11.24.2014 (Picture)

Ward Mission Leader, his wife and brother in law

11.24.2014

(Speaking about the weather and snowpack)

It has been about the same 88 to 92 here, but it has rained a lot. I hope

you guys get a good amount of snow this year. It's been rough the past few

years. I bet you and mom and Ben will have some fun skiing stories when I

get back.

Is Sarah still playing the piano?  I'm sad to hear that the Grovers are moving. I think that President Grover will be working at the same place as Cori. I bet Bishop Walton is doing a great job.  The Ramroops are doing better. Donald, the dad, finally got to go to a good hospital, courtesy of President Mehr and probably the church humanitarian fund. He was going to die if he didn't get medical care. Elder Rowley and I also helped out when their house flooded because one of the kids left a sink on. Victoria, the mom, and the 3 oldest kids came to church this week. We had 8 investigators at church this week, which was a nice way to end a challenging week. We did a lot of finding this week, because we need to find some more prepared people. Our teaching pool has gotten kind of low so we are on the hunt for some more wheat. We had to move the Ramroops

Baptismal date because of health challenges, but they want to be baptized!

Today we are going Christmas caroling and then we will be having thanksgiving dinner at the mission home. Oh, and we also were able to finally motivate another one of our investigators to come to church. One other cool story from this week. On Wednesday morning all of our morning appointments fell through. We decided to do some finding in an apartment complex, but we missed the turn. Thinking we could find another entrance we kept driving. Instead of finding our way into the apartments, we found ourselves in the middle of some farmland. Not knowing what to do, we decided to pray. We asked Heavenly Father to provide us with somebody to teach, since we had been tracting all morning. As soon as we finished praying, we looked into our rear view mirror and saw a man dumping something out of a bucket. As we started driving away he yelled out to us

"Church people?". We got out and started talking to him and found out that he, Hablal, was a member since 1985. It was so cool to see the Lord answer our prayer like that. It really helped to strengthen my testimony of prayer. Hurrah for Israel!

Love, Elder Parker

11.10.2014 (picture)

Elder Rowley and I found this big swamp while tracting. That's him in the picture. 

Love, Elder Parker

11.10.2014

We have a new ward mission leader named Brother Campbell. He recently returned from inactivity and also just got married. Both he and his wife are young and full of energy. They are super excited to go and do missionary work. It was great taking him teaching this week. Our investigators hearts were softened so much because we brought a member by. We also got to go teaching with the Elders Quorum president's son, Demetri. Elder Rowley and I are teaching a lot more with the members here and it is great. Our most progressive investigators are the Ramroops, and a lady named Basanti. She came to church on her own and that is where we first met her. We have a good-sized teaching pool, but these people are the ones who are coming to church and keeping commitments. The Ramroops are the Hindu family that we have been teaching. They are working with the Francoms (a senior couple) about getting married. They want to get baptized and the dad, who got shot a few months ago, is recovering from a recent surgery. The mom already has a dress. We taught this family twice this week, once about hope and prophets, and then about the restoration. President and Sister Mehr went teaching with us to teach them about the restoration and it was a great learning opportunity for both the Ramroops, and for myself. President was so loving, but also taught boldly about the truth. I thought that I already was a bold teacher, but I learned I have room to improve. On the ride home, I asked a question about humility. His advice can be applied to any Christlike attribute. I'll have to summarize, but essentially what he said was that as a natural result of service, pride is displaced by charity, love, humility, etc. Then on Sunday, President Mehr made a comment in Elders quorum about the importance of follow up. Too many times we miss opportunities for growth because of a lack of follow up. In sacrament meeting, 2 very good returned missionaries spoke. We are taking them teaching this week and it's going to be great. I wish that I could be sore like you. I have been eating a lot of oats and milk. We had a Halloween ping-pong party in Port of Spain so I had to email early. There is a great scripture in 2 Nephi 28:14 that teaches about those who are the humble followers of Christ, but they err because they are taught the precepts of men. I thought of that scripture when you mentioned Gabby's experience. I am studying Humility for this next round of reading the Book of Mormon and it's great. There is so much power in the scriptures to help us engrave on ourselves the countenance of Christ.

Love you all,

Elder Parker

11.3.2014 (with picture)

This week went really well. We found a lot of new investigators and the area is starting to pick up. I have been trying to be more organized and to be even more obedient and diligent. I was feeling discouraged this week after making some mistakes while teaching and I felt encouraged as I read in 2 Nephi 4 about how even Nephi felt frustrated with himself because of his imperfections. Verse 28 stood out to me too, because Nephi talks about no longer drooping in sin. I thought about it as instead of drooping in sin, droop no longer in discouragement. I thought about in my patriarchal blessing about how the spirit will prompt me to lift myself up to be happy. So I did, and I feel happy to be in the service of the Lord. We also got to go to an orphanage this week and do some service. Those kids there were so ready to be loved by somebody. I am so grateful for you and the rest of the family. 

This was at the orphanage. It was a lot of fun.

Love, Elder Parker