Dear Family and Friends,
Well, it’s getting chilly in Jacksonville! The humid cold is setting in. I wore my trench coat for the first time yesterday. So this past week was kind of crazy. We had a lot of fun but also a lot of work.
Last Friday was the ward’s “Trunk or Treat”. We had a lot of fun. I dressed up as an FBI agent and Elder Sellers dressed up as a backwards missionary. So we had fun. There was also a chili cook off so we had a lot of chili. It was yummy.
So for this Halloween, we aren’t supposed to proselyte. Apparently, it is too dangerous so we are just going to go over to the Witts that night.
So this is the last week for Elder Sellers and then he goes back home to North Las Vegas, Nevada. He is excited to go home but he is sad because he is going to miss missionary work. It was kind of hard for me this week as well because he had a lot of “trunky” comments so it made me think of home but I got over it. So next time I write, I will be getting a new companion. Let’s hope he is a hard worker! :) I just hope that I stay in Jacksonville.
Now, lets get an update on the investigators:
1. Kimi – So we finally contacted Kimi and she has a cell phone that none of the missionaries knew about so we tired that but it is disconnected. Her home phone works now but she is ignoring our calls. I think she is avoiding us but I think that we will be able to contact her in the near future. Lets hope and pray!
2. Joey and Amber – So we taught a lesson with Joey and Amber (sort of). She had to leave about half way in the lesson so it was only Joey. We have an appointment with him tonight and I think we are going to set a baptismal date with him. We will see how it goes.
3. Jimmy Baldwin and Judy – So when we went to our appointment on Saturday with him, he dogged. He called us instead and said that he would come to church. He didn’t so we dropped by his house last night and he was there. He had no shirt on so it was gross. :) But I am not sure how interested he is anymore. He has a testimony but his girlfriend Judy wants to keep going to her church and his family is still giving him a hard time about the “mormon” church.
4. Gabby (Patrick and Lori) – We have another appoint with Patrick on Saturday and Gabby is still learning. I am hoping that we can soften Patrick’s heart to the point where he will let Gabby be baptized and maybe even get him baptized. Only time will tell.
5. Maurice – We are going to start re-teaching him the lessons. We have a feeling that he is starting to lose interest so, we got to get him excited about it again.
6. Jimmy Allen and Family- We still haven’t had the first discussion with him just visits. It’s kind of frustrating because he keeps rescheduling. We will get him eventually
7. Eddie – We contacted him and have taught him twice. Read quiet guy but really nice. Smokes a lot but we are going to his house tonight and watching the restoration. It should be great!
Well, that’s my week for you. Next week, I could get transferred to a new area! Probably not, but with President Drewes, anything can happen. I will for sure get a new companion though, so I will send you more information when it comes.
Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. I am praying for all of you as well! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Parker
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
October 22, 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Once again, I am here in "J-ville". Where else would I be? Everything is going good. For some reason though, this week went really slow. It was our bike week this last week and I hadn't ridden a bike for the last 6 weeks so my butt was pretty sore. :) Thats ok though, it felt good to ride a bike again.
This past week we had interviews with the President. That went well and he says that we are doing good its just that we need to increase our lessons with a member. That is always hard because members have there own lifes that they have to live but I think that we can do it.
Saturday was the air show. It was a lot of fun. We went with the senior couple, Elder and Sister Witt. It was really cool to see all the different kind of planes. We had some investigators going and they said that they had a lot of fun. Sister Witt was funny because she wanted to go everywhere they were giving away free stuff so we too got a bunch of knick-knacks from the Army and Air-force. We saw the Blue-angels. We never saw them fly because we left early but we saw them flying around when we went tracting. They are super loud.
Now for the update on our investigators:
1. Kimi - We kind of lost contact with her. Her phone stopped working and we haven't been able to see her since. She called us once at night and told us that her 2 uncles just died so she has been having a really rough time. We are still praying for her and we aren't going to set a date with her until she stops smoking. But who knows how long that will take.
