HAPPINESS IN THE FONT

WE DECIDED TO KNOCK DOORS TO SEE IF WE COULD FIND ANYONE WHO DIDN'T CARE ABOUT THE CRAWDADS

Hello everybody!!!!!!

Well it feels like it's been a while since I´ve heard from you and written you. That's probably because it has been a while. haha Anyways it was good to hear from you guys. Man, the capacitation thing was good but it's been a long week and I am dead tired. But today I´m going to tell you about how my last week went and on Monday I´ll tell you about how the whole capacitation thing in Conce went. That way I´ll have something to write about on Monday. Well first of all it sounds like you guys are having a fun and active summer. Hearing about the Channel Islands trip from Dad brought back a lot of memories from when I was there six years ago. Man, I can't believe that was six years ago. I´m really getting old. Oh, and Izzie´s story of Abbie and Jenna´s experience at the Sawdust Festival really made me laugh. jajaja Thanks Izzie. Oh and I´m sorry about the surf Dad, it's not going to be easy but I know that you will be blessed for sacrificing dawn patrol to teach seminary. As you dedicate more time and energy to studying the scriptures and preparing lessons for your students, you´ll feel your testimony strengthen and grow. I´m sure that you´ll be glad you made the decision in the end =).

Well so let's see... how did my last week go? This week has been so long that it'.s kind of hard to remember what I did the week before. At the beginning of the week I started to get down a little bit. I remember that we worked hard but I felt like we could have worked harder and more efficiently but in the end of the week we were greatly blessed. We have and had a few good progressing investigators and we found some new ones who are really good too but it was kind of frustrating because all of the best investigators that we had at that time, we knew wouldn´t be able to go to church because three of them had to work at this stupid Crawdad Festival. So even though they are progressing and all, it still made me frustrated that they aren´t progressing faster but I´m having patience. As Saturday morning came around, we had some good investigators and we were finding some potentially good new ones and were working hard but we didn't have anyone who could come to church with us on Sunday because of the crawdads and other reasons. So it got me down thinking that we might have another Domingo con zero en la capilla but we did our best to keep our animo up. So in the morning on Saturday we decided to knock doors to see if we could find anyone who didn't care about the crawdads. So we went to a street that I had never been before and started knocking.

On the second house this older woman came out and without a word opened the gate and told us to follow her. We were a little surprised but we did as we were told and followed her into the living room. Then she asked us where we had been and why we had stopped coming to her house. I was taken aback for a second and tried explaining to her that we had never seen her before when she realized that we were different people than she thought. She then told us that the missionaries were teaching her and that she went to church twice before the earthquake. Then after the earthquake she didn't see the missionaries again. We asked her if she liked what they were teaching her and she said yes and that she liked the chuch a lot. So we invited her to go with us on Sunday and she said she would. We then taught her briefly about the gospel of Jesus Christ and told her that we were going to prepare her to receive baptism by the authority of God like the baptism that Jesus received and she said that it sounds good. When we went to her house on Sunday to pick her up she came out the door dressed and ready to go before we even had the chance to yell ¨halo¨ or knock. So we are way excited about her but the only problem is that she can´t read and that she works as a nanny taking care of an ¨abuelito¨ which I thought funny because she's an old person taking care of an old person jaja, but it's all good. The only thing is that when he´s really sick she can't escape for a few hours to go to church so we are praying that the abuelito stays healthy enough to let her go to church.

Also on Sunday, one member who lives out in the campo and is extremely spiritual, finally convinced her little 16 year old brother, who isn't a member, to go with her to church and he seemed to really like it a lot. At the end he said he would come the next week and we planned to go out to his house in the campo to have a noche de hogar (family night) with him this next week. We would have done it earlier but we had to go to Conce for the capacitations. Also, two other members brought either a non acitve family member or friend that is starting to show interest in the church. So in the end we had four investigators in the church and I was left humbled. We´ve been working like dogs without seeing much results but finally last week the Lord led us to one of his prepared and the members did the rest of the work to bring the other investigators. It really showed me that we can't do this on our own no matter how hard we work but that if we have faith and work hard with patience the lord will provide in his own due time.

