So Many Good-byes . . .

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!! 2016!! Yayy! So what did you guys end up doing? :) I hope it was great, mine as well, was great. :) 

Monday was fun... so its a tradition here in Peru on the new years that everyone makes a human size doll, fills it with straw, and then burns it... sooooo... what did we do? We made a missionary doll. :) He even had a plaque. :)

Tuesday was amazing... a Christmas miracle. Almost everyone we contacted let us in their house.... we found 2 great new investigators down in Narnia... Julio Cesar who looks like he hasn’t eaten in a week, and Catalindo Chinco who looks like he hasn’t stopped eating in a week.  A FAT MAN! We also had an awesome lesson with Joel and Karen... we talked about the plan of salvation and they’re super intelligent so we were able to go a little more in depth about the plan and it was really fun :)

Wednesday we had to say goodbye to our good buddy, Fabiam Reto.  He left to Sullana to go work and live with his mom... he came with us to visit like 3 or 4 times a week... so were missing him a little bit. :)  It was actually kinda sad to say goodbye... its the one thing that I DON’T like about the mission... so many goodbyes... but I know that he will do great in Sullana so I’m not worried about him. :)

Rosa Broncano also invited us over for lunch... she made lomo saltado (my favorite) and a desert called PECHICHE.  It was quite strange, but SUPERRRRGOOOD.  

We had a lesson with a Señora named Solange Coba and we watched the video of Jefrey R Holland when he testifies of the Book of Mormon, and how Joseph Smith sealed his blood for the book.  If only he was to confess that it was fake, they would have spared his life, they would have spared the life of his family........ if he only denied it.  But he didn’t.  He was willing to die.  I like to put myself in the shoes of Joseph Smith... what would I have done? I think I would die before I denied the Book of Mormon. Throughout my mission, I have grown such a strong testimony of that Book... that I don’t think I will ever be able to deny it. 

We ended our day visiting Christian and Madalaine aka miss Venezuela :) I seriously love her and her family.  We shared a lesson with them and then they invited us to stay for dinner... SPAGHETTI! Yayayyy!  Finally something different than rice!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday was the new years eve... oh boy, where do I begin? Pretty sure Peru consumed more alcohol in one night than they have throughout the whole year... everyone house was drinking outside, music, not kidding.... PERU IS CRAZY ON THE NEW YEARS.  Around 8 PM we had to go back to our rooms because it gets dangerous.  As we got back, we sat outside with Elder Valverde and Elder Mooring cause they live right next door to us... we enjoyed hanging out for a sec and having some time to just talk. We burned our doll and watched all the fireworks.... it was fun :)  We even whipped out the silly string that you sent me.... we had a good time :) 

I can’t believe 2015 is over.... 2015 is the only year in my life that I had the whole year to be a missionary and now... its over. I can’t believe how fast its gone by, but I can say it was the best year of my life.  The happiest I’ve ever been. :)  I’m living the dream, mom. :) 

Friday we put a baptismal date for an investigator of ours, Brayan, for January 23^rd - a day before the transfers :) 

Saturday we helped the Falle family cut some trees... they gave me a machete and I went wild!  Ended up with like 10 blisters on my hand and now I’m crying every time I shake someone’s hand.  We tried algarrobina and well.... nothing else to say about that.  In the afternoon we were able to fast, and it was a really good experience. 

Sunday - almost all of the leaders of our ward were gone so basically the missionaries are in charge of EVERYTING. Haha! We teach seriously almost every class, but a lot of our investigators came to church so were happy about that.... our area is picking up speed! :) 

Anyways, we had a great week. I hope you guys had a great week.... love you miss you!!!

-Elder Harris

PUYANGO CHRISTMAS

Week. Cool.

We played volleyball in Zarumilla on Monday with the zone and you know how much I love volleyball.  We won. Haha. Duh. 

As night time rolled around, I had to say goodbye to my second mom here in Puyango... her name is Mari Estela and she left to Lima for the summer with her family. I seriously love her so much.. she is so nice, always making us food and treating us like her own kids. I’m gonna miss her. :)

Tuesday we had a service project where they asked me to do some gardening.. good thing I had some experience... :) I never thought I would say this but thank you for all those Saturdays out in the yard :) haha

Wednesday we had another service project. We helped the Broncano family put a new roof on their house. We didn’t exactly know how to do it, nor where to start, I mean we’re just a couple of 19 year old boys . . .  Anyways, we chucked the old tin off and put some new tin sheets on, put some nails in and called ourselves good :) Don’t worry though, we made it look nice :) 

We had a lesson with a less active member later that day named Joel. As we entered his house he screams "priesthood power is real!" haha!  We smiled but were a little confused as he continued to tell us what happened.  About a week ago we gave him a blessing because he was super sick and apparently the next day, he was perfect. And for the last couple days, he hasn’t had a single pain or ache. It was a special experience to hear him share his testimony about the power of God and we just sat there, smiling, and shook our heads up and down :) Love that kid.

Thursday was Christmas eve. Yay!  Super fun :)  We bought some presents for some less fortunate families and delivered it to their houses... it was such an amazing Christmas where we didn’t receive, just gave.  I wish you could have seen the faces on these people... pure happiness and joy.  Later that day we went to the Zarumilla Plaza and I dressed up as Santa and danced in front of 100’s of people... WHO ELSE CAN SAY THEYVE DONE THAT???? SVUV (YOLO in Spanish)

Friday was Christmas. It was so fun talking to you guys... I wish I could have been home, Christmas just isn’t the same without family.  Although, I’ll never forget this Christmas because this year, I remembered Him. A perfect child, born to a virgin. A child that changed the world.... that changed my world. He is my Savior... my Redeemer. 

Almost all day, we were with members, laughing and enjoying the special day. We got invited to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Turkey, turkey, anddddddd more turkey!!! Haha!  For breakfast we ate with the Visitacion family, lunch with Balbina and her family, and dinner with the Broncano family.  The last family also got us presents... Hermana Rosa got me a bag from Ecuador and its SUPEERRR DOPEE. I’ll show ya when I get home :) My bag here in the mission is about broken, I was looking for another one anyways. :) 

Saturday was great. So last Thursday we gave a blessing to a woman in our ward named Rosita. On Christmas eve her mom passed away, and it was super sad for the whole family.  She also had a lot of pains in her kidneys and so she called us and asked if we would come over and give her a blessing. Of course we were happy to do it and we ran over there as fast as we could. :)  Anyways, on Saturday she told us how grateful she was for the blessing and that right as we left, a peace and calmness came over her shoulders, and all the emotional and physical pain went away.  A MIRACLE! She told us that the plan of salvation came into her head and she remembered that she will see her mom again. It was a beautiful experience. :)

Sunday we brought like 100 investigators to church MAQUINASSSS. We also found a super cool investigator named Julio that’s also gonna get baptized. We have another lesson with him tonight :) 

Anyways, it was a great week. I hope you guys enjoyed Christmas, like I said, I promise I’ll be there next year (that is if I’m not married by then and my wife makes me go to her family’s house for Christmas) but hey, all fingers crossed.

I love you guys!

-Elder Harris