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