Brazil!

Dad! Sup, you Brazilian!! I hope you are enjoying the weather and keep your eyes peeled for Corbin! He’s out there somewhere! And Brazil sounds like just a bunch of huge cities, and are you going to sell the F-18s to them? That’s pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind working at Northrop and getting to do stuff like that. I still have to figure out what I want to do. There are too many options haha. But I hope you have a good time out there in Brazil and stay safe. Get back to mom asap because she’s bored out of her mind. You need to pick up a dog while you’re out there in Brazil and bring it back haha.

Have fun! Love ya

Elder Oppenlander

February 27, 2012

Mom!

I bet its super quiet back home right now! I bet you wish you had a dog to talk to haha. That’s so crazy that Dad is in Brazil livin’ the dream. That plane ride sounded like a blast. I hope you told grandma happy birthday for me. I’m going to get her a card tonight, but I’m going to be super busy. We got news that we are going to Birmingham to pick up some visa missionaries! So we will have 2 more missionaries working with us here in Tuscaloosa. So that will take up about 4 hours of my day.

And what’s up with grandma and pa getting all old and run down haha. Man, I hope grandma’s knees get better, and tell grandpa to walk Abby more. Get those legs back in shape! And I should become a physical therapist so I can help them out with all of that stuff. :)

How was Balboa? I love it down there. It’s really relaxing! I don’t think I’ve ever actually gone onto the island before, though. Just around it in Newport Beach plenty of times. Oh shoot! I met a girl on the soccer team here who’s grandparents live in Rossmoor! I was so excited to talk about home and stuff it was ridiculous. She lived in Mission Viejo. I love fellow orange countians haha. It makes my day. And Jackie is better at men’s haircuts than women’s nowadays?? Dang, I remember when she used to be sketched out to cut my hair haha. So that’s good that she has been improving and great that her boss is saying she’s doing well. I miss getting my hair cut and my head shampoo'd...its a shame I can’t get it cut by Jackie anymore!

And so Jackie is staying with the Harrison’s? I didn’t know where she was or if she had moved out yet. But that’s good :) I’ve been thinking about school when I finish my mission. Seriously though, I’m in trouble. Pres. Holzapfel or someone is going to have to pull some major strings to get me into BYU. I would like to go there because it’s cheap and a good environment, but we'll see! :)

Casey Cluff is engaged? Shoot! I bet the Cluffs are way excited! And it sounds like church is going great back home. And yes, Kerry is going to get baptized if he stops smoking! He’s planned to get baptized this Sunday, but if he doesn’t quit smoking by then we'll have to push it back a week or two. Which is no biggie though, because he needs to be ready for that. We had him and another investigator at church yesterday and it went great! The stake presidency was there for ward conference and they were great. President Smart is really excited about missionary work, so he made sure our investigators had a good time at church. Kerry said it’s the "place for him" :) So we are excited about him! Keep him in your prayers, and I know everything will be alright.

This week has been a good one, but I can’t remember anything that happened really. It just flew by! But I’m happy and kinda healthy. I haven’t talked to anyone about my crown yet. It doesn’t hurt, just has a hole in it. So I don’t know what to do haha. Should I just go to a dentist or what??

But yeah, I hope you have an exciting week at home by yourself and you don’t go crazy! Tell Jackie to come over and hang with you or something. Go dog shopping!!! That’s what you can do. But I love you and I’ll be praying for you. By the way, can you send me Dad’s lame helmet? Mine is falling apart. And Dad doesn’t need it. So yeah, haha. Please :) I don’t know what else to say....Elder Ingersoll got chased by a dog and it was hilarious! Haha I was chuckling for a good half an hour. Pretty sure I’ve told you that? I can’t remember haha. I’m going crazy! All these days just blend into one. I’m going to write Dad and Lauren and see if I can remember anything. I got 25 minutes, so respond quickly if you can.

Love, Elder Oppenlander

Happy 24th Anniversary

Mom and Pop!

Happy 24 yearssss!!! Shoot that’s a long time! And Grandma and Grandpa’s anniversary is today! Happy 53 years G parents! And tell Grandma I’m sorry!! Every time I write a letter I forget what the heck I was planning on saying so I just freestyled it. I love the scarf, popcorn, hot cocoa, Christmas card, and money. I shared it all with Elder Ingersoll and every time missionaries stop by the apartment they take a snack or two out of the bin. So it was put to good use and everyone appreciated it! I’m horrible at writing letters.

