Dear Family,
Hello again! It's me, Elder Parker. I hope that y'all had a very awesome week. We had a good week as well! Let me explain.
We are still working with Vickie Coulson. She got really sick this weekend so she was unable to make it to church or the appointment we made with her this weekend. That is ok though, we are praying for her to get better soon.
We are working with two new people named Terrell and Rita. Terrell is a black guy and Rita is a Mexican woman. They are married. Terrell ordered a bible from the TV and so we went over there and delivered it and he just had a lot of questions and he really seems to like the church. We invited him to come to church and he and his wife did! They really seemed to like church which was good! Terrell seems to have a smoking problem but he seems to have the will power to quit. He was talking to us after church and he was telling us how he wanted to be a missionary like us. Ha ha. That is so cool. Really good family.
We are working with a Part-member, Less-active family, the Lowtharps. We had a really good first lesson with them last Wednesday and he agreed to come to church and pray about the Book of Mormon. Sure enough, they came to church! It was a great week this week for church. Steven Lowtharp, the non-member, is the one that we are teaching. They lost there child because it was born too early and they were kind of mad at God for a while. Mary Lowtharp, the less-active member, has a strong testimony, it is just that it was shaken because of that death. It is hard to lose a child, I can't even imagine.
We are also working with a lot of less-active families and Part-members so things are doing good.
I do have bad news this week though as well. Ed Claxton called me on Wednesday or Tuesday and told me that he wasn't getting baptized anymore and he didn't want anything to do with the church any more and he also told me that he didn't want anyone from the church to come to his house anymore. It broke my heart. It was hard to hear that from him. It just goes to show that Satan is real and that he will do everything in his power to prevent a baptism. From what I heard, his wife, the member was really excited. Then she freaked out! Something happened and I don't know what. I am saddened but I will go on. It a part of being a missionary. So unfortunately, no baptism for Ed. He was so close but like I said before, Satan is real.
On a lighter note, Elder Hinckley (President Gordon B. Hinckley's son), from the quorum of the seventy is coming this week to speak to all of the missionaries. It is called Mission Tour. I am pretty excited to hear what he has to say. He comes this Thursday and we are driving to Memphis. I am pretty excited!
So as you can see, I had a good week but also a sad one but hey, like I said before, that is missionary work for you. Hope y'all have a good upcoming week!
Love,
Elder Parker
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
February 16, 2009
Dear Family,
Hello! I hope y'all had a good week. We had a great week so let me explain.
We got a media referral for a Book of Mormon so we decided to deliver it. We get there and she is a smoker. We started to talk with her and she was telling us that she has studied with Mormons before. She was also telling us how her daughter up in Illinois was baptized about a year ago. So, we teach her the first lesson and we feel the spirit so strong that we extended a baptismal commit for March 7th and she accepted! That was so exciting. Then to top it all off, she came to church. That was really cool. She seemed to really enjoy herself. So I am excited for her. We just got to help her quit smoking. That will be interesting.
I have some good news. The Jacksonville Elders called me up and told me that Ed Claxton was getting baptized! I was so excited so I called him myself and he confirmed it. And to top it all off, he asked me to baptize him! What an honor so we are going down this weekend so I can do that. I am so excited. I hope that he can make it through the week. :)
I also wanted to thank you mom and dad for the pizza. They delivered it at like 9:45 pm. We were getting ready for bed and Elder Gift answered the door. The lady said, "Is Kyle here?", Elder Gift then says, "No, there is no Kyle here." Then she said, "Well, I have a pizza from his parents." Gift says, "Is it paid for?" "Yes." "Oh, yeah, there is a Kyle here, hold on. Parker! Door!" Ha ha. She probably thought that we just wanted free pizza. But thank you. Me and Elder Gift enjoyed that very much!
So overall, we had a good week. We are working with a lot of Part-member families and teaching there non-members. It is exciting! I hope all of you are doing good. I am praying for you all and hope all is well. I love you. Until Next week!
Love,
Elder Parker
Hello! I hope y'all had a good week. We had a great week so let me explain.
We got a media referral for a Book of Mormon so we decided to deliver it. We get there and she is a smoker. We started to talk with her and she was telling us that she has studied with Mormons before. She was also telling us how her daughter up in Illinois was baptized about a year ago. So, we teach her the first lesson and we feel the spirit so strong that we extended a baptismal commit for March 7th and she accepted! That was so exciting. Then to top it all off, she came to church. That was really cool. She seemed to really enjoy herself. So I am excited for her. We just got to help her quit smoking. That will be interesting.
