Happy New Year!

Hey Happy new year a few hours early everyone! We had our P Day changed to Saturday this week because there will basically nothing open on Monday because of the New Year. Here, they take new year very seriously. Like basically the entire country is gonna be shut down for a few days so it should be interesting. We always find plenty of people that are super drunk for the next few days as well so that should be pretty interesting. Its for that, that our mission President has given us permission to watch movies all day tomorrow basically. But these are Disney movies which is going to be super weird, but at the same time is should be a nice break and should be something fun. Haha it surprised me a ton when we found that out but I'm not complaining too much haha.

This week was super good. I am now with my new companion elder Ritchie. He's from Missouri and just finished his training. We get along super well and laugh together a ton. I'm super excited for the cambio. We had a super good week too with the investigators. We were able to have second citas with a few people and those lessons were super good. One was with that Pedro that I mentioned a few weeks back. We had a super spiritual lesson with him yesterday and committed him to baptism if he gets his answer. He also committed himself to church tomorrow which will be super awesome. So now we will just have to pray that he gets that answer. The other lesson that was super good was with a lady named Blanca. We also committed her to baptism if she gets her answer. It was so awesome in the lesson because we were explaining to her how the holy ghost works to be able to get her answer and I asked her, "How have you felt while we have shared today?" and she said that she felt peace and a calmness and a happiness and it was super awesome because we explained to her that is how the spirit testifies to us that these things are true that we have taught her. It was so awesome. So for now they are our best investigators that we have. We finally had to tell Julio that we couldn't pass by him anymore because he just isn't willing to progress. That was kind of sad but I think that it will open up the door so that we can find more people.

Hope that you all have a good New Year and that you can put a whole but of resolutions and reach all of them(: Have a good Year!

Elder Ritchie and I

Our zone at the Christmas conference

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Heyyy merry Christmas everyone! Hope that you all had a good one this year. It was a pretty good one for us at least. Christmas here isnt as big as it is there but its still super fun. We celebrated doing a few things. First, we on Friday went to the local hospital and sang christmas carols and stuff to all of the people there and it was super fun. Everyone was listening to us throughout the hospital and we even got a few "Haleluyah" shouts from the Evangelicals there. It was sick. Uhh we also had a really long conference of the mission in which we learned about how the apostasy went down and it was pretty fun. But the best part of the whole thing was eating on the night of the 24th. We went with the member who lives right next to us and we seriously tried to eat so much food but we couldnt even eat close to half of it. I feel sick for how much food people have given us recently. Its great but awful. 

I will be staying in Penco. They are actually shutting one of the sectors in our sector so there will only be two missionaries instead of four. I am going to be with Elder Ritchie. He was one of the other two missionaries who was already there so It will be good because we both already know the sector and have investigators. I'm pretty excited too because he is super funny and a really good missionary. My comp is going to Linares and I am kind of sad about it because we got along super well together and it was super fun to be with him. I think he was probably my favorite companion. Hes a really good missionary too. 

Hope that you all had a Good Christmas. This year lets try and remember the life of Christ and try to follow that example that he left us. I know that he is our Savior and redeemer and that by following him we find happiness and peace in this life. Have a good Christmas!

 Our Christmas Skype!

 We found out how to be Jedi's with my scripture marking pen

Our Christmas feast for 3 people!

Elder Parker

Merry Christmas!

Hey Merry Christmas everyone since its the last time that I will be able to talk to You all before Christmas. Hope it goes well for all of you! I will be eating with members and sitting through a bunch of conferences I think and besides that it will be a pretty normal week. I guess though that the dinner we are going to eat with a member on Christmas Eve is huge though so I will start to fast tomorrow probably.

