November 24th, 2014
Ah man im so excited/ not excited for thanksgiving because I know that im going to have to eat way too much food, we already have 2 dinners planned and we will probably eat a couple other dinners too and its just going to be a rough day hahaha. it is going to be great because its the only day that I can be a gringo and play american football hahaha, all the other times i have to play futbol. well i dont know if y'all heard but im coming home a week early now because they are getting a new mission president that next week and they want everything to run smoothly with that. so instead im now coming home Wednesday the 24th of june, thats barely over 23 months! im so mad!! ah man well in 7 months i want to go wakeboarding hahaha
So The baptism went really great! We got there early and we were filling up the font and making the program and it was all going great when we realized that hey nobody has keys to the closet with the baptismal clothes in them!!! So basically everything was super crazy and hectic and all that fun stuff and I don't know how they opened it up because i was getting all the programs ready. Well I came around the corner after getting those done and they had it opened and kelly had her clothes to change into and my heart skipped a beat! i was soo happy! the Baptism went super well and a ton of her family showed up, there were more non-members than members there, it was great! she loved it and then yesterday she was confirmed and she was so happy! its just
so great to see how the gospel changes lives! i love y'all so much and hope y'all have a wonderful week!
Elder Park so great to see how the gospel changes lives! i love y'all so much and hope y'all have a wonderful week!
November 17th, 2014
wow thats a pretty crazy day! ya i got the package thanks you so much! the waffle crisp is sooo good hahahaha, and i can now bike in the dark hahah. well i have been looking a lot at our family history and you should check out the story of Gilbert Belnap my 4th great grandpa on mom's side. its crazy! hahah ya i can give a talk as easy in spanish now as easy as i can in english. so still not perfect haha. well i could do that, or i could translate the talk for you and teach you how to read it haha well love y'all! have a great week!
Well we are going to have a baptism on Saturday and its going to be so great! its for a girl named kelly, its crazy how fast she has changed! Last Sunday was her first Sunday at church and she loved it, she was so excited to come back. She then texted us that night giving a chapter summary of 1 Nephi 2. we didnt even ask her to do that and we were super excited to get that text! The reason it was her first day was because she has always had work and she finally got off early enough to come. Well Monday night she texted us and said "I quit my job. God comes first" and my companion and I basically lost our minds we were so happy! Then on Tuesday she came to the church for young women's for the first time a little early so that we could have a lesson and we went over the baptismal interview questions with her and she was like I really want to get baptized! It was a really great lesson and we set a date for her on the 22nd . Then on Wednesday she texted us and said that she had something that day and she was freaking out, we told her that we could just do it after and she texted "Omg yesss yess okay i need to get baptized this means a lot to me" and once again my companion and I basically lost our minds. Then on Thursday we had another lesson with her about family history and she was just going crazy trying to find all the info she could, it was really great to watch. Then yesterday at church she brought her cousin and her little brother to church and she is just on fire for baptism, her conversion was like overnight it was so great to see!
Elder ParkWell we are going to have a baptism on Saturday and its going to be so great! its for a girl named kelly, its crazy how fast she has changed! Last Sunday was her first Sunday at church and she loved it, she was so excited to come back. She then texted us that night giving a chapter summary of 1 Nephi 2. we didnt even ask her to do that and we were super excited to get that text! The reason it was her first day was because she has always had work and she finally got off early enough to come. Well Monday night she texted us and said "I quit my job. God comes first" and my companion and I basically lost our minds we were so happy! Then on Tuesday she came to the church for young women's for the first time a little early so that we could have a lesson and we went over the baptismal interview questions with her and she was like I really want to get baptized! It was a really great lesson and we set a date for her on the 22nd . Then on Wednesday she texted us and said that she had something that day and she was freaking out, we told her that we could just do it after and she texted "Omg yesss yess okay i need to get baptized this means a lot to me" and once again my companion and I basically lost our minds. Then on Thursday we had another lesson with her about family history and she was just going crazy trying to find all the info she could, it was really great to watch. Then yesterday at church she brought her cousin and her little brother to church and she is just on fire for baptism, her conversion was like overnight it was so great to see!
November 3rd, 2014
Wow its really starting to cool off over there! its starting to cool down here too, its been around 60 to 70 here and I have been needing a sweater, we are on bikes this next week though so I will definitely be needing to wear my sweaters hahaha ya sometimes we email at like 10:30 here and then other times not till later because the sisters come and email and they don't want us in the building together. indexing is pretty fun, I wish I had a little bit more time to do it but that's okay. Well ya that would definitely be a peaceful way to go. Whenever I go I want to go like that, in my sleep when im 100 though. my companions crazy he says that he wants to go kinda like the crazy uncles in second hand lions hahaha. we started talking about the movie better off dead the other day and it was super funny, and then that lead to princess bride and I was just like ahhh ya that movie is the best hahahaha well I hope y'all have a wonderful day. o and if y'all could stop by president taylor's shop and buy a bike head light because we haven't had time to stop by the other store. plus with daylight savings we got less light. that would be great. well I love y'all! have a great week!
