Monday, May 26, 2014
5.26.2014 (picture)
5.26.2014
This week was awesome, but it was a trying one. We are
still teaching a lot of young men, and now we are also teaching their young
women cousins. These young women love to hear about the gospel, and they all
came to church this past Sunday. I'm excited to see what happens with all of
the youth because right now, the branch only has about 3 active youth age kids.
It may very soon have many more. The tough part this week has been being
patient with the young men. I was looking through my scriptures this morning in
my studies and I came across a verse in Alma 22:15 where Aaron is teaching the
King of the Lamanites. The king asks what he needs to do to have his
"wicked spirit rooted out of his breast...". As I read the word
rooted I thought of pulling weeds in our yard and how sometimes it takes a lot
of work to pull these weeds out of the ground. I learned two things from this
scripture. The first is that even when you put in a lot of work, it still takes
time for people to weed out their lives. The young men are desirous, but they
have some serious sins to repent of and it will probably take a while to root
out these sins. We just have to be diligent in working with them. The other
thing I learned, I realized as I am emailing you. If we don't let the weeds
take root or get very big, by pulling the weeds out quickly, then it doesn't
take very much to root out sins in our lives. The Hymn "Carry On" is
my theme right now, haha. This week has been great though. Without trials of
our patience, faith, etc. we'd never grow. I think I understand a little more
of what you and mom must have felt watching Sarah, Gabby, Benjamin and me go
through challenges. I'm glad I can look to you and mom as examples of what to
do when the going gets rough. I'm excited to hear that so many of my friends
are considering going on missions! Tell everybody I love them, and I really
appreciate the emails I've been getting from my friends!
-Love you guys, Seth
Hurrah for Israel!
Monday, May 19, 2014
5.19.2014 (Picture)
5.19.2014
5.19.2014
This week has been especially good.
I got two postcards from Aunt Raylee and Nicole. It's always nice to get some
physical letters. Jadese and Jodi, the people I told you about last time, are
progressing very well. Jadese's has been talking a lot about marriage with her
boyfriend Tony so I should be sending you some wedding pictures soon, if all
works out. If it doesn't Jadese is willing to move out so that she can be
baptized. She has been reading through the book of Mormon chapters we have
given her and she spends a good amount of time on the church website watching Mormon
Messages and conference talks. I wish that I had utilized more church media
while I was at home. The other best part of the week was that we taught the
plan of salvation to the young men we are teaching and we should finally have a
young men's leader! Tristen, one of the boys, is the most progressive. We
taught him about the plan of salvation from pre-earth life to mortality, and
also the gospel this week and he should be baptized June 14th. He loved the
plan of salvation. His favorite part is that we can become like God someday. We
told him about the quote "As man is, God once was; as God is, man can
become." He thought that was the coolest thing. He is sharing and
encouraging the other 6 or 7 boys to come to church and also to a Book of
Mormon class we have on Wednesdays. We let him teach what he had learned about
the plan of salvation in 3rd hour and he showed that he understood really well
everything we have taught him. It felt like I was back home in Priest’s Quorum.
We have started to really focus on our most progressive investigators and it's
really paying off. As I have focused on the most important things in my life as
a missionary, everything else just falls into place. Hurrah for Israel!
Love you!
Seth
Monday, May 12, 2014
5.12.2014
I love all the media that the church has put out. I wish I had taken
advantage of having easy access to church media when I was home. It invites the
spirit whenever the prophet or the apostles speak. For family home evening you
should watch a Mormon message or two. We also taught Jadese and Jodi about
eternal families. I am so grateful for the blessing of being able to be united
as a family forever. Another thing that I have been reflecting on lately goes
really well with a verse in 2 Nephi about receiving knowledge line upon line
and precept upon precept. (2 Nephi 28:30) Sometimes as a missionary I forget
that what I am teaching is something that many people are not familiar with.
Just like in school, we can't learn calculus until we first learn addition,
people new to the gospel can't understand all about the priesthood until they
gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. It's mango season down here, so there
are mango's everywhere! I was admiring a large mango tree this week and looking
at all of the fruit on it. I saw that there was fruit high up on the tree and
also many mangos that were low on the tree. I think sometimes I look up and
want to baptize the high hanging fruit without seeing or really recognizing the
ripe fruit that is hanging in front of my face. A young man we just started
meeting with more seriously is ready to be baptized. He has already received an
answer to his prayer about if the church is true or not and he has been coming
to church very consistently. His name is Tristen. I am grateful that he is
trying to better follow his Savior, and he has changed a lot since we first met
him. Don't miss the fruit, whatever the fruit may represent, that is right in
front of us. The work is going well and I pray for you guys everyday!
Hurrah for Israel!
Love, Elder Parker
5.12.2014 (Picture)
Monday, May 5, 2014
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