Mexico -- January 14, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

It was another crazy week, but thankfully now things have settled down and are basically back to normal.

After the first time in the hospital, we took it very easy, only going to a few appointments every day and mostly resting and recuperating in our lovely air conditioned bedroom. A couple days I went out and worked with Hermana Luna, while Hermana Luna´s mom came and stayed with and cared for Hermana Espinoza. Still, my poor little Hermana ended up in the hospital THREE more times last week, once in the middle of the night. She had a bunch of different things going on at once (inflammation in her whole body, back pain, knee pain, etc) but the worst was that on Tuesday morning she woke up with a head-splitting, excruciating migraine that not even the strongest drugs seemed to kick for long and that went on for days. We created what I called "the cave," covering our window with three blankets so that not even a tiny beam of light could come inside. Any tiny bit of light was excruciating to her, as well as all sounds and movements. It was quite dark and cool and cozy in the cave, and the rest of the house is SO HOT--so I would usually just chill in the cave in the pitch darkness, with my sheet thrown over my head and a flashlight and my scriptures.

In the end Hermana Espinoza was just too sick to be here, so far from home, in hot hot Formosa, with the stress of a missionary schedule and lifestyle. Late on Thursday night she was in such pain that she was crying and moaning and I was just so scared and didn´t know what to do to help her. Our neighbors are these two young gals about our age that are both nurses. I called them over and they took a look at her, took her blood pressure, and injected her with some of the pain meds that they had given her a few days before in the clinic (the last time these meds seemed to work for a few hours, so it was a good temporary solution). But then they told me she really urgently needed to go be seen by a doctor. The public hospital here had traumatized us quite a bit (we took photos the last time, and when I get home I will show them to you. it is awful) and we felt it would be pointless to go back to the same place, with the same symptoms, just to recieve the same attention by the same incompetent staff and later to be given the same results (inconclusive). However, we felt trapped because we had been given instructions by our leaders not to go to a private clinic because they would charge a lot of money. Our neighbors agreed that she should not go to the public hospital, because it is usually crowded and hectic and poorly staffed. They referred us to a place called Sanatorio Formosa where one of them works and told us more or less how much a basic checkup and a few of the tests she might need would cost. We decided that in the end, if the mission couldn’t pay, that we would find some other way to pay and that we just needed to go right then. These girls were so helpful and good to us--they called some friends who were working at that hour and asked them to please help us, and wait for us, and give us the best attention.

Our experience was much better this time. The private clinic was a lot cleaner and safer and we were very well attended by the nurses and doctors. Still, there was not much they could do without admitting her or doing some expensive studies--so they gave her an IV with some more pain meds, the doctor gave her a prescription for a different sort of migraine medicine, and he recommended two months more of rest and that she go home to Mexico.

We talked with our leaders and mission doctors in the morning and everyone agreed. She needed to go home. She left Saturday morning. And now I am back full time with Hna Luna for another couples weeks.

I am attaching here some photos of my first and last day with Hna Espinoza. We took a picture with one of our neighbors, Yesica, that was so good to us (the other was working) and her kitten Valentino (I love this kitten).

I am also attaching photos from our baptisms this Saturday. That is a whole other story, perhaps I will explain next week, but Franco and Belen were both baptized on Saturday.

I love you all and I am SO grateful for your love and kind words and encouragement.

Love,

Hna Parker

2013! -- December 31, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

My companion went to a salon to dye her hair today and it took a little longer than expected and so I am left with very little time to write you.

I am alive and well. I LOVED talking to you last week. Sorry if it seemed I had little to say. The truth is, I have tons to say, but it felt too overwhelming to fit it all into a single 40 minute phone call. I am sure we will have long, meaningful, detailed conversations in two months when I get home.

News: They finally installed our air conditioning! Our quality of life has greatly increased.

We are working hard and have lots of baptisms for this January. Tonight we are going to celebrate New Years with one of our favorite families--Sandra and her kids...but in true missionary-fashion our fun will end at 10 PM sharp when we must be in our apartment.

I want to hear all about your New Years celebrations.

And Jared and Scott! I want to hear all about your trip with pictures please! I have been praying these last few nights for your safety in your cross-country wanderings.

I love you all too much.

Brooke

Alma Fuerte – December 17, 2012

Hello Christmas Family,

Just a short one again this week. Things are great here in Argentina. Hot and great.

I am sending a few photos and some explanations:

One of the biggest perks about having a companion whose family lives just a few blocks away, is that we get to visit them all the time and all of a sudden I feel like I have all these new aunts and uncles and cousins and nieces and nephews. Last Monday we spent the afternoon with her family and her adorable 6 month old twin nephews were in town and I am now best friends with baby Alejandro. He and his mom and brother live in a tiny town far away, but they come to Formosa a few times a months for treatments for little Ale´s club feet.

