Hard work, bit by a scorpion and happy to be back to work!

Monday November 5, 2012

 

Dear Harker Family, 

 

A busy week and I am beat to death!!!!! aahhhhhh but it feels way good at the same time knowing that we worked hard and we had the blessings that come from it. We were blessed with another 4 baptisms this weekend and the matrimony we had last week was baptized and their family was completed. It was soo amazing and man I love all these people. They are just soo great and have a love for the gospel, it just fills my little soul with joy!!

We had a fun filled weekend with lots of stress cause even though they were baptized the mind goes crazy.  Now it’s time to relax a little bit but not too much. 

 

So this week tons has been happening and it’s sad cause I don’t have a lot of time to explain it all but we worked super hard and now my body is reacting with physical pain. Oh well things to deal with. But one cool story that I can tell you is that E the guy who was baptized. The husband told us yesterday that for years he has been telling his wife that when he turns 32 he’s going to change his life. Its way wired to hear to cause he turned 32 this year and the other baptism we had like 3 weeks ago D he also said that when he turned 40 he was going to change his life, and so look at that, within 3 weeks 2 people who said the exact same thing joined the church!!!! What milagros!!!!

Well I’m sorry but I gotta go, just so you know I’m happy and smiling, I’m working hard and I love you all soo much!!! Hope you have a gooder!!!

 

Love 

Elder Harker

 

Monday November 12, 2012

 

Hey Guys!!!!!!! 

 

Well let us start with the good news first, I got the package that you sent and I give many thanks for that!!!!! It was a nice surprise and was well needed, although I am not as big as I once was so the shorts are a little wide but oh well I’ll make due ahahahaha. So this week has been an interesting one and well I was able to work a little bit on those school essays too cause I had some extra time fall into my lap and that’s where the bad news comes in. 

 

I was bitten or stung or something by a scorpion!!!!!! Fun right? So there’s the news and so one day I woke up to a knee that was all swollen, red and burning hot. There is liquid underneath the skin of my knee and so I’ve just been having the week of my life. I went to the doctor and he gave me some antibiotics so I am taking those but unfortunately I have had to stay inside taking sweet care of my knee all this week. We tried to work at the beginning of the week and visit the people that were of most importance but it didn’t get any better and so then we had to take a little more time to rest so that it could start improving. By now it’s not too bad, it’s not all better though and so I still have to watch it and we’ll see what the doctor has to say tomorrow. Hopefully they won’t have to operate to take the liquid out but we’ll see what happens. All I have to say is don’t worry I’ll be fine. If I lose a leg while I’m here, it’s just a piece of me that I’ll leave with my mission. hahahaha jk I’ll be ok. It hasn’t been the funnest week for me. Luckily I have been able to read A LOT!!!!

 

This week we also had to travel to Cordoba because we had a special visit from Elder Jorge F Zeballos of the seventy come and tour the mission We had a special zone conference with him!!!!!! It was way awesome and the spirit was just so strong and so evident throughout the whole thing!!! I loved it. He talked a lot about love and how everything we do and learn is all about love. The work of God, the plan of salvation everything is based on love. The love God has for us and the love that we have for him. It was really great to listen to him and his wife speak as they delivered such inspiring messages. 

 

Anyway I don’t have a ton of time left, but that’s about what’s up with me nothing to new and nothing too exciting but don’t worry I’ll be fine and hopefully I have something great to tell you next week!!!! So anyway until then, I love you all soo much.

 

Elder Harker

Monday November 19, 2012

 

Hey Family!!!

 

Ok well this week has been a lot better than the last because I got to go out and work!!!!!!!!!

My knee was still infected a little but the work doesn’t stop for that. It’s gotten a lot better and still has to improve a little but I’m still taking antibiotics and taking care of it the most I can so things are good and hopefully by next week it will be all better!!

