February 22, 2010

Dear Family,

Hey hey hey! I hope that all y’all had a good week like I did. We had a pretty good week, let me tell you about it.

Well, we had a baptism this weekend. Her name is Sherry Kasitis. Really nice lady. The baptism was great. Her son, Conner did the ordinance. He was a little nervous and had to do it right because he said “holy spirit” instead of “holy ghost”. But he played it cool! It was just really cool to be a part of that even though I have only known them for a couple of weeks now.

We have Zone Conference this week and it is at our building so that means that we are what they call the “host Zone Leaders”. Either me or Elder Murdock will conduct and then we have to do like a 15 minute presentation to the Zones about effective commitments and how to ask good questions. I hope that I do well, and I will definitely ask the Lord for help on this one.

Kyle is doing good. He wants to get baptized sooner but he has only been to church once. He has to go to his Dad’s every other weekend. He couldn’t come to Sherry’s baptism because he had to go to his dads. Oh well, he will get baptized close to the beginning of March.

We are working on finding people. It is really hard in a rich area because tracting really gets you nowhere. The missionary squad is doing good. Still working with there people that they want to convert. We should have another ‘squad’ meeting soon!

Other than that, things are going good. I am happy and I hope y’all are too! Stay safe and thanks for the Love, support and Prayers in my behalf!

Love,

Kyle (Elder Parker)

February 16, 2010

Dear Family,

Well, the reason I am writing today is because it was Presidents day yesterday so all the Libraries were closed so yeah. Things are going good. I have made a couple of observations.

So, first of all, I heard that Arthur Wing and Zach Taylor went to the temple on last Wednesday to do baptisms for the dead. What a great experience for them. I am so excited for them.

Bartlett, Tennessee is a very rich suburb of Memphis. The city is mostly white people. It kind of reminds me of my first area. I hope that I will do well here.

We cover two wards here. Our church building that we attend is in the same parking lot as the temple so I get to see the temple very frequently. We attend the Bartlett 2^nd ward. We have in the ward, what we call the missionary squad. They are a group of kids in High school who are working on some of there friends to come to church, give them a Book of Mormon or have them be taught by the missionaries. We had a meeting with them on Saturday and they gave us 16 names for us to start to work with. It is great! Solid group of kids. Never seen anything like it in any of my areas.

We are working with a couple of people. One is by the name of Sherry. She is getting baptized on Saturday, which is awesome! She is a really nice, older lady who had a son (Conner) who was baptized in December. Apparently she was impressed with her sons change that the church had made on him, that she started to come every Sunday so she has finally decided to be baptized!

Another investigator that we are working with has the name of Kyle. Kyle is also another son to Sherry and brother of Connor (The Member). He has a date for the 6^th of March. He used to be an atheist but has felt the spirit to the point that he knows that God exsists and that he wants to be baptized. He is so dedicated that he bought an app on the iPod of LDS scriptures, which is great news. He is a good kid and even has my name so that makes him twice as cool!

I am enjoying my time here thus far. This will be an interesting transfer and hopefully we will find a little bit more people to teach. But we are having success which is always a good thing and I am so grateful that the Lord is able to help us with them. I love you and hope that all y’all are doing good.

Love,

Kyle (Elder Parker)

February 11, 2010 (Transfer/Zone Leader!!)

Well, I am here to shot off a quick e-mail. I have been called to labor as a Zone Leader in Bartlett, Tennessee. A lot of responsibility but I think with the Lord's help, I can do it.

Thank you for your love and support. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I will do the same for y'all!

Love,

Kyle (Elder Parker)

February 11, 2010 (Transfer/Zone Leader!!)

Well, I am here to shot off a quick e-mail. I have been called to labor as a Zone Leader in Bartlett, Tennessee. A lot of responsibility but I think with the Lord's help, I can do it.

Thank you for your love and support. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I will do the same for y'all!

Love,

Kyle (Elder Parker)

February 8, 2010

Dear Family,

Wow, what an amazing week. So much has happened and I have so much to tell you! So lets get started!

The baptisms of Zach Taylor and Arthur Wing both went through. They both asked me to baptize them so I did. It was such a humbling experience to do that. The baptisms went well and I didn’t have to dunk either of them twice. Phew. I would hate to do that. So I decided with the Lord’s help, that I would do it the first time. :) I thank Him very much for that. The Confirmations were done on Sunday as well. Arthur asked me to give it to him and Zach asked the Branch President, President Soto to do it. Later in the day and don’t ask me how, but both of them got the Aaronic Priesthood and they are going to the Temple this Wednesday to do Baptisms for the dead! How awesome is that! They are so solid, especially Arthur. I gave him an extra Bible that I had and he really likes it because of the footnotes to the Book of Mormon and the other books of scripture! On fire, baby!

Well, this morning, I got a call from my Mission President about 6:50 in the morning to inform me that I am getting transferred. So I am leaving West Memphis. I will miss that area, because of the members, the work and the recent converts. Later around 7:40, President Drewes called again and said that he forgot to inform me that I was going Zone Leader. So, that was a very big shock to me. I never thought I would ever be good enough to be a Zone Leader, I still don’t think that. But I trust the Lord and know that he can get me and help me through anything. I know and it already is starting to become a very humbling experience.

I am really happy right now. I am so grateful to be apart of the Lord’s soldiers. This is a tough spiritual war we are fighting, but with the Lord on our side, we already know who is going to win the battle. I love and miss y’all. I will e-mail again on Wednesday to let you know where I am and who I am serving with. Hope y’all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Parker

Pictures include: (Elder Fjerstad, Zach Taylor, Me) , (Elder Fjerstad, Arthur Wing, Me) , (Zach Taylor, Steve Taylor, Arthur Wing)

February 1, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, can you already believe it is February! This month will go by fast too because there is only 28 days. Well, this week is the last week of the transfer. We have 2 scheduled baptismal dates for this weekend on the 6^th! I am so excited and it should turn out great. Let me tell you about them.