Yesterday was the best day for two reasons. Reason 1: We had TONS of investigators in church (6). We went to go get a couple of them and then we took the bus and it just kept stopping and MORE members and investigators would get on and by the time we all got off at the plaza a few blocks away from the chapel there were over 10 of us.

Reason 2: We found an adorable abandoned puppy on the side of the road and we SAVED her. Hna. Luna named her Alma and we carried her around with us in Hna. Luna´s sombrero all afternoon. We wanted so bad to keep her, but we did the second best thing... we gave her to one of the families in the branch that we visit often so we can see her almost every day. They loved her right away and we know they will take good care of her.

The last photo is very recent, taken just one hour ago in a store down the street. SAXOPHONE SANTA!

Merry Christmas! I don´t know exactly when I´ll be calling but you should send me all the phone numbers you have (home phone, all of the family cell phones, etc.) I will probably have more details when I write on the 24th, but I am sure we will communicate.

Love,

Hna Parker

AC AC AC! – December 10, 2012

Just a short email this week--we don´t have a lot of time. ...But I will make up for the length by sending pictures!

If all goes well, today we will have a new air conditioner for our bedroom! We have to go see if they sent the money though, and then go and buy it. I am so happy! After taking a quick poll of ALL the sister missionaries in the province of Formosa (there are like 10 companionships) I found out we were the only ones without AC. Anyways, this will be remedied soon. It has been soooo hot, and our one fan is so pathetic that I literally have not been able to sleep many nights and instead just lie in agony all night tossing and turning in my own sweat. Okay, haha. That was dramatic. It is not that bad. But AC will be a welcome improvement.

Besides the extreme heat, everything is going well here in Formosa with Hermana Luna. She was originally supposed to stay with me until this Wednesday, when we have transfers. But it looks like we are short on sisters and she will likely stay with me for my entire next transfer. It is weird serving with someone who lives here in Formosa (just a few blocks from our apartment) and is not a set-apart missionary. She lives so close by that we are always stopping by her house to drop off dirty clothes for her mom to wash, or to eat lunch or dinner (whenever we don´t have anyone in the branch to feed us). It is sort of like having a second home and a second mom. It is definitely a different feeling.

We have had several investigators disappear or drop out on us this week. We had been teaching one woman, Olga, and her two daughters and they were preparing to be baptized this month. However, we have a requirement in our mission that investigators must attend church at least 3 times to be baptized. This week was CRUCIAL if they wanted to be baptized on the 22nd. Well, this Friday they just flat-out disappeared on us and we still aren´t sure where they went. And they have no cell phone for us to call to see what´s up.

A few notes to accompany the photos I am sending.

1. The miracle of the umbrella! We found a perfectly good big blue umbrella in the trash just before a surprise mid-day storm hit. 2. These days ice cream and sun hats are a MUST. 3. Meeting a sheep.

A few notes to close:

Birthday: Mom! I received my birthday package several weeks ago, I am not sure if I told you. THANK YOU. The clothes are perfect. Also I got my birthday card from Ashley this week and it is the best card I have ever received. I loved it. :)

Mail: I sent out a package of letters over a month ago but for some reason it was returned to me and I am just now sending them out again. So if some of you get letters that say "happy thanksgiving!" in January, that is why.

Christmas: I still don´t know how Christmas phone calling will go. Everything is crazy and confusing with the sudden change of mission president. But I will let you know as soon as I know something.

That´s it!

Ciao,

Hermana Parker

A Miracle and a Nightmare – November 27, 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

It is amazing how much can change in just one week! I was not in the best spirits last week, as I am sure was evident in the tone of my email, but this week is a different story. SO MUCH has happened. Where do I begin?!

First, let me tell you about the MIRACLE of Ramon and the NIGHTMARE of Antonia.

Ramon was our golden investigator that we “lost” last week due to the interference of his semi-psychotic woman-friend Antonia. Antonia is very active in another local church, but despite this, at first she received us very well. She welcomed our visits, listened and participated and even went to church a few times with Ramon. However, to be honest, I doubted her sincerity from the very start and was not surprised to see her attitudes begin to change as Ramon got closer and closer to his baptismal date and to their wedding. We did everything we could to respect and strengthen her relationship with Ramon (for example: always invited her to lessons and to church, invited them to go to a couples dinner at the church, and helped get them the paperwork and everything they needed to get married). However, Ramon, from the very start was a little uncertain about whether he was ready to get married or whether he preferred to move out and separate from Antonia. In our very first lesson, before we ever met Antonia, he mentioned to us that things weren't going very well with his girlfriend and that he was thinking of moving out and going to live with his sister. We tried not to push him one way or the other, but told him that the important thing was to live the Law of Chastity and that he and Antonia needed to pray and ask God about what they should do and that we were only there to help them with their decision.

