Saying Goodbye to the Taylors

Dear Family, Sorry it has taken me so long today. We came to the Tolleson building to play some volleyball. The District came and a lot of Estrella members so I keep going in and out of games! It is pretty fun. This week was CRAZY. Yesterday was absolutely wild. I didn't see any of it coming but our ward leadership just exploded. Hermanos Waldo (the brother of the taco shack guy) and Cid (son of the Bishop) became new bishopric members. Hermano Murietta is the new Elders Quorum president and el Hermano Sepulveda is the new WML!!! We loved Hermano Murietta and we just got him and he did such a great job but the new one will be great. He is a one and a half year convert to the church. He just went through the temple. We are going to work with him and help him along the way. He is very humble and really trusts in us. Sacrament Meeting was very spiritual. I felt it very strong as we saw the new leaders and The Lord in action, calling people to the work. Obispo Cid bore his testimony on how The Lord works and about how he chose the people and they weren't chosen by family. Obispo ran out of things to say so he asked Me and Hermana Dayton to bare our testimonies. She goes home in two weeks (she came out with me; how crazy is that!?) and the whole ward knows it because she has been here 11 months so the members all came up to me to say goodbye. I had to tell them "sorry, I am staying." haha. THEN Josue (Hermano Sepulveda's son) opened his mission call in the third hour. He is going to Acadia, CA and is leaving in 40 days!! He is way awesome. Then we had Johan Noris' baptism at 7. He is an 8-year-old, but there is a lot more going on with that family then just him. The family is so special. Hermano served a mission but has since made some wrong decisions so he can't fully participate in the church. His wife is a nonmember so we are working with her too. But the Dad wants to come back and be a part of the fold of God again. He feels the difference and he doesn't like it. He is a very repentant man.I feel so happy around them because they want to make changes in their lives. They are a special family. Hey Dad- I gave Johan the President Monson necklace at his baptism. He loved it. Thanks for that, I hope it was special to Johan. It was a beautiful baptismal service, and, like I said; we are working on making that family an ETERNAL one. They are on their way. ALL OF THIS was going on while the keys to the APM were getting switched over as the 4 great leaders met in what is somewhat a "twilight of the elite Priesthood leadership of God." I exaggerate. But it was a huge deal here for us. I am SO EXCITED to meet President Griffin. We joked after the baptism that Johan was baptized under two sets of keys haha. #doublevalidity I am excited for the future. I miss President and Sister Taylor already. It feels different without them. I have heard some very good things about President Griffin though. We had a Spanish meeting this week! It was SUCH A PARTY! No one understands the greatness of this meeting; we have the opportunity of seeing every companero we have ever had! It was a reunion of gigantic proportions. It went 2 hours late hahaha. We played wheel of fortune with President Juchau, Sister Taylor cried as she said goodbye to all "her spanish missionaries," and I hung out with Elders Fife, Nelson, Jones, Miller, Andrus, Ramos, and the whole crew. It was fun. (We didn't learn a whole lot, but it was well-needed!) President told us to speak the language all the time and that The Lord has invested in us and expects us to know the language our whole lives so as to be able to serve him more with it in the future. Tuesday was so fun! We taught 6 lessons it was how I wish every day was out here in the field! Mariana (even though she is not married yet!!!! Ay-caray) wants to get baptized for all her primas, hermanas, padres, y familiares. We visited a crazy guy, Indelecio Marquez, way down at the bottom of our area (Broadway). He is so sweet. He made us quesadillas and made sure we ate every bite. He wouldn't let us speak until we were done. He then made for us alfalfa juice. It was delicious. We also taught the Noris family, the Excalante Family and a few others. And I went out with Jim for dinner. Wow. What a special time that was! The Spirit was strong in the lesson. It wasn't unnatural or awkward to talk about the church and the Gospel for the entire time we had at Rhumbi. We will be seeing more of him! Life is good here. Sorry I wish I had more time. Today was badly planned. And we only have 12 miles down for the rest of the month on our car so we are going to drive to a central location and do some walking tonight haha :) Love ya! See you in 6 months to the day ;) elder Parry