Oh and this is kind of random, but Elder Villegas and I planned a little Pioneer Day that we had here in Santa Juana last Saturday. We drank hot chocolate, ate cake, and watched El Legado (Legacy). Then after the movie we shared what we liked and what we learned from the movie. It was simple and very small, only ten people showed up. But we had a good time and felt the presence of the spirit there. In the end, the week ended well with a good Pioneer Day and a good Sunday in the capilla. Ok well that's all I got for now but I'll talk to you guys again in just three days and I´ll tell you how this week went then. Until then love you all!! chao!!!!

con amor, Élder Harper =)

ps. keep it up Mom with the scripture study, conference club and DAK. even though it seems like it might not make that much of an impression it really does. Well it did on me even though I know that I really didn't show it well. Anyways keep it up. Especially with family scripture study and most of all FAMILY PRAYER. your awesome mom =)

P-DAY DIES

Hello family!!!

So if your wondering why in the world you are getting an email on a Thursday from me it's because I don't have p-day this coming Monday. The church leaders are making some major changes on how they are going to train the missionaries in the MTC and such but before they start it in the MTC they are going to integrate the changes on the way we are going to teach in all of the missions around the world. So on Monday all of the district leaders and zone leaders of the mission are going to be in Concepción for a 4 day long capacitation that is going to last until Thursday. Which means I will not have p-day on Monday but we will do email this coming Friday. Not this Friday but next Friday. And then next Monday I will have p-day and do email like normal. Anyways this 4 day long training thing with all of the leaders should be very interesting but I'll tell you how it goes when I write next Friday. Well I got to go but I love you all. CHAO!!!!

Elder Harper =)

note from Mom: Riley will have P-day this Friday and next Monday. I will post both of those letters next Monday

IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE BEING OUT HERE IN THE MISSION, IF NOT THE BEST

Hello everybody!!!

Wow, has time gone fast.. I have been in the mission a year now!!! Where has the time gone, How has a year already passed by me? As I approached Thursday I did a lot of thinking and reflecting of how this year has gone in the mission and how I´ve changed and the experiences I´ve had from when I walked into the MTC wide eyed and overwhelmed until now. I´ve been going over the experiences in my head from the MTC and each one of the sectors that I´ve been in thus far. Thinking about all missionaries and chilenos that I´ve met and that have left impacts on my life and the conversions of all of my converts up til now. I´ve thought about how I´ve worked, what I´ve done well, and what I could have done better. Yes I´ve made a lot of mistakes and yes there are things I understand now that I wish I would have known earlier but looking on everything I came to the conclusion that it was one of the best years of my life being out here in the mission if not the best.

It made me a little sad that now I´m over the hill and am on the other side but it also made me excited for all of the experiences, friendships, baptisms, and miracles that await me on this side of the hill. Now I have a lot more experience and understanding and realize more than ever that I have a long way to go until I´m the missionary and the man that I want to be but it gives me hope knowing that I still have a year to go to become the person I want to be. Thursday felt a lot more like New Years than January first this year jaja. I am far from perfect and I sorrow for being such a rebellious and disobedient child of my Father in Heaven but I know that if I trust in him and try to swallow my pride he will help me to become better. Jaja I really identified with Nephi´s words in his psalm (2 Nephi 4) as all this was going through my head. Yes I could be more obedient, yes I could keep my mind and heart on the work more, yes Im too prideful, yes I need to rely on the Lord more, and yes I need to work harder. Sometimes it's overwhelming but it all just comes down to pride. When we humble ourselves and put our trust in God then he will turn our weaknesses into strengths and mold us into who we need to be and into who he needs us to be. Thank goodness I´ve got another whole year to go to shape up!!!! =D

Wow this email has really turned into a journal entry jaja and I think I've been going in circles for a while now so I´ll move on. On Wednesday we had the big conference with the president of all the zones in the north and it was great to see everyone and be uplifted by the knowledge and wisdom of President Swenson and the assistants. Also five of my comps from the mission so far were there so I got to see Terrazas, Sanabria, Leiva, and Vincent. Actually Kamalu was there too so we had most of our original group there. We had a good time sharing experiences and marveling about how we are a year old now. None of us can believe how fast the time has gone by. And there was a lot of traffic in Conce so we didn't get back from traveling from conference until like 9:45 so that's why I had so much time to reflect jaja.

