The Mish Questionnaire #2

What has living with companions taught you about yourself?

I'm not quite sure - it doesn't seem a lot different than having roommates. I have become more aware of my dislike of expressing what I don't like or what bothers me. I'm not the most open person. But I feel like I already knew that. I really have to trust somebody before I'll really talk to them.

What's the best thing about companions? Worst thing?

They are always there to help you - if it's teaching or while backing up the car (haha). Worst? You just get tired of each other. Sometimes you just want to talk to somebody else.

What did you admire most about Sister Hoyt? (her trainer) Or what do you miss most about her? (or not miss??)

She was always so good at noticing ways to serve, & she would just do them. She was always hopeful as well - never seemed to get down about the work. & she was really obedient, so that was great too. She was just kind of goofy, haha, we would find the craziest things to laugh about. I know she would agree, though, that we had trouble communicating, so I think we were both relieved to not have to try to communicate constantly. Haha.

What do you like/dislike about newest comp Sister Dyer?

Sister Dyer was awesome! She was always super happy - all the time. We laughed so much! And we just understood each other, which was so nice (so much easier when you naturally just know how to read somebody) She made me get up @ 6 though, haha, lame! I was always stinkin' tired!

What is the most important thing you have learned up to this point in your mission?

Most important thing learned? That's not a fair question. I'm not really sure how to answer this. I feel like I've learned a lot more of what the Spirit feels like for me, and how it speaks to me. I have learned so much about how to follow the Holy Ghost - and the incredible value it has on our lives. Nothing is worht doing if it takes away the Spirit.

Also, I think God is trying to teach me faith, patience, & humility. I'm still working on those things, though.

What is growing on you as you live in Arizona? What is bugging you most about AZ as time goes on?

The weird cacti aren't nearly so weird anymore - I hardly notice them anymore. I've gotten used to the brown as well - it's normal now. Hmm, you know, not a whole lot bugs me abt AZ. I miss seasons and rain though. I'll probably miss snow soon, too.

What is your usual breakfast/lunch?

Cereal is usual - so easy. Specifically, I really enjoy the Special K Granola. So good. But bagels is big too. Bagel french toast is an occasional thing. Never oatmeal - just too warm for mornings.

What are you favorite kinds of meals to be fed? What is the grossest thing you've been fed so far? Or something you get too much of?

Hmm, I really enjoy just real food & vegetables. We never get those it seems. We got roast with roasted potatoes & carrots & rolls last week. Oh my heck. It was good. Grossest? Subway's "chicken" breast sandwiches. Sick! Also Allibertos tacos are nast. All grease, no flavor. We get fed way too many subway sandwiches.

Where does the Mesa Temple rank among all the temples you've been in/seen? (As in prettiest, etc) And how often are you able to go do work inside the temple?

The outside is gorgeous, but no the prettiest. I really like the spires on temples. The inside is too dark for me - lots of darker stone & colors. I think Sac is still the prettiest inside (though inside Provo is nice.) We can go once a transfer (every six weeks).

What kind of goals do you often set for yourself?

We set "key indicator" goals daily, weekly & monthly. (How many lessons, referrals, new investigators, etc.) But more personal ones, I do, hmm....

As a missionary, what one item do you depend upon the very most every day?

Hmm, prayer. Though, technically that's not an item. After that my planner. W/O that I feel useless (where do we go? What's their address?) And if you need to leave a note. Planners are so important! Next is our phone. So hard to work w/o a cell phone. How Nath did it I'll never know.

When people ask where you are from do you say Texas, California, Colorado, or Utah?

Not California. Sorry, that's just where I'm flying "home" to. Not Texas (though A LOT of people ask where I'm from cause apparently I have an accent. I just tell them that I learned to talk in Texas. They usually accept that really easily. But I say Colorado. After that it would be Utah. I mean, that's kind of more true than CO. I always just felt like I was visiting when in CO.

What do they call your area of the mission?

"Las Sendas", though technically it's SU-23. The Superstition Zone or Salt River Stake really helps people get where we serve too.

Do you have a favorite scripture/spiritual thought/Gospel topic to share?

Not really - just try to find the one that will touch them the most & be what they need to hear. The 1st vision story is always nice though. The Spirit is always strong when you share that story.

On average, how many letters a week have you been getting in the mail? Are you feeling pretty up to date or out of the loop?

I've gotten quite a few, though each week varies a bit. Usually about 2, sometimes 3 a week. I feel a bit out of it, just cause I can't talk to people. I used to talk to people a lot more than now. Also, a lot of the letters don't really tell the full story, so I get confused. Like, "what!? what the heck?! What do you mean?"

A Baptism!

