The Christmas Tree I decorated!

Hello everyone! Can you believe it?!?! This will be the last letter I write as a missionary! It has been such a pleasure and a great building opportunity to serve the Lord! I had no idea what a mission does to a person! On my mission I have found testifying about Christ magnifies a person's strengths and weaknesses. I have truly learned a lot! So, for this purpose I will quickly review my week and do something that I do with Michelle every week in my personal email with her. We tell each other 5 things we have learned from the past week and 5 things we are excited for the near future. This time... I want to share things I learned from my mission as a whole and things that I'm excited about for the future RM life!

Ok! So it was a slower week with Thanksgiving and getting last minute errands done before ending my mission this week. It was quite funny because Tuesday and Wednesday were COMPLETE opposite in what kind of day it was! Tuesday was full of driving to appointments and dropping clothes off at the Visitor Center. We then had to drive home during rush hour... It took us 2 hours to get home!!! (Whereas on Friday morning there was NO traffic and it only took us 45 minutes to get to the Visitor Center.) Luckily we got there in time for our 6:30 dinner appointment! Wednesday we stood ALL day long helping Marilyn can soups and chili for when she has her surgery. It was fun, but LOTS of work! It was funny because we thought we would get a break while Marilyn left to go to her doctor appointment... But nope! She gave us orders what to do while she was gone. Haha. To say the least... We were pretty dead by the time the day ended! 

Thanksgiving was a BLAST! It was the best day of the week! We went over to the Owen's house for Thanksgiving and Marilyn was able to come! We all had so much fun eating and chatting away. Marilyn made herself at home and told us all about sailing! Sister Owen now wants to take her family sailing! Haha. After dinner we helped decorate their Christmas tree! Boy was that fun!!!! Marilyn even helped by telling us where to put things, since she can't stand on her feet for too long. It made me so happy to hear how much fun Marilyn had that day! She now wants to go to the Relief Society activity in a couple of weeks at Sister Owen's house! 

Saturday was a really fun day! We had the Ward service activity. We went to different Ward members' houses and helped rake their leaves. We FINALLY conquered sister Adams leaves! Thanks to leaf blowers and 41 bags later... Her lawn is finally finished!!! We also went to 3 other houses. One of which was the bishop's house! They had a HUGE backyard! It's like a mini forest! Luckily we only needed to do the front 1/2 of the backyard! All together with the 4 lawns we did... We had around 95 bags of leaves! Both Saturday and Sunday nights we had Thanksgiving dinner! So... I'm feeling pretty stuffed right now! Haha 

Monday we went to tour the naval academy! That was a lot of fun! Our tour guides was an elderly couple who served in the Navy. It was so neat to hear the husband's stories from serving in the Navy. I now have lots of respect for those who served and are serving in the military... I couldn't do that! I learned a lot today about the Navy. One of which is if a flag is hung upside down, that means the crew is in distress and they need help. Also the quote,"learn the ropes" came from Midshipmen learning the ropes of the sail boat! Bro. Okerson, who severed in the Navy, told us a story when he and his crew had to save 6 people in the ocean. Their plane failed and they had to make an emergency landing. They were able to save 5 of the 6. It was really sad about the person who died. He was finished with his mission and was ready to get on a plane to go home. But, the person who was supposed to navigate the plane got sick, so he replaced him and ended up dying for the cause. On that sad note, we got 4 6 pound milkshakes to share as a district! I think we were able to drink it all! Haha 

Alright! Now to the spiritual part of what I wanted to share! 

Some things I have learned from my mission: 

 1. I learned the Atonement covers way more than just sins. I never understood that until I came on my mission. Back in the Rockville ward they talked a lot about how the Atonement can help us feel joy and to be able to overcome every negative feeling that we feel here on earth. The Atonement allows us to have the power and the strength that we wouldn't be able to have on our own.

 2.I learned that service can mend a broken heart. When I had the roughest time on my mission it was through service that I was able to feel joy again. Service can also help soften other peoples' hearts. That is how Jan got interested in wanting to learn more about the church and eventually got baptized. 

3. I learned the power of prayer REALLY does work, even if it's the simplest of requests! There are countless times where my companion and I have prayed to be able to teach someone through tracking and we've been able to teach a lesson on the doorstep or on the streets. Also through prayers I have been paired with companions who were able to help me and grow into the person I needed to be. I just love the idea of prayer and how we LITERALLY can talk to our Father in Heaven who is ALWAYS waiting to listen to us 24/7. 

