Mexico Pachuca - Week 76 - April 27, 2015

(Excerpts from his email)

sounds good mom. ya i forget who told us that too but we also talked about that, you can learn new things every day. This week was busy and today we had an activity and we got a lesson soon so i probably wont be able to talk much today but the biggest news of the week is elder Bednar is coming to Pachuca. we are gonna be able to hear him and shake his hand and stuff.

M: That's cool and he is so awesome to listen to.  Coach Chow shared a story about him.  Just what a great example he was to those around him.  It was neat and I am so very jealous.  Get a picture if you can.

So before you have to run, a story please.

EP: hah probably not gonna be able to get a picture but Hermana Egbert will probably take some. um well a cool story i guess was we have still kinda been struggling and its been kinda rough. we had a horrible day to start off Thursday but we ended pretty good. we went with a sister who has been listening forever and we talked about baptism and she as like ya i made a decision I’m gonna get baptized on may 10th. it was pretty crazy and then we went to another investigator and he was like i read the pamphlet about the restauracion and i couldn’t get joseph smith out of my mind. i was just thinking about him and if he was really a prophet all night long and i cant get the book of Mormon out of my head. its like its just calling to me all the time. i just want to read it. it was pretty crazy but his wife is super like bleh. it sucks cause this guy is amazing and would probably be like super close to getting baptized but his wife is just like not there.

M: It starts with one, or a small seed and it will grow.  Sometimes it is just good to talk story about it and have her hear the stories. She will come around when she is ready. I am glad that things are looking up, even if it is just a little,

EP: so interviews were pretty crazy. as a zone leader we had to be there all day and after president and sister Egbert took us out to eat. there was a huge tv in the restaurant and the basketball playoffs were on and i only had to gouge out my eyes to not watch haha. 

M: You are so funny, it will be here when you get home!

How did your interview go?

EP: it was good. we talked about what i told you last week. how i just felt the impression to just keep working. he told me ya a lot of time we just have to do that. and he shared a story about something similar. so it was good. and then we talked about like all the missionaries in the zone.

M: So far, in your new responsibility, what is your greatest take away, what have you learned?

EP: a lot of stress and always being tired haha. nah its been cool. its a lot more responsibility and its a little harder cause we cant like check up on all the missionaries we gotta trust in the district leaders to help them so its kinda hard. we gotta like work down the chain to get things done and they usually don’t get done like we want them too but were trying haha. 

M: Tired means you are working hard and if it is a good tired, it's satisfying. Learning how to deal with things that are sometimes out of your control, hard lesson, but a good one to learn now.  It’s where I am and the stuff we have been talking about. We gatta learn to not stress about things out of our control and make the things that are in our control the best that they can be.  It's good life lessons for you. PTT is huge in these times!

EP: ya but i gotta go sorry. love you guys talk to you guys in a week. have a great week.

Love,
Elder Park

Pictures from Zone Interviews(mexicopachucaldsmission.blogspot.com)

 

House Checks

  

 

 

He loves his tie Papa! Thanks

Mexico Pachuca - Week 75 - April 20, 2015

(Excerpts from his email)

hey sounds good. its been another tough week but i think i am understanding things a little better. we had a bunch of lessons this week and we have been working super hard, harder than ever in my whole mission and we had no one in church on Sunday. it was pretty disappointing but i have felt more than ever i have to just go to work. work and work and work some more and maybe love a little more too hah.

M: So what kind of things are you understanding better? 

EP: idk i was just in the district class this Wednesday and i just felt stop complaining stop making excuses and go to work. haha cause i honestly didn’t want to come to Pachuca again haha. and this area hasn’t been super good for a while but i just felt more than ever the impression like stop being a baby and do what you have to do. 

M: Yes, I guess you and I are having the same impressions.  It just lets me know that the Lord is so aware of us, He is allowing us to learn the same lessons at the same time to help each other through.  But yes, that is the same impression I got, we have to just stop, stop complaining, stop whining and do what we are asked to do.  Sometimes it is not easy, sometimes it doesn't even make sense to us, but, it is what someone is asking us to do and so we can choose to accept it and do it happily or we can be mad and frustrated.  The way we choose to do things affects those around us. I always hear it is hard to not smile when someone is smiling at you.  So do it with a smile and a passion for the gospel and people will have no choice but be drawn to you and the spirit that you bring.  It's not easy, i have to stop myself, sometimes more than once in a day and tell myself handle it better. Keep working son, the Lord knows your needs and He will bless you when the time is right.  It kind of sounds like your last two areas anyway, where you had to do a lot of work in the beginning.

