Fuji!

So I'm so sorry this is late.  We had a very, very busy and crazy morning.  Let me go over the phone call this morning:

"Elder Parry, this is President Baird. What an honor it is to speak to such a handsome, spiritual man that you are.  The gospel is true, we are brothers in the gospel and working together to further the work.  How can it get better?!?!? Let me tell you how, you are on the move to the most beautiful place in the mission, everyone in the world knows your area.  You are going to....................FUJI!!!  You are with Iwata Choro.  How can things get even better than this? He is OCD about being obedient and you are his senior companion!"

Oh my gosh!!! I am so EXCITED!!!! Senior companion is a little crazy, but Fuji! I get to open my shades every morning to the most beautiful mountain in the world! Elder Momose is the only one who stayed.  Heo is going to Fukuroi and Hiruta is my Zone Leader in Hamamatsu! We are all going to the Shizuoka Zone! so excited!

OK, so since it is late, I'll write a quick note hoping you get it early enough.  This week was awful, Momo slept in until 2:00 almost every day.  But we had stake softball on Saturday!!! Of course I got MVP after two home runs over the fence (I'll send some way sweet pictures) and a couple doubles.  The only time I got out was when I swung at a pitch-out and the outfielder caught it at the fence in right. Haha, it was hilarious.  We did a home run derby after and I got three on three swings.  It was so fun.  We played basketball after and my level of greatness took a landslide drop haha.  Oh ya and for Elder Heo's birthday last week, we had dinner and I smashed a pie in his face after.  It was way fun.

That's really about it this week.  I didn't leave the apartment a lot because Momose slept all day, and I got the MVP, cuz I'm the man.

From the man, in Fuji

Elder Parry

Surprises

January 22, 2012

Well, I guess we all just had a crazy, unexpected week.  This email will be set up differently, as was yours, but I will first say everything that was unexpected, then I will write the normal stuff.

Surprises: President Baird had a leadership training on Tuesday for the trainers, district leaders, and zone leaders.  Turns out the night before they invited three other people, two of which being junior companions still:  Elder Ellsworth and me!  Ya, I was surprised too.  That night we had two elders from Sizuoka Zone stay with us.  One was Elder Berret from my last district, so we were up late talking and having fun.  We went to the leadership training the next day.  It was awesome.  Elder Hollister conducted and said welcome to the top 20 missionaries in the field.  Oh man, going to that makes you wonder what is going to happen next transfer.  It was really awesome though.  Sister Baird said that you had a hilarious Facebook post about towels and using them only when you are clean.  It was a great day completely filled from 9:00 to 5:30 with training and how to become better teachers.  It was a lot of fun.  When we got back, we had two other elders staying with us, so once again, I was up later talking to them and having a good time.  Thursday, I went on an exchange to KASUGAI!  It was great.  I went with Elder Duarte, he is from Brazil and the nicest guy ever.  He is completely fluent in English, only learned it on the mission.  So awesome.  We went and had my favorite burgers at Brother 69.  Then we met with Brother Shinoda! It was awesome

and he was so happy. I was able to communicate with him more and he took us out for katsudon.  Amazing as always.  Then we met with Tan.  He said it was an answer to his prayer to have us come, we talked with him and helped him build more confidence for work.  He seemed to be really struggling.  It was great to go and try to help him.  That night, of course, up talking for a while.  The next day I went on another exchange, stayed in Kariya with a bean from another area.  We had fun and went to a members house for dinner.  We didn't stay up late that night, I couldn't do it again.  That night Sister Baird called and asked if everything was alright.  I guess someone (hint hint: okasan) expressed some worry over Facebook and she called me right away and made sure everything was alright.  I had been a tiny bit sick, but nothing bad.  Good thing that night I woke up coughing so bad I was crying and couldn't sleep.  I moved my bed and said a prayer and just said help me to get better so I can do Your work and not wake the other missionaries up.  Instantly better.  Haven't coughed since.  AMAZING.

Yesterday in church, it was ward conference.  I was sitting with Brother Mitchell in priesthood and one of the stake guys had spray on hair! So me being me, I wanted to sneak a picture in. I had it set up so great, ready...set......FLASH!  Oh man, the flash went off!  I was so embarrassed.  The Stake President was laughing right behind me for like 10 minutes.  Brother Mitchell was laughing pretty hard too. 

So remember, that was all unexpected.  Here is the normal now:  We had mochi tsuki Saturday! We got to

pound the crap out of rice and make mochi.  Pretty good and fun.  I still hate anko.  Could you send some pictures of my other friends from their blogs? I'd like to see them too.  Gayla said she sends mine to Kevin.  More sleeping from momo this week.  He went to bed at 7:00 one night and didn't wake up before 9:30.  It's super hard and I tried to house this neighborhood but I had absolutely no confidence and just screwed it up.  It's hard.  He doesn't wanna do anything.  He lied and got in a fight with the Bishop yesterday.  They say that your wife gets hotter every time you pray so my wife is gonna be the best looking girl God has seen! I have prayed sooo much!

