Sunday, March 31, 2013

Kudos

HEY!  Sorry I wasn't able to email for a long time last week. We got super busy and only had like 20 minutes. I'll explain what we did later in the email. But first I have some news....I'm getting emergency transferred to the Honbu (Mission Home) to take the place of one of the senior couples. Crazy huh?! I head out tonight. I just wanted to let you know. I guess I will die in the Honbu.

My leg is doin fine. I'm back to biking around and exercising every morning. The bruise is still pretty big, but the gash is going away. My knee is fine too, I will wear a brace for probably the rest of my mission just to keep it safe and in prime condition when I get home.

So last Monday, we went to Toyama and played tennis with them then did an exchange. It was pretty fun. We all just had a bunch of fun together. Then the next day, we found a mattress behind the dumpster. So we put it on top of our bikes and walked it back to our apartment hahaha. I loved this companionship.

We had an interesting week overall. We did an Easter egg hunt at Eikaiwa (English Class)  with the stuff you sent. No one was home who we tried to visit til Sunday night where we met like five people in a row to give them eggs we decorated. Also with stuff you sent haha.

The story of the week, we moved a members apartment. She started on the 4th floor and moved to a 3rd floor apartment hahaha. She had about as much stuff as Dennis had when he died. It took seven hours just to get the bagged stuff and furniture down and up to the next apartment. We didn't do any unpacking. It was crazy. Really good workout though.

Well, I just wanna end with a special experience. We helped the Bishop home teach on Friday to the Tonami family. We shared some experiences and the father told us he just thought how proud our parents are of us and wanted to thank us and you guys for all you do. He went on and on thanking us and just showing a ton of appreciation. Kudos.
 
PS from Becky:  The transfer to the honbu was a little April Fool's joke.  We will all be very surprised if Elder Parry doesn't "die" in Takaoka. 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Hit By a Car

March 24, 2013


 
Hey!

Ok, I don't have much time to email today, but I wanted to give you a bit of an update. I'm doing pretty good. This week was nothing like I expected or planned. It was raining that day and the guy in the car completely ran the stop sign and ignored the mirror around the blind spot. I HATE Japanese police, so I just told the man I was ok and tried to walk it off. I rode off completely fine. I found out at the store that both my legs were bleeding and my knee (the same one I had surgery on) was swollen. I was going to ice and bandage myself, but the Brazilians saw it and forced me to the hospital and all this stuff. I have been three times this past week and I will probably go about three more times this week. My knee and shin are doing fine and will heal well if I don't bike too much. The one on my thigh is getting a little worse, but it's fine.  It doesn't hurt to walk anymore. Sister Baird has forced me to not really do much lately. So we didn't have too much going on this past week. Had to take it easy, do stuff around the apartment, or drive around with members.

We did make our way down to Takayama on Friday and it was super fun. After DTM, we went to a member's restaurant and ate lunch and dessert. Then she started dancing for my birthday and it was just super funny haha. Just kind of one of those moments.

Love you all and don't worry about me!

Elder Boob

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Jamaican Investigator



March 17, 2013

Well hello there my trunky family,

This, was a very fun week with a lot of those moments haha. First off, I have a few classes I would like to take. I'm really not sure what classes I should take, but some smaller classes may be phycology, weight lifting, swimming, and maybe guitar haha.  I'm not completely sure though, get me in that Japanese class though. Figure out the one all the returned missionaries take.

So this was a very fun week. We had a crazy Brazilian bye-bye party for de Oliveira. Everyone was crying and just having a good time. Then we all went down to Nagoya on Tuesday and picked up our new companions. We missed like three trains, so we got home pretty late. But I did have two meals on my birthday and an Eikaiwa party! We just played games and had some refreshments haha I even got some presents from the students. It was way fun! It also started to rain super hard when we were far from the apartment haha that was fun gettin soaked.

Elder Hernandez is way cool! He is my kohai so he goes home one transfer after me. He is from California and loves to draw and play computer games. We just talk a lot and its way fun.

So we met our Jamaican investigator and had one of the best lessons I have ever had! Her Irish roommate and Brazilian boyfriend became solid investigators too! It was way awesome, they were just asking a ton of good questions and we were answering like normal people. So excited! They have way awesome accents too!

Well, after DTM we figured out that Hernandez forgot his wallet. So we were walking all over trying to find it. After a few hours, we found it at the train station and got back to Takaoka pretty late haha shows our luck. People always lose stuff with me.

