Reason to Believe

Hello everyone!!

Christmas is in four days? Oh my goodness where has the time gone? I

love this time of year and the opportunity we have to ponder and

reflect on the life of the Savior. What a great week it has been!!

Here are a few of the new things going on in Buffalo Grove.

So Maddy isn't going to byuidaho this next semester. There are a

couple reasons that factor into this decision. First, she wrote a

letter to her parents telling them about her plan to be baptized and

going off to school.... Asserting her position with the church. After

her parents read the letter, her dad had a really good talk with

her-the first positive one about the church ever- he said that he

acknowledges that she is going to be baptized and that he is

respecting her choice even though he doesn't necessarily agree with

it. He did say however, that he wants her to wait until next semester

to go to BYUIDAHO so that they can go with her to tour the school and

take some time off so that they will be able to help move her to

school, which with this short notice would not be possible. The second

reason, is purely financial. Maddy is paying for school herself and

needs to save more money before she heads off to school so that she

can avoid debt. But I am so glad the miracles regarding school,

because without them she would not be getting baptized on Wednesday!

School can wait, but what is most important is baptism... And now

Maddys parents are softening their hearts. She was willing to

compromise her baptism to go to school but the opposite occurred...

Her parents are accepting baptism but asking her to put off going away

to school. We are VERY EXCITED for her baptism this Wednesday and know

it will be a very special experience.

We made the phone call on Wednesday to schedule a hand-off lesson with

Luis for this upcoming Tuesday. He really needs Spanish-speaking

missionaries. But, the law of compensation is real! About a half hour

after we called the spanish elders, someone texted. They said, "I got

your number from Danny. I want to learn more about being Mormon. Do

you have time to help me?" So that threw us for a loop! We had met

Danny in McDonald's Saturday night. It had been a long day and it was

8:30 PM and finishing up contacting at Walmart. We wanted to go home,

but Sister Plomgren felt a strong prompting to go to McDonald's. We

get there and there is only one couple there, and I did NOT want to

talk to them. They had foul mouths and were kind of rude in general.

So we sit there for a couple minutes, and sister Plomgren said to me,

"Let's just go home",  I felt like We needed to show them the video,

then we could go home. We ask if we show can them the Christmas video,

and after he says, "Yeah, I dated a girl who was a Mormon. Her dad's a

bishop in Salt Lake City. I talked with him a little about the church

and I thought it was pretty interesting. I just like learning about

religion." We invite him to church Sunday, and get his contact

information (his name is Danny). I don't really think much of it, to

be honest because he was pretty involved with his own religion.

Tuesday, we get that text from his friend Mike, and set up an

appointment to meet with him! What a miracle!

Random little miracle moment: we were in the mall food court (where

the people are) doing some contacting and we were taking a break and

had a Book of Mormon out on the table. This woman walks by saying

"Nice book!" and Sister Plomgren and I just look at each other and

turn back to her. We ask if she had ever heard of the Book of Mormon

and she says, "Oh, I thought that was a Bible! I've never heard of the

Book of Mormon" so we explain what it was and she says "Oh, I'll have

to check it out!" and we were like, "Well you can have this one". She

takes it, thanks us, and walks off. Sister Plomgren and I were kind of

dazed for a few minutes because that seriously doesn't happen often so

when it does it's kind of awesome.

The whole mission has started a new initiative where we do two hours

of personal finding a day. Sister Plomgren and I have taken that and

added two active member visits and two less-active member visits, so

that we give our days a little structure and that we have "all our

nets in the water" (we are using all our resources to find people to

teach). So we had done our two hours of finding, and we had just

finished our second active member. We went to visit our first

less-active member (and mind you it was about 25 degrees out and

Sister Plomgren and I were freezing), and she opens the door and says,

"Are you from the church?" We answer with "Yes, yes we are" and she

says, "Then I don't want to talk to you" and with that she slams the

door. Most people are civil with us and say something along the lines

of "Thanks for visiting, but this isn't the time that I want to come

back to church right now" and then we give them our card with a number

to call or something like that so that they can call us if we ever

need anything. But this woman's rejection really did a number on us

for some reason. So we were hitting our spiritual low for the night.

