Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 18

Hey Y'all,

So, Miracle story, Spiritual experience, and lots of pictures for today!

Miracle Story- Elder Wion and I were out knocking on doors when we had a prompting to go to some apartments on the opposite side of town. Needless to say we followed it. The second door we knocked on, a HUGE black man answered. As soon as he opened his mouth it was clear he was just a big ol' teddy bear. He let us in after some persuasion. We sat down and shared a beautiful restoration lesson with him. Elder Wion went for the baptismal invite and he accepted! He didn't come to church but we set an appointment for tomorrow.

Spiritual Experience- On Tuesday I went on exchange with Elder Rose. It was a great exchange mostly because Elder Rose is just an amazing person, but also because I got to do a baptismal interview with Dougie. The Spirit was awesome. He was so ready. It was just a huge tender mercy. At the end of the interview I got to pray for him and that was my favorite part. The spirit just flooded the room and testified of what he was doing was right and that the gospel is completely true.

See Pictures Below-

Have a great week!

Love y'all,
Elder Harper

Elder Wion hard at work!

Elder Rose and Elder Harper

Elder Harper in his Lava Lava with the Volavolas

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 17

Hey y'all!

So we had everything from tornado warnings to super big hail this week.

Wednesday I was on exchange with Elder Conteh down in Pembroke. Right around dinner time we got an emergency warning text about tornadoes. They live in a trailer (not exactly the safest place to be). We were talking, then all this noise started happening that sounded like someone was trying to break the trailer apart.  Turns out it is some large sized hail. Then we got a call telling us that we were supposed to stay in doors until further notice.

The next morning  he wanted to go see a less active part member (not technically married but they have lived together for 7 years). His name is Joe and he was the member and her name is Wanda. Elder Conteh said they had tried to teach her in the past and the Sisters have tried but she hasn't been interested. While we were there she was running around trying to clean and make everything look nice, and keep her son under control. After 15 or so minutes the son was playing in the back room and she was sweeping so we "asked" for the broom.  I swept while Elder Conteh taught her.  When I finished,  I sat down to help teach. She shared with us how she had lost a baby boy about 2 years ago. We testified of eternal families and taught her the steps she needs to take to receive those blessings. She was crying, I was tearing up a little bit, Elder Conteh is British so he was probably fine.

That is really the big highlight of last week. All the craziness was primarily on the exchange. I got pictures though!

Love y'all!

Elder Harper

 

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 16

Hey ya’all,

This last week was pretty crazy. We had Elder Rose and Elder Hancock living with us for most of the week because Elder Rose had to get a root canal and several other things done. On Tuesday I was with Elder Yeats and Elder Teeples in Sanford. They are a Spanish area so I was mostly lost. They had a member come out with us named Bob Stone. He gives all the missionaries a nickname and I got "wolf."

Then on Thursday Elder Wion and I went out in the morning and found a new investigator. Then we started an exchange with the Assistants and I was with Elder Garn. Then Elder Rose had an appointment and he was on exchange with Elder Nadauld. It ended up being most effective for Elder Nadauld and I to go out and get stuff done.

After exchanges, we went out to dinner with the Blood's. We went to a Japanese place, it is one of those places where they cook your food in front of you on the grill table. Then after dinner Elder Garn and I taught Mark a lesson. Later that evening we had to go on base, but Elder Garn forgot his ID, so I went with Elder Rose to teach a lesson on base. After that we all met back up and Elder Garn got a call from President and he had to do some things that night, so we were all at the church till 10:40 eating taco bell trying to get all that figured out.

It was mostly a whole lot of getting switched around. All in all it was a pretty good week.

Love ya’all,

Elder Harper

 

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 15

Hey y'all!

Last week was a lot of fun. Spent a good amount of time in the cold, knocking on doors, which was a lot of fun. We used the fact that it was freezing outside to get in a couple doors, which got us a couple new investigators.

