Letter #13 - December 30, 2013

December 30, 2013
HEY EVERYONE!!!!!

I hope everyone had the best Christmas ever and are all stoked for the new year!! This year for Christmas President LaPierre and his wife gave everyone a personal journal, a Book of Mormon in their native language and a red pencil.  This next year we get to go through and reread the Book of Mormon, and mark everything we learn about the Savior.  We are to write in the journal anything we want to remember about our experiences with this new opportunity and everything we learn about Christ.  I think it is a great idea and it would be awesome if everyone did the same.  There is always something we can do to improve our lives and this is a great way to have those things made more apparent.  This past week I talked to my family through Skype and it was an awesome experience but  very difficult at the same time.  I left the members home in tears and I wanted to be home with my family.  The next day I woke up and realized how blessed I was for something as small as carpet, or being able to shower without having to wear shoes!! So many things that I just overlooked when I was at home.  This week I made a conscious effort to once a day say a prayer of gratitude, a prayer where I don't ask for anything.  When I do this I immediately want to work harder and find more people to share this message with!!!

Now time for investigator updates!!! This Sunday we had the entire Marquez family attend Church!!! It was the 3rd time for Mario, Nico, and Gabriel. The 2nd time for Leo, and the 1st time for Neomi and Rocio.  They all made it through all 3 hours!!!  All 3 hours were about Family Search.  Although this is a very important item (family history), 3 hours was a little much and it went clear over the families heads!  After words we went back that night and brought Hermano Zorilla with us to teach them about how the Gospel has blessed our families and how it can bless theirs.  Neomi had 2 of her older children there as well to listen to us!! We taught 11 people in 1 lesson!!!  Also....... THEY ACCEPTED THE INVITATION TO BE MARRIED!!!!!!!! That is the single biggest obstacle we face here in Argentina. People live together but just don't want to get married.  I just had a thought as I sit here writing this.  All of you that are reading this and are married, or have parents married in the temple, can you send me an email of just a paragraph or 2 about the blessings you see in your family from being married in the temple.  I think if they heard it from people who have experienced it, it would be very special!!!

Saturday when we were tracting, we walked by and wanted to stop and talk with Cristian and Ayelen who we hadn't seen in 2 weeks!! They had a couple there from their church who starting attacking our beliefs and quizzing us on scripture knowledge.  Elder Merrill handled it well, but then they starting talking about Joseph Smith and how the Book of Mormon is false doctrine.  My blood began to boil.  The women stood up and got in my face yelling about how it is not our fault that we are preaching false doctrine, its our parents fault for teaching it to us.  I was about to lose it!!! I had to leave.  I could not listen to this women sit and lecture me about things she had no idea about.  I was so angry and I was upset that Cristian and Ayelen would let that happen right in front of them!  When we got back to the pinch we were eating lunch when we got a text from Ayelen and Cristian asking forgiveness for the way that their visitors had acted and they wanted us to stop by to share more of our message!!  We went by yesterday and talked more about the Book of Mormon because they had a ton of questions about it!! They also had a ton a questions about Baptisms for the Dead!!!!  I had no idea where this was coming from it was crazy!!! But we told them that we would look into their questions and give them better answers!!  We have been so blessed this week!!

Now time for a funny story!!!  Last night we had around 45 minutes left and so we decided to go visit a less active member. We always get food from her so its a good deal. haha.  We showed up and her son was hammered.  So naturally..... we sat there and played Jenga with him. haha He sat and smoked and swore up a storm while we played Jenga haha!!!!

Anyways my time here is changing, I just heard I am getting transferred to San Vicente about 2 hours south of Posadas.  I have loved my time in Villa Cabello and everything about it.  I know the Lord directs our lives and there is a reason I am going to this new place!! My companion is Elder Izurieta from Buenos Aires!! He is going to be the Branch President in this new area to!!!! Lots to learn!!  I love you all and please continue to pray for me.

Love Elder Ollerton

Letter #12 December 23, 2013

December 23, 2013

Hello everyone!!

