12.14.2015 (pictures)

We had 5 investigators come to church. Branch attendance has been going up. The peak was 71 at church, but yesterday there were 65 at church in Rosignol. One of our coolest investigators was a referral from our branch president that we taught this week. His name is Henry. He came to church last week after being invited to church by the branch president. Henry has been to church in the past. We met him at church last Sunday and then taught him this week with the branch president and then he came to church again. We are also starting to make some headway on figuring out how to help a less active and his girlfriend get married. They also came to church. There is this other promising investigator who lives right behind us. She is Hindu and was excited to hear about the Book of Mormon. We can only meet with her once a week right now, but hopefully that will change soon. The pig was bought and killed across the river and then Elder Horsley brought it over to our back yard. The pig roast wasn't to celebrate anything in particular but it is a fun unique to Guyana p-day activity. My package is coming down to me this week with the missionaries getting transferred in. I can't believe that I am down to my last transfer. I bet skyping will be at the church. As far as times go, I don't have anything to say yet. I was just thinking about uncle Richard the other day. Is he doing well? This week Elder Leung Choi and I hit 32 lessons for the week. I also got to drive since Elder Leung Choi had a knee problem and I got to borrow the van from Elder Horsley. On Tuesday, Elder Horsley and I taught a zone meeting all about the Book of Mormon. One of the things that stuck out to me was a promised blessing for receiving the Book of Mormon and working righteousness in D&C 20:14 that teaches the blessing to be a crown of eternal life. That has been a focus this week is that the most powerful tool in conversion is the Book of Mormon combined with the spirit. Over the course of my mission I have found that a habit converted people have whether they be members, investigators of missionaries is that they have spiritual experiences while reading the Book of Mormon everyday. Joseph Smith said "that a man will get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book." Merry Christmas!

-Love, Elder Parker  

Thanksgiving 2015 

Pig roast on an Ironing board - Elder Dulaki is the cook.

12.6.2015

This week was an interesting week. We were excited to be helping the Ramkumar family have their 9 year old son be baptized on Dec. 19. They were at church, except for the less active dad. The package hopefully can come down with those who are getting transferred. We roasted a pig today as a zone in our back yard. We only had 2 investigators at church. One was Arif, and the other is an investigator who can be baptized until her boyfriend gets back into the country so they can decide if they will get married. Church attendance also went down because people were taking care of cleaning, or working for extra money in preparation for Christmas. The stalwarts were at church though and we watched last years Christmas devotional because this years didn't start till 9 at night. Love you lots!

-Elder Parker

11.29.2015

This week went alright, but I'm sure that I could have had the spirit more
with me by being more diligent about opening my mouth to talk with everyone
I can. We were able to continue to set a few more baptismal dates and we
had some good lessons with the part member couple that should be getting
married soon. We taught about the Law of Chastity and they understood it as
we used an analogy about the covering of wires protecting the power from
causing damage to the home. This week I think we will need to focus in more
on those who can progress at a faster pace. The attendance at church went
up again to 71 in Rosignol and 24 in Bushlot. The Bushlot branch council
went well, however I could not say the same for the Rosignol Branch
council. There was a previous branch president that was causing a bit of
contention. But the Lord is greatly blessing us and I'm sure that as we
continue to work with our branch leaders, these problems can be overcome.

I'm planning on getting back into running as soon as I get home. I was
thinking about maybe getting a little more into weight lifting, but I am
still pondering about that. I hope that we can all go to Disneyland
sometime soon. Those are fond memories. The goal would be to go for spring
and maybe summer term. It's exciting to hear that vistaxc is doing so
great!
Love, Elder Parker

11.23.2015

I have been in the Isaiah chapters of 2nd Nephi and have decided that I should take an Isaiah class at BYU because it is a struggle to understand sometimes. I have been using Preach My Gospel a lot more lately and I wish that I had used it more earlier in my mission. This last week went pretty well. I couldn't figure out how to get our oven to work so last Monday I baked brownies in the microwave for district meeting on Tuesday. They were a little more chewy than usual but no one complained. District meeting was taught by my old companion Elder Dulaki. He taught about counseling with the Lord and how we need to always seek His will if we desire to be successful in the work He has called us to. Wednesday was an ok day. It took a long time to get back from the other side of the Berbice river after doing a tradeoff.  Thursday we had a good lesson with the Duarker family about the Restoration. They are a less active family. I have been finding that as we teach the simple truths of the gospel, the spirit is the strongest. Reviewing the basics like priesthood, prophets and the Joseph Smith account help members to feel the Holy Ghost testify to them of the truthfulness of the message being shared. Friday went great! We went to Bushlot for the first time to proselyte. We were able to meet some old investigators and a member family. Saturday we helped to clean the chapel. On Sunday after coming back from splits with our branch president and branch mission leader our last appointment fell through. Elder Leung Choi had the idea to go and the the Branch president's family who were at their grandma's house. To our surprise, we met President Narines sister who is not a member. President Narine invited his sister to join our lesson about the Restoration. She was very attentive and at the end when we invited her to be baptized as she comes to know this message to be true, she quickly accepted. The Lord is greatly blessing us. Love you lots!

