Episode 43: "I can't believe I have lived here for a year and you haven't invited me to church!"

Hey everybody,

How is everyone doing? I am so sorry to hear about Brother Green. He was such a great leader and I am so grateful for everything he did for me.

Well, this week has been very interesting. After transfers we were really busy with a few errands but these last few days we have been working hard and have had a lot of success. Carlos and Yadiris are still doing great. This past week we were able to program them for baptism and they are super excited for it. And the date is like the week before transfers so I will still be here for it.

We were also able to find a great new investigator named Kevin. He is the neighbor of the family where we eat lunch. We started talking about what we do in the church and then he said "I can't believe that I have lived here a year and you have never invited me to church!" He has been very excited but unfortunately his mom doesn't like the church very much so that has been a little difficult.

So my new mission president officialy comes tomorrow and President Searle leaves tomorrow too. It's been a little sad seeing him go but it will be great getting to know President Gallegos. 

I hope everything is well at home. I still haven't taken many pictures but I will try to get better at that. I really need a little bit of advice because I don't know what to take pictures of. 

Talk to you guys later

Elder Parker

Episode 42: No power!

Hey everybody,

How is everybody doing? Things are going super great here!! 

Sorry that I did not get to write yesterday. We lost power in the internet shop but we found time to be able to write today. Transfers were a little crazy for my district but fortunately I am still with Elder Perez. Things are going great and he has been progressing so much these past few weeks.

The kids are looking so big. Even Felicity doesn't look like a newborn. I feel like all of them are going to be completely grown up when I get home. I can't believe how fast the time has gone since I left really but things are going to be very interesting next year when I get home.

So this week we have been doing a ton of changes and are basically starting new with all of the people we are working with, except for Carlos and Yadiris. This past week they had a really long talk about temples with a family in the ward and are super excited about going to the temple and being sealed. They are working on their papers to get married right now so we are really excited and hoping to have a baptism very soon.

I hope everything is going great at home. I'll try to take lots of pictures this week to make up for these past few weeks.

See you guys soon,

Elder Parker

Episode 41: Investigators Progressing!

Hey everybody,

How is everyone doing! I seriously can't believe that Gus finally came! Congrats Tyler and Sarah!! I am so excited for you guys.

This week has been very interesting. It was so great being able to hear from Elder Rasband. We didn't get to shake hands with him unfortunately because we entered the room right before he did, but his wife took a photo of us so maybe I will end up on the Facebook account of Sister Rasband. That would be pretty exciting.

He and Elder Uceda (The former area president) talked a lot about the temple. Their talks were focused on preparing the people for the temple when it gets here in a few years . I loved the meeting and we have been talking with a lot of members since then to prepare for the temple.

Things have been going great with the work. The only problem that we had this week is that literally all of our appointments fell through Friday and Saturday. And even when we tried to contact people in the street they didn't want to talk to us no matter how much we fought. So I've been a little stressed out but things have been getting better. 

We have a few great investigators that are progressing. They are named Carlos and Yadiris and they are neighbors of a family of members who invited them to church. They are doing really well and are excited about the church,but their problem is that they are living together and are not married. We are working with them about that because I would really like to be able to have a baptism before I leave this ward.

I hope everyone is doing well. I am so happy to hear about everyone and hope that things are going well.

See you guys soon,

Elder Parker

Episode 40: Meeting with Elder Rasband!

Hey everybody,

How is everyone doing? The jubilee sounds like it was a blast. I'm glad that everyone got to enjoy it. Thank you so much for the pictures. I can't believe that there was a picture of me from so many years ago. And how crazy to see the missionaries from our stake. There are a few that I had no idea had already left for their missions. 

So I am getting really excited because tomorrow. Elder Rasband is coming here to Barranquilla to talk with all of the members and all of the missionaries currently serving in Barranquilla were also invited. So tomorrow I will get to see an apostle!!! Unfortunately there won't be a special meeting for the missionaries but I'm still very excited.

So this last Friday me and Elder Perez were able to work with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Conti from Paraguay. He is a super great guy and we focused a lot on diligence and just tried to have as many lessons as possible while still sharing something significant in every lesson. It was really great because I felt a lot more motivated and that we didn't lose like any time because we were also able to contact a lot of people in the street so I felt really calm and relaxed even though there are times when it is just so hard to talk to people, I just do it anyway. 

