weekly email

Hey everyone. This week was pretty great. I dont know why so great but it was. It has been a little different living with just my companion but its still pretty fun. First thing this week is that we should have two baptisms this coming Saturday which will be super awesome. Mariella for sure and Jerson probably. Im really hoping it happens because we have already had to move his baptismal date and he wasnt super happy haha. 

But Cool experience of the week. We went looking for a future investigator, knocked on his door and his mom came out. She told us he wasnt there but we asked if we could share with her and after a little bit of persuasion she said yes. Only to a prayer is all to help her in her day. We went in and were going to say the prayer when she started to tell us all of the problems that she has in her life with her son, Erik. She has depression and really a super empty life. Her son is addicted to drugs and cant seem to come out of it. She told us that she didnt know why she let us in because she just hasnt had any desires to do anything and much less, let us in. She said that she felt like something was telling her to do it and to just listen to us. It was really cool to hear her experience as she described her feelings from before and alfter talking with us. Her name is Mercedes and I am really glad to have gotten the chance to know her and it should be really great to be able to pass by again and really share a lesson with her. 

More than that, we had a conference that lasted forever on Wednesday. I was in the church from 830 in the morning until 8 at night. I was so mentally tired that day but it was an awesome conference. And those were the highlights of the week.

Here is picture from the highlight of Chillan. The Cathedral.

11 months!

Sorry, I don't have a lot of time this week so its gonna be short. We went to a Waterfall this week called Saltos del Itata and it was pretty awesome. Also something crazy happened. My companion had to go to Santiago this week to fill out some paperwork things for his visa so I was in a trio with two other elders that we live with and it was pretty fun honestly. They are always pretty funny guys. They had their sector closed in an emergency transfer though we found out last night and we are actually going to have AP´s in their sector starting tomorrow which will be kind of crazy. We now have four assistants to the president. Also, Mariela and Jerson are doing well. They are both going to get baptized the 20th we hope. We also had two new investigators in church yesterday. A dad and a son named Roberto and Alejandro.  They are a dad and a son of like 55 and 20 years old. They went to church this last week but they didn't tell us much about whether they liked it or not. I hope that they did.  They are pretty good so we are hoping that they will accept a baptismal date this week. But those are the things that are most exciting for this week. Nothing too special. Have a good week!

Ill try and send more pictures next week!

Emergency talks

Whats happening everyone? How are you all doing? This week was pretty good. Kind of rainy and cold but we are coming out of the winter so that is a blessing. But to start off, it isnt super rare to have people just not show up for things here. And that happened in Sacrament meeting this week. I got to church and found out that I had to give a 15 minute talk. I had like 15 minutes to prepare too. I found out the secret though. You just have to find a few scriptures and tell a few stories and rely on the spirit. I ended up giving a decent talk about the commandments for 15 minutes haha. Also, My companion was bit by a dog this week so we had to take an emergency trip to the doctor so he could receive his shots haha.

We also had one person in Church this week. Mariella went with her 7 year old son. And just like 7 year olds do. He got super bored and wanted to go home. So that was kind of lame. She dropped him off and came back but she was a little worried the rest of the day. She is still working on her smoking habit but she is getting a lot better. If she hasnt smoked after Friday she will be able to get baptized the 13th of August!!

Other than that we had a few really hard days and frustrating days. People here are tough but you just have to continue looking for the good ones.

Love you all and have a good week!

Happy Pioneer Day!

Happy Pioneer day! I didnt even remember until yesterday when a member asked me what my family was doing to celebrate. It was a pretty good week though. Nothing to crazy happened though. We did have two investigators in church with a baptismal date yesterday. It was awesome but I was a little worried because the ward where I am at is a little cold. Like no one went to welcome her or to get to know her so that was a little lame but she still liked it. The two people are Mariella and Jerson. If they can stop smoking before the 29th they can get baptized on the 13th of August! Its gonna be awesome!

More than that, it has been cold and super rainy. Saturday it was raining super hard all day and we didnt get in to a single house so that sucked. But its kind of fun to mess around it the rain. But hope that you all have a good week! 

Elder Parker

Miracles...

I never really write spiritual emails so why not. So yesterday we went to church and had an investgator there whos name is Jerson. He is super funny and pretty good so that was a miracle. Especially because we werent able to talk to him for like three days before Sunday and we didnt think he was even gonna show up. After, in the afternoon, we left to go to work and still needed a bunch of lessons to meet our goals so we didnt think that it was going to happen. It was raining too. Really hard. But we went through our plans and were able to find two people in their houses and they both let us in which never happens. We dont find anyone unless it is a set up lesson and even then it doesnt happen very often. But they both let us in and we were able to get to a few of our goals. After, it was pretty cool to look back and remember that before we left, we prayed to be able to have a day like that. Everything we prayed for happened basically. Things like that happen a lot in the mission and sometimes I just dont really realize. I know that God answers our prayers if we just ask and put in our part.

But we have two people with a baptismal date which is something that hasnt happened in a long time so I am super excited to be able to be part of it! This week turned out being pretty solid and I am grateful for all the blessing and miracles that I saw. But hope that you all have a good week! 

Elder Parker

Leadership conference

Cambios and 10 Meses!

Surprise! Absolutely nothing happened with the cambios. My whole house stays the same. I am all good with that though. It means I dont have to pack suitcases:) And this sector has a lot of potential so it will be nice to stay. Even though I would have liked to move up to be Zone leader. I also completed 10 months in the mission two days ago and I didnt celebrate with anything.

And we also had a pretty good week finding new people. We found a 17 year old kid named Javier who wants to change and be a better person and a single mom named Mariella who just wants a good life for herself and for her son. She has had some hard times in her life especially with her family so she should be really good. Ill let you know more about them next week!!

Not a ton happened this week though thats worth the story! Hope you are enjoying the heat! 

Elder Parker

Happy 4th of July!

Happy birthday to the greatest country ever. I really do miss being in the US even though its sick to be here in Chile. This week was pretty normal. We met our new mission President. President Cátala. He is from Argentina and his wife is from Taiwan. its strange to hear Spanish with a Chinese accent. He is pretty great though from what I have seen so I am pretty excited to work with him.

This morning, we had a Zone activity where we ate a nice US style barbecue. We did play soccer though which was kind of strange but whatever. It was a pretty fun activity. This week we found a new lady named Rocio who is pretty good. She has a lot of good questions about life and stuff and when we first contacted her, she asked us every one of them. We just handed her a pamphlet thing and told her to read. 

More than that, its cold here now. We are looking really hard to be able to find people that want to change their lives. And cambios are coming up next week but I don't think that we are going to have any changes happen.

Love you all and have a good week! Enjoy your 4th of July!