Ambroise with the whole family! Thats a stellar family!

                                                                                                     

Bonjour!
Things are going good! And yeah I’m glad I’m still here in this area, I think I'll be going in October though. And yeah the baptisms went great! After the baptisms there is always a time President Weed gives for the new converts to bear testimony, this past week was the best! Every single one stressed the importance of repentance, and of the changes that they have made to follow Christ, which is really what repentance is. And how committed they were with their change of heart; even the young ones expressed this as well, so that was the best. It really made me realize again the importance of repentance, and really how it is there so we can become more like Jesus Christ, and it is all about change of heart, which I could really see with our Amis! So that was good!  This week was much more laid back though, in that Elder Owusu was leaving, so me and Desvergez were on a split with him, so a lot of the time was in eating with members and visiting and packing! We’ve been doing a lot of finding as well mostly as we’ve had a lot of baptizing, so we have less Amis, which I guess is a good thing!  The best part was all of those baptized were contacts, or distant family members of members in the branch! That was awesome because we saw how much the branch has helped us, and also there were a ton of people at the baptism. The baptism was awesome for sure, frightening as well... the branch president who was over the baptism came up to me at the start, and was a little uneasy, and began to explain to me that there was a candidate that the other missionaries couldn’t baptize. Elder Allred and Elder Lala, I didn’t really understand what he meant until he explained that really, they couldn’t baptize her. Then I saw her come in and realized why, she was easily well over 300 pounds... Not only was that a problem, but also the water in the font is always very low because the font is so small. I felt a little honored that he asked me to do the baptism, but at the same time I was terrified, there were a ton of people there and I legitimately thought there was no way I could do this one. I'll be honest I prayed multiple times in advance. When the baptism came though, I wasn’t too nervous at all, and honestly it went perfectly fine!  I can say that my prayers was answered there, because otherwise I really don’t think I could have done that baptism! It went great though! So Saturday was a good day for sure! As we have so many new converts now, we’ve been teaching the priesthood a lot lately, and in turn I have been studying that mostly as of late. It’s been a good reminder for sure of how great a blessing that really is to have the priesthood on the earth today. And it is all thanks to the Restoration of the Church, and its something that really sets our church apart, but seriously what a blessing that is we have that power to do ordinances on the earth and have those accepted in the heavens! Like I said this past week we haven’t been able to do much teaching because of Owusu, but it’s been good! We have had a lot of dinners with Ghanaian families as he is Ghanaian, but man they are awesome! Its incredible how strong the church is over there and the members. I'll miss Owusu a lot though he was an awesome missionary! It was crazy to see him go home as well though... sheesh ha-ha.  It was our apartment that won the clean check!!!!!!! SO we got to go eat hamburgers on Tuesday it was incredible!!! Ha-ha too worth it. Also the American with the embassy talked to me yesterday, and invited me and Desvergez over for dinner again, and he is inviting a couple of his friends from the embassy a French and an American, that wanted to talk with us, so that will be awesome again for sure!!   Elder McConkie is coming by here in the next couple months. I’m guessing the son of Bruce R McConkie or something? That will be cool though! Things are going really well, thank you for all of your love and support! I love and miss you all a ton! 

Elder Oliverson

Baptisms!

Some of the baptisms from Saturday! Parents coming next week! Because of marriage.

Our dinner with one of the Ghanian families!

Bonjour!

Bonjour!

