WE BEGAN TO TEACH THIS FAMILY, THE SPIRIT FILLED THE ROOM

Hola y saludos a todos,

Wow, even in my roughest sector of the mission so far, time seemed to go by way fast. Now three months have passed and it's time to say goodbye to Santa Juana. First I'll tell you a little bit about my week. Tuesday was spent doing contacts, trying to visit innactive families, and getting blown off by appointments, but we worked hard. Wednesday was pretty tough because even though we were out working hard my comp was all down about the sector and that kind of affected my mood as well, and once again it didn't help that we weren't able to contact any of our investigators and nobody really cared to talk to us on the doorsteps and in the street. But the day ended well with one of the better lessons that we've had in a while.

We went to an appointment with a somewhat wealthier investigator family who has potential and we got the branch president's wife to come with us. Before going to the appointment we were kind of feeling negative and down but as we began to teach this family, the spirit filled the room and I could feel it helping the mother of this family understand the message of the restoration and its importance. She understood everything very well, which usually doesn't happen, and was excited to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of our message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She was not able to attend church this Sunday but my comp and his new comp have an appointment with her and the branch president's wife again this Wednesday so I have hope that she will be able to pray in ernest, receive her answer, and then have the courage to do what it takes to follow that.

While we are on the subject of investigators, our other ones are not doing so hot. Yeseña has changed and has given the gospel a backseat in her life and Laura and Juan are still in the same boat and not progressing. It's really tough to see investigators give it up but that's life, not really anything more to say about that.

On Friday I did get to do an intercambio (exchange) with some Elders in my district to do a baptismal interview (which is always uplifting) in the only sector in the whole mission with bikes. So at least for one day in the mission I was out doing the work on a bike, although I do have to say that I think I prefer walking. It's easier to talk to people in the street that way. Anyways on Saturday morning I got the call for cambios and lo and behold I am leaving. I actually have the biggest cambio ever because I am going to continue as district leader in Loncoche, which is the farthest south sector in the mission. After almost a year of being up here in the north I am going back down south to where it all began. I am going to be in the same zone where Pitrufquén is and the hermanas there are actually going to be in my district. Also this weekend for general conference I will be watching it in the chapel in Pitrufquén, the same chapel where I watched my first general conference in the mission. That will be some major dejavu, and also I´ll be able to see and for the first time speak to all of my buddies down in Pitruf.

Although I am relieved to be leaving Santa Juana I still kind of have mixed feelings about it. I wanted to go but now leaving is kind of sad because I feel like I haven't really done that much here these passed three months and that I will just be another missionary that did his time and passed through here in the minds of the people. I may have not had all that much success here but at least I have overcome problems, learned valuable lessons and am now leaving with the resolve to work harder, smarter, and better in my new sector, Loncoche. I feel like I didn't really accomplish the work that the Lord had intended for me or find the people that I needed to here, but I won't dwell on it too much. The past is past and now I just have to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Well I got to go, have fun enjoying the heat wave and I'll tell you all about my new sector and new comp next week. Until then I love you guys.. CHAOOO!!!!!!!!

Élder Harper =)

SCRIPTURE STUDY COUPLED WITH ERNEST PRAYER HELPS CLEAR THE MIND AND PUTS THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE A LOT.

Hola Hola!

Well my second and last Dieciocho here in Chile has come and gone and we are going on the last week now of this cambio and probably my last week here in Santa Juana. This Dieciocho wasn't as active and fun as my last one but we still had a good time. Even though I am glad it's over because the holiday was not very good for the work so last week wasn´t nearly as productive. We had the capicitation thing on Monday so Tuesday was pday. Then we basically just had Wednesday and Thursday as good solid work days because we had the branch activity on Friday, which took the whole afternoon (like 5 hours) and then we had Saturday (Dieciocho) as pday. But the Chilenos, from Friday until today, were in party mode. Lots of drunks, lots of investigators out of town or entertaining guests, and everyone too busy partying or with preparations to listen to us. We did find a really good person although doing contacts on Thursday. We talked for a long time and she was really interested and we were stoked but at about 10 minutes into the contact we found out that she is from Santiago and is just down visiting family here in Santa Juana. Sigh, just our luck, but it was still a good experience.

