Transferred to Apucarana

Mom,

     So by new address i hope you mean... APUCARANA!!!!!!
 i got transfered and its about time i get out of this hell!

    Dont have time but i wanted to share an experience, the only good experience we had.
  we were looking for this old investigator from a really long time ago, about a year. so weve never met him. we walked by his house and didnt even know it but he was sitting on his porch just thinking about his life and how much he really needed God right now. we payed no attention to him, in fact we didnt even see him. but beeing unintelligent, we realized the numbers were going the wrong way we wanted. so we started off the other way. then after a minute, we realized we were even more unintelligent then we thought and realized we were going the right way the first time. so we started walking back up and the lady that lived in front of his house told us he lived behind her. so he came out and began to talk to us, he was really kind and invited us in. but heres the crazy part. he said when he was sitting outside thinking about his life, and then he saw us and remembered on the time when the missionaries used to teach him, and how nice it was in his life. so he said he offered a little prayer in his heart to God, that, " if these two young men really are servants of you God, if they really are called by you, then they will return and talk to me." he said "return", because remember how i said we were so stupid that we had stopped and thought the numbers were going down, and we needed them to go up, but they really were going up. ya that moment he could see us from his porch, and offered the prayer, but we started going the other way. but we returned!!!! and when he was telling us that, i thought to myself, " holy crap, we actually answered his prayer off of our own stupidity!" cause he never would have prayed if we started walking away! missionaries, even when we do everthing wrong we do everything right!!!! we taught one of the most spiritual lessons ive ever felt, because of his absolute humilitude and somberness. after talking to him more, he told us that he used to deal drugs, and that he killed a man back in his street rat days. that scripture in the new testament really came true to me when Jesus said that he notices even the falling sparrow or something like that. because He really does!!! literally nobody in this area wants the gospel that we found so far, and one of the worst sinners of them all (this man), in the moment, the very moment, that he gave his will to the Lord, and offered a silent sincere prayer, not even aloud, just in his heart, the Lord answered him. a man that deserves no answer, but the Lord answered him.a man that selfishelly took another mans life, recieved an answer. can you imagine the love, hope, and charity that our Savior has for this man. the atonement is a real thing. all of us really can recieve forgiveness for our sins, we must yield up our will to the Lord and let Him do the rest.

    thats our best investigator, if that gives you an idea of this area. a crack slingin murderer. but i pray with all my heart that we can stretch the atonement on this one and he can recieve a remission for his sins in 4 to 6 months.
                I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!
                              - Elder Parker
o ya i got a letter from Elder Cleveland, his letter consisted of about 18-20 sentences... there was not one period. all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i think hes a little excited to be serving. my new comp is Elder Zioli. im gonna miss Elder Delgadillo.
   VAMOS LA BATIZAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

macdonalds is super expensive here so thatll be the last of that but subways super good.

  dad,

         i failed here. satans so strong in this area you wouldnt believe. my heart is shattered. guess youve gotta take the good from the bad huh. me and my comp both got transferred, im going to apucarana. its a different city. when president transfers both its usually because hes closing the area. i think he will here too. its super dangerous, theres so much drugs, and the only guy that has some potential we cant baptize cause hes killed a man. i think that alone describes this area. some things happened in this area that i never wanna remember for the rest of my life. this ward will probably eventually die. ive never seen anything like this. yesterday, my comp actually said he thinks hes gonna fast to get transfered thats how much he hates it here. hes lost hope for a really long time now. about 4 weeks hes just kinda been dead. i really wanted to stay though, i read about those stories in the book of mormon and just imagine the faith they must have. i wanna be just like them.

   anyways love you dad, looks like the spirit has called me away to another city, to serve another people.

          - Elder Parker

Rough Week!!