 Things went pretty well this past week! Just been teaching a ton of lessons! We had a solid baptism day on this past Saturday and that went awesome!! I was especially excited for Daniel, who’s been stellar no doubt! It was the best to see how happy he was, it was insane! He’s progressed insanely fast since we found him just a few weeks ago, and was able to get baptized this past Saturday with all those others! He’ll be getting the priesthood in the next couple weeks as well, so it will be awesome to see how well he progresses in the church, he has an incredibly strong testimony in all the things we’ve talked about, and was surely converted by the Book of Mormon, so that was a special baptism no doubt! We have 5 more coming up this next Saturday so that will be really fun for sure! Me and Desvergez both stayed here through this last big transfer, so that was good for sure! I love him a ton and we have the best time no doubt, and its great for both of us to see a lot of the fruit of our labors these next weeks with the baptisms! I’m pretty sure one of us will be leaving this next transfer though when we get 21 new missionaries. So the work is going really well. We have a lot of finding to do though, so we’ve been up to a lot of tracking, and looking. We had a really cool lesson with a Muslim couple this past week. We read Alma 42 with the two of them, which is in depth on the atonement, and the importance of Jesus Christ, the spirit was incredibly strong no doubt, and afterwards all Desvergez said was, man. Dieu est fort.. We were lucky to even talk with the people, as they are Muslim, let alone read the Book of Mormon with them, and as they did you could see the spirit working in them. We have fixed a date for baptism with them the 21st  of this month, I’m really hoping, but well have to see if that works out! Either way, they for sure have a better understanding of Christ thanks to the Book of Mormon, so that was awesome for sure! Things are good in the branch as well, this past week was the temple trip for the youth, so this past Sunday was the testimony meeting for those who went on the trip, and that was awesome as well! It was great to see how blown away and happy they were talking about it!  It’s really cool to see these people getting the chance to go to the temple, and the sacrifices financially they made to do it. They only get the trip two times each year, but you could definitely see they made the most of it!  

It’s been really hot this past week, and its now hitting that time of year where it just gets hotter. Its good though being acclimated by now! Me and Desvergez had a solid basketball session today as well, doing our usual... either the people here are getting faster though, or I’m just getting more out of shape.  With those cleaning checks.... its too competitive... we seriously went all out, we cleaned, went and picked flowers, made a fruit bowl, and hung up Benin flags. Yet we still didn’t win.... That was terrible Ha-ha. Things are good though!  things are so much more fun when you can speak the language, studies as well!! It’s really fun teaching the atonement with these people because really it’s something complex but there are many ways to make it easy to understand. I’ve always heard the way with us being in debt, and Jesus Christ paying that for us, so now we have to pay him back. This one is good, but really we cant pay the debt back, and that’s not what Christ wants from us... but this past week I found something that makes a lot more sense, and that’s piano lessons. For example, a mom pays for piano lessons for her child, so she gives him a great opportunity, and something that can be a big blessing, she doesn’t ask for the child to pay her back, that isn’t what she wants, but all she asks for him to practice, and that is what makes her happy, that’s also the way the child can show his thanks for her, for what she gave him, by this as well he grows and becomes better, as he grows, that’s what makes the mom happy, its not that he repays her for the lessons, he doesn’t pay the teacher for the lessons, but just practices.. With this the child grows and can become really good at piano, which is what the mom is wanting. This analogy is a lot like what Christ did for us, as he paid for all the sins and all he asks is obedience and repentance. In doing so we become better and more like him, which is the goal in life... along with that, I know from my experiences, we don’t like practicing the piano, because we don’t see the use of it. Just because we don’t see through the mom’s eyes, and we go and do our own thing. Which again is a lot like with Christ, where we don’t see reason for repentance or obedience in some things. If we only saw through Christ’s eyes and saw why he has us do all we do, its just so we can become more like him, be happier, and live with him again. The atonement is something special for sure!! I love you all though, and I hope all is great there!! Have a great next week!

Baptisms Saturday!

Daniel

This has been a pretty good week!

