Woche 73

Schlinglichen fröhlichen wunderbaren günstigen Morgen, meine Freunde und Familie!!

This week was awesome. Lots went down!

Last week we got to split with Hagen! I got to serve with the legendary Elder Roughan again, this time in Dortmund. It went way well. We got to teach some bomb lessons, and we just had a great time. Elder Roughan is a stud

We finally destroyed our Area Book for the last time. We spent almost all of Monday making calls, but we also had a few appointments. We contacted and dropped about 80 people we didn't know. Now our Area Book is finally usable as a tool and isn't a hindrance to our work. It feels really good.

We also split with Paderborn! The two Paderborn Elders came down and spent the day with us in Dormtund for a power split. I had a way fun split with Elder Davis 

Okay also just a disclaimer to everyone. We went to Köln today for pday and so I have absolutely no time for emails. I'm sorry if I didn't write you back this week! I promise I still love you! I very much appreciate emails!

LG

Elder Harps

Pics:

Elder Christensen and I

Dortmund Missionaries + Hamm Sisters @ Köln

Elder Christensen and I

Dortmund Missionaries + Hamm Sisters @ Köln

Woche 72

Servus euch!

This email will be short! But it will have lots of pictures! We went to a Zoo today and I love Zoos. It's like 5 minutes from the church and only cost 4.50 and Im not sure why we hadn't ever done it before. it was awesome!

This week was super solid. Lots went down:

Friday we were at a street display in Bochum, and we got to hang out with the Essen Distrikt! It was a lot of fun and we found a lot of cool people!

Saturday was our Ward Sommer Party and it was so amazing.Our Ward is literally the coolest. They invited a ton of non-member friends and we spent the entire time talking to investigators, members, and everyone else! The ward was super appreciative. They shared some of their cool missionary experiences on Sunday after and it was so cool.

Sunday we had a total of 8 investigators from us 6 missionaries at church. Our Gospel principles class was the best Sunday school  I've ever been to in my entire life. People were asking awesome questions and they were answering each others questions and it was just so cool. It was a miracle in it of itself.

On Monday we got to visit a Distrikt meeting in Hamm and afterwards have a way fun Finding activity there. We also split with the Elders from Bad Bentheim. We brought them afterwards to Dortmund for our split and I had a great split with Elder Noland.

After we had interviews with President and it was good as ever. President is such a good man. I love him a lot.

Also had another Street display here in Dortmund on Wednesday and it was awesome. Super tired by the end but it was excellent. Saw a lot of success. Afterwards we got Eis :)

Anyways, yep that was my week! I love you all! I hope you all had a wonderful  week!

Tschüß!

Elder Harps 

Erdmännnchen = Meerkat = "Small earth man" haha

Street Display

Woche 71

Schönen guten Morgen, ihr Schlingel!

What a week. What a week.

This week was amazing.

So Ross first!!! Ross got baptized on Saturday!! It was such a cool experience. We got everything ready throughout last week and then on Saturday evening he and Mishal (an Investigator from the sisters and Shekh girlfriend) got baptized. So many people showed up to support them and welcome them into the ward. We had about 45 people there which is the most I've ever seen at a baptism on my mission. All the calls and fliers and efforts to get people to come paid off bigtime.

On Sunday Ross and Mishal showed up late to church and I had a mini heart-attack. It had been crazy hard to get Ross a free Sunday so he could be confirmed after his baptism, and if he missed it we would have to wait a month. Fortunately my our prayers were answered and he and mishal showed up in time and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. (We found out later that the reason they were late is because Ross had passed Shekh and Mishal in his car and had stopped to pick them up and give them a ride haha). 

It was also Fast and Testimony meeting (Stake conference last week) and Ross got up and bore his testimony. It was one of the more powerful moments on my mission. A member of the Stake Presidency stood up and helped him with translation , and the spirit was so strong. He told the story of his conversion. He expressed his gratitude and thanks for us and the other missionaries who taught him the message of Christ's restored church. He told of his love for the Book of Mormon and for the Gospel. He shared several experiences where he received answers to his prayers and questions and concerns during his time investigating the church. He truly understands and treasures this restored truth and Gospel as it ought to be. He loves his Savior and bore his witness that this church is true and that he is grateful that he finally found it. I love him dearly :)

Antony is also another miracle!!

