More Birmingham Pictures

Sister and Elder May and Elder Oppenlander

Elder Coleman and Elder Oppenlander at an Open House for a Lutheran Congregation

Alex and Jackson's Baptism

Happy Memorial Day!

Yo!

I didn’t make it to the computer at the library yesterday. She was closed down for the holidays. My Memorial Day was great! Didn’t do anything special though. All we did was have another lesson at the AA house and take an investigator and a less-active member out to Chic-Fil-A for dinner. I got my bike back last Tuesday and she doesn’t ride too smooth anymore haha. It squeaks like nobody’s business and it slips gears sometimes. So that is a bummer, but it still beats walking around in this heat. It’s been in the high 90s to 100s this past week. Hot hot hot~!!  The temple is in Gardendale, AL so its out of my area. I wish I could go more than I do but at least we get to go next month! I’m so pumped for that.

Jackie is officially a member of the Los Alamitos ward!! Awesome!!! And Becka comes home on Friday? Man, I cannot believe it has already been 18 months since she left. I still remember freaking out getting ready to sing at her farewell. And obviously I remember that Jackie’s birthday is on the 10th. And your's is on the 30^th ... shoot, Mom, I’m on top of it. ;) Jackie needs to tell me what she wants for her birthday though! Make her tell me!! :)

As for your week, sounds like the bathroom is going well. I don’t know how bathrooms normally go, but sounds good to me haha. My week has been amazing! Started off Monday night going over to Alex and Jackson’s and had an amazing lesson with them. We went to lds.org and watched Jesus getting baptized in one of the bible videos, read Mosiah 18 with them and invited them to be baptized that weekend. Needless to say, they got baptized on Saturday and like 80 people showed up!! It was awesome! I once again had to give the talk, so I was a little nervous. And right before I go up to speak, President and Sister Holzapfel walk in, with the assistants. So I got nervous right quick haha. But my talk went well and I was able to speak clearly :) I was proud of myself! Sister Holzapfel came up to me and said I did a great job and looked like a natural up there...she is so nice. I’m sure I was horrible, but the fact that she would compliment me was very kind of her. Love the Holzapfels for sure. 


I also spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Talladega working with the missionaries there. It was super fun. Went out with Elder Powell from Washington the first day, then the second day I went out with Elder Larsen from Utah. They are both great missionaries and I learned a lot by being with them. I also went on an exchange with Elder Mancera this week. He is such a powerful missionary and he understands and lives the gospel so well it really inspires me to get my understanding up. Because he understands it so well, he is able to teach clearly and simply, but still invite the spirit so much it’s crazy. I love going on exchanges with him. I hope I can be like that one day so I can help other missionaries out the way he helps me. So that was my week pretty much summed up.

Tonight President is coming to church and touring the church with a group of Lutherans. So we were asked to prepare the church and be there. I’m excited for that! Also, I had another interview with President this week. Elder Coleman got a call that President wanted to meet with him. So I went with him and the next thing I know I’m getting called in to see him as well. But it’s all good, he was just checking up on us and seeing if there was anything he can do for us and he really just asked me what I have been learning. It was a good experience.

As for supplies.... I do need shoe laces again ... I broke another pair this week :( I don’t know why the laces can’t stand the heat. They just break like no big deal. And I have my cross pen in my pocket right now. I just sometimes like a click pen more than the twist action. But I like how skinny and classy the cross pen is. I’m going to have to find a happy medium? Is that the right saying? But a classy, skinny, click pen haha. I'll be on the look out for that. I’m doing good on stamps still, paper...also doing good. Why are both Gma and pa doing physical therapy? That ends it --- I have to become a physical therapist so I can help you and Dad out when you’re old and running down haha. Seriously though ... I want to do something like that. Either physical therapist or pediatrician. So I can help my family out and others. That’s what I wanna do. But I’m glad you were able to go over there and feed them some good tri tip. How many of those things do y’all eat nowadays?? Haha every email there is a mention of a tri tip.  Making me jealous over here.

And Nick is a model??? Shoot, atta boy! Too bad he still ain’t the best looking cousin ;) meow! Jacob Johnson is back from his mission?? And Alex Johnson has his call? I can’t believe that time is flying by so fast. I can’t handle it haha. And Creighton is already 3. I thought he was just born a little while ago. Gma Betty must feel way old! Haha --- having her grandkids with 3 children and stuff. Crazy!

Didn’t you just love that picture of me after I had run home?? Sweaty for sure!! No biggie around here in Alabama. That’s what I look like all day...not even kidding right now. My back pack is soaked and stained with sweat and the smell of sweat. I need to wash that thing. It has salt stains on the straps and stuff haha. :) My system is probably all clean from sending all of that water through it though. So there is a silver lining in everything.

