Hello everyone!!

This week has been ok. We are still having a hard time getting people to progress and we are having a hard time getting people to come to church. We went out and went knocking on doors. We were able to find 10 new investigators because of it. Out of those 10 we found 5 new families to teach! We are going to help them progress as best as we can. They are all interested so I hope that they will all listen to the spirit as it testifies of the truth to them. I have learned that going on a mission builds you up spiritually big time!! I am loving it out here. Sure times get rough occasionally but it is so rewarding! The amount of time I have been out here has been Great!! I am enjoying every minute of this!! I cant believe that I am coming up on my 7 month mark!! Time goes by way fast!! I have been in my new area for a month and a half already! Things here are great! So here is a cool little thing that happens to us when we go tracting or knocking on doors. When we are walking around the streets people always come up to us and ask us if we are lost! Ha ha it catches me off guard sometimes but it gives us a chance to share with them what we do. Another thing that people do is they yell "Molungu!" which means "white guys" in Zhulu. It is funny because everyone stares at us and they all yell it too and they usually ask us if we are lost. This is one of the ways that we meet people and share with them the gospel. So far it has been really good here!

So Mom, That is not good that Alta played so ruff!!! That is not good that Bingham didnt play so well either. At least they got to play on the University of Utah's Field! That must have been really cool for them to do that! That is crazy that school is already starting! Time goes by way too fast!! It is crazy because I am coming up on my 7 month mark! Things are getting better and better as the weeks go by. So sorry I have been using my goldenwest account a lot lately! I am preparing to send a package home to you guys because Dad's birthday is coming up! I am going to send some really cool stuff home so I hope they will reach you guys! That is cool that Jake gave a talk about how my mission is going so far!! Im sorry I havent been sending any cool stories home to you all lately! I will do my best to share more experiences so if any of you have to give a report on me you will have more information. That is Awesome that the Wright Family Reunion was last week!! It sounds like everyone is doing well!! Im sorry we werent able to get the word out to everyone about me leaving! We will have to invite everyone to my homecoming! Right now I am ok with everything so please tell your friend thank you so much for the help!

Dad, That is Awesome that President Monson said that about the new missionaries in the Salt Lake area!! I look forward to hearing about how that goes for the kingdom of God!! Im sure there will be Many blessed because of that! The work is moving forward and the Kingdom of God is getting bigger and bigger! I look forward to the day when almost all the countries have missionaries in them!! That will be really cool!! So your birthday is coming up! Sorry I have been pulling so much money out of my account!! I have been preparing to send a package home for your birthday! I am send something really cool in it!! I hope it will get there next week or so. I will individually wrap or package your gift so if you want you can open it on your birthday or you can open it right when you receive it. I hope all is going well with Grandpa Parks!! I have a name tag for him but I need their home address!! I am going to send it to our house instead so will you give it to Grandpa for me?? If you could do that for me that would be great!! That quote from Sister Ames is a really good quote!! I may post that on my wall in my apartment! I hope all is going well at home!!

Nate, That is not good that the people in Nate's apartment are crack heads!! I cant tell you how many people I have run into here that are doing the same thing! I know how you feel! That is Awesome that you have started college already!! I hope all will go well and I know that if you work hard and you study hard you will succeed and get far in your schooling!! Just remember that you are a future missionary so do your best!! I hope all goes well and I hope you have a wonderful week!!

Jake, That is Awesome that you got to play on The University of Utah's Field!!! I wish I was able to walk onto that field!! That is Awesome that you gave a talk on my mission so far!! Im sorry I havent revealed or have given you any cool experiences for that!! I will do my best to share more experiences!!! I hope all goes well and have a wonderful week!!

Josh, That is not good that you guys lost your game!!! That is really Awesome that you scored a 70 yard touchdown!!!! Congratulations on that! That is crazy that school is already starting!! I hope all goes well and work hard!

Alex, That is cool that you all went up to the reunion!! I hope that went well!! That is way cool that you are in the D.A.R.E program!! I remember when I did that! That was so fun! In fact I still have my dare shirt. I will have to show it to you when I get home in a year and a half. I hope you have a wonderful week!!

