Elder Jake Parry

Elder Jake Parry
Arizona Phoenix Mission

Monday, October 27, 2014

Standoff Lesson



Another great week!

Elder McCuch has ran me ragged this week. Literally too! We went on
exchanges and I was biking. The freezing mornings and hot, sunny days,
and some violent allergies made me sick for a couple days. That stunk.
My allergies are bad down here! But please don't worry; I am still
using all the meds you gave me last year. I have been running A LOT
since Elder McCuch got here. We typically run 3 miles 3-4 days a week.
Saturday we ran it in 20:10 and today we ran it in 20:42!!! It is
insane!!! But I am not losing any weight. Probably because a still
load up on frijoles and carne every night. We are running each other
ragged though. I have noticed that it does us well to plan out what we
should do when we have 10-minute drives to do. Haha. Lots to do. I
like it though.

President Griffin is doing work! He is helping us to become
laser-focused on the doctrine that we teach in the Church. He says
that if we have the 4 lessons locked in and we can teach them just how
they are written using scriptures, then that will be how we find new
people and teach them to baptism. Along with what Elder Corbridge
brought to the mission, he is creating a vision for us to know the
doctrine and become converted to it. It was pretty boss at Transfers
when he repeated to us D&C 11:21 about obtaining the word first. Then
he said "Let's bind the Lord to His promise and make Him put so many
people in our path because He trusts us and because we know the
doctrine so well." If things go as planned, this mission will get a
lot of work done, and just like President Taylor, President Griffin
will go down in history as a LEGEND. This 1-2 punch goes down first in
my all-time 1-2 punches in history (barely ahead of Ortiz-Ramirez).
So, we have put aside Conference talks, Book of Mormon reading,
Patriarchal Blessings, and anything not saturated in doctrine for our
study time and have 30 minutes of personal and 2 1/2 hours of comp
study for practice teaching and studying the doctrine. It is rad!

The Temple work is still moving forward with great momentum, and
frustration sometimes haha. It is tough getting people up there and it
takes all our efforts sometimes, but it is all worth it! We sent a
couple investigators up this week and went with a less-active lady,
Dora, to help her understand a little more about baptisms for the
dead. It was sweet. We plan on going twice more this next week before
it closes (fingers crossed that Jim follows-through with me and we go;
I told him anytime of any day!!) Tomorrow we are going with our
Peruvian friend and his Cuban friend, Angel. Angel has read first
Nephi. We taught him last week and I mentioned how Nephi began
building the boat in chapter 17. He corrected me and told me it was
18. It was funny. He is doing great. We hope to get a few other people
up to the temple. Last night we had a STANDOFF lesson with Anah and
Gerardo. It was a powerfully fragile evening. Haha I will explain. The
Spirit was very strong. We taught Moroni Chapter 10 Verses 3-5 to help
Anah pray specifically because she is to Cactholic. Then we told them
that we need to take a short break from them. It was one of the
hardest breaks ever made! But it will work. We need them to read a
little more on their own and get the marriage process moved on their
own. We are praying that the Light of Christ can help Anah's lawyer
see it necessary that they get married and the Anah gets a specific
answer to her specific questions. When Gerardo heard what we want to
do he was saying. "I get it, I get it! They are going to see if we can
progress on their own." And they will. We will see them at church
sunday and set something up then. We are by no means done with them.
They will be fine. We got ties from them and Elder McCuch wanted to
get his tie signed by all of them. It sounded so barbaric because it
made us look like we werent coming back haha. So I told them they
would all need to sign mine when I got back. They are fine.

So be thinking and praying about Anah, her lawyer, and Gerardo! Also I
will be excited to tell you next week about those temple visits and
Saturday night we have Stake Conference again. I am pumped because it
is the Stake Leadership I have worked with for 10 months... And
President and Sister Griffin will come. Who knows, maybe I might just
finally leave this place in 3 weeks!

