May 27

oh memorial day parade!

hyrum is the clover costume? haha remember the year i was that? and i was so embarrassed i tried real hard not to have people  notice me. haha they still did. boo. go hyrum! one of the best memories from that parade. minus marching in the BAND!!!! is that sara holding the banner up front?

sister jenson is wonderful! ah she is so great. all we do is talk and share stories and laugh and smile and work! we got so much done this week! we are a great balance and are having a blast doing it. she is a ball of energy who used to be an HFACer. to think we passed by each other almost everyday and i never knew her before makes me a little sad. so glad to be still in stockton too. these are my people. i never want to leave... which means i will be transfered sooner than later  :(

say hello to sister DeBruin. Shes from Sacramento? what stake/ward? I saw a mission plaque for a Sister Ashley Dawn Hurst from galt. maybe she'll swing by our ward too. How is it to have sister missionaries serving in the ward? they are sooo different than elders right? 

thanks for taking good care of them. we are so dependent on members to help the work move forward. (also i dont think i wold mind ram horn handle bars. a little curvy handle bars arent that bad. really. most road bikes have them and they are easier to ride when i want to go fast ;]

Bratfest weekend? i wonder if i will ever make it home again for that. best fest ever. i know the missionaries always loved to volunteer at that too. sounds like a typical wonderful memorial day weekend full or parade, festival and maybe the traditional canoe/kayak trip. when i wear my brat fest shirt people always ask me "bratfest?" like the annoying girl brat. not the delicious sausage brat. difference. difference.

Sandy Love got married?!

sounds like dad is busy busy. and the countdown to a lot of that is getting short. summer is almost here :]

HAPPY birthday KASSIE! and Hazel too :]

my turn.

what a week!

well as written last week we went to the temple! we got back from sac, emailed and that was the end of our pday. zip zip zip but anything was worth that wonderful temple trip. transfers were the next day and it was rough saying goodbye to sister repman and hermana cardullo. miss them both oh so much and think about them lots. they were just the best and helped and listened to me so much.

Fue is moving to Alaska. sad news. he leaves tomorrow. hopefully its all for the better and the lords hand is in it all. sad to see him go, especially because hes not quite ready for baptism. after much work though we had the chance to introduce his family to the Hmong elders and they came to the Asian ward on Sunday! hopefully his family embraces the gospel and fue will be able to fall in line afterwards. the gospel always blesses families. funny to have lessons with fue and his family in three languages. english, hmong, and asl.

brother johnson has been called to teach the mormon.org workshop! so excited for that to get rolling again! i know it will help the ward be more missionary minded!

we have had a lot of opportunities to work with the addiction recovery group that meets at our building along with the family history center. so grateful for so many great members who help keep up wonderful church programs.

we are teaching another 11 year old boy. his name is Isaiah and he already comes to scouts most weeks! teaching kids is so much fun and because sister jenson is such a great actress our lessons are amazing.

okay miracle story for the week. we were low on gas, should probably fill up as we pull up in our parking slot in the evening and write down our miles for the end of day, i make a comment "hey lets make sure we fill up on gas tomorrow."  dun dun dun we forgot tomorrow is sunday! sister oliphant is an awful driver noted. so gas light comes on sunday morning as we are driving between asian ward and brookside asl ward. uhhh we still a full day ahead of us. we say a quick pray and apologize and offer to the lord we will give up AC in the car for the day (it uses more gas) if we can make it though the day without running out of gas. we will not break the sabbath and buy gas! miracle! dont know how we did it cause we put 30 miles on our car yesterday but we made it home safe and sound and filled up this morning. miracles. the lord helps the missionaries even in the silly stupid ways.

the church is great. the gospel is better.

i love this work.

love you all too.

sister oliphant

may 21

i can't get enough of stockton!

looks like i get to soak it up for another six weeks :] sister jenson, our youngest asl sister, will be coming down. so excited to serve with her.

 

so really one incident sticks out in my mind from this week and it nails stockton almost perfectly. now most of the time these kind of stories i tend to hold to not scare my mother but this one wasnt too bad and i just count hold back.

 

so there we were sitting at red light, when we see on the opposite side of the road a police car plowing through the grass, over a few curbs, and around a tree or two. uh well thats a little strange... whats going on.... oh wait.... yes yes thats is a man running. fugitive. running for his life across a few yards and a police officer in pursuit. well it didnt last long cause the police officer cornered him pretty soon. he had him on the ground, put on some handcuffs, escorted him to his car, and drove away. and then we got a green light. i think the best part about the whole thing was that all the stand by watchers whether in car or just walking by acted like it was no big deal!  a few pedestrians in the area barely even shifted positions to get a better view. apparently its not a big deal here that that kind of thing goes down often. i love stockton.

