La Hermana Tanner!!!

So Hermana Tanner just saw that she was the title of my email and got really embarrassed but I can't think of any better topic. She is awesome and deserves it haha 

Anyways, Hermana Tanner is my new companion and she is amazing. Hermana Pedersen trained her so that is a little tender mercy! She has been serving down in Katy for 7 months and is just a fireball. Honestly, I have never met someone who has so much love for people and such a pure desire to serve. It is exactly what Louetta and I need! Last night we actually had the opportunity to get blessings from President Pingree and in her blessing- she is waiting to get her visa for Argentina, he pronounced that the Lord is very mindful with where she is and with who she is with- there is a very important reason. We are both very excited to find out! We feed off each other really well. We had appointments right when we got together and they were so awesome. I am really, really excited about what is going to happen. We have found a lot of really prepared people this week too. God just keeps putting people in our path!! This truly is His work and when we do everything His way, miracles happen. My hand hurts so much because of how much I haven been having to write in my journal this week! That is just evidence about how amazing it has been! We are happy and I really know that we are here for a divine reason. 

My favorite thing about Hermana Tanner is that we have all the same favorites- even down to the families in this area! haha that might not be good to say but its true. We have had a really great week with menos activos and I know that they realized that God is intervening in their lives! This is their time to come back- its exciting! 

Exhibit A: Hermana Morales is a chef and for some reason I had the impression to go see her last night. Now, the impression wasn’t strong so I could have easily just passed over it but I am so glad that I didn’t. When we showed up we saw that Hermana Morales had grocery bags galore EVERYWHERE! For work, she has to prepare 8 turkeys and all the other Thanksgiving goods. Immediately we got to work and helped her. I can't even tell you how fast we peeled, cut, chopped, and cooked. We got a ton done. There were times throughout the night when she would just turn to us and hug us and say God has answered my prayers. She was so stressed and we were able to help relieve her a little bit. It felt so good! She is making us our very own turkey on Friday because she claims hers are the best and she doesn’t want to feed us Thursday because we already are going to have too much food that day. How kind right? Also, I don’t think I have ever laughed as hard as I did that night at her house. We had so much fun. She is one of my best friends. I love Hermana Morales! 

Exhibit B: Hermana Espinosa. I can’t say that there was a specific event with her this week except for the fact that we bonded a lot with her over pupusas. We are going to teach her how to make that pan de elote recipe that I sent you a few weeks ago. I hope she will go back to church. I know she will one day. For now, we are just serving her and loving her. I love going there because we just laugh, and its not the kind of laughing that I do because I don’t know what is going on, it is laughing because we are legit having the best times of our lives together. The El Salvadorians somehow always end up as my best friends, I LOVE IT! 

Exhibit C: Martita Garcia. To be honest, I have no idea how we even ended up at her house this week. We were driving and talking and then next thing you know we were in front of her house. The crazy thing is was that Martita was home! She is hardly ever home because she works at Herbalife all the time! When we answered the door she even proclaimed that it was a miracle! She then sat us down and said that she needed to talk to us. She went on to tell us everything that has been going on and how she feels an absence of God's presence. That broke her down to tears. We talked with her and than invited her to get a blessing the next day from Hermana Galvan. We planned everything for the next day. When we came back, it was amazing. We talked a lot about Ester 12:6 and how we will always have a trial of our faith before we receive our testimony. We also talked about how just because we are members of the true church doesn’t mean that we are exempt from hardships and temptations. If anything, it is a lot worse because we are closer to God and Satan is going to work harder on us so that we wont be happy. The blessing that Hermano gave was beautiful. She said that she feels like something has been taken away. I know that the power of God is on the earth today so that we can be blessed. We are His children and He loves us. 

I guess I will just end with saying that I love this work. I love these people. I know that God is intimately aware of each of us. I know that when our Savior suffered, He didn’t just see each of our lives and He felt everything that we would feel. We can turn to Him. He is our best friend. I love Him and I am eternally grateful for Him and His sacrifice, which enables us to be happy now and for eternities. I know that all we need to do is have faith and that faith comes from being obedient. I love you all so much and I hope that you have a fabulous Thanksgiving. Eat plenty of stuffing for me!!! I am so grateful to be a missionary and spend my holidays here in Louetta East. 

Keep smiling! 

Hermana Parry 

This is my favorite little guatemalteca- Martita Garcia. She bought her own turkey so that she would have a fresh turkey on thanksgiving. How cute is that? she is a recent convert and i just adore her. Yesterday she was so touched by one of the talks that she starting crying and just snuggled into me. Cutest moment of my mission! She then was just kissing my hand and saying how much she loves us and how grateful she is to have us to teach her.

We learned a lot from each other!

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