heading home

Last the best...

So really I have no clue how to do this. But it has come to an end. I want to just tell all of you how grateful I am for the opportunity that I have been given to serve the Savior. There is nothing quite like representing him every single day. You cant put into words the feelings that you really have as you finish. I am still looking for them. These are the best two years of my life truly. I know that it sounds cliche but its true. What else... I guess Ill finsih with the testimony of the things that I have come to learn and gain a testimony during these two years.

I know that God is our father. I know that he loves us. I know that Christ lives. He is our savior. I know that we can be cleansed of our sins through him. I know that through repentance and baptism, people can start new lives. I have experienced that in my own life and like to think that I have helped others to be able to experience it as well. I know that this gospel is perfect. There are no holes, there are no flaws but that everything, all of the knowledge we have is perfect. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it was translated by the profet joseph smith. I know that this the the true church of christ. I know that we have the priesthood here and that through the priesthood and the ordinances that we perform we can see the hand of god in our lives. I have felt the spirit in my life and know that all of these things are real because of it. I know that the family will one day be eternal and that because of it I will one day be with my family. I love this work. I love the chilean people. I love the people that I have come to know. I feel way too blessed to have served a mission. I love all of you and thank you for your support. 

Wow that is a lot harder in english. Por todos ustedes que hablan español, muchas gracias por todo lo que han hecho para mi en mi vida. Los amo y les deseo lo mejor. Gracias Chile por todo. No Quiero que termine. 

We will see you wednesday:)

Con amor,

Elder Parker

Coming down the home stretch!

Hey everyone hows it going this week? This week was awesome for us and the best part was that Javiera and Patricia were baptized!! It was awesome and they were both so excited for it. It was so cool to see how Javiera, the little 11 year old girl was so excited before and after. She is awesome. We gave her a book of Mormon with pictures to read and she already read like 30 pages and remembers everything. When she was telling us all about what she read her mom, Patricia was smiling and lit up. They are an awesome family and I agree that has to be the reason that I needed to stay here for two more weeks. I am glad I did in the end I had the privilege of Baptizing Javiera and Patricia, the mom, chose a member who helped us a ton during the entire process. It was awesome and the best part is that there are still two of the kids who haven't been baptized yet so my companion will have some work to do after I leave which is coming way too fast. Really the reason that Patricia got baptized in the end was because of the promise that families are eternal, temples, and the book of Mormon. The day that we confirmed her baptismal date was awesome. She started that day, without us even inviting her, to read the book of Mormon and we went with a family in the ward to the temple construction site. It was amazing to see the difference that the gospel has made in her life and the change that has made in her. Its funny to think that the day we first shared with her it was a lesson on her porch outside of her house and that she told us that day that she was Catholic and was never going to change. I like to hear people say that sometimes because now 8 weeks later and here we are haha. I am super grateful to have been able to be a part of their conversion process. It was amazing.

And now I unfortunately have only one week left before I am on the plane but I dont have to write that inspirational email to finish the mission yet. I can do that next week haha. But yeah we are doing well here. Hope you all have a good week! Thanks for all that you have done for me!

Love Elder Parker

For sale...

So this week was super good. Actually I think it was one of the best for me personally and for us a a zone.  We are still working with the 5 people we had with a baptismal date but only two of them are going to get baptized this week. There were problems this week with injuries and alcohol that are going to keep the other three from getting baptized haha oops.  Victor hasn't been able to meet with us because he lives far away. Camilo has problems with the word of wisdom. We taught it to him but on Saturday he told us that he was going to have a birthday party of his cousin and that they were going to drink. We tried to help him to get ready so he didn't drink but in the end he ended up drinking. A lot I think. And because of that he wasn't able to go to church either so there were two problems and because of that his baptismal date fell through. But we are still going to see if we can get him baptized the 2nd of Septiembre. We are going to have two though. Patricia and her daughter Javiera. They are so awesome and its going to be sweet especially because the ward is supporting them a ton. Its been cool to see.

