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!

Bowling on Pday

We had a breakthrough lesson with our investigator, J---.  We brought our new ward mission leader to a lesson, who has some connections with other job opportunities, and they are working on finding him new employment, because he is sick of not being able to come to church and not being able to get baptized since he works on Sundays. J--- was super excited and fired up about it, and he went in early on Saturday, so he could finish all his cleaning and then came to church on Sunday! :) 

We see a less-active hermana, named Y--- a couple times a week. She has a strong testimony, and loves it when we come share messages, because she is just spiritually thirsty from being away from the church for about 6months now. Every week she has the good intentions of coming to church, but something always "comes up."   On Sunday before church, we went to her house and she let us know that one of the real reasons she hasn’t been coming to church when she says she will is because since she has been inactive she had oral surgery and they removed a bunch of her front teeth, and she just feels embarrassed and doesn’t want to have to talk to anybody without her teeth! I was able to show her some pictures of me without my front tooth and tell her I had to go through that for 3 years of high school! I explained how I felt the same insecurities and self-esteem issues for a while and didn’t like to talk or smile without it, but eventually realized that nobody cared and everyone just thought that it was awesome and made me look way tougher anyway, and I worried all that time for nothing. It helped her realize that that was a pretty lame excuse for not coming to church, and so she went and got ready and came to church for the first time since I’ve been here!  It was awesome! Everyone was so happy to see her :)

We got to do some good service this week helping our branch president move all of his stuff into storage until their new house is finished, and it built some good trust there with him.  We also helped one of our less active members, V--- build a bunch of shelves in his railroad car container he uses for a shed and he came to church on Sunday!

 

Love, Elder Parrish

Going to do service.

We went on a hike on Tuesday up in San Luis Obispo with the zone and with President and Sister Felix.  

We taught a lot of lessons this week, and for sure thought our 2 main investigators would come to church again. Neither of them came, but randomly after the meeting started we looked over and there was a man named Samuel in the foyer that we found that week who just decided to show up for church! We were all excited and of course grateful for the tender mercy that someone actually came to Sacrament Meeting. As we brought him in and sat down, we looked over to the other foyer and there was another one of our investigators named E-- with his 2 kids! We are definitely making progress with our investigators and teaching pool, though.

Elder Clarkson and I are doing well.  We have come out of this week having learned to be a little more humble, submissive, and meek, and are striving to get rid of pride so we can be more unified and have the Spirit more in our companionship. I think there is more i can be doing to serve him and show my love, so those are my goals!

I have been reading the General Conference Ensign a lot lately and just love the Spirit I get from each talk as I re-read them. They all apply perfectly in one way or another to me individually. I just can’t help but feel an overwhelming gratitude for my membership in this church, where we are so blessed to have 15 men who are prophets, seers, and revelators. It is something I will continue to thank God for every day of my life.  I keep thinking of a couple summers ago when we went to the funeral of Brother Jack Hepworth where President Monson conducted.  I realized that day that the Prophet of God, standing just a few feet away from me was just a normal, ordinary man, subject to sickness and pain and sorrow and memory loss and everything else that accompanies old age just like all the rest of us crazy people. But when President Monson testified of the plan of salvation, and of our loving Heavenly Father and of Brother Hepworth’s faithfulness in the church, I realized too that the great God of Israel magnifies those seemingly normal men he calls, and gives them power and authority to do extraordinary things and be his literal mouthpieces on the earth. I have felt him magnify little ole me. There was no doubt in my mind on that summer day that he was the Lord's Prophet in these latter-days, and there is no doubt in my mind today that he continues to be. The same Spirit that touched my heart that day is the Spirit that I feel every time I read the conference talks. I know that President Monson holds all the keys of the Holy Priesthood and leads the true Church of Jesus Christ today.

For service, we almost finished the laundry room addition of Brother C---'s house. right in time before it rained!

Love,

Elder Parrish