IT'S GONNA be EPIC, FAVORITE DAY of THE MISH....

Familia and Friends!

Well I just want to say how blessed I feel and how thankful I am for all the miracles that I've seen thanks to the love of the Lord and the faith of others. 

This Saturday our hermanito Juan was baptized! We were afraid that it wasn't going to happen cuz he was going to travel back to his home town in Bagua but thanks to the rain, traveling has been super sketch in Peru (as Zach knows) and so he decided to stay. We prepared him well this week and went over the baptismal questions. It was funny when we discussed chastity with this viejito.  He just laughed and said don't worry Elders, the next time I get married, it will be to death.  It sounded funnier in Spanish. But this guy is hilarious and even though he's always suffering from pains he always has a huge smile on his face and makes great old people jokes and has some epic stories as well; I love the dude haha.  Well he had his interview and he said that he felt a huge burden was lifted off of his shoulders for confessing his sins. 

The baptism was supposed to start at 5. He showed up at 4:50 with his fam and the rest showed up at 5:30, la hora Peruana (the Peruvian hour).  It was a spiritual experience and as tradiciones go, my son baptized him, his first time in the water. And he's a stud cuz it wasn't easy. We had to attempt several times since he's fragile and was afraid to fall back but finally he was able to be submerged thanks to the Lord. He bore his testimony in the meeting and the next day he showed up to church in a suit. We were able to confirm him and he bore his testimony again in Sacrament Meeting; he's a stud.

Christian is also progressing. His baby received its blessing in church yesterday and he asked us to stand in the circle. He also committed to be baptized the 16th of May cuz he's gonna get married the 10th of May. He's a stud and one of my good good friends in this area. We also had a cool lesson on Sunday. 

There's this kid named Fabio who we met last week cuz we taught his sister-in-law but she's never home so we decided to contact and teach him. Yesterday we taught him for the second time and taught him about baptism.  Afterwords we asked if he had any questions and he said yes, what do I need to do to be baptized? We explained to him and asked if he had another question and he said yes, when can I be baptized?! It was a pretty sick moment. We are gonna work with this kid hard cuz he has a strong desire to change and be baptized even though he doesn't have a lot of knowledge. He's got a lot of faith. 

Well it's been a real great week.  Got more to say but no time. I'm stttttooooooked for conference; it's gonna be epic, favorite day of the mish haha.   Well love you guys ..

besitos Elder Harper

SO TASTY and the MOST AMERICAN THING I'VE TASTED in YEARS....

tell abs that it's questionable cuz i lost my beach bod..

Well hello family and friends, 

I don't have much time cuz the power has been out and just recently we were able to enter to write. It's been raining on and off all week and when it rains here, the streets are mud and the electricity goes out.  Dad, I'll try to take sicker picks, I'm just scared about getting robbed. 

Well this week has been super tuff. We've walked a lot and knocked a lot of doors. It's super sad to see people you care about not go to church or not read when you know they will be blessed for it but we just have to move on and search for the elect people the Lord has prepared to hear this message and to accept it in their lives.

We didn't have very much success all week. On Sunday all of our appointments fell through, but we were able to contact and meet and teach a couple cool families. I know that the Lord blessed us for our diligence cuz Sundays are usually super tough and are usually when we are the most tired but the Lord was able to bless us with success. 

Juan is progressing but he told us he might travel this week so we would have to postpone his baptism but we are praying that he doesn't go and that he can be prepared for this Saturday. Christian went to church again with his wife so that was sweet but he didn't stay the three hours. 

Oh, another highlight is President came to inspect our room and Sister William's brought us homemade chocolate chip cookies. They were so tasty and the most American thing I've tasted for years. Well the time is passing and I don't like it but I know that I've got to keep with the Lord's plan and that he will continue blessing me. Don't got much to say but next week my letter will be much better, haha I

promise. love you guys

besitos

Elder Harper

I LOVE IT cuz IT MAKES ME HAPPY.........

Well folks, change, it's a new change again.  My good old pal Elder Anderson is gone, sadly, and I've got a new comp, Elder Alcivar from Guayaquil, Ecuador.  He's my second comp from Ecuador so I think me and Abs are just gonna talk pure slang from Ecaudor when I get home ¿si o Que? He's a really kool kat, and actually he's my step son.  I'm training, or finishing his training.  He definitely came prepared. He's super smart and teaches very well, but like every Latino, he's a little trunky.  But I'm making him work his booty off.  We are already pretty good friends.

Well this week was very successful.  It's been pretty difficult to find Juan these past few weeks, but we have been teaching him this week.  We put another baptism date with him for the 28th of March. He stayed for all 3  hours this week so he already has all the attendance he needs to be baptized. He's pretty sweet, he just has a hard time hearing and forgets what we teach him but he obeys all the commandments and has the desire to be baptized.

We also have been working with a kid named Christian. He's living with the inactive daughter of the first counselor of the bishop. We always teach him and he comes to church every now and then. He is super chill.  This week we watched The Restoration with him and afterwards we testified and taught and asked him if he really believed that Joseph smith was a prophet.  He said yes and began to express his own testimony and said he knew the church was true.  He explained how slowly but surely his testimony has grown, how at first he didn't really believe the Elders about a year ago. But little by little he felt the need to pray and read the scriptures and he said lately that he's been reading and praying a lot.  I asked him what impedes him to be baptized and he told me nothing.  It was a spiritual moment.  The only problem is that he isn't married but he wants to be. We just need to work out the deets so he can be married and be baptized.

