April 23, 2012

Monday, April 23, 2012

Hey sooo, I am not leaving Aiken, we got the calls and elder seaver is leaving which was really surprising, cause he has only been here for 3 months and he got here after me, plus me an him have become good friends and I am sad to see him go, well actually all of us were sad to hear that he was leaving because if anyone was to leave we thought it would be me, so i will have been in Aiken for 6 months, which is a first for my mission. Also elder law is getting transferred and he is being released from zone leader and he is not training so he will just be a regular missionary, which is good because he has been in leadership for almost all his mission and a zone leader for about a year. So that’s the big news, but we had a good week, kind of, well it could be better, but it mostly was stinky cause on Friday we finally got a hold of manuela ,who we thought was for sure going to progress to baptism, and she told us that she was researching and she doesn’t want to continue having us come by and I asked her if she had gone to mormon.org and she said she did so I don’t know what turned her off.  It has just been frustrating because ever since i left boiling springs every investigator I have had that I found through my own efforts has done this same thing and I hate it, I feel like I am doing something wrong or something, haha, i don’t know and i really honestly feel like a bad missionary because none of the investigators that I have found on my own and taught have gotten close to baptism they have all just dropped us out of the blue for no reason at all. I know I’m not a bad missionary but it has just been so frustrating and plus president told me when I first got here that he expects me to make big things happen and so far nothing really big has happened other then the baptism we had my first transfer and she doesn’t even live here anymore so it has just been frustrating to me cause I have worked so hard and i have been here so long and nothing has come from the efforts that I have put in, but anyway that’s just been bothering me lately. We also had a funny experience me and elder waugh were on exchanges and we were talking to 6 drunk people and we answered all their crazy questions and said a prayer with them and during the prayer while elder waugh was saying it, this tall black guy let out a loud fart hahahaha it was so funny, and when we got in the car we laughed so much. 

Well, ya that’s pretty much what happened this week

But that’s sweet that the coyotes are up on the blackhawks, i really hope that the new owner keeps them in az.

I also hope the cardinals pick a good QB in the draft hopefully the boise state QB that would be awesome.

 I will send the memory card this week sorry I need to print out some pictures

i am sad to hear about Bryce that is way unexpected, that is hard, the Blasers have had a hard past couple years. Tell Lindsey congrats for me and tell Danielle, I say hang in there

Well hope you guys are doing great, have a good week.

Love Elder Harper :)      

Monday, April 18, 2012

Hello everyone,

  Ya, so we had a good week. Last monday night we taught a lady named Manuela.  Her grandpa, in Germany a long time ago, was a very active member and so when we came by we got to know her and she had questions that we were able to answer through teaching the restoration, or the 1st lesson. She also told us about her cousin who, committed suicide a couple years ago, and she had asked other churches what will happen to him and they just told her that he is going to hell. We assured her that he wasn’t there, but that we do have answers to that and what happens to us after we die, so we told her we would talk to her more about that in our next visit and we gave her an assignment to read 2nephi 2 which talks a little about the plan of salvation, but she got sick and had to cancel for the next appointment and then couldn’t come to church, she did tell us she thought that she would get baptized if she came to church and found out that this was true, because she has been to lots of other churches and hasn’t felt right in any of them.  She has really been an answer to my prayers because we haven’t been able to find anybody who is willing to hear our message or even give us the time of day. We have tried getting in contact with Rita who we found awhile ago but have been unable to contact her, but we aren’t giving up. This morning in my studies I was reading this old pamphlet that missionaries used to pass out a long time ago, its called "the strength of the Mormon position" and we got all these old missionary pamphlets from a member here in the area and I was reading it and read something that I kind of knew about, but the way Orson F. Whitney puts it makes so much sense and this is really why we believe what we believe, why we have temples and why we have endowments and all the sacred things and why works are so important he says " what is called mormonism is the everlasting gospel, the religion of all the ages, gods great plan for the salvation of the human family: and not just their salvation but their exaltation if they obey it in fullness. The gospel has a three fold power; it redeems, saves, and glorifies. Redemption is resurrection, but that is not sufficient; it is not enough that man be brought forth from the grave. All men good or bad will be resurrected ; but resurrection is not salvation, any more than salvation is exaltation. Many redeemed from the grave will be condemned at the final judgment, for evil deeds done in the body ; many will be saved, yet come short of the glory that constitutes exaltation." so that’s pretty much why everything that we preach, teach, and urge men to do is so important cause our families will not be together forever if we aren’t all in the same glory together so we all need to make sure we are doing what we need to, to get to exaltation in the celestial kingdom, ha enough said.   

