Elders Perez and LaylandElder Layland goes home in two weeks. He's been a great help to me through this month!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Baptisms of Francisco and Juan
Francisco (on my immediate right)
is Alicia's husband.
Elder Beltran baptized Juan
(on his left)
on the same day.
Two great men who overcame many challenges to become members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints.
September 26, 2010
September 27, 2010
My Family!
How are you all this fine week? I hope all is well and thank you so much for those great pictures! I was actually going to ask for some of the day I reported! ¡Gracias! And that picture of my baby, Sherri, I almost cried! Not really, but thanks for that! I just saved it in my memory card, which is being well used so you will all be happy in 21 short months! Haha!
Anyway so this week has been nuts again, but first, let’s talk about some sweet stuff! I just started a study journal legitimately last Tuesday. I started over in 1 Nephi to have a complete journal of my thoughts and what not. It’s been crazy cool! I have never gotten so much out of reading first Nephi! It’s way sweet! And so true! Oh, and we have been having more rain this week which is crazy. We had to stay in a few hours late again a few days ago so we had some more study time! That was great! I honestly think studying the scriptures is my favorite thing in my days. Maybe not my favorite because there are soooo many cool things about being a missionary and being in Mexico!
I’ve decided something... I love Utah so much! We were contacting the other day and we ran into this lady in the park, started talking and everything and she asked if we were from Provo.... Random, eh? Anyway, we started to talk about Utah and Deer Valley and the Salt Lake Temple and all sorts of stuff. I guess she has a granddaughter who was married there and she was sad because she couldn’t go see it, but we talked about the temple some more and she invited us over to talk more about Utah because she loves it so much! Haha it made me so happy because I really do love my home!!!!
Oh so another cool thing: I’ve started a binder of conference talks and letters from you guys and stuff like that so if there are any Conference talks or anything you’d like to send that you think will push me along, please send the names or something and I can print them off or something like that!
Ok so ready for the crazy stuff? We have to do kind of a review of the baptismal interview questions before the actual thing and if they have problems with the forth question, we have to take them to have an interview with the Mission President. But on Saturday, he (Juan) had an interview with President Clark and passed! He’s a fully repentant man and way cool!
Anyway, more craziness! Remember Alicia? well, as soon as we get done with Juańs interview, her daughter calls us and she was in the hospital for some heart issues. Nuts! We were going crazy and booked it over to the Red Cross building. We were there with her for about two hours and then all seemed well so we all left together. It was all good. And then Sunday came and we were getting ready to pick her up for her confirmation and found out she went again to the hospital! Her hearts not doing so well so we were thinking she wouldn’t go to church yesterday because of it, but she wouldn’t miss her confirmation! She’s a great lady and has an incredible spirit! She says she has to live at least one more year so she can be sealed in the temple with her family! SOOOOO COOL!
I loooooove my family SOOOOOO much! Thanks for your prayers and for letting me be here! Love you!
Elder P.T.A.
How are you all this fine week? I hope all is well and thank you so much for those great pictures! I was actually going to ask for some of the day I reported! ¡Gracias! And that picture of my baby, Sherri, I almost cried! Not really, but thanks for that! I just saved it in my memory card, which is being well used so you will all be happy in 21 short months! Haha!
Anyway so this week has been nuts again, but first, let’s talk about some sweet stuff! I just started a study journal legitimately last Tuesday. I started over in 1 Nephi to have a complete journal of my thoughts and what not. It’s been crazy cool! I have never gotten so much out of reading first Nephi! It’s way sweet! And so true! Oh, and we have been having more rain this week which is crazy. We had to stay in a few hours late again a few days ago so we had some more study time! That was great! I honestly think studying the scriptures is my favorite thing in my days. Maybe not my favorite because there are soooo many cool things about being a missionary and being in Mexico!
I’ve decided something... I love Utah so much! We were contacting the other day and we ran into this lady in the park, started talking and everything and she asked if we were from Provo.... Random, eh? Anyway, we started to talk about Utah and Deer Valley and the Salt Lake Temple and all sorts of stuff. I guess she has a granddaughter who was married there and she was sad because she couldn’t go see it, but we talked about the temple some more and she invited us over to talk more about Utah because she loves it so much! Haha it made me so happy because I really do love my home!!!!