 But the funniest part of this week was when we got home from lunch one day and saw that there was a for sale sign on our house and we hadn't been told anything. I guess the owner wanted to sell the house but he didn't want to tell us anything about it. It was funny as well because after about 45 minutes the owner showed up with other people to show them our house haha. So we decided that it was probably time to look for another place to live. So we dedicated that entire day to look for a new house and haven't found anything yet so there is a possibility that I end my mission homeless haha. We also got home one day this week to find that a cat had gotten in our house and stolen our bread and broken dishes and stuff. We had shut the window where it entered but then found out that it was still inside the house. The thing was panicked and like super hostile so we had a fun time trying get the cat out of our house. It was an exciting week. But hope that all of you have a good week!

Elder Parker

I hate rain!

So this week was going to be super good but in the end it was super rainy and I dont think I will ever have desires to leave when it is raining. The hardest I have ever seen in rain has been here and people try to tell me that I will miss it one day but I think thats a lie. They call it here Tropi-Conce. All of the older people here always tell us that it doesn't even rain hard here anymore like it used to but I have seen more rain in one day here than I see in a month in Utah. It would be terrible to live here if that is true. We were going to have a bunch of people in church again but we didn't have anyone because there was so much rain and wind that it was starting to damage the roofs of our investigators and the water was coming in. It sucked. But we this week finished with 5 people with a date to be baptized. We are going to hope to have 5 baptisms on the 26th. We still have Camilo and now we have Patricia and her two daughters, Joanna and Javiera and we put Victor with a fecha bautismal. We are trying to get them all baptized the 26th but its probably going to change with Victor at least because he is hard to meet with. But we are super excited. I'm not sure if the 8 baptisms that I want will be possible but we will see. I would be happy with 5 haha. But yeah it was a good week overall! We went to the temple and saw the construction with investigators again this week. Its super pretty even though its not even close to being done. But I really don't know what else to write about. Hope you all had a good week though! Love you all!

weekly email

Hows it going everyone? I honestly cant remember if I sent an email last week or not but if I didn't... sorry haha. We are doing great this week. It was one of the most successful weeks I have ever had in my mission. We had 6 investigators in church and we put one of them with a baptismal date. It's funny to see how the Lord works. We fasted for 3 people and in the end he helped one of them to get to church as a family (Patricia) and gave us another one out of no where. His name is Camilo and he is super awesome. He is a 21 year old friend of a member and is super good. He accepts everything super easily and is intelligent which is the best because he understands the things we say to him.He has a baptismal date for the 26th of august. We were super bold with him and he understood that he has to be part of the church. It was super awesome. We are going to see if we can find a way to put all of those people with a baptismal date before the week ends. 

I now have less than a month left in the mission and honestly the worst part about it is that everyone thinks its funny to remind me as much as they can. Especially my companion thinks its hilarious. I feel really old haha and still don't feel like I know very much so when one of the newer missionaries asks me something and I tell them that I don't know they kind of look at me funny and I don't think that I will be able to get used to that. But yeah I think that's about it for this week. Have a good one everyone!

Happy August

Hi mom how are you? Things here are good. We had a bunch of meetings and conferences this week so we couldn't work very much at all.  We don't have anyone with a date yet either but we did have Patricia in Church on Sunday so we were excited about that. We aren't too sure of what were all of her thoughts but we are going to see tomorrow and are going to try and put her with a date. But that is going to be the goal this week to have a few people with a date. Elder Couto and I are doing fine. He is really different than elder Baquerizo and we arent really used to each other and the way the other one works but we are working on getting better with the unity. He has like 19 months so he might finish here too in a few more cambios. And yeah I am willing to fast with you guys. I think that over all we can fast so that I can get a few more baptisms before I leave. Like about 6 or 7 months ago I set a goal to get 10 more baptisms before ending and up until now I only have 2 which is kind of frustrating. But Ill just hurry up. I think we can still get it. It will be a miracle but I think we can get it done. And I still feel nervous and not excited about going home but I'm not too worried. And no I haven't heard of the training but it will be alright. If I really am struggling when I get home Ill do it. 

