Sunday was awesome. I kept joking with Elder Allen that he must have been really obedient his whole mission because the Lord really blessed us with a special and memorable day. A true tender mercy. We had three awesome investigators that came to church, but the biggest surprise was B. showing up with his two boys. W. had to sleep following a night shift so B. was pretty unsure on whether he would be able to make. He said he would try and "by the Grace of God he would be there," which on my misssion has become a pretty flaky phrase haha. We were sittting in a packed combined priesthood meeting and B. strolled right in with his typical fly suit and tie. To add some icing to the cake the two boys were there in their own suits and took part in the Primary Program! It was touching to see those two smiley boys up on the stand and to imagine them in 10 years serving a mission.
With Allen and some other missionaries in the ward leaving the ward showed a bunch of love and appreciation. I felt like a hundred bucks and I wasn't even leaving so I'm sure the rest of them must of felt the same.
Ever since the office moved, it has been tough for us to find time/somewhere to eat dinner. We had gotten a dinner appointment for right after church on Sunday, which got us way excited!. While at church we got three more appointments for that day to go visit some members and say bye. To our surprise, every one of these appointments decided to include dinner as part of the appointment! And I am talking dinner with dessert. I feel like I've heard other missionaries tell these kind of experiences to me, especially from South America and the States, so It was weird to be experiencing it first hand. 4 dinners later and I almost needed a wheelchair to leave the last appointment. So much love from the members in this ward!!
It's been clear and obvious to me that the church has been putting a renewed focus on the importance of protecting the family unit. The primary program and other recent events have caused me to think a lot about the importance of family institution. It's been disturbing to me to think about the amount of immorality in the world and the negative influences that exist. So many sources of addiction and so many bad influences that can destroy the relationship between husband and wife and between parent and child. I'm so used to telling people that we came to earth to receive a body and experience, but we also come to be a part of a family unit. A unit that is there to teach the Gospel and the commandments! Our aging and beloved prophet gave the most simple clear message at General Conference: Keep the Commandments! As a member of the church it often feels like you are one against 100 in standards and values. I love this quote from preach my Gospel "only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family." We need the gospel and the world needs us to live it. Grateful for my family and for your support and example!
We had an awesome splits in Kristiansand this week! Saw some way cool miracles and got to commit this golden Norwegian investigator to baptism!
We've got three new elders coming this week! I love this work!
Love,
Eldste Parkinson
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| Lil' B and Lil' D. |
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| The H. family :) |
