And the floods came up - July 16, 2012

Hahahahaha family this has been the second weirdest week of my entire mission. Seriously.
Also your emails were seriously so great this week. I absolutely loved them.
So monsoon season started here in Prescott. It was POURING Friday morning during our district meeting. We were super excited. And then we got home and half of our carpet was completely soaked. And the garage had flooded. So we swept out the water in the garage and started moving our furniture to the other side of the room so Bill could rip up the carpet. It was exciting. Bleh. I'm getting really bad at telling stories. Well then the Bill's mom, whose house we live in, said that we just need to replace the carpet, so while we were out tracting Saturday morning, the ward surprised us and moved all of our stuff upstairs to the living room - even our beds! So we're living upstairs for now. Half of our stuff is in the garage and the rest is upstairs in our makeshift room. It's kind of like being on vacation haha.
This week was really great even with all the rain and flooding. Through the efforts of wonderful members, we've found some new people that are eager to learn more about the gospel and make covenants with God. We had a baptism last night for a wonderful young man named Brian who bore a solid and sincere testimony about how he felt that he was in darkness before but how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought him out of it and how he knows anything is possible now. It was very sweet. There were so many people in attendance we had to move the short service to the chapel.
Ha this happens every week where I have so much to say during the week but then once I sit down here at the computer I have nothing to say. Maybe that's why usually during the week I take notes of things that happen and that I want to tell you about. Well looks like I have more time to respond to your individual emails! Yay!
Love all of you bunches and oats.
Oh and yes Mom tranfers are every six weeks - so I'm here in Prescott until the first week of August.
LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sister Parks

Oh ANNNNNDDDDD

Oh and I saved the house from catching on fire! Sunday morning I was rushing around trying to find all my stuff (3 locations for items of value is not intelligent), and I walked into the garage and noticed that there was some sizzling and smoke coming off. Apparently there was some electrical stuff out that was in the still left over flood waters. And I saved the house. OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! Brag moment for the day. Love ya!

PHEW! - July 9, 2012

I just spent a whole lot of time writing President Taylor and then responding to all the individual emails I've neglected over the past few weeks. SO I had a whole lot to say but we'll see how much I get through before we have to leave.
Our 4th of July was pretty good. It was a normal day other than that we had to be in by 6:00 pm. I was going to take a nap but was kind of jazzed so we watched a couple church movies and then planned for the next day. Then we went upstairs on the porch and were able to see some fireworks. Pretty chill. And running into so many people at home for the holiday made me realize just how stupid alcohol is. Like really. And it makes people pretty stupid too. I say that lovingly but kind of disgusted as well. Yeah. But otherwise a totally great day! And it made me very grateful that alcohol is not in my life!
And we had a chipmunk in our apartment a few days ago. It was totally right above my bed in the window. And we spent 20 minutes trying to get it out of our apartment. It ran all over my window, desk, bed, and even on my shoe. And I didn't even get a decent picture! Crazy.
Hey Dad I unclogged my first toilet this week! Twice actually. Bam. I felt like a beast.
Oh and a couple weeks ago I finished the Book of Mormon. I'd started in the MTC and couldn't believe how long it's taken me to read it all. But I did! Ah it's so amazing. I love it. Totally true.
Is my plaque done? Can I see a picture of it?
So we had zone interviews this past week with President Taylor. Oh my gosh it's like that entire 4 hours were just for me and my interview with President Taylor was just amazing. We talked about a lot of things and he addressed so many of my concerns and then offered to give me a blessing!!! Oh my gosh I had never even dreamed that that was possible. So yeah after my interview he gave me a blessing and this huge rush of calm strength just flooded me. There are so many things I need to work on as a missionary, and it was great to be there with President and talk about these things and to get that encouragment. I actually asked him a lot of personal questions too haha which probably was weird, but hearing about his own experiences helped me to understand mine. And he of course was great. Oh wow that helped so much. I was seriously in tears the whole time but it was amazing. And then after my interview I came out and the rest of my zone was watching 17 Miracles! What?! I know. So I watched a real movie... It was weird. But really good. And we talked about the principles of faith and hope and how help will always come. It was just amazing. And we watched this great clip with talks from President Erying and Elder Holland about the Atonement and how salvation is not cheap. It really answered the questions and concerns I'd had lately about how hard missionary work is and the attitude I struggle to have every day. Ah it was just amazing. Elder Holland talked about how to truly be a disciple of Christ requires us to partake of a small token of what He suffered. For us to understand the Atonement, we need to need it. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I loved every minute. I just need to maintain this!
Okay sorry I super have to go. Bleh. One day I really will learn to balance my time on the computer.
Love all of you so much! I pray for my wonderful family all the time. I hope that you're receiving blessings from my mission as I'm receiving the blessings as well. This is such an amazing opportunity. I feel so amazed at the change I've seen in myself and hope that these changes will last!
Thanks for all the support and prayers. Your advice, news, and love is priceless to me and so necessary. Even you Matt! Actually getting your letter made me realize how much I treasure advice from a returned missionary. So... guilt trip?! Yes. Your letter was wonderful.
As are all your letters and emails! Seriously.
Okay I really have to go. Ahhhhhh LLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Sister Parks!

