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!

Transfers

2 muchachas y un gato

What a stellar week. We are finally reaping what we have been sowing! This week we set 3 baptismal dates. We really have been having to demonstrate our faith these past couple of weeks because we have felt very strongly to drop certain investigators- Emilze, and give other investigators to different missionaries- Alfonsa. As a result, we have been trying to be creative, praying differently, working a lot with members for referrals, etc. so that we could have people to teach. It times it was really depressing but everything is changing. Louetta Este has totally done a 180. I cannot tell you about how God is just placing people in our paths were it was once impossible to find them. I think we passed a test that we had given us because He is blessing us so much. 

First off, Teresa's little sister, by some miracle, now has permission from her mom to get baptized! This is a huge miracle because before she was so against it. But now Emily will be getting on the 30 of November. Emily is so excited. She is my best little friend. She reminds a little bit of Monson because she is my little basketball buddy! It’s so cute. 

There is also this girl named Maria Rosario who has completely had a change of heart. She is a referral hace 3 transfers. No one has been able to get in with her and when we were on exchanges two weeks ago, Hna Deloya got in with her. She told them that she doesn’t believe in God and all these other really depressing things. But this week we had a powerful first lesson with her about the Restoration and she was totally receptive. We had it in a member’s home-, which is how we have to teach her because her mom is very catholic. The lesson was so powerful that she prayed and said she would get baptized! She is 25 and super awesome. 

Our other top investigator is a referral from a family in the English ward. They both served in the DF- shout out to Elder Mac. It is there niece who is living with them for the year and she is from Mexico. She doesn’t speak English yet so we get the opportunity to teach her and our lesson with her yesterday was amazing. She is so smart. She repeated everything back to us and was just beaming. Her name is Alejandra- 9 years old. I love teaching in a member's home because the spirit is so strong!!!! Everyone befriend your missionary’s investigators, or better yet, bring your friends to meet the missionaries so that they can feel of the spirit and have amazing experiences. 

Honestly, I can’t even begin to describe everything that is going on. There is a lot! I hope I am not jinxing anything by saying all this. I just wanted to let you know that your prayers for this area are being heard! Our ward is actually doing a 40-day fast right now for missionary work and I have to think that a lot of the miracles that are occurring are directly correlated to that! I love missionary work. When else do you get to talk about Christ 24/7 and be His representative. It’s the best! There is never any other time when people will randomly invite you in to learn how to make tamales, sing and teach them how to play piano, buy you pan dulce and tacos, etc. This is such an amazing experience in so many different aspects. 

Also, Hermana Deloya will be leaving tomorrow morning. She is getting transferred. It is really sad actually because of all the growth and progress of the area and of us individually and as a companionship. But she has more people to go help and save. She is an incredible missionary and I will really miss quoting nacho libre with her. 

I am happy and really excited about what it going on. This is going to be a great holiday season!

Sending all my love!

Keep smiling. 

Hermana Parry

Gratitude

I looked at my planner this morning and couldn’t even believe that it was the 11th of November... Where is all the time going? It is freaking me out!!! Shout out to my mom- HAPPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Love you so much! 

This week was such a tender mercy. On Monday we had a combined zone activity so I saw Hna Burnham. On Tuesday we had specialized training so I saw Hna. Koch. Then I had exchanges again in the woodlands with Hna. Hoj- she is brand new and so awesome, learned so much from her! Then on Friday and Saturday I went to a funeral and saw EVERYONE from H5. I have to say that that was probably one of the most precious moments of my mission to be reunited with everyone. Sad that it had to be a funeral but I am so grateful that I was able to be there. It was amazing to see how everyone was doing. Hna Leyva gave us a referral for a lady who lives in my new area and Hna Escobar was telling me how the whole ward was so sad to see me go because I was always smiling but she is so happy that I am with Hna Deloya right now. When I saw Hna Ramirez, I told her how much I missed her tortillas and she just fell in my arms and I held her for the longest time. She is similar to mom in that way that she likes to hear that her food is good. (Quick random thought: which totally reminds me of Hna Claudia Martinez. That is the lady I wrote you a letter about who teaches us how to cook and then cooks for us 2x a week. She always asks us if we like her food and always tells us to invite the other missionaries but we tell her no because then there wont be enough for us! She is my favorite!) Anyways, I just am really grateful for the mission because it really gives you the opportunity to bond with so many different types of people. My favorite part about being a missionary is that you really feel God's love for the people around you. I feel like one of the main roles I have is to reflect God's love and there isn’t any other feeling that is better than that!

