sorry if you didn't get this!

Dearest friends and family,

I am just sending this to Mom and Dad because I have no time!  I hope it will reach you all.

CHANGES!!!  I am going to Este, the area Barrio 9, in Montevideo!  I am going to be a zone leader with Elder Oliver, who was my previous companion!!!!!  I am super excited.  And also nervous.  But mostly excited.

Ana was baptized and confirmed!  She is an angel and was SOOOOOOO prepared by God for this.  I love her to death.  I wish I had more time to write now, but I must be going already.  Suffice it to say that she is an amazing convert and will help the branch a lot because she truly converted herself into a disciple of Jesus Christ and decided to change her life.  So awesome!

I am learning to accept God´s will in all things.  He is full of grace and truth.  If we trust Him, we will be happy.

Yikes, there really is no time left.  This week was amazing.  There are SO many amazing people in Minas and the Lord is blessing them a lot.  I wish I could give you every detail.  It is so amazing to serve His children and see what He does for them every single day.  I am a bit sad to leave Minas but I am excited and hopeful for the future.  My companion will do a great job taking over the area as I leave.

I love you all so much.

See you on Sunday, family! :)

Love,

Elder Max Olivier

foto: baptism of Ana!

foto: Hey dad, I tried head cheese too!!!!!

sorry, short message!

Hello dearest family and friends!

Suffice it to say that this week was crazy and busy. 

The highlight was the 2-mission conference with Elder Oaks and Sister Oaks!  The mission presidents and their wives also spoke, along with two area authorities, Elder Cabrera and Elder Viñas.  It was awesome!!!  I ended up singing, sadly, because the other mission´s pianist had already been asked first.  But I knew him -- Elder Bentley was in my BYU ward for a year!!!  

The conference was lovely.  I especially loved how Elder Oaks talked about being an instrument in the Lord´s hands.  He compared it to a pen -- we need to be full of ink, or we need to treasure up in our minds the words of eternal life.  We need to be in working order, or healthy and taking care of ourselves and our bodies.  We need to be ready to go at any time in the Lord´s service, especially as FULL-TIME missionaries.  We need to write the Lord´s message and do His will, not our own.  I thought it was an ingenious analogy!  Sister Oaks was also amazing -- she brought her famous testimony gloves for the mission, too!

I also had 2 baptismal interviews this week.  Ana Corbo will be baptized tomorrow!! yay!!!

Um, sorry, but the ciber is closing right now so I have to go.  Love you all so much!!!!!

--Elder Max Olivier

A week of little miracles

Dearest family and friends,

Yay for today!  Yay for the chance to live and grow and move and breathe and work!  Yay for a God who constantly watches over us and loves us and gives us life!

This was a great week.  I was kinda feeling tired and stressed because we have a ton going on, and I am getting a little tired from doing so much all the time, but my companion´s good humor and patience has helped me out a lot.  I am loving the work so much right now.  We are really blessed with a lot of investigators with a lot of potential right now!!!

On tuesday I had an intercambio with my zone leader Elder Mendenhall.  I learned from him to make friendship be almost the first priority in every contact, lesson, and interaction we have with people.  He is full of charisma and love, and a great teacher.  

We taught the restoration to a recent convert´s sister who is a firm catholic and it went really well -- she understood perfectly, but now it has been super hard to get another lesson with her.  We will see her this week, somehow!  

Right after, we had a great contact.  A little girl had previously told me and my companion to pass by her house because her sister wanted a Bible.  I went with Elder Mendenhall and we talked to the mom, Gladys.  She opened up to us and told her about her sad life story, her divorce, her depression, and her desire to come closer to God.  She accepted a Book of Mormon and a return visit, as well as a baptismal invitation.  When we went to visit her again, she wasn´t there, and the next day we found out that she had attempted suicide.  We should finally see her today.  I can´t believe how many people actually attempt suicide -- it is super sad. Thankfully Yanci seems to be doing a lot better now and she hasn´t attempted again.  We also have two other potential investigators who have attempted.  :(  These people need the light, hope, and happiness of the restored gospel now!

