Letter #33 June 16, 2014

Hey Everyone!
Wow I feel like I say this all the time but the week flew by!  We had a successful week this week and Elder Vidaurre and I worked in a new part of our area and had a lot of success.  We found a lot of great people!  We found a family that really is open to what we have to say!  They have a 20 year old son named Gabriel who has shoulder length hair and who just loves sharing with us!!  His mom only believes in the Bible and told us its the only way to get answers and basically prayer doesn't work.  She also went off on a little rant on how she knows its not ok for boys to have long hair, how she shouldn't paint her fingernails or wear pants and all this stuff.  So I pulled out my pictures and showed her how my hair used to be and told her that all of those things were ok haha.  Gabriel came to church on Sunday with his 10 year old brother Ian and they loved it!!  While I was giving my talk they both  were locked in and it was awesome!!

This week was a lot harder than normal because the World Cup started and so for the next month the only religion that anyone has is soccer.  I'm starting to believe that Satan uses this as a tool.  It's absolutely nuts here!! Everytime Argentina scores a goal, there are fireworks and lots of celebrating!!  Absolute Chaos!  Kind of frustrating as well.

This week Elder Cross and I headed to Posadas to take care of my visa problems.  So I haven't really talked about this much but my visa to Argentina expired 4 months ago, so I have been illegal here for this last 4 months haha.  So Thursday we went to Posadas and I assumed we were going to take care of my problems in Argentina but we ended up at the Paraguaytian Consolate and I got a 10 year long visa to Paraguay in a couple of hours!  The Argentine government just doesn't like Americans that much.  We ended up having to leave the country for a couple hours so I didn't get deported. ha good times.  We went to Paraguay for lunch and we had Burger King!  It was the best thing I have eaten in 8 months. Sad huh?  A little taste of home was unreal!!!
Today we went and played a game called Paddle.  It's like tennis but on a smaller court and you can use the walls it was great!! Today is also difficult because I found out that after 4 months in Puerto Esperanza, I will be transferred on Wednesday,  I am headed to an area called Ita Puro.  Its in Encarnacion (Yes its ok to sing the Nacho Libre song now), Paraguay!! I will be hopping the border again ha.  I will be a Zone Leader now and my companion is Elder Magdeleno from Mexico. I am looking forward to new adventures in another country.

Stay tuned!! Love you all!!
Elder Ollerton

Letter #32 May 19, 2014

Hey Everyone!!

Another week gone here in the Puerto Esperanza.  I want to throw a quick shout out to Justin and Amarae! Congrats on the calls!! You two are going to kill it!!
This was definitely a crazy week with a lot of success.  This last Tuesday after our Zone meeting, I did divisions with one of my Zone Leaders Elder Ortiz from El Salvador.  He seemed super quiet on the phone and so I didn't really know how he would take to my personality.  Turned out he was awesome!! We got along great!!  He was looking to learn from me as well as teach me.  We had a ton of success looking in a new part of our area that I have never been to before.  It's clear out in the jungle and so its quite a walk to get there.  My only worry about this new area is that the distance will make it so nobody will come to church.  We went out there and immediately found success. We found a new family with a ton of people!!  We talked a little about the church and what we do and we left them with a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation.   We passed by two days later, taught it, and committed all of them to be baptized!  We went by on Saturday night so we could meet their Dad and it turns out he drinks... a TON.  He couldn't even sit still he was so drunk.  He kept trying to take us off on tangents and so we ended the lesson and decided to return the next day when he was just hungover and could listen to us.  We went back the next day and he was the same!! He drank and drank and drank.  We had plans to teach about the Book of Mormon, but I decided to just cut the problem off right then.  I started to talk about the Word of Wisdom and the first thing I said was that we can´t drink alcohol.  He immediately asked me why that was bad.  I thought,  "are you kidding me??" We explained to him why we have this commandment and then he actually tried to argue with us that even Christ drank! We cut that argument down pretty fast ha.  We have decided now it would be better to teach the family when he isn't there and then teach him separately.  Pray for them please ha.  Our divisions ended up lasting for 4 days because Elder Ortiz´s companion Elder Cross got stuck in Posadas doing his document paperwork.  I was super excited for the divisions because Elder Ortiz was super cool!  We had a ton of success and I am so grateful for all the opportunities we are having to find these people!  Other than that It was a pretty normal week.
It has been really cold here lately and so I am a little sick with a cold or something but nothing big.  If you would have told me 5 months ago that it would be cold here I would have told you that you were crazy!  But it actually happened!! I admit it, I am from Utah and I can officially say that I am cold here.  Also this week I officially completed 6 months here in Argentina! Time is flying! 

