Happy New Year! Also Week 24 from Nathan

I spent this morning playing volleyball with friends from our ward (Kendee and Steve Rowley, Kristy and Brett Hatch, Rich Harris, Joe Omer, and Dave Cox). It was a lot of fun. It was a great workout as we had more court to cover since we were missing a few people. After that, Justin and I went to Walmart to get some food for our New Year's Day family smorgasbord and I had to get snacks for the New Year's Eve dance. While we were out, we got Nathan's emails, his last emails for 2018! Here is his group email:

Hello everyone! I hope all of your Christmases were great!

This week was a busy one for me, that is for sure. We in Port Angeles are now officially starting to get the hang of this place, being quaded in. Recognizing faces and stuff is really helpful for missionary work believe it or not. Our days have been full of lessons mostly, with some knocking thrown in here and there throughout the day. Having 3 companions is a lot of fun. It makes every day even more of an adventure. 

It has started raining here a lot more too. I don't know if there was a day this week I didn't wear my rain jacket. One day it rained fairly hard and we were tracting a lot that day. It was awesome. It was so cold and windy, my hood got used to the fullest haha (I could barely see out of it).

Anyways, that's all for this week.

Love

Elder Parker

Since I was in the store, I didn't get to email him much but I did email him and tell him that I needed to see a picture of his hood being used to it's fullest. He emailed back and said, "Ask and ye shall receive" and sent this picture. He said that he is staying as dry as he can but that they have had to go back to the apartment during the day to get dry pants.

Hannah had to work from 3:30-7:30 pm at Dominos. She said they got really busy but luckily, it slowed down so she could leave on time. They were expecting to get busy again later in the evening. Isaac has been sick all week so he was pretty much laying down all day. Justin and I watched Hunger Games and then I had to get ready for the dance. I am not a fan of leaving my home at 8:30 pm to go anywhere. I was so thankful that the dance was only 25 minutes away. Also, it was a multi-stake dance and my only responsibility was to provide salty treats. Hannah came with Lauren and even though they both don't love dances, they had a good time.

 At midnight they pulled the strings that were supposed to release the balloons but nothing happened so the kids jumped and grabbed the net and pulled the balloons out and started popping them all. I definitely think it was a different outcome than those who had set it up planned, probably a lot louder too!

 2018 has been a great year for us. The kids are doing good. We have been able to see a lot of friends and family and sure loved having so many come to see us in Georgia! This year, the start of the new year is a little scary for us. We really don't know what is going to happen or where we will be at the end of the year. We trust that we will be ok. We will keep our faith in the Lord and we will keep the love we have for one another. I know there will be more growth for all of us and unfortunately, another kid leaving home. I am excited to see what is in store for Hannah as she heads off to college in the fall.

Christmas!

Hannah and Isaac woke us up at 5:00 am sharp and we all went downstairs. Santa brought Isaac a computer gaming chair and Hannah some perfume. He brought Justin Hickory Farms goodies and cologne and he brought me money to go shopping for new church clothes. We also got little candies and gum and soaps and lotions and gift cards in our stockings. Isaac got new clothes from us and his first electric razor. Hannah got a panini maker (which she wanted to take to college) and a Tommy Hilfiger sweater. Justin got new BSU t-shirts and a sweatshirt and socks and jerky and hot sauce and I got a new crockpot, slippers, a book, and some kitchen utensils. Hannah was so sweet this year. She bought everyone's Christmas gifts with her own money and was so thoughtful about what she gave. It was very personalized. We then had our traditional Christmas breakfast of biscuits and egg gravy. Of course, I have to make bacon to get the grease for the gravy. So healthy. ha. The best gift would come later in the day. We were able to talk to all our missionaries! We got to talk to my parents in Chile and wish my dad a happy birthday and then Nathan called. He actually called right when we were talking to my parents so I had to hang up on them. They understood. Thankfully, we had been talking to them for a while. It was so good to hear from Nathan and be able to see him!

