The time we got free Slurpee for the first time in my life!

Hi Everyone!!!

This week was a pretty good one... It felt like kinda a slow week, but it was a good week. 😃 lots of service and happiness. Haha

So Monday was a fun day. We went to our  zone activity and it was a ton of fun! We played some water balloon games that turned into a 10 min water fight. Haha. Then we played Volleyball... My favorite! Afterwards we played some field games like missionary tag! Let's just say... Running in humidity is really hard! With all of us being hot and sweaty we got free Slurpees from 7/11 because it was July 11th! I never done that before, so that was fun to do! It was sad because we were only allowed a small slurpee 😢. We were tempted to go 7/11 hopping, but at las we had to email! Haha


Tuesday was another great day! We helped Jan clean up a little and had a good lesson talking about the Plan of Salvation! Jan is still not set on being baptized, but we are still working on it. She did come to church though! Oh! And she did pass her cleaning checks!!!! We are so happy for her!



Wednesday we had our interviews! It went A LOT faster than I expected! It was really 20 min between President and Sister Johnson. It was really nice to sit with them for a few minutes and get to know each other more. Afterward we went to check up on a former investigator who wasn't interested. So we called Elder Blood to see if there was anyone
in the area he thought we should go see. He didn't have anyone, but he did told us to go out to eat at a place called Freddy's! It's a Burger and Custard place. Elder Blood told us that Elder Bleazard used to work there back home... So all the more reason to check it out! Sister Carter and I had a fun time taking pictures of our adventure at Freddy's to show the Elders the next day at our meetings. Sister Carter was so much fun to eat out with! She makes everything be more fun and exciting!

That carries onto  meeting day aka Thursday! Not only did we do zone/district meeting, but we also weekly did planing afterwards! Yep... Lots of meetings! This day was different because Elder French and Bleazard crashed our weekly planing at the church! They went to another room though to do their own weekly planing. They left to go to an
appointment... But shortly came back to scare us! It failed... Haha. We jumped, but it wasn't the reaction they wanted. So Elder Bleazard filmed it again with the reaction they wanted from us. It was soooo funny! Haha


Take 1

Take 2 :)

Us at Freddy's 

Friday we spent most of our day at a one of our member's house doing more house projects! I stinking love this family so much! They have 3 kids and the youngest being a little over 18 months. She is the happiest baby ever and when she's is tried... You know it because she'll randomly scream and cry... Then cheer right back up again. Haha. We did a little bit of painting, some outside work and helped with filing! By the end of it all... We were all exhausted! It was a super fun day though!

Saturday was a good missionary day! We had a lesson fall though in DC, so we asked Elder Blood again who we could go check up on. He suggested some past investigators to go see and so we went. None of them were home, but we had a tender mercy happen! Sister Carter and I felt impressed that we should see 2 people back to back since the 1st person was on the way to the 2nd person. So, when we got out of the car to see the 1st person, we saw a man come out of his house. I asked how he was and he didn't respond... So Sister Carter signs "are you deaf?" He signs back that he was! We had a 30sec conversation! He was on his way to a friend's house, so he couldn't talk long, but he told us that he would see us around! The miracle of it all is that I saw which house he came out of. So now the Elders can try to find him! The tricky part is that he lives in a locked apartment... This is where prayer and faith will come in! Hehe. But seriously prayer does work!

We then had a super intense lesson with Bob and the DC South Elders reviwing on the Plan of Salvation. The lesson was super emotional and full of love! I can imagine all these things Bob can do RIGHT now and how it will effect his life with Lee  (his wife) in the eternities. I can see the most beautiful and perfect ending, but Bob isn't catching the vision quite yet. I realize now that Heavenly Father must feel that way too. We don't always see the bigger picture, but that's ok! God will be extremely patient and work with us until we do see the bigger picture. That's exactly what we want to do with Bob... Keep working with him until he's ready to accept it. After Bob's, we went to Jan to visit with her and confirmed that she was coming to church! Yay!

Church went really well! Sister Carter and I had to teach the gospel principle class about the Holy Ghost on the spot. (The teacher who usually does gospel principles was gone.) The lesson turned out really well and Jan was able to make some good comments about the Holy Ghost too! We also had a great lesson on temples and family history. It
helped me appreciate more the opportunity we have to help those on the other side to do their temple work! And what's even better... We can do it for our OWN family members! Jan seemed to like church and we are on to meet with her this week!

And... That's my week! I hope you all are doing great and are happy! It's crazy how fast July is going! This week is call outs.., l say what?!?!? This transfer has gone SO fast! It's sad because one of our roommates, Sister Nolte, is leaving in a week and has to go back home! I'll let you know next Monday what happens with Call outs... President Johnson was confused why I have been in the ASL program for so long when I was called English. Hehe. So I'm not sure what will happen. I would like to stay in the ASL program one more transfer just to say I was in ASL program for a year, but we will see what happens!

I love you all!

Sister Parker 

The time we had an investigator come to church!

Hello Everyone!

