received October 3

a member texted me this pic last week,
Elder Harker and comp were spending time
playing with the kids during FHE
(family home evening)

No mass email again this week:


hello family! hows it going!! its going great-- super busy cause transfers are tomorrow and Elder McLaughlin is getting transferred! I'm staying. (in Edinburg)

The week was rather slow, I went on an exchange with Elder Peacock in his area, but here are some highlights

General Conference  -don't need to say much about it other than before hand we ate Tacos de Barbaquoa (ground up cow tongue) it was rather VERY tasty.  and for Sunday afternoon session we were able to spend it with the Reyes and Palacios family!

Winter Setting In -our week was very nice and cool, a 90 degree cold front yay!!!

Magic cards - my old comp E. Packer is going home as well as his old comp E. Parisi who gave me and McLaughlin over $100 in "Magic cards"

and 

Mo le  -the most interesting food ever straight from Monterrey, Mexico we ate Chicken stewed in a mix of chocolate and peanut butter with cinnamon spice.  

Last week Elder Harker sent a blurry version of this picture.
(See previous post.)
Elder Mclaughlin's father posted this picture
on Facebook so I stole it. ;)

received 9/26/16

No mass email this week, but we did get some info and pictures:

well family this week was pretty fun highlights are

Zone conference

which was good, Pres. talked a lot about teaching with the spirit and following guidance from the spirit

Coordinacion del Barrio

we finish our ward mission plan in ward coordination this last week!

Los Intercambios con Elder Nelson de I.F.

I went on an exchange with Elder Nelson who is from I.F. we had a fun day of Tatering it up!

Comamos a la Taquieria "La Mexicana" con la famila Delangel

we ate with the Delangels at a taqiueria and ate lots of tacos!

1. When was the last time you laughed with your companion and why? What makes you laugh in your area? How do you stay light hearted?

blurry picture
eating Raspas with Elder Mclaughlin

1 long story the other night elder Torres got a strange call saying in Spanish "help me they are going to kill me" so he asked who and the reply was "the men" someone then picked up asking "Who is this?" and he replied the missionaries and the voice talk about a ransom and then hung up. and we sure it was a cartel faking it to get money, the number was from Mexico. so we were talking and I said I could imagine it go down like this"ayudame ayudame, ellos van a matar" (help me they are gunna kill me.) and we could reply "somos misioneros" and the lady saying " oh soy Catolica" (im cathlic) and hang up

everyone was dying when i told them that.

2. What has your mission president been doing to inspire the mission? What do you love about your mission president?

2 He has been helping us relieve from stress, its a big problem around the world right now and as people we cant let stress get us.

3. Tell us in person about the last miracle you witnessed…When was the last time you saw an answer to prayer?

3 the last miracle. we had a former investigator and her kids in church yesterday:)

Elder Mclaughlin had his 18 month burning

Hello Everyone

received 9/12
So I have been learning that my area is extremely different than in Corpus. We are a lot closer to the border and we can see the evidence of it everywhere it looks like Mexico, would make any sanitation worker cringe. Anyways we have been working super hard, not seeing much of the effects of our work as of yet but I definitely have been learning a lot more Spanish, Elder Torrez has been telling me my Spanish is a whole lot better. He finally received a new companion after his last one got sick and had to return home. His new companion is Elder Escobar from Edinburg. Elder Escobar just received the Melchizedek Priesthood yesterday so he is on a mission a tad bit early. 
Something I'd like to share with y'all is this in 2 Nephi ch 5

 13 And it came to pass that we began to prosper exceedingly, and to multiply in the land.

 14 And I, Nephi, did take the sword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy us; for I knew their hatred towards me and my children and those who were called my people.

 15 And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance.

 16 And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.

 17 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands.

And even though the goal of getting a temple built in our mission is tough and we have enough people we have been told that attendance at church isn't high enough to warrant building a temple here in McAllen, so we now know we must work to help people come to church, to help the take the sacrament, and to help them prepare to go to the Temple. and this is an awesome goal because it will help the people here to become eternal families.

 anyways have a great week 

Elder HarKer 

received 9/19

Hellos family highlights from this week are

ZL and interzone exchanges 

Went on exchanges with Elder Tomasi in my area, and Elder Wilson in Weslaco, TX which both werre super fun

La Noche Mexicana

for Mexican ind. day the ward put together a party to celebrate complete with food, dancing, and lots of Mexican stuff!

My invitation create a family mission plan to help share the gospel and find.  Members need to find, missionaries do the teaching. Check out "to sweep the Earth as with a flood" by Elder Bednar. super easy missionary work. 

