We received a photo today from a p-day activity to Flaming Gorge Reservoir near Green River, Wyoming.
Monday, November 2, 2020
Sunday, July 12, 2020
My name is Elder Olivier and I park my bike in the garage
We received this email from Elder Olivier on June 29.
Hey guys it's been a while,
So I'm back out on the mission in Salt Lake City. It's pretty weird to be on a mission right now during quarantine and it's pretty weird to be in the church's capital trying to find missionary work to do when almost everyone here is already a member haha. I was in a Spanish speaking area for a good three weeks and it was great while it lasted. It's pretty cool how much latin American culture is here in there U.S. and it was fun getting to know a lot of other cultures besides just Mexican. I found a lot of food that I was convinced I'd never find in the U.S. and got to speak a ton of Spanish.
Now I'm in an English area and it's kinda like I switched missions a second time. Teaching in English is pretty weird and something I'll have to get used to and the culture is pretty different as well. But it's cool.
Since there's so many missionaries that got reassigned to the U.S. because of Covid 19 they now have us living in a hotel while look for new apartments for us. It's pretty interesting and we're eating a lot of microwave food.
There's a lot of pretty ugly stuff going on in the world right now and I don't think anyone is really immune to it. A scripture I thought I'd share with you guys is found in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Alma and says:
24 He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.
I thought that scripture was pretty cool because God really does have a plan for each of us and despite how hard it is right now, we can always learn from what's happening and keep moving forward and bettering ourselves. God loves each of us and he's always there to help us when we need him.
I hope you guys are doing great and keep moving forward!
Hey guys it's been a while,
So I'm back out on the mission in Salt Lake City. It's pretty weird to be on a mission right now during quarantine and it's pretty weird to be in the church's capital trying to find missionary work to do when almost everyone here is already a member haha. I was in a Spanish speaking area for a good three weeks and it was great while it lasted. It's pretty cool how much latin American culture is here in there U.S. and it was fun getting to know a lot of other cultures besides just Mexican. I found a lot of food that I was convinced I'd never find in the U.S. and got to speak a ton of Spanish.
Now I'm in an English area and it's kinda like I switched missions a second time. Teaching in English is pretty weird and something I'll have to get used to and the culture is pretty different as well. But it's cool.
Since there's so many missionaries that got reassigned to the U.S. because of Covid 19 they now have us living in a hotel while look for new apartments for us. It's pretty interesting and we're eating a lot of microwave food.
There's a lot of pretty ugly stuff going on in the world right now and I don't think anyone is really immune to it. A scripture I thought I'd share with you guys is found in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Alma and says:
24 He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.
I thought that scripture was pretty cool because God really does have a plan for each of us and despite how hard it is right now, we can always learn from what's happening and keep moving forward and bettering ourselves. God loves each of us and he's always there to help us when we need him.
I hope you guys are doing great and keep moving forward!
Elder Olivier
Back to the Mission Field
On June 1, Elder Olivier was once again set apart as a missionary and left the following day early for Salt Lake City.
Setting Apart
Safely arrived in Salt Lake City!
Home Transfer
Elder Olivier transferred to home between April 5 and June 2. He was temporarily released on April 5, entered a 2-week quarantine and we enjoyed having Zach in at home for this time.
Visit with Oma and Opa
Easter COVID-19 Zoom with Family
Easter
Cheslen Preserve Hike
Tacos in Kennett Square from Puebla!
White Clay State Park Hike
Mexican Style Eggs
Mexican Style Corn on the Cob
Cameron's COVID-19 Graduation Party
Quarantine Beard
Last Day Before Reassignment - Lunch
Last Day Before Reassignment - Golf
Reassignment to Salt Lake City
Elder Olivier posted this to Facebook on May 4.
Due to Covid-19 I have been temporarily reassigned to the Utah Salt Lake City mission! I report the first week of June. The expectation is that I will return to Puebla when the borders open.
To my friends in Puebla I miss you so much!!
¡Debido a Covid-19 he sido reasignado temporalmente a la misión Utah Salt Lake City! Empiezo la primera semana de junio. La expectativa es que volveré a Puebla cuándo abren las fronteras.
