Elder Joshua Parr Belgium/Netherlands Mission: Week 12 Delft - We got to go to the Temple :) The Hague

Hello Everyone,

I don't even know where to begin, this week has been so good. We got to go the the Temple and do it all in Dutch, had a near death experience, hilarious challenges and the best food ever. Such a solid week for Elder Lee and I.

The weather is starting to get nice and cold, people are pulling out the gloves and scarfs. But its weird here because one hour it will be FREEZING cold and then the next its sunny then right back to rainy. You got to love it though. So here is my week for you. And before I begin I am sorry for the spelling errors trying to type as fast as I can always doesn't work out the best I guess haha.

Monday:

Not a whole lot today, beside the 6 Elders in our ward played the craziest game of indoor soccer in the church. Get this, instead of basketball hoops like the US in the Netherlands the churches have indoor soccer. So much fun though. Also I let Elder Lee cut my hair tonight.....One of these times a companion is gonna mess up but for now I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Tuesday:

Today was a good solid day. Started off the day with knocking doors for a good hour in POURING rain. Yeah we were hoping people would let us in, but that didn't work unfortunately. But we had an amazing lesson with Josh this afternoon, we went through the restoration again and cleared it up a little. We didn't think he quite understood it fully. And can I say best idea ever. He totally gets it now. Strongest spirit ever. Well tonight we had a dinner appointment with the Prosman's. But this time Elder Lee and I cooked. They bought the stuff and we did the cooking. They said that was the first time missionaries have ever cooked for them and they have had them over the last 24 years! Yeah they love us:) and thought that we cooked the best meal ever. A orange chicken, rice, chow mein and that kind of stuff type of meal. Also might I add thanks to Elder Lee I know how to cook some pretty legit meals. So dad game on when I get home;) And we also did the coolest spiritual thought for them. Made two big 24 piece puzzles of Christ and did a game. They had to answer questions to get a puzzle piece and whichever team finished first one. They loved it. Getting brownie points because they said we are invited whenever for dinner! Tonight we had a couple of Elders stay in out apartment for temple conference on Wednesday. So much fun!

Wednesday:

Best day ever!!! So this morning we got to go to the Temple, coolest experience ever! Seriously one of the most spiritual moments of my mission without a doubt. And doing it in another language was incredible. I love the temple and the spirit that's there. It really is a house of God and so amazing! The things that you can learn there and so cool. I loved every single second of the Temple and am so glad that we got to go! After the temple we had conference and it was also so good. Super fun being with everyone again and seeing the Old MTC buddies. We had a lesson tonight with two young college students that we found and they were both pretty cool. Super nice guys and were very sincere as well. They said if they receive the answer we promised them as they read the Book of Mormon this is something that they would love to do. Excited to see how everything goes with those two. Today was just a solid day!

Thursday:

Today was one of the funniest days of my life! So the ZL's came to Delft today for splits and it was great. Elder Bitter and I and Elder Lee and Moomey. Thursday is a total contacting day in Delft every week so with four of us here we were doing work! We found 8 good potentials and gave out soooooo many cards. It was super funny actually so we all met up in the Centrum square and said we had 20 minutes to give out as many cards and book of Mormons as we could and whoever won didn't have to cook tonight. Me and Elder Bitter destroyed it! We passed out all 38 of our cards in 15 minutes and a Book of Mormon. You should of seen us stopping literally every person. So funny!

Now for the near death experience.....so Elder Bitter and I were cycling back from Bell ups and just going along the bike path when we came to an intersection were normally the cars have to stop for the bikes. Well we look and saw it was a bus thinking okay it has to stop just like the cars so we kept on riding. Yeah the bus didn't stop and it literally hit the bags on the back of my bike it got so close! The scariest moment of my life. We are definitely being watched out for!

Friday:

Today we had a Language lesson with Josh. He want us to help teach him Dutch so we said we would. Seriously the greatest thing ever. I freaking love josh he is so funny and the nicest guy ever. But the best part of the less was what followed the Joseph Smith Restoration video. So before we started it we promised him that he would feel the Holy Ghost. When the video came to an end Elder Lee was talking for about 5 minutes then looked at me. Well I had the strongest impression to tell him that he just got an answer. I asked him what he felt and he told me. Then the words just flowed out of my mouth telling him that that was the answer he had been waiting for. That Heavenly Father was proud of him and wants him to do this, that he is there for him and very aware of him. I haven't had such a powerful testimony. Josh teared up and said thanks and told us he knows this is true and wants to do it. Seriously the coolest moment ever!

Saturday:

There was a baptism at the church today which was super great. Always a good time of course! Had a great lesson with Estella getting here ready for the temple this coming Thursday! So excited cant wait for that, gonna be something I will never forget! Not a whole lot today because of weekly planning but still just a good fun day:)

Sunday:

Such a good Sunday! We have Josh and 4 less actives in church today! So that was great for us. On of the less actives we had hadn't been to church in the last 7+ years and now he said he wants to start coming every Sunday! I love seeing people change and coming back to church. The best feeling ever. We met up with some of the potential that we found on Thursday and they all become new investigator! We got 5 this week! I am loving it. But tonight we had a lesson with a couple John and Maria and the are HILARIOUS. Maria is from the Philippians and John is Dutch and they are the funniest and nicest people ever. I am hoping that we can make something happen with them!

Well thanks everyone for the love and support that you give us missionaries! You are all the best. Have and amazing week and remember The Church is true!

Love,

Elder Parr

#ReturnWithHonor