Week 8: Mom email

Hello! The labor Day Activity was a lot of fun. We had food and different games like capture the flag and stuff. Elder Keetch is serving somewhat close to me, I am in the Lacey stake and he is in South Hill, which are both in the same section of the mission. Borsky is in Keetch's zone and they see each other all of the time. He was there too. I talked to him for a while. He seems to be doing good as well.

I haven't got to the urologist yet. I called them and they said they would call me when the referral comes from the ER then I called them and tried to speak to the referral people and there wasn't going to be any in for a long while! It was frustrating. 

I did get the package! Thank you! All of the presents were awesome, lots of snacks, which was good. I liked the tie too. It is different from all my other ones. This is the last week of the transfer, so on Saturday I will get a call and find out if I am staying or leaving Yelm. I think I will probably stay. Trainers typically stay with the new missionary for their first two transfers, but you never know!

I have ridden my bike all of 1 time, it was nice!

Aww man, I forgot to take pictures of the apartment! Oh well, I will try for next week.

Love

Nathan

Week 8: Birthdays

Hello all! This week was a fun one! Not a whole lot out of the ordinary happened this week, but 2 of the missionaries (including me) had a birthday! We didn't do anything for them, but still, it was kinda neat I guess. It is weird to think birthday number 1 of 2 of missionary birthdays has already happened for me. Time sure does seem to be flying.

If there was one scripture to describe this week, it would probably be Helaman 5:12.

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

One of the people I have been teaching was progressing really well and working hard to turn his life around. His whole family was coming to church and their faith was all growing, but then he went out and did some things that were really not good. The family is now worried about losing custody of some of the kids and may not be able to pay rent for a long while. Despite all of this, the first thing the wife said was that she wanted to come to church. To me, this just shows how true that scripture is. No matter how hard the world tries to get ahold of you and pull you down if you rely on your faith and turn to God in times of trouble, there is no challenge too big, no trial you cannot conquer. It was really amazing to me to see someone so new to religion in general already grasp onto and apply that concept into her life. Anyways, that's all for this week, till next time!

Love 

Elder Parker

Southern Conference Labor Day Activity

Week 7: Dad email

Hello! The weeks are going by really fast, no matter how long some days seem to be haha. 

I haven't passed the stone, either that or it broke down and passed in sand form. It hasn't hurt at all since last Sunday.

The ward is really nice. The bishop is awesome. There are multiple less active families that I get along super well with which is awesome.

Being a missionary is a lot of fun. Believe it or not, I think the Magic shop really helped me be a good missionary. It helped with my ability to just walk up and talk to people.

Love, 

Nathan

Week 7: Hannah email

I have been able to meet a few "Ramsters". They are really nice. One of them gave us a grand tour of her house. the floor was made out of pennies!

Week 7: Mom email

The stone hasn't passed yet, at least not that I have seen. I haven't been in any pain all week though. When pain comes, it lasts for like a day and then goes away for a while.

The ward currently has 4 missionaries out and one with a call to Santiago Chile North!! One is in Zambia! I don't really know how many youth there are. The average sacrament meeting attendance is 253 though. 

Fun story time! Last night I had dinner at the Strasser's house. A little bit about them, they grew up in Meridian, Idaho and went to Boise State. They moved to Cumming, Georgia for 3 years and are now in Yelm Washington. Sound familiar??? Also, the Weezer concert me and dad went to a few years ago, the Strassers were there too! in the same seating section as us! How crazy is that! Also, the wife is a product tester so she has a bunch of weird products and sent us home with a bunch of poop emoji stuff. Also, the dad has a YouTube channel (joelnert) and holds the Guinness world record for most toothpicks stuck in a beard (3500). They also fed us fried rice with barbeque pork, instead of the typical Asian chicken and it was really tasty. Oh! Also, they had a butt massage machine in their garage. It was awesome. Anyways, I thought you and the family might think that was cool. 

Love, 

Nathan

Butt massage machine above. Poop emoji smile and poop emoji fidget spinner.

Week 7: Service

Hello all! This week has been a really fun one! I had the opportunity to do a lot of service this week, which is always fun. A few days back I helped one of the people I'm teaching move a bunch of wood off of his property and cut down a bunch of blackberry bushes (they grow naturally here, kinda like the kudzu of Washington but tastier) because they were starting to grow up and over the roof of his house. We ended up taking a giant bag of blackberries home which was super awesome.

We also helped someone paint the inside of their house! They like to change up their living quarters a lot (I visit them 1 time a week and every time the furniture is set up differently), and this time they decided white walls were boring, so now they are all blue! It was fun getting to know the family and their roommates better and help them out.

The best part of all of this though was the bonds and the happiness that came from helping others out. It is really cool to see how much joy a simple act can do and make someone's day go by better. I know that as we serve the people around us we are not only just serving others, but we are serving our Heavenly Father and fulfilling his commandment to love thy neighbor. Even when service may seem boring or something you don't want to do, I know that if you step up and help someone out, you will be blessed and will not regret your decision. Anyways, that's all for this week! 

Till next time, 

Elder Parker