Two weeks ago, we got a referral from the mormon.org website. I’ve gotten like 50 of these throughout my mission, and have never gotten a single solid investigator out of so far, so we didn’t think too much about it... but of course we go to contact it anyway and turns out they lived just down the street from us. Their names are J--- and L--- with their two sons, ages 7 and 10.  We knock, the husband comes out, looks at us, and says, "My wife must have made an appointment with you guys.  Let me go get her."  They invite us in and we sit on the couch and start talking. They are Catholic, but have gone to several different churches looking for the truth.  She told us she has a friend who is an inactive member of the church, so they are already pretty familiar with the church, and that she managed to somehow borrow a copy of the Book of Mormon and start reading.  She said, "It just keeps pulling me back!  I can’t explain it, but I love it!"  She went on to explain how she has been praying and trying to contact the missionaries for several months now.  She always tries to flag them down on their bikes, but they always just waved and rode on by, eventually she found the website and put in all her info!  

We did some "how to begin teaching," just like Preach My Gospel says.  It was the best experience on how to begin teaching and establishing expectations I have had on my mission so far.  We explained how we like to begin and end each lesson with a prayer, suggesting that we would offer the opening, and we would like one of them to offer the closing. I prayed, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for letting us be here in the home of the ---- family. Please let us feel of your love as we talk about your gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  (One of the things we learned from the brethren from the missionary department who came to our Missionary Leadership Conference two weeks ago is how we should pray with investigators- so simply that they are 100% positive they will be able to offer it at the end.)  It was amazing how powerful the shortest prayer I’ve ever said was. We continued the lesson to answer their questions, explain the Book of Mormon, testify, and invite them to be baptized- which they anxiously accepted and invited us back last Friday for a BBQ.

The BBQ was awesome, and they are the funniest people in the world!  We were laughing our heads off.  We answered a lot more of their questions about what they had read from the first 10 or so chapters in the Book of Mormon and L--- told us she’s been praying all week and already knows this is what she needs to fill the missing gap in her life.  We taught about the restoration and they just soaked everything in. They committed to come to church (which was Stake Conference in Camarillo.) We went to set them with a baptismal date, and they said, "as soon as possible, just not this Sunday, because there's going to be so many people at Stake Conference!"   We set them for the 20th of December.  Because they speak English, we let them know how the English elders would be coming to teach them next time, and how we would introduce them tomorrow at church. Then L--- started crying, saying how she wants us to teach them because she prayed for months and months to be able to talk to us and we finally showed up at the perfect time and everything feels so RIGHT even though they have only talked to us once.  It was obviously bittersweet because this is seriously what I have been fasting and praying for my ENTIRE mission-to find teach and baptize a family that will undoubtedly be sealed in the temple.  We expressed our love for them as well and how much we enjoyed teaching them, but tried to explain that the other elders are awesome and how it was best if they continued to be taught by English elders.  Even though they were crying, she just agreed and said whatever it takes, we know this is where God wants us to be.

 Two days later they came to conference, and we introduced them to Elder Gregory and Elder Gerrard, and they set up an appointment for later in the week.  They loved Stake Conference, and are literally the most prepared and elect family in the world!!  It is so awesome and we are so excited for Elder Gregory and Elder Gerrard to teach and baptize them!   Now we just have to find someone like them that speaks Spanish!!

Love,

Elder Parrish

Area: We worked really hard this week, and spent a lot of time working in both of the Oxnard 6th Ward elders' areas. Its often quite confusing to me how Elder Griffin and i can go on a blitz with with elders in their area for just a couple hours, and between the 4 of us get like 4-5 other lessons, 10-15 declares, and some really promising potential investigators... and then the rest of the week the numbers suffer terribly and the majority of their weekly totals on Sunday came from that 2 hour blitz we did. Then in the time that Elder Griffin and I do dedicate to our own area (only like a day and a half this week) we see a lot of success and still manage to have some of the highest numbers in the zone.  It occupies my mind a lot of the time how that’s even possible.  I know that numbers are not what's important in the work of salvation, and we do have a couple brand new missionaries and first time trainers, as well as some who are struggling personally right now, so I am trying to wrap my head around it to understand what we can do better as leaders to help them.  However I do believe our zone goals will help and am excited to see as the we get better week by week, line upon line.  But I wish I was just Elder Holland, so I could bring down some hell-fire and make them all work harder.

