THEY WERE OVERJOYED TO SEE US AS WERE WE TO SEE THEM

Hey familia,

Well well well Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas time is officially on, Christmas music, lights, the whole shabang! Haha slightly jealous of that since nobody has lights and barely anyone has a tree here but oh well. This is my second one here so I'm already used to it. But anyways I'm glad that you guys enjoyed your holiday back in the states. I would have probably forgotten once again all about Thanksgiving but we had entrevistas with the president in Temuco that day so some other gringos reminded me about it and president bought us all Pizza Hut for lunch to commemorate. Jaja it might not sound like much but the only Pizza Hut in the mission is in Temuco and it's basically the only American restaraunt there besides McDonalds so it was a delicacy for us. My interview was good but short, nothing really too exciting to report on there. But since we are so far away that took up the whole day. Then on Friday we went to Pitrufquén to do a baptismal interview which was good but there were bus problems so that once again took up basically the whole day. Saturday we worked but spent most of the afternoon and evening helping a less active member with cancer paint her house and we gave her a blessing. Even though I just wanted to be out teaching or tracting or something, it still felt really good to serve and help her out and it must have had an impact on her because she came to church on Sunday so we were pretty happy about that.

But since we were so busy with other stuff during the week, we unfortunately didn't have much time to find new investigators and to help our current ones progress but the little 9 year old girl, Victoria, came with her member Dad to church on Sunday in a dress and everything (that's rare to see) so we were stoked about that. And we seem to be gaining more confidence with her and her Dad, so she is starting to progress along a little more towards baptism. She is really good but just timid and her Dad isn't that supportive, makes me so frustrated at times. But thats ok because we are going to put a specific baptismal fecha with her this week, who knows, maybe we´ll even have a white Christmas. I would absolutely love that =). Besides her none of our other investigators have progressed. Victor is still kind of bogged down and not progressing and we have another investigator who is awesome and says she´ll get baptized when she gets an answer to her prayers but she went to Santiago for a week so hopefully she will still be good when she gets back. It was kind of frustrating not having to much time to work and finding no new investigators last week but discouragement doesn't help anything so I'm not letting it get me down.

Anyways after church on Sunday me and the other leaders from our zone made the four hour trip up from Loncoche to Los Ángeles for the consejo de líderes ( mission council) on Monday. It was good seeing most of my buddies and all my past senior comps up there and then it was of course awesome hearing from the President, I love President Swenson, that man is just inspiring. He made me just so stoked to leave that conference and go back to tear it up in Loncoche. Then after conference it was once again back on a bus until Temuco and another night sleeping away from the house. But I rode on the bus all the way to Temuco with Elder Vincent, my comp from the MTC, and it was great to catch up with him because we don't cross paths very often here in the mission. Anyways that's about all that I got for this week, just lots of hours spent on a bus traveling. Fun stuff jaja. Well we have no meetings or anything for this week so it will just be a lot of unimpeded working our tails off to find new people to teach and baptize. We are looking for the Lords elect so.. it should be a good week. My next letter should be a lot more interesting than this one. 

Oh how could I forget! After the consejo, Elder Terrazas and I went to go visit Marcos y Marcela, and Victor, our converts in Galvarino. It was cool walking the streets of Galvarino again with Elder Terrazas (who finishes the mission this cambio) and visiting our converts. They were overjoyed to see us as were we to see them. It was a great experience and of course raised my mood up even more, they are awesome. Well now I will get going but I love you all very much, enjoy the week and the holiday season. CHAU!!!!

con amor, Élder Harper =)

MY WEEK...WELL IT HAD A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING

Hello Hello!!!

Ok well first off, thank you very much for reminding me about Thanksgiving because to tell you the truth I had all but completely forgotten about it because it doesn't exist here. But now on Thursday I'll make sure to commemorate it in giving special thanks in my prayers and oh.. I don't know.. maybe stuffing my face with sopaipillas or something. Man I love those things. So fried and greasy but soo good. Anyways enjoy some good turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing on my part.

So about my week.. well it had a little bit of everything. It started off amazing, had an alright middle and ended.. well.. I'll get to that later. But Monday to Thursday was just awesome and really felt like things just took a huge turn for the better in Loncoche. Just talking to almost everybody on the street with lots of energy and getting accepted. Like all of a sudden out of nowhere people have started to accept us more and let us in to teach them. We didn't have much time to knock doors this week because most of our time was spent running from appointment to appointment. I just felt I deep sense of peace and contenment in what I was doing and an extra dose of the spirit, it was awesome.

But on Thursday things started to change. It began to rain Thursday afternoon and didn't stop until Sunday afternoon. Thursday and Friday were alright but Saturday it rained the whole day without stopping and of course every one of our appointments and plan B´s and C´s failed and we were left with nothing else to do but knock doors because nobody was in the street. And even though everything was going wrong and we were soaked through the rain gear to the skin and nobody wanted to open the door or let us in we still felt really good. But it's crazy how unmerciful people can be sometimes when they tell you straight up to your face that they would let you in but they don't want you to get their house wet. Most people just told us we were crazy and to go home and dry off, which of course just made me want to stay out knocking doors all the more =).

