Week 34: Welcome to Dodge

Here we are again! Writing letters! The week goes by so fast, it's insane. 

So, I made it to Dodge City! 

Some random facts that I have discovered about it so far:

-Does not smell like poo

-Is the Cowboy Capital (figures that I would find the Cowboy Capital and live there!)

-The water tower is home to at least 40 vultures (on the plus side, there is hardly any roadkill)

-The hills are more like slight inclines

-Dodge City Days Festival is bigger than Christmas. 

-Includes semi-trucks in parades 

Some things, I just don't understand. Oh well. Goodbyes in Emporia were bitter-sweet. I hated to leave the people, but I know that the Lord has prepared people in Dodge City as well. One of the 1st things that my new companion Sister Fairbourn said to me was "Happy National Hammock Day!" I knew then that we were going to get along jusssssssst fine! She is so funny, and chill. I am so excited to work with her. 

So, I fulfilled my life-long dream of being in a parade....sort of. If you count walking along side of the parade handing out pass-along cards then I was totally in a parade! We passed out an insane number of pass-along cards that day. Oh my goodness. 

How much do you know about family history? Because I didn't know that much until we set up a booth and talked to people about it for 6 hours! I am impressed with how many people in Dodge have already started to do family history! That is my challenge to you folks is to start some family history work! 

My personal favorite moment of the festival was when an elder ran up to us and said, "Quick! Elder Rojas is in a dance off!!" uh....what. Elder+soldier verses 2 eighteen year olds. I dare you to guess who won. It was hilarious!! it's probably on Youtube by now. 

On a more spiritual note, Dodge truly has people who have been prepared. We went to see a potential from a year ago and she accepted to be baptized!! The Spirit was so strong! We walked out of that lesson a little embarrassed by our teaching skills but amazed that the Holy Ghost was able to work through us despite our imperfections. It really is the Lord doing all the work, he just asks us to keep moving forward. 

Deciding to go on a mission really is my best decision so far. The world around you keeps going on but time is frozen for you. The low moments are deeper than I expected but the highs are taller than Mount Everest and makes up for everything. 

Remember that God answers prayers! 

Sister Parry

Goodbyes to the Gonzolez family, I will dearly miss them and the amazing Mexican food! 

Super hard goodbye to Pam :( This is her trying to look serious :) 

The serious didn't last too long. 

I dare you to find a cooler mission president. Wrote and sang a rap on the ukulele. Perfect. 

Goodbyes to Sister Andersen and Hello to Sister Fairbourn

Welcome to the VERY CENTER of America. Don't get too excited folks!

We were biking when the other sisters took pity on us and picked us up. The thermometer actually went up to 125 degrees!

Kansas has a cowboy church. It was bound to happen

So seriously, I wasn't exaggerating! 

Some good ol' stick pull

Week 33: Too Many Twinkies

Woah. 

I cannot believe how fast this transfer has flown by!! 

Well, it is time to say goodbye to Emporia because I am crashing Dodge City this week! It is going to be such a bitter-sweet farewell..The Haddens, Debbie, Pam, Julie..I can't say that it is totally unexpected though, I've been here for 3 transfers! 

So do you remember 2 months ago I told you all this story:

"I love it when the Lord uses crazy situations and turns them into teaching opportunities! It all started when we were riding our bikes in the rain. I was turning and noticed that the ground was getting closer and closer until we met. The best part of falling was that it was at a 4-way stop with no less than 20 people watching the whole thing! LOL Fast forward to after we got to where we were going and I felt a little ridiculous. We were drenched, and our investigator was not even home. Just then, a man waved us down and turns out, he is looking for a church! If I didn't fall earlier, we would have completely missed him! His soul is worth much more than my hip anyways!"

This week, we were at Debbie's and we talk to a man and Sister Andersen tells me that they met him while I was gone on exchanges. He then tells us that he really wants to come to our church!!! HE REALLY CAME!!!!!! We were talking at church and some dots were connected...It was him! He was the one from 2 months ago!!! I couldn't Believe it! The Lord really does work in mysterious ways! 

