Updates coming in hot!

Halli hallo!

Well, I haven't written for a few weeks now. Sorry, I know I should
have, here's an update on what's happened over the past few weeks.

So, on July 18, I went to the doctor to have a pin removed from my
leg. I went in, and the surgery was simple, quick, and relatively
painless. I came back the next day for a check up, and they told me
that there was an infection in my leg. They started treating it, but
it was spreading to quickly and the antibiotics they gave me to take
orally weren't having any effect. On Friday, July 22, the doctor told
me he had done all he could do, and I needed to go to the hospital.
This was a little upsetting, but my first thoughts were, "ok, this
isn't a big deal, I'll be there for maybe a day or two, and be out on
Sunday in time to jump into the baptismal font with Sebastian." Well,
I got there, and the doctor in the hospital told me they needed to
operate in order to clean out the infection, they would be attaching a
pump to my leg to slowly suck out infected fluids, and that I would
need to stay for 8-10 days. Ouch. That means another surgery and more
hospital time. It also meant that i wouldn't be able to attend
Sebastian's baptism.

Now, let me tell you something about Sebastian. When I first broke my
ankle and I found out I would be going to the office I was devastated.
I didn't want to do office work, I didn't want to have a broken ankle,
I just wanted to find, teach, and baptize. The Lord new the desires of
my heart, and he prepared a way for those desires to become a reality.
On my first Sunday in the Lankwitz, Berlin ward, I was walking into
elders quorum with my crutches, and another member from Thailand, who
also was on crutches, sat down next to me and said "yes, now I have a
friend." This member, Panu, is so amazing, and he has an amazing
family, and he makes me a little bit jealous of Elder Gremillion and
Elder Smith-Driggs who get to serve with The amazing  Thai people. But
only a little bit ;). After Elders quorum Panu turned to me, and he
told me that his son, Yoshi, had brought a friend with him to church,
and that he wanted me and my companion to teach him. There were two
other companionships in the ward who had been there longer and knew
the family better, but they asked me and my companion to teach him. We
started off, and he made so much progress. He understood everything so
well, and after our second appointment he accepted our invitation to
be baptized. He picked out a date, and by July 24 he was ready, and he
was baptized. He initially asked me to baptize him, which is why I was
rather upset about having to be in the hospital, but in the long run
it's not about who performs the baptism, it's about him making a
covenant with our Heavenly Father.


After I couldn't be at the baptism, Sebastian asked if I would be
there to confirm him. I thought for sure that I would be out of the
hospital by the next Sunday, July 31, but at the time I still had a
tube in my leg sucking out all the gunk. I really, really wanted to be
there, and the Lord provided a way. I got permission to leave the
hospital for a few hours to attend sacrament meeting, where I
confirmed Sebastian a member of die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen
der letzten Tage, and I gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was an
amazing day, and it showed me that nothing can come in between the
Lord's work, and it showed me that the Lord loves all of his children.

After the spiritual high that was associated with the confirmation, I
went back to the hospital, where I still am today. I've been here for
over two weeks now, they've performed 4 surgeries, I've had 25 needles
stuck in me, I've received 50+ bottles of antibiotics intravenously,
I've swallowed over 200 pills, and I've seen the hand of the Lord help
me, and support me through this trial. He's also helped me to spread
the gospel with those in the Hospital. I was able to testify of the
power of the Book of Mormon to one of my roommates' wife, who then
accepted the book and wants to learn more. I've also answered
countless questions about the church from the nurses, doctors, and
other patients. Everything from "why don't you drink coffee" to "who
is Thomas S. Monson?" All in all, I've learned a lot from my stay
here. I'll hopefully be released on Monday, so I can enjoy the last
week of the transfer with my companion and with my work.

The Lord has done a lot of things to help me keep my spirits high, and
to pass the time. I've had visitors come every day I've been here,
something I'm so grateful for because the nurses told me that visitors
usually don't come that often. I've had members, missionaries, even
the wife of a seventy came to say hello, and to bear her testimony,
and I'm so grateful that the Lord sent these loving people to help me.
The nurses and doctors here have also been extremely kind to me,
something else that I'm super grateful for. I've also had some really
cool roommates. My current is a retired professional soccer player.
He's fun, we get along well.

The biggest lesson I've learned is definitely a lesson of patience. In
one of his visits, President Fingerle was talking to me about
patience, and he reminded me of they saying, "pray to have patience,
to endure what you can't change, pray to have power, to change what
you can change, and pray to have wisdom, so you can discern which is
which." This is a situation that I currently can't change, and I think
the Lord is using it to teach me to have more patience. The current
plan is for me to be released on Monday, which with make the original
8-10 day estimate into 8+10 days ;) but it's fine. As long as my leg
heals, and I can get back to work.

I love you all, thank you for all of the prayers and support that
you've sent my way, bis aufs Wiedersehen!