Anyways on Saturday night we were feeling good because we had like ten people tell us they were going to church and 7 of them were for sures who we called to remind that night. But on Sunday morning it begins to rain and not one of them shows up. It was heartbreaking because for some of them it was their last chance before we dropped them. Yeah, so yesterday was pretty tough but the rain cleared up today and we have some good investigators to work with that we started teaching last week so hopefully they will be able to progress. This week will be about out with the old, and in with the new. I think I've already said this before but we just can't afford to use any more of our time teaching those who will listen but in the end not progress. That's why it's so important for us missionaries to use the discernment that the holy spirit can give us. Oh we weren't able to get ahold of Victor last week because he is sick but we prayed about him and decided not to give up on him just yet, but we will see if that sticks or not this week.

Well that's all I got for this last week. On Friday we have interviews so that should be good and there I should also be getting my packages and finally my leather scripture cover things that I ordered now over a year ago jaja. Well once again have a good Thanksgiving! Just in a little bit longer we will be talking for Christmas! I love you all very much and thank my Heavenly Father every day for blessing me with the best family every on this earth. I am one lucky guy =). Well until next week les quiero mucho y CHAUZZZZ!!!!!

Élder Harper =)

THE GRINGO WHO HAS BECOME CHILEAN

Hola Hola y buenas tardes!

Hmm another week come and gone and another month come and gone. 16 months old crazy stuff. I'm starting to get old out here jaja but definitely not too tired yet, I'm glad that I've got another 8 full months, a third of my mission still to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands here in Chile. Anyways it sounds like you guys all had a wonderful week back home in the big OC. Abbie congratulations about getting your blessing, read it all the time because it's just awesome, and Bay congrats on finishing your season and CIF well, you're a champ. And Izzie congratulations for just being you, you're awesome.

Well let's see here, what can I say about my week? Well it was the first full week of the cambio which means it was la semana de santificación (santification week) which means that we did over two hundred contacts. Yeah it was good just talking to everyone and testifying and teaching and such but man is it tiring. Out of those two hundred we didn't find anyone that is really amazing or a golden investigator but we did get let into a few houses to teach and we have a few return appointments for this week so we shall see how it goes.

As far as the investigators that we already have this week wasn't so great. I hate to say it but I just don't know if we are going to be able to baptize Victor. He just can't understand or comprehend the restoration and some commandments like the word of wisdom, and when we teach him he just gets distracted so easily and doesn't really pay much attention. So we kind of got discouraged with him this week, but we aren't going to give up on him just yet and we are even going to fast for him this week. But he did come to church again as always and in the chapel after sacrament meeting told us a story very loudly and said like ten cuss words in the story jaja yeah it was an interesting experience. But despite the rough edges he´s got a good heart and that's why I'm so reluctant to let him go. We will be praying for him a lot this week.

Also, we taught Veronica and Guiermo a few times last week with a member and had some good lessons and committed her to be baptized and once again to come to church. Once again she said that she was going for sure but when Sunday came around she didn't show up. We went over later and she said that her parents came down on Saturday from the campo and spent the night so she couldn't go because she had to be with them. Ugh its always something with her, I think we are going to give her one more week and if she doesn't progress we might have to drop her because our time is valuable and needs to be used with those who are prepared and ready to receive us, accept the truth, and act on it. It just feels like finding the needle in the haystack sometimes jaja. But I trust in the Lord that he will lead us to his chosen.

Spirituality wise it was a good week. It was on and off but overall good and even though the success has been little, just working hard and doing my part, I was blessed at times with feelings of contentment and peace. Now if those feelings could just always be there jaja. On Sunday this very very poor inactive family that we've been working with finally came to church so it was great to see them there. Then after church they told us to come over to the house later but wouldn't tell us why, but still we agreed. When we get there they have all this homemade bread and food waiting for us and were so excited to have us in their home and to feed us and it just brought tears to my eyes. This family lives in a house that's about the size of Abbie's room downstairs or a little bit smaller. This includes the bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. They are always very tight on money and don't have very many clothes or things but what they do have they are gladly willing to share. Just the humility and kindness of that family that was so excited to share what little that they had with us was just such a humbling experience and another reminder of how grateful I need to be for what I have back home. Well that's about all that I got for this week and hopefully I will have some good news and experiences with investigators next week. I love you guys very much, take care and until next week CHAU!!

El gringo que se ha convertido chileno, Élder Harper =)
(translation: The gringo who has become Chilean)

IT'S WHEN WE STOP WORRYING ABOUT OURSELVES AND START CARING MORE ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE THAT WE WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF AND CHANGED

Muchas Holas a todos!!!

