Who I am, Where I am, and what is this blog?

Hello, My Name is Elder Parker Bone. I am a Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I am currently serving a LDS mission in the Ohio Cleveland Mission I will be serving for two years and will be returning home in Summer of 2017.
I will be emailing my adventure in Ohio to friends and family and this blog will contain those emails.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Clever titles are hard sometimes

Look, I can't always be clever Who am I Hermione Granger?

Medina West Split down Court chilling with 4 elders in the biggest apartment in the mission! (or at least it feels like it)

Monday: 
Played some Hard Core Elder's Ball in Akron and had a blast at missing most of the shots :P

Tuesday:
 District meeting with the Zone Leaders before our exchange. I went with Elder Ravston (forgive the spelling) and we started off the exchange with meeting some of his Idaho neighbors that moved to Medina! They are a coffee pot short of being Mormon but hopefully the other elders can fix that XD (they are on the East side :P)
Then we drove up to Tallmage and met with Courtney one of there Recent converts and talked about Family History and Patriarchal blessings which was AWESOME! 
Then after nice member provided meal of Cordon Blue we met with John who is so dry Mormon its not even funny, he asked US if we believed in  1st Corinthians 15:40-41 which talks about the 3 kingdoms and it was just AWESOME!
I love exchanges SOOO much
    
Wednesday: 

We held a Zone fast for Finding and Does Fasting work! later in the week you'll see the results of our Wednesday effort!
We ended our exchange in Medina and had a quick inventory of the Exchange before heading out to do some service for a elderly man that has MS and his wife

Thursday:
it was Dreadfully hard day for me; without talking to me Elder Sanches updated the Whole area book and weekly planned so that was difficult, whenever I tried to help he just would shoo me away and/or say stuff like "you can't help with this" so I struggled most of thursday to make the best of a bad situation
The rest of the evening was us on bikes trying to find SOMEONE who will listen to the message we have to share

Friday:
A light at the end of a trial of faith, we met Lee a 50 something man from Cleveland that has some serious Word of Wisdom problems But that is honestly seeking change in his life! He went though a nasty divorce and his old Baptist church kicked him out so he was looking for A) a new church and B) some kind of purpose in life! we taught him the Restoration briefly (we went over it later as well as he was way drunk that evening :P) and set up time to meet again!

Saturday:
we met with Lee again and he was much more coherent and willing to listen this time as we bore our witness that he has an eternal purpose and we are here to help him with achieving that purpose we also invited him to come to church with us!

Sunday:
LEE CAME TO CHURCH!!!!
I was soooooo happy and we had a fantastic sacrament meeting and lee loved it, he said it wasn't like his old services but he said it felt right! he even stayed for the whole block with us!
that evening we had to bike to our dinner appointment with the Semus's which was a great little family and we had a good time talking about King Benjamin and General Confrence!
we did a few stopby's of other members and sat down with the bishop to get to know him a little better before going to Brother Ziemers house who I forgot to tell you about last week,
He's a really nice less active that is a coming back full force to the gospel, he had a low point when he got divorced and it caught him completely off guard. he had a Really LOW point after that but thanks to a loyal Home teacher he is back and doing Great! he has an AWESOME skylander collection though so I got to geek out with him for a bit while elder sanches just looked blankly at me XD I am such a nerd still don't you worry!

Things I know I never want to have happen in my life is to be divorced, I know that sometimes it happens and it is a terribly sad thing for all involved but I know that with god's help I can have an eternal family and marry for eternity!

Hope all is well in the Wasatch front 
Winter is coming 
Elder Bone 
OCM

Monday, September 21, 2015

GOOOOD MORNING SALT LAKE CITTTAYYYY

and whoever else and wherever else people are reading this!

So I got sent to another slightly bigger middle of nowhere called Medina! 
Prior to that we did the run around telling the ward I was leaving!

