The Forest

This week was great and full of adventures.  Like I told you last week, we went to the border of Ecuador. It was really fun :) As we got back, we visited Juan Carlos aka señor desnudo. He’s a painter and we invited him to be baptized the 2nd of January and he seems really excited :) 

We visited Jorge Carva and his son Ricardo (17).  He has a huge doubt with the Book of Mormon so we explained to him that our role and purpose as missionaries isn’t to convince them that the book is true... our purpose is to invite them to ask God if it was true.  He seemed a little shocked with our answer, but accepted the challenge. :)  We also invited him to be baptized the 26th of December so we’ll see how things go :)

ALSO IT RAINED ON MONDAY NIGHT!! AHHHH IT WAS A MIRACLE!  It’s the first time I’ve seen the rain in 10 months.  Can you believe it?!  It was like a dream come true.

Tuesday we made a hammock. haha :) We took a bed sheet and tied it to 2 trees.  We visited Karmen and it was a good lesson. 

Christian and Madaline are great. They’re from Venezuela and their daughters Andrea and Alessandra might be the cutest little girls in the world. I’ll try and send pics next week :) Anyways they were recently baptized, but are slowly becoming inactive. We talked about the famous scripture Helaman 5:12 and building our foundation on the rock of our Redeemer.  We talked about their kids and how they need that sure foundation. I explained to them that my parents had built my foundation on that rock and it was a great reason of why I’m here today. They were impressed and want to meet you guys to ask you how you did it :) haha

Wednesday we had a service project working in the mango fields :) We helped a member named Segundo and his family picking mangos, tamarindos, and they even let us try their sugar cane! It was really really fun :) 

We found a new investigator named Jair Socola.. he’s 22 and a baller. He called us over and we got talking to him and he told us that he wants to be a member of the church. He wants to get baptized and change.  We told him we would be there every step of the way and we put a baptismal date for the 26th of December. :) We’re on fire . . . we have 7 people with baptismal dates!

Thursday we had the opportunity to give 2 priesthood blessings. We shared a scripture with their family about faith and then continued with the blessing. Their grandma, Azo, asked if I would do it and of course, I was more than willing. I love the power and presence of the Holy Ghost when I give blessings.. it feels like right when I put my hands on their heads, it takes over and God uses me as an instrument to transmit His message. 

There is also a family we found that are great, oh my word, they’re going to get baptized si or si. Adriana and Jose Luis :)

Friday we helped a less active member with a service project moving dirt. Haha! My specialty. :) His name is Joel Mogollon and he’s 21.  His dad passed away a couple years ago and so he has to support his family, that’s why he’s been having troubles going to church. Anyways, as we got there, I realized that there was no wheel barrow and they were loading buckets of dirt on their shoulders... and to make it worse.. to the 3rd floor! ahhh it was tough. I probably hauled 100 buckets for 4 hours. But it was fun while we worked and his mom even made us Chicharon after so we were happy :) 

We were visiting a sister named Mercedes and she asked us if we would cut down a branch that was messing with the power cable so of course I was the first to volunteer. I took my tie off, grabbed the axe and started my way up the tree :)haha

Saturday night was killer. We were in a part of our area called "El Bosque" or in english "The Forest". I realized why they call it El Bosque cause the mosquitos that are KILLER. Not kidding I could not handle it... we ran to a members house and banged on the door just to let us inside.. they gave us some poison that we rubbed all over our bodies and it stung a little bit but what else were we suppposed to do? :) hahaha my legs, arms and face are covered with bites. 

Anyways, Sunday was great, we went to church and enjoyed the spirit :) 

I hope you guys have a great day!

-Elder Harris