AS SOON AS I AM ABLE TO TAKE A HOT SHOWER IN MY OWN HOUSE I WON'T COMPLAIN

Hello family!!!

Well another week has flown by once again. But it seems like I start every email off with saying how fast the week went by and they just keep on getting faster so we will just skip over that part this week haha. Well this week was pretty dang hectic. We worked our tails off and lost a lot of hours of work due to some problems getting the cash to pay the rent and getting all the stuff we need for the house. All the stuff, even the essentials, are just trickling in slowly and it seems like it's a huge hastle to get every little thing. Still no hot water because we haven't been able to get the cash from the office to pay for a calefont (gas water heater) installation. I could go on about that for quite a while but I´ll save you guys the thrill and excitement of all that hahaha. I just mentioned it because it's been a headache and unfortunately took too many hours out of our work week. But despite that, we still worked very hard. I finally found out what our problem was on not getting anyone to church and how to solve it.

My comp is a great guy and we get along great and joke around and stuff but half of the time while contacting and teaching I wanted to kill him last week haha. He was doing all the talking and at first I let it go, but after a while I got sick of it so I started doing as much butting in as I could so I could stay a part of the companionship and do some teaching as well because hey, I like teaching. Once I started doing that, I was able to speak more in contacts and lessons but it just didn't feel right and the lessons felt scattered and all over the place. Throughout the week I kind of gave him friendly reminders to do switching off with the talking and he said he would try harder but it wasnt resulting.

Finally on Friday night, right after we had a mismatched lesson with us going back and forth interrupting each other, I finally just gave up and let him do the last half of the lesson by himself without interruption because I realized we weren't working as a companionship and this whole cambio we didn't really have the spirit while we were teaching and that's why no one was commiting to go to church with us. It hit me that we were just two separate missionaries going out and working, not a companionship but two separate missionaries without unity. Now I´m usually not good at being bold and fixing stuff like that but the work here in Monte Águila was suffering so that night I had a good long talk with my companion to help him see the reality of what was happening and we had a good discussion, set goals to help us unify in the work and teach and work fluidly as a companionship and with the spirit. We both felt great afterwards and closed it with a very spiritual prayer. That night I also received a good testimony that Élder Leiva was sent to be my companion here in Monte Águila for a reason and that his coming here was inspired of the Lord.

I have had problems with comps before but I was never able to put my foot down and force a resolution before. And it was great because it was without any anger or fighting either and we both realized and admitted to the things we need to change. So on Saturday morning I woke up feeling better and excited to get our companionship and the work back on the right track but was also a little bummed because out of like the 15 good investigators we had, we were either not able to contact them or they had some excuse for why they wouldn't be going on Sunday. But as we said the prayer Saturday morning and pleaded for guidance to help our investigators progress, I felt calm and also impressed that even though maybe none of our investigators that we had would be going but that if we just went out and worked the Lord would provide. So that morning we did splits with the jovenes from the family Iglesias and I went with one of the kids to just do contacts. After about an hour we found this one lady in the plaza who wasn't really all that interested but she told us her nephew might be and then brought us to her house to talk to him. On the way she told me that he was 20 years old and had social problems and not many friends but very studious and a good kid so she wanted us jovenes to talk to him. Long story short, we talked to the kid (Pablo) in his house and he was very excited to talk to us and when we invited him to church he said that he would like that. So when Sunday morning came, all of our investigators bailed but when we went to Pablo´s house he was already outside in the cold waiting for us. He has a lot of weird ideas about religion but he liked church a lot and he even came out of his shell and talked to people in the chapel. At the end, he told us he would like to go again next week and we are going to be going over to his house to teach him this coming week. We only had one in the chapel, which would usually be unsatisfactory but I was never so happy and content for one in church because the Lord provided.

As far as Irma goes, she can't wait to get baptized and loves our visits and learning from us but her stupid old fart husband still hasn't come back. But last night she told us he got sick from the cold so it looks like he´ll be coming back pretty soon. Maria is still coming as well and even though I had my doubts, it looks like she will be staying active. As far as staying warm goes, it's not a problem during the day but the mornings are just absolutely killer and we are still weeks away from winter. But as soon as I'm able to take a hot shower in my own house I won't complain. And don't worry Dad, I sent the memory card home today because the web hop just doesn't work with the internet and computers here. My white shirts are holding up for now but my socks aren't hahaha and we are eating and being taken care of just fine. Oh and the neighbors lied and told are dueño (land lord) that we always leave the dog out at night and never feed it so he took it away. I think they told him that because he barks a lot so they don't like him but I was upset that they took Duke away. He was starting to grow on me. And don't worry about our safety. The neighboorhood is nice and tranquilo. I don't know why the dueño was worried in the first place. Well that's all I got for today but I love you all and tell Abbie that even though there is no school she has to study because I got a 5 on the U.S. test and she can't let me beat her haha. Love ya. Chauzzzz!!!!

