"...an instrument in his hands"

So, I'm proud to say we now have 3 native spanish speakers in our zone now! It's so much fun! I would like to say that I've been learning lots of spanish....but really only a few words here and there! They are all mainly commands so when we play soccer I know what's going on or else I'm lost! They just laugh at me though since I really don't have any idea what I'm yelling out. This week I learned "cucharon!" which means scoop! haha

Well, as you know I have been called to be the district leader here in Bozeman. My added responsibilities are to run district meeting weekly, call in numbers at the end of the week, make sure my elders are doing what they are supposed to and resolve any problems within the district. Basically that's it, really! I'm lovin' it so far and love to serve my fellow brethren!

This week has been awesome! Elder Mangelson is an awesome elder! I want this transfer to be a transfer of change. Not for just me, but my district as well. I feel we're in a rut and we're going to rely on the Lord to get out! At church on Sunday it was funny, a member asked Elder Mangelson if he was "trunky" and Elder Mangelson said, "Psh, not with Elder Parr! We're workin' our tails off right now and I'm coming home SO wiped out!" I get home some times and we plan for the next day and write in our journals and we're like, "Let's just go to sleep!" haha This work is truly work and I LOVE it!

So I've attached a few pictures for y'all! This first one is me over the sink ;) haha This is the story for that picture. So I was makin' my Hulk juice and as I cracked my egg into it, half the shell fell into the smoothie and I was like, "NOOOOOO!" and Elder Mangelson just laughed at me! haha So I continued to make it and when I finished and drank it I was like, "It's like there are little crunches all in it :/" So I dumped it in the sink, but it was so thick it wouldn't go down the sink! So I told Elder Mangelson to grab the camera as I put some on my face and that's the picture you get :)

This one was me in the back of a police car! There is a less-active member who works for the police department who I know and he always stops us. This time it was on the way to church when our ride never came and picked us up! haha So we were walking and ran into him and talked for awhile and he offered us a ride. We agreed and as we were gettin' in were like, "I hope this doesn't make a bad impression!" haha But it was awesome and everyone stared at us as we got out at the institute! It was hilarious!

Pioneer Day was celebrated here in Bozeman on Saturday with all of the stake! Had lots of activities including josting on this blow up thing! Elder Mangelson and I had a close battle, but I wasn't going to lose and I ended up winning :) The whole stake was gathered around chanting it was so funny!

That's awesome that Brother B contacted y'all! haha As we were loading up stuff, he was like, "You do some hard work Elder Parr!" and I just replied, "It's the only work I learned how to do" and kept on working. Later he asked for mom's number and I gave it to him and now I know why he asked for it! I LOVE the members here and wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now! The work is beginning to pick up and all are pitching in in any way possible!

I'm thrilled to be serving the Lord and doing HIS work! It's a humbling experience to be an instrument in his hands :)

I hope all is well! Let me know what I can do for y'all!

Love, Elder Parr

"God is aware of EACH of our lives!"

So first off I'm REALLY disappointed that I didn't know yesterday was National Ice Cream Day!! Probably a good thing because I would have ate a whole GALLON of Blue Bell! Man I miss that stuff! I'm sure y'all ate plenty for me though :) I think I will celebrate it tonight!!

Transfers: So this morning I said goodbye to my boy Elder Hokanson :/ Man I'm going to miss him a ton! He was such a hard worker and an awesome elder who loved those he served! We're all sad to see him leave, but I will be serving with Elder Mangelson for these next 6 weeks! He is coming from Corvallis which is right next door to Hamilton which is where I served last. So Elder Mangelson was in my district back in Hamilton and so I already know him pretty well. I'm excited to be here to tear it up some more and get Bozeman, MT on fire even more! Good news is that Elder Hokanson will be serving in HAMILTON with ELDER GOODWIN! I'm so excited for him and know that the members will absolutely LOVE him! I think I'm more excited to see what he accomplishes there than myself! haha I'm still going to work my tail off though! President has called me to be the District Leader here in the Bozeman District this transfer. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm excited to serve the Lord in any way I can! We will see what happens! Elder Mangelson will be the new Zone Leader here and eventually Bozeman 1st and University Wards will be the Zone Leaders area!

Elder Mangelson

This morning we woke up at 5:30 am and went and played a quick round of 9 holes with a member and his son who recently just got home from his mission in Italy! It was a blast and he invited us to come out again next week! I can say I'm getting better at this golfin' thing and holdin' up to my name :) When you play that early here you can enjoy a beautiful sunrise over the mountain tops and a cool 62 degrees! Hope your golfing experience is just as awesome dad! Let me know how it goes! In a little bit we will be going up to Hylite Canyon and go to the reservoir up there and do some hiking! I'm excited!

