"...out 3 months! ... I LOVE MY MISSION!"

So I've officially been out 3 months! Time is flying by SOOOO fast! Only 21 months left! This is crazy!

I'm doing great out here! The mission is the best thing ever! Elder Miner still doesn't like Texas. It's growing on him though. So to rub it in I sing, "Deep in the heart of Texas" before I go to sleep at night sometimes ;) haha It's classic!

By the way we are moving back to the L's tomorrow morning! So you can stop sending stuff to the W's. If you already have don't worry we can pick it up easily! Bro L. had shoulder surgery about 2 weeks ago. I've been helping him do his exercises and stuff, it's fun!

ANOTHER BAPTISM last week! T. decided to be baptized! it was awesome! Had a great turn out! Our ward mission leader, Bro. L. in Blodgett Canyon, a long time friend of his, baptized him! It's so great to see the gospel bless lives and bring families together! I added some pictures from the baptism too! Others are SOOO close to baptism that we are working with so hopefully we will have a few more soon!

Elder Miner and I were asked to speak in sacrament in the Hamilton ward this past Sunday. It was AWESOME! They asked me to speak on conversion from the perspective of a missionary and then had Sister S. (who was just baptized on the 1st) and Sister H. from England share their conversion stories and then Elder Miner talked about finding others to teach and families to share the gospel with! SUCH a spiritual sacrament meeting! I loved my topic because I hold it so close to my heart! Already having been a part of 3 baptisms since I've been here and watching the gospel change lives has been priceless! And then hearing Sister S. share here point of view was wonderful! There is no greater peace and joy than bringing the gospel to others!

This week has been absolutely wonderful! We taught lots of people and found new people to teach! We contacted a family we found about 2 months ago and finally were able to get in their home. Both said they had been talking about going to church again so we are now teaching them! I'm so thankful I'm an eagle scout because one of her sons Karsyn (I asked her how she got the spelling and she had said that she was pregnant and bored hahaha!) is in cub scouts and was learning knots and needed help learning how to do a square knot! So I was like " Karsyn, bring me that rope and I'll teach you how to do it!" By the end of the night he was tying anything he could find into square knots! It was pretty fun! He wrestles and has a LEGIT mohawk so we get along great ;) haha


We have continued meeting with A.! MAN, the guy is awesome! We met at a members home for our lesson which was awesome! His dad and A. have known each other forever so A. LOVED getting his perspective about what we were teaching. He soaked it all in and LOVED it all! Bro M. gave the analogy of the gospel and working out. He was like, "So I want to get big like you but I'm just going to research, study, watch videos and learn about lifting weights and nutrition to get big and strong like you. I'm not going to lift weights right now. No. Just study and research. Then, when I get big like you I'll come show you how big I am. Do you think that will happen?" And A. was like, "Oh heck no!" So J. was like, "The same is true with the gospel. You can study, investigate, learn and learn, but you won't be able to grow and prosper like if you got baptized and received the Holy Ghost and DID the things you are learning about. You wont grow spiritually." A. had a moment of like AHHHHH! And was like, "You're totally right"! He said he needed to make a decision soon and figure this out! It was so great! The spirit was definitely there and Bro M's comparison was right on cue!

I LOVE MY MISSION! Especially when it hit 50 yesterday after church! haha

I MISS AND LOVE YOU ALL!

LOVE,

Elder Parr

Entrusted by Heaven

So this week has been totally sweet!!!

First, I forgot to tell y'all, but last week we met with President for zone training and there we got our new theme for 2011! I came up with "Give em' Heaven" but I think the theme they chose was much more fitting. They decided for the theme of "Entrusted by Heaven" It's truly a blessing to be entrusted by God in this great work! I'm so grateful to be out here serving the Lord!

Thank you SO much for the package mom! It had everything I needed and wayyyyy more than I expected! Haha! Thanks for the stamps too! I can always use those! Also if you want to send anything or people want to send something to me, ;) tell them to send a BRIGHT tie! I love bright colorful ties that pop! Haha I'm pretty well off here right now!