I loved being able to hear what his typical day was like and what he was eating. He said they get up at 6:30 am and exercise until 7. Then, from 7-8 they shower and get ready for the day and have breakfast. He said his breakfast is always a smoothie (scoop of peanut butter, a banana, and milk with a chocolate Carnation instant breakfast). I was a little concerned with all the dairy for his skin and kidney stones but he said he isn't doing the protein shake so it shouldn't affect the kidney stones (unless they are calcium stones instead of protein stones!). He said they have personal scripture study from 8-9 and then companion study from 9-10. Normally, that is when they would head out for the morning but one of their companions is a Spanish-speaking elder so he has 30 minutes of language study. They leave the apartment at 10:30. Since there are four of them, they rotate around who goes out with who. Most days they get a quick dinner around 4. Nathan said he eats a lot of toast with butter and garlic on it. Unfortunately, his mission is not able to do member dinners anymore. They are to be knocking on doors from 5-7 and dinners were making some missionaries late to do those or they were missing them altogether sometimes. Nathan said he missed dinners but that they were usually fed "red death" so nice to not have that every night. Apparently, red death is spaghetti. Ha. He said they also grab a lot of Taco Bell because it is fast and cheap but he is pretty sick of that. From 8-9 they try and have lessons set up to teach or have appointments with members to come and practice teaching. They are home by 9:30 and lights out is 10:30 pm. He enjoys their 45 minutes or so every night to chill from the day and play games. He said he is liking the sounds of Post Angeles over the sounds of Yelm. Since it is a port town, they hear lots of horns from ships coming and going whereas Yelm was near a military base and they heard lots of gunfire for training and such. We got to talk for 90 minutes! It went fast. I also loved getting texts from family and friends throughout the day.

Hannah tried out her panini maker and Isaac got his room all set up. Someone in the neighborhood was giving away a desk and it works perfectly with his new chair. 

 Hannah, Justin and I also started and finished the puzzle George and RaNae sent us. It took three hours. It was of all the National Parks in the US. It was tricky!

We really had a wonderful day.

Christmas Eve and Nathan's Week 23 letter

Yesterday was our Christmas music program at church. I was singing in the choir so I invited Nathan's friend Emma to come. I did warn her that we are not professionals by any means and there might be some pretty cringy moments. We definitely needed a few more practices. It was a nice meeting. There were several small groups performances as well as some short speakers saying why certain Christmas hymns were their favorite. It went 30 minutes over the time it was supposed to so I felt really bad to keep Emma so long. It was fun to talk to her afterward and hear some of the things she has told Nathan about his mission. She also sent me some pictures he had sent her that I had not seen. It was a nice kick-off to Christmas Eve. It rained hard all day on Sunday. Monday morning (Christmas Eve), I woke up at 7 am and took Hope out. It was so calm and peaceful outside. There was not a sound or even a breeze and it looked so beautiful. I didn't even feel the cold. 

I got things cleaned up around the house and mixed up the funeral potatoes, buffalo chicken dip and jello and put them in the fridge for later use. Hannah and I watched a Hallmark movie while I folded clothes. Nathan's email came a little later than usual so I was excited to finally get that and find out more details of when we would get to talk to him the next day. Unfortunately, he really didn't know when. Here is his group email:

Hello all! Merry Christmas!

This week has been a fun one! We did a lot of walking and a lot of knocking! Port Angeles is a really cool place. There are so many neighborhoods and stores and boons to go to. It is fun.

This week there was a special Christmas program here with both of the wards combined. It was crazy. The building was filled to the max! With both wards and all the visitors, I was surprised that we all fit! It was really cool with songs and the whole deal. I'm sure the one back home was great too.

Nicky, one of the kids I was teaching back in Yelm was baptized this week as well! I wasn't able to go back for it because Port Angeles and Ylem are the two opposite ends of the mission and it takes forever to drive, but I am so proud of that family. They have an awesome story and I was really happy to be a part of it.

Anyways, that's all that really happened this week. 

Till next time.

Love 

Elder Parker

I think he had a lot of people email him this week to wish him a Merry Christmas because he said that he had to write a lot back and our emails were very short. I am so glad that his old companion was able to send him a couple of pictures from Nicky's baptisms. He was sad he wasn't able to be there in person. Here is my email:

I can't believe it has been 5 months already! That doesn't make like any sense. I don't have any idea when I will call tomorrow. It will be at the stake president's house, which apparently has family named Parker in Mississippi, so we are going to try and see if we are related. Christmas is a non-proselyting day so we will be playing board games and watching Christmas movies haha.

