June 4, 2014 - One Month!!

First thing, the book of Revelation in the bible is bonkers!! I read it this week, and I was just in a stupor of shock as I read it jaja.. It is fairly detailed, and I guess if nothing else works to convert someone, I can just have them read revelation and say, is this what you want? jaja just kidding. But it is deep stuff! wow

Second, I have been here for a month! 23 months left till I am home jaja! And I have less than 2 weeks left in the CCM before I am sent off into the real world! so scary.. I do not feel proficient yet. Like I can teach lessons, but just talking is a lot harder. 

Not a lot new has been happening. We play soccer every day for gym, and play with the latinos, who are way good. We play on a basketball court that is fenced in that has goals underneath the baskets. It's so much fun! 

Uhh, mexico is a fun place! They built this four tower monuments that are a tribute to indoor plumbing, so that is cool! And things are pretty cheap here! Like preach my gospels mini are like $3 And they have these things called bueno bars that are muy bueno! And a bag of those cream wafers that has like 8 long wafers is 7 pesos (54 cents). And the weather is always nice! But the food is sometimes not too nice to people. They have what is called MST (Mexican stomach training) which can do a number on people jaja. You can guess what a lot of beans and mexican food can do to people, so I won't explain too much jaja. but some of the guys in my district, including my companion, got it and we sometimes do a lot of waiting while they are in the bathroom. Luckily I haven't gotten it, maybe because I ate similar to this in NM. But its been a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work here too! 

Thought: Ether 12 is amazing. So powerful. It talks all about faith, and we discussed this chapter with an investigator, and it was amazing. Just read that chapter, and if you pray before during and after and really read with intent as you read it, you WILL be touched. That I promise you as a representative of Christ. 

Thank you all so much for your prayers! They are greatly appreciated. I love you all, and I want you all to know that I know without a doubt that our Padre Celestial loves each and every person, no matter what. If you pray to Him in faith, He will answer you and DyC 84:88.

I love you all! 

Elder Parker

May 28, 2014 - Week 1 in Mexico

It has been a TON of fun here in the CCM. Mexico is beautiful, although it does smell kind of bad at times. Like a toilet. Especially right after it rains, which is basically every day! I love the rain, and it feels amazing, but then it smells for like 10-20 minutes, and then it smells like fresh rain, which is good!

Uhh, our district is amazing!! They are all so funny, and we have so much fun, but we work hard too ;) There are six of us elders, and 4 hermanas. Our teachers are also soooo cool! They are all mexican, and are way funny. All of the workers here at the ccm are also super cool. They all say hi to you as you are walking by. 

Really, my testimony here has grown so much. I have felt the spirit so often in everything, but especially during devotionals, and then during district testimony meetings every sunday and tuesday night! I have felt the spirit everywhere. It is amazing. I would not trade this for anything right now. This is where I need to be right now. 

We saw a devotional by Jeffrey R. Holland this week, and he told the expierience when He asked Peter 3 times if he loved him, and then the last time, when Peter answered, I DO love you. "Then feed my sheep" So peter left his nets and fed his sheep. and that is when he became the great apostle peter. Look the mtc devotional up. But what I learned is that we all have our own nets that we have to leave. There are plenty of fishing boats that would be awesome to be on right now, for me. But the Lord has asked me to leave my nets and feed His sheep, which is exactly what I need to be doing right now. 

It amazing how fast the language is coming. The Lord truly blesses missionaries! I should not know this much in 3 weeks. I just remember vocab words no problem. The one hard part is sentence structure, but that is coming.

Thank you all so much for your love, prayers and support! 

Leave your nets and feed His sheep!

Love,

Elder Parker

Room at CCM (MTC) in Mexico City 

Room at CCM (MTC) in Mexico City  

Dallin's bathroom at CCM (MTC) in Mexico City  

View of Mexico City from CCM

#Swagginwagon (missionaries in District 11-C)

#Swagginwagon (missionaries in District 11-C)

 Missionaries in District 11-C (in front of Mexico City Temple)

 

 

May 21, 2014 - Mexico

I´m here! I made it to the CCM. the campus here is so big! and really pretty. It was good to talk to you, mom, earlier in the airport!

I'm safe in Mexico now, and my p-days are on wednesdays here, so you will hear from me again in a week! I did not sleep at all last night, I was up writing letters and packing and whatnot. I was just able to get a little bit of sleep on the planes. so I am way tired, but está bien. umm, I don't have much else to say right now.

My mailing address while in Mexico is:

Elder Parker

17/06/2014 11 - C

Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828

Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero

07230 Mexico, Distrito Federal

Mexico

I'm still not sure if pouch or regular mail would work better! 

I love you all!

Elder Parker

And I will try to send pics at some point

May 21, 2014 - Call from Texas Airport

I (Marsha) was talking on the cell phone to my Dad and received a call from a number I did not know and so I finished my conversation.  It then hit me that it could have been Dallin.  I thought that if I got a call from him it would have been in the early morning hours since he had an early flight, but didn't think about the possibility of a layover.  I called back the number and asked very nicely if there happened to be an Elder Dallin Parker around.  It turns out that I was talking to Elder Gammel, Dallin's companion.  It was wonderful to be able to talk to Elder Parker again.  I am feeling really spoiled.They are traveling with other Elders and Sisters that will be beginning their mission training in Mexico.

Dallin did get his belt back, but I am grateful that he is willing to share what he has.  I know we have been very blessed.  The gospel is true and can bring us hope and happiness.

