The time the APs kidnapped the Cooke Family!

  We use hangers to keep our lamp on!

Last Tuesday was a good day because we got to Skype with Jules. He is a recent convert who lives in Madagascar... I still don't know how we got lucky to teach him! He is deaf and is preparing now to go to the temple. He makes me so happy because he is happy all the time. He is very patient with us when we don't understand each other and strives to understand us. He is so great! Later we reached the top rejection number in an hour. We got up to 21 "nos", but we got 20 "yes" to balance it out! I never remembered being told "no" so much in a row before! I think this means we need to switch up our tactic for contacting people! Haha

On Wednesday we saw Ann, who is deaf and blind! She was a tad mad at me because she didn't know we were coming, but let us stay anyways. She told us to call next time, but here's the thing.... We did call her! She didn't answer and never returned our call after we left a voice message. Before we left I gave our number by singing it in her hand... Guess what!?!?! She called today and set up an appointment for tomorrow! Yay! Funny thing! Ann kept calling Sister Kucharek, Sister Ram. Sister Kucharek kept trying to correct her, but she would forget. Ann never met Sister Ram yet, so it's funny that she would already mix her up with Sister Ram! After a while,she finally understood that Sister Kucharek wasn't Sister Ram!

  Elisa with some of her siblings.
Elisa is the one holding the doll.

 

On Christmas Eve we went up to Fredrick to be with Elisa and her family! We were quite early, so we went out to eat at Panarea Bread for dinner! Afterwards, we still had time to kill so Sister Kucharek and I shared our life stories to get to know each other more. That was super fun to do since I didn't know a whole lot about her before. Finally it was time to head over to Elisa's house. It was so much fun! We read Luke 2 out loud as they acted it out. I got to even be the angle who spoke to the Shepherds! All the kids had a fun time with that! Then the kids had a fun time entertaining us by one person siting in a chair with a jacket over them. Another kid would go behind them and put their arms trough the jacket. The person in the chair would tell a story while the other person would move their hands around.  It was quite funny! They even did the same thing with their legs.

Sister Kucharek and me visiting with Sister Cosper

Christmas was such a blast and busy day! We woke up at the regular time of 6:30 so that we could open our presents before we headed out to the visitor center. At the visitor center the whole Cooke Family share their testimonies. Only one of the 4 kids wasn't not there because he wanted to spend Christmas at their "real" home in SLC. Then the APs presented one of the 3 gifts to the Cookes. It was a Washington DC baseball tee that had all of our names signed on it. The 2nd gift was
still being hold by UPS, so we will be informed later what it is. Now... The 3rd gift was already given, but the APs showed a video of it! The APs blindfolded the Cooke Family to take them to their
apartment for a fancy dinner. Then they blindfolded them again to drive them to the Kennedy Center to see Handle's Messiah. Sister Cooke told us later that day the APs had way too much fun driving them one place to another. They were taking detours to go on gravel roads or would stop the car to switch seats and so on! The video was very funny!

Then we watched our movie! There was a rumor going around that we might get to watch the new Star Wars movie (I didn't believe that!). So, the APs pulled a prank and had the movie start exactly like the new Star Wars movie. It was of course a joke. When we looked back we saw one Elder crying! Haha. I think all the sisters laughed and the Elders gave out a huge groan! Haha

The movie we saw was Inside out. I love it so much! I'm looking forward to seeing that again with subtitles so I can catch all the quick one-liners! After the movie we went to the Stake Center for lunch and the talent show! All the ASL missionaries did a skit together. The ASL sisters signed "The First Noel" sung by Pentonix and the Elders signed a few verses in Luke 2. At the end we held up signs in 12 languages that say Christmas on it. Then at the end we flipped over the signs and it read #A Savior Is Born. We couldn't hear the music very well, so it was hard to sign it together! But it was a lot of fun to put it together!

Then I got to Skype with my family! That was a lot of fun!!! It was nice to see them for a bit. Afterwards we headed off to the VC. All the sisters got to sing in a concert together. I got to do both
performances because me and Sister Ellsworth signed "Joy to the World" together. As you can see... Our Christmas was jam packed! I was glad we were kept busy and happy!

On Saturday we had a little miracle. I was praying that Sister Kucharek would get to upper box someone (that's were we get people's info so that missionaries can meet with them). I didn't care if I got one, but I wanted Sister Kucharek to get one. Well... At 9:45 she got one!!! The visitor center closed at 10! Then on Sunday she got 3 upper boxes!!! It was so neat and exciting to see that happen for her!

This morning we helped Gloree with organizing her basement! She is not a member, but is married to a member. She comes to ASL class every week and I love her so much! She even gave us scarfs for a Christmas Present! She's a sweetheart!

This week will be my last VC shift! Crazy!!! I hope I will adjust going back to my regular schedule again! Well... I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic week!

