Letter #36 July 21, 2014

Hey Everyone!!

This week was crazy.  I was all over the place!!  Monday after writing we all went out to the Ruins.  They were huge and pretty cool as well.  Still not really sure what they were, as far as I can tell it was a Guarani Indian civilization before.  We all had a great time running around taking pictures and just enjoying the sites.  Tuesday, I did divisions with Elder Quesada for like 3 hours and then we headed to the terminal here in Encarnacion.  We had to go to Asuncion, along with around 14 other missionaries in order to do paper work and more visa stuff.  I swear it never ends haha. We had a 5 hour bus ride to Asuncion that started at 12:00.  I woke up at 4:00am in the morning and asked a guy where we were and he told me we were about 30 miles outside of Encarnacion.  Our bus had broken down and we had been stuck in the same spot for 3 hours!  It was awful.  A 5 hour bus ride turned into 9 long hours on a tiny bus that was not designed for American sized people.  We finally got to Asuncion and it turns out that it was transfer day in the Asuncion mission.  I actually met friends from Lone Peak High School that I didn't even know were in that mission!!  It was so cool to see old friends from before the mission!  We headed to Migrations and took care of a couple issues and then got to go and see the temple!! It had been 9 months almost without seeing a Temple.  The feelings there were so special and it is definitely something that I miss a ton!  We took pictures, walked around the temple grounds (incredibly tiny), and then got to go to the Distribution Center and it was like Christmas morning!!  I got a ton of stuff for only 50,000 Guarani (about 10 dollars).  We then headed to one of the highlights of the trip... PIZZA HUT!!! They actually had Pizza hut in Asuncion!! It was awesome!!  They did some weird stuff to the pizza though.  One of them was covered in corn, another had hot dogs on it.  Someone needs to teach them how to make a pizza ha.  Overall, Asuncion was a blast!! I loved being able to see even more of the world!
Back to reality,  we had to do a ton of contacting this week trying to find new people and it was super hard.  We work hard all day but we haven't really found anyone that will progress.  This week we clapped a guys house and he let us in to talk with him.  Right as we had started to talk, his nephew showed up and it just so happens that his nephew is a Pastor for a different church.  He sat down and actually knew quite a bit about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and then he asked if it was ok to call us "Mormons".  We said yes and that it was just a nickname.  Then he told us he didn't want to call us Mormons because he had Googled what the word "Mormon" meant and then he told us that in Chinese , Mormon means "camino al Infierno".  For those of you that don't speak Spanish this guy tried to tell us that Mormon in Chinese meant "Pathway to Hell".  I tried not to laugh at this guy.  There are some pretty interesting characters here in Paraguay!! I still got 15 months here to meet even more of them!! Bring it on!!  I hope everything is going great at home and everyone is safe. 

Mom, Dad and fam,  I hope that you are loving Powell and I am still a little bitter that I wasn't invited!!

Love you all!! 

Elder Ollerton

P.S.  If you are looking for some killer scripture study this week,  Mosiah 3 or 24 was amazing for me!!

Letter #37 July 28, 2014

Hey Everybody!!

