I tore down this little house with my bare hands. 

After I knocked out all the walls, we just left the 4 corner posts holding it up and pushed her over.  It made a pretty good crash when she came down.  

Elder Hererra helped a little too.

Well folks, I finally got to meet Tommy Muscio! He's probably the nicest guy in the whole world!  I first met him at Catholic Charities where we do service, and we talked for a good 30 minutes all about his adventures back in the day with Grampa and Ken Robertson. It was awesome to hear all about the some of the same stories Grampa used to tell me.  Haha I guess now I know all the Ol' man's crazy stories are true!! 

He and his wife Marianna took us out for some dang good steaks at "The Hitchin Post" in Casmalia on Saturday. 

They had nothing but good things to say about Grandpa and Ken.  He still hunts and said he empties a box of shells every now and then.  They told me a few funny stories about when Scott was a kid, and wanted me to make sure I told Scott and Mama Jeanie hello for them!

J--- passed his baptismal interview this week! He came to church yesterday with his boys and met with Presidente Predazzi afterwards, so everything is looking up with that. We also built a cake for his wife on her birthday! They are the humblest little family ever. I wish I could just give them all my money and everything I have. We take for granted so much all of the day to day things we enjoy.

Presidente Predazzi randomly invited us out to dinner on Friday after the mission conference and we set up some service to help him move into his new house this week.  We had our investigator E--- and his 2 kids attend the branch Carne Asada on Saturday as well as another investigator J----. They had a good time, and we were also able to give a church tour to J----, so they are all progressing well.  

Yesterday we taught 2 restoration lessons.  The first with a family in a small trailer with kids yelling and screaming and distractions all over the place.  It went... not so well.  Even though we did a good job on our end, the family didn’t understand very well at all, and nothing really came of it. The second was with a new investigator named C---. We taught her outside sitting on her patio.  It was peaceful, and there were no distractions (besides a giant talking parrot that occasionally says "hola," "Volleyball," and various other swear words in English and Spanish) but it went amazing.  She just kept asking question after question that led right into the next point of the lesson.  The lack of the Spirit in the first lesson compared to the presence of the Spirit in the second was like night and day.  I’m glad Elder Herrera got to experience that, and learn the importance of creating an environment where the Spirit can testify to their hearts.

Elder Herrera is really doing great.  I am sure he feels like he has a long way to go, but he is a natural teacher and really tries his best to apply everything he is learning. He is very sincere and listens with love. It is fun to see him find joy in the work. It was great to have an investigator at church yesterday and see the satisfaction on his face sitting in Sacrament Meeting. :)

I loved the mission conference with Elder Grow of the Seventy. He reminds me of a mix between Clark's dad, Charlie Bown and Ted Nugent.  I loved the focus on baptizing.  I feel like that was exactly what we needed and exactly what I have needed for a long time.  I loved the tidbit on how it is unacceptable for returned missionaries to go inactive.  That has always blown my mind how that is even possible.  It doesn’t make sense to me at all. I liked Sister Grow’s insight of how if we are unworthy of the Spirit, it can’t perform one of its main roles, which is to bring things back to our remembrance.   So it’s as simple as getting lazy in the small things that allow Satan to throw a wedge in our spiritual development--not reading the Book of Mormon daily, not paying a full tithe, not saying prayers are all relatively small things that over time dam our way and our progression, and eventually we can’t even remember the way we once felt or the things we once knew. There is no way I could ever doubt the many testimonies I have obtained here, and it’s my prayer that I can stay worthy all the days of my life, never giving place for the enemy of my soul.

Love, Elder Parrish

We worked really hard this week, and had a lot of members coming out with us. J---'s baptismal interview was Tuesday at 4... but nobody showed up to give the interview. Haha.  There was a miscommunication with the zone leaders and the Morrobay district leader, so nobody ever showed up. We reviewed the questions, and had a good lesson about temple work, so it turned out good any way. His real interview should happen this week for sure. We are doing everything we can, and are seeing the hand of the Lord in the work, so we feel good about this week.  Of course, it's frustrating when investigators have kept every commitment and done everything they ever said they will do up to that point, we do everything right, daily contact, follow-up, member fellowship, etc, and then they commit again on Friday and Saturday to come to church, we have a ride arranged with a member, I pray harder and more desperately for them to come than I’ve ever prayed for anything else in my life..... and then they don’t come.  It breaks my heart every time, fills me with all sorts of emotion-sorrow, anger, disappointment, confusion and everything else in between.  But I just chuckle, smile, and tell Elder Herrera how great missionary work is and how were gonna have to work even harder next week. :)  And then I pray, take the sacrament, feel the Spirit, and feel better. Haha.  It’s been a seemingly never-ending cycle of my mission, but when I am humble and accept the will of the Lord, my views of the world change and I can see a constant stream of so many tender mercies and successes—like a sister who after 6 months of inactivity is sitting with a smile in front of us in Sacrament Meeting.  Elder Herrera is a champ and is surprising me by taking the lead more and more. All is well with the 12 week program, the district, and there’s nothing better than being a missionary for the true Church of Jesus Christ!

