February 28, 2011

Oi Pai! Tudo bem? Thanks for the encouragement and fast. It really helps. This area is going really slow with the work. It's like we're starting from scratch. We have no progressing investigators, and the couple of investigators we do have aren't progressing, so we're gunna have to drop them because in the past missionaries would just go hang out at their house and get nothing done. Elder Hunt and I have been trying to do a lot of finding with every possible means. We tract, contact, try to seek refferals, offer service, and work through the ward, but nothing is coming out of it. We work so hard, but we can't find anyone! Everytime we tract people slam their doors in our faces because they're catholic and the dont want anything to do with us or our church. There are so many catholics here its nuts! Every one is catholic! It probably comes from their irish backround, which gives them a funny americanized irish accent. But to try to get investigators we started a program called "set a date". We go to members houses and we teach them about missionary work and have them set a date in the near future when they will invite a friend/aquantance/person to their house to be taught by the missionaries. We hope that this will help us find, teach, and baptise. We just need something to get going here in pottsville. We have to regain the trust of the members because I guess missionaries in the past were lazy and rude, so the members didn't like them. Me and Elder Hunt are new, so they like us and see that we work hard. We're just scrambling to get things going around here. We need people to teach. It's hard to stay positive when we tract all day with no success at all. Its not productive here at all, no one wants to listen. The only way i see successfull missionary work here is through the members. That's why we're so stoked on the "set a date". Because its through the members and that makes it a lot more successful when it comes to missionary work. I've been praying so hard for my visa. I understand that its all in heavenly fathers hands, i just can't help but get anxious to get down there. I've hit a wall with the language and i want to progress. Please pray for me. There are senior missionaries that live right above us and I love them! They feed us and are super nice. Every night me and Elder Hunt go up there to their cozy apartment, which has the feel of grandmas house, and we talk with them and visit. Its really comforting. In other news, I'm starting to dream in portuguese, and understand it haha. I also can understand spanish good, and its awesome. I remember when spanish was just blahblahblah on the radio or tv, but now i can understand whats being said and its cool. I can only imagine what i can understand in portuguese, but no one speaks it here haha. There is a branch here of about 30-40 people but its cool and i'm excited to help it grow, i just gotta stay motivated and positive! So you guys are leaving tomorrow for Hawaii you lucky! Have fun and soak up that sun which i've been begging for. Its so cold here when we tract! I have spring fever for sure! Pennsylvania cold is sooooo much worse than Utah. That humidity just kills! I'm so glad gary is doing better, i was worried about that kid! Knowing him though he'll be hurt again soon. Who's gunna watch him? And wow, i dont even know what to say about deron williams. Man, he is my favorite!! That sucks so bad that he's gone! The jazz have just completely fell apart since i've left. Is raja and jefferson still doing good? Devin Harris is good and so will that other guy but DWILL is the BEST pg in the league. Dang.... Oh well. I'm still a jazz fan. Well, not much else to say. Please keep praying for my visa and that we can find investigators here. I'll press on with the work and stay positive and motivated. Missionary work truely is work. Hard work. But I love it and i'm happy to be on a mission! Woo! haha. Well, dont have too much fun in hawaii, and take a bunch of pictures for me! I love you! Eu amo voce muitio! Embracas!

 Love, Matt

February 22, 2011

Tudooooooo bem??!

I'm glad you got the pics of the baptism. It was really cool to be apart of! Although i'm having a really good time in philly, i really feel like i need to get down to brazil. Maybe on fast sunday you can fast for my visa if you want with me, because i really need to get down there. I can't progress with the language if i'm not surrounded in it. *I'm doing my best to teach myself out of books but that only goes so far. You're so lucky you get to go to Hawaii! Eat some pinapple for me and go body surf on North Shore for me. Make sure you guys take lots of pics! It sounds like school is really busy, so keep up the good work! The first of last week was sooo nice! The nicest its been since i've been here. I had spring fever for sure.... until the coldness slapped me out of it!!! Man it's been cold again and i dont like it at all haha. The jazz are sucking so i guess i'm not missing that. So, did i tell you I got Emergency Transfered?? Ha I am out of my beloved little africa AKA Darby and I'm now in this middle of no where town called Pottsville. Man there is such a big difference! I had to replace an Elder here that had to leave this area because of some girl problem, so i am filling his place. On friday i got a call that i was to pack my stuff up and get transfered to go to North Philly to replace a sick elder going home, so i packed my stuff up and went to the AP"s to spend the night. That night they said that it wasnt going to happen anymore and so the next morning I was sent back to Darby. The next night I get a call from President Schafermeyer and I was told to pack up again because I was coming to Pottsville! So here i am in the Pottsville library. I was sad to leave Darby, especially with Rosetta and her daughter being baptised this sunday. I worked really hard with her and now i dont get to see her baptised... Oh well.... This is a big change for me in Pottsville. Darby was on fire with the missionary work, and Pottsville is the opposite. We are going to be doing a lot of tracting, which i hate, and the people here are die hard catholics and not open to our message. It's been rough and this is the time where the mission is gunna get hard on me, but i know i can do it. I just need to stay positive and pray always! I'm now with 1 companion instead of 2, and there are no missionaries around us exept from a missionary couple that lives above our appartment. It seems pretty lonely, but i'll adjust quick I hope. Today we did a few hours of service at a food place that gives out food to poor people, and it went good. After that the Ashbee's ( eldery missionary couple ) took us out to eat, and now i'm emailing! Yup. Thats my day. But yeah, things are going ok... I just need to stay positive and try to get the work rolling out here. Well, have a good week and know that I love ya!          Love, Elder Harper

