Week 82: February 12, 2018. Finding a new family.

Elder Parson sent voice recordings this week...some in Spanish.  It was great to hear his voice and hear he and his companion talk.

So this week was amazing! ME and my companion have been saying almost every day this week, God is so amazing with us! To explain this part, I would like to relate an experience.

So this week we have been really pushing to find some new investigators. We have been using many different ways to find new investigators. On Thursday and Friday, we had been doing everything to find new investigators:  contacting with members, looking for less actives and just talking to everyone. And I was so sure that we would find some news, but on those days we didn't find anyone. On Saturday, me and Elder Sorbonne were planning and we needed to find some new investigators. I was starting to get stressed but we felt that we should put our confidence in the Lord and he would help us out. We both prayed and we felt that we should contact one street in particular--we both saw it in our minds along with how we should contact people there by reading the Book of Mormon and giving out candy.

We went there and we started to touch some doors. While we were doing this, a lady put her head out the window and said in great English, "Do you speak English?"  She came down the stairs with her brother and she starts to talk to us. She had lived in the states a while ago and was super excited to talk to us. Sunday we went back and we were able to meet her family, all of whom spoke English really well. We just had them read a page of the Book of Mormon and the Spirit came in immediately. The family told us that they had been looking for many different churches but they haven't felt good in any one. We were able to relate to them the first vision and some of them had tears in their eyes. We invited them to study the Book of Mormon, come to church, and be baptized and they were really excited to find out if this is the true church.  It was such a great miracle to us that God is always willing to help us when we have faith.

I know that God lives and loves all of His children.

Have a great week

Elder Parson

My former companion, Elder Callejas

Bowling on P-Day

Bowling on P-Day

Burger King

Week 81. February 5, 2018. Brother Sanchez is baptized.

So this week was awesome!!! 

First off, we had a baptism this week which was incredible. It was amazing to see the change of Carlos Sanchez. He had been praying for a long time before his baptism to know if the Book of Mormon was true and before his baptism he got his answer. It was so incredible to see how much happiness came into his life while he lived the gospel. It was an awesome baptism service which the Stake President directed and the Bishop was able to baptize Carlos. It was probably one of the best baptism services that I have had on my mission.

 

Also we were blessed with the visit of Elder Gonzalez and it was so awesome to hear him talk. He gave us a lot of different ideas on how we can find new people using the Book of Mormon. Also, while we were sitting down with half the mission, he gave me and my comp specific advice on how to help the zone--what a blessing. 

The mission is honestly the best.  I am so blessed to be here. 

Love you all,

Elder Parson

Week 80: Voice Recordings. January 29, 2018. Love serving in Ciudad Jardin.

This week, Elder Parson surprised us by sending four voice recordings detailing his week.  He is doing great!  It was fun to hear Elder Sorbonne and Elder Parson on the recordings.

Wowow, honestly, I have never been so tired in all my mission. Me and my comp just wake absolutely exhausted. I feel like a zombie half the time, but we are honestly having so much fun here in Ciudad Jardin!

Tuesday-  I had an intercambio with Elder Segovia from Bolivia.  It was super fun, we had a fair amount of citas and we are super excited for Patricia, who is progressing a lot. She has said in her prayers that she is excited to get baptized in the true church of God! She has amazing faith.

Wednesday- We had a training with Presidente Baquerizo focused on how to use a new reference system from the church and how to find new investigators in various ways.

Thursday- We were able to have a great weekly planning session and we were able to find a new investigator that we contacted at 8:50 at night on Sunday.

Friday- I was the mission secretary for a day! It was really different but fun as I was able to run errands with the secretaries, pay bills and such, and after we went and worked in the area. It was super cool to see some amazing families that some of my friends on my mission have been able to teach and baptize.

Saturday- We did service for 4 hours and then we were able to have a mini intercambio with some other Elders.  We were able to contact people in a park using candy and questions of the soul, which was super awesome! It has been a blast with Elder Sorbonne to contact  in very different ways, from just randomly speaking English to people, stopping cars and giving them pamphlets, to using social media with members to find new people to teach. I am so grateful for  this time that the Lord has allowed me to work in His work.

I definitely felt the Lord guiding us as we focused on how to help the Zone. We felt the need as companionships to give blessings of comfort to our companions and it was a super amazing opportunity. 

I truly know that the Lord loves us and is always willing to guide us.

Love,

Elder Parson

Week 79: January 22, 2018. 10 people come to church services.

So this week went by super fast, so I will just share the highlights...

1. We got to hear the new prophet, Russel M Nelson talk, and it was super sweet! He is truly the Prophet of God.

2. We had a super awesome lesson with Patricia and her husband, she loves the church and she wants to get baptized in it thanks to some awesome members and really wanting to serve the Lord. Her husband didn't believe in God for a long time for things that happened in his life, but he is really trying to change his life. He gave such a great prayer asking to change his life and wants  a better relationship with his fam.

