Familamily,
I love you! I love you a lot! Thanks for the pictures. There is a reason that I can only receive emails from you once a week. If I were to receive emails from you every day, I definitely would not be able to concentrate on anything other than fun visits with friends, brotherly wedding plans, and home. Im grateful for this one day to see all of the fun and then get back to work. I love you!
Well, interesting experiences this week. You would think that after 9 months in the field and 4 trip-ships, I would know how to interact better with people. Well, change takes time. It will probably take much longer than 2 years to learn everything that I need to know. Anyway, at the beginning of this week, all I could think about was speaking Portguese and the gift of tongues. Why, you might ask? Well, it just so happens that I am in a foreign country where my sole purpose is to TALK to people and invite them to Christ. You can probably see how quickly my patience has deteriorated. Anyway, it was particularly bad at the beginning of this week. I became so consumed with my lack of ability that I did not really think about the misisonary work at all. Yeah, I became very focused on myself and on me not knowing enough, me not being able to participate, me, me, me... Anyway, it was bad. What I discovered was that the gifts of the Spirit come when we forget about self and start focusing on others. During the week, I became particularly impatient with one of my companions, and I snapped a bit. Well, that set a bad tone for the rest of the day. At the end of the day, I had to apologize to him in order to make things right. That was an important moment for me. I realized that I was only hurting myself and others by being stressed and impatient. What I really needed to do was focus on serving others and be as patient with the weaknesses of others as I would want them to be with me. Would it make sense for someone to snap at me because I used incorrect grammer in trying to speak POrtuguese to someone? No, that would be ridiculous. The same goes for the weaknesses of others. The Lord says that he cannot look on sin with any allowance, but he always looks upon weakness with mercy. We can strive to do the same. Anyway, now I am having fun with learning Portuguese. It can still be hard, but I am trying to laugh off funny experiences when I cannot say what I need to say. I hope the Lord will make up for the misunderstandings I cause!
So, funny things this week. We are teaching a 25-year-old woman. The first time we met with her, I knew that she was talking about me, but I had no idea what she was saying. It was really confusing, and I did not know what to do except laugh it off. Well, it came off wrong because the woman was saying how she feels like she has a special connection with Americans and how they are really good looking. So funny! My companions give me a hard time for that. Also, I am learning that simple things I would say to be friendly in the US come off as flirting here, and that is dangerous, especially as a white American missionary. For example, we stopped by a candy store, and I asked the woman behind the counter what her favorite candy was. Well, I thought that it was completely normal. I was trying to start up a conversation and then invite her to learn more! Nothing happened, but my companions warned me not to do it again. We went to the house of the Bishop for a meal, and they played the Book of Mormon Movie while we were there. We only saw the beginning, but it was so funny! (mostly because it was underbudgeted)
I had an interesting answer to prayer come this past week. I was praying for strength (in my companionship, in the language, etc...) and a song from the 90s came to my mind during the week. SOmething like: Hey, dont run yourself around, its only in your head you feel left out and looked down on, just try your best, do everything you can, something something something, it just takes some time little bit something something everything everythin will be alright everything everything will be alright alright. Anyway, I cannot remember all of the words, but you get the gist. For some reason, it really helped. How weird! Im pretty sure that its a song from a teenage boy to some sad little teenage girl, but it realy cheered me up this week for some reason!
I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that he loves us. I know that humility and selflessness bring more joy than pride and selfishness. I know that the Book of Mormon contains answers to the questions of our soul. Read it. Ponder it. Learn from it. Know it is true. I love you all. Be strong. Be good. Dont let Satan tell you that you are less than you are, or that you are somehow outside of the grasp of the merciful arms of the Savior. Let your mind and heart be filled with the knowledge that you are infinitely bond to his love and that you can return to the presence of the Father through him. If we let ourselves be purified, He will work wonders among us.
I LOVE YOU!!!
-Elder Parker Ayer
p.s. here the recorder can be played in sacrament meeting. and it was! hahaha
Monday, May 26, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
Stranger in a strange land
Hello family!
This week has been super crazy. Probably the most craziest week of my life. Let me explain. On Tuesday, I left the MTC. I only went with one other missionary, a sister missionary who was in my district in the Provo MTC, Sister Merkley. We flew out of the airport in Campinas. It was really strange being alone with a sister missionary, but it was all good. We even taught a lesson to a woman as we waited for our plane! It was an interesting experience teaching a reall lesson in Portuguese for the first time with a sister missionary. I imagined that it was Sarah teaching alongside me. What a great companion she would be! Anyway, we boarded the plane without any hiccups and were on our way. I slept most of the way, but woke up to see some of the most gorgeous coundtryside I have ever seen. The landscape here is so beautiful! There are so many mountains. It's great! Anyway, we landed and a random guy with a sign that said "Missao Brasil Juiz de Fora" picked us up in his car. It was about a 30-45 minute drive into the city of Juiz de Fora. We were dropped off at the stake center to find out that a zone conference was already underway. Let's talk about instant immersion! I sat in a meeting for a few hours while my new mission president, President Cascardi, taught us about how to be better missionaries...completely in Portuguese. Afterwards, I sat and talked with other missionaries completely in Portuguese. That's when I found out about my new companions. I am currently with two zone leaders...again...imagine that. It's like dejavu all over again. :D I'll only be with them for the 2 weeks leading up to transfers, then I will be with another missionary who lives in the same house as us. I am currently serving in Juiz de Fora in a part called Manchester (Mon-shes-teh). My companions' names are Elder Perez and Elder Veloso. Elder Perez is from Chile, but he speaks fluent English because he spent a few months in the US. Elder Veloso is from Northeastern Brasil (a Nordestino) and speaks a little English. When I introduce myself to people, I often tell them that I'm a Nordestino also. Speaking of which, introducing myself to people is really hard. No one knows New Hampshire here (heck, no one knows NH in the US either). I tell them that I live north east of Nova York. Also, no one can say my name. "Ayer" doesn't mean anything. They don't use y's in Portuguese. Instead of making my name sound all cool and latin, I just give people the English pronunciation (air) with a Portuguese accent. However, here they don't say their r's really, so our name usually comes out sounding like a half-hearted breath (eh).
There are lots of funny, different things here. Bus rides are crazy. We get to ride the bus a lot. You enter in the front and then proceed to a turnstile (is that the word?) where you pay 2 reais and 5 centavos to ride the bus. Also, ketchup and mustard here really aren't that enjoyable. We only take one hour for lunch and then 0 hours for dinner. We might eat something when we get home, but I don't really because it's late. Between sweating and eating, I feel like I've already lost ten pounds, and it's only been a week and no worm! Speaking of which, I've already had the water here...unfiltered. I don't have a worm yet, but my companions tell me that Juiz de Fora is known for having pure water. Also, I already have a farmer's tan after a few days. I don't think that you'll be able to recognize me after two years! Here, my white skin really stands out. At one door, an old woman grabbed my hand, kissed it, and told me that all the girls at Church must love me. My companions told me later that she was on drugs, I agreed. I never realized how strange it would be surrounded by people that don't look like me. Once in a while, I can pick out someone who looks like an American. Also, I was not preapred for the langague overload. Sometimes I have this strange expectation that everyone will finally stop playing around and starting speaking ENLGISH. Well, it hasn't happened yet. I don't think that it's ever going to happen. Also, other really funny things. Like Sarah, I have been drinking a lot of Coke. The Coke down here is really different than the coke in the US. It's really good! I'm told that it has a lot of extra chemicals in it that make it that way. Also, the people here have a flour (farinha) that they put on their rice and beans. It's good. Also, I showed a picture of Mom and Dad to the other missionaries in our apartment. One asked if Mom was Elaine S Dalton. Later he asked if Dad was a Seventy. It was really funny! There were lots of other fun things that I wanted to tell you, but I can't think of any more right now. Oh yeah, I've become a professional city walker. I stare straight ahead, walk really fast, and try not to look naive and American. The only thing I lack is that I still say hi to everyone that I go past.
I have really been working on talking to everyone. Portuguese is really hard, and I'm doing pretty well at it compared to the other Americans. I get really frustrated with myself sometimes because I can't say what I want to say in the moment that I want to say it. So frustrating! It's especially frustrating because I've already learned somewhat how to teach people. I know what I want to say, but I'm getting in my way. There were a couple days at the beginning when it was really hard. Then the other day I had a realization. I was reading Ether 12 about faith and trials of faith. I asked myself, "Do I believe in the promise of the Lord?" Ether 12 said that we can live with surety if we believe in the Lord. The Lord has promised great blessings to His missionaries. Do I believe in them? Do I believe that He will fill my mouth with the right words if I open it? From that moment, I made a promise to myself that I would put my faith in the promise of God and talk to everyone I meet. I want Him to be able to trust me with the holy gifts of the Spirit. Since then, it has been a lot of fun. COmpared to West Virignia, there are so many people to talk to here! I have been doing my best to always be stopping people and talking to them and inviting them to learn more. Sometimes the situations are really strange and awkward, which makes it all the more fun. I just have this idea in my head that I'm already a chubby, white, American, Mormon missionary, no one can blame me if I make things a little awkward. Plus, I can't understand what they're saying 3/4 of the time. It's so much fun! I really do love being a missionary and being able to talk to everyone about the gospel without fear, and I have been able to see my Portuguese skills imporve in the last few days. What a blessing!
The trip-ship situation has been going alright. West Virginia got me ready for third-wheeling it, even more so now since everyone else speaks Portuguese. :D Well, things aren't bad at all. THings are wonderful! I love Brasil! I love the people here! There are so many good people that want to hear the good news of Jesus Christ restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. There is so much joy in our message! Like in my other zone leader trip-ship, I walked into two more baptisms. Their names are Eduardo and Luiz. They are brothers. It was a really great experience.
Well, I love you all! Know that for sure! I use what you have taught me to focus on the work at hand and thrust in my sickle with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength! Love you!!!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. Elder Veloso is a professional recorder (flauta) player! :D
This week has been super crazy. Probably the most craziest week of my life. Let me explain. On Tuesday, I left the MTC. I only went with one other missionary, a sister missionary who was in my district in the Provo MTC, Sister Merkley. We flew out of the airport in Campinas. It was really strange being alone with a sister missionary, but it was all good. We even taught a lesson to a woman as we waited for our plane! It was an interesting experience teaching a reall lesson in Portuguese for the first time with a sister missionary. I imagined that it was Sarah teaching alongside me. What a great companion she would be! Anyway, we boarded the plane without any hiccups and were on our way. I slept most of the way, but woke up to see some of the most gorgeous coundtryside I have ever seen. The landscape here is so beautiful! There are so many mountains. It's great! Anyway, we landed and a random guy with a sign that said "Missao Brasil Juiz de Fora" picked us up in his car. It was about a 30-45 minute drive into the city of Juiz de Fora. We were dropped off at the stake center to find out that a zone conference was already underway. Let's talk about instant immersion! I sat in a meeting for a few hours while my new mission president, President Cascardi, taught us about how to be better missionaries...completely in Portuguese. Afterwards, I sat and talked with other missionaries completely in Portuguese. That's when I found out about my new companions. I am currently with two zone leaders...again...imagine that. It's like dejavu all over again. :D I'll only be with them for the 2 weeks leading up to transfers, then I will be with another missionary who lives in the same house as us. I am currently serving in Juiz de Fora in a part called Manchester (Mon-shes-teh). My companions' names are Elder Perez and Elder Veloso. Elder Perez is from Chile, but he speaks fluent English because he spent a few months in the US. Elder Veloso is from Northeastern Brasil (a Nordestino) and speaks a little English. When I introduce myself to people, I often tell them that I'm a Nordestino also. Speaking of which, introducing myself to people is really hard. No one knows New Hampshire here (heck, no one knows NH in the US either). I tell them that I live north east of Nova York. Also, no one can say my name. "Ayer" doesn't mean anything. They don't use y's in Portuguese. Instead of making my name sound all cool and latin, I just give people the English pronunciation (air) with a Portuguese accent. However, here they don't say their r's really, so our name usually comes out sounding like a half-hearted breath (eh).
There are lots of funny, different things here. Bus rides are crazy. We get to ride the bus a lot. You enter in the front and then proceed to a turnstile (is that the word?) where you pay 2 reais and 5 centavos to ride the bus. Also, ketchup and mustard here really aren't that enjoyable. We only take one hour for lunch and then 0 hours for dinner. We might eat something when we get home, but I don't really because it's late. Between sweating and eating, I feel like I've already lost ten pounds, and it's only been a week and no worm! Speaking of which, I've already had the water here...unfiltered. I don't have a worm yet, but my companions tell me that Juiz de Fora is known for having pure water. Also, I already have a farmer's tan after a few days. I don't think that you'll be able to recognize me after two years! Here, my white skin really stands out. At one door, an old woman grabbed my hand, kissed it, and told me that all the girls at Church must love me. My companions told me later that she was on drugs, I agreed. I never realized how strange it would be surrounded by people that don't look like me. Once in a while, I can pick out someone who looks like an American. Also, I was not preapred for the langague overload. Sometimes I have this strange expectation that everyone will finally stop playing around and starting speaking ENLGISH. Well, it hasn't happened yet. I don't think that it's ever going to happen. Also, other really funny things. Like Sarah, I have been drinking a lot of Coke. The Coke down here is really different than the coke in the US. It's really good! I'm told that it has a lot of extra chemicals in it that make it that way. Also, the people here have a flour (farinha) that they put on their rice and beans. It's good. Also, I showed a picture of Mom and Dad to the other missionaries in our apartment. One asked if Mom was Elaine S Dalton. Later he asked if Dad was a Seventy. It was really funny! There were lots of other fun things that I wanted to tell you, but I can't think of any more right now. Oh yeah, I've become a professional city walker. I stare straight ahead, walk really fast, and try not to look naive and American. The only thing I lack is that I still say hi to everyone that I go past.
I have really been working on talking to everyone. Portuguese is really hard, and I'm doing pretty well at it compared to the other Americans. I get really frustrated with myself sometimes because I can't say what I want to say in the moment that I want to say it. So frustrating! It's especially frustrating because I've already learned somewhat how to teach people. I know what I want to say, but I'm getting in my way. There were a couple days at the beginning when it was really hard. Then the other day I had a realization. I was reading Ether 12 about faith and trials of faith. I asked myself, "Do I believe in the promise of the Lord?" Ether 12 said that we can live with surety if we believe in the Lord. The Lord has promised great blessings to His missionaries. Do I believe in them? Do I believe that He will fill my mouth with the right words if I open it? From that moment, I made a promise to myself that I would put my faith in the promise of God and talk to everyone I meet. I want Him to be able to trust me with the holy gifts of the Spirit. Since then, it has been a lot of fun. COmpared to West Virignia, there are so many people to talk to here! I have been doing my best to always be stopping people and talking to them and inviting them to learn more. Sometimes the situations are really strange and awkward, which makes it all the more fun. I just have this idea in my head that I'm already a chubby, white, American, Mormon missionary, no one can blame me if I make things a little awkward. Plus, I can't understand what they're saying 3/4 of the time. It's so much fun! I really do love being a missionary and being able to talk to everyone about the gospel without fear, and I have been able to see my Portuguese skills imporve in the last few days. What a blessing!
The trip-ship situation has been going alright. West Virginia got me ready for third-wheeling it, even more so now since everyone else speaks Portuguese. :D Well, things aren't bad at all. THings are wonderful! I love Brasil! I love the people here! There are so many good people that want to hear the good news of Jesus Christ restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. There is so much joy in our message! Like in my other zone leader trip-ship, I walked into two more baptisms. Their names are Eduardo and Luiz. They are brothers. It was a really great experience.
Well, I love you all! Know that for sure! I use what you have taught me to focus on the work at hand and thrust in my sickle with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength! Love you!!!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. Elder Veloso is a professional recorder (flauta) player! :D
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Skype on Mother's Day
To whom it may concern:
I am going to call via skype at 6 pm São Paulo time, or 5 pm Gilford time. The call will last for 15 minutes, no more. I will be using my facebook sign in info and will search for your info. Anyway, it will work out. I love you!
I am going to call via skype at 6 pm São Paulo time, or 5 pm Gilford time. The call will last for 15 minutes, no more. I will be using my facebook sign in info and will search for your info. Anyway, it will work out. I love you!
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
I love Brasil!
Dear concerned kin,
Yes, I did make it safely to Brasil. I made it! Yippeeeeee!