  This has been a pretty good week! Things are still going

really well! There were some pretty cool things as well. Monday night

we did our usual family home evening that we got started up for the

people with no families and kids and such. It’s been killer for sure,

we got to play some musical chairs as well, and of course I dominated

that one!! I watched the video though and remembered it was probably

because I was twice the size of everyone else. The work has been

really well too!! We got off to a good start this week... We’ve had an

ami named Boris, who’s actually just a young man, and we have been

teaching him at his friend’s house for a while. The kid is insanely

brilliant though, and has been golden!! He invited us to his place to

talk with his parents, when we got there we realized his dad is

actually a pastor in a church here in Gbegamey, so he’s strong in this

church, plus that’s his job, so we were already kind have decided there

is no way... It was almost the opposite though, he was incredibly open

and was telling about how his son has gone crazy and has been showing

all the stuff we taught and the Book of Mormon, he was very interested

in our message as well, and we are actually hoping to be able to

baptize him and his family soon, he understands the message is true,

but it is a tough situation with that being his job, to let those

things behind, but were sure he’ll be able to let those things go and

the Lord will provide. It’s awesome to see though that by this young

man we can hopefully baptize this awesome family! Ambroise and Gilbert

are still the best! 

     They actually live out in Cocotomey, which is a newer area, so they are

trying to start out a branch out there, and with those two solid

converts, that will help a ton, so it’s great to see the help and work

they’re already doing! So those were some good things this week. The

problem was Wednesday though, we were in a lesson in the morning, and

before going in Desvergez mentioned he wasn’t feeling too hot... the

whole lesson he barely talked, and I was thinking the whole time he

was mad at me or something... we finished the lesson and were walking

out, and he just threw up his whole stomach, he was insanely sick so

we had to stay in that day! The problem was, I don’t have the strongest

stomach, so seeing that made me somewhat sick the rest the day!

Definitley not the best day... Ha-ha, we were worried he had Malaria,

but he was better in a day so we assumed it was just bad food or

something, were worried it was the pineapple... which isn’t good,

because that’s about our whole diet... Luckily though he was better

quick! The next day we had our dinner with the American!!! Oh man I

about died no lie!!! We walked into his house, which is on embassy

grounds, and it was basically America.... I thought I was going to

die, there was carpet, and a teli, and AC..... it was incredibly...

We had the most amazing American food I’ve ever had as well, after I

was a little sick though just from how not used to I am to that food!!

But man..... It was incredible!!!!! He was there with his wife who is

actually from England, but just talking to them I about died it was so

great!! It was definitely a great night for sure!! Our Amis are all

doing pretty well, we have a baptism this next Saturday that I’m really

excited for which is Daniel!! He’s the ami that we found just a few

weeks ago and has already read almost the whole book of Mormon!! He’s

incredible! He hasn’t missed a day of church, nor an institute, nor a

FHE... he’s one of the smartest people I have been with here as well.

He’s progressed faster than anyone I’ve ever seen and is incredibly

excited for his baptism! The branch has been really good and bringing

him in as well which has been a big help! So I’m excited for that! He

told us a cool story about the first day he saw us and our first time

talking.. He said he had always seen us walking by, but thought we

were Jehovah witness, like everyone here, and never said anything and

wasn’t interested. He got malaria though and was stuck in his bed for a

long while. He was incredibly sick and could see things weren’t going

well, till one day when he was in bed, and we came up to the door, and

he said the only reason he let us in was because he was sick and

wanted us to help. He was just telling us as well how he could see

that it wasn’t by chance the time or how that happened, but man, he’s

got a strong testimony for sure!! Another cool thing that brought me

back big-time this week was our testimony meeting on Sunday... Usually,

they’re a little sketchy to be honest, but this past one beforehand we

explained how testimony meeting works, and it went amazing!! Towards

the end a lady in our branch who had polio, and is paralyzed from the

waist down, so she uses hand crutches, struggled up to the front and

bore an amazing testimony, and just expressed how thankful she was for

all of her many blessings, and just talked about how blessed she is

and how much she loves her life.. Man that brought me back big time,

we have rough days all the time and get so depressed, but this lady is

always the happiest, and sees herself as the most blessed, and hearing

her say that made me really think. These people are special for

sure!! That was awesome though. The branch is really good though, in

fact today the youth have big activity and are taking a bus over to

Accra for the temple!! I’m really excited for them with that!! So yeah

things have been really good. Today we had a activity with the

mission and played soccer. But man, I’m sick for the first time yet

here. Its nothing too bad, but I’m just exhausted and feel terrible.

