My Birthday "Party"

Okay family this week was sick. 

Monday we went to this super cool river for Pday... it was huge and it reminded me of the Nile river in Egypt cause there was a lot of naked people bathing but hey were in Peru so yolo.  We brought a picnic and found a little shack where we got some nice shade and enjoyed a day at the "beach" :)  It was a great day but quickly came to a end when we showed up at a less active members house where we’re teaching, Fatima, and she was outside smoking.  It was slightly awkward and very uncomfortable for everyone but she let us in and we had a good lesson with her but she was quite embarrassed.

Tuesday Elder Soto was struggling a bit so we watched a video from the church "How the Atonement applies to missionary work", if you haven’t seen it yet, GO WATCH IT. It’s a really, really good video. Elder Holland talks about how important it is to "Endure to the end" and like you were talking about mom, it’s getting harder and harder in a more and more corrupted world. Elder Holland says "why should it be easy for us, when it was never easy for Him? Salvation is not a cheap experience.  Salvation was never easy".

Later that night we had an appointment with the Ramirez Paiva family.  For an early "birthday" present, they invited us for ice cream and the best part . . .  donuts.  Like where in the freak did you get donuts in Piura?  But hey we enjoyed it.

Wednesday . . . . Everyone in the office "forgot" all day that it was my birthday so no one said anything to me.  I wasn’t expecting much, but I thought they would at least say happy birthday! Haha.  I felt a little sad as we left the office but I’m tough so i didn’t say anything. :)

After we went to a really cool less active members house, Franchesca and Teresa and we had a lesson with them.  After the lesson they they cooked pancakes and we some Inca Cola to celebrate my birthday. :)   As we left, I felt a little better that at least SOMEONE remembered my birthday . . .but as we were walking outside her house, all of them exploded like 6 or 7 eggs on my head because APPARENTLY it’s a tradition here in Peru.  It was fun though :)

 We walked back to our room and because I was super dirty I went straight into the shower.  When I  got out, I put my pants on to do our daily planning and opened the door to our room and right as I opened it I was bombarded by a million white shirts smashing eggs on my head and whatever else they could find in our refrigerator... flour, pasta sauce, ketchup, the whole nine yards.  Turns out they had planned it all day long to not say anything to me and while I was showering, my companion Elder Nosa opened the door so all of the other Elders could sneak into my room... they thought they were pretty funny haha :) After they smashed me, they sung happy birthday and brought out boxes of pizza and a huge chocolate cake.  To say the least, I had a great birthday :)

Thursday was ridiculously busy.  I had to give like 3 presentations at missionary trainings but hey we got lasagna and brownies so life’s good.

Friday morning as we got to the office, Elder Rodriguez (the elder that is in my old area, Sullana - Bellavista) informed me that an investigator (Teresa) that we worked so hard for was getting baptized that day.  Ahh I was so happy so I hurried and grabbed the phone to call my companion in Sullana, Elder Soto.  A couple hours later, he calls me back and asked if I wanted to go with him to the baptism in Sullana to baptize her.  Of course I said yes!   I was pumped :)  It was AMAZING! When Elder Soto and I walked in the doors to our old ward, oh my word, they were so excited to see us.  Hermana Teresa started to cry because she was so happy.  Everything with the baptism turned out well... it was such a powerful experience. I had the opportunity to be one of the witnesses of the baptism. The spirit that I felt during the meeting strengthened my testimony that God and Jesus Christ live. A really special day.

Saturday we started our fast.  I fasted for the Garcia Tipismana family that they will have a desire to get married and baptized.  Everything is ALMOST finished with the coordination, they just need to take that leap of faith and do it. 

We had a lesson with a recent convert, Hermana Racquel.  I’ve talked about her before.. she’s the really sweet old lady.  Anyways, after the lesson I was looking on her shelf at a really cool ancient relic. I asked where she got it and she told me that her father-in-law passed it down to her.. AND SHE WANTED ME TO HAVE IT.   It was hard to accept such a priceless gift, but she ended up giving it to me and it is sooo cool.  Not kidding I’m keeping it forever.  It’s like an ancient Incan relic. Kinda hard to explain :)

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting.. it was great.  I love hearing the members testimonies. :) We ended our fast and ate lunch with the Alburqueque family.  Their son just returned from his mission in Brazil so he made us some traditional food from his mission. We ate Feijoada and Cuzcus.  I’m sure Devin has had it a million time but it was really good.

Anyways, it was a really good week.  Thanks for all the love and support. :)

-Elder Harris