New Mailing Addresses!

Hello! Just an update of Sister Harpers Mailing Addresses.

Letters/Cards

Sister Jennifer Suzanne Harper

Brazil Curitiba Mission

Caixa Postal 9501

Portao                                   There is a ~ over the a in Portao

80613-991 Curitiba - PR

Brazil

Packages---send only through US Postal Service

Sister Jennifer Suzanne Harper

Brazil Curitiba Mission

Praca Joseph Smith                 There is a coma which is attached under the c in Praca

15 Portao                                There is a ~ over the a in Portao

80613-991 Curitiba - PR

Brazil 

Thanks For Your Support!

-Adam

Sister Harpers Latest Blog Entry

Yesterday we had Zone Conference, and it was the greatest Zone Conference ever! So, these days a lot has been happening. First of all, I´m in a compaionship of three as I said before, and it has been great. Both of the Sisters are great, Sister Andrade and Sister Judkins. We are all learning a lot and practicing a lot and praying a lot. We arrived for the Zone Conference, which the Brethren of changed to only once every trimester. And the conferences are shorter now, we finish with everything at about 2 o´clock and we´re back out working. I don´t know if all of the conferences will be this way, but it was an awesome conference.

 

President and Sister Cordon spoke about obedience, following the spirit, and doing our best for the Lord. I and two other missionaries were asked to bear testimony about how the 4 new lessons we received from the Brethren are helping in the work. One of these lessons is about our purpose as missionaries--to baptize, another about The Book of Mormon, another about The Holy Ghost, and another about teaching how to pray. They asked me to talk about how the lesson about The Holy Ghost has helped us in the work. And truly, this lesson has helped us a lot. I talked about how we were teaching a family that was always super crazy, making a ton of noise and never paying attention. But the day we passed the film in their house about Joseph Smith, everyone was very quiet and we asked the mother, "what are you feeling right now?" as the new lessons explain. And she said, "I feel that this is the church I will follow. All I need to do now is quit smoking. I feel really good." Helping people to recognize the Holy Ghost helps them to stay firm in the church, because when they have a testimony, when challenges arrise they are more likely to stay active. :)

 

But the best part of the conference was we had an area 70 visiting us, Elder Masgade, and his talk reminded me so much of you, Dad. He talked about so many things, about the doctrines behind obedience, and about loving the Lord, and then about the grandness of Heavenly Father. He talked about lightyears and planets and about the immensity of space and Hubble, and all the great science-y things that you always talk about, Dad. Then he showed us a picture of the celestial room of the temple and said, "And he wants to give everything he has to you and your family. His work and his glory is you. Wow. It was so great and it was a great reminder that we aren´t baptizing people as Elder Oaks says to help them live better lives or to enter the church. We are doing it to prepare them to return to the presence of Heavenly Father. It was such a great message.

 

He also explained that we need to baptize more men. More leaders and people who can hold the Priesthood. He said we need to not be afraid to speak with doctors, lawyers and other decision-making people, and truly baptize more men. Today as we left our house in the morning, we prayed that we would encounter more men to teach, and we met one walking to lunch who said he used to go to church a year ago, and that he wants to come back and to be baptized. It was amazing for us to see that the Lord truly answers our prayers.

Family and Friends!

Family and Friends!
It´s been a while since I posted a blog! Since then I´ve been transferred to a new area called Bom Sucesso, or good success. It´s next to a city called Ponta Grossa in Paranã. I have two compaions right now, Sister Ribeiro and Sister Couto. Sister Ribeiro is waiting for a compaion so she can go back to her area next to ours. Our area is HUGE! There are 10 or so neighborhoods for one ward. They are all very poor and we have to take the bus to each area everyday and usually work only in one neighborhood per week. Our Bishop here is great, he is very supportive of the missionaries, and the Stake President here too. He had a meeting with just the missionaries in the stake where he talked about missionary work here in this area. He also bought all of us ice cream. :)

The greatest area of success we have is in an area called Ildemira. The people there are very poor, and it is very interesting as parts of the area look like Utah with large farms and lots of cows and pigs, and palm trees. João Paulo is a young boy of ten years who lives there with his mother and a ton of brothers. Only he was interested in being baptized in his family, and he reads The Book of Mormon every day even though he is very young and I don´t think he understands much of it. It is great to visit him there and read with him. One thing that I am learing right now is that Heavenly Father loves everyone in this world, rich and poor alike, every soul is of importance to him and everyone has something to contribute in the Kingdom of God.

