WEEK 34 The Gambia, Ants....And Everlasting Joy!

Hello hello beautiful people! Another great week here in Oregon! I feel like I say this every few weeks...but where is the time going!? My goodness I'm almost halfway! 


Okay so miracles, miracles, MIRACLES! We have a sweet friend named Ebrima, from the Gambia, who we found on one of the stake Facebook pages! We have done a couple video chats with him and he is so, so amazing! He is sharing the Book of Mormon with all his friends and family and just soaking the gospel right up! He sends us pictures of him doing scripture studies with the people in his town. He has a hard time understanding but has the deepest desire to learn! After teaching him the first couple of lessons we got in contact with the missionaries in the Gambia to take over! Here is part of their reply: " Me and my companion are the first two missionaries here in Gambia and we just got your referral for Ebrima Fadera!" You guys! Just this year they opened up the Gambia for missionaries! How amazing that at this time we were able to find and teach Ebrima over social media and now there are missionaries there to teach him! Ebrima is now taking the lessons, with many others in the community! 


I haven't talked about our good friend Jeff enough, he is amazing! Jeff has a date to be baptized on August 6th! Jeff has had a hard, hard life. He grew up in an abusive home, started smoking at age 10 and was into pretty heavy drugs and gangs for most of his life. In just the last couple months he has sobered up and decided he wants to change his life. After moving to Oregon he met his wife Kristina. She was baptized in 2015 but quickly fell away because of her addictions. The elders have lived across from them for the last couple years! He just decided a couple weeks ago that he wanted to read the Book of Mormon and it has completely changed his life! We have had ups and downs with Jeff but he is so committed. He has to be clean and following the word of wisdom for 4 weeks before his baptismal date. The night before the 4 weeks started we shared with him that he has to quit by tomorrow...not to mention while he was drinking a beer hahah! Anyways he is amazing and has cold turkied EVERYTHING! From a pack of cigarettes, 2 pots of coffee and alcohol everyday to nothing! If that's not a miracle I don't know what is! We are so proud of Jeff and we pray that he will continue having strength against temptation! 


Sister Higgins and I traveled to Corvallis and the coast this week too! We had a blast filming a family of 8, a young girl about to leave on her mission in Hawaii and a sweet senior couple in our mission! Travel trips are the best! To the road trip, sleepovers with other sisters, and my most favorite of it all - meeting new people! 


Funny story from our road trip! I leaned against a wall of ants! They were all over my clothes, down my back and in my hair! Sister Higgins and I spent the 2.5 hour car ride screaming as she hit ants off my head! Haha! 


Let's talk about Joy! What is joy? How do we find joy? I love studying joy! This week I read a talk that said "Joy is much deeper than simply passing moments of contentment or feelings of happiness. Real joy, or everlasting joy, comes from experiencing the power of the Atonement through sincere repentance and from a spiritual confirmation that we can be redeemed from sin through the Lord Jesus Christ and inherit eternal life." 


We can find joy through repentance! We have to rely on the strength and power of Jesus Christ's atonement to do this! The only way we can truly make the world a better place is by using Jesus Christ's atonement! Our joy can be everlasting if we do all that we can to repent and grow closer to our Savior! This week do all you can to find joy! Not just happiness but true joy! Maybe that means changing your attitude or being more positive, maybe even a big life change! Whatever it is, rely on the Savior and I can promise you that you WILL be able to have true and everlasting JOY! 


God is so good! I love yall, always have always will;) have the best week ever!


♡ Sister Parry 


- My cute little office sisters!
- Higgy and I at "Flashbacks" , a yummy 50s dinner!
- My bestie, sister Bell, and I at zone conference:)
- The elders with some "Gud Job" cheesecake 
- Filming!!!
- The coast
- The sisters chopped 6 inches off my hair ahhh!!! Let's just say I have layers now and that was not intended:)
- Little Higgy
- Sleepover with the sisters!
- Senior missionaries, the Duttons! 









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