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.