Happy New Years!

Sister Parker

The time when one of the Rockville Sisters pulled a prank on us!

Monday was a full day of being together as roommates before Sister Cosper and Sister Sundwall had to leave us. We went out to Walmart and I bought a broken watch :(. I'm going back today to get a new one! Then we went out to eat at Subway and sent Christmas gifts off to our families. That night was full of helping Sister Cosper pack and clean up the apartment for cleaning checks the next day!

Wednesday was transfers.... A sad and happy day. I said good bye to my trainer Sister Whiteford! I can't believe she is home right now! I'm glad I could say one last good bye before she left. I also had to say good bye to Sister Cosper... She is now in the ASL branch. Some crazy things went on but we pretty much guessed who was going to be with who. The biggest surprise was Sister Carter (who is one of the ASL sisters) is now in the VC speaking English. But get this... She is in the Rockville Ward! The same Ward I'm serving in! That means we have 3 sets of ASL missionaries, so now 1/3 of the missionaries in RV know ASL! (side note: the Ward now has 9 missionaries! The APs are in a trio!)

Soooooo drummmmm rooooollllll...... My new companion is Sister Kucharek! She is from all over because her dad is in the Air Force. Her family is currently living in Springville, UT. Her dad is working at
the ROTC and she helps do the uniforms for the cadets. She said she might remember my friend Lauren who did ROTC for one semester! She is the oldest of 6. Do you know what's cool?  Sister Cosper and Sister Kucharek were MTC companions! They both have similar personalities, so that has been fun!

After transfer meeting Sister McAuthur and Sistef Everton (they are in the Rockville Ward) pulled me a side to get Sister Cosper because they had a letter for us. They forgot it at home, but wanted to tell us what it said. Once I got Sister Cosper to come they said, "The letter about the security camera was us!" We couldn't believe it! Remember last week when I found a graham cracker with the note to pick up my trash??? Well... They were the ones that did that! Haha. We now need to get back at them for doing that!

On Friday we finally got our new car! Our old one..... Had lots of problems! Such as: tail lights that would take turns turning on and off, sometimes it would have a hard time starting, needed an oil change, back tires needed to be replaced, wind shield wipers would streak and make chirping noises, etc. We are so glad we finally got a new car before the snow hits!

Cool story! We lost Sister Kucharek's USB that had over 3,000 songs on it. We were praying hard that we would find it again. When Sister Ram and Cosper came over to have a little meeting about their area, (Sister Kucharek had their area before this transfer) Sister Ram suggested to call the mall to see if it was there. Lo and Behold!....It was at Panda Express where we ate after transfers on Wed! We were so happy to have that back with our new car!

On Friday night we went to a cookie exchange Party! It was at Molly Grasso's house. She was baptized a year ago and she is such an amazing person! She invited a lot of ladies to come that were both members and non members. She allowed sisters to share a spiritual thought with the group before the cookie exchange began. Part of the spiritual thought was to play "A Savior is Born" and "Imagine  a world without the Savior". It was the perfect way to start the party right! We then sang a few Christmas hymns. Wow! That was so powerful and left a sweet feeling in my heart! We all sounded so beautiful! Then the cookie exchange happened! All the ladies brought one kind of cookie and everyone grabbed a platter to grab other people's cookies. I thought that this was a fun way to exchange goodies. We took a few cookies for ourselves to eat on the road!

On Saturday I meet Jules! He lives in Madagascar and the other ASL sisters have been Skyping him every week. He has been learning ASL since he created his own sign language to communicate. (I wonder if Madagascar has their own sign Lagrange???) Anyways, he is super super nice and sweet! He was so cute trying to remember the Christmas songs we taught him. It's going to be a lot of fun seeing him every week.

I also met Susanna Neal's aunt and uncle at the visitor center on Saturday! I love it when I meet people out here that are related to people back home! It's fun to be able to make a connection with people!

Rockville got a new  bishopric on Sunday! Wow! The sacrament meeting was so so so good! The spirit was so powerful! Our bishop is now Bishop Alfandre. He is such a good man. We worked with him a few times
because he was Charo's home teacher. He has been a huge help for Charo. He gave a fantastic talk/about the Motel 6 motto, "We will always leave a light on for you". He talked about how he wants that to be his motto as a bishop. When President Baird got back up to speak he told Bishop Alfandre, "You might like Motel 6, but you have officially checked into Hotel California. You think you can leave, but you can never leave!" Or however that song goes! We all were laughing so hard!

Today has been a nice relaxing day. We are getting a song together for the talent show at the mission Christmas party! We finally decided to sign "The First Noel" by Pentatonix. You should look it up! At the end of the song we are planning to hold up signs that say Christmas in different languages. I'm pretty excited for it!

