Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Pictures from our travels to Idaho during the winter months...
Waterfall in Spanish Fork Canyon...
Mountains between Utah and Colorado... 
Aaron's mission talks in Sacrament Meeting and open house...
YIPPEE...Aaron is on the count down...7 more Thursday and 57 more days...
Aaron will be home on Thursday, June 24th...
We are so excited and yes, the time has gone by so fast...
We have visited with Aaron about the schedule below to make sure it is okay with him
...and he is thrilled...
An open house will be held for anyone that would like to attend on
Saturday, June 26th
from 5:30 - 7:30 or whenever...
at our home in ABQ, NM...
Aaron will be speaking in the
Bandelier Ward at 9:00am and
the Paradise Hills Ward at 1:00pm
on Sunday, June 27th...
both wards meet in the 7-bar Stake Center in ABQ, NM...
Aaron will also be speaking in the View Ward
in Burley, Idaho
on Sunday, July 11th at 10:45am
Aaron will be attending BYU in Provo this fall and is really excited...
We would love to have you attend any of the events that work in your schedule...
Please let us know if you have any questions...via email or phone
Thanks,
Steve and Annette
leave a comment if you need our address or phone # and we'll get it to you...
Aaron will be home on Thursday, June 24th...
We are so excited and yes, the time has gone by so fast...
We have visited with Aaron about the schedule below to make sure it is okay with him
...and he is thrilled...
An open house will be held for anyone that would like to attend on
Saturday, June 26th
from 5:30 - 7:30 or whenever...
at our home in ABQ, NM...
Aaron will be speaking in the
Bandelier Ward at 9:00am and
the Paradise Hills Ward at 1:00pm
on Sunday, June 27th...
both wards meet in the 7-bar Stake Center in ABQ, NM...
Aaron will also be speaking in the View Ward
in Burley, Idaho
on Sunday, July 11th at 10:45am
Aaron will be attending BYU in Provo this fall and is really excited...
We would love to have you attend any of the events that work in your schedule...
Please let us know if you have any questions...via email or phone
Thanks,
Steve and Annette
leave a comment if you need our address or phone # and we'll get it to you...
Aaron's letters 4-26-10
WOW!! Brogan is quite the suteki man!!
Great note!
That's even true out here as we pray for each person by name in the field as well as those missionaries in the zone.
God really blesses us with the needed guidance too so it's a great faith building experience.
So excited to see the new Rio Rancho stake center. We'll have to go on a church tour when I get home to see everything. Lots of new places since I have been gone.
I can't wait to play the piano with Amanda. She is getting all mature and grown up.
Love all your missionary experiences that you are having. Thanks for the example you are setting for me. I am finishing strong and don't want to be known as the trunky missionary. So Elder Clements and I are doing what ever it takes to keep focused.
WEEKLY:
Hey Family!!
So this past week has been even better than the one before!! I think God really blessed me as I set those few small things to do for the rest of my mission. My companion and I set a goal to find one new investigator each day this past week, and are doing it again this week, and God made it possible!! As we prayed each day to be able to find those to teach God supported our efforts and eight new souls were found and became investigators!!
It was actually kind of funny because on Saturday we weren:t able to find anyone. So on sunday sister kitayama, one of the sister missionaries here in okazaki with us, said *so that:s too bad you weren:t able to find anyone yesterday for your one a day...* (i don:t know why exactly she said that but....)in reply i said, *thats ok, today we:ll find two!* long story short, we were able to find three! one new really cool couple and a 27yr old guy.
God really blesses us as we set our minds to do the right and follow His will. The neat thing is that we only had like 10 min before the appointment with this new couple so Elder Clements stopped by a two story apt and we knocked. The only guy that came out was Hidekazu and ended up letting us in for a minute and became an investigator!! It truly is amazing how much we are guided. As elder clements and i have determined to find new investigators and have worked to do so, God has made it possible.
I know my commitment to follow the small things of missionary rule life paid off and i am now able to focus on the more important parts of life.
Now, naturally, other small things come up all the time, i fix them, and move on to face the next challenge of each day.