This week was wonderful and so awesome! I'll share with you a cool experience of how prayers are answered. So last week on sunday we were at a dinner appointment and earlier that day I had the brilliant idea, "Let's just tract that neighborhood after dinner!" Not really brilliant but that it could be useful, but no idea why. So after dinner we told the family we would go tract and then come back for a ride back into town. So off we went. Only knew of one family out there that we really didn't even know, just were less active and never visited before. We began walking and had no idea where to start, so we just kept walking down the street. Finally I was like, "Let's just start on this street and we will work our way down." It was the last street in the place we were in and just thought we would start there. Only one person answered their door on the whole block til we got to the very end and a guy was out working on a fence. We went up and asked if we could help him out and he said no thanks but maybe later and gave us his card. Said his wheel barrel was broken and seemed to just be having a bad day. Well, we gave him a call Friday and set up a time to do service on Saturday at 2! Well short story short, we helped him lay edging, build a shed and some other things for about 5 hours! Afterwards, we talked to him and he told us how we were an answer to his prayer. His wife is pregnant and can't help and he has been fixing this house (bought as a foreclosure) all by himself and he was at his last string. His wife was surprised when we actually called him back and said we were going to come over! After he explained how we answered his prayer, I explained how it confirmed to me that God is aware of EACH of our lives! That He directed us to his street to find him and that He answered his prayer. It was an awesome experience and helped my testimony grow in listening to the thoughts and promptings we receive, even if we have no idea why!

"In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance." — Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I love you all and think of y'all often!

LOVE ELDER PARR :)

PARR got PAR!!!

How are you all doing?!?!

Today has been SUCH a blast! Went and played golf at Bridger Creek golf course this morning with Elder Mortenson and our companions! Elder Mortenson is from Plano, Texas and will be leaving me to go home next week so we had to play before he left! Man is he good! I'm proud to say I shot par for 2 holes and shot under 100 for the first time in my life! I should have went on my mission a long time ago if it would have improved my golf game! haha I shot a 98! I know it's still terrible, but yeahhhh buddy! I was so happy and yellin' all over the place! haha Old guys playin' probably didn't like that, but I can now say my life is complete! haha One of the pictures is me doing a push up. Did 20 every single hole pretty much! Elder Hokanson was like, "You're crazy Elder Parr. I've got to get a picture of this!" We had so much fun :)

Picture with the clubs and me walkin' down the street was from last night! haha We were out tracting and ran into some less active members who are awesome and ended up leaving eating ANOTHER meal and with free clubs! Can't complain about that for sure. It made for a good laugh when we got a ride back into town from some members and we were like, "Look what we got tracting!" ha

This week has been wonderful! I can say I feel reenergized and pumped to DO WORK! Lately, I've just been kind of draggin' it seems. But got rid of that garbage!

Had an interview with president on Wednesday and zone training was awesome and I'm on the top of the world right now! Worked our tails off the past 3 days and have so much to do next week I don't know how we're going to get it all done :) Hard work truly pays off I promise! I'm like on some high and lovin' life so much and all that is going on! I find out if I'm staying or leaving on Friday which is crazy cause it seems I just got here!

We were asked to go to Big Sky again, but this time to speak in sacrament. Awesome time and spoke on repentance!

This has been a short week since last time I emailed y'all, but I'm still doing wonderful and think of y'all all the time! Y'all keep me going and I LOVE to hear everything that is happening and the success y'all are having :)

haha Just a side note, Elder Hokanson said "y'all" at church the other day :) Got 'em!

I love y'all so much and keep on havin' a great time! :)

Love,

-Elder Parr

SMILE :)

Boy, did I definitely miss the huge family reunion this year and the pancake breakfast! My fourth was still fabulous though! Spent it with the family I've made here and friends as well! Went to our stake's annual flag raising ceremony and celebration. Had a quartet come in named the Doodle Dandy's who put on a pretty sweet performance! haha I love old guys who can sing good. Maybe when I get older I will be able to sing better....doubt it though haha! They had Costco muffins afterwards, my favorite. Won't lie, I had 3 of them and then found out afterwards that they are like 800 calories a piece!!! Holy smokes! Afterwards we spent the day playing America's past time sport of baseball :) Struck out plenty of time don't worry! Went to a cook out, NOT a BBQ, and played Austrailian golf and 4-square! haha all the kids were like, "GET ELDER PARR OUT!" hahaha it was a blast! Then went up in the hills to the M's for their annual firework show they put on! Tons of people and food and a great show! Their son just got home from his mission from Italy! Pretty sweet mission it looks like! Wonderful day spent thinking about all the family traditions we have back home!

This week has been busy with a lot of service and such. Got to help on a farm moving a bunch of cast iron and metal and wood and such in a huge dumpster! Helped a few familes move. Helped with a retaining wall and lots of other things! Also went to Costco for the first time on my mission! Boy did it bring back some good memories for sure! We went with the B's and they're youngest and only son Brock came with us too! haha He is exactly like me and I believe I taught him well! haha He kept slippin' stuff into the cart that he wanted, took EVERY sample and just played around! Made me feel like I was back home a bit haha

Sunday we went up to the Big Sky Branch that we cover! My first time going up there and their building is SO small! Basically everything was in the chapel. Sacrament, sunday school and even their pot luck that they call linger longer here! With only really 10 members that actually live up there we were expecting a VERY small service, til a family reunion showed up and we totalled about 60 people! We, of course, were asked to do the sacrament among many other things for them! haha Wonderful meeting :)

Well we had Zone Training in Billings yesterday which included a 2 hour drive there and back! Wonderful uplifting meeting and learned lots :)

Short email. President has allowed us to still email home even though it's so late in the week. Hope all is well at home and things are going well! Sent letters home the other day! Thank you for the package dad and the jubille tshirt is the BOMB!

Thank you for all the support, love and prayers you send my way!

LOVE Y'ALL!

-Elder Parr