Took a P-day and went to the city with Joan and Arvin Crawford from Idaho. Had such a great day seeing all of the sites. We even took a dinner cruise around the harbor. Always great to see the many sites in the city.........there is SO MUCH to see!
I think this boat was loaded. Joan was enjoying the Aboriginal music!
The Opera House is always a "MUST" see. Such a beautiful building!
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| The Aboriginise are used to this heat......not me! |
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| The city harbor......spectacular |
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| City "CAT". Great to tour the city in........... |
There's always so much to see in the city:)
A district P-day at the Sydney temple
Playing one of our "weird" games at Family Home Evening!
A whole entire mission conference was held when Elder Pearson and Elder Christensen came. Great meeting...........great lessons.
This is the other "half" of our Zone........the Sutherland District. Such fun Elders - LOVE 'EM!
Adriana hasn't been back to the temple for 20 years. We had the opportunity of taking her back to the temple. Sweet, sweet lady from Peru..........
Justin and Emma are back in Canada after spending 3 months in China where Justin met Emma's parents. Justin is the missionary that baptized Emma in Australia. They are getting married December 15th in the Canada temple. Very exciting!
Another fun Family Home Evening at our house. Always have a great time together!
Kylen Maybey was baptized last week. Such a special little boy. His father served here in Australia on a mission several years ago. Hope they can stay active in the church!
Sister Wild had back surgery on Tuesday of this week. This picture was taken Wednesday. Amazing how good she looked! Couldn't believe it since she's 85 years old!
Since there's been so many changes in our family since we left, I'm posting some pictures of the happenings in our family!
Dave and Chika Hess had our very first great grandson back in October 2011. Isn't he a cutie?
Ben and Christie Maxfield had our 2nd great grandson on 11/1/11 at 1:00 p.m. How's that for a birthday date? And they are going to bless us with our 5th great grand child (daughter) in January 2013.
Spencer and Julie Bagley had our first little great grand daughter (Autumn) on April 16, 2012. Such a cutie. Changed their lives.............
And little Olivia (Livy) was born on the anniversary of my son's death 30 years ago (April 22). A beautiful little 3 1/2 year-old boy was taken back to heaven on that date. A beautiful little great grand daughter blessed our lives on that same date. This isn't Livy's parents. This was taken on Livy's blessing day with my youngest daughter and her family. Sorry, don't have a picture of her and her mom.
We gained a beautiful new grand daughter in May. (Markie & Jardee). This is my oldest daughter and her family.
And Mario, who came home from his mission 2 weeks before we left, just got married in August. (Mario and Michaela). So we have 2 beautiful new grand daughters. So excited! (Marcellus' son)
Probably the family that has changed the most since our departure from the states is Nick and Jeanne's family. Can't believe how much they've grown!!!! Taller than their mom! So glad we got this picture posted on Facebook so we could see how much they've changed!
Well, the clock is ticking and we can't believe how fast the time is beginning to go by! We've only got 6 months left in the mission.......and it hardly seems possible that we've been here in Australia a whole year!
We're enjoying so much the eternal friendships we are making. When we went to see Sister Wild at the hospital on Wednesday, she told us that she wishes we would have been her parents! She's only 85 and going strong.......
We have met people that will be our friends eternally. And I don't think I've really realized until the last 2 months, how much I love the young Elders that we work with. They have such a powerful spirit with them and we have much to learn from them in the last part of our mission. We get to have them in our home quite often and enjoy their separate talents and abilities. They each bring something very powerful to the table of missionary work! We are so blessed to learn from them. We've also realized that they're only "YOUNG" men and really have a lot of vitality. I suppose that's why most of them come to the mission field at 19. We have several that are older, though.
It's such a privilege to be teaching and sharing the gospel. We just have a 16-year-old that has agreed today to start taking the lessons and we will start teaching her next Tuesday. She is from Fiji and only gets to see her mother about every 2 months. I think she is really going to be a golden investigator and it won't take long for her conversion. Her mother has recently joined the church and wanted her daughter to share in the happiness of the gospel.
It's amazing the miracles that are seen in the mission field. There are so many people out there looking for something that is literally missing in their life. Sometimes it's difficult to find them........but they're everywhere! We just need the patience to find them. Thank heavens for revelation and the spirit to guide us to those people.
We love the Savior with all of our hearts and are so grateful for this opportunity to serve in the mission field. Continue your prayers for the missionaries. They are doing an awesome work!
We love our family so much and miss you terribly.......but you keep inspiring us to go on. Your expressions of love and support mean so much to us. We appreciate all of you!!!!
Take care and always stay happy. Our attitudes are what help us through whatever we may be dealing with...........
Love to all,
Elder & Sister Harper
