E-mail 22: December 12, 2016. The power of fasting is real! New Companion: Elder Callejas from Venezuela

So this week was awesome. The Lord has blessed me so much and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission.

 

For most of this week, I was in Bogotá during an intercambio with the Zone leaders. They are such studs and it is so awesome to have them has my leaders.

My new companion is Elder Callejas from Venezuela. This is way rare, he is the only missionary from Venezuela in all my mission. He was the assistant  for 8 months and I am so lucky to be serving with him, he is a stud!!!!!!!!!!!

New companion:  Elder Callejas from Venezuela

This week we were able to have a Christmas party with all of the mission. It was way awesome!  I was able to see the members from my district who were in the CCM, they are such studs. I love them so much and it was so cool to see them. 

Elder Parson's CCM (Bogota MTC) District reunited

I just want to focus the little portion on an awesome spiritual experience this week. My companion had the great idea to fast this week as we have a goal of 4 baptisms this transfer and we are trying to complete it. We had a lot of investigators who said they would come to sacrament meeting and two of them did. Their names are Gloria and Edilberto Rodriguez, and they are awesome. The wife actually called my companion and said that she had been reading the Book of Mormon and was loving it. We had kinda dropped them because they weren't progressing. And then at the end of church we realized that another of our investigators had come during all of church and we just hadnt noticed. She is a former investigator but wants to get married and to learn more about the church. Another part-member family came to church that we have never met but they live in our area. And while we were visiting a less active member,  we found out his girlfriend had been coming to church for a month and wanted to investigate the church. We had 5 people at church which which is the most I have ever had. I love food so much, but the power of fasting is real! 

I love you guys so much.  I hope you have a fantastic week and remember the amazing birth of our Savior.

les amo,

Elder Parson

E-mail 21: December 5, 2016. 19th Birthday and Carlos' Baptism

First off, I want to thank everyone for the happy birthday wishes. I am sorry I will not be able to answer all of you guys, but really, it means so much to me that you would take time out of your day to write me an email. It honestly helps me out so much. I love you guys with all my heart and thank you for this sweet act of service.

So for my birthday, in Colombia they throw eggs and flour at you for your birthday. I vaguely remembered hearing this but my companion definately remembered. He had prepared eggs and flour and surprised me by throwing them at my head! I will include a picture, but it was a great way to wake me up for the morning!  

 Happy 19th Birthday -- Colombian style!

We had the baptism of Carlos Rodriguez this week and it honestly was one of the coolest moments of my life. His entire family was there from Bogotá and his grandson, who is a returned missionary, was able to baptize him. Once again, once I saw him in the water, my heart swelled with joy and I thought, "This is why I am here, to save families." I am so grateful for the Lord giving me this amazing opportunity to witness this miracle in the lives of others. It was so awesome to hear the members of the family bear their testimonies, all of his children are sealed in the temple, and I was able to witness the power of prayer. His wife was a worker in the temple and in the Stake Relief Society, has been a member for 31 years, and after all this time her prayers are finally answered. GOD ALWAYS ANSWERS PRAYERS!!  I am so grateful to witness this mircale in the lives of others and that my Father in Heaven has given me this opportunity to know this family.

And some crazy things happened last night.  We had emergency transfers and my companion left to be the new assistant. He is so awesome and I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to learn from him and serve with him. I have truly made a life long friend and know that he will be a fantsatic assistant. And my new companion is going to be the old assistant and I am way excited to learn from him. It is going to be a great couple of weeks.

I am so excited to be in this great work, but more importantly to help bring people to Christ during this Christmas season.  I know that He is our Savior, that he died for us, and that through Him we can have eternal life.

Baptism of Brother Carlos Rodrequez

I love you guys, have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Parson

E-mail 20: November 28, 2016. Lizandro and Tania baptized.

Hello friends and family:

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Just because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving down here doesn't mean that I am not finding many things to be grateful for, all the while eating as much as I can. 

This week was definitely fantastic. We had a difficult time because we didn't have a cellphone this week. I left it in the house of an investigator in a tiny town 30 minutes away from our area. She told us that she would bring it to church the next day, so I didn't think much of it. But then she seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. So it has been kinda difficult here to confirm citas, but everything is going well. The one thing I took away from this experience is that I still have a lot to learn.

We had two baptisms this week, Lizandro and Tania!! It was so awesome to see them enter into the baptismal font knowing that they would be making covenants with the Lord, and the great blessings we can receive when we keep them. I felt the spirit so strong when Lizandro was in the water, knowing that now his family can be together forever. It was so cool to see how happy his family was. They all bore their testimonies, saying ´´Por Fin, Por Fin´´ they were so happy to finally have their dad as a member. He is doing so well;  he received the Priesthood yesterday, was able to give his son the Priesthood, and if all goes well, he will baptize his son this Saturday. I am so grateful for the opportunity the Lord has given me to teach him. Really I didn't do anything, but watched him progress to make this amazing covenant with the Lord. I am so happy for their family and how they will continue to progress in the gospel, now together, until they can be sealed for time and all eternity. The Lord always works miracles in our lives.

I am a little bit depressed because we only have one progressing investigator this week, but we have Carlos, who is doing awesome, and will be baptized this Saturday, which will complete his family.  I am so pumped for him.  I really want to find someone that can be baptized for Christmas. I was getting kinda upset when we were contacting, because sometimes I will be speaking Spanish, and then the person will say, "No entiendo ingles", which means I don't understand English. I was kinda screaming in my head "I am speaking spanish" but then I realized, really, the problem is me. I still need to work on Spanish, and instead of being angry when someone doesn't understand me, I should be devastated that I cant teach them the amazing, life saving truths of the gospel. 

But enough complaining. I am so grateful for the Lord. I have a fantastic area, fantastic companion, he is such a stud, I am learning everyday from him, and fantastic investigators. I have seen so many miracles in my life, how can I not just shout for joy all the time. 

Thank you for all your prayers.  I hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you for your amazing examples.

With all my heart,

Elder Parson

PS:  the pictures are of the baptism, Silvania and a member who comes with us.​ 

Lizandro's Baptism:  November 26, 2016

Tania's Baptism:  November 26, 2016