New City, New Companion, Elder Williams from St. George

Mom... Do you  know how many times I have sprained my ankle? You really went to the Emergency room? Is everything going to be ok?

Anyway, I made it here to Freiberg, finally! That train ride took forever, but fortunately I wasn´t alone. Elder Perez was with me for a while and Sister Kooyman, who was in my MTC group, travelled with me. We had a fun train ride, but I´m glad to be here. And it is a beautiful little town. There are mountains here! Well, hills, really, but more than Leer! It´s also in the heart of Erzgeberg, where all of the cool wood stuff comes from, like the smoking men and the Christmas pyramids. We have a really big ward here, and they are so cute. Yesterday we had our fast and testimony meeting, and they put up a little microphone on the stand and all of the primary kids ran up and bore there testimonies. Super cute! We also have, of course, the beautiful temple. Did you  know that when it first opened it was the smallest temple in the World? Then they remodeled it, but it was still the smallest? So now there adding on to the back, and making it bigger. I wish I could go in, but sadly I can´t. Not right now. Hopefully though it´ll be open before I go home and maybe I´ll be able to come back!

Well as well as having the temple here, I also have an awesome companion, Elder Dalton Williams! You should´ve told me you were going to st. George, because he´s from there! We were really good friends in the MTC, and now we have the chance to serve together :) I´ll really miss Elder Timmerman, I learned a lot from him, and he really helped me out a couple times, but this next transfer is going to be great :)

I really don´t know a lot about the Area, I´ve really only seen 2 streets, so could you look up some things to do here? Also things to do in Dresden, because we´re planning to go there for a P-day, it´s only like 30 minutes away or something. Thanks :)

I do know however that miracles happen everywhere. This last week a member was driving us to an appointment about 20 kilometers away, and we got there and the lady wasn´t home. Lame, right? We were a little upset, but the great member rose our spirits when he took us to McDonald's and got us a Big Mac. Did you know I´d never had a big mac before? I  hope the ones in America are better, because it wasn´t very good. But anyway, as he was taking us back, Elder Williams got the Impression that we should go by on an investigator that lives a little out of the way, and is almost never home. Fortunately, he followed the spirit and asked the member to drive us there, which he happily did. We knocked on the door and this woman was home! She let us in, and we taught her about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and invited her to watch General Conference and pray to receive a testimony of living day prophets. Little Experiences like this are what really keeps me going sometimes. When we look for the miracles in our lives, we will find them. 

I love you,

Elder Oliphant

P.S. Tried Spaghetti Eis. Loved it!

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Transferred to the East!

Hey mom, so transfers. I´m getting on a train Tuesday morning, and going to Leipzig. I then have a train from there to Dresden, where Elder Williams will pick me up and we´ll go together to Freiberg! I´m really excited, except my train ride is as long as my plane ride was when I came here...

Just so you know, we had a bonfire because it´s an Easter tradition here in Ostfriesland! It stems from an old pagan tradition, where the people would make a big fire o burn up and scare away the evil spirits. It´s really just an excuse now for the people here to go a little redneck, but it was fun! I enjoyed it.

Elder Williams has been there for a transfer.

So did you enjoy general conference? I loved it! I really liked Elder Ballards talk where he talked about "raising the bar" and becoming a better generation, and also president Uchdorf´s talk about grace. Those two really spoke to me. I really liked the overall theme of the resurrection, and also the family, two important topics to always remember. 

Yea, go ahead and send the missionaries a text and ask them when they want to go (to Airborne trampoline park). I don´t know if they´re allowed to do stuff like that, they don´t have anything like that here in Germany. They don´t seem to like things that bring people happiness, like the gospel. 

We switched our pday because of appointments today. Last day in Leer. Wish me luck!

Elder Oliphant

Monday March 23

This week was very different, different than any other week of my mission. Our entire teaching pool except for 2 families were sick with the flu! We´d been working really hard to build up this pool, and we couldn´t teach them this week. It was sad, but we found other ways to use our time wisely. We did service! We have one investigator, his name is Michael, and he´s a really cool guy from New York! This last week he was rebuilding his patio in his backyard. He hadn´t had a whole lot of time to meet with us before, so we took this opportunity to serve him, and as we were serving him we were able to teach him, help him finish his project, and help him build up relationships with ward members who volunteered their time to come and help us with this. We also had service projects with some active and less active members, and we really did a lot this week to help people out. It was a great experience and Elder Timmerman and I learned a lot.