November 1, 2011

I am doing great. The weather here is perfect today, I am excited for a new transfer, aaand one of our investigators got baptized this week! :) Josh, who is 11, got baptized on Saturday, and it was wonderful. He is really the first person that I've taught/helped that has gotten baptized, so it was pretty special. Josh is doing great! He is so happy, and said that he felt "fantastic!" He is turning 12 in a couple days so will be getting the Aaronic Priesthood soon, and will be able to pass the Sacrament and get involved with the Duty to God program with Young Mens. It's pretty amazing to see him really going down the path that will lead him to the temple and on a mission. I love him a lot, it's been great to watch him make choices that will help him to grow closer to our Savior and will give him joy and peace. Sorry I don't have any pictures today, but I should have some next week when I email.

TRANSFER NEWS: I am training. And I am so excited! There were a lot of changes this transfer that were unexpected, but it is going to be really good. The sisters coming in from Mongolia and Pakistan haven't been able to come yet, because their visas aren't coming through yet. Hopefully they will soon, but I'm sure Heavenly Father will make everything work out as He wants. The other 3 sisters that came to AZ when I did that serve at the VC are all going full-field (or not serving in the VC) until Thanksgiving. It's going to be really weird not to see them all the time.

They are doing something new with training than they used to, just started it a transfer (or 6 weeks) after I got here. So here's the plan: I'll be with my trainee for 2 transfers doing the "training." We will have one hour of personal study, as usual, in the mornings, and then 2 hours of companion study. The companion study will be full of studying and practicing everything that we learned at the MTC, and figuring out how we can apply it in our area. I was looking through the new comp study program booklet (which has a plan for what to talk about and practice and teach) today, and I am really grateful to be getting this chance to train. The sisters that came out before me didn't get the new training at the MTC (that started there with us) and so honestly, it really wasn't applied to our area. This is going to be a great way to really get it going here, and do what we learned at the MTC. :) I feel like God is like, "Okay, here's my way of reminding you how things should be done.) It's going to be a wonderful transfer! So many goals and things to do! :)

We have a couple other investigators right now as well. Their names are Shin (said like Sean, and she's a woman) and Victor, and they were a referral from the neighbors, who are members of the Church. We had our first lesson with them both this last week. It was a bit of a crazy lesson, because Victor and Shin both kind of jump around with topics--they don't really stay too focused on one thing. The members were not helping at all! They would just talk and share stories and experiences that didn't have anything to do with the lesson. We were able to explain the story of Joseph Smith a bit, and when they heard his story Victor said that now his interest was piqued and that he would read it. "I won't promise anything else until I feel that it's true for myself, though," he said. Sounds good to me! That's all we ask, and it actually reminded me a lot of Dad's conversion story, how he didn't know but wanted to receive that answer from God. That is the only way to know truth, so I was happy with that at least. In general, though, it was a little nuts. We are going to try to have them watch The Restoration video at our next lesson with them (Thursday) to help them to understand it better and piece together all the random information that they were getting. I do wonder how much they really understood from that lesson, it was so scattered. Thank goodness for the Holy Ghost and the Book of Mormon, and the knowledge that Heavenly Father can fix our mistakes. Good thing that this is His work and He will help them to know what is true and good, even if us missionaries are not so skilled in teaching perfectly. He is the perfect teacher, so we don't have to be! We talked to the members and hopefully the next lesson will be more focused.

Our other investigators, Jonathan and Matthew (who are brothers that are 9 and 10 years old) have pretty much disappeared. Their parents were less-active for years and years, because they were offended by their old bishop. They suddenly came back really enthusiastically and gung-ho about church, and asked us to come and teach their sons so that they could get baptized. The parents kept putting off the baptismal date though, and it was always for something that was, frankly, quite unimportant. About 2 months ago, they said that they were putting it off until November 12. ....! There was absolutely no point to do that, and the boys just really want to be baptized, so it was frustrating and concerning to see the parents continually holding their kids back. Bah! Anyhow, the whole point of this paragraph is that we can't contact them and they won't contact us, and now the Bishop wants us to leave them alone till we hear from him. This is exactly what we were afraid of! I really hope their home teacher can help get them back to church and help us to get back in teaching the boys. They are a great family, and I don't want to see them fall off the face of the Earth again.

That's all of our investigators right now, but we sure have quite a few potentials coming up! There were a few times when our lessons and plans totally did not work out, and we ended up talking to somebody else that is letting us come in and teach them this week. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this upcoming week will go.

I love you all, thank you so much for all of the letters and emails y'all send me. :) Life is great out here, and it's just getting better. I'll send you all pictures next week, promise!

