LIVING WATER

Muchas holas a todos!!!

That's funny that it's freezing cold down in the OC because it is still pretty dang hot here in Los Ángeles! Summer weather is still going strong but now that we are going to be entering March, things should start cooling down here pretty soon. School starts up again this Thursday for kids here so thank goodness people will be coming back from vacation now. As for as how the work is going here.. a little slow. Actually we had just had consejos here in LA with all of the district and zone leaders of the mission and not only was it a rough month for us and our zone, but it was a rough month for the whole mission. But it's nothing to get disanimated over because that just makes things worse. So we are just going to keep on working hard and keep animating the zone so we can have a killer month in March.

In our sector we found a lot of good potential new investigators and have started
reteaching some old investigators from past missionaries that show some promise but all of our best investigators are still tied up in vacation stuff! But that's ok cuz it's all going to be over very soon. We have a couple that got married a couple of weeks ago that are going to start going to church again and get baptized when they get back to LA and we have at least two other investigators that are pretty good that can get baptized in March so we are doing our best to work with them while at the same time always looking for new people to teach.

Also Elder Bustos and I are working more on what aspects of the work we are focusing most on and different ways to work that I think are going to help out our sector and the zone a lot. Our sector where we work has an excellent ward with excellent members and awesome leaders but it is pretty well off money wise so the people here aren't as humble and accepting when talking to them in the streets and knocking doors. So we are going to start focusing more heavily on working with ward members and leaders in the ward here to get better results. The members are awesome here so we need to take advantage of their disponility (i dont think that's a word) and willingness to work to help us out here with the work. I think that by working with them and the incomplete families that we will start to see a lot more success here.

But besides that, we are still working very hard and are happy. My companion is a great missionary and I'm glad to be working with him; we still get along just fine. There's a lot of work to be done here and there are only two weeks left in this cambio..sigh.. Well hopefully President Swenson will leave us together for another cambio. Ok, well honestly I don't really have much left to say for this week as it wasn't that eventful but we did have a very spiritual experience teaching a friend of a member of the ward who is kind of an eternal investigator. We taught her the story from the Bible when Jesus teaches the Samaritan woman at the well about the difference between the water from the well and the living water that He has to offer us. The water of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the water of which if we drink, we will thirst no more. So we taught her about how she can partake of this water and invited her to do so. The spirit was felt and she went to church the next day with her friend so we will see how things go with her this week. Well everybody I really don't have anything more to say for this week jaja. Sorry, next week's email should be more interesting. OH and one more thing is that yes, Alvaro did end up getting baptized which makes me very happy =). Ok well I love you all very much and until next week ciao ciao!!!!

con mucho cariño, Elder Harper =)

Helaman 5:12, http://www.ldsscripturemastery.net/scriptures/helaman-5-12.html. We used this scripture as well in the lesson with the girl and she liked it a lot as do I. Read it; it's a good one.

IT'S THE TRUTH SO WHY SHRINK AWAY FROM SHARING IT AND FROM TESTIFYING OF IT WITH POWER AND BOLDNESS?

Hello Hello familia y amigos!!!

Well Well Well what can I say for this week? As far as the work went in our sector this week.. it was alright I guess.. nothing too exciting. BUT some interesting events did happen this week so I guess that I'll just go into that right away then.

On Tuesday we had interviews with President Swenson and the Hermana Swenson. That was cool and it is always a pleasure to talk to President and the Hermana. After interviews I went back with Elder Villegas (yeah my old comp from Sta Juana is in Monte) to Monte Águila to work with him for the day because they are kind of having a hard time with their investigators there. We got there really late because of the interviews but it was good to work with him for a few hours back in my old sector. I just love it there: the people, the streets, the members, the converts. I have yet to find a more humble people here in the mission than Monte. All of their citas with investigators fell through so we did a lot of time just talking to people in the streets and doing contacts and I also got to visit a few converts for a few minutes. They were kind of upset that I could only stay for like ten minutes so I told them I would make that trip up on a pday to spend a little more time with them. But still it was awesome to see them, to see my converts who are pressing forward strongly, and to give a word of encouragement to those who are struggling. I did get a little bit of sad news though.

