The time when I got to sit in a massage chair! 😌

Hey Everyone!

Crazy it's time to write to all of you again! The days here are flowing by with everything that has happen! It's so weird to think that this upcoming week is my last full week on my mission! I'll make this week the best one yet! Now... On to what happened last week!!!!

Monday! We had a blast spending time in Annapolis! It was so cool going through the Capitol building. I learned that this was where President Washington resigned from being the President of United States! The bay was really pretty too... Even though it was super cloudy that day! Then we went out to eat and had an island themed lunch! Haha. We split a crab cake and a coconut cream pie together! We both decided that crab isn't our favorite thing in the world... Sorry mom and dad! Hehe.

Throughout the week we have been able to rake different people's lawns! It has been fun, but there are days where I think,"Man! My body hurts... but here goes nothing!" Haha. One day we raked one of our member's lawn (who is the sweetest lady ever!) and we didn't have enough time to pick up all the leaves. Luckily we did rake ALL the leaves to pick up on Saturday, which was the next day. Well... The morning of was BEAUTIFUL and nice! But by afternoon, we had a mini wind storm! It was crazy!!! The leaves were going everywhere, so we had to cancel raking the remaining leaves. Which was too bad because Steve and his wife really wanted to help us! But... Hopefully they will come this Saturday while our ward does a leaf raking service project! That should be lots of fun!

On Wednesday we had a really cool experience before heading home for dinner. We tracked for a tiny bit and made the decision to go street contacting for the last 1/2 hour. Well, we walked up in front of a craft store. I was looking at the BIG fake flowers that was for sell when a lady came up and asked if we needed coupons! We told her we didn't, and we ended up having a religious conversation with her! She didn't believe in God because of all the horrible things that has  happened on this earth. It was sad because it took her 4-5 years to convince herself that there wasn't a God, so she wasn't going to believe anything we said about God. But, she was super super sweet about it! She told us that she could tell there was a calm spirit about us and appreciated that we weren't confrontational. It was really neat because she opened up to us. She was going to a funeral this weekend, so naturally, we gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Hopefully that will help her open her mind more in realizing there is a purpose in life. Also that God WILL make everything right again! She even gave us a hug before we said our good byes!

Thursday was a super good day! It was full of departing events! Thankfully, Sister Capson got to join us! She is leaving a week before the next transfer, so she wouldn't be able to do her departing things in January. It was so nice and fun to have her there with me! That morning we went to the temple and had a really nice time there! One of the temple workers came to talk with us before we started our session. My favorite thing she said was about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Which is faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. She explained how enduring to the end meant keeping our temple covenants. If we stayed obedient to our temple covenants, we can live with God again! While in the Celestial room, all I could do was say a prayer of thanks. There was such a sweet spirit as I thanked my Heavenly Father of all the things I have experienced on my mission. I'm so blessed to now be able to look back and admire how far I have come and all the lessons I have learned from my mission!

After the temple, we went to the mission home and ate some lunch! I was the lucky one to be interviewed first! My interview with President Johnson was so sweet and very personal. I love this man so much! I'm so grateful to have him as my mission President these last 5 months. He and his wife are the BEST! I love being able to talk with Sister Johnson and listen to all the stories she has to share! Although... President Johnson is also a great story teller too!

While waiting for everyone else to be done with their interviews... I sat in the massage chair!!! And oh my goodness! Did that feel good!!!! Sometimes it hurt a little, but I knew it was helping the knots in my back to go away. When I was done... I convinced Sister Capson to take a turn! That was so funny to watch!!!! I should have video taped her while she was siting in it! She kept exclaiming, "Ahh.... It hurts!!!" Luckily she even said that after a few minutes she could tell her back felt a tiny bit better too! Haha

That night we had a really nice testimony meeting! Everyone's testimonies were so nice and powerful! I talked about how the Atonement and service can both mend a broken heart and soften hearts as well. During my roughest time of my mission, I met Jan! While serving her, my heart and spirits were lifted. As I continued to serve her, my burdens were lifted and I saw her heart change as well! When we first met her, Jan didn't want to hear anything about our church. As the time went on, she started going to church every week, then finally became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! As I applied the Atonement, I had to reach out to those around me to help me overcome the challenges I was facing. I also talked about the amazing fact that we have the Priesthood power here on earth and  how grateful I am to be apart of this church! The more I'm here on my mission, the more I love this gospel! Everything just makes sense in the most simplest terms!

Saturday was a fun day! We went over to Marilyn's and helped put up her Christmas decorations. We of course had to to put some Christmas music on to get us in the Christmas spirit! I'm excited to spend Thanksgiving with Marilyn over at the Relief Society President's house! It will be a fun day for sure!

Meet Marilyn!!!

Sunday was quite the exciting day! Both Steve and Ali came to church!!! Sister Capson also was able to give an amazing talk about gratitude. She did a great job! After sacrament meeting, Ali did something so cute! She told us that she wanted to go home to get something to eat, then come back for the rest of church. Well... We didn't want her to leave, so thankfully the Elders had a ton of granola
bars in the back of their car. So we gave her 3 to hold her through church! Haha. She was a happy camper after that!

After church we were able to go with the Copes (They are amazing in taking everyone to church and took us to Why I Believe!!!) and Dana to Why I Believe! It was a good last one to go to! The testimonies were really great as well as the speakers! One of the converts who gave their testimony was actually a missionary here! Her name is Sister Lau and she's awesome! I haven't heard her conversion story before, so it was really neat! She joined the church with her family 10 years ago. It was really cool to hear about how all of her family joined in separate times and their own conversion to the gospel. The speakers had an amazing conversion story too! Their marriage was falling apart because the wife had a lot of faith and she was frustrated that her husband lacked faith. Well... Through the gospel, they were able to be united in faith and joined the church together! It was so cool to hear how the gospel literally saved their marriage!

Well... That wraps up my week! I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and eat a ton! I'm excited to tell you how my Thanksgiving week goes! Right now we have 3 Thanksgiving dinners lined up! Haha. 2 on Thanksgiving day and 1 on Saturday! Wish my tummy luck! Haha

Much love,

Sister Parker