So a few weeks ago (not sure if I mentioned this) Elder Heller and I talked to this man who had moved here from Kenya in Hagen as we were leaving a baptismal service. He was very cool, super friendly, and very interested in our message! We talked further in the train and exchanged numbers. His number wasn't working, and as we had to get off we told him to call us so we could have his number but he said he would text us when he got back from Lithuania in a few weeks after his Thesis defence. there. We watched the doors close and we were bummed, because people ALWAYS forget to text or call us (Satan is very good at distraction).

But a few weeks ago he texted us and said he was back and wanted to meet! Elder Christensen and I went over on Friday after a service project and it was so cool!! He had prepared us Kenyan food to eat with him and his family (which we didn't know about!!). He has a wife who has lived in Germany her whole life and an adorable 2 year old with another one on the way! They were so nice and we were able to give Antony a copy of the Book of Mormon. He thought it was so cool. He said that he had wanted to looks tuff up before we came but knew there are a lot of lies on the internet, so he waited until we came ourselves. At the end of our mini lesson, he said "I don't think it was a coincidence that we met". We agreed :)

We have another appointment with him tomorrow. When we asked how the Book of Mormon reading was coming, he said "I haven't been able to finish it yet, but maybe by next time" xD. We are way excited!!

We also had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) this week on tuesday. It is probably tied with the last one for my favorite ones so far. It was way powerful. After we split with the Assistants and I got to hang out with Elder Heller and Elder Larson again. They are awesome. Elder Larson and I had a way good split. We stayed today for pday as well and spent it in Frankfurt. We got to eat Chipotle for lunch (which I miss dearly).

This week was excellent. Been tricky trying to meet with everyone we want to while also spending 3 whole days in Frankfurt this week, but we are making do! Also while in Frankfurt, we got to eat dinner with a Senior Missionary couple serving in the Area Office named Elder and Sister Fager. Elder Fager was an old companion of my Grandpa and he told us some cool stories! It was a tender mercy!

I love you all! God is real and he is good. Miracles have not ceased!

Habt die beste Woche eures Lebens :)

Bis dann,

Elder Harps

These chickens we always laugh at by our house.
This chicken dug that entire hole with its head in order to sit in the dirt
when it has a whole grass field. It's not even in the shade! haha!

Ross's Baptism!!!

The Fagers

Us and the Assistants at the Fagers

Add caption

Us and the Assistants at Chipotle

Woche 70

Servus euch, ihr Schlingelchen!

Well it's been quite the crazy week!

Last weekend I got to go on another split in Hagen! I was with the legendary Elder Roughan. He's in his first transfer and he's a stud. We had an awesome split. Also there was a really cool sunset!

So on Saturday we got transfer calls. Elder Heller got transferred! He's going to Frankfurt to be one of President's Assistants. I'm very excited for him, but I'm also way bummed we only got 2 transfers together. We had a lot a lot of fun together, and I'm already missing him. I'll get to split with him later this transfer though, so no worries :)

But my new companion is Elder Christensen! He's way cool. We've already seen some really cool miracles haha. Dortmund is just awesome.

We had a barbecue with the wonderful Senior Missionary couple and the rest of the district Sunday night and it was a blast. Way way fun time. Best dinner hour ever xD.

We saw some way cool miracles again. For instance on Monday morning as we were waiting for Elder Heller train to Frankfurt this random Albanian guy talked to us. He is 23 and was baptized in Albania when he was 16 but hasn't been able to find the church here in Germany since he moved here. He was super excited and we set an appointment to meet. He brought his cousin and we had a mini lesson on the Plan of Salvation. He was so excited as he translated to his cousin. They said next time they want to bring more friends, which I have absolutely no problem haha

Russ is doing awesome!! He's really excited about his baptism on Saturday. He is doing so so well. His interview is this evening, we had a great lesson on Tithing and on Hope. Everything is lined up to go. Tons of people have said they are coming to the baptism, and I'm so excited. I will attach lots of pictures for next week!! Russ is awesome!!!

That's pretty much it! I love you all and I wish you all the best week ever!!

Alles alles gute, meine Freunde :)

Tschüßy!!

Elder Harps 

Elder Roughan and I in Hagen

Elder Heller and I saying goodbye

Elder Kimball and I

Us and the sisters in the District before transfers on Sunday

BBQ!

