Monday, April 30, 2012

Hello Everyone!!!

This last week here has been interesting. I went knocking on doors for the first time and it was Awesome! Its really different here because you have to walk around back and knock on their back door most of the time. Things are improving here in my area. There are more and more less actives attending church and the branch is getting bigger and bigger. Before I know it it will be a ward. Both me and my companion are working hard to make it a ward before any of us leave the area. 

So I hear you got my chocolate! :) I absolutely love the chocolate here! But I really miss the Hersheys chocolate that i used to get at home. Their chocolate is way different from the chocolate at home. When I first ate the Kit Kat I thought to myself " Man this is really good!" I quickly found out after that the Kit Kats at home and the ones here are very different in taste because one is American Chocolate and the other is European Chocolate. Thats totally fine if you dont want to compare the two. I just wanted everyone to  notice the difference in the two chocolate bars. The other chocolate bar that I got you guys is the pure European chocolate that I always get. I tried using it to put in cookies to replace the chocolate chips but it didnt work to well. They dont have chocolate chips here in South Africa so i have to usually improvise. The brown sugar isnt the same either. It is so much different from the brown sugar at home. 

The Temperature here is weird. It is in the mid 70's during the day and in the low 50's at night. So it is warm during the day and cold at night. I have to wear a sweater at night and have to wear my short sleeved shirts during the day. I am ok with bedding because the church provides really nice comforters and sheets to all the missionaries when they come into the mission. The flood that happened didnt get far enough to reach our bedroom (thank goodness). But im not going to lie, that was bizarre that that happened in the first place. I definitely didnt expect it. My shampoo is working really good right now so i will be fine for a while. I gave myself another haircut the other day. It turned out really good! So Dad it sounds like the scouts had a fun time but got scared to death with the call. :) I really wish I was able to see that! :) But overall it sounds like the place you guys went to is a really good place! I look forward to going there when I get home. I really miss going to Yellowstone! I really look forward to going there when I get home as well. 

So it sounds like Dakota is getting ready for His papers! I am really happy to hear that! Please keep me updated on that, I really want to know His progress as he gets ready to receive his call. I am really happy that they got my letter. I wasn't sure when they were going to get it.

So I have been driving the mission car a lot now. It still throws me off to drive on the opposite side of the car on the other side of the road shifting with my left hand! Haha I forgot to tell you all that the car we drive is a manual and you have to use your left hand to shift the car. That has been pretty intense as well. We drive a Chevrolet Aveo as our mission car. It reminds me a little of the Geo when i drove that.

Nate, are you enjoying the showcase thing that you are doing? I absolutely loved it when I did it! I love ballroom dancing. That is the only form of dancing that you will ever see me do. :) I cant dance any other way to save my life. Practice hard and let the music guide you. Good luck on the performances! :) Your birthday card got there a little early but thats ok. 

Jake, I will not send another Kit Kat until you have had an American one! Haha JK. I will send more later on. Its good to hear things are going well with you guys. Its really good to hear that you went with the Golders on that walk. ( I am assuming it is for charity, If not I dont know what i am talking about). Please tell the Golders i said hi! Stay well and enjoy your week

Josh, I still havent heard from you i look forward to hearing from you next week. If you dont want to I am totally fine with that. Have a Great week!

Alex, I am doing really good here! the flood didnt harm any of our stuff, it just ruined the carpet in the hallway in our apartment. I look forward to hearing from you next week. Let me know how you liked the Kit Kat and the other chocolate. 

Mom and Dad, Things here are going really well. Mom,  I didnt know that your birthday card was going to get there so quickly! Thats ok though. Dad, I will be sending you a Fathers day card when it comes around so you will have to tell me if you would rather have a card or chocolate or both. Either one is totally ok with me. Mom and Dad, I hope everything goes well and have a Fantastic week! Stay safe.

Everyone, Have a great week and I will email you all next week! 

- Elder Parks

Monday, April 23, 2012


Hello Everyone!!!

