Elder Zachary Blake Parrish: WHAT'S UP...from Tarawa

September 28, 2015

Hello everyone <333

I hope everyone had a great week back at home and is looking forward to a wonderful new week of school and work yayyy <3

If you took the time to read the caption lolz I think you understand that I still haven't gotten off the main island of Tarawa. As I wrote last week, I thought that we were going to take a chartered plane this Saturday. It was going to take care of 3 transfers by stopping at 3 islands. It got pushed back to Sunday. When we went to the airport at 8 in the morning, the cute 'lil 5-seater plane was going through pre-flight checks. About 30 minutes later the pilot comes to us and tells us that the radio in the plane is broken!!!! If you see how small the landing space is on these islands you would agree that it was probably best to wait until it was fixed. He also claimed "there was nothing wrong with the plane" hahaha I'll believe it when I see it. By the way, this was in English so I understood <3 He said we were going to push the flight back to Monday. Later we got a call saying Tuesday and we haven't heard since so I'm holding out hope that it goes tomorrow. All is good in the islands <333 It's hard to be stressed when you walk around and see people passed out on dirt floors just hanging in the middle of the days. I wasn't even surprised, but at the same time I wasn't mad. I'm pretty much accepting what comes and loving it <'3

but PRAY that the flight goes tomorrow... or sometime in the next week... or even the next few months <33

In other news (which isn't much), President and Sister Weir came to Tarawa this week. They are only staying for a week so I should be gone by the time that they leave. They are seriously GREAT though ;) We had a zone conference with them on Friday afternoon when they went in. There were about 30 missionaries there (all the ones on Tarawa.) To make a long story short, we are doubling the standards of our missionary work. The goal is now 1 baptism/week/companionship. Tough, but we can do it <3 I also had an interview with him the next morning which was short and sweet. All is good.

Other than that, it's been another week rolling with the ZL's and the AP's. The climax came when the ZL's were able to bring 8 people into the waters of baptism, all people which I have taught 10+ times. Although my help was minimal, it's awesome to see people change and it made me even more excited to get to my area where it's 2 of us on the island with the responsibility to leave it a better place than we found it.

The language is coming along really well. I'm nowhere near where I want but progress is all I can ask for and I feel that it's progressing pretty well. If the Kiribati people take the rocks outta their mouth I think I'll be doing pretty well <3 In lessons this week, one of the AP's (Elder Openshaw) would just say "Now we are going to have Elder Parrish explain ______". Hahah it was great to see how much I could say when I was placed on the spot.

Anyways, LUVS 2 ALL. I miss and pray for everyone "ni katoa bong" (every day hehehe). Life is good <3 Don't let lizards in your car and definitely don't let a coconut hit ya in the head cuz those kill down here. Also, if you have any cuts make sure to put some triple antiobiotic <3

:') Elder Parrish :')

P.S. Drop me a quick prayer my way that I can get to Tabiteuea. SO BLESSED <3 And happy <3 And being a missionary is good <3 and felling the spirit too <3 and (trying) to help people <3 Still have LOTS to work on.

About four hours later we received another email from Elder Parrish with an update as to his situation going forward. Although he is disappointed he won't be in "Tab" quite yet, he is happy to be put to work where he is. He said:

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to give a quick update on what is going down... So we just got an email from the guy who is running the charter. The part he needs won't be shipped in from New Zealand until at least next week so I'm stuck here in Tarawa. I'm telling you this so you guys know that I'm not in Tab this week. The odds of getting an Air Kiribati flight are highly unlikely because the next available Tab flight wasn't until late October.

When I found this out, I was extremely frustrated as you could probably guess. I was SO frustrated. I for the LIFE of me can't figure out why the Lord has been doing this to me. I know for a fact that this isn't happening by "chance". The hardest part is knowing this is happening for a reason and that God does have a plan but not knowing "why" or knowing "when" I will find out what the reason is.

The good news is that Elder Buhler and I (been out over a year), are going to be heading to the area called Teorteareke. It is a super good area that is generally the AP's but there has been little time for them to work in the area. We are heading to our own house tomorrow and he will be my "trainer" for as long as it takes to get a flight to Tab. After a short meeting with Pres. Weir, it sounds like I will still go to Tab as soon as possible.

As frustrating as this is, I'm making the best of it and I'm trying to find the reason. All is well... This will be great to be with a sick elder in my "own" area (at least for a week) <3 It's going to feel like I may be playing a small part in helping people now-- the reason I came on a mish.

That was a lot longer than it needed to be but I wanted to keep you updated.

as always,

Luvs

Elder Parrish

P.S. ALL IS WELL. Don't worry 'bout a thing <3