November 7, 2011

Wow, this has been kind of a crazy week, like it always is when there are transfers, but I will say it is a little crazier when your new companion is brand new. There are extra trips to the store, and just, man. It's was crazy, but it was a good, too. I will say, though, I'm glad today is our preparation day and I can get things a little more organized and normal, and take a nap. Which I probably won't do actually, but it's nice to know that I can if I want to. I think my companion is really looking forward to her nap today. I remember how tired I was my first week too! You eventually get to a point where you are just used to being tired,and it kind of stays at this constant level of tiredness. So, hopefully that happens for her sooner, rather than later.

So, her name is Sister Kranendonk. I know, it's kind of an unusual name....poor girl has pretty much everyone ask her to say it at least twice. Haha, I think she's pretty used to that after having it as her name her whole life, she just laughs about it. Having her come has reminded me so much of when I first got here! Except, she gets nice, cool, cardigan-wearing weather, when my first week was 118. She is pretty lucky about that, I just always felt so gross and sweaty those first couple months. After the first 6 weeks or so, you get pretty used to it. Anyhow, she is from Salt Lake City, and is 23. She has been telling me all of her boy stories (she has quite a few, haha), and we are starting to get to know each other better and laughing about crazy things. It seems each of my companions think I'm kinda crazy.....I'm gonna blame Mom's side for that I think. It definitely runs in the family, haha. It's been pretty weird being the one in charge, the one that has the teaching experience and confidence. I mean, I was confident before, no problem (apparently, I'm pretty intense when I'm talking to some people....) but it is different, when your companion learns everything from you. You've got to be confident and obedient with everything. It's been really good to feel that I have something to offer her.

One thing that is new in the missions, starting 2 transfers ago, is that when you're training (which you do for 3 months) you have 2 hours of comp study. The two hours of companion study is definitely inspired! I was a little nervous about it at first, I had never done that much study with my companion, and frankly I wasn't sure what we'd fill up the time doing. Comp study before had always been a little weird and seemed somewhat unproductive. They gave us a booklet though, kind of like a guide of what to do for study. The booklet is incredible, and it's helped me know how I can help her better. (That was a relief. At first I was like, "I have no idea how to help her, or what she evens needs!" Now I know.) We've practiced lots of different things, and it definitely gave me a better idea of what we need to practice on more. It's been a great reminder to get back to the stuff I learned at the MTC (which my last 2 companions didn't learn) and so it just made it different. It's good to get back to the stuff that we really should be doing and focusing on.

We definitely had some answers to our prayers this week...cause we got a new investigator! It was our first day in the area, and we were going over to visit a less-active member of Thunder Mountain Ward. Her mother is living there too, though, and we ended up teaching her a little about the Restoration and a lot about how the gospel blesses families. We gave her a Book of Mormon and committed her to read and pray about it; she said that she would. And then she invited us for dinner and a lesson this week, to have her husband and son-in-law meet us in a non-threatening way. I do know that she would like her daughter to get baptized, she's pretty much told us so, and so we will probably start teaching her this week as well. Hopefully we can teach the whole family and get them all to start coming to church again. :) It was Sister Kranendonk's first full-day with me, so that was a nice little blessing for her too. In some areas of teh mission, you get new investigators all the stinkin' time. In our area, they seem to be few and far between. Hopefully we can change that though, as we keep meeting with members and doing that kind of thing. When Sister Dyer came we really pushed the member lessons (where we taught the active members of teh wards the first 3 lessons) and saw a lot of miracles come when we did that. So, we're still doing those, and the cookie runs. The member lessons are great, because not only does it get the members to know us and trust us, but Sister Kranendonk and I need the practice time teaching lessons to real people.

They are starting Christmas Lights soon at the VC, and have been slowly putting them up. They'll start on Thanksgiving Day....can't wait! They bring in SO MANY PEOPLE. Apparently, there are times when you wonder if you can fit another person into the VC. It's going to be a lot of fun. Plus, we can listen to Christmas music! :) My poor companion is going to have to suffer through some German songs. It's just not Christmas without it. :)

I love you all, and hope you are doing well. I actually don't have the pictures of Josh's baptism today, but I do have one of my old district, that I will give you. :) We had fun together. This is our "black people lips" face. I know that's bad. But it was fun. :)

Ps. The pictures: one of my weird and incredibly awkward but working on that-district.


The other is of a couple of our roommates, Aubrey and Hali. Aubrey is the neice of teh members that we live with, and so they share teh basement with us. They are so much fun, and super sweet. they baked a cake for Sister Dyer before she left. :) Ignore my weird face, I had JUST taken off my makeup and was getting ready for bed when they busted it out for a picture. Not fair. :)

November 15, 2011

Hello Everyone!

Wow, what a week it has been....it feels like the beginning of last week was a long time ago. It's been busy, but it's been a really good one too. I feel like I say that every week....sorry about the same kind of thing each week.