2. Joey and Amber - We finished teaching the plan of salvation and Amber took a lot of notes. She thinks that it is interesting but she is still very skeptical. Funny story about that lesson though. So we were calling around the night before trying to find a member to go with us and we call someone who we thought was an Active member and he says yes. His name was bro. Elliott. We get in his car and we see a bunch of cigerettes. Me and Elder Sellers look at each other and wonder. Later in the lesson, Brother Elliott tells Amber and Joey that he hasn't been to church in a year. So we found out that he was a Less-active member! Thats ok though. The lesson still went great and Brother Elliott said he needed it more than them so yeah. Who knows, maybe we will re-activate someone on accident.
3. Jimmy Baldwin and Judy - Jimmy got antied by his family pretty hard. He told us that he didn't want to meet with us again but when we were doing service for a thrift store, we saw him and set up an appointment to see him this saturday. I really hope that we don't lose him.
4. Gabby (Patrick and Lori) - Well, we had a the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He liked it but he has trouble with the God head and he knows his Bible really well. We have another lesson with him on
5. Maurice - Still reading scriptures with him. Hasn't gotten an answer yet but he will eventually.
6. Jimmy Allen and Family- He keeps re-scheduling his appointments because some family issues come up so he needs to meet with us soon and get baptized because he is ready.
We have a few other people that we are teaching here and there but nothing big. We are hoping to get some progressing investigators soon because as you can see, we are kind of running low. I have been out 3 months now. It kind of hard to believe. It sure doesn't seem like like it has been that long. It has left like a couple of weeks. Time flys when you are having fun. But that isn't good because a missionary's time is valuable.
We are also starting a member lesson program to train members to be a full time member missionary or a full time finder. It should work out pretty well.
This Friday we have the annual Trunk-or-treat at the church. We are having a chili cook-off, games and stuff! It should be a lot of fun.
Thank you for your continued prayers and thoughts. They are keeping me going! I really appreciate it! I love you all and God bless all of you!
John 14:26
Love,
Elder Parker
Once again, I am here in "J-ville". Where else would I be? Everything is going good. For some reason though, this week went really slow. It was our bike week this last week and I hadn't ridden a bike for the last 6 weeks so my butt was pretty sore. :) Thats ok though, it felt good to ride a bike again.
This past week we had interviews with the President. That went well and he says that we are doing good its just that we need to increase our lessons with a member. That is always hard because members have there own lifes that they have to live but I think that we can do it.
Saturday was the air show. It was a lot of fun. We went with the senior couple, Elder and Sister Witt. It was really cool to see all the different kind of planes. We had some investigators going and they said that they had a lot of fun. Sister Witt was funny because she wanted to go everywhere they were giving away free stuff so we too got a bunch of knick-knacks from the Army and Air-force. We saw the Blue-angels. We never saw them fly because we left early but we saw them flying around when we went tracting. They are super loud.
Now for the update on our investigators:
1. Kimi - We kind of lost contact with her. Her phone stopped working and we haven't been able to see her since. She called us once at night and told us that her 2 uncles just died so she has been having a really rough time. We are still praying for her and we aren't going to set a date with her until she stops smoking. But who knows how long that will take.
2. Joey and Amber - We finished teaching the plan of salvation and Amber took a lot of notes. She thinks that it is interesting but she is still very skeptical. Funny story about that lesson though. So we were calling around the night before trying to find a member to go with us and we call someone who we thought was an Active member and he says yes. His name was bro. Elliott. We get in his car and we see a bunch of cigerettes. Me and Elder Sellers look at each other and wonder. Later in the lesson, Brother Elliott tells Amber and Joey that he hasn't been to church in a year. So we found out that he was a Less-active member! Thats ok though. The lesson still went great and Brother Elliott said he needed it more than them so yeah. Who knows, maybe we will re-activate someone on accident.
3. Jimmy Baldwin and Judy - Jimmy got antied by his family pretty hard. He told us that he didn't want to meet with us again but when we were doing service for a thrift store, we saw him and set up an appointment to see him this saturday. I really hope that we don't lose him.
4. Gabby (Patrick and Lori) - Well, we had a the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He liked it but he has trouble with the God head and he knows his Bible really well. We have another lesson with him on
5. Maurice - Still reading scriptures with him. Hasn't gotten an answer yet but he will eventually.
6. Jimmy Allen and Family- He keeps re-scheduling his appointments because some family issues come up so he needs to meet with us soon and get baptized because he is ready.
