FOR AFTER ALL, OUR TRIALS ARE BUT A SMALL MOMENT, BUT THE BLESSINGS ARE ETERNAL

Hello friends and family!!!

Well its sounds like you guys had a pretty busy week to kick off summer with grandma and papa in town, Izzie´s birthday, Abbie in Peru and Mom and Izzie at girls camp. But it sounds like Abbie is having a blast in Peru and that Izzie had a good birthday. Well I have to say that my birthday was pretty awesome. I really did feel loved the whole day. Even though I was a little nervous because I had to give a capacitation to the whole zone and the zone leaders and assistants during the entrevistas but in the end it went well as well as my interview. As far as me going or staying, the president didn’t tell me anything but I’m pretty sure that I’m going to get transfered. Anyways we got back from Los Angeles like at six and from there we were busy the rest of the day because everyone (investigators and some members) wanted me to visit them to wish me a happy birthday and some investigators and members even gave me little gifts.

Also, throughout the day I received calls from old comps and people from my past sectors wishing me a happy birthday. Elder Tapias called me as well as Alex in Pitrufquen and Temis in Talcahuano. Then after running around the whole afternoon we went to the family Iglesias house at nine and I brought the balloons and hats and poppers you sent me and we had a little celebration. The hermana made a big pizza instead of a cake and had me blow the candles out and everything and the whole family was there to celebrate. It was a lot of fun and I felt overwhelmed with the love I felt from the members and investigators of Monte Aguila. If I am transfered I will be OK with it but I will miss this place a lot. Also, at the family Iglesias house, we watched the little video you sent me and they enjoyed it very much and so did I jajaja. You guys are real funny. The family Iglesias watched it like 3 times hoping they would understand more of the English each time jaja.

Also thank you very much for the hoodie, the tie, the little knick knacks, the tasty goodies and the card. The picture is very creative and I really enjoyed reading Dad's birthday journal entries from his mission. It got me pumped to get working even harder and to try to be as good of a missionary as you were dad. I really enjoyed reading them. So in conclusion, my birthday was awesome and one of the best ones yet. I’m sure that I´ll definitely always remember it and the love of the people here in Monte.

As far as how my week went after my birthday it was pretty uneventful until Saturday night. We found some new would-be awesome investigators, a couple that wants to be baptized, but he is really poor and works Monday to Monday. He asked his boss if he could get time off of work to go to church but it was a big NO. We found a few others as well that have potential but they didn’t come to church this week so we're going to have to see what´s up. On Saturday was the baptism of Raquel and it went awesome. It started a little late because the Elders of Cabrero started filling the font late (typical) but that was just a minor detail and it all went fine. She was way excited for it and while I was baptizing her I felt the spirit strong and she did too. There´s nothing like baptizing =). Elder Leiva confirmed her on Sunday but we found out afterwards that he messed up and so we are going to have to do it again this coming Sunday jaja but she´s fine with it; she just laughed.

So Saturday went well because of the baptism but after that, the day ended in flames. At 11:00 pm Saturday night we got a call from one of our investigators, who lives right next to a member, and she urgently told us that the house of the member was on fire and burning down fast. My stomach dropped because this is the same member family who has been struggling because of the hermano who is in the hospital dying with stomach cancer. So we called the branch President and told him, got out of bed, threw on some clothes and headed out to the other extreme end of the pueblo where the family lives. When we got there, with two of the boys from the family Iglesias, the firefighters were just finishing up and there was pretty much nothing left but ashes and smoke. The house was wood so it went up fast. It was a miracle that the whole family got out alive because they were all sleeping. So we did as much as we could to console the family and help out but they were doing their best to not breakdown. Even though it did break my heart as their 17 year old granddaughter turned to us with tear streaked eyes and said hello and then with sadness said that she was sorry because they weren’t going to be able to have us for lunch this Wednesday (we had lunch at their house every Wednesday). She then weakly tried to laugh and put on a smile.