Well first off Baylor, don't let the loss get to you. Just brush it off and go kick some skinny runner butt at CIF, go big or go home baby! jaja Anyways while it got really hot down there in Cali, the weather still can't make up its mind here at the end of the world. Or at least the end of my world, which is the boundaries of mission Chile Concepcion Sur. For the whole week up until Friday we were in short sleeves with lots of sun and then for the whole weekend it just decided to rain and hail really hard. It was pretty big hail too, fun stuff. But it looks like the rain is starting to go away again and hopefully it will stay that way. Well that's enough about the weather. Now I'll tell you about the week.

So on Saturday we had cambios and on Tuesday they let us know what they were, and for the first time in the history of my mission I didn't have a cambio. That's right. I am staying here in Loncoche with Elder Maldonado for another cambio. So since Elder Maldonado and I get along well that's pretty sweet that I get to stay with him. Now we can keep working on improving our teaching and working together and I think that this cambio will be a good one and hopefully more fruitful than the last. In the house,

Elder Hillman left and a chileno named Elder Garcia took his place to be Elder Calaway´s comp. Calaway has been having a tough time adapting to mission life and not having very many results so far so I'm glad that we will still be in the house so I can help him out. We are really good friends and he's just a good quality guy so I'm glad that we will be in the house together along with Elder M for another cambio.

As far as last week went by work wise, it was very rewarding but at the same time a little bitter and sad. We have been working hard and now we have been getting into houses and have a pretty good teaching pool and they want to change and are somewhat progressing but all of them have something that's impeding them. We were able to teach that one family, the Mom Veronica with her son Guiermo, once again who didn't go to church last week. Her excuse was that her husband was sick last week but she said that she recognizes that Satan is trying to impede her from going and that she needs to fight that and do everything she can to go. Then after a great lesson they committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon and they said that they would be at church for sure rain or shine. We were excited about them to progress and got our hopes way up but when we called them Sunday morning nobody answered and the second time we called the phone was off. So they didn't go on Sunday which hit me a little hard. It's hard to open up and love your investigators because when they do a lot of time you get hurt and disappointed but loving them and opening your heart up to them is the only way to do it. Even if they disappoint you sometimes, it's worth it. But anyways we are going to see what's up with them tomorrow. We have some other investigators that are progressing slowly as well but our ever-present and ever-faithful so far is still Victor.

We went to wake him up on Sunday to come and he told us to go on without him and that he would come. We decided to take a risk and trust him and when it shortly started to rain after we got to the chapel we thought the worst. But what do you know, ten minutes later in comes trudging Victor wet and smelly, as usual, but with a smile on his face happy to be there. We taught him a couple times last week outside his house (he won't let us in to his shack because he is embarrassed) and he is progressing but still slowly. He understands to a pretty good extent the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and of the importance of that and baptism but he just can't quite grasp the importance or significance of the restoration. We always teach it to him and he always forgets. He just can't grasp the idea of authority and the one true church but we are working on it. It's just gunna take a lot of patience, love, and divine intervention, but I have faith that he´ll get there.

On another note this week was very trying, draining and somewhat rewarding with working with the members. The drama and the hypocrisy and backbiting in the branch is just starting to get to me. We need a strong branch before it's ready to receive new members. But we are working with them and overall I think that I am starting to gain their trust and respect. We had one experience that was pretty rough and that reminded me that I'm still just a twenty year old kid. It happened with this married couple that have been members for two years and are strong but are having problems. And it just so happens that we picked a moment to go and visit them right in the middle of a somewhat serious fight. They had been having some problems and they were arguing about it when we walked in. But no, they didn't stop it at our arrival, they just invited us and dragged us into the middle of it.

It was a pretty complicated situation with lots of difficult things to deal with and here we were with them treating us like their marriage counselors while yelling and crying and accusing. Yes, I felt very small and inadequate but after about a half an hour or so of trying to help and being the mediators and realizing that every time we made progress it just went right back and that they were both being stubborn, at about that time I started feeling the spirit and I began to talk about the healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ and how it's not just applied for our sins but in every aspect and hardship in our lives. We testified and promised and we felt good upon leaving but still didn't feel like we made a difference. The next day they came to church smiling and happy and the hermana bore her testimony in the meeting about the power of the atonement, and its application to our lives. Then later that day she called us to come over to give us some loaves of homemade bread to take home and to thank us for our help.

So that was a very spiritual and humbling experience I had last week. It's crazy the things that the Lord entrusts us 19 to 21 year old kids to do. Man it just blows my mind sometimes, but it's times like those that humble me. It's times like those that make me realize that there is no possible way to do it on our own. The only way to success is giving in, surrendering everything to him, holding back nothing, and letting him take the lead. There is no way but the Lord's way. Fighting it in either thought or actions just leads to inner conflict within oneself and discontentment. The only way that works and the easiest way to do things is to just surrender. I love this gospel and I love my Lord, that's why I'm here. To do his will not mine. Sometimes I forget that I'm not here for me but for him. It's when we stop worrying about ourselves and start caring more about everyone else that we will be taken care of and changed. Well I got to go but I'm excited for this coming week and even though my investigators are frustrating, I'm not going to give up on them just yet. Until next week, I love you all and cuidense mucho. CHAO PESCA´O!!!!! jaja

con mucho amor, Elder Harper =)

WHILE VALUES ARE DEGRADING, WE ARE DOING OUR BEST TO WORK AGAINST THE FLOW AND LIGHT UP THE WORLD WITH OUR LITTLE CANDLE

Hello everybody!!!!

