Elder Joshua Parr Belgium/Netherlands Mission: Week 2 in MTC

Elder Josh Parr - Belguim./Netherlands - "YES" I got the map picture for my missionary wall.

Hello Everyone,

It's been another amazing week! Can I just say that the weeks fly by here at the MTC! It's crazy, I love it here I am learning so much and am having such a fun time doing it.

The language is finally starting to come along and I can Talk to people in broken Dutch but non the less we can have a conversation and it's amazing. This week has been full of memorable and spiritual moments!

Wednesday:

Well That was my P-Day so we didn't do a whole lot our zone did get in a big Spray bottle fight though and that was so much fun being able to kind of have a day to relax for a little is always nice. We also came up with an amazing game haha. So if you can get another Elder to flinch then you flip a coin and depending on the side it lands of they do push ups or not. It brings a lot of entertainment and some fun, so that's good.

Thursday:

Tuesday was a great day for my companions and I. We decided to go in and teach our investigator Robbert for the first time without bringing any language books with us. That was such an amazing experience! Can I tell you that the Gift of Tongues is real and that if you have faith and the courage to open your mouth knowing that the Holy Ghost will fill you will the words you need to say, it will happen! That lesson we were finally able to get Robbert to come to church with us and read and study the scriptures. Also, Today was the first time I was able to say an actual detailed prayer in Dutch without using a book and it was absolutely incredible! I love this Gospel!

Friday:

Fourth of July! Wow, Friday was awesome! I was kind of caught off guard though when I walked into class that morning and saw "Robbert" sitting there and finding out he was another one of our teachers. Ya, we had no idea! Well, the highlight of today was the Devotional, it was incredible. We usually don't have any on Friday but since it was a holiday we did.

There were three piano musical number who all did so amazing and brought the spirit so strongly! Then they were followed by a little more funny performance since it was the fourth they said they wanted us to have fun. There were 3 fiddlers and 1 pianist who were absolutely amazing and hilarious at the same time. Why they were in the middle of the performance a Senior Sister went and grabbed a fiddle and just started playing with them, it was the funniest thing the whole place roared when they saw!

We then had a talk about what true hero's are, and that they are disciples of Christ. People who follow in his footsteps it was really good. Well guess what else...yeah we all got to watch a full length movie! 17 Miracles, and might I just say that, that movie is absolutely incredible and so inspiring and so spiritual. I loved It! Well since it was the 4th they all let us go out and watch the Stadium of Fire, fire work show! That was so much fun! We could hear Carrie Underwood finish up and then had a great view of the fire works. So we didn't miss out on too much fun haha. During the Fireworks all the missionaries sang The Star Spangled banner and it was so cool!

Saturday:

Today was really spiritual for me. Our teacher Brother Robinson aka Robbert taught us an amazing lesson on how we need to rely on the spirit 100% when we are teaching. He taught us how to find out the need of our investigators through certain questions. It was so good. We talked about the power and revelation you can receive by planning with the spirit both in companionship and personal planning. It truly makes all the difference!

Sunday:

First fast Sunday at the MTC! Today was good for me I was able to get a lot accomplished with my reading and learning more of Christ and his Gospel. Fast and Testimony meeting was phenomenal, probably one of the strongest times I have felt the spirit since I have been here and that's saying something! I felt prompted to share my testimony so I did and it felt amazing, I love sharing my testimony with others, even if its just in simple forms! For the evening devotion we had a famous concert pianist\returned missionary come perform for us and speak. His name was Josh Wright, and he was so amazing on the piano and did some remix's of church songs and such and they sounded so amazing! Music can bring the spirit so fast, I love it! Funny story, so this Elder in my district Elder Hammond, was dead asleep in a part of this meeting and his head was bobbing for a solid 15 minutes and the whole row was giggling and we would try and wake him up then he would just like slap himself where we were touching him the drop again. SO funny, good times.

Monday:

Service day, Me and Elder Hammond got to scrub three flights of stairs for service at 6:15 this morning it was fantastic. Well we learned the best ways to start teaching investigators today and that was super helpful! I mean we got a new investigator Lieka and totally nailed the first lesson! Also we gave all of our teachers nicknames today! Brother Klippel (Brouder Erste Dag), Brother Norton (Brouder Haar) , Brother Wells (Brouder Married), Brother Robinson (Brouder Niet Robbert), Brother luis (Broeder Drie week), Sister Moses (Zuester Kort) and Sister Roseland(Sister Wij weten niet). So funny they all new exactly which ones they were.

Tuesday:

Two great things about today.

We invited Lieka to get baptized and she said that she would! soooo cool it was only the second lesson but she said she would commit if she came to know that our message was true, it was such a neat experience!
2)

Niel L. Anderson came and spoke to us today!! Holy cow, can I tell you that he truly is a man of God! It was absolutely amazing. Well Him and his wife spoke to us on the importance of the spirit and the power of the spirit in our lives! I loved this thing he said "Dont ever do something that will disallow the spirit of the Holy Ghost to be with you cause whatever it was\is its not nearly as important as having Gods most amazing gift. " I thought that was amazing he also said " We represent things that are unseen but are true!" If we don't have that spirit in our lives to testify to those we teach, that these things that are not seen are true....well good luck. Having the Spirit is a MUST!! That was an incredible devotional and night. It just made me want to be that much more careful and striving to do my best to Always have the spirit in my life. It will be a guide for us and teach us things we need to be taught. It will be a comforter to us, a testifier to us, a companion to us and a way for us to be able to know what God wants us to do. I love the spirit that I have felt here thus far.

Well I love all of you guys! Thanks so much for all that you do for me and for the prayers. I hope that I can make you all proud as I strive to be the best missionary Elder Parr can be!

Love, Elder Parr

#ReturnWithHonor