Wednesday: TRANSFER MEETING which is a Billion times more exciting when you get to figure out where the friends you've made are going
Lefevre went to Akron
Parris was called to be the Zone leader of Cleveland, based in Loraine
Roundy's Dead 
everything else is pretty much the same though

Finally the Zone leaders announced my name and I stood up and they announced my new companions and nobody stood up..... then the zone leaders remembered he wasn't there and they said "you'll meet him in Medina" and the Missionaries all laughed good times XD 

On the way home I got to ride with my new roommates cuz MEDINA IS 4 ELDERS!!!! so happy, I love elder Parris but having someone else to talk to is reallllly nice XD

Elder Koppenhaffer who came out with me from the MTC is training Elder Gledhill and I am compaions with Elder Sanches 

We spent that evening unpacking and getting to know one another and a really nice family fed us dinner even with the surprise of the 4 of us (btw Elder Sanches and I are opening Medina west so thats crazy)   

The next day (thursday was MURDER on my brain we spent ALL day in the apartment spliting the area which needed to be done and we still didn't finish it but I got such bad cabin fever

friday was the return of the thursday times 10 it was bad but we still got fed both evenings (this ward is really good at feeding us, don't worry mom :)

Saturday we got out and met some of the Less actives and some of the members and did some contacting and tracting with out much success 

Sunday was Late start sacrament which is the BOMB cuz you get to study the whole morning which is SOOO nice usually you have to skip studies on sunday which bites
and we had a Linger Longer which was really good food still doesnt beat Mom's cooking tho!

Love you all sorry its a short one I forgot my correct planner :P
Elder Bone 
OCM

So I TOTALLY spaced the AWESOME prep day we had (mainly cuz it was like only an hour but hey small sacrifice)
So we went to Brother Clark's Neighbor who owns the 5th Largest Car collection in the nation! 
it is also the set for a T.V. show Fat and Furious if you want to look it up
I have A bunch of pictures but I'll only send some Highlights








Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Leaving Lisbon

So yeah Lisbon is getting the Whitewash...

I am going to miss it here but I am certain wherever I may be headed will be where I need to go. I love this ward and the fantastic people we've met and taught. I do hope so much and I have faith that all will be well here.

so here's my last week in Lisbon report

Monday: 
Deep cleaning day and a drop-by to give Bro Barnhart a blessing before his surgery not much going on

Tuesday:
Met with Allen and read the Book of Mormon with him and then we went and finished up the cabinet at Buck Williams house and had Dinner at the Hamiltons before stopping By sister Wallace to give her a blessing.

Wednesday:
Spent the Morning weekly planing before hitting the streets and going to help Sister Wallace out with some yard work and introducing her to the New Addiction Recovery Videos the church released which are AMAZING!

Thursday:  
Zone Training meeting during which we got the new rules President Brown dropped
1) No Naps at anytime
2) ALL music must be MoTab and only Hymns at that
3) limit of 6 hours of planned service a week (that one is a little weird)
but yeah all these are here to help us grow I know. After ZTM I went on Exchanges to Lisbon South with Elder Mulestien and we had a great time contacting and meeting potentials!

Friday:
Spent the morning with Elder Mulestien before we headed to Coordination meeting where we switched back. Then straight to Sister Wallace's to help her out 

Saturday:
Started by Mowing the Babik's lawn and doing some weeding for Sister Wallace before Changing and coming right back to have a message and lift her spirits a little. then we met with Jason before going Out on a COLD rainy night and having some amazing Contacts and meeting some great people!

Sunday:
Church was great as Sis Springer a recent convert in the other Elder's area got up and spoke as well as Sister Bankston. Brother Clark rounded the meeting off and then we had our usual classes. That evening we went to the Freed's and then the Savransky's for a super good dinner. Right after that we got the call from the President that Elder Parris was to be the Zone leader over the largest Zone in the whole mission the Cleveland Zone. I thought that met I was for sure staying but boy was I wrong.

Monday:
A crazy fun District meeting as a last Hurrah for Elder Roundy and just a good time for the rest of us, I really am going to miss this district. Then we dropped in on Rocky at his Gym so Elder Parris could take a Photo and then to Sister Wallace to break the news to her about the Transfer.
then Home to pack until President called and broke the News I am being Outstaked....

I love this corner of Ohio and I have grown to love this people but the Lord has bigger and better things for me ahead!