LG Elder Oliphant

Pics:
 Sebastian at his baptism with my comp, elder Anderson, and my
temporary replacement, elder Oliver
Sebastian and I together after his confirmation. The thing around
my neck is the pump.
My gross leg
My roommate, the profi Fußballer

A few more emails:

Well, when I first got here they took the plate out that was
stabilizing my bone so that there was no chance that any infection
could travel underneath the plate where the doctors couldn't get to
it. Because they took it out, the bone is naturally now not as stable
as it would have been, so I have to wait a little longer. But, this
week I started putting a little weight on it during physical therapy.
Next week the doctor said I can start to put my full weight on it
again. I have to stay until Monday because of the antibiotics that I
still need to receive through an IV. Yes I'll write a real letter
today. I'm trying to stay in good spirits, but I've been been here for
over two weeks now, and it's getting kind of hard, but I get a lot of
visitors, at least one every day, and I read a lot in the scriptures,
which helps a lot. The biggest thing I've learned is to have patience
with things that you can't control. I'll write more about that later.

Elder Charles of the Seventy with Chase

Dude! Elder Charles just visited me and we had a personal interview!
That was really cool

Dear Sister Oliphant,

Today Elder Charles of the Seventy took the time to visit your son together with me.

It was good to found your son optimistic and fine. We took him on a walk in the hospital and he confirmed that he might get released on the following Monday.

We had a prayer with him and left him in high spirits, after a joyful and humorous time together. 

Best wishes, President Fingerle 

No Official letter, just Hospital Details and 1 Picture "Before"

"Before"

Ok, so answers. 

I've had 3 surgeries so far, one when I first got here, that's when they took the metal plate out, and put the pump in. Then on Tuesday and also yesterday they cleaned out the wound again. I have one more surgery planned for Monday, where they're going to close the wound. This could go two different ways. They want just close it up with stitches, but the wound is pretty big and it's possible that they won't be able to simply stitch it together, in which case they'll take some skin from somewhere else on my body and put it over the wound. If they get away with stitches I should be released next Wednesday. If not, Friday or Saturday.

Things are ok. I'm not going to say they're good, but they're ok. My leg doesn't hurt, the nurses are kind, but I've been in a hospital for a week so... Yea. I the food has gotten better, I asked them to start bringing me yogurt and vegetables and stuff so now I eat yogurt for breakfast and with lunch, I also have a salad with lunch, and for dinner they give me a bunch of cut up vegetables, usually carrots, cucumbers, peppers, etc. 

I feel ok, just tired right now, which is funny considering I just stay in bed all day... But I got a roommate, he's 80 years old, and he's a little like Carl was. I guess he has problems sleeping through the night, because he called the nurse in every 2 or 3 hours, which made it hard for me to sleep. Other than that he's a nice guy though, and he has a really nice wife.

Anything else that you want to know?

LG Elder Oliphant 

This is your son in Germany

Hey Mom!

So, as I hope you already know, I got one of the screws taken
out of my leg on Monday, and the wound got infected. They tried to
take care of it at the clinic where I was, but it was spreading too
fast so they told me I needed to go to the hospital. I got to the
hospital and I got in right away, the doctor looked at it and decided
that they needed to reopen the wound in order to clean out all of The
infection, and that they were going to operate that same day, in 2
hours. They sent me up to my room, where I waited for 10 hours instead
#IAintEvenMad.

The surgery was successful, they took the metal plate off of my leg so
that no infection could get underneath it, but also because the doctor
said that I still have good healthy bones and the break is healing
really well, so it's not super necessary. They then put a vacuum
bandage on my leg with a tube that is going to suck out all of the
rest of the infection over the next few days. After that they'll resew
the wound and I should be able to leave. The doctor said I'll probably
have to stay here for 8-10 days, which is really bad because we have a
baptism tomorrow and Sebastian asked me to baptize him, and now I
won't even be able to be there. I'm trying to stay happy with just
knowing that he's getting baptized, but it's hard. We're both pretty
upset that I won't be baptizing him. :(

Anyway, this hospital is ok, it's really hot though. I've been
sweating so much it's crazy. The nurses are also pretty nice here, and
somehow I currently have a room to myself. Didn't think that was
possible in Germany

When you want to talk you can call president Fingerle and he'll set up
a three way call between us.

Also, I'm writing with Elder Day's iPad because yesterday the nurse
told me not to leave anything valuable in my room while I was gone, so
my comp took it with him, and then they forgot to bring it back... I
really hope they bring it back tomorrow because I need to skype in to
this baptism!

Well, I love you, I'm still doing alright. The APs are about to leave
so if you want to respond just send it to my email and I'll read it
tomorrow.

It's time to start walking again! Jawohl! Endlich kommt sie raus!

Hey hey hey hey!