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and getting all ready for Christmas!!  We have had another challenging but successful week here and the hand of the Lord is evident.  First, the good stuff.  We got the Marquez boys and their dad to church again and also to the First Presidency Devotional last night.  We are still trying to get their daughter Rosio to come and it is difficult to get the mom as well.  Mostly because every time we visit that family, Neomi is drunk and goes on random rants about weird things.  She then makes her kids pray for forgiveness and makes them say that they are sinners.  Its weird ha ha.  While in Priesthood this week, a member asked Mario (the dad), if he was a member.  His response shocked all of us when he said ¨"Not yet!!!!!!"  We are so pumped and we are right on track for their families baptismal date of January 18! Please continue to pray for them!  We also stopped by Bonifacio and Marias house to just see where we stand after last week.  Bonifacio told us he wanted to have us over for dinner so that we could go to church on Sunday, but he had a prior commitment this last Sunday.  We were playing with their pet Parrot and it was just walking around my shoulder when all of a sudden everyone was laughing and I didnt know why, until I turned around and saw the stupid thing pooped right on my shoulder!! Bonifacio got it off me then bathed me in cologne. ha! ha!.  We had another pretty creepy experience this week but it turned into a cool one.  We had been teaching a woman named Maria Rojas, and it just so happened she lived in the same village that all the guys that want to jump us live in. We went to talk to her on Saturday and she told us that she didn't want to go to church so we turned to leave when a big man named Victor came over and told us he wanted to talk about the Bible. He also smelled really strongly of liquor!!  We sat down with him and immediately all of us had a bad feeling. Once we sat down with Victor all the other guys in the area left somewhere.  He kept quizzing Elder Merrill's scripture knowledge and saying stuff like "What does John 3:16 say?" Then he told Elder Merrill to give him his bible and Elder Merrill wouldn't do it.  We all stood up and left and Elder Merrill was like, "I had the strongest feeling he was going to steal my bible!"  We all were glad we got out of there.  Also, as we walk down the street and we get a lot of cat calls because we are 3 well dressed white boys ha ha.  Some lady told me I had a nice butt.  People are crazy!  Christmas is very different here because most people just get drunk and party.  They do a ton of fireworks but no one leaves their houses because people steal a lot of stuff on Christmas!!  We are working hard and counting the days till Christmas! We decorated our Pinch this week and it looks great !!!  

Mom I also bought a 3 liter bottle of Coke and made a gigantic Slurpee!!!!!!!! I love you all and wish you the very best Christmas!!

Elder Ollerton

Letter #11 - December 16, 2013

Hello-
This week kicked my butt.  We talked a lot about Christmas this past week and watched a few families sit under their lights and trees, and it made me super homesick.  We had a lot of success this week but I miss everyone and the thought of 2 years is killing me.
Anyways onto things that don't make me sound like a whiner.  We found a new family who is progressing very fast!! We taught them lessons 1, 2, and 3 in a week.  They also attended church this week as well as a baptismal service on Saturday.  The parents both have addictions to alcohol and smoking so pray for them!! We had a kneeling prayer with them, and Mario, the father of the house, prayed for strength and then began to cry.  The spirit is super strong with that family!  We also went to teach Maria, Bonifacio`s wife, and she told us that Bonifacio had come home the night before super drunk. He had relapsed.  She began to cry as she told us how sick and tired she was and how her father had died of alcoholism.  I immediately thought to talk to her about Joseph Smith and the trials he went through.  I shared D&C 121: 7·8.  I talked about why we have challenges and then I felt impressed to ask if she wanted a blessing. We explained what that was and Elder Merrill gave her a blessing and she told us she felt a little better afterwards! She is one strong woman!  We had a lot of distractions this week ha ha.  Elder Worthington was transferred back so we are a trio again which is fine.  It means I have to pay less for a Remis (Taxi).  We also bought AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am so pumped to not wake up covered in sweat!!! Also we can close the windows so I don't get eaten by mosquito's anymore! Maybe that is why I have lost so much weight its just from blood loss!!  This week I hit a milestone.  I have officially lost 20 LBS in 3 weeks ha ha.  We have hit triple digits almost everyday this week and it is killing me. I did get the package from the Jacobsen Family though and I forgot how delicious American food is ha ha.  I have set a goal to eat healthy and exercise every day but the Hi-Chews are so good!!!  Here guys where ankle bracelets and stuff so i took one of the bracelets the littles made and it is on my ankle right now ha ha.  I hope everyone is doing good and staying safe!!! Keep writing and praying for me cause I can't do this alone.  I love all of you and pray for you constantly!!

