Lots of changes

Monday, February 4, 2013

Heyyy

Well don’t let the title scare you, only a couple things have changed in our ward here. There are a couple families moving out and we have some new ones moving in, our ward mission leader bro. ( C )got released, he is in the air force and he is going to have a crazy work schedule soon and might even be moving soon, but they don’t know, i was bummed cause he is really good at doing his job and getting across to the ward what needs to happen, but we had one of our ward missionaries get assigned as the ward mission leader his name is bro (L), he and his wife have only been in the ward for like 6 months and he is 23 years old and his wife is like 21 hahaha way young, but he is gonna be awesome, he really has a drive to do his best. He works on engines for the C-17's that always land and take off here from the air force base and the ward called the( R)’s to be ward missionaries for 6 months, that’s pretty awesome. We were over at their house last night answering gospel questions and showing them preach my gospel and what it’s for, they act like long time members, ha I can’t wait to come back and see them get sealed in the temple in a year. So this week we taught (S) again he is doing great he has kept all his reading assignments and he really likes what we teach. He didn’t come to church yesterday, he told us he couldn’t come for some reason, he didn’t tell us why but I’m sure it was legit, we also taught (L) this week and we read with him in alma 36 about alma telling his conversion story, and we told him how he needs to pray and read the book of mormon and that will be how he gets his answer and so he said to text him every day with a scripture to read so that he will remember to read, he also didn’t come to church cause his girlfriends grandma died and he went to be with her. Then we got a referral from a member in our ward and we went and taught them yesterday with bro ( C) and they are cool, they know they need to change and that this is something that can change their life for the better. The husband has had anger management issues and its been hard on their marriage, their names are (J) and (A), (A) is from guam and they accepted to be baptized on feb 23rd also. I don’t know why the lord is blessing us with so many people to baptize but I know that as you keep the commandments and endure with faith and patience the lord blesses you when you least expect, it sometimes is at the very end but even more reason to keep the commandments to the end. My testimony has grown so much over the past 2 weeks, especially thinking that I don’t have time to just go through the motions and sit back and learn, like at the beginning of my mission. I am to be the most engaged as I can, its crunch time with only 6 weeks left including this week.

Charleston was awesome last week. We got to see the angel oak and got to walk on the pier and see the ocean yeahhhh, i loved the smell of the ocean it was a bit cold but still awesome and we got to go to the battery and the market, there is some cool stuff there. We also went to a place called the pepper palace and they have the hottest hot sauce in the universe they suggest one drop for every 4 gallons of food and I dipped a tooth pick in it and touch the end to my tongue and it burned for about 30 minutes after, ha it was way hot.

So who won the superbowl? I was going for the Ravens! joe flacco and ray lewis

Ryan is going to Indonesia, that’s not what i was expecting, that’s cool though.

We got the pizza it was way good, I liked the toppings and I’ve never had them before

Well, that’s all i got this week. Thanks for the letters hope you have a great week.

Love

 Elder Harper:)

Cold in Charleston!

