Called as a trainer

Dear Elder Parker,

We are pleased to extend a call to you to serve as a Trainer in the Chile Concepción Mission. Your call to train reflects your desires to be obedient to the rules of the mission, to live righteously, and to teach effectively the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As a trainer, you will have the responsibility of introducing a new missionary to the work he has been called to do. Each missionary comes with different talents and weaknesses. Please look for ways to magnify the talents and strengthen the weaknesses. Also there will be a varying degree of insecurity, and sometimes even fear. It is important to help new missionaries overcome these feelings and more fully understand the principle of faith as taught in the scriptures.

To be an effective teacher, you must first be an example of that which you teach. We encourage you to read D&C 12:8 and D&C 42:14. In these verses we find the Lord's patterns for teaching and being taught.

We trust your ability to instill within your companion a desire to serve with enthusiasm, seek increased spirituality, and be committed to obedience and loyalty, to the Lord and to this mission.

We are grateful for your willingness to accept this call and know that as you fulfill this assignment, you will demonstrate your devotion to the Lord.

We love you and pray for the Lord’s blessings to be with you.

Sincerely,President Kent J. Arrington Mission President

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13 June 2016

Dear Brother and Sister Parker,

Your son, Elder Jacob Terry Parker, has been assigned a new calling within the Chile Concepción Mission.  I have asked him to serve as one of our ¨Trainers,¨ which means that he is responsible for the care and teaching of one of our newly arrived missionaries.  This is a great responsibility, as each new missionary´s first companion can have a long-term positive effect.  Because of this, I only call those missionaries to be Trainers whom I believe have the qualities and attributes we want transmitted to the next generation of missionaries.

A copy of the letter we sent to Elder Parker, which explains the duties that pertain to the new calling, will be sent to you.

Thank you for the support and encouragement you give your missionary.

Sincerely,Kent J. ArringtonMission President

wild week

Hows it going everyone? hope that you are all doing well. This week was a down week but we had quite a bit of fun. We weren´t really able to find anyoine except for a guy named carlos who is pretty cool. Hes Catholic though and that has made things hard but we are working with him and he is willing to listen to us which is more than we had previously. 

We were also able to find two less actives and get them both to church yesterdsay which was awesome. But that was basically the bright moment of the week. But the craziest part of the week is that yesterday we entered in the house of a guy under the influence of cocaine haha. We knew that he was a little bit weird but he invited us in to his house and it seemed pretty harmless and we needed another lesson with investigator. Yeah it was a bad idea because he started acting really weird and unstable. He offered us like 3 things of bread each and wouldnt let us leave unless we ate haha. In the end we just said a prayer and left with more bread in hand. It was quite the experience. After my companion told me, "I think he was high on cocaine." That was a suprise.

But it was a good week and we are working hard but just have to find the person that is prepared to listen and be baptized. But have a good week and take care!

Elder Parker

called as a zone leader

8 June 2016

Elder Jacob Parker, Chillan Zone

Dear Elder Parker, 

The decision to extend a call to you to serve as District Leader in the Zone of Chillan was made after careful and prayerful consideration. We commend you for your faithfulness, your worthiness and desire to serve our Father in Heaven.

As you are well aware, leadership carries with it great responsibility. To be really effective as a leader, you must first strive to be a perfect example of obedience and righteousness. We encourage you to keep the commandments and live the mission rules with exactness and expect no less from those you lead.

As a District Leader, you should:

· Set an example for the missionaries in your district in your study of the scriptures and the gospel, obedience, hard work, proselyting skills, and other aspects of missionary work.

· Carry a full proselyting load in your assigned sector and commit to baptize regularly.

· Supervise, teach, and inspire the missionaries during district meetings and companion exchanges.

· Interview baptismal candidates.

· Look after the well-being of missionaries in your district, especially the sisters.

· Make sure relationships between elders and sisters are in harmony with gospel teachings and missionary standards.

· Demonstrate effective planning.

· Work with local priesthood leaders and members.

· Follow up with the missionaries on referrals.

· Submit reports accurately and promptly.

We encourage you to prayerfully consider the Lord’s counsel on leadership found in D&C 121:34-46. As the Savior's example and teachings make clear, to lead is to serve, and our love for God and our fellow men must motivate our every action. As a leader, you will require the help of the Holy Spirit to maintain high standards and at the same time be meek and humble.

We love you and know that the Lord loves you. Through your faithful service in this calling you can demonstrate your love and devotion to the Lord. We pray for the Lord’s blessings to be with you as you serve in this sacred calling.

