No More Mold!

This week was sick.

Last Monday, we hiked mount Ñañañique :) It was super fun, we took pics.. it was soooo hot though. My word, I about died. Speaking of heat, I hear that babies are dying from the heat because there is absolutely no escape. It might just be rumors, but still... it’s hot.

Later in the night, we met with the a family. The mom and 2 sons are on board for baptism, they know it’s true, and everything, now we are just waiting for the father. We’ve talked to him and he wants to be baptized, but he told us he’s scared to change religions and to change his lifestyle... I guess his family is super catholic... but nothing is impossible with God. I’m almost sure that they’re gonna get baptized here pretty soon....:)

Tuesday I had the opportunity to give a blessing to a sister named Rosa.. the spirit flooded out of my mouth, just what she needed to hear. I was talking with my companion the other day about our Priesthood and we were talking about how many other people we have blessed as far as blessings, baptizing, and many other things... I feel like as of right now, God is happy with how I am exercising it... and I plan to continue to bless other people. :) It truly is a gift from God. 

At our district meeting this week, we had a interesting topic..... ready? Complaining. A little out of the ordinary but it was an amazing class.  We tried our best all week to keep our complaints to ourselves and it was amazing how different the week was... we had the same amount of success but the difference was extraordinary.  Maybe it’s something that you guys can try too this week... :) Every time you are about to complain, catch yourself, and keep it to yourself... I promise you’re gonna recognize a difference in your week :)

We put another baptismal date for a sister named Leydi ... April 24th stay tuned.

Wednesday we are FINALLY GETTING THE MOLD OFF OF THE CEILING IN OUR ROOM... MY WORD it’s been a straight battle but its coming off.  :) We had a visit with Ricardo... he’s awesome, I’m serious.  He is so ready for his baptismal date the 16th of April.. he knows a ton, reads the Book of Mormon more than I do, and knows that it’s the truth. What else can you ask for? :)

Thursday we took a trip to Morropon.   It was kind of a bummer we didn’t find our golden investigator.. it’s a little tough to run the area when its an hour away.. but were making it work. :) 

Friday pretty sure we watched the "Hallelujah" video 20 times with different people! Haha!  It’s amazing how open these people are... you knock on their door and tell them you want to watch a 2 minute video about Christ and they’re already preparing a lunch for you. Haha. We had an interesting couple let us in their house.... Leonellis and Aybalinda. They had a ton of deep doctrine questions and it made me realize one thing. No matter what the question, WE HAVE THE ANSWER. The gospel of Jesus Christ was restored by his prophet Joseph Smith. It’s organized with prophets and apostles, with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone... IT IS THE ORIGINAL CHURCH OF CHRIST! There are no questions that cannot be answered. We have the truth!

Saturday we had interviews with President Rasmussen.  I always love talking to him, he truly is an inspired man. He helped me a lot understand what else I need to do to be a perfect missionary... but hey, mom... I’m getting there. :) Little by little. :) We decided on a date and we chose the 8th of August... not sure exactly when I would get home, either the 9th or 10th.. but for now, it’s written in the books. He told me if I wanted to change, I definitely could... but for now, mark the calendar for the 10th.

Sunday was fast Sunday. I still remember the first time I fasted in the mission … IT WAS SO HARD, and now... ha, its like 24 hours passes like that *snap*. 

Anyway, it was a great week... a ton of miracles, a ton of people, and a ton of BAPTISMS! LETSGOOOOOO!

les amo!!

-Elder Harris

nocaj yachani quechuata!!! :)

Quechua

This week was FABULOUSSS!!! (like the grinch in the movie)

Monday we went to this little place called "La Encantada" its about 20 minutes from here and its famous for their ceramics. It’s ridiculously cheap so we bought some cool stuff.. :) 

That night, we had a HUGE family home evening with like whole the ward... we talked about as members of the church, there is ALWAYS someone watching us, and we must be the examples. We must be strong, so that our light will be able to strengthen others. A returned missionary my pata named Jairo Nuñez asked what are we doing to strengthen our neighbor?  So I'll ask you that same question. Back in good ol Alpine, what are you doing to strengthen your neighbor?    A question to think about.

The church has sent out a new video called Hallelujah .... its like 2 minutes long and its SUPER GOOD. We are using it a ton in our mission and we’ve seen a lot of success from it. If you haven’t seen it yet, GO SEE IT!  Then once you see it, call the family in to see it, then have them call their friends... everyone must see it!! My favorite part is the cowboy at the end :) 

Tuesday I had a work visit with my good good buddy, Elder Hendrix.  we were in his area in Tacala and it was soo good to be back.. although i was only there for a week, all the members still remembered me and it was super fun to see them again :) Elder Hendrix and I had an absolute blast... pretty sure we stayed up really late talking, but he taught me a lot on how we can adapt to THEIR needs.