Date: May 21, 2012

Area: Londrina

Companion: Elder Miguel Delgadillo

Mom,

that's nice to hear that tyler haroldson is doing well and going on splits with the missionaries. im proud of his progress as well.


nice to hear that grandpa bennetts out of the hospital also. hope all is well from here on out for him and grandma jean.


i talked to the church doctor from salt lake and he said its safer that i get the surgery after the mission in the states. he said either way im gonna lose my gall bladder so that sucks.


i like hearing where everyone else is going to serve. taylor must be pretty excited right now. whatever happened to alex katich?


i think thats so cool that pierce is going to serve in the same mission as elder gomez. ya know what would be really cool is if elder gomez trained pierce. hahaha now thatd be a really cool experience! but seriously though what ever happened to alex katich?

i got a letter from elder urmston the other day. we talk a bit. the boiseidaho misson sounds a lot different

ya its starting to get cold so we make some tea in the morning to wake up, and at night before bed, its definitly one of my favorite parts of the day.

ya maybe someday ill recieve the envelope but as far as i know, it hasnt came. but i could really use some singulair.

we moved to so ill get you that address and you can just send stuff to there if you want. i dont know it now but ill get it next week. did you send the package? if not, send it

so this last week is one that id never like to think about ever again in my life. so i wont speak of it. but today is a new day! its nice to have a comp thats just so excited about everything, even when youre failing. makes the hard times seem a little softer. send another memeory card thing, not for cameras but for computers please.
but this last week we decided to go into paeçambu, an area in our area, i have seen hell now and i dont like it. of all the areas i could get sent to in this nice city, they send me to freaking the most ghetto area ever. o ya our new apartment is next to a street called santa monica. the locals here call it terra de crack. that translates to crackland. literally people in our new apartment complex came up to us, and told us, after 6 never walk on that street. nice to know some people still care. actually president has areas in this area that he has specifically told us we cannot enter, it comes to about half our area.

i just wanna baptize a nice married family, that has no affiliation with gangs, robberies, murders, or drug dealing... we´ll find one eventually!

last night we talked with bishop, he said he called the other ´´active´´ men in our ward to see if theyd go make visits with him, and he said not one said they wanted to. he told us he knows of nothing else he can do and this ward will probably be split up into 2 branches. satans working very hard here. well gotta go, got a lot of work here to do today, still got to move into to our new house, on our p day. mmmmmmm lifes good.
LOVE YOU ALL
- Elder Parker



Dad,
yup the days are going by pretty fast. not these last couple days though. was a tough week to say the least. but we did move into our new apartment today so that means we can actually live in our area this time. so these next weeks will be better. for now, i hope the hard parts over.

i talked to the doctor for all missionaries of brazil in salt lake on the phone and he said that its better i wait till i return to the states to have the surgery. he told me either way i am going to get my gall bladder taken out which i dont like at all but life does things to you sometimes you just cant change.

keep hoopin it up also! im pretty sure im going to be terrible when i return. we played that one time and i dont know how to shoot anymore. my hands just dont work well together anymore. im gonna need some practice haha.
thats nice that you and craig cleveland can still play together. thatd be cool if someday me and adam could play together when were dads to.
love you,
Elder Parker

Parkers Testimony In Portuguese

Best Mother's Day Ever!!!!

What a wonderful Mother's Day to be able to skype with Parker! Such an amazing gift of technology that we have. Parker's comments are reflecting a lot of our conversation yesterday on skype. So hopefully you can understand. I am still concerned about his health and so we talked about that and to help the readers he talks about new sister in law and niece Nicole and Chloe and Sister in law Janaye and brother Logan, also younger brother Riley. Enjoy, and keep checking the blog, I am posting his video Logan took of him on skype baring his testimony of Jesus Christ and his church in Portuguese. 5 1/2 months out and he is fluent, which is totally a miracle.


Dearest concerned mother,
     the spot on my finger is because I'm turning into a lamanite, but ill ask why i have it. we tried to call sister tavares yesterday but she never picked up probably because of mothers day but were gonna call back again today and tell her that I'm thinking I'm gonna get the surgery. I'm not having pains anymore but that is also because i know that i cant eat fatty foods so i don't.  but ya if i drink,  especially soda or artificial juice, which is all they drink here, it feels like my stomachs getting ripped apart. saw the doctor last week, he recommended the surgery and i recommended id rather baptise, so he told me to think about it and call him back if i ever have more pain. as of now I'm free sailing, no drs appts or nothing but I'm probably gonna get some this week because of this surgery, i hope not cause i cant lose anymore time. i don't know i was just thinking about it and thought I'm only 6 months in still and it will take about 5 days away from my mission so i thought about how I'm still pretty new on the mish and its probably better to have it now then a year from now.  the stones have wrecked my gall bladder so much that i have to have my gall bladder taken out to. but i really don't want the surgery, but i must obey.

