DECEMBER 29, 2014

Dear Family and friends,

Well, not too much to report on. It was great to be able to Skype on Thursday.

Not much happened this last week besides Christmas. Haven't been able
to be in contact with Carmen and Iran... Little worried about them,
but the bishops neighbor came to church for the 2nd week in a row,
hopefully we can teach her soon. Markers are doing well, Cherneskys
are doing good.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and a great new year! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Parker

DECEMBER 22, 2014

Dear Family,

Merry Christmas!

This week was really good here in Exeter. We were able to work with the Markers a lot. They are doing awesome! We were able to attend their wedding on Saturday, tons of fun. Their 9 kids though… man, I do not know how they do it.

We also were able to see Carmen and Iran and their daughter Linda. We had a few really great lessons. Linda wants to be baptized on the same day as her parents and they all came to church this Sunday and really enjoyed it.

We were able to see the Cherneskys and celebrate 3 birthdays with them. That was fun.

Not much else has happened. We have our Christmas conference on Wednesday.

Hope you all have a great Christmas! I love you all!


Love,
Elder Parker

DECEMBER 15, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, we had a really good week. We were able to see Carmen and Iran a
lot, they are doing well. We had a really
good lesson with them and our Bishop. We were teaching about
keeping the sabbath day holy, and our bishop related the scripture
from when Christ was performing the atonement and his apostles fell
asleep and he asks "can ye not watch with me one hour." That scripture
really hit home with Iran.

We also have been seeing the Brady Bunch family a lot. Jon the dad,
Eddie who is 10, and Haley who is 11 all have baptismal dates for
January, and they are progressing so fast! It's so great! They
couldn't come to church this week because of his work schedule but he
wanted us to come by so he could hear about it and what the lessons
were on so he wouldn't get behind. They have been reading the Book of
Mormon together and love it. Also, another great thing is that they
are getting married on Saturday by bishop! Woot! It's been pretty last
second, but they are going to surprise all their family at a holiday
party, with the fact they are getting married right then and there, it
should be pretty awesome.

Also, all the missionaries in our Ward are staying for this next 7
week transfer, so excited! Which means Elder Peterson goes home from
this area in 7 weeks. Another strange side note, 3 of my companions
Elder Thomas, Elder Shaw and Elder Pintor all fly home tomorrow! Ah!
It's crazy.

Well, I think that is about all that happened this week. Hope you all
have a good week! Love you!


Love,
Elder Parker

DECEMBER 8, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, it was another good week here in Exeter. The beginning of the
week started off slow, but it picked up near the end. I think I told
you about Jon and Kimmie, a new family that moved into our
area? Kimmie is the only member and they have 9 kids, yes, 9.
Well Jon and the 3 kids who are 8 and up want to get baptized! Woot!
They are all super awesome. We spent a really big chunk of Tuesday
helping Jon move things from his old house. Then they all came to
church. They were all soo quiet, I was impressed.

So we were able to teach them this last week, we also were able to see
the Cherneskys and set their 9 year old with a baptismal date, which
was good. Then we were able to see Carmen and Iran. They are doing
well.They watched the Christmas devotional and enjoyed it and they are looking forward to
the ward Christmas party this week.

That really is about all that happened this week. We had exchanges
which were fun. We have a few meetings this week and we also get
transfer calls this week. Let's hope Elder Roberts and I both stay.

Thank you for all you do! I love you all!


Love,
Elder Parker

DECEMBER 1, 2014

Dear family,

Well, it was a pretty good week. For the most part we have been
working with Carmen, Iran and Linda this week. The holidays are great,
but it seems that some of the people we are working with get really
busy and are unable to meet, But that's alright. Carmen is doing
really well! She came to church again and understood more of it. After
church we had a lesson with her and Iran. We taught the Plan of
Salvation and when we got to the spirit world she went crazy! She had
seen a picture at the church that day where it has Christ in the
middle and two groups of people, one happy and the other sad. She made
the connection with the spirit world and said she would do anything to
be on the happy side. They both accepted baptismal dates for beginning
of January! It still blows their mind that they are learning about God
from two 18 & 19 year old boys. But they are progressing really well.

Also, the sisters in our district, had a part member family of 10 that
they are working with, who moved into our area. We haven't taught them
yet, but they sound really prepared and there are a few who need to be
baptized in the family.

Thanksgiving was great. We went to two members homes with the other
elders. First one was great, lots of people from their family and tons
of food. Then 2 hours later was our Ward mission leaders parent’s. It was
great! Loved it. By then I was pretty full. Then a few hours later we
went to Carmen's and Iran's and Linda's. It was really good, Hispanic
thanksgiving. But I was sooo full! I could barely move! Lol. We had a
good day.

That's about all that happened this week, it was good, don't think
there was anything else. Oh! There was snow! Wednesday we got snow.
Not that much... But they still grounded our cars for the whole day.
Exciting!

Thanks for all you guys do! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Love,
Elder Parker

NOVEMBER 24, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, another week down in Exeter with Elder Roberts. We had a really
good week, kinda got all the meeting tons of new people out of the way
last week, so we were able to teach a lot and help some people
progress. I feel like this week will be looked back on as a turning
point for this area in the long run, it’s struggled for a while.

We saw Linda and Carmen and Iran several times this week. Iran is
making tons of progress! He has opened up a lot. He didn't make it to
church, but Carmen did. She was kinda wanting to go home after
sacrament, lots of new things, but after all three hours she said she
is looking forward to next week! Yay! Also a man we are working with,
Brother Bruner, a former member, came to sacrament! And the Chernesky
family we are working with also came! Yay again! So for only being
here 2 weeks, we have several investigators come to church, good sign
of things to come.

This week should be another good one, hard to see people with
Thanksgiving. Everyone gets really busy and doesn't have time to meet,
but the plus side is that the week after will be great!

Not really too much to report on. The ward is great and they are
treating us really well. Very missionary minded and they have some
great goals for the future. The other Elders we split the ward with
are great, we get a long really well. Weather has been cold... until
yesterday and today, near 60! But it is supposed to snow on
Wednesday...

Oh! So the church is doing another holiday initiative like they did
for Easter and Mother’s day. It is called 'He is the Gift'. It’s great!
Check out christmas.mormon.org (Yes, I know, thanksgiving hasn't
happened yet, bear with it.) The video was supposed to launch the day
after thanksgiving with the website, but showed up on my gospel
library a few days ago... the website says tomorrow I think... Who
knows! But when you can watch it, share it. It’s gonna be good.