It sounds like things are a little busy at home. But it sounds like all of you are doing really well. This week has been picking up. Things are going really well and we are finding more and more families that are interested in hearing the gospel. The work here is hard work but it is definitely rewarding. So it sounds like things the weather there is getting better and warmer and warmer as the months go by. Here it is getting colder and colder as the weeks go by. We are going into the cold season. Its funny how the weather here and the weather at Utah are two different climates. I cant believe how fast time is going! I will be coming up on three months next month! It definitely doesnt feel like it has been 3 months! So this week has been crazy. On thursday afternoon our apartment flooded and we had no idea until we came back later that night. The worst part was that since we are on the top floor it leaked through the floor and ruined the walls and the carpet of the neighbors below us. It was not good thats for sure. The cause of the flood was that they shut off our water without telling us so one of our faucets was left on without knowing about it and it leaked everywhere. We have had a crazy week though. 

So I have sent home a package to you guys and I sent it last week so I hope you will all get it in about 2 weeks. I promise that you will all like what is in it. It is well on its way I hope. Everyone is getting closer and closer to having school being over. That is way Awesome that Ashley Boiteux is going to the U! Who knows maybe I will see her there when I get back. It all depends how long she is there for. So far being on a mission has taught me how to study effectively and now I feel that I will be able to study better when I am in school now. It is Awesome that Barb is having the missionaries over! I am so excited for her! She says that she is catholic but I think that she will want to learn more and more when the missionaries are over.I wish I was there so I could take part in teaching her the gospel. I look forward to hearing how she does after the visits from the missionaries.

Nate, You will do well in the competition. I know that if you keep lifting weights you will be able to lift plenty of weight to do well in the competition. I Know that you will do well! I am super jealous that you are going to go see the Avengers but I know that if I wait it will be so much better! I have created a list of movies that i need to see when i get home. It is starting to increase in size. The Avengers is one of the movies on my list. The Hobbit is another. Jake, It is good to hear that you are doing well and It is also good to hear that Erika and her family is doing well. Tell them all I said Hi for me. I hope her 16th Birthday went well. The sweet 16 birthday party is usually a big one. I heard that you are driving the Xterra. Please be careful with it. I still care for it. Haha just kidding. But please drive safely and dont hurt yourself. I know that you will enjoy driving that car as much as I definitely did!  Josh, Keep up the good work at school and strive for the best grades you can possibly get! I know that if you have any troubles whatsoever with your school experience, you can turn to your Heavenly Father and He will help you with any issue that may come up. Alex, It is Awesome that you got Walking Dead on DVD! I will add that to my list of movies to see when I get home. Get the best grades that you can possible get especially when you advance in each grade. Mom and Dad, Sounds like both of you are doing great. Sounds like the youth had a good combined activity. I really look forward to hearing how the scouts react to the animal sound speaker. Please keep me updated. So I went through my package pretty fast. I am down to one box of poptarts and all the redvines are gone. I really liked the poptarts and the redvines! Thank you so much for those! The reeses were just as good! I loved them! I am still eating a lot of chicken and rice but I have finally got used to it and now that is what I eat a lot. We have a KFC next to our apartment so we go there once in a while. It is not the same as the one at home though. Speaking of food I look forward to hearing about how the pumpkin patch goes! 

By the way i will be calling home on May 13th at 11:00 AM your time. It will be 7PM here on my time. Please let me know what phone to call so I can call it. If you want to make it a big giant conference call with the entire extended family that is fine with me I will call which ever phone you want me to call that has a speaker phone setting. Please let me know by next monday so i can put it in my planner. 

Have a Fantastic week and I love you all very much! 
- Elder Parks


        

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Hi everyone!

How is everything going? Things here are going great! I am absolutely loving it here! I cant believe i have already been out for two months! Time is going by really fast! Things here in my area are going really well! We have 3 more people that are going to get baptized soon! I am looking forward to it! So it sounds like things are going well at home. Except for the Jeep it sounds like things are good. I got your package last week and the red vines were and still are really soft! Thank you so much for the package! It was fantastic! I look forward to eating all my poptarts throughout the week and the coming weeks! I am sending a package home with something really good in it. I will leave it at that because it is a suprise  what i am sending home. I promise that all of you will really like it! So it sounds like Dauna is doing well! I look forward to hear from her experiences from you every once in a while! I got a letter from Jaron last week! He is doing really well and He starts in Chile today. I am going to send him another letter and I look forward to hearing from him soon.