Cloudy skies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - July 2, 2012

FAMILY THERE ARE CLOUDS IN THE SKY AND RAIN ON THE HORIZON! It's the best day ever.
Oh my gosh I am so sleep-deprived. We're going home after grocery shopping and taking naps. Seriously - I have it written in on my planner. I can't believe how long it's been since I've taken a nap. Like 4 weeks.
Also, I'm still in a trio! Surprise! Sister Culler is her name. She's from a ridiculously small town in south-central Colorado. She came out just the transfer after me. So she's only 6 weeks behind me.
I miss Sister Bruckman a lot. She was transferred down to the Surprise area. She'll be on a bike hahahahahahahahaha. Okay fine she has a car, but they don't have very many miles so she'll be using her bike too.
Also, my mormon.org profile was totally approved!!!!!!!!!!! Here's the link. Please ignore the picture of myself. http://mormon.org/me/89Q5/
Pretty exciting ya?! I know.
Well this week was absolutely fascinating. We had like 6 meal appointments starting Wednesday night. That is a rarity. It makes us so tired haha because we have no time to go home and just chillax and revamp ourselves for like 20 minutes.
Honestly not much to report this week, sorry. Other than the fascinating meal appointments. We have a new missionary in our district named Elder Jones. He seems pretty interesting. Our new zone leader, Elder Bartleson seems nice too.
We're trying to work hard. I am striving to be more consistently optimistic and excited about the work because everything is worthless if one doesn't want to be out here.
And we met 3 Jims yesterday. Crazy.
Sorry Sister Falke and I spent too long talking today. I'm gonna go write another email really fast.
Okay bye. LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sister Parks