 

So anyway the news for this week. Let’s start with the news that a recent convert father was able to baptize his son this weekend!!! It was such a special experience and the spirit was sooo strong in that baptismal service. It was absolutely amazing and T (the son) after he was baptized just did even know what to do with the feelings he had and just started to cry. He is the son of D and A who have been baptized while I’ve been here and now we’ve been able to see the family be completed! Wow how blessed we have been with so many people coming in to the waters of baptism. It sure is an amazing time to be here and I love the mission and just the work!!! The blessings we have been receiving from the Lord have just been incredible!!!

 

In other news I don’t really know what to say. We had transfer this week and I’m staying here in Bimaco, and well we are just working super hard. I don’t really have a lot of time left but I just love it here. I’m happy for all the days I have to serve the Lord and well it’s time to use them to the best of my ability. Really I just love all that goes on here and the people are amazing and just I love them all. There are the tough times but all I know is that this church is true. This work is inspired from on high, and I know that Jesus is the Christ. I am here to help these people make covenants with their Heavenly Father and I want nothing more than to help those people do exactly that. I know that what I am doing right now is more important than anything else I could be doing in my life. And I know that every able young man needs to serve a mission. So for all those who are of age help them get to a point in life where they can go on a mission. It will change their life. It makes me soo happy to hear that Shane C and Lincoln have their papers in. 

So I am a happy boy and that’s about all I have to say for now. I love you all sooooo much and I give you all one big baptismal hug. 

 

Love Elder Harker

 

 

4 weeks worth of news...

Monday October 8, 2012

 

 

All right now, so sorry but I don’t have a lot of time to write so I’m gunna have to make this a fast one.  This week was bitter sweet because it was a pretty hard week all in all. We worked really hard and now I’m just beat but it was rather a trying time. We are struggling to have people progress so that they can be baptized. It’s been a fight to get new people to come to church. Our persistence has not been too bad, but most has been people that we’ve been teaching for a while and so were trying to find some new people that can come to church and be baptised soon.

 

Things will keep moving forward and it was a real treat to go to Conference and hear such amazing talks. Man I can’t even name one talk I loved more than others but 2 that really stood out to me was Elder Eyring in the Sunday morning and Elder Holland’s as well. The Elder Holland address is nothing I haven’t seen before and I’ll tell you what I mean in the future. But anyway they were both great talks and really inspiring. 

 

So things keep moving forward and life moves on. The road is rough and there are always going to be big bumps in it but we got to get over those and just plow on through. I hope you guys have a good week and I’ll write more next week. I love you all. 

 

Love 

Elder Harker

 

Monday October 15, 2012

 

Hey Fam Jam, 

What’s shak’in babies???

 

Oh man, this week was sure a blessing. I don’t even know where to start but man I just loved every minute of it!!!! So anyways the big news is that we had another baptism!!!! His name is D and oh my goodness, he’s so chosen and I know for sure that one day he will become a great leader in the church!! He was telling his wife who was recently baptized that when he turns 40 he’s going to change his life, he has been telling her that since they have been married so for like more than 15 years. And what do you know; he was baptized like a month after he turned 40!!!! jajajajaj What a tender mercy of the Lord. He sure is special and had his fair share of problems and thoughts but he was baptized al final and I had the opportunity to confirm him a member of the church and confer upon him el don del espiritu santo. That was amazing as the spirit just flows through you and gives you exactly the words that you need to say. I love when experiences like that happen and man it makes one feel worthy of the work we are doing. 

 

So anyway that was one of the many things that has happened this week. We also had 11 people in church and we have quite a few more people lined up for baptism this month and in November we are just going to baptize a ful cause we have tons of people preparing to make this important covenant con el señor. Everyday has its hardships but hey everyday gets better, and it gives us time to grow. So I would say that this week was pretty normal too, we ran into our fair share of crazy people, with lots of things to say to us, at the moment I can’t think of anything in specific, but hey I’ll hit you guys up with a story next week.

 

The weeks are flying by and there is so little time left. I just know it’s time to get to work and get those chosen sheep into the fold of God. There is one shepherd and he has one fold, so now is the time to shine, and now is the time to get the work done. I’m grateful for all that you guys do for me, for all the letters you write and the encouragement you give me. I love you all so much and well be talking next week. 

