Nihongo Dake

Hey family! Can you believe I just have a little over two weeks left? Haha, this is so crazy I can't even tell you. Time sure has flown by fast, but it seems like forever I saw you guys. I love it just as much as I always have. I knew the mission was gonna come with hard times, so experiencing them only helps me grow stronger. 

We gave Andrus Sensei a goal to go on 3 dates in two weeks. Haha he did it! So we gave him another goal to get 4 in two weeks. They really makes him stretch, but they are reasonable. I told him that he could take a date to the batting cage and get a few swings haha. It's really funny, but I love the relationship I have created with my senseis here. They're like a mom/dad figure for me in the MTC because my branch president and his wife are like non existent.

Thanks a ton mom for the shoes and cake cookies. Everyone in the class LOVED them. Andrus Sensei took two haha. Thanks a bunch and thank you Grandma for the package! I loved it! :)

So Sunday was a crazy day! We were asked to make mormon.org profiles. But we have to add a picture to make the profile. So if you're not too busy, could you get onto my account and just finish it by adding a picture you like? It's ok if you can't, I just think it's really cool. I've done everything. There's also a place you can link it to facebook, so you can do that too. On our temple walk that day, I saw John Gaskill, Kenny Chatfield, and Charlie Chavez! What a surprise! It was way cool, I was really glad to see them and hear how they are doing. It was so great to see where they're at with missions and all, I am just so happy for them. We had a devotional that night by Stephen Allen. He does all those Homefront commercials. He showed us a bunch and had some amazing quotes. I loved it. We then sang Come Come Ye Saints to the Mormon Tabernacle music. It was so amazing! I may or may not have cried, it was so powerful.

Just for your reference, I finished a bottle of the allergy drops. I have one more. could you send me my blue and white flower tie? I just remembered it and realized I wish I would've brought it and could you send me some more of those pens that I took with me? I am using them a lot. Thanks :) HHHhaha funny story. We were messin around on lds.org and I found my mission papers. I pulled them up and found the attachment to my passport. I showed everyone and no one recognized me! Haha it was way funny, everyone was impressed with how well I cleaned myself up.

So on Tuesday and Thursday, we did nihongo dake (speak only Japanese) it was tough, but I think if you keep doing this goal and add more days, it should help us improve a lot.  Elder Batis left on Monday, it was a bittersweet moment. I was sad to see him go but happy to see he him finally get to go. Now I'm in a threesome companionship again. Elder Unice is now with us.  Our group of nihongin came. They're not half as cool as the last group, But oh well. That just means I have a short time here left. I still can't believe it.

ELDER SEATON AND ELDER COX CAME IN!!! Haha I ran around lookin for them in the cafeteria at dinner haha. I sat next to Elder Seaton at dinner. They are lookin great, I'll be honest, I was extremely happy to see them. Elder Cox gave me a big hug and told me it was from the family. Love you guys so much.

We had a great devotional by Elder Simmons from the emeritus 70.  He taught on the importance of molding ourselves on the mission. It was amazing. I know I have molded myself a lot, but I still have so far to go. It's crazy. I absolutely love it though.

 
Dad, thanks for the shirt! I loved it. Andrus Sensei thought it was really cool so he put it on and I took a picture Haha. So I said a really good sentence in one of my lessons this week. see if you can figure it out dad:イエスキリストのあがないによってわたしたちのつみからきほおさらことができます。

If you can't figure it out, I'll tell you in my next letter. Just so you know, if you come pick me up, I wanna hike Mt. Fuji so you betta get yourself trained haha cuz I want to really bad. Another funny thing dad, I was watching a Mormon message by Elder Holland called God's Words Never Cease and it showed a scene of the Christ movie you were in and I saw you! Haha it was so funny, it made me really happy, not gonna lie.