Michael also took us out to that American restaurant this week as a thank you. That was one of the FOURTEEN eating appointments we had this week! We are feeling so fat!

I love this work. This week there were some hard times, and I really questioned what I´m doing here. Fortunately, for every hard thing, there´s a blessing from God right around the corner. One of these blessings was seeing the Frömling family back at church. We really haven´t been doing to much with this family, we´ve only really been there for support and to be a friend, but the Lord doesn´t always work through his missionaries, sometimes he goes through his other tools. I love this family, I´ve really learned a lot from just watching them, and seeing how members can help other members. It all started because Timmy, Marvin´s brother, invited them to come to a fireside with the stake Patriarch from Hannover. After this fireside, Marvin´s wife decided she wanted to receive a patriarchal blessing, and that caused them to start coming back to church, so she could be worthy to receive one. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but they´re his ways, and they´re the ways we need to follow.

Had a great week, and I´m looking forward for the next too!

Love you

Elder Oliphant

The Latest

Hey mom, sorry, I don´t have a lot of pictures this week. I´ll start taking more for these last few weeks. PROMISE! 

 So, first, a little story :) When I first got here I met an investigator, her name is K****. She´s been an investigator for the past 3 years. When I first met her I really, really wanted to help her, so I got on my knees and I prayed for her. After a while I felt a really strong feeling that I was here for her. I taught her, and we had some good spiritual times, but we didn´t make a whole lot of progress. This last week we had a lesson with her and she told us that she wants to be baptized! The only problem now is that she´s moving in a few weeks to Bielefeld, where she won´t have to work on sundays and she can be a good, active member. This experience just built my testimony that the Lord is truly sending us here for a reason, and that when we submit to his will, we help people! Man, I love this girl, she´s great. I´ll be sure to get a picture with her before I go.

So, this week was Elder Timmerman´s birthday. YAY! We went over to the kopischke´s for a lunch after church, and man, they wen´t crazy! They made us schnitzel. I had never had schnitzel before. It´s really good :) He also got a bunch of candy, a cake, and yea. I think he had a pretty good birthday. We also had, are you ready? 4 eating appointments this last week! And this next week we have four more! We seriously don´t need to buy food this week. I´m loving it :) Also, I want to give some of the investigators here some american snicker bars, to show them the difference. Can you send me some? I´ll be able to get the on the 1st of april if you send them soon, but if not that´s alright. We have a giant mission conference on the 24th of April in Berlin, so I can get them there. It looks like I have an opportunity to get packages and stuff every month, so if you want to send stuff don´t worry about when I´ll get it, because it´ll come :)

I love you mom, thanks for your support and your prayers. Have a good week!

Elder Oliphant

Short but Sweet

Keep the German bible ;) but yea, haha, the batemans mixed up the packages :P Whoops!

Ok anyway, this week we had an exchange with the Elders in Wilhelmshaven, and I had the opportunity to work with Elder Perez here in Leer. That was an amazing exchange. We were going door to door, and a woman answered the one of the doors. I explained that we were sharing the Book of Mormon, and I gave simple testimony of it. She was hesitant at first, but she eventually let us inside! We walked in, and there were five older women sitting around a table all holding there bibles. Elder Perez and I were a little surprised, but we gratefully came in, and started explaining our message. This is when we had a prophecy fulfilled. This prophecy comes from 2 ne 29:6 which states "Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible."

Even though it was a little funny, and Elder Perez and I had a good laugh about it later, I really made me sad. I was sad to see just how stubborn some of these people are. We testified, read, and prayed with these women, and the spirit in that room was one of the strongest spirits I have felt on my mission, but these women rejected it. It also made me think about things that I do, and how I sometimes reject things that can help me. All in all this experience really taught me a lot about humility, and how we need to always keep a humble attitude so the spirit can influence us. 

