Can't believe the last time I posted was in September. Time is really flying and I hope when you see the activities that we've been involved in, you'll understand why it's been a while since I posted some pictures. The missionary work is very hectic and we are trying our best to keep up with things! |
| Carl had the honour of being proxy for the Sister in the middle's husband. Adriana is on the left. Her mom was sealed to her husband and then Adriana was sealed to her parents. Great experience! Adriana, her husband, and son have been in Peru for 5 weeks and just returned. Her mother doesn't understand any English but she has been to church twice now. They are coming for dinner Tuesday evening and meeting with the missionaries to review the lessons before Kevin is baptised on the 8th of December. Their son will be leaving for a mission in March/April. |
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| Sister Bambrough and Sister Huang. Sister Bambrough was in the MTC with our grandson who is now serving in Japan. |
Beverley and her son Cameron were so sweet to us while we were in Tasmania. We went to their ward to church and had dinner with them afterwards. Spent the afternoon with them. Such an enjoyable time.
Went to Bruny Island while in Tasmania. Very cold and rough getting there but it was so worth the ride to see the seals all over the rocks. Amazing view!
We went to NewCastle with the Seniors for a tour with our Temple President and his wife (President and Sister Barr). Such a fun trip. It's always great to get away with the seniors for a fun day!
Carl enjoyed feeding the kangaroos in the field. Kangaroos everywhere!
Sister Barr and I were standing in front of a very old bridge and a beautiful river below it. Such a special day with the Barrs.......
We had a great time with the Elders when they came to our home for a "Brekky" after Zone meeting. They said they hadn't had a breakfast anywhere here since going to the MTC. (I think they live on cold cereal). I probably could have cooked 4 dozen more eggs and they would have eaten them! What BIG APPETITES!
Elder Harper was helping the Elders teach the "HAKA" to the people at the Autumn festival. What a fun evening! Sister Lam ALWAYS does such a good job in doing activities!
When we go to the church for Zone meetings, we NEVER know what we're going to find! This particular day it was a chain of cars pinning in the car next to them. Never a dull moment with these Elders! (You can see that they ALL drive Toyota Corollas......
Our daughter Denice came to spend 2 weeks with us. We sure hope that she enjoyed her time here. We sure enjoyed having her! But it's NOW time to get back to the missionary work!
We generally try to take the Zone to Sizzlers during each transfer so that the missionaries get to experience this fun time together. You know what...........Elders can eat a lot - and this is the place to do it.
The Elders (including Elder Harper) teach English at the Hurstville library every Thursday night, but there are some nights that they can't get the room, so we brought them over to our church for class. This is the first time that these Chinese had been in an LDS church. I think they really enjoyed themselves. They spent the night learning the words to "Love at Home." Then the Elders played a really fun game with them. The next Thursday they had 21 to the English class. Quite a jump from the group that was here!
We had the opportunity to take a little holiday to Melbourne to attend the temple and see some of the sites. We have gone to 3 of the 5 temples in Australia now. Looking forward to also going to Adelaide before we come back to the states. The picture above is of Federation Square. Quite the site. The buildings are VERY interesting!
Ever heard of Tasmania devils?
And the scenery in Tasmania is breathtaking!
We had such a fun 4 days with Elder and Sister Crawford and Elder and Sister Baker. We went to the beautiful tulip festival below, saw a beautiful waterfall and stayed in Huskisson where we went whale watching. We then stayed in a cottage in Narooma where all 3 couples stayed. We were able to fix meals, play games and just enjoy each other's company. Love these couples......they are the greatest!
We also had a great FHE with the Elders that are serving in the area. They loved having a meal with us. Sister Crawford fixed a wonderful meal!
Had a great Sunday dinner with one of the Elder's investigators. She is going to the Uni and just completing her Master's degree.
Our picture wall continues to grow with the people who we have served with here in Australia. And this doesn't even begin to show the people that we have been involved with. Time is speeding by so fast and we have so much to do and so many people to meet!
The flowers in Australia are breathtaking............amazing!
Such a fun evening with some of the Senior Sisters and the Elders at the Rock n Roll evening (a fundraiser for the YM/YW.) They will be attending "Especially for Youth" in Sydney in January. And they go ALL OUT for this activity!
We went to a Seahorse farm in Tasmania while there. It was so interesting. But it's only one of a very few where the male carries the babies! They send these seahorses all over the world. Such interesting little things!
