Episode 60: Elder Parker has left Las Moras!

Hey everybody,

Everything is going great. I have officially left Las Moras and now I am in a town called Arjona about 45 minutes from Cartegena. It's really beautiful here with a town plaza with a super nice church. I will have to take pictures because it is really amazing. The only problem is that the internet shop is a little sketchy and I'm sure the computers have a ton of viruses so I'm not sure how I will be able to send pictures.

But my new companion is great. His name is Elder Torres and he is my 3rd companion from Ecuador. He actually just finished his training so it will be a big change after my last companion who was almost ready to go home. 

So we are teaching a woman named Greicy and she is really great. She and her partner are set to get married this weekend and after that her, her mom, her son, and a friend of her mom will all be interviewed for baptism. And we also have another woman for the 12th of November too so hopefully 5 baptisms that day!! But aside from that the work is a little slow so we will be finding a lot of new investigators this week.

I am feeling better by way of health. I still have a little bit of a cough but nothing that bad. I've heard that this area is a lot hotter than my others but these days have been very cool so we will see what happens.

Have a great week,

Elder Parker

Episode 59: Feeling under the weather!

Hey everybody,

Things are going well here. These past few days I have been a little under the weather, (Colombia has a new virus that gets everybody sick about every month). Today has been the worst with pain in my arms and legs, other symptoms of the flu, etc. but my companion was also sick at the beginning of the week and he has been getting a lot better. 

The weather here has been a consistent high with occasional rainstorms. The interesting thing with the rain here is that it only will rain for about an hour, but it rains hard. Our mission president actually won't let us leave in the rain because it is very dangerous with the rain.

Things are going great with our part member family. Milagro, the mom, and Valeria, the daughter, were both able to attend stake conference yesterday and really enjoyed it. It's sad to think that I might be going to a new ward tomorrow and miss their baptism, but I'm just glad that Valeria is really excited and plans to be baptized in the future.

I hope everything goes great for the trunk or treat. Here Halloween really doesn't receive very much attention but that's okay because that would just be a nightmare trying to teach with little kids passing every 5 seconds. It will be interesting to have the next halloween back at home, but that still doesn't really matter much.

Have a great week,

Elder Parker

Episode 58: Excited to be Baptized!

Hey everybody,

Things are going well here in Colombia. I am really interested to see what will happen this transfer because I feel like I will finally be going, but we'll just have to wait and see.

So everything is still going the same with our investigators. We are working with a part-member family. The mom is a less active member and the daughter is an investigator but the two are attending church and the daughter is really excited to be baptized.

Jhony is the only member in his family. We have started to visit with his mom and she attended church when he was confirmed, but we haven't had any progress with the dad or his sister. He is only 13 years old but looks a lot older.

So about the journal, I was writing everyday for the first 3 or 4 months but I lost track of the days and stopped for a while. About 3 weeks ago I started writing again but it's a lot harder now because there really isn't time at night, but I am still writing about 2-3 times a week.

Well, I know that this church is true. I know that the atonement is the greatest gift I have ever seen and it really is a privilege to see it heal the troubled people here.

Have a great week,

Elder Parker

Elder Parker with Jhony on his left

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