Elder Mendenhall stayed the night and he and I went to Montevideo the next day for the mission choir practice.  I think it went well -- it was actually really short!  It is not sure whether I will actually get to play the piano or if it will be the guy from the other mission, but if I don´t play I will sing, so I am happy and excited either way.  Tomorrow we will have the two-mission conference with Elder Oaks!!!  yay!!!  we´re going to estaca flores in the other mission, so that will be cool.

We have a lovely new investigator named Esperanza Ilusión (Hope Illusion) (!!) who is a super cute old grandma who lives with some family members.  Despite her considerable age, she understands the gospel very well.  She read 3 Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon and had a great spiritual experience and understood the chapter perfectly.  She wants to be baptized.  She will come to church this sunday, but needs a ride to get there.  What a great person she is!!

On Thursday, I went to Pan de Azúcar to interview a baptismal candidate of the hermanas in the district.  wow!  What a spiritual experience!  When President Cook told me I would be a district leader in my interview with him a while ago, he commented to me that: Isn´t it amazing that all through the world, if someone wants to join the true church, they have to go through a young man of only 19 or 20 years of age?  This is a huge trust that the Lord has given to me.  I prepared as best as I could and memorized the questions.  I think the interview went well. I felt the Spirit of discernment powerfully and in a very different way.  I felt that she was prepared for baptism, despite not perfectly knowing or understanding everything (duh, no one will).  I could see a light in her eyes, and I could see her as a member of the church.  I could feel that she has repented and changed. She will be baptized this coming saturday!

Ana is doing really well!  The plan is to have her baptism this sunday after church!!!  I wish I had time to go into more detail on her.  She is such a wonderful and peculiar person!  I just love her to death.  She is kinda quirky and funny, but she understands the gospel and is reading the Book of Mormon.  I´m not sure if she has a testimony of the restoration yet, and we still need to teach her all of lesson 4 and 5 this week (!) but we plan to work hard with her and with the members so she can be ready for baptism this sunday.  She came to stake conference with us yesterday!!!  This Sunday will be her third time attending church.  She really wants to be baptized and wants to change her life, and she seems genuinely committed.  Pray for her a lot!! :)

Stake conference was lovely.  Our stake president is super amazing.  the choir sounded nice too! :)  I can´t wait for the conference with Elder Oaks tomorrow!!!

I love you all so much and thank you for your continual support,

--Elder Max Olivier

yeah, apparently my memory isn´t that good

Family and friends whom I love very much,

It was a fantastic week!  I just cannot seem to remember many details! I am already following the footsteps of my father and becoming the absent-minded professor. ;) Just kidding!  But seriously.

The highlight of this week was definitely Ana Corbo.  We knocked a door on Monday night -- it was already dark, no one was in the streets, we didn´t have firm plans, and contacting is always pretty hard at that hour.  But we spoke to her in the doorway, she was super chill and really nice, she had gone to church with the sister missionaries once 10 years ago and is very religious and has attended many churches. She accepted the invitation to be baptized, and we set a return date.

That is always the test, to see if a person is actually chosen, actually committed.  The first lesson with Ana was one of the highlights of my whole mission!!!  It was super awesome.  She read the entire folleto that we left her, said that she wants to be baptized to set a good example for her daughter so she can also be baptized, she read part of the folleto to her brother and invited him to be baptized, and she was basically just super awesome!!!  We taught her about the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon, and I think she understood well.  She still needs to understand completely the role of the priesthood and how this is the one true church of Jesus Christ.  But she´s getting there!  She already has an awesome desire to be baptized and is open to learn more.  She came to church with us yesterday and said she can go to stake conference in Maldonado this next sunday!!!  I loved our first lesson so much because she was so chill and open and honest and sincere, and our teaching was simple and done by the Spirit.  Her mom was also present, and at the end of the lesson she got out her guitar and sang a hymn for us about Jesus Christ!!!!!  It was SOOOO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!  She doesn´t see very well anymore but has played and sang since her childhood.

It is so exciting to find such a cool person.  I am so thrilled to help her progress in the gospel until she understands and receives the ordinances of salvation!

Pero ta. Ya se me va el tiempo.

The charla with Beatriz was a bit of a mess, but I have hope!  Yanci is doing better, but she doesn´t have a baptismal date anymore, and she has a boyfriend again.  But she´s out of the hospital and came to church with Olga!  And she committed to stop smoking -- she wants to, but not quickly . . . .   Pray for her -- I think she can progress!