So that’s my early Christmas push... But looking forward to
Thanksgiving, raise your hand if you like 6 dinners in 4 hours! Haha!

Thanks for all you do! Love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Parker

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, it’s been a real crazy couple of days. Not even really sure where
to begin.... Tuesday we had transfers and I found out that I was going
to be doubling into Exeter East with a Golden. Then I went back in a
car with one of the other Elders who was also training to South Philly
and spent the night working in that area, so I got to see the Tomlin's
again and see a few other people and we stayed the night with Elder
Pead and the House. They ended up closing my last area because we just
don't have as many missionaries, we lost 5 total areas this time
around. So Elder Pead and Mackay now cover all of south Philly.

Wednesday we got our Goldens. My new companion is Elder Roberts. Right
out of high school from Paris, Idaho. Loves everything, sports, music,
all that jazz. We get along pretty well. He doesn't really know any
different ;) He is number 6 of 7. 4 older sisters and he is the middle
of the 3 boys. His older brother served a mission and all his sisters
husbands served as well. His younger brother is a junior. His school
was small so he played football and basketball and was in student
council and choir and all kinds of stuff. Lots of talents. He is also
VERY neat and clean! Thank GOODNESS! So nice!

Anyway, so we doubled in, replacing the sisters that were here, Sister
Casey and Sister Bailey. They did a lot of good here and we had a
really good week. It wasn't south Philly good... but I am just going
to have to get over that and put my Newark tracting shoes back on. We
met a ton of people this week though, lots of prepared people. We are
working with several part member and returning member families. It’s
really great to be able to work with them. Special things will happen
here in Exeter over the next 12 weeks!

The Exeter ward is actually really new. It was made when I was in
Milford (Same Stake, opposite sides). So because the ward is new
apparently it’s still trying to figure itself out. Should be fun.
Exeter is right around Reading, we cover a couple townships around
Reading and then a little slice of downtown Reading. We have a really
nice apartment, it’s pretty big, has a washer and dryer, a dishwasher and
some good furniture. We also have a car. Our apartment complex also
has a clubhouse with some computers and an outdoor tennis court and
basketball court and some car care places. It’s pretty stacked.

The work has been really good. We split the ward with Elder Peterson
and his 6 week old companion Elder Lee. They are awesome. I replaced
Elder Peterson when I went into Newark, so we have had some fun
stories to tell each other. We have a lot of single sisters we are
working with and I was afraid it would be hard to keep that up, but we have
been able to get some members out with us and haven't had to cancel
any appointments yet! Yay!

We had Stake conference Sunday, I actually went 6 months ago when I
was in Milford, so that was fun. Got to see the Houses from Milford
and both Brother Johnson's. It was great. Saw lots of familiar faces.
President Katcher from the seventy was there, it was a great meeting.
He was the one who spoke at conference this last time about being
swept out in the riptide on the beach. I heard that Brother Moll is
doing ok, he kinda shut down to the missionaries, but a few members
are still visiting regularly.

It has been one of the most difficult weeks of my mission, training is
hard. He is looking to me for answers and guidance and I have no idea
where I am! It’s nuts! Ah! I just have to take a few deep breaths every
once in a while and pray I don't lead this Elder astray. We have had
some good fun though, it still blows my mind to think I was there at
one point, feels like it wasn't too long ago... man.

Well, if it seems that I am scattered and lost, I pretty much am! Bear
with me! Thank you all for all you do and for your prayers! I have
felt them, especially this week! Keep it up!

Also, my new address is 230 Aldridge Ct, Reading Pennsylvania 19606.


Love,
Elder Parker

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, good news and bad news. Good news is I have a lot of pictures to
send. Bad news it’s because I am getting transferred, worse news, so is
Elder Pintor. It’s been really hard to say goodbye to the people in
this area. I feel that I still have so much left to do here, just
hoping and praying that our replacements care about the people here as
much as I do. It was hard to explain to the An's that we had to leave.
Mr. An in his broken english told me that he felt terrible inside,
that he didn't want me to leave because I was his friend. I now have 3
people to someday see in Beijing.

Other than transfer calls, it’s been a pretty uneventful week. We had a
record number of appointments fall through, but we enjoyed doing
service at Ronald McDonald House this week. We also participated in a
Heart Walk down by the stadiums with the two zones north of us. It was
fun, really really cold, but fun to see so many missionaries.

Oh almost forgot. The street in front of us exploded this last week!
The water main broke and there was water everywhere! They are still in
the process of repairing it. There is a ginormous hole, I will send
some pictures of it. It has been fun to see how these Philly Water
Department workers are, it’s entertaining during our lunch breaks.

Anyway, thank you for all you guys do! Hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Parker

The An's

The District:)

Mary, Anita and Arlene

Broken Water Line on Our Street

The An's and the Su's

Harrisons

Chan's

Tep Family

Tomlin's

Moe

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

Dear Family,

Had a great week here again. We had a lot of stuff fall through this
week but we had a lot of miracles with those we were able to see.

We were able to see the An's and taught them about baptism, they had
such a great understanding of it from reading 2 Nephi 31 before hand
and they had some great questions. We invited them to be baptized and
they didn't accept it, it wasn't really any concern. They feel that
it is so important and they want to make sure they can keep the
covenants they make for their entire life. It was great to see them
understand the significance of baptism.

Then another great thing this week was church. The An's both came and
loved it and Thianxu received a little more instruction for playing
the organ for sacrament next week. He is going to do great! We also
were able to get them gospel principles in simplified Chinese which
helped them understand a lot more of the lesson.

Moe also came to church! It was awesome, I was sitting with the An's
near the front of the chapel and I saw Moe go up to bear his
testimony. I was so nervous he was going to say something crazy! But
he got up and bore simple testimony of how the blue book (Book of
Mormon) has changed his life and how much he loves the missionaries.
It was awesome! He got to meet a ton of members and just kept telling
us he couldn't stop smiling. It's great to see him make some bigger
strides towards baptism.

Another awesome but unrelated day was Thursday. After district meeting
we celebrated Elder Beatty's birthday. With a piñata! Lol.

Also, Thursday night, we had a branch Halloween party, it was unlike
anything I have ever been to. They did a dance and we couldn't really
participate so we wheeled the ping pong table into the other room and
played a bunch of members. Elder Pead beat about every member there
that wanted to play, and I waited till his ego was over inflated and
dethroned him. It was a bunch of fun though.

That's about all the news for this week. Thank you all for everything
you do! Love you!

Elder Parker

OCTOBER 27, 2014

Dear Family,

Another great week here in South Philly, we were able to stay really
busy and help a lot of the people we are working with start to
progress. I’ll just give a run down on how the people we are working
with are doing.

