I'M GOING TO MILK MY LAST WEEK HERE IN THIS SECTOR FOR ALL THAT IT'S WORTH BECAUSE I WILL REALLY MISS IT

Hey hey hey!

Happy Memorial Day! Hope it's a good one with a good ol´ fashioned American barbecue. Well this week was pretty good, not really any reason to complain but our best investigators are just kind of, stagnant. Well maybe not stagnant but progressing a lot more slowly than we would like. This week most of them progressed very little or just didn't progress. Patricia and Rayen are in Santiago. We found and taught them last week so that was good. Patricia is just really weird, like really hot and cold, but I truly believe she and her daughter will be baptized by the end of June. She´ll get there, she´s just taking a while.

Alejandra recently started working and we couldn't get a hold of her all week. So we hope to change that this week and teach her officially for the first time. We had a great lesson with Mattias, his mom Ximena, and the ex-wife Rosa and they all agreed to be baptized. They were all excited to come to church this week but they didn't show. Not even the recent convert Dad and son came, which is unlike them. So we will have to see what went down there either today or tomorrow. Sigh.. investigators.. so stressful at times.

The only investigator that we had that showed progression this week was this new investigator that we found last week. We taught her this week and she is awesome. She could be baptized in less than a month except for one thing.. she's not married!!!! But it's not like I can say that that came as a surprise. She lives with her boyfriend and her seven year old kid. Her name is Pamela. She is very receptive, very poor and humble, and very very nervous and suspicious. Her character leads me to think that there might be some violence issues in the home but I won't jump to conclusions just yet. We haven't even met the guy yet just the son. But she came to church this Sunday and she has the desire to follow Jesus and be baptized if she comes to know that the church is true. So now we just need to help her so that she can either get married or separated so she will be able to be baptized.

She also came to this great devotional that we had on Saturday night and that helped her a lot. On Saturday there was a stake devotional for all of the recent converts from the last two years in the whole stake and for investigators. President Swenson came to speak at it and the Stake President spoke as well and let me just say that it was awesome. The spirit was felt strong, Pamela loved it, and I got to see some of the converts and some members from Monte Águila =). It was just a very joyful and spiritual evening. I was disappointed that none of my converts from Galvarino came but oh well, what can ya do. Then on Sunday Pamela came to church and really enjoyed it and I don't doubt that she will keep coming, with her. It will just all depend on the boyfriend, whether he is willing to support her and get married, or if she is strong enough to take her kid and move out, or kick the boyfriend out. So we will see how that goes.

In the end last week was good because we were able to teach a lot and by doing that I was able to feel the spirit a lot as well as our investigators. But almost none of them went to church therefore they weren´t able to progress. So this week we will have to see why they didn't come and help make sure that they come this next week. Well 
I´m coming up on my last week here in VIlla Obispo, my last week as zone leader, and the beginning of the end of my mission. I'm going to milk my last week here in this sector for all that it's worth because I really will miss it, especially the ward. Well that's all I got for today. Congratulations on your eye surgery Dad, happy recovery and well, I hope you all have a great week.

Entonces hasta Lunes, portense bien y cuidense mucho, les quiero harto, CHAO!!!

con cariño, Elder Harper =)

Familia Kiger (Villa Obispo)

Paulin y Cristopher (Villa Obispo)

JUST HAVING LOTS OF FUN TEACHING, FEELING THE SPIRIT AND SEEING WHEN THE LIGHT BULB TURNS ON AND INVESTIGATORS UNDERSTAND. GOOD STUFF.

Hello everybody!!!

Another week come and gone, but it was a pretty good week. It started off kind of slowly and a little disappointing the first couple of days but things worked themselves out by the end. I´ll start by telling you about this one new investigator that we have that was basically a gift from God dropped right into our laps. Her name is Alejandra and we found her in church not yesterday but two weeks ago. She´s Chilena but she just moved back here to Chile two weeks ago after living for twenty years in Argentina, including most of her childhood. Besides her family, she has no connections here and has been feeling kind of lost and alone. She came into contact with the church through an employment service thing that they do in the Los Angeles South Stake and they have helped her to find a job and have really given her a helping hand, orienting herself here in Chile. They invited her to church but she said that our chapel here in this stake was closer to where she's living so she just showed up two Sundays ago and that's where we found here. She really liked church and is grateful to the members who are helping her out. We tried to get her address and an appointment after sacrament meeting but she said that the house where she is staying isn't hers and that they aren't really friendly to the church. So she just said that she would be back next week and ran out before saying anything else.

Now yesterday she showed up again and stayed for all three hours. The sisters in relief society did a great job fellow shipping her and now we have an appointment to teach her in the house of a member who lives very close to where she´s staying. So we are very excited to teach her on tomorrow because she seems very enthusiastic and interested in learning more about the Gospel. So we will see how that goes this week. With Patricia and Rayen.. well they are still really good but kind of sketchy. She loves when we come to her house and she loves hearing about the gospel and wants to get baptized and then other times we go to her house and everything is locked up and we see her hiding from us. And she's just kind of a sketchy person. We think that her sincerity and her desire to be born again and get baptized is sincere, but we also think that something else fishy is going on under the surface. Due to her behavior and demeanor and some other clues we actually think that she might be a drug addict. But that's ok, it's nothing that we can´t help fix. If her desire to come unto Christ is sincere then we will be able to help her overcome any obstacle that might arise while she and her daughter prepare to be baptized. They both came to church yesterday and it seemed like they liked it a lot.

We are also now teaching this big part-member family that seems to get bigger every time we go over there. The Dad and the kid got baptized in Galvarino a couple of months ago (I did the interview) and now they are coming to Villa Obispo. We are now teaching the little kid's cousin, Mattias, who is 10, Mattias´s mom and the mom of the little kid who is the ex- wife of the convert. Mattias has been to church twice now and he loves it. He would get baptized tomorrow if he could. His mom is also very receptive but we've only taught her once. She couldn't come to church this week but she said that she would next week. The ex-wife is also very receptive and said that she wants to get baptized to start over new again. She also said that she would go next week so we will see how it goes. Before we couldn't even go over to this convert's house because of family issues but now they have softened their hearts and every time we go over there more and more people are there waiting for us to teach them and participating in the lessons. Last time we went over there it was awesome and the spirit was felt so were are excited to see how this family progresses.

