Lumberton - Week 1

Mangleba!

I just got transferred last week to Lumberton, North Carolina. I am in a tripanionship!  My companions names are Elder Braiser from Las Vegas and Elder Fenton from Rigby, Idaho.

We teach primarily the Burmese people because there are a bunch of them that live here.  They are the most lovable people I have ever met. They always feed us and give us bottled water, they are the best.

The people here in Lumberton speak either Burmese, Kareni, or Karen.  Me and my companions  are trying to learn Kareni because most of the people, at the very least  understand Kareni. It is super hard to learn, but it is a ton of fun. When we teach, we take some of the young men with us that are Burmese to translate for us. There are a lot of difficulties but it is more fun than anything.

We spend a lot of time with the youth and they teach us all these crazy games that they made up while they were in the refugee camps in Burma. My favorite is they make a jump rope out of rubber bands and you have to do all these crazy things,  that we can barely figure out. I am also learning to knit!  I made the bag and the scarf that I am wearing in the picture of me and my companions. 

This area is a blast.

Love y'all,
Elder Harper

Durham - Week24

Hello Everyone,

This last week was crazy,  or at the very least it ended crazy!

On Wednesday we had exchanges.  Our District Leader, Elder Moore, came to our area and we had a great time ripping carpet out of a less active members house.  We had to wear gloves and face masks because the carpet was pretty nasty.

Then on Friday I found out that I am getting transferred, I leave tomorrow (Tuesday 1/13).  It was very unexpected, but I am excited.

On Saturday we left our apartment around 2:00 pm, and got back around 6:00 pm,  and found the ceiling in our apartment dripping water and the floor was soaked! We did have a wonderful tender mercy though, our clothes and our beds were totally dry and clean.  That was a major relief!  Since the flood happened, we have been living with the Spanish Elders that live really close to us.  We carried our beds over and our clothes and it has been a ton of fun! Very cramped but very fun.

That is pretty much it for this week.  Love y'all!

Elder Harper
 

Durham - Week 23

Hello to Everyone,

We had a pretty crazy week this last week this last week.

On Monday, we went exploring in the woods with some other Elders from our district. We ended up walking through knee deep water to find a beaver dam, but sadly we never found it.

On Tuesday we tried to contact as many less actives as we could. The day started out with us getting our car stuck in the mud. Luckily a man stopped and towed us out with his truck and some rope. Then we went to the northern part of our area that we don't get to very often and our GPS took us way farther than we wanted to go so we ended up at Falls Lake. Which was actually a lot of fun.  We thought we finally got close to the house we were trying to find. We took this little dirt road off into the woods and somehow found ourselves at some horse stables. So we turned back and found the right place but they weren't home and nobody had ever heard of them.

Wednesday was New Years Eve, we went out to Chili's with some other Elders and after we played water pong.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were tough. We knocked on a lot of doors and did a lot of walking and biking.

Sunday seems to always be the best day of the week. We have church at 11 now instead of 9. We left our apartment at 10:30 for church, then left straight from church to go to a lesson with some investigators, Jim and Emily. After that we went to an appointment with a less active family, the Lefevers. We invited them back to church and they said they would do their best to be there. Then we went straight to a dinner appointment and after that we went to a dessert appointment with a less active :D.

We have been very blessed,  and have been having a great time in the service of the Lord.

Love Y’all,
Elder Harper

Durham - Week 22

This last week was a BLAST!!!

We did a lot of good stuff this week,  but Christmas was definitely the highlight.

We spent Christmas eve at The Borries. They are a super fun family. They have two huge Malamutes. They kinda look like huskies or they are a special husky breed or something, I don't really know, but one is super playful and the other is super fluffy and looks like a small bear. If we get out to their house again I will get pictures and I am going to have one some day!!!  We decorated cookies and ate a ton of really good food. Then we watched Mr. Kreugers Christmas. Then we went home.

We woke up the next morning and opened presents. I got miniature scriptures, best present I have ever gotten. Then we proceeded back to our beds to take a nap!

We went to Sister Wood's house around Noon, where we spent  most of the day. We played Monopoly, Skyped our families, and ate a ton more food. Some of Sister Wood's family were there so we had a great time with them.

Also, it was 70 degrees here for Christmas, it was awesome but it didn't really feel like Christmas should.

Love y'all,
Elder Harper

North Carolina Christmas 2014

Durham - Week 21

Hey Everyone!

This last week was a lot of fun! Nothing super significant happened. We had our Christmas Zone Conference! Which included 3 zones getting together for some training, lunch, and a Christmas talent show. I'm pretty sure almost everyone sang. Even though there wasn't a ton of variety it was nice to have a break from the normal and just feel the Spirit. 

We also had exchanges, I went to the District Leader's area with his companion, Elder Medina. It was a lot of ,but everything was also in Spanish so I wasn't much help.... but I did learn a lot of things from Elder Medina, so it was good experience. 

It has been raining a lot lately, which has been a lot of fun! It hasn't really gotten all that cold here. We have had one day that was really cold but other than that it has been very nice weather. 

Love y'all and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Harper

Durham - Week 20

Hey everyone!

Last week was a blast!

Elder Whatcott is a ton of fun and a phenomenal missionary. We did a lot of less active work this last week because we had a lot of appointments cancel, but we had a great  week.

Yesterday was probably the best day. We have an investigator, Brother Rosenthal, he has said he wanted to be baptized for a few months now but just a few weeks ago he became sincere about it. He has also developed several serious health problems over the last little while but he is holding to the rod. He hasn't been at church the last few weeks because of his health but yesterday he made it! He thinks his health problems got worse because he tried to quit smoking to fast so he is going to try again but a little slower this time and will hopefully be baptized sometime in February.

Then after church we went to see a less active, Brother Batterson. He was busy but said we could come back on Wednesday. So we started knocking doors in the area, found an amazing family but sadly they weren't interested, or at least not yet. Then we met another amazing single lady, Marilyn, she wasn't interested either, so we will probably give her to the Sisters. Then we had a feeling we should head back to the car to go to a different area. When we got back to the car Brother Batterson was taking out his trash and we started talking a little bit and he invited us in and we had a great lesson with him.

We finished out the night at the Harmon’s home for dinner and had a wonderful lesson and watched the “He is the Gift” video. Sister Harmon was crying and the Spirit was so powerful! Christmas is the best time of year!!!

Love you all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Durham - Week 19

Hello,

Yojham got baptized on Saturday! He asked me to baptize him. He asked us to make the water as cold as we could because he never wanted to forget it. I got into the font and I lost my breath it was so cold but as soon as he came up I felt warm. I wish I could always feel that way. After that we both had so much joy it crazy.

I got a new companion, Elder Whatcott from Pleasant Grove. He is a great Elder and I am excited to learn from him.

We went out contacting Sunday afternoon and started to talking to this man named Eric he is super funny and we taught him a little about the Plan of Salvation then as we were finishing he said we needed to take some sefies real quick. So we took some pictures with him and we are going to start  teaching him.

Those are the big highlights of the week. Hope y'all have a great week

Love,
Elder Harper

Elder Harper and Brother Yojham

Elder Harper, Brother Yojham and Elder Whatcott