The time a blizzard hit DC!

This week has been a good week! I will try not to drag too much with the pre day snow storm, but there was some fun things that happened!

On Tuesday we did some family history to find some names to do sealings on Wednesday. While there one of the Sister Training Leaders came in and told us that we would be actually be doing an endowment session instead. We were a tad bummed, but I already had a name I could do for it anyways. Sister Kucharek was even more bummed because all she found was names to do sealings for. BUT as she was looking through all of her names she found one girl that needed an endowment! That was so neat with all the names she found that day, she was able to have one to do the following day! Then we went to Fredrick to teach Elisa the Word of Wisdom by playing memory. All the kids loved it! That was a lot of fun!

Wednesday was full of going to the temple, a meeting, and ASL class that night! The temple was really nice and it is always great to get all the sisters together at the temple. The meeting was good. It was a lot of good reminders how we can be better missionaries and rely on the spirit. It was a general broadcast for ALL the missionaries across the world. We were all watching it (besides a few missions who were asleep and would be watching it the next morning). Apparently something like this has not happened in over a decade. On the way out to the ASL class that night we saw it starting to snow! We were freaking out not knowing if we would be ok to go to church because President Cooke said that when it start to flurry, get inside because it will all come down! But, we decided to go to church anyways because we were teaching the class. We ended up making it ok coming back home and all was well!

Thursday night was one of the worst traffic experience of my life!!! It was so frustrating! After visiting Charo (who lives just barely in DC) we went on our way home. Then we had a thought that we might want to get a snow shovel and a brush to help un-bury our car when it snowed. So we did a bit loop back the other way to go to Walmart. After we got our brush/ ice scrapper and feeling of shock that Walmart does not sell snow shovels, we went on our way back home! Then we had another thought because traffic was so HORRIBLE, we should wait it out and eat at Panera Bread. Plus, we were already planing to be there for a deaf meet up. So we turned around again! We spotted Panera, the next challenge was to find parking! We of course missed our turn and had to do another loop around. This was near impossible because we needed to make a left turn with cars constantly being in the way of the intersection. After an 1 hour of trying to find the parking garage... We gave up and went home! This whole experience took 2 hours in a .5 mile distance! It was insane!

Our first real snow day started on Friday! We were not allowed to leave our apartments after 12pm. With all of our studies, we never left the apartment! haha. The best part of my day was playing Never Have I Ever with our roommates and eating pizza together. We NEVER get to eat dinner with all of us. It was a lot of fun to be all together.

On Saturday we went outside for an adventure to play in the snow. There was a HUGE mountain of snow in the parking lot of our apartment. We climbed up it and slid down. That was a ton of fun! We then uncovered our car from the snow. WOW! Our car was COVERED in snow. That was so much fun uncovering it. The snow was up to my knees, but while uncovering the car it went up to my thigh! Being in the snow made me so happy! 

That night all 8 of us sisters went up to the Fowler's for dinner! Elder and Sister Fowler are over the visitor center. It was so much fun being over at their apartment. Elder Fowler kept trying to get us to eat all the food and all the sister missionaries  kept saying I that needed to eat the most! haha. They are trying to get me to gain weight I guess! haha. After dinner we all sat in circle and talked about what we studied that morning. That was really nice to hear what people learned that day from their studies. It was really spiritual. 

On Sunday President Cooke wanted all the missionaries to find a way to have the sacrament. So all 8 of us sisters plus 5 more who live down the streets got to have the sacrament at Elder and Sister Fowler's apartment. Elder Fowler was brave and drove to get the other 5 sisters to bring them there. That sacrament meeting was really nice and I felt the spirit while Elder Fowler blessed the sacrament. It was a tender moment. Something to know about Elder Fowler... He used to be a 70! So he has worked closely with the 12 apostles and the 1st presidency. He had us take the sacrament the same way they do. They wait until everyone has the bread or water then they eat/drink together. That was neat to do! After our formal sacrament meeting Sister and Elder Fowler told story after story about their lives and their family. It was really fun to hear all of their stories!