Then Thursday was hump day and it turned out to be a pretty good day. We spent the day looking up innactive members on the list and starting contacts by asking people in the streets for the addresses. We spent most of the day getting rejected but some of the innactives were receptive. Then we had a good lesson with this really nice agnostic lady who is progressing (very slowly but still progressing) and had a family night with another innactive family. Afterwards we got home and to comemorate one year in the mission, I burnt one of my white shirts that got damaged and didn't

use anymore in the backyard on a metal hanger. Just one of the pagan traditions that missionaries have jaja but it was fun. Of course we took pictures and video. The rest of the week was kind of a bust. We worked hard but didn't see much results and I kind of let myself get disanimated and at the end of the week didn't really have my heart too much in it. Then on Sunday the three people who were supposed to go to church didn't show up and so we had another week with zero in the capilla. It was a hard pill to swallow and made it worse that the rest of my district didn't do too much better.

But I´m done moping and I´ve repented and am ready to work harder and in a more efficient way here next week. This is just a trial that I'm going through here that I must pass through and I know that if I remain faithful and endure it well the Lord will bless me just like he said to Joseph in Liberty Jail. It's the enduring it well part that gets me sometimes but I'm trying to do better. Well this email has turned into quite the novel so Im going to wrap it up. I just want you all to know that I love you and love hearing about what's new with the fam every week. Keep enjoying your summer while I'm freezing here in winter. Well God lives and so does his son Jesus Christ and once again I had the privilege to testify to that in front of twenty members of the Santa Juana branch on Sunday in a talk just a few minutes after I said the opening prayer to start us off jaja. Well take care and until next week CHAUITO!!!

con amor, Élder Harper =)

ON MY FIRST SUNDAY I HAD TO BLESS THE SACRAMENT, PRESENT MYSELF, GIVE A TALK AND SAY THE CLOSING PRAYER

Hola y muchos saludos a todos!!!

Well another week has come and passed.  Another week that was way short but at the same time sooo long.  Leaving Monte Águila was really hard and kind of stressful jaja.  After email, we ran around the whole town for the rest of the day saying goodbyes to members and converts and so I didn’t get all of my packing done until way late.  But it was worth it.  The day of the cambios started off a bit gloomy as it was raining and it  continued to rain the whole day.  Finally,  a long morning and a few bus rides my new comp and I get to Santa Juana and me and my luggage are completely soaked.  And there began a slightly hard week.  But first off my companion is Élder Villegas from Ecuador.  He´s really tiny and looks like he´s 18 years old but he´s actually 25.  He has about six months in the mission and has a lot of desires to work and baptize and is a really good guy.  As far as Santa Juana goes, it's a small pueblo but to me, coming from Monte Águila, it doesn’t seem so small jaja.

      

It has a lot of potential and everything but right now it is stone cold dead so we are going to revive it this cambio.  While talking to Elder Villegas on the bus ride from Conce to Santa Juana, I came to find that there weren´t any investigators. They hadn’t brought anyone to church in over a month, and they haven’t baptized since 2009 (so for at least 7 months).  Yeah, that was a hard pill to swallow but it's not important because things are going to change here in Santa Juana starting now.  So anyways, since there are no investigators, after we ate lunch and I unpacked, on Tuesday we spent the day out knocking doors in the rain until like 8 pm and then we spent the rest of the evening introducing me to some members. Wednesday we had district meeting in San Pedro (at the chapel were I slept for a few nights after the earthquake) and I found out that it's not just my sector, but pretty much my whole district is dead.  Oh, and Elder Leiva is still in my district haha. He left from Cabrero to San Pedro to be in my district again.  Anyways including my sector, there are 3 other sectors in my district (that’s huge!!!) and not one of them had investigators in church the last week and only one of them baptized the last cambio.  Actually only one of them at the moment has any investigators at all to speak of.  That’s a huge difference from my last district where every sector was baptizing. So we set some goals and made some commitments to change some things to resurrect our sectors and the district.  

      

After the district meeting we had a pretty tough day Wednesday.  It rained the entire day and we spent the entire day, afternoon, and evening on the streets knocking doors.  We found a few that were somewhat receptive but we didn’t enter a single house the entire day.  And even though we were wearing our rain gear we took it to and beyond the limits.  When we finally got home at like 9 45 pm, we were soaked from head to toe and freezing cold.  Even though it was somewhat miserable and not very fruitful we were at least satisfied from a good hard days work.  I had never knocked so many doors in one day or gotten so wet before in my whole time here in Chile.  Hey those are some of the experiences that you just gotta have in the mission =).

