Week 25: Raindrops

"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is.....reading the Book of Mormon!"

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE!! 

This week was...wet. I did not think that it would affect us much because we had the car(poor elders) until we loaned the car to them for just 2 hours....just 2. It rained. A lot. Oh my goodness, it was so much fun! I love the rain! Plus, I don't have to wash my skirt until next week! Check. I don't know how anyone took us seriously because we were a SIGHT. Drenched, skirts, and bikes. You know, the typical image you think of when you think of a representative of the Savior. 

The next morning, We took the bikes again and it was DOWN POURING. We were not even biking 1/2 mile away and we were soaked! When we got home, we realized that we accidentally gave our house keys to the elders, who were on their way to Burlington...whoops! We ended up changing our clothes 3 times that day because we were so wet and dirty! LOL

BUT, it was all so incredibly worth it because we found a small family to teach! They are so cute! We knocked on their door a few weeks ago and they are looking for a church to go to! After a crazy lesson and trying to invite her to baptism when a BABY BUNNY HOPS INTO THE ROOM. Uh....okay. Now, the wife has committed to be baptized next month! Miracle!

As a missionary, I realize that my happiness and sorrow have changed tremendously. I have never worked and fought so hard than I have for someone to accept the gospel into their life. I have never felt the sorrow so hard as when someone rejects this life-altering message. I have never felt the pure joy than when someone does accept and change their life around for this. Seriously, a mission changes you, every. Single. Day. 

Yesterday, we were expecting quite a few people at church. We worked our tails of inviting, setting up rides, and confirming with them that they were coming, and....no one came. That was hard. It hit my companion pretty hard, she is so passionate and dedicated to the work that it affects her when others choose not to experience the joy. We had a little pep talk about how this is not our work, it is the Lord's work. 

I love this work. It is so worth it. The Lord humbles me daily, and blesses me way more than I can even contain. I hope that you all have a wonderful week by letting the Lord work miracles in your life. I love you all, remember that God answers prayers! 

Sister Parry

My homies.

SOLID.

We Locked ourselves out. Whoops!

We were only in the rain for 5 min.

Week 24: The Zoo

So, every year for years I have ALWAYS gone to the zoo! I love the zoo. I am not about to break the tradition and it turns out that Emporia has a free zoo!! Yes. 

We were biking along trying to catch a referral when my bike chain fell off again. After, it took seemingly forever to fix, we were on our way when a very long, and very slow train went by. No problem, we'll just knock on a few doors. Finally, we made it to the referral who was not home. We started to bike past when ANOTHER 2 trains came along. It took me long enough, but I figured it out! I turned to Sister Heger and said, "Okay, obviously the Lord needs us to talk to someone around here and we need to find out who!" 1st door that we knock on, we talked to them for a while. She works in and out of Utah and has a lot of friends who are members! They also gave us a few referrals! Do you believe in coincidences? I don't. 

Speaking of coincidences, let me tell you about church. So, Pam came to church!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!! Every song, every speaker, every single thing about church seemed to directly point at Pam getting her answer if the Joseph Smith was a prophet. I was almost in tears from laughing so hard in sacrament meeting! She texted us later and said, "some topic huh?" hahahahahaha

I found out this week that Sister Heger has the gift of tongues! We stopped to help a lady who was working in her yard and this is how the conversation went:

Me: "Hi! Can we help you with that?" 

Her: "Yes!"

Me: "Great, let me grab that for you...."

Her: "No hablo ingles"

Me: "uh..........." 

She did not speak ANY English at all! Lucky for us, my companion has taken a few years of high school Spanish and we were over there for a 1/2 hour! I sat there and said, "Si!" whenever it seemed appropriate! Now, the extent of my Spanish reaches as far as: "No hablo Espanol!" It sadly has come in handy several times since then! 

We had the BEST training this week! It started out with the President's assistants tackling each other dressed as Iron Man, and ended with a role play entirely on rejections! We learned that there is absolutely NOTHING to be scared of!! 

"What is the best thing that will happen from talking to people?"