Well that's all that I got for this week folks. Just having lots of fun teaching. Teaching, and feeling the spirit, and seeing when the light bulb turns on and investigators understand. Good stuff.. stuff that I'm going to miss in two months time.. sigh.. oh well. That's what life is about. Changes. Well I love you all very much and like always am grateful for all of the love and support you guys give me. Take care and have a great week! CIAO!!!!

con amor, Elder Harper =)

I'M HAPPY AND I'M GOOD AND ME AND MY COMP HAVE CALQUIER ANIMO TO WORK THIS WEEK AND FIND THE LORD'S ELECT

The Cruces Family

President and Hermana Swenson and all the Zone Leaders

and APs in the Chile Concepcion South Mission

Hola a todos!!!!

Well this week was pretty good I guess, some ups and some downs, just another week in the mission jaja. We have some pretty good new investigators but it's just been hard to help them progress. We taught two new wedded(yes!!!!) couples this week who are very intelligent and very receptive. I love teaching humble and simple people but sometimes it's a nice break to teach someone who is intelligent and receptive who gets the message without too much explanation. Anyway both of these families have good potential, both already had commitments for this weekend so they couldn´t go to church but we will see how things go with teaching them this week so that they can progress and go next week. They only bad part about teaching upper-middle class people in this sector is that their work schedules are usually nuts, but if they are really interested they can shift their priorities to put God and the message of the Gospel above their other stuff.

Also this week we got a few good references from members and we´re planning family nights with them and the members for this week so we are excited about that. Working with members is a million times better than knocking doors. In this mission on average one in every 1400 contacts gets baptized, while the statistic for member references is like twenty times better. Working with members is just a lot more efficient, numbers don't lie. Also when a member can help a friend, neighbor, or family member accept the gospel and get baptized, they are happier and get a lot more excited to help us out even more. So yeah, working with members is a lot more efficient. Remember that kids.

Patricia and her daughter Rayen (our golden investigators from last week) are doing good but we are worried about them. When we taught them last week she understood everything and at the end without us even mentioning it she asked us what she needs to do to get baptized and she says that she wants her daughter and son to get baptized as well. So we were and are really stoked about that because she seems very sincere and the spirit is always felt strong in her house. She also told us she was going to go to church this weekend. But when we went back to teach her on Friday she wasn´t there. So we left a note under her door and well it's still there. She just disappeared and her and her family haven't been home since Friday. So hopefully everything is ok there and that nothing bad or weird happened. We are going to go by tonight to see what's up.

Let's see what else, well in the end working with members was somewhat successful this last week but contacting in the street and knocking doors was not. We contacted a lot and didn't have too much success in that department, most of them were just normal but we got more nastier responses than usual. I felt kind of like a stateside missionary with all of the hostility jaja. But it's all good. The work goes on. On Friday we went to Yumbel and I did a baptismal interview there. It was a very long and complicated interview. She is very repentant and humble but she had an abortion (it took me a long time to find out) like thirty years ago and she feels still just terrible about it. So in the end I had to call President Swenson so that he could take over with the interview and in the end everything went fine and she got baptized on Saturday. She reminded me a lot of Irma, sweet lady. And that took up literally the entire day.

In other news, it looks like we are going to have to drop Elton. He just doesn't want to do the things to progress, it's almost like he's happy in his misery, but we can't force people to change their lives and be happy. We made that clear to him. So if he comes to us or comes to church with a change of heart we will be thrilled to continue working with him, but until then we are just going to leave him. It's hard and sad but it's life, it happens. Oh also Ale got the priesthood this weekend and for the first time ever, he came not only in shirt and tie, but in a suit. I have no idea where he got the suit but it was awesome to see him like that instead of his usal slightly flaite get up. Ale and Dina are doing just fine, they are learning more and more and progressing a lot. Jose and Madelin are good but he still hasn't received the priesthood, but he has an interview this week with the bishop so hopefully that goes well. They went to church yesterday and are doing good but they just haven't really progressed at all since their baptism. So we are going to have to spend some more time with them this week to help them out with that.

Well that's all I got for this week, hopefully we will be able to start seeing things happen with Patricia and the member referals this week to help speed up the work here. But I'm happy and I'm good and me and my comp have cualquier animo to work this week and to find and teach the Lord´s elect. I love you all and have a good week. CIAO!!!!

con amor, Elder Harper =)

I LEFT THAT MEETING FEELING LIKE I AM READY TO THE BEST MISSIONARY THIS WORLD HAS EVER SEEN, BESIDES ALMA AND AMMON AND ALL OF THOSE GUYS.

PAINTBALL ON P-DAY WITH THE ZONE

Hola hola!!!

Well first of all, it was absolutely wonderful talking to you guys yesterday. Yes technology is awesome because it's a lot better being able to see you and talk to you rather than with just a phone. And that was the last call home, next time I see you it will be in the airport a little more than two months from now. Wow that's a scary thought jaja because I thought that time flew way fast from the time we talked on Christmas until yesterday. But that's ok, I just have to make the very best of these 2 months that I have left.

Anyways moving on, we talked about a lot of stuff yesterday but we didn't really talk about the week at all so I will just go into that. Over all it was a strange week that turned out better than we though it was going to in the end. This Saturday we had this big open house in the church as a missionary activity in the chapel and we were way stoked about it. It had been in the planning for like a month and all of the auxiliary organizations put up stands in the cultural hall for their different organizations. So we basically spent most of our time this week doing 10 to 15 minute visits with all of the members, sharing an inspiring scripture and experience and then giving them invitations and commiting them to inviting their friends, family and neighbors. Everyone accepted invitations and everyone commited to inviting a bunch of people so we though that it was going to turn out awesome.

Saturday comes around and the ward organization in the assignments for the stands and everything was incredible. The ward mobilized and everyone followed through with their parts and the stands were awesome for the relief society, priesthood, youth and primary organizations. I know that organization and the execution in plans in our ward back home is normal, but I had never seen anything like it here in Chile. So that was the awesome part. The not so awesome part was that only seven investigators came, and two of those were eternal investigators that always come to the activities. Yeah I guess it could have been worse but we were still pretty bummed, especially since it took up the majority of our time this week. But that's ok, we learned from our mistakes and learned that the ward is capable of organizing and putting stuff together for future events.

