Hermana Parry in Houston: 6 Weeks and Training

I LOVE THE PEOPLE OF HOUSTON

I guess most of you already know the news but yes I am training! Her name is Hermana Burnham and she is one of the 19 year olds too!! She is so ready to work and really is so dedicated to the Lord. Together we are going to work to become consecrated missionaries and baptize all of Gulfbank! We have some really big goals ahead of us but we are both so willing to work. Since being assigned to each other, we have come home everyday and just crashed. We are tired ALL the time. I am even having dreams of tracting and teaching. There are no breaks here in the mission. I wake up super tired because I am working so hard in my dreams too! It’s the craziest things. But I love it. I really am so happy. I probably scare Hermana Burnham a little bit because there are times when I just break out with happiness. So many miracles are happening already and it’s only been 4 days together. Good things are coming our way!

My last day with Hermana Serrano was really sad. I love that girl so much. I really wasn’t too worried about taking over Gulfbank because I know that the Lord sustains those who he calls. He was definitely going to help me here because he wants success in Gulfbank. But with that being said, we had a really awesome experience. We went to this man's house with a member. He was in a motorcycle accident a few years ago. He was in the hospital for 2 years and for 6 of those months, he was basically in a comatose state of being. He related to us that during that time he was with Christ and Christ was touching his head and chest and telling him that you can't come to me yet because I have more work for you to do. This made Manuel really sad because he wanted so badly to just go to Christ and be with Him forever but he understood. When he woke up, he was in the hospital and the doctors explained everything that had occurred. He is currently not able to walk still and he is very limited in his movements but he knows that he is going to be healed to the capacity that he needs to be in order to do the work that is left for him here on earth. I love that faith! That was exactly what I needed to hear right before meeting my new companion because I needed to recognize that according to my faith, I am going to be able to be an instrument for many people. One of the best ways for me to exercise my faith is by talking to everyone. And believe me, as hard as that is, I'm doing it. But blessings are coming from it!!!

Yesterday, we were doing some more tracting. We decided to go hit up the very corner of our area because we weren’t sure when missionaries had been there before. We were in this trailer park and no one was really home. We were about to knock on this one trailer but as we walked up a man slightly opened the door and we quickly turned around because we didn’t want to be awkward. But then remembering that we needed to talk to everyone we turned back around and the man saw our nametags, grabbed his "wife", and we had a nice little charla with her. She met with missionaries 3 years ago in another area. She loved it. She stopped because she wasn’t married and she didn’t want to get married to the man that she was currently living with. But she is really interested now and invited us to come back over later this week! So it just shows that you really do have to talk to everyone in order for God to use you.

We also found the cutest old lady I have ever met. She is from South Mexico City. She came to Houston about 18 years ago. 21 years ago she met with missionaries in Mexico but hasn’t seen them since so she was amazed to see us. She was so sweet. She was holding my hand the whole time and the second time we met with her, she gave us this hand knit tortilla plates. She is really smart. She knows all the technicalities of the scriptures and the book of Mormon makes sense. We still have some things that we need to clear up but we are going to bring a member with us next time. Just so we have someone who fully understands what she is saying.

It is amazing to be able to have full on conversations in Spanish now though. Every day there is a little more progress and it is miraculous. All God. I am so grateful to know that he is always always there to help me and give me strength and courage. He is taking such good care of us down here in Houston. I am so grateful for the huge storm that happened here on Saturday too because we were able to get in with a lot more people! Sure they were pity lessons, but lessons nonetheless. We are planting those seeds and harvesting others. It’s amazing. Its so much fun! Honestly, once you get going, you just don’t want to stop.

I know that the atonement is real. I know that through Christ, all things are possible.

I love you all so much!

Hermana Parry