Love
Elder Bone
OCM 

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

A Testing Ground

So this week was week 11 in my 12 week training. Week 11 the trainee (AKA me) takes the lead on everything so I was very apprehensive about leading but I knew with all I have been preparing to do God would help me do my best and then some so on to the week!

Monday: 
After Emails we hung out with all the other Lisbon District Elders and had a blast playing some B-Ball and some Munchkin
After all that we helped Mark Seaman move out of our ward :( I am sure that this is what he needs though and I know it will help him Raise Luke to be strong in the Gospel.

Tuesday:
Tuesday got kicked off with our first District meeting in a LOOOONG time (between Zone Conference, and a Meeting with Elder Bennett we just haven't needed to have it.) It was controlled chaos and Elder Parris had to keep in check now that we don't have any sisters in the district
District meeting ended with Elder Jackson coming home with me for an exchange. Our lessons went well and we had a good exchange 

Wednesday:
After a quick switch back Elder Parris and I went to Buck Williams to help him build and paint some cabinets for the church. now I say help but really he just sat there and Micro managed us while we did everything else. Oh well I guess you can get some leeway when your old :P
once we painted the Cabinet and left it to dry (he was quite impressed by my proficiency with painting, Thanks Dad :) We drove to Columbiana to meet with Rocky at is Gym. Then we helped replace a Car battery in a old Dodge van (Elder Parris was in his Element) before a drive to Sister Wallace's to help her on the Path of Addiction Recovery.

Thursday:
We met with Allen at last! we read the Book of Mormon with him and he promised to find his and read it! we read chapter 10 of First Nephi with him because Elder Parris and I Both felt drawn to that chapter (that comes in later) 
after studies we went back to Buck's to put another Coat of paint on the Cabinets,
A long weekly planning session was followed with another visit to Sister Wallace.
Then off to the Connors for a very yummy dinner and we went with Jacob there 16 year old son to teach the Babik's. The lesson went really well as we read 2 Nephi 32 and explained the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. We drove Jacob back and Sis Connor had a whole bowl of Ice Cream waiting for us once we returned! I love this Ward Family

Friday:
After a Wonderful Coordination Meeting with Brother Hobbs we helped brother Barnhart with his roof and almost finished up but we ran out of planks unfortunately. After that we went to Buck and Cindy Williams Home for Dinner and the "Buck Williams Experience" where Buck basically just showed me some very obvious magic tricks and did his best to impress me with his knowledge of Self defense.. it was an interesting Dinner...
After that we went back to Sister Wallace's and let her talk and we did are best to help her. She really could use all the Prayer's you can offer!

Saturday:
We started the morning out with studies as usual and drove to the Babik's to Mow their lawn. after that we had a quick bite and went to Sister Wallace's and Rocky's. We followed that up with an awesome meeting with Bro Clark where he took us to lunch and then we went teaching with him! 
First we went to Brian, A less-active that is Sister Wallace's Son. He struggles to Believe there is a God but he know's it deep down you can tell. He runs a legit Game shop and we got to see some really cool stuff he showed us
Second we went to Linda Savitch another Less active but one that, despite his constant trying Brother Clark had never met in person. that evening we did met her and her husband and we talked a lot about Home teaching and service (he also had a sick '84 corvette that he let us sit in!) 
lastly but certainly not least we went to sister Wallace and gave her a blessing to help her cope with the stress of her life and with her withdrawal

Sunday: 
A powerhouse testimony meeting in which Sis Wallace A) came and B) Bore a wonderful testimony 
After Lunch we went to Sister Dibacco's to help her with the pains of this world and the pains of age she has been feeling by giving her a blessing of comfort
the rest of the day was studies as always open my understanding to my purpose 

Monday:
We had deep cleaning and Monopoly night and finished the day off with pizza.. 

Tuesday:
Long week but really good one! 
This morning we met with Allen and he had found his Book of Mormon... it was an OLD angel Moroni copy and in it was a very forgotten bookmark. that bookmark was on First Nephi Chapter 11. We testified to Allen that God loves him and that he WANTS him to come back to the fold. I know that God is a god of Miracles and that one right their is working in the Heart of his son Allen. 

I love you all

Elder Bone 
OCM