I love the work so much! This past sunday as we found these new investigators i felt the most joy i have in my whole mission. It was like i could have just exploded with happiness. That is the joy of the gospel as a missionary: being guided by God to those of His children He has prepared and helping them come unto Christ, all in one day!
Furthermore, you can all feel a portion of this in your own special way! As you pray to God to know what specific things you need to change, what little things you need to do, He will bless you with that knowledge. Then as you actually do those things and follow Spiritual promptings, miracles will happen.
I love you all tons and can:t wait to hear from you and see you soon!!
Love Elder parks
Great note!
That's even true out here as we pray for each person by name in the field as well as those missionaries in the zone.
God really blesses us with the needed guidance too so it's a great faith building experience.
So excited to see the new Rio Rancho stake center. We'll have to go on a church tour when I get home to see everything. Lots of new places since I have been gone.
I can't wait to play the piano with Amanda. She is getting all mature and grown up.
Love all your missionary experiences that you are having. Thanks for the example you are setting for me. I am finishing strong and don't want to be known as the trunky missionary. So Elder Clements and I are doing what ever it takes to keep focused.
WEEKLY:
Hey Family!!
So this past week has been even better than the one before!! I think God really blessed me as I set those few small things to do for the rest of my mission. My companion and I set a goal to find one new investigator each day this past week, and are doing it again this week, and God made it possible!! As we prayed each day to be able to find those to teach God supported our efforts and eight new souls were found and became investigators!!
It was actually kind of funny because on Saturday we weren:t able to find anyone. So on sunday sister kitayama, one of the sister missionaries here in okazaki with us, said *so that:s too bad you weren:t able to find anyone yesterday for your one a day...* (i don:t know why exactly she said that but....)in reply i said, *thats ok, today we:ll find two!* long story short, we were able to find three! one new really cool couple and a 27yr old guy.
God really blesses us as we set our minds to do the right and follow His will. The neat thing is that we only had like 10 min before the appointment with this new couple so Elder Clements stopped by a two story apt and we knocked. The only guy that came out was Hidekazu and ended up letting us in for a minute and became an investigator!! It truly is amazing how much we are guided. As elder clements and i have determined to find new investigators and have worked to do so, God has made it possible.
I know my commitment to follow the small things of missionary rule life paid off and i am now able to focus on the more important parts of life.
Now, naturally, other small things come up all the time, i fix them, and move on to face the next challenge of each day.
I love the work so much! This past sunday as we found these new investigators i felt the most joy i have in my whole mission. It was like i could have just exploded with happiness. That is the joy of the gospel as a missionary: being guided by God to those of His children He has prepared and helping them come unto Christ, all in one day!
Furthermore, you can all feel a portion of this in your own special way! As you pray to God to know what specific things you need to change, what little things you need to do, He will bless you with that knowledge. Then as you actually do those things and follow Spiritual promptings, miracles will happen.
I love you all tons and can:t wait to hear from you and see you soon!!
Love Elder parks
Aaron's letter 4-19-10
WAY GOOD STORY!!
Way to go Dad with teaching by the spirit! Just like a Preach My Gospel missionary!
Cool story...I actually had a dream last night that Dad became my companion in the field and we went around teaching together. Way cool huh! I am so proud of you for doing such awesome things with missionary work and can't wait to hear more!
Love Elder Parks
I thought Dani would go on a mission. Didn't know her sister was also going. I can't wait to hear about it!! Thanks for keeping me posted.
Cool thanks for getting me is with Dr. DeBuck!!
Yeah I am brushing really well and flossing often.....
I just have a couple of teeth that have receeded gums a little and are way sensitive to hot and cold, but whatever, I am doing my best!!
haha nice, yeah it is raining here too sadly.
We have our zone activity today and were going to play softball but that got cancelled and we are going to do ultimate frisbee now!!
can't wait!
Then we might go watch Prince of Egypt at the church.