Well, there's the week of Elder Parry in a nutshell.  Enjoy.  Don't drink the Kool-aid.

Bow chicka wow wow,

Elder Parry

Squatty Potty

January 15, 2012

So this week was full of a ton of stuff.  Not so much teaching, because this was the lowest week of lessons I have had.  Awesome, not.  But let's start with the funny stuff.  I knew this exact thing would happen in this situation:  I'm not near a toilet, I have a strong urge I can't fight off, and I find myself looking at the only possible option: a dirty old squatty potty.  So hence, that was my exact situation.  Did I succeed? Yes, and no poop got on my clothes.  Was it hard? It was sooo hard.  Hope you all are just having a blast thinking about my struggles.  Second, in one of our few lessons this week, I wanted to say 'reiteki na mokyo' which is spiritual goal, but instead, I said 'seiteki na mokyo' which means a sexual goal.  That was a funny face the member made. Haha, you're still laughing huh?

First, in this valentine package, send me a girl....OK, just kidding.  Some member gave us stuff to make Mexican food, but no tortillas, so those would be nice.  And maybe a new tie or something.  I'm sick of the ones I have already.  We had two people come to FHE! People in the ward aren't very helpful and run away from responsibility, which makes things harder.  But it was fun and we played a game and I taught a decent lesson without any sexual innuendo.

We had interviews with the boss this week.  It was awesome.  I got to be with my two favorite people in Nagoya right now:  President Baird and Elder Hollister.  It was great and President Baird and I shared some tears in our interview.  It was a very tender moment.  He said that he can hugely rely on me and he can stick not-so-obedient missionaries with me and trust me to help them out.  Looks like that President Taylor promise is being fulfilled. 

Had dinner with Sefa...best dinner ever! Yaki niku.  He bought so much meat and I just kept eating.  It was so fun.  He hit his car on a railing before on the way too.  Haha it was way fun.  They are having us over for Mexican in the next week too.  I really connected with him at dinner, it was awesome.

So I went on an exchange to Toyota.  My companion is a transfer 3, so I had to take the lead in all the lessons.  I was super blessed.  I couldn't speak or understand perfectly, but I got by and made it work.  I can do this.  I also figured out that when I become a trainer my Japanese will fly free.  It was fun and we made nabe ourselves, pretty good.

We had a curry dinner at the Colberts, an American family.  They're house is the most Japanese house I have been in.   It was built 200 years ago and the floors creek so samurai can be heard coming in, haha way cool.

Before I end, what is my blood type? Why do Japanese people want to know blood type? Tt is super weird.  That's how they base personality.  I love you all so much, thanks for everything!  I got the DVD by the way.

 Elder Parry

An Answered Prayer

January 8, 2012

I love you all so much.  Dad, thanks for that little package of love.  This week was a super hard week.  I wish I could say it was better.  It had some really good points, but it was mostly covered by the difficult.  My Japanese has seen some improvements.  I dunno if people are talking easier to me or if I understand more.  People in this area are really relentless with Japanese and wonder why you don't understand them.  To answer that question, I really don't know if I will transfer at the end of the month.  I think this area will go back down to a two missionary area.  This next transfer, we have 16 people leaving and I think only like 5 or 6 coming in.  It will take a huge hit.  I love most of the people here, but I wouldn't mind leaving.  I love the area, I just haven't had the best of experiences and wouldn't mind putting them all behind me.

So let's talk about some good.  The Kasugai elders met with Brother Shinoda! I wrote him a letter that they gave him.  They were super nice to him.  He said he loved the Christmas letter and what you said about him made him feel really good.  The elders asked him if he wanted to see Sister Shinoda again, and he said he would do anything...which includes taking all the lessons.  He is doing it! Elder Ikdea asked him if he wanted me to perform his baptism, he said "of course if i do it".  So, pray for him, it'll happen.  It's sad the way it's happening with the death, but this could be a huge blessing. 

I started doing word flash cards,  it's helping a lot.  We had a total of zero show up for FHE haha that was awesome.  Something fun, I ate eel this week! It was pretty good, the texture is weird and you can still see some of the scales, but nonetheless, it was good.  Everyone in the apartment but me has been sick this past week.  Last man standing, me against them, if I get 50 kills, I'm invincible (Halo reference).  The game is infected.  We had a Korean food party on Saturday with all the youth.  It was pretty fun.  We ate chijimi. 