Ha-ha, so I’m hoping that goes fast!! So yeah, I couldn’t go all out in

soccer today, and that was killing me because I just love

Soccer... But yeah the work is going great here! I’m worried with

the big transfer coming up!! We have 12 missionaries leaving for

home, and actually have 21 new missionaries coming in, only two are

America! So I’m not so sure I’ll be staying in Gbegamey, or if I’ll stay

with Desvergez, but I’d be content staying with him the whole mission

he’s the best! Its been nice having Owusu and Koadio in the apartment,

it was funny too; we were talking and pointing out that France has had

the church for an insane amount of time, and Ghana for only just a few

years, yet Ghana already has thousands more members than France, ha-ha

so we were trying to figure out why between Owusu and Desvergez, but

yeah the church is doing great over there! But yeah with the institute

class we got a member who is awesome as teacher, but Desvergez and me

teach it as well! But yeah things are great here with the work! It’s exciting as well getting

so many new missionaries as we'll be opening up more areas now! Things

are good! I love and miss you all a ton for sure! I hope all is great

this next week there!

Elder Oliverson

The Zone!

 Things have been really well for sure! The Day of Service was good for sure, especially because it was on National T.V.! And yeah the service helps a lot in gaining trust, because otherwise these people won't trust you because they think you're a big rich white person. So we are always looking for opportunities to do small stuff with people! The U.S. ambassador invited us over for dinner this week!! So we've been dying!! It will be incredible to eat food like that again..The old Branch Pres. that we have been working with is back at church again, we're trying to get him a call in the branch so he has some responsibility there, and we gave him a blessing yesterday actually, and he's been doing immensely better!! Its been amazing to see that with him!! I could see though that the branch had kind of shoved him off, and actually in this area before the missionaries weren't the best, and a lot of problems came up, and I think they kind of shunned him as well.. So when we have showed up, not mentioning a thing about what happened before, and just being good to him and serving him, its been huge for him, and has completely turned that around. So that's been really cool to see! 

But yeah a big thing I have learned as being obedient and such, not only do you receive many more blessings and tender mercies, but also you are more receptive to the spirit, so you see those a lot more actually, they really are around each day, we just don't always notice them, unless we really open our eyes. I love my companion though,  He's awesome, he's definitely incredibly humble, and a very Christlike person.It's been such a blast being with him! 

     I've gained an incredibly greater appreciation for the Book of Mormon as well so that's been awesome, its incredible how much there is in that one book!! Ive been having to dig deep into doctrine with having to be the one to respond to everything, and people always think you have to look into deep doctrine, and the words of modern day prophets to find the answers, which sometimes is the case, but truly, every single answer, you can find in the Book of Mormon, that book is the best!! We have an Ami named Daniel, who we found just two weeks ago, he is one of the smarter Ami's that we have, and we actually taught the word of wisdom the first lesson, afterwards explaining the Book of Mormon, since then he has read half of the book!!! And has filled a notebook with notes he has taken! He has an incredible testimony already, and will be getting baptized on the 7th!! I'm really excited for him, and I see him being an awesome member in the church! When Ami's are struggling, if you can just get them into the Book of Mormon, they will be so much more fortified... its insane! 