My black suit is now in a garbage dump somewhere in japan since both pants totally tore in the bum area! haha, but then I bought that $14 suit so have that one and the blue one....the blue ones pants though are kinda big so I donIt know what I'll do with them at the end. That is a good idea, I'll bring them home and we can have them taken in.
WEEKLY:
Hey Family!!
Well another week flown by and time is a comin!!
This past week has been really good with lots of good experiences to keep me up!! We had zone conference last thursday and learned lots!! It was focused on preparing through morning study to teach unified and with the spirit. Elder Clements and I try our best now to make sure we have nightly planning session to prepare for the next day:s schedule and lessons.
On a personal level i made the *my road to improvement* list for myself in things i felt i could improve on.
it includes three sections: Obedience, personal, and dendo (missionary work)
obedience: stopping at red lights and locking my bike (two really small things that many elders don:t do but i felt i needed to to be exactly obedient!)
personal: more focused prayer, eliminate distractions
dendo: talk to everyone, anytime i feel any impression to talk to someone, do it!!
As i have done these things i have really felt blessed by the Lord as well as a feeling that i am doing the right.
Last week Dad sent me a letter that about finishing hard and recommiting myselft to the work. As i really thought about that i realized there were these small things that i needed to improve in order to feel completely worthy. Now i can say, i feel completely worthy. Not to say i still don:t make mistakes, but am definitely closer to Christ.
This past week has been great for me to feel the joy of the work through really getting out and finding new people to teach and watching God work magic in guiding His children to us.
One example: a couple of weeks ago we had a district meeting here in Okazaki. On the way to the station afterwards two elders met David and got his phone number to pass to us. Well, when we called and got ahold of him he said *of course i:ll come to church tomorrow!* Shock number one. Then when we met him to go to church together sunday morning, he told us how he already believes the Book of Mormon is the word of God because there is no way a man could have written it! He is reading every day. Shock number two. Then after sacrament we taught him with a recent convert and he commited to being baptized in two weeks on May 2nd. MIRACLE!!
This guy has been so prepared of God. It started a little bit ago when he still lived in Saitama, closer to Tokyo, and met the elders only once and got a copy of the Book of Mormon. Then, because he moved here, he lost contact. However, then these two other elders on their way home from district meeting, met him again, got his number and its all history from there!
God is truly guiding His children as He prepares them in mysterious ways.
I know we will be blessed as we do what is right, even when it:s hard. God loves us. He wants to help us. Now is the time to realize this. Now is the time to make things right to recieve all God has to offer. Tomorrow never comes if we don:t do anything today.
I love you!
Elder Parks
Way to go Dad with teaching by the spirit! Just like a Preach My Gospel missionary!
Cool story...I actually had a dream last night that Dad became my companion in the field and we went around teaching together. Way cool huh! I am so proud of you for doing such awesome things with missionary work and can't wait to hear more!
Love Elder Parks
I thought Dani would go on a mission. Didn't know her sister was also going. I can't wait to hear about it!! Thanks for keeping me posted.
Cool thanks for getting me is with Dr. DeBuck!!
Yeah I am brushing really well and flossing often.....
I just have a couple of teeth that have receeded gums a little and are way sensitive to hot and cold, but whatever, I am doing my best!!
haha nice, yeah it is raining here too sadly.
We have our zone activity today and were going to play softball but that got cancelled and we are going to do ultimate frisbee now!!
can't wait!
Then we might go watch Prince of Egypt at the church.
My black suit is now in a garbage dump somewhere in japan since both pants totally tore in the bum area! haha, but then I bought that $14 suit so have that one and the blue one....the blue ones pants though are kinda big so I donIt know what I'll do with them at the end. That is a good idea, I'll bring them home and we can have them taken in.
WEEKLY:
Hey Family!!
Well another week flown by and time is a comin!!
This past week has been really good with lots of good experiences to keep me up!! We had zone conference last thursday and learned lots!! It was focused on preparing through morning study to teach unified and with the spirit. Elder Clements and I try our best now to make sure we have nightly planning session to prepare for the next day:s schedule and lessons.
