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!