Then, as I mentioned earlier, we had the branch activity in the meeting house on Friday afternoon. It wasn't nearly as big or active as the activity they did in Pitrufquén but it was alright. There were like 25ish people there with some games and lots of food. I basically just spent the whole time chatting with members and some of their non member family members and stuffing my face with empanadas while drinking mote con huesillo. Man I ate so much fried food this weekend (including like 30 empanadas) I feel absolutely sick. Then after the activity we took a two hour bus ride to Lota to sleep at the missionaries' house over there because we did a double zone activity in the chapel over there for Dieciocho. It was fun and all but it was a lot of traveling and it wasn't really all that exciting. But the anticucho(shishkabob) and asado(barbecue) was good so I didn't complain. So ayways it was a good weekend but when Sunday came around we didn't think we were going to have anyone in church because we didn't see our good investigators pretty much all week. But to our surprise, halfway through the sacrament, in walks the 20 year old son of this innactive member that we've been talking to and trying to teach. I thought that he wasn't all that interested but he came to church by himself and without us picking him up or anything and he seemed to like it so we will see how it goes with him when we go to teach him this week.

Well it was a really short work week and the activities for Independence day weren't all that exciting so I'm just about out of stuff to write about this week. But this week we have the whole work week without interruptions and even though I enjoyed the festivities I'm ready to hit the streets again and to finish out my time here in Santa Juana working hard and smart and doing everything I can to have the spirit of the Lord with me. Looking back at the work here I´ve made some mistakes, and I've had some hard times but I've learned from all of those and am going to work hard to keep my spirits and animo up to finish it off good this cambio. I´m not sure yet about what the cambios are officially, but this Saturday I will, so you will hear about it next Monday. Well I've got to go now but I love you guys and can't wait to hear from you again next week. So until then cuidense y portense bien. CHAOOO!!!!

con amor, Élder Harper =)

Hey Mom!!

Thanks for the letter. I loved it. Oh and by the way you're right. I think it would help out a lot to make it a habit to have good daily scripture study which is started and if necessary ended with prayer. Scripture study coupled with ernest prayer helps clear the mind and puts things in perspective a lot. Sometimes I've come home from a rough day and I've needed to ask Heavenly Father for like a million things but instead I just start going on about what I'm grateful for and why I am grateful for it and that always helps me to feel better. Well mom I got to go pero te quiero mucho y cuidate!

tu hijo chileno, Élder Harper =)

Hey DAD!

Loved your letter. I don't have much time left but I just wanted to send a quick note. I'm glad that you are enjoying seminary and are rediscovering the fount of spiritual strength and peace that is daily scripture study. I absolutely love it and need it to function properly as a missionary. I hope that I never lose it after the mission. Also I'm really glad that you guys enjoy my letters and that they might actually be helping people out back home. Here I've taken I huge hit to myself confidence and esteem as a missionary and at times have questioned if I really am cut out to do this work but I know that those thoughts are just from the adversary. Anyways it was good to hear that I might be helping out back home even though my efforts aren't resulting here in the field. I guess I just need to work harder and with more consistency, diligence, and animo because sometimes it's hard to keep the animo up.

Although I don't think that I'm nearly as good of a missionary as you were I know that I've at least got 10 more months left here to become a good missionary. Im too weak and make too many mistakes but I guess that's so that we can stay humble. Oh and don't worry, I agree with you about the levity. Trust me here in the mission I love joking around, having a good time and making contacts, investigators and members alike smile and laugh. But with levity there is a time and a place and there are limits and my comp likes to flirt with those limits a lot and sometimes chooses the wrong moments and places. But he has gotten better with it so there aren't too many worries there. Anyways I just wanted to let you know that I love you and am grateful for your words of support and encouragement. Tell your class that I say hi.

Te quiero papa, cuidate

tu hijo chileno, Élder Harper =)

WHAT KEEPS ME GOING IS THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THIS GOSPEL AND THIS MESSAGE IS FOR EVERYONE

Hola Hola a todos,

Well summer is over and everyone is back to the grind of school. I remember those days, and yes Mom, I do remember still all too well starting every semester with a messed up schedule and the frustration at the guidance office. Haha, good times, good times.