October 27th, 2014
Well this past week was a super eventful one for both good and bad. Last monday we went to some burrito place and we ate an 18 inch giant burrito and got free tee-shirts, it was super fun hahaha, then we had dinner a few hours later and ooo man was i stuffed! Then on Tuesday I lost my headlight on my bike so for the rest of the week I was riding around in the dark, good thing im in Raleigh and there are streetlights everywhere. Dont worry im going to the bike shop today to see how much the lights are, if its more that like 25 bucks i might just have y'all get one from President Taylor's shop, but i will let you know if i buy it next week. on Friday we had an AMAZING study about the Book of Mormon and why its super important and why we need to share it with people and it was just a wonderful and revelatory study, it definitely changed how I view the Book of Mormon. Later in the day we were out tracting and a guy walked up to us and was like "lately I feel like I have been needing a spiritual boost, and I feel like y'all can help me. I mean I have already found Jesus but I feel like i'm missing something" we were just like...... what...... it was soooo great! Later we were teaching a lesson about the BOM and it was crazy how we were able to put our study into that lesson and he loved it! on the way to another lesson we were biking along and some lady didn't see me and almost hit me while she was turning. I made a skid mark like 10 feet long and was going sideways and it was soooo awesome. I could have licked her car that's how close I was, but I never hit it, it was so amazing. Then on Saturday we met a man that well i forgot his name because he told us to call him black. He was super funny, and he was like I like it when you white people call me black because it shows that im not prejudice. he was hilarious to say he least. Then yesterday while on the bikes everything was going wrong. My tire got a few flats, while i was fixing it my watch broke so I was a little frustrated to say the least and so I just took a little break and calmed down and I was just like ah man i have to teach someone or im going to go crazy. So then we taught a lesson and it was amazing and so I was able to calm down. so with all the ups and downs this week it will be one to remember hahaha well i love y'all tons and hope you have a wonderful day!
Elder Park
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| Before |
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| and after Burrito! |
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| Free T shirts from eating the 18 inch burrito |
October 20th, 2014
well this week was a really great one here. we had the most lessons we had since i have been here and we have just been on fire. our trio is getting split up, elder Rogers is getting transferred so now its just going to be me to finish training elder teeples. Yesterday was the primary program too so that was really good! we were combined with the Raleigh 2 ward because they have primary together so it was a little weird to hear a meeting in english again haha. it was mixed between english and spanish too it was very interesting, and there were both bishops on the stand hahaah well i love yall and hope you have a great day!
Elder ParkOctober 13th, 2014
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| At Sarju's Baptism |
yes i got all the packages and they were great im super excited to get some pumpkins and use the stuff. well im running short on time so i have to go but ill just tell y'all about my awesome week! Well this week was absolutely amazing! So after Zone Conference last Wednesday we got to watch Meet the Mormons which was a really great movie. When they showed the part about the Navy football team I saw one of the guys who played on Cottonwood's team and I was like hey i played with him! Then on Friday we got to go to the temple which was absolutely amazing! I love going to the temple it's just the best place ever! it is soooo peaceful. Then on Saturday night i got to go back to my last area and see a lady named Sarju get baptized that i taught for 6 months! She didn't see me when I walked in and then I was invited to say the closing prayer and when I got done saying the prayer she just jumped out of her chair and gave me a hug (don't worry she is like a 50 year old lady) she was soooo happy to see me and i was sooo happy to be there to support her. When i was sitting next to her and talking to her she said " I just kept fighting you for so long and now i'm here and i'm so happy, and i knew you would be really happy too!" and I was like o you bet im super happy! she is the sweetest old lady ever! My old companion said that another investigator that i taught is going to be baptized next month so I'm hoping that I will be able to go to that too! it was great to see all the old members from the Pittsboro branch they are the best! well i love y'all soooo much! have a great week!
Elder Park
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| Sarju and Nic |
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| Temple Photo Shoot! |
October 5th, 2014
Well Conference was absolutely amazing! Mom im sure you got a kick out of President Eyring's talk on sunday morning about him getting home late and trying to sneak in so that he wouldn't wake up his mom but she was up waiting for him. I know i got a kick out of it and though of you hahahaha. Man that sounds like fun just going out and grabbing potatoes, an investigator gave us a big bag of potatoes this week and I realized i haven't had a baked potato in like 9 months so i have been eating them like every day because i just think they are so good.