Anyways, Antonia began to say things like “the only reason I went to your church is because I was jealous.” She also insisted that the only reason Ramon ever went was to look for a new girlfriend. At this point she began to be very controlling and manipulative with Ramon, screening our calls, and saying awful, hurtful things and finally she told us that she didn´t want us to come back to her house. Seeing that it is her house and not Ramon's, we respected her wishes. We didn't want to cause any more problems, and no longer felt comfortable teaching Ramon or stopping by the house. So we just dropped him altogether, even though he was one week away from his baptism.

That was last week, Monday. Tuesday, we had a zone conference, and our zone leaders and district leaders were all very stressed out about the fact that we were not going to reach our goal of baptisms for November. A lot of the planned baptisms were falling through and our zone leaders started asking us what we could do to “save” Ramon's baptism.

Side note: I have to admit, all of the goals and numbers aspect of missionary work really stresses me out and sometimes irks me. I KNOW it is necessary to, with the guidance of the spirit, set goals and make plans. But sometimes I feel like the elders get a little distracted and carried away in the numbers game.

Anyways, at first I felt pretty annoyed that they were even asking us this. We had done EVERYTHING we could, but it was just a really complicated situation, especially considering that Ramon is a man and we are two young women and he had a crazy jealous (possibly dangerous) older girlfriend. So, they asked if they thought it would be any different if they tried talking with Ramon. We agreed and passed them his phone number so they could set up a lesson with him in the chapel and we “washed our hands” of the entire thing.

Well, the next thing we knew the AP´s and our Zone Leaders were doing his baptismal interview and filling out all the paperwork and they even brought the mission truck over to his house to help him move all of his stuff out and move IN to his sister´s house so he could get baptized three days later. We were not there for all of this, but we were told that Antonia came out and began to scream all sorts of obscenities and said she was going to call the police—so they had to stop moving stuff out of the house, and Ramon moved in with his sister with nothing more than a single change of clothes.

I am running out of time, so I will have to write part 2 of the story next week but, well, the miracle is, RAMON GOT BAPTIZED! When he moved in with his sister, he moved out of our branch and into the area of some other hermanas in our zone (hna Warnick and hna Hobbs). We had already taught him all the lessons, so all they had to do, basically, was make baptismal invitations and fill up the font.

Lots of other things happened this week. We celebrated Thanksgiving! I think there is nothing I love more than celebrating Thanksgiving with cute South Americans who have never ever celebrated this very North-American holiday.

We also organized a very successful branch activity Saturday—we played games and ate food and watched the movie 17 Miracles. It was a lot of fun and good way for Hna Medina to say goodbye to the branch.

Hermana Medina left yesterday morning for her mission in Colombia. It was bittersweet. I was very sad to see her go, but excited for her to finally get to her assigned mission.

And now, for these last two weeks of the transfer, I am serving with a “mini missionary” Hermana Luna! She is the very same member that threw me my surprise birthday party and gives us lunch every Thursday. Well, for the next two weeks, she is my companion full-time and I couldn´t be happier. She is amazing and in our ONE day together we have already had some great experiences. Specifically with a young woman named Julieta. Julieta is another mini miracle... but that is a story I will also have to save for next week.

So, next week you´ll have to tune in for the Ramon & Antonia Saga Part 2 and for the story of Julieta. And for PHOTOS.

Well, love you all tons and tons!

Happy Holidays!

Hermana Parker

Folklorico - November 12, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week has passed, and, as always, too much has happened to even begin to be able to recount it all.

I was reminded last night that the week isn´t over until it is really over. It was 9 PM, Sunday night (usually at around 9 PM on Sunday night we are arriving home exhausted from a week of work, ready to sleep) and somehow, at this hour, I found myself seated by the side of the road with a group of slightly drunken middle-aged men playing Argentine folk music. We were passing by on our way home, and Hermana Medina recognized some of the songs so we started up a little conversation, and the next thing we knew they had invited us to sit down and they were enthusiastically playing us love ballads. We gave them pass-along cards and invited them to church. One of the men kept talking to me in Portuguese for some reason, and I kept having to remind him that I speak Spanish.

Anyways, the best part of the week was our multi-zone conference with Elder Viñas. He is an area 70 and a very inspiring, spiritual man. He spoke to us for over 2 hours and I loved every second.

Before the conference he asked every missionary to come prepared with a 5-minute talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how it helps us in our missions. Everyone assumed he was going to select a few of us to give our talks in front of everyone, but in the end he just led a big discussion and had us all share what we had learned in preparing our talks. I love talking about the atonement...there is nothing else I would rather talk about. It is the root and the heart of my testimony and the reason why I am here. He invited us to make our lives and our missionary-work more centered in the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I left feeling inspired to be better and hopeful and determined to change, which proves that teaching true doctrine changes behavior much more effectively than talking about behavior changes behavior.