Oh so another cool thing: I’ve started a binder of conference talks and letters from you guys and stuff like that so if there are any Conference talks or anything you’d like to send that you think will push me along, please send the names or something and I can print them off or something like that!
Ok so ready for the crazy stuff? We have to do kind of a review of the baptismal interview questions before the actual thing and if they have problems with the forth question, we have to take them to have an interview with the Mission President. But on Saturday, he (Juan) had an interview with President Clark and passed! He’s a fully repentant man and way cool!
Anyway, more craziness! Remember Alicia? well, as soon as we get done with Juańs interview, her daughter calls us and she was in the hospital for some heart issues. Nuts! We were going crazy and booked it over to the Red Cross building. We were there with her for about two hours and then all seemed well so we all left together. It was all good. And then Sunday came and we were getting ready to pick her up for her confirmation and found out she went again to the hospital! Her hearts not doing so well so we were thinking she wouldn’t go to church yesterday because of it, but she wouldn’t miss her confirmation! She’s a great lady and has an incredible spirit! She says she has to live at least one more year so she can be sealed in the temple with her family! SOOOOO COOL!
I loooooove my family SOOOOOO much! Thanks for your prayers and for letting me be here! Love you!
Elder P.T.A.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Alicia's Baptism
Alicia (Center/
Back)
is the
mother of
Lluvia
(to her right)
that I
baptized my
first week
in Torreon.
Alicia and Francisico
Alicia (Left/Front) calls me and my companion mi hijos. (My sons)
Her husband, Fransico (Right/Front) will be baptized this weekend.
Week 3 - Good Stuff!
So first off, it was Elder Beltran's birthday last Monday, so of course we celebrated! We went to a member family's house and had mole and pastel. Mole's great and pastel's cake. Haha. It was fun and way good!
...So I've been here for three weeks, right? Our zone leader comes up to me two minutes before it started and asked me to have a spiritual thought ready for the beginning of the conference and , of course, it needed to be in Spanish! Haha. It all worked out though. I shared Alma 5:7-12. Good stuff about changing your heart and that really is what the mission is all about: helping others change their hearts and having your own change of heart in the process. I'm loving these people and this mission!
Alright so now the fun begins with Francisco and Alicia. They're so cool! Alicia kind of reminds me of a mix between Grandma Blau and Mom. Basically hilarious! Haha. She always calls me Elder or Hermano Alexis. I don't know why, but it's cool. She loves us too. SheIs the mom of the girl I baptized my first week and we got them married this Friday so they could be baptized too! Cool Stuff! I'll send some pictures (by the way, you can send me attachments and I would greatly appreciate some pics). It's kosher, I promise! That was way fun, but lasted for like four hours on Friday and they needed witnesses so the other companionship in our district came along. After we were done with that, Alicia invited us all overt for some food at 3. Guess what! We had a food appointment at 2 as well so we just went to both! HAHA! I have been eating a bunch of food... This week, I had liver and onion tacos... don't think I’ll try that one again if i can help it. Anyway, two comidas in a row. Good stuff, and of course, we taught a little lesson to them so it wasńt just all food, food, food.
Alicia is so awesome though, guys. This family has nothing and their greatest dream is to have enough food to fill their fridge... so humble, but again, they love us and she feeds us a trough full of food every time we go over there. She's started to call us hijos now too which is pretty cool. She's like our mom over here and I love her a whole bunch. Mom, I'm well taken care of.
Anyway, we baptized Alicia this Sunday, but we have to wait on Francisco because he hasńt given up smoking quite yet. We had to have him interviewed by president Clark, who is awesome, because apparently when Francisco was a joven, he robbed a bank with his buddies. all is well though! Haha This Sunday, I get to be dressed in white again for Francisco.
We also have a golden investigator. He has been going to church with his nephew's family, we talked to him once and set up a date for him to be baptized. Perfect! Lessons with him are a little difficult though because he likes to talk and I don't understand all that much still and have a short attention span ... a little difficult. Haha He's awesome though.
All is well, my family. I love you.
