Freedom day has come!

Hello everyone!!!

Where do I start??? This week was so good and fun and overall a spiritual high! All week we have been preparing for Aggie's baptism...And she got baptized yesterday!!! I will start from the beginning of this week of preparing for Aggie's baptism. It was a fun and touching journey!

On Tuesday, Aggie had a get-to-know-you interview with the bishop. We had the Relief Society president pick her up so they could officially meet. The bishop had us all go in and talk together. The most powerful thing Aggie said was the reason why she wanted to be baptized. She said she could feel a good power from the Book of
Mormon. She felt and knew it was true when she read it. It made me feel good because we did use the Book of Mormon a lot in our teachings because she could understand it a lot better when she could read it herself. So that was neat to hear her simple testimony of the Book of Mormon. Later in her interview Aggie said she felt like she needed to get baptized because Jesus got baptized, so she should too! You can't beat that!

Friday was the official interview. We went over earlier to go over the questions before our district leader got there. Aggie was able to answer all the questions without a problem. She was adorable!! She was nervous about the interview because she thought we were going to test her knowledge on the Bible and what not. So when we told her that was it, she was like "REALLY?!?! That was easy!" Haha. So as you can imagine, she passed without a problem. Something I learned from Aggie is that you really don't need to know everything. What you know is enough and you will ALWAYS learn as you go through life. This especially goes for living the gospel. You don't need to know every scripture to really understand how to live your life. The gospel is simple for a reason. It invites all people to come as they are and to learn at their own pace.

So Sunday finally came! Aggie came to church and really enjoyed it. People kept coming up to her introduce themselves. She would then ask if they were going to her baptism. They would say yes and then she would get this smile and act all shy. It was adorable! She has been so excited all week and she kept smiling all of Sunday!  Ok.. So we reminded Aggie a few times through out the week that she needed extra underclothing and a towel for after her baptism. When Kucharek  and I got to the chrch, we said a short prayer and got out of the car right when Aggie came with her ride. Sister Kucharek felt prompted to ask Aggie if she brought her towel and extra change of clothes. Aggie then got embarrassed and told us she had them ready to go in a bag, but she forgot the bag! So Sister Kucharek and I raced as fast as Tiwi (the device in our car that tells us if we are speeding or driving too aggressively) would allow us to go and get Aggie's things. It was epic how smooth and fast we got in and out of there. It made the baptism more exciting that's for sure! We got back in plenty of time to take pictures and welcome everyone.

We were able to have all the sisters there that helped teach Aggie and we even got Sister Everton, aka Grace, Skype in from CA. It was such a good feeling conducting the music and seeing Grace be apart if it. Grace went home last transfers and I miss her so much! The baptism went smoothly. All the talks were fantastic and brought a great spirit to the meeting. Our awesome ward missionary leader, Brother Jackson, baptized Aggie. When it was time for Aggie to be baptized, she had to do it twice because she didn't go under all the way he first time. She was a trooper and did it again! Afterwards we asked how she was feeling. She kept saying, "I'm really happy!" She was all smiles that night! She even got to talk with Sister Everton for a second. Aggie made a comment how today is my day of freedom! (Background story: For the longest time since December she wanted to get baptized on 4th of July because it's freedom day.) So that touched my heart how she
made April 10th to be her freedom day. I love this women so much!!!

Now begins the adventure of teaching Aggie the new member lessons. Which means just teaching the missionary discussions again. I'm so excited to bring more members out with us and giving her the chance to build more friendships!.

Other than Aggie, the 2nd most exciting news happened on Thursday! We got to meet Lunette! The other sister missionaries met her when trying to find new move ins and she was there at the house. She turns out to live in our area! So the sisters passed her to us. Can I just say Lunette is so awesome?!?! She is so ready to hear the gospel. One of her sons passed away 3 years ago and she was eager to learn what happens after this life.The spirit was so strong as we testified about the spirit world and why we have temples. This lead into the Restoration as we explained what priesthood power is. Sister Kucharek recited the 1st vision and Lunette told me after that she felt the spirit more stronger than ever before reciting the first vision. She wrote down all the scriptures we used to look up after we left. She was going to come to church yesterday, but she got off of work too late and couldn't make it. I'm so excited to meet with her again this week!

Also on Saturday, we had a ward party and the kids were NUTS!!! They were running all over the place. It was giving us missionaries heart attacks! Haha! Well, afterwards while we were cleaning up, one of the little girls there pulled the fire alarm! Everyone quickly left thereafter and only a few people remained to help finish the job! Luckily the fire alarm wasn't too annoying, so we could finish cleaning up without losing our hearing! Haha! 

In other exciting news.... I let Sister Kucharek cut my hair! This was the first time she has ever cut anyone's hair. She did a great job. I needed to get rid of my dead ends and get my hair looking healthy again. Also... Funny story! I have been asking Sister Kucharek what I could do to show my appreciation for her... We finally found the answer! On Satruuday we helped a lady do her laundry because she had back surgery a month ago. She isn't allowed to bend, so she needed some help. Sister Kucahrek didn't want to touch someone else's dirty clothes, so I drove right on in and did it myself! Sister Kcuarek told me that this is how I can show my love for her. Haha

Well, that was my exciting week! I hope everyone is doing well and happy. I love you all very much!

Your Sister Missionary,

Sister Parker

My new haircut!!