February 25, 2013

Hello!

I am getting along great with Elder Jensen, and we haven’t even been on our bikes yet. We rode them once for about 2 minutes, then Elder Jensen flew over the handle bars and messed up his wrist. So we haven’t done very much biking, but I’m sure he'll be able to catch up. Unlike another elder who came on exchanges with me this week. I was tired of driving, so I decided we would bike to our appointments and they were really far away haha. I would ride to the top of the hill and then make calls and stuff while I waited for him to catch up. It was so funny. He was all "this must be karma for me doing this to another elder!" he biked around his area with no problem, but he couldn’t hang on these big hills around here. It was good to know that I was still in good shape.  Other than that day, we haven’t done any biking really.

And the Mission Conference was awesome!!! This whole weekend has been awesome! So, Elder Christofferson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Soares from the Presidency of the Seventy, Bishop Causse of the Presiding Bishopric, and Elder Bluth, a Seventy in our Area Presidency, spoke to us. They spoke to us in the morning and I got to shake all their hands! And that was a first for me!! So I was excited. Then that evening they had a huge Young Single Adult devotional that they all spoke at again. We got some investigators there, and I saw all of the young single adults I knew except Maura! She had to work, and wasn’t able to make it :( but that meeting was great as well, then yesterday we had Stake Conference and Elder Soares spoke to us. It was so good!  Our investigator Mariana (the one I was teaching here before) came and she got to talk to him in Portuguese, and she was so excited she was literally shaking haha. It was pretty cute to see. She is sooooo close to being baptized it’s not even funny. But for some reason she thinks she isn’t ready when she totally is. So pray for her!!!! Please and thank you. And it was really awesome because Pres. Holzapfel threw it down as usual! He gets up there and starts talking about how he has spent his whole life studying the Bible and trying to recreate what it must have been like for the people to walk with Jesus and the apostles. Then he starts tearing up and is all "I have spent my life looking over the words of dead apostles and dead seventy's. I have learned dead languages to try to understand what it was like. But I would give away all of that! All of my studies to sit at a living apostle’s feet, at a living seventy's feet for just an hour!!" He got fired up right quick and exorted everyone to listen up and pay attention. It was sweet haha.

Sounds like y’all had a sweet week as well. That gator show is awesome and I bet I could understand them without a problem. Gift of interpretation of tongues over here ;) And have y’all ever heard of some show called Duck Kings or something like that? People are always talking about that. And I heard about that zombie movie, too. That does sound pretty funny.

And oh my days, everyone is getting married around there! That is good that I will actually be able to make it to one, though!! Hahah! About time. That polar bear club thing that Lauren and Becka went to would have been super fun as well! I pretty much did that this week, all of the new missionaries had to practice doing a baptism so I got baptized this week!!! It was pretty cold, but not polar bear material. I had on a sweet old jumpsuit from the 70's and I was looking too good. It was really fun though to be on the other end of the baptism. And some of the new elders definitely needed the practice haha.

And tell Nick that I might just join him on the rowing team ;) Make it an Oppenlander team. And I hope that Amanda goes to BYU! She would love it! Everything is still going well for us over here. Thank you for your prayers for me, we have been finding new investigators and have set a couple of baptismal dates this week. The blessing tool has been working really well, and I really love it. And more than ever, I have seen the need for the Book of Mormon. It makes finding the truth and finding God’s path for you soooooo much easier. Goodness gracious, I wish other people would just give it a chance. Sister Holzapfel gave a pretty amazing talk about it yesterday, and how we need to flood our life with the Book of Mormon. And as we have been reading the 6 pages a day and trying to do that, I have noticed a difference. Its a lot easier to understand the story when you read it back to back like that, and there has been something in the reading everyday that I have been able to use to teach or bless someone. So needless to say, I love the Book of Mormon and sharing it with people. Y’all better be reading it as well. I can’t be going around helping other people do it if my family isn’t even doing it. Gotta start with the fam and work outwards haha. So here is your reminder to read the Book of Mormon today ;) 

Today and this week are going to be great. We have a "zone activity" today. It is the first time we are doing it and it’s more of an experiment than anything else. But we are going to get the whole zone together and do something to bond and what not. And because I am in charge of it, you already know that we are playing dodge ball today!!! Hahaha!!! It should be fun, with 24 elders and 4 sisters and 4 senior missionaries!!! Also, we are going to have board games set up for those who get tired of dodging and having fun. And we bought 11 pizzas to feed the masses. So I am pumped about that. I haven’t played dodge ball in sooooo long. Gonna be a lil rusty, but as you can tell I am super excited! Then we have Zone Leaders Council this week, and we are going to be on a conference call with another member of the seventy. This week has been General Authority week for sure. But yeah, things are great, I am healthy and getting more healthy each day! I love the gospel, and I’m thankful to be here seeing it work in other’s lives. Y’all have a good one, and I'll talk to y’all later.

Much love, 

Elder Oppenlander

Happy 25th Anniversary

Hey now!

