I...BORE POWERFUL TESTIMONY THAT REINDEER REALLY DO FLY...

Well Feliz Navidad to all!! I hope everyone had the best Christmas ever. It was so sweet being able to skype you guys and see your beautiful faces and hear your sweet voices...awkward. It definitely made my Christmas. I'm writing today cuz President Risso changed Pday to Tuesday for the New Year. Well this Christmas didn't feel too much like Christmas when it comes to the lights, the music, the trees and all the good atmosphere that Christmas brings. Peru celebrates Christmas a lot differently, Christmas Eve is really the big day for them. They have a big party Christmas Eve and at 12 they set off fire works, eat their big Christmas dinner with turkey, hot chocolate and fruitcake and exchange gifts. The kids don't even believe in Santa Clause. They know the story and who he is but don't believe he's a real person. So I spent all this week preaching of Santa Clause and his little elves, and bore powerful testimony that reindeer really do fly.

haha but seriously.. What impressed me was that not every home had a Christmas tree but the majority had their own homemade nativity. There are many good people here who understand the meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ and his purpose on the Earth. It was a priveledge to focus on the birth of Jesus Christ this week and testify of His life and sacrifice for us. My companion and I also liked to focus on the signs, like the star. The star that led the shepherds and the kings to Christ. In this life there are many people searching for truth, many who want to know Christ and have His gospel in their life but don't know where to find it. As members of His Church, we are like this star, as we strive to share the Gospel with our friends or even just live every day trying to be more like the saviour, people will know Christ through us and we will have the opportunity to bring them this joy. 

Well Thursday we had a great experience with Aurelia. We brought a member and he bore powerful testimony about baptism and how her daughter (who has a mental handicap) does not need baptism cuz she is innocent. After conversing with her for an hour and a half and bearing testimony she told us she wanted to be baptized this Saturday. The spirit was strong and I was so excited that she had finally made this decision in her life, but her interview came Friday and we found out that there are still a few things she needs to work on before she is baptized. She has a decision to make but she tells us that she still has a strong desire to be baptized. We have many other investigators that are progressing and could potentially be baptized this January! Unfortunately, I might not be able to see them cuz changes are coming up and I think I'm out of here. 

Well I better get going but thanks everybody for the love support, letters and candy that you give me haha. keep it coming.. my Spanish skills are decreasing but I'm already pro at the harmonica.

Love,

Elder Harper

I ONLY BELIEVE IN SCIENCE (12/23/13)

Baylor:  Hey I'm not going to write this week, cuz I'm gonna talk to you guys Wednesday and there is no time haha. 

Mom:  Ok.  No letter from you this week.  But……..who is the boy you baptized in the photo?

Bay:  hahah sorry...Luis Recejoh..he's a good guy ;)

Mom:  Tell me very briefly about him and when he was baptized and I will post that to your blog this week.

Baylor:  puchaaaaa. Yeah, he's the cousin of a member we have been teaching. It was awesome to see hime get baptized cuz when we first taught him he basically said "I only believe in science" haha, (Nacho Libre one-liner) and didn't know if he could believe. But we kept teaching him and he always attended church and he received an answer that he should be baptized!!! He's a stud and I'll tell you more about him Wed!!

WELL IT'S MOMENTS LIKE THIS THAT MAKE ME SOO HAPPY....

 Dear Fam Bam!

Gota Waterfall

Sorry this letter is gonna be short cuz we just got back late from a legit Pday and don't have much time to write. We went to a waterfall called Gota! Supposedly it's the tallest in South America and in the top three tallest in the world. It was pretty sweet. We hiked through some thick jungle. It wasn't too long of a hike but it was a 4 hour drive from our area to get to the trail head. The falls were legit. I'll send some pics. So about Christmas, I have no idea but the stake president has Skype so I think I might be ale to Skype from his house but I'll have all the exact details by next pday. 

So this week again was another good one. Elder Quispe is the district leader so it kind of eats up some of our proselyting time cuz sometimes he has meetings and has to give interviews and report to the zone leaders, but still we have been working hard. This week our focus was getting Rony and Gloria ready for marriage and baptism. We taught them everything they need to know and went over the baptismal questions. Rony bore powerful testimony. I don't know if I shared this in the last letter but Rony told us about what interested him in the church. He has always been pretty religous and has attended various churches and has been visited by various missionaries of different churches. But he said he was never super intrested in what they taught and the way that Rony explained it sounded basically like ¨there was something missing¨ as he was invited to our church he said he was embraced by the members and could feel the love they had for him and God, and as we visited him, he said he knew we were really there not to judge him but to help him cuz we cared about him. 

We have been visting his mother and wen we told her about her son being baptized, cuz she didn't know, she cried cuz she said she has seen his life change as he's been going to church. Anyways, we were on toes all week cuz they lacked something with their papers of marriage. Gloria had some issues with her medical papers cuz shes 15 and pregers but by midday Saturday, they had everything and Saturday at 7 at night they were married and at 8 they were baptized. It was a sweet experience. They were both crying afterwards and you could just tell how happy they were. Well it's moments like this that make me soo happy as well!  I'm glad I had the opportunity to know these people and teach them of Christ,  and in the end I think I learned more from them than they learned from me. 

Junior was not baptized this Saturday cuz when we went to get permission from his father, his father is Adventista, he told us that his son will be following his ways and won't be baptized. We avoided contention and the man accepted a visit from us for another day. Sunday we visited him and shared our beiliefs and faith. It turns out that this man is very nice and has strong faith in Christ.  I think the Lord will soften his heart so his son can be baptized and maybe even him haa, we shall see. Well sorry for another short letter but remember I'll be talking to you in a week or 2!!!! Love you all, thanks for your prayers love and support. Besitos!!!! (kisses)   Elder Harper

I LIVE FOR THOSE MOMENTS

Happpppy Birthday Mooooooooom! Wow 30 already? You are getting old. I'm glad you had an amazing birthday with all your sick deals and the Howie day concert, I'm so jealous. All the Christmas talk makes me a little trunkey but I'll survive haha. 

