Truly, Truly Happy :)

This week was soo great!  Elder Lazaro left, and it was sad to see him go, but Elder Arrington and I are having a great time speaking English together :) I finally feel like I can really, really connect with one of my companions.

On Tuesday we felt impressed to knock on a door, it was strange to us that the lady that received us wasn’t quite interested in our message. When we feel prompted to knock a door, usually God always provides someone super prepared.  We asked her if she knew anyone else that would like to hear us and she told us that maybe her mom. She gave us her direction and we immediately went to her moms house and knocked on the door and found a huge family crying in a big circle.  They let us in and told us that their 37 year-old daughter/sister had recently passed away and they just couldn’t stand the pain.  We brought hope to them as we shared the plan of salvation… God prompted us to knock the door to lead us to that family.  He works in mysterious ways..

Oh my word, Wednesday was nuts. We had a district meeting in Tambo Grande which is like a city about an hour from here.  We thought there was a bus to take us, but nahhhh.... no car, nothing... so how did we get there? :) We all smashed into a moto taxi and took a 2 hour ride to Tambo Grande... the meeting started at 10:30, pretty sure we arrived at 11:30. Haha! But it was quite the adventure, we passed through 4 rivers, banana and rice fields, contacted some Indians on the road, but best part was that the police stopped us and asked the moto taxi driver for his papers. Of course, he didn’t have them, no one here in Peru does.  We walk over to the police officer with our Bibles in hands and start preaching to him that Christ forgave, and he should too..... AND HE DID!!! Hahaha! He let us go for free!! Ahhhh!  It was one of the top 10 moments in my life for sure.

Thursday we went to Morropon and helped Cucha make some algarrobina :) I’ll send a pic :) She also wanted to be nice and made us some lunch...... rice and fish....... yummyy.............. my favorite................ *shakes head*

Friday we get a text asking if we would come back to Tambo Grande to do a baptismal interview.... soooo we went back, got there about 10:30, and the investigator hadn’t arrived yet.  So we waited, and waited, and waited... they never got there.. so what did we do?  Just went back to Chulucanas... we basically wasted the whole morning traveling... for nothing!

We had a mission night at the church and it was LEGIT!! We watched a video about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it was amazing!  All of the members wanted us to give them the video... a lot of the members shared their testimonies and it was a very powerful night.  I wish you guys could have been there. :)

On Saturday we  were walking down the street and this little kid kicks me this soccer ball because everyone and their dog plays here in Peru.  He called me Elder, and I asked him how he knew us? He told us that he went to church before, so we asked him to take us to his house.  We ended up finding his mom, Graciela Julca. She opened the door and was super surprised to see us... she asked us, "How did you find me here? I just barely moved?”  We just smiled and said "God sent us." Haha!  I guess she’s been less active for about a year and now were gonna baptize her husband and son. BOOYAHH!!

Around 8 pm we were walking down the street and in the shadows we hear "Gringos!"  We approached the dark man and ask him why he called us? :) His name is Rommell Nina, and he’s a drug addict that lives on the streets.  He was pretty messed up when we found him, so we started to help him and we explained to him how much God loved him and how much He wanted him to change, how it’s possible to become clean again. He was shocked by our words , speechless. We invited him to come to church with us and he agreed, but didn’t have any clothes to wear. I looked at him in the eyes, and said "I’ll give you mine".   He looked down, then back at me and said "I see Christ in you... You have a light that surrounds you".  We picked him up in the morning at 8:30 ... he had no roof, no door, nothing, just a mattress and the clothes he was wearing the night before. He washed himself with some toilet water and i let him put on my white shirt and pants, and we went to church. :)  He stayed all 3 hours , and loved it. He told us after that he was planning on killing himself on Saturday night because his girlfriend cheated on him…but that our quick visit in the street persuaded him not too.  He told us after church that he had no desire to kill, rob, or do any of it again.... it was a true miracle.

We’re doing all we can here in Chulucanas... working hard, inviting everyone to be baptized... we’re happy, truly, truly happy :)

love you guys!!

-Elder Harris

Finally! An AMERICAN!

Well... we got the transfers.. it turns out that I’m staying here in Chulucanas, and guess what?? I finally have an American companion!!! His name is Elder Arrington from Portland, Oregon. He’s super cool so it’s gonna be a good transfer. :)   You guys will get to know him too because in a few weeks were gonna call for Mother’s Day!