Also on Thursday we had zone conference with all the zones here in the center of the mission and it took all day but it was one of the best conferences that I´ve been to in my whole mission. It was awesome and very inspiring. And we saw a talk that Elder Holland gave in the MTC in January that very well could be the most inspiring and just plain best talk I have ever heard on Missonary work or maybe even just in general. Yeah it was awesome and I left that meeting feeling like I am ready to be the best missionary this world has ever seen, besides Alma and Ammon and all of those guys.

So back to the open house. It was good I guess for the members but really disappointing, I had high expectations. We put all our chips in for our work time for the week in this activity, and we lost... So leaving it we were pretty bummed and just decided to spend the few hours of the day that were left going to contact the few future investigators that we found during the week. So we went to this single Mom´s house named Patricia who was friendly but said that she was busy but to come by another time. So we gifted her a picture, the famous picture of Christ in Gethsemani, and told her to read the explication on the back side and that we would explain what was happening there the next time we came by. She is a paramedic and has an unpredictable schedule but Saturday night after the activity we got lucky and found her at home and she let us in. We small talked for a little bit to find out a little more about her and then we told her to bring in the picure and we read the back together and started to talk about the atonement of Christ and the role it plays in God´s plan of Salvation.

As we talked, the spirit in the room grew when we told her that God has a plan of Happiness for us personally and that Christ is the center. But after I said the words ¨plan of happiness¨ she just started silently crying. Then she told us a little about her life and about the hardships that she has been going through with her kids and how she turned bitter against God and didn't want anything to do with him. She said that she talked to us the first time just to be polite but then something caught her attention about the picture we gave her. So she let us come back. Short story long she told us that she felt good seeing that picture and that hearing what we were saying made her feel even better. That she was stressed with life when we walked in but that while listening she just felt this huge load taken off her sholders and felt relaxed. We then identified that what she was feeling was the Spirit and explained a little how the spirit works. Now this Sunday she couldn't go to church because she had to go out of town to visit her Mom but she is extremely excited to learn more about the plan of salvation and to start her journey back to God after all this time in bitterness and unbelief. Due to her schedule it's going to be tough but I really feel that she is sincere and well it was the strongest that I had felt the spirit in a while. Yeah so I'm really excited for her.

Well in other news that's not quite as big of a deal is that today for P-day we went paintballing, our zone vs. the southern zone of Los Angeles. Jaja it was expensive but it was a blast!!!! I'll send a few pictures that my comp took on his camera. Well that's all I got for today. Elton is kind of stuck in a rut so we will see if we can get him to turn around this week or we might have to drop him. So I was really spiritually recharged this last week and even though it was awesome seeing you guys and talking to you I am stoked for these next two months I have to work here en la viña del Señor. Les amo y hasta luego!!!! CIAO!!!!!

con amor, Élder Harper

IT'S WHEN THINGS GET TOUGH THAT WE GROW AND PROGRESS

Hello everybody!!!

Well the first week of another cambio has come and gone. I'm still on a spiritual high from the four awesome people that we were able to baptize and witness come unto Christ in the month of April. Well the Cruces were baptized in March but confirmed in April. It was definitely a good month and a good cambio last cambio but it was not easy at all. It was full of worry and stress and lots of fervent prayers but our hard work and obedience paid off in the end. It was an awesome month, but man baptizing isn't easy, but it really shouldn't be either. It's when things get tough that we grow and progress. Salvation isn't a cheap experience so why should the mission be?? I've been doing a lot of reflecting lately if you can´t tell. jaja I guess it's because I'm getting close to the end with just a little over two months left and.. well.. just lots of mixed feelings. Anyways I will now get on with my week and such.

So.. last month was great and all but we baptized all of our best investigators and we're now left with the stragglers and slow progressers to start this cambio. So you know what that means.. Lots and lots of proselyting!!! Jaja it's not that we weren't contacting and knocking doors before but now that's pretty much all we are doing because our teaching pool is kind of slim. But that's ok. We are working our tails off now to find new people, and we've found a few that might be able to progress so we will see how that goes this week.

The only investigator that we had been teaching consistently that we had when Elder Bustos left was Elton. I don't know if I´ve already told you guys about Elton or not but if so well you're going to hear it again. Elton is like 22 years old and is the brother of this returned missionary sister who is living in our ward with her returned missionary husband. Elton came here to live with them so he could study and go to college here in Los Ángeles. He is a special guy and is different than any other person I´ve taught. His older brother a few years ago hung and killed himself in his house and he unfortunately was the one to find him and it really affected him. According to his sister, ever since he has been very depressed and it's easy to tell because Elton is like a walking dementor. But me and Elder Bustos started teaching him and things started getting better and progressing little by little. He is a smart guy and understands what we teach him. He knows what he needs to do and wants to want to do it but he is just completely unmotivated. He just cant find the desire to truly read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true. With me and Bustos he went to church twice and the second time even stayed for the classes and was starting to get happier and smile and laugh more. But for Easter week he went back to his home town to be with his family and when he came back it was like he had lost all of the progress he made. He got all difficult to work with again and just isn't motivated to do anything. This week he didn't come to church because he didn't want to get out of bed. My new comp isn't all that optimistic about him but I see in him the desire deep deep in him to be born again and to leave his past behind. He has also had weird experiences with "evil spirtits" (latin america is weird with that stuff sometimes) and he thinks that the devil has control over his life and that keeps him down as well. So we aren't going to give up on him yet. He is going to progress slowly but I think we can help him turn his life around. We have felt the spirit with him before and I'm pretty sure he has felt it too whether he admits it or not.

Anyways my new companion is Elder Swainston.

He goes home the cambio after me and he has a lot of experience as zone leader and has a great reputation so I was excited to get him as a companion. He is a hard worker but is funny as well and is easy to get along with. We have differences of opinion and differences in working styles but we are working to put those together to make a good team. The first week or so is always awkward teaching together and meshing two different styles together but we will get it just fine. He's a really good guy and we are already pretty good friends. He's from Las Vegas.

Yeah, the santification week of 200 contacts was tiring but not too hard to complete because we had plenty of time to do contacts jaja. So we did the 200 contacts and more without stressing. It wasn't that hard this week and we've found some people that can progress this week. So Elder Swainston is great and all but I do kind of miss Elder Bustos. We had started working together really well and he's the best missionary that I've met in the mission so far. I've never met a missionary just so focused. It was a great experience to work with him for the last 3 months and I definitely learned a lot from him. I was working well before but he brought me up to a new level and a new vision of the work that I didn't see as well before. Now with a great missionary like Elder Swainston, I'm excited to keep it going til the end baby!!! All the way through the finish line. Well I had one more thing that I wanted to talk about but I'm just about out of time because we had consejo this Monday instead of Pday so we got back late. But if you guys remind me about the German girls, I'll tell you the story next week. I love you all and I love this gospel, I'm stoked for these last two months or so that I have to work to give it my all. Until next week. CIAO!!!!!