I hope all goes well at home and you all have a wonderful week!! I love you all!!!
- Elder Parks

So this week has been really busy!! We taught a lot of lessons to the investigators and we were able to find some really good people. It is hard right now because no one has money to get to church so everyone is struggling to get there. I hope to have some cool experiences soon to share with you all about any good investigators. There is one cool story though that I can share. This is a guy from the area right next to ours. His name is Professor Nllovu. One day he was moving into one of his houses and the past owners left some stuff behind. One of the things they left behind was a "Teaching of the Presidents: David O McKay manual. He said that as he read it he knew it was true and he then looked up our church and he came to church all by himself. The missionaries at the time had no idea who this guy was until he showed up to sacrament meeting one day. When the missionaries taught him, he told them that he knew that this church was true and He then progressed very quickly to baptism. When he told the rest of us his story he told us that the missionaries only taught him 20% and the teachings of the presidents of the church: David O McKay taught him 80%. It is incredible what a simple manual can do for someone like this man, Professor Nllovu.He now has the Aaronic Priesthood and he baptized his best friend the week after he got the priesthood.  When I heard of this story I was greatly impressed with how someone can be converted by anything that testifies of the truth. Anything can happen.

So Mom, That is crazy that Morgan is getting married!!!! Who is she getting married to??? That is so great that she is getting married. That is funny that Nate and Dad were the topic in the lesson. I loved being in Gospel Doctrine class when Sister Loader was teaching because she is a really good teacher! So this week I went to a lion and rhino park and got some really cool pictures!!! I was also able to go and pet a Cheetah!!!!! I will send a picture and a video of me doing that! It was so fun to go with all the missionaries and go to that park and have a good time. I was able to see all kinds of animals and I even saw that most venomous snake in the world! It was the Black Mamba. It was in a giant glass container and I was able to look at it and get a picture. Well I hope all is going well at home and My cloths and everything else is doing really good right now. I have saved most of my stuff for my one year mark so that everything will last me my whole mission. By the way the reason I didn't email yesterday was because I ran out of time because the lion park took all day long. When ever I cant email on Mondays, I will definitely email on Tuesday.

So Dad, Things here are going well!! I went to the lion park yesterday and It was great! I was able to get some really good pictures and I was able to even pet a Cheetah!! It was so Awesome! If you and mom come here to South Africa to pick me up I will definitely take you both there and you can see a lot of animals. I will be sending some pictures home soon. I will let you know when I do so so you can keep an eye out for them in the mail. That is Awesome that you and Alex are going to the Rec. center to exercise! I really wish we could go to a gym to exercise but we dont have the time to do so. I need to loose some weight because I am now at 182 pounds. I have gained weight and it is definitely not easy to loose weight here on a mission. I will have to let you all know how it goes. By the way has my tax return came in the mail yet? I was going to ask you about that last week but I forgot? I hope it will come soon!  I hope all is going well at home!

So Nate, That is Awesome that things are going well with you and Maddi (I think I spelled her name wrong, sorry). All I have to say is remember who you are and who you stand for because here on my mission I have seen a good number of teens getting themselves into trouble and they pay for it. I trust you though so im not worried. You are the next future Elder Parks so please keep that in mind. That is Awesome that you were able to lift so much weight!! I could never do that! So I went to the lion park yesterday! I will have to send some really cool pictures home so you and everyone else can look at them! I hope all goes well and have a great week!

So Jake, I hope that your temple trip with Ericha goes well!! That will be really cool to go and do!! What a better date than going to the temple! I will tell you the same thing I told Nate, Remember who you are and who you stand for. You are the future Elder Parks so stay clean and worthy of that sacred calling! I trust you as well so im not too worried. Have a great week and work hard!

So Josh, That is Awesome that football is going so welll!! The A2 team huh?? That is FANTASTIC!!!!! Congratulations on that! I know that if you work hard, you will be able to get wherever you want to go. Take care and have a great week!!

So Alex, I hope that all is going well!! That is cool that you and Dad are going to the Rec. Center all the time. I wish I had time to do that. I went to a lion park yesterday and I have some really cool pictures to show you all!! I was able to pet a Cheetah!!! I will send them and I hope you all have a great week!!

I love you all very much and I hope you all have a great week!!
- Elder Parks

Hello everyone!!!

So this week has been really good for the most part! Thigns here are going really well! We just had a baptism of a man named Jake. He is in his 50's and he is a really cool guy! They had him all ready to be baptized by the time I got to my new area so I just helped get him to baptism all the way. He progressed so fast though! He understood everythign that the missionaries taught him and he never doubted once!! He is an Awesome guy! We have met some other families that are doing really well for the most part. So the other day I found out that one of the families that I found in my last area are going to be baptized soon. I guess when I taught the first lesson to them, the wife told my other companion that she felt the spirit and she told us that what we were teaching them was true. It was a cool thing to hear that is for sure. We have found another family here so I hope that they will feel the same way one day. We are having a hard time for the most part keeping appointments with everyone though because everyone tends to run away before we get there, so I hope things will pick up soon. I will definately keep you all informed about how our lessons go this week and every week for now on. I am sorry that I didnt say much before.

