thanks for the happy birthdays mom! ya i got all the packages, the two you sent and i got lindsey and jareds package last night. i cant believe im going to be twenty years old. i really really like my 19th year, i think it was my favorite year of my life. time has flown by the last couple years huh?!
thats awesome thought that youve lost 24 pounds! congratulations! thats a really big triumph, dont stop, keep on going! fat people are breaking the word of wisdom. seriously though. nothing in excess.
i havent baptized in the last two weeks and im going crazy, its just that the problem is that here in tupã nobody stays active aftere there baptism. some elders that worked here 4-5 years ago baptized a lot of people, im currently trying to help these people get active again. i just know that if i baptize people here theyll go inactive when i leave so im trying to work more with the members to help retain and reactivate the members here. that man i baptized 3 weeks ago, still has not had one member stop by his house and just tell him congratulations for his baptism or just to say hi. without visits how are my recent converts gonna stay active. dont get me wrong, im still gonna throw anyone in the water, but im trying to do what elder quentin l. cook of the twelve told us to do when he said that the church wants real growth, they want more people in sacrament meeting, more people paying tithing, more people with temple recommends and more young men preparing to serve missions. he promised us that if we work with the less active people and people that left the church more, we will also find more to baptize amongst them. me and elder saraiva havent seen anything yet but we just gotta keep holding on huh. .
(Parker is answering a couple questions I had from pictures sent home)i was waiting to take a shower. theres only one shower in the apartment and 6 missionaries at the time, thats why i wasnt dressed yet. we ripped the shirts because president tavares recieved revelation that all shirts that were here on the mission need to be destroyed. hes a pretty strict president.
whats been going on lately, a whole lot of serious reactivation work.
its really really hot and dry here. the air is super dirty, i got a sinus infection. reminds me of Fresno.
forget college for the church, me and elder chambers are going to SLC (pronounced slick). salt lake city community college, welcome to the real life.
i dont have any more time left but i love you and hope that you have a good week. keep up the good work Bennett family. whatever happened to landon? still lost in the rebellion against nothing?
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!
- Elder Parker
thats awesome thought that youve lost 24 pounds! congratulations! thats a really big triumph, dont stop, keep on going! fat people are breaking the word of wisdom. seriously though. nothing in excess.
i havent baptized in the last two weeks and im going crazy, its just that the problem is that here in tupã nobody stays active aftere there baptism. some elders that worked here 4-5 years ago baptized a lot of people, im currently trying to help these people get active again. i just know that if i baptize people here theyll go inactive when i leave so im trying to work more with the members to help retain and reactivate the members here. that man i baptized 3 weeks ago, still has not had one member stop by his house and just tell him congratulations for his baptism or just to say hi. without visits how are my recent converts gonna stay active. dont get me wrong, im still gonna throw anyone in the water, but im trying to do what elder quentin l. cook of the twelve told us to do when he said that the church wants real growth, they want more people in sacrament meeting, more people paying tithing, more people with temple recommends and more young men preparing to serve missions. he promised us that if we work with the less active people and people that left the church more, we will also find more to baptize amongst them. me and elder saraiva havent seen anything yet but we just gotta keep holding on huh. .
(Parker is answering a couple questions I had from pictures sent home)i was waiting to take a shower. theres only one shower in the apartment and 6 missionaries at the time, thats why i wasnt dressed yet. we ripped the shirts because president tavares recieved revelation that all shirts that were here on the mission need to be destroyed. hes a pretty strict president.
whats been going on lately, a whole lot of serious reactivation work.
its really really hot and dry here. the air is super dirty, i got a sinus infection. reminds me of Fresno.
forget college for the church, me and elder chambers are going to SLC (pronounced slick). salt lake city community college, welcome to the real life.
i dont have any more time left but i love you and hope that you have a good week. keep up the good work Bennett family. whatever happened to landon? still lost in the rebellion against nothing?
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!
