Woche 67

Mahlzeit Leute!!

This email is gonna be short, since I'm short on time! But I got lots of pictures :)

I got to Skype with my family this week!! That was way cool! I loved talking with them. Also it was kinda weird because my one remaining call will be just 2 to 3 weeks before I'm finished so this was kinda a final call. My family is awesome :)

There was a baptism in Essen this last Saturday for an Investigator that's been waiting a year for his papers to get settled so that he can be baptized (Church refugee policy stuff), and he finally go the okay! He's one of my good friends and we got to go back to Essen for his baptism and support him. It was so sweet! Go Yusef!

Forgot some things from last week. We had an amazing American BBQ for Family Home Evening with the Senior Missionary Couple in our ward and it was awesome. Lot's of cool people and it was just way fun.

We had Zonenkonferenz this week and it was a blast as usual. We got to give a Thema (don't remember the English word sorry) on how to learn the German language. It was cool! Also I got to see a lot of old mission friends again. This was sadly the last Zone Conference for a few of them, including Elder Clarke. I'm going to miss him! He is a very very good missionary.

We also split with the Paderborn Elders and the Essen Elders. I got to be with Elder Kimball and Elder Fuller. They both are awesome. Way fun splits.

We also kinda found 3 families in 2 hours last night for a total of about 7 new investigators so that was kinda flipping awesome. One was the family of that random Romanian guy that asked Elder Peterson and I for a Book of Mormon last week. He's already started reading it and said he really likes it and also Joseph Smith. Their family has 3 kids at ages 12, 8, and 6. We have another appointment for Saturday and we are way excited. Also found 2 Egyptian families who are also way cool. We gotta figure out how to overcome the language barrier and a few other barriers but their faith is really strong. We are excited :)

Shumon and Shekh are doing awesome. Their friends are making really great progress. Mishal (in one of the pictures) and Hussein (in both of them) are doing awesome

Something we talked about in Zone Conference and I'd invite you all to join me in is President Nelson's challenge to read all of the scriptures listed under the Topical Guide for Jesus Christ. We were invited once again to do that at the Elder Rasband conference so we decided as a mission that we are going to complete it, everyone at their own pace. I know that as we draw nearer to our savior, all the problems, concerns, and stresses of normal life will sort themselves out and we will find more peace and strength than we thought possible. 

I've started on it this week, and I invite you all to join me! If you find something cool in your studies, I'd love to hear it! Send me an email!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! Come nearer to Christ this week!

Tschüss!!

Elder Harps

Pics:

Yeah there are too many haha

Pdays

BBQ

Bengali food

ZOKO

etc

Woche 66

Grüß euch alle! Ihr seid richtige Schlingel!!

Okay that week number is getting way too high. It makes me cringe every week to write it haha

This week was a wonderful one, and a Wunder (miracle) filled one!

Last Friday we had to postpone our split with Essen again because we had a doctor's appointment and also a service project followed by another one and then it was just way busy with not so missionaryish stuff haha. We decided to just do it alter and do it proper :)

This week we've been hitting the Area Book work really hard. That's where we keep all our old records of who's been taught what and when. Ours is way horrible and filled with clutter, and even finally decided to hit it really hard and clean it up so it stops being a burden and becomes a useful tool.

We called and dropped about 150 investigators this week and we still have a whollllle lot to go. Still about 178 in the area Book and 250+ to follow up with. This thing is a monster but we are gonna slay it haha

Shumon and Shekh are doing awesomeeeee!!!! Like so so awesome. They are 2 of the coolest member missionaries I've seen in my time here in Germany. On Monday they invited us, and 2 non-member friends to lunch where we cooked up a bunch of Bengali food (which is delicious. Lots of rice, curry, lamb, and spices). Afterwards we taught the Plan of Salvation and by that I mean we held up a picture and pulled out scripture references and Shumon and Shekh expounded the scriptures and taught about God's plan. We really had a pretty backseat role and it was just perfect. It was so cool to see them putting their newfound testimonies in action, and one of the two friends is really interested and is making great progress (the other was sick and so couldn't focus well haha). The sisters are also currently teaching Shekh girlfriend and she's super cool and is going to be baptized in a few weeks! 

We gonn' start a Bengali branch here in Dormtund! Woot Woot!!

Russ is also doing awesome. We taught him also about the Plan of Salvation this last week and also talked about baptism. He said he would think and pray about when he wants to do it, and on Saturday at our next appointment we will pick a date with him!! He's doing so awesome!

Boom, life is great, the church is true, and God is real!

For a spiritual thought, I just hope you all know that you truly can do anything you put your mind to. God promises us in Moroni 7:34 that "Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you." God is on our team! As long as we are humble and try our hardest to seek His will, he will support us in all our endeavors. We don't have to nail it perfectly. He doesn't sit there with a clipboard and say "Hmm, that's a good idea, but to close enough to my will. No help for you!". On the contrary, when we come to him with our ideas and desires, he stands with outstretched arms and says "What a lovely idea! I am so happy that you want to progress and grow and return to me. Of course I'll help you. I'd be thrilled! Now I may do some tweaking to your idea on the way, but I promise you that your goal is my goal. I'll make sure you get there". He's on our side and he wants to help us become more elite him in overcoming our weaknesses, developing Christ like attributes, and repentance. That IS His "work and [his] glory" (Moses 1:39)

You are wonderful! You have a father in Heaven who is proud of you and loves you.