Exchanges with Elder Tomasi

Exchanges in Weslaco with Elder Wilson

Elder Harker with his companion, Elder Mclaughlin (sombrero), Elder Torres (far right) and mini missionary Elder Escobar (far left)

Received 8/29/16 and 9/6/16

8/29/16
My first week in Edinburg East Area, well its all Spanish, and its a lot larger than Portland its a lot more like Chubbuck in terms of geography, in terms of culture, it's mexico... and we get Taco Palenque, Pizza Patron, and bodegas down here. Plus more missionaries-- twice as many missionaries in and around McAllen and Edinburg.

 My New comp in Elder McLaughlin from Bozeman Montana and we got a few many things in common! We love hunting and fishing, and all kinds of outdoor stuff! Anyways, so far teaching has been slow but yesterday after church we went to the Casa de Leon and ate Carne Asada with them, Sis Leon the Younger and I talked about Idaho cuz she went to BYU-I. and we said to her little sister we were going to have Carne Asada from her dos vacitas (2 calves).  They live out in the country.

 Oh Brother Palacios lit up when he heard I went to American Falls for school, his old area where he served his mission! so that's super cool and for the next few hours I live with Elder Peacock from utah, and Elder Nelson from I.F. 

2 Idaho boys in 1 apartment. funny the first groceries bought were Taters. anyways ill send more info and some pics next week. 

9/6/16
Hello everyone, its your favorite Elder here!

So I'm in Edinburg for those who haven't heard and I'm with our district leader Elder McLaughlin. 

We have been working super hard to get our "students" to church. we recently moved apartments too so finally I have all my clothes unpacked! took 2 weeks but I got it. I've had 30 mins each night to prepare for the next day cause I'm working as an assistant to the district leader and while the DL is taking care of the other guys I'm running our area which since I'm so new to the McAllen area, is tough. this has been one of the busiest transfers yet!

so here are some pictures before I get going.

We have been teaching a few families, we found a lady the other day and invited her to be baptized and she replied with"Claro!" (clearly) and that was super exciting we also found another Lady with her daughter and her daughter had already been to church before!!! that was super! 

Elder Harker with his comp, Mission President
and other missionaries

Blurry pic of:
Elder Harker & Elder Mclaughlin
Mission President Torres in the middle
other elders on the right side

Mission Call Opening Revisited

One year ago today:

August in Texas--Keep your heart and mind on Christ

Hey Y'all

So this week was pretty good, Elder Randall was a little sick so we spent a little bit longer inside than I would have liked but ya gotta slow down sometimes. helped me catch up on drawing. 

don't have much time this week so I'll just leave you with this,

Alma 48:
11 And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery;

 12 Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people.

 13 Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.

I do know that if we were like Moroni the very powers of hell would be shaken forever, if we all do our best in everything, strive to overcome, and serve our fellow men we will get rid of the evils in our society, if we just have our hearts on Christ, and put in the effort. We need the love and light the Savior brings though his loving atonement.

I was able to meet up with someone fairly familiar...Mr. Redd (Tyhee elementary school counselor)
visiting his daughter here in Portland. 

Hope y'all have a great week, keep your heart and mind on Christ, and keep an eye out for another email next week!

Birthday week

Hola y'all

So I'm sorry I haven't been sending out a mass email constantly the last few weeks have gotten crazy down here. well so in a nutshell we got a new mission president, President Torres from Honduras, I got a new comp here in Portland, he's a 220lbs MMA Champ known as Elder Randall and he is Awesome!!! We have been working so hard with the Ward and In a short while here Sister Zapata is going to be baptized, she has been coming to church with her husband who couldn't get himself up to get to church but he has been and its so exciting watching both of them change, we have been working with them for months, anyways I'll be emailing a lot better now things have gotten easier over here.

 Helloooo everyone so I had an awesome week, I went on an exchange in the last area I had yet to work in, Uni heights! 
I have now worked in all Elder areas and one sister(now elder) area! pretty cool I am the king of Corpus!  

I do have news I got stung by a bee Saturday and yesterday my knee was 2 sizes bigger than it should have been! It's better but I guess I have a minute allergy I guess.
and thanks for the birthday wishes!!

 So this week was super good, my birthday was fun, I got three Tommy's 1 from family, and 2 from elder Monett, I now have 2 quorums of tommy's!! And last night I finally had Posole. It was good but not much different from Taco soup, better than taco soup but not really different.

Two families sent us pictures of Jesh for his birthday.  The Gutierrez family took Elders Harker and Randall out for an early birthday dinner on Thursday.  They posted the pics on the mission facebook page.


Then the Flint family fed him on Friday night (his actual birthday) and texted me pics.  They said what good missionaries he and his companion are and they work hard and are good about following the mission rules.

 ***apparently there is a Mexican tradition called "la Mordida".  The birthday person gets there face shoved in the cake to have the first "bite" while everyone yells "mordida, mordida"

 have a great week yall!