I love you all and hope you all have an amazing week!!!

Elder Ollerton

Letter #31 05-06-2014

Hey Everyone!

What a week it has been!! We started off this week by doing divisions with the Assistants.  The best birthday gift I could have received from President and Sister Lapierre.  I learned a ton and to end the day we had a huge "sleepover" with the Zone leaders and the Assistants for my birthday.  I had a blast!! This week was my last with Elder Seethaler so we just tried to have a good time while still working.  It was not easy as he gets closer and closer to seeing his family.  We saw so many miracles and one of them was one I will never forget.  We have recently discovered a gold mine of prepared people living in the Old Folks home.  This is all thanks to our buddy Carlos.  One day he called us over and talked to us.  We ended up talking with a ton of people from the Home and we visit them frequently.  While in our divisions on Tuesday, I talked with Carlos with one of the Assistants Elder Silva.  Elder Silva is the one responsible for the opening of this area so he knew Carlos already.  We had an awesome lesson and Carlos told us that he wanted to be baptized and Elder Silva told him he could on the 31st of this month.  My comp was very mad because he wanted to see Carlos get baptized.  So we went back the next day and started to talk with him, and Carlos told us that he had attended 80 churches and he knew that this was the right one.  He also told us that he had a desire to be baptized this weekend!! So we called our leaders and asked and the next day they were in our area doing a baptismal interview.  He passed and we are so excited for him!! He is 71 years old, and can barely walk, but the faith that this man has is absolutely incredible!  We planned everything out and decided to do the baptism combined with the baptism of the Bogardins daughter Laura who turned 8 this week.  We got to the Home early so that he could get ready and we could help him to the terminal at his own pace.  We ended up just jumping in a taxi and heading off!  We finally got to El Dorado and then had to walk to another bus stop, the whole time with this little old mans hand tightly in mine so he didn't fall.  We walked slowly and eventually made it to the chapel.  We got everyone changed and had a great service!!  We ended up having to baptize Carlos 3 times because his frail little body kept floating up.  The 3rd time we had 3 people in the font to help him.  He left the font with the biggest smile and I could tell that he understood.   He knew and felt what he had just done was right.  It was such a cool experience to see someone who was barely 8 and someone who probably doesn't have that much time left here in this earthly state, enter the waters of Baptism and make the same covenants with our Heavenly Father.  We walked back to the bus stop slowly, and we waited for the bus there.  As we waited I walked over to Carlos and asked him if his feet hurt, he told me yes.  Then he said something that touched my heart so strongly.  In his soft, weak voice he said "They hurt, but I came and did what Heavenly Father wanted me to do, and it was worth the pain."  I was almost brought to tears as this little old man bore a powerful testimony to me in 1 sentence.  There were so many miracles this week and I cant wait to share them with all of you later.  I know this Gospel is true, and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly are leading and guiding us today.  I hope you all have a great week and an awesome Mothers day! Thank you for all the birthday wishes this past week and for your continued prayers and support!!

Love you all!!

Elder Ollerton

Letter #30 April 28, 2014

April 28, 2014

Hey Everyone!

Another quick week has come and gone here in good old Puerto Esperanza. This week I have truly felt the Lord helping me in everyway!! With now only 1 week left in his mission, all my comp wants to do is stay in bed.  I LITERALLY have to drag him out of bed every morning.  It takes a lot out of me to ignore his little comments and try and keep the spirit with me.  I have learned more these last 3 months with him than I did my first 2 transfers in the field.  My patience and relationship with my Heavenly Father have grown and been strengthened so much even though the experiences that have helped that happen were extremely difficult! This week we have been really focusing our efforts on the people that are going to progress.  We have found recently quite a few awesome families that I really see progressing!! It’s a weird experience but this week I have been trying to look past how people are, like their difficulties and short comings, and I have learned to see them for who they could be, or how our Heavenly Father sees them.    It really has helped me stay focused in lessons better and listen to what they are saying.  I am sad to say it took so long but I have started to realize the significance of calling everyone here Brother or Sister. They are all lost sons and daughters of Heavenly Father and I kind of feel like a shepherd.  I have started to walk a little taller in the streets as I come to truly understand what the calling of "Missionary" is all about!  This last Tuesday we had a Zone Conference, and President Lapierre was there doing interviews.  My comp and I were the last ones to go so I had a lot of time to sit and think about what needed to be said.  My comp went in to his interview first which left just Sister Lapierre and I to talk.  And the first thing she does is look at me and say, "Do you want to talk about it?" She could tell that I was being put through a rough time so we sat and talked just her and I for 45 minutes before my interview! It was awesome! Minutes later I went in and talked to President Lapierre. He told me so many awesome things.  He said "Elder, these next two weeks might be the hardest of your entire life, but they will probably earn you a place in the Celestial Kingdom." ha I love that guy!!  We then talked about my comps recent Bible bashing spree.  He told me "If he does it again, walk away. I give you my permission to leave your companion.  Go back to the Pension and call me and I will send him home a week early!"  He told me that at this point, we are basically doing damage control. He then thanked me for my work with my comp and told me how proud he is of me. Then he told me that I have done so good with him that he might just let me pick my next companion. haha.  I am so grateful to have a President like him.  

