Week 77: Spiritually Rebuked

Happy Monday everyone!

Okay, expressing my emotions into words is like Laman and Lemuel's attempt to not complain and murmur. 

This week was a whirlwind again. We had a mission-wide conference and I THOUGHT that we were going to be trained on how to use ipads. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much at all because I will not be using them for very long anyways. I was very, very wrong. We spent maybe 20 minutes talking about ipads, the other 4 1/2 hours was spent by Elder Clarke teaching us life skills. It was like God shining a neon flashing sign that said: "SISTER PARRY THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE" I did not come prepared to receive so much revelation....I didn't even bring a notebook, so I took up 4 pages of my planner writing notes! 

After the conference, We had a few sets of exchanges so I didn't even spend time in Salina or see my companion until Saturday. Apparently while I was gone, Salina ALMOST had a tornado and someone accidentally ran their car into the church! I miss all of the good stuff! 

We saw so many miracles on Sunday. We somehow managed to hit all of our weekly goals within the last 20 minutes of the night. God is looking out for us. We have been so blessed to find 3 families to teach! I LOVE teaching families! There are few things that make me as happy as watching families come together. 

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Elder Clarke: 

"Basketball is the sport of the Celestial Kingdom." -Elder Clarke

"Sacrament meeting is a celebration of the atonement of Jesus Christ." -Elder Clark

"Happy always, content, never."-Elder Clark

"The ultimate expression of moral agency is in choosing God in in being Good." -Elder Bednar

Thank you so much for all of the love, support and prayers! I hope that you all have a fantastic week! LOVE you all!! Remember that God answers prayers!!

Sister Parry

Kansas

Reunited!!

Road trip to Wichita!

This is the 2nd most friendliest yarn store in the universe.....welcome to Kansas

As promised: The World's largest Czech egg is coming along quite nicely! 

Kansas sunset

Missionary look-alikes: Elder Hughes

Just for Dad: more olives than I have ever seen in my life

Week 76: Time Warp

Woah.

This transfer just FLEW by! I was sitting at the transfer devotional and it felt like I was still at the last one! Everyone couldn't believe how fast the 7 week transfer seemed to be and I don't even want to think about how fast a 5-week transfer will go! Sister McClees is awesome! She is going to be so great for Salina! She loves Erica and William, therefore, we have a lot in common, so there is always loads to talk about! :)

The best moment of the week also turned out to be the worst as well. President and Sister Bell came to a baptism and took all of the missionaries out for lunch. He had a question about the Lira family back in Dodge, and I jokingly said that I could call them. Before I knew it, President Bell's phone was in my hand calling Beatriz! An elder that was in Dodge at the same time that I was looked at me and whispered to President Bell, "This is like calling home for her" he is absolutely right! Sadly, it was the wrong phone number so I didn't get to talk to them.... :'(

There was a recurring theme this week. That was that I have SO MANY weaknesses and shortcomings, there is absolutely no way that I could do this work on my own. Every time this week that I fell short, the Savior would deliver us and provide us with more miracles than we could handle. At the end of every day, I look back and realize that we have been carried by the atonement the entire time.

Most of the miracles that the Lord gave us was helping us find some of those that are very prepared to learn about and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Jessica and her 4 kids: Jaylah, Janiya, Jakye, and Jashadrey is one of the greatest families ever! They tell us over and over again how much they can relate to Joseph Smith's experience when he was seeking to learn the truth in his life. I told Jessica that we have a prophet on the Earth today and her eyes went wide. She told us that if that was true, her and her family had a lot of changing to do to follow him! Can you believe that? I love people. 

Maybe this was just funny to me, but I'll tell you anyways. This morning, we were doing our laundry at a member's home and decided to take a quick nap. Yeah. that "quick nap" turned into a 2-hour nap! We had no idea how tired we were, but our bodies were pretty grateful! There's nothing like taking a nap for the 1st time in 6 months. 

I can't wait for this upcoming week, we have a lot in store and a TON of work to do! I love you all! Take care, and remember that God answers prayers! 

Sister Parry

Week 75: We Talk about Miracles

Happy Monday everyone! 

It's transfer week and It's official! I am ending my mission right where I started it in good ol' Salina Kansas! One eternal round! My companion is going home this week and my new companion is named Sister McClees. I am sooo excited to be companions with her! She seems like a great missionary, I can tell that the best transfer is about to be here! Because it's Sister Forsgren's last week, we basically just thrashed it all week long. We went on 2 exchanges which helps keep me extra motivated and working extra hard. 

Miracle of the week: 

We really needed to find more people to teach in a major time-crunch, so we prayed and promised Heavenly Father that we would talk to 5 new people and pleaded that we would find someone who has been prepared to hear and live the Gospel. God found us 2. After talking to 3 people that barely spoke any English, and someone that was in the middle of a family party, the 5th person that we talked to was so cool! She is 21 and is looking to have God more involved in her life. It never ceases to amaze me how nice God is to us. I feel so grateful to be a part of this great work of the Salvation of the human soul. 

