THE LORD IS SENDING ME TO CHILE SO I KNOW THAT I CAN LEARN SPANISH!!

Hola Mama y familia!

    Wow its weird that I've already been here for two weeks.  After that first weekend the time goes by so fast.  So My Spanish is finally getting a little better I think! I'm trying to sound hopeful because I'm a little rough on myself when it comes to learning Spanish but I know if I do my best to learn then the lord will help out with the rest.  For the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way that they might accomplish the thing which he has commanded them (1 nephi 3:7)  The Lord is sending me to Chile so I know that I can learn Spanish!!
    Our teachers are also really pushing us when it comes to the language so thats good.  I can make a very rough two to five minute street contact in spanish and our teacher out of the blue made us teach the first lesson to our companions in spanish.  Hahaha that was interesting but i think I kind of got my message across during my lesson.
   Also a couple of days ago I ran into Ben Chamberlin in the hall.  He teaches like five rooms down from my classroom and it was weird seeing someone I know from the outside world but it was really cool.  I hope I run into him again.  
    My favorite part about the MTC so far is the Tuesday Night Devotional and the Sunday night fireside.  It's very motivating and inspiring to hear powerful talks given by general authorities here at the MTC.  These are inspired men and are amazing.  I almost feel like they wrote they're talks to me personally because of how much I've needed to hear they're messages.
   Hahaha Izzie is really funny tell her I wish her the best of luck in raising money for a horse.  Thats really cool that Abbie and Baylor are going to that concert.  If I wasnt here I would be very jealous.  But I am so wrapped up in soaking in as much as I can here that stuff like that doesnt phase me too much :)  
    Well Even though its tough and stressful at times I'm enjoying myself here and I have a great companion and an awesome district.  Besides the 4 guys in our room going to concepcion south we have 5 other elders in out district going to Santiago North and they're pretty cool guys.  Well I've got to go but I love you all very much.  Adios!

                                                       Con abrazos y amor, Elder Harper

RILEY'S FAREWELL TALK

Good morning brothers and sisters.  I am humbled to stand before you today.  In fact, I have anticipated this day for as long as I can remember.  Since Baylor discovered that he was getting my i touch and my cell phone, his first celI phone, and his own room again, he has probably been anticipating this day for as long as he can remember.  I want to thank all that are visiting today on my behalf for coming.  There are good neighbors, friends, family and ward family here today, some have driven a long way, and I feel your love and support.

 

Just about 3 months ago I received my mission call.  I have been called to serve for 2 years in the Chile Concepcion South mission.  I am excited to go.  I have felt the spirit bare witness that this is where I need to be and what I need to be doing at this time in my life. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ has brought me so much joy and direction thus far that I can’t imagine what my life would be like right now without it.  Living by its precepts and principles is not constraining and stifling like many people may think but it is in fact the opposite.  It sets your spirit free and brings peace and true happiness to your soul.  Life can sometimes throw curves at you that make it hard to keep faith and to keep going forward on the right path but by seeking the help of God the Father, and his Son, our lord and savior Jesus Christ, we can receive the courage and motivation to keep going.  Christ’s eternal love for us and his everlasting atonement is the only way that we can return to live with our father in heaven again.  As the scriptures say time and time again, there is by no other name through which you can enter the kingdom of heaven than through the name of Christ.  This is why I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and this is why I have chosen to serve a mission.  To be a true disciple of Christ and to bring lost souls into the fold. 

In President Henry B. Eyring’s talk from last general conference, “Man Down!”, he talks about the responsibility of the priesthood to be bold in service and to help the “man down”.  He then explains the man down concept. Quote;  “Almost all of us have seen a battlefield portrayed in a film or read the description in a story.  Over the din of explosions and the shouts of soldiers, there comes a cry, “Man down!”.  When that cry sounds, faithful fellow soldiers will move toward the sound. Another soldier or a medic will ignore danger and move to the injured comrade. And the man down will know that help will come. Whatever the risk, someone will run low or crawl to get there in time to protect and give aid. That is true in every band of men joined in a difficult and dangerous mission which they are determined to fulfill at any sacrifice. The histories of such groups are full of stories of those loyal men who were determined that no man would be left behind.” end quote.  

I believe the Earth is a battlefield in the midst of a raging conflict.  Satan and his followers are on one side and God and all of his children, us, are on the other.  Satan’s goal is to drag as many of the children of God down with him while our goal is to make it through this life as worthy disciples of Christ so we can return to the arms of our father in heaven. 

As a missionary and a disciple of Jesus Christ it will be my charge these next two years to seek out the man down in Chile and look for those that may be left behind and forgotten.  Like the loyal comrade or a medic in the battlefield a missionary is equipped with the essential tools to aid a battered spirit and help lift a wounded soul.  These vital tools are found in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ within the plan of Salvation and the blessing of the atonement.    

