Hey everybody! I'll make this update quick!
Yojham is doing amazing! He has a baptismal date for Dec. 6. We taught him the Plan of Salvation last night and he loved every bit of it!
The Rosenthals set their own baptismal date, which is huge because they have been investigators for a really long time and have had several dates.
Elder Guymon and I are doing really well! We had interviews with President and Sister Bernhisel last Wednesday, and we are trying to eat healthy but people love to give us goodies.... :)
Well, not a lot really happened this last week. Love you all!
Love,
Elder Harper
Monday, November 24, 2014
Monday, November 17, 2014
Durham - Week 16
Good morning everybody! This last week was full of tender mercies and interesting experiences.
On Wednesday we went on exchanges, I went to the District Leader's area (which is a Spanish area), and I was with his companion Elder Swinney. Elder Swinney is a ton of fun to be around because he loves to joke around.
At the end of the night we went to see a potential investigator with a member, but when we got there nobody answered the door. We left, and when we got in to the parking lot walking toward our car this man started yelling at us saying "Hey! Seriously just come here! I'm about to blow a blood vessel just get over here!" We were really confused and a little bit scared, but we started walking toward him and as we got closer he said, still shouting, " Just pray with me! I really just need someone to pray with me!" So we said a prayer with him and taught him a little about Christ and we went on our way. It was a good reminder of the peace that a knowledge of what Christ can bring.
We taught Yojham 3 times last week. He is still doing really well and has such a powerful desire to learn more about the gospel. He has said he feels like it is true and he wants the gospel in his life but before he gets baptized he wants to know more about the history of the church. So that is a big focus of what we have been teaching him. I love going to see him! Every time we leave I feel so happy because he is so happy and all that happiness comes to us because we are all trying to come closer to Christ.
Sunday was probably the best day of the week. We taught the man that stopped us while he was jogging last Saturday. So we taught him, his wife Emily, and they invited their friend Tommy. They are all very religious and the religion they believe in is very similar to ours. They are very easy to teach because they have a really good foundation that we are building off of. We taught them the Restoration and by the end of the lesson you could see these little changes start to happen inside of them. It was really interesting to see how at first they were a little skeptical and just trying to learn more of what we believed, then at the end they were saying that it could be true.
After we left there we had this feeling that we needed to visit a less active family. So, that is what we did. We knocked on the door and they let us in and we talked to them about hope. The family is an older lady who is the mom and her 35ish year old son. The son has had a really hard time lately. At first talking about the gospel made him a little uncomfortable but by the end he seemed a little more open to it.
Then we left there and a member wanted to take us to see one of his home teaching families that is less active. So we showed up and talked to them about Christmas and asked them if they needed help with anything. We talked to them about why they weren't coming to church and they said that they had been offended by someone and they were really hurt about it so they didn't want to have to see that person at church, so they don't come. We shared our testimonies and hopefully we can help them get back to church.
Well those were just a few of the exciting points of this last week. Hope y'all have great week!
Love,
Elder Harper
On Wednesday we went on exchanges, I went to the District Leader's area (which is a Spanish area), and I was with his companion Elder Swinney. Elder Swinney is a ton of fun to be around because he loves to joke around.
At the end of the night we went to see a potential investigator with a member, but when we got there nobody answered the door. We left, and when we got in to the parking lot walking toward our car this man started yelling at us saying "Hey! Seriously just come here! I'm about to blow a blood vessel just get over here!" We were really confused and a little bit scared, but we started walking toward him and as we got closer he said, still shouting, " Just pray with me! I really just need someone to pray with me!" So we said a prayer with him and taught him a little about Christ and we went on our way. It was a good reminder of the peace that a knowledge of what Christ can bring.
We taught Yojham 3 times last week. He is still doing really well and has such a powerful desire to learn more about the gospel. He has said he feels like it is true and he wants the gospel in his life but before he gets baptized he wants to know more about the history of the church. So that is a big focus of what we have been teaching him. I love going to see him! Every time we leave I feel so happy because he is so happy and all that happiness comes to us because we are all trying to come closer to Christ.
Sunday was probably the best day of the week. We taught the man that stopped us while he was jogging last Saturday. So we taught him, his wife Emily, and they invited their friend Tommy. They are all very religious and the religion they believe in is very similar to ours. They are very easy to teach because they have a really good foundation that we are building off of. We taught them the Restoration and by the end of the lesson you could see these little changes start to happen inside of them. It was really interesting to see how at first they were a little skeptical and just trying to learn more of what we believed, then at the end they were saying that it could be true.
