Woche 8

Elder Fawcett and Elder Harps

Hallo meine Freunde! 

IT'S SPRING TIME! 

So far in my life-outside-California's-eternal-summer adventures, I've liked these weird "season" things! Except winter. I hated winter. Bleh. But Fall was sweet! And now spring is awesome too! I didn't really realize how much I love flowers until the last few days when everything started blooming. It's so so pretty. Birds are chirping, the clouds finally disappeared and we've had awesome weather the last few days, every plant has started budding and blooming, bees are buzzing, is awesome.

 

Also I figured out I have allergies. Yay! 

This last Monday we went on splits (Changing up our companions and working together for a day) with the Zone Leaders. I stayed here in Langen and Elder Mortensen went up to Frankfurt. That was kinda interesting since I was the one who was "familiar" with Langen which basically meant both Elder Fawcett and I were both clueless haha. We had only one appointment scheduled for the day but it fell through, so we decided to drop by a less active member's house. She also wasn't there, so we then just wandered around the city knocking random doors. It was way fun. We talked to random people in the street, would suddenly veer off to the side and klingel a few houses, we basically just went with the flow. Which is not how we normally door houses. Usually is organized. But it was super fun to just explore and go with it. We ended up finding several interested people, and we have away two copies of the Das Buch Mormon. It was a cool day, and I got lots of practice at talking to strangers. 

Easter Tree!

So something super cool that I found in my studies this week:

So this week is been studying on charity again. I've been studying charity because I've really been struggling at talking normally with random people. And if I can have charity, if I can love them as Christ loves them, and see them for their potential, then it would be a lot easier to listen and care for these people. 

So I've been studying about charity. 

And I came across a scripture in 1 Corinthians 13 that really coolly ties this week's thought with last week's thought on faith. Verse 2 says:

"though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."

Last week I talked about the importance of faith. But Paul says that even if we have faith to move mountains, if we don't have charity, it's all for naught. If we don't live other people, or faith does us no good. Nothing does us really any good without love for other people. 

Charity is everything. It's also impossible to achieve without Christ, because it is the "pure love of Christ" (Moroni 7:47). When we have charity, we see the people around us as Christ as them. We see them as Children of God. As of brothers and sisters. And we love them as He would. We want what is best for them, and we work out hardest to serve and edify those around us to the best of our ability. When we have charity, we work with all Faith, we work with all Diligence, we work with all Patience, we work with all Humility, we work as Christ would. When we truly have pure charity, we will be as Christ is. Every other attribute of Christ builds into charity, and charity builds into the others. That's why it's so important. Faith, Diligence, Patience, Humility, Virtue, Knowledge, everything is a part of Charity. 

So how do we get it then? That was my question this week. We develop charity by consciously trying to live as Christ lived. We serve those around us. Pray for those around us. Be patient with those around us. Be kind and friendly to those around us. It's gonna be hard at first. Actually it's gonna be hard always basically. Because charity is the opposite of the natural man. It is selfless where we want to be selfish. But it's attainable through Christ. Pray for charity, work to serve those around you. You will be filled with His love. 

One last blessing of Charity I feel like sharing. A member showed us this scripture during an appointment. It was really cool. The scripture comes from the Book of Job in the Old Testament.  

For those of you not familiar with the story of Job, basically the Lord decides to test his faithful servant Job's faith. His Children die, he loses his house and property, friends revile him and mock him for his faith. His wife mocks his faith, he's stricken with disease, basically everything he had is taken away, anything bad that could possibly happen happens to him, and he is completely alone and without any support from family or friends. His life is made awful despite his faith and Obedience to the Commandments. The Lord is simply testing his faith and conversion. 

So finally the Lord decides to relieve Job of his trial. Chapter 42 verse 10 reads:

 "10 And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before."

When did the Lord turn his trial? WHEN HE PRAYED FOR HIS FRIENDS. When he prayed for these people who have done nothing but rob, mock, and betray him for years and years. Job prays for them. He has CHARITY. Only then does the Lord relieve him of his trials and struggles. The Lord will help us overcome our hardships as we seek to love and serve his other children. 

I'm still working hard at developing charity. I probably will be for the rest of my life. But I'm already seeing blessings. It's getting easier. I'm overcoming my fears. I know it's possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

You are amazing. God loves you. He wants you to succeed. You will succeed as you accept his help and let Him change you. 

My challenge this week is pretty simple. Pray and/or ponder for someone God wants you to serve or help this week, and then do it! Simply Serve :) 

Sorry for the long email. I love you all! I hope you all have a great week! 

Bis nächste Woche! 

