Monday, October 28, 2013

Letter for October 28, 2013


Hey everyone!
What a great week it has been. I love every week out here although some are definitely harder than others. In the end I love them all. Sounds like everyone is having fun back home! I heard about the tire problem on the deer hunt. I hope all went well with that. I also heard that Elder Easton Ollerton is killing it out there in the MTC. Way to go big guy! Zone Leader! That's awesome!

I also wanted to send a shout out to my brother Justin! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG GUY! I hope you had a good day. You are now an official adult. As well as eligible to go on a mission! That is so crazy! I hope you had a great day bro and that you are getting ready every day!

We had a member of the Seventy come to the mission this past week. His name is Elder Ellis. He spoke in conference not too long ago. He spoke a lot on the concept of faith in missionary work. It was really neat. We talked about Alma 32 a lot. It was revelatory experience listening to a servant of the Lord teach us. I know that no matter how hard life gets we need to always show our faith that we have in the Lord. When we do so we will be able to receive guidance and direction in all that we do. We will be able to taste the fruit of our faith, and reap the rewards thereof. It was inspiring. Being a zone leader, we had the opportunity to have a special meeting with Elder Ellis as leaders of the mission. Which hasn't happened here since President Bowen came here as mission president. So it was a really unique opportunity to receive instruction on how we can become better leaders. He spoke about when he was called to be a stake president. He read John 10:1-14. We related it to President Monson's comparison in the last conference when he was talking about the sheepherder and the shepherd. He asked us "Are you being a shepherd or are you being a sheepherder?" it was really inspiring and I love it!

Clara Ramoz is doing very well. We weren't able to have a sit down lesson with her this week, but we were able to talk more about her progression. She is really doing well. All the members think that she's a member already. She told us she wasn't going to make it to a Halloween activity the ward was having for the primary. But we were there and out of nowhere she comes in with her grand kids. They loved it too. Then she told us "Well, I’ll see you all at church on Sunday." and she did come. It's her sixth time coming to church. She is so close. We just need to teach her a few more things and she'll be ready for baptism. She loves telling us that she tells her friends that she's a Mormon. She is progressing really well. She even signed up to feed us this week. She said she is going to feed us something really really spicy. I’m kind of scared to be honest, but it'll be good! She’s dong well.

We still are teaching Ana, Jorge, and their family. We actually had a great lesson with them last Monday after p-day. We showed Ana the talk from conference that Elder Holland gave this last conference. She suffers a little from depression. So we thought that talk would be perfect for her. We got talking about the concept of Faith. Jorge is usually pretty quiet and doesn't say too much in the lessons. He did talk about a video he saw about when the apostles were in a boat with Jesus and He was sleeping. Then He calmed the sea and said "O ye of little faith..." we talked about how important it is for us to walk by faith rather than by sight. It was awesome. I quoted the Savior when He said, "I am the light and the life of the world." And how, like a lighthouse, He has lit the path for us that we should walk on. We talked about baptism. We invited Jorge to be baptized. He didn't say no, but it wasn't a for sure yes either. It was powerful! We are going to work with him to set a date for baptism. This family is so special and so awesome! I know that he will get baptized too.

We are seeing a lot of great things right now. Our district just had a baptism. We are seeing a lot of miracles within the zone. We are all obedient. We all have faith that the Lord will bless us. We are seeing the fruit right now. I love this work. I know that it is true. I love being a part of it. Love you all!! Have a great week.

Elder Dallin M. Ollerton

Monday, October 21, 2013

Letter for October 21, 2013


What a crazy week it has been. We just keep seeing more and more miracles here. We love it! We had a very busy week. We had a two-hour meeting almost every day this week. We loved it. We learned how to manage stress, how to drive more safely. It was great! It looks like all went well with the deer hunt back home! I'm glad all had fun there. It's too bad I missed out! 

We had a pretty cool lesson last night with a part member family. The sister’s name is Sugey. She is a member and her husband is not a member. He has been listening to the missionaries for about six years. She was less active not too long ago too. She is very strong in the faith right now, which is such a great miracle. She has so much faith too. Although her husband is practically a member he just says that he was born catholic and that some aspects of the church are kind of hard for him. She was testifying with such power and faith how she knew her husband would one day join her in the temple and be sealed together for time and all of eternity. Right after that I felt impressed to ask him "Jesus, what is impeding you from joining your family and the church?" He sat there for about a minute. We all sat there in silence waiting for an answer from him. I could tell that he was trying to find an excuse of some short. He sat there and said, "I don't know Elder." We then talked about prayer and how he could know through prayer. Even though he has prayed many times, we invited him again to pray to know. I know that he'll get an answer eventually. We were on our way out as it was getting dark. A guy next to a trashcan was looking for plastic bottles. Here, you can recycle them for money. He turned to us and said "Hey you guys wanna buy a cell phone? I got a nice one here and I’ll sell it to you cheap." We kindly rejected the offer and moved toward our car. He got a little anger in his voice and said, "You don't wanna buy my phone?" I could tell he was trying to get some money for some beer. I was wondering if he was going to come after us. We told him we had to leave and we left. It was a little startling for me, but it was fun. They are going to be a good family. The Lord is really guiding us. 

