September 30

heya family! holy cowabunga crazy week here in sheboygan. it was mission tour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we got to hear from a general authority this week. it was beautiful. on my mission ive gained such a strong testimony of personal revelation...its just been pourin in this week. the flood gates were busted and this week for sure its been a commin especially with mission tour.
  elder perkins is a man of god. at the begining of mission tour he invited us to change from just objects sitting in the pews..to agents ready to receive revelation. i had prayed to be able to have questions for mission tour because i knew i would receive answers. and all of them were answered. if i were to write em all out might take a bit longer so ill just write one that slapped me in the face real nice. haha.    allll of the greatest missionaries suffered adversity even when they were at thier best. they knew their relationship with god and knew his voice. satin always comes especially when we are working hard and doin exactly what we need to do...our best. the things that i must do that we all must never cease to do...i made a list of a couple things that came to my mind as i thought about what elder perkins was teaching all of us. Never cease to call upon god. Find strength in knowing i am a son of god. Build your foundation on the savior. AND get goin...start your hike right on up the path. we all have characteristics of our heavenly father...he is trying to get us to become that person. president cutler really hit me hard when he talked about becoming consecrated. within that... to be consecrated you must seek to do things to receive blessings..but seek to do things because you really love your father in heaven. that is tough eh? ya it is. but as ive began to think about it and try my hardest to apply it shooot im so much happier. thats something else that hit me hard this week as well. we got home from mission tour late...and i said my personal prayers and really asked my heavenly father for help. ive been quiiiite nervous to start the whole training thing...but the spirit definently comforted me as prayed to lay down my weaknesses at the feet of my savior. cause man..im so imperfect but i know he can help me so much..he can make me perfect. he can lift me to that next height. but i received a strong answer to my prayers that night... just as our savior put his will on the alter for all of us...for me. i have to put my will on the alter, as a representative of the one who did it for me and for the whole world.  he has trusted me with this part of his vineyard. i can sacrafice things my whole mission, put things aside. but if im doing it because i want blessings...thats in vain! im doing no good for the reason im here. the key to become that missionary is to do things self-lessly not selfishly. becoming better because i love the people here. we are their guides back to there savior!!! 

  that was probably confusing but hey made sense when i wrote it down hahaha. crack up. well its been a sick week. ive been nervous goin into training but hey im lovin it. i got my boi saturday but we will get to that in a bit. leading up to saturday elder hernandez and i saw some beautiful miracles. mom...i might have a project for you:))))) ive been working on a trackting book but boy im just not that suave with the whole word thing and email time swings by pretty fast so i dont have much time to organize it suppper well BUT ill continue to try:) but hey what ive done so far has worked out SWEET. everydoor has been hispanic families! so that is awesome. we found this awesome guy florencio. hes prepared. i knew the moment i saw him. so we met him. continued to use the trackting book found two more families! that was a beautiful day. let me tell ya. so friday we went and visited all the recent converts and members and other investigators that elder hernandez wanted to say paz a fuera too less actives as well. it was great. friday night we headed over to carlos' house. i made a scripture case for carlita. she was stoked to see that and also we wanted to stop by just to say good byes. ended up having an amazing lesson with miriam jesse and carlita. we sat em down and just had a powerful lesson on how we know that they are ready to make that first sacred covenant. god prepares people. there was no coincidence that the missionaries knocked on there door...they need this. it was a powerful lesson. but still no date. it will come though. so the big day SATURDAY. 10:00 came around and the ap's showed up at the church building to pick elder mckay and i up to head to green bay for the training. elder taylor brand from holliday utah is my new comp right out of the mexico mtc. freshhhhh as fresh can be! haha its a crackup! he is actually elder gibbs neighbor! speaking of elder gibbs i saw him this week! but elder brand is great. im stoked for these next two transfers. we will see miracles. sunday we had some great new lessons lined up. florencio...we had an awesome lesson with him on his porch for a little bit. he asked the question that all missionaries love..."porque ay muchas iglesias?" thats like candy to the ears right there. elder brand is awesome. we get along great and he is stoked! there is nothing like the mtc fire!! his spanish is great! and hes excited to learn so its gonna be great! its a different experience to have to rely on my own spanish thats for sure! but i like it alot and know ill be growin lots form it.

 a mission is a beautiful thing family! i love it! so flippin much. fall is here some trees are red and super orange! ill try and get some pics....wierd to see colors haha. but hey i love you all and love this gospel.....ITS ALL TRUE. i challenge everyone to be agents this conference instead of just objects! say hi to grandma for me tell her i love her! its great to hear she is doin better.! alright well love you all and make it a great week!

 Elder Haprer-Smith

September 23

buenas tardes!
 mom! im still district leader and now am training also sorry if last week was a little confusing!
  can you believe ive been out niner already? time continues to...fly.
 wednesday we took off to plymouth about a 30 minute drive through the countryside. couldnt complain. super green rolling hills cows the whole enchilada...but slowly the colors are changing. fall is here. its been like az winter a couple days here but im goin to the death with rockin the short sleeves. gotta get the most use out of em. so our idea for plymouth was to find a bunch of new investigators and have lessons with all our investigators that we found the week before. all our appointments fell through and we didnt find no one. BUT we had one heck of a lesson with indalecio. he is the man. it was the first time i got to meet him he was thrown off that i knew spanish ...i assured him i still got plenty to learn. but he was just talkin my ear off about everything. it was a good time. indalecio is a chef...he made us some dang good food probably if not the best pretty close to the best mexican food ive ever had. we taught the plan of salvation after. when we started talking about the pre earth life he stoped us and told us that that was new to his brain. hes never known that but when we said it ..it felt familiar to him at the same time. he said the closing prayer and after he said hes never felt how he had felt today. he is eaten up the lessons, reading the book of mormon, praying, he is golden!!! BUT he works like crazy...and sundays are his busiest days...this last week we had a companionship fast for indalecio. i was expecting a huge miracle when we called him on saturday to see if he would be coming to church... we were sad to hear that he couldnt. but the miracle and blessing is he has been reading everyday and praying! so hey thats a miracle and a blessing. and he will have next sunday off! 

  this week has flown by i cant beleive its already is gone! shooot. i get my new comp this saturday! im stoked to train and have to rely on my spanish so that i can really grow in the language. its gonna be hard but i can do it. new challenge. new mountain. and im stoked! so next monday ill give you the deets about it all. translating at church is getting better. its quiete a hoot sometimes but my spanish has definently increased because of it. its a good way to learn....

 one of my favorite parts of the day is studies. this week i received alot of revelation and just solid strengths and answers through the book of mormon. in jacob 4:8 Behold, great and marvelous are the ^aworks of the Lord. How ^bunsearchable are the depths of the ^cmysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man ^dknoweth of his ^eways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the ^frevelations of God.

  how unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of our heavenly father...we learn and learn and keep learning. there is no end! this week we  have mission tour with elder perkins from the seventy in appleton! im excited to learn even more and to be able to receive revelation through elder perkins to uncover and learn more through the spirit. as we search we will find. as we ask we will receive. heavenly father knows us and loves us. and though his depths are unsearchable we can continue to uncover his mysteries through our diligence in being worthy of the spirit and asking. personal revelation is such a blessing. and conference is coming up in two weeks!!!

love you all! mission is amazing. i love it. keep pressin forward!