Elder Harps

PS funny German word of the week is the word for "smuggler" which is just "Schmuggler" haha

PPS For college people, Elder Chamberlain and I are actually in the same district, so like we see each other multiple times a week. He's an awesome missionary

Pictures :

1) Cool German church we passed on our way to a members house

2) Coolest speech therapist building ever

3) Colorful German Wohnungen (Apartments/Houses) 

4) Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof (Darmstadt Central Station) 

Hallo leute! Diese Woche war echt toll.

This week was cool. My first full week in Germany!

First, some of my adventures this week!

First off Church is a lot more interesting when you only understand 1 word in each sentence. And it's even more interesting when you then have to teach the Thema (lesson) in Elders quorum! (like Sunday school)  It actually wasn't that bad haha. I'm not that bad at speaking, the Lord has really really blessed me. The funny thing is that even though I can speak pretty well, I still am not very good at understanding when native speakers speak at a bajillion kilometers an hour. So often times I get into conversations and people think I can speak German way better than I actually can and I have not the slightest inkling of what they are trying to say haha. But it IS getting better. Ich kriege es hin :)

Germany is super cool. Its super super German. Who'd have guessed?

The chocolate is super good. I know i said that last week but it really is haha. Also they eat wurst with basically every meal and its super good. Everbody lives in apartments, the houses are all super duper tiny. Actually everything is tiny. The roads are super skinny and everyone drives super aggressively. Pedestrians are also allowed to cross the street wherever they want if there isn't crosswalk nearby. Also, there is a ton of graffiti. It still makes me laugh when it's in German. Dunno why haha. And everybody smokes. That part is nasty.

It's awesome here! I love it!

A sunset. They are hard to photograph since the terrain is so flat!

Funny, short story. My companion and I went to help out a member as he renovates his house and my job was to vacuum up rocks and dust with the shop-vac. So I'm sitting on this brick and slowly vacuuming up this gigantic pile of rocks and dust. I'm about half-way done and one of the hired workers comes over to me. First off he comes up behind me and is speaking in German, and the vacuum is on, so I have no idea he's there trying to talk to me until he turns the vacuum off and grabs my shoulder. Then he proceeds to yell at me in German for like 45 seconds through his cigarette and gesturing angrily at my pile of dust. I of course understood nothing but the few cuss words he threw in and "Staub saugen" which means "to vacuum". So I'm sitting there covered in dust just trying not to laugh at how comical this is and terrifying it should be to be angrily berated in german over how poorly i was apparently vacuuming. Then at he cuts off, narrows his eyes and I think realizes that I have no clue what he's saying, and says "Verstehst du Deutsch?" (do you understand German?) to which I said "nicht wirklich" (not really) haha. He then continues to grumble and swear as he grabs a brush and motioned for me to sweep it up better before I vacuum. I think. That's what I did and he didn't yell at me again haha. It was really funny.

Aight! Spiritual thought time.

This week I wanted to talk a little bit about Faith.

The construction of the Frankfurt Germany Temple. 

Faith is super important. Soooo many scriptures talk about having faith. But something I've been feeling bad about lately is that I've been feeling like my faith isn't strong enough. And I think we all feel like that sometimes. I've been thinking of great examples of faith from the scriptures: the Brother of Jared removing the Mountain Zerin (Ether 12:30), or Moses parting the Red Sea, or Noah building the Ark. I've been thinking of these wonderful miracles of faith, and thinking to myself, "Well I can't do that. No way is my faith THAT strong." It didn't really make me feel completely worthless, but it did kinda make me feel like I wasn't good enough. Especially hearing of other missionary's miracles out on their missions. My faith just isn't strong enough to do those things. I cannot move mountains.

But what I realized is that my faith doesn't feel strong enough to move mountains, because the Lord doesn't need me to move mountains. I don't feel like I can do those miracle because the Lord doesn't need me to do them. Right now he needs me to get better at German. And to get better at talking to absolute strangers on the street. That's what He needs me to do, and I have faith that He will help me to do it. I also have faith, that if the Lord DID need me to move a mountain, He would strengthen my faith so that I'd be able to. My faith is exactly where the Lord needs it right now. I don't have to worry about being able to move move mountains.

Pretty flowers that are actually weeds. 

And neither do you. I'm not sure if faith is something you feel you struggle with, but just know that God doesn't need you to move mountains either. I don't know what He does want for you to do, but I challenge you to find that out, and then just trust that He will help you do it. We cannot fail with the Lord by our side.

Have the faith and the trust in the Lord to do what He needs you to do. To improve where He wants you to improve. To become who He wants you to become.

You cannot fail :)

My challenge for you this week is this:

If you cannot explain with conviction why your religion has blessed your life and why it will bless the life of your neighbor, fi

nd out for yourself. 

