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