So i get my travel plans on Thursday! How crazy is that!? I can't believe how fast time has gone by, it feels literally like yesterday it was my first day here and I was hating it haha.  Four deodorants is great.  I hope you guys have a great time together in Colorado! My buddy in my district is super jealous, he's a die hard Rockies fan.  I give him a lot of crap. We agreed to go to his house when we get back and hit up a few games there.  I love it here, I can't even explain it.  But there comes a time when one is about ready to move on, and that's me.  Haha I'm about ready to get over to Japan, even tho I'll cry when I hear so much Japanese i don't know hahaha.  I love you guys so much.  I pray for each one of you every night.  My prayers have been getting unbelievably better.  I feel like with each prayer, I become better friends with my Heavenly Father.  I always pray to help me understand who I really am, ask for opportunities to serve, and I pray for my future wife.  Kinda weird I know, but I really do hope she is happy and I eventually mold myself into being that guy she'll marry.  Isn't this such a great gospel? I just absolutely love it.

I'll send home my journals and sd card and a package of stuff I don't need like a week before I head out.  I don't have aalot, but I want to make sure I can be under 50 pounds on both my bags, so I'll do what I can.  Thanks for all the packages and everything.  I love hearing from all of you and I love the stuff I get.  Dad, you always send me those letters at the most perfect time.  Thanks so much for everything.  I am so excited to go and serve in the same place you did just about 25 years ago.  Andrus Sensei said he wants to go back next summer haha he asked if you could lend him some sky miles as a joke haha.  I love you all, I am so excited to see where life takes you these next two short years. Mom, I know that this summer has been low in activity and it's been somewhat harder not having everyone there.  The lord will bless you for your willingness and diligence you have for this life.  The dogs are there for you to literally be your best friends.  I regret not having a good good-bye to them.  I miss them a lot too haha.  I love you all, next week's letter will be a pretty crazy one!

ai shitte imasu.  gambatte kudasai.  iesu kirisuto no aganai ni yotte watashitachi no tsumi kara kiho sara koto ga dekimasu.  ten no otosama no keikaku no okage de watashi no kazoku chizuku koto ga dekiru.

We are all brothers and sisters,

One love, Elder Parry

"Failure is only when you quit trying. If you keep working at a task and try to do what's right and honest, ultimately it works out." -M. Russell Ballard

Senpai (Upperclassmen)

Konnichiwa kazoku!

So being sick is yoroshii masen. I keep getting bad headaches and bad runny noses haha and a sore throat. I get to sleep next the humidifier now. Ki ni shinaide kudasai (don't worry about it).

So we had our kohai group come in, right? So now I'm a senpai!  Haha it's crazy, I leave in like 3 weeks. There are a couple cool kids in the kohai group. Most of them aren't very social and just seclude themselves. We wrote letters to them the day they came in just for confidence and what not, and the shimai I wrote mine to is super weird. She found out I sent her the letter and hasn't spoken to me since. Let's be honest, it doesn't bother me that much haha. There is Elder Adams, he played ball at Salem Hills and the U. He's way cool, I've dubbed him my prodigy hahaha. He's a really cool guy and he has a cool story about coming. He didn't really wanna come and just play ball. But his friends told him to go and his parents said he had to. So he prayed and got an overwhelming feeling to come on a mission. It's great for him.

So yesterday, Elder Dinkel was telling all the kohai he was alpha male. I told all of them to ignore all alpha male comments. As he was saying this stuff he spilled milk all down his suit and table haha--it was just him not paying attention. He just snowballed the rest of the day, losing his keys, tag, card, leaving his notebook in the bathroom. Thanks for the pictures and pyramid of success papers! I gave them to everyone in my district and they all enjoyed them, so thank you again.

Things are going well though, I can´t complain of course. I taught the second lesson on the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement this morning with no notes! it was so awesome. I am finding it easier and easier every day to use the language and figure out how to apply it. I know it´ll be so hard and I´ll wanna cry in Japan, but if I can make it better then booya. Haha.

So Aschroft Choro and Ellsworth Choro are trying out for special auditions. They´re trying out for a special musical number during a devotional. Ashcroft Choro is playing More Holiness Give Me while Ellsworth Choro sings. He´s got such an amazing voice, it´s truly incredible. And Ashcroft Choro is trying out a piano piece he has, it's the Renaissance Song by Jon Schmidt, it sounds amazing! I love listening to it. They made the song part! They said Ashcroft Choro's song was too loud, but Ellsworth Choro's song made it! How awesome is that?! They get to sing at a devotional!

