January 4, 2010

Dear Family,

Can you believe that it is 2010! That is so crazy! I am so used to putting 2009 but now I can put 2010. This week was a surprisingly good week. I thought it wasn’t going to be due with transfers and things of that nature, but it ended up being a pretty good week.

We visited with the Taylor family this week. They are doing ok. Their family has a lot of stress right now but we continued to visit with them. Their son has cancer and is going to St. Jude’s to get his treatment so that is a bummer for their family. We have set a date for the Dad (Steve) and the son (Zach). It is for the 23rd. So it should be ok. I think that they will make it because the meeting we had with them was really spiritual. It included giving Steve a blessing so he can have strength to get through it and make his goal. They also had a friend that loves to listen to us and wants to get back into church so we also set a date with him. His name is Arthur. So hopefully for the 23rd, we will have 3 baptisms! That would be great.

So the new baptism goal for this year is 712. That is a big goal but I know that this mission is capable of it. We did awesome with almost 500 baptisms this last year, a record for the Arkansas Little Rock Mission. It was pretty cool to be a part of that.

So, out of nowhere, we have been teaching this kid named Taylor Key, that got baptized in September but never got confirmed due to his mom freaking out that he got baptized. I guess she didn’t quite understand what was going on when she signed the baptismal paper so he didn’t get confirmed until his mom cooled down. Well, he got confirmed yesterday out of nowhere! I guess he talked to the branch president without my knowledge and they approved it and so everything is great! It was a great Sunday as you can tell and then to end the day, we had a break-the-fast potluck at the end of church.

A lot of work is being done and I know that this gospel is true. I am seeing it change people’s lives right in front me, so I know for a fact that it is true. I love y’all and hope that you had a great New Years as I did! What a year 2009 has been! 2010 will also be a good year! I love y’all again and be safe this week!

Love,

Elder Parker