August 20, 2012

Dear Family,

  This week went SO WELL. Pablo, the little boy that got hit leg banged up, came to church yesterday and was finally confirmed! Also, we had a baptism earlier this week for a little boy named Fabian. It was a short little service because he wanted it on his birthday. So he was baptized and got confirmed yesterday so we had two confirmations yesterday!  What also made this week good was that my companion and I have been getting along great. He's getting accustomed to missionary life and we're both learning to have fun and laugh during the work. We also found a few families that want us to come back! We'll be meeting with all 3 families within the next 2 days. The ward and the ward mission leader are starting to be more supportive. It's nice to have some support from them.
  So on P-Days, we can go anywhere in the mission (except Park City because we need special permission for that). During the week though, we're confined to our assigned area which for me is about 2 miles wide and 3-4 miles deep. Usually on P-Days, with the time we have left after laundry, shopping and emailing, we either play some board/card games and on rare occasions we have zone activities like going to Airborn (a trampoline arena), or go hiking. Our district is always together for P-Days and usually we all just play games at someone's house or hang out at a church building.
  In our mission, we are allowed to take investigators to Temple Square on special tours. There are some requirements that need to be met first, but that option is available to us. I've tried before with some investigators but haven't been able to do it yet. We're going to try it though in a few weeks with these new families we have started teaching.
  One thing that I did to help me reduce my stress, I added notes to a little card that Taylor gave me shortly before leaving for the MTC. I have written on it some inspiring lines from Apostles and scriptures and it also has everyone's name written on it(Paul,Beth,Matt,Taylor,Hilary,Hannah). It's nice to carry around in my shirt pocket during the day. Gives me reasons to keep going.
  The picture, it looks like we're both mad, but I promise we aren't! Oh and it is me and my district leader in the picture. My greenie wasn't able to attend the baptism, nor did he want to come either because he only taught the kid once. My greenie still has a lot to learn.
  Something funny that happened yesterday, was that a kid asked me if I liked girls. I told him yes, then he proceeded to call me a girl because I liked girls. I thought it was odd, but funny.
  Also, I'm starting to wear out my socks. If I could receive some new black socks it would be nice.

Thanks for everything and for all the support!
Love y'all

Elder Parks

August 13, 2012

Dear Family,

  So yes I am training. I received a new missionary fresh from the MTC, and his name is Elder Allen! He lived in my hall during summer semester at BYU. He is a good missionary. He has a strong desire to serve and to learn as well. I was very happy to have been assigned to him. I saw Elder Toborg and saw that he was assigned to my last companion Elder Gomez. It was funny because all the trainers and new missionaries are in the chapel together and President assigns each companionship from the podium. Elder Toborg and Elder Allen were the last two missionaries to be assigned so I was really nervous about which one I was going to get. So I'm training a brand new missionary in the same area in West Valley. I'm starting to get a little tired of this area. 19 weeks of the same place has been kind of tiring. However, I'll do whatever I'm asked.
  So now the situation is crazy in the mission. We have around 180 missionaries, and of those missionaries, some 90 missionaries have only been out in the field for 3 transfers or less. President told us that we can't afford to mess up, at all.
  The boy that we baptized last week got hit by a car and couldn't come to church yesterday! He only has a bad bruise on his leg but he says it hurts a lot and he couldn't walk very far. He still needs to get confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost.
  Well I didn't know y'all would be that close to me. It kind of stinks that we can't see each other.
  I wish my emails could have more stuff in them! A lot of the things I want to share can only be explained in person, or just by experiencing it for one's self. For example, something I find hilarious here is that I always seem to see homeless people on what look like brand new bikes. When I think about it more, I realize that the bike actually belongs to a kid who I saw riding it the week before. Somehow though, the bike always gets back to the kid. There are many ice cream trucks here that look really shady. The people here are interesting too. I was talking to one guy at a street corner and he asked if I wanted to talk to his friend. When he asked that he put his arm around his 'friend' who was actually an imaginary friend. Then the guy proceeded to ask me if I found a credit car, then he asked me if he could have my personal credit card. The people here are interesting. We also have many Tongan families who never stop giving us food. Another guy goes around selling ice cream in a shopping cart, and I pretty sure people need licenses to do that (right?), meth labs exploding, dogs chasing us only to receive a swift foot to the face, tricked out cars with blaring basses that make it sound like the car is going to fall apart at any moment...it's a fun place!
  We got another baptism scheduled this week! Another person entering into a covenant with God.
  I guess that's all I have for now. I'm starting to write down more moments in the little book Matt and Taylor gave me for Christmas, so next week should be interesting. Oh yeah, we have a car now and we're sharing it every other week with another companionship in the zone. I actually like riding bikes more I think.
  Oh yeah one more question, Matt, how did you have fun on the mission while still being obedient? I'm kind of having a problem right now where I'm not having fun. My Mission President says that I need to loosen up but I don't really know how to do that.