Love, Elder Parrish

Old friends at Transfer Meeting

Fam, 

This week was crazy. I had to give a training to all the District Leaders in Oxnard.  I always pooch my presentations. I prep for them so much and they are always good in my head, and then it all comes out like a jumbled hooblagumbo while I am up there sweating profusely. Oh well. 

We have seen a lot of miracles this week, and it has been so much fun here with Elder Herrera. He’s just so cute and innocent:) Our car broke down coming over the Cachuma Lake Pass in the middle of nowhere on our way home from transfers, so he had a great first day in the mission :):) I was laughing so hard. I have these grimy nasty paper cups that I’ve had since my first area that we use to teach the Restoration.  They were sitting on my desk. They have been on hundreds of gross carpets, floors, tables, grass, dirt, you name it. Over the last couple days, I noticed the stack of cups was getting smaller... Finally, I was like what the heck and found all my cups in the garbage. He's been using them to drink out of, because he thought that’s what they were for! hahaha He was so embarrassed. 


Elder Herrera and Elder Parrish

We have 4 progressing investigators. We were able to get back on track with some really good member present lessons, and Elder Herrera stepped up to the plate and invited 3 people to be baptized like he does it all the time!   2 out of the 3 accepted and we set them with dates. He said he was scared out of his mind, but he just went for it anyway and it was awesome! When I was in Oxnard on Friday for the District Leader training, Elder Herrera was back in Santa Maria with another English Elder and teaching Spanish lessons all by himself to our investigators his 3rd day in the mission! And he did great- followed up, answered Q's, taught the whole Plan of Salvation, extended commitments and everything! I was so proud of him. :)

That’s what it was like when Elder Griffin and I were together in my first area. Every day was a struggle and we had no idea what to do. But despite both being brand new missionaries, we miraculously managed to find, teach, and baptize 2 people with our limited experience and poor Spanish. And I learned a million things. I imagine that’s another reason why Elder Griffin and I became such good friends! He finished this week, crazy to think.

Elder Herrera is really sincere and just wants to do his best.  I see so much good in him and even though our personalities, interests, hobbies are almost exact opposites, I love him to death and we get along great! He’s very humble and like I said, is just getting right in the mix of things inviting people to be baptized, bearing his testimony in Sacrament Meeting, etc.

President Felix read L---'s letter at transfer meeting in front of all the missionaries. That was awesome.  It was all I could do not to cry, haha. It is so cool to think they just up and left and officially joined the Saints in Zion! I can’t express enough gratitude to Heavenly Father. I love being a missionary and love getting to learn and serve with Elder Herrera and see as he catches the same fire.

Love, Elder P


E. Herrera jumping with both feet in the mission!

Acting hard with Elder Clarkson -
Last Monday, we went on a few mile hike with the district above Pismo Beach.
The trail spits us out right at this sweet cave over looking the water.
All I can say is it's gonna be nice to go on hikes by myself again,
and not have to stop and wait every 10 minutes for the hermanas to catch up. 

‘Sup folks. I’m staying in Santa Maria and I’ll be training a new greeny!!  I never thought I was going to train.  I was ok with that, because I didn’t want to ruin a greeny by pushing him too hard, and not having enough patience to take care of him all the time, but I’m actually excited out of mind to train! It’s gonna be fun. I already have some good pranks planned with the members.

I’m glad to hear Grompa Parrish is doing better! I miss that old guy. 

On Saturday morning, way before we found out that Elder Perry had passed away, I randomly was thinking about the process of filling the vacancy in the 12 when an apostle dies and was asking Elder Clarkson some questions about the whole process and everything without thinking much of it.  Then in the evening, we were at a baptismal service when we heard that Elder Perry died. It was a shock to hear, but I immediately felt the Spirit super strong. The next day in my studies, I thought of the scripture in Hebrews 9: 16-17 that says a testimony is of no effect until after the death of the testator, or something along those lines, and I read Elder Perry's talk from General Conference one more time. I felt the sweetest spirit as I read his final -now sealed with is death- testimony, his witness of Eternal Families and the Plan of Salvation.  Super Cool!  I have no doubt that Heavenly Father's plan is perfect and that I too can live with my family for all eternity.

For service this week, we spent 3 hours taking a load out to the dump with a less member!

This one’s short, but I sent like a hundred pics, so it’s ok. 

Love,

Elder Parrish

 

Santa Maria pool baptism!

​Elder Griffin and I found V--- back in February. In our first lesson, we found out her dad had died and she had doubts of what happened after death.  We bore testimony of the Plan of Salvation and I remember thinking that she was going to be baptized some day for sure!  Well, that day was last Friday.  President Felix gave Elder Griffin and me permission to go back down to Oxnard for it!!  It was awesome!  Some of my favorite members are from Oxnard.

Look who I saw at the baptism in Oxnard!