The last one...

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. 

I cannot believe my mission is over. It seemed like this day would never actually come. This week was seriously the fastest week of my mission. I feel like yesterday was Monday and now its here again! 

This week was amazing and also really hard! So first of all, Ron and Deb moved their temple day up so I could be there! We got to go on Thursday with them when Debie received her endowment and it was amazing!!! It was the grand finale of my mission to be able to be there for that. They are seriously such incredible people and I have been able to watch their transformation over the past couple months. In October they both refused to come to church, wouldn't pay tithing, and didn't want to give up coffee. Now Deb has read the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants, they've both come to church every Sunday since Christmas, they've paid tithing for the past 2 months, and they are temple worthy!!! Saying goodbye to them last night was super hard for us and them. They told us it felt like they were losing their own kids. 

We also said goodbye to the Twitchells last night which was so sad! Erin (the mom) has become one of my good friends and I have seen her blossom so much since she has returned to church. I have come to love their family so much. Maddy and Kylie remind me so much of me and Mckell when we were little! They are the cutest and I can't wait to see what they do with the rest of their lives! 

I could go on and on about all of the amazing people I've met out here but I'll be able to tell you guys about it in person or over the phone pretty soon so I'll wait on that :)

It has been an emotional roller coaster of a week for sure. I've just been doing a lot of pondering about the past 18 months and how blessed I have been. I've met so many people that will be a part of my life forever. I have played a small part in helping Heavenly Father find and help the lost and lonely sheep. This has been the most fulfilling journey I have ever taken. 

My mission has not been easy. There were times I wanted to quit. But I knew that if I kept pressing forward I would do great things. I knew the Lord would sustain me and help me. And that He did. I have learned who God is and who His son, Jesus Christ is. I've learned that they love me and want to help me. I've learned who I am. I have gained confidence in myself and in my Heavenly Father that I was certainly lacking before. 

I wanted to be able to say by the end of my mission that I had changed. I wanted to say that my testimony grew. I wanted to say that I had helped others and served with all my heart. I know I haven't been a perfect missionary and there were times when I didn't say the right thing or times when I didn't take an opportunity to talk to someone I could have. But I gave the Lord my best. I am proud of myself and the mission I have completed. I can say with confidence that I will return with honor. 

I love you all so much and have been so grateful for your support this last year and a half. I hope to hear from all of you soon or see you soon! I'm not sure what my new number is yet but message me on Facebook or something and I'll get it to you. 

With much love,

Until tomorrow,

Sister Park 

*Temple with Ron and Deb 

*Erin!

Perks of a Mission!

Hello! 

This is my second to last email so its gotta be good right? 

We had a pretty good week. It was a little slow as far as teaching goes but we had some good experiences. Our teaching pool has gotten a lot smaller but we still have some solid people we are working with. Not a whole lot of investigators, but a ton of less active members!

We had a really cool experience this week with a lady we are teaching. We've been teaching her for a couple months now and she finally opened up to us about some of her concerns with coming to church. She has a lot of hard feelings towards members of the church for some pretty valid reasons. So we talked to her about forgiveness and showed her a video about a guy whose family was killed by a drunk driver and how he chose to forgive the driver. It was a very powerful lesson and we hope that she can find it in her heart to forgive those people and come to church! 

Its after those moments that I really really really do not want to come home. When else in my life will I be able to have intimate spiritual moments with people that I've only known for a couple months?? Or people that I have just met that day?! I love being a missionary and being able to help others break down barriers and strengthen their testimonies. I sure will miss it. 

Well I hope you all have a great week!! 

Until next time,

Sister Park

*Sister Jones! One of my faves :)

*Our little handout for the training we did about goals!

1.5 went way too fast!!!

Hola familia! 

Sis. Jarvis

How are y'all? 

I hit my 18-month mark on my mission yesterday which was really exciting! I can't believe how fast the last year and a half has gone! I still don't think its hit me that I'm going home in 2 weeks. I know its happening but it hasn't fully registered in my mind yet. 