   my address is everything the same but instead the part  that's, rua higienopolis its, RUA CAMPINAS 145 F, and its F at the end because we live in the fundos, or the back in Portuguese. so you need that capital F. its in the city of Londrina and everything to so everythings the same just that part is different. in case you were wondering rua means street in port. also so its just a different street but everythings the same. and yes with the surgery and the fact that I'm only here for one transfer so far i figure I'm probably gonna stay another 3 1/2 months here. maybe longer. rarely does president transfer you after 1 transfer. it should arrive on time anyways if you send it Wednesday. it takes about 2 1/2 weeks. but thanks a ton. remember the journals, photos, mtn dew and candy for my little gordinho comp elder delgadillo

    man i wish we could have talked longer though, it was really fun to see all of you. ha ha i thought about what Janaye said and it reminded me of what a man in my last ward said because they had been trying a really long time to have a kid and he said that they were not trying HARD enough, with a winky face. his name is vamor hes this super funny dude in my last ward in foz.ha ha but ya right there you saw us messing around like wed be on p day but generally were very strict about our language and subjects of speech because we always need the spirit with us,  but when we get even just a minute to goof off we take it for as much as we can,  and last night felt really good to just sit in a nice house and unwind with the family. Elder Delgadillo said he loves Janaye to, and he thinks shes really pretty. but then i said she so sassy though and he said she wasn't sassy enough ha ha. this elders a hoot. he also said he hopes Dakota liked him, he really has taken a liking to Dakota ha ha but he says that Koty needs to calm it down about the Avengers. his words exactly were calm down Koty. Thats nice that i finally got to see Nicole and Chloe. Chloes a big girl huh ha ha. Nicole is surprisingly pretty for Chads situation. Nice to see that Logan and Jenaye are still together and loving life as always, but man they would have some cool kids i think. A little sass with a little chill. They could have some little chassy kids. And I'm very excited to hear that Addison will turn his papers in after this next semester or something like that. Guy needs to get out already, theres nothing for you in Fresno. run. and i didn't even recognise Riley's voice at first, that little pubescent boys starting to turn into a young man. and ya Riley Edington probably said that about Logan's reactivation because he didn't baptise anyone on his mission, but yes a reactivation is just as good as a baptism. We do have this one guy that hadn't been to church in 8 years but came on Sunday. were working with him but i will say that its pretty difficult. but man its been 4 weeks since Ive baptised and I'm going crazy, so ya I've been having some  dreams. skype joke remember? not literally. but the batizador is about to come back. love you all, stay safe and keep the commandments and multiply and replenish the earth,
                                               - Elder Parker



thanks dad,
     i did tell those people thanks about a million times. they came just in time because we had no one to skype with Friday night and we were on our way to bishops house when they drove by and we asked them if they knew that bishop had skype and they said they did so it all worked out. miracles just kinda happen when you're on the mission.
     it was really fun seeing everyone together again ha ha every ones growing up. when it was just sound at first and i heard Riley's voice i didn't even recognise it at first i had assumed someone else was there. crazy how the family's growing so fast. love you a ton dad, keep on keepin on.
                   - Elder Parker

21st email

Date: May 07, 2012
Area: ?????
Companion: Elder Miguel Delgadillo

I just need to explain for those that aren't members of the church. Parker talks alot about the new area he is in and the members in the ward. They are lacking men and Priesthood leadership. Priesthood is the authority to act in Gods name. He also mentions wards, branches and stakes, and what he is refering to is the structure of the members of the church. If there are not enough members in the area to be a ward, then they are organized into branches, (this usually happens when the church is new in an area). If there are enough members (and there are requirements for this) they are refered to as a ward, which consists of a geographical area that you live in and there must be a number of Male members who are the Priesthood holders. And when you have a number of wards in an area, such as 6 or 7 you are organized into a stake and you can have more than one stake in an area. Just to give you an idea, Fresno/Clovis has I believe 4 stakes, each consisting of about 6-7 wards in each stake.


