GOD LIVES AND HE WORKS MIRACLES IN PEOPLE'S LIVES, SOMETIMES WITH THE PEOPLE YOU WOULD LEAST EXPECT

Hey hey hey familey!!!

Well another cambio come and gone, chau cambio number 6. This cambio was literally two weeks longer than the last one but somehow it still went faster than the last one. Anyways, I´ll start with the cambios and how my week went.

I am staying and my companion is going to Cabrero. Yes, he is being switched from Monte to five minutes down the road to Cabrero and of course, will still be in the same branch haha. We couldn't believe it! Also, both of the gringos, Elder Elder and Elder Glover, are leaving Cabrero and some other missionary is coming from outside to be
Leiva´s comp. It's kind of weird because neither of them know the sector yet but I guess the President knows what he's doing. So I'm staying in Monte and will be finishing the training of a new gringo missionary, Élder Hickman. As if that wasn't a Challenge enough, President decided it would be a good idea to make me a district leader my second cambio as comp mayor! I guess that's what happens when half the mission has less than a year out here. President has to subir (uhm..bump up) new missionaries as leaders if they are ready or not. I really don't feel ready at all to be district leader and I'm kind of freaking out a bit about it and am really nervous but if the President thinks I can do it, so does the Lord. And if the Lord thinks I can do it, then I guess whether I think I´m ready or not, it doesnt matter. I just have do go out there and do it. And even more, my comp isn't going to know very much Spanish at all so it looks like I´ll be having to do most of the contacting and teaching myself. This next cambio is not going to be easy but I´m sure it will be a good learning experience. I just hope I don't blow it as a district leader. So I will be doing a lot of praying and fasting and working my butt off this next week and this next cambio jaja.

Well anyways back to my week. On Tuesday we didn't get much work done because after district meeting in Los Ángeles, we went to visit Maria (the girl I baptized with Sanabria) in the hospital in LA. She is having heart problems and is going to have surgery this next week. When we visited her she was doing fine and the doctors said the surgery should go well and that it's not life threatening or anything. We are just keeping her in our prayers that everything goes well and that she will be able to stay Strong. She also had her copy of the Book of Mormon in the hospital with her so that made us feel better. That took most of the day because they made us wait in the waiting room for like two hours before we could see her but it was definitely worth it.

After Tuesday the week wasn't all that great but Sunday went well and we did see a Miracle or two happen, which made the week really good in the end. The Miracle that happened is kind of a long story but I'll give you the short version of it. It started like five weeks ago when we met this little girl named Karina (shes 17 but looks like shes 14) in the street with one of our investigators. So we talked to her and told her she should go to church with the investigator. She told us that she was Protestant and that she went to church three times a week and would never change churches but that she would come to ours if we went to hers. We told her maybe and kind of just forgot about her because it didn't really look like she showed potential to progress at all. But for a few weeks after, we kept running into her and talking to her in the street and from talking to her we found out that she was pretty hard core in her church and she told us that her pastor healed her and all this stuff and even though she was cool we didn't pay much attention to her because with how devoted she was to her church we thought there was just no way.

Anyways, long story short, we kept running into her in the street and she asked for our phone number and pamphlets to read about the church and stuff and in the end she called us a couple of weeks ago to tell us that she knew that we weren't going to go with her to her church but that she still wanted to come with us. Elder Leiva thought that she just had a crush on me and that's why she wanted to go but in the end he was wrong. Anyways, she went to church and she liked it and afterwards she said that she still didn't really believe it but she wanted to learn more. So last week we taught her the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and challenged her to read and pray to know the truth and she said she would. She was kind of skeptical and kept going off about her church during the lesson so we weren't like really excited about it or anything but we had hope that she could change. I just thouht that if there was any way she was going to get baptized that it would be a very slow and long process.

Anyways, on Saturday we met with her again and she said that she had read and prayed but wasn't really sure if she had an answer yet. She said she thought that she had her answer but that she wanted to think about it more first because of how hard it would be for her to change. She was raised all her life in her church and was devouted to it. Like one of the most devouted Protestants I´ve met here in Chile. She sang and played guitar in her church and participated in all the activities ... the whole nine yards, and her mom is hardcore in their church too and hates Mormons so she told us she had a lot of thinking to do. Yesterday she came to church on her own and was making friends with a bunch of members and stuff, which was awesome, and then after church she told us she had her answer. She said that she had a dream where she saw two churches and loved them both but knew that she had to make a decision between the two. She then said that she didn't remember the rest of the dream except that in the end my companion, Elder Leiva, baptized her.