Well, I hope things are great back in the states!

New Mailing Addresses

Hello, This is Adam

I have updated the Mailing Addresses for Sister Harpers Mission located at the top of the Sidebar Column. One for Letters, and one for Packages. 

Parabéns

This week, so many things happened! Today was transfers, and I was positive that I would stay in my first area, the Acordes Ward, and my companion Sister Concha who had been there for six months would leave. We were both very surprised when we found out we were both being transferred, and we are still companions! We have both been transferred to an area that has been closed for 5 months, so we will be starting from scratch in this area.

When we first found out though, we were sick, because we thought they were closing our area, and the first thing we thought of was our investigators, especially those who we are helping stop smoking. But a HUGE blessing from the Lord is that they are putting Elders in that area! I was very happy.

I am very excited though for my new area, our ward mission leader just returned from his mission recently, and we have 10 ward missionaries! We still have so much to do as far as cleaning our apartment which is VERY dirty, and as of right now, I only know the names of two streets. The chapel where our ward meets is not in our proselyting area, we take two buses to get there, but ok, seriously, this week is going to be amazing. This Sunday, Elder Holland of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles is visiting our ward for a special conference! How crazy and exciting. Our ward mission leader told us to prepare, because likely something will occur where he will want us to teach one of the missionary lessons to him! CRAZY! We´ll see what happens!

The weather here has been insane, one week was so cold I thought I would die, now it´s super hot...haha, four seasons in a day just like Utah. I pray that things are going great for everyone back in the states, and congratulations to everyone who graduated from BYU! Congrats in Portuguese is "para bens!" :D
Well, until next week! Tchau!

This week has been crazy busy! But great. This past Saturday was the baptism of a girl named Ketlyn. It was a wonderful day, and I am soooo happy for her. When she came out of the water, her whole family said they wanted to be baptized too, even her brother who always says he is not interested in the gospel. We are still working with her mother Valdineia to quit smoking, and one day this week she only smoked one cigarrette!!! It was great, but the day of Ketlyn´s baptism, her uncle passed away and she relapsed. :( We felt very sad, but we are continuing to encourage her, we posted lots of signs in her house to remind and her, and bought a lot of vitamin C for her to help, and she needs to drink lots of orange juice!

This week I attended my first zone conference, it was great to hear from our Mission President and receive instruction from the assistants to the President. It was so good, I learned a lot. We had a HUGE lunch afterwards, it was great. :)

Today I visited the temple in Curitiba, it is BEAUTIFUL! It was a wonderful experience. This Saturday, my companion and I are having a musical presentation at the chapel where she and I will sing along with some members of the ward. I hope a lot of people can come! 

New Foods To Experience

Hello family and friends!
I hope things are going great in the states! I have heard less than pleasant news about Haiti and Chile though...this week during a devotional, one of our leaders, Sister Christopherson spoke about after the earthquake, there was a man who knew where his children were, but they were trapped under concrete and he did not have the tools to help them. He used a tube to give them water until rescue workers came with the tools to help him save them.

She compared our work as missionaries to that of the rescue workers. Many people in the world feel trapped and fall through the cracks, unable to find a way out. Our commission is to help them find the way out, to help them find hope and strength and the path to true happiness, or the gospel.

This is my last week here in the Sao Paulo MTC until I head down to Curitiba! I will miss it here, but I am incredibly excited to go. This week was great, my companions and I walked around downtown Sao Paulo talking with people about The Book of Mormon. It was an awesome experience, the streets were crazy though, so many people everywhere and vendors everywhere you look.

One man we spoke with, Pedro Paulo, actually stopped us as we were walking down a crazy crowded street and said, "Thank you for the work you are doing! There is something different about you, I can see it in your faces. There are so many problems in this world and problems in Brazil, and these people need what you have!"  But we gave him a copy of The Book of Mormon and his friend Augosto as well. They were both so excited and said they would read. We told them that we knew it was true and it would strengthen them and answer the questions of their souls.

