March 30, 2009

Dear Family,

Well, another good week. Full of adventure, laughs, good times, spiritual times, etc. Let me explain. Last P-day we went out to lunch with two old ladies. Bot and Betty Johnson. They are mother and daughter. They were a lot of fun to go out with. We went to Jonesboro and ate at Barnhills Country Buffet. I guess its a southern place because I haven't heard of it before. It's kind of like golden corral only southern food. It was good.

We had a lesson with Morris Cline again. We brought the Winegars with us. Elder Winegar was very bold and direct with him. We started to talk about reincarnation and Elder Winegar wanted to say a prayer so when he did he said, "dear heavenly father, bless Morris and tell him the reincarnation is wrong. Amen." Now, that is how I wouldn't have handled that situation. Thank goodness that he wasn't offended but he is struggling with getting an answer.

We had a good lesson with the McClungs (A less active family). They feed us every Wednesday night. Sister McClung is a really nice lady. She reminds me of my Momma. :) We watched a talk by President Monson. It went really good. Then we talked to Sister McClung to see how her praying for the desire to come to church was coming. She now has the desire to come to church she told us and she came yesterday! She hadn't been to church for a couple of years! It was so neat. She was crying most of the meeting but she was happy to be there.

Thursday we had Zone Conference. We talked about Planning, Goal Setting and Committing. I learned a lot and I can definitely improve. It was really good.

We found 2 new investigators in a town south of Pocahontas called Walnut Ridge. Lola and Pam. They are sisters and they are old too. They really like us though. They call us their "Babies, gentleman, kids, etc" It's kind of weird but eh, its the south. They really understand the Apostasy and that so that is really good.

Saturday we had a good day. We had a movie night planned at it was at 5 pm. My companion thought that we should go see Irma (She is Rita's mother. If you remember Rita and Terrell, they moved to Mississippi.) to see how Terrell and Rita. We go there and Rita answers the door. Apparently Terrell's job didn't work out and he is here trying to get his GED. So we set an appointment up with them. But also while we were there, when I went into the house, I saw Rita's dad. I went to shake his hand, and he just muttered something under his breath and didn't shake my hand. It was kind of awkward but oh well. I have a feeling that he doesn't like us very much.

The movie night went good. We had a steak dinner with the McClungs and the Lowtharps (Part member family). Then we watched the Testaments. We extended the Baptismal Commit but he said that he already has been baptized. He said that he has been reading the Book of Mormon and that he will pray about it by himself. I hope that he will get an answer soon.

President Drewes has really been hounding the mission for baptisms. I hope we can start producing them soon! I know we will! :)

Sunday, we had Sister McClung and Will and Christie Ring (Part member Family we are working with) come. It was a really good Sunday. Then we went over to a members house and had a barbeque with Lola and Pam (Investigators). It was good. We talked to Lola's son. He is kind of handicapped and he is a conspiracy theorist. He is a very interesting fellow to talk to.

So as you can see, overall, it was a good week. I hope all is well with you and I appreciate the thoughts and prayers from y'all. I pray for y'all as well. Be safe!

Love,

Elder Parker

PS: Pictures included: Bot and Betty and Winegars and us at Barnhills, Southern BBQ.

March 23, 2009

Dear Family,

Hello, hello! Another week has come and gone. Today is my 8 month mark. I have completed 1/3 of my mission. Time is going too fast for me. Being on a mission is a great experience. I have learned so much stuff, stuff I couldn't learn if I wasn't here.

We had a good lesson with one of our investigators, Morris Cline. We brought President Hallman (our branch president) with us. We were going to do the 2nd lesson but we felt like he didn't really understand the 1st lesson. So we talked to him about how we don't say "we believe this, we believe that" we say "we know this, we know that." No one in this church is forced to believe a certain way. The reason they know what to be true is because they asked for themselves and the holy ghost bore that witness to them. The holy ghost can not lie.

Wednesday, we went up to Corning, AR and did some service with the Winegars and then President Hallman cleaning up tree limbs. We were exhausted by the end of the day. Then we had a great lesson with the McClungs (A less-active family we are working with). We talked to Sister McClung about being burned out. She told us that she was giving all of her time to the church and that she ran out of things to give to it. I have noticed out here that a lot of people are that way. A lot of these less actives used to be really active in the church until they felt "burned out" We are working with her and she is praying for the desire to come back to church.

We found an old area book of Pocahontas that missionaries in Paragould, Arkansas had. So we are following up with those people and just going tracting.

On Saturday, we went to a live stock show of farm animals. I thought that was pretty fun! I took a bunch of pictures for y'all to enjoy. Things and people here are progressing slowly. I hope all is well with the family! I love you.

Love,

Elder Parker

The pictures include: Greenie dinner for Elder Hansen, Goats, Me at Pocahontas

March 16, 2009 (New companion, same city, Senior Companion!)

Dear Family,

Well, this week has gone by pretty fast. It's weird because when I was with Elder Gift, time just slowed really down. He was counting down the days....then again, I couldn't really blame him because everyone would ask him when he was going home. He called me on Saturday and he told me how weird it was to be home. He is doing good. Still trying to find a job though.

