WEEK 75 I'm Okay. I'm happy.


WEEK 75  I'm Okay. I'm happy.

 May 27, 2019

 Hey everyone! Well I haven't written in 3 weeks and that's bad on my part. But I'm super great and super happy! We've been able to teach 41 people in these past 3 weeks and we've got some good people progressing! Our main man is Geison at the moment, he's been consistantly going to church and we met him on our second day. We got some more people like Flor and another named João! It's lookin good! Me and Elder Santos get along super well and we have never even came close to an argument. It's 100% Portuguese every day which I love and it's just great. Our house is big and super nice! The area is very small in size but filled with people, and I'll say right now that at times it feels like I'm serving in a mini Africa. This recent area is a blessing. The ward that I'm in just opened up in February, so were starting to strengthen it, we'll be the first missionaries to baptize here!! It's awesome to be the only lighter skinned person on the streets, I am the minority here. But the people are nice, a shirtless Brazilian guy even kissed me on the cheek and then I  rapped some Migos with his friend. I also got invited to play some ball and I played in my proselating clothes. It was great and an easy win! But it's just been awesome and intersting coming back to working on the streets from working in a car. I'm sorry I didn't give you a day to day thing but I'll do my best this next week!! Just know that I'm happy, and I like my companion. 

I missed out writing my email on the mothers day week, but just know I love my mom so much and all the stuff she's sacrificed for me, my brothers, and the fam! And her example of happiness and loving others is unmatched. I try to imitate it every day knowing that if I can think at least half as positive as she does, I know that I will be on the path of Christ, and never even come close to an argument with anyone. I can't write much more but my mom is the best role model I could ever have. 

Next most important thing, The Toronto Raptors made the NBA finals. Needless to say, I've been waiting for this my whole life and I've never strayed away. I've watched players like TJ Ford, Jorge Garbajosa, Andrea Bargnani, Jamario Moon, and I'll even throw in a more recent Grieves Vasquez.... yikes. But we are here and we've almost done it. So I'm gonna tell you how we can help my boys win... 

Scripture/Challenge:
D&C Ch104 V82 

"And inasmuch as ye are humble and faithful and call upon my name, behold, I will give you the victory"

To receive any victory (as long as it be within the will of God) we need to humble ourselves, be faithful in keeping the Lord's commandments, and call upon the name of the Lord... the victory will be ours.

So my challenge for you is to think of a Victory (could be for the Raptors) and consider this. If it be the will of God, it will be granted unto you. 

Cool story: Elder Massimo de Feo (of the 70) came to our mission and spoke in a Zone Conference. He spoke very well and I love how he said we shouldn't preach the message, but rather, we should BE the message. It's true. He also spoke in the Leadership Counsil and that was super great. I had a great talk with him after and we were talking about missionary work, what we should promise the people we teach, and what a real success on the mission is. If you wanna know what he said, message me. 

Hope it was a great week and I hope all is well back home! Sorry I didn't respond to anyone this week, my phone died!! I got to see the temple even better, they're slowly taking down all the walls! 

Elder out. 

Mamba out. 

parks.layton@missionary.org


Street Ball


Elder Buarous

  Zone Conference




Lisboa Temple






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WEEK 71 A Must Read Week

Image
WEEK 71 A Must Read Week April 29, 2019 Hey everyone! First of all, I'm still on the mission, I just haven't had the chance to send my weekly email through email as of recent. But if you wanna see my past weeks you can look up my name on  Blogspot.com  and I'm pretty sure you'll find them!  http://elderparkslayton.blogspot.com  Anyways this week is a must read as we had 2 baptisms, the mission president came to our area, and my Grandparents came and visited me here in Portugal... what a week, I'll just start it off right now.  23 de Abril, we had District Counsel in the morning and that was great! Our district is so awesome, freakin love the buds. We found this big spider in the church and Elder Cloes was all over catching and setting it free. But Elder Cloes was also feeling super sick during the day so we honestly didn't do a whole bunch other than our long car rides and getting some stuff to prepared for the Baptisms that we'll be having this ...
Read more

WEEK 102 "Just Hold on We're Goin Home"

Image
WEEK 102 "Just Hold on We're Goin Home" December 2, 2019 Hey everyone!  Well this is it, my last email. So thanks to everyone who has kept up these past 2 years, I really have grown so much.  The best part of the last week was the Baptism we had of Sara, we started working with her at the start of the transfer and it worked out perfect for her to be baptized in the last week! It was miraculous how she was able to leave smoking so easy, as I haven’t seen anyone leave it that fast I know God had a hand in that work. As well Sara's best friend Carina is an amazing recent convert who helped us and especially Sara out a lot. It was a great day and lots of people came to the baptism. I love the ward here in Seixal. I'm so happy I got to spend my last transfer here. I'll add a foto from the baptism below. Sara asked for a group of us to sing so we sung at her baptism while Elder Lehnhof played the violin and an Irmão from the ward played piano.  ...
Read more

Week 99

Image
Week 99 November 11, 2019 Busy week but here are a few highlights: Elder Lehnhof  and  I found a bunch of people this week. I hurt my back mid-week, so I had to stay inside for two days.  We ate at some members' homes which is always great. The members do a good job of taking care of us.  Tomorrow is my last Zone Conference and that feels crazy.  I’ll be sharing my testimony and saying goodbye to a lot of people.  Things are going great with my companion, Elder Lehnhof.  No problems at all there.  Elder Layton parks.layton@missionary.org Elder Lehnhof
Read more