EP: ya that’s what i keep telling myself. It’s like where i was last time. i got there with nothing and had to start all over again so its just something i gotta do. but i got the boxes today haha. there was three. two from you and one from the primary. the ties are awesome thank you.

M: A story please

EP: nah i really don’t know. we taught a bunch of people. we found a bunch of new people but nothing super crazy. nothing interesting haha.

M: Ok, well then you can always bear your testimony.

EP: pues se que esta es la iglesia verdadera y este es la obra del Señor. No esta fácil y nunca he sentido tan cansado en toda mi vida pero nunca he sido tan bendecido. Realmente no somos nada. El Padre es quien hace todo nada mas podemos ser instrumentos en sus manos y ayudar en lo que el tiene preparado. Amo esta obra. No hay nada mejor o mas importante que la obra misional. Tenemos la oportunidad de ayudar a otras personas llegar al reino de nuestro Padre y tener una familia eterna. Hoy en la mañana termine el libro de mormón otra vez en la misión. Se que es verdad y podemos encontrar la guía y las respuestas que necesitamos por cualquier cosa en nuestras vidas. Estoy muy agradecido por la oportunidad que mi Padre Celestial me ha dado de servir como uno de sus misioneros. La misión ha cambiado mi vida. Estoy muy agradecido por mi familia mis amigos y todos de mi familia de la iglesia. He podido aprender mucho de cada uno de ustedes. Son ejemplos para mi y les agradezco mucho. Se que este es el camino correcto por cada uno de nosotros. El único camino para tener una felicidad eterna. Les invito a buscarlo, a seguirlo, y hacer todas las cosas necesarias de ser fieles a este camino por que se que encontrarán todo lo que necesitan y quieren. Les amo con todo mi corazón. Gracias por todo lo que han hecho y hacen por mi. Gracias por todas sus oraciones.

M: Awesome.

So other than the work being hard, you good son?

EP: ya i am good. tired but good. and just hoping for a little more luck haha. . we just need to keep working. well I gotta go. love you guys. have a great week.

Love,
Elder Park

Mexico Pachuca - Week 74 - April 13, 2015

(Excerpts from his email)

we have had that kind of week too here, long and hard but a lot of learning. we have spent the last two weeks looking for people to teach and looking and looking but its been a little hard. not a lot of success and not the success as fast as we would like but we just gotta keep going. something i have learned on the mission more than anything else is that we can do anything, if we choose to do something we can do it. There’s a talk that says we can be creatures of circumstances or creators of circumstances. haha like a member told us yesterday my kids have the choice about church. they can choose to go to church happy or they can choose to go to church mad. sometimes we cant choose our circumstances or the things that happen around us but we can choose to make the best of it.

M: Yes, that is what I am learning, I always have control over how I react to circumstances, people, events, etc. I just have to choose to react better and to continue to move forward rather than allow it to stall me or push me back.

EP: Some pictures from the field:

chile habanero contest round 2. before and after

Ate bugs for the first time

M: really son, bugs for food?  

EP: if they give it you you gotta eat it. they were ok. just like super crunchy i think the worst part was thinking i cant believe I’m eating bugs!

well this week we walked the loads again. talking to so many people and its been a little hard. i feel more tired than ever i feel like I’m working harder than my whole mission and I’m having less success haha it kinda sucks but that’s part of life i feel. so this week we had our zone training. first time i had to give the zone training but it was really good. i learned a lot and i feel like me and my companion are working hard on getting better at that part. we talked about asking heaven inspired questions. so we have been trying to do that more. so we had a lesson with a sister named bertha. we started by asking a bunch of questions getting to know her and stuff like that. it was a super good lesson and then the member that came with us shared an awesome testimony. she just said the best thing that helped her in her life was finding the true gospel. she was super direct but super sure of herself and it was a really powerful testimony. its a really simple sister who probably doesn’t know much but she could share what she knew with a lot of confidence and it was really cool. then the daughter of bertha came and listened to like the second half of the lesson. at the end of the lesson the mom accepted the invitation to get baptized and her daughter was like are you crazy what are you saying. i think its just a testimony of how much a strong testimony and some questions can help people feel the spirit and do things you would never imagine. it was cool but she didn’t come to church so that sucked. gotta go sorry so fast. love you have a great week

Love,
Elder Park

Mexico Pachuca - Week 73 - April 6, 2015

(Excerpts from his email)

Well you guys definitely have to watch conference there were some awesome talks. Changes are interesting. i am in Pachuca Mexico again. the same zone i was in when i started the mission but a different ward. It’s a little tough cause we really have like nothing (prospects) and i left so much but it’s what i gotta do. i did it in my last area, i gotta do it again i think it will be a little more difficult cause the area is a little more difficult but were gonna go to work and my companion is super good so we will see.