We had an awesome devotional on Tuesday. We had Elder and Sister Hammond from the 70 speak. They spoke on love of the Book of Mormon. It was so great! They said they have a goal to read the Book of Mormon once a year. I'm gonna do that the rest of my life, I think that's so awesome. They told a story about a missionary in their mission when they were mission presidents. His name was Scott Peterson and he played for the National Championship BYU football team. Sports Illustrated came and interviewed him and they asked him why he left. He said, "because I love God more than I love football." It was such an awesome story. SI had a picture of him baptizing someone the next week! Thats crazy!

Elder Evan Folland and Braeden Wilson came in this week! it was great to see them and they seemed excited to be here!

Could you guys send pictures of how my room looks now? Haha Sam told me what it's like and I'm kinda curious to see it. Thanks for the stamps, postcards, and the Derek Jeter article! They were great :)

So I've had some really cool experiences the past few days. I have been blessed with the gift of tongues. I have been able to create my own sentences, and apply them to the lessons. It's such an awesome feeling. It's hard to describe other than I can just speak what I'm trying to say. It's helped motivate me harder to just work even harder and get this language down. The language is an adventure, so grab it by the horns.

So quick thing, before I head out, could you send me a few Old Spice Deoderant sticks? Sam knows what I like. They don't sell deodorant sticks so i wanna take like 3 or 4 before I go, but I don't wanna have too much weight. Thanks for the letter dad. There was a lot in there that I really needed to hear. I just need to be even more patient. Thanks a lot. You always know what I need to hear and when I need to hear it. Thanks for everything you do for me mom. I love to brag about you here all the time. I was nervous I wasn't gonna get a letter from you this week, but you swooped in yesterday. Haha I hope you guys have enjoyed my journal! And thanks for all the support you give my friends. They love it and feel so blessed. Thanks again and I'll send you another next week!

One Love, Elder Parry

p.s. If you have any questions, send me an email or send them in a dear elder and I can answer them for you! LOVE you all!

District Inventory

July 15, 2011

Hey familia!

Elder Barton left on Monday :( I was so bummed, but it's great for him that he gets to go out and serve the people of Argentina Mendoza. He will be an AWESOME missionary.  He has motivated me in multiple ways to be a better missionary and leave no area with any regrets. I'm excited to see him in about 22 months and we can call ourselves returned missionaries and won't be able to understand each other haha.  We took a picture of everyone from our BYU ward before he left, that'll come home on the next SD card.  We got a new district leader on Sunday.  It was Elder Ellsworth.  He'll be an awesome district leader.   That day was very frustrating for me.  We do a district inventory every week and one person leaves the class and the rest of the people have to figure out something for them to improve.  I might've already told you that.  But some Elders hate it cuz they say they don't want to change as people and they're just straight up stubborn!  It makes me so sad and frustrated.  Even disappointed!  We're out here to change not only other people, but ourselves.  We might be the people that God intended on us being when we arrived, but we aren't even close to what he has intended for us when we finish.  Some of the stuff they don't want to do is just so immature.  Like for example, we asked one to ask people nicely to stop something or when they correct them, one had a personal space problem and told them to respect others in that sense, and another we told to put away childish things and he says he doesn't want to grow up!  I just don't understand!  I feel like I've been extremely patient and worked really hard on it, but I'm almost to the point where they need to do something.  Those same people don't like Elder Ellsworth and I feel like he might be fighting to gain the respect he should already have.  Maybe if you guys could throw my district into your prayers that would be appreciated.

