Christmas Week

Hello All!

Well, this week, as many will know, was Christmas week, and that was a great thing for the mission. We being office missionaries, have the privilege to work closely with the President, and that means that we spent Christmas Eve with him and his family, who came down from Utah to visit! that's such a blessing for him! It's the only time in his three years that he'll be seeing his two sons and one daughter-in-law, so it's really been special for him. I'd never seen him so happy and relaxed to be honest. We played the traditional white elephant party game, which was really fun. I actually ended up with a really cool gift that I've been wanting since I came here (I can't remember the word in English, so bear with me): one of those like liter and a half plastic containers for water that has a big unscrewable lid and then the little thing on the lid that pops in and out and lets you pour water out of it when it's popped out, but doesn't spill when it's popped in. I guess it's kinda like an individual water cooler with a spout???? I dunno.... In Paraguay, we call it a Termo.

I'm including pics of some of my favorite gifts that were exchanged.

Before the game, we had a really good dinner of some sweet, Mexican chicken in tortillas. I guess that's a kind of taco, but it wasn't a traditional taco and was delicious.

I played piano and we sang hymns, President read the Christmas story in Lucas, and then we said a prayer. It was a really nice Christmas. After the prayer, everyone kind of got to do what they wanted, and so a bunch of people went outside to play basketball or ping-pong, but I saw that President had stopped with the two of the only three Latinos who were there to look at the pictures he had mounted on the wall from his trip to the Holy Land. He started to tell us all about Israel and the city of Jerusalem. It was so amazing and I was so glad to be able to hear from him all the things he had learned there.

Christmas day was so wonderful, with our Zone Activity. We had a huge breakfast, and then we went to sing Christmas carols in the huge national hospital called IPS. It was so nice because so many of those people have no Christmas and were just waiting there waiting for difficult news or in other states of sadness. Or even the nurses working that we took the time to sing to. It was really wonderful.

I don't have any more time to write, but I'm doing well and just wanted to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope that you are able to keep Christ in your hearts and remember Him in all that you do. I pray that we will be able to kneel down each night and pour out our hearts to Him in gratitude for the great gift that we have received of Him.

Love,

Elder Harris

Crazy Weeks And Christmas Parties

Hello All!

This week has been pretty crazy, but there've been some awesome things that have happened this week. Not a whole bunch of proselyting work was done, but we did get out as much as we could have, and we were striving really hard to do so because we had Elder Quayle, an Elder who was ending his mission but had a few days before he left, and we wanted to give him some awesome last days. He's amazing and I really respect him.

So! The thing that has taken away our time this week has been the Ward Christmas Party! It has been nuts. There was a play, a choir, dancing, food, talking, and it was just a huge event. We were working with member to get people there, and people came! Francisco never came to Church, but he came to the activity! It was so great. I had to do a whole bunch of stuff for it, but the sad part was that people didn't show up until like 8:30 and so it didn't start until like 9:00 at night, and we had to go before seeing hardly any of it. But everyone today has said it was an amazing success and that they enjoyed it.

Other than that, there wasn't a whole bunch to tell about the week to be honest. We kept on fighting and today we got to clean the house. It's been a nice week and we're waiting for lots of good fun this next week to come.

So, that's a short one, but I'm here wishing you merry Christmas!

I love you guys so much and hope your week is wonderful!

Love,

Elder Harris

Blessings Undeserved

Good Afternoon Everyone!

This week has kind of been all over the place, but there have been so many amazing blessings, some of which have really just come out of nowhere, but for all of which I am immensely grateful.

I've been really trying to emphasize member missionary work since I got here in the office and on Saturday and Monday of this last week we finally had our first lessons with active families to help them to share the Gospel. It was so amazing! They both had people that they were trying to prepare to receive the missionaries and we were able to help them to plan and feel the Spirit about getting started in Missionary Work. Familia Gamarra was especially prepared with lots of people that they wanted to invite and it was something that really strengthened me personally.

Then I received the biggest news just a day before it was told to everyone. I was in the office on Monday and President called me into his office and sat down to ask to see what it is exactly that we're reporting each and every week in every sense and then he just dropped a bomb:

We're getting rid of almost all of it.

No more lesson numbers.

No more investigators with baptismal dates.

We're not even going to report how many contacts we've had each week.

Instead, we'll report three different numbers:

1. Church Attendance

2. Percentage of Retention of Recent Converts in the last year

3. Number of Baptisms that week

And that's all.

It blew my mind! But it's such a good thing. It takes away any crutch we were using and lets people to look at the root. 

The next day, President started telling everyone in our Zone Conference and told us a lot about the Area's (our Area is South America South and includes all of Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay) vision for this big change. It starts in January and the focus is that we keep ourselves consecrated as ministers who minister to people's needs with the Book of Mormon. It's a really amazing change and I left that Zone Conference just ready to get out and help people.

The next blessing was totally unexpected. On Wednesday, we couldn't really work much, but we went out and knocked once more on the door of a man that I've never seen before, but Elder Billings, when he was showing me the area, always indicated that house as a house of a less active member who was pretty cool. In all my time here, I've always clapped and rung the doorbell, but never once been able to find him.

He was sitting outside the office on Thursday morning and said he'd wanted to meet with the missionaries. I didn't even know it was him until Elder Valenzuela talked with him and came in to tell me who it was. My companion was gone getting the mail with the Cartero, so Elder Valenzuela sat down to a lesson with him in the waiting room and it was so beautiful and so inspired. We have a return appointment coming up here in about ten minutes and I'm so excited for him! He's had a really difficult history, and wasn't even looking to make a big change when he came to meet with us, but then we taught him and he just wanted to make a change in his life! It was amazing!

Other than that, the work moves on bit by bit. We're getting ready for a big Christmas activity, but I'll have to write you all how it goes next time! (Hopefully with pictures).

I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Harris

Change Week

Hello All!

This week was probably the most full week I have ever had in my life. Let me tell you how many things had to happen all at the same time. This list isn't to brag, because I haven't been accomplishing all of these things, but the Lord has provided so many miracles and made so many wonderful things happen. By the end of the week, I'm left with desires to just sing praises to God and then raise up a general chorus of an LDS edit of "With A Little Help From My Friends." That second one is because one way in which the Lord has blessed me has been through the other missionaries here.

First of all, the moment you've all been waiting for:

Araceli's baptism!!!!!

She was baptized just this last Tuesday, with all of the new missionaries present (see the second picture) and, more importantly, lots of family and friends who are all nonmembers. Also, President McMullin was present. Also, tons of the Ward. It was the biggest baptism I have ever seen. I was super nervous while conducting, but it went really, really well. There were some crazy emergencies before though. Like the fact that all the water was terribly filthy, and there were only two hours before the baptism. So, to empty it out in time, we ran the pump and started to bucket water out of it and it was crazy. Fortunately, Elder Day, then assistant and currently a good friend and amazing missionary, filled every single bucket. Then, we started to fill it again and had to bucket water in. It was a crazy ordeal. But, half an hour before the baptism, it was all ready, and all the new missionaries were eating pizza upstairs totally unaware of what had just occurred below their feet.