We have a few other people that we are teaching here and there but nothing big. We are hoping to get some progressing investigators soon because as you can see, we are kind of running low. I have been out 3 months now. It kind of hard to believe. It sure doesn't seem like like it has been that long. It has left like a couple of weeks. Time flys when you are having fun. But that isn't good because a missionary's time is valuable.
We are also starting a member lesson program to train members to be a full time member missionary or a full time finder. It should work out pretty well.
This Friday we have the annual Trunk-or-treat at the church. We are having a chili cook-off, games and stuff! It should be a lot of fun.
Thank you for your continued prayers and thoughts. They are keeping me going! I really appreciate it! I love you all and God bless all of you!
John 14:26
Love,
Elder Parker
Sunday, October 19, 2008
October 15, 2008
Dear Family,
Hello again from Jacksonville, Arkansas! Things in Jacksonville are going great. The weather is hot and it rains sometimes but it is mostly just humid. I heard in Utah that it is snowing! That is crazy! While you guys are freezing, I am dying of heat!
Well, things are progessing here. Let just explain what has been happening during the week and then the investigators. Last Thursday, we hung out with a member that was in the Marines. He took us to the air force base on our P-day and showed us around. I took a lot of good pictures of the airplanes flying and taking off and a movie. Lee was his name. He is now back home in Oakanawa, Japan with his family. He missed them a lot so I am glad that he got to see them again.
Saturday we did a exchange with the Zone leaders. I was with Elder Pratt all day. We got a lot done and saw a lot of our investigators we haven't seen yet and set appointments which was really good. Elder Pratt is related to Parley P. Pratt. He is his great, great, great, great grandfather, but I don't really know how many greats. Did you know that the "P" in Parley P. Pratt is "Parker". I know, I thought that was pretty awesome!
Sunday, we went to Elder and Sister Witts fireside that they had. They were missionaries at the humanitarian center for a while so they showed us a powerpoint presentation of it. It was great! There is a lot of things the church is doing that I didn't know about.
Monday was family home evening at the Edwards and we did conversion stories. Then we did a role play of a lesson with an investigator. I was the investigator and I did my southern voice for everyone and we had a lot of laughs. It was great.
This week was also our bike week. We haven't biked in about 6 weeks so I was kind of out of shape and my butt hurts too. Ugh! We also tracted a street called "Parker St" so I took a picture of that. Unfortunately, no one was interested.
Now to my investigators:
1. Kimi - We had to move her baptism date to the 25th because she is still having a problem with smoking. We are praying for her and she fasted this last sunday with us and came to church so that was great! We are sure she can make her date but it is really up to her!
2. Joey and Amber - They were taught before by the missionaries. Elder Pratt and I stopped by on him on Saturday. Elder Pratt knew them because he used to be in my area before I came to it. We taught him last night about the plan of salvation and he loves it. They both got into the lesson and everything went great!
3. Jimmy Baldwin and Judy - We taught Jimmy and Judy again. We taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about faith and repentance. I thought that it went really well and Judy may be back on board.
4. Gabby - Well, we had our usual lesson with Gabby. Patrick (her father) was there and he kind of stood in the lesson. We were talking about the articles of faith and then he said "Whats that". It evenually got into a whole discussion about the first lesson and we set up an appointment with Patrick! We hope that it will go well and who knows, maybe he will get baptized as well!
5. Maurice - Still reading scriptures with him. Hasn't gotten an answer yet but he will evenually.
6. Jimmy Allen and Family- Well, Jimmy came to Sacrament this Sunday. We weren't expecting him so that was great. He talked to the bishop afterwards and said. "I have been looking for people like you guys all my life!" He is awesome! We have an appointment tomorrow with him and his family. It will be awesome!
Well, That was my week. I hope everyone has had a great week as well! This weekend is the air show at the air force base. We are planning on going to that with some investigators and maybe even find new ones. It will be great! Thank you for the thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Elder Parker
Hello again from Jacksonville, Arkansas! Things in Jacksonville are going great. The weather is hot and it rains sometimes but it is mostly just humid. I heard in Utah that it is snowing! That is crazy! While you guys are freezing, I am dying of heat!