Alright, on to the business. Last Tuesday was great. I drove up with the Zone Leaders from Roanoke, VA to Charleston, WV where I got to participate in the Mission Leadership Council. It was such a great experience. I loved it so much! It was the perfect ending to the perfect stint serving in the US. Anyway, I stayed the night with the zone leaders in Charleston. The next morning we did service, painting pots. It was fun and real cool. Then I flew out from Charleston. So funny. The Charleston airport is tiny, and it probably took me less than 10 minutes to get through security. Anyway, my flight was delayed. At Atlanta, I ran and barely made it in time for my connecting flight to Brasil. Everyone on the plane spoke Portuguese. I was the odd man out. Well, I kinda spoke Portuguese. Anyway, I sat next to this lady who immediately starting talking to me and complaining about her experience in the airport. Then she warned me about how terrible Brasil is. Then she told me that she was a less-active member of the Church. I think I had this idea in my mind that everyone in Brasil was Mormon. Not so. Apparently not even 1 percent of the population is Mormon. Fun fact. Anyway, I asked if she had a Book of Mormon, and she said that she didn't, so I gave her my copy. We got to the airport and everything was crazy. It took about 30 to 40 minutes to get through customs. When I got out, I waited for another half an hour until someone with an LDS Church sign came up to me and told me to go with him (in Portuguese). He told me to also do a money exchange, but stupid me. I only had 11 dollars in cash and that wasn't enough to exchange for reais. Anyway, He drove me in his car to the Provo MTC. Everyone had gotten there the day earlier and I was the odd man out and everyone kept asking me if I was the one who arrived late and why I arrived late. Anyway, it was great. I got straight to work. The Portuguese is coming along great. We proselyted in the street the other day in Sao Paulo. It was awesome! We gave out 8 copies of the BOok of Mormon, and we were able to talk so well with everyone. One lady said that she will remember us forever. Anyway, I have to go. Surpirse, I get to talk to you on Mother's Day for 15 minutes through skype (no video only sound). Surprise. I thought I would have more time, but I got a bazillion emails to read. I love you all! Talk to you for 15 minutes on Sunday!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
Yes, I did make it safely to Brasil. I made it! Yippeeeeee!
Alright, on to the business. Last Tuesday was great. I drove up with the Zone Leaders from Roanoke, VA to Charleston, WV where I got to participate in the Mission Leadership Council. It was such a great experience. I loved it so much! It was the perfect ending to the perfect stint serving in the US. Anyway, I stayed the night with the zone leaders in Charleston. The next morning we did service, painting pots. It was fun and real cool. Then I flew out from Charleston. So funny. The Charleston airport is tiny, and it probably took me less than 10 minutes to get through security. Anyway, my flight was delayed. At Atlanta, I ran and barely made it in time for my connecting flight to Brasil. Everyone on the plane spoke Portuguese. I was the odd man out. Well, I kinda spoke Portuguese. Anyway, I sat next to this lady who immediately starting talking to me and complaining about her experience in the airport. Then she warned me about how terrible Brasil is. Then she told me that she was a less-active member of the Church. I think I had this idea in my mind that everyone in Brasil was Mormon. Not so. Apparently not even 1 percent of the population is Mormon. Fun fact. Anyway, I asked if she had a Book of Mormon, and she said that she didn't, so I gave her my copy. We got to the airport and everything was crazy. It took about 30 to 40 minutes to get through customs. When I got out, I waited for another half an hour until someone with an LDS Church sign came up to me and told me to go with him (in Portuguese). He told me to also do a money exchange, but stupid me. I only had 11 dollars in cash and that wasn't enough to exchange for reais. Anyway, He drove me in his car to the Provo MTC. Everyone had gotten there the day earlier and I was the odd man out and everyone kept asking me if I was the one who arrived late and why I arrived late. Anyway, it was great. I got straight to work. The Portuguese is coming along great. We proselyted in the street the other day in Sao Paulo. It was awesome! We gave out 8 copies of the BOok of Mormon, and we were able to talk so well with everyone. One lady said that she will remember us forever. Anyway, I have to go. Surpirse, I get to talk to you on Mother's Day for 15 minutes through skype (no video only sound). Surprise. I thought I would have more time, but I got a bazillion emails to read. I love you all! Talk to you for 15 minutes on Sunday!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
Monday, April 28, 2014
How Great! That's Awesome! Wonderful!
Dear family,
It's been another great week living the missionary life. This week has been really slow and really fast at the same time. Let me tell you why!
At the beginning of this week, I started getting really anxious about everything. I'm going to Brazil. Holy cow! I'm going to be surrounded by people who don't speak my language. Wowzers! I don't know when I'm going. Yikes! I need to focus on missionary work here. Sheesh! I've been sworn to secrecy and can't vent any of these feelings to the people around me. Mums! Anyhow, these thoughts and feelings were just a racing in my head. I spent most of my morning exercise time this week praying or thinking.
Well, I kept on getting reports from fellow visa-waiters in other missions who got their visas and were leaving this coming week. I was starting to freak out. However, President Pitt told me to keep it quiet, so I couldn't just call the mission office and ask them when I was leaving. On top of that, it sounded to me as though someone was going to call me and let me know when I was leaving. I didn't know how far in advance, but it sounded as though I wouldn't get much notice so that I would be able to focus more. Also, i had already asked President Pitt once in email how early I was leaving, and he said that he thought I would be leaving at the end of the transfer. I really didn't want to ask him again and sound like the distracted missionary I was while also distracting him from his important work. So, Thursday rolls around. We were out helping with a non-member's Eagle Scout service project when I got a call from Sister Holdstock. She is one of the senior missionaries who is in the office. She is very sweet and she is the one that you talked to before, Mom. Anyhow, she asked if we had a blow-up mattress swimming around in our apartment. I said, yes. Then she asked me if I would bring it with me when I was there "next week" (meaning this week). I said yes, but inside I was thinking "what?" So, that ruminated in my mind for a while. What is going on? I resolved that night to secretly call Sister Holdstock at some point the next day and ask her what was going on. The next day was Friday. A member of our ward, Brother Wells (he also served in Brazil and was a visa waiter in Roanoke and he's the one who sent you the pictures of me), works at a hair salon and really wanted to cut our hair, but could only arrange for a time on Friday. Anyway, we went to his hair salon on Friday. I determined that that was the time I was going to make my move. I got my hair cut first, and then made my move while Elder Russo got his chopped. I went to a corner of the salon and called Sister Holdstock on other pretenses. When I asked my initial question facade, I went in for the kill. "Sister Holdstock," I said, "do you know if President or Sister Pitt are going to call me about my travel itinerary?" She responded that she had the itinerary right in front of her. She said that President Pitt would let me know of the exact details. Then I asked if I really was leaving this week. Then I told her I didn't even know what day I was leaving. She happily filled my need to know. I am leaving for Brazil Wednesdayat about 5 o'clock in the evening!!! I drive up to Charleston tomorrow morning, and I assume that I will spend the night with the Pitts at the mission home. I will arrive in Brazil at about 5 o'clock in the morning on Thursday. Well, after I got the details, I still wasn't sure whether or not I was supposed to tell anyone. That problem was fixed quickly when we got a text message an hour later from Sister Pitt with some more details. Elder Russo read the text and flipped. He and Elder Grajeda both flipped. They felt like they had been deceived because I didn't tell them for two whole weeks. Well, they were a little mad/annoyed, but I was just happy that I could talk openly about it.
So, now I am really excited and scared about what's going to happen. One thing I do know is that it is so important to stay focused on the work. It became very easy over the past few days to become very unmotivated to work and very motivated to daydream. Well, that's no good. I'm glad I was able to catch myself doing it and then stop. This last week I had the opportunity to give my first baptismal interviews. It was a couple who has been familiar with the Church for a while and has finally had things work out in their lives so that they were ready to receive the restored gospel. Anyhow, it was a very cool experience. Their baptism was on Sunday. It was at the stake center, about 20 minutes away. Well, we decided that we wanted to go to it. I mean, it is a baptism. Isn't that what missionary work is all about? The missionaries who taught the couple were in our district, and we should lend them our support, right? Well, these were unmotivated, daydreaming words. I drove us all the way to the stake center, the whole while this feeling started to creep over me. Why are we going? By the time we got to the stake center, I had a knot in my stomach. I could feel the Spirit asking me, "How is this fulfilling your missionary purpose?" Well, the truth was that it wasn't. All that I really wanted to do was see some missionary friends, talk about going to Brazil, and not think about how much help my own area needed. Well, my companions weren't too happy with me when I told them that we were going to turn right around, not go to the baptism, and go knock some doors. We had used several of our limited miles driving to the stake center, why would we waste them by turning around? Instead I thought, "We've already wasted the Lord's miles, why would we also waste the Lord's time?" We turned around and went back to our area. We went to visit our Chinese investigator, but she wasn't home. We went up one floor and knocked on a random door. A kind older woman came to the door. We talked for a good while about church and stuff. Then I pulled out the pamphlet about the restoration of the gospel and showed her the picture of Christ appearing to the people in America. As soon as I showed her the picture, the woman commented on how she loves seeing that picture. Really? I was very surprised. How had she seen this very Mormon picture before during her time as a Protestant? Well, it didn't matter because she made a great connection with the painting. We then told her that it was a depiction from an event in the Book of Mormon. Now it was her time to be surprised. We taught her a little bit about the Book of Mormon, gave her the pamphlet, and then asked if we could come back. She said that she would love for us to come back. It was a very sweet experience. It just showed how a little applied diligence brought great blessings. Who knows what this small amount of effort on our part will work in the life of the daughter of God? It is amazing to contemplate.
Also, do you remember Elder Ballard's talk from conference? He talked about how important it is that every family have a copy of Preach My Gospel and that they study out of it. If you would, I would love to hear what you are learning from it. I will also share with you some of the things that I am learning out of Preach My Gospel. I never really had an appreciation for it before my mission, but I have grown to appreciate it. It is an inspired text. There is so much to learn from it. I study from it every morning, along with the Book of Mormon. This morning I studied chapter 7. I am so excited to learn and speak Portuguese! My favorite part from the chapter is when it talks about the gift of tongues. President Monson has a great quote. he says that all of us need to learn the language of the Spirit. This language overcomes all barriers, concerns, and misunderstandings. How I hope that each of you will be able to develop the language of the Spirit as you seek to understand how to "minister grace" to others and help them come unto Christ. As you begin studying PMG, I would suggest that you study chapter 9. It is all about finding people to teach, and that is the main missionary responsibility of the members of the Church!
I love you all so much. I am excited to go to a foreign place. I am scared to death as well. Please pray for me. Thank you for your prays to this point. Can you please talk to my high school friends who may not be getting these emails and tell them how I'm doing? I would love to hear from them. Please give them my email address or get their email address for me. I love you all so so so so so much!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. Today is my 8 month mark. I have already completed 1/3 of my mission. Where does the time go? I've had 1/3 in the US and will have 2/3 in Brazil.
P.P.S. Last Monday we went to the Dixie Caverns as a zone. That's a lot of people to fit in one cavern tour! Anyway, it was really fun. You'll get pictures at some point (whether it's a week from now or 70 weeks from now).
P.P.P.S. I found out that one of my friends from BYU, Kirsten Webber, is from the Roanoke Zone. She is best friends with the Wells' daughter, Jessica. Super cool!
P.P.P.S. The subject line is the way it is because apparently I say those things a lot :D
It's been another great week living the missionary life. This week has been really slow and really fast at the same time. Let me tell you why!
At the beginning of this week, I started getting really anxious about everything. I'm going to Brazil. Holy cow! I'm going to be surrounded by people who don't speak my language. Wowzers! I don't know when I'm going. Yikes! I need to focus on missionary work here. Sheesh! I've been sworn to secrecy and can't vent any of these feelings to the people around me. Mums! Anyhow, these thoughts and feelings were just a racing in my head. I spent most of my morning exercise time this week praying or thinking.
Well, I kept on getting reports from fellow visa-waiters in other missions who got their visas and were leaving this coming week. I was starting to freak out. However, President Pitt told me to keep it quiet, so I couldn't just call the mission office and ask them when I was leaving. On top of that, it sounded to me as though someone was going to call me and let me know when I was leaving. I didn't know how far in advance, but it sounded as though I wouldn't get much notice so that I would be able to focus more. Also, i had already asked President Pitt once in email how early I was leaving, and he said that he thought I would be leaving at the end of the transfer. I really didn't want to ask him again and sound like the distracted missionary I was while also distracting him from his important work. So, Thursday rolls around. We were out helping with a non-member's Eagle Scout service project when I got a call from Sister Holdstock. She is one of the senior missionaries who is in the office. She is very sweet and she is the one that you talked to before, Mom. Anyhow, she asked if we had a blow-up mattress swimming around in our apartment. I said, yes. Then she asked me if I would bring it with me when I was there "next week" (meaning this week). I said yes, but inside I was thinking "what?" So, that ruminated in my mind for a while. What is going on? I resolved that night to secretly call Sister Holdstock at some point the next day and ask her what was going on. The next day was Friday. A member of our ward, Brother Wells (he also served in Brazil and was a visa waiter in Roanoke and he's the one who sent you the pictures of me), works at a hair salon and really wanted to cut our hair, but could only arrange for a time on Friday. Anyway, we went to his hair salon on Friday. I determined that that was the time I was going to make my move. I got my hair cut first, and then made my move while Elder Russo got his chopped. I went to a corner of the salon and called Sister Holdstock on other pretenses. When I asked my initial question facade, I went in for the kill. "Sister Holdstock," I said, "do you know if President or Sister Pitt are going to call me about my travel itinerary?" She responded that she had the itinerary right in front of her. She said that President Pitt would let me know of the exact details. Then I asked if I really was leaving this week. Then I told her I didn't even know what day I was leaving. She happily filled my need to know. I am leaving for Brazil Wednesdayat about 5 o'clock in the evening!!! I drive up to Charleston tomorrow morning, and I assume that I will spend the night with the Pitts at the mission home. I will arrive in Brazil at about 5 o'clock in the morning on Thursday. Well, after I got the details, I still wasn't sure whether or not I was supposed to tell anyone. That problem was fixed quickly when we got a text message an hour later from Sister Pitt with some more details. Elder Russo read the text and flipped. He and Elder Grajeda both flipped. They felt like they had been deceived because I didn't tell them for two whole weeks. Well, they were a little mad/annoyed, but I was just happy that I could talk openly about it.
So, now I am really excited and scared about what's going to happen. One thing I do know is that it is so important to stay focused on the work. It became very easy over the past few days to become very unmotivated to work and very motivated to daydream. Well, that's no good. I'm glad I was able to catch myself doing it and then stop. This last week I had the opportunity to give my first baptismal interviews. It was a couple who has been familiar with the Church for a while and has finally had things work out in their lives so that they were ready to receive the restored gospel. Anyhow, it was a very cool experience. Their baptism was on Sunday. It was at the stake center, about 20 minutes away. Well, we decided that we wanted to go to it. I mean, it is a baptism. Isn't that what missionary work is all about? The missionaries who taught the couple were in our district, and we should lend them our support, right? Well, these were unmotivated, daydreaming words. I drove us all the way to the stake center, the whole while this feeling started to creep over me. Why are we going? By the time we got to the stake center, I had a knot in my stomach. I could feel the Spirit asking me, "How is this fulfilling your missionary purpose?" Well, the truth was that it wasn't. All that I really wanted to do was see some missionary friends, talk about going to Brazil, and not think about how much help my own area needed. Well, my companions weren't too happy with me when I told them that we were going to turn right around, not go to the baptism, and go knock some doors. We had used several of our limited miles driving to the stake center, why would we waste them by turning around? Instead I thought, "We've already wasted the Lord's miles, why would we also waste the Lord's time?" We turned around and went back to our area. We went to visit our Chinese investigator, but she wasn't home. We went up one floor and knocked on a random door. A kind older woman came to the door. We talked for a good while about church and stuff. Then I pulled out the pamphlet about the restoration of the gospel and showed her the picture of Christ appearing to the people in America. As soon as I showed her the picture, the woman commented on how she loves seeing that picture. Really? I was very surprised. How had she seen this very Mormon picture before during her time as a Protestant? Well, it didn't matter because she made a great connection with the painting. We then told her that it was a depiction from an event in the Book of Mormon. Now it was her time to be surprised. We taught her a little bit about the Book of Mormon, gave her the pamphlet, and then asked if we could come back. She said that she would love for us to come back. It was a very sweet experience. It just showed how a little applied diligence brought great blessings. Who knows what this small amount of effort on our part will work in the life of the daughter of God? It is amazing to contemplate.
Also, do you remember Elder Ballard's talk from conference? He talked about how important it is that every family have a copy of Preach My Gospel and that they study out of it. If you would, I would love to hear what you are learning from it. I will also share with you some of the things that I am learning out of Preach My Gospel. I never really had an appreciation for it before my mission, but I have grown to appreciate it. It is an inspired text. There is so much to learn from it. I study from it every morning, along with the Book of Mormon. This morning I studied chapter 7. I am so excited to learn and speak Portuguese! My favorite part from the chapter is when it talks about the gift of tongues. President Monson has a great quote. he says that all of us need to learn the language of the Spirit. This language overcomes all barriers, concerns, and misunderstandings. How I hope that each of you will be able to develop the language of the Spirit as you seek to understand how to "minister grace" to others and help them come unto Christ. As you begin studying PMG, I would suggest that you study chapter 9. It is all about finding people to teach, and that is the main missionary responsibility of the members of the Church!