Last Zone Conference With the Taylors

Dear Family, This week was good. I feel like this week, like a few of the previous, has been more driving than teaching, and our whole District is putting hard core focus on street contacting; talking with every person we see in between every appointment and visit. It is a lot of fun because I feel like all 11 of us are fearless in doing it. We all have testimonies that people are found in this way too. Thanks Elder Pollmeier! By the way, Facebook told me that He is engaged to be married in August. Crazy stuff! And poor girl too because he is one hard-core dude haha. We had our last Zone Conferences with President and Sister Taylor this week. On Wednesday we will be having a Spanish missionary meeting which is the last time I will see them. Supposedly we will get super spoiled by all the stuff they are cleaning out of the mission home. Also-- I heard that President Griffin gets here mid-way through this week so President and Sister T are staying in their daughter's apartment, running the mission, until Monday when PG takes over. I cannot wait to meet him and sister Griffin. They seem like the sweetest people. As soon as I saw their picture in an email I knew that they were going to be legit. I know they are going to bring a lot of love and patience to the mission. I also feel that with the current mission leadership we have, the mission will stay strongly obedient to the Book of Blessings like we have for the past 3 years. The meeting was very good though. We talked about staying "weird" and "peculiar" our whole lives. One of President and Sister T's greatest desires for us is that we come home and share with them how things haven't really changed in the transition; that we are comfortable being weird. Elder Bednar told them (in addition to other quotes such as; "don't repeat that or I will kill you," "that's stupid," "family history work is simply not an option for any of you," "if you quote me on that I will take away your church membership.") this: "decide now to be weird." That is how it needs to be! Why not be weird? We aren't trying to impress the world. Probably the easiest, most blessed, and most natural way to be weird is keep all the commandments. So keep it up!! We also talked about style vs. substance when it comes to change in leadership. Substance is transfers and the Restoration (we will STILL change companions, and we will STILL teach the Restoration). Style is having transfer meetings, a transfer bus etc. President and Sister T left us all with powerful and loving testimonies and we were also all given 15 minutes to share our :60 testimony focused on the Savior. It was a spiritual meeting. And I got to hug my car friend Elder Rogers one last time! I know he will miss me and all the good I did to his cars! 6 days left and President Griffin is in charge! I am having a lot of Spiritual experiences out here and I know I won't have any problems keeping it up when I get home. I will strive to keep it up! Most of it has come as I have read the scriptures; mainly the Book of Mormon (95% of my scripture reading haha). I am growing to love some very ordinary things that I read in the BOM. Anything I read in there invites the Spirit. It is a powerful book. I am making a lot of personal connections as I read it. One of my favorite things to read in there are the prayers. Those prophets really prayed like it all depended on God and worked like it all depended on them. They surely did pray as if it were a wrestle with God, until their prayers reached the heavens, and with all the energy of their hearts. My favorite chapters of these are Mosiah 26, Ether 3, 12, Alma 8, 29, 31, Christ praying in 3 Nephi, 2 Ne 4, Enos and some others. Elder Reid from the apartment is a very Spiritual man so we love talking about our experiences from reading the scriptures and teaching. It is a great apartment atmosphere because I have been in others and--I love the missionaries--but I hate the sin of un-focused missionary work. Something that I feel is going well for Elder Castro and I is that I can be blunt with him. It is interesting. I love him and he is a great missionary, but he can improve to so much better. I am never blunt out of self-righteousness or pride, but I am here to tell him what he can do better and I know I am fine saying it to him because my motive is love. I have no fear just saying to him what I think and he takes it as something to improve on if he would like. For example, he told me one of his first days with me that he is not very focused, and it is true; he gets distracted very easily, and the moment I heard that I made it my personal mission to make sure he is on task in the companionship haha. If he is talking about something unrelated to missionary work ( a lot) then I will interrupt him with something about the work in our area. It doesn't bother him, it helps us. I like this because it is much more fun focusing on others' growth than my own. I am doing my best out here. I am honestly working so hard. It is not the former hard-worker me; stressing my companions out, focusing too much on obedience, beating myself down when I mess up. It is more of a newer hard-worker me. We don't miss a minute of proselyting, I mess up a lot but I feel like I have learned how to repent on the spot and move forward. I don't miss a single person to contact when we are out working because I know how important it is to let everyone know. I am working on testifying and leaving all I have to offer as a Representative of Christ out on the line while I have a chance; while there is still time, because time is running out and we don't need to waste time in lessons talking down the doctrine, leaving commitments that aren't important, or being satisfied with no growth or no commitment from others; I have done a lot better at laying it all out on the line for these people to accept or reject. The ward is awesome. I love Barrio Estrella. I love it so much! I just sit here and think of it and all the faces of the wonderful, faithful members come to my mind. I don't really want to go anywhere. I would love to stay here two or three more transfers then spend the last two at a more remote ward that I haven't served in here in the valley. I don't want to go north at all, it is too cold up there and it is for weenies! I fear that I will be serving in the La Joya ward soon, which is in the stake and really close to here. I feel like I know how it has been over there and how it will be, and it is just a bunch of stuff I don't want to have to deal with. I could be wrong; I hope I am, but The Lord knows best! You are all in my prayers and I think about you a lot. Thanks for your wonderful examples and prayers sent my way. I am sorry I am not good at keeping a tab on writing to and about you all specifically, but I love you and it excites me to hear what goes on (except for when people get bit by dogs). Keep living the Doctrine of Christ! Love, Elder Jacob Parry

