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