In the end we were there til like 1:00 in the morning and then after church on Sunday the whole branch mobilized to help out this stricken family, cleaning up the rubble, donating clothes and food, and doing whatever they could. The unity and swiftness in which the branch acted really impressed me and was just another testimony of how awesome our church is. On Sunday we didn’t have any investigators at church but two of our investigators, the ones who called us about the fire, yesterday told us that they want to get baptized this Sunday. They both have enough Sundays in Church and we were way stoked to hear that. There are a few things that could impede it from happening but we are going to be going by there a lot this next week and praying that everything goes fine so that they can be baptized this Sunday. We knew that they were going to be baptized eventually but they were progressing a lot slower before so it came as a big surprise when they told us. So please keep them in your prayers so that everything goes well so they can be baptized this Sunday. There names are Filomena (13 years old) and Carolina (25) and they are sisters. When we pass through our hard moments and trials well, the Lord truly does bless us. That’s what I am seeing in my life and that’s what I´m now teaching this poor family and I do know with all my heart that its true. For after all our trials are just but a small moment but the blessings are eternal. Love you all and I love this work. CHOU!!!!!

Élder Harper =)

IF THERE'S NO SUNSHINE IN THE SKY YOU STILL GOT TO DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO HAVE SUNSHINE IN YOUR SOUL!

Hola hola familia y amigos,

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!  It sounds like you had a good fathers day at home.  I hope you got some good apple pie haha.  Here we ate cake at the family Iglesia´s house to celebrate it. 

Well, this week had its obstacles.  First of all, it rained and rained and rained.  It started last Sunday and has rained on and off (mostly on)  every day since.  But yesterday and today it's just rained the whole day without stopping.  But I´m ok with it.  I have patience and we can still work alright with rain or no rain.  Yes, it slows things down a bit and makes it A LOT harder to bring investigators to church but it's all good.  If there´s no sunshine in the sky you still got to do everything you can to have sunshine in the soul! :).  

This week was also tough because it looks like our investigator, Pablo, may not be able to progress and follow through with his baptism.  Yes, he still wants to get baptized but we talked to him last week and after his uncle found out that he was going to get baptized he´s been impeding him from going to church. He said that even though he's twenty years old he is still living under his roof and by his rules and he prohibited Pablo from getting baptized.  We were just going to do it without telling the uncle but now he told  Pablo that he doesn't want us to come to the house anymore and he doesn't want him to go to church anymore.  And although Pablo is really sad about it, he is submisive and obedient to his uncle and aunt although  they have him always working like cinderella and hit him sometimes.  It really makes me sad but he said he was going to try to convince them to at least let him go to  church again but we will see how that goes. 

As far as things go with Karina, she stills has no permission for baptism and is still ¨grounded¨ by her parents so we did not see her at all last week and she was not able to go to church on Sunday.  But we are kind of in the dark on how things are with her but we are supposed to have a visit with her tonight so we will see how that goes.  And all the new people we found last week that we thought were solid, didn't come to church (probably due to the rain) but we will find out what happened with them this week.  And on top of it all, I wasn't really working in my own sector too much this week because I had to go on divisions with other missionaries in other pueblos 3 times this week to do five baptismal interviews.  Even though it took me away from my sector for most of the week, I was more than fine with it because the five baptismal interviews were all for my district and just interviewing the people and seeing their excitement for baptism and the excitement of the missionaries in my district really cheered me up. 

The one thing that has kept me from getting down this last week is Raquel.  She is getting baptized this Saturday no matter what and she is way excited to do it.  Her excitement and her spirit have really helped me to keep my animo up even when it seems like almost everything else is going wrong.  Also, we have two other investigators that we've had for a while but are starting to progress faster.  They still have a ways to go til baptism but I think we might be able to get them in the water before the cambio ends :).  But I´ll keep you updated on them.  

Also, yesterday we were able to bring the sacrament to the home of the man diagnosed with stomach cancer.  He is doing better and we were able to bring him the sacrament in the hospital yesterday so that made me feel good.  We were also able to bring the sacrament to Irma in her house yesterday.  Before she was baptized it was already really hard for her to go to church because her husband is rarely there and she has to take care of her handicapped son but since her comfirmation, it seems like her husband has now completely abandoned her.  She hasn't been able to come to church since her comfirmation and she has seen her husband like twice in the last two months and only for a day each time.  So she's basically trapped in her house taking care of her kid and is only able to leave to buy food and essentials on the corner store next to her house. Due to this, she's kind of sunk into a depression but she is continuing with her reading and prayers and knows that she has been blessed by God to receive His restored gospel in her life and she was overjoyed to receive the sacrament from us yesterday.  