 They are an awesome family! I like them a lot. Nicky is the smartest kid I know.

Hannah was so excited it was Christmas Eve. She kept asking when we were going to start. It made me smile. We really didn't have a lot planned. Everyone helped get the table set and food brought in and we had a very yummy dinner.

We had a roast, mashed potatoes and gravy and broccoli (all Justin's request), funeral potatoes (Hannah's request), ham, jello (Isaac's request), rolls with homemade strawberry jelly and corn on the cob (my request). Apparently, we did not serve exactly what Hope wanted because we heard her chewing on something. She has never chewed on things except once or twice a pencil so we were very surprised to find her chewing on a highlighter pen. What?! 

 She knew she was in trouble. Of course, it was hard not to laugh because she looked so darn cute!

 Hannah and Isaac told me they really didn't care to decorate sugar cookies this year and since I'm the only one who loves them and eats them all, I decided we wouldn't do it. They decided they would like to drive around and look at the Christmas lights in our neighborhood instead so we did that. It was nice but being all together in a car with Isaac can be a little challenging. He gets a little ADD after a few minutes and then likes to tease people or say things he knows will get to people...especially Justin. Hope enjoyed going for the ride. We then opened up jammies after reading from Luke 2. 

 I was afraid Isaac's wouldn't fit. He keeps growing taller but stays just as skinny! Hannah loved hers. She said they were the most comfortable jammies she has ever had.

 Everyone's fit great except Hopes. I had gotten her a little t-shirt just for laughs. It was supposed to be her size but we could barely get her head and one arm in. She was a good sport and just kind of sat there looking at us wondering what was going on. We laughed so hard. I was bummed it didn't fit. She would have been so cute in it. Who am I???

 The rest of the evening we watched the last Christmas episode of The Office and then the very last episode of the series. We had a great time. It was probably the best thing we could have watched as far as everyone enjoying it. Justin and I had to laugh at ourselves for getting a little emotional at a couple parts of the show. The kids went to bed and Justin and I waited a little bit before Santa came. Santa only had to put together one thing so we got to bed around midnight. 

Book of Mormon Challenge

On October 19, I started the challenge from President Nielsen to read the Book of Mormon and highlight where either the Savior was mentioned or things the Savior said. I finished this on December 22. I got something totally new out of it by reading it this way. It really is amazing how much of my book is underlined in yellow (I chose yellow since Jesus Christ is the light of the world). The Book of Mormon truly is another testament of Jesus Christ. It teaches of Him and also shares His teachings and commandments. More than that though, it teaches of His great love for all of us! I am so thankful to have read it again and that I can start over and learn even more. Throughout the Book of Mormon, prophets say that they don't know what purpose they are writing their history for but that the Lord has asked them to and that He has a purpose. That purpose is to teach me. As I read the different stories, I can ask myself "why was it so important that this was in the records kept?" and I can see how it pertains to me in my life, what I can learn from the experience of the people. I truly am blessed to have it. 

Week 22: Port Angeles???

Nathan's email for the week:
Hello everybody!

Crazy news. I kinda told all of you the wrong place of where I was going. I am in Port Angeles, not Port Townsend. Sorry about that.

I have been enjoying it here so far. The city here is a lot bigger than Yelm! It has a pretty big commercial center with more than like 2 stores in it! I am now covering two separate wards, Lincoln Park (yes, like the band) and Mt. Pleasant. Both wards are pretty small, but they seem like a really tight nit group which is awesome. Going to ward council and two wards does make for a long day at church though. Yesterday we were there from 7:30 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon!

It is really pretty here as well, being so close to all of the water. In the morning you can hear horns from the barges and stuff as they come in and out of the port. It is really cool, a lot different than the sounds of the military base by Yelm. Being in a quad is a lot of fun as well. Having three companions instead of 1 makes life a lot different. Every time we go knocking or anything I am with a different person! It makes for a pretty good time. The area I am in now is a lot faster pace than Yelm. There are so many people and because of it, there are more people open to learning more! It should be a good transfer. I look forward to it. All 4 of us are brand new to the area as well, so we know nobody. It makes every day an adventure because none of us know what we are doing. Ha!