Monday January 28, 2013

Hey family,

 So this might be a short email because we are going down to historical downtown Charleston today with elder hanson and brown and one of our awesome members nate (A). I’m so excited to go see all the cool stuff down there. Well we had a great ending to our week, for some reason it seems we have a slow start to our week and then it gets better the last, like 4 days, which i don’t mind, I just wish that everyday it was like that, but sometimes that’s just how it works. So we went out with a ward missionary and we saw 3 former investigators with him that we haven’t been able to see in a while. First, is (L) we taught him for a while when elder lee was still here and then he slowly just fell off the map, but we went over with brother (N) and tried to find out if this is what he wants to do and he said he really does he has just been unable to really do anything and he has been a little lazy, so we recommitted him to read the book of mormon and pray about it and bro (N) shared his testimony and his conversion story when he was about 20 and how the church and gospel have changed him.  I think it really helped (L) realize what this could do for him, he couldn’t come to church but we are gonna commit him to be there next week, we also saw the (M’s) after a long time and we had a great lesson also bro (N) again was  awesome and shared his testimony and said, I will give you some money for gas so that you can get to church cause that has been a major issue is that they have no income and can’t drive many places cause gas is too expensive, so they came but they didn’t come to our ward they came to the goose creek ward at 1 instead, haha I guess they forgot the time changed. Then last night we went over to a less active family's house named the (B’s) and we taught one of the daughters boyfriends named (S) he is a cool tall black dude and he plays basketball and was in the army but he is a month younger then me, haha that was weird to find out, anyway we taught him the plan of salvation and he loved it and even told us that he had a brother die and wanted to know where his brother is and when we told him about the temple and how he could see his brother in heaven, he really wants that and he accepted to be baptized on February 16, ha 2 days after my birthday that will be exciting. He said he will do anything necessary. So that was our wonderful week. Elder moore is getting the hang of things more, especially in teaching he taught most of the lesson last night to (S), it was awesome.

That’s way cool to hear about the basketball being on ESPN and on the news paper even cooler a mormon was on the front page, go did they win?

Yes mom, sorry i didn’t send the memory card again cause i forgot my camera when we went to walmart so I will be sending it today for sure

  

Well, that’s all I got

Love you guys, have a great week

Love Elder Harper

January 21, 2013

Hey y’all,

 Well this week was good, we had a missionary fireside with president holm that we invited a bunch of people to, it was great, we had a couple people come including the (R's) and a less active lady that we’ve been trying to get to come to something, so that was good but she didn’t come to church so that was a bummer. The day of the fireside and before we went out in a 3 pack with one of the AP's elder lash (he knows luke hansen and went to east high with him) and we had some good lessons and taught a bunch, it was great. There is a less active lady that has started coming back because her dad, who actually lives in az, has been talking to her about the church and she has come 2 weeks in a row and we went over and read out of the book of mormon with her. It is great to see people come back and their lives just change for the better and they are so much happier. We are gonna be teaching her, and a couple other members who are returning to activity, the discussions again so that they have a better understanding of the gospel, I’m excited. Also, this week elder moore and I have been learning about family history work and how it can be used to reactivate and retain new members and we watched some videos about missionaries who have done it and they have had lots of success and so we really want to try doing it more to see how it works. Especially here, there are lots of members but we only have 23% activity in our ward and we are working really closely with our elders quorum president and our young men’s president. We have some great members here and a good ward mission leader. I’m loving it out here, we have been struggling with finding people, but lots of good stuff is happening in other places, that i think will affect our teaching. We just have to keep doing what we know to do

 Sorry mom, I did not send the memory card cause I wanted to print out some pictures and the picture thing at walmart was not working so I decide to wait till this week to send it so I could print out some pictures.

 Yes, I got your small box along with your letter it was good and the banana bread is good i haven’t tried the other stuff yet.

Love all the cars, and excited about all the changes with the cards, and suns, hopefully the suns will turn it around and yotes, will be good again.

Well, I’m glad everything is going great, grant good job on wanting to prepare early for your mission, i hope you do a better job then i did and hope your finishing that book of mormon.

Have a great week

Love Elder Harper:)

January 14, 2013

Well my first full week training Elder Moore went well. We had all types of experiences, we met some very nice people and met some very mean people, haha one even pulled out a baseball bat on us and threatened us and told us to leave or he would call the cops, that was an exciting one. The best part though was that I got to baptize (B) and (T) and then Elder Moore confirmed them both in sacrament, they are gonna be such great members and during church they participated even more than they normally do. We have really been working on finding new investigators because we are low on people to teach, but like always when you are obedient and doing your best and when you have an awesome ward, someone always wants to be taught.  We had a young single girl who came up to us and told us her boyfriend has expressed interest in learning what we believe and we have met him a couple times, he’s way nice so I would love to be able to teach him. This week has been crazy, the zone leaders car had to go into the shop so we have been sharing our car and biking and we have had to do lots of emergency pick ups and drop offs with them. Elder Moore is doing great he has been coming out of his shell a lot this week. It’s been warm here the past 4 days and we have been able to take our suit coats off, its been nice. I love training and I wish I could have done it more, but I think elder Moore will be glad he got me as his trainer, a legacy will be left with him and he will do great things.