Wow every week I feel like P-day comes faster and faster.  This week was the last of the transfer so we worked hard so we could finish strong.  Monday, I did divisions with Elder Vindas.  It was a weird change because the last time that I did divisions with him he was my Zone Leader and now the roles were reversed.  We worked hard so that we could meet as many people as possible!  We began clapping houses and a lot of people let us in.  I want to share one experience that we had together that was especially powerful.  We walked down the street and met a woman named Jorgelina who was out on her porch smoking.  Elder Vindas asked her if she was stressed and she sad yeah.  Then we asked her if we could share a message that brought relief and she brought us some chairs.  We began to talk to her and she just wouldn't open up to us.  She gave us very short answers and didn't show much emotion.  Then out of nowhere, Elder Vindas began to tell her what he felt about her.  He began to make bold statements about why she was the way she was, and what had happened in her life.  I watched in shock as my friend, filled with the spirit of the Lord, made bold observations about her.  After a minute or two,  I looked at Jorgelina and she just said "Si".   It was an amazing experience!! I learned a valuable lesson that night, that when the spirit tells you something, DO IT.  Thanks the spirit,  we were able to get to the heart of Jorgelina and she accepted a baptismal date of August 9th.  Our divisions were focused on being bold.  I love the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 24:12 (Look it up)  Everyone of us can be more bold in bearing testimony and sharing the gospel.  This week we really focused on the Barbosa family.  The kids all had sufficient attendance so they could be baptized the only problem was their dad.  He drinks a lot and he thinks that his kids are not prepared sufficiently to be baptized.  This Saturday, after a lot of hard work, all 3 of the Barbosa kids entered the waters of baptism.  We headed out to the Barbosa´s house (around a 20 minute walk).  We had the baptism planned for around 5 and so at 4 o'clock we got to their house.  Only Maura, the 12 year old daughter, was there.  We waited until 4:45 when finally Alfredo and Carlos showed up.  After we got to the bus stop and waited for another 20 minutes, we learned that there were not any more buses from Ita Paso at that hour.  We had to call a taxi and at around 6:30pm, an hour and a half late, we had a baptism!! It was so cool to watch the look on their parents faces as their kids took this incredible step!  Their parents are still trying to get through the marriage process so that they can be baptized, but you could see the motivation in their eyes after the baptism.  There are great things ahead for this family!! Other than that,  this week was good.  There's always a lot of stories to share, but they will have to wait another 14ish months ha.

I love you all and you are in my prayers constantly!! Keep fighting and stay cute cool crazy!!

Elder Ollerton

Letter #35 July 7, 2014

Hey Everyone!!

This week was crazy!! We were running in all directions and we were drained in every sense of the word.  Tuesday we had Leadership Council in Posadas so we hopped the border once again.  It was an awesome day full of learning.  We talked all about being yourself and not trying to be any other missionary.  That is a huge problem here.  We all see missionaries that are just awesome and we try to adapt ourselves to them.  President LaPierre talked about how we weren't called to be anyone else other than ourselves.  I was called to be Elder Ollerton.  It has been a tough week trying to find out what I have taken from other missionaries and what truly is me. 
We were Posadas until Wednesday doing Leadership Council, and then paper work through Thursday.  We only had 2 days to work this week so that was also stressful.  Trying to find time to help other missionaries, and help people progress towards baptism is hard. Finding the balance between them is even more difficult, especially when I am not even in the same country.
We got out and worked hard through the rest of the week and ended up with a huge payback on Sunday.  In total we had 40 people in church, that is the most I have seen in 7 months!!!  We also had 13 investigators!! We are being so blessed here in Ita Paso.  I love the area and on top of everything it only rained once this whole week!!!  We are focusing on 8 people that we want to baptize this month and if all goes well, it will be amazing!! We have a lot of kids that love to come to church and listen to the gospel, and we love teaching them!!  We use a lot of visual aids (not just because they are young, but also because they speak a lot of Guarani) and also games to help them understand.  They always ask us when we are going to come back and when church is.  Super cool!  I am also trying to get more comfortable with all my Zone Leader responsibilities.  We have a lot more to do now.  We received a call on Saturday at around 12:30 from some Sisters in an area around 30 minutes away from ours. They told us that they needed baptismal clothes.  Their baptism was scheduled to start in an hour!!  We grabbed the clothes that we had and headed out the door to go to the bus.  Right as we got out the door, we saw the colectivo (bus) passing on the street above ours.  Elder Magdaleno yelled, "GO CATCH IT ELDER!!"  I don't know why but I just took off on a sprint!! I must have ran over 200 yards to catch this bus and I was dead beat tired when we got on.  I realized how out of shape I have gotten in a quick 9 months!!
We have been working with a lot of less active members and most of them are coming back to church.  We set a goal to become a branch within the transfer.  We are only 1 Priesthood holder shy of becoming a branch!! Keep all of us here in Ita Paso in your prayers :)  We are working hard and doing our very best to help the church progress.  The Lords hand is evident everywhere even in places that we never would expect.  We have a less active member that lives around 3 miles from our house.  We walk home every night from their house. It is very dark with little street lights anywhere.   Every night when we are about to leave, the family prays for our safety as we walk back.  Night after night we see some sketchy guys that drive by, but we are always protected.  The Lord truly knows his children and watches over us all even if we don't know it.  As I read the scriptures, I have come to realize how often the word Diligence appears in one way or another.  I know that as we are all diligent, in everything that the Lord requires of us, he will watch over and protect us.  I hope and pray that we can do everything that we can, so that the Lord can pour out all of his blessings upon us.