This week was average. WE were able to find a few people that want to change their lives. Julio though, does not. He is super addicted to alcohol and just doesn't want to admit that its a problem so I think that we might have to stop visiting him.  We have a few more people that are doing well and should progress. They have needs, which is key because the gospel can satisfy those needs that they have, so we will see. There names are Pedro and Margot and Nicole. We are gonna hope for the best with them.  Funny experience of the week is that my companion and I were helping to set up for a kids activity in the chapel this week, he bent down to pick up a stack of chairs and ripped his pants super bad hahah in front of a bunch of little kids. It was so awesome. I was dying. I believe that was the highlight of the week though that I can remember.

I hope that you all can try to remember the reason that we celebrate Christmas this year though. Christ is the only way that we can truly have happiness in this life. I love the opportunity that I have to serve him every day! Love you all and have a good week!

weekly email

Whats up everyone? This week was pretty average. There wasn't a whole lot that went on. We had a zone conference wednesday and our President reminded us again that he is super sick. Hes super funny too. But we found a few people and they at least invited us back to their house so we are progressing with the investigators too. I dont have a lot of time though so I just wanted to tell you all that the mission and especially the mission during Christmas time is one of the best times of your life. I really enjoy this so much. To be able to represent Christ every day and to be able to act in his name is something that cannot be replaced by anything better. Im super grateful that I have been given this oportunity. I know that Christ lives and loves us. Have a good week though! 

But with the investigators, we are doing a little better. None of the people are super great but they are willing to have us come back so thats a blessing. We havent been able to meet with Christian again yet. We are going Tuesday to visit.  Julio is just consumed in his addiction. And yeah Ill share a spiritual experience. I usually dont though simply because they dont come out spiritual when I write them and especially in an email. But the experience is that we always try to visit Julio and he usually isnt there but we always share with his 88 year old blind mom, Marta. She wont progress but she loves to have someone to simply talk to because if we dont pass by she has no one to talk to. She expressed to us this past week that she is with us more than with her son and it really gave me the feeling that she has really found strength in the simple act of us passing by and making her day a little better. It was really special because I feel like I have done something just as important as convert her to the gospel. It was a very special feeling.

Love you!

Elder Parker

weekly email

Hey everyone how are you doing? This week was pretty good. We had a conference with one of the area 70, Elder Packer. Who is actually Boyd K Packers son. It was pretty cool. He is a super serious man who looks exactly like his dad. It was almost scary to see how much he looked like him. But yeah we learned about some cool mission stuff and how to work better with members and a lot of fun stuff like that.

This week was actually super difficult though. We had a few problems with our health this week and that made it super hard to have any success at all. I had a cold like all week. My companion on Tuesday stepped on a nail and it went through his shoe into his foot and we were inside that day. But more than anything this week was hard because we had to basically rely on knocking doors to try and find people to teach and it didn't work super well. We had a few days where we were walking for quite a few hours each day. But I could learn again, Patience. I am getting a little sick of learning patience but that just means I need to learn more I guess. Its been great to see that small miracles have happened with us every single day when we need it most and that is what keeps us motivated to keep going. We have like two decent investigators, one is named Christian and we found him last night. Please pray so that he receives an answer about the book of Mormon. And the other is Julio. Hes just okay because he has problems with alcohol and it makes it super hard to work with him. But besides that we are just looking super hard.

Hope you all enjoy Christmas and have a good week!

Bautismo!

Hey whats up everyone? This week was actually pretty good. First off, Mario was baptized this past Saturday and everything went well without too many surprises. He is a super cool guy who knows a ton. But after like 2 years of sharing with missionaries, he got baptized this week. Also, in our ward we got a new bishop which is something that we needed. Our old bishop had been bishop for 10 years in a ward that has a solid amount of problems. So hopefully this helps to give the ward a little bit of life.

For thanksgiving this year, I think I gave my companion a high five. So you can say that it was one of the best ones ever. Last year we made pizza in our apartment but this year we don't have an oven so we couldn't even do that. I was asked by a member this week why we celebrate Thanksgiving too and it was super hard to explain to her. I think I have been out of elementary school for too long.

