Oliver in Brazil: January 2024

 Oliver in Brazil in January was full!

Lots of friends, baptisms, kite flying, pizza eating, pizza making,

hardcore work, studying, teaching, preaching, loving, dedicating, serving, 

turning NINETEEN,

and taking beautiful photos (and funny, weird ones, too).

Preaching on the streets...

Pizza P-day Photos...

One of his friends opened up his pizza joint for the Elders

to come make pizza.

According to the Elders, it's the best pizza in Brazil.

(I love the scripture they wrote on his menu chalkboard!)

On the bus...

Flying kites is a HUGE thing where Ollie is serving,

And he's a little obsessed.

He's flying kites on the apartment roof any free time he gets.

Baptizing friends...

Going to church...

Sleeping...

He told me last week he opened the extra set of sheets he left with.

He told me he was going to do that on his year mark.

His year mark is February 27th.

Close enough!

Social activities with friends

 and church members...

Going to the temple...

His mission President allows the missionaries to serve in the temple twice 

a year, and he got to go this month.

I could tell it was such a lift to his spirits!

Bathroom Selfies...

Scenery...

Miscellaneous weird photos...

(Still obsessed with helmets!)

I love you, Ollie!!!!

Spring Break Projects

Stillestead is so fantastic and charming but has no storage,

so we have to get really creative about where we put things,

and it forces us to only keep things we really love and need.

Ollie left us with about 50 boxes of shoes and helmets 

(two excessive hobbies) with strict instructions about where and where NOT 

to store these things.

So it's like playing real-life Tetris, putting things under beds, 

and in closets.

Christian surprised us and bought a hammock to

put in the trees in front of the house!

He spent the afternoon and into the night putting it up

for a very, very eager Lottie.

#PrayforGigs.

He hurt his foot in a little motorcycle mishap.

Get better soon, son!!

Ollie takes flight!.

 Today was a big day for our family.

Today Ollie left for his 2-year mission in Interlagos, Brazil!

Christian had left earlier for the airport on a work trip in San Fransisco,

so Gigs, Lottie, and I accompanied Elder Nielson 

to the Raleigh/Durham airport to say goodbye and send him off.

Early this morning, I went to the boy's room while it was still dark outside to

get them up.  I stopped in my tracks for a few minutes looking

at Ollie sound asleep in his little bed.

I knew this was the ending of a chapter in our family dialogues and

I tried to push back the tears as I woke him up.

It was a dark rainy day, and I usually love dark and dreary

days, BUT not this time.  Today seemed overwhelming and sad.

We were silent in the car except for a playlist of Ollie's favorite

songs and music playing, which made everything worse and

unnecessarily dramatic!  

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time,

we exchanged letters with each other; he had written each of

us a note, and we had written him letters too.

My letter came with a little present- several packs of Bubble Yum

cotton candy gum.  I told him he and his companion could each eat

one piece each month, and when the packs are gone, he'll be home!

Ollie and I both LOVE that gum (no one else does!).

We sat in the airport waiting room, and he fell asleep on my shoulder.

Tears dripped from my eyes as I felt the weight of his head.

I smelled his hair and looked at his hands.

Oh my goodness, how I'm going to miss him!!! 

Finally, it was time to say goodbye, and we hugged and cried and hugged

and cried a lot more.  I felt so sad but so proud at the same time.

I thought it was very fitting that his ticket printed his name as

NIELSON/OLIVERCHRIST

That's exactly who he is- a believer in Christ!

This is one of his favorite scriptures, and it relates to

him in his life more than ever right now found in 

The Doctrine and Covenants 24:10:

"...Oliver shall continue in bearing my name 

before the world, and also to the church. 

And he shall not suppose that he can say enough 

in my cause; and lo, I am with him to the end."

He marched in the TSA line and soon disappeared into the crowd.

We saw him again after he got through security and

waved a giant goodbye to us. 

 I broke down in tears and didn't stop crying all day. 

Having Christian gone made everything 500 times worse.

I felt so lonely and sad.

When we got home, I saw his breakfast bowl and plate sitting out still,

and his dirty clothes near his bed.

I had to remind myself that he's NOT DEAD and it's going to be OK

And I've already done this two times, and everything was just fine,

I'll just need some time to help me heal.

I climbed into my bed and took a nap; Lottie and Gigs watched a movie,

And we all felt horrible together.

Then the sun came out, and I took Angus on a little walk so I could

cry and pray out loud at the same time.

I asked the Lord to please help me find peace right then!

I KNOW he'll be fine; I KNOW he'll be safe,

I'm just sad for, well, me. 

I know that sounds selfish, but I will miss him

driving my car and taking us to pick up Lottie at 2:30 every day.

I will miss hearing his music and seeing his helmets around the house.

I will miss talking about motorcycles and wearing matching gloves 

on rides together.  There are so many things I'm going to miss.

I'm happy for him, but I'm sad for me.

Later I got a text from him as he loaded the plane from Atlanta 

to his final destination in Brazil, along with a few photos.

His eyes looked bloodshot, but he seemed really happy.

He had found his district and his companion, and he seemed ready.

He needed to connect with his group.

We texted for a few minutes, then he left, promising me he'd get to 

call me in the Brazil MTC the next day.

And somehow, I didn't feel so horrible anymore.