Drama Much??

Ok so I’ve never actually played Russian roulette…. (duh)

BUT I can imagine it’s something like getting phone calls as a missionary (that might be a slight exaggeration, but whatevs…). It’s like every time the phone blows up, we panic slightly wondering which investigator has had another life tragedy, why the mission office would be calling at late at night unless it’s an emergency, what teaching assignment the district leader’s gonna slap us with, or which ward member’s calling to cancel dinner……

TRAGIC.

And then there’s the occasional missed call from our landlord, with a voicemail, “I need you to call me back ASAP. We have an issue we need to discuss.”

Good feeling’s gone.

I frantically called her back…..expecting the worst:  I left my towel on the space heater and the complex is now burnt to a crisp…..those nuts I left out for our wannabe pet squirrel has now caused a rat infestation….we left the sink running and our downstairs neighbors are now using all their pots and pans for their non-intended use……or …..yeeeeeaaaaa…….all of those are actually VERY likely;) hahaha

Instead, I call her up and she tells us she has a favor to ask: “So there’s been some neighborhood guys that have been hanging out behind your complex , causing some ‘disturbance,’ and smoking who-knows-what so we’d like you to call the cops anytime you see them out there.”

(0_0)

ummmmmmm………okkkkkkkkkkk

don’t know exactly how I feel about this.

AND of COURSE……the VERY next night….we pull in at 8:58 pm and there they are….just like she said.   GREAT.

(oh and did I mention  that I didn’t see them out there till I  H.A.U.L.E.D.  it across the parking lot and up the stairs to our apartment, holding my purse, dinner leftovers, and a service project change of clothes, trying to make it back by 9pm for curfew……yea, way to make an entrance, Sis Parker…….;)

Anyways…..so we get back to the apartment, spend 5 min debating whether or not to make the call, then call the “non-emergency” 3-1-1 line (WHICH…btw….no one ever answered), then our landlord to get the police dept number, and then finally dispatch, until an officer showed up and the backyard boys went scattering, before the cop even left his car.

And THAT is the extent of mission life DRAMA.

Needless to say, the picnic table behind our complex was “uninstalled” the next day and we haven’t seen the neighborhood band since………

true story

This past Sunday was Invitation Sunday in BG2…. a.k.a. the Mormon equivalent of bring-your-kid-to-work day…..

(btw….. before this all went down, I was totally having de ja vu to jr high when I invited a friend to church and (of course) the YW lesson turned into a sit-down all about the law of chastity…..I’m still surprised to this day that she ended up coming to Girl’s Camp with me after that….:)

Anyways…..Sis Carroll and I ended up playing I SPY from our pew counting all the non-members in sacrament meeting……and ended up with 15!!!  (though there was no answer sheet in the back of the program so there was probably more;) haha

After the meeting, the RS president brought her friend up to meet us, and we struck up a conversation. Turns out, she was scheduled to have brain surgery the next day and we offered to walk her dog while she was recovering. (I’ve never loved dogs more in. my. life. ;). Two days later, we showed up at her house, walked her a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e. puppy, and ended up having a Restoration lesson with her afterwards! It was amazing! She’s committed to pray, read the Book of Mormon, and ask God if baptism is right for her!! She’s golden and was definitely an answer to our prayers to find more people to teach:)!!

Monday, we went to dinner at a member’s home who’s two less-active tween sons are BMX boys…..so of course…..first thing I do when we get there is plot down on the couch next to them and they start showing me the entire catalog of pegs, grips, rims, sprockets, and frames.......you could say boys have a special place in my heart…..yea.

#tomboy  #6brothers  #nahmyfault

we definitely made a “unique” connection that night, and by the end of dinner, I’d gotten them both to commit to come to church on Sunday (bribing using Starbursts MAY have happened….but hey….whatever works;)! In return, they filled me in on the newest J-Biebs news……namely that he’s getting 

DEPORTED.

