Elder Parker Thomas Alexander

Mexico, Torreon LDS Mission
June 30, 2010 - June 2012

parker.alexander@myldsmail.net
Elder Parker Thomas Alexander
Mission Mexico Torreon
Apartado Postal 792
Coahuila, 27000 Mexico

This blog is updated weekly by Parker's family.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010






My 2nd companion, Elder Nava.
"Waldo"-
My new teddy bear
my fam sent me.



This is a cute little 8 year old girl I was able to baptize.
"Week of Changes”

My dearest family members!

What a week! It was just a little bit crazy. As I told you all, Elder Nava had changes again after 1 week with me which yeah is a little nuts. My new comp’s name is Elder Guardia and he’s a hard worker so I’ve come home tired each night this week and just crashed. It’s a good thing! He’s pretty cool though. He’s from the Mexico City area and he’s the only fully active person in his family which is cool. He’s only out 6 months in the mission which is crazy, but he knows what he’s doing.

Ok so that package dominated! Thanks so much for sending it! The Teddy Bear has a name now and of course it’s Waldo! It́s just sitting on my bed next to the Goofy pillow and all is well. The CDs are great too. I’ve listened to a bunch of them and I’m digging them! Thanks a bunch! The Book Bag is perfect too and especially thanks for the letters! I’m going to keep them forever and always! I was especially happy to get the news about Frank having arthritis! Thank you for that amazing news... haha it’s alright though. That just means he’s not going to be running away while I’m gone. I hope he’s feeling alright with the pills he’s on now though. I love my doggies! And make sure you tell grandma and grandpa thanks for their letters! I sure love those two bunches and I’m going to keep their letters in my binder forever! Aww precious! haha It really means a lot to me though. So I bought a sweet coat and sweater last week! Thanks for that! And they dominate!

Some news on Alicia too. She’s moving! She’ll be heading out in about two weeks to get away from the crazy life in Gomez and her husband needs to find work there so they should be alright!

That’s pretty sweet of Elder Layland calling! He told me he would, but I thought he’d forget or something. He’s hilarious. Don’t believe him about the Spanish though. It’s a lie! haha I’m trying to my best, but it’s still a big struggle to talk and understand and all that. He’s way cool though and I hope he makes a great choice with coming to Weber. Did you tell Fran and Andy that I’m still recruiting? I hope so, Maybe I’ll get a bonus or something when I get back. hah

So news on food this week... I had prickly pear and i hated it! haha I hope I never have to eat that again! I do have news though... I like tomatoes and avocados now. Is that insane? I think so. I actually elected to put some on my hamburger the other day! haha

Cool story! I baptized the cutest 8 year old yesterday! She’s just the cutest thing ever! It doesn’t officially count as a baptism because she’s not a convert, but it’s still way sweet and it got me excited for that day like 30 years from now or so that I’ll baptize my little kid! It was a cool one!

Anyway, love you all! Take care and tell Tate welcome home from me!

Elder Alexander

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Hasta luego mi companero...mi amigo!

Friends for life!



amigos de toda la vida !

October 18, 2010

Hey Guys!

It’s another fabulous day in
Mexico and I am feeling great!

Ok so let’s get started with this week, eh? First off, that’s sooo cool about New Orleans and I hope you are just having a blast! I still really want to go there someday. It seems like I always get the short end of the shaft as far as vacations are concerned... wait.... I’m in Mexico! Haha It’s not really a vacation though. I have never studied, walked, or worked so much in my entire life! I’m still having a blast though!!!!

Ok, so this week has been very strange! hah So, Elder Nava is extremely quiet and doesn’t really talk to me which is kind of sad. I’ve had a little bit of a hard time with that, but not too bad. It’s just a little weird to not be with Elder Beltran. We really became great friends in our weeks together. He’ll be a friend for life, I’m sure. He wants to visit and work in Utah for about 6 months after he gets back from the mission so we’ll have to take him to the cabin or something! haha So back to Elder Nava, he also got sick this week really bad... (he has some health problems) We stayed in one day so he could rest and I studied. I love studying so much now! haha It’s just a great time to learn more about the scriptures and the Lord and I’ve learned a ton since getting here! It’s been great!

Elder Nava is starting to open up to me, but we got some news Saturday that he’s going to have special changes tomorrow which means I’ll be getting another, different companion! Isn’t that crazy? Now I’m going to have to get used to someone else now, too and my mom’s going to leave me! haha

All is well with me, though. I’m trying to get like a binder of all sorts of stuff spiritual and/or the mission so I can look at it and go, ̈ahhhh” or something like that; all sentimental and stuff.

And I tried a Mexican hamburger yesterday.... They don’t really know how to do stuff like that here. haha

Love you all, bye!

Elder Alexander

My First Zone


Monday, October 11, 2010

Some Web Pics of Gomez Palacio, Durango Mexico







October 11th - My New Assignment

Hey, I'm back online! I have my new comp and he's another Mexican. His name is Elder Nava and I can't remember exactly where he said he's from, but oh well! haha He seems pretty cool, but it's still the kind of awkward quiet moments so far. He says he doesn't understand any English which means this change is gonna be fun! We did get some news though about our area. We just about tripled our area size. It was nice and small before, but now we have another ward that's way big! It's pretty exciting though. It's time to really just work hard and trust in the Lord because that's the only way I can do this. I have a really good feeling in my heart right now though and I'm excited for whatever's coming my way in the next 6 weeks. We're just going to work hard!

