Episode 78: Questions Answered by the Book of Mormon!

Hey everybody,

Everything is going great here in Colombia. This week we have been looking for investigators like crazy and have been able to find a few people with a lot of potential to progress. One of them is a man named Antonio and he is just so great. We contacted him in front of his house and talked with him a little bit. He told us that his wife had passed away about 4 months ago. We were able to talk to him about the Plan of Salvation and the questions that are answered in the Book of Mormon about what happens after death and it was awesome. At the end he said "I'm not sure if you were sent here by God or not, but this has been so great to hear." 

We also have an investigator named Ruggelis that we have been working with and on Saturday we were talking with him and just trying to answer a ton of questions that he has and at the end of the lesson he accepted a baptismal date and even attended sacrament meeting for the first time. We are going to talk to him tonight to see how he felt with everything.

With Duvan's family we still haven't been able to make any progress but we are trying to talk a little better with his dad. We were working with his brother but he still hasn't made any efforts to change so we haven't been working with him as much. 

I'm not sure about the progress on the temple but the last time I saw it they had finished the basic structure and were starting to work on the roof. I'm not sure as to where they are now but I believe that the estimated date of completion is in 2018.

Have a great week,

Elder Parker

Episode 77: Señorita Colombia Lock Down!

Hey everybody,

Well, I am writing today because all of the internets in our area were closed yesterday because it was a holiday. But unfortunately I don't have much time because we have to start to work soon.

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well back home. This past week we had a bit of a surprise because Cartagena was the host of the Señorita Colombia beauty pageant this past weekend, and because of that we were closed in our house every night after 4pm. It was not a very productive week but one of the good things is that Nataly was able to be baptized. But because of the close-in we were not able to attend the baptismal service but everybody told us that all went well, but now we don't have a picture of the service. But with that baptism we now don't have anyone who is actively preparing for baptism. This week will be more-or-less pure contacting until we have more people to work with.

This week I read 2 Nephi 27 during my personal study and some things that really stood out to me are all of the prophesies about the restoration and Joseph Smith. It really is amazing to think of the extent of depth that was put into the prophesies, such as details about the education of Joseph Smith and the losing of the manuscript. And even more interesting is that many of the prophesies come directly from the book of Isaiah. It  really shows that the Bible and the Book of Mormon testify that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God.

Thank you so much for all of your support. I have been able to learn so much this week about the love that God has for me and it's more more than I can explain over an email but I really know that God is my Heavenly Father and he loves me more than anything. Even to the extent that he has entrusted me with his most precious harvest. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that the church that he restored is the true church.

Have a great  week,

Elder Parker

Episode 76: After Baptism Everything Changed!

Hey everybody,

Everything is going great here in Colombia. We just had a little bit of rain yesterday so things were a little bit cooler.

Also Nataly was interviewed and is all ready to be baptized on Saturday. We are really excited for her and the ward is too which is great because we are hoping that we have a good attendance at the baptism.

Also today I found out that Jhony's mom got baptized. I don't know if you guys remember, but Jhony is one of my converts from when I was in Las Moras. It's great because when I was there she didn't want anything to do with the church but when her son got baptized everything changed.

And well, here in Castellana there isn't very much going on right now. We don't have very many investigators so we have been trying to find new people to teach. More than anything we have been knocking doors but with very little success. We are trying to find some new strategies to find investigators this week. One of our ideas is to visit a family of members every day to try to excite them for mission work and to receive references. We are also using the area book to look for old investigators.

I hope you guys have a great week.

Elder Parker

Episode 75:Everything's Great in Cartagena!

Hey everybody,

I'm glad everything is going great back home. So we had transfers and I am still in the same area with the same companion. He is going to complete 6 months in this area this transfer so I imagine that he will be going before I do.

Everything is going great with Duvan and his family. We haven't been able to talk with his dad so nothing has changed there but we are trying to get Duvan ready to receive the priesthood. 

Nataly is doing well too. We are trying to get her ready for an interview this Saturday. 

This week we didn't have any luck finding new investigators almost all week. We were able to find a ton of new parts of our area that haven't been worked very much, but nobody wanted to receive us. But yesterday everything changed. All of the people that we contacted received us and a few were even really interested in the message and said that we could return to continue sharing. It was so great that all of our efforts during the week paid off in the end.