So cool story, Elder Batis had to get his knee scoped.  So I went with him.  Haha.  It was hilarious.  He was so weird after the surgery. He kept trying to leave and was freaking out about going home and that he was naked.  He also didn't remember he had a girlfriend and he got so excited.  He force fed me a juice pack.  It was just a funny experience.  It was cool too cuz he had to exact same surgery I had three months ago.  It was hilarious.  When people asked where the surgery was, we said it was in New York and had this huge story goin!  We said that dad was providing SkyMiles, it was a family doctor, we were staying in the New York mission home, and we were going to the Manhattan Temple.  O my gosh everyone fell for it!   Elder Ellsworth prayed for us to have a safe flight to New York.  It was soooo funny. We had our whole zone believing us.

We also had ANOTHER new roommate move in.  He's elder Unice from Pleasant Grove.  He came back after a 7 month medical release, and he's 23 years old.  He's really goofy, but I like him a lot.
So dad, that article that you sent me about Joseph Smith, was written by my Book of Mormon teacher! Haha crazy huh?  It's a very awesome article tho. Elder Ellsworth has read it and it has helped out a lot.

So I had yet another adventurous day on Wednesday.  Elder Batis had to go do physical therapy and a check up.  A trip that was SUPPOSED to take an hour and a half that turned into 5 HOURS. Ya it was pretty ridiculous.   They had SportCenter on so I saw the highlights from the All Star game. Haha.  Seemed like an alright game.  Prince Fielder MVP, AL needs to step it up. haha.

Yesterday was a really tough day.  I got sick with a sore throat, headache, and runny nose.  It was hard to concentrate, but like I said in my farewell talk, Lou Gehrig didn't have any days off, neither do I.  I just need to pray harder and have faith God will give me the strength to press forward.
Funny story, me and Ashcroft Choro have made a list of things to do when we get back. haha  It includes: jousting on bikes, paint balling, Seinfeld marathon, boating, and more! Haha.  Just thought that would put a smile on all y'all's faces.

I love you all, thanks for everything.  I always love hearing from you mom and dad. I hope that I will be able to speak to you when I get back dad.   Haha.  If you guys pick me up I want to hike Mt Fuji.  Like I want to do that way bad.  Haha.  Mom, I love you.  I owe everything I am to you.

Until next week,

Gambatte kudasai,

Parry Choro!

MTC Softball MVP?

So once again, I have figured out how to do the long email again haha. So first off, I made my first tie trade since coming to the MTC! I have actually made 3...haha.  I did the first one with Elder Barton, then Elder Ashcroft, then finally with Elder Sonntag. Very good trades, I guess you can call me a business man, haha.

Thanks for the huge packages! They are great, I have to share food cuz I don´t wanna gain too much weight. Those actually were the wrong shoes...haha. I wanted just like the casual black slip on shoes, not the church shoes. I'll send those home later when I need to send stuff home, thanks tho!

We had a special Fourth of July devotional last Saturday and it was sooo awesome! They had Obama´s right hand man come speak to us. He talked about what the soldiers do and what the armies have done to give us freedom through God to restore the church. It was awesome. They did a slideshow clip of all the missions and everyone cheered for their mission. The polys went crazy of course. After the clip was done everyone stood up and went crazy! It was so awesome. After, they had a flag ceremony for all the countries represented by people in the MTC. Our zone had four flags. we had some holding the Japan flag, Cananda flag, one of the Munro twins held the Australian flag, and Elder Sonntag carried the American Flag. it was soooo cool! it was a lot of fun, I´ll send those picutres home.

On Sunday, all the kohai sang a special rendition of ¨god be with you til we meet again¨ the power had been out in the whole building til we started singing the song, it was so great. The spirit was so strong. Elder Sonntag climbed over chairs to get to me and gave me a huge hug and said, while he was crying, ¨that was the best song I´ve heard in the MTC. It was a very bittersweet moment.

 
All the Senpai left Monday morning, i think it really sucks. Some of my best friends here were in tHat group. Elder Everett has to stay a few more weeks cuz he broke his thumb on Saturday. I feel so bad for him, remember him in your prayers.

 
We have started practicing doing the first lesson in Japanese. It was miserable the first time. I didn´t say like anything. Andrus and Mortensen Sensei have really helped us and done drills with us. I feel more confident each one we do. Our lesson will be very simple haha.