What a week!!! I have learned this week that when you finally give everything over to God, that's when the miracles come flowing in! Every single day we saw miracles and had such amazing week in general! Being a missionary is hard, so when you see your hard work paying off, you can't but help to feel God's love!

So... I guess I need to talk about the 4th because that was a big day. We didn't end up doing everything we wanted because it was raining and the city roads were closing, so we were too nervous to go to the zoo. Which was fine by me because I didn't want to walk through the zoo in the rain... I'll only do that sacrifice for the Oregon Zoo because it's always raining haha! We instead went to our Branch President's house for the 4th July party. It was a very laid back and fun party. It was soooo funny because all 8 ASL missionaries sat around the pool with a couple of other people while watching a few people play in the pool! One person there made a snapchat video that said, "This is what happens when you invite missionaries to a pool party!" Haha. We all had so much fun and laughed a lot! That night we went out to eat and went to national harbor. They didn't show any fireworks because of the rain, so that was sad. Instead we just hung out and took some fun photos. It was nice to be able to have a full p day and get in at 10:00!

Let's start out with the biggest miracle of the week! We brought Michai, who was baptized in 2014, to Jan's house. Michai is amazing and I love her so much! We had a super good lesson with Jan. We talked about God's love for us and Jan was able to tell us a touching story when she felt God's love for her. Whe she was 5 years old, she felt liked everything was going to be alright and felt this overwhelming sense of love after having to spend 10 months in a hospital at 4 years old. The medicine they used to cure her sickness caused her to become deaf. This story touched me so much to see her now in the present day and see that everything was alright and she ended up having a good life despite becoming deaf at age 4. She has gotten a Ph.D. and everything... You do not mess with Jan! Haha. After our lesson, Michai told Jan that she would come over and help Jan clean! How amazing is that! Michai spent the next 3 days being at Jan's house chatting and helping Jan get ready for her cleaning checks. (No... it hasn't happened yet... It's a long story and no one understands what is going on! Haha) Then on Friday, we  went over again because Michai
needed a ride home from Jan's and we ended up having another lesson! Michai was the one to start the lesson by signing the 1st chapter of the Book of Mormon for us. We had another amazing lesson and the spirit was so strong. We committed Jan to come to church and got her a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation to talk about next week! I'm so pumped for that! Jan did in fact come to church and it was such a great feeling to have her there. It touched me when she said that she felt really good at church. She loved that all the people she met were genuine and not fake. She says she hopes to come back! Yay!

Our Zone Picture!

Tuesday night we tried to find a past investigator, Pat. She at first didn't answer the door, so we went out to eat and then came back! We rang and rang the deaf doorbell over and over again! We could hear her inside, so we didn't want to give up yet! Sister Carter asked me if we should go and I said we might need to because she won't open the door. Sister Cater tried 2 more times and the door opened! I was scared out of my mind because I wasn't expecting the door to open! I was also scared that she would be mad because there WAS a reason why she wouldn't answer the door. Luckily Sister Carter spoke up and Pat let us in! We chatted for a long time, but she isn't interested in the church anymore. On the plus side, she did said we could come back next week!

Thrusdat was quite an exciting day! We got to meet President Johnson and his wife! In their biography it says that President Johnson served a mission in Oregon. When I shook his hand, I told him that I was from Beaverton, OR. He said that he actually served in Beaverton, OR, but he doesn't remember what ward he served in! He said he'll try to find
out and let me know! Haha. President and Sister Johnson seem like good and fun people! I'm excited to work with them! We got to watch a video of all of there kids and their families on what they think of their mom and dad. That was really sweet to hear all the good things they had to say about their parents and it made me excited to get to work with
them! The funniest thing was hearing how President Johnson got his first date with Sister Johnson. (I don't think this would ever work in me though!) He met Sister Johnson first at church and rushed home to call her to ask her on a date. When he called, Sister Johnson apologized and said she already had a date that weekend. He then said that he felt bad for the guy and she asked why. And I quote, "Because I will feel bad when you call the boy back and apologize that you have to cancel with him to go on a date with me." Sister Johnson loved how bold and straight forward he was and did exactly that! Crazy huh!?!? Haha!

Saturday was a really good day!!! All 8 of us ASL missionaries went down to one of our member's house to help around the house. We had such a fun time doing that together! All of us ASL missionaries have become such a strong family. We laugh so much and know how to have a good time together! While eating lunch Elder Blood was making a comment how he likes to bite his styrofoam cup to mark which one is his. He joked to Sister Cosper that he would bite Sister Cosper's cup and we all knew that he wouldn't dare do that! Well... when Sister Cosper got up to do something real quick, Elder Blood told me to bite Sister Cosper's cup. I got caught red handed by Sister Cosper and I tried to blame it on Elder Blood. But it failed. Haha! Sister Cosper went on to say that Elder Blood would never do that! (He likes things to be clean) Well, Elder Blood reaches over and bites off a piece of Sister Cosper's cup! We were all dying laughing so hard! Sister Cosper was so shocked she just gave the cup of lemonade and told Elder Blood to keep it! Haha.