 

Love Elder Ollerton

Letter #10 - December 9, 2013

Hello Everybody!!

Week 3 and the time is starting to click by faster!!  It is starting to get into the middle of summer here and I am wasting away.  I have lost about 15 LBS since I got here so I am literally wasting away!! We had a lot happen this week.  Elder Worthington was called on for an emergency transfer so it is just Elder Merrill and I now!  We have found a lot of success in our area this week, but a lot of trials have come to.  We had one of our investigators, Bonifacio, who we thought was just golden and so ready to be baptized!! We went to pick him up for church and he told us that he wasn't going today.  When we asked him why he told us that he had decided to be baptized into a different church.  The other church baptized him last night.  He didn't want to wait 2 more weeks.  All is well though, his wife is still investigating the church as well as his grandson!  We also have been praying to find a family that has been prepared.  Last night we think we found them :):)  Cristian and Ayelen read through the entire Restoration pamphlet as well as The Family: Proclamation to the World.  We taught them the Restoration and answered their questions.  It was awesome! They really seem to just get it!  After we finished we asked if they had anymore questions for us and Ayelen asked us what the Premortal life was? We gave here the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and are teaching them the 2nd lesson later this week!!  Keep them in your prayers please!!  I am so glad that I am hearing from more of you!!  Another thing is Christmas just isn't the same here.  Its 98 degrees outside with 100% humidity, nobody has lights or music and honestly I miss a lot about home.  However, whenever I am feeling "Trunky" (missionary lingo for homesick) Elder Merrill is quick to put us to work!! It is awesome to see the work move forward! We got 2 inactive members to church yesterday and it was awesome!! A lot of people here think that the only thing they have to do to be "saved" is be baptized.  Therefore we have a lot of inactivity.  We are focusing this week on visiting a lot of inactive members!  I will let you all know how that goes!!  Also last week as we finished teaching Jorge, we were all walking, laughing and talking (in English).  Elder Worthington and I didn't realize this but speaking in English makes you a target here.  We got to the end of the road and there was a boy, about 17 years old, standing there and when he saw us he quickly turned around and put something in his pants.  As we got closer Elder Merrill whispered "Shut up! Shut up! to us.  We didn't know why, then we walked past the boy and all of a sudden he whistled and Elder Merrill quickened the pace.  I glanced over my shoulder and 4 more men came out of the bushes.  They were headed towards us. We hurried inside of Bonifacios house and taught him a lesson.  I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father for safety.  I was pretty sketched out!!  I thought of everything I had that they would take and there was one thing that I never go anywhere without.  My sister Rylee before I left, gave me a leather bracelet that says Proverbs 3: 5-6.  It is always in my shirt pocket right behind my name tag!!  I didn't care what these men took from me as long as they didn't take the bracelet.  I quickly took out the bracelet and put it in my shoe.  They could do whatever they wanted to my stuff, but if they took my bracelet we were going to have a problem!! Elder Merrill asked Bonifacio if he would walk with us to the top of the hill (because Bonifacio is HUGE) . He agreed and we got home safely.  While I was sitting in Bonifacio´s house,  I was thinking about all that Joseph Smith went through for his testimony.  I knew that these men wouldn't do anything as bad as what had happened to the Prophet,   but it made me think, what would I go through for the good of this Gospel.  My heart was calmed and I knew no matter what happened I would be okay.  The Lords hand is in all of our lives and I hope we can be more grateful for everything we have especially during this time of year!! You are all in my thoughts and prayers daily!!

LOVE ALWAYS
Elder Ollerton

P.S. Don't worry Mom. We are fine!

Letter #9 December 2, 2014

Hello Everyone!!!