A mis amigos en Puebla les extraño muchísimo!!
Due to Covid-19 I have been temporarily reassigned to the Utah Salt Lake City mission! I report the first week of June. The expectation is that I will return to Puebla when the borders open.
To my friends in Puebla I miss you so much!!
A mis amigos en Puebla les extraño muchísimo!!
Transfer Home to Quarantine
We received the following email from the mission secretary on March 29.
Dear Parents and Stake President of Elder Olivier
Here we have the itinerary for Elder Olivier´s flight home attached to this email. We also ask that you revise it and make the necessary preparations to receive him. We also ask to make sure that the 2-week quarantine is held as instructed.
Dear Parents and Stake President of Elder Olivier
Here we have the itinerary for Elder Olivier´s flight home attached to this email. We also ask that you revise it and make the necessary preparations to receive him. We also ask to make sure that the 2-week quarantine is held as instructed.
Ultimately, his flight was canceled and the church chartered a flight from Mexico City to Salt Lake with only missionaries on board. After a night in a hotel in Salt Lake, Elder Olivier arrived home to begin the quarantine on April 5.
Monday, March 30, 2020
La Hora Sad
We received this email from Elder Olivier on March 23.
So some of you mightve heard the news already but all the missionaries in mexico that arent from mexico are getting sent home cause of the coronavirus. It´s pretty sad and lots of tears have been shed throughout the whole mission. Out of all the missionaries in México Puebla Sur there´s only about 20 that are actually from Mexico. The other 180 ish are from pretty much every other country on the western hemisphere. You can see the hit list picture I attached at the bottom.
So what´s gonna happen is everyone is gonna go back home, self-quarantine for 14 days, and get reassigned to a mission within their own country. I´m really hoping I get sent Spanish speaking cause I don´t really know how to be a missionary in English haha.
But yeah pretty sad to get ripped out of Puebla so suddenly and I´m hoping I at least get to say goodbye to a lot of my new friends out here. It seems like I think of something I´m gonna miss about here about every two seconds.
I guess the biggest thing we should be focusing on right now is that God has a plan for us and he hasn't and never will forget us. He loves us way more than we can imagine and he knows what we need way better than we do. This is just another part of that plan.
I hope yall are doing great and dont have coronavirus. Apparently this is more than just a flu so stay safe haha.
Elder Olivier
Fotos:
1. The hit list, everyone crossed out is going home
So some of you mightve heard the news already but all the missionaries in mexico that arent from mexico are getting sent home cause of the coronavirus. It´s pretty sad and lots of tears have been shed throughout the whole mission. Out of all the missionaries in México Puebla Sur there´s only about 20 that are actually from Mexico. The other 180 ish are from pretty much every other country on the western hemisphere. You can see the hit list picture I attached at the bottom.
So what´s gonna happen is everyone is gonna go back home, self-quarantine for 14 days, and get reassigned to a mission within their own country. I´m really hoping I get sent Spanish speaking cause I don´t really know how to be a missionary in English haha.
But yeah pretty sad to get ripped out of Puebla so suddenly and I´m hoping I at least get to say goodbye to a lot of my new friends out here. It seems like I think of something I´m gonna miss about here about every two seconds.
I guess the biggest thing we should be focusing on right now is that God has a plan for us and he hasn't and never will forget us. He loves us way more than we can imagine and he knows what we need way better than we do. This is just another part of that plan.
I hope yall are doing great and dont have coronavirus. Apparently this is more than just a flu so stay safe haha.
Elder Olivier
Fotos:
1. The hit list, everyone crossed out is going home
La Alta Vida en Alta Vista
We received the following email from Elder Olivier on February 24.
Que onda mi people,
So I got transferred out of Ignacio Mejia and now I'm in Atlixco de Las Flores! It's one of two pueblos mágicos de la misión, the other one being Cholula. My area is called Alta Vista and it's really high. It's also almost the zone closest to the volcano Popocatepetl and we can pretty much always see it from our area. We're not in the flower season yet but I'll most likely be here for that. Pretty cool.