Elder Parker Alexander
...So I've been here for three weeks, right? Our zone leader comes up to me two minutes before it started and asked me to have a spiritual thought ready for the beginning of the conference and , of course, it needed to be in Spanish! Haha. It all worked out though. I shared Alma 5:7-12. Good stuff about changing your heart and that really is what the mission is all about: helping others change their hearts and having your own change of heart in the process. I'm loving these people and this mission!
Alright so now the fun begins with Francisco and Alicia. They're so cool! Alicia kind of reminds me of a mix between Grandma Blau and Mom. Basically hilarious! Haha. She always calls me Elder or Hermano Alexis. I don't know why, but it's cool. She loves us too. SheIs the mom of the girl I baptized my first week and we got them married this Friday so they could be baptized too! Cool Stuff! I'll send some pictures (by the way, you can send me attachments and I would greatly appreciate some pics). It's kosher, I promise! That was way fun, but lasted for like four hours on Friday and they needed witnesses so the other companionship in our district came along. After we were done with that, Alicia invited us all overt for some food at 3. Guess what! We had a food appointment at 2 as well so we just went to both! HAHA! I have been eating a bunch of food... This week, I had liver and onion tacos... don't think I’ll try that one again if i can help it. Anyway, two comidas in a row. Good stuff, and of course, we taught a little lesson to them so it wasńt just all food, food, food.
Alicia is so awesome though, guys. This family has nothing and their greatest dream is to have enough food to fill their fridge... so humble, but again, they love us and she feeds us a trough full of food every time we go over there. She's started to call us hijos now too which is pretty cool. She's like our mom over here and I love her a whole bunch. Mom, I'm well taken care of.
Anyway, we baptized Alicia this Sunday, but we have to wait on Francisco because he hasńt given up smoking quite yet. We had to have him interviewed by president Clark, who is awesome, because apparently when Francisco was a joven, he robbed a bank with his buddies. all is well though! Haha This Sunday, I get to be dressed in white again for Francisco.
We also have a golden investigator. He has been going to church with his nephew's family, we talked to him once and set up a date for him to be baptized. Perfect! Lessons with him are a little difficult though because he likes to talk and I don't understand all that much still and have a short attention span ... a little difficult. Haha He's awesome though.
All is well, my family. I love you.
Elder Parker Alexander
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
"Week 2 in Mexico" - exerpts from 9.13.2010
"Pretty sure I'm going to be a chunker in 22 more months of eating like this. Yesterday we had like....20 meals. Not really, but still. TONS of comida (food) !! Speaking of food, guess what it was this week: Pig skin gorditas. That's right, I basically ate a football, haha. It wasn't bad flavor, but a little crunchy for my taste. haha. I'm diggin the food though. I've had some pretty spicy stuff down here and it's tough, because if you go crazy after eating something hot, they might get offended. So I just try really hard to keep my face normal. Maybe in two years I can. Who know! Ha!
So this week was crazy though! We had RAINSTORMS 3 times this week! Three! Crazy! It's not good at all though, because if it was just rain, it would be fine. But before the rain comes sandstorms. Seriously! We had to duck and covor in the house an hour early because it was some scary stuff. I was a good time to study though...
I also got my first blister this week, so I think that means I'm working hard enough! I sure hope so. I come inside, plan, write in my journal, and then I'm out. It's crazy being as tired as I get. But gues what I found today! Mountain Dew! Seriously! There's a store in Torreon that sells a bunch of American products. You can't get it anywhere else here.
...friends can email me and I can email back, but they won't be very long.
This is so fun! Guess what! We get to marry two people this week so they can get baptized on Sunday! And it's the Mexican Independence Day on Wednesday! It's a fiesta! Oh, and we went to SUBWAY today! Eat fresh!!! haha
The church is still true. I know that now more than ever!
That's about it for this week! Love you all sooo much!"
Elder Alexander
So this week was crazy though! We had RAINSTORMS 3 times this week! Three! Crazy! It's not good at all though, because if it was just rain, it would be fine. But before the rain comes sandstorms. Seriously! We had to duck and covor in the house an hour early because it was some scary stuff. I was a good time to study though...
