August 31, 2017. Visit from the Arias Serrano Family from Girardot, Columbia

On August 31, Alex's father, Scott, was fortunate to meet the Arias Serrano family for dinner. Unfortunately Allison wasn’t able to come.  

It was SO fun getting to know this pioneer family in the church in Girardot, Colombia.  The father is an attorney, the mother his partner in a commercial construction company, Alexandra (daughter) just finished medical school and will begin her required medical social service, and Joe (17 year old son) is starting to attend the BYU ESL Program.  Joe speaks English very well and translated throughout dinner.  

It is very clear that this family loves Elder Parson VERY much!  They feed the missionaries lunch every Friday.  Sister Arias told Scott that they consider Alex to be their “SON”.  Brother Serrano commented that Alex is a very diligent missionary.  It was great to learn more about Girardot and Colombia, what life is like there, the climate (hot, hot, hot), the education system, the Church in Colombia, food, safety concerns, etc…  

These great people offered to take a package back to Alex...so some new white shirts, shoes, ties and a few treats are on the way including letters from the "Missionary Box Mamas".

From left to right:  Alexandra, Sister Arias, Brother Serrano, Scott and Joe.

Brother Serrano -- Baby Back Ribs American Style!

E-mail Week 58: August 31, 2017. Luis' Baptism.

I am sorry about the late email, but the computer I was on was way slow and then we had to go to Bogota for a leadership conference.  This week was awesome! The first thing that was great was that Luis got baptized! It was so awesome to see and it was really cool that I was able to baptize him. He has made some great changes in his life and now wants to share this gospel with everyone. He wants to come with us on appointments even if he walks with a crutch all the time. He is such an amazing person and I am so glad to know him.

Luis' Baptism in Girardot, Colombia.

For P-day this week, we were able to go to the farm of the District President here in Girardot and have a barbecue which was amazing. We were able to relax and hang out with the Zone which was great!

We were also able to go to Bogota and have a great reunion with our Mission President. I was able to see a lot of my friends from the CCM who are all going to be Zone Leaders soon.  I love them all so much. I am so grateful that I have been put in the greatest mission on earth (I apologize for that comment but it's true :) ).

 
In our leadership meeting our President talked about how we should see everyone as God sees them. Oftentimes I look at people in a short term perspective, in who they were, or who they will be later.  But God looks at everyone as who they were, with Him before, and who they will become -- and they will become like Him. I testify that everyone has an amazing purpose here on earth and we should always remember that our potential is infinite.

Love,

Elder Parson

E-mail Week 57: August 21, 2017. A Miracle in Girardot. Christ's gospel is perfect, His atonement powerful and His words uplifting.

Buenas tardes mis parceritos! 

How are you all doing?  This week has been a really good and busy week. We have been trying to look for a lot of menos activos and we  had a miracle this week!  We were kind of lost and were trying to walk to an appointment in a neighborhood where we hadn't been.  As we were walking, a lady started looking at us funny, and says "Elderes".  So my companion and I, (by the way, my companion is such a stud, I love that guy so much--he is probably one of the craziest guys I know), start talking with her. We found out that she is a member and has been sick for the past two years and hasn't gone to church.  We were able to teach her and her daughter (who isn't a member) and they came to church -- awesome!  We have a baptismal date with her daughter which is also aweseome.

Also, our investigator Luiz is going to get baptized this week and we are super excited. He is so ready to get baptized and is really ready to accept this ordinance.  Something really cool is that he came to Girardot a month and 8 days ago;  we found him a month ago. It was the perfect timing of the Lord. 

I am so happy to be in the mission and to be able to improve.  I have felt a little different about my personal progression, but I know one thing, the Lord always gives us the tools to improve. His gospel is perfect, His Atonement powerful, and His words uplifting;  all to help us receive strength and peace in our lives. 

I love you all.  Have a good day!

Elder Parson

Elder Damiano, my old Zone Leader

An awesome member who is going to Utah

E-mail Week 56: August 14, 2017. Lorena's Baptism.

So this week has been pretty good.  We were able to witness amazing blessings from the Lord, starting with Lorena!!!!!!!  Lorena is awesome.  She has  been waiting to get baptized for 3 years 

and this week she was able to be baptized! It was such an amazing opportunity to teach her because

she explains the change that she's had in her life from the Gospel of Christ. And this is what the mission is about!  And now we have plans to try and teach her husband. 

Lorena's Baptism.

Also this week I was able to go to Melgar for intercambios so it was cool to see another part of our area.  I was with Elder Sotoski from Brasil, who is crazy but loves the scriptures and has a great testimony of the gospel.

And I was also with Elder Chandler from Idaho.  He is another amazing Elder and it was great to be with him because we both started in the same area and had the same companion so we were able to talk about that for a while.

