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!

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 

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 

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 :)