So I got to go on splits with my boy Elder Mudge! We were in the MTC together and rode out on the same plane together! Actually, in my district we have 4 of us that came out at the same time! Elder Mudge, Greco and Bird. So I got to split up with Elder Mudge on Tuesday after district meeting! It was awesome! I actually got to drive the car! It felt a bit weird driving after 3 months almost! I loved it though! We saw LOTS of people and got lots of work done. We met with one of our progressing investigators again which was great! They clicked immediately. He is a big lifter and put up 405 and Elder Mudge is the same way! We taught the plan of salvation and compared it to lifting the whole time which was awesome! I love comparing things! After we finished he was like, "I want to learn more about God's Economy!" Haha We actually saw him on Friday again and he came to church again! It's awesome! It was his girlfriends birthday and her stepdads (she is less-active by the way) and they were going to have a breakfast Sunday morning. She wanted him to go but he chose to come to church instead! He is so dedicated to the gospel! I love him!


We saw another family that night too and had an awesome lesson! The next morning we went to the Laraway's to work out at 5:30! Elder Mudge was so pumped to lift weights! Haha Just to give you an idea of his strength, I was just doing some simple light squats with 205 and he picked it up and started doing military press with it! Hahah He is a monster! We are both so chill and get along perfect! I love Elder Mudge!

We have another baptism this Saturday!! He called yesterday and was like, "What time are we going to do this thing?" and we said, "Well, whenever you would like to". So he said, "Let's do it at 11 in the morning"! Hahaha so we were like okay sounds good! It will be my first morning baptism for sure! We are so excited for him! He has truly allowed the gospel to take affect in his life! We are going over to his house tonight to do a family home evening for them! His wife is already an active member and he has been coming for years. His daughter will be baptized in April too!

Being on my mission is the greatest experience of all time! I get to meet people and families in EVERY situation. No joke! As we share the gospel to all of them it blesses them all in their own way. The gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely for EVERY person on this earth! I love being able to share it with everyone! The Lord definitely has his hand in the work we do here in Hamilton! Without it we wouldn't be doing all that we have going on right now! I love it!

It's finally warm here in HAMILTON MONTANA! 45 degrees! And it's been raining for like 3 days straight and isn't going to stop anytime soon. Except it's NOTHING like a Texas thunderstorm :/

So the pianist for primary in the Blodgett Canyon ward is Bro D! Every time I hear him play I go up to him and I'm like, "Bro D, you wowed me again! You're amazing"! And he is always just so kind and humble and answers, oh thanks that means a lot to me. Well, I heard him playing after church in the primary room so I went in there and just listened and then he played his remix to "If You Could High to Kolob", my favorite hymn, and I loved it! (By the way he plays by ear and is AMAZING!!!!) So after that we got to talking and he is from Texas!!!! I have another Texan up here besides my man, Bro M! hahaha But we had an awesome conversation and he played 2 other songs he wrote. One called "2 Trees" about the tree that was used for the manger and the cross for Jesus! AMAZING! And then the other called "Here am I, Send Me" about missionary work! I told him he has got to put them on a cd for me! We talked again and I found out his wife had died last year :/ and he plays for comfort and for all the primary kids cause they love to sing and dance to his music. He is such a sweet guy! I love him, too! We're friends now! :)

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

love,

elder parr

Hallelujah!

I'm doing great!

This week has been AWESOMEEEEEEEE!!! So I got some good stories to tell!

I went on my first split with Jon, Sister L's husband who is Bro and Sis L's daughter. He is awesome! Soo funny! We went and saw a bunch of people and had a good old time sharing the gospel. Well, Elder Miner went with Bro D. and they got stuck in a ditch! So they walked up the highway to the closest members house to have him pull them out. To make it quicker they cut through the woods and had to cross a creek that was mostly frozen over and all sorts of fun stuff! He walked over a frozen pond too! I've been DYING to do that and take a picture! It's like my one goal while I am here! So it seems like I missed out on all the excitement but good thing Jon and I did some work because we set a BUNCH of appointments for the next day! haha

We had zone training in Missoula on Wednesday which was awesome! Got to see President and have another interview! I brought up using Skype for training or meetings and he loved the idea after I told him how I got to talk with y'all! Afterwards, we went to Freemo's! It's like Cici's and we tore it up! It was my whole district, which is 8 elders, and we ate the pizza out of that place!! It was awesome!