I have some good news. The Jacksonville Elders called me up and told me that Ed Claxton was getting baptized! I was so excited so I called him myself and he confirmed it. And to top it all off, he asked me to baptize him! What an honor so we are going down this weekend so I can do that. I am so excited. I hope that he can make it through the week. :)
I also wanted to thank you mom and dad for the pizza. They delivered it at like 9:45 pm. We were getting ready for bed and Elder Gift answered the door. The lady said, "Is Kyle here?", Elder Gift then says, "No, there is no Kyle here." Then she said, "Well, I have a pizza from his parents." Gift says, "Is it paid for?" "Yes." "Oh, yeah, there is a Kyle here, hold on. Parker! Door!" Ha ha. She probably thought that we just wanted free pizza. But thank you. Me and Elder Gift enjoyed that very much!
So overall, we had a good week. We are working with a lot of Part-member families and teaching there non-members. It is exciting! I hope all of you are doing good. I am praying for you all and hope all is well. I love you. Until Next week!
Love,
Elder Parker
Monday, February 9, 2009
February 9, 2009
Dear Family,
Hello hello! Another interesting week in the life of Elder Parker. This week was happy and sad! I shall explain.
We finally got the chance to finally teach someone, and his name his Morris Cline. Very big fellow but very honest with us and has expressed the desire to really want to learn more about the Book of Mormon. We taught him the first lesson about the Restoration and he seemed to enjoy it. So that is the only one we are working with currently.
The rest of the week has been filled with service. We cut down a lot of trees and yards. It was a lot of fun but a lot of hard work.
This weekend though, was a sad one. When I was with the zone leaders a couple of months ago, I got to know a family that Elder Gift had taught and baptized the mother of that family. The mother had a 3 year old son named Jonn-Luke. He was so crazy and funny. Unfortunately, he passed away last Sunday. The mother and son were in a trailer and the furnace caught on fire and the mother jumped out of the trailer and then tried to pull Jonn-Luke out of the trailer but she couldn't reach him so he passed out and died. Luckily, he didn't burn to death. So on Friday, they had an open viewing of the boy. It was sad to see him like that because it sure didn't look like him. He was a good boy and he will missed! Saturday was the actual funeral service. There were about 100 bikers there from the family. It was crazy. Then we followed everyone to the grave site and they buried him. Elder Gift actually dedicated the grave. That was a neat experience. Elder Gift took his death well. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and I know that that boy is guaranteed salvation. I know that God is a loving God and that he has a plan for all of us. I love this gospel and I know it to be true.
Then on Sunday, they had work crews from Little Rock come up and help clean up Pocahontas. We had a quick Sacrament meeting. It was weird to see all the congregation in work clothes but we were doing service for the Lord. Then we worked the rest of the afternoon. Later that night, we went over to the Adams, a Less-active family and talked to them. They have a lot of daughters. All of them are Cade's age and they are cute, *Wink, Wink, Cade*. I told them about my little brother, Cade, and I also mentioned that he was single. :)
An update on the apartment, we got power on Thursday so we are warm again. Most of Pocahontas had power and everything is going back to normal, hurray. It will be nice to actually do normal missionary work. :)
I hope all is well with y'all. I pray for y'all constantly. Glad to hear y'all are doing just fine.
Love,
Elder Parker
Hello hello! Another interesting week in the life of Elder Parker. This week was happy and sad! I shall explain.
We finally got the chance to finally teach someone, and his name his Morris Cline. Very big fellow but very honest with us and has expressed the desire to really want to learn more about the Book of Mormon. We taught him the first lesson about the Restoration and he seemed to enjoy it. So that is the only one we are working with currently.
The rest of the week has been filled with service. We cut down a lot of trees and yards. It was a lot of fun but a lot of hard work.
This weekend though, was a sad one. When I was with the zone leaders a couple of months ago, I got to know a family that Elder Gift had taught and baptized the mother of that family. The mother had a 3 year old son named Jonn-Luke. He was so crazy and funny. Unfortunately, he passed away last Sunday. The mother and son were in a trailer and the furnace caught on fire and the mother jumped out of the trailer and then tried to pull Jonn-Luke out of the trailer but she couldn't reach him so he passed out and died. Luckily, he didn't burn to death. So on Friday, they had an open viewing of the boy. It was sad to see him like that because it sure didn't look like him. He was a good boy and he will missed! Saturday was the actual funeral service. There were about 100 bikers there from the family. It was crazy. Then we followed everyone to the grave site and they buried him. Elder Gift actually dedicated the grave. That was a neat experience. Elder Gift took his death well. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and I know that that boy is guaranteed salvation. I know that God is a loving God and that he has a plan for all of us. I love this gospel and I know it to be true.