-Elder Parker

11.15.2015

The struggles of the week were that we didn't get to meet with our investigator with a baptismal date. We will have to talk to her and see how sincere her desires are. We did receive a referral for the friend of a sister in the ward who we will be hopefully teaching at the members home this evening.We were also blessed to have a successful branch council as a result of what was learned at my last zone conference and a branch president training meeting. We discussed the temporal welfare of two sisters in the branch and planned for a service project to help clean up one of the sisters yard. We only were able to get through that and some reading in handbook two at the beginning, but the branch members were happy with it. Helping members understand their callings and also working with them was the focus of zone conference. We had 21 lessons this week, but I know we can have more. I have a machine but a lot of things have to be done by hand. All the machine does is spin the clothes. I have to move some switches and fill up and empty the washing bin manually. We have some clothes lines that we dry our clothes on. I gave a surprise talk on Charity this Sunday and my companion was asked to conduct the other Branch's sacrament meeting. We did splits this past Sunday for church. I stayed in Rosignol, and Elder Leung Choi went to Bushlot branch. There were 15 people at sacrament meeting there. Rosignol had 51. The food is similar to that of Trinidad. Lot's of curry, but people eat less frequently here because of the poverty here. I see the ocean when I cross over a long bridge to get to district meeting, but the water is chocolate milk brown as far up the river as you can see and the same into the ocean. We have been teaching several part member families, but so far we don't have anyone that is progressing very well. We did have 2 investigators at sacrament meeting again, but they need to get married before they can be baptized and one of them has her "husband" who is out of the country for several months at a time. Cookies are always nice. Don't send anything that customs might find valuable. I'll have to think of some other things that I might like. I also found out that Micron has read the Book of Mormon 43 times now. His mission papers are finished and he should be getting his call soon. Love you lots! Happy Birthday to Sarah and Gabby! This is from my last zone conference.

Love Elder Parker

11.1.15

Sunday was good. Still no investigators at church, but we have been able to see some more success with less active members. We have been working with Brother J. for a while. He has been back to church pretty regulary for a while, but it was just him coming. As we taught him more and invited him to share the gospel with his family he has helped more of his family come to church. This Sunday he brought his daughter who hasn't been at church for a long time. We haven't been able to visit her more than a quick hello and good bye, but Brother Jonkiesinhg has been reaching out to those that we have been unable to. I am excited to go to blank for my last area. I read about Ammon this morning in my personal study and it got me excited to be going to my new area. I hope that I'll be able to help a few more people be baptized before the mission is over. I liked Ben's costume. 

Love, Elder Parker

11.8.15

Rosignol is like a western town with coconut trees. Many people have donkey carts or horse carts. There are cows and horses, sheep, goats, chickens and various other animals all over the place. I haven't seen any live crocodiles but you can get wallets and scripture cases, or really anything you want made out of their skin. I might get a few things before I come home. It's really hot here, or maybe I'm just getting used to not having an air conditioned car. I don't know too much about the government, but there haven't been any major problems. The vast majority of people here are from India. They were brought here by the English to work on the sugar plantations. Most of the native Americans live in what is called the interior, which means the jungle further south. I am only about a mile from the ocean, and right by the Berbice river.  A popular job is cutting cane (sugar cane). That is what the Branch President, President Narine, does for work. I am going to need to do some adjustments to my teaching style because the education level here is pretty low, but everyone is very friendly. Illiteracy is common. We meet in a rented building underneath a Hindu persons house. Sacrament attendance was 48 yesterday. The branch is cool, but there is some contention amongst a few of the members. There are 180 people on record in the Rosignol branch. Almost all of them live within a 20 minute walk of our house and the church. The branch president and his returned missionary son who is the branch mission leader are awesome. They went teaching with us all of Saturday and Sunday. Since the branch hasn't had missionaries in it for a while they were very excited to have missionaries in the branch.  President Egbert gave the branch permission to do missionary work while they didn't have missionarries so we were able to meet the investigators that they were teaching and 2 of them came to church on Sunday. It will be great to work with the members here. A big focus from President Egbert is training the members on their callings and especially on how to make branch councils happen and be productive.  We were able to set a baptismal date with a part member family on Saturday with one of the people that was being taught by the branch for Dec 12. She might be able to be baptized  sooner than that depending on how quickly she and her current boyfriend can get married. I was able to find a map of where most members live in our area book so that helped out a lot in finding less actives and active members. I have 2 transfers left. Elder Leung Choi and I get a long pretty well. We are working on being exactly obedient. So overall I am excited to be here. It was a good change for me. I was starting to get a little down in Trinidad, but this new challenge has helped me to forget myself and work harder. Love you lots!

-Elder Parker