February 14, 2011

Tudo bem?! It was another good in the hood week and a lot of work has been getting done. I'm not scared of the ghetto, but i'm sure mom would be panicking if she saw where i walk at night. You're probably right in the idea of me leaving when it starts to get warm here, and me going straight to a curitiba winter. Oh well. No news on the VISA. Elder Hartley and Buerkle sent in their online apps this week. We're all still here though but we'll see. Keep praying for it. Man, that is so crazy about Jerry Sloan! What the heck!? He just gets up and goes?? I thought he would be more professional about things. I bet Dwill just wants out now and when he leaves the team will be nothing! That suprised me big time. So Hawaii huh? so what islands are you guys going to? Is it a cruise or are you flying? with who?? But yeah.... Things are going good here. I went on exchanges in South Philly this week and we had a dinner appointment. I was talking with them and I found out they are originally from ogden, and they both graduated from fremont!!! It was crazy. The ladies mom lives in West Weber and goes to the 3rd ward or something! Super small ward. I forgot their last names though haha. This week was also Zone Conference and it was really good. It lasted all day and I learned a lot. So yesterday was the baptisms!! My first baptisms! Our investigators were baptised by their uncle and I got to baptise the sister's investigator! It was such a neat experience getting into the water and baptising. Hopefully there will be many to come. I'll try to send pics. Man, I tell you what, if you wanna see entertaining things, you go trackting in the ghetto! We get laughing so hard. Ghetto's are deffinatly an interesting place. Its still so fun working with the africans. I truely love the african people. %90 of them are Liberian and I just love the way they are! THey are so nice to us and always offer us food. They treat us so good. When we wash our hands at their sink they want to wash them for us, and just treat us so well. I just have developed a deep love for them, and it will be sad to leave them. They're so humble. I dont love the food though haha! This week I hate an african pepper and I just about died! Man that thing was so hot! Something cool that happend is that the other day we went to Rosettas house and showed her the joseph smith restoration movie, and she felt the spirit so strong! After she told us that she knows that it is true, and we are super excited for her baptism with her daughter. They are so sweet. I'm glad for the time i've spent here in the Philadelphia Mission. I've grown and learned so much in the time i've been here. It's so cool experiencing the east coast and preaching in English! Well, thats all thats going on here. I love you and thanks for raising me up in the gospel. Keep working hard and put nick to work!

 

Love, Matt

February 7, 2011

Tudo Bem!!

How's life?? It seems like all is well, so that's good. To answer your question about the cold front that came through, I did indeed freeze my butt off!!!! But, its super NICE today, and it feels like spring! Still no word on my VISA. I'm begginning to think i might spend 1/4 of my mission here!!! Oh well, wherever I am is wherever i'm supposed to be... Jazz I hear are sucking it up, but as long as the get to the playoffs that's all that counts. Well, it has been a pretty normal weeks as in teaching a bunch and seeing crazy things. Something i've noticed is that there are cockroaches all over the place!!! I'll be teaching a lesson and i'll have roaches crawling on me and up my pant leg. Man I hate those things!!! There are also tons of mice that run on the ground as we walk into houses, and actually HUGE RATS that live at this one members home. I'm pretty sure he's ammune to rat poison and it actually makes it bigger. But yeah, time is actually going by fast. The weeks are coming and going, and its cool. This week we had a special fast so that this investigator family could get baptised. They are really prepared and wanting to get baptised, but the thing that was holding them back is that the mom had her boyfriend living with her at the house. We fasted so that there could be a living situation worked out, so that he could move out and all could be baptised. We went over to there house after we fasted, and he had a total change of heart. He said he would move out right away! They are all now ready to be baptised this sunday! We have 6 investigtors being baptised this sunday! Finally! I'm ready for my first mission baptisms. There is an investigator right now named Rossetta. I contacted her on the street my 2nd week in philly, and she said she wanted us to come over. We kind of procrastinated on getting over there, because there are just so many people we're working with. I kept telling my companions that we needed to see rossetta!!! Well, the past week we've been finally  working hard with her, and she is  now super excited to get BAPTISED!!! It's awesome. Her daughter will be baptised with her. Yesterday at church I went to the YSA ward on splits, and there were 2 Brazilians!!! I talked with them and they said I spoke really good and I had an awesome accent that doesnt sound american at all! I give thanks to trent and JG for that. They were super impressed. I've been finding time to study portuguese early morning, on car rides, and right before bed. I wanna do everything i can to be ready for Brazil. Whenever that time comes, I hope i'll be ready. Well, not much else going on here, just working hard and having fun! I love you and hope you have an awesome week!