Then on Sunday, they had work crews from Little Rock come up and help clean up Pocahontas. We had a quick Sacrament meeting. It was weird to see all the congregation in work clothes but we were doing service for the Lord. Then we worked the rest of the afternoon. Later that night, we went over to the Adams, a Less-active family and talked to them. They have a lot of daughters. All of them are Cade's age and they are cute, *Wink, Wink, Cade*. I told them about my little brother, Cade, and I also mentioned that he was single. :)
An update on the apartment, we got power on Thursday so we are warm again. Most of Pocahontas had power and everything is going back to normal, hurray. It will be nice to actually do normal missionary work. :)
I hope all is well with y'all. I pray for y'all constantly. Glad to hear y'all are doing just fine.
Love,
Elder Parker
Monday, February 2, 2009
February 2, 2009 (New Area, New Comp)
Dear Family,
Wow, what a week this has been. I have so much to tell y’all. So let’s just start at the beginning.
So I got the call I was getting transferred Sunday night from one of the AP’s. It was crazy, but I was excited. The area in Jacksonville was getting old so I was ready for change. I pondered and thought, “What did I accomplish in Jacksonville?” We were teaching a lot of good people and I reactivated a less-active member. So I feel like I accomplished a lot there. So I am excited for that. Last Tuesday, we went around and said our good byes. The Zone Leaders (Elder Jensen and Elder Gift) were teasing me about where I was getting transferred. I didn’t believe them because they kept changing there mind. So I had no idea where I was going. We had transfer meeting on Wednesday but President Drewes (the mission president) delayed the meeting by 2 hours due to the rain and the ice on the roads. He wanted the sun to come out and melt some of the ice on the roads. So we get there and President starts to announce who is going where with who. Elder Gift turns to me and apologizes to me about teasing me about where I was going. Then President announces that me and Elder Gift are companions! I was actually was excited! He was a great Zone leader and friend and he actually knew that we were companions because he requested me. That was really nice of him.
We got called to Pocahontas, Arkansas. The ice storm affected Pocahontas really bad. It froze everything. We found out that our apartment didn’t have any power so we couldn’t go up there. President told us that we would be spending the next couple of days at the mission home. That is why I never e-mailed on Wednesday to tell you where I was going. We didn’t have access to a computer. Anyway, so we had dinner at Presidents and then the next day we went up to Pocahontas to assess the damage. Oh my gosh, I have never seen anything like it before. I took a ton of pictures. Ice was covering everything. Trees, signs, cars, everything! We went to our apartment and the power was working and so we start to check out our apartment, which is really nice. Then we heard an explosion outside our apartment and the power went out. Our transformer down the street exploded. It was loud and crazy. Then we drove back down to Little Rock and showed President Drewes the pictures we took and stayed there until Saturday. During this time, we helped some other missionaries because they didn’t have a car and we did so we drove them around on Friday. Staying at President Drewes house was fun because we got to see a side of him that we never see. It was cool to get to know him better!
On Saturday morning, the power still wasn’t working but we decided to go up there anyway because the branch president needed our help to clean up Pocahontas. We got there safely and unpacked our stuff and helped some of the members clean up there yards because they had fallen tree branches everywhere. Then we went to church on Sunday for just sacrament meeting and around 10 people showed up because a lot of the members don’t have power. Then we visited with some Less-actives and went to dinner at a member’s house.
I can tell you this; Pocahontas is a mess after this ice storm. People are saying it is the worst since ’93. I have also observed that people here are really friendly. I am really excited to get to know the branch better and the people of Pocahontas. We live right next door to the Wineagers, a senior couple. I am excited to get to know them too!
So, an update on my situation, our power is still out. We slept in the cold last night. But I am fine because I was wrapped in a lot of blankets! I hope the power comes back soon. We don’t know when it will. I am happy and excited to be here.
My new companion, Elder Gift has been a zone leader for the most of his mission. He is a great missionary and a really good friend. I got to know him because he was my Zone leader while I was serving in Jacksonville, so I kind of already know him. He is really cool and I am excited to serve with him. I don’t think that me and him will have problems in the future.
