Elder Parker Kikel: Work with the Missionaries!

Time is just flying so fast!!! wow! I can't believe I am all ready e-mailing you guys again! Elder Mack and I have just been working so hard lately that the days are just a blink of an eye. I can't even imagine what is is going to be like when I only have a year left. I always hear about all these people going home and stuff. It's so weird!

Well today's e-mail isn't going to be long cause I said so much last week!

This last week has been pretty good. The work has been getting a lot better. We had a lot of talks, lessons, and activities, dealing with Missionary and Member missionary work. In our MCM meeting, which is pretty much a meeting with our Ward mission Leader and the Ward Missionaries. We kind of threw down the law and I was just getting really annoyed by the immaturity that was coming from them and just the fact they never work with us. So I threw down a hymn book on a table and it was so loud, and I put on such a serious face, everyone got quite real quick. I kind of yelled at them and chastised them. I was just sick of their attitude, then the Ward mission Leader did the same thing haha. I worked too, that day we were getting messages from everyone asking when they can work with us. Sometimes you just need to throw down the hammer and show that you are serious to get things done.

We have had some really great lessons the last week, actually the most we have ever had! It is nice to finally be able to really see some progress in some of these investigators! We extended a few baptismal goal dates this last week and hopefully everything works out and our Area can get a few new members!

So this last week was the end of my first transfer in the Mission field! 6 weeks! I can't believe I have been in this country for 6 weeks. Sometimes is just hits me while I am walking around. "Man... I am in the Philippines right now. Its so weird and so cool to think about. Here I am barely 19 years old in a Country 5000 miles away from home, in a country the speaks a completely different language, in a country with a different culture and lifestyle, and here I am walking around with my companion. No one watches us, no one telling use where to go, or what to do. Just us two trying to preach the Gospel. That is so cool! If you guys were somehow able to be with me now I could take you to the mall, restaurants, little side shops, anything really! That is so weird! I could take you to the church, to members houses, and everything! Its so weird to think about! Just the fact that we are on our own almost all the time and have so much responsibility, it just all really blows my mind. I feel like when i get home Ill be able to do anything haha.

Yeah at this point I don't think those shoes will help me haha! NO! they definitely will but just not in this case! We have had some crazy flooding lately and this is how high the floods can get! Its crazy! and we have no choice but to just walk through it! Struggles of a missionary!

This is a picture of my District before transfer day!

So this last week was transfer week and my first Filipino friend got transferred! no!! He was so funny and so nice! He was the coolest, and he spoke extremely good English, better then me! He was our District Leader and we got a long really well! Here are some pictures of use the night before he left. His name is Elder Bayubay.

So these pictures are from an activity that we did with members and investigators. We had a cook off competition and this is me and all of the rest of us just eating it all off banana leaves that we cut from trees! It was so good! I ate so much food. They kept shoveling rice in front of me and to see how much I could eat!