Transfers!

Dear Family,

It is all agreed in our apartment that this past week was verrrrrry
looooooong. It was a blast, but we were all running our own areas for
8 days. I feel like each day was 36 hours. We did an okay job at
having members coming out with us each night so we could have splits,
and we were together during the day visiting people from all three
areas. We taught a lot this week. There were a lot of people to visit
in the areas so that was fun :) Elders Yoxtheimer and Johnson are a
blast. We had a companionship theme song in the car, and Elder's
Yoxtheimer car was temporary so it had unlimited miles and we used it
a lot! We saved a lot of miles for the frontier 😂 Anyway, there were
just a lot of fun things that happened this week that I had never
experienced before in the mission. Elder Dart left 6 shirts so now I
have 13 white shirts!!!!   Haha. It is my first tripanionship and it was pretty fun. Way to exhausting to be longer than 8 days, but fun while it lasted. The coolest part; the
Lord blessed all three areas with miracles this week. Elder Yox had a
baptism in his ward on Saturday for Anna Tarango. I had the privilege
of baptizing her. She is PREPARED. One of the coolest girls I have met
out here in the mission. It has been unforgettable to see people like
her embrace the Gospel and make the Baptismal covenant with the end
goals of the temple and the eternities in mind. We found 6 new
investigators last week in La Joya Norte as a part of our miracles. 3
of them are Gerardo's wife, Ana, and their 3 kids. This family is SO
COOL! We gave a blessing to Hermana Lupita's friend (Ana) and she felt
the Spirit. That night, Gerardo told her that he is Mormon (less
active for a long time). She was like WHAT!? We need to go to church!
So the parents and the three kids; Mariana, Sebastian, and Alexa will
come to church :) Pure miracles brought us to them. The areas are fun
though. La Joya is the toughest ward I have served in, but it is all
good, the next missionary coming should be good. I think it is Elder
McCuch, but I am not sure. Whoever it is, if he is with me for 3
transfers, then he will be my last 😳. We shall see tomorrow. Elders
Yoxtheimer and Johnson are training in their areas. They will do
great. We will figure it all out tomorrow. I wouldn't go as far as to
say that President Griffin is off his rocker, but he is definitely
different than President T. THE WHOLE MISSION is going to the meeting
tomorrow for extra training. We will probably all get lunch too and
not be gone until like 5 ay caray. His style is so interesting. He is
very inspired though. I didn't get the chance to talk to him this
week, but we will be seeing him more in the coming weeks.

I learned a lot of interesting things this week. We taught someone who
is less-active, Mari, yesterday and she wants to come back to church
more than anything but she says that SHE CAN'T. Something always comes
up. She said that it is so hard for her to go to church, but she wants
to and she is trying. For the majority of my mission, I would be
pretty frustrated and just tell her a bunch of reasons why she needs
to go. I am trying to be more empathetic though, and it is SO HARD to
put myself in others' shoes. It is so hard! I have realized that it
really can be hard to make it back to church. I don't know the other
side of things and I may have a norrow-minded perspective. I am just
not sure. I know that Christ knows them and what they go through so I
need to help them trust in Him, and I know that being inspired by God
through the Spirit to return or to come to church is the best thing
that could happen so I rely on that too. But I feel like I am coming
to understand just how hard things may be in real-life. We have
"strong" and "active" members missing church 2 out of 3 weeks for
work, not having a car, not being ready on time, etc. etc. These
people are counselors in quorums and Young mens' presidents. We visit
them and tell them why they need to go to church and it may not come
off as loving to them, but we do our best. It is hard for these
people! Only God can decide who is giving their best efforts to go
despite all the opposition, but we need to go and show the LOVE so
that they can feel God's love. I don't know how hard it is for these
people, I don't even know how hard life is in general because mine was
so easy before the mission! I realized that too; life was pretty swell
for me growing up. The future looks swell too, but ya never know. I
have this false pretext that everything will come out smelling like a
rose if I just keep living like I did before the mission but who
knows! It has been good for me to take a step back this week and be
real with myself about how the rest of my life will be. The challenges
and mountains to climb that we have are what help us to grow and to
become, so I guess they will be good! So I know they will come, I just
don't want to spend 2 years judging others for their poor (or what I
judge as poor) efforts and then get home, live life, and realize that
they were really having a hard time. There is nothing trunky about
this either; but I have also been trying to learn how to apply all
this stuff I am learning. A simple question makes me look at anything
on the mission differently; "how would this look to me after the
mission?" Because it is true, we all know how and when to study the
scriptures, to bear testimony, to go to church, and to do the right
thing in general, but if we don't know how it will fit in when we get
home, we are going to get home and have trouble applying! And we would
waste some time and make some mistakes as we try to "get used" to
normal life. I think I will just take President and Sister Taylor's
advice and choose now to be weird and to stay that way :) I hope that
all made sense... I learned a lot about life!

