Change is Good!

Hello everybody! 

This week was crazy! Such a diverse range of emotions! 

It was really hard to say goodbye to Pocatello and all the amazing people I got to know and teach there. It was also super hard to say goodbye to Sister Dominguez. We became fast friends and it stunk that we only got one transfer together :(

But Montpelier and Sister Mizelle are both great! Sister M has been out for about 15 months and is so wise! She has already taught me so much and I literally have a page full of insightful things she has said in the past 5 days. She was sick last night so we had to stay home, but that gave us a great opportunity to get to know each other a little better! I think we will get along really well :)

Montpelier is so amazing! The people here are all so nice and super missionary minded! We are surprisingly super busy despite the high population of members in Montpelier.

We are teaching a lot of less active members which is really cool. I've done a little less active work in all my areas but never as much as we do here. 

We are teaching this awesome guy named Dave. He has been living completely outside of the gospel for about 40 years and just started coming back when the sisters found him last transfer. He is working on overcoming his addictions to smoking and coffee and is preparing to receive the Melchizedek priesthood. He went to church yesterday and in his new suit and he was so proud of it! He said everyone kept telling him he looked like a movie star. He texts us everyday and thanks us for all the help the sisters have given him and to tell us that he loves us. He is one of my favorite people I've met so far! He proves that you are never too old or too far gone to come back into the gospel fold! 

Well I love you all so much! Thank you for keeping the missionaries in your prayers! We feel it! 

Until next time,

Sister Park

 Sister Park,
Can I just take a minute and thank you for who you are. You just need to know that I am so proud of you for the example you set for all you come in contact with. I'm just so greatful for your desire to serve Heavenly Father and His children. Keep up the good work. Thanks for being a great leader.

Love you much,

President Hancock

Bittersweet Week

Hello! 

So this was like the funnest, most entertaining, hilarious week on mission thus far. Haha trios are great but we probably didn't get as much done as we could have... We spent a little too much time making music videos and telling funny stories! But I love Sisters Reupena and Dominguez so much and I know we will be friends long after the mission is over! 

Sadly though, I am getting transferred so our time together is coming abruptly to a close. I am headed off to Montpelier with Sister Mizelle on Wednesday! I'm excited but also super sad to leave this area. I love Pocatello so much and working with the YSA has been such a great experience. 

So enough sad news, lets get to the good stuff! Rian was baptized on Saturday! It was so great! She was glowing the entire time and was so happy! She had two of her friends from high school speak and then we had an elder from our mission do a musical number. Rian had her uncle, who is the only other member of the church in her family, baptize her. 

Rian is such a great example to me. Her family was not supportive at all of her decision to get baptized. Her mom didn't even show up to the baptism and all her dad said to her when he walked in was that she looked like a marshmallow. Buuuut... Rian was super strong and kept a smile on her face and had a great day because of it! 

Well I hope you all have a great week! 

I love ya! 

Until next time,

Sister Park

P.S. 

Funny story from this week: We met a very interesting young man named Jeff who told us that he was a pagan witch and that he was really into magic and stuff. To get a mental picture of Jeff in your mind: picture a 20 year old kid with shoulder length brown hair and blond streaks, eyeliner, sparkly black nail polish and a black tank top. So meeting him was weird enough but then like 10 minutes later we walk by and he is dancing around with this white magic wand that he is levitating in the air (we're telling ourselves there was a string attached). It was so hilarious! But also kind of scary. Definitely the weirdest thing I've seen thus far on my mission. 

Forget Yourself

Hello! Hope y'all had a great week! 

Things here are going well! 

We have adopted another sister, Sister Reupena, into our companionship so now we are in a trio until next week.Sister Dominguez actually trained Sis. R and they are like best friends so they are having fun being together again. 

Everything is still on for Rian's baptism next week! She is doing great and will have her baptismal interview on Tuesday. 

Erika is doing great as well. We taught her about faith and repentance this week. She always has a lot of questions which is so awesome. 

So we got to speak in church yesterday and we got to pick our own topics. So I based my talk on one of my favorite bible scriptures: Matt 16:24-25.

24 ¶Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

I talked about how this scripture perfectly explains the biggest lesson I have learned thus far on my mission. I realized that my whole pre-mission life revolved around me. Growing up it was always about me doing well in school, me getting a good part in the ballet, me looking perfect in pictures, me, me, me. On my mission I have learned that as I give my life to Christ and forget myself in His work, I truly have found myself and I feel HAPPY!! I will be forever grateful for the wake-up call my mission has been.

Well I have to get going! I love you all! 

Until next time,

Sister Park

Great Things Are Happening!

Happy 4th of July!!

Today is an all day P-day for us so we got to sleep in this morning and we get to be out until 10 tonight! Pretty crazy huh?

This last week was great! Things are picking up and the Lord is blessing us! 

We are still working with Rian and preparing her for her baptism on the 16th! She is doing great and is excited/nervous for her big day! 

We also set another baptism date with our investigator Ashley for August 6th! We had a great lesson with her and she was talking about how the Book of Mormon has answered a lot of the questions that shes had since she was a little girl. It was a very spiritual lesson and we invited her to be baptized and she said she wanted to! So we set the date! 

We also have a new investigator named Erika and she is totally awesome! She is from Ammon and I actually met her mom and tried to teach her while I was serving there but it never really worked out. Then last Sunday our bishop comes up to us and says that there is a new investigator at church and introduces us to each other. It didn't take long before we connected the dots and realized that she was the same Erika I tried to teach in Ammon! We had our first lesson with her on Thursday and it was awesome! She has felt the spirit as she has come to church and she is super prepared. Its just hard for her because her parents aren't supportive (what else is new?). But shes great and we love her! 

I love this area and hope I get to stay here for the rest of my mission! Haha that probably won't happen but I hope to stay for a while :)

Also big news! All the sisters in our mission will get to go to Star Valley, Wyoming for 10 days and take people on tours of the temple before its dedicated! Its gonna be awesome!! 

I love you all! Hope you have a happy and safe 4th! 

Until next time,

Sister Park