Happy for Caroline!

I had a very spiritual moment and learning when it read one
of my favorite scriptures this week. I wanted to share it with you! I
have felt that the last 3 weeks have been exceptionally tough for me
so I was confiding with Elder Castro as we studied on Thursday. I read
Ether 12: 24-27 and I tried to imagine how Moroni must have felt when
he had just finished reading about the people of Jared written in
Adamic; from what he writes it sounds like he was astounded and it
made him feel sorry for his own weaknesses. It sounds like he is
praying to God when His voice comes to Moroni to tell him not to
worry. I read The first line of verse 27 and it stood out to me
different than it has before; it says that WHEN we come unto Christ
THEN he shows us our weaknesses. I feel like I have been coming unto
Christ pretty hard-core lately. I feel like He is helping me see my
weaknesses because I have shown him my willingness to change and come
unto Him. God wouldn't show us our weaknesses if we were hard-headed
or prideful or lazy. I am seeing the blessings of trials and
imperfections. Even though it seems harder than it usually is and that
I am messing up a little more than usual, God is showing me what I
need to do better  and I feel like I am returning the favor by trying
to improve! It was a powerful moment for me :)

This week was great. Every week is great and each one goes by faster
than the last. I am so happy for Caroline. Wow! Thanks for being such
a great example to me and to the whole family. You are going to have
so much fun with all your Bolivian friends! You will many South
American companeras tambien! Don't sweat it, you will do great out
there. You will probably see many more people to talk to in the
streets. And you will probably be taller than most people haha. I
can't believe Caroline is going on a mission! I always knew she would,
but it is just crazy how it is here already. Mom and Dad are going to
have 5 RM children! But only one Mexican: me (see photo below).

I love you all very much and anhelar to see you soon! But don't worry,
I am working really hard and happily out here and making lots of
friends. I don't really want to go home yet so here's to the rest of
the mish!


Love, Elder Parry

Elder Castro

Dear Family,

The "Mormons Next Door" event went well! There were about 8 nonmembers
that came to the event and a few of them asked questions. The Estrella
Sur Hermanas are teaching one of them now. Ernesto and Mariana came
and they really enjoyed it. They came to church this week. Mariana for
the 8th straight time, and they will get married as soon as they just
echar las ganas! So we will see with them. The activity was cool
though. I had a special job to click each time we needed a new slide
:) it was a cool Public Affairs presentation made by nonmember polls
and facts about the church so people know what it is.