Well it sounds like you guys had a pretty fun Halloween despite it being on Sunday. Maybe you thought your Halloween wasn't very eventful but here in Chile it barely exist. Yes it exists but nobody decorates, no Jack-O-Lanterns, and very few people actually dressed up and went out to trick or treat. But this was my second one here in Chile so that's basically what I expected from it. As far as how the week went, it was pretty good but just when we thought that summer was coming, in it rained the entire week. So that was pretty lame but now it has stopped once again and the weather is getting warm again so no worries.

Well nothing really terribly exciting happened in the work last week but we did find some new people to teach and now we have the makings of a good teaching pool. There are these two families that we are teaching that we are really excited about. They said that they will get baptized when they receive an answer of the truthfulness of our message but then they bailed on us to go to church. We even called the night before to make sure they were coming, to which they responded yes, but when we went to call them Sunday morning, their phone was turned off and they didn't show up to church even though it didn't rain. That was disappointing because we felt the spirit with them as we taught them during the week but I don't know.. we are going to pass by tonight to see what happened.

But on the bright side Victor once again came to church and so did two other investigators that are progressing very slowly. When we first went to pass by Victor's house to pick him up to go he told us that he wouldn't be going because he didn't have any dry clothes from the week of rain. He doesn't have much clothes either. So when we started the sacrament meeting, we had no investigators, only 18 members were there, and we were very disappointed. It was like in the middle of the service after the sacrament that Victor loudly entered the chapel (in usual Victor style) along with a lot more members and the other Investigators. So it was an alright Sunday and an alright week. Progress is still frustratingly slow but hey there has been progress and I have faith that if we continue to work hard and do our part the progress will continue.

And actually I lied when I said nothing really exciting happened this week because in reality a lot of drama went down here in Loncoche this week. Some domestic violence went nuts here when an angry drunk boyfriend went to his girlfriend's house, tied her to a chair, beat her, and then soaked the house with gasoline, lit it on fire, and shot himself. Luckily both the girlfriend and girlfriend's Mom were rescued from the house with minor injuries but the fire just consumed the big wooden house and their wasn't much hope for it. Afterwards it was all over the news and the topic of everyone's conversation for a couple of days here. Stuff like that is just a wake up call to how we missionaries are sorely needed here in this pueblo, while values are degrading we are doing our best to work against the flow and light up the world with our little candle. Its daunting at times but it's not impossible.

Two days after that incident, an innactive member's house burned down but this one wasn't arson. We tried to get a hold of the family but it looks like they left the town. Oh and it's still not over, then a few days ago, one of our good investigator's uncle´s, who lives here in town, was killed in a hunting accident and the family took it very hard. But they loved hearing the message of the forever family and the plan of salvation and they are interested and want to learn more but they can't progress unless they come to church!!! ahh!!!!! jaja yeah that was a release of frustration.

Anyways on a final note, my comp and I are doing well and are feeling the spirit more and teaching more unified together after every lesson we teach. It's really cool but cambios are this week and most likely we will be separated. Cambios are also this Saturday instead of next Tuesday, like how it usually is, so that will be weird but the President said that it's just going to be like this for this cambio. So on Thursday we will know our cambios, hopefully I will be staying here because I do not want to leave another sector dry and I want to be here for Victor's baptism. Well I got to go but I love you a lot and we will be talking together in just two more months. Until next Monday CHAO!!!

Elder Harper =)

FASTING REALLY DOES WORK MY FRIENDS

Hola hola!!

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

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

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

su chileno preferido, Élder Harper =)

FOR THE LORD THERE IS NO LOST CAUSE

Hello!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder Harper

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

Hola Hola a todos!!

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

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

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

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

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

Élder Harper =)

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

Hey Everybody!!!

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

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

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

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

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

con mucho cariño, Élder Harper =)

WE BEGAN TO TEACH THIS FAMILY, THE SPIRIT FILLED THE ROOM

Hola y saludos a todos,

Wow, even in my roughest sector of the mission so far, time seemed to go by way fast. Now three months have passed and it's time to say goodbye to Santa Juana. First I'll tell you a little bit about my week. Tuesday was spent doing contacts, trying to visit innactive families, and getting blown off by appointments, but we worked hard. Wednesday was pretty tough because even though we were out working hard my comp was all down about the sector and that kind of affected my mood as well, and once again it didn't help that we weren't able to contact any of our investigators and nobody really cared to talk to us on the doorsteps and in the street. But the day ended well with one of the better lessons that we've had in a while.

We went to an appointment with a somewhat wealthier investigator family who has potential and we got the branch president's wife to come with us. Before going to the appointment we were kind of feeling negative and down but as we began to teach this family, the spirit filled the room and I could feel it helping the mother of this family understand the message of the restoration and its importance. She understood everything very well, which usually doesn't happen, and was excited to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of our message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She was not able to attend church this Sunday but my comp and his new comp have an appointment with her and the branch president's wife again this Wednesday so I have hope that she will be able to pray in ernest, receive her answer, and then have the courage to do what it takes to follow that.