So Mom, That is really cool that everyone's birthday was this last week!!! Im sure that they all enjoyed that a lot! That is Awesome that Grandpa had a dream that I brought home a little child with me! So it sounds like Jake's Birthday went well!! I am really happy that my package made it home! I hope that everyone is enjoying thier summer for the most part. That is crazy that Jake is now 16!! He needs to make sure to take care of the Xterra!! haha Im sure everything will be fine. That is Awesome that Amanda had twins! Thats exciting!! So a week from today I will probably be going to a lion park and see some really cool animals!!! I will have to send some pictures and maybe some videos of what we find!! So that is crazy that nate will be in college soon!!! Time goes by way fast!! That is crazy that in about 2 weeks I will hit my 6 month mark!! Time flies way too fast!! I hope all goes well this week and I hope that you all enjoy your week!

So Dad, That is not good that Grandpa is in a care center! I hope that he gets better soon so that he can feel better!! The weather here is really crazy!!! It is hot in the day and really cold at night. I can tell that the seasons are about to change soon here! That is crazy that it is so hot at home!! So i hope things here get better soon!! We are starting to find a lot more families and they are all starting to understand what we are teaching them. It is hard though because they all run away when we go for the appointment. We are starting to slowly get around that though because our appointments are starting to follow through. Im sorry that I havent said much about the families that we have been teaching! I hope all is going well back at home!!

So Nate, I hope all is going well!! That is so crazy that you are going to be in college soon!! you will have to let me know how that goes!!! I hope that you like the jersey!! That team ( The Springboks) is South Africa's main team for rugby! They are pretty good for the most part. Sorry I didnt write much I am running out of time. Have a wonderful week and keep me informed!

So Jake, You are welcome for the ball and Jersey. Please share the ball though because I could only send one home because of money reasons. I hope all is going well and Happy Birthday! Tell the Golders Hi!

So Josh, I hope that football goes well and I hope that you have a wonderful week!!

So Alex, I hope that swimming lessons are going well and I hope you have a wonderful week!!

Im sorry the messages are so short, I am really short on time this time. I will have more time next time. I love you all and have a wonderful week!!

- Elder Parks

Hello everyone!!!

This week has been a crazy week! This area is really hard to keep appointments! No one is keeping commitments or coming to church. It is a really big problem that we are facing right now. The church that we attend is really far so the people here are having a hard time affording to go to church or they just plain dont want to go so im not sure why no one is coming unfortunately. Other than that things here are going good. My companion has been good to be with for the most part. I have had no complaints so far. Next month I will more than likely be going to a Lion Park!!!!! I will have some really cool pictures soon I hope!! So it sounds like things are getting a little crazy back at home! I hope that Grandpa gets better soon!! I will definately keep him in my prayers! 

So mom, is there any chance you can send some starburst with the red vines and glasses wipes? That would be Awesome! Thank you MOM!! If it will be too expensive to send the starburst with those then you dont have to worry about it. So that is crazy that Nate is getting the Melchizedek Priesthood!!! Congratulations to him!!! That is also great that everyone else is getting the priesthood as well!! How great will it be when they all have the priesthood! That is Awesome that Colleen Cowen is coming back to church!! That is Awesome that she came back! I always love it when the Less Actives start coming to church here in South Africa! My last area had A LOT of less actives! Us as missionaries also have the duty to bringing them back as well but the ward is mostly in charge of that. I hope that some of the other less actives will start coming back soon! We were told by our mission president that the fastest way to establish the church is to bring back the less actives. We worked hard doing both (bringing the less actives back and finding those seeking the gospel). Well I hope everyone enjoys their birthdays this week! Tell everyone that has a birthday happy birthday for me! 

So Dad, That is not good that Grandpa is in the hospital again! I hope all goes well for that! I will definately keep him in my prayers!! It sounds like scout camp was fun though!!! I always loved going to scout camps with all the young men! That is something I look forward to doing with the scouts again as soon as I get home! I cant believe that time is going so fast!! That is crazy that time is going just as fast at home!!  That is even more crazy that I am going to come up to my 6 month mark next month!! That is Awesome that I am already at that point! So far things have been good here for the most part! I am enjoying my experience so far! 

So Nate, That is Awesome that you met someone new! All I have to say is remember who you are and remember Who you stand for. I know that you will be fine so that is great that she likes you and you like her. You will have to let me know how everything goes. So how is the car? I look forward to seeing it when I get home in a year and a half. Take care and tell everyone I said Hi. OH and will you please log onto your face book and go to my page and will you post my mailing address on my page? 