-elder Harper-Smith

September 16

  well first off i gotta say rightnow has been the greatest part of my mission. its amazing the things that are happening here in sheboygan. str8 up amazing. im blessed to take part in it. 
  so this week i had exchanges with both sets of elders the english and hmong elders. exchanges...wow this week was rediculous! wednesday i went into hmongs area. elder mckay came and picked me up within 20 minutes we had a baptismal date. it was crazy. we went to their investigators house ended up teaching his daughter through 2nephi31 and now she wants to be baptized on october 19th october 19this gonna be a huge day...as a distirct...we are gonna have over 8 baptisms as of now...talk about miracles. but emily is str8 up golden. elder mckay and i honestly we have the best unity in lessons more than ive had with any of my companions. its crazy hhow the spirit thrives as we teach and we can both feel its guidance. wednesday night we set some lofty goals....but we had faith that we could make them. our goal was to teach 18 lessons and 10 new investigators. distirct meeting this week i really felt impressed to talk about well i just really broke down D&C 100 and focused on our savior and his atonement... i was preparing for district meeting and verse 4 really hit me hard for somereason.. "i have suffered you to come unto this place for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation of souls."  wherever you are ...that second, that minute that hour of rough trackting, that door being slammed in your face, whatever it may be...the lord has suffered for each and everyone of us to be there. for me the power of my saviors atonement becomes more real and real each and everyday. the focus of district meeting was finding...keeping our lines in the water at all times. not only that but trusting in your savior, having confidence and trust in him that opportunities will come and when they do we need to "lift up our voices" and not be nervouse or unconfident in what to say but we need to trust our heavenly father and savior that they will lift up our voices with the things that they would say. i love in alma 26 when ammon just blows your mind up with the spirit. everything happens because of our heavenly fathers grace. the whole chapter is so powerful but i love verse 22. we come to know 4 steps that we must do in order to bring forth thousands of souls just like the miracles ammon saw. 1." he that repenteth"- we have to know our weaknesses. 2. "excersiseth faith" we must act in faith to overcome. 3. "bringeth forth good works" be diligent work work work. 4. "pray without ceasing" 
 so my commitment i prayed hard to figure it out...and this scripture really gave me the answer. as a district we all committed to before any door opens (apartment, car) to sincerly pray to have opportunities to find those that are prepared. to have opportunities wherever the day may take you to have opportunities to lift up your voice and share this amazing message we have.  and i thought real hard and prayed to know what i could promise them. its a simple commitment something we all do...but i felt guidance as i promised them that there solid progressing investigators will double... and that promise was fullfilled this week!! it was absolutely amazing to see that. but finding was the focus of district meeting...in my exchange with elder mckay at the end of the day we had taught 26 lessons and had found 11 solid new investigators. we saw str8 milagros everywhere we walked.  thursday i had exchanges with the english elders. elder cranney came here to the spanish area with me. what a day. it was a good 3 page journal entry day haha. the begining of the day was slow. doors slammed slammed and more slamming. elder cranney was getting a little down..but miracles happen on exchanges and i promised him that. the next door we knocked on opened right up! lenard. boy was he stoked to see us! he was great ful to see us. a great new investigator for english. it caught us real off gaurd on how accepting he was. crack up. we had a lesson with luis at 11... ill give ya a short version of it but it was probably one of the craziest spiritual lesson of my mission. luis...i feel is along for the ride. just one of those investigators. its carlos' brother in law. but i wanted to be as bold and as loving as i could this lesson. so i dug deep and so did elder cranney... we asked how he had gained a testimony of joseph smith...he told us "well through you too i feel good about it" when he said that we found out he hadnt been praying hadnt been doing one of the most important steps to conversion...asking his heavenly father. right then i received a prompting. PRAY. so thats what we did. i got down on my knees, elder cranney followed and as well did luis. hes a really shy guy...doesnt feel comfortable praying. we knelt there testifying of prayer. heavenly father is waiting. he wants to hear form all of us! so i started...i said a short prayer...then elder cranney...then it was luis' turn. we knelt there for a good 2 and a half minutes silently. the spirit was so strong. luis kept sayin i cant man i cant..but we just waited. i knew he felt the spirit he jus tneeded to listen to it. another minute went by and finally i just looked up at him and said... "hey luis..your father in heaven wants to hear from ya...all you have to do is ask him. he wants to give you the answer. and i promise you will receive that answer right after you pray" i dont think ive felt a prompting more strong than that one. and as i promised him he would receive that answer right then the spirit filled the room even more. silently we waited with our heads bowed. and then luis began to pray... well. luis received his answer the second he closed in the name of our savior. it was amazing. he just looked up at us smiling. INCREDIBLE MIRACLE. he told us he knew that joseph smith was now for sure a prophet of god. we went over what that means but still he wont except a baptismal date. something is holding him back...still need to find that grasp that is keeping that doubt. we found like crazy this week and had amazing spiritual experiences as a district. things continue to unfold. yesterday was the simple docterine sabath. bishop holmes puts a side each month one sacrament meeting that is devoted to the simple docterine of the church...which should be every sunday haha but here in sheboygan ya never know what to suspect. but it was a killer sacrament meeting. all the recent converts got up and gave talks. carlos, antonio they both gave powerful talks. and then brother klunk got up and gave a str8 up amazing talk. brother klunk...someday you all need to meet him.... but the reason bishop holmes does sacrament meetings like yesterdays is for our investigators... this ward is so missionary focused it is GREAT. and as missionarys through doing our part it really lifts the ward. speaking of a missionary minded ward we got a member refferal last week that i forgot to tell you about. indalecio. our first appointment was on wednesday...i was on exchanges but elder hernandez told me all about it. indalecio is amazing. he reminds me of grandma...just so prepared ready for the gospel. indalecio will be baptized october 19th if he can get work off and come to church. but he told us he will pray and fast for that opportunity. that alone shows his faith.... family i love my mission i hope ya know that and can feel it in my letters.  i feel so blessed rightnow its rediculous....heavenly father never lets ya get comfortable though... he likes to throw curve balls to get ya even to higher hieghts. ill be training next transfer!! pretty sick eh? im so stoked!!!!!!! 

 ya know to become the greatest missionary heavenly father has in store for me ive been focusing on the weapons i have that are holding me back from blessings my heavenly father has in store for me, to become the "4th missionary". its hard and its different for everyone but i want my mission to change me i want it to be sacred and the best two years ..so ive been praying to know those weapons and then acting in faith and burring those weapons just like the anti nephi lehies. not forever but while im here. faith is a powerful word ive come to find out and through the faith they had and through their sacrafices they were made great servants of the lord... loose yourself in him and you will find yourself. ive "burried" a couple things that took me along time to shooot it was really hard as well and there in my heavenly fathers hands now...but i know through that great things will come to pass. as a district we have all been praying to know what more things we can do even better what weapons we still have out... sheboygan is rising....next transfer we will be soaring. heavenly father is lifting us... and its such a blessing. alma 26:36-37
36 Now if this is ^aboasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a ^bbranch of the tree of Israel, and has been ^clostfrom its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, ^dwanderers in a strange land.
37 Now my brethren, we see that God is ^amindful of every ^bpeople, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

 i definently know im not perfect! not even close!!! but this is my life and im stoked to be here. 

love you all the mostest! 

