Week 86 In Ft. Lauderdale....

May 26, 2015

The weeks are going by way to quickly, I feel like last week just begun and here we are in this week! I remember the weeks lasting ages, the weekend NEVER came! and yet here we are a week later and its over! HECK! Another month come and gone, practically! This really isn't fair. I really would like things to slow down a little. 

This week we really were able distinguish who was elect and who wasn't we had a TON of investigators that were open to us coming back but weren't really interested in making changes or acting, and the sad thing is that we really can't help them unless they are willing to make the appropriate changes. So that meant that we had some people to drop. But the great thing about having a ton of people that means you have some great ones in the bunch too!! And we have some awesome families; a part member family, the O**** family de Colombia, their friends the A** family de Romania and el Dominican, M**** and W***** a soon to be married couple de Argentina, and the O***** family de Colombia as well. And we are having a ton of fun with these guys!

As we have been teaching these people I have been able to reflect on how important the "Big 3" are in our lives, I think about the difference I have seen in my life as I have begun to really apply this too my life, I have seen growth in more areas than I had imagined. And so I want to talk about the 3 things that I have learned will change any one's life for the better.  This things are not new they aren't extraordinary, but they will make all the difference:

1. Prayer is the first and it is the simplest. One of the first and most important things that we need is Faith, faith is grown as we begin to strengthen our relationship with God and rely on Him. We do not trust those that we have never spoken too, and therefore we can safely assume that if we don't talk to God we will never trust him. I have found that through prayer I am able to clear my own thoughts and understand more clearly the things that are on my mind. It allows me a time to work out my errors and flaws and find ways to correct incorrect principles on my "belief window" (google that talk). The phrase "ask and ye shall receive" is repeated more than any other phrase in the Standard Works, maybe there is a reason for that. I BET IT'S BECAUSE HE MEANS IT!!!
2. Scripture Study is second, it goes right along with prayer because you ought to do it everyday! If you start reading you see what I mean by repetition of "ask and ye shall receive" he repeats it so much because often you have to ask before you realize THAT YOUR ANSWERS IN THE NEXT VERSE! This one flabbergasted me at how BIG a difference it can make in your life. I have seen people start reading 1 verse a day and they receive answer after answer to their prayers, and receive blessing after blessing. (notice that prayer comes first) The scriptures are the Word of God! That have been preserved to today for you. Hundreds if not thousands of men and women have died so that you can have those words. Read them
3. Church Attendance (bet you didn't see that coming) JUST GO TO CHUURRCH!!! At church we are given the wonderful gift of the Sacrament to recharge us and refresh us. Without it we build up errors and mistakes that makes it harder and harder to stay focused and in tune. I think of it like the dogs old water buckets, usually you can just dump out the water and refill it every day, but soon you have to spray it out because green gunk starts growing. Through out the week we can just dump our buckets and start again but once a week we get to receive a full deep cleaning to really help us tune in on the spirit. 

I know this was basic but I have put a lot of thought in to this lately and I want all of you to know how important these things are to me. I really want each one of you to think about how you can apply these principles to your life more fully. Pray every day. Read every day. Go to church every week. I know you are all busy, I know you all have things going on but PLEASE. I promise this will change your life and help you more fully utilize the gospel and its blessings!

Stay Strong, Push On.

Elder Parque

Week 85 In Ft. Lauderdale....

May 20, 2015

We got permission to send out an email to you today, because the Internet wasn't working on Monday.

Hey there first to clarify some things... I am stressed but the good kind. I have been stressed since the day I left and it has made me feel more alive than I ever have. That stress is precious to me, I think that was what I was missing before my mission, stress, there was never any need to get it done there wasn't any sense of urgency or responsibility. But now I realize that the stress and the urgency is necessary to get life moving and get things done.

This week we were very blessed and we were able to find a ton of people this week and we are very excited to work with them this week, we aren't exactly sure how we are going to do it because like I said we lost half of our miles due to a new re-evaluation. But I know that the Lord will help us achieve it.