Now though, we are on the countdown to Christmas. Sharing the #Lighttheworld thing with everyone and inviting them to serve someone. So that's the same thing that I want to invite all of you to do serve someone who needs it.

Have a good week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi mom hows it going? I am doing super well and yeah Mario went to church this week and will be baptized this Saturday I think! It gonna be awesome. He is a super awesome guy. But I guess I should tell you before I send the picture, he has a paralysis in his face and his face is like crooked. So don't judge when I send the picture, haha. But yeah I'm super excited for that. And yeah I will be with Elder Evans again which I'm happy about. But yeah Christmas will be fun too. And with that, can you ask everyone what they want for Christmas if there is anything? There is some stuff that I can get super cheap down here. That sounds like a super great day though yesterday or Saturday actually. And yeah Manuel disappeared, its not too uncommon though for things like this to happen. and not really anyone new yet. This ward is good but has a lot of problems. I'll say that it has a lot of potential. The other members help a little bit, but they still aren't super great. And yeah I got my shoes. They're sweet. They're brown and are awesome. And with the pants, Yeah I need them hemmed a little but we haven't really made the time to do it. I did a few of the essays this week. I think I am just going to have to do it little by little. When is the deadline? I'll get that done. I also like the object lesson a lot. I am going to use it for the next family night that we do with someone. It's a solid lesson. But thanks mom for everything! I love you too and hope that you enjoy Thanksgiving! To be honest I had forgotten totally that it was Thanksgiving this week, haha oops. But have a good week! And by the way I am still working on trying to find a nativity scene for you but its kind of hard. I'll work harder though because I would have to send the package soon.

Love Jake

Cambios!

Well nothing changed for me at all, haha. The cambios were pretty lame to be honest. I am staying in the same place with the same companion and the same missionaries. Nothing too exciting, but I am pretty happy with it. The only thing that changes is that now I am not going to be training, but my companion is just a normal missionary now. He is super cool. He still doesn't really speak Spanish at all but he is progressing and getting better. We were able to find a few more people yeah but the majority of them are people that don't really have desires to progress. Its difficult but its alright. I really like the sector. This week was pretty good though. A nice normal one. Mario didn't go to church yesterday though so he will have to wait another week to be baptized which is making us pretty nervous. He is still doing well though. He didn't go yesterday because he was sick.

The most important thing that I have learned this far is that the gospel changes lives if the people let it change their lives. God really does reach down the deepest of pits and take people out. Its been incredible to see people make those changes in their lives and go from sadness to happiness. That is what I think has been my favorite part of this whole experience. 

A few highlights of the week. There was a small earthquake here during the middle of the night the other day. We just slept through it though haha. It's like no one pays attention to it here unless it is bigger than 7. Another highlight, we were walking through the streets when we passed a bunch of evangelics preaching with speakers and microphones and when we passed by they started saying things about churches that are sects and teach false doctrines of men and other things like that. I got a good laugh out of it. We stayed and listened for a while. And the only thing that we have heard about when we talk to people in the streets is Donald Trump. Chileans aren't a fan of him. I don't think I have heard of one who likes him. Other than that...not much that was too exciting. I don't have much more time though so hope you have a good week!
But have a good week!

final week in Penco??

I'm gonna be honest, there isn't anything new to say about this week. Its been hot but its been alright. I am getting really sick of climbing up these hills though. I finish the days totally dead. Especially this week I went on a mini cambio to a sector that has even more hills. I felt like crying. We also visited the temple construction site this week and its awesome to feel the spirit that is already there even though its not in function yet. It was a great experience. Also I guess there was an earthquake here that was pretty big but we were basically running to lunch so I didn't even feel it haha.

Mario though, will not be baptized this Saturday. He slept through his alarm yesterday so to get his third assistance to church he will have to go to church this week as well and then the next week he will be baptized. Its alright though. It allowed us to show that he does have true desires to change his life and be baptized. Before we weren't able to see it as much but now we could. He is doing super well though and now I just have to pray that they don't move me from this sector so that I can be here for his baptism.

