The Last Frontier

Hello readers!


WOW, it has been a while, and I am so sorry for that! It has been really crazy around here, and I mean it this time! I hope all of you had an awesome thanksgiving and got to enjoy some time with your family.


This post is just going to be an update post I guess, a lot has happened. On the 18th I flew back to Alaska! For those of you who don't know, I was raised in Alaska and lived here until just before my freshman year of high school. After my Senior year, my parents made their escape back to Alaska.

They love it here, and so far I have really enjoyed being back home. It has been awesome to be with them again, but its going fast! I only have two more weeks left here, and then I will be heading down to Utah to wait out the rest of my time until I report to the MTC. I will not be with my family for my 19th birthday or Christmas because we wanted to make sure I wouldn't get stuck in Alaska due to weather, and that's kind of a bummer. But at the same time, it is a small price to pay on my journey to spreading the gospel in Pennsylvania. This is what I must do.


Alaska is....AMAZING. It is so pretty and SO COLD!!! Port Graham, the village they live in, never gets snow and when they do it melts quickly. I had told my mom I hoped it would be different just this one time so I could have a white holiday season and LO AND BEHOLD ITS SNOWY.

This is the view from my house, and I don't know if it can be beat. It is so beautiful and I am sure its even more gorgeous in the summer.

One of the greatest blessing I have received from coming back home in the environment I live in to prepare for my mission. Port Graham is very small, and very much excluded from the hustle and bustle of life. It is calm, quiet, and so serine. Because it is just so peaceful I have been able to listen to the spirit more and have had lots of time to read my scriptures and prepare to teach the gospel.

I think that sometimes a get away is exactly what everyone needs now and again. You probably don't need to fly to remote Alaska to find a peaceful place, but we all need that peace. Life can get so busy, and for a lack of better words, LOUD. I challenge each of you to just unplug once in a while. Turn off your phone, turn off the tv, and just go somewhere peaceful and listen for the spirit. He too often gets smothered by the static of the outside world, and that's a shame.

President Faust puts it a lot better than I do, watch this awesome video!

Today I am thankful for the spirit. I couldn't be half the missionary I hope to be without him!

Here are some more pictures of my frozen home :)

We Are All Ugly Ducklings

 I'll never be ready for my mission.

I don't like how short my legs are.

I'm not smart enough to teach others about the gospel.

I literally have no upper lip.

I annoy myself all the time, I can't imagine how others view me.

What if I never baptize anyone?

I am just a bother.

The story of the Ugly Duckling tells of a plain-looking bird born in a barnyard. His brothers and sisters and the other birds and animals on the farm tease him for being plain and ugly, so he runs off. The Ugly Duckling finds a home with an old woman, but her cat and hen also make fun of him, so he doesn't stay there long. In his wanderings, the Ugly Duckling comes across a flock of swans, and dreams and aspires to be just like them! He spends a cold and lonely winter hiding in a cave until springtime, when the flock of swans comes to the lake near his hiding place. When the Ugly Duckling approaches the swans, he's delighted to find that they accept him and treat him like one of them. When he looks at his reflection in the lake, he realizes, that he is not an ugly duckling, but indeed a majestic swan. When the swans fly off from the lake, he spreads his wings and joins them, 

One of Satan's greatest tool against us is self doubt. I feel that now more than ever. I can't tell you how many times a day I question if I am ready to serve a mission, if I am worthy, and if I will EVER be enough. I beat myself up over past mistakes, dislike myself because of how I look, and tend to overthink everything.

I am the ugly duckling.

 We are all the ugly duckling.

Unfortunately, we cannot look into a lake and see the reflection of who we are, but wouldn't that be nice? We have to work to discover it. We work to find who we really are by praying to our heavenly father ernestly, ignoring the tempations of the devil, and "enduring to the end". Seems like a small list, but that's really hard! It's hard to not get down on yourself sometimes. Luckily, we have someone to help us along the way.

We all have things to improve, weaknesses to overcome, and emotional barriers to break down. When life gets as crazy as it often does, it's easy for Satan to make us think we will never be able to just be....better. But, there is someone who knows exactly who we are. Someone who knows what we are capable of, looks past the imperfections and self-degrading, and is always there to build us back up and make us a magnificent swan. 

Jesus Christ.