Élder Harper :)

RILEY IS FAMOUS. Check out the link in the left margin

Hola hola!

Well in all honesty I don't really have too much to say about this last week. It was a good work week, with many investigators accepting our invitation to come to church, but in the end a local tragedy kept people away from attending church with us. Anyways what happened is that a family man in his thirties here in Monte Águila, that everyone knows, died in a car crash on Thursday leaving his wife, kids, and elderly parents behind here on this side of the veil. It's really very sad and it seems like the whole town is mourning over it. The funeral was at 10:00 am in the Sunday morning, which is exactly when church starts so understandably all of our best investigators, along with the rest of Monte Águila, went to the funeral on Sunday. We did not know the man who died but thought it would be good to attend his funeral accept that we had one investigator, a joven, that said just Saturday night that he was going to come with us to church on Sunday. But Sunday morning at like six it started to rain and rain hard so when we went to go pick up the kid, his phone was turned off and no one answered the door, so it looks like the rain changed his mind.

So after a long week of hard work, we did not have any investigators with us on Sunday. But you just got to shake it off, move on, and work harder and be optimistic about the next week. Next week should be a lot better because we have a lot good investigators and found a few more with Elder Leiva and they were all planning on coming to church before the car crash and funeral so as long as we remember them in our prayers and keep on visiting them and teaching them this next week I think that we´ll have a good cosecha (Harvest) this next week . Also we're going to try to go visit the family of the guy who died this next week so maybe we will be able to help with their loss and share with them the healing powers of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I´ll let you know how that goes but I am sure we will be teaching alot of the plan of Salvation this coming week and answering those powerful questions of; where did we come from? Why are we here? and where are we going when this life is over?

But besides the tragic loss of the young father at the end of the week, it was a good week for missionary work and we worked hard contacting and teaching. My companion, Élder Leiva, is from Santiago and has been here in the misión for five months and this is his fourth cambio. I´m just two cambios older than him. His family is all members and he actually baptized his mom like a month before entering the missión field so that's pretty sweet. As far as not speaking English, like at all (except at the weekly district meeting), goes I really haven't noticed it or missed it too much. I was already speaking Spanish most of the time but I really didn't notice any difference when I stopped speaking English other than I´m starting to think more often in Spanish now as well without making a conscious effort to do it. My Spanish still isn't even close to perfect and I think I'm improving a little faster now. I´m working on getting over the plateau I was starting to hit with the language so I´m excited for that.

So I was a little nervous about moving up to comp Mayor but I had no reason to be. I had to do most of the talking and the work for the first few days but it was fine, I actually liked it. Now In lessons and in contacts I have to try to fight to get a word in haha. I´m having the opposite problem of what I thought I would have as comp mayor. If I start a contact he ends up finishing it somehow in the end and if he starts one, he finishes it without me being able to get two words in. But we are working on that and I´m trying to rein in his excitement and enthusiasm a little bit, enough to let me talk anyways haha. I think he was just excited this last week about how easy it is to talk to people here in Monte Águila and how friendly the people are here overall. Anyways besides that, Elder Leiva is a good guy. He's a hard worker and he is cool and buena onda as well so we are getting along just fine. He is a good missionary but he's got some to learn about teaching and a little humbling to do as well, so I´m praying to be the best teacher I can for him and also praying for the humility sufficient to learn all I can from him as well. Because menor o mayor, you can always learn a lot from every comp. and I have already learned a lot from him. It's a big give and take relationship. Anyways, I´m really lucky to have gotten the companion I have and I am stoked to work with him in Monte Águila (a great sector) this cambio. We've both got excitement to work and are ready to thrust in the sickle and harvest here in Monte Águila this cambio. Love you all and have a great week. Chao!

Con mucho cariño, Élder Harper :)

p.s. once again, happy birthday Baylor. And thanks for the picture guys, everyone is lookin good .

**I'm famous!!! haha hermana swenson sent me this. check it out

http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/100419scenario.html (an article that the wife of Riley's mission President, Jolene Swenson, wrote. The picture in the article was taken outside the capilla in Talcahuano centro on Sunday two weeks or so after the earthquake)

I JUST LOVE THE PROGRESS OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD FROM CONTACT TO BAPTISM!