I love you all so much. I am excited to go to a foreign place. I am scared to death as well. Please pray for me. Thank you for your prays to this point. Can you please talk to my high school friends who may not be getting these emails and tell them how I'm doing? I would love to hear from them. Please give them my email address or get their email address for me. I love you all so so so so so much!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. Today is my 8 month mark. I have already completed 1/3 of my mission. Where does the time go? I've had 1/3 in the US and will have 2/3 in Brazil.
P.P.S. Last Monday we went to the Dixie Caverns as a zone. That's a lot of people to fit in one cavern tour! Anyway, it was really fun. You'll get pictures at some point (whether it's a week from now or 70 weeks from now).
P.P.P.S. I found out that one of my friends from BYU, Kirsten Webber, is from the Roanoke Zone. She is best friends with the Wells' daughter, Jessica. Super cool!
P.P.P.S. The subject line is the way it is because apparently I say those things a lot :D
Friday, April 25, 2014
Current Picture
This is a note and picture we received from a man in Parker's ward.
Howdy folks!
Took your boys out for pizza last night and then cut their hair at the salon this morning. I thought you would enjoy seeing your good looking sons after their haircuts. Sure enjoy them!
Monday, April 21, 2014
Easter Miracles
Dear family,
I know there are important things from back home that I'm supposed to comment on, but I'll keep that until the end. Anyway, this week was the first week in Cave Spring that felt pretty successful. It was great!
It started out with a little P-day sacrifice last week of going to see some potential investigators at 10 in he morning. Well, it turned out great! There names are Grace and Kelson. They are from Malawi. They are Seventh Day Adventists, but they are very open to learning more about the restored gospel. The lesson went great, and by the end Grace said that she is going to carry the Book of Mormon around with her everywhere and read it and pray to know whether or not it is true. They are very nice people and we will meet with them again this week to talk to them more about the Book of Mormon.
Monday night was crazy. There are some members of the Church in the area who have put together an activity for older couples in the Church and the community that happens once a month. They call it "Empty Nesters". At Empty Nesters, there is a spiritual thought, potluck, and then some Bluegrass. They also always invite the missionaries. It was a lot of fun and allowed for a good opportunity for us to get to know some of the people in the community and ward better. One of the men from the community was from NH and was in the first graduating class from Oyster River! It was awesome. The Bluegrass was the greatest part. They had booklets of lyrics so that everyone could sing along to the folk and gospel songs. I can't tell you how much fun it was! I really want to learn how to play the mandolin, banjo, automatic harp, fiddle, and upright bass just so that one day all of my kids can sit around and jam out to some homegrown bluegrass! And of course, bluegrass reminds me of when I was in 2nd grade and was so proud of myself for knowing what bluegrass was because we read about it in class. Bluegrass really is fun if you're singing or playing along!
Anyway, The next big thing to happen during the week was Thursday. Oh, Thursday. I am working on patience if that is anyway to help you understand what Thursday was like. It started out as any ordinary day. We had personal study. Then we got to companion study. Elder Grajeda started by telling us what he learned during his personal study. Then he made a comment of how he had come to some doctrinal conclusion that clearly was not true. Elder Russo and I both recognized this. We didn't intend to tell him how he was wrong, we were just trying to guide his thinking so that he could understand the doctrine a little bit better. Well, that started a discussion that soon become heated, unintelligent, repetitive, useless, and frustrating. It went on for an hour and a half. At the end, Elder Grajeda and I were mos annoyed with each other. It was especially annoying because we had used up a good amount of our weekly planning time (that happens every Thursday and takes a few hours of siting to complete). Well, then Elder Grajeda told me that he was just pushing the argument forward to "test" me to see if I could explain myself. That got me riled up and I used words and a tone that were not becoming of a missionary. Anyway, there was no way that we could continue after that. I had to go away for a little bit so that could calm down and reestablish myself. I realized that much of what had gone wrong was my fault. Well, we went back to planning and things worked out well. After only a little bit, we were laughing again, the Spirit had returned and we could continue. After a little while, I had to call the areas in my district to find out how all of them were doing and how the missionary work is progressing. That took a couple hours. Then I called the zone leaders to report. They started asking me how everything was going. I told them about all of the areas, and then they asked me more specific questions about each area that I did not know the answers to. After asking several of these questions, they suggested that I call all of the areas again so hat I knew more about how they were doing. Oh boy, I was not thrilled to hear that. I could feel the anxiety building up inside of me. I felt like an idiot. Why was I such a bad missionary that I couldn't keep an even temper with my companions and then not fulfill my calling effectively. Well, I realized that I was getting anxious and explained the situation to hem. They were very kind to me, but I felt bad that they had to deal with a district leader who couldn't keep his own. I said a prayer and the peace of the Spirit returned. It was a hard beginning to a day, but I managed to get through. Satan was trying to tempt me to get frustrated with myself and with others. He was he one really trying to deceive and annoy me. Most of all, it was tempting just to think, "I don't even care, I'll be in Brazil soon." No good. I am so grateful for the Spirit who reminds us of our earthly duties and our heavenly potential.
Friday was an awesome day! Here are the highlights. We had district meeting in which we talked about the importance of the First Vision in inviting the spirit into a lesson so that people may be converted. Then we had a potluck. It was awesome! The Spirit was so strong! We also ran across a 13-ish-year-old boy/kid/man/person that we gave a Book of Mormon to a couple weeks ago. We haven't been able to see him since. His name is Michael. We asked him if he has been able to read any of it. He's read 130 pages!!! That is simply amazing. He said that he likes it so far and doesn't have any questions. He said that we can come over soon and teach his whole family. We are so excited!!! We went to visit another investigator who wasn't home. When we were walking up to his apartment, we had seen a couple Chinese people talking on their porch in the neighboring apartment. After knocking on our investigator's door, I felt prompted to knock on the Chinese neighbors' door. We knocked and an older Chinese couple came to the door. They spoke no English but invited us in with hand motions. They indicated for us o sit and talk off our jackets. We had no idea what was about o happen until they went into the other room and got their 20-something-year-old daughter. Her name is Jenny (no originally). She can speak English. She and her family are only in the states for 7 months as she does research at a local hospital. She is from mainland China and is not familiar with religion, but is very curious. We had the opportunity o teach her about the Book of Mormon, and she is very interested in reading it. She has a limited understanding of the Bible and Christ. We explained who the Spirit is, and she said that she felt the Spirit confirming what we were teaching her. It was so cool! We are going to return with a brother in the ward who speaks Chinese from when he served in Taiwan (Steve Arner if Scott Eliason happens to know him). Friday night we got to play volleyball with the youth. It was meant to be a missionary tool, and luckily one of them invited their friends! It was a great experience. Please invite your friends to activities! Missionary work starts with friendship, loving relationships that grow into sharing opportunities.
Sunday was wonderful. It was Easter. How great! I got the package, and it made me so happy! I discovered outside of our apartment on Sunday. Apparently our landlord thought that she would play "Easter Bunny" and hold our packages for us until it was actually Easter. I didn't mind except for the fact that some animal found my package in the middle of the night and nibbled into one of my cookies. Not cool Ricky Raccoon! That's fine; I still have plenty other cookies to enjoy. We went to church for sacrament and then left to go to our investigator's Lutheran service that he invited us to. It was a contemporary service and was really funny because the opening hymn was "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" with a great rock beat. Not my personal favorite. I prefer the organ. He then invited us over to his family's house for Easter lunch. It was so good! We ate like kings. The only problem is that we had a dinner appointment with a member of the ward 20 minutes later. We had to eat like kings then, too. Well, we were stuffed. So much so that Elder Russo and I thew up a little bit. I didn't taste as good on the way up. Oh well, we calmed our troubled stomachs with some peeps. :D
Whelp, I always thought that Will would make it to menace of society status, but I guess that's not going to happen. Atualmente, estou muito animado! I can't say much about how the family dynamic is changing, since it is likely to make me very emotional. I am happy for Will and Stephenie to be married in August in the Logan temple. I am sad that I won't be there. I am sad that I will never meet Ms. Frye, but I look forward to meeting Mrs. Ayer. (Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy ;D) I'm a little anxious knowing that everything from childhood won't be the same, but at least there'll still be "the kids". I know that we are eternal beings, so endings are harsh and unfamiliar. I know that we are eternal beings, so we also naturally seek after that which is eternally significant. I love you all, especially you, Stephenie. And especially Mom, heaven only knows what this is doing to her poor nerves. :D I love you all so much. Can I say that times infinity? You are all the greatest. I am glad that we can be eternal family because of the triumph Christ had over the grave and hell. We can live in an eternity of progression and love because we can rise again sinless. Always remember that. Voces estao meus pessoas preferidas!
Com muito amor, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. There are Eliasons in my ward. They are descendants of Anders Eliason, the brother of Erik Eliason who came over Sweden. Sweeede! :D
I know there are important things from back home that I'm supposed to comment on, but I'll keep that until the end. Anyway, this week was the first week in Cave Spring that felt pretty successful. It was great!
It started out with a little P-day sacrifice last week of going to see some potential investigators at 10 in he morning. Well, it turned out great! There names are Grace and Kelson. They are from Malawi. They are Seventh Day Adventists, but they are very open to learning more about the restored gospel. The lesson went great, and by the end Grace said that she is going to carry the Book of Mormon around with her everywhere and read it and pray to know whether or not it is true. They are very nice people and we will meet with them again this week to talk to them more about the Book of Mormon.
Monday night was crazy. There are some members of the Church in the area who have put together an activity for older couples in the Church and the community that happens once a month. They call it "Empty Nesters". At Empty Nesters, there is a spiritual thought, potluck, and then some Bluegrass. They also always invite the missionaries. It was a lot of fun and allowed for a good opportunity for us to get to know some of the people in the community and ward better. One of the men from the community was from NH and was in the first graduating class from Oyster River! It was awesome. The Bluegrass was the greatest part. They had booklets of lyrics so that everyone could sing along to the folk and gospel songs. I can't tell you how much fun it was! I really want to learn how to play the mandolin, banjo, automatic harp, fiddle, and upright bass just so that one day all of my kids can sit around and jam out to some homegrown bluegrass! And of course, bluegrass reminds me of when I was in 2nd grade and was so proud of myself for knowing what bluegrass was because we read about it in class. Bluegrass really is fun if you're singing or playing along!
Anyway, The next big thing to happen during the week was Thursday. Oh, Thursday. I am working on patience if that is anyway to help you understand what Thursday was like. It started out as any ordinary day. We had personal study. Then we got to companion study. Elder Grajeda started by telling us what he learned during his personal study. Then he made a comment of how he had come to some doctrinal conclusion that clearly was not true. Elder Russo and I both recognized this. We didn't intend to tell him how he was wrong, we were just trying to guide his thinking so that he could understand the doctrine a little bit better. Well, that started a discussion that soon become heated, unintelligent, repetitive, useless, and frustrating. It went on for an hour and a half. At the end, Elder Grajeda and I were mos annoyed with each other. It was especially annoying because we had used up a good amount of our weekly planning time (that happens every Thursday and takes a few hours of siting to complete). Well, then Elder Grajeda told me that he was just pushing the argument forward to "test" me to see if I could explain myself. That got me riled up and I used words and a tone that were not becoming of a missionary. Anyway, there was no way that we could continue after that. I had to go away for a little bit so that could calm down and reestablish myself. I realized that much of what had gone wrong was my fault. Well, we went back to planning and things worked out well. After only a little bit, we were laughing again, the Spirit had returned and we could continue. After a little while, I had to call the areas in my district to find out how all of them were doing and how the missionary work is progressing. That took a couple hours. Then I called the zone leaders to report. They started asking me how everything was going. I told them about all of the areas, and then they asked me more specific questions about each area that I did not know the answers to. After asking several of these questions, they suggested that I call all of the areas again so hat I knew more about how they were doing. Oh boy, I was not thrilled to hear that. I could feel the anxiety building up inside of me. I felt like an idiot. Why was I such a bad missionary that I couldn't keep an even temper with my companions and then not fulfill my calling effectively. Well, I realized that I was getting anxious and explained the situation to hem. They were very kind to me, but I felt bad that they had to deal with a district leader who couldn't keep his own. I said a prayer and the peace of the Spirit returned. It was a hard beginning to a day, but I managed to get through. Satan was trying to tempt me to get frustrated with myself and with others. He was he one really trying to deceive and annoy me. Most of all, it was tempting just to think, "I don't even care, I'll be in Brazil soon." No good. I am so grateful for the Spirit who reminds us of our earthly duties and our heavenly potential.
Friday was an awesome day! Here are the highlights. We had district meeting in which we talked about the importance of the First Vision in inviting the spirit into a lesson so that people may be converted. Then we had a potluck. It was awesome! The Spirit was so strong! We also ran across a 13-ish-year-old boy/kid/man/person that we gave a Book of Mormon to a couple weeks ago. We haven't been able to see him since. His name is Michael. We asked him if he has been able to read any of it. He's read 130 pages!!! That is simply amazing. He said that he likes it so far and doesn't have any questions. He said that we can come over soon and teach his whole family. We are so excited!!! We went to visit another investigator who wasn't home. When we were walking up to his apartment, we had seen a couple Chinese people talking on their porch in the neighboring apartment. After knocking on our investigator's door, I felt prompted to knock on the Chinese neighbors' door. We knocked and an older Chinese couple came to the door. They spoke no English but invited us in with hand motions. They indicated for us o sit and talk off our jackets. We had no idea what was about o happen until they went into the other room and got their 20-something-year-old daughter. Her name is Jenny (no originally). She can speak English. She and her family are only in the states for 7 months as she does research at a local hospital. She is from mainland China and is not familiar with religion, but is very curious. We had the opportunity o teach her about the Book of Mormon, and she is very interested in reading it. She has a limited understanding of the Bible and Christ. We explained who the Spirit is, and she said that she felt the Spirit confirming what we were teaching her. It was so cool! We are going to return with a brother in the ward who speaks Chinese from when he served in Taiwan (Steve Arner if Scott Eliason happens to know him). Friday night we got to play volleyball with the youth. It was meant to be a missionary tool, and luckily one of them invited their friends! It was a great experience. Please invite your friends to activities! Missionary work starts with friendship, loving relationships that grow into sharing opportunities.
Sunday was wonderful. It was Easter. How great! I got the package, and it made me so happy! I discovered outside of our apartment on Sunday. Apparently our landlord thought that she would play "Easter Bunny" and hold our packages for us until it was actually Easter. I didn't mind except for the fact that some animal found my package in the middle of the night and nibbled into one of my cookies. Not cool Ricky Raccoon! That's fine; I still have plenty other cookies to enjoy. We went to church for sacrament and then left to go to our investigator's Lutheran service that he invited us to. It was a contemporary service and was really funny because the opening hymn was "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" with a great rock beat. Not my personal favorite. I prefer the organ. He then invited us over to his family's house for Easter lunch. It was so good! We ate like kings. The only problem is that we had a dinner appointment with a member of the ward 20 minutes later. We had to eat like kings then, too. Well, we were stuffed. So much so that Elder Russo and I thew up a little bit. I didn't taste as good on the way up. Oh well, we calmed our troubled stomachs with some peeps. :D
Whelp, I always thought that Will would make it to menace of society status, but I guess that's not going to happen. Atualmente, estou muito animado! I can't say much about how the family dynamic is changing, since it is likely to make me very emotional. I am happy for Will and Stephenie to be married in August in the Logan temple. I am sad that I won't be there. I am sad that I will never meet Ms. Frye, but I look forward to meeting Mrs. Ayer. (Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy ;D) I'm a little anxious knowing that everything from childhood won't be the same, but at least there'll still be "the kids". I know that we are eternal beings, so endings are harsh and unfamiliar. I know that we are eternal beings, so we also naturally seek after that which is eternally significant. I love you all, especially you, Stephenie. And especially Mom, heaven only knows what this is doing to her poor nerves. :D I love you all so much. Can I say that times infinity? You are all the greatest. I am glad that we can be eternal family because of the triumph Christ had over the grave and hell. We can live in an eternity of progression and love because we can rise again sinless. Always remember that. Voces estao meus pessoas preferidas!
Com muito amor, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. There are Eliasons in my ward. They are descendants of Anders Eliason, the brother of Erik Eliason who came over Sweden. Sweeede! :D
Monday, April 14, 2014
Oi voces!
Oi voces! (Hey y'all!)
This last week was one wild good ride. There were lots of crazy things that happened. If you want to know the craziness, read to the very end when all will be revealed. :D
Well, now I can't remember anything that happened this week because I'm waiting for the big reveal at the end.
