Exchange With the APs

June 24, 2012

That's way awesome. Where did the Youk go? I told Elder Jessop that the Heat won and he said, 'aren't they good?' haha.  Not as into sports as the Parrys are. That's way awesome about Grandma and Doug gettin their mission papers goin! And I'm glad that Caroline had a great experience and the boys....had a growing experience haha. If you look at it in that way.

So yes, we got hit with the typhoon, only for about an hour. It was supposed to hit us for four days last week and then today, but it has been sunny, warm and clear. Elder Jessop and I were screaming all the way home. The rain was going from left to right and the wind was just crazy. We kept getting sprayed by passing cars and the rain drops were HUGE.  Haha, it was pretty fun. I thought rainy season would be like this the whole time, but I haven't had too much rain.

We have a gyoza party with our Chinese investigator Li. We learned how to make Chinese gyoza from scratch and it was way fun! We didn't do as well, and trust me we heard from Li. She was making fun of us the whole time haha, and I had to wear a girl's apron that was too small. Haha it was pretty fun. 

We did an exchange with the APs. I was kind of nervous leading up to it but it turned out great! I went with Elder Kervinen, he is a Finnish elder who goes home with Elder Jessop (July). I hadn't liked him too much before, but he really opened up during the exchange and we just had a bunch of great talks. He is way awesome. We visited Nancy and Karen in the afternoon and had a way good time. I played catch with Karen and Elder Kervinen had a good talk and got to know Nancy. Elder Ellsworth went with Elder Jessop. They both said that it was a great exchange and it was much needed. I love those two.

We helped the city hall with a Homestay program. It's where they send kids to Salt Lake City to do Homestay. They cooked traditional Japanese meals and we helped them translate them and helped them with introductions. It was way fun and went way well. It was so fun watching all the little kids cooking. We got to eat some after and it was so good.

We had District Conference yesterday and got to listen to a broadcast and hear Elder Oaks and President Uchtdorf. I talked with Sister Baird a ton. She is back in Utah for the next few weeks. See if you have time to visit her. That would be way cool.

That was the week in Matsumoto. It was way fun. I love it out here and I love you guys even more!

Elder Parry, aka shortBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOB

Riding the Bullet Train

June 17, 2012

So is it only you for today Mom? Things have been good a crazy here this past week. We only had to buy pork and milk for groceries today, if that tells you how many times we got to sit down and eat at our apartment this week. It's crazy to think that a year from today I will see you guys. Sounds like things are going great at home, and in Peru. It's awesome to hear about all the fun at home.

Let's start off this fun week, we went to the Matsumoto Castle this week and it was so fun! We walked around, took some pictures, and talked to some people. We met these two gay Dutchmen, I think they were following us for a while. After that, I went and got jinbe, a Japanese pajama set. They look way cool and are super comfortable.

We have the best less-active member, Nancy. She is the funniest person ever. To explain her life, she has been punched in the face by life. She is so strong though. We had a great talk with her and the Spirit was there and she was getting emotional. It was a really awesome meeting. We also met with the Komatsus again, the less-active and investigator. She made us a huge lunch and we had a short lesson after. They are so funny. She was acting like our mom telling us to eat vegetables and drink water. We also did a FHE at the Gomi house. There are four kids under ten. We did a balloon game and you can guess how the night went. The kids would blow them up and let them go all night. Spit was going everywhere. Elder Jessop taught a solid lesson about the stripling warriors while I was getting boogers wiped on me, sat on, smacked, kicked, and fingers in places they don't belong. Gotta love kids.

We had specialized training this week. First in Matsumoto and first as a my first as a Zone Leader. It went pretty well. I got to see Elder Ellsworth. It was fun and trainings are getting funner and funner? Not really, it's just whatever now.

           
So we made the long trek to Fuji! Since it takes sooo long and we don't have that kind of time, we took the bullet train! It was way fun. (The bullet train or shinkansen is a very fast train, but missionaries don't usually ride it because it is very expensive--Evan told us to watch for the train ticketk to show up on our credit card this month.  He didn't have enough money to pay for the ticket from his missionary allowance.  We don't mind at all though.)  We stayed with Elder Schade and his bean Elder Ludlow. It was way fun and cool to see them. Then I went back to the Fuji Ward. It was weird, it had only been like two weeks, but it was really fun to see everyone again. I was able to talk to Kent for a while and get the package. His fireside was way awesome and funny. He is a natural. (Kent Dericott is a Bountiful neighbor and friend who is a celebrity in Japan--he travels there often for work and gives firesides to help the missionaries while he is there.  He had offered to do a fireside for Evan and they had it planned for Fuji, but then Evan was transferred to Matsumoto, so Evan was allowed to go back to Fuji for the fireside).  He went over time and when it finished, we had 15 minutes til our train left. We had to say a really quick goodbye and just run for the station. I hate saying goodbyes on the mission, they never happen. but it was really fun to hang out in Fuji for the night and day and see a bunch of people that are awesome and who I love.

Glad to hear things are going well, glad to be out here and having a blast. Thanks for the package, I'm excited for the 4th!  LOVE YOU.

