Week 43: Why did the pig walk into the kitchen...He wanted some bacon!

I hate it when sad things happen right before Pday. It puts me in a weird mood. To follow up from last week, that investigator kept going strong, so SOLID. Then, out of no where, she dropped us again. So sad. Usually, when someone drops us like that it's a pretty hard thing to go through. It's hard to explain but I was so calm and peaceful all day long. Not a single investigator showed up to church, but instead of getting all worked up from it, the Spirit told me that it was going to be okay. We went over to her house last night and had a good talk. She doesn't believe that the Book of Mormon is true. There were tears(from me) but some laughs as well. Such a weird appointment. Sister Bringhurst and I were trying to get our thoughts together afterwards. We were saying how sad it was, but both of us couldn't deny that we felt okay about the whole thing. I love Beverly so much and I have had so many life changing moments standing on her porch.

Something that Beverly said to us earlier really had me self-reflecting. I asked myself this: "Am I serving a mission, or am I serving the Lord?" What if the Lord asked me to serve here and I didn't get any benefit from it at all. No life lessons, no pat on the back, no glory. What if it was all anonymous? Would I change anything if there was nothing in it for me? I realized yesterday that I wouldn't. I would still be here in Kansas because even though I am blessed so much more from the Lord than I could ever give back to him, This work belongs to the Lord. This work is so much bigger than me. Don't get me wrong here, I know that a mission is more for the missionary than it is for the converts and investigators, but I realized more what it means to give everything that I have to the Lord. I realized more so how to be a servant of the Lord. He is the one who sent me to Kansas, and I am forever in his debt for that.

Our mission has a saying, "I grew up in Kansas" I was raised in California and Utah, but I am growing up in Kansas.

On a more happier note, the less-actives here have been so prepared! So many of them want to go to the temple and truly change their lives! I love watching faith grow so much! We have the opportunity of working with a lot of less-active members and I learn so much from them!

I made a best friend this week. We met a lady whose friend told her about the church and wanted to learn more. As we were talking, her 6-year old son named Manuel comes in and sits RIGHT next to me, practically on my lap. As his mom was expressing her desire to increase her relationship with God, he kept turning to me to tell me a joke(notice the title.) His puppy couldn't get enough attention as well.  When we were leaving, he jumped on his little motorcycle and raced us in the car. Now, every time that we leave, we have to race!

I hope that you all had a fantastic week! Keep relying on the Lord and he will take good care of you! Remember that God answers prayers!

Not quite sure exactly how this played out, first there was hail, then the CarZar called us after 10 pm going crazy and wanting us to check the car. I was just confused :)

Happy birthday Mom! So, I may have waited until this morning to take pictures....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!

Week 42: The Greatest Miracle of All

Hi from the great state of Kansas!
Hope that all is going great with all of you!

You know, every Monday, I sit down to email with my handy dandy post-it note full of adventures that I had all week long to tell you about; and every week when I sit down, I stare at my post-it note and get writer's block! That's usually why my letters are only a few paragraphs long because I can't figure out quite how to make it sound just as exciting as it really was in writing!

So, here I sit, trying to figure out the perfect combination of clever/funny/spiritual. Sorry.  Anywho...

My week:
Started off with sister's conference! Few things compare to 1/2 the sister missionaries in the mission all together! We serve with the STLs so we got to help out a bit so it was fun to watch everything come to life. My favorite part was they had us all trace our outlines on a big piece of paper and hang them all up. Each of us wrote down everything that has been holding us back from giving our all to the Lord. Then, we tore it all up. We tore down our natural man.

Poor Sister Bringhurst has been sick all week long. Saturday, we decided that she needed to sleep in. I was trying to find every productive thing to do around the apartment when I felt like I should watch The District. I ignored it because I knew that we would be watching it for her training in a few weeks. Again, the Spirit told me that I needed to watch it. So I watched all 3 hours of it and boy, did I need it! I definitely got rebuked by the Spirit about what I need to be doing! I realized that I have been so preoccupied with teaching the doctrine points, that I forgot that I am inviting a child of God to take steps closer to Jesus Christ.

I got a blessing earlier this week, it was awesome because so many of my prayers were answered through it but it was so weird to hear my 1st name being used!! He said my name in the blessing at least like 7 times and I flinched every time that I heard it! Don't know why, it just weirds me out to hear anything besides "Sister Parry"

This week, a sister missionary serving from the Dodge City ward had to come back home for health issues. That was so sad. She was not released for a few days, so she practically lived with all of us sisters all week long. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about appreciating the time that we have out here.

