Another Fish with Face

This week was FAAABULOUSSSS!!!

We are teaching a couple Jhonny and Milagros.. they’ve been having problems with evil spirits in their houses, and they were about to go get the Catholic priest to come bless their home, but God guided us to their house.  We´ve been teaching them for about 2 weeks now they are reading the Book of Mormon, they even kneel to do their family prayers every night...  and they haven’t had a single problem since.  God is powerful. They are a poor family, and Jhonny the father was gonna go look for a job in Lima... we felt impressed to promise him that if he would stay faithful in keeping the commandments, everything would work out.  Thursday we arrived to their house and he was so happy to tell us that his neighbor came by and offered him a job to work in the mango fields.... a miracle. Wow.

Our other amazing investigator Rubelia Cienfuegos is great. Every time we go to her house, she invites us to eat dinner. Tuesday she made us rice and fried goat cheese... uhhh really weird. On Saturday she made us rice and fish with face... haha!  We had just barely eaten before we went to her house and to be honest, i just couldn’t get any more rice down.. so what did I do? Whenever she wasn’t looking, i pulled out my water bottle and shoved the rice in it hahahaha! I’m terrible, I know. :) I’ll send a pic. :)  On the bright side, I won’t have to eat for the next 3 days. :)

Wednesday we went to Yapatera and we found Juana and we started to talk about the Atonement. She was on the verge of tears as we started the lesson... we would ask her questions and she just couldn’t hold her self together enough to open her mouth and answer. She told us she knew who we were, that we were servants of the Lord and that she had been waiting for us. We plan on opening a church in this little village and we have a goal to have a sacrament meeting this transfer over there.

On Saturday, we were coming back from a meeting we had in Piura about getting out of our comfort zone.  I thought it was an interesting topic.  As we were going back to Chulucanas, a lady gets on the bus with her baby. There weren’t any empty seats, so I stood up and offered her mine.  She accepted and while I was standing.  I felt the spirit tell me to "contact the bus". I thought that idea was crazy, that I would stand up and contact the whole bus. I mean there was like 60 people on there, but..... God never gives commandments that we can’t fulfill. So I walked to the front of the bus, turned around and looked at everyone while they were all staring at me wondering what I was doing. I opened my mouth, and it was filled... I told them that I was a representative of Jesus Christ, and I invited them to repent.  I don’t rememeber exactly what I said, I just cleared my mind, and the spirit spoke through me. It was a really cool experience of "getting out of your comfort zone".  We then gave a picture of Christ to everyone on the bus. :)

Sunday was elections here in Peru so we didn’t have church.  It was the "dry law" so we were only aloud to leave for 2 hours to teach and we could only visit members. It was really, REALLY boring, but we cleaned up our apartment really and made banana pancakes so I guess you could call it a good day :)

As always, love you guys, see you sooon!

-Elder Harris

My Heart Was Touched

Last p day, President Huertas from Morropon called us asked us if we would come up to help move the church. I guess the house that they were in is too expensive, so they have moved to a new location to hold sacrament meeting. I’ll be the first to say, I’m not a fan. It’s a tiny house in the middle of no where. We went over to help move the pulpit and the sacrament table…it’s not like they have much else :) 

Our investigator Rubelia is doing awesome. We’ve been trying to get all the members over there to visit her and she has come to church the last 2 weeks and is planning on getting baptized on June 25th... fingers crossed. :)

Wednesday we helped a less active member pull out the forest next to her house again. We were happy to help. :) She also asked if we would dig a couple holes in her house so she could put up some big wooden log poles to stabilize her house. So we dug the hole, but the wood pieces were still too big so my companion and I went ham with machetes cutting it... and then... well it kind of of went too far. :)

Our buddy, Adinson took us to this little village outside of Chulucanas called Yapatera... Oh my word, it was so strange, they were all black... like very very dark skinned - all of them. We were looking for a couple members but it turns out we didn’t end up finding them. We were a little discouraged because we had gone all that way in vain, but we saw a man walking down the street, and we felt impressed to talk to him.  We started up a conversation and he invited us to his house. We sat down and he starts telling us that his wife was a member of the church but she passed away recently. God truly led us to this man. It was such a miracle that we found a person that had some sort of contact with the church.  We started talking and teaching him and his 6 children. We invited them to church and they were so excited to go. We even passed by Sunday morning to pick them up....but the story doesn’t end as planned, they didn’t end up going... but hey, maybe next week. :) 

 A member named Jovani took us to this house, and we knocked on it, out came a very very old woman.  She invited us inside, and I’m embarrassed to say, that at the moment I was a little reluctant to enter because of her age, but I said to myself "why not". She told us that she dearly misses her husband and her kids that have passed away. We promised her that if she was willing to follow Jesus Christ, she would be able to live with them forever.  I’ll never forget the light from inside that lit up her face as she started to cry.... "I want to follow Him", she says... the spirit filled the room. 

