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 =)
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