Week 23 Eindhoven "Leaving my 2nd home" Transfers

Hello Hello!!

Wow what a week this past week was and how just how fast it went by. Had some awesome experiences this week though and just lived it up. Were able to teach some great lessons, see some small miracles, have a great reunion and much more. It was just good! Missions are amazing, there is really nothing quite like one. It truly is the work of the Lord. Here are a couple of fun things that happened last week.

So Tuesday was awesome, I got to head back up to Amsterdam for the day. And can I just say that was quite an awesome day!! I was able to go and work with Elder Hirsch for the day and we were able to go out and get a lot of work done and find some cool people. But the highlight of my day was definitely at night. So back when I was up in Amsterdam with Elder Bringhurst one of the very last doors we knocked together a young kid named Burton opened up the door and we were able to sit and talk to him for a good 30 minutes. Well that was actually the one time that I ever saw him. And I heard from one of the Elders in Amsterdam that he still talks about me. So I thought hey why not I am in Amsterdam lets run over and look him up real quick. I knock on the door ask for Burton his mom said he was busy and I said tell him Elder Parr is here. The next thing I see is Burton running down the stairs and giving me a big hug. Who would of ever guessed how big of an impact a knock on the door had on him. It was amazing I was able to talk to him about the Book of Mormon and meeting with the Elders still and said some things that ended up really helping him. That was a heart warming experience for me. Amazing.

We were able to have our quarterly interviews with President and Zuster Bunnell and those are always amazing. Can I just say I absolutely love those two. They are two of the most amazing people I have ever met and I have been more then lucky to be able to get to know them more and more. They truly are called of God to be serving here at this time I don't doubt that one bit.

This past week we had a Missionary Broadcast for all of the missionaries. It was focused on improving our teaching and our finding abilities. And wow did they just hit it right on the spot. I learned so much and am more then excited to put it to practice and see what miracles are going to come from it.

This week we had the guy from the news paper Cas van Vliet come and work with us for a couple of hours and observe what we do as missionaries. It was so cool to have him tag along. We took him to a family in our ward for dinner and it just happened that one of the kids went to middle school and high school with him and they totally remember one another. It was actually really really cool!!

We are teaching this 23 year old named Julliette and we had an amazing lesson with her this week. She is so open and so willing to find the truth. We were able to help her pray for her first time this past week and we all knelt down and the spirit hit us all so hard. Wow it was amazing. I have high hopes for her.

We were also able to finally teach Dave and Kiona again and wow that was another amazing lesson. They have opened up SO much since the first time that I met them. Its just been amazing to see all that they have soaked in. We watched the restoration DVD and had a very powerful lesson about Joseph Smith. I love sharing this gospel!! It's doesn't get any better then seeing people want to listen as well!

Well transfer calls happened this week and after an amazing 6 months in the beautiful city of Eindhoven it is my time to head on out. I am going to be heading up to Apeldoorn with Elder Hosea. I have heard nothing but good things so I am so excited to head up there and see what I can do. But wow it was hard to say goodbye to everyone here on Sunday! I am going to miss this place an awful lot. This city has my heart and has molded me so much and I couldn't be more grateful for the time I was given to serve here.

The Church is true, never forget it!

I love you all! Have an amazing week!!
Love,
Elder Parr
#Return.With.Honor

Mijn oma:) She is a saint! 

Week 22 Eindhoven - -1 and still loving life!

Hello Everyone!

What a great week this past week has been. But wow, it really did just disappear. I don't know how its possible but weeks tend to go like that on a mission. This week we officially hit below freezing and let me tell ya that feels a whole lot different in humid rather then dry air. I walk out and freeze being a southern Utah 100 degree weather kind of kid while on the other hand my companion thinks it's warm being from -30 degree Canada. We get a good laugh out of it. But I am absolutely loving life and loving my mission. Here are a couple of the highlights of last week.

Elder Wilson and I had our first Zone Training together and wow did it end up going very good. We were able to take some time and do our best to inspire our zone to raise their vision, believe in themselves and in their Heavenly Father, do courageous missionary work and go bring the people of Belgium and the Netherlands unto Christ. It ended up being an inspiring and I learned so much from the things that were said by all.

Elder Wilson and I also were able to have our first news paper interview with each other. So a good friend of a member in our ward gave us a phone call and said he has one final project for school before and he would love to do and article on the Mormon missionaries. So after a few calls we were able to agree and set up an appointment. He is actually a very cool guy and this coming Thursday will be working with us for a day to kind of see what the life of a missionary is. I am super excited to see what this brings. Hopefully it will broaden the awareness of the people in Eindhoven about our church and miracles will come from it.