Hope you all have a pretty good week though! Take Care!

Happy Halloween!

Today I am grateful for the holiday because it gave me the title to my email.  This week was good. Uh for Halloween today we went to the top of a hill and climbed a tree. I am going to be honest this was one of the dumbest things that I could have done ever in my life. It was such a tall tree and was so scary and not safe. Sorry. Haha but I made it! For real I was super scared and I'm not scared of heights at all. haha. But I don't think that we are going to do anything for Halloween as far as dressing up and stuff goes. Here it isn't really all that big. 

With Mario, the same thing happened this week as happened last week. He showed up like 5 minutes before the meeting like nothing had happened at all and after we had passed by his house to get him. It was another miracle and was equally amazing. So yeah he is still going to be baptized on the 12th if everything works out.  

This week we were able to see the power of the Book of Mormon work in the lives of people. We passed by one of the investigators that we have named Manuel. He is cool and receptive but super shy and didn't want to let us in the house. We shared outside and just talked with him. When we started to talk about the book of Mormon he lit up and was asking so many questions. He said that he was going to read the Book of Mormon in two days. I don't believe him but still it was a nice thought. But really I was able to feel his testimony growing about this gospel even though it only came from me sharing my testimony about this book. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and above that, I know that it has been a blessing for me in my life and has been a tool to help people change their lives in Chile. I have seen it and know that its true. He was able to feel it just talking at the door. But hope you all have a good week and enjoy your holiday. Here, the holiday is also Evangelical day. So I will probably get in a fight with someone tonight if I had to guess. 

But Have a good week!

weekly email

Whats going on everyone. Hope that you all had a good week and are doing well. Things here are tough, but good. Just to tell you all first, the mission is the best experience ever. I cant really explain why, but letting people know that they can change their lives around is awesome and I love it. 
This week we got to see that with our investigator Mario. He was praying all week up until Thursday to see if it really was the will of God that he get baptized in our Church. He told us Thursday that he got his answer of yes and was willing to prepare himself for it. We were super stoked to see that God answers prayers. Even though sometimes it doesn't seem like it right away, he really does. Sunday, we had set everything up for him to go to church with us but all of the sudden we couldn't talk with him at all and we thought that he had bailed on us like he had done with other missionaries in the past. But like 5 minutes before the meeting started, he walked in. I still don't know where he was and why he didn't answer us but I am just grateful that he showed up. Hopefully that means that on the 12th of November we will have a baptism. That was a super big miracle. I felt pretty relaxed though throughout the whole time though. Even if he didn't show up, I knew that we had done everything possible to get him to church and I was satisfied. But He did show up and it was pretty awesome. especially because a few of the members of the ward that know him said that he wouldn't come and he would just flake out again. But no he came and it was great. We don't really have many other investigators. Just a few people that are kind of lame and don't really want to progress. We will see though. 
Hope you all have a good week though! 

weekly email

This week was alright. Nothing too exciting going on. There are so many drunk guys in this sector though. One thing that I do to entertain myself is tell them that my companion loves hugs and they always end up hugging him haha. I dont think that he enjoys it but we always laugh after. Its been raining super hard and there has been a ton of wind so people have kind of been turned off from the idea of listening to us. We also did an activity in the ward this week of ping pong to try and help one of our investigators who likes ping pong. I am proud to say that I went undefeated and have not yet lost all of the ability that I once had in the glory days. I also gave a talk again yesterday about the spirit and how it helps us to progress. I think it went well.

But we are teaching a few people right now. The best one is a guy named Mario who my companion had actually taught before I got there but they stopped teaching him because he didnt progress. This wsecond time has been a lot better and he loves learning every time we pass by. He this week will be praying to ask if he should get baptized on the 12th of November so hopefully I have good news to give next week! That investigator that left when the other elder left. His name is Gabriel. But they are okay. We also had a guy named Victor but he just just has too many challenges to be able to baptize himself and to stay active in the church. So we had to let him go. But we are still just looking hard through references for now. We are starting to try and rely on more references from members and so if it works how its designed we should have more investigators than we know what to do with, but that hasnt happened yet.

