The Spirit Truly Does Protect Us

What up.

I hope you guys are enjoying the Bahamas today. ha. I kinda hate you guys... I still remember that time we went on a cruise to Jamaica and Haiti and all those fun places.... it was one of the best weeks ever.  We will have to plan another cruise when I get home :)  Or maybe a trip to Hawaii :)

This week was great. Last Monday we went to Ecuador (obviously didn’t cross the border) but we had a good time. We actually had a cool experience up there... there were 2 people doing witchcraft on the street because that’s big here. One of them was blindfolded and the other had a voodoo doll and apparently they were predicting the future and doing all sorts of cool tricks. It interested me, I mean, I love magic. But it didn’t feel right......... as the show continued, it got more and more creepy and people started to do some pretty weird things.  Impressions of the spirit were pounding in my head, "Elder Harris, you need to leave now. Leave. Leave. Leave."  It was hard because it was so interesting, but I followed the spirit and looked at the other Elders and told them "hey guys we shouldn’t be here. Let’s go."  Come to find out that we all had the same impressions...... the spirit truly does protect us.

We also got some bad news..... Our golden investigators Julio and Johana are leaving.... they’re going to Sechura (about 7 hours from here) to work. They aren’t coming back for a couple months.  It hurt a bit because they were progressing so fast, but we got their information transferred to Sechura so that the missionaries over there can keep visiting them. I’m gonna miss them..............

Tuesday we woke up early and helped Genesis (a member) level out her piece of land in Narnia... it was fun, but A TON of work. good thing my parents taught me how to shovel dirt. ha...... ha. We filled some buckets, ate some bananas, and drank cebada.... what else could you ask for? 

As we were coming back, our neighbors smashed us with water balloons because its Carnival this month and everyone and their dog throws water balloons. It’s a good thing that the Puyango sun dries you in 5 minutes.

Later in the day, we visited Mariana and watched the video "What’s Most Important?" She told us that her daughters were the most important thing for her and that she was worried about the path that they are taking in their life. We shared the scripture about the 2000 stripling warriors and how they were so powerful because their mothers had taught them. It made me think about you , mom, and how much you’ve taught me... I truly am immensely grateful for you and the example you’ve been to me and to all of your kids... I love you, mom :)

Wednesday we visited a friend of ours, Martin and his daughters. It was raining all night and it was super sad, their house was a straight mud pit. Thick, thick, mud and there was no way to escape it... heat, humidity, and mosquitos. It made me think, could this really get any worse for them? How would I react if my family and I lived in this situation? The example of this man, absolutely blew my mind.  When he had every right to be down, and to be angry, he wasn’t. He is an amazing man, I desire to be like him one day.

Alright, I gotta go.  Thanks for everything, hope you guys are enjoying the Bahamas.

Send pics when you get home. Love  youuu!!!

-Elder Harris