Week 6: Temple trip

We received word yesterday that Nathan was back at the ER in bad pain. The stone is definitely not gone. Dang it! I was very eager to get his emails this week and see how he was doing.

Here is his group email:

Hello all! This week was quite an eventful one! I got to go to the temple this week which was super awesome. We had to drive almost 2 hours (half ourselves and half on a bus) to get there. It was cool to go through a session with only missionaries in it. The temple here is super pretty and tall. It was weird going up and down escalators there. I've never done that before! After the temple, we had zone conference with everyone in the south part of my mission. It was pretty cool. After all of that, we journeyed back home. 

The next day was super cool too tho! Me and my companion were out knocking in the middle of nowhere (we talked to 5 people in 2 hours) and were kind of feeling down and sleepy. As we were pushing on I said a prayer for us to find a way to make it through our allotted knocking time. The very next house we came across the guy was outside with his family washing his car. He invited us to help him out! So we came and washed his car with his family and got to talk to them and ended up discussing our different religious beliefs. It was super cool and I got to bear my testimony to them. That whole experience just showed me how much God cares for each and every one of us. Not only did it help cheer us up, it also helped a family in need of assistance and support through a particularly rough day they were having as well. I know that he will help everyone that is humble enough to turn to Him in times of need. All you have to do is ask. 

Anyways, that's all for this week

Love

Elder Parker

ps, Bryson (investigators son) in sunglasses....Oh! and some train tracks we found whilst out and about. 

Here is my email:

I'm doing pretty okay. I was at the doctor again yesterday, it is about halfway out. They gave me more medicine and then I slept basically all day yesterday. The pain comes kind of sporadically, it is annoying. I just want it to stop, but that's okay. It should be able to pass on its own. It is on the bigger side at 0.5 (an airsoft bb is 0.6) and they said any bigger they would have to intervene. Hopefully it passes soon. My companion is doing good! I feel bad making him come to the doctors and stuff with me.

I am up in the town of Lacey today for pday. I won't get back till late tonight. I will send pictures of my apartment next week.

The temple was super cool! It was like 4 stories tall. The celestial room was really cool too. The escalators were neat. It was fun to ride them while wearing slippers haha. 

Lessons with Brandon are going well. I haven't talked with him in a bit tho. His dad just had surgery. I did give his dad a blessing tho! That was cool! First blessing ever! I am glad it was him too. He is such a cool guy. His name is Shawn, he is a less active member. He hurt his back bad a while ago and can't drive anymore. He loves reloading (bullets) and makes his own instruction books. He is the one that made all of the bbq sauces and is super inciteful. His faith is really strong and he called us his "secret weapon" to blow his physical therapy people's mind for his speedy recovery after his blessing. He really wants to go to the temple so we are going to try and help him with that. Also, his wife's name is Shawna and I think it's funny that their names are almost the same. We visit him and his neighbor (a nonmember family interested in the gospel going through a lot of hardships including having no job and a suspended license so they can't get a new one) at least 2-3 days a week.

The address to the apartment is 10175 Terra Valley St. apt 5 in Yelm Washington. I think you can send letters there. You just have to be careful that I don't get transferred out of there before the mail gets here. That would be awkward. Transfers are every 6 weeks. Today is the start of week 4. I could stay in Yelm, I could leave. I'm not sure yet.

Anyways, time is now up for me! I'll talk to you later! I love you!

Elder Parker

Two things I have to comment on. First, the "I just want it to stop" broke my heart. I hate that he is having to go through this pain. The second, "an airsoft bb is 0.6". That made me laugh out loud. Of course he would compare it to a bb! He loves his ammo.

YW Campout

Hannah was able to go on a campout with the YW and some leaders. They went to Doll Mountain Friday and camped and then played at the lake Saturday morning kayaking and tubing. I am so glad she had work off and decided to go as her time with YW activities is coming to an end faster than I can believe. She was hesitant because she didn't think anyone her age was going to go. Thankfully, Sam and Autumn were there. She had a great time.