Ich hoffe es geht euch gut und dass ihr alle eine schöne Woche haben. Macht sie mal so!

Tschüß!!

Elder Harps

Sunset

Split with Elder Peterson!

The punishment if you get home late in this mission

Schloß Burg, Solingen 

Pday today in Solingen with Elder Clarke, Elder Adams, and other friends!

Woche 65

Schönen guten Tag, liebe Familie und Freunde!!

It's been another crazy week here in Dortmund. I've just been loving my time here. The city is great. The ward is great. The District is great. The Zone is great. Life is awesome!!

This week:

I got to go a bit down memory lane as we visited Essen District's district meeting! It was a lot of fun. The missionaries there are some pretty dang good ones, and we loved getting to take part in their Meeting. The spirit was strong :)

Sadly our split with the Essen Elders got postponed due to some food poisoning, but we'll split with them tomorrow. Not we get to hang out with them even more! Haha

We had an Investigator show up to church and it was going way well up until we met with him on Monday night and it turns out he doesn't want to learn, he just wanted to bash and prove that his religion was right. So that was annoying. I really hate bashing haha

Russ! I don't know if I've mentioned Russ before, but he is so amazing! He was an Investigator of the old Dortmund Elders before they closed as I got here to Dortmund. He's about 60 and moved here from Ghana 6 years ago. He is a spiritual GIANT of a man. He has truly seen some absolutely mind-boggling miracles in his life and he is just loving the Gospel. I feel like he teaches us at least as much as we teach him. He loves the Book of Mormon, and says he feels the spirit every time he reads in it. He has a crazy work schedule, but every single Sunday he has off, he in the church. He has been praying for an answer about whether or not he should be baptized for the last few weeks. We are meeting with him tonight and are hoping to pick out a date with him. He's already told us that he plans on being baptized, he just wants to be really sure and 100% in if he makes this decision, which is awesome. 

We also had Mission Leadership Council (MLC) yesterday in Frankfurt and it was way powerful. It was probably the best, most effective, and most uplifting one I've been able to attend so far. We were able to have a really good council on the state of the mission and we all feel that it is in a really good place. The missionaries are working with faith and diligence and we are way proud of them. We also discussed what we can do and change to improve it further, what our next step is. It was just a way wonderful experience and I left with a ton of new ideas and a clearer idea of where to go next. Way good!

I learned something cool this week! Something I'm very grateful for!

These last few weeks I've had a few ups and downs with dealing with stress and it's been pretty annoying to be honest. Every time I felt like I had figured it out and was ready to move forward, the stress came back.

But what I did yesterday in the long train ride back to Dortmund is I just started writing. I decided to write and write and write until I figured out what to do and how to overcome it and move forward. And I learned something very interesting.

So back at the beginning of my mission, contacting was way hard for me. It was really scary to talk to people, and I struggled a lot with fear. When I get stressed, contacting gets difficult. Definitely still possible, but it becomes a burden instead of a joy. 

What I learned though is how important it is to actually figure out what the problem is! I had thought that contacting was stressing me out, but it wasn't. It was something else, and the stress just made it difficult to contact. I spent so much time trying to cure the symptoms of stress and didn't even realize that it wasn't actually the source. I felt that because I was stressed, it meant I was doing something wrong, and that I needed to change something or let go of something (confusing weakness for sin). It was annoying me because I just couldn't overcome it, no matter how hard I tried to rely on the lord and remember all the things I'd learned. It was really frustrating!

But what was bugging me wasn't even big, and as soon as I recognized it, I quickly made some plans on how to start working on it, and now it's all good! I still have to overcome this stressor, but I had spend about 3 weeks trying to solve a problem I hadn't identified yet. I had just assumed that it was one of my age-old enemies, when it was really something else entirely. 

I'm very grateful that the Lord is patient with us and I know he was there smiling by my side the whole time. I felt him and still feel him and I'm grateful that he let me figure it out for myself. He obviously helped me a ton. But he didn't just give me the answer straightaway. He let me work for it and grow from it. 

I know that the Lord supports us in our trials and that he wants us to succeed and be happy. He is so good :)

I love you all! Please remember how much God loves you! He WANTS to help and support you! He WANTS to give you answers to your questions, and he WANTS to help you become more like his Son :)

Ich hoffe es geht euch gut und dass ihr wisst, dass du ein Kind Gottes bist!! Habt eine richtig schöne Woche, alle!

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Harps 

Pics:

Elder Heller and I laughing at his punny Sister's card

Pday last week with our gigantic District. Bowling in Bochum!

Pday last week with our gigantic District. Bowling in Bochum!

Another Pic of the Elder Rasband Konferenz

German Sky

German Town (taken from a moving train)