Week 10 Eindhoven - Een beetje overall geweest

Hello Hello,

Wow, another week gone by already. Can you believe it. I must say, this week has been one full of adventures, laughs, hard work and good times. Elder Da Silva and I were able to go on quite a few exchanges this week so we got see a lot of the other cities and missionaries and that has been an absolute blast. The weather went from a record breaking week of being cold last week. To a nice warm, blue skied country this week. It has felt so great these past couple of days! Blessings.

It was fun this week we were able to go up to be apart of Breda's district meeting and then I got to stay and work with Elder Lott. We had an absolute blast together. It was quite funny, so we were out knocking doors and Elder Lott was in a sweater because he was confident that it wasn't going to rain. Well once we bike all the way out to the place the heavens just opened up and began to pour! On top of that there was literally nowhere where you could stand and not get hit by the rain. So he go pretty wet. Thank goodness for rainproof coats. But we were able to talk to a lot of cool people and have a fun exchange with one another. Saw some cool miracles. And then to end the night we even got to play a little horse. It had been a while so it took some time to get back on my game but...ha ha just kidding. It was great though. I love this place.

Wednesday was also super fun. That morning we were running around on the trains trying to re-exchange and then exchange with another companionship. So while we were waiting in the station I was playing 'come thou fount' on the piano and a member heard it and came over and talked to us and thought it was so funny to meet us in the station. It was awesome. But Elder Crowson and I finally made our way back to Eindhoven and had a killer day. Our bikes were broken so we walked a lot, but it's healthy right? So they say. My feet beg to differ though ha ha. But Elder Crowson and I saw some cool miracles. The fist door of the day was the coolest potential ever followed by an awesome less active lesson. And just a good fun time.

Well by the time Thursday rolled around it still felt like Tuesday. But today Elder Da Silva and I made our way up to Amersfoort to work with them for the day. And you will not believe what they fed us for lunch. Lamb balls......how gross is that. And guess who the mastermind behind the whole thing was Elder Bringhurst. That's where the other two elders got the idea from. Man i love that kid. But that was quite interesting but honestly not so bad before you know what you are eating. Well we had an awesome day in Amersfoort and really saw some cool things happen. Then it was off to the races to make it back to Eindhoven grab our suits and hop on the train to head to Den Haag so we could be to MLC the next day on time. We ended up sleeping with Elder Steenblik and Elder B. It was the funnest night.

MLC was incredible. The only thing I want to say about that is that Mission Presidents are inspired and the mission home is a holy place! I love this work!

Well Saturday night was so great! We finally had the singing elders come and do a concert in Eindhoven and it was AMAZING! The whole zone saw so many miracles happen. The spirit was so strong and the turnout was great. We also saw some miracles for Eindhoven. Got a couple of new investigators and are going to start teaching the husband of a member. God is good. I LOVE THIS WORK!

This week was just overall amazing. Thank you all for you love and support! I hope you all have another amazing week.

Love,
Elder Parr
#Return.With.Honor

HE got the Package from Allie and Heidi.  He having fun with the googly eyes and laser guns.

Week 9 Eindhoven "Temple, Service and Stake Conference"

Hello Hello,

Wow what a crazy week it has been this past week. I know that I say this almost every email, but I think this time I mean it. This past week was the fastest week of my life! The past couple of days we have been all over the place doing all sorts of different things. And oh how it has been a good one. So the weather is continuing to drop as we approach the winter season. There was actually snow in the Netherlands and if it would have fallen one day earlier it would have broken the record for earliest snowfall since the 1970's. That was pretty great. But instead we just got some cold rain. So I must say to whoever came up with umbrellas and true waterproof jackets, Thank you! Even with the weather we have managed to stay pretty warm and dry so that's been great! 

So this past week we were able to do some pretty fun things. It all started off on Monday evening. We got a call the previous day saying the new senior couple will be driving down to Eindhoven Monday night and we were to prepare the apartment. So us and another companionship decided to not only get it ready but to have dinner on the table when they walked in to their new home. So that's what we did and oh how great it was. If only you could of seen the smiles on the face's of this new senior couple. It was just an amazing way to start off the week! We all sat around the dinner table and we able to get to know one another and have a good chat. It was a good night that's for sure. 

Then Tuesday came along. The day that all of the missionaries have been waiting for for months. Why is that? Because we finally got to go to the Temple again. Wow, I don't even know where to begin with that. Is all I can say is I know without a doubt that the Temple truly is the House of the Lord. The spirit there is amazing. It is a house of revelation and a place where you can find true peace. I love the Temple! 

On top of that we were able to go to stake conference this week for the stake of Antwerpen. Those were two days just full of smiles and laughs. I was able to see a lot of missionaries that I had worked with in the past. But on top of that I was able to see all of the members from Genk again. It's amazing how once you make a bond with someone it never breaks. I love the members of that ward. I was also able to see Laticha again and she is doing so good. She told me that she has almost read through the Book of Mormon for the second time. It's amazing to see how much she has changed. What the Gospel has done for her in her life. The church is true. 