I went on two exchanges this last week. That has pretty much taken up this whole last week. They were a good time. One of them was with the elders covering Botetourt County. They are also visa waiters. The highlight of that exchange was encountering a Jehovah's Witness. I think I was already prepared for the attack when we started talking to him. Unfortunately, I didn't consider that it could be a good and uplifting interaction. I think I was still charged from my experience last week being confronted by that preacher. Luckily, the other elder, Elder Kochenderfer, took it more calmly. Once I realized what he was doing, I was able to settle down and not try to get caught up in the scripture battle. I don't know if that made sense, but basically I learned that I need to treat everyone I meet with great respect and love. Who are we to become angry or frustrated with them because they are also passionate about what they believe? Who are we to become angry with them because they haven't been exposed to the whole truth since their birth? Who are we to deter them from the truth afterwards because they had a bad experience with a representative of Christ's Church? Anyway, it turned out to be a good interaction. We took his watchtowers, and he took our Joseph Smith pamphlet. Hopefully he'll read what we gave him; we looked at the pictures and then threw his literature away.
The second exchange this week was really good as well. It was with the zone leaders. We got to go out on bikes. It felt great to be on a bike again. I don't know why, but it was a lot of fun. Since they live in the downtown area of Roanoke, we got to talk to people on the streets all along the way. It was so much fun!
Well, Thursday was the biggest day this week. We had district meeting while President Pitt came and interviewed all of us. I love President and Sister Pitt so much. We had to go extra early to make sure that President would have enough time to interview the rest of the district. While we waited, we got to talk to Sister Pitt. While I talked to her, she told me that their family was in the Hill Cumorah Pageant in 2010 and they were cast team leaders for one of the adult groups. If you want to do some research on that and figure that out, that would be cool! Well, my interview with President Pitt was great. He is such an inspired and inspiring man. He shows so much love. He is also full of so much energy. Just the other day I learned that he is in his 70's and that he only gets 3 or 4 hours of sleep each night because he is doing mission stuff. He is an awesome example of putting our shoulder to the wheel. As I was going into the interview, Sister Pitt asked President if he was going to show me his phone. I was like, What? Well, I didn't worry too much about it. President likes showing me stuff on his phone. Anyway, we had a great interview. I talked a little bit about the challenges of this transfer. I confessed to him about how I had yelled at Elder Grajeda for being whiny. I also told him about how the trip-ship has been pretty hard and a little frustrating, especially in an area that needs to be resurrected. Well, he confessed to me that he knew this was going to be a hard transfer for me. That's when he told me some exciting news to help me endure. I got my visa!!! Apparently it came unofficially the day after transfers, just one day too late in order to get shipped down to Brazil. Oh well, the next few weeks are the testing period to see what kind of missionary I am. Am I focused? Am I concerned about helping others? I can say that it has already been hard to stay focused. President Pitt asked me not to tell anyone in the mission so that everyone else can stay focused also. It's super hard (especially when they're right next to me typing emails also). Anyway, I will be going down to the Brazil MTC at some point for 2 weeks of intensive language training before going back into the field in Brazil. Anyway, things are really exciting.
I can't think of anything else. I completely derailed my train of thought talking about going to Brazil. Anyway, please pray for me. I thought it was harder not knowing about my visa, but it's quite the opposite. I love you all and know that the Church is true!
Love, Elder Ayer
P.S. I'm excited for you that Will and Stephenie are coming home today! Don't stress out at all! They'll be happy just to be there. :D
P.P.S. There is someone in the ward who lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when she was younger. Is that where you lived, Mom? Her name is Desert and I think her maiden name is Sprouse. She joined the Church while she was in Saudi. Do you know/remember her?
P.P.P.S. There is a less-active family in the ward that used to live in Essex, Vermont. They went to church with the Doney family! Anyway, their names are Bryan and Cynthia Colburn, and they love Clark and Bev!
P.P.P.P.S. I got my visa! Yippeeeeee!
This last week was one wild good ride. There were lots of crazy things that happened. If you want to know the craziness, read to the very end when all will be revealed. :D
Well, now I can't remember anything that happened this week because I'm waiting for the big reveal at the end.
I went on two exchanges this last week. That has pretty much taken up this whole last week. They were a good time. One of them was with the elders covering Botetourt County. They are also visa waiters. The highlight of that exchange was encountering a Jehovah's Witness. I think I was already prepared for the attack when we started talking to him. Unfortunately, I didn't consider that it could be a good and uplifting interaction. I think I was still charged from my experience last week being confronted by that preacher. Luckily, the other elder, Elder Kochenderfer, took it more calmly. Once I realized what he was doing, I was able to settle down and not try to get caught up in the scripture battle. I don't know if that made sense, but basically I learned that I need to treat everyone I meet with great respect and love. Who are we to become angry or frustrated with them because they are also passionate about what they believe? Who are we to become angry with them because they haven't been exposed to the whole truth since their birth? Who are we to deter them from the truth afterwards because they had a bad experience with a representative of Christ's Church? Anyway, it turned out to be a good interaction. We took his watchtowers, and he took our Joseph Smith pamphlet. Hopefully he'll read what we gave him; we looked at the pictures and then threw his literature away.
The second exchange this week was really good as well. It was with the zone leaders. We got to go out on bikes. It felt great to be on a bike again. I don't know why, but it was a lot of fun. Since they live in the downtown area of Roanoke, we got to talk to people on the streets all along the way. It was so much fun!
Well, Thursday was the biggest day this week. We had district meeting while President Pitt came and interviewed all of us. I love President and Sister Pitt so much. We had to go extra early to make sure that President would have enough time to interview the rest of the district. While we waited, we got to talk to Sister Pitt. While I talked to her, she told me that their family was in the Hill Cumorah Pageant in 2010 and they were cast team leaders for one of the adult groups. If you want to do some research on that and figure that out, that would be cool! Well, my interview with President Pitt was great. He is such an inspired and inspiring man. He shows so much love. He is also full of so much energy. Just the other day I learned that he is in his 70's and that he only gets 3 or 4 hours of sleep each night because he is doing mission stuff. He is an awesome example of putting our shoulder to the wheel. As I was going into the interview, Sister Pitt asked President if he was going to show me his phone. I was like, What? Well, I didn't worry too much about it. President likes showing me stuff on his phone. Anyway, we had a great interview. I talked a little bit about the challenges of this transfer. I confessed to him about how I had yelled at Elder Grajeda for being whiny. I also told him about how the trip-ship has been pretty hard and a little frustrating, especially in an area that needs to be resurrected. Well, he confessed to me that he knew this was going to be a hard transfer for me. That's when he told me some exciting news to help me endure. I got my visa!!! Apparently it came unofficially the day after transfers, just one day too late in order to get shipped down to Brazil. Oh well, the next few weeks are the testing period to see what kind of missionary I am. Am I focused? Am I concerned about helping others? I can say that it has already been hard to stay focused. President Pitt asked me not to tell anyone in the mission so that everyone else can stay focused also. It's super hard (especially when they're right next to me typing emails also). Anyway, I will be going down to the Brazil MTC at some point for 2 weeks of intensive language training before going back into the field in Brazil. Anyway, things are really exciting.
I can't think of anything else. I completely derailed my train of thought talking about going to Brazil. Anyway, please pray for me. I thought it was harder not knowing about my visa, but it's quite the opposite. I love you all and know that the Church is true!
Love, Elder Ayer
P.S. I'm excited for you that Will and Stephenie are coming home today! Don't stress out at all! They'll be happy just to be there. :D
P.P.S. There is someone in the ward who lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when she was younger. Is that where you lived, Mom? Her name is Desert and I think her maiden name is Sprouse. She joined the Church while she was in Saudi. Do you know/remember her?
P.P.P.S. There is a less-active family in the ward that used to live in Essex, Vermont. They went to church with the Doney family! Anyway, their names are Bryan and Cynthia Colburn, and they love Clark and Bev!
P.P.P.P.S. I got my visa! Yippeeeeee!
Monday, April 7, 2014
The Spirit
Dearest family,
This has been one wonderful week! It started off great with a special gift. Our Malibu had gone over its 60,000 mileage limitation (that's when the Church decides to stop using vehicles for missionaries). Thus, we got a brand new 2014 Toyota Corolla! It is ridiculous. It had to travel the 200 something miles from Charleston to Roanoke, so it arrived with a little over 200 miles on it. I'm not sure that I will have a brand new vehicle as nice as this for a while. It has a back-up camera. It has a touch screen up front. I can even plug my flash drive into it, and it will play whatever is loaded on there! Since discovering this, I have downloaded lots and lots of General Conference talks. We listen to them in the car, and we never have to listen to one more than once unless we want to. How great!
Well, we have a few investigators here in Cave Spring. One of them is Freddie. Freddie is a Hispanic Seventh Day Adventist preacher. He runs three congregations in the area. This last week we got to meet with him. He readily seemed to accept the concept that Joseph Smith could be a prophet. (Seventh Day Adventists believe in modern day prophets) He is going to read the Book of Mormon in order to decide for himself whether Joseph Smith was a prophet. How great! The only problem is that he believes that everything a prophet say must line up exactly with the already established word of God. Of course, this is not sensible because revelation brings about new truths and new knowledge. How can revelation always be constrained by the already established word of God? If that were so, Noah would have received no instructions to build with, Abraham would have received no covenant to hope with, and Moses would have received no law to govern with. The glory of prophets is that they may speak for God in a way that draws us ever nearer to Him and His ultimate reserve of knowledge and truth. What is most important is to judge every revelation against the spirit of truth. The Spirit is sent from God and is our ultimate touchstone of truth. By the Spirit we can gain a supreme and surreal understanding of all that is true. Freddie is having a hard time understanding that. His biggest hold-up is the concept of a pre-mortal existence. We try to share biblical scriptures with him, but he still maintains his own understanding and interpretation of the scriptures. We will continue to try to help him, but it will take humility to accept that "[God's] thoughts are not [our] thoughts, neither are [our] ways [His] ways.... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [His] ways higher than [our] ways, and [His] thoughts than [our] thoughts." Nobody likes being told that they are wrong. How do we know that we are not wrong? We have personally received a pure and powerful witness from the Spirit that the work we labor diligently under is true.
We found another investigator this week through some interesting means. We were driving home one night when we stopped at Walgreens so that we could talk to some more people before heading in. As we were leaving, a woman told Elder Grajeda that her husband would love to talk to us. She told us that we could talk to him the next night when he was working at Starbucks. She gave us his name and drove off. Well, we had no idea which Starbucks she was talking about. We drove all over trying to find Scott at Starbucks. Imagine three Mormon missionaries driving all over and going to every Starbucks in the area, not a normal sight. :D Anyway, we couldn't find Scott. At our last stop, we started talking to another worker behind the Starbucks counter. His name was Jon. He was really nice. I gave him a card, and he said that he could talk to us longer if we waited for him to start his break in a few minutes. We happily waited around. (In the meantime I tried to start up a conversation with a man wearing a Utes shirt. He was having none of it. Maybe I shouldn't have started off by saying, "I went to BYU"?) After our break chat with Jon, he asked to meet with us again. We planned for the next day at Mill Mountain (another coffee shop, but it has good food). Well, we were really having a good time talking and socializing over lunch when I asked him if he had had the chance to look over the Book of Mormon at all the night before. He said he did, and that he had a few questions. He warned us that his questions might be pretty hard. "Bring it on," I said. Well, he started rattling off question after question attacking the validity of the Book of Mormon. It was a little pathetic. He had to take his phone out during the middle of the conversation in order to look at his research website and "remember" all of "his" questions. On the plus side, he was being sincere about it. He wasn't just rudely attacking us, but he was curious. Luckily I was prepared for the onslaught. My two younger companions listened as I answered his patronizing questions that ranged from the reality of pre-Colombian horses to the weight of a block of golden plates. It was ridiculous. It was especially ridiculous because every primary answer to each question was simple. I know the Book of Mormon to be true. This knowledge has not come from historical study. This knowledge comes from God himself. Who am I to deny His holy witness. Who am I to deny His glorious truths? It is so wonderful to know what I know. I am glad to share this with everyone. In the end, Jon was satisfied with the answers he received. He said that he would read the Book of Mormon and decide for himself. We can only hope that he will follow through with this commitment.
Another exciting investigator is Norman. He is schizophrenic and was once accused of murder. Don't worry, he's cool. He was innocent, and he has family that is Mormon. He doesn't hold that against us. Well, Norman thought that he would really like us to attend his church service for a change. We had conference this weekend, so we wouldn't be occupied during that time. We agreed to it. Bad idea. We went to his church (not really a church, it was a "sanctuary" housed in an office building). We got there and started wondering if we should really being driving around our brand new car in this part of town. We went in and were three of 20 people there. We were the only white folks there. I only say this because it became a point of discussion later during the service. There was a man up front just chanting and fast talking about the goodness of God. Everyone was waving their hands in the air and shouting amens and hallelujahs. There was another man across from us who was sitting and speaking gibberish to himself (they refer to this as "speaking in tongues"). That went on for five to ten minutes. Then the service began. I had already determined in my mind that I would not engage in any conduct that was not becoming of a representative of Christ. I would respect their worship, but I would not participate in something that disrespected my god. The preacher started. Well, it didn't take long for him to notice three white Mormon missionaries sitting in the back of his congregation. Yeah, he got in our faces. He asked us if we knew the word of God. He looked directly at us for most of the time he sermonized. He asserted his own superior knowledge of the word. He drew conclusions from the scriptures that I found no basis for. All the while, the people laughed at his clever words and phrasing as he discoursed to them blasphemy upon blasphemy. He asked us if we wanted to contend against anything he had said, if we wanted to argue that his teachings were not scripturally founded. How I wanted to get up and bear pure testimony against them all, but a feeling inside me told me to stay still and remain under control. Thank goodness. I probably would have lost it. I sat in my chair quietly. I kept my face straight. I did not "amen" his teachings. I did not clap when he commanded. I "set my face like a flint" and did not waiver from it. Finally we had to leave in order to get to the conference. We luckily left before they started their "healings" and "speaking in tongues".
One of the most surprising things was that this man had called himself a prophet. A prophet! He did not invite the Spirit. He did not edify me. It made such the sweeter contrast when I got to go to General Conference and hear the true and pure words of God's anointed servants. What a blessing! What a heavenly manifestation of guiding love! I am so grateful for the prophets and apostles that lead and guide us today. I know them to be true men of God. The Spirit will bear testimony to you of this truth. There were so many good talks this last conference. I had questions answered. I was edified and uplifted. I hope that you were, too.
I love you all so much! I hope that everything is going well with y'all. I always love to hear from you and hear that things are going well and progressing as normal in the Ayer household. :D You have my love and prayers always. Have fun getting ready for Will and Stephenie to come home! Love you!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. Starbucks smoothies are guh-ROSS!!!
This has been one wonderful week! It started off great with a special gift. Our Malibu had gone over its 60,000 mileage limitation (that's when the Church decides to stop using vehicles for missionaries). Thus, we got a brand new 2014 Toyota Corolla! It is ridiculous. It had to travel the 200 something miles from Charleston to Roanoke, so it arrived with a little over 200 miles on it. I'm not sure that I will have a brand new vehicle as nice as this for a while. It has a back-up camera. It has a touch screen up front. I can even plug my flash drive into it, and it will play whatever is loaded on there! Since discovering this, I have downloaded lots and lots of General Conference talks. We listen to them in the car, and we never have to listen to one more than once unless we want to. How great!
Well, we have a few investigators here in Cave Spring. One of them is Freddie. Freddie is a Hispanic Seventh Day Adventist preacher. He runs three congregations in the area. This last week we got to meet with him. He readily seemed to accept the concept that Joseph Smith could be a prophet. (Seventh Day Adventists believe in modern day prophets) He is going to read the Book of Mormon in order to decide for himself whether Joseph Smith was a prophet. How great! The only problem is that he believes that everything a prophet say must line up exactly with the already established word of God. Of course, this is not sensible because revelation brings about new truths and new knowledge. How can revelation always be constrained by the already established word of God? If that were so, Noah would have received no instructions to build with, Abraham would have received no covenant to hope with, and Moses would have received no law to govern with. The glory of prophets is that they may speak for God in a way that draws us ever nearer to Him and His ultimate reserve of knowledge and truth. What is most important is to judge every revelation against the spirit of truth. The Spirit is sent from God and is our ultimate touchstone of truth. By the Spirit we can gain a supreme and surreal understanding of all that is true. Freddie is having a hard time understanding that. His biggest hold-up is the concept of a pre-mortal existence. We try to share biblical scriptures with him, but he still maintains his own understanding and interpretation of the scriptures. We will continue to try to help him, but it will take humility to accept that "[God's] thoughts are not [our] thoughts, neither are [our] ways [His] ways.... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [His] ways higher than [our] ways, and [His] thoughts than [our] thoughts." Nobody likes being told that they are wrong. How do we know that we are not wrong? We have personally received a pure and powerful witness from the Spirit that the work we labor diligently under is true.