     So, that’s pretty cool that grandma Harper gets to go home to see Dylan’s homecoming, that will be a shock for her, I would not want to do that especially with a year left.  

That’s so jacked that mike smith got blindsided, is he the back up goalie?  What happened to our starter, I totally forgot his name. Man, Chris Young has gotten hot the past 2 years he jumped out of his slump and is rockin it, are Steve Nash and Grant Hill still playing strong?

   Ya, I sent some pictures to people I will send the memory card this week, ya I wrote the girl that Kristan had write me (Karina). I got a letter from Gaby also, and some other from a member in the ward I forgot who and one from Courtney Larsen. Oh, by the way Courtney is the one who drew the picture of the person on the dragon haha it was funny.

  On Saturday, we went to help the Brooks move someone and then afterwards they bought us ice cream at this family owned ice cream parlor, hahah, its soo good. and also we had dinner at the Wheatley's, sister Wheatley knows grandma Harper and she showed me her sophomore year book from back in Idaho and I saw the picture of grandpa and grandma Harper as high school sweet hearts, haha, way weird and she said that whenever she see's me in church she thinks I am Kent and then remembers oh ya that’s his grandson, haha so thought you should know that

  Ya, so that is all I have this week, transfer calls are Saturday I hope I’m staying 

  Love you guys  Elder Harper:)

Kelly in Aiken, South Carolina

Monday, April 9, 2012

Holla family

 So we had a good week, last week was just a lame week and this week was so much better. me and elder stever found this guy named Tolbert, haha and we taught him the restoration, it was great cause we made him laugh and he sounded like smeagol when he laughed, haha then we went back the next day with elder seaver in a 3 pack cause elder cramer had to go to the leadership training meeting so we went back to teach him and he laughed some more, but when we explained to him that his preacher that baptized him was probably a great guy but that he didn’t have the authority he didn’t understand and elder seaver told him straight up that I can trace my authority  all the way back to jesus christ and that his preacher couldn’t do that, but tolbert insisted that he believes his preacher did have authority even though he got it from going to a school. Then we found a bunch of cool people this week and one we are going back to teach tonight her name is manuela and she told us her grandpa was a great mormon in germany and she wants to know more about what we believe cause she has changed churches a lot and so she wants to know if this is meant for her. We have a couple more people like that so we really hope that they progress. This morning elder mcpheters called me because he was on exchanges with the zone leaders they were telling him that we were just having a hard time finding people. So he just called me to help cheer me up and he had me read D&C 122:7-9 i think and it was great, it just let me know that god is always with us even when we feel like he isn’t. oh I don’t know if I told you guys but they split Blythewood into 2 wards and I just saw that someone in the new ward the sandhills ward which covers the east side of Blythewood, including lake carolina got baptized last week, i dont think i ever taught them but that’s still cool cause there hasn’t been a baptism in a long time  

Well, thanks for the easter package it was great, haha on saturday we got 7 letters in the mail and 6 of them were for me haha it was funny, then elder seaver got 3 packages full of candy and stuff haha it was great we have so much candy. We also went to this little ice cream parlor by our apartment, ha its so good we are going there tomorrow to get some root beer floats.

That’s some sweet news about the coyotes hahaha, thats so awesome ahhhhh I wish I was there to watch the playoffs, has anybody made an offer to buy the yotes? glad the D-backs are finally getting better. That’s a sweet rendering of the new sun devil stadium design and they are keeping the stadium in the same spot right?

well I don’t know what else to write about haha but I loved focusing on the atonement this weekend with Easter even though we do it all the time as missionaries it was still cool to talk about it and what it means. If you guys haven’t already you should go watch the bible videos on www.lds.org/bible-videos they are so cool and they are so accurate. 