-elder harper-smith

p.s. i can see my breathe today!!!

great elder

so how are them monsoons been treatin ya? 8 inches of rain santa vaca thats just crazy! dad your keepin busy i take it? shoulda had the gopro...thats all i gotta say about the desert shot you saw...  so i hope im getting pictures of my truck today?? haha she better still be in one peice T ! the weather here ha estado bien fresco!!! past few days weve been in the 60s..just enjoying the nice weather while we have it. the snow is gonna be back before i know it.

 so this week no amazing miracles like last week but everyday has its own miracles out here on a mission. as you appreciate each experience you see the big picture and see miracles in every step you take. gets hard sometimes but they are there.

  im doin way good. health and all. ive overcome the wrath of the tortilla and have lost 15lbs! thats whats up. elder gibbs and i ride bikes all day and i cant complain. especially in the weather weve been having. BLESSING.

  this past week la familia ramirez were unable to meet with us as much as we had planned and they didnt come to church this week so we have to push back their dates to probably the 10th. they have a sincere desire but just dont do alot of their commintments. we are working hard with them and hope this week goes better.  it was a sad sunday here in green bay! orvalina on the other hand is doing so great!!! this wednesday luisito (her son aabout 7 months) had his second surgery for his stomach infection problem. its amazing how the lord works some times... his first operation brother rowley, elder jimenez, and i went to the hospital and sat down with orvalina and taught about the power of the preihstood. after that we gave a blessing to luisito... the first operation went great and luisito was able to go home 2 days early! when this week came around orvalinas first thought was to have someone give a blessing to luisito! so she called presidente day-gomez and hno arcos...its just amazing how shes leardned the power of the preihstood through this out of nowhere problem that happened to luisito. he had his surgery on wednesday and yesterday he went home 3 days before he was expected to.!

  we had a great lesson with the family maceda luna. we taught about the authority and baptism. we extended an invitation for the 27th of august they said they wanna be baptized!!! but wanna know exactly what they have to do before they promise a date. so our next lesson should go great. i realllly feel good about this family. they remaind me of the tecualts! BUT they did promise us they would come to church this week...we waited and waited outside the chapel but they never showed up:( i sat in the chapel in a great sacrament meeting. the spirit was so strong and i sat there thinking of how much these amazing familys that we are teaching would enjoy this amazing branch. I WISH THEY WOULD COME!

  mom you asked about george! we havnt seen him since...kinda our fault really. hes a busy guy and we have been really busy during the time of day that he sometimes has free. busses take so much time!!!!!!! 2 hours just one way to the ramirezes house... we will definently be seeing him this week though!

 

love you all!! keep those missionaries busy over there!

elder harper-smith

7 months!

holy cow another week! crazy. it just continues to blow my mind on how fast time is goin. elder gibbs and i are really workin hard out here. we are finding true joy in this amazing journey of a mission. havin so much fun and working hard at the same time. we have seen miracles because of it! we are having so much fun. but i promise we are working working and working ...and working. its the only way to do missionary work...to work. thats when your the happiest and thats when miracles happen. thats the secret to missionary work...its to work. if your not happy work harder eh?
 elder gibbs and i teach really good together. my teaching skills have really increased and i enjoy teaching so much! especially spanish!!! dang i love this language. i drempt? dreamed..i dunno how to say it but i had a dream in spanish this week pretty sick. spanish is really coming along. probably about 6 weeks ago or maybe less i dont remember perfectly i realized that i cant do it on my own... so i asked for help and heavenly father has blessed me in so many ways since! tuesday was zone training. and i received alot of revelation from it. while president and sister jones served here they lifted the mission. and boy has it come a long way (so ive heard) now with president cutler he is gonna take it to even a higher level. hes an awesome president and the spirit is so powerful in his presence. you know hes a servent of god. his main focus is of course pmg but also on the book of mormon. so thats what the zone leaders focus was on. president cutler wants us to help others have "soul changing" experiences like hes had. he wants us all to have them for ourselves and help others to really feel the power of the book of mormon.  so hes challenged all of us to begin a serious study of the book of mormon... a sacred study. the book of mormon is the word of god i know it is. i know it is because ive got down on my knees and prayed to our heavenly father and asked him. recently thats something ive really learned questions always arise as i read and the best way to find the answer is to pray. even with the smallest questions. ive started to really study the book of mormon. i have before..well my whole mission...but there is also room for improvement. when your anxiously engaged in the word of god its amazing what things you learn.
  weve been pretty busy over here! its been nice to have our planners full of things to do besides TRACKTING.our teching pool is pretty great and is getting better each week. wednesday we had breakfast with orvalina (waiting to be married) we taught after she fed us some dang good pancakes, repentance. every lesson we have with orvalina a member comes with us ..its always brother rowley! the funniest most spiritual old man ive ever met. the guy is a crackup! served his mission in argentina back in the day when that mission was just starting! hes got some amazing stories. and has been there since the begining with orvalina! after our morning lesson we came home and headed out to the west side. after 2 hours of buses we got to the ramirez's casa. the lesson went great taught the story of enos, about repentance, did a killer analogy that blew their minds. it was a very strong spiritual lesson. elder gibbs and i really focused in on the spirit as we taught. we could definently feel its guidance as we spoke. long story short the ramirez family will be being baptized onthe 3rd of august!!! the elders before that taught them...well the ramirez family didnt feel ready or prepared... right when we asked them the mom laticia and her two kids victor and julio looked at eachother and then told us they felt really good about august third! they come to church more then thier father who is a member...so through this we hope to re activate him and get them all on the path to the temple where they can be sealed for all eternity! awsm family!!on our way home from the ramirez we stoped at a couple different transportation centers to catch and wait for different buses. at one point we had to wait for a while and there was a nice airconditioned sears right across the parking lot so we thought.."why not?" we were in sears esperando por the bus and a worker comes up to us and starts talking to us asking all these great questions...real humble guy thats searching for true happiness and knows that none of that can be found in the things of the world. we ended up talking to him for 30+ minutes... about so many things. it was sick. he wants us to come over and teach him! but he doesnt speak spanish...soooo we have to give him to the sisters probably:( we meet amazing people on the daily over here in green bay...and alot of crazies to. people really think us latter day saints are crazy. so many people have so many misconseptions about our religion its crazy. and honestly annoying! so ... something i learned...even if your not wearin white shirts a tie and slacks and a name tag...people should still know who you are by how you act. be an example in all tht you do and opportunities to bring this true joy into others lives will come. heck it brings so much joy into your life as you share what you know and live it...so do it!
 went through almost the whole area book loading formers into the gps this week. weve contacted quite a bit and have received alot of success through it! things take time alot of the time. some people just need the right missionaries and the right timing. everyday elder gibbs and i pray to be those missionarys. weve been working hard with the members also to try and get them goin...its working!! members are really starting to talk to us about prospects and people they have been talking too. we have one solid refferal from a member rightnow who we should be meeting with soon! almost all of our 13 refferals are contacted finally... its been a process. out of the 13 refferals we have met great people...awesome familys!! but none really interested. but have found a few!ive never had 13 refferals before haha. thats more then ive had my whole mission! OH FLIP i gotta tell ya about george! hes a refferal from the sisters... works 14 hours everyday at a chinese resturaunt and some other place so at his lunch break he trys to visit with us... i dont know if i told you about the refferal that wants to be baptized..but george is him. so we have been tryin for the past month to meet with him during his 30 minute break time... finally worked out this week. he is the man thats all i gotta say. he was so excited about the book of mormon we didnt have much time to teach but we really got to know him. busy busy but wants this in his life.
  its crazy that ive already been in green bay almost 3 months!things are really starting to unfold for elder gibbs and i in this work! we are so stoked! i hit my 7 month mark this week!!!!! holy dang. im loving my mission more and more everyday! love ya all!!

