First Pictures From the MTC

I was so happy today to get Evan's camera card in the mail today.  He looks amazing and so happy!

Looks like Greek to me! 

 Studying in the hallway or writing letters.

District picture in front of the Provo Temple.

 It takes a lot of books to learn Japanese.

Classroom

 I think this is the face that says "Japanese is hard"!

P-day in the laundry room.

 This elder was really happy to get homemade cookie dough!

The obligatory map pictures at the MTC.

 Service in the MTC.

Apparently Evan invented endless ways to kill a fellow Elder's toy monkey.  Great entertainment.

Elder Barton and Elder Parry

Extra Letter!

Fam!

This has been a pretty special weekend so I thought I'd surprise ya with an extra letter!

As I've told you, we had the mission president seminar.  We had a special devotional on Friday.  Elder Bednar spoke to us about being a Preach My Gospel missionary.  It was so awesome.  Elders Bednar, Holland, Ballard, Anderson, Nelson, Scott and Oaks were there.  Me, Ellsworth, and Anderson saw Elder Oaks before with a bloody nose.  He still took time to talk to us.  :-)

Yesterday, Elder Dinkel had an infection in his mouth.  So we got to go to the "real world" and get it fixed.  It took like two hours, then the shuttle forgot about us.  So it was like a four hour trip.  It was nice to leave and benefit from Elder Dinkel's problem.

Two favors:  In the package Friday could you send the Mo Bettah's Teri Sauce?  And do you have like spray stuff that could fix a scratch on glasses  I need some.  If you can't get them IT'S PERFECTLY FINE!

I love you all, I love you Mom,
Your son, and best friend
Elder "S.B." Parry

P.S.  I don't know if I told you about Lotso.  Ashcroft Choro has a little toy monkey.  I stole him and did like 20 different ways to kill him during class.  I did one that made me, Olsen, Parra, Ellsworth and Mortensen Shimai laugh til we cried.  I'll send those pictures soon on the SD.

P.S.S.  Larry Gelwix (Highland Rugby Coach) is a new mission president.  I talked to him yesterday.  So cool, great guy.

Thanks for the cookies.  I gave a few to Elder Lee, it was his birthday.  I have developed a love for hymns.  They are so awesome!  And Ellsworth Choro said I was pretty good at singing!  Sorry this letter is so random and poorly written.

Ai shitte imasu!

And I met my mission president's wife!  She is so awesome and she recognized me!

Note from Sensei

I got another great Facebook message from Evan's language instructor today:

"It's going great! Evan's district is amazing and I can honestly say that they are one the most impressive districts that I have ever taught! Evan and his Japanese are both doing incredible! He's progressing at a perfect rate and pushing himself to improve every day."

July 24, 2011, Entering 4th MTC Week!

Ok, well my email today won't be as good because the freakin' MTC blocked us from using the notebook setting so a lot of my detailed info won't be as good, I apologize.  Well, I've been here in the Provo Penitentiary for just over three weeks.  The senpai just got their travel plans to leave for Japan, which makes me really sad.  It makes me want to leave with them.  I like some of them more than my companion and none of them are goin' to Nagoya, which is a real shame.  Hey maybe you guys can just read my journal entries and you can get good detail there.  Since I don't have much time, I apologize to the siblings for not getting back to each one personally but I love you all!

The MTC is great! There are times, like right now, that I think are really ridiculous.  They have the mission presidents seminar, so all the general authorities are here right now giving devotionals.  We have two tonight and I hope that we get someone cool in them.

 

Dad, I hope everything is goin' great in Colorado.  Sounds like it's a good case for ya tho.  I hope everything goes great. Sacramento (Jimmer)? That's dumb, that makes me angry.  Ha, I have heard that he has been doing a lot better than expected.  I guess that's a good place for him. I know he didn't really wanna stay in Utah.

 

So I came back to my room after gym and there were two new elders in there.  Haha, it was a surprise. They're in our room until July 4.  So it's not too bad, I've actually really liked it.  It gives me a break and an extra breath from Elder Dinkel.  I have learned to be patient with Elder Dinkel. He is going to school in Utah when we get back (George Wythe, in Cedar City--he thinks it's way better than BYU, but it's not even accredited... haha).   I'm sending my SD card next week hopefully. 

It's pretty awesome here tho.  Japanese is way tough, but once I realize I can't learn this language in 12 weeks and just do the best I can, it makes me feel a lot better.  So, by the way, I was talkin' to Andrus Sensei and he said our initial return home date is around May 20th.  I'd be there til June 18 if I asked for an extension.  But hey, I would love it if you guys came and picked me up.  I think we would have so much fun.  I just need to know you guys would be good "mission presidents" haha.