Everything was normal with the Carnavales because they only occurred in Barranquilla, not here in Cartagena. But I heard that we will be having another celebration in April when they have the beauty pageant for the Queen of Cartagena. I'm not sure if anything will happen for us or not.

Have a great week.

Elder Parker

Duvan's baptism

Episode 74: Duvan was Baptized!

Hey everybody,

Things are going great here. This week we will be having transfers, but because of the Carnavales of Barranquilla the transfers will not happen until Thursday. Our mission president also sent us a letter saying that only 16 changes will be made so almost everyone will be staying in the same place this time. We won't be finding out about any changes until Wednesday so there is little to report on that subject.

Everything went great with Duvan's baptism. His mom was able to attend and also attended church on Sunday. His dad was not able to attend but we had a conversation with him that was really excellent. He told us how glad he was that his son would be baptized, and even told us that he would like for all of his family to have the chance to be baptized in the church. He says that he knows the church is true but his job does not give him the ability to attend church and he is not able to find work in any other place. It was so great to know this and now we have a determination much greater to help him and his family.

We have another investigator who is preparing for baptism. It is a young girl named Nataly. All of her family are members of the church, but she is 9 years old and still hasn't been baptized yet so we are trying to prepare her for that. We also have a few other investigators but as of right now none of them are progressing for baptism.

Have a great week and I will talk to you guys later. And sorry, I didn't bring my camera with me so I will have to send pictures next time.

Elder Parker

Episode 73: Duvan Ready for Baptism!

Hey everybody,

Everything is going well here. We were able to have the interview for Duvan and now he is all ready for his baptism this Saturday. He is really excited and his family is too. We are going to try to have all of his family attend the baptism but I don't know how difficult that will be. In his family there are 7 members, his parents, who both aren't members, his oldest brother is less active, the second brother is active and came home from his mission about 3 months ago, his third brother is an investigator that we are teaching, then his sister, and he is the youngest. We are teaching all of them with the exception of the dad who has a very difficult schedule.

Today was a good day. Our P-day activity was a grill in the church while playing volleyball. It was interesting because I was working with a missionary from Argentina to do the cooking but a bunch of people kept coming up to us and trying to do stuff and it was just a little bit stressful. But in the end everything went well and the food was good too.

So I haven't been able to buy a suit yet because I am waiting until I leave Cartagena because things here are a little bit more expensive. I had to buy some new shoes to play soccer and they are okay. I bought them in the center of Cartagena and they only were about 15 dollars so they aren't an official mark or anything but they should last until I go back home. Aside from that I haven't had much need to buy anything.

In this ward we don't have to teach Gospel Essentials and I don't even have to play piano as much as before. In this ward there are a few youth that are also able to play piano so I usually only play one or two songs a week. 

Have a great week and talk to you guys later.

Elder Parker

Episode 72: Romario got Baptized!

Hey everybody,

I am glad that everything is going well back at home. 

So Romario was baptized on Saturday. It was really great being there with him and the best part was that his little brother, who is 8 years old, came up to us at the end saying that he wants to be baptized too.

Duvan is also doing great. He is really excited to be baptized so we are trying to finish teaching him the lessons this week for his interview. And yesterday we had another miracle because the mom and the brother of Duvan were both able to attend church. The mom has attended in the past but we still haven't been able to talk to her about getting married so for now she is not getting ready for baptism. But the brother we have been able to teach a few times now and he is really great. He has had a few challenges in the past but has the desire to learn more and has a lot of great questions that we have helped him to answer.

This ward is really interesting. The bishop here is relatively new, he has about 4 months in this calling. But he is really hardworking but also very direct and really demands respect from the members, but in a good way. The family that prepares our lunch is really great too. The parents are more or less active in the church. They both work in a hotel about an hour from Cartagena so their time is a little tight, especially on Sunday. But they have attended church two times since I got here so that is great. They have 3 kids, a daughter who is preparing to go on a mission, a son who was baptized about a year ago, and a son who is waiting to be baptized ( he is 8 years old).  They are really great people and there are lots of other good families in this ward too.

Have a great week,

Elder Parker

Just hangin' with Elder Da Silva at Subway

Romario ready for baptism