Hola mis queridos,

Well well well, another week has come and gone and another cambio has come and gone. This cambio was only 4 weeks instead of 6 weeks (the result of our last 8 week earthquake extended cambio) so anyways cambios are this Tuesday, and in three days I complete nine months in the mission. Yo sabia que el tiemp vuela en la missión pero vuela demasiado rapido po! Its going by way too fast. Anyways, for once the President Swenson has finally decided to keep me in a sector for a little longer! YAY! It was starting to get pretty ridiculous when I starting having more sectors than missionaries who have been out here for a year and a half. Anyways I´m stoked to stay here in Eagle Mountain (Monte Águila). We have a lot of investigators who unfortunately are progressing a little slowly but are now starting to show more progress. So my comp is leaving for San Pedro and a Chileno named Élder Leiva is coming to replace him. Yay, another latino! and it's going to be just us in the house, which means I won't be speaking English for a whole cambio except Tuesdays during district meetings. So I’m also excited to improve my Spanish. The only thing I´m a little nervous about is that I’m going to be comp mayor now (senior companion) :0. I´m not sure how I feel about that but I knew it was coming and I´m ready so I just have to do my best and put my trust in the Lord to do the rest.

Well first of all, it sounds like you guys had a pretty fun week of staycationing. I can´t lie, I got way jealous when you started talking about all that Mexican food. My mouth is watering just thinking about it haha. But oh well, I´ll be satisfied with my chileno cuisine until the day that Alber Tacos and I are reunited. I can wait :). Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAYLOR!!!! I know you still got two days to go but it's better early than late. 15, wow man your growing up too fast. Oh, and Austin Elliott gets a shout out too. Happy birthday Austin!!! I'm going to try today for the last time the internet photo thing and if that doesn’t work, I'll just send the card home. I made a cd copy of it a week ago.

Well as far as this last week went, it was a little hectic with the whole thing of moving houses and stuff. The moving process took a while and there were some complications but now we are all moved in and have almost everything we need in the house. It’s a pretty good sized house and it's made of wood so it is pretty dang cold at night and in the mornings. We have a wood stove in the house but it was really poorly positioned so it doesn’t really heat the house up much, just the kitchen. The owner says that where the house is, is kind of sketchy (uhmm no it's not) but anyways we have a big old guard dog that the owner left us haha its pretty cool. We don’t have to do anything just feed it in the morning and at night and let it out in the morning and put it back after lunch. And its name is Duke. I told the owner not to leave it but he insisted, but its all good because hes a good dog. All in all I like the house and don’t worry Dad I will take pictures of it. Anyways, I’m just glad that it’s over and done with because it took away way too much missionary work time last week. 

But one awesome thing about last week was that Maria got baptized!!!

It was kind of sketchy a few hours before and it almost didn’t happen but she did and we were very happy and so was she. Also in the rama, Cabrero had a baptism and Yumbel had one too so we had a quadruple baptismal service in the chapel in Cabrero and it was awesome seeing so many people dressed in white :). I just love the spirit at baptisms. It is very uplifting and very addicting. All I want to do now is get in the font again haha. Well I wasn’t in the font personally for Maria's baptism but you know what I mean. But I´m not worried because we are going to baptize more this coming cambio.

With Irma it's been a struggle but it's not her fault. She loves the church and wants to get baptized and accepts every principle of doctrine and commandment that we teach her with gladness and she is so close to being baptized but she just can’t yet. Her husband has a property out in the campo and recently he’s taken to just leaving for days, even up to a week, to work out there. That wouldn’t be a problem but Irma has a severely handicapped 30 year old son in the house and has to watch him and so she hasn't been able to go to church for the past two weeks because there is nobody else nearby that can watch him. So that’s been rough but she is ready and just needs someone for assistance at church before she can be baptized. And she is not worried because it is getting cold and there place in the campo doesn’t have much heating so she said he should be coming running back to stay pretty soon here and then she will be able to go to church and get baptized. We also have some other good potential baptisms coming up but I´ll tell you more about them as they progress. I just love the progress of the children of God from contact to baptism! I´m a little nervous but also stoked to continue the work here now as comp mayor. Love you all, keep me in your prayers as well as our brothers and sisters here in Chile. Until next week CHAUZZZZ!!!!!

Con mucho amor, abrazos y toda la cuestión, Élder Harper :)

I WANT YOU ALL TO KNOW THAT I KNOW THAT GOD LIVES AND THAT HIS SON, OUR SAVIOR AND REDEEMER LIVES

Mi querida familia,

Helloo!!! Well wasn't conference just amazing!? I have never appreciated conference so much as I have here in the mission. I just absolutely loved it and once again I got to watch it in English in a seperate room in the capilla!!! But before I talk about conference I´ll tell you a little bit about my week and I will answer all of Dad´s questions.