But yeah it's been a super huge culture shock so far coming from Ajalpan, the middle of the desert, to the middle of Altixco which is super suburban and green. I told my comp that the first house we walked into was super rich and fresa cause they had tile floors and brand new couches and he kinda just looked at me like I was a super weird gringo. Then I found out that every house here is like that jaja. So I guess this is a pretty wealthy area.
My comp is Elder Murillo from Chihuahua and he's super dope we get along great. We're constantly laughing but also breaking all our bones and getting really sun burnt from how hard we're working and how much we're outside walking. It feels really great to work hard and see immediate results from it cause the last area I was in was super hard and the work went pretty slow. But here the people are really great and super receptive to the gospel. Also the members here support the missionaries more than I've ever experienced in my entire life as a member of the church which is awesome. But Atlixco is pretty great in general I'm pretty much instant friends with everyone I meet here. I've decided to become a Mexican. I am now addicted to really spicy food, mole, chicharrones con Valentina, corn tortillas, and Coke. Also it's the best when the tomale carts pass by.
Also had the opportunity to help teach english classes in the church this week which was pretty cool. They asked me to say a prayer in English since I was the only native speaker there and it was pretty embarrassing cause I found out in the middle of the prayer that I had no idea how to do that in english and accidentally slipped into Spanish like 5 times. Pretty weird experience. I guess that's what I get for making fun of return missionaries for asking to pray in their mission language. Turns out it actually is pretty difficult to switch back.
My spiritual thing that I'm trying to work on is humility and obedience. I've found that blessings come when we humble ourselves and be more obedient to God and his commandments. Also when we realize that every blessing that we have in our lives is from God and we should be grateful for that. It can be pretty easy when you have success as a missionary to think that you did all of that yourself, but really the only thing you did was be willing to be a tool in God's hands. And I think that applies to every kind of service even outside of missionary work.
We have some pretty awesome people that we're teaching but imma wait till next week to update you guys on that I think cause we just barely found them all and we still don't know a ton about them yet.
That's it for this week though and I hope you all are doing great!
Elder Olivier
Fotos:
1. Random Google image of the view from my area. Working on getting my own picture of that but the weather hasn't been that pretty yet.
2. Me on top of a giant hill in my area. There's like three hills like that that we climb everyday around 5 times ish.
3. A low quality picture of a high quality companionship
4. All the missionaries in Atlixco, ft. people from the U.S., Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Que onda mi people,
So I got transferred out of Ignacio Mejia and now I'm in Atlixco de Las Flores! It's one of two pueblos mágicos de la misión, the other one being Cholula. My area is called Alta Vista and it's really high. It's also almost the zone closest to the volcano Popocatepetl and we can pretty much always see it from our area. We're not in the flower season yet but I'll most likely be here for that. Pretty cool.
But yeah it's been a super huge culture shock so far coming from Ajalpan, the middle of the desert, to the middle of Altixco which is super suburban and green. I told my comp that the first house we walked into was super rich and fresa cause they had tile floors and brand new couches and he kinda just looked at me like I was a super weird gringo. Then I found out that every house here is like that jaja. So I guess this is a pretty wealthy area.
My comp is Elder Murillo from Chihuahua and he's super dope we get along great. We're constantly laughing but also breaking all our bones and getting really sun burnt from how hard we're working and how much we're outside walking. It feels really great to work hard and see immediate results from it cause the last area I was in was super hard and the work went pretty slow. But here the people are really great and super receptive to the gospel. Also the members here support the missionaries more than I've ever experienced in my entire life as a member of the church which is awesome. But Atlixco is pretty great in general I'm pretty much instant friends with everyone I meet here. I've decided to become a Mexican. I am now addicted to really spicy food, mole, chicharrones con Valentina, corn tortillas, and Coke. Also it's the best when the tomale carts pass by.
Also had the opportunity to help teach english classes in the church this week which was pretty cool. They asked me to say a prayer in English since I was the only native speaker there and it was pretty embarrassing cause I found out in the middle of the prayer that I had no idea how to do that in english and accidentally slipped into Spanish like 5 times. Pretty weird experience. I guess that's what I get for making fun of return missionaries for asking to pray in their mission language. Turns out it actually is pretty difficult to switch back.