Temple trip/zone conference and lunch/stone update

I got an email from Sister Kevan today (mission nurse). Also, there were some pictures from the temple trip and zone conference/lunch on Instagram. Here is her email:

Oh how handsome all the Elders are in their whites; all I could think of when I looked at them in the Celestial room was how their wives will fall more in love with them each time they are together in the Temple. There was Zone Conference afterward with lunch and I asked him how he was doing and he said no pain and was fine. I am thinking it has slipped out already. I gave him lemonade mix to drink twice a day for the next 20 days. It is an old remedy for kidney stones, so I hope it works to help prevent further stones. I sure do love your Elder Parker

Yours in Christ, 

Sister Kevan

Celebrating friends

Kristy and LuAnn both had birthdays a month ago. We finally had lunch and celebrated them today at La Parilla. Love all these ladies.

Left to right: Terra Bonham, Kristy Hatch, Jackie Burkhard, LuAnn King, Kathy Judd, me, Cinda Haruch and Laura Alley.

First day at UNG

Today was Hannah's first day at UNG. She is taking English, college algebra and government (classes she has to take to graduate high school), and philosophy this semester. She has classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She leaves the house at 9:10 am and gets home around 3:30 pm. Her philosophy professor told them that they would not have class on Friday a lot of the time and would have the work online so most Fridays she will get home at 2:30. She is hoping to work 15-20 hours each week as well. She had a great first day and said that there were four girls she knew from high school in her first class. That made it less nervous for her. She also met a girl who went to Creekview but she did not know that has the same break she has and government class so she has someone to eat lunch and study with. She was able to eat a snack and start her homework before heading to work at 4:30. She thinks she is really going to like this schedule.

Week 5

I sure love my missionary email Mondays! Here is Nathan's weekly letter to everyone:

Hello all!

This week was a lot of fun! We had a thing last night called a why I believe fireside where some of the recent converts came and shared their testimonies about the gospel and how they know that it is true. It was really powerful to hear and see how firm their foundations are, especially those who had only known about the church for a few weeks. It definitely helped motivate me and makes me want to work harder.

This week me and my companion also knocked into a man who has apparently been working with the missionaries for about 8 years. He is the pastor at a local Pentecostal church and used to drive the missionaries around when they didn't have a car here in Yelm. He invited us to his bible study class and said he used to do deep bible study with the missionaries before they stopped showing up. Me and my companion are going to start meeting with him soon and are super excited to learn more and discuss the different viewpoints.

We also got to talk to Brandon (the boy afraid of water) and taught him some of the lessons again. He was absorbing everything super well and hopefully, it will motivate him to overcome his fear. He is a super cool kid. He cooked us ramen and set up the appointment and everything. It blows my mind that he is only 9.

I also found an amazing talk about missionary work this week by Holland. In it he says "Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn't it go better? Why can't our success be more rapid? Why aren't there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angles. We trust in miracles. Why don't people just flock to the font? Why isn't the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking well all day and night in the baptismal font? Why isn't the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and night in the baptismal font? You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never easy for him?"

This talk has motived me so much these last few days. I had been feeling under the weather, going to the doctor a few days ago, but this shows that Christ suffered so much more than any of us ever will, and if he can suffer all of what he did, a little sickness should not stop me. As we press forward through our trials and our hardships we will be blessed. No matter how hard things get, God is always on our side helping us. If we turn to Him, our burdens will be lightened and we will find hope in times of despair, happiness in times of sadness and joy in times of darkness.

Love

Elder Parker

Ps, this is probably the best door sign I have seen yet.

As I read this, I had to laugh that Nathan called his kidney stone a "little sickness." If the nurse hadn't needed to get ahold of us for an insurance question, we may never have even known about the stone! Here is the email he sent to me:

This stone has been a lot kinder to me than others. The medicine has been working well. They just make me a little sleepy sometimes which is kind of annoying, but that's okay. I've been able to go out and work every day still! Being trapped in an apartment would not be fun. We had a guy attend church for the first time and the class was all about the word of wisdom. Hopefully, it didn't scare him away, haha. I get to go to the temple this week! I think I am going on Thursday! I am super pumped.