This week has definitely been more difficult than the first.  We got 20 new investigators this week so that takes our teaching pool over 30 with a lot of families!! I am so excited!!  The hand of the Lord has been very evident in our work this week.  We did get dropped by a couple families which is sad, but hey now the seed is planted!  Right after we would get dropped I swear there was another family next door!!!  It is awesome!!  Our apartment still sucks and I kind of have to pick my poison.  Either I sleep without my mosquito net and get eaten alive,  or I use it and the fan blows it on my face which tickles me and wakes me up constantly.  Nights here are brutal!  The mattresses are 5 feet long I swear and I end up in the fetal position most nights haha.  We are still eating good!! My body is having a hard time adjusting to the Argentine eating schedule, HUGE lunch, no dinner.   I always end up eating bowls and bowls of cereal with yogurt instead of milk here.  All the walking has benefited me though!!  I have lost a couple pounds haha yippee!! The language is still kicking my butt, but I am learning fast and hope that I will soon be fluent haha (Pray for me). We had a miracle happen this week.  On Saturday we were expecting up to 12 investigators at church.  Sunday morning came around and it was raining pretty solid here.  The entire city shuts down here when it rains and we began to get txt after txt saying people weren't coming because of the rain!! We were so upset.  Everyone of our investigators had fallen through!!!  Then we got a txt saying, "We are waiting to go to church"   One of our investigators had decided to brave the weather and bring his family to church.  We put him and his family on a bus and then caught a taxi to another investigators house.  We put both of them in the taxi and ended up having 5 investigators in Church!! It was great!!!  We had a really neat experience this week-  We were teaching 2 sisters (14, 9) Selene and Milagros.  One day we went to teach them and Selene said that she had some friends who wanted to talk to us to.  Elder Merrill asked her if they were drinking.  She said no so we walked over.  The boys were 23,18, and 15.  All of them had at least 5 tattoos, they were all drinking wine and smoking cigarettes.  EVEN THE· 15 YEAR OLD!!  We gave them a Word of Wisdom pamphlet and bore testimony then left.  We were also teaching a women named Cristina but she has been lying to us through her kids about whether or not she is home.  We decided to give her 1 last chance so we walked to her house and clapped at the gate (Here you clap instead of knock).  Out walked Jorge (the 18 year old in the park).  He had a big smile on his face and I just thought to my self "you have got to be kidding me!!"  He was smoking a cigarette and when he saw us he put in out and walked to the gate.  We asked him if his mom was there and he told us she was sleeping.  We asked when would be a better time to come back and he let us in and grabbed 3 chairs for us!!!  We sat down and began to teach him!!!  He told us he had begun smoking at the age of 8!!!  He told us he really wants to change but it is so hard since he has been smoking and drinking for the past 10 years!!!  He is my age and is already addicted to Alcohol and Cigarettes.  I felt so bad for him!!!!  He got kind of emotional when we were talking about overcoming addictions and he ended our visit by saying "You promise to come by more often and teach me?"  We said we would and walked away still in shock at what had happened.  I learned that you never know when God will present you with an opportunity to teach and you never know who he has prepared!!  I was stunned!!  The Work is truly moving forward here and the Church is true!! I am still upset I haven't heard from all of you yet, especially my MTC teachers!!!  HAHA I love you all and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  Stay safe and you are all in my prayers always!! 

LOVE ALWAYS

Elder Ollerton

Letter #8 - November 26, 2013 (1st Letter from Argentina)

¡¡¡¡¡HOLA DE ARGENTINA!!!!!

