March 4th, 2010
Yes... I am journaling a lot. I’ve probably missed 7 days since I've left in November. It really does help me find a sense of identity. I can also track my progress too. If you ever hear someone (mainly teenagers) say that they are "trying to find myself" tell them to keep a journal… it helps.
I am in the same area, same apartment. My new companion, Elder Gonzalez, is awesome. I especially like how he tries to raise the bar every now and then. The other two baptisms, Carlos and Carlos Jr.,had to be postponed until March 27th. Do you remember Daniel (the husband of Gloria)? We set him for baptism on the 20th. I don't know what was different this time, but after a year of not listening, he decided to take the lessons. We're also planning on setting three others. Salamon (whom we found on the street) and Ramon and Rhonda. Ramon had been contacted in Boulder City 5years ago. Rhonda (who doesn't speak Spanish) studies religion. They have a baby boy (HUGE baby boy, not even two years old and he's bigger than Cian) named Elisha. She was barren, but through God, they were able to have Elisha. All three of those we’re teaching ask very good questions, and have a real interest to learn more. I just hope we can get them to make the changes.
Don't worry Dad, I'm getting fed quite well. The Hispanic culture has mastered the culinary arts!
I've heard about the earthquakes too. Revelations talks about terrible earthquakes in diverse places. It's starting to seem like more and more of the signs of the times are coming true.
Regarding that changed traffic sign you missed Dad…just another reminder that we ALWAYS have to pay attention: Kind of like in the gospel. We can't afford to miss a ‘raising of the bar’ in the standards, or let up just a little bit because we’ll allow Satan to pull the wool over our eyes.
I love you all and Mom, I miss our looooong midnight chats. You'd be happy to know though, that Pres. and Sis Christensen treat us like their own children, so I'm not parentless right now. Our zone conference on Tuesday was AMAZING!!! The topic was on revelation. You'd love Pres Christensen…he's extremely spiritual.
March 11th
It finally dawned on me that I've been gone for 4 months. I can still remember the day I entered the MTC as if it was yesterday. It's really bizarre how some days kind of drag, but the weeks seem to zoom by. It’s like time is going at two different speeds at the same time.
We use both car and bike. Surprisingly, my knee hasn't bothered me one bit while I've been bike riding. Either the surgery worked after all or it is one more way I have been blessed.
We had interviews with President Christensen yesterday, and he asked that I e-mail you something that we talked about: Yesterday, he asked me "What are three things you've learned on your mission so far?" I thought for about a minute. The first one I said was Sacrifice. I love in the hymn, "Praise to the Man" where it says that "sacrifice brings forth the blessing of heaven." I've found this to be true. Ever since I left, things seem to have been going good for all of the family and even for some of my friends. Mom, you were able to afford to fix your hearing aids. Amry took a stand for the standards of the Church. JaNae lost her job but that allowed her to take time to spend with the kids, and more time to study for her classes. Jotty’s friend has listened to gospel discussions and things have even been looking up for Diane--she's started family home evening in her house, her Dad let her apply to BYU, and he's let her start going to church. The more I sacrifice, the more blessings my loved ones have received.
The second thing I said was “obedience with exactness“. I've learned that in order for us to successfully serve the Lord, we need to be worthy to receive inspiration and revelation from the Spirit. In order to receive help from the Spirit, we need to be obedient. Every morning, we follow the schedule of exercise, personal study,breakfast, and companionship study “to the T“. We get up on time, and we leave on time. We plan every night, and we have weekly planning every Friday. We don't start anything late.We don't stay in bed until 6:31;we are up and out of bed by 6:30. We make sure that we study for at least one hour, nothing less. As we obey the morning schedule, and adhere to the other rules, we are open to the revelation and inspiration that the Lord has promised to give us,
thereby allowing us to fulfill the purposes of God in bringing his children, our brothers and sisters, to Him.
The third thing that I learned (and you'll like this one, mom) is the
importance of having a “positive mental attitude“. As I have tried my hardest to look on the bright side of things, I have been able to avoid anger and contention. Some of the drivers here are crazy, but I simply smile and say, "Maybe they're having a bad day." As I try to think about how I can improve myself and do better, I am able to have faith and confidence in myself so that the Lord can use me. It helps me to enjoy the time that I am out here. I wish that I could have learned this before I got out here. I wish I had listened to you Mom when you kept telling me to be happy. I'm sorry for not listening.
