Elder Jake Parry

Elder Jake Parry
Arizona Phoenix Mission

Monday, September 29, 2014

JustServe

Helloo Family!!!

So, Gerardo, Anah, Mariana, Sebastian, and Alexa have most definitely rebounded from their setback. Everyone in the ward has been inviting them for Family Home Evenings (Noches de Hogar) and everyone wants to visit them! This may not be that uncommon for a lot of people to experience, but it has been so cool for Elder McCuch and me to see such great growth so we are having a lot of fun :) We went to the temple with them and the Morales family Saturday night. It was a blast. We saw a lot of good all-star resources-for-producing-the-spirit haha. They came to church late. The two girls were actually crying because they really wanted to participate in the Primary program. It was kind of sad. But they came to an Estrella Baptism that night and Alexa said she really wants to get baptized. It was fun to see a bunch of Estrella friends, members and missionaries, again. I kind of paused for a moment at the baptism to look around and see all the wonderful people I have met and worked with. I was also talking with Hermano Morales, who is a spiritual GIANT, on the way home from Mesa. It was cool to hear how enormous and how rapid the Hispanic church has grown here in Phoenix. He was the counselor (along with Bishop Cid of Estrella) to Bishop Zayas (former counselor in the APM) less than 20 years ago when there were only two Spanish wards in the city. Now there are over a dozen. It is so cool to learn about!!! It has been really fun for me (as you might have gathered from introducing who the Bishopric was 20 years ago) to get to know great families and leaders in the church all over the valley. I have truly been blessed to serve in 4 outstanding units out here and to get to know and work with such a sacrificing people. Hermano Morales said this is partly due to the way the Hispanic races have baby explosions in their families haha. He said that the only commandment they really stay fully committed to is the one to multiply and replenish the earth. Haha. I have been blessed to have been sent down here and I don't take it for granted! There is a lot to learn from the members down here and even more work to be done alongside with them.

I mentioned last week and several times in my emails that the work is hastening. More arrows to the quivers! This week, in a meeting with President Frost of the 70 and a bunch of other dudes in pinstripe suits, JustServe was kicked off in the Phoenix valley!! It is the 4th city (Denver, San Diego, and one other place) in the church to get it going. They said that because of the high number of Mormons here it is testing grounds here in Phoenix for what they will need to do with the resource in Utah when it gets started there soon. It is SO COOL!!!!! The church has put a lot of money into it somehow, and from some of the things we have been told, it is flawless. Basically, members in their stakes look locally within their boundaries for service opportunities. Them, along with any other people interested in service, post the opportunities on the website, then members and missionaries just hop on the website and go do service! We wear helpinghands shirts and we cannot proselyte. It is a very powerful way for great people, members, nonmembers, prepared nonmembers, to get together and strive to be Christlike. It can be up to 2.5 hours a day of service. It has increased missionary morale and decreased anxiety dramatically too. It will be so cool. Elder Frost bore testimony to close the meeting on how it will be pivotal for us to be in partnership with interfaith groups and other church organizations through JustServe as we near the final days and religious freedom because one of the most precious things we could fight for. I got the chills all through the meeting hearing stuff like this. The work is hastening!

I hope it hastens quick too because it sounds like it will get going for the missionary force in the valley by December 7th haha. But all 140 missionaries in the valley are already signed up to paint 6 houses on October 25th in one of my old areas! It all may not sound that cool, but it is, and it is a sign of the times! Tomorrow we have a meeting with President Griffin. I wasn't excited for the last 2 but I really am for this one because I anticipate PG will be pulling all his "cats out of the hat" and we can see what he and the brethren are up to. #DC8873 It will be cool.

I DOUBT that anything will change in 8 days when I write you again. I am 80% it will stay the same. Who knows though... PG is a #loosecannon. We will see. Elder McCuch is one of the most Christlike people I know and has helped me more than he knows so I am hoping the Spirit lets me squeeze some more time out of Elder Nomad (McCuch). Then again, the "boss" companionships I have been a part of have always been pretty fleeting because they're just too rough on Satan haha.

The studying is going great too! I continue to learn a lot. Today I read Section 84 and learned about how the Lord wants to be our friend and about how if we stay faithful to the power and authority He has given us we can inherit all that He has. And why be any other way? He is a perfectly loving, fair, giving being so He would want to let us enjoy all that He enjoys. Only His justice will keep Him from giving all of His children all of that stuff--so we have to prove we are worthy. It is important that we create a stronger relationship with Him as we have conversations in prayer. We need to learn to trust Him and trust ourselves. Get excited for conference! Bring an inspired question or two. I will be thinking of you all when I see all those white, Utah Mormons on TV. Love you! Happy Birthday Caroline! I have been thinking about you all day and how much fun and growth you are going to have on your mission.

