March 24, 2014
Sunshine in Oregon? :)
Hello my Family and Friends!
Thank you so much for your amazing letters, emails, and photos! You all are amazing and I love and miss you so much! I love hearing from each of you every week, you should see how excited I get when I get a letter or see an email come in, just ask my companion. ;) Well, here we go! :)
March 17: This last preparation day was kind of different because we did a zone activity where we played a game of Nerf War with a whole bunch Nerf Pistols and Bullets. It was crazy fun and I enjoyed it.
March 18: Recently I had my rear tire pop, again, so yesterday I finally pumped up a new tube in the tire and adjusted my seat, and you should have seen me just take off on my bike that day. My companion told me that that was the fastest he had ever seen me ride before. :) I've been working on building up leg muscles while biking, but I'm kind of worried because my right knee is starting to get sore and a little swollen, so I will see how I ride this next week and if it improves while being gentle on it, but if it doesn't I'll keep you posted on if I get a knee brace or something. But later on in the evening we were visiting a few members who haven't been to church in a while and found out that one was leaving on a trip soon and they were making all the arrangements that night. They were having technical issues making reservations and so we were able to help them as best we could and found success. I'm happy that I can still help people technologically speaking out here in the mission. :)
March 19: With the use of Facebook allowed in our mission and in most missions around the world soon, every time we sit down to use it we are always thinking of ways we can reach out to fellowship with members, but also trying to find people to teach through Facebook, Skype or FaceTime, all of these online tools that have been given to help Hasten the Work of Salvation in these modern times. If you have friends that you would like the missionaries to "virtually" drop by, do let us know! :)
March 20: We met with one of our investigators this afternoon who has been awesome at reading from the Book of Mormon and asking great questions. Every week we do our best to answer any questions they may
have and even go back home, study out the question, and return with answers, it's always refreshing to work with someone who genuinely wants to find out the truth and little by little they learn where to find it. :)
March 21: Our weekly District Meetings are great and I've been getting better at playing the Opening and Closing Hymns on the piano, but sometimes they can be pretty advanced, but I'm working on it. :) We've
also been meeting with a member who hasn't been able to attend church recently, but their family are members and they were at their house and we were able to fellowship and invite to church. We hope that as
we give a continued interest in these people that they will come to know that we do care about them and want the best for their families. That's really what it's all about. :) We also met with two of our investigators, one we taught part of the Plan of Salvation and shared the video "Our Eternal Life" from LDS.org, which helped them gain a better understanding on where we came from before this life. Our other investigator we did a church tour with them, and we showed them all around our local church building and sharing with them what we do each Sunday and throughout the week.
March 22: We did a few service hours helping to pull weeds for a member. It's been so great being able to enjoy the wonderful sunshine here in Oregon, but I hear it's supposed to rain here this next Tuesday, so that will be fun. :D I do like rain, but it's just rain, no thunder or lightning. It's that kinda....weird? But rain is good,
sunshine is awesome too. :)
March 23: We had one of our investigators attend church with us this Sunday! It was so great to see them there and to be fellow-shipping with the local members. One thing that I have realized out here, and I'm calling anyone out who needs to do this, including the old me back in college, Do Your Home Teaching. Visit the members or members who aren't able to make it to church, or anyone else you've been assigned. It is so Vital to the missionary effort and even afterwards, it keeps everyone unified and anxiously engaged in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot express to you how important Home Teaching is and why we need to be diligent in doing it. I've seen miracles come because of Home Teachers. :) Same with Visiting Teachers! :D Y'all are awesome and I know you are doing great. :) In church as part of the Ward Choir we performed Come Thou Fount and it sounded great! :) And one of the members in our ward was giving his farewell talk before he goes on his mission! Oh the memories. :D
March 24: Today, we went with might I say some awesome members who took us to the local water reservoir and we were able to enjoy the sunshine and take some fun pictures and videos. It was an awesome afternoon and the awesome members were so kind and even fed us lunch! :) They are super awesome.
Any who, that is pretty much it for this week. I just want to take a moment to share with you how important it is that we share the message of The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ here on the Earth. I have a firm testimony that if it were not for the happiness and redemption that this message contains, I would not be the man I am today. This has blessed my life, my families life, it has kept us together throughout these troubling times, I know that this Gospel is True.