We found another investigator this week through some interesting means. We were driving home one night when we stopped at Walgreens so that we could talk to some more people before heading in. As we were leaving, a woman told Elder Grajeda that her husband would love to talk to us. She told us that we could talk to him the next night when he was working at Starbucks. She gave us his name and drove off. Well, we had no idea which Starbucks she was talking about. We drove all over trying to find Scott at Starbucks. Imagine three Mormon missionaries driving all over and going to every Starbucks in the area, not a normal sight. :D Anyway, we couldn't find Scott. At our last stop, we started talking to another worker behind the Starbucks counter. His name was Jon. He was really nice. I gave him a card, and he said that he could talk to us longer if we waited for him to start his break in a few minutes. We happily waited around. (In the meantime I tried to start up a conversation with a man wearing a Utes shirt. He was having none of it. Maybe I shouldn't have started off by saying, "I went to BYU"?) After our break chat with Jon, he asked to meet with us again. We planned for the next day at Mill Mountain (another coffee shop, but it has good food). Well, we were really having a good time talking and socializing over lunch when I asked him if he had had the chance to look over the Book of Mormon at all the night before. He said he did, and that he had a few questions. He warned us that his questions might be pretty hard. "Bring it on," I said. Well, he started rattling off question after question attacking the validity of the Book of Mormon. It was a little pathetic. He had to take his phone out during the middle of the conversation in order to look at his research website and "remember" all of "his" questions. On the plus side, he was being sincere about it. He wasn't just rudely attacking us, but he was curious. Luckily I was prepared for the onslaught. My two younger companions listened as I answered his patronizing questions that ranged from the reality of pre-Colombian horses to the weight of a block of golden plates. It was ridiculous. It was especially ridiculous because every primary answer to each question was simple. I know the Book of Mormon to be true. This knowledge has not come from historical study. This knowledge comes from God himself. Who am I to deny His holy witness. Who am I to deny His glorious truths? It is so wonderful to know what I know. I am glad to share this with everyone. In the end, Jon was satisfied with the answers he received. He said that he would read the Book of Mormon and decide for himself. We can only hope that he will follow through with this commitment.
Another exciting investigator is Norman. He is schizophrenic and was once accused of murder. Don't worry, he's cool. He was innocent, and he has family that is Mormon. He doesn't hold that against us. Well, Norman thought that he would really like us to attend his church service for a change. We had conference this weekend, so we wouldn't be occupied during that time. We agreed to it. Bad idea. We went to his church (not really a church, it was a "sanctuary" housed in an office building). We got there and started wondering if we should really being driving around our brand new car in this part of town. We went in and were three of 20 people there. We were the only white folks there. I only say this because it became a point of discussion later during the service. There was a man up front just chanting and fast talking about the goodness of God. Everyone was waving their hands in the air and shouting amens and hallelujahs. There was another man across from us who was sitting and speaking gibberish to himself (they refer to this as "speaking in tongues"). That went on for five to ten minutes. Then the service began. I had already determined in my mind that I would not engage in any conduct that was not becoming of a representative of Christ. I would respect their worship, but I would not participate in something that disrespected my god. The preacher started. Well, it didn't take long for him to notice three white Mormon missionaries sitting in the back of his congregation. Yeah, he got in our faces. He asked us if we knew the word of God. He looked directly at us for most of the time he sermonized. He asserted his own superior knowledge of the word. He drew conclusions from the scriptures that I found no basis for. All the while, the people laughed at his clever words and phrasing as he discoursed to them blasphemy upon blasphemy. He asked us if we wanted to contend against anything he had said, if we wanted to argue that his teachings were not scripturally founded. How I wanted to get up and bear pure testimony against them all, but a feeling inside me told me to stay still and remain under control. Thank goodness. I probably would have lost it. I sat in my chair quietly. I kept my face straight. I did not "amen" his teachings. I did not clap when he commanded. I "set my face like a flint" and did not waiver from it. Finally we had to leave in order to get to the conference. We luckily left before they started their "healings" and "speaking in tongues".
One of the most surprising things was that this man had called himself a prophet. A prophet! He did not invite the Spirit. He did not edify me. It made such the sweeter contrast when I got to go to General Conference and hear the true and pure words of God's anointed servants. What a blessing! What a heavenly manifestation of guiding love! I am so grateful for the prophets and apostles that lead and guide us today. I know them to be true men of God. The Spirit will bear testimony to you of this truth. There were so many good talks this last conference. I had questions answered. I was edified and uplifted. I hope that you were, too.
I love you all so much! I hope that everything is going well with y'all. I always love to hear from you and hear that things are going well and progressing as normal in the Ayer household. :D You have my love and prayers always. Have fun getting ready for Will and Stephenie to come home! Love you!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. Starbucks smoothies are guh-ROSS!!!
Monday, March 31, 2014
Spring into action!
Dear family,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST DAD IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!! You are such a wonderful example to me in my life and you have helped me overcome so many things. Thank you for your stalwart example and constant care. I love you!
Well, I left Vienna on Wednesday. It was a sad day. After several months of serving there and really coming to love the people there, it was very had. This was my first "real" transfer to an unknown place! Luckily, all of the elders in our house (Elder Lopez, Elder Markowski, and Elder Lyman) helped me pack up and get ready for the transfer, so I wasn't up all night packing.
Elder Lyman came down with me in our Bishops' car to transfers. He is now training a new elder named Elder Baty (a Brazilian visa waiter) and is also serving with an Elder Ochsenbein. I am now with Elder [Dallin] Russo and he is training a Brazilian visa waiter, Elder [Kyle] Grajeda. Elder Russo is from Oklahoma, and Elder Grajeda is from Missouri. Elder Grajeda learned how to speak in New Jersey, however, so he has a thick New "Joisey" accent.
I am now serving in the Cave Spring, VA area. It is great! The ward here is super awesome. We live in the basement apartment of a member in the ward. We have a car and will be getting a new car this Tuesday.
The work here is pretty slow right now. It's a little discouraging, but not too discouraging. I get restless leg syndrome every day because we drive so much to where we are going to talk to people. I would much rather walk around all day in the cold. We have been talking to a lot of less-active members. I have been working on helping us shift our focus to finding new people to teach.
Neither of my companions can drive right now, so I am the designated driver. That has made me realize a few things. I am not very good at driving. I don't know if is the hiatus I've had from practicing, or I've always been bad. In either case, I am grateful for the Lord's protecting hand. :D
I am the district leader here. The district is awesome! There is another companionship of Brazilian visa waiters, so we have five total. The sister trainer leaders are in our district as well. They are so helpful and hard-working. One of them, Sister Shumway, looks and acts a lot like Sarah. It is so fun! Another sister, Sister Ostler used to live right across the road from the Bennett family in Salem and knows them really well! How great!
Sorry this email has been so brief. It's hard for me to think of what to say right now. One thing that I realized this morning is the importance it is to invite people to come partake of the blessings of the gospel. We have daily interaction with so many people. They benefit from the Spirit that we carry with us. It would be a great disservice to them if we allowed them to drink from the fountain of living water, but not tell them how to reach the fountain and drink for themselves. It is so vital and necessary that we do all that we can to lead and guide others to that source of joy that comes from Christ through the ministration of the Holy Ghost.
I love you all so much and hope that everything is going well. Please invite everyone to talk to the misisonaries and receive the blessings of the gospel in their lives. It is such a blessing to share.
I LOVE YOU!!!
Love, Elder Ayer
P.S. There are some Eliasons in the ward. I haven't met them yet, but I heard they're from California, so I'm not sure if there is any relation.
P.P.S. I will try to send some pictures your way.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST DAD IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!! You are such a wonderful example to me in my life and you have helped me overcome so many things. Thank you for your stalwart example and constant care. I love you!
Well, I left Vienna on Wednesday. It was a sad day. After several months of serving there and really coming to love the people there, it was very had. This was my first "real" transfer to an unknown place! Luckily, all of the elders in our house (Elder Lopez, Elder Markowski, and Elder Lyman) helped me pack up and get ready for the transfer, so I wasn't up all night packing.
Elder Lyman came down with me in our Bishops' car to transfers. He is now training a new elder named Elder Baty (a Brazilian visa waiter) and is also serving with an Elder Ochsenbein. I am now with Elder [Dallin] Russo and he is training a Brazilian visa waiter, Elder [Kyle] Grajeda. Elder Russo is from Oklahoma, and Elder Grajeda is from Missouri. Elder Grajeda learned how to speak in New Jersey, however, so he has a thick New "Joisey" accent.
I am now serving in the Cave Spring, VA area. It is great! The ward here is super awesome. We live in the basement apartment of a member in the ward. We have a car and will be getting a new car this Tuesday.
The work here is pretty slow right now. It's a little discouraging, but not too discouraging. I get restless leg syndrome every day because we drive so much to where we are going to talk to people. I would much rather walk around all day in the cold. We have been talking to a lot of less-active members. I have been working on helping us shift our focus to finding new people to teach.
Neither of my companions can drive right now, so I am the designated driver. That has made me realize a few things. I am not very good at driving. I don't know if is the hiatus I've had from practicing, or I've always been bad. In either case, I am grateful for the Lord's protecting hand. :D
I am the district leader here. The district is awesome! There is another companionship of Brazilian visa waiters, so we have five total. The sister trainer leaders are in our district as well. They are so helpful and hard-working. One of them, Sister Shumway, looks and acts a lot like Sarah. It is so fun! Another sister, Sister Ostler used to live right across the road from the Bennett family in Salem and knows them really well! How great!
Sorry this email has been so brief. It's hard for me to think of what to say right now. One thing that I realized this morning is the importance it is to invite people to come partake of the blessings of the gospel. We have daily interaction with so many people. They benefit from the Spirit that we carry with us. It would be a great disservice to them if we allowed them to drink from the fountain of living water, but not tell them how to reach the fountain and drink for themselves. It is so vital and necessary that we do all that we can to lead and guide others to that source of joy that comes from Christ through the ministration of the Holy Ghost.
I love you all so much and hope that everything is going well. Please invite everyone to talk to the misisonaries and receive the blessings of the gospel in their lives. It is such a blessing to share.
I LOVE YOU!!!
Love, Elder Ayer
P.S. There are some Eliasons in the ward. I haven't met them yet, but I heard they're from California, so I'm not sure if there is any relation.
P.P.S. I will try to send some pictures your way.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
going south, but not THAT south
Dear Family,
This last week has been great!!! The transfer is just about done, and it's weird looking back and realizing that it was 3 months ago that Elder Lyman and I first met each other. Almost half of my mission so far, WOW!
Well, the greatest experience of this last week was Elijah. Do you remember him from last week? I think that I mentioned him, but I never knew that he would become our South-American-turned-American miracle. He's not really South American. He really is American. He also is a miracle. He was a media referral from a few weeks ago that we tried to get a hold of. We weren't able to meet with him for a while because he has a strange schedule working at Planet Fitness, and he was usually asleep when we went over. From the sounds of it, he talked to a Jehovah's Witness woman at the bus stop about a month ago. He gave all of his information to her. Then we showed up on his doorstep. I don't know what happened, but it sounds like there was a divine intervention and a JW ended up referring this golden man to us. How great! Well, last week when we met with him we invited him to be baptized at the beginning of May. This last week, we had to move it up to the beginning of April. He told us that he missed coming to Scout Sunday last week because he was up the entire night looking at everything on mormon.org. We were glad he did. He has now read all the way to Alma 19! What a superstar! He is married, owns his own home, has one daughter, has twins on the way, can't read very well, but remembers everything he learns about the Church and the Book of Mormon. He can't to Church this last Sunday and enjoyed it. In the opening exercises for priesthood meeting, we reported on the fact that we only get fed about once a week. We weren't complaining, we were simply reporting on how we had been bearing our afflictions with patience and were desirous for more good food. Well, our meal calendar didn't really change at all. However, Elijah did call us an hour after Church and ask us if we wanted to eat dinner with him. He is so great! After dinner, we got to teach Elijah's wife and mother-in-law. His wife, Alecia, isn't very interested (yet), but his mother-in-law, Debbie is very interested. We met with her this morning and she is planning on baptism for April 20th. They are all so cool. I never thought that I would get to see such an amazing miracle in North America. It just goes to show ya that God is a God of miracles. Where there is faith, there will be miracles. Where there is faith, there will be repentance. Where there is faith, there will be baptism. Where there is faith, there will be glorious redemption through the reception of the Holy Ghost. Elijah said that he knows what we teach is true because it makes him so happy. How true that is!
Well, here are some more highlights for the week. Wednesday we went to an interfaith breakfast that our investigator, Glenn, invited us to. There were about 100+ old, retired men there from different faiths. We thought we could quietly sneak in and sit with Glenn, but we were immediately called to by a handful of men and befriended. It was fun! It was really cool, also, when the MC for the event announced that the Mormon missionaries were joining with them. He asked us to stand and introduce ourselves. It was great! Wednesday night we were invited by our investigators, the Dougherty's, to go to their Church of Christ service. It was a contemporary service geared towards college students. Three-fourths of the time was singing "gospel" music. It really wasn't enlightening or uplifting. It was some very simple and unrefined poetry put to what sounded like the same monotonous tune. On the plus side, CofC has some wonderful singers in their congregation. They don't believe in using instruments in their services, so they have to sing well. I got to make up any harmony I wanted and sing it as loud as I wanted! It was fun, but Elder Lyman was about to blow his brains out by the time we left. I think I understand why they sing so much. Music invites the Spirit, and they need to be able to feast on something in order to feel justified in their worship.
Saturday afternoon we were walking down the road when we met an old woman sitting on her front steps. We thought she was alright, but it turned out she had fallen and hit her hip moments before we had walked past. She asked us for help. After trying to help her for a little bit, we told her that she should probably call an ambulance. She refused and said that she just wanted to get inside. This was not a frail little lady, but she was a little thicker. After about 20 minutes, Elder LYman and I finally managed to shuffle her into her house, our heads beneath her shoulders. Well, she was very grateful. We offered to give a blessing. She was very grateful once again. It was pretty awesome to be placed by the hand of the Lord in the right place at the right time.
On Sunday I sang a solo in Church as a kind of farewell to the ward. Most of the ward didn't even realize that I could sing. Weird! I sang "Savior, Redeemer, of My Soul" (the arrangement used in "17 Miracles"). It went really well. At the end, I was about to leave the stand when Brother Cordell (sitting behind me) whispered, "Dedicate it to your parents." Well, he runs the shots in this ward. :D Mom and Dad, I hope that you can feel the love from my song.
Yesterday morning we had an intense meeting with Glenn (our 87-year-old investigator). We're really not sure just what to do with him. He believes the Book of Mormon is true and that Thomas S Monson is a prophet. He doesn't feel like he needs to pray about it because he already believes it. Well, we helped him understand exactly what the consequences of his belief are. If we are led to the truth and believe it, we are held accountable to act on it. We helped guide him through a personal epiphany. He told us that he believes in the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Thomas S Monson, and restored priesthood authority. We asked him, "What do you have against being baptized?" He thought for a moment and said, "I'm stubborn." BINGO! hahaha He is great, but he needs to give up his pride in order to accept of the fullness of the blessings of the gospel.
Well, I'm getting transferred. The Lord is sending me down to Cave Spring, near Roanoke, VA. I will be district leader there in a tri-panionship. I will be with an Elder Russo (a visa waiter), and he will be training a state-side missionary. Crazy! I'm looking forward to using my own experience to make this a beneficial experience for the new missionary. Elder Lyman is staying in Vienna. He will also be in a tri-panionship and training a visa waiter. How great!
This week I have seen the quote from Elder Scott over and over. "Repentance...is the hope-filled journey to a more glorious future." I know this to be true. It is a wonderful promise. We should look forward to ways to change, grow, and develop. I am so grateful to the Savior, Jesus Christ, for this divine opportunity.
I love you all so much! Happy birthday, Dad!!! I hope that the job interview went well. I pray for you always.
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
This last week has been great!!! The transfer is just about done, and it's weird looking back and realizing that it was 3 months ago that Elder Lyman and I first met each other. Almost half of my mission so far, WOW!