While we are on the subject of investigators, our other ones are not doing so hot. Yeseña has changed and has given the gospel a backseat in her life and Laura and Juan are still in the same boat and not progressing. It's really tough to see investigators give it up but that's life, not really anything more to say about that.

On Friday I did get to do an intercambio (exchange) with some Elders in my district to do a baptismal interview (which is always uplifting) in the only sector in the whole mission with bikes. So at least for one day in the mission I was out doing the work on a bike, although I do have to say that I think I prefer walking. It's easier to talk to people in the street that way. Anyways on Saturday morning I got the call for cambios and lo and behold I am leaving. I actually have the biggest cambio ever because I am going to continue as district leader in Loncoche, which is the farthest south sector in the mission. After almost a year of being up here in the north I am going back down south to where it all began. I am going to be in the same zone where Pitrufquén is and the hermanas there are actually going to be in my district. Also this weekend for general conference I will be watching it in the chapel in Pitrufquén, the same chapel where I watched my first general conference in the mission. That will be some major dejavu, and also I´ll be able to see and for the first time speak to all of my buddies down in Pitruf.

Although I am relieved to be leaving Santa Juana I still kind of have mixed feelings about it. I wanted to go but now leaving is kind of sad because I feel like I haven't really done that much here these passed three months and that I will just be another missionary that did his time and passed through here in the minds of the people. I may have not had all that much success here but at least I have overcome problems, learned valuable lessons and am now leaving with the resolve to work harder, smarter, and better in my new sector, Loncoche. I feel like I didn't really accomplish the work that the Lord had intended for me or find the people that I needed to here, but I won't dwell on it too much. The past is past and now I just have to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Well I got to go, have fun enjoying the heat wave and I'll tell you all about my new sector and new comp next week. Until then I love you guys.. CHAOOO!!!!!!!!

Élder Harper =)

SCRIPTURE STUDY COUPLED WITH ERNEST PRAYER HELPS CLEAR THE MIND AND PUTS THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE A LOT.

Hola Hola!

Well my second and last Dieciocho here in Chile has come and gone and we are going on the last week now of this cambio and probably my last week here in Santa Juana. This Dieciocho wasn't as active and fun as my last one but we still had a good time. Even though I am glad it's over because the holiday was not very good for the work so last week wasn´t nearly as productive. We had the capicitation thing on Monday so Tuesday was pday. Then we basically just had Wednesday and Thursday as good solid work days because we had the branch activity on Friday, which took the whole afternoon (like 5 hours) and then we had Saturday (Dieciocho) as pday. But the Chilenos, from Friday until today, were in party mode. Lots of drunks, lots of investigators out of town or entertaining guests, and everyone too busy partying or with preparations to listen to us. We did find a really good person although doing contacts on Thursday. We talked for a long time and she was really interested and we were stoked but at about 10 minutes into the contact we found out that she is from Santiago and is just down visiting family here in Santa Juana. Sigh, just our luck, but it was still a good experience.

Then, as I mentioned earlier, we had the branch activity in the meeting house on Friday afternoon. It wasn't nearly as big or active as the activity they did in Pitrufquén but it was alright. There were like 25ish people there with some games and lots of food. I basically just spent the whole time chatting with members and some of their non member family members and stuffing my face with empanadas while drinking mote con huesillo. Man I ate so much fried food this weekend (including like 30 empanadas) I feel absolutely sick. Then after the activity we took a two hour bus ride to Lota to sleep at the missionaries' house over there because we did a double zone activity in the chapel over there for Dieciocho. It was fun and all but it was a lot of traveling and it wasn't really all that exciting. But the anticucho(shishkabob) and asado(barbecue) was good so I didn't complain. So ayways it was a good weekend but when Sunday came around we didn't think we were going to have anyone in church because we didn't see our good investigators pretty much all week. But to our surprise, halfway through the sacrament, in walks the 20 year old son of this innactive member that we've been talking to and trying to teach. I thought that he wasn't all that interested but he came to church by himself and without us picking him up or anything and he seemed to like it so we will see how it goes with him when we go to teach him this week.

Well it was a really short work week and the activities for Independence day weren't all that exciting so I'm just about out of stuff to write about this week. But this week we have the whole work week without interruptions and even though I enjoyed the festivities I'm ready to hit the streets again and to finish out my time here in Santa Juana working hard and smart and doing everything I can to have the spirit of the Lord with me. Looking back at the work here I´ve made some mistakes, and I've had some hard times but I've learned from all of those and am going to work hard to keep my spirits and animo up to finish it off good this cambio. I´m not sure yet about what the cambios are officially, but this Saturday I will, so you will hear about it next Monday. Well I've got to go now but I love you guys and can't wait to hear from you again next week. So until then cuidense y portense bien. CHAOOO!!!!

con amor, Élder Harper =)

Hey Mom!!

