November 25, 2014

What a week,

This week was very busy for us.  We sat with Antonio on Monday and the sole purpose was to get him to see the need of a Prophet.  We were able to do that, we didn’t go into modern prophets on Monday because that’s what we wanted to accomplish on Wednesday.  We were able to help him also believe in Modern Prophets.  In his words, "it makes sense, It’s gotta be true!"  It was awesome!  He passed his interview on Friday afternoon.  That’s the happiest I've ever seen someone after they passed their interview.

Chris Lord is doing great too.  His baptism is on the 6th of Dec.  This man is the most sincere man I have ever met.  He has been having some challenges this past week but has been battling them.  I remember when I was little and playing baseball, Dad always made us do the ABC's, D is what Chris has, “Desire.”  He truly wants to change his life and he is thinking about sending missionaries to his family who are out of state.  He is just awesome.

Chris Goeckeritz is the hardest working 26 year old man.  It’s super hard to see him, but we find time! and he is going to baptized with Chris Lord on the 6th.

We picked up a new investigator on Thursday!  His name is also Chris... so many Chris'.   He's got a lot on his plate also and is working through things, and we are doing our best to help him.  I’m super excited to work with him.   We had a lesson yesterday and it was fantastic.  This man is truly prepared for this Gospel.  It’s weird though, he has lived in UT his whole life and is now just taking the lessons for real.  He has talked with missionaries many times but never let them come to his home.

The week was pretty busy, but a lot of fun.  The coming weeks are going to be fun also!.

Elder Park
The White African... in Utah  

Extra emails:  So I got a package from grandma yesterday, made me laugh! (I think she just put his address on a box of rice krispies and mailed it.  She always gave him rice krispies after his ball games). It’s so funny, my companion laughed too.

We are staying pretty busy and that’s every missionary’s dream: to stay busy
The work is paying off. We had our last transfer with no baptism and this transfer they are coming. (A transfer is a 6 week period, sometimes with a transfer happening at the end when one of the missionaries is relocated)   I love this work!!

I love you!
I have to go!

Elder Park

November 18, 2014

What a week!

The beginning of the week was a little boring, but Wednesday was good, but very cold!!   It was my 21st birthday!!   I’m legal!  hahah  A member took us to lunch at a little French restaurant which was actually really good.  Then it was full of lessons the rest of the day.  We saw Dakota (more on her in a second!), Ariane, and then Antonio.

A miracle happened on Wednesday!!   We grabbed a member as we were going to Ariane, and then all of a sudden, a lady yells Elders!!   So we went and talked to her.  She was a member visiting another member who didn’t speak any english but needed a blessing, so we helped her with that.   What was really cool and amazing was just before they called us over, they had prayed for help from our Father in Heaven and then they saw us.  It was amazing to see how the hand of the Lord works in our lives.

That night a member (who works at a bakery) brought me a cake!!  It was so cool!!  It had Boston Red Sox stuff on it and Packer and Seahawks as well!  It was so good and we are still struggling to finish it!!

On Friday we spent the day at the Temple (Jordan River)!!  A couple weeks ago, the mission said that when have someone get baptized within two weeks we can go to the Temple with them.  So we took Jani!!  It was so much fun to watch her do that.. even though we aren’t allowed to do any of the ordinances, we were able to watch and be there for her.  It was really cool to see someone do that for the first time!

Dakota Maes was baptized and confirmed this weekend. She is staying with her grandma for a couple months and was OYMed by the Zone Leaders and then passed off to us (“OYM” is a program called “Open Your Mouth” which encourages you to talk to people and share a message  http://mormonmission.blogspot.com/.../oym-open-your-mouth...)   Dakota’s mother grew up in the church but was never baptized. Dakota and her mother have been reading the Book of Mormon over the phone for the past several weeks. She is originally from Elko Nevada. Her mother drove all Saturday morning and made it for the baptism on Saturday.  It was awesome to meet her. Dakota is going to return to Elko in a few weeks and will help in getting her mother back into the church again.

 We have a couple people that we are working with towards baptism!   So, we are super excited for the coming weeks!  It’s really fun to be a missionary right now.

Hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Park

Happy 21st Birthday!

The Seahawk logo must be on the other side?!

His favorite Sprecher rootbeer.   Mom dropped some off for him in August, did he save it?  or did he find more?  

nice thought - he came from Liberia to Salt Lake, not from Libya, but it made Collin laugh

and last, but not least:

Dakota was baptized

November 11, 2014

That was a good week.  So much to talk about.