Lots of experiences out here about following the Spirit and seeing the
Hand of God directing His very own work that He lets us be a part of.
We are not in the work of salvation as much for the work we give
ourselves, but for the growth we get from participating :) If that
were not the case than the Lord would put robots or some much more
capable group of people to get this work done. I am excited for
Caroline to go out and study about, pray for, expect, recognize, and
experiences miracles every day. In following these steps, we will
become one with God in the work. Like Nephi (Helaman 10) we should be
able to do ANYTHING for the Lord's work according to our faith. It is
strung throughout the standard works that we are to ask God anything
that is righteous, in Christ's name, and it is given to us. Humbly ask
for and expect miracles. Moroni (7:37) tells us that the only time we
aren't seeing them is when we are being "wicked." We were made to work
miracles in the service of God and His children. My faith is growing
out here. At the same time, faith is not grown in seeing miracles, but
in obedience to the Gospel. Obedience, faith, then miracles, then more
miracles. I think that is the formula. Miracles should be a daily
occurrence for us all. I love you all and have been glad to hear so
many good tidings from all of you. Way to beat Highland!!!

Love, Elder Parry

Monday, October 20, 2014

The Atonement



I have been learning a lot about the Doctrine of Christ out here! This
week I learned some cool things about the Atonement that I want to
share. I read 1 Nephi 19:9 where it says that the Lord will [did]
suffer so much for us "because of his loving kindness and his
longsuffering towards the children of men." I think that what Christ
went through was hard not because of the effects of physical pain and
torture as much as it was hard because He loves us and knew that the
pain He was feeling was literally what WE would go through in the form
of temptations, afflictions, physical pain, unfairness, sin, and any
other inequality we experience. Being God, I don't think the Atonement
he performed made Him suffer because of any physical implications, it
was because He loves us. This leads me to something else I learned;
The more you care, the harder it gets. Like I have said before, my
mission has given me a lot of challenges, but nothing that hasn't been
too hard to overcome. In some ways, I have made the mission hard
myself. I noticed this week that on many occasions it is only hard
because I care so much. I (and Elder McCuch) am (are) trying SO HARD
to love, serve, listen to, care about, and sacrifice for others. I
LOVE the feelings I get as I do it. Other than the doctrine I am
learning and the hastening of the work, I have felt the Spirit the
most as I have strived to forget myself, take up my cross, and try to
minister to others. It is downright hard too. I have had to exert
myself harder than I have before (barely more than Brave Quarters
haha) as I have tried to serve others out here. It makes things hard
to work on others' behalf. Sometimes they let you down, sometimes you
let yourself down.

I am sure the Atonement was a hard burden for the Savior to bear
because He cared so much. The last thing I learned about it this week
(thanks to the Norwegian guy in conference) was that the Atonement is
infinite, it can be used 24/7 and it literally never runs out. If we
commit sins or need a little strengthening then we need to get our
heads out of the bucket and move on instead of dwelling on the past.
The Atonement has already happened. Any extra sinning will not add
more on to the Atonement because it has already been performed. We
should feel godly sorrow so that we are driven to repent! The
Atonement provides never-ending forgiveness and strengthening so we
might as well use it! We could waste the Atonement by sinning with
intentions to make amends and repent (not good), or by not using it.
We might as well use it. I am learning a lot more about these things
as I see it in real life rather than just reading about it!

The Temple was very Celestial! We went with Anah, Gerardo, Alexa,
Mariana, and Sebastian. Alexa was shaking the hands of EVERY SINGLE
worker in the temple as she walked through. It was way cute. A bunch
of them wanted to hug her back too. They all loved it. The neighbor
they brought loved it too! I know that they will be back in the temple
to be sealed one day. Anah wasn't feeling well spiritually and
emotionally, but Gerardo threw on his white shirt, came alone and
brought the three girls with with him. Never have I seen someone
return to church with such motivation and spirit. Yesterday we taught
a lesson to them. It was powerful. We talked about Anah's mom needing
her temple work done. She asked "Do I need to be baptized for her in
the temple then?" "Yes." "Do I need to be baptized first before I can
do that?" "Yes." "Okay, do I need to be married before I get
baptized?" "Yes." Haha. She is talking to her lawyer today and we will
see what happens. She is just having kind of a hard time letting go of
the traditions her mother raised her with. Gerardo really wants to get
married! It will happen soon. We are finding a lot of other cool
people. This is actually the most alive an area has been in that I
have ever served in. A lot of fun right now with the temple and
everything. A family of 4 that we somehow miraculously sent to the
temple last week came to church yesterday and enjoyed it. We are still
teaching Lupita who has had some pretty spiritual experiences with the
Book of Mormon. She is soo cool. It is a great time to be serving
where we are. This past week was frustrating because we are trying to
get everyone to the temple but it takes SO MUCH coordination. It is
awfully frustrating. Twice we were ready to go but had to cancel right
before because an investigator or our ride cancelled. It hurts to care
so much! We are definitely going to keep trying though with all these
people. Only 14 more days! We have a couple trips planned this week.
Pray for them!