There is an article in the Ensign about Gratitude prayers that you should all probably read. It changed my whole perspective on prayer. I have also made the goal to have only gratitude prayers for the rest of 2013. It is really hard and you realize how it is a habit to just ask for things. And there may be some of you reading this that are asking yourselves well how will I receive blessings if I don't ask. Well, I am here to promise you that you will receive blessings! Prayers of gratitude are a demonstration of faith. And for me this past week, that faith has brought about miracles. I have also been so humbled through my experience because I realize that God is really in control of every aspect of our life. He loves us unconditionally. His love is there whether we recognize it or not. His love will always be there. 

I know that God is our Heavenly Father and that He always gives us what we need. He knows better because He sees the big picture. When we express gratitude, we are showing Him that we are humbling ourselves before Him and aligning our will with His. I am so grateful for all that I have been blessed with and all the experiences that God gives me to grow. 

Keep smiling. 

I love you all. 

Hermana Parry

Renewing your dedication

Well all I have to say is that things are on fire. I love Hermana Deloya so much! We finally figured out everything and it is amazing to see how things just changed immediately. It is so true how we really are the ones that are the variables in the equation. God is always constant and is always wanting to bless us and help us. We are the ones that put barriers up that will keep him from doing so. But now, Hermana Deloya and I have broke down the barriers and we are working together. We have literally changed how we do everything and God is sending down heavenly help and helping us see things as He does! We have literally seen Louetta Este change in 2 days. From the instant that we sat down and straightened everything out and made inspired goals and plans, everything has been different. I am my happy self 100% again because we are doing everything together and bringing people to Christ, His way! In 2 days, we have found about 20 people who used to talk to missionaries and would like to be taught again. Is that not amazing? We went to taquerias and panaderias to find these people and just got to work. There wasnt a person that we didnt talk to. Some of them even bought us pan y flan y tacos y horchata. That was just an added bonus. That part of the day made me feel like Alma when he specifically prays for his consiervos and then they just go out and don't worry about food, drink, or clothes, but just go out to preach and everything is taken care of. 

One of the things that we have really changed is the way we pray. We get so specific and we have both learned that GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!! We have prayed for people who have heard the gospel before and are ready now to make changes and prepare for baptism. But its not that we are just saying that. There is combined faith behind it. And even more so now because we have both seen that it works. Ya, maybe it has taken me 9 months to realize that but thats ok because I am so happy that I finally did because it has changed the way that I am going to do missionary work for the remaining 9 months- yes, i hit my hump this past week in case you forgot! 

But the reason that I titled this email- renewing your dedication, is because I did that this week and I just feel like a missionary who understands her purpose more fully and has more faith to go forward and do hard things. I had a similar experience as President Gordon B Hinckely! At least I like to think so. He received a carta from his dad that told him to forget yourself and get to work. Well my Padre Celestial sent me a some information this past week too and told me: ya you do have imperfections but I am here to help you make them strengths, so listen to me and go do all things that stand in your power with good courage and I will sustain you. This is going to sound so bad but I think my biggest weakness is that I can't stand not being perfect. Maybe some of you already knew that BUT for me it is so hard to accept it. I feel like this week I have finally accepted it though and wow, I feel a huge load off of my shoulders. I feel like I can breathe! I can more easily recognize those things that I can do and do those things. That is all God asks of us- to do our best! I cant make the unreasonable claim that my best has to be perfect because that is just impossible! 

Just keep Alfonsa in your prayers- she has a baptismal date! November 16. 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Keep smiling, 

Hermana Parry

This is the taqueria by our apartment.
They are tacos from the df.
Soooo good!!!! But to be honest, they were not spicy enough. 

plugging away and working hard

That awkward moment when I bare my testimony at zone conference and an elder comes up to me afterwards and asks me where I am from because I have an accent... My companion just starts laughing because apparently she isn't the only one who thinks that I speak english like a mexican. Asi es. 

This week was extremely slow! We don't really have any promising investigators at this moment, actually we don't really even have a teaching pool at this moment. But we are still plugging away and working hard. 

One night this week we were walking down to E's house and this man, R, was just pulling into his drive way. We had previously met him about 4 weeks ago and since then have lost contact with him. But when he saw us he was quick to shout for our attention! We happily walked over and he told us that he had a really important question for us. He asked us why we carried ourselves with such happiness. He then continued to say that since our first encounter he felt like he has been left with something really special. I told him that we are happy because our message is one of happiness- it is the Restauracion del Evangelio de jesucristo. We then went in to talk about The Restauracion. That really caught him by surprise. He is really smart and quick. He was saying that Restauracion implies that there was a time when the gospel wasnt on the earth. We agreed and starting talking about un pastor, un bautismo, y una fe. That if got him to think even more. We are really excited about him! The only problem is when we went to visit him later this week, he totally avoided us. Pray that we will be able to meet with him again. This message is real and true. I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Sometimes that message can scare people but I dont want it to scare R. I know that if we can see him again, He will be baptized and be happier than he has ever been!!!! 