Well the zone leaders have my backpack so that is pretty sweet. So the big news is my new comp. My new companion is Elder Quispe de Mekewah?? or something like that. He's from Southern Peru where it practically touches Chile. Elder Quispe is the bomb though. The only English he knows is basically what I've taught him so far but he's not too hard to understand. He's got 13 months in the mission and is our district leader too now. 

So as you all know, I was frightened to lead the area and stuff but with puro fe (pure faith) everything worked out. My Spanish didn't become fluent over night but my sense of direction basically did haha. This week I was able to guide us to every house without getting lost..miracles do happen haha. And it's a little stressful as well cuz as of now, I'm the only connection that my investigators and some converts have with the church.  They all had great relationships with Hulet but this week I felt that I was able to converse more and teach a lot smoother with a lot more confidence. I wanna say I've already progressed a lot this past week, well as far as confidence goes. So there were some awkward moments but I live for those moments haha. Everything has been working all thanks to the Lord, as he molds me to be an affective missionary.

Well Jaen is super hawt and it will definitely still be for Christmas, but either way I will still be praying for a white Christmas. We have many investigators that are so ready to enter the waters of baptism and why not during the Christmas season? First of all, we have Rony and Gloria who have a marriage and baptismal date for this upcoming Saturday. They were a little late on getting their marriage papers started so it's gonna be calling it pretty close but we have been praying hard for them. I just found out that Gloria is pregnant so it will be my first family I baptize!! Rony is a stud and just loves the church and everything we teach. His testimony is so strong in the atonement. He's been wanting to get baptized for so long but because of the marriage thing he hasn't been able to till now. Gloria is also excited, she's just super quiet and doesn't really express her feelings as much. We are also teaching an 18 year old Girl named Sabina. She was a reference from the Stake President. The first lesson she told us that she knows the church is true and the Book of mormon is true also. We committed her to be baptized and she said yes haha. She has been coming to church and reading in the Book of Mormon as well. Well I know this letter is pretty boring and I got no more time cuz my comp, I don't think, is gonna let us print every week but thanks for all the support. I still don't know anything about Christmas phone calls yet. Love you all! 

Elder Harper

EVERYTHING I'VE KNOWN for 2 MONTHS...was GONE

Hello There Familia! 

Well this week has been really weird but a good one as well. It sounds like you guys all had a good time Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving break. Movies and food all week ahahah good times. For Thanksgiving dinner I had 2 cremoladas and ice cream haha so nothing much. Why didn't I see a stick version of myself in any of the photos? sooo messed up. 

So nothing tooo exciting happened this week. We tried to visit a lot of members and all of our investigators so Elder Hulet could say his last goodbyes. People offered us a lot of food cuz of it. One of the highlights of the week was when a member took us to a pretty nice restaurant for lunch. We ordered a giant plate of fried yuca and fish with some Inca Cola. The cool thing about this place is it has soccer fields, a water park thing and a zoo. We checked out the zoo for a while. There was a monkey that tried to grab his animal friends in the other cages with his tail. There was a fat sloth that just hung upside down and slept, a parrot that said hola, turtles and crocodiles. It was a pretty cool place but at the same time the definition of animal cruelty haha. They were stuffed into cheap metal cages with nothing to eat. I don't have pictures cuz I didn't know we were going but I'll have to go back and get some.

Well this week has been pretty stressful for me, with the knowledge that it was my last week with Elder Hulet and that I would have to get a new comp and lead the area. Elder Hulet informed me about my new comp. He said it was this latino, I forgot his name, but he said he was really trunky and only had two months left. So that added to my stress cuz I didn't want to kill another missionary. But I have been praying hard that I would have the confidence and faith to be able to lead as I teach and work without my trainer. Well Elder Hulet left at 1 yesterday and it was the weirdest thing haha. Everything I've known for 2 months, which was hiding behind my dad, was gone. So I've been with Elder Smith, a gringo here. We will be together until our companions come tomorrow. Oh and Elder Hulet, right before he got on the bus, told me that he actually doesn't know who my comp is haha, so that relieved some stress. 

Well Sunday was weird but everything worked out. I know that the Lord calls people in their weaknesses and raises them up to meet His standards. We had a few lessons where I had to do the conversing and lead off the teaching. We taught the cousin of our convert, Diana, who is 12 and is super interested. Usually I get super nervous to teach when it's my turn with Hulet, but this time I felt a new confidence and that Lord was on my side and I was led by the spirit. I was able to converse with  Diana and teach her cousin, Michell, the restoration of the Gospel. Of course my Spanish was still terrible but I felt like I had more faith. Michell wants to be baptized but we still don't have a date for her. We had 9 investigators at church today and 2 of the norms weren't even there. But we have lots of good potential with our investigators, lots of hearts that are ready to receive the gospel.  The field is white and ready to harvest and I think as my comp and I work hard this transfer we are gonna have a lot of  success. 

Well nothing too exciting this week, mainly goodbyes and nerves but I'll make sure to update all about my new comp and uplifting experiences. Just know that I'm happy and I'm ready to work hard and hit the pavement. I know that I'm weak but with enough faith the Lord can perform miracles through me.  Even though I miss you all there is no place I'd rather be than serving the people of Jaen and growing to be a servant, a TOOL in the hands of the Lord. I love you all! Thanks for all the support. Ohh and I sent mail with Hulet for Christmas. 

Elder Harper