Mary, Anita, and Arlene are doing well. We amped up our
visits this week trying to help Arlene overcome her concerns with
baptism. She is progressing now and has been reading and praying and
we seem to have gotten to the root of her concern. She also came to
church this week for the first time in a long time!

An Hua and Thianxu - Both of them are doing so well! We saw them this
week on Thursday with Sister Su and the Clarks. We taught about faith and
repentance. They had read 2 Nephi 31 beforehand and understood it
perfectly. The Su's also had us and the An's over for dinner on Sunday.
It was so much fun! The An's had spaghetti for the first time, and we had
Red Hair Balls for the first time. Such a weird fruit... I will send pictures that
Elder Pintor took.  Mr. An told a story about the weirdest food he has heard of.
So we are just sitting there listening, it’s in Chinese, and then he squealed!
Everyone laughed and he kept going and did it again! Then a third time.
So sister Su translated and it was about how people would eat newborn mice.
It’s called the 3 scream. They scream once when you put it in the bowl, twice

when you pinch it with chop sticks, and a third time when you chew it! Lol, so funny!

That’s about it for people we are really working with. Small progress
with people like Fortune, Moe, Kimmy, Chris, the Tomlins, Caramandi's,
Xuan, Froggy, and the VanHorns.

Thanks for all you do! Hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Parker

South Philly Elders at the Ronald McDonald House:)

OCTOBER 20, 2014

Dear Family,

It was a pretty great week here. We were able to see a lot of our
investigators with members and more of them are progressing now. We
are now teaching the Tomlins cousin, Kesha, who has a baptism date as
well. We also had dinner with a part member family. Lilly is a member
but her husband John isn't. He is an awesome guy! Even though he isn't
super interested in the gospel, it’s great to be around him. We both
have similar interests. :)

So we helped (tried) An Hua to find internet for his apartment. We
ended up standing in the AT&T store for about 45 mins and then the
Verizon store for about an hour. So crazy to try to translate
haha..... it was comical. Might be more of that this week. It’s fun to
be with Mr. An. Speaking of which, the lesson this week was great, Mr.
An said the closing prayer, so awesome. Mr. An also came to church!
And he presented a great way to do 2 good things. Thianxu has to do 25
hours of service every year and they don't know of anywhere else
except the church that he could do it. So we are going to have him
help with a food drive, help clean the church, and play the piano for
various things during the 3 hour block, Which means.... he has to come
to church! It’s a round about way of getting him there, but it will
work.

Wayne Tomlin came with us to see Mary, Anita and Arlene. It was great,
he is an awesome member with a strong testimony.

I had exchanges this week with our Zone Leaders. I went to their area
which is in south west Philly. Man, is it a different world! First, we
took the wrong bus to get there... and ended up spending around an
hour at the airport..... ya. Then we finally got back and took a
trolly to our first appointment. Everyone they teach is an African,
not African American, but African immigrant. Its sooo hard to
understand what they are saying, but they are pretty solid
investigators. It’s just crazy to me how different it can be less than
10 miles away.

I think that is about all that happened this week. It was a great
week, lots of little miracles and tender mercies.

Thank you for all you do! Love you!

Love,
Elder Parker

OCTOBER 13, 2014

Dear Family,
Man, what a crazy awesome week! South Philly is great right now, so
much going on and so many miracles. We saw some really awesome people
this week and we were able to get a lot of members out teaching with
us, which helps a ton. We even added another super solid Chinese
investigator to our teaching pool!

First, we saw Pricilla this week, she is doing well, seems sincere, and has a baptism date for in December, but wasn't able to make it to church and hasn't answered our calls.
Hopefully everything is all right.

We saw Carmen this week and set him with a new baptismal date, for in
December. Lots of struggles but really does want to be baptized, just
need to get him there. He is loving brother Harrison at the lessons,
so that should help a ton in the near future. He also has had some
really good spiritual experiences with a blessing we gave him.

We saw Moe! Finally we saw Moe. He is in the hospital now, which is a
good thing... Now that he is in the hospital for some crazy infection
in a wound in his ankle, (Pictures were narley!) he can't get away
from us! He is stuck in a bed, lol, so we saw him Saturday and had a
great talk about baptism and what he needs to do to get there, he was
pretty excited to get baptized and wants to do it ASAP, he just needs
to be more consistent in meeting with us and actually come to church!
Really cool experience though with him. Sometimes I think that some
people are invincible or have no feelings or things like that, but I
witnessed this really really big built black man break down in tears
because of guilt he feels in his heart. It was such a tender moment
and was great to testify of how baptism and repentance can erase that
guilt. Then next day, Sunday, we took the Harrisons to see him. He was
in really high spirits and we read the Book of Mormon together and
taught about the Plan of Salvation. Moe kept telling the Harrisons how
much we helped build up his spirit and it was great to see him doing so
much better. I have very high hopes for Moe in the near future and
hope to work with him a lot more.

We also saw Thianxu and An Hua! Super awesome lesson. We had sister Su
there translating and then the Clarks. Sister Clark went to Curtis,
the school Thianxu is trying to get into, for the harp. It was such an
awesome lesson about the Plan of Salvation. So good! We were able to
answer a lot of their questions and they loved the Clarks. The best
part though was how we could feel what they were talking about in
Chinese even though we didn't understand, I felt that I could follow
the conversation pretty well, which is awesome! The spirit is amazing!
Then at the end we had Thianxu say the prayer, it’s the first prayer he
has ever said! He said it in Chinese but the sprit was so strong!! It
was awesome! Sister Su later told us he was very straight forward and
asked God to tell him if what we have taught him is true. So great for
a first time! Then An Hua came to church and really loved it. They are
both so awesome and are meeting a ton of members. So good!

We are also teaching a new Chinese woman who is a referral from Temple
Square. So I might be too emotionally attached already, because It’s
reminding me a TON of Susan. We meet with her at a park in center city
and she just asks golden questions and is so open to learning. She
wants to know how to deal with sorrow and stress and grief and wants
to know who God is. So great! And she isn't moving back to China soon!
YES!!

Also, we were able to see Meet the Mormons at a Zone Conference this
week, it you have not seen it, go, like right now. It is super
awesome! I was laughing in the first 5 minutes and was inspired by the
end!

God loves you! I love you! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Parker

OCTOBER 6, 2014

Dear Family,

Crazy week here in South Philly, with General Conference we thought it
might be a slower week because of how much time conference takes.
Could we be any more wrong?.... Which is a great thing!