4. I learned there are people out there who is ready to hear the gospel! When I came out on a mission, I knew that it would be hard. So I thought every person I taught would be difficult to find and teach. But, there are always people ready to hear the gospel. Even people who are willing to just listen for five minutes and feel the Spirit. It's a really an amazing experience to be apart of!

 5. I learned while being on my mission I have grown a greater appreciation for the priesthood power. It truly is the power that can seal things on earth to heaven. It is the power that links us altogether. The priesthood power is what allows us to live with Heavenly Father again. Finally, it allows us to use God's power to be healed (both temporally and spiritually). What a blessing it is to know that using God's power of the Priesthood, would be like as if He was doing it himself. 

Things that I am excited for:

 1. To never be separated from my family again! From the first 2 weeks of my mission, I have felt a sliver of what Heavenly Father feels about sending us to earth. I know He misses us a ton and wishes for us to return back to him! Those first 2 weeks were hard, but I overcame that struggle through prayer and priesthood blessings.

 2. To be able to go back to college again and receive my degree in deaf education at UVU.

 3. To be able to call and text people that I have met on my mission and remain connected to them. There are many people who have touched my life!

 4. When the timing is right, to become a mother and wife. To be able to raise my children and have them be my "investigators" as I teach them the gospel!

 5. To be able to use my missionary experiences and apply it to my life. I'm excited to continue in reflecting back on my mission and to realize more of the things I've learned from it. 

I love you all a ton! Thank you so much for being with me these past 18 months. I have felt so much love and prayers from everyone. Thank you for all you have done for me. I am excited to see you guys again and to continue our friendship with each other! 

For the last time, 

 Sister Parker

The time when I got to sit in a massage chair! 😌

Hey Everyone!

Crazy it's time to write to all of you again! The days here are flowing by with everything that has happen! It's so weird to think that this upcoming week is my last full week on my mission! I'll make this week the best one yet! Now... On to what happened last week!!!!

Monday! We had a blast spending time in Annapolis! It was so cool going through the Capitol building. I learned that this was where President Washington resigned from being the President of United States! The bay was really pretty too... Even though it was super cloudy that day! Then we went out to eat and had an island themed lunch! Haha. We split a crab cake and a coconut cream pie together! We both decided that crab isn't our favorite thing in the world... Sorry mom and dad! Hehe.

Throughout the week we have been able to rake different people's lawns! It has been fun, but there are days where I think,"Man! My body hurts... but here goes nothing!" Haha. One day we raked one of our member's lawn (who is the sweetest lady ever!) and we didn't have enough time to pick up all the leaves. Luckily we did rake ALL the leaves to pick up on Saturday, which was the next day. Well... The morning of was BEAUTIFUL and nice! But by afternoon, we had a mini wind storm! It was crazy!!! The leaves were going everywhere, so we had to cancel raking the remaining leaves. Which was too bad because Steve and his wife really wanted to help us! But... Hopefully they will come this Saturday while our ward does a leaf raking service project! That should be lots of fun!

On Wednesday we had a really cool experience before heading home for dinner. We tracked for a tiny bit and made the decision to go street contacting for the last 1/2 hour. Well, we walked up in front of a craft store. I was looking at the BIG fake flowers that was for sell when a lady came up and asked if we needed coupons! We told her we didn't, and we ended up having a religious conversation with her! She didn't believe in God because of all the horrible things that has  happened on this earth. It was sad because it took her 4-5 years to convince herself that there wasn't a God, so she wasn't going to believe anything we said about God. But, she was super super sweet about it! She told us that she could tell there was a calm spirit about us and appreciated that we weren't confrontational. It was really neat because she opened up to us. She was going to a funeral this weekend, so naturally, we gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Hopefully that will help her open her mind more in realizing there is a purpose in life. Also that God WILL make everything right again! She even gave us a hug before we said our good byes!

Thursday was a super good day! It was full of departing events! Thankfully, Sister Capson got to join us! She is leaving a week before the next transfer, so she wouldn't be able to do her departing things in January. It was so nice and fun to have her there with me! That morning we went to the temple and had a really nice time there! One of the temple workers came to talk with us before we started our session. My favorite thing she said was about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Which is faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. She explained how enduring to the end meant keeping our temple covenants. If we stayed obedient to our temple covenants, we can live with God again! While in the Celestial room, all I could do was say a prayer of thanks. There was such a sweet spirit as I thanked my Heavenly Father of all the things I have experienced on my mission. I'm so blessed to now be able to look back and admire how far I have come and all the lessons I have learned from my mission!