Well we were also able to work in a couple of different areas this week and that was great. It has been a lot of fun working with other missionaries and making new friends. This work is moving forward and there is definitely nothing that is going to stop it from doing so. Don't you love that. We are on the winning team! 

Thanks for all of the love and support! I hope you all have another amazing week! Love you all!!!

Love, Elder Parr

Return.With.Honor

Week 8 Eindhoven - "Love One another as I have loved you"

Hello Hello,

It was pretty funny when I sat down on the computer and opened my email my buddy Tom's was one of the first ones I read and the first thing he says is "I am not in the emailing mood". Today I know exactly what he means. As amazing as emailing is today I'm not in the emailing mood. But I will try to at least give you something short and sweet!

This week has been crazy. My feet feel like they are going to fall off and the hands are beginning to numb when you walk outside. And I feel like I could sleep for 20 years. But oh how I wouldn't trade this mission for anything! MISSIONS ARE AMAZING! The church is true and there is nothing better in the world then having the knowledge of the gospel. This gospel is truly where you can find everlasting happiness.

So Elder Da Silva and I have been pretty busy trying to create a new teaching pool here. And oh how the Lord is blessing us for our efforts and helping us along the way. We have been able to find many new potentials this past week and have high hopes for the short future. The potential is beginning to boil and hopefully here soon will begin to overflow.

Oh cool story. So Friday night we went and played some indoor voetbal with all of the young men and young women. And they were all convinced that they were going to destroy us. We four missionaries were a team and there was a total of 4 teams. So we started playing king of the court and we ended up destroying everyone! Looks like the Americana missionaries (And the one Portuguese professional soccer player missionary) aren't so bad after all. We were all pretty excited.

I hope that you all have an amazing week this coming week and remember that the Savior loves you and is always by your side to bare you up! This church is true. Thanks for all the love, support and emails. Sorry to those of whom I couldn't get back. I will try and do it next week.
LOVES!

Love,
Elder Parr
#ReturnWithHonor

Elder DaSilva and Elder Parr - currently companions :)

Week 7 Einhoven - "Get on the old ship zion and stay on it." - Elder Ballard

Hooi Iedereen!

What a crazy past week this week has been. Holy cow, I've been going 100 miles an hour non stop it feels like. But that is what it's all about. Loosing yourself in the service of the Lord. Man you got to love missions! It doesn't get any better then this!

Well this week I had my last two days serving with Elder Gleave. I was so glad I was able to serve with him. It amazing what you can learn from your companions. Even when they are brand new in the field. I had some great experiences with him and a great transfer. It's pretty cool that we are still in the same apartment though. Kinda weird coming home but with another companion. To good.

But the adventures of this week all started on Wednesday. So we had to go to Utrecht Central and be there all day waiting for all of the members of our zone to make it to their cities. Some of the elders left some bags so Elder Abankie and I (and elder I used to serve around) got to go up to the office and return. So I pretty much got to see everyone in the mission it felt like. And that's always fun. But after a long day of running from train to train with suitcases and bikes we finally made it home haha. Got to love transfer days.

So this week we were busy making our zone vision and then we just thought we should stop and go and work for the rest of the night, even though we weren't even close to being done with our zone vision. But we decided to do it anyways. We got home and just started to walk the streets and we were about 10 or minutes into it and we caught a young couple right before they were going to go inside. We sparked up a conversation and it just took off. They were super interested in what we had to share. And we talked for a solid 10 minutes about the gospel and they invited us to come back and share more. That was a cool testimony builder to me about always following the promptings of the spirit. Even when you think what you want to do is better, or whatever reason. Always be willing to submit you will to the Father. Then you will be an instrument in His hands.

We had some other meetings and such to try and get everything ready for this coming transfer and it all went super well. I am excited to see the progression that is going to take place in the coming weeks. It hit me really hard this past week that Preach My Gospel is such an inspired resource. And helps us missionaries is so many more ways then I thought.

So Saturday we were trying to go to a baptism for someone that Elder Da Silva taught and it seemed that everything was just trying to keep us from getting there. There were no trains running or they were all super delayed, no buses going there and it just wasn't going to work out. And unfortunately it didn't. But it was cool to see what happened after that. After having not the best day being frustrated and sad that Elder Da Silva didn't make it to the baptism. Where he was actually supposed to do the confirmation. He was still able to put his shoulder to the wheel and push. Even though everything was pushing right back at us. It was just cool to see the dedication of one of the Lords servants. That's how it's meant to be.

CONFERENCE was so GOOD! I was only able to watch the Saturday and Sunday night sessions but those two were amazing. It was so cool listening to the inspired speakers and hearing their inspired message. Three big spots were filled by some amazing new apostles. They all delivered such amazing talks. I just felt the spirit so strongly that they were all called of God. We are so blessed to have living apostle and a living Prophet. The church is true!! I just really loved Ballard's talk about the old ship Zion. It was cool to think how I and we as missionaries but also members not only said in the ship ourselves. But also get to rescue those who maybe have fallen overboard. What a blessing that is.

Thank you all for the prayers,love and support! I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love, Elder Parr
#Return.With.Honor