May 2, 2014
Wonderful Things Are Happening In Oregon!
Hello Wonderful Friends and Family!
Thank you so much for all that you do and for your love and support, you would not believe how much it means to me! :) I have been having an eventful week as I am training a new missionary fresh from the Missionary Training Center! I am so grateful for this opportunity and for the trust my Mission President has in me for only having been out a few months. :) This email may be a little shorter than most because I have limited time today, but I first off want to share with each of you that I know that this Gospel is true, I know that the Atonement is real. I add my testimony to Elder Hollands of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, I have never been more certain of the truth and divinity of the Gospel and the Priesthood of God on the Earth today. I pray that each of us will also gain and add upon this knowledge and be a witness of Jesus Christ and share that with our family members, friends, and the world.
April 22: I believe I wrote about this a little bit last time, but I was placed with actually two missionaries for the day in my area to accomplish any appointments visits I had planned before we arrived at the mission home later this evening. We are a full bike/walking area because it is such a small area. But that was reaffirmed to me when we had the use of a car for today and we literally went through every appointment and backup in the blink of an eye, but fortunately with the resources of our Area Book we were able to visit and contact as many people as we could in one day which ended up being very successful. Later that evening is when we drove to spend the night at the mission home while training on how to train. It is always an experience being able to learn from my Mission President the importance of being a diligent and faithful missionary. We had dinner at the mission home and it was great getting to know President and his wife on a personal level, well, as personal as a missionary could get. We talked a lot about their family and Presidents background and experience. That normally doesn't happen, but since there were only 6 missionaries training, (rather than 20-30), we were able to meet and prepare in the mission home.
April 23: This morning we woke up and we dressed in our exercise clothes and President took us down to a path that they often go running in the mornings. The scenery was beautiful and I love how good it feels to be able to feel the brisk air flowing past while you run. Afterwards we had a hearty breakfast and we prepared for extra training. When the time drew near for the new arrivals, several other missionaries gathered together at the mission home and we practiced singing the Especially For Youth Medley. (Search it online if if you haven't heard it, it's awesome.) Then the big moment arrived! :) 6 new missionaries walked in, 2 Sisters and 4 Elders. After a welcoming presentation and program we had a quick bite of lunch and prepared to receive our new companions! It is always such a thrill being assigned a new companion because you have your thoughts and feelings of, "Oh, who might I be companions with next?" But I know that our mission president is inspired by our Heavenly Father to know who we should be placed with. And just then Elder Godfrey was assigned to me as my trainee! :) We had a quick photo together and closing remarks from President and we headed for our areas. And immediately we went finding by knocking door to door around our neighborhood and almost immediately we found someone who was willing to learn more about the Book of Mormon and who was willing to let us come back and share a message of the gospel with them.
April 24: This morning we had a great weekly planning sessions in preparing for the next 10 days. It was rather fun going to dinner tonight because we went to a families house where they have a pipe organ built into their house! It sounded like we were in church when they were playing a couple of hymns, needless to say it was pretty incredible. Then later that evening, it was 8:45 and we were close to our apartment but we had a referral from some other missionaries to go see this lady. I asked Elder Godfrey if we speed walked over there if he thought we should try it before we went home. He said yes and we were able to meet an awesome family and they are so excited for us to be coming back this next week to continue to share with them more about Jesus Christ! :) Many miracles are happening!
April 25: Today was great in the fact that we had New Missionary Training and we received some great advice from the Zone Leaders on what to practice together. And during District Meeting it was great being able to have practically a brand new district with nearly a different missionary in every companionship. :)
April 26: This morning was our first real companionship training session where we were able to sit together as two missionaries learning from each other how to work towards better missionary work. Then later today we went to help and elderly member in our ward start cutting out their front lawn to replace it with I think it's some sort of wood chip with rock formations. It will look really good when we get it all out. We also were able to help a family in our ward with clearing out some of their hedge branches in the yard. Saturdays are Service days for us most of the time. :) What was really awesome today though was that we had two people during the day come up to us and ask if we could share with them about Jesus Christ and give them our phone number for the missionaries to come by and visit with them! It was awesome! :) It is incredible to see so many miracles happen in the mission field these past couple of days. Tonight we also met with the person that we found a few days ago and they had already started reading the Book of Mormon! :) All the way into 1 Nephi chapter 19! And that's a lot of reading over the course of a few days.
April 27: Today we had a wonderful Sacrament meeting, but none of the people we are teaching were able to make it. :( But it was great because we have some amazing members in our ward who are so awesome in helping us every day. Plus we were able to attend a youth standards night fireside with President and Sister Young. :) It was great being able to learn from them and engage the youth in discussion.
Well, thank you all so much for all that you do, I have to get running here to make it to dinner on time. But I love you all so much and I hope you know how much I love each of you and I am praying my hardest for all of you. I know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us and wants the best for us. I pray that His will be done in all things and for the benefit of our learning and continuing to gain experience in this life in preparing to live with Him again.