After the temple, we went to the mission home and ate some lunch! I was the lucky one to be interviewed first! My interview with President Johnson was so sweet and very personal. I love this man so much! I'm so grateful to have him as my mission President these last 5 months. He and his wife are the BEST! I love being able to talk with Sister Johnson and listen to all the stories she has to share! Although... President Johnson is also a great story teller too!

While waiting for everyone else to be done with their interviews... I sat in the massage chair!!! And oh my goodness! Did that feel good!!!! Sometimes it hurt a little, but I knew it was helping the knots in my back to go away. When I was done... I convinced Sister Capson to take a turn! That was so funny to watch!!!! I should have video taped her while she was siting in it! She kept exclaiming, "Ahh.... It hurts!!!" Luckily she even said that after a few minutes she could tell her back felt a tiny bit better too! Haha

That night we had a really nice testimony meeting! Everyone's testimonies were so nice and powerful! I talked about how the Atonement and service can both mend a broken heart and soften hearts as well. During my roughest time of my mission, I met Jan! While serving her, my heart and spirits were lifted. As I continued to serve her, my burdens were lifted and I saw her heart change as well! When we first met her, Jan didn't want to hear anything about our church. As the time went on, she started going to church every week, then finally became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! As I applied the Atonement, I had to reach out to those around me to help me overcome the challenges I was facing. I also talked about the amazing fact that we have the Priesthood power here on earth and  how grateful I am to be apart of this church! The more I'm here on my mission, the more I love this gospel! Everything just makes sense in the most simplest terms!

Saturday was a fun day! We went over to Marilyn's and helped put up her Christmas decorations. We of course had to to put some Christmas music on to get us in the Christmas spirit! I'm excited to spend Thanksgiving with Marilyn over at the Relief Society President's house! It will be a fun day for sure!

Meet Marilyn!!!

Sunday was quite the exciting day! Both Steve and Ali came to church!!! Sister Capson also was able to give an amazing talk about gratitude. She did a great job! After sacrament meeting, Ali did something so cute! She told us that she wanted to go home to get something to eat, then come back for the rest of church. Well... We didn't want her to leave, so thankfully the Elders had a ton of granola
bars in the back of their car. So we gave her 3 to hold her through church! Haha. She was a happy camper after that!

After church we were able to go with the Copes (They are amazing in taking everyone to church and took us to Why I Believe!!!) and Dana to Why I Believe! It was a good last one to go to! The testimonies were really great as well as the speakers! One of the converts who gave their testimony was actually a missionary here! Her name is Sister Lau and she's awesome! I haven't heard her conversion story before, so it was really neat! She joined the church with her family 10 years ago. It was really cool to hear about how all of her family joined in separate times and their own conversion to the gospel. The speakers had an amazing conversion story too! Their marriage was falling apart because the wife had a lot of faith and she was frustrated that her husband lacked faith. Well... Through the gospel, they were able to be united in faith and joined the church together! It was so cool to hear how the gospel literally saved their marriage!

Well... That wraps up my week! I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and eat a ton! I'm excited to tell you how my Thanksgiving week goes! Right now we have 3 Thanksgiving dinners lined up! Haha. 2 on Thanksgiving day and 1 on Saturday! Wish my tummy luck! Haha

Much love,

Sister Parker

The time when I did the unexpected while tracking!

Hello to everyone!

How y'all doing? Can anyone believe that in a week and a half... It will be Thanksgiving?!?!? Where has the time gone? I hope you all have exciting and fun plans for Thanksgiving! We do! I'll get to that in a sec! This week was a good one! After the Wednesday P day... We had lots of fun, miracles, and service! Alright, let's get to it!

This is Ed!

Thursday was such a fun day! We went to go see Marilyn. The first thing I noticed when she answered the door was.... HER NECK BRACE WAS OFF!!! She got approved the day before that her neck has healed enough and she doesn't have to wear the brace anymore! She had that puppy on for almost 3 months! I was sooo happy for her! We just spent time listening to Marilyn about the things she was going through and it felt so good to sit down and listen to her! One of the things that she was worried about was not having a place for Thanksgiving. We automatically told her we would find a place where all 3 of us can have Thanksgiving together! Well... Yesterday the Relief Society president said she would love to have us and Marilyn for Thanksgiving!!! I'm sooooo excited!