So, I saved the best news for last! A few weeks ago, an awesome investigator dropped us and it was heartbreaking. Last Monday night, Sister Bringhurst and I went over to check up on her and see if she would answer the door. She did! She told us about a few concerns that she has and we all cried as she told us that she still wants to learn more! We had an appointment with her and she is so solid again! Seriously, no one calls us to confirm an appointment! We were heartbroken when she didn't come to church but we found out why later on. Turns out that on Saturday night, she had some crazy diabetic problems so she couldn't come to church. She said that she knows that it was the devil preventing her from going to church.
So, to make up for it, she spent all day long watching the BYU channel! She told us that so many of her questions were answered yesterday. I was speechless as she looked at us square in the eyes and told us that she knows that this is true. She knows that this is where God is leading her! She was giddy as she accepted to be baptized in October! It is amazing to consider how far she has come. She was raised in a home and in a church that hates Mormons and now she cannot wait to become a part of it! God really is so nice! Oh, and she told us that she wants an elder to baptize her because she "spent so many years slamming my door, and turning them down." Wow.

It's cool to watch miracles happen, it's awesome to be play a role in God's miracles, but I realized that the biggest miracle of all, is what God is doing with me. Every day, he smooths out the rough edges and molds me into my potential. Kansas is sacred ground to me. Every day, I try to keep up with the blessings that God is giving me! I love you all, I miss you, and remember that God answers prayers!
Sister Sarah Lucy

The very middle of The United States

Kansas, land of the roadkill and sunsets

Week 41: Fall is Here

Hello hello! 

Woo-wee! What a week! Bear with me while I try to tell you about it! 

The week started off a bit rough, on Monday, we got a call from a recent convert and they were feeling super overwhelmed and does not want to be involved with the church anymore. I had no idea how to respond. Before my mission, I always thought that missionaries just always knew the right thing to say, but I quickly learned otherwise! I sat there praying, "Heavenly Father, this is your child, and I don't know what to say. All I know is to love them." That was crazy and super hard. BUT I trust God and I know that they have a firm testimony. All will be well in it's own due time. 

I know that I said this last week but seriously, training  Sister Bringhurst = the Lord training me. I need the information and the role-plays way more than she does. I have less time to think about myself because I am trying to stay busy and focused with helping her lay the foundation for the rest of her mission. 

This week, we were having lunch at a restaurant with the mission president's wife when some of my favorite music started playing. I usually just tune it out but this time, there was nothing I wanted more than to ask them to turn it off! Seriously, my stomach started to hurt and I started to feel sick. haha I guess that a mission really changes you. Some day I will be the most awkward RM ever and it will be a blast. 

We got to witness such a great miracle this week! When a new investigator wasn't home, I felt prompted to knock on the house next door. A lady let us in immediately! We quickly found out that she was baptized in California 20 years ago and has not been to church in 7 years! She told us that she has been wanting to take her family back to church! Plus, her sister in law is Cindy who was just baptized! WHAT. It was so cool to see a big chain of events lead us to her! The Lord truly prepares people and it is so cool to have a front-row seat! 

This week, I prayed that we would find solid investigators who are ready to accept the restored gospel into their lives. And God delivered! We were blessed to find 7 new investigators this week and quite a few of them are solid! I am so excited to work with them! The are so sincere and just want to know truth from God.  

I love this crazy, adventurous, never-boring, hard, busy lifestyle! It's not easy but the Lord really does not ask much from me. A year and a half is nothing compared to what the Savior did for me. I love you all! 

Remember that God answers prayers! 

Sister Parry

Just put this up a few weeks ago

Jesus.

And we walked, and walked, and walked and walked.......

You can have our car, I'm down with the stagecoach! 

Tracting! 

sent from my I pad 

Week 40: He Really does Answer Prayers

Hello!

This week was a whirlwind, it seems like Monday was forever ago and so much has happened in between. Transfer week.....Sister Fairbourn and Sister Huff left us along with Kassandra, who left on her mission, so emotional! Monday night, almost all of us were bawling! Goodbye's were hard but we did it. 

On Wednesday, 3 of us were driving to Wichita early for a trainer's meeting when we passed by a sunflower field. Now you would ASSUME that we would just say, "oh how pretty!" and take a picture while driving by. But that is not what happened. I have been DYING to see sunflowers ever since I found out that I was going to Kansas over a year ago. This is the only time that I will ever be serving in Kansas when there will be sunflowers. So, when we drove past this sunflower field, we got a little excited. 