Well, thats about all I got for this week.  Oh, and yes, I have both yours and grandmas packages and I´m excited to open them both tomorrow.  My first birthday in the mission.  Wow, the time really does fly by here.  It flies by way too fast.  Well thank you all for the birthday wishes and everything, it should be good because we have interviews with the president tomorrow.  And I´m sure that next week's email will be better and cheerier because the rain should be letting up but even if it doesn't, we will still have a baptism next Saturday :).   Ok well I love you all and have a good week.  Oh and have fun in Peru Abbie!!!  Be safe and good luck with the spanish!  Oh and have fun there with the soccer world cup craze.  Chile won their game today and everyone was going crazy jaja.  Ok now 

I´m done.  Chao!!!

Con cariño, Élder Harper :)

WE ARE LUCKY TO KNOW OF OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN'S GRAND PLAN OF SALVATION

Hello hello everybody!!!

Well I think you are right Mom, it looks like I did jinx myself the last letter with talking about not having any rain. I forgot to knock on wood haha because now it's going strong. Thankfully it didn't start raining until after church yesterday but when it started, man it poured. And it is still going on and off right now and from your email it looks like it's here to stay for awhile. Well anyways, it sounds like you guys had a fun weekend with youth conference and that you had some pretty good speakers. It sounds like that jewish convert's story was pretty cool. And while the rain has started here, summer has begun back home. I´m sure that the kids are excited to be out of school soon.

Well, to be completely honest, this last week wasn't all that great or exciting. As far as our investigators are doing, it's a little complicated. Karina got in a fight with her Mom and was grounded last week so we didn't get to see her until Sunday and it looks like it might be a long ways away until she´s baptized. We had eveything ready to go for Pablo´s baptism this Saturday and he´s ready to be baptized but since his old stubborn Catholic Uncle found out that he was getting baptized, he´s been doing everything possible to try to stop it. He tried to tell us that Pablo changed his mind and didn't want to be baptized anymore. Which we soon discovered was a lie and for the passed few weeks he´s been inventing reasons to make Pablo stay home and work to keep him from being baptized and going to church. So it didn't work out this Saturday and it looks like his uncle kept him from going to church yesterday, so we are a little worried there. But we talked to Pablo and we just decided that it would be better to just not tell the uncle and go ahead and baptize him this Saturday. He is twenty years old and so he doesn't need anyone's permission to go through with it, so we are going to try to do everything we can to make sure he gets baptized this Saturday. We are just going to have to try to talk to the uncle or do something so Pablo will be able to keep going to church.

But Raquel is still coming to church and is good to go for her baptism on the 26^th so we are excited for that. We also have some other good investigators that we are working with that have some potential and can possibly get baptized this cambio. But I will talk about them more as they continue to progress. We also had some other new investigators that we were really excited about to go to church but they didn't come and later we found out it's because her Mom´s house burned down here in Monte Águila the day before. We offered to do anything possible to help but they said that we can't until the rain lets up. Two houses burned down here in Monte Águila last week within one day of eachother so this afternoon and this next week we are going to try to get in touch with the people to see if there is anything we can do to help. We are working on finding some new people to teach and there are some people who have potential so we will see how it goes this next week.

Also one of the members of the branch here in Monte Águila that gives us lunch every Wednesday had been sick for awhile but when we went to visit him on Tuesday night he was really bad. I won't really give you any details but he asked us to give him a blessing and even as a gave it, I had the feeling that he doesn't have too much time left. The next day he went to the hospital for like the fifth time and they finally diagnosed him with advanced stomach cancer and it looks like a tumor right next to his heart and that it's too late to operate and it looks like he doesn't have much time left. So we spent some time last week as well comforting his family and visiting him. It's really sad, but just like I told the family, we are lucky to know of our Father in Heaven's grand plan of salvation and that they will be able to be with him again someday.  

