Wednesday!

I am writing today because the zoo, in the Santa Cruz North Mission, isn't open Mondays! This week went by really fast. I haven't yet been able to swallow the word "November."  I'm still in denial about all this.

We had a noche de postres, ward party with desserts! Hermana Cayambe and I talked about how in the family, the dessert is eternal life- living together, happily as forever families. Then the Elders led the blindfolded members on the iron rod! At the end they entered the room with desserts with Motab lightly playing. I dont know if there will be chocolate cake in the celestial kingdom, but the Spirit was strong enough to testify to even the member with the hardest heart that the only way to get there is to hold onto the rod. Teresa and 2 of her young adult children entered the church for the activity for the first time in a long time. Christ guides the work.

We went to pick up Hortencia and her son Bryan for church! They have been having some problems, the good old mother/son fights. They didn`t know I was watching, but during the Sacrament, Bryan reached for his mother`s hand and smiled at her and said, ¨peace¨ until Hortencia finally smiled and they ended their fight. The Spirit is strongest during the sacred time of the Sacrament.

Monday was one the most successful days we`ve had! We were guided and protected by the Spirit! Halloween isn`t a thing here and all the Christians dressed in white and marched through town to bring light to Halloween!

My bed broke the morning that Hermana Rodriguez came to inspect the house and when she saw my broken bed and in her Spain accent yelled, ¨Why dont you open your mouth!¨ Then the secretary over the materials of the mission asked one of the other hermanas I live with, ¨Is it true that someone in your apartment needs a new bed?¨ and Hermana Monar yelled, ¨YES. Hermana Park has been sleeping on the floor for a week!¨ And the Colombian Elder said, ¨Oh, Ave Maria.¨ ..you had to be there.

The Book of Mormon is perfect. Being a representative of the Living Christ is a joy. I love you all! Have a great week! I´m off to a rainy zoo adventure!

Hermana Park

PICS: randoms with members, from the activity, making majadito, Hna Cayambe ¨killing me¨

Bienvenida dìa santo!

The Relief Society Pres. from Guaracal, the neighboring ward, who made me a card because I had companion exchanges with Hna Alvarez and she accompanied us.

Group activity!

 the "Z" family made us fried chicken and we taught them about the Plan of Salvation.

17 months

Do you know who wrote the 10 commandments and how they were written?

The "Z" family told us they couldn`t come to church because they decided to sell food Sunday morning.Que va a hacer. So we passed by last night and Jorge told us that they lost money and decided that it`s a really bad idea to work on Sundays. His reasoning was because everyone goes to the countryside and no one is in town, but overlooked the reasoning that it`s a commandment from God. This week I came to realize that God wrote the 10 commandments with his finger. The longest commandment is to keep the Sabbath Day holy. He took the time to write 4 verses specifically on this commandment. If He took that time, it`s a pretty important commandment.

Yesterday during Sacrament meeting the Elders called me over and said, ¨Hermana Park. Did you know you are giving a talk?¨ ¨No.¨ ¨Well you`re giving a talk.¨ I had the short time of the youth speaker to ponder on what to say and it came back to my mind what we learned in January in the worldwide missionary transmission: if you don`t know what to say, talk about the Savior. I was able to bear my proud testimony on the Savior and His infinite love as He took everything voluntarily upon Himself, so we don`t have to suffer as much. We can receive His help. As we do our part, try our hardest, humble ourselves, and accept His loving invitation to go to Him, He helps us.

We do our part by keeping the commandments. :)

And more miracles and blessings and things I seriously never have time to write.

I love you all! Keep the Sabbath Day holy and send God a sign of your love by your actions this Sunday!!

Hermana Park

Random things:

This week has been really special! In our zone meeting they surprised us by calling up the other 2 sisters, Hna Monar and Hna Aspiazu who are both leaving with my group, and me to bear our testimonies. Then the wicked zone leaders made us all sing God Be With You Til We Meet Again!

We got the news that we can now eat fish - if it`s fresh!, lettuce - if it`s really clean!, and strawberries - if they were frozen! NEXT WEEK I WILL BE WRITING ON WEDNESDAY BECAUSE WE`RE GOING TO THE ZOO! :)

Trials make you stronger!