I had a Baptismal Interview this weekend. It was TOUGH. The boy wasn't
showing a lot of excitement. He is kind of rebellious too. I couldn't
decide the whole interview whether he should pass or not. I was
praying and trying to discern the whole time, but nothing. I took a
little extra time in the closing prayer as I sought for an answer from
the Spirit. Nothing. I think nothing, but I went with the answer that
I thought was best and I followed through confidently with it. He
wasn't ready to be baptized. I learned a little there about how the
Lord answers our prayers. It was tough because I never got a "real"
answer. But I think the Lord trusted me enough to let me make the
decision I felt to be right. Whole new meaning to the scripture that
the Lord says that He will "consecrate our performance."

Well, I think there was a lot more I wanted to say. But I forgo

Love, Elder Parry

Oh yeah, mentioning to you about the weather this week isn't worth
more than 2 minutes of typing for me. I was in the rain for about 20
minutes and there were puddles in the gutters for a couple days.
Nothing special at all. Overall, this summer has been very wimpy in
heat.

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

Short Letter :-(

Dear Family, This week was great. Barrio La Joya was funny yesterday. They announced a few times about Elders Arave and Dart leaving and about how elders Johnson and I will need members to help us in our areas. It was Elders Dart and Arave's birthdays this week! It is Elder Johnson's next week so Barrio La Joya threw a huge party for one of our dinners. We had a lot of cake and Mexican food and a lot of fun company. Hermana Menendez made a big cake and for the 3 birthday guys they yelled; "Mordida! Mordida!" which means "bite bite!" And so the three birthday guys bit into it. Elder Dart did it first and Elder Arave did it last and nothing happened to them. Elder Johnson, however, had his face pushed into the cake by Hermana Clemente. It was so hilarious. He had cake all over his face and there was a face imprint in the cake. Haha. I am having so much fun out here. We are still working hard too! It is hard to believe there will be life after the mission because of my life for the past two years. Elder Dart and I have had some deep talks as we have driven around because he is getting ready to move on. It has been a cool transfer. Just so you know, this is one of the first times in the mission I haven't written ya'll first and it sure goes to show. I will write this email first next week.. It will be next monday before we all know it :D Love, Elder Parry. Sam don't die at two-a-days, I still need to come home and beat you up!

It's August!