Tonight at the MTC they are serving banana pizza! It sounds very strange, but it is pizza with chocolate and banana and it is quite possibly my new favorite food of all time! But it is probably tied with pastels still, the crepe-like, fried desserts filled with whatever toppings your choose! :D
Well, a great week to all!

Two More Weeks!

I have two more weeks here in the MTC in Sao Paulo until I leave for Curitiba! I love it here, but I am anxious to get out into the field. This week it rained and rained all week, and it was actually cold! I had to wear my coat, which was so weird. Today is just overcast and nice though.

Things are great still in the MTC, right after I finish emailing, I´m going to my district to a place just like Tccanos, but better! We´ll walk over there with our teacher, Brother Diniz. :) And it costs half what Tocanos does and it´s authentic. I´m excited.

I am still learning a lot of Portuguese but wishing I knew more! But last night was great, we had a devotional speaker who had us read in The Book of Mormon, in First Nephi where God commands Nephi to build a ship to carry his family to America. Nephi had to pray again and again for the help and guidance of Heavenly Father, he did not just pray once and have a ship. The speaker said that we have our own ship to build, learning Portuguese and preparing to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To do accomplish this, we cannot just pray once, we must pray often and ask for strength. I think it is like that for everyone. Be it work or school or making important life decisions. God will lead us if we pray and seek him often, not just once.

Olá! From Brasil!!!

It´s been a long time since I´ve gotten a chance to write, but I´m here at "Mr Cheney´s Cookies," a place across the street from the Missionary Training Center where you can buy milkshakes, cookies, and use the internet. :) It's quite nice. 

I just got back from the Temple in Campinas, we usually go to the Sao Paulo one, but it´s closed for cleaning. It was soooo beautiful, and on the trip here, we saw huge, rolling green hills and palm trees grow naturally everywhere! I love it! Even here at the MTC (or CTM in Portuguese) there are palm trees planted all around us, and we can go study in the gardens, which is great at night when there is a cool breeze!

Oh, and I saw Sister Jenny Hunter at the Temple! It was so great to see her, but she can hardly speak english anymore, haha, she had a very hard time speaking any at all! But luckily my Portuguese is getting better every day, so we could communicate. :)

I love meal times, I seriously almost never know what I´m eating...but the fruit is sooo good! I love the guava and the pineapple here is white, and very sweet. The oranges are green and very tart. I eat rice and beans a lot, and lots of thother things that I don´t know what they are. :) I love sitting with the Brazilians, they all talk so much and when I don´t understand what they said, they will use as much time as it takes to help me understand, if it means charades or asking other missionaries who are bilingual. And when I didn´t have sandals to wear, one of the Brazilians, Sister Duarte, let me use hers.

My district leader is so great, his name is Elder Chiba, and he is good friends with Camille Judd! :D He is so nice and so is everyone else in my district. Every day we study at seven in the morning with all the windows open to let in the morning air. It´s warm and humid, but by about eleven, we close the windows and turn on the ac! I am starting to really prefer the heat and humidity though, except for when I´m running on the track outside...then it is VERY hot!

All the drinking fountains have an option for cold water and natural water. I found out that it is because Brazilians think that if you drink cold water, you will catch a cold. Very interesting. The CTM is surrounded by tons and tons of city. It is very loud outside a lot as there is construction going on most of the time, and everyone says we are in a "concrete jungle." But after you drive for a while, you get to the real foresty places, and I have never seen anything like it. I also have never seen such poverty. :( Some places look like piles of buildings, ready to collapse and they all are filled with people. Despite all this though, they are all so friendly, and very curious about Americans. They all listen intently when I talk, even though I sound like a first grader still, haha.

This Friday is our first day going out to talk with people and give away copies of The Book of Mormon! I´m so nervous! But when we practiced in class, and I think it will be great! I also practiced teaching a lesson for some native Brazilians this week and though I said a lot of it incorrectly, I was able to explain things, so it´s definitely getting eaisier.

Well, I better get going, but things are great here, and I hope everyone is doing great as well!

Sister Harper Update

Hi Everyone!

Sister Harper called last night from the Provo Utah Missionary Training Center to let us know she received her Visa. She left to go to the Missionary Training Center in Sao Paulo Brazil, around 11:00 AM 2/11/10, to finish her remaining 4 and 1/2 weeks of training before she goes to Curitiba!

