Revelation! (With Another Broken Toe)

​Hello my wonderful family and friends!  This week has been pretty good, especially Friday. 


As far as the missionary work is going, it's almost run into a dead halt unfortunately.  We have "investigators", most of which are people that I haven't met yet.  It's definitely time for finding.  Elder Gerber and I are working super hard and putting a lot of effort in, but unfortunately the area isn't really responding; we counted, and we've had 20 cancelled appointments within the last 3 weeks.  But we're doing our best!

Anyways, I want to talk about the best part of the week:  Elder Brent H. Nielsen!  As I mentioned last week, we were able to have a special Mission Leadership Council with him, and it was great!  Before he came, he asked each of us to study two talks about the Atonement by Elder David A. Bednar.  A big portion of the meeting was focused on the Atonement, and we especially learned about the enabling power; how it strengthens us and allows us to move forward.  He talked about trials and how they are opportunities for us to change.  Instead of praying for the trial or challenge to go away, we need to instead pray for the strength to adapt to and learn from the challenge or trial.  It was super revelatory, and I literally walked out of the meeting with the mindset that trials are blessings (knock on wood). :)  I took about 5 pages of notes throughout the whole thing.  P.S. Elder Nielsen will be speaking in General Conference on Sunday morning right before Elder Holland--he said, "Yep, I'm the warm-up act for Elder Holland!"  It was funny.  We then had a question/answer session and he talked about the 8 quorums of seventy, how GA's are supported, polygamy, and how we can invite the Spirit into our studies.  It was definitely the highlight of the week.

In case you're wondering, on Saturday, I was getting ready for the day, and I spun in my spinny chair too fast and hit my toe against my desk and broke it.  Same toe, opposite foot!  That's 2 broken toes on mission!  What the heck!  It's not even really hurting anymore; I hope it will just heal on its own.

I'm SO excited for General Conference this weekend!  It will be a great opportunity to gain some revelation for the area and for my life.  I challenge all of you to bring a question to GC and look for an answer!  Love you all!

Elder Harper