We took Antonio (preparing for the 22nd) to Temple Square along with Dakota (preparing for the 15th!!!!). It was a great time.  We focused on Prophets and then finished at the Christus.  It was great, the Spirit was strong.  We have been working with Antonio for a while and he has said he'll get baptized but he wouldn’t set a date. We invited him several times while we were there for the Nov 22nd  After I said one of the more “bolder” things, he finally accepted.  What I said to him was that he already knew the church was true, and that he just needed to take a step of faith and not to hold back. Then he accepted!  I was so happy that night.

On Saturday we had a pass over lesson with the Sandy YSA sisters in the south mission. We got Chris who was already on date for the 22nd this month.  This guy is so smart. He is already in 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon.  The best part is that he remembers the stories.  He even quoted a couple D and C sections too, it was awesome, I’m excited to work with him.

On Sunday we had dinner with Bishop Summerhayes who has been working with an Investigator that we've meet, but he didn’t want to meet with missionaries yet. So, Bishop was helping him along and still trying to have him become comfortable enough to meet with us. This past Sunday he finally accepted the invitation to have us come.  We had a fantastic lesson with him on Sunday. The Spirit was strong.  Elder Dahlke did a fantastic job on teaching about the Book of Mormon and as I was listening, the strongest prompting of "just invite him."  I’ve been working hard to heed to the promptings, and I’m so glad I did.  He is now preparing for Dec 6th.

This week was just so amazing.  It was fantastic. I have again renewed my testimony that Heaven Father does indeed hear and answer our prayers.

We are working really hard even with Elder Dahlke's broken arm.  He is still able to ride a bike, but we just don’t go as fast as we normally do.  It makes things interesting though. There some really good laughs sometimes.

It’s really fun to be a missionary right now.   We are staying really busy, which is awesome!!

Busy missionary= happy missionary.

Sweet is the work!
Elder Park
The White African... in Utah

PS. Happy Birthday Derek!!

November 4, 2014

What a week!!  Friday and Saturday were the best though!

So I got Elder Dahlke on Wednesday.  he's from Tennessee, he lives close to Nashville.  He has been out for about 3 months and he is already accepted into BYU when he gets back and after that he’s going to go into the Air Force to be some type of  physicist.   So the guy is smart!

Wednesday was also a very interesting day because we didn’t ride our bikes.  On Monday last week, Elder Dahlke got in to a bike accident and riding a bike was making his arm hurt a lot so we walked.  I haven’t walked that much since LIB.   We got a text from President that asked if we were walking, we said yes and then we had to call him... let’s just say we rode a bike the next day.

Friday we went to the Doctor’s, finally.  Elder Dahlke is now in a cast half way to his shoulder...  so biking is still a little interesting with him.  He fractured the radial head in his arm.  It’s really funny.  He can’t button his top button so I have to do that for him.   And he can’t tie is tie, so I do that also!   Hahaha, he just looks away in shame.

But that night was AWESOME!!!  We got to go to the Jordan River Temple!!   It was just what I needed.  I love going there and it’s been a long time since going.   The amount of peace I felt there was amazing.   It was also really nice to get away from  the world for a little while.

Saturday!  Saturday was awesome!  Jani N. was baptized!!!  Before the service she was very scared.   Her parents and grandparents were coming and they weren’t completely thrilled with this decision of hers.  So she was just very scared and nervous about all of it.  I understand why though.   The baptism went really smoothly and the Spirit was so strong.   It literally felt like you could cut it with a knife.    While she was changing Elder Dahlke and I did a little message.   We showed a video called "Lifting Burdens."  It talks about how we can draw strength from the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I know that the Atonement can change lives.   (here is a link to that video:   https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2009-10-38-lifting-burdens?lang=eng)

Sunday was a crazy busy day.   We were running from meeting to meeting.   It was really fun though.  Once church was all done we had a good dinner and then had another 2 lessons that night.  Being a missionary is so much fun.   You are constantly busy.   So much fun!!!

This work is so rewarding.   We see how the Gospel of Christ can change people.  We are teaching a girl from Elko Nevada and she going to be baptized hopefully next weekend!!

I hope all of you are having a great thanksgiving month!!   I challenge you all to think of some of the blessings that you receive daily,  and then to thank our Father in Heaven for them.

Elder Park
The White African.... in Utah

 Who would have thought Collin would see it snow on his mission?

 This is Jani on her baptism day with Collin and Elder Dahlke