We're in the city this week! We came down to go to the temple with our district. I love being in the city. I love upstate too but the city just has a special place in my heart always.

This week has been great. We're back to the normal flow of things and it's going really well. Sister Keanini is awesome and we have a great time together. I'm really grateful that I get to serve with her. I feel like I learn so much from her every single day.

I realized while I was serving in English last week that I have a seriously distorted view of what a normal serving size of food is. I'm so used to all the hispanic people giving us giant plates that are overflowing with food. So when I was in the English ward and people would give me food, I always thought "Wow, this is like no food. I'm probably going to starve." And then I would eat and instead of feeling like I needed to throw up, I just felt normal and satisfied. It was crazy! I've forgotten how non-hispanic people eat! No wonder I gained so much weight while I've been here...haha

We had stake conference this weekend. The Sunday session was really good but the Saturday night adult session was AMAZING! I was crying for basically all 2 hours of it. There were so many great talks about relying on the Lord for help during difficult trials in our lives. Then to end it, the couple in the Newtown ward that had a child pass away in the Newtown school shooting last year spoke. It was amazing. They went through a huge trial in their lives but the whole time they relied on their Heavenly Father for help and they were able to receive so much comfort. Not only were they so strong during it all but they are a great example of forgiveness and love. They don't hold any grudges against the shooter or his family. They are incredible and it was an amazing conference.

The work here in Danbury is good. We're working with this less active that I'm really excited about. Her name is Menoli and she has a lot of desire to come back to church. Even though she's less active, she's stayed super strong and when her friends have offered her drugs or alcohol, she's always declined. She really wants to get back to where she used to be when she was active. She's awesome! I'm really excited to work with her. Plus her boyfriend isn't a member and she wants to share the gospel with him and he's super nice. He told Menoli that she needed to have us over for dinner one day. haha We took that as a good sign that he likes us.

I hope you're all doing well! Don't forget about how important you are as members to do member missionary work. Us missionaries can't really do anything without you!

Lots of love,
Hermana Parkin