Hey, I broke the record for most packages in 3 weeks! I got a solid 12 packages. Yhank you to everyone who contributed!  I went on splits yesterday with Elder Kobayashi (Dad, he said his parents were baptized 25 years ago in Nagoya, two years before he was born. They were baptized by a gaijin) and I prayed so I could talk to him.  We spoke back and forth!  It was great, we talked about our families, home lives, and our favorites.  I said one of my favorite singers was Eminem and he said "Eminem, ai shite imasu".  Haha, it was great.  I taught him to say "what you talkin' 'bout Willis", and he always says it now!

Well, I'm, glad to hear the Yankees decided to turn it up when I was gone! That sucks about Jeter and Pujols.  Andrus sensei is goin' to New York next week and he's way bummed about Jeter being injured.  Thanks Sam for all the sports updates!  You're the man, and tear it up in golf and we'll go when I get back.  Isaac, keep tearin' it up at everything, it's so awesome to hear from ya.  Caroline, it is always a pleasure to hear from you. If this email didn't answer some questions you had, I apologize. Jake, I love ya, keep having fun and don't look back.  You're the big guy now.

I love you all soo much. Sorry this email is shorter and sloppier. They took away a great way to email home.  It's so great to hear from you all.  I hope everything is goin' great! Ki ni shinaide kudasai. I'm in the Lord's hands, and I intend on following his example and hopefully invite others to come unto Christ. 

Gambatte kudasai,

Elder Parry

aka shortBOOB

June 17, 2011

June 17, 2011

So I figured out a new way to write emails and not have a time limit. Haha, ok well Elder Sonntag showed me how, so i can make my letters so much better! I´ll probably write stuff for the email once a day so I can give you better and more detailed letters.

First off mom, I found out a reason why people wear their watches on the bottom of their wrists. People in the military wear them like that so that when they crawl on the ground the sun doesn´t reflect off their watches. Haha, I know it´s random but I remember talking about this with you before my mission. I thought it would be hard to give up TV and my phone, but it´s really not bad! I do miss music a lot, but I know I can make it easily no problem. This is such a great feeling! OK, I promise I will send pictures this next p-day. I'll print out a few and mail them to you and I'll send the whole SD card at the end of the month.

Can you do me a couple favors? Troy wants a copy of my farewell talk, so could you send him a copy? And could you send me blank calendar pages for the next few months? I wanna use them to start logging my workouts and keeping track. I know I will do a lot more if I write everything I do down. Could you also look up a Desert Eagle Military backpack? Elder Sonntag showed me his and it is so awesome! You could mail me a picture and I could tell you if it's the one. it's like a shoulder wrap backpack, and it's smaller in size. I feel like a bum cuz I keep asking for things. Ask Jake if he could send me the list of those scriptures about the women in the Bible. And my friend had the COOLEST tie. It was a Goeffrey Beene paisley tie. I'll send a picture of it (hint hint: red). And whenever you can, could you send me a Japanese Hymn book? I think I have one in one of my boxes, but I know that might be difficult to find.

So wanna hear something funny? I guess BYU is having a bad case of like the Noura(?) virus, so the MTC is on like a total lockdown. We can't shake hands, elbow bumps, or any contact. We have to bow like the Japanese do, fitting eh? Haha i just thought that was funny.

I just remembered that I've talked about a few guys and not really explained who they are. All the guys I'll talk about are Senpei (the district that came before us). Elder Sonntag is from all over. His dad is in the military, he has most recently lived in Tokyo and Hawaii. There are the Munro twins. They're from Australia and goin to different missions in Japan. They are little spaz balls and have way sweet 'stralian accents. They got their calls four weeks before they were supposed to report, crazy huh?! Then there's Elder Everett, Sonntag's comp. He is from North Carolina, went to BYU and had to take finals early to report on April 20. He speaks fluent Japanese, NEVER speaks English. He helps out a lot tho. There are the two Shimai in our zone, Sister Stevensen and Sister Watanabe. They're both way fun and awesome! They always play softball with us and they like to just talk with us.

Well, I think I'm losing weight, I feel great! I might've just broke the chair I was sitting in from leaning back too far....

So about my branch presidency. There´s President Bird. There's Brother Wadsworth, who I really like but his voice is so slow and boring he puts you to sleep. There's Brother Mortensen who I kinda like, but he came to my room and said that I need to be obedient, which I dunno why he would say that to me? There's Brother Robinson, who I LOVE, he studied all our faces and names before he met us and he is just always so happy. So all in all my presidency is pretty cool.