Hope all of you are doing well though! ¡Que estén bien!

Elder Parker

Penco!

Whats going on everyone? Just to start off, I am super tired this week. This new sector is all hills and I am tired of just going up and down all day long. Its pretty sick though with a sweet view of the ocean. A lot prettier than Hualpen. The work though here is slow. We spent a lot of time looking for people here this week. Its not too hard to find though because every other day we have a member with us named Pablito and he knows everyone in this entire city haha. He leaves with the missionaries all day, every day. He is my favorite so far haha. We have like one investigator who stopped progressing when I got here because the other elder left. But I'll just have to work on getting his confidence. My new companion is good though. He actually went to middle school for like 6 months and I didn't even realize haha. But he speaks no Spanish at all so its kind of hard. I have to do everything in the sector. He at least wants to work hard though so that's good. 

This morning though we went to a beach after walking on an abandoned railroad track for like 2 hours. It was pretty cool. But yeah I think that's about it here. Have a good week!

Cambios!

I am leaving again. Getting really tired of packing a dang suitcase. Maybe I'll work in something where I have to travel a lot. But this time I am going to Penco, a city that is right next to the ocean. I'll be in a sector called Valle Hermoso which means Beautiful Valley. It should be pretty cool. My new companion is going to be a new missionary named Elder Evans who got here 6 weeks back so I'll be finishing his training. I don't know if I'm very excited to leave or not. All of our investigators are going to be lost because my companion is also leaving and two new missionaries are coming. This has happened to me three times in the mission and it is not normal.

But this week was good! Hope you all got a chance to watch conference. It was super good I thought. I really loved how they all talked about how we are given repentance as a gift that we must use if we desire blessings. There is no other way. Repentance cant be the backup plan to anything. It is the only way to correct our lives and be blessed. I also loved the talks about the missionary work as members. Its something that we can all do and really is a great blessing for each of us. Look for ways everyday to find people for the missionaries to teach and you will be blessed. Hope you all have a good week though!

Elder Parker

weekly email

How's it going everyone? This week was pretty good. Its starting to warm up here again which is a blessing but at the same time is a drag and drains you of all your energy. This week was the best week we have had in the sector so I am pretty excited about that. But yeah now we have quite a few investigators and a few who are progressing towards baptism. Joselin though has fallen off quite a bit and its been a while since we talked with her. I am pretty sure that she just has other interests right now. Its alright though because there are other people that are better. This week we were able to find quite a few people and put two of them with a baptismal date. Its an uncle and his nephew named Moises and Sebastian. They didn't go to church yesterday because they had to travel but they are pretty  good and this week they want to go. Its funny because we have been trying to get Moises to let us share with him forever. We talked with his sister one day and she told us to pass by but she never let us in after that and was kind of lame. But we always talk with Moises and he let us share. Funny how things work sometimes. And yeah the family is doing pretty well but we couldn't visit them much this week because they were sick. I think they are doing well. They are reading which is a good sign. The mom has arthritis that is super serious and so she has a lot of pain and really is deformed. Its sad. 

Today in the morning we went to a beach called Lenga as a district and messed around for a little while which was fun. This is a dog that we found there :) Besides that we haven't had a lot going on. I am pretty sure I have fleas though again. Its great. But that's about it. Prepare yourselves for the conference this week. General conference is one of the best days of the mission because you get a chance to relax a little bit.

Chilean Independence Day!