Elder Harper =)

I LOVE THE SAVIOR AND IT WAS A GREAT EASTER, A GREAT DAY TO REMEMBER HIS RESURRECTION. HE TRULY LIVES AND LOVE US.

Muchas holas a todos!!!!

Happy Easter!!! it indeed was a good one. By the way, you're killing me with all that food description Mom. Here we had a pretty good Easter but I will tell you about my week first, because it was a good but also very weird and frustrating week. So last week, or the week before last week, we found this guy who we thought was the prefect golden investigator. He stopped us on the street, said that he had been talking to a mormon friend at work, and then asked us if we could give him a Book of Mormon. When we gave him one he thanked us and said that he had been waiting to be able to read one and he was really excited. Then last Sunday he showed up at church and invited us over to his house to teach him and eat lunch. His house was way out in the campo, the country, and in the end we found it but it took us like all day. In the end, the lunch didn't end up happening and he ended up telling us that he is actually a member who was baptized like ten years ago in Antofagasta. Yeah, then we finally got back to our house at like seven to grab some lunch and then go out and work.

So that was a big bummer and kind of a waste of a day but whatever it's all good. That was Wednesday. Also on Tuesday a rain storm caught me off guard and unprepared so I am once again sick! jaja. Oh joy, gotta love winter here. But not a big deal just a minor detail. Thursday it rained really hard and we spent most of the day going around to investigators and members houses passing out invitations to the baptism on Saturday. Since it was raining and people felt bad for us, everyone insisted on giving us something to eat and something hot to drink. We would try to say no but it's next to impossible to deny food from Chileans; they get offended.

So by the end of the day, I had probably drunk like 10 cups of hot chocolate or hot milk with ecco and a ton of food. I felt so gross and sick at the end of the day. jaja. But that's part of the experience serving here in Latin
America sometimes. Eating until
you think your stomach can't take
anymore, and then going to another house and doing it all over

again. Then it happened again last night when we went around saying goodbye to everybody (Elder Bustos is leaving..that was kind of anti climactic but oh well) and it's going to happen again tonight. But now Im prepared because I ate a very light lunch. Anyways that was Thursday. Friday our lunch was with this rich family who basically kidnapped us and took us to this huge house in the

campo. There we had a barbecue with them and their extended family (like 30 people). That was all fun and tasty food and what not but we had to rely on someone with a car to bring us back so it wasted a lot of time. Also on Friday Morning we had to go to Monte Águila to do a baptismal interview with my convert´s (Raquel) sister and then after the barbecue I went to Galvarino to do an interview and then to another sector to do another interview. But I enjoyed that. I just love doing baptismal interviews and seeing their excitement and hearing their conversion stories.

Then Saturday was the baptism!!!

We were nervous the whole week about their interview and about whether they were going to go through with it or not but everything worked out just fine in the end. On Saturday at like five oclock they were baptized and then on Sunday confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Rubilar (the first missionary who taught them, and then stopped teaching them because they didn't progress) came down to baptize them and it was all a good spiritual experience. We had good ward support there despite the holiday weekend, and the spirit was felt. Afterwards on Sunday morning Ale told us that when he was baptized this warm burning feeling filled his chest and he was still feeling it Sunday morning. Yesterday Elder Bustos went to say good bye to them and they bought a chicken to share with us with the little money they have. They are so poor and humble but willing to share what they have, they are awesome.

Also on Sunday, this gringo Big Wig of a wood company showed up to the chapel and he didn't speak a lick of spanish so I got to go around with him for all three blocks of church and be his translator. It was fun but it was my first time translating and man it was tough, especially since the speaker can't just stop and let me catch up. I had to listen, and translate, and keep up all at the same time. But he was a really nice guy and a long time member of the church. He was excited to have someone there to be able to translate for him.

Well that's all I got for this week, now that Ale and Dina are baptized we have only one progressing investigator who is the brother of a long time member. He is progressing along well but went to his home town of Cañete for the break of the semana santa so we didn't see him at all last week. But he´s coming back today. His name is Elton but I will tell you his story next week because I am out of time. Well I love you all very much. I am grateful for all the support and love I receive from all of you. I love the Savior and it was a great Easter, a great day to remember his resurrection. Fue tan exquisito tomar el pan y el agua de la Santa Cena esa Domingo de la Pascua, y para verles al Ale y la Dina tomarla por la primera vez como miembros ese Domingo fue expectacular!!! He truly lives, and loves us. Until next week CHAO!!!!!!!

con amor, Élder Harper

WHEN THE SPIRIT IS THERE, YOU GOTTA GO ALL OUT. NO REGRETS, NO FEAR!

HEY EVERYBODY!!!

FELIZCUMPLEAÑOS BAYLOR!!!!! Chuta loco te estai poniendo viejo! 16, I can´t believe it. Well it sounds like you had a lot of fun and a good time, and congratulations on your running bro! 4:29 compadre! You are quite the track stud aren't you, keep it up.

Well things here are going just fine and dandy. The week just went by way too fast, and now we will be starting the last week of the cambio and that will go by even faster because it always does. We will know our cambios on Saturday. I'm probably staying but you never know with cambios. President always throws a few curve balls in the cambios, but I really really hope I stay. I love this ward and we have some really good investigators so I will be praying that I stay while my comp will be praying that I go so he can stay jaja. I guess we will be seeing who has more faith by whose prayer gets answered =) jajaja but no really I do hope that I stay.

So this week started off a little slow with not really too much going but things started to pick up on Thursday. Thursday we did intercambios. Elder Bustos went to Yumbel to work with Elder Shore and Elder Ahart came here to work with me, just like old times. He´s doing pretty good, just a little discouraged because spanish is still pretty hard for him and he has only had gringo comps so far. But he' s not afraid to approach people or participate in lessons despite his lack of Spanish so he is coming along alright. The spanish will come.