After seeing Marilyn we went to help clean up Perry's yard from what Sister Cosper and Sister Capson did on exchanges. They had to leave a number of piles of leaves behind because the sun went down. Sadly.... We were only able to pick up the piles of leaves. His yard is no where close to being done! More leaves have fallen since Tuesday, so his yard is still covered with leaves... Not much you can do until the leaves are done falling! We then had to skedaddle to our dinner with the Ward missionary leader and his family which was fun! Afterwards we went to the RS activity! The activity that night was all about fun ideas what to do for the holidays! It got me really excited for Christmas... So watch out family! 😜 We learned about fun Advent calendars for Christmas! I'm so excited to do the one the church will put out! It's all about doing a simple act of service everyday in Dec up to the 25th! The next thing we did was learning how to make chocolate in ice cube trays!!! All you need is chocolate wafers, fun things to put on with your chocolate, microwave, and an ice tray! Once you fill your ice trays with chocolate and fillings... Put in the freezer for 2 hours and you'll have fun chocolates! The last thing we leaned is how to wrap presents!

This was one of the yards we raked!

Friday was another good day! Colleen gave approval for her youngest daughter to come to church! Her name is Ali and she's adorable! She came to church and LOVED it! She wanted to come everyday after school. 😃 Too bad she'll have to wait a week to come back to church haha! After our lesson with Colleen, we went to go see Steve! I don't know what kind of culture his family has, but I LOVE IT! When we knocked on the door, his dad called out to come right in! So we came in, sat down, and chatted with them in the kitchen! Steve's dad and mom are so sweet! While talking with them, his dad showed us a cool treat to avoid colds! You cut the top of a lemon off and put a peppermint stick in the middle of the lemon. Then you suck the juice out with the peppermint stick. It was a fun sweet and sour treat! Steve is an awesome guy! He told us that he wants to come to church and would try to convince his wife to come too! Sadly... He decided to stay home to take care of his mom. 😥 His parents are older. Hopefully next week he will come! That night we went to go help Sigred with eBay! Sigred is a friend of Marilyn who lives a few houses down from her! That was a fun night! Sister Capson did a great job taking the pictures of the things she was selling. Take note... eBay is super easy to use! Don't be intimidated to use it! Haha

Alright! Here is where my subject line comes in! On Saturday we planed to got tracking and teach 2 lessons! I'm proud to say that we accomplished that goal! At one house we knocked on the screen door because it was locked. (I find that screen doors are really annoying as a missionary!) While waiting I kept looking at the wood panel underneath the door and really wanting to knock on it! Of course no one came from the first knock, so I squatted and knocked on the wood panel! When I got up, Sister Capson looked at me like, "Are you nuts?!?!?" Haha. But hey! It worked because a guy answered the door! The only unfortunate part is that I woke him up from his nap! Oops! But, he was nice and chatted with us for a second. His name is Andres. At first he wasn't interested, but as we talked he opened right up! He's working on becoming religious again and agreed to let us help him do that! So, that's exciting!!! We have a lesson with him this Wednesday! Wish us luck! The second lesson we taught was a lady named, Nancy! She was super sweet! She didn't want to learn more about our church, but was really interested about doing family history!!! She already had close family members passed, so she appreciated us coming by to tell her about family history! Yay!

That afternoon we secretly did Marty's leaves! She hasn't been feeling very well this whole week. So, we figured that doing her leaves will make her feel better. Her neighbor ratted us out though! Haha. Marty was so happy and grateful we did that for her!

Sadly our Saturday ended on a sour note! While driving around following up with people... We saw a squirrel dart in front of the road! The car in front of us ran over it! We saw it twitching as we drove around it and the car behind us had a heart and drove around it too! Then the car behind that one, ran it over again! It was so sad!!! I can't remember ever seeing an animal be ram over before! We both mourned for the squirrel! Haha

Yesterday was the Primary Program!!! It was so cute! I was super glad that Ali could come and watch it with us! She seem to enjoy it! After church we went tracking again and taught a few lessons! The first one was Dan! It was crazy because he too wanted to get back going to church! But... It sounds like he wants to try his sister's church first. 😥 But, we planted the seed, so we'll see what happens! The other lesson we met was Rich! So, funny story! We saw him in his garage and we wanted to say hi. We kept trying to call out to him, but he didn't respond! He finally looked up and saw us! He pointed to his ear and I immediately thought, "He's deaf!" So I signed to him "you deaf?" And then he pulled out his ear plugs! Haha. He explained that's why he couldn't hear us! I was sooo wishing he was deaf though! He ended up not being interested, but it was fun talking with him!