My companions name (I'm not sure if I´ve mentioned it ever) is Elder Sanabria. He is from San Gil Columbia (hahaha I cracked up when I heard that, uncle Gary and Brother Baker might understand why) and he is the only member in his family and lost his father in a car accident when he was six. His mother doesn't like the church and didn't want my comp to come. All of my latin comps have come from tough family backrounds. He is a great guy and we get along just fine, he´s probably one of my best comps so far and I am getting along great with him despite our 4 year age difference. He´s a little older because he served in the Columbian army fighting the FARC guerilleros before he left on his mission so I get to hear lots of crazy stories from him from his military days. Anyways I´m learning a lot from him and we work great together. I mean it's not a perfect companionship but as I´ve figured out that doesn't exist.

The branch of Cabrero where we attend is pretty good but I don't know the members very well because we work in Monte Águila. There are five active families here in Monte Águila and they are all awesome and love having misionaries of their own in their little town now so they take care of us. We take turns rotating lunches between the families each week. The town is pretty poor and very humble and that's why I love it. It's just a humble little town. We haven't moved in yet but we are going to do so either tomorrow or the next day so I am excited for that. It will take some work hours away to move but you gotta do what you gotta do. When I have the address I´ll give it to you guys because right now my comp ni yo remember it haha. Yes, we have someone we pay to wash the clothes but no mamita. They abondoned the mamita system here in this mission a couple of years ago so I have never had one and most likely never will have a mamita. But it's all good. Im used to it.

As far as earthquake recovery goes, it's coming pretty well in the mission. Running water in Talcahuano is still off and on, from what I´ve heard mostly off, but in Centinela they are just working like normal. Even in the most affected Sector they do service projects throughout the week but they are mostly doing a lot of just shirt and tie normal missionary work. From what I´ve heard from the president there isnt that much service to do in Talcahuano because they have the military in charge of all the clean up and apparently they don't want help from the missionaries. Even in Monte we are still getting aftershocks but we don't even talk about it anymore. When it shakes we don't even aknowledge it haha.

As far as the work goes here in Monte Águila, last week was absolutely awesome. We are finding and teaching a lot of people right now and we have a ton of investigators. Unfortunately out of our 9 great investigators only one, Maria, could go to church this Sunday because all the rest were visiting family in the campo or in the city for Easter Sunday. But Maria is getting baptized this Saturday and we have another baptism, Irma, for the following Saturday. Then we have three others who have told us that they want to be baptized and we have given them baptismal dates but we just have to get them to church.

So we will see how they progress this next week but I have faith in them and am praying for them.

But conference was absolutely awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed and absorbed all five sessions of it. What I really noted was one continuing theme throughout the whole thing. They focused a lot on protecting the family and the rising generation and most of the talks were directed to parents. The family unit is under attack and may have some rough times ahead but with the guidance, love, and support of our Savior Jesus Christ and the leaders of the church we will be just fine. Haha I always love Elder Hollands talks, his Saturday afternoon session talk was amazing. He always speaks with such power and authority and never leaves any room to misinterpret his words haha.

I think my favorite session though was the priesthood session. The members of Chile really needed to here Oaks talk on the priesthood blessings for the sick and the afflicted and I had a powerful spiritual experience during Elder Rasbands talk on mission calls. I mean I´ve always known that my call was inspired but I´ve never felt it so strongly as I listened to Brother Rasbands experience Saturday night. As he told of this experience of calling missionaries with President Eyring I felt the holy spirit bare witness to me that my mission call was not a product of rational thinking or mortal cognition, but a result of divine counsel given to an annointed servant of the Lamb and that it indeed was a call straight from the Most High God. I felt stronger than ever that I really do need to be here in misión Chile Concepción Sur and that as I keep working my hardest and obeying the Lord the more I will understand it.

I want you all to know that I know that God lives and that His son, our Savior and Redemeer lives. Christ the Lord suffered and died for us and not even a life time of study and service could bring us to the understanding of the significance of that act. But after this General Conference and Easter Sunday, I know more than ever that He lives and will keep trying as long as I live to understand deeper his sacrifice for me. As for now, I am content sharing this message with my brothers and sisters here in the 8^th and 9^th regions of Chile and will gain my happiness through teaching them how they can be made whole through the atonement of the Savior. Pretty much all Christians know what the atonement is but not all know of its true significance and blessings. This is why our Savior organized his church while he was hear on earth. Through his Prophets and with the authority of his holy priesthood we learn how to apply the atonement in our lives so that we can one day return to live with him again. So I´m excited to spend a little more than another year teaching people how they can use it. I love you all but until next week keep the spirit of conference and the resurrection of the Savior with you as long as you can. Chou!

Con amor, Elder Harper :)