Anyways this is really short! I am sorry but I am happy! We are working hard. 

Love you all so much!

Keep smiling, 

Hermana Parry

E didn't get baptized BUT we are still smiling!

This was a very crazy week! Emilze kept cancelling appointments and avoiding us. We finally got in with her on Thursday and it was indeed awkward. We were at a park and she kept talking to everyone passing by so that she wouldn’t have to talk to us. She brought her sister-in-law, Alexis, as well that ended up being a good thing though. We were talking about the Holy Ghost and how we receive answers. She made the comment that we couldn’t really know that this church was true and we assured her that we could and we do know that it is true. We then read about the fruits of the spirit. The awesome part of the lesson was that Alexis said that no matter how angry or sad she feels, whenever we show up, it completely leaves her and she feels happy and safe. We were able to right away pin that as the spirit and Emilze even agreed with that. Anyways, we committed her to read, pray, and go to church. She has been lacking on reading and church attendance- hence, she has been falling. We have to make sure that we are consistently do all that we can to be close to God, there is no room for half efforts. 

We then were fortunate to meet with Emilze on Friday. Wow. This lesson changed my mission. It was so powerful. I truly felt like an instrument in God's hands to say what He wanted me to tell her. I even told her that we are her to bring her back to God's presence- we made a promise and we are here to fulfill it. We are literally her guides to happiness that lasts. She had lots of doubts and worries when we were there. We talked about how baptism is a necessary step so that you can have the understanding that you are seeking. There is only so much intelligence you can attain prior to baptism- it is like a veil that is lifted when you are baptized. She has developed so much faith and now she has to take a bigger step of faith and enter the waters of baptism. Hermana Deloya is a convert so she was able to explain how everything just clicked when she got baptized.  Anyways we then went back to talk about the Book of Mormon. I was so fortunate to share with her how I received my testimony of the veracidad del libro. To be honest, I always waited for a big manifestation of some sort to know that the Book of Mormon was true. I always had the belief that it was true but I was just waiting for something a little bit grander- i hope that makes sense. Anyways, I read Helaman 5:30 that talks about the Holy Ghost being suave. Most of the times it is just something small but we have to take those small things are recognize that they are something profound because it is from God. It was such a powerful lesson because we could testify with authenticity to all the concerns that she had. While we were in that lesson there was no doubt in my mind that Hermana Deloya and I are suppose to be companions. Emilze needed both of us- that is why we are still together. We have to put differences aside because we both have so much to offer these people. We just need to focus on them and everything falls into place. 

Before we left, we committed her to pray about baptism at 3 o’clock the following day. There was no way she could deny the spirit that was there. It might have scared her because I think it made her realize how true this is and what a big deal this all is. She said she didn’t have her answer still once she finished the prayer. She wanted to spend a lot of time that night praying and that she would call us the following morning to let us know. 

That Saturday, we got the text from her. She seemed really happy. There were smiley faces and exclamation marks! We immediately were like, YES! She is getting baptized today. She told us to come over- so obviously we rushed over there. When we got there she told us her answer was to go to a non-denominational church. First off, I know that is not the answer she got. She was making up all these random excuses and it was so heartbreaking. She didn’t drop us though. She just wants to investigate other churches. We just aren’t quite sure what to do with her now. We testified and really gave bold, simple statements. Super bold.  But that is why the spirit was so strong. 

When we left her house, ya I was a little disappointed BUT I wasn’t sad. I knew that we exhausted every option and really did everything that we could to help her. She is in God's hands and He is not going to abandon her. She is going to come back around real soon and be even more converted. It’s better this way so she can prepare to be a strong member of the church. But I know she knows this is all true. She was even testifying to her neighbor this past week about Jose Smith. Just keep praying for her. 

So that sums up my week. It was all about Emilze! I sure love her. 

On a completely other note, we had NOCHE DE HISPANIDAD on Saturday. Lots of good food and dancing. I love Louetta. There are some really funny people here. I can’t wait to spend the holidays here. 

I love you all so much! 

I am happy and healthy! I am learning how to make pan de elote today- pretty sure I will never ask for a birthday cake again because this stuff is so good. 

Keep Smiling, 

Hermana Parry

Victoriano! Our Grandpa!

Temple Day!

I finally got to wear my shirt from Mexico!