It was so wonderful. Also, I don't know if all of you have heard about it, but we took the baptism (and the already set up projector and big screen) as an opportunity to promote a gigantic missionary outreach program that the Church is employing found on this link. It's called He is the Gift, and it's something really beautiful that reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. It also extends the invitation to learn more about this beautiful Gift that our Father has given us. I love it so much. We showed it to all present and handed out cards. We invited all to come unto Christ as Araceli has, and even President McMullin stood to teach the crowd. It was the most beautiful baptism I have ever attended and I hope that it gives real fruits.

Anyways, there are lots of pics from Elder Valenzuela.

That was awesome.

On Monday I had a small miracle. We had lots of new missionaries coming in this change and not enough houses, so we for sure needed certain houses in certain locations so that eveeryone would have somewhere to live. On Monday, I got a phone call saying that one of the landlords was randomly backing out, and we wouldn't have a house somewhere that we needed one. My heart sank.

So, I went into the waiting room and said a prayer and asked what I should do and asked for a miracle. After that, I stood up, grabbed the Cartero, Elder Ramos, and we went to the area to find a house. We could only look for like forty five minutes and the hermanas had been looking for days, so there was very little hope for us. After thrity minutes of searching, Elder Ramos said we should walk a certain way, and that's when we saw a house that was really, really fancy and would be normally overlooked, but it said it was renting, so I called to ask for how much, and it was cheaper than what we'd been looking at and was totally empty. The owner liked the idea of missionaries living there.

It was a miracle! We got back on time and the house was moved into the next day. I couldn't believe it, but I said a strong prayer of thanks.

Then Wednesday was change day and we found our changes!

Elder Valenzuela and I were split up! Why? He's training his new office replacement! His replacement is Elder Aldaraca, from California. He's a really good missionary and just got done training a new missionary to be called here into the office.

So I'm with Elder Monzón, and no longer in the part of the Ward that gets to visit Araceli or Victor Fariña. But, the work moves along! I'm not sad about the change, because I know that they'll keep on progressing and keep being strong. Victor is now counted as active as of this Sunday, and we're so happy for him. I love that man and I'm so excited to see them go through the temple in six months (or however long it may take).

I've been so busy here and there's just so much to still do.

I don't have any more time this week, but that's the update this time! I hope your weeks are going wonderfully and I really hope that you are all becoming stronger and fighting harder. I hope that God be with you and I pray for all of you. You are all wonderful children of God, and I love every single one of you.

Sincerely,

Elder Harris

Día de Acción de Gracias‏

¡Buenas tardes!

It's the afternoon for me, hence the greeting for the afternoon instead of the morning. The subject of the email is how to say Thanksgiving Day in Spanish, for those of us who are among the Spanish-impaired ;)

But this email is to tell you all that I am well down here! The work is moving along, though this week was doing so in an INCREDIBLY slow way. There was a LOT of office work to get done around here. Why? Because not only is it about to be change week, but it's also the very end of the month, which means that all the rent money for every missionary needs to be sent out, all baptismal records from November must be finished, and I have to make an epic movie featuring all of the baptisms, reactivations, and retention successes that we have had as a mission in November while getting mission records prepared for the Leadership Council that's happening on Monday. All of that on top of finding, making and signing contracts for, furnishing, and moving into five different houses! And on top of the regular weekly tasks! That sounds overwhelming, but this time it was calm and just fun. You just do your absolute best and I feel like the Lord really has provided some amazing miracles for me, and I cannot in any way take credit for the fact that the mission is running right now. This is the Lord's mission, and He's running it.

So, this week was indeed Thanksgiving, and that means pretty much nothing for us missionaries down here, but being in the office has special privileges: the mission paid for us to have a big Thanksgiving lunch here in the office with all of the people who help out the mission (an Hermana named Vilma, who trains the missionaries on cleaning, Julio Sanchez who cooks occasionally but is the mission electrician and repairman, Willy, who is a gardener, and others). Also, President, the Hermana McMullin, their two kids and a nonmember friend of their daughter's were all there! It was a big thank you to everyone who helps to make the mission run and puts in a chunk of the work so that we can have an army of youth here in this country opening their mouths and proclaiming the Gospel of Peace. It's wonderful and the workforce is so tiny to be managing so many, but it happens. 

The food was delicious! My pickiness is all destroyed and so I just ate all that was there. Unfortunately, Turkey costs like 16 $ per kilo, so if you wanted a turkey for dinner, you'd spend waaaaayyy too much money, so we just ate chicken. I had some good old-fashioned gravy over my potatoes for the first time ever, and it was amazing.

Also: Pumpkin Pie is definitely a favorite.

Also: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are more favorite.

The office keeps on rolling, and the District here is progressing in a lot of ways I feel, but we're also failing in a lot of things. It's sometimes tough to see any progress through the thicket of daily ups and downs, you mostly just feel like you're not moving, but I know that God giveth increase as we strive to do what's right, so we just need to fight harder and refine our efforts and I'm sure fruits will soon come of it.

And the most important part: The Work.

Well, if you all remember, two weeks ago, someone was prepared to be baptized, and that person will finally be baptized this Monday! She needed her parents to be there, and so that couldn't happen at all on a Saturday, and so it's moved to this Monday. I have to tell you about the last lesson we had with her! It was Thursday night, and we couldn't have it with the family we usually teach with, so she had to come to the Chapel/office for the lesson. But! No men in the Ward were willing to come! We were calling around frantically to get a hold of someone of the male gender so that we could actually have the lesson, but no one could!!!! So, we were so desperate that we called the American man who works int he Embassy here, Brother Craner. I personally felt bad to ask on Thanksgiving Day, which was why we weren't going to call, but he came and wanted to bring his wife. We said that that was fine, even though his wife still is a little shy to speak Spanish, and the lesson turned out beautifully.

I was so stressed out because we had to teach a lot of material to get everything ready for the baptism, going from tithing to chastity to word of wisdom, and then teach almost all of Lesson 5 (which used to just be for Recent Converts and covers things like what temples and family history work are, eternal marriage, learning and teaching in the church, service and callings, endure to the end, etc.). But, the Spirit was with us. We taught with power and she understood better than we were even teaching things. And then we kept asking Brother Craner to bear his testimony, and when we hit Eternal Marriage, he gave an incredibly powerful and sincere testimony and you could just see his love for his wife and their dedication to the Gospel. It's such a wonderful example to see them, because though they're all the way in Paraguay, they haven't skipped a beat in Church activity.

Anyways, it made me tear up. Then, we went over all of the questions in the Baptismal interview together, and she's sooooooooooooooo prepared. Her testimony is so strong in so little time, and it was just wonderful. Her closing prayer made me tear up again because it showed a huge difference between when she was starting and now. Now she has a real and tangible relationship with her Heavenly Father and it's something that I find so beautiful. It'll be awesome.