After several long months of waiting I am finally here.  I have made it safely to Posadas and for the last week I have been in my first Area of Villa Cabello.  It has been a very tough transition because it is always super hot here (around 90) and always humid (10000000%).  The people here are awesome!!!  I am in a Trio with my trainer Elder Merrill and Elder Worthington as well.  We have been working hard and we have taught a lot!!!  The people here are so willing to listen to our message and the spirit talks to them strongly!!! We try to talk to everyone about baptism and in our first 5 days here we have around 15 people committed to Baptism!!!  Now I know things will not be easy but with the help of the Lord I know we can get everyone of those people Baptized!!  The first night here we got all of our stuff and got dropped off at our Pinch, or our apartment.  It is a dump.  When we got there, rat poop was everywhere, bugs were everywhere, we had no AC, a broken fan, and a leaky ceiling among other things. I was in shock.  The night before we had stayed at the mission home and It was one of the nicest homes I had ever seen.  I was so nervous to even lay on the bed.  We had to have the assistants bring us new mattresses and mosquito nets!  My trainer is always so positive so it helps!  He along with a couple of the other missionaries in the mission were in the MTC with Dallin which is awesome!!!  They said to say hi to Elder Utterton!!  Anyways we are constantly teaching which is great it means we get to stop walking around this inferno.  I would guess we walk around 6-7 miles daily at least.  On Thursday, Elder Merrill had bad kidney pain and he had to be taken to the hospital.  Turns out he had a kidney stone and was ordered to rest for 2 days.  Elder Ake (zone leader) was my step-dad for those 2 days and we had a ton of success!!! A lot of things about the culture here have put me in shock!!  Like for 1 thing half the time we are tracting, we see a ton of drunk guys just walking around trying to talk to us.  One guy even gave us a karate demonstration haha.  Also apparently modesty isn't a thing here either.  Women will breast feed in front of us all the time which is the weirdest thing ever!! There are a ton of churches here to.  One of them worships the Hispanic version of Robin Hood, he is a cowboy named Gauchito gil.  Its crazy!!!  There is another church called San Del Muerte (Saint of the Death). This church has a huge grim reaper pained on the front of it and they worship Death.  Its actually kind of scary.  People here for the most part though are Catholic.  We had to get up in Church this past week and introduce ourselves/ bear our testimony.  It was a good opportunity.  The language is coming along but it is along harder to understand people her than in the MTC that is for sure!!  Oh and there are always random horses just walking around the streets.  I must have seen 1001 stray dogs since I have been here.  Everyone drinks "mate" all the time and it smells like hay.  Overall,  this is a beautiful place and I am excited for these next 6 weeks here!!!  The members are great and our goal is to help them go from a branch to a ward!!  I hope to hear from all of you soon!!

Love you all and pray for you daily,

Elder Ollerton

PS.  The food here is unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Letter #7 November 16, 2013

It is so crazy how fast time is flying!!!  I leave Monday morning for Argentina!!  I have felt the impact of your prayers this week and I thank all of you so much for your thoughts!!! It has been a good week this past week and we started off on a definite high note!!  Last Tuesday our devotional speaker let out a secret that the speaker a week from then would be L. Tom Perry.  So on Tuesday night Elder Duke and I went up to Main Campus extra early.  We left at 5 oclock and took the bus up to Main.  We ate Dinner and walked around for a bit before going to get in line at the door.  When we got to the door, we saw a huge line had already formed!!  So since my companion is 6'7" we decided to make our way to the front!!  We walked through everyone and no one put up a fight haha.  We are one of the biggest companionships at the MTC and it has its advantages!!  I was no more than 15 feet away from L. Tom Perry as he spoke to us.  He is awesome!!  He delivered a great talk with so many great lessons.  One thing he said that stood out to me was "You are on the Lords errand, what is there to fear???"  It made me realize that I am a servant of God and "You can't touch this" (sorry if that was to irreverent, I had to through a personal touch in here) .  Another funny thing I decided to do this week was mess with missionaries at the Main campus (especially the senior couples).  Main campus has that huge map everyone takes pictures by while pointing to their missions.   So when people walked by I would point to North Korea.   I got so many questions about my mission and it was so hard to keep a straight face.  Gotta keep things light hearted in the MTC to stay sane!!!  Yesterday we attended in field orientation.  Basically an all day meeting explaining how things work in the field.  It hit me that I am moving literally across the globe and its pretty scary at times to think about.   But I have faith and I know I will be ok.
Another funny event that happened this week is one of our teachers told me I was looking a little pudgy.  So I asked my teacher to bring a scale to class so I could see if I had gained weight.  I think I was around 190 lbs when I entered the MTC and when I stood on the scale it read 207!!!! I have gained more than 15 lbs here!!!  This gave me a ton of motivation to get more exercise whenever I can!! 
Our teaching continues to improve, we taught Ciro about Chastity, Keeping the Sabbath day holy and The Word of Wisdom.  He had a tough time accepting the Law of Tithing though.  I sat and paused and just let the spirit guide me.  I asked Ciro if he would obey the Law of Tithing if God appeared and told him to and he said yes.  We then talked about how this is a modern day commandment given to the Prophet and how they are the Mouthpiece of God on the Earth.   He sat and thought and then agreed to follow all the Guidance we had given him!  This man is GOLD!!!!!!!  Any ways I love you all and I really appreciate all your support!! Please continue to write and send pictures (Nacho accent) "They are the beeeeeeest, I love it"

