Wednesday 8/26/2015, Wow...

So where do I begin!!
    So lets start with my companions! Which in the picture are the two sisters I am standing with. Sister Warren on my left and Sister Tester on my right. Sister Tester and I are very similar. We both are super sarcastic. This makes me happy! Haha now I know I won't offend her with my sarcasm.  Sister Warren is such a sweet heart and goofy, I love it!! They are so amazing I couldn't have asked for better companions!
    So Tristan and Izzy visited me!! I was walking on Sunday to the temple with my zone for temple walk, and all of a sudden I hear "Sister Parker!",  and I turn around and there is Izzy holding my sunglasses and a water-bottle-mister thing and a brown bag! I hugged her and saw that Tristan was in the car! I almost cried I was so happy!! In the bottle was a dirty Dr. Pepper and in the bag were Swig cookies. Oh man! Thank you so much Tristan and Izzy!!! It seriously made my life! I was so happy!!
    Devotionals are awesome here. Probably one of my favorite parts, and the choir is awesome!! I only go for the choir director. He is so awesome with the spirit. He almost made me cry yesterday! The devotional yesterday was awesome. He talked about how our focus should be on baptizing others and bringing others unto Christ, it made me think. I was paying more attention and my focus on the blessings I will give on the mission rather than what I will receive from my mission and how I will help others find eternal salvation. I want to tell all of you that if any of you are thinking about a mission get this in your head first. If you focus on the work and get lost in the work you will automatically have those blessings. They will come so don't focus on them. Because if you focus on the blessings and not the work you will not be an effective missionary and not a useful tool for the Lord, and that is why we are out here. The sooner you realize that the better you are for helping the Lord, you will grow quicker so you can be the best tool for him.
    Well I am running out of time. oh! Something funny!! After our temple session we were walking out of the temple and I took one step outside and realized I had the temple's clothes with me!! I accidentally almost stole them! But don't worry I repented and brought them back! Well I love and miss everyone of you!! I got the "Greenie Package" mom!! I loved it so much did you make that!!?? and thank you for all the dear elders they help me throughout my week!! Keep them coming!!
Love you!!

Saturday 8/15/2015, Safe!

Hey! So they told me I can email you guys a quick message to let you know I am safe!!
    So I made it here safely!! I have so much I want to tell you but that will have to wait till Wednesday. Wednesday is my Pday. I will be emailing in the mourning around 8. So keep your eyes peeled. Don't worry there will be pictures. You are going to laugh! Love all of you!! and miss you lots!!

Well I am so excited to be leaving tomorrow! I will miss my friends and family! But what I am doing is so great and there will be blessings all around! I am eager to serve and learn more about the gospe and the language. As of now I am officially Zuster Parker.

When I opened my call I cheated and read ahead. I was looking for two words, Dutch and Netherlands.  Just a brief background that is my mother in that photo and she is from the Netherlands. She moved to the states when she was 22 and was instantly introduced to the church and soon baptized. She is still the only one from her family who lives in the states and is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have grown up with my moms dutch influence in my life.  When we were first learning how to talk my dad would talk to us in English but my mom would also talk to us in Dutch.  So as a kid I used to beagle to speak Dutch fluently. But then we stopped using it and the skill was lost. Since then I have been wanting to learn so I could speak to my family members in Holland.  My Opa (Grandpa in dutch), does not speak english.  So it is hard to communicate with him.  I prayed overnight asking if I could speak dutch but that I would also be fine with whatever language I speak and wherever I go.  I trust him. But then I would sneak in this sentence, but I think it would be best if I could learn to speak dutch.  So back to my mission call opening. I read ahead and saw the words dutch speaking and I broke down. I was so happy,beyond happy that I get the chance to teach in my family language! But when I started reading my call I was a little confused. I was expecting it to say I was serving in the Netherlands but instead it said a place I never knew existed! I read "Dear sister Parker, you are hear by called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Trinidad, Port of Spain Mission. I was thinking of so I'm serving in Spain? But then I looked on the map and turns out Trinidad is in the Caribbean's.  I am so grateful to be serving there and I know heavenly father sends us where he thinks we will touch people the best and I can't lis if I say my mission is pretty awesome.

I did not always want to go on a mission. It wasn't till last year when I went up to school at UVU that I started to think about it. It took me a very long time till I received my answer to go. I first made the decision not to go because I was not getting any indication or feeling that I should go.  I prayed everyday asking heavenly father to give me confirmation weather this is the right decision.  Well he answered my prayers because soon after, about a couple weeks, I felt like everything was falling apart.  My roommate situation for next fall was not going according to plan, my living situation for next fall was turning out to be a bust, and I found myself not being able to stick to one guy. I was beginning to be very frustrated.  Then I read my patriarchal blessing again and saw a few things in there I did not notice before.  They were about having a missionary desire and having mission like attributes.  At this point I figured I have made the decision not to go and it seems like things are not going well. Lets try making the decision to go and see how well this works.  And just like that I decided to serve a mission.  I prayed every night to receive confirmation that I have made the right decision. I instantly felt better.  I got this feeling like everything was going to be ok. I felt at ease, and I knew that this was heavenly father giving me confirmation that I have made the decision that was right for me.