Love, Elder Parry

Monday, September 22, 2014

Familes are Eternal

MAAAN! I have decided I have been slothful of telling you about some
things going over in the APM and my part of the vineyard so I will see
how this goes.

Well, we went to the temple on Saturday with Mario, Glenda, and
Cassandra, and another family I visited in Surprise got sealed at the
same time too. It was one of the sweetest experiences I have ever been
a part of. Mario, Glenda, and Hermana Hammond (other family that went
through) had really smooth endowment sessions. They were really
comfortable because they are so spiritually mature. They were all
emotional in the Celestial room. We then went to the sealing room to
do both sealings. I saw A LOT of Estrellita there. It was the best. I
had a blast with all them again. Mario is still fun as ever. He wants
me to go over and eat again soon, but I told him I couldn't until I
get home so we will need to stop by! Anyway--I wasn't
overly-emotional, other than feeling the Spirit strong all
morning--UNTIL Mario and Glenda were sealed and Cassandra came in all
dressed in white and the officiator asked her who they were (pointing
at Mario and Glenda) and she said "mis papas" and then the 3 got
sealed and had "un abrazo familiar" (family hug). I totally lost it
for those 3 minutes. The Spirit was exceptionally strong. IT was funny
too because the entire room was crying hard core when Cassandra came
in. Man, I thought I died and went to Heaven! We thought of Gerardo
and Anah in the Celestial room with their 3 kids sometime soon too.
Man, it was a beautiful imagination! :D

Well, all in all, I became very much more converted to the fact that
families can be eternal. That moment in the sealing room during the
ordinances I had not the slimmest sliver of a doubt that it is true. I
was completely reassured that families can be together forever. It was
such a wonderful testimony builder for me. Death isn't the end at all.

The mission tour was phenomenal. I wish I would've heard it like 20
months ago too haha. It was a combo of mind-opening and mind-blowing!
He talked to us for 4 hours about how to improve our teaching
basically. We talked about "The Most Important Thing" and about how
that is what we need to teach every single lesson and contact to. It
is basically receiving the Restored Gospel. He added in that we need
to help others see that NOW (i.e. in this life) we can receive a
remission of sins, the Holy Ghost as a guide, and power from God
through the Gospel. He said that just about EVERY disobedience,
mistake, or sin happens because of misunderstanding of doctrine. We
read that if we commit adultery then our souls are destroyed or
something harsh like that. Well, if we understood doctrine we wouldn't
do "stupid" things like that (The General Authorities that have been
teaching us say words like that it is funny haha). He told us that any
disagreement in the church or in our lessons happens because doctrine
is misunderstood. President Griffin has been teaching us A LOT about
preserving doctrine and teaching it the right way lately. I feel like
the Church is doing a follow-up on PMG lately; we have it to guide us
rather than memorizing lessons, but maybe the church is seeing that
missionaries are straying from the meat of the doctrine too much. Kind
of interesting. Anyway, Elder Corbridge seems strict and rigid, but he
knows the scriptures like a boss and it was cool to be with him. He
said that the Sermon on the Mount is actually not an eclectic group of
fun Ghandi teachings, but rather a Chiasm-style-written sermon with
one single overall thesis: "By your fruits ye shall know them." Kind
of interesting, read it with that overarching thesis in mind. He was
very insightful.

So, The Phoenix Temple!!!! We are really getting close!!!!!! This week
we began Sign Language practice!!!!! We are singing "Called to Serve"
and " Keepers of His Light" in the celebration and for the second song
we are doing two minutes of sign language. I am pretty sure it will be
the spiritually strongest night of my mission to be singing with 280
missionaries in front of the temple just a short month before I go
home. So we have that, conference the week before, Meet the Mormons
hits theaters the day the PHX temple opens, then the holidays, then I
am home 😳 To fill you in on everything between this: we went on
exchanges with Elder Bryant this week and the only commitment he left
with us was to be cool and calm and accepting with everything
President Griffin wants to do in the coming 2 transfers. He said that
we are going to really start to see his "vision unfold." He also said
that he has no idea where President Griffin is getting all this cats
pulled out of the same hat haha. So yeah, PG is a little bit of a
loose cannon. Don't get me wrong, he is very inspired and what he is
teaching is working (both general authorities that have come repeated
lessons that he has already taught us), but things will keep changing.
It will be exciting! This mission has grown quite a bit since he has
got here. We are excited. Last week we got three new apps "Pages,
Numbers, and Dropbox." I know they might seem a lot lamer to you than
Temple Run or Angry Birds, but for missionary work these additions
will change the work. It will start by making us more organized and
efficient :) I already started with "Pages" by making business cards
with my name, picture, Mormon.org account, a scripture, and my
facebook name too. Fun missionary work 😅 If anything that I mentioned
didn't get you thinking that the work is really hastening, then you
need to wakeup and stop sleeping through the Restoration!!!! #DC8873

