WORDS WERE PUT INTO MY MOUTH AND I BORE POWERFUL TESTIMONY TO HIM OF HOW MY MISSION IS BLESSING MY LIFE

Hola familia y amigos!

Well let's see what happened this week. There have been worse weeks but this last one definitely wasn't one of the best. Wednesday we had entrevistas (interviews) with the President and that was good. I got to talk to Sister Swenson and President Swenson and that's always good. Then the zone was capacitated by the zone leaders and the assistants and they came down on us to make good goals for this new year and to kick things up a notch to realize our goals. During the entrevistas President asked me what my goals were short term and long term and he asked me how I was doing on my preparation to become companion mayor (senior comp). We talked for a little bit and he told me that it looks like none of us from my group have to go up yet but that if we don't subir ( umm...go up? Something like that) to comp mayor this cambio then it will for sure be the next one. So that's a sigh of relief but at the same time I still have to kick it into overdrive to be prepared. He also said that it looks like I might stay with E´Tapias in Galvarino for another cambio but he´s not sure yet. Nothing is for sure until the call comes for the cambios Saturday night, so we will see.

The same day as the entrevistas, in the night we did intercambios with the assistants so that was good working with a veteran missionary and learning from him. As far as how my companion and I are getting along, for the most part good, but he is very sensitive and very moody. His animo and moods change really easily and I don't know what to do about it. Like on Saturday, he accidently used the Lord's name in vain (remember he's still a pretty new convert) and then he got all mad and wouldn't talk to me and was desanimo´d for a good few hours after. If we are going to be together another cambio there are a lot of things we need to work on with his mood problems, my sarcasm (he gets offended easily with sarcasm) and just how we work together. We are working well but the summer is killing us and we need to change some things with how we work if we are going to have success this summer. We have a lot of investigators but because of the cosecha (fruit harvest) and vacaciones they are all dying. We found some new good investigators last week and on Thursday we planned to bring 10 to church with us Sunday but when we went to go get them Sunday they were either gone, or no one answered the door and so we had no one with us Sunday. Whenever you have a week with nobody it's quite a blow to the animo but you just got to pick yourself back up, analyze what happened the last week, and go out and work harder the next week to make sure it doesnt happen again.

There are also a few good members and families going innactive right before our eyes and we are trying to get them reanimo´d about the church and we haven't really seen results from our efforts yet but we are working on that. It was really sad, on Saturday we stopped by the house of a strong family who´s 19 year old son was getting ready to go on a mission. When we got to the house it was just him there and after talking for a while we discovered that him and his Dad have been fighting a lot the last few months and that he's been thinking of moving out and using his mission money to pay rent. And he also told us that he had stopped praying and reading the scriptures and was losing his testimony and that he didn't really want to go to church anymore either. We talked for a while and words were put into my mouth and I bore powerful testimony to him of how my mission is blessing my life and how I couldn't imagine where I would be if I hadn't gone out and everyone felt the spirt. He told us that he would start praying again and that he would try to get back on the right track again but sometimes no matter what you do, no matter how much you want to help and testify the person still chooses another path. I just wanted to slap him upside the head and show him how much of a blessing and life changing thing a mission is but I can't force him to open his eyes and see the light. He has to make the decision for himself and so we will keep working with him and see where it goes.

Haha well I think that I´ve rambled enough for this week and even though this week wasn't all that great, I learned a lot about how to connect with people better, how to better use the spirit, and other things as well and I´m going to make sure to use the things that I´ve learned and make this next week better.

Well it sounds like all is well with everyone at home which is always good to hear. Bueno tengo que ir hora entonces hasta que el proximo lunes, les quiero harto y chao!


Con amor, Élder Harper :)

p.s. I´m not in a rush for the movies dont worry, but another request I have for when you do send them is a rubicks cube. A real rubicks cube, like from the brand rubicks cube haha I´ll explain later.