Thanks for the letter. I loved it. Oh and by the way you're right. I think it would help out a lot to make it a habit to have good daily scripture study which is started and if necessary ended with prayer. Scripture study coupled with ernest prayer helps clear the mind and puts things in perspective a lot. Sometimes I've come home from a rough day and I've needed to ask Heavenly Father for like a million things but instead I just start going on about what I'm grateful for and why I am grateful for it and that always helps me to feel better. Well mom I got to go pero te quiero mucho y cuidate!

tu hijo chileno, Élder Harper =)

Hey DAD!

Loved your letter. I don't have much time left but I just wanted to send a quick note. I'm glad that you are enjoying seminary and are rediscovering the fount of spiritual strength and peace that is daily scripture study. I absolutely love it and need it to function properly as a missionary. I hope that I never lose it after the mission. Also I'm really glad that you guys enjoy my letters and that they might actually be helping people out back home. Here I've taken I huge hit to myself confidence and esteem as a missionary and at times have questioned if I really am cut out to do this work but I know that those thoughts are just from the adversary. Anyways it was good to hear that I might be helping out back home even though my efforts aren't resulting here in the field. I guess I just need to work harder and with more consistency, diligence, and animo because sometimes it's hard to keep the animo up.

Although I don't think that I'm nearly as good of a missionary as you were I know that I've at least got 10 more months left here to become a good missionary. Im too weak and make too many mistakes but I guess that's so that we can stay humble. Oh and don't worry, I agree with you about the levity. Trust me here in the mission I love joking around, having a good time and making contacts, investigators and members alike smile and laugh. But with levity there is a time and a place and there are limits and my comp likes to flirt with those limits a lot and sometimes chooses the wrong moments and places. But he has gotten better with it so there aren't too many worries there. Anyways I just wanted to let you know that I love you and am grateful for your words of support and encouragement. Tell your class that I say hi.

Te quiero papa, cuidate

tu hijo chileno, Élder Harper =)

WHAT KEEPS ME GOING IS THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THIS GOSPEL AND THIS MESSAGE IS FOR EVERYONE

Hola Hola a todos,

Well summer is over and everyone is back to the grind of school. I remember those days, and yes Mom, I do remember still all too well starting every semester with a messed up schedule and the frustration at the guidance office. Haha, good times, good times.

Well as far as things are going here, Elder Steele and I have been doing all right here in Santa Juana. As far as the work goes it's still chugging along here, and by chugging yes I mean still very painfully slow. We have investigators and we've found new ones but they are all either not progressing or the progress that they do make is snail-paced. Yeseña was ´sick´ all last week so we couldn´t get a hold of her and nothing new has happened with Laura and Juan either. They still want to get married but they can't find the courage to just go up and do it without further delay. We've talked with them but as of right now they are keeping their plan for marriage in December. But we still haven't really had a chance to talk to both of them at the same time about it so maybe if I can do that this week it will help. Oh and the older Lady and her three grandchildren that we found and taught last week that were really good are still interested and want to get baptized but now they are moving to Conce in like a week so that's a big bummer but we´ll just have to pass the reference along to the missionaries over there.

Last week we worked hard but our animo was up and down and we also had comp problems that had to be fixed on Wednesday but besides that our companionship is good. Elder Steele is a great guy and loves to joke around. Sometimes the endless jokes and taking lightly of things would get on my nerves but he is working on being more serious when we need to be serious and all in all we are good friends. I´ll miss him when the cambio ends because despite all of the jokes and stuff he knows why he is here and he is a hard worker. At times last week we both got a little discouraged and down but we are working on doing better about that and I know as we continue to try to be better and work harder then our patience will pay off. We just need to keep atittudes up, which is difficult at times, and continue working with the faith and hope that our Heavenly Father will lead us to his prepared and that we will be able to recognize who they are.

Even though all of the new people that we found the week before kind of just dropped we found and taught two new families last week that have invited us back and that have potential to be good investigators. So we are excited about continuing with them this week, cuz when we are teaching we are happier =) and with one of these families we felt the spirit very strong and its guidance with the lesson last week so we will see how things go with them tomorrow. We probably would have had some of this people in church last week but we had stake conference in San Pedro, an hour away, and had to leave the chapel in a bus at eight in the morning to get there and none of our investigators were able to make it. Stake conference is a bummer when you are in the pueblos and have to travel a long distance, but what can you do, it's past. Now we have some lessons and such planned for this coming week but besides that, it's probably not going to be as productive as last week because that special time of year has come to Chile once again.