Ok so I did forget to tell you something this morning. Alicia is not doing good again. We thought everything was well and she was doing better, but Monday night we called her again and she's not got much time I guess. It's kind of scary. We're just going to concentrate on teaching her family the plan of salvation to them and everything really well and help them to
know that all will be well, whatever happens. I have a crazy strong testimony of that after Derek's death and all that happened after that. It was pretty sad though. Elder Beltran wanted to go visit her this morning before he left to tell her goodbye, we went, he told her, and she started to cry pretty hard. It was a tough thing and I know it'll be that tough when I
leave too. I'm loving this ward and
MEXICO!!!!!

October 11, 2010

My dearest fambily!

How are you all this week? I hope just dandy!!! I have some crazy news. Elder Beltran has officially left me. He boarded a bus this morning for Fresnillo and I'm going to hang out with another elder until our change meeting where I'll get my mom! (Second companion) I've got about two hours and then all the waiting will be over! haha!

Ok, well here's this week in a nutshell.... Sick! haha I'm feeling great now though so don't even worry about me. I'll now recount the grand story:

Ok, so it started out as a normal week. Business as usual. On Tuesday though, we had interviews with President Clark. That was a pretty neat experience. The whole thing was in S
panish, which I guess is unique because every North American has their interviews in English. I guess I'm just weird like that or something! It was way cool to talk to President though. He's a good, good man! Wednesday, though, something cool happened. I went on divisions with Elder Layland because he's going home today and he wanted to spend some time with Elders in the zone, so I went to his area Wednesday morning with my stuff and spent the night over there. That was way cool! He really loves this place and we were just talking about the mission and some experiences he's had and stuff like that. It was way fun and cool. The bad thing is though.... I ate waaaaay to much fooood! It was all pork soup or something like that. I didn't really know, but the sister put more in front of me so I had to eat it. Anyway, Thursday comes along and I was sicker than I have ever been in my life! Not a fun experience!

We didn't leave the house after I returned with Elder Beltran and I was either in bed or the bathroom all day. No bueno! Friday I was feeling pretty ok though, but we still didn't want to risk being far away from home base so we just stuck around the house. I tried really hard to look on the bright side of things though and I realized something in my frenzied sick state! haha. I was just hoping it wasn't something horribly wrong that would make me go home or anything because I realized I have no clue what I would be doing and it really scared me! haha I really am starting to just love this place so much that I have no idea what it would be like to be home! I don't want to see you all for about 21 more months! haha, but I promise you that when I see you all again, it will be one of the happiest moments of my life! Oh... and I've lost 6 pounds this week from being sick. haha

Other than that though, things are way good. It is a bit weird to be without Elder Beltran though and not knowing who my next comp's going to be. I don't really know Spanish nor my area still, so it's going to be an adventure. I'm going to have to learn a lot the next week or so and I know the Lord will be there every step of the way! I'm loving life and healthy now! I just gotta eat food and pump some iron! haha

Oh, and guess what! There are black and white cookies here and they are amazing! Different, but amazing.

Love you all so much,
Elder Alexander


Monday, October 4, 2010

October 4, 2010

Hey Familia!

Well good news! I officially signed my VISA down here so I’m kind of a Mexican now! Isn’t that way cool? I sure think so! It was fun because the 7 of us who came to Mexico together on the 30th all went down and signed and all that good stuff so we all shared stories and everything of the first month in Mexico! That was way fun to talk to my generation of Torreon Missionaries and my buddies from the MTC.

I can’t believe I’ve been in Mexico for more than a month now! I’m telling you all that time is passing by like crazy! If the next 20 months or so pass by this quick, I’m going to be back home in a blink of an eye. It literally seems like I got here maybe a week ago tops and I only have a week left in this transfer!

So there hasn’t really been that much going on this week. No cool new food, but we did eat at a place today that’s like Rodizio Grill that was really good! We ate there I guess because there are a bunch of elders going home this week and it’s a tradition or something. It was way good! It was fun to see the Elders heading out and talk to them. They’re great Elders. One of them is my grandpa (in the mission) I got a good pic I’ll send your way.

Other than that, the only cool thing this week was conference. We were able to head to all the sessions in the Stake Center and watch in Spanish... Very weird, but actually pretty cool. I have a testimony now more than ever of the gift of tongues. It’s real and it’s crazy cool! I was able to understand and take notes in conference! I did not think that I would understand anything, but I had a constant prayer in my heart and WOW....Our God is a God of miracles! I’ll testify to that until I die! Mom, I did sing I am a child of God, but the words were up in English so I was sure to sing “with parents kind of dear!” Haha it was awesome to sing that! And if I had any questions, I sat next to Elder Layland, so he helped me understand what I had questions with! It was cool! I’ve gotten more out of this Conference than ever before! It was a little weird not just being in my jammies for it, but I think it’s better to actually be alert! Haha!

This week was a good one and Alicia is doing a lot better! We’re actually going to bathe her dog Lucho today for an act of service! Oh and funny story, Lucho had 2 kids and they named them Alexis and Beltran! Haha. Alexis is a girl there so no jokes! Hah.

Love you all, and the Church is true!

Elder Alexander