     We were able to get institute back started up, and actually 3 of our Ami's showed up! So that's been really cool as well.. We've been having around 15 of our Ami's at church each Sunday which has been unreal, and I keep forgetting that before that was around 3 maybe, so we've been blessed a ton! I'm still really frustrated with the marriage here though, as we have multiple people that have hit that roadblock.. But yeah the work is going great! The branch is doing well, and it has helped a ton having that third companionship come in! I've loved living with those two, even though they'll be leaving soon! Elder Owusu (old AP) is the best! He's Ghanaian so he speaks English, but honestly its easier to understand his French, but he's the best!! Ha ha, he sings Taylor Swift all day long, and is insanely Christlike. He also might be coming to BYU one day so that would be the best to have him over there! The work is great though! With the French finally there, I've been able to see my ability to teach well also grow so that's been a big help.. It is insanely hard to help people understand, with so little, but you have to make it work, so it takes a lot of work figuring that out! Its tough, with voodoo being ingrained in everyone, and the Catholic and Muslim churches being enormous here, to  get their old ways changed, but it is definitely coming along! Elder Owusu was giving us some comfort as well ha ha, he was saying when the missionaries first got in Ghana, they walked in the church, and they were playing drums, and the two leaders were women... Since then though they have a temple and the church is beautiful over there! Benin and Togo are really the last of the West Africa to get the church, and I guess the reason of that, is because of the problems in voodoo, and it is really the least educated of all the West Africa.. its coming along awesome here though!!  I love it here now though! Africa is the best!! Thanks for all of the love and support! I love and miss you all so much! Thanks for all you are doing back home!
Elder Oliverson

My Companion :)

Day of Service

Me with my machete

Ouidah

Bonjour!

I’m really sorry but my time is short today because today we went to Ouidah (place where they sent off the slaves, and the voodoo capital) with the Zone, and the APs, and didn’t get back till not too long ago so I’m short on time today! But yeah we were involved with a day of service that was really cool! The best part was I got the machete for a solid hour! It was the best! But yeah, so it was the day of service for our district, so we went and cleaned those grounds of one of the government buildings, it was national televised too so that was really cool and helpful! I got on Benin national television sharpening my machete!! I think because they thought it was crazy that a white guy had a machete, but yeah it was really cool! I was in heaven with that machete. It was the best! It was really fun too; it was tough no doubt though. In the U.S we would’ve finished that job with a tractor in 30 minutes or so, but we had to clear the field with machetes... its crazy how well the Africans work with those, we didn’t know what we were doing! It was really cool though, and we had a really good turnout I thought! Presidents son was in visiting as well, so he was there with his two sons as well, it was crazy seeing white kids! I got a haircut that is not good, for sure didn’t want them to do that to my hair, but they messed it up, so there is nothing more that I could do, it’s happened to everyone here at least once! Its finally coming back though, everyone here made fun of me for it forever.

     But yeah the French is coming along really well, and finally isn’t really a worry at all, so it lets me focus much more on the work for sure! I finally see my ability as an instrument for the Lord growing that way so it’s really nice!  I’m worried I will be leaving this sector soon, and like I said before we have about 12 baptisms who are waiting for marriage, which I know are all coming soon, so it will be tough for sure to leave before we get those done because those were some awesome people for sure!

    Another new thing this past week was another companionship moved in temporarily. Because Elder Owusu, the old AP, is leaving in three weeks, and Elder Koadio who had to go home to fix a hernia, came back as well, so they put Elder Owusu and him together for the next couple weeks, until Owusu leaves, and they find a place for Koadio, and Gbegamey was the only apartment big enough for 6 so they brought them in. It’s been really fun for sure, and they’re both awesome missionaries! But yeah things are going pretty well! Elder Desvergez is definitely very zealous, allowing us to get a ton of work done so that is really nice! Honestly some of the happiest parts so far have been what we have been able to do with the branch, for example activating the old branch president. It’s going great though! I am very worried though that I'll be going soon! It’s going great though! Ambroise was at the service activity with his family and that was the best to see as well! That’s a beautiful family for sure! I have three new Ghanaians Amis as well! So it’s pretty weird teaching them! Teaching in English is honestly probably harder than teaching in French! Its crazy teaching them though but I love it! We have them now, and also an Ivorian Ami.  Something I found out, that actually makes a big difference, Benin is the least educated and least civilized of all of the West African countries, and even the others are in poverty. It was crazy talking to Elder Koadio, who is from Cote Divoire, and hearing him talk about how much tougher it is here to teach, because they have such a hard time understanding. It’s going really well though! That’s definitely a big challenge though for sure, and especially in that a big part hardly even speak French, but the gospel surely has to go to all the world; and all these people have the same potential as we do, so that definitely helps get things in perspective! But yeah I'm really excited with the Ghanaians’, its a father and his two sons, and they came here to Benin because they are carpenters, and the ebony here is much cheaper, so they make the stuff here and send it back to Ghana! We haven’t taught them too much though. It’s great as well having Owusu and Koadio come into the apartment though for sure! They are two Africans that are amazing missionaries, like future general authorities, they’re awesome! It’s been really cool, as it’s the coolest time of the year, so I think 80 ish or so? So that’s been nice! Avocados are in season here, same with pineapples, so that’s all I've been living off of but it’s been nice! I miss the mango's though for sure! The work is going really well though, and I remember Elder Ritchie saying how much more fun it is when you can finally speak well, and I’ve definitely found that to be true! It’s going awesome though! I love and miss you all a ton! I hope all is well! Sorry again I’m short on time! I’m trying to send a lot of pictures, but that’s impossible with the computers here, but yeah! Till next week!

