Sunday, June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day - June 11, 2012


Right? Isn't Father's Day this Sunday? Bahahahaha I hope Trenton didn't miss it. Anyway. Happy Father's Day! Dad - know that I love you. Hopefully I'll get out a card or something to you!!!!!!!!!!!! Bleh I'm amazing at how there's no time to write letters. At all. I feel so bad for getting so upset at all our elders when they used to not write us.
President and Sister Taylor sent a reminder email to us sisters about our clothes and how we need to be better about what we're wearing. I'm pretty sure that the MTC or something needs to have a clothing store so you can buy clothes when you get there (ok fine they have this little 90s getup that is super lame and way expensive). All I'm saying is that the more they tell us to watch what we're wearing, the more I stress out about it. I'm looking on http://missionary.lds.org/dress-grooming/sister/?lang=eng right now just looking at what I should be wearing. WHERE do they find these clothes?! Anyway. Sorry. Stressed just a little bit. Please pass along the encouragement to my old roommates preparing for missions that they need to have basically those exact outfits and if they're remotely concerned about an article of clothing, buy something new now and don't bring it. I have a couple skits and shirts I should probably send home, including that BEAUTIFUL rose shirt Hannah gave me, but that's because it keeps ripping and I can't stop myself from wearing it unless I actually put it in a box to go ship home.
NOT THAT THIS IS A PLEA FOR MORE CLOTHES. I just need to be comfortable with like 5 outfits rather than be uncomfortable with 8.
UM WHAT IS ARIEL ENGAGED? CLARIFICATION PLEASE. TO BEN? Haha it's times like these that I miss instant communication. I don't know how people back in the day were able to stand it.
Oh and I had a dream last night but I don't remember what it was. What I do remember though is waking up and thinking to myself, "Well. I think I'd like to be an author." So I guess I'm going to be a writer in 18 months when I get back from my mission. Wholly cheese that seems like it's so far away.
So this week. Pretty good! We have some new investigators! We have someone that just moved into our ward from our zone leader's ward who has a baptism date hahaha. We always steal their baptisms from ward boundaries. So funny. So Doug was an interesting answer to our prayers for a baptism in June hahaha. Poor elders.
I'm sending you pictures of my hair. But do you like it? I like it a lot. My parts are always crazy and all over the place because it's so windy in Prescott and it's so short that is goes wherever it wants! Awesome. The only trick now is trying to get it not to deflate so bad by the end of the day. So Sister Falke and I were looking at and comparing all the different types of mousses and gels etc today when we hear this lady behind us say, "Oh my gosh you two have the prettiest curls! Is that natural?!" So yes, dry your tears of joy, Mom. The lady proceeded to tell us how much money she's spent trying to get her hair to look like ours and we both laughed a little because that's exactly what both of our mothers tell us. Pretty crazy.
Oh my gosh it was so funny. Our district and zone leaders had some leadership training meetings this week and picked up our mail from the mission office. Well Bishop Jamison and Brother Pace write me very regularly at that address, so I almost always have mail when they go to pick it up. And so I guess the elders were kind of getting jealous (excuse me for laughing SO HARD right now even as I think about it) because Elder Nelson finally asked, "Do you just get all your mail sent to the mission home?!" (rather than to my real address in Prescott) and I said simply, "No". In fact, I'd just gotten letters from Taylor, Matt, and Lizzie!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway they all were just baffled at how much mail I supposedly get and it was super funny. I guess I'm just very blessed. :) Bleh that was funnier when it happened. As I read over it it just sounds self-absorbed. Oh well. You know my true intentions.
Also guess what?! I'm getting a tan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not kidding. Granted - it's the worst tan I could ever have probably (my feet are darker than my toes, my arms are darker than my shoulders, and my calves are darker than my thighs) but it's TOTALLY HAPPENING. I'm not burning even. Just getting darker. It's the freakiest thing I've ever seen, but my companions tell me it's normal and that most people call it "a tan". It's pretty amazing. And then I realized that by the end of this summer my legs will totally be darker than Trenton's hahahahahahahahahaha. Isn't that funny. Bahaha. Oh and my nose keeps getting darker than the rest of my face. That's annoying haha.