But with the homecoming, I have no clue who you can invite. You can invite whoever you want. You could invite President Arrington if you want. But yeah I don't care too much haha. I would like to see the family and my friends over all. Haha Jake is funny. He might be trying to move to New York here in a year or so to do an internship. That's crazy. And I like what you said about that scripture. I feel like I have learned to not do that as much in the mission and I hope its a habit that stays with me throughout my life. I cant remember who but someone had challenged us to read chapter 101 of Doctrine and covenants so I am going to read it. But that's about it I think. Thanks mom for everything that you do. Love you and have a great week!!

Elder Parker

The last of everything...

Today marks the first day of my last cambio and I don't know how to feel about it. Thinking that I am one of the oldest missionaries in the mission is uncomfortable. I am going to soon begin to count how every different day will be the last of something. Honestly I'm not too excited for it but there's nothing that you can do. 

And about me, I'm fine. I'm really sad that this is my last of everything basically. It isn't fair and I don't want it to end even though I know it has to. I just have to end this cambio on a good note. If I can have a great last cambio I will go home happy, or at least try to do it. With my transfers, I am staying here in Andalien and I'm happy about it. I will be with Elder Couto, an elder Brazileño that I have already lived with before in the mission. Hes super fun so I'm happy. It will be a good cambio. And baptismal dates we weren't able to put this last week because of vacations but this week we are going to be able to put more people with dates and have a lot more good visits so we are pretty excited. And yeah lets fast that day then. And yeah the day that I get home I don't have any requests specifically. I want to see star wars though. That would be nice. And I would love to drive home from the airport. And yeah I'm not feeling a whole lot better. I truly think its just the desire to not let it end. But I know it has to. I am going to ask my president for a blessing this week in our zone conference. But just know mom that I love you and I want to thank you for everything that you have done for me during these TWENTY THREE months haha not twenty four yet. 

So this week I had the best, most spiritual experience of my mission and of my life I think and I wanted to share it with you guys. If you want to you can share it with other people but I didn't want to send it to the usual group email.

Last Sunday, we were working at about 8:30 at night when we found ourselves with a member who told us that he had received a prompting to go and share the message of the home teachers with an inactive member named Samuel. There were a bunch of roadblocks placed in his way but in the end he was able to visit the less active and share the message from Elder Eyring. Its something like "the blessing of carrying your burdens well" I don't know how you say it in English but its super good. He felt prompted to share that message with him and as he did it he found out that Samuel's daughter was recently diagnosed with lupus, a disease where the body's immune system attacks a part of the body. Sebastian, the member, offered to call us to give her a blessing but he said no not wanting to rush it. He said that another day with a little bit of preparation would be better. 

We called him and set up a day to go by. On Friday, we passed by and started to talk with them about what was happening. We met the little girl. Tiare, is 8 years old and is an angel. Honestly, my companion and I both said that when we looked at her we saw pure innocence. It was something that glowed around her. The mom, a non member, explained to us that this disease in two out of three kids is life threatening. She also explained how she knows that God can heal her daughter but that sometimes it isn't his will to do it. I actually shared my experience about my Grandma Liljenquist and how I prayed every day that she would be healed and how it never happened. But how in the end it has helped all of us to have a more perfect faith. At this moment the spirit was already incredibly strong. We began to give the blessing to Tiare. I did the anointing, my companion gave the blessing. As we put our hands on her head to do the blessing and as my companion began to speak he started with the words like, "I bless you Tiare to be healed." And in this moment I felt the spirit stronger than I ever have before in my life. It came all at once and was stronger than any other thing that I have felt in my entire life. I had felt the spirit before but nothing as real as this was and still is to me. It was the most incredible experience of my entire mission and my entire life I believe. I have no doubts that Tiare will be healed completely. After finishing, We gave a blessing to Samuel to help him to find his faith again after it has been diminishing with the problems with her daughter. The spirit continued with the force that it had arrived. We then gave a blessing to Carola, the mom, who asked for one as well. We testified of what we had done in that moment and left them with a prayer. That same spirit stayed with me for half an hour after having left the house and gone walking in the street. My companion and I talked about what had just happened and especially about what we had both felt. As my companion opened his planner to see that same Friday, he saw a phrase that he had written a few days earlier after having read about the history of the church. It talked about the 22nd of July, or the day after, as being a day titled by the church as a day, "When the power of God would be manifest." I know what I felt that day. It was real. I know that we have the Priesthood of God on earth today. I was able to experience it in that moment. I know that God is a god of Miracles. He lives and loves us. I will never forget what I felt that day.