3. We taught the young men how to contact and they are super pumped to go give cards to their friends. go YM!

4.We have a new guy named Orlei who came to church for the first time, who has really tried to change his life.  He was an alcoholic and now he hasn't drank for 7 years, and he really wants to change his life. and he is excited for his baptismal date.

5. We had a mini CCM (Spanish for Missionary Training Center) with some studs! They were all super pumped to preach the gospel and we had such a fun time with them. 

6. We had 10 people come to church at various times during the services.  It is amazing to see how the gospel truly blesses lives.

7. My comp is such a stud.  I am so grateful for him.

Bogota, Colombia

Young Men

CCM Grouop

Week 78: January 15, 2018.

Wowowowowow, so this week I have no idea where to begin.  We have seen so many miracles this week and it has been a week of just go go go go.

To start it off, Bogota is awesome! It is definitely a different culture.  Here the people are a little less receptive to hear missionaries and mostly tend to stay in their houses at all times. But it has been so awesome to be contacting with Elder Sorbonne.  We have been doing so many different things to find new investigadores, from trying to train investigadores to share the gospel with their friends, to going out contact with the members, to giving out candy with questions on the candy. It has all been super fun.

This week I had two intercambios: one with Elder Masarreli from Brasil and one with Elder Lutdke from California. I had a blast with those two Elderes. We had all of the citas fall through so we ended up contacting for a fair amount of time but it was super fun. We touched doors, contacted a lot in the streets, and looked for less actives.  I was amazed by how diligent those Elderes were.  They were always touching doors between the citas and just super excited to find some new investigadores.

One amazing blessing we experienced this week happened late at night.  Just before 8:00 we had the feeling to look for a less active in a neighborhood. We just started to look and we found ourselves with an old contact that Elder Sorbonne had found. We were able to teach him and he is such an amazing man. He was a professional chef and had given all of his money to do food kitchens and help other people. He was so ready to hear the message and accepted the invitation to be baptized in the first lesson. 

I am so grateful to the Lord for giving me this opportunity to serve in this amazing area with an amazing  companion. 

I love you all.

Elder Parson

Elders contacting us.

Intercambio with Elder Massarreli

Elder Lutdke and Elder Sorbonne

Intercambio with Elder Lutdke

Week 77: January 8, 2018. Transfer to Bogota...new companion Elder Sorbonne.

Buenas tardes hermanos y hermanas...

How are y'all doin? This week was a good week! 

But to start it all off, I am with Elder Sorbonne. This Elder is such a stud! He is the first Elder I met in the airport when I left for Colombia and all this time I have been wondering when we will be companions. And it looks like today is the day.  I am so pumped to work my tail off.

This week I was able to go to a leadership conference in Bogota, which was fantastic.  It was awesome to see some of my old friends and learn how we can improve as a mission.  I learned that we as missionaries need to always be committed to find new investigators in whatever way possible. And right now with Elder Sorbonne.  I am so pumped to find a lot of new investigators.

This week with Elder Colindres, we were contacting and trying to find people through many different ways:  visiting members, contacting with the Word of Wisdom and with The Family Proclamation For the World. One of the biggest blessings that I have learned this week is about the principle of agency. We as missionaries need to always be looking for ways to help the children of God use their agency for the best, to choose joy and to choose to follow the plan of God. 

I am so grateful that God has given me my agency so that I can always choose to follow Him and be happy and bring others to Him. That is what we control in our lives--how much we will follow God's Plan. 

I love you all, have a great day!

Elder Parson

My old Companions

My CCM (Missionary Training Center) group.  We are showing the letter "M" for our district name:  "Mosiah".

My old companion:  Elder Colindres.

My new companion, Elder Sorbonne.

Week 76: January 2, 2018.

Wow, this year has gone by way too fast, but it has been one of the best of my life!  I hope all of you had a grand new year.

So this week went by pretty well.  We had five investigadores come to church which was super cool! The family that we have been working with for the past few weeks, La Familia Diaz Segura, came to church! And they really liked it! I am super excited for them and I am super excited to start helping them prepare for marriage.

This week we kinda struggled to find new investigadores because everyone here already knows the church. But on Christmas eve, we went to the main Catholic church here and handed out "The Family Proclamation" to people and they really liked it. I actually met someone here who has been to the United States and Hawaii so that was interesting. But it has been super fun to try and animate the members here to give us references.  Something really neat is that this entire time that I have been here I have felt the need to talk to a particular member and ask her for a reference.  Finally, I was able to meet with her. She recently gave a reference to the missionaries and they baptized a family of five.  But when we talked to her, she told us that she said a prayer about who she should invite to the gospel but didn't share the first name she received -- but the second.  So now we are trying to help her share the gospel with the first name. And it has been super great. 

This is truly some of the greatest joy in missionary work and in the world; to be able to feel the Spirit guide you to people who need the gospel in their lives. 

I testify that this is the work of God and there is nothing more awesome in all the world.  I hope that in this new year we can become more focused on using the Gospel of Christ to bless the lives of everyone that we come in contact with.

Love you,

Elder Parson

Chicoral at night

Pedro -- an investigador who came to Church.

Area around Chicoral.