We have some exciting changes in the mission that we just found out about. First of all our schedule will be quite different. We used to have set time to do pretty much everything we do but now we have a lot more agency in deciding when we do things. I'll attach a copy of our new schedule at the bottom. 

We had a pretty slow week as far as teaching goes. We had a pretty disappointing lesson with Bonnie last night. We had committed her to pray about being baptized on February 10th and were praying so hard that she would accept but when we got to her lesson she told us she still wasn't sure. I've been teaching Bonnie for the entire 7 months I've been in this area and I was really hoping she might be ready to be baptized before I left but that didn't happen. It was pretty discouraging for me and Sister Reupena. We both wondered if there was something that we did wrong or how we could have better helped her to be prepared for baptism. But as I was thinking about it, the words of President Uchtdorf came into my mind, "Faith is powerful, and often it does result in miracles. But no matter how much faith we have, there are two things faith cannot do. For one, it cannot violate another person’s agency. The second thing faith cannot do is force our will upon God." 

So as much as we love Bonnie and as much as we want her to decide to get baptized, we can't control that. That is a choice she must make. We can pray for her everyday and hope that she will make the right decision but ultimately its up to her. 

Elaine is still doing good. Ron and Debie are doing amazing!! Deb got her patriarchal blessing yesterday and said it was an amazing experience! They also moved their temple day up! They were going to wait until October but they realized they just couldn't wait so they are now going through February 14th! So sadly I wont be able to be there but I'm just happy that they are going! 

We also had MLC this week and it was really good! I thought I would be a lot more emotional since it was my last one but it wasn't too bad. 

Other than that not much is going on! I have high hopes for this week. Its gotta be great since its one of my last! 

I love you all so much!

Until next time,

Sister Park

*So I accidentally got us stuck in a snowbank this week! I got distracted by something on the other side of the road and drove us right into the snow. It had to happen once this winter right?

*Got to see my mission daughter at MLC (my trainee) 

*Our new schedule

Add caption

My daughtrer

Pres. McNabb

#Blessed

Hey everyone!

Some ups and downs this week but it was good for the most part!

My biggest disappointment was Elaine telling us that she wants to wait to be baptized. She did talk to her husband and he just doesn't really understand why she wants to get baptized so she feels like she needs to wait a bit so as not to cause problems in their marriage. I think its probably for the best but it was a little sad that I probably won't be able to see anymore baptisms on my mission. 

We spent a lot of time this week trying to find people to teach. We are going through our ward directories and trying to contact the all the less active members. We also got a lot of really good referrals from members this week so hopefully that will keep us busy this coming week. 

I feel so blessed to be serving here in Idaho. I have made so many lasting relationships with members, investigators, and others we teach. Idaho has become my home away from home which is why it will be VERY hard to leave. I will miss a lot of things about my mission but the people I've met will by far be what I miss the most. 

I hope that you all have a great week and remember how much your Father in Heaven loves you! 

Until next time, 

Sister Park

*My bestie! Its going to be hard to leave her in 3 weeks! 

*You know your a missionary in Idaho when people randomly come up to you and give you money. Don't think that will happen when I get home. 

Running to the Finish!

Hey fam! 

Hope yall are doing well! We had a pretty good week! 

We had zone conference this week and it was so good! Sister Reupena and I gave a training about having the faith to find people to teach and it went pretty well! Then Sister Hancock gave a great training about Peter and the other apostles "leaving their nets behind" when the Savior came and asked them to follow Him. She challenged all of us to leave our "nets" behind, or in other words, give up the things that we might be holding on to that are keeping us from progressing. She actually gave the same training about a year ago at another conference but its crazy how sometimes you fall back into the same habits and need that reminder again. 