He suffered not just for our sins, but felt every heartache, pain, self doubt, and devaluing thought. He felt the ugly duckling in all of us. Why would he suffer if he knew we could never reach our full potential? He wouldn't have, that's the answer.

We are too hard on ourselves. Give yourself a break once in a while. As my favorite Doctor said:

And please, don't forget that everyone else is an ugly duckling too. You're not the only one out there with troubles. Love people. Find the best in everyone you meet, and help when you can. I promise that by doing that, you will more easily discover who you really are. By helping others, you help yourself.

So, let me correct my list back at the top to set the example for each of us.

I will be ready for my mission because God is with me.

My short legs will carry me to amazing places.

I am smart enough to teach the gospel, and that I don't know, the Holy Ghost will help me with.

The size of my lips doesn't matter, only that my words testify of Christs love for everyone.

How others view me doesn't matter, I just need to love and be patient with myself.

If I don't baptize anyone it's ok, as long as I tried my best.

I will never be a bother to God.

I am a Child of God, and so are you.

Here's what President Uchtdorf has to say about finding yourself.

This week I am thankful for imperfections. I wouldn't be who I am without them.

Called To Serve Part II

Enjoy the video of me opening my mission call. I especially like the part where I am a klutz and drop my call on the ground ;). Always classy.

Called to Serve

The moment we have all been waiting for! Well, I have. My mission call came!

I got it in the mail at about noon yesterday and just about died when I opened the mail box and it was actually there. IT WAS FINALLY HERE AFTER 3 WEEKS! I was so excited in fact, I dropped the container of soup I had just picked up at the grocery store and broke it all over the ground. I was soup dropping excited! I ran inside and did as anyone else would do with big news; post it on Facebook, obviously.

I'm being totally serious. 

The day was a roller coaster of emotions. I went from feeling scared and petrified and not wanting to open it, to feeling so impatient it took all my willpower to not rip it open. But the feeling I felt above all those was the confirmation of the Holy Ghost letting me know this big white envelope held a destination I would go to and have my life changed forever, for the good. 

As I waited until my parents could call and open it with me that evening, I thought it best I prepare myself as much as I could. I prayed at least 10 times to Heavenly Father that I would know matter where I was called to (even Utah) that it was where I was supposed to be. I watched tons of mission call openings so I knew exactly what to do when I opened mine, I read missionaries stories and talks from my church leaders, and sang called to serve and least a thousand times. I realized later that there's not enough emotional preparation in the world to help you be ready for that moment you open your call.

The day went by faster than I expected. I went to the church's trunk-or-treat and had a ton of people tell me things like "Youre going to be a great missionary!" "I would've ripped it open already" and "you're so patient (if only they knew)". I then ran back to my home to set up to call my parents and then it was time.

My hands were shaky. My legs were weak and my eyes were blurry. I thought my heart was going to beat straight out of my chest and onto the pristine white envelope. I had planned to open my envelope gracefully as to preserve it, but that didnt happen, it's destroyed. Of COURSE, me being the Klutz that I am, I dropped my letter on the freaking floor. Then, I began to read.

Dear Sister Parry,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

You are assigned to labor in the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on December 28th, 2016. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language. 

I can't begin to describe the joy, relief, and inadequacy I felt after finding out where I am going. It is no secret that I really wanted to go foreign. But waiting and praying yesterday I knew I was going to go stateside, and God treated me well! It's the most beautiful, history rich mission I could have ever asked to be called to. Not to cold, not to hot, and beyond perfect. I mean, look at these pictures from my missions official blog!

 THAT'S A BUGGY

 I am so beyond blessed. I can not wait to go and serve the people of Pennsylvania. I know that it is where exactly where I need to be and there will be people in my area only I could touch. My life will be changed forever. I am humbled to know my local and general leaders have found me worthy to serve, and learned enough to bring others to Christ. It's been a long time coming to get to where I am now. There were lots of mistakes made, tears shed, and who knows what else. Thank you to every seminary teacher, leader, and especially my family for making me the person I am today. I hope I can make you guys proud. I am so happy and so proud of myself for fulfilling the dream I've had since I was a little girl. I have grown my foot or two, and now I am ready to get to work.

P.S. It's no surprise what I am thankful for this week is Missions. That's all I have to say about that.