So we moved the furniture around in our apartment, that was nice. We had English, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese in our gospel principles class, and a solid dinner at a member's house last night. This was a pretty fun week. This next week is gonna be crazy fun and busy too! I am going to Takayama twice!

President Baird said the only time he would cheer for the Yankees is if he goes to a game with a member of the Twelve.  Let's get to work on this, get your boy Jeffrey to go with him. I would be the happiest man ever.

Well, here you go, another one for the records,
Elder Boob

Sunday, March 10, 2013

New Companion



March 10, 2013

Hey Fam,

Well we did have transfer calls today. I have wanted to train my whole mission. Way excited for the opportunity to do it and bring someone in and just be a way good trainer. Today, that did.......not happen. I will probably never be a trainer now, being I have only two transfers and just brought someone into the new area. My new companion is Elder Hernandez. He is one transfer behind me and doesn't speak a word of Portuguese. So I guess we will see how this goes.

This past week was pretty good. We had our highest number of lessons as a companionship since I got here. Including five on Tuesday, which almost never happens. Our Wednesday was pretty interesting too. We went to have a lunch at an older members house. I think she is a bit crazy up in the head. Or she just gets super lonely because she lives with no one. She just kept talking and talking and talking. She drives a lot of the members crazy. It was a nice lunch though. Then that night at Eikaiwa we had a way fun time. We talked about hobbies and we had people singing, one said his dream was to sing with Beyonce under his arm haha. Then everyone was getting way into the game after.

We went on an exchange with the Zone Leaders. That turned out pretty fun. The guy that came back to Takaoka with me is way cool and we taught a few good lessons. The one at night was with a member and his less active wife. We talked about big lessons we learned from our mission experiences and it really got the wife thinking and remembering about her mission. It was a really good lesson not only for them, but me as well.

It was a good week, you could say. Tell Boog I would LOVE to help him coach this summer. These next few weeks should be pretty interesting. I guess we will have to see how they go! I love you all so much!

Elder Parry

PS happy birthday dad!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Life is Good!

 



March 3, 2013

Oh man I'm so excited to live there! I heard it's a nice area. Kevin is going to Spain?! What the heck haha I don't wanna be with him either haha I'm just kidding, that would be a way awesome experience for him and I bet his Spanish would get way good.

This was a great week. We have had a few incidents among members with drama that is causing some problems. But on the other hand, it seems like the difference between here and Matsumoto's drama is that if you don't wanna get involved (or don't understand Portuguese muahaha) you don't have to get involved. There were multiple days this past week with some big problems. It showed at church yesterday when we only had 35 people show up.

We had some really solid days this week. It all started on Wednesday. We met with a bunch of people including a less active we are working close with. She is getting less and less depressed every time we see her! Then we met (in a very awkward way) with one of our investigators. She is Nishino and she is doing really well. She said sorry for reading past the introduction of the Book of Mormon haha. Then at Eikaiwa, we had this young couple come again. She had mentioned she believes in the Godhead and wants to know more. I talked to her for a while before class and found out she is suffering from Pervasive Developmental Disorder! It was crazy, I told her I had the same thing when I was born. Her face lit up, I felt like we had a really nice connection and it really helped because for the rest of class I was helping her out so she could get answers and feel good about herself.

Thursday, what another great day. We headed down to Nagoya so we could go to a fireside to see Elder Callister and Elder Aoyagi from the Seventy speak. It was in Meito, so that meant there were a ton of people from Kasugai and Kariya! I was SO HAPPY TO SEE EVERYONE! I started crying during the program because I just remembered the old times and how blessed I am to know these people, and that they still remember me! I could actually talk to them this time! It was the last time I will also see Kan Kun before he heads out on his mission this month. It was such a tender moment for me. The talks were also really good and helped out a lot for questions I had!

The next day, we had a mission conference for Elder Callister. He was happy to hear that we are in the same ward as Susie Becker, his sister. It was a way good conference. He taught about the Plan of Salvation all from the Bible, then he taught about being a consecrated missionary. It was way good.

The next two days, we had nine lessons! So crazy and we found a new investigator who is straight from Jamaica and is black! I WAS SO STOKED! Haha finally, a black investigator, who speaks English. My life is in a very good state right now haha. So we were running from place to place these past two days. We had a legitimate Brazilian birthday party yesterday that was crazy. It was way fun.

All I can say is Life is good, God is good. Read Romans 1:8-12 if you can! I love you all and I can't believe I will see you in 3 months! Oh and Dad, was there an Elder Hart the same time as you on your mission?