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