 

well we were at st jospehs hospital this week a bit. two woman in the ward had strokes and were admitted the same night. they ended up neighbors in their hospital rooms too. perfect for keeping each other company haha. small tender mercies :]

 

we had the chance to attend the addiction recovery class again. hopefully we will be going a bit more often to encourage a few investigators to go. wow that is such an inspired class. really the class manual can be used for any weakness. it breaks down how we can apply the gospel of jesus christ and use his atonement in our lives. such a great tool. will some one go to addiction recovery classes with me when i come home?

 

we went to the temple this morning. oh what a wonderful place that is. the early session was over flowing so we ended up waiting for the next session. we had about an hour to kill. the best place to kill time is on a pday in the temple. awww joy. got to do some sealings and just sit. and sit. and relax. and feel the spirit. and think. it has been way too long since i had last been in there. temple tours are great but its nothing compared to whats inside.

 

oh did i tell you i got a hair cut/ kind of color. it doesnt look that much different. but enough that my extra short bangs bother me. bangs shouldnt exist. blah.

 

this week i learned the word "try" is a crutch. dont tell yourself try. tell yourself you will. determination plays a huge factor in results.

 

Fue is moving to Alaska. what?! yeah appearently soon. not sure if hes running from us or not haha. ahhhhhhhh why? why?

 

Maria has set a baptism day for June 15th!!!!! And since shes paralyzed we are most likely going to do it in Bishops pool. At ward council we were playing around with the idea of just having a ward BBQ while we are at it. hahaha have i told you i think the brookside ward has one of the best bishoprics. love them all so much. perfect balance and they keep us all laughing.

 

Lorenzo and Brianna came to a baptism this week. Lorenzo also made it to cub scouts. he is so close to becoming a member. teaching kids is a whole new world. way different game. but im loving it. we are praying and fasting for soon, so very soon.

 

Saturday the stake had a "Mormon Helping Hands" service project. i ended up on the "lets make straw and mud african huts." no not for the stockton homeless, it was a vegetable storage house for a community garden. but we got super muddy and i had the time of my life. why is getting super dirty so enjoyable?

 

for kicks: google "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE" would love to sign up and do that one time. maybe better than a dirty dash?

 

Well its bitter sweet transfer. Will be hard to say goodbye to sister repman after being together since january. we've gone through so much together and experiences like that bond people. love her and will miss much. Sister repman is heading to carmichael to be with sister acker for 3 short weeks until the new asl sister comes (sister abbott). so excited for sister repman to train. she will do great! ive taught her everything i know and its been neat to see her grow and become an even more amazing missionary. Serving with sister jensen will be great! its her first time in stockton and im stoked to be there for all of the experiences to come.

 

life is good. life is great.

being a missionary is way too much fun.

maybe ill never come home.

 

love,

sister oliphant

may 13

wait really its may 13th? no way. where does all the time go.

well i just got my hair done..... i must say sister miles has quite the eye. its gorgeous. members are so sweet and always so charitable. we also have a ton of food in our fridge right now all because members love missionaries. well we love them back. dont know where we would be without them.

week. it was good. long. exhausting. beautiful. sleep deprived. spirit lead.

currently dede, fue, maria, lorenzo, and mickey are all inches away from me just pushing them in the baptism font. we are so excited to see these many truly converted people make a covenant with god and become members of jesus christ's restored church. they are each their own miracles. i just pray that i will be able to see each of them endure to that special day :] ... transfers are next week.

... sister repman and i have been together here in stockton since january now. something is bound to change sometime soon. shucks.

we had zone conference. it was focused around "why we serve." each of us were asked to prepare a 25 word phrase about why we serve. i decided to take mine straight out of my closing remarks of my farewell talk. zone conference was amazing. we ended up with a clean car. lots of hugs from dear friends. a greater desire to repent. and more knowledge of how to be a better missionary. president lewis is so great. i know he is inspired and called of god because no other man would be able to do his calling without going crazy. i dont know how he keeps track of 250 missionaries. blessing. 

more exchanges this week. got to spend a whole day with sister smith and sister spencer. both great missionaries who teach me so much. i think dede has met half of the sisters in the mission now... she says she loves all of us so much. also got to proselyte in a little Podunk town named galt. rhymes with salt.

i got to see lynda this week! lynda who i taught in stockton back in august and september with sister wilson. we have been out of touch with her for ages. we meet all her grandchildren who currently love with her and had the chance to teach a short lesson to them all. hopefully we can get re in touch with that great family.

kathy fed us saturday he famous fried chicken and we have more in the fridge still. if anyone comes to stockton to visit with me in the future we have to beg kathy to make us her friend chicken. she's southern :]

mothers day was great. video calling home was wonderful. love you fam. max was online.... you had no idea how much self control i had to muster not to say hello.

mom i have a special mothers day gift i forgot to give to you.