This week though was good. We have a ton of really good investigators at the moment and now we just have to figure out how to get them with a baptismal date. There are two people specifically. One is named victor who is the son in law of a member who doesn't actually live here in the sector and doesn't even live in the mission so we asked permission to baptize him and got it so now we are just going to have to find some way to have lessons constantly with him. The other is a girl named Jordana. She has gone to church a few times but shes hard to meet with constantly but the next time we visit her she is going to have a baptismal date. Hope all of you are doing super well this week though! Have a good one.

Elder Parker

weekly email

So this week was really rainy and for the first time in almost two years I heard thunder. I dont know why but here it doesnt usually happen when it rains. So yeah we were walking beneath the water for like 3 or 4 of the seven days but it was still a good week. One of the best things that happened was on Tuesday I went to do an exchange with an Elder in another sector. We went specifically with the purpose of putting two people with a baptismal date. One of them, an older lady who is kind of nuts who simply doesnt see the need to be baptized again even though she knows that her baptism isnt valid. We had to try everything to get her to just to accept a day as a type of goal for her but in the end we did it. I honestly dont think that she will be baptized that day but it is progress that she accepted that day as a goal. The other, was the dad of a family that had never been baptized before but recently went to church for the first time and liked it. We also put him with Fecha for the 5th of August and I think that he probably will be baptized that day. It was awesome. Our investigators are doing alright still. They are all super great with a huge potencial but there is always something that keeps them from accepting a baptismal date or from accepting the invitation to go to church. So there we are. In one more week we have cambios so I am hoping that they dont change me from Andalien. I dont think they will because I have only one left but we will see. Hope you all have a good week!

Elder Parker

Confidence in Christ!

So this week I don't know what to write about. It was a good week though. We are still working with the same people generally speaking.  We had the family again in church and this time Lorena and Carlos took one of the daughters, Daniela. We had those two and another girl that had gone before That I mentioned to you. Her name is Jordana and shes super super good. She went to all three hours yesterday and they were talking about family history in one of the classes and now she has signed herself up for a class to do family history. Shes pretty great and we are going to try and get her a baptismal date this week. We also talked with Lorena about marriage because she isn't married to Carlos and she said that they both were thinking about it and then she said that she will invite us to the wedding haha. So yeah we are just going to have to make sure that we get things solid with them and they could be active members within a few months. Patricia, the mom with a rebellious son is doing well and they really understand why we are there to visit them now. They were busy this last Sunday but we are going to try and get them in church this Sunday. They are super good actually and we are really excited for them.  I also did quite a few companion exchanges this week and actually wasn't with my companion working for 3 days straight haha it was entertaining. But yeah besides that I don't know what else I want to write about. One thing that I have been thinking about recently is the confidence that I have in the gospel. My companion as well. Its impressive to be able to go into whatever situation there is, family problems, depression, another faith, problems with addictions or anything else, and know that what you have can help another person. This week especially I was able to see that happen in the lives of other people. Really I know that this gospel helps people to be happier. I'm grateful to have that confidence in Christ. Have a good week!

Elder Parker

Strangers in church and the beach in the rain

So this week was super good. We are having a bunch of success with really good people that we are finding but they have the problem of not going to church. Its like they want everything we have to offer up until we tell them that they have to go to church and then they kind of lose interest and desire. Its kind of frustrating actually but its alright. The families are still progressing but its slow. They have to hurry up so that I can get them baptized before I go home which comes way too soon. But the newest family that we have is the best one with the mom, her two daughters and her son. She has problems with her son because he just doesnt want to obey.  Basically all of our investigators told us that they weren't going to go to church this week which killed us because we have a ton of good investigators that could be baptized easily if they would just go to church. So we fasted and prayed and had to simply start inviting strangers to church. We invited a ton of people and with one of the ladies that we invited, named Ana, told us that she would go. We didn't really believe her but we made plans with her to pass by her house and pick her up before and when we went we were pleased to find her outside of her house waiting for us haha. We went together and she liked it a lot so now we are going to see if she becomes a good investigator.