You know what I love? The Atonement. While I was on exchanges, I don't know what was wrong with me, but I could barely form sentences in a way that made any sense to someone that is a non-member. It was rough. Miraculously, the Spirit was there and taught everyone despite my shortcomings. We talked to tonnnns of new people that day and found a few new people to work with! All because God has got our backs!

Lines of the week: 

"I am in a state of rebellion right now." 

"I can't go on team-ups on Thursdays. That is when I golf, and I plan on golfing someone into the church."

I want you all to know how much I love the Gospel and how much I love my mission. I have changed a lot here, and I can't wait to continue to change even more. This is the best thing that I could be doing right now. I love you all and miss you! Remember that God answers prayers!! 

Sister Parry

Week 74: Reunited with the Temple

First of all: 

HAPPY LATE MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that every mother out there was spoiled yesterday(especially my own) I had a realization this week about why God gave us moms. Here are just a few woman that have have a big impact on my life: MOM, Grandma Barbara, Gramma, Heather Oakman, Corinne Pontius, Carmen Shirk, Kelly Kocherhans, Tia Parry, Auntie Karen, Dominique Allen, Ashley Harmon, and Courtney Gay. 

I actually just tried to type all of the names out, but there are so many woman that have impacted my life so much that I could not have room or time to list them all. Basically, if you are a female and reading this, I can almost guarantee that you have impacted my life so much. 

I was so stinking close to seeing a tornado last Monday! We spend Pday in Manhattan and played kickball until it was raining so hard that we couldn't see. Before we drove back to Salina, we prayed about it and felt that we needed to drive back despite the weather. and boy, did Mother Nature just go all out. There were 2 1/2 foot flash-floods that cars were getting stuck in, rain that you couldn't see through, hail, wind, and my personal favorite: a dark rotating cloud directly above us as we were driving! So, I experienced all of the symptoms of a tornado without the actual tornado. :( 

Going to the temple with Shelley was definitely one of the highlights of my life. There are few moments that I can compare to siting in the Celestial Room with someone that has fully embraced the Gospel in just a year. Every time that I go to the temple, I feel that it is so worth every battle and effort to get there. The Spirit there cannot be compared to anything else that I have experienced. It took a long time, but I finally got to go back to the temple and I am so grateful for that sacred opportunity. I have thanked Heavenly Father for that every single day for at least 3 weeks now. 

 These last 6 weeks, I have a goal to solidify everything that I have learned these last 17 months into who I am. I can't emphasize enough how much Kansas means to me. I feel so blessed to take the Lord's name upon myself each and every single day. I know that all of us can have that same opportunity. I love and miss you all! Take care, and remember that God answers prayers! 

Lots of Love, 

Sister Parry

Exchanges with Sister Gelabert! 

Sundays with Cheyanne! I love recent converts as team-ups!

closed for remodeling or demolishing? I can't tell. 

Comp dates are important too. 

Sometimes we can't see out of the windshield because of all the dead bugs

Once upon a time we played kickball in the rain and ALMOST saw a tornado 

Kansas City Missouri Temple!! (taken as the tornado sirens were blaring)

Kansas City Missouri Temple 

May MLC

Week 73: " I Delight in My Call to Serve"

So, one time ELDER HOLLAND CAME TO KANSAS AND I GOT TO SHAKE HIS HAND. Sister Forsgren and I were sitting right were we could see the faces of everyone as they walked away from shaking his hand. Without exception, everyone would either: 1. stare at their hand in awe vowing to themselves that they would never wash it again or 2. Walk away feeling like they were the coolest person in the world because they are now homies with Elder Holland. I was trying to explain to a recent convert that he is basically a celebrity in the Mormon-world..for some reason they didn't quite understand my enthusiasm! He told us that a general authority can interview your spirit when they look into your eyes....I hope that I passed! :) I have been praying for weeks that I would be receptive to what the Lord needed to teach me when Elder Holland came. His message to us was that we need to love our mission with all of our hearts and that this is the most important thing that we will ever do. 

Serving in Kansas has given me an entire new perspective on road trips. This week, we are going to be driving for 13+ hours. Today and Friday we are driving to Manhattan, Tomorrow we are going to Wichita, and Thursday we are going to the KANSAS CITY TEMPLE WITH SHELLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in case you're wondering the countdown is: 3 days away.  Haha We're carpooling with Shelley and she was less than excited when we told her that we couldn't listen to normal music, so we're going to show her how to road trip the missionary way(WOOT) 

I have been sitting at this computer for 45 mintues desperately trying to think of anything else that happened this week to tell you about. Everything that comes to mind would either take too much explanation and background stories to make any sense at all or is only about Elder Holland. 