My mailing address is:

3 Phillips Avenue

Discoverey 1709

Roodepoorte, South Africa

Thank you so much Nate!!

So Jake, I look forward to hearing how your trip was with the Golders when you get back.

So Josh, That is great that you enjoyed Scout camp!! That is Awesome that you caught so many snakes!! By the way I am sorry but the lizards and snakes do escape their cages a lot. So how is everything going so far? Are you ready to receive the office of a teacher this November? That is Awesome that things are going good for you! I hope you have a wonderful week!

So Alex, That is not good that you lost your goggles! I am sorry that happened! I hope that you continue to enjoy your swimming lessons!! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I Love you all very much!!

Take Care,

- Elder Parks

Hello Everyone!!
Things here are going really well!! I am in a new area called Diepkloof. It is in the city of Soweto. It is a township which means that everyone lives in a small brick house ( the size of the garage on Grandma and Grandpa's lot) or they live in a shack as big as a bedroom. The people here though are really good people! I am really enjoying my experience so far! My area also has 2 really big malls! So luckily if I need something to eat I can just go there to eat or get anything else that I need.

So mom, That is really cool that Verizon now has a home plan! That hopefully will go really well!! So I am really sorry that I didn't tell Karen and Jim about my farewell!! I definitely didn't mean for that to happen. That is really good that the package made it home!! I am glad to hear that it did make it home. Please don't open it till Jake's birthday. I want everyone to see what is inside when it is his birthday. Luckily it is in 10 days. It is coming up. So that is cool that Bret Pickett blessed his baby! That is way exciting!! So my new area is pretty Awesome for the most part. I am definitely not used to it so this will be a good learning experience for me. I got a new companion, his name is Elder Skeen. He is from Centerville Utah. He has been out for 14 months. He is pretty quiet for the most part. He has been a good guy so far. Hey is there any chance you can send me those glasses wipes? It is really dusty here and I could use some of those. If you cant find the ones I bought they are at Walmart in the eye care center.

So Dad, I look forward to hearing about your experiences when you get back home. I hope all goes well and have a fantastic week!!

So Nate, it sounds like work is a little tough right now. I know what you mean by when you say that you are sick of the people that like to take advantage of everything. I have run into so many people that complain way too much. They are hard to teach the gospel too but so far I havent run into anything other than that. I hope all goes well and enjoy your week!!

So Jake, Please (you are going to hate what i have to say) dont open your package until your birthday. You are only 10 days away almost from your birthday. I hope football camp went well for you and I hope that you have a great week this week. Tell the Golders I said hi and be safe.

So Josh, I hope scout camp goes well for you this week and be safe! I look forward to hearing about your experiences.

So Alex, That is really good that you are enjoying your lessons. Enjoy your last week of summer break and have a wonderful week!

Im sorry this email is so short, I only had a small amount of time this week so I will hopefully send a bigger email next week. I love you all and I hope you all enjoy your week!

- Elder Parks

Hello Everyone!!

So this last week my back has been much much better!! I think i slept on it wrong because it Really hurt last Saturday and Sunday. But ever since I took Ibuprofen on Monday last week everything has been really good. Today I am feeling really good and everything is going well!! This last Friday I found out that I am being transferred tomorrow. So starting tomorrow I will be serving in a new area. I will find out where I am going tomorrow after our transfer meeting. It will be exciting to find out where I am going to go. I will let you all know next Monday where I am going.

So Mom, so far I haven't had any back problems this week after I took some Ibuprofen last Monday. I think it may have been because i may have slept on it wrong or It may have been because of my backpack. I'm not sure why it hurt so bad but now i am doing well and things here are going great. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any new people get baptized but that's ok because in my next area I will probably get to see that happen. So my mailing address is still the same because the address that you send mail and packages to is the address  to the mission office. That is where we pick up all of our mail. That is Awesome that you took the tops off the Jeep! I look forward to doing that when I get home. I cant believe that I am so close to my 6 month mark! Time goes way too fast! That is Awesome that the Brigham city temple is almost done! I remember when the Oquirrth Mountain Temple had its open house! That was so great to be part of!

So Dad, Things here are going really good! I am really enjoying it here in South Africa! Things get a little crazy once in a while but other than that everything is good! That is Awesome that you and Mom are planning a Hawaii trip soon!! That will be so great! Everything is going well! My back isnt hurting anymore so im not sure why it was hurting so bad. I was close to having to go to the doctor here and I definately am happy that I didnt have to go. I really dont want to ever go to the doctors here if I dont have to. So far I have been pretty good about not being homesick for the most part. Haha but it does creep up on me once in a while. I will start comparing things to home and then it will hit me a little bit but I usually get back to work and things go back to normal. So far teaching people here in South Africa has been great because they all really enjoy hearing about our messages all the time. I love teaching the gospel to the people here! The joy it brings into their lives is so great! My testimony has grown big time since I started teaching in the field.