This past week we set up a member home lesson with the bishops family and an investigator that we have named kelly, because she is friends with the bishops daughter. Well we have been teaching kelly for quite a while and we have never been able to get a member to go with us because its always sporadic lessons with her. Well this was definitely what she needed. So we had a really good dinner with the family but then the bishop had to leave for something so we had to go outside because there was no other man home. We were planning on watching the Restoration video so it was a pretty big bummer that we had to go outside but Sister Larkin just went to work! She just started off and was like have you heard all the discussions? and kelly said ya. then she was like So why haven't you been baptized, you know what we need to do, we need to set a date for you, when would work? that started out the lesson... it was great! kelly has had some hard times just acting and so this lesson was super great! she commited to being baptized on the 25 of october! after the lesson when we were at home we were just like... what.... just.... happened... it was great!
September 29th, 2014
Well the weather here has been pretty great! its cooled down to 60 for a couple of days and we put on some sweaters because we thought it was too cold hahaha. The past few weeks its really cooled down and my boy Elder Teeples from Alaska has been loving it! I told him he is going to hate next summer because the heat that he has seen the past few weeks was nothing!!!! We are doing so great here! This past week was the best one i have had in Raleigh because we were just going out and talking to so many people and just doing work and it was so great! one of the days in the week my boy had a doctors appointment super far away and that basically took up the entire day so we only had a 6 day week and it was still the best! A lady in my last area is getting baptized and i might be able to go back! if i can that would be soooo fun! another great thing about a trio is that splits are just so easy! yesterday Elder Rogers was feeling sick so we went home and called a member and Elder Teeples and the member went out while Elder Rogers and I stayed home and made a bunch of calls and plans for the next few days and it was just really great! hahah we didn't know it was fast sunday either until the night before because we had dinner over at the bishops house and we asked him if it was going to be or not, but most of the ward didn't know it was funny! This week we went out with our Ward Mission Leader and it was great! we went to go see a part member family and he was just being so bold and calling them to repentance, it was so intense and there is no way that we would ever be that bold but i think its what they needed to hear to just get a little push to act. all in all it was a really great week! i love y'all and hope you have a great week! p.s. thanks for the package!!!!
Elder Park
September 22nd, 2014
Well the training is going sooo great! my boy is absolutely amazing! it feels like im not even training because he is just sooo ready to just go out and get to work and he is not afraid to just speak in lessons and on contacts its great. I feel like i was training more last transfer with my previous companion because he didn't like to talk at all and he didn't know much spanish. he was a great learning experience though! well we have been knocking a new apartment complex and we have found a lot of new people that we are hopefully going to start teaching soon. there is a few people that are so close to baptism but just need a few more things. Andrez,Omar, Kelly, and Giovanni. We are hoping they will be baptized soon!
well the area is absolutely amazing! we get fed sooo much and its crazy there are so many
hispanic members here its sooo great! we are starting to cool down quite a bit but it is still pretty hot hahhaa biking isn't as miserable though! well things are going soo great! My companions and I are having so much fun we are just going out and having a ball teaching and finding, we are working on the baptizing! This week was a pretty crazy one. On Wednesday, while on exchanges, my companion got hit on his bike. He wasn't hurt at all but his bike was pretty messed up. We went to REI to go get an estimate to see how much it would cost to fix it and they said it would be like 200 dollars! He was pretty bummed but he filled some accident report thing and the church is looking into it so we don't know if he will have to pay for it. The next day my tire exploaded which took a while to repair but I had a patch kit so I could fix it up. Then the next day on a bike that he was borrowing from another Elder he had the front tire completely blow up on him. We couldn't fix it with patches because it wasn't just the tube that blew up the tire did too so now he for sure has to buy a new tire it was a very event filled week while on the bikes. After that last one we had to walk to our next appointment that was like a 40 min walk, it wasn't the funnest but thats okay. Even through all of that we didn't let that get us down we just kept on going it was great. He didn't let all that stuff get to him. The funniest thing was that during weekly planning he told us that last week one of his goals was that he would be more patient and we just laughed sooooo hard it was so funny! So the lord definitely answers our prayers and gives us what we ask for. So we made a goal never to ask for more patience hahahahaha well love you have a great day!
