WE GOT THERE JUST IN TIME TO WATCH THEM SLAUGHTER THE CHRISTMAS LAMB

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello hello everybody! I hope that you all had an amazing Christmas. Family, it was awesome talking to you guys on Christmas, especially with Skype, gotta love technology. I still can´t believe how huge Baylor and Izzie are. I noticed it on Skype and then again on the Christmas stairs picture. And Baylor's voice still throws me off; the days of his Michael Jackson impressions are definitely over jaja. And Abbie..well..you haven't grown but at least you look older. I have reached that stage now when two years here or there doesn't really change how I look; it makes me feel old or something jaja. Anyways, it was great to talk to and see you all on Christmas; I greatly enjoyed it. And thank you family and everyone for the Christmas package. Me, my comp, and my house mates are very much enjoying their contents now. Well the family already got all the updates about the week and my Christmas but now I´ll talk about how it all went for the rest of you all.

So Tuesday morning we took off early to make the 6 hour drive up to Concepción so Elder Garcia and I could pick up our new hijos (trainees). When we got there we were trained a little bit by some of the zone leaders and then ate pizza while waiting for the newbies to come. It was dejavu being in that chapel again but this time sitting in the back watching instead of being a greenie up front nervously presenting myself in terribly broken spanish. Anywas the new guys came (a group of all gringos) and unto me a son was born jaja. His name is Elder Ahart, he´s from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

He´s a good kid and I think he talks even more than me. He can talk my ear off sometimes jaja but he's excited to be here and excited to work, which is good. We are going to have a lot of fun this cambio and work hard and I think that he will adjust quickly because he doesn't really have much of that wide-eyed what-the-heck-am-I-doing-here look or attitude that most new gringos have. His spanish.. well.. jaja were going to work a lot on that this cambio because as of right now he doesn't speak much but I´m sure that he will learn quickly.

Anyways after picking him up we made the journey back and we arrived in Pitrufquén at 12:00am early Wednesday morning and just stayed the night there and then made it to Loncoche Wednesday afternoon after district meeting. As far as how Christmas went here it actually went a lot better than I thought it would. Jaja to be honest I thought it was going to be a bust and the only thing I was really looking forward to was talking with you guys, which of course was still the high light, but it turned out to be a really good Christmas over all. Since we had so little time to work this week due to picking up the kids, the Christmas Conference with the President in Temuco on Thursday, and Christmas, the time that we did have to work we spent running around visiting our investigators and a few less active members. I went to visit all of them with my Santa hat which they loved and I found that all of them were good and I was able to spend some time with almost all of them and share with them a little Christmas message. Then on Christmas Eve before going home, we decided to visit this less active member that's been having a real rough time to wish them a Merry Christmas and we got there just in time to witness a Christmas tradition of the Chilean campo (the country folk). We got there just in time to watch them slaughter the Christmas lamb. Here in Loncoche it's a tradition on

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve to buy a live lamb, kill it, skin it, clean it, cook it, and then barbecue it and eat it. And we got to watch the whole process jaja. Yes, it might sound a little gross and disturbing but it was a lot of fun and then they invited us to come back on Christmas Day to eat it with them. I won't give you very many details but to kill it they just kind of tied it down to this bench and then stabbed it once through the neck and bled it to death. Yeah the skinning and cleaning process was a little more gruesome so I will spare you all the details but dont worry, we got pictures jaja. So that was Christmas Eve.

Then on Christmas we woke up, I opened my presents and as I was finishing up, we heard a rustling sound and crunching coming from the kitchen. All of us missionaries were together so we crept over there and then peeked into the kitchen to see what was going on. There we found a package of spaghetti spilled all over the ground that led to a little hole in the wall of a kitchen and a crunching sound coming from the wall. Yes, a rat was enjoying a Christmas breakfast of our spaghetti in our house! no no no.. unacceptable. So all of us, still in pajamas and sandals, gathered a broom and some pots and pans and I got the camera to film us getting that thing out. We pounded on the wall a few times and apparently we were unprepared for the big black ball of furry that came out of the hole because everyone yelled and jumped to avoid it running into our feet. It made one circle around the kitchen, ran into 

one of the elder's feet, and ran back. After we gathered together once again the shreds of our manhood and pride, we banged on the wall once again this time prepared to take the sucker down. Unfortunately he had learned his lesson and was not coming back out. So we devised a plan. We lit about fifteen incense sticks and stuck them into one of the holes of the wall to smoke him out. I think we did a better job of smoking us out than him. Anyways we finally got him back out but the broom and pots and pans just couldn't get him; he was too fast for us. Yeah, so short story long we didn't kill the bugger and we are now just going to buy a bunch of rat traps. He better have enjoyed his last Christmas because his days are numbered. Anyways after that we went to go eat the Christmas lamb and then went to the familia Ariz house to talk with you guys. And that was our Christmas; it definitely wasnt boring jaja.

