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Weekly email!

hola! como ha estaban??

well thiss week ...lets just say my journal is fillin up... monday after sports elder kanahele and i get a call from president...

 

elder kanahele got emergency transferred to jainsville... man i was sad ill be honest! that was hard way hard...haha its like loosin a brother! elder kanahele taught me so much...hes been one of the greatest examples in my life. i could never thank him enough for how much he has blessed my life! we will serve again with eachother! i know it. it was hard to say goodbye haha he had an hour to pack up and head out...love that elder.

  so i covered muskego lakes with an english elder and milwaukee spanish b with the spanish a elders...this week was crazy..! thursday we had training up in oshkosh...pres. jones showed me who my new trainer was and told me he would be at my apartment at 9! i was pretty stoked! just to get rollin again in this amazing work! wednesday night elder gibbs and i (exchanges) had an appointment with angel and his family at 7 with a member of the branch! we went over there and nobody was home... which is strange...because they are always home and angel is definently a man of his word. i called him and they were out lookin at new apartments.. so we set up friday night at 7 for our next lesson!  back to thursday...i was on my way home from muskego and i get a phone call ...its angels son...ive never met him but he was crying immediately.margarita angels wife passed away just before he called me... angels son just thanked me so much for all the peace and the spirit that we have brought into there home and how much we have blessed there lives. family... man ... this work is amazing. i was able to just bare simple testimony to him that god is our loving heavenly father and that they will all see margarita, his mom, again. he wanted us to come by friday at 7. the night before when we were suppost to teach them but they were gone was the night we were suppost to teach the plan of salvation to them. i know our heavenly father knew that margarita would pass on the next night . his plan is perfect. so now we had the opportunity to teach angel and alot of his extended family the plan of salvation!!!!!!!!!! gods plan is perfect. when we first got there...they were crying and they all said they felt lonely ...angel was having the hardest time. elder squirres (new trainer) and i and a branch member hno. rivera taught the plan of salvation! WOW. the power in the room was amazing. the spirit was definently there. at the end of the lesson they were all so happy. they knew margarita was in a better place. they knew our message was true... they knew! ya know...it was no "coincidence" that elder kanahele and i met angel that one night in that crazy blizzard... it was a miracle. gods hand was in it every step of the way. we were led there. he knew that they were ready and needed it now more then ever. im so greatful to be a missionary. to wear this tag. i see miracles evryday. sure this week definently didnt go as planned BUT i know one person always has a plan and that is our loving heavenly father... !!!!!

  last night elder squirres and i had a refferal appointment! Bernadine! she is awesome . she has a huge family. we taught her and her oldest daughter last night the restoration... they loved it! everybody cries here hahaha man the spirit was strong. we have awesome members that come with us and they bore such strong testimony... as elder squirres and i were planning yesterday morning for her we prayed to know what a good date would be for her to be baptized! april 20th.we invited her and her daughter last night to be baptized on april 20th...thats her birhtday! its way cool how that worke out!  so baptisms commin up !! i love this work and am so greatful for the opportunity i have to be a soldier in his army! to share my testimony everyday with so many people to see there lives change. this week was hard in alot of ways...definently had some obstacles thrown in the path of elder harper-smith...but i know its for a reason!  "give me mountains to climb" its hard to have trials...its our choice to grow!! love this work family! the language is still hard . elder kanahele definently taught me to be patient! it will come!

 i love you all! thank you for all your prayers! !!!!!!

 -Elder Harper-Smith

 

 

4926 W. oklahoma ave.

milwaukee, wisconsin

53219

March 11, 2013

family! howdy!

 ya know i love gettin all your letters! my friends never write me though WHAT THE HECK... oh well its all good. its awesome to hear how great you all are doin in warm az haha! hows the missionary work?? 53 new members in our ward? i thought i read that in your letter mom haha maybe im just makin it up but thats flippin awesome if its true! hows trist? tristen you should write me bro! and sorry about big red...i thought i told you before i left but im glad ya figured that one out before you went to the pit! ive ran it with no brakes before...dont tell mom that though. hows the weather there in az? its pretty dang cold here! but its been raining for a while now...im not quiete sure how those two go together but just know they do!! ill try to write you all this week! ive never been more busy in my life! i love it! days are flyin though...im startin to beleive what the older missionaries say... time truly is flyin and before i know it ill be back home...these best two years are gonna fly. thats why its so important to give it over your all. all the time. to do and be your best even when things are hard! this week ive learned alot about finding joy in the journey. we had a spanish mission training on thursday sister jones' talk was on "why are we here"...in 2nephi2:25 we are here to be happy! to have joy in our lives! even through those trails that we may face. ive really been tryin to focus this week on bein even more positive to find joy even when things are hard especially when things are hard. SPANISH IS KICKIN MY behind...its hard to teach when i have no idea what our investigators are sayin!!!! elder kanahele really has helped me alot to realize ive only been out 3 weeks ... the language will come !i need to be patient . and keep being diligent not only in spanish study but also in personal study! docterine and covenants 11:21 "first seek to obtain my word" i dont remember it all off the top of my head but its brought alot of comfort this week as the language is still a struggle! spanish is amazing though! it keeps me on my toes! its slowly improving!!!!