Today we are planing to go to Annapolis!!! We are going to see the Capital, the bay, and go to Chick and Ruth's for some crab! I'm so excited!

I hope you all have a fantastic day and week!

Much love,

Sister Parker

The time we became professional leaf rakers!!!

A lot has happened in the last week and a half! There's a lot to talk about! So... Hopefully I'll hit the most important stories to share! So... Hold on tight because it's going to be a wild and fun ride! First story coming up... Halloween!!!! We forgot to buy candy 2x with going in and out of the house!!! Don't fret because we were able to get candy.... But barely! It was the LAST bag of candy and it wasn't even in the candy isle... It was right next to the toilet paper! We got an assortment of snickers... They were so good! The peanut butter one is my favorite now! Sadly... We only had 5 trick-or-treaters 😥. Luckily we taught Sunday School last Sunday and gave away a major portion of our candy! Haha. Sister Capson kept tossing snickers at a service missionary who could juggle... He had 4 or 5 going! It was amazing! Haha. Steve! I don't know if I talked about him before... But he's awesome! We tracked into him a few weeks ago. He's so sweet and he wants his wife to join with him learning more about our church!!! Such a blessing! More to come on this awesome family! Sigred! She is best friends with Marilyn and lives a few houses down from her! We got to teach her the Restoration!!! It went super well and Sigred had a good open mind to it! She wants us to come this week and help her with eBay and Christmas decorating! So excited!!!! She has to get it done before Thanksgiving because she has a Christmas party when she gets back! Joanne!!! Another tracking miracle! Praying works! We always pray to know what specific road to track on! We got to teach her the Restoration the next day we met her! It went super good and she wants to bring her cousin to church with her! Yay! More to come with her! Jocelyn! She's a total sweetheart! We haven't officially taught her anything yet, but she wants to! Her daughter is actually friends with the Bishop's oldest daughter. Jocelyn said she wants to learn about our church in members' homes and she doesn't even care if she knows them!!! We have yet to line something up, but that's exciting! Service! So, we were going to rake leaves for one of our investigators... But his wife answered the door and said that they didn't need help... They just use the lawn mower to get rid of the leaves! Well... We already had rakes and we wanted to do someone's yard! So we went across the street to Sister Adam's house. No one answered, so we went to town!!! It took a long time to do and we ran out of bags! It was so fun though! We sadly had to leave a pile and a half behind. 😥 in the middle of raking, Sister Adam came out and was shocked what we were doing! It was so funny! She's so cute. She felt so bad that she couldn't come help because she was trying to get out of the door. We didn't mind one bit! It was a blast! Then... We were soooo tired and had to eat a quick lunch to head over to Marilyn's house to do more service! We were dead! Haha. We push through and we are still alive! Haha! Luckily it was mostly just sorting through boxes. Ed! What a rock star! He hasn't been able to come to church in a long time with his poor health and being in the retirement home... Well... He came to church this Sunday! And that was so nice! I love sitting with him and seeing him enjoy being at church again. I also was able to share my testimony for my last "official" fast Sunday in the mission. I talked about how I am so grateful to serve a mission and meeting the people I have met. With all of these experiences I have encountered, it has  proven to me that God is truly in control of missionary work. Seeing hearts change on my mission has been such a blessing to witness! Along with all these people we have taught last week, we had a handful of people tell us we could come back and teach them! So, that's exciting! I'm looking foreword to checking back on them the rest of this week! Hopefully more stories to come! Exchanges! Yesterday I went to spend the day with Sister Ram in the ASL program while Sister Cosper went with Sister Capson. Which was fun because all three of us lived together at the beginning of Sister Cosper's mission! I had a blast with Sister Ram. We first had an appointment with... The car glass people! Last Sunday their car got broken into!!! So we went in to get it fixed! While waiting, we had a blast talking with the secretary. She was so cute! Then we went to see Gwen! That made me sooo happy! She is one of the deaf members I worked closely with. Gwen is so adorable! I got to hold her daughter's kitten the whole time and it feel asleep on me! Today we went to the temple! That was really nice! Now we are going to enjoy the rest of our day food shopping and emailing 😃 I hope you all are doing well and happy! Happy Early Thanksgiving! Sister Parker

The time when I met Keith the Elder and Keith the Younger

Hello everyone!!!

I can't believe everything that has happened, happened this week! Wow! We have seen so many tender mercies in being able to meet some awesome people!!! We also had lots of opportunities to teach lessons on the street and on door steps! It's so great!