Pedro one of our investigators was in church on Sunday and that was quite a miracle. He is super cool and loves basketball so we get along super well. He called me out this week so I better go and practice so I can show him that missionaries got game. I am super excited about that.

So we got a nice puzzle from some members that has kept us busy after planning at night and that has been quite enjoyable. Also have pretty much completely deep cleaned our entire apartment over the past 3 or so Mondays and it is looking so good! Just like Zuster Robinson always said, "you can't preach like angels if you are living like pigs." Amen to that statement.

Our car window is now beginning to freeze over every morning so that's been fun driving blind......just kidding mom of course we scrape it off.

Yesterday we set up like 8 appointments for this upcoming week and are going to be nice and busy seeing miracles. I can't wait.

So we were out playing soccer this afternoon and a group of 5 other guys show up and asked us if we wanted to play. They were all probably 24ish. Yeah we got it handed to us. They had to play a lot easier. But the best part was is that we were playing on frozen turf, so it was a nice combination of skating and soccer and no one even got hurt. And most of us were in short sleeve shirts by the end and though we were all warm because we were playing, then went to shoot a basketball and realized our arms were completely frozen. We all got a good laugh.

What a week it has been. I love being a missionary and know with out a doubt that what we share is true! Thank you for all of the prayers and support! I hope you have another great week!

Love, Elder Parr
#Return.With.Honor

The Eindhoven Gang. Harry " Zone Leiders op de fiets?! Is de kerk nog waar?!" (zone leader on bikes?! Is the church still true?) he was pretty shocked we chose to take the bikes not the car haha.

Week 21 Eindhoven - "Walking in a winter wonderland"

Hey Hey,

Well actually it's not quite a winter wonderland over here in the Netherlands unfortunately. Maybe something more like, walking in a slushy wonderland. But get this, the country did get its first snowfall this past week. And the dutch continued their tradition to skate down the frozen streets. Maybe one of these days I will be able to go skating down a canal. Man I love this place so much!!! There is no other place quite like it.

This week has been quite the crazy one. I am sitting behind this computer struggling to keep my eyes open so that's how you know it's been a good one. But holy cow we have been all over the place and saw a lot of cool miracles happen and it was just great! Here are a couple:

So Wednesday I got to go up to the beautiful city of Vlissingen. I got to go and work with Elder Watson for the day and that was great. But the best part was, I got to wear a kids size helmet that literally stuck to my head it was so small. It was so funny. And the wind down there just rips with all that nice cold rain. It was so much fun. It had been a while since I have gotten soaked on a bike. Honestly I have missed it a little bit. We were able to just get down to business and do some good missionary work for a day. It was way fun.

Then I woke up and went to the complete opposite side of the country to go down and do splits with the Maastricht Elders. Holy cow what a train ride let me tell ya. It was a great one though and working in Maastricht was so much fun. I just love being able to go and work with other missionaries and see miracles with them. Truly amazing.

Friday we were off to another part of the country for MLC. Holy cow, that was absolutely amazing. I could honestly say that was one of the strongest times I have felt the spirit. Wow, it was just amazing. We were able to talk about a lot of things and come out of it with a lot of great Ideas. Love it! We were also able to rush home and make it to sports night with the young men and young women. We had one of our investigators, Pedro, come and he even brought a friend. They absolutely love it!! So did we, so much fun. But we need to teach these Europeans how to play some basketball haha.

Sunday morning I got a call about an hour before church to see if I would give a talk. It seems that is usually how it goes out here in the mission field. But I gladly accepted. It ended up being pretty good.

Thank you all for the prayers and the support. have an amazing week! Love you all.

Love,
Elder Parr
#Return.With.Honor

Elder Crowder and I have a Limbo contest with the monkeys

Week 20 - Happy 2016!!

Hooi,

What a week this past one has been. A lot has gone on and it's been good. But oh it has been fast. I am still in a little shock realizing that it is already 2016. But I must say that 2015, my year to the Lord, is a year that I will never forget. I never could or would of guessed how much I would grow and learn about myself and our Savior. There is so many things to say about last year it is hard to put it all into words. But I hope you all know, there is absolutely nothing in the world like giving your service to the Lord. It truly is life changing. You gotta love it!

But the page has turned and the down hill slope is just getting steeper. It might go faster but right now is the time to sprint to the finish and play until the buzzer sounds. I can't wait to see what 2016 has in store. But above that I can't wait to give my heart and soul to these two countries for the next couple of months! Here we go!!

