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