 

Love Elder Ollerton

Elder Ollerton and Elder Duke - Rock'in the "I Love You" sign.

"Twin Day"

Letter #5 November 9, 2013

November 9, 2013

HOWDY!!!

Another week down here in the MTC.  That makes in 1 month down!! Crazy how fast time flys!! Well I know you all are dying to know how my average day goes in this place so here it goes.  We wake up at 6:30 and get ready for the day,  Breakfast is at 7:30 but most food gives everyone diarrhea so most of the time it consists of a doughnut or cereal.  We then have class from 8 until 12!!!  Its a long 4 hours of studying and trying to learn more Espanol.  We got one of our investigators to commit to Baptism this week BTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Duke and I were so pumped!!  Anyways haha, after class we go to lunch then either Gym or service.  Soccer here gets pretty intense haha good times.  Then we have more class from 2:10 till 5:10.  By this point my brain is fried!!! Following Dinner, we have class again from 6 till 9.  Its a lot to take in but Its a blessing how fast my body has adjusted to this schedule!  The Lords hand is very evident in my life and I love all the blessings and opportunities he is giving me!  Now for the biggest news of the week......... MY VISA CAME THROUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I will be flying from Salt Lake to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Buenos Aires on the 18th.  We then take probably a 12 hour bus ride to Posadas!!  We are all so excited for this news!  We have been praying so hard for this to happen and the Lord has heard our prayers!!  My Spanish grows stronger everyday but I know that It will be a different story once I get down to Argentina!!  I hope I hear from you all soon!!  I love getting all the pictures and things like that!!  You are all so special and I appreciate getting all of your love!!  ( Matt Johnson if I come home and that really is what has happened on the Walking Dead I will cut your arms off ;) haha

Love Elder Ollerton

 Elder Ollerton and Elder Smith (LPHS baseball teammates)

 Elder Ollerton and Elder Duke (MTC Companions)

Letter #4 - Nov 2, 2013

Hello Everyone!!

I miss you all so much and its crazy to think that I have gone for almost a month!!  Time has flown by in here and I am so grateful for that.  I have had my emotional ups and downs, but overall the first 3 and a half weeks have been great!!  This week we started teaching 2 new investigators, Ciro and Edgar.  The 1st two lessons went great with both of them, we ended up challenging Ciro to be baptized at the end of the 2nd lesson and he said he would pray about it!!!!!  It was awesome!!!  The spirit is so strong with these two brethren.  A funny story about this week... we were teaching Edgar and we asked him if he had ever heard of Joesph Smith and he so "Oh si!! Jose Smith y Poco hontas?" I heard him say poco so I was like what the heck is a little hontas?!?!  Elder Duke leaned over to me and he said "Did he just say Pocahontas?"  I was like there is no way he just brought up Pocahontas.  We sat there for like 10 minutes trying to figure out what a Hontas was!  Finally we asked him to repeat himself again for the 3rd time and I finally realized he was talking about Pocahontas and he was thinking about John Smith!!!!!!!  I was No Joseph Smith was a Prophet, right after I made that connection, Edgar had to leave so our lesson was a bust.  I felt so discouraged and sad that I wasnt able to better help him.  I knelt in prayer and asked Father in Heaven to help me stop feeling this way.  He did and I felt much better.  When we taught Edgar again on Friday,  the other two companionship's in our District got to observe our lesson.  At the end, Elder Worthington asked why I get so frustrated with my Spanish, then the other Elders all agreed.  Then they told me they considered me fluent in Spanish which made me feel great!!  The lord truly has blessed me thus far in my mission!!  I pray for you all everyday and the Lord has calmed my heart!   I have noticed a little lacking in the mail department so I expect a better effort haha Just kidding :)  Mom, Dad how are the goals coming???  I want to hear everything from everyone!!! Keep me posted!!!  I love you all!!!!!!!!!