Love Nathan

I cannot believe he has been able to get out and work every day! All the prayers in his behalf are really helping him! There were a couple pictures posted on Instagram from the fireside on Sunday. It was good to see his face.

 Of course, the mom in me has to think that him being out of the house all day and in other people's homes and at the church and such means that he definitely is not able to strain for the stone! Pretty sure he will not have a stone to take back to the doctor to have it analyzed.

Another driver!

It is hard to believe that we have our last permitted driver! I have taken Isaac out a couple of times and he has done really good. I don't think I've even had to hold onto the handle above the window yet. I definitely remember gripping it with the other two, Nathan only right at first when I thought he might take out a mailbox in the neighborhood but Hannah for several months. It is really interesting to see how different your kids are by watching them learn to drive. Isaac is very methodical. He asks lots of questions about the car in general and rules of driving. He feels the car as it switches gears and asks questions about that...things I have no idea about most of the time. After telling him how to do something he will remember it from there out. He figured out parking on the left pretty fast as he thought about which way to turn the wheel and judge how far he needed to go before turning the wheel. Parking on the right has proved to be a little more difficult to judge. I think my biggest concern for him will be the fact that he will be very confident which might make him drive a little too fast and maybe not as carefully as I want him to drive.

First day at Dominos/Kidney stone update

Today was Hannah's first day at Dominos. I am really going to like the fact that she only has to drive five minutes to get to work. Four of those minutes is getting out of the neighborhood. She is excited about getting 50% off pizza.

We heard from the mission nurse again. She said that Nathan is still having pain off and on but the pain medicine was helping. She said that besides being sweet, he was being obedient and drinking lots of water to help it pass. The last thing she said made me tear up. It definitely was one of those proud-mom moments. "Even though he has this challenge, he doesn't complain or use it as an excuse why not to do mission work. What a strong testimony he has. What a perfect example of endurance. What a way to start a mission! President Leishman called and checked up on him too and he told him, 'I'm doing fine President.'" I really hope that the stone passes soon. I have to say that my biggest worry was not that he had the stone but that I didn't want them to send him home because of it. I know that he is being watched over and taken care of by not only his mission nurse but the Lord.

Kidney stone

Hannah needed to drive to Cumming today to the UNG campus to pick up a book and parking permit and also just to practice driving there so she feels comfortable next week. On the way there I got a call from Justin. He had gotten a call from the nurse in Nathan's mission. Apparently, he was in the ER for a kidney stone. When we saw the doctor two years ago for his last one, the doctor told us there was one more on the scans and that it could pass the next day or years from then. Well, I guess two years was the time. I feel so bad for him! I've been with him during his other two and know how painful it is. It is hard not to be able to be with him and be able to talk to the nurse and doctors in person. The nurse told Justin that the stone was really pointy and just under what they would need to intervene with. That means it is definitely not going to feel good coming out! They were sending him home with Flomax (to make him pee), Zofran (for nausea) and hydrocodone (for pain). This is the same treatment he has had in the past. She said his companion had been a bit nervous and Nathan told him, "I've done this before and I can do it again, I'll be fine." That is so Nathan! He is definitely not one to complain. I remember when he had his first stone he kept telling me he was sorry that I had to spend my morning sitting in the cold ER room with him, nevermind he was writhing in pain on the ER bed. I immediately sent out a text to family and friends asking for them to pray for Nathan. I am so glad that he is in the United States!

New paint, new year

In true Hannah fashion, she decided she wanted her room painted which means she wants to do it right then when she has made the decision. Ha. Lucky for her, I had time to help her get it done. She wanted to have it freshly painted before she started her new job at Dominos and her new school year at UNG. We had leftover paint from the dining room/piano room and it turned out great. This is the first time she has helped with every step in painting from getting all the supplies in the room to taping to finally being able to paint. She decided it wasn't as fun as she thought it would be.

New car!

