Jr. Companion to my Wife

I had an interesting idea this week. You will have to bear with me as I try to explain it: I don't really remember having a whole lot of fun on my mission. I don't remember it being worthwhile either. As I look at the mission a day, week, or even a month at a time, I don't see a whole lot of fulfilling progression. But, in retrospect, my mission as a whole has been SO FUN and SO FULFILLING. It is hard to explain why because I just can't think of anything specific. I think I could do a little better at having fun on a daily basis, but overall, I have learned a couple things. People don't change in a day, week, month, year, or two years. In fact--I feel like people don't even know how to listen anymore. If you want my take on it-- if you are looking for ways to serve others and be more Christlike, it is not going to be found as much in raking leaves or snow shoveling as much as it is in LISTENING. It is something that I feel people--all of us--don't know how to do anymore in this world. Everyone is just trying to get their own opinion out there and nothing else. That is why the Spirit plays such a key role. People aren't going to change if they don't feel it.  They won't feel the Spirit if we don't listen either. I have also learned that this fun and fulfillment that I have enjoyed has been provided by the Grace of the Atonement of Christ. He wouldn't expect us to serve Him out here for two years of our lives and not let us have fun for them. That doesn't sound very Christlike. He has provided great fulfillment for us when we do our best. I feel like Grace has been the caulk that has filled-in the difference for my entire mission. Sometimes I feel like, even after getting 98% wrong and 2% right, if I have done my best, the Grace of the Atonement helps me feel good. That is why I feel like I have had fun and even made a difference in something (who knows what?): The Atonement. It is true that you learn a lot about the Savior out here in the mission. I can tell you that hardly any of it is learned through study; it is living, applying, praying, and observing. Grace does the rest.

We had interviews with Pres. T this week. It was good and the usual very quick. Flashbacks to my first interview with him last April make time seem to fly by quick. He told me something I need to work on; that is self-assurance. He was basically telling me to stop looking for stuff to work on, I think. I guess it is okay to think I am doing fine rather than stressing about doing better all the time, just as long as nothing falls into cruise control. Thanks for teaching me that Mom ;-)

We had 3-4 productive weeks in the work in our area until this past week, which wasn't super busy. Our lessons cut in half because of some (a lot) of cancelling. But that is okay. It sounds like people are as busy here as they are in Utah! Haha ay caray. Keep being busy but be careful about cancelling appointments with church people. Sometimes it breaks our hearts if we are weak right? haha. I forget out in the field that we, not really having normal lives, are weaving in and out of other people's [normal] lives. Rosa Machuka came to church this sunday and brought her kids, Johan and Sergio! It was a miracle.  Frankly, miracles happen every day that we miss. Do we understand what miracles are? What miracles are we missing every day? When I think of miracles in the mission field I can't think of anything specific.  Sorry, I don't think I will have many specific stories to share at the homecoming (excuse the trunkiness), because I just don't remember them! I try to be true to writing them down at the end of the day--but I haven't baptized any families of 6 the first week I met them, or had someone tell me they had a dream that the Book of Mormon was true, but I am seeing miracles every day! I have learned to look at things at such a grander scale; these small-every day-miracles are what bring about God's purposes. I have seen the Lord's hand make these happen my whole time out here. Rosa coming with her two kids was a miracle. It was a miracle that she made some friends too! This is what builds my faith.

Things are getting very exciting here, for me, and I guess all of us.  The open house is still getting pretty hyped up by all the wards, Jessica is still good for April (parents out of town the 20th, so probably the 27th), We are excited for conference--Elder Ramos and I had the idea of watching it in the house of some less-actives, we will see how that goes--, Easter is coming up too, TRANSFERS? I guess those are coming up, I love President Taylor very much--but I feel that he is stressing out just a little before leaving haha, the Easter Pageant is soon, and Elder Walker (temple guy) keeps teasing us about the PHX temple but still no dates! Before Dec-30 for sure though :D Also--we had a random stake meeting yesterday and I just have some thoughts- I know this Church is perfectly organized but sometimes I feel like its administration is too cautious and time is lost. Yesterday in our group of 6 missionaries and 2 stake representatives as we met to talk about the work in the stake I felt like some lame peace treaty was being signed or something because each side was trying to appease each other. Aren't we on the same team? Why can't all of us just take initiative rather than print off meeting agendas and try to convince each other that we are using our time wisely? Ay caray. PS- be looking for prospective wives that are willing to be Sr. companions (i.e. bring home the bacon, tell me what to do lovingly and I will do it) because I think Jr. Companion would be so much less tiring! (also--try to find a latina!!!)

