November 26, 2012

This is a family in our ward. They always are serving others and teaching the gospel. They give us dinner some nights. They are my favorite family here, well one of them. Sorry I am writing so early this morning. We have to because we need to write the president about the baptism.

Our zone and district. But it is going to change tomorrow. We will still have Elder Rawlings as our zone leader. The one in the front crouched on his heels.

Pues.... hola familia!!!! We had a baptism!! His name is Enrique he is 62 years. We have been teaching him for about 3 weeks. Then today at 5 o clock we are going to baptize a woman that is 89 years!! She has been a catholic her whole life! The missionaries would always visit her and she would say no! Her son is a member. She is a really strong Catholic. She has the pictures she prays to and everything. Many times they have tried converting her, but she was so strong in her religion. Well, we took her to church yesterday and we opened up the baptisimal font, sang a song, and asked her if she wanted to be baptized. She said yes!! We were going to baptize her right then and there, but her sister said tomorrow. So this morning we were studying and the son called us. Satan is always working against us. Her sister went to her house and convinced her not to be baptized. Because she is also a strong Catholic. So we hung up and started praying. Then right after we ended praying the son called us back. She threw away all her pictures and the photos of the Catholic stuff and wants to get baptized still!! She says, I want to make my own decisions. I know what I must do, this is the right way. So we will baptize her at 5 today. For church, she was ready at 8 o clock in the morning for church, and church doesn't even start until 1. She is the cutest little old lady and she is so excited to get baptized. It is seriously a miracle. She never wanted anything to do with it, then one day she wants to change her whole religion. It is a miracle.

Well, I received a Christmas package and more letters. I haven't opened the package yet because I don't know if I should or not. There was a fair in town. It reminded me of the one at Hurricane. They had a lot of rides and treats and stuff. But we just walked past it. It felt like I was in a dream or something. Seriously. I felt so weird like I was in space or something. Well on Thanksgiving, we ate with a member for lunch and guess what, we ate mashed potatoes! We had so much food, and I was still full by the time I went to bed. So then I had my own little one. We ate the snacks you sent us and took pictures with the mustaches. It was Elder Velazquezs first Thanksgiving. He loved it. Then that night Elder Rawlings, our zone leader, called me and wished me a happy one. He said he forgot until the night, and his companion told him. He is awesome. Well, I guess the President of Mexico came here to Tuxtla. Because there was a new hospital that opened up here, by our house. There were tons and tons of cars and people and video broadcasting people. But we didn't get to see him.

We found out today that I will be staying in my area!!! yaya!!! I am so happy. I will be getting a new companion that is named Cortina or something like that. He is coming from a Tuchtzla place, or however you spell that. This will be his last transfer also. So after the next transfer I will get another companion. Four in four transfers!!! Elder Velazquez is sad to go home but at the same time happy to see his family. I hope all is well at home! I love you all. I am loving it here!! I am picking up on the language a little bit more, but I still have a lot to learn. I guided the baptisimal service with Enrique. I made the announcements and everything. A little scary, but somebody's got to do the work :) I love you all. !!! Love Elder Parker, Spiderman. Once again, a member asked how Spiderman is doing. haha

November 19, 2012

I love you so much mom and family! Thank you so much for the package and the letters. I received more letters this past Monday because an Elder in my district went to the mission home and picked them up for me. I opened the package last Friday. Thank you so much. I enjoyed it. We took some pictures with the glasses on and they are so hilarious. I am glad that you are having good experiences. I dont have a lot of time this week to write. But I will try my best. First off we have had some really amazing experiences that have brought the spirit. First off the Gellegos family. The one in the picture that always help us out . Well, we went one night to sing a hymn for them. Out of nowhere. We got there and the dad said why are you here? I was like, why are you saying this. I was so confused. He kept asking and I thought he wanted us to leave. Then after we sang the song he asked for a blessing and we said sure. Right after the blessing he started crying and his whole family started crying also. He said this is what I needed. Who sent you here? We said no one, he said I have been praying for help and this is exactly what I needed to hear. It was so spiritual and we were instruments in the Lords hands.

