Faithfully we baptize, focusing on the blessings of the temple

Hello! Well, another week geschafft in Dresden, the most beautiful
city ever to be occupied by communists. We had a week just full of
fun, heartache, and miracles. First, the fun.

Last week we had our last p day with elder drazin and elder hall, and
we wanted to make it one to remember! So, we all went shopping!! There
is so much shopping in Dresden, and it's great. Usually I don't like
going shopping, because I don't really like spending money, but with
friends buying the right things, it's great. We went to PRIMARK (best
store EVER) and it's like a missionary paradise. Ties, 2€. White
shirts, 6€. Pants, 19€. But the best deal is definitely a dinosaur
onesie for 16€  #SwagosaurusRex. I also finally found lederhosen
that fit me, so that's pretty cool too.

Now, the heartache. We sadly had to say goodbye to elder drazin, elder
hall, sister Kooyman, and sister Stephens this week. That was really
hard. We've all become really great friends during the last two
transfers. We have gone through so many things together, and I really
hope that I can keep in contact with all of them after the mission!
But, with transfers come new missionaries also! Elder Bailey, and
elder Adams have replaced the elders program. They are both really
great, and elder Bailey and elder Teuscher could be twins! They look
so alike! I'm really excited to have the chance to work with them, and
I hope we all get along!

So last, but certainly not least, is the miracles. This week I've
really seen God working and helping people through us. We found a
family this week. The husband is from turkey, and the wife is from
Dresden. We talked to them in a park, and they were very interested.
Later we had an appointment where we taught them the restoration, and
it went really well. They believe that God has a plan and a way for
every person, and they already pray every day and ask God to help them
follow the path that he has prepared for them that day. We asked them
If they thought that maybe this was the path for them, and right now
they don't know, but they want to work with us and find out! We were
really excited for them, and then on Sunday, out of no where, they
came to church on there own! This is huge! Most people here have heard
a lot of bad things about the church, so they're hesitant to come to
the church, but they didn't care about all of that, they just want to
find out what God wants for them!

Right when I got to Dresden, we started teaching a man from Africa who
really wanted to find God in his life. We met him twice, but then he
started canceling appointments, and he just stopped all contact with
him, and we didn't know why. Yesterday evening it was late and we were
really tired, so we wanted to go home and work in the area boom
instead of following our plan and going to visit a less active member.
We prayed about it, and we decided to follow our plan. We went to the
less active, and he wasn't home. I wasn't really sure why we went, and
then, as we were waiting for the tram, this former investigator walked
up and we started talking to him! We ended up having a 30 minute
conversation with him, and he expressed some of his concerns about
temples. He wasn't sure why we needed temple now, because he believes
that temples were part of the law of Moses, and when Jesus fulfilled
the law the Moses the need for a physical temple went away, and we,
our bodies, became the temples of God. I've been really thinking about
this and study, and I've learned a lot about the temple.

The last 2 verses in the gospel of Luke say
52 And they[Jesus' disciples] worshipped him, and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy:

53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

When Jesus fulfilled the law, some of the ordinances, like the giving
of sacrifices, were taken away, but the need for temples was still
there. We truly need the temples of God if we are going to come as
close to him as we can on this earth, and when we truly want to
worship him to the best of our ability. I was also reading in John,
where Jesus purifies the temple right before he fulfills the law. My
question is why would he make sure the temple was clean, and throw out
all of the money changers if the need for a house of God was about to
go away, and it would just turn into a cool building? Why? He cleansed
it because it was a house of God, and was going to stay a house of
God.

We had many other great things happen this week, and I have seen the
hand of God every single day. I love you, have a great week!

Elder Oliphant ️

Add caption

Well, another week gone by. And with this week, comes another
transfer. We got our call on Saturday, and it was so suspenseful!
Elder Drazin and elder Hall had both been in their area for more than
7 months, so, naturally, they both wanted to leave. However, they also
didn't think that president Fingerle would white wash their program.
Well, they were wrong. Elder drazin is going to Halberstadt, near
Hanover, and elder Hall is going up to Heide, above Hamburg. I've
really enjoyed my time with both of these great elders. We've become
such good friends, I'll miss them. Elder Teuscher and I will be
staying together! Yay, first companion that I've had for more than two
transfers! And I trained him too, what? Haha, that's cool. We're
excited to stay here :) Dresden is such a pretty city, and our ward is
fantastic! A few more fun facts for the new transfer, one of the
sisters programs is closing, we're getting a new senior couple in
Dresden, and I'm the new district leader! Needless to say, we're all
hoping for a good transfer together.

So, the week. We've been seeing a lot of great success lately. As you
may know, there is a big conflict in the Middle East, and refugees are
pouring into Europe. This is good because these people are humble. But
most of them are Muslim, And we aren't allowed to teach them unless
they have a visa. It makes it hard when you have someone who wants to
learn and progress, but for their own safety they can't. It's really
hard. We just have to trust that God has a time, place, and purpose in
all things, and he will help them.

We've been really trying to work with our ward, and find activities
that we can do with them that can help them share the gospel with
there friends, so if you have any ideas let me know!

Sorry for the lame letter this week, we don't have a lot of time
today. We have our last p day with the other elders and we want to
enjoy it.

Bye, love you! I pray for you!

Elder Oliphant ️

Gave himself a haircut--oops

November 8, 2014

Ok, to quickly answer your questions. The food is good. We cook it all for ourselves, we rarely ever eat out because it´s too expensive. We eat at a  members house every sunday, and it´s SOOO GOOD! Yestersday she wanted us to have a little taste of home so she made mac and cheese, and she put bacon and ham and vegetables in it and it was delicious! I can´t wait to have more :) Also, please send recipes for potatoes, we have a lot because they´re cheaper than dirt here.

We take 1-2 trains every week, usually to Oldenburg for our district meeting, but occasionally to another city in our area. Also, all the trains here are so nice. The worst trains are nicer than the Frontrunner. Yea. oh and we got our bikes fixed so we use them more now :)

My companion is great. He´s a pretty funny guy.  Like this last week he needed a hair cut, so he cut his own hair, because hair cuts are super expensive (Like 20€)

And he made so many mistakes now it´s grown out a little so it looks ok, but I don´t know what he was thinking. I don´t know what I´m gonna do with that.

My apartment is pretty small and it has standard german doors which are 2 meters tall. Guess how tall I am in meters? More than 2. I hit my head almost every day. IT`S NOT FUN!

For morning sport we usually go running. We do a lot of physical activities. We run about a mile every morning, and then we bike a ton every day and walk. We get a lot of exercise in.

Money... what do you want to know? we have enough to buy food, and yea.

Look at the pictures to see if I´m getting enough chocolate ;)

Also, I have a story. So we´re teaching this guy and he has a problem with prayer. He doesn´t understand why he can´t just recite a psalm, and why it should be personal. So we shared with him in matthew chapter 6, where the Savior says don´t use vain repititions. Unfortunately, in the German translation, it says "do not babble"
It´s kind of funny to look back on, but yea, not fun.

Honestly, I´m really not that homesick. I´m out here doing the Lords work and I´m loving (almost) Every minute of it. 

Hope everything is well, keep us in your prayers

Elder Oliphant

Sister Kooyman from the MTC

Sweater + Dress Shirt=

Elder Smith deep in thought