Tuesday was also pretty eventful. After District Meeting, we get a call from our investigator who is quitting smoking. She was a little beside herself from not having a cigarette, we manage to calm her down with the Book of Mormon and pretty much bought out Walmart's cinnamon flavored anything. She has been cigarette free for 4 days now! Heavenly Father is so proud of this family, I just know it. When we told them that transfers are coming up, Cody promised to take us hunting sometime after the mission...Don't get me excited Cody!! I will follow up in a year! 

One of my favorite moments so far was for sure the Twinkie Festival on Saturday morning.(because this is Kansas and we need no excuse to throw a festival!) You better bet that I was in the Twinkie eating contest!! I couldn't talk Sister Andersen into it, but the elder's and I represented! Elder Daines took 4th overall and I got more twinkies down than Elder Landroche' (turns out that eating 8 twinkies in 4 minutes is not the best idea) Oh well, there were a load of less-actives, and members there so it was so worth it! 

Sister Andersen and I fell in LOVE with a tiny town called Americus. We have someone that lives out there and has been a battle to get a hold of so, we decided that it was worth the miles and drove out there with a list of less-actives to see. Oh my, this town in puny but I love it so much. They have one paved road and one stop light! The person that we were originally trying to see was out of town but we met a less-active who the Lord has definitely prepared to come back into the fold! 

I love you all! Remember that God answers prayers! 

Biggest burrito of my life. Seriously. My heart said DO IT but my stomach said NO :( 

We fell in LOVE with Americus. It only took me 4 1/2 months to get there but hey, better late than never right?

Cute, old Americus church. Now we just got to convert the whole congregation and call it good :)

Road trips!!

Dropped by the elder's apartment to find this. Gross. If you want something done, you got to do it yourself I guess.

Guess what?! Another brown recluse spider :/

This happened. Of course I just "LET" the less-active sitting next to me win.....

it was totally intentional...maybe..

Which is the best face?

BYE Topeka Zone!

Week 32: I need Jesus in my life!!‏

I'm not even going to beat around the bush this week, you have to hear about the Brandi and Cody! 

So, we go over there and it is OPERATION KID. Sister Andersen and I take turns entertaining the very excited 2 year-old and teaching Brandi and Cody. He is absolutely adorable, and if it takes the entire contents of my purse to be dumped on the floor for him to be entertained and the parents to feel the Spirit-so be it! It was so great. Out of no where, Brandi turns to Cody and shouts, "I AM GOING TO CHURCH, NO IF'S AND'S OR BUT'S ABOUT IT! I NEED JESUS IN MY LIFE!!" Cody replied with, "haha, Yes you do!!" 

we taught them about the Word of Wisdom and Cody agreed to be baptized when he comes to know that Joseph Smith was really a prophet!! We told Brandi that the elders could come over to give her a blessing to help her with smoking. I asked Cody if he would be okay with that and laughing he said, "Sure, but do you really think that that will work?!" The Spirit was SO STRONG when we testified to them about the power of the priesthood. The next day, after her blessing, she looked up at us and said, "Wow! that was amazing! If feels like a ton of weight was just lifted off of my shoulders!" So amazing. The Priesthood, the church, it's all true! 

THEN they went shopping to buy a new outfit which they all looked so spiffy when they CAME TO CHURCH!!!! Cody recognized someone and invited them to their baptism! Even the 2 year-old was really quiet during Sacrament meeting until the end...yeah, Operation Kid came back into play: a highlighter, a frog key chain and a load of stickers. We were covered in stickers, but again, if it means that they feel the Spirit, SO BE IT!  

I have discovered the new world of Kansas bugs! There is one that lives in trees and sounds like a house alarm. The other is a microscopic devil called a chigger! They bite you and it itches just as much as a mosquito(which there are a TON of those here as well!) I have well over 20 bites all over my legs! Seriously, I am using anti-itch cream like lotion! The other thing that I discovered this week was that the elders deserve a medal for how many times they fixed Sister Andersen's bike this week! Every single day. 

