Return Home 4/23/2014

E-Mail 4/15/2014

This week has been good. Again tiring but good. I really love general conference!! It is nice to be taught and instructed when you feel like your the one that does all the teaching/Instructing. Also It’s weird knowing that this will be the last time I watch conference in the format that they have to here in England do to the time change. My favorite session was Sunday morning session. Bednar and the young mens presidency talks were both really good.

     I got my travel plans this week. Not going to lie took a bit of a hit there but Im all good again after conference. 🙂 It is also funny to see missionaries in my group that are way more trunky then me. I noticed that yesterday at conference. made me feel better! 🙂

    Me and Elder Pulman are doing well. really good guy. We have alot of fun together. He knew a ton of the people in Reading yesterday. People kept accidental calling him Josh. His first name.
But we fasted from Saturday to Sunday for the zone goals and I guess just success in our labors so Elder Pulman made some delicious sandwiches for us and we bought some lunch stuff!! I dont know if it was just because I was starving hungry or what but man they were Delicious!!!

    I went on my exchange with the zone leaders this week. My last one. I was with Elder mafubelu. He goes home the same time as me. But he travels to South Africa. really good guy. Really good last exchange. We taught like 6 or 7 people that day. really good day. I always enjoy exchanges and It has been weird not to do as many as I was in Eastbourne. Next few weeks will be really interesting. Have a missionary farewell this Sunday and then a wedding the weekend after that at the chapel of a recent convert to a member. Not sure if were are going or not. They said their was going to be alot of people not in the church there. and it will be my last weekend so….. Idk . We’ll see how it goes.

      Well love you guys.

         Getting more excited to see you. Still really nervous though but yea….

      Love

       The best looking missionary in England!

         Elder Oviatt

E-Mail 3/31/2014

Hey so this past week has been so much better. I really enjoy my new companion Elder Pulman. He really great guy from Wales.Another British companion!! 🙂 He’s a really hard worker and I’m excited that he’s my last companion. So Far this week we have got 3 new investigators and have ran into some really cool less actives. We had zone training this week which I have to talk at so there’s that. It went alright I thought. It was for 20 minutes!!!!! Goodness! But it went well. they also have all the missionaries that are going home give their last or dying testimony. So I also  had to do that. Man I bet they were sick of hearing me talk by the end of it.

       But yeah. Don’t know much else what to say considering I talked to you Yesterday. But it was really good to talk to you guys. Does a Missionaries heart good. Even if all you guys talked about was what It’ll be like when I’m home. haha. It goes by so fast. Crazy fast!! This transfer is also a 5 week transfer so even faster. New companion is really good though. He’s kinda like the grim reaper of the mission. ha ah . I’m his 3rd companion his finished and he’s only been out about 9 months. We get along well though. He says I’m the least Trunky of any of his comps though. 🙂 

     Doing my best to finish hard. Sorry I was so tired yesterday. I’m still really tired today. But slightly better. I have some really bad bags under my eyes today though. Kinda looks like a have a black eye. Like I said when I get home I just want to sleep for like 2 days. Eat and sleep. That sounds nice. lol, Well Like I said not much to share but I did my best. Love you guys and talk to you all soon.

 

 

                        Elder Oviatt           

 

E-Mail 3/17/2014

Dont know if or who of us is moving yet. Will probably find out in a couple of hours or so. Everythings been alright. Kinda same-o same-o. Hard week. Didn’t teach that much but Kai Thu is still doing really well!!! 🙂 We see him like 4 times a week now. Sorry dont have alot of time to send long email but if I get the chance I’ll try and send another short one of Wednesday. We do FHE at a members house every monday for kinda everyone that doesn’t have any where else to go and it’s really good. Last week we had 2 Investigators there and 3 kinda less active/recent converts. Hopefully this week will turn out the same. Last night we hd a lesson that ran late so as we were walking home we stopped by a family so that I could use there kitchen table to account on. They gave us food! 🙂 Again sorry for short email this week. Hopefully I will have more mental and physical energy to email again on Wednesday.

