THEY WERE OVERJOYED TO SEE US AS WERE WE TO SEE THEM

Hey familia,

Well well well Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas time is officially on, Christmas music, lights, the whole shabang! Haha slightly jealous of that since nobody has lights and barely anyone has a tree here but oh well. This is my second one here so I'm already used to it. But anyways I'm glad that you guys enjoyed your holiday back in the states. I would have probably forgotten once again all about Thanksgiving but we had entrevistas with the president in Temuco that day so some other gringos reminded me about it and president bought us all Pizza Hut for lunch to commemorate. Jaja it might not sound like much but the only Pizza Hut in the mission is in Temuco and it's basically the only American restaraunt there besides McDonalds so it was a delicacy for us. My interview was good but short, nothing really too exciting to report on there. But since we are so far away that took up the whole day. Then on Friday we went to Pitrufquén to do a baptismal interview which was good but there were bus problems so that once again took up basically the whole day. Saturday we worked but spent most of the afternoon and evening helping a less active member with cancer paint her house and we gave her a blessing. Even though I just wanted to be out teaching or tracting or something, it still felt really good to serve and help her out and it must have had an impact on her because she came to church on Sunday so we were pretty happy about that.

But since we were so busy with other stuff during the week, we unfortunately didn't have much time to find new investigators and to help our current ones progress but the little 9 year old girl, Victoria, came with her member Dad to church on Sunday in a dress and everything (that's rare to see) so we were stoked about that. And we seem to be gaining more confidence with her and her Dad, so she is starting to progress along a little more towards baptism. She is really good but just timid and her Dad isn't that supportive, makes me so frustrated at times. But thats ok because we are going to put a specific baptismal fecha with her this week, who knows, maybe we´ll even have a white Christmas. I would absolutely love that =). Besides her none of our other investigators have progressed. Victor is still kind of bogged down and not progressing and we have another investigator who is awesome and says she´ll get baptized when she gets an answer to her prayers but she went to Santiago for a week so hopefully she will still be good when she gets back. It was kind of frustrating not having to much time to work and finding no new investigators last week but discouragement doesn't help anything so I'm not letting it get me down.

Anyways after church on Sunday me and the other leaders from our zone made the four hour trip up from Loncoche to Los Ángeles for the consejo de líderes ( mission council) on Monday. It was good seeing most of my buddies and all my past senior comps up there and then it was of course awesome hearing from the President, I love President Swenson, that man is just inspiring. He made me just so stoked to leave that conference and go back to tear it up in Loncoche. Then after conference it was once again back on a bus until Temuco and another night sleeping away from the house. But I rode on the bus all the way to Temuco with Elder Vincent, my comp from the MTC, and it was great to catch up with him because we don't cross paths very often here in the mission. Anyways that's about all that I got for this week, just lots of hours spent on a bus traveling. Fun stuff jaja. Well we have no meetings or anything for this week so it will just be a lot of unimpeded working our tails off to find new people to teach and baptize. We are looking for the Lords elect so.. it should be a good week. My next letter should be a lot more interesting than this one. 

Oh how could I forget! After the consejo, Elder Terrazas and I went to go visit Marcos y Marcela, and Victor, our converts in Galvarino. It was cool walking the streets of Galvarino again with Elder Terrazas (who finishes the mission this cambio) and visiting our converts. They were overjoyed to see us as were we to see them. It was a great experience and of course raised my mood up even more, they are awesome. Well now I will get going but I love you all very much, enjoy the week and the holiday season. CHAU!!!!

con amor, Élder Harper =)

MY WEEK...WELL IT HAD A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING

Hello Hello!!!

Ok well first off, thank you very much for reminding me about Thanksgiving because to tell you the truth I had all but completely forgotten about it because it doesn't exist here. But now on Thursday I'll make sure to commemorate it in giving special thanks in my prayers and oh.. I don't know.. maybe stuffing my face with sopaipillas or something. Man I love those things. So fried and greasy but soo good. Anyways enjoy some good turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing on my part.

So about my week.. well it had a little bit of everything. It started off amazing, had an alright middle and ended.. well.. I'll get to that later. But Monday to Thursday was just awesome and really felt like things just took a huge turn for the better in Loncoche. Just talking to almost everybody on the street with lots of energy and getting accepted. Like all of a sudden out of nowhere people have started to accept us more and let us in to teach them. We didn't have much time to knock doors this week because most of our time was spent running from appointment to appointment. I just felt I deep sense of peace and contenment in what I was doing and an extra dose of the spirit, it was awesome.