Anah and Gerardo had a mini-setback this week. They didn't come to
church or the baptism that the Estrella ward had right after so we
called them. Gerardo said that Anah had been getting A LOT of
opposition from her sister. She felt super bad, couldn't sleep, and
even got physically sick  so they didn't come. Gerardo was completely
fine, but Anah was a little rattled. Her mom died recently so now she
feels like she has no blood family. Bottom line: Satan definitely gets
down to business when good things are about to happen. The closer we
get to making covenants and getting back on the path the harder and
harder el gran chamuko tries to get people miserable. My testimony of
Priesthood Ordinances and of the truthfulness of this work has grown
immensely on the mission just from seeing how hard Satan works on
people. Seeing the opposition is enough for me to know that this work
is true. Also, I know that our Heavenly Father lets these things
happen (like Job) to measure our strength. Gerardo and Anah will be
fine. They are getting stronger and stronger. Sunday night, Hermano
Cid, Elder McCuch and I went by and expounded scriptures with them for
about an hour. The Spirit was strong.

Life has been exceptionally great out here. Aside from all those big
events, all my studies this week have been super spiritual. I am
reading the Book of Mormon while studying only the Strengthening Power
of the Atonement and I am pulling a lot out of it. I am in Mosiah
right now and have actually got more from this book than any other so
far. Something I learned today in chapter 26 is that we are powered
from on high when we can forgive others. We have no right to pass
judgments because the Savior is the only one to have experienced it
all, so we must forgive all to be able to be forgiven of all. It is a
good thing to study. Well, sorry I wrote a lot, it has been kind of a
boring P-Day. This week we will be biking a little bit! We are going
to the Mesa Temple with Anah, Gerardo, and the Morales family. It will
be a great week. Time is flying with Elder McCuch. We can't believe
that transfers are in 14 days!!!😁 Good stuff, love you all!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Doctrine of Christ

Dear Family,

President Griffin came and did interviews with West Maricopa this
week. They were awesome! He is hitting VIRTUE hard in all his
interviews. That is definitely what we need as a mission. He is
working on making sure we have a steady, spiritual foundation so we
can help others. He is talking about things like making sure our 3
hour studies have ample breaks, we are eating healthy (he said that as
long as the mission wants to eat his "steel cut oats" he won't stop
buying them for us), we have more miles in our cars (President Taylor
kept a 20,000 mile breathing room each month, and PG just distributed
all of them), and stuff like that. Style changes!

We had a Spanish training meeting! It was a blast. I got to see all my
buds. Elders Miller, Nelson, Ramos, Giron, Jones, Fife, Munoz, Salas,
Cordero, and a bunch of Hermanas! It was a good group, like always. I
love the Spanish missionary culture out here. We have a pretty
tight-knit group.

La Joya is doing well. Our Bishop came to church yesterday. He spoke
about a few experiences that he has had as a member in the church
about seeing his church leaders make dumb mistakes between Sundays and
how they still shouldn't be criticized. He has been having a tough
time coming to church because of work. But he is a great guy. Gerardo,
Anah, Mariana, Alexa, and Sebastian came to church yesterday. The eggs
are doing well in this basket! I am not worried. They cancelled the
lesson on Saturday because they all needed to go shopping to buy nice
church clothes. They all came in super cute clothes! The first thing
the 3 kids do after Sacrament ends is come find Elder McCuch and I,
run over to us, and shake our hands with big ole smiles! We have been
talking to them A LOT lately about temples and having an eternal
family. They understand that baptism is how they will get there so we
set a tentative date for baptism for October 18th. They are so cool. I
am not worried at all. Even if they don't get baptized for 6 months,
they are still on track and will be an eternal family. After thousands
of people talked to, taught, and contacted, it really does make the
ONE that much sweeter.