Woche 69

Schönes Grüßchen, meine Familie und Freunde 

Man this week was intense. Loads went down. The work here is going flipping awesome. Like the miracles are just pouring down

Familie Dure: Wow. So this is that Family that moved to Germany from Romania I mentioned a few weeks ago. Elder Peterson and I got talked to by Herr Dure on the street while doing a go by. He stopped us and asked for a coy of the Book of Mormon in Romanian out of the blue. Well this last week while on split again, we finally got to meet them! (I sadly wasn't there because of the split haha). Elder Heller and Elder Smith had an amazing first lesson with them sharing the message of the Restoration. Herr Dure was super excited to start reading the Book of Mormon and said that he's been seeking for the right church his whole life. He said if he reads the Book of Mormon and it strengthens his faith, he will gladly join the church and be baptized! He also has a wife and 3 children, and also us now (He said we were a part of the family haha). We have another appointment with them set up for tomorrow, and it's gonna be flipping awesome!! 🤙🤙

Russ: Russ is doing amazing. We haven't met since last week because of his crazy work schedule, but he's doing great. We are calling him tonight to make out a new appointment. He should have his new schedule for the month so we can actually have a fest plan on when he can be baptized!

Antony: So last Saturday we talked to the way cool guy who moved to Germany from Kenya to study and get his masters in Project Management. He was way friendly, and actually introduced himself to us waiting for a train before we could even talk to him! We talked the whole drive back to Dortmund and he was way interested in learning more about the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. We tried to get his number but we didn't have time before we had to get out of the train. He got ours though, and he said he'd message us when he gets back from a trip to Lithuania (shout out to Elder Barden haha) for his Thesis defence. Well normally that means game over because it's very rare that people actually remember to message us back. But Antony did!! He messaged us on Whatsapp and we made an appointment out for next friday, which is gonna be way cool! 

Also at the street display here in Dortmund yesterday, it was probably the most successful street display I've ever been at. I was talking to people and Teaching almost the entire 4 hours, and almost all of the conversations I didn't even start! People would walk up to the street display or us and ask questions on their own. This one Student who moved here from China was so sweet! I showed her a Chinese copy of the Book of Mormon and shared a few of my favorite scriptures out of it. I got to explain some really basic beliefs about God, Jesus Christ, and prophets. When I told her she could have the Book for free, she said "Oh! But it's so new and nice! I can really have it?" to which I said yes haha. We also recently got approved for a messaging app called WeChat that apparently a lot of Chinese people use (I learned that from Elder Richardson in England haha) and when I asked her if she could show me how to use it she got so excited it was hilarious. 

We had a ton of other really cool people we found at the street display, but I don't have time to write them all haha. It was absolutely mind-boggling how much success God poured down on us.

That's the gist of my week this week. We also got to go on split with the Herne Elders last weekend, and I got to serve with Elder Graf in Herne (in my old district). It was way cool! He's a very good missionary and I actually learned a ton on our split together. We had a lot of fun and found some cool potentials.

We also split with the Hagen elders in our district this last Monday and Tuesday and I got to be with Elder Yorgason. It was also a really really good split. 

The weather got really disgustingly humid and hot this week like it does in the Summer in Germany. Basically I'm not going to stop sweating for the next 3 months. I'll see you all on the other side haha

This weekend is Transfer calls. My gut says there will be a lot a lot of changes in this Zone for next transfer. I also could get transferred to a new area. I've been in Dortmund for a few months now, but we'll see what happens. I really love this area and the people we are working with right now. Dortmund is awesome 🖤🖤

Well yep! That's all folks. Miracles are real and they do happen. God is just waiting for us to rely on him and trust him and do our best. He wants to pour out miracles and blessings on us. He is so good.

Ich wünsche euch alle eine schöne Woche und alles Gute! Bis zum nächsten Mal, ihr Schlingel!

Tschüß!!

Elder Harps 

We saw a funny Ad and the Hagen Elders and us took a Pic haha

Split with Elder Graf in Herne

People were handing out free Milka cookies at Dortmund Hauptbahnhof. We got a loooott of them haha. If only people too the gospel as readily as they took these cookies 

Street Display here in Dortmund with the District!

District Pic with the entire district (only took 6 weeks before we could all make it to the same meeting haha)

Woche 68

Moin moin, ihr Schlingel!!

This week was kinda awesome again.

