Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Very Grateful for people that take care of my son and companion on Thanksgiving and every other day too! 

Happy Thanksgiving Y'ALL!

Received this by text Thanksgiving evening:
"Have the privilege of feeding your son, 

also the very first night he arrived here 

on his mission. He is a fine young man 

and a great missionary. I am Glen Mills, 

my great grandfather was the first member 

of the Church here in Wake County 

in the 1890's. You can be proud of your son. 

I am blessed in having met him. 

Thank you for raising such a fine young man."

Everyday I'm Shufflin'...

November 22 marks Elder Beach's 100 Days as a missionary!

After seeing pictures of our early Worthington Family Thanksgiving Dinner, Elder Beach did some reflecting this week -  “Can you believe that it was a year ago at the Worthington Thanksgiving dinner when Erin had everyone go around and say something nice about me and what they are thankful for!?”  Elder Beach didn’t even have his call at that time but we knew he wouldn’t be with us for the next few holidays because of his plans to serve a mission.

Actually transfers are not short this month now. It will be a full 6 week transfer so I will be spending Christmas in Cary. So you can send whatever to the Hampton Lee Court address for Christmas (full address in the right column). The end of the Transfers is New Years Eve.

Mom is curious if he climbed a tree for this pic?

This week was like any other week. It's just frustrating because we are trying to find people and we can't. We have a total of 2 investigators. No one wants to hear our message.

Nephi: These brothers of mine!  Why do they never listen?

The wedding was great! The food was so good! Had pulled pork sandwiches, Brisket, Potato Salad, Mac & Cheese and Apple Cobbler! So during the day, we helped set up, ran back to the apartment to change, ran back just in time for the ceremony. Then the music came on. I was having such a hard time holding back from dancing. Party Rock Anthem came on and I just couldn't hold it. I started to shuffle, and the photographer (Bro. Syrett) got a few pictures. We then started to help clean up and I was of course dancing while doing it.

I miss music. But I can live I guess. That's kinda all for this week… nothing too much happened.

Love ya!

Elder Beach

Multi-Tasking - Getting Ready for the Wedding (aren't their matching ties cute?)

Elder Buckner and Elder Beach at a Ward Members wedding. 

Photographer called this one:  Attack of  the Beach

Hi There Elder!

I about died yesterday...

Not literally...

So, at the Wedding...

the music...

my favorite songs...

everyone dancing....

Party Rock Anthem came on. I couldn't help it. I started shuffling. Surprised everybody there with my dance moves.  Bro. Syrett got a few picks of it.

Oh, I almost forgot. Yesterday, Elder Parker, Quorum of the Seventy was at our sacrament meeting,  I have no idea why. But right after sacrament meeting, he rushed right down to us and started chatting with Elder Buckner and I. A member was trying to pull me away to talk to for a bit, but Elder Parker pulled me right back. It was like I was the rope in a rope pulling contest. It was funny. I was like.... He..... grabbed.... my.... arm!!!!  It was great. That's all for now. I think... Love ya!

This Week's Facebook Quotes

You are not called to serve in a place; you are called to serve in place of the Savior.

We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first.

All true faith must be based upon correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results!

Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful. Don't be afraid of the trials and hardships that come your way! They are what make you, you!

I know not by what methods are rare.
But this I know, God answers prayer.
I know that He has given His Word,

Which tells me prayer is always heard,
And will be answered, soon or late.
And so I pray and calmly wait.
I know not if the blessing sought
Will come in just the way I thought;

But leave my prayers with Him alone,

Whose will is wiser than my own,

Assured that He will grant my quest,

Or send some answer far more blest!

It Is Crazy How The Gospel Changes Us

Holy smokes! Today was phenomenal... I honestly have no idea who I am anymore.  It is crazy how the Gospel changes us.  So today we met with Elder Baxter. I sang in a 4 man choir and I gave a talk on the Atonement.  Elder Baxter is friends with Jim Woodward.  It was such a powerful meeting with Elder Baxter. The one thing I will share with you is the quote he left us with:

"Jesus died for you, will you live for him?"

 I love that quote so much!

MOM REPONSE:  Okay, wait.  You sang in a 4 Man Choir?  Wait. WHAT???  If you know Parker at all, even just a wee bit, you would know that he would NEVER sing.  Like ever.  No. Seriously. EVER.

