Typhoon

September 30, 2012

Good thing you asked about the package because I have a request: could you send me some of those teeth whitener strips? Hope that won't be too difficult. And second, Dad, you sent me mine and Jake's credit card, what am I supposed to do with his? And could you ask Jake to send me Coach Johnsons address? I think that is all for my onegais (favors) this week. Happy late birthday Caroline!

 
WE had a pretty fun week. It started off with Karen's model show on Monday. Nancy told me that you saw some of her pictures on Facebook. It was quite the event. They had all the models sit in front of everyone and they had their make up and hair done in front of everyone in like 45 minutes. Then they did their little walks on the stage and that was it. They had a different model/fashion show for like different events. That one was super weird. But in the end, Karen got second place and she gets to go to Tokyo next month! It was way exciting. Then after, her manager asked Karen if he could take them out to dinner. They were our ride so I felt bad intruding. So Karen asked if it was ok if her 'older brother' could come, and the manager said 'well they are family right' haha so we went to this yaki niku place that was super expensive (60 bucks a person) and way good. I had horse meat for the first time. Fun day.

WE did an exchange with the APs. Nothing special really happened. I went with Ellsworth again. WE did visit a solid potential investigator that I had found a week earlier only to find out she is a less-active haha.

Remember how I told you Matsumoto is good with surprises? Well, Roberto called us and asked us to wear regular clothing and meet him at this place called Sky Park. So we did, he then told us to drink a lot of water and stretch. I'm confused at this moment, what is this Brazilian gonna do with us? Then the answer came....'let's go running' we ran 10 KILOMETERS with him. That's like 6 miles! Have I ever done that before? Never. Did I finish? You betcha. It was fun and my legs are still a bit sore. He wants to go again this week....before you know it I'll run a marathon.

We played soccer on Saturday with two of our investigators. It was pretty fun. I'm the man haha just kidding but I was a lot better than I remembered. And I forgot regular clothing and did it in my church stuff. After that was when the typhoon started. On Sunday, we needed to help two people move, with the rain it wasn't the funnest thing ever. The first place we were almost useless. The second was helping Nancy's son and we were stuck up there for a bit because the rain was comin down too hard. Eventually, we rode in the back of his moving truck and got back home dry.

That's another episode of a week in Matsumoto. I love it here, I love you guys. Thanks for all the support and prayers. I am officially 2/3 of the way done as of today. My! My! Time flies. (I thought I would leave you with a little of my girl Enya)

jya ne, Elder PArry

Li Accepted Baptism!

September 23, 2012

Ya, Ellsworth called this morning to do our weekly reports and he told me my whole flight itinerary. Guess we aren't going to Hong Kong eh? That's fine, it should still be pretty fun. About the Tokyo temple, I actually got Nancy and Karen (not just Nancy, but KAREN) to set goals to go to the temple. Nancy's is earlier, but Karen wants her goal to be when I go home and I can baptize her at the Tokyo Temple. That would be way awesome. Sounds like things are good. That's way cool Caroline and Houston are going together. That sounds like it would be so much fun. And Jake sounds like Jake. Hang in there Sam and Isaac.

So yes, there was an emergency transfer. It was quite big too, it involved over 20 missionaries and 9 areas. Luckily, I was not involved. But one of our zone areas got whitewashed. Two new missionaries came in. It has been crazy trying to help get things settled down and just for President and the APs.

So we got kidnapped this week....several times. First was on Monday. We had no plans for Pday and Nancy called us and said 'we are on the way to your apartment, we are going to an ashiyu' so we did haha it was beautiful. After, we went to a park and played tag and hide-and-go-seek. It was a way fun day. Then on Wednesday, Roberto called and asked for a blessing. We gave him a blessing and then said 'hey lets go play basketball' so we did haha. Then we did a little rock climbing on a wall. THEN, on Friday, we went to Karen's rehearsal and after, they took us to ramen and another ashiyu. Kidnapping occurs often in Matsumoto. But it is a very good thing.

We had a solid lesson with Li this week, she accepted a baptismal date! It's on October 28. Some more time, but she is solid and just needs her testimony strengthened a little more. I think this will be enough time for her to come to understand why it is really for her.

On Waturday, we went to an undokai with a Filipina member and her son. It was pretty fun. All these little kids were trying to talk to me, it was funny. That day was tough thought, I had no self motivation. I prayed and prayed for help. Then at night, we visited this potential and he was lovin it! He told us to come back again next week. God does answer prayers and it was a well needed one.

So I gave a talk yesterday and cracked a joke and everyone was laughing. It was solid. They asked me to go from a 5 minute testimony to a 20 minute talk right before. I just said that might not happen, it lasted 7 minutes haha. Then after church, we had a gyoza party for Hiromi's birthday. We made them from scratch. It was way fun and way good.

I really REALLY don't wanna leave here in two weeks. I don't think I will. Pray that I don't. I do every time I pray. I love this area, I could be here til I die. I'm doin' my best, lovin' life, and havin' fun. Not much more you need. I LOVE YOU ALL

Boob

Baptism Fell Through

September 16, 2012

Wait why won't BYU play Utah for 3-4 years? I'll never get to see a BYU and Utah game until I'm like a senior. That's crazy. Well, this week was....I don't know? I'll explain and let you make the judgment.

