Elder Joshua Parr Belgium/Netherlands Mission: Week 23 Delft

Hello everyone,

Can you guys believe it....2015 already! Oh how 2014 just flew by. It was sure an amazing year though. But this one is going to be just as good if not better. All us missionaries have just begun our 'Year" to the Lord." How cool is that. I can not wait to make this year count. Its definitely going to be one to remember!

Well these past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy due to the holidays. Running from here to there, drunk people everywhere and some pretty crazy fireworks. I can't even begin to explain how crazy these things were, I have NEVER seen anything like it in my life. A straight 6 hours of nonstop fireworks that are crazy loud. We had to be in at 4 pm because people here get so nuts. So we played some games and even ordered some Domino's pizza! haha. Still doesn't compare to the one in America though. That has been super fun and all, definitely some great memories made, but I am excited to get back in the grove of things and hit the ground running. Cause this work isn't slowing down for anybody. It's incredible.

Funny story, so Saturday night we had some appointments fall through, which is never fun, and it was FREEZING outside so we didn't want to go door to door. Then it clicked, we were going to be serving in "Africa" for the night. The building where Josh lives is 100% Africans and has tons of people. And the best part, where you do the bell ups is indoor! You wouldn't believe what happened about 1 in every 6 bells someone answered, and now for the cool part. Every single one of them either let us in or said that we could come back. We gave out 2 Books of Mormon and made 2 appointments and got 7 new potentials. Now I know what its like to be a missionary in Africa haha. A great people. I don't know why i didn't think of that earlier but we are going to triple the English class in Den Haag from all of Josh's African buddies:) After a rough day we were sure blessed!

Another miracle for us this week was Sunday. Oh this Sunday was one of the best ones since I have been here! For a few reason, One, Josh got to pass the sacrament with us for the first time. I can't tell you how cool it has been for me to see this man change! He's taught me more then I could ever teach him. I love that man! And two, Tom got the priesthood today!! We have been working with him for a while and it finally happened! And josh even got to stand in the circle, that was something truly special. Tom probably has one of the biggest hearts out of anybody i know, sure he is a little different but i can't even begin to explain the impact he has had on us through just being himself. He will just leave voicemails on his phone asking how our day was then tell us how his day was then just pray for our success. What an example of love!

Friday night was one of the funniest nights of my life haha. So us and the zone leader all went to Josh's house to eat. We show up and Josh had invited 3 of his friends and they were all super cool! Gonna baptize them!! But dinner was crazy pure African and probably the grossest thing I've eaten. We had fufu, which wasn't to terrible actually but far from amazing. But we had this bancu stuff like last time but with some crazy sauce. You should of seen us Elders trying to eat it, they were all just dying of laughter watching us. To good!

Tuesday was also a miracle. I was on exchanges with Elder Elkins in Den Haag and all the things that were planned fell through. So we decided to do a bunch of look ups instead. And can I just say my testimony of being in an area for a reason grew a ton. We went to several different places and non of the look ups were home and after everyone we knocked a couple of doors. And without fail Heavenly Father put someone in our path. We were able to find 8 potential investigators, set up two appointments and get let in on the door and give a baptism invitation. Tell me that that is not a miracle! The Lord waited till we decided to get lost in the work and then he blessed us immensely! He is so close to us in all we do, that's something I have come to know and am so grateful for!

Well I love you all and can't thank you enough for the sweet letters for you! They put a big smile on my face and gave me some good laughs! So thank you for that! I hope that you all have an amazing week and an even better 2015! The Church is true!!!

Love, Elder Parr

#ReturnWithHonor