Thank you so much for all your kindness! I hope to hear from you soon!
All the best,
Elder Harper
Thank you so much for your amazing letters, emails, and photos! You all are amazing and I love and miss you so much! I love hearing from each of you every week, you should see how excited I get when I get a letter or see an email come in, just ask my companion. ;) Well, here we go! :)
March 17: This last preparation day was kind of different because we did a zone activity where we played a game of Nerf War with a whole bunch Nerf Pistols and Bullets. It was crazy fun and I enjoyed it.
March 18: Recently I had my rear tire pop, again, so yesterday I finally pumped up a new tube in the tire and adjusted my seat, and you should have seen me just take off on my bike that day. My companion told me that that was the fastest he had ever seen me ride before. :) I've been working on building up leg muscles while biking, but I'm kind of worried because my right knee is starting to get sore and a little swollen, so I will see how I ride this next week and if it improves while being gentle on it, but if it doesn't I'll keep you posted on if I get a knee brace or something. But later on in the evening we were visiting a few members who haven't been to church in a while and found out that one was leaving on a trip soon and they were making all the arrangements that night. They were having technical issues making reservations and so we were able to help them as best we could and found success. I'm happy that I can still help people technologically speaking out here in the mission. :)
March 19: With the use of Facebook allowed in our mission and in most missions around the world soon, every time we sit down to use it we are always thinking of ways we can reach out to fellowship with members, but also trying to find people to teach through Facebook, Skype or FaceTime, all of these online tools that have been given to help Hasten the Work of Salvation in these modern times. If you have friends that you would like the missionaries to "virtually" drop by, do let us know! :)
March 20: We met with one of our investigators this afternoon who has been awesome at reading from the Book of Mormon and asking great questions. Every week we do our best to answer any questions they may
have and even go back home, study out the question, and return with answers, it's always refreshing to work with someone who genuinely wants to find out the truth and little by little they learn where to find it. :)
March 21: Our weekly District Meetings are great and I've been getting better at playing the Opening and Closing Hymns on the piano, but sometimes they can be pretty advanced, but I'm working on it. :) We've
also been meeting with a member who hasn't been able to attend church recently, but their family are members and they were at their house and we were able to fellowship and invite to church. We hope that as
we give a continued interest in these people that they will come to know that we do care about them and want the best for their families. That's really what it's all about. :) We also met with two of our investigators, one we taught part of the Plan of Salvation and shared the video "Our Eternal Life" from LDS.org, which helped them gain a better understanding on where we came from before this life. Our other investigator we did a church tour with them, and we showed them all around our local church building and sharing with them what we do each Sunday and throughout the week.
March 22: We did a few service hours helping to pull weeds for a member. It's been so great being able to enjoy the wonderful sunshine here in Oregon, but I hear it's supposed to rain here this next Tuesday, so that will be fun. :D I do like rain, but it's just rain, no thunder or lightning. It's that kinda....weird? But rain is good,
sunshine is awesome too. :)
March 23: We had one of our investigators attend church with us this Sunday! It was so great to see them there and to be fellow-shipping with the local members. One thing that I have realized out here, and I'm calling anyone out who needs to do this, including the old me back in college, Do Your Home Teaching. Visit the members or members who aren't able to make it to church, or anyone else you've been assigned. It is so Vital to the missionary effort and even afterwards, it keeps everyone unified and anxiously engaged in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I cannot express to you how important Home Teaching is and why we need to be diligent in doing it. I've seen miracles come because of Home Teachers. :) Same with Visiting Teachers! :D Y'all are awesome and I know you are doing great. :) In church as part of the Ward Choir we performed Come Thou Fount and it sounded great! :) And one of the members in our ward was giving his farewell talk before he goes on his mission! Oh the memories. :D
March 24: Today, we went with might I say some awesome members who took us to the local water reservoir and we were able to enjoy the sunshine and take some fun pictures and videos. It was an awesome afternoon and the awesome members were so kind and even fed us lunch! :) They are super awesome.
Thank you so much for all your kindness! I hope to hear from you soon!
All the best,
Elder Harper