Then on Sunday morning we weren't expecting to have many investigators at church because most were busy or out of town for the holidays but one Mom (Neli) and her two kids (Tamara and Valentina) that we are teaching came and they stayed for all three hours and seemed to enjoy it a lot. This was the Mom's second time in church but the daughter's first time. But they all seemed to make fast friends with the members and you could tell that they felt the spirit during the meetings. They are members of the church of the seventh day adventists and have made that clear to us but we are starting to notice a change in them now and I'm sure that the spirit is working to open their hearts to the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We have an appointment to teach them with some of their neighboors now on Wednesday and if everything goes well we will be putting a baptismal date with them. And that was my week. Well I got to go now but I love you all a lot and for those of you that I didn't talk to on Saturday, I hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and that you were able to feel the true spirit of Christmas with the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well until next week chau chau and a happy New Year.

con amor, Elder Harper =)

MAY YOU HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & MAY YOU KEEP IN MIND THE SACRED NATURE & SPIRIT OF THE HOLIDAY. THE BIRTH OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.

Hola familia,

REGOCIJAD JESUS NACIO!!!!!!! Well Christmas is really underway now. In less than a week I´ll be talking to you guys so that will be pretty awesome. I'm really excited for that. As far as how we are going to do the call.. I'm not sure yet but I will be letting you all know very soon jaja. Oh and I will be going up to Conce on Tuesday Mom so hopefully the package will have made it by then but if not we have the Christmas conference on Thursday, the 23rd and if I don't get it on Tuesday, I'm sure that it will be there by then. Thanks for those few pictures Mom. And Bay, I like how you'er wearing that same leather jacket that I wore in my last family photo by the big tree jaja nice. About the Provo tabernacle, the members yesterday were telling us that the Provo temple burned down so Elder Calaway and I were freaking out. So when we had a member at lunch look it up on google we were just relieved to find out that it wasn't the temple. But it's still a shame.

Well before I tell you guys about my week I guess I´ll say what my cambio is. My comp is leaving to Talcahuano and I will be training a greenie. Elder Calaway is also leaving and his comp, Elder Garcia, will be training as well so we are going to have two little newborn guaguitas (babies) in the house so I'm pretty stoked for that. It will be a new experience and I'm excited to be able to show a new missionary the ropes and to get him in the baptismal font. So tomorrow I get to make the six hour journey up to Conce to pick up my hijo and then if time, make the trip back down to Loncoche jaja. So that will be lots of bus time. But it's all good. You can never complain about extra time to get some rest.

About my week, well, it was a pretty good one. We taught Patricio the Word of Wisdom and he smokes, drinks and takes coffee. You could tell after we taught him that he was a little upset but he wants to change and live the commandments of God and he seems like he has faith that the Lord will help him to give up those things. He also still wants to be baptized but unfortunately could not come to Church this week because he had to go with his Mom on Sunday to the campo to take care of his sick Grandpa. He does this about 2 or 3 Sundays of the month.. I hate the campo.. so much. But anyways I still have faith that he will continue progressing and be able to get baptized in January. He was basically our only GOOD investigator until Friday and then on Friday we knocked this little street that was a gold mine. From that little ten houses, two families let us in where we immediately taught them the first lesson and members from both families came to church on Sunday. So we had 4 investigators in church on Sunday.

One of them, a woman in her early thirties named Miriam, loved church and already wants to get baptized, but when we went to teach them for the second time, her husband was there and I guess they got in a fight about it after we left. He doesn't like the ´´Mormons´´ and forbade her to go to church or to let us over anymore. But despite that, she escaped the house and went to church anyway. But afterwards she asked us to not come over anymore as to not cause more problems in her family but said that she'd go to church. So we asked her to pray to soften her husband's heart and me and my new comp will fast and pray for them this week. The grandma, who initially let us into the house and loves missionaries, also came to church and loves the Mormons. She is visiting from Argentina but was talking us up to Miriam, her granddaughter, a lot before we knocked their door. The other family is good as well but they are more quiet and shy and we´ve only had one chance to teach them so I´ll talk more about them next week.

