Week 82: Same 'ol Same 'ol in the Mission Field.....

Dear Mom and Dad,

So this week's been a little bit slower, Lots of door knocking this week, so that was fun, put some hair on our chests haha. I'm doing really good actually, been working on adjusting my attitude, and I've been seeing some real progress, especially with the help of Bednar, but I'll talk about that later :) Me and Elder Steab are doing really well, just trying to keep our heads up! This week is looking promising so we have a lot to look forward to! It's been... Fun and stressful at the same time, as I love my district, but dealing with the Zone Leaders is a lot like taking a cheese grater across my forehead sometimes. But my district is super supportive so it's been really good! I am over me and my companion, and then the Elders and Sisters of the nearby Mishawaka Ward. The Elders are Elder Kent, who is from California and is a stout observer of the 2nd ammendment, and Elder Lords, who is currently being trained by Elder Kent. He is from Idaho. The Sisters are Sister Odermott, who is from Idaho, and Sister Carpenter, also from Idaho. As far as investigators we found out Abby is moving to Texas.... So that sucks. But it's ok we will find someone else! Denise wasn't able to meet this week as her daughter was visiting. So as far as they go no new progress to report. Haha I would sincerely question what you did with my real mom if you weren't on top of me for that stuff when I get home! I totally expect to have doctrinal discussions when I get home haha. Speaking of that Dad mentioned teaching the boys and solving the why. Elder Bednar talks about the differences between Doctrines and Applications, and how a lot of time in the church we very much overfocus on application. The what we are doing. He talks about if theres a home teaching problem, then we all want to come up with these inovative things to get people to home teach. But he said he would rather just teach them the doctrine of why we home teach, and then when they understand that and let the Holy Ghost teach them to do it, then they will do it no matter what. Because now they know why they need to do it. The same can be applied to any gospel teaching. "Teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves" (Joseph Smith). So that is my 2 sense on the doctrine of the kingdom hahaha. Yes I know what Parkour is hahaha I so called him getting into that haha. He has way too much energy to not get into that haha. Yes I would definitely recommend Dad taking them. But it's not going to be a fast process. You have to take them regularly for about a month before you start noticing a difference. But like I said they clear your head with little to no side effects! The secret is they are all natural, so nothing nasty is getting put in your system. Yes I emailed Jaime this week sorry I get caught up in talking to a lot of people. Um that's pretty much everything I can think of so I guess I will talk to you next week! Love you all!

Love, Elder Braken Park

Week 81: Much Ado About Service! :)

Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm doing well, yes Dad I see the question marks :) We actually ended up doing a lot of service this last week. I had mentioned to the Ward council if they ever needed anything done they should call us, and they definitely took it to heart haha. We helped with a pinewood derby, worked at our local library, and helped get an older lady packed for a senior mission! In addition to that we weren't able to meet with anyone this week, We found out Abby may be moving so we weren't able to meet with her, and Meri the minister wasn't able to meet either, so we've just been working with a few less actives. One of them, Mike Petras, was actually supposed to speak this sunday, but he has tuberculosis, and ended up in the hospital with that, so I ended up speaking for him. Our companionship is doing great! I love Elder Steab! He's a really goofy guy, he enjoys a lot of the same things as me (video games, star wars, geek stuff in general). He actually reminds me of Garret a little bit. In personality and mannerisms anyway. He LOVES Jurassic Park! Speaking of college we visited the Notre Dame campus last week on monday. I'll send you the pictures. Also saw Lake Michigan this week! (Part of it touches our ward boundary). Can I just laugh for a minute? I said Christmas I would like to do exactly that for college to stay out of debt. But you said I needed to go to USU because I was already signed up hahaha. So the answer is yes I would love to do that haha. So the website is called Personal Agenda for the pills. Our winter has been cold, snowy, and VERY long. Winter time makes missionary work hard so it seems to drag on forever. It was super nice this week, then started snowing today and I was very disappointed... I thought it was finally over!! DANGIT! oh well it's supposed to get nicer later in the week. Yes I did get your letter thanks for that! :) Well I think that's everything. Love you guys talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Braken Park

March 11, 2015: Braken Trying a Lime for the First Time! Ha Ha

I received this in an e-mail from Lisa about Braken trying a lime for the first time.  I thought it was cute.   Hahaha.   --Shelly

Elder Park tried a lime tonight for the first time!  We sure love him!

-Lisa Anderson

(Ward Member in Niles Michigan)

Week 80: 2 New Investigators! Answer to Prayers!

