I Love This Gospel and It Inspires Me!

07/28/2014

Ok, it’s been another great week and it was pretty sweet because we had two baptisms, and I got to do them in a river!  The baptisms were great!  So yah, mission accomplished.  Now I can leave my area.  Just kidding, but it was pretty cool.  One of the ladies that got baptized had to have an interview with President, but everything went fine and so there’s two new members!  Just wish I could get some priesthood for this poor little branch.  Why are men so stubborn and dumb?  ha ha.  

This week I also went to the doctor and got my rash looked at.  It’s just from the heat, so the doctor gave me some shower gel and some lotion stuff and some pills.  Then she wrote me up a bunch of other stuff for my acne because she said she didn’t want me to look ugly in the future.  So that was a big torpedo to the good old self esteem... 

But anyways, everything is going pretty good.  We had a bit of a down week with the baptism and having to go to the doctor, but that’s no excuse.  We are at the point where we have baptized all of our investigators who are progressing, and now we have people who aren’t progressing and barely anybody else to teach.  This is one of those times where we have to find people to teach... and this part is the hardest for me.  So I’m just going to dig in and get it done, because that’s all you can really do!  Like I’ve said before, I know this is the Lord’s work and I know He is preparing people.  I just hope I can be obedient and worthy enough to have the spirit to guide me. That I can hear the spirit and be brave enough to follow it, so I can find the people He is preparing, and can help them find the gospel that will bless their lives. I hope I can be a tool in Heavenly Father’s hands to do that and find the new people He is preparing.  I don’t really have much else to say. Just working hard like normal.  Everything is going good, except the fact that we don’t have power in my area still... but that’s Honduras.  We haven’t had light since yesterday night.  

So basically I’m just so glad I get to be a part of this gospel. I’m so very thankful I get to read the scriptures and have the blessings that the gospel brings in my life.  Every time I think about the scriptures and reading them, I just feel awesome and I just want to study them for hours.  And just thinking about the gospel just makes me want to be a better person and be obedient.  I don’t know how to explain it.  Honestly, that’s not how I want to explain it….I just feel so good when I think about the gospel. I feel like I want to be better and keep the commandments.  Okay, that’s it…basically, it inspires me. That’s it.  I love this gospel and it inspires me.  I hope you all can experience this.  That you can let the gospel and the church inspire you and you can have a love for it.  I know that is something I have learned in my mission and I’m so glad for the things I’ve learned here.  I love this gospel with all my heart and I know it’s true.  Love you all, and keep on keepin’ on!

Elder Ollis

So Things Are Just Flowing Along Here in "Nice River" Honduras

07/21/2014

This week was pretty normal I guess you could say, just working hard here in Honduras.  It was really hot here for a couple of days.  That was a real bummer, but what can I do.... so we suffered through.  I don’t know if it has to do with the heat, but I have a rash all over my chest and stomach, and now it’s moving to my back.  I don’t quite know what to do about that... but the only thing to do is to keep working. HA HA (for all you dorks that keep making fun of me for saying ja ja its less work. I don’t have to stretch my fingers so far.)

Oh, and I threw the hook and line in the river today, and tried a little bit of fishing.  The only problem is I don’t have bait, and the sausage I was using didn’t stay on the hook.  So that didn’t last long.  Send me some powerbait if you want.

I now have 11 months in this wonderful country of Honduras.  That’s super weird. Things are going really good right now.  My comp is super tight, he’s an awesome missionary. I sometimes feel like I’m junior comp with him, just a little bit of humility. My companion and I have a goal (I think I’ve explained it already), to have five baptisms in August, with three of the five being men.  I think this will be a great opportunity for me to work hard and to grow my faith even more.  I know this is the Lord’s work.  I know He’s guiding it, and I know He will help us if we do all we can.  It will be an opportunity for me to really be listening for the spirit and to follow it at all times, and to trust completely in Heavenly Father.  Because He is preparing people, but we just don’t know where they are yet.  So I’m just going to keep working hard, be obedient, and better myself everyday, so that we can receive the Lord’s help and meet the goal.

My comp may have changes, and I’m going to be super bummed if he does.  We have two people who are going to be baptized this week hopefully.  One has to have an interview with president, but they are both really awesome and are reading the Book of Mormon and praying.  One of them brought two friends to church, and two others to a baptism we had.  It’s always a good time when your investigators start sharing the gospel with others.  Those two baptisms are a lady named Virginia, and the other young woman is named Vallery.  We also set a baptismal date with a few others, and we have some new investigators that I have hope will progress.  So things are just flowing along here in “nice river” Honduras. Just working and getting better each day!  I’m pretty good here, just feeling good and happy!  Love you all and I hope you all know that I know this is the true gospel and the only way we can return to God, and I’m glad I have the opportunity to share that with others.

Love you all, Elder Ollis

But Then I Thought, "That was the Spirit"

07/14/2014 

Hola, wonderful people.  I hope you all had a wonderful week.  I did, ja ja, so don’t worry.  This week was a pretty good week because we had a baptism!  Wohooo!  We had two actually.  The two ladies we’ve been waiting for finally got baptized. That was really awesome!  We should have two more in two weeks if everything goes well.  

Well, today I honestly don’t know what I’m going to write.  My comp and I are working like mad.  We have a goal to have five baptisms in the month of August, and three of them have to be men.  The branch where we are at needs more priesthood, so we need to bring some men into the branch.  We are going to have to contact like crazy and trust in the Lord, because this is His work and He will lead us to the people that are prepared to listen. So that’s what we are going to shoot for.

