Week 88: March 26, 2018. Paula's baptism.

So this week was amazing! It flew by, just like always. 

To start off this week, it was incredible.  I had exchanges with two of my favorite elders in the Mission, Elder Monson and Elder Sorbonne. It was so much fun.  I have so much respect for these two elders. ME and Elder Monson were together so we had a blast doing exercises together and contacting.  It was super fun.  We started contacting with family history and it was incredible to see how many people were receptive to learn about their ancestors.  It was an awesome activity.

Also, this week we had the baptism of Paula, the granddaughter of Patricia, a recent convert.  It was awesome.  She was super excited to make this covenant with God.  It was also super spiritual when her grandma gave testimony about how much the gospel has changed her home.  I am so grateful to know them.

A miracle that I saw this week was that we had been having a difficult week finding new investigators and I was starting to get stressed.  But I realized that this is the Lord's work.  He will make it progress and I just need to trust that He will help me. And that day, we had 7 investigators at church.  While we were waiting for a lesson, members just brought their friends and had us teach them. We found 4 new investigators that day.  The Lord really makes miracles in this world. 

I love you all.

Elder Parson

Week 87: March 19, 2018. The Temple..."Losing our lives to help others change theirs".

So this week was awesome! We have been super pumped to find news this week and we have been trying to do everything possible. It has been such a blast. 

We have some incredible investigators that have been so kind to us. One of our investigators, Fransisco, took us to the temple this morning. He has really been trying to change the peace in his home and he and his wife are progressing to baptism and their marriage. 

Also we have been having a lot of success looking for old investigators that were investigating a while back but have since stopped investigating. We were able to find an amazing couple that are so receptive to come to church and be baptized. 

The Lord is truly blessing us with miracles in this area.

I had an awesome opportunity to do exchanges at 7:00 on Sunday night. We were really trying to reach our goal of 10 new investigators and I went with a recently returned missionary to contact. We were able to contact for 2 hours and although we didn't find news, it was such a blast to do everything possible to help people. 

That is the best part about this work, losing our lives to help other people to change theirs. 

I love you guys!

Elder Parson

Week 86: March 12, 2018.

Elder Parson's computer malfunctioned and his message was accidentally deleted.

So I had already written my message, but for some reason it just got deleted.  Sorry that this message will be super short.  The coolest part of this week was our investigators. We had 7 investigators come to Church and one of our investigators asked in Church, "How can I have more faith?".  He is trying to stop drinking coffee and has stopped drinking alcohol in the week and it was incredible to see his change. 

Also we had lunch with some investigators that actually lived in US for a few years and they are amazing. I am so grateful that the Lord has allowed me to meet them. 

Have a great week,

Week 85: March 5, 2018. New Companion -- Elder Campos and Visitor Center Activity.

Elder Parson didn't write a group e-mail for a few weeks but we were staying connected through "Google Hangout".  He was working on essays for BYU scholarship applications that were due on March 1st.

He did send this short note today along with a voice recording...

So these past few weeks, I haven't sent an email.  Sorry about that but they have been 3 amazing weeks. 

First off, we were able to have 2 baptisms which were amazing.  

I also received a new companion Elder Campos because Elder Sorbonne was called to be the new Assistant. But we have been having a blast in Ciudad Jardin. This week was great.  We had a giant ward activity called the Visitor Center where we basically visited all the members of Ciudad Jardin inviting them to bring their friends to the activity. On Saturday all day we were just inviting everyone we could to come to the activity and we were able to have some people come into the center. We finished that night so tired but we both felt so happy to have been able to do everything possible so that people can hear the amazing message of the Gospel of Christ. 

That is the best part of the mission, to be a Representative of Christ. 

I love you guys!

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