This week we worked more with Cintia and her husband (whose name we still don’t know. ha), we went on Tuesday and they told us that they had goggled "Mormons".  Immediately I was like, “Oh know what did they read?”.  They had a TON of questions about everything, especially Joseph Smith.  We taught them the first vision and when we asked them how they felt, Cintia said, "I feel peace and happy."  But her husband said something different that surprised me.  He said, "I don’t." I was like, Oh KNOW! Then he said, "I feel an emotion,  like something burning inside me." He got a little teary eyed and we just sat in silence.  We just let the moment happen.  Then after, we explained to them what the Holy Ghost is.  It was an AWESOME lesson!!  So much faith in them!

Also this week we passed by the old folks home to visit Carlos. Randomly people started coming up to us and talking about the church! They all had attended years and years before!! Turns out the Old Folks home is a Gold mine for baptisms. ha. Who would have thought!!

This week I heard a great quote from Elder Jeffery R. Holland, he says "When suffering, we may in fact be nearer to God than we’ve ever been in our entire lives. That knowledge can turn every such situation into a would-be temple. Regarding our earthly journey, the Lord has promised, “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” That is an everlasting declaration of God’s love and care for us, including—and perhaps especially—in times of trouble."

I have a personal testimony that the Lord lives and loves each and every one of us individually and personally, and sometimes it is only through our trials and pains that we can come to know this for ourselves.  I love you all with all of my heart, and appreciate all the birthday wishes and support!!

Stay safe!

Elder Easton Ryan

Letter #29 - April 21, 2014

April 21, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday! Easter here was pretty good and it was awesome to be able to go around and share a message about our Savior with everyone here!  Being in a small group of the church here provides the unique opportunity to give a talk and teach Sunday school every week.  We got to teach a lesson about the Atonement yesterday and it was great.   Everyone there participated and I felt the Spirit strong.  The opportunity to give Sacrament talks every week has really been helping my teaching ability.  I find myself taking initiative more in lessons and I understand everything.  I have been so blessed here.  This week I went on divisions with my Zone Leader Elder Vindas.  I went up to Puerto Iguazu and worked with him for the day.  He told me they have been worried about me because I have not been as animated as usual.  Truth be told, these past couple weeks have been difficult.  It has been hard to be upbeat and I haven’t had a ton of energy to do anything. I’m feeling better but little illnesses take my energy.  That and the companion situation was difficult.  Elder Vindas did his best to animate me, and after around 3 lessons, I felt rejuvenated for the first time in a while.  We ended up teaching 11 lessons in a little more than 8 hours.  Pretty good for the area we are in!!  It rained a ton again and so we worked all day in around 8 inches of mud!  Not my favorite thing in the world ha ha.  Elder Vindas did tell me that he thinks I speak fluently though which made me pretty happy, and I gave myself a little pat on the back.  Last night we got home from working and I don’t even remember what he said but my comp made some remark and I finally, after 10 long weeks, blew my top.  We got in an argument and I felt really bad this morning.  I prayed for help that the anger would be taken away from me and that we would be able to work past it.  After my personal study I felt a lot better and we talked things out.  

We found a lot of new families this week and they all look super promising which is super exciting!!!  I have found a new drive to work hard which although sometimes is difficult because I am so tired, has made me enjoy my mission more!! Crazy how fast time is flying by and I am so grateful for the new love to work the Lord has helped me find.  I am super excited for all the success that I know will come with hard work and obedience.  We are facing big opposition but I know with hard work and your continued support and prayers, we can do it and the work will go forth strong here!!