I will try to give a little update on those we have been working with the most.

We were able to see Hua An and Thianxu this week, it was really great!
We taught the great apostasy and the first vision and the Book of
Mormon. They seemed to really understand it and said they would read
the Book of Mormon, they also then attended General Conference for the
Saturday Morning session. Now, we all know that God's hands are in
this work, but it was especially evident this week. The session they
attended happened to be one where for the first time ever a member of
the seventy spoke in his native tongue, cantonese! Even though they
were watching in Mandarin, it was a testimony builder for me! They
loved President Uchtdorfs talk by the way. After the session Thianxu
played the piano with a member of the branch for about 30 mins, I
might send some video of it. So awesome! So Thianxu played a movement
of a song on the spot from memory for about 15 mins! Then the member
played something for about 3 mins, Thianxu asked how he had such great
memory! lol, so funny.


We were able to see Pricilla a few times this week, she has been
reading and is progressing well, she didn’t make it to conference
because she was ill, but it seems that she has great desire to do what
is right, which goes a long way.

We saw a less active this week with her none member husband. Her name
is Yen and his name is Froggy, ( not really, it’s a nickname). We had a
great lesson, he is still trying to find if there is a God, but when
we taught simply and related to things he understood he made
meaningful progress. Hopefully we can help her come back and be an
example for her family.

We saw a less active family who we have been working with, they are
super close to coming back to church, they both have health concerns
but we found out they will be moving soon. Which is good, it will be
much better living conditions.

We saw a less active named Sister Dickerson this week, super solid
christan who has had some hard times in her life and is recovering
from cancer. Still not sure what her concern with church is as she
still reads the Book of Mormon and bible frequently. She enjoys deep
doctrine lessons... sigh, this week it was the three kingdoms of glory
and why the bottom two exist. It was fun.

We have started meeting with a less active named Cham, it is actually
Yen's (above) brother. He is super awesome and is making tons of
progress. He brought his girlfriend to our most recent lesson.

We saw a less active named Fortune, he also has had some health
problems recently and really wants to come back to church, hopefully
he can make it out before the weather gets really bad and keeps him
inside all the time. Great man.

We saw Carmen this week, it was about the same as always but this time
we brought Brother Harrison with us. They made a really good
connection and Carmen really liked him. It might be the type of thing
that will eventually help Carmen make the right steps towards
preparing for baptism

We saw Anita, Mary and Arlene this week and taught them about
Conference. It was great. I mean none of them came, but it was still a
good visit. Mary just got out of the hospital and we were able to
check in on her.

So we have been working a ton to try and meet with this woman named
Kimmy. Ever since I have gotten her we have been trying to teach her,
she lives pretty close to us and we have had 1 kinda lesson with her.
Super nice and prepared. Well she came to the church with her fiancé
after the 2nd session on Saturday and we were able to have a lesson.
So get this, we told her to read Helaman chapter 5, specifically verse
12. She lost her Book of Mormon, but sought out lds.org and got to the
scriptures on her phone, then read it to her fiancé who we hadn't ever
taught. They both cried as they read it and felt like they were going
to need to be witness of something. When they told us this, we taught
baptism using Mosiah 18 and D&C 20:37 and taught of being a witness
for God, they both cried as we extended baptismal invitations and they
will be getting baptized on December 14th! They also came to
conference Sunday morning and felt that the apostles were speaking
right to them! They loved it so much and loved all the members of the
branch that they met.

It was such an amazing week here, the last three weeks have been so
awesome! I am looking forward to this week where we will have a zone
conference and we have a bunch of appointments set up.

Thanks for everything you all do! Have a great week! Love you!

Love,
Elder Parker

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

Dear Family,

It was a great week here in South Philly, we saw Thianxu and An Hua a few times. Taught about the life of Jesus Christ the first time, then we waited around for a Comcast guy the second time (to translate) then the third time is when the Su family had them over for dinner and invited us. It was awesome! Good Chinese food and listening to everyone around us speak mandarin is fun. Then Thianxu played songs out of the children's song book, the spirit was really strong the whole time, they should be at general conference this week.

We started teaching a woman named Pricilla this week, she has a baptismal date for in November and she came to church this week. We still have a long ways to go with her, but it looks promising.

Seems like everyone else is still at about the same place, we get to do service this week for a less active, we are washing their cat.... Yay.

Should be a great week with General Conference and all, always a good time of the year.

Forgot to frankly state that both Elder Pintor and I are staying for 6 more weeks. So there it is.

I will now try to put some thoughts I have had recently into text...

I have had some pretty good studies recently, I hope it all makes sense.

12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.
-1 Nephi 8:12

5 The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.

6 And so it is on the other hand. If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness.
-Alma 41:5-6


4 I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.
-Alma 29:4


9 For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.
-D&C 137:9


By now you have probably put the pieces together, DESIRE. It’s so important that we have righteous desires. I find it interesting though that Lehi says that the fruit was the most desirable, why then would we desire anything else?

Satan desires that we are miserable like he is. (2 Nephi 2:27)

This quote from a talk by Elder Maxwell, (Which I encourage everyone to read) talks about how we can slowly change our desires.


“Do you,” President Young asked, “think that people will obey the truth because it is true, unless they love it? No, they will not” (in Journal of Discourses, 7:55). Thus knowing gospel truths and doctrines is profoundly important, but we must also come to love them. When we love them, they will move us and help our desires and outward works to become more holy.

Each assertion of a righteous desire, each act of service, and each act of worship, however small and incremental, adds to our spiritual momentum. Like Newton’s Second Law, there is a transmitting of acceleration as well as a contagiousness associated with even the small acts of goodness.
“According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts”
http://www.lds.org/ensign/1996/11/according-to-the-desire-of-our-hearts?lang=eng



Thank you for everything you do! Love you all!

Love,
Elder Parker

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, it has been a great week here in South Philly, we were pretty

busy this week teaching a lot of different and new people.

All the members we are working with are still doing about the same.

It’s crazy how fast time is going by now, it’s just crazy to think that

October is almost here. Seems like every week goes by faster than the

one before.

Thanks for all that you do! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Parker

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Dear Family,

Another great week here in South Philly! It was a little off the norm
because we had a Mission Tour with Elder Anderson from the seventy. It
was good, he talked about 3 kinds of knowledge. Head - just
information. Heart - things we 'feel', motivates us to act. Soul -
When we act, take things into our life and change.

We also had stake conference this weekend. Hua An and Tianxu An came
to the Sunday meeting and also stayed after for a baptismal service.
It was pretty awesome that it worked out so well.

