New People to Teach...

Hi guys,

So I feel like my group emails are always a mess, sorry about that.

Uhh this week was really good but it's snowing again. Oh whale.

We had a super sweet lesson with one of our investigators (we're down to two now). His name is Ivan and he's super smart and probably has the most "real intent" of anyone that I've ever taught. The only bummer is that because he's a teacher at the university, he's going home for the summer next week. SO. We need to find some new people to teach.

Anyways, the lesson was good, I can't even describe teaching people about the gospel. When the Spirit's there, it good. If the Spirit's not there, it's bad. That's literally it ha ha but it such a cool experience when it's good. Ivan wasn't sure if we'd be able to meet this week and he said he probably wasn't going to be able to come to church because he had to grade papers all weekend. He gave us a box of super fancy chocolates and maple butter. I love him.

We went to the Sansomes last week, I guess I didn't tell you guys yet. So Norm and Mazie Sansome are super sweet and super Newfie. They live in this little...shack? across the bay that Norm built himself. He wanted to feed us seal, but to our relief, seal hunting wasn't good that day apparently. so we had "trout", but I'm pretty sure it was salmon. We also had cod nuggets (?), and cod tongue, which apparently is a delicacy. It was fried, so it didn't taste as bad as it sounds.

We went to Dennis' house this week in Cox's cove and he cut our hair. I was so proud of my hair for finally growing for the last six months, but nope, Dennis said it was all dead and chopped it off. Whatever.

So here's a super cool experience. Sister De Vuyst, Sister Holloway and I decided to fast yesterday for a few things, one was that Ivan could come to church and recognize answers to his prayers, and two that we could find new people to teach. So church starts and we're sitting there thinking no one is coming and then we look up right as the meeting is starting, and in walks Ivan. He told us that he was able to grade papers way faster than he thought he would, so he was able to come. Hopefully we can help him recognize that Heavenly Father always answers our prayers, in a lot of different ways.

Also, there was a new part-member family at church (!!!!!!) that just moved in. This Branch is tiny, so a new member practically winning the Mormon lottery. Like I said, it's a part-member family, but the mom is interested in the Church. So. New person to teach!

You know in The Best Two Years when Elder Calhoun is like "we need to fast!"? Yep. Same. It works.

Auldrey left this week so that was the worst. I miss that girl, she's so cool and I wish I could have as much faith as her. So yeah, s/o to Auldrey for being my hero.

Also. Sarah and Sharon and Brianna came home! That was the best. We talked all about General Conference and the temple and my family and America and oh I missed them so so soooo much. I feel like they just got home from a mission or something, I don't know. I was just super happy to see them.

I can't really think of anything else but yeah! hope everyone has a great week! Church is true!

Sister Park

Twillingate, Lower Cove, Church

Hi guys!

Sorry there's like no time because of all the pictures, but I hope that's okay!

We went to Twillingate with Sister Crump and Sister Thomson last week on Monday, it was so pretty. We didn't see any icebergs, but no worries, it was still way fun.

Our investigator, Ivan, came to church yesterday! It was the best! Our trio sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" in sacrament meeting and the Spirit was so strong, I loved it, despite my lack of vocal talent.

Yesterday, we also went to Lower Cove, which is in Stephenville crossing. The pictures with me in the red skirt were taken there. It's actually in a member's backyard. She lives about an hour and 45 minutes away from the church building, so we brought sacrament meeting to her yesterday and then took some pictures while we were there.

So yeah, we met with some cool people and saw some cool things this week.

Life is good, God is good.

Sister Park

Muslim or Mormon?

Hi guys,

So the title of this email actually came from an investigator. That was an actual question he asked in our lesson. I might be a little biased, but I'd recommend Mormon.

First of all, some of my best friends here are in Utah right now and they hung out with my family which just makes my life. Some of my favorite people all got together and I missed it! Ha ha I'll have my mom post some of the pictures she sent me though. Hope it was fun. :)

Anyways, this week was good.We had two lessons and lots of travel. Auldrey came on a mini mission with us. She's a university student here and she's basically the coolest. Mini mission means lots of cool experiences, but it also means sleepover, so it was a good time all around. We had Zone Conference in Gander, which is like half way across the island, so I did a lot of driving for that. The conference was really good though and it was nice to see President. We also had to stop for McDonald's and honestly it was the best thing ever, I haven't had fast food in so long.

So we got back from Gander on Saturday and the STLs (who live in Gander) called and asked if we could drive back the next day for an exchange so we could go to Twillingate together. So we did. And hey, we saw two moose crossing the highway on the way here. I was driving, but Sister Holloway got a picture. I'll send it next week. The one I sent has one of the moose on the left side.

We got to Gander and it was 9 degrees above 0, and the sky was so cute so there's a lot of pictures of that. I accidentally drove kind of fast, so we got there early and went to the beach at Cobb's Pond. 

We also found out that Sister De Vuyst's visa came. My baby missionary is all grown up and going to Arizona at the end of the month. I'll miss her.

So yeah, we're gonna try to go see some icebergs now. Sorry this is a short email but as Easton would say "what do you do?"

Sister Park

Breakup Texts and Blizzards in April

Hey Everyone, 

I hope you all enjoyed General Conference as much as we did here in Newfoundland. I'll talk about it a little more at the end of this email.

So yeah, it's been a good but hard but crazy week.

Our investigator on date to be baptized dumped us pretty hard. Not that I've gotten many, but it was definitely the worst break up text ever ha ha.

Well, if the people you're teaching don't want to listen to you, you find new people to teach. And so we did! We were able to find four new people this week, which honestly is a miracle in this area. They were all so excited about the Book of Mormon and how they can read and pray about it for themselves.

We also invited one of our investigators, Sharon, to be baptized. Sister De Vuyst was trying to extend the full invitation and Sharon just kept interrupting her and saying "yes" ha ha it was great. It went something like:

Sister De Vuyst: "Will you..."

Sharon: "yes"

Sister De Vuyst: "...follow the example..."

Sharon: "yep"

Sister De Vuyst: "...of Jesus Christ and be..."

Sharon: "mhmm"

Sister De Vuyst: "...baptized by someone..."

Sharon: "yeah"

Sister De Vuyst: "...holding the priesthood..."

Sharon: "yeah"

Sister De Vuyst: "...authority of God?"

Sharon: "yes"

Ha ha so that was really cool. We're still trying to figure out a date with her.

Being in a trio is definitely different. It's only been a few days, so I don't really know yet. Buying food is cheaper so that's rad. It's definitely got some challenges, but the Church is still true and things always work out.

So back to General Conference. I noticed a few reoccurring themes, and two of them are temples and the foundational doctrine that we are children of God.

I love knowing that there are 150 temples throughout the world. The kingdom of God is growing! :)

So many of the speakers mentioned that we are all children of God. One of my questions I was looking to have answered during General Conference was "What does the Church need to hear and apply most in the next six months to better prepare for the Second Coming of the Savior?" and here's my answer. 

If every person was to truly understand who they are and who they really can be, no sacrifice would seem too great, no burden too heavy, no commandment too small, no ordinance too irrelevant. Everything in the Church leads to the temple, which ultimately, leads us back into the presence of our Heavenly Father, to live with Him forever. That's the goal. And it's totally achievable because of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. What a blessing. So yeah, if you don't really believe that you are a child of God with your whole soul, watch Conference again and figure out how you can, because it's honestly such a key point of knowledge in our eternal progression that we can all work to understand a little better.

Well, I've got to go shovel the foot of snow we got last night out of the entrance to our apartment. Have a great week!

Sister Park