MARCH 30, 2015

Dear Family,

We had a really good week! We were able to find 2 new families to teach. One, Bart and his wife Mia, who are from west Africa. They are really awesome. We just stopped by because they were in our area book and they invited us back. When we went back with Brother Cooper later in the week, there was another woman there, and she was a recent convert from the other Reading ward! It was great, she is their niece and it was great having her there for the lesson.

We also got to start teaching a new family, Jessica and Clay, they are from Florida and we asked them if we could share an Easter video with them, we showed them the new Because He Lives video, afterwards they agreed to hear the missionary discussions. It was really cool!

The Markers are doing well. Veronica and Kris and Dakoda are doing well, Dakoda brought 2 friends to church on Sunday.

On Friday we had our Mission Leadership Council meeting in Broomall. It was supposed to be 6 hours long, and it was 8 and half hours... It was a great meeting, but it went a little long. We got a lot of training on planning, and on the new #BecauseHeLives initiative. We got new passalong cards and we had to distribute the cards amongst our Zone. Well... that was about 4 hours of travel on Saturday of delivering cards. It was quite the adventure.

Selena is doing really great, still set for her baptism on the 11th. Her dad, who is a recent convert will be baptizing her.

I am soo excited for General Conference! We will be watching it at the church.

I hope you all have a great week and a great Easter! I love you all!

Watch this video!

http://www.mormon.org/easter

Now share the video!

Love,
Elder Parker

MARCH 23, 2015

Dear Family, 

Well, it’s been a really good week. Elder Roberts was transferred to Easton with Elder Sanchez. It’s just the opposite end of the stake. Elder Riche from Price, Utah is my new companion, pronounced rich. He goes home 6 weeks before me and has spent basically his whole mission in downtown Philly or Camden. We get along super well, it’s been a blast! 

One of the highlights this past week was Friday when the assistants, Elder Watt and Elder Pitt came and doubled into our area. It was a lot of fun. Elder Watt and I taught a wiccan. It was different. Elder Riche and Pitt got to meet this super awesome less active man who wants us to teach his kids and girlfriend. He was a name that bishop put on our home teaching list, no one really knew who they were and when we reported in Ward Council, the bishop’s face was priceless. So awesome! So we will be seeing them on Saturday. 

Veronica, Kris and Dakoda are doing well. They were confirmed on Sunday. It was really cool. The member they asked to do the confirmations wasn't at church, so we just asked them on the spot and Dakoda asked his scout leader to do his, so we called him up from the congregation and this brother did his first confirmation since being reactivated and receiving the Melchizedek priesthood recently. It was sooo cool! 

Selena is still doing well, on track for her baptism on the 11th of April. 

The Markers are doing really well, we are taking advantage of Kim's talents and hobbies that include making homemade cards and are giving thank you and birthday cards to those we are working with, it’s been pretty awesome so far. We have about 25 cards to deliver this week to members who have had birthdays this month. 

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Parker

Elder Riche and Elder Parker

MARCH 16, 2015

Dear Family,

Well. It's been a crazy week! Elder Roberts is being transferred and I
will be getting my new companion on Tuesday. Elder Lee is also being
transferred. I also won't be a district leader anymore. Should be
interesting to see how things go down this next transfer, gonna be a
lot of growing.

Veronica and Kris and Dakoda were baptized on Sunday, it was crazy.
There was an accident in front of them on their way here, and they
were almost an hour late. But the turnout from the ward was great and
everything went smooth once it started.

The Markers are doing really well. Jon starts his new job this week.

Selena is doing well. She has been keeping the little commitments,
which is great!

We were finally able to meet with Keisha again and reset her baptism
date for a few months in the future.

We had a really good  ward conference on Sunday, all of our meetings
were awesome.

Well, hopefully you all have a great week. Thanks for all you do!

Love,
Elder Parker

Elder Roberts, Kris, Veronica, Dakoda, Elder Parker, Brother Frampton

MARCH 9, 2015

Dear Family,

Well, it's been a pretty crazy week. We had our typical Thursday zone
training, but it was on Tuesday. All we really did was talk about
mission culture, which was interesting, and then we set up our new
iPads.

We started teaching two really awesome people, the first is Selena,
she is a recent converts daughter who just moved into the ward not too
long ago, I think she is beehive age. She wants to
be baptized so we set her with a date for in April.

The next really awesome person is Trey. He is in his mid 20's and is
attending a local college. He was taught by missionaries about a year
ago and he kinda disappeared. Now he called us up and wants to be
baptized. He told us he can't stop thinking about the need for the
priesthood to be restored! The cool part is they just started the YSA
group in our ward so he fits right in. We found out yesterday though
that the other Exeter missionaries will teach him because they have
been assigned to YSA. It will be fun to hear about his progression.

We were able to go to the Washington DC temple on Saturday with Jon and Alyssa. It
was great! The spirit in the temple feels so strong when it's been so
long since you have been. It was an awesome feeling! The temple was
really busy, so Elder Roberts and I didn't participate in the
baptisms, but it was great to see Jon and Alyssa enjoy the temple so
much.

Sunday was interesting. Veronica and Kris and Dakoda woke up with the
flu, so we have postponed their baptism until next Sunday at the same
time.

We also will be getting transfer calls this week, odds are I am
leaving, but we will see what happens.

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


Love,
Elder Parker

MARCH 2, 2015

Dear Family,

Well, it was a great week. Felt like it was a weird mix of long and quick...

Veronica(mom), Dakoda(11), and Kris(16), friends of the Chernesky’s, are still set for their baptism this next Sunday. We are pretty set to go to the temple with the Markers on Saturday. It should be awesome! So I might be emailing on Saturday or Monday, not sure how it’s all going to work. But if I don't email at all, don't worry.

This weekend was great, we played basketball and we helped Carmen and Iran move, gave them blessings and then we helped Veronica fix the pipes under her trailer. Then on Sunday we got a bunch of snow and freezing rain. All the other wards cancelled besides ours. This is 3 weeks straight that wards have cancelled church in our building.

We are going to start teaching Selena this week, a recent convert’s daughter that moved into our ward recently. So it should work out to be a good week.

Hope you all have a good day! Love you all!


Love,

Elder Parker