Well, things are progessing here. Let just explain what has been happening during the week and then the investigators. Last Thursday, we hung out with a member that was in the Marines. He took us to the air force base on our P-day and showed us around. I took a lot of good pictures of the airplanes flying and taking off and a movie. Lee was his name. He is now back home in Oakanawa, Japan with his family. He missed them a lot so I am glad that he got to see them again.
Saturday we did a exchange with the Zone leaders. I was with Elder Pratt all day. We got a lot done and saw a lot of our investigators we haven't seen yet and set appointments which was really good. Elder Pratt is related to Parley P. Pratt. He is his great, great, great, great grandfather, but I don't really know how many greats. Did you know that the "P" in Parley P. Pratt is "Parker". I know, I thought that was pretty awesome!
Sunday, we went to Elder and Sister Witts fireside that they had. They were missionaries at the humanitarian center for a while so they showed us a powerpoint presentation of it. It was great! There is a lot of things the church is doing that I didn't know about.
Monday was family home evening at the Edwards and we did conversion stories. Then we did a role play of a lesson with an investigator. I was the investigator and I did my southern voice for everyone and we had a lot of laughs. It was great.
This week was also our bike week. We haven't biked in about 6 weeks so I was kind of out of shape and my butt hurts too. Ugh! We also tracted a street called "Parker St" so I took a picture of that. Unfortunately, no one was interested.
Now to my investigators:
1. Kimi - We had to move her baptism date to the 25th because she is still having a problem with smoking. We are praying for her and she fasted this last sunday with us and came to church so that was great! We are sure she can make her date but it is really up to her!
2. Joey and Amber - They were taught before by the missionaries. Elder Pratt and I stopped by on him on Saturday. Elder Pratt knew them because he used to be in my area before I came to it. We taught him last night about the plan of salvation and he loves it. They both got into the lesson and everything went great!
3. Jimmy Baldwin and Judy - We taught Jimmy and Judy again. We taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about faith and repentance. I thought that it went really well and Judy may be back on board.
4. Gabby - Well, we had our usual lesson with Gabby. Patrick (her father) was there and he kind of stood in the lesson. We were talking about the articles of faith and then he said "Whats that". It evenually got into a whole discussion about the first lesson and we set up an appointment with Patrick! We hope that it will go well and who knows, maybe he will get baptized as well!
5. Maurice - Still reading scriptures with him. Hasn't gotten an answer yet but he will evenually.
6. Jimmy Allen and Family- Well, Jimmy came to Sacrament this Sunday. We weren't expecting him so that was great. He talked to the bishop afterwards and said. "I have been looking for people like you guys all my life!" He is awesome! We have an appointment tomorrow with him and his family. It will be awesome!
Well, That was my week. I hope everyone has had a great week as well! This weekend is the air show at the air force base. We are planning on going to that with some investigators and maybe even find new ones. It will be great! Thank you for the thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Elder Parker
Thursday, October 9, 2008
October 9, 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
How is everyone doing? I am doing great out here in J-ville Arkansas! I am loving it. We have still been busy this week. A lot has happened so let me explain. This weekend was conference. It was great. We had 5 investigators come. Kimi and Jimmy Baldwin came and 3 new others they just came out of the blue but I will explain about those in a minute. I really needed to hear some of the things that the general authorities said which was really good.
We had family home evening this week with the Edwards. We watched "Emma Smith - My Story". It was a good and interesting movie. Joseph and Emma went through a lot together for this church. Brother Edwards has a sword that is in his house that he showed me. He said that sword was given to him by his great grandfather. His great grandfather was helping Joseph Smith when he was being taken away to Chartage Jail. Joseph Smith gave the sword to his great grandfather and said "You might need this to protect yourself." So I thought that that was pretty cool so I took a picture of me holding the sword that Joseph Smith had touched! Pretty awesome!