That's this week's message from Paradise! Let me know it there's anything I can do to make your days better!

¡Buen Provecho!

Love,

Elder Harris

Another Week, Another Once In A Mission/Lifetime Experience

Good Afternoon All!

Thank you for your letters and messages of support and encouragement, they inspire and strengthen me each week. I love hearing how fares the war at home.

The title of this week's email comes from something I said to one of the Assistants yesterday. I said that many Elders would participate in some of the things we do and think, "Wow what an awesome once in a mission experience," but when you're in the office, the thought is more along the lines of "Wow, I can't believe how amazing this week's once in a mission experience is!" Every week there are new lessons and adventures, some internal, and some external, and the office is just the right chemical pot to churn them up in.

This week's? It's external and comes in the form of taking care of six Nivaclé Native Americans who are committed to leaving on a mission. They are coming here (hundreds of miles away from home in Abundancia, in the Chaco Paraguayo), to get their dentist work and their physical examinations to be able to go out on missions. It's so amazing to be with them. There are two who haven't learned to read very well in Spanish (those two don't speak a whole bunch of Spanish either) and for personal studies we were teaching them how to read! It was so cool. They're really, really smart too, picking it up super well. And then we took a turn and they taught us some Nivaclé. It's super cool! I love it. I'm not going to lie, coming out into the mission, Guaraní was kind of not what I thought it would be, but now that my expectations are adjusted I've come to love it. But Nivaclé I have loved just hearing it. It´s a really harsh language that includes a few clicks and difficult sounds for us Americans (or latinos for that matter) to make. It's super cool.

So, we took them to the temple, which some of them had never seen before in their lives. They're doing well and moving along with the things they have to do. Enjoy the picture by the nativity!

Also, this week Elder Salazar was changed out of the office! He is now in Concepción 3B, where a good friend of mine in the mission (Elder Worsham) was just before. He will be sorely missed here in the office!

I'm doing a lot better administratively, getting organized, and I've even been able to close down on two different house contracts. All we need are furnishings and moving dates! 

The work moves along as well. The less-active member, Victor Fariña, has continued progressing and we feel really strongly that he'll be reaching his goal to be totally active by the thirtieth. Last night we had a lesson about Tithing and how to pay it which also includes a talk about tithing settlement, and it went really well! He understands and is just showing an absolute commitment to follow the Way and make it. We still want to help him to improve his relationship with Christ and gain a firmer testimony, but he's really going well for now.

Araceli Alvarenga, our investigator, had to go talk to her parents about when they would be able to attend her baptism, which was a trial because it was tough for her to tell them that she's going to be baptized in the first place, but things are going incredibly well and they agreed to be there on the 1st of December for her baptism. Even though that date is kind of hectic with our schedule, we are going to move heaven and earth to make it come around! I'm so excited for that date. It feels so much more real and we're going to prepare very well for it.

That's the little update that I have to give to you all! The work moves along and the Lord never abandons us to our weaknesses. God is faithful and He will not fail us when we do as He would have us. I'm so grateful to Him for His forgiveness and His guidance and I want so badly to be worthy of everything He has given me. I know He lives. I know He speaks, and acts. I know He loves me and all of us. I know that He fights so hard and works so much to keep us afloat, to give us our best chance. I hope we all take that chance.

I love you all. I pray that God grant you all peace and reminders to follow His Son.

Love,

Elder Harris

P.S. Awesome Church event: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/vatican-summit-mormon-leader-calls-renaissance-happy-marriages

A Week Finished And A Lesson Being Learned

Hello Family And Everyone!

I hope that you're all doing wonderfully and feel happy. This week for me was a bit difficult in some respects, but nice in others. I'm trying to keep positive about it now, but just two days ago I was pretty distressed about the administrative situation that I've blocked myself into here in the office.

So, the bad news first and then the awesome stuff. The bad news is that I am a still somewhat irresponsible twenty year-old who has a lot responsibilities on his shoulders. To make a long story short, I didn't consult really anyone on any of my decisions, and without realizing it, had moved around missionaries in several houses without advising President when those were actually special cases where I should've been talking with President McMullin. So, what that meant is that we had one not so unpleasant encounter with a lawyer where I just sat there like a helpless child (I was able to go back the next day and be a man and the situation was resolved without pain), and then in another house, it meant that even though we had moved in, I pulled the missionaries out to undo other mistakes. It was a mess and still isn't all cleaned up. Hence, the lesson isn't evidently totally learned, and when the punishment is finished out I can finally feel good about how things are going in the mission. 

Why did I want to talk so much about this trial? Well, I'm learning a lot from it actually. I've learned a lot of humility and more than anything I'm learning a lesson that I haven't been able to grasp for a really long time, or really my whole life. Sometimes, we do things that we really can't excuse. We mess up when we should've known and done better, when we just either sin or make mistakes that are totally without justification and we just have to put ourselves before the Judge and say "I plead Guilty." These mistakes were all my own and I mean that sincerely. But any mistake or sin in which I do as I know I should not has always brought up a conundrum for me. I always get so frustrated and just feel like I should be perfect now. Everyone always says that you can't be perfect now, but I've never been able to understand why not. Why can we just not do things that we know are wrong? I know about making stupid mistakes that you don't catch or for ignorance, but when we knowingly mess up? I've always been really hard on that. 

So, I've just had to kneel down before God and ask Him about that, and I think that even though I still don't understand everything about it, I am able to feel in my heart so much more this simple truth.

The Atonement of Christ is to justify the unjustified sinner by repentance.

In reality, repentance isn't merely changing the sinful thoughts and behaviors that we once were committing ignorantly, but it is much greater than just that. It also is changing and trying to make up for the mistakes we knowingly commit. It is bringing up as much money as we can to buy our freedom from the jail sentence we put ourselves into.

That's the beauty of the Atonement. Now I'm seeing that there are situations when the sum total of our repentance doesn't come close to repairing the damage we've done through sin, but when we bring it before God as our offering alongside our broken heart and contrite spirit, Christ makes up all the difference. We all have heard this so many times, but I know that it's true.

So, I can walk away at the end of this week, and though according to justice everything is not okay, I can honestly say that everything is okay. We have to be diligent and do all we can, but at the same time, when we are doing all we can, we must "be still and know that (He) is God." It's really beautiful.

In other news, the baptism that was supposed to happen was postponed because her family couldn't come and furthermore, she was sick and couldn't meet with us. So, I'll get back to you next week on when it's happening.

Victor Fariña, the inactive member who's striving to come back, now has come to church twice and yesterday came with us (he and his wife I should say) to an Area meeting about strengthening marriages, and it was so beautiful! I got to hear Elder and Sister Christofferson and Elder and Sister Nelson give their best advice about forming a strong marriage. You better believe I took notes for the future!!! But it was really nice, and Elder Christofferson's Spanish is as great as ever. I love this inactive member though, he's doing so much to change and just throwing himself into it without reservation. They both want it so badly that they just don't let things stand in their way. I love seeing their dedication and it's something I want to reflect.

