Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Wow I can't believe it is that time of year! I am

loving it here in Chicago and I am so GRATEFUL for the opportunity to

be serving a mission! So many things to be grateful for! I WILL NOT BE

GETTING TRANSFERRED!!!! Hallelujah! Staying in BG for thanksgiving and

Christmas!! Annnnnd most importantly.... MADDYS BAPTISM!!! This is

without a doubt going to be the best transfer yet!! We are beginning

to prepare little things for her baptism because we want it to be so

special! She asked me to speak at her baptism about the Holy Ghost..,

and brother obrien will be talking about baptism! Maddy is progressing

VERY well despite her parents lack on support. Ever since she told her

parents she is getting baptized on the 23rd of December things have

gotten better and she has been less concerned. I know this is because

Heavenly Father is strengthening her and providing peace and comfort

as she prepares to be baptized. We had a wonderful lesson with Maddy

on Monday night at the kappelmans about the commandments. We discussed

each of the commandments and went into further detail on each of them.

Maddy is absolutely amazing and agreed to all of them however she

struggled to understand the 5th commandment... "Honor thy father and

thy mother". Thankfully the missionaries aren't teachers... (; the

spirit is, and we were able to help Maddy understand that her Heavenly

Father loves her and wants her to have a good relationship with her

parents and will bless her for her righteousness. (My farewell talk

was conveniently on this topic! *thanks bishop Hancock!) We drew it

all back to the fact that this gospel is a gospel of love and how God

knows and understands each of us individually and desires our

commitment to follow him. Maddy's faith is so strong and she is such

an example to me for standing up for what she knows to be right! It

has been one of the most rewarding experiences to help her develop

greater faith and a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ.

Ahhh this week was a very busy one, we taught seminary... And had to

wake up at 4:30.. I have so much respect for the youth that have early

morning seminary!! Definitely took it for granted as a class period in

high school! We also were asked to teach Relief society last minute!

Which was... Not going to lie..a little stressful.. But sister

Plomgren and I prepared the best we could and allowed the spirit to

teach! It was wonderful!!  Alright. So remember Luis? the guy from

McDonald's a couple weeks ago? Can't remember if I mentioned him or

not. So when Sister Plomgren first met him, he was sitting alone in

McDonald's. She sat next to him, he sees her name tag and says "Tell

me something about Jesus". He tells her that he is from Guatemala and

that he ran into the missionaries 35 years ago down there. He says

that one of the missionaries that he talked to was from California and

she asked, "Who?" because what are the odds she would know him?. He

says, "Elder Gilliland" who is her uncle who served a mission in

Guatemala 35 years ago! She asked him, "Would you be interested in

learning more about our church?" He firmly responds "I was born a

Catholic, I will die a Catholic!" So didn't think much of it. Fast

forward to Friday, when we have an appointment with Ruth, one of our

new investigators, at that same McDonald's. We arrive a little early

and we are sitting in our booth. I get up to go to the bathroom, and I

come back and then I see a man sitting in the corner and have the

prompting to go talk to him. So follow every prompting right? I walked

up to him and asked if I could throw his garbage away. He says, "no,

no, I can do it". I go and sit back with sister Plomgren and this man

follows me and says, "Hello! Do you remember me?" It was Luis! So he

sits in on our lesson with Ruth on the Plan of Salvation. He was

really engaged and asking lots of questions and after Ruth left, Luis

says, "So what is that Book?"pointing to the Book of Mormon on the

table. So we teach the whole Restoration to him. We finish, and he

says "Can I have one of those books? And I want to discuss it with

you! When can we meet?" This is the man who said that he would die a

Catholic! God works in mysterious ways and softens people's hearts! We

are meeting with him again on Wednesday!