Also the intercambio was very productive. We went to teach this investigator for the second time and it had been three weeks since we last contacted her so I was a little nervous that she cooled off but it turned out to be a good lesson. She is a very simple and humble lady and has a hard time remembering things but she has a desire to learn and the spirit was felt during the lesson so I decided to invite her to be baptized on the 7th of May (when the spirit is there, you gotta go all out. No regrets no fear!). She does want to be baptized and accepted the invitation but not for the seventh. She said it was too soon, plus she wasn't able to go to church this week due to a funeral service. But that's ok. We are going to help her and her husband out so that they can come unto Christ and be baptized in May still. Then we went and saw Ale and Dina and then visited the Cruces. I love the Cruces so much. They are great converts and sincerely want to dowhat's right and want to follow Christ. And their little two year old son Vicente just cracks me up; he's the coolest little kid I love him. 

On Friday night we had a big ward activity, a ward dinner with drinks, salad, potatoes and steak, well carne a la olla, but its basically steak. Christopher and Paulina came, the Cruces came, and Ale and Dina came. All of our recent converts and our best investigators were also there, so we were very content little missionaries that night. We ate and then we watched as everyone sang karaoke and danced. There were like about a hundred members of the ward there and everyone had a blast. Ale and Dina love it and we had a good time as well joking around with everyone and watching the karaoke and dancing. We left early but later we heard that the bishop even got Ale (who is very shy) to sing some karaoke. So that was good. 

Then on Saturday we had a ward missionary activity which was good but could have turned out better. But that's o.k. We have an awesome ward mission leader who is a recent convert of less 

than a year and full of fire to work with us so we are going to get this ward used to these activities and with working with us slowly, a little bit at a time until we have almost everybody participating. On Sunday we had a pretty good turn out in church, Ale came (Dina had to work=( ) and three other new investigators that are really good that we found this week came so we are really stoked about that. We didn't find very many future investigators but the new ones that we did find are very good so we are content with this week's work. Ale and Dina will be getting baptized this Saturday the 23rd. The first missionary who found them about a year ago will be coming here to baptize them, Ale and Dina worship him. Actually he even went to their house to visit them with Elder Bustos after enrevistas with the President on Tuesday (he is an assistant so he was there) and he gave her a blessing and the spirit was felt really strong. He also had her write the experience down in her Book of Mormon so that when she begins to doubt or get scared she can read that experience and receive the strength she needs. That was inspired because last night at their house she was starting to doubt again and tell us how she doesn't think she is ready yet but I reminded her that she has already received her answer from God and bore testimony to her and helped give her the strength to step forward with faith, follow her answer, and be baptized. So through questions we basically helped her resolve her doubts and when I challenged her once again to be baptized on the 23rd the spirit was there and she accepted. Your right Dad, that article El Misionero que testifica y desafia (a testifying and challenging missionary) is an inspired article. I have it in spanish and it has helped me a lot throughout my mission Dad. Don't worry, I´ll be pushing all the way through the finish line.

I could tell you a few experiences that we had with the new investigators that we found but I'll tell you more about them next week, they are awesome though, different but awesome. Well I got to go now, I'm actually in Monte Águila right now and I'm going to go visit some people but I love you all very much and am so very grateful for your support, your prayers, and your letters and emails. I don't know where I would be without you guys.

con amor, Elder Harper =)

p.s. Thank you very much to the Activity days girls, the Tanners, Grandma and Papa, and you guys for the letters, goodies and treats that I've recieved from you. They were all greatly appreciated. Haha loved the Easter card mom, nice face bay.

IT'S CRAZY HOW FAST TIME FLIES BY; I ALMOST HAVE 21 MONTHS IN THE MISSION!!!!

Hello everybody!

It snowed in orange county in April?! Well, hail or snow, but still, that's pretty dang crazy. The first time that has happened in who knows how many years probably. So that's pretty cool. It sounds like you guys all had a fun filled spring break, awesome! Disneyland, beach, what more could you ask for? The weather here

can´t make up its mind whether it wants to turn to winter or hold on to summer. This week warmed up a lot and we had some pretty hot days like the middle of summer all over again. And now it's cloudy. Yeah, so it kind of just does its own thing but whatever. Whether it's rainy or sunny we are out there working so it's all good.

Well this week here in LA was pretty good. It had some ups and downs and some scares with some investigators but in the end it was all fine and the week ended well. It was actually pretty dang uneventful, especially for the first few days. On Thursday afternoon until the end of Friday morning I went to do an intercambio (divisions) with the missionaries in Galvarino so that was really cool to work the streets once again of Galvarino since over a year ago. I got to see a few members there. Unfortunately none of my converts were home, but thats ok. Since I'm so close I will have a chance to swing by and visit them another day. But it felt really good being back there. I liked that sector a lot and definitely did not appreciate it enough while I was there, but I was still a youngin in the mission and took some things for granted. Anyways it was a good intercambio.

Then Friday and Saturday went fairly well. We didn't really find too many new investigators this week and we couldn't get in touch with any of the ones that we have found within the passed few weeks but we got back in touch with some old investigators from last cambio and had some pretty good lessons with them so we were excited about that. We explained things to them clearly so now it's their decision if they are going to start progressing again and reading, praying and coming to church again. The spirit was definitely felt in the lessons with them so I think that they will take the right decision and start progressing again.

Ale and Dina are progressing along just great. They have a baptismal date for the 23rd of April and it seems like they are commited to it and are ready to come unto Christ. Their relationship with the ward members has improved a lot and they both came to church this Sunday! Dina finally fixed things so that she doesn't have to work on Sunday. In the chapel they were very well received. Everyone said hi to them and lots of people made sure to take some time to chat a little with them and befriend them. They weren't able to stay for the classes but they liked church a lot and said that they would be going to the classes next week. We also had a few other investigators in church but they aren't really progressing at all so I won't talk about them right now. But we plan on taking really good care of Ale and Dina this week and having family nights with them at the members houses to keep them going strong with their decision. So we are very excited about them and their progression.

The Cruces had to go to Santiago to take their little son to the doctor this weekend so they didn't make it to church but they are doing well and we are going to keep visiting them to help them stay strong. But they´re doing good; they´re a great family. Well that's about all for this week, nothing else really to say. Just two weeks left in this cambio and then only two cambios left. It's crazy how fast time flies by; I almost have 21 months in the mission!!!! AHHH!!!!! haha Well I love you all very much, have fun back at school kids and we will be hearing from eachother again next week. Until next Monday CIAO!!!!!!!!!!!

con amor, Elder Harper =)

I WANT TO DIE (end/finish my mission) WITH MY FACE TOWARD ZION

Hola a todos!!!!

