Pic from the MTC

A fun picture from the MTC

Two emails and a picture
To his Dad

This week we had some time to go on FamilySearch and look up our family History. I found out that the Hess line originally comes from Prussia, and then moved to Switzerland in the 1500s. Also, they've been here in America for a LONG time. Cool :) Also, I worked, and I was able to trace it back to ODIN!!! Yea, as in the King of Asgard! that's super funny I think :) but through Odin I traced it all the way back to Adam and Eve. That was super cool. Family history work is really fun, and cool. I love it, I wish I had done more at home. That's a really good Sunday activity to do as a family. Try and trace it back to Adam and Eve. I bet you can :) I love you dad, I can't wait to serve the people in Germany. Thank you for all of you letters. I cherish every single one. I read recently the blessing you gave me before I came out here, and it totally made me start crying. Thank you so much for raising me in the home you did. I know I wasn't the perfect son, and I made mistakes, but thank you for always loving me and being there for me. I love you so much. Thank you for being the example you are to me. 

 To his Mom

Hey mom, they are letting us do our laundry before we leave, so we have more time to email. I can't wait to talk to you. Are you planning to have the boys be home? What about dad? Will I need to make an extra phone call? What's happening? Also, I have until about 10 to talk to you. After that I probably won't be able to. 

I'm sending you a package today with my watch, an extra cord and some other stuff in it. My watch isn't keeping time anymore. Maybe it's just out of battery, i don't know :P if you want to try and fix it and send it that's cool, or I'll just get a new watch in Deutschland. Either works :) 

I'm super excited for tomorrow. It'll be so fun! I'll try to sleep tonight, but no promises. There's an elder here who lived in China going to Salt Lake, and he told me I should try to sleep on the plane when it's night in Germany. That way it won't be as much of a change. I finally got used to my current sleep schedule, and now it's changing again... Oh well. That's how life goes. Are you planning on sending one more package? you don't have to. I'm just wondering. I have way too much food though. There's no way i can eat what I have, so I'm probably going to end up giving it away. Oh well :P It'll make someone happy :)

Can't wait to talk tomorrow! Love you!

Elder Oliphant

Hello mom,

They are allowing us to write one more email home before we head out :) 

I will plan on calling you at 9:00 on the HOME phone. If dad is at work I can call him as well. 

We had in-field orientation today, it was SO Boring. We just learned everything that we've been learning in the past 6 weeks, but it took 10 hours :/ not fun at all.

Thanks for getting me a good seat on the plane :) You're the best :)

So I have some news... I got your package, and I saw the little yellow package. I didn't see the little "for Christmas" written on it though... So I opened it and IT IS AWESOME!!!!!!! I'm sorry I opened it now, but it is SO cool. Thank you so much for that :) I love it

****Editor's Note****

I was too cheap to ship part of his Christmas present and told him I would send it now and he was supposed to put it in his suitcase until Dec 25.

So I'm sorry about that, I guess you'll just have to get me another Christmas present... ;)

I love you all. I'll talk to you on Tuesday.

Elder Oliphant.

Travel Plans!!!

The Elder's I'm with are Elder Calmes, He went to Brighton and is friends with John, and Elder Perry. 

Elder Perry worked at snowbird, and was one of my best friends. He wasn't involved with the church at all, when I worked with him. He met a girl who is currently serving a mission. After he met her, he quit at snowbird, totally turned his life around and is now in Ecuador. He is such an amazing person. It was so good to see him completely turn his life around. I sent that picture to Jacob. Hopefully when he feels better he'll see it.

I have to go now. I love you :) tell Jacob I love him, and am praying for him. I put his name on the prayer roll today, so hopefully that can help him out a bit.

Thank you SO MUCH for the star wars stickers :)) They are so awesome!! I totally know what I'm going to do on the plane to entertain myself now :) Speaking of planes, I got my travel plans this week! Woo Hoo!! We are leaving the MTC around 6:30 AM, and our flight leaves Salt lake at 11:06. We Fly on Delta to Seattle, and we arrive there at 12:15 PM (1:15 Utah time). In Seattle we have a 2 hour layover, and our next flight to Amsterdam leaves at 2:29 PM. we arrive in Amsterdam at 8:15 AM, where we have another layover until 9:55 AM. Our Last flight is to Berlin, where we will arrive at 11:15 AM :) This is so cool, it's finally happening. We're actually going to GERMANY!!! During my time in the airports of SLC and SE, I will be able to call home. I will try to call you during the time in salt lake. Please be home and please answer the phone. We use calling cards to make calls and if you don't answer I lose a lot of minutes :)

Danke sie, für den brief sie haben in Deutsch geshreiben. Bitte, nutzen sie nicht google translate. Es macht kein sinn. Ich habe verstanden, aber es war schwer. So bitte, kein mer.