Well hope all is going well tell grant to keep ripping it up in track and alli to keep it up with the violin playing, love you guys\

Elder Harper :)

Monday April 2, 2012

heyyllo

Well this week ended well but it was kind of a lame week, we have one investigator, Rita, she is really great we have only taught her once but its hard to schedule things with her cause she works a lot. Other then that we don’t have much going, we have been trying to find new investigators but nothing is working, we knock and knock and knock and nothing. We work around less actives and not even the less actives answer their doors. we have tried doing the best relationships proselyting with a couple ward leaders. Things are moving slow and it is frustrating.  Elder stever is great, he is an awesome companion but its been hard for us to find people and get people to keep commitments, I feel like there is some secret to success and finding people that I don’t know about, and I cant find the answer. Anyway uggh well i got the package on Saturday, haha it took forever to get to me, and I laughed at the picture of harry, thanks for the allergy stuff but I haven’t had a problem at all this week I’m not dizzy at all anymore. Yep suit season is over and we haven’t had to wear our suits for the last week cause its been so hot. Something cool i found out, our new zone leader elder waugh went to high school with elder seaver in orem and they were talking about people they know from back home so i asked elder waugh if he knew an elizabeth craycroft and he was like "dude ya i totally know liz she is really cool" so ya I found out that he is good freinds with her and I was like she is soo awesome i love that girl, and told him how bummed i was when she moved to Utah, ha so that was a cool moment. 

So dad that’s so cool that you got Anthony Robles, the ASU wrestler to speak, and even better that you got me an autographed shirt. Can’t wait to see his movie come out.

No, I don’t need any shoes or a new suit or anything I’ll get all that stuff, back home so that I have a nice suit that hasn’t been sweated in. 

Grant, don’t you worry I have been working on my peck and my upper body a lot so I might be as muscley as you when I get back, i am going to have to work on my abbs more though haha im definitely lacking in that hahaha, its so hard to do abbs in the morning cause im so tired. And I like your carlsbad idea.

Alli i hope you are doing better from your fall on the scooter, you should be more careful you have fallen and hurt your body more in 11 years then I have in 20

Ya, the masters is gonna make this week crazy, there are gonna be so many people here in Aiken.

Well hope you guys have a great week, hope you learned a lot from conference I did.

Love Elder Harper :)

March 25, 2012 (One Year!)

March 25, 2012

ONE YEAR!!!woow one year is over and gone, i seriously cant believe that its already been a year i feel like i was just thinking ahead to this point in my mission back in boiling springs when elder law was at this point in his. So many hard times, so many good times, so many times when I was like, I hate biking and I don’t want to bike tomorrow again, we already have biked like 100 miles in 5 days and my legs are so tired, and then the days when nobody will answer the door or when they just don’t want to talk to you and so many bash's with Baptist preachers, people calling the cops on you cause they think you are soliciting hahaha, so many things have happened, its been a great ride so far, I have learned so much and I have had the privilege of baptizing 4 people in year, and my testimony and knowledge of the truthfulness of gospel has grown so much.

 This week we went and saw a lady named Rita, her son used to live here a while ago and so we went to see them but found out they didn’t live there anymore but his parents do and she has a book of mormon and some pamphlets but she didn’t want us teaching her yet so we just stopped by this week and set up an appointment and taught her the restoration and she accepted to be baptized, but didn’t accept a date. She wasn’t able to come to church because she worked on Sunday, but hopefully she will come to general conference. We had a lady named Toya on date this week but we went by for our appointment and she wasn’t there so we left a note and 3 days later the note was still there and the door was open and nobody was home so that creeped me and elder stever out a little. Elder stever is great I love him we get along great he is from el dorado california, the atmosphere in the apartment is so good and there is more excitement and energy to work and there is happiness too haha. This thursday we knocked on the door of a Baptist preacher when we saw him walking to the door we could just tell "yep here comes a bash" and the first thing he said to us was that we are a cult and everything we are doing is false, we did get some insight on what Baptist believe, which just blows my mind, that they believe this, that if someone dies and they have never heard of Jesus Christ or the gospel they are going to hell because they denied their conscience, because apparently our conscience is supposed to tell us that Jesus Christ is our savior when nobody has taught you a thing about god or the bible at all, that just makes me sick that they think that. But yah, other than that we had a great week hahaha. We have had a hard time finding investigators and just people to teach in general it’s been frustrating in that aspect but other than that it’s good.

 Well, for my year mark we went to cracker barrel that just opened recently by our apartment, it was really good. I haven’t gotten my package yet! but maybe it will come today haha i hope. 

 Crazy that payton manning is on the broncos!, did the cardinals make any moves for a good QB?

Has baseball season started yet?

 I don’t mind not being district leader its nice cause I don’t have to worry about the whole district and making trainings for DDM every week and I can just focus on my area, i learned a lot from being DL for that short time and who knows i might get called to be it again.

Well I hope you guys have a great week

 Love you guys

Love, Elder Harper:)