Today in the morning it was raining pretty hard again with a bunch of wind so we decided that it would be a perfect day for the beach. So we got together a group of 8 missionaries and went. After a pretty cool hike we made it to Ramuntcho,a hidden beach that I guess is usually super cool and calm with water that is like green but today it wasn't like that. We finished super soaked but it was still fun. The first picture is seconds before I get my feet soaking wet from a big wave which is the second picture haha.

But yeah hope that you all have a good week. Have a good 4th of July!

Elder Parker

The storm continues...

Hey everyone, this week was pretty good, but what I thought was the end of the storm from last week wasn't the end actually and it just kept raining and raining and never seemed to stop. Wednesday we were working and it started to rain so hard while we were walking that it was like whiteout conditions where we couldn't see 100 feet in front of us because of the rain. My supposed waterproof clothing didn't work and I ended up soaked from head to toe with my rain boots completely filled with water. That was at about 5 in the afternoon and we still had 5 more hours to work. The worst part though is that my scriptures got wet. Luckily they dried. But the damage done to my hymn book was too much. So that day we just worked soaking wet. It was a rough day and easily not one of my favorites. 

In good news we have a bunch of people progressing.   People here are doing well and we actually had Lorena and Carlos in church yesterday and it was a super good meeting so we were super happy about that. Their daughters though, Daniela and Katalina were sick though so they didn't go. But without even telling them they committed themselves to go again this next week which will be super awesome. So hopefully we can get the whole family. We found another family too this week which is really good. They are a family of four. A mom and her three kids and they are pretty good because they have some family communication issues and we are going to try and help them out. Jana was busy all week so we didn't get to visit her which stunk but its alright. And yeah the other family that we had is a mom and her two daughters who this week were showing way more interest so we are pretty excited for that! I really hope that they start to progress way more because I would love to have all of those people baptized before I leave. That will be the trick. But yeah that's about it for this week. Hope that you all have a good one!

Elder Parker

Rain and Wind

So this week we basically had a hurricane pass through Concepcion. Its rained super hard with super strong wind for like 3 days straight and there was no possible way to not get absolutely soaked from head to toe. It was a miserable experience but in the end I know that Ill miss it someday. But this week was pretty busy, we had transfers, zone conference, and two training meetings so we didn't work like half of the week. But even with not working too much we found a single mom who is super good. Shes good friends of a member and already accepted baptism and the invitation to go to church. Her name is Jana and she has gone through a bunch of trials in her life and more than anything wants to be with her son forever. Her husband is in a rehab center for drugs right now and she is having to raise her one year old son alone. Her life has been super hard. Shes pretty dang awesome. The family that we have too is committed to go to church this week too so we are hoping to have a bunch of people there.

Other than that, while I was in exchanges, we visited a member that has a bunch of new puppies and played with them for a good while. And the best part was that one of them pooped on my companion!

Zone Attacks and Cambios

Hows it going everyone? This weeks was super good and actually way fun. We had the goal as a mission to have every area get 20 lessons with a member present in the week. It was a pretty high goal and we have quite a few sectors that get about 5-10 in a week. So in the end we had to go over to other sectors and start to help them get their own goals. At the end of the week we weren't even working in our own sector but were getting members to go over to other sectors and to help them get lessons. We kept track and in the end, my companion and I got 33 lessons in the week. 20 of our own and the rest to help other sectors.  We had to basically run everywhere and take a whole bunch of buses but we were able to do it and as a zone we got the goal. I honestly feel like it was the hardest week of work that I have had in the mission haha but it was super awesome. We also found out today that I am going to stay with my companion for a third cambio so we are going to be together for a super long time but hes cool and we are working well together so in the end I'm fine with it. That does mean though that I will most likely be staying here in Andalien until I finish the mission in three months. But hope you all have a good week! 

what's up everyone?