We also had a district conference in Oldenburg with president Kosak, and he told me that I was going to be transferred in 4 weeks. I´ve loved my time here, And I want to make the most of the rest of my time here. Any suggestions?

I love you,

Elder Oliphant

Hallo, ich heisse... Elder Bankhead?‏

Hey mom :) 

So, you´re wondering about the title? I lost my nametag, sadly, and so I´ve been wearing one that says Elder Bankhead. He was Elder Timmerman´s trainer, and he gave him a nametag... I don´t know why.

Ok, some things to know about the GBM (Germany Berlin MIssion)... Obedience, obedience, obedience, and obedience. We love rules here. Also, you don´t need an iPad to be a good missionary. If you´re normal sized, don´t spend too much money on clothes, just plan to buy clothes here, and MSF is not a Döner fund!

Hey speaking of rules, I wanted to thank you for all of the rules that you gave me while I was growing up. It´s really helped me here, because I was already used to having a lot of rules.   Some missionaries didn´t have almost any rules growing up, and they get really mad and frustrated with rules, and often thinks they know better, and doesn´t need them. It´s sad, because obedience is a huge part of being a missionary. So thank you mom. I never realized how much you helped me until I came out here. I love you :)

Could you do me a favor? I´d like you to send me a talk. I think it was given by President Kimball, but I´m not sure. It´s about pride, and how we recognize pride in others and in ourselves. I´d really like that one.

Ok, so for the week. I bought the suit, and man, It almost killed me. It was expensive, but it fits perfectly, and it looks really good. I really got a good deal, it was 150€ off! I like it. And with the new European hair cut Elder Timmerman gave me, I look like a regular Kraut!

We´ve started to do a lot more less active work in the area. We went up to a city in our area named Aurich, and we found 3 families up there that let us in and we had lessons with! What a great time we had up there. We´re going back on Saturday to do a service project where we´ll paint one members house. Haha, this lady is so cool. She´s German, but she was born in South Africa and she lived in England for a long time, and she´ll only speak English with us, but she has a crazy British accent!

I love you mom, I miss you and think about you all the time. 

Have fun!

Elder Oliphant

I look like a regular Kraut!

Immer Noch in Leer

District

Hey mom!

Ok, so I am not being transferred. I will be staying in Leer for at least the next 6 weeks.


I have had quite a week here in Leer. To start off, I´d like to tell you a little story that happened this week that really strengthened my testimony of prayer. 

We decided to go to Meppen on Saturday to visit some less active members. It´s a city about 40 minutes away by train, and we brought our bikes with us, and when we got off the train we went to work. We visited the members, and found out that some of them had moved, and others didn´t want to speak with us. We were planning to go visit some other members who live in a town called Haren. There is a train that goes there from Meppen, but we had just missed it, and it didn´t come for another hour. Well, we had our bikes, and Haren is only 19 kilometers away, so we decided to bike there, to save a little time, and to burn our big lunch. We started off, and it was easy. The path was nice and paved, and it was totally gorgeous. Unfortunately, after about 2 kilometers this path turned into a mountain trail, then into really awful pavement, then into mud, and then into sand... This was very hard to bike through, and we were a total mess, but that´s not really important. About 10 kilometers into the rife my pedal started becoming loose. It eventually fell right off of the bike. So we were in the middle of no where, 10 kilometers from meppen and 9 from Haren, and there was no one around us. I was frustrated, and upset, so we got off our bikes, and said a little prayer, asking for God to help us somehow find a way to repair my bike. After we said this prayer, we went off, and I tried to ride a bike with one pedal. That didn´t work, so Elder Timmerman and I grabbed on to a stick, and he started pulling me down the road. That was hard. After about 2 kilometers we saw a house. We went and knocked on the door, and a lady answered the door. We explained the situation, and she led us to a shed in her back yard. It turns out her husband was a mechanic, and he looked at my bike and was able to fix it. What are the odds that the one house we found had probably the only man with the only tools that could fix my bike in miles. That just strengthens my testimony of how the Lord will bless us, and we just need to reach out to him first. We made it to Haren, where we were able to continue our work.