May 20, 2014 - Elder Bednar

First off, I shook Elder Bednar's hand on Sunday! We watched a previous devotional of his called Character of Christ. It is one of the most amazing devotionals I have ever heard! Look it up. Right after the devotional, we typically go and watch a church movie or something like that, but when it ended, everyone stood up, and in walks Elder Bednar with no previous warning! He held a question and answer session with us. It was amazing! Then afterwards, we were waiting for our bus to go back to West Campus, and E. B. walked out of the gym and shook all of the missionaries hands! He is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Second, I am going to Mexico morning! My companion and I leave at to get a flight. I'm pretty excited, although it is kind of a bummer that I am leaving so many awesome people already. But I am looking forward to it. I feel like I will learn the language must faster there than here. And I will make sure my bags are within limitations. They have a scale somewhere that I will be able to use to weigh my bags to make sure they are not too heavy. 

So, for food, it is a lot of different things. Nothing is good for you, it is way calorie loaded. Uhh, we have asian sometimes, chicken, burritos, french toast, other stuff, I can't think of anything right now. 

We went to the Provo temple last Tuesday and will be going again later today. It is an amazing experience, even just to be inside or around the house of the Lord! 

I got the visuals, thank you! And as far as investigators, the only one we have right now is Daniel. I don't know what I told you about him, but he approached us last week and asked if we wanted to come to his apartment. So we did. We chatted and shared a short message, then the next day, we went back and just got to know him. He says he is already happy and does not need the BOM, so we decided just to talk to him and get to know him. Then, he said he had an interview and that he had forgotten a belt, so I lent him mine. However I have still not gotten it back yet, haha.. so hopefully he remembers it when we teach him in about a half hour. But if not, its all good! It was my nice belt, but I have another one, and he needed it more than me so he could get the funding he needed to help support his family, who are in Mexico now. I'll miss him!

I'm happy for all of the kids and all of their adventures! It all sounds so exciting! Thanks for telling me! 

Everything else is going well here. I'm so sad to hear about Grandpa Burnett. He was an amazing man. John 14:27-28 is an amazing scripture, and gives me comfort.

 I don't know when P-day is in Mexico, but I will email you again as soon as I can!

I love you all! Also, look up the Mormon Message "The Will of God". I think it is elder christofferson.. but not sure. It is amazing! There are some animated kind of parts. That is how you can recognize it. It is so good!!

Thank you! I miss and love everyone! 

Elder Parker

May 13, 2014 - El Don de Lenguas

Que paso? 

I had a way cool experience on Monday morning. My companion and I were preparing a lesson for one of our investigadores in one of the rooms in our building and I had come into the main room to get my scriptures. As I was glancing over everything for my desk, I saw both my english and spanish preach my gospels on my desk. I read the title of my big one which was my Predicad Mi Evangelio and then I looked at my little one, which is my Preach my Gospel. When I read the title of the english one, though, it said Predicad Mi Evangelio. Then when I looked back, it said Preach My Gospel again. It was such a testimony builder for me and helped me so much realize that the Lord can do anything and that I will be able to learn the language because He has sent me here to learn and to teach and bring others unto Christ in the spanish language.

The MTC has been really good! I love my companion, and the other companionship that we are always with, who live with us. The food is okay. We never really have a choice of what to eat. They just have one main course for us. Its not very good for you, but it tastes fine. There is always donuts and cookies and cake and all that junk, and it is no bueno. We ate at main campus today, and they have it so much better with hundreds of choices. 

Teaching in Spanish is way hard. So hard. It is really cool though because you really do have to speak with plainness and simplicity and rely on the Spirit to help you with the rest. We have two investigators right now. One is Mario, and he is awesome. He reads everything that we ask him to, and we just got him to pray with us for the first time last night. He feels that our message is true, and that it is the right thing, so we invited him to be baptized. He just said that he wanted more time and to know more. 

Our other investigador is Daniel. He invited us to come to his apartment yesterday just out of the blue. So we went, and just told him that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and made a return appointment then left him with a prayer. We went back this morning, and asked him why invited us to share a message with him. Then he said he did not mean to ask for a message, just wanted to talk to us and get to know us. We were like, uhhhhhhhhhhh, what do we do know..? So we just started talking about the Book of Mormon and how it was true and all this stuff that was probably overwhelming. He then told us that he had peace and happiness and a relationship with God, so why should he read the Book of Mormon? We were stumped, in Spanish at least. So we made another appointment with him for tomorrow, and told him we were just going to talk to him and get to know him, no teaching or preaching or anything. So hopefully that goes well. 

We have 10 hours of class everyday, which get really tiring. By the end of the day, we are all tired and kind of burned out, ready to go home.  But I know we will be blessed by following this schedule and learning all that we can in order to teach effectively. I kind of wish I was staying here in Provo the full six weeks because I have already met amazing people, and feel comfortable with them. But it is the will of the Lord. We have not heard anything about leaving yet, though, so we will see. 

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers! They are greatly, greatly appreciated. It helps so much to have the support of family and friends. Everyone always remember to live your life like God is always by your side. Imagine that He is right next to you, because He really is. I have felt Him at my side, helping and comforting me. It is amazing. 

The Lord lives, and His spirit is a constant guide and companion for all of us. Stand for what you know to be true in all times and in all things and in all places, and He will bless you more than you could ever imagine possible.

I love you all!

Elder Parker

May 11, 2014 - Mother's Day

We were able to talk on the phone with Elder Parker on Mother's Day for 30 minutes (computer countdown, you have 5 minutes remaining, you have 2 minutes remaining...).  It was such a treat.  We were thrilled to have any time with him.  He sounds great!  He is so positive and seems really happy.  He is working hard!

We are so grateful for this opportunity that he has to serve!