Sorry that I'm writing so late Mom. Today we had consejo (zone leader council) in the President's house, or as Danny called it, the council of the Knights of the Round Table. So we had to travel last night to that, stay at a house in Talcahuano, and then go to President's house in the morning. Because conference ended at 7 here in Chile, we got a late start to consejo and didn't get a seat on the bus so we had to take the two hour trip standing up. That kind of..stunk, jaja but what can you do? When I was in Santa Juana I started to get pretty good at kind of half sleeping while standing up and holding on to the hand rail in the bus. Anyways I didn't get all that much sleep last night but it was worth it and worth losing P-day because consejo is awesome. It just feels so cool sitting in President's living room in a circle with all of the leaders of the mission, many of which are good friends in the mission. But there were a lot of young guns there and now I am definitely starting to feel old in the mission jaja. It still hasn't completely hit me yet how little time I have left, but I think that that's a good thing. I'm still going strong and will be doing so toward the end. As the ancestor of one of the apostles (can't remember which one) said, who served in the Martin hand-car company, "I want to die (end the mission, death, it's like the same) with my face toward Zion." Anyways, consejos went well and the mission is going to be going through some changes pretty soon here that I´m excited about.

Yeah, as far as the Cruces goes... They got baptized!!!!!!!! yay!!!!!!!!!!! jajaja. I couldn't be more happier for them. Last Monday night we had a very spiritual Noche de Hogar (Family night) and afterwards, while we ate, Jose Cruces said that he wanted to get baptized on Sunday but when he remembered it was conference he said ok, then next Sunday. Madeline (his wife) looked at him and said, no.. this week.. wednesday. Jaja She is such a strong pillar I love it! anyways he looked at her and then agreed. So we spent all Tuesday running around inviting the ward to the baptism and planning the baptism with the ward mission leader. On Wednesday the baptism started a little late (they ALWAYS do here) but other than that it was spectacular and very spiritual. We had a great ward turn out, the bishop came, the stake president came, and even President and the hermana Swenson came. Months back President came to Los Ángeles to do a devotional for recent converts and investigators and they got to know the Cruces very well. Every time President saw us, he always asked us about them and he was very happy when he found out that they were finally getting baptized and well, he came. Jose´s best friend (who is a ward member) baptized him and I got to baptize Madeline. It was a great experience and the spirit was felt strong there, and they definitely recognized it. Yesterday they came to the morning session of conference and afterwards were

confirmed members and saints of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. They are on their way to becoming great members of the Church and in a year more, an eternal family. How awesome!!!!!!

So because of the double baptism, I´m going to say that it was a great week but other than that... jaja well, we´ve had better. We found some good potential new investigators who are member's friends but of the 11 investigators who were supposed to come to one or more sessions of conference, none came. Out of the five opportunities none came. That was a little frustrating especially because Ale y Dina commited to come and then bailed. Our ward here is great but not perferct.. This week we found out that at church last week some member did something to offend him a little bit and not really too many people paid much attention to him so he has been feeling down about that. He says that he still wants to get baptized and stuff but the energy he had before has been all but completely deflated. He said he was going to come still but just completely flaked on us. Now I could let that get me discouraged but that's not going to help anything, jaja, even though it was disappointing. So what we are going to do this week to remedy that problem is have a barbecue at a member's house with a few good fellowshipping families and we are going to invite them to it. We are also going to invite him to play football (soccer) with the men of the ward on Friday night, and if that works out, it should animate him enough to keep on trudging forward. He doesn't have any doctrinal problems really, he just needs some friends in the ward, to feel love and like he's a part of the ward. That will help him out a lot. Dina is actually coming along well. She is becoming more receptive and is now talking about baptism and church membership not as a hypothetical thing but as a future event in her life that has just not happened yet. They are good humble people and are going to be our new number one focus for this week so they can be baptized on the 23rd of April, pray for them.

Conference... conference was awesome!!!! What more can I say? jaja. I loved all the talks and found a lot of common themes such as... charity and helping the poor, Marriage!, revelation, marriage, and marriage jaja. He hit hard on that subject big time especially for all of those RM´s out there who are just twiddling their thumbs. And then hearing Elder Holland's message about conference and how talk subjects are picked, just added testimony to how important those talks are, especially the ones with repeated themes. That is the revelation that we need to make it safely through the next six months my friends.(until the next conference in October) Fortunately I was able to watch all five sessions in English, unfortunately this was due to the fact that there were no investigators I needed to sit next to in the spanish sessions =(. Oh well, conference was still awesome and the spiritual feast that I needed. It brought me a little closer from the gray beginnings of Dawn to the noon day sun =). And I definitely will not be dawdling along for these next three months on my road to Damascus (the rest of my mission). I'm going to be doing everything I can to baptize everyone that I can!!! Because that is the only door which leads to eternal life. If they don't get baptized, then they´re not going anywhere. The gospel is true, and I know that the Prophet, apostles and church leaders are inspired by the hand of God. They have been called to sound the Lord's warning trump here in our days. We must do everything to heed them. I love you all very much and until next week CHAO!!!!!!!!!!!

con amor, Elder Harper =)

IT'S HARD TO EXPLAIN IN WORDS BUT MAN IT BROUGHT ME TO TEARS. PRAYER IS POWERFUL AND YOURS DEFINITELY HELP

Hey hey hey!!!!

Well I'm glad to know that all is well up in the OCS sounds like the kids are doing just fine and are set for a good spring break. Here things are going very well, not perfect, but when are they ever? Yeah, so I'll just get right into my week then.

The week started with a nasty cold jaja. I'm still coughing but thankfully not as much now. Yeah, so that was kind of a bummer, especially since it rained a few days as well but it's not a big deal. I just popped in ibuprophen and worked like normal. Summer is definitely over and the weather is starting to cool way down here. During the day it's not so bad but it's started to rain a little and the nights and especially the mornings are starting to get pretty dang cold. The sleeping bag you sent in the MTC saved the mission Mom, as did the over shoes, you truly are a hero =).