Here is her mailing address for letters at the Missionary Training Center in Brazil:

Sister Jennifer Suzanne Harper

Brazil Curitiba Mission

Brazil Missionary Training Center

Rua Padre Antonio D'Angelo 121

Casa Verde

02516-040 Sao Paulo SP

Brazil

For mailing packages to Jenny [please send via Airmail through the US Postal System to avoid import taxes and possible loss].

Sister Jennifer Suzanne Harper

Brazil Curitiba Mission

Praca Joseph Smith

15 Portao                                    Note:  The "a" in Portao has an ~ over it

80613-991 Curitiba - PR

Brazil

When it Rains, It Pours.

 This week has been incredibly busy but so amazing at the same time. On Tuesday evening, I gave the closing prayer for the MTC devotional and President Hinckley's son, Elder Hinckley came to speak to us about being safe on our missions. The two Elders who died this past week (in Romainia I think?) didn't realize that their Carbon Monoxide monitor was unplugged! So he gave us pointers and talked about staying positive even when things are discouraging. I got to sit on the stand because I was going to offer the closing prayer. I felt really nervous actually, to stand in front of 2,000 people for the prayer, but it was fine. :)

This week I had a lesson on Skype with Brother Zamboni from Brazil. I practiced speaking with him and he asked how I had learned so much Portuguese in only three weeks. I told him I had taken a class before. It was great though, I understood almost everything except when he said his wife was pregnant, and I learned the word for it, gravada. (It has an accent, but I can't figure it out in my emails. :) He aslo taught us a Brazillian saying, "Auga mole em pedra dura tanto bate ate que fura." (Also missing some accents) Which roughly translates into, "Soft water in hard rock, hits so much until it penetrates." It is about perseverance. You keep trying and working at things even when it is hard and you will one day be successful.

We taught the second lesson this week about the Plan of Salvation. It was great, and I made an artsy cutout for it to help show how the atonement of Jesus Christ overcomes the effects of the fall. All mankind will be ressurrected and gain immortality, and those who accept Christ and follow his plan receive eternal life with God. I'm going to get it laminated this week so I can take it and use it, and it's all written in Portuguese!

SO, this week has been CRAZY with visas. My teacher, Brother Mattheson said he was sure they would start coming in, and when it rains, it pours, he said. And he couldn't have been more correct. 80 people got visas yesterday and 30 the day before and I don't know the munbers for today yet, but it's a TON! People were running around waving them in the air, so excited to be leaving. Our roommate, Sister Smith got hers and left this week. It was sad to see her go, but she is pretty much going to be amazing. She flew straight to her mission and not to the MTC there because she had been here for over 9 weeks! We'll see what happens this week, who knows? Once you get your visa, most people leave the next day, but I love it here so much, so whenever works for me! :)

Well, I hope everyone is having a great week! :D

Two Down, Twelve to Go

This week two of our Elders in our district got their visas and flew down to Sao Paulo! Elder Kupp and Elder Karren. I was very excited for them and I am very excited for the day when I get called to the travel office. Every time our district hears the intercom  beap, we all jump and wait, but still only two of us have left. And we have so much fun all the time, our teacher challenged all of us to memorize Joseph Smith's first vision in Portuguese by this Saturday! I think I have it, but my pronunciation may still need some work.

Today is our second, "jejum de ingles" or "English fast." All of us go for three hours without speaking any English and only using Portuguese! It is sooo hard sometimes to say what you want, but my Portuguese class from before is definitely coming in handy and all of us are communicating in short choppy sentences and using charades a lot. :)

I was grateful though when I talked to some of the Elders going to Hungary, and it made me feel for you, Jason, because I cannot imagine how they ever master that language! There are so many crazy rules!

We taught our second lesson in the Teaching Resource Center this week, and it went soooo well! And I could understand almost everything the volunteer said, I'm so glad it's getting easier. But each week we have to prepare a talk in Portuguese for Sunday and when we get to the meeting, our branch president announces who will be speaking, so we never know until then! It is great motivation to make sure your talk sounds good!

