January/February in Sydney..........

The sand sculptures were very fun to see.  The most unfortunate thing happened the night before we went out, though.  Vandals came in and destroyed quite a few of the sculptures.  Very sad.  They were repairing them while we were there.

We had such fun with the Mangelsons.  They serve over in the offices.  They're from American Fork.  What a sweet and fun couple.  They drove us out to see the sand sculptures.

The Elders, Sisters and the Sr. couples had their picture taken in front of the Temple for the Chinese New Year.  The way we were holding our hands meant "Happy New Year."  A picture, with a gold chocolate coin was given to each of the students at FHE in a Chinese "red" envelope. 

The Elders/Sisters always have a fun time cooking at our Apartment

We had a fun time with this activity with everyone.  Sister Pearce (the one in blue on the left) was supposed to leave in January to go back to Kamas, UT.......but she requested an extension, and is staying another month.  I've got to accompany her a couple of times to sing.  A really great missionary!  Elder Yow (from Singapore) went home in January.  Elder Ding (on the left) goes home on March 13.  Always a lot of changes going on!

The ward missionary leader (in front) and his wife had the missionaries over for dinner.  Robbie and Beth are moving to Queensland and this was a "going away" dinner at their home.  He was a diver for the Navy - but has had to have 3 surgeries and has been dismissed from the Navy.  He and Beth have family in Queensland and are anxious to get back there since they are expecting their first baby in April. We were just starting to become good friends!  He will be going back to college.

Last Zone meeting with Elder Tiava and Elder Yow.  They both finished their missions in January.  Elder Tiava is from Hawaii and Elder Yow - Singapore

We took students over to the temple for Baptisms for the Dead.  Emma (in purple) was able to have her Grand father baptised, which was very exciting for her.  We had a great time.  After doing baptisms, we took them over to the Carlingford mall and had lunch.  Hayley, Emma, Lin, Gabriel.  Elder Harper had the opportunity to confer the Melchezedek Priesthood (Elder) on Gabriel after Stake Conference today (Feb 18).  He's only been a member since Oct 15, 2011

This was a last dinner we had with Elder Yow before he left to go home.

The temple is beautiful at night when lit up.  This was taken after a New Membership fireside on a Sunday evening.

 We took a little trip to Camberra (the Capital of Australia) from Tuesday - Friday of the second week of February.  Drove quite a distance along the ocean.  So beautiful.  Caught the para-glider just as he was taking off of the hill.  Very windy and cloudy when he took off.  He soared around above us for a very long time.  And the picture of the graveyard right against the ocean was beautiful!

There is a hole in the rocks where the ocean comes through and blows water up (like Old Faithful).  Really a cool thing to see.  We stayed overnight across the street from the Blow Hole.  This was in the city of Kiama.  Quaint little town.....very fun!

Quite the impressive ram sheep (wouldn't you say).  You can see the size of the sheep by the car that is parked below it.  Quite the unique thing to see!

 While in Canberra, we went to several museums.  Carl's just posing with the war victims at the War Museum.

 We have been having a lot of activities with the students lately.  This day the girls came over and helped us cook Chinese food.

We took the girls to Costco (their first time there).  They thought the hotdogs and drinks were "REALLY CHEAP!"  Very true.......not much food is cheap here :)

They enjoyed playing games while we were preparing the meal!

I think Elder Harper is enjoying way too much the time in the kitchen with the girls!

 We had the Elders and Sisters over tonight (Feb 18) for dinner.  They love corn beef and cabbage!  It was a farewell dinner for us, as we're being transferred over to the other side of the airport (Hurstville).  We really have mixed emotions about the move.  We love the Elder/s Sisters here.  And we especially love the students.  We feel like we can be more effective missionaries over there, though, because they don't have any Sr. couples, and there's 2 couples in our ward here.  So we have chosen to go where we can be more effective missionaries in the work.  We met with the new District last Friday.  There are 14 Elders over there in the Zone (no sisters).  They are looking forward to having a Sr. couple there!  

Great day with some of the students (learning to make lasagne) and the missionaries tonight.  All in all, a wonderful day with all the people we love here!

We went over to the city a couple of weeks ago to see "Love Never Dies."  It's a sequel to the Phantom.  Beautiful production.......but doesn't beat the music in the Phantom.  Wonderful concert, though.

One of the dear Sisters here in our ward.  Sister Douglass is a jewel with a beautiful spirit.  We are going to miss all of the Elderly people here in Greenwich that we won't get to work with monthly.

Georgina was baptised mid-January.  She's a very strong member and we are so glad that we've got to work with her so closely.  Just learn to love these students so much!!!


We are definitely looking forward to the move, even though we love the people here.  We feel like we'll be utilized more in the missionary work and fellowshipping with the missionaries.  The ward over here is very strong, compared to so many other wards that need a lot of help.  Therefore, we feel like we're needed more over there at this time.  There's going to be a lot of changes made in the coming months and we're so looking forward to being more independent.  


Life is good.....the missionary work is progressing.......people are accepting the truth and being baptised.  We are so appreciative of all of our family and the contacts that we get from home.  Please keep in touch with us and let us know what is going on, because we're definitely "out of the loop" here!  We love each one of you!


Elder and Sister Harper