Wednesday we had a district meeting and it was amazing. We talked about baptismal dates and that we need to put more!! We were thinking and thinking of ideas on how to increase the number of people with dates, and everyone was saying the same thing that we’ve done our whole missions... references from members, blah blah blah. We wanted something new... something that no one has done before so what did we do? Kneeled down and asked in a humble prayer, what should we do God? The spirit soaked the room, it was silent for about 4 minutes as everyone was pondering on ideas... then, it came to us. Using our own baptismal pictures and dates, to invite others to be baptized. (That’s why I asked you for my picture because I don’t have it) :) It was divine revelation on how God wants us to work here in Chulucanas. A true miracle.

Later in the day we found a GOLDEN family.  They attended church in Piura for like 3 months but then they moved here and lost contact with the church. It’s a mom and dad, and 2 sons who are 16 and 13 years old. (3 PRIESTHOOD HOLDERS) They know the church is true - they know a ton, AND they read the Book of Mormon as a family!  They’re already in 2 Nephi 31!! They pray as a family and the best part, THEY’RE MARRIED!!!!!!!!!! ITS A MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! We’re working a lot with them so I’ll keep you posted :)

Thursday we went to Morropon. :) I’m learning a lot of Quechua over there.  :)   Nocaj chan kanqui warmi? :)   Ari, nocaj yachani quechuata. :)

Friday we saved 2 souls. :)   We helped a recent convert do her family history and we sent 2 names to the temple of her dad and her grandpa. It was a special experience for her... and she was so grateful for us that she even started crying when we sent the names to the temple. It was a super cool experience.

There’s a 21 year old less active member named James. He’s SUPER COOL and we met him when we were visiting his little brother, Jorge. I think I talked to you a little bit about him last week. Anyway, we had a lesson with them on Friday and we told them that James could baptize his little brother Jorge and they got super excited about his date for April 16th :) 

Church was amazing yesterday. It was Stake Conference so we traveled to Piura. :)  It was a little hard to get investigators to travel all the way to Piura, but the conference was AMAZING. The Stake President spoke, a Bishop of the ward in Tambogrande, President and Sister Rasmussen, the President of the new temple in Trujillo, and his wife, and then a 70 came too! I think his name was Elder Nelson – he’s from Colombia.  Their messages were really powerful. I walked away from that conference feeling strengthened. WOW. 

It truly was a great week. We walked a ton, we saw the hand of the Lord and we saw His miracles.

Thanks for all the support, l love you guys too :)

-Elder Harris

It Was a Tough Week

Okay... this week... was...cool.

To be honest, it was a tough week.  Chulucanas is TOUGH. The people are hard, and don’t want anything to do with us. There was 1 person in the area book when I got here, and I’m pretty sure we only entered into like 6 houses this week.. WOW. 

The members here are cool. Very few, but very nice. Our pensionista, Neli, is AMAZING. Her husband is our mission leader,

Tuesday we couldn’t even fill our agendas cause there weren’t enough people to write down.. so what did we do? We contacted ALL DAY :)  It was funny, we got back to the room and my companion plops on the floor and says "oh my word, I’ve never talked to that many people in my whole life".   I just smiled and laughed. :) 

Wednesday I completed a year and a half. It was a better day though. :)  We met a recent convert named Elisabeth.  Not kidding, never have I met someone that has passed through so many problems. Her parents died when she was a girl, her husband abused her, now she lives in the middle of no where...alone. But in spite of all of her problems, she is the most pure women I’ve ever met. Clean. Her heart is as white as snow. She has been a huge example to me even though I just barely met her.

Thursday we traveled to Morropón (the other village were in charge of). It’s about an hour away and the drive is BEAUTIFUL through the mountains. We have 3 baptisms coming up and were super excited. The Lord blessed us with a MIRACLE!  We were walking and this lady randomly starts yelling "ELDERS, ELDERS" we go over and talk to her, apparently she’s from Lima and has been attending church for 6 years but her and her daughter aren’t members yet  They were about to get baptized in Lima but they moved to Morropon and lost contact with the church and the missionaries. We set a date for April 9th.. :) 

Friday we found a teenager named Jorge. He was super cool, he reminded me a lot of me a couple years back.  Anyways, he had a ton  of questions and even accepted a baptismal date for the 16th of April! best part is that he came to church this Sunday!! booyahhhhhh

We shared a message with a active family this week about when Jesus came to the Americas.  We read 3 Nephi 11 with them where it describes how He looked when he descended from the Heavens. We all agreed that we would have given anything to have been there in that moment.  We talked about how Christ is coming soon, and that we need to be prepared for that day. I asked them and they said that they were working on becoming. Then we asked their 17 year old daughter who isn’t a member.... her answer was no. We asked her what she thought she lacked?  It got really silent, the spirit pounded the room and in a soft voice she says, "to be baptized".  She accepted a date and were super excited for her. :)  

This week was great....a little slow as far as finding new people, but I know this next week will be better.

I love you guys... see you soon.

-Elder Harris