Mi nuevo companero is Elder Castro!!! He is a lot of fun! He was born
in Michuacan Mexico, raised in Baja California and has lived the past
7 years in Salt Lake City. He went to Granger High School. He speaks
English very well, but he is still learning a little. He came out just
a little bit after me. He was called to serve in the Farmington New
Mexico mission but came over when we got Flagstaff last July. He
served in Wickenburg when I was in Surprise so we had known each
other, exchanged referrels, and had a lot of meetings together before.
When I left Surprise and Elder Fife, he came into my spot and served
with him. We have a lot of connections and we are actually quite the
boss companionship, so we decided that it will probably only be a
one-transfer companionship. He is a little younger than me but it is
nice to be with someone for the first time since last JUNE that has
been out for at least a year. He is funny. He reminds me of the poly
friends. He is super polynesian for some reason haha. He laughs a lot,
isn't always focused on what we are doing, and just lives the poly way
of life. But he works hard and is a master teacher. We have already
had some good experiences together. He is strictly obedient and a
repentant person. He is helping me to be repentant myself. Not to
creat a burden, or to point out what we are doing wrong; it is simply
because he has a testimony of ROI (blessings received) and he doesn't
want us or I to miss out on them. I feel myself being more humble and
open to suggestions. We are going to have a lot of fun and get work
done too. Last night was the end to a kind of tough week as far as
getting into people's homes and at 8:30 we stopped by someone's house
that Elder Ramos and I had street contacted before. Martin, Monica,
Marissa, Angelito, and Ashley all let us in to have a prayer with
them! It was B-U-TEE-FULL! We felt the Spirit and they look just like
a Mormon family. So we will let you know how they progress! Slowly but
surely.

This weekend was Stake Conference. It was boss. Sunday was kind of
boring--the youth speakers; dramatic, the stake President; dry--but
the Work of Salvation adult session was EPIC. I told Sister Taylor
that it was one of the most inspiring meetings of my mission. After
President Taylor spoke and the meeting ended, the Lermas (member RM
couple sitting next to us) leaned over to us and said they have a
friend to invite over for us to teach. I asked his name, they said
Calvin, then we had dinner and a lesson with him yesterday! It went
great. Victor Sanchez, someone I had interviewed and have met through
Elders Boyce and Busick. He is absolutely golden. He got baptized with
his family last month and he and another person (Brother Kpodo) shared
their conversion stories. Absolutely inspiring. The Spirit was very
strong and these two people are so converted. They were teaching us
from the stand. Victor shared with us the Doctrine of Christ and said
that he is only in 1 Nephi right now so he only had 1 Nephi verses to
relate to the Doctrine. It was much cooler to see someone relate those
verses to the Doctrine rather than hearing the same Topical Guide
verses we here in every single talk. These people are very special.
Hopefully people were inspired. A mom of 3 missionaries spoke and she
was way funny because I was reminded of our dear Mother Becky haha it
was awesome! She said that the first time she called her son for
Christmas that when she heard his voice she yelled "MY BABY!" and all
the other missionaries in the apartment heard and made fun of him for
a week haha. Stuff like that. Sister and PResident Taylor spoke too.
President Taylor spoke by the Spirit LIKE A BOSS. He told his 24
missionaries to stand up and said something to the effect of; "Victor
Sanchez and Brother Kpodo are miracles of conversion in the Gospel. I
was at their baptisms and they had smiles from ear to ear. The Spirit
testified so strongly of these saving ordinances. Sister Narramore;
your sons mean the world for you, but they don't need more clothes or
packages from you. They want to teach, they want to serve others. I
have here 24 of our finest servants. And here--in the West Maricopa
Stake, is THEIR sacred ground and they want to serve with you! So quit
being spectators to this great work." He said so much more but I don't
remember everything. Just how I felt. It was a Spirit Slam down for
me! We sang the hymn about the sheep that are wandering and helpless
and cold and the chorus for the fourth verse changes: it says WE'LL
HASTEN instead of He (Christ) Hastens. This work is hastening!!!!!!! I
will try to never forget that night.