Elder Harper-Smith
 the mission home address changed... sorry i didnt tellyall that earlier! anddd i dont know it rightnow but will get it to you all next week or sometime soon:)

"the spanish is coming!!" July 9

well first off i gotta say...spanish is coming!! improving so much everyday. second....its been yet again one great week in this amazing work!

 

   green bay spanish elders at the beginning of this week had 13 refferals...tuesday we worked hard to try and contact as much as we could! we were only able to contact 4 but found an amzing family with one of them. with tons of potential. we talked on their porch for about an hour about what we do as missionarys and just really got to know them. aweome people with amazing questions...BUT they are leaving to mexico for a month this wednesday :( any ways we continued to contact ...it being 4th of july the next day almost everybody had family over and woulnt let us in.That night we had dinner with one of my favorite familys here! la familia gonzalez. they fed us some amazing dominican food and sounds like they are working hard for us and opening there mouths ! weve got some solid refferals in the works and have appointments with them this week!

 friday we decided to continue contacting our gazillion refferals and some that told us to come back later...the first door we knocked on was juan! we sat down on his couch and he just started telling us how hes made so many mistakes in his life and just wants to be free from them. he told us he wants joy in his life...elder gibbs and i looked at eachother did a high five in our mind and started teaching out of the book of mormon about repentance. we shared mosiah 4 9-12 and as juan read he started to cry. i love verse 12 we are promised so many blessings as we repent. and that was exactly what juan needed. those exact words in verse 12. haha after we read that verse he looked up at us and said "ya know...i think i wanna do this missionary thing"  after sharing mosiah we talked about baptism and shared 2nephi 31 9 -13 and invited him to be baptized on agust 3rd... he said he already had been baptized...we ran out of time right after that BUT set up an appointment for tuesday! definently will be teaching the restoration. we are stoked!

  our district meeting this week was focused on teaching people not lessons. meaning following the spirit and asking inspired questions...and teaching to their needs. last night we had an amazing lesson with the aranda family(one of the familys we have been teaching) they are absolutely amazing. they werent able to make it to church yesterday because alex there youngest son got pretty sick...but we set an appointment with them for that night. our plan was to teach el dia de reposo. hna aranda alex and almost all of the kids were able to read 2nephi2, the chapter we left with them last week, but do to a crazy couple days for cesar (hno aranda) he wasnt able to read. of course we were "devestated" like elder holland teaches us to be in pmg when our investigators dont read.... but we were able to read and teach,with the whole family together ,2nephi chapter 2. taught about the fall and agency how its one of the greatest gifts dios nos ha dado. the spirit was so strong as the whole family asked questions and were involved in the reading. the spirit was so strong in that little living room of their apartment as we read the word of god as another gift god has given us...familys. elder gibbs and i both felt the guidance of the spirit as we taught. its an undescribable feeling... we finished the cahpter...the spirit was there...and i was trying to listen. all i asked was "for you as a family..what does the book of mormon mean to you?"  the room went silent as they all sat there pondering. hermano aranda looked up and said one simple word...TRUTH.

  the aranda family have received an answer from there heavenly father through his holy spirit that the book of mormon is true. nights like last night, the spirit that was there, the feelings of joy as this amazing family testified to us that they know the book of mormon is true..that they feel so much peace as they read the words inside. they know it is the word of god. man....i wanted to get up and scream HALELUYA!!! nights/lessons like that make every hard day worth while.

  amazing things are happening! i love this work! i know that we have a loving heavenly father that wants the best for all of us... he loves us. and always will. he is a god of miracles as we pray to him with a sincere heart and act in faith he will help us with each step we take. keep those missionarys bussy over there in az.

 

con amor

  elder Harper-Smith

 

i love this work!!!!!

July 1

Elder Holland said, "God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe." 

  i just got an email from my mtc teacher with this quote. it applys so much to this work that we all are anxiously engaged in! if we don't believe in having hope..believing that there are good things to come. if we don't act in faith through trials, struggles, and tribulations such as praying to our heavenly father...those dreams ..those questions and maybe those expectations we have for ourselves will never come true...those dreams will never be fulfilled and those struggles will never become our strengths if we don't believe. if we don't have faith and ask our heavenly father to help us...i know he is anxiously waiting to help us all. he loves us and he wants us all to be successful in this amazing life. turn to him and believe.

  well this week has been amazing. i say that almost every week but its true. its doctrine. everyday is a great day as a missionary. sometimes its hard to say that some days but ...even then at the end of the day...their is nowhere else that i would rather be. my new companion elder gibbs is the man! we have practically served before (we have been on 6 exchanges with eachother when the emergency transfer happened) least to say we are havin a good time!!! workin hard and enjoying each step!!!