There was also a really big storm here a few days ago and the whole city lost power. There were fences blown over everywhere and trees down blocking a lot of the roads. Luckily, our power came on in a day. There are still some places that don't have it! We have been doing all that we can to help out.

Anyways, that is all for this week. Till next time.

Elder Parker

Here is my email for the week:

Hello! My address is 808 S. Chase Stree, Port Angeles, Washington. 

It was really hard to leave Yelm. The people there were really cool, but I am excited to go on a new adventure as well. It should be good. It did rain a whole lot last week. It was crazy. 

The wards are much smaller than the one in Yelm, by a lot. It was crazy. I had never seen them so small. Our apartment is pretty small. I knew you would ask so I preemptively took pictures.

 The desk in the closet where elder Rob is sitting is mine. The Book of Mormons leaning there are all ones I've collected in different languages!

I'm in 3rd Nephi as well! It's not too much further to the end! We can get there!

It is weird having 4 of us, but the amount of land we cover is crazy so it makes sense. Elder Robb trained Elder Borsky! It is fun getting to hear the stories about him being trained. He is doing really well too which is awesome.

I will be getting your package tomorrow!! When should I open it??? I am excited to see what is in it!

We went to Petco the other day and I saw a bird that looked a lot like Lloyd!

I guess this is the Port Angeles squad. Ha.

Elder Robb and Thacker are both from Utah. Elder Skousen is from Arizona. I'm not sure who is who.

He told Justin that they have a minivan to drive. Apparently, they are way far away from the mission home and any other area. The closest to them is Forks which is about an hour and a half away. When they have zone conferences and meetings, the Forks elders come down and then they all ride together in the minivan. The fact that they drive a minivan cracks me up.

Loid, Protector of Isaac

Isaac had a lock-in last night. Ammon's dad opens up his office and lets the boys hang out and play video games. They usually have pizza and snacks and pretty much stay awake all night. He locks the doors so no one can leave until morning (unless parents have given permission). He stays in his own little office so he is there if there is an emergency. They do it about once a year. Nathan has always been the one to go but this year it was Isaac. He had a great time. I picked him up about 9 this morning. When I was leaving at noon, I went up to his room to tell him and saw that he was sound asleep and Loid was out of his cage perched right on Isaac. I laughed out loud. I wanted to get a closeup of the two of them but I also didn't want Loid to fly away. I'm a little scared that he would have flown on me! I decided to just zoom in instead so the picture is not clear. Hope he didn't poop anywhere!

Justin was supposed to get back to town last night but he missed his flight due to New York traffic. He ended up staying overnight at a hotel by the airport and flying home today. I had a doctor's appointment and got done just about the same time as he landed in Atlanta so we met at Salt for a late lunch. It was so nice. Usually, when he gets home there is so much going on or I'm half asleep and I don't really get to just spend time with him and ask how his week went. We both really enjoyed sitting and talking...and eating of course. Later this evening we went over and played the game Dominion with Monique and Dave Cox. I am learning the game and it isn't so overwhelming to me as it was the first time we went over there. I love having something that both Justin and I like that we can do together. We enjoy the company of Dave and Monique and the yummy treats Monique makes! She is a professional baker.

Christmas card from Nathan

I was so excited to see a card from Nathan in the mailbox! His picture cracked me up. This is definitely not an accurate picture of what Hope will be getting for Christmas. Ha.

Naps are the Best

This has been a long week. Justin is out of town and I always stay up way late when he is gone. Not sure why I can't go to sleep. It isn't because I'm scared or anything. I just tend to sit there and watch TV or read or whatever. When I don't fall asleep until 1 am and the alarm rings at 6 am, I just don't feel refreshed. Every day has been packed full of things I needed to do. I decided I was going to sneak in a nap today! It was so nice. I love naps. I wish I could take them more often...or just go to sleep early. Hope joined me and kept me warm. Also, I love Christmas lights!