Thanks for the emails! Mom and Hannah, hope you have fun in Utah. Dad tell Bishop Sagers and Brother Aldridge congratulations on their callings. Write y'all next week!

Elder Parks

August 6th, 2012

Dear Family,

  We've been out for just over 6 months! Crazy.
  I'm getting farther ahead in my Spanish reading of the Book of Mormon! Isaiah is sooooo confusing! However it's cool though to continue learning more in another language! It's neat to see just how powerful of a person Jacob was! Some of his teachings are phenomenal.
  We had a baptism yesterday! the english missionaries found him by tracting and handed him over to us. At first we were teaching his uncle, who just complained the entire time that God has never helped him in his life. When we were about to stop teaching that house completely, Pablo told us that he has always wanted to be baptized! So from there on, we taught, he listened, he learned, and yesterday he entered into a covenant with God and was baptized! It was so amazing to finally get a baptism after 5 weeks of working really hard.
  So transfers are this week. Still have no clue as to what is going to happen. I could move, I could train, I could train and move, I could be the new District Leader (hopefully not). I'll write you next week about what happens.
  I'm sad that I missed softball at Mo Ranch! We don't play that many sports here. It's kind of lame at times. Mostly it's just basketball day after day and with my lacking skills in that, there isn't much desire to do that. There is a school nearby though which has monkey bars, so maybe we'll start going there for workouts.
  I should be receiving you packages today, we always get mail after we do our emailing.
  There is some talk that the new President in the Central mission will send Spanish missionaries to cover the other half of our ward. It just really sounds like a bad idea, nor would it make sense because they still have to come to our area each Sunday to come to Church.
  When does school start up for Hannah? Has she been thinking about any colleges yet (I'm sure she gets that a lot)? Do Taylor and Matt know about what school he will be attending to finish up med school?
  I'm a little behind in my letter writing to everyone, so I'll try to send some responses to people this week (the Andersons, President Hollingsworth, Bishop Sagers)
Thanks for all the support! Looking forward to the packages today. Love y'all

Elder Parks


Trenton then sent us another email later in the day and he wrote,

Oh yeah, I just got called and I'm training... :)

July 30th, 2012

Dear Family,

  So this week I made a new friend with a little dog named Oreo! He's an awesome dog.
  Anyway. Dad, honestly the advice we give people about getting divorce is we just ask them about their current relationships with the people, and we just encourage them to action. If they truly want to follow Jesus Christ, then they'll either move out, or get married by a Bishop who does the marriage for free!
  We do work with people who don't have papers, but we don't really worry about that. If the problem gets really bad, then there are some senior couples that we refer to that can help out more than we can.
  The 12 year old we are teaching is going alright. He is hard to meet with but has come to church 3 times now which makes him eligible for baptism. We now just need to teach him!
  We started teaching a lady this week who is going through some rough times. She has very little money and is actually living with a guy that is helping her out right now. They don't have enough money to pay rent and are facing a court date because they haven't been able to pay it yet. Her child was born with brain disabilities her medical bills are rising. Her sister is a member and likes her example. So as a result, she has no more options and is turning to us for help, and she's coming to the right source too!
  With people that aren't progressing, we mark it down that they aren't moving along on the teaching records. It's there on record for future missionaries to read, and they can choose when to go visit them again. There is no set time limit as to when you go visit them again.
 In our zone, numbers are apparently 'everything' but my trainer (who was a zone leader for 16 straight months) taught me differently. Even when Elder Ballard came, he told us that if we can pray to God and honestly say we gave it our all, then we are successful. I follow the advice of Elder Ballard and my trainer in regards to numbers.
  Taylor, I haven't seen sunsets! Usually in the evenings we're in lessons and aren't out much. However, even in this area the trees are huge! I'm racing to the top of a hill to get a good picture only to arrive like 5 minutes late...triste :(  I did see the red sun a few days ago, it was neat.
  Hope y'all are doing alright! Thanks for all the advice y'all sent and wish I could respond to it all but I'm out of time now so I'll write more next week!

Love, Elder Parks