So I've gotten a lot of letters from family members, and I wanna apologize that I probably won't write back to everyone, but I wanna say thank you and I love you all! Thanks Grandma, G-Dogg, Matt, Celeste, Andrea, Sean, Sara, and anyone else who has written me! I do wanna personally say I love ya Blake!

That was awesome to hear about you baseball games. Gambatte Kudasai (good luck) big guy!  So funny story, I was in the bathroom yesterday and there was this Elder from my zone who was in my ward at BYU. He had like half a paper towel to dry his hands off and I grabbed like three (cuz I actually wanted my hands to get dry) and he looked at me and called me a tree killer. Elder Anderson was behind me and said "the tree is already dead". Haha that made me so happy. Another funny story was Elder Carmac told Elder Ashcroft he could run for an hour, so during gym they started running, he passed out after 7 minutes. Haha.

Thats really funny to hear about Isaac having to make the baseball diamond a strip club. People are just jealous of the best. That's how it always is, I would know, haha. As a missionary, I have realized I was immature about some feelings I had towards some people. Jake my boy, make me proud, never fail to do a prank! That kid sounds like a cry baby momma´s boy. I´m sooo glad Voltron is having a smile on his face. He loves some pizza. Good boy. Go Mavs haha and go bruins! Thanks for all the stuff! You guys are awesome.

So today is the day for newbies to come in! I saw Elder ¨Double D¨Dubois, Elder Naegle, Elder Hutchings, Elder Brock, and Sister Murray! it was great to see all of them to come in with smiling faces! I like being a ¨more experienced¨ Elder. It´s great being here tho.

So yesterday, we were playing softball and there were these annoying missionaries goin to the Philippines. They were annoying and saying derogatory words. They told Elder Dinkel that if he said one more word they were gonna take him out. So our district left and on my way by, I said, ¨hope you guys are proud by the way you´ve acted. Hope you guys can call yourselves representatives of the Lord.¨ It was bad.

I just watched Lisa Adachi´s video profile on Mormon.org, if you have 4 minutes to spare, I´d watch it. It´s a really awesome video with a great message. This is exactly what we are out here to do, bless the lives of others and put a smile on someone´s face.

Dad, do you know Leo Parra? And you baptized a Kobayashi family right?

I´m really glad to hear that Ty is doin well, send him my love and that he is in my prayers constantly. I know that he might not be in the ideal situation he wants, but I know that he is exactly where he needs to be to serve the Lord, I couldn´t be happier for him. Hey one more favor, could you send me that green and white paisley tie that's mine? Paisley is a hot commodity around here.

Hey Dad, I just wanted to say I love you, and thanks for your great example. Happy Father's Day! I love ya so much, thanks for all the letters and support you have given me. I am truly lucky and blessed. Thanks Craigory! And thanks to my siblings, I love you all too so much. Thanks for the examples you are too me. I love you guys and mom so much. Take care of her, she is the best thing you guys have in your lives.

Over and out,
Elder Parry

P.S. Post my blog on my Facebook

Update From Inside the Workings of the MTC

We are lucky to know Evan's language instructor.  Audrus Sensi used to be in our ward.  He's nice enough to let us ask once in awhile how Evan is doing with Japanese.  Today I got a great update: 

"He's doing really well! This past Saturday he went to the TRC which is where missionaries practice things that they have learned about including teaching and language skills. The first 15 minutes were in Japanese and Evan met with, introduced himself, got to know, and explained his purpose as a missionary as well as set up a return appointment with an "investigator" all in Japanese! I wasn't there for that but my team teacher said that everyone did really well! After the 15 minute portion, they went back and taught the investigator lessson 1 on the restoration in English (which I was also told that everyone did great!). We're starting to speed things up a little bit with the language this week in class, but so far so good! I mentioned this before but the district he is in is really amazing! They have a strong desire to work hard, be obedient, and learn the language. My opinion is probably biased, but out of the 6 districts we have in the MTC that are going to Japan, Evans district is by far the best group when it comes to hard work and diligence.

And then in response to my question about whether he was homesick or was he happy?

"Yes he does! He seems very happy! He isn't showing any signs of homesickness. I have 1 on 1 interviews with the missionaries and Evan told me that he is doing great. Everyone in the district loves him and they have already become really good friends."

Good news!