So, a little story on Elder Hansen. I went to transfer meeting on Wednesday. When President Drewes announced who my companion was, he wasn't there. He never got the call that he was getting transferred. So, he had to pack up everything and say goodbye to all of the converts he had the opportunity to baptize and the members there. I felt really bad for him because he was supposed to know he was leaving on Sunday night but President forgot to call him! Poor kid! He was a good sport about it though. We got in at like 9 pm Wednesday night.

This week, the Winegars (the senior couple next door) had their boy, his wife and grandkids come and visit because he was going to do a fireside for the youth on Sunday. Their bishop and his wife also came and visited. They left this morning. They were fun to get to know. The fireside was great. They shared a bunch of personal stories and the spirit was really strong, it was a neat experience.

We are teaching a Part-member family, the rings. Christie is the non-member. She is very close to being baptized. The husband is less-active and I feel like he is just burned out of church. He is just tired of it but I think that he will come around. She came to church on Sunday which was good. Then we had a potluck after church. It was all Italian food. It was good and boy was I full!

Other than that, we have a good week ahead of us. We are struggling with finding new investigators but we found out that other missionaries have old teaching records of people that were once taught here so I think that that might help us. I am excited to get a hold of them!

I love all of you, Thank you for your prayers, thoughts and support. May the lord bless you all! You are in my prayers as well!

Love,

Elder Parker

March 9, 2009 (Sent another one home!!)

Dear Family,

Hello, Hello from Memphis, Tennessee! I am currently with Elder Demayo (My Zone Leader) and Elder Alston (a missionary). I sent Elder Gift to the temple a few moments ago and now we are here in Memphis. It was funny, when we got in last night, we were in a part a Memphis that is really ghetto. It’s called Raleigh. But as we were walking into our house, we heard some gun shots off in the distance. It was kind of scary but apparently it is a common occurrence in Memphis. Don’t worry, it sounded like it was really far away. Another funny thing is they live on “Lehi” street. What are the odds of that!?!?

So I don’t get my new companion until Wednesday so I will e-mail you again when I find out what is going on. But for now, I am staying in Pocahontas. Now an update on the investigators.

Terrell and Rita unfortunately moved to Mississippi. He called us an told us if he could get baptized that same day he called us which was last Wednesday. We had to say no because they were struggling with smoking but we gave the missionaries in his area his info so he will still be investigating the church in Mississippi.

Overall, this week has been kind of slow because Elder Gift was going home so we didn’t work as hard as I wanted to. Now, don’t get me wrong, we worked hard, and Elder Gift is a hard worker, I just wanted to work harder. I am excited to get a new companion so we can hit it up! But overall in Pocahontas, things are really going well! I am super excited! I love it here!

So I am just waiting for my new companion so I can tell you who he is and stuff like that.

You are all in my prayers constantly and thank you for the many prayers in my behalf. May the Lord bless you! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Parker

March 2, 2009

Dear Family,

Wow, it's March already! It sure doesn't feel like March. It is still kind of chilly. I had an amazing week! Let me explain.

This week was Mission Tour and we got to meet Elder Hinckley. He was really cool. He looks just like his Dad and sounds a little bit like him as well. He gave us some "B"'s like his Dad but just for missionaries. It was cool.

We finally had a meeting with a part-member family, the Manskers. Flora (the member) and her husband, Raymond (the non-member) finally meet with us. We gave him the first lesson and told him about it. He said that he would come to church and read from the Book of Mormon.

Well, we were expecting a lot of people to come to church but it snowed Saturday night, like 4 inches! That is a very rare occurrence in Arkansas! So, the Branch President moved church to 3 pm in the afternoon so the ice could melt on the roads. Raymond couldn't make it because he was stuck in Jonesboro. That's ok though.

We had a good lesson with Terrell (Black guy) and Rita (Mexican woman). We kind of just answered there questions and testified with the spirit and they really felt it! So that meeting was on Friday, we set a date with them to get baptized on March 29! They both smoke so we told them that they needed to pray about when they needed to quit. Terrell said, "Can we do it tomorrow?". We were both shocked. So we gave both of them the stop smoking program. They haven't smoked since Saturday so they are doing good. Then both of them show up for church and Terrell brings a friend with him. Now, that is a first time for me as a missionary where an investigator brought a friend with him to church. That was exciting. Then we had fast and testimony meeting and Terrell got up and bore his testimony! That is the second time that has happened. It is a very rare occurrence to have an investigator bare their testimony! That was exciting. Then his friend came up and told the congregation that he was thankful that everyone was saying that God was real. He was trying to find out for himself if he was really and he was thanking everyone for their testimonies. He was pretty cool.

Then we had a baptism after church. One of the members sons turned 8. So Terrell and Rita got to see a baptism so they know what to expect. That was a neat experience.

Tonight, we are having dinner with them at a members house. Things are really going well with them!

Overall, things are going really good here. I am happy and I am so grateful for the Gospel! I love it and know it to be true. Hope y'all had a good week. I love you!

Love,

Elder Parker