Companion:  Elder Griffin and I are doing great.  Our personalities are really similar and we have a lot of fun in the work.   We try not to talk about wrestling too much.  One thing we have been working on to establish Zion in our companionship, (found in the Teach With Unity section in Preach My Gospel) is to testify of what the other has said, and praying for one another while the other is speaking.  Elder griffin is really good at doing this and it reminds me to do it as well.

Testimony:  So we were pretty down yesterday after none of our investigators came to church. Especially on in particular promised us every day this week she would be there... a feeling we're all too familiar with as missionaries.  We have like 9 people who are all soooo close, but for some reason there are these itty bitty things holding them back.  During sacrament, I looked into my bag, and pulled out a paper we had our ward mission leader print out for us that we were actually going to give to M--- when she came to church.  It was a poem called "The Race."  It’s about a little boy running a race.  He’s in the lead and all excited to make his dad proud, and then he trips.  But gets up because of the urgent look on his father's face, and even though he wants to quit, he gets up because he just doesn’t want to disappoint his dad.  Then he ends up falling a couple more times and he loses.   It’s a really good poem. Look it up.  (See Below)  I have read it a few times, but I decided to read it again for some reason during the sacrament.  I found comfort in it and I promised God to get up and keep running.  After Sacrament Meeting, I looked to the back of the room and there were our investigators V--- and M-- with 2 of their children who had snuck in without us noticing.  It felt so good.  And they had a great experience at church.  It was their 3rd time coming.  Even though I don’t always know why, I do know everything happens for a reason, and there is always next week.  Just like the Lord is always there with open arms every time I repent and renew my covenants during the sacrament, the Lord is always there for our investigators and will be welcoming them with open arms just the same when they walk into church next Sunday.

Service:  The FoodShare volunteer coordinator said in front of everyone, “There's something about these guys... after all my years of working with the LDS groups, I still can’t figure out what it is." One of these times, we are going to get the opportunity where we can answer that :)

Love,

Elder Parrish

Mission Leader Conference Nov. 2014

All the Zone Leaders

I've been eating my veggies every day, but for some reason I think I'm shrinking. 

  

Well, it’s been a year since Thatcher and I got to see each other last at a transfer meeting, because one of us would always go when the other stayed in their area. But finally now that I’m zone leader I get to go to all the transfers :) so we got to see each other on Tuesday and sat together and got to chat for quite a bit about everything!! Oh man, it was so much fun.  I got this strange feeling that we’re going to be companions someday doing zebra work. That would be so sweet. 

My new (old) companion is Elder Griffin again!  We were together last Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, so we are hoping we can pull a repeat! So far, it’s been so much fun!  We have been crazy busy with administrative stuff, and staying up late every night talking missionaries out of going home and all their other problems, but it’s awesome!  We had to come up with zone goals, which was quite the process trying to come up with good ones, but finally got it all settled and we are super excited.  We do 3 goals that all the missionaries will do this transfer, and 3 more that Elder Griffin and I will do personally, and others for how we will establish Zion in our companionship, etc.  

For one of them, all the missionaries will be accepting the invitation from Elder Neil L Andersen last conference to record the testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith in their own voices, and listen to it a few times a week to obtain a more divine witness of the prophet Joseph.  Maddie and Marshall, you should do the same!  There you go, I planned next Monday’s FHE for you.

SEE: www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/joseph-smith?lang=eng

We went by to see our investigator, A---- on Tuesday, and followed up on his reading in the Book of Mormon.  He said yes he had read, so we asked if he prayed.  He said yes he prayed, so we asked if he got an answer.  He said yes he got an answer, and that he knows the Book of Mormon is true. Then just like that, our elated spirits came crashing down when he said he got an answer that its true, but then he had a second thought come to him... and he said nope I’m Catholic and can’t change... Man, if I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that one... so we had a little bit of a heart to heart and bore our testimonies and came out of there with a return appointment for 2 days later. We went in, expounded on the apostasy and restoration, and what it truly means if the Book of Mormon is true, and recommitted him to read and pray. True conversion isn’t something I can teach these people. In fact, I can’t teach anything -the Spirit is the only true teacher.  I’m glad to hear that you have been studying Preach My Gospel.  I really know that it is the way we are supposed to teach.  By following the principles in Preach My Gospel, we can create an environment where spirit can communicate with spirit, and we are simply along for the ride.  Please pray for A---- We promised him that his first answer was indeed true and recommitted him to keep reading and praying and have a follow up appointment tomorrow!

