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