This week we didn't really find any potentially good new investigators but we are starting to do a better job of helping the investigators that we do have progress and we are really excited about them. The familia Cruces are just awesome. Jose, Madelin and their two kids, Elias and Vicente, are coming along just fine. Elias already got baptized like 2 and a half months ago and Vicente will be turning three next month and Jose and Madelin are finally getting baptized!!!!! Yay!!!!!! It's been tough for Jose to just take a step of faith because he is really indicisive. He has known that he wants to get baptized for months but he just couldn't decide when to do it, but we have been helping him out a lot more and teaching him every other day. I just love teaching them because they understand and absorb everything and it just makes every lesson with them an awesome spiritual experience. I really feel it strong there every time I go and they are starting to get good at recognizing it, which is even more exciting. Madelin is set and ready and has really helped for Jose to finally make the decision.

They decided that they are going to do it this week and we have a family night with them and the ward mission leader and his family tonight so tonight we are going to pick the day and plan the whole service. Yeah, so we are stoked about that. I love that family a lot and am grateful that God put me here in this sector and at this time to have the privilege of working with them and serving them. So the specific date isn't picked out but it looks like we are going to baptize them on Friday and then just confirm them right away (with our bishop's permission of course).

Ale and Dina are also doing just great. We are going by their house more often to teach them as well and it has really paid off. We had a few good lessons with them and then on Friday we went to their place with Christopher (the recent convert) and his fiancee Paulina (they are getting married now in April), to teach them. We barely even taught, for most of the time Paulina and Cristopher just talked about their conversion experiences and it was awesome. New converts really just have this fire that us long time members don't. Christopher openly shared his experience with converting and quitting a smoking addiction and testified to them of how the gospel has blessed his life and the relationship with his fiancee so far. It really helped them out a lot and they even accepted a baptismal fecha for the 16th of April! On Sunday Dina had to work but Ale finally came and loved church!!! It really showed that he's serious about completing his goal to get baptized on the 16th. And now Dina is going to change her free day from Monday to Sunday so next week they both should be coming. They are very poor and very humble and it's awesome working with them. I love working with humble people. They definitely learn the easiest and it's also a lot easier to feel the spirit with them and to help them recognize the influences of the spirit in their lives.

Also we have been working with this inactive family for a while and they finally came back to church this week for the first time since I've been here so we were also pretty stoked about that. We were very blessed this week. Things with my companion are going just fine. We have are disagreements every once in a while and don't see eye to eye on everything but he is a hard worker and the most focused missionary I have ever met. He won't even talk about home. 99 percent of our conversation is on the zone, or the ward, or the mission, or our investigators. So that is good, especially since 'Im so close to finishing. Too close. The zone had a better week this week as well so everything is all good.

I had a lot of good spiritual experiences this week but I would have to say the most spiritual experience I had this week was kneeling in a circle in prayer with the familia Cruces before leaving their house. Seeing their two kids kneel, fold their arms, bow their heads and then hearing the Patriarch of the family offer a sincere, heartfelt, humble prayer. Knowing that 4 months ago they didn't even believe in God and then to that... it's hard to explain in words but man it brought me to tears. Even the three year old is just so excited to hold a Book of Mormon in his hands as we study and so excited to pray. He even makes us kneel to pray to bless the food jaja. I could go on forever about that family but that's enough for today.

Well that's all I got for this week. This cambio is looking to be a good one. Keep praying for the Cruces and Ale and Dina everybody. Prayer is powerful and yours definitely help. I love you all and enjoy your last week before spring break. CIAO!!!!!

con amor, Elder Harper =)

I JUST LOVE GENERAL AUTHORITIES, THEY JUST HAVE THIS MANTLE ABOUT THEM THAT'S UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE.

Hello Hello!!!

Well I'm glad to hear that everything is going good down in Socal. Here things are going well; it was a short week but it was pretty good. As I already mentioned we had cambios on Tuesday and Elder Bustos and I stayed together, but we still had to wait in the bus terminal for a good chunk of the day waiting for all the new missionaries in the zone to get here. And Elder Ahart (yeah, he came up to my zone. I was stoked) came all the way from Loncoche so we did a lot of waiting haha. Also on Thursday (was that st. patrick's day?) we went down to Angol, like an hour and a half away, to a conference with Elder Corbridge who's the second counselor of the area presidency here in Chile. I just love general authorities, they just have this manto (don't know how to say that in English) about them that's unlike anything else. Like they just emanate authority and you can feel the power when they speak, yeah, it's awesome. Now I can´t wait for general conference jaja. So between him and President Swenson, they took up the whole day and we got back like at 9:30 at night so we lost the day of work but it was definitely worth it. It was very spiritually uplifting hearing from Elder Corbridge.

So besides those two events, it was a pretty normal work week. We had a family night with the Cruces and the Bishop's family (our future mission president) which went very well. Due to this big Catholic holiday celebration thing in Yumbel, yesterday Jose Cruces had to work but now starting next Sunday they are going to be coming back to church in full force and should be getting baptized here in the first or second Saturday of April. They are totally ready, she knows it, and he wants it but is still a little hesitant, probably from not going to church last week or the week before due to work. But now that he's going to be able to go again, everything will go just fine. We are going to put a fecha with them this week.

Now I´ll tell you a little bit about another family we are teaching. Their names are Ale (Alex) and Dina. She moved here from Peru to work a couple of years ago and he is from Santiago. They are very poor and live in this tiny one room apartment but they have enough to eat and to pay the bills from what it looks like. They were taught by Elders like 6 months ago and a couple of weeks ago we found them in the area book and have started to teach them again. He is an alcoholic and didn't believe he could change but now just recently he has started suffering from kidney and liver problems and has been going to the doctor a lot. I think this has scared him because he now hasn't drank in two weeks and he tells us that he wants to change. He says that he wants to start going to church so he can get baptized and get away from the alcohol and his drinking friends. His wife is having some trouble supporting him but they are starting to progress and we are excited for them. We have a goal for them as well to get baptized in April so we are going to be working a lot with them.

Well that's about all that I have for this week. We have good investigators and are really excited to help them progress and to get them baptized so they can truly come unto Christ! Also Christopher (the guy we baptized my first week here) had been starting to fall into old smoking habits but we've been helping him out a lot with that and he's clean again. If everything goes well he should get the priesthood this coming week. Well that's all I got for this week. Bay, keep tearing it up in track and Abs, Mom sent me some Mormal pictures, cute as always. Love you all very much and until next week ciao ciao and work on getting those hard working missionaries some referrals! They cant do it without you!

con amor, Élder Harper =)

THEY'VE ALREADY SEEN HOW THE GOSPEL HAS BLESSED FAMILIES AND THEY WANT IT FOR THEIR OWN FAMILY

Hey everybody!!!