Whats up everyone? Hows it going? So this week was pretty good. We were able to keep the contact with our families and they are all progressing. This week we are hoping to be able to get them all in church which would be super awesome. And yeah the families that we have are super good. We are super pumped for them. We are actually going to have two family nights today. One with each of them. We have figured out that honestly the most effective way to work as a missionary is through family home evenings. But yeah they are all doing well. We don't have any baptismal dates yet for them but we are going to try and put it today. Honestly though, this week wasn't very exciting at all. Its the last week of the cambios so we will see if I stay with Elder Baquerizo another one or no. I hope I do because that would mean that I would get the chance to baptize the families if they were to get to that point. But we have already been together 3 months and its not very normal to be together longer than that. But we will just have to hope for the best. Other than that, Today marks the 3 month mark for when I go home and that seems incredible and it has gone by way too fast. But yeah that's about it for this week. Hope you all have a good one! And everyone be praying that the Warriors win! Haha

the ground is shaking...

So I hope you know that as I am writing this email the ground is shaking and everyone here is still pretty calm haha. Its pretty interesting. Earthquakes are like nothing here. Its awesome. But Yeah so this week was pretty dang good. With Jordana, we had a little bit of trouble visiting her because she left on vacations and stuff and in the end we just werent able to do it. But we were able to find two families! One is a less active lady, her boyfriend, and her two daughters and the other one is a mom and her two daughters. And the less active ladys family is golden.  It was so awesome. One of them has lost a bunch of loved ones in the past 3 years and the most recent was the dads dad about a month ago. When we shared about the eternal families the two parents started to cry and said that they want us to keep coming by to teach them. The spirit was super strong and we are super excited to go back on Tuesday. But yeah that was definitely the highlight of the week. Also, something that I want to share is that "The Living Christ" article thing that the church released quite a few years ago is super awesome. We had one of our high council members quote it to us in church yesterday and it was super awesome. Also, the apostles talked about it a ton in General conference so I would like to invite you all to read it. And I personally think that its better in Spanish. A member this week gave me his tie clip thing this week which was cool. It looks super fancy but I would imagine that its not haha. Besides that, I would like to say Happy birthday to my mom. But have a good week everyone! Love you all!

Another week bites the dust...

Things here are going well. Yeah we did find Romina but we haven't found her since. But we found another girl this week that's super good. Her name is Jordana and she has a boyfriend who is a returned missionary. She is super receptiva and cool and shes already been to church a few times so she could be super easy to baptize. We Hope at least. Juan and Pancho are doing well. Pancho actually accompanied us this week to go visit people so that was pretty cool. Juan is doing well too. And the family isn't doing well actually. We can never find them in their house is the problem. They never commit to citas or anything so up until we can get them committing themselves better they aren't going to progress. We had two investigators in church yesterday but they aren't progressing. One is a little girl whose parents wont let her get baptized and the other is a guy that a member invited but we are gonna try and visit him this week. And yeah my companion and I are doing super well together. I honestly hope that I stay with him another cambio. Hes super cool and we get along really well.

This week really the only thing super interesting this week is that we were invited to an evangelical church and we went. It was super uncomfortable but the people were nice to us and everything. I had fun with it singing and stuff. It was strange though. We were there for like almost an hour and during that hour we did nothing besides pray and sing. It was actually kind of annoying because we had been walking all day long and got there and had to keep standing to sing or kneeled down to pray. But it was an experience. We left right when they started telling everyone to go to the front so that they could be healed by the laying on of hands. That part was the most uncomfortable of all. We really just wanted to hear the pastor preach but He didn't say anything the entire time we were there. But yeah it was nice and the best part is that we committed the lady who invited us to go to church with us this coming Sunday haha. It will be awesome if she goes. Next we said that we are going to go to the catholic church but the problem is that all of them are on Sunday at 10... But yeah besides that it was a good average week! Have a good one!

Bautismos!!

