Insights and Events in the Life of Elder Harps: Woche 27

Hey everyone, this week has also been interesting.

Last Thursday and Friday I was still in Offenbach with the Zone Leaders and we split with the Office Elders on Friday. But then on Saturday I was with the Office elders in Frankfurt and I had to do weekly planning by myself to try and get Langen back in some form of working order for Elder Clarke. I called a bunch of people and set up a bunch of appointments and smashed my head on the wall because it was really boring. Then that Saturday night I stayed with the Assistants and we went to the airport Sunday morning and picked up Elder Clarke with Präsident Boyer.

Elder Clarke is such a stud. I have the utmost respect for him. He's hurting a lot but he's working hard nonetheless. He and I have been working to get the area back up and running. He is still mourning, but he isn't letting it incapacitate him. He's working through his grief and moving forward. He's such an inspiration. Please keep praying for him and his family.

Talking to people in the streets.
There is a lady watching in a window
behind us. She looks interested.
I should go back and find her!

We have been having an awesome week this week as far as the work goes. We have been working with some nonmember family members of a family in our ward. Her biological mother is from Liberia and is visiting for a few months. She's such a sweet lady. She has a ton of Faith. She also has reduced hearing and vision and a crazy thick African English accent but she's making wonderful progress and will be baptized on the 26th of August. Her name is Mary and she is awesome.

Another guy we've been teaching is named Philip and he is dating the daughter in that same family. He's been attending church regularly for about 8 months and one of his best friends is on a mission in Salt Lake right now. We have an appointment tomorrow with him and plan on committing him to baptism. He's way cool.

Talking to people in the streets

The work is going great here in Langen. All of our crazy crazy efforts to talk to everyone these last few weeks are really beginning to pay off as we now have a solid number of really solid people we are Working with. It's awesome here in Langen.

Next Saturday is transfer calls and there is a pretty solid chance that I leave Langen and I'm really torn because I love it here and want to see all these people make it to baptism but I also am excited to move on to other places. We'll find out next Saturday though.

So this week in district meeting I gave a Thema (I don't really know exactly how to translate that. Lesson kinda thought thing) on serving other people and I did some really cool stuff as I was preparing for it.

A LOT of times as a missionary, we start talking to people and they immediately say, "Nein, keine Zeit" and I often want to just grab them and be like "YOU DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU ARE MISSING. LISTEN TO ME" if I'm being honest haha. They just really don't know what it is that they are turning down.

But if they could just see how much this gospel has blessed my life and could bless theirs, they would turn in a heartbeat. If they could just see how much God it can bring.

Elder Allan, Elder Ault, and I
with the Manics again

And what Preach My Gospel (a book we use to help us preach the gospel) explained is that the way to show them is to serve them. Service is love in action. They may not be willing to listen to my words, but if they can see the love I have for them, the spirit can manifest to them.

In the Book of Mormon, the story of Ammon is a great example of this. He came into the land of his enemies and simply told the king that he would be his servant. He served the king and protected his flocks from Robbers and because of his service, the king was touched and he and his whole people were converted to the Lord. It all started with service.

When we serve people, we show them our love. That is how they can see our love without us saying it.

But it's also important to note that above nurtures love. If we want to increase our love for someone -- whether it be a friend, family member, acquaintance, companion, leader, teacher, whoever -- service will increase that love.

So very out there and serve this week! It will bless your life and the lives of everyone around you. It will bring you closer to the Savior

I love you all! Habt noch einmal eine schöne Woche!

Elder Harps