Day After Christmas

Ohhhh it was SOOO wonderful calling and talking to y'all yesterday! I LOVE y'all so much I can't even describe it! I think the one who surprised me the most was Preston! Boy! Has his voice got DEEP! Haha! I thought it was awesome, especially when I said when I got home I was going to take him and he said, "NO! I'm going to destroy you!" Haha; and it scared me ;) j/k  I'm glad to hear all is well and y'all have a sweet road trip towards Idaho! I sure do miss road trips with y'all, but I think I get plenty of opportunities for road trips here in Montana because everything is so far away! Haha I'm sure y'all will have more room in the car though, without my large tail in the way ;)

So I told you alot about what happened this week with the highlight being R's baptism which was awesome! I thought about what I might send to y'all today and I thought I would focus now on New Year's! As y'all know, New Year's resolutions drive me crazy because so many people focus so much on making them and then 3 months down the road completely forget about them and have gone no where with their goals. Not EVERYONE, but a bunch of them for sure. It's very important to make goals but it's important to make goals throughout the year and NOT just on New Year's! Write them down and look at them often and be sure you're doing something each day to help you accomplish whatever your goal may be!

I hope and pray that as y'all set goals at this time and throughout your life that you will remember to rely on the Lord with whatever your goals may be and remember that ALL good things come from God :) Once we begin to rely on Him we find success and achievement and happiness comes into our lives. Sure, we can try to do it on our own, but it's much easier and longer lasting when we rely on Him!

I love y'all so much and pray for y'all often! Have a Happy New Year and be sure to keep the spirit of Christmas, which is the spirit of Christ, with you ALL the time!

LOVE Y'ALL!

-Elder Parr

attached a few pictures



-dressed in my christmas gear

   
 

 
  

 




-Elder Scott opening the present I got him

 
  

 



-Rick's Baptism



-tracting out in the boonies

CHRISTMAS TIME!!

This week has been a suberb one for sure! So much has gone on I have no idea where to begin!

  

This weekend, on Christmas Eve, one of our investigators is getting baptized!! What an AWESOME way to begin Christmas Eve with someone entering the waters of baptism to follow Jesus Christ! Don't know a better present I could ask for than for that! Along with that I can testify that prayers ARE answered! This gentleman about 3 months ago didn't even believe in God let alone like LDS missionaries! The Lord has truly touched his life and softened his heart in so smany ways that has drawn him to a true knowledge and testimony of Him! So awesome!

 

This morning was a blast as we helped Bishop T put up his Christmas lights :) Reminded me of the many times dad was too chicken to get up on the roof and I would get up there! Especially the time when Dmitry came and helped :) I will definitely miss going to Interlocken and seeing all the lights and all the other Christmas celebrations we do each year! I'm sure y'all will have a blast and MATTIE, YOU BETTER ENJOY YOUR LAST CHRISTMAS HOME WHILE YOU CAN!! You will miss it; trust me! Hahaha

 

I'm just filled with happiness right now as so much is going on and I have the wonderful opportunity to truly bring the Christmas spirit to the hearts and homes of many:) Best thing I would want to be doing at this time!!!

 

Heard a song on one of the cd's I have here this morning I hadn't heard before! He sang about how each day is a battle that's hard to win, which made me think for a second. I can agree that each day is a battle and we need to fight for what's right!

 

LOVE Y'ALL!!

-Elder Parr

Yeeeehawwww!

This week has been WONDERFUL as every week on the mission is :) I wish all of you could be out here with me but hopefully y'all can feel the joy and happiness that comes from serving the Lord through my emails home!

A few things we were able to do this week truly opened my eyes. One is that we've been practicing with the community choir here to perform for the city. Well, our performance was yesterday afternoon amongst a crowd of about 200! Our choir consisted of members from multiple churches and faiths and we sang loud and proud for all those who attended! The lesson I learned is still the one I learned when I was younger but one step further this time. I still LOVE to sing but I have no good voice and the addition is that I would rather sit and enjoy those who CAN sing and congratulate them afterwards ;) Haha! None the less I had a great time and we definitely brought the Christmas spirit to Polson.