Hannah decided she wanted to buy the car that we get to replace the one she wrecked. She has been looking online like crazy trying to pick one that has the color, model, miles, and price that she wants. We looked at several on dealers' lots but hadn't found the right one. She came across one on a little used-car lot in Cumming and really wanted to go look. It fit all her criteria and seemed perfect. Justin wasn't going to be able to come down to look so it was up to me to buy it or wait and have him look at it another day. I decided to buy it. It is the first car I have ever personally bought all by myself. On the way home from buying it last night, I could tell the front breaks were grinding. I got a pit in my stomach worrying I had just bought a lemon. Here is where tender "chicken" mercy #2 came into play. Thankfully, I now had the mechanic I had used for the chicken/brakes. He got it right in this morning and I asked him to check everything out. I guess I should have done this before I bought it but lesson learned. It turned out everything was in great condition except the front brakes needed new pads and the front rotors needed to be replaced. That was $300 and even with that, the car was a great buy. Phew!! That gross chicken will always be a tender mercy in my mind now. The car is a 2014 Ford Focus with 68,000 miles and she bought it for $7000. Well, Justin and I bought it and she will be paying us back. She loves it!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Who knows but it didn't make it across!

Youth conference was this weekend. We had a devotional and dance Friday night and then we were at the outdoor YMCA in Woodstock all day Saturday. The first couple hours were devoted to service. We split the group into two. Lisa was in charge of the "physical service." They were at a nearby elementary school cleaning windows, sweeping sidewalks, pulling weeds and picking up garbage. The other group had two mini sessions that they rotated between during the time it took the others to get to the school and back. Alison was in charge of the "spiritual service." She had them look up some scriptures in the Book of Mormon and highlight them and then if they felt comfortable, write their testimonies in them to give away. I think they also watched a little video. My service had a little different spin. We were thinking of how other people's service has helped us in our lives and the kids wrote thank you cards to give out to people that have influenced them somehow. After that, we catered in sandwiches for lunch and then had free time for a couple hours. The kids could choose between canoeing, paddle boats, and tubing in the lake. We had three boats there to take kids out to tube. They could also play volleyball, ultimate frisbee or hang out in the lodge and play games. I was in charge of the volleyball area. Roman Vish is still home waiting to go on his mission and came to help so he was there with me. It was so hot and humid! We had a big rush of kids come right at the first and then just a few here or there the next hour. We abandoned our position for the last hour to go cool off. The lake would have felt good! We catered in pulled pork and pulled chicken and macaroni and baked beans for dinner. The pool also opened after dinner and some of the kids swam. Another stake was hosting a dance that evening so quite a few of our kids were heading to that. The conference was supposed to end at 7pm but thanks to the dance, we were all cleaned up and ready to go home at 7! Now for a funny story. When I was loading up the van to leave that morning, I told Justin that our garbage cans stunk so bad this week that they were making the garage smell like a dead animal. Then, at Youth Conference, we could smell a dead animal if you walked by the cars. We thought someone parked over a dead animal or something. We looked under cars and couldn't see anything. The front of the cars were parked by a drop off so we couldn't see the front of anyone's car. When I got home and unloaded the car, the garage smelled like dead animal! That is when Isaac said that Hannah might have hit a chicken Friday morning on the way to seminary. I backed the van out of the garage and yep! I was the reason for the smelly parking spot! I laughed so hard. I had been driving around with a chicken in the grill of the van since Friday Morning!

Now we had to figure out how to get the dang thing out! I have NO IDEA how it got in there! The grill was not broken and there was no opening to get into it to get it out. It was like a really gross magic act. It would have to wait until Monday because I wasn't going to take it anywhere on Sunday. We did take the van to church but parked away from the church so no one had to look at it! The chicken ended up being a tender mercy...or as Marianne Potter said...a chicken-tender mercy! Ha. About 8 months ago, I took the van into the dealer to get serviced and they told me that my brake pads were almost completely gone. I said I would have them replaced the next time I brought it in. Well, I haven't taken it back to the dealer as they take too long. I've just been having it served at Herbert up the road. Our neighbor, Michael Huggins, recommended a mechanic he really trusts and has worked with for 12 years. The shop was only about 10 minutes from the house and Michael took met me there to give me a ride home so I could leave the van. I completely forgot all about the brakes! In order to get the chicken out, the mechanic had to take off the bottom cover of our van. Apparently, the cover goes to about halfway up the van so the chicken had to have gone halfway under and then was sucked up to the front getting trapped between the grill and the radiator. Anyway, as he took the cover off, he got the chicken out and noticed we had no brake pads left. He called to let me know it was at a dangerous level and could start hurting the rotors. He fixed it for quite a bit less than the dealer had quoted me and that included the chicken removal. That is what was on the receipt for the type of service...CHICKEN REMOVAL! So funny. When the mechanic looked at the front of the car, he got a good laugh and said that he had seen many things in his 25 years as a mechanic but never a fully chicken in a grill!

