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.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Ingrown toenails aren't fun!



Hey guys!


Well, as you can tell from the subject, I found out first-hand this week that ingrown toenails are definitely not fun things to deal with..... Ouch! haha I sent a picture for you all too! It´s fun stuff! Luckily, the clinic I went to to have them cut it out is run by a member and she did it free! Yay! What happened was that it was hurting pretty bad Wednesday and Thursday and I decided to go on Thursday to get it looked at by this member and she saw it right away, and said it was infected so she had to operate. I was pretty scared. She then proceeded to take out an inch long needle to give me a shot to deaden everything. I can´t tell you the pain that was centered in my tender, infected, ingrown toe... Ouch. The best part was that she stopped and started in the middle of the shot a few times and that made it hurt even worse. After that, she took out her X-acto knife and started cutting the nail out. That part was actually cool because I felt absolutely nothing, but I could see the fact that she was cutting me. It was really strange. One thing lead to another and because of the pain I later felt, we went to the house and didn´t leave again all night. It was great fun. Also, there was another Elder with the same problem so Friday, I went with him to the Red Cross Hospital where they did the same thing to him, but worse because they just took out the entire nail. I watched. It was GROSS! haha We ended up staying in, talking and studying Friday too. It was cool. He´s a cool Elder from Salt Lake. It was a neat experience although I absolutely hated being cooped up all day. That was horrible! haha


Anyway, I gotta say the other two crazy things that happened yesterday.... First and foremost: It was actually worse than seeing the toenail get wrenched out. Yesterday morning on te way to church, we saw a guy get hit by a van while crossing the street. It was horrible. We heard screeching tires, a thud, and we looked over to see a guy flying in the air and landing on the street. The worst part was that the guy in the van just ran away. It was pretty bad though. We rushed over to see what we could do, but there were a ton of people doing the same. He looked pretty bad with a gash in his head and a compound fracture in his right leg. It was nasty stuff. After that experience, we headed to church where we had another crazy experience. We were welcoming everyone to church and this teenage kid asked me if I spoke english and if there was a drinking fountain. Come to find out that the kid goes to Ogden High! How nuts is that! His cousin´s in our ward and going on the mission next week so they´re visiting. It was nuts! What and incredibly small world, eh? Some kid from Ogden sees me and he lives on 31st street. Nuts, right? I thought it was cool. The bad news is.... There isn´t a drinking fountain in the building. LAME! haha Anyway, onto the spiritually cool experiences now, right? I had one of the coolest things happen to me that has ever happened in my life. It was awesome! Do you all remember Maria who got baptized in January with her grandkids? Well in these 3 months that we´ve been working with her and the kids, her husband has never wanted to come down out of his room to listen to us. He´s kind of a shy guy. Anyway, I went with another elder Tuesday to their house to visit them because all sorts of stuff´s been going on with one granddaughter running away and she´s been sick and all this stuff. Anyway, we were there and invited her husband to hear us again and he actually said yes! We started teaching all of them and it was going really well and then I asked him to be baptized. He said yes again! Then I asked him to be baptized on Easter and he said yes yet again! It was sooooooo cool! The family is going to start to receive even more blessings now! Maria said tat she´s been praying ton that her husband could get baptized and this Easter, it´s going to happen! I was so happy! He came to church with his family yesterday and we taught them again last night about how he felt and he said ¨If Iwouldn´t have liked it, I wouldn´t have stayed for three hours!¨ I thought it was pretty awesome. haha It´s also fun to see him interact with his grandson because he reminds me of a certain grandpa I know. haha It´s pretty cool. Well, all is well with me. The toe´s feeling better and I´m happy! I do have some bad news though. That CD of pictures you sent me got busted. I don´t know what happened, but when I took it out of my backpack to print the pictures off, it was busted right down the middle. I don´t know if it would be possible for you guys to send another my way. I would greatly appreciate it. I´m trying to fill a photo album with pictures of family and friends! haha Um.... I think that´s about it. This week, I´m going to be reading the talk by Juan A Uceda and the talk by Patrick Kearon. I´m reading two because they´re short! I hope that´s alright and I hope you are all doing great today! I´m pretty happy! Love you all! Elder Alexander

Monday, April 4, 2011

Conference Day Baptisms


Elder Alexander and Okey


My tie was made by a member in Torreon.

Conference!

Hey guys! So I have to start out telling the coolest story of the week! It happened about an hour ago! We were chilling in this mall because my comp baught some new shoes and we went to the bathroom (that isn´t the cool part). I was waiting for him and this song was playing that sounded really familiar. I was thinking it was one of those songs that is just really popular here and I had heard it before, but it wasn´t! It is a song very close to my heart that goes something like this: ¨Time passages!¨ Can you believe it? They even have that lame song here in Mexico! It made me really happy though and I just started laughing right there thinking of the first time I heard it with Dad on the way to the cabin. Good times! It was way funny. It´s going in my journal for time and all eternity! Anyway, I guess I had better share with you all the amazing week we had this week! First off, my new comp´s name is Elder Pedraza and he´s from Mexico City. We´ve gotten along really well this week and it´s fun! We were also able to baptize an awesome guy yesterday! We had 4 baptisms yesterday in the zone and so we baptized in one big service in-between sessions of conference. Dad, you should definitely work your resources so that the picture can be in the Ensign and Liahona magazines! How awesome would that be! haha I´m sure Robert Casey has some pull there, no? anywho, this guy who we baptized really let me see the value and the reality of the Atonement and of repentance. He was one of the craziest druggies and drunks I think I have ever met with the stories he´s told us, but through a ton of different experiences, he developed the faith to quit all that stuff and get baptized! It was so cool to see his face yesterday afterward! One of the really cool things is that I got to watch most of conference in english because it´s easier for him to understand and all in english so I really got the most I could out of those 10 hours of conference. I think i have to tell Nate some stuff in a different letter about following the Prophet. ;) Just kiddin! haha. It was a way cool week though. That training we went to was way good too! I really enjoyed it! Oh and i think I saw Jordan Gibby singing in that Institute Choir! It was cool! haha It sure sounds like you guys are rocking it back home with some George Strait.... WOOOOH! haha That was for you, Mom. I can´t believe that Skylee got married and Jenisy has a kid and I´m going to be 20 next month! I am sooooooo OLD! ahhhhh! haha! That´s way cool. Mom, I actually met Elder Jensen. He´s cool and knows Preston really well. He got here last Monday and I saw him today. He looks like a deer in headlights, but happy. Tell Kaylene I love her tons too! Well, that´s about it. Oh, that picture me and that Elder is of Elder Okey and I in the transfer meeting with a home made tie that a member gave to me. How about them apples! haha Love you! Send that Ensign as soon as you can! Oh, and this week, I´m gonna study the talk by Elder Perry! Love ya tons!!!!!! Elder Alexander