 

Dear family,

 While I was sending off my president letter I felt like it kinda summed up everything so I added it to this. District meeting was really good this week. Spirit was alot stronger then last weeks. This will be the lst District meeting of this transfer. 😦 Surprisingly even with everything that has been going on it still flew by. I feel like I just got here in basingstoke. I thought it was weird when I realized I had been here for 5 weeks already. So fast.  But all the little kids in the Ward love me already!!!!! It’s super funny. My comp thinks its weird. One of the little girls that we had dinner at during the week ran up to me during sacrament meeting and waved and then ran away. It was really funny. Also I don’t know if you guys know this but in England they have what’s called pancake day. Oh my goodness. Why is this not a thing in America!!!?! It’s amazing mostly everyone eats pancakes all day! It’s Awesome!

 Birthday was good. Had a crazy Dinner! A cake. that’s about it but it was good. One of the sister’s in my District made me Oreo cake balls!!! Amazing! Like celestial Kingdom in my mouth!

   I’m glad that everything is going better at home.

                Miss you guys oh so much!!!! Hopefully I can talk to you guys soon. Next week is transfers so no email until probably Wednesday. 🙂 Love ya

 

Love

   Elder Oviatt

 

Dear President Millar,
How are you doing?

 

This week will be different though. Im going to just push and not give up. Maybe this is the week where I can break through. I was lazy last week but that’s not going to happen again I don’t have time for that. 
Besides all that its going good. Investigators are increasing and Khai Thu is doing well. He is starting to get a good relationship with the members, He’s coming to FHE with us tonight. Hopefully we can see some referrals soon. I really want to put into practice more of what President Judd said at last Zone Conference but Elder Simpson’s says that its to bold and would offend people, soI’m just going to wait. 
Thanks for your letter today. It was very uplifting and helped me alot. 

E-Mail 3/3/2014

I forgot to ask actually…. Sorry!!! Im guessing President was thinking of making me a zl and so he asked me to get it but probably prayed about it and was like oh definitely not!! haha Idk I’d guess that though. Companion still about the same. I feel like I can do a better job though at making a relationship there. There’s more things I can do to build that trust. I’m still tired though. During  My interview president asked me to help him. We talked about how easy it would be to just endure for the next 3 weeks and not deal with it but he has asked me to. I feel like we are back to where we were before our last talk. so IDK. I have been praying about it and I fasted yesterday so that I could be a better companion for Elder S.

    Glad your doing better. You’ll have to tell me Point Number 1 When I get home !! 🙂

Haha I love those Ideas Debbi,  to bad I can’t draw though……  I’m still thinking about it I might Put the Lyrics to the Hymn the time is far spent on it and then Print out a whole bunch of tiny photos of things that have happened on my mission. Idk

 If you send me Karlie’s email I’ll send her one next Monday. I think you already have but I cant find it….

This week has been good though. There’s a kid named Kar Seng who has been taught since 14 but can’t be baptised because so his dad. He was in a really spiritually low when I got here but now he’s better. Before he wanted to be baptised next February and I was like what!!??? Why??? Why not in June when you turn18??? I did some praying and we had a really good lesson and he accepted a date to be baptised on the 28th of June. About a week and a half after his birthday. Really spiritual lesson. We asked him and he was like I have to think about it. We then asked what the spirit was saying to him and he said that it was saying to DO IT! haha so it was really good. I love times like those.

  The ZL’s Challenged us to go over 20 lessons this week. Im really excited about it. I enjoy being pushed to reach stuff like that. So we’re going for it. I don’t think Elder S is as game as I am but oh well. District had a really good week last week. Made me happy. Still trying to find out how to support, uplift and motivate. Much Different then my last district.