Platelets

Our church is doing the #LightTheWorld initiative again this December. Instead of the challenges being broken down every day, there is a challenge that goes with every week of December. Last week we kicked off the month with the challenge to Give as He Gave. We participated in our wards food drive and I also gave to the Salvation Army and other groups collecting food. I love this week's challenge to Light Your Community. As a family, we will be making treats for all our neighbors and friends and delivering those and Hannah is going to be helping the residents play Bingo at Windsor Assisted Living Center this Saturday with a group of her friends. I decided that I wanted to donate blood this week but it was too soon from my last donation so I donated platelets instead. They take blood out of one of your arms and then it goes through the machine and back into the other arm. I took the picture before I was hooked to the needles.

 I learned that this may not be for me! It is always amazing to see what weird little things can set off my vertigo. The chair I sat in was next to the machine that spins the blood and separates the platelets out. It vibrates a little and that vibration was totally making me nauseous the longer I was there. The whole process took just under three hours including checkin and then sitting a few minutes after eating a snack and making sure I didn't have any reactions. The last half hour was really hard. I started getting really cold and my lips started tingling, as the nurse told me could happen due to the citrate anticoagulant they put back in you. When I started feeling the tingling, my nurse was not around. By the time I finally got someone's attention (both of my arms have needles in them and I'm not supposed to move so not so easy), my whole face was tingling. They give you Tums to help with this side effect. Anyway, just after that nausea started getting bad so they put my chair back a little and put a cold compress on my chest and head. This helped. I was very glad I didn't throw up! I thought for sure I was not going to make it to the end for a bit. So glad I did! I also received an email telling me what happened to the blood I had donated in November. I love that the Red Cross does this now. 

Week 21: Transfers!

Here is Nathan's email for the week:

Hello everyone!

This week was a fun one! We volunteered at the local food bank again this week which was fun. This time, however, they gave us a bunch of food (mostly French bread and cake).

We also helped a member here split a bunch of wood for a family who needed it. That was a lot of fun. We split a lot of wood and Elder Thacker broke an ax. The guy we helped split had two dogs as well. One was a doberman named "Very Bad" and a rottweiler names "Death". They were super nice! It was kinda funny.

The McKenna Elders had a baptism this week as well! I got to go to it and help set up. It was really cool. The kid they were baptizing was super excited. It's the first baptism that had happened in McKenna for a very long time. It's really cool here to see the work progressing. There should be one here next week in Yelm as well! We have two people on date for December!

Last night the church here put on a community Christmas Concert! There were a bunch of different musical groups from all the different churches in the area. It was really cool to see how important the Savior is to so many different people. It was cool to see the whole community together for one event.

It was a huge success. The church was full all the way through the cultural hall and up on the stage. It was awesome.

Also! I got my transfer call on Saturday. I am leaving Yelm and going to Port Townsend! I'm sad to be leaving Yelm and all the amazing people here but I am excited for a new adventure. It is supposed to be really pretty there and there are people from Yelm with family there!

Anyways, that's all for this week. Till next time!

Love

Elder Parker

1) us filling up the font!

2) a super decked out house!

3) me on a lawnmower

 
Here is his email to me:

I am staying warm. I have really warm thermal tops and bottoms I wear designed for "extreme cold" and they have been really nice. I've been okay just wearing them. It's been nice!

Welp! I'm leaving yelm! Port Townsend should be a lot different than Yelm. One of the McKenna elders is coming up there with me as well! We are going to be in a quadpanionship, meaning 4 elders in one ward. It's pretty awesome. It is going to be a lot of fun. One of the others that I am going with trained one of my MTC companions and is suppose to be really cool. It should be a good transfer.

One of the baptisms on date for December is Nicky Burnett. He is 9 years old with slight autism. He is super smart. It's amazing. His parents just barely came back into activity from not coming for 4 years. It's been great teaching them. The parents are really cool people as well. The other one is Dakota Bear. He is a priest age kid whose dad was baptized just a few years ago. He just showed up to church a few weeks ago and last week he came up to us and asked if he could be baptized! It was neat. We are gonna start teaching him soon.