Transfers were fun too. Not as many fireworks as I expected but it was
very emotional for PResident and Sister T. They showed us the first
transfer video they made (from 3 years ago). It was cool. We saw the
last PT transfer video and sang the Marvelous work hymn for the last
time too. A lot of memories for me since that was the 7th and final
transfer meeting I have had with them at the head. President left the
charge with the mission that we RISE UP. He said that we are living
far below our potential, and it is true. There is so much more to be
doing and improving and PResident wants to see us rise up. The biggest
concern I have with the Hastening of the Work and Rise Up right now is
I am so emotionally invested, excited, willing, and energized to catch
the wave; I just don't know how to best do it. I feel like our whole
district is that way. I wish we could somehow bottle up all this power
and send it in the right direction efficiently. I will be studying how
to best hasten the work in my own sphere this week. There is a lot to
do. I just don't know exactly what. I will start by doing what I have
always done, doing what I know is right, and improving on what I know
I can improve. But I want to see miracles (not for my sake at all, but
for those of whom we serve), and make sure this work hastens how it
should while I am out here in this specific companionship, area,
barrio, and District. So pray and study for your own inspiration of
how you can hasten the work!

The District changed a lot! We lost 3 and gained 4! Elders Busick and
Ramos left and Hermana Polomino left too. Hermanas Stanley and Johnson
came and Elders CAstro and Miller came too. Miller and Johnson are
being trained so they are brand new! Hermana Stanley came to Estrella
Sur and is a tri-panionship now! Que loco! It is an exciting District
and I am happy to be in the same spot in which I am. This District is
way cool. Elder Ramos went to Monte Vista (North Phoenix) which is
like 10 miles to the right and 10 miles to the north. PT said that he
would love to send us on splits so I can help translate for him at his
doctors appointments :)

Can't wait for Sister T to text me next weekend and I hope you enjoy
your Italian pizza!!

Love, Elder Parry

Elder Ramos is Transferred

Dear Family,

Thank you for all the stuff you have sent! Thank you for the wonderful package of Macaroni and trail mix, thank you for the crystal light packets, the Pres TSM award was really cool thanks Dad, and thanks for the Boston strong bracelet (I am giving it to Sonia Soto, she is a strong returning member that we are helping get to the temple), THANK YOU for the family history stories!!! Those are rad. Thanks for the mail and for the info on the last month of craziness. Sounds like fun. I am trying to keep up on it all. Hope my weekly letters are enough of stuff in return. :)

Me quedo y el Elder Ramos se va! Actually, Elders McMillan and Reid (our roommates) pulled a HUGE prank on us this morning. I was in the shower and they switched their name in our phone with the Zone leaders and sent the "transfer text" 15 minutes before the real one. It said that Ramos and I were both staying and that a bunch of other random things were happening. We were freaking out! Once I found out they were messing with us, I started punching Elder Reid really hard.  Transfers are super stressful for me haha. It never matters to me what happens because I trust God and President Taylor; I just get on-end not knowing what is going to happen. I like to know. Last week Elder Ramos and I found an electric fan for free on the road so we took it. It doesn't have a case so it was a dangerous plastic blade haha. Anyway, the demon fan had been shredding us all week whenever we would bump into it so yesterday, as I was stressed about transfers, I grabbed the phone while it was still running and hit it against the ground several times. It kept fanning. Then it busted.

I am going to miss Elder Ramos. He has a number of spiritual gifts. He has helped me understand how to build a relationship (I know that sounds gay, but here me out). He has not been afraid to tell me what I can do better or what we need to do better. He has put extra focus on our companionship (one of my weaknesses is to focus too much on members, investigators, district, doctrine, and even apartment mates, that I forget serving, loving, and listening to the companion), and he has helped me to slow down and have a good relationship with him. He is my best friend from the mission. No exaggeration, I love him. We have a strong friendship that will last. It is interesting to see the impact of 4 short months spent together versus the rest of our lives that we will be friends because of the 4 months. Good times.

I am excited to meet the new guy tomorrow! I will let you know who it is as soon as I can. I will be here in Estrella though. YES!!! Also- two people are training in the District and one of the sisters is
getting a 3rd companion so things will get busy! I am ecstatic to be able to go to President's last transfer meeting. I am sure it will be very special for him. It will have a powerful spirit I am sure.
Hopefully Sister Taylor, Elder and Sister Rogers (The vehicle people; whom I love so much!), and other office staff and maybe some missionaries. I really am excited tomorrow. I expect it to be very
memorable.