We go to get gas and try to figure out what we should do. When sister

Plomgren pulled out the book to record how much gas we buy and how

much it was (we keep a lot of records here), these CD cases fall out.

The CD's are from a band called Remembering Rome and sister Plomgren

asked, "Who is Remembering Rome?" and I say, "You know pretty much

everything I do about this car". So I throw them back in there without

a second thought. Then we were looking through our list of people that

we want to visit and this one name jumps out at us.  We both felt like

we needed to go visit this man. so we go to where he lives, which was

only about five minutes from where the gas station was. We get there,

knock on the door, and his mom answers. We ask, "Is Mike home?" and

she says "Yes, let me go get him for you. It's freezing out, would you

like to come in?" Wow! Usually people make us wait outside, even when

it's cold out. So that was a little tender mercy in itself. She gets

Mike and we introduce ourselves to him and we get to talking and he

invites us to take us seat in the living room. Yeah, that doesn't

happen ever. We chat a little about everything and he tells us that he

was in the band Remembering Rome. My mouth falls open at that point

because what are the odds? I have seriously looked through that glove

compartment about 10 times looking for a pen and have never seen those

CDs before. That was so cool! We invite him to church and the

scripture study class that the missionaries run and he said that he

would come! That was seriously one of the coolest things that I had

ever seen.

I have gained a testimony that as we obey and listen to the promptings

of the spirit they will happen more frequently. I have been studying

and pondering about the Holy Ghost this week as i prepare my talk for

Maddys baptism. The Holy Ghost has such a strong influence on my life

and I know that without the companionship of the Holy Ghost I would

not be where I am today. As I was studying... I noticed something that

finally clicked in my mind....everything we do as members of the

church is intended to invite and bless us with the companionship of

the Holy Ghost! Annnnd the reason that this church is a true and

living church is because of the gift of the Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost

testifies of the truth and bears witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. I

love the quote by President Faust, "the gift of the Holy Ghost is the

greatest guarantor of inward peace in our unstable world." I have a

strong testimony of this. On Friday I had the opportunity to go to the

temple with my zone for Christmas. What an unforgettable experience.

The peace that I felt is indescribable... And can only be felt by and

through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is how we are able to feel gods

love for us. Even though he is not physically here with us, he can

always spiritually be with us through the Holy Ghost, if we live

worthily. I testify of the power in striving to keep the spirit of the

Lord with us always. Life is so much more simple as our thoughts are

directed to the Savior.

I have also been reflecting a lot upon the teachings of the Savior in

his mortal ministry. My heart has been filled with the spirit

countless times as I have pondered upon the life of Jesus Christ and

his goodness. This is a Christmas I will never forget; the Savior is

the hope of the world, and I don't think I fully understood this

clearly until my mission. Jesus Christ was born so that he could be

the example to us of how we need to live to make it back to our father

in heaven. Without him, we would be lost. I am so grateful for the

Savior, and his atoning sacrifice. I am grateful that he was willing

to come to this earth and live a perfect life and because he loved

each of us so much, he died for all of our sins. I was studying in

Luke chapter 23 this morning, and read about the crucifixion of the

Savior. Tears filled my eyes as I remembered that the atonement is the

reason why Jesus Christ was born. He came to this earth to save us

all. And this is why we sing... JOY TO THE WORLD. I love my Savior and

Redeemer Jesus Christ. I am grateful for his infinite atonement. I

know that he was born to offer blessing of peace and hope to each and

everyone of us. I am grateful for this time of year to remember Jesus

Christ and all he has done for us. I hope you all choose to believe.

Believe in Jesus Christ. Alma 33:22 the reason to believe is found in

the Son of God. I wish you all a Merry Christmas! I miss you so much,

but I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve! I love

you!

I challenge you to read Jesus Christ our Master and More in the April

2000 ensign!

Love,

Sister Parke