So that has been my crazy week! I am doing well, we will probably spend this week doing a lot of service and trying to find people to teach. Pocahontas hasn’t had full-time missionaries in it for about 5 years so the members really like us. So we are opening this area. It is brand new and we don’t know anybody. So this should be interesting.
I am praying for y’all and I miss ya! I hope all is well and hopefully I will be able to talk to you next week and we will have power.
For your information, my new address is:
Elder Kyle Parker
1616 “A” Shelton Cove
Pocahontas, AR 72455
Love,
Elder Parker
Wow, what a week this has been. I have so much to tell y’all. So let’s just start at the beginning.
So I got the call I was getting transferred Sunday night from one of the AP’s. It was crazy, but I was excited. The area in Jacksonville was getting old so I was ready for change. I pondered and thought, “What did I accomplish in Jacksonville?” We were teaching a lot of good people and I reactivated a less-active member. So I feel like I accomplished a lot there. So I am excited for that. Last Tuesday, we went around and said our good byes. The Zone Leaders (Elder Jensen and Elder Gift) were teasing me about where I was getting transferred. I didn’t believe them because they kept changing there mind. So I had no idea where I was going. We had transfer meeting on Wednesday but President Drewes (the mission president) delayed the meeting by 2 hours due to the rain and the ice on the roads. He wanted the sun to come out and melt some of the ice on the roads. So we get there and President starts to announce who is going where with who. Elder Gift turns to me and apologizes to me about teasing me about where I was going. Then President announces that me and Elder Gift are companions! I was actually was excited! He was a great Zone leader and friend and he actually knew that we were companions because he requested me. That was really nice of him.
We got called to Pocahontas, Arkansas. The ice storm affected Pocahontas really bad. It froze everything. We found out that our apartment didn’t have any power so we couldn’t go up there. President told us that we would be spending the next couple of days at the mission home. That is why I never e-mailed on Wednesday to tell you where I was going. We didn’t have access to a computer. Anyway, so we had dinner at Presidents and then the next day we went up to Pocahontas to assess the damage. Oh my gosh, I have never seen anything like it before. I took a ton of pictures. Ice was covering everything. Trees, signs, cars, everything! We went to our apartment and the power was working and so we start to check out our apartment, which is really nice. Then we heard an explosion outside our apartment and the power went out. Our transformer down the street exploded. It was loud and crazy. Then we drove back down to Little Rock and showed President Drewes the pictures we took and stayed there until Saturday. During this time, we helped some other missionaries because they didn’t have a car and we did so we drove them around on Friday. Staying at President Drewes house was fun because we got to see a side of him that we never see. It was cool to get to know him better!
On Saturday morning, the power still wasn’t working but we decided to go up there anyway because the branch president needed our help to clean up Pocahontas. We got there safely and unpacked our stuff and helped some of the members clean up there yards because they had fallen tree branches everywhere. Then we went to church on Sunday for just sacrament meeting and around 10 people showed up because a lot of the members don’t have power. Then we visited with some Less-actives and went to dinner at a member’s house.
I can tell you this; Pocahontas is a mess after this ice storm. People are saying it is the worst since ’93. I have also observed that people here are really friendly. I am really excited to get to know the branch better and the people of Pocahontas. We live right next door to the Wineagers, a senior couple. I am excited to get to know them too!
So, an update on my situation, our power is still out. We slept in the cold last night. But I am fine because I was wrapped in a lot of blankets! I hope the power comes back soon. We don’t know when it will. I am happy and excited to be here.
My new companion, Elder Gift has been a zone leader for the most of his mission. He is a great missionary and a really good friend. I got to know him because he was my Zone leader while I was serving in Jacksonville, so I kind of already know him. He is really cool and I am excited to serve with him. I don’t think that me and him will have problems in the future.
So that has been my crazy week! I am doing well, we will probably spend this week doing a lot of service and trying to find people to teach. Pocahontas hasn’t had full-time missionaries in it for about 5 years so the members really like us. So we are opening this area. It is brand new and we don’t know anybody. So this should be interesting.
I am praying for y’all and I miss ya! I hope all is well and hopefully I will be able to talk to you next week and we will have power.
For your information, my new address is:
Elder Kyle Parker
1616 “A” Shelton Cove
Pocahontas, AR 72455
Love,
Elder Parker
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