So this last weekend we watched conference in the small branch that is here in Carletonville. It was a really good Conference! I really like the talks that were given in the conference. I really like M. Russel Ballards talk because he really talks about what everyone should do to have a family. I also loved all the talks by President Monson! I always love the talks that he gives!

So this last week I have been driving the car that we have here. It is a white chevy aveo. It is a manual just like my Xterra but more like the Geo. It is so different driving on the opposite side of the car on the opposite side of the road! It is so fun though! I really like driving the car we have here! I can now drive all of you when you all come down to pick me up. 

Saturday, April 14, 2012


Hi Everyone!!
 
Things are going really well and I am enjoying my experiences a lot! a couple of weeks ago I cut my hair. I actually did a pretty good job doing it by myself! All of our investigators complimented me on my haircut. It turned out really well! I look forward to the package that comes! I sent a small package home with lots of pictures in it. It may take some time to get there but I hope it will arrive there. I have been looking around for something to send home for everyone but i havent found anything yet. I will let you know when I find something  to send home to you guys. I did something Awesome yesterday! I for the first time was able to give a priesthood blessing and I confired the Holy Ghost to someone as well! It was an Amazing Experience! It will be something I will always remember!
 
It is good to hear that things are going really well at home! I hope the family is doing great! How is Holiday going for Nate? Have you guys gone camping yet with the truck? I send a letter home replying to Jakes letter that he sent me. Its really rotten of that girl to send that picture to Josh. How is work for Dad? It sounds like you are busy and not busy at the same time at work. I hope you all are doing well and i hope you all have a fantastic week! Love you all very much!
 
- Elder Parks


Hello Everyone!!

It sounds like things are going great at home! Sounds like you all enjoyed yourselves at Goblin Valley! Its good to hear that the truck did well! That always makes vacation better and more relaxing that's for sure. I hope Uncle Guy is doing ok! I will make sure i remember him in my prayers. I cant believe so much is happening so fast! Nate, I cant believe you graduate in two months! I remember my graduation went by really fast! Before i knew it I was receiving my mission call to South Africa! Its good to hear that the family is doing really well! I look forward to talking to all of you on Mother's day! I cant believe thats already here! It really doesnt feel that i have already been out for two months almost!! Time is going really fast! 

I havent received my package yet but i will check tomorrow when i go to the mission office! I'm glad that my pictures made it home!! I am doing my best to send them through email but its hard to do when the emails cant hold a lot. I will do my best to send stuff home when i get the chance. I will send some Kit Kat bars home! They are so different from america's kit kat bar!  You will all love them! For Mothers day im not sure what time I will be able to call home but i will find out this week and let you know next week when i email home again. Mom and Nate, I cant believe your birthdays are next month already! I will do my best to send something home to you both for your birthdays! Mom and Dad you are probably wondering why i keep pulling money out of my personal account. I have had to use it because we have had some bazaar things happen lately. Last week our stove shot out a cloud of sparks and destroyed the main breaker to our apartment so i had to use personal money because we had no power to cook our food so we had to go out and eat. Other than that i have been using my personal money for paying for pictures or anything else i have needed like the hair clippers.

So Nate I cant believe the Wagners are moving!!!! Let me know what day they are moving on so I can send a letter to them before they leave! I also cant believe that you will be starting school soon and will live there!! I have some advice for you about living on your own. First is dont blow your money or you have nothing left at the end of the month. Second, Always keep your apartment clean! I have a hard time with that because my companion is really messy and I try to keep our apartment clean. The last is eat healthy. I ate a lot of junk in one week and I felt horrible! If you move out and live on your own, good luck and stay in contact. I look forward to hearing how you are doing.

I love you all very much and I hope you all have a fantastic week!

- Elder Parks