I love you all and hope you are all loving life!! Stay safe!!
Elder Ollerton

Letter #34 June 23, 2014

June 23, 2014

Hey Everyone!

Well I am sitting here in Encarnacion, Paraguay and I am not even sure if I am on the same planet as before.   Things are so very different here it’s crazy!!!  We spent Monday and Tuesday of this last week to say goodbye to the people of Puerto Esperanza and it didn't take long because there weren't many members ha.  We went to say goodbye to the Bogarin Family and while we were there a HUGE lightning/thunder storm happened. The lights went out and we had our last discussion by candlelight!! So cool!!  Wednesday we left Esperanza at around 3:00am in the morning.   When we finally arrived at the terminal in Posadas, we were met by a ton of other missionaries.  We all hung out for a little until it was time to head to the office to take care of some last minute paper work before I could cross the border.  We went to the police station and took care of everything and then we headed to Paraguay!!!  It’s crazy to think I’m not even in the same country anymore.  When I arrived Elder Magdeleno (new comp who turns out is from Idaho) was there directing the missionaries.  We waited until things calmed down and then headed to my area of Ita Paso (like 25 minutes outside of Encarnacion) to drop off my bags.  We got to Ita Paso and it’s like a farm town!! As we pulled in there was a man walking down the road with his 3 cows and chickens running around everywhere!! So different!!  Our pinch is a little tiny house that only has water between the hours of 7:00 to 11:00 in the morning so we have to fill up jugs of water to use at night.  Today a fuse popped so we don't even have light anymore.  On a positive side this will be great material for my homecoming talk!  We went back to the terminal where we got on a bus with Elder Vindas and his greenie Elder Quesadas.  We got on the crappiest bus I had ever seen and headed to San Pedro to help orient the Elders to their area.  We spent the next 3 hours crammed into a nasty bus on the way to San Pedro.  When we got there, it was already dark.  Here it gets dark around 5:30pm, so it's way different than summer daylight.   We worked hard this week!! I love my new area although it is very different!!  The people here speak majority Guarani, which means now I have to learn that language.   There are actually a lot of people here that don't even speak Spanish!!  We have a ton of investigators that speak very little Spanish so I have to think of new ways to explain Gospel Principles in really simple broken down Spanish. Kind of difficult!! 

We had a super spiritual/ funny experience this week.  When we were tracting one day, we realized that we were walking without purpose.  So we stopped on a street corner for a minute to refocus, and then a blue gate just seemed to catch my eye.  We decided to go and clap at the gate. Within seconds, out came Gutierrez.  He is a 77 year old man who gladly let us in.   We sat down and got to know him a little better and he told us that he lost his wife around 4 years ago.  We talked a little more, and then talked a little about how we can see our families again after we die. We can all be together forever.  As we were talking I looked over at Gutierrez and he began to cry.  There was a strong spirit as we bore testimony that the things we were sharing were true.  Then out of nowhere he asked us if he could as us a question so we said yes.  He asked us if it was bad that a lady came over and cleaned his house/visited him.  We told him no that it wasn't bad.  But then he went on into more detail and it turns out this almost 80 year old man breaks the law of chastity a couple times a week with his maid!!! We did not see that coming at all!!!  There are so many stories that I could share but they will have to wait a couple months. ha ha.  My experiences are endless.

Thanks for everything that you all have done and continue to do for me and all the other missionaries in the world!!

Stay safe and I love you all!!

Elder Ollerton

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