Feb
hey guys'
thanks for the email and for correlating with sis. cook, no worries about the emails being short, the long ones take a while to reply to(snicker, snicker), yea I've got some photos that I will be sending your way and just a note about them, the pictures with sister missionaries are just us and other missionaries having fun on our temple walks and stuff, and one of the last few pics has a picture of a couple in baptismal clothes, those two are a couple from elder Elkins last area and the husband got the chance to baptise his wife(she was elder elkins's former investigator from that area), I will write the full story to you later, I'm running out of time. things are going well right now, one of our investigators, name's christine, has gained a basic testimonie of the book of mormon and Joseph Smith, as well as heavenly father and jesus christ, the only hurdles left are finishing teaching the nessary lessons and her dad, It's complicated I'll explain later if I can, well gotta go!
LATER
elder edward parker
March
hey guys, sorry that I haven't written the letters I said I would, sorry about the one sentence email last week, my report to president cook took a lot of time. so just a little weather flash the last couple of days we have had some crazy rain happening, at first it was just cloudy the clouds were rolling in from the ocean and where we were got sprinkled a little bit every few minutes, and then the next day it rained a little harder and more frequently then when night came it slowly went through waves and got heavier with each one till it was a downpour that went all night and most of the afternoon. however the clouds are starting to clear out and things are drying up, anyway, I didn't mention this earlier but the stake we are in is having a class once a week on the book of "the revelation of st. john the divine" some of the people who go aren't members, one of our investigators is going and she seems to get something out of it but she is a very stuborn person, it seems to us that she doesn't want to give up her current lifestyle(aka: her church/friends) and both herself and her friends seem to prefer the type of religion where they don't have to do alot, she thinks our church is a "good" church but she can't accept that there can only be one true church, she is also very attached to the saved by grace Idea, it looks like she might not get any kind of testimony any time soon but we are still hopefull. we also heard about japan and that is very sad, just fyi, we heard that all the missionaries in japan are accounted for and that the nuclear reactor is close to a meltdown, is that what they are saying back home?
alright gotta go love you
LATER;-P
March
hey guys, hows it going?, didn't get a email from you this week whats up?, something happen? Oh well anyway this week has been a very rainy week, the weather has been quite stormy, it was like it came in waves: storm in, storm out, storm in, storm out. Everything else has been pretty good, we heard about japan and it sounds like it is going to be a rough recovery for them, but it could have been worse.
Our investigators are moving along just fine, at least one of them is at least making steady progress despite her family situation, I have made some real headway with my scripture marking(pic.is attached), now all I have to do is organize it to a more effective positioning on the pages still trying to figure out which would be best. anyway conference over here is going to be at 9 and 1 and we are tryin to see if we can get our investigators to watch it, because what seems to be the one thing that would help them would be to get the chance to hear the current prophet speak. well we will have to see what happens, but it looks like things will be moving forward for now. ... otherwise things are going okay, this week I will really try hard to get you guys those letters I promised.
love you all, stay safe,
LATER;-P
April 12th
Hi guys, sounds like you've got a busy week going, things are okay out here and no I did not get transfered, nor did elder elkins, in fact he got called to district leader for our district. Our last district leader, elder wright, got transfered out and the new missionary that came in has three months left and he seems a little odd, but he is pretty okay. About conference, we were informed that unless it was at a members house and we had a investigator there, we would be watching conference at the stake center. Well we didn't fufill the first option so we went to the stake center with the others. Funny thing actualy there was a few other people at the church other than us missionaries and on Sunday even some members showed up. I don't know why or the reasons for most of them but it was still pretty cool and yes we do get the ensign, but not the liohona:-[, by the way that was a good idea to let pres. Cook know first and ask him to tell me, it looks like this isn't the first time they have had to tell someone that a family member has died, in fact, they said that not too recently they had told another missionary that his mom had died, now that sounds HARSH.But don't worry about me, I am okay, all the same I am more concerned about Elinda and the kids, but from what you said it looks like they are in good hands. As a matter of fact, when they told me, it seemed kind of surreal and the most prominent and common thought in my mind while I thought about it was that you just wouldn't think that it would happen like that, how old was he again? I forgot but he didn't seem that old, but it just seemed more like something was off or wrong, but I was able to handle it, it was just unexpected is all.
anyway I plan on sending you a few things in the mail, three drawings that I have found among the missionaries, a few poems from a member, brother Al Ambridge, a book of poems he wrote too, I don't think I will be needing it, but the poems are great, and a "heavenly visitation" that elder elkins had in his collection of references and resources. I think that it is a great read for anyone who needs comfort, and hope regarding what happens after this life. I will also be including my own testimony and some thoughts of encouragement.
thanks for everything and about the medication I don't know weather or not you have received any mail from Scripps yet or not but I wen well I hope all of you are okay I've got to go, LATER;-}
April 19th
hey guys thanks for the info, not to much has happened according to pres. there is a possibility of one of us(elder elkins and/or myself) will be transferred this coming transfer, That's going to be on may 3. Also on next Tuesday the 26, Elder L. Tom Perry is coming to speak to the Carlsbad and San Diego missions(if I have already mentioned this, sorry,) and some other things, now you don't need to worry about me getting in trouble or anything, but recently me and another elder got into a little spat, things got pretty heated, but it was over quickly and I think it is resolved for the most part and there have been no big problems or issues since. one question about something, dad, would you consider going to the baseball game for the son of a less active family to try and help them come back to church, and contacting people at the game, a constructive use of time? and how would you help someone get over their pride without being rude or sounding judgemental? anyway things are going for now and we are still working with our investigators, and only one of them is showing some real "progress"(the rest of the email is directed to anyone who might have suggestions for me), have any of you ever heard of the Episcopalian church? one of the people we are teaching is a member of that church and she seemed to be doing okay but she is so focused on certain "small" points of doctrine that prevent her from moving forward, how would you try to briefly explain the idea of "as man is god once was, as god is man may become" and do it so that it could actually be set aside and move on? she is stuck on that and the idea of there only being one true church, personally the idea makes sense to me but some how she doesn't seem to understand why god would only have one true church.
but I am running out of time so I will just try to finish up here, sorry again about that letter/package I said I would send you, I know for certain I will get that out this week, I promise! so please tell everyone that I love them and I wish the best of luck to sherie and keith and kristie, and I am praying for them always,
by the way do you have any good missionary jokes or funny pics? I would love it if you could send me some, humor seems to be a good way to get your spirits up if yer down in the lumps, if ya get my drift ;-}, good luck to you all and I think you missed a few of my questions from my last email, but thanks for the update on glen beck, I was really worried for a moment there. love you all
LATER;-}
Elder Edward C. D. Parker
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