Ending the cambio now we have some good investigators to work with and so I'm excited to be training so we can spend most of our time teaching and so he can get in the font his first cambio of the mission. I want to be able to give him a good experience for his first cambio of the mission and get him excited for the next two years he has to bring people unto Christ through the waters of baptism.. sigh.. There is nothing better than to see an investigator's life dramatically change, see the light of Christ get brighter and brighter in their eyes, and then to see them get baptized. It's the best. Well I'm excited for Christmas and I'm really excited for this next cambio. Family, I will be talking to you guys on Saturday and for the rest, may you have a very Merry Christmas and may you keep in mind the sacred nature and spirit of the holiday. The birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Serve others, exercise charity, and have a good holiday. FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!!!!

tu chileno preferido, Elder Harper

IT'S A SPRINT TO THE FINISH AND I CANNOT LET MYSELF LOSE ANY ANIMO OR ENERGY. THIS IS IT.

Muchas holas a todos!!!!

Another week come and gone and another cambio coming to a close, the mission just continues to fly by. Well it looks like you guys had a pretty fun week with Grandpa´s birthday party and all, happy birthday Grandpa!!! From looking at the picture I couldn't believe how old my little cousins are getting. Everybody is huge! especially Izzie. Your tall now jaja. Anyways my week was good in part that my animo is still going strong. I'm still pumped and stoked to be here but man we had a lot of trials here in Loncoche this week from our part and the other elders as well. But there were also some good things that came out of it.

Unfortunately the white Christmas dream has officially ended =(. The little girl, Victoria, that we were going to be baptizing is now going out of town to Santiago for a couple of weeks so hopefully everything will work out for her when she gets back. As for the branch president's Dad who had a fecha for Christmas, it has now been pushed back because he was not able to attend church this week because it was raining and his feeble state and health don't allow him to come out in the rain, and no one has a car here so yeah. But hopefully he will be baptized on New Year's day now if the weather starts to clear up.

Then an investigator that we found contacting last week really amazingly started to progress this week. He is a 30 year old guy or so and a single Dad living alone with his 6 year old kid. He is very humble and although he doesn't really understand everything yet, he has a desire to change and wants to be baptized. On the second lesson he accepted a baptismal fecha for New Year's day and was really excited to come to church on Sunday but.. he found that his car was stolen (the first investigator I've ever had with a car) when he came out of his house to go to church Sunday morning and so he wasn't able to come because he had to deal with that. He found his car later that day but now his fecha for the 1st of January dropped because he won't be able to get the three asistances to church before that date so we are going to reset a fecha with him this week. But I'm not too worried about him because I can tell that he really has a sincere heart and true intent, I'm excited about his progress.

Besides Patricio we don't really have any other good progressing investigators jaja. We spent a lot of time looking last week but from Thursday to Sunday morning it rained almost nonstop and people just didn't really want to talk to us. Supposedly summer is here and sometimes we get a glimpse of it and when we finally do,here comes the rain again. We even got some hail and a pretty decent thunderstorm one of the days, but it's all good. I don't mind knocking doors in the rain, it's character building jaja. Victor has kind of died on us, not really anything new going on there except that he's stopped going to church, which is sad.. but.. I don't know, if anything changes with him I´ll let you all know.

Things were pretty rough for Elder Calaway here this week. He was just kind of depressed all week and got pretty close to just calling it quits a few times. But we are working with him and helping him out. He's a great guy and I know that when he gets through this, he will make a great missionary. It's just easy to lose perspective at times when things get rough; you just can't lose sight of the vision, the big picture.

Hmm.. what else do I go?.. OH yeah!!! We had an electrical fire in our house the other night jaja. When we got home on Saturday night the house just had this weird burnt smell to it, like an electrical smell. But after a quick investigation of the electrical appliances (the fridge and microwave) we found nothing and so just continued with our night. As we were getting ready to go to bed the smell seemed to be getting worse so we decided to take another look at things before going to bed. This time we found that the plug of the fridge and the outlet where it was plugged into were really hot and that the plastic was melting a little. As soon as we went to touch it to unplug it, it started sparking and caught on fire. We blew it out and tried to unplug it but the metal prongs of the plug had melted into the outlet and we couldnt take them out because the thing kept catching on fire. So we ran and turned off the electricity to the house before it got out of hand and once the electricity was off, we just cut the wires. Jaja so we are now out of a fridge and my comp is looking for the supplies and tools to repair it. He is going to try to ghetto rig it so we will see how that goes jaja. Yeah so it was a good thing we decided to have another look before going to bed, fun stuff fun stuff.

