The time we almost kidnapped kids!!!

This week feels like not a lot went on, but we had many miracles!

First off, a funny tracting story that I forgot to add last week! So we went to a neighborhood asking if anyone knew any deaf people and inviting them to see the Hallelujah video by giving them the card. Well... We got to one door and a man opens the door. He says,"Religious or Political?". Sister Carter and I were thinking "Darn! Whatever we say, he's going to say no!" So... I decided to say the truth and say "Religious!" Then he said "Strong Catholic" and is almost ready to close the door when Sister Carter perks up and says "Here's a video for you then!" Then he says "Oh, I'm good... Go to church every Sunday" without skipping a beat Sister Carter says, "Then you will love this!" And gives him a card. He laughs and says "Fine" and takes the card! This whole conversation happened in 5 sec! I couldn't believe how quick Sister Carter was! Haha. The best part was on the way back to our car from tracking, we saw the man driving in his car. He saw us, smiled and then waved to us! It was cool to see that he didn't completely turn us down.

Monday night we had a fun time eating out together. We went to Panda Express. You know what's funny??? Before my mission I disliked Panda Express because it always gave me a stomach ache. But now... It's like the number one fast food place we go to! I love it now!

Tuesday night was probably the biggest miracle of the week. We decided to go to Jan's house and not dress up in service clothes. The reason being we wanted to show that we could only stay a bit and not help deep clean. It worked and we actually got to teach a lesson while chatting with each other! Jan asked us questions about family and marriage in our church. We told her all about eternal marriage in the temple and how, if we are teaching our kids with the gospel, they can have a good life. What's perfect about talking about marriage is that we are going to the temple visitor center this Friday with her member friend! So talking about eternal marriage was a perfect set up for a lesson this week! Pray that it goes well and that Jan will feel the spirit!
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Wednesday night we went deaf tracking near 3 deaf signs.... I need to take a picture with one of these signs to show you what it looks like. These signs just brings joy to our hearts! We only had luck on the last one, but no one was home. On the way to our car, we saw a group of kids playing outside. One of them stopped us and asked if we were Sisters. We told them that we were. We ended up chatting with them for a second. We asked them if they knew who Jesus was and one little boy answered, "God?" Then an older girl says, "No... He's God's Son!" We told them that was right! It was amazing to see these kids and their energetic spirits inside of them. I wanted to talk with them longer, but I didn't want their parents to be mad at us for talking with them. So we went our way and the group of kids followed  us to our car! When we got in the car, one little girl grabbed the handle and was about to come in when Sister Carter pushed the lock button!!! We were like "Phew! That was close.!" That would have looked so bad if she gotten in our car!"

Thursday was a really fun day! We helped make a video for Sister and President Cooke to say thank you and said our goodbyes. I'm sooooo excited to see how it turns out! For the zone portion of our meeting, we had a fashion show to teach what is appropriate for dress and grooming. Our MC was Elder Blood, one of our ASL missionaries. He was sooooo funny! We had a good and bad group for Elders and Sisters. It was a lot of fun to watch and laugh as all the missionaries modeled up on stage. Afterwards we dropped off Sister Ellsworth for the "departing dinner" President and Sister Cooke invited. It was all of the July-Oct departing missionaries. I was one transfer off!  That's ok because I don't want to even think how close my mission is to be done! I'm not ready for it to end! So, with Sister Ellsworth off at the party, Sister Carter and I got to hang out with Sister Cosper!!! It was so much fun being in a trio together. We all want to tell President Johnson (The new Mission President) that we need to be in a trio... But alas that would probably never happen! The good news is that us three are going to UVU and are ASL majors. So we are bound to hang out a lot after the mission!  Before we knew it, Sister Ellswroth called us at 9:00 and told us she was done. We were all surprised because departure dinners always go late into the night, but they kept it short with such a large group.

On Friday we went back to one of our members house and helped build a play set for their youngest daughter and put together some shelves! That was a lot of fun! For our reward we got some organic nectarines. I put mine on my salad and it was soooo yummy!

Saturday was kinda a weird day, but it ended really well. In the morning we had our last interview with President and Sister Cooke. I was surprised that I didn't cry and it felt like a normal interview. It was weird to think that was the last time I would see President Cooke. Sister Cooke is coming one more time after the temple trip to say goodbye this Wednesday! While waiting for our interviews, we all made a page for the scrapbook with all of the missionaries that served with Presdient and Sister Cooke. This is a book of about 500 missionaries! That was fun to do!

Sister Carter and I:)

Afterwards we went up to Sister Cosper and Ellsworth's apartment to help them with the VP (Video Phone). They wanted to get it on their iPad, but I didn't end up helping them really. But! While there, Elisa's mom texted us saying that she wanted us to come visit her older daughter who is in labor. It was a blessing that we were up in Rockville and not too far away. We were able to drive up there without any problem. We visited her for about an hour and it was so much fun! Her daughter was as calm as she could be. She says she was in pain, but you couldn't tell! She of course had an epidural... That stuff does wonders! We asked her all kinds of questions and she was more than happy to answer for us. It was cool because Sister Carter's sister-in-law is pregnant and is due in October and I have extened family members who are pregnant or recently had a baby. So that was neat to be apart of someone's labor experience as neither of us had that experience yet. We shared some scriptures and thoughts about enduring to the end. We also shared how amazing it is that she gets to be the pathway from heaven to earth and be this little girl's mom! I hope we gave her the comfort she needed. We even left the Book of Mormon there for her to read. Hopefully she has the baby soon after we left, because the doctor told her it was going to be a another hour while we were there!

Yesterday was a good day! After church we went up to see Bob with the DC South Elders. The lesson went well. I was impressed how the Elders taught the Plan of Salvation. One of the Elders was drawing it out as they taught it. The cool part was how they taught the Atonement and how important Christ is in this plan by taping the two pieces of paper together. The tape represented Christ and how without Christ, the plan wouldn't work. They also skipped to the end and talked about the Celestial Kingdom and how our ultimate goal is to live with God and our families eternally. We all could tell the message was hitting Bob, but didn't know if it was sinking into his heart. He's having a hard time accepting it. Please pray for him so his heart will soften and let the gospel heal him! Our plan now is for us sisters to read the Book of Mormon with him and on another day the Elders will teach him the lessons. Hopefully with this approach, it will help him be able to accept the gospel easier.

So... Tender mercy and a funny story! After we visited with Bob, we were outside with the Elders chatting for a second. Then one of the Elders asked if we could give them a ride. I don't know how they do it in DC South, but we aren't allowed to do that. We had to turn them down and we were all thinking of what we could do. Then all of the sudden, Bob's son came down to go home! We chatted with him for a second and I asked him if he would give the Elders a ride. He said he would!!! Blessings for being obedient!

I hope you all are well and have fun plans for the 4th next Monday! It blows my mind that it's going to be July this week! I still feel like it's June 10th still! Know that I love you all and you are in my prayers!

Your Sister Missionary in the Best Mission in the History of Life!

Sister Parker