Huh……miracles do happen when you’re on the Lord’s errand. hahaha

We also had a sit-down with our Russian English students this week. We’re reaching that point of I-have-no-idea-how-to-explain-this so we decided to break the news to them that we couldn’t continue lessons (it’s also become a time-consumer, with not a lot of gospel teaching opportunities :/). I thought breaking up with my first boyfriend was bad. Yea……try breaking up with two 60 year old Russians.

 It. Doesn’t. Work.  

Instead, we got a month’s probation. Yep…that’s exactly how it went with the boyfriend too. Geez laweez. So for now, we’re scraping the barrel trying to teach the difference between “complimenting” and “buttering up”……(yes, that was the first question they had come our next lesson….)……and doing our best to sneak sacrament meeting invitations in after each class session.

stylin

And finally…..CONFERENCE.

ok....let's get real.....watching conference on the mission is NOTHING like watching it when you were a kid. You're not allowed to make forts and tents in the living room using every bed sheet in the house.....there's no conference "store" to cash in your "listening points".......no sub sandwiches and Cheetos for lunch between sessions...... and no "name that apostle before their name shows up on the screen" shouting contests.....

#missingthosedays

I officially take back every complaint I had as a kid.

Now throw "adult" as well as "missionary" into the mix of general conference..... and..... well...... it comes down a notch or two. For the first session we crashed the YW's "Prophets and Pancakes" party so we could watch it with our two youth investigators, Ally and Katy. THAT was a good idea....complete with cinnamon rolls and OJ.......sold.

And while we were probably the only ones in the state of IL wearing skirts while everyone else and their dog was at home watching GC in their pajamas.....it was still an amazing session! Both Ally and Katy both said they enjoyed it and they ended up watching more of the sessions from home as well.

Second and third sessions, we watched at the church. We walked in for the 2nd session and the chapel was packed empty. cept for the elders from the other ward. sitting there, we were like "sooooo....this is what it feels like to not have cable:)"

between the four of us....it made for real awkward during the intermediate hymn when you're all not sure if you should sing or not, and if so how loud. the elders eventually just struck up conversations:) haha

#noneofthat #singlesolos #theyretheworse

Luckily, all four of us brought conference snacks to share so we got our few hours of kid status in. It actually felt really satisfying to munch on snacks in the chapel...

#noshame #kid@heart #graduatedcheerios

Honestly, though, conference was my spiritual soak. mmmmmmmm. This round, I was reminded again just how much I love this gospel. It just makes sense. Prophets and apostles are SO critical in today's world. Sitting there, listening to them speak....I've never believed it more. Pres Monson.....I just love that man. Every time he speaks, I feel like he's talking straight to me and it's p.o.w.e.r.f.u.l.

Yea, I’ve heard it before from many people on my mission…why would you choose to follow a man, who claims to be God’s prophet on the earth, but who has no evidence of his divine role?? Why commit your life to keeping commandments, living principles, or sacrificing personal wants, to follow his advice?

How do you know what color is unless you’ve seen it?

You have to experience it to know it’s real. Same with following a living prophet. Believe and obey. God has blessings in store for all of us, and it’s through living prophets that we discover how to unlock those blessings.

I’ve tried it. Living as they direct does bring happiness. It brings security, peace, and lasting rewards from heaven. It takes faith to act, yes. But once you put your faith in God’s prophet…..He’ll never lead you astray.

This weekend reminded me again just how blessed I am to have the knowledge that I do!!

…….Time to go share it with the world………

Onward and upward,

Sister Anna Parker

you've got mail!!!!  we did a re-enactment of the best two years...."elder van pelt.....elder van pelt......elder van pelt..."

conference junkies;)

yes.....we went around the block twice so we could toss coins into the fireman's boots........it was TOTALLY worth it;)

watching GC with my peeps<3

we went downtown to visit our ward mission leader who's in the hospital