cambios!

Suprise! Im not going anywhere. Neither is my companion. There is actually only one change in our house. An Elder is leaving and his old companion is going to train. So we are going to have a newby in the house which should be kinda fun. Besides that, the cambios were pretty average. Not much changed in my life. Cambios are like Christmas for missionaries. You all wake up excited even though you know that there is about a 0% chance that you are leaving to go anywhere. 

But more than that, nothing really happened this week. We have found a few people to teach but they are pretty lame and not very willing to progress so we might have to let them go and not waste our time there. We did have a way good lesson with a member this week actually in which we talked about how trials help us to progress in our lives and how God lets us have trials to show and and help us. The member compared it to a child who breaks his toy and asks for help from his dad to fix it. The dad starts but the kid starts to complain that its wrong. The dad gets tired of hearing it so he gives it back and tells the kis to try for himself then. The child obviously doesn´t know how so he tries all he can and then returns to the dad to ask again. But this time he is humble and he has tried everything in his own power and has no other option. It is at this point that our heavenly father takes over for us and gives us just enough knowledge to do it ourselves or he does it for us. If we remember in the story of Joseph Smith, it was just barely before he was about to give in to Satan that the light began to shine. We are given trials to help us to be humble to eventually be able to progress. But only after all that we can do. 

That lesson had a lot more than that in it but theres too much to write it all. That lesson was the highlight of the week and just about the only thing that is worthy of writing about haha. Oh and also my companion and I were talking with a drunk dude yesterday and he asked us, "what would you do if I pushed a knife to your throat?" he was kidding but it was kind of exciting. At the end we ended up getting his name and address and hopefully we can have a lesson in the future. 

It was a good week that went by fast!

Love you all and have a good week

Elder Parker

Happy Valentines Day!

 Me and Elder Calle

Osvaldo's baptism

Whats up?Hows it going everyone? Hope you all enjoyed Valentines day. It isnt a very big holiday down here and its totally the same as missionaries. I actually forgot that it was Valentines day until this morning. Things are pretty normal here except that it was a little bit cooler this week which was a great blessing. Its really hard to get excited to go work when its like 105 degrees outside haha.

But the first and most important part of the week is that Osvaldo was baptized on Saturday and I had the opportunity to dunk him. It was an awesome experience and the Spirit felt was super strong and great. He has turned around completely in the past three weeks and is in a way better place now in his life. His baptism was a rare thing too because usually no one is baptized three weeks after meeting the missionaries. They have to go to church three times before being baptized and be living the commandments for two weeks before. With his drinking problem and his situation it is a miracle that he was able to turn his life around this fast but it is incredible.

Also, I got sick this past Tuesday from the lunch we had. We ate at the house of a less active family and these people have 12 cats and 4 dogs which live inside or outside. Those animals bring about 1 million flies too so its no wonder that I got sick. So yeah that was fun. We also had interviews with our president that went well. We are this week entering the last week of the cambio so next week I could have a different companion even though I think that we are going to be together for another 6 weeks.

But I hope you are all doing well and having fun in the snow. Love you all and wish you the best!

Love Elder Parke

Count Your Blessings!

Whats up everyone? Hows it going? Things are pretty normal here which is good but nothing exciting. We have walked a lot and talked with a lot of people but haven´t been able to find too many to teach.

Osvaldo is doing great though. He went to church for the 3rd time yesterday and is doing basically everything on his own now. I have never met someone as prepared as he is to be baptized. Yesterday he told us that he was going to go bear his testimony in sacrament meeting but he didn´t. He seriously is doing so great and I am almost positive that we will have a baptism this Saturday. Great guy.

Also, we had a mini cambio this week and I went to a little town called coihueco which is right up against the mountains about 30 minutes away from Chillan. I was with another Peruvian Elder for the day and we had a good time. We argued with a group of Jehovah´s witnesses for a little while and then went to an appointment where the Lady complained that there was too much friendship in the ward and that they should be there for the gospel and nothing else. That was by far the most ridiculous thing I have heard on my mission.

As members of the church we forget all too often the blessings that we have because of this gospel and turn to complaining way too fast. I have seen that on the mission and its one thing that I never want to do myself. I want to encourage each of you to count your blessings. But not temporal blessings, spiritual blessings, that have come from the church. Whenever there happens to be a moment that you want to complain, think about that. The people of this church are not perfect, the church is. We have no reason to complain with all that we have been given.

Thats all though. Have a good week in the snow!

Love Elder Parker

volcanos erupting!

Hey everyone how are you all doing? Things are great here in Chillan except that it is really hot every single day. It makes it hard to get excited to go out and work every day but you still have to do it. Especially when its a day with zero appointments and you are just going to be walking all day. We sometimes go out and are walking for 6 and a half hours straight. Thats rough but you just have to find ways to have fun doing it.