Transfer news! - June 25, 2012

Ahhh I don't know how to send my zone picture to you!!!!!!!! SADDDDDD. In fact, I have like 4 pictures to send you this week but for some reason they don't seem to be working. Just let me know if you don't get them.
Oh and I'm staying in Prescott!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But Sister Bruckman is leaving :(
And our district leader, Elder Keele, flew home this morning.
And one of our zone leaders, Elder Nelson (who's been here like 9 months or something) is being transferred too.
Our district meeting this week will be fascinating to say the least.
I was very nervous about this round of transfers, but it's been amazing to see - when we got the news this morning - how inspired these decisions are. Tomorrow we'll go down to Glendale (Phoenix) for transfer meeting. It'll be my first one to go to since my own transfer meeting when I first got here and was told I was going to Prescott and had no idea what that meant. Sister Falke and I aren't sure if we're still going to be a trio (like if they'll give us another Sister) or if we're just giving Sister Bruckman to someone else. So we'll see.
The first picture if of our last district meeting with Elder Keele. He was a great district leader! We'll miss him. There was a little surprise party for him last Friday night that we were able to attend for like 15 minutes before rushing off to another appointment. His companion, Elder Dunn, sang him a song that was super great. We gave Elder Keele a cd, a bouncy ball, and a flashlight. Aren't we thoughtful :)
Doug's baptism was on Saturday! The zone leaders came because they had an investigator and Elder Nelson was baptizing Doug. Gah my leaders make me so nervous. Especially because they were sitting right behind us. It's been like a month and a half since our last baptism so I was nervous already. Anyway. But our baptism presentation (we give like a mini lesson while they change after the ordinance) went really well I think. Baptisms are always so amazing.
The next picture is about how close I've gotten to holding a wild wabbit! Monday morning we went on our brisk walk for exercise and there were like 5 bunnies that morning! I got really close to one but he came up so close to me that I honestly didn't know if I should just squat down really fast and grab him etc. It was difficult. Well Monday night we went over to a member's home to share a brief lesson, and turns out their uncle had just captured a little baby bunny and they'd only had it for a few days! So I got to hold it!!!! Oh my gosh isn't my face awful?! I need to start wearing sunscreen as my nose is nasty freckled and 3 shades off from the rest of my face. So funny. And ridiculous.
Then the last picture is hopefully the last phase of our pranks with the zone leaders to each other's trucks. As it was our last chance to prank Elder Nelson and to prank him as a trio, we stopped by while he was doing emails and put that bathroom mat we picked up off the street and gave their truck a face. Hopefully he enjoyed it hahahaha. The orange note on the side is from the last time they pranked our truck (by wrapping it in saran wrap) and says, "EAT THAT! HAHAHAHAHA Nelson and Brame". We thought it would be a nice touch. I promise we're super responsible and serious missionaries.
Bleh so we had "Invite Your Friend to Church Day" in one of wards this past Sunday and literally there was only 1 visitor there hahaha. Okay so like 3. So I'm looking around the chapel as sacrament meeting is starting and come to the realization that I know everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I was torn between being disappointed that I knew everyone (I finally know one of my wards!) and that I knew everyone (aka there are no visitors). It was pretty funny. Turns out there's a silver lining to everything.
Also something nice happened on our way to district meeting this past Friday. So I've been pretty anxious about transfers this week and feeling a bit overwhelmed in a lot of ways because no matter what the changes were going to be, it was going to be hard and a change and more opportunities of growth for me. And we all know how well I handle change and growth. Yeah. Well we were driving to district meeting and I was looking out over the streets of Prescott and just had this amazing sense of calm strength. I knew at that moment that there was work to be done in Prescott and that I'd be here and provided the abilities to be able to do the work of bringing people unto Christ.
ALSO HOLY COW MATT AND TAYLOR HAVE BEEN MARRIED LIKE 6 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS SO AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've finally finished my mormon.org profile now that I have a picture of myself. It'll be reviewed and should hopefully be up in a couple weeks. Exciting ya?! I'll give you the link as soon as it's real.
We're teaching some wonderful people right now. One of them is a 16-year-old and he's really got us thinking of ways that we can empower the youth to share the best part of their lives with their friends. We've really been racking our brains as to what would have helped us when we were youth because now that we're on missions we realize how wonderful it would have been to just invite our friends to learn more about the gospel. And as a youth there are so many opportunities!
Well family. I know that this church is Christ's church on the earth again with His authority to perform wonderful ordainances that seal us to our eternal family. I believe in a God that continues to make covenants with His children. I know that He loves me! He loves the people of Prescott, and I'm excited for another 6 weeks to do my best to find those that are ready to change their lives and find the ultimate peace and happiness!
Thanks for your prayers. I really do feel them.
Love you lots! Have fun at EFY Hannah!!!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE
Sister Parks (isn't that so cool that I'm a real missionary?!)

