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

weekly email

It was a pretty good week this week. Not too much to say. It has started to get really cold here and its like it just skipped fall. The houses don't have heating either so they just use wood stoves and stuff to heat their houses. There is so much smoke in the air I am going to have lung cancer by the time winter is over.

But I hope that you all had a good Mothers day yesterday! I was able to talk with the family and they are doing well. This week, we did a lot of service and one of them was horrible. We had to cut grapes. Which doesn´t sound that bad but all of the grapes had gotten wet and had mold and all sorts of garbage on them. It was disgusting. 

Also, I have really realized how much the catholic church runs the world down here. We had a lesson with a lady two days ago who told us that she believed our message but she was catholic and wasn´t going to change. I basically told her and tried to help her understand that the catholic church wouldn´t allow her to gain her salvation. She said she understood,but she was okay with staying catholic and not going to heaven. It was strange but it really is that way with many people down here.

But I hope you all have a good week. Remember to give your mom a hug.

Elder Parker

a few new investigators...

Hows it going? This week was pretty good. We were able to find two people that are pretty good investigators. They were both found through the members of the ward and one of them is the daughter of an inactive lady. Her name is Margarita and its hard to be able to teach because we have to focus on both the mom and the daughter and they have different situations. The other one is the mom of a member. Ill let you know next week if they are progressing or not. We have basically been going off of nothing because they had nothing when I got here. Its been tough but a good challenge.

Today in the morning we went to the mountains for a zone activity which was cool. But we were supposed to go and play in the snow and stuff and there was no snow. That was kind of a letdown but we went on a pretty cool hike and saw some cool stuff.

But thats just about it for the week. Make sure to tell your moms that you love them and appreciate them. Have a good week!

Love Elder Parker

New stuff

Hows it going everyone? Im doing fine here now in Libertador with Elder Garcia. The sector is HUGE and I get lost pretty easily but its all good. The people are a little bit more closed even though Im in the same city. Elder Garcia is alright. We get along alright. The ward here is really good and strong but they really dont like to help with the missionary work of the ward so thats kind of lame but we will just have to work on it. Also, we live with two other Elders and one of them is Elder Leiva from my first sector. He is super funny and always boosts the energy. I am also the only one in the house who speaks english so I went a few days straight without speaking english before today.

There are absolutely no investigators here too so we have to find some and thats really tough because I dont know the sector very well. So basically we are starting from scratch. Im grateful for the challenge though and hope that I can just make myself better through the trials and challenges that I am given. 

But thats about it for this week, hope that you are all doing well. Love You all

Jake

Me voy...

Can´t really believe it but I am getting transferred again. They are also shutting our sector which is a really great idea for the other two missionaries that are going to stay in that ward. I actually liked this sector a lot and I am sad to have to leave. The members were great people here and things were just starting to pick up again in our sector. We found 4 people this week. None of them were great but we still found 4. Oh well, hopefully the other misisonaries can work with those people and get them baptized.

I am going to another zone here in Chillan but in the other stake. My new sector is called Libertador and it should be pretty good. I have officially been moved up to senior companion officially after being unofficial for two cambios. My new companion is Elder Garcia from Guatemala. He just barely finished his training and has just about 3 months in the field now. It should be a good experience.

Not a ton happened this week, but it flew by somehow. We had a bunch of really spiritual lessons with people and I found that the best way to be able to feel the spirit consistently here in the mission is to continually bear testimony to the people. When you do that, the people can´t say that it isn´t true because it comes directly from your heart. It was awesome to be able to feel the spirit a lot this week and I should encourage all of you to take any opportunity that you have to bear your testimony of the gospel. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Parker

Hola Todos!

¡Hola todos! This week was alright. Had some really good parts and some other not so good parts. Ill start with the good. Yesterday I turned a whole 19 years old and it feels the same as 18, haha. Some of the members of Agronomía (that's the name of the ward) threw me a surprise party last night which was really sweet of them. One of their daughters too had a birthday so we shared the party. Those members, as a present, bought me a storm trooper (everyone here knows I love Star Wars) which is huge and that made me laugh pretty hard. They are really great people.  I enjoyed the Bithday in the mission. It was really simple and different and for that I liked it. But the time is passing so fast that I am sure I will be home before I know it. That makes me a little sad but it is crazy to think that about a year ago I was doing my papers to get ready to leave. Its insane how fast it passes 

Not so good news, Bella and Marilu "died" this week which means that they are no longer investigators. Bella had a change in her work and wont be able to meet with us anymore and also wouldn´t be able to go to church. So we had to let her go. She never really understood the importance of what we were teaching though. I just don´t think it was quite her time to be baptized. We have a few other investigators that are alright but none that are worth writing about... yet.

We did quite a bit of service here this week too. One day, painted a cement fence which didn´t really work very well but they were happy with it. And the other, we re-furnished a couch. Its funny. The people here think that very little things that are very basic are skills. For example, we went and washed the windows of the bishop one day and his wife asked me if I "knew how". I thought that she was talking about some special technique or somehting so I had her show me. It was literally just a normal thing. Soapy water and a rag. It was funny and Im really grateful that I get to serve here in Chile. The people are funny and strange and its a different world but I love it.

That is so cool to hear of the people that are going to leave on their missions. It makes me feel so old in the mission and makes me realize how fast time goes by. But yeah I feel pretty fluent. There are some situations though that are tough. Chileans speak horribly and dont pronounce anything well. They also use a ton of different phrases and things that are hard to understand.

Have a good week!

Love, Elder Parker

(The two gifts I have received in Chile. The other was for Christmas)

Chile is good...

Hows it going everyone? Good to be able to talk with you all again. This week normally would have been the week of cambios but this cambio is 8 weeks so I will be with Elder Calle for another two weeks. This week was pretty good though. The highlight was general conference. There were some great talks that I really enjoyed and I noticed that the majority of them had to do with families in one way or another. We as missionaries are always praying to find a whole family to be able to teach. If you can do that, the goal of going to the temple to be sealed is a little bit closer. But I hope you all felt the spirit and the power of the talks that were given and that you all go out and do something with the information and testimony that you have received. My favorite talk was by D. Todd Christopherson about fathers and their divine roles in the lives of others. With that, I would like to thank my dad and tell him happy birthday this Wednesday haha.  But I think I like Elder Eyring the most. We got to watch in a Stake Center and all of the English missionaries go to another room and watch in English which is really nice.

But Bella and Marilu are doing alright. Marilu actually understands a lot more than her mom and Bella is progressing slowly. She doesn´t understand the importance of the things we teach and that commandments come from God, not from the church. So right now we are focusing on that and are hoping to get them baptized this week but we will have to see.  Money is a big problem for them and she has a hard time understanding tithing and that its a commandment from God, not from the church. They didn't come to church yesterday and are supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday but I don't know about that.

And it has started to cool off a lot. Yesterday, it rained super hard during conference and we had to leave to work after in all of our rain gear which was pretty fun but Im sure it will get old fast. But have a good week and make sure to say your prayers and all that fun stuff.

Love Elder Parker