Elder Park has not been very good at answering questions in his past emails, so we had to get at bit specific again.
A few questions...
1. You said you wanted more jam, but you didn't say what
kind. Pear, peach, strawberry/peach and raspberry/peach. Tell me what would put
a smile on your face! :)
2. Are you doing ok? You have been sounding a bit down in your last few emails.
3. Did you get the thumb drive?
4. Have you tried the refried beans recipe?
5. Do you know that your Mama loves you?
6. Are you going to be able to go through the Ft. Lauderdale
Temple Open House? Will they have you kids working at it or just those who's
area includes the temple?
7. You have been spending $$ out of your own accnt. Are you getting enough food?
Ok so you are right I had used my personal account way too
much last month because of the adjustments to the food situation, but luckily
that is improving because 1. The members found out that we are the least fed
missionaries in the mission and yet the missionaries in this ward are the
highest baptizing missionaries in the mission too... so they have decided to
step that up. 2. We found a new store called Aldi's it is ALL generic,
off-brand, knock-off brands and its really funny but its the same if not better
quality and ridiculously cheap like $0.75 for a box on mini-wheats, I spent $22
last week and have a TON left over, so I will be doing better on that. (At the rate he was going, his savings was going to be drained before he even gets to Hump Day!)
I am doing well physically and mentally. I have lost a lot of
weight this transfer, not because I am not eating, I have NEVER been hungry and
with my companion he makes sure we always eat very balanced meals so I am
getting everything that I need. (We have been worried that he isn't getting enough food. So we were questioning whether we should be sending groceries!) It's mostly because of the biking. We bike on
average 25 miles a day, average speed of 13.4 mph and the highest last week
being 23.7 mph. I finally got the bike computer hooked up, it came with
a bad battery and I found a good one in a drawer in the house. Most of the
reason I brought up the bike was because my companion knows alot about
bikes, and I have learned a lot from him. I was starting to realize that I
should have talked to someone like him before the mission, I would have chose a
slightly different bike. BUT my bike is hands down FAR better that most bikes
in the mission mine is a Hybrid so its in between a mountain bike and a road
bike which is perfect for most missionaries serving in most places and it does
great here. The Road bike would have been only slightly better here because it
is all flat there are no hills and we ride on the roads in traffic a lot. So it
is like I have a tool that works great, but someone showed me a super tool and
I got jealous. I am buying a rack to put things on the bike today and so if you
guys found a box that would fit on a bike rack good or somthing like that let
me know because I am looking for something like that.
The rain jacket is perfect and came right on time I have
used it twice already, it fits PERFECT and its super light weight and breathable
I had been borrowing a yellow rubber one from the apartment and I would get
more wet from sweating inside of it than I would from the rain.
Yes, I also got the thumb drive. I also got this week a
package from Aunt Em and the Leishmans! That was great as well!
I got the refried beans recipe, I am going to try to collect
the spices and make it work. We do a lot of beans from dried in the apartment
they are cheap healthier and super easy, they just take forever.
Yes, I know YOU ALL LOVE ME AND I LOVE YOU!
Yes, we will all get to go through the Ft. Laud Temple.
President has promised that. He wants us to take investigators and recent
converts through and be special guides for them. Most of us will not be
working too close to the Temple, but those that are close, will be helping and we
will all have an opportunity to participate in the dedication. President gave us
white handkerchiefs for it with the temple embroidered on it. (How cool is that?!?!?)
This week after transfers has been good. We have been
working with and progressing a lot of people, we were able to get 5
investigators to come to church. A young family and their baptismal age son, an
amazing old cuban lady and a sweet (slightly odd) Jamaican lady. 4 of them are
excited to get baptised next week. The Old Cuban lady is almost jumping in the
water, she remembered a church helping her when she first came to America and
she recognized it as us. She remembered 2 elders, and she knows all of it is true. She is an amazing woman!
I haven't really been down lately and I aplogize if thats
how it has come across. I have just been struggling to understand what we could
have been doing better to get people to church and with the vision of getting
baptized. I was getting a lot of emails, so that made it difficult to write
back a ton! ;) but I do love your concern. DO NOT WORRY I AM ON THE LORD'S ERRAND,
I WILL NOT FAIL. HIS PLAN IS FOR US TO BE HAPPY AND I AM A FOLLOWER OF THAT
PLAN. I AM ALWAYS HAPPY. I want you to know that this is the happiest I have
EVER been in my life!
I can't believe that the house was egged, any idea why?
Garret I told you not to mess with people! Leah! Were you too
mean in lacrosse? haha
This week we did great getting "member present lessons" and
really involving the ward. Unfortunately, we weren't very good at harnessing
their awesome testimony/life-story telling and we were late getting
home a lot. Once this week was even past 2130 super dis-O (disobedient) and that was NOT good!
So we are making plans this week to be back at a better time and to reign
in the members more, so that will be good!
And speaking of the rain, I told you about the rain in
Mexico but, did I tell you about here in Florida? It comes
as a WALL. I am serious, you can see it for miles and miles and sometimes we can out run it.
But there is no slow transition between not raining and raining, it just
is like and on and off switch! Man almighty, this week it did that to us twice and the
second time I got a flat tire in it. We were about 5 miles from the house
and so we had to patch it in the rain (patches are a great thing to send
too, "Vulcanizing" are the best). People in Florida just throw glass
bottles out their windows and unfortunately, we can't always avoid the shards on
the road or sidewalk. My tube has 4 patches in the back and 3 in the front! It
took forever to patch it in the rain because it needed to dry... We were in a
down pour... at a park... with no covering... :(
As I have been studying I continue to come
accross passages such as 2 nephi 11: 6, where Nephi says that his soul
delighteth in the gospel and how excited he is to share it. I realize that is what the Gospel is supposed to do! Bring excitment and joy, I have realized that is what it is in my life and I am just ecstatic to go
out and share it each day! It's like one of the missionaries said at transfer
meeting not 6 weeks ago, "I get to hang out with my best friend for 2
years, the Holy Ghost, and I get to share him with EVERYONE." I am
truly grateful for that!
Anyway that was the week! Love you!
STAY STRONG, PUSH ON!!
ELDER PARK
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