  

This week was also a little frustrating.  Something I’m finding is that talking with less-actives really frustrates me.  They just forget the promises they made with God, and many times they just don’t even care.  Patience is something I’m learning.  Oh ya, and we talked with a ton of people full of apostasy, so that was really frustrating too.   You just can’t convince people, it has to be through the spirit.

But anyway, I just wanted to share a cool experience that I had.  We went to part of our area that’s really far.  We have to drive in a moto for like, twenty minutes.  We went and every appointment fell through, so for three hours we had nothing to do.  Contacting is not one of my favorite things to do and I didn’t want to do that for three hours.  But I didn’t know what else to do.  So I thought, let’s pray.  So we sat down on a bench and said a prayer. And I just said, “Look, we don’t have anything to do, we don’t know what to do.  Help us out.  Send us someone to talk to, or send us to someone who is prepared to listen. If that’s not what you want, we will keep contacting for three hours.”  

It was definitely not that casual, and not exactly what was said, but something like that.  So we sat there for a second and I had the thought to go talk to an old man that was sitting by a store.  Then my comp said lets go over there, and we started to leave.  But then I thought, “that was the spirit” and I said let’s go contact this guy.  So we get talking and he asks us about the Book of Mormon and how he can get one.  He had listened to the Elders before, so we gave him a Book of Mormon and set an appointment to meet with him.  He hasn’t been there the past two times we passed by, but we taught his family and they were super nice and receptive.  We have another appointment this week and I have hope they will progress.  

That was a real testimony builder for me, that God answers prayers and is directing this work.  We have to listen for the spirit and learn to recognize it, and when we do, we have to follow.  I believe it was the spirit that told me to talk to that old man. Hearing the spirit and recognizing it has been a challenge for me in the mission, but is something we have to learn little by little.  In Preach My Gospel it says it’s like another language.  So just a cool little experience we had.  I know this is God’s work and I’m so glad I have the chance to be a part of it, and see the power of His hands and the gospel in the lives of the people here.  I know that God answers prayers, and the spirit is sent by Him.  I hope we can always remain worthy, and continue bettering our ability to listen and heed the spirit.  I know this church is true. 

Love, Elder Ollis 

Just Know It Was An Awesome Week and We Are Working Hard

07/07/2014

Ok, so this picture is me at the alligator farm, but I have to leave soon.  Sorry, but we cleaned all day and this little town just likes to close everything at six for some reason and I don’t have time to share much of anything.  I'm typing as fast as I can on a dinosaur of a computer. Just know it was an awesome week and we are working hard.  The lady that was supposed to get baptized has a crazy, catholic mother and she’s scared. But we don’t want to baptize her until she explains it to her mom, because she can’t be afraid and then not keep promises she made with God.

We had investigators in church, and finally two families of inactives that came, so I was super happy. Things are going well and we have some new people who are looking promising.  So pray that things will be well with them and they will find they are in the true church. I know it is the true church!  Love you all and pray we will have our baptism this week, I sure hope it will happen!

Love, Elder Ollis

I Just Want to Share My Testimony about Joseph Smith

06/30/2014

This week was pretty good.  First of all I had to go to San Pedro to get another ingrown toenail removed.  Then we had a conference in San Pedro the next day with Elder Ochoa of the Seventy. It was a really good conference.  I was able to learn some great things and came out of it with a desire to be better. We are trying to up the commitment and obedience and just generally make the mission better and so we are working on a cleansing process I guess you could say.  President is tightening down on a lot of things. 

I didn’t bring my notes from the conference so I won’t share anything from that.  I just want to share my testimony about Joseph Smith.  We watched the video about the restoration with a member the other day and I just felt so grateful for him and his role as a prophet.  I’m thankful for his desire to do what was right and to find for himself what was right.  I’m thankful he had the courage to stand by his word and that he stayed strong to his account of his vision.  I’m so very thankful that he was called as a prophet and that he received the priesthood, which is necessary for our salvation.  I’m so very thankful that he translated the Book of Mormon and that we have this additional guide to the gospel of Jesus Christ, that we have more of the word of God.  I’m so very thankful that the ordinances of salvation were restored and that through them we can return to God.  I’m so thankful that he restored the gospel and the original teachings of Jesus Christ.  This gospel and church are the most clear of anything to me.  It just makes sense.  I’m so thankful that through Joseph Smith, the great apostasy was finished and that we were able to have the light of the gospel on the earth again.  I honestly wish I could have lived in those times of the restoration.  I’m so very thankful for him and his sacrifices to bring all these things to light.  I can’t imagine all the doubts he faced.  I’m so very thankful that we have another prophet like Joseph Smith, in this day, to guide us like he did.  After the video I just felt so thankful for Joseph Smith and I can’t really describe it. But I know he was a prophet called of God to complete all these things, and because of him, we have the complete truth.  I’m so very thankful for that and the chance I have to share the complete truth here in Honduras.  I know this is the truth, and the true church, and that we have a prophet today just like in ancient times.

Well that’s all I’ve got today.  Love you all and miss you all and hope you are doing good in your separate pursuits!  Remember to keep moving forward in the gospel, because the only other option is falling back, and that should never be the option.  

Elder Ollis