   Not to much news besides that. Going to do a district meeting on consecration. Hopefully It goes well. Can’t believe my birthday next Sunday!!! I feel old. Is this how you guys feel?? 🙂

              With love

                 Elder Oviatt

E-Mail 2/24/2014

So this past week has been Kinda a roller coaster. The work has really picked up here in Basingstoke. We found 4 new people who we were able to set up appointments with and got a lot more numbers and addresses to just “Stop By”.  I have felt really fulfilled this week. Elder S and My self have still been struggling. But on Thursday we had our weekly planning and Companionship inventory. I was really honest and open and told him what I thought and he didn’t say much but didn’t deny anything I was saying. Not Alot has changed except for kinda the Dynamic of our Companionship. He Likes being the one in charge and by now you guys know how much I hate it so I was fine with it. Before he was very much the dominant and I was fine with that. I didn’t know the area. Made sense for him to lead. But sense Friday he has been alot more of sitting back and having me make the decisions. Kinda nice but kinda not. When Ever I made a decision before he would argue it and all this other stuff to now he just kinda goes with it.   But still alot of not telling the truth. This was also the same night that president called asking for your guys number so that he could call and see how Dad’s surgery went. I love President Millar. I heard he talked to Debbie and then he called me back to say that everything was alright. Was it weird when he called??? I hope Debbie didn’t yell at him like dad did to Sister Parsens. 🙂

    Like I said the work is picking up. I feel like Im getting a good relationship with a lot of the ward. We also had Zone Conference this week. Probably my last one….  ha, It was really good though. Amazing really. One of my favorites. President gave us some really good counsel but I really Loved President Judd. He’s American and gives really good straight forward things to do. Norm all accompanied by a funny story. But he talked about working with members. We tried some of the things that he said for us to do last night and it worked!!!! Amazing. The family is going to invite a friend to church in the month of march. (It is the best month by the way) 🙂

    So Zone conference kinda bitter sweet. Amazing experience but kinda sad that it’s the last one. We have interviews with President this Wednesday. Maybe I’ll ask him Why I got my driving license??? I did get it in the mail this week. I does look pretty good just saying. Im trying to think of Ideas to decorate my last planner with… Have any ideas????

Well got to go but I’ll talk to you guys soon. Maybe English Mothers day. 🙂

           Love Elder (To good to to home) Oviatt

E-Mail 2/17/2014

Dear Family,

   This week has been a challenge. The weather has been horrible. Their is tons of flooding all over England and their is another storm coming in today or tomorrow. My super sturdy golf umbrella has been a life saver!!! Went on exchange with the Zone leaders in Reading. It was super good!!!! I really enjoyed it. I went with a missionary that is from my group. Elder Hergerhorst. Really good guy. Reading is like super old. It looks really English. I know that sounds funny because Im in England but it just looks super old English. Kinda funny. District meeting was good. Zone leaders came. Which I was glad because if they didn’t it would have just been me my companion and the Sisters. We set goals for this transfers and just talked about how to accomplish them. Was really effective I thought. We want to be getting alot more people to church. AS a district we want to get 5 people to church. the sister 2 and us 3. Which is kinda funny because the sisters yesterday had 3 and we had , But hey I just got here and they just had a random polish guy walk up and come to sacrament meeter. So kinda unfair.

      Doing my best to get along with my new companion Elder Simpson. Really good guy. From Scotland as well. Three in a row. Man!!! Now I feel kinda obligated to go visit there some day. We are teaching a kid named Kar Seng. Family is from China. He’s 17 and has been coming to church for 2 years. His dad wont let him get baptized! We jell really well. Had a lesson with him on Sunday after church and he said that he feels like he is the lowest spiritually since he has been taught. So we are really going to do our best to get him back on track. We have an appointment with a part member family that use to be in Aldershot then moved to Basingstock while I was there. So it’s really funny to see them again. The Mom who isn’t a member but has alot of member family is going to feed us on Tuesday. Im really excited because she’s from the Philippines and they make really good food. 🙂 Yeah!!! FOOD!