"They go to Heaven."

"What is the worst thing that can happen from talking to people?"

"We die."

"So, either we go to Heaven or they go to Heaven!" 

Way to keep it real Elder Stopper.

Update on Debbi: We found out yesterday that she in back in the hospital with pneumonia! Nooooooo! something ALWAYS goes wrong the week of baptism! We are keeping our faith strong and the prayers ever going! 

One day, I will have the time to tell you everything that I learn by being on a mission! A mission teaches you so much about yourself and more importantly, The Lord. I have grown so much closer to him in these last 5 1/2 months! Remember that God answers prayers!!!

Loves and a hug from Kansas, 

Sister Parry

                                              

Welcome to Emporia's zoo! Here you see 2 missionaries in their natural habitat. If your smile at them, they may give you a Book of Mormon.

Look Elder Spiders!

Maybe Bilbo Baggins lives here

I got a new BIKE! Her name is Ester. 

Sarah's Wish List!

mmkay so you all keep asking me about stuff that I want! The thing is, that I don't necessarily NEED anything, so this is more of a want list. Never feel obligated to send me stuff! 

So here it is! A list of 10 things that would be good to send to me or other missionaries I guess!

1. A mini-quad!! :) :) :) WANT!!! 

2 .A watch(I wear these out sooooo fast!)

3. A straightener (to curl my hair with..)

4. Make-up

5. Socks(fuzzy, toe socks, normal, no show socks....I love them all! 

6. Food! (Healthy snacks or quick dinners are great!)

7. Gift cards! 

8. Pictures(of you of course!! I love to show off your gorgeous faces to my companions!!)

9. CTR ring(size 8)

10. Clothes!(It's easy to get tired of matching and re-matching and re-re-matching outfits!)

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Week 23: Keep Keeping On ,,,

Hi! 

I hope that everyone is doing awesome! Skyping with the family was great, and the perfect way to start off a week! I know that I say this every week, but I am seriously humbled every. Single. Day. It is such a blessing! 

The major update is that Debbi is out of the hospital and is back in town again!! It is such a relief to have her close again! We are still going strong with getting her baptized on the 24th of May! 

I love the craziness that happens all day, every day, but I love the tender moments as well. Yesterday, it was sitting around with 4 missionaries, and the bishop's family singing "Over the Rainbow" to the bishop playing the ukelele! I love finding the blessings from Heavenly Father if we will allow him to bless us! 

The funny moment of the week was the other day, we accidentally missed our turn, and drove down a random dirt road to find nothing except a peacock. In the middle of Kansas. I'm confused. Come to find out, a family owns 3 of them! Well, welcome to Kansas! 

The awkward moment of the week was when I accidentally zoned out when my companion was saying a prayer and didn't hear her say "amen" I promise, I really do pay attention otherwise! 

The sad moment of the week was when you are more willing to run up several flights of stairs before you are willing to walk down one hallway, it REAKS in there! 

The hard moment of the week was when a little girl tried to kiss me goodbye and I couldn't give her a kiss back! Seriously, being around kids is the hardest rule for me! 

The learning moment of the week was when you sticky-note attack to doorbell ditch an investigator's door, don't accidentally wave to them when you see them when your running away! Whoops! 

We have been struggling to find new people to teach lately. We have been racking our brains to find out what else we can do to help with this. I realized the other night, that it was not our efforts that we are struggling with, it's our faith! That is the new goal of the week to work setting the example of having stronger faith! Just like our body uses vitamins and minerals to function, the Lord uses our faith to help us function. I love what Preach My Gospel says about faith:

"Faith in Christ leads to ACTION. It leads to sincere and lasting repentance. Having faith causes us to try as hard as we can to learn about and become more like our Savior. We want to learn what His commandments are and then obey them. Even though we will still make mistakes, we show our love for Him by striving to keep his commandments and avoid sin."

Sister Allen's favorite scripture also helped to boost up my faith: "Press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope." 

I pray that we all can use our faith and do the Lord's work with it! The best thing that I can do is to get out of the Lord's way and follow him! I love and pray for you all! Keep keeping on! Remember that God answers prayers! 