So I had some really hard days.  Almost four days of my companion not talking to me at all for no reason.  Three days this week we didn't leave the apartment til 5 because I begged the other companionship to let us come with them.  One day I just got on my knees and prayed so hard for help.  What I needed to do to help Him and try to get more work going.  I apologized that I had never prayed this diligently before, but I needed His help.  Everyone went to bed early, I laid in bed just thinking and hoping an answer would come.  The phone rang and it was Elder Hollister from the honbu (mission home).  He asked how I was and I said I was good, then he asked if everything was alright and i said ya.  He just replied with, `are you sure?`  I just told him what had been going on and he asked a few questions.  At the end, he simply said, `are you being completely obedient`? I said, 'of course'.  He said, `That's my boy. Just do everything you can to be obedient and be an example.  That's all you can do.  The best is all we and the Lord asks of you.`  Then right before he hung up I thanked him and he just said, `Of course. I just had a strong prompting I needed to call my son.  I love you`. THAT was an answer to my prayers.  I just rolled over in bed on my knees and just said thank you.  It was amazing. He does answer prayers, we just have to knock and He will answer.

I love this, as much as times can be really hard, I grow from them.  I'm excited about you guys and love you. I'm excited for the opportunity of the brothers, and maybe Caroline, of serving missions.  This is great.  Have fun, don't do anything stupid.  Jake, get up earlier

From the man

Elder Parry

A Little Bit Frustrating

January 1, 2012

Elder Parry with one of his Christmas packages.

One of the awesome treats in his package!

Darth Maul Light Saber Chopsticks!

It sounds like a pretty exciting week at home! I can't believe Sister Eyring had her homecoming, I saw her the day she went into the MTC, time has just flown.  Good for her, and I'm excited to see Dad's talk.   Yesterday was Elder Hollister's birthday, so I called him to wish him a happy birthday.  He said I have a ton of stuff in the honbu (mission home) including a packaged item from dad, so I'm excited for this week.  No, I felt no earthquake, what happened?  Fun little fact, the guy who plays Napoleon Dynamite served in this mission.  Ya pretty awesome.

So this week had its many ups and downs, mostly frustration.  This week was not a highlight.  We had some good things happen though.  I told the others that we need to host a Family Home Evening every week so we started last week! Only three other people showed up, but we did Jenga, shared a short message and had a small treat.  The Bishop announced it in Sacrament Meeting, so more people should come now.  We told everyone to invite friends or neighbors that have interest.  I'm thinking this will help things pick up here in Kariya.

We had a great new family come to eikeiwa (English class)this week.  Self referral.  We had a fun time at eikeiwa, which is good because that day was not an enjoyable one.  But the guy loves sports and working out.  He has a league for over 20 baseball.  He wants me and Hiruta to come play for him! He said, you can wear your tag over the jersey so you can still represent hahaha I'm so excited.  We have been playing catch in the mornings and I have the church's bat and I take some practice swings haha its awesome.  He shows a real interest in the church, which is better.

This lady in our ward, who already gave me a huge blanket for Christmas, gave us a bunch of furniture this week! She moved houses and the new house came with a bumch of newer stuff.  It's awesome, our apartment feels a lot more homey and has a lot more space.  We also have gotten a TON of food from people, including Taco Bell sauce and seasoning, peanut butter, and other American foods from a member.  So great.

We met with a new investigator, his name is Romero.  He is the nicest guy I have ever met.  He took us out to lunch at a small Italian cafe.  He kept ordering food and is just so nice.  He speaks very simple Japanese and English.  We asked him how his Book of Mormon reading has gone, and he said in broken English "I love this book.  When I read it, I feel so peaceful and happy.  I feel like I am flying".  I felt the Spirit so strong.  He actually does sky diving as a hobby which is cool.  He has to work 16 hours a day to support his family, so he doesn't have a lot of time to meet or go to church.  I KNOW HE WANTS IT, he just needs a little help from the time God above. Because of him, Elder Momose and I are going to learn how to do a simple prayer in Portuguese.  It will be very short and simple, but I think it will touch his heart if he hears it in his own language.

So New Years was....yeah.  Japan didn't prove any parties or anything.  It wasn't any different to me, less of a party than America.  We had nabe Saturday night at a members which is good, but nabe is bad news for a white shirt.  It was a long ongoing battle.  New Years Day was probably the worst day of me mission so far.  Church was church.  Then a member took us to his house to eat.  The food sucked, everything was raw, vegetables, or tasted like soggy bread.  I always get `amari` and `zen zen` and those kind of adverbs mixed up, so I guess when she asked me if I didn't like all the food I said yes.  The brother got angry and said it was Japanese culture.  I felt so bad.  First, they should understand I still can't understand.  Second, I had a companion who didn't back me up or help. I was super angry.  Then, we were there until 9:00 and we showed up at 3:00.  It sucked.  It really wasn't fun at all and I was frustrated.  I kinda figured out that the second week of transfers is just no good, and frustrating.  Hopefully it improves.

I love you all, I'm glad New Years was fun and enjoyable.  I really do love you all.  Thank you for all the love and support.

The Elder Shortboob