Meeting with Caroline was so nice. She will make a fantastic
missionary. No doubt about it. I kept getting the impression while we
were talking that she would be a spiritual anchor for her companions,
other missionaries, members, and investigators as their ships of
testimony go through turbulent winds and waves. I say that in the
importance I think it is to try to touch others' lives. Overall, she
will be able to minister to so many others because her own spiritual
foundation is so strong. Go get 'em!

We are excited to see the prophet and do our dancing and singing in 4
weeks! Look for me on TV 😎

Love, Elder Parry

Monday, October 13, 2014

Buzz in the Air

All week there has been a crazy-cool buzz in the air because the
temple opened!!! It is the best time to be a missionary. More than
anything, it is the best time to be a MEMBER of this great church and
Kingdom of God. It is becoming so easy to contact people. They know
about Meet the Mormons, they have heard about the temple. There are so
many missionaries in this area that we are getting seen often! It is
cool. We contacted our Walmart cashier. We showed him the card of the
temple and he started asking a bunch of questions and asking if he
could go. This place is BUZZING! Friday, the day it opened, I was just
feeling the Spirit all day thinking about the temple. I am excited to
go in a few hours! I have so much to tell you about the temple. There
are a lot of people going! Saturday was a wreck, but a bunch of
miracles turned things around. After a lot of coordinating and praying
6 people we were teaching made it to the temple with Hermana Galarza.
We couldn't go because it was too late, but we sent them off! One of
the lady's sons, who is 7, said that he felt something really warm run
up his arms then his mom heard him say, "God is really close." La Joya
is on fire too. Everyone is inviting their friends to the open house
and we are even seeing some new faces at church. The lady that found
Gerardo and Anah took her cousin to the temple and he told us at
church that he wants to be baptized. So we sent the Tuscon
missionaries to him! Oh my goodness Gerardo bore his testimony this
week! He got up there with his chest puffed out (he is a body builder)
and just stood majestically at the pulpit, soaking up the limelight.
He bore a powerful testimony about how he knows the church is true
even after 14 years of inactivity. Then he bore his testimony in the
name of our Heavenly Father. Then he forgot to say amen before pulling
away, so he walked back to say it. Then the meeting ended. Haha. It
was epic. We are going to the temple with them in about an hour! And
Anah is inviting two of her friends. We sent up a temple trip last
night for a couple of investigators for thursday and the Barrio
Estrella friend that is giving us a ride is inviting three of her
friends. We are trying to set another up for thursday afternoon for
Lupita. She came to church finally and the doctrine of baptisms for
the dead really caught her attention so she said she wants to go. It
really is amazing me how alive it is over here. Great place to be.
Like Coach Wall always said "Great day to be a [missionary]!"

Leo Becerra got baptized yesterday!!!!!!! He is Jessica Patino's
boyfriend who Elder Ramos and I met in February. I had a lot of fun
teaching him with Elders Ramos and Castro. I have fond memories of
watching April conference with them, of sending Elder Ramos off to the
Gilbert temple with them, and of praying with him and Jessica in the
chapel of the new Tolleson Building. He had the biggest smile on
yesterday at the baptism. He was SO HAPPY. It was a sweet sight and a
wonderful day for such a great family. Once again, good to be back
with Barrio Estrella.