Last night was really great. We got done with our coordination meeting with our ward mission leader around 8:15 and we had a feeling to go to an apartment complex. So we went and got started about 8:30. Elder Wion walked straight to a hallway and I followed him.  We knocked on around 8ish doors, and then we knocked on a young couple's door. We told them who we were and that it was really cold and asked if we could come in to witness to them about our Savior Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon.  They let us in and we had a super spiritual restoration lesson with them, and they wanted us to come back on Tuesday. Those experiences are the best.

In my studies this week I learned a lot about hope. I found out I totally misunderstood it. Hope stems from us seeing God's promises/will fulfilled in our lives. I am trying to understand that better.

Y'all look for God's hands in your lives this week and PLEASE email me about it. Sound good?

Love y'all!

LoVe,
ElDeR HaRpEr

P.S. Happy Valentines Day!

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 14

Hey y'all!

This last week was awesome, pretty crazy but awesome!

We did two exchanges, one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. I got to do a total of 6 hours of driving, just for commuting purposes. Car rides are a ton of fun when you are with someone who can hold a good conversation. Some of those hours were good, but more of them were pretty quiet.

On Tuesday I was with Elder Lindley he is from a little town just outside Logan, Utah. He is a lot of fun.  Once he is comfortable enough to say something he doesn't stop! :) He LOVES Star Wars, and on his planner he has a Star Wars picture, with one side that was the dark side and one side that was light, with the question "which side will you choose?" and the scripture:

3 Nephi 13:24 - "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."

It was pretty funny, but also a very good spiritual question. It made me think a lot about Fear and Faith. We can't be fearful and expect the blessings of the faithful. You have to constantly and deliberately choose what side you want to be on, and if you don't choose you fall into the fear category because faith = action. Awesome principle learned from a Star Wars picture this last week.

On Wednesday I was with Elder Islas. He has been in the field a week and is totally a deer in the headlights, but at the same time wants so bad to do so good. It made me reflect a lot on the importance of patience in learning. Lots of lessons this last week.

Then Elder Wion and I found it! Ever since I got to this area at the beginning of November we have been trying to find a large gathering of YSA age non-members. Elder Wion came here from Fayetteville 4th ward which we still technically cover, but just for the YSA people. He knew where a college was across town, so we went there and it was a gold mine. We are pretty excited for that. The only problem is, it was mostly women that said we could come back, but on the other hand we told the Elders Quorum President about it, and he was all for it! He said they need more options in the branch!!! :)

Well hope y'all have a great week! Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 13

Hey y'all! 

We don't have a ton of time this week, but I got a new companion. His name is Elder Wion. He is originally from Liberia but his family is currently living in Las Vegas. 

Have a great week! I will write more next week!

Love y'all!
Elder Harper 

Elder Wion - Elder Harper's New Companion

 

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 12

Hey y'all!

Last week was nuts. I slept in my bed only 3 times, I think.

We did two exchanges, so I was in Pembroke Tuesday and then Cameron on Wednesday. On Tuesday I was with Elder Garrik, he has been out for 6 weeks and is a lot of fun. Their plan for that day was to bike all over the place, so I got to bike 17 miles in the bitter cold. I was bundled up, so I was just fine, but after a couple hours Elder Garrik was coughing a lot and said his chest was hurting,  so at the next gas station we went in for a little while for him to warm up. After that he was doing a whole lot better, and the rest of the night was a lot of fun.

On Wednesday, there was a Worldwide Missionary Broadcast. The theme was "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts." It was super good! I learned a lot about the importance of repentance and how through constant and consistent repentance, that is what will get us to our Father in Heaven again.

After the broadcast I was with Elder Hancock. He has also been out 6 weeks. We went tracting in the cold for a couple hours. I got the short end of the stick a lot this last week. :) It was awesome though, we found this man at 2050 named John. We taught him the Restoration in his driveway while he was out for a cigarette. He loved it and said the Elders could come back to teach him and his wife.