Yeah, and the 31 dollars worth of BBQ was so good! Had the fattest potato ever with pulled pork on it. We took Jimmy, that less active dude who called you, out to dinner and just told him to pick the spot. So we ended up at Full Moon BBQ right by our house. We had a good time with him. He is a good guy, but he gets attached to the missionaries too fast. Got converted to the missionaries and not to the gospel. That’s why he is less active. So we are trying to get him more involved in the church. He'll get there :) and I can’t believe that transfers are next week! This one has flown by! Just goes to show that when you are busy time goes by faster. Not sure if I like it … but anyways things are still wonderful out here in the mission field! I love every bit about it and I can't wait for this next year! Gonna be so fun and I'll have so many chances to help others and feel the blessings of the gospel. You and Dad need to go on a senior mission haha. That would be sweet! Alright, well I'll email you some pics I got. I’ve been doing pretty good at taking them lately. :) you’re welcome!

Love you all a ton! 


Elder Oppenlander

Elders Coleman and Oppenlander

Elders Coleman and Oppenlander - Birmingham Zone Leaders

Busy in Birmingham

Dearest Family,

How are y’all doing?! This week was a busy one again....I don’t know if I’ll ever get a break from now on haha. We didn’t have any more baptisms and Alex is a girl and Jackson is a boy. Their dad is still in the way of them getting baptized but we are doing our best to help them out and give them the courage to do what they know is right.  Sounds like the bathroom and laundry room are going to be looking good! And yeah, I was looking forward to hearing what you thought about Jimmy. Haha he is a crazy less-active member in the ward who is obsessed with Elder Coleman and me. Said he wanted to call my mom so I gave him the house number. He is kinda deaf, so he talks like a deaf guy. I knew you were going to have a rough time understanding him because you can’t even understand the people at Burger King haha. And yeah, he always asks me why I’m smiling, and I just tell him its because I’m happy haha. He said you told him I’ve been smiling ever since I was a baby. And he said you invited him out to come visit haha.

And Eric came home?? Oh man, what a bummer. Hopefully he can get things sorted out quickly and get back out into the mission field. Returning home is not the best thing. It makes it harder to go out, harder to stay active, and just isn’t fun haha. So I’ll be praying for him and let him know that we got his back. He shouldn’t worry about it. Just work as hard as he can to get back into the field. That’s a bummer though.

And I’m glad your piano recital went well! And I’m equally glad that the worker dude is able to feel comfortable in our home. That’s good to hear. So talk to him about the church, mom!! Get on it. Member missionary action right there. Get on it.

And Fathers and Sons campout sounds way fun too. I miss the ocean so good. I dreamt about it last night :) It was a good dream haha. And Jackie watched Captain America with you? Lucky@!!! And The Avengers?? Shoot, all these good movies are coming out nowadays. I don’t even think about it now. It’s weird to think about watching TV or going to the movies. It’s almost been a year since I have done any of that. Crazy. Oh and tell Jackie that she can have that sticker that I sent home. Rep Alabama as much as possible. 

Like I said, this week was a busy one. And I’ll tell you why haha. We went to Gadsden, Alabama to go on exchanges with the elders there. There are 4 of them so we spent two days in Gadsden and a day with one elder from each companionship. The first day I was with Elder Gebert!! It was fun but I talked way too much during lessons and stuff. Didn’t give him that much time to talk.... Oops. I felt super bad about it. But it was a learning opportunity for me :) The next day I went out with Elder Hawks. He is the missionary who was zone leader here before me, and he is a bomb missionary. Like 399 times better that me. I learned so much from him its not even funny. I loved it. And I saw probably the funniest moment of my life!! I won’t mention it on here, but I’ll write Jackie about it and she can relay it to you :) Then the morning we left, Elder Coleman backed the car into a truck. The car and the truck were fine, but my bike was broke haha. So for the last 3 days I’ve been walking around.... Walked like 50 miles on Friday and Saturday alone. It’s horrible. My ankle’s all messed up now and pops every step I take, and I have fat blisters on that foot haha. Shoot.  :)  The worst part is that walking takes way too long!! I feel so slow and ineffective. I think that’s how you spell that? Whatevs. But Saturday night --- it was 9:10 pm when we got out of our lesson and we had to be home by 9:30! So we ran home...all four miles ... we got home a little late. But I was sweating so crazily and my foot hurt like nobody’s business. It was the best! I took a picture of myself afterwards and it’s bomb. Also that day I saw a 1.4 million dollar car. And there were two of them. So you know that I took a picture of them haha. 3 million dollars right there! It was the Bugatti Veyron and it’s crazy. The guy who owned them was just rich. I didn’t know who he was, so I talked to him. I asked him how he was able to afford them and he said "I got money ..." hahahaha I was like, "ok dude" it was so lame haha. But he was selling a hangover remedy energy drink. And he gave me one for free :) haha it was a funny day. But yeah, so my bike is in the shop, I’m tired of walking, and I’m excited to send you the pictures!!

