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!

Happy Halloween!

Today I am grateful for the holiday because it gave me the title to my email.  This week was good. Uh for Halloween today we went to the top of a hill and climbed a tree. I am going to be honest this was one of the dumbest things that I could have done ever in my life. It was such a tall tree and was so scary and not safe. Sorry. Haha but I made it! For real I was super scared and I'm not scared of heights at all. haha. But I don't think that we are going to do anything for Halloween as far as dressing up and stuff goes. Here it isn't really all that big. 

With Mario, the same thing happened this week as happened last week. He showed up like 5 minutes before the meeting like nothing had happened at all and after we had passed by his house to get him. It was another miracle and was equally amazing. So yeah he is still going to be baptized on the 12th if everything works out.  

This week we were able to see the power of the Book of Mormon work in the lives of people. We passed by one of the investigators that we have named Manuel. He is cool and receptive but super shy and didn't want to let us in the house. We shared outside and just talked with him. When we started to talk about the book of Mormon he lit up and was asking so many questions. He said that he was going to read the Book of Mormon in two days. I don't believe him but still it was a nice thought. But really I was able to feel his testimony growing about this gospel even though it only came from me sharing my testimony about this book. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and above that, I know that it has been a blessing for me in my life and has been a tool to help people change their lives in Chile. I have seen it and know that its true. He was able to feel it just talking at the door. But hope you all have a good week and enjoy your holiday. Here, the holiday is also Evangelical day. So I will probably get in a fight with someone tonight if I had to guess. 

But Have a good week!

weekly email

Whats going on everyone. Hope that you all had a good week and are doing well. Things here are tough, but good. Just to tell you all first, the mission is the best experience ever. I cant really explain why, but letting people know that they can change their lives around is awesome and I love it. 
This week we got to see that with our investigator Mario. He was praying all week up until Thursday to see if it really was the will of God that he get baptized in our Church. He told us Thursday that he got his answer of yes and was willing to prepare himself for it. We were super stoked to see that God answers prayers. Even though sometimes it doesn't seem like it right away, he really does. Sunday, we had set everything up for him to go to church with us but all of the sudden we couldn't talk with him at all and we thought that he had bailed on us like he had done with other missionaries in the past. But like 5 minutes before the meeting started, he walked in. I still don't know where he was and why he didn't answer us but I am just grateful that he showed up. Hopefully that means that on the 12th of November we will have a baptism. That was a super big miracle. I felt pretty relaxed though throughout the whole time though. Even if he didn't show up, I knew that we had done everything possible to get him to church and I was satisfied. But He did show up and it was pretty awesome. especially because a few of the members of the ward that know him said that he wouldn't come and he would just flake out again. But no he came and it was great. We don't really have many other investigators. Just a few people that are kind of lame and don't really want to progress. We will see though. 
Hope you all have a good week though! 

weekly email

This week was alright. Nothing too exciting going on. There are so many drunk guys in this sector though. One thing that I do to entertain myself is tell them that my companion loves hugs and they always end up hugging him haha. I dont think that he enjoys it but we always laugh after. Its been raining super hard and there has been a ton of wind so people have kind of been turned off from the idea of listening to us. We also did an activity in the ward this week of ping pong to try and help one of our investigators who likes ping pong. I am proud to say that I went undefeated and have not yet lost all of the ability that I once had in the glory days. I also gave a talk again yesterday about the spirit and how it helps us to progress. I think it went well.

But we are teaching a few people right now. The best one is a guy named Mario who my companion had actually taught before I got there but they stopped teaching him because he didnt progress. This wsecond time has been a lot better and he loves learning every time we pass by. He this week will be praying to ask if he should get baptized on the 12th of November so hopefully I have good news to give next week! That investigator that left when the other elder left. His name is Gabriel. But they are okay. We also had a guy named Victor but he just just has too many challenges to be able to baptize himself and to stay active in the church. So we had to let him go. But we are still just looking hard through references for now. We are starting to try and rely on more references from members and so if it works how its designed we should have more investigators than we know what to do with, but that hasnt happened yet.

Hope all of you are doing well though! ¡Que estén bien!

Elder Parker