 I'm excited, super excited! Do you want to know why?
It's because 6 weeks have gone by since I broke my ankle, which means
it's time to start walking again! Jawohl! I have an appointment with
the doctor on Monday, where they're going to the pin out of my leg,
and then I'll be able to start walking again! These past few weeks
have been really hard, but I've come to realize that the more trials
we have, the more we come to appreciate all of the small, little
blessings that we have in our lives. For example, the blessing it is
to have a healthy, working body, with two healthy, strong legs haha,
I've really come to see the blessing there.

But on a serious note, the Lord truly has blessed me in so many ways
during these past few weeks. He has been by my side, sent his angels
to comfort and support me, and has blessed me with the opportunity to
meet wonderful people, like our friend Sebastian, who will be getting
baptized on the 24th of July! Woohoo! He is such a stud, I love him so
much!

This week things finally calmed down a bit, and we were able to do
some good work in the office. Nothing super exciting, but we've stayed
pretty busy. I'm starting to like being in the office, at first I was
super worried that I wouldn't be able to do as much good here as I
could out in the field, but I've realized that the work we do in the
office has the same purpose, "to invite others to come unto Christ, by
helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ
and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy
Ghost, and enduring to the end."

In my personal study I've been trying to learn more about diligence in
the Lords work. Diligence is a very important part of missionary work,
it's one of the legs that the Lords work stands on, and when we aren't
diligent in our work, nothing gets done. I think that almost everyone
who goes on a mission wants to be a good, hard working missionary. No
one comes on a mission to just sit around and be lazy, we come here to
bring others to Christ. But often times this drive starts to diminish.
We start to justify sleeping in a few extra minutes, or not going out
to work on time. Satan comes in and tries to convince us that being
diligent isn't important, and sometimes we believe his lies and give
in to that natural man. This isn't ok, those lies are still lies! It
is important to the Lord that we work hard, and that we continue to
strive to do all that we can to serve him and to be diligent workers.
If we look in the scriptures, we notice that nothing comes easy from
the Lord. All of the prophets didn't receive the testimonies they had,
or convert the thousands that they converted because God loved them
more, or because it was a different time, these miracles were
performed after these prophets gave themselves to much fasting and
prayer, in order to know God. Enos describes his process as being a
wrestle, Alma as well. It's not easy to be diligent, it really is a
sacrifice, but "sacrifice is giving up something good, for something
better."

I love you! I hope you have a great week!

LG Elder Oliphant

Elder Oliphant, his trainee Elder Teuscher and Elder Adams

He's not the only missionary in a wheelchair

Freiberg Temple

Elder Nearon

More Office Lyfe`

Berlin Tempelhof Airport, home of the Candy Bomber 

Sorry that my emails have been kind of lame recently. There is just nothing exciting that goes on in the office. And almost our whole district got sick last week (myself included), so we were stuck in the apartment. And let me tell you, a nasty sinus infection mixed with a broken ankle makes you about as useful as a sack of potatoes... I did get a new temple recommend though, that was good! 

Also, we got transfer calls! I'm going to officially be a real office elder, which means I'll stay here even after I get my cast off. My companion will be elder Jordan Anderson, I'll be living with the APs, elder Day and elder Nearon. I'll also get to go down to FREIBERG next week to help with the new missionaries! Woohoo! So next week I should have a much better email :)

Love you mom!

LG Elder Oliphant 

Elder Gibbs wanted to sign his cast but signed his foot instead

Doner!

Mom comment-I hate this haircut

Sick missionary 

June 25

Hello Hello!

Well, I had another week in the office. It's going ok, I guess. I get kind of bored sometimes, but I'm still doing good. It´s funny, since the beginning of my mission I had the feeling that I would be an office elder at some point. I didn't think that I'd have to break my leg to get there but, hey, God works in mysterious ways.

There´s really not a whole lot to talk about. I´ve been technically in a trio companionship for the last week with Elder SIlver and Elder Çakir(pronounced checker. He´s turkish). I'm in a trio with them because I live in their apartment, but they're the turkish speaking program in Berlin, and they're always gone, and I'm in the office with the office elders. Then when they have to leave I have to come with. Sometimes I feel like a big ole sack of potatoes. So for the past week it's been like I've had 4 different companions. But that's about to change because Elder Garner, my companion from the beginning of the transfer, is coming back today! He was down in a different area for a while because there was another missionary in the hospital and his companion needed someone to stay with him. I'll be glad to have a real companion again.

The highlight of this week was on tuesday when I got to attend a zone training meeting in Berlin for the Neubrandenburg Zone. Elder Bennett, my old Erfurt homie, is the ZL up there now, and he and his companion did a great job. It was also nice to talk to Elder Bennett again. He's been a good friend. 

I'm sorry, I'd love to write a nice long letter, but I have no idea what to write about. My ankle is still healing, and I'm still trying to stay strong! Being in the office, you hear about all the problems in the mission, and it's kind of hard sometimes to not get super cynical...

Well, sorry for this awful email. I'll try and do better next week.

Love You!

LG Elder Oliphant