Well as far as things are going here, Elder Steele and I have been doing all right here in Santa Juana. As far as the work goes it's still chugging along here, and by chugging yes I mean still very painfully slow. We have investigators and we've found new ones but they are all either not progressing or the progress that they do make is snail-paced. Yeseña was ´sick´ all last week so we couldn´t get a hold of her and nothing new has happened with Laura and Juan either. They still want to get married but they can't find the courage to just go up and do it without further delay. We've talked with them but as of right now they are keeping their plan for marriage in December. But we still haven't really had a chance to talk to both of them at the same time about it so maybe if I can do that this week it will help. Oh and the older Lady and her three grandchildren that we found and taught last week that were really good are still interested and want to get baptized but now they are moving to Conce in like a week so that's a big bummer but we´ll just have to pass the reference along to the missionaries over there.

Last week we worked hard but our animo was up and down and we also had comp problems that had to be fixed on Wednesday but besides that our companionship is good. Elder Steele is a great guy and loves to joke around. Sometimes the endless jokes and taking lightly of things would get on my nerves but he is working on being more serious when we need to be serious and all in all we are good friends. I´ll miss him when the cambio ends because despite all of the jokes and stuff he knows why he is here and he is a hard worker. At times last week we both got a little discouraged and down but we are working on doing better about that and I know as we continue to try to be better and work harder then our patience will pay off. We just need to keep atittudes up, which is difficult at times, and continue working with the faith and hope that our Heavenly Father will lead us to his prepared and that we will be able to recognize who they are.

Even though all of the new people that we found the week before kind of just dropped we found and taught two new families last week that have invited us back and that have potential to be good investigators. So we are excited about continuing with them this week, cuz when we are teaching we are happier =) and with one of these families we felt the spirit very strong and its guidance with the lesson last week so we will see how things go with them tomorrow. We probably would have had some of this people in church last week but we had stake conference in San Pedro, an hour away, and had to leave the chapel in a bus at eight in the morning to get there and none of our investigators were able to make it. Stake conference is a bummer when you are in the pueblos and have to travel a long distance, but what can you do, it's past. Now we have some lessons and such planned for this coming week but besides that, it's probably not going to be as productive as last week because that special time of year has come to Chile once again.

Thats right folks.... it's the week of the famous 18 de Septiembre!!! Yep it's bigger than Christmas, New Year, and Easter combined, it's Dieciocho!!! And it's not just any September 18 party for the Chilenos but it's their Bicentenial this year so it's going to be a big bash. While we will only have the 18th off as a p-day, the Chilenos will have 5 full days off of work to celebrate in normal Chileno fashion. Barbecue, dancing, and flowing alcohol jaja. So it probably will be hard to work since a lot of people will be going out of town or will have visitors down for the week and stuff but on the good side, it's always fun practicing teaching and giving baptismal challenges to the drunks. They make for a funny 2 minute or so conversation to break up the monotony sometimes and brighten up your day, as long as they aren't violent that is jaja good times. But Dieciocho or not, the Lord's work never rests and doesn't have time to rest and heck I've only got two weeks left to show Santa Juana what I got, to serve the people of this fine town, and to leave it all on the field here so I can feel that these last 2 and a half, 3 months of work here in Santa Juana have not been in vain.

What keeps me going is the knowledge that this gospel and this message is for everyone. That not all roads lead to God, but that He has a specific plan, a Gospel, and a church that fits everyone's needs for all of his children. The whole human race, Chilenos, gringos and everyone alike. Not everyone will accept our message, lots won't even give us the time to present it, but that's ok because everyone here in this little pueblo has the right to hear the call. It's just my job to present it and be the best vessel that I can be for the spirit to work through but all the rest is up to the person. I can't mess with anyone's free agency, all I can do is love, serve and teach. I'm not the best missionary and maybe I'm not the one to get through to these people here in this pueblo but I am trying and repenting every time I make mistakes. So I'm going to try my best to give Santa Juana the missionary that it deserves for these last two weeks here. Well I think that's all I got for this week. Love you all and PLEASE do something to help out the missionaries where ever you live this week. Because it really does make all the difference in missionary work. This is one thing I've learned here in Santa Juana, and unfortunately I learned it the hard way. Well ok this time I really am going. CHAO!!!

con amor, Élder Harper =)

p.s. tomorrow makes 1 year in Chile. One whole year here in Chile. and 14 months in the mission, can't even believe it. These next ten months are going to fly by in no time. I better make the best of it.