Before I decided that I wanted to go out into the world and teach these truths as a full time missionary I knew I had to gain a strong testimony of them myself.   One of the most important and first things that I gained a testimony of was the power of the atonement.  For a long time the love of our Heavenly Father and our savior seemed almost abstract and distant to me.  It wasn’t until a little over a year ago that I really started to comprehend and understand it better.  At this time I was going through tough trials that left me feeling alone and helpless.  When I realized that the help of family and friends just wasn’t quite enough to get me through this stormy patch in my life, I finally turned to my father in heaven in the most sincere, earnest and heartfelt prayers that I had ever said in my life.  I didn’t ask for my problems to go away, but I asked for help in baring them. 

At the close of one of these prayers I was suddenly hit by a powerful rush of the spirit,  it felt like I had just been plugged into an outlet that supplied a current of the spirit of God instead of electricity.  This was then followed by an overwhelming feeling of peace that calmed my mind and soul,  I then knew that things would work out and that I would be able to handle whatever was thrown at me.  That night I drifted off to sleep with my heart drawn out in a prayer of gratitude and a better understanding of the love of our Father in Heaven, his son our savior, and the atonement.  I realized that the savior not only suffered for our sins at gethsemane and calvary, but he also took on our weaknesses, our failures, our sadness, and all of the other pains of this world.  The crushing weight of all of our sins and sorrows caused him to bleed from every pore and to cry out to his God and our God the Father for mercy.  But there was no other way and he did what had to be done for us and drank from the bitter cup.  

In the words of James E. Talmage: “Christ’s agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause....He struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible.  It was not physical pain nor mental anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only He was capable of experiencing.” end quote.  

Then just a short time later he was betrayed by a friend and taken captive to start the road to the completion of his sacrifice.  He was scorned and hated by his people the Jews and was scourged and humiliated at the hands of Roman guards.  He then went willingly to an excrutiating death on the cross with nails driven through his hands, feet, and wrists to complete the atonement.  No one else could have done it, not even He could have done it without a strong love for all of us, and not just a general love towards humanity as a whole, but a deep personal love toward every single individual who has ever lived.  His suffering payed the ransom for all of our lives, because of his great sacrifice in the garden and on the cross we can repent of our sins, become clean, and return to our heavenly home with God, our eternal patriarch.  

In my alone and desperate state that night, I was filled with my Savior’s love and reminded that you are never alone, because our eldest brother Jesus Christ knows what we are going through.  If you turn to him, humble and broken, he will be there with the healing power of his love, he will be there to pick you up when you fall.  His hand of mercy and love is always outstretched, you just have take it. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ and its the plan of salvation is a simple one.  Living the gospel is a guaranteed plan for true happiness.  Unfortunately, in today’s world we often seek happiness in the wrong places.  It is easy for any of us to fall into the belief that “if we could just make more money or buy the new car we have always wanted or get the designer clothing that we feel we just have to have, then we will truly be happy.  When we get these things we realize that the gratification is short lived and we set ourselves to think that we need more to be happy.  The cycle never ends and we never find happiness. No amount of wealth or possessions can buy happiness or define true success.   These things may bring hollow temporary pleasure but it never lasts long and is not true happiness.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what brings true meaning and true happiness to people’s lives.  I’ve seen it in the lives of those around me and I’ve seen it in my life.  John 6:28 reads “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ feeds the soul and brings peace to the spirit.

 

The gospel has changed my life and I’m learning what true happiness is.  I don’t profess to know everything about the gospel of Jesus Christ, I admit I know very little, but I am learning, and I know what the spirit feels like, and I know what true happiness feels like and I know the truth.  I know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going when this life is over.  I pray that is enough for now as I start this journey.  I’m excited to go out and share these simple truths with the people of Chile.  To give our Savior’s message to all who will hear it so they too can find meaning in life and feed their hungry souls.  To bring lost souls into the fold so they can be made new and alive through the love and gospel of Christ. In 2 Nehi 25:26 the Prophet Nephi said, “And we talk of Christ we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”  

Christ is the center of the plan of salvation and is the perfect example for us to look to and lead a better life.  After all, true discipleship isn’t just believing in his gospel and in his words, but its also in living the gospel by following his teachings and keeping his commandments.  What better way to show the lord your devotion and your faith then by living the gospel.  In Matthew 7:21 Christ himself says, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”  We show our discipleship not just by faith, but by doing the will of the Father.  The will of the Father which is what Christ taught through his parables and sermons and by the way he lived his life.

I want to share one of my favorite missionary story’s:  This story takes place in England in 1851.  Two missionaries from the states were teaching in this small town and       had planned a meeting in the town square where they could teach many at once the message of the gospel, the plan of happiness.  A crowd was gathered to listen.   On the other side of town there was a small mob forming of teenage boys.  They had heard that “the Mormons” had entered their town and these boys were not going to tolerate it.  Gathering up as many rotten eggs as they could collect they intended to egg these young missionaries and drive them out of their town.  When they arrived in the vicinity the two young missionaries were singing to the gathering crowd.  The leader of the small mob brought the group to a halt to wait for the most climactic moment before unleashing their assault.  As they waited, they heard the missionaries and felt the spirit so much so that they could no longer do the thing they came to do, so they slunk away home.