That's going to have to be it for this week seeing as I'm totally out of time. I love you all and I'm so grateful for all that you do!

Love,

Elder Harris

Victory March

Hello Everyone!

So, this week's subject is because there have been many victories this week, and I think that in the rest of my life I've been kind of accustomed to, after accomplishing something, just taking a break and resting for a while. Real life says not so! So, we just keep on marching. We smile a little brighter, and step a little lighter, but we just keep on marching on at a steady, maintainable rate. Not only that, but when we really are anxiously engaged, we don't want to stop and rest. We see the beauty of what God can do through us and we run (not faster than we have strength) to be His instrument. The more we do of it, the more we will want.

That's how I feel this week. Busy, but not weary.

I've accomplished a lot, but there's a lot more to accomplish that I've been taking far too long to get started on. However, I comfort myself saying that even getting started Monday gives me a week more than I had last change (I did everything the last two weeks of it, which sucked). 

Things that I wanted to comment on last week:

District Meeting was so cool! I love being District Leader here, because these missionaries are soooo amazing! I have the Sister Trainer Leaders, the Assistants, and a wonderful office staff as my District. At the same time as being humbled and knowing that I'm DEFINITELY not the "best" missionary in the mix, it's something that elevates me and inspires me to be better. But we had a really inspired one in which I can just leave off saying that the Book of Mormon is so key to everything in this life. Sometimes we get distracted and say that it's major importance lies in testifying of the Restoration, but in reality, it is the foundation of my personal testimony of Christ.

Furthermore, the week was amazing. We had our first lesson with an inactive man who hadn't gone to church for over fourteen years. His daughter and wife are both incredibly active and have been praying so hard that he come back. So, we followed the Spirit, and he followed the Spirit, and that led us to one lesson that was so powerful. It was so amazing and this man is so wonderful.

Well, the amazing news is that this last Sunday, six days ago, he came to church and enjoyed it. His heart is truly broken in the good sense and he's just ready for his repentance process. I love sharing with him and he's learning. He hadn't been able to offer a prayer for all of the times sharing with him and he was kind of shy and scared of really answering doctrinal questions or anything like that. Last Sunday was a Fast Sunday, and he was so impressed to see people bearing testimony, but then when we shared with him, he said that his goal, after becoming active, is to go and bear his testimony. But then, yesterday in our lesson, I asked him who would say the opening prayer, and he just said "I will," and did it. His prayer was so sincere, and he told us the story of how he learned to do it and do it sincerely because he'd read the scripture we'd left with him, Moroni 10:3-5, but after reading it couldn't understand, and so he just knelt down and pled with God to apply it, and then he said that he felt strong and felt the understanding just descend upon him. It was such a powerful moment to hear that man bear witness of the Holy Spirit without even realizing it. I love it so much!

The other awesome news is that we'll be having a baptism in one week!!!! We have an investigator, Araceli Alvarenga, who has been progressing and she's just so ready to be baptized! so, next Saturday, if I write you all at like 6:00 am your time, it's because I'm going to be prepping a baptism for the Afternoon!!!!

I love this work and love the Lord. My testimony has grown beyond what I can express.

I love you all and hope that you feel good and have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Harris 

I'm Alive

Hello All

This week, in spite of having a lack of changes, was also totally insane. Because of a summary of circumstances, I was working in the office yesterday and doing a lot of other things and therefore had to give up time to write all of you. I got permission to write a quick email to everyone to let them know that I'm okay and that nothing has actually happened to me; I was just robbed of those two hours. I'm so so so grateful for all of your emails and support. It's been so amazing and wonderful to hear from all of you and I hope that your week will be amazing. This mission means sacrifice, but God's promise is sure. I feel exhausted sometimes, but I really have faith in His word that if I keep up diligently, that He will make it all work out in the end. Though sometimes we feel it may not be true, I, in weariness and wear, can say that we should take His yoke upon us, for it is easy, and His burden is light. Though I do not always see the path ahead, I feel the joy of His gospel fill my heart and I know that I am serving God as He would have me.

I love you all, I hope you're well and safe! Happy beginning of the holiday season!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Harris

This Week Was Nuts

Buon Promeriggio!

By the way, my Elder Crandall has a copy of the Book of Mormon in Italian and I'm reading from it. It's impressive how much you can learn when you already know a Latin-based language like Spanish. It's cool.

So! This week was so crazy because of Changes! And a lot has happened and changed because of the changes. Overall, there was great success, but with a lot of failure mixed in with it. But! The bitterness is what makes dark chocolate so much better, right? How rich would life be if we did everything right all of the time?

Here's some of the list of things that I've had to do. Some of them successes, some of them failures.

1. I finalized and sent out a document about fair taxi prices to save the mission a lot of money on the taxis that missionaries take to the Stake Center for the changes (it's also just really useful to just have at hand for when the Assistants call without the van and need to get somewhere in a Taxi).

2: 3 houses had contracts made for them and signed, they were furnished and we were moved in, and missionaries were sent off with the bags that contain their plates and other smaller house items.

3. Take care of 19 new missionaries in their very first day in the field, including setting out mattresses and helping them get to bed. Then wake them up, do exercises, get them fed, and in the office. That was super fun, because they are super awesome and excited and you can just help them to get pumped about the mission and being in Paraguay. 

4. The normal fichero work of the week! Which this week includes a totally new mission reporting system. 

That sounds like a huge bragging list, but in reality, this is really all the things that the Lord has enabled me to do. I couldn't have done any of it. I really most of the time just don't feel like I really know what to do and I sill have to really pray hard for the ability to face the work and challenges of each new day. I'm not good nor strong enough to accomplish all of these things, but God is strong enough to help me to do them. I've seen more miracles than I can count this week and I am almost disbelieving after having experienced them.

Proselyting has been tough, but there are two really big pieces of gold in this week. I was working in E'Valenzuela and E'Monzón's side of the Ward on Monday and we had a random lessons with an active family, an investigator who hasn't been moving really for a while, and we invited a member who recently moved there a little bit ago from super far away, and that lesson was an inspired miracle. We taught, and the investigator cried and told us about how she has felt that the Book of Mormon is God's word and how much she wants to continue and learn more. It was so beautiful. I felt inspired to invite her to be baptized on the 15th of November, and she accepted. She really wants to prepare herself and strive for that date and it was beautiful. She's the girlfriend of the family's current missionary, and something tells me that when he comes home, he's going to find her a lot stronger spiritually than when he left.

That was beautiful, and then last night, for the first time in like three weeks, we found a new investigator!!! It was super cool.

So, that's this week. Oh, and the Financiero, Elder Salazar, is now training his replacement, Elder Bronson (who came in my group!!!) And Elder Crandall, the Cartero, is training his, Elder Ramos (who came in Elder Gallegos' group!!!). It's super fun being with seven in that house now, but it's so crazy! So that's what's going on in Elder Harris's life.