Then President Hancock gave a training about how repentance can help us put those nets behind. He encouraged us to take those things that are holding us back to the Lord and ask him for help overcoming them. He told us we all need to have personal time with the Savior to fully overcome our weaknesses. I know there are a lot of thing holding me back from reaching my full potential and I have one particular "net" that I am trying to work on right now. I hope to be able to master this one by the time my mission is over. 

Elaine is doing pretty good. She still hasn't talked to her husband though so we gave her a deadline. By the end of this week, she should talk to him and then hopefully we can start planning her baptism! We haven't seen Bonnie since last week so hopefully we can make some progress there too. 

I can't remember if I've talked much about Ron and Debie, but they are doing amazing! They hadn't been to church in like 30-40 years before we started teaching them and now they have not missed a Sunday at church since Christmas. They are both reading the scriptures and praying everyday and Debie just got a recommend to get her patriarchal blessing. They also paid tithing and fast offerings for the first time last week. They have a date set for the temple and they want me and Sister Reupena there; no matter what! We both promised that we'd be there, even if it means skipping school that day :) They have been some of my favorite people to teach on my mission and possibly the people that have made the most drastic changes in their lives. They are so converted! And it all started with us inviting them to read the Book of Mormon! That book is powerful! 

I am so grateful for the wonderful calling I have. I am making every day count and and I'm running to the finish line! Or at least I'm trying! Some days its hard to stay focused when everyone seems to ask me about going home. If any of you return missionaries have advice about staying motivated the last month I would love to hear your opinions! 

I love you all so much! 

Until next time,

Sister Park

*Elaine!

*Ron and Debie

Be Heroes!

Hello! 

Hope you all had an amazing week! 

Ours was filled with a lot of ups and downs but overall, it was pretty good! 

Our teaching pool is shrinking a little bit so we haven't been teaching as much. We had a couple days this week where we learned about patience (not a lot of people answer the door for us and those that did were not very interested). We are really trying to find more people to teach and I know they are out there! I have a good feeling about this coming week.

We had a couple good lessons with Elaine and Bonnie this week. We are trying to prepare both of them for baptism next month. Elaine is seriously so ready. All she has to do is talk to her husband and then we are good to go. So we are hoping she will accept a baptismal date for February 11. Bonnie actually talked to her family about being baptized and they weren't too thrilled, but Bonnie says she wants to keep working towards baptism. We asked her to pray about February 10th. That would seriously be the grand finale of my mission if I got to see both of these amazing women be baptized before I go home. So please pray for them! 

We also had zone training this week. Sister Reupena and I trained on being heros, and on how we can all be like the scriptural heros if we are obedient, diligent, confident, faithful, and desire to serve God. It went pretty well and it helped me stay motivated through a long week! 

Well, I think that's about all I have to update y'all on this week! 

I love you guys! 

Until next time,

Sister Park

2017!

Hey fam! Happy New Years! 

Well its 2017 now! How crazy is that?? 2016 was a fantastic year and I am so grateful I got to spend it as a missionary! 

I don't have a ton of time to email today so I will just give you guys a brief update on what is going on here! 

First of all, we got transfer calls this week and I get to stay with Sister Reupena in Georgetown for my last transfer! We were both so happy when we found out! It would be really hard to leave, especially knowing that I only have 6 weeks left! 

We also got to go to the temple today which was really awesome. I hadn't been to the temple to do a session in over a year so it was really awesome to be able to do that today. I just love the way I feel in the temple. It really is such a cleansing experience.

I'm so excited for this coming year and what 2017 has in store. I have been trying to postpone thinking about going home so that I can stay focused on my mission but its been kind of impossible to do that as I was setting my new years resolutions. Most of my goals this year involve taking my mission home with me. I do not want to look back on my mission experience as something foreign or distant after I get home. I want to be an eternal missionary. Someone who is always striving to share the gospel with others, someone who continues to study the scriptures everyday, someone who looks outward to serve others instead of focusing on myself. I hope to always remember and cherish the experiences I have had as a full time servant of the Lord.

I love you guys and hope 2017 is amazing for all of you! 

Until next time,

Sister Park