Mom,

Dads got the details on the skype biz. yes we can skype but i dont know how im going to or if i need an account ya know? ask around. but dads got the details. its nice to know that things are finally falling into line for our family, after i leave!!! logans gonna like the melchizedek priesthood, ah i remember when i recieved the priesthood, faz tempo huh? (translated means a while)

I have my last appointment this friday,(with the doctor) im pretty sure i ate something i was allergic to cause i had these red dots on my hands, arms, and some on my leg but right when they started going away so did my pains. now i have this wierd spot on my right pointer finger that looks like a burn, but i never got burned. its not a rash cause it doesnt itch its literally nothing just a spot on my finger. things like this happen all the time, im in another country after all. i dont know what to say, i feel sick all the time but honestly id rather die here then ever leave.

no those baptisms did not happen. probably cause i wasnt there haha but im serious. (I asked about the 3 baptisms he had set up in Foz the week that they pulled him out with health issues)

my new comps name is elder Miguel Delgadillo. he lives in Fair Oaks fourth ward, basically Folsom, Ca. he loves cats and hes super hipster.

hey so im in my new area, while your reading this remember that im still not even 20 yet...

in sacrament meeting we had 3 young men, 9 young woman, 27 woman and 10 men. why in the heck does this ward not have men in sacrament meeting!. . . .

the secretary moved away, the first counselor in the bishopric got divorced so he got released, then he moved, the elders qourum president did something he should not have, recently so he got released, and the young mens president just announced in testimony meeting hes moving, this friday. its so bad the stake had to release there 1st counselor so he could be first counselor here. so as of now we have an elders quorum president whos highly unqualified,but he didnt even show up to the counsel of the ward meeting, no secretary, no young mens president, and its not like any of those guys had counselors cause we have no priesthood here. So me, like an annoying and crazy man, i asked everyone where there husbands, fathers, & brothers were, and most of the woman just replied that there husbands were at home. so that night we had a meeting with the bishopric and they gave us a list of 10 men to go reactivate, cause if we dont start getting men here, there gonna split the ward up to other wards or just make 2 or three branches. they told us the stake has already had a meeting for this twice to decide to split it. so me and my 20 year old comp sat in a room with a very dis animated bishop who didnt even ask us, he pleaded with us, please bring some of them back. it was heartbreaking. my comp said that two weeks ago, (so the week before i arrived) he just went home and cried because theres so much to do. o ya, we are living in another area cause the house that we used to live in got broken into before i arrived so now we have to take a bus for an hour to get there and to leave. so we lose about an hour and half everyday which basically equals one whole day we lose every week. we have no time, no priesthood, and no hope. but when the bishop was telling me about all this, all i could think was no no no, not in my area, not in my mission and not in my church. i dont know how were going to help this ward of fubecas, but all i know is that there is nothing i have ever wanted more in my life, then to call these fubeca (translation is slack off) men to repentance and establish some mother lovin worthy priesthood leaders here! i have no idea when im going to baptize or how, or where im going to live but all i know is that somethings gotta happen. pray for the men of this church please, soften there hearts with your prayers. cause i have no idea how were gonna do this.

now i will go play basketball. my true love in this life.

- Elder Parker

Dad,

Dang looks like dakota has been working a ton, Thats awesome that he is all caught up with his requirements for seminary!

thats so cool to know that logan has the melchizedek priesthood.and when are they gonna be sealed in the temple?

dad next sunday is the day we can skype. i dont know how to set that up but we have a house to do it at. i think i need an account o rsomething i dont know so please check up on that. im going to call you maybe at1:30 to 2:30 time because i have no idea how this will work but ask people please. anyways itll probably be around that time that ill skype cause i think were 4 hours ahead or something i dont know for sure. pres is not going to let us email before though so your gonna have to set that up.

- Elder Parker