This email is long and kinda all over the place. Sorry! haha 

We had an awesome Street Display here in Dortmund yesterday. It was one of the most successful I've ever seen actually. We were just finding people like crazy. So many prepared people and I felt the spirit really strong in a few contacts. It was good to just testify and invite. It was awesome.

So some crazy stuff went down this week. A district of branches in the Berlin mission was broken up and reassigned to the neighboring stakes and 2 areas of that mission got reassigned to our Mission. So we snagged 4 missionaries from the Berlin Mission, who are now in ours! I've never even heard of that before but we are glad to have them. The Bad Bentheim Elders overnighter with us on the way back from a Zone Conference in Offenbach and we got to know them. They are 2 cool Elders. I'm excited to work with them.

We split with the Hamm elders and I got to be with the one and only Elder Sticht here in Dortmund! It was a lot of fun. My first split with him was almost exactly one year ago in Langen, which is kinda freaky haha

On Saturday we got to visit a Baptism in Hagen! It was for a 9 year old boy named Jeremiah who I got to interview last week and he's awesome. It was a really good service, and very well attended by members. It was a cool experience.

Russ is doing amazing. We had another amazing lesson with him this week. I think I forgot to mention that we set a baptismal Date with him for the 9th of June, and he is killing it in his preparation for it. We talked about missionary work and courage as we read Alma 17 with him and a member. The member just killed it with friendshipping him and bringing the spirit. We are very excited. 

I learned a bit about fear this week in my studies about the Savior! Fear has always been tricky for me to define, since in the scriptures it is said that Fear opposes Faith, Fear opposes Charity and Love, and Fear also destroys Hope and Peace. 

I've never been quite able to pin it down what it means to fear, where it comes from, and what the best way is to beat it.

As I read through the several accounts of the Savior's Resurrection and empty tomb, I noticed that nearly every time an angel or even the Savior himself appear to Mary or the Apostles, the very first thing that they say is "Fear not" or "Peace be unto you". This is true also for the Angel Gabriel when he appears to the virgin Mary ("Fear not") or to her husband to be Joseph ("Joseph, fear not"). There are countless examples of heavenly visitations and almost always the first response of Man is fear (Adam and Eve in the Garden, Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah, the Brother of Jared, etc.)

My question was why the heck they feared when they saw an angel of the Lord, or even the Lord himself? I mean the Apostles had lived and journeyed with the Lord for 3 years but when he appears to them after his resurrection, they feared at first.

What I decided is that Fear comes from Uncertainty. That the fear of the unknown is really at the core of all fears. Dread is not the same as fear.

After the Savior appeared to the apostles he "[opened] their understanding", and they finally stopped fearing. As they understood, they stopped fearing. 

Anyway I have a lot of uncollected thoughts and lot of examples I collected from a bunch of different stories in the scriptures. 

But with regards to Faith, Hope and Charity, I had some cool findings!

Alma 32:21 reads:

"21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true"

Faith is not a perfect knowledge. That means that even though we may have uncertainty and experience fear, we can still have faith. We will never know everything in this life. But we exercise Faith when we focus on what we do know, and we are victims of Fear when we focus on what we don't know. There is an infinite supply of questions in the universe, and questions are not bad. Faith gives way to fear though when we focus on the questions instead of the answers. But the converse is also true. The greatest fears crumble when we choose to focus on the things we do know and the Savior.

"Perfect love casteth out all fear" (Moroni 8:16)

Love will always trump fear because as we put the needs of others above our own, the uncertainty in our own lives doesn't matter to us. For instance the story of Ammon in the Book of Mormon (Alma 17). Alma stands alone against an entire band of robbers whose numbers "were not a few". He stands for is fellow servants and the chance that by showing the power of God, he can reach them with his message of the Gospel. His love for his fellow man overrode the fears he may have experienced as he made his stand.

Anyway, those are some of my random thoughts on overcoming fear. Sorry it was long and disjointed! But I love you all and I'm grateful for your prayers! I feel your support every day.

God loves you and wants you to succeed! Use your faith to do something hard or new this week!

Have a wonderful week! Alles alles Gute!

Tschüß!

Elder Harps

Pics:

We toured a the Soccer Stadium here in Dortmund (It has the highest seating capacity of any in Germany) with the Assistants, Münster Elders, and the Hamm and Dortmund Sisters. It was awesome