Elder Parker Reber: Teaching at Mission Leadership Conference

HEY!

Lots happened this week!

Last pday was sweet! We went to a member's house in the ward next to ours with the elders in our house with us. We watched Finding Dori and they had double stuffed mint oreos! It was sweet! We also cooked up super crazy korean noodles. They were soooo spicy it was a pain haha. The first one to eat icecream was the loser and I'm pleased to say i didn't lose. The second their daughter ate some though I attacked the icecream haha. We then went out to work because we had a dinner later that night at 7! We ate at the Aguilar's house. Brother Aguilar is in the paranaque stake presidency and it was a new dinner experience for sure haha! They have two kids currently studying at BYU Idaho and their fam lived in Minnesota for a few years back in the day for his work. We ate at their home which has a swimming pool! We ate super pro korean barbeque food which was really fun. We put the meat into a lettuce wrap thing and add kimchi and some other stuff. I might add it was quality meat!! It was super super good. As we were eating something unexpected happened! I noticed out of the corner of my eye brother Aguilar making a golf swing motion! Apparently he loves golf and is pretty good too. 9 handicap. He plays at a country club but it's outside of our mission boundaries. He then showed me some of his clubs! He's got six sets and one club i pulled out is actually the same 3 wood i have back at home! It was sweet to hold a golf club for the first time out here! But it got better.. He told me saturday after general conf he would lend me a set until i transfer! So sure enough, saturday came around and he dropped off some clubs! So yeah I now have some sweet clubs sitting at the house :) It worked out perfectly because earlier that p day on the way to those other members I noticed a little driving range! This pday we had a zone activity that the stls were in charge of at the church where we played some games and stuff but next week i'm hoping to be hitting a bucket :)

Went on some exchanges with Elder Calderon from San Antonio. He's actually going home in a few transfers and is now back in the same area he started his mission in! Kinda cool. For lunch we went and ate at a mexican spot where I had my second chicken burrito of my mission. That was good. It was a fun exchange and we were able to help a couple get closer to getting married. That's a huge problem.. especially in this zone I've noticed! That night over at their house another missionary named elder mandla from australia was crackin me up. He started juggling a soccer ball and ripped his pants and was crying he thought it was so funny. Haha he's a classic blonde surfer the way he says things is like your watching a movie.

Well wednesday I got a text that I didn't want to receive! I was asked to give training at mlc. I was asked to talk about any subject and whatever I chose would be the focus of the mlc. Each month I personally like to choose a christlike attribute out of preach my gospel and make that my focus for the month. That way I don't try to do too much at once. When it's just one attribute/goal I better focus my energy towards one thing rather than trying to work on so many different things ineffectively haha. Anyways, last month my attribute was diligence and when I was asked to pick a topic that immediately came to my mind for some reason. It ended being pretty good! I'm glad so many were willing to give insights it makes teaching much better when people raise their hands. Also even with investigators the lesson is 100x better when they share things they've learned/ask questions rather than sitting silently haha. A scripture we kinda focused on was D&C 123:12-17 if you want to check it out. I love those verses. I'm especially grateful for the example of Christ's diligence though. That's something I never would really think of when I thought of Christ until recently. He really was perfectly diligent. I like how when he served it was to individuals and wasn't for the praise of man. If anyone deserved a "break," it would've had to be Christ after performing the atonement. But did he stop? No, he continued to share His gospel in the Americas as well as in the spirit world. Even now, He continues to do His work and continues to lift others. What a great example.

In the huge barangay in our area CAA we were waiting for a trike when suddenly we heard "Hey elders!!" We looked over and there was a white guy smilin at us haha. He asked where I'm from and I said Utah. He said where in Utah and I said Sandy. Where in Sandy? about five minutes from the canyon? Where over there? I asked if he knew sego lily drive haha. He replied yep! I'm from highland drive. Right across from the willow creek park" Haha it was crazy! I used to play some nice tennis over there sometimes. You know that one house with the super big icicle christmas lights? He lives two houses down from that haha! He was with his filipina wife visiting family and apparently they live in a place called Olangapo at this time of the year! So crazy haha.

General conference was soooo awesome. It's hard for me to choose a favorite but one thing keeps coming back to my memory. The three promises of President Russel M Nielson about the Book of Mormon.

My dear brothers and sisters, I promise that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day. I promise that as you ponder what you study, the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life. I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be immunized against the evils of the day, even the gripping plague of pornography and other mind-numbing addictions.

I wasn't always super pro at watching every conf growing up but as far as I can remember in my experience of conferences that was the first time a prophet or apostle has ever made three promises in a row like that. It was so powerful! I'm excited to continue to study these amazing talks and learn more and more from them.

Have a great week! Love you all!

elder reber