Pray, ponder, study the blessings that your religion has brought into your life. Come closer to God. 

I love you all! I miss you all! Ich wünsche euch eine schöne Woche! Ihr alle seid am Besten! 

Auf Wiedersehen!

Elder Harps

PS: My favorite word to say in German is "Eichhörnchen". It's really hard to say in German haha.

Elder Mortensen & Elder Harps
Serving in Langen, Germany

Hallo von Langen! 

So I made it to Germany! I didn't die. Yay me! 

My first area is called Langen. It is in the Frankfurt Zone, about 15 minute train ride south from Frankfurt. My companion is from Delta, Utah, and his name is Elder Mortensen. Super cool. 

Germany is actually amazing. Like, everything is so cool. And so very German strangely enough. Who knew? 

All the taxis are Volkswagen or Mercedes, all the houses are really boxy with pointed roofs. Sausage is super cheap, and super delicious. Actually all meats are. It's awesome. And holy cow the chocolate is so good. I'm going to gain way too much weight. Das Essen hier ist echt toll. Ich werde dick werden. 

Also, everybody talks soooo fast. I should probably have expected that, but it's hard enough to understand normal German speakers, and if they have an accent, no way in heck can I understand haha. Unless they are also new to Germany. Then they talk slow and I can understand :) 

On the first day we did a street display. A bunch of missionaries handed out copies of the Book of Mormon in 

This is what a street display might have looked like.
This picture was taken in the same mission by
some other missionaries. 

various languages, and talked to anybody that would listen. I was really nervous at first, but once the conversations were started, it was really cool to talk to people about the gospel. 

Two gentlemen I talked to were Syrian refugees. It was kind of interesting, because I spoke more German than they did. Especially since my vocabulary is gospel oriented, and they knew nothing about Christianity, they didn't know really any of my words. I had to talk and explain everything. It was sooo cool. I got to explain from the ground up all that Christ did for us. I got to bear testimony of the Atonement and its redeeming power. One of them said that it is hard to believe in God when there is so much hardship and evil in the world. He had every right to say that, as he fled war-torn Syria and had spent the last year and a half living in a refugee camp. I got to explain to him though how Christ and his Atonement help me have hope, peace, and happiness through hard times. That even though hard times come, Christ can help us get through them. He took upon himself not only the sins of the world, but also all the pains and insecurities (Alma 7: 11-12). Christ knows everything we go through, so that He can help us overcome it. We can have hope throughout our trials. He won't always take them away, but he will always strengthen us so that we can endure them. The Man seemed to understand, and I think he felt the spirit. He took it very seriously. They agreed to meet with the missionaries, and swapped phone numbers. It was really really cool. 

I'm super excited to be here. I'm gonna work my tail off. 

God is real. He knows and loves us. He knows and loves YOU. 

Come unto Christ 

I love you all! Pray for me to learn German! I'll need it! 

Bis aufs Wiedersehen!! 

Elder Harps

He made it!

Elder Harps with Mission President Stoddard and his wife. 

He made it!  Micah is now in Germany. 

He arrived sometime yesterday.  He will now be writing home every Thursday. 

So look for updates then! 

Woche 5

Elder Harps and his companions in front of Provo Temple

Ich kann fast hier verlassen! Ich bin so begeistert nach Deutsch land zu gehen!

German is coming along well. I'm by no means perfect, but the Gift of Tongues is so real. I shouldn't be able to speak half as much German as I can. I've easily learned more here in 5 weeks than I did in high school. The Lord has blessed me greatly.

Again, sorry for a lack of stories, but next week hopefully I'll have some! I'm so stinking excited to be in Germany already. The MTC is so so wonderful, but at some point I gotta just get out there and start doing the real thing. Glad it's happening this Monday :)

2 districts of missionaries headed to Frankfurt

This week I learned a lot about diligence, hope, faith, and fear. I wont be able to cover half of what I want to (as usual) but I'll try haha.

This week i tried really hard to be diligent. So first I had to figure out what it meant to be diligent. Diligence is consistent effort at all times to be as best we can. When we are diligent, we are constantly thinking about what we need to do better. We notice when we do something wrong or halfheartedly, and commit to do it better. Diligence is so important because when we are diligent, we can achieve so much more. We can improve so much more. 

Diligence is hard though. We have to diligently strive to attain diligence. I know that sounds kinda weird. We have to pray and ask God to help us be diligent. We have to want it. Then, at every opportunity we can see to BE diligent, we have to put our best effort at it. Eventually, we will get it. It's really not easy. But it's important. 