We have a Senior couple that works with us as well. They are the Witts. They come from Brigham City, Utah. They have been out as long has I have and they are so trunky. They miss home so much but they work nonetheless. They are a great couple though, they have treated us very nicely and they like us a lot. I love the Witts.
This week was also Zone Conference so that is why I am e-mailing on Thursday, instead of Wednesday this week. We learned a lot about faith and finding people. So that is really good. I needed that as well!
Now, an update on some of my investigators:
1. Kimi - She is still trying to quit smoking so we gave her a lesson on the "Armor of God" in Eph. in the Bible. We also gave her a blessing and her kids thought that it was weird/cool. Her son came up to me and asked if I could bless him with the ability to have super-human strength and to fly. I told him that blessings don't work that way and laughed. One of the older boys tried to record us giving a blessing and we aren't sure if he succeeded or not. If he did, lets not hope that I am on youtube.
2. John - Unfortunately, We have dropped him because he called us and said that he wanted to stay at his uncles church because "that is where he is supposed to be." We as missionaries can only do so much.
3. Jimmy Baldwin - We kind of found out that Judy isn't really interested because she isn't at the lessons anymore. We still need to figure out what her deal is. We are still teaching him the basics but I don't think he quite understands all of them yet so we are working on that so he does understand.
4. Gabby - We had a chat with her mother. She has a couple of warrents for her arrest she told us for not going to court for accidents and what not. She said that she can't go to church because she doesn't want to but she wants Gabby to learn more before she gets baptized. It is only a matter of time before she comes around.
5. Maurice - Still reading scriptures with him. Still hoping that he will get an answer about his baptism date.
6. Destiny and Ebony - We invited them to conference and there Less-active mother kind of got mad at us because she didn't think that they would like it or sit through it and that we didn't tell her anything about it. We thought she knew but apparently not. We just have to go see them again to see what there deal is.
7. Whitney- She met with us wondering why we stopped visiting with her. I guess she didn't get the point that we dropped her. She said that she found the right church and is now going to that.
8. Jimmy Allen and Family- This family just showed up to conference on Saturday morning. We talked with them and set up an appointment. We went and talked to Jimmy. We found out that he has read 3/4 of the Book of Mormon before we even met him. His older son is Mormon and introduced it to him. He told us that his soul hungers for more and that when he reads the book of mormon, it fills that hunger. I think this is going to be the first time that I am going to say that he is "golden". We are so excited to teach him more! I will keep you updated!
Well, that is my busy week. I am having a great time. Trying to stay motivated can be hard but I am doing it! I really appricate all of your prayers and thoughts in my behalf. I guess I have a website now which is kind of cool. Talk to my dad for more info. God bless you all!
Love,
Elder Parker
How is everyone doing? I am doing great out here in J-ville Arkansas! I am loving it. We have still been busy this week. A lot has happened so let me explain. This weekend was conference. It was great. We had 5 investigators come. Kimi and Jimmy Baldwin came and 3 new others they just came out of the blue but I will explain about those in a minute. I really needed to hear some of the things that the general authorities said which was really good.
We had family home evening this week with the Edwards. We watched "Emma Smith - My Story". It was a good and interesting movie. Joseph and Emma went through a lot together for this church. Brother Edwards has a sword that is in his house that he showed me. He said that sword was given to him by his great grandfather. His great grandfather was helping Joseph Smith when he was being taken away to Chartage Jail. Joseph Smith gave the sword to his great grandfather and said "You might need this to protect yourself." So I thought that that was pretty cool so I took a picture of me holding the sword that Joseph Smith had touched! Pretty awesome!
We have a Senior couple that works with us as well. They are the Witts. They come from Brigham City, Utah. They have been out as long has I have and they are so trunky. They miss home so much but they work nonetheless. They are a great couple though, they have treated us very nicely and they like us a lot. I love the Witts.
This week was also Zone Conference so that is why I am e-mailing on Thursday, instead of Wednesday this week. We learned a lot about faith and finding people. So that is really good. I needed that as well!