 Love, Matt

January 31, 20100

Tudo bem!? It sounds like things are pretty action packed at home, but its okay cuz its super action packed out here. I hope they get the VISA deal worked out soon, cuz i wanna get down there so bad and start improving my portuguese!! I dont get language study that often here, so I try to squeeze it in before bed and early mornings. Dang, Gary is sick again!!! What the heck, that dog is always sick... What's he sick with? So you're liking jesus the christ eh?? Maybe when i get to brazil i'll buy one in portuguese and read it. I hear its got some super deep doctrine in it, and when he was writing it he had a special room in the temple to write it in. So yeah, this week was pretty action packed. I went on exchanges to south philly, and boy is it GHETTO!!!! We were trackting and i knocked on the door and the woman threatend to get her shotgun out. She was nice. But yeah, i figured out i hate trackting so bad! I'd rather just teach lessons, but i guess you have to find people before you teach em. We're really lucky in this area where we dont tract at all. We just find all investigators through the family members. Africans have tons of family members here, and we find new people at their houses every day. Somthing cool that happend is that I set up a return appointment in spanish! I knew barely enough to be able to set one up. The portuguese sentance structure helps. Really similar. This week I gave my first blessing in the mission field too. It was sweet. We went on more exchanges this week to West Chester, and it was a Blizzard! Man, it was snowing soooo hard and we got like 2 feet of snow! The best thing is, that we were tracting the WHOLE TIME! We had like 3 pounds of snow on our clothes. Fun fun! This week was a bad week of african food. Man, I dont even know what the stuff i'm eating even is!! Mystery meat is all i can say... with rice and lots and lots of peppers. I just have to choke it down while i gag, while saying "mmmm this is.... goooood..." to please the africans. They get so happy when we eat their food. I'm so sick of fish gravy, kasava leaf, and pumpkin paste!! We did though, eat some wayyy good doughnuts from the africans. They taught us how to make them last night! This week we were teaching a family about loving one another, because they are ALWAYS fighting. During the lesson, the mom got mad at her son and threw her shoe at him. I'm glad they were applying the things we were teaching them. Jeez.... Man, if child services saw these houses we go to, the kids would be out of there in a heartbeat. The houses are really dirty and not sanitary at all. The other day, we saw some babies drinking out of the toilett and eating spaghetti out of the garbage. Its super sad. It doesnt mean anything to the African culture though. When the kids are bad they put hot peppers in their mouth. So transfers were today and i'm staying in Darby, so i'm glad. Also, I talked to the missionary who is serving in the area where i taught the Brazilians, and I found out they have a baptisimal date!!! Its crazy how I was put there at that moment to teach them the gospel in portuguese, and it took them to the path of baptism. Big blessing. Well, not much else to say. No word on my visa, still waiting. Have an awesome week! I love you!!!