  we had several appointments this week ... over the past couple weeks we have found some amazing familys. the maceda-luna family (the ones that were all sitting on the couch with their arms folded last week) are progressing great! our lessons fell through this week BUT we were able to do a couple lightning visits with Hermana maceda and she and her whole family prays perfect and so sincerely! they didn't come to church this week but have been reading in the book of Mormon and are still excited for our next visit. hermano maceda just got a new job so his hours are a little on the crazy side rightnow bummmmmmer. i hate jobs.... siempre dijiron pues todo de nuestro investigadores." estamos bien ocupados hermanos" but they are always apologetic...ive never had investigators call us and ask questions and be so involved like the two progressing familys that we have rightnow...(maceda and aranda family) normally if they aren't making time for us then we set them aside but they call us and set up appointments with us so they are great! last night we got a call from cesar (aranda) and he told us to come over and teach his family about 3nephi11....so we did.! the arandas have so much respect for what we do and are so surprised on how fast we are learning or have learned Spanish. when two white boys are sitting on your couch and teaching you in your native language i think it really shows how much it means to us personally! and it is such a blessing when people respect you for it. the arandas are great they live right across the street from us so constantly we are in touch with them. its a family of 5! they have 3 amazing kids. all of them are so involved in lessons and the spirit is always so strong in their apartment. they are progressing so well...and i have personally seen a change in all of them. alex and well i forgot the other kids name but they love reading and are really involved in lessons for only being 8 and 11. alex is a champ. he reads the book of Mormon by himself and with his family!  last night our lesson went really great for not being able to plan much... we taught strait to baptism... at the end we invited them all to be baptized...they wanna learn more first but they thought about it for a long time. we sat their in silence...and the spirit i know touched all their hearts. they are gonna pray about it!!! i know they will receive an answer!

  so great things are happening here in green bay we have 17 refferals at the moment :) that's whats up. and have been blessed with familys! elder gibbs and i have both seen miracles everyday! Friday we were trackting in the trailers and rode our bike past the basketball courts and saw 2 teenagers playin ball shooting hoops. ya know jimmers dad was converted  through a basketball game...so we thought lets play some ball! we put our bikes down and walked over asked if they would like to play some two on two. their first reaction was ..."in those clothes..are you sure?" clothes do not matter! so we ended up playing!...pretty soon elder gibbs and i looked around and we had a crowd watching us!! little kids adults familys! haha it was great! everyone was cheering. so here are us two dressed in white shirts and ties playing basketball with these two neighbor hood kids with familys and kids who know us as the weird guys that ride bikes around and knock on doors... well the turn out..we have some appointments this next week!! met some great people that thought we weren't normal and i know some doors will open now that wouldn't have before... it was awesome! we have appointments with those two kids ( brenden and Osvaldo) and their familys this week!

  well if their is one thing ive learned on my mission so far is to believe in great things to come and enjoy the journey on the way. the lord will bless you as you do your part. believe and have hope. and ask heavenly father for help..i know he is anxiously waiting! keep dreaming!

 

love you all! keep pressin forward!

Elder Harper-Smith

June 24

holy awesome week thats all i got to say!

 how bout that broadcast last night? holy army of missionaries. the work is hastening. its a blessing to be part of the work in such an amazing time of change. The field is now more white than ever. the lord is preparing more people ...more families! and i can testify of that. this week has been absolutely amazing.

  tuesday i had exchanges with my district leader elder green. gotta tell ya he is the man. had one great exchange. i was out in the small town of chilton wisconsin! farms farms and more farms. and no wheel lines...what tha heck. but being there definently brought back some memories from idaho! so elder oaks when he was here last weekend talked about power approaches.... aproaches that will spark intrest and be personable and spiritual. so.....our goal for the exchange was to make some power aproaches...and that we did. we had several appointments that day but they ended up falling through so...trackting it was!!! chose a street and started knocking. door after door after door people slammed the door in our face. but we kept at it. we got to the end of the street and there were two kids outside immedieatly they started asking us who are you why are you dressed funny haha they wanted us to come in but of course we needed their parents permission...so they went running inside and told their mom somebodys at the door. the kids came sprinting back outside and the mom came around the corner..opened the door...saw it was us...screemed at the kids to come back inside...told us to never come back... and then slammed the door. "what the heck " elder green and i were thinkin as we walked away. we are really nice people i promise!! we walked away and saw the little girl waving at us through the window...

 despite rejection after rejection we really got some door aproach practice... thats a good way to look at it and maybe next time missionarys knock on the door they will give them a chance! we hope! later that night elder green used my spanish capabilities to his advantage and we went and contacted his investigators over there that struggle with english! met some amazing families and was able to roll with some really great aproaches! white people are a little more mean when you knock on there door haha. so wednesday afternoon i returned back to green bay spanish! elder jimenez and i had a first appointment set up for 6. (you will get a crack up out of this) we knocked on the door and before we were even done knocking hno maceda opened the door ...the house was silent. we looked into the family room and there was the whole family, kids and all, sitting reverently with their arms folded waiting for us! prepared? man... one amazing lesson to an amazing family. we didnt set any dates but accepted the invitation! tonight we have our second lesson and will definently be setting some dates.! pretty excited.

   so friday ... we got a call from the sisters the were excited to give us a refferal that they had gotten that morning at the park! they said he wanted to be baptized? man thats a good start. so we had an appointment with him at 3 on saturday he was gonna come see us during his lunch break at work but got really busy and couldnt... well that took up a good part of our day so we ended up just trackting the rest of the day at the trailers. went and saw some formers set up some appointments. the busses end at 5 on saturdays so we had to walk home... by this time those who have served missions understand how your feelin after a long day of trackting and not much success...so we were walking home almost there and i turn around and see elder jimenez just standing there..."hey elder we need to go down this street i think" i looked at my watch 8:40.."elder its about time to be in" i said. he insisted to walk this street though...so we did. we turned the corner and there was a family outside talking just having a good time enjoying the nice weather. belen and demetrio! ends up ten years ago her mom would have the elders over every week. but she would be leaving to work so she never really got to sit in on lessons. they are an amazing hispanc family!!! so prepared. we taught about the book of mormon and they were so excited. the spirit was so strong as we stood out on their driveway and taught through the book of mormon this great gospel of our savior. it was amazing...and because my switch was almost turned off for the day...we almost missed it....its moments like what happened saturday night that makes a day full of fall throughs and not to much success... worth every second. we have an apointment with them tonight as well!!

well i love you all! your the greatest. been blessed with miracles this week....everyday ive seen miracles in my mission...but this week was an amazing week. hard, but so rewarding. this work is amazing!!

