April 29

hello from california. its supposed to hit 93 degrees today :]

 

i have acquired quite the list of people i send this email on to weekly. thanks for all being such loyal fans. i do warn you though, because this is a direct source you dont get the edited version. spelling isn't always perfect. i rarely go back and read what I've written. my email is many times in response to mom's weekly letter to me. this is the real deal. so hope you can love even my mistakes and weaknesses.

 

quick update on this week.

 

Fue will be baptized on May 18th! He is a 23 year old hmong deafie who loves feeling the spirit :] he makes me feel a little uncomfortable at times but we love him. a lot. yay for more deaf baptisms :]

DD is also preparing to be baptized in beginning of June! she has changed so much. and she has changed me so much too. this week she has ventured out to the addiction recovery class, the family history center, and the sacramento temple for a bit of a tour on temple hill.

 

Miracles are plentiful in our blessed land of stockton.

 

Can i just say i love sister Repman so much. She teaches me so much about how to be a better missionary everyday. so grateful for companions and even more grateful for companions who love me despite all my weaknesses. she is great.

 

the hermanas had a baptism this weekend that we invited fue to. he wanted to see a baptism :] so sister ramero sat next to me and whispered english in my ear while i interpreted it into asl for fue. double translating. nothing like playing telephone for a full hour. and it was real life.

 

enjoyed exchanges this week. miracles always happen on exchanges. we added 4 new investigators when sister dees spent the day with me in stockton!

loved the day i was able to spend with sister jackson in ripon this week as well. minus the fact we attended a funeral which dampened our day. im so grateful for the plan of salvation. i forget how much i miss just chatting with a great friend who knows you better than you know yourself.

 

another great week in stockton :] i am overly content here... which most likely means ill be transfered soon. ha

 

LOVE,

sister oliphant

 

 

PS Richard Happy Late Birthday!!! sorry im slow.

April 22

oh how exciting! sisters in madison 2nd! that will be neat for the ward especially because the ward has so many sisters currently serving as well. the dynamics will be interesting. elders and sisters. oh fun :] to bad stephanie isnt around or maybe they could even be asl!

 

need an idea for dessert when you feed the missionaries? fruit salad. we eat way too much dessert and crave healthy way too much. if the missionaries are staying for fhe you should ask some of the kids if they can invite some friends :] we always are looking for more teaching opprotunities. and great way for friends to be more familiar with missionaries :]

 

MOM I LOVE SNICKERDOODLES. please dont hold back ;] haha funny i say that after i just told you about how we eat way to many desserts haha!!

 

the seminary kids are way ahead of me in the new testament. im still in 1st corinthians. im pokey i guess.

we did hear about the bombing. so sad. glad to hear they have finally caught the second guy. yep everyone out here is talking about it and many tvs were on in the background in many homes so yeah ive heard a fair share whats going on. hits a little close to home being a runner and loving races. the boston marathon is the superbowl for runners. so sad. glad to see the nation united over harsh things like that again. we are sooo in the last days.

 

gospel principles class is amazing! i agree. i much prefer it over the other class now haha. so great to build our faith on the basics and be reminded of the foundation/building blocks.

 

Zak bore his testimony? aww thats the cutest thing. just adorable that he was preparing for it for so long. kids set such good examples. alma 32:23

 

Terrill I just adored your letter! read it to another sister even i loved it so much and wanted to share. you will be proud of me i got the right answer on your math problem challenge you sent me. ive still got it ;] i'll write back soon kid.

 

wettest year so far huh? 1998 was that the year we have the river in our backyard when the chamberlins were over and our tv died because of the lighting. haha i dont know how i remember that. yes 2008 i remember. we lost our carpet that year. inch of water in our room.

so cool.

 

the middle eastern food was good. we had to re-warm it up. im sure it would have been better fresh. yeah it was interesting.... will keep you posted on Said :]

 

thanks for being on top of the bike thing mom. i wish i could take more time to try and do some searching. if you can find a road bike or atleast a hybrid i would love it. now that ive riden a road bike i dont know if i can ever go back haha. they are a lot more light too :] cheaper shipping.

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okay as for me this week.

it has been a week of miracles. many many miracles.

 

we have a mini philipino group in our ward. well all the woman get together to all "visit teach" eachother and they invited us to join them. i love that i get to eat all this great ethnic food. learned how to eat a fish head properly, cant say that i actually had the guts to do it myself though haha. they had fun teasing us.

 

this week we have really been spending a lot of time with Dede. this was her weekend she decided to kick the smoking once and for all. shes been a trooper. also this weekend we ended up with a car full of coffee. somehow during one of our lessons we ended up in the kitchen and as i read D&C 89 DD emptied her cupboards of all her coffee and handed it all to sister repmans over-burdened arms. it was one of those miracle events return missionaries tell stories about. she showed amazing faith. we also got a little creative this week about how else we can help dd quit smoking. shes a chain smoker that knows she needs to quit. so we made a hundred little sticky note reminders full of encouragement and uplifting scriptures and surprised her when we stuck them all over her house. we also made replacement cigarettes made from rolled up sticky notes with scriptures written on them. haha she loved it all and hopefully the little encouragement and reminders will help her.

