Elder Jake Parry

Elder Jake Parry
Arizona Phoenix Mission

Monday, May 26, 2014

Happy For Sam

Man! That was a crazy week. Not going to lie, as I was reading the email and seeing all the pictures I was kind of dying to be there.  That looks like the most fun Sam has been a part of since I have been gone. Do you remember when us dudes had our own fun in the basement playing video games, watching movies, and just staying up late and having great conversations? I hope to have the same kind of fun with y'all when I return. Seriously though, I would have died to be out in that man pile on the field there. I am sure Aaron felt like he was 16 again too (as opposed to his usual 18) when he was in the man pile. I always love to hear about Boog's  joys and experiences. I am happy for you all. Funny thing is I had some fun dreams about baseball this week. I woke up part way through one right before I was getting up to bat, I was disappointed so I hurried to try to go to sleep. I did and then got a base-hit! I was re-living the pirate days. I got some good goosebumps seeing that great array of pictures; thanks mom. I think the gbs were the Spirit telling me that it was a freaking awesome moment!

The week over on my end is business as usual: wild, tiring, fun, jam-packed, hard, rewarding, and wild too! We had some good successes this week with some of our investigators! President Taylor leaves super soon. I feel like this is the calm before the storm. I don't know what will happen with transfers in 8 days, but I assume it will be a little wild for me. I am probably wrong and not much will change though. This week my gut has been telling me that Elder Ramos and I will be doubled out of the area! We will see. All in all, I just hope and pray that for some reason I will be able to go to the transfer meeting for RST's final firework hoedown! We will see. This area is a lot of fun. Leo said he knows the BOM is true and that he wants to be baptized, just in his time. It is okay though, he is hanging out with Jessica and her family a lot so they are a lot of good pressure. We are going to institute with them both this week! Mariana came to church for the 6th straight time. Ernesto has been caught up at work.  We are seeing them tonight with Hermano Murrietta and they are buying
the license tomorrow and getting married on sunday! After 40 years of co-habitating they will seal the deal and make the first step to eternal stardom! BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA (marriage music). We will try to send y'all an invitation to the reception. It will probably just be in the church gym with a couple dozen members who aren't too tired of church all day to stay. Probably not worth the drive though. We will save some galletas for you. Also- The Noris family is going in the right direction. Let's just say that taking them out with us to meet Mariana and talk about getting married, repenting, and getting baptized was the best thing from them
to hear as they were undercover "helping us teach," but actually being there so they could be inspired to repent too. The mom and dad talked to the Bishop this week. Johan (the kid) is ready for his baptism. He wants to invite all his nino friends. Hopefully mom gets baptized too after RM dad works everything out with Obispo. Elder Ramos is suffering! Man, his sickness was the worst this week that it has been since I got here. We got some more bodily function tests this week and
will hope to have some results soon. He is so strong. Understand this family-- He is so strong! He would never hurt a fly, but he is suffering daily. I eat so much chile, so much meat, so many veggies,
and everything I am given in the dinners and he just eats the little fruit he can. He doesn't mind though.. The Patinos fed us like kings this week. I went on exchanges with Elder Andrus there and he said that it was the best dinner he has had in his 22 months out here! There are pictures of us eating it on Facebook! Elder Ramos is chugging along. He is really trusting in God. That was the theme for
our District this week; trusting in God. A General Authority came to our mission not too long ago and talked to some of the leaders of the mission. President Talor relayed to us what he said. He said he was doing a Church-experiment among the missionaries to see what the difference between those of today and those of Woodruff's and Heber C. Kimball's day and he said the big and over-riding difference is that we do not trust in God like they did. Rarely do missionaries wade through swamps of England slapping at hordes of flies while suffering from Malaria like President Woodruff did. If we had more faith and trust I feel like we would! What is holding us back!? It is so frustrating. Why can't we just put things in the Lord's hands better?  I am working on that. Also a mission-long fight for me has been that to figure out how to have the peace to know the difference between the things I can control and the things out of my control. It is a good balance we all need. This week was so fun and so fast. There is a lot of work going on and not a single thing has been done without the Spirit's help. I have learned that; we are nothing without that Guide!

Love you family. Happy Memorial Day!

Peace. Elder Jacob Karlos Parry

Monday, May 19, 2014

Weirdest, Wildest, Hardest

Dearest Family, this week was the weirdest, wildest, and probably the hardest weeks of my entire mission. Ohhh man!! It was tough. :( Don't worry about me though. Challenges are good for ya. Rosa's husband is not being as good a person as he should be and is not really letting her participate in the church. We are not going to go over there for a couple weeks. We had reviewed the baptismal interview questions with Mariana and Ernesto and they passed them great but something happened in the interview for Mariana so she is pushed back a couple weeks. Ernesto has been getting a lot of work, which is good for him, but we haven't seen him for a week. Jehovah's witnesses are meeting with them too. We found out, luckily, that they aren't married! Who knew!?!? Ay caray after 40+ years of being together! We will do the wedding this sunday with Obispo Cid right after church haha. They will both get baptized though not even a problem. We are working hard and committing ourselves to really help them on the road to CONVERSION. Some red flags have gone up for them about what they "have read, have heard, or have been taught." We are going to focus on what they have felt, why they want to be baptized, why it is important, and what they are going to do after and stuff like that.
 