 Matt

January 24, 2011

Well I'm glad someone is enjoying nice weather, because over here its a freezer!! It is so cold here it's rediculous. Humid cold too. Right when you step outside it immediatly sucks out all heat from your body. It sucks! But anyways... This week was another week of african food pounding. Even though you had to eat indian food for ashlee's bday, just be greatful that you don't have to pound some African food. You don't know what fish heads and goat meat can do to your systems! I think my guts are turned to stone now, because i'm starting to not get sick after. If the food they give us stains a metal spoon, and the bowl, then i can only imagine what it does to my stomache! This week i looked into the pot of food from which my bowl was made out of, and i saw a goat jaw bone. Mmmmm. But on the bright side, I actually found some good African food! They make these homemade deepfried doughnut things that are actually super good! Good african food.... who would've known?? Haha. Transfers are next monday, that will be interesting! I think they'll keep me here in Darby. I think my visa should come within a month so we'll see. Something crazy that happend this week is that i was walking outside to an appointment with Elder Lake, because we went on exchanges and Elder Kay had the car, and we see this big white dog with dreadlocks running around across the street. We were laughing cuz it was funny seeing a dog with dreadlocks, because you just dont see it every day. As soon as we made the comment "its gunna eat us" it seemed as though the dog heard us, and started running and barking at us! It was scary!!! haha that thing was gunna totally kill us! I ran behind a bunch of wood pallets, and Elder Lake ran the other way. Luckily, he chased Elder Lake and not me, so Elder Lake jumped on top of this random car and the dog was barking and growling at him. It was scary but i was laughing at the same time. The dog looked away for a second and me and Elder Lake just took off! We got away, so its all good haha. So we had 2 Baptisms scheduled yesterday, but they both got scared and backed out saturday night. It was super frustrating, but i want them to be ready for this when they feel ready, so i was okay. We have a ton of investigators with a baptisimal date, so next transfer we should be busy with baptisms. Something really neat happend this week. I think I found out the reason why i'm supposed to be in Philadelphia right now. So I went on exchanges to a place called Norristown this week, and me and a missionary named Elder North working together. I asked him if there were any people that spoke portuguese in the area, and he said there was an old investigator that they havent heard from in a while that was from Brazil. So later that night we went to their house, and Elder North knocked on the door and a man answered. Elder North asked if we could share a message with him, but the guy said "not tonight, maybe next friday". But then, i went up to the guy and started speaking Portuguese with him and i asked him if we could come in and share a message with him. He let us right in!! It was so cool. I was speaking portuguese with him and his girlfriend the whole time! I taught them about the restoration and the book of mormon all in Portuguese. The guy hardly knew english, and his girlfriend didnt know any at all, so i was just speaking Portuguese the whole time! They said i spoke really good for only knowing it for a couple of months. They loved it! We had an amazing lesson and I was so happy to get the opportunity to share the gospel in different tounges. If i didn't know portuguese, then they wouldn't have been comfortable to let us in the door in the first place, so i believe I was placed there for a reason. Hopefully they progress well and will embrace the gospel. They liked the lesson and the scripture i shared with them (moroni 10: 3-5). Amazing week with amazing people. I love the people out here! It will be sad to leave them. But... yeah. Florida huh?? That should be fun! Geez you have Florida and hawaii coming up. Lucky! You gotta save for Brazil man!! Well, keep working hard and have a great week. Love you!!!

Matt

January 18, 2011

Hey! Another great week has passed, and it's a crazy life I tell you! I see different stuff every day that makes me mad/sad/laugh/confused! Missions really are a great adventure, especially in a crazy ghetto place like Darby, but I love it! It's crazy to hear about the mudslides. Hopefully you're right about maybe it will get the visa's through. I was so excited to get my online app this week. The next step is getting the visa! Hopefully it will be within a month or so. So are you guys really going to Hawaii!!!? The jazz are still doing pretty solid huh? That's good. When i was eating out the restaurant was playing a chicago bulls game and I saw Korver nail a three. Made me miss basketball. It was also funny seeing Boozer in a bull uniform. So this week was good. I went on exchanges to a place called West Chester. It's about an hour away but its like a whole new world there. It is farm land with big houses, and i loved it! From all the time i've spent in ghetto darby, it was so nice getting away to the farmland which i've grown to miss! The good news is that we're going there again this week. Woo! Something that happend this week is that I ate this stuff called Pepper soup. It is sometihng the africans make and love. It is sooo spicy and it has fish heads, Goat meat and liver, turkey neck, and a bunch of mystery meat that i dont know where it came from! The broth was like pure oil that stuck to your mouth for hours. Man that stuff was soooo gross! It destroys the bowl system!! I also ate some kasava leaf which looks like horse crap. It was gross! Something cool that happend this last week is that we were going to teach these people the restoration, and elder lake and elder kay told me before hand that they weren't going to say anything and they would let me teach the whole thing. I was pretty nervous to take over, but as soon as i started, my words were carried out of my mouth by the spirit, and the lesson went so good! I commited 2 people to baptism!!! It was such a neat experience! Something fun that happend yesterday is that we went to center city Philadelphia! We rode the Subway into center city and went to see the liberty bell. It was awesome. Also, we saw the building in which the declaration of independance was written. I took some sweet pictures. We also went to the Comcast skyscraper, which is huge! Inside of it is the Largest Tv in the world! It was way cool. I took a video of it so you can look forward to seeing it when i send it off. I'm learning more and more every day. A mission is deffinatly not easy though! I've been working my butt off! It's paying off though, we are getting a ton of baptismal dates. Well, keep up the good work, and thank you for all the hard work you do to provide for the fam! I love you!!