We had an awesome week. We met the "standards of excellence."  Ya'all dont know what that is, but it's 7 member present lessons, 10 other lessons, 5 less active/recent converts, 20 declares, 4 people at church, and a bunch of other stuff like that.  We met all of them!  So it was a perfect week!  Also, we set Bernardo with a baptismal date for the 30th of August!  Sorry no time..  Love, Elder Parrish :)

Well, it’s hot here.... 90s.. We went down to Ventura for interviews with the mission president this week, and it’s like 20 degrees cooler by the beach.  President and Sister Felix are awesome, though!!!!!!  I love them.  

We had a really good week. B---- is showing really good progress. He is 29, and has an awesome desire to come to church, but has been so sick that for the last 4-5 years he hardly leaves the house.  Just walking around his house tires him out and he has to rest, so we have been walking with him almost every day to build up his stamina. He can only make it to the end of the street before he has to rest and we can walk back. We teach him as we walk, and then we teach him when we get back to the house as well.  This week, we taught about church, the word of wisdom, the restoration, the priesthood and baptism.  Bernardo loves what we teach, is already living the word of wisdom, and accepted baptism, but is hesitant to set a date, just because he doesn’t know when his health will be good enough that he would be able to attend church and everything else that goes along with baptism. He has great faith, though, and read the first 17 chapters of the Book of Mormon this week!  He’s so cool and humble.  I feel so bad for him.  He can’t even leave his house.  He just has to lay down all day every day.  Another testimony builder of the word of wisdom.  So we are really excited for him to get better through the gospel and through faith.  Also his sister, C--- is reading in the Book of Mormon, as well, and his mother C--- sits in on the lessons too. 

We did some more service for F--- this week.  All I do is dig!  We are digging post holes... which I have some experience, thanks to the back fence I built....  :) but not regular post holes.... massive 4 foot deep post holes.   We needed to dig 4... I dug 3  and I dug this huge trench, as well, in the time it took Elder MacKay to dig one hole :) (haha)  Elder MacKay gets so mad, cuz I can dig faster than him. :)  We were able to discuss the Bible and some Biblical prophecies, including Ezekiel 37, which F--- found really interesting and was excited to look into the "sticks" of Judah and Joseph/Ephraim some more.

Ditch I dug, along with 3 monster holes

Our investigator, S--- has been to church like 5 times and has gotten an answer that she needs to be baptized, but is still in denial and not really progressing any more.  She still loves the missionaries, though, and made very generous donation to the church this week, just because she loves us so much. Her daughters (Who TWEET about me during church.......) are also in and out of interest in the church, but non-committal.  It’s really hard to teach them, cuz they’re just like every other high school girl and only want to hang out and talk to us.   So that’s going nowhere fast, but I know someday it will click with S---, just in the Lord's timing is all. 

We also had another really good lesson with R--- and M--- this week.  They are the ones from Fillmore, Utah.  They have been totally inactive for the past 40 years, but still continue to read the Book of Mormon and the Ensign, and watch conference and do everything they are supposed to do, menos que asistir a la iglesia.  We taught about geneology and family history work, and had a member present who helped them set up familysearch.org accounts, and taught them how to index.  They showed us some of their family history, including a book that has all of the pioneer settlement stories of their families, and we even found some Parrishes in the book!  It’s amazing how much the gospel ties us all together.

L--- is another less active member we have been working with, who just a couple months ago was very against the church, and now she has come to church twice in a row.  Yesterday she stayed for all 3 hours! Her dad is Brother R----, who I have made pretty good friends with. He’s like 70, but were pretty tight.  He always just talks about hunting stories and makes fun of Jehova’s Witnesses.  There are tons of Jehovah’s Witnesses here.  I never even knew who they were until my mission.  We’ve had a few opportunities to talk to them when they knock our apartment door :)  I found I REALLY love to “Bible bash”....  I usually do pretty good at avoiding it, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t want to!

Elder MacKay’s mom sends me more mail than I have gotten my whole mission from my own family.... :) 

Love,

Elder Parrish

Lake Piru

 

 

I hope you are doing well.  I am doing fantastic here in Fillmore with Elder Mackay. We had a good week and saw some miracles. One of them is that our investigator, E---, who has been reluctantly coming to church with her member husband and son for over a year now, said she wants to be baptized! Finally! She was kind of feeling pressured by the missionaries for quite a while, so we had started to give her some space for a couple weeks and then when we went last week we found out that she really liked the Gospel Principles class we started, and finally feels like it’s time to get baptized. She has some upcoming dental work apparently that she wants to get done first, so we haven’t set a date with her yet. Hopefully it won’t be put off for too long.  The ward is super excited for her and so are we.  We also taught J---, who is dating a less active member.  We have been meeting with him for a while and he wants to be baptized as soon as possible.  He is doing well and continues to progress.