Well, the greatest experience of this last week was Elijah. Do you remember him from last week? I think that I mentioned him, but I never knew that he would become our South-American-turned-American miracle. He's not really South American. He really is American. He also is a miracle. He was a media referral from a few weeks ago that we tried to get a hold of. We weren't able to meet with him for a while because he has a strange schedule working at Planet Fitness, and he was usually asleep when we went over. From the sounds of it, he talked to a Jehovah's Witness woman at the bus stop about a month ago. He gave all of his information to her. Then we showed up on his doorstep. I don't know what happened, but it sounds like there was a divine intervention and a JW ended up referring this golden man to us. How great! Well, last week when we met with him we invited him to be baptized at the beginning of May. This last week, we had to move it up to the beginning of April. He told us that he missed coming to Scout Sunday last week because he was up the entire night looking at everything on mormon.org. We were glad he did. He has now read all the way to Alma 19! What a superstar! He is married, owns his own home, has one daughter, has twins on the way, can't read very well, but remembers everything he learns about the Church and the Book of Mormon. He can't to Church this last Sunday and enjoyed it. In the opening exercises for priesthood meeting, we reported on the fact that we only get fed about once a week. We weren't complaining, we were simply reporting on how we had been bearing our afflictions with patience and were desirous for more good food. Well, our meal calendar didn't really change at all. However, Elijah did call us an hour after Church and ask us if we wanted to eat dinner with him. He is so great! After dinner, we got to teach Elijah's wife and mother-in-law. His wife, Alecia, isn't very interested (yet), but his mother-in-law, Debbie is very interested. We met with her this morning and she is planning on baptism for April 20th. They are all so cool. I never thought that I would get to see such an amazing miracle in North America. It just goes to show ya that God is a God of miracles. Where there is faith, there will be miracles. Where there is faith, there will be repentance. Where there is faith, there will be baptism. Where there is faith, there will be glorious redemption through the reception of the Holy Ghost. Elijah said that he knows what we teach is true because it makes him so happy. How true that is!
Well, here are some more highlights for the week. Wednesday we went to an interfaith breakfast that our investigator, Glenn, invited us to. There were about 100+ old, retired men there from different faiths. We thought we could quietly sneak in and sit with Glenn, but we were immediately called to by a handful of men and befriended. It was fun! It was really cool, also, when the MC for the event announced that the Mormon missionaries were joining with them. He asked us to stand and introduce ourselves. It was great! Wednesday night we were invited by our investigators, the Dougherty's, to go to their Church of Christ service. It was a contemporary service geared towards college students. Three-fourths of the time was singing "gospel" music. It really wasn't enlightening or uplifting. It was some very simple and unrefined poetry put to what sounded like the same monotonous tune. On the plus side, CofC has some wonderful singers in their congregation. They don't believe in using instruments in their services, so they have to sing well. I got to make up any harmony I wanted and sing it as loud as I wanted! It was fun, but Elder Lyman was about to blow his brains out by the time we left. I think I understand why they sing so much. Music invites the Spirit, and they need to be able to feast on something in order to feel justified in their worship.
Saturday afternoon we were walking down the road when we met an old woman sitting on her front steps. We thought she was alright, but it turned out she had fallen and hit her hip moments before we had walked past. She asked us for help. After trying to help her for a little bit, we told her that she should probably call an ambulance. She refused and said that she just wanted to get inside. This was not a frail little lady, but she was a little thicker. After about 20 minutes, Elder LYman and I finally managed to shuffle her into her house, our heads beneath her shoulders. Well, she was very grateful. We offered to give a blessing. She was very grateful once again. It was pretty awesome to be placed by the hand of the Lord in the right place at the right time.
On Sunday I sang a solo in Church as a kind of farewell to the ward. Most of the ward didn't even realize that I could sing. Weird! I sang "Savior, Redeemer, of My Soul" (the arrangement used in "17 Miracles"). It went really well. At the end, I was about to leave the stand when Brother Cordell (sitting behind me) whispered, "Dedicate it to your parents." Well, he runs the shots in this ward. :D Mom and Dad, I hope that you can feel the love from my song.
Yesterday morning we had an intense meeting with Glenn (our 87-year-old investigator). We're really not sure just what to do with him. He believes the Book of Mormon is true and that Thomas S Monson is a prophet. He doesn't feel like he needs to pray about it because he already believes it. Well, we helped him understand exactly what the consequences of his belief are. If we are led to the truth and believe it, we are held accountable to act on it. We helped guide him through a personal epiphany. He told us that he believes in the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Thomas S Monson, and restored priesthood authority. We asked him, "What do you have against being baptized?" He thought for a moment and said, "I'm stubborn." BINGO! hahaha He is great, but he needs to give up his pride in order to accept of the fullness of the blessings of the gospel.
Well, I'm getting transferred. The Lord is sending me down to Cave Spring, near Roanoke, VA. I will be district leader there in a tri-panionship. I will be with an Elder Russo (a visa waiter), and he will be training a state-side missionary. Crazy! I'm looking forward to using my own experience to make this a beneficial experience for the new missionary. Elder Lyman is staying in Vienna. He will also be in a tri-panionship and training a visa waiter. How great!
This week I have seen the quote from Elder Scott over and over. "Repentance...is the hope-filled journey to a more glorious future." I know this to be true. It is a wonderful promise. We should look forward to ways to change, grow, and develop. I am so grateful to the Savior, Jesus Christ, for this divine opportunity.
I love you all so much! Happy birthday, Dad!!! I hope that the job interview went well. I pray for you always.
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
Monday, March 17, 2014
Once an eagle...always an eagle!
Dear Family
This week was crazy awesome! But this next week is about to get a little crazier and awesomer. You know why? Bum budda bum bum bum....THIS WEEK IS SUCH A SPECIAL ONE, IT'S BIRTHDAY TIME FOR YOU[hermana sarah ayer]! WE'D REALLY LIKE TO CELEBRATE THIS HAPPY DAY WITH YOU[hermana sarah ayer]! ZIGGIDEE ZAG AND HIPPITY HOP, THERE'S SOMETHING WE CAN DO! WE'LL SING A SONG THAT WE ALL KNOW...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU[hermana sarah ayer]!!! yayayay!!! Happy 23rd birthday Sarah! You are the greatest sister a guy like me could ask for! I am so glad for your fun, cheer, and spirit!
Well, today is St. Patrick's Day. This happens to be one of my favorite holidays. Don't worry, I will keep myself under control. :D There is great work to be done!
This last week we really did see a lot of crazy awesome miracles. We found buckets of new investigators! They come from all over the place, and Elder Lyman and I are thrilled to be able to teach them all. We now have two people who are preparing themselves for baptism on a specific date. Ron is one. He had some concerns about tithing, but this last week we taught him all about it. We brought a recent convert with us, Sister Fletcher, who really brought a powerful, fiery Spirit to the lesson. Luckily, Ron has really prayed to know if what we teach is true. He has received a witness from God that it really is true. That has helped him overcome his concerns about tithing. What he is trying to overcome right now is an addiction to smoking. It is awful. It is so cool to see him so convinced of the truth but unable to give this one small thing up. I know that he will give it up eventually, but it will be a bit of a process before that moment. The other investigator preparing for baptism is a man named Elijah. He was a media referral. We've met with him once so far. He beleives what we say and is excited to begin reading the Book of Mormon and find out if it is true. How great!
We have several other investigators who are committed to their respective denominations but are itnerested to learn. We hope that they will eventually come to the waters of baptism as well. Tony and Laura are one couple who had us over for dinner this last week. Laura grew up a Baptist in southern West Virginia where she always thought that anyone who wasn't a Baptist was going to Hell. Then she went into the Navy and met a lot of good people who didn't seem to be on a course bent for the underworld. She's had a few Mormon friends also. They are some of the nicest people. We really love them a lot and hope that they will see the truth of the Book of Mormon. We met another family this last week, Jason and Megan. They go to the Church of Christ. When we first met them, Elder Lyman and I worried that they were going to try to start a bash with us. It was the exact opposite. They are sweet. They listened intently as we told them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. They have good, open hearts. They invited us to come to the Bible study at their church this Wednesday. We hope that they come to our Church next week. How great!
This last Sunday was "Scout Sunday". Back home this was something I had only heard about. Here it is a big deal. It was probably the strangest church service I have ever experienced. So here's the breakdown of what Scout Sunday is. Every young man does not wear his suit and tie to church. Instead, he wears his scout uniform and a pair of jeans. Then, said scouts are all asked to speak in sacrament meeting while wearing their scout uniforms. I was hoping that all of their talks were going to be focused on virtues such as being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, or reverent. Instead all of the scouts talked about their favorite experiences from campouts, what they had learned from different merit badges, and inside jokes only known among the scouts. I must say, it was a pretty hilarious meeting, but not quite was I was hoping for our sacrament meeting. Elder Lyman was pretty annoyed, so he started reading the Bible Dictionary. I followed suit and educated myself about the translation of the Bible into English. I was relieved when the second counselor, Brother Ryen, got up to announce the closing hymn and prayer. Just when I thought the insanity was over, it started up again. A somewhat hysterical and emotional voice called from the congregation, "Brother Ryen!" I looked around me to see who was making the uproar. Mine eyes beheld our good friend, Brother Bob Cordell, standing up from the pew and extending his arm towards the pulpit. He continued, "Could we please have all of the eagle scouts in the room stand. Once an eagle...always an eagle!" Poor Brother Ryen, newly called to the bishopric and anxious at the pulpit, wasn't sure what to do. He mumbled something in the affirmative and sat down. Well, no one stood up. I don't think anyone was sure what was going on. I took the opportunity to stand and relieve the tension. Brother Ryen jumped back up and asked all the eagle scouts to stand. A few people stood up. We all sat down again quickly. Finally we got to singing the closing hymn. It was the strangest thing to ever happen in a sacrament meeting. Elder Lyman and I had to stifle fits of laughter during the entire hymn. So here's my official salute to Scout Sunday. So long and farewell.
Well, I love you all. Especially Sarah, Mom, Dad, Will, and Chichy. You're in my prayers and thoughts always. Happy missionary work, interviews, work work, and school work this week! LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE!!!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. Brother Cordell was the Ulrich's home teacher.
This week was crazy awesome! But this next week is about to get a little crazier and awesomer. You know why? Bum budda bum bum bum....THIS WEEK IS SUCH A SPECIAL ONE, IT'S BIRTHDAY TIME FOR YOU[hermana sarah ayer]! WE'D REALLY LIKE TO CELEBRATE THIS HAPPY DAY WITH YOU[hermana sarah ayer]! ZIGGIDEE ZAG AND HIPPITY HOP, THERE'S SOMETHING WE CAN DO! WE'LL SING A SONG THAT WE ALL KNOW...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU[hermana sarah ayer]!!! yayayay!!! Happy 23rd birthday Sarah! You are the greatest sister a guy like me could ask for! I am so glad for your fun, cheer, and spirit!
Well, today is St. Patrick's Day. This happens to be one of my favorite holidays. Don't worry, I will keep myself under control. :D There is great work to be done!
This last week we really did see a lot of crazy awesome miracles. We found buckets of new investigators! They come from all over the place, and Elder Lyman and I are thrilled to be able to teach them all. We now have two people who are preparing themselves for baptism on a specific date. Ron is one. He had some concerns about tithing, but this last week we taught him all about it. We brought a recent convert with us, Sister Fletcher, who really brought a powerful, fiery Spirit to the lesson. Luckily, Ron has really prayed to know if what we teach is true. He has received a witness from God that it really is true. That has helped him overcome his concerns about tithing. What he is trying to overcome right now is an addiction to smoking. It is awful. It is so cool to see him so convinced of the truth but unable to give this one small thing up. I know that he will give it up eventually, but it will be a bit of a process before that moment. The other investigator preparing for baptism is a man named Elijah. He was a media referral. We've met with him once so far. He beleives what we say and is excited to begin reading the Book of Mormon and find out if it is true. How great!
We have several other investigators who are committed to their respective denominations but are itnerested to learn. We hope that they will eventually come to the waters of baptism as well. Tony and Laura are one couple who had us over for dinner this last week. Laura grew up a Baptist in southern West Virginia where she always thought that anyone who wasn't a Baptist was going to Hell. Then she went into the Navy and met a lot of good people who didn't seem to be on a course bent for the underworld. She's had a few Mormon friends also. They are some of the nicest people. We really love them a lot and hope that they will see the truth of the Book of Mormon. We met another family this last week, Jason and Megan. They go to the Church of Christ. When we first met them, Elder Lyman and I worried that they were going to try to start a bash with us. It was the exact opposite. They are sweet. They listened intently as we told them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. They have good, open hearts. They invited us to come to the Bible study at their church this Wednesday. We hope that they come to our Church next week. How great!
This last Sunday was "Scout Sunday". Back home this was something I had only heard about. Here it is a big deal. It was probably the strangest church service I have ever experienced. So here's the breakdown of what Scout Sunday is. Every young man does not wear his suit and tie to church. Instead, he wears his scout uniform and a pair of jeans. Then, said scouts are all asked to speak in sacrament meeting while wearing their scout uniforms. I was hoping that all of their talks were going to be focused on virtues such as being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, or reverent. Instead all of the scouts talked about their favorite experiences from campouts, what they had learned from different merit badges, and inside jokes only known among the scouts. I must say, it was a pretty hilarious meeting, but not quite was I was hoping for our sacrament meeting. Elder Lyman was pretty annoyed, so he started reading the Bible Dictionary. I followed suit and educated myself about the translation of the Bible into English. I was relieved when the second counselor, Brother Ryen, got up to announce the closing hymn and prayer. Just when I thought the insanity was over, it started up again. A somewhat hysterical and emotional voice called from the congregation, "Brother Ryen!" I looked around me to see who was making the uproar. Mine eyes beheld our good friend, Brother Bob Cordell, standing up from the pew and extending his arm towards the pulpit. He continued, "Could we please have all of the eagle scouts in the room stand. Once an eagle...always an eagle!" Poor Brother Ryen, newly called to the bishopric and anxious at the pulpit, wasn't sure what to do. He mumbled something in the affirmative and sat down. Well, no one stood up. I don't think anyone was sure what was going on. I took the opportunity to stand and relieve the tension. Brother Ryen jumped back up and asked all the eagle scouts to stand. A few people stood up. We all sat down again quickly. Finally we got to singing the closing hymn. It was the strangest thing to ever happen in a sacrament meeting. Elder Lyman and I had to stifle fits of laughter during the entire hymn. So here's my official salute to Scout Sunday. So long and farewell.
Well, I love you all. Especially Sarah, Mom, Dad, Will, and Chichy. You're in my prayers and thoughts always. Happy missionary work, interviews, work work, and school work this week! LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE!!!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
P.S. Brother Cordell was the Ulrich's home teacher.
Monday, March 10, 2014
On the up and ups
Dear family,
Life is swell. Let me tell you why. When something swells, it gets bigger and bigger. Well, life just gets better and better. The missionary work is going forth, and it is so great to see. We learn in Alma that when you plant a "seed", you can know it is a true or a good seed when it begins to sprout and grow. When this happens, we begin to feel a swelling motion in our chest. That is the Spirit testifying in our heart that something is good and true. Well, this missionary life is swell and it makes me swell up with joy. I know that it is the purest and truest endeavor that I can ever be engaged in. It is so good to know that. I feel bad for people who labor day after day in something that isn't pure or true. How do they even motivate themselves to get out of bed in the mornings? It is so wonderful to have the Spirit bearing me up each day to go and get to work.
This week has been another record-setting week for us. We keep teaching more lessons than the week before, and it feels great! Elder Lyman and I are really beginning to understand how to work in this area and bring God's children to the truth.
Last Monday was an interesting day. After writing emails and shopping, we went back home. I had letters to write, but instead I decided to make apple crisp. It took me way too long to make the apple crisp, and afterwards I was just annoyed with myself. We had to go right out to work. For some reason, Satan saw an opportunity to hit me with a wad of bad feelings. As we were walking to our appointment, I felt the whole world come down on me. I was worried about leading the district, helping our investigators, being a good trainer, having the energy to work, writing letters to important family members and friends, and thinking about all my favorite people back home having fun, going to work, dating, and sleeping in. It wasn't anyone else's fault; I just felt overwhelmed and ready to snap. It's been a major problem for me that I get super stressed out. Luckily, Elder Lyman is able to recognize when this happens. He started talking to me and dragging everything out of me. Pretty soon I was sharing my feelings and crying. Oh brother. Elder Lyman isn't a very sentimental guy, so this was a big, and greatly appreciated, sacrifice from him. Well, I felt a lot better after that. Just after that experience, we had an awesome teaching moment. We went to see a potential investigator. We had met the wife, Qin, before, but this time we met the husband, Qen. They are a Chinese couple and have two children. They are very nice. We sat down and talked with Qen. He told us how he met some Mormon missionaries about 15 years ago and was appreciative to them. He continues to wonder about who God is. He is not sure that he wants to commit to anything just yet, but is interested in learning so that he can find out for himself. It was such a great experience to be able to talk in basic and simple terms about the nature of God and how he cares for us. We taught Qen how to properly pray to Heavenly Father and receive answers. It was a wonderful moment. He wasn't comfortable with praying right then, but he was very grateful. The Spirit bore powerful testimony in my heart that we had taught truth. It was a great evening. We will meet with Qen again soon. Since my experience last Monday, I have been working at managing my stress. There is no point in allowing ourselves to worry. Worry gets in the way. What we need to do is act diligently. We do our best and leave God the rest. If we put our trust in Him, he will take care of those things which we have no control over.
