Hello everybody!
Hope everyone had a great week and is enjoying their holiday
weekend!
So this week was really crazy but it was so great!
Monday: We went to the Holy KFC for lunch. So the Holy KFC
is is Lebanon, NH and it's location is where Joseph Smith had his leg surgery
when he was little. So that's pretty neat! Then we drove down to Manchester for
New Missionary Training. I got to see all of the sisters from the MTC and that
was so much fun!
Tuesday: New Missionary Training. Most of the things they
taught us were things that Sis. Turley had already trained me on. Way to go,
Sis. Turley! Sis. Stoker (mission president's wife) gave a really great talk
and talked about Abinidi. So Abinidi was a missionary and he preached the
gospel to King Noah's court. No one listened and his investigators killed him!
But Alma listened. And it says in the scriptures that Alma shared the gospel
with 450 people. And then his son Alma the younger was a great missionary and
brought even more people to the gospel. I really love this story, because a lot
of times we may feel like Abinidi, that no one cares and no one is listening.
But we really don't know the effect we have on others. Because of Abinidi,
thousands of people were converted! It's truly amazing the effect that one
person can have.
Wednesday: Zone Interviews. We went to Plymouth, NH for
meetings with our Zone and then for interviews with Pres. Stoker. Pres. Stoker
is so great and I love having interviews with him! Then in zone meeting we
talked about Christ-like attributes and obedience. It was such a good meeting!
Then we went on exchanges and I was with Sis. Jensen. Exchanges are when we
switch companionships for a day.
Thursday: Exchanges. Sis. Jensen is awesome! I learned so
much from her! During our companion study we read this talk (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/teaching-with-the-power-and-authority-of-god?
lang=eng&query=teaching+with+the+power+and+authority+of+God) and it was
super good and you all should read it! That morning we went and taught a less
active about the priesthood and encouraged her to get her patriarchal blessing.
Then we went to the Haven and that was awesome! Sis. Jensen loved the Haven!
Then we went and taught a recent convert. She's going through a hard time right
now, so we listened and did the best we could to comfort her. Then we exchanged
back and Sis. Turley and I went to dinner at a member's house. For dessert we
had vanilla ice cream with pure maple syrup! It was so good! I kinda felt like
Buddy the Elf and how he puts syrup on everything! That's kinda how New
Englanders are. They put syrup on almost everything!
Friday: Planning Day. So on Fridays we take about 4 hours or
so to plan for the next week. We plan our schedule, plan lessons, set goals. It
sounds really long and really boring but it's super helpful and we have a lot
of fun during our planning sessions! Then we went to a Mexican restaurant for
lunch with a recent convert and that was yummy!
Saturday: I hit my one month mark! It's so weird to think
that I've been on my mission for a month! It feels like I went into the MTC
yesterday and also that I've been here forever! On Saturday we tried to contact
some less actives, but we only talked to one of them. Everyone else wasn't
home. :( But the one we talked to said he was "all set" and that's
the New England was of saying, "Go away, missionaries!" Super
annoying! But then we went to see a referral we got a couple weeks ago. Her
name is Brandy and she's a media referral, which means that she went onto mormon.org and
requested a visit from the missionaries. We called her a bunch and stopped by
her place a couple times after we got her information, but she didn't answer
and was never home. But then we on Thursday we stopped by her house and she was
outside with her kids! She said that we could come back on Saturday so that is
what we did. And when we saw her she was outside with her kids again! We were
hoping to get to know her more and to teach her, but she wasn't feeling too well,
so we left her with The Book of Mormon and said we'd come back another day. And
then as we were leaving we turned around and saw that she was reading The Book
of Mormon! I'm so excited to go back and teach her!
Sunday: I love Sundays! We had church in the morning and
that was really good. Then we went to a member's house for lunch and we had
lobster! I mean lobstah haha! That was mine and Sis. Turley's first time having
lobster. I'll be honest, it's not my favorite seafood, but it was still really
good! Then we went to institute, and it's kinda like seminary, but for the
college age kids. There's a couple that lives on Dartmouth campus and they have
institute at their house every Sunday night. We watched a talk by Elder Bednar
called "That Thou Might Not Shrink." It was so good! He talked about
how even though life can be really difficult and frustrating at times, Heavenly
Father has a plan for each of us. It may not be what we had in mind, but it is
what's best for us. He's our Father and He knows us personally. And He will be
there to lead and guide us along the way. Here's the link if you would like to
read it. https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng
Monday (today): We went the Dartmouth to do emails there,
but the library was closed, so now we're at the church doing emails in the
family history center. While we were at Dartmouth we went into this really cute
store and while we were looking around, we heard the song "As Sisters in
Zion" start playing. It was a medley so it also had "We'll Bring the
World His Truth" in it. Sis. Turley and I looked at each other and were
like oh my gosh this is so cool! Then Sis. Turley asked the lady that worked
there about the music and she said that she heard it and really liked it, so
she put it on the playlist to play at work. We started talking and she didn't
seem super interested, but she said that we could come back. And she said that
she knew the Grampp's in our ward (the same couple who does institute) so
that's awesome! So we're definitely going to see her again, but that was such a
blessing to be able to talk to her!
So here's an analogy that I heard this week that I thought
was really cool. Heavenly Father has all of these blessings that He wants to
give us and these blessings are like the gumballs in a gumball machine. He's
not going to give us all of them at once. We have to do a little bit of work
before we can receive the promised blessing. Like we have to pay tithing to
receive those blessings. We have to put the quarter in, and turn the handle and
then Heavenly Father gives us the blessings. Anyways, I thought that was a
really cool analogy.
Okay here are a couple more New England quirks. People here
have front doors but they never use them. They have a door in the back or the
side of the house that they use. I thought that was super weird. And everyone
says wicked all the time! Like that was wicked good haha!
Oh so cool thing! This next Friday (12th) we're going to the
Boston Temple! A lady that Sis. Turley taught in her last area is going to the
temple for her endowments and we get to go with her! I'm so excited! So Friday
the 12th will be our Pday next week. If we have time to email, you'll get an
email from me on Friday, not Monday of next week. But then it'll be back to
normal the next Monday, so in 2 weeks.
Well I think that's about it for this week! Hope you're all
doing great! Love you all!
Love, Sister Harper
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