I can bear testimony to all of you of God's incredible love for us. I know that He lives and He speaks today as in ancient days. I have no more doubts about Him, about His Divinity, His Son Jesus Christ, the mission of the Atonement, and the role of the Restoration in that great Redemptive work. We thank God above all for His wonderful plan and all of His support in following it. We thank the Christ for our salvation and redemption from death and hell. And we thank the modern-day prophets, especially Joseph Smith, for that we have the knowledge, the path, and the help to take them on in this day and age. Of course all of the work of the Restoration was God's through Jesus Christ, but we would be blind if we looked at the Carpenter's tools and not feel some of the warmth we feel upon thinking about Him. Never be embarrassed nor afraid to share these things and these feelings. You will find rejection, but God will consecrate your efforts into something greater than you imagine. 

I know that these things are true.

And I say them in the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen. 

Trying to Fight The Best Fight‏

Good Afternoon To All!

This week has been something totally different! I have gotten out to work significantly less because of some stresses here in the office, but the work does move along, though the breaks got slammed this week.

So, then I have officially done some things that I never imagined myself having done this week. I think I do that almost every week here..... Maybe twice some...... I dunno what to think though.

This week's?

Number one:

In one Presidential Project, I was asked to change our system for Missionary statistics and reporting that is unique to our mission. It was built by the mission's last President, Presidente Madariaga, who read very thoroughly the instructions and help sections of Microsoft Access and could therefore build the whole system using it. It's a brilliant things that works really well for us. Well, I was asked to make some changes to our reports. The request was made casually, almost just shrugging it off. The thought I had when the request was made was "Oh..... I was planning on going out and proselyting today....." But what slipped from my mouth was an enthusiastic, "No problem!" 

So, we tried at it several times and made some progress, but just failed to see the results that we wanted, and so we did something that's never been done since I've been here. Instead of just trying to change the matrix ourselves, we made a phone call to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and spoke to he who wrote the matrix. The craftsman of the black box which we mostly just refuse to open and when we do open it it mostly just defeats us confused and frustrated. From BA, he was able to look at our system, download all of the necessary components, and hold onto it for a few days to fix it up like we need it. That was awesome, and he is such a kind, wonderful human being.

Number two:

We went to the rescue! I won't go into the details because it's a somewhat sensitive situation, but President was many hours away doing his monthly Zone Conferences with the whole mission (it just so happened to be this week that he had to go to the really far away parts this week), and Hermana McMullin called us at like 11:00 when we should've been asleep (we weren't. We totally broke the rules that night and ordered a whole bunch of pizza. I'm sorry, I feel guilty. It's one difficulty of being with six other Elders in the same house), to tell us that there was a sister missionary about 45 minutes away that we needed to help RIGHT NOW. So, she had the van, came down to our house, I and two other Elders came with her to take care of everything that needed to be done. We drove out to a place called Benjamín Aceval and got there at like 12:20. by the time we had finished all that needed to be done, it was actually 2:00 at night. That was so crazy, however, the crazy part has nothing to do with me nor my companions. We, indeed, did little to push the rescue along. I admire so much the dedication and love that the Hermana McMullin has towards the missionaries here. She was there in every moment with those Sisters and it was such a humbling, beautiful moment to see her strengthen them. 

This was how Hermana McMullin showed me in part what Thomas S. Monson means when he speaks of running to the rescue of our fellow man. She still had to take the kids to school the next day and face a new day of challenges, but that didn't matter. She didn't complain, nor was she stern. It just seemed like the lack of sleep didn't have any effect at all, and that's what's even more impressive. While I was sitting here almost nodding off at times or later talking about how tired I was, there was such a better example right there with me.

So, those are two crazy experiences this week. I don't really have time for any more, but just know that the office shouldn't suck anyone in too much and that we can do more than we think. Also, I testify that it's super beneficial to try and notice the goodness of others and be anonymous in our service. That's something I need to be a lot better about, but the office is a perfect place to start doing it.

I love you all, I want to remind you of the love your Father in Heaven has for you. He is personally your Father. He personally wants to know, to talk with, to be with, and to speak to you. Blessedly, He will not force you to do so, but He will give you so many chances and reminders of how you can have this divine interaction. Just listen to His messages and follow them, and you will feel it. Your life will cease to be guided by your own unsteady hands, but the current of the Gospel will carry your righteous actions higher and farther than you had ever looked to see possible. He is Great. He is Loving. He is Ours, and we are His.

Love,

Elder Harris

Another Week in Paradise‏

Hello All!

So, this week was pretty crazy because of a lot of changes that happened. Or rather, one change that had a lot of ripple effects. The change? Elder Billings is no longer here! He finished training me and has now left for Santaní, which is pretty far away (it's way farther away than anywhere I've gone to on my mission) at a 3-4 hour bus ride away from here. He is a really wonderful missionary and I'm really hoping to see him well in the future. The work moves on without him, but he's going to be missed around here.

Then, because of that, I get all of the fichero work! Which isn't that big of a deal, because he wasn't really doing anything in the last couple of weeks, but at the same time it was nice to have him to ask. I have lots of projects and other things to do and more than anything I'm just trying to get all of our houses ready for changes! That's going to be the most stressful thing, because we have to open up four houses and that means buying all the furniture, appliances and etc. Fortunately, Pres. had personally commissioned Elder Billings with that task up until he left, so it's mostly done. Negotiating with landlords gets interesting when you know what you need to demand and what not to. It's also interesting to take a contract that you think is just fine in to President and have him find a big loophole that just kind of leaves you feeling bad about your work, but we all make mistakes. All in all, the work moves a long.

So! General Conference was last week and it was so awesome! I left the Saturday sessions feeling so incredibly strengthened and built up for the for the coming weeks. I loved the talks. I also absolutely loved that, of all the languages it could've been, the very first Conference talk ever given in a language other than English was done in Cantonese. My money had been all on Spanish or Portuguese, but I was pleasantly surprised. The talks were so powerful, and being a missionary, it's all become so much more real to me. It's as Pres. Uchtdorf said in his talk, when we begin to be firmer disciples of Christ, we start to ask, "Lord, is it I?" and when that discipleship turns into conversion we answer every time "Sí Señor, yo te seguiré," or rather, "Yeah Lord, I will follow thee."

I also just want to get this shout out: Elder Gavarret, the very first person to give a talk in Spanish, is number one from Uruguay, and number two, lived a block from my current house. He moved to Paraguay at some point, was Bishop of the neighboring Ward, and I've passed his old house every single day. A member told us about that and it was super awesome. I love that.

Then, the fact that I'm now without Elder Billings means that I'm now in a trio with Elder Valenzuela and Elder Monzón, which is really, really interesting. it's difficult, but strengthening. You just have to be REALLY polite in lessons and let everyone take their turns to teach. It also makes planning and such more complicated because, well, as a bunch of young guys, we get distracted on every hand. So, needless to say, we have some hurdles. But, these are good Elders, and we're going to strengthen each other to bless the lives of so many here. I have so much faith in these investigators and people with whom we are working. 