And Jackie is moving out. Shoot, good thing I didn’t send the letter yet. I'll send it to our home address so just give it to her please :) and yeah it’s crazy how fast Becca’s mission went by. I can’t believe she is already coming home. Dad has the whole week off?? Dang poppa, make this trip to Brazil count. haha. And by the way, I’m still way jealous about that. Sounds uh-mazing.

Students at the university are doing great. We have a dinner appointment with 2 of them tomorrow with a young student who is thinking about going on a mission. Hopefully it’s a good experience for him. And yeah we're way too matchy over here. We stick out like a sore thumb but that’s just how I like it. I've gotten so used to being stared at its not even funny. Like Tupac says "all eyes on me" hahaha. Man, Paige loves to visit as soon as I leave, what the heck. But that’s cool! Elder York, our Zone Leader, is about to go home to the San Diego area. Lucky sucker. But I still got plenty of time to help people out and have cool experiences so I’m lucky too. I got a letter from Zac this week and it sounds like he’s doing great! Definitely sounds like a southern mission experience. Nothing better in the world. And I feel horrible for Forrest being out in the cold like that.

This week hasn’t been too bad so far. In the high 60’s all week.

Our neighbors are moving?? Why? They don’t need extra room or anything, and I’m excited to see who moves in too!! We haven’t had new neighbors in a long time. It’s good though. And yeah, Lauren is about to graduate!! That’s so cool! She’s gonna get a job real quick though I know it. No biggie. I can’t believe I have to wait another year and a half to see her film. That’s messed up. Just one more thing to add to the list of "to do's" when I get home :) JT hasn’t left the MTC yet??? That’s horrible. I didn’t know the Philippines were as far away as they are. I didn’t expect them to be by Japan and Australia. I don’t know where I thought they were but that wasn’t the location I had expected. That’s sweet. But yeah this week was a good’n! We had zone conference in Bessemer and I got a classy belt for free. Called the "mission belt" or something like that and I love it. We had some cool instruction by president and I learned a ton.

Also we had a missionary splits in Bessemer on Saturday with the young men of the stake. We split up in groups, i was with 2 young men from my ward and Bishop Thompson. Then we went to a neighborhood and knocked on doors and did a four question survey. Bishop almost got attacked by the fattest, buffest pit bull I’ve ever seen. I saw it in the back but the little 12 year old just kept walking up so I was like shoot, I cant let this little kid get killed and just watch so I went with him. We got all the way to the porch when all of a sudden it came around the house right by us...sketchy, but I could tell it was a nice one so I just called it over and petted it. It kept going after Bishop though because he was all nervous haha. He kept saying, "it was going after the weak one!" It was funny but I’m sure glad that thing wasn’t mean because we would have been destroyed.

Then we had another great lesson with our investigator with a baptismal date named Kerry. He told us about his past and he was a lively character. Working at a strip club and junk and being a hired thug for gangs in Birmingham. But now his body is falling apart so I think he gets the picture that he can’t be doing that and he needs to repent and start doing good stuff. So it’s been interesting becoming friends with him. But he loves guns just like I do haha. So we talk about Glocks and stuff. He always has his Glock just sitting on the couch next to him. Because he lives in a really bad part of town. I love being a missionary because we can go to those bad parts and feel totally comfortable. No one ever bothers us and stuff. It’s a good feeling. But Kerry is a real good guy and he’s making all the changes he needs to be baptized on the 4th of March. We're excited for him. So the work moves forward and oh shoot! I got a letter from Elder Lofthouse at zone conference and he is baptizing the junk out of people up in Huntsville! He’s a great missionary and I hope I can serve around him again. And we met some cool people this week as well. Got rained on a lot too, ruined my planner, We’re starting to teach a blind guy, met some crazy people who got out of Bryce Mental hospital, and just some regular college students. So I can’t complain! Missionary work never gets boring. It can be hard but it’s the most rewarding work I could be doing. It’s fun and I love learning more about the scriptures and about how I can be even happier in my life. I love it!

Have a good week and Dad, enjoy Brazil! You can email me from there ;)

Hope you have a great week and I’ll talk to ya later

Love, Elder Oppenlander!