Afterwards we went and took roommate pictures in the snow! Sister Carter was so kind to take pictures for us! It was a ton of fun! That night we played a card game called 500. It was a fun way to end the night!

As of right now we are not allowed to leave our apartment until 3. We can do all of our shopping from 3-6. Then we must look for service around our apartment. I think we are going to try to find a way to shovel people's cars out for them. Should be lots of fun doing that together!

I hope you all are doing great!!! I love you all!

Yours Truly,

Sister Parker

Guess what?!?!? Call outs are this Sat!!! It will be interesting to see if I get transferred or not!!! I'll be able to tell you next week what happens!!!

When your "less active" is so less active she hasn't even been baptized!!!

Wow!! This week has been a rush and I can't believe it is p-day again!!! I think this week calls for sharing highlights of each of my day. Ready set go!

Monday: All of us Rockville sisters went to the Fillerups for Dinner. It was a ton of fun! After dinner we sat around the living room signing hymns while Sister Everton, Sister Carter, and  Brother Fillerup played on the guitar. That was a ton of fun and brought a great spirit in the room.

Tuesday: Missionary meetings where we combined with both DC zones. I was blown away how many Elders there were! I have been used to seeing mostly sisters because our district has 5 or 6 sets of sisters and our DL, ZLs, and APs rarely comes to district meetings! So that was fun to see what it used to look like a few months ago before they split us up into 2 zones. That night I tried pineapple tamales with camel sauce at a member's house. It was WAY good. If I wasn't so full, I would have had a second one! Sister Toze knows how to cook! 

Wednesday: We had interviews with President!!! It was crazy trying to get to the stake center that normally takes us 10 min to drive. The traffic was INSANE!!! It took us about 40min... That shouldn't even be possible!!! Lucky for us... President came an hour later than we did! His drive took him 2 hours!!! I don't know if there was a huge accident or what, but that was really crazy! Interviews went great! We are going to have a meeting with the ASL program to set up boundaries to make things more organized. I am excited for that! 

Thursday: This was the best day of the week! The day before we were checking up on records that came from the Spanish ward because noticed there where some members who haven't been seen  at church for a while. 3 out of the 4 said they didn't live there anymore. The one told us that she was asleep and to come back on Thursday morning. So we did! Wow. That was an amazing experience. She only knew Spanish, so I was no help! Sister Kucharek knew enough Spanish to keep the conversation going. It turns out that she wants the

missionaries to visit her and teach her daughter the lessons because she hasn't been baptized yet! Sister Kucharek had a prompting to download a video in Spanish before we came to her house. We showed them "A world without a Savior" and the spirit was so strong. Afterwards the Mom testified what the Savior did for us to her daughter. I am so excited to pass the news to the Spanish missionaries so they can teach her daughter! It was such a sweet experience and I had no idea what was being said!

That afternoon we went up to Fredrick! That was also a great experience. We taught Elisa and that went good. She is getting close to getting all her lessons done! I am excited to see her be baptized! Her mom still wants to push it later to March, so we will see what happens! The best was seeing Sister Skyes. She has not been feeling well for the past 7 months and it was so nice to see her that day. When I walked into the room I felt a deep love for her. I hate seeing people suffer and it bothers me when their suffering doesn't go away. We shared a conference talk called "Choose to Believe". We had a great conversation about what we can do when things get tough and those trials don't immediately go away. Seeing Sister Sykes has differently strengthen my faith and hope that things will get better for her. 

Friday: Weekly planning day!!! We actually had a good time weekly planing together! We got a lot of things done and became even closer! We even made some cookies for some of our deaf members! That night we made a memory game with the Word of Wisdom for Elisa's lesson this week. We of course had to try it out! I was way

tired and Sister Kucharek creamed me twice! I have yet to win any game with her! 