Whats up everyone? Feliz 18! Its the Chilean independence day and we didn't really do much to celebrate. We raised the flag Saturday morning and one of the members is a scout fanatic. He has scout things from all over the world. He invited us to help his raise the flag and said he wanted us to do it as scouts haha. So he dug up scout things from the US and from Colombia and we went as scouts to raise the flag haha. It was pretty fun. But after that, we found out that the mom of one of our members died and that they were going to have the funeral in the chapel so we couldn't do any activities. Kind of lame. But a bunch of people still made us empanadas which were super good. They are like calzones but with meat and onion inside. I have now acquired the taste and I love them haha. Lots of people gave us empanadas haha. And a drink that is super weird called mote con huesillo. So it was kind of a letdown but not too much. 

Sunday, we were expecting to have a super lame day but we actually found a family who is super good. Their names are Julio, Pamela, and Fani.  I am doing better though because the sector is getting better. We were able to find a few people this week and that is something that we just didn't have.  Joselin is alright. She just lacks motivation and so she just doesn't do things. She was supposed to go to church this week but she texted us like 10 minutes before and told us that she wasn't going to go. She still is working towards the 8 of august.

Wednesday and Thursday we had trainings both days, one with our mission president, and one was a mini cambio with the assistants. I learned a ton from all of them and especially while I was working with the assistants. It was awesome to see that there is so much more that I can do to get in to houses and find people to teach. We literally were just walking in to houses with their doors open and took any chance we could to teach lessons. I learned a ton, especially just my dedication to the work. Like really if I desire investigators, and desire to get in houses, I have to do everything possible to get in. It was eye opening to see how much the desire and the attitude affects everything. I thought I was doing everything possible but I still had more to give. I loved the experience. It was awesome. And our President blew our minds. He is awesome and knows a ton. 

I am excited for general conference coming up.  The conference day is one of the best days of the mission! Now we can give people the challenge to think of a question that people want answered from God and tell them to go to the conference. We promise people that somehow, their question will be answered. Its super cool actually!

I didn't write yesterday because nothing was open. The holiday goes on for like 3 or four days and during that time, there is close to nothing open. But hope you all have a good week!

             In case you're wondering, I'm wearing a raccoon hat one of the members had. 

weekly email

Nothing too exciting this week happened. The Lord has been testing our patience and that has really been something hard for me. We were able to find a few more people this week though, some of them people that I taught my first time in this sector. Its kind of interesting because some of those people have the exact same problems as they did a year ago. It makes me want to tell them straight up that the problem is going to be there the next year unless they decide to accept this message. I cant say that though because they still don't understand. The area is still really hard and dead but we are going to resucitate it one of these days. We have one investigator named Joselin who went to church this past week and has a baptismal date but she is kind of an Eternal investigator so I cant get my hopes up too high. Yeah it has really been good for me though to return here. I know that there is some purpose behind it and I cant wait to go out and find what it is.

Elder Alvarez is great. He is from Colombia but he looks like he's from the US too because he is super white. Everyone thinks he speaks English haha. But no I am the Senior companion still and district leader. Its nice though because I have someone who doesn't need to be dragged around so I don't have to worry as much now. He also helps me a lot because I get frustrated pretty easily and he is always pretty light and cheery. It helps a lot and I'm trying to work on being more patient still.

 It should be a good, interesting week this week though because this weekend is the Chilean Independence days. That means lots of drunk people and makes it a pretty fun day of contacts.I was in the MTC the first time it happened so I don't really know how it will be. Everyone says its pretty fun though and that everyone is happier because they are always eating good food this week. Should be fun though.

More than that though. I am doing well and just complete a year in the mission. It scares me to think that other people say it goes by even faster the second year. It doesnt seem possible. But hope you all have a good week. Remember to trust in the Lord and everything will be alright in the end.

Elder Parke

1 year...

This week I complete the first year of the mission. It is crazy to think that so much time has already passed yet it seems like forever too. I really dont even remember life outside of the mission and that's alright. I have heard that at the year mark time starts to go by even faster and I hope that its a lie haha. I cant keep up. But at the same time I am excited because I will be able to say that I started my mission and completed a year in the same sector haha.

