Miracles in Freddy Town

Hey everyone,

So yeah, things are good. I love this city.

We had a lesson that fell through this week, so we felt like we should go talk to people downtown because people are always there.

So we did and we met this guy named William. We taught him twice that same week and he came to church yesterday. He even bore his testimony and he really wants to be baptized. The story is actually even cooler than that, but I'll save it until he actually gets baptized because that would make it cooler.

That was a major miracle this week and it was also sprinkled with smaller ones. Beginning to understand the doctrine of Christ honestly has made such a huge difference.

Also, someone threw some KoolAid at us this week, so that was great ha ha.

The other missionaries in my district are all so fun, we have four Elders in Fredericton along with Sister Rice and I. Sister Rice is a total weirdo and I love her tons.

Exciting news, Elder Renlund is coming on Sunday. I'm super pumped and as much as I miss Newfoundland, I'm grateful to be on mainland now so I can go hear an Apostle of the Lord speak. Oh and William is coming too, so that makes it even better.

A ton of stuff happened this week and I'm super exhausted but it was so grape (Sister Rice actually appreciates my food puns and now I can't stop). I had to schedule another oil change which I hate doing but the people at Canadian Tire in New Brunswick are actually really cool so it all worked out. We honestly are so blessed to have cars in this mission though, I'm souper grateful.

I've been missing dancing a ton lately, but I know that serving a mission was the greatest investment I could have ever made in myself and I'm so grateful that I chose to. My vision and capacity to understand the gospel has been increased so much. And my charity. Everything is still not perfect, obviously, but it has been amazing so far. This week was all gouda and I hope you're all doing well.

Love you!

Sister Park

Fredericton, New Brunswick

Hey,

So yep, transfers happened. I keep feeling like I'm just here on exchange and like I'll be going back home to Corner Brook any day now. 

Fredericton is honestly such a gorgeous city. There's a river running through it, there's a really pretty bridge and all of the buildings downtown are absolutely stunning. 

I'm in a ward again, so that's different. Honestly I feel like I got transferred to a completely different mission, this is nothing like Newfoundland. There's a lot of Muslims here, but they're all pretty cool. Different culture completely. Also it was like 25 degrees and I was under the impression that I was coming to Canada (you know, where it's cold) on my mission. I guess I've probably gotten used to lower temperatures, so when it was 25 I just about died it was so hot. It's super humid too, so that's going to make my life so incredibly fun, I'm sure.

I am really excited to serve here though. There was just three baptisms in this area and all of the recent converts are pretty awesome. Sister Champ from my MTC group was here and she's an awesome missionary. We actually just switched places during transfers. President probably sent her to Corner Brook to pick up my slack ha ha.

There's a pretty cool family here, the Rays, that we're working with. They fed us last night (they have a dinner calendar here which is such a foreign concept to me) and yeah they're a lot of fun. Super funny people, we laughed a lot and I like them.

My new companion is Sister Rice. She's from Alberta and she's waiting for her visa to go to Idaho (Idk why Pres keeps giving me visa waiters, maybe he just doesn't want me to mess up the missionaries who will actually be staying in this mission lol). Just kidding, I try to be obedient (I actually try really hard) and I do the best that I can in everything that is asked of me. I figure that's the best I have to offer and Heavenly Father can work with that, as immature and weak as I am. Being a missionary is pretty fun.

Anyways, Sister Rice. She is a little older than me and has been on her mission for three months (Sister Champ actually trained her while I was training Sister De Vuyst, so I saw her via Skype a lot the last two transfers). She's a super skilled missionary and she's really nice. She's the type of girl that takes her shoes off at church, but she's still alright and I like her well enough. We stayed up kinda late last night talking (oops) and I think we'll get along pretty well.

So my mom emailed me this story and I really liked it so here:

"In sacrament meeting today Brother Farr our high councilman talked about grace. He related an analogy from John Bytheway. A father was bringing in groceries from the car to the kitchen, his 2 year old daughter wanted to help. His daughter was at the age where she wanted to do everything herself. She was determined to carry in a gallon of milk which is 8 pounds. As she struggled her father picked her up and carried her into the kitchen. Once inside the little girl tells her Mom that she carried in the milk all by herself. The father represents Jesus's grace. Through his grace we can carry our gallon of milk."

Super grateful that Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to be able to accomplish what He asks us to without His help and the help of the Saviour.

So yeah, lots of other stuff happened. We played basketball and chair soccer and I tried really hard not to hate every minute of it ha ha. Still adjusting, but this is a beautiful place to serve and at the end of the day, having the opportunity to represent and bless others in the place of the Saviour is so worth it.

So yeah, have a great week!

Sister Park

181 Parkside Drive #32

Fredericton, NB

E3B 5L7

Canada

Bye Corner Brook :(

Hey,

To be honest, I can't even remember what happened this week. I remember I got to talk to my family, so that was sweet. And we spent a lot of time with Sarah, Sharon and Brianna. So that was also sweet.