So Nate, That is crazy that the new girl at your work sold Tobacco to a minor at work! That is definately not good!! Did she do it on purpose or was it an accident? Im sure it was and accident. So how is the new car treating you so far? It sounds like it was a little messy but a little deep cleaning will fix that real quickly. Bye the way is the car an all wheel drive or is it a two wheel drive?? That is so great that you are enjoying your new car! I hope work goes well for you and I hope everything else goes well for you all!! I cant believe that I am almost to my 6 month mark!! Time goes way too fast!!

So Jake, That is really good that the Golder's dog is doing better. That is really good that they didnt have to put it down! You will have to tell Dewayne Happy Birthday for me!! It is a little late but please tell him anyway! Tell the Golder family hi for me as well!! I hope football camp goes well for you and be safe and stay hydrated!!! Have a great week and I look forward to hearing about your football camp experience!!

So Josh, It sounds like was an ok week. I hope all is going well for you and I hope that you all are enjoying the summer while it lasts! That is crazy that a firework went off at the house!! I hope all goes well this next week and I hope you enjoy this next week!! 

So Alex, That is great that you are enjoying swimming lessons!! I remember when I took swimming lessons at Kearns! That was way fun! I hope that you continue to enjoy the lessons and make sure you be safe! Have a good time at Cub Country! Enjoy your week!!

I found out that my friend Austin just got a temporary mission call while his real call comes in!! He is the one I was telling you about how his papers got denied because of OCD or something like that. He is going to receive his call soon!! I look forward to hearing where he is going to go! I hope you all have a wonderful week and I love you all!!

- Elder Parks

Hello Everyone!!!

This week has been ok for the most part. I am excited for this area though because things are picking up and I look forward to seeing what will happen for those who are almost ready for baptism. So far things here are going great so far and I am enjoying my experience! The only bad part of my week has been the horrible back pain I have been having lately!! It started a couple of days ago and luckily it has gone away. Thank you so much for sending the Ibuprofen with me!! It has helped me so much so far!! So I will find out this Saturday if I am being transferred to a new area or not so I will have to see what happens. I will let you know what happens next Monday when I go emailing. 

So Mom, its good to hear that things are going well! I am so jealous that the raspberries are almost ready! They dont have raspberries here but they have raspberry jam which is ok. Its not as good as yours though. So it sounds like work has been crazy! That is crazy that all those fires are going on!! That is really cool though that the Governor of Utah sent a letter to the church asking them to ask all the members to pray for the people in Utah. I really like it that he supports the church enough to ask for their help, more importantly the Lord's help. Its crazy that the 4th of July is here already!!! It came so fast!! I know my companion and I are going to grill steaks for the 4th of July since we are both from the USA. I really look forward to it as well! I hope everything is going well at home! It sounds like things are starting to calm down and everyone is getting busy. For Alex to play water polo is pretty cool though! I think he might like that a lot!  He just needs to be careful and he will love it!! 

So Dad, that is crazy that their is so much fires going on everywhere!! I hope things get better for the season or everything will catch on fire. So that is really cool that the Governor of Utah sent a letter to the church asking for the members to pray for those who lost their homes! That is way cool for him to do!! So it sounds like nate got a new car!!! That is way Awesome!!! I would imagine that it will last him a long time if it gets 60 MPG!! That is way Awesome!!! So it sounds like the week has been kinda slow! Well at least the 4th of July is coming up!! I cant believe that it came up so fast!! That is way Awesome!! Me and my companion are going to grill steaks that night to celebrate because  we are both from the US.

So Nate, Its Awesome that you got a new car!! It sounds like the car that you got is a nice car!!! I looked up what it looks like on KSL and it looks Awesome!! You will love that car!!

So Jake, I hope all goes well with the Golders. I hope they have a safe trip to Washington and I hope they have fun! I am sending you a birthday package soon and candy for everyone as well today. I hope you have a good time at football camp and have a good week!

So Josh, Sounds like things there are getting a little crazy! That is crazy that those things happened to Grandma and Grandpa! Things here are going well and I am enjoying it here so far! Things here are pretty dry as well but not as hot. It is in the 70's right now but its not too bad.

So Alex, I hope you have a good week and its too bad that the Golders have to put down their dog! That is Awesome that you are off track! I hope things go well for you at home!

Im sorry this Email is so short but I have run out of time and am going overtime right now. I hope you all have a great week and I love you all!! Be safe!

- Elder Parks