You Don't Say....

Note to self: Don't believe anyone who says anything is "free" in Chicago. Especially when it comes to parking.....and museums.

We decided on another adventure for P-day this past week, and carpooled down with the Hermanas to visit the "free" science and industry museum together. It took us over an hour to get down there (I swear....rush hour is like a 24/7 thing in Chicago) and when we finally found the place, come to find, parking is $22 an HOUR.

Dad, forget residential real estate.....we need to buy a parking garage in Chicago.

We'll make it RAIN.
Instead, being the broke missionaries that we are, we spent the next half hour trying to find "free" parking and eventually landed ourselves a spot after awkwardly stalking people walking down the street who even looked like they might be going to their car to leave.

<<welcome to my life>>

By the time we got into the museum, it was closing in an hour and a half, and as soon as we get to the front desk, our conversation with the receptionist goes like so:

"Hey, can we get 4 free passes?"
"Sorry, what?"
"Y'know, like the free February passes?....a friend told us all museums in Chicago were free this month....."
"Yea, no. Not this one...."


[if only it was appropriate for adults to throw tantrums.....]

Instead: "Oh ok...well....sorry to bother.....thanks anyways..." (and then awkwardly walk out)

So yep. THAT was our P-day. Lesson learned: Freedom isn't free...and neither is sightseeing in Chicago.



Other than that memorable start to our week, we've been SO busy this week! It's been AMAZING!! Seriously, I'm never happier than when I'm so busy that dinner hour seems like a nuisance:)

#livinthedream

We had a miraculous moment this week, when Sis Green and I were planning and she started trying to clean up our phone (we have SO many contacts in our phone that neither of us know and there's no record from past missionaries on who they are). She started calling everyone and ended up calling a former investigator, Armando, who said he'd met with missionaries a year back and had never really heard back from them, but was still interested. We set up an appointment and met with him on Saturday.

Gosh, is he prepared!!! We were both SO impressed by his thoughts, desires, and his active search for truth! We were about thirty minutes into the lesson, and he was going off about how the universe reflects God's hand and power, when he said, "Here's what I think....we need to ask ourselves three or four simple but important questions:

“Where did we come from?

Why are we here?

Where are we going after this life?

And who created us?"

………….

You don't say.

Yea, that's a moment when I was inwardly having a Buddy the Elf "Santa's coming!!" reaction, but outwardly we're both like, "Mmmhmmm....yea....we totally agree.....uhhuh...."

hahaha! Gosh....mission life:) We extended a baptismal invitation to him at the end of the lesson and he accepted!! He is so receptive to the truth we have to share with him, and it's incredible to see the
light of Christ within him resonate with the message that we have to share! I am just SOOOOO excited to see him start down this path to so much more light, truth, and knowledge!



Last-minute highlights of the week:

-Sister's conference!! I got to see all my comps again!! Sis Bishop, Sis Teare, and Sis Carroll...gosh we could hardly stop cracking our inside jokes again just like old times!! Gosh, have i missed them! Oh
and the messages and workshops were also FANTASTIC!! The elders should be jealous:)

- Taught mutual this week on using Preach My Gospel as member missionaries!!! I get as excited and passionate talking about that as I do about the Red Sox vs the Yankees....no shame. #mytwoaddictions #PMG #sports

- Got "cold quarantined" again this week. Gosh, Chicago. Can't a girl just preach the word for her last three weeks in the mission...?? hahaha

We're sacrificing. We're serving. And we're saving! And I wouldn't have it any other way! I'm becoming keenly aware just how short of a time I have left, and while I'm excited to see family and friends again and forge on with life, I can't help but feel like my heart is being broken.


This is the experience of a LIFETIME. It's exhausting and it's challenging, but it is priceless! I am FILLED with gratitude every night as I kneel to talk with Him--SO grateful for the chance He's given me to take His hand in this work, to walk alongside Him for 18 months of my life, to bear that burden and to feel that joy--the joy of being HIS servant!!



Onward and upward,



Sister Parker

Heading downtown.....we're suh cute....

found this epic mural on the way home..... good ol' chicago  

Aaaaaaaand.....then we passed this:) If drugs weren't illegal before...they are now;)

valentine's day flowers from my daddy!!!  #sweetheart

I'm Dying in Westchester

(ok ok...i know i know....i forgot to post my last two weeks worth of letters. what a jerk. sorry. but they're up now...so go enjoy all three posts:)

I’m dying in Westchester.

We got transfer calls on Saturday, and it’s official: I’m staying in Westchester for my last 6 weeks. Basically…...I’m “dying” here.

p.s. I really don’t get why missionaries call it that. Like why can’t we call it “getting translated” or “receiving exaltation” or something cool like that?? But no…instead I feel like I’ve been black-listed.

#missionaryproblems

And members and missionaries are now continually asking me if I’m getting TRUNKY. I just refer them to my companion who can tell stories about me randomly bursting into tears, having anxiety attacks, and manically tripping head over heels when I realize I don’t have enough time to do everything I need to do before I get thrown back into the “real world.”