Love, Elder Parry

The Spirit is Everything

Hello Family!

I can't believe it is time to write again. I wish I knew where the time went. I think I have told you this before; but the Spirit is EVERYTHING. I have learned out here that you cannot succeed without
it. You cannot do missionary work nor do it right without the Spirit.  We cannot see success with the people we teach without the Spirit. I personally feel like I can't convince people. Lately I have been SO dependent on the Spirit in lessons. It has to be that which does the convincing. It is so key. Elder Ramos and I continue to be guided by the Spirit. Jessica committed to being baptized on April 20th! We are pumped. She is 18 and her parents were baptized hace un ano and we are teaching her boyfriend too. She FINALLY came to church. The new church continues to bring in the presently-known-as-cold people. Haha. It is really nice. When we report to Obispo Cid about who we need help with, he usually says; Ok Elders We go! so He is very good. It kinda helps that we visit a lot of members and less actives. Just so you know; we are staying busy and teaching non-members too! This week I became completely converted to the fact that the best way to do missionary work is through the members of the church. No member is ready to hand over referrels of friends because they typically just aren't that outgoing about it, but we are teaching them because we strain their friends out of their brains by using the Spirit! Seriously. It is working. And because we help members they invite their friends to talk with us because "they helped me be happier." It really is simple like
this. Elder Ramos and I have knocked about 10 doors here and it was BRUTAL haha. No more. He said he knocked almost 2 hours a day with his trainer here. Ay caray. He hated it haha. This is the best way to do the work. It is what we have been told and taught and I have always believed it but I became converted to it in this area. I KNOW. We had dinner with the Morenos yesterday. They are sweet. They are pumped to invite their friends to the Easter Pageant in Mesa. They wanted us to go with them so we already have plans for that. I can't believe it has been a year since I went! I am starting to make the second and final round on everything in the mission. President is still preparing
(wigging out) to leave the mission. He definitely wants things to be going smoothly. Ay caray. Love that man! Glad you got to see him. I hope you noticed some more of his humor which is exactly like Dad's. Dry haha. I am in my third area with a Spring training ballpark in it! We passed by the Dodgers park on Camelback and 110th when there was a game last saturday. SO MANY MEXICANS. There are already a lot here, but for a Dodgers game too!? We did another Temple run this week. It was good to be back. I have been having withdrawals. I will have to survive another 3 months now. We went with the-one-and-only Hermano Barrera. He told us that he doesn't want to get married again because he likes doing whatever he wants and he knows he wouldn't be able to
make little house figurines and paint them until 4 in the morning with a wife. He also said that his life is helping the"Elderes de Israel" so, aqui estamos. Elder Ramos and I finally went to the doctor this
week. His stomach is eating him alive. He has Gastritis and the garbage we eat in the states is destroying him. It was in my first area! I saw many memorable sites. Elder Ramos is wild haha. He is
telling me more about his growing up. El Salvador was a wild place. Every man for himself. Lots of gangs. Elder Ramos would still be in a gang as a hard core leader if he weren't baptized. Haha. Kind of cool. Something I learned this morning in studies: Captain Moroni was wigging out about the war/liberty situation at the end of the Lamanite war so he writes a letter (kind of ignorantly) to Pahoran, the chief judge. Well, he didn't know what was going on so he reproved him
greatly. Pahoran responds ever-so-benevolently. HE says that he does not delight in Moroni's situation. He then sends troops and provisions despite his own plight. WOW. Moroni then frees himself from the situation and goes to the aid of Pahoran. Then they both go and win battles together. How many of us as members of the church can respond like Pahoran to an offensive situation such as that one? What if Pahoran got offended, gave up, got ticked off, and left the judgment seat or gave up the fight? Our responses to others are important.  Remember that life is 10 percent what happens and 90 percent what we do with it (Evan taught me that quote). I room with a couple bible-bashers too and I have learned in my mission that the BOM is everything. There is a section in PMG that says that we use it to respond to objections, rather than the Bible. I am so much happier relying on the BOM, the Spirit, and honest invitations to act, than on Biblical knowledge. Granted, I am not ignorant (because how could I be saved if I were?) but our best means of bringing the Spirit is the
BOM. So let's drop it! (get it?) Great week. Love you!