It turns out that my convert, Irma had moved out to the campo, which I already knew, but I also found out that a couple months ago out of the blue she got really sick and within a month passed away. She was an awesome lady and not even that old so that was some tough news to hear but it must have been her time. Anyways I plan on getting her dats now from the church in Cabrero to do the ordinances in the temple that she was not able to complete here on earth. Sigh.. so that was pretty crazy to find out about Irma but what can you do? I'm just grateful that she was able to get to know the gospel and be baptized before she got sick and passed away. On a brighter note, Raquel is thinking about going on a mission and is working a lot with the missionaries there so I am stoked about that! I'm just encouraging the missionaries there to do everything they can to help her go. Yeah but tha'ts enough about Monte.

We found some potentially good investigators this week but now this week is the last week of summer break so everybody is running around and busy and on vacation and stuff so I will be very happy when that ends this next week. Due to that we only had one investigator in the chapel on Sunday but next week we should have a lot more.

Now I don''t know if Ive told you this, but the ward here, Villa Obispo, is awesome. The members are awesome, there are a ton of returned missionaries and just good members willing and eager to help us out, and we have the best bishop in any ward within our mission boundaries. I know I mentioned that earlier and you may have not believed me but I was proved right this week. As of yesterday we found out that our bishop, Bishop Osvaldo Martinez, is to be the new President of Misión Chile Concepción Sur as of the first of July!!!! It's in the church news and everthing now so we are STOKED about that and to have the privilege of working closely here in this ward with the future President of the Misión celestial. Yeah crazy that he has been called to serve in the mission where he lives but we are very excited. He's trying to keep it own the downlo here in the ward as long as possible and the other missionaries don't know yet but 'Im sure they will very soon now.

Well, to be quite honest that's really all I got for this week jaja. Oh and before I go I did relearn something important this week. That is to never be afraid to proclaim the restoration. To never flinch and to always be bold in testifying of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. An instrument in his hands to restore the fulness of the Gospel and the true church. It's the truth so why shrink away from sharing it and from testifying of it with power and boldness. And that goes for members as well as missionaries. Just a thought. Well I love you all very much and I hope that you have a wonderful week. Until next Monday Ciao Ciao!!!!!!

Elder Riley Harper =)

THE SPIRIT TAUGHT HER IN A WAY THAT SHE WILL NEVER FORGET

Hey Hey Hey everybody!!!

How was your guys´s week? From the email mom sent it sounds like it went well with all of the Valentine's Day activities and what not, oh yeah Happy Valentine´s day everybody, El dia de los enamorados. Oh and by the way one little thing we are going to start doing is emailing a little bit earlier from now on. Today we are doing it even earlier because my comp has a doctor's appointment but anyways it's just a little heads up for all of you procrastinators :).

Let's see how did my week go.. as far as the work went in our own sector.. not that great jaja but we spent a lot of time this last week helping out the zone and in that sense it paid off well and the zone overall had a very good week. It's just hard to find that equilibrio (forgot how to say that) of helping out the zone while taking care of your own sector and investigators. So we are working on that so we can help them out and keep them animated while at the same time showing them the example with how we are working in our own sector. Tough stuff but it's all good. I'm still new and learning.

Anyways my best and most spiritual experience of the week came from when we went to Laja on Wednesday for the whole day to help out the two pairs of missionaries there. We split up with them to work for the whole day and even though I didn't want to really go in the first place and leave our sector abandoned for a whole day, it was worth it in the long run. The whole day of work was pretty good but the best part was when we went to a cita with this somewhat new and really poor and humble investigator named Maria. We taught her the plan of Salvation and even though I didn't know her very well or her needs, after about ten minutes I felt a consistent gnawing thought or sensation or something to teach her about baptism and to show her a picture of baptism. After about a minute or so of ignoring it I finally went with it and as we taught her about this saving ordinance and showed her the picture, the spirit just filled the room and her eyes lit up. The spirit was so strong and she was so accepting that I couldn't help but to invite her to come unto Christ and be redeemed of her sins through the cleansing of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. She accepted without hesitation with watery eyes to be baptized on the 5th of March and although she will have trials along the way she is going to be baptized. I'm sure of it because we didn't teach her anything, but the spirit taught her in a way that she will never forget. We were in her house for about a total of twenty minutes but man it was an awesome lesson and a powerful spiritual boost. It was just what I needed, just what Maria needed and just what the missionary I was with needed. He had previously been struggling getting people to commit and was kind of afraid of extending the invitation to be baptized to people so I'm sure the whole experience helped him a lot.

