Covering Three Areas

This week was wild! So on wednesday we actually went to the airport to drop off Elder McFarland who had to go home early for medical reasons. Let me tell you, it was one WEIRD experience being in the airport (see photo). Elder Dart was pretty chill though. It had been a while since I was there and I will be back there probably before I even know it. Now his companion, Elder Yoxtheimer, Elder Johnson, and I are left here to cover THREE areas until transfers on Wednesday. It is going to be stressful, but we will manage somehow. We are trying to all go out with members during the night to visit people in our own areas. It will be some lonely work over the next eight days, but we will be together as a tri-panionship at nights, and we are working with the La Joya Hermanos and the Spirit so we will be all right :) I am sitting on the yellow couch in our apartment next to Elders Arave and Dart. They get picked up in 20 minutes and will be eating bien rico tonight with Mr. Steak man. They will be great. Elder Arave is going to Weber and Elder Dart is going to USU. I actually got an email from Elder Cardoso for the first time and he is currently at LDSBC--working to make it in to the Y. You should try to meet him somehow! He said he will see me at my homecoming. It is a ways away but I am excited to see all these great friends at home and go to the temple with them and such! There is still a lot of work to do out here. I have actually set some goals for this new transfer and one is to dig a little deeper into the energy I have; see what more I can pull out. We had a meeting with Elder Foster of the Seventy this week and President Griffin gave us zone conferences on thursday. Basically, I love President Griffin. He is extremely inspired and exactly what our mission needs. My testimony has grown that President Taylor was perfect for the time he was here for this mission and now President Griffin can do some new things. PG is not strict at all. He wants us to use all the resources we have (cars, miles, food money, P-day time etc.) so he is allowing us to "govern ourselves" in a lot of things. President Taylor hit us hard with obedience so we were ready to receive freedoms and allowances with PG. He has a lot of trust in us. Elder Foster gave a great class on saturday! We talked about seeing others for what they can become and inspiring them to become that. We talked about a lot of things that have helped me to know how I can better inspire and love others. Being a leader has probably been one of the funnest things I have done out in the mission. Not as much leadership assignments as the opportunities I have had here and there to be there for someone when they need it. A lot of what Elder Foster said President Griffin had already gone over, and a lot of that still I felt like I was trying to apply as I look for others to serve and look to help others draw closer to their Savior, their Father, and the Spirit. It is all a work in progress though. We had a great experience on Wednesday. Elder Dart and I were doing facebook on the couch in the Stake Center foyer. A teenager walked up to the door and asked what church this is. She then asked for Holy water because she was too sinful to bless her own. We said a prayer with her and called the YSA sisters. They were 30 seconds away from the building at the time and they gave the lady a church tour. It was a miracle. It is fun to see and recognize the miracles that we see every day. The whole valley is getting pumped for the PHX temple open house! I have already invited a few friends in the valley and plan to invite a couple more so I would like to ask your help to reserve a few tickets September the 29th because they are going to go FAST! Well we shall see how this week goes. It will probably be crazy. Every week has been though. It is Elder Johnson's birthday this friday and we are eating Peruvian buffet so that will be exciting. Yesterday we had goodbye Sopes for dinner, a meat-fest at the Waldo's (The waldos that you met that own the taco shack actually live in La Joya so we went there to pig out), and a gigantic El Salvadorian Omelette this morning for breakfast. I am gaining weight and going to the bathroom a lot haha. If I were to make a guess as to how my mission will end I think that my companion that I meet on Wednesday is the last one. It could be Elder Miller, Taylor, Salas, or someone else. We shall see! It may not sound like I am having a lot of spiritual experiences out here but I am having A LOT. Every day. I love them. They sustain me, and they inspire me to have many more when I return home and have different roles and responsibilities. I love it out here. I still hope to learn LOTs lots more.

Love, Elder Parry