I still feel like I haven't even started on the week yet though! Elder Ramos and I had a key learning. I feel like a lot of missionaries at the end of their missions come to the realization that they wish they wouldn't wasted time with so many people. We have the tendency to get to attached to people that are so cool or that "were such a miracle to find!" We need to repent after having invited people to church for 4 straight weeks without coming. BYE BYE! It is time to build faith that there are prepared people out there! That is what I feel like we are doing. helping the prepared to become converted. We don't need to push unprepared people along the road to conversion. The church demands A LOT--or rather---the Lord expects us to consecrate everything, and if people aren't up for it we need to move on. To make a long story longer, we are moving on away from a large group of people. This week we were pretty hard-core on less-actives. #hardcoreinourownminds. we marked off like 5 or 6 houses of them and several investigators that we just aren't going to visit anymore. We feel that is the best decision and that we have done everything we can up to this point. I would say that it isn't easy for anyone to have a visit with someone then decide on the way out that it would be the last time for a while. Time to build our faith that The Lord has others in the area prepared. Elder Ramos and I are really working or tails off and doing our very best to stay away from knocking doors. It will be a lucha to stay away from doing it we will see how it goes haha.
 
It has been kind of hard with our Bishop this week. Sometimes I feel like I am too naive and ignorant. I just realized this week that people are kind of afraid of him and that he thinks he is the boss of the missionaries haha. It is true in some aspects, but no to the point of telling us to stay at ward parties so we can help when we have visits to make. Stuff like that. I talked with President RST for like 15 minutes on friday morning and all the sister missionaries after. They are such great sisters. But we all need to work through some stuff. There was a huge problem this week and last with Jaime (I talked about him three weeks ago--the one we gave a blessing to that has some issues.) He has been causing a lot of rumors to be spread because of the hermanas teaching him and weird things happening. He got embarrassed and wont come to church anymore and now we are doing with it all. The Berrellezas (remember, one of my favorite families that joined the church last year) are really struggling. He just got called as Elders Quorum second counselor and they are getting ready to go through the Temple. SATAN EXISTS. That I testify of because he is attacking them at a very crucial time. They know what is most important but they are losing sight of it at the wrong time. Elder Ramos has not been more sick than this week in his whole mission. He is trying SOOOO hard. I am trying sooooo hard too. Last night I felt like cryi----Side Note!!! So I feel like I have gotten "hard" on the mission. Haha. I felt like I cried a lot before and actually a few times with Elders Cardoso and Pollmeier because I was a head-case with them, but since--not once. Emotionally caught up by the Spirit, but not crying or shedding tears at all. I feel like my sensitive side is dulling a little. I still feel love for people, of course, and I care about them, but I am getting harder haha. So yeah, I felt like crying as I laid there in bed. I decided; I am just investing too much into it! If I didn't care about people I am working on loving (some very easy to love, some not) then it wouldn't be hard!But it is, it is so hard! If I weren't who I am I could just lock myself in our Corolla or crawl under a rock and not care about anything. It would be so easy! The reason why this week was hard is because we are putting ourselves out there so much. Without getting too corny I guess that is why they say that loving others can be hard because you get your heart broken by them or something. Left me thinking of the Savior a lot. When we pray for love for people and really work for it then The Lord sends us trials, both related and unrelated to these people, so we can best learn how to help them, serve them, and be an instrument in the Lord's hands so he can succor them. I guess that is exactly what the Atonement is. Because Christ and our Heavenly Father love us, they went through that to be able to help us. Man, it exhausts me Spiritually. I will never be able to understand the Spiritual pain He went through, but I think it is appropriate for Christ's servants (ANY of us that CHOSE to be out on the Lord's errand) to be "types" of Christ and feel that pain, that love for others. For most of these people, I didn't really feel love for them until the "end." You don't really know you love them, nor how much you really want to help them until you hit a roadblock. We hit A LOT of roadblocks this week. Sounds selfish, but if we hadn't, I probably wouldn't have learned all this. Haha. We are the sum of the trials we have been through and conquered!
 
Some good to the week!! 
 