Love Elder Ollerton

Letter #3 - Oct 26, 2013

October 25, 2013

Hello Everybody!!!!!!!

This has probably been the fastest week yet here in the MTC!!! We got 2 new districts and 11 days into my mission, I was made Zone Leader!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was quite the surprise but now I am in charge of around 30 Missionaries with more to come on Wednesday!!!!  I feel so honored that President Sanchez would trust me with this leadership opportunity!  It was been tough so far but I'm getting the hang of it.  Anyways, we got 2 new investigators this week, Edgar and Ciro.  They are both great!!  The Spanish is progressing but we still get frustrated that we can't communicate 100% yet!! We taught them about the restoration and the Plan of Salvation and all is going great!! I had some difficulties this week with patience.  With all the packages I got this week there is food everywhere, and 1 Elder in the district thought it would be ok to take whatever he wanted without asking.  I was about to blow because he takes my speakers without asking as well.  I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help calm my heart and help me be more patient.  I was immediately overcome by the spirit and those feelings left my heart.  I am so grateful for that experience and the lesson that I learned.  One thing I do have to request is that I not receive so much food as weird as that sounds haha.  There is no where to put it in our apartment.  And mom just so you know we dont have a microwave and I'm not sure what to do with all the popcorn haha.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE getting Letters though!! Please continue to write and send pictures!  I love bragging about you all and telling funny stories and memories I have!!  Anyways let me know about home!! How is everyone???  Mom What scripture did you put on my missionary plaque??  More Pictures por favor! :) My time is short but I want to share one special experience I had this week.  Once a week we get the opportunity to teach members in something called TRC.  Elder Duke and I sat down and began to get to know Sister Rice.  We had the lesson all planned out to teach her about Obedience with exactness.  We started talking about scriptures and Elder Duke shared Mosiah 2:41. She told us that it is her favorite scripture.  I started to tell her about my family and how much I missed you all.  I told her the hardest thing about coming on a mission was trusting that my family would be watched over.  We sat in silence for a bit and the she said, I want to share a scripture with you.  She opened up to D&C 100:1.  I got half way through the verse before I began to cry.  Elder Duke had to finish the scripture for me because I was so emotional.  We talked for 20 more minutes about family and then our time was up.  I know the Lord used Sister Rice to calm my heart.  I love you all so much and I pray for you constantly!! 

Love, Elder Easton R. Ollerton

Letter #2 - Oct 19, 2013

HOLA MI FAMILIA y MI AMIGOS!!!!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYLEE AND SAWYER AND JUSTIN!!!!!!!!!!!! This week has been one that seemed to fly by!!!  We finished teaching our first investigator Benny on Thursday and he had been reading the Book of Mormon as well as the pamphlets we had given him. He was a Golden investigator and Elder Duke and I are very excited to start our new investigator on Monday.  We have been working hard and studying Spanish everyday.  We can truly see the Hand of the Lord in our lives everyday!  My testimony has grown so much in just 10 days here in the MTC.  I plead with Father in Heaven every night to keep you all safe and I have been blessed with a peace of mind these past few days.  We do everything her at the west campus, except go up to Main campus on Tuesday nights.  This last Tuesday night, Elder Dallin H. Oaks came and taught us. It was such a neat Experience to be in the presence of an apostle of the Lord.  He talked about the things that make our church the only true church on earth.  One thing that he said to us that i would like to share with all of you is that in the pre-existence all of us not only chose the Fathers plan, but we FOUGHT for it.  We stood side by side with some of the greatest and most righteous men and women in the history of the world, and I want all of us to live in such a way that one day people can say that in Heaven they fought alone side some of the most special people ever and they will be talking about us!  The gospel of Jesus Christ has brought me so much joy and I am so excited to live it stronger than ever these next 2 years.  