So... story about Monday night! The night before we got a call from a member from the Annapolis Ward wanting us to come to FHE the next day to help teach a lesson on prayer. We thought it was for the single adults... But it was actually the senior single adult FHE! When we got there, we met with one of the ladies from our Ward hosting the FHE. She looked at us really confused! She had no idea we were coming, so we were confused why we were told to come! Haha. Well, she invited us in anyways and waited for everyone else to come. It was SO much fun talking with everyone and getting to know them. Our lesson went FABULOUSLY well and the spirit was sooooo strong! It was amazing being able to talk and testify to each other how much prayer means to us. One man testified on how whenever he was asked when did he become less active, he realized it was when he stopped praying. It is so so so important to keep that open connection to God and always speak to Him! He's always ready to listen, so why not pray! It also blows me away that we can ACTUALLY talk to God! That just overwhelms me how much He truly cares about us! We learned later that the man who asked us to come was suppose to do the lesson! He forgot until Sunday night, so he thought to call us up to see if we could come! I'm so glad that we were invited because it was one fun and inspirational night!

Ok... This story about Tuesday is a cool one! Alright, so we always pray and look at a map to see where we should go tracking. It's neat because we usually take turns narrowing it down to the street to go on. So we picked the one that was on the very bottom of our area. Once there, we went and knock on quite a bit on that street. We didn't have any luck. We both felt like we should go up another street that went off the one we were already on. Keep in mind ALL these houses are far apart and it is in the middle of the woods! It felt like we were in a neighborhood of fancy cabins! Haha. So we go up that road for a bit and we park. We ended up walking down a HUGE hill to find a few houses in a court. The second door we went to, we saw a senior couple working in their yard. We stopped to talk with them and the lady exclaimed, "I think we met you before!" 

It turned out that the week before (Sister Capson's first day with me!) we saw them come out of a store with pumpkins. All I said to them was "These are cute pumpkins, are you going to carve them?" And they said they were and they walked away. Well, because I did say something to her, she recognized my voice!!!  Isn't that awesome?!?!? If that's not proof that God's in control, then I don't know what is! We had a great conversation with her and told her a little bit about our church. We gave her a Book of Mormon to read and she said she would read it and share it with her friends! Sadly... We went back yesterday and she said that she was exploring other religions first and returned the Book of Mormon. But! She has our number, so when she wants to talk with us again, she can!

Wednesday night was the Trunk or Treat! That was a lot of fun! It was great to see everyone there dressed up... I wanted to be a watermelon by wearing my green skirt and a pink shirt with black dots on it.... But they were both dirty. So, I just told everyone I was a cupcake! Haha. I had a cream shirt, brown skirt, and great tights! You got to do what you got to do! It was a blast seeing all the decorated trunks! A lot of the Ward members got into it!

Thursday was Sister Routt's birthday! Shout out to her! That morning we went street contacting and we weren't having any luck. So we wondered to the gas station near by and met Kahn! He's from India and we got to talk a little bit about family history with him! Family History turns out to be the way we can talk to a lot of people! It's not threatening and people are willing to talk about it! That afternoon we had a blast helping a member organize some things from her house. Her dad recently passed away, so it was really neat to hear all the great memories she had with him.

Friday we got to see Colleen! We were able to teach a lesson and be able to see where she's at in life. It was really cool because we had her tell her what her goals are for each of her kids. They were simple, but it boiled down to wanting them to be successful in whatever they do. Colleen is quite the character! She told us that we can come over even if she doesn't answer the phone. So, that will be nice because she hardly ever answers her phone.

Saturday was a good day, but a hard day at the same time. Haha. It felt like we had to fight for our lessons because we were so tired of street contacting and tracking! But, it is good for the soul! Haha. Despite that, we actually got to teach quite a number of people on their doorsteps! One of which was Perry! We met him a week ago and had been wanting to see him again, but we haven't been able to catch him at home. So we went back on Saturday and he was there! He's not extremely religious, but he's still open to talking with us! Hopefully soon we can have an actual sit down lesson with him!

Sunday was a fun day! We met Keith the Elder and Keith the Younger! It's crazy because I almost missed the opportunity to meet them! We were tracking and we met a couple nice people that told us we could come back later. It was 5:30ish and it was time to go back and eat dinner. Well, we started walking to the next house and I was going to tell Sister Capson what time it was, but I didn't! Well... Lo and Behold! There were two men sitting outside of their house just chatting. So we go up to them and started talking with them! The two men was a father and a son who names are Keith! We made a comment how in the Book of Mormon there is Alma the Elder and Alma the Younger. They got a kick out of that! Keith the Younger asked a lot of good questions and really seemed open to wanting to learn more! He even seemed like he wanted to go to church next week! We already have plans to go back tomorrow with a member to see them again! I'm so excited!!!!