Please look up the song: She Puts the Music in Me by Calee Reed

i would like to dedicate it to you :]

other fun facts for the week:

sister jacksons family is in the may new era! terrill look it up. her brother, bryce, is deaf and shares his comments about asl seminary. they are the family having a kneeling prayer in sign! so cool. family practice. that will be me. 

we added 8 new investigator this week

in galt we got chewed out by a very angry woman as she threatened to call the police on us for trespassing on her property

homefacts.com is where you can look up to see the registered sex offenders in your neighborhood. mom dont do that for stockton please

didnt get home til 10:15 one night. as a college student i know i would have laughed at that statement.

dogs like to lick my feet. maybe they taste good....

apparently stockton is the modern day gotham city. does that make missionaries batman?

love from the blessed land of stockton!

love,

sister elephant

ps: mom thanks for all the treats! the ces talk, the cookies, the earrings, the stamps, etc. i love it all!

May 6

news from stockton!

MICKEY HAS DECIDED TO BE BAPTIZED! haha he keeps thanking us for being persistent. June 29th is his birthday and he is excited to make it an even more special day :]

we have this magic trick we do with a magic pen and fire. oh my goodness it is the best analogy for the baptism, gospel of jesus christ, atonement, cleansed from sin, etc. i dont know how many times a week we do that lesson but it sure has saved us  many times. kids love it and this week we had the chance plenty of times. we had a family home evening with a family, oh my goodness the spirit was so strong :] love that feeling.

exchanges again this week. its so fun to get to know and work with so many sisters :] sister strehlow came to stockton with me tuesday. shes one of the first younger missionaries who came to our mission after the age change. seriously our mission is being saturated with sisters. and i know only a hand full. before the sisters were all so close knit because there was only a few of us. all the older sisters i knew before have gone home. we are so glad they are coming though. will be able to meet a few more at zone conference this week. we are hosting it so we get to help set up our chapel tonight.

was able to attend the first mission leadership council our  mission has had this week. was very neat to be in a room with so many honorable priesthood holders. what a privilege to be able to council and discuss with them. had a chance to have an interview with president this week. he is such an inspired man and made me feel a little bit better about how im performing as a missionary. we are starting to build a better relationship.

Deaf picnic this weekend meant over 500 deaf people all at one park having a bbq. we really enjoyed it! we did'nt get a booth like we did at asl celebration at the capitol last fall but we chatted and contacted with so many deaf in the area. including some of the deaf members, and deaf associates from sacramento area. good to see familiar faces. also im starting to get tan :] thank you California sun.

quick funny story: sunday was testimony meeting and there was a spider who kept coming down from the ceiling over and over again right over the person at the pulpit. it was too high for anyone to swat down. haha it made for an entertaining testimony meeting to say the least.

life is good. im enjoying this way too much :]

love much!

sister oliphant

PS:  random thoughts as u read your lovely letter, just for you Mom:

you're reading a book about ripon? i served there for 2 days on exchanges. and saw every inch of the city in just those two days. and we walked mostly everywhere. haha so funny. how does a book take place in ripon?

stuart didnt pay for her? some manners. boys are always supposed to at least offer to pay for a date. no matter what. kids these days.

did you hear alan roper got married here in sacramento last weekend. too bad i wasnt up at a temple tour that saturday, would have maybe ran into the wedding party.

mom i totally agree with the england thing. but let me tag along too ;] how many chances/excuses come up to head to england. and i have a friend! sian-amy in southern london who would take us everywhere and give us a place to stay... im sure your friend angela (right?) would do the same.

LVM? oh mr gilmore. any chance you have his address? i would love to write him!

grandma donna essay? oh please. share. haha

mom i might be giving up soon to catch up with the seminary kids. im way too far behind. still in 2 corinthains. 

the pics are all great! thanks much. i need to attach more.... its been a while.

love your daughter,

the little sister oliphant

OH PPS. its mothers day sunday! i almost forgot. i get to google plus you home again :] ummmm we are thinking evening ish. our church is over at 4 which means 6 your time. google plus again work well?