On a lighter note I have an update on the Elder Cheney situation.  So it turns out that the prank Elder Cheney pulled on us is a tradition of Zone 135.  It is called SPOF which is German for stupid.  This last week we got 2 new districts in our zone and I was chosen to be the SPOF.  It was so much fun but it sucked all at the same time.  There are 3 requirements to be the spof.  1) You cant talk 2) You have to keep a pen in your mouth the entire time 3) You have to do everything you can to creep out the newbies!  It was the longest 3 days of my life!!!  I didn’t eat a full meal, or talk for 3 days because I was busy acting super creepy and messing with the new Elders and Sisters.  I would sabotage their food by putting salt all over it, or try and feed them with my hands.  I would turn off lights or draw creepy pictures just for the sheer fun of watching their reactions.  They began to try and befriend me and draw me pictures.  By day 3 they had all become totally enveloped in the idea of a crazy guy being in their Zone.  I broke the news to them last night that i was just kidding that whole time and I got mixed reactions.  The Elders thought it was hilarious, the Sisters on the other hand were annoyed and thought I was immature HAHA!!  I had a great time but I am glad that it is over.  I now have red marks from my pen on my cheeks and I am so hungry!!  Anyways... I'm loving my mission so far but I miss all of you dearly.  My new thing I do is put on sad music and look at pictures.  I don't know why I do it because it makes me emotional but I want all of you to send me pictures!!! I hope to get letters from you all soon and pictures are loved and appreciated!! But if I have to tell Elders one more time that Rylee is not going to write them I’m going to hit them!!! I pray for you and love you all with every fiber of my being!! 

Love Elder Easton Ryan Ollerton

Letter #1 - Oct 12, 2013

Hello Friends and Familia!!!

It has been a great first couple of days here in the CCM (MTC)!! When I first arrived I was whisked through numerous check points and then I was told I would be staying in West Campus which is the Raintree and Wyview Apartments.  I love it here, but it has been tough.  The thought of two years is really starting to hit me pretty hard.  I only get to read emails once a week, but I love getting your hand written letters and dear elder letters because those come daily.  It is kind of a status thing here, we have a saying that "you live and die by mail."  So as you can tell it is muy importante!! Mi Espanol is coming along swimmingly!  I have learned more in 3 days here than I did in 3 years of high school Spanish!! With the help of great inspired teachers and the spirit I know I can conquer this language.  We have and Elder here named Elder Cheney.  He. Is. A. Whack. Job.  The older elders told us that he was home schooled his entire life so being away from family has been very hard on him!!  He never talks, and he always has a pen in him mouth.  He even eats, and drinks with the pen in his mouth!! It's pretty creepy actually!! He always bring me little gifts at meals like a bowl of chocolate milk, and empty bag of chips with a rice crispy inside, or and apple that he put on my tray and the stabbed with a fork.  It was getting weird.  He then made a Voodoo doll of mi Cumpanero Elder Duke and wrote "Matar" on the side which in Spanish means "to kill", and the stabbed it with thumb tacks.  We were both freaking out!! The entire zone came over to our apartment last night and Elder Cheney jumped up on a chair and looked up for the first time and said "I'm totally normal Elders" haha!!!  We got pranked by the entire zone!!! Elder Cheney it turns out was chosen as something called the Spof (german for weird).  This is a tradition of zone 135 and my district will carry it on next week!!!  The environment here is so unique!!  My companion Elder Duke is a High Jumper for Utah State.  He went to Brighton High School and took 2nd in state as a senior!!  He is also 6'7 and we must get asked 10 times a day how tall he is or if he plays basketball!!  It gets old fast.  Anyways we teach our first discussion in Spanish tonight so I need to go prepare!!  I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon!!!! Please no more candy haha. I would love real food Por Favor :)  

Elder Easton Ollerton

Elder Easton Ryan Ollerton - Argentina Posadas Mission