Well, just as I thought it couldn´t get any weirder, it did. Someone called me Chuck Norris. hahah We were in the street and he said hey Chuck Norris come over here. Of course he was drunk. hahha

I watched a Mormon message that is really spiritual. It is called "The Will of God" it is new. You should watch it. Wow, we had another spiritual experience. We showed up to our investigators house. She is our strongest one right now. She started saying how the Catholics came and visited her and she said how she was going to start going with them again. And all this stuff. I was devastated. We were both like, why?! So then we started the lesson and read a bunch of scriptures and bore our testimonies like crazy. Then we asked her to say the closing prayer. I was praying and praying inside for her to feel the spirit, but she wasn´t feeling it at all. Then all of a sudden in her prayer she started crying so much, and it took her along time to finish. We then said this is the spirit that lets you know the truth of all things. It was incredible. One of the most powerful lessons I have had in the mission field so far. Oh, for Christmas we can skype each other so just to be safe, you can probably create your account right now so you know how to use it and everything. I love you all so much!! I am doing fine, don´t worry about me at all. I love you.
Love Elder Parker, Spiderman, Chuck Norris, Gringo or Guero.

November 12, 2012

I am totally fine!! We did feel an aftershock one day this week. It was the weirdest thing I have ever been in. My companion and I were practicing a lesson in our house and all of a sudden the tables started shaking and everything was moving. It felt like we were on a ride in Disneyland or something, it was actually really fun. But at the time yes, I was really scared. Because it was my first time being in one since I can remember. We ran outside so we would be safe to not have anything fall on us. Then after about 3 minutes we went back in. It wasn't that bad here at all. It was actually neat to have an experience like that.

Yes, I got all the letters and the package. I opened the package last Tuesday when I got it and it said wait, so I think I will open it tonight. The only thing is I can't remember when Thanksgiving is hahaha. I think it is like the third Thursday or something. Being here, I am forgetting so many things back in the U.S.A. For example,this morning my companion wanted me to pray in English with him. So I started to and during the whole thing I was struggling, I would accidently say words in Spanish. It was so funny. Today we did something really fun. We went to central. There are tons and tons of stores there. We bought a few gifts and just explored. We took a few pictures and I will try to send some. It was fun to see all the people and stores with tons of stuff. Tell Grandpa and Linda and Memaw thanks for the letters. I loved them. I already have made grandpas puzzle that he gave me it is on my table. And I loved grandmas letters with the inspiring quotes.

Lauren, I feel so bad of what happened to you in tennis. But Lauren, I can tell that you have grown. You are so strong already, you have a great spirit about you. During the letter when I was reading it I felt the spirit throughout the whole letter. Well.. I received tons of letters that day, like 25 or something like that. I got a few letters from some girls and from Zach Jensen. Thank you so much for the letters, I loved reading them. Thanks Nat for the letters and for doing my blog. Thanks Nathan and Josh for the letters. I loved hearing about football and your parties. Thanks mom and dad also for the letters. I really do enjoy them. When I was at the Zone meeting on Tuesday was when I got my letters. The Zone leaders were handing out letters and they would say Elder Parker Elder Parker Elder Parker because like all the mail was mine, and the rest of the missionaries were like, are you serious? They were surprised. Then my companion said after 10 or so months you won't have as many as this anymore. hahah it was funny and everyone started laughing. He is so funny. He leaves home in like 2 weeks. The other night I heard the song "We are Young". I like that song. |I also got Courts letter. It was so nice to get it. I hope she is doing alright with her change.

The other night also , 4 cop trucks sped past us in a dangerous part of our area. They had mililtary men in the back with machine guns. And 3 cop cars followed after them. i guess this area, well part of this area is pretty dangerous. All the people were scared and stuff. But we are totally fine, we won't get hurt because we are on the Lords side. It is fun to see all the different stuff here in Mexico. Sometimes it is so weird to think that I am actually in Mexico. I love you all so much. how is everyone doing? we had a man come to church with us this week. We found him last week and he read 20 chapters of the Book of Mormon in the first day. I hope he is a escohido. A chosen one. Well right now...3 more cop cars just passed by our building with swat and machine guns. My companion says, our area, isn't it great? Ha ha

