Two for One!

Hey hey hey!

Well, this last week was pretty good. It started of with an awesome
trip to the monkey forest. It's a park way up at the top of our area
where monkeys roam free! The whole area is fenced off, but once you're
inside there are no more boundaries, and the monkeys are free to come
up and climb all over you. It was so cool! The best part though were
definitely the lemurs! They were so curious and friendly, they would
just come and jump all over you! That was a ton of fun. Then, right
after this we went to Nordhausen, and got the best pizza EVER! Back
when there were missionaries in Nordhausen this pizza place was
frequented by the elders, and the owner loves missionaries! He has
pictures on his walls of missionaries, postcards from salt lake,
invitations to weddings, etc. While we were in Nordhausen we got the
opportunity to meet with two different "investigators" (because there
aren't any elders to meet with regularly they don't really make
progress) and both of them already have a testimony of the Book of
Mormon. We talked to them, and they told us they know the Book of
Mormon to be true, but they don't join the church because of personal
reasons. One doesn't want to get married, even though she's living
with her boyfriend, and the other works for her current church and
doesn't want to lose her job. I think there's a valuable lesson to be
learned here. Every day we have to make choices, and these choices
effect our lives. President Monson talked about this in his last
general conference talk. He reminded us to always be ready to choose
the harder right instead of the easier wrong. Both of these people
know what they need to do, but they're not willing to do it because
their previous choices have led them down a different path, and it's
much harder to leave their current, comfortable state and come into
another one that can be a lot harder. But, once we're on the right
path, we know exactly what we have to do to stay on it! So, stay on
the path!

I was also sick for a few days this week, I was having some stomach
problems, but I feel a lot better now. But we had to stay inside for a
few days so I could recover. I hate being sick on the mission, it's
the worst. On Saturday I was feeling better, and we had an appointment
with one of our Arabic investigators! He's wanted to do this with us
for a while, and this week we finally had the chance. So we made
peanut butter sandwiches, he brought Arabic pizza, and we went to a
park and ate. It was all fun, until as we were eating, he reached in
his bag and pulled out a big hookah! Hahaha, it was so funny. He
started to set it up, and it gave us a good opportunity to teach about
the word of wisdom. He still ended up setting it up, and using it, so
it hasn't totally set in yet, but we're working with him.

Well, that's all from me. Hope you all have a great week!

LG Elder Oliphant

Was geht ab, dicker??

Hey everybody!

Man, this Last week has been super intense, I don't even know where to begin!

On Monday we were going to go to a zoo park in Erfurt called
"Crocworld" which is supposedly a big zoo completely dedicated to
crocodiles! It sounded really cool, but sadly when we got there it was
closed! Like, super closed, and it didn't look like they would be
opening any time soon. Which is sad :( so we did a little shopping and
walked around the downtown area of the city. Then that night we were
invited to family home evening with some members, and they taught us
how to make home made egg rolls! Super good, almost as satisfying as
our spiritual thought 😉 we talked about blessings and promises and
how God honors his promises. It was a very spiritual
moment with this family and it really strengthened my testimony.

Tuesday was good. We went on exchange and I got to work with Elder
Seegmiller. They didn't have any appointments, so we went around and
tried to find new people for them to teach. The other program has been
struggling lately, and it's really hard for me as their DL to see
that, because I really want them to have success. I wish I could do
more, but the success of their program isn't in my hands, it's between
them, the Lord, and the people's agency. One really funny, horrible
thing happened while we were together. We were walking alongside a
river that flows through the city, and there was a family of ducks
playing in the water. A mama duck, a papa duck, and 3 little baby
ducklings. They were so cute! Then, a man came up to the water with
his big, bad, smelly dog! He let the dog off it's leash, and the dog
dove into the water! The mama and papa, recognizing the danger quickly
gathered the ducklings and got them to safety, but one was left
behind. He tried to swim away, but the big, bad, smelly dog was to
fast. He pounced on him, the duckling went under... And DIDN'T COME
BACK UP! Straight up one of  the saddest thing I've seen on my
mission.