On a personal level i made the *my road to improvement* list for myself in things i felt i could improve on.
it includes three sections: Obedience, personal, and dendo (missionary work)
obedience: stopping at red lights and locking my bike (two really small things that many elders don:t do but i felt i needed to to be exactly obedient!)
personal: more focused prayer, eliminate distractions
dendo: talk to everyone, anytime i feel any impression to talk to someone, do it!!
As i have done these things i have really felt blessed by the Lord as well as a feeling that i am doing the right.
Last week Dad sent me a letter that about finishing hard and recommiting myselft to the work. As i really thought about that i realized there were these small things that i needed to improve in order to feel completely worthy. Now i can say, i feel completely worthy. Not to say i still don:t make mistakes, but am definitely closer to Christ.
This past week has been great for me to feel the joy of the work through really getting out and finding new people to teach and watching God work magic in guiding His children to us.
One example: a couple of weeks ago we had a district meeting here in Okazaki. On the way to the station afterwards two elders met David and got his phone number to pass to us. Well, when we called and got ahold of him he said *of course i:ll come to church tomorrow!* Shock number one. Then when we met him to go to church together sunday morning, he told us how he already believes the Book of Mormon is the word of God because there is no way a man could have written it! He is reading every day. Shock number two. Then after sacrament we taught him with a recent convert and he commited to being baptized in two weeks on May 2nd. MIRACLE!!
This guy has been so prepared of God. It started a little bit ago when he still lived in Saitama, closer to Tokyo, and met the elders only once and got a copy of the Book of Mormon. Then, because he moved here, he lost contact. However, then these two other elders on their way home from district meeting, met him again, got his number and its all history from there!
God is truly guiding His children as He prepares them in mysterious ways.
I know we will be blessed as we do what is right, even when it:s hard. God loves us. He wants to help us. Now is the time to realize this. Now is the time to make things right to recieve all God has to offer. Tomorrow never comes if we don:t do anything today.
I love you!
Elder Parks
Aaron's letters 4-12-10
haha, thanks for the note from Laurie
Well, Iam glad atleast she will still know who I am, and they will live close enough I can see her and her husband.
THANK YOU!!I looked at my awesome byu schedule!! It looks great. I'm so excited for all those classes. THANK YOU!!
You are all doing so well with missionary work!! congrats!!
Weekly:
Hey Family!!
Well another week has come and time just continues to fly!!!
Elder Clements and I have fun working here and finding lots of people as we ride our bike all around the town!! It amazes me how much God really is putting people in our path. It seems like its not even a matter of *if* but just a fact: people will be placed in our path if we but desire such and prepare ourselves to find them.
On Sunday, for example, after conference we had an appointment with our new investigator, Miguel, for the first time. Well, sadly, he had to go to the hospital and the appointment got dropped. So we waited for the sisters to go to an appointment we had together and I slowly started to lose my *genkiness,* started to be less upbeat. Naturally, as missionaries, if we are not teaching I tend to do so.
But, finally we got on the way. I was praying really hard that I would be able to find someone to talk to...God listened. Right as we walked onto the train there were three foreigners sitting there. They turned out to be Philippinos living here working, like so many other foreigners. Well I was able to talk with them about the Restoration and they accepted a lesson one pamphlet and we just happened to have a Tagalog copy of the Book of Mormon with us that they also accepted. We got a return appointment for this coming Sunday. God truly listened to my prayer of faith and desire to teach someone. I am so amazed at the Glory of God and how much He loves us and desires us to be happy as well, in our righteous desires.
We are so very blessed to be members of the Restored Gospel and I hope this same joy and love has been shed abroad in each of your lives as well.
God loves you. I love you!
Time draws near but I have no intention of letting up in seeing the miracles and teaching the children of God.
Elder Parks
Well, Iam glad atleast she will still know who I am, and they will live close enough I can see her and her husband.
THANK YOU!!I looked at my awesome byu schedule!! It looks great. I'm so excited for all those classes. THANK YOU!!
You are all doing so well with missionary work!! congrats!!
Weekly:
Hey Family!!
Well another week has come and time just continues to fly!!!