Yes ma’am, I’m back in Birmingham and it is pretty crazy! Most people still do remember me in the branch, but a lot has changed. Elder Jensen is from Gunnison, Utah. I have no idea where that is. And he is my first white companion in like 10 months haha. He has been on his mission for 13 months and this is his first city area. The whole rest of his mission was spent in the boonies.

And yes, I saw all the pictures of Savannah’s wedding! Is his name just Rand? Or Randy or what? Haha. But he looks super tall and lanky. Savannah’s style right there ;) Yeah and how the heck did Elder Konold remember Jackie? hahaha. That is super funny! What did Jackie think about him? I haven’t heard from him in a minute!

And I am very glad that y’all enjoyed your gifts! I was choosing between a Pandora charm and an elephant for the University of Alabama. But they didn’t have the elephant so I chose the football. You should be able to remember Alabama by that. And tell dad he needs to wear the national champions hat all the time ;) but yeah that book from the fundamentalist church is strait up false doctrine to the max. There is no way you could get that confused with the real deal. I thought y’all would enjoy that though.

And what the heck??? John Anciaux came back from the Missionary Training Center after like 5 hours?? What happened? That is pretty lame right there. And Chris Sanchez needs to go on a mission. Get him going dad. And that Young Single Adult fireside sounds legit!!!! Shoot why didn’t anything like that happen when I was back home.....you need to plan some good stuff for me when I get back. Nick is turning 19, right?

And y’all have been married for 25 years?! Danggggg. That is a long time. But good job! I most likely won’t be doing anything with President Holzapfel. You never know though. Just doing my thing over here in the Cahaba Heights Branch.

I had a Brazilian dinner last night that was amazing though! Goodness gracious I was loving it. Went with a visa missionary to let him hear some Portuguese and turns out 4 families from the ward and branch came also, a Brazilian convert, and our investigator Marianna. So they all brought their favorite Brazilian dish and I ate it all. Fruit, beans, rice, steak, and other Brazilian stuff. Forgot the name to all of that and even if I did remember it, I wouldn’t know how to spell it. It was great though. I am slowly getting back in to the groove of things over here and I am excited for this week. We have a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles coming, a member of the Presiding Bishopric, 2 members of the 70, plus President Holzapfel in the mix. This is going to be my first Mission Conference. Gonna be sweet! But email me any more questions y’all have. I haven’t gotten any Valentines package yet. Maybe today! Who knows? But I love y’all and keep praying for me to find the people who the Lord has prepared. 

Peace, love, chicken grease!

Elder Oppenlander

Transfer Meeting

Elders Oppenlander and Jensen 

Back to Birmingham

Happy Valentines Day!

Hola!!

It is deffs transfer time, but we don’t find out what is going on until tonight....so you are going to have to wait and see! :) I am excited though! I honestly have no idea what is going to happen, which makes it even more exciting. Sounds like y’all had a busy day yesterday! Goodness gracious, Dad had to speak with 2 Stake Prezzy's? There we go! Haha. And I cannot believe that Elder Anciaux is about to hit the streets of Colorado! That is sweet! And wha’ts up with the Psalmfest or whatever it is haha? I have never heard of that before. Savannah is getting married this saturday???? Oh my days!!! I cannot believe that. And I’m missing it!!! Shoot! But that is good....still bummed I’m missing it though. Everyone is getting ready to "graduate" haha. That is a pretty funny term, and I’m pretty sure only a young single adult ward would say that when they get married haha.

But yeah, I can imagine Nicole being jealous of Jackie coming over and eating with y’all haha. That is pretty funny!  And I got my hair cut last week and it’s alright. She left a ton of long hairs, but I didn’t let her realize it. I just went home and cleaned it up a lil bit myself. It doesn’t look horrible ;) still excited for Jackie to cut my hair again though. Won’t have to worry bout it being all sketchy and ugly haha. And how old is Ally nowadays? Is she 13?? And I’m starting rumors about Lauren because that’s my job as a younger brother. It will make her stronger. And that would be cool if Tony and Paige could come visit again. What’s up with Mary?.........and when did Uncle Rick head back up to Utah? That is great that he is getting job interviews! And I will for sure keep praying for him and y’all. 

I got the license and the gift card. Those new licenses are so classy! Oh goodness! If you hold it up to a light, there is a lil outline of a bear! It’s cute! Haha. Thank you for sending that to me! 