How is your guy´s vacation? Remember when I mentioned that thing about the tie? Don't worry about it, I don't need it. If you did get it sure go ahead and send it, but if you didn't please don't worry about it.

We had Jenny Oaks Baker come speak to us and play the violin. She is amazing! Have Caroline listen to her, I know Caroline could be that good if she practiced!

We told Andrus Sensei that Mortensen Shimai had an undying love and burning desire for him as a joke. Andrus thought we were serious and he got wayyyy scared. It was one of the funniest things since being here! So Wednesday I saw ELDER CARROLL!!! I was soo happy to see him haha he looked excited and scared. I talked with him for a while. We live in the same building and have the same gym time! It's so awesome I love it.

Breaking news, we got a third companion! He was a senpai and had to stay cuz he has to get surgery on his meniscus. He is from Meridian Idaho, his name is Batis Choro, and he loves the Oregon Ducks. We talked about college football and the sports world for like an hour the other day, I had to go to Babylon (outside world) with him so he could get a check up. He's way cool. He will be a great relief when it comes to Elder Dinkel.

I got a package from the Allen's, so great. it had pictures from boating and a few little snacks! By the way, Everett Choro gets to head to Japan so our prayers were answered quickly haha.

We did a district inventory this week. One elder has to leave the room and the rest of the district have to come up with something that elder needs to work on for the next week. I had mentioned that I have a hard time saying my morning prayers and that's the goal they gave me! It's awesome.

Have you read what Elder Barton said in the newsletter? Oh my goodness it was quite an eye opener. I don't think I have been slacking off, but it motivated me to work even harder and to never have any regrets when I leave an area. I talked about that in our district meeting yesterday and I motivated most of the elders to work harder. Ellsworth Choro said I was gonna be the next district leader. That would be pretty cool.

You know, here in the MTC, I have realized how important baseball was to me. I had a lot of different situations that have helped me as a missionary. I have learned how to fail and appreciate the good. I have learned how to be patient with a teammate (now my doryo), and the big one is, I have learned to have a great attitude. I love it here. If I have a great attitude, everything will be better: learning the language, difficult and different companion, and enduring to the end.

So yesterday, Mortensen Shimai told us to pair up with someone and do a baptism commitment. I paired up with Ellsworth Choro. I taught him and for some reason I thought I should share D&C 18:10 to him. After the task was done, he said that was a verse he really needed to hear for himself. I guess I got a spiritual prompting and acted on it. He did the same thing when he taught me and shared Corinthians 10:13 with me. Pretty awesome experience.

Hey I'm so glad to hear how awesome your vacation is! Sorry I'm not writing personal letters, I'm running short on stamps, so here you go:

Jake: I'm so glad to hear how awesome your summer is! Live it up, that's like one of the best summers I had. Work hard and have no regrets. Do whatever the coaches tell you. Work even harder and have fun so you can be examples to the younger players. It makes a big deal I promise. I can't believe you're a senior.

Caroline/Hansel: It is always a pleasure to hear from you! Sorry I'm not better in replying. I'm so glad to hear how everything is! Always work hard, go about doing good with a smile on your face. You'll love high school. Take advantage of Jake and his friends, they will be a big part of your high school experience.

Sam: Thanks for all the updates! I love hearing them. GO YANKS!!! Haha remember to send pictures and an article when Jeter hits the mark. I always love hearing about golf. When I get back, I promise I'll take you up on a game and we can go and just be boys haha. Keep working hard, always help mom out, she is the best example and friend to you.

Isaac: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssssssssssssuuuuuuuuuup big guy? How's the hiking comin? You're the man, keep playin ball and you can come play golf with me and Sam, you guys will trash on me haha. Hey guess what,Ii went 8-8 in a softball game this week haha.  I've got a hit in the last like 20ish at-bats haha. I set the MTC record for farthest hit, it went something like 350 feet. Ya no big deal right? You'll just crush that record when you get here haha.

Kazoku, ai shite imasu. You guys are the best. Take care in the wonderful land of glacier. Yhanks for everything. I love ya. On a quick note MOM: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BECKY DARLIN! Just imagine my wonderful, monotoned, yelling, singing for that. P.S. it's Elder Carroll's birthday on the 16th!