NOT ONE lesson with our investigators this week. They've all been busy and have cancelled, which is really, really frightening and depressing. But, the mission has taught me patience if anything, so we will continue waiting for their progress.

I love this work so much. I love the Lord and wish to serve Him more than anything. If there's anything I can ask of any of you, it's that you look up this video: https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

we watched it during Zone Conference, and I love it so much. It reminds me that I'm here for Him, and because of Him, we all have the hope of newer light. That light has been extinguished by the world's iniquity so many times, but it's here on the earth once more. Don't be confused. Christ was never extinguished, but people's access to that pure sun of the Son was stripped of them. Thanks to modern prophets, it is here, and that is my message to all. 

May we all delight in it with equal strength and pleasure.

I love you all.

Elder Harris

God Works In Totally Random, Unpredictable, And Beautiful Ways‏

I don't know how I feel about the whole saying of "God works in mysterious ways," because that doesn't seem to capture just the odd, quirky, fantastic nature of the bewildered human mind when it's involved in Divine will. I've had a number of experiences this week that just make me so grateful to God and give me strength to think about or reflect upon.

For the first two instances in my office life up until this point, I stayed late in the office to do administrative work instead of going out to proselyte, which is not what any missionary wants ever. The first time was on Monday, because we desperately had to gather together all of the information of all of the apartments and Chapels that we're renting out as a mission, and that just took a long time and was difficult (we have like 110 houses in the mission and I've never done that before). That one has no awesome story, but the other does!

The second time was on Thursday, and it was super cool just because it was my first Presidential Assignment as Fichero. I handle all of our data and reports as a mission and that means that if President needs a report of all of the recent converts in the last year and a summary of those that are active and inactive, he asks me for it. And he did. Is there any manual about how to do such a thing? No. I've come to realize that being an adult and working in an office is just people asking you to do a certain genre of task and you just figure out how to get it done. You are NEVER given how to do it, they just give you an end goal, and you're on your own to bring it into existence, and I really like that, but it also makes me really nervous. So, I did it! With the help of the trusty ex-fichero (I just had to ask him some things about how to use Excel because it's been quite a while), and it turned out really beautifully actually. However, it meant that we were in the office until 7:00, giving us only two hours to work.

BUT MIRACLES EXIST! At like 6:50 when I was finishing up, our Ward Mission Leader, Hno. Palomeque, who has vanished for a long while being a super busy successful businessman, just walked into the building for and impromptu Ward Mission Coordination Meeting! I couldn't believe it. He's a really awesome guy and just knows how to get things done. We set some very important goals and made some very important dates to meet with other Ward leaders to get things moving on the reactivation front (that's something we need help with).

So, I was left with the impression that when President walked out of his office at 4:15, when I'm seriously fifteen minutes away from shutting everything down and leaving, to tell me about that project, I seriously think that it was divinely inspired, because there was no other way that we would've had that meeting. Had we not been there, our tired leader would have turned in for the night, and had I not had that assignment, I'd never have stayed. It was something really special.

PROSELYTING:

This week, there were some difficulties actually getting into lessons, BUT THE LESSONS WERE AMAZING! Elder Billings and I are just learning how to work together really well and we're really just fighting for our investigators and less-active members in our lessons. It's really awesome. So, we couldn't get into a single lesson with our family that has a baptismal date, but there's this really cool rich lawyer we're teaching who all of the sudden got super interested. We'd taught him twice before, but he wasn't taking things super seriously because we had to move REALLY slowly with him due to his questioning nature, but all of the sudden in the third lesson we just threw down the First Vision and The Book of Mormon, and the whole process seems to have changed for him. It was so wonderful and he should be in one of the sessions today. I was so happy.

Basically, I love that God cares for us in such little ways, and I love that He blesses us with His Spirit to guide us in our lives and in blessing the lives of others. I've truly felt His love, and I've felt my love for Him grow. I may have mentioned this before, but a few months back, a pair of questions came into my mind. 1. When is one of the strongest moments in your life when you knew God loves you? We can all think of one time or another if we've searched Him out humbly and truly. We have all been saved by those angels He puts in our path.

2. When is one of the strongest moments that you knew that you love God?

Most of us can't think of specific moments when we just really felt it strongly, at least not in the same way that we can think of the first answer. One thing I've been praying for a lot and striving to attain is a much greater love for God. It is the first and greatest commandment, and I can testify that as we come to obey it, we will feel the difference in our hearts and in our lives.

I love you all, I'm so thankful for the things that many have written me and I want you to know that it's a wonderful strength. Also:

Enjoy the Pictures.

Love,

Elder Harris

Catching Up‏

This week, I have some catching up to do. The office is really just a crazy adventure. An office Elder who is diligent, who strives to be an example to the other missionaries, spends most of his time fighting being the exception to all of the rules, because the work of the office at some time or another will cause you to be an exception to many rules in many instances. For example, I've done three airport runs, that is, taking missionaries who're ending their missions to the airport, which is a small trip, but takes time because you have to wait for them to say goodbye to President and get through customs, and two of them meant that I had to wake up at 3:00 or 2:00 a.m. So, there's a fight about whether you get home at 5:30 and get back up at 6:30 again to follow the schedule or get up at 7:30 to get a little more sleep, and the answer for me was, yes the first time, but when the second time was only like four or five days later............ Difficult. BUT! You fight. It's about the effort and intent in reality. And if you strive, you can achieve a lot.

But, those last two weren't fun, because it's seeing people go home early, and that just doesn't leave you with a good feeling, but you make it fun trying to do a contact when it's four in the morning and a sleepy person of a possibly foreign nation is approached by an overly cheery young man with a black name badge and weird hair to be spoken to about Jesus Christ and what He has to offer them in their lives. In reality, I've found people extremely open in airports. They seem to have seen so many movies where airport encounters change their lives, and they go in search of something to happen. So, we happen. :)

Also, I'm price negotiating like crazy. All of these landlords have this crazy tradition that when we want to renew a contract, they try to raise the rent, and we just don't abide by that tradition. And, we've had a few emergency houses to obtain, and that all just falls on my shoulders. Nevertheless, today, two Elders are moving from a hovel that was obtained last minute because there was nowhere else into a second story beauty for a manageable price. Epic house deal #1 checked off of the list!

The work is pretty crazy. The Ward seems to have gotten a similar syndrome to the missionaries that are here for a long time. Because the missionaries are in the office for so long, and aren't normal, they can't work so much and they start to feel a little bit useless, and that kind of spreads over to the Ward. They feel like there's a lot of disappointment and they don't have a real vision of what they can achieve. That was something I loved about Capiatá. They said "We can do great things." And it's not that the people here think that they can't, it's just that they don't consider it. So, my goal is to come and give hope to missionaries, members, and those whom the Lord has prepared. We have some prospective investigators here. One man had never felt anything about God. He believes, because that's just the only way to be here (they really haven't considered atheism as an extant thing), but he told us he never really felt God or felt anything religious. So, we shared with him, and he felt so strongly the Spirit. I am so grateful that I was able to strengthen and bless someone to give them their very first interaction with our Father in Heaven. The man's name is Vidal Garcete, and we have another lesson with him tomorrow (and the second counselor of the Bishopric said he'd be there!!!!! Yes!!!)

