Parker - August 28

Hey everyone!!!

So yeah, first off, baptism!!!!!!!! It was a little stressful, cuz thursday morning, they called asking us to postpone until next weekend. We went to them in the Afternoon and got everything smoothed out. It was not fun, cuz there was just a lot of complications, but everything worked out in the end.

It was great. We also had a great Sunday. We watched the transmision of Elder Rasband for South America, it was really cool. 

So yeah, this week has been fairly good. I`ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I need to get done for the second half of my mission. And one of the speakers in the transmision talked about this, she called it the Law of the Harvest. If we want Strawberries, we have to plant Strawberries. So I decided to start doing some things now that I am gonna want to have as good habits when I get home.

This next week is the last week of the transfer, and I am fairly sure that I am leaving, so next week, we`re all gonna see some big changes. Brock off to college in Dad`s car (wow, mom must really love that new car). Jack off to Chile, to start two years of spiritual growing. And me, heading to a new area, with a new companion, most likely with a new responsibility. 

Anyway, that`s pretty much it, not a whole lot else happened this week. Love you all!

Elder Blaylock

By the way, I can`t tell, but in these pics mom is sending me, it looks like Jack might actually be taller than brock? please someone respond to this.

Parker - August 21

Well, it`s official. I have made it halfway through the mission!

And yeah, this week, it was fairly interesting. We actually did exchanges this week, and I got paired with Elder Robinson from the MTC! It was pretty cool. To come back to see each other after a year in the mission. 

Yeah, and something really crazy happened this week. Last Pday, when we picked up the bikes from the shop, someone began talking to us in english. He actually teaches english, and he started talking to us, cuz he wants to practice. And this week, we were able to visit him in his house. On Friday, and he asked us to talk in English. So, I taught my first lesson in English. It was super crazy. It was really hard for my comp, cuz he`s kinda forgetting his english. But I was able to transition fairly well. And, as we were talking, his father came over and invited us back the next day for Argentine Barbecue. So, that was pretty awesome. And when we went back, we got everyone involved and they`re all really interested. 

We have also found a family of new investigators that are awesome and almost every time we go there, they just give us really good food. And they`re progressing very well.

Also, we are working with lots of other people to get baptized. But really, it`s weird. This zone is rather difficult, so the ZL`s keep asking us "What are you doing to have so much success?" But I`m just like "we`re not really doing anything special, i just feel like the Lord is giving us a lot of blessings." I don`t know if I am being modest or humble or anything, that`s just what it feels like. 

And wow, this transfer is going by super fast. We already are in the second to last week. And me and my comp were looking at the missionaries who are leaving in the next couple transfers, And wow, this next transfer is gonna be really crazy, mostly because now they`ve come up with a rule: 25 months maximum. So they`ve stopped allowing extensions, while allowing all of those people who already extended to stay extended. BUT 25 months max, so like several ZL`s and one of the Assistants are leaving halfway through the transfer, as in like a couple days. It`s so weird. 

But anyway, That`s really it for me this week, I hope you`re all doing great!

Love

Elder Blaylock

Parker - August 14

Hey Everybody!

First of all, BAPTISM!

Yup, it went through. She got baptized, and she`s super excited to continue in the church. Seriously, it was great. Also, for some reason, this last sunday, a whole bunch of less actives decided to come to church, as well as a family of investigators, who told us when we first met them that it`s very hard to get them to go to church. But they came!

Yeah, it was really good. We also had a president`s conference last week, and my interview with the mission president was really good, helped me out a lot. gave me a new perspective on certain aspects of missionary work. 

Also, my good friend, Elder Arts went home this sunday, cutting his mission a bit short in order to get back to school on time. It was really crazy, especially cuz they had to replace him, and their gonna have to replace his comp in a couple weeks cuz he extended his mission, but the rule is 25 months maximum, so he`s headed home before the end of the transfer too. Basically they`re whitewashing the zone leaders for like the third or fourth time here in the Concepción Zone. There are gonna be a lot of changes this transfer, cuz of a whole bunch of leaders that are ending the mission. I am most likely going to go up and be senior comp, probably district leader too. 

But anywho, it`s all good. Sounds like you guys are having fun at the beach. Wish i could be there, but don`t worry, I`ve learned how to be a little bit patient. I`m basically at the halfway point, one year left is nothin. 

Love you all, hope you guys enjoy the wind and the sand. That`s why I love my "rock," cuz it`s really great to just sit there and enjoy the powerful forces of nature. the wind, the waves, the clouds, the shifting sand, the sunset. Take the time to enjoy the nature around you.

Love

Elder Blaylock

Parker - August 7

Hey Everybody!

Guess what? today is a special day. Exactly one year from today, I will be on my way home! 

Yeah, technically haven`t reached the halfway point yet, but still quite the milestone. 

Yeah. It`s been crazy. yet we haven`t done a whole lot here. We`ve just been working hard, finding new people to teach, and having people progress toward baptism. And this saturday, it`s likely that we`ll have another one. So expect pictures. (It`s quite the miracle, because if she didn`t show up to church yesterday, we`d have to postpone it again, but she managed to show up right before the sacrament, so it was ok). 

And last thursday, I did exchanges with my former comp Elder Arts, the dutchman. It was really cool, cuz it was just like old times. He`s a really good friend. After talking a bit, we decided that someday, either he`s coming to visit me in the states, or I`m gonna visit him in the Netherlands. We talked a lot about a lot of stuff. Cuz he`s at the end of his mission. He cut it a bit short cuz he has to go to school, so he`s leaving in the middle of the transfer, next sunday. We also watched the best two years, and he actually is dutch, so it was a lot more interesting. 

Yeah. It`s been crazy. Now I`m basically at the halfway point, and now brock is home. I swear, every time I see a pic of him home, a wave of emotions come over me, like half of it is relief that he`s finally home, that eventually the mission does end, and that he has grown and changed so much, and the other half is that I`m not there yet, that I`ve still got a year to go, and how much changing i still have left to do. 

But all in all. I think the mission, and my progress in it, is just how it should be. Sometimes people say that the mission passes by really fast, some say that it`s taking forever. But in the end, sometimes it`s one and sometimes it`s the other, and it turns out being exactly two years. No more. No less. 

I love you all, and I can`t wait to see where I am a year from now. 

Love,

Elder Blaylock

Parker - July 31

Hey Everybody!

This week has been fairly crazy. Got my new comp, he`s pretty chill. Really tall too, like dad`s height. 

So yeah, for the second time in my mission I`ve had to be in charge of the area. I`m not senior comp yet, but still, i have to direct the area because I know the people and where they live etc. 

So yeah, somthing sad happened. Wednesday, the really old mother of one of the members in the twig died, so Thursday, we spent the entire day at the funeral. Which was also a catholic funeral. It was ok though. The member asked me to dedicate the grave at the end. Which was incredibly nerve-racking, but I think I did ok. 

Also, we found a new investigator who´s gotten mixed up in some weird things, we had to give him a blessing in our second visit with him so he could be protected from evil influences. 

And yeah, everything`s going pretty well with me, pretty chill. 

And yeah. Brock, you man, you stupid stupid man (no offense intended, just quoting hook). You made it home! I`m proud o´ you! Its really great to see the pictures and to know that the mission does end, sooner or later. It`s crazy, brock`s already home. I`ve only got a year left. And jack`s getting ready to leave. I can hardly believe it. 

I love you all

Elder Blaylock