This week was the hardest of my mission that I have had. I have to be honest I was so frustrated at the end of the week, its such a blessing to have this P Day. We had a whole two lessons with investigators all week. Its my own fault though. I accidentally prayed to be humble. The prayer was answered haha. No one wanted to listen all week long. We walked so much and if I were a new missionary I would have died haha. So yeah it was a week that seemed to never end but now I am glad its a new week with new chances. I can testify that the will of the Lord isn't always our own will. Sometimes he just wants to give us a test. We just have to accept his will even though we don't understand. That is what I learned from this week. 

I am doing well and really I enjoy the mission a lot. Its great and I have noticed how much I have grown up in just this year. I get along really well with my companion. Hes a really funny bright missionary. Its nice to have someone good. It feels like after I finished with Elder Hart, I have had to drag my companions along everywhere. With him no.

We don't have anyone right now, so yeah, we are just going to keep looking:)

Have a good week! Happy birthday Nate!

My new/old sector

This week was a little strange. Going back to my first sector there were quite a few people who said, "Oh there was an Elder who Looked exactly like you about 10 months ago!" Haha surprise! its me. But yeah it has been awesome to see all the old members and especially one of the converts that I had here. Santos. He is doing super well. He has the priesthood and is just working and preparing to be able to go to the temple! I am with another Elder from Colombia named Elder Alvarez who is super energetic and pretty funny, although at times he tries too hard.  Elder Alvarez is the same one from the MTC which is neither good nor bad. He is a good dude and a pretty good missionary. I'm excited to work with him though! They didn't really have anything though before I came though so now we are just going to have to work hard to find people who want to listen. And yeah Mariella got baptized! But Jerson has disappeared. We were like his only friends so I think that when he found out that we were both leaving it kind of shocked him and the other missionaries haven't been able to even talk to him. I have even tried to call from here but nothing. It makes me nervous.

I have been excited too to come back here because it means that obviously something was left undone the last time. I am just going to have to find out what that purpose is. I found out that no one knew that I had already been here which kind of shows me that the Lord really is sending us to our sectors, that we are called by him to our missions and that he is at the head of this work.

But have a good week! Nothing too unusual happened this week so Ill Let you all know the next week if anything changes.

Love, Elder Parker

We received some pictures via facebook this week of Elder Parker and Elder Marquinez befort they were transferred from a sister in Libertador, Hermano Regollo.  She has a son serving a mission in Argentina!  What a great surprise for a mom.  It was like Christmas!!

The most frustrating week of my mission!

What's up everyone? This week was really a huge letdown to be honest. We were going to have two baptisms and in the end we had none. Jerson had travel for his work to the South of Chile and couldn't get out of it and Mariela got sick and wasn't able to be baptized either. So on Thursday, right before the interviews we found both of those things out and that basically made me really frustrated. But They will be getting baptized this week so its alright. But the thing is that I wont be here to see it. Neither will my companion. There is a whitewash in our sector so two new missionaries are coming here. It makes me really worried though because I have no clue if those new missionaries are going to know what to do. It is also frustrating because I am going back to the same sector where I was born in the mission. Cerro Verde in Talcahuano Sur. I don't even know what to think. yeah it will be fun and cool but at the same time, super lame and not interesting. I am going to be companions with an Elder Alvarez and I am pretty sure that he was my roommate in The MTC but I'm not sure. If it is the same one, it is another Columbian. Two in a row.

As I have been thinking about all of the things that have happened with the baptisms and the transfers, it has made me think about the will of God and how we dont always have the same will as he does. And even sometimes we cant understand why some things happen in life. It also made me think about if I wanted those baptisms for myself or if I was looking to help those two people in their lives to be happier and come closer to Christ. It has been interesting and so I am going to try and analyze that and set the priorities straight. But hope that you all have a good week this week!

Elder Parker

weekly email

Hey everyone. This week was pretty great. I dont know why so great but it was. It has been a little different living with just my companion but its still pretty fun. First thing this week is that we should have two baptisms this coming Saturday which will be super awesome. Mariella for sure and Jerson probably. Im really hoping it happens because we have already had to move his baptismal date and he wasnt super happy haha. 