Dear Mom and Dad,

Well your prayers paid off! We found 2 new investigators this week! One of them, whose name is Denise, is a former minister from another church. She isn't super interested but said she would hear us out. The other has a little story behind her. First off it starts when we had interviews this last week, and President pulled me aside after our interview, and told me I looked burned out. I said yea and that the lack of success in Niles was really taking it's toll. He said that I just needed to change my attitude, and that we needed to fast to find a family. He also said I really need to do this if I'm gonna be leading a District. He said it in a little more gruff tones than that, but the message got through. So me and Elder Steab set a goal to change our attitudes, and no sooner did we do that then we got a text from a number niether of us recognised, Come to find out it was a Media referral who we had talked to about a week before. She got our number from one of the ward members, who she worked with about 3 years before, Penny Sobolewski. (try saying that 5 times fast!). She set an appointment to meet with us in that members home, and is very interested in hearing about the Book of Mormon. So we met with her and she is genuinely interested in learning more! She comes with a fellowshipper too! Her name is Abby Hansen. It gave us SUCH a needed boost! I do have bad news. I did talk to President about going home for school. He says to give him the day school starts, and he will send me home 2 weeks before that. So I don't think I'll be there for Peyton's baptism sorry. I can see where he's coming from he just doesn't want people shortchanging their missions. So I do need the 1st day of school so I can tell him, and we can get it worked out. So you need props for a primary lesson huh? You should tell them the story how we found Aro! Me and Elder Dodd couldn't get crap done, then we decided to fast to find someone who would get baptised, and then we met Aro who let us right in! You should have the pictures I sent you on drive. You can tell them preaching the gospel is great because you get to see them come into the fold and change their lives. You get to see them feel the saviors love blossom in them, and see them embrace it. That's the true joy of being a missionary! The name of the supplement is LifeEz. I'm sure it's safe I actually felt a prompting when Sister Carrigan showed it to me to take it. I'll send you the info on it. I had her send it to me so I could send it to you. Haha it's ok about the lack of mail. You really only have contact with me 1 day of the week so it's pretty easy to have it slip your mind. That being said it would be nice to get some :) but no rush I know you guys love and support me :) Well I think that's all for this week love you guys!

Love, Elder Braken Park

Week 79: Had a Hard Week :(

Dear Mom and Dad,

This week has been a real struggle. Knocked on (now this is an exact number) 1,000,000 doors, and got no results. So that's pretty much the update on the work this week. Still just trying to find a foothold. Being a District Leader is.... Stressful to say the least. I am basically the liason between the zone leaders and my district. The zone leaders want me to basically tell my district they suck if they don't get high enough numbers. I refuse to be that kind of leader. Rebuking is not how i will lift my district. I will love them support them and then the numbers will take care of themselves. If they know they are loved, they will want to do better. The problem is we have 2 struggling areas in the district so the ZL's see that and are like,"Oh I guess they suck and aren't doing work." So that's fun. Van Sickle was a good missionary, he just left a lot of... Awkward feelings with the sisters in the district. He said some things that really shouldn't have been said until he was home, and it made things super awkward. Sorry I'll get off my soapbox now. I'm just really struggling with maintaining a christlike outlook. So I've been Studying Act in Doctrine! The second of the Bednar series! It's super good! It's all about turning from self to savior, so something I really need right now. Also I got on this new vitamin a member showed me. It's called LifeEz. It's an all organic multivitamin that regulates all your body's systems. She gave me one free bottle and since I've been on it... It's more effective than any of the ADHD medication I was ever on. I focus more, I sleep better, I feel better all around. I was truly amazed! So if you could send me some more of that. I'm sure you could find it online. I know that's part of the reason I'm in this area. That stuff has changed my life. Seriously. I completely plan on taking it from now on. The amount of stress I'm under would have destroyed me before. Now I feel like it's bearable finally! So that's what could really help me right now. Thanks for all you guys do I really do appreciate that. I love you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Braken Park

Week 78: New Companion, New Apartment, New Car!

Dear Mom and Dad,

First off, Happy Birthday Dad!! So from my mass email, you found out my new companion is Elder Steab. I will miss certain things about Elder Van Sickle. I found some things out after he left that I'm very irritated about. I have been asked to be a District Leader and since that I found out a couple things that went on in the district that I'm gonna have to clean up. But he was a good guy just some interesting quirks. The new apartment is awesome! We went from 2 bedroom to 1 bedroom but ended up gaining a lot of space! We have a walk in closet you could put a bed in, and another that could hold both our clothes and still be fine! We are about 5 miles away from our old apartment and we are actually in town now. We are no longer sharing a car we have our own and it's actually a Jeep. I guess because of the winter they think we needed it haha. Sergio has been difficult to get in contact with because his phone is shut off and he lives almost 40 miles away, one way. So getting out there is difficult. But we will definitely keep trying. We were able to get out and hit some doors later on in the week and get some appointments set up for this week. So this week should be good. Anyway I think that's about everything, I love you guys! Talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Braken Park