Well I think that is all I got for this week. Satan is working hard to tear us down but I'm just not having it. I've got too little time in the mission to let myself get discouraged or feel bad for myself. No, it's a sprint to the finish and I cannot let myself lose any animo or energy. This is it. My last seven months to be a missionary and then I'll be back home missing it. So despite the failing branch and weak attempts of Satan to get us down the work goes on. We will know what are cambios are this Saturday so next Monday I'll let you know if I'm staying or going. As far as I'm concerned, I'm down for whatever the mission President and the Lord want me to do, whether I'm staying here or leaving, missionary work is missionary work. Wherever Im called to is fine with me =). Well take care everybody and we will talk more next week. ciao, chau, chao, 17 months out and I still don't really know how to spell it, but neither do the chilenos jaja.

con amor, Élder Harper

Consejo de Lideres (Advice of Leaders-meeting)

I JUST FELT THE SPIRIT WELL UP INSIDE ME AND POWERFULLY TESTIFIED

Hello family!!!

Well it sounds like the Christmas season is in full swing now back in SoCal. The events, the food, the lights..sigh.. I love it. Slightly because it's not really that big of a deal here but of course I still would rather be here in Loncoche than anywhere else. And thank you very much for fasting and praying for a White Christmas for me, I really do appreciate it and it feels good to know that my prayers are accompanianed (don't know if that's a word or not) with yours. And at least now I'm starting to see the little two and a half to 3 foot fake trees decorated in the houses. Also, without all the fanfare it is a little easier to focus on the real meaning of Christmas and of course as missionaries we are taking full advantage of this season to share our glad tidings and pray to the Lord that he can soften the hearts of the people of this pueblo during this special season. Oh and Tanners, Loys, Las Flores Young Mens, and Grandma and Papa: Thank you all very much for your packages. My house mates and I are enjoying very much the contents there of and they as well send their thanks. I am so blessed to have such a good support system for me back at home that many missionaries out here (mainly the latins) don't have. I thank the Lord for all of you who pray for me and support me every day and I know that He answers your prayers. Oh and returning to Christmas today, as a zone activity we had an awesome asa´o al disco (an awesome chilean barbecue) and then made brownies and watched the movie Elf for p-day so that was a lot of fun and very tasty.

Anyways now for the weekly update. To be quite honest it was a pretty ordinary week and nothing very miraculous happened but during this week, especially the beginning, I felt an inner calm and peace and a strong accompanionship (don't know how to say that) of the spirit that I haven't enjoyed in a long time. I mean as a missionary I try to always feel the spirit but during this week even though we weren't having any remarkable success, I just felt it strongly by my side lifting me up and making me rejoice in the work. With that I had one good experience with this guy who wanted to fight who was just bashing the church, the book of mormon and Joseph Smith. Usually that immediately puts me on the defense but this time it did not offend me so much but I just felt the spirt well up inside me and powerfully testified to him of how I know that these things are true and kindly invited him that he could feel this joy and find out the truth of these things for himself as well. I don't think he really took it to heart but after that he quietly went back into the house and I felt a powerful reaffirmation that the things of which I testified are indeed true and that I did my part in raising the warning voice to him and inviting him unto repentance. It was awesome =).

As of right now we have a baptismal date from an incomplete family for the 25th of December, Christmas. I would be overjoyed about that (I am really happy) but it came to us under unfortunate circumstances. It was an investigator of the other missionaries here that they had been working with for a couple weeks, the dad of the branch president, but they made a commitment with him and accidently broke it and left him hanging and so he and his wife got mad (mostly his nonmember wife.. she's ridiculous) and now she refuses to talk to them and will not let them back into her house. So the old man with the baptismal date decided that he still wants to get baptized and asked that we take over teaching him. It was really sad for the other Elders and now one of them (the chilean) has hard feelings against me for it but he still needs to be baptized so I'm not going to turn him down. It's sad how some missionaries lose focus of our real purpose and turn the work of the Lord into a numbers game, in my eyes we are all a team and baptizing is a sacred work of the Lord and not a game or a competition. Besides they aren't our baptisms, they are the Lords. So I am glad that after the bad misunderstanding that this brother still wants to get baptized and am sad that it has to be complicated and drama, oh well.