So, that's my life. Enjoy epic pictures of the chair museum. :)

Setting Expectations‏

This week's letter is a message of hope.

I want to start off with my testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't have as much time as I would like, but I would like to say some things about what I know to be true. 

I know that Jesus Christ is the only way. Our only path, bridge, connection, to the very source of all that is good. I know so without a doubt within me. Do we want anything good in our lives? Do we desire love to abound in our hearts? Families? Do we seek peace, hope, joy, order, support, establishment, firmness, charity, diligence, belonging, or any other good thing? Do we desire these things for ourselves? Our familes? Friends? Strangers? God is the only Source, and His Son is the only channel to attain it. It is the most beautiful Truth I have found and the only certainty in this world. 

I testify solemnly that Christ lives, and we may in him. Life and death are actually choices, and it just so happens that it's a life and death decision. I testify that that can only be true if they are both available to us. Death is presented by the cunning plan of one who opposes God, whose servants we are and can be in wrongdoing and in the example or works we push forth. Life is presented by Christ, who in order, calls His servants here on the earth, to train us to be His legion of angels upon the earth. I testify that He has called a prophet, and that that line started with Joseph Smith. I know by God Himself because He sent His Spirit to me to show me that He has set His only way here upon the earth by the hands of modern prophets, and, as such, we have access to Living Water. Please, by way of invitation to those that have not accepted these truths, come unto Christ. Be perfected in Him. Start the road by baptism. For those who have accepted this by baptism, but struggle to apply it, by way of commandment, I warn and forewarn you return to Christ, whom you had made your master once. And by way of aid to those who are striving to apply His teachings in their lives, I invite you to come together and apply the prophetic counsel for yourselves and more importantly, for your families. I cannot stress the urgency of this. How can we waste one more moment in unbelief? Happiness, goodness, hope, and all that is good is all around us in a world that is increasingly dark. Not merely that, but this is a timed test, and we do not know when the time is up. Please, search the scriptures. God will testify of the truth of these words and I know that all families that apply this will be blessed.

Thank you all for your letters this week. They were an immense support. I spent way too much time reading them, and for that, I am out of time. But, I'd like to say that the office is wonderful. It's so frustrating and is so full of twists and turns. I know that the Gospel has taken greater root in me now than ever because in spite of the shifting circumstances, I'm so much more steady. I love my companion. He is a strength and an encouragement to me. We support each other in righteous living and welldoing. I love being here in this area: an incredibly old Ward (one of the first in Paraguay) with incredibly wealthy houses, so all door to door approaches in the wealthy neighborhoods are thwarted (we can at least talk to security guards though). I love learning and I love the challenge. It keeps being exciting, and brilliant, and the Gospel is true.

I hope that everyone can enjoy those same truths this week and I hope that my testimony did something to help. Stories and such will have to wait for next week, but thank you for all of your support.

Love,

Elder Harris

Absolutely No One Is Expecting What's Happening Right Now

Ahem,

I feel like the title of this email is significantly self-explanatory. I really doubt that any of you were ready for this. This is happening for a very specific, unforeseen change that has gone on.

I'm a filing cabinet.

Literally, the term for what I have been made in the mission is the "fichero," which  means filing cabinet in Spanish. I take care of all kinds of files and reports for the mission and take care of all of the houses. It's what's being called an office elder, where I work from 10:00 to (if we're lucky!) 4:30 Monday through Friday in the Mission Office  Therefore, P-days cannot be Mondays, so they have to be Saturdays! Yay!

That means we get to go to the zoo at some point! Woo hoo!

So, to finish things up about last week, I'm now in the office, I am in a super ridiculously chuchi Ward called Campo Grande, back in Asunción Norte where I began! I'm seriously right close to where I began my mission, which means I'm back close to SOFÍA!!!! That's going to be awesome. She still hasn't come by to pay me a visit, but it is going to be great.

The office is pretty much awesome. At this point in life, there are two poles to me:

1. The ridiculously goofy sarcastic nerd

2. The more serious leadership get stuff done kinda guy.

Here in the office the two are extremely aggrandized into being perfected. The office life with the other Elders is immensely goofy and filled with nerdliness, whereas negotiating house contracts with super mean landlords who try to rip you off is bringing out the leadership guy. And, the time that we get to work is super awesome. Super difficult to have ANY investigators or lessons, but we're managing and trying to find some people. This week we were actually able to get out and work every day after change day (or rather, the last two days), and I'm enjoying it. There's the temptation to be like the Customer Service people I worked with at Sears and Shopko and just hate everyone, but that's not really my thing and we're definitely keeping charity a part of the office. My companion in these adventures is Elder Billings, who is training me on how to be a filing cabinet. The office itself is full of ridiculousness that I enjoy IMMENSELY. For example, the four different office Elders have some competitiveness, but none greater than the Fichero, who is KOTO- King Of The Office, who has a special rolley chair (better than all the rest) called the Throne, and access to things like the pig (it's oinks sound oddly real). I sit next to the Cartero, Elder Crandall, who gets mail and many other things, when Elder Billings leaves, I'll be companion with the Secretario, Elder Valenzuela (who's sister I knew before the mission from Highschool), and then inside of a glass cubicle we have the Financiero, Elder Salazar, who will be finishing his mission from within the confines of his crystal vacuole.

Such is life! Enjoy pictures of the despedida with Capiatá!

Love,

Elder Harris

 The other one is my very own despedida in Capiatá, the youth all got together to say goodbye to me. It was fun. :)

1st one is saying goodbye to Hna. Pelicó of Guatemala, she went home.

 The second is with Pablina Cañete, whose family we began to teach. She's the only member in her family and was inactive, I hope she's well now. :)

No. ! is with Hno. Gil, who is the Ward Mission Leader over there, crazy Argentine!

In the Dark

A picture of Elder Ninja Harris

The subject line this week is entirely dedicated to my annoyance at the fact that they refuse to tell us what our changes are until tomorrow. I want to know what's going to happen! It's possible that I'll be hundreds of kilometers away in two days and I don't even know it! Also, everyone's really anxious to know what's going to happen this change, but, as I said, we will have no word on the matter until tomorrow, so none of you will have word until next week. Feel free to imagine for yourselves that I've been transferred to far off paradises or jungle adventures or that I'm staying and my companion will be Batman. Who knows!

This week we had a pretty good week with helping people out, but not as much fruits as I would've liked. Half of the Familia Ughelli-Ayala came to church, the mother, and one of the highschool age sons, and the little two year-old. That was wonderful. We also had our....... talk with the parents about the Law of Chastity and left them smiling thinking about on what date they would like to be married. The unfortunate thing is that if they don't have a date today, we're actually going to have to set one with them then and there, but I'm happy that they continue happy and willing to listen and progress in the Gospel. If I don't stay, I hope that Elder Panaifo does and gets to see them baptized.

