Gringo Soccer

Last week was pretty great.... just like every week in the mission. :)

We went to Piura to compete in this big soccer tournament..... unfortunately our zone is made of straight gringos... soooo, we lost every game. We just don’t play soccer very well, especially competing against the Latins. 

This week I feel like God has been trying to teach me about "money". Countless times this week, people were just dumb with their money, and that’s why they are so poor.  For example, this guy sent 2000 dollars to Ghana so some "girl" could fly down to see him in Peru.  It turns out she was fake... WHO WOULDA KNOWN?  Another other guy says he has a tons of debts and asked us for money but he plays on 5 different soccer teams for fun and likes to go out to nice restaurants with his family when he has money. I’m like oh my word you guys are so dumb. I’m just happy I won’t make those same mistakes. :) 

We have 2 awesome investigators Omar and Guillermina. They’re a young couple.. and this week his mom passed away.... it was super hard for them, they’ve been devastated all week and we´ve been trying our best to help them out. We told them to read the Book of Mormon in Alma 40 about the resurrection and the world after. They said that they read it, and it was such a strong peace that entered into their house, they knew that they would see their mom again. It was powerful to hear THEIR testimony growing.

We visited Juana this week as well... remember the one I told you about that had the gall bladder problems? Yeah, she’s super stressed cause they don’t have any money and she can’t support 4 kids on her own.  She’s just super discouraged. We told her that if she would just drop everything and follow the Lord, that everything would work out ans that God would provide the way to better her life.  The pattern is so simple: read, pray, and go to church. Last Sunday, she came to church for the first time in 8 years with her family and now is reading the Book of Mormon! Miracle si o no? 

Church was great... we’re having such a hard time here in Chulucans... we get people to go church, and then the members don’t talk to them and they feel weird and they don’t ever want to come back. I feel like Chulucans has definitely been my hardest area so far.  We have had so many people come to church one time, and then they just stop progressing cause they don’t want to go back. We’re working hard though, and doing all we can to find the chosen ones... just got to keep going. :) 

Anyways, sorry we don’t have much time to write, I’ll write more next week :)

I love you guys, see you soon.

-Elder Harris

The Story of a Peruvian Ambulance

Hey family!

This week was great, last week we went to Catacaos the artisian capital of the mission... it took about an hour to get there from Chulucanas but it was definitely worth it.  :)

When we came back, we had a lesson with the branch president’s son. He’s a 28 year old returned missionary, and has been less active for awhile… sometimes it blows my mind how these RMs come back and go inactive after their missions.  We gave it to him pretty hard, but it was a really awesome lesson. As we were finishing up, he says "I know why God sent you here today... I feel like I’m ready to start again" and he actually went to church yesterday in Piura!!  Then we ate some huancabamba cheese and bread.... :) yayy...............

I can’t remember if I told you about our awesome idea last week how we chose a street and gave all of them Books of Mormon and 3 Nephi 11 to read?  We´ve been going back to see all of them almost every day and 8 of the 11 people ARE READING!! It was such an easy and fast way to find investigators that actually want to know the truth. We´re super happy with our results and we plan on doing it again this week to another street.  :)

Ohhhhh  yeahh crazy story this week... we get a call from the sisters saying that a member needs a blessing so we go over there and walk into this lady’s tiny stick house. She’s on her bed like dying... apparently her gall bladder was about to explode but they didn’t have the money to pay for the operation.  We gave her a blessing, and it was amazing... all the chaos in the room turned to peace, and everyone knew that it was just gonna be okay... as we were deciding what to do, she calls me over, motions me to sit, and says, "read me something".  I grab the Book of Mormon and I start reading it to her, in a quiet voice, just so the two of us can hear... I bore my testimony to her that I knew that everything was gonna be okay because she was following God. Tears ran from her eyes, right when these guys walked in with a pick up truck.  My companion and I wrap her in a bed sheet and haul her outside and put her in the bed of the truck. My companion is holding the IV up and I’m trying to stabilize her as much as I can so that she doesn’t feel all of the dirt road bumps. We arrive at the hospital and put her on a stretcher to get her into the emergency room. Everything turned out alright and the operation was successful... pretty crazy though, right? :)

We traveled to La Matanza to translate for some American doctors that didn’t speak Spanish. It was pretty fun and hey, we even found some Mormons from Ogden! Small world! We were literally with them all day, from 7:30 am until 7:30 pm. I learned a lot from them, it was amazing to me that they even worried for this 94 year old man that literally looked like he was gonna die on the spot.  I thought of it like Christ... it doesn’t matter who, or what we are, He will always love us. 

Yesterday in church I had the opportunity to give a talk. I talked about temples, and I even shared the experience of the first time I entered into the celestial room.  We were in God’s home, dressed in white, with my parents, my brother, my sister in law, my aunts and uncles, my grandparents.. everyone was there.  I told them it was one of the happiest moments I’ve ever had in my entire life. We are a family, on the road to becoming an eternal family.

I love you guys, thanks for everything, see you in a couple weeks...

Say hi to Jackson for me! :)

-Elder Harris 

Books of Mormon & Passion Fruit

Hey family, great week, saved 2 villages.

Sorry I'm so late getting on, we went to Piura today and we're a little late getting back.    

Neil L Andersen came to your stake conference?  For real, and I missed it??  How lucky are you, count your blessings.  :)

We found this chick that was here in Chulucanas that was from some tiny village like 45 minutes from here.  When she saw us, it kinda freaked her out. Haha.  It was like she had never seen a white person before. We sat down with her and a member and shared the Book of Mormon with her.  She was astounded and promised to bring it back to her village so everyone else could read it. Haha. Saving villages one day a time. :)

We also had the opportunity to give many priesthood blessings this week.  I love to give them, it makes me laugh that I was so nervous when I first received the Melchizedek priesthood, and now it’s a treat.  One that really impacted me was an older lady who could barely move. We entered into her room, kneeled by her bedside and put our hands over her head.  I can’t remember what I said in the blessing, but it was different than any other blessing I have ever given. As I stood up, all of the family members were crying around me. It was very powerful. 

President Rasmussen received revelation or something new in our mission that we must contact our investigators daily... so my companion and I had an awesome idea. We realized that the people here in Piura just don’t have a strong desire to read the Book of Mormon and it’s so key to conversion that they can’t be converted if they don’t read it.  We noticed that we spend so much time on people that never even pick it up so what did we do? We grabbed 15 Books of Mormon, chose a street close to the church and knocked on all the doors.  We gave them a brief explanation of what the book was and showed them 3 Nephi 11 to read when Christ comes to the Americas. We left the book open with them so they could read it and we found that it was very successful that many people actually sat down to read it.  Now we pass by their houses every day to see if they are reading and we´ve found a ton of new people!!

On Thursday morning, we got up early and went with a member to his passion fruit field to help him for the day. :)  We had a lot of fun, it was just really hot :)

Sunday was great, like always... :) We had 5 investigators go to church, and on time too... ITS A MIRACLE!! :) haha! We’re changin Chulucanas!!!!

love you guys, see you soon!

-Elder Harris