We met an 18 year old married to a 14 year old this week... they rejected our baptismal invitation. :)

We’re helping a recent convert prepare to go to the temple next month. Her name is Margot and she’s super awesome. We’ve been talking about temples a ton lately, the only thing that she lacks is the money. We’re fasting and praying for her that she can get the money to travel to Trujillo, which is the closest temple.  Please, if you would pray for her as well. :)

Sunday was a great day. I love going to church now. Haha!  It makes me laugh when I think about when I was young that I used to pitch such a fit going to church.. sorry mom. :) I love taking the Sacrament and renewing my baptismal covenants. I’ve learned over my mission that if you just keep going to church and reading the scriptures that everything will turn out alright in life. :) 

We met with an old couple yesterday... Genardo and Dolores. They’re such a cute couple... he’s deaf, and she’s blind. So it’s like they need each other to function...one body.  They live in a tiny little house, super poor, and they raise their 2 grandchildren that are 9 and 7.  They don’t work because of their age and problems so they are just getting by. The kids were so hungry and they had no food to give them but a little bit of rice and chicken the size of my finger. My heart about broke as I watched them eat it as fast as they could. Then out of no where, the little brother breaks half of his chicken in half, and gives it to his older brother because he was still hungry. I just about started to cry in that moment... my heart was touched. :) 

This week was great, still working hard, and doing everything we can . :)

I’ll see you soon. Love you guys!!

-Elder Harris

You are angels . . .

Habla familia que tal. :) 

This week was fun.. a little slow... but a great week, like always. :) Last p-day I bought a sick soccer jersey... never thought I would get myself to do it… because it’s soccer… but it's pretty cool.  I’ll send you a pic :) It’s a Messi jersey from Barcelona... I’m hoping Cody doesn’t have the same one.. pretty sure he got the Argentina Messi jersey, I’ll have to ask him. 

Later that day we had the opportunity to prepare a young man to enter the temple... Giancarlos Alburqueque.  He’s 20 and thinking about serving a mission.  I love talking and teaching about the temple.. it’s one of my favorite topics... and to bear my testimony of the spirit that resides there.  It truly is the house of the Lord, there is no other place like it on earth.  I still remember that first time I walked into the Celestial room with all of my family.  It was one of the only times in my life where I truly felt my breath being taken away from me.  I miss the temple a lot.. so, my advice, GO TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK! TAKE ADVANTAGE THAT ITS ONLY DOWN THE ROAD! Trust me, you have no idea how blessed you are. We talked to Giancarlos about being baptized for his dad, and becoming an eternal family... the spirit was so strong, how merciful is God. 

"You are angels.. you have a special power to reach out to people the way Christ would" -Cristi Hidalgo.  She’s a less active member that made this comment to us on Tuesday. We taught her and the husband about tithing... it was a strange topic, especially on the second lesson, but we felt impressed to do it. As we were talking in the lesson, Cesar commented to us that he was thinking about paying his tithing last month, but he never could get himself to do it.  We asked him why he thought that we shared this message and he responded "I don’t know".  We laughed a little too and responded the same... we don’t know either, but God commanded us to share it to you. He paid his tithing :)

We’re in a branch right now in Chulucanas and were working a lot so that we can get a ward here. It’s so close, we’re just lacking a couple people that don’t want to pay their tithing... but hey, were getting there. :)

We had a lesson with Martin and Maritza... they’re super cool but they have some marriage issues. Since my companion and I are only 19 years old, we didn’t have the best advice for them especially because we’re not married, but we testified of our parents... that you and dad have been together for more than 25 years (around there) and that the answer to a functioning relationship is CHRIST!! There is no other way... so thanks for being that example :)

On Thursday we had a district meeting and we set goals on how to become consecrated missionaries.  I made a goal to completely purify my mind…. But has I have made a goal to completely kick out every bad thought with a hymn, I’ve felt the spirit more strong in my life these past couple days... God is helping me :) 

Friday a sister called asking for help.  We went to her house and turns out that she had a forest for us to pull out. Haha! We start going wild and I think I must have been allergic to the plant pollen because my eyes and throat started to swell up and I couldn’t breath very well.  We got it all under control though… so don’t sweat it mom :) I guess the sun didn’t help it either, I was sweating like a dog. We started our fast, and then cleaned the church.

We had an impression to call this investigator family that we hadn’t visited in over 2 months. We passed by their house and Nancy, the wife started to tell us a story that her little boy just the day before told her that he wanted to go to church, but didn’t know what church to go to.  It was an answer to their prayers that we showed up right in their time of need... God truly does work in mysterious ways.  They were set on coming to church on Sunday butttttt to make a great story crap, they never showed up! Haha! Maybe next week. :) 

On the bright side, we had a great day at church and learned a ton. :) haha!  I hope you guys haven’t gotten trunky and stopped going to church.............

Keep working hard, love you guys, see you soon! :)

-Elder Harris