This Wednesday when all of the new missionaries came in, my friend Leda Stolp who is going to serve in Albuquerque came! I was so happy to see her. We also got a new roommate, Sister Richardson from Texas. She is so nice and is fluent in Spanish, so that will definitely help her learn quickly the Portuguese. President Uchtdorf came to visit all the new missionaries, and because my companions and I always go to 6 am gym, we didn't get to see him when he visited everyone playing basketball! What a shame! :) But it was ok. Well, until next week! :D

Macacos me mordom!

This is my new idiomatic phrase, "Macacos me mordom!" It is in one of our Portuguese textbooks, and is supposed to mean, "I'll be darned!" but it literally translates into, "Monkeys bite me!" :D haha, but unfortunately, one of the Brazilian teachers in Sao Paulo said that they don't actually say that in Brazil. What a shame. But we say it all the time now as a district!

The first week or so here has been so amazing, and so jam-packed with activities. We were very fortunate as incoming missionaries to have a surprise visit from apostle Elder Holland! He randomly came into our meeting and testified that he knew what we were doing was the most important thing we could be doing right now. It was amazing. For Sunday's devotional, we heard from Susan E. Black, a professor at BYU! She is sooo good and she talked about the life of the prophet Joseph Smith from his young childhood to the time of the First Vision in 1820. It was very interesting, and she told stories about him I had never heard before, like when Lucy Mack Smith (his mom) accidentally left him behind after stopping at an inn during their move to Palmyra, New York, in the middle of the winter! Poor kid!

Anyway, this week we learned a ton in Portuguese, and as a companionship, we taught our first lesson (in English) and did our first street contact (in Portuguese). The girl that volunteered for us to teach had actually spent a year in Curitiba, so she was very excited for me to go there. :) She told me to make sure I always looked like I knew what I was doing, and never to have the "tourist face" so people won't pickpocket me :) and she demonstrated for me. It was great.

My companions and I always get up and go to the gym at 6 am. Even though it means an hour of less sleep, they have a professional instructor there teaching kick boxing, Pilates, and other exercises. It's great, and it's only for the Sisters, so we have the whole gym and all the equipment to ourselves.

Twice a week now they have Large Group Meetings only for Brazil missionaries. They are soooo helpful in giving us handouts and other tools for learning the language faster, I love it! Well, I better go, hope everyone is having a great week!

First Four Days At The MTC!

Hello Everyone!

This is Sister Harper, I am so excited that I have the chance to write to you all today!

Things are going great here, I love my district and my two compaions, Sister Davis (who is going to Belem, Brazil) and Sister Marshall (who is going to Brasilia, Brazil). The three of us share a room with two other sisters going to Brazil...but I can't remember where they are going. :)

I love our teachers, Brother Slater and Brother Mattheson. They served in Portugal, so their accents are a little different than Brazillians would have, but they teach powerfully and I feel like I have already learned so much from them.

Because there are so many Brazillian missionaries though, there aren't always teachers for us, like yesterday when we were in our classroom as a distric for eight hours studying! Luckily I and another Elder, Elder Kupp were able to help answer questions about pronunciation from our past Portuguese experience, but we're certainly not experts! They are going to have us each set up SKYPE accounts so we can talk to teachers in the Sao PauloMTC in Brazil, so that should help.

Even though the rest of my district is starting from square one with the language, I'm glad to be there with them because we learned how to pray in Portuguese, and how to testify, so that has been great!

Still waiting on the visa, and I cannot wait to get out and serve, but I love being here, it has been awesome so far!

Sister Harper's MTC Address

This Is Her MTC (Missionary Training Center) Address.
This May Change Later On.

Jennifer Suzanne Harper

MTC Mailbox # 271

BRA-CURI 0316

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1793

One more day!

Today is January 12, and tomorrow I report to the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah! The original plan was to report to the Sao Paulo, Brazil MTC, but I'm still waiting for my visa. As soon as I get it though, I'll be on a plane to Brazil! I will be in training for nine weeks, learning more Portuguese and the missionary lessons that I will be teaching. Pretty much everything is ready, I just have to finish packing! And finish the second half of a root canal this afternoon...

I am so excited to go, I've had my call since September and it's been a long wait! Curitiba is a large city very far south in Brazil. There was a lot of European immigraion in the area, so I won't stand out from the natives living there. It will be humid there, but temperate, which will be nice. :)