February Photos

Bessemer Zone Training

Gathering before Missionary / Young Men Activity

Waiting for the Young Men to arrive

Leaving with the assigned young men

Eight months out!

‘Sup Mom and Pop!

This week in T-town was great! Super cold though!!! In the 20's and I think the warmest it got was like 45. I’m so over the cold haha. And I haven’t gotten your Valentine’s Day card yet? (I don’t remember, so I’d say I haven’t gotten it). And yeah, I opened up all the Valentines Day stuff, shoot! I wasn’t going to let it sit there for more than a week. :) But other than the cold, this week was a good'n. We really focused on campus and we had a lot of success talking to people. Had a bunch of lessons and we met some really cool people. But yesterday was exhausting (I think that’s how you spell it)....but yeah, I was dead. Elder Hardy and I went down to Demopolis for church. Got picked up at 7:15, it’s an hour drive to get there, had church, bore our testimonies, had branch council, and all that ended like at 2:00. Then we drove 40 minutes to Greensboro to visit a less active member. And his house was legit!! It was built in 1835, it’s called an antebellum house. First time I’ve heard of that, but it was tight. And he collects antique everything! His whole house was like an expensive museum and I told him my mom would have loved it. He had some weird stuff though. Like he had his great grandmother's family hair tree? All the kids in the family cut their hair, made leaves out of it and made a fake tree with it. I guess it was popular back then. There was a fat braid of hair from when she first got married and a lil tuft of hair they snipped off right before she was buried. It was weird/interesting :) but yeah, he was so oldschool it wasn’t even funny. Had like three 1800s pianos, old everything! And he was telling us how he can’t invite church members over to his house because Greensboro is so segregated. Their black friend wouldn’t come into their house because "he’s not allowed into a white person’s home". I was like, are you serious???? I thought that stuff was done away with, but not in Greensboro, Alabama! I couldn’t believe it. Then we drove another 50 minutes to Linden, Alabama to visit another family. We visited, not as exciting as the other guy, then started our drive home. Bro. Champion, the high counselor we went with, invited us over to dinner at his house, because we were all starving, and we finally got home around 7:30 last night. And Sis. Champion made me eat way too much food, I had a fat neck ache which gave me a migraine and 3:00 this morning I threw it all up :) haha. One cool thing though, is that I’m never tired anymore! I’m used to the schedule finally and I can sleep for like 3 hours and be wide awake for the rest of the day. That’s going to be a useful skill later in life, so I’m going to try to keep it. But yeah that was my day yesterday....so long!!! Sounds like you had just as an eventful a day as me!

We got to see the World Wide Leadership training and I loved it. We watched it Saturday morning though. And yes ma’am, the shaka laka lip blaka came, and I’m very thankful! I love that stuff! And you better pick some classy tile for the bathroom. :)

I hit my 8 month mark on Wednesday! That’s pretty crazy huh? 1/3 the way done:) shoot! And Dad is going to Brazil for like 8 days????? I am so jealous its not even funny! He better be excited! Man...Alabama is better anyways haha. And that’s crazy that Dean and Lauren are getting married! Exciting bizznizz right there. That’s good that young couples are staying in the ward. We don’t want it to turn into some Leisure World ward haha. I hope y’all have an enjoyable Valentines Day and get crazy with the Jorgensen’s haha. Dogwood mormons!!! And yeah, Gma and Nick’s birthdays are coming up like the 21st and 26^th, right?? Something like that, whatevs. But I’ll write Gma O and Gma B today. I haven’t written them in a while and I feel horrible. I’m gonna try to start to write them every week. Gotta show them some love. I think they would enjoy that. Oh shoot, and I have a hole in my crown! I don’t know if my retainer did it or what, but what should I do?? Respond asap! Haha. I'll be emailing Lauren so holla at me!

Love you! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Papi Oppenlander

Birthday set-up!

20!

Shout out from the President!

Soaking wet & muddy ... yeah, I tucked my tie in!

Close up - wet

. . . and muddy!

Muddy butt from the back tire on my bike hahaha!

February 6, 2012

Hey hey!

