November 5, 2008 (New companion)

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, a lot has happened this past week. First of all, Elder Sellers went home. So I now have a new companion. His name is Elder Noorda. He is 23 years old and has been out on his mission for 18 months. He has served in the Army and been to Iraq for a year. Its kind of cool to me to have a companion that has been to Iraq. Another neat thing about him is that he has been in Jacksonville before. It was his first area as a greenie. He is really awesome and laid back but ready to work hard which is good. I am excited to get to know him better.
So, I stayed with the Zone Leaders from Monday to Wednesday and had a couple of spiritual experiences. I met one of their investigators named Billy. He owns a pawn shop and has a lot of problems with drinking and smoking. He comes to church which is really cool. He said that he went to a testimony meeting and listened to a girl that talked about how she went to a youth conference and they asked everyone to give a rose to someone who has really influenced their life in some way or another. Anyway, we follow Billy back to his house because he said he had something for the Zone Leaders and he came out with Elder Pratt’s jacket that he left (Elder Pratt is one of the Zone Leaders) and he said to them. “You guys make me feel like I can make it.” He started to get teary eyed so he went into his truck and drove off. It was a really cool experience for them and me even though I don’t even know the whole situation.
The Situation with my investigators have kind of stayed the same. Nothing new yet.
Before I go, I did want to share a spiritual experience that I had. So me and Elder Sellers stopped by someone’s house to drop off a Bible they ordered. They weren’t there so we start to head toward the car and I see a women across the street. I thought for sure that Elder Sellers was going to talk to her but he just got into the car so I followed. I sat in the car and just stared at her and the spirit said “You need to talk to this lady.” So I told Elder Sellers that I needed to talk to her. I told her who we were and that we had a message to share with her. She said sure and we shared with her and set another appointment for this Saturday. It was such a neat experience and I am very grateful for it.
Anyway, I love you family. Glad to hear all is going well. Talk to you next week.
Love,

Elder Parker