So she said that she wanted to get baptized and all that she had to do was break the news to her mom. This whole time we had been teaching her on park benches and she had been sneaking around so her mom had no clue. We were way stoked but a little nervous about her getting permission from her mom. Anyways, she called us this morning a couple of hours ago and said that she had a nice long talk with her Mom and she got the green Light to get baptized. So we set a fecha and if all goes well she will be getting baptized on the fifth of June and even though Elder Leiva got cambio´d he's just in Cabrero so he is going to be baptizing her. It's crazy when things like that happen. It makes me love being a missionary. Even though the week as a whole wasn't that great, Sunday and this morning made it all good =). Pablo is still good and went to church but his Schedule is so busy we couldn't teach him last week or the week before so we really need to revive his progress this week. Well that's all I got for you today folks. God lives and he Works miracles in peoples lives, sometimes with the people that you would least expect. Ok, well until next week, got to go but I love you all. Chauz!!!

Con cariño, Élder Harper =)

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY WERE DEFINITELY PAYDAYS FOR ME AS A MISSIONARY

Hello family!!!!

Well it sounds like you guys had a great trip to Arizona even though it was a little short. I'm glad that you guys were able to go through the temple for the first time with Blake and see his farewell. Oh and good job Blake. I heard you did awesome on your farewell talk. I just love hearing about you cousins and friends that are getting out here to the mission field. I'm way stoked for you guys to join me in the front ranks of the army of the Lord and it's also cool that everyones getting called spanish speaking haha. No hay nada como ensñar el Evangelio de Cristo y además en español. Bakán!

Well I would have to say that we had a pretty dang good week this week. Actually the week itself was just like a normal week but this weekend was absolutely awesome. First on Wednesday we had a noche de hogar (family night) with the non member sister of one of the members here in Monte Águila. The sister loves us and loves when we come and visit and will even talk about the gospel with us but is stubborn and for some reason isn't here or there with baptism. So in the Noche de Hogar we watched the Joseph Smith movie (the one they show in Salt Lake but in spanish, a member gave me a copy) and she loved it, and I think even cried a little bit at the end. She said it answered a lot of her doubts and that she thinks it's true but that she's not ready for baptism. So she is progressing a little bit but very slowly so we will see how it goes.

On Tuesday we didn't work because we had district meeting in the morning and then entrevistas (interviews) in the afternoon. The entrevistas went well but were really short and the president didn't say anything about cambios. But like an hour ago I heard from a semi reliable source that it looks like I'm more than likely going. I have mixed feelings about that because I´d be leaving some good investigators that we could baptize behind but I also feel like it's time to go. But who knows. We will find out on Saturday night what's really going down with the cambios and of course, like always, I'm going to work like there are no cambios this next week.

And then on Saturday we had Irma's baptism!!! Her husband kept to his promise and didn't go to his house in the campo to work so Irma could get baptized. But it almost didn't happen. Elder Glover, our district leader, came down to give her the baptismal interview and it took like an hour and I was just sitting outside waiting. In the end it turned out that she had had an abortion 40 years ago but she still felt terrible about it and couldn't forgive herself. I think that was one of the reasons why she wanted to get baptized so bad. To wash that away. Anyways Glover called the president and talked to him for a while and in the end we got the green light to baptize her on Saturday. On Saturday Elder Glover baptized one of his investigators and I baptized Irma so we had a double baptismal service.=) The branch President and his counselors didn't show up so we had to direct the service. But despite that, we had a good turnout at the baptism and the people giving the talks showed up, so in the end it went just great. It felt great being back in the water again and knowing that I was a tool in the Lord's hands to help show this daughter of God the path to eternal life and help her get started on this path. I love baptisms =).