Elder Park  |
| got to love flats.. |
September 14th, 2014
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| Nic and his Trio! Elder Teeples and Elder Rogers |
Elder Teeples came from the Provo MTC because his spanish was super good and he only spend 12 days in the MTC. I didn't know Elder Rogers yet. When i first saw him I was like ah man he is going to be weird but ooo man they are both super fun its great! I did meet Elder Ostergar, I said hi to him and talked to him for a little bit after the trainer meeting. Wow the weather has been amazing, it cooled down to probably 80's all week and when we are biking I feel like I almost want a coat! hahahhaha not really though because I love the cold but i just love how cold it has been feeling this past week! Elder Teeples has Cystic Fibrosis so we need to have a least an hour of exercise everyday so I'm starting to have more time to work out which is really great! Whats crazy though is how many pills he has to take and stuff, he unloaded his suitcase and it looks like he is a drug dealer hahaha. then Elder Rogers keeps contemplating how he is going to mess with america by interrupting the super bowl (not seriously) so basically i have a drug dealer and a terrorist as companions... help me.... hahhahahahaha jk. something that has started to grown on me out here is country music, never thought i would see the day. Well i guess the mission does things to you.... hahhaaha. Well this week was super great with my companions, its so nice having two other people that can talk on contacts and teach in lessons. Im just loving this trio and I hope they keep us here! i love y'all tons and hope you have a great week!
Elder Park September 1st, 2014
well this week is going to be a little short because im running low on time but thanks for the package it was great!!!! it was very needed too because i was having a bit of a rough day and then i look in the mailbox and i had a package and i was sooo happy. the waffle crisp was a heaven sent hahaha. the ties were pretty good too hahaha and i LOVE the shirt! it was so great! well story for ya. so in the very start of the rest hymn between speakers the person who was leading the song, he stopped the hymn and was like hey the hymn says with excitement, start over! it was sooooooo funny everyone could barely sing because we were all laughing it was super funny. well i have to go but i love y'all tons!!!!!
Elder Park
Elder Park
August 24, 2014
wow its crazy that classes are already starting up again! oooo man y'all made quite a bit of salsa! its been raining here a ton too! luckily this week we were in the car. which reminds me so i took my bike to the shop because there were sooo many problems with it and then they told me an estimate of like 100 dollars it would cost to fix it all up and get me running new so if you could put maybe like 50 bucks on my card that would be wonderful so that i know i have enough when i go to the shop to pick up my bike. they are putting metal petals on it because my plastic ones were like in half haha. ya i heard there was a huge hail storm!. Well we had our interviews with the Mission President this week...... I'm training!!!!!! oooo man im so excited and sooo nervous its going to be crazy! something amazing is that he also told me im going to be getting another companion so we are going to be in a trio! that's going to be completely crazy because that means that this ward will have 9 missionaries in it! They are so on fire for missionary work! So im sad that I will be saying goodbye to another companion after only one transfer with him but I am so excited to be in a trio. We are basically going to get no sleep though because im sure we are going to be up late talking a lot hahaha. Still in bed though so we aren't breaking any rules hahaha. After the interview i was talking with Sister Bernhisel, the mission presidents wife, and she told me that there are 3 spanish missionaries coming. one from Arkansas, one from Holliday Utan, and one from Oregon but the one from Oregon isn't actually from there, his family just moved there recently from London, but his family line comes from Africa so he is black. I want to be his companion sooo bad hahaha but we will see! two weeks from tomorrow and i will get to meet my new boy! but ya if y'all want to send some salsa that would be great. send it in a plastic container hahaha. well i love y'all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Park
August 18, 2014
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| The camaras in my last area. they are super great! |
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| i got a tick! that thing held on for sooo long! |
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| This is some old investigators |
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We had a pioneer day activity and it was so fun!
I never lost the strength competitions hahah |
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| The perez were an awesome family in my last area, the little girl brittany was soooo funny |
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| We went Fishing one day |
This past week we were on bikes the entire week so it was crazy how much biking we did so that we could visit all the people that we had appointments with. We were biking for I would say at least 2 hours everyday! it was suuuper long and exhausting. but it was super great! we found a whole new huge appartment complex that we are going to tract out so that we can get a whole bunch of new investigators because we are going to have to clean out our investigator pool because they just wont ever keep appointments. My bike is a little messed up so im going to have to take it to the shop to fix it. my pedals are like in half hahah and my water bottle holder busted so im going to see if i get get a new one at the bike shop so y'all dont have to send one out. im soooooooooooooo glad that i came out with that camelback though. without that i would have died this week hahaah i have been drinking like a gallon and a half of water everyday! its been sooo hot and humid its crazy! Well i love it though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So basically when we would get home everyday we would just go in and die hahah we would lay down for like 5 minutes at least before we would do anything haha. North Carolina is pretty much just hill after hill, and after about 20 miles of that for a whole week you just want to die hahah so i know a little bit of how you feel dad. well i did do it in a shirt and tie with slacks so i feel like even though you went further we are evenly matched hahahah I have had to do quite a bit of translating in my last area and hopefully ill get some more chances so i can be nice and practiced up. Well i hope y'all have a wonderful week! im a little shot for time because we are about to go to an outdoor lazer tag place and go have a blast, it sounds weird but so much fun! love y'all!
Elder Park
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