All week long, I have been praying for a good ol' spiritual rebuking! I have been down in the dumps because we have not found a new investigator in 2 weeks. I got sick and tired of being sad about it so on Friday that was all fixed up. We had an 8-hour meeting in Topeka and it was 8 hours of a Spiritual overload! Every time President Bell talked, I would be rebuked from the Holy Ghost. I had a constant prayer in my heart thanking Heavenly Father for sending the Holy Ghost and asking him to tell me more! And he did! I was loving it! 

From the meeting, we went on exchanges with the STL's. I love exchanges! I always learn so much but something crazy happens every single time. We were driving back to Emporia when I thought to myself that this has been an odly normal exchange. Thinking that was a big mistake. No more than 2 minutes later, we got a call from a guy named Hawk who talked to us for a good 10 minutes. just to give you an idea about our conversation, I said, "Hi, how are you?" 

Hawk: "I am high as a cucumber!"

I promise, I didn't ask HOW HIGH are you! Goodness, we were creeped out but at least he felt impressed to call the missionaries LOL 

Another one of my favorite moments this week was when we ran into our investigator's friend. When he introduced us to his brother he said, 

"These are our friendly neighborhood Mormons!"

I'm pretty sure that every missionary needs a T-shirt with that on it now. I have it all planned out: 

"We are your friendly neighborhood Mormons!" on the front, and the back will say mormon.org. Someone, please, go make that happen! 

I love and miss you all! Remember that God answers prayers! 

Sister Parry 

Ps guess who found my bible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in Topeka!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sister Andersen deserves a trophy. She also said that I have never smiled so big like I did during personal study the next morning! YESSSSSSSSSSS

Choose the Right

Studio C anyone?

Remember, God answers prayers! 

After Sacrament meeting....

Week 31: 7 months!!! WHAT?!‏

So, apparently I wrote last week's email and totally forgot to send it....sorry!! 

To start off:

HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO THE KANSAS WICHITA MISSION!! And to my adorable nephew Bubba!!

HAPPY 7 MONTH ANNIVERSARY! 

ahh, yeah, I do NOT like the last one! Time flies way too quickly! 

But, Independence Day is one of my very favorite holidays along with Christmas and Easter so I celebrated it. I only wore red, white, and blue all week long! 

We celebrated by doing all that we could to find new investigators this week. We spent a lot of time at the university, at the park, and even singing to people on their doorstep! Maybe, they might listen to get us to stop singing! LOL 

If you want something fun to do, just watch me play some church basketball! I guarantee that it will be a sight worth seeing! My personal favorite moment was when my investigator who plays basketball for the university came to play with us and discovered how Mormons play:

Member: "out on me, it hit my thumb!"

Nick: "this is the most honest game of basketball that I have ever played!!" 

I nearly had a heart attack later this week! We were getting out of the car when I hear a voice. I couldn't see where or who it was but my companion could, and this is how it played:

Person: "HEY!"

Sister Andersen: "HEY!"

Person; "GO HOME!"

Sister Andersen: "What if we don't want to?! 

At that point, thinking that we were going to get shot, I was ready to grab my companion by the ears, shove her in the car, and drive away! Instead, I looked over to where she was looking at and see Pam standing there smiling from ear to ear! Gosh, they got me good! Pam then gave us a tour of her office and we got to meet some of her co-workers! 

The biggest thing that I learned this week was that we teach people NOT lessons. It's all about quality NOT quantity! When we let ourselves get discouraged, we are opening ourselves up to Satan to get to us. If we have an eternal perspective, we are opening ourselves up for the Holy Ghost to step in. 

I love and miss you all, remember that God answers prayers! 

Sister Parry

Stay classy Kansas.

Happy Independence Day from the Topeka Zone!

Remember

Remember, God answers prayers!!

Battle scars from the bike!

Emporia is so pretty!