     

On Thursday the rain finally stopped and the rest of the week went by pretty much the same.  Looking for people anyway we can.  Knocking doors, talking in the street, looking up innactives and past investigators, and asking references from members.  We didn’t find anybody amazing but we did get to enter some houses and teach a few lessons and we have some follow up appointments for this coming week so now at least we have some people to work with while we keep up the search for those that God has prepared here in Santa Juana.  And even though my comp had a hard time here last cambio with a companion who was disanimated and didn’t want to work, he's excited and ready to work this cambio and really wants to baptize before he leaves Santa Juana, so we are going to do our best to end the drought here this cambio.  

     

Unfortunately even though we worked like dogs the last week we weren’t able to get anyone to church on Sunday.  But that’s ok because now we have a few people and some good references so we will be sure to bring people to the chapel this coming week.  The rama here is tiny and there are no priesthood to speak of.  The only active priesthood holders are the branch president, the branch mission leader, two old guys, and one other guy who goes like every other week.  Then there is one girl youth and one boy youth.  The rest of the branch is relief society and young adult girls jaja.  Actually its not just the branch but the whole town is full of women.  My comp said that there are like 4 or 5 women for every guy who lives here in Santa Juana.  Maybe that’s why Im the first gringo missionary to be here for over a year jaja. So anyways there were only 25 people in the house here that they call a chapel on Sunday and I had to bless the sacrament, present myself, give a talk, and say the closing prayer.  I just love little towns =). Well even though I've only heard bad things from other missionaries about this place and that it's been dead for a while, I'm doing my best to not let that affect me or my animo.  My comp and I are stoked to be here and are pumped with the goal to be the ones to end the drought and quench the thirst of baptisms here in Santa Juana.  Well I got to go but I love you all, I love my God, I love my Savior, and I love my mission!!!!

Hasta la proxima semana, Élder Harper =D

I'M LEAVING WITH A PEACE THAT I POURED OUT MY HEART, SOUL, TESTIMONY AND BLOOD : ) FOR THE PEOPLE OF MONTE AGUILA.

Querida familia y amigos,

HAPPY LATE 4th OF JULY!!!! My fourth of July was crazy but also awesome! But I´ll tell you about it later in the email. First I just want to say congratulations Sam!!! That's so awesome that you're baptized now; Im really proud of you. And it sounds like you guys had a good week with Grandma and the Dixsons at home and an awesome fourth. That's really awesome that Dad and Bay got to go up to Parowan to be in the parade with Grandpa. I'm sure that was an awesome experience and it sounds like they loved it. Especially Grandpa I imagine. It also sounds like Abbie is having an awesome time and working her tail off over in Peru. I'm so excited that she's having this amazing experience and more than anything the opportunity to serve. She´s seeing a little bit of how the rest of the world lives and it is a very humbling, learning and enriching experience to be able to help them out and serve them. I´m sure that she´ll never forget the experience that she's having there. Well as far as my week went, it was pretty crazy but also very good. By the way, so you know, excuse my spelling because there is no English spell check and Spanish has completely destroyed my spelling and grammar in English. But anyways here it goes.

The World cup craze is officially over here in Chile. Everyone is still watching it but the energy and the excitement are gone. Chile lost in the second round to Brasil. I mean it was expected but it was still a very sad day for Chile last week when it happened because futbol is everything here. But while it was still going on I was really impressed with the feelings of pride and patriotic unity that it brought out in the Chilenos. It's finally over for the Chilenos which kills that conversation starter for when we are out contacting jaja.

On Thursday us and the Cabrero missionaries went down to the hospital in Los Ángeles to donate blood for the hermano who is dying of stomach cancer (and whose house burned down). He is actually in surgery right now but he needed blood donors before the operation so we volunteered. It took us like all day because we had to wait two and a half hours to do it down there but it was worth it. Now I can say that 

I´ve given everything, even spilled blood for the people here =) half a liter of blood to be exact haha. The only thing that went weird is that they told us that we had to fast before going in so none of us ate breakfast. Yes, they were wrong and the doctors told us that we were supposed to eat a good breakfast before going in. It wasn't a big deal but all of us were very dizzy and weak in the end jaja. Then afterwards we went up to visit the hermano who had just been told by his wife that they lost their house. They were both hugging and crying softly together when we got up to his room but he was cheered up and very grateful to hear the news about our blood donation. Then I told him that after the operation and transfusion, his hair was going to turn blonde, his skin white, his eyes blue, and that he would speak in a gringo accent after receiving our blood. Jaja. He really seemed to enjoy that. Then we said a prayer together and left. The family is being taken care of well and the city is supposed to start constructing a new house for them this week so we will see how that goes. I'm glad I was able to help out and give my blood for them. By the way, for future reference what's my blood type mom? Jaja.