Well first, Miki went from being 99% in the water, to wanting to become a Protestant in a matter of like a day. I really don't understand what is going on. She talked to her Protestant friend from America and when we had a lesson, she just brought up all these concerns. It was ridiculous, we had a way good member come and help teach, we answered all her questions perfectly (which we have answered a thousand times already) and she said 'I know it's true, I don't wanna leave the people and I don't wanna leave. I just need time and wanna study Protestant.' She went to their church yesterday and our American member went with her and tried to help. Apparently Miki loved it. She has just been so stubborn and is influenced by others way too easily. We seriously don't know what happened or what to do. We worked a lot this week to try and help her get ready and do all that was necessary. She is literally turning her back right now.

Let's talk about the good now, we taught seven lessons on Wednesday haha.  I was so tired at the end. Then we rode our bikes 25 kilometers to visit a less active. That was so far. And it was in the middle of nowhere. They said they love the gospel but hate the members. Welcome to drama in Matsumoto.

We had a campfire on Saturday night with some members. It was so fun! Nancy and her whole family came, and Roberto was there. We BBQ'd, played games, and had a really cool spiritual message at the end. It was super fun. Then Karen had her model debut last night, so we went and watched the photo shoot. It was really fun and cool to see. The photo guy is supposedly famous. He has photographed Lady Gaga before and he showed us the dress he made for her. It was nuts. Something like 30,000 dollars.

So that was my week. I don't really know and understand a lot about it. But it was a good one. I love you all and miss ya a ton! I'm way glad everything is going so well back home.

It's the Boob!

Zone Leader Council

Shelom,

Well for a quick start, I am almost out of allergy drops. Like really close. But don't worry about last week. It was still a really good email. Thanks for everything.

Things are great hear. This last week had so much but in such short periods. Nancy threatened us for abandoning her, as a joke, so we went out to dinner with her and Karen and had some of the best ramen I have ever had. It was so good.

The next day, we went down to Nagoya and had Zone Leader Council. It was really fun. We learned the new outline for teaching Eikaiwa (English class). It was really fun. Then we had some Mexican food prepared by Sister Baird and had a great lesson from President Baird on Christ-like Attributes. It was a really good day. It was Ashcroft's birthday, so Elder Kusume and I got him some boot fur and gave it to him haha, it was so funny.

We had a way good Zone Training Meeting. We taught all the things we learned at the council to the zone. It went really well and everyone in the zone seemed to enjoy it too. I went on a kokan (exchange) with Elder Wilcox after. He is a really cool guy from Cali and loves to surf and skate board. We get along really well. He is the same but like opposite haha.

We had the English Speech contest at the church on Saturday. He had to help set up and talk with them because we are native speakers. It was pretty fun. The kids had some really funny and fun presentations. A girl I helped a bunch from Homestay got second place. It was fun to see her again.

So Sunday was the day of headaches. Nancy, Karen, Li, and Miki came to church. Of course, our section was very distracting. Nancy and Karen promised President Baird they would come every week  that they didn't have prior plans, which is way good for Karen. Then Miki had over an hour interview with our bishop and came out crying, then did 'girl talk' with an American member for another hour. We were pretty concerned, but it was actually tears of joy and happiness. She is FOR SURE gettin wet next week. Then I sat in on two interviews to help translate. President and Sister Baird were there and it was splendid. I kept hinting to let me stay in Matsumoto and President thought it was funny. Then we rode over an hour on the bikes to get to the Komatsus and apologize for mixing up their appointment. Welcome to dendo inJapan! in Matusmoto!

I love it out here, things are good. I love you guys a ton. Thanks for everything really!

Elder Parry

New Companion: Elder Kusume

September 2, 2012

Thanks for the awesome email! I got really happy to hear about all the people that said hello. I miss them all a bunch too. I will give them all a big hug when I get back.
Well, week one was a pretty great one. Elder Kusume is the man. He is so fun and funny, he is like a Nihonjin version of Ashcroft. It is way fun. He is an excellent teacher and is helping me a bunch as a missionary and with the language.
As you know, last week I got to stay in Kariya, so I went to my favorite Indian curry place then I went and visited....SEFA!  Haha we were both way happy to see each other. He still called me his little Samoan!  It was way fun and so great to see him. I realized I missed Kariya a lot more than I thought I did. He took us out to get some ice cream. It was a lot of fun.

The clock was fun (on transfer day, the missionaries all come into Nagoya and meet at the clock in the Nagoya Eki--train station, get their new companions and then head back out from the train station to their various areas). I loved seeing a bunch of friends that I love. DTM (district meeting) was excellent this week too. We are learning about Christ-like Attributes now. It is great. The new Shimai (sister) is a half from Okinawa but lived in St George for a while. She is way cool and I'm excited to be in her district. They actually got stuck on the train for like six hours and got back at around 1100, it was raining crazy hard. And that day, Karen had to go to the hospital and we went and gave her a blessing and just stayed to help comfort them. She had three  kids go to the hospital this week and her son is getting divorced. Kind of a crazy week.
Miki moved her baptism date up a week! WE are going for September 16! I am way excited and she is so prepared.  At church yesterday, I was sitting there and couldn't sit still. I just wanted to bare my testimony. I got up and just bore a simple one on the love and importance of this gospel. It was really cool.

Roberto called after church and asked if we wanted to get kidnapped. He took us to Suwa and we watched fireworks over the lake. It was sooo cool. It was way fun too. He and his wife are way strong people and I love to be with them. I love Matsumoto. With Kusume being here, I think I will be here until at least Christmas!!! Booya, I love you all, tell everyone I say hi and I love them too. Enjoy the cabin! You really are the best and miss y'all a bunch. Got nine months left, eeek!

Love,
the Boob