With Grandpa the night before she left on her mission, May 2015.

Ice Cream

A mask that Derly's daughter made

Her bed that was broken and then fixed

I was in a service project making candy flowers for the relief society Friday night and we were leaving at 7:55 pm. Then Kelly, the counselour of the Relief Society said she didn't want us to leave until she could give us a glass of water. Which was out of the usual. I was there, drinking my water, when the worst person to get a phone call from called me, Presidente Rodriguez. It`s strange because when Grandma passed away, I knew it before President called. But this time, I actually had no idea. I answered and he said, ¨Good evening Hermana Park. I got the news from your mom that your Grandpa Park has passed away.¨ I was fine. I mean, he has been holding on by a thread for years, but I was also a little mad because I have been praying for this whole time that Grandpa could be there when I got home. I thought, why! Couldn't Heavenly Father just wait one month more to take him? But then through hugs from hermanas and the Spirit, I realized that it really is a happy thing. Grandpa Park lived a lot longer than he should have, and he is now happily with Grandma and his mother he hasn't seen since he was 4! The Gospel is so perfect. 

But to give you some follow up on everything Los Olivos,

We had what the "Z" family called a ¨hot lesson¨ on the Book of Mormon. They started out saying that they wanted to ¨break up with us¨ and stay in their own church and ¨just be friends¨ but ¨it`s not you it´s me¨ So we asked if they had read their Book of Mormon. They replied, but the kids...and the work...and there isn`t time. Which resulted in a hot lesson about how the only way they are going to be able to be able to have a happy, successful family would be through this church and the priesthood authority that Joseph Smith restored. Jorge left and returned with his phone and put himself a date saying, ¨I will read the entire Book of Mormon by October 28th.¨ We`re going to visit them tonight. 

The Familia "A". We taught only half the family this week about how knowing that the church is restored makes it possible to be sealed to their son who passed away. The sweet family of members, the Familia "B", gave them a picture of the temple. 

Hortencia is drowning in sadness for the decisions of her sons. But there is always hope through Christ. You have to put in your part and be obedient to receive blessings.

And many many more things that happened but there`s never enought time!!

I love you all! 

Hermana Park

Hey, let`s go down a different road this time.

I`m going to tell you about the Familia "A".

We were walking one day and the Spirit led us down another route. As we walked, Hna Cayambe with her big sombrero and me in my sunglasses, a man and his daughter approached us. The dad was really happy to embarrass his 18 year old daughter Marìa. He said, ¨She wants to be your friend!¨ He gave us his address and we went the next day. He saw us from the window and came running out to let us in. His daughter Marìa and her sister Marina (17) were holding the door closed! The dad was shoving it open and yelling and well, Hermana Cayambe and I were a bit worried. He got it, told his daughters that we are the kind of friends he wants them to have, and shut the door. We started talking to them, and found out that they have a big family, 3 boys and 3 girls :) and that their oldest brother passed away 4 months ago. We instantly understood why we were there and who changed our route. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation, then returned Saturday and taught the entire family the message. They started to fight about their brother`s death and whose fault it was, so I hummed  ¨Love at Home¨ trying to keep the Spirit there. We then taught them about the Book of Mormon and they quieted down. They were so curious and we left them with the Book to read and they invited us to have lunch with them this week.

If we hadn`t followed the prompting to take a certain road, we wouldn`t have found them. I am completely sure that their brother has accepted the gospel in the Spirit World, they told us that he was very active in his Christian church, and he is just waiting for his family to accept so they can go to the temple. We found the 20 year old brother Alvaro last night, a wreck, because his mom had told him that it`s his fault that his brother died. We gave him his own copy of the Book of Mormon and again, we were led to him by the Spirit, or by his brother. 

I am so grateful to have the gift of the Holy Ghost - and to know how to use it!

Follow a prompting this week. This is just one of the many miracles we`ve seen this week by following the Spirit.

I love you all!!

Love, Hermana Park