Well... That wraps up my week! Things are going well! It's amazing how God will replace people for us to meet when others decide not to learn more about our church. For example... When the lady that is exploring other religions gave us back the Book of Mormon, we were both sad. She had lots of potential and was super nice! Then we ended up giving two Book of Mormons away to Keith the Elder and Younger! So, that was really really neat!

I hope you are well and happy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sister Parker

P.S. I hope to pass out candy tonight! There's bound to be some kids coming by since we live in a neighborhood! Wish us luck!

I got to eat yummy pizzas!

The time when we accidentally tracked into a member!

Hello Everyone!

Wow! This week has been a crazy roller coaster ride! So much has happened! My new companion is.... Drum roll.... Sister Capson!!! She was my old roommate when I was with Sister Cosper as well when I was with Sister Kucharek! We were roommates for about 5 months! She is originally called to be a visitor center sister, so now she's a bit out of her comfort zone. Which means she is full proselyting with me! She goes home at the beginning of Jan, so we pretty much are finishing our missions together! It has been great working with Sister Capson and we are getting a lot of success from street contacting and tracking! It's crazy how many people we have met and taught street lessons too! Sister Capson is amazing at street contacting because she has spent her whole mission in the city, including 9 months in Chevy Chase... Which covers a good portion of DC!

Before I go on sharing all the amazing things that have happened with Sister Capson... I'll wrap up the time I had with my best friend and companion, Sister Routt. For our last P day together we went to Downtown Annapolis! We went out to eat at Chick and Ruth's which is a popular place to go in Annapolis! We both had breakfast for lunch and it was soooo yummy! It's a really cute and small diner. On Tuesday we had a great last day together! We went out to eat with the Giroux family and had a really great lesson with them! I really love teaching with Sister Routt and how she can relate well to the youth! She's the bomb!

Wednesday was a whirl wind! Before we knew it, it was time to say "good bye" to Sister Routt and say "hello" to Sister Capson! We hit the ground running after eating lunch. We street contacted for a few hours and got to chat with two people! Sadly they don't live in our area though😥.

Thursday was a fun day! We helped Marilyn do yard work while she listened to a Conference Talk! I wished we remembered to do a before picture of her yard, but we got one to show what we did! We pulled out lots of plants who's harvest are over and weeds! We had a great lesson afterwards talking about the Conference Talk she listened too. She asked lots of great questions. I'm excited to go back next week and do a Book of Mormon study with her with one of the members from the Ward.

Saying goodbye to Sister Routt

That evening we went to go see Ed! He is a convert of the church who lives at a assistant living place. He is the cutest and kindest man ever! I love him so much! We went over to read the Book of Mormon with him since he hasn't been able to go to church for awhile. While reading a chapter with him, his friend, David, joined us! We had a blast reading and talking about it together! David even said he might come to church with Ed sometime!

Friday was a crazy good day! In the morning we wanted to make cookies, so we had to go to the store. Before going in, we saw a couple of workers from Giants on their breaks. We stopped by and said hello. The workers were both really receptive to us. The first person we talked to was a lady who was struggling with a lot. As Sister Capson bore testimony about the Plan of Salvation, the lady started crying! It was a beautiful moment! We are praying that she'll get in contact with us, so we can send missionaries her way!

In the afternoon we did street contacting again. It was raining pretty hard and we weren't having any luck talking with people. So, we kept walking and walking until we ended up in another shopping center. Then I followed Sister Capson in a bike shop! The person at the desk imminently knew who we were because he has had a lot of Elders come in for help with their bikes! We chatted with him and asked if he would like to learn more. He said we could come back next week to chat! Yay!

That night we had really good luck and got to see and chat with everyone we gave cookies to! One of which was Colleen who I haven't seen for a month! She, her husband, and her youngest daughter were on the porch! I mostly talked and played with the daughter to keep her entertained while Sister Capson answered their questions! It turned out really well and hopefully they will come to the Trunk or Treat this week!