It is August! This time last year I had already had 4 companions. It is going by fast, right? A lot of cool things happened this week. Saturday we had it planned to go to the Mesa Temple Visitors' Center with a couple investigators, some members, and some returning members. It kind of got destroyed in our face so we didn't go and that stunk. #nocommitmentproblems. The Spirit was at work though! An Elder called us the afternoon that we didn't go and he wanted to come over and talk because he was thinking about going home. We did a split the rest of the day with that companionship to be able to talk to both and shake things up from the regular routine for them. It worked out very well! I went with Elder Yoxtheimer and Elder McFarland went with Elder Dart. It was just what we all needed. It is cool to see the Spirit working through the situation. I have loved being with other missionaries and trying to help them see what they can achieve. I have been working hard on "the triangle" that President taught us before he left. It has to do with helping others create a strong relationship with the Godhead so that I can put myself out of business. O sea, making sure people aren't attached to me or other little things of little importance, but rather that they grow to depend on God. I am working hard on that. I am trying not to get to close with the members of this ward. I want it to be the ward out of the 4 I serve in that I have the least strong relationships with the members. It involves a lot of trying to motivate and inspire through the spirit and celebrating the good they are doing and helping them discover for themselves ways they can repent. A common byproduct of this is loving the missionaries that helped; I just do my best to tell them that it was all them and that they are drawing close to God in the process :) I am trying that with missionaries and members. It worked this week! We are working on getting these members converted because that is a problem in La Joya; so we went and taught a strong member Galarza family the First a Vision and talked about some things they could do while we felt the Spirit strong. It went great and we challenged them to bear testimony in sacrament meeting so they could grow and so the rest of the barrio could get animated about the work of salvation! The mom, dad, and daughter went up and shared their conversion stories and how they feel about missionary work. #trueconversion. I love working with these members. I have definitely grown in love for this people down here. I will never forget how I feel for this people. The nonmembers are a little harder to love, but these saints down here are FAITHFUL. It has been a process. I read a journal entry from last year about loving the people and I feel so happy for how much I love them now. Elders Dart and Arave are holding strong. Elder Arave is from Layton so I am telling him to visit you too! They are so solid. No trunkiness. Puro Trabajo. They are actually great companions for me and very excellent leaders. I love being around them. I am honored to be with them at the end of their service. They will do great things. I have been reflecting a lot with Elder Arave too because he took me on my first exchange and we have served in the same wards all mission. We have a lot in common and we have already decided to be bros after the mission! I have too many bros now and no time to hangout with them haha. I will have to put off marriage a little I guess, but I am super excited to get married! I will be engaged before the end of the semester! Haha just kidding no rush. Am I your baby my whole life mom or do I get to spread my wings? Haha jk. Elder Dart is a boss though. Him and Arave have helped and taught me quite a bit actually. I am certainly soaking in this time I have to learn and follow until I am back to a little more leading at this next transfer :-/ I will be the oldest serving in La Joya, in the apartment, the second oldest elder in the zone, the oldest Spanish in the mission, and elder fife will be out a year. Ay caray. I am hooked to one of the videos on my iPad. I practically have it memorized in Spanish. It is the Elder Christofferson one on the will of god. I feel the Spirit exceptionally strong every time it watch it and I watch it several times a week. It is very powerful for me. I am not exactly sure why. I don't feel like I have had a mountain to climb or a drastic change that I have had to adapt to, in fact, I see that happening a lot to missionaries around me with their families and situations and I feel like I am ministering to a few of them. I surely have been blessed with a great and faithful family. But I feel like I have understood the will of God for me up until now in my life. I have grown to agree with it, but I haven't had an huge challenges with adjusting to it. Anyway, the message is very strong for me. I would just want The Lord to know that I am totally willing to do what he needs done and to accept it. I think that is why the message is so powerful to me. I pray often expressing my acceptance of His will and, more than anything, willingness to do what needs to be done. I love it because it makes me feel like a true instrument in His hands. I will keep doing it. I hope to encounter a mountain to climb or some kind of challenge to face that can shape me. It's what I'm looking for :-) pray that I can have the right challenges and the sufficient faith to endure and conquer it. It will help me! Love, Elder Parry PS--->Hermano Carcamo told us last night that he is in charge of La Joya's participation in the PHX Temple cultural celebration. He is excited but super confused because he doesn't know what to do. We had stake correlation Sunday too and President Griffin came and told us what we will be doing for the temple. The sisters will be doing tours, playing movies, and getting their faces seen (I asked president Griffin if we were pretty enough to do that and he said of course not). Elders will be......... The FIRST people (along with the workers) in the temple after it is dedicated to carry the furniture in to furnish the whole place!! I am pumped. We will be in white and everything. The whole mission will be singing at the cultural celebration too. Called to Serve and one other song. It will be so sweet. I bet President Eyring will come too. He always goes to those! Hermano Carcamo said he's pretty sure the open house will be no earlier than in two months and no later than in 3 months! So November or October :)

