and dinner I get a wrap! They have a little place where you can make your own wrap, so i pile on a ton of veggies with some chicken and a little salad dressing and bam! I have a great meal :) I've also lost weight since I've been here, but my life would be much better if you'd send me some magnesium and vitamin C supplements. There's a cold going around and I don't want to get sick!
So we got to go to the temple dedication at 10:30 and Elder Bednar spoke. He's a great speaker, I love hearing him talk. We also had a devotional this week and the speaker was Elder Ballard! thats 2 apostles in 2 weeks! That almost never happens! I also got to sing in the choir for that devotional, but barely. There are just under 600 spots in the devotional choir, and it first come first serve, and around 1000 missionaries show up every week. It's so ridiculous, but I really don't care that much because guess what? The MTC has been invited to sing in the priesthood session of conference and I made it into the choir! I'm going to sing in conference!!!! That was so cool to find out about :) totally made my day!

In the pictures I have one with all the guys in my branch who I hang out with. We're all a tight group and we have a ton of fun.

Elder Winkel

Boys wrestling--Shocking!

 Also, we found a little basketball in one of the narnia holes in our room, so I made us a basketball hoop! Check it out! It's so legit!! haha we have so much fun together, maybe a little too much fun ;) there are few things that could make this better, one of which would be more mail. 

Honestly everyone in my district gets so much more mail than I do, it's a little sad :/ but i'm not here for mail, I'm here for the Lord. one more crazy thing happened this week, a cat wandered on to the MTC. Yea, a domesticated cat. It was so cute we went and picked it up and petted it. It was so soft it reminded me my sassy, but of course sassy is way cuter :) but that reminds me, were you going to send that photo album? Just wondering :P thank you for the package though, honestly getting a package is the most exciting thing that happens. Every thing else is good, it's just routine, so I don't get as excited anymore. Thanks for all your letters though, I love hearing what's going on. please let me know how BYU is doing in sports though! I have no access to anything sports related and It's KILLING ME! I'm pretty sure the staff is instructed to not tell us anything. it's awful. Hope to hear more from you soon, and please, could you send me Liam's mailing address? ASAP! thanks :) Send my love to everyone and thank you for the prayers :)

Another Basketball Buddy

Thank you dad, I really appreciated hearing this. I love hearing abot whats going on at home :) I'm so glad that my service is sending blessings your way. The MTC is an amazing place and I love it here. My testimony has grown so much, and now I truly have a testimony of personal revelation and the atonement. I feel my saviors love for me each and every day, and I can't get enough. I love this place and wish I could stay forever, even though the food isn't very good. Thanks for the packages and love that comes with them, but honestly, don't send chips, send food thats satisfying, like that beef jerky! and that granola! that would be so much better than chips and candy. I love you all and miss you. Please send me some picture too! I want to see whats happening :)

Elder C

First Email from the MTC

Guten Tag! Ich liebe das MTC! I have so much I want to tell you about the MTC. My companion is Elder Gunther and get this, he's 5'4"!! we are a funny looking companionship but I love him and we have lots of fun together :) So I am totally in love with this place. The spirit is so strong everywhere around here. The only bad part is the food! I honestly have no idea how the average weight gain is 20 pounds, the food here is awful and it makes everyone super gassy! I normally end up eating a salad or something like that. Oh well, it could be worse :)

Thanks for sending that package but honey, where are my paaaaaaaannnnntss? HAHAAHAHHAHAHAA :) oh that lego movie tho :) my companions and I are trying to learn how to quote movies in German. I don't have that one yet, but "Lukas, Ich bin ein vater." "Nein. es ist wahr nicht. es ist impossible!" haha we have a lot of fun and My German is better after one week than my french was after 2 years! The gift of tongues is real. But even though we quote star wars and have arm wrestling tournaments with the rest of the branch, we still are overcome by the spirit. On Sunday we watched a devotional by Elder Bednar entitled "the Character of Christ." If possible you should look it up and watch it for FHE. It's a little long, but it's worth it. Also, yesterday Elder Scott came for our devotional. Yea! I know! He taught us about prayer and how we will always get answers if we pray sincerely and promise to act on the answer. He's an amazing speaker. But my goodness that place was packed! we waited for almost an hour just so we could get a good seat. Crazy stuff right? I'll send pictures in a minute, this computer is weird. But I love you and miss you all! 

I have some more time so i'll write you about my district and branch :) My Branch has 50 missionaries in it, all going to Germany. The Branch presidency is way cool, and their wives are even better. My branch has me and my companion, Elder Weirsdorf and Elder Winkel, and then Sister Henrie, Sister Barlow, Sister Melody, and Sister Titensor (I think that's how you spell it). 

Elder Glissmeyer and his companion Elder Williams are right across the hall and they're our best friends here. All the guys in the branch (26) are already very close and have a lot of fun. Every day for gym we have a giant 3 on 3 basketball tournament and it gets pretty intense. haha, the last time Elder Glissmeyer and I were on a team together and that just wasn't fair for anyone else, but we had fun. It's so nice to be in a place where everyone likes you for who you are. They don't care about your background, they only care about making you feel happy and accepted, and that's how i feel here :) I also love both of my teachers, sister Judd and brother ****. Honestly, if brother ****

was taller, I'd try and set him up with Riley. He's really smart, funny, and spiritual. and he drives a MOTORCYCLE!! sweet right? well times up. Ich Liebe dich. 

Ok here are all the pictures. Dad was right, it will be much easier to just set up a drop box account. But guess what? I forgot my camera cord! :( so if you could send my one that'd be great. Otherwise, no more pictures :( also, I can receive mail every day, so... MTCDeliveries.com and DearElder.com should be your best friends :) go check them out! Also, If you've already made my blog go ahead and get on my facebook account and share a link to it. That way you won't have to forward my emails to everyone. Well I'll send you another email next week. Keep it up! And tell matthew happy birthday for me :)

Class Time?

A letter his apartment put through the vent to the next apartment



Elder Oliphant, Elder Johnson, Elder Glissmeyer (he's known them since he was a little kid)

First Companion



Doppeldecker-Couch? Diese Idee ist nur das Schlimmste