Well missionary work is super hard, the hardest thing I've ever done but I love it cuz it makes me happy.  I love the scripture, Juan 5:17, But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Hard work is something that we are always gonna be required to do and something that brings us happiness, especially when we are working to brings souls onto Christ.  Well love you all and thanks for the support,

besitos

Elder Harper

IT was TERRIBLE but I GOT to EXPERIENCE AIR CONDITIONING.......

Hola Familia! 

Well this week has been pretty interesting.  I still wasn't feeling better and I had some gnarly symptoms.  I didn't wanna go to the doctor (cuz that's how my mother raised me) but my comp basically forced me to. We had an appointment but we had to wait almost 3 hours.  It was terrible but I got to experience air conditioning for the first time in a while.  The doctor just prescribed me some pills and right now I basically feel fine. 

Well something that was a faith builder for me was when I asked my comp to give me a priesthood blessing.  In my mission I've given millions of priesthood blessings but I think it might have been one of the first times that I actually have asked for one, and it was powerful. I think as a missionary I've always had the mindset that we have the priesthood and use it to serve, bless, baptize and confirm but it was awesome experiencing personal blessings from the power of the priesthood. And now I feel so much more grateful for this power that God has given to men for our salvation. 

Well it was a slow week cuz we basically did a deep cleaning. We left all the investigators who didn't progress and started searching again. We used the ward directory to try to find less actives and it was kind of a joke hah, cuz in the updated war directory, all the names are less actives and they all had moved years ago. Well we found a less active named Christian who was baptized less than a year ago. He is super cool. We found him, taught him a couple times and he went to  church all in the same week so that was  pretty successful.  And he has a testimony. It's just that lots of family problems have dragged him away. 

I had another cool experience. We contacted this girl who's from a different church and after awhile, she finally let us in to teach her and her grandpa. We gave her a restoration pamphlet and she was intensely focusing on the the picture of the first vision. She interrupted us and asked us if we could explain it cuz she said she felt like she had seen it many times before. We explained the restoration and she was intrigued. She then asked, "Does this mean God and Jesus are two separate people?"  It was powerful being able to testify of the nature of the Godhead. The spirt was strong and she said she would pray to see if it was true. 

Well my comp, Elder Anderson, has a change and it's kinda of sad cuz we have been the best of buds. There has probs been too much laughter.  He will be missed but I'm excited to learn from my next comp. 

Love you all besitos

Elder Harper

I CLEANED it UP and NO ONE SUSPECTED a THING......

Family?

Well this week has been good but a little challenging, like every week is.  I'm still pretty dang sick but I talked to the wife of my Pres and she said it was just a virus and that it would last 10 days. So it's been 7 and I feel a lot better but still not too pleasant.  For the first time I chucked in a member's house, but they don't know.  It was the house of Mariah and Hebert, our converts. They invited us over for lunch.  I was feeling fine, confident, maybe a little in over my head  (whatever that means). We said the prayer, I took a bite, put down the fork, asked Mary if I could use the bathroom, got to the bathroom and boom, magic happened.  I cleaned it up and no one suspected a thing.

Well Hermano Juancito is so awesome  but there's just some things he doesn't understand. We explained to him that he has to go to church for all three hours to be prepared to be baptized. He understood in the moment but every Sunday he bails after the second hour and says it's like an emergencia or something.  But he's awesome cuz since we've been teaching him, he hasn't missed a single Sunday and he's the fist one there.  Usually our ward mission leader goes to pick him up but when he doesn't, he walks even though he's old and doesn't walk very well.  He's dedicated, he just forgets cuz he's old so we need more patience and time so Juan can enter the waters of baptism.

Well we were searching hard this week for less actives using our ward directory. Well we were in this sketchy part of town and bammm, we knocked on a door and nobody was there. So we go to another house and on the way, we pass this house were a women was sitting by the window with her daughter. She sees us, ducks inside and closes the door. We were just passing by.  After some time, we realized that that house was the house of a less active so we knocked and the husband answered and let us in.  He was a talker and told us his whole inactivation story.  It was interesting being inside the brain of a less active to see how it all happens.  Well he said that he recognized his mistakes but his wife and his kids are lost and don't want anything to do with the church. He said they were baptized 7 years ago and everything was happy and beautiful with peace and love in the home. But he said that just little-by-little, his family was destroyed by not doing the little things. He said at first it was maybe they'd forget to say family prayers,  then it was Family Home Evening.  Later they missed a Sunday here and there and it kept progressing and now the family is in ruins except their 2 sons that made it by going on missions. Well the dad wants to come back but he said that his wife will be super challenging cuz she no longer has a testimony. Well my comp and I feel blessed for having found this family and we are excited to begin working with them if they let us in. 

Well I don't have much else to say. I'm having a good time and know that I'm in the right place and I'm exced to keep working to bring souls to Christ.

love you guys 

besitos

Elder Harper