Monday, October 23, 2017

E-mail Week 66: October 23, 2017.

So this week was awesome! To start it all off, my new comp is awesome! He is going to die (meaning go home) in a month and he is super excited to finish his mission off strong. When he got here, we started doing a planning session on how we could help the zone and how we can help our area.  He looked at me and asked how many baptisms we could have this transfer and we put the goal of 4. And this entire week we have been focusing on baptizing in every action.
 
In the zone, everything is going great.  There are a lot of new people in the zone that are my friends from a long time ago and we are trying to make it the best month ever!  In our district Girardot, we started to invite everyone to church, in every contact, in every lesson and in every phone call.  And we just tried to pump them up.  And we had 5 people at church!!!!!!!!  After such a long time without a lot of people, we had people at church!  And Alba and Felipe came to church and are going to get baptized this Saturday! Felipe was telling all of his family that he wanted to get baptized this Saturday. So we are super excited for that. 

Real quick, I just want to testify of the power of prayer. I had been praying and the real desire of my heart was to just work like crazy and to have more hope; and that is what the Lord has given me. I was a little bit worried to be with a companion that was going to finish his mission but it has been so awesome! The Lord truly answers our prayers. And the mission is the best.

I love you guys so much.  Thank you for your prayers.  And I hope all of you can feel the love and hope that radiates from Christ, our Savior.

Elder Parson


The next week I will send pictures.

Monday, October 16, 2017

E-mail Week 65: October 16, 2017. Transfers and new companion.

So this week was a crazy, crazy week. We had to run so many errands and so I am dead right now. But it was a great week. We were able to have intercambios in Melgar and in our area with Chircoral.  And one of my best friends in the mission, is going home, and then we had transfers.  So my comp and I are not companions any more. This was super sad.  I was with him for four months, the longest of all my companions.  I truly feel like I am without my brother right now but I am super happy for the times that we had.  I hope to see him soon.

So this week  I was able to go to Melgar with Elder Urribarri, a missionary from Venezuela.  We got off to kind of a rocky start, but at the end of the cambio, we were able to work out our differences and I am excited to keep working.  It is amazing to see his endurance in a really hard area and with his country and his family in a lot of trouble.  It is awesome to see his faith.

I also got to say goodbye Elder Damiano.  I watched him drive away to Bogota.  He is so awesome.  I learned so much from him:  how to improve my Spanish, how to lead and excite people to complete their goals, and how to be a companion.  I am so grateful to him. 

An interesting experience that happened this week.  We were with a big family this week and I felt prompted to invite them to baptism.  When I invited them to baptism, the room got quiet and one of the ladies that was progressing a lot wouldn't talk to us.  They started to explain excuses and why they didn't need to be baptized.  I then invited them to pray, to know that this gospel is true. I said that we are here to help them get baptized that it is the only thing that will help their lives. And then they decided to stop listening and meeting with us.  That was pretty hard.  But then I was wondering all week if what I did was right.  But I felt peace understanding that I can never control other people or their desires but I can invite them. 

Even though this week has been crazy, crazy difficult and we are basically starting over, nothing is better than serving the Lord. I testify that every effort to share and live this gospel is qualifying us to enter into God's Kingdom.

I love you all, 

Elder Parson

1Eldre Damiano leaving
Matrimonio de some members
melgar, 

i d
Melgar

Matrimonio de some members

Elder Damiano Leaving


Monday, October 9, 2017

E-mail Week 64: October 9, 2017. Felipe and Vaness's Baptism. Farewell to Elder Damiano.

So this week was really good. It started off with interviews with President Baquerizo!!!!!! He is so awesome and I am so grateful to be able to learn from him. He is amazing. And then we went to Ibague for a Zone Conference. It was so cool to see the people form my MTC group and see how much we have all changed. The mission is truly the greatest. 

Also this week we had an interesting opportunity. As we were walking in the street, a car pulled up all of the sudden and shouted "Elders!!!"  Not sure whether we were going to run or find someone really awesome, we stayed and talked to them. They invited me to go to an English institute and talk about America and our culture to help with one of their kid's presentations. So we were able to go and present "MERICA". But it was a great opportunity. I was able to talk a little about our culture and relate it to the need for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we were able to pass out pamphlets about the Restoration to all the parents that were there.  This was an awesome experience.
 
We were able to find some new investigadores and we found some great people. I have been able to see the small influence of the Gospel changing my life. I have been able to see incredible people change their lives just from the smallest amount of faith. Like on Sunday, our lunch fell through which would mean that we wouldn't eat until nine at night.  But the Lord was able to help us and a family offered to give us lunch. And this extends to greater things. 

In the baptism photo, you can see these two people, Felipe and Vanessa, who were so ready to make this covenant. As we begin to have the faith to change our lives, greater sins become abhorrent and small sins become displeasing. And thanks to the Atonement of Christ, we continue to change everyday to be free from the weight of sin and experience the liberty of obedience. 

I love you guys so much.  Thank you for your prayers and for your example. 

Que Dios los bendiga y que se me cuiden. 

Elder Parson

Our Zone.

Baptism of Felipe and Vanessa.

T-shirts we made as a Zone.

Farewell  steak dinner for Elder Damiano who goes home this week.  Sad to see...he is an incredible missionary. 

Monday, October 2, 2017

E-mail Week 63: October 2, 2017. Alba and Pipe. General Conference. "We are beings of light".My

So this week was awesome! I would like to apologize for not writing last week, i just simply ran out of time.  But como me les va? 

This week was so good, because first we were able to go up to Bogota and have a leadership training. I was feeling a little bit down when I got up there because our week had been tough; but my Mission President is amazing. He talked to us about having the faith for miracles. God is the one who decides if we will have the miracles and the only thing we need to do is to show our faith. This really helped me understand more about the idea of success. I am just going to work as hard as I can, and then let the Lord determine if I will have success.
 
Also we had a busy busy week just trying to catch up on lost time.  We were able to watch all the sessions of General Conference and we witnessed a miracle. We have been trying to work with Alba and Pipe, a referral of a less active and we have been trying to help them come to church for a while so that they can be baptized. They love the church and the Book of Mormon but for various reasons they haven't been able to come to church. But it was so cool to see them Sunday morning all ready for church. And it is super funny.  If you have ever seen "Megamind", imagine his voice and actions of a little kid who tries to talk in English. That's Pipe, and he is such a stud. We are so grateful for this miracle from God.

Also, we have been so blessed to hear the Prophet and the Apostles this week with General Conference. I am so grateful for these inspired leaders who receive revelation to help us change our lives. I loved a quote by Elder Uchtdorf  "We are beings of light". All we can do is bring more light. And that light comes from Christ. We really are just created to reflect the light of God in all things. It is just our absence of following His counsel that diminishes that light. But when that light reflects in our soul and actions, we are continually striving to remember the heavenly home from which we came, which is pure light, God's light.

Love you all, have a great week.

Eder Parson

The picture with the ties in our mouth..... its better not to ask

My comp trying to eat an
Elders Parson, Nielsen, Roque (my companion) and Hoffman.

Elder Parson and former companion Elder Thompson.

Ties in our mouths...better not ask!  Elders Ostler, Sorborre, Jeppson, and Morrison.

My companion trying to eat an ant -- really disgusting!