Zach is doing good. He is excited to get baptized on the 6^th. We are hoping that the mom, Sister Taylor will be able to make it. If she doesn’t, then we will have to move the date back because Zach and Arthur want her to be able to attend which is totally understandable. I just hope that I am here when Zach and Arthur get baptized. I think I am getting transferred next week. I guess we will find out next week!

Arthur is doing good. He is quitting smoking and doing really good. He is excited to be baptized.

So, there was a bad ice storm on Friday, the day of our mission tour. Elder Packer, a member of the seventy and President Packer’s son, was our general authority. He really isn’t like his dad. Very calm and very soft and nice. Not saying that President Packer isn’t like that but you know what I mean. But the storm was pretty bad, we were going to get stuck if they hadn’t of ended the meeting early. We went over the Mississippi bridge on Thursday before the storm hit, because otherwise, the bridge would have froze over in the morning, which it did, so if we would have left in the morning, we wouldn’t have been able to go to mission tour, which would have been a bummer. But, it was good nonetheless. The Blytheville Elders area got iced out so they didn’t go back to their area until Sunday afternoon. They stayed with us in the meantime. It was fun to have them around for a couple of days. They cancelled church, which hasn't happened on my mission before, it might of happened once when I was in Pocahontas but yeah. I really don't think they should have cancelled church because by sunday morning, the roads were clear of ice. Oh well, they all need to live in Utah and experience the weather there. Ha ha :)

Other interesting stories and experiences happened this week, but I will tell you them when I get home! :) I love y’all and hope that you have a good week. Pray for me and I will also do the same for you! Thanks!

Love,

Elder Kyle Parker

January 26, 2010 (18-Month Anniversary!)

Dear Family,

Sorry my e-mail is a day late, we had a good visit with someone on yesterday. Let me explain.

So, I got a call from Sister Yarbrough from Jackson, TN. They were coming in town and they took me and two other elders that they knew out to Lunch. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse. It was good and it was really good to be in their company again. I really did miss them and it was a lot of fun to catch up!

Saturday was my 18 month mark so I had the opportunity to burn some pants. No, mom, I didn’t burn pants I wear. I went to a flea market and bought some 5 dollar used pants. They asked me what size and I told them it didn’t matter. They told me that I needed a size because they thought I was going to wear them. I just chose a random pair and bought it. There is so way, the ones I bought would have fit me. The person I bought the pants from thought I was weird but oh well, I didn’t want to tell them I was going to burn the pants that I was buying from them. Hehe.

We also had interviews with President Drewes. It was a good interview. He answered my questions I had and then, he had bought pizza for everyone that was there. It was great!

The Taylors are doing well. Zach and Arthur still have a baptismal date for the 6th of February. I hope that they will make it because that is the last Saturday of the transfer and I don’t want to get transferred until they are baptized. Arthur is working on stopping smoking and he is doing well. He has to officially stop on Saturday if he is going to be baptized on the 6th. I will continue to pray and fast for them as I love them and want them to succeed. I know with the Lord’s help, anything is possible.

We are also trying to get things going here in West Memphis because after the Taylors are baptized, we really don’t have a whole lot going on. Hopefully we can get stuff rolling before they get baptized so we can keep working when they are baptized.

I love y’all and thank you for your love, support and prayers. I know I say this quite often but I mean it. Thank you again and may the Lord be with you this week!

Love,

Elder Kyle Parker

January 18, 2010

Dear Family,

Things in West Memphis are going slow but very well! We have a couple of things going on so let me update you!

We are still working with Steve and Zach Taylor. They are doing ok. Paula Taylor (the member) however is not doing too well. She is going through a lot right now health wise and the doctors have basically given her 3 months to live. So their lives are really stressed out right now. Steve and Zach we planning on getting baptized this weekend but we decided that it would be better to move it to the 6th of February because that way Paula can attend the baptisms. Steve however wants to wait until March because she wants Paula’s dad to baptize him and I don’t think his dad would be available until then.

I don’t know if I told you about Arthur Wing but he is a friend of the Taylors. He also has a baptismal date for the 6th of February. We are excited for him because he is excited. He asked if he could come teaching with us and we told him yes, when he is a member. He is such a good guy. Wants to do what is right and wants to change his life.

Other than that, there isn’t much else. I do have a funny/embarrassing story though. So on Saturday, we were going to help a member move. So, we went with this guy named Bro. Thomas to help him move. Well, he needed to borrow a truck from another member so they can move the other member. So we go get this members truck and then proceed to pick up someone else to get help with the moving. Well, attached to the truck was a empty trailer so we could put more stuff to carry. Well, when we were leaving the house that we went to, to pick someone up from, Bro. Thomas couldn’t get the trailer backed up so he asked if he could drive on their lawn to turn around. He said yes. So he proceeds to go across the lawn and then proceeds to get stuck. He then tries for the next 15 minutes to get out but is just getting deeper and deeper into their lawn. So, the members inside the house were asleep until they heard us. They weren’t too happy. Anyway, some people in a truck saw us pass by and saw that we were stuck so they offered help. We accepted the help and we finally got out. The damages to the lawn were pretty bad. On top of that, the lawn that Bro Thomas drove over was where the septic tank was. It started to stink after a while. I just hope Bro Thomas doesn’t have to pay a whole lot to get everything fixed. But I guess we learn from our mistakes.

Crazy story though, Man, I am just so grateful it wasn’t me. :) Thank you for your love and support and prayers. I sure do love and miss y’all. Thanks again for all that you do!

Love,

Elder Kyle Parker