So yeah. We found out about transfers last night, so we had a nice time lying on the floor trying not to think about it. Then I got a call late last night saying that I needed to be at the airport at 4 am this morning :-) It was horrible ha ha.

When it came to travel plans this week, the APs didn't exactly nail it. Let's just say that neither I nor the Edwards (who had to drive me to the airport) were the happiest of campers.

So I stayed up packing, got 3 hours of sleep, and then flew to Halifax (which is where I am now).

I'm definitely going to miss Newfoundland, but I knew that it was time for me to go. It was definitely hard to say goodbye. I haven't felt too upset about it yet (that can partially be credited to lack of sleep),  but I've actually felt a lot of peace. More that anything, I just have this overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the time that I was able to serve in Corner Brook.

I know Heavenly Father will take care of everything and I'm so grateful that He allowed me to get to know and care so deeply about some of His children in Newfoundland. His plan really is perfect.

Oh, I didn't even say where I'm moving to. I don't know what we're doing today (hopefully taking a nap), but tomorrow I'll be off to Fredericton, New Brunswick with Sister Rice (she came out at the same time as Sister DeVuyst). I'm really am excited, so many good things are happening in that area right now.

So my time zones are all messed up and I've had no sleep and I feel like a vampire because I haven't seen the sun in 6 months, but hey. I'm so good and I've been so blessed.

I hope you all have a great week :)

I'll send you my address next week.

Love,

Sister Park

Stephenville, Swan Lake, and Creepy Old Men

Hi guys,

Side note, did you know that missionaries aren't supposed to say "guys"? Apparently it's slang. It probably seems like we have a bunch of small little rules that don't even matter, but we really just are trying to be the best we can be and when we are obedient when it comes to the little things, it's that much easier to be obedient when it comes to the big things.

I miss Sister De Vuyst and Auldrey :(

Last Monday was actually Sister De Vuyst's 20th birthday and the day she left for Arizona. We drove to this...kinda sketchy? part of town because she wanted to go to a thrift store, but the we couldn't find the one she wanted and just yeah, we decided to go home and eat birthday cake instead.

I got a letter from Mama Brown this week! It made my whole week. Thank you so much, Nickole!

We have an investigator that lives in Stephenville, which is like an hour away. So we made a day of it and totally failed at trying to find the addresses of some potentials. After several failed attempts to find a man who lives in a French community out past Lower Cove, we gave up and went to a cute bakery that our investigator, Ivan, recommended. Don't worry, that was our dinner hour. We weren't being disobedient. Stephenville used to be US Air Force base, so all of the streets are named after American states. It was great.

Ivan moved back to Toronto this week :( He bought us more chocolate though from the Newfoundland Chocolate Company. They were little chocolate beach pebbles and they were soooooo good. I'll miss him.

We had a correlation meeting with all the missionaries this week and one Elder was just dying to tell all of us something at the end of the meeting. His companions kept telling him to wait until after the closing prayer. The moment finally came and he was just burst out "Guess what! I got an email saying that they're coming out with a new kind of garments in 2017!!!!" And then we all just stared at him awkwardly. He was so thrilled, it was hilarious. Sister Edwards and I died laughing after the Elders left, ha ha.

Sarah and Sharon had us over for dinner twice this week because they are literally angels. The first night, they got my mom's recipe for Hawaiian Haystacks (which I love). It was the sweetest thing, they were so excited to make them for me. The second time was kinda unexpected. We had salads and we totally ate all of their lettuce. But no worries, we doorbell ditched them later with a head of lettuce and a sign that said "We're grateful you lettuce stay for dinner". My jokes are still as lame as they were when I left, sorry. It's also really hard to be sneaky when you have to wear a skirt. 

A bunch of old men hit on me this week so that's kinda disgusting.When the sun starts coming out, so do all the weirdos. But no worries, we're all children of God and if they're really interested, they will be just as happy to listen to the Elders as they are to listen to us. 

We had games night on Saturday at a member's house in Humber Valley Resort with the branch and it was honestly so much fun. I was just looking around the table while we were playing Five Crowns and I just had the thought, "Wow. I am so happy." It was a good moment. And Sarah won and that's her favorite game, so that made it better.

So yep. I was a grown up and made asparagus last night.

We're going to Trout River and Gros Mourne today with the Elders, the Edwards and Dennis. Trying to see as much of the island as I can while I'm still here. I've been blessed to see a lot more that most missionaries sent here. Also, transfers are coming up, so on the off chance anyone was planning to send me anything, don't. I'll update you with where I am next week. :)

I think that's about everything. Lots of knocking on doors and lots of rejection, but no worries. I hope you like the picture of me dancing in the park. You can take the girl out of Swan Lake, but you can't take Swan Lake out of the girl. It's just a lot harder to do in a pencil skirt.

Love you guys!

Sister Park