Enjoy them, and I love you! Have a good week!! Oh, and I got the package! Thank you so much, by the way the Superfood Odwalla bar is so good :) I loved it, thank you. I can’t wear any of those ties. They aren’t conservative. So I’ll find something to do with them :) 

Thanks again.

Love, Elder Oppenlander

MIllions in Cars

Worldly  :)

 One of the cars

 The other one

After my four mile run home haha

Photos from Birmingham

Fattest bike ride/jog of my life, shirt soaking wet after running up a huge hill. OK, so story behind this -- we go to bikeride up the fattest hill in Birmingham for an appointment. Elder Coleman got a flat tire less than halfway. So for the next 3 miles we take turns running with his bike and riding mine. We made it to our appointment on time ;) but I sweated a G-load

Locust Fork, Alabama....sticks

 not fat...haha at the Botanical Gardens, hiding my pink folder behind my back

 Kerry and I

so cute!

11 months out!

Long time no see... :)

It was sure good to see y’all yesterday and talk! Sounds like everything is going well back home. Elder Coleman said we cracked him up. Haha it was fun. And yeah, that gumbo was so good. They gave us some to take home so you already know what I’m going to eat for lunch! And oh, before I forget! Elder Jimenez and JT are looking good! You still have to send me a picture of Elder Shaw though. Gotta see him too! The Philippines look like so much fun. Animals and rain all the time. Beautiful.

And Bill and Kris's sounded fun too. All of that food sounds so good. How are all the cousins doing? I wrote Garret last week and I’m going to write Steven this week. Still slacking on the bdays haha. And oh yeah, I got all of the postcards from you guys. The zipcode doesn’t matter too much. Send me that package!

The missionaries in our ward couldn’t skype home? What a bummer! I loved it! And they don’t have a mission blog either? Alabama Birmingham mission is the best!! Haha no joke, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. And you do need to send me pics of the bathroom when it is finished. Sounds like you’re changing it big time. Gonna be sweet when I get home. And I’m not sad at all that I’m missing the piano recital! Dad always forced me to play that junk haha. And yeah I played the bass at Best Buy in Tuscaloosa and Tess had a ukulele, so I played that. I can’t wait to get home and actually get better at it. Also, I’ve been teaching myself how to play hymns on the piano. I can’t read music for my life. Always just faked it growing up so now I actually got to learn it. But it’s fun. Maybe play that organ at church?? Hahaha

I cant believe Becka is coming home in like 2 weeks!! What the heck! I’m happy for Jackie though. She'll have her sister back and be able to hang and have a good time. This upcoming week is going to be a hectic one for me. We will be going on 3 exchanges, I’m interviewing someone for baptism, got lessons all over the place, and we have to prepare for 2 baptisms of our own. So I will be way busy. But I love it! I love running around and being stressed out a lil bit. It’s good for ya. So just pray for Alex and Jackson. They should be getting baptized this weekend, but they’re scared their dad will disown them if they do. We've been working with them for a long time and they are ready. Just scared. Also pray for Regina, and Jesse that they will keep preparing to get baptized as well. There are plenty of people to work with out here and I’m loving it. I hope you enjoy the pictures!! T-minus 7 months till we skype again haha  ;)

Love y’all and stay safe and happy!

Peace, love, chicken grease

Elder Oppy

Dear Oppenlander family,

My week was another good one. It was a little more crazy than last week, but that’s how I like it ;) We did have another baptism! We baptized Misty yesterday and I confirmed her...which was crazy. And I’ll tell you why it was crazy. We show up early to set up for the baptism, and I learn I’m doing the talk, because no one else would haha. So I’m trying to prepare for that, and Elder Coleman said he forgot his baptismal pants. So we scramble around trying to find it all, and as we are doing that, they start the baptismal service. Finally, he finds some that kinda fit and he gets changed and as we're heading into the room the sisters come flying out and say "Elder Oppenlander, they just announced you for your talk!" so I run in and just walk strait up to the podium and wing it hahahaha. It was super bueno though, and then we had the baptism. Baptism goes smoothly and then we go to welcome everyone to church. And we have to go outside when the meeting starts to say “hi” to an investigator that shows up. And as we are out in the foyer I hear, "and we will now have the confirmation of Misty by Elder Oppenlander" so once again I walk in and strait to the front haha. That also went well, then I had to go and teach the high priest class. So I was running all over the place, trying to make the investigators happy and welcomed, and then the branch started, so we had to go to all of their meetings. Covering two huge congregations back to back is so fun and busy!! Shoot. And I saw Sam Stanley in the branch today. She’s from Tuscaloosa and her mom invited us over for gumbo on Mother’s Day, and that’s where we will be calling you from. We will still be skyping so don’t worry! 3 o’clock here, so 1 back home right? I’m way excited and I can’t believe Mother’s Day is already next week! Shoot! But it’s all figured out so I’m not worried about anything. Just excited.