 

i got to go to ripon ca for a day this week! sleepover! it was fun. they currently have no miles and no bikes yet so we were on foot all day. i was afraid to count the miles we walked, but lets just say a missionary's work hours are more than the standard 8 hour work day. i only ended up with 2 blisters and lots of sunburn lines. i miss the sun. it was quite the enjoyable exchange though. got to chat with my old roommate sister jolley for hours and worked on our street contacting. we literally talked to everyone that moved. i also got to get a big hug from sister jackson that day. miss her much since she left us and a hug from her was way past due. some friends on the mission arent just "friends on the mission."

 

ive really begun to learn how to forget myself on my mission. hopefully its enough to say thank you for all the individuals who have repeatedly sacrificed so much for me and for this work. i will forever be grateful for them and for the savior's eternal sacrifice for all mankind.

 

well its back to reality. i've heard a mission is as real as it ever gets.

 

much love from sister oliphant

April 15

stockton loves to propose to me.marriage proposals happen quite frequently actually haha. im sure its just a sister missionary thing. funny that you commented on that from my last letter. fue our deaf investigator after having me interpret for church turns to lani and says "wow shes a good signer, maybe ill make her my wife." oh my goodness so great. dont worry its all non-sense.

yes district fast but we had a zone meeting. one of the senior missionaries brought donuts for the whole zone. so half of us were developing our patience.

mom get the mormon message dvds! (and then send me a copy too :]) they are the best in teaching. short and great for capturing attention when needed. seminary kids wou;d love them!

sister repman and i i am happy to say have truly become great friends. sister jackson taught me a lot about how to have true charity. so grateful for her example. i really needed it.

this week i was asked to attend a meeting to learn how to go on exchanges with sisters. im so excited to be able to travel to a few different areas and get to know lots of other sisters. means i'll be on bikes a bit more. skirts and bikes. yayyyyyyyy bikessssss. they have also asked that i attend missionary leadership meetings. it will be neat to have sisters be able to contribute. many changes happening with the any more sisters serving missions!

had the chance to do lots of teaching this week. i love teaching. we were also able to set two young brothers lorenzo and bryant on date for baptism in may! they are both cub scout age and are excited to be baptized! they are the grandchildren of cindy our former investigator.

we gave an arabic book of mormon away this week! Said is from Syria and insisted on sending us home with lots of middle eastern food. which i have been brave enough to try half of it so far.

the work continues. and i love every moment of this.

thanks for all the support however you help me.

LOVE YOU ALL

Sister Oliphant

april 9

congratulations zak!

your decision to be baptized is one of the best decision you will ever make! so proud of you. i know what you did is right! baptism pictures are the best. i love to see people dressed in white :]

transfers. yaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy transfers! sister repman and i are both staying. surprise surprise. sister jackson, who has been our companion for the last 2 weeks will be leaving us though. will miss her dearly. we might have attached our selves at the hip the last little bit. shes pretty much amazing and irreplaceable. why do all the best missionaries leave me?

ummm i got another marriage proposal this week. dont worry we still got in a prayer at the end of the lesson. should not have asked him to say the prayer. had to bite my tongue for 85% of it.

amanda you will be happy to know i adopted a jade plant. yep after all those years of me chastizing you for your love of living things in our window sill i finally gave in to my passion for plants. animals might be a while yet. a member gave me a jade plant after i toldher i have been fasinating by all the suculant plants around here. so she gave me one. his name is jay-jay. and i like him a lot. a lot. a lot. theyre all really cool.

this week has been full of lots of local stockton/california treats. micheals pizza, togos sandwiches, a few donut shops, asian whole-in-the-wall restaurants, etc. its been fun and i love when members recommend places that let us in on a little more local culture. stockton has an annual asparagus festival annually. would love to go in a few weeks! who knew asparagus was something to through a festival over.

this week i emptied a urine cathadar. umm yep that was fun. end of story.

this week has had a lot of goodbyes. the nielsens, our most favorite senior couple missionaries are heading back to springville utah. sister neilsen was our mission nurse and has been a saving guardian angel so many days. we love senior couple missionaries!

spiritual note. thursday we had a district fast. fasting brings miracles. we had a little miracle that afternoon. we decided to visit a potential investigator written in our area book. as we got out of the car jaunita eagerly lets us know now is not a good time, she was having a hard day. being respectful we left her with a copy of "the family-a proclimation to the world." we hopped in the car, said a little prayer for her and had to prompting to make an extra minute as we decided where to go next. we made a u-turn in her little circle and on our way back out she flagged us down thanking us for what we had shared. "this was exactly what i needed." the lord sure knows his children and answers prayers. its such a wonderful thing to be able to be that instrument to make anyones day a little lighter.