Well not too much really happened this week other than that, lots of
meetings and traveling to Broomall. It’s been good though, weird to
think that this is week 5 of the transfer already though, and that
October is right around the corner.... So strange. Time flies!

Man, this feels like a short email... So a quote from Brother Gibson
on the ride home from the Saturday Evening Session of Stake
Conference. "If you go your entire life learning one thing a day, you
will die an idiot." It was sooo straight faced as well! Such a funny
man.

I love you all, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Parker

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Dear Family,

This week was soooo amazing! Just thought I would get that out
there... The Lord's hands are in this work and it was very evident
this week here in South Philly. A scripture comes to mind when I have
reflected on this week:

8 For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own
nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he
seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth
counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.

9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I
do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath
commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an
instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and
this is my joy.

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and
coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do
I remember what the Lord has done

Alma 29:8-10


It started off with what I shared in my last email about Anita's
friends. We have a return appointment with them this week. But that
was just a taste of what this week would bring. We had a pretty good
week going but then on Thursday night our assistants called and wanted
to do a hand off of some investigators they had received a referral
for. So we went with them to contact these two people.

Tinshu is 15 and has been here for 1 month with his father Anwa. They
are both from Beijing and are here so that Tinshu can audition to go
to the Curtis institute for music, the number one music school in the
world. So they live in center city above a Chinese place where they
have very little furniture but they have a baby grand in the living
room where Tinshu practices about 6 hours a day. He is the number 1
piano player in China and turned down lots of schools to come to
Philly. They have friends in China who are members and they sent in
the referral so we could help temporally, they didn't realize it would
come with spiritual assistance as well ;) So we met them on Thursday
night, Tinshu speaks English, kinda.. but Anwa doesn't speak any
English. We decided that it would be really hard to teach without a
translator, so we reached out to a Chinese member of the branch,
Sister Su, and she was able to come to our appointment the next day!
The lesson went pretty well, we were able to get all kinds of info
about Chinese culture and their back story and things like that. Well
Anwa didn't really want us to come by anymore or to come to church
because he thought it would distract his son from music. We couldn't
even do anything because we cannot communicate with him! We bore
testimony and Sister Su persuaded him to come to church on Sunday and
then to go from there.

So they came to church! It was a little bit of a crazy fast and
testimony meeting, but Sister Su translated all 3 hours for Anwa and
they both really loved church. Tinshu loved the music at church and was
able to go to young mens and exchanged numbers with the Young Men’s
President, who just returned from a trip to Beijing! After the
meetings, we talked with them and Sister Su for a little bit and
Anwa's concerns changed from taking up time to being able to honor
baptismal covenants once he returns to China! What a change 3 hours of
the spirit makes! Now we have a return appointment and they want to
keep coming because they have some friends in the branch.


13 Yea, and that same God did establish his church among them; yea,
and that same God hath called me by a holy calling, to preach the word
unto this people, and hath given me much success, in the which my joy
is full.

Alma 29:13


I can say that right now my joy is pretty full. It’s overwhelming
sometimes to look back and see all that Heavenly Father has done for
me and those we are working with.

I hope everyone takes every moment they can to allow our Heavenly
Father to work miracles through them for those around us, you might be
surprised by what could happen.

Have a great week everyone! I love you, God loves you!

love,
Elder Parker

SEPTEMBER 2, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been so crazy! I am not even sure how I can write this
letter to express all the thoughts I am having at this time, Agh! So
crazy to think that I am already at my year mark... I have just been
having all these flash backs to previous parts of my mission and it’s
scaring me! Never really thought I would be here at this point in my
mission the way I am. I have just been looking back and seeing all
that has changed, it’s really weird. In the beginning I was just trying
to survive the mission and to make it through and while I am still
doing that to some extent, now I feel really different. It’s hard to
explain, but I am sure you see it.

Well this week has just been so awesome! If you would have asked me
yesterday I would have said it was slow, but man it’s so great that
P-day was moved to today. Monday - Sunday really was pretty rough
though... Highlights were an awesome day of doing service at the
Ronald McDonald house and prepping a ton of Christmas lights for them.
Also going to a wedding for a branch member and one of the East Elders
investigators, it was a TON of fun! So much awesome.

Monday was just such an amazing day though, it really just trumps all
of last week. We had a branch picnic for Labor Day and it was a lot of
fun. It’s great to be able to get to know the members all a little bit
better and have some fun with them. Then we had a lesson with Anita
(Less active), Mary (Less active), Arlene (Investigator), as well as
two of Anita's non member friends, Britton and Tramell. Brother
Harrison, who is a recent convert of about 2 years and just got
married and moved out here from California, was with us. The spirit
was so strong in the lesson! It was so amazing to just see the way the
spirit touched Britton and Tramell. They both accepted copies of the
Book of Mormon and said they would read it together and pray about it.
Then Brother Harrison took us out to dinner real quick and we had a
lesson with the Tomlins. They introduced us to one of their friends
who came in during sacrament on Sunday then left before it ended.
Turns out she is pretty interested in coming next week as well and is
going to bring her two kids.

As I have been able to sit back and ponder on this last 8 days or so
and really the last year, I have really seen a lot, one scripture that
stands out is this:

12 And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when
they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they
bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble
themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord,
because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.

13 And it came to pass that they went forth upon the face of the land,
and began to till the earth.

Ether 6:12-13


I have seen so many tender mercies as I have served. Newark, Milford
and Philly did not feel like the "Promised Land" when I got here, but
as I have seen the tender mercies of The Lord, I know this is where I am
needed and that he is preparing the way before me. When we humble our
selves The Lord raises us up to where he needs us to be, the only
thing that gets in the way is our own pride.

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest
thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou
knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

John 21:17

Any time I feel like I can’t do it any more or that I have done enough,
this scripture has come into my mind and I have to ask myself, How
much to I love my Savior? Does he know? Do I show my love? That's what
helps me to continue on some days.

Thank you all for all the love and support you have given me! I love
you all so much!

Love,
Elder Parker

AUGUST 25, 2014

Dear Family,
Well, as I am sure most of you know, I got a new companion this week.
His name is Elder Pintor. He has been out for 20 months, he came out
with Elder Thomas and Elder Shaw. His last area was Wilkes-bere, which
is up in the Scranton zone. He is from Las Vegas, really awesome
missionary, we are going to tear it up here in South Philly this next
6 weeks.

This week was a great one, I think it looked like I was running around
like a chicken with his head cut off, but it all worked out with the
help of Heavenly Father.

