Missionary Experience's

Mother and Family,
Well this week has been a good one. Well actually it was a great week.
I can just imagine how much fun you must be having with all the grand kids. It must be great to be able to be with them all. It makes me really happy to hear that they are doing well and that they are all reading and praying frequently. It seems like they have all grown up so much since I have left. It will be interesting to see how they are when I get back and if they remember me or not. By the sounds of it maybe they will remember me. Also it will be great to have new nieces and nephews that I have never seen before. It still seems like I have that whole easiness thing with children. The kids normally love me. ha. Which makes it harder because I really cannot hold them or anything even when they want to go to me. I am very excited to be able to hold my nieces when I get back. But that is enough about talking about being back home. As for now I still have 6 months of great work to do here in Brazil.
Congrats for Justin and his family doing some missionary work. I really never realized before how much the missionaries really need the members. It really helps the work so much. Mother just think... if you got flowers from that lady because she thought Justin and Jason were good just think of how much stuff you would get if she only new me. ha. It really is so great to hear that my nieces and nephews are praying for me. I don't really know if they are doing it but you say that they are and so I will believe you. I think that maybe it might be hard for them to recognize me by the time I get back. I feel older and older every single day ( but don't worry I am still younger than most people I know/ Krystal, Justin, Jason, Shane, etc..). If I feel old now a day’s good old Jason probably feels ancient.
I too hope and pray every single day that our family will be together forever. I really hope and pray that we all can do the things that we need to do to be able to be an eternal family. The trick is that we all need to help each other out. The straight and narrow path is not always the easiest path but it is the only one that is worthwhile. While the other paths might bring instant happiness that lasts a little while, living on the straight and narrow path brings happiness and will never end.
I really love my mission so much. Until now I really don't think about home that much. Which I feel is a good thing. Even though I love you all so much I really need to do what Doctrine and Covenants 4 tells me to do, that is, keep my eyes fixed on the work of the Lord. It is not always easy to do this but I will say that it is worth it. When you really give all you have and you try your hardest to do all you can to bring souls unto Christ, Christ than uses you to perform his miracles. As Amon felt in the Book of Mormon I feel as well (Alma 26:12). I know that I am nothing without the help of the Lord. Without of the help of the Lord I turn into only someone that is beautiful and with blue eyes, but with his help I turn into a powerful servant of the Lord. A servant that can with his help perform miracles and bring his children to his presence again. Without him I cannot do this work. Well a few great things happened this week. But before I talk about them I will tell you a quote that I heard the other day.
A man against the church: "If God really wanted or needed to restore his Church he would not have called a young man to do it"

Emma Smith: " Maybe at that time only a young man of 14 years was willing to search for God"
I don't really know if that is the best way to translate the quote that I heard but I hope that you can get the point. God has his thoughts and we have ours. It seems like God always calls the humble and the willing to do great things. He will never force somebody to do something. Although at that time there were many people that were very smart God chose a young man that did not have that much study to restore his church because that young man was willing and humble enough to receive it. We need to be humble and willing to do what God would have us do so that we can do great things. I really don't know if this whole thought of mine made sense. I really hope so I love this quote. It makes me think a lot. God does what he knows is best but not what man thinks is best. His logic is better than mans logic.
1. Well this week we were blessed with two baptisms. They were really great. The Lord really blessed us with them. The meeting was really great as well. I think I am really learning how to sing or at least someone is trying to teach me to sing. I sang at the baptism meeting it was really great. I am really starting to love to sing.
2. I finally realized how very important it is to listen, teach, and ask things with the Holy Ghost. I and my companion were teaching a lesson the other day. That lesson was so great. We prepared a lot before it and then during it the Lord was really helping us every step of the way. It was weird to note that as I was trying my hardest to listen to everything that the investigator was saying, every once and a while the Spirit told me " use what she said right there to teach this" or "she is trying to say this help her" or " ask this question and then listen to what she says" or "teach this or testify about this". It was really a great lesson and a great time for me to learn more. The key to having true happiness and to knowing what God wants from us is having the Spirit with us. It is not easy to teach like this. I have been practicing very hard and it is not always like this. To be able to listen to the Holy Ghost and not our conscience is really a hard thing to learn. It is something that I am trying to learn more and more every single day. I know that if I can master this I can be a better servant in God’s hands.
3. I have really been learning so much in the Book of Mormon lately. I learned In 2 Nephi 2 :26 I think that we are here on earth to be able to make actions and not to receive actions. When we are obeying the commandments of God we are able to make actions for ourselves but when we break the commandments of God we then start to receive action and not act. For example coffee or cigarettes. When we use these things our body is not able to act but the cigarettes or coffee act against our body and spirit. Also in verse 28 of the same chapter we learn that the way to really know if we are being led by the holy ghost or not is by asking ourselves..... This action that I will make will help me receive eternal life? If the answer is no we know that it was not the HG that told us to do something but it was something else. The HG will always tell us to do things that will help us to be able to live with God again.
4. I was able to return to my first area again. It was great. I really love the people there and it is great to know that they really remember me very well. I was very surprised. Almost all the members recognized me and were excited to see me. One person I taught is still going strong and was baptized. He is really great and is planning on going on a mission. That really made me so happy. It was a joy not possible to describe. I love the mission so much.
Well that is all for now. I love you all. I love you so much mother. Just know that I am always here for you all. I know that God loves us so much. I know that his plan is perfect. I know that the scriptures really do have the power to change our lives. I love you all and until next week.
Elder Daniel J. Parkinson