Well it rained again this week for a few days but then it stopped again. It's winter, what can I expect. Also during the week a lot of our investigators kind of stopped progressing but things went well with Filomena and Carolina. Carolina stopped drinking, smoking, and taking coffee. She even went to a party with her friends and refused drink and cigarrettes despite the teasing from her friends. Then the zone leaders came to do their baptismal interviews on Saturday and they passed!!! Also, on Saturday morning we got our cambios. Hickman is staying in Monte Águila and I´m leaving. They are sending me to a little pueblo called Santa Juana, which is like 45 minutes or so south of Concepción and right on the river Bío Bío. I´m stoked to be going to another pueblo and to be staying in the north for the rest of winter instead of going to Temuco but it's sad leaving Monte Águila. I know its my time to leave and I feel ready to leave but it's still hard. There are a lot of people that I really care about here and a lot of people who care about me. A lot of people cried when they found out that I´m leaving, including the Hna Iglesias, Carolina, Raquel, and Viqui (the sister of Raquel). So Last night and today I´ve been doing the despedidas, saying good bye to everyone. I don't know how I´m going to finish doing that and packing tonight but where there´s a will there's a way jaja.

Despite yesterday being sad about me leaving, it was also an extremely happy Fourth of July. Despite my doubts, my investigators and God proved me wrong. Filomena and Carolina were both baptized yesterday!!! Wahoooo!!!! Who needs fireworks when you´ve got two baptisms! Jaja. Although the baptismal service was a little difficult, it went well and everyone felt good in the end. We waited an hour after church ended to do it because they didn't want very many people to be there and it was definitely an interesting baptism. Carolina was absolutely terrified and almost didn't go through with it. She had a near drowning experience as a child and as a result of that, is absolutely terrified of water. Just looking at a pool or body of water makes her scared and she was absolutely frozen by fear at just the thought of being dunked under the water. So Filomena went first and Hickman baptized her. The first time he said the prayer, I thought he did it fine but at the end when she came up out of the water, one of the witnesses stopped him and told him he had to do it without pausing or stuttering. That put him very nervous and he ended up saying the prayer another 10 times or so before he got it down perfectly and baptized her. To give Hickman credit, she did have a long confusing name and of course he was nervous because it was his first time baptizing. In the end, he did good and Filomena looked content while her sister was still just about dying of fear. It freaked her out that Filomena had to go under the water twice.

When it came to Carolina's turn, she looked at me and said ¨No.. I can't do it¨. Elder Leiva and I spent 5 minutes talking to her trying to convince her but it was hopeless. She was scared to death. We finally suggested that we all kneel down and pray together. I offered the prayer. During it I expressed thanks to our Heavenly Father for her desires to start in the path of righteousness and be baptized for the remission of sins and I asked him to bless her with calmness, tranquility and strength to follow the example of Jesús, conquer her fears, and be baptized. That helped her enough to get her to and into the font but she insisted that Elder Hickman, who is a life guard, be in the font as well, even though I would be doing the ordinance. It took like ten minutes to get her all the way in and she was clinging to both me and Hickman the whole time. Finally we got in position and she started to say once again that she couldn't do it. But then Elder Leiva said some comforting words to her that were perfect for her to hear and then she looked up at her son who was standing at the glass calmly watching her. Her kid Axel is 4 years old and is more ADD then almost any kid I know. During church and Filomena's baptism he was freaking out the whole time but at that moment for once he was calm and quietly watching us at the glass. I think that helped her a lot because she then closed her eyes and said she was ready. So I said the prayer and dunked her deep to make sure we wouldn't have to do any repeats. She came up spluterring and almost crying but when she finally realizad she wasn't drowning, she starting laughing and smiling and couldn't believe that she did it. Even though it was kind of difficult, it was an awesome baptism experience and she and Filo felt great for getting baptized and Caro for conquering her fears as well.

Well Im just about out of time at the computer and I have to go finish saying goodbye. I still need to go see Carolina and Filomena and the family Iglesias. I love Monte Águila and the people here so much and even though it's hard to say good bye, I´m leaving with a peace that I poured out my heart, soul, testimony, and blood :) for the people here of Monte Águila. Maybe I wasn't a perfect missionary here and maybe I could have worked harder and done more but at least I was able to help change some lives and leave some sort of impact as small as it may be here in Eagle Mountain.

con mucho cariño, Élder Harper =)