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