Now, an update on some of my investigators:
1. Kimi - She is still trying to quit smoking so we gave her a lesson on the "Armor of God" in Eph. in the Bible. We also gave her a blessing and her kids thought that it was weird/cool. Her son came up to me and asked if I could bless him with the ability to have super-human strength and to fly. I told him that blessings don't work that way and laughed. One of the older boys tried to record us giving a blessing and we aren't sure if he succeeded or not. If he did, lets not hope that I am on youtube.
2. John - Unfortunately, We have dropped him because he called us and said that he wanted to stay at his uncles church because "that is where he is supposed to be." We as missionaries can only do so much.
3. Jimmy Baldwin - We kind of found out that Judy isn't really interested because she isn't at the lessons anymore. We still need to figure out what her deal is. We are still teaching him the basics but I don't think he quite understands all of them yet so we are working on that so he does understand.
4. Gabby - We had a chat with her mother. She has a couple of warrents for her arrest she told us for not going to court for accidents and what not. She said that she can't go to church because she doesn't want to but she wants Gabby to learn more before she gets baptized. It is only a matter of time before she comes around.
5. Maurice - Still reading scriptures with him. Still hoping that he will get an answer about his baptism date.
6. Destiny and Ebony - We invited them to conference and there Less-active mother kind of got mad at us because she didn't think that they would like it or sit through it and that we didn't tell her anything about it. We thought she knew but apparently not. We just have to go see them again to see what there deal is.
7. Whitney- She met with us wondering why we stopped visiting with her. I guess she didn't get the point that we dropped her. She said that she found the right church and is now going to that.
8. Jimmy Allen and Family- This family just showed up to conference on Saturday morning. We talked with them and set up an appointment. We went and talked to Jimmy. We found out that he has read 3/4 of the Book of Mormon before we even met him. His older son is Mormon and introduced it to him. He told us that his soul hungers for more and that when he reads the book of mormon, it fills that hunger. I think this is going to be the first time that I am going to say that he is "golden". We are so excited to teach him more! I will keep you updated!
Well, that is my busy week. I am having a great time. Trying to stay motivated can be hard but I am doing it! I really appricate all of your prayers and thoughts in my behalf. I guess I have a website now which is kind of cool. Talk to my dad for more info. God bless you all!
Love,
Elder Parker
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
October 1, 2008
Dear Family,
Here I am reporting from Jacksonville, Arkansas. So much has happened in such a short amount of time. I have decided that I am not a big fan of whitewashing areas. It was nice to have the same companion but when we got to the area, we had no idea what was going on. We have like 5 or 6 investigators and it is crazy to try and keep up with all of them. I think that the president is truly inspired with his choices when he transfers but it is very different then the norm.
The first couple of days was just to meet the investigators and find out where the church is and what not. We have been trying to get to know the members and I think that that is going well. This area is the opposite of my last area. We have really good investigators but we don't have such a good ward. The ward doesn't have very many members and there are like a million Less-actives in the area. We are trying to visit with all of the less-actives and trying to find out what there deal is. One got mad at us for visiting there house and said that they would call the police if we visit there house again. Ugh, why did LA's have to be rude? Who knows but don't worry, we get that kind of stuff all the time.
So we have several investigators and I will try and talk about each one of them.
1. Kimi - She is a big black woman and she is committed to baptism on the 28th of October. She has a problem with the word of wisdom but I think that she will get over that problem.
2. John - He was a referral from one of the members, Sister Hampton. He really seems like a "golden" investigator but he has to start to read and pray to get him over the top. Lessons have been going really well.
3. Jimmy and Judy - They live in a trailer park and they are not married. (We just found this out....) They are a big couple so we really don't think that it will be a problem. They said they haven't got married because of the money issue but i think if we can get the bishop to marry them then it should be a problem. He is committed to baptism on the 28th as well.
4. Gabby - She is a 9 year old girl and daughter of a less-active member. She is really smart but her parents don't want her to be baptized until she is ready. We have taught her pretty much everything so we need to explain to the parents that we have taught her everything we know and that she is ready for baptism.
5. Maurice- He is 11 years old and black. We read from the Book of Mormon with him twice a week. He is really smart when it comes to the Book of Mormon. We are asking him to pray about being baptized but I feel like he wants to wait until he has finished reading the Book of Mormon. I hope it doesn't come to that because he is only on Jacob 5. Ugh!