If you look closely at the picture of the house with lights in the group email, you can see the neighbor's house. It says "Ditoo" on their wall haha. It is a lot better tracting during Christmas than Halloween that's for sure haha. It is nice having everything lit up plus everyone is just in a better mood. I think it's because of all the sweets everyone's eating haha.

The cards did get here! And just in time. One of my new companions is a Magic player as well! Thank you so much!

I am doing my best to get packed. I will leave on Wednesday. Nicky really wants me to baptize him so I am going to see if I can get permission to come back for it. Matt is still doing good. He came to the Christmas concert. We go over to his house every Tuesday!

Love

Nathan

Last Sunday in Yelm

We knew that transfers were this week in Nathan's mission and had been wondering if he would stay in Yelm or be transferred somewhere else. I was happy to find out he was being transferred with this text and picture:

Here's your boy on his last Sunday in our ward. We arrived at around the same time, I think. He's been a great missionary here and will be missed. He will be in Port Townsend next, which is my Aunt's ward and my parent's stake. It is a very cool town on the water. I think he will like it there, too.

Sister Kennington

I immediately had to look up Port Townsend and these are the first pictures that popped up. Wow, it looks beautiful! 

It is just about as opposite as can be in his mission area from Yelm. I can't wait to get his email tomorrow! I'm glad Nathan remembers my phone number so people can text me pictures of him! I sure do miss him.

Holy potatoes!!

Tonight was the ward Christmas party. The lady in charge had sent around a signup sheet needing help with food. One of the things she needed was for some people to help with the mashed potatoes. Each person was given a 15-pound bag of potatoes. 15 pounds! It is hard to even imagine how many that really is. Last week we had been collecting food for Must Ministries, a food pantry in Canton. That afternoon, the youth were meeting to sort it and take it to the facility. Justin and Isaac went to help with that and Hannah was at work. That left me to start the potatoes by myself. Justin was supposed to be home in time to help with the mashing part as he is really good at making them smooth. Well, I would peel and cut and fill a pot (large pot) and then start that boiling while I peeled and cut and filled another one. I filled up four pots! As the first pot got done, I drained and started mashing so I would be ready to do the same when the next pot was ready and so on. I tried calling Justin over and over as I was starting to really panic. It was not easy to pour out the pots with the steaming water by myself and I'm not the best at mashing them! There were so many potatoes in each pot that I had to split the pot in two and mash half of it at a time. I would mash and then put them in a disposable pan and cover with tin foil and put in the oven on low to keep warm. After almost an hour of calling Justin, he called back as happy as can be. He had totally forgotten I needed his help! He was calling to tell me he'd meet me at the church as he decided to do a little shopping when he got done. Let's just say I was not a happy camper. Ha. Time was ticking away, the potatoes were done but definitely not as smooth as I would have liked them to be. I didn't have time to do my hair but I did get changed and was only about 10 minutes late. Thankfully, Justin was able to meet me at the car (in the pouring rain) to help carry in the four pans of potatoes and plate of brownies. I wish I had taken a picture of my kitchen when I was done. It was quite the process. The Christmas party was really nice. Each table was served a pan of potatoes, a pan of carrots and peas, a pan of rolls and two rotisserie chickens. Everything was hot. No standing in a long line waiting to dish up your plate and having everyone at the front of the lines have overflowing plates and everyone at the end of the line barely getting anything to eat. It was genius. We sang a few carols and then Rich Harris shared a story and we watched a video that had three different families with little kids in our ward all acting out the Nativity story. It would switch back and forth between families. It was so cute! It ended with videos of Josh and Rylan on their missions giving a short message/testimony. I almost cried when I saw their faces. What a fun surprise. Apparently, Bishop Hatch had sent a message to all five of our missionaries out but had only gotten one back from those two in time for the party. I was actually kind of glad Nathan's face hadn't popped up. I would have lost it. I was feeling a little sad as it was. 

I had to take a picture to send to Nathan of Isaac wearing Ammon's Liger Christmas sweater his sister made for him. It is a staple around here at Christmas time. After the party, Isaac and some other kids went over to Ammon's to watch a movie. I'm always happy to have him do things with friends but I will be very happy when I don't have to pick him up late at night anymore! It is getting really close. Only 6 1/2 more months!