This is the family whose house burned down.  Salazar (on the right) is the man diagnosed with stomach cancer. Later on, we visited him in the hospital
and donated our blood for a transfusion.

Well to end the email on a better note my comp is coming out of his shell with the members and I´m still trying to help him smile, laugh, and talk more with our investigators. Overall he is doing just fine and is progressing but I think I´m going to try to do more this next week to help him progress even faster. Once he comes out of his shell and learns to lighten up, even if you have to fake it and to talk more, he will be an even better missionary. And we get along just fine.

Well I´ve got to go now but I love you all and we are going to do our best to keep warm and try to stay dry while we continue pushing the work along through the rain. Ok well thats all I´v e got for this week. CHAO!!!!

Con cariño, Élder Harper =)

OUR SAVIOR LIVES AND STILL WORKS MIRACLES TODAY AND I AM PROUD TO BE HIS WITNESS AND BEHOLD HIS GREAT MIRACLES THAT HE WORKS IN PEOPLE'S LIVES.

Kiu familia, amigos y amigas!

Well another week has come and gone, surprise surprise. Sorry I´m writing a little late today but I will explain why later on in the email. Well anyways it seems like you guys all had an awesome time down in Havasupai with your crazy big group. That is probably one of my favorite camping spots ever. I would be jealous if I was anywhere else doing anything else than where I am and what I´m doing jaja. Bet that the kids are all excited to get school over and done with and to get going with summer. Summer is almost there for you guys now, meanwhile we are just starting up with winter. Although we are still skating by with no rain jaja so stoked for that! Its pretty cold but I'll take cold over rain anyday.

Well I can't lie as far as the work went this week, it wasn't all that great, but some key things happened at the end of the week that made it awesome. I also had one of the best experiences with an investigator that I´ve had yet in the mission last night. But first of all, the week itself wasn't all that great. We had zone conference on Thursday, which was good. Elder Zeballos from the first quórum of the seventy and former president of this mission came to speak to us and gave a pretty powerful talk, which was awesome. The only bummer is that we lost a whole day of work but I think it was worth it in the end. But once again, I'm pretty sick with clogged sinuses and a nasty cough and my comp has the same, so the work was kind of slower paced last week and we didn't find really any good new people to teach but I think I should be getting on the mends soon so next week should be a lot better as far as the pace of the work goes. Also another thing which was a big bust is that we had stake conference this week. That would usually be fine except that it was in Los Ángeles, an hour bus ride away. So it was way tough to bring people to church last week and kind of made me disanimated with my contacts and inviting people. But despite it all, we still managed to bring two investigators to Los Ángeles, which was actually better than I expected. But it's all over and done with now so it's all good.

Now for the update on how our old investigators are doing. Pablo is doing just fine and everything is going smoothly for his baptism this Saturday so we are excited for that. Karina (the evangelical girl) is still staying strong with her decision and new found faith but we are still working on getting permission from her mother for her baptism. The only progress there is that Karina is bugging her so much that her mother has changad her decision from a flat out ¨NO¨ to an ¨Ill think about it¨ so we will see how that goes. We are going to get Karina to try to convince her to talk to us but I don't know. Really, at this point all we can do now is pray for her mother's heart to be softened.

So now I´ll tell you a little more about Raquel, the sister of the member, who has a baptismal fecha and who I briefly mentioned in my email last week. It's a really long story but I´ll give you the short version. So there is this member in our ward who doesn't usually make friends with the missionaries but seems to like me for some reason so we go over to her house a couple times a week to eat once(lunch) and talk with her and her family. She got baptized like ten years ago and the rest of her family are all nonmembers and before recently wanted nothing to do with the church. Sanabria tried to teach them one time and they weren't interested. Raquel (the one who is now going to get baptized) especially wasn't interested and shut him down hard telling him to ¨take your little blue book and buzz off because I don't want anything to do with your church¨. So when we first starting going over to visit them, Viqui, the member, was the only one who talked to us and the rest just kind of sat there in silence. But we didn't give up and after a while we started to make friends with Raquel through smiles, joking around and just showing love for them and that we care. And as we started becoming friends with her, we started very subtly and slowly teaching her.