Wednesday was normal. Skip Wednesday

Thursday was Elder Powell's birthday! And he also had a doctors
appointment... In Chemnitz, which is a bigger city almost 100 miles
away. It was his first area, and the appointment was set up before he
got transferred here, so I got to see Chemnitz. It's a really big
city, and it's super communist. The name of the city up until 1996 was
"Karl-Marx-Stadt" (Stadt is city), and they have a giant statue of
Karl Marx's head right in the middle of the city! It's huge! We had a
fun time, and we also met a professional basketball player in the
hospital waiting room! He was from Seattle, but had lived and played
in Germany for 8 years. He also knew a lot about the church, because
he played college ball for the University of Utah! Small world.
That night, after we got home we had our German class, and one of our
students, Ali, told us he really likes what we do, and our church, and
he wants to join! He has a lot to do before he can do that, but we're
really excited for him. We also had a little birthday party for elder
Powell.

Add caption

The next cool day was Saturday. We play soccer every Saturday, which
is awesome, and I'm getting way better at soccer, so when I get home I
might go pro... Just a thought ⚽️⚽️ later that day we had an
appointment with Eddy, one of our African investigators, and while we
were there he invited his friend to come over! His friend was super
cool, and was really excited to hear more about or message! We have
another appointment with them tonight, and I'm really excited to see
where it goes.

Overall this week was great, and I love being a missionary! Have a great week!

LG Elder Oliphant

Elder Weber and Elder Anderson

Welcome to Heaven!

Hey y'all!

Man, this last week has just been amazing! I have had so much fun,
it's ridiculous! A lot of it is due to Elder Powell, my new comp.
We've been together for less than a week, and we're already best
friends! He's so cool! We've been having a great time trying to get
him used to the area. On Thursday we went on the double E (The Erfurt
Experience) where I showed him around the whole city and it was
beautiful. He's just coming from Chemnitz, which is known to be a
ghetto, not so pretty city. And then coming here he said "It's like
I'm in heaven on earth!" I've always known that Erfurt is pretty, but
Elder Powell's reaction to the city reminded me once again of how
beautiful Erfurt really is, and it also helped me to appreciate the
area even more. It's so interesting how we can start to take such
amazing things for granted. The same applies for the Gospel as well.
Do we take the sacrament for granted? Or the Holy Scriptures? Or the
atonement? I hope not! All of these things and more are amazing,
beautiful gifts for us, and we can always learn more and more from
them, and we can always become better. There is no limit to how much
we can improve through Jesus Christ and his gospel! So don't take it
for granted!

Morning Sport

Supposedly they "made" a cheesecake

Scholl Friedenstein in Gotha

The work is going well, we started a German class this week for
refugees who need help learning the language. We only had a few people
show up, but it was really good, and we're expecting more next time!
Teaching German is really fun, and it's way easier than teaching
English. Mostly because I actually know what the rules are in German,
and I know how to learn it. Also my English is getting pretty bad...
#ThanksDeutsch



We also had a big ward activity this week, a Kirschblütenfest (Cherry
blossom fest) there was music, games, and a dance! That was weird,
haha, really weird. But it was way fun.



Well, that's it for me. Have a great week!



P.S. There was a big sale on peanut butter. We got 10 jars

April Fools!

Hey everybody! 

 We had a really fun time this week, and we learned a ton! First of
all, how was that general conference, huh? I always knew that German
was a special language :) haha! Go President Uchtdorf!!

 But, really, what he said about God being able to take someone in
ruins, that may look completely hopeless and destroyed, and rebuild
him into someone great is so true. The atonement is for everyone! This
talk also had special meaning for me, because I actually had the
opportunity to serve and preach the gospel in Dresden, the city where
the beautiful Frauenkirche is. I'm so grateful to be serving a mission
in this blessed country.

Picture taken by Elder Oliphant

After the bombing during WWII

This week we also went on exchanges, and I got to do one more great
exchange with Elder Weber. Haha, we've been in the same district for
such a long time, that this was our 6th exchange! Mensch, sechs mal!
Das ist doch verrückt, oder? I love Elder Weber, he's a great elder.
On this exchange we went and visited a few of the older sisters in the
ward who are too sick/old to regularly come to church. We wanted to
share a message with one of them about feasting on the words of
Christ, but when we got there the other member that we came with just
started talking and talking, and we didn't get a word in! He talked
for 45 minutes strait! Haha, crazy! I love older people. It was a lot
of fun, and I learned a lot from Elder Weber. 

 One more week of the transfer, it's gonna be good! Love ya!

P.S. My companion and Elder Seegmiller are doing "monkey week" where
they're only eating bananas  

 LG Elder Oliphant

 A carnival!