As for this week , we had a good one :) 

Last p day we went to Paita to the beach, and enjoyed the hot sun. :)  We were able to put more baptismal dates for Tulio and Emma.... were changing CHULUCANAS!! We now have 12 people lined up to be baptized this coming transfer!!! :)

Our district meeting was great... we talked about the moment when Christ washed the feet of His apostles and we asked ourselves, why did he do it? Christ, being the son of God, washing feet? I made a goal to serve my companion at least once a day and its making all the difference.. .we have more success, more love, and more communication between us. Good skills to learn for my future wife, right ? :)

As we were walking down the street on Tuesday, we hear a voice from behind us call our names... we turned around and greeted a mature man.  He let us come inside, and we asked why he had called us back? He responded "3 days ago, my father died, and we had the viewing here in my house.  You (pointing at me) entered and looked at the dead body of my father.  As my family and I were looking at you, there was a light that I had never seen before, and I want to know why. That is why I called you." We told him that it was because we are representatives of Jesus Christ, and that we´ve come to bring him good tidings of great joy. Tears streamed down his face as we testified that he would see his father again, and he even accepted a baptismal date for May 21st! 

As we were walking down the street on Wednesday my companion had an impression to knock on a special door.  We knock, and a mother named Julie and her daughter, Lesli opens up and lets us in. We started talking about baptism and asked them "what would they be willing to do to feel completely clean again?" I don’t why or what was going on in their life in that moment but they started to cry and told us that they wanted to be baptized!  They accepted a date. God truly used us as instruments to find his lost daughters.

Saturday we had a baptism for Ricardo... it was such a special day. As we were changing into our white clothes, I looked at myself in the mirror and I had a flashback to my house when I was packing to come to Peru in Cody’s room.  I remember as I put on my new white shirt and my new tie that I started crying in Cody’s mirror because I looked like a real missionary.  I had that same experience as I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror in my white baptismal clothes.  I felt God’s love so strong. 

I washed my hands and then we walked down into the font together. I raised my arm to a square ad waited for the perfect silence, and continued saying: Ricardo Seminario Pintado, habiendo sido comisionado por Jesucristo, yo te bautizo en el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espiritu Santo.. Amen. He went under, and came up perfectly clean.

As we were changing back into our normal clothes in the bathroom, Ricardo commented to me that he had never felt the spirit so strong in his entire life, that it was a "burning in his chest".   As he was giving his testimony after the baptism, he told us of a dream that he had a while back where God lifted him up and an angel in white repeated his name over and over.  He told us that his dream had been fulfilled, and that I was the angel that was saying his name... it was a powerful, powerful experience.

Mom, Dad, I’ve never been happier in my entire life... please don’t make me come home!!

On Sunday, I had a talk in church... I talked about being diligent in our callings... you guys know that the branch here is a little weak so we are trying to strengthen the members.  It was a good talk in my opinion. :) haha!  The spirit was definitely present. :)

Anyway, it was a  super good week. It was hard to say goodbye to Elder Lazaro - I truly came to love that kid.  I learned how to accept people that are so different from me.  He will be missed. 

I love you guys..

-Elder Harris

CHANGING CHULUCANAS LESSSGOOOO!

This week was pretty slow :)

Last Monday we just kicked it here in Chulucanas... There’s a big sign on the entrance so we took some pics with it and the river.. I’ll send some pics :) He didn’t send any.  L

Tuesday we didn’t have much success.. so that’s all I’ll say about that. :)

Wednesday and Thursday, my companion was deathly sick with a stomach infection so we stayed in the room almost all day.  Oh my word, Mom, I about died. It was so ridiculously boring! Haha! I don’t think I’ve ever read so many scriptures in my entire life... 

On Friday we had a zone meeting and it actually turned out really well.  Everyone in our zone stood up and looked at a huge picture of Christ and basically told Him why we were here.  I was surprised to see how emotional I got.  I think a tear even fell! It was the first time I’ve cried in a long time... Definitely a powerful experience for me, and for everyone.

Later that day, we saw a change of heart in a family that were teaching.  We don’t know how it happened, but they just suddenly had a desire to follow Christ and get baptized.. we put a baptismal date for all of them for May 14th.  :) CHANGING CHULUCANAS LESSSGOOOO!

Speaking of baptisms, we’re having one this Saturday for Ricardo Seminario and we’re super excited for him.  I’ll send pics next week :)

Saturday and Sunday was elections for President here in Peru. It’s kinda weird but we were not allowed to proselyte... so all of Saturday, we visited straight members, and on Sunday, we were prohibited to leave our room.  So instead, we traveled to Piura and stayed with Elder Hendrix and Elder Poelman and then today we traveled to Paita to go to the beach :) 

We pretty much just kicked it in their room ALL DAY and played Monopoly.  It was like we had our own spring break in the mission. Haha! By the way, I won. :) He always wins at Monopoly at home.  He’s like a monopoly genius!

Soooo that’s about all I did this week.  To be honest, it was superrrr lameee.. but this next week is gonna be awesome!  We’re gonna work like machines and do everythihng we can! :) 

4 weeks until mothers day! Haha!

tu panan chiscama :)

-Elder Harris