The leader of the small mob was Thomas Harper, my great, great, great, great grandfather, the man my dad was named after.  Thomas was deeply effected by the spirit that day.  He later accounts that he could not get it out of his mind and was determined to hear more of what these missionaries had to say.  After that day, he would stop by to see the missionaries on his way home from work.  He told his family about the things he was learning and how these truths spoke to his sole.  In Thomas’s words; “they heard this with horror and commanded that I stay away from those wicked mormons! I found this impossible to obey.  I felt drawn to them as a magnet and soon asked to be baptized.”      Thomas was baptized by Elder Curtis E. Bolton.  Thomas later emigrated from England to the United States.      I am thankful to Elder Bolton that he was able to reach out to a man down and pull him up.  I am thankful that my ancestor Thomas Harper had the courage to act on the spirit.

I testify that our savior Jesus the Christ lives and he loves us.......

I testify that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ and was a prophet of God who restored the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth....

I Testify that there is a prophet of God on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson

I am thankful for.......

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

THERE AREN'T ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY

Hola familia!

    Thank you for all of the letters and dear elder's.  Dear elder.com is pretty sweet.  Well my first week here at the M.T.C. was pretty sweet! Difficult but good.  I find out something new, there arent 12 hours in a day there's 14 hours in a day!  We study and learn from 730 in the morning to 930 at night with breaks only for eating.  And it still doesnt feel like enough cuz there is so much to learn, study, and practice! There just arent enough hours in the day to get everything done.  Even though Spanish is really tough and it can get overwhelming sometimes I'm doing good here.  you recieve many blessings for consecrating your life to the lord and I'm starting to see some of those blessings so far.  I like my two teachers alot they are very spiritual and very good at spanish so I've been learning alot from them.
    My companion Elder Vincent is a really good guy.  He's from Utah but despite that he's still pretty cool.  He's like half fluent in spanish too so he's really helping me alot with that.  We try to speak in spanish as much as possible but my attempts are pretty pathetic haha.  Although I am starting to get better at my spanish prayers.
   Things I need are more regular white socks.  We have gym five days a week and I only brought two pairs of socks! I also need a white baptismal tie I think I left mine in California.

Izzie- I'm glad you had fun at Zion's even though it wasnt really camping.  It sounds like it was barely a step down from Hawaii. 

Baylor- I hope your enjoying my ipod and phone! give Austin a good clamp for me. Also it sounds like High Adventure was pretty sweet I would be jealous if I was anywhere else but here.

Abbie- All I can say about the Austin stuff is HA! yeah I have nothing else to say about that.  And tell Tay that you'll be his friend and to stop pl.. well you know wat i was going to say :) keep up with the high school spanish.  

Well I'm basically out of time so hopefully I'll be faster at typing next week.  Hasta luego

                                                        Con Abrazos y amor, Elder Harper

RILEY'S FIRST LETTER HOME - YEAH!

Dear Family,

Hola!  It's about 9:30 pm after my first day in the MTC and we have about one hour until lights out. Basically, today was spent in meetings covering orientation stuff.  We met our companions and met our district and talked with our branch president and had a huge meeting with our MTC President.  Our zone leaders also took us on a tour of the campus. From what I've heard, for the rest of this week we are basically going to just be doing more orientation stuff and a little bit of beginning classroom instructions.  Also, what I've heard from everyone is that the first three days are overwhelming and hard and then you get into the groove of things.  Nick Hefler even told me that, when I briefly ran into him today haha.

 

Well overall I had a good first day and even though it feels a little weird right now there's no place else I'd rather  be than training to be a fit soldier in the holy and glorious army of the Lord.  This is the very best thing I can be doing right now and I'm so excited to learn and grow these next 9 weeks.  Yes, you heard me..not 8 weeks but 9.  But that just means more sharpening time on the wet stone of the Lord.  I need to get as sharp as I possibly can : ) Well I got to go.  A lot more to do before I go to bed.  But our P-days are on Wednesday so I'll write you again in a week.  Buenos Noches!      Love,  Elder Harper

RILEY HAS ARRIVED SAFELY AT THE MTC

The package has been delivered.  Riley currently resides at the MTC until 9-14 when he departs for Chile.

We have had such an amazing week:  first Riley's Open House, then his Farewell and finally our time spent with Riley in Utah before the MTC curb drop off.  We are so touched by all of the support Riley has received from family and friends.  I am certain  a new record has been set for the number of people hanging out at the Harper House at the same time. I want to say a big THANK YOU!  You are all amazing.  Note: I have updated his MTC address with his MTC Mailbox #.  I will post Riley's first letter as soon as we receive it.  He would love hearing from you all so please send him a letter.

RILEY RECEIVES HIS MISSION CALL

Riley's mission call came an entire week sooner than we were expecting.  I casually went out to

the mailbox on a Friday afternoon when the big white envelope from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints came into view.  Riley had to wait a couple of hours to open it so Tom, Abbie, Baylor and Izzie could be there too.  It was awesome!  See for yourselves.

                 

We leave Sunday, July 12th, 

to take Riley up to the MTC, exciting and sad.