Sincerely,Kent J. Arrington

Mission President

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8 June 2016 

Dear Brother and Sister Parker,

This is to inform you that your son, Elder Parker, has a new assignment in the Chile Concepción Mission. I have asked him to serve as District Leader in the Chillan Zone. I am confident that he will serve faithfully and that many will be blessed through his service.

A copy of my letter to Elder Parker, which explains his new duties as District Leader, will be sent to you.  As is evident from the letter, it is a position of significant trust and responsibility. 

Thank you for the support and encouragement you give your missionary.

Sincerely,Kent J. ArringtonMission President

weekly email

Hey everyone how are you all doing? Im doing well, a little cold is all. It has gotten really cold and there is no real heating systems in this country anywhere except for the church and they dont like to use it. So basically you are just always a little bit cold. Its better than the heat though.

But I got my hijo this week and He is from Colombia and hes pretty sick. His name is Elder Marquinez and he really doesn't need a lot of training  because he already teaches really well and can speak Spanish. The words from here and Colombia are different so right now, I understand more Spanish than him. Being district leader is hard and stressful though because there is so much little stuff that you have to do and teaching district class is really not very fun. As district leader I have to teach classes and stuff, see how each companionship is doing with their goals  and just try to help them. Its challenging just because of all the little things that I have to do each day. There are 8 missionaries in my district though.

                                                                           Eder Marquinez and I

                                                                           New leaders conference

But the work was hard this week and we haven´t been able to find anyone very good. All of the people that  we have found are just alright. We are still looking really hard and I think that we are going to find a good one soon. Thats pretty much it though. I had to travel to Concepcion two times this week for training things which was fun but made me tired. I lost our phone and then found it. And yeah thats all.

Have a good week!

Elder Parker

It's a boy!

I have some good news everyone. This morning we found out the cambios and I found out that I am going to train a new child and be a district leader. Im nervous because I have no clue how I am going to do that. I feel very unprepared and insufficient but I believe that the cambio came from the Lord and am grateful for the challenge. Im excited but really nervous too. 

Also, this makes it the last day that I will be with Elder Garcia. Im very grateful for that but also I am grateful that I was able to learn many of my own weaknesses from my  time with him. It was really hard but in the end I am grateful for it.

This week was good though. Had a mini cambio with an Elder in Quillon on tuesday and it was awesome. We found and put an entire family with a baptismal date and also found one other lady. It was so nice to be able to learn something new from him and I hope that we can use it to get more people to church and have more baptisms.

Love you all and hope you have a good week!

Elder Parker

we found an entire family!

Elder Garcia and I

How is it going everyone? Glad to be able to talk to you all again. This week was a long one. Very frustrating for the situation with my companion but its alright. We have one week left in the cambio and I am just hoping for a change. Its been a struggle and a great learning experience. I'm grateful for every moment in the mission though. Even the hard times.

We had a little bit of success this week though. We found an entire family which is something that hasn't happened throughout all of my mission. The parents names are Alejandro and Silvia and they are actually studying with Jehovah's Witnesses right now but that hasn't caused too many problems... yet. They have 5 kids and either 3 or 4 of those kids are over the age of 8 so it would be really awesome if they progressed and got baptized. They were supposed to go to church yesterday but they didn't. We have another lesson Thursday with them and we are hoping that it goes well!

Besides that we are still just looking really hard to find investigators that are willing to progress and be baptized. Oh I also gave a talk yesterday about repentance and the importance of repentance in our lives so that we can be aligned with the teachings of the savior and feel his love and feel joy. I was only supposed to give a talk of 7 minutes but I took 12 accidentally, even though I cut out a big part of my talk. Haha oops.

Have a good week though!

Elder Parker

a normal week in the mish...

Another very normal week here in the mish. It was a good one but it is still really frustrating because we are just not finding people who are willing to repent and be baptized. The influences of other churches and everything is incredible and makes things really difficult but its all good. So basically we have nothing except a bunch of less active families. There were a lot of them though that came to church yesterday which was really good to see.

Tuesday I had mini cambio (I dont know what that is called in English) with an Elder Nef which was really good. We taught some pretty good lessons to people and had a good time. Thats really the only thing exciting that happened though this week.

But this week we did have interviews with our President and it will be the last time I think before he leaves. He helped me to see through his testimony that our goal as missionaries is to allow people to have the spirit with them always in this life and in the life to come. It is as simple as that. Whatever trial or challenge in our life, can be helped or fixed through the help of the spirit and of God. It was a great interview and gave me a new way to look at missionary work. But hope that you all have a good week!

Elder Parker