Hi, Mom. First of all, I just want to give a huge thanks to
everyone who wished me a happy 21st birthday on Facebook. It was honestly one
of the hardest birthdays to celebrate while being away from home and my family.
It started with having to spend the entire morning helping our branch president
and his secretary complete the history of the branch (callings that were
sustained, money withdrawn, baptisms, etc., all from this past year of 2015),
because they had a leadership meeting to go to. I won't forget to mention that
the other two branch presidents of branches Vinces 1 and Vinces 2 were there,
in addition to the District Presidency. Obviously, we didn't go, but it was
still a nice and tedious act of service to help with this. So, because of a
lack of communication, the branch president didn't end up coming back to
retrieve the hard copy of the Branch History until 2:30 in the afternoon. On top of that, just about
all of our appointments fell through. I have to admit, though, that if it
weren't for the surprise birthday party that my companion managed to pull off
planning and executing at 8 o'clock really
made my day.
For all of my Christian friends out there, one
of the Scripture passages that have rang true for me personally up to this
point of 18 months in my mission is Matthew 10:22. "And ye shall be hated of
all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be
saved." We get doors slammed in our faces, we get cussed at, spit upon,
trash thrown at us, harshly and unnecessarily rejected, and even flat out
ignored and hung out to dry - by active members, less active members, and
non-Mormons alike. For two years, as the Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland puts it,
"[we get to be] standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the best life that this
world has ever known. The only pure and perfect missionary who ever
lived." It's not our job to knock on someone's door or enter a neighboring
congregation, Bible and other Scriptures at the ready, and say: "Your
Church is all wrong, and this is why!" We aren't sacreligious, we don't
hate other Churches, and we are definitely not looking to "Bible
Bash" with a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses or Evangelical Pastors in the
middle of the street. We are Mormon Missionaries, hoping to share with all that
we come across the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as
well as the other messages that we have. It's a little hard for some to grasp,
I've learned, but I'm going to continue to do my best to let everyone know of
this one-of-a-kind, remarkable, life-changing message for all to hear.
We've been finding a number of clues for the
past couple of months that Elder Reilly and I have been companions, and finally
came to the conclusion recently that our apartment had a mouse in it. So, we
decided to have our own Mouse Expedition Hunt effective last week. We bought
some Mouse Killer Food in the grocery store, and confirmed our suspicions. This
morning, while we were talking, we saw something little and black jet from one
side of our room to the other out of the corner of our eyes. We dug around a
little bit, found the little guy, and caged him. However, little varmint
managed to escape, but we re-found him, and beat him with a wooden dowel and a
crutch, hahahaha! As we tried to straighten up and clean our room, lo and
behold, we found ANOTHER mouse. Luckily, Elder Reilly and his ninja bo-staff
skills managed to smack him into next week. Not exactly how I had spending my
first 21-year-old P-Day in mind, but I guess it works, haha! We told President
Riggins afterwards through a text, and he simply replied to us, "Well
done. Two in one day is quite impressive." Afterwards,
we looked at each other, and said with a sigh, "We gotta find a new
apartment."
I love you guys so much, thanks again for all
of the love, support, prayers, and especially the birthday wishes! I miss you
guys a ton, but I'm also so grateful for all of the things that the Mission
Con Sinceridad y Amor,
Elder Conner Duane "Poderoso" Parke
PS: I'd KILL to get simply a ton of candy in
the Easter Package that you guys have plans to send. I love you guys, thanks!!!
PSS: I included the photos of the mice we had
as unexpected house-guests.
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