I want to bear my testimony on the Doctrine of Christ a little bit
today. Elder McCuch and I are seeing it applied every single day.
Elder Nistler asked me what I had learned about it after on exchange
with him this weekend and I told him that I had been thinking about
all the reasons as to why our Savior would choose to perform the
Atonement for us. First and foremost, it was out of His perfect love
for the Father and for us, but also, I think it was because He knew
how hard life would be and is for each and every one of us because of
the Fall. He knew exactly everything that we would pass through and He
knew that we would need His help. I bet He imagined that as he
suffered in agony for all of us; how individually hard it must've been
for each of us. He knew that the only way to help us would be to have
went through it before. I am eternally indebted to Him for what He
did. I guess the mission is a good start, but it won't quite add up to
all the work there is after the mission!

So something that I have learned being with Elder McCuch is how
insanely fun it is to work to uplift others! I love it. Everyone needs
uplifting :) I am working on helping everyone we see and work with see
how they can improve then be inspired by the Spirit to do it! You can
do it!

Going to the Temple this week!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Love, Elder Parry

PS--We are going to the Temple this coming Saturday with Glenda and
Mario. I bet I see a lot of people from Rama Estrella and some
missionary friends so I am excited.

Granola bars and salsa please would be great! Also-- anything healthy
like dried fruit, nuts etc. Love you.

I am ecstatic about that BYU roommate lineup. Thanks for all that you
are doing to get that setup. I might take the "menace to society"
route, chill with my homies for 5 years and not get married after all!

Monday, September 8, 2014

Wettest Day in Phoenix History

 
 
Hola Familia--

This week was kind of insane. I am happy it is over! But it went well :) Just long. First off, yesterday Hermana Galarza invited us over for dinner and she said that she had a "Surprise" for us. They are friends with a lot of members over in that area (perks of serving in Spanish!) so when we walked in the door we saw Mario y Glenda Sanchez and the Bustillos family from Rama Estrella! It was a blast! Mario brought one of my favorite foods that I ate over there with him to eat with us yesterday. It was Manta Ray and I ate 8 tacos so they were delicious. But it was most absolutely wonderful because Mario and Glenda said they are GOING THROUGH THE TEMPLE ON SEP 20!!!! Finally. The time came. They have been facing many, many trials as of late. But they are ready and staying strong. Elder McCuch and I will be going with them next saturday :) 

All leadership/conversion problems aside, Barrio La Joya is a pretty boss missionary ward. We had a bunch of fun this week going out with members and Gerardo, Anah, Sebastian, Mariana, and Lexa all came to church on Sunday and they were swallowed up by wardmembers talking to them. The ward is loving getting to know them. We have a Family night about the temple and eternal families (we need to get them married!) tonight with Hermano Morales so we will be seeing some progression soon. They are one of the coolest families I have ever taught. We will keep meeting with them! 

A member at the stake center here just told us that it is the official #1 wettest day in Phoenix history! Kind of exciting huh? I took some pictures of the flooded Walmart parking lot this morning and I will try to get one of the baseball field too; it legitimately looks like a giant pond. Anyway, it canceled the zone kickball game :( haha. Please don't worry mom, I am fine. Everyone is fine. Just wet.

The reason this week was so long was because we had 3 meetings and a bunch of other "stuff" that we just had to do. I absolutely love President Griffin and the things he is doing here in the mission. He is doing an excellent job. He is following the Spirit and leading is in what we need to do. Something that is very exhausting about it is that he is really emphasizing governing ourselves and so it is leaving a lot of chore kind of things that we are going to do as missionaries rather than having the Assistants, Mission President, or the office staff do. Tomorrow we are inspecting cars! Yay. 

So I am super exhausted, but that is okay, I have so much left in the tank! Things are picking up in our area and I am really loving all the missionaries in the great West Maricopa Zone. It is a blast here. 