Geez, you got a lot of questions this week! Haha, lets start answering them all! My birthday was amazing. Went around talking to people all day, it was like 75 degrees out and super humid. We walked around campus and taught some peeps, then we went to a section 8 housing neighborhood to teach a guy named Lazarus and to tract. At like 3:00 it started pouring down rain...like the hardest I’ve ever seen it rain in my life. And since it was 75 degrees out earlier, of course we didn’t have our jackets or raincoats. So we got soaked! It was so fun, though! Then we rode our bikes home in the rain and I got all muddy. It was shooting up on me from my tires, so I stained my shirt. Hopefully, some bleach or something will take it out. I took some pics of the lil mud drops on me, but you can’t really see them or how wet I actually was. Then Elder Hardy and Emmanuel came over and we ate the cake (I cooked it the night before...turned out perfect). They kinda sang to me haha. They can’t sing worth nuthin, and then I went to bed! Oh, and I had Chipotle for my birthday lunch haha, and spam, eggs, and toast, with tobasco on it for din din. I was in heaven!

Why did you get me the Raybans?? Haha, I was in shock! Like, what the heck? But I like them! They’re keepers. And yes, I used the knife to open up some mail and other assorted items around the house. Elder Ingersoll almost cut himself, but I took it away from him before he killed himself. It is crazy that I’m 20...no longer a teenager … and you must feel way old. I think I said that last week, but let it soak in a lil bit! Oldy! I didn’t decorate the apartment with Ugly Doll stuff, but I decorated the table haha. I love the guitar CD! It’s pretty classy and relaxing. Sis. Reynolds' pillowcase is black with a bunch of different cupcakes on it with blue trim. I like it! And I got a package from Jackie too! It was sweet and I loved the pics of all the family and her family holding up the happy birthday signs. That’s pretty original! I haven’t seen that before. But yeah, my birthday was perfect, and even some random peeps told me happy birthday. It was different but fun. I think that’s all the news I have about my birthday.

Haha, that CD of photoshoot pics is so funny. And yeah, that’s Bro. Mulder in the pic, and he took most of them and his wife took the first couple. Rockin’ denim and camo......it would be a sin not to rock that. And yeah, I’m running low (aka out of) shakka lakka. Get me that combo pack:) I love all the flavors, but the Maui Mint and the Medicated Ice (or whatever) is good, too. I love them all though. Right now I’m using that weird Ocean Potion stuff and it tastes horrible haha.

I didn’t talk at Mary’s baptism. Just watched her get baptized and ate some cookies and lemonade. It was a no pressure event for me. Campus missionary work is so fun haha. We just try to talk to college students all day and half of them are drunk. So I wouldn’t say good investigators but we have a couple good'ns. Like on my birthday, we met this cool guy but his frat was having a huge party and when we were walking home these drunk girls were all "why are you two matching???????????" talking about Elder Hardy and me, and I just laughed and was like "we're missionaries, its what we do" haha. Then they were trying to figure out my name and were calling me Offenlanger and stuff and they asked if that was right and I just said yeah so they would leave me alone haha. It was way funny though. Glad I’m not doing stuff like that. Yeah, I’m a geek missionary, but I love it. So those are the type of things that go on most of the time. Just trying to find genuinely (?? Is that how you spell that?) interested people. But there are tons of people to talk to, so its fun!

Tell Tony I can’t be funny/interesting all of the time! Wouldn’t want him not working and just waiting for my bomb emails every week. ;) I wish I had some swamp people to teach right now. That would be fun.

That’s awesome that Bro Mckay likes Lauren’s work! I hope she can find a job pretty easy. But I think with all the stuff going on with BYU Animation, she should be good to go. Courtney and Jeffy are dating?? Weird!! I don’t know why its weird, but it is. I haven’t gotten a letter from Chris yet but I'll be expecting it! I’m excited.

And Jackie! Yes, I loved everything in your package! The ties are classy, and I totally understand why your dad doesn’t have time to write me. I wouldn’t write me, either haha. I’m pretty bad at writing missionaries. I need to get better, especially with Chris and Zac and stuff. No letter from Elder Clanton yet ... I don’t know his address either, so I can’t write him. I miss that kid so bad. And Jackie and Nicole are going up to General Conference?? That’s sweet! I can’t wait for them to meet Haley, Elder Clanton’s girlfriend! Plus, General Conference is gonna be sweet. I can’t believe its already been six months since the last one! Seems like just yesterday. I'll be looking for the signs the girls are gonna hold up. I don’t know if you can do that at General Conference, but I guess we'll find out haha. Thanks for the prayers and all the thought. I’m gonna try to send some pics right quick! From my birthday and stuff. Love you all! Have a good week!!!