Yeah so that was definitely the best and most spiritual day of the week. The rest of the week wasn´t really bad but all of our good investigators are gone on vacation. Our sector of the city is wealthier than most and we are coming to the end of summer break here so everyone and their dog is on vacation which is a bummer. But summer break ends here at the beginning of March and then things will really be able to kick off with our good progressing investigators. Until then we are spending most of our time looking. Looking for those who are receptive, ready and prepared to accept our glorious message of the gospel. And we are trying to do our best to be more in tune to the spirit to be led to those elect of God and to be able to discern who they are. My companion, Élder Busto, is a stud. In my opinion one of the best and most focused missionaries in the mission. We never even talk about home or anything. We are doing our best to always keep our focus on the purpose, to work our butts off, and of course to have a good time and joke around along the way. Anyways I'm glad to be with him and to learn from him this cambio and I hope he will be able to learn a little bit and pick up some stuff from me as well.
Well that's all I got for you guys today. I love you all and until next week ciao!!!!

con amor, cariño, y toda la cuestión, Élder Harper =)

ps. I finally got my sd card back thats been touring the mission today.. yay!!!! Ill make a cd copy of it and send you it soon.

Familia Fonseca (Talcahuano)  Good friends that helped the missionaries through the aftermath of the earthquake.

I WAS WORN OUT AND DEAD TIRED BUT MAN DOES THAT KIND OF TIRED FEEL SOOOO GOOD =)

Muchas holas a todos de Los Ángeles!

Well not too much time to write this week because we had to go to Concepción so my companion could get this weird bump thing removed from his neck... yeah anyways, I'm just going to get right into how the week went.

It was a pretty dang good week over all but man did we work are butts off!!! I mean don't get me wrong, we always work hard but it just takes on a new dimension and pace when both of us know what are we are doing more or less and have our purpose and focus clear. Always the first week of the cambio is the semana de santification (santification week) when we do 200 contacts that week instead of the normal 140 and we kicked it up a notch with a companionship goal of 250 and man it wasn´t easy but we worked our tails off to get that done while also teaching our investigators and preparing for a baptism. So when Sunday night came around after all of that and fasting, I was worn out and dead tired but man does that kind of tired feel soooo good =).

With the whole zone leader thing, I was really nervous when we had our first district-zone meeting last week, standing up in front of all them and them expecting to see this seasoned veteran leader standing there capacitating them (I don't know how to say capacitate in english.. ask bro baker). I definitely didn´t feel the part but I guess I did a well enough job trying to look the part and hiding my nervousness jaja. But our zone is awesome. The missionaries are good and excited, my comp and I are stoked, and well, I've been in this zone twice already so I love it and know the sectors well. The zone is Los Ángeles Norte. It consists of a little bit more than half of the city of Los Ángeles and the pueblos (towns) of Laja, Yumbel, Cabrero and Monte Águila (woot woot). Including us there are 20 missionaries in the zone, including one set of sisters. So anyways we are excited to be here this cambio and to do our best to motivate the zone while trying our hardest to show them and teach them by setting the example.

So also we had a baptism this Friday which was awesome. When I got here he was all but ready. He just needed to be taught about modern day prophets, tithing, and the sabbath day. He truly was prepared of the Lord and according to my comp went through a drastic change in his life while taking the lessons in a short three or four weeks. After my first lesson with him, he told us that he wanted to be baptized on Friday and so it went. The baptism went well, the spirit was there, and you could tell that he is a changed man. HOW SWEET is the atonement of Christ and the restored gospel. So even though I only got to teach him twice, it was a great experience and he is a great guy and we are already buddies. He is this big 6´4 and two hundred and something pounds German looking guy, but he's just a big teddy bear. In fact he will give you a bear hug with a big ol smile jaja. Let's see, I will tell you more about my ward and my comp next week but just know that I am happy, I'm excited to serve here, and I am TIRED. But it's a good tired =).

Oh and congratulations on your mission call Zach!!!! Chile Concepción bakán po!!! Solo que lastima que tenía que ser la misión terrestre en vez de la misión celestial. Porque hay solo una misión celestial, y esa es Misión Chile Concepción Sur! La Única misión Celestial hoo raaah! jajajaja. No but seriously I'm sure it's a great mission and you are going to LOVE Chile Zach. Ok Well I got to go now but I love you all and until next Sunday Ciao Ciao!!!!

Elder Riley Harper =)