And then to end a great weekend, on Sunday we had 6 investigators in the chapel! It was awesome. I won't really talk to you about all of them yet until they start progressing more but one of them was a pretty funny story. On Thursday we were walking through the plaza and saw a Group of punk flaite looking kids lurking around and one of them was skate boarding. So we stopped to watch him for a little bit and then we started talking to him about skate boarding and eventually the church. He then asked us if he could go to church and what he had to do to be baptized, while all of his little buddies were cracking up in the backround. But it was cool, we went along with it, taught him, got his address, and then told him that we were going to go pick him up Sunday morning at 9 30 to go to church. My comp thought that he was completely full of it and just joking around to make his buddies laugh and I half agreed but some part of me thought he might be serious and told me to pick him up Sunday morning. What do you know when we drop by his house on Sunday and he is dreesed and ready to go to church haha. My companion could not believe it. So anyways we went to church and he really liked it and afterwards started asking questions about the requirements for baptism and going on a mission. Then after church we went to the missionaries house in Cabrero with the investigador (Kevin) so he could check out the skate ramp that the missionaries made there (that was part of the deal). When he finally went home he thanked us for everything and told us to pick him up for church the next week. He lives in Santiago and he's only down here visiting for a couple of weeks. This kid is already ready to accept the gospel. We told him to look up the missionaries and go to church in Santiago and he's going to give me his email before he leaves so I hope everything works out for him in the end. He's a great kid even though he looks like just another little punk on the outside.

Well to tell you the truth I could tell you some other stories about what happened Sunday but I'm just about out of time for this week. But yeah it was a good week and it ended great. Saturday and Sunday were definitely paydays for me as a missionary jaja. Well I got to go but as always I love you all and I will let you know about Pablo and about what's going on with my other investigators and the cambios next week. So until next Monday les quiero y cuidense mucho. Chau!!!!!

Con mucho cariño, Élder Harper =)

THAT'S WHY I'M HERE. TO MAKE MY FATHER IN HEAVEN PROUD AND TO HELP HIM BRING TO PASS HIS WORK AND HIS GLORY.

Hola Hola everybody!!!

Well It was great talking to you Mom and the rest of the fam yesterday. Although the connection was absolutely terrible and frustrating at times, I was still very grateful to be able to talk to you for a good while and wish you a happy Mother's Day. It sounds like you guys had a great Mother's Day and good job with the dinner Dad. It sounds like you have improved with your cooking since I´ve been gone haha.

Well I already told you a little bit about how my week went but not much since it was so hard for you guys to hear me so I´ll put a little bit of what went down here in the email but to be quite honest it was a pretty uneventful week. We unfortunately had to let go of investigators at the beginning of last week so we spent most of the week looking for new people to teach. Our animo was kind of up and down the whole week but in the end we found some new people that we are starting to teach that might have some promise. It seems like they have desire to learn and to get acquainted with the gospel and we have appointments with them this week so we will see how it all goes. The key is helping them to be able to feel the spirit. Because when they feel the spirit and feel the truth they are willing to step out of their comfort zone and change their lives to be born in Christ.

A lot of the time when people accept offers for us to come teach them they are just expecting us to come read the Bible a bit and speak pretty words about Christ and then after that, they can move on with their lives. So when they come to realize that we bring a message more important than that and that we are here to change everything that they once knew, they either shirk away and decide that they don't want to learn more or they rise to the challenge. I know I´ve mentioned this before, but it's tough sometimes weeding out the ones who are just going to sit and listen from the ones who are going to act and progress and accept the gospel. But I know that the Lord is preparing and has prepared people here in Monte Águila to accept His gospel. We just have to do our best to be the sharpest tools in the Lord's hands and constantly look for those that are prepared. It's hard to keep that perspective sometimes but it's all worth it in the end when you find that 1 person that's ready to change.

Irma is going to be baptized this Saturday the fifteenth and if all goes well Pablo will be baptized the week after on the 22^nd, the last weekend before cambios. So in short I´m pretty stoked that if I leave in two weeks, I´ll at least be here to see some of the fruits of my work here in Monte. Well that's all I got for you guys this week haha. It really was an uneventful week but with the baptism and everything I'm sure I´ll have more to say next week. Once again I´m so grateful that I was able to talk to you guys yesterday. Thank you for all of your love and support and thank you for all that you do for me. I love you all and I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's why I´m here. To make you all proud, To fulfill my self expectations and more importantly to make my Father in Heaven proud and to help him bring to pass his work and his Glory. There is nothing better than building the Kingdom.

Les quiero Chau!!!!!!