I am not even going to attempt to put out an ordered list of things
that happened, but I'll try to highlight the greatest parts of this
week.

Recently we have been getting a whole bunch of media referrals from
SLC and Mormon.org and we were able to contact one this week. Her name
is Xuan. Yes she is from China and yes I am hoping that she learns
like Susan did. We are currently just trying to teach her over the
phone and Facebook but it looks pretty promising. She has little
religious background but she wants to learn more about Jesus Christ
and why everyone says the "Mormons" are different. Pray that
everything works out with her.

We were also able to see a new less active member this week. His name
is Solomon. He has been a member for about 10 years but hasn't been to
the branch in about 2 years. He wants to come back, but he has always
had a few questions. We resolved those and are going to try to
continue to help him feel comfortable coming back to church.

We were able to see Moe a little bit this week, he wasn't able to make
it to church but he still has a lot of interest. You know they are
honest truth seekers when Satan really works hard on them. Hopefully
things clear up this week and we are able to meet with him and help
him get to church.

We saw the Caramandi's this week. It was pretty good, we talked about
our baptismal covenants and how we can keep them. They are doing well,
Marlene said she would come to church, and Tom pretty defiantly said
no. Well, they both showed up to church! We had 4 less active members
come this week, 2 of which hadn't been while I have been here. It felt
good to see them make some progress.

We had a cool experience while we were doing our home teaching this
week. We were at President Degener's home and before we left we asked
if they knew anyone we could stop by. Well they told us the house a
few doors down had someone move in and they suggested we talk to him,
the name given us was Phillip. Well we walked out the door a few
minutes later and right as the door closes this man walking down the
street call out to us as "Elders", well that’s rare, so we stopped to
talk to him and lo and behold, its Phillip! So we had a quick chat and
now we should be meeting with him. Member miracles!

I wish I could give this week all the justice it deserves in this
letter. There is a lot going on here and The Lord is hastening his
work, I am just trying to keep up. South Philly West, the Promised
Land.

Love you all!
Elder Parker

AUGUST 18, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, where to start. Elder Cottle is being transferred on Tuesday so
I will be getting a new companion. Also, Elder Mansell, my district
leader is leaving and Elder Mask, a spanish Elder. So we will be
getting a whole new district. Really really sad that Elder Cottle is
leaving, one of my favorite companions so far. But I am excited for
the adventures me and my new companion will have here in South Philly.

This week was a crazy busy one here. We had a lot of appointments that
actually happened too!

To start off, we were able to see Moe this week. The first time he was
pretty busy and distracted so we left him with the Restoration
Pamphlet to read through. The next day at our appointment he just
rattled off all these things he loved from what he read. He said he
agreed with it on everything and he even went really in depth about
the priesthood and how other churches don't really talk about it and
now it makes sense as to why they don't. Moe loves to monologue, so
the lesson was much longer than it could have been, but in the end he
accepted a baptismal date for October 16th!

We were also able to follow up with the VanHorns this week, even
though we couldn't have a lesson. Lisa has gone from 4+ cups of coffee
a day to 1 in the mornings! She is so awesome and they are keeping
their commitments.

Our dinner calendar is like 95% full for the month as well, so that is
an awesome change from when I first got here. Yesterday the Jones
family had us over for dinner. It was really really awesome. They have
2 boys, a 3 year old and a 9 month old. They also used to live in Lehi
and Highland so that was a fun connection. Anyway, it was fun and she
is a great cook and made some awesome peach cobbler. Let’s just say it
has been a pretty good week despite Elder Cottle leaving.

Well I hope you all have a great week! Love ya!

Love,
Elder Parker

AUGUST 11, 2014

Dear Family,

This week was really awesome! Even though we only taught a total of 5
lessons, it was a blast! Monday was good. Tuesday was good, we saw
Carmen, still struggling, but he is making small steps in the right
direction. Then we traveled to the mission office and started the
busiest week of my mission.

Wednesday we had to get up at about 5:15 and drove with the Assistants
to Nazareth Pennsylvania for the first zone conference. Tons of fun,
Elder Toilolo  and Elder Terry, the Assistants, are awesome. Had a ton
of fun being with them this last week. The iPad training was really
minimal and Elder Cottle did it. I helped out with inspecting cars and
various other tasks throughout the week. Spending a bunch of time with
Elder Jones, the Senior missionary in charge of cars, was a lot of
fun.

Most of zone conferences consisted of getting up really really early,
getting to bed really late, then repeating the process. It was fun to
be able to see all of the mission and the missionaries though. I saw all
of my past companions and had fun talking to them about everything
that has happened since I last saw them. I got to spend a bunch of time
talking with President and Sister Anderson which was good. They are
such awesome people.

We got back on Saturday night and did our weekly planning.

Sunday was great! Every week it seems that we have many new faces at
church. This week was no different. Also we had like 6 people sign up to
feed us this month, we have faired much better than the other Elders
as far as meal appointments for the month, it’s a blessing :) Then we
saw as less active, Fortune, with Brother Gibson. Took him the
sacrament and taught a short lesson. Then we saw Carman. His eyes have
been bad so he hasn't read, but he is going to try to read more this week.
Then we saw Moe! He is sooo awesome! He is going to come to church
this next week with his daughter, we set up an appointment with him
for Wednesday and he is really excited. He still has been reading from
the Book of Mormon and has been reading it to his kids as a bed time
story at night! How awesome is that! Pretty pumped to see him at
church this week.

That’s the gist of what happened this week, it was a ton of fun, really
fast and was a great booster for the next couple of months. Hope you
all have a great week!

love,
Elder Parker

AUGUST 4, 2014

Dear Family,

This week was great! Lots going on, it went by really really fast though!

Found out on Monday that we will be going to all the Zone Conferences
this week, so I will get to see all of the mission. Elder Cottle will
be doing some iPad training, we think. So Wednesday we will be in
Nazareth Pennsylvania, Thursday in Dover Delaware, Friday in Broomall,
Saturday in New Jersey. Should be a blast!

It was a good week. Saw the Tomlins. Saw the Caramandi's and a few
others. A few events really stick out though.

So Monday, we are shopping and get a text from a less active recent
convert, never really taught him. He asked us to come over and so we
set up an appointment for Tuesday. So when we saw them, (his wife is a
former investigator, who on the teaching record says is not
interested) we found out his wife really wants them to get back in
church and that her only hold up is coffee! We were short on time so
we set up another appointment for Saturday. On Saturday we had a great
lesson on the restoration. She probably said she knows the church is
true about 10 times! Still hung up on coffee, but when we mentioned
substitutes, she was all over that. She doesn't want a baptism date
yet, but she will be baptized soon.