Last night we were invited to come up to Kalispell to attend mission prep for the youngmen here in the valley. We had 6 elders who attended and we made a panel where the young men asked us questions and we answered them all :) It was a blast and I put myself in their shoes just before I left on a mission. It was tons of fun!

One thing I wanted to share with you is how grateful I am for y'all! We met with a young lady at a members home and she expressed how her family is a mess and her parents are always fighting and her passion, horses, are going to be taken from her and she lives everyday regreting she was alive. It opened my eyes to how blessed I am with each of you by my side :) Family means everything to me! NEVER take for granted what we have in our lives because many others don't! I love y'all and I'm doing GREAT!

-Elder Parr

p.s. we had our ward christmas party here and we fed over 250 people and the church was PACKED!!! It was so much fun though! :)

You got served!

So this week has been a busy and crazy one! My subject definitely became our motto this week and we had a blast with it! I think we did more service this week, than I've EVER done in a week and it was totally SWEET! We branded cows, helped insulate an attic, moved a couple families and prepare for our nativity for the ward this week! It's been so much fun and an eventful week!

 

Tuesday was spent branding cattle which Elder Scott was pumped about until he saw how big they were. It's amazing how much a calf can grow in 2 weeks because they were MUCH bigger than last time we helped out! Haha I love helping them brand because you're around a bunch of cowboys. They are respectful, work hard and ALWAYS eat good afterwards! It was a great opportunity to lend a helping hand and often times a whole body as I had to jump on top of a few to hold them down! Haha

 

Wednesday was interesting as it was time to go to Helena for some leadership training. We had spent the night in Kalispell the night before and there would be 5 of us going to that meeting. Well, we heard a winter storm was going to come in and lay down 8 inches of snow. So with that they chose me, the Texan with hardly ANY driving in the snow experience, to drive. They also said it was because our vehicle is a 4x4 pickup. :) Haha Anyways, we woke up the next morning with no sight of snow at all! Well as we embarked on the 3 and a half hour drive at 5:30 am everyone fell asleep and I was the only one awake driving. Well there was definitely snow later on in the ride! I can tell you I said multiple prayers along the way as everyone laid asleep and the truck would slide or fishtail! Haha I'm thankful for God's protection that allowed all of us to arrive safely! We returned home in even a worse storm but none the less made it safely and I totaled 10 hours of driving in one day! Haha I did learn something very valuable in that meeting, though! I was reminded that this is the Lord's work. Not mine, not yours, nobody else's. That I'm not the one inviting people to do things but the Lord is! I'm just grateful I can be an instrument in his hand :)

 

The ward here had their annual nativity where we had over 200 nativities displayed and invited the entire public to come and to share the spirit of Christmas with us :) It was an incredible display and left many with tears in their eyes. We also hosted the first presidency message after and what a wonderful treat that was to watch! I pray that we will all find the true spirit of Christmas this year :)

 

I love y'all and hope the best for each of you! May God continue to bless and watch over you my dear family and friends :)

 

Love,

-Elder Parr

an Attitude of Gratitude

WOW!! This week has been an absolutely wonderful one! It was crazy because of transfers of course. Elder White left me last Monday evening and I was on team ups with Elder Smith who is serving in Eureka, Mt right now. We are both training this transfer and it was fun to spend a few days with him as we talked about our upcoming opportunity and what we could do to make it the best! Some things happened this week that led my mind to what I learned yesterday at church!

Yesterday at church I learned that we must not dwell on all the things we don't have or wish we had in our lives but to be grateful for what we DO have! Then, to give thanks to Heavenly Father. It's far too easy to forget what we have when all we do is think about what we don't have. So I learned I need to have an attitude of gratitude :)

This first experience happened while I was with Elder Smith and Bishop down in Pablo. It's the rougher part of the reservation here. We were helping clean out some trailers to get a couple into one and the one we were getting some stuff out was just TRASHED. There was stuff all over the place and just not somewhere I would like to stay. Then it hit me that someone actually had lived there. This was all their stuff before they had to leave. They lived here. I know we have some control of our circumstances but these people, whatever there circumstance was, I'm sure struggled to even keep this place. It made realize how thankful I am for the places I grew up and even in the home I live in now! I'm grateful that I don't have the biggest room or biggest kitchen because I have what I need to survive and be protected.