Élder Harper :)

p.s. thank you for the poem Austin I loved it haha. You´ve got some mad rhyming skills.

OH HOW LUCKY I AM TO BE A MISSIONARY. I LOVE MY SAVIOR, I LOVE THIS GOSPEL AND I LOVE THIS WORK...

Querida familia,

Kiu kiu (a very chileno way to say hola). How's it all going? It sounds like everything's going normal but good as usual back at home with the kids and their sports and social lives. And thanks for making me daydream for a few minutes about the waves Dad jaja. I do miss the ocean but that's ok. The baptismal font is better :). Well my week was very hectic once again but it had a happy ending this week jaja.

We finally got our calefont (water heater) installed on Thursday! The guy told us it was only going to take up the morning hours and Thursday is weekly planning in the house anyways so we thought it was going to work out perfectly. In the end he ended up taking the whole day Thursday and half of Friday due to complications. So we lost a lot of valuable work time this last week. So when we were actually out in the street we were working our tails off talking to everybody and visiting and taking care of all of our investigators that we have. I was really nervous but in the end of the week our work, with fasting and praying and a lot of help from the Lord, paid off. We were able to bring four investigators to church including Irma!

Yes Irma´s, husband has finally returned from the campo and now all she needs is a baptismal interview to get baptized! We are going to see tomorrow if she can still get baptized this Saturday on the eighth but their are some obstacles to that so if that doesn't work out, she will at least get baptized on the fifteenth for sure :). She knows the church is true and she is ready so I am very excited for her to be able to finally get baptized. Also Pablo (the joven we found and brought to church last week) came to church again and is progressing. He is reading the Book of Mormon and praying and I think he´s close to baptism. He likes the church a lot and feels good but he has a lot of questions and his own ideas about religion. But we have a cita with him on Wednesday and we are going to try to put a baptismal fecha with him on Wednesday. The other two investigators that came are progressing a little more slowly so as they progress I´ll let you know a little more about them. We unfortunately also had to let go of some investigators yesterday because they were degressing rather than progressing and didn't come to church. It really hurts me to do it but some people just aren't ready to take upon them the name of Christ and discipleship just yet.

As far as our companionship is going, it's improving a lot. It's not perfect and we still have a ways to go but we are improving and are teaching and working more and more in unity with every day so I´m not too worried about that. Oh and also even though it was terrible that we lost a lot of working time it did give me a lot of time to study and I learned a lot the day and a half that we couldn't work. So I´m thankful for the opportunity I had to learn and broaden my understanding a little of the Great Plan of Salvation that our Father has for us and of the grand divine potential that each one of us, his children, has. I just love the gospel and am so grateful that I´m part of his true church and of his great work as a missionary here on the Earth. Oh how lucky I am to be a missionary. It´s daunting sometimes to try to live up to the calling but I know that He is helping me with each step become the missionary and man that He wants me to be. Not through my will but through His. I love my Savior, I love this Gospel, and I love this work... and of course I love all you guys :). Chao!!!

Con amor, Élder Harper :)

HELLO HELLO FIZZIE IZZIE!!!!!!

It is great to here from you as always and I hadn´t heard too much about the life of THE Iz for a while so it was good to get your email. Well it sounds like even though you are scraping up your face and have a vampire tooth that needs to be removed, you are still having a good time so that is good. Good job in Lacrosse I hear that your tearing it up and have ten goals. You better still be playing when I get back so I can go to your games.

Well Chile is going pretty good. The weather can't make up its mind whether it wants to be warm or cold. Right now it's warm and it's been warm for a few days but who knows about tomorrow. We got cussed out by a drunk guy last night but that's nothing new. The sad part is now I understand most of the cuss words. Oh and when we were fasting Saturday night we went to a members house and they were celebrating their son's Engineering Degree with a huge asado (barbecue) Monte Águila is poor so we never have asado but we were fasting so we just had to sit there and enjoy the aroma and stay strong. Maybe that's why God blessed us with investigators in Church on Sunday haha. Well I got to go Iz a biz but take it easy and don't worry about not reading all of the emails. It's all good and I know that you read when you can. Well I got to go. CHAO!!! Oh and if you read this mom im going to call home in like an hour to plan for Mother's Day.

Con amor, Élder Harper :)