Love, Elder Class

The Tuscaloosa District Missionaries

Mary's Baptism

January 29, 2012

Mom & Dad!!!

I’m staying in Tuscaloosa again with Elder Ingersoll!!!! I don’t know what to do haha. I’ve never been with a companion more than once and I’ve never been in an area for this long. After this transfer, half of my mission will have been in Tuscaloosa...crazy! So keep sending me mail because it will be at the same place as usual. Only one new thing happened: Elder Ingersoll and I will be the "campus" elders. So we'll do the campus missionary work and work with all the young single adults, spend a lot of time on campus and at the student's apartments and stuff. Plenty of em to talk to :) we'll figure it out, easy. We are gonna have a blast! Elder Hardy and Emmanuel will be moving into another apartment. So just Elder Ingersoll and I back home :) Gonna be good to have my own bathroom and shower again. But it will be different. But yeah, I’ll have been here for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, my birthday and Valentine’s Day. It’s crazy! This is pretty much home for me now. And yeah, my bday is in 5 days!!!! Haha! 20 years old baby, no big deal ;) You must be feeling way old!

And yes, I sent Lauren’s package to you because I didn’t know her address. She'll get it eventually though. And don’t worry about what is in it! Be patient and just wait for her to open it. Mary's baptism was b-e-a-utiful. Taylor, a young man who is about to report to the Missionary Training Center, baptized her. We thought it would be cool for him to go on his mission already having baptized an investigator! I still haven’t baptized anyone, but I don’t care. I enjoy teaching the people and seeing them become happy and change their lives. Then Bro. Robbins confirmed her. Thought it would be better than having a missionary (who is going to leave) confirm her. So she has a lot of support from the ward and they are excited to help her continue to grow in the gospel.

I saw the pictures of Connor and Nick this morning when I got on the computer. Looks cute! Living the dream out in California, going to dances and stuff. I miss that! But it will still be there for me when I get home. That movie you saw seems happy....sike! (I know that’s not how you spell it but I like spelling it like that..ok?) And that Polynesian dance thing sounded fun too! You guys are having a blast back there at home without me, shoot! And you’re remodeling my bathroom? What are you going to do to it? That’s exciting. And yeah, Bro Mays got an iPhone and wanted to add me and Jackie on facebook. That’s cool that he did that. He's an awesome guy, and tell Jackie to go on my profile and add him too! His baby is so cute and tiny! Babies are sketchy a lil bit. And I’ve got to come back and visit the south after my mission! Gotta show you and Jackie around and let you see what its like down in the dirty dirty.

Jackie is cutting dads hair again? Man, he must like those free haircuts haha. And then Jackie is coming over to dinner...I am so hungry right now its not even funny. Tri-tip sounds perfect. I haven’t had that since leaving home. Oh my goodness that sounds so delicious.

Windy and warm back in California, huh? Sounds so good. It’s been pretty hot here but last night was pretty cold. I guess some solar flare or something got temperatures up around the world?? That’s just what I heard, I don’t know if it’s true or not. I have not gotten a letter from PJ yet! Where is it? Haha I can’t wait to hear from him. Can’t believe that PJ is already about to go to the Missionary Training Center. Crazy how everyone is going out, but I’m proud that my age group is going big and going on their missions. Gonna be cool when everyone gets home and we can chat it up. And yeah, Elder Ingersoll knows Elder Brown haha. Utah kids all know each other, its weird.

That Clippers game sounds good too. Man, its weird not even thinking about sports or movies or fun haha. I’m so busy that when someone brings up football or something I’m like, oh yeah that’s still going on. It seems like the world stops but it actually doesn’t. Just into different things nowadays. I love it. The ward is doing alright at feeding me. Bro Mays fed us this week. That’s when he took the pictures and stuff. But I’ve just been feeding myself mostly. It’s all good out here in Alabama. I’m glad I’m staying here because we have a lot of people to meet. We met some awesome people this week and I have high hopes for them. And we started teaching Keshia, Mary’s friend again. We started teaching her with Mary in the beginning, but they got into a fight. But she’s back and she came to Mary’s baptism!! She said she can’t wait until she’s baptized, so we should be having another one soon. I hope y’all have a good week and I love you! I'll send some pics of the baptism and stuff.