Friday night there was an ice storm that came through and knocked out our power and that day we got instructions not to drive, and be super cautious on the icy roads.  We went over to a Part member familys house, Brian and Tristen (they are both 19, no kids). We taught them and had Mark over, he is another investigator. They bonded really well and then on Sunday we were at the Dagley's house with Mark, they were the ones who introduced us to Mark, and he said he wanted to get baptized after he quits smoking. We testified to him that if he read and prayed everyday he would be able to give up smoking.

Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 11

Hey y'all!

Last week was a lot of fun!  Two Sundays ago a man, just kind of walked into church and was curious, so we started teaching him.  He broke up with us yesterday so that was sad, but other than that the week was pretty good.

Elder Hardy and I blitzed a couple areas this last week. (Blitz = My companion and I split up and one of us goes to another area with the companionship and the other missionary goes to another area with a different companionship). I was in Rockingham with Elder Jones and Elder Livingston. We had a lot of fun. It was awesome to see how much they cared about the people they taught. We went to see a lady that is super sick and could die any day, but she just keeps on going. I think she said she had died at one point, but she came back. She shares the gospel like crazy over Facebook. She said "I'm not where I want to be, but I thank God I'm not where I was." It was awesome to see that she smoked and struggled with a few other things but she looked at how she had improved, found joy in that, and was still focused on becoming better.

On Wednesday we had a Zone Training. The focus was on covenants and how as we more fully fulfill our covenants we are more able to be in tune with the Spirit.

Have a great week!

Love y'all!
Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 10

Hey y'all!

We had a lot happen last week. We had a zone conference on Tuesday. After that Elder Garn (one of the Assistants) came with Elder Hardy and I for the evening. We had a lot of stuff come up so we did a split with Brother Bambas. Brother Bambas and I went to teach a couple people while Elder Hardy and Elder Garn went to a stake meeting. I was happy to be out teaching.

At 2115 when we got back together, we got to drive down to Rockingham and then back up to Southern Pines. We got to Southern Pines around 0000. Fun part of this was on the way down we had two cars so I rode with Elder Garn in the truck and Elder Hardy drove solo. Then when we got to Rockingham we took their car so we all had our own car. I got to spend about an hour by myself. It was really weird. I didn't have anyone to talk to for the first time in almost 18 months. CRAZY ain't it!

Then Friday happened. Around 2030 Elder Hardy and I went to an apartment complex. We prayed and asked for the Lord's guidance to find one new investigator. We knocked on a door and we felt like we were at the wrong spot. So we ventured deeper into the complex. We felt like we were in the right place so we knocked 2 more doors and found a couple that was semi-interested so we will go back this week. Then it was 2045 and we were about a 15 min drive from home and we were about to leave. Elder Hardy said, just 1 more, so we tried 1 more. We met a very nice man. While we were talking my mind went completely blank to the point where I forgot everything I was saying so I ended the door approach and we started back to the car, we got about 50 feet away from the door and we saw two young looking brethren walking away from us. We promised to do all we could, so we started following them, as casually as possible of course. They turned around and we started talking to them and shared the Restoration with them. Turns out they are interns at this huge Baptist church called "Mana." They loved talking to us and wanted to learn more so we are going back this week.

And this last bit I felt like sharing. The Spirit has taught me a lot this week. I have felt directionless for awhile and the answer to my prayers finally came, postmarked and everything, it would be so much easier if it worked that way. The theme for the rest of my mission is "yellow lights and little victories." A long time ago I heard an analogy that compared receiving answers to prayers and guidance from the Holy Ghost to a stop light. Red means no. Green means yes. Yellow means use your best judgement or in other words God trusts you to make the right decision. For a long time I have struggled with having self confidence and trusting myself to make the right decision on my own. Getting opinions from others is always good but I am always hesitant to make a firm commitment to something. Little victories, every time I follow a prompting, resist temptation, or take a step toward overcoming my own weaknesses, that is a little victory and a lot of little victories will lead me to the big victories. There is a lot more that goes into it and it is only growing. For example, I learned that by getting so many yellow lights is a good thing, because it means that God has enough trust in me to let me make decisions, which in turn means that I am living worthy of that trust, which has been empowering and humbling at the same time. Over the last while one of my favorite scriptures has become Doctrine and Covenants 58:27-28 "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."

Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 9

Hey Y'all! 

Quick miracle story.

While I was with Elder Kiddle while we were tracting, we found a man named Calon. He was nice, and we tried to set up return appointment but it didn't work out then.  When Elder Hardy first got here we ran into him on base. I should have taken that as a sign but I didn't. Then this last Saturday his name came to mind so we went to see him. We knocked on his door and he immediately let us in and we shared the Restoration with him and his Girlfriend. At the end of the lesson we asked if he had any questions and he said, "all I really have to say is thank you." It was a great tender mercy for us. As we walked away the scripture that came to mind was "they are kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it." People are hungry for the truth but they don't know where the buffet is and it is a great feeling when you can give them directions. Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 8

Hey everyone! 

Elder Hardy and I are having a blast! Last week was pretty hectic with Christmas, but it was a lot of fun. 

I got to go on exchanges with Elder Sheely on Wednesday and then I got to be with Elder Medrano for a couple hours on Thursday. 

Holidays partially exist in the mission, we typically just work through them. We still had things to do on Christmas but the Spirit that came in was extra special. It has been awesome to see how much more open people are during Christmas time. 

Sorry I don't really have a whole to say this week. Love y'all!

Love,

Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 7

Hey y'all! Merry Christmas!!!

This last week was a crazy week. We had transfers last Tuesday. Elder Kiddle got transferred and now I have a new companion, Elder Hardy.  He is from Pleasant Grove, Utah.  He is a blast! We get along really well and both of our sights are set on becoming the best people we can be. He goes home in 5 weeks, so we are set on making them count.

Wednesday we did exchanges. I was with Elder Jenks here in our area. We had a great time. We went on a Bro date to Olive Garden with some gift cards we had been given. The waitress asked us if we wanted some wine!

 Thursday was a good ol' work day. We ate a dog biscuit, just for the heck of it. I do not recommend it!!! They taste like cardboard and not the good kind!

Friday we had a leadership training meeting in Raleigh which took the majority of our day. I also started to get kinda sickish with a sore throat, pretty sure it had nothing to do with the dog biscuit.

Sundays we spend at the church pretty much all day because we cover two wards. Sunday night we went to see the Volavolas. They are Fijian, and they had this weird looking thing on their wall, turns out it's a whale's tooth. In Fiji when a man wants to marry a girl it is tradition to give the father a whale's tooth as a symbol of engagement (Mom tell Steve he needs a whale's tooth)! Then We had a coordination meeting with our ward mission leader and those are way too much fun. I'm shocked we get anything done. Because of my sore throat, my voice dropped what sounds like an octave, which made me sound like a smoker. Brother Ralston gave me some drugs and now I am doing better. I still sound like a smoker though.

Love y'all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Harper

Merry Christmas from Elder Harper and Elder Hardy!

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 6

Hey everyone!

So last week was a lot of fun! We had a lot of stuff going on. We had a Zone meeting Wednesday. It was way good! Can't really remember what we talked about right now but I do remember the Spirit was super powerful.

I was with Elder Smith in his area which is coincidently our area so we weren't to far from home. Quick miracle story from exchange. I was with Elder Smith in his area and we found ourselves with spare time to tract at 8:30. I asked Elder Smith what our goal was in for the time we had and he said 2 new investigators, I'll be honest I thought we could only find one, but We put some faith into it and we went out and found a man in 2 minutes and taught him a 20 min restoration lesson. Then we only had a few minutes to find another person. So we started knocking doors with lights on hoping that was more likely to result in someone being home. At 8:59 we were running to the next door. We knocked and no one answered. Feeling deflated we started walking back to the apartment. Luckily we were only a minute walk from the apartment. Half way back we saw a man sitting outside so we talked to him, taught him a brief restoration lesson. So we found our two. It's crazy what faith can do.