I am the Gardner Here and I Know What I Want You to Become

Preparations are getting even crazier for the Tolleson open house. We
are excited. The stake gave our district 1200 invitations to flood the
neighborhood surrounding it. We hope to see some great results for the
April 12th open house. It will be weird because as missionaries, we
just stand at tables and only speak when spoken to. We will see how it
goes! The building still looks really nice, smells good, and is
bringing in new and old visitors. We were busy this week. It was nice.
We were going from lesson to lesson for the most part. We found many
opportunities to teach and invite to church. Unfortunately, Rosa
Machuka still has not gone because her husband is lazy (her words).
Victor Olivo, his wife and three little kids came! They are such a
beautiful family!!! They had their hands full with kids and had to
leave early because one was sick but they seemed to like it. We cannot
see them until Saturday so they are really in the Lord's hands this
week. Karina came with Fabian and their kid!!! It was so awesome.
Karina is special and she has a sincere desire. We will get to the
bottom of how committed she is this week.

Our District is HUGE! Transfers were wild. Two new spanish sisters
came to the district and our district added two companionships,
including our apartment mates. It is based on who goes to church here
so we are all together now. It will be a lot of fun together. All the
Elders and Sisters are cool. Now I am not in the "sister
district" anymore. Man, that was wild haha. Let me explain before you
jump to conclusions on what that means haha. Working with Sisters is
just a lot different than working with Elders... They both have
different strengths--Sisters have more--and their challenges are very
different Ay caray. I learned a lot in one transfer with the 4
Hermanas. It was a blast! They made my life easy.

We visited a lot of fun people this week. I don't know if you saw the
pictures of me on Facebook with the Waldos and the Berrellezas. I love
these families and they are strong in the Gospel so it feels good
being in their homes. I hope to bring the same Spirit to my future
home that I feel here in the field in the homes of so many awesome
people. The Spirit really guided us AGAIN this week to visiting and
teaching the right people.

I am learning a lot about the Atonement still out here. Man! There is
not a better place to learn about it out here. I know that sounds
vague, and this is going to sound cliche, but you would just need to
be out here to realize how much the Atonement is really hit on. Every
thing we feel about our investigators, members, and less active
friends--he has felt. I got so frustrated this week. Saturday night I
was letting it all out so Elder Ramos could hear haha. I think he
enjoyed listening. I feel fine because I know I am doing my best and
that is all that is asked--but it is so frustrating to see so much
lethargy in the people who have separated from the church a little. It
hurts to see good people disrespect sacred covenants, put off
worshipping God, and just be pathetic. I know that sounds cold, but I
want people to realize they need this Gospel BACK. It is hard, but I
know Christ has been through it all and that he says the same about
active members of the church and missionaries like me. Elder Ramos and
I feel like we go through things that only 3 people in the world are
at the time; us two and Christ. It is a really nice thing to fall back
on--all-the-time 24-7. We have been showing the Elder Christofferson
Mormon message on the Gardener to a lot of people. Probably daily. We
are cut down so we can grow and only the Gardener knows what we can
BECOME. "Why could you have done this to me?" "Look little shrub, I am
the Gardener here, and I know what I want you to become." Take that
into account when communicating with our Father in Heaven. Do we
invite correction?

I love you all!

Most Crazy

Dear Family,

I know I may say this every week, but this week was the MOST CRAZY!!
Your presence was definitely felt too! We had dinner at Rogelio Waldo
Jr,'s house (member in our ward), and he invited four families from
the Peoria ward (old friends), including, Rogelio Waldo Sr. So he told
us all about your visit. He said it was fun to meet you all; and that
you had snuck $40 to them. He said Isaac had 4 tacos. Nice! I had
flashbacks this week in talking to him and hearing from you of Elder
Pollmeier taking me there for the first time; it was last March and he
ordered for me. It was a delicious Quesadilla filled with meat and all
sorts of other things. The meat was Cow intestines; I didnt find that
out until after I had enjoyed it though thank goodness! Sister Taylor
was also texting me. I was really happy that you visited Glenda and
Cassandra Sanchez. It looks like Mario wasn't there :( But that is one
of my favorite families in all of Arizona. MAN! Crazy. The Jenkins are
awesome too. It looks like you had a blast over there. They came and
brought me cheesecake the night you visited them. I think I was at the
door talking to them when you drove through the parking lot. Wild. I
trusted you all week. I knew you would never do anything rash. Thanks
for visiting all these people, including the Taylors; it means a lot
to me and I am happy to share in my mission experiences with you. The
weather definitely is nice!