WEEK 100 "0-100 Real Quick"

Image
WEEK 100 "0-100 Real Quick" November 18, 2019 Hey everyone! Well I have officially made it into the triple digit column on weeks that I have been on my mission, and also for the first time in these past 100 weeks, or 700 days if you want, I got sick. I have never known what it would be like to be sick as a missionary, and I was super grateful for that... so this week was a new experience.  On theTuesday we had a Zone Conference, which was great. I love Presidente Fillmore, he always says the things that I need to hear and I've grown so close to him over the span of my mission. When you respect someone so much, everything they say is more inspiring, and you care to listen even more. I feel I have learned some amazing personality traits from him that I wish to continue developing. It was also my last Zone Conference which was pretty weird. I had the opportunity to bear my testimony along with 4 other Elders from my MTC district who are going home at the same time...
Read more

WEEK 97 Hello Seixal

Image
WEEK 97 Hello Seixal October 28, 2019 Hey everyone!  First week of the last transfer down and it was a crazy/weird week. I got my new comp Elder Lehnhof who is from Highland utah. He has the exact same amount of time on the mission as my little brother Blaze! It’s pretty fun for me to think about the face that I have the opportunity/honour to start off someone's mission and that people had prayed for Elder Lehnhof to get a good trainer just like I was praying for my brother to get a good trainer. I'm super motivated to work so hard and just keep grinding until the last day! And that's what I'm going to do! Elder Lenhof is super cool, and super motivated to work so it’s gonna be an unreal transfer.  Our area is called Seixal and it is absolutely unbelievable! We have eaten lunch and dinner with members every single night since we arrived here, which is unheard of, especially since we completely switched the Elders who were here and didn’t know anyone. I ...
Read more

WEEK 41 "Solid Week"

Image
WEEK 41 "Solid Week" October 1, 2018 Hey everyone! One more week until the next transfer! The time has been flyin! But life here is good, we've been doin our best and workin hard! This week I had an interview with President and it was so awesome, he's so chill! But yeah I'll start with the week!  25 de Set, we had a district counsel in the mornin and it went smoothly! But I was feeling sick the whole day, so I took some time to rest in the afternoon. Then we went back to work, I still felt sick but ya know, gotta work hard!  26 de Set, we went and visited Filipe in the morning. Ever since his baptism and meeting us he's been able to have so much more strength. He is epaleptic, and he has told us how much better he's been feeling as of lately! Then we went and worked, actually went up a little mountain and knocked doors on the side of the little mountain. Didn' work out too well, but it was worth a try! Then in the night we bumped int...
Read more

Week 37 "I won bowling by a landslide"

Image
Week 37 "I won bowling by a landslide" September 3, 2018 Hey everyone!! First of all we went bowling today with 2 elders, and 2 sisters and I won in bowling proving that Canada is the best. But anyways the week was unreal, Filipe was baptized and Elder Moreira is a freakin beauty. We only talk Portuguese but it's so fun. I'm helpin him with his English as well. He has sauce, not juice... (Only some of you will get that)  but yeah, this is gonna be a great transfer! It's weird being a District Leader, because now there's even more work I need to do now. But I'm really liking it because I can start to help other missionaries on a more personal level, and service and help is what life is all about!! Let's go into the week! 28 de Agosto, Said bye to my homie Elder Terra, we had a great 6 weeks! The new way for transfers is everyone goes to this one train station and waits for their new comp! In the process I saw one of my best homies out here Elder...
Read more

WEEK 67 RAFA

Image
WEEK 67 RAFA April 1, 2019 Hey Everyone!  the bigger version of this email will come later today, or next week! I'm pretty tired and don't know when I'll have time to fully write out a solid email!! So I'll just tell you about the baptism we had!! On Sunday after church we had a baptism!! Rafa got baptized and the day was just super great! She accepted everything so willingly and really showed she believes in what we're saying. The first time we taught her she started crying, the Spirit was so strong there. We continued teaching, and once we invited her to be baptized, she ran to the other room, screamed in a pillow, and then came back and responded, "Yes please". Seeing her faith, even at a considerably young age, was a great testimony builder. She was so happy the whole day! It was also Elder Cloes' first baptism! He was super excited and he didn't mess up at all when he said what he needed to say in Portuguese. I've really tried to f...
Read more

Week 23 - Um Outro Batismo em Braga

Image
Week 23  May 28, 2018 Hey everyone, another one down for your boy. Was an awesome week, I have learned to really excpect the weirdest things here... Especially here in Braga! But its the best here! This week was awesome, Rosa Maria was baptized. She is the mom of one of my great friends here, Sol Amor. But yeah, the mission life by now is feeling like my normal lifestyle now! May 22 - We had a facetime in the morning with a bunch of missionaries, and the mission president! Then we went out and worked. In one of the more sketchy areas. I saw lots of strange things, as well as a road full of police! Pretty interesting night! May 23 - In the morning Elder Baugh and I went and put up a little banner thing in downtown and just contacted people walking around explaining more about our church, and setting things up for later. Made a killer seafood salad for lunch. Then we went to church and Elder Baugh gave Rosa Maria the baptism interview! Following that we got a call from Se...
Read more