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

Graveyard Shift

Dear Family, The week one gets transferred is always the longest week (even though it is typically the shortest between P-days) because there always is a lot to do. This transfer, area, companionship, ward, zone all seem to be off to a fantastic and fun start and the theme for the transfer will be "graveyard shift." I will tell you why. First of all, saying goodbye to all the Estrella friends was AWESOME, basically because I have had so much fun with them and felt so much love towards them. I took some great pictures with some great people. I wish I could've seen all. Pero ni modo esta bien. Elder Castro scheduled 2 lessons with less-active families that night so we went and visited them. We started the rounds of visiting at 8:15 so we had to blitz! Needless to say, The Lord helped us see everyone :) Last night I was at the stake center and ran into a bunch of Estrella members so we are still pretty close. Yes I came to La Joya. It is good here. After having served here a bit (granted this is only a one-week impression) I would opinion that Barrio Estrella is the strongest Spanish ward in the mission because La Joya got the weaker half when the two wards split not too long ago. But the work is moving forward very well and I love the ward. Elders' Quorum was full of some goons (I felt like we were in Deacons' quorum haha). Hermano R. was using the wrong teaching manual, putting Starburst wrappers in peoples' ears (including my own), and doing anything but participating until he got too tired and fell asleep. His neighbor filmed him sleeping. Bishop Menchaka came yesterday for the first time in 4 weeks. Apparently he is gone to Indiana for work so much that he only makes it once a month. Anyway, don't jump to conclusions about the ward. I love it and the members are strong. I am excited to meet more. I have made friends with Hermanos Ruiz, Carcamo, Gaunte, Morales, Marquina, Galarza, Tienda, Grady, and a few others. Great families. We are teaching a few people. One is Reynaldo (people call him "Champion"). He is legit! He came to church and loved it and we read the Book of Mormon with him last night with Hermano Tienda. He is progressing strong and we have high expectations for him. We got into a less-active brother (Hermano Reveles)'s house for the first time in 6 months so we will continue there. As for the graveyard shift, I will just cut to the chase; Elder Dart goes home in FOUR WEEKS along with my roommate Elder Arave. They are getting a head start on school so they go home 8 days BEFORE transfers! Ay-caray! To make a long story longer, any mission and ward responsibilities I am learning right now I will have to take over solo in about 4 weeks. In fact, Elder Johnson will be my companion for those 8 days and we will just happily suffer together. Elder Johnson is Elder Arave's companion. He has been out 10 months and is a strong person, but we are both pretty clueless about these leader responsibilities. However, I am excited for the challenge, and am paying really close attention to detail. Tonight I have an exchange with Elder Weiler here in this area (they threw me under the bus early, but that is okay because Elder Dart has been super nice to me by scheduling a lot of set appointments for tomorrow :). Thursday we are going to the Mission Home so that President Griffin can get to know us a lot better for 40 minutes each. I am excited for that because I would love to be around and learn from him more. So I am getting thrown into the mix of things quick! It was never something I wanted but I am here where The Lord calls me. Speaking of that, transfers were great. Mainly because my testimony of President Griffin and Taylor following the Spirit is like a perfect knowledge now. It is fascinating to me to see Pres. Griffin make what I would think are the EXACT same changes that President Taylor would have done. In fact, I felt like I saw changes very similar when Barrio Estrella changed all the leadership. I have concluded that this style is the style of the Spirit and that all these leaders are following it. It was a cool testimony-builder for me. Sometime when I have more time, I would like to share the specifics that I have observed with how this style works. It is cool! I know President Griffin followed the Spirit. So I guess to cap it off, I am in the same zone. I am the oldest in the zone along with Elders Dart and Reid (like Surprise). I still see Elder Castro and my old district often enough. There is still a crazy-awesome trio of Hermanas in that District. One of the Estrella hermanas got transferred with me to La Joya haha. You might recognize Elder Arave's name. I went on my first exchange with him 18 months ago. I love him and we are having so much fun. We talk about Elder Pollmeier, Agua Fria, he served with Elder Ramos in Barrio Estrella, He lived with Elder Cardoso, so we have a lot to talk about. Elder Dart is the bomb too. He is bold and very thorough when it comes to getting things done. We have taught really well together this week. He is from Logan, UT (Mountaincrest HS) and is going to UTAH STATE in like 4 weeks ay caray. I kind of hope that I don't finish my mission here (I have my pre-conceived plan/dream that I would like to fulfill my last 4 transfers haha; we will see if it happens; probably not), but I would say 50/50 that I will. I am learning a lot out here. President Griffin has already dropped a few memorable quotes. He told us that they are things that we "might want to push our pencils to doing" (He is style Montana-farmboy haha): "Increased worthiness combined with hard work," and "teach someone to enable them to learn. Show someone to enable them to do." Well, sometimes I feel like things are wrapping up here in the mission, but I know what it is that I must do and I am sticking to it to the end of the service out here! I am excited and know there are a bunch more people out there that still need to be talked to. You are all doing a great job. Work hard, pray hard and keep being obedient :D Love, Elder Parry