Yesterday we had a Zone Conferences and one of the training's that we received was talking about how we can make the gospel sound more exciting and interesting and new! And it mad me get to thinking, and I realized that that was one thing I was excited about for a mission to learn how to excite people about the gospel. And that is going to be a focus that I am going to have for the remainder of my mission. And so I would like to hear from as many people as possible what BLESSINGS you have received from the Gospel. Why is the gospel so important to you? Why is it cool? What makes it different? What have you given up because of how important it is, and how did the sacrifice bless you?

I will end with a testimony that I know that the Gospel is the MOST important thing in our lives, we may not always recognize it but it is. And we must share it and we MUST make others realize its importance, because it is the ONLY way we can receive exaltation it is the only way families can be together forever!! I know it is true, and I know Christ lives, because the Spirit has confirmed it to my soul.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen

I love you all, Stay Strong, Push ON!!

Elder Parque!!

How do you spend your money?

The 6 Elders that live in the house together were given some money. How would you expect 6 young adults to wisely spend that money???

 FIRST: By going to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch.

 SECOND: Eating so much that they get sick.

Is this too much?

I think so...

THIRD: Coming to your senses and going grocery shopping.

Week 84 In Ft. Lauderdale....

May 11, 2015

We had a baptism!! I would send you the picture but I don't have it... I am waiting for it! But that's ok! You'll get it soon. 

That would definitely be a highlight to this week, other great thing happened as well this week we met W***** and M****! They are a young couple that was getting ready to get married, he is form Argentina and she is from Paraguay so they both speak with some sick accents! their double "L" or "ll" is more of a "ja" than a "ya". M**** and W***** also have really good questions as well that are real "Questions of the Soul" and they are easy to find answers in the Book of Mormon. 

But besides that we are spending most of our time searching for more new people we can teach, we had 3 investigators and then we baptized a third of them... so we need to find more!! In fact that's a problem amongst the whole district that we are working on!

Other fun things this week we did a lot of "blitzing" where we meet up at a spot swap companions for a bit and then go out and hit the same area hard, we have seen some miracles doing this (both in English) One was M***, we had a very spiritual prayer with her and then when we invited her to be baptized she said that she already had been, then we asked "Have you been baptized by fire?" and she was like "No but I need that how do I do it?" and we said, "by the laying on of hands Acts chapter 8" then she was SO down!! So boom.

Then we had the same experience with another man named M******, but with that one we asked him so go get his bible and while he was in the house we joked "what if he brings out a New World Translation and it ruins everything." AND AS SOON AS WE SAID THAT. He walks out and places in Elder C. T*****'s have a nice grey leather bound... New World Translation.... I ALMOST laughed but I contained my self and then proof read the story before I let him read it. It worked but I am bringing him a new bible that is easier to understand.

Any way that was our week!! I hope it was fun to read...

STAY STRONG!! PUSH ON!!!
Elder Parque!!

Week 83 In Ft. Lauderdale....

April 28, 2015

Well there you'll never guess what other wishes of mine were finally granted this transfer!!! I am in a Spanish BRANCH!!! Brand new it just got created 2 weeks ago, we don't even have all the records moved over yet the list shows 20 people but about 52 showed up for church, and apparently there are a ton of less actives that are only less active because there was never a Spanish Branch! SO EVERYBODY IS STOKED OUT OF THEIR MENTES!!! And so am I!

My companions name is... Elder Brown... That's the 2nd Elder Brown that has been my companion and the 3rd I have lived with. He is originally from Massachusetts, but moved to Idaho a few years ago, where he met the church. He started to do some reading and the church made more sense to him than any other church and more than that he says he felt the spirit. He has been a member for just a few months under a year now. He is a very smart individual and he knows a lot more Spanish that I did when I left the MTC. 

The area is huge!! so (unfortunately) we have a car, currently with no mile limit (that IS fortunate). When we got here we decided that we needed to meet all the current leaders of the Branch so naturally we started with the Branch President, We go over and he had invited his 1st counselor and his non-member Mother, we ate with them and... invited the mother (Yolanda) to be baptized... and she accepted... for Mothers Day!!! BAUTISMO!!! MILAGRO!!! Then we invited another Part-Member family to come to church and... THEY DID!!! Her Husband (the non-member) got super confused in priesthood (we have a bunch of High Priests) so he asked a ton of questions and then found out about foot notes and whatnot and BOOM now he is interested!! Boom meal and a lesson today!! 