Elder Barton

This is a letter we received today from Elder Barton, Evan's good friend who was able to host Evan the day he entered the MTC:

Dear Parry Family,

Y'all are the BEST!!!  Thank y'all so much for the treats and the letters, it meant the world to me!  I want y'all to know that being on the sidewalk when y'all pulled up was not a coincidence.  I prayed every single day since I found out we would be hosting that I would get to host Elder Parry and that prayer was answered.  I was assigned to be at the very end of the line but for some reason after I dropped off the first Elder I just felt like I needed to walk towards the front of the line.  It was incredible to get to see all of you and so much fun to welcome Elder Parry to the MTC!  The MTC is so amazing and the things we learn here are simply incredible.  This past month has changed my life in ways I never thought were possible.  I get to see Elder Parry a ton here and he always stops by at breakfast, lunch and dinner to talk for a bit.  I got to sit next to him at our mission conference this past Sunday to which was really awesome.  He is doing great!  It sounds like the language is coming great for him and he is incredibly excited about the work!  He is going to be an amazing missionary!  His companion is a little different, but I think in the end they will learn to love each other.  Thank y'all so much for everything y'all have done for me!  Especially for all the times you let me come up from BYU with Evan and stay with y'all.  Y'all are like family to me and it meant the world to me to be able to see y'all!  I hope everything is going great for y'all and y'all are enjoying the summer!

Les Amo!
Elder Barton

June 10, 2011

Konnichiwa!

Oh how much I love it in here! It truly is a blessing to be here full time doing the Lord´s work.  Sorry I haven´t replied to any of your other letters and packages.  I just thought it would be easier to email one big reply.  Speaking of them, thanks for all the letters and packages! I'm trying to beat the branch record of 11 in 3 weeks so help out! They make me feel like I´m loved haha.  I love it here, I have realized how hard it´s going to be so it forces me to work harder.  As Spencer W. Kimball said, ¨We lose ourselves, so that we can find ourselves.¨ I love it tho, I can´t say that enough times.  The spirit is just great here.  It´s like a fire hose not only for learning Japanese, but the spirit just blesses me all the time.  Speaking of the language, it's HARD. I feel like I keep falling behind, so Andrus Sensei said he would tutor me as long as I need help.

My district is pretty awesome.  It´s me and Dinkel from Nebraska goin to Nagoya.  Elder Ashcroft from Colorado and Elder Parra-Mauk from Layton goin to Nagoya too.  Elder Ellsworth from Mesa goin to Nagoya and his comp Elder Olson from Layton goin to Sapporo.  Elder Carmack from New Jersey and Elder Anderson from Virginia goin to Tokyo.  Then there's Elder Gubler, our Zone Leader, from St George goin to Tokyo and his comp Elder Evans from Virginia goin to Fukuoka.  Then there are the Munro twins and Elder Sonntag in our zone who I have grown really close to.  It's a lot of fun, but a lot of work.  We have class for 6 hours a day and study time for another 4.  Today in study time, I read about Moses in Egypt.  I got some great insight on it.  Like the people of Egypt having disasters fall upon them, the people of Japan have also had some tragedies.  I know that if I have faith like Moses did, I can change the hearts of not just a few, but many people over in the wonderful land of Nihon!  What a great blessing it is to be here at this particular time and going to this particular place, as my patriarchal blessing says.

No we don't do any kind of classes on Sundays, we just have like 10 hours of personal study, sacrament, and a devotional at night.  Last week was fast Sunday, very spiritual, but I was starving! I couldn't eat til 6! Thanks for the preparation fam haha just playin, it's not too bad. 

I have seen so many people here including Mitch Brandon, Kelon, people from BYU, Ryan Checketts, and a few others.  Ty was unfortunately sent home on medical release.  I pray that he will be able to come serve shortly. 

I love you all so much.  Thanks mom and dad for all the supporting letters, it really is so awesome.  How are things goin? I can write more in an email if you guys reply by a dear elder so I can read them separate from emailing, cuz the half hour includes reading them.  I would LOVE a DJ3K wristband if that is possible. and also, you can send my gloves whenever you want.  I can have them, I just can't use them til the field.  I love you all so much. Make sure to express that to each kid and how much I pray for them each night.  Tell Matt and Grandma thanks for the letters too, they sent stuff with your dear elder so I can't reply.  And how are the finals goin!? I don't get ANY sports updates in here, it's like a humungous bubble to everything else in the world.

ISAAC: Sorry I didn't write a letter to you, but I figure this will get to you sooner anyway.  Thanks for that letter big guy! It's so awesome and exciting to hear about the things you do.  Mom says you're killin it at baseball! That's awesome! Get good so you can go 6-6 in your MTC softball games like me :) I love you man, I miss ya tons, stay on the straight and narrow path and you will be serving a mission before you even know it!

Love you all, gambatta!

Elder Evan "S.B." Parry

First P-Day

Kazoku!

