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,
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. |