Loves and a hug from Kansas, 

Sister Parry

Took a wrong turn and found a peacock! Welcome to Kansas

we have a cat friend now. No idea what he looks like though...

Week 22

I will just let you assume that every week is crazy out here! 

We'll start out small and work our way up I guess! 

I have found out that I am SUPER AWKWARD when it comes to talking to people my own age! Sister Heger and I decided to overcome this so after some role-plays, we jumped in the shark tank! AKA Emporia University! We ended up having a super long conversation about the gospel with a guy and we walked away pretty proud that we didn't scare him off! 

My advice for the week is this: never tell a pre-med student that your companion performed her own mini-surgery on her toe with a nail clipper when she got a rock stuck in it. hahahaha we keep these poor elders on their toes! 

We had another intense lesson with our investigator this week. Does anyone have any good advice on making that leap of faith? It' KILLS me to see her SOOOOOO CLOSE to knowing the church is true! Stay tuned because hopefully, we'll be seeing a few people in white pretty soon ;)

Speaking of people in white, poor Debbi(the one that wants to be baptized) is in the ICU right now. I am always growing my testimony of the power of the priesthood, because it was a black and white difference after she received her blessing! 

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! 

Well, our ride to Walmart is here, so know that I love you all and that God answers prayers! 

Loves and a hug from Kansas,

Sister Parry

--

Obedience is the price, faith is the power, love is the motive, the Spirit is the key and CHRIST is the reason! 

We made a friend! This little guy followed us around for a solid hour while we tracted an area and even helped us teach a lesson! His name is Korihor. :)

When our investigator let us leave our bikes at her place, we found a note on it, so we attacked her car with pass-along cards :)

Week 21

This week taught me a lot of things! 

I now know how to pray more sincerely, be strengthened as companions because we have a lot more trust for each other, I know that the elders learned that they CANNOT take 2 hours to answer the phone at 2AM(now, the phone never has to ring more than twice before they answer!) I know that my companions are cursed to have a medical emergency! (remember Sister Runia's wrist? I am no foreigner to the ER anymore!)

To make a VERY LONG STORY short: 

Sister Heger had a diabetic seizure early Tuesday morning, I shot her with her emergency shot, and we had an adventure in the ER! She is doing really well now and recovering just fine. It's funny how Heavenly Father didn't stop the seizure from happening but he did prepare us for this. Not only had Sister Heger trained me on how to perform the shot, but when we left the ER the dietician gave us a list of foods that she needs to eat with every meal for the rest of the week. We had bought EVERY SINGLE ITEM the day before so we were fully stocked up, coincidence? An investigator was asking us if God was supposed to be our loving Heavenly Father, why would he allow this to happen to someone who is serving him?! That was a good point. I don't know what God had in mind, but I have learned a lot this week. I know that God has turned an awful thing into a learning and growing opportunity for the both of us. I love seeing how God is so willing to bless us if we will just let him do it!

The rest of the week was central to recovering from Tuesday. She still can barely move an arm without me checking up on her! Luckily, we both survived transfers this week so we are both here in Emporia for another 6 weeks! 

We had a few other extreme things happen this week: 

-Extreme weather! I have never been in a Sacrament meeting where they tell you what to do in case a tornado hits! 

-Extreme amount of Girl Scout cookies! We are giving them away like pass-along cards! 

-A ride in an extremely cool and old car! 

-An extreme spider!!

-Extremely awesome moment when Debbi told us that she wants to stop smoking and be baptized! She knows how to make a missionary happy! 

Because the ER was not ALL depressing here are some of the funny moments: 

When the insurance lady asked her if clergy was allowed to visit I laughed and said:
"We ARE the clergy! And the OTHER clergy isn't picking up their phone right now!!"

"Sister, what is the date today?" "April 22" "Oh okay, what is the date today? Did I already ask that?"

"I rode in an ambulance for the first time and I missed it?!" 

"Has General Conference happened yet?"