Love you all, gambatte kudasai,

Elder shortBOOB Parry

One Month Mark

July 1, 2011

Konnichiwa!

Well, I guess Jake either slept in or just forgot to come, cuz i didn't see him this morning. O well, Elder Dinkel probably would've been mad.  OK, so here's the deal, let me know when you get back from the family trip and I'll send home the first bunch of journal entries. I was plannin on doing it at the end of each month.  Sound good?  Another thing for mom, the backpack is from Opsgear.  it's a store on Redwood Road in North Salt Lake.  You can just go to their website. It's a sling backpack made by Maxpedition.  Just email me a picture and I'll tell you if it's right. Take money out of my bank account to get it, I wanna get it myself.

So how are things?! That's so exciting that you guys are leaving tomorrow.  I loved hearing from all the siblings.  Sorry I probably won't reply to every letter.  It gets really busy and stressful here and I promise I will do my best.  I love you guys so much! I hope these emails can answer most your questions and tell you how it is.  You guys generally ask the same questions, haha.  I love it here tho.  One month! That's so crazy! I can't believe it haha the next 23 will go pretty fast I can already tell.  The Senpai leave on Monday.  I am soooooo sad! Some of them are my best friends! and none of them are goin' to Nagoya :( Oh well, I know they'll all work hard and do their best to serve the people of their respective areas. 

I've started waking up at six to work out every morning. It's not tough workouts, but I'm hoping to get into better shape and maintain some muscles.  The temple closes all next month. I'm so sad :( hopefully we'll get to clean it up once or twice during a p-day.  Thanks for everything you guys, the letters and packages. They all mean so much to me.  People are jealous of all the love and support I get, til they get some food from the packages haha.  Japanese is comin better, it's still way tough.  But I had a 30 minute interview with Mortensen Shimai and it was a real confidence booster.  She just said to hang in there and she kept telling me that I was on a great pace.  She kept saying I can't learn a language, especially Japanese, in a short 12 weeks.  So I'm just staying tough and working my hardest so that the Lord will help me do whatever he wants me to do in Japan. 

I can't think of any really great stories.  I sent that mid week letter that had some pretty good stories.  After I sent that letter, nothing really stands out.  I did send my SD card, I'll probably send that at the end of each month with my journal entries.  Sound genki?  I added a little video clip, hope you all enjoy! The pictures are all great, I've takin a lot.  There are some great people here.  I can tell you who everyone is if you can't figure it out.  I've been gettin everyone's contact info so that we can find each other when we get back and we can facebook or hang out.  Ok, here's somewhat of a story, Elder Lee's Japanese passport expired, so he almost lost his Japanese citizenship.  He was extremely bummed.  So he got to fly to Colorado for the day and get his passport renewed.  It's kinda funny.  Elder Sonntag gave me a plastic unco so I can play tricks on people.  I put it on Elder Kowalski's pillow and he freaked out haha it was really funny.  Sorry this letter isn't as exciting, you guys will have a great time on the vacation and when you get back, my journal entries will be there! You can all read them.  I've got nothin to hide.  If you guys have any specific questions, just let me know and I'll be sure to write them down. 

Andrus Sensei has been working with the seminars and been in New York, so he's only taught us like twice in the last two weeks.  It's sad, but we've had some fun subs.  I started reading the Japanese Book of Mormon yesterday and marked a few scriptures! Exciting huh?! haha Elder Dinkel gets lots of support from family and friends.  The kids leaving on Monday gave him two suits and he was so grateful.  He doesn't have much.  He's the oldest of 9 and both his parents are high school drop outs.  He also has trouble washing stuff and taking care of his stuff so he's ruined like 3 white shirts and soiled some garments.  It's tough for him.  He might be really arrogant and annoying sometimes, but I still gotta love him and realize that my time with him will end before I even realize it.  Love you all sooooo much. Miss ya. Take care

ki ni shinaide kudasai,

Elder "S.B." Parry