Then on Friday we had a Tri-Zone Christmas Zone Conference. There was a story there that was shared that was super powerful. There was a lady that spoke named Nicole. She has a special needs son that had a lot of problems when he was born. The doctors said he would never be able to walk or do anything a normal kid would do because of the position his neck was in. She went on to explain all the trials they have been through and how they have overcome them. One trial was her son needed to develop his neck strength to balance himself, so that he could walk.  The way to do that was to crawl around on the floor, but it was super painful for him to crawl. So Nicole spent a month crawling around the apartment trying to get him to follow her so that he could get the strength needed to walk.

That story made me think a lot of our Savior Jesus Christ and all that he does to come down to our level to lift us up to a higher level.

Well that was last week. Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 5

Hey Y'all!

Last week was way fun! On Tuesday I got to go on exchange with Elder Ben Pope, which was a blast! It feels like not too long ago we were sitting in chemistry class together, now we are both on missions in the same place, crazy stuff!

We found a really nice Spanish couple. Elder Pope taught them the Restoration because he is Spanish speaking. I got to use my high school Spanish to share my simple testimony. It was an awesome lesson.

After dinner we went to stop by a less active. He is a single father or at least he was. We showed up and he and his new wife had just got home that morning. They needed help unloading a
U-haul, so we spent some time doing that.

Afterwards, at 8:30 we had some spare time so we knocked on doors and found a new investigator! It was an awesome lesson. He was asking lots of questions about what is our purpose in life. He is also an interrogator in the Army.

We had so many people cancel appointments last week, so we ended up with a lot of gaps in our schedule. It was amazing to see how we were guided to where the Lord needed us to be.  It was very easy to see that with Elder Pope, he is awesome!

I gotta go but I hope y'all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Harper

 

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 4

Hello Everyone,

Hope y'all had a happy “National Fat Kid Day!” We spent Thanksgiving with a recent convert and his wife, and that is what they called Thanksgiving! 

Last week started off pretty smooth, but got hectic very quickly. Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal days. Wednesday we went on exchanges and I was with an interesting Elder. I can't tell you exactly what it was, but something about him was just kinda weird. He's a really nice person but something is just a little off. His area is an hour away, so we had plenty of time to sit in the car and listen to MoTab. It was kind of an awkward 24 hours! 

Thanksgiving was kind of awkward also. We went to the Cutler's house to eat like fat kids. They had some other people over.  Nobody that we really knew, and everyone else knew everyone,  so we mostly just ate and listened to everyone else talk.  There was this newlywed couple there being newlyweds and somehow Elder Kiddle and I ended up sitting right next to them. There was a man there from Nigeria that was really fun to talk to. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon. He had only been in the US for 5 days, so it was fun to talk to him about all the little things that are different from Nigeria. Our light switches apparently are the opposite of theirs. So he will go to turn the lights on or off and try to push the switch the wrong way.

Then on the night the Black Friday sales started, we went to the mall and passed out cards. Which was again super awkward! No one would stop and talk to us so we would just give people cards without really being able to say anything to them.

There was a lot of awkwardness going on last week. Highlight of the week was Sunday night. Sunday night at 8:15 we still needed a New Investigator to achieve our goal for the week. Elder Kiddle looked at me and said that we wouldn't find one until 8:55 (because success never comes till the end). We started knocking on doors, and we found 2 potentials but no one to teach on the spot. Sure enough we knocked one last door at 8:55 and a man named Travis stepped out and started talking to us. We shared the Book of Mormon and a brief restoration lesson, had him read Moroni 10:3-7 and he said he really liked the book and that we could come back this Wednesday. If you ask in faith, you shall receive.

