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

Penco!

Whats going on everyone? Just to start off, I am super tired this week. This new sector is all hills and I am tired of just going up and down all day long. Its pretty sick though with a sweet view of the ocean. A lot prettier than Hualpen. The work though here is slow. We spent a lot of time looking for people here this week. Its not too hard to find though because every other day we have a member with us named Pablito and he knows everyone in this entire city haha. He leaves with the missionaries all day, every day. He is my favorite so far haha. We have like one investigator who stopped progressing when I got here because the other elder left. But I'll just have to work on getting his confidence. My new companion is good though. He actually went to middle school for like 6 months and I didn't even realize haha. But he speaks no Spanish at all so its kind of hard. I have to do everything in the sector. He at least wants to work hard though so that's good. 

This morning though we went to a beach after walking on an abandoned railroad track for like 2 hours. It was pretty cool. But yeah I think that's about it here. Have a good week!

Cambios!

I am leaving again. Getting really tired of packing a dang suitcase. Maybe I'll work in something where I have to travel a lot. But this time I am going to Penco, a city that is right next to the ocean. I'll be in a sector called Valle Hermoso which means Beautiful Valley. It should be pretty cool. My new companion is going to be a new missionary named Elder Evans who got here 6 weeks back so I'll be finishing his training. I don't know if I'm very excited to leave or not. All of our investigators are going to be lost because my companion is also leaving and two new missionaries are coming. This has happened to me three times in the mission and it is not normal.

But this week was good! Hope you all got a chance to watch conference. It was super good I thought. I really loved how they all talked about how we are given repentance as a gift that we must use if we desire blessings. There is no other way. Repentance cant be the backup plan to anything. It is the only way to correct our lives and be blessed. I also loved the talks about the missionary work as members. Its something that we can all do and really is a great blessing for each of us. Look for ways everyday to find people for the missionaries to teach and you will be blessed. Hope you all have a good week though!

Elder Parker