Week 28: Mom email

We went back by the Indian reservation a few days ago. All but one of them were not home. The lady that did answer was going to come to church but she texted us and told us that her family had acquired head lice. That wouldn't have been good! Hopefully, they will be able to come next time.

Also, do you remember Brandon from Yelm?? The one afraid of water? He is now on date for baptism for the beginning of March! It is a few weeks after his dad undergoes some back surgery! I am so excited for him. It is going to be awesome! If he gets baptized, that will be the third person in Yelm I taught to get baptized!!

Dakota Bear, the priest age boy, who is the son of a guy who was baptized there a year ago was baptized recently! The father had reactivated a few weeks before I left Yelm and the son came up and said, "Hey, Bishop said to talk to you if I want to be baptized!" It was pretty cool. I am pretty sure he is active still, which is good. He gets along with the other priests pretty well. It was very cool to be a part of it.

Week 28: Hello!

This week was a good one as well. We did not do too much out of the ordinary. We knocked a lot of doors, talked to a lot of people, went and volunteered at the food bank. All of it was pretty fun. We knocked some pretty beautiful roads out in the middle of nowhere. That was quite the sight. We also had some good lessons this week as well. One lady that we are working with is super blind and really likes the messages we share. Elder Skousen has taught her every time and then every other time it has been a different missionary with him and she has not noticed haha. It is awesome.

Next week we will be having Elder Pearson of the area presidency visiting our mission so we will have to take the long hike back down to Tacoma for that and then a leadership meeting so we will be down there for 3-4 days. It should be quite the adventure. Elder Pearson used to be the mission president here 3 mission presidents ago and should have some really good advice for us as a mission. 

Anyways, that is all for this week. Nothing too crazy happened. Fun week. I look forward to the future adventures. Till next week.

Elder Parker

Board Game Collection!

Week 27: Transfer Week

Hello everyone!! This week was a lot of fun! 

On Tuesday we helped a lady finish painting her office and might have broken her window! Well, not on purpose of course. The building was built in the 40s, and everything is ancient inside. We opened the window because the room was getting hot. Then, like 10 minutes later the window slipped and fell down, slamming down on the sill, shattering the glass inside. That was pretty funny. The ower of the building fixed it the next day. Wednesday we worked at the food bank again! It was a lot of fun. I like this food bank a lot. It's huge and so much to do. Then, on Thursday we knocked on an Indian reservation. That was fun! The sign that said, "you are now subject to the Telk Tribal Law" was kinda spooky. All the street names were written in their language and looked so cool. A lot of them were really open to learning more too! We have so many return appointments there that it is basically like reknocking it haha. It was mindblowing. 

This Saturday we got our transfer calls as well! My whole district (us 4 and the Forks Elders) are all staying! President says we have all been doing really good up here and wants it to stay that way! I am really excited. I thought I would be leaving because I have served my entire mission around Elder Thacker, but I am happy to stay. This will be the 5th transfer we have spent basically companions. It's crazy. He has been out 11 months. I have been out exactly how far he was when he met me haha. It doesn't feel like I have been out 6 months! This area is beautiful with so many cool people.

Anyways, that all for this week. Till next time!

Elder Parker

Week 26: Mission Stuff. I Don't Know What to Call it.

Hello everyone! This week was a crazy busy one!

It started out kind of slow with just knocking all day long on Tuesday and meetings on Wednesday. They were both fun! On Thursday we did a ton! We started out by helping a member paint her office within a really weird building. The building was really old and all the walls were solid cement. It used to be an old hotel but they turned all the hotel rooms into little offices! It was fun to explore the place and see everything there. The top floor is permanently set up as a haunted house. That was kind of crazy. I bet it gets pretty scary when all the people start working in it. After that, we went and worked at the food bank for the first time in Port Angeles! The food bank here is huge and really nice compared to the one in Yelm. Everything is categorized and put on shelves and not just in boxes randomly. It was nice. We sorted all of the donations and pickups into their inventory while we were there. It was fun! It reminded me a lot of my job back home. I look forward to going back soon!

The next day, was mission leadership conference (mls) so we had to drive down to Silverdale to drop off the zone leaders. It was a long day in the car (1.5 hours each way). Then, me and Elder Skousen worked in Silverdale all day. It was fun to go and explore a different area for a day! Mlc went really well too! A log of good things are coming!

The next day, we went out and explored a town in our area we had never been to, Joyce. It is out there a ways and we finally had time to go to it. It was awesome. We found an old abandoned church building from when there was a branch out there that we have keys to. That was really convenient for bathroom breaks. We then knocked a road right next to the ocean. It was really beautiful. It would be an awesome place to live.

We had some really good lessons this week as well! One lady we are working with came to church the last couple weeks and really is enjoying it! She loves everything we say and says it all just makes sense. She should be getting baptized here within a week or 2!