But on Thursday things started to change. It began to rain Thursday afternoon and didn't stop until Sunday afternoon. Thursday and Friday were alright but Saturday it rained the whole day without stopping and of course every one of our appointments and plan B´s and C´s failed and we were left with nothing else to do but knock doors because nobody was in the street. And even though everything was going wrong and we were soaked through the rain gear to the skin and nobody wanted to open the door or let us in we still felt really good. But it's crazy how unmerciful people can be sometimes when they tell you straight up to your face that they would let you in but they don't want you to get their house wet. Most people just told us we were crazy and to go home and dry off, which of course just made me want to stay out knocking doors all the more =).

Anyways on Saturday night we were feeling good because we had like ten people tell us they were going to church and 7 of them were for sures who we called to remind that night. But on Sunday morning it begins to rain and not one of them shows up. It was heartbreaking because for some of them it was their last chance before we dropped them. Yeah, so yesterday was pretty tough but the rain cleared up today and we have some good investigators to work with that we started teaching last week so hopefully they will be able to progress. This week will be about out with the old, and in with the new. I think I've already said this before but we just can't afford to use any more of our time teaching those who will listen but in the end not progress. That's why it's so important for us missionaries to use the discernment that the holy spirit can give us. Oh we weren't able to get ahold of Victor last week because he is sick but we prayed about him and decided not to give up on him just yet, but we will see if that sticks or not this week.

Well that's all I got for this last week. On Friday we have interviews so that should be good and there I should also be getting my packages and finally my leather scripture cover things that I ordered now over a year ago jaja. Well once again have a good Thanksgiving! Just in a little bit longer we will be talking for Christmas! I love you all very much and thank my Heavenly Father every day for blessing me with the best family every on this earth. I am one lucky guy =). Well until next week les quiero mucho y CHAUZZZZ!!!!!

Élder Harper =)

THE GRINGO WHO HAS BECOME CHILEAN

Hola Hola y buenas tardes!

Hmm another week come and gone and another month come and gone. 16 months old crazy stuff. I'm starting to get old out here jaja but definitely not too tired yet, I'm glad that I've got another 8 full months, a third of my mission still to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands here in Chile. Anyways it sounds like you guys all had a wonderful week back home in the big OC. Abbie congratulations about getting your blessing, read it all the time because it's just awesome, and Bay congrats on finishing your season and CIF well, you're a champ. And Izzie congratulations for just being you, you're awesome.

Well let's see here, what can I say about my week? Well it was the first full week of the cambio which means it was la semana de santificación (santification week) which means that we did over two hundred contacts. Yeah it was good just talking to everyone and testifying and teaching and such but man is it tiring. Out of those two hundred we didn't find anyone that is really amazing or a golden investigator but we did get let into a few houses to teach and we have a few return appointments for this week so we shall see how it goes.

As far as the investigators that we already have this week wasn't so great. I hate to say it but I just don't know if we are going to be able to baptize Victor. He just can't understand or comprehend the restoration and some commandments like the word of wisdom, and when we teach him he just gets distracted so easily and doesn't really pay much attention. So we kind of got discouraged with him this week, but we aren't going to give up on him just yet and we are even going to fast for him this week. But he did come to church again as always and in the chapel after sacrament meeting told us a story very loudly and said like ten cuss words in the story jaja yeah it was an interesting experience. But despite the rough edges he´s got a good heart and that's why I'm so reluctant to let him go. We will be praying for him a lot this week.

Also, we taught Veronica and Guiermo a few times last week with a member and had some good lessons and committed her to be baptized and once again to come to church. Once again she said that she was going for sure but when Sunday came around she didn't show up. We went over later and she said that her parents came down on Saturday from the campo and spent the night so she couldn't go because she had to be with them. Ugh its always something with her, I think we are going to give her one more week and if she doesn't progress we might have to drop her because our time is valuable and needs to be used with those who are prepared and ready to receive us, accept the truth, and act on it. It just feels like finding the needle in the haystack sometimes jaja. But I trust in the Lord that he will lead us to his chosen.

Spirituality wise it was a good week. It was on and off but overall good and even though the success has been little, just working hard and doing my part, I was blessed at times with feelings of contentment and peace. Now if those feelings could just always be there jaja. On Sunday this very very poor inactive family that we've been working with finally came to church so it was great to see them there. Then after church they told us to come over to the house later but wouldn't tell us why, but still we agreed. When we get there they have all this homemade bread and food waiting for us and were so excited to have us in their home and to feed us and it just brought tears to my eyes. This family lives in a house that's about the size of Abbie's room downstairs or a little bit smaller. This includes the bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. They are always very tight on money and don't have very many clothes or things but what they do have they are gladly willing to share. Just the humility and kindness of that family that was so excited to share what little that they had with us was just such a humbling experience and another reminder of how grateful I need to be for what I have back home. Well that's about all that I got for this week and hopefully I will have some good news and experiences with investigators next week. I love you guys very much, take care and until next week CHAU!!

El gringo que se ha convertido chileno, Élder Harper =)
(translation: The gringo who has become Chilean)

IT'S WHEN WE STOP WORRYING ABOUT OURSELVES AND START CARING MORE ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE THAT WE WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF AND CHANGED

Muchas Holas a todos!!!

Well first off Baylor, don't let the loss get to you. Just brush it off and go kick some skinny runner butt at CIF, go big or go home baby! jaja Anyways while it got really hot down there in Cali, the weather still can't make up its mind here at the end of the world. Or at least the end of my world, which is the boundaries of mission Chile Concepcion Sur. For the whole week up until Friday we were in short sleeves with lots of sun and then for the whole weekend it just decided to rain and hail really hard. It was pretty big hail too, fun stuff. But it looks like the rain is starting to go away again and hopefully it will stay that way. Well that's enough about the weather. Now I'll tell you about the week.

So on Saturday we had cambios and on Tuesday they let us know what they were, and for the first time in the history of my mission I didn't have a cambio. That's right. I am staying here in Loncoche with Elder Maldonado for another cambio. So since Elder Maldonado and I get along well that's pretty sweet that I get to stay with him. Now we can keep working on improving our teaching and working together and I think that this cambio will be a good one and hopefully more fruitful than the last. In the house,

Elder Hillman left and a chileno named Elder Garcia took his place to be Elder Calaway´s comp. Calaway has been having a tough time adapting to mission life and not having very many results so far so I'm glad that we will still be in the house so I can help him out. We are really good friends and he's just a good quality guy so I'm glad that we will be in the house together along with Elder M for another cambio.

As far as last week went by work wise, it was very rewarding but at the same time a little bitter and sad. We have been working hard and now we have been getting into houses and have a pretty good teaching pool and they want to change and are somewhat progressing but all of them have something that's impeding them. We were able to teach that one family, the Mom Veronica with her son Guiermo, once again who didn't go to church last week. Her excuse was that her husband was sick last week but she said that she recognizes that Satan is trying to impede her from going and that she needs to fight that and do everything she can to go. Then after a great lesson they committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon and they said that they would be at church for sure rain or shine. We were excited about them to progress and got our hopes way up but when we called them Sunday morning nobody answered and the second time we called the phone was off. So they didn't go on Sunday which hit me a little hard. It's hard to open up and love your investigators because when they do a lot of time you get hurt and disappointed but loving them and opening your heart up to them is the only way to do it. Even if they disappoint you sometimes, it's worth it. But anyways we are going to see what's up with them tomorrow. We have some other investigators that are progressing slowly as well but our ever-present and ever-faithful so far is still Victor.

We went to wake him up on Sunday to come and he told us to go on without him and that he would come. We decided to take a risk and trust him and when it shortly started to rain after we got to the chapel we thought the worst. But what do you know, ten minutes later in comes trudging Victor wet and smelly, as usual, but with a smile on his face happy to be there. We taught him a couple times last week outside his house (he won't let us in to his shack because he is embarrassed) and he is progressing but still slowly. He understands to a pretty good extent the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and of the importance of that and baptism but he just can't quite grasp the importance or significance of the restoration. We always teach it to him and he always forgets. He just can't grasp the idea of authority and the one true church but we are working on it. It's just gunna take a lot of patience, love, and divine intervention, but I have faith that he´ll get there.

On another note this week was very trying, draining and somewhat rewarding with working with the members. The drama and the hypocrisy and backbiting in the branch is just starting to get to me. We need a strong branch before it's ready to receive new members. But we are working with them and overall I think that I am starting to gain their trust and respect. We had one experience that was pretty rough and that reminded me that I'm still just a twenty year old kid. It happened with this married couple that have been members for two years and are strong but are having problems. And it just so happens that we picked a moment to go and visit them right in the middle of a somewhat serious fight. They had been having some problems and they were arguing about it when we walked in. But no, they didn't stop it at our arrival, they just invited us and dragged us into the middle of it.

It was a pretty complicated situation with lots of difficult things to deal with and here we were with them treating us like their marriage counselors while yelling and crying and accusing. Yes, I felt very small and inadequate but after about a half an hour or so of trying to help and being the mediators and realizing that every time we made progress it just went right back and that they were both being stubborn, at about that time I started feeling the spirit and I began to talk about the healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ and how it's not just applied for our sins but in every aspect and hardship in our lives. We testified and promised and we felt good upon leaving but still didn't feel like we made a difference. The next day they came to church smiling and happy and the hermana bore her testimony in the meeting about the power of the atonement, and its application to our lives. Then later that day she called us to come over to give us some loaves of homemade bread to take home and to thank us for our help.

So that was a very spiritual and humbling experience I had last week. It's crazy the things that the Lord entrusts us 19 to 21 year old kids to do. Man it just blows my mind sometimes, but it's times like those that humble me. It's times like those that make me realize that there is no possible way to do it on our own. The only way to success is giving in, surrendering everything to him, holding back nothing, and letting him take the lead. There is no way but the Lord's way. Fighting it in either thought or actions just leads to inner conflict within oneself and discontentment. The only way that works and the easiest way to do things is to just surrender. I love this gospel and I love my Lord, that's why I'm here. To do his will not mine. Sometimes I forget that I'm not here for me but for him. It's when we stop worrying about ourselves and start caring more about everyone else that we will be taken care of and changed. Well I got to go but I'm excited for this coming week and even though my investigators are frustrating, I'm not going to give up on them just yet. Until next week, I love you all and cuidense mucho. CHAO PESCA´O!!!!! jaja

con mucho amor, Elder Harper =)

WHILE VALUES ARE DEGRADING, WE ARE DOING OUR BEST TO WORK AGAINST THE FLOW AND LIGHT UP THE WORLD WITH OUR LITTLE CANDLE

Hello everybody!!!!

Well it sounds like you guys had a pretty fun Halloween despite it being on Sunday. Maybe you thought your Halloween wasn't very eventful but here in Chile it barely exist. Yes it exists but nobody decorates, no Jack-O-Lanterns, and very few people actually dressed up and went out to trick or treat. But this was my second one here in Chile so that's basically what I expected from it. As far as how the week went, it was pretty good but just when we thought that summer was coming, in it rained the entire week. So that was pretty lame but now it has stopped once again and the weather is getting warm again so no worries.

Well nothing really terribly exciting happened in the work last week but we did find some new people to teach and now we have the makings of a good teaching pool. There are these two families that we are teaching that we are really excited about. They said that they will get baptized when they receive an answer of the truthfulness of our message but then they bailed on us to go to church. We even called the night before to make sure they were coming, to which they responded yes, but when we went to call them Sunday morning, their phone was turned off and they didn't show up to church even though it didn't rain. That was disappointing because we felt the spirit with them as we taught them during the week but I don't know.. we are going to pass by tonight to see what happened.

But on the bright side Victor once again came to church and so did two other investigators that are progressing very slowly. When we first went to pass by Victor's house to pick him up to go he told us that he wouldn't be going because he didn't have any dry clothes from the week of rain. He doesn't have much clothes either. So when we started the sacrament meeting, we had no investigators, only 18 members were there, and we were very disappointed. It was like in the middle of the service after the sacrament that Victor loudly entered the chapel (in usual Victor style) along with a lot more members and the other Investigators. So it was an alright Sunday and an alright week. Progress is still frustratingly slow but hey there has been progress and I have faith that if we continue to work hard and do our part the progress will continue.

And actually I lied when I said nothing really exciting happened this week because in reality a lot of drama went down here in Loncoche this week. Some domestic violence went nuts here when an angry drunk boyfriend went to his girlfriend's house, tied her to a chair, beat her, and then soaked the house with gasoline, lit it on fire, and shot himself. Luckily both the girlfriend and girlfriend's Mom were rescued from the house with minor injuries but the fire just consumed the big wooden house and their wasn't much hope for it. Afterwards it was all over the news and the topic of everyone's conversation for a couple of days here. Stuff like that is just a wake up call to how we missionaries are sorely needed here in this pueblo, while values are degrading we are doing our best to work against the flow and light up the world with our little candle. Its daunting at times but it's not impossible.

Two days after that incident, an innactive member's house burned down but this one wasn't arson. We tried to get a hold of the family but it looks like they left the town. Oh and it's still not over, then a few days ago, one of our good investigator's uncle´s, who lives here in town, was killed in a hunting accident and the family took it very hard. But they loved hearing the message of the forever family and the plan of salvation and they are interested and want to learn more but they can't progress unless they come to church!!! ahh!!!!! jaja yeah that was a release of frustration.

Anyways on a final note, my comp and I are doing well and are feeling the spirit more and teaching more unified together after every lesson we teach. It's really cool but cambios are this week and most likely we will be separated. Cambios are also this Saturday instead of next Tuesday, like how it usually is, so that will be weird but the President said that it's just going to be like this for this cambio. So on Thursday we will know our cambios, hopefully I will be staying here because I do not want to leave another sector dry and I want to be here for Victor's baptism. Well I got to go but I love you a lot and we will be talking together in just two more months. Until next Monday CHAO!!!

Elder Harper =)