Two of our very special friends here. Vicky and Isaac will be married on December 8th in the Sydney temple. Such a darling couple and very dear friends. They came over to have dinner with us while Isaac was here from China making final arrangements for their wedding.
The Wilds are some of our dearest, oldest friends in Australia. They are from England. Sister Wild is the one that had back surgery about 3 months ago. She is doing better and getting stronger. They are in the Greenwich ward, where we spent the first 6 months of our mission. We try to get over to see them about every 2-3 weeks.
Carl had the opportunity to go up to Young Men's camp with the youth. He had a wonderful time. Brought a lot of memories back for him when he served in Scouting for all of those years!
And this is our current Zone. Such fine young men. We learn to love each and every one of them. We will have another transfer the end of November and unfortunately for us, some of them will move on to other areas. So we just enjoy them while they're here and learn to love the next ones just as much! It's so great that we get to meet so many while serving our mission!
The time is now flying very fast for us. We put our Christmas tree up yesterday because we don't know when we'll get another chance to do it. We will be having the Elders over for Thanksgiving this week on Thursday! Some of them have NEVER experienced a Thanksgiving because they are from so many different parts of the world. The whole entire Zone will be here. We have permission from President Howes to keep them for four hours and that is a special treat. We will be doing some special activities and just enjoying being with them.
We have received a special assignment this past week which will keep our December VERY, VERY busy! We have been assigned as Coordinators for the Art Exhibit/Nativity on the temple grounds. The Public Affairs generally have this assignment, but due to a special assignment by the Area Presidency, they won't be able to complete the assignment this year. It's going to give us a very unique opportunity to work with so many of the office people and Public Affairs, and meet so many people. There was 9,000 attended the exhibit last year. We will be staying over at the temple accommodations some of the nights since we don't finish at night until 10:30. Since we're such a distance from the temple (about an hour) we won't drive home every evening. This will make it more feasible for us to serve in this capacity. We have much to get done this week and next, before the Exhibit starts on the 1st of December.
Since I have been working with the YSA Institute and have the privilege of playing for their devotional in December, that will be one night that we won't be able to serve at the Exhibit. We will get a break each week, when we have 2 days off, though. Also, we have started a ward choir for the Sunday before Christmas. We had such a great group when we sang for Stake Conference, that I'm sure it will be a wonderful experience and they will do a great job.
Carl is staying busy with his Bishopric assignment. Thank goodness he has his December Sacrament meetings lined up since he is in charge that month.
We love the Lord with all of our hearts. We are so grateful for this opportunity to serve him. We are grateful for the stronger testimonies that we have developed and know this will be an experience that we will NEVER forget for the rest of our lives.
Thanks to all of our friends and family for your support. We love each one of you dearly and wish you a very special holiday. I'm not sure that I'll get another chance to post a blog before January. Stay happy and enjoy the season. REMEMBER THE REAL REASON FOR THE SEASON!
Hugs,
Elder and Sister Harper
Elder Harper was helping the Elders teach the "HAKA" to the people at the Autumn festival. What a fun evening! Sister Lam ALWAYS does such a good job in doing activities!
When we go to the church for Zone meetings, we NEVER know what we're going to find! This particular day it was a chain of cars pinning in the car next to them. Never a dull moment with these Elders! (You can see that they ALL drive Toyota Corollas......
Our daughter Denice came to spend 2 weeks with us. We sure hope that she enjoyed her time here. We sure enjoyed having her! But it's NOW time to get back to the missionary work!
We sure had a fun birthday party for Elder Chan. He had some of the investigators, and of course, many missionaries there to enjoy the night. CRAZY and FUN!
We generally try to take the Zone to Sizzlers during each transfer so that the missionaries get to experience this fun time together. You know what...........Elders can eat a lot - and this is the place to do it.
The Elders (including Elder Harper) teach English at the Hurstville library every Thursday night, but there are some nights that they can't get the room, so we brought them over to our church for class. This is the first time that these Chinese had been in an LDS church. I think they really enjoyed themselves. They spent the night learning the words to "Love at Home." Then the Elders played a really fun game with them. The next Thursday they had 21 to the English class. Quite a jump from the group that was here!
We had the opportunity to take a little holiday to Melbourne to attend the temple and see some of the sites. We have gone to 3 of the 5 temples in Australia now. Looking forward to also going to Adelaide before we come back to the states. The picture above is of Federation Square. Quite the site. The buildings are VERY interesting!
