received 2/22/16

An apparent selfie taken at the library with a photobomb from Elder Packer

Elder Garlitz  (window shatterer) 

 Well this week has been kinda odd, i spent a good portion of the week in Corpus Christi, TX on a companion exchange with our Zone Leader, Elder De Piano. We worked in his area for two days did a service project and watched Elder Garlitz(while in the apartment) Proceed to throw a football in between the mattress and footboard from across the room. After succeeding once he proceeded to do it again saying "this is how Peyton Manning plays in his cabin!" after which he threw it, hit the footboard and we watched it sail out the closed window. the window being closed shattered and the ball went outside. So Elder Garlitz had to get that straightened out.

We unfortunately had to drop some of our investigators, some just lost interest, one was just a matter of time for when we had to drop him, Saturday we had an emergency meeting in McAllen so we used all of our allotted miles of driving to travel down to McAllen. Elder Lawrence Corbridge of the seventy was there and that was cool, so ya ill post pics and next week ill let you know how things go in Portland.
Till then -Elder HarKer  

a drawing that Jesh has been working on

received 2/8/16

USS Lexington, Corpus side

So this last week has been pretty crazy! We had zone transfers and i got assigned with Elder Gifford (Who lived in the Laredo Apt. with me) and so he and I got to work on Flour Bluff and we even went to North Padre Island the first night,
 So we got to go to Padre Island(North) for ward coordination, Elders aren't allowed to Pros. in South Padre Island(It's iniquitous there) so that was cool, and so we worked over there.
 it was pretty fun going to a new place, and so now I'm back in Portland.

Portland's awesome we had a baptism last week and a confirmation yesterday and this family is super awesome! Their names are Victor and Marissa, and i found out that my investigators (Isabell and Elsa) in Laredo are getting baptized!!!! So this was an awesome week! We have had a bunch of southern food and bbq and one of our new investigators offered us Tickets to Talledega(NASCAR) and the opportunity to meet some big drivers and the owner of the track. Too bad Alabama is out of our mission area! But ya a whole bunch of people down here are from Idaho which is cool!

Ive been Studying The Book of Mormon in English and Spanish side by side and its super how simple it is in Spanish, the eloquence is lost in translation so its a bit different to understand it but its super cool and easy to comprehend!
I'll send a whole bunch of pics. everyone have an awesome week! -Elder HarKer.  

P.S. We are practicing using the word "Ya'all" when talking to people.

New Transfer (received 2/1/16)

So I've been sent to the "great white North" of the mission up to Corpus Christi Zone, in a town called Portland so if theres a hurricane me and Elder Packer and the sisters on North Padre Island will see it first, its cool cause we can see the bay from our apartment, and the USS Lexington is down the highway. We had a lesson with Bro. Evans who is a Vietnam vet, his office is my dream office, model planes everywhere, wwii/wwi and vietnam memorabilia everywhere, so it was super cool to meet him.

I don't have much time now but will send a better email with pics next week until then have a great week yall! 

THE STORY behind Elder Harker's first experience with transfers

so there is a video but I must tell you the story of the apostate transfer. 

So at transfers we were told Harker, Mason and Sis Christiansen were gunna get transferred, and they didn't tell us anything more which stunk.

So Monday night I packed and around 11pm they said I was getting picked up to go down to los presidentes in South Laredo for transfers at 2am and then on-wards.  I got ready showered and stuff and at 1am E. Mason picked me up and we met the sisters with Christiansen and with sister C in the truck and with all our stuff packed we went down to the South Laredo Chapel.  

Transfers get weird so its all not our fault. so we got lost on the way and eventually after a few calls got to the chapel at2:45am. Nobody was there so we called our Zone Leader, and he said call the south ZLs so we did and the conversation went 

"hey we're at the church I know were super late but where is everybody?"

"What? what are you doing at the church?"

"Transfers, we had transfers at 2 and its 2:45 and we just barely got here."

"Transfers are at 2 in the afternoon man"

"oh.... oopps"

so we all bust out laughing and then we realize. 

its 3am, we have two elders and a sister in a car in an empty parking lot at 3AM. which was authorized for 2pm but we realized that not only were we out past curfew but also Sis C. still had a companion, so we went back home to drop her off, well roads in Laredo are messed up BAD, we found the main road and we headed down it, a few minutes later we passed a sign that said "Now Leaving Laredo" so we did a movie style u turn and eventually found our way back to the correct road with the same name and dropped her off, but everyone laughed at us and the Zone leader was pretty embarrassed at his confusion of the times. so we never got to sleep really. so ya. 

ya. kinda been crazy whitewashin twice in a row as a greenie. been drawin ya Elder packers cool hes the apostles(late) Great,great nephew so he knew him. there is actually a lot more trees and we are in a van know so not as much biking. its a lot more like "second hand lions" Texas. 

we been trying to say "yall" with everyone. and we even had a baptism yesterday, a youngfamily too and we met with them and they were super ready, they got married last Friday which we got to go to and them and their fellowshippers(The Wier family) took us to Longhorn Steakhouse, they are super cool. sis Wier is a writer actually and i think ive seen one of her books even but I couldn't place where, its "Link" by Jennifer Wier. and then The Andersons,the Kinghorns,and the Egburt families are all from Poky!!!!!! What!!!!! 

and so ya no much work got done this week just gettin to know members so that was cool. we actually have food, there are so many members that we have food in the cupboards! we got the nicest apartment or one of them in the mission, its supposed to be a four-man but there is just the two of us.

Elder Harker, Victor and Marisa, Elder Packer

View of the Gulf from Jeshua's apartment in Portland, TX