My spiritual thing that I'm trying to work on is humility and obedience. I've found that blessings come when we humble ourselves and be more obedient to God and his commandments. Also when we realize that every blessing that we have in our lives is from God and we should be grateful for that. It can be pretty easy when you have success as a missionary to think that you did all of that yourself, but really the only thing you did was be willing to be a tool in God's hands. And I think that applies to every kind of service even outside of missionary work.
We have some pretty awesome people that we're teaching but imma wait till next week to update you guys on that I think cause we just barely found them all and we still don't know a ton about them yet.
That's it for this week though and I hope you all are doing great!
Elder Olivier
Fotos:
1. Random Google image of the view from my area. Working on getting my own picture of that but the weather hasn't been that pretty yet.
2. Me on top of a giant hill in my area. There's like three hills like that that we climb everyday around 5 times ish.
3. A low quality picture of a high quality companionship
4. All the missionaries in Atlixco, ft. people from the U.S., Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Ignacio Mejia Zone
We received the following photos of Elder Olivier on February 18 (after he transferred to Atlixco).
Ignacio Mejia Zone
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Todavía en el Nachito Mejía
We received the following email from Elder Olivier on January 20.
Whats up guys its been a while,
I haven´t emailed in a while for a bunch of different reasons and I´ve gotten a ton of comments about it so I guess some people do actually read these things haha.
My comp got transferred and now I´m in a trio for the second time in my mission so that's pretty cool. My new comps are super cool, one is from Mexico City area (its a state that's close to that but I always forget what its called but he also tells people hes from mexico city so I guess its cool) and the other guy is from Idaho. They both speak both English and Spanish pretty well so that´s kinda dope cause we´re pretty free to just switch to whatever language we´re feeling more comfortable in at the moment when we´re in the house. It´s pretty great I´ve gotten really good at just switching languages mid sentence which is fun.
That´s pretty much all the stuff I have to say I think. I have some people I´m teaching that are doing well and we´re getting to know them and they´re awesome. The mission can be pretty exhausting sometimes though but ya bois hanging in there and its all cool.
Hope you all are doing great with everything you´re doing.
Elder Olivier
Fotos:
1. Not sure if I sent that from like a month ago but that´s me and the boys giving out some free ponche in the park for christmas. Ponche is like hot apple cider kind of but better.
2. Me on top of a mountain-ito overlooking my area. It looks like there´s not really anything there and that´s cause there really isn´t that much there. I think it´s a little better than it looks in that picture though.
Whats up guys its been a while,
I haven´t emailed in a while for a bunch of different reasons and I´ve gotten a ton of comments about it so I guess some people do actually read these things haha.
My comp got transferred and now I´m in a trio for the second time in my mission so that's pretty cool. My new comps are super cool, one is from Mexico City area (its a state that's close to that but I always forget what its called but he also tells people hes from mexico city so I guess its cool) and the other guy is from Idaho. They both speak both English and Spanish pretty well so that´s kinda dope cause we´re pretty free to just switch to whatever language we´re feeling more comfortable in at the moment when we´re in the house. It´s pretty great I´ve gotten really good at just switching languages mid sentence which is fun.
That´s pretty much all the stuff I have to say I think. I have some people I´m teaching that are doing well and we´re getting to know them and they´re awesome. The mission can be pretty exhausting sometimes though but ya bois hanging in there and its all cool.
Hope you all are doing great with everything you´re doing.
Elder Olivier
Fotos:
1. Not sure if I sent that from like a month ago but that´s me and the boys giving out some free ponche in the park for christmas. Ponche is like hot apple cider kind of but better.
2. Me on top of a mountain-ito overlooking my area. It looks like there´s not really anything there and that´s cause there really isn´t that much there. I think it´s a little better than it looks in that picture though.
We also received a few more photos from a P-day excursion to a botanical gardens.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Photos
We received a few pictures from Elder Olivier around Christmas.
The following pictures are from a zone activity where they were providing free punch in a town square.
The following picture was from a mission Christmas dinner.
The following pictures are from a zone activity where they were providing free punch in a town square.
The following picture was from a mission Christmas dinner.
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