Sister Henrie says thank you for your kind words. Ok... She is 5'10" btw : )

I think you mean Elder Warby. He is from Taylorsville and yes, he know's the Oliphants. He is awesome :)

So you were wondering if I needed anything before I left. Remember how we were planning to bring an iPod, but we forgot? Yea, that would be nice because we are allowed to have them (With good, uplifting music) and we are allowed to have headphones. They sell them hear. 

So this week we had Elder Godoy from the seventy come speak to us. You probably remember him, he spoke in Portuguese in Conference. Yea, that's him. He's a really cool and funny guy. He spoke about advice he gave to his children before they went on missions. His 4 things we need to do are in Alma 26:22, and when we do these we are promised 2 specific blessings. You should look at it. It's pretty cool :)

Elder Godoy was a great speaker, and his son is here at the MTC getting ready to serve in Rome, Italy. It just so happens that his son is one of my friends here, so we got to meet Elder Godoy!! He's a really cool guy, and even though his English is far from perfect, he still was able to leave a spiritual message with us. It was cool for me to see that. It showed me that we don't need to speak perfectly to help bring others to Christ. Very Cool :)

I probably won't email again until the monday after I get to Germany, so be expecting a call! 

Love You!

Elder Oliphant

A Few More Pictures

There are no words....

Lots of Pictures!


****Editor's Note***
I bought Egg Nog Pints, froze them and sent them in a Ziploc bag in a same day package.


Hello mother, thank you for the package. The egg nog was fantastic! That was an amazing idea! Good thinking on that one. It was perfectly thawed when I drank it. So good! I doubt I'll be able to find any non alcoholic egg nog for a while... Thanks for the conference talks you sent. Both of them I didn't get to see, and they are both great! They were exactly what I needed to hear. So amazing :) 

So I have a preposition for you. I promise to send you pictures, if you send me some!! I want to see what's going on at home, and see how my baby is  (his car). I haven't seen her for 5 weeks! I'm going through withdrawals... no Joke. I saw one driving down 9th on sunday during the temple walk, and I almost cried. It was so beautiful. Sehr Shön

Ich möchte zu seine leben sehen. Sorry if my grammar isn't perfect, I'm still pretty new at this language.

So I found out this week that it's that last week I'll have with my current teachers :( So sad. I love them so much, sister Judd is awesome, and brother Jones is from sandy!! He lives over by Dimple Dell! No wonder he's so cool :)

This week in my study of the New Testament I found a little scripture that I just love. 2 Corinthians 8:9. It goes along with what Elder Holland spoke about in his conference address, and honestly, I'm a little surprised he didn't share it. It's a great scripture, one of my new favorites. Honestly, I'm surprised the new testament isn't studied as much as the book of mormon. While I love the Book of Mormon, and I understand why we love it and study it so much, I am finding it goes hand in hand with the new testament, and they don't contradict each other, they compliment each other in a beautiful way :)

I will upload the pictures I took later today, I'm running out of time right now 0_0

Love you all, keep being awesome :)

Elder Oliphant

Hey Mom :)

I have that letter you sent in the mail with the answer's written :) you should get it soon. Also, can you send me the Crockett's mailing address? I want to thank them for giving dad the tickets. 

Well this week has been a big one for sure. I saw so many people from home! I saw the Crockett's, I saw dad and the boys, and I ran into Amy Fillmore! That's pretty cool! We went to the BYU Heath clinic because my companion needed a prescription, and she was there. Pretty cool stuff :)

Also, thank you for the packages, and for all of that hippie food :) yum yum yum! But I found out that you can go to the wrap line just ask for a tortilla with a bunch of cheese, and then go microwave it and make a quesadilla! I'll be living off those for a little while now :) So how did you enjoy conference? I loved it, especially Elder Bednar's talk. He basically just did my job for me :) So guess what? This week I found out my mission is probably getting iPads! That's so cool! It's just another example of God using the resouces we have to help hasten the work :)

I had some very spiritual insights this week. Go look up Romans 5:3-5. Paul writes to the Romans about trials, and how we overcome them. In fact, you should just read the entire Epistle to the Romans as a family. There are a ton of things in there that we as member's of Christ's Church need to remember. He says it like it is.

No travel plans yet, but that's because we have no idea when we're actually leaving. We were told the 28th, and the travel office says the 28th, but the official schedule says the 21st, and if we stay an extra week we won't have any teachers, because they will all be teaching the new Germans. So I have no idea what's going to happen... But Oh well.

So in 2 days I'll have been out for one whole month. only 23 more to go... wow.

Sorry, but this week I accidentally deleted all of my pictures on my camera, so I don't have a ton, but I promise I'll send what I have, and then next week you'll have a bunch! Thanks for your patience.

Don't worry, I promise I'm following all the rules. Exact obedience brings miracles. That's what they say around here.

I hope that everything is going ok with the ward, and with the family, and that everyone's not too sad about me leaving. 

I love you all, and miss you lots

Elder Oliphant

Thanks :) you're the best

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