One of the biggest things that happened this week were a couple days of long meetings that I went to, called "Leadership Training Meetings" or LTM's for short. They have them every transfer, and all of the missionaries with leadership positions in teh mission attend (assistants to the President, zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers.) I had heard a lot of people complain about them before, because they are pretty long (9-4) and you stay busy and focused the whole time. It was all a bunch of bunk though, cause the meetings were awesome! It was like a spiritual boost--I felt like I was constantly learning from the Spirit. It reminded me a lot of the MTC. We have a goal in our mission to get 222 baptisms from now until the end of the year--so each companionship needs to find about 2 people that would like to get baptized by the end of the year. We are teaching a few people that we are going to try to set a baptismal date with this week--woot woot! Pray for us.

Their names are Victor and Shin (Shin is a girl, and it's said like Sean.) We've only been able to meet with her once, and him twice. They weren't reading the Book of Mormon for a while (we stopped by to check on them, and they told us that they weren't.) But then we stopped by again about a week later, and Shin said that they have been reading it and praying about it. That makes all the difference! She was sooo much happier to see us and excited to set up an appointment with us. A definite change. The Book of Mormon is so powerful; it really changes lives and hearts.

We have these DVD's called "Preach My Gospel" that are basically videos of missionaries teaching lessons or planning. They are meant to help us learn how to be more effective planners and teachers. A lot of the principles that they do (they are real missionaries) are things I have never done here in Arizona at all, but I think would be awesome and super helpful! So, my dear sweet companion has been really nice and going with the flow of me changing up how we plan and set goals and do companionship study. It's going to be awesome, though, and we are going to get this place on fire with missionary work!

We've been doing "lightning visits." These are where we visit the members, for about 10, maybe 15 minutes, and we share a quick thought with them, and then ask them about people that they know that they can invite to learn more about the gospel. They're called "lightning visits" because they are fast but powerful. Haha They really are great though. Our problem mostly, though, is that the members like to chat with us for a loooong time. So, it's been a challenge getting in their home, and then getting out! The people here are wonderful though, and they really do so much for us.

The holidays are coming!!! It's pretty weird....I can't believe in less than a year now I'll be off my mission. Did y'all notice that????? I go home next November 13th. Weird. I had a dream the other day that they were sending me home, and I was like "What?! It's not time yet! I still have forever!" It goes so stinkin' fast though. Can y'all slow down time please? I'd appreciate it!

November 21, 2011

Hello everyone!

So I finally am able to send y'all some pictures of Josh's baptism! And some of other things too. I really don't have a ton of time to write a lot this morning, but on Thanksgiving we will get to write letters, so I'll do my best to update you all then.

I think I'll write some of the things that I'm grateful for today, since Thanksgiving is just a couple days away.

I'm grateful to be able to serve at the VC--there are thousands of lights up here at the temple, and it is GORGEOUS! It's definitely better than temple square. Also, we have an international nativity display which is really cool.

I can listen to Christmas music now, and nobody can complain! We already have trees and other decorations out here at the Visitor Center, and it's awesome.

I'm grateful for the scriptures--studying them each day is such a blessing--it seriously makes life so much easier.

I'm grateful for my district and zone--they are much more normal than they used to be (did I tell you how awkward they were?) and it's nice to be able to ask them for suggestions or ideas to help our area.

I'm grateful that our investigators Victor and Shin are reading the Book of Mormon! Whoooohooo!

I'm grateful for Jesus Christ. He really is the most important person in our lives here on Earth--He has given us everything. I hope y'all make Him central to all you do during the holidays!

I'm grateful for all of you! Thank you all for giving me so much support and love. :) I don't know what I would do without my awesome family! I love you all so much.

Well, I gotta go. I'll write you on Thursday, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Love,

Mary (Sister Parker)

November 28, 2011

Hey everybody,

Hope all of you are doing well and that you had a great Thanksgiving! It was good over here, we ate at a member's home. I will admit, Mom, I miss your food. Also, I have never had so much store bought pie in my life! It's a little gross to me now. I don't think I can handle much more of it.

Anyhow, :) this week has been kind of a weird one for me out here. Not a whole lot to report, sadly, but hopefully more will happen with week that I can tell y'all about. We really don't have any investigators right now.....they are kind of in the middle of being our investigators and being dropped. We'll see what happens this week--pretty sure it'll determine that.

In other news, the Visitor Center has been so much fun! I think these lights are prettier because they are brighter, crazier colors. It reminds me of Splash Mountain at Disneyland...and I think tehre are more. It's not jsut on the trees here, like at Salt Lake, but on the ground, up the palm trees, extra lights all over. I'll send y'all a picture, they are pretty spectacular. Thousands of people have been coming in each night, so it's kept our nights really busy! I love it, there is definitely a special spirit at the VC during Christmas. It's been an awesome experience, I'm so glad to be a part of it.