Ohio goisamasu!  First week missionaries can't e-mail.  It's really dumb.  I like letters, but don't like writing.  Haha.  The first week is good!  The first day was hard and overwhelming, but it's getting better.  The days are long but I know after Sunday it gets better.

Japanese is tough, but it's comin along.  I can pray, introduce, and testify in Japanese.  My teachers are awesome!  Bro. Andrus and Sis. Mortensen.  You know Parker Andrus and Sis. Mortensen lived in Jeff Smith's old house when we moved in!  Crazy, but I love having teachers that know me.

Elder Dinkel is kind of a...dinkelberry.  Haha.  He always forgets stuff.  His key, backpack, tag, but he knows a ton of Japanese.  I almost have hirogama down, but hs is learning kanji.  I keep trying to tell him to focus on teaching and speaking, but he insists it will help.  Every companionship in our district has one Elder who studied Japanese before.  Me, Elder Ellsworth, Ashcroft and Gubler are lost.  Haha.  But we will all help each other.  I love our district.  We have so much fun.  We played softball in gym and I hit a home run that probably woul've gone over the Bronco Field fence.  I was named the district Jokester and Alpha Dog!  We dn't have any sisters, but the two sisters in the other district always hang out with us.  They are fun.  It's a different kind of friendship than back home.  Haha.

Thanks for the package!  I freaking loved it.  Everyone was jealous.  I got nine letters yesterday from you guys, G-Dawg, Lindsey, Gayla, Alec, Andrew Parry, the Bishop and Grandpa.  I lovve the support.  Hopefully Elder Dinkel will get some stuff soon.

I've seen Elders Talbot, Barton, Walker, Brandon, Hyer, Groberg, Oberg, Fernelius and a few others around!  It would've been awesome with all the guys in here.

That's so funny what Jake did!  He's the man.  Haha.  I'm way excited for Jake and the others to serve.  If Jake wants to go out in December, I don't blame him.  He will love it out here.  I'm gettin way dizzy from my bad breathing, I just wish it would get better already.  It's way annoying.  It gets hard to hear, but it gets better.  Should I take Allegra every day?

The food here is awful.  But for lunch we had BBQ hamburgers and Papa John Pizza, it was splendid.

We're just hangin out in the laundry room now, writing letters with the sisters.

Love you all!  Can't wait to hear from ya!  Good luck to Jake in summer.  I hope Caroline has a great time in DC (and thank you Hansel for that letter sooo much).  Sam & Isaac love you both and let it hang!

Yours truly,
Elder Parry
"Shortboob"

PS  Me and Elder Dinkel have our own room!  And could you have Dad send me the concise dictionarys?

June 1, 2011

Duh!  Craig came home and read the card Evan sent and also found a letter in the envelope which I hadn't seen.  Craig still let me read it first.

Dear Family:

It is so great here!  My head is spinning and I'm a bit overwhelmed, but I know that things will get better!  I know you gave me that card to fill out, but the MTC President told all of us to write our feelings tonight.  I love you all so much!  I really do.  I know I will miss you guys, but I know that what I am doing here is what I'm meant to do.  I am doing great here.  My companion is Elder Dinkel.  He is from Nebraska, oldest of nine, and he is super goofy.  He loves punk rock, very skinny, big nose, and just the opposite of me.  We have our room to ourselves!  It's so awesome and roomy.  Parker Andrus is my language instructor.  He is taking care of me.  My P-days are Fridays.  Tell Jake I have to be at the temple at 7:40, so be at the parking lot around 7:00.  My return date is scheduled for June 18, 2013, so Jake can leave after that.  Tell everyone, including the dogs, I love and miss them.

Much love,
Elder Parry

PS  If you get this before Saturday at 8:40 a.m., e-mail me, if not, mail me.  LOVE YOU.

First Letter!

Before Evan left, I gave him a fill-in-the-blank card that he was supposed to quickly fill out at the end of his first MTC day and drop it in the mail.  I thought that would allow us to hear from him sooner than waiting for his P-day.  So today we got that card! 

My companion's name is Dinkel.
He is from Nebraska.
My P-day is Friday.
I need                         (he left this one blank).
My other roommates are NO ONE! (smiley face).
I am feeling (positive emotions only) Spiritual, overwhelmed, Ready!
I saw (friends) Kelon, Dylan and Troy today.

Love, Evan

MTC

Today was the day we were supposed to drop Evan off at the MTC.  Which we did, reluctantly.  It was a really sad moment, made a little better by the appearance of Elder Barton, Evan's best friend from his freshman year at BYU.  We were happy to at least leave him in the hands of someone he knew.