The other thing that stands out. We haven't been able to contact Moe
in a while. So Friday, we finished lunch and decided to walk to the
post office to get the package Grandma and Grandpa sent and we ran right
into Moe. He told us he has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot and
feels the spirit really strong! He asked us when he could come to church
(got sick though :( ) and said he knows the book is true! Super
awesome! Hopefully we can start teaching him soon.

Also found out on Facebook that Brother Calcroft, a member from Philly
passed away last week. Pretty young guy two little kids. He was stung
by a bee and went into shock, then died. Pretty sad....

Well, it was a great week and I really can't give it all justice.
South Philly is awesome and it's a great blessing to be here with
Elder Cottle. Best area in the best mission!

Love ya all!

Love,
Elder Parker

JULY 28, 2014

Dear Family,

Well this week was another great one here in South Philly! Now the
challenge is to see if I can remember everything and then put it down
in a way to make it as awesome as it was...

Monday! Well, it was a great day full of nothing, other than a really
fun lesson with a less active named Jessie. Then we got like halfway to the church and realized Elder
Cottle didn't have his SEPTA pass.... So ya, we tried various ways to
get another and it just didn't make fiscal sense and so we have been
walking this last week. Lots of walking. Tuesday we had to go to
center city, and probably walked 55 blocks, Wednesday was about 60 blocks and
Thursday was about 75-80 blocks. My feet are gonna be like rocks! Calves of
steel! It's been fun.

Tuesday was a pretty busy day, taught the Marinellis, Carmen, Phatsala
and Ron. It was pretty awesome.

Wednesday, another busy day. Taught Mimi, Jessie again, brother
McDowel, Wayne and Sharon and Marlene. Marlene's lesson was awesome.
Brother Mounelasy came (high priests group leader) and bore great
testimony, we taught the restoration and she had great questions and
seemed to understand fairly well, we will be following up this week on
her reading and prayers. She could progress quickly if she gets an
answer.

Thursday, meetings, then walking all the way to center city, pretty
much as far south to as far north, for a dinner with the Steffens.
Which was awkward, they live in this super nice building with one of
those door guys downstairs that doesn't really think you are welcome... Ya.
It worked out though, then we did our home teaching of the Degeners.
It was good.

Friday, went to the Ronald McDonald house and did service with the
Spanish Elders. It was fun and then picked up your package. It was
great. Then we did exchanges, I went to the east side. Had some fun
with Elder Pead. They live with the Spanish elders in a house, pretty awesome.
Oh, we named all the rooms in the house and their basement bathroom is
called Scranton lol. It's pretty secluded.

Saturday we had a Pioneer branch activity. Not too many people came and
we (missionaries) started doing double Dutch in the assembly room. It
was pretty awesome, Elder Pead and Elder Mask are pretty great at it.
Then all our appointments fell through for the day (5) and we did some
walking and calls and finding. Pretty uneventful.

Sunday  we went to church and had dinner and a lesson with the Tomlins.
It was crazy, felt like a marriage class.

It was an awesome week, went by really fast! Crazy to think the
transfer is half over already! Thanks for all that you do, love you
all!

Love,
Elder Parker

JULY 21, 2014

Dear family,

This week was pretty great, we have been super busy, which is really
good. Don't do any tracting, but people just stop us on the street so
it's pretty neat.

Monday was awesome, we shopped at a place called bottom dollar. Got like
2 weeks of groceries for cheap. Then played ping pong for a few hours
at the church with the other elders. Then saw the Tomlins, recent
converts.

Tuesday was a packed day, taught Carmen, Ron, Mccoreys and Marinellis.

Wednesday we taught Claude and Arlene and Anita

Thursday we saw the Caramandi's (spelling)

Friday we saw Marlene and Phatsala.

Saturday we played football with the young men. It was awesome, played
at FDR park, could see the eagles practice facility across the street,
I think they were scouting me out as a QB ;) it was fun. It's a huge
sports complex though. The Eagles stadium is there, the phillies
stadium and the 76ers/ flyers stadium, all right next to each other.
Then we saw the Marinellis again, and a less active named Jesse. It
was fun.

Don't remember if I mentioned last Sunday I gave a talk, and taught in
relief society, this week elder Cottle and I taught elders quorum :P
on eternal marriage! Its was strange... Anyways, went well. Then we
did home teaching at the Teps.

Loving my time here in south Philly. We cover south of market street
and west of broad. The water is the other two boarders.

We have 6 elders here. West (us), east and Spanish. It's a branch.
Can't think of too many other random things.... Hope you all have a
great week!

Love ya

JULY 14, 2014

Dear family,

Well, got transferred! Now I am in South Philadelphia, serving the
area south of Market Street and west of Broad, it's about 1/4 of
Philly. I think we decided we probably have a little over a million
people in our area. It has actually been picking up a lot recently.We
have some very full days and are meeting with a lot of people that
have tons of potential. We are currently booked out until Friday. My
companion is Elder Cottle, he is so great, already love this guy. We
get along really well. He has been out about a year. We have similar
tech interests and he is the mission tech guy, so we set up and taught
the new missionaries on their iPads Tuesday and Wednesday, it was a
blast to be in the mission office for a few hours.

We use SEPTA here in Philly. It’s pretty great, except the buses run super
slow on Saturday and even slower on Sundays if at all. We have been
riding the subway, that's a first, now I know how accurate all those
games were that had subways in them ;)

I have only been in Philly less than a week and I already do not want
to leave. It's wonderful! I gave a talk on Sunday on baptism as an
ordinance and covenant and taking upon us the name of Christ. It went
pretty well. There are lots of students in our branch. The church is on Broad
and Wyoming. It’s in the 2nd floor of a glass building, which is different but
good. The church has a ping pong table that will be used today :D.

Update on Milford: well they replaced us with....... SISTERS!!
Speaking of which, It was super hard to say goodbye to the Houses and even
harder to say goodbye to Brother Moll. Super tough, left a piece of my
heart in his home.

Anyway, 3 sets of elders in this branch, no sisters. It is also
our district, so it's super fun. Us, the east elders and the Spanish
elders. The east and Spanish elders live in the same apartment.

