Still Hot!

Hola!

I just got called out by President haha. That email he sent home about the protein shakes and stuff was aimed right at me! Lets just say Eder and Sister May had a protein thing laying around their house and they told me I could have it. And so I took it for like 2 days, and for the last 5 days I have had diarrhea hahahah!! No bueno! So I’m sure Sister May told on me to president (she’s the mission nurse). But it is all good. I have learned my lesson to avoid those things like the plague. Needless to say, my last week has been interesting! Trying to stay out and not poo my pants ;) haha But i just had 15 hours of nothing but water so that should help.

And the tri-panionship is going great. I thought I was going to kill one or both of them for a while. But we got it all figured out now and its running pretty smooth. And yes, we will be a trio until the 29th. Which is only a week away, so no big deal. I can’t believe another transfer has already flown by. Goodness gracious.

But yeah, it was awesome seeing Tess and Maura yesterday!!! I think they came to see me and Sam before she leaves for France. Mostly me though ;) haha And Maura told me all about the California trip! She said she loved it. We only had about 5 minutes to talk though, so it was rushed. So I'll have to try to get more info out of her. She said I look like y’all though....she must be crazy! And she loved Jackie and said her salon is super nice and she is super nice. So Jackie got the approval of Maura, too. It sounded like she had a blast out there. Nothing bad to say whatsoever.

And that crazy entryway thing is huge!!! Nick and Steven were able to handle that thang? Dang! And you put the old one in my room? Where did you put it? There is no room in my room...haha and why did you toss all my t's!!!!!!! Those things were precious!    

You did not just tell me that Jackie and Becka are going with y’all to eat at EL BURRITO AND GO FISHING OFF THE PIER!!! That sounds like heaven! Haha man! I miss all of the above. And 90 sounds perfect! Especially with that ocean breeze. Ooh wee! It actually hasn’t been bad here lately. In the high 80s or 90s. I can’t really tell anymore. I’m just used to being hot and sweating all of them time.

And Nick starts college!!! What??! Man, I am so behind the game right now its not even funny. I’m going to have to do some major catch up when I get home. No big deal though. And the elders in our ward must be lying to you because I’m not making anything happen around here haha :) Only thing I make happen is catching some snakes! Haha I for reals caught one this week! I'll have to show y’all a pic of it. It was a lil baby, but it was the first one I have seen alive on my mission, so I’m 1 for 1! 100% catch rate. Boom!

Anyways ... What’s up with Gpa getting weaker!? Has he just not been moving around or what? Tell him to cut it out! Can’t have me worrying about him like that all the way out here in Alabama. And Gma O is doing good with Abby. Tell her to keep up the nightly walks and put Abby on a diet! Also, Gma B is still having trouble breathing? Old folks nowadays. What are we gonna do about ‘em?

And my  investigator did not get baptized OR married this week. He just got a new job selling Kirby vacuums and works from 6am to 12 am everyday ... so we haven’t even been able to have a lesson with him. I hope this first week is the only crazy one for him, but we will see. But it still was a good week for us. We had a great time seeing a new stake president being called to the Birmingham stake, we have Multizone Conference this Wednesday, and Elder Koeliker will be instructing us. And also this past week I went on exchanges with Elder Ethridge, a Spanish missionary, and got my espanol on so good! It was so fun. I learned how to small talk and I chatted it up with some people. Also, I got to read some Book of Mormon, or should I say El Libro de Mormon. ;) It was way fun! Then on Friday we went on exchanges with Elder Ingersoll. It was fun to be with him again and he is a great missionary. Still the same ole goober. We had a great time together and I showed him what its like to ride bikes up and down these hills. He was dying by the end of the day haha. Sucker ... I can’t believe he has already been out for 8 months!!!! That is so weird! I remember picking him up his first day! Time is flying momma!

But I’m still doing great and no worries out here in Alabama. Just loving life and getting closer to the Lord and helping others do the same. I got one cool story I can share with y’all though. So yesterday, we were biking to the hospital to visit someone, and we saw this guy and he gave us the weirdest look followed by the hugest smile ever. I was like "shoot we gotta talk to him, but we are in a rush so we will try him later" so I start biking past him and I still feel like we should talk to him, and Elder Ojelade says "hey, we need to talk to that guy" so as soon as he says that I’m all, "yup!'' and I whip around and we go talk to him. We start talking and everything is going perfect! He says he was just asking God to show him a path, and he starts talking about ever since his birthday he felt like he should be serving the Lord, he then says his birthday is Feb 4th and I’m all, "that’s MY birthday!!!" and he just looks at me and is like, “are you serious”? Then I feel like I should read some scriptures out of the Doctrine & Covenants with him, which I never do when just contacting someone, but I read it and he grabs the book out of my hands and starts reading it himself. The whole time we were teaching him he was feeling the spirit so hard! He kept saying "wow" and when we would read a scripture he would smile and start laughing. He told us this was exactly what he needed to hear. He told us he had been waiting for this forever. And he told us he would definitely read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We said a prayer with him and he didn’t want us to leave. He kept telling us how God had brought us to him and we told him we knew He had. And as we left, he just kept saying "your birthday is really the 4th?" I said “yessir”! And he just looked at me, smiled, and said "just too perfect". It was crazy!!!!! We were pumped after meeting him. His name is Henry, by the way, so pray that he gets back in contact with us! He has been prepared by the Lord for sure. It’s always a faith booster to see how the Lord uses you to help those of his children who are looking and seeking after the truth! I love being a missionary haha. So stories like that happen pretty often, but I thought that was a good one I could share with y’all. I hope you enjoy it!

I love you and I miss you! Take care of yourselves, and tell the Gparents to stop getting old. I'll try to send you a pic of my snake too! Adios!

Love, Elder Oppenlander