Well, it´s going to be a short one this week. I love you all very much,

Hermana Parker

From the Streets of Buenos Aires - November 5, 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

The biggest news from this week is that I WENT TO BUENOS AIRES!

The elder that was supposedly organizing the whole trip told us he was going to call us Monday to give us all the details. Monday came and went and we heard nothing. We figured he didn´t have everything set up yet and he would call Tuesday. Nope. We began to assume we had misunderstood and that we were going to go some other time. "Maybe it´s next week," we said to ourselves. I tried calling a few times but couldn´t get through. Finally, Wednesday morning, the day we were supposed to be leaving, I called again and finally got through. I explained that we were just a little confused because we thought we were going to be traveling to Buenos Aires, but we hadn´t heard anything, and asked if it was for next week. That is when Elder Flores said:

"NO, Hermanas! It is today! You are leaving today! Your bus leaves Resistencia at 7:30 tonight, you need to be here in the offices by 6:30."

Apparently he thought he had already called and told us all the details. Nope!

So, basically, we had to drop everything right then, go home, pack up our bags and hop on a bus to Resistencia. It is nearly 3 hours to Resistencia and then 13 more hours to Buenos Aires. To top it all off, right before we got on our first bus to Resistencia, Hna Medina fell and sprained her ankle pretty bad and scraped up her knee. Poor thing. Such awful luck! But the good part was that with looong bus rides ahead of her, she wouldn´t have to do her usual amount of walking.

We took a luxurious sleeper bus to Buenos Aires and they put us in the first class VIP seats. It was spectacular! The seats were soooo comfortable and folded back 180 degree to turn into beds. It was much more comfortable than my actual bed here in Formosa. There was lots of space: a personal curtain to draw around every seat for privacy, personal movie screens in front of every seat. They fed us a full hot dinner and breakfast, offered us free champagne and wine, played bingo, gave us toothpaste and toothbrushes, showed a movie (that I didn´t watch) , etc.etc.etc.

Okay, enough about the bus.... But I have never traveled in first class anything, so it was quite the experience for me.

When we got to the terminal we were greeted by Hermana Medina´s parents!

It was really cool to meet them. She lives right there in the city, about 15 minutes from the bus terminal. So she was freaking out the entire time about being so close to home. Her mom gave her a giant bag of clothes and gifts for the little kids here and hand cream and lots of other random stuff.

Then, we met up with the representative from the church offices and he took us all around the city in his car. Buenos Aires reminds me a lot of New York City. I had a

lot of fun even though it was basically all business all day. We went to the Colombian Consulate building, waited a whole lot, went to the bank, waited some more. Back to the Colombian consulate. Here's a photo of Hna Medina outside the Colombian state building with the Colombian flag. Outside we met a Colombian woman selling "arepas" (a typical food there, it is like a round cheese cornmeal bread thing). We began to talk to her and a whole bunch of other Colombian people. It was fun. They have a very different accent and Hna Medina

was stoked to meet so many people from her future mission land.

At one point, when we were waiting outside the bank, I got my shoes shined. Later, our new friend from the church offices took us to a huge shopping mall and bought us McDonalds for lunch. It was wild. I felt like I was back in the states. There is no such thing as malls or Mcdonalds (or ANY fast food) here in Formosa.

We took a plane back to Resistencia Thursday night. It was much faster, but much less comfortable. I liked how they spelled my name on my ticket: "Broocke." I think I will consider adding an extra C to my name, just to give it more pizzaz. What do you all think?

Well, after our brief little adventure, we returned back to work here and things are going so well. We found a new investigator a few weeks ago named Ramon. He is amazing. He has come to church two weeks in a row and this week came in a white shirt and tie, passed out hymn books (without being assigned, he is just super helpful and attentive), paid his tithing (!!!, keep in mind that we only met him a couple weeks ago and he is not a member), and is already making all sorts of friends. The only problem is that he needs to get married to get baptized so we are working on that.

I spent so much time writing about Buenos Aires that I don´t have much time to write about anything else. To close I´ll add that this Sunday was the first Sunday in a while that it didn´t rain and, so, for the first time in a long time our chapel was full! So many people came. And many many people who have been inactive for some time, who we have been visiting, came back. All of a sudden my little "rama parque" was HUGE (comparatively), and everyone was greeting everyone, and we had a lively, active Sunday School lesson, and lots of people got up to share their testimonies, and I just was filled with the most immense joy for the whole 3 hours. I don´t think I have ever felt so happy at church before. It was an amazing feeling. I was just smiling and smiling the whole time. I think it’s because I love this branch so much, and feel so invested in its success that I feel like when it is thriving and happy, I am thriving and happy.

So, I guess that´s it. I´ll end here. I am happy. I hope all is well at home.

Love,

Hermana Parker