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

Hi everyone!

Things here in South Africa have been Fantastic!! I am enjoying every bit of it so far! Yesterday we had a baptism and it was a family of 5. It was so great to see the change that they had after they were baptized. It was so great to see them progress as fast as they did. We have had a lot of new investigators lately and we are always busy during the week. The bike riding is going well. I am very glad i went the the gym before I came here to South Africa. Everyday we bike everywhere so we get a pretty good workout from it. Sorry about the pictures, i am trying to send them all to you but it is hard to do it through this email service because it is really slow. Not only is is slow but it only lets you send 8 at a time so i will do my best to send them all to you soon! I have a lot so far so I need to send them before i start filling up on the camera. 

Its good to hear that you all are doing really well! Sounds like grandpa got a Ford. It will be a good truck for him to use for his big fifth wheel. He will love his new truck. Here in South Africa there is no such thing as a truck. They rather have a van, a car or there are semis but there is no trucks around. Once in a while i will see one but they are rarely seen here in South Africa. I miss our big dodge truck and my yellow Xterra. 

So Josh it sounds like you are getting your grades up! Excellent job and I congratulate you for your hard work to get your grades up. That is really good to hear. Alex, I will do the best to send you something from here. Josh please tell Mrs. Rees that I said hi and that she was one of the best teachers I ever had. While I have been here the weather has been good and the temperature has been hot. I unfortunately havent seen any cool animals yet. I will send you pictures when i do though! I love you all very much and i hope you all have a good week.

- Elder Parks

Hi Mom and Dad and Family!!!

Things are going really well here!!!! I am absolutely loving it so
far!!! We are getting more and more ready for baptism and many have
baptismal dates! we already have a family getting baptized this
sunday!! The people here are Fantastic!! They all are so eager to
learn about Jesus Christ!! They love to hear about what we have to
teach them! So far things are going well!

Hey i didnt send my SD card because my companion told me that they
dont make it back because people steel them. I am going to do the best
I can to send my pictures to you by mail or Email. I will have them
printed and sent to you or I will do my best to use my email to get
them to you. Either way I am trying to come up with a way to do it
because the computers we use are from an Internet Cafe. We come here
every week to use it. This is the only place that has internet in the
entire town.

Hey if you send me a package can you send me some redvines???? That
would be great if you can! some pop tarts sounds good too!! i will
accept anything that you send me. Hey... Me and my companion actually
gave a blessing to someone in the hospital as well. We found out today
that they are well and things went fantastic!! So far i have had
really good experiences and things have been good!! I love hearing
from you guys every week and its good to hear everything is going
well! By the way thank you for the address to my friend Steven!! I
will send him a letter soon!! I also and going to try to use
dearelder.com to send a letter to jaron if i can. If you can get his
address that would be great as well! I love you all and i hope you
all have a fantastic week!!!

- Elder Parks

March 12, 2012

Hi Mom!! 

Everything is going well!!!  I am now in a town called Carletonville. It is a really small town. and my companion and I are in charge of the entire town. The church here is really small. The sacrament meeting room is the size of the relief society room in our church building. So far everything is going well and I am loving South Africa so far!! The temperature everyday is hot!!  The temperature is usually in the mid 80's. I have been assigned to ride bikes the entire time I am here. So far we have committed two families to baptism and they will be baptized at the end of the month. Hey if you send anything to me make sure you send it to the Mission office. I'm not sure what the address to it is so you will have to ask the Mission President or the one who emailed you recently about my arrival in the mission field. They also told me that if you send me anything it cant be worth anything more than $40 all together.

          I haven't sent my  SD card yet because i am going to send you an email with all my pictures first then i will send it through the mail. I want to make sure you get my pictures before I send my card. So far me and my companion are getting along really well. We have had no problems so far when it comes to that. Everything is going well and I am really enjoying my mission so far! I only wish that I brought the address to my friends on their missions. I need to really find out what Jaron's address is so I can keep in touch with him. Another friend that I need his address for is Steven Haskel. I took a picture of his address on my phone. If it is still there, can you send it to my through Email?  His name is Steven Haskel. If there are any other addresses on there please email them as well. I forgot to do it when i was at home. Thank You so much!!! I have a new P- day now. Its now on Mondays from 9 AM to 6PM so i can email every Monday now. 

I love you guys a lot and I hope the best for everyone!!!

- Elder Parks

From: Colby Parks <colby.parks@myldsmail.net>
Date: Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 8:21 AM
Subject: Re:
To: Stephanie Parks <stephanieparks7@msn.com>

Everything here is going great! I havent sent any of my pictures because i am waiting till wednesday so i can send the memory card back home from my actual living quarters. I leave the MTC on Tuesday and I am being sent into the field! I dont know where in the field they will put me but I will find out on Tuesday when we meet with the Mission President and his wife. Ya by the way Elder Houghton, Elder Dalton and Elder Rogers are Awesome!!!  I love being around them and they are always in a good mood! They are great Elders! My companions name is Elder Sithole. He is the oldest in his family and he is the only member of the church in his family. He was baptized in 2008 so he is a fairly new member. He knows a lot about the Gospel. He is a great guy to be with! Hey before you send me some food or something let me email you next week with my new address so I will be able to get it. By the way i got Jake's letter last week from dearelder.com. I replied to it and sent a letter to home. It should arive somewhere around Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday next week. I think you will enjoy it. My next letter home will have my SD card in it with all my pictures on it. It will take about 10 days to get there. Well i got to go, I will email you next week!  Love you all!!

 

-Elder Parks  (by the way the toilets do flush counter clockwise here)

I snapped this photo yesterday after we had attended the Temple in Johannesburg.  Your missionary is a joy to be with!

Sister Janet Reber
South Africa MTC

Last night President Carl B. Cook came with his wife, Lynette Cook, and presented a fireside to the missionaries.  I wanted you to see what a great looking group they are.

Sister Janet Reber
South Africa MTC