¡Feliz Navidad!
Hola familia. It is Christmas today for district 105 in the CCM. We have been caroling for two days straight and I think everyone hates us now haha. This morning before we left for the temple we had a white elephant exchange! Last Pday we all bought food or dumb trinkets and wrapped them up and put them safely under our Christmas tree. I have a picture of it but the compuer is being funky so you might not get those til next week. Every district that has had the tree, leaves an ornament with all their names and I saw Abs! It was pretty sweet. The Harpers will be a legend in the CCM.
So when I was telling you about my sickness last week I guess it was just the calm before the storm because the next two days I was in my bed and throwing up every thiry minutes haha. Whatever virus it was, just exploded and spread fast throught the CCM. I felt like the infected on I Am Legend. We were quarantined to our rooms and all the other missionaries wore masks. But it gave me some good time to catch up on sleep and ponder and study. I'm 100 percent better now, but I'm scared I'm gonna die again out in the field.
So I only have a few days left in the CCM, which is really weird. I have mixed emotions. I'll get pumped after teaching a lesson or after an inspirational devotional but I'm also super nervous and scared, especially since I'm almost guaranteed that my trainer will be a Latino who speaks no English. I am excited to get out of here and serve although I'll miss my district dearly, especially those going to Bolivia.
So nothing too eventful happened this week but I've been on a spiritual high. We had a couple of devotionals that just hit me deep. On Sunday we watched a dvd of Elder Bednar and he talked about the characteristics of the Savior. He talked about how Christ always turns out but the natural man's first reaction is to turn in. How he described it was powerful and made me really wanna change, so this week I've been working on trying to turn out. It's hard to do in the CCM but that's why I'm excited to leave so I can lose myself and serve others.
On Tuesday we had a devotional from Elder Uceda, who is the president of the area 70 over our area I think, but he described his conversion story to us in such a simple and powerful manner. He told of how he was taught by two gringo missionaries and one could not speak very good Spanish and he "wrestled to say the things he wanted to¨. And although he couldn't understand him very well, it was his testimony and the spirit that converted him. So even though I can't speak Spanish, I know I can make a difference if I have the spirit with me.
So I found out general things about my flight plan. I guess we leave the CCM at 2 am and our plane flies out at 6. So I'm guessing I'll be able to call around 4 or 5 my time? A maestro that is basically my BFF is buying me a calling card so I'll have that for Tuesday. I'm still on the hunt for leather Jesus scripture cases so mine are naked and I had to pull money out of the atm in soles cuz I got a bunch of worthless American cash and I don't know where to exchange it.
Well I love all you guys and hopefully I'll be talking to you bright and early Tuesday morning and we can have a long convo! Well untill then, luego!
Oh, and I'm basically the little brother of the whole CCM. I'm the shortest gringo in here and I'm also the speed walking champion of the CCM (speed walking..my hips move real fast), just thought you should know.
Lollz from lima ( for the last time)
Elder Harper
You got some great pictures and a very descriptive message from Elder Harper. I will be really sad when he and Justin aren't companions anymore because I won't be able to know what is going on by reading Baylors Blog. :) Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteNikki
It is going to be hard for them to leave the protection and spirit of the CCM. It has been great being able to communicate with you and talk about our sons.
DeleteLet's keep in touch.