I hope you all had a great new years. The one here was awesome! Just like last year my expectations were just blown out of the water with all of the fireworks. I am sorry to say this, but this countries firework shows blow July 4th out of the water. They are nonstop from 9 to 5 am. But wow when that clock hits new years. The entire country goes up in lights. So loud too! I had the luxury of laying in my bed and still being able to see all of the fireworks right out side of my window. Unreal! If you ever get the chance you need to experience a new year in the Netherlands.

So this past week was pretty hard getting inside of peoples homes unfortunately. They were all 'to busy'. But we still went out and did our best. Saturday ended up being a really good day for us actually. We were able to set up 4 appointments for next week and find a few new potential investigators. It felt like it had been a while since we saw that much success in one day. So Elder Wilson and I were both pretty pumped!

This past week I was able to go on exchanges with my Grandson Elder Brunner! We had such a fun exchage. SO we were sitting at a bus stop and this girl was riding a unicycle around. I decided to go over and talk to her and ended up trying to ride the unicycle. Man I probably looked like the biggest goon. But man those things are hard. She ended up taking the same bus and was pretty interested in what we had to say and why we were here. That was a cool little miracle for us. Elder Brunner is a stud.

This week was all in all a good one:) Thank you all so much for the Christmas cards and the love and support! You are all amazing. I hope you have a great next week!! The Church is true!

Love, Elder Parr
Return.With.Honor

And just like that christmas is gone....

Week 19 -Caroling, eating, service,Christmas

Hello Hello!

What a week this last week has been! It crazy how different a week that is full of holidays is compared to a normal week. But let me tell yeah it definitely throws a little curve ball at ya. On one side everyone is jolly and happy and on the other side they aren't to impressed when you come knocking on their doors. So we had to change our tactic up a little bit this last week. But it still ended up being a great one!

Here are a couple of the highlights from this past week.

First of all it was Christmas! I hope that all of you had an amazing Christmas. Thank you all so much for the Christmas wishes! Skyping home was great, I just love my family. Sure put a smile on my face for the rest of the week. I am sure all you moms with missionaries know exactly what I am talking about. Christmas was a good one, there is just something special about having Christmas as a missionary. Sad to think that was my last one....

So in the Netherlands they Celebrate Christmas Eve, Christmas and 2nd Christmas. So on the second Christmas we had our zone come down to Eindhoven to do a fun little service project. We all made a bunch of cookies and went around and caroled for everyone in the area and gave them some cookies. You should of seen the smiles that came on their faces, it was pretty cool to see and to do. A very different style of missionary work but missionary work none the less. We all really enjoyed that.

This week was actually packed full of caroling, I think by the end I got the hang of it. But we sang for a lot of Less actives, widowed members, Families and just random people. And can I just say the power of music is indescribable. Music really can bring such a sweet spirit into any situation. So we really enjoyed doing that this past week. Kinda sad it's over but I am super excited to get back to normal missionary work and keep the ball rolling. This truly is the best work out there!

I absolutely love being a missionary and all the blessing, goodtimes, hardships, laughs, tears and memories that come with it. This is Gods work. The church is true!

Have an amazing new year! Make 2016 the best one yet! LOVES!

Love,
Elder Parr
#Return.With.Honor

Week 18 - Merry Christmas (12-21-2015)

Prettige Veestdagen Iedereen!!! 

Hello Hello,

I hope you are all doing amazing. Thank you so much for all of the Christmas wishes. You are all amazing. I hope that you all have an amazing Christmas this year and always remember the reason. for the season. We are so blessed with the knowledge that we have of our Savior and His Gospel. 

This week has been a great one. But this is going to be awful short so please forgive me for the lack of details.

I picked up my new companion Elder Wilson, who is a total stud! I can't wait for all of the miracles that are going to come this transfer! We have high hopes it's going to be great! 

We had a really cool Christmas party and Theirry, Fracis and Isabella came. It was so cool to have them all there. And we finally got people to church. Thierry and Francis as well. It felt so good! We even got to sing in the choir for our Christmas service, it was pretty great! 

We also made an amazing zone vision. We really feel these next six weeks are going to bring a lot of miracles for us all. We can't wait! I mean it is the best time of the year to be a missionary right?  

I love you all and am so grateful for all you all do. The Church is true and you are a child of a loving Heavenly Father. Never forget it! Have a very Merry Christmas! 

Love, 

Elder Parr

#Return.With.Honor

Got to love the sport!