Can anyone believe it's Christmas this week?!?!? Cuz I can't! Time has just flown on by! I hope everyone enjoys their Christmas!

Much love,

Sister Parker

The time a guy gave me a kiss on my cheek and hugged me!

Alright....

Well I'll start off with the sad news first, then we can move on to the happy and funny stories! We got the call last Saturday night about transfers. We learned that.... I'm staying (yay!), but Sister Cosper is leaving :( I have no idea who my new companion will be because most of the ASL sisters are leaving! I'm going to miss Sister Cosper so much!  The good news though is that I am still doing ASL!

Our early Christmas opening Sister Capson's mom presents to us since both Sister Sundwall and Sister Cosper are leaving. It was nice to have a day to be together before 1/2 of us leave!

On Tuesday night us roommates were laughing really hard and having a good time. At one point, Sister Cosper scared Sister Sundwall. Right when she screamed there was a loud knock at the door. (Keep in mind this is about 10:00 at night). We all freaked out and ran into our roommates' room and kept yelling, "I don't want to answer it!" Sister Sundwall was brave one and answered the door. The person left, so we all went to bed in peace. The next morning we found this lovely note at our door:

"Delivery for Mrs. Parker,

Don't leave your trash in the ground. We saw you in the security camera.

Sincerely...."

Then there was a graham cracker with it.

Apparently on Monday night when I threw away my gingerbread house, one piece fell off. I thought it was obnoxious that they kept it for a whole day just to give it back to me. Kinda weird! Haha!

On Wednesday night we helped at the visitor center. It was so much fun! It was probably the best night so far! I was able to refer a lady to meet with the missionaries! She also referred her mom too! She actually met with missionaries before, but would like missionaries to visit with her again! Then I met a man who is actually going to move to Beaverton! It was amazing because he said he only talked to me and none other missionaries! He was super nice and I was so touched to meet him! It will be neat if he ends up being in my Home Ward!

This is Sister Hill! She is so awesome! I love her so much!

On Thursday we met Ann. She met with the previous ASL sisters, but we hadn't been able to get in contact with her. We finally emailed her and she was so excited to have us come over to help her out. You see.... Ann is deaf and blind. She is the cutest lady ever!!! When she found out I could knit, she handed her knitting to me so that I could fix a dropped stitch. I tried, but I forgotten how. Anyways... at one point I followed her and Sister Cosper upstairs to help decorate outside for about 20 min. She must have not known that I came up because she asked Sister Cosper if I was still knitting away down stairs! Once downstairs she signs to a empty chair (where I was sitting) "Do you want to keep knitting? Be my guest!" My heart just melted! I love her so much!

On Friday we had exchanges. For the member meal we got to sit on the ground on pillows. The table was super low so we could be chest high to it. It was fun eating on the floor. I might consider doing that when I settle in my own home! Afterwards we went contacting. There were some sketchy people, but it was fun! One of them was Hispanic. He came out of the store and came up to me and asked, "I know you don't I?" The other sisters were too busy talking with a member form their Ward. I told him, "No, I don't know you" he repeated the question and tried to hit on me and kiss me on the cheek. I pulled back and said, "Sorry, I don't do that!  He was like "Come on!" And tries again. I let him kiss me on the cheek, trying to touch him as less as I could. One of the sisters saw what happened and came to my rescue! He luckily left us alone after we gave him a side hug!

This week has been nice and busy! I'm excited to see what this week brings!

I love you all  and Happy Holidays!

Sister Parker

 It has been so warm here!!, it has been in the 60s this past
weekend! It's so crazy how warm it is.... I like it though!

The time we ran into a man that absolute LOVES Mormons!

Hello everyone!

The Christmas season has officially begun! Lots of fun and amazing things has happened this week! Let's see how much I can write before I run out of time!

On Wednesday we got 22 contacts! This is the highest yet! We felt so good to finally hit our goal of 20 contacts. The "Elder Ballard Challenge" is 20 contacts everyday. What I can say is... It's definitely  a challenge! On of our contacts that day made my whole week! We just got off a train to transfer to another one. He called out to us and asked, Mormons???" We said Yes!"
Him: Steve Young?
Us: YES!
Him: The Marriot's?
Us: YEAH
Him: Mitt Romney?
Us: YES!
Then he goes on for about 30 min about how he LOVES Mormons! He isn't religious himself, but he just adores Mormons. He said it's not what we say, but what we DO that sticks out to him. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity and so I asked him if he would like to learn more from the missionaries. He accepted!!! The other sisters missionaries are now are going to try to teach him since he doesn't live in our area. I'm so excited! Oh one funny thing... When I asked if he would like to learn more, he said "Yes, as long as you don't tell me I'm going to burn in Hell!" We said we would for sure won't tell him that! Haha

That night we got to work at the Visitor Center (VC). It was so much fun! I got to help make hot coco in the kitchen for the guests. Before the event started, I got to chat with Sister Whiteford and my 3 roommates from Gaithersburg! That was really fun and nice to catch up with them! I can't believe Sister Whiteford is going home in a week and a half! Where has the time gone!?!