I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!
All the best,
Elder Harper
Thank you so much for all that you do and for your love and support, you would not believe how much it means to me! :) I have been having an eventful week as I am training a new missionary fresh from the Missionary Training Center! I am so grateful for this opportunity and for the trust my Mission President has in me for only having been out a few months. :) This email may be a little shorter than most because I have limited time today, but I first off want to share with each of you that I know that this Gospel is true, I know that the Atonement is real. I add my testimony to Elder Hollands of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, I have never been more certain of the truth and divinity of the Gospel and the Priesthood of God on the Earth today. I pray that each of us will also gain and add upon this knowledge and be a witness of Jesus Christ and share that with our family members, friends, and the world.
April 22: I believe I wrote about this a little bit last time, but I was placed with actually two missionaries for the day in my area to accomplish any appointments visits I had planned before we arrived at the mission home later this evening. We are a full bike/walking area because it is such a small area. But that was reaffirmed to me when we had the use of a car for today and we literally went through every appointment and backup in the blink of an eye, but fortunately with the resources of our Area Book we were able to visit and contact as many people as we could in one day which ended up being very successful. Later that evening is when we drove to spend the night at the mission home while training on how to train. It is always an experience being able to learn from my Mission President the importance of being a diligent and faithful missionary. We had dinner at the mission home and it was great getting to know President and his wife on a personal level, well, as personal as a missionary could get. We talked a lot about their family and Presidents background and experience. That normally doesn't happen, but since there were only 6 missionaries training, (rather than 20-30), we were able to meet and prepare in the mission home.
April 23: This morning we woke up and we dressed in our exercise clothes and President took us down to a path that they often go running in the mornings. The scenery was beautiful and I love how good it feels to be able to feel the brisk air flowing past while you run. Afterwards we had a hearty breakfast and we prepared for extra training. When the time drew near for the new arrivals, several other missionaries gathered together at the mission home and we practiced singing the Especially For Youth Medley. (Search it online if if you haven't heard it, it's awesome.) Then the big moment arrived! :) 6 new missionaries walked in, 2 Sisters and 4 Elders. After a welcoming presentation and program we had a quick bite of lunch and prepared to receive our new companions! It is always such a thrill being assigned a new companion because you have your thoughts and feelings of, "Oh, who might I be companions with next?" But I know that our mission president is inspired by our Heavenly Father to know who we should be placed with. And just then Elder Godfrey was assigned to me as my trainee! :) We had a quick photo together and closing remarks from President and we headed for our areas. And immediately we went finding by knocking door to door around our neighborhood and almost immediately we found someone who was willing to learn more about the Book of Mormon and who was willing to let us come back and share a message of the gospel with them.
April 24: This morning we had a great weekly planning sessions in preparing for the next 10 days. It was rather fun going to dinner tonight because we went to a families house where they have a pipe organ built into their house! It sounded like we were in church when they were playing a couple of hymns, needless to say it was pretty incredible. Then later that evening, it was 8:45 and we were close to our apartment but we had a referral from some other missionaries to go see this lady. I asked Elder Godfrey if we speed walked over there if he thought we should try it before we went home. He said yes and we were able to meet an awesome family and they are so excited for us to be coming back this next week to continue to share with them more about Jesus Christ! :) Many miracles are happening!
April 25: Today was great in the fact that we had New Missionary Training and we received some great advice from the Zone Leaders on what to practice together. And during District Meeting it was great being able to have practically a brand new district with nearly a different missionary in every companionship. :)
April 26: This morning was our first real companionship training session where we were able to sit together as two missionaries learning from each other how to work towards better missionary work. Then later today we went to help and elderly member in our ward start cutting out their front lawn to replace it with I think it's some sort of wood chip with rock formations. It will look really good when we get it all out. We also were able to help a family in our ward with clearing out some of their hedge branches in the yard. Saturdays are Service days for us most of the time. :) What was really awesome today though was that we had two people during the day come up to us and ask if we could share with them about Jesus Christ and give them our phone number for the missionaries to come by and visit with them! It was awesome! :) It is incredible to see so many miracles happen in the mission field these past couple of days. Tonight we also met with the person that we found a few days ago and they had already started reading the Book of Mormon! :) All the way into 1 Nephi chapter 19! And that's a lot of reading over the course of a few days.
April 27: Today we had a wonderful Sacrament meeting, but none of the people we are teaching were able to make it. :( But it was great because we have some amazing members in our ward who are so awesome in helping us every day. Plus we were able to attend a youth standards night fireside with President and Sister Young. :) It was great being able to learn from them and engage the youth in discussion.
Well, thank you all so much for all that you do, I have to get running here to make it to dinner on time. But I love you all so much and I hope you know how much I love each of you and I am praying my hardest for all of you. I know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us and wants the best for us. I pray that His will be done in all things and for the benefit of our learning and continuing to gain experience in this life in preparing to live with Him again.
I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!
All the best,
Elder Harper