Then a couple of weeks ago, she finally accepted a Book of Mormon from us but told us she wasn't ever going to use it. Come to find out she read and prayed and got her answer so we set a goal with her for a baptismal date. At first she was shakey with it but now she is positive that she´s made the right decision and is excited for her baptism. Last night when we were at her house before we left she broke down into tears thanking us for how we´ve helped her change her life and she bore her testimony. She told us how she never really had friends before and how she was depressed and angry and dissatisfied with life before we started visiting her. Years ago her only friend died in a freak blizzard on a military march and since then she didn't really associate with people outside her family. But she said that when we came and showed we cared and became friends with her that she started to change and become more happy and content in life. Then when she read 3rd Nephi chapter 11 in the Book of Mormon and prayed about it she said she had never felt such a powerful feeling of peace, love, and complétense in her whole life. And the whole time while she was sharing her story, she was crying, I was crying, and her stubborn sister was trying her best to keep the tears in haha. It was the strongest I had felt the spirit in a very long time and the strongest testimony I have ever heard from an investigator. So I left their house last night feeling on top of the world and thanking Heavenly Father over and over and over again in my heart for the miracle He worked in that girl's life. And I had the words of Alma chapter 26 verse 12 running through my mind. Maybe it sounds like the cliche, classic missionary story but it's the powerful experiences like that that make it all worth while for me. I just LOVE seeing the conversion process especially when the change is dramatic.

And then to add on to that, we had a zone barbecue and soccer game today in Los Ángeles, so afterwards I went to visit my converts in Galvarino. From the couple we married, Marcos now has the Priesthood and Marcela is the Secretary of the primary. Victor, the old guy, also has the priesthood and they are all going to church everyweek and we were all very happy to see eachother again. It was great to see them all still strong. The only thing that put a damper on it was to find out that Nelson has once again gone astray and returned to the ways of the world. He also has moved but I'm going to try to hunt down his address so I can go visit him. Well I´ve got to go but this gospel is true and is the only camino(way)of our Lord and Savior. He lives and still Works miracles today and I am proud to be his witness and behold his great miracles that he works in people's lives. Im so excited for you to get out there Brady; you're going to love it! And I hope you will follow soon after Taylor because there is nothing greater at this time and age in life than serving a mission. Que la obra siempre siga adelante!

Con mucho amor, Élder Harper :)

I AM REALLY PUMPED FOR THE WORK HERE IN MONTE AGUILA

Hola Hola!!!

Well how's it going everybody? I´m sure that you guys are having a good time down at Havasupi. I loved it when I went so you´ll have to tell me about it when you get back. Anyways this last week here in Monte Águila was pretty good. The first few days or so of the cambio were a little rough but now it's all good and things are looking up for the rest of this cambio. So anyways Elder Hickman is a good guy but I cannot lie, I was really nervous about him the first two days or so. When I picked him up from the bus terminal in Los Ángeles he was stone faced without a smile and didn't really talk at all and kind of made it obvious that he didn't want to talk as well. So that first day we went around visiting some of the members, doing contacts, and teaching a few of the investigators and the whole time he didn't talk and he didn't really smile at all. But when I asked him what was wrong he said that he'd been having sleeping problems so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Wednesday went really similar, where he didn't really smile or talk but he seemed a little better than the day before. By the time Thursday came around he started warming up to me and some of the members and started smiling more. He still doesn't really talk in contacts and lessons or to the members all that much but now he jokes around and talks with me so that's good. He´s just a timid kind of guy and if he doesn't know you well he won't talk to you. But the first few days, even though he wasn't talking, I was still talking to him and joking around with him trying to get him to smile so I think he's gotten pretty comfortable with me now. He still doesn't really smile that much, especially when we are out working and teaching and usually has a kind of bored look on his face but we´ve talked about it and are working on it. A lot of times in the work, especially with contacts and first lessons, smiling and being excited and happy and first impressions are everything. So I´m trying to help him to learn to smile and laugh more even if you have to fake it and to enjoy the work. He really is a good guy and has the potential to be a great missionary so I'm excited to help him out with that. He really is a great guy and I am learning a lot from him and I hope that he will be able to learn from me as well.