But Cool experience of the week. We went looking for a future investigator, knocked on his door and his mom came out. She told us he wasnt there but we asked if we could share with her and after a little bit of persuasion she said yes. Only to a prayer is all to help her in her day. We went in and were going to say the prayer when she started to tell us all of the problems that she has in her life with her son, Erik. She has depression and really a super empty life. Her son is addicted to drugs and cant seem to come out of it. She told us that she didnt know why she let us in because she just hasnt had any desires to do anything and much less, let us in. She said that she felt like something was telling her to do it and to just listen to us. It was really cool to hear her experience as she described her feelings from before and alfter talking with us. Her name is Mercedes and I am really glad to have gotten the chance to know her and it should be really great to be able to pass by again and really share a lesson with her. 

More than that, we had a conference that lasted forever on Wednesday. I was in the church from 830 in the morning until 8 at night. I was so mentally tired that day but it was an awesome conference. And those were the highlights of the week.

Here is picture from the highlight of Chillan. The Cathedral.

11 months!

Sorry, I don't have a lot of time this week so its gonna be short. We went to a Waterfall this week called Saltos del Itata and it was pretty awesome. Also something crazy happened. My companion had to go to Santiago this week to fill out some paperwork things for his visa so I was in a trio with two other elders that we live with and it was pretty fun honestly. They are always pretty funny guys. They had their sector closed in an emergency transfer though we found out last night and we are actually going to have AP´s in their sector starting tomorrow which will be kind of crazy. We now have four assistants to the president. Also, Mariela and Jerson are doing well. They are both going to get baptized the 20th we hope. We also had two new investigators in church yesterday. A dad and a son named Roberto and Alejandro.  They are a dad and a son of like 55 and 20 years old. They went to church this last week but they didn't tell us much about whether they liked it or not. I hope that they did.  They are pretty good so we are hoping that they will accept a baptismal date this week. But those are the things that are most exciting for this week. Nothing too special. Have a good week!

Ill try and send more pictures next week!

Emergency talks

Whats happening everyone? How are you all doing? This week was pretty good. Kind of rainy and cold but we are coming out of the winter so that is a blessing. But to start off, it isnt super rare to have people just not show up for things here. And that happened in Sacrament meeting this week. I got to church and found out that I had to give a 15 minute talk. I had like 15 minutes to prepare too. I found out the secret though. You just have to find a few scriptures and tell a few stories and rely on the spirit. I ended up giving a decent talk about the commandments for 15 minutes haha. Also, My companion was bit by a dog this week so we had to take an emergency trip to the doctor so he could receive his shots haha.

We also had one person in Church this week. Mariella went with her 7 year old son. And just like 7 year olds do. He got super bored and wanted to go home. So that was kind of lame. She dropped him off and came back but she was a little worried the rest of the day. She is still working on her smoking habit but she is getting a lot better. If she hasnt smoked after Friday she will be able to get baptized the 13th of August!!

Other than that we had a few really hard days and frustrating days. People here are tough but you just have to continue looking for the good ones.

Love you all and have a good week!

Happy Pioneer Day!

Happy Pioneer day! I didnt even remember until yesterday when a member asked me what my family was doing to celebrate. It was a pretty good week though. Nothing to crazy happened though. We did have two investigators in church with a baptismal date yesterday. It was awesome but I was a little worried because the ward where I am at is a little cold. Like no one went to welcome her or to get to know her so that was a little lame but she still liked it. The two people are Mariella and Jerson. If they can stop smoking before the 29th they can get baptized on the 13th of August! Its gonna be awesome!

More than that, it has been cold and super rainy. Saturday it was raining super hard all day and we didnt get in to a single house so that sucked. But its kind of fun to mess around it the rain. But hope that you all have a good week! 

Elder Parker