Thursday was another crazy day. We spent the first 4 hours of the work day serving our Bishop. After that, we had weekly planning. Another surprise was thrown in there when I received an envelope containing important documents that I had to sign and FedEx back to Salt lake for my visa. I got it all done. I think that is the last of the things that I need to do for my visa re-application.
Ron Pepper, one of investigators, is doing great right now. He has accepted a baptismal date for the day before transfers. It has been amazing to teach him and see him accept the gospel. He has had the chance to ask God questions and have them answered. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that he needs to be baptized. It is so great to see. The only thing that stands in his way are the smokes, and we'll be working hard at helping him overcome those.
Friday we had zone meeting. Afterwards I went on exchange with a disobedient missionary in my district. He is a nice guy, but that's the problem. he's acting like a guy and not a missionary. He has less than 3 weeks left on his mission. He really doesn't see the point of obeying rules as long as he teaches people the gospel. It is really frustrating to see. On top of that, I'm scared of conflict. Everyone says that I'm too loving and nice. That's one character flaw I'm not too ashamed of. I need to learn how to be direct in calling people to repentance. The rules are important. Obedience to law is liberty!
Well, I love you all so much. I am glad that you fill me in on all the news. I'm trying on staying focused and worry free. Life is good, life is great, life is swell!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
Life is swell. Let me tell you why. When something swells, it gets bigger and bigger. Well, life just gets better and better. The missionary work is going forth, and it is so great to see. We learn in Alma that when you plant a "seed", you can know it is a true or a good seed when it begins to sprout and grow. When this happens, we begin to feel a swelling motion in our chest. That is the Spirit testifying in our heart that something is good and true. Well, this missionary life is swell and it makes me swell up with joy. I know that it is the purest and truest endeavor that I can ever be engaged in. It is so good to know that. I feel bad for people who labor day after day in something that isn't pure or true. How do they even motivate themselves to get out of bed in the mornings? It is so wonderful to have the Spirit bearing me up each day to go and get to work.
This week has been another record-setting week for us. We keep teaching more lessons than the week before, and it feels great! Elder Lyman and I are really beginning to understand how to work in this area and bring God's children to the truth.
Last Monday was an interesting day. After writing emails and shopping, we went back home. I had letters to write, but instead I decided to make apple crisp. It took me way too long to make the apple crisp, and afterwards I was just annoyed with myself. We had to go right out to work. For some reason, Satan saw an opportunity to hit me with a wad of bad feelings. As we were walking to our appointment, I felt the whole world come down on me. I was worried about leading the district, helping our investigators, being a good trainer, having the energy to work, writing letters to important family members and friends, and thinking about all my favorite people back home having fun, going to work, dating, and sleeping in. It wasn't anyone else's fault; I just felt overwhelmed and ready to snap. It's been a major problem for me that I get super stressed out. Luckily, Elder Lyman is able to recognize when this happens. He started talking to me and dragging everything out of me. Pretty soon I was sharing my feelings and crying. Oh brother. Elder Lyman isn't a very sentimental guy, so this was a big, and greatly appreciated, sacrifice from him. Well, I felt a lot better after that. Just after that experience, we had an awesome teaching moment. We went to see a potential investigator. We had met the wife, Qin, before, but this time we met the husband, Qen. They are a Chinese couple and have two children. They are very nice. We sat down and talked with Qen. He told us how he met some Mormon missionaries about 15 years ago and was appreciative to them. He continues to wonder about who God is. He is not sure that he wants to commit to anything just yet, but is interested in learning so that he can find out for himself. It was such a great experience to be able to talk in basic and simple terms about the nature of God and how he cares for us. We taught Qen how to properly pray to Heavenly Father and receive answers. It was a wonderful moment. He wasn't comfortable with praying right then, but he was very grateful. The Spirit bore powerful testimony in my heart that we had taught truth. It was a great evening. We will meet with Qen again soon. Since my experience last Monday, I have been working at managing my stress. There is no point in allowing ourselves to worry. Worry gets in the way. What we need to do is act diligently. We do our best and leave God the rest. If we put our trust in Him, he will take care of those things which we have no control over.
Thursday was another crazy day. We spent the first 4 hours of the work day serving our Bishop. After that, we had weekly planning. Another surprise was thrown in there when I received an envelope containing important documents that I had to sign and FedEx back to Salt lake for my visa. I got it all done. I think that is the last of the things that I need to do for my visa re-application.
Ron Pepper, one of investigators, is doing great right now. He has accepted a baptismal date for the day before transfers. It has been amazing to teach him and see him accept the gospel. He has had the chance to ask God questions and have them answered. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that he needs to be baptized. It is so great to see. The only thing that stands in his way are the smokes, and we'll be working hard at helping him overcome those.
Friday we had zone meeting. Afterwards I went on exchange with a disobedient missionary in my district. He is a nice guy, but that's the problem. he's acting like a guy and not a missionary. He has less than 3 weeks left on his mission. He really doesn't see the point of obeying rules as long as he teaches people the gospel. It is really frustrating to see. On top of that, I'm scared of conflict. Everyone says that I'm too loving and nice. That's one character flaw I'm not too ashamed of. I need to learn how to be direct in calling people to repentance. The rules are important. Obedience to law is liberty!
Well, I love you all so much. I am glad that you fill me in on all the news. I'm trying on staying focused and worry free. Life is good, life is great, life is swell!
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
Monday, March 3, 2014
Large Print
Dear family,
This week was a joyful week. Lots of good things happened. Here is a brief recap on some satisfying things: achieving goals, witnessing people change, being spiritually reassured of what you know to be true, developing friendships, and having fun. Those are things that make me happy! [Elder Lyman has pointed out how we do a lot of forced laughter when people tell us things they think are funny. In contrast, these things make me happy enough to give a genuine Parker-type chuckle. :D ]
First off, we set a goal this week to have 4 lessons with members present. We also made a goal to have 3 other lessons. This was a stretch for us in this area and with our teaching pool and our walking situation. I really wasn't sure if we could do it. However, we pushed ourselves, and by the end of the week we had accomplished all that the Spirit had told us we could do. What a great feeling! We still had cancellations, but we were able to overcome those with determination. It just feels so good. This is the point when Mom would say, now doesn't that just make you feel good to look back and see what you did? Yes, it does! You'll be happy to know that I'm beginning to understand the principle of planning and goal setting. You'll also be happy to know that my skin begins to crawl when I see dishes in the sink, dishes on the counter, clean dishes in the dishwasher, or anywhere else that dishes aren't supposed to sit happily waiting their usage. I also attack the microwave and stove with a vengeance when it starts looking grimy. :D
Anyway, enough about that. It is such a blessing to see people beginning to change. Mary has experienced a softening of her heart. Our prayers have been answered. We got her a large print Book of Mormon and she says that she will finish it in a few days. Once she receives an answer, she will be baptized. We are teaching a 14-year-old girl, Lucila, who is the daughter of a less active member, but knows nothing about God or religion. She is fairly interested and willing to do what it takes to find out about God and His restored Church. We are also teaching a man named Ron, his ex-wife Crystal, and their son Aaron. Ron says he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Christ's Church has been restored. He does have a smoking problem and concerns about tithing. He has also committed a serious crime. They are a good family. We are also teaching an 89-year-old Baptist Sunday School teacher, named Glenn, who has been familiar with Church members all his life. He likes how we live and what we teach. He agreed to be baptized if he receives a witness from God. The only things holding him back are his obligations to his church and family. His dead wife and son are buried next to his Baptist church.
Sorry, that was the Reader's Digest version, but great things are happening! Yesterday Elder Lyman fasted together to be strengthened in our testimonies. I feel very confident in saying that Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith is his prophet, the Book of Mormon is Christ's word, and Christ's priesthood power has been restored to the earth. What a blessed knowledge!
I love you all. Sorry this was short. May the love you feel be long lasting. :D
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
This week was a joyful week. Lots of good things happened. Here is a brief recap on some satisfying things: achieving goals, witnessing people change, being spiritually reassured of what you know to be true, developing friendships, and having fun. Those are things that make me happy! [Elder Lyman has pointed out how we do a lot of forced laughter when people tell us things they think are funny. In contrast, these things make me happy enough to give a genuine Parker-type chuckle. :D ]
First off, we set a goal this week to have 4 lessons with members present. We also made a goal to have 3 other lessons. This was a stretch for us in this area and with our teaching pool and our walking situation. I really wasn't sure if we could do it. However, we pushed ourselves, and by the end of the week we had accomplished all that the Spirit had told us we could do. What a great feeling! We still had cancellations, but we were able to overcome those with determination. It just feels so good. This is the point when Mom would say, now doesn't that just make you feel good to look back and see what you did? Yes, it does! You'll be happy to know that I'm beginning to understand the principle of planning and goal setting. You'll also be happy to know that my skin begins to crawl when I see dishes in the sink, dishes on the counter, clean dishes in the dishwasher, or anywhere else that dishes aren't supposed to sit happily waiting their usage. I also attack the microwave and stove with a vengeance when it starts looking grimy. :D
Anyway, enough about that. It is such a blessing to see people beginning to change. Mary has experienced a softening of her heart. Our prayers have been answered. We got her a large print Book of Mormon and she says that she will finish it in a few days. Once she receives an answer, she will be baptized. We are teaching a 14-year-old girl, Lucila, who is the daughter of a less active member, but knows nothing about God or religion. She is fairly interested and willing to do what it takes to find out about God and His restored Church. We are also teaching a man named Ron, his ex-wife Crystal, and their son Aaron. Ron says he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Christ's Church has been restored. He does have a smoking problem and concerns about tithing. He has also committed a serious crime. They are a good family. We are also teaching an 89-year-old Baptist Sunday School teacher, named Glenn, who has been familiar with Church members all his life. He likes how we live and what we teach. He agreed to be baptized if he receives a witness from God. The only things holding him back are his obligations to his church and family. His dead wife and son are buried next to his Baptist church.
Sorry, that was the Reader's Digest version, but great things are happening! Yesterday Elder Lyman fasted together to be strengthened in our testimonies. I feel very confident in saying that Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith is his prophet, the Book of Mormon is Christ's word, and Christ's priesthood power has been restored to the earth. What a blessed knowledge!
I love you all. Sorry this was short. May the love you feel be long lasting. :D
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
Monday, February 24, 2014
A wonderful and growing week
Dear Family,
This week has been wonderful. It's been a growing week, and there's nothing better than that! For real, I feel like a new person now that I have made it through this week, and I feel like I am more focused on being a missionary. One thing that has really helped has been the warming of the weather. Elder Lyman and I haven't needed to wear our thermals at all this week! It has been complete sweater weather. I can't get ahead of myself, though, because it sounds like we might have to break out the jackets again this coming week. Oh well!
Besides the weather, there have been a few things that have been good every day of this week. Last Monday, Elder Lyman and I found Fruit Gushers at Walmart and decided to splurge on a little childish snack. 36 packs later, we're thoroughly convinced that they are the best snack ever. Also, last week I was asked to speak in church this Sunday on Jesus' Parable of the Talents. As a companionship, we have also focusing part of our studies on Joseph Smith and the Restoration. The focused and extended study has really been a blessing. Later I'll share with you a little bit about what I learned.
Anyway, do you remember Glenn that I talked about last week? Well, this week we got Brother Lee to come teach Glenn with us. It went great. We talked about prophets, some organization of the church, and the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson, we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and I let him borrow my conference ensign. Since our meeting, he has called us several times. He told us that he read through the pamphlet, the entire ensign, and has started in on the Book of Mormon. He loves it! He said he made a little note in the ensign next to Elder Craig Cardon's talk that said, "Very Good!" In a later phone call, Glenn told us that he doesn't think Mormons are aliens anymore. Glenn is so funny and sincere. We hope that he will be able to recognize the truth to an extent that he'll realize the need to change in his old age (he's 89). The gospel is for us all, and the Lord does not give up on us.
Another family that we are teaching, the Peppers, have really opened up this week. We had a meeting with them where we were planning on reviewing the beginning of the Plan of Salvation and then emphasizing life after death. We didn't quite get there because we had a powerful discussion about the power of the Atonement. Elder Lyman and I have really been working on teaching with unity (AKA Elder Ayer needs to shut his mouth long enough for Elder Lyman to talk). We've been progressing well, and the lesson was just near perfect. We were able to build on each other's testimonies. By the end, both Ron and Crystal Pepper were on board to start utilizing the Atonement to make changes in their lives. This Sunday, Ron came to Church and said that he received an answer to prayer about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. He believes this is the one true Church.
Mary didn't had a couple surprises up her sleeve for us this week. We continue to teach her. She isn't making very much progress, but she continues to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and come to Church. What else can she do? It is a slow process of helping her tear down walls of false ideas and beliefs. It is especially hard when she continues to build up those false ideas. The main culprit is the History Channel. That is her favorite show to watch. She believes that everything on their is researched and proven by the world's top scientists. Unfortunately, she's not the only person we've talked to in West Virginia that completely believes what they see on the History Channel. This week, Mary shared with us a few more insights. She told us that demons are most active between the hours of 3 and 4 am. She also told us that Eve wasn't good enough for Adam, so Adam demanded that he have another woman created. That's when a woman was made from Adam's rib, called Lillith, became Adam's slave, and now exists as a demon. I don't what the people from History Channel are thinking, but it's not helping. As always, the Spirit must prevail in all things and teach us from above.
We had a great zone conference this week. President Pitt told us about completely consecrating our lives (interests, hobbies, efforts, talents) for missionary work. I am slowly but surely trying to do this. I do not want to be as the slothful servant from Jesus' parable who was too distracted, lazy, or afraid to multiply his talent, but buried it instead. One really cool principle I learned from my study this week is that the Master is not entrusting us with His work so that we can multiply talents unto him. He is does it so that he can raise rulers unto himself who were once meager servants.
I love you all. I love your prayers and kindness. I love my Ayer heritage. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and know that we can only find salvation through his atoning sacrifice.
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
Monday, February 17, 2014
I will be your Valentine!
Dear Mom, Dad, Will, Sarah, and (last but CERTAINLY not least [have you seen this boy? He's a full-grown man!]) Christian,
I love you all! I would like to officially address your dearest pleadings for me to be your Valentine. I heartily accept. Thank you for the wonderful Valentine's Day package full of punny notes and tasty treats. I have already downed my mammoth heart cookie. I was tastefully surprised when I bit into what I thought was a meat pie to find an apple pie/crisp instead. :D Nothing can compare to my Mom's cooking! The elders here think that I am some sort of master chef because I know how to make stir-fry and pancakes, hahaha.
Well, there isn't much to report since the last email. Elder Lyman and I went back to teach Kristen and Mark with Brother Walker from the ward. (I went to Brother Walker's house for dinner that first night I was in the field 4 and a half months ago). We were worried that it was going to be a disheartening lesson because of what Kristen had said to us the other day. Apparently Kristen was just having a bad day the other day and decided to spew out all of her absorbed Anti-Mormon stuff at us. They are still moving forward, but we need to help them understand why it is important to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and then to gain that testimony. One thing that Kristen said in the lesson is that we talk about Joseph Smith all of the time and not about Jesus Christ. I was a little dumbfounded. I think she might have been regurgitating something her CofC friend said to her. The last time we talked to them about Joseph Smith was when we actually talked to them about the Restoration of the gospel. Since then we have had several lessons in which we talked about the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism. All of those things are focused on the Savior. Even our discussion of Joseph Smith is focused on the Savior; Joseph Smith is only important because his work guides us closer to the Savior.
Anyway, Elder Lyman and I had another interesting experience since I emailed last. We knocked into an 89-year-old Baptist man who invited us into his home. He knows some members of the Church, and knew us to be good people. One of the Mormon families (the Lee family) that he knows the best live only a couple blocks from his home in Vienna. We have gone over to their home several times. They are a good family; Brother Lee is a high councilman; they serve in the family history library during the week; they work in the temple every weekend. When we meet, we ask them whom they know that we could teach. Every time they say that the only people they are friends with are already members of the Church. That makes sense. They are very involved in Church activities. However, this man that we knocked into (Glenn) knows and worked with Brother Lee. Anyway, Glenn allowed us to tell him about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He found it interesting, accepted a Book of Mormon, and set up a time for us to come back to talk to him on Thursday. Well, P-day was moved to Thursday and we weren't able to go see him. We didn't have his phone number either to contact him. Nevertheless, Glenn called Brother Lee to let us know that he was away during our scheduled appointment, but still wanted to meet with us. That was very cool. In this case, we were more flaky than the investigator. Also, Brother Lee really does know someone who has shown an interest in talking to the missionaries. We never know who will be open to learning about the restored gospel. Does that mean we invite no one? NO! That means we invite everyone until we find those who are ready and willing to accept the message. Even acquaintances are divinely appointed and prepared so that God's children may be reached in every place that they may be.
It is my testimony that God has a wonderful work going on. This work takes shape in individual hearts to strengthen families, communities, and nations. I am privileged to be the messenger to deliver Heavenly Father's personal Valentine to each one of His children. When we allow the message to change our hearts, thoughts, and actions, we say to the Father, "I will be your Valentine!"