Sis W. had this ladies thing at the house the other day and we chopped wood that morning and couldn't go back. So we went to the church to shower! Here they have complete showers and dressing rooms! It was so legit! I felt super clean showering in the Lord's house! It was wonderful! hahaha.... Just something funny and interesting!

I had Taco Bell for the first time since being home!!! It was delicious! We found one here in town and we didn't have a meal for us! :) Mmmmmm, wayyyyy better than the other taco place here!

We got a call the other day from one of our investigators! His pump house wall had collapsed! He went out of town and when he got back not only was his water frozen but one of the walls collapsed too on the stairs going down into the pump house. Of course it was raining that day, so I was down in the hole carrying these ginormous rocks out of the pump house. It was so much fun though! I thoroughly enjoyed it (as I like all manual labor and throwing things around) Haha! We got it all cleaned our for him and actually went back today and crawled under his house to check all his pipes for him before he turned the water back on!

We had dinner at a member's home earlier this week with another family as well, and had an awesome dinner (as usual) and then played ping pong for a little bit! I was truly "serving" the Lord that night! ;) I creamed pretty much everyone! Bro J, I think, beat me twice so I think my record was like 20-2! Hahaha!!

We got another snow storm and it's like 0* right now!! It was almost gone!!!!!! hahaha, I've shoveled SOOOO many driveways and sidewalks already! I just do random ones when we're out and about...it's fun!

We have another baptism set up! A man has decided to be baptized finally! So on the 22nd we will baptize him! We will complete another family! Yeahhh buddy!

Serving the Lord and doing His work is such a blessing! It's so wonderful to see the gospel bless lives and bring happiness and joy to all!


I love you all!

This week was the bomb!

First off, sorry mom for my joke last week. :/ I really felt bad... though everyone I told thought it was hilarious... sorry though. :/ I will NEVER do that one again! ;}

New Years was AWESOME this year! Sister Elieson sent me a package with some mustaches in it so we figured the best people to use them with would be the Howard family! Their girls are hilarious and so entertaining! We spent like 3 hours playing with those and they did this whole chin-face act with songs that was hilarious!!! We had lots of fun! And mom did you talk to sister Howard or something?! Everything she had was right on spot! She had JIF peanut butter to make my Ritz cookies with and yes, I wore an apron to make them! She made canadian bacon, pineapple Totinos pizza and had orange drink from when I was a kid! It was awesome!!! Don't worry mom, Sister Howard takes goooood care of us!

This week was the bomb! I had my first 2 baptisms!!! Their father baptized both of them! Seeing the gospel bless their lives has been a blessing and great joy to be a part of! Their baptism was amazing and I got to confirm the mother and Elder Miner confirmed the daughter! In the picture they have another younger daughter who is 7 and will be baptized within the next year! Soo great to see the gospel work in people's lives!

On the subject of a small world...Elder Miner just realized that Michael served in his home ward before he left and went on splits with him! I guess it finally clicked when I showed him a picture and he was like, "NO WAYYYYY! MICHAEL IS YOUR COUSIN?!" And I was like, "I've been telling you that since I met you! Yeah!" haha It was hilarious! So, Michael went on exchanges with Elder Miner in his first area when he got out! Soo small!

Well, I'm doing great family! No worries here. Trust me! With the baptism we had this past week and everything that has been going on things are awesome!! I'm absolutely loving the mission!

I love and miss y'all!

elder parr!

p.s. Elder Miner said "y'all yesterday at church! He is getting there slowly but surely!