We also had an exchange this week, and I worked here in Leer with Elder Perez. Haha, he´s a funny one. This exchange actually lasted 2 days, instead of one because Elder Timmerman is now coaching a football team in Wilhelmshaven... I will let you know how this goes, as time goes on.

I actually don´t think I´m going to buy a suit yet. Elder Wilde and Elder Perez said I didn´t need to. Also I took out 100€ from my account because we are supposed to have an emergency fund, just incase we need to go to Berlin. I´m not going to spend it unless there's an emergency. There are some crazy things going on in Europe right now. Anything that I need to know? 

ALSO! We found out that Nizar has been moved by the government. They just moved him, and we have no idea where he is :(

I forgot to tell you. Haren is like a crazy catholic town! There´s a really cool giant church in the middle of the town, and there were nuns EVERYWHERE!

Ciao for now ;)

Elder Oliphant

Smoothie accident

Spiffy New Bike!

Hey mom,

Ok with N*** he has been in Bremen for the past couple weeks because he just had some family move here from Syria, and they only speak Arabic. So he is there so he can translate for them and help them get everything sorted out with the government. He´s been gone for a while, but we still have contact, and he still wants to be baptized :)

We get our transfer calls on Saturday this week, and I´ll probably be going but I don´t know. Plus we´re not allowed to make transfer predictions ;)

Sister Bateman just went to America a few days ago, and she took it with her, so you should be getting something really soon :)

Ok. So this week was very interesting. I don´t want to make you worry, but we got food poisoning from some bad meat. So for 24 hours Elder Timmerman and I were in our apartment in total misery. Oh it was awful! Elder Timmerman wanted some medicine, so we wen´t to a pharmacy, he explained the problem, and the great german doctors prescribed us an herbal tea... Yea. Thanks Germany! Elder Timmerman didn´t think that was going to be very good, so he just bought some laxatives... Why? I don´t know. But I´ve had a lot of fun since then ;) He´s been playing little pranks on me since I got here, so I finally got him back. I put 3 times the recommended amount in his water bottle, his Chili, and his ranch dressing... haha, he´s been on the toilet a lot ;)

We´re starting an English class this week, and it´s crazy how many people here don´t want to learn english! So many people are just saying "Nein, das brauche ich nicht"... It´s a little frustrating, but we´re still seeing a lot of success with it. Wish us luck!!

Ok, I love you, I´m sorry, I don´t have a lot of time today :( BUt I´m thinking of you, and love you all :)

Hey Mom!

I love getting stuff from you :) It makes me remember my family more, and helps me think about america!! Man, You really don´t know what you have until its gone. But Germany is pretty great too :)

Ok... So N*** is going to have to wait to be baptized for a little while because of his situation with the government. He is currently a political refugee here in Germany, and when the people come here like him the government takes care of them, but they also have almost complete control of there lives. Right now he is going all around Germany having interviews with people, trying to figure out if he´ll be staying in Leer or if he´ll be going somewhere else. He´s been so busy, and going around so much we haven´t met with him in 2 weeks, and we don´t know what´s going on with him. We´re pretty worried right now, and we´d really appreciate your prayers.

Oh well... Do you want to here about some adventures we had this week? We got a referral! This person lives in Westoverledigen, which is a good distance away. With referrals, we´re supposed to contact them in 24 hours... Now where this person lives there is no bus, no train no nothing. So, we decided to bike there! It wouldn´t have been too bad, but right when we started it began to rain. This rain then turned into snow, and then into hail. We ended up getting lost and biking to Weener... It wasn´t a pleasant experience. But we made contact! 

Right after this bike trek we received new bikes! And man, they are nice! The mission was tired of getting cheap bikes and having them always break, so they decided they wanted to get new, more expensive bikes. So now we are testing these new bikes, because "If they don´t break on you, they won´t break on anyone!" Being a big guy isn´t always bad :) But now that we have new bikes, Elder Timmerman like to test them out... We biked 60 Kilometers in 2 days... he wanted to bike 100 but I was able to talk some sense into him.

Man. It´s been a long, crazy week. But I´m still happy, and loving life :)

Keep staying great :)

Elder Oliphant