Elder Parr and Elder Smith Polson Turkey Trot 2011



Of course Elder Smith was a cross country runner back in high school so we showed up early Thanksgiving morning at about 8 am to run in Polson's Turkey Trot. This experience helped me be grateful that I have a healthy body in which I can run and breathe and help others! I will say I haven't run that far since the freedom run when I was like 10 probably Haha. WOW! Regardless, I was determined to finish the race no matter how long it took me. Well, I finished in 25:15 which was insane! The best part of it all was that we did it in our white shirts and ties :) Good times!



Elder Scott - New Companion



After the turkey run we picked up our new elders from the bus stop! Elder Scott is my new elder I'm training! He is from Robinson, Illinois and the middle child of 5 children! I love him so much and I can tell he has definitely prepared to be an instrument in the Lord's hand! He has taught me sooo many things and I'm going to LOVE this transfer! After we picked him up we spent awhile playing basketball with one of the kids in the ward which was fun. Followed with 3 dinner appointments for thanksgiving! OOOOWEEEEE! Last place we asked if we could just eat dessert because we had soooo much food already and were stuffed!

Haha! It was great to spend Thanksgiving with people who I've come to love! I'm grateful there are so many people here that will allow us into their homes and families!

We had another baptism this weekend which was wonderful! 

All in all last week has been GREAT and I can't wait to see what this week has in store for us! I received the Kringle which was a surprise! Opened our fridge one morning and BAM! There was Kringle! I was SOOO excited :) Thank you so much! I've definitely been sharing it :) hehe I love and miss y'all! Hope y'all have a GREAT week! Hope you enjoy the pictures I've attatched!

Love,

 Elder Parr

So as you've probably already heard, we received transfer calls this week! I'm blessed to have the opportunity to stay here in Polson for another 6 weeks, at least! Sadly, Elder White is leaving me to go to Miles City! Complete opposite side of the mission and a lot different terrain! I've been blessed to stay on the west side of the state with all the water and mountains and pretty green stuff :) haha East side of Montana, we've joked, should be a different state because it's flat, dry and nothing there! I know he will do many great things though and I hope I've trained him well enough to take on any responsibility or challenge! With Elder White leaving that means I get a new companion. This one is another special one because I will be training AGAIN! This will be the third time I will be training. Elder White said it's because President Gardner is giving me one last chance to do it right ;) hahaha! I'm excited for another opportunity to work with a new Elder and to learn together :) Yipeee! Of course I don't know who he will be until Thursday sometime!

 

This week of course was another GREAT one! We did SOOO much and accomplished a ton!

  

We made our way to Plains, Montana which is about an hour from Polson for a baptism we were asked to help in. It was for the gentleman who I interviewed last week to be baptized! It was one of the most humbling experiences ever. Many friends and family gathered together to join and support him. The baptism was wonderful but what humbled me even more was he asked me to confirm him. Out of all the people he knew, he asked me to do it. Why? I have no idea but it was an honor to do so for him :) He has touched my life and opened my eyes to the Savior's mercy and love he has for each of his children :)

 

We've been working with a family as well down in Pablo which is on the reservation. There have been 15 people living in this trailer. Yesterday evening we had a wedding for 2 of them! They were married yesterday in the church and have plans to move into another trailer with their 2 children. It was great to see people begin to live the gospel and except it into their lives and live according to God's commandments!

 

I think the biggest thing I've learned or saw this week was with a 12 year old, actually! We went to a members home who had a friend over. She is 12 years old and is probably the most mature 12 year old I've ever met! (sorry Preston ;) haha) Well, she began to open up and tell us how her life has been such a difficult and tough one. As I listened I wish she had NEVER gone through all of the things she told us about but at the same time I realized that EACH of us learn and grow differently. No person has the EXACT same life and do the EXACT same things. That's the beauty of life. What hit the heart most was when she talked about her younger sister who is 9 at the moment. She described how her sister is the only one that has kept her going and she would do ANYTHING to protect or help her. She expressed how her sister was the glue to her life. I was able to relate perfectly being the oldest child, as well. I hope that Mattie, Ethan, Allie, Preston and Carson know how much they matter to me. I, too, would do ANYTHING for y'all! Y'all are the BEST and bring me so much happiness and joy :) I LOVE Y'ALL! I'm so thankful for my family and all the support and encouragement y'all give me! It's truly awesome!