THROUGH THE GOOD AND THE BAD THERE IS STILL NO PLACE ELSE THAT I'D RATHER BE THAN OUT HERE ON MY MISSION.

Querida familia y todos,

Well another week has come and gone and now the cambio is halfway over. Even during the rougher times during the mission the time still flies. It's a bummer for the kids the party is over. Grandma and Papa are gone and it's time to go back to school jaja. I'm sure you are all busy getting ready for that now.

Well my week was alright, It started off well anyway. The first half of the week we worked really hard and focused on finding new people. It was impossible, next to impossible, to get any of the members to go out with us so we just did some good old fashioned door knocking and talking in the street. That really didn't work out all too well for us but on Tuesday we got a surprise. Yeseña called us and told us that we needed to come over as soon as we could. So after we finished up with whatever we were doing we went over to her house. When we asked what was up she told us that ever since she stopped going to church and stopped meeting with us that things had just gone down hill. That she missed the feeling we felt in church and in the lessons and that she was having trouble feeling purpose in life and that she had been dreaming a lot about the church. So we told her that we were going to do everything to help her get that feeling back and get her life into harmony with what God wants and she agreed and said that she wanted to learning from us again, going to church, and to work towards baptism. So we were stoked about that and she and her friend were both ready to go to church on Sunday but when we got there only the friend was there and not Yeseña. When we asked what happened she said that they were on their way to church together when Yeseña got a call to go back to take her Dad to the hospital. Satan is working really hard with her but she said that no matter what she is going to make time this coming week to meet with us and we are going to put a baptismal fecha with her and her friend this week. They are ready and I think just need a set goal, like a specific fecha, to work for to keep them motivated to stay on the path. Laura and Juan are exactly the same. They were once again out of town this week but they were with Juan´s sister in law, who is an active member, so I am hoping that she still took them to church on Sunday. Hopefully next week I´ll have more news for you on them next week. Oh and Euphemia once again went out of town and this time for like two weeks so it looks like she might have to wait for another set of missionaries until she gets baptized.

As far as finding is going all the news that we find doesn't last but this last week on Wednesday I think we found a good one. We just contacted this older lady with a cane and three grandchildren trailing her in the street and when we asked her how she was, she said ´mal´. We usually don't get that reply so we asked her some questions and she told us about all of these problems she is having in life right now and that it feels like it's too much. So we shared her our message of comfort and love and she invited us in to hear more. We also helped her out with some of her non spiritual material problems which definitely helped her accept to hear our message and to invite us in. We had a short first lesson with her and then she invited us to come back for another appointment. When we did we taught her about the plan of salvation and eternal families and how she could realize that through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. We taught her with lots of questions and the spirit was felt strong in her home. When we gave her and her nine year old grandson the baptismal challenge at the end they were hesitant but said that they would prepare themselves to be baptized. So we were way stoked for that and this family really does seem like they are going to come through with it but when we invited them to church they had already had plans to go visit family in Conce but said they were for sure for the next week. So it's a bummer that they won't be able to be baptized this cambio because they won't ¨have the three in church but I have faith that they will continue to progress and get even more excited for baptism when we teach them the restoration this next week. So finally all the contacts that we've been making paid off a little bit and we were finally invited into a house to teach for the first time here in Santa Juana in like three weeks.

The week would have probably ended better but things fell apart with some would be investigators and the innactive kids that we were helping with their English. It was a really tough and long weekend but I made it through. Through faith, hope, prayer, and the scriptures we will always make it through. We could feel sorrow for ourselves for what's going on and we could give up but the Savior didn't give up on us when he was suffering in the garden or bleeding on the cross. He didn't give up on me so I won't give up on him. I know that no matter what is happening our lives He will be with us when we are in our own personal Gethsemane. He will always be with me, and you. Well I love you all very much and I love being out here. Like I always say through the good and bad there is still no place else that I'd rather be than out here on mymission.