We had a super great lesson with Bro. Benitez this week in which both the Ward Mission Leader (Hermano Gil, yes, those of you who speak Spanish, Gil really is his last name) and his assistant (Hermano Bustos) were present. Hermano Gil is a crazy Argentine and was super addicted to cigarettes, but now is going on 25 years since he gave up smoking and that was a big help to Bro. Benitez. That was so awesome! But...... They didn't come to church I don't know why still, but I will find out.

Last night, the last lesson was so epic! This week, we found an inactive Sister by way of a super awesome Brother here, Brother César Fernandez (his name is Julio César and we play with that a lot).  She has an awesome testimony, but has been inhibited her entire life by her once abusive husband. She says that he's now calmed down a lot, so we're hoping that things happen. Anways, we had our second lesson with her last night, and her fully grown son was there too, and so we started to talk with him and find out what his history with God and the Church is and he was actually a really good guy. So, we shift gears and decide to share with him the lesson of the Restoration, because that'll help his mom out as well, and it was super awesome. He didn't really get where we were going at first, but accepted it all as truth because we backed it all up with the Bible, and then we got to the Great Apostasy and he, as a Catholic, started to think about things. And then he was a little lost thinking about where the truth was until we hit him hard with the Restoration and he was just overwhelmed. He was so happy. He literally asked us, "What can we do to let the world know about this?" That was my favorite question that I have ever been asked by an investigator. And so, we'll be seeing more of him.... Or maybe not. I hate not knowing if I'm staying or not..... :(

But, that was this week! The work goes on and I keep fighting to find and teach and bring people to the waters of baptism, or the warm re-welcome into the active membership of the Church. Elder Panaifo has become a fully finished and furbished Elder ready for his next challenge and we shall see what becometh of him in the future. My other "son," Elder Gallegos fares well and is working hard, so we keep on. 

Have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Harris

The Second To Last???

So, this last week was possibly the second to last week of my time here in Capiatá. I really don't know because they won't tell me what happens with changes until next week, but I keep thinking about how it's quite possible that I go this next change. If I stay, there will be immense blessings that follow here! If I leave, I'll be happy to go where the Lord asks. But, it fills me with slight anxiety not knowing which it will be, and so that's just been a huge motivation to push hard and work to either leave something behind or help these seeds grow to be here for their harvest.

After writing y'all, we went to the mythological museum of Capiatá, with all of the Guaraní myths (which lots of people believe in ignorantly, seeing as they still call them myths but believe myths to be the name of those supernatural beings that actually do exist). Super awesome! They're pretty much all malevolent and will do bad things to you if you disturb them. I think my favorite is the Mbói Tu'i, the weird snake bird.

Then, the work this week was really great in some ways and then just frustrating in others. We had some wonderful lessons, including having the Bishop present in our Monday night lesson with the Familia Ughelli-Ayala, which was really a powerful lesson and left them all just ready for more. They really committed themselves more than ever to come to church. 

We were able to find a whole bunch of new people to teach this week, which was awesome. We're going to see in these next few days how many of them really stick and really begin to investigate our message, but it really fills me with hope to see that and some of them were really cool. 

We finally had another lesson with the Hermano Benitez, who was alone this week and who's been struggling with his smoking addiction, so I gave him a call Saturday night to make sure that he's alright and strengthen him to not smoke, but when I called he told me to call back in like thirty minutes to talk, and I forgot to call! He wasn't in church Sunday, and that made me really sad. I hope that there's repentance for failing him there.....

We had a really good lesson with Derlis Medina, the inactive man with a fairly troubled life. It was really uplifting and we shared the first five principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it really filled him with hope. He feels towards us that we are close friends, and so just really wanted to share with us a little mini cake he'd made (he's a baker by profession) and it was so delicious. I'm definitely going to help him to get reactivated and from now on, whenever I have a baptism near Asunción, we're asking for the cake from him. It was soooooooooooooo delicious.

Then, the two sons of the Familia Ughelli-Ayala came to our Wednesday night Soccer games! IT was awesome. They got to know the chapel and the youth and it was successful.

Well, those are the biggest things that happened this week. Today, My companion and I almost singlehandedly organized a big missionary farewell for a well-known missoinary and friend: Elder Balseca. It meant that I was pretty stressed the whole time trying to cook Peruvian-style chinese friend rice and chicken for like 20 people and then got stuck with cleaning it all up, but it was still really nice to perform that service and to see some old faces. Elder Gallegos is so awesome and I miss him a bunch.

No one came to church in the end and that's really a downer. It makes us missionaries feel like our work was for naught, but I know that the Lord is make some movement happen and I look forward to another strong week here in Capiatá.

I'm doing well for all who wish to know and keep you in my prayers! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Harris

A Full Week‏

Hello All!

Lots happened this week! Not a whole bunch of super productive stuff, but it wasn't a bad week, that's for sure. We got some things done.

The two pictures here are from service project Wednesday! Yay! I decided to put on my companion's hat and be a thug like him for a second. Pardon the weird angle. The second picture features Elder Orrego, a Colombian whom I am slowly persuading to come to Utah after the mission. He's super awesome and a good friend here in the mission. He's actually training an Elder who was Elder Panaifo's childhood friend (his name is Elder Macahauchi). We just went and cleaned up a building to be able to paint it. However, we had too many people and I did nothing more than sweep away spider webs because I'm giant and have the slightest hope that one day one of these ENORMOUS Paraguayan spiders will magically change my genetic code and I'll become something of a Spider-man missionary style.

I also raked up leaves. 

And carried Elder Orrego around on my shoulders.

Other than that, we also did a super awesome division with Elder Laura! He came here to my area and we just tore it up! He's Bolivian and in spite of being shorter than me, walks like an all terrain army tank. It was awesome.

And then Stake Conference was this week! Saturday night was the local session when Stake Leaders spoke to us and we have some really awesome leaders in this stake. That session was great, and even though we were in our suits, I saw that it was 8:30 when we left and knew we had to keep up the missionary work until nine, so we went out and just started to talk to everyone, and just then there were two youths resting outside their house, and we asked them if we could share and they were really open to receive us. The short, fifteen minute lessons really stress me out because there are a million things to do and juggle around and I always have the pressing thought on my mind that we need to be able to reach the end of the lesson and be able to ask the people "Will you follow the example of Christ by being baptized by someone who has God's authority?" Tough situation, but that night, the Spirit was with us and we had a fluid lesson that just worked out well, and they responded yes. It was super great and made me happy.

Then, yesterday was the general session, and it was presided by none other than Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve! It was a broadcast for all of Paraguay and Uruguay from Salt Lake City and it was awesome. Especially because before the meeting, we went to pick up a less-active member we found just this week and it was an excellent opportunity for them to feel the Spirit and come back to activity.

All in all, it was a good week and I was happy. The work moves forward and I hope I'll be able to tell you all some great things about people getting baptized or reactivating next week. :)

Love,

Elder Harris