Saturday: We got fed twice this day! We went out to eat with the Lagos family at a Chinese buffet. The food was 

really good! Then that night we went over to the Isners with all the Rockville sisters. The two ladies we saw was

Gail and Joy. I love them so much! It is so funny to hear them be sassy to each other. Joy is the daughter-in-law to Gail. We had a super good time with them. During our big meal appointments we saw Mary Knight. For 5 months now... I thought Mary was a less active!!! Though... It always seemed weird that her records were never in LDS tools. We got talking about baptism and she told us that she never was baptized in our church!!!! It turns out we got a new investigator and progressing investigator all in one day! She said she would come to church the next day and she did! We think she sat in the back because we didn't see her, but we will try to catch her next time! Sister Kucharek gave me and Sister Cosper a hard time about  not knowing Mary wasn't a member. haha.It was really funny. 

Sunday: We had a good day! We had a lunch appointment and it was so good! The husband made homemade pizza with homemade tomato sauce! I ate so much pizza!! That night we had Why I Believe! We brought the Finders (Randy isn't a member) and Charo! I really enjoyed the recent convert testimonies. One of them was Sister Grasso who was baptized in the Rockvillle ward a year ago. Her testimony was so strong and powerful. She said joining the church was the best things she has ever done. The main speaker was  Terryl L. Givens. He is a famous LDS author. My favorite thing he talked about was Jonah. He said the story wasn't about repentance, but doing what God commands you even when it is really hard to do so. I can see that clearly being on my mission! It can be hard to push forward, but you know you have to because God want you to! 

Well... that was my crazy and exciting week! I am doing well and am excited to see what this week brings! One of the things I am most excited for is doing sealing for some family names on Wednesday with all of the sister missionaries! I hope you all are doing great and enjoy your MLK weekend!!!

Much love,

Sister Parker

The time we got news that we need to get our recent convert married!

First off, Sister Kucharek has now changed the GPS to talk in Spanish! She was driving on Wed and wanted to change it up! I told her that she better change it or translate when I drive. She said that she wouldn't do either... Then changed her mind and said, "Fine. I'll translate because I want to live!" haha. She and Sister Cosper gives me the hardest time about my driving! haha... I am not even that bad! I would like to say I have gotten better since Sister Cosper. BTW the GPS is still in Spanish and we are all alive

On Tuesday night we had ASL class! We started over on the lessons so we can allow new people to join in. We had quite a number of new faces there! That was really exciting!!! There was even a few non members there, so I hope they will come again and we can get to know them better! 

On Wednesday we got to visit with one of our deaf members with Bishop Alfandre. They have not been feeling well for the past week and wanted a blessing. Bishop Alfandre asked them some questions including if they were doing Family Home Evening. Bishop felt impressed to tell them how important Family Home Evening was and encouraged them to do it! Bishop wants us to join in for the next few weeks to set up a habit to do FHE. I am so excited to do this! It has been a long time since I gotten to do a formal FHE! 

On Thursday we went on exchanges! I got to leave Rockville and be in White Oak for a day! That was so much fun! That night we went to the bishop's house to hear where his son was going on his mission.... He was called to SLC West Spanish speaking! What is neat is that he gets to go to the Mexico MTC! It was cool to hear a mission call... The last time I heard someone read a mission call was my own! 

The next day (still in White Oak) we tried to look up a street to check up on two referrals. For some reason the GPS wouldn't find the street we needed. So we just picked a street where we were already at to go tracking! It was a short street and 3 people said to come back to see if their families would be interested in learning more! When we got in the car, Sister Sterling decided to drive around the neighborhood to get onto the main road instead of making a U-Turn. It was a good thing she did because... We found the street the GPS could not find!!!! Isn't that awesome!!!! We had no idea that would happen! 

On Saturday we got to Skype Jules!!! (He is the recent convert who lives in Madagascar). We love him so much! He had a non member friend during his sykpe lesson!!! She knows only Malagasy ASL, so Jules had to interpret for us when we wanted to talk with her. That was pretty neat! At one moment Jules invited her to come to church, read the Book of Mormon, and invited her to be baptized all in 3 min!!! That's how it's done!! She said she would come to church and read the Book of Mormon! I am excited to hear on Tuesday how that went!!!