We had a meeting with President Waldron yesterday. I was with 8 of my
great missionary friends and President Juchau. So a year ago President
Waldron and the missionaries didn't have a good relationship but now,
it is very strong! We had five minutes left in the meeting but PW
wanted to talk a little doctrine so he expounded the Atonement to us
from the book of Mosiah for 30 minutes. We are getting JUSTSERVE
started real soon and 140 of the APM valley missionaries will be
painting houses in two weeks.

I went on an exchange with Elder Castro last week. I didn;t realize
how much I loved him until I was 13 weeks with other companions and
back with him for a day. He has really grown the past two transfers
and is even more loving. I learned a lot from him in such a short
time. I have plans to go to his homecoming soon and make it to his
wedding to when he has it. He needs some support and friends in life
and I am excited to be one of his friends.

Man, if I had more time I would tell you more about all the great
things going on and how I feel the Spirit every single day. This place
is bumping. I love La Joya, I love Elder McCuch, I loooooooooove it
out here. Great day to be a member of the Lord's Kingdom here on
earth.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Not Transferred!

Not transferred!!!

I might be stuck here until the end. That sounds negative though;
Elder McCuch is one of my favorite companions. I have grown to love
this ward the more I have worked with them. President Griffin actually
called us yesterday morning to give us the entire scoop and because he
couldn't hold it in haha. His style is so different! He continues to
prove himself a loose cannon haha. He turned 11 zones into 14 zones
and I think he is splitting up every zone leader companionship but us
to do it. Our zone is now the biggest in the mission! Only one person
changed. It was Elder Reid. I got to the zone with him in the same car
9 months ago and we lived together for 6 of those months. He is one of
my best friends out here. He is way cool. I am pumped though.
President has a lot of trust in us. And there are 7 people being
trained in the zone so I feel like Grandpa Parry among all these
younglings haha. President Griffin is definitely inspired though. I
have not doubted that so far.

Enough with the laundry business. This week was fabulous! It is weird
to think that I am nearing single-digit weeks. But there is still a
lot of work to get done! I feel like everything we are doing out here
is speeding up and accelerating. It is hard to keep the pace with what
is going on haha. The Sisters in the APM are in the Temple 36 hours a
week starting last week. Everyone in the mission is playing with the
new apps we have and making all these electronic tools to use for
proselyting. It is giving me a headache haha. WE WATCHED MEET THE
MORMONS!!! It was EPIC. Very inspiring. I predict (actually guarantee)
that mom will cry! Heck, I cried. It was so good! We actually have it
on our ipad too #APM. It had some wonderful messages. Very well-made
movie. The church is doing a lot of cool things right now.

Gerardo and Anah came to 2 conference sessions and enjoyed them very
much. We had dinner with them after. Gerardo listens to Lds.org on his
headphones at work. Anah was feeling sad one day about her mom dying
so she searched on the internet for "Spanish Catholic movies" and it
came up with The Other Side of Heaven. So she watched it and cried
even more when she found out it was a Mormon movie. They are moving
but want to find a home within La Joya because they have made so many
friends. They are doing great, they just aren't married which is
starting to worry me a little...

Conference was wonderful. We watched all 5 sessions at the stake
center. After the Sunday morning session, we had a luncheon with the
La Joya AND the Estrella Hermanos! It was greaet! It was a reunion!!!
(Elder McCuch served in Estrella Tambien). I hate 9 tostadas of
seviche mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 🍤🍤🍤🍤🍤 I got a lot out of conference and
could go on about it. But I won't. The biggest learning I had was that
of making decisions. Elders Christofferson, Scott, Godoy, and Ballard
all shared talks about that which I loved. My two favorite talks were
both President Uchtdorf's!!!! "Is it I?" and the one about finding
truth from God. The latter was something that I have been studying for
the last month off and on. I can't wait for it to come in print/ipad.

It was Gerardo's, Elder Anderson's, and Elder McCuch's Dad's Birthday
all on thursday! We had a lot of partying. We pushed E. Anderson's
face in cake a bunch, ate seviche with Gerardo, and Elder McCuch
called his Dad. He is doing fine! The first week of treatment went
really well!!! Only like 3 weeks more. :D

Love you, Keep the faith, Endure to the endowment every week with a
renewel in the temple :D

Love, Elder Parry