Sounds like everybody´s doing good back home which is always good to hear. Our week here was alright; it could have been a lot better but I'm not complaining. We are working hard and know that we are going to be seeing results very soon now. We tried some new things out this week and well it worked out pretty well. We decided that working on our own isn´t getting us very far so we are turning it up a notch on working with the members. We might not see too many results from it right away but they will come. We are trying to have two to three family nights at members homes with our investigators weekly and we made a calender for doing splits with the aaronic and melchezidek priesthood holders and passed it around in priesthood so they could sign up as we explained to them the plan. We also have some missionary activities with the ward that we are planning so we are stoked to see how it's all going to work out for us. We hope to get the ward a lot more excited about getting involved in the work.

This last week we had a family night on Monday with the Cruces family and the ward mission leader and again on Friday with the Cruces and the stake president and his family and it worked out fantastic. It strengthens the bonds between members and investigators and is testimony building for them. In conclusion, it's just a win-win situation. For work issues that usually don't happen, Jose Cruces (the Dad) won't be able to attend church next week' and couldnt attend this week but after that he will be fine. They are excited to get baptized and we will be putting a fecha with them this week for the 26th of March. They are an awesome humble family and you can truly see that they just want to follow Christ better and do what's right. They were atheist before but they´ve already seen how the gospel has blessed families here and they want it for their own family.

We have some other good investigators that are progressing as well but for one reason or another they were not able to go to church this week so I will talk more about them as they start to progress faster and go to church. The beginning of the week was kind of rough because my comp hurt his neck pretty bad somehow and couldn't really move it or even walk for a day so we lost one day of work on Tuesday, but thankfully it slowly got better during the week after many icy hot patches and muscle relaxers and now he is back to normal and we are at the normal fast pace of working again. Also we have cambios tomorrow but me and my comp Elder Bustos are staying together so we are excited about that. Everyone else in our zone though had cambios and most of our zone next cambio will be different. Also due to a decrease in the amount of missionaries in the mission two of the sectors in our zone were closed and so we are going to be down four missionaries this next cambio. I was kind of bummed because one of the sectors that they are closing is Monte Águila. It will be rough for the members there but what can you do? It made me a little sad but hopefully as we get more missionaries in the mission they will be able to put missionaries back there. Hopefully sooner then later because it's a great sector and needs missionaries. But oh well. Oh and my son Elder Ahart is coming up to the zone now and is going to have a great comp and so that will be cool to see him again.

Well due to my comp being discapacitated for a couple of days,' Im about out of things to say for this email but I love you all very much and am very excited to have a good next cambio and of course to BAPTIZE!!! After all,' thats why we are here. To bring people unto Christ, and the only way to come unto Christ is through the waters of baptism. Yeah so until next week CIAO!!!!!!

con cariño, Elder Harper

GOD LOVES HIS CHILDREN, GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS, AND HE REALLY DOES WORK MIRACLES.

Hello family!!!

Well well well what can I say about this week? Unfortunately we are running a little bit late and I don't have too much more time to email but I did have some good experiences this week so I'm going to try to type really fast jaja. So if there are a ton of spelling and grammar errors that's why. So since I don't have too much time I'm just gunna get right to it.

So this week was pretty dang busy and unfortunately we didn't have nearly enough work time. On Monday we had the cosejo de LÍderes which took our whole day on Tuesday district meeting. Wednesday we lost our morning to go to the government offices to pick up some of the newer gringos in our zone passports and visas. Then on Thursday we had capacitations (training) with the President and the assistants, which took most of the day. Then on Friday I had to go apply for my new Chileno ID card because mine is expired ( oops!). And on Saturday we went to the pueblo of Laja to do baptism interviews. But every free moment we had available to work, we worked and the Lord knows that we gave it our all because he truly did bless us this week.

One Little miracle that we saw happened on Friday morning as we passed by the McDonalds in the center to get an ice cream on my way to applying for my ID card. As a little bit of background information, there is this investigator in Laja who has been going to church for 4 months and has stood up two of his planned baptismal services with the font filled and people waiting and everything. Now as we were walking passed the McDonalds, this investigator from Laja (Oscar) ran into us and started to talk to us. He told us of his desire but fear to get baptized because of possibly messing up or going innactive afterwards. So we talked to him about Lehi´s dream and the importance of the sure path of the iron rod and we also shared with him Helaman 5:12 (its a great scripture folks). Short story long he said that on the way to LA in the bus, he was praying for God to answer him about if the church is true and if he should get baptized and less than an hour later he ran into us. He got emotional and told us that that was the sign he was looking for so he told us that he wanted to do it and get baptized right away. The following morning we went up to Laja to do his baptismal interview. 23 hours after running into him in the center of Los Ángeles, he was in the font getting baptized.

Miracles truly do happen and I am very grateful that the Lord used us as instruments in his hands to help this guy get baptized. It's just amazing how he put us in his path (through my id card and us wanting a McDonalds ice cream) to answer his prayers. God loves his children, God answers prayers, and he really does work miracles.

So we were stoked about that whole experience but a little bummed when Sunday morning came around because due to the lack of work time we had, we didn't have too many people to bring to church. Miraculously, five minutes after church started this family (the Cruces family) that had been progressing but hadn't come to church in two months (loooong vacations) walked through the chapel doors with dress and suit and tie and everything. Even their two year old kid had a shirt and tie. That never happens here!!!! Then the Dad of the family bore his testimony in Elders quorum saying how they've made some big mistakes recently but missed the church and how they are going to start coming back now and work towards being baptized. Yeah you can only imagine how happy we were to hear that!

So even though things aren't going perfectly here, they are picking up and we are seeing the Lord's hand in the work so we are happy and will be working hard this last week of the cambio to find new investigators and help the ones that we do have a ton. Just the usual jaja. Well I got to go but I love you all very much and am glad that you all had a good week, I hope this next one is good too. SO until next Monday... CIAO CIAO!!!!!! chaito!!!!!

con amor, Elder Harper =)

p.s. congrats Bay on your first meet!!! you stud you!!! and I'm glad you finished out Lacrosse season good Izzie; your awesome.