Church was awesome, like always. It was the primary program. A couple from the Santa Barbara branch showed up.  You should have seen their faces when they saw Elder Griffin and I together again.  They were so confused. haha. He was our ward mission leader up there, so I gave him a hard time and squeezed out some referrals of people he knows here in the “nard.” (That’s what they call Oxnard).    Our investigator, M--- came to church! She’s golden.  Hopefully, she will be baptized soon.  Also, a less active family we’ve been working with came too.  Another less active guy we reactivated last transfer is doing really well and is now teaching the high priests and doing a lot of missionary work for us! He’s awesome.

OH AND GUESS WHAT!!  Y--, the little lady I baptized in Carpinteria recently got a calling in the Relief Society presidency!!  She has only been a member for 6 months! It’s tough a lot of times for me to be in California, and realize that stuff like this happens all the time in other missions besides Cali, but just her alone makes the whole thing worth it! :)

Love you all,

Elder Parrish.

Transfers are this week. Elder Bryson is awesome, but he is off to go be assistant to the mission president! I’m staying in Oxnard with Elder GRIFFIN!! He was my follow up trainer back in Santa Barbara. I’m pumped :)) Now we actually know Spanish and are going to do everything right we should have known back in SB. I loved Elder Bryson. We never had one disagreement the whole transfer. It was so much fun and hard work.

I’m so excited to stay in Oxnard. We are on the verge of so many good things. We are making a lot of progress with our investigator, A----. This week we were able to leave him commitments from the Book of Mormon, where as when we started it was only from the Bible, and then from the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and now only the Book of Mormon. He is progressing great. We have 2 appointments set up with him this week, so we really need to get members there to help him really catch the fire and get him to attend the baptismal service in our district this weekend. We know it will open so many doors for A--- to realize this is where he needs to be.

The zone activity was a huge success! We planned it out like crazy. We conquered a bunch of cities and at the end we talked our President Felix and bishop into dressing up as Lamanites and then I owned everyone at dodgeball. It was the best :) This week we went to the Camino Del Sol park here in Oxnard with some sidewalk chalk and drew a giant Plan of Salvation diagram. We were able to have a couple good lessons as we walked people through, and even found a less active lady who wanted to start coming back to church! It was a great finding tool and we were super excited to go walk people through for a little bit each day and use it for the whole week, but then it rained the next day for the first time in six months and ruined our drawing. We need the rain, though, so it’s ok :) I’m really excited for this next transfer with Elder Griffin and the Zone and we are going to baptize in November!

Elder Bryson is the best. I’ve absolutely loved every minute of serving with and learning from him these short six weeks. His testimony is so strong and he can be so effective in everything he does. He has great mental strength and self discipline. He has a lot of life experiences at his young age, and because of it is very mature and spiritually mature as well. I know he’s going to be great in the Ventura Camarillo YSA with Elder Wallace and Elder Lee. He is very capable of doing anything the Lord asks of him.

I know that the Jesus Christ is my Savior and that He lives. I know the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of Jesus Christ's Gospel, and I know that Preach My Gospel is the way the Lord wants me to share it. This past week and especially this next transfer, I have goals to have more effective studies. I really want to give my best efforts to my investigators and really focus on receiving revelation for them in my morning studies. and simply enough, I know that really these 3 things: the Savior, the Book of Mormon, and Preach My Gospel are where I need to dedicate my studies and how I will learn God's will for my investigators.

For service this week, we did 2 hours for FoodShare! They love us and are starting to realize how dependable and effective we are! They have more and more things they are starting to trust us with.

Love, Elder Parrish******