Well. If this letter sounds scrambled with tons of info.... Now you
know how my brain has felt this week ;) It's been great though, some
of the greatest times of my mission so far. Working hard as well,
Should lose some of that Newark/Milford weight ;)

Love you all!
Elder Parker

JULY 7, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, this week was pretty crazy. Found out that both Elder Shaw and I are being transferred. Pretty sure they are going to put new Elders in, but not certain. It was actually humbling to have many members of the branch say goodbye to us and to see how sad they were that we were leaving.
Brother Moll is pretty sad to see us leaving. He found out his brother up the road who he hasn't spoken to in 10 years had a stroke and is in the hospital. It pushed him to decide to forgive him and try to make amends, hopefully it works out. He told us that Elder Shaw and I are like his sons and he wants us to come visit after if he is still alive, saying goodbye today will be really hard.
We spent a good chunk of time with one of my favorite families, the Houses! They had us over last Sunday, and on Friday for fireworks and Clarissa's birthday, she turned 8. An old missionary, Elder Nabors was there visiting as well, it was a party, had a great time. Then they had us over last night to say goodbye, it was really hard to leave.
Other than that, not much really happened this week. Joe, Mary, and Scott haven't even responded to us saying goodbye.... so that stinks. We will be saying goodbye to Edith today. Her daughter said she cried when we called to let them know....
Anyway, transfers are tomorrow. Should be interesting. Love ya all!
Oh! Susan... So finally heard back from her via email and figured out skype and we are now connected via skype. So hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to video call her to teach her! Woot!


Love,
Elder Parker

Brother Moll

The House Family

JUNE 30, 2014

Dear Family,
Well this week was pretty good. We had interviews with President Anderson. He was pretty disappointed to hear about how the branch has been. Seems like he might double us out of the area. We find out on Friday.
We were able to see Edith this week. Sadly it wasn't good. She fell in the middle of the night reaching for her walker and hit her head. She is pretty bruised up and is still recovering. We were able to give her a blessing. She will be baptized, it will be all up to her health though.
Brother Moll is still doing well. He had a little bit of a breakdown talking about how alone he feels. It’s pretty sad to see. I hope at least one of us stays so he has a connection with the missionaries. He won't take it well if we both leave.

We gave service on Saturday with Bruce. We helped him move wood. Some of the logs were HUGE! It was crazy. We probably moved 2 cords of wood. He is taking us out to eat this week as a farewell in case we leave.
We ate at the House’s yesterday. Elder Shaw set a new record for the most tacos. 19! Beating Elder Eve's 18. He is still feeling it this morning haha.
This week should be good. Little nervous about transfer calls, I hate moving. But we will see what happens. Hope you all have a good week! Love ya!
Elder Parker

JUNE 23, 2014

Dear Family,

Well this week was pretty good. We will see if I can remember everything.
Monday was good. We went mini golfing and split into trios and Elder Shaw and Elder Wilson and I won. It was fun. We also had a Family Home evening with the branch at the Glaser's. It was a blast! The Glasers go all out for everything. Lots of steak and ribs.
This week we were able to see Edith and she is doing well, doesn't have the physical strength to come to church yet. But hopefully she gets there.
We saw Brother Moll, of course, he is doing well. Still just putting along. We got him a large print Book of Mormon and a magnifying thing, so he is able to read the Book of Mormon now.
Thursday was a crazy day. So the Sisters car isn't working right  and they needed a ride to District meeting. It’s a pretty good drive... But they ended up not needing a ride because sister Haas had a migraine, it was pretty bad and we ended up going down to give her a blessing. So that was an adventure.
Saturday was fun, went to the Glaser’s to help split wood. The hydrolic valve burst though and so we ended up weeding and rebuilding the valve and then splitting wood. It was pretty fun. Then we got a call from the Keays and they needed help moving couches so we went and helped with that. It was basically the whole day, but I loved it.
Sunday was another exciting day. Sister Haas ended up in the hospital in Quakertown so we had to give them a ride home.
Felt a lot like a taxi service this week and we are shot on miles, but it was a good week.
Love you all, hope you have a great week!
Elder Parker

JUNE 16, 2014

Dear Family,

Well this week was pretty great. Definitely had things go better than last week.

Some of the highlights this week is that we were able to start teaching the Mother of one of the members here. Her name is Edith. She moved in with them for health reasons and she has met with missionaries before. Says she thinks it’s all true and committed to baptism on the 27th of July, health permitting. So that was pretty exciting this week. We seem to have good success with old people. Her and Brother Moll.
Speaking of Brother Moll. It was a good week, getting him the Book of Mormon on CD and working on helping him set up a will with Brother Johnson.
We saw Brother King this week and he is going to be moving to Florida, he is trying to replace himself in the church before he leaves.
Saw the Keays this week.
Saw Brother Camp. He has been super busy working 12 hour shifts. Hoping things slow down for him soon.
Did service for Bruce, well actually we went and helped his friend down the road. Moved a bunch of trex boards and then tore up a deck and moved some huge logs. It was great, they were awesome people. Then I went to try to donate blood, wouldn't let me because my heart rate was too high! I blame the stress from the mission.
That's about all that happened this week. Should be another good week this week, have some dinners lined up and some good lessons set up. Hoping everything works out.
Also, here is a link to a Facebook group. Join. Read. Do.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/774654132574908/

Love you all!
Elder Parker

JUNE 9, 2014

Dear Family,
Well this week was pretty crazy. At the beginning of the week it looked like it was going to be great, it still was. Just in different ways.
Monday was fairly uneventful, a couple of cancelled appointments (theme of the week).

Tuesday was pretty great, we went to lunch with brother Moll, and then saw Scott and we had dinner at the House’s. This singular day kept us going for the rest of the week.
Wednesday. So we stopped by brother Moll and he wasn't doing well. He was really upset and we gave him a blessing. So we have been keeping an eye on him because he could go at any moment.
Thursday we had another lesson packed day that essentially went down the tube because of cancelled appointments.
Saturday was good. We had a branch BBQ, lots of fun. Then we went and cut up a tree that had fallen for Brother Moll. Because we are not able to use chain saws I used a little hand saw.... It was a good work out. I really do enjoy service though.
Sunday was interesting. No one showed up to church, and we still haven't heard from anyone. But the stake came and announced boundary changes. None of ours changed but we sent a branch to the Scranton stake and then took two wards from the Scranton stake. So now we have 15 units in the Reading stake. Getting ready to split the stake in the next few years. Also, we are 9 people from a ward and this last week the Kinneys had their baby, and we have 2 families moving in. One is a family of 6! So looks like we could be a ward before I leave!
This week was a good week, it was a struggle, (Elder Shaw's favorite phrase now is "the struggle is real") But we made it though! Hoping to reset Joe and Mary’s baptism date and make contact with them again and keep Scott on path for his date on the 22nd.

Hope you all have a great week!
Love, Elder Parker