C--- and B--- are brother and sister.  They are new investigators from this week and have great potential. C--- accepted to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and also accepted baptism when she gets an answer. She also wants to come to our English class on Wednesday.  They both want to come to church as well, but unfortunately B--- has some serious health problems that prevent him from leaving the house.  He has asked us to come and work with him, though, and really has a desire to recover to the point with his health that he can come to church.

L--- is less active, and we see her nearly every day.  She’s is very old and has very poor health.  She wants nothing more than to receive her temple blessings before she dies.  We stop by daily, or call and share scriptures with her over the phone. She was scheduled to receive an epidural this week for her back pain that radiates down her leg, and asked for a blessing. We gave her the blessing with her home teacher on Thursday night, and I was the one who said the blessing.  She went in on Friday and the clinic wasn’t ready for her and pushed her appointment back all the way until the end of the month. So we were disappointed she wasn’t able to get the epidural, because we know how much pain she is in.  She was in high spirits, though, and was totally fine with it, because she said the blessing helped her so much and took all of the pain out of her leg! She has great faith. 

In my studies this week, I have been especially impressed with the importance of consecrating ourselves. In Matthew 8, there are two of his followers that come to Jesus and say they want to be his disciples and travel with him. To the first man, (a scribe of good reputation among men) he says "the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." I have always known that scripture, because it says foxes... but I never understood what that meant until this week and never attempted to find the doctrine behind the passage. Christ took no thought for food or where he was going to be sleeping or how his physical needs were going to be met, and anyone who thinks they want to follow him, better be willing to do the same.  Apparently, the scribe wasn’t able to give up his good reputation to make that sacrifice.  It helps to look at the next man who also wants to follow Jesus, but asks that he first be permitted to go bury his dead father. Jesus replies: "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead," so it means that the service of the Lord, especially in Christ's ministry, is superior to all other earthly duties.  It requires such a high level of consecration that even important family matters must come second. (Sorry familia.)  Another instance in Luke 9:62, when Christ tells His would-be follower that "no man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven".  This led me to study his parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price- no amount will ever be good enough to purchase the parcel of land or the pearl of great price unless it is "all that he hath."  We can’t receive a celestial glory with a partial surrender.  We must renounce everything.  I love that, even though it’s a slap across the face as I realize all of the many areas of my life that need improvement and that I ought to do so much better.

We had exchanges this week with the elders in my district. I went with Elder Hernandez in his area on the other side of Fillmore, so I got to dust off the cobwebs on “ol' Legion” (my bike) (see Mark 5:1-13) and ride it again. It felt great.  Oh, and I had a wheelie contest with some guy that said "Joseph Smith vs. Yahue of Armies".. and then he rode a wheelie for like 20 yards... so then I rode a wheelie for 30 yards... and then he pedaled away. nbd

Love, Elder Parrish

We had a great week.  I love the Fourth of July and celebrating our great country.  In my personal studies on Friday, I read 2 Nephi 1:6-9, which is Lehi's prophecy about the Promised land and how it will be a choice nation and a land of liberty so long as we serve God. Doctrine and Covenants sections 98, 101, and 134 also have awesome scriptures about the constitution and the importance of supporting our rights and privileges, especially the freedom of religion.  I gave Elder Mackay a real hard time since he’s from Canada :))

We taught some good lessons this week, and had 4 investigators at church yesterday!  Two of them come every week and are part of the Z--- family, but the other two were regular investigators.  J-- really wants to get baptized but there are some hangups, so we are figuring out what we can do there, and the other was a girl named D--- who is the friend of a less-active member we have been trying to get to come to church since I first got here to Fillmore, and yesterday they both came! 

My favorite part of the week, though, was with A---.  He is 15 years old, his mom has been less active for his whole life. But he is a great athlete, and already has a few different D-1 schools offering him football scholarships. We got him to come to mutual/scouts with the young men on Wednesday and he had a blast playing basketball with them. He is reading in the Book of Mormon, and said he believes it is true. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes!  He really wants to come to church, but so far he hasn’t been able to come, because he has basketball practice at 5:30 am on Sunday mornings, so we are still working with him to get him to church.

We also did quite a bit of service this week.  We helped F--- pour some concrete in his yard we have been digging up for him, and also pulled some weeds for H---.  Service is one of my favorite parts of missionary work.  I've come to know that it’s also one of the most successful ways to earn trust with investigators.   We are also teaching an English class to 2 women, who are friends of a member  here, and she is a great fellowship for them. This is another great way to serve and build trust.

Well, last week in Sacrament Meeting, we sang the national anthem and as it closed, Brother R---, the less active we brought to church yelled "PLAY BALL!!" Haha.  It was super funny, but some of the old ladies in the ward thought it was me, so I kind of got chewed out.  Then, yesterday for Fast and Testimony Meeting, he stood up and apologized for saying that and then bore his testimony and then he said the @$$ word in his testimony.... Hahahaa, ole Brother Ramirez.   He tells hunting stories for days just like Grampa Parrish :)

Love, Elder P 

 

Welcome President and Sister Felix -
The Ventura Spanish Zone