RE: CRAZY!!

As you've received this you're probably wondering again..."Why in the world is Elder Parr sending an email on MONDAY NIGHT?!" haha I love to keep y'all on your toes ;) I want to let y'all know what's going on, though, so you're not going completely out of your minds! 

We received transfer calls last Friday and I received the news that I would be getting transferred :/ It was a pretty shockin' experience seeing as I've only been here in Billings in the West Park Ward for 3 months. As you may remember, Elder Miner is going home this time around as well, which means our area is getting doubled out, which was the ONLY thing I said wouldn't happen this transfer! Haha That's when I learned that you cannot advise the Lord what is best for yourself or your situation ;) The 2 Elders who are coming in are AMAZING and I couldn't ask for better missionaries to replace and take over our area. So as you're dying to know, I'm being transferred to.......BILLINGS! Haha I'm going to now be in the Pioneer Park Ward here in Billings. From what I've heard it's an awesome ward and I'm looking forward to the new opportunities to serve, love others and help others come unto Christ :) A piece of my heart will still be left in the West Park Ward for sure. I feel every place I have served is home for me and it's so sad to leave them :/ I'm grateful that I'm not going too far though and still will see many of them around town! My new companion is Elder Miller who is from High Point, North Carolina! Which means 2 southern boys will be takin' out the great north country ;)

My new address will be:

1848 Rimrock Road

Billings, Mt 59102

I had the AWESOME opportunity to attend the temple this past Saturday! Oh, how I love attending the Lord's house and learning so much while I'm there! A few weeks ago in our stake conference a woman spoke about the blessings of the temple. She said something that REALLY stuck out to me! She said that when we are in the temple it helps us learn how to be on our best behavior. Eventually, our best behavior will be evident in our day to day lives as we leave the temple and enter into the world! I LOVE THE TEMPLE and would encourage each of you to find yourself worthy to enter the temple and feel of God's love there :)

It's been a longgggg day of traveling around the mission dropping off missionaries and picking missionaries up but so much fun! I think I will send my sd card home soon for a surprise for y'all pretty soon to see all the many things that have been going on :)

One thing I wanted to ask y'all is how have y'all been able to become better leaders in what y'all have done? As a leader I want to strive to find ways that I can improve and ways to motivate and encourage those around me more. I know y'all have served in several leadership roles and wondering what advice you could give me! I wouldn't mind if you asked others around and gave me their insight, as well, or quotes or whatever it may be. Thanks!

The shirts you sent are awesome!! They fit great and will provide me the opportunity to be diligent in keeping my shirts wrinkle-free by ironing :) hehe I'm PUMPED to hear how your efforts to strenghten and build your physical and spiritual lives each and everyday are going :) I LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH!!! 

The meaning of being on the "back of my planner" means y'all mean that much to me ;) As missionaries we put pictures, quotes, etc. on our planners to just have fun with it and this time I'm going to put y'all on there :) 

I guess there is one thing that I could use and that would be TONS of thanks you cards!! So if you would like to send some of those this way I would LOVE that :) I'm going to start sending thank you cards to all those who are so kind and feed us. Also, a few ties would work too! Elders have LOVED my ties that you've sent and I'm excited to say I've traded them off ;) hehe That means you have some AWESOME taste MAMA! 

LOVE Y'ALL! Take care and may God watch over all of you :)

-Elder Parr

CRAZY!

SURPRISE! Emailing you on SUNDAY and fooled you all ;) Haha

This week has been AMAZING but I have NO time and it's time for me to go to bed. I pray for y'all daily and hope all is well!

By the way, y'all are going on the back of my planner this transfer ;) That means a lot! haha

Love,
Elder Parr

Seek Light

So I have to make this quick but I want to share a few things I learned this week with y'all! 

First and foremost, I was on team-ups with Elder Houston and he shared this BOMB quote with me from Joseph F. Smith!  "This gospel is salvation and without it there is nothing worth having." How true is that?! After meeting with a self claimed "atheist" last night I realized those lacking a belief in God find happiness in temporal things; there are no real goals or hope and they aren't happy. Those who have faith in life are naturally happier and seek to lift others rather than themselves. I pray each of you seek light from our Heavenly Father and Christ and renew that hope each day! 

Secondly, everyone is special! God loves us all! Including you! I have NO DOUBT about that! 

"Consistency is power."    Think about it!

LOVE Y'ALL!

   -Elder Parr

WHOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

What an AWESOME week!!!

I think I say this every week, but SOOO much has happened this week! Sorry, but it's not like I can say, "Oh nothing really happened this week." That just DOESN'T happen when you're doing the Lord's work and you see miracles daily! 