March 18th
Wow.. Brice is 7 and Cian is 5....... I'm getting old. Oh man! I'm gonna miss Daniel's baptism this year, and Brice's baptism next year. Darn.
Thanks for sending Dale's address. He is going to Mexico City, I'm pretty excited for him. Dale is a quiet example of kindness and obedience. Luckily, missionaries are allowed to e-mail each other. Can you get Stefanie's address too?
I’m glad you are taking the summer off Mom. Speaking of having summer off, did I tell you how hot it gets here in the summer? 110 degrees on a normal day. I'm hoping Pres. C. ships me off to Elko (the northern most part) for the summer. Of course, knowing how things sometime work, he might send me further south. Well, what's life without a little fun eh? Gotta keep a PMA (positive mental attitude). Pres Christensen told me that if I decide at the beginning of each day to be happy, that will help me out a lot, and it has.)
This last is an email from one of my MTC teachers that I thought you’d like:
“SABAHH IL-HEER Elderes y Hermanas (good morning in Arabic)
One thing that has pressed my mind the most this week (DC 128.1) is the question, what are we saving people from?
We are saving them from Babylon (or the world).
Here are some facts about the world:
Of the 6 billion people who live in the world right now, 4.5 billion live below the poverty line
25 million people are displaced by wars
50% of the world's countries are ruled by dictators
There are 300,000 child soldiers in the world
27 million people in the world are enslaved
854 million people are going hungry
1 million child will be sold into the sex trade this year.
Pornography is the largest hit on the internet
These are some things that we are saving people from. The fight is real. Our obedience to the covenants in the temple is what will set us apart as disciples of Jesus Christ and endow us with His power to represent Him in cleansing each other of sin and evil. As I have said before, moral men cannot not save this world; only a God can, and that God is Jesus Christ.
I sat in a class last Thursday while a visiting professor to the college said one offensive thing after another. One could see on their faces that the students were uncomfortable and offended. Yet, no one, not even the teacher said a thing. I finally raised my hand, countered his comments and he stopped. We spoke very fondly of each other after class. My point is, we must stand. Too many disciples stand by and merely squint at evil without taking a stand and combating it. STAND.
We are to represent Christ in fighting evil and sin. Roll up your sleeves and get in the trenches and co-servants in the faith. Have a good week.
Abrazo,
Hno Coles”
March 25th
First of all, Mom, I know you’re really busy from the costuming for Music Man so it’s okay that you didn’t get the email to me in time. I'll give you a quick update on what's been going on.
We aren't having any baptisms this transfer, and three people dropped getting baptized. I told dad about one named Luis. It's been pretty rough this transfer. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really helping out in the effort here…sometimes it seems like I'm more of a watcher than a doer.
I’ve lost a little weight, and hope to continue losing some more. I've been eating much healthier; I've been snacking on grapes and carrots and bananas. I've also eaten everything that the members feed us for dinner. The only thing I have declined was papaya, but I DID try it.
I'm still in the Paradise area in Las Vegas. I haven't transferred out since I arrived. Things went bad and good this past week. Good because we got a lot of work done. We got 16 lessons with member present (LTM) and 38 other lessons. We got one of our investigators to start coming to church and we finished teaching him all the lessons. His name is Salamon. He has a baptismal date for the 27th of April.
Now for the bad news. We got a new companionship in our district so now we have six instead of 4. That’s not a problem, but because they moved in, they had to rezone our area and we lost ALL of the investigators we had, including Salamon. We got to keep a couple but 98% now belong to the other Elders. Something our zone leader said gave me hope. He said that the "Lord has people prepared to hear the gospel in this area" and that made me think: our area isn't new, it's just smaller. We never focused much in this area because it was farther away than the other parts. Maybe this is the Lord's way of saying, "You've done enough in this part. Let the other elders take care of the rest. I want YOU to work in this area that you've been ignoring. I've got some people prepared. So go and find them my son."
My Spanish is coming along better. My companion, Elder Gonzalez, speaks Spanish much clearer than my first companion, so I'm understanding a little better. When I return, I will gladly start accompanying you to work to help you out Dad. Maybe I could get a part time job as a translator. I know my old boss would want me back too because he has several Hispanics working for him.
I love you very much and miss you too. Luckily, Pres Christensen has been a great help to me in helping me overcome my trials. He and his wife remind me a lot of you, because they’ve told me some things that you've both told me before. BUT, they don't replace either of you.