I am going to be playing piano for the two-mission conference this month!  One of the TWELVE APOSTLES is coming to teach us!!!!!  I am super excited.  The choir is going to sing a very beautiful arrangement (by Sally DeFord, I think) of I Stand All Amazed.  I have been practicing the piano part, which is challenging and very beautiful.  I am also going to sing in the stake choir this sunday!  I am going to Montevideo on Wednesday to practice with the mission choir for the first time.  

Oh, I also conducted my first intercambio this week, with the elders in my house!  (I think that´s called an exchange?)  It went really well!

Well, we see miracles every day, my friends.  Know that I am so happy and that I am sharing my testimony in every moment.  I am so grateful that God has given me light and truth -- I am so grateful that I have personal certainty that sustains me and lifts me and invites the Spirit.  I LOVE the mission.  

Sorry for the lack of more details.  Love you all so much!

--Elder Max Olivier

foto -- a lovely family home evening with familia Barboza and recent convert Angela -- we did it last friday -- they are so awesome!  It was very spiritual and very fun.

Hark, all ye nations!

Dearest family and friends,

Yikes, this keyboard is a disaster, so I don´t know how much I will be able to write! Sorry! ;)

YYAAAAAYYYY for general conference!!!  It was such a fantastic experience for me. It was my first conference in the field and my second conference as a missionary.  It is way better as a missionary, because I have actively prepared and anticipated the conference and attempted to savor every word during the conference.  I hope you were all able to seek personal revelation through this great opportunity.  

A personal insight I can share that I felt at the beginning of Elder Holland´s talk comforted me greatly.  I realized and felt that I can only do so much ... I have limits.  I can always do more to improve and serve, but really the Lord is doing everything and making all the difference.  It´s Him, not me! It´s okay -- I cannot do everything by myself.  He can.  As I act in faith with real intent, He will consecrate my effort and He will refuse to let His children fall -- His arms will lovingly save us and others through us, so we never have to fall beyond hope.  Love!!! :)

During Elder Nielson´s talk, I thought a lot about Luisa.  We haven´t really had contact with her, except a text message.  We might just have to wait until she and her family are truly ready to enter in at the waters of baptism.  I am going try to set up a lesson with her in the church this week, and send her little messages with scriptures to read.  But we can only try, pray, fast, hope, and wait. 

I also thought of Yanci during the conference.  We had a very good, spiritual lesson with her.  She is doing very poorly and is back in the hospital for depression.  In that lesson, we committed her to truly pray and to take her weaknesses to the Lord.  However, I still don´t know if she did it.  She no longer has a baptismal date. :(

We found and taught Sebastian!  He is super cool.  I may have made a grave error by giving him a baptismal date as a goal, because he is living with his girlfriend.  Pray for him!  He has troubles with drugs but wants to get out, and he believes in God and would like to be baptized.

Miracle!!!  We called Beatriz, a woman we contacted in her door who miraculously accepted a Book of Mormon and said she was searching for truth.  We haven´t been able to have a lesson -- that was like two or three weeks ago.  But I called her and she went to General Conference!  She said she has been thinking about baptism and has lots of questions about the Book of Mormon. We have a lesson on Tuesday!!!

Love you all so much!  No time left here. I hope you enjoy the photos of this beautiful country.

Love,

Elder Max Olivier

a bunch of nightly phone calls and a dreaded text message

Dear Family and Friends,

Love you all!

This week was fantastic.  My first week of being the district leader has been crazy and exciting.  It is an adjustment, to be sure, but one I am loving already.  The thing that stressed me the most was giving the district meeting, but thanks to the Holy Spirit´s guide, I felt like everything just came together beautifully.  It is so amazing how the Holy Ghost will help us, even when we are lacking or somewhat unprepared . . . He knows what we need, and He knows what others need too.  My plans came together, and I taught the district on Friday!  I taught about the light of the Restoration, and the importance of teaching the Restoration to the less-active members and helping them remember the light they have received because of it.  The practices went well, too, and I think it helped the district.  I am so lucky to have such amazing missionaries in my district -- there are three other companionships other than my own.