Thats right folks.... it's the week of the famous 18 de Septiembre!!! Yep it's bigger than Christmas, New Year, and Easter combined, it's Dieciocho!!! And it's not just any September 18 party for the Chilenos but it's their Bicentenial this year so it's going to be a big bash. While we will only have the 18th off as a p-day, the Chilenos will have 5 full days off of work to celebrate in normal Chileno fashion. Barbecue, dancing, and flowing alcohol jaja. So it probably will be hard to work since a lot of people will be going out of town or will have visitors down for the week and stuff but on the good side, it's always fun practicing teaching and giving baptismal challenges to the drunks. They make for a funny 2 minute or so conversation to break up the monotony sometimes and brighten up your day, as long as they aren't violent that is jaja good times. But Dieciocho or not, the Lord's work never rests and doesn't have time to rest and heck I've only got two weeks left to show Santa Juana what I got, to serve the people of this fine town, and to leave it all on the field here so I can feel that these last 2 and a half, 3 months of work here in Santa Juana have not been in vain.

What keeps me going is the knowledge that this gospel and this message is for everyone. That not all roads lead to God, but that He has a specific plan, a Gospel, and a church that fits everyone's needs for all of his children. The whole human race, Chilenos, gringos and everyone alike. Not everyone will accept our message, lots won't even give us the time to present it, but that's ok because everyone here in this little pueblo has the right to hear the call. It's just my job to present it and be the best vessel that I can be for the spirit to work through but all the rest is up to the person. I can't mess with anyone's free agency, all I can do is love, serve and teach. I'm not the best missionary and maybe I'm not the one to get through to these people here in this pueblo but I am trying and repenting every time I make mistakes. So I'm going to try my best to give Santa Juana the missionary that it deserves for these last two weeks here. Well I think that's all I got for this week. Love you all and PLEASE do something to help out the missionaries where ever you live this week. Because it really does make all the difference in missionary work. This is one thing I've learned here in Santa Juana, and unfortunately I learned it the hard way. Well ok this time I really am going. CHAO!!!

con amor, Élder Harper =)

p.s. tomorrow makes 1 year in Chile. One whole year here in Chile. and 14 months in the mission, can't even believe it. These next ten months are going to fly by in no time. I better make the best of it.

THROUGH THE GOOD AND THE BAD THERE IS STILL NO PLACE ELSE THAT I'D RATHER BE THAN OUT HERE ON MY MISSION.

Querida familia y todos,

Well another week has come and gone and now the cambio is halfway over. Even during the rougher times during the mission the time still flies. It's a bummer for the kids the party is over. Grandma and Papa are gone and it's time to go back to school jaja. I'm sure you are all busy getting ready for that now.

Well my week was alright, It started off well anyway. The first half of the week we worked really hard and focused on finding new people. It was impossible, next to impossible, to get any of the members to go out with us so we just did some good old fashioned door knocking and talking in the street. That really didn't work out all too well for us but on Tuesday we got a surprise. Yeseña called us and told us that we needed to come over as soon as we could. So after we finished up with whatever we were doing we went over to her house. When we asked what was up she told us that ever since she stopped going to church and stopped meeting with us that things had just gone down hill. That she missed the feeling we felt in church and in the lessons and that she was having trouble feeling purpose in life and that she had been dreaming a lot about the church. So we told her that we were going to do everything to help her get that feeling back and get her life into harmony with what God wants and she agreed and said that she wanted to learning from us again, going to church, and to work towards baptism. So we were stoked about that and she and her friend were both ready to go to church on Sunday but when we got there only the friend was there and not Yeseña. When we asked what happened she said that they were on their way to church together when Yeseña got a call to go back to take her Dad to the hospital. Satan is working really hard with her but she said that no matter what she is going to make time this coming week to meet with us and we are going to put a baptismal fecha with her and her friend this week. They are ready and I think just need a set goal, like a specific fecha, to work for to keep them motivated to stay on the path. Laura and Juan are exactly the same. They were once again out of town this week but they were with Juan´s sister in law, who is an active member, so I am hoping that she still took them to church on Sunday. Hopefully next week I´ll have more news for you on them next week. Oh and Euphemia once again went out of town and this time for like two weeks so it looks like she might have to wait for another set of missionaries until she gets baptized.

As far as finding is going all the news that we find doesn't last but this last week on Wednesday I think we found a good one. We just contacted this older lady with a cane and three grandchildren trailing her in the street and when we asked her how she was, she said ´mal´. We usually don't get that reply so we asked her some questions and she told us about all of these problems she is having in life right now and that it feels like it's too much. So we shared her our message of comfort and love and she invited us in to hear more. We also helped her out with some of her non spiritual material problems which definitely helped her accept to hear our message and to invite us in. We had a short first lesson with her and then she invited us to come back for another appointment. When we did we taught her about the plan of salvation and eternal families and how she could realize that through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. We taught her with lots of questions and the spirit was felt strong in her home. When we gave her and her nine year old grandson the baptismal challenge at the end they were hesitant but said that they would prepare themselves to be baptized. So we were way stoked for that and this family really does seem like they are going to come through with it but when we invited them to church they had already had plans to go visit family in Conce but said they were for sure for the next week. So it's a bummer that they won't be able to be baptized this cambio because they won't ¨have the three in church but I have faith that they will continue to progress and get even more excited for baptism when we teach them the restoration this next week. So finally all the contacts that we've been making paid off a little bit and we were finally invited into a house to teach for the first time here in Santa Juana in like three weeks.