So basically this cambio has been hugely different from the last one. The last one Leiva did a lot of the contacting and talking. Now it's all me. I do all of the contacts and pretty much all the talking in the lessons. I imagine that training is a lot like this. But it's not because his Spanish is horrible, I mean it needs work but that's just because he's new. It's that he has no confidence in his ability to speak and teach and make contacts. So this last week I let it slide but this next week we're going to work a lot on getting him to do contacts and being a bigger part of the lessons. This is my first time being with a gringo, and a new gringo, so I´m new to this situation but I´m going to do my best to help him out the best I can. One thing that we need to work on is speaking Spanish in our companionship. It's just so natural to speak English with another gringo and he didn't speak Spanish with his last comp. at all and we didn't do so hot with it last week but we are setting goals and are going to work on it a lot this next week because he really needs to develop more confidence in his ability to speak and needs to break out of his shell as well. So it should be fun since I´ve never been in this situation before and it will hopefully be a good learning experience for the both of us.

So as far as the work went last week, it was pretty good. We turned in pretty good numbers and we have two more baptism dates. Pablo got his answer to his prayer about the church and the Book of Mormon last week and so we set the fecha for the fifth of June but he had to help his uncle with work so he couldn't come to church last week. But I think we are still good with his date, we just have to find him during the week to teach him the last few lessons that he needs and to get him pumped for his baptism. He is a great kid and I think that we´ll be fine. With Karina, the Evangelical girl, it's become a bit more complicated. Last week we got more details on the conversation she had with her mom and it turns out that her mom is not happy with her at all and that she gave her permission to go to church but not to be baptized. Her Dad, who doesn't live with them, gave her permission but only according to the conditions that her mom is ok with it. So she really wants to get baptized but she is going to have to get written permission from her mom to do so and the mom refuses to talk to us so it's all on Karina to work it out. She really wants to do it and doesn't want to wait til January when she turns 18 so we will be praying for her and for her Mom this next week that her heart might be softened to give permision to her daughter to be baptized. I know that God can do it so I am just going to pray and have faith that it is his will to do so.

We also found a few other good investigators that have potential to progress and unfortunately we had to let go of an investigador and her kid who don't want to keep taking the lessons after they had an ugly experience with the bipolar unstable wife of the branch president at church. That was a really hard blow to take when a member blew up at an investigator in church for no reason, but it happens. The church is perfect but the members are not. We tried to explain that to the investigator but it looks like she has already made up her mind. They were making a lot of progress too. Sigh.. oh well. And to end the email with some better news we have another baptismal date for the 26th of June with another person I´d never have guessed. This person is the sister of a really strong member and has known the missionaries and the church for like 10 years but has never even been interested in the church or the missionaries. But now it looks like the few months of love and friendliness and smiles and joking around and subtle teaching to her have finally paid off and now she wants to get baptized and has been taught almost all the lessons without her realizing that we were teaching her. That's also another miracle and a pretty good story but it's still not a done deal and she still has almost a month til she gets baptized so I will save that story for next week because I´m just about out of time today. Oh but her name is Raquel jaja. I think I forget to mention the names of my investigators sometimes in the emails.

Well I was really nervous for this cambio and I still am kind of nervous and sketched about this whole district leader thing but I have a feeling that I am going to learn a lot as a district leader and that my comp. and I are going to progress and grow a lot together so I am excited about that. And more than that, I am really pumped for the work here in Monte Águila and for being able to play a part in giving the gift of baptism to these people. The best gift they can receive, to follow our savior, and be baptized in his true church and feel the blessing of his atonement. So we are very optimistic about the work here in Monte Águila for this cambio. Well guys like always I want you to know that I love you very much and I can't wait to hear your Havasupi stories and to see the pictures. Well, until next week CHAO!!!!

Con amor, Élder Harper =)