Week 4: The Real World

We got our first mission emails from outside of the MTC today! Here is the letter he sent to everyone:

Hello all!

It's been a wild week! That's for sure. I finally made it out to the field! I am in a tiny town called Yelm with my new companion Elder Brown. He is from Utah and has been out for 10 months. He's pretty cool so far! He follows the rules and is helping me step up and take the lead. Yelm is a strange place, that's for sure. It's a small town and it has a lot of houses way out in the middle of nowhere so I have a car. There is also apparently a fairly big cult out here called the Ramtha School of Enlightenment. From what I have heard, they all believe that Mt. Ranier is going to explode and lizard people are going to kill everyone but the "ramsters". It's really funny. They all have like copper plates on their house and wear copper on their bodies because that's apparently how to protect yourself. I haven't met a ramster yet, but I think it would be fun to.

I also got stopped this week by a guy named Raymond. He came up to us with alien swim trunks and a leather vest on and started talking about how God can make weak things become strong and claiming to be a missionary too. He offered to pray with us so we agreed and in it he said "might these missionaries have the strength of eagles that they may soar in their faith". What a guy haha. He also showed us his dentures and his part in the local Shakespear play. It was the highlight of the day.

Something else cool was one of the people we are teaching, a less active. He is really nice and makes us food every time we visit. He made me sample like 8 different barbeque sauces he had made from scratch. He really wants to go to the temple, so me and my companion have been trying to help him go. He also has a 9 year old son that wants to be baptized but is deathly afraid of water, to the point where he has to be forced to shower. We are trying our best to help them and grow their faith and help them overcome the obstacles in their path. It's a really neat opportunity I have been able to do this, and I've been enjoying it a lot.

Anyways, till next time

Elder Parker

Ps the pictures are from when I have been out knocking on doors. As you can see, some days doors are hard to come by haha.

Here is the email he sent me:

Me and my companion are in a fairly nice apartment with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, a kitchen and an office. I have a washer in my apartment so I can do laundry whenever I want/need which is nice, especially for those muddy days. It is a lot bigger than I was expecting to get. I have a car, but every other week we have what are called park days where we don't use the car for that day as a whole mission, so I have to bike then. One of the guys here has been out 20 months and has never ridden a bike. I was going to be sad if I spent so much money on it and never used it!

The picture is where they took us the first day. It was beautiful.

 It was funny because everyone at the MTI was always talking about how they just throw you into the work when you get there but when I got here they took us to Cafe Rio, bought us food, took us to their house, fed us ice cream, told us stories and let us decompress for a day. That was super awesome. I stayed at what's called "the mansion". It's the biggest place you can live at in the whole mission; the place was really nice and on the sound. It was a little packed with 20 of us tho. Also, this is the mansion. Basically, every apartment has a weight bench in it, so that's neat.

Apparently, it's a member's house that they don't use anymore?? I believe the Samoan elders are in it now. That reminds me! I got to use my Arabic! We were knocking apartments yesterday and this lady answered in her headdress thingy and said I don't speak English. So, my companion was about to leave and then I said "hello, we are the missionaries, Jesus Christ Book of Mormon!" In Arabic! That's all I knew. She then shook her head so I said goodbye and we left. It was super neat. I never thought I would use it but Hey! I already have.

Today I went grocery shopping and got the oil changed in my car. I'm currently at the stake center waiting for the other missionaries to show up. It is like 90s here which is uncharacteristically hot, which isn't that bad, but nobody here has a.c. so it is hot even inside which isn't fun.