Elder Clements and I have fun working here and finding lots of people as we ride our bike all around the town!! It amazes me how much God really is putting people in our path. It seems like its not even a matter of *if* but just a fact: people will be placed in our path if we but desire such and prepare ourselves to find them.
On Sunday, for example, after conference we had an appointment with our new investigator, Miguel, for the first time. Well, sadly, he had to go to the hospital and the appointment got dropped. So we waited for the sisters to go to an appointment we had together and I slowly started to lose my *genkiness,* started to be less upbeat. Naturally, as missionaries, if we are not teaching I tend to do so.
But, finally we got on the way. I was praying really hard that I would be able to find someone to talk to...God listened. Right as we walked onto the train there were three foreigners sitting there. They turned out to be Philippinos living here working, like so many other foreigners. Well I was able to talk with them about the Restoration and they accepted a lesson one pamphlet and we just happened to have a Tagalog copy of the Book of Mormon with us that they also accepted. We got a return appointment for this coming Sunday. God truly listened to my prayer of faith and desire to teach someone. I am so amazed at the Glory of God and how much He loves us and desires us to be happy as well, in our righteous desires.
We are so very blessed to be members of the Restored Gospel and I hope this same joy and love has been shed abroad in each of your lives as well.
God loves you. I love you!
Time draws near but I have no intention of letting up in seeing the miracles and teaching the children of God.
Elder Parks
Aaron letters 4-4-10
Woo Hoo! Go Mitch!! Excited for your promotion and move!!
My new companion is from Boise, Idaho...yeah his dad did serve in Tokyo but his dad is only 46 right now...so not the same...his name is Rich Clements (the dad)
He is way easy to get along with, nothing bothers him. We had really good homemade spaghetti the other day with Brazililan beef in it, way good. I am excited to eat more Brazillian food here!
hahahaha
thank you!! I love that birthday song!
I look forward to seeing miracles right up to the end so ganbaro!!
haha ok thanks,
yeah I love the area here, it is way pretty and I think it will be way fun! I don't remember visiting here when we lived in Japan. All the names and places run together in my mine. But then you mention it, I remember parts about it. I guess I have a bad memory. hahaha
and by the way, I had no idea Heather was getting married. You are slipping because you keep me informed about everyone. hahaha!! I guess we both have memory things now.
COOL! That will be an awesome reunion! I am sending an email out to everyone that I want us all to go to the temple together when I get home. Can you make that happen for me?
Hey Everyone!
So I was thinking about when I get home and the temple and us going as a family. In order to do so I would like to commit each of you to prepare yourselves to be able to enter the temple as a family the day after I get home, June 25.
I am sure you are already doing this anyways but I thought this will be a good goal to set together.
So lets do what we have to do to enter the temple!
Love you tons!!
Elder Parks
WEEKLY:
Hey Family!!
So I am officially in my new area of Okazaki and loving all the Sakura blooming!! We were able to go to a matsuri, festival, saturday night and had tons of fun!! My companion was in the MTC with me, just six weeks behind me. We will be going home at the same time in June so are interested to see what happens with transfers this time!!
Well my portuguese as been resurrected and we are teaching some awesome brazillians. One of them, Elaine, set a date with us for her baptism on May 2nd so we are working with her to get all that going well. Her family is all way strong Evangelical and is very opposed to her doing anything else. That is the biggest thing keeping her back and she is kind of apprehensive about saying anything too bold. So we are praying with her for that and fasted for that purpose yesterday.
I had a neat experience the other day, saturday, through giving Sister Koyama a blessing. Sister Koyama, who, by the way, is my former companion Elder Koyama:s older sister, got in a bike wreck last week and said her back still hurts. So after we went out with a recent convert to eat she asked one of us to give her a blessing.
We then went to the church to do so. As i began speaking I immediately felt the power of God with me. It was as if i was being led into what to say. I was amazed at the truth and power of the Priesthood as manifest to me through a blessing. I was guided to say things that were pretty bold and know that God wanted them to be said. I know God lives and loves us. As we worthily use His Priesthood more miracles will happen in our lives. I know that God is waiting to help us and will as we call out to Him in humility.