"Was Sandy okay when she came up out of the water? (talking about the baptism) 

This week really threw us for a loop but I gained so much from it! I know that God has so many blessings to give us if we will just let him! I love this gospel with all of my heart!
I hope that all of you know that God answers prayers!

Loves and a hug from Kansas, 

Sister Parry

Week 20: An Easter Miracle!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!!! 

The week started out on an interesting note, do you remember Christian Hug Guy? Yep, we ran into him again and he fed us VERY authentic Mexican food!  Even though my food was repeatedly dropped, it was no big deal because he gave us herbal tea to wash it down with...mine had a stick in it. It's no wonder I didn't leave the states! I had a great conversation with one of them:

Him: "What is your name?"

Me: "Sister Parry"

Him: "No. What is you REAL name" 

Me: "It's Sister Parry" 

Him: "I mean your actual name!"

Me: "I want to go by Sister Parry"

Him: "WHAT IS THE NAME THAT YOUR PARENTS GAVE YOU?!"

Me: *mumbles* "Sarah....."

Him: "Sarah!! Drink your tea!"

Me: :/

I won't lie, I actually prayed for my taste buds to handle the tea it was gross! I rewarded myself with some good ol' orange juice! Sister Heger LOVED all the food, but I guess that I am just a picky eater after all.

The rest of the week had similar adventures like thinking we were being chased by a dog when it turned out to be a tiny chihuahua, handing out fliers like no one's business, and biking in the wind. Let me tell you, the wind in Kansas, comes from every direction! We actually go slow down hills because of the wind!

The week had a tender moment though. We have an investigator named Faye. She finally let us teach her and at the end, she noticed that Sister Heger had an angel necklace and decided that I needed one as well. she gave me a beautiful one! Up until this moment it was all jokes about how crazy we are so I loved to see her be sincere. That sincere moment was short lived because she also gave me a Walking Dead necklace and a Budweiser keychain. Yep, I'm keeping it.

So, we spent all week long getting Sandy ready for her interview and her baptism on Easter Sunday! 8:30 Saturday night, we get a call from the bishop saying that he is not comfortable with a baptism happening on Easter Sunday and that the stake was supposed to talk to the mission president about it! UH-OH!! President Bell never heard about this so we spent the rest of the night on the phone with the bishop, President Bell, the ward mission leader and the zone leaders. It was decided to postpone the baptism. We were so frustrated. I was in a battle between my shoulder angel and shoulder devil! Honestly, this was a big moment for me. I was so discouraged and angry. The worst part was that we could not even tell Sandy that her baptism was postponed until we picked her up for church. She was disappointed but took it well and with a lot of faith.

President Bell came to church to see if she was okay, and to shake hands with the bishop. 5 minutes before sacrament meeting started, President Bell, walks up to us and says that the baptism is still on for 1:15!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Miracle worker! We ditched church to run over to grab Sandy's things, feed her, her her interviewed, and dressed. The poor elders really got it yesterday too! They had to teach a class last minute with the mission president there plus get it from us as well: "Hey elders do you want to loan us the car, play piano, witness the baptism, and confirm her in 10 minutes??" We owe them big time! 

It was some of the craziest 24 hours of my life but when all is said and done, Sandy is the newest member of the church! I don't care what I have to do or go through, it is my job to give her every opportunity to come closer to Christ, so it was all worth it. I would do it all again any day. Looking back, I see that maybe Heavenly Father wants me to have more faith and trust in the Savior. As it says in Proverbs 3: "acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" 

Lesson learned. 

The rest of the day we were pretty exhausted but because it is Easter we wanted to celebrate! We dyed over 30 eggs and wrote scriptures on them, we hid them in less-active's yards and sent them on a scripture chase! I have been the Easter Bunny in my family for a few years now, and I am not giving it up any time soon!

Happy Easter everyone and I hope that you all got to remember the true meaning of Easter! That EVERYTHING was made possible through the Savior's atonement and resurrection. I thrive off of what I get to do each and every day! This really is the time of my life! 

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

Loves and a hug from Kansas, 

Sister Parry