sister repman was on splits its lani, doing deaf work, and we ended up with eight lessons in one day! miracle. by the end of the week we were still seeing miracles. the hermana roommates found us 2 golden investigators and we ended up added 4 new investigators this week. so grateful to fasting and the blessings that come from it. it may have been hard to sacrifice donuts and milk at district meeting but it was well worth it. sacrifice :]

we have had the chance to use mormon messages in a lot of our teaching. the mormon message dvds the church as recently put out have been a big help. would love to have a copy of my own. i still find the video "mens hearts shall fail them" one of my favorites. Elder Nelson asks that we "demand of yourself improvement." the lord is so patient with us and gives us so much comfort if only we turn to him.

deafies check out deaflds.org if you  havent already. i think you'll like it.

general conference was amazing! oh i loved every talk! definitly found 2 possible themes to be the family and obedience. best line: "i need you to give me a hug." i tell it to sister jackson often :]

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Sister Oliphant

easter

time keeps ticking... and its on to april. where does all the time go?

i will try to do this in chronological order. ps i dont know how to use spell check on a mac so please forgive my lack pf spelling skills. (i blame dad ;))

last pday was great. we actually ended up just spending time with members most of the day. wow does it feel good to just sit and chat and not have to worry about what time it is.

umm our zone leaders accidently serenaded us. okay it was the funniest thing. we get a call, pick up and its just the two of them belting some song. "hello hello?" were both really confused. we try to figure out what song they are singing and why they wont respond. turns out it was a pocket dial but we got to hear all 3 verses of one of their favorite songs. oh my goodness so funny, so glad we have light moments in the field where we can smile and laugh. its good for the heart.

we met and chatted with a muslim man in his home, he was way too generous. had to communicate because he spoke arabic but we figured out a lot. We chatted a bit about religion and we had a look at his Quoran. He ended up giving me the Quoran and refused to let me say no. its in english and arabic. so funny. so i asked if we could being him back a book too. currently waiting for our arabic book of mormon to come in so we can visit him again soon :] In the mean time its taking a lot of will power not to crack my Quoran try to learn some arabic.

our neighbors are super sketch. pretty sure its a single woman who has lots of man visitors. let just say im pretty sure she they dont keep the word of wisdom. well two of them i think started hitting on us this week. normally we respond with a "hello" smile and wave. but this time one fellow tried asking us questions. "hey ladies, what are your names?" it was great to see the look on his face as soon as i introduced myself as a missionary. "ohhh ahhh were umm catholic." i think they'll leave us alone. haha

we went to the temple for another tour again this week! and Fue our new deaf investigator came! along with MICKEY! oh it was such a blessing. the nighe before we had gotten home late, finished planning and i was signing our closing prayer. " Heavently Father we just are hoping for one investigator to come to the temple tour tomorrow. just please help Fue get there. Whatever his plans are.... just let them fall through. We know he needs to feel the spirit of the temple." Oh my goodness it was a miracle. exactly that happened. texted him last minute as an extra reminder (he said he probably couldnt make it cause he had plans) and he CAME! and he felt the spirit so strong. it was neat to watch his face as we interpreted. to see his expression as the spirit engulfed him. so neat. Mickey and dominick came too. hopefully it will be a building block to helping mickey finally decide to be baptized!

We had a thunderstorm this week! so we pulled out mattresses out to the living room and watched the lightning as we fell asleep. so great. havent seen a good once since maybe wisc days. we had a roommate sleepover out there again last night. all 5 of our mattresses all lined in a row. haha it was great. kind of miss the pillow talk too. its been months since pillow talk. not the easiest to do when you have deaf companions. sister ramero also sleep talks. she asked me for cookies at 1 oclock in the morning. sister pitcher in ressponse, also in her sleep "you dont even like cookies!" bahaha oh i love them all so much!

currently trying to help our investigator dede stop smoking. we bought he a bunch of candy to help her replace the habit. hopefully she can kick it soon! yay for sweets :]

Sister Jackson, this really great missionary has had a chance to join us this week! she has a deaf brother so she knows asl! yeah its pretty great. shes a pretty new missionary, came in with that huge group of sisters. shes our short term companion for the next little bit. excited to have her, she seriously is so great. back to a trio... in the words of sister ramero "yayyyyy trios." haha but really its great to have her. its been quite an enjoyable week with her here :]

Easter. Not many stayed after sacrament meeting but it was a wonderful sunday. I had the privledge of joining in the program. I got to read a easter thought. the choir was beautiful. so grateful for the chance to focus my thoughts on the savior and his atoning sacrifice this week. i feel like ive learned so much and teaching the gospel has really helping me apply his atonement better rather than just speak of it. how great it is that we have a savior. the gospel is beautiful.

our mission is opening 13 new areas next week! 13! and your getting sisters in mad 2?! oh how exciting! i love this work. so glad to be serving NOW.

The history channel is having this really cool documentary about the bible. watch it cause i cant. everyone is raving around it. hopefully i can find it when i get home. sounds great.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZAK! ill be thinking of you this week as you are baptized! youre making such a great decision :] so happy that you are following the savior.

Love much,

sister elephant