April Shower

Hello Everyone!

The dreaded day has come, my dearest sister Patterson is leaving me!

She is going to Valparaiso Indiana... And I will be training a new

sister as an STL here in the city! I am very sad to see sister

Patterson go, but I am looking forward to getting to know my new

companion sister Webber! We will be driving to Valparaiso Indiana

tomorrow to pick her up! This week has of course been a very busy one,

and I am sure the upcoming weeks will be full of adventure as well...

Especially with helping sister Webber get to know the area! I'm a

little nervous, since our area is so big but it will be so good!

Ahh, where to start? Well. Our mission is launching a "just serve"

initiative to help missionaries get involved within the Community. We

are allotted 10 hours of serve time a week... Which seems like a

lot... But it is the best finding opportunity and everyone is always

so happy! It is my most favorite! So sister Patterson and I have been

scouting out our area for opportunities to serve. We were able to find

and volunteer at a small food pantry for those who don't have money

for food of groceries. It was such a humbling experience. There were

so many refugees from ALL over the world. I will never take for

granted the blessing of having money to by food and groceries. What a

blessing it was for these people to have food to eat and to take to

their families. It just really opened up my eyes to how many people

truly are in need, and the responsibility we have to help them. I love

that women's conference was all about service and reaching out and

serving those around us in our communities.

Thursday was an eventful day... It started out with a meeting with all

of the district leaders we had to attend as STLs. So that was a party.

We had the most amazing lesson with Brie! It was the first time seeing

her in a couple weeks because she had been gone for spring break and

Easter... And she came prepared and read from the Book of Mormon the

whole break! The lesson was AWESOME. Brie is progressing very well. We

discussed the importance of prayer and scripture study to receive

answers. It was very powerful. She said that she feels the Book of

Mormon is bringing peace in her life and giving her a sense of

direction. She described that ever since meeting with us she has been

much happier and feels as if she has a purpose in life. One of the

sweetest members Keryn, did a wonderful job at testifying and helping

her understand how to apply the scriptures to her life. We are praying

for Brie that as she comes to gain a greater understanding and

testimony of the Book of Mormon and its divine truthfulness that she

will press forward with her decision to be baptized! Highlight of the

day: successfully parallel parked three times. Also, became best

friends with the manager at Jamba Juice and got free smoothies. Pretty

much the greatest. Oh and got my hair braided at the train station.

Yup. That was intense.

Alright... So, remember Brianna? The girl we contacted on the train?

That we have been meeting with? Well we hadn't met with her in awhile

because she also was on spring break... But she texted us and invited

us over for dinner on Thursday night! We brought a member with us

around her same age and they got along great!  Dinner was great, and

then we had a lesson afterwards about the plan of salvation. Well, the

lesson didn't exactly go according to plans.. It started off with us

asking how her reading and understanding of the Book of Mormon has

been. She then told us that she sincerely prayed to know if the Book

of Mormon was true, and as she read from it she had feelings of anger

and resentment. She was confused and asked if those were feelings

coming from God letting her know the book wasn't true? Sister

Patterson and I  were both Unsure how to respond to her question.

Thankfully, we are not alone in these lessons and the spirit was able

to fill our mouths as we testified of the truthfulness of the Book of

Mormon. Brianna's heart seemed to soften.. Her heart is filled with

the desire to learn, it's just so hard because she has so many

difficult questions to be answered. She is such and adorable girl and

we have established a good relationship with her. We are helping her

to recognize the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it is

convincing evidence that all that we share with her is true.

We had the most amazing lesson with our new investigator Sixto on

Friday night. It all fell into place. One of the members in the SA

branch is from Cuba and has been a member of the church for three

years. He has been asking to retake the missionary lessons because

there is still a lot he doesn't understand. We scheduled am appoint

ment with him on Friday night. We have been trying to meet with Sixto

and the only night he could meet was Friday night. Since they are both

from Cuba., we thought hey why not schedule them together? It was

meant to be!! They clicked immedietely. Abel recently just brought his

mother and sister and her family to the US a little over a year ago.

Sixto explained how he has been through so many religions and

searching for the truth. He is looking to know and understand faith.

