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