 

Love

 

Elder Harker

Monday October 22, 2012

 

Happy Mother’s Day!!!!! 

 

Just like last year Mother’s Day here in Argentina was yesterday and so I hope you had a good day yesterday. But besides that no other holidays as of late. 

 

Life is good and its great/sad to hear the temple open house has come to an end. 

I am super proud of all of you for being such great missionaries and that you have brightened the lives of so many people by only inviting them to the most sacred place on planet earth. It sure must have been some great experiences being in the temple for all that time working and serving and I’m glad to hear that my fam was a big part of that as I’m sure lots of other families. 

 

Well this week was a good one. We had tons of success and saw lots of people in the church. We also got a turno for a couple that we are going to marry this next Monday and so they will be baptized on Nov 3 and this weekend we are looking at 5 baptisms so the Lord is blessing us for all the work that we are doing. It’s so amazing as I’ve said before to see the change that people make in their lives as they learn and live the gospel. It’s been a busy week and one thing that happened yesterday is that D (baptized last week) received the priesthood and this weekend will baptize his son, and so things are moving along and the people are happy. There are the challenges but who cares. Things are moving forward and those challenges are small if you’re on the Lord’s side. Sure sometimes they are tough to overcome but you can overcome them. 

 

Me and Elder L are just working away and trying to do what the Lord wants us to do, and this week we put a goal to just invite every single person we talk to to baptism and it worked. We had lots of people in church and now like 30 people with baptismal dates. It’s been interesting and I know that not all of them are going to progress but it’s time to show our faith to the Lord and he will do the rest. 

 

So this week I had kind of a nightmare!!! Well one morning I woke up after having a terrible dream that in it I saw one of our recent converts smoking!!! It  was scary cause she had to quit smoking to get baptized, and anyway we had planned to pass by her that day so I told her about my dream and good news is that she is not smoking so it was a little funny in the end. But anyway it’s always good to check right. 

 

Anyway the time keeps going and there is little time left to do the work and so its pedal to the metal to save the children of God!!!

I love you all soo much!!! 

cya later

Love

Elder Harker

Monday October 29, 2012

 

Hey Family!!!!

 

How’s life treat’in ya??

Well things at home seem pretty dang good and now it sounds like your gunna be a little bit stress free! With all the pageant and the Temple dedication over now it’s time to relax and go to the temple and receive all the blessings that lay inside!!! So, I’m way happy that all went well and now that beautiful Temple is a greater blessing to the members of the church. 

 

So anyway this week for us has been quite a busy one!!!! The baptism went well after a long hard week of work!!! We had 5 children be baptized and they all had the support of their families and so now it’s time to work on them. But anyway all went well and we had to prep a lot of things for the baptismal service but in the end it all worked out just fine and it sure was a spiritual experience. The spirit was soo strong in the meeting even though we had some unplanned events added to the agenda. It was way funny cause as we were ending the meeting my phone rang in the middle of the last testimony and I was the one conducting the service. Then the lady who is a recent convert who was supposed to give the prayer gave like a half prayer half testimony with her eyes open and so it was really awkward so we ended with another Hermano giving the prayer. And then one of the interesting old ladies in the ward who was directing the music just got up after the prayer and shared how she felt so much joy in her heart that she wanted to sing There is Sunshine in my Soul today and so we sang that and man it was just a huge gong show. I’m sure the visitors were just like what is going on. I have to say it was really hard cause I was trying not to laugh as I was on the stand, but anyway it all worked out just fine and then the service ended with refreshments.

 

This morning we have more great news as a matrimony that we have been working with this last little while got married this morning!!! We just came from the wedding and so it was super special to see a family be formed and then they are getting baptized with their niece this weekend. So things are working out just dandy and the Lord is blessing us soo much as we keep working hard!!! Things are good here and there is still lots to do and lots to improve but it’s all a work in progress and so I’m excited to see how the next week turns out. 

 

I guess that’s about all the news I have for now but it’s been a good week with lots of learning experiences. Anyway I guess I’ll catch you later love ya tons!!!!

 

Love 

Elder Harker