My time is about up, so have a good week! I look forward to hearing about how everything goes. I get to go to the temple here in a week or two too! That's super cool! Also, the Prophet is coming in September!!! Andy I also just found out one of the elders that came in with me already went home:/

Anyways, Have a good week! Don't die! I'll talk to you soon.

Nafen

The "don't die" really cracked me up. I love that he got to use the little arabic he knew to say! So cool.

He made it!

What a great surprise to wake up to this morning! I had a text from the mission president's wife letting us know he made it to Tacoma. Here is the text. Love seeing the pictures!

Your missionary has arrived safe and sound. We are thrilled to have Elder Parker here with us. We will send out an email with more information to you and a picture we take from our favorite spot and with our new missionaries. We love Elder parker!

Thank you

Sister Leishman

Surprise!

I got a surprise phone call from Nathan today from the airport leaving Salt Lake City heading to Washington! He wasn't sure if he'd be able to call or not so I had forgotten he might. He sounded SO good! SO happy! The best thing is that for the first time since he was probably five years old when I told him I loved him, instead of making a weird sound or joke or ignoring me or telling me he loves unicorns etc., he actually said I love you too! I have a very happy mom heart tonight! Hopefully, I will get a picture from his Mission President tomorrow letting me know he made it.

Smile!

Hope does not smile. She was sitting in between me and Hannah and we were petting her, we looked down and she was smiling! Well, we think she was smiling. So funny. Spoiled dog.

MTC Week 3

Just like that and Nathan is in his last week at the MTC!

Hello all!

This week has been an interesting one. My zone has almost tripled in size since I got here. The first Wednesday we lost 6 elders and got 16 back and this week was about the same as well. Apparently, this is happening to everyone because the food line is now insanely long haha. Classes this week have turned into less class and more teaching. It's amazing to see people progress and it's cool to see their faces light up when they get what I am explaining to them. I also sang in the choir this week! It was super cool too. My whole district went and did it (partially to get good seats for the devotional) and the choir director ended up sharing super cool stories about the pioneers and the early members. Tuesday devotional ended up being really good too as it talked a lot about how "words are forgotten but feelings are enduring". Through teaching this week I've really seen just how true that statement is. When we teach someone, they might not always remember us or exactly what we said, but as the Holy Ghost confirms what we are saying, they never forget what we teach.

I also got to go to the temple for the first time in a long while today! That was super sweet. It's a lot different looking than the Georgia one inside but still really beautiful.

I leave the MTC here on Tuesday and head out to the real world! It is so crazy to think I have already been out for 3 weeks. Time really does fly.

Elder Parker

Here is part of the email I got from him. He cracks me up. When he writes his email, he replies to things I have told him or asked him. So, he might read that I told him a story and asked him if he likes the food and that Hannah drove to school. His email would read: That's cool. Ha. It's good. Wow, she didn't wreck. As you can see, it is a little hard to figure out what he is saying and replying to unless I have the email that I sent to him opened up and look at them together. I'll only post things he writes in complete sentences and about the mission and not the random home stuff.

The food here isn't that bad, some days are better than others. The only day that wasn't that great is when all the options were fish:/ Luckily, there is a leftovers area. I'm not super nervous to get to Washington. In fact, I'm thinking the change of pace might be nice. One of my companions had to pick up medicine so we got to go on a field trip to Walmart!!! It was a lot of fun and I got to explore the outside world a bit. It was kinda nice but weird. I wore my new BYU shirt Sara sent me to play sand volleyball yesterday. It was either that or basketball. Sand volleyball is just more fun, especially when you don't have to worry about sharing a hoop with like 20 people. I've been going to the weight room for 30 minutes each day to bike. Also, I went on my family tree and found Adam and Eve!

Love,

Nathan

First day of Sophomore year!

Yep, that is right, a SOPHOMORE! Crazy. I was hoping he would have a better first day than last year (when Floid died). It did go better than that but he was up not feeling well in the night and didn't feel good all day. Maybe next year will be a good one! He decided to do cross country this year so he leaves for school at 6:20 am for seminary and then gets home after practice around 6:20 pm. I hope it is a great year for him!