    Im not sure what Im going to be doing my last move. I kinda have the feeling the President might make me move to a car area for my last move or I hope I get a new comp.  Not sure though….

         So Interesting part of the week. THe normal person that plays piano called us on Saturday and said that she wouldn’t be at church and asked if I could play. Her husband heard me playing 1 of like the 3 hymns I know before youth. I told her I can only play like 5 hymns and not very well but she was like oh you’ll do fine just play the top hand if you want. They had no one else!!!!! ahhh. So they made me play in Sacrament meeting!!!! I was super nervous. But it went alright. A few mess ups but I thought it was okay. Thanks goodness!!!! Not going to let them do that to me again!!! Also This ward does Sacrament last. 1st one besides Catford which was my 1st ward. So If I do leave from here it will be just like home. Weird!!!

       Any way that is really all for this week.

               Love you guys

                     Elder Oviatt

E-Mail 2/10/2014

Hey guys,

   So I got moved to a new area in reading zone called Basingstoke. It’s a really good ward. TONS of little kids every where. Families everywhere. It reminds me of our ward back home. I’m really excited to be here. My new companion is Elder Simpson from Scotland. Yep that’s three Scots in a row. How would you guys feel if I came home with a Scottish accent???? eye ladi

   We are getting a long really well though. I think it should be a good companionship. We both want to work hard and get along so I don’t see any problems. We had a Chinese guy just pop into Church on Sunday. He’s visiting for a few months and saw our church and came in. He stayed for all 3 hours and really enjoyed it. We are suppose to meet him again on Wednesday at the chapel. We also have a baptismal date for march 8th but I haven’t met him yet.

    So far things are really good. They had me and sister Brown bear our testimonies on Sunday since we are new. It’s weird…. I went from a district of 8 with a senior couple to just me and my companion and a set of sisters. And we serve in the same ward. My accounting is much shorter. :))

   Most likely this will be my last area…. I don’t see president moving moving for my last 6 weeks. Oh yeah and Driving license…. I have no clue!!!! I passed but I don’t know why he had me get it. It was probably that he was thinking about making me ZL and changed his mind or idk…. At least I come home with an expensive souvenir. lol jk

     That was really all this week. I do miss Eastbourne. Leaving a area after 7 and a half months is super hard. You really start to love everyone there.  And I have had to do it twice!!! Torture!!! haha Its okay I’ll come back at some point. Like when I’m rich and famous. 🙂 Everyone in my last District was super cool, I’m going to miss them as well. Oh well Church is true!!! and facebook is a thing so all is well. haha

    Love

       Elder Oviatt

E-Mail 2/3/2014

I’m moving to basingstoke. No time to email.

E-Mail 1/27/2014

Hey family,

    I’m supper tired. I have been this whole week!! I dont know why. I was almost falling asleep while accounting last night. But I did get a good night sleep last night so I feel a bit better. This past weak flew by still. Most weeks do. We found out that moves are on February 5th not the 12th. So we lost a week. Today is our last Pday so we are all going to Brighton and just to hang out there. 

     We had two cool things happen this week. 1. HAd a missionary fireside where we watched 17 miralces. ( I still can’t find all 17!) Was really good. Had like 30 or so people there but it was successful I thought. Mad’s the 16 year old came as well. He also came to church. We had a really good lesson with him at the Jays. Really well. 

     2.our Ward Mission Leader is really involved in the community in what is called the faith forum. A group of people from all sorts of religions come together and they just discuss stuff. haha They hold meetings and activities. Just to prompt more or less religious freedom. He had us attend one with him on Monday night. Was really interesting. Was all groups of religions. Except for Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

    I take my Driving test on Tuesday at 8:20. Wish me luck!!! Hopefully I pass and wont need to take anymore. We have a zone training on Wednesday morning which Im looking forward to and which means I don’t have to do a District Meeting!!!! 🙂 Yeah. Im getting 

          This week should be really good. I’m looking forward to it. 

  

          Love you guys

                   Elder Ovaitt