When we were about to end the lesson we talked with the Elders about Jules' interview with the bishop to see if he can go to the temple. Among all the logistical things, the bishop told Jules that he wants him to find a wife first before he goes to the temple! This is because it's so expensive to fly him to South Africa where the nearest temple is. So, if he had a wife to marry, then he could also do his sealing there too. Jules... well... he is not too happy about that! He was so cute about it though! I hope he will find someone soon so he can go to the temple for the very first time! Or.... he will be stubborn and go through the temple without a wife! haha! We shall see what happens!

After Skyping with Jules, we went to do some service! We went to the Brown's house to help paint their FULL house! There was a TON of people there, so it only took us about 2 hours to do, plus touch ups later that day. That was so neat how many people came and how fast it went because so many came to help!

This week has been a good one! We had some laughs, lots of service, and great memories! I am looking forward to this week!

love you all!

Sister Parker

And it came to pass.... Someone thought my iPad needed a bath!

And it came to pass.... I lost my iPad on Tuesday night! We went to the ASL class and afterwards I went to the bathroom. I was carrying other things (bad combination with me!) and I left the iPad there! I didn't realize it until we got home. I couldn't go back because we didn't have a key to the church and I figured it would be locked since it was 9:15 at night. So I tried the next day to get into the building, but it was still locked! I looked for it on Thursday at the missionary training meeting, but it wasn't there! So I decided to take it a step further and call the bishops that meet in that building to see if anyone turned it in, but no luck.

Well... On Sunday I saw President Baird on the stand (he used to be the Rockville Bishop) and I had a prompting to ask him if he had the keys to the bishop offices in the building. So I went up to him after sacrament meeting to ask. All I said was... So, on Tuesday night I lost my iPad and he stops me and says.... "I know where your iPad is!" A major relief came over me! It turned out on Wednesday morning one of the members went in the building to set up for an activity. She found my iPad in the bathroom sink full of water. They even took off the case of my iPad. It's amazing that she even went into the bathroom because this bathroom is tucked in a corner.

So... now my iPad is taking a dry rice bath for the next few days! I am hoping it will work, but I'm doubtful. I'm proud of myself though! I'm not even mad at the people who did this to my iPad. All I care about was to know where my iPad was. Soooo next week email will be interesting. I'll either be using the apartment's computers again or be on an iPad!

And it came to pass.... we have a new deaf investigator!! His name is Anthony. He has meet with the other ASL missionaries 3x, but he told them he doesn't want to go to the ASL branch. We still haven't invited him to come to the Rockville ward... it's about a 40 min drive for him. So... we shall see! He is super super nice! He actually knows Mark Cross, who is a recent convert and is on his mission to San Diego! We taught Anthony about the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon because he said he knows nothing about our religion. After we got done he said he for sure wants to read the Book of Mormon if he can find time! So, we will hopefully meet up with him this week and have a more formal lesson with him!

And it came to pass was all we played on New Years day! Let me explain... Sister Kucharek got a card game called "and it came to pass". It is so much fun! Sister Kucharek creamed me!!! It was sad because we weren't able to get any appointments on New Years and we weren't allowed to proselyte. But, we had a lot of fun playing card games all day after our morning studies. :)   

And it came to pass... We went to see Mary Knight! This was the first time Sister Kucharek met Mary. We had such a fun time! We helped Mary with raking her leaves and cleaning up her back yard. Mary Knight just cracks us up with all the funny things she says. Then that night we had dinner at Sister Browns house with the other sisters. Her husband left that morning to Alaska for Military for the next 2 months. She was so happy to have us come over to distract her. She is so so so funny! She told us story after story. We had a great time :)

Well this week was quite eventful! I am excited what this week will bring and hope with the holidays being over... We can get more appointments! I hope you are all doing great and had fabulous holidays!!!

Much love,

Sister Parker