We introduced him to the Book of Mormon and testified of its

truthfulness. Wow, it was incredibly powerful, the spirit was so

strong. Abel was able to relate to all of sixtos questions and Lisa

(abels girlfriend) was there and she was also there to help answer

questions and testify! Sixto said what drew him into the church was

the pureness and the peace he felt. He used to own a bike shop years

ago and helped elders to fix their bikes. He said the young men would

always invite but never force their religion on him, and that really

had a positive impact.  Sixto asked about baptism, and abels mom,

listening from the kitchen came into the room and started testifying

about her baptism... In Spanish! Ahhh it was SO COOL. Definitely one

of my most favorite lessons on my mission. Sixto is willing to read

and learn more about the Book of Mormon!

So on Friday morning, sister Patterson and I were having a more

difficult time getting excited to get out the door and having the

desire to start contacting... Particularly because it was raining.

There may or may not have been a few words of murmuring...but we made

sure to pray and headed out for the day! We had to go to the library

for a moment to send off some emails. As we were leaving there I

noticed a man who was sitting alone in the corner reading the bible. I

felt a strong prompting to go and to talk to him... I was a little

skeptical because there is no proselyting in the library and we have

been asked to leave before... But decided to risk it! So i walked over

to him and asked if I could share a picture of Christ with him. His

eyes lite up! He said... "Latter day saint missionaries! I know you!

You believe in the prophet Joseph smith! Ya know, I noticed you when I

came in, I could just see the light of Christ in your eyes!" We had a

wonderful conversation and discovered that he had met with Lds

missionaries when he was 17 years old. He asked if we could meet this

Sunday. Unfortunately our schedule is full, but he gladly gave us his

information and we are going to set up a time to meet with him!!! It

was THE biggest miracle. I know the lord blesses us when we do what we

are supposed to do... Especially when we don't feel like doing it!

The greatest feeling when you know the lord is placing people who are

ready to receive the gospel in your path!

One of the most amazing weekends of my life! General conference was

absolutely incredible! Seriously, it is better than Christmas!

Saturday we were able to watch the morning session with one of our

recent converts Gabe, it was super great because he hasn't been to

church in a few months. Sunday was easily one of my favorite days of

my mission! We went over to a members house to watch the morning

session and make a southern style lunch consisting of Homemade mac and

cheese yum. Anyways it was super awesome because Cynthia was able to

come and join with us! Her boyfriend leaves back to China later this

month... Hallelujah! And then hopefully she can focus more of her

efforts on learning about the church. Sunday afternoon was perfect. We

went over to the mission home and met our investigator Tim there.

earlier that felt prompted to invite Carleen to watch general

conference and she was able to join with us! It was SUCH A COOL

EXPERIENCE to be able to watch conference with president and sister

Woodbury and our two investigators. Carleen started to cry during the

session because she felt her prayers were being answered. She is

progressing very well. Ahhh I love president Woodbury, after the

Sunday session he made us the BEST crepes in the world! He went to

Germany on his mission and mastered the way of the crepe! It was super

fancy and delicious.  It was so great to discuss with Tim and Carleen

what they thought of conference. Carleen ended up staying until late

that evening, and she shared with us the many ways in which her faith

has been growing and the differences she has seen in her life and how

much happier she feels. Just when I thought the night couldn't get any

better sister Patterson and I were able to have personal interviews

with President Woodbury. He is such an inspired man, and provided a

lot of comfort and counsel on how I can progress and draw closer to

the savior as a missionary.

I loved that so many of the conference talks were centered around

remembering. Remembering who we are and where we are

going...Remembering to keep the commandments... Remembering the

importance of ordinances and covenants... Remembering to keep the lord

first in all things! I was studying in helaman this morning as he too

was teaching the people to remember. One of my favorite verses of

scripture is helaman 5:12. I love the verse that follows in vs. 47.

"Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my well beloved,

who was from the foundation of the world." I love that. We receive the

peace and comfort of God... When we are faithful! Faith has been a

common theme in my studies. Faith is so simple yet so complex. We

exercise faith when we are humble and sanctify ourselves. I love the

scripture helaman 3:35 when the people are facing hardship and were

scared and confused... They prayed in humility until their faith grew

firmer and firmer. They sanctified themselves and yielded their hearts

to God. This week I am striving to completely yield my heart to the

lord and pray for his will in this area! I know that as we give our

best to the lord he always makes it into what he needs it to become. I

love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Parke