Love, Elder Chase

January 23, 2012

Madre and Padre!
I had a great week, don’t even worry about that! The ward fed me.....actually they didn’t haha. But I got dinner from a member of the other ward last night so no worries. Interviews with president were great, just asked how I was doing and all that good stuff. Nothing special haha. I don’t remember Aunt Doris at all. I doubt I have seen her in the last 10 years haha. Cool to hear that we are direct descendants of Abraham Clark. Maybe I can use that nowadays to get some attention haha. Maybe someone in Alabama will be obsessed with the Declaration of Independence. Who knows? Sounds like your stake conference thing was way exciting! All I have to do for church is show up, maybe give a talk, and talk to our investigators. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! I don’t have to type anything last minute or stress out. And I got described as "cool like a cucumber" this week by a young single adult dude. He's all “you don’t seem like you ever get stressed out”. But really, I have no reason to haha. I don’t know, I just thought it was random that he said that as I was knocking on a door. So I thought I would share. The mission has changed me for sure. People say I have a strength with talking to people.... I was like you got to be kidding. Back home I was in my own world. But whatevs, I have no idea why I’m saying this, so I’m just gonna stop.
That’s so cool that Eric is on a reservation! I want to chat it up on a reservation. That sounds way different from Tuscaloosa. Yeah...Lewis the wiener dog was a classy fellow and that squirrel was sketchy for sure. Tasted a lot better than it smelled and looked. Wasn’t too shabby. Send me some pics of Nick’s winter formal when you gots a chance. I love that kid. I got the Irvine Oppenlander’s Christmas card this week and I loved it. Got a good letter from Aunt Kris and Nick wrote me a letter that had me lol'ing all over the place haha. Elder Hardy thought I was crazy! But it was good to finally hear from that kid. I’m so glad I’m not forgotten! Its good to know that some people out in the world actually care about me and what I’m up too.
And I have not forgotten Lauren’s birthday … (or Connor’s :) and tell Jackie I have the recorder and I love that thing so good. I’ve recorded a bunch on it already and its embarassing haha. But it’s just good to hear her voice and Zac’s, and see that it’s possible to have some fun without me around. I thought everyone would just be sitting around depressed all day counting down the days till I come home. I guess I’m not that big of a deal...:)
But seriously, we only have like one investigator who is doing well and that is Mary. She’s getting baptized this Saturday at 10 am!!!! Happy birthday Lauren, that’s your present...but yeah, we are so pumped and the ward is too. They only had 3 baptisms all last year and we already have one the first month of this year. So we should be able to get way more than 3 haha. Its good to see how happy Mary is nowadays and see how the gospel makes all her trials and problems easier to handle. It feels good to help people out like that. That’s why I love being a missionary.
I haven’t had any near death experiences lately. Crazy storm last night with some tornados but we were good to go. Just kept getting woken up by all the lightning and rain but it was good. Everyone is safe and sound. I can’t believe that I only have another week and this transfer is over. Doesn’t feel like it’s been 5 weeks with Elder Ingersoll already. Time is going by too fast! I love it and I’m scared at the same time hah. Bitter sweet. Only 3 more transfers till I hit my year mark...crazy!!!!! Doesn’t feel like it, but its true facts. Lauren still hasn’t told me what she wants for her birthday so I’ll just get her random stuff and she'll just have to deal with it. Hope y’all have a good week and I don’t know what else to say. Oh, it was the 176th anniversary of Doctrine & Covenants section 137 this week, the revelation on salvation of the dead and the celestial kingdom! That’s cool and we had a mission-wide conference call about it. Celestial kingdom is good to go.
Haha have a great week, westerners!
Love, Elder Oppenlander

Interviews - January 18, 2012

Mail, Muffins and Juice

Elder Oppenlander

Elders Ingersoll and Oppenlander

Elder Oppenlander and President Holzapfel

Elders Ingersoll, Emmanuel, Hardy, Smitley, Stephens, and Oppenlander getting ready to begin their weekly district meeting in the Northport building on Thursday