Elder Oliverson

This is from over in Ouidah! Where they sent the slaves and such 

                                              The gospel is going to the whole world!:)

Bonjour!

Things have gone pretty well this past week! Nothing too crazy has happened though! We have been working incredibly hard, and its a bit frustrating as right now we have about 12 Amis or so, that are completely ready for baptism, but because they can’t get married, for some reason or another (their spouse, money.) They haven’t been able to take that next step so we just have to keep fortifying them, but finding new Amis that will be able to progress. So this past week has been a lot of finding mostly!! Elder Desvergez has loved it as he loves talking with everyone ha-ha, we’ve found a handful of some bizarre people, but at the same time we have found some really good Amis! We have a new Amis who is a Rasta, and he’s actually very intelligent as well, he’s very interested in our message, but we’ll have to see how that goes! We have another ami I’m very excited about named Moise, he works in the government here, so he’s pretty well to do, and he has a few children as well, one actually is studying to be a doctor, and they have already been doing really well and were at church this past Sunday! He calls me Elder Clinton; because I think the only American he knows is Bill Clinton, so finding that I’m American, that’s the connection he makes. But it’s all good! We’ve been doing a lot of work in the branch this past week as well; we set up a fireside on Tuesday, and actually had a really good turn out! We had a meeting with the branch on Saturday as well, to try to get things more organized, and working, so I’m hoping that will help out! I GOT to give a talk on Sunday as well, on missionary work, and every member being a missionary, because the Branch President wanted me to chastise the branch, because they have struggled a little that way. I have no clue how to do that, so I just gave a talk! Ha-ha, it went really well though! But yeah the work is going great! It’s been a little tough this past week but it’s going well! Ambroise and Gilbert are doing amazing. Its the best to see them, and to see how far they are continuing to progress, its insane! Then I think back to the day when we found them back at the bar, and to see how happy they are now, and especially their families all together is the best! Because we’ve been doing a lot of finding lately as well its funny to see the people that don’t really want to talk to us. At first I though everyone did, but after this past week I realized there are even people here that don’t. For example when we knock a door, and we start talking, and the person is clearly not wanting us there, so they say I’m Ghanaian, (so they speak English) and then I start to speak English with them, then they say they don’t speak much English so they start speaking some random tribal language, only to find out Desvergez has started to learn those as well, and you can see the frustration in their face.... Man. Haha, we’ve definitley found some good new Amis though!! We for some reason have an unusually very tight relationship with the police and military here as well, Ha-ha, with the commissioner and many of the leaders being Mormon, or just liking us in general, that’s been really nice, For example this past week, we were walking through some crowd and there were military people ordering us around, and for some reason they started getting really mad, because they had to get some UN trucks through, they started pushing people and getting aggressive and such, and with me and Desvergez sticking out of the crowd like a sore thumb, it wasn’t a good situation.. Then out of nowhere, we heard someone yell Mes Amis!! (My friends!) And the head guy over the military group ran up to us and was happier than ever to see us, at first we didn’t recognize him because he was decked out in his officer gear, then we realized who it was, the second he came all of the soldiers that were pushing the crowd around scattered as they knew they were in trouble ha-ha, but yeah, its definitely nice having that hookup there! Things are going great here for sure! We have a mission wide services project this next Saturday, which will be pretty fun, so that’s exciting! I had to get blood drawn this past week for my Carte de Sejour, because apparently they are better than visas? So I headed over to the mission office, expecting that they had brought in some French doctors or something. The doctors weren’t there yet, but out of no where two random Africans in Bumbas (tribal outfits) showed up, and said they were the doctors.... never have I been so scared of a shot in my life, Ha-ha, it went well though as far as I know! I’m still not sick so I think were good... But yeah things are great here! It’s been pretty cool, which has been nice because we haven’t had power! And mentioning no power. We were at the coiffure today when the power cut, sooo. They ended up shaving mine and Desvergez heads... not the best look, I’m hoping well get that back real soon! Ha-ha I hope all is great back in America!