Miracle of the week: I actually cried.(it's a big deal I promise) we were singing our mission song to Elder Holland and when we sung the line: "Oh we dearly love our great mission, and our Savior, Lord and King" I couldn't hold it in anymore.

Line of the week: 

The entire mission was trying to find a seat in the chapel before Elder Holland came and the mission president was stressing out: 

"HE'S HERE!!!! EVERYONE! SIT DOWN, BE QUIET, HE'S HERE! HE'S HERE!!!!!" Then a mass of missionaries booked it to the next available seat in the room in complete silence. 

Well, I love you all lots, I can't wait to hear from you and remember that God answers prayers!!

Sister Parry

                                       KWM Mission Conference‏

Week 72: A Full Circle

So, big news of the week: A convert that I taught a year ago here in Salina is going through the temple on May 7th!!!!! And......President Bell said that my companion and I can go! I am at a lack of words to express to you how excited I am! Shelley's whole conversion started out with the temple and I am so excited for her. I haven't been to a temple since before I left on my mission and I am definitely temple-trunky....only 10 more days.....

Erica and William just keep getting more and more solid! They want to get baptized so badly, the only thing that was holding them back was marriage. We fasted with them this weekend for them to get their answer about getting married. We all broke our fast together and they told us that they decided to get married soon so they can get baptized! I'm really really hoping that they will decide to get married and baptized on the same day as the ward Cinco de Mayo party! That would be the best Saturday of my life! 

We went on a couple of exchanges this week and the coolest thing happened! I was in Manhattan, talking to a recent convert about how she wants to share the Gospel with her mother and the next week, I went to Junction City on exchanges and met the mother!! She said that she has seen the change in her daughter's family and wants to jump right into the font! Another miracle from exchanges was when we visited this investigator that they were thinking about dropping because they didn't know how serious she was. As we were teaching her, I had an overwhelming feeling that I needed to tell her that God knows her situation, loves her, and has a plan for her. After I told her, she burst into tears and told us that the day that she met the missionaries was the day that she found out that a few of her good friends got into a big car accident and passed away. I feel so blessed to know that Heavenly Father knows each of His children so well. 

Random news: 

-I got to see Alexia last week!!!

-I finally got kicked out of a trailer park. For as many trailer parks as I have been in, it was bound to happen one day. AND the person that kicked us out also told us that God is an alien so I'm not too offended. 

-Tornado season is back!!!! There was one 30 miles away from us but nothing to even have the sirens go off. I have been in Kansas for almost 17 months of my life and I still have not seen a tornado! How is that fair?? Apparently, Salina rarely sees tornadoes but I will not loose faith that I am going to see one!  

Best line of the week: 

a lady that the elders taught got baptized and we were helping her after she got out of the font. She turned to us and said, "I can't get the smile off of my face!" 

I have decided that Kansas is the best place on Earth because it is the place that I am becoming converted. My testimony is growing stronger and stronger every day. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true because it contains the full Gospel. I know that because the priesthood was restored, we are able to enjoy the blessing of making covenants with Heavenly Father. I know that the Lord has given us scriptures to give us guidance and direction in our every-day lives and I have personally experienced the blessings from soaking up the word of God every single day! 

I hope that you remember that I love you and that God answers prayers! 

Sister Parry

Week 71: SURPRISE!!!

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!! NOELLE GOT BAPTIZED!!!! 

She was in the hospital for a week and we had no contact with her. We assumed that we would have to re-schedual her baptism date but she came out wanting nothing else other than to be baptized! She told us "I want to pay my bills, and I want to buy groceries, but I don't want anything more than I want to be baptized." She said that her motivation to be baptized was the only thing that got her through it all.The baptism alone kept us super busy this week! 

Other than that we went on exchanges twice this week and I was in Salina the whole time..somehow things managed to get done. haha. 

Summer had a come-to-Jesus moment!! It was so intense! She has gone through thick and thin in the last few weeks and is trying to learn how to turn toward God. We decided to drive over to the church and she cried and prayed-really prayed for the 1st time in a very, very long time! AND she finally read from the Book of Mormon!!!!!!!!!!! MIRACLE! 

Remember the solid couple from last week! They are even more solid! She wants to be baptized so bad. We had a lesson with them this week about getting married. haha how awkward would it to have 2 single 20-year olds tell you how great it is to be married?? But, the good news is that they agreed to pray about it! 

This week let me grow a lot spiritually. I was talking to Sister Forsgren about it and we noticed that we are stronger spiritually-even in just the last week. I am forever grateful for all the miracles, struggles, and people that the Lord has blessed me to be a part of! I say this all the time but I love my mission so much and nothing could ever replace it! 

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

Sister Parry

The World's largest Czech egg...Stay tuned while it gets completed 

Big things are happening in Kansas!

I don't know how many are competing for the Czech capital but this is a big deal

start of nightly planning....

End of nightly planning....

Noelle got baptized!!!

BAPTISM DAY!!