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Well, I don't have a whole lot to say seeing as how I'll be with you all again in just a few days! I've had a good birthday so far. We're going to lunch at the ESKIMO today, which is a really nice restaurant here and they have great ice cream too. We're going to take the lady who makes food for us every day and washes our clothes with us to thank her for all she does!

 This week has been crazy! It's so surreal. I've seen so many missionaries go home but it's weird to think that it's actually my turn now. This week Elder Mann and I worked really hard and found lots of new investigators. Yesterday, I gave my final talk here in Nicaragua. Tomorrow, the ward members are throwing a going away party for me so that should be pretty fun :)

 

Today at 4:00, I have my final interview with President Russell! He told me a few weeks ago that we're just going to sit down and talk about my goals for the future, and he's going to give me a few tips and pointers. I'm pretty excited. 

 

Tomorrow will be my last day here in the area. Wednesday is transfers meeting. Everyone who is going home this week gets to go to President's house on Wednesday night to eat dinner with him and his wife and say goodbye. Thursday morning, we'll wake up bright and early to go to the airport!

 

I'm excited to see you all but also nervous and sad to leave Nicaragua. A huge part of me belongs to this country and this people. Missionary work has been my life for the past 2 years, and it is going to be hard to leave such a beautiful place and beautiful people. These past two years have been the happiest of my life. Full of trials and challenges of course, but I've grown closer to my Savior and my testimony has grown more than I could have ever expected it to.  

 

Please bring a coat to the airport for me...I have a feeling it's going to be hard to adjust to the weather! 

 

Love you guys! 

10 Days to go

10 DAYS TO GO!

Well, we're officially entering December! It's pretty nerve wracking to be honest. Elder Mann and I are excited for our last full week together. Our baptism that we had scheduled for the 7th fell through...but we're determined to find lots of new investigators together this week and keep helping the ones we are already teaching to progress.

Our converts Natividad, Eiden, and Teofilo moved back to Belize this week for migratory reasons. :( It was really sad that we had to say goodbye to them. I'll have to explain a little more about their situation when I get back home.

 

Our convert Javier, who was received the Melchizedek priesthood a couple weeks ago, was just called to be the new ward Mission leader! We're excited to work with him and get him involved in missionary work.

 

This week I ate some cow brain. The lady who makes lunch for us served us some soup one day, and it had quite a few things in it that I wasn't very familiar with. We didn't ask questions though and just started eating it. It wasn't until afterward that she told us what was in the soup! It actually didn't taste that bad. She also surprised us and cooked some turtle eggs for us to try. I didn't like them at all. 

 

Here are some pictures of a place called Tiscapa that we went to today with the zone! It basically just looks out over Managua and Lake Managua. 

 

Hope you guys have a good week! 

 

Love,

Elder Parrish

 

 

Other pictures from this week

Smiles for Nicaragua

Hey guys!

This week we saw many miracles and the Lord blessed us a lot. Yesterday was the ward primary program and we were blessed enough to have 12 investigators who attended church! We are teaching a lady named Maryuri who has a baptismal date for Dec 7th. She has been going through a lot of family challenges but has the desire to be baptized and really loves church.

 

 Today and Saturday, the bilingual missionaries in our zone got to go to one of the other church buildings close by to help with "Smiles for Nicaragua." I'm not sure if you guys have ever heard of the smiles program, but basically they go to different countries to give basical dental and health care to future missionaries so that they can finish filling out their mission papers. They converted the whole entire church into a medical clinic/barber shop/dentists office/oral surgery. The majority of them are from Utah, and are members of the church. Many were returned missionaries. We got to translate for all the doctors and dentists. On Saturday, I got to hang out a long side a few dentists and dental assistants to translate for them. I feel like I learned a lot about Kelli's job! (hahah.) They also taught me how to do eye exams, so I got to help out with that. Today, we went back again and they had me translate for a doctor who was giving general check ups to the future missionaries. It was really fun! There are many youth who would never have the chance to serve a mission if it wasn't for the smiles foundation. Many of the youth here have never been to a dentist or a good doctor in their lives, and could definitely never afford the costs to get check ups, cavities filled, root canals, wisdom teeth pulled, etc. It was a great experience.

 

This week is going to be crazy busy. It's making me worried how fast time is going! 

 

I love you all! Hope you guys have a great Thanksgiving. We're going to order food as a zone for Thanksgiving. :) It will probably be chicken though, because turkey is hard to find and it's expensive. Bye! 

 

Montoya statue

Warning: Construction

This weekend was really rewarding for my companion and I. 4 of our converts here in Las Palmas received the Melchizedek Priesthood! (Javier, Jeffrey, Sandy, and Francisco) I also found out that one of my converts in Granada, Hildebrando, received the Melchizedek Priesthood, as well this week! It's so exciting to see how much they have all grown and progressed spiritually.

This past Wednesday was transfers but I'm going to be staying here with Elder Mann in Las Palmas to end the mission! I'm really excited because I love this ward a lot, and we've had a lot of success. And Elder Mann and I get along great and are working really hard. He's definitely been one of my best, if not the best, companions in the mission.

 

Love and miss you all! 

 

Zone Managua

 

Well tomorrow we can officially count how many months I have left on one finger...imagine that! I've learned a lot about the importance of enduring to the end throughout these past few months.

This week was a pretty normal week for us here in our area. We put a couple baptismal dates with new investigators and we are really excited. My goal is to baptize at least one more person before I end the mission and to keep working hard everyday. I also have the goal to finish the Book of Mormon again before I take off. I'm already about 3/4 of the way through it so it shouldn't be hard. 

 

It's really sad to think that I only have one more month as a full time missionary. I plan on making the most out of it. I've felt so happy lately that it's hard to explain it. There's nothing that brings greater joy than serving the Lord. 

 

Love you all! 

Elder Parrish

More pictures from our Stake Activity