On another not so good note, the problems in the branch here are starting to reach a fever pitch and there are some members here who are trying to stage a coup on the leadership of the branch here in Loncoche. The president here has been negligent both to his duties and the branch and needs to be replaced (which is now in the works thank goodness) but some offended and indignant members are going about it all the wrong way and are looking for blood. This one seemingly harmless and soft spoken member with cancer who is sick with cancer and has been wronged by the presidency is out seeking for justice and in a sense is out for blood. He is going around rounding up all of the innactive families who have been offended or wronged by the branch president, riling them up and organizing them so they can be interviewed by the district president and be brought to a disciplinary council along with some other prominent members of the branch. We went with him to do some of these visits on Saturday without realizing exactly what he was doing and afterwards we realized how dangerous he is and what he could do to the branch so on district conference in Pitrufquen on Sunday we let President Swenson know what's going down and he informed the district president so hopefully things will calm now when things are taken care of in the right way. The brother who is doing this is a good person at heart but he is vindictive and dramatic and is just going about all this in the wrong way. This is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Kingdom of God on earth and it just makes me so sad and weary to see all this stuff going on in His church. I can't tell you how much I've learned to appreciate our peaceful, organized, apostacy free ward back home in Cali from my experiences here in Chile. I'm sure all of these experiences will be for my benefit down the line. Well at least the process to clean this branch up will be started faster now so it will be ready to support and nourish sincere investigators and new members.

Well everybody this email is getting long jaja but I just want you to all know that I love you very much and that I'm infinitely grateful for the learning and growing experiences that I have been able to pass through (I know that sounds off but don't know how to say it) here in the mission. I love the Lord and I love this work. Keep enjoying your holidays everybody and I'll keep doing my best to tear it up down here in Loncoche. I know that the field is white here, I'm just praying every day to be led to the Lord's elect, to find the ones who can strengthen and raise up the struggling branches of the kingdom here in Chile. Until next week CHAITO!!!!!!!!

con mucho amor y abrazos, Elder Harper

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 =)

FASTING REALLY DOES WORK MY FRIENDS

Hola hola!!

It sounds like things are going good down in California. Here things are going pretty good as well; it was a good week. Things could have been better but so far we are progressing along here little by little. We once again spent a lot of time this last week knocking doors and going to visit the innactive and less active members. With the innactive members we haven't had much progress getting a hold of them or getting them excited to go back to church but we still aren't going to give up going through the member list because this branch needs a lot of strengthening and has a TON of innactive members that need fellow shipping. While doing divisions with Elder Hillman we actually found this one innactive member with quite a history. He was the branch mission leader, branch president for years, district secretary (a district is the equivalant of a stake), in the district presidency and now after decades of devoted church service he and his wife are innactive. Why? according to him pure laziness. He thinks that because he worked for so long in the church he's now ok to just chill back in his house and spend the rest of his days in oblivion without going to church. He thinks that he's earned a well deserved rest. When we tried to explain to him that he still needs to keep coming to church to take the sacrament and renew his covenants he told us that he could bless the bread and water in his own home and take the sacrament every week. When we tried to explain to him how that doesn't fly he was stubborn and wouldn't have any of it. But at the end of the visit we did soften him up a little bit so we will see how it goes. We're not going to give up on him just yet. It just makes me sad to see members who were so strong just fall away and lose their faith. It just really shows how we always have to be on guard and never stop working to maintain our faith and keep our change of heart, because the minute we let our guard down and get lazy is when the adversary will strike.

As far as investigators go, we did a lot of door knocking and actually had reasonable success. Fasting really does work my friends. Every time I do one my testimony grows of it as a spiritual and missionary tool and sanctifier. Anyways, doing contacts we found a whole family who was investigating the church before but when the husband got really sick they couldn't keep going to church and then they moved and lost contact with the missionaries and the church. They unfortunately weren't able to come to church this Sunday but they are excited for us to start visiting them again and to start going to church again because I guess they had a really good experience with the last missionaries who were teaching them. So we are pretty excited about that find and are praying hard that the Lord helps them to develop their faith and feel the spirit bear witness to them of the truthfulness of our message. The journey begins again =). Victor is doing well too but it's going to take a little longer than I thought with him because he is full of crazy ideas and it's hard to teach him sometimes. But he understands the importance of having a living prophet and he understands the importance of baptism so we are going to work with that. He actually wants to get baptized right away but we told him that he had to quit drinking first and we taught him the word of wisdom. This week again he came to church (although we did have to go get him) and he said that he would quit drinking so we are going to do everything we can to help him follow through and prepare for baptism during this coming week.

Also this week we were let into houses a lot more and we had a lot more teaching appointments where we were actually able to teach and although all of them aren't going to continue, it just felt awesome teaching so frequently again. I love doing it and it's my job so that definitely helped my spirits last week. Unfortunately Sunday was slightly frustrating because Victor was the only one of our investigators who came to church but we should have a lot more who come next week. Well I don't have too much more time today but I just want to let you know that we're working hard and even though everything isn't going perfectly, we are happy. Happy and ready to get in the water! It's time to end the drought! Ok well I got to go now but take care everybody! Read your scriptures and try extra hard to look for the influence of the holy spirit in life. He's with us a lot more than we think, we are just too distracted and dense to notice it sometimes. Oh and enjoy your halloween! It exists here but as I learned last year it's nothing compared to the states. Bueno les quiero mucho, cuidense y CHAU!!!

su chileno preferido, Élder Harper =)

FOR THE LORD THERE IS NO LOST CAUSE

Hello!

First off thanks for the emails everybody! I loved all of them. Well pday once again, the weeks go by so fast. Anyways this week was a lot better than last week. If not that much in results at least in spirits. First off I will tell you about our investigators that until recently we had. We talked with Veronica and her Mom last Monday night and we talked a lot about baptism and testified and what not but it's still a no and this time the Mom put her foot down on the issue. She said that she could keep going to church and talking to us but that she can't get baptized until she's older. We tried a lot of tactics but her mind is made up and for right now she's not budging. That's a bummer. As for Karina we haven't been able to get a hold of her or her husband since I last wrote so there is no news or progress there as of right now.

Anyways, with that start-off to last week, it was rough for the first few days but we had a fast as a district and even though it didn't help all that much with the results, it did help me out with the morale. My companion Elder Maldonado is an obedient hard worker and a good missionary but he is a little down and frustrated about the dry spell here in Loncoche and the one that he has been having in his mission right now. But despite that, I'm not too worried about him and we've been working on more meaningful prayers and are going to have weekly 24 hour fasts now so that should help us out. The other missionaries in the house, Elder Hillman and his son (trainee) Elder Calaway are doing good and are also working hard. Elder Hillman has been here for six months and his animo is still good, he just needs to be less conform with the results. But we all get along great in the house. We all laugh and joke around together and are all obedient so it's a good house. Elder Calaway, the new guy, reminds me a lot of me. He just started in this zone and unfortunately has to see all these branch problems his first cambio, like I did, and he doesn't have too much confidence in himself or his spanish but he's a good guy and I know that he'll turn out to be a good missionary.

As far as the work went this last week people are still setting appoinments with us and then aren't there or don't come to the door when we go. Even though we are still talking with everybody we've changed our tactics a bit. We've been going down the ward list visiting all of the innactive members, which is the majority, and although most of them haven't been home, we have found a few and have appointments to visit them this week so we will see how it goes. I think that we need to do a lot of strengthening of the branch before we can trust them to take care of good investigators and new converts. So we will keep up a lot with visiting the innactives this week. Also we have put up flyers all over the town and are now teaching English classes on Saturdays. Our first class was last Saturday and it didn't have all that great of a turn out but we are going to keep advertising it a lot and we will see how it goes.

The best experience that we had last week was finding a new investigator, Victor. Victor is quite the character. He is a very very poor guy who is very dirty, always is wearing a yellow hard hat, and lives alone in this tiny wooden hand made shack surrounded by a shanty wooden fence and a yard filled with all of this junk that he just loves. We found him because he was yelling things about gringos and the states to us so we decided to go

over and talk to him. He is kind of crazy, drunk and is obsessed with the states, airplanes, and NASA. He actually has a NASA tie that missionaries gave him two years ago and has a collection of little model airplanes and space shuttles that he loves and treasures. These missionaries who gave him the tie were teaching him and brought him to church but he never got baptized, probably due to the alcohol. But he says he wants to get baptized and I could hardly believe it, but he came to church with us on Sunday and I think that he was even sober. In church you could tell that people were kind of looking down on him due to his dirty clothes(hard hat and all), terrible smell (which filled the chapel), and famous drunkeness but that doesn't matter.

Although members of the Lord's church and even some missionaries might judge by the outward appearence and reputations, every human being is a child of God and everyone of them deserves the chance to hear the message of the restored gospel and to apply the healing power of the atonement in their lives. For the Lord there is no lost cause and if it be his will, and if Victor is willing, the Lord can change him and take away his addiction to alcohol to replace it with the love and mercy of the Savior. These thoughts filled my mind as I sat next to him in the chapel and the spirit testified to me powerfully that this was true and that this man is a truly beloved son of God. So even though it might not work, I'm excited to give Victor this chance and to help him use and feel the power of the atonement in his life. Well I gotta go now but I love you all, I love this work, and I love the Chilenos. The work isn't easy and the Chilenos can be very frustrating at times but I love them and have been called to preach to them for these two years. So I'm going to make the best of these next 9 months to do so. Until next Monday CHAU!!!!!

Elder Harper

AS WE BLESSED A TINY PIECE OF BREAD AND A LITTLE CUP OF WATER IN THAT HUMBLE HOME I FELT THE SPIRIT STRONG AND HUMBLED FOR THE OPPORTUNITY I HAD

Hola Hola a todos!!

Loncoche Loncoche. Man what is there to say for this week? Well it sure was a busy week. We spent the whole time running from house to house trying to find people, talking to everybody in the street and knocking a lot of doors. You know just the normal missionary stuff. The only bad part is that we didn't get many opportunities to teach this week. Almost all of the appointments we set with potential investigators we found during the week last week fell through so unfortunately we used a lot of time running from one end of the pueblo to the other to citas, only to find that they weren't home. But I didn't let it get to me, we just worked that much harder to find those who are actually interested and not going to blow us off.

As for the investigators that we already had before I got here, they are both in complicated situations. The strongest one is Veronica. She is a twelve year old girl who always goes to church, is working on her personal progress and even when she blows off doing her homework, she will read and mark the Book of Mormon. She knows the church is true but... her parents are Catholic and want her to wait until she is older until she gets baptized. If she really pushed the issue with her Mom I think that she could get permission but she is also afraid and doesn't want to enter the church alone without the support of her family. It's slightly complicated so we have been doing a lot of praying and working with them, but this week is go time. We are going to talk seriously about it with the Mom this week so we will see what happens if it comes out yes or no.

The other investigator' name is Karina. She is like in her late twenties with 2 kids, has all of the lessons and wants to be baptized. There is just one major problem. She is conviviendo (living with) a very very innactive member of the church and she wants to get married but he doesn't. He is a really nice guy, we even went fishing with him last p-day, but he doesn't believe in marriage. He is an agnostic who believes in God but not Christ and has a bunch of weird conspiracy theories but last time we met with them we watched the restoration video and then committed him to read and pray about the ook of Mormon, and that is one powerful book so we will wait and see what's going to happen there.

Even though I´ve left Santa Juana Satan is still trying really hard to drag me down along with the branch and the other missionaries here in Loncoche but I did have a great experience on Sunday. After church we went to this very old members house who has Parkinson's disease to give him the sacrament. Although he is in bad shape, he brightened way up at our visit and although he couldn't talk very well he was talking up a storm asking about me and telling me about his life as a member of the church. I felt the spirit warmly in the room at seeing the crippled and aged man express his love for the gospel and for missionary work. Then as we blessed a tiny piece of bread and a little cup of water in that humble home and helped him take it I felt the spirit strong and humbled for the opportunity I had to administer the holy sacrament to this veteran of the church here in Chile. Hearing the stories and seeing the decline of the church and the apostasy of the members rather than growth in these small pueblos really does start to take a toll on the morale after a while, especially when only a handful of the hundreds who have been baptized this last decade are active. But seeing the humble faithfulness of that old man gave me a little boost of hope and encouragement here for the little pueblos in the south of Chile. No matter the calamities and defamings of men and devils, the Lord's work will go forth nobly and independent. That includes Santa Juana and Loncoche.

Just like old times with Pitruf, there is drama and divisions going down in the little branch here in Loncoche, which is probably exaggerated by the members, but nonetheless has discouraged the other missionaries here. I've been in too many small towns now to know that drama can be smoothed out and that we can't let the petty offenses and differences of the members discourage us and stop us from putting all of our heart into the work here. We just need to do the best we can to empathize with the members and at the same time smooth their ruffled feathers and preach to them the atonement of Christ. Because no amount of shame or offense taken in the chapel due to wounded pride is worth abandoning applying the healing powers of the atonement in our lives. Well I just want to let you guys know that even though it hasn't exactly been an easy start here in Loncoche, I'm still excited and ready to tear it up here in this pueblo. So until next week take care and remember to look for and recognize the holy spirit everyday in our lives. Without his guidance and comfort.. well.. we're just sad. So do everything you can to have it. les quiero y hasta la proxima semana chao!!

Élder Harper =)

I AM SO GRATEFUL THAT WE HAVE A LIVING PROPHET AND APOSTLES THAT RECEIVE DIRECT REVELATION FROM GOD TO LEAD AND DIRECT ALL HIS CHILDREN HERE ON EARTH

Hey Everybody!!!

Well this week was a pretty good week I guess. I mean how could it have been bad ending with such a great general conference? I just love hearing the inspired words of our leaders and just soaking up the spirit of the occasion. You really do leave it wanting to be a better person. Anyways about my week.

Tuesday, the day of cambios, was a long day of traveling. In total like six hours in a bus and for four hours of the journey, from Conce to Temuco, I was alone which was really weird. Finally at like 6:00 pm we got to Loncoche at the end of the mission safe and sound. My new companion is Élder Maldonado. He is from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and has about 6 months out in the mission. He is excited to work and from what I've seen so far he teaches pretty well. Oh he also speaks English pretty well and understands everything in English so usually in the street we speak Spanish and in the house we speak English. The house here in Loncoche is pretty old but it's huge. It's the biggest house that I have been here in the mission so far and the shower is hot and working which is the most important thing jaja. There were only two missionaries in the house but with the addition of me and another Elder we now make four missionaries here in Loncoche. The other companionship is Elder Hillman and a new gringo, Elder Calaway, who he is training. Lucky for him everyone in the house speaks English. I will tell you more about my comp and the other Elders the more I get to know them.

Now Loncoche is a pueblo but a pretty good sized pueblo and is much bigger than both Santa Juana and Monte Águila. We have a chapel here. It's small but it's a real chapel, and there are about 45 to 50 members who attend church regularly here in the pueblo. Probably about the same size of the branch in Pitrufquén. From what I've seen of the members so far they seem pretty loving but I will tell you more about the branch as I get to know it, but I am definitely way stoked to work with a new branch and new members. It's been a few months since the Elders have baptized here and since we made a new companionship here as of now we don't have many investigators because the ones who are here were spit between the two companionships. But we do have some people to work with and we are excited to get out there to find new ones.

Well last week was a short work week because of the cambios and general conference and getting to know the new investigators and members of the branch but thats ok that it was a short work week because conference was awesome! Saturday we four from Loncoche went to Pitrufquén to watch the 3 Saturday sessions of conference. It was total dejavu as we set everything up to watch it in English in the same exact room of the chapel that we did 1 year ago. It was really weird but cool to walk the streets of the pueblo again, be in the chapel, and see some of my old buddies and understand them jaja. It was really cool especially talking to Gercy and Alex again. I didn't get to see them for very long but Alex plans to meet up with us one P-day when we go to Temuco. It was awesome watching the sessions in English and feeling the power and spirit of the inspired messages from our leaders and I definitely left it feeling invigorated. Then when priesthood session ended at 10:00pm there were no buses back to Loncoche so I slept in my old house and in my old bed in the Pitrufquén house. Oh and Élder Terrazas is my zone leader here so it was good to talk to him again. Then the Sunday sessions of conference were good too but on Sunday we went back to Loncoche to watch them with the branch via internet but unfortunately we were not able to watch them in English. But we did have one investigator that is progressing come to one of the sessions so that was cool.

Well everybody, I'm out of time this email but that was a basic recap of my week. I just want to let you know before I go that I am so grateful that we have the restored church here on the earth today and that we have a living prophet and apostles that recieve direct revelation from God to lead and direct all of his children here on the earth. They are such a big blessing in our lives, for if we follow their council and guidance we will receive eternal life, but if we reject them, it will be a whole different story. Ok now I really have to go but we will talk more in just one short week. Until then les quiero mucho!!!! CHAO!

con mucho cariño, Élder Harper =)