-Elder Harper-Smith

Great week!

what is up family! how you all doin?

another week has come and gone already it is mind blowing to me. the transfer is already almost over! ive already been here 6 weeks....thats absolutely mind blowing.

so this week ....full of great things! tuesday we contacted a refferal that weve had for the past month and a half but are never home...so tuesday we thought what the heck lets give it another shot..knocked on the door... opened right away! the navarro familia. its a young family mom and pop and then they have to young kids! they are all from honduras! lots of latinos here are from honduras. they are great people. but anyways this family is awesome! they both had amazing questions that we were able to answer through a great lesson on the restoration. the spirit was there and powerful. i felt it and i know they did. we didnt set dates but taught toward baptism. they said once they know of course they will get baptized so we will see! they were both really excited about the book of mormon. we have a lesson tomorrow with them!

sorry these few experiences are short...i wanna get to the highlight of the week...but ive been so blessed this week in so many ways. ive received so many answers through so many different people and ways. doors getting slammed in your face can drag ya down sometimes...walking down the street just saying good afternoon to a family and then to see the mom staring at us and yelling at her kids to get inside ...haha sometimes situations happen like this..we are normal people i promise! we are just here to help...this week so many people came up to elder jimenez and i and said thank you and god bless you and things like that...it has been a tender mercie of the lord. its picked us both up to know that we are noticed and are seen as representatives of our savior and not scary guys in white shirts!

  lots of tender mercies this week. ill share one more then i gotta tell ya about mission conference! ...earlier this week we were headin over to west side to bike and contact some refferals from the sisters haha refferals from sister missionaries never really work out...the people are hopin to see nice smiling faces of sister missionaries again but are sad when they open the door to smiling faces ...but elders. anyways im sure some of you know what im alking about. so we were on the bus and i sat behind a man who had downs syndrom(sorry if i misspelt it) but as i sat down he was looking at his feet then a while passed and he looked back at me and said "god is up there" he said looking up. then quickly he looked back at his feet. i looked at him and said" ya he is! and i know he loves you so much" he started to nod his head then rubbing his eyes..then with tears in his eyes he looked back up at me and said 3 words that hit me really hard "i miss him". i dont know why but for me that was so powerful. the sincerity he had in his voice and with the fullness of his heart he spoke those three words while looking me strait in the eyes. dang ill be honest...bout cryed!! the spirit was so strong in that bus at that moment for me. and brought so much comfort. do we miss our heavenly father? cause i know he misses us. i miss him. he has done so much for me and i know he is there each and every step we take. dan (name of the guy) is simply the man. we may never know how we will receive answers to our prayers...we must always be aware and open. thats something ive come to know...most answers come through others thats why at all times we must be open to the spirit!

  alright so saturday june 15th was mission conference! president and sister jones last time seein all of us:( sad but we are excited and have been very blessed by them as a mission. the whole mission met in neenah we were all sitting in the chapel waiting...the chapel doors opened and we all stood as an apostle of god and 4 members of the seventy walked into the chapel. the spirit engulfed the room and the feeling of pure peace and joy as Dallin H. Oaks entered the room and elder clayton of the presidency of the 70, elder gifford nielsen, elder randy funk, and elder ward.

  it was an amazing meeting! we all got to meet elder oaks as well. the feeling of the spirit as i shook his hand and he said "well good morning elder harper-smith! how are you doing?" heres an apostle of god asking me how im doing? ha well freakin great! i didnt say it like that of course but thats what was going through my head haha. the meeting was amazing. i am out of computer time though:( sad day!

i love you all and hope all is amazing!!

Elder Harper-Smith

good lookin elder!

Grandpa Eames! What a sweet story!

 dearest family friends and whoever reads this email!

   CRAZY WEEK. once again weather: tornado warnings practically all week!! weve had some intense weather here this past week. reminded me of them good ole mansoons back home! enjoy em for me! 110 degrees though? ill pass haha. ive never seen darker meaner lookin clouds than what ive seen here this week...SICK.

 theres a storm commin...thats for sure. not only in the weather but an amazing GOOD storm has hit us this week in this amazing work! we have been working so hard. so so so hard. really focusing on finding and getting this area rollin. its sad to say but orvelinas baptism didnt happen this week... luis her feounce in mexico and her need to get married first. the overall goal is for them to be sealed in the temple so the first step they need to make is marriage than they can make that first covenant with their heavenly father and continue to the temple as a family! the wedding will be soon though we are hoping!! so like i was sayin as a companionship weve been really praying specifically for a family to teach....and to be able to fullfill our purpose more in this area ..we know the feild is white so we have been working hard to find that area that family that is ready! weve gotten alot of doors slammed in our face along the way. but like i said ...we were blessed this week for sure!!!

  thursday night we had a dinner appointment! SCORE. free homemade mexican food. during dinner i got a text message from some number i had never seen.. it said "Hey this is jonathan. i go to school at uwgb and am staying here for the whole summer. im looking to become more involved in the church."  best text ive ever received! so we shared a message at the members house and headed over to see jonathan! jonathan is the man.we met him at a park over looking the bay with one heck of a view of the storm and the lake(had to add tht in sorry). the view would of blown your mind haha. he told us that he was having a pretty rough day and felt like he needed to contact us. he had some amazing questions and his faith was definently strengthened! it was a blessing to have someone we didnt even know text us and tell us to come over and teach him. he was so greatful that we were able too. the effect we have on people amazes me.the spirit was so strong as we sat there overlooking the bay and talked about our amazing heavenly father. crazy clouds,awesome view, amazing spirit as we testified and taught!

  also our investigator ricardo who comments more then members at church is getting baptized this week(8th)! he had his interview with president this week so as he was having his interview sister jones and i had to chat it up of course!...somehow we started talking about rupert idaho haha...SHE GREW UP IN GOOD OLE RUPERT...then she started talking about her stake president and how much she looked up to him and how powerful of a speaker he was. as a little girl she always looked forward to his talks...i asked her his name... sure enough it was gandpa! president garth eames. it was amazing to hear all these amazing things about grandpa...he was an amazing man.  juddith hyde is sister jones' name! she said she knows most of all yall down there!! small world...

   so back to this storm that hit us in this amazing work this week. we have been praying for a family....saturday night after getting stuck on westside and taking the 6 mile walk home (forgot the buses stopped at 5..) we were dead tired..we got to our apartment around 9 but felt we should knock one more door. a father who is amazing. great guy but him and his family are always working...so we thought what the heck..ONE more door. we knock on it and there is cesar(hes like 4 ft tall) and immediately tells us to come in. we sat down with his whole family...and taught an amazing lesson on the restoration. the first question cesar asked us is "porque ay muchas iglesias en el mundo" well....we can answer that!

the lord blessed us this week. it was amazing to be teaching again! and our prayers were answered.

although there were crazy storms this week that hit the wonderful land of green bay wisconsin...heavenly father provided a storm of blessings for us missionarys. he answered our prayers and guided us in this amazing work!

i love you all!!! keep those missionarys busy over there!