April 8th
I'm pretty jealous that the family there gets to see “The Music Man“. I also think its great that they have started community theater in Enterprise. I’m sure Jotty's doing great in it, and that mom is doing a good job too. She’s always done a marvelous job with sewing and costuming. 9,000 yards of thread? Wow....... have you done more costuming before or is this your record? Hope someone did a video of it. I have been EXTREMELY jealous that you guys get to do this, but I'm happy that you’re having fun.
I got to see all the sessions of General Conference. It was amazing, but taking notes made it even better. Elder Holland's, and Elder Oaks's talks and Elder Bednar's talk on helping your children recognize spiritual warnings were the ones that stuck out to me. I like how Pres. Monson talked about the hope we have for the resurrection. All in all, it was a great conference. I enjoy conference and understand more since I came out on my mission.
I noticed also that a lot of it was focused on family and the duties of the parents. While I thought that that was nice, I noticed that the conference also focused on missionary work. In a different way, we missionaries are the "parents" of our investigators. It is our responsibility to nurture them in the Good Word of God. It is our responsibility to tell them that we KNOW that the Gospel is true. It is our responsibility to give them blessings when they need it. They are infants in the Gospel, and without our help (and the help of members--they play a key role) our investigators will be swallowed up in the evils of contemporary society and spiritually die. Indeed, this conference was a conference for the parents; parents of children and investigators.
Regarding your comment about the New Testament; the New Testament is hard to understand because the culture is extremely different. Many comparisons were made with the culture and customs of ancient Jerusalem. Institute and seminary manuals are a God-send for understanding it better. The apostle Paul’s teachings are some of the best.
It’s interesting how children tend to say things that are either really funny, or really profound. Not too long ago, my companion and I were at a family home evening with a new member. She held up a picture of Christ and the little children and asked "Why are the little children looking at Jesus?" Her 6 year old son said "‘Cuz they want Him to make them better." I immediately thought, wow.......why do we look at Jesus? Are we even looking at Him? Are we anxiously studying his words and looking towards His example? We look to Jesus so that He can make us better, so that He can comfort us, and so that He can teach us how to be happy in this life, how to be like Him.
April 15th
I’m kind of bummed this week. I think I told you that they split our area. The area we have is middle class, and there aren't too many Hispanics here. We went knocking doors yesterday for two hours, and not one new investigator. I'm not enjoying it too much. The joy I feel is when we actually get results, and we aren't getting any. When I get back at our apartment, I feel tired and stressed. I'm not sure what we are doing wrong…we're working our butts off, but to no avail. Not that I am going to stop working, but I'm not sure of what else we need to do. I'm sorry for being a little depressed. I'm trying to be positive, but when we review at the end of the day, sometimes it 's really hard to stay positive. Thanks for reminding me about P.M.A. Sorry for complaining. Thanks for continuing to love and support me. Despite the hardships, I'm glad that I'm here serving the Lord.
My health is going good. I'm sleeping better now, and I'm eating a LOT healthier (wish I had done that back home). I’ve come up with some rules I'm going to follow to keep my eating habits in check. We are riding bikes, so I'm getting my exercise in as well.
Speaking of the kids that go wayward, I'm glad that you were a mother who taught us to obey the gospel, and that you did what you could, even if it DID tick us off, to keep us in the right path. I wouldn't have come on a mission if you hadn't taught me like you did. Thank you again for being a wicked awesome mother!
April 22nd
I don't have much time on this timed computer; but know that things are going much better! In the past week, we've been able to renew our resolve and we've found more investigators to teach. We had interviews with Pres. C, and I told him that I think I had started to focus on numbers instead of people. I think that is why we weren't able to do so well. But no matter, that's in the past. We have found some people to teach, and we are going to work.
In response to your question about teaching investigators: if they want to gain a testimony about the restoration and about Joseph Smith, they need to PRAY. They need to be taught what the fruits of the spirit are. There's a scripture in John that says that if we REALLY want to know if the doctrine and laws are of God, we need to DO them. I.E.: If I want to gain a testimony about the word of wisdom, I have to pray AND follow it. My testimony comes from my actions. I know that all these things are true because I have read and done them and seen the blessings that come from it. As you and Mom have strived to live the Gospel, I have seen how it has blessed you and the family. Prayer is just one of the actions we can do to know if this Gospel is true.
Oh yes, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOTTY!
While I do miss you all, I know that this is where I need to be. This IS the best thing I can do for myself, my family, and the people here. Please pray that I will be able to teach and touch the heart, and that I won't be a burden to my companion and district. I love you!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Parker