Love y'all!
Love,
Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 3

Hey y'all!

Not a lot happened last week but we had a good time!

We went on exchanges with the Assistants on Tuesday. I went to their area. We drove pretty much all day delivering stuff to other missionaries and all kinds of administrative stuff. Not the fun stuff!

Wednesday we had our Zone Training. That was fun! :) The theme was conversion, and how we need to be constantly strengthening our own conversion. It was really interesting. 

Most of the week we spent knocking on peoples doors. Not a whole lot of highlights there, but we had Stake Conference over the weekend and there was an area seventy there, Elder Bluth.  He shared this story... (it is trimmed due to lack of time)

When Elder Bluth was young his Dad had lots of sheep. One year there was a late frost after all the sheep had been sheared and that killed a lot of the sheep.  It left 350 baby lambs without their mothers. Without theirs moms they had no way to eat because they were too young to eat the grass because they didn't have teeth. So, the Dad went to Elder Bluth and his brother and told them if they helped him care for the baby lambs he would split the profit with them in the fall. They got right to work. They built a feeding trough and put some milk in it and herded the sheep to the trough but they wouldn't eat. After trying and trying they came to the conclusion that they would need to take each lamb in their arms and feed each one with a bottle or the lambs would starve to death. At night coyotes would sit on the hill and howl.  In the mornings they would come and find their handiwork, 3 - 4 dead lambs here and there. When their Father was home, he would go out and fire his rifle into the air to scare off any coyotes. They were safe while Father was home. With all their efforts some still starved and passed on. Over time they got used to disposing of the dead lambs. Until they named one. It had a black spot on his nose and would stay at their feet while they worked. He knew their voice and would come when they called. Then one morning they came to find him under a tree. Elder Bluth picked up the dead lamb and carried him in his arms to his Father and said, "is there anyone to help us feed our sheep?" His Father held him while he cried, then they dug a grave and buried the lamb. Then his Father reminded him of when the Savior said "Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep."

I really liked this story. I pulled a lot of symbolism out of it. Hopefully y'all enjoy it! Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 2

Hey everyone!

Last week felt really long but I can't really remember a whole lot that happened so I'll focus on the highlights.

I went on exchanges with Elder Conteh, in Pembroke, on Wednesday. He is originally from the UK but he moved to somewhere in Utah. He has a British accent which is always fun to imitate. They live in a trailer. I wish I would have taken a picture of it because for some reason it is pretty hilarious.

We got to bike a good ten ,which is always fun, and I got to meet, James. He is a recent convert, used to be a drug dealer, has one leg, is in a wheel chair, black, and awesome. He was baptized around April and he has already read the BOM twice. He cooked us some deep fried fish and some fries.

On Friday we went to teach Brian and Tristen. Brian is our investigator, I think I mentioned him last week. The Spirit was super strong and he said he wanted to get baptized.  Hopefully we will be able to set a date this Tuesday.

Sorry I don't have a whole lot to say this week.

Love y'all!
Elder Harper

Fort Bragg/Fayetteville - Week 1

Hey everyone! This last week was a whole lot of fun!

On Tuesday I got transferred to the Fort Bragg Ward and the Fayetteville YSA Branch. Covering two units is lots of fun! We get to meet a lot more people!

Tuesday we got to our area and went to see some people. Wednesday, we went on exchanges with some other Elders, so I wasn't even with my new companion, Elder Kiddle, or in my own area for my first day here. Thursday I don't even remember what we did. Friday we had a meeting in Raleigh and Saturday we spent most of the day knocking on doors.

The Highlight from last week was a referral we got. We went to contact the referral and it was a married couple (they are both 19 (younger than me)). She is a member and he isn't, but he said he knows the Book of Mormon is true and he feels really good when he is at church. So we are pretty excited to teach him.

Well not much else for this week. Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper