JUST ALWAYS REMEMBER TO TRUST IN THE LORD, WHEN YOU CAN'T DO IT, HE CAN

Hello everybody!!!

Well it sounds like everyone is doing good back home and no Mom, I had no idea that it's Martin Luther King jr. day. I had a hard enough time remembering Thanksgiving jaja. And about the changes in the stake presidency I know that President Chamberlin will do awesome. Speaking of presidency changes, I think that I forgot to mention it last week, but we finally have had a change in the branch presidency!!! The old one was slackin' big time and was partially less active so everyone's happy about the change and he's happy that he´s been released so everybody wins.

Well overall, I cannot lie, this week was very challenging and might have been one of the worst weeks ever if it wasn´t for some events and a finish that actually made it completely turn around and totally humble me. Because every missionary needs a good humbling every once in a while. Heck, everybody, missionary or not, needs a good humbling every once in a while. Yeah, so anyways here it goes.

Remember about that bathroom problem that I told you guys about last week? Well that turned into a total stressful nightmare this week, and I'm not talking about the loss of our bathroom and shower. I'm talking about getting it fixed. First we spent a bunch of time looking for a new house and the only one we could find was too far away from the chapel and centro so we and President just decided to get it fixed. Most of the week was spent sitting around waiting for plumbers to show up and then never coming. Then, finding new plumbers. Then, dealing with drunken workers in our house from the plumber's team. Anyways, it was a big mess and we lost most of the week dealing with it instead of working. Most of the time I just felt like a caged Lion sitting in the house just wanting to go out and work and help our investigators; it was frustrating. But now we have finally set things straight with a plumber and now he gets here to work when he says he will. If everything goes well, he will finish redoing all the piping and stuff either tonight or tomorrow. But I'm at least at ease now that it's actually getting done.

So as far as the work went this week, we didn't have much time to do anything else but just take care of our investigators who are showing the most progression. Alvaro... well he is still good to go but right now they are remodeling the chapel and the font will not be ready until the 29th, which is the last Saturday of the cambio and probably my last Saturday in Loncoche. We would have just baptized him in the river or taken him to Gorbea or Pitrufquén to baptize him but his health is too delicate for the river or to move him to Gorbea or Pitrufquén. But he is still firm in his decision to be baptized so we will be praying very VERY hard that the baptismal font is ready in time to baptize him before I leave. Oh and we also put a baptismal fecha with Neli, Tamara, and Valeria for the 29th so if everything goes according to plan we will be baptizing 4 souls unto Christ on the 29th of January. Neli and her daughters were shaky with accepting the baptismal challenge at first but now they are progressing more and they feel better about the idea so I think that everything will work out there. Now when we are finally having success we are having tons of opposition, but that's ago because good will always triumph over evil. No unhallowed hand will stop the work!!!

So even though we had very little time to work this last week, the Lord still miraculously blessed us and on Sunday we had 10 investigators in church and 4 of them have a baptismal date. It was pretty incredible and you might think that it would make one prideful, but man, was it a humbling experience for me. Even though our work time was very limited, the Lord provided. He always provides. Really we can't do much of anything through our own strength. It's only through faithful and diligent trust in Him that great things will come to pass. I´ve learned that lesson many times on my mission but I need to be reminded often because like the Nephites of the Book of Mormon and the Jews of the Old Testament, at times I can be very slow to remember. This is kind of random but as for Patricio we were not able to get a hold of him once last week and he didn't go to church. But I still am holding out my faith for him and we will continue to work with him this coming week. Well, I'm running out of time today so I'm going to wrap this up. Just always remember to trust in the Lord, when you can't do it, he can. I love you all and as always we will be hearing from eachother next Monday. Ciao Ciao!!!!

Elder Harper =)

p.s. I turned 18 months two days ago.. cant believe it.. 6 months left... yeah enough said about that, it will have to be enough.

OUR JOURNEY TO THE HILL OF DOOM AND OUR TOUR OF THE WHOLE FLIPPIN' CAMPO

Muchas holas a todos!!!!

Well family.. I think that I have a lot to write today about this past week so I guess that  I'll just get going because it was a pretty eventful week. First off, I will talk about one of our investigators named Alvaro. Alvaro is the Dad of the former branch president (he was released yesterday) and was a former investigator of the other Elders but due to something that happened we took over. We have been teaching him now for the past six weeks and as of late he was progressing really slowly so the other Elders just decided to let us have him completely. Well Alvaro is 74 years old but has bad lungs from smoking and a very fragile and sick heart so around the house he uses a cane and outside he uses a walker. Lately he has been bad, like sicker than normal, and his family thinks that he only has a couple of months left. So on Thursday when we went to go visit him, we offered to give him a blessing of health and he agreed. 

For me when I anoint and bless the sick, in my experience, I haven't really felt anything special but this time was different. I didn't really feel prompted to say anything specific but the words I spoke in the blessing for some reason had a lot of power and the whole room was just blasted with the spirit. He´s a pretty tough guy but he definitely started crying during the blessing, as did I a little bit. After the blessing, we ditched the plan for our lesson and I straight away identified the presence of the spirit in the room and when I asked if he felt it, he once again started crying and told me that he did. Then when we asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized this Thursday the 13th, he said that he would. It's been announced in church, it's all planned out and if everything goes according to plan, he´s getting baptized this Thursday at 6pm chileno time! =). So we are very happy about that.