Ever heard of Tasmania devils?
And the scenery in Tasmania is breathtaking!
We had such a fun 4 days with Elder and Sister Crawford and Elder and Sister Baker. We went to the beautiful tulip festival below, saw a beautiful waterfall and stayed in Huskisson where we went whale watching. We then stayed in a cottage in Narooma where all 3 couples stayed. We were able to fix meals, play games and just enjoy each other's company. Love these couples......they are the greatest!
We also had a great FHE with the Elders that are serving in the area. They loved having a meal with us. Sister Crawford fixed a wonderful meal!
Had a great Sunday dinner with one of the Elder's investigators. She is going to the Uni and just completing her Master's degree.
Our picture wall continues to grow with the people who we have served with here in Australia. And this doesn't even begin to show the people that we have been involved with. Time is speeding by so fast and we have so much to do and so many people to meet!
The flowers in Australia are breathtaking............amazing!
Such a fun evening with some of the Senior Sisters and the Elders at the Rock n Roll evening (a fundraiser for the YM/YW.) They will be attending "Especially for Youth" in Sydney in January. And they go ALL OUT for this activity!
We went to a Seahorse farm in Tasmania while there. It was so interesting. But it's only one of a very few where the male carries the babies! They send these seahorses all over the world. Such interesting little things!
Two of our very special friends here. Vicky and Isaac will be married on December 8th in the Sydney temple. Such a darling couple and very dear friends. They came over to have dinner with us while Isaac was here from China making final arrangements for their wedding.
The Wilds are some of our dearest, oldest friends in Australia. They are from England. Sister Wild is the one that had back surgery about 3 months ago. She is doing better and getting stronger. They are in the Greenwich ward, where we spent the first 6 months of our mission. We try to get over to see them about every 2-3 weeks.
Carl had the opportunity to go up to Young Men's camp with the youth. He had a wonderful time. Brought a lot of memories back for him when he served in Scouting for all of those years!
And this is our current Zone. Such fine young men. We learn to love each and every one of them. We will have another transfer the end of November and unfortunately for us, some of them will move on to other areas. So we just enjoy them while they're here and learn to love the next ones just as much! It's so great that we get to meet so many while serving our mission!
The time is now flying very fast for us. We put our Christmas tree up yesterday because we don't know when we'll get another chance to do it. We will be having the Elders over for Thanksgiving this week on Thursday! Some of them have NEVER experienced a Thanksgiving because they are from so many different parts of the world. The whole entire Zone will be here. We have permission from President Howes to keep them for four hours and that is a special treat. We will be doing some special activities and just enjoying being with them.
We have received a special assignment this past week which will keep our December VERY, VERY busy! We have been assigned as Coordinators for the Art Exhibit/Nativity on the temple grounds. The Public Affairs generally have this assignment, but due to a special assignment by the Area Presidency, they won't be able to complete the assignment this year. It's going to give us a very unique opportunity to work with so many of the office people and Public Affairs, and meet so many people. There was 9,000 attended the exhibit last year. We will be staying over at the temple accommodations some of the nights since we don't finish at night until 10:30. Since we're such a distance from the temple (about an hour) we won't drive home every evening. This will make it more feasible for us to serve in this capacity. We have much to get done this week and next, before the Exhibit starts on the 1st of December.
Since I have been working with the YSA Institute and have the privilege of playing for their devotional in December, that will be one night that we won't be able to serve at the Exhibit. We will get a break each week, when we have 2 days off, though. Also, we have started a ward choir for the Sunday before Christmas. We had such a great group when we sang for Stake Conference, that I'm sure it will be a wonderful experience and they will do a great job.
Carl is staying busy with his Bishopric assignment. Thank goodness he has his December Sacrament meetings lined up since he is in charge that month.
We love the Lord with all of our hearts. We are so grateful for this opportunity to serve him. We are grateful for the stronger testimonies that we have developed and know this will be an experience that we will NEVER forget for the rest of our lives.
Thanks to all of our friends and family for your support. We love each one of you dearly and wish you a very special holiday. I'm not sure that I'll get another chance to post a blog before January. Stay happy and enjoy the season. REMEMBER THE REAL REASON FOR THE SEASON!
Hugs,
Elder and Sister Harper