HIIIIIIIIII - June 18, 2012

Hi Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE Y'ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whew I've been waiting a week to say that.
So crazy story. We had helped this one lady in the ward get ready for a funeral and she wrote us thank you notes in the mail. BUT she had our first names on the cards!!!!!! We were super freaked out (in a normal way) because only the elders know our first names, and we haven't shared our first names with any of our members. So we finally asked her and she said they were on the ward directory!!!!! Sure enough - she logged on to the ward directory on lds.org and there's a "Missionary" section now that shows the missionaries serving in your ward and from your ward! So our first names are totally right there available to all our wards! I just went and logged in myself, but I can't look up the wards I'm serving in! But I did get to see myself serving from the Shoal Creek Ward. Cute.
Also, I was watching some mormon.org profiles the other day and I think I found Morty's mission president! Crazy. I think. Because she's going to be serving in the Florida Tampa Mission. It's www.mormon.org/bruce.
It's wabbit season here in Prescott like all the day. I'm trying to catch one. We used to see a lot of wildlife on our morning runs/walks but lately all we see (since it's getting brighter and brighter in the mornings) are lizards (everywhere!!!!!!) and birds. Anyway. But during the day I try and catch rabbits. I've gotten like within 4 feet of one! I was coming up behind it super slow (well not really because we had an appointment) but then it turned around and looked at me right as I was picking up my foot so I had to freeze with one foot off the ground and balance in perfect stillness like a ninja! Then it ran away. Bleh. I still have no idea what I'll do when I catch a wabbit! But I will!
This week I've been working more on putting my whole heart into something. We were talking about it a lot this week and I was trying to think of times that I put my whole heart into anything. I mostly came up blank. So maybe that's another reason I'm out here on a mission.
We're going shopping today I think because we got an email last week about our clothes and we all feel slightly guilty and packed away a couple. And it's getting super hot (okay only like 90s) and we have to figure out what to wear.
Point being - this email is completely useless but it's all I have time for. Love you all so much! The church is TRUE. It changes lives.
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
Sister Parks