May 29

pops! im afraid i wont have too many more crazy stories.. my milwaukee days are over. but ive got a list of some good ones that are gonna have to wait two years!!  elder jimenez is awesome we are really working well together..and get a long great. we are working so diligently...not much fruits yet but they will come. Green Bay is awesome though! the work is harder but challenges mean your growing! and ready to take on more! its sure great to have my wheels back! first time this week ive riddin a bike in 5 months...no...i didnt need training wheels ! haha. the work here is hard but its pretty great too... it has its ups and downs! there is lots ..tons of spanish work!! weve been trackting trailer parks and apartments all week. the first thing we do when we get to apartments is go strait to the mailboxes, look at the last names, write down the apartments that seem to be hispanic, then start knocking!! its been working really good lately! we were at some apartments this week and were walking out the door back outside and there was a family! next thing we know we are in there living room teaching the restoration! they had some amazing questions and are really intrested! especially interested in the book of mormon!  as a companionship this week one of our main goals was to be more bold and teach every lesson towards baptism. everyday we have prayerfully seeked days for each investigator that we were going to teach that day for a date we knew they could be ready to be baptized by. the power that brought into our lessons  was immense. fransisco is an amazing guy we are teaching rightnow... our first lesson was last week we teached the restoration and baptism...he said he wants to but only wen he is ready. our last lesson this week was amazing. we went in with a date that we knew he could be ready by. he didnt read 2nephi 2 so thats what we ended up doing! we read with him that amazing powerful chapter. the spirit was so strong. and elder jimenez and i were really unified. something ive leardned this week is that the spirit has no language barrier. as we sat in his old rundown trailer... the spirit filled the room. i received so many promptings as we taught. wether it was just a thougt or an experience or being able to address a need of his the spirit guided me it guided both of us in that lesson! and we both knew it. another thing ive come to know is that when we follow promptings that firs one we do follow opens the door to so many more! this week , like i said before, our goal was to be bold and to always teach to baptism...and to prayerfully seek a date. in our lesson with fransisco i had a a very strong feeling to invite him to be baptized again. so i did. and then we were both able to testify that we both knew he could be ready by the 22nd of june because we had prayerfully seeked to know! fransisco was really touched by the spirtit saturdaynight as we taught. he told us that thats exactly how he wants to feel. he wants to change. he told us that he will pour out his soul to his heavenly father and ask if this is the path he needs to take.our lesson with fransisco was so powerful. the power of two, the power of teaching through the spirit (the only way), and the power that comes through following promptings.  last night we were able to teach how to have family home evening to a young family in the branch! haha it was so fun and the lesson went great. i had an anology with when we trust in god and have faith he will always lift us up! i dont know if you have ever heard or seen the fire and tea bag analogy ...but what happens is you empty all the tea out and set the bag on the persons hand light it on fire and right before the fire gets to the persons hand (Hno aranda) the bag flys into the air meaning if we have faith and put our trust in the lord through what ever comes in life he will always ...lift us up.  note to self...dont use the lipton kind....it doesnt do the most important part....lift off. haha in other words haha hno aranda got a little burnt!! dang. it was a crack up though...we were all laughing! now ,i have to get him to trust me again !

 

love you all! your all amazing!!!

-elder Harper-Smith

 

"I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tinted visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am lifted up in prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided or delayed, will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table with the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the case of Christ. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. When He returns for His own He will have no problem recognizing me, my banner is clear”. -henry b. eyring

 

get em ivie!!!!!

May 20

last week i got an email from one of my best buds that had 6 words. a quote that he had found the last week in some book or something . these 6 simple words were this "If your not happy, work harder" its the truth. when you loose yourself in this great work you find yourself. you "become" that person that heavenly father designed you to become! ive seen it in my mission. the harder i work the happier i am even when the occasional door gets slammed in my face! the harder i work the closer i feel to my heavenly father. the harder i work ...the harder we work as missionaries to bring others closer to him ...we lift ourselves up as well. we grow closer to heavenly father and our savior as we help others come unto him.

WELCOME TO PACKER LAND. im here in green bay! and let me tell ya its amazing! open feilds smell of the good old farm life in idaho! wild flowers everywhere haha the sun!. gettin humid though! and the people...there amazing. as always! there is alot of spanish work here...im really excited! my new companion is from pachuka hidalgo mexico! he is learning english. safe to say hes crankin up my spanish! alot of english phrases he doesnt understand so im helping him with that but we usually just speak in spanish. its been helping me alot. my spanish has gotten so much better in the past 4 or 5 days! im stoked for these next 6 weeks. we both get along great and are working really hard. really hard. im loving it. hes one heck of a missionary. saturday night we got a call from the 1st councilor in the branch presidency....yesterday i gave a 12 minute talk in sacrament meeting sobre el dia de reposo. (sabath day) it was awesome!!!

the work is amazing over here. thursday morning we had a lesson with orvalina. she has a baptisimal date for the 31st. her story is really interesting and really shows that the lord works in crazy ways sometimes. she has been receiving the lessons for over a year now. goes to church love it. keeps all of her compromisos. but one thing was stopping her from making that first step. to make that first covenant with her heavenly father...marriage. her boyfriend luis (lives with her) also loves church loves everything keeps all the commitments but marriage was holding them both back from the waters of baptism. a month or so ago emmigration office took luis and sent him back to mexico... prettyu harsh. but because of that the way is now [paved and orvelina will be baptized on the 31st!  since luis has been gone away from his family his wife and his kid he has realized what it would be like after he dies... he wont be able to be with them forever unless the get married and are both able to make that first step. so... crazy how the lord works sometimes!! it shows how perfect his plan is for each and everyone of us.
  this week we had alot of fall through appointments but were still able to find some new investigators! we are hoping to tech them all this week! buses buses and more buses! haha yes im in another bus area! i love the buses though. friday night we had a dinner appointment with a member family..the gonzalez familia! they are amazing. hno gonzalez is puerto rican and hna gonzalez is from the dr! haha there hilarious and have tons of youg kids that love the missionarys!! the branch here is so strong..not very big but the members are amazing.
 saw my first wild beaver this week ha cool fact...i really wish i had more time but im such a slow typer ... ive had some amazing experiences this week. im loving green bay!!

 i love you all!! Find joy in the journey!!

Elder Harper-Smith

730 Abrams ST. Apt.#14
Green Bay ,WI 54302

-thanks elder skylar margaritis!


love you all have a great week!

pictures

May 13: GREEN BAY HERE HE COMES!

