Hermana Parks in Peru

So sore. So tired, phsyically and emotionally. But SUCH A GOOD WEEK.

Where to start....well I guess I can start with reasons why I am sore and tired :)

1. Our district wakes up at 5:45 AM every single day to play soccer. Since the chapel isn´t in our area, we run there and back. I was quite hesitant to sacrifice the sleep at first but it´s been worth it! We can´t keep score but every time the other team scores we have to do 5 push-ups, the next time 10, etc. Let´s just say that having ballerina Hna Parks on your team isn´t exactly a strong link, so my arms hurt big time, ha!

2. So about every 4-6 weeks we have leadership council. Normally the Assistants present the main theme of the meeting, train us on the topic or skill, and lead us in practices. Buuuut this council President decided to change things up and asked HNA MARTINEZ AND HNA PARKS to give the training. WHAT. We got the call on Tuesday night for Thursday´s council and oh man we were a little stressed. But Matthew 10:19-20 is absolutely true:

19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

While praying about what we were going to do (the topic was Inspired Questions) I thought of a phrase I learned in the MTC ¨Go to where the investigator is spiritually before they come to you.¨ That was the start of a WAVE of revelation we received and in a couple hours, we had our whole plan down. We started out drawing out ¨where we are spiritually¨aka in the church of Jesus Christ, with testimonies of the truths of his gospel. We know where we´re going, we know what the door is, we know where the keys are. Hna Martinez drew a little example of that, then left a huge space to one side of the door indicating ¨where¨ all our investigators are. We drew different points, some close to the door and others far away, each person with a different situation or need. Then we asked ¨How do we go to where they are? How do we know where they are? What they´re thinking? What they feel?¨ WE ASK INSPIRED QUESTIONS! I don´t know if this is making any sense, but anyways, after that we basically led a group discussion on inspired questions with scriptures and PME, watched a short stellar video from The District, did a personal and comp evaluation, and practices! We felt really good about it at the end. I never ever thought I would have to stand up in front of President, 25 zone leaders and 12 sister leaders to ¨train¨ them. But honestly I learned way more than I ever could have taught them. It was a great experience.

Other reasons why I am sore and tired this week--- :)

We had a baptism! Diana is 18 years old and has changed a lot of things in her life to get to where she is right now. We love her so much! She brought a friend to our ward activity on Fridayand now her friend wants to be baptized too!! Woo hooo! Tacalá is on fire, we´ve been trying to keep it going by being super diligent and working with all the members we can.... which isn´t hard because

MY COMP IS LITERALLY THE BEST. Honestly she could be my favorite. I´m tired because sometimes we can´t sleep because we´re laughing too hard to fall asleep! haha. I love her. We´re kind of the same person.

Welp, time is up.

When I say sore and tired, I mean happy and fulfilled.

This area is huge and sandy, the people are so awesome, and I´m LOVING it!

Hasta luego!

Hermana Parks

Diana´s baptism!

I look super tired in these pics....because I was....but here´s a cute family and tiny puppy / and our district when we were locked inside the church gates, woops! We´ve got elders from Wisconsin, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, then there´s me from Oregon and....Hna Martinez. haha.