Monday, September 28, 2015

Wake Forest - Week 14 (Training Week 7)

Happy Fall y'all!

Fall time here is the best! The leaves are just about to start changing and all the colors will be beautiful!

Last week was pretty rough for the majority of the week.  We saw very little success, and it seemed like everything we tried to do failed, and no one wanted to listen to what we had to say.  We were on bike and it was raining for most of the week, so it was a good character building week!

Saturday was easily our best day. We went to contact a potential investigator, Valerie. We met her on Friday and she said we could come back. We had a nice visit and she said she would read from the Book of Mormon and pray about it.

Then we went to see another potential investigator, but that fell through.  We were back to tracting. We knocked down one street and started to head to the next, but we felt like we needed to be somewhere else.  We decided to go to another area. We got to the front of a neighborhood, and we felt that it was where we needed to be but not yet, for some odd reason, so we didn't enter the neighborhood yet. After we had knocked on a few more houses around the area, we went into the neighborhood. 

We hit a few more houses and ended up in someone's driveway. We could see someone in the garage, so we waved, and they met us at the garage entrance. We introduced ourselves and they were so amazed that we had showed up when we did. They went on to explain to us that their father was having a rough day and his wife suggested that he read John 3:16. They went on to say that the Father hadn't opened a bible in years and the moment they finished reading the verse, we showed up in their driveway. They want us to come back this week. 1 NEP 4:6 and Hebrews 10:31, has been in my head a lot and Ether 12:6 fits with it perfectly because to me it sums up the path we are all on, and if we can learn to walk by faith, everything will work out in the end.
Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Monday, September 21, 2015

Wake Forest - Week 13 (Training Week 6)

Good morning everyone!

Last week was a lot of fun. I had a great birthday last Monday! The Howell family took us to a trampoline park and we had a great time jumping on stuff.

We worked super hard this last week.  We did a whole lot of knocking on doors and met a lot of fun people, a few not so nice people, but mostly nice people. I found out that Elder Bleckner (my companion) is fearful of large dogs, which makes knocking on doors that much more fun!

My favorite experience of last week was when we went to see a family we had been trying to start teaching. On Friday we decided to just stop by.  We had made several return appointments that had fallen through, we figured they were just trying to be polite, but we tried this one last time.  They let us in! They are a great family! They have two little kids and they are curious if the LDS church would be the best fit for their family.

I have a strong testimony that the Lord prepares people to find the gospel and often times it takes the faithful act of someone else to bring them into it. Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Monday, September 14, 2015

Wake Forest - Week 12 (Training Week 5)

Happy Birthday Elder Harper!!!  #20!!!

Hey Everyone! Last week was a tough one, but a really fun one too. We biked a whole lot and met some really interesting people.

We met one man who is 81, but still loves to play basketball like he is a teenager. He told us story after story and he had some funny opinions.

One of the highlights of the week, was last Monday. There is a man in our ward that owns a big laser tag place and he lets the missionaries play for free so we got the whole zone together and played football, and laser tag, and had a great time.

We also met Caleb.  He is 20, and he is awesome. He told us the gospel is "rad." We explained the Plan of Salvation to him last night and after we explained baptisms for the dead to him he asked, "why don't other churches have some thing like this?" haha He is a lot of fun and really likes the gospel because it makes sense.

We caught a possum!

Laser tag!

Love y'all! have a great week!

Love,
Elder Harper

Mr. Possum

Laser Tag with the Elders!

Elder Harper's Birthday Celebration with the Howells and his Companion  "Got Air?"

Happy 20th Birthday Elder Harper!!!

Monday, September 7, 2015

Wake Forest - Week 11 (Training Week 4)

Hey everyone! So last week I fractured my wrist so this will be kinda short because typing  isn't my strong point at the moment. Most of last week was messed up because I was in a splint, that restricted the use of my elbow.   We were limited in what we were able to do but we still got things done. One thing that has really helped me lately is my scripture study. I put a few scriptures together and they have given me a little extra motivation despite my struggles:

"...wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." (Ether 12:6)

"...receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only..." (James 1:21-22)

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men..." (Galatians 6:9-10)

Biking in a cast isn't fun but I know that understanding comes after we trust Him to lead us in the right direction and just because I have a limitation doesn't mean I am limited in what I can do in this work. Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Monday, August 31, 2015

Wake Forest: P-day (9/4/2015)

Hi, This is Elder Harper's Mom. I just wanted to give everyone an update on Elder Harper.  

On Friday, September 4th I got a text from a member in Drake's ward.  They let me know that Elder Harper had broken his arm while playing basketball on his P-day, on Monday August 31st.  He collided with another player.  His arm was hurting, but he thought it was just sprained really bad.  He walked around for 4 days and decided on Friday he better go to the doctor.  They said it was a trapezium fracture, no surgery necessary.  He is doing fine, and still smiling!!!  
Elder Harper - Still Smiling!!!

Wake Forest - Week 10 (Training Week 3)

Hey y'all!

There was a lot going on this last week. We had a Zone Conference with Elder Dubé of the Seventy. Had has an awesome accent. The thing that stood out most to me was what he taught about the Book of Mormon. He told us to never give away a closed Book of Mormon. If we give one away we share a story or a scripture or something that will get them to open it. Along with that he shared his conversion story of how someone gave him a Book of Mormon and it took him two years to open it.

Our Mission President, President James, taught us as well. He shared a story of how a young man was killed by a train. His mother was distraught by his death and one day soon after his funeral he appeared to her in a dream and explained the accident and told her to tell his dad that he was okay and he was in a good place. He went on to say that he had been trying to reach his dad but his dad was too busy in his office and dealing with all his responsibilities to hear his son. Then President James taught us about taking enough time to be sensitive to the Spirit.

Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper

Monday, August 24, 2015

Wake Forest - Week 9 (Training Week 2)

Hey Everyone!

Last week was a lot of fun.  It was long and exhausting, but it was fun!

We are back to switching off weeks with the car,  with the Sisters. That means every other week we are on our bikes. Our area is really spread out so we get to do a significant amount of biking, which has actually been a lot better than I thought it would be. For example, we felt like we needed to go to visit a less active that lived around 10 - 15 miles away.  We planned several places we could knock on doors and try to contact people along the way. After 4 hours of nothing, we finally got to this less active person's house. We walked up the door and knocked and asked for the person and they weren't there... But it just happened that their son is also living there, who is also less active!!  We were able to have a good visit with him and talked about the power of prayer. Not a whole lot has come of it yet, but we definitely felt the Spirit that day.

"And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." -Ether 12:6

I know this scripture to be true and that if we can hold out hopeful through our hard days in life,  I know we will see more of the picture and understand a bit more of why we are here. Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Harper