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

Mid-transfer week

Hello family!
This email is going to be all over the place because I'm emailing President Taylor at the same time. This week was honestly really hard in a lot of ways, but I'm trying not to dwell because it got a lot better in weird ways this weekend. In fact, you should probably edit it hardcore before you put it on the blog. Thanks again Hannah! Everyone tells me it's awesome still.
Exchanges this past Wednesday were pretty ridiculous. But I got to drive the truck! It was awesome. We had literally nothing planned in our area (at all. No appointments or nothing) so Sister Murdock and I had a lot of prayerful improv to figure out what we were going to do all day long and how we could best spend our time. It was honestly pretty stressful. I felt super inadequate. But I learned a lot. A lot. And it was fun driving the truck so much and being able to spend time with Sister Murdock.
Also I cut off 7 inches of my hair. Roughly. We didn't actually measure it. But then we went right to softball with our zone so I put it up in a ponytail and laughed about how Mom would just be lamenting the fact that I always do that after I get my hair cut. It looks pretty cute. I had split ends out the wahzoo because it's so dry here! It was so nasty. Like that one time I thought I wouldn't cut my hair until it was long enough to donate to Locks of Love... yeah... It hits about my shoulders now instead of like midback so it should be a lot curlier, easier to manage, and hopefully cooler in the hot sun! I'll take a picture this week when my hair's not so crunchy and sweaty.
So this is the start of week 4 of my 3rd transfer! Pretty crazy honestly. I'm worried that I'll struggle a lot when I'm eventually not in a trio (even if that isn't for another 2-3 months) because I've gotten super comfortable in a trio.
Happy birthday Lilly! Btw. I sent her a letter last week or the week before and barely remembered her birthday. Haha it's so impossible to remember birthdays. Oh my gosh. Like even in my district I remembered Elder Keele's birthday and was super proud of myself until the next Friday Elder Brame walks in with a "Birthday Boy" badge on his coat and I had no idea. Embarrassing. I'm sure Dad (and Sister Falke for that matter) would tell me to stop worrying and calm down. There's a ton to remember all the time!
So we played softball today with our zone and I have seriously been freaking out about this since we got the text Wednesday morning about it. Even to the point where I was out in center field (hahahahahahahahahahaha) and we were playing. But I totally held my own! It's totally weird how my concerns are met at times. Anyway.
I have random bug bites on my arms and hands. Sorry not very many - like 10 or so. The ones on my hands looks like ant bites. Weird, ya?
I just got an email from my friend, Lyndsey Morgan and she's going to the San Antonio Mission while she waits for her visa!!!!!! Awesome right?! I'm super excited.
Our district BBQ was interesting haha. It's so funny how we're not really friends with the elders but kind of are. Our zone leaders brought bologna and our district leader was mortified hahahahahaha. I'm pretty sure our zone leaders are getting crazier and crazier. My district consists of really awesome missionaries.
Had another buffalo burger last Tuesday before we drove the hour and 15 minutes to meet Sister Murdock and her companion to do the exchange. I'm telling you - they taste just like hamburger. It's kind of disappointing and yet comforting hahaha.
Oh and I went out to eat for the first time (well at a restaurant)! One of our recent converts, Chris, took us to Olive Garden with his FIANCE!!!!!!! We're so happy. Shea is totally awesome and we love her. And it was actually pretty good because I totally ran out of money last month (well I had $14 left for my last week) so we were happy to be fed.
We ran into a super hardcore anti-Mormon this week which made me feel really dark and dirty (honestly like someone had shoved me in a manure pile and left me there to drown) for like 2 days. Bleh. Mostly people are just upset because they feel that we don't need anything more than the Bible. I just know that God isn't limited to some 1500 pages from thousands of years ago. Since He lives and still loves His children, I think He'd still want to communicate with His children. But that's just me.
So yeah we went all the way through this week with no lessons at all whatsoever (our goals are usually 10-20 lessons a week which is totally possible but just not happening). And then Friday we somehow had 2 and then another like 5 on Saturday. It was really great. Especially because Thursday was super low.
All of our new investigators this week are from the efforts of our elders haha. We're wondering if we should just let them do all the finding and we'll do the teaching. It's interesting how different people respond better to elders and how others respond better to sisters. I'm glad that there are both here in Prescott!
We met with our recent convert, Ashleigh yesterday with one of her visiting teachers (yay visiting teachers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). It was so amazing because when we first met Ashleigh back in March, she would barely talk to us at all and sit there on the couch while her husband did most of the talking. WHOLLY CHEESE WHAT A DIFFERENCE. We love her so much, and she was completely opening up to us and her visiting teacher who she like barely knows. It's so amazing the difference that truth has made in her life. She is so different.
ALSO I meant to tell y'all that I had a super cool impression at zone conference a couple weeks ago. In mortality and particularly as missionaries, we want people to have the blessings of baptism and the Holy Ghost and the accompanying covenants as soon as possible. It changes lives. And then I was thinking about why we let people in the Spirit World wait to receive the same blessings... just saying. We don't make them wait here despite all the distractions and imperfections of mortality, so why do we make them wait in immortality when they have the same needs and no ability to perform the ordinances themselves?
Anyway it's almost 4 and we have a dinner appointment at 5 (yay!!!!!) so I think we're going to go soon. Haha I'm sorry that I have no interesting stories. I think about the things I want to tell you during the week and then totally forget. I promise my life is interesting. Hard. But interesting and fun. I'm grateful and happy to be out here. I feel like I'm growing a lot. I just can't believe how far I still need to grow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's crazy. But awesome in a lot of ways haha.
I hope Hannah's job interview went great! I'm super proud of her.
I love all of you a lot. Miss you a lot! Promise. Thanks for the opportunity to be here!!!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
Sister Parks