By excited, I mean that ALL CHAOS broke loose! I wish that I was exaggerating but all 3 of us started screaming and I was in tears. We pulled over to the side of the road and ran down a hill to get to our beloved sunflowers. I got so excited that I totally fell, pretty much a face full of dirt, but I didn't even care because I was in the presence of a sunflower field! Long story short, we frolicked in the field before hitting the road again. It was all soooooo worth it to walk into our meeting late and covered with mud. 

I then got to meet my daughter Sister Bringhurst!!!!!! She is fresh from the MTC serving from Pocatello, Idaho. I feel like I am not training her, she is training me! She is so ready to preach the gospel and is so beyond where I was at when I first got into the field. Training is going great, it's just as hard as I thought it would be, but this is way more for me than it is for her. I am learning so much. 

The middle of the week was pretty tough, really fun, but all of our appointments fell through. I felt so bad, because I want Sister Bringhurst to see all that Dodge is capable of. By the weekend, we were scraping to hit our mission standard-ugh. We were having dinner with the STLs on Sunday and when the found out they were nice enough to go on splits with us. We had an hour and a half to find 3 new investigators and get 1 member present. In 40 minutes, Sister Judy and I found a family, and the other sisters found a girl at the park! I was in awe, God truly does answer prayers. All we needed was one more member present lesson, but the appointment fell through. While we were at the member's house there was an AMAZING 17-year old girl who God has prepared to have the gospel. We had a great talk with her and she really wants to change her life. We were on cloud 9. God is so nice to us. Here we are, imperfect servants but willing to work. God was kind enough to allow us to see a miracle. 

I learned a few big lessons this week. First, is the importance of faith, once when we allow our faith to dwindle, God does not have much to work with. 2nd is that GOD REALLY DOES ANSWER PRAYERS. Truly! I was in the middle of stressing about the week and while we were praying, I couldn't get a quote by Gordon B. Hinkly out of my head:

"The best antidote I know for WORRY is WORK. The best medicine for DESPAIR is service. The best cure for WEARINESS is the challenge of HELPING someone who is even more tired." 

I never get tired of watching God do his work. I am so grateful for the hard moments, because that is where we grow the most. I love you all, I miss you, but remember that 

God truly does answer prayers!

The Arkell fam oh my goodness, I love them so much! 

I can't handle it

OVERWHELMED with joy

Definitely in the top 10 happiest moments of my mission

Posterity! My mom Sister Runia, and my daughter Sister Bringhurst

Week 39: Just be Happy

Okay, I have to get it out!

CINDY WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has been a crazy road with her but she did and it and has been so prepared! Preparing her has pretty much taken up the entire week but it is so worth it. I love to hear her testimony about how this is the beginning of her new life. :) My personal favorite was when we were talking to her right after she was baptized. We asked her what she was doing when she woke up so early that morning and she said, "Just being happy." I loved that. That is what this gospel does. This came from someone that has spent her whole life trying to find happiness and has finally found the beginning of it! So amazing. 

This week is transfer week.....I am going to train a brand new sister missionary here in Dodge! WHAT. I am so excited but really nervous at the same time. My mission president always says that the Lord calls the weak and the simple to do his work, so here I am! We realized last night that 1/2 of the missionaries in Dodge City are leaving...and had such a spiritual experience with 2 great families last night. We were all crying as everyone gave their testimony and advice to 2 sisters. One who is going home from her mission tomorrow and one who is leaving to go on her mission tomorrow. That night, most of us had a good, long(and much needed) cry session.

We had one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission this week. It was amazing! She was a little hesitant at first but came with an open mind and heart. By the end, we were all in tears and just soaked up the Spirit. The next day, we received a text from her that said that she no longer wants to meet with us. We were devastated. Missionary work is the best thing that I have ever done but it is so hard to watch someone feel the Spirit and then say no to it. I am praying and praying that we will be able to work with her in the future. 

It is so crazy to think how much I have changed since December 4th. This week, I hit my 1/2 way point. An elder said something this week that really struck me:

"When I first got out on my mission, I thought that God needed me. I know realize, that I needed him." 

So true. He has given me this opportunity to learn, grow, cry, laugh, serve, and see miracles happen right in front of my eyes. I love you all, Remember that God answers prayers! 

When we realized that we were both going to train...

Dodge City

The good old seminary days