First off, Happy mothers day to all the moms out there. This week was pretty good. It rained a lot and it was pretty hard to get into houses but in the end the best part was the double baptism that we had of Juan and Pancho. it was a really small service but it was pretty good! One of the only members that showed up gave a super strong testimony and it was really nice. In the end everything worked out alright! I got to baptize and confirm Pancho (the younger one with long hair) and my companion baptized and confirmed Juan. Pancho had been working with missionaries for a really long time but was never able to get baptized because he couldn't quit smoking and Juan after 40 years of not getting baptized with the Jehovah's witnesses got baptized in like 4 months with us. The Church is true haha. Now, we are just going to struggle a little bit because we don't have very many people truly progressing towards baptism so we will just have to go out and find them. But yeah besides that it was a very normal week. Not too much happened. But yeah I figured out yesterday that my family is super trunky haha and that they are already counting down the days until I go home. I hope that I don't get to that point haha. but hope you all have a good week!

weekly email

This week was super busy and we had a ton to do with meetings and stuff but it was really fun. We are still working with Pancho and Juan. They are both going to get baptized this Saturday we hope. We also had the wife of the stake president invite a neighbor girl to church this week and she actually went. We are going to have a family night with her today and we are hoping that she is super good! Her name is Romina and she is studying Anthropology. I kind of forgot what that is but Im pretty sure that its something like Archaeology so we are going to talk about the Book of Mormon with her and hope that it stirrs a little bit more interest into her. Here is the photo of Me and My companion with Juan and a member lady at the temple from when we went two weeks ago! Have a good week!

weekly email

Hey everyone hows it going? So I'm writing today because we had a whole bunch of stuff to do during the first part of the week. But things here are going well. We still have Juan and Pancho progressing towards baptism but their baptismal dates had to be moved to the 13th instead of the 6th. But they are still doing well. We went with Juan last week to the temple construction site which was super good. I was going to send a picture but forgot the thing I need to send it. After the conference last week with Elder Nelson, Juan was super impacted with how normally Elder Nelson talked about how there are people on the other side of the veil who are helping with the construction of that building and so we decided to take him there. He liked it a lot. Now he has a bunch of super good questions that are like way deep doctrine and stuff so every time that we go to teach him we all get to learn a little bit. Its been super cool to teach him. He understands everything super well. He for 40 years was studying with the Jehovah's witnesses but never got baptized because he saw that there were some flaws in what they said. But now he is going to do it with us after only like 3 or 4 months. We are super excited for him. But yeah other than that we are doing super well here. Hope you all have a good week! Love you!

Elder Russell M Nelson!

So this week was super good. The highlight of the week was definitely the visit of Elder Nelson to our mission and to the stake where I am. We had a meeting with him and with the other mission as well and it was super awesome. That guy understands things and does basically whatever he wants haha. In the stake meeting on Sunday, he told all of the primary kids to stand up and sing I am a child of God to him and his wife. She is also super awesome. He talked a ton about the book of Mormon and the importance that it has in our lives. We had 4 investigators there in the reunion so hopefully they were able to feel the spirit. I got to shake elder nelsons hand too in the meeting with the mission. It was pretty neat.

The other highlight of the week was Wednesday. We had the national census and there is a law that you cant leave your house until they pass by and do the survey thing. So me and my companion prepared ourselves and we bought things to make brownies and cakes and stuff. It was nice. But that's all for this week. Hope you all have a good one!

Easter!

Easter was pretty lame for us haha. We did have to baptism of a little kid though, Victor, so that was fun. He doesn't count as a convert though because his family are less active members and hes only 8 but still it was fun to teach him. My comp forgot a white tie when he did it though haha.

Also, A member made me a cake for my birthday and then shoved it in my face:)

The week went super well though. We do have quite a few investigators that are progressing super well and going to church. We are hoping to be able to get more of them in church this coming week though. A lot of them left on vacation this week. Juan is doing super well too. He seriously is super super smart. Its so fun to teach him because he understands everything so well.This week was super awesome though because we had an investigator that we called and he was reading the Book of Mormon. He told us that he had dropped the drugs and was ready to be baptized. He's a blessing from the heavens. He put his own baptismal date actually!. His name is Pancho or Francisco and hes going to get baptized on the 6th of May! He went to church and now is doing super well. He simply got to the point where he was ready for a permanent solution to his problems and told us to call him. Its super awesome.

