"I DON'T UNDERSTAND; I THINK HE IS SPEAKING ENGLISH" HAHA

Hola Familia!

I'm writing from a place called Chumba?  It's 30 minutes away from our area.  It's mas arriba (higher) and it's more jungly here.  We ate lunch with a family who have palm trees everywhere so we cut open coconuts and drank the milk with our lunch.

This week was a good one.  We almost had a baptism but the father of the girl won't let her yet.  She's 11 and her name is Maria.  All of her sisters are members but her parents are not. She lives in the highest part of Jaen and every day this week we hiked up this hill to teach her and her family. Her house overlooks all over the city.  It's quite a sight. They don't have much but they are very happy.  There house is made of Adobe, a tin roof and a dirt floor. There bathroom is the river right next to their house and they have no electricity. Maria and all her little sisters are always so happy to see us.  They are fascinated by our white skin and colored eyes. Children have the hardest time understanding me. After I shared a message one time, a girl said, "I don't understand; I think he is speaking English". haha.  But Maria will probs be baptized next week. We just need to work on the dad.

My boy, Nino, is being baptized on the 12 of October. He's a stud and has been going to church and all of the activities.  We have a couple of other investigators that were at church who have potential. There are a lot of good humble people here in Jaen, especially in our area cuz we have the hills, which include the poorer part of the city.

As far as my ability goes, I've really felt blessed.  I've gotten a lot of good advice that I've taken into account.  Like  my bro Riley H told me, "Always pray that your investigators will be able to understand you and don't pray for yourself".  And Bishop Baker told me how when missionaries don't know the language, they are humbled and are more prone to rely on the spirit and on Jesus Christ. Fear and frustration are just a lack of faith so this week I tried to focus on the spirit, the people and our message and not my own ability.  And I've felt the Lord work through me in simple ways.  I've felt great joy as we have been able to help people and as they have accepted our message.  So the key is to have the spirit cuz when we have the spirit, we are calm, confident, happy and can be a tool in the hands of the Lord.

Friday night our pinchanista fed us way too much food I think or it was bad cuz Saturday morning I woke up at 5:00 am and threw up every 10 minutes til like 8:00 but I prayed for strength, slept for 2 hours and we hit the streets at 10:00!  I was pretty weak all day but I was able to do it.  Well, I'm having a hard time getting excited for General Conference cuz it's gonna be in Spanish. 10 hours of not understanding modern revelation from servants of the Lord : )

Thanks for all the letters and the support. I love you all and hope all is well.

Elder Harper

Elder Baylor Harper with his trainer, Elder Landon Hulet