Since the area is super spread out, and there aren't large complexes (complexi?) of Latins we are going to have to go hard on getting referencias from the members its really going to be the only effective way to make it happen, but we are trying our best to find on our own as well! 

Another thing... una hermana in the branch heard that we were coming so she started a meal calendar... planning on the members feeding us lunch AND dinner EVERYDAY... I will get fat... and its not a bike area... PERO esta bien porque, it tastes really good!! We also have a Brazilian Branch in our building so there's a chance we can get some of that too!!

So YEAH super stoked!!

Stay Strong Push on!!!

Elder Parque!!!

Week 82 In Ft. Lauderdale....

April 28, 2015

So this information overshadows all other information, slightly just because of how excited I am to TRAIN, that means I am going someplace I know nothing about to train! BAH!!! Anyway back to the week.
  

Hey! What is that in the road up ahead?

Well Monday started off real good with a call from Jupiter North telling us Jupiter South was going to kill one another. Emergency exchange! What a great way to start the week. The difficulty of the Ft. Meyers stake entering the mission is still causing some contention. So we had to put that fire out.

Then we tried to proselyte the rest of the week we got plenty done up in Pahokee, but no one from that area was able to come to church but we were able to get Eddie and Henderson to church so that was good.

Saturday was a busy day we had a ward service project cleaning a soup kitchen in Belle Glade... lets say that they hadn't done a deep cleaning in a long time when you would wring a rag out it looked like soy sauce... And there were so many people cleaning different things at different times that we got in each others way! And there were way to many people that thought that they needed to be in charge. I came out of there looking like I took the mess with me on my clothes, my blue jeans looked black!

Yup.... It's a dead alligator...

Then after the Project at the church we had a catfish fry... These southern bred folks know how to have a fry party! We had Fried Fish, Fried Pickles, Hush-Puppies (they were the bomb), Fried onion, Funnel cake, fried potatoes, and fried green tomatoes... everything was golden brown and delicious!

When it comes to my studies this week I learned about the importance of Listening, and the importance of Catching the Vision. Look at Laman and Lemuel they did everything that their father told them but they did not catch his vision of the blessings, of eternal life and the promised land. Therefore they learned little and grew little on their journey. It is the same with us, we may not like where things are going but if we stop and look at the bigger picture then we can catch the blessings that come by following inspired guidance.

LOVE YOU ALL

Stay Strong, Push On!!

Elder Parque!

Week 81 In Ft. Lauderdale....

April 20, 2015

Well this week was just as busy as last, in fact I think every week is very busy, and you know I think that I like being busy. Life is easier when you have things to do, you don't have time to worry! This week I went on 2 exchanges where I stayed in the area... do you know how hard it is to plan a day in Belle Glade with out Creole? Its like trying to push water back in the faucet. But it made the day fun I used some good old sign language.

We have been working a lot in a town a little North of Belle Glade named Pahokee, if anyone can tell me that means in some Indian language that would be nice. Pahokee is a pretty sketchy place, its a weird cross of backwoods hick and ghetto thug (we don't walk around with much money in our pockets) but so far the people have been really nice and have been really accepting. Our biggest problem is convincing them to drive to Belle Glade. 

On our way to Pahokee one day we decided to take a different route through the fields and we came across a hidden trailer-park filled with... MEXICAN FAMILIES!!! And really good families! The kind that go on walks! And the Dads play soccer with the kids!!! We knocked 6 doors and found 5 families! And the families all knew each other and when we went back to teach one family with plans to see the others after, the others saw us and came over! We were teaching a class! There were 12 of them. So I had some fun!

But as for other details I went on an exchange with the assistants and learned a lot about Administering and Ministering, they are different. We did a service project repairing a deck... the other three missionaries are not so handy, but they learned. I sure am thankful for the things I learned around the house and the fact that Dad taught us how to solve problems and work.

I don't really know what else but I love ya'll!!

Stay Strong, Push On

Elder Parque