So we went to have our follow-up appointment with Jennifer, a woman

that we met while tracting. We knocked on her door and no one was

home. So we tried back with Ynellie, the other person that we had met

while tracting, since they lived in the same neighborhood. No one was

home at Ynellie's either. Cool. So we were walking back to Jennifer's

to try again, and I said to sister Plomgren, "Let's knock on that

door!" So we go and knock and the 90+ man, Bob, invites us inside. We

sit down and come to find out that he is Roman Catholic. And very

strong in his Roman Catholic faith. He's very strong about a lot of

his beliefs like divorce and homosexuality. We said, "We are members

of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" and he said, "Well

the Mormons are close to Roman Catholic belief, but [this this and

this] are wrong" so we felt the spirit of contention and knew it was

time to leave. We were walking back and see Jennifer pull her car into

it's space and we go to see her. She's totally into the Book of

Mormon, however, she is very busy until after the holidays. When we

were talking to her, we see  Bob walking around. But, if it wasn't for

talking to him, we would have given up and gone to the next

appointment. 

One of the most important aspects of missionary work is building and

establishing trust with the members. This week we were over at a

members house eating dinner and pretty much everyone in the ward knows

that I LOOOVE vegetables, so there was a big bowl of broccoli at the

dinner table. As everyone dished their plates the nine year old boy

started complaining about how he really didn't want to eat it... After

this went on for quite some time I said, "hey Andrew..., I'll eat your

broccoli." He then smiled with a huge grin on his face.. "That's my

kind of sister!" My unique way of bonding and establishing trust with

the members. Eating their vegetables.

Well... As you can see from the pictures.. THE SNOW IS HERE!! On

Saturday we had one of the biggest snowstorms in the history of

Chicago! The sky decided to dump 18 inches inches of snow in one

night! Annnnd if you think I am exaggerating... I promise I'm not! We

had a missionary snow day! We decided we would be diligent so despite

the ICE AGE blizzard we went out and braved the storm and headed to

our first appointment! Scraping off the car was an adventure.. But so

much fun! This was sister plomgrens first experience with snow! So of

course I volunteered to drive... And probably a was a little too cocky

about my skills to drive in the snow. Anyways we pulled out... And

then got stuck in the parking lot.... Luckily we managed to get out

onto the road. By this time I started to feel the prompting not to

drive in these conditions.. I kinda brushed it off because I was being

stubborn and prideful because I wanted to make it to our appointment,

and I had just got done telling sister Plomgren I could drive in the

snow! As I drove on the feeling was stronger and stronger...the car

was sliding and we almost got stuck in the middle of the intersection.

Sister Plomgren and I were so scared, I was a little shook up... It is

almost as a voice so clear said to me. "GO HOME." Sister Plomgren and

I both recognized immediately the prompting and knew was NOT safe.

I've driven in bad driving conditions before... However this was the

worst it has ever been, especially without 4x4 drive. The roads were

TERRIBLE. People swerving off the road and getting stuck, SUVS sliding

all over the road. So we called our zone leaders and safely made it

back to the apartment. I felt guilty about ignoring the first

prompting to stay off the roads, but I learned an important lesson...

ALWAYS LISTEN to the spiritual promptings the FIRST time. I am

grateful that the Lord protected us and we were able to be safe! I

have no idea what would have happened if we had stayed out driving,

and I am so glad that we didn't have to find out. So,we went back, had

a cocoa party, defrosted our hands and feet, and did other productive

things.

This time of year is such a wonderful time to reflect upon what we are

grateful for. Sister Plomgren and I have started reading Luke in the

bible and have decided to read a chapter a day! There is so much to be

grateful for... As a missionary I am able to see things from a

completely different perspective and it makes me appreciate the savior

and his atonement so much more! God loves each and every one of us so

much that he gave his only begotten son. How powerful that message to

the world is. A SAVIOR IS BORN. And because of him we are able to live

again and be with the people we love for eternity. <3 I love you all!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from Chicago! Eat some turkey for me... Orr...

Butternut squash. (; Have a great week and fun time setting up

Christmas! If you need any snow... Chicago has a whoooole bunch.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Love,

Sister Parke ❤️