Exchanges

Look, the Phoenix Temple Open House will be announced by the First Presidency and everybody will know at the exact same time. It will be a headline on LDS.org and you won't miss it. The time period will be short because the neighbors heard how many people came to the Gilbert open house and they got grumpy. Lame. I don't know if we are doing anything in the open house but I would highly recommend calling the mission office to figure out what to do. From what it sounds like, it is basically done, they are just waiting for better weather. I got your package! It is so rad! Thanks. The Chile pepper pillowcases are actually my favorites that you have given me. Elder Dart and I began using those from Day 1! I knew you think I would love them and you were right. Thanks for the food too. I have a lot of food in this apartment now haha. The interview with President Griffin was so fun! We got to go to the mission home (it was only my fourth time) and eat lunch with him and Sister Griffin. They are the sweetest, stress-free, excited, calm, ready to lead us out, and their testimonies are on solid ground. President Griffin is so funny and very loving. I didn't think I could get closer with anyone after President Taylor but this won't be a problem. PG is actually super cattle-ranch style too. It is funny he says stuff like "s'many" instead of "so many" and stuff like that. He owns a lot of land in Montana and he said that the church owns the most ranch land in the world out of any other institution. The first interview was me, Elder Dart, and him. He was talking up Elders Dart and Andrus (before me; just went home) to me and telling me what great shoes they have to fill which is true and it is really cool to be a part of that group. He kept poking fun at Elder Dart that he is going home soon. Elder Dart is way cool because he is not trunky at all and he won't be. Very honorable. Reminds me of my trainer. He also tells me that he doesn't have feelings. So I working on getting deep into his feelings haha. In that interview President Griffin talked about all the people in the zone. Great insights. In the personal interview PG talked about Virtue using the scriptures and personal experience. It was powerful. It is good for every missionary to have. His style is very different. PT got on the same page with us by sending us texts 3 times a week, writing us every week, and posting on facebook (journalism) and PG gets on the same page with us by trying to have 40-minute interviews in the Mission home with the whole mission, telling us to stay after meetings a little bit so we can talk and be of assistance to others, and by visiting us. Both great styles. I went on 2 exchanges this week. I actually ran into some HUGE miracles in both days. Elder Weiler is really cool. I lead out the area so I really didn't know what I was doing. We met for the exchange at the football stadium which is kind of cool because every time I watch the Super Bowl in Glendale for the rest of my life I can say that I met there in the parking lot for exchanges haha. We had a lot of fun though and Elder Weiler is a smart guy. He isn't trunky either. Great mission. I have a funny picture of him reading Dad's letter; he brought it to us from the office and was wearing his own Yankees shirt that night he was looking at all the pictures of you guys. I went with Elder Osai on exchanges in his area. I was on bike and actually burned my arms hard core because it hadn't been that hot for me on bike since august. I enjoyed it. We talked to probably 15 people on the streets (people don't normally leave their AC to go outside here). It was sweet. Elder Osai is from HAwaii and has been out one month. It was the first time leading his area out and he did a fantastic job. Very great job. He got lots of confidence from it. La Joya is an interesting place. We are working on really getting the members converted! It is tough. They have a lot of marriage problems so the last two sundays we have talked about Chastity, marriage, divorce, temple sealings etc. in all 3 hours. That, along with Evan maybe getting married (Really!? Man that is crazy), and Elders Dart and Arave going home soon has focused me on marriage this past week! I am so excited. I have been thinking about it so much that Elder Dart keeps telling me that I need to wait at least 6 months to get married even though he doesn't think I will be able to. I want to get married so bad, but I think I will be okay because I don't have any potential investigators to go home to haha. Start at ground one. See what people you can bring to the aeropuerto! Anyway, I love La Joya. Barrio Estrella was phenomenal. Elder DArt did a baptismal interview yesterday so we went back and visited for a bit. Didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them again. Great people. These two wards are very different though. I wish I made more time to write because I learned so much this week and we had a lot of great lessons, learnings, contacts, and events that I would love to tell you about. I don't really remember what I did yesterday though so I am all over the place. The whole week was good and I am always thinking about all of you and what you are up to day-in and day-out. I can't wait to come home and groove with you all and show you some cool tricks I have learned out here and learn from what you are all up to! I am cheering for Evan and Sophie. If she has any sisters, you can tell them my address!!! Love you all. Keep up the good work. Love you, Elder Parry