Anyways, that's all for this week! I hope all of you had a good week too!

Until next week

Love

Elder Parker

Week 26: Mom email

When it is a cold day, I look at Northeast Greenland National Park and then I am thankful it isn't negative 40!

There are so many awesome places and lakes and stuff here to hike to, especially if you're here in the summer.

There is this place called Fast Burrito which is the best Mexican food I have had since Taco Macho. 0 of the weird white cheese.

Week 25: Emma email

This week was an interesting one. I felt tired like. All week long. Which was weird. I haven't had a week like that yet. I also bought big ole boots to keep my feet dry. We also went and knocked by a big trailer park a few days ago and that was pretty spooky. We didn't go in because on our map it says not to go there, like 5 times. Everyone around it was super paranoid of us and it was weird. There were also 2 baptisms in Forks this weekend! So me and Elder Thacker were going to go up to interview them to make sure they were good to go. We were gonna take the bus up. We got to the bus stop at 9:40 because the Forks missionaries said it was there at 9:45 but alas, it has a different schedule on Saturday so it wasn't leaving until 1:10! We sat at the bus stop for about 40 minutes before we found out haha. It was bad and then we didn't get to go because the baptism was at 1. They got someone else to do it. It was kinda a bummer.

Week 25: Family email

 I'm thinking about getting this vest. I want something I can wear under the rain jacket. I thought a vest might be good. It should be warm. It's all wool on the inside and the brand is known for construction workers haha.

I'm getting used to the rain. I don't think it is going to stop for quite a while though. I wear my raincoat almost every day. My new boots are like the most comfortable things to ever be placed on my feet. They are designed to last a while and are waterproof. They come with replaceable innersoles and are designed for loggers haha. But good for tracting long wet dirt roads too. I'll be jumping in all of the puddles. Gotta test their claim!

Some sun today.

Week 25: Dad email

I am serving well in the rain. It honestly isn't that bad. You get used to it. Plus, when you have an awesome bright green jacket, you don't have to worry about it. Just being cold. I think I'm gonna pick up a warmer vest or something to wear under it. 

I am doing the best I can! I haven't missed a 6 thing (things we have to do every day - 1) up on time 2) exercise 20 minutes 3) Out on time 4) talk to everyone 5) be on time to 5-7s 6) phone audit) in a looong time. My last companion told me I was his favorite companion! Which was awesome. We had a lot of fun together.

I'm doing my best to keep writing the group emails. There are a lot of missionaries who have given up on doing them, but I can't do that.

Dad: Here is a little something that was given to me when I served my mission. I thought you might enjoy it:

What God Hath Promised

Gad hath not promised skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through.

God hath not promised sun without rain,

Joy without sorry, peace without pain.

God hath not promised we shall not know

Toil and temptation, trouble and woe.

He hath not told us we shall not bear

Many a burden, many a care.

But God hath promised strength for the day, 

Rest for the laborer, light for the way

Grace for the trials, help from above, 

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises." 2 Peter 1:4

I found that as I served in my mission the various leaders I had would find simple ways to inspire me to rely on the Lord, foruc on the work and maintain a positive attitude. One of my leaders sent this to me in the mail one day along with some motivational messages. I loved how much we as missionaries always tried to help each other be better and stronger individuals.

Nathan: That's awesome! I had a similar experience as I was studying. Everyone talks about 1 Nephi 3:7 a lot, about the Lord providing strength. Never in there does it say it was easy. I mean, when Nephi was trying to get the plates he lost all his precious things and was almost killed several times but the Lord provided a way. He doesn't make things easy, he makes them possible. Which doesn't sound like it's supposed to be comforting but to me it does. I liked that a lot for some reason so I wrote it on a note on my wall in the closet my desk is in. Obedience is stressed pretty big time in our mission. It is super important here. It is hard for some people to understand that concept though.

Love

Nafen

Week 25: 2019!!!

Hello everyone! And happy new year!

My new year was pretty much a normal day. We just went in an hour earlier. That was pretty nice. It let us go to bed really early, which I know is pretty lame because it's new years, but trust me, it was definitely worth it.

We were also able to teach a few really good lessons this week! There are a lot of people here who have been prepared for the gospel. Well, there are a lot of people in general compared to Yelm, but still. It's amazing. I love being able to touch so many different lives for the better each day and help so many people out. It's awesome.

We had interviews with our mission president this week as well! That was fun. This is the soonest in a transfer I have had interviews. He starts in the north and works his way south through the mission. I went from the very south to the very north of the mission. The interview went well. I didn't really talk about anything important with him, mainly just orca whales. The whole time. I don't know why. But hey, apparently sometimes they come all the way into the sound by Tacoma. That's kinda crazy right!??! It is a maze to get down there. I don't know how they figure it out. Probably on accident. Anyways, that is all for this week! I hope all of you had a good week!!!

Till next time,

Nathan

Zone Interviews

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