Tolleson got a new church!! It is so RAD! Probably the nicest LDS
church I have ever walked in considering that it is brand-spanking
new. So nice. It was very large too. Just as big as any stake center
down here. The keys are electronic and everything. It is a blast to be
down here with this place opening up. It brought in a lot of people on
Sunday too! over 100 more than usual said Hermano Figueroa. This week
was actually less-active round-up week. Elder Ramos and I had a lot of
fun because we were EXTREMELY guided by the Spirit and we got to meet
a lot of new families that hadn't been in a while. We saw 5 families
at church that we had taught that week! It was very rewarding for our
Heavenly Father. We hope to do a lot to keep these wonderful people
close to Him and coming regularly. We taught more lessons than usual
this week and it was cool to see people excited about the new
building. In the third hour, Obispo Cid the Noble, spoke to us for a
bit about the new church. He testified about how the people's tithing
and faithfulness brought it here and about how The Lord has guided
their lives, and the life of the ward, all up to this point. Even
though I don't really play that much of a part in all this, it was
nice to participate with the faithful members of the Estrella Ward in
Phoenix on Sunday. I felt the Spirit very strong when Obispo Cid was
talking. I am not exactly sure why but it was probably from the
hastening and urgency of this great work.

URGENCY! It is something that President has been hitting hard lately.
We need to have urgency in fulfilling our purpose and bringing souls
unto Christ. Things are really speeding up. I feel like I have had the
urgency since the beginning of the mission, but I need to better work
on guiding it and being efficient in my efforts. I am always working
hard, it is just a matter of how I guide my efforts. I thought about
this in a meeting we had on Wednesday. It was a very good meeting. I
felt impressed to implement more love into what we are doing. The best
missionary (and person) is one who takes every action out of love. For
others, for Heavenly Father, for the work--whatever it is. I also saw
Elder Cardoso, and 2 old friends from Surprise that are going home
TODAY! It is wild because I am at the same time right now where Elder
Cardoso was when he became my companion last April, and now he is
going!

Like I said, the Spirit did work this week. I think I know why too.
Tuesday was the best day because we found 6 people/families home to
teach and we taught them all. Each day one was just as good too. I
felt that as I recognized, thanked, asked for more, and looked for
more of these spiritual promptings and experiences they would come.
And they did! Why shouldn't we expect to be guided by the Spirit on a
daily basis? I am pretty sure The Lord would want us to expect them to
carry about righteous purposes; we just have to do our part. So I
poured my heart out in thanks as I prayed each night because of the
tender mercies of the Spirit. Elder Ramos, Elder Hiron (exchange) and
I were very guided this week. Tuesday, Elder Giron, asked me if we
could go to the library to do facebook that day, I said we didn't have
it planned but I guess we could. We went and as we reached to open the
door a lady answered and said "Elders! I prayed last night that I
would find you." and so we swapped information and she brought two
nonmember friends to the new church on sunday, one got emotional in
RElief Society, and the lady we met bore her testimony; later a
less-active who went said she was crying as she listened to her
testimony. it was a spiritual chain that began with Elder Hiron
changing our plans and me, somewhat-blindly saying "sure."

I also learned this week that Satan is REAL. No, I am not coming home.
but You can't get away from him on the mission. Don't look for a break
from his temptations. He exists and I think he feels the same urgency
and hastening that I am feeling and that The Lord is trying to help us
all feel. I think he is really trying to balance things out with The
Lord speeding things up. It is kind of scary; we have learned that
even the most faithful of hearts will fail in the last days. Without
getting too dramatic, I wanted to share this because I have felt
temptation to be lazy, not to work, to be negative, or to do stupid
things. Satan is working. Build your foundations on the Rock of
Christ.

If you could have the Ledezmas and the Machucas in your prayers that
would do us well. Priscilla, Rigo, Eric, and Susie Ledezma are
investigating! The dad, Rigo Sr. is a member but he is very COLD right
now. We are praying and trying so hard with them. Praying for
miracles! We found the Machuca family and the wife, Rosa is not a
member. We love them so much and are really pulling for them. I feel
good about the people here. I am loving it where I am at.

Oh by the way--nothing is changing. Same apartment members, companion,
area, assignment, work, scriptures, prophet, and President Taylor.
Just 2 new sisters in our all-sister-district-except-for-Elder
Ramos-and-I. Oh and get excited for General Conference!!!

Love, Elder Parry

Sent from The Lord's iPad.

