Wait on the Lord

Dear Family and Friends,

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."

--Psalm 27:1, 14

This wonderful pair of scriptures has been on my mind this week.  I have been feeling absolutely wonderful in my new area with my new companion!  Elder Oliver is the best, and we get along super easily.  We are working with all our might together in unity, and we are helping each other improve.  He is super tranquilo like me, and we just work well together.  We know we are imperfect, and we are able to set that aside to focus on the Lord and His strength, and then we can focus on tackling our weaknesses together.

this week the focus of the zone was great street contacts and placing baptismal dates in the first contact.  We achieved our goal of 14 dates placed this week, and we were able to improve our contacting skills together quite a bit!  It´s hard to come up with the portion of doctrine that shall be meted out unto every man in a heartbeat when contacting some rushed person in the street, but we´re getting better at being quick, urgent, and following the spirit.  

Yikes, se me fue mi tiempo . . . . my time has left me.  Already???  Um . . . today I had to go to Montevideo to sign a visa paper -- I got to see all my CCM friends, even those in the other mission!  how fun!  

We had a miraculous contact on Saturday -- he called us over, gave us soda, and told us he wanted to be baptized!  Luis is wonderful.  He has been in jail many times and has a sad life, but we are going to start teaching him.  He came to half of church yesterday, but had to leave before sacrament meeting sadly.  Pray for him!

I am super happy!  I hope to work even harder this week and learn even more!  I am feeling comfortable but not content!  I will give everything to the Lord.

Love you all so much!!!

Elder Max Olivier

How much I have learned here...

If only I had the time to explain to you all the many wonderful things I have learned here in the CCM.  I have grown immensely in these very short weeks.  

Perhaps the most important thing I have learned here is that we must abandon our own wordly understanding and trust completely in God, relying on the merits of Christ and following completely the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.  I remember that Elder Gebs and I had a very terrible lesson with our IP Genoveva (our practice investigator who in reality is our morning teacher, Hna. Rios).  She said that she no longer wanted to be baptized, and my heart died. :) I did not really know what to do or say in that moment, but I tried my best and felt horrible.  The lesson felt like a failure because of me.  (hopefully I haven´t told this story already!)  

I realized that I felt that way because I was trying to figure out, of my own intelligence and thoughts, what her needs were and how I could meet them.  However, this is completely the wrong approach!  Of ourselves, we can do nothing -- even great prophets of the Lord have written that statement.  I am learning to turn over my knowledge to God and lean completely on Him, trusting in Him who knows everything perfectly.  When I am able to do that, I feel the Spirit, and others can feel the Spirit too.  It is still necessary that I prepare and work hard, of course!  But leaning on the Spirit is what changes lives and hearts.

Yikes I have no time!!!  Hopefully there will be more time in the field.

Oh yeah, I leave this tuesday for Uruguay!!!!  So excited.

We went proselyting last week, for the last time, and it went well.  The people had generally less interest, but I felt successful because I was able to talk to more of the people and work harder.

Much love!

I am getting kicked out already.  Oh well!

Read 2nd Nephi -- it is the best thing ever!

Um, was I not just doing this yesterday?!‏

Dear family and friends,

What a privilege it is to be here in the CCM de Argentina!!  ¡Yo soy misionero de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días!  ¡Todo está bien, siempre!

This week has flown by so insanely quickly.  I am really enjoying every minute here.  The days are long, but the weeks are fast.  All of the elders and sisters that were here when we arrived have left for the mission field!!  Today we are receiving a new batch, both of latinoamericanos and norteamericanos, which is terribly exciting.  Last night, three new Latin elders arrived and we were talking to them before bed!  It is so cool when I feel like I am actually carrying on conversations in Spanish.  ¡El don de lenguas es real!

We have taught multiple lessons in Spanish, and we strive to constantly practice.  I just LOVE learning and speaking Spanish.  It is the coolest language.  Honestly, it is easier to learn than French, and the pronunciation is easier!  Castillarnos is the best.

Singing hymns in Spanish has been a wonderful spiritual experience.  On Sunday, we had a powerful testimony meeting.  It was amazing to see and hear so many testimonies of missionaries!  (our sunday meetings are always in english for the north americans).  We sang, "Para siempre Dios este con vos", and I felt the Spirit very strongly.  What a joy!  Andrew, you were right that it is an amazing spanish hymn!  (it is God Be with you till we meet again, but twenty three times better)

Dad, your message cracked me up so much.  I have been striving to be more exactly obedient here, because obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles.  It is just small things that can make a difference in the Spirit felt, like planning until 9:30 every night, or eating only in the comador.  We taught Micol (Hna. Ríos) for the last time, which was bittersweet.  She shared the story of how she taught the real Micol on her mission, and it was so powerful.  She promised us that we are the Lord´s messengers, and that I can perform miracles as an instrument in the Lord´s hands.  What a privilege it is to be "a prisoner of Jesus Christ", as Paul often said.

Speaking of Paul, the greatest missionary ever, the scripture that I have adopted as the motto for my mission that I hope will appear on the little plaque thing is this:

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Everyone must read that whole epistle which is brief and filled with power!!!!  I read it when I was sitting quietly in the Salt Lake airport, thinking about receiving the mantle of the mission.  I testify that the gift of the Holy Ghost is very real, and that by that great gift, we need not ever fear but must instead trust in the Lord and abandon our own understanding.

Ack, I run out of time now!!!

We have powerful lessons every day here, because the Spirit is remarkably strong and our teachers are very inspired wonderful people.  I have felt the Spirit in new ways out here and it is a great blessing!!!

Yo sé que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial y Él nos ama mucho.  Yo sé que Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador, y testifico que la Expiación es real.

Much love,

Thanks so much for the letters,

Dad, the moleskine notebooks are the absolute best!!!!!!!!,

Thanks for the support and prayers,

MUCH love,

--Elder Olivier