We had zone conferences in Surprise last week. Other than my mouth tasting like blood after translating for 3 hours for a new missionary that is learning English, it was excellent. President and Sister TAylor really know how to invite the Spirit. More importantly, they know how to help us invite it for ourselves so we have our own experiences and "Spiritual Awakenings." They helped us to "jump out of the boat" by sharing our spiritual experiences with each other as Peter did. I am going to miss them a lot. A day later I went back to Surprise for a baptismal interview and HErmana Jenkins and some other members were at church. That was pretty cool. We visited Jessica Patino last night! We hadn't been for three weeks because she has been busy with school. That kind of stunk because we don't want her to get baptized and then just not have us go over. We talked about the temple with the whole family and LEO! the parents should be going through soon and hopefully we go to do baptisms with Jessica before transfers :D Leo said he believed it is all true and that he had prayed about the Book of Mormon and feels it is true. If his family would not be so hard on him, he would be good to go. 
 
I am doing fine. Not too stressed. I am having fun. Extremely tired, but it is fun. Us 4 in the apartment are going to Culver's to get some ice cream and talk for an hour of non-missionary things! It will be nice. I have also been reading the Family history stuff from dad. I actually read it all and i LOVE IT. SEND MORE. If you can find some. I really do love it it is faith-building. You are all doing great, don't worry about my approval stamp, thanks for sharing about what is going on :D Love you.
 
Elder Parry

Monday, May 12, 2014

Mother's Day


Mother's Day Skyping was so awesome and Elder Parry is as happy as ever.  40 minutes flew by, but I'm grateful he was so obedient on the length of the call!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Going Fast

Dearest Family-

This whole mission thing is going by way fast. Have you ever just woken up one morning and found out that you are old? Well it happens in the mission too. I have been the oldest in my districts for the last 7 transfers. The problem is I feel like the same moron I came out here as! We had an epic lesson in Elders' Quorum yesterday. Presidente Cid asked everyone to find their favorite scripture and tell why. Many of them shared and some of the grown men who did cried as they shared them. Presidente Cid then asked them how they can use them to share the Gospel. We shared some ideas and some hermanos had doubts too about why it is hard, then other hermanos came to the rescue and bore simple, powerful testimony about how we can do it. 3/4 of them are converts and many of them shared how they found the Gospel. At the end, I shared that the reason it is hard is because Satan exists and his power increases as the work hastens. But that we need not worry because we know who is going to win and we know that success is in trying. The Spirit was powerful. Also- this week I watched Elder Holland's last April talk about Fan the Fire of your Faith and it was so powerful. I haven't felt the Spirit that strong watching a conference talk before. I am not exactly sure why but I know the Spirit can come and be there when you need it, or more importantly, when The Lord knows you need it or knows you need to hear something. I felt that his talk can be a message to everyone that they have a testimony. We all do. It starts with believe and if it is something that we feel good about now we can know that we will never deny it--just maybe get a little lazy about it.

I guess what is going on here? Sorry I didn't take any photos this week. I intend to soon... We had a HUGE Latino cinco de mayo party. It was wild. There was all sorts of mexican food, dancing, singing, and live DJ-ing at the new Tolleson building. It was fun! There were non-members there. Ernesto y Mariana are so hard-core progressing! They were just made for the church and the ward is taking them in. Rosa is frustrating us. Well she is still awesome but her husband isn't. She got moved back to the 18th. We love her so much and we know she will get there so pray for her with us! Thanks so much. Hermano Murrietta is still leading the missionary force without fear. He is so funny. Hermano Patino makes Elder Ramos and I laugh a lot too. The whole ward is great. I don't know if I told you, but I hope I stay in this ward and this district the rest of my mission!!!! I love Barrio Estrella. But I feel like picking a favorite ward or area is like picking a favorite child so I won't go there. Also- Elder Ramos is one of the strongest missionaries I have ever worked with. He amazes me every day. He is going places. I love it here and am very happy.

I love you family! Hearing about AP tests, baseball, warm spring, the Red Sox, and just being around together just makes me homesick. I am fine and happy here. I am not in a rush to go home, but I can't wait to see you all again! Mom, I love you so much and have thought about you a lot lately. See you all Mothers' Day! :D I have had dreams every now and then about home. This week I dreamed that I saw TJ and Dallin in front of Dick's market after 2 years and we all cried and hugged. I also dreamed last week that I came back to the mission with Dad to visit all the areas I served in to see all the awesome members of the church I have met and worked alongside with down here. I don't remember anything specific aside from what I felt. I felt so happy and so proud of all these people. So grateful for their service and example. I love this people down here! I truly am developing a strong love for them because they are so great. It has been my favorite part of my mission down here; loving the people. If that is the #1 I leave the APM with, that I didn't have before nor expect to get out here, then I will be a happy returned missionary. I know you are all doing great things and I know you are all actively strong in the Gospel. I KNOW it is how we can live as happy families because I have seen the difference it makes in families down here. The Arizona Hispanic LDS culture GETS IT. They just get it. They know how to live it and that's why they are happy. I look forward to seeing you all next week and in December too. It will be a long time coming! And I hope Sam plans enough ahead of time to have the right New Years' party set up for me. I want it to be the craziest shocker he can find haha :D

Love, Elder Jake Parry