As for Neli, we are still teaching her, her husband, Juan, and her two daughters, Tamara and Valeria. They are good investigators and are reading sometimes and praying de repente (sometimes) and love our visits, but they still need to commit themselves more so they can get an answer if it'.s true or not. They are progressing. It's just a little slower than I would like but the whole family came to church this week. It was the first time that they were all there together. Also Patricio is chugging along, progressing as well and he finally came to church with his six year old son! yay! I just hope that his job keeps permitting him to come on Sunday. We have a few other investigators as well but those are our best so I will leave it at that for now. Oh by the way, I've' used the video ¨How Rare a Possession¨ like three times now. It's old but its a good one and the investigators have seemed to like it so far.

Anyways we had 7 investigators in church this Sunday and have a baptism this week so both me and Elder Ahart are stoked. It was a good week despite all of the trials we have been having. On Saturday morning our old dying piping system in the bathroom finally keeled over and died so since Saturday, we have no access to our shower, bathroom sink, and toilet. When we

need to go to the bathroom.. well, we have the keys to the chapel, which is a block and a half away. And to shower, we have just been using members houses jaja. It's going to be really expensive to replace the piping so we are now in the market for a new house! ugh! so sick of it. We lost two whole mornings of work last week waiting for a plumber who never showed and then waiting for him again the next morning and getting his evaluation. And now we are going to lose a lot more time next week looking for a new house and then with the long process of moving. sigh.. oh well what can ya do? Besides that minor hiccup, we have been doing great and have high hopes for Loncoche with the work and the branch since we now have a new branch presidency (thank goodness). Satan is working hard here and with us but the Lord is working even harder so that we can have success and so that his flock can grow here in Loncoche.

Well, that's about it except our journey to the hill of doom today and our tour of the whole flippin campo surrounding Loncoche. Yeah, so there's this big hill that I've been wanting to climb since I've gotten here so we decided to do it today but there were a few things that went wrong. It was a lot farther away than we thought, there was no public road (private roads.. found that out the hard way.. but no public roads) that lead to it. When we finally started to climb, there was no road but just a bunch of bamboo, crazy thick

vegetation, and a nasty swamp. Yeah, we got lost in the swamp and when we finally got out we had to take this road through the campos and fields of cows that took a bunch of detours. We started the journey at ten this morning and trudged back into town tired, sun burned, covered in mud, and hungry at about 5 in the afternoon. Yeah it was a failure but still lots of fun..kind of.. at least I got good pictures out of it. Well that's all I got for this week but me and my comp are doing fine and are stoked to be serving the Lord here in Loncoche. I love you all very much and until next week ciao ciao.

su chileno preferido, Elder Harper =)

HE'S JUST MOCKING US...SO YEAH, NOW IT'S PERSONAL

Hola hola hola!!!!!

Well another complicated holiday week has passed by and it has been fun celebrating and all but I can´t lie, I'm now glad to be getting back on the normal missionary schedule and through the holidays so we can be more productive. So.. yeah this last week was pretty crazy, well.. it was a normal work week up until New Year's Eve, Friday, and then the weekend was nuts. New Year's Eve is bigger than Christmas here in Chile and so after 8 we couldn't really work anymore and then everyone was drinking and partying until like 5 in the morning. During that day we started running into drunks as early as 11 in the morning and as the day went on and got later the number only increased. Our neighbors, right next door, had music bumping at full blast until about 4:30 in the morning and were extremely loud doing drunken Karaoke and stuff. So we didn't get too much sleep that night. We just kind of stayed up playing games, just another night for us, jaja. We even missed the countdown. But it's crazy to think that I spent all of the year of 2010 here in Chile and that in this year I´ll be coming home. Crazy stuff, the time flies when your working hard and having fun =).

Then President Swenson made New Years P-day because there was just no way it could have been productive. Here in Loncoche we left the house at 2 oclock in the afternoon to get a bite to eat and the place was just a ghost town. Not a single restaurant or shop was open and the only people out in the streets were drunks passed out. People finally started to get back from the river or come outside from their houses like at about 8 o'clock at night. So yeah, it was a pretty boring p-day because there was nothing to do, but that's all good.

Anyways despite the holiday weekend we worked really hard with all of our investigators during the week and by the weekend we had about 13 people commited to go to church and about 8 or 9 of those were legitimate good investigators that have been showing progress so we were really stoked for Sunday but unfortunately we were really disappointed. Of the 13 only four went so we just ended with 4 investigators in the chapel and were missing 9. And of those nine were some of our best investigators that already have attended in the passed, I guess the holiday just one them over. But despite that setback we are still pretty excited because we have a lot of interested and progressing investigators and we should be getting some more firm baptismal dates this week. Patricio is progressing in the sense that he is praying everyday, reading the Book of Mormon, and is starting to live the Word of Wisdom. He has officially made the switch from coffee to Ecco and he is consistently lowering the amount of cigarrettes that he smokes daily. And he didn't even get drunk over the holidays, which he was very proud of jaja. He is still awesome but he just can't get his butt to church!!! It seems like every week there is something or another that prevents him from going. But we aren't losing the faith with him. We will keep working and praying hard to help him out. I'll tell you more about our other investigators as they continue to progress. Yeah so that was basically our week.

Oh and before I go I'll give you a little rat update. We bought three traps and set them very tight with bait and put them at strategic points in the house. Upon waking up in the morning we go out to check the traps and we see that the little maldito ate the bait off of all three traps without getting caught. Basically he's just mocking us.. so yeah now it's personal.. Well that's all that I´ve got for this week. Until next week take care and hopefully you´ll be hearing some good news about our investigators next Sunday. Love you all ciao ciao.

su chileno preferido, Élder Harper =)

oh yeah and about the earthquake here in Loncoche. Iit is was 6.2 or so... yeah enough said.. it was just a reminder of old times jaja but nothing to freak about. The new guys enjoyed it. and I hope you got the essays i sent! =) love you!

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 =)