Lumberton - Week 22

Mangliba!

There was a lot that happened last week! So, I have a little more to say this week.

On Monday we stopped by a less active member named Joey. We sat and talked with him a little bit and learned that he just happens to be an expert knife thrower! He asked us if we wanted to learn how to throw knives. We said yes.  He grabbed some old kitchen knives that he had collected over the years and we went out back to a tree and started throwing knives at the tree. Joey was really good. He could stick it pretty much every time, 3 at a time, and some other fun stuff. Elder Gallgher and I got to be alright, we could stick it sometimes and that was good enough for us. After that we had a good lesson about how Faith is a lot like throwing a knife. We read from Alma 32 and he understood perfectly and was pulling out symbolism and relating it to himself, without us having to prompt the thought.

Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Brown, our Zone Leader, and the craziest thing happened. Our entire day went pretty much according to plan. That almost never happens =D! We got a referral awhile ago that hadn't really gone anywhere.  I had the thought to go back and try again, so  we did.  There was this older lady there that just wanted to preach to us, and young man named Ray Ray.  He was sitting on the front steps because he had had a heat seizure.  After he was taken care of,  we said we would come back at a time when there was less going on. Then Ray Ray said "no don't leave I was really enjoying listening to ya'll talk!" So we stayed for a few minutes and had a interesting little lesson with him.

Friday, Elder Gallagher and I had some time to look for new contacts.  We had no idea where to go,  so we just left our apartment and did our best to follow the spirit.  The spirit took us right to a house in the middle of no where.  We knocked on the door and we found an awesome investigator. They said that there were just too many religions and they were confused about who was right and so we started talking about the restoration and they loved it!

Hope y'all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Harper

Lumberton - Week 21

Hey everyone!

Last week was a fun week. We had interviews and a fun exchange. Not  a whole lot of exciting experiences to share this week so I thought I would share one of my favorite scriptures that has helped me a lot lately.

Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Many a times we get thrown into tense, awkward, scary, and sometimes dangerous situations as missionaries. For whatever reason the spirit might lead us through not so good parts of town and to not so nice of people, but we are able to stay totally calm. I know it is because we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. I know the same principle works for non-full-time-missionaries too.

As we strive to keep the commandments, do what the Lord needs us to do, and put him and his work first in our lives, we will be blessed with the peace that we so desperately need to make it through our mortal experience. Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Lumberton - Week 20

Hello Everyone,

Last week was crazy. =D  I don't know how time is going so fast, last week was like a blink.

On Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Smith and we had a really good time. He showed me how to make this weird milkshake that one of his companions showed him how to make. You make it by blending milk, vanilla ice cream, and a Bo-Berry biscuit together. (Bo-Berry biscuits are really good blue berry biscuits we get from a fast food restaurant called Bojangles). It was the best milkshake I have ever had in my life!

On Thursday Elder Gallagher and I drove to Raeford and I spent the night with Elder Luffgreen. He has only been in that area for a week, so he is still figuring out his way around.  On Friday he used his companions GPS to plan where we should go. So we spent 5 hours contacting people and biking almost 30 miles.

On Saturday the ward had a pig pickin’. We ate some good food and played the most intense game of kick ball I have ever played in my life. Love Y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Lumberton - Week 19

Hi everyone!

 Last week was a tougher week.

Elder Persé, our District Leader, got transferred last week.  The Elders we have now are Elder Kallas and Elder Smith.  I am still with Elder Gallagher,  who is now the District Leader. A lot of changes last week, but all for good things to come.

It seemed like nobody wanted to meet with us last week, but were able to find a good few people who were willing to listen.

We are teaching a single Mother, J, with five little kids. Every time we leave we ask what we can pray for, for her and she always says "what I really need right now is peace and patience." That is what we have been trying to help her find. She really likes the idea of Eternal Families. Last week we went to try and teach her more about the temple and the things she would need to do to get her family there, when we showed up her friend was there. We started talking and teaching and every thing we said she, of course, knew more about than we did, and we were wrong in pretty much everything we said. But it was interesting to see that the points we have already taught J, were the points she disagreed with her friend about.

That was just a small tender mercy from last week that I really enjoyed.

Love y'all!

Elder Harper

Lumberton - Week 18

Hey y'all!

I don't have a ton of time today, so I will just share a quick experience we had last week.  

Two weeks ago a lady came up to us and asked if we could come teach her family. She and her husband have a lot of health problems. We went to teach them on Thursday. We showed up and she wasn't feeling well. So we offered her a Priesthood blessing and she accepted. After the blessing she started to feel a lot better. Then, as we sat and taught and listened, we helped her to better understand the Priesthood and the feelings she was having.  We invited her to be baptized and she said "Yes, you don't even have to ask twice." 

We went over yesterday to see them again. Without even inviting her to church, she said her and her family would hopefully be there every week.  We invited her husband and son to be baptized, and it is something they want to work toward as a family.

Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Lumberton - Week 17

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Hey everyone!

Last week was a lot of crazy fun, and it is starting to look like this week will be similar!

We were able to find five new investigators last week, 2 or 3 of them actually contacted us and asked if we could come teach them. I wish missionary work was always that way.

One of my favorite parts of the last week was when I was on exchanges with Elder Smith. We were in his area and he had planned to go and visit a recent convert that is also less active. She is a single mother, paralyzed from the waist down, and has three young daughters.  They are all filled with energy. When we showed up, there wasn't a man home so we couldn't go inside.  We decided to sit on the back porch to teach her and her family. As we walked around to the back of the house we saw that the younger two daughters had made a huge mess and everything looked like a storm had blown through. We could tell that their Mom felt frustrated and under appreciated. The kids had no attention span and just wanted to play games and do everything except listen. Their Mom kept telling them to be quiet, sit down, listen, behave, stop fighting, etc. While all this was going on I felt a feeling of peace fill me up.  The oldest daughter asked if we could read a story out of the children's "New Testament Stories" book. We read the story and then taught about how important families are and how much their Mom loves them. After our simple lesson, the spirit came in, their Mom was able to relax, the misbehaving stopped, and all of us started to laugh and have a good time.

It has been emphasized and re-emphasized over the last week that families are forever. The crown blessing of living this gospel and enduring to the end, is to live in a state of never ending happiness with our Father in Heaven and our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ.  The crown jewel of that magnificent crown is the blessing of our families being sealed together.

I hope y'all were able to show your mothers how much you love them yesterday, and I hope that y'all will find time to show everyone else in your family your love for them as well.

Love y'all,
Elder Harper

Lumberton - Week 16

Good Morning Everyone!

Last week was a lot of fun! Even though we had a lot of appointments fall through. Everyone was just not home when they were supposed to be.  But, it also gave us more opportunities to see Heavenly Father work in our lives.

After several appointments fell through,  we were able to have a very powerful visit with Michael. This week Michael decided to pick up his bible and start reading.  We were able to talk with him and share scriptures and have great visit.

Also,  because of Elder Gallagher's sprained ankle we can't bike so we have to walk most places. While we were out waking some man yelled to us and we started talking to him. A younger kid was with him and someone came up to the other man and started talking with him and we started talking to the kid.  We gave him a Book of Mormon, and now we are teaching him.  His Mom is showing interest as well.

So, because of all these "bad" things that happen I have learned that Heavenly Father does a whole lot of work behind the scenes, so we just need to be patient and wait for the right time, when his masterpiece is put on the stage.

Love y'all!
Hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Harper

Elder Harper and his Buddies!

Reunited with first companion - Elder Guymon