6. Destiny and Ebony - One is 8 the other is 11. They are hard to keep there interest but i think that they will get baptized. Only a matter of time.
7. Whitney- We have dropped her because anytime we gave her a challenge or committment, she never did it. So we told her that we as missionaries can do only so much so we told her to give us a call when she is ready.
So that is most of them. Yesterday, we had like 7 appointments so we were busy all day. It was awesome and crazy!
We also had family home evening with the Edwards. They are an awesome couple and they open there family home evening to everyone including investigators so that is really cool.
I am excited for conference this weekend. I feel like they haven't talked to us for a while. It is kind of cool to tell investigators that the prophet of the world is speaking this weekend so that sparks peoples interest. I am excited for this and we will see how it goes.
I love missionary work and I love to see the change that it brings into peoples lives. I am very grateful for the prayers and thoughts that you guys give me. I hope Ryan is doing well. I will put him in my prayers as well. My family, be safe, I love all of you and thanks again for all that you do for me.
Love,
Elder Parker
Dear Family,
Here I am reporting from Jacksonville, Arkansas. So much has happened in such a short amount of time. I have decided that I am not a big fan of whitewashing areas. It was nice to have the same companion but when we got to the area, we had no idea what was going on. We have like 5 or 6 investigators and it is crazy to try and keep up with all of them. I think that the president is truly inspired with his choices when he transfers but it is very different then the norm.
The first couple of days was just to meet the investigators and find out where the church is and what not. We have been trying to get to know the members and I think that that is going well. This area is the opposite of my last area. We have really good investigators but we don't have such a good ward. The ward doesn't have very many members and there are like a million Less-actives in the area. We are trying to visit with all of the less-actives and trying to find out what there deal is. One got mad at us for visiting there house and said that they would call the police if we visit there house again. Ugh, why did LA's have to be rude? Who knows but don't worry, we get that kind of stuff all the time.
So we have several investigators and I will try and talk about each one of them.
1. Kimi - She is a big black woman and she is committed to baptism on the 28th of October. She has a problem with the word of wisdom but I think that she will get over that problem.
2. John - He was a referral from one of the members, Sister Hampton. He really seems like a "golden" investigator but he has to start to read and pray to get him over the top. Lessons have been going really well.
3. Jimmy and Judy - They live in a trailer park and they are not married. (We just found this out....) They are a big couple so we really don't think that it will be a problem. They said they haven't got married because of the money issue but i think if we can get the bishop to marry them then it should be a problem. He is committed to baptism on the 28th as well.
4. Gabby - She is a 9 year old girl and daughter of a less-active member. She is really smart but her parents don't want her to be baptized until she is ready. We have taught her pretty much everything so we need to explain to the parents that we have taught her everything we know and that she is ready for baptism.
5. Maurice- He is 11 years old and black. We read from the Book of Mormon with him twice a week. He is really smart when it comes to the Book of Mormon. We are asking him to pray about being baptized but I feel like he wants to wait until he has finished reading the Book of Mormon. I hope it doesn't come to that because he is only on Jacob 5. Ugh!
6. Destiny and Ebony - One is 8 the other is 11. They are hard to keep there interest but i think that they will get baptized. Only a matter of time.
7. Whitney- We have dropped her because anytime we gave her a challenge or committment, she never did it. So we told her that we as missionaries can do only so much so we told her to give us a call when she is ready.
So that is most of them. Yesterday, we had like 7 appointments so we were busy all day. It was awesome and crazy!
We also had family home evening with the Edwards. They are an awesome couple and they open there family home evening to everyone including investigators so that is really cool.
I am excited for conference this weekend. I feel like they haven't talked to us for a while. It is kind of cool to tell investigators that the prophet of the world is speaking this weekend so that sparks peoples interest. I am excited for this and we will see how it goes.
I love missionary work and I love to see the change that it brings into peoples lives. I am very grateful for the prayers and thoughts that you guys give me. I hope Ryan is doing well. I will put him in my prayers as well. My family, be safe, I love all of you and thanks again for all that you do for me.
Love,
Elder Parker
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