I know that the Doctrine of Christ is the best way to live our lives! I am seeing the small and simple fruits of living it add up each day making me who I am and helping me become a better person. I know that the Lord trusts and loves us for who we are, and even though we are never perfect out here in this life, he accepts us for our weaknesses and all. I know that we are His friends too and that He wants us to be happy. I am happy :D

Love, Elder Jacob Parry 

Monday, September 1, 2014

New (Last?) Companion

 
 
I kept the same subject line because it was fast over here too! Super long days, but fast week. The transfers/training ended at like 1:00 and we were running around all over our part of the Phoenix vineyard delivering bikes, missionaries, and luggage until like 5:30. Paradoxically, it went by fast because we had to hurry our behinds with everything that we had! I don't know why you thought I was getting transferred? Elder Dart went home early and left me home in my area for 8 days so I knew that I had to stay. Anyways, Elder McCuch is my new companion! He is from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania (cerca de Philadelphia), so he will be fun to visit after the mission! He thinks he is going to BYU which is cool because I like him a lot. He is super cool. He graduated in 2010. He eats super healthy, which is encouraging me to eat better too which has been helpful, and he works out A LOT. He is a pretty big guy. He has been following me around all mission haha. He was trained in Agua Fria (where I was trained), came to Surprise to be with Elder Fife when I left, and just got transferred from Barrio Estrella where he was with Elder Castro. Small Spanish mission huh? Haha. He has actually had 8 different areas. He is pretty tired of getting switched around. He hopes he stays. I hope we are companions for the rest of my mission. He is really helping me. He goes home one transfer after I do. I am sorry if a lot of this bores you, it is really interesting to me as I reflect on the week. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Elder McCuch wants to play baseball at BYU when he gets back so we have talked about that a bunch! I told him that my 3 brothers are basically pro.

So last week in the crazy 3-missionary 3-area week we found a family: Gerardo, Ana, Alexa, Mariana, and Sebastian. I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but they are probably the most legitimate family I have had the blessing of teaching and visiting on my whole mission. They are SOOOO COOOL. I already love them a lot. Alexa and Mariana are 8 and 6 and they came to church in cute matching white dresses and Gerardo and Ana loved it too! Gerardo was baptized 14 years ago but wants to come back. Ana cried in the second hour because her mom just barely died. Elder McCuch and I were talking, if they, as well as anyone else, need to be prepared before they find the church, then there is no better time in their lives for them to embrace the Gospel. I guess we will see how it goes. They are soaking in what we are teaching. Elder McCuch and I have felt the Spirit and had a lot of fun preparing to teach them! They have outstanding member support (dysfunctional ward, but they are all converts so they love missionary work!). My only fear (and it is a very little one) is that we put all or hope, love, and eggs in one basket and then the basket breaks. They are just too cool for it not to work out! I think it will though. Ana said that she would be baptized and we are going to the Mesa temple to see the stuff soon. The Spirit is definitely in the works with them. Pure and complete guidance to this family! 

It has been a wild week. This next week is wild too. Tomorrow we have the nerdy meeting that I don't really like (council meeting), then wednesday we have my FAVORITE meeting! Mission leadership meeting. It will be the bomb. It is a bigger group and a lot of my friends will be there. Then thursday we have to plan and then friday is a meeting for our zone. All this stuff just makes us have to work harder in the less time we have to proselyte. I love this area! Like every area I have been in. I love it. I have loved each one of my companions too. #spoiled. It has been an easy mission in a lot of aspects. I keep getting the Spiritual impression that the mission wasn't meant to be super hard for me. Maybe I am not working hard enough? I don't think so. I feel that life will be harder for me in other phases. It has and will continue to be a fantastic two years (in what feels like 6 months). This past week was wild too. Lots of driving around. 

This is a boss companionship. At least for me and my work-style. We are following the Spirit to trey and serve others and we write 20 things on our to-do list every day and come home at the end of the night with almost every single thing crossed off. I know Mom likes that kind of thing. Hey, you have got to find joy in different kinds of things in the mission haha. We are teaching and working well together too. And I am eating healthier haha. We ran three miles Saturday morning and I wanted to die haha. If I actively try, I could lose a lot of weight with him! #215lbs.

Transfers were great. President Griffin is receiving some good revelation for us! He wants us to relax, take breaks, take some time after meetings to actually talk rather then to run away to work, and to plan better, more effectively, and more calmly. It is cool to see how I have changed in that way in my mission too. President Griffin would definitely not be okay with Elder Pollmeier's work ethic haha. It was good though. 3 Bountiful missionaries came in. One graduated from WX just barely. Elder Tevin Byington came in. They sent him up north haha. Elder Oliphant came in! I don't know if you know him, I faintly remember him. He has a sister my age and they used to live in the condos. They currently live in the wheeler's basement. Small world. 

Well I can't really remember if anything else happened this week! Something probably did. Love you! Elder Parry