That night we had a miracle happen! Sister Carter and I went by to check up on a mom of a less active family. The mom isn't a member, so it was an excuse for us to come by. Well, when we got there we saw the less active couple on the porch singing to each other. They told us that their mom was asleep, but we were welcomed to stay and chat with them! We had an awesome time chatting and getting to know them better. The husband ,who  is normally really cold against missionaries,was really nice and acted normal. He even read the scripture for us and prayed! It was a miracle that we were even able to chat let alone give a spiritual thought with the husband reading the scripture. It was an awesome way to end the night!

That pretty much sums up my great and awesome week! This coming week is going to be a crazy one! We have interviews and we are scheduled to have 20 min with President Johnson! Now that's one dedicated man! I'm also really excited to keep teaching Jan! Pray that everything will go well and she'll keep wanting to learn! I love you all and hope you are doing well!

Much love,

Sister Parker

The time we walked through a graveyard! 💀👻

Jan at the visitor center!

I can parallel park! 

Happy 4th of July USA!💥

I hope everyone is doing something fun for the 4th of July! I know I am! We are going to a party at our Branch President's house, then to the Zoo, then watch fireworks at the National Harbor! Yay! This week wasn't too bad of a week. It was a little slower than normal, but that's ok because this week we have a lot more appointments set up!

On Tuesday, I had the most craziest exchange I ever had! I went with Sister Fransworth, who is my roommate and is in her 2nd week of her mission! We went to her area in Capital Heights. The most frustrating thing was not being able to park at the church's underground parking because of this STUPID white van! It was literally parked RIGHT where we needed to turn into the garage. And... It didn't move until 8:20 pm. Because of this I had to park on the street! Parallel parking.... In the city! Man that was tough! But... I nailed it by backing up into the spot! It was so beautiful, we had to take a selfie with it! The highest point of the day was seeing Michael! I met him a few months ago on exchanges and he still remembered me! We got him on a baptism date and it was awesome! Sister Farnsworth and I make a great team!

LaFawn Smith!

On Wednesday, we went to the temple and it was so nice! Sister Cooke was suppose to come see us, but she was so busy. She had to prepare dropping her son off at the Naval Academy the next morning and then pick up President and Sister Johnson that afternoon! So Sister Cooke kinda had her plate full. It was kinda sad not to say our final goodbyes. But we will see them around when they come back from their vacation! 😃

Friday was President and Sister Johnson's first day in the mission!!! I'm sooooo excited to meet them this week at Zone Conference! We heard President Johnson's voice yesterday in a voicemail sent to everyone explaining the rules for the 4th. He sounds REALLY nice and funny!

Anyways... We met Jan and her friend, who is a member, at the temple visitor center. The lesson went pretty well. Kathleen, the friend, was so cute! She didn't know any signs so she would tell us what to say next! haha! Like inviting her to church or talking about a different subject to keep us on track. Jan was a tad resistant I felt, but we were able to each as much as we could sitting. She said she would like to come back to the visitor center and even come to church sometime! Our next step is to get a branch member with us to help us teach Jan! On the way out I saw Sister Smith (LaFawn Smith!!!) from the Hazeldale Ward! That was so fun to chat with her real quick!

Saturday turned out to be a fun and tiring day! So story real quick! 2 months ago we been in contact with Ernest and he told us that he was moving on July 2nd. He told us we could come and help with the Elders with the moving. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago until now... We kept trying to call him and VP him (VP is like Skype), but NO answer! We decided to exercise our faith and go anyways. So we went and called the Elders to see where they were at.... There was a miscommunication... Because the Elders were still at home! Haha. We went ahead and knocked on the door, but

no one answered. We called the Elders and told them that no one answered the door. 

They said they still wanted to come anyways, so we went to a fancy and HUGE graveyard near by to wait for them. We had a fun time walking and seeing all the different head stones. There were so many different kinds! We even found ones that you would see in a hunted mansion or on Once Upon a Time! All I can say is... I prefer people be buried under ground! Haha. While walking through, we realized the biggest difference from UT cemeteries and DC cemeteries. The gravestones in UT has pictures of temples while this one had crosses EVERYWHERE! It was neat to see how the temple is another symbol of eternity because families are sealed/connected by temples!

Once the Elders came we went back and tried to knock on the door... No answer 😟.  When we went back down the steps, Ernest's neighbor stopped us and told us that they moved 6 days ago! I'm so glad they told us that so we wouldn't have to worry when Ernest moved. So we are going to keep trying to contact him until he answers back! The rest of the day was checking up on less actives, tracking, trying to find a past investigator that probably moved, and lots of driving! It was a great day!

Yesterday was a crazy day at church! We had SO many visitors come from other deaf groups in VA and up in northern MD. It was fun to chat with some of them and get to know them a little bit. They came because it was fast Sunday and it's apparently a tradition to come for Fast Sunday and hang out after church for Linger Longer. I hope everyone comes back next month, so I can meet everyone that came!

I hope you all are doing well! I love you very much! The church is true and what a blessing it has been to my life! I would be so lost without it!

Much love!

Sister Parker