I also got my first blister this week, so I think that means I'm working hard enough! I sure hope so. I come inside, plan, write in my journal, and then I'm out. It's crazy being as tired as I get. But gues what I found today! Mountain Dew! Seriously! There's a store in Torreon that sells a bunch of American products. You can't get it anywhere else here.
...friends can email me and I can email back, but they won't be very long.
This is so fun! Guess what! We get to marry two people this week so they can get baptized on Sunday! And it's the Mexican Independence Day on Wednesday! It's a fiesta! Oh, and we went to SUBWAY today! Eat fresh!!! haha
The church is still true. I know that now more than ever!
That's about it for this week! Love you all sooo much!"
Elder Alexander
The baptism of Wario
Wario - His mom wanted to name him Mario, but it was too common...so she turned the M upside down. Great story!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Mi Famila - exerpts from 9.6.2010
"Alright, so here's Mexico: The first day I got there, guess what I had to eat...An avocado sandwich!! Just my luck, right? Great stuff! Also, Friday night, I had cow utter tacos....those were atually amazingly good. Wierd, huh? Good though. I didn't know what they were at the time, but after, mi companero me dijo (my companion told me) Fun stuff! Oh yeah! I didn't tell you about my comp...His name is Elder Beltran and he's from Puebla, Mexico. He doesn't know a lick of English, but I already love the guy. He's my papa in the mission! Haha. We're having a blast. I guess I do have some pretty sweet news....I baptized someone yesterday!!!! Soooo cool! haha Her nickname is Lluvia because the day she was born, it was raining. Haha RARE occurrence here!
I am a place called Gomez Palacia and it's directly outside of Torreon, but in the state of Durango. It's so cool. We live in an extremely poor area and it's soooo cool! The members are great and we have a huge lunch with a member every day. Lunch is the big meal around here. We don't even eat dinner a lot of the time because we're packed full of stuff to do. It's alright though, because we eat at 2 in the afternoon each day. This ward is sweet though. Everyone knows that I can't really understand them and I learn new words every day! A LOT! I can't believe how much more I understand today than last week though. It's crazy. There are still thsoe people who talk crazy fast, but it's all good. I just mimic the facial expression of Elder Beltran. I'm pretty sure this area's the smallest in the mission. We're never more than about two minutes away from our house which is pretty cool in case we have to make emergency food runs. Oh yeah! They have Lunch Charms here!!!! YEAH And coke....is huge!
I am loving life, loving the people and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ so much! I can't talk about the Gospel in English anymore. I try and it's just Spanglish. I'm glad I'm here though and I love Mexico. It's even more different here than I thought it would be!
I am a place called Gomez Palacia and it's directly outside of Torreon, but in the state of Durango. It's so cool. We live in an extremely poor area and it's soooo cool! The members are great and we have a huge lunch with a member every day. Lunch is the big meal around here. We don't even eat dinner a lot of the time because we're packed full of stuff to do. It's alright though, because we eat at 2 in the afternoon each day. This ward is sweet though. Everyone knows that I can't really understand them and I learn new words every day! A LOT! I can't believe how much more I understand today than last week though. It's crazy. There are still thsoe people who talk crazy fast, but it's all good. I just mimic the facial expression of Elder Beltran. I'm pretty sure this area's the smallest in the mission. We're never more than about two minutes away from our house which is pretty cool in case we have to make emergency food runs. Oh yeah! They have Lunch Charms here!!!! YEAH And coke....is huge!
I am loving life, loving the people and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ so much! I can't talk about the Gospel in English anymore. I try and it's just Spanglish. I'm glad I'm here though and I love Mexico. It's even more different here than I thought it would be!
First Sunday in Mexico
I had the oportunity to baptize Lluvia (Her nickname...."rain" because the day she was born it was raining. A rare occurrence here!) We are with my new companion, Elder Beltran of Puebla, Mexico.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Parkers 1st Letter from Mexico 8.31.2010
Hey! I made it! I just had my first night in Mexico! It's way cool! There are seven North Americans here and seven Mexicans, so we're already learning more! This is so cool! I'll be out in the field this afternoon teaching the people! I don't know who my trainer is yet, though. I'll find out later.
Love you all so much!
Elder Alexander
Love you all so much!
Elder Alexander
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