Saturday, November 16, Elder Beach had the awesome opportunity to baptize one of the Sister Missionaries Investigators.

So everything went great for the baptism! Everyone was there, except for her father unfortunately. So it comes time to perform it. We're down in the font, I tell her to come closer to the front since she is taller. I go to dunk her under and as we go down I see that if she continues she is going to hit her head. So I Parker, being a man large in stature, and also having received much strength of the Lord, therefore I did pick her up and slide her out of the way so she would not hit her head. ( 1 Nephi 4:31 ;))  It went great! I only had to do it once!

Believe it or not, I have made an amazing lesson to teach families at dinner appointments. The pictures are the lesson, I'll explain. The lesson is based on Alma 50. The chapter in which Moroni is preparing the cities for war. We just go through the chapter starting in verse 1

Verse 1 It talks about Heaps of Earth around the city

Heaps of Earth and Works of Timber. verse 1-2 

Frames of Pickets around as well 

He then added Towers at each corner 

He did all that to make it impossible for the Lamanites to attack them.

On the back of the Lamanites, you guessed it. Satan 

Then on the back of the city, you write the family's name. After you set it all up, you turn over all the pieces. 

On the back of all of towers, heaps of earth, works of timber. and the pickets are principles of our gospel like: Prayer, FHE, Prophet, scriptures, the Restored Gospel, etc. 

Post from Mom: Weather Alert for Cary, NC

The picture is comical… looks like a blizzard! But really? 36 Degrees?  Light Snow?  

This was Parker’s reply:

“The mail system is all messed up out here cause it sprinkled a little snow two days ago. They go insane.  You know in the movies how everyone is raiding the grocery store during like zombie apocalypses? Well that is how they were behaving, and it was barely snowing and didn’t even stick to the ground.  I wish I would have recorded it.  I was just laughing watching people raid Wal-mart and Dollar Tree over snow that isnt even sticking to the ground!”

He’s a Utah Boy!... but wait until the East Coast gets a hurricane or ice storm… eek!

Service Opens The Door For The Spirit

1st Area: Cary, NC

1st Companion:  Elder Buckner, Cedar Hills, Utah

"You could say I consider myself a HERO!"

Ello~

I actually have found 4 new investigators this last week! We were riding around in a neighborhood, and saw an elderly couple raking leaves. I was on exchanges with my District Leader, who just wanted to leave them alone and said to just go past them. I told him no, I have a feeling we should talk to them. They were not interested in a message, but I asked if they would like some help to finish raking their leaves. They gladly accepted, not expecting us to offer help. We set up a date to come back this next week to help them with their backyard and said they would love to hear a message.

After we finished with them, we continued riding our bikes and found a black woman, probably around her mid 20's  raking her yard. We asked if we could help her as well. She declined, but said she would love for us to come back and share a message this week also!

Then a while later, to kill time, haha, I decided to knock on a door. A man answered and said "I know who you are, I would love to listen, but I have to go pick up my kids." Elder Buckner and I are going back over to his house tonight to teach him the Restoration. I am so excited to see what the rest of this week will bring!  Oh! Saturday, I have been asked to baptize one of the Sister Missionaries Investigators!

Man! That does sound like a busy church week! Not as busy as mine every week ;) No I have not been able to do another temple session! I want to so bad though! It's so tempting since we are so close to the Temple here! We only get to go twice a year, before every General Conference. I did get to go once in the MTC.

Also, I have been told a lot lately that I look like Harry Potter. So I think it would be funny if you find a Gryffindor color kinda tie and send that! ;)  Elder Buckner just barely got me interested in ties... I have no idea why haha. It like hit me over night. It was weird.

Believe it or not, I haven’t had fast food for about a month!  We do eat at members’ homes but mostly we cook for ourselves.

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." ~Ether 12:6

This verse holds such an incredible promise, all we have to do is recognize that we need God's help, ask Him for help trusting that He will in fact help and through grace He will bless us. I personally have received strength as I have struggled with my weaknesses, and though the road is long and I have far to go this verse brings me such comfort as I walk that road.

Railroad

My lil buddy-Riley.  His parents gave us a ride to Stake Conference

We find

We teach

We baptize

We RESCUE

We establish the church as NCRM missionaries!

"You could say I LOVE my new camera!"