Gilbert Temple Dedication

Dear Family,

This week was so great! The Temple Dedication was very memorable for
me. Here are a few key learnings I took away:

-There are 100 marriages scheduled there for March and 142 more
marriages scheduled in the months that follow--I thought about
marriage a lot.
-it was the first of 33 temples that President Monson has announced.
-Elder Callister: "when you go to the temple, try to imagine what you
will be doing 30,000,000 years from now.
-Spencer W. Kimball had a grand vision of building temples. It was
interesting for me to hear that because I have always seen Presidents
Hinckley and Hunter as having the vision. It shows that maybe
President Kimball didn't build as many as them but he prepared the
church for the future. It is all about having VISION.
-Elder Richards of the 70 (who has had various general authority
family members down the line) could never find family history work to
do. He trie, tried, and tried, and prayed and fasted and he found a
little untouched branch of family that lead to 700 people without work
done.
-400,000 guests did the open house (9 when I went!)
-elder Callister shared about how wearing white in the temple is as
much a sign of "equality before God' as it is a symbol of purity.
-Callister: one reason we have Temple covenants is the same as why we
have crossbars in the high jump. If there wasn't a bar and we told the
runners to jump and tell them their height will be measured by a laser
gun, do we think they will get very high?
-elder Richards shared a journal entry from his
great-great-grandfather who was at the second SLC temple dedication
(number 2 of 33 sessions)(this ancestor went to all 33) where
President Woodruff shared a vision of the previous night where he saw
Joseph, Brigham, John Taylor, and all the Saints of the ancient times
and of now. They were discussing the work of salvation. President
Woodruff felt that they all understood the importance of the work of
salvation an hundredfold times more than we do and that if we
understood it better we would be working A LOT harder. Imagine how
they feel 130 years later?
-John Widstoe (a church guy who wrote a lot of famous church things.
He graduated from Harvard in 3 instead of 4 years[youre still cooler
than him dad]) couldn't decide the right formula for a national
agricultural equation so he decided to take it to the temple and he
figured it out later. The general authorities challenge us to take ALL
of our questions and doubts to the temple for clarification; no matter
the subject.
-if the dead could, they would yell to us with the sound of 10,000
thunderclaps the importance of getting the work done for them.
-a big key learning for me was the importance of remembering the
temple covenants when temptation arises. That is something I would
like to apply. We all know what we should and shouldn't do when we are
in there. When we are out, and the temptations are around, even more
so off the mission, it is important to remember what we promised to do
when, perhaps, it was a little easier to promise. We must remember
them the most when the pressure hits us.

I felt the Spirit exceptionally strong. When we sang The Spirit of God
at the end, MAN!!! I didn't think I could hold in any more Spirit. I
just felt like I was actually in the temple (I kind of was). It was a
powerful dedication. President Eyring did the prayer! That was cool.
The Prophet was there, however, unfortunately, he was not in the
program for the third session. Sounds like we shouldn't have slept in
;) I was thinking about the 5th ward during the session. MP5! It got
me really excited for the Phoenix temple. Now that Gilbert is good to
go everyone can focus more on Phoenix.

Elder Ramos and I had so much fun this week. Seriously, it was
probably the most stress free week of my mission. We were laughing
like crazy. First off--we actually spent 5 hours in the Toyota
dealership last week(I emailed you from there). And surprisingly, it
was so much fun! We looked at all the sweet cars and trucks. We should
really consider a 2014 Tacoma! It was fun for Elder Ramos because he
doesn't get to see that in his country as much. We just had a blast
hanging out together. We were joking around on Friday that we "passed
the test" because... We got a NEW CAR! It is very shiny and came with
27 miles on it. A 2014 Carolla. The car falls really well with Elder
Ramos and he has had a lot of fun with it. We can listen to Mormon
messages from our iPads on the speakers. We have just found so much to
joke around about this week. We visited Hermano Barrera and he
wouldn't let us teach a lesson because he told the story of him
spending 27 days in jail in Bountiful Utah a couple years ago because
he got caught with someone else's gun. He said the cookies on Fridays
were so delicious, that he lead the music on Sundays in there for all
the nonmormons who came to worship with him, and that he made lifetime
friends who he was sad to part from after the month. It was such a
funny story. In the beginning, he heard cops on his street at 3 in the
morning with guns out, so he grabbed his gun, came out and offered to
help. They asked his name, he said Francisco, and then all the cops
grabbed him. It was hilarious. There are also dozens of wild cats at
our apartment and we keep chucking rocks at them as we exercise and we
pretend that they will start a rebellion and attack us one day.

I will send some more after District Golfing!!

Love elder parry