Elder Joshua Parr Belgium/Netherlands Mission: Week 1 - "Greetings from Delft Netherlands"

Hello hello!

Wow where to begin....This has been the craziest week and a half ever. And also one of the most tiring weeks of my life! The last few days in the MTC and now the other side of the world! Love it. The real mission has begun and I couldnt be anymore pumped to get out the door and go to work! Well here are a few little highlights from the week and a half.

Sunday:
Sunday was my last day in the MTC and to say the least it was soooo busy! Both an amazing day and a bad day all in one. The good stuff first, This gospel couldnt be anymore true! It is just 100% amazing and i love it! We had one last district testimony meeting which was soo soo cool! I want you all to go and watch this video called "Missionary work and the Atonement" and you'll see why it went so good. The bad news, well we were all getting ready to go into a leadership meeting when a security gaurd came and took one of the kids from our district and said his parents were here for him...well he didnt come with us to say the least. And that was soo sad for all of us its crazy how close you get with people in such a short amount of time here. And lastly can I just say that I love Elder Jensen, It was so nice having him in the MTC with me and that last night with him was such a stong spiritual experience!

SC Warrior Missionaries at MTC before most of us flew out!

Monday:
5 AM comes along and we are ready to leave the MTC and head to the airport! Ahh so crazy right? We grabbed our bags got on the bus they took us to the train then off to the plane. I have no idea how missionaries travel with so many bags and a bike, the bags were hard enough. But we made it to say the least. Flew all day and pretty much skipped monday. It was so good talking to my family that day.

Tuesday:
We landed here in Amsterdam at 8 am and got going! The two APs (who are absolutey awesome btw) and President and Sister Robinson were all there to pick us up and take us to the mission office. We had to fill out tons of paper work and visa stuff but I don't remember any of it because I was so Jet lagged.

We all got the Famous windmill picture and then ate at the BEST PANCAKE place I have ever had in my life all of the rumors are true this place is amazing. Went to the mission home and then found out where we would be serving. Guess where I got? THE Most beautiful city ever!! DEFT, Netherlands. It's right by Den Haag which is actually apart of my area as well. Its absolutely gorgeous here!

Wednesday:
Woke up and we were moving, Back to the mission office for a little bit of training and then we got to meet our Trainers. My trainer is Elder Hulet from Cedar City. He is an absolute stud of a kid and I love him already. After meeting our trainer we were booted out the door before I even knew what was going on haha, gotta love missionary work! So yeah on the way over to our appartment I totally lost my backpack in all the crazyness but luckily our zone leaders found it. What a good way to start off right. We took all day looking for a bike and had no success so that was great. But on the brightside I contacted some people today..SO hard and I had no idea what they were saying but I tried anyways:)

Thursday:
The bike search continued today but rather looking in Delft we took a train to Den Haag which is so pretty as well. We looked for a solid two hours and never found one which you'd think it would be easy being in the biggest biking city in the world but everywhere we went they were either super expensive or the store was closed because of their 3 month vacations and what not. But then we had a meeting with the ZLs about the zone vision and they took us around in their car after and we finally found a BIkE:) Its great haha. We then drove to a member house Sister Kelly and we all gave her a blessing such a cool experience, she said she instantly felt relief:) ahh so cool.

Friday:
Had my first coorilation meeting with the ward mission leader Brother Scherjf. He is so cool and helpful! I lucked out I hear. Then after that we had our first twelve weeks thing and then contacted for the rest of the day. I decided Dutch is hard hehe.

Saturday:
Market day in DELFT. So I thought you would all like to know that the rumors are true and fresh stroop waffles are SOOOO good!! Nothing compares to them. After that we went and I got to meet two of our investigators both Chinese students going to TU here and they are awesome but leaving on vacation so thats kinda hard all of our investigators are gone until the end of this month. So looks like we have to find new ones which will be great! I also met another one named Micha and he is so crazy but so nice. He hates God but thinks our religion is true so Idk how that works but hopefully we can work on him a little. We made brownies with him tonight, America Brownies he was so excited. Love this work already:) But it can be sooo hard at times.

Sunday:
First sunday here in the country. They do everything backwards its so weird, First they have priesthood then Sunday School and then Sacrament. And to add to that, It was ALL in Dutch so I had no idea what was going on. That was kind of hard for me. Tonight we had a dinner appointment with the Johnson family an older couple, they are so sweet :) And on our way we got soaked it was awesome! But once again everything was in Dutch and I didn't really understand much. That's been difficult but I learned how powerful prayer is because of it. God is ALWAYS there for us no matter what and he want us to be happy and will help us and comfort us. Prayer is incredible and Can really change lives.

Well thats kind of what happened here the first week a nice little summary. I am excited to be here serving in Delft and serving my father in heaven. I love this gospel and all of you. I hope you are all doing fantastic and thanks for the support and prayers!

Love Elder Parr

#ReturnWithHonor

The following pictures are from when Elder Parr first arrived in Netherlands from the mission blog. I am so grateful for the pictures and TLC that they show to these missionaries.