Elder Harper-Smith... pack your bags your headin to GREEN BAY!!! yes brother danielson that means i WILL wear that tie you gave me now ha!. but dang i am stoked! I heard there is a temple there too...have you heard of it? anyone?.... its known as lambeu feild ... gotta convert them all and get them to the real temple! my new companion is a native! im pretty excited about that. so im headin out of milwaukee.... sorry mom no more crazy stories i guess for a while. im sure you will be okay with that though!

  it was great to see you all yesterday! happy mothers day momma! 

this week was the longest week of my mission!  tuesday was zone conference. 2 hour bus ride there! had an amazing conference. and then 2 hours home. TOOK ALL DAY but we did meet some amazing people on the bus for all the english elders! on wednesday ity was back out on the streets! contacted alot of formers and set alot of appointments for this week. wednesday morning we had our second lesson with the hernandez family. there an amazing family that have an amazing spirit in their home. they are all so open to the spirit. wednesday we taught the restoration. it went great! they really opened to us about their concerns and really accepted the lesson. the spirit was their and they knew it. the fruits of the spirit... the spirit is our most powerful tool in this work and when our investigators except it into their lives ...you see a change in them. sometimes its immediatly sometimes it comes over time. with the hernandez family it is their. the lesson was amazing and as elder squires gave the amazing experience joseph smith had that morning in the sacred grove... the spirit hit everyone. hna. hernandez was crying and hno hernandez was holding back tears. they will be baptized the 22nd of june. it was an amazing lesson!! then that night we had a lesson with diego. bernadinas old boy friend who wants to change his life. hes one that has changed immediately. our first lesson with him was so powerful and on wednesday we taught the gospel of jesus christ. ive seen a change already in him haha but bernadina will not let him be part of the family till he shows real change in himself. bernadina is the best haha. but diego has changed. the spirit and the change in the tecualt family has touched him and he knows what he needs to do! diego is set to enter the waters of baptism and take that first step to being sealed with his family for eternity on june 8 th. 

  it has been such a blessing to be in milwaukee. i will always be greatful to my heavenly father for the opportunity he has given me to find those here that he has prepared for me. for trusting me with this part of his vineyard!!! the feild is white. whiter then ever. with this age change and with so many young man and young women enlisting in this great work of our heavenly father he is preparing people / familys more then ever! the feild is white!!!!  watch out green bay! haha

love you all!

Elder Harper-Smith

p.s send stuff to mission office till i know my new address! 

May 6th

What an amazing week! What a busy week! Everyday this week was full of meetings and trainings! Thankfully all the buses arrived on time and we were able to make it to all of them early! Busses are an adventure. Meet some awesome people.

Tuesday we had district meeting and president and sister jones were both there doing interviews. President Jones is the man. He really helped me find alot of answers through elder hollands talk "I Believe , Help Thou My Unbeleif". to build upon strengths that we do have rather then our weaknesses, to look on what we know rather then what we dont, to really focus our lives in the positive things.
Wednesday was specialized training and then thursday was 9 to 12 week training! Was with Elder Kanahele alll day! and we did all our role plays together too. Soo good to see him. He is the man.
After three days strait of meetings and then getting home just in time for planning because of the busses finally it was friday! We weekly palnned and visited with a less active family. Its crazy how many less actives their is here.. They all have strong testimonies but for some reason dont come to church! Our lesson went great and they want us to come over next week for dinner with the whole family.
Saturday was an amazing day. We had exchanges with the zone leaders. I stayed here in Milwaukee end Elder Squires left to parkway. It was such an amazing day. We worked and worked than worked some more just how me and Elder Kanahele did it. I love being out and finding ...meeting those and teaching those that god has prepared. Its simple, if your not outside doin what your supposed to do and waiting for things to happen...nothing is going to happen. We have to show our Heavenly Father that we are doing our part. I have the strongest testimony of this being the work of our loving Heavenly Father. He is in it every step I take. Elder Gnautuvi and I found so many people and filled our week with appointments! Spanish is so much better than it was. I love these people. I had a feeling we needed to go to Fidels house again this week... as we were walking up to his door step there he was cookin in his back yard!! Everyone was there. For some reason people like to party here for no reason haha hey i cant argue. His wife fed us some amazing food. Best Ive had out here!  We met all of his family and before we left Fidel gathered them all around and asked for us to bless his home. What a neat experience. Then as we were waiting to catch the bus home after a long day a car pulls over and says " ELDERS!!" they ended up just moving here from good ole Mesa AZ and were taking the lessons there and have been looking ever since they got here for us! Solid refferal for the english elders!!! Miracles happen everyday out here. Im so greatful for this opportunity god has given me to teach these people.

 I love you all!!!
- Elder Harper-Smith

April 29: sorry so late

hola is kinda getting repetative...haha if i knew elder margaritis' language id throw that out there but i have no idea how to even say his new language! get em elder!

Hola familia!
   haha hey everybody! last week was awesome! dang is time flying!! this week i have interviews tomorrow! specialized training wednesday, and 12 week on thursday! get to see kanahele! pretty stoked.

this week was yet again a great week in this amazing work! tuesday we had an amazing district meeting. Elder squires had brother wheeler (hes over all the institutes and seminarys of the northeastern states) he came and went deep docterine on the power of faith! dang it helped me so much i received so many answers. there is two kinds of faith.. the willingness to do what god requires no matter what (obedeince) and then the power of faith that we receive when we are obedient and do his will! God will test your faith ..then give you power through your obedience!

  After district meeting i headed out on exchanges to waukasha! with elder jordan from napa idaho..hes been out 3 weeks now. it was an awesome exchange AND I GOT A CAR soo that kinda put the iceing on the cake you could say! we did alot of conatacting and service in the morning at a food bank which made my week. it was at the food bank and it was so fun to talk with so many different people for three hours strait! all the people working with us were so awesome too. when latinos came through and found out i spoke spanish they were so stoked. here in wisconsin there are so many different cultures and people. ive taught puerto ricans, cubans, latinos from all over mexico, chileans, dominicans, guatamalans, el salvadorians, and a lady from madrid! everyone has different ways of saying things so the language can sometimes be a struggle of understanding what they are saying haha but each day is getting better! speaking of days getting better rockin the short sleeves now. so im happy to say spring is finally here in beautiful milwaukee!

   Elder Squires had to go to the doctor on friday and we had alot of work to be done in our area! the next day was our ward party dia de los ninos so we had alot of inviting to do with our investigators and everyone we saw... the city elders had all there appointments fall through so elder squires and a city elder went to the doctor while me and elder schvandavelt took over our area. it was an awesome growing experience for me! since the weather is amazing rightnow here everybody was outside. its hard to beleive but my area is probably 70 to 80 percent latino.. so elder schvandavelt(english elder)  and i walked the streets contacting everyone we saw! it was a growing experience to have to rely on my own spanish. we met so many people. so many families! we had over 10 lessons on friday it was awesome.  when we would invite people to the party after sharing a message the only word Elder schvandavelt knew was "fiesta" and he would say it a the perfect moment! crack up.
  the party on saturday was suppost to be this amazing missionary opportunity. we were so ready to meet and help so many people! we had the hernandez family there they loved it!  so many less actives came also and it was great to see there faces the next day at church.
 well another great week! an amazing week. tonight we are goin to the tecualts for fhe! im so excited to go see them haha. they remind me so much of all of you back home!  the mission is amazing and i am so greatful for the opportunity i have to be in wisconsin. im so greatful to my heavenly father for letting me serve the people here.
  love y'all!! les quiero mucho!
Elder Harper-Smith