- Elder Parker
thanks for the email dad. its crazy to think that im going to turn 20 huh! i cant believe how fast its passed by. especially the last two years, i feel like when senior of high school started until now has passed by so fast, and its been two years! i gotta start doing something with my life otherwise itll fly right by me.
i hope that chad is doing well and not having problems in prison. i hope that when he returns from his time in there he will finally make the decision to change his life and hold to the rod until the end and not just for a short spurt.
our family is very blessed. the Lord surely has had a part in the way that our family is coming together. although it was an uphill and difficult battle for a long long time i feel like the worst is over and that now the Bennetts will only rise. just as Lehi says to his sons to shake the chains that bind you and brake the bands that hold you back from keeping the commandments i feel like the Bennetts are finally starting to do the same. but everything is from what the Lord has done for us. yesterday i gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the prodigal son and the spirit was very strong. the saints here are not strong at all. they are a very weak group of saints here, they do not stand together, everyone stands alone. even in there own families there broken, they just dont have any unity here. many are very disheartened, there spirits are broken because of the hundreds that theyve had to watch leave the church over the last 20 years, and everyone points the finger at the next person. you could say the people here are not a very blessed group of saints. they struggle very much to keep the commandments. so for my talk i decided to speak of the prodigal son, and how if we would just accept that we have wronged and return to our inheritance that God has given us that everyone single one of us has gone and wasted just as the son here, we will be accepted with a kiss and a hug from our Heaven Father and so we should do the same when others come. i told the story of nick pass and how his father kicked him out and he returned and went on to serve a mission. the spirit was magnificent. many cried with me as i spoke of the lost sons, daughters, and brothers, mothers, etc. that we have here in tupã that we must recieve with open arms and many kisses, not judging. when i say many, i mean many. about a dozen of the congregation of 54 people were crying. i feel like its exactly what many needed to hear. these people are so distraught and destroyed, im trying my hardest to work with the less active people and people that have left the church but im not seeing the blessings. i havent baptized these last two weeks and my calling as a missionary is to baptize. but here i am doing this work that should be done by the members and i dont know how much more i can take of it. i need to baptize people, its my calling.
- Elder Parker
i hope that chad is doing well and not having problems in prison. i hope that when he returns from his time in there he will finally make the decision to change his life and hold to the rod until the end and not just for a short spurt.
our family is very blessed. the Lord surely has had a part in the way that our family is coming together. although it was an uphill and difficult battle for a long long time i feel like the worst is over and that now the Bennetts will only rise. just as Lehi says to his sons to shake the chains that bind you and brake the bands that hold you back from keeping the commandments i feel like the Bennetts are finally starting to do the same. but everything is from what the Lord has done for us. yesterday i gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the prodigal son and the spirit was very strong. the saints here are not strong at all. they are a very weak group of saints here, they do not stand together, everyone stands alone. even in there own families there broken, they just dont have any unity here. many are very disheartened, there spirits are broken because of the hundreds that theyve had to watch leave the church over the last 20 years, and everyone points the finger at the next person. you could say the people here are not a very blessed group of saints. they struggle very much to keep the commandments. so for my talk i decided to speak of the prodigal son, and how if we would just accept that we have wronged and return to our inheritance that God has given us that everyone single one of us has gone and wasted just as the son here, we will be accepted with a kiss and a hug from our Heaven Father and so we should do the same when others come. i told the story of nick pass and how his father kicked him out and he returned and went on to serve a mission. the spirit was magnificent. many cried with me as i spoke of the lost sons, daughters, and brothers, mothers, etc. that we have here in tupã that we must recieve with open arms and many kisses, not judging. when i say many, i mean many. about a dozen of the congregation of 54 people were crying. i feel like its exactly what many needed to hear. these people are so distraught and destroyed, im trying my hardest to work with the less active people and people that have left the church but im not seeing the blessings. i havent baptized these last two weeks and my calling as a missionary is to baptize. but here i am doing this work that should be done by the members and i dont know how much more i can take of it. i need to baptize people, its my calling.
- Elder Parker
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