Thanks for everything, and I love you all!!!

Don’t forget to write!! I’d love to hear from you all.

Elder Ollerton

Letter #28 - April 15, 2014

Hey Everyone!

This past week my 6 month mark came and went!! Crazy how fast the first quarter of my mission has gone by!!  It really is true what they say that time out here starts to fly!! I have new resolve to work hard and really give these next 18 months everything that I have!  This week was probably one of the slowest in my mission!! We had a lot of opposition and it was almost like we were working in a new area.  For the first time in 2 months here, we got rejected a ton!!  We were both really confused! We had an investigator who we had been working with and she had a baptismal date for this last Saturday and all of a sudden she just didn't want to listen to us anymore! Super confusing!  We went to a part of our area that we hadn't really ever been to and found quite a few new people to teach but I´m still not sure if any of them will progress or not.  My companion and I had a few more little arguments this week but nothing big.  I have decided that I am just going to try and help him enjoy his last 3 weeks as a missionary and try to keep everything really calm and fun.  We had a lot of fun on Wednesday as it was my actual 6 month mark.  Here as a missionary, every 6 month milestone (ie. 6 months, 1 year, 18 months, 2 years), you do something fun.  For example, at 6 months you burn a tie, and eat a 1/4 kilo of Ice cream.  At a year you burn a shirt, and eat 1/2 a kilo of Ice cream.  18 months you burn a pair of slacks, and eat 3/4 of a kilo, and 2 years you burn a suit, and eat a kilo of Ice cream.  It's super fun and I finally feel like I have gotten my feet wet with the whole Mission thing.  We have our investigator with a new baptismal date for this next Saturday and she is so ready!! She just has to stay strong and stay single ha ha.  We passed by last night and had an awesome lesson with her!!  This week we had a change in our mission schedule to accommodate the change of weather! Surprisingly it is actually pretty chilly here now and I think I may have caught a cold.  But as for the schedule it is a hard adjustment!  We now study in the morning, and then work from 1:30 in the afternoon, until 9:30 at night!! The days are long but we are adjusting. It has been a long couple of nights these past 4 days.  I have been up with cold like symptoms and my comp snores like a bear.  Sometimes I throw things on the ground hoping he will wake up and think something just fell.  Or sometimes I smack my hand on the wall to try and wake him up so the snoring stops but nothing ever works!! ha ha.  That's pretty much it for this week! Hope everything is well at home and everyone is just loving life!!

I love you all!!

Elder Ollerton

Letter #27 April 07, 2014

Hello once again from this little section of the Lord´s vineyard!

I hope everyone had a great week and just loved General Conference!  My companion and I got to go to Posadas this week to watch Conference in English.  Although I´m sure I could understand it in Spanish, there is something different about listening to the actual voice of the Prophet and other General Authorities!! We left Friday afternoon and spent time there before leaving Sunday night.  I'm a little ashamed to say that it was the first time I had actually sat through and taken notes on every single talk.  It truly was a spiritual feast!!  Every talk just seemed to have something even if it was small that I needed to hear!!! It was an unbelievable weekend!!  I especially loved Elder Hollands talk (as always) about defending our faith. Being a missionary I felt like I had a different perspective on the story.  As a missionary there are always going to be people or instances that will try my patience.  But this week it hit me that I really am in a set apart servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I really can endure any trial with patience.  But at the same time I loved what he said when he said "Endure every trial with courage and courtesy, but Defend the Faith.¨ As members of this church we have the responsibility and it is something that I hope we can always remember!

  Anyways,  we didn't have to go to Posadas, but this week during scripture study I was especially down and I decided to give President Lapierre a call.  We talked for no more than 5 minutes and he told me to go ahead and come in to Posadas.  Saturday morning before conference I sat down with him and we had an hour long interview.  I told him about everything that I was experiencing and why I needed the interview.  I told him all about my companionship problems and he really is an inspired man.  He knew exactly what to say to put my mind at ease.  He told me how proud he was of me and that he knew that I was the Elder that Elder Seethaler needed to help him finish strong!! I felt a new drive to work hard and help the work of Salvation move forward!!  We had a pretty normal week other than our Posadas trip.  I can truly see the hand of the Lord working here in Puerto Esperanza and I am so happy to be a part of it!! 

I love you all and I will see you all in a short 18 months!!  Crazy how fast 6 months has gone!! 

Elder Ollerton