MARCH 31, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, this week has been good. Definitely the best week here in Milford. Elder Eves and I have been getting along a lot better than in the past. I have had to make some adjustments to myself, but that's what missions are about right? ;)

Nothing really groundbreaking happened this week, the zone is really low on miles so we might have to walk for an entire week this next month, which won’t really work here in Milford... it’s like 8 miles to the church haha. Hopefully we stay under today.
You know how Elder Zolman was the food charm for Newark? Apparently that is me here :D last month we had maybe 2 dinner appointments and we have around 15 already this next month, including 2 on Saturday :D

We were not able to meet with Scott this week, or the Vorhees. But we had a great lesson with Charlie and Michelle. We taught the Plan of Salvation and at the end when we were talking about the requirements for the celestial kingdom, Charlie told us that he had been going back and forth with something in his life for about a year and that he had just received an answer that he needs to make changes to go to the celestial kingdom! It was an awesome experience!
Also, another missionary gave me a talk called the 4th missionary, I will attach it to this email so you can read it. It’s about 25 pages but it is amazing. It has really helped me this last week. Hope you will be able to read it and apply something in it to your life, especially your missionary work.
Thank you all for everything that you do! I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Parker

MARCH 24, 2014

Dear Family,
Well this week was pretty uneventful. We were not able to meet with Scott, or Charlie and Michelle. We had interview with President on Wednesday and we are probably going to get sisters in the branch this next transfer. So we have to come up with some ways to split the area and locate possible apartments. At least we think that is what we need to do.... We had district meeting on Thursday, it was pretty good. Elder Lenzinger is the District Leader and we watched part of the living scriptures about Nephi building the boat. Trying to learn how to become more diligent. It was good. The Zone Leaders sat in on our planning session after, it was good. Elder Lundberg and Elder Kitsel are the Zone Leaders. Elder Kitsel is from England. They decided I have a dry sense of humor. eh. Then I went on exchanges with Elder Lenzinger. It was good. Saturday we did some service for a long time investigator, he isn't really interested in the Gospel anymore but he always has service for us and will feed us, so we try to teach by example. We split logs for like 3 hours. I enjoyed it, took out some aggression by throwing some wood around. He is also building a shed, hopefully we can help him out some more. Service is good. The Vorhees came to church for the first time! It was bueno! That’s about all that happened, oh we met with an old investigator. He told us he knows that everything is true, but wants to convert with his family. His wife is catholic. Hopefully we can make some progress next week.
I decided that President Adams, the branch president, is a lot like Dad. We get invited to go over for dinner often. He is usually only there on Sundays because of work, but he is always wearing the same cheap trick shirt lol. Just very similar personality to Dads’.

Well hopefully you all have a great week and you can all find ways share the gospel this week. Oh!
Do you know someone who could use the Gospel? Do they have a Facebook? Send them my way!
Love you all!
P.S. I was able to finally try Rita's this week. It was pretty good, I suggest you all try it if you can.

Love, Elder Parker

MARCH 17, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,
Well this week has been good. The weather seems to be warming up finally. Looking forward to conference weekend when I don't have to wear a sweater or long sleeves anymore. I think the storm is missing us, Delaware on the other hand is supposed to get slammed with snow lol :)
Bit of an update from my last area, Brother Dunsmore set himself a goal of going to the temple to be sealed in 4 months! I am so excited! They totally redid the area boundaries for the missionaries there so the Elders basically have a whole new area, still teaching Brother Manchester though. They are supposed to be extending a baptism invitation soon. Rex is also still doing well.

Also, I can now be friends with family on Facebook. I am going to copy and paste what president Anderson said about it right here.

5. Can you "friend" parents and siblings?
a. Yes. You may add family members as friends. This will allow your families to follow your work online. Where appropriate, family members can become a resource to help answer investigators' questions or even help teach.
b. Remember, Facebook is not a forum for liking family photos, messaging family, etc.
c. Please do not add friends from home.
President Anderson
So feel free to add my on Facebook and seek out my friends that I have told you about. I will probably request most of you soon if you don't add me. Just so you know why lol. (Facebook name-Elder Chris Parker)
So this week has been pretty weird. It is hard to be in a new area with a new companion. Getting Elder Zolman was cake, I was the boss of the area and could control a lot of what happened and I knew who we were working with and what they needed. It’s really hard to be in a new environment.
I am enjoying it though. The branch here is really great. Simple down to earth people. The investigators are great. Everyone seems to love the missionaries as well. Sister Adams (Branch Presidents Wife) Loves the missionaries, she would feed us every night if we would let her. She is always giving us stuff and it’s pretty cool. Definitely can feel the love.
I will try to go though everyone we are teaching...
Charlie and Michelle-Great people, they have a baptism for the 25th of May. They are cool, love the church, busy, but once they start coming to church it will be great.
Scott-Has a date for the 30th of this month, he reminds me a lot of Bishop Beeson. Teaches English at a college and loves to talk and go deep into the scriptures and what we talk about. Again, if we can get him to church he will be baptized. I really like him.
Vorhees-Part member family who hasn't come to church for a while. He accepted a baptism date of the 25th of May on my 2nd day here. Really awesome family with 2 boys who remind me of Ren and Cottar. So funny. They should be coming to church this week. Should be really great.
Jim-Investigator who has a unique personality and loves us, don't know what else to say about him....
Steven-Lives with a member family, loves us and will meet but is going through some hard times.
Jamar-Recent convert of a little less than a year, lives in this freaky care center of some kind. Really nice, simple testimony.
Brother Moll-Member who is kinda confined to his home. Old war vet so we have to yell for him to hear us, makes for funny visits. Very conservative... lol
The Keays-Member who is actually feeding us tonight. Loves the missionaries and won’t let us come over without feeding us. Lots of potential to come back.
Bryants-We are their home teachers. Trying to get them to the temple soon.
That is our core teaching pool, hoping to pick up some more this week. I love all these people a lot. They are all so amazing.
Elder Eves and I are doing well, we have our differences and our pride but it seems as if we are working through it. I never thought I would miss having a District Leader companion but now I know the difference :)
Hope you all have a great week!
Love, Elder Parker

