Episode 57: Jhony was Baptized!

Hey everybody,

Things are going great here. On Saturday Jhony was baptized! It was a great baptism because it was combined with the zone leaders who were baptizing another youth in their ward and a few people actually showed up. They were both super excited and Jhony's mom even attended the service. He has his dad and an older sister too but they weren't able to make it.

Thank you so much for the pictures. I can see them all and it's great to see how much the kids are growing.

Well, about the Christmas gift, I'm not sure where we would be able to go to have the pictures printed but I will look into that this week. I still have a few gospel art books that I received in February that I will continue giving.

Hope everything is going well. I will try to answer the rest of the questions next week.

Elder Parker

Episode 56: Loving Life!

Hey everybody,

How is everything going in the USA? Things have been really good here. My stomach has been feeling a lot better and my cold went away too so everything is great. The only problem now is that for the first time in my mission I got a sunburn during our p-day activity today. We were playing games as a zone outside of the chapel and I burned my arms and legs. But everything is fine.

So this week we are really excited because we will have a baptism this next Saturday. It is a young man named Jhony (pronounced like Johnny) and he is a stellar kid. We have been working with him since my 2nd week on this side of the ward and he is super excited and firm in the church.

So conference was really great. I especially liked the talk from Elder Holland because it was perfect for a priesthood lesson here, but the problem is that only about 5 priesthood holders were in that session. 

Haha I recognize Sara Djafri from school but I never talked to her. I hope that everything is going well for her family because that must be really rough saying goodbye to a grandfather. But how great that the gospel is the perfect fix for that challenge.

Things are great here. Loving life but I gotta go. Have a great week and see you later.

Elder Parker

Episode 55: Gripe Estomacal!

Hey everybody,

How is everything going in the big CA!! Things have been a little rough over here. This last week I have been through a stomach infection (my 5th or 6th during my mission) and now I am with the flu. But aside from that everything is going well. 

So this week we were able to have a meeting with Elder Falabella, a member of the area presidency. It was really great to hear from him and he gave some great advice about trying to find families to teach and retaining converts active in the church.

So to answer your questions, we do family home evenings every week with different families. We usually try to find families that aren't having their own and we invite investigators and less active members to join them. They are a lot of fun, and everyone really enjoys the refreshments.

Right now we are living like 5 minutes from the church. It really isn't that far, but the hard part is on Sunday when we are walking trying to collect investigators to go to church and sometimes we end up walking a lot. But the chapel here is pretty nice and I'm glad that it isn't nearly as far as in Valledupar.

Um, I have a question. Since when have the Rams been playing in LA? I thought they were still in St Louis.

I have to go to give my companion some time to write but I hope everything is well and I will try to send a photo of our clothes washing situation.

Have a great week,

Elder Parker

Doing the laundry

Episode 54: Español es Bueno!

Hey everybody,

  

Things are going really great here. My companion and I are still together and working hard. I'm sorry I still don't have any new pictures because our rules are a little strict about when we can have our cameras with us. I have been trying to remember to take my camera to a family home evening but keep forgetting. 

Things are going well with Spanish too. Since I have always been with Latins I have been speaking Spanish 23 hours a day, with the only exception the hour that we are given to study language. I try to help my companion with his assignments.

I have really loved reading the scriptures these past few days. Today I was reading in Mosiah 24 about Alma and I really like the importance of patience and faith when we are passing through trials that everything will be well if we have confidence in God and just act.

Hope everyone is doing well,

See you soon,

Elder Parker

Episode 53: Still in Las Moras!

Hey everybody,

Sorry that I couldn't write yesterday but now you will already know the transfers that we had. And guess what happened.. absolutely nothing. I am still in Las Moras with Elder Araya. We are really excited to be working together again and for all the success we are going to have!!!

So unfortunately the baptism didn't happen. We were really struggling to make contact with Heileen during the week and when we finally found her on Saturday, she wasn't too sure about getting baptized the next day, and she didn't even attend church on Sunday which really worries us. We are not too sure what is going on but will try to help her gain confidence again.

I have to go but will try to send pictures next week. 

See you later,

Elder Parker

Episode 52: Baptism Next Sunday!

Hey everybody,

How is everything going back home? Things are going really great here. This week we have been making great strides with our investigators and, as it turns out, we are all set to have a baptism this next Sunday. A sister named Heileen (I think I have mentioned her in the past) is the person who will be baptized. We were able to work with her this past week and she had her interview yesterday and so now everything is ready for this weekend!! I am really excited because this week will be transfers and I already have 6 months in this ward so I feel like I will probably be leaving very soon.

Well I hope everything is going great back at home and I will try to include more info next week!

Elder Parker

Episode 51: One Year of Faithful Service!

Hey everybody,

Things are going really great here in Colombia. I seriously can't believe that it has already been a year. It has felt a lot shorter. I feel a little sad but still glad that so much time remains.

This week really hasn't been too exciting. Everything that we do here is a little repetitive, not nearly as dynamic as a mission in the United States. We have been looking for new people to teach but still haven't had much luck with their progress. Robinson is still doing very well. He attended church again this week and really enjoyed it. We also are teaching another man named Blas (I don't know where these names come from) and he is very excited too. He is living with a less active woman and they have three childen who are members of the church but the oldest daughter is also less active. The whole family is attending church and are very excited so that's good.

Everything is going really great here. Thank you so much for all of your help.

Elder Parker

After playing soccer

with Elder Araya