But the biggest news of this week is that Osvaldo is doing awesome. He is doing better and better every time we meet with him and he is changing his life through the atonement. He is such an awesome guy whose life has been changed 180 degrees over the past three weeks. Right now he is still on track to be baptized the 13th of February which will be awesome to see. I wish you guys could all meet him.

Also, the volcano that is about 30 minutes from our sector is erupting right now which is really cool. Yesterday there was a big lightning storm because of it at night and it looked super cool. We also had a ward family night this week which went well. It was funny because two guys from our ward are in a band and they brought their guitars and stuff and performed on the stage in the church. I felt like I was in an Evangelic church clapping and stuff. It was weird but fun.

Nothing else really happened so I hope you all have a good week and are loving the cold weather!

Love Elder Parker

Hola

I couldn´t think of a title  for this week but how are you all doing? Things are nice and warm here and thats really tiring but its all good too. There isn´t much to talk about this week but Ill try and keep it interesting. 

So last week we found the guy that was super drunk with a ton of problems. His name is Osvaldo and we are working with him now. He has a baptismal for the 13th of February and came to church yesterday. He has all sorts of problems in his life and when we taught baptism and the chance that we have to be "Born Again" and start over fresh in our lives, he cried. He is super great and has more desire to be baptized than anyone I have met so far on my mission. His only problem that I can see right now is his drinking. He is definitely addicted. He knows that it is destroying his life but he cant stop. But I will let you know where we are at with him next week.

More than that... we did a few things of service for people this week. Cleaned rugs, emptied a pool, and a few more things. This week went by really fast. We also had a worldwide missionary conference on Wednesday which was really good called "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts." We got to hear from a few of the apostles and it was awesome to have a training like that. Thats pretty much it though for this week. Hope you all have a great week and stay safe.

Elder Parker

Chillan

Hey everyone how are you doing? Im doing well in the new sector except that it is ridiculously hot here. I have no clue exactly how hot though because they use Celcius here and I dont get it at all. It feels like its like 95 at mid day though. The sector is good though and its huge. There is another kind of small, unanimated ward though here so there is definitely work to be done. My companion is a good dude named Elder Calle from Peru. He doesnt speak english at all but that hasnt been a problem, my spanish is doing really well actually. We get along well but he is a really quiet kid so we dont do a ton of talking haha.

Not a ton happened this week though because we have just been visiting a lot of members and been trying to get to know the sector. Yesterday was about the only day that anything exciting happened. I gave a talk in Church. Yes, all in Spanish and it went pretty well. The Spanish isnt a super big problem for me. I just have to get it perfect now. But yesterday we had extra time before an appointment so we went to look for a person that we contacted. The guy gave us a fake address we think but when we got down there we knocked on a door to ask if they knew the guy. We found two ladies that are about 55 and they let us in for a lesson. Now we have to new investigators which was sweet. Im grateful for the prompting of the spirit that I got to go visit that one guy. And Actually I am thankful that he gave us a fake address. The lord works in mysterious ways.

We also contacted a drunk guy who has just about every problem in the world and were talking with him for an hour. Basically talking him out of suicide. He kept on saying that he wanted to kill himself throughout the contact. I am sure that we can help him if he will just listen to us and let us help him. That was a cool experience. Thats about it though for this week. Love you all and hope you have a good week.

Elder Parker

Chillan bound...

Hey everyone good to be able to talk to you guys again. First off to start, we have cambios tomorrow and this morning I was called and told that I am going to the zone Chillan Ñuble which is about an hour and a half away from here. My companion will be Elder Calle, from Peru. I have no clue what hes like but I will let you know next week. Cerro Verde was a good time, but it was also really hard too. I'm glad I get the opportunity to change and work somewhere else with other people. My companion unfortunately is going to stay in Cerro Verde for a 5th cambio which is a crazy long time. Like 7 and a half months. 

But not much happened this week but it still passed by way fast. I accidentally broke my watch playing soccer. And we found a few new people to teach, but that was it  .We had quite a few less actives and inactives that we were working with but just no investigators.  Nothing too exciting.

One thing this week is that I finished the book of mormon in Spanish for the first time. That was a pretty big accomplishment for me. And with that I want to encourage each of you to read the book of mormon and pray about it to know whether its true or not. I did it this past week and yes I know that its true. You can never have too strong of a testimony about the book of mormon. It truly blesses lives.

But nothing else really happened this week so I will report to all of you next week and let you know how is Chillan. I have heard that its super hot and kind of dangerous too which should be really fun haha.

 Us with Nelson Campos, a member who was baptized about one and a half years ago.  He is the only member in his immediate family  

Love you all,

Elder Parker