I love and miss you all! 

Elder Oliverson

 I’m super short on time!! Things are going great! Once again we’ve been working incredibly hard and have had a good time seeing it pay off! Our ami's are continuing to progress well, in exception of a few, due to marriages, which is no doubt the biggest problem here! It’s coming along though! We have baptisms this Saturday, with Gladise and here two kids! So I’m really looking forward to that! They’ve been really hard to teach because they hardly speak French, but they’ve all progressed really well! Another one of our cool experiences that actually happened a while ago has been with our ami Maximellean. Our first lesson with her, we were talking, and she was expressing some family problems she was having, my companion decided to read a story in Alma from the Book of Mormon, thinking the missionaries before had already explained it to her, which they hadn’t. She’s a strong catholic so we were a little worried, but we went along with the story and how she could apply that in her life. We finished the little lesson, and she went crazy asking what this amazing book was and how she could get one. We explained she could get one if she came to church with us that Sunday. Sure enough she was there, and since then hasn’t missed a single week! She’s been an amazing ami, and is now getting baptized on the 17th! So I’m super excited for that! My comp has taught me so much on using the Book of Mormon, and how important that really is, which I’ve seen clearly!! When you know how to use that your success goes up drastically in all areas its crazy!! But yeah the ami's are coming along very well! Sorry I am short on time, I will try to keep you all updated the next week! But yeah! We also, today, found out that this whole time we have had a zoo, just behind our apartment. So we decided to go check that out today! Man. it was a little shady kind of thing, it was back in this little parcel area, which I can see why no one knows about it. But coolest zoo I’ve ever been too!! They had monkeys everywhere, and a couple huge baboons, caged up though... But I got to feed one, no doubt one of the scariest things ever! Ha-ha, after that we found all of their crocodiles and alligators, which were all just behind a couple of bars... it was crazy. In the corner there was a full-grown adult lion... I legitimately could have pet it through the bars, but I chose not too... the lion wasn’t doing much in its little cage, and the guy who owns the place got a stick and started slapping the lion with it... That is something I’ll never forget is how mad that lion got... I was only feet away as it went absolutely crazy, and I legitimately thought that we were going to die... Seriously never have I been to a zoo like that. Ha-ha, but definitely the coolest one I’ve ever been too! But yeah the work is great, and the branch is coming along really well!! But yeah things are going great and the work is really fun!! Its much more fun now to with how far along the French is!! But yeah I love my comp. Its awesome how much I’ve learned from him. We had zone conference on Friday, and that was really good! The last big one was my first week here, so it’s good to see how far I’ve progressed. It’s crazy though too! But yeah the branch is doing great, its incredibly tough with that though at the same time! It’s going well though! For example, we had a lady bear her testimony about her husband who is a priesthood holder giving her a blessing. Which is great, till she mentioned that he’d put the oil in her mouth. Just things like that are some of the tough stuff to deal with! Ha-ha sorry again though I’m incredibly short on time today! I will for sure get caught up next week! Same with pictures! I love and miss you all!

Thanks again for everything! Elder Oliverson

                                                          I found a Snake