The week would have probably ended better but things fell apart with some would be investigators and the innactive kids that we were helping with their English. It was a really tough and long weekend but I made it through. Through faith, hope, prayer, and the scriptures we will always make it through. We could feel sorrow for ourselves for what's going on and we could give up but the Savior didn't give up on us when he was suffering in the garden or bleeding on the cross. He didn't give up on me so I won't give up on him. I know that no matter what is happening our lives He will be with us when we are in our own personal Gethsemane. He will always be with me, and you. Well I love you all very much and I love being out here. Like I always say through the good and bad there is still no place else that I'd rather be than out here on mymission.

con amor, Élder Harper :)

ps. I know I ended the letter all spiritual and all but there's a funny story I forgot to tell you guys. So this morning after we deep cleaned the house we went on a hike up the big hill to the mirador where there's the wooden tower that looks down on all of Santa Juana and the river. I think you´ve seen pictures already. But anyway on the way up on the side of the trail we found a herd of wild billy goats. Shaggy fur curly horns and all, about 10 of them. So we went off the trail and tried to get close to take some good pictures and stuff but before I was able to get close enough to get some really good ones they would get spooked and move back. So Elder Steele just started yelling and chasing them and I followed suit tracking and chasing them for a good ten minutes or so. It was pretty cool even though we almost got lost because of it. Elder Steele wanted to hit one with a rock but fortunately he did not succeed. I didn't want to get caught in a billy goat stampede with their horns and stuff. Oh and it totally brought me back to the Tombstone Arizona petting zoo experience when I was little. I'm sure papa remembers jaja. Anyways just a goofy missionary story, you'll see the pictures later. well love you. chao

I AM DETERMINED TO LEAVE MY MARK ON THIS PLACE AND LEAVE IT BETTER THAN I FOUND IT.

Muchas Holas a todos!!!

Well sorry I'm emailing so late, we had a capacitation in Talcahuano today for all of the district and zone leaders here in the north so I didn't have p-day and we just got back to Santa Juana a little bit ago. Wow I can't believe you guys are on your last week of summer, one more week and Abbie is a senior, Baylor a sophomore, and Izzie a 7th grader. Everybody is growing up too fast.

Well let's see what can I tell you guys about this week? In some ways it was better and in others just the same. It was better in that I finally got over that stupid flu and was back to working like normal all last week. Also we worked hard last week so that felt good, but I think we could have worked harder and more efficiently because we didn't really see any results. Anyways Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty uneventful, just lots of contacting and working but we didn't really find anyone. On Thursday we had interviews which went well. We were capacitated once again on the new principles that are being implemented in the missionary field world wide and did a lot of practices. Then during the interviews I got to talk to both President and the hermana Swenson and it went well, but nothing really more too say about that rather than it was just good to talk to them.

We left the interviews all pumped up to get back to our sector to hit the streets working again and we did exactly that but with little success. Also we did a lot of contacts out in the rain on Friday but nobody wanted to let us in. Everyone just told us to go home and that we were crazy for going knocking door to door in the rain but it didn't really bother us too much. All the rejections aren't important. We are just looking for those that the Lord has prepared here to hear us. We found a few mas o menos people throughout the week and we were supposed to have a few in the chapel on Sunday but we ended up with a big zero in the capilla Sunday morning.

As far as how the investigators that you know about are doing, Yeseñas Dad is still in the hospital and we´ve tried to get a hold of her but she´s still missing in action. I'm not going to say that she's dead just yet until we have the chance to talk to her again but it looks like she´s heading in that direction. We also weren't able to get a hold of Laura and John once again because they were in Conce the whole week and the weekend but we have a set appointment to visit them this Tuesday and I still have faith that they are good. It just seems like Satan has been putting a lot of obstacles in their life to keep them from progressing in the gospel. But we are going to pray big time for them this week and fast for them as well I think. It's really hard seeing all of these good investigators slipping out of our grasp and not being able to do about it but we are just going to do all we can, keep working hard and putting our trust in the Lord.

The only good thing that came out of last week is that we found some kids by accident in the street that were baptized about a year ago and weve been talking with them and helping them and their non member friends out with their English homework last week and we got one of them to go back to church with us this week. Now he is excited to be coming back and is going to try to get all of his buddies to come with him this coming Sunday so we will see how it goes. Well I'm sorry that this email was really boring but last week just really wasn't all that great. But I'm not sick anymore so this next week we are just going to work work work and work to break through this brick wall that seems to be thrown up in front of us. we are also trying to visit the innactive members a lot so we can get this branch back up on its feet because right now Santa Juana can't get too much lower. Well it was a tough week but I'm not going to let it get to me. I still have at least a month left here in Santa Juana and I am determined to leave my mark on this place and leave it better than I found it. I know there are more lessons to be learned here and I have got a good comp and we get along great so we are going to make the best out of these last four weeks the we have left of the cambio. Well I love you guys, I love the Lord, I love the Chilenos and I love my mission. Ill try to have a better email for you guys next week. Chao!!!

con mucho amor, Élder Harper =)