Another amazing part of last week was that we were able to have interviews with President Baquerizo which was great because this week has been kind of difficult with all the interchanges and I didn't feel the same amount of excitement for the work. But one thing that is true is that the Lord always helps us in our times of need.  He never departs from us.  After a difficult Sunday when all of our appointments fell through, I was starving and it was 8:00 at night and we had been walking all day.  I didn't have the strength to keep going on.  But I prayed hoping that God could help us find someone and that we could continue to serve him faithfully.  At the first door we knocked, we were able to teach someone.  Faith doesn't mean that we are perfect, or that we won't have trials.  Faith is to follow God's plan no matter what the circumstances may be;  it's to trust that God knows better and will help us to return to Him.  That's His goal, and that's my goal too--even when I fail a lot. 

But that's the amazing part about the mission, to repent and follow God better and to help others to do the same.

I love this amazing work and I love you guys too!

Have a fantastic week.

Elder Parson

E-mail Week 55: August 7, 2017

So this week has gone by super fast. We went to Bogota for our leadership council and we also went to Ibague for another training.  I was able to see my friends so it was incredible.  Also the work is going great here.  We are working hard and have seen many great blessings.  Almost all of our investigators are working towards baptism and have the desire to be baptized.  I am so grateful for this amazing work. 

Because I don't have much time, I would like to quickly explain about what we were allowed to train on in Ibague.  We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon.  There is nothing that draws us closer to God than this book.  Really it is amazing how much our faith in God increases.  This book was written for our day, a story about Christ coming to the Americas and how He has given His gospel.  Nothing is greater than to understand the divinity of Christ's atoning sacrifice.  I am so grateful for this book and its ability to convert us into disciples of Christ. 

I love you guys so much!

Have a great week.

Elder Parson

E-mail Week 54: July 31, 2017. New Investigators.

So after realizing that my last emails have been bad, I am going to try and change so that this email is a little bit better.  First off, I am doing AWESOME!  The mission is still the best and my companion is such a stud and it going to keep being the best.  This week has been great!  We were able to find some more people and they are awesome!  I am constantly being amazed by the faith that people have.  But to start off, I would like to thank everyone for emailing me.  I love  your emails and I love you guys.  I am sorry if I don't answer all of you individually. 

So let's start off with the best part of this email, the investigators!!!

This week we were able to teach someone that came to church for the first time.  When we talked to her the first thing that she said was "Well I'm here to keep progressing in the gospel and get baptized".  My comp and I immediately started doing a "finger snap" (which I have no idea how to explain) because it was awesome.  She told us that she had been coming to church three years ago and was going to be baptized but couldn't because she left and couldn't find the church.  She told us that she has changed so much and it is really cool to see this change that comes from the gospel of Christ.  Whe now has a baptismal date for August 12th.

We also found someone else touching doors and it was something that really humbled me.  When he was younger, he got involved in narcotrafficking because he needed to provide for his family.  This happened in the jungle and someone ended up shooting him and he was left in a wheelchair for 20 years.  And then his wife left him because he was in a wheelchair.  Now, he's only able to walk using crutches.  We began teaching him and he wants to feel the love of God in his life and thank him more. It was incredible to see his faith.  On Sunday, he walked a mile to church using his crutches--this was very painful and it took him 45 minutes.  But he came 😀 it was awesome.

Finally, Felix, our convert of one month, introduced us to his mom and we were able to teach her!

  

So all in all, a great week.  Also we were focusing a lot on how the Book of Mormon can change peoples' lives.  It really is one of God's greatest gifts to man, another testament of His glory and His divine power to change our lives.  And I have also learned about service--service through the application of gospel knowledge. It is really the greatest thing. I am not talking about service projects, but rather, allowing everyone to feel of our love--and this changes lives. 

Well, that's it until next week.

I love you all.

Elder Parson

E-mail Week 53: July 24, 2017. Norma's Faith to Obey The Word of Wisdom.

So this email is going to be quick, because I don't have time, but this week was great. 

We had 4 interchanges and I got to know all of our Zone.  I was in Melgar, which is a party city, but also looks like a jungle and is way pretty.  I also got to go to Espinal which is one of the hottest places in the mission.  It was way awesome to be in these intercambios.  I love all the Elders of our Zone and am so grateful to be with them and to learn from them.

 

Also we had a great experience with an investigador, Norma. She has been drinking coffee all her life, 4 times every day.  And we explained to her about the Word of Wisdom and she was quite surprised but she accepted so that she could be more in line with God. It was amazing to see her faith--that just to live God's commandments she was willing to change all the culture of her family. And I am so grateful for these amazing blessings that God has given me to know these people.

And that's it. 

I love you guys.

Elder Parson

This is Melgar, a baptism that we had in the District.

Our group of Elders after transfers.