Hermana Ramoz is progressing really well! She is practically a member of the church. Her countenance has changed so much. It's so much more bright and full of hope. She has changed quite a bit. We brought a member who lives by her to a lesson. They hit it off really well. We began to talk about faith again. We read with her in Ether 12:16. We told her that her husband will change and let her get baptized. She is telling all her friends that she is Mormon and she's proud of it. Her grandkids are even going to be a part of the primary program. Her husband just needs to let her get baptized. We decided to follow the example of the brother of Jared and set up a plan to take to the Lord. We are going to talk to the husband and get to know him. Not to teach him, but to gain his trust. We set a goal for baptism for the 17th of November. We are going to work so hard. I know that we can see a miracle with her. She needs your prayers! All of them she can get. Please pray for her! 

Ana and Jorge are doing well. They still haven’t come to church yet. We love being with that family though. We aren't going to give up on them either! Jorge is still working on receiving an answer form the Holy Ghost. He said this is the first time he has been praying in years. I see that as a huge miracle from our Heavenly Father. So he is making a lot of progress. I know with time he will get baptized too. We just need to keep working with them too. 

Those are the people that are progressing most. Sorry I have no more time to tell more, I’m trying to get everything all set up for college right now and it's pretty crazy! I love you all and thank you for all the support! I can't wait to hear from you soon!

Elder Dallin M. Ollerton

Monday, October 14, 2013

Letter for October 14, 2013


Hey everyone!
It's been a good week, especially for opening up a new zone. We have some great district leaders in our zone who have such a great vision for their districts. We got together with them and set a vision of what we believe we can accomplish for the rest of the year. We kneeled together in humble prayer for the assistance of the Lord. We know that we can really accomplish great things this transfer and for the rest of the year. Things have already boomed. So Elder Prieto and I are super stoked.

We had a great miracle yesterday. We have been teaching Clara Ramoz still. We had this very powerful lesson with her on Thursday. We went in with a couple that has been coming with us to visit her. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We taught her up to baptism. As we were teaching her about repentance and the steps to repentance she expressed to us how she is seeing the fruits of repentance in her life right now. She was telling us that she has been doing things that she has never done in her life before. She is reading from the scriptures. She is praying every day. She is going to church every Sunday. She was telling us that she has been feeling more peace then she has in a very long time. She is more peaceful with her family. She asked her son for forgiveness after they had gotten into an argument. She told us that was completely out of her nature. I got the best feeling in the world. I really felt a feeling similar to Ammon did as he expressed in Alma 26. I realized that I was being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I was helping someone change their life for the better. That is the best feeling as a missionary. Anyway, we invited her to be baptized once more. She told us that she is thinking about going back to Mexico in December to get away from her family problems she is having here. We testified to her that being baptized would bring more blessings to her and her family than she could even imagine. We decided to fast together that she might know when she needs to be baptized and that the heart of her husband may be softened.  We came by Sunday morning right before church and she told us that she was getting ready and that she knew that we were coming. She said "Dios me dijo que iban a venir" She told us she wasn’t' going to be able to make it to church cause she had to take care of her two grandkids. We told her to bring them. She said that she wouldn't be able to concentrate. We told her it would be fine and there would be people to help her. We were kind of bummed. During sacrament meeting she came in with her grandkids and sat down!  It was so awesome. She is really putting in her effort to receive those blessings. We hope she will get baptized soon. I think she wants to. Now we got to work on the when. I know the Lord will help us out then.

We also have Jorge and Ana. Ana is a member of the church who hasn't been to church in about six years. They have two daughters. One is nine years old and the other is seven. We have been working with Jorge and trying to help him gain a divine testimony of the Book of Mormon. They have been reading and praying together. Which is awesome. They are seeing the blessings of it too. We are trying to get them to church. Ana is going to be key in getting this family into the gospel if she can get back to church her family will follow. We are going to really work hard on getting her there. As well as help Jorge accept a date to be baptized. He is so close to accepting one as well. They are a young family and are so ready to have the gospel in their lives. We hope and pray that we can help them get to church. Pray for them please!

We are really seeing good things here. I love this work. I know that this is the work of the Lord. I love it so much. I love you all. Thank you so much for the support. I pray that Heavenly Father pours out all His blessings among you. Love you all

Elder Dallin M. Ollerton

Monday, October 7, 2013

Letter for October 7, 2013


Hey all!
Wow, another week in the books and I loved it! It was really busy. I loved General Conference. I think my favorite part about it was the Sunday morning session. Especially the last half. I really liked when they talked about enduring to the end. It's so true what President Monson said. We are to have opposition in all things. To those who are preparing to serve missions; I just want to let you know that this doesn't disappear when you get to the mission field. You will have investigators drop you, slam the door in your face, comps that bug you, etc. You need to learn how to endure all things till the very end. I loved that talk. It's going to help me be able to endure all things! I loved conference. I was so inspired!

We had a miracle occur. We got Hermana Ramoz to come to conference too! She loved it. She came to the Sunday morning session. We had it broadcast in our stake center in Spanish. We got some members to pick her up as well, so it worked out great. She was telling me that on the way here she was talking to the member about how there are so many hard times in life. She is having a lot of marriage problems right now and her family is having a rough time as well. So she told us that the talk by President Monson was really inspiring for her. It was awesome! She was conversing with the members and everything! She is really progressing well. I think that was huge for her. So she is progressing really well. We are working so hard to get more and more to be able to come to church. We really think that we will see more miracles. With the Lord's help we will be victorious!

Sorry this email is so short. We are working hard with those we are teaching, but they aren't progressing like they should. We hope to see some growth soon!

I'm still in the same area. I got a new companion. His name is Elder Prieto. He is super awesome. He was born in Peru, but raised here in Cali. It's gonna be super awesome!

Love you all have a great week.

Elder Dallin M. Ollerton