Hope that you all had a good week though! Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

This week was super good. We were able to find a family of three that are super awesome. They are in laws of an active family who is super good. The dad of the family died almost a year ago and always said that the day that he overcame his smoking addiction that he would get baptized. He always said that he wanted to have his kids be baptized as well. They are all super sick and we are just going to have to help them do it. We are super excited about them though and hope to be able to get them baptized super soon. Other than that, we got rained on pretty hard Friday which kind of sucked. But yeah it was a pretty average week. I don't know if there is a whole lot more to say about it. Juan is doing well, but he had a problem with the word of wisdom so he can't get baptized yet and his date fell through. He's still super good though and is progressing a ton. Other than that, not much happened. Hope you all have a good week and remember the real reason that we are going to celebrate Easter!

Elder Parker

Happy Conference Sunday!

Hi everyone. How are you all doing? I watched all of the sessions of conference and it was super great. I love conference now, which is something that I couldn't say before the mission haha. But now yeah its my favorite. I don't really remember which talk was my favorite but yeah I did like that one to the investigators a lot and there was one that was super good by President Eyring in Priesthood I think that was also super awesome even though I don't remember what he said haha.

     The work this week was tough but good. Juan is doing super well. He does have a baptismal date for the 15th of April but its not super solid I would say. Hes a super smart guy so he thinks a lot about everything we say and sometimes confuses himself and has a lot of doubts. We will see though and keep working hard with him. Elder Baquerizo and I get along super well yeah. He is super relaxed but is a machine. His parents are mission presidents in Colombia right now so he has a ton of experience with the mission but is still way fun and everything. My companion actually speaks English almost fluently haha but we still do talk in Spanish all the time. Hes super sick though. Monica and Sebastian were active up until a few years ago bu then they stopped going to church. I don't know how it happened. They might have been confirmed but they weren't put in the records of the church so they have to do it again. But they are doing okay. They are both pretty young, like 20 and 16 so its hard to get them to take things seriously, like the 70 said in the conference yesterday. Being ZL is a lot of work but its super fun and busy. I feel like what I do has a lot more importance for the work which is cool. I like it over all.

    

Andalien

So this first week was pretty nuts. I basically didn't work in my sector for like 3 days straight right at the beginning of the week because we had a Zone conference right away, a training for some of the missionaries and after the mission council. So that was pretty crazy. At the end of all of that I was super sick of sitting down and wanted to do anything else. But yeah this sector is super awesome. Its actually super close to my old sector kind of. Like 15 minutes in bus. Honestly I feel kind of useless because this ward works super well and I don't feel like it would fall apart without us. This is one of the biggest wards in the mission with like 150 people every week as an average and everything here like works.It's kind of nice. I'm with Elder Baquerizo from Ecuador. Hes just really relaxed and laid back with everything, but he does his job really well. I feel like I'm going to be able to learn a lot from him. my companion is kind of new to the area though. He has one cambio there so we are kind of getting to know the people and the sector at the same time haha. We should have a super good cambio as well.He is going to complete a year in the mission this week too so I think that we are going to have to find a way to celebrate. I already feel like I have learned a ton about organization and planning and managing people in just this one week that I have been Zone leader. Its super fun.  There are 18 other missionaries in the zone.We have 10 companionships in the zone and like half are sisters actually haha so it should be fun. Something interesting though is that we have like sister assistants to the president and the assistants of the president in our zone and they are just ridiculously good so we don't have to worry too much about them.

We have a few people here that are good investigators. We have a few people with the potential to be baptized so that is going to be awesome. One of them is Juan. Hes super smart and knows the bible super well but he likes the church a ton and has gone twice now. We are going to try and put him with a baptismal date this week. Other ones are Monica and Sebastian that were baptized actually but never confirmed so they have to do it again. Its kind of an awkward subject to bring up so we are looking for the right moment to break the news to them.

But yeah things are super great here. Hope you all have a good week!

Elder Parker

 The new zone leaders

 The Andalien zone

 Leadership Council