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