Oh and funny story. Sort of. We were driving along the road we live on which is nicknamed 21 Curves. We've seen some javalinas there a couple times, and Sister Falke one night launches into about how sometimes she wonders what it would be like if we actually ran over a javalina (there are no streetlights in Prescott [okay maybe like 5] so only 21 Curves it's very possible for this to happen) and for some reason I told her that it'd be totally fine and she shouldn't worry about it. She proceeded to ask what made me say that, and so I related to her the incident very early in the morning out in Yoakum when Uncle Daryl accidentally ran over and killed 10 feral hogs and how his suburban only had a few dents and blood stains. My companions think our family is crazy. Hahahaha but who would have thought I'd ever be able to tell that story again?! Funny. Oh and I saw little quail chicks this week! SSSSSSooooooooooooo cccccccuuuuuuuuuuttttttttteeeeeee.
So in answer to the questions that I can remember from all of your glorious emails!
1. I'd tell you to edit my emails, but I think that would just stress everyone out a bit. So I'll try and be better about saying "this is for family only" or "don't put this on the blog" and use spellcheck so you don't have to worry too much about me embarrassing myself more than I already do in these haha. But thank you!
3. Out of the Equalized Missionary Fund, each missionary in my mission receives $125 a month. This money is to be used for groceries, grooming items (so hair products, makeup, shampoo, etc), laundry, cleaning supplies (my mission actually supplies most of these), haircuts, and postage for mail to family and others. We can use our personal funds whenever we choose, but like Trenton said, we're encouraged to be super frugal and not buy more than we need. So like I could have used my missionary card for my haircut, but then I wouldn't have had enough money for groceries, so I used my personal card. We have a separate card that pays for gas and car inspections etc. We're reminded often that the funds we use are very sacred. We try and be smart with our money but have room for improvement for sure. Bike repairs, clothes, and pre-existing medical conditions (like my prescriptions) are paid with personal funds. That's another reason why we don't go out to eat very often because it sucks up our missionary funds pretty quickly. Does that help Dad? I wasn't quite sure what your question was.
4. Yes! All those summers playing softball at Mo-Ranch totally paid off. I was super happy.
Also, I saw a really cool house the other day. Well not really. But I thought the siding was cool, and since the people supposedly weren't home, I took the liberty of examining their siding. It looks like they bought it in the normal white color one usually buys, and then they painted it gray without any primer. So it ended up looking like faded wood or something. Anyway it was super cool. I liked it a lot.
I'm eager sometimes to get home and start doing temple work and family history. There are really cool promises with that in my patriarchal blessing. So while I know I shouldn't wish to be going home (especially when I still have quite a few months to go) but sometimes it's exciting to think about the possibilities there!
We have exchanges this week so I get to see Sister Bailey again for a bit! Yay!
Ah the church is so true! I can't imagine going through life without all the wonderful details and truths that come from the restoration. I was thinking about the other day all the effort that goes into one person getting baptized and staying active in the church. In the course of my mission, I'll probably contact thousands of people. Out of those thousands, only a few hundred will actually be interested at all. Out of those remotely interested, only a few will be diligent enough to listen to at least one lesson. Out of those few, even less will continue through the lessons and receive a testimony for themselves that they need to be baptized. Unfortunately, not even all of those people will actually be baptized and stay active. BUT it reminded me of a talk I think given just in the last priesthood session of general conference where I think Bishop Edgley just stated that yes, it's worth it. It's worth it for that one person and for the thousands that they then go and influence. Yes, there's this massive funnel of people over the course of time that we go through to find those that God has prepared to receive all the truths of the gospel and accept them. BUT the funnel can go the other way too as that one person makes those changes in their lives and continues to spread that even just to their family. I think about all the many people that the two elders who participated in Mom and Dad's conversions met, talked with, and taught and how much that has affected so many lives in just one generation. It's amazing! The worth of every single soul is great in the sight of God. This is a very sweet and inspiring work. It truly is the Lord's work. It wouldn't work if it wasn't! I hope that made some sense.
Well I better go and see if I can respond to your personal emails real quick! Love you all so much! Thanks so much for the emails - they are worth so much to me and really make so much of a difference. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
Sister Parks


No comments:

Post a Comment