con amor, Élder Harper :)

ps. I know I ended the letter all spiritual and all but there's a funny story I forgot to tell you guys. So this morning after we deep cleaned the house we went on a hike up the big hill to the mirador where there's the wooden tower that looks down on all of Santa Juana and the river. I think you´ve seen pictures already. But anyway on the way up on the side of the trail we found a herd of wild billy goats. Shaggy fur curly horns and all, about 10 of them. So we went off the trail and tried to get close to take some good pictures and stuff but before I was able to get close enough to get some really good ones they would get spooked and move back. So Elder Steele just started yelling and chasing them and I followed suit tracking and chasing them for a good ten minutes or so. It was pretty cool even though we almost got lost because of it. Elder Steele wanted to hit one with a rock but fortunately he did not succeed. I didn't want to get caught in a billy goat stampede with their horns and stuff. Oh and it totally brought me back to the Tombstone Arizona petting zoo experience when I was little. I'm sure papa remembers jaja. Anyways just a goofy missionary story, you'll see the pictures later. well love you. chao

I AM DETERMINED TO LEAVE MY MARK ON THIS PLACE AND LEAVE IT BETTER THAN I FOUND IT.

Muchas Holas a todos!!!

Well sorry I'm emailing so late, we had a capacitation in Talcahuano today for all of the district and zone leaders here in the north so I didn't have p-day and we just got back to Santa Juana a little bit ago. Wow I can't believe you guys are on your last week of summer, one more week and Abbie is a senior, Baylor a sophomore, and Izzie a 7th grader. Everybody is growing up too fast.

Well let's see what can I tell you guys about this week? In some ways it was better and in others just the same. It was better in that I finally got over that stupid flu and was back to working like normal all last week. Also we worked hard last week so that felt good, but I think we could have worked harder and more efficiently because we didn't really see any results. Anyways Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty uneventful, just lots of contacting and working but we didn't really find anyone. On Thursday we had interviews which went well. We were capacitated once again on the new principles that are being implemented in the missionary field world wide and did a lot of practices. Then during the interviews I got to talk to both President and the hermana Swenson and it went well, but nothing really more too say about that rather than it was just good to talk to them.

We left the interviews all pumped up to get back to our sector to hit the streets working again and we did exactly that but with little success. Also we did a lot of contacts out in the rain on Friday but nobody wanted to let us in. Everyone just told us to go home and that we were crazy for going knocking door to door in the rain but it didn't really bother us too much. All the rejections aren't important. We are just looking for those that the Lord has prepared here to hear us. We found a few mas o menos people throughout the week and we were supposed to have a few in the chapel on Sunday but we ended up with a big zero in the capilla Sunday morning.

As far as how the investigators that you know about are doing, Yeseñas Dad is still in the hospital and we´ve tried to get a hold of her but she´s still missing in action. I'm not going to say that she's dead just yet until we have the chance to talk to her again but it looks like she´s heading in that direction. We also weren't able to get a hold of Laura and John once again because they were in Conce the whole week and the weekend but we have a set appointment to visit them this Tuesday and I still have faith that they are good. It just seems like Satan has been putting a lot of obstacles in their life to keep them from progressing in the gospel. But we are going to pray big time for them this week and fast for them as well I think. It's really hard seeing all of these good investigators slipping out of our grasp and not being able to do about it but we are just going to do all we can, keep working hard and putting our trust in the Lord.

The only good thing that came out of last week is that we found some kids by accident in the street that were baptized about a year ago and weve been talking with them and helping them and their non member friends out with their English homework last week and we got one of them to go back to church with us this week. Now he is excited to be coming back and is going to try to get all of his buddies to come with him this coming Sunday so we will see how it goes. Well I'm sorry that this email was really boring but last week just really wasn't all that great. But I'm not sick anymore so this next week we are just going to work work work and work to break through this brick wall that seems to be thrown up in front of us. we are also trying to visit the innactive members a lot so we can get this branch back up on its feet because right now Santa Juana can't get too much lower. Well it was a tough week but I'm not going to let it get to me. I still have at least a month left here in Santa Juana and I am determined to leave my mark on this place and leave it better than I found it. I know there are more lessons to be learned here and I have got a good comp and we get along great so we are going to make the best out of these last four weeks the we have left of the cambio. Well I love you guys, I love the Lord, I love the Chilenos and I love my mission. Ill try to have a better email for you guys next week. Chao!!!

con mucho amor, Élder Harper =)