Diligence is important because the Adversary, the Devil, is also diligent. He will take any opportunity to pull you a little bit further from God. Something I read in C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters talks about this. Everything we do or think or say, it doesn't matter if it is bad or good. All that matters is whether or not it brings us closer or farther from God. For instance, prayer is awesome! but If we are praying for God to smite our annoying neighbor, then it probably isn't drawing us closer to Him. Satan will take any opportunity to have us lighten up. Relax our efforts. Pull our course just slightly off our true mark. He doesn't really care if he can't get you to murder someone, though he'd love to. He's just as happy simply making you do something less than optimal to draw you away from the Lord. He is diligent, and so we must be diligent to keep him out of our life. We must always be diligent to keep Satan from pulling us off course.

Elder Harps and his good friend Elder Barden, who is headed to Lithuania

We can do it. Pray for diligence. Strive to be better. God WILL bless you.

And see now I'm out of time to talk about the other topics haha.

I'll summarize.

Hope and Faith trump Fear. 

Hope is a belief in a better world. Fear is the opposite. Through faith, we can hope and cast out all fear. 

This week, I invite you all to read Ether 12 and Moroni 7. These chapters explain hope, faith, and charity so much better than I can. Grade A chapters. 

I love you all! I miss you all! Come unto Christ!

Bis nächste Woche! Auf Wiedersehen!

Elder Harps

(PS I actually go pictures this time!)

Woche 4

Hallo vom MTC!

This week was awesome. Once again I feel like a new person because I've grown and learned s much. I love it here in the MTC, but I'm also super excited to get into the Mission field. 

Just by the way, I promise to share stories when I get in the mission field, but as of right now, ever single day is study and class and eating and study and class and eating. Not a whole lot to tell. right now I'm teaching 4 investigators, and I get to role play and be an investigator for another companionship as well. It's awesome! This week had some great lessons thanks to the guidance of the spirit and one of them, Stefan, is preparing to be baptized. They all are awesome.

What Gods love feels like! Micah December 2016 

One funny story. In one of our lessons, my companion said to our investigator "Werden Sie sich Teufel lassen?". He was trying to ask her if she wanted to be baptized. "to baptize" is "taufen". He unfortunately said "Teufel", which instead means "devil" hahaha. She gave him a really concerned look and I leaned over and whispered the correct word and he quickly flustered and re-asked haha.

Alright, this week was exciting, because I have a new favorite scripture! These 3 are my favorite because they really define who I am and how this gospel works for me. 

First, my all time favorite scripture is John 7:17. It's awesome, but Il discuss what it means t me another day.

But the other favorite one is Ether 12:27. (Please read by clicking on link :) )

This scripture is beautiful. I have loads of weaknesses. We all do. But to me this means that even though I have weaknesses, as long as I trust i the Lord, and have faith in Him that he can help me overcome my weaknesses, I can do anything. Weaknesses are blessings of a sort. They are opportunities for us to rely on the lord because our own strength or talents are not enough. I've had t d this so many times since coming here ot the MTC. All the time in lessons, or talking to new investigators or frankly even just being loving to everyone, I have to say a silent prayer telling God "Hey, I know I' really bad at this, but I'm going to try anyway. Please help it all work out". I have yet to be disappointed. When we rely on the Lord, he can and will make our weaknesses into strengths.

My new favorite scripture though, that I found this week in my reading, is 2 Nephi 33:11. This scripture only has it's full meaning when tied to Ether. The whole verse is cool, but I really just focus on the last line. Nephi, who is a great prophet, says "I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness". This is the 5th to last verse Nephi writes. Nephi, to the end of his life, believes that writing is one of his weaknesses. I don't know a single person who would say anything less than that writing is one of his greatest strengths. Nephi's writings are probably my favorite in the entirety of the Book of Mormon. He is NOT weak in writing.

But he believes he is.

Sometimes, the Lord doesn't always let us see that our weaknesses have become strengths. sometimes, the Lord helps us overcome weaknesses, and WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IT. Nephi has relied on the Lord, and the Lord made his weakness of writing into one of his greatest strengths. But he doesn't even recognize it.

The Lord can, and WILL, do the same for us. If we trust him, and rely on His strength, all of our weaknesses can become our strengths. Sometimes, we don't know it though. We just have to keep trying, keep trusting, keep having faith and the Lord will ALWAYS carry through. 

I have loads of weaknesses, as do we all. But I know that the Lord will make them into strengths for me, that I may do all that He needs me to.

You guys are awesome. I love you all. I miss you all. I hope you all have a great week this week. Remember to trust God, and all will turn out in the end.

This week, try to look for and write down the ways God has blessed you. Anytime you see a blessing, write it down and thank God in prayer for it. Prayers of gratitude will life your spirit no matter how bad a day you've been having!

Shöne Woche Alles! Auf Wiedersehen!!

Elder Harps