Elder Boob

First Week in Matsumoto

June 10, 2012

Hey! Man has this week been crazy but way fun. I'll start off by telling a little about Elder Jessop. He was actually the one who recorded and made those videos you got when I got to Japan. He worked in the mission home for six transfers. He also was Elder Hollister's companion at the MTC. We were already good friends before this happened. I told him at Zone Conference a few weeks ago that I would come to Matsumoto this transfer and kill him and it happened! Haha I think I will have a six-pack at the end of the transfer I have laughed so much.

Transfers were hectic. We always have to meet in Nagoya when you transfer. That's how it works. So we met after a four and a half hour train then I hung out with a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a while. Then I made the three and a half hour train ride up to Matsumoto! Cool stuff! Ashcroft is Zone Leader in Kanazawa Zone and Ellsworth is the AP. Our group is doing pretty good. Elder Dinkel is a District Leader in my zone.  

So Matsumoto is beautiful. Nuf sed. People are amazing and hilarious. My favorites are Nancy, Li, and Hiromi. Nancy is a way funny less-active, Li is an investigator who when asked how praying was said, 'it was great, I had a great feeling, but I woke up and had diarrhea, is that a punishment?' Hahahah then there is Hiromi who is like a little ball of craziness. I love this ward. It is so fun! Everyone knows everyone and is so nice. I love it already.

We have a fun district, biggest one in the mission,10 people. We have the Matsuhashis, they are an old couple in our area, then four sisters (Rogers, Hunt, Yamada, Saito) and then the four elders (me, Jessop, Matson, Olsen), it's way fun. Matson also had Elder Hollister and Kishi as his first two companions. Pretty cool eh?

Trains are weird here, we have to open the doors ourselves and we have to ride them a lot. They go backwards sometimes too. We had to go back to Nagoya on Friday for Zone Leader Council. It was pretty good. It was way stiff in the morning, but it loosened up. It was all in Japanese. It was fun to see Ashcroft and Ellsworth and see how they are and their Japanese.

We made gyoza yesterday. Way good. Really cool story to end this email. There have been this way way nice couple come to Eikaiwa (English class) for a few weeks. They thought they weren't members but found out the mom was baptized 40 years ago and hasn't been much since. She wants to come back and read the Book of Mormon. Her daughter actually became an investigator. But she came to church on Sunday and had a way spiritual time. She went off and talked to a random member and came back and said that he had baptized her 40 years earlier. It was crazy. She was in tears the whole sacrament meeting. It was a way awesome experience.

That's week one of our adventures in Matsumoto! LOVE YOU ALL

Elder Parry

New Zone Leader in Matsumoto!

Man, I looked at those pictures (of Jake's graduation) and thought to myself, didn't I just do that? I can't believe Jake is all graduated and everything. I feel so old now, and I wish I could've been there for Jake. Well, nothing I can really do about that haha. I'm glad it went well. He looked like the boss at graduation. What a stud. Ah, I can't believe how fast time, in general, is going. I swear I just graduated, then just went into the MTC, now I'm a year in and a bit different. We get transfer calls at 10 am. Elder Hollister called me on Saturday and we had a little chat. at the end, he said, well I'll call you on Monday, so I expect something to change here. Neither of us have any idea of what will happen. I felt like I was going to leave this morning. If I leave, you won't miss much, we saw Fuji for the first time in four weeks this morning.

So this week was kind of a drag, but way fun. We saw this bug called a suzumebachi. Which is a wasp about four inches long with a 3-inch wingspan. So scary! We ran like little girls. I guess if you get stung once, you're ok, but twice you die. Then we saw a spider about as big as my hand. Again, we ran like little girls. Haha. We had crazy lightening on Tuesday. We had to go home pretty early and we got soaked. It was the best!

I got to do my fist baptismal interview. It was Watanabe san from Shizuoka. He was a way old, frail, but sweet guy. He admitted to getting arrested in the interview, but when we bore his testimony on repentance, it was so sweet. I knew that he has been forgiven and that he was continuing to repent in his daily life. It was a really cool experience. They have been trying to get him baptized for a while and it happened! He went in for surgery last night and has like a 10% chance of living. Crazy.

Sell we had a fun DTM which was on my year mark so we partied! The Zone Leaders came and we has a water gun fight and did a fhe. It was a lot of fun.  Then went to an all-you-can-eat pizza place. It was good, the pizza had fish eggs, salmon, tuna, corn, and a host of other things on it. Gotta love Japan.  Then we did a cookie party the next day. It was fun, but all the people that told us they would come from Fuji and Numazu didn't show so we grabbed someone random off the street and told them to come it. Pretty funny. Then the best story, we had testimony meeting yesterday. Our ward is full of goofy, and really crazy people. This woman stands up and says that she doesn't want to give her testimony, but she wants to pray. She just prayed during the meeting and it was so weird. She was crying through the whole thing. Again, gotta love Japan!

Transfer calls are soon. A bit nervous. Really nervous. Any predictions?

Elder Parry

While we were emailing back and forth with Evan a bit tonight, we learned that he has been transferred to Matsumoto and will be serving as a Zone Leader there.  Matsumoto is a sister city to Salt Lake City and Evan, Craig and Becky spent Christmas Day, 1992 in Matsumoto.