  our investigators are doin great! angel came to church yesterday and loved it! his wife margarita is very sick and there daughter maria suffers from depression. they love our lessons though ! and are continueing to grow! miracles happen everyday out here! we have had lots of appointments this week and have been led to many! i know god knows us all personally and perfectly. he knows our needs. he knows our deseos its through our faith that he will help us not only our faith but acting on that faith that we have! im so greatful for this opportunity i have to be here in milwaukee...to see this gospel change peoples lives. im so greatful for all of your prayers! i feel them everyday! i know that our savior lives he loves us. as we choose to follow his example we will be blessed and someday live with our father in heaven and partake of the fruit of eternal life. i know that joseph smith was a prophet and did restore the plentitud of the gospel of jesus christ on the earth again for these latterdays! i love you all and pray for you daily!!!thank you for all your prayers!!! its a blessing to be out here and serve others everyday!  sorry the email is short and not much info! schedule is all messed up today! but i love you all have an amazing week!

 Elder Harper-Smith

4926 w. oklahoma Ave. apt.#6

Milwaukee,Wisconsin 53219

** so the 4th elder is something he talked a lot about. after searching I found the PDF it is http://eldertoddezrachapman.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/34660140-the-fourth-missionary.pdf i know someone elses blog but it works! 

pictures 03/04/13

03/04/13

Ohhhh the sound of snow blowers fireing up in the morning...there just aint nothin like it! so ya know how there was a crazy blizzard last week here in milwaukee??(ya probably dont) but there was a flipin blizzard!!! that didnt hold me and elder kanahele back at all though! we went prosolyting in it! the blizzard was actually a blessing...we met some amazing families that night and amazing people...that blizzard led us to 8 new investigators ! the next day it gave us so many opportunities to serve... before i get into how amazing it is here and how much im lovin it...lets talk about the cold!
   (know that this is not complaining but just some funny true facts)2 pairs of warm thick socks and boots..HA! it gets so cold when we pull out our planners to write down numbers or addresses our hands wont work! let alone our pens...the ink freezes! honestly ive never been happier in my whole life family. this work is amazing. being a representative of christ and to have the power and to see the joy that ive had my whole life.. change peoples lifes has brought me more happiness and joy then i have ever had in my whole life!
  elder kanahele is the man. he helps me so much. he treats me like a brother! all we do is build eachother up and we are both pretty positive people so im honestly just lovin it! haha the other day we are sprintin to catch our bus down this icey road and there wee see it fly by right before our eyes! "thats beutiful" he always says in his sick new zealand accent. hes a stud. and has helped me so much. hes a freakin fire knife dancer at pcc haha
   so we are opening a new area! ITS FLIPPIN AMAZING! its a bus area! and we walk practically everywhere! its a blessing...we meet so many people the other night we get off the bus and are walking to a less actives house within ten minutes we met 4 people we had 4 lessons and 4 new investigators! ive gained such a strong testimony of planning. as we plan...our days hardly ever go as planned..but we follow that plan we made .... god puts people in our path! i see miracles every day... we are teaching a family rightnow! one of the ones we found during that blizzard the first lesson they all committed to baptism! our first lesson the spirit was present ...not only present but was powerful. it was an amazing experience! angel luis margerita maria they are amazing people...elder kanahele and i left that lesson feeling so good . when the spirit touches people you can tell...as we sat there teaching in there humble apartment the whole feeling of the roomed changed there whole deminor changed you can tell the spirit touches there hearts when it touches yours...it was so strong for me i can feel that the spirit has touched them when you look in there eyes and see happiness! they are an amazing family. we went back saturday night to set up our next appointment...angel told elder kanahele and i that we bring peace joy and an undescribable feeling into his home when we come...we testified to him that it was the spirit ...he knew it was.   i love the people here they are absolutely some of the most humble people i have ever met there so loving and they all see us as angels and representatives of christ.  funny quick story...so at night between appointments or if somethin falls through we do alot of proselyting! and we freeze! haha we shoot for the laundrymats to go warm up at...so we are headin to this  laundry mat there is a cop and a truck full of strait up gangsters that it pulled over...as we pass by the truck they all look at us and just simply say.. god bless you. every where we go people see us as good...they respect us so much down here! of course theres those that really dont like us...but over all these people are amazing. its a blessing to be enlisted in the lords army! to serve the people here  everyday and help them grow closer to christ!  another quick funny story! so the day after the blizzard we were headin to the bus stop and there was a guy out shovelin his driveway...we didnt help him...haha just kiddin we asked what can i do to help (bishop rowleys favorite line)! he called us his angels haha but anyways when we started i started with the snow blower i was pushin it along up the incline of the drive way...pushin slowly turned into a jog then a run then a full out sprint as i found my self on ice on a hill with the snowblower pulling me one way and my body wanting to go the exact opposite! i shortly found my self on the ice face down in embarece ment hahah everybody was crackin up! it was great. ive had quite of instences so far like that ...arizona instincts kick in and i forget where i am! as long as it makes people happy then thats fine by me haha!    family i gotta go ! im lovin it here i hope all is well!! love you all!!