Well I think my time is almost up. I love you all so much. How is the weather there? I feel so blessed. I am still healthy. Knock on wood. But I am in a good area with decent food and stuff. Once I go to a small village is when I will have a higher chance of getting sick. We had a meeting with the president yesterday and all the bishops and stake presidents. Our mission is going to get 100 new missions by March. We will have about 250 missions in this mission. That is a ton of missionaries. If you have a chance look up on google earth Torre de Chiapas in Tuxtla Gutierrez Mexico. It is by our church somewhat, like 8 minutes away. I guess it is really famous. It is really really tall. Like the tallest building here in Chiapas. It will give you an idea of where I am at. My area is Bosque. I live in Las Torres. My road is Tapachula and my house number is 39. So if it works on google earth or not you can get an idea of where I am at. Our proselyting areas are Las Torres, La Floresta, La Patria Nueva and Gabriela Gutierrez, and Evolucion Politica and a few smaller areas. Vida Mejor is in our ward also, but the other missions have that seccion, that secion is above our area. I love you all so much. Adios familia!! gracias por las cartas y por la paqueta. Estoy muy agradecido por su ayuda y por sus testimonios en el solomente iglesia verdadera en la tierra. Con mucho amor y con mucho hombre araña hahah chiste Love Elder Parker or Peter Parker because every single person here calls me Spiderman.

November 5, 2012

Hola familia feliz!!! Como estan? Wow, this week has gone by so super fast! It was a really really good week though!! We had the chance to hear from Elder Johnson from the 70!! It was so spiritual. He talked about how we are children of God. I know for sure we are his children. I also got to see all my old district there except for Elder Petersen. It was nice to talk to Elder Jones and Elder Stevenson and Taggart, Prudhomme, Gooden, and Bassett. We all had a good time, we are seriously the closest group there is in the whole mission. Same with the MTC when we were there. I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday, I once again started crying. I can´t help it , it just comes.
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So this week we have worked even harder. We had 20 lessons with a member present. It is such a high number. The zone goal is like 12. Enrique, the guy that visited Hurricane, we taught his family for the first time. It was so spiritual and they said they would go to church. During church we passed by before and they weren´t there. I was so sad. We got to the church and none of our invetigators were there. It was depressing. But then a matrimonio came walking in and it was incredible. Then there were two others that walked in with member families. We were then sitting listening to testimonios. We had a feeling to go outiside where there was service for the cell phone. All of a sudden one investigator called and said I am waiting out by the gate. We ran, seriously ran, and she said I have been waiting here for 20 minutes. It was such a spiritual experience. She said after that she felt contento and was very pleased for the church. We have a lesson with her this week. I hope she will get baptized, she is catholic like all the people here, but I have faith. The family of Enrique, like I was saying, we stopped by Sunday night and asked why they didn´t come. They had an emergencia and had to drive to his sisters house cause she was really sick. So all is well with them. I was worried at first. I believe they are golden, but we will see.


After one night, we were going home with a member family. We said, oh man.. the hamburger store is closed. Because there are people that offer us hamburgers but we never have time. Then we got to our house and were planning, there was a knock at the door. It was the man with two hamburgers. It was such a happy time. We both were screaming with joy. It was the first time I have actually screamed in Mexico. hahaha
I saw a man with a Yellowstone shirt on, I asked if he has been to Yellowstone, he was like, no. Hahah he just found it probably, who knows. I also saw a shirt that said rocking in the USA. This week was full of many wonderful experiences. We have a meeting with the zone tomorrow, so I should get the mail and everything. We are going to try and get these two married tomorrow early in the morning so we can baptize them. Brother Cali Mayor, the one in the picture that is really small and old, bore his testimony about me. He said the first time he saw me when I entered his house, we gave him a blessing and gave him a short lesson , he said it strengthened his faith so much and he will never forget it. He loves me. And I love him too so much. I might give him a tie or something, because he only has one tie. I love you all so much!!!! Love Elder Parker-- Peter Parker, that is.
P.S. Guess what? Now we get to keep the 1300 por each month. Before we only got to keep 900 and the other for transportation, but now we get to keep all 1300.
P.P.S. On a funny note- my companion said the dogs go wow wow and roosters go kikiriki. ha ha