This first picture is my beautiful neighbor, Yolanda.
She doesn't want me to leave so I took her this rose yesterday. :(
She doesn't want me to leave so I took her this rose yesterday. :(
Then there was my very last Sunday with my sweet primary class.
Our investigator, Sharika. She had just cut and curled my hair
for me right before this picture was taken.
This next picture is of Barbara Lee. She lets us do our laundry at her
house and she makes us breakfast every Monday morning.
I don't know why I took the picture of this snake but we see a lot of these.
This was outside the nursing home we visited one day.
Well, good morning and happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful ladies in my life!
Christie, I bet you were so excited about your first mother's day! It was so good to see the fam on Skype yesterday! Everyone looks great. Kendall, you are so pretty! Mothers Day was wonderful! I was able to give my last talk in the New Iberia Branch. I spoke on how a Mother's influence can affect generations. I also said that the way in which mothers handle trials can help their kids handle their own trials in the future. I talked about how strong Grandma Wellman was while Grandpa was serving in the Viet Nam war and how her example helped you (mom) be strong when you went through your own trials. Then I talked about the 2000 stripling warriors and how because of the teachings and counsels of their mothers they were able to win the battle against the Laminates. (Alma 56:47-48) It made me miss my family so much!
So we got some awesome news! We have two investigators who are getting baptized. First there is Shilay. She is Miss Pat's friend who came to the Gladys Knight concert with us and had immediate interest in the church. Well, she has decided to be baptized on June 1st. I'm so sad that I am missing it but so happy for Shilay. Another one of our investigators, Rebecca, has also decided to get baptized. She doesn't have a date finalized yet but she will know soon!
I am excited to get back to the mountains. Anytime I see a picture of Utah my heart gets all warm because its my mission and I LOVE IT! I am going to miss Louisiana so much though. Opelousas and New Iberia are such big parts of me now and I will always love them. I can't wait to take the fam back so we can see all the wonderful sights and eat some Cajun food. AHHHH! I am going to cry when I leave on Wednesday. Tomorrow we are going to Baton Rouge and I'll stay the night in the mission home. Then on Wednesday we fly back to Salt Lake City. Back to my starting point just in time for busy season! I really hope I have another Asian companion. I just want to be busy with Mandarin tours all the time! They are the best!
I have been really sad about leaving Louisiana because I hate endings and I hate goodbyes. It always seems like when life is just wonderful something comes and ends it really fast! We have been seeing lots of miracles and Sister Maxfield and I are such good friends and now... I have to go! But I have tried to stay focused on what President Uchtdorf said in his last General Conference talk.
"In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity.... there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."
That talk was exactly what I needed. Endings are not such a bad thing when we consider that Heavenly Father has something better in store for us. Me leaving Louisiana will be hard but it is the start of something wonderful that's about to happen. I have always looked at different parts of my life as chapters. I am about to start another chapter and this one will last until December!
Next time I email will be from Temple Square!
Talk to you next week!
Sister Park
Sister Park
No comments:
Post a Comment