Oh and yeah all those t-shirts and stuff I sent home ... just put them in my room I guess. Was it pretty random sending all of that stuff home? I didn’t know what to do with it. I didn’t want to just throw it away so I thought you could save it for me when I get home or give it away to the cousins or something. Pants are too short for me now so give those to the cousins or something. I don’t know why I sent those home ... man, I just wanted to get rid of it all.

Anyways, I’m glad y’all enjoyed Hawaii and that it was relaxing for you! Did you just have a migraine on the plane or was it your artery junk again? I’m glad that guy spoke up and kicked you off the plane though. I wouldn’t want to sit next to some lady throwing up either. And you got a cute hotel night out of it. So that’s sweet! Fireworks right in front of you?? Shoot yeah, we need to go there next year :) I’m already so excited!! And yeah, there isn’t any way to add Lauren on skype. If we do, it will just be a call and no picture. I don’t know though, maybe she will figure something out. Is her new apartment pretty classy?? She told me moving was kinda stressful haha. That is funny. I know all about that. Having to move all the time out hurr (southern for ‘here’). But yeah, sounds like everything is going great back home. Just gotta get settled back into the swing of normal life. It shouldn’t be too hard though.

My week was good. I went on 2 exchanges, one in Locust Fork, Alabama with Elder Prestwich, and a 48 hour exchange with a visa missionary who just left for Brazil today. The Locust Fork exchange was so fun. We went to this little town called Allgood and went around contacting people. There is only one place to eat in the whole town, and its at a gas station. Its called Busy Bee ahha. But we called Sister Hansen, she’s a member of the branch there and she has been asking the missionaries about me for a long time. She is the mom of Elder Hansen, the missionary we met at Jackie’s house for dinner a couple of times. So I called her and we decided to meet up at Busy Bee for lunch. It was fun and she was a very nice lady. Obsessed with genealogy though. That whole area is for real. I can see how that would be a good finding tool. So she took a picture of me to send to Elder Hansen, then we went on our way to another little town called Oneanta, Alabama. We spent the rest of the day there and just had a good time doing missionary work. That night we (Elder Coleman and I) went back home. The next day we worked and started out exchanges with the visa missionaries. It was fun and I was kind of lost, but we got around Birmingham alright. Its still confusing to me, because it’s all hills haha. But I’m getting it down, and we had a good ole time. That is really all that happened this week.

President spent the week in Atlanta at a mission president meeting and so he will be teaching the zone about all the stuff he learned this Wednesday. Elder Coleman and I don’t have to do much. Just get a head count of all who are coming and set the building up so it will be ready for him. But yeah, I’m still loving it haha.

Any word on how Zac is doing?? I haven’t heard from him in a while. JT too. They all forgot about me... :(  Can’t wait to talk to y’all next week! Shoot, its going to be so fun! Is Jackie going to be there again? Make sure she is haha. I'll be praying for you all and I hope you have a great week and get some demo done on the bathroom.

Oh shoot! About the whole town of Onteana being obsessed with genealogy. We went into the museum to talk to the genealogy lady and she looked up my genealogy for me right there. She found Charles Frederick, his dad , and then Charles Henry Oppenlander! He was my great great great grandpa. She was able to pull up a picture of his headstone!! It was crazy! That sucker died in like 1836 and she was surprised we had been in California that long. But yeah, then I started teaching her why we do genealogy and she was really interested. She said she had always wondered, but never asked. And like 40 missionaries have done service for her and I was the first one to actually teach her something ... that ain’t right. Missionaries need to open up their mouths and just teach sometimes haha. But it was so fun. I forgot to tell you that earlier in the email so now I told you. I am the 5th Charles Oppenlander ... pretty sweet!

Love ya!!!

Elder Oppenlander

Chase's District Photo

Elder Abac is the district leader and the district includes Elders Tonga and Brown, Sister and Elder Curtis (next row)  Sisters Oman, Schroeppel, Coleman, and Belford, (next row) Elders Oppenlander, Coleman, Tolman, Larson, Abac and Olson

Transfers

 Checking in on Elder Ingersoll

Packing the Bike for Birmingham

Zone Leader Training

 Zone Leader Training Lunch

 Zone Leader Training

 Getting Mail for the Zone

Elders Coleman and Oppenlander (our zone leaders in the Birmingham zone)