I hope everything is going well back at home. I can seriously hardly believe how fast the time has gone here. It's crazy thinking that it is already June and that I will be 19 next month. But I am loving this great oportunity in my life.

And now my testimony in Spanish

Sé que la iglesia es verdadera. Sé que por medio de nuestra obediencia a los mandamientos de Dios y el evangelio de Jesucristo podemos vivir para siempre con nuestras familias. 

Thanks for everything and see you guys soon,

Elder Parker

From Family Home Evening

Episode 39: Colombian Holiday!

Hey everybody,

How is everybody doing? I can't believe that it is already Memorial Day. I still remember how awesome the carnival was. Today is also a holiday here, but unfortunately I have no idea what they are celebrating. And neither do the Colombians. But everybody likes the day off work.

This week has been really great. We have been working really hard with retention, or converts and less active members. 

We have a sister that we are working to reactiviate in the church named Melanie. Her mom and brother are active members so she has been really progressing. This week we werre able to talk with her about tithing and the blessings she would receive because she, like a lot of others here are living in difficult situations. But it was a super powerful lesson and she commited to pay tithing.

We were also able to find a new less active sister that we are working with. Her name is Andrea and we have taught her father-in-law, who is also less active, but never her. But when we talked to her she said she was completely ready to come back to church and that she had started to read the Book of Mormon just a few days earlier. Crazy, right? She was prepared so that when we came completely not expecting it we found a less active member ready to return to church. It was great!!

This week we have also been able to find various new investigators. We have the goal here to invite every investigator to baptism in the first lesson, which is kinda hard but when the people accept they get super excited. This week unfortunately we have been having a lot of opposition but we did have one brother that we were able to program in the first lesson. His name is Luis and he is the brother of the ward mission leader. He was totally committed to change if he received an answer to his prayer.

Well, that's a little bit of my week. I hope everything is going well. I took a few photos today of the city but I forgot my cord for my camera so I can't transfer them. Sorry, but I will definitely do it next week.

See you guys later,

Elder Parker

Episode 38: Dog Attack!

Hey everybody,

Things are going so great here. Literally this past week has gone by so fast that I can't believe that it is Monday again.

I'm so sad that I missed the party in Primary. It's still so hard to imagine how much the kids have grown since I left. But I'm very proud of Adelaide and her effort to give the prayer. I know how hard that is. 

This week has been super great. I seriously had no idea how great training would be before this week. We have been working so hard and have been having a lot of success, especially with our less actives. The big push in our mission is for reactivating less active members, especially because of the new temple here. But things are going really well.

I hope everything is going great back at home. Right now I have a tiny dog trying to eat the bottom of my shoe. It is seriously super cute. Just saying.

See you guys soon,

Elder Parker

Episode 37: "I'm a Dad!"

Hey everybody,

I am so sorry that I wasn't able to write last week. This past week was a little bit crazy. First we did have time to write last Monday so when we went to start writing the internet store lost power. So we talked with our leaders and they said that we could write on Tuesday.

But that brings me to the next piece of news. So, I didn't think I would be saying this so soon but, I'm a dad!! I am training a new missionary from Mexico, so I spent all day on Tuesday in a training for trainers and new missionaries. And after that I have just had a lot of inconveniences to be able to write you guys. 

Well, things have been going really great here. Like I said, I have a new companion. His name is Elder Pérez and he is from Mexico City. He is 19 years old and less than a month on his mission. It has been so great getting to know him and being able to teach him about being a missionary. He is a lot like me and people have even said that we could be twins. I can't say that would be accurate but he is a super fun guy and I really enjoy being his companion.

Well aside from that nothing really exciting has been going on. In the beginning of June Elder and Sister Rasband will be coming here to Barranquilla and we will be able to see them. And also President Gallego, our  new mission president, will be coming next transfer. I'm very excited but also sad to see President Searle go. I have learned a lot from him and have grown a lot.

Please tell Grandma and Granddaddy and everyone else back at home how grateful I am for their messages and their wellwishes. I am so happy to be considered part of their family and can't wait to see them in a few years. And please tell Grandma that I hope she will get better and that I am praying for her.

Well, I hope everything is going well for everybody. I'm so happy that Emma was able to find a job that she is more or less happy with. I hope that they can find a good place to live there. And also that everything goes well for Sarah and GusGus.

See you guys soon,

Elder Parker

Elder Perez and Elder Parker