I love you tons and am so happy for all the good things going on in your lives.
Good luck this week!Love elder parks
My new companion is from Boise, Idaho...yeah his dad did serve in Tokyo but his dad is only 46 right now...so not the same...his name is Rich Clements (the dad)
He is way easy to get along with, nothing bothers him. We had really good homemade spaghetti the other day with Brazililan beef in it, way good. I am excited to eat more Brazillian food here!
hahahaha
thank you!! I love that birthday song!
I look forward to seeing miracles right up to the end so ganbaro!!
haha ok thanks,
yeah I love the area here, it is way pretty and I think it will be way fun! I don't remember visiting here when we lived in Japan. All the names and places run together in my mine. But then you mention it, I remember parts about it. I guess I have a bad memory. hahaha
and by the way, I had no idea Heather was getting married. You are slipping because you keep me informed about everyone. hahaha!! I guess we both have memory things now.
COOL! That will be an awesome reunion! I am sending an email out to everyone that I want us all to go to the temple together when I get home. Can you make that happen for me?
Hey Everyone!
So I was thinking about when I get home and the temple and us going as a family. In order to do so I would like to commit each of you to prepare yourselves to be able to enter the temple as a family the day after I get home, June 25.
I am sure you are already doing this anyways but I thought this will be a good goal to set together.
So lets do what we have to do to enter the temple!
Love you tons!!
Elder Parks
WEEKLY:
Hey Family!!
So I am officially in my new area of Okazaki and loving all the Sakura blooming!! We were able to go to a matsuri, festival, saturday night and had tons of fun!! My companion was in the MTC with me, just six weeks behind me. We will be going home at the same time in June so are interested to see what happens with transfers this time!!
Well my portuguese as been resurrected and we are teaching some awesome brazillians. One of them, Elaine, set a date with us for her baptism on May 2nd so we are working with her to get all that going well. Her family is all way strong Evangelical and is very opposed to her doing anything else. That is the biggest thing keeping her back and she is kind of apprehensive about saying anything too bold. So we are praying with her for that and fasted for that purpose yesterday.
I had a neat experience the other day, saturday, through giving Sister Koyama a blessing. Sister Koyama, who, by the way, is my former companion Elder Koyama:s older sister, got in a bike wreck last week and said her back still hurts. So after we went out with a recent convert to eat she asked one of us to give her a blessing.
We then went to the church to do so. As i began speaking I immediately felt the power of God with me. It was as if i was being led into what to say. I was amazed at the truth and power of the Priesthood as manifest to me through a blessing. I was guided to say things that were pretty bold and know that God wanted them to be said. I know God lives and loves us. As we worthily use His Priesthood more miracles will happen in our lives. I know that God is waiting to help us and will as we call out to Him in humility.
I love you tons and am so happy for all the good things going on in your lives.
Good luck this week!Love elder parks
Thursday, April 8, 2010
We now know what happened to Aaron's ankle...
It happened at the end of last year. We were with the sister missionaries visiting some investigators. We were playing at a little park with the kids and I landed wrong after coming off the slide. It hurt like crazy!!
I was able to make it around and biking was a blessing, because it didn't really affect my hurt foot. It was that way for qyite a while. Actually, a few weeks, but I just dealt with it and did the work. Then, it finally went back to regular shape and now it's fine!!
I was able to make it around and biking was a blessing, because it didn't really affect my hurt foot. It was that way for qyite a while. Actually, a few weeks, but I just dealt with it and did the work. Then, it finally went back to regular shape and now it's fine!!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Grandma Jenny cooking weekend...Some of the food created during Easter weekend...more to come...
Strawberry shortcake
Beef BBQ and potato salad
Chicken curry and Rice
We have sidewalks and more patios...Steve and a few of our friends helped us out...
Before the wall and sidewalk...
After with the wall...
Sidewalk going along the side of the house to the front driveway...
We extended our back patio...
Love the curve...so not everything is square...
Patricia's Patio
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)