Another thing I do as district leader is the nightly verifications.  I call each companionship (well, I talk face to face with the one that lives with me!) and hear how their day was, how the people they work with are doing, and how their plans are doing.  It is spiritual, interesting, and just fun!  It does mean that I have no free time in the nights anymore.  This morning was my first leaders meeting with the zone leaders, district leaders, and hermanas viajantes (sister trainer leaders?).  It was great!  We set some great goals and plans for the zone and talked about how we can help specific missionaries.

Anyways.  So that stuff is going pretty well!  About the dreaded text.  yep.  Luisa Fernandez sent us the ever-dreaded message before our lesson on Friday telling us not to come over and that she doesn´t want to receive the lessons anymore.  We had almost no saldo but I called her . . .and then the saldo ran out in the middle of the conversation.  It´s her darn husband!!!  Apparently he forcefully told her that he doesn´t like her going to church and having us over at the house and that he didn´t want to get married anymore either.  She told me she will continue reading the Book of Mormon and praying, which I believe she will do.  We haven´t seen her since or had other contact . . . she and her family need your prayers!  She has a testimony!!!  For now, my plan is to pray and fast and then try to set up a lesson in the church, and maybe something more . . . . . . but she wants to avoid contention in her family and it sounds to me like she is a bit unwilling to go against her husband.  If you can, pray for her and put her name on the temple prayer roll.

Yanci is doing well -- she came to church again with her mom Olga and we taught her twice during the week.  We will see her again tomorrow.  She doesn´t 100% understand all that we teach yet, but she loves going to church and she needs the gospel in her life now.  She has attempted suicide a few times and suffers from mental and emotional illness, but she is a super amazing, calm person.  We will help her be baptized in April!  She has been reading a little in the Book of Mormon and is reading out loud together with Olga.  She would also benefit from your prayers.  We were also able to bring a less-active sister Hna Correa to church, and all the sisters were super excited to see her!  She wants to return.  She has been struggling with smoking again and knows she is not keeping all the commandments, but she seems willing and eager to come back to church!

I am so excited for the general conference!  We are also promoting and attempting to use the new video Gracias a que Él vive (Because He lives?).  I am eager to bring people to listen to the prophets´ voices testifying of the Resurrected Savior!  I know He lives and I love Him.

Love you all!  thanks for everything!

--Elder Max Olivier

Cambios!!! A full!!

Dear family and friends,

This week was a bit slow, and full of wonderful special activities.  We had a zone conference at the temple on Thursday!!!  We got to attend the temple after having some instruction with President Cook as well as personal interviews with him.  He is such an amazing, spiritual man.  It was only my third interview with him, but every time it just lifts me up and makes me feel better! :)  He surprised me in that interview by telling me that he is making me district leader for this change, which starts tomorrow!!!  I will still be finishing the training of Elder Anderson here in Minas, of course, but it will be a big change!  I can´t quite believe that starting tomorrow I am going to be doing all the nightly verifications with my district and that on Friday I will be teaching the district meeting!  Yikes!  It is a big new responsibility, but also a great opportunity to learn, love, and serve.  I am mostly excited about it.  But I also ask that you say a prayer for me so I can do it!  The zone is getting a ton of new leaders -- the other district leader is going to be my friend Elder Torres, also a new leader, who I know because he was in Florida when I arrived, and we´re getting a new zone leader and a new hermana viajante.  

Last night, all the elders traveled to La Capuera, the new area with the super nice, clean, small new house.  All ten of us slept over, and this morning, we traveled to Pan de Azúcar to climb the famous hill with the whole zone.  It was super fun!  It was like a real hike!  This is basically the only place in the country with a hill capable of being hiked, so that was a special treat.  There is a giant old sketchy stone cross at the top you can climb.  There was also a cute little zoo with some odd native animals including capybaras (here called carpinchos).

Anyways.  Church was lovely even though not that many people showed up. Luisa is still going strong and she is progressing so much!  This was her second time at church and she LOVED it!  She talked to her husband and they are planning to get married so she can be baptized!!!!  He still doesn´t have any interest in the church, but we will work on that.  I feel so privileged to see the conversion of Luisa -- I feel like in a humble way I am actually making a difference in someone´s life.  I hope we can find more firm investigators, because we still don´t have any other real investigators right now.

I love you all so much!  Sorry for the short letter!

--Elder Max Olivier

gorgeous view from the hill

me in the slightly creepy cross