Holy Cow! We hit the mother load of tracking on Saturday! It was cool because we prayed for help to know where to go. We took turns looking at our map to narrow down which street to go tracking. I had a thought to look up if there was any members that lived on that street, but I didn't look. Well... It's a good thing we didn't because we might have skipped over her house! Sister Adams was the first person to answer her door and invited us right in! We chatted for a bit and she told us a huge list of people to check up on in her neighborhood and a friend who is struggling right now! I never had a member be so willing to tell us all these people to go see! Hopefully we will get addresses and names this week to make sure we hit all the people she wanted us to see! The most receptive person we met was a neighbor across the street! His name is Perry and he was so nice! At first he was a little stand offish, but his heart soften right up to us! He said he would love for us to come back to talk with him and his wife! Yay! What was nuts was that he tracked us down when we went to the next house to give us money! We tried to give it back to him, but he wouldn't take the money! So... We donated it to the missionary fund! Crazy!  

On Sunday we got to talk with more people tracking, but the people weren't as interested as the day before. We then got to eat at one of my favorite families... The Buhler's. They were the ones I crashed Book Club with! Sister Buhler informed me that book club is this Thursday, if I wanted to join! Haha. Then we had a great visit with Ed since he wasn't able to make church that day. Seeing him again made my night!

That wraps up my exciting adventures here in the Broadneck Ward! I hope you all are doing great! I'm anxiously waiting for the leaves to turn all sorts of bright colors! It's really trying my patience! Haha

Love you all so much!

Sister Parker

The time when the celing came down!

Hello everyone!

It has been another crazy and fun week here in Annapolis!

So... On Tuesday morning Marilyn told us about the crazy weekend she had! Her washer overflowed because of a sock that plugged the drain!!! The water leaked through her floor and a HUGE chunk of ceiling came down! The saddest thing that got damaged was 4 full boxes of pictures. So, on Wednesday we spent time collecting all the pictures in her extra bedroom and unsticking the remaining pictures. The reason why we had to get it all done was because she has a new roommate moving in that Friday! Marilyn's life never ceases to be boring! Besides all that going on, we had another great lesson with her! We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She asked a lot of good questions and seemed intrigued to hear what our church believes what happens after this life. While talking, it was shocking to hear what Marilyn's church believes about the afterlife! In her church they have speculations what it would be like, but it's not really clear. Hearing her explain what she thinks happens made my testimony stronger how much I KNOW this church is true! The gospel shows an ABSOLUTELY clear picture what will happen after this life! I love it!

We had interviews on Thursday. President Johnson told me that I'll be getting a new companion. I don't know if I'll be moving areas or if someone new will come to me. I will find out tonight though! Sister Routt and I are sad about that, but we both know we will be moving on to better things!

Friday was an exciting day! We got to meet Marilyn's new roommate and chatted with her for a bit. It was really cool because she told us that she doesn't belong to one church. She just makes friends and then go to whatever church they belong to. So I asked if she had any experience with our church. She said that she was so grateful for the Mormon church because they found records for her family history! That was neat!  

Friday night was interesting, but it turned out really well! We went to go visit a less active lady in our ward who hasn't been to church for years, but has recently been coming more. She still lives with her family and they don't know that she's a Mormon and she doesn't want to tell them. So we called her to let her know we were at her house so we could take her somewhere else to talk. Well, she said to come right on in! We got to talk with her, her mom, and sister. We had no idea if they knew if she was a Mormon, so we played it cool. We even got to share a little message and they were so nice. They were impressed with what we do and how nice we were! What a blessing!

Saturday was so fun! We got to help take out our member's dogs while she was away from home! I had a blast playing with their white lab... I'm thinking I want one now! Haha. Then that night we did sparkling cider shots for fun! Haha. I beat Sister Routt the first round and she beat me the second! We might need a rematch!

Yesterday was a crazy day! I was praying all day that we could go to Why I Believe because we haven't been able to go last month. We needed to have someone go with us, but no one was available. Well... An hour before we needed to leave, we got a call from Sister White and Sister Bateman! Sister Bateman was suppose to sing that night, but their car broke down! We heeded the call and we got to take them to Why I Believe! It was a blast seeing all my missionary friends and chat for a little bit. What made me really happy was that I got to see the new member slideshow and see Jan's face pop up on the screen! Also... Dan from Rockville was there too! (He and his twin brother got baptized last May). I got to chat with him for a bit before the meeting started. He sounded really happy and he told me that his twin brother, Sandro, is off at Military Boot Camp! So that's crazy! Dan said a beautiful opening prayer too!

That pretty much sums up my week! I hope you all are doing well! I'll let you know next week what happens with transfers!

Much love,

Sister Parker