Thank you for the strength that you give me. I pray that Heavenly Father will strengthen you.
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
I love you all! I would like to officially address your dearest pleadings for me to be your Valentine. I heartily accept. Thank you for the wonderful Valentine's Day package full of punny notes and tasty treats. I have already downed my mammoth heart cookie. I was tastefully surprised when I bit into what I thought was a meat pie to find an apple pie/crisp instead. :D Nothing can compare to my Mom's cooking! The elders here think that I am some sort of master chef because I know how to make stir-fry and pancakes, hahaha.
Well, there isn't much to report since the last email. Elder Lyman and I went back to teach Kristen and Mark with Brother Walker from the ward. (I went to Brother Walker's house for dinner that first night I was in the field 4 and a half months ago). We were worried that it was going to be a disheartening lesson because of what Kristen had said to us the other day. Apparently Kristen was just having a bad day the other day and decided to spew out all of her absorbed Anti-Mormon stuff at us. They are still moving forward, but we need to help them understand why it is important to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and then to gain that testimony. One thing that Kristen said in the lesson is that we talk about Joseph Smith all of the time and not about Jesus Christ. I was a little dumbfounded. I think she might have been regurgitating something her CofC friend said to her. The last time we talked to them about Joseph Smith was when we actually talked to them about the Restoration of the gospel. Since then we have had several lessons in which we talked about the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism. All of those things are focused on the Savior. Even our discussion of Joseph Smith is focused on the Savior; Joseph Smith is only important because his work guides us closer to the Savior.
Anyway, Elder Lyman and I had another interesting experience since I emailed last. We knocked into an 89-year-old Baptist man who invited us into his home. He knows some members of the Church, and knew us to be good people. One of the Mormon families (the Lee family) that he knows the best live only a couple blocks from his home in Vienna. We have gone over to their home several times. They are a good family; Brother Lee is a high councilman; they serve in the family history library during the week; they work in the temple every weekend. When we meet, we ask them whom they know that we could teach. Every time they say that the only people they are friends with are already members of the Church. That makes sense. They are very involved in Church activities. However, this man that we knocked into (Glenn) knows and worked with Brother Lee. Anyway, Glenn allowed us to tell him about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He found it interesting, accepted a Book of Mormon, and set up a time for us to come back to talk to him on Thursday. Well, P-day was moved to Thursday and we weren't able to go see him. We didn't have his phone number either to contact him. Nevertheless, Glenn called Brother Lee to let us know that he was away during our scheduled appointment, but still wanted to meet with us. That was very cool. In this case, we were more flaky than the investigator. Also, Brother Lee really does know someone who has shown an interest in talking to the missionaries. We never know who will be open to learning about the restored gospel. Does that mean we invite no one? NO! That means we invite everyone until we find those who are ready and willing to accept the message. Even acquaintances are divinely appointed and prepared so that God's children may be reached in every place that they may be.
It is my testimony that God has a wonderful work going on. This work takes shape in individual hearts to strengthen families, communities, and nations. I am privileged to be the messenger to deliver Heavenly Father's personal Valentine to each one of His children. When we allow the message to change our hearts, thoughts, and actions, we say to the Father, "I will be your Valentine!"
Thank you for the strength that you give me. I pray that Heavenly Father will strengthen you.
Love, Elder Parker Ayer
Thursday, February 13, 2014
You're CofC, you're not okay
Dear Family,
First off, you may or may not remember that P-days get switched up in this mission on transfer weeks. P-day was originally supposed to be yesterday, but they had to move transfer meeting back a day due to a winter storm. Thus, P-day got moved back a day as well and is today. There's a lot to catch up on.
Second off, I never even explained my email subject line from last week. I'll explain it quickly, because it was pretty funny. Two Sundays ago was fast Sunday. There is an elderly sister in the ward here named Sister Isley. She is pretty out of it. In the middle of the sacrament meeting, she stood up and declared to the congregation, "I have a testimony!" After speaking for a little bit, she decided to grace us with a song. She sang, "I love you because you're you." Elder Lyman were dying in the pew. After a little while, she decided it was time to sit down. It was so funny.
Since last email, many things have happened. I can't remember when everything happened, but let me tell you about everyone we are teaching.
Mary- Mary is um pouco ridiculo. This last week we met with her and her friend Sister Knight at the Walker's home from the ward. The night started out great with a meal and then we had the lesson. We've been trying to encourage Mary to forgive people so that she will be more open to the Spirit and she can receive a witness of the truth. We discussed that for a little bit. We shared a Mormon Message, bore testimony, and I was ready for us to say a closing prayer. All of a sudden, things got crazy as Mary went on a rant about the Book of Mormon. She brings up the same concerns every time we talk; I'm not sure if she's all there mentally. She's had a hard and traumatic life, so that may be why. At one point she said, "I only have one concern about the Book of Mormon. Which came first, the Lord or death?" We were so confused. How did that even relate? We tried to help her, we tried to be patient. I think she knows that the Book of Mormon is true, but she is just doing all that she can to resist the truth that she'll need to change her life for.
Okay, I was going to tell you about all of our investigators, but the same thing keeps coming back to mind. TUESDAY. Last Tuesday was a big day. Last Tuesday might have been one of the most important days of my mission. That day, I went on exchange with Elder Kieran. Elder Kieran is serving in Belpre and lives in the same house as me. He is flying home tomorrow. Elder Kieran and I were out and about talking to people. For some strange reason, good things always seem to happen on exchanges. I think that they help to stir up some excitement and energy for the work. Anyway, we had a great day. We walked all over the place. I don't think I've told you much about my walking, but Elder Lyman and I probably walk at least 8 miles a day. Anyway, Elder Kieran and I almost went to Taco Bell for dinner, but then realized that it was opening night for Five Guys next door. We went there instead. The potatoes were from Rexburg. Anyway, the food was good, but that wasn't what made Tuesday so great. After dinner, we went to go teach Kristen and Mark.
When we got to Kristen and Mark's house, something felt off. Kristen wasn't in a very good mood, and Mark's eyes were red. I could sense some tension. We had a prayer to bring the Spirit in. After talking for a little bit, Elder Kieran asked if we could sing a hymn. You have to understand Kristen and Mark. They are loud and fun. Even though I love singing, I was looking at Elder Kieran and thinking, "Why are you making us do this?" Well, we did it. We sang "Be Still, My Soul". It was a little odd for us to do a duet for them just sitting right in front of us, but it was good. The Spirit was there. After talking for a little bit, Kristen was still not acting like herself. Elder Kieran asked if she would like a priesthood blessing. She didn't know what that was and seemed a little freaked out. We explained what a priesthood blessing was. Afterwards, we administered a blessing of comfort and counsel to Kristen. Afterwards, Mark also requested a blessing. In both blessings, I experienced a powerful manifestation of the Spirit. They shared with us their feelings, and both had experienced powerful manifestations of the Spirit. It was the most miraculous moment of my mission. I look forward to being able to express this experience to you in greater detail when we are with each other in person. That experience began our meeting that night. Afterwards we talked about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The experience we shared earlier laid a perfect back drop for our discussion of the Spirit. Looking back, I can see that the experience was a divine gift of mercy and love to Kristen and Mark. However, it had the same effect for me. Each missionary has authority from God to act in His name, but there are divine moments when God shows us that we really qualify for power in our calling. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I know that Christ is His only Begotten Son. The Savior suffered for each of us so that we could be redeemed and brought back into the presence of the Father; first through the Holy Ghost and then through the resurrection. I know that the Holy Ghost can testify powerfully in our hearts of the truth of all things, and when we have received this divine manifestation we have a obligation to act. I know that the Holy Priesthood, the authority and power to act in God's name, was restored to the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
As a warning to those who seek out powerful spiritual manifestations, there is always a time of testing afterwards. Once we have received instruction and enlightenment directly from God, we will be held accountable to what we have received. I experienced that over the succeeding days. I felt restless and not at ease. Thankfully, priesthood power was able to reestablish peace in my heart by means of Elder Lyman giving me a priesthood blessing. Kristen and Mark experienced opposition as well. Since that Tuesday night, Mark's family has talked to Mark about his association with the "Mormon Church". See, Mark's family belongs to the Church of Christ. I now refer to that great and abominable church only by "CofC" since I really don't like associating the Savior with its organization or the words I use to describe it. I had never heard of this church before the mission, but it has a huge presence down here in the South (West Virginians don't consider themselves to be in the South, but they totes are). The CofC hates our church and spends much of its time tearing us apart. We have lost many investigators due to its efforts. Anyway, we found out the other day that Kristen and Mark are going to their "family church." When we asked why, Kristen fed us lines that I've heard before, the same old Anti-Mormon bull. Sorry, but it is really frustrating. The most frustrating thing is that they do it all under the assumed name of Christ. Who are they to deny priesthood power and divine revelation? Anyway, it's frustrating, but we're going to continue working to help Kristen and Mark. Please pray for them!
Well, I'll continue to be in Vienna for this coming transfer. I found out that Elder Gadberry got his visa and is probably in Brazil already. I always try to remember that I'm not waiting for my visa; I'm waiting on the Lord. The other day I realized that if I had submitted my mission papers right after the announcement came out, I would never have been assigned to Juiz de For a (the mission hadn't been created yet). I probably would have been assigned to the West Virginia Charleston Mission. I am loving it here. There are good people and there is good work to be done. The district boundaries are being changed up this transfer so that I will no longer be over the zone leaders. Instead, I will have two struggling areas of elders and an area of sisters. Things will be harder this transfer, but they are bound to be. For Him who suffered for us, things were never easy. Then why should they be for us? As Elder Holland says, "salvation is not a cheap experience." We have to be willing to give all that we have to become the Saints of God and receive the saintly blessings and all that the Father hath. Please pray for me. Please pray for Elder Lyman. Please pray for the good elders and sisters of the Vienna district. Please pray for the good children of God who I am teaching. Please remember Christ. Remember His sufferings. Remember the hard things He did for our salvation, and then push yourself to do a little bit more so we can help our dear family members and friends partake of salvation. I love you all so much. I pray for you and think about you often.
Love, Elder Parker Alan Ayer
First off, you may or may not remember that P-days get switched up in this mission on transfer weeks. P-day was originally supposed to be yesterday, but they had to move transfer meeting back a day due to a winter storm. Thus, P-day got moved back a day as well and is today. There's a lot to catch up on.
Second off, I never even explained my email subject line from last week. I'll explain it quickly, because it was pretty funny. Two Sundays ago was fast Sunday. There is an elderly sister in the ward here named Sister Isley. She is pretty out of it. In the middle of the sacrament meeting, she stood up and declared to the congregation, "I have a testimony!" After speaking for a little bit, she decided to grace us with a song. She sang, "I love you because you're you." Elder Lyman were dying in the pew. After a little while, she decided it was time to sit down. It was so funny.
Since last email, many things have happened. I can't remember when everything happened, but let me tell you about everyone we are teaching.
Mary- Mary is um pouco ridiculo. This last week we met with her and her friend Sister Knight at the Walker's home from the ward. The night started out great with a meal and then we had the lesson. We've been trying to encourage Mary to forgive people so that she will be more open to the Spirit and she can receive a witness of the truth. We discussed that for a little bit. We shared a Mormon Message, bore testimony, and I was ready for us to say a closing prayer. All of a sudden, things got crazy as Mary went on a rant about the Book of Mormon. She brings up the same concerns every time we talk; I'm not sure if she's all there mentally. She's had a hard and traumatic life, so that may be why. At one point she said, "I only have one concern about the Book of Mormon. Which came first, the Lord or death?" We were so confused. How did that even relate? We tried to help her, we tried to be patient. I think she knows that the Book of Mormon is true, but she is just doing all that she can to resist the truth that she'll need to change her life for.
Okay, I was going to tell you about all of our investigators, but the same thing keeps coming back to mind. TUESDAY. Last Tuesday was a big day. Last Tuesday might have been one of the most important days of my mission. That day, I went on exchange with Elder Kieran. Elder Kieran is serving in Belpre and lives in the same house as me. He is flying home tomorrow. Elder Kieran and I were out and about talking to people. For some strange reason, good things always seem to happen on exchanges. I think that they help to stir up some excitement and energy for the work. Anyway, we had a great day. We walked all over the place. I don't think I've told you much about my walking, but Elder Lyman and I probably walk at least 8 miles a day. Anyway, Elder Kieran and I almost went to Taco Bell for dinner, but then realized that it was opening night for Five Guys next door. We went there instead. The potatoes were from Rexburg. Anyway, the food was good, but that wasn't what made Tuesday so great. After dinner, we went to go teach Kristen and Mark.
When we got to Kristen and Mark's house, something felt off. Kristen wasn't in a very good mood, and Mark's eyes were red. I could sense some tension. We had a prayer to bring the Spirit in. After talking for a little bit, Elder Kieran asked if we could sing a hymn. You have to understand Kristen and Mark. They are loud and fun. Even though I love singing, I was looking at Elder Kieran and thinking, "Why are you making us do this?" Well, we did it. We sang "Be Still, My Soul". It was a little odd for us to do a duet for them just sitting right in front of us, but it was good. The Spirit was there. After talking for a little bit, Kristen was still not acting like herself. Elder Kieran asked if she would like a priesthood blessing. She didn't know what that was and seemed a little freaked out. We explained what a priesthood blessing was. Afterwards, we administered a blessing of comfort and counsel to Kristen. Afterwards, Mark also requested a blessing. In both blessings, I experienced a powerful manifestation of the Spirit. They shared with us their feelings, and both had experienced powerful manifestations of the Spirit. It was the most miraculous moment of my mission. I look forward to being able to express this experience to you in greater detail when we are with each other in person. That experience began our meeting that night. Afterwards we talked about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The experience we shared earlier laid a perfect back drop for our discussion of the Spirit. Looking back, I can see that the experience was a divine gift of mercy and love to Kristen and Mark. However, it had the same effect for me. Each missionary has authority from God to act in His name, but there are divine moments when God shows us that we really qualify for power in our calling. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I know that Christ is His only Begotten Son. The Savior suffered for each of us so that we could be redeemed and brought back into the presence of the Father; first through the Holy Ghost and then through the resurrection. I know that the Holy Ghost can testify powerfully in our hearts of the truth of all things, and when we have received this divine manifestation we have a obligation to act. I know that the Holy Priesthood, the authority and power to act in God's name, was restored to the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
As a warning to those who seek out powerful spiritual manifestations, there is always a time of testing afterwards. Once we have received instruction and enlightenment directly from God, we will be held accountable to what we have received. I experienced that over the succeeding days. I felt restless and not at ease. Thankfully, priesthood power was able to reestablish peace in my heart by means of Elder Lyman giving me a priesthood blessing. Kristen and Mark experienced opposition as well. Since that Tuesday night, Mark's family has talked to Mark about his association with the "Mormon Church". See, Mark's family belongs to the Church of Christ. I now refer to that great and abominable church only by "CofC" since I really don't like associating the Savior with its organization or the words I use to describe it. I had never heard of this church before the mission, but it has a huge presence down here in the South (West Virginians don't consider themselves to be in the South, but they totes are). The CofC hates our church and spends much of its time tearing us apart. We have lost many investigators due to its efforts. Anyway, we found out the other day that Kristen and Mark are going to their "family church." When we asked why, Kristen fed us lines that I've heard before, the same old Anti-Mormon bull. Sorry, but it is really frustrating. The most frustrating thing is that they do it all under the assumed name of Christ. Who are they to deny priesthood power and divine revelation? Anyway, it's frustrating, but we're going to continue working to help Kristen and Mark. Please pray for them!
Well, I'll continue to be in Vienna for this coming transfer. I found out that Elder Gadberry got his visa and is probably in Brazil already. I always try to remember that I'm not waiting for my visa; I'm waiting on the Lord. The other day I realized that if I had submitted my mission papers right after the announcement came out, I would never have been assigned to Juiz de For a (the mission hadn't been created yet). I probably would have been assigned to the West Virginia Charleston Mission. I am loving it here. There are good people and there is good work to be done. The district boundaries are being changed up this transfer so that I will no longer be over the zone leaders. Instead, I will have two struggling areas of elders and an area of sisters. Things will be harder this transfer, but they are bound to be. For Him who suffered for us, things were never easy. Then why should they be for us? As Elder Holland says, "salvation is not a cheap experience." We have to be willing to give all that we have to become the Saints of God and receive the saintly blessings and all that the Father hath. Please pray for me. Please pray for Elder Lyman. Please pray for the good elders and sisters of the Vienna district. Please pray for the good children of God who I am teaching. Please remember Christ. Remember His sufferings. Remember the hard things He did for our salvation, and then push yourself to do a little bit more so we can help our dear family members and friends partake of salvation. I love you all so much. I pray for you and think about you often.
Love, Elder Parker Alan Ayer
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