I told Elder Ramos that this was the companionship in which I have felt the Spirit the most. On Sunday I decided that I have felt the Spirit the most testify to me of the hastening of the work. At a
leadership meeting President Taylor shared that the General Authorities trying to make changes through the missions in the world versus through the wards and stakes is the same as the difference
between turning a speedboat in the ocean versus an aircraft carrier. It is very true. Not to say anything negative about wards and stakes; it is just harder. Then President Juchau (2nd counselor in the
mission) came to the zone meeting on friday and shared with us his testimony of how cool it is that we are all as missionaries catching the vision of the Hastening of the Work at this time in the history of the church. He talked about how we are all going to be bishops in 10 years. I don't know about that, but the principle is the same. This isn't to say that there are leadership problems in the church now at all, but the future looks bright. I am excited to serve alongside any APM RM or any RM for that matter. The Church is preparing for the youth to lead the church. There is such a focus on them right now. Our job is to catch the vision and look to the future. Anyway, I felt the Spirit in a stake coordination meeting with Elders Andrus, Dart, Giron, Soper and Brother Slinker of the Stake HC, President Waldron (stake), and President Morris (Mission first counselor). We were talking simply about all the success and movement we are seeing in the work here in the stake and what else needs to be done. It wasn't a serious conversation really. But we all started feeling impressions of hope and excitement for the future and the Spirit was telling me that this is the Lord's work, He is in charge, and (in perspective of His time) it is speeding up SO FAST right now. Think of how fast the work is moving since the spring of 1820 versus the 2 millennia previous to that (Besides Christ establishing the church and His Atonement...)! I may get lazy and offended and leave the church (which I won't), but I couldn't accept any amount of money from anybody to say that this work isn't God's work to save His sons and daughters.

I am so excited for Caroline! Graduation, BYU, and mission call were so much fun for me. I cannot wait to hear where you go Sis! I am praying that the Apostles and the Prophet are inspired to send you where you need to be and that you come to know in no time that it is where you are supposed to be. I also heard a wonderful story about Mother serving the Wood family. Truly an answer to several prayers of desperation AND faith. Isn't it a sweet feeling to know that you were worthy and willing and ready to help be the answer to someone else asking for God's help? I am sure that is a very strong bond to someone's relationship with God, both our family's for being a part of it and the Wood family's relationship with him. There are just no coincidences of the Gospel. Responding to a prompting like that is exactly what President Monson has always taught us. You have also demonstrated that this Gospel is a Doctrine of ACTION; something that every missionary learns is missing in the other churches haha.... Love you Mom. I will pray that your ankle supports you as you party in Europe. I have decided that our faith can make it happen but maybe the pain that you don't have in Europe doubles when you get back; you like to make deals in prayers mother, is that a fair one? Haha.

I had a similar (probably a lot smaller) experience yesterday. Elder RAmos and I visited a less-active we hadn't met before. She wasn't there, she was at the hospital. Without really thinking about it, we
asked for the room number (we knew exactly which hospital) and we went to leave a blessing. Her face lit up when she saw us and said she was praying for someone to come. The whole process of going to visit her at the hospital I knew that she was expecting us. The Lord took us there! Also- The new Tolleson chapel brought in several visitors from the street this week. We just put up 'Open house' signs and people are inspired to come in!

As for the area, every area goes up and down. For Estrella West, I am not even sure where we are because things are so crazy haha, but I think we are headed up because we figured out so many things this week!!! We can't tell you everything we figured out about the Noris family, but just know that we are working with the husband, wife, and 8-year-old son so that they can all make sacred covenants very soon!! We are close with the ward on this effort. Mariana and Ernesto are still on fire; Mariana has been to church 7 straight weeks and Ernesto finally came back after so long at work. The whole ward had missed him. We met their daughter too. She is real cool. As soon as they get married, they will be baptized!! They just need to ponerse las pilas (put in the batteries), and by the certification. Updates to come. We found Karina again and are teaching her!!! Man, she is cool. SHE CAME
TO CHURCH WITH HER BOYFRIEND!!! Yes. Miracles were given to the Estrella West area. The Lord loves His children here. I am excited to get a new perspective on the area from a new set of missionary eyes tomorrow. We will see where the Spirit guides our companionship.

Love you, talk to you again in 6 days! See you in 7 months!

Love, Elder Parry