 

This time of season of course is filled with food, family, friends, gratitude and much much more, but I want y'all to remember this one quote that I love! :)

 

"It's good to count your blessings, but it's better to make your blessings count!"

 

We've been blessed with so very much in our lives! As we count our blessings this holiday season, let's make sure we find ways to appreciate what we have and find ways to share them with others! I'm grateful for the love God has for each of us and for His Son Jesus Christ who came and provided a means by which we can repent and improve our lives! Thank y'all for all the support y'all give :)

 

Love,

Elder Parr

 

 

This picture is me with some ice cream. I had sugar last night for the first time to celebrate with Elder White and his new experience ahead of him! mmmmm That ice cream was good! haha Please don't send sugar though, I'm still away from all candy and desserts except for thanksgiving!

THUNDER CLAP!

This week has been one of the finest for sure! I can say everything a missionary could ever dream of while being in Montana happened with Elder White and I!!!!!

 

First off, on Tuesday we had our mission tour which was absolutely AMAZING! Elder Zwich from the quroum of the seventy and his wife came to join us! When they spoke they spoke with such love and in tune with the spirit! He had each of us come up one by one before the meeting began to meet us. I watched carefully how he interacted with each person and smiled the entire time! He connected in some way with each of us which made him so real and personable from the very beginning. For me he actually had the same tie that I was wearing that day. Too bad he didn't decide to wear it though Haha! It was a blessing to be in the presence of one of God's servants and to be instructed by him. He spoke totally for over 4 hours and didn't have a thing written down! It was amazing and was exactly what we needed to hear! His wife gave one of the most profound talks for me! It was right in line with what mom emailed me about last week! She talked about exercising our faith in Christ ALL the time, not just for one act or time only. She related MANY stories (She was a good story teller!) of how she has continued to rely on the Lord and experiences from their mission. All I can say was my well was overflowing as I left the meeting! He said something that hit home to me. He said that we have to dwell on the BEST moments of our mission and forget about all the other times before and starting that day make a determination to make each day forward the BEST! So number one was we got to meet and be taught by a general authority!





This picture is with Elder Fio! He is SOOOO funny! He came on his mission from California but is Samoan! They were taking so long to take the picture Elder Fio was like, "HURRY UP! ELDER PARR IS STARTING TO SHAKE!" hahahahaha!

 

Secondly, we got to brand cows!! We helped out a ranch of one of the members to brand his calves :) It was SOOO much fun and good hard work! Now I can say I can wrestle a calf, rope it, hold it tight, brand it and give it its' immunizations! So now when anyone asks me what I was doing on 11/11/11 at 11:11 I will tell them I was branding cows! Of course afterwards they had some GOOD country cookin' food which you only needed one plate full :) It was quite the experience and SO much fun! The owner of all the cows decided to use the"O" brand because last year I guess he had a problem getting his brand right side up and with the "O" he didn't have to worry about that! haha

 

Third, we went to a pow wow!!! Pretty sure I've mentioned that I'm on the reservation right now. Polson is not the typical reservation because it's a tourist spot but everything else we cover is. Well, they had a pow wow on Saturday and it was the best! I loved talking to so many of the natives and watching them dance and sing and play their drums! Had some fry bread and an indian taco which is sooooo good! I enjoyed taking in their culture and learning so much about what they do and why! Got a sweet war hammer too which you'll have to see when I get home :) THUNDER CLAP is my new native name! haha (**side note from mom...If you have ever heard Justin's 'normal' clap you will laugh at this. He claps too loud!! ;)

 

Lastly, we had another baptism!! One of the young men we've been teaching decided to be baptized which was awesome! His grandpa baptized him and sooo many of his relatives came out to support him as well!! He is one of my favorites out here in Polson :)

 

This week was just tremendous! The Lord's hand is definitely here in our work and I'm forever grateful for the strength and help he gives me! I have a deep love for all those I serve and hope I can continue to be an instrument for the Lord! :) Thank you for ALL your prayers! They are greatly appreciated :)

 

LOVE Y'ALL!

-Elder Parr