Started the week out awesome by attending zone conference here in Billings with about 60 missionaries and President Gardner :) What an awesome experience it is to be in a room filled with testimony, power and the spirit of God! If that won't get you pumped up i'll just say you're.....lame! haha JK

But really, it really puts you back into perspective. A few of the missionaries who are going home this transfer, including Elder Miner, talked me into playing a special musical number for them to sing in the meeting! It was SWEET :) I can testify once you share your talents you have the opportunity to share them more as afterwards we were asked to play in sacrament meeting this coming week for our ward! haha How sweet will that be! Hope I don't miss notes this time ;)

We also had Stake Conference which was amazing! Had some wonderful speakers who really inspired me! The theme of the conference was based on....

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."

          -1 Timothy 4:12

So GREAT! What stood out to me the most is they said that we are examples whether we are living the gospel of Jesus Christ or not! We must have integrity and stand for what is right! Had a wonderful message about gratitude. Talked about how we can have gratitude in times of adversity and trial! Hard to do, but it's so worth it :) If all you had today was what you expressed thanks for yesterday, what would you have?

I think the thing that stuck out to me the most is that we talked about "real growth". I believe so many of us in our lives don't take advantage of everything around else to expand our horizons and knowledge. We get stuck in this rut of what we call a "routine". We do the same things day in and day out. Wake up, go to work, make dinner, pay bills, go to sleep and repeat for....the next 5 years until something may pop up in our way. If not, no worries though. Where is the growth in that? We should be consistantly seeking for opportunities that will allow us to learn, to experience different situations and most of all draw closer to God. Those who say they believe in God, but do nothing each day to know him better, are they really progressing? Are they growing spiritually? Just like muscles, you must exercise and work them out in order for them to stay in shape and for them to expand and get bigger and stronger. The same is likewise with spiritual matters! We must be exercising our faith by experimenting on the Lord's words and serving others! You wouldn't merely watch workout videos without participating and expect results would you? I would encourage each of you to get off the couch, turn off the t.v., put up the iPods and phones and go DO SOMETHING! Find someone to serve, open your scriptures for once, kneel and thank God for what you have in your lives. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish and do as you set aside the distractions of the world and seek to do the Father's will! Trust me, it's miraculous! You have to want to first though ;) Once you do you won't want to stop though! It's contagious :)

This week the weather was AMAZING! Averaged about 60 all week, which in Montana or anywhere is AMAZING! Spring is on its way :) 

Going to help someone quit smoking tonight! We're excited and so is she! Love to see people who want to make changes in their lives :)

LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH! DO WORK!

-Elder Parr

p.s. added a couple of pictures for you ;)

Beautiful Day

What a remarkable week! I've learned so much and my eyes have been opened tremendously! It's amazing what an open heart and a willing mind can do for you! 

First off, we spent most of our day Saturday with the family we stay with who's mother passed away last week. We attended her funeral, burial and their family meal afterwards. They really wanted us there to support the family and meet the rest of them as well :) Many stood and shared experiences and as I listened to how this woman impacted the lives of so many people and influenced them to do good I thought to myself, "What do I want to be remembered for or as?" I realized that every aspect of our lives is examined everyday by others around us. How we conduct ourselves, how we react to different situations, the choices we make, etc. We should NOT, however, just do things to put on a show or to get the praise of others around us. Our desire should be to serve God and to obey His commandments regardless of what others are doing around us! As we do so, we not only feel good, but we become an example for righteousness and good. So may each of you take an evaluation of your lives and how you can reallign yourself with the guidelines God has set for each of us to follow to truly be happy :) 

We had the wonderful opportunity to teach one of our investigators about the word of wisdom! What an amazing principle we've been given from our Heavenly Father through a modern day prophet! This gentleman had a very rough childhood. Involved in drugs, alcohol and everything you can think of. He has been clean of everything for 17 years except he still smokes and drinks coffee. As we talked about how our bodies are temples and that we should treat them with the most respect and dignity you could see that he had a desire to make changes. He LOVESSSSSS coffee though and said he didn't think he could stop. When we taught about why we've been given the word of wisdom and what it was, we invited him to live the word of wisdom. He said, "I'll try, but I won't make any promises." As we continued to talk about it and the importance of living the word of wisdom at the end, he said himself, "I'm 100% committed!" It was such an awesome experience to see the spirit testify of the truthfulness of this principle to him! We didn't convince him to live it, we simply invited and the spirit taught him. Being an instrument in the Lord's hand is remarkable. I know as i've tried to make certain changes in my life that it hasn't been easy. Changing habits is never a quick and easy process. It takes time and a concise effort! Don't get discouraged if you fail the first time. The best advice I ever received is actually our family motto, "NEVER GIVE UP!"

I know you can do it!

This picture is of my buddy, Elder Morrey, who left this morning, actually, at about 4:15 am to head to Brazil for the rest of his mission! He was just here for a few weeks waiting for his visa! Going to miss that elder! 

Today is a BEAUTIFUL DAY! It's about 50 right now with clear and sunny skies :) So excited to get outside and have some fun :)

I sure do love y'all and pray for y'all each and everyday! 

-Elder Parr