MARCH 10, 2014-MILFORD PA!

Dear Family,

Well as you can probably tell my new area is Milford PA! It’s extremely different here than it was in Newark. The area is probably 10 times as big and it’s very rural. We are the only Elders here in the branch. My companion is Elder Eves, he came out in May or June. His family is currently from San Diego where his dad is stationed for the Air Force. We cover quite a few cities, I will try to upload a map of some sort. Coopersburg, Quakertown, Emmaus, Center Valley, Pennsburg, many many more... It’s really different, yes we still do have a car 02 Malibu (Maliboat). My apartment is definitely better stocked as far as pots and pans and dressers go than my last one, more random stuff as well from previous Elders. The branch is pretty awesome, I spoke on Sunday to about 25 people... Daylight savings killed sacrament meeting attendance. They are close to getting an expansion on the building and should have one started by the end of the year. It’s so small... I have never been to such a small building, so crazy, but I love it. It’s also in the middle of nowhere. Kinda reminds me of parts of southern Utah, like Nephi, but smaller.Lol. Can't really think of much that I did this last week except trying to learn the area. My GPS will definitely be put to good use here. The area is really doing well right now. We have 7 progressing investigators and 4 have baptism dates. One is for the end of this month, I haven't met him yet and the others are for the last weekend in May. Lots more going on here than my last area, but Elder Eves said it was a slower week, so I guess I am in for some busy days ahead. We walk more here as well, we drive to a city then we park and walk and walk. Hopefully I will lose some weight.

So funny story, I remember one event vividly from last week. We went to see a recent convert who lives up on a huge hill (so many hills!) On this hill is a cemetery and we go clear up there, it’s like 8 at night and he lives in this little care center that looks like something from the twilight zone! I was freaked out! So sketchy. It was creepy... and we go there twice a week, ya.... :) Jamar (the recent convert) is cool though. The branch is great, the area is good. No loud trains outside our apartment or people upstairs. So it’s good. Leaving Newark was HARD though, almost harder than leaving home. It’s hard to change habits. Changing companions isn't too bad, at least not yet, but moving stinks. But I have been called to Milford! President emailed me today and told me how close the branch is to being a ward. They are really close and the stake is about to be split I think. Lots going on!  Love you all! Super Cool that Spencer is going to New York! He will do great!

My Address

5460 camp meeting road apt. 2
Center Valley, PA 18034

Love, Elder Parker

MARCH 3, 2014

Dear Family,

I don't really know where to start. This week has been really great, I
have seen many miracles as I have been serving here in Newark and I
feel like the area is really starting to improve, seeds that have been
planted are being harvested especially with less active members. I
will miss Newark, as I am being transferred on Wednesday, and packing
really stinks but it should be fun. Most of our zone is being moved. 9
of the 11 are being split up. Elder Zolman thinks I could go to
Susquehanna (farthest north area, burr) or Camden New Jersey or
Atlantic City. Should be fun to find out!

Ever since I have been here I have wanted to make sure I knew all the
people on the ward list in my area. I wanted know who they were and
what I could do for them. It's been hard. We struggled to contact
everyone, but the past few weeks I have really been able to meet a few
people that have been hard to contact. On Saturday we meet with
brother Stewart, a member that was baptized a few years ago then moved
here and hasn't been for a while. I had never been able to really meet
with him but he had us in and fed us and we were able to have a great
lesson about enduring to the end and ways we can do it. We were able
to share the Mormon messages about daily bread and it really touched
him. He committed to come to church this next week and wants to work
at going to the temple! What a blessing it was to be able to meet him
before I was transferred.

On Sunday night we felt prompted to go to a little road that had 3
less active members on it. We had only ever talked to one of the
members. We drove over there and we were able to talk to all three
houses. Two of them are not interested but the other who hasn't been
to church in 25 years set up a time in which we could come back. It
was great to be able to meet him.

There was really one more member who I didn’t know anything about. We
didn't know if she had moved or not and we had tried emailing her.
Today we got a call from our ward mission leader telling us that she
had emailed our bishop asking for the Elders. She has to move quickly
and needs to give some things away. We have set up a time now to meet
her tonight and hopefully share a message and get her records
forwarded so the new ward can help her come back into full activity.

It has been such a blessing to be able to serve here in Newark. Words
are not enough to explain my deep gratitude to my Father in Heaven. I
will miss it here but I am looking forward to new experiences in which
I can continue to grow and build. I know that wherever I am
transferred to, it's where I am supposed to be.


Love, Elder Parker