My week has actually been better than normal! I can’t really put my finger on why, but I am really excited lately haha. We had a sweet experience with this guy named Ricardo. He is a lil Brazilian dude from Sao Paulo. He was adopted and grew up in Idaho...anyways, we met him when we first got here like 4 months ago and he totally ditched us. Like hid in his car that was parked down the street. We could see him but he didn’t know that. And so I felt like we needed to go see him last Friday, so as we went by he opened up the door and let us in. We got to talking and I asked him if he had been praying and stuff and he said, "yea, actually today was the first time I prayed in a long time" and so we taught him and set an appointment up for the next day. We went to see him and he was way open and wanted to learn and read the Book of Mormon and was asking all of these questions about life. He then told us it freaked him out when we came over the day before because he had said a "big a@#" prayer to Heavenly Father asking for help, and then we showed up. He said he has been trying to change, he is done feeling guilty and sad, so we talked about the way that Heavenly Father has prepared for him to overcome all of that and better himself, and he said “alright, lets do it”. So he came to church yesterday, loved it, and we have another appointment with him today. The only bad thing is that he is leaving for Idaho on Thursday. So we are gonna pump him up and pass him on to the missionaries over there. But it was a cool experience to once again see how God answered someone’s prayers through us. And I also dug part of a foundation for a house of a member family with a pick! That was crazy! Clay for days out here in Alabama. Took forever but it was so fun. 

We also had Zone Conference this week, and it turned out really well! Had our faith built and we were reminded about how important this work is. So I am a happy lil missionary right now, and I’m loving life. Only have 3 transfers left which is crazy, but I know that I will be able to do some more good before I go home. Thank you for the prayers and all of the support. It means a lot! Have a great week and I’ll talk to y’all soon. By the way, I still have 35 minutes on the computer, so ask any questions you want.

Love,

Elder Oppenlander 

1/30/13 Zone Leader Meeting

Elders Shaw, Jensen, Starley, Oslapas, Yogoh, Oppenlander, and Tolman (back)
Elders Del Francia, Hatch, Anderson, Romero, Coleman, Sawyer, and Olson (front)

Happy Birthday!

Goodmorning!!

 Things are still going great over here in the dirty South! My birthday has been amazing so far with the packages, decorating my apartment, and taking my blue pill...woke up with a headache haha. I got the box and thank you very much for the cake mix and all that good stuff! I haven’t gotten my license yet, or gift card but I’m sure I will soon. And I’m not planning on doing anything today besides getting my haircut by a less active member. I hope she doesn’t mess it up. The guy who was supposed to cut it last week forgot....so I’m looking pretty shaggy up in here. And yes, I took a pic of me wearing the hat and holding two little Martinelli’s bottles of sparkling apple juice that Jackie got me right before my camera died. So I need to go buy some new batteries for that.

Gma’s service program looked really good! Her and Gpa were pretty young when they got married, shoot! And when was that recent picture of Gma taken? I am sure glad that you were able to see all the family and spend some time up there. From what I heard, Dad was just glad to get out of the snow haha. I feel you, Dad!!!! It snowed all over me this week. I went out to Scottsboro to work for a couple days with the missionaries there, and it was crazy cold. It hailed, snowed like inch wide snowflakes, slushed, had freezing rain and regular rain. And I biked 14 miles in all of that haha. So my face and butt were frozen. Face from the wind and ice, and butt from the freezing water getting splashed up on it from my bike tire ;) I have lost like 5 pounds enduring the cold out here haha. I still love it! I wore the missionary out who I was working with though, he hadn’t biked that far before, and he barely made it home. But all is well.

And how come Aunt Wanda didn’t make it to the funeral? What’s going on with her?? But other than that, it sounds like the funeral went great. How does it feel to be back home and winding down after that excitement from last week? Hopefully tonight’s Mr. El Dorado contest will put a smile on your face! Sounds like that will be pretty funny.

And have you taken Uncle Rick to In-n-Out yet??? I can’t believe I haven’t been there in almost 2 years! I hope I still like it when I get home!  That would be a shame to lose the taste buds for all of that haha. Like I lost the taste for milk..........I haven’t had milk to drink since October!!! I know its crazy, but that’s how it is haha. I tried to get healthier by drinking almond milk. So all my cereal has almond milk in it now. Also I just try to drink water with meals and stuff. Plus Jackie being allergic to it made it easier to stop, too!! Can’t be drinking milk in front of her and cause her to have an allergic reaction haha. So yeah, I thought that would blow y’all’s mind. Mr. Milk hasn’t had milk in months! So tell Lauren she needs to keep going strong!

But yeah, that’s all that’s going on over here. Not too much excitement for my birthday. Just going to buy some exercise pants so I can start running in the cold around here. I need to start getting my beach body going haha. Watch out ;)

I love y’all very much and thank you so much for raising me up the way you did. This week has been a struggle with some missionaries who just aren’t mentally ready for a mission. I felt like a therapist and it made me never want to become one haha. So thank you for helping me be the man I am today. And thank you for raising me in the gospel. I don’t know how people deal with loss or trials without it. It really does comfort you when you need it, and strengthen you so that you are ready for anything that may come your way. I am very grateful for it and the many blessings it has brought to me. Even though Lauren thinks I’m not being sincere about it haha. Tell her to read her scriptures and write in a journal! She won’t accept it from me, but if all 3 of us do it she will break like a wild horse haha. :) Anywho, have a wonderful day and celebrate a lil bit for me! Be safe and enjoy Family Home Evening with the young adults tonight. Vote for me!!!

Love,

Elder Oppenlander