June 26th

June 26
Mom says it is my turn to write to you, and says hi!
Wow, how are things for you? Here it seems that the little and some not so little challenges do not end. Mom and I had planned to spend some time at Park City, Grandma Parker-Dahl had her gall bladder removed Thursday. So we were concerned that help might be needed there, but things are fine. The day we were heading out the car stopped running and while installing an additional valve on the sprinkler system the intake assembly broke. For the car changing the fuel filter and checking that it is getting fuel to the injectors still resulted in it not starting. After working on it to the point where it is beyond what I know how to fix the sprinkler system had to be addresses and a movie shop done so after working all that day we took the truck I have named Big Mickey. On the way it would not accelerate when the gas pedal was pressed to the floor. The thought came to try pressing it almost to the floor and that worked to get us to our destination, to wax contemplative that is a gospel principal, run as fast as you have strength, or run with patience, but not faster. 
(Yikes!?! the problems are mounting! I wonder if it will still be crazy when I come back next year)
Yesterday was a very interesting experience, we attended church in Park City and the building was packed for Sacrament meeting, we are talking all the way to the stage in a stake house. It was a missionary homecoming but along with that we noticed that there were men seated that had ear pieces and later on Mom noticed that Mitt Romney was in the chapel.(, YOU SAY WHAT!!!!?? YOU saw Mitt Romney?) After the meeting we looked behind us and Senator Orin Hatch was a few rows behind us so there were secret service everywhere.(And Senator Hatch!?! What The Geek, man.  What is up with that? and You didn't know about it until you saw the guys?) They are in Park City for a political fund raiser.  Sunday School was going to be in the chapel but it would not have started for at least 15 to 20 minutes as there was a wave of people that went into the chapel after the prayer and several people were taking pictures with their phones. So we returned to our condo after negotiating the convoy of cars in the parking lot for them.(sheesh...)

We were contemplating the last few years and there have been many changes, Weddings, births, deaths, divorce, health problems, miracles (FYI Brother Lamp has been given a clean bill of health, had stage 3 throat cancer) children maturing in the gospel, children making other choices and the worry of the challenges that will come to both and the help the gospel is to endure well during those times. (to put my two cents in hear, in our recent stake conference; one of the stake presidency spoke on the subject of the current times and the preaching of the gospel to all the world, his point was that many people(members of the church included) that before the savior comes again that the wickedness of the world will be reach it's climax(or the absolute worst that it ever has) and that will signal in the second coming, but he said that that idea is incorrect, actualy, he said, the climax that will be reached just before the second coming will be that the righteousness of the world will reach it's climax in preparation for the second coming and the return of the city of zion to the earth, that we need to be working as hard as we can to not only spread the gospel to all the world, but also be trying as hard as we can to be living in a way that when the millienium begins we will not have to make huge adjustments to our lives to live comfortably in Christ's presence, he emphasized the point of the fact that when christ comes we should want to be living in such a way that the kingdom of god on earth(the church) will be lifted up to meet the kingdom of heaven as it decends with christ and we will trully be wanting to fall on the necks of those who live in zion and they on our's and be joyfull in their presence and they in our's, and so it is my personal belief that what will happen before the second coming is a climax of both righteousness and wickedness and that the extremes of both ends of the good/evil spectrum will be in action and the same will also be happening in nature as well, so thats all on that, sorry to be dragging on and on on this whole thing)

We have been told that one of the first mistakes, by returned missionaries, is to take a job that works on Sunday and as a result begin the path to leaving the church. You have reacted wonderfully and surprisingly to some of the situations during your mission and I am very proud of who you and the path you are on. Observed the missionaries going into McDonald's Friday and tried to warn them to not do it Wendy's has a dollar menu and it is incredibly better! ;-) “Don't go in there son!!”
Was taught in the last little while that missionaries should focus on bringing the investigators to the Temple, in the context of all the discussions should start them on the path of qualifying for the Temple ordinances and baptism is one of the steps to the temple. (jobs are becoming increasingly dificult to find that do not require sundays, hopefully I will be able to find something, maybe the air force will have a little bit of respect for sunday worship? that would be nice, we hear all these stories like what happened with president monson durring his training, but that was the navy and that was a while ago, but who knows, I think I might take a look into it when I start getting ready for home)

If you have not been told, Daniel Wayment and Whitney (Last name unknown) are getting married November 17, the rumor is they are looking at the Oakland Temple as it was in his mission.(NO, I WAS NOT!!!!!!!) I say go for it, my niece Callie (Aunt Dana's daughter) went to Barbatoes to have a minister marry them so when it is a marriage for time and all eternity why not. But it does not matter what temple it just matters that it is under the proper authority. The other temple on the short list is Logan and that one it beautiful as they all are.

We went to a swimming pool last Tuesday for the 3 hour visit with Carrie, Kestra was with us and developed a fever and we did not let her go in the water for very long, Thursday Mom and I were ill, Friday Kristie, and Saturday Sherie so it is marching through the family. I was only ill for a couple of hours Mom went a bit longer. Sherie was sick for the longest so far.(well thats a sick leave for ya!)

Dad
(Former Elder Parker of the Canada Toronto Mission, and future one of the couple missionaries where the Lord will send us)