SOML

(confession session: the only time I got trunky for 1.4 seconds this week was when a member texted me last night, “Your Patriots won the Super Bowl. Congrats!” Yep…...there it is:)

Honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my pretty little mind around the fact that this is MY last transfer. It doesn’t feel real. So I don’t try to think about it:) Instead, we’re determined to get CRAZY busy, work like our lives depended on it, and leave it all on the field:)

See you in the locker room.

On to our week!

-        February entered with a bang by dumping over a foot of snow on us in less than 5 hours. I’m having PTSD moments to last winter here……it’s bad.

-        We found a community food pantry to volunteer at every week and ended up hauling cans, boxes, bags, and birds the size of my head out to people’s cars for 4 hours and being asked if we were nuns, if we were planning on never marrying, or if we were from “The Sisterhood” by Lifetime TV. Gosh, I know I shouldn’t say it…..but I get so tired of explaining the whole “we’re not catholic” thing….that sometimes I wonder if it’d be easier to just say “yes…I’m a nun” haha! jk;)

-        We were snowed in yesterday, and per suggestion from our mission president, decided to try baking cookies for service. We were shy a freakin 1 ingredient for EVERY recipe in the book, so I got “creative” and……yea, we all know how that ends every time. Our neighbor dropped by to sample the goods, took one bite, and said, “Um….do you have anything else I could try?” Thanks, Jamie. Hahaha!

-        I’ve been feeling for a while that I should actively brush up on my signing skills more and then…..we show up for a dinner appointment this week……and lo and behold, she’s deaf! I was in ASL HEAVEN. What a nerd;) Turns out, she (the member) has had other members type what’s being said for her every Sunday for all 3 hours, but she’s been praying that an ASL missionary would be sent to her area!!!! As soon as she found out I was an ASL missionary, she just kept signing, “Really?? Really?? I’ve wanted this for so long!” By the end of the night, she enlisted me as her Sunday interpreter and yes….I’m TERRIFIED…but also excited! The Lord has a plan:)

-        One night this week when we didn’t have a dinner appointment and had endured a long day, we decided to go all out for dinner and chose a hole-in-the-wall Puerto Rican restaurant. After we’d finished, Sis Green and I turned to go, but before we left, Sis Green gave the typical thank you we usually give to members, “Thanks for having us over!”……[hand slap to forhead]…..gosh, what a missionary:)! I’m still not letting her forget that one…hahaha!

-        We met with Sherman this week and OH MY GOSH!!!! “Golden investigator” got it’s name from him!! We got a call from him Thursday night, and he explained, “I know….we’ve tried to arrange to meet now for the past month and that devil, Satan….he just doesn’t want us to meet! But that’s it! I’m not letting him get away with it! We’re meeting tomorrow, and that’s a promise that Lucifer himself can’t break! Well alright then. We showed up, and come to find, he’d waited at the library for 3 hours previous, “just to be on the safe side.”

Oh my gosh. I love the guy.

We sat down in a study room, and he immediately extended his hands to us, “Let us pray, and start this scripture study off with the Lord’s blessing.” He then opened the bible and book of Mormon we gave him and we began teaching him. He ABSORBED it, asking us lots of questions, nodding, taking notes, and then when we’d finished, he said, “I have an idea. How bout you give me weekly reading assignments out of the book of Mormon so I can learn more from it, I can come to your church it that’s alright, and if the Lord tells me to join your church, I will.” We were BLOWN AWAY by how prepared he was!!! He said he’s active in his church, but recently he’s been feeling some “discord in his heart” about going there. He then told me, “I’d actually been praying that the Lord would bring me more of His word, and then you two young ladies came into Panera the very next day. I think God has a part in all of this!” AHHHHHHH!!!!! He’s basically the most legit investigator EVER and he’s rekindled my testimony that God is actively preparing people to receive the gospel! We CAN’T wait to meet with him again!! Please pray that he’ll receive of witness of the truth as we teach him!

Our mission impossible program for the members is coming together and we are SO excited to see it take off! I’ve included pictures of our first “Secret mission” (see below). It’s SO rewarding to see members become engaged and not only that, but excited about sharing the gospel! The Lord is hastening His work, and it’s most powerful and achievable through the members!! We’re out to convert, and we’re in this together!

So here’s to my last transfer. Sis Green keeps slipping “Anna” into normal conversation to “help me adjust to non-mission life” and yes….it just about gives me a heart attack every time. I’m gonna be the most awkward RM….fair warning.

So until then, I’m living up these last 6 weeks, recommitting daily, getting creative, working hard, loving lots, and trying not to think about the moment when I’ll be asked to take my tag off…..oh gosh….here I go…..about to cry in the library…..again. Ok, not gonna think about it….

Onward and upward till the end,

Sister Anna Parker

Our winter blizzard........