 Man, bummed to hear about Wisenhunt, I really liked him I think Graves was the problem he didn’t know a whole lot. Why are they trying to trade Upton? they just start dealing off all of our stars first Reynolds then Upton.

Sounds like ASU is doing great though and they are improving i guess Kelly must be a pretty solid QB. I call coyotes to the playoffs again, the cup is ours this year.

I told elder Moore about his email, so he figured it out.

When I get back I am gonna have to run and work out like crazy cause my cardio fitness is wayyyy down, I’m keeping good weight though.

I’m sending that memory card today, mom don’t worry.

Grant how’s the book of mormon reading going?? got to be done by March 21!

Well hope you have a great week, pray that we will find some awesome people

Love Elder Harper:)

Greeeenie Time!

January, 7 2013

Heyyyyy!

 So you guys are all probably wanting to know who my new trainee is, his name is Elder Preston Moore he is from New Mexico. He is a great guy, he talks a lot and he has a great desire to be out here on a mission and really loves it. It’s interesting now being on the other side as the trainer. It’s weird sometimes as we are doing our companion studies, I’ll just like flashback to when I was with elder law in our boiling springs apartment and how young I was and how smart i thought he was. I was like, man if I could ever know as much as him, or be as good as him, and then now I know that it all comes from experience, and learning from your experiences. I always thought that training a new missionary would be so hard and i never wanted to do it, but then now that I am doing it, its hard at times but its really not that hard you just have to make sure that you are the perfect example to him because he watches everything you do.  So there is a little bit of pressure but I just have to say to myself that I’m not perfect and it is okay to make mistakes as long as I’m learning from them and using them as teaching moments, as a trainer you are constantly teaching something weather you use words or just actions. So that’s that, we had the ( R) interview on Saturday and they are good to go they passed. Elder Rasmussen is our district leader now, so he interviewed them, our districts got changed up a little since they took elders out of the second ward that meets in our building (goose creek ward) and they put sisters in and Elder Rasmussen was the closest district leader to us, so I will probably get to finish my mission with him as my DL. So the( R’s) will be baptized this Saturday the 12th and I will be baptizing them and Elder Moore will be confirming them both, I’m so excited i get to be a part of them being baptized they have been investigating for over 2 years and (B) just quit smoking on the 1st and (T) quit coffee the same day and she said she has no desire for it anymore. We also met a guy this week named( M) he is agnostic and as we were walking to our car in a apartment complex he said are you Jehovah Witnesses we said no, Mormons and he said come in I’m interested in your religion and he talked to us for about 30 minutes, he is cool. He wants to read the Book of Mormon and believe in God. Oh, elder Lee went to downtown Columbia with elder Tonga who is from Tonga. 

 The only other new missionary in our apartment is Elder Brown he is Elder Hanson’s companion as a zone leader he’s from Utah.

 Yes, i got the new years package alright but it was after transfers, haha I have so much candy to eat

Way cool, to hear that grant is a licensed driver now, so he will be driving my explorer until I get back right?

 Oh and reminder for my birthday, don’t send anything like ties or clothes just keep that stuff, if you want to send junk food that’s fine but I’m trying to get rid of all the stuff I don’t need and will be sending a box home probably towards the middle or end of February.

 Grant, how’s the Book of Mormon reading going, remember i challenged you to read it all before I got home? I’m going to finish D&C before I come home.

What is madison’s mission address?

Did ASU go to a bowl game?.

Well, that’s all I have for this week, love you guys, talk to you soon.

Love Elder Harper

Pictures at Christmas

Elder Lee and Harper, sent to us from someone in their ward

 Skyping with Elder Harper on Christmas morning!