M: So who is your companion, where is he from, how long has he been out, do you have new responsibilities?

EP: his name is elder Castaño. another Columbian hah. he has 14 months in the mission. yup new responsibilities again. right now i am a zone leader. so me and my companion are like responsible for the whole zone. we work normal we just have some other responsibilities. we have to plan trainings and we give reports for the zone. the zone is like 20 missionaries. so last cycle i was district leader. i just had like 4 missionaries in my district and i had to report to the zone leaders.

conference was good though i recommend the Holland talk from Sunday morning. it was a little weird cause president Monson only spoke once and his talk was really short but it was  a good conference. the priesthood session was super good like always. the theme was super family based. focus on families and if your not married yet hurry up and get married haha. it was interesting. 

 

M: I love Elder Holland, he always speaks to what I need.  We will start reading conference as soon as it is available.  Okay, about the married thing, I think that needs to be in perspective, one finding the right woman, two finishing school and then yes, marriage.

EP: his talk was super awesome. he started with a story that was just crazy. you should watch the talk not read it just to hear how he tells the story. his emotions make it better haha. another apostle(elder oaks i think) just said that many people think you need to finish school before you get married but that is not understanding the eternal plan god has for us.

well this week was pretty uneventful. we spent pretty much the whole time knocking doors and talking to as many people as we could cause we don’t have a lot of people to teach right now. we walked and walked and walked and walked and a lot of people told us no and ya. well we were walking around forever and no one wanted to listen to us so we said a prayer in the street and asked for help to find someone who would listen to us. so we finish the prayer walk around the corner and knock the first door on the street. the lady whose house it was comes walking up the street and is just like come in. it was super weird we didn’t even tell her who we were or anything. we go in and she leaves us at he table and starts doing stuff around the house. i just look at my companion like what is going on is she a member or something? she finally comes back and says ok I’m ready now. so we start teaching her she had never talked to missionaries before but her mother in law has gone to the chapel a few times for relief society classes. she accepted everything super well and even accepted a baptismal date. unfortunately she didn’t go to church this Sunday so we don’t know what really happened. it was just super weird. 

M: Oh but an immediate answer to the prayer for someone to listen to you!  That is the coolest most important part of the story.  A prayer was sent up to a Father in Heaven who really truly does listen to us and He answered it as He felt was necessary.  I am sure you will go back and see her and maybe she will listen again, maybe not, but the fact is your prayers were answered and that is cool.  Thank you for the story and the lesson on prayer anywhere is heard. So you good son?

EP: i am good. tired super tired but good haha. my feet hurt from walking so much and walking on dirt paths again but I’m good. just gotta go to work. work work work there’s nothing else i can do

M: and it will get better, it always does as long as you stay positive and you continue to practice perfect obedience. I'm proud of you son.  I know that things are not always as you would like them to be and I know that you don’t always share with me everything, but I also know that you know what is right and you have grown into an exemplary young man with a purpose.  Your heart is in the right place and so I know you will be well.  Even the not so good times are good cause you are in the service of your Heavenly Father.  I am reading in Mosiah about King Benjamin and he says that when you are in the service of your fellow mem, you are only in the service of your God. I know that, I have that scripture memorized from seminary, but sometimes when you read it, like I am now, trying to really read and understand, it takes on a different meaning, it makes so much more sense. It also makes serving not so difficult even when it is really difficult!  So keep serving and working knowing that you are serving our Father in Heaven.  I also read in Mosiah about the blessings that immediately come from being obedient and following the commandments, so I know that you are receiving blessings and will continue to as you serve.  Tired, I know about tired, but we can be tired and still work really hard. So you have the right attitude and mindset and heart, so I know you are good.

EP: yes thank you i also read in Helaman this morning. i am almost gonna finish the book of Mormon again but anyways i was reading in Helaman and Nephi was sad. he was afflicted because of the hearts of the nephites. but the voice of the lord came to him and said blessed art thou Nephi because you have been working all thy days. something like that i don’t remember in English cause i am reading in Spanish haha. i also noticed that i have read the scriptures more in Spanish than English and i know the scriptures better in Spanish than English. but i know its gonna be hard but its better when you gotta fight for it. we will see. hopefully this week will be better. just gotta stay excited and work. thank you for everything i will talk to you guys in a week. love you. have a great week

Love,
Elder Park