Transferred to La Joya, ZL

Dear Family, This week was wild. Have I said that about every week? We went to the Mesa Temple visitor's center on Saturday with the ward missionaries, the Hermana misioneras, and Mariana y Ernesto. It was a very special experience! We watched an hour long video on the Book of Mormon then saw all the exhibits and got tours from the Visitor Center Hermana missionaries (It looks as if the Spirit only sends pretty Hermanas to serve there). Ernesto is still being kind of tough. He said that he really can't focus on marriage or baptism for the next three months because he has a lot to clear up. Mariana is still staying very strong. She looked at the Temple, sighed, and said that she wants to go inside very bad. I love her. She is such a neat person. I felt the Spirit very distinctly when I saw a statue of Christ and the quote behind Him about our "yoke being light." Very special. We really don't have a lot to say about President Griffin since last work, or since he came for that matter. He is super busy and really trying to get comfortable. To sum it up; other than a few things he invited us to study on our own when we had interviews, he has just carried on everything President Taylor style. So far transfers are the same and we will have a meeting tomorrow (thank goodness!). He hasn't written us weekly emails. Either he is busy or it is style not to write us(?) I am not bothered. President Griffin is the man. I look forward to how he guides this mission. One thing I do know is that he is following the Spirit. Friday was one of the most spiritually powerful days of my mission! Elder Castro challenged me and said it was probably the most I had felt the Spirit with a Mexican in my life. I laughed and told him that he was right. Hermano Barrera and Hermana Luz Vega said that they came to their senses and will be returning to church. It was a brief scare, but the Spirit has helped them to realize what is best. We had a powerful conversation too. Hermana lamented about having found the Gospel 70 years into her life and they both shared how they thought we were lucky. We told them that God chose and reserved them too. We just have different roles #BookofAbraham. That same night Leo said he would be baptized. We knocked down (by we I mean IT WAS ALL THE SPIRIT) two of his doubts: not knowing everything, and not having a solid sign yet. We watched a video where Uchtdorf challenges us not to retard our Spiritual growth by waiting for a sign like Saul did. The Spirit was very strong. Earlier that day we had District meeting. We talked about receiving revelation through prayer. One of the Hermanas, Hermana Stanley, began to ask more questions and bring up more doubts. We split into practice teaching and she began to get really emotional. One of her companions got emotional too. Hermana Stanley is a 6-year convert and her family stopped going to church while she has been out here. It sounded hard for her. Anyway, Elders McMillan and Reid (my roommates) began to help her with her doubts and the Spirit just filled up. It was a REAL practice teach. It was me, Hermanas Stanley, Turner, and Dayton (the Trio) and Alma and Amulek (Reid and Mcmillan). I have lived with Elder Reid for 6 months and for the first time I saw him get emotional as he read the Conversation between God and Enoc in Moses 7. It was powerful. Hermana Dayton went home today. It was kind of crazy for me because we were in the mission home together and we served here in the ward together for 6 months. She is an outstanding missionary! I have loved learning from her and all the Hermanas in this District. I counted; I have served with 9 different ones here in the ward! I don't want to sound cheesy or anything--and despite what most Elders say--I LOVE working with these sisters. I am going to miss this district. There is a lot to learn from all these missionaries and it is fun to build a strong and appropriate relationship with them. I love this ward. I love Elder Castro. I am excited for whatever challenges there are (La Joya--my next ward--'s Bishop goes to church once a month because of work). I can't believe it has been 6 months since I got here. I feel like I didn;t so enough! I have learned a lot. I know that God is proud of me. I am happy to be doing what I am doing. My testimony is strengthening and my conversion is deepening. I have made a lot of great friends. I feel like I am at kind of a mission milestone right now; The Hermanas I came out with just went home and I have 4 solid transfers left. I haven't had a set of 4 transfers at any point of my mission that didn't go by fast! Love, Elder Parry