On Thursday we got to teach sweet little Elisa! She is a bundle of joy and energy! We taught her the plan of Salvation and she didn't hold still for one sec! It was so sweet and rewarding when we asked her to put back the plan salvation puzzle. She was able to put everything back in its place and only needed one correction! She is so smart! I love getting to see her once a week!

On Friday we got to Skype with the grand nice of Bruce R. McConkie. She is learning ASL and is hoping to go on an ASL mission in a couple of years! She is so awesome! We ran into her at stake conference and President Cooke gave us permission to reach out to her!

Today was so much fun! We had a zone activity! We had crepes, white elephant gift exchange, and gingerbread house competition! Sister Cosper's house got tied for first! Her's was so amazing! I'll . Her's is entitled "There is no room in the inn... Or the stable". It amazed me that her's held together for a long time! Mine was nice and simple!

Afterwards Sister Cosper and I had a fun time food shopping. When we got home our roommates were gone. But right in front of us in the living room... There was a cute little Christmas tree with presents! One of our roommate's Mom gave each one of us presents for Christmas! Sister Cosper and I were so touched and happy we have a little Christmas tree. It feels like Christmas now in our apartment!

Well... I hope you all enjoy the holidays! I love you all so much!

Hugs!

Sister Parker!

My scariest contacting experience ever!

Hello everyone!

How was every ones Thanksgiving? Mine was a lot of fun! We got to go to a members' home and I got to watch 2 year old twins play. It was adorable. We also met a lady that used to live in the Rockville Ward before the Ward boundaries changed last year. It was really fun to hear about her mission. She was a certified nurse before her mission and worked a year after college. She was worried that if she went on a mission, she would lose her skills. Well, Heavenly Father answered her prayers in a BIG way! She got called to be a mission nurse in Uruguay. She was responsible for answering calls from missionaries that had any health problems. She also went to the doctors with the missionaries to make sure they got the proper treatment. It was so fascinating! I
never heard that kind of mission call before. Thanksgiving was a very relaxing day for me since we couldn't proselyte. To be honest... I didn't know what to do with myself! Haha. But, once we went over for dinner, the day got so much better!

Last Monday we went to the Smithsonian zoo and it was FREE! It was so nice and relaxing to see all the animals. It was so much fun! I loved the elephants and the lions! The monkeys are also my favorite too! I would love to go again when it gets warmer!


On Wednesday Sister Cosper and I gave our very first training! We had to teach about the importance of questions in a lesson for missionaries who arrived here within the last 12 weeks. Our role play was so much fun! We put down really funny, but believable, concerns on the paper. They couldn't show anyone their concerns and the other two people in the group were the missionaries and they had to ask questions to find out what the concerns was and to resolve it. Some of the concerns were:

I can't go to church because I have to feed my cat 3 times a day. At 9, 11, and 1.

I don't want to be baptized because I'm afraid of water


That night we had an amazing experience! We were on our way to talk with people at the metro. On our way there, we ran into a man that we contacted about 2 months ago. He luckily didn't seem to remember us because he wasn't all too interested last time. But, this time he listened to us and he was really nice. We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and got his contact info! The next task is to find a Farsi Book of Mormon! This man can read Farsi and would love to practice by reading the Book of Mormon! I sure hope the mission office can get one for us!


On Saturday we had an interesting and scary contacting experience! We were waiting for our train to come to get back home. We sat on the bench and a lady comes walking by. We made good eye contact so we said, "Hi, how are you?" She looked like she didn't understand us, so we repeated, "Hi, how are you?" She then says in a uptight tone, "Do I know you?" We said, "No" Then she went off, "I'm sick of you Mormons acting all cute. Stop putting your mouths in other people's business. Just shut up!" We then stammered, "Ok... That's fine. Have a good day." She went off again while walking away, "JUST SHUT UP! IF YOU DON'T, YOU WILL BE SMACKED! JUST SHUT UP,!" We were shocked about this lady's reaction to us. All we said was, "How are you?" Haha. We talked about it later to de-stress and laugh about it.

Overall this week has been crazy with Thanksgiving and trying to see everyone. It has been a fun week! I'm looking foreword for this week because I get to help in the visitor center 3 times a week!!! We call it the Festival of Lights. The whole temple grounds and visitor center is decorated in Christmas Lights. Inside we have a Crèche room and free concerts every night! It will be a TON of fun! Ready or not..... Here comes the holiday season!

Love you all and happy holidays!

Sister Parker