After we left there we had this feeling that we needed to visit a less active family. So, that is what we did. We knocked on the door and they let us in and we talked to them about hope. The family is an older lady who is the mom and her 35ish year old son. The son has had a really hard time lately. At first talking about the gospel made him a little uncomfortable but by the end he seemed a little more open to it.
Then we left there and a member wanted to take us to see one of his home teaching families that is less active. So we showed up and talked to them about Christmas and asked them if they needed help with anything. We talked to them about why they weren't coming to church and they said that they had been offended by someone and they were really hurt about it so they didn't want to have to see that person at church, so they don't come. We shared our testimonies and hopefully we can help them get back to church.
Well those were just a few of the exciting points of this last week. Hope y'all have great week!
Love,
Elder Harper
Monday, November 10, 2014
Durham - Week 15
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Hey everybody! This last week has been an absolute blessing! Here are some of the highlights: On Tuesday we taught Yojham the first part of the Restoration and we had a really good talk about why he is interested in learning more about the gospel. He said he really wants to learn because he wants to, not because any of his friends want him to but because he likes what we believe and it feels comfortable.
On Friday we went to teach Cassandra and her family. We asked Brother Bowles to come with us. We got there and we taught Cassandra, a few of her kids, and her Daughters boyfriend. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and focused on life after death. A few years ago her 7 year old son got hit by a car and passed away. She is kinda hard to teach because she has a really short attention span and loves to talk. Luckily Brother Bowles was really good at cutting her off and keeping the lesson on track.
On Saturday all our plans fell through, so we went out and tried to follow up on some things. While we were walking this lady and her dog were out jogging and they ran right past us and didn't say anything. Then a man passed us and after a couple steps he turned around and asked us if we were on out missions. We told him we were and he said his name was Jim and we started talking to him. He asked us questions that matched perfectly with the Restoration lesson so we started teaching and then we caught up to the lady that had passed us earlier and we found out she is his wife. So we taught them both a little bit and they want to learn more so we are going to start teaching them this week.
On Sunday Yojham came to church! It was the primary program and he said he really enjoyed it. After sacrament meeting we introduced him to Brother Hatch who just got released from the mission presidency and who also speaks Spanish. Brother Hatch took Yojham to the Spanish class and now all the Spanish missionaries want to steal our investigator because Yojham is from Honduras and his native language is Spanish. Anyway, he said the more he learns the more comfortable he feels and the more he has a desire to learn more. He is the best!
We have been extremely blessed over the last couple weeks. Love you all!
Love,
Elder Harper
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Monday, November 3, 2014
Durham - Week 14
Weekly Update! On Saturday a less active lady wanted a blessing because she saw a young man get shot and killed. She said she hadn't been able to sleep since. My companion gave her a blessing and after we talked about the plan of salvation. She said she felt like the feelings she had been feeling, were draining out of her body, and she felt peace from her Father in Heaven. It was an amazingly powerful blessing and lesson. After we asked if she knew anyone that could use a message of hope or some service and she said we should knock on her neighbor's door. We walked next door and as we were walking past her neighbor’s car in the driveway, she rolled down the window and started talking to us. She said she was going through a really hard time and that they had just had a death in the family. She got out of her car and invited us into her apartment. We found out that she had been taught by missionaries before, she believed in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and that she had been baptized before into a different church, but she felt like that wasn't. We set a baptismal date with her and one of her daughters and talked about the Plan of Salvation, which she said she also believed in.
Yesterday we contacted a media referral. His name is Yojhan and he is incredible. He said he went to church yesterday and he wanted to learn more about what we believed. We talked about how he grew up Catholic, but from the time he was little he felt like it wasn't the correct church and that the repentance process they believe in doesn't make sense. So we talked about prophets, authority, and the correct repentance process. It was really awesome!
We also had a ward Halloween party that we went to on Thursday. Then Friday we had to be in our apartments by 6 o'clock if we didn't have appointments set. We didn't have any apppointments and neither did the Spanish Elders and our District Leader and his companion. We decided to have a halloween party at our apartment. We played Dew Pong (Beer pong but with Mountain Dew)!
Love,
Elder Harper
Yesterday we contacted a media referral. His name is Yojhan and he is incredible. He said he went to church yesterday and he wanted to learn more about what we believed. We talked about how he grew up Catholic, but from the time he was little he felt like it wasn't the correct church and that the repentance process they believe in doesn't make sense. So we talked about prophets, authority, and the correct repentance process. It was really awesome!
We also had a ward Halloween party that we went to on Thursday. Then Friday we had to be in our apartments by 6 o'clock if we didn't have appointments set. We didn't have any apppointments and neither did the Spanish Elders and our District Leader and his companion. We decided to have a halloween party at our apartment. We played Dew Pong (Beer pong but with Mountain Dew)!
Love,
Elder Harper
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