Hunucma - Week 11

Hello everyone!

This is my second to last letter before I'm HOME. Can't believe it. Everyone has been asking how I’m feeling- and I've just been saying "excited!" I've been enjoying the little time I have left, because it's almost gone!

This week I learned how to make horchata. A member named Mayita, who used to sell it for a living, taught us how to make it. So if I get home and can't find it anywhere, I'm prepared, haha.

Saturday and Sunday we found two really great people. Earlier in the week, we passed by a member (Tere) who was outside talking to her friend.  We took advantage of the moment, introduced ourselves, and asked if she wanted to listen. She told us she was really busy, but Saturday at 2 pm we could visit her. We showed up Saturday and she was outside washing clothes.  She said she couldn't listen to us because she had a lot to wash. To help her finish faster, so she could listen, we jumped in and started helping her wash what she had left. While we washed, we started talking and she mentioned that a lot of her family had died- parents, her husband, some of her kids. She asked us what our opinion on death was and we talked to her about the Plan of Salvation, and she was really interested. She said she worried a lot for those that died, and never accepted Christ while they were alive. She told us that she would like to know if what we were saying really was true, because it gave her hope that everything doesn't end when we die. She also told us about her situation and how she helps her daughter who lives next door. Its was her daughter's clothes we were washing, and that's the only way she has money to live, she said. From what she explained, her kids treat her really awful. She makes their food for free, and they just pass by to pick it up. They aren't good either about making sure she has money to live, because a lot of days she says she goes without. I think it meant a ton to her that we were willing to help her, because she has no one who does that for her. Unfortunately, after we finished helping her wash the clothes, we didn't have time to teach a lesson. But for next week, I should have more details!

On Sunday we had a lesson with a guy named Richard.  He was another reference from Tere and her daughter-in-law,  who lives in a house behind her.  When we showed up NO one was home, so we went a little down the street to Wendy's house (Tere's daughter) and Michelle (a guy who is living with Wendy and her family) told us that they'd left and that Richard started drinking again and was with his friends. We were super disappointed, but Michelle told us "if you want, you can teach me!" Every week we with Wendy, so we've gotten to know Michelle a little, but we've never really invited him to listen because we didn't know his situation. Apparently he's had a rough life, and that's why he's living with Wendy. He said for a long time he never wanted to listen to missionaries, even though Wendy and her mom always insisted on it. He's 29, and said he started drinking at 21 or 22 yrs because of problems in his family.  He became really addicted, until a month ago. He had an accident while driving his motorcycle drunk, and the whole time he was injured, none of his drinking buddies came to see him. He said he has had 8 other accidents like that, and really has the desire to change.  He's been sober a month now and started reading the Book of Mormon.  A year ago, he listened to the missionaries and had all the lessons.  He was one Sunday short of being able to be baptized, but he fell into his addition and never made it. He said he feels like it just wasn't his time, but this last month he's thought about it a lot and really wants it. He accepted the baptismal invitation before I could even finish the question, so Hunucma will have one baptism, for sure, in 3 weeks!

Adios,
Hermana Harper

Happy Birthday Hermana Harper #22

Hermana Harper's Birthday Celebration

Hunucma - Week 10

Hola!
I Hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's day!

This week was pretty average, a little low on lessons too because my companion was sick Tuesday.  At church, it was super disappointing because NO one we invited came. And they all promised they would. We're thinking it was for the holiday though because the church attendance overall was lower than usual.

Throughout the week, we found 3 new people. The first was a reference from someone we met on the street. She said her neighbor (Jaime) was sick and suggested we visit him. His wife received us really well, and we found her husband on a hospital bed in their room. He had an accident 12 years ago, and was paralyzed from the neck down. It is such a sad story, because all his kids were little when it happened, so all growing up the wife had to care for her husband and kids. The one good thing I could see from it is that their whole family is really united and really sweet. They go to church every week too and have strong testimonies that God exists. We were only able to meet him and talk to him for a little bit before his physical trainer came to do exercises with him, but we scheduled another appointment. I hope it goes well because he says he's received lots of missionaries, but has never been interested in anything else because he believes all the churches lead to the same God.

The second person we met was Armando. We met him when he gave us a ride in his mototaxi, and he said he was interested to learn more when we talked to him. We brought a member to the first visit with him and he listened really good to the entire lesson of the restoration and accepted to be baptized. We invited him to church and he said he'd come with his wife and 2 little girls, but they didn't make it, unfortunately.

The third was a young kid (16 years) named Edwardo. We found him while looking for someone else, and had a little mini lesson on the spot with him. He said he's listened to lots of different churches and loves learning. I had a lot of hope with him, but he didn't come to church like he promised, so we will need to follow up with him.  That’s the life of a missionary though- getting excited after a first lesson, but you never really know until you get the chance to verify!

On Monday in our district "council" meeting, we were brainstorming what we needed to change to start seeing more miracles in our areas, because all of us are struggling. Everyone in our district (3 companionships) is in a pueblo, so we have a lot of the same weaknesses as far as people we are contacting. One of the companionships is a married couple, and the wife (Sister Lopez) made a comment that brought tears to all of the sisters eyes! She said she felt like we were all trying to give so much to our areas, but you can't give what you don't have.  We all know what we need to do, but just aren't quite making our goals because discouragement gets to us too often throughout the day. She gave the idea that we ask for priesthood blessings. My whole entire mission, I've never asked for one because I always felt like there was something else we needed to be doing, but I really felt the spirit when she made that comment. When we're falling short and need extra strength from God, we shouldn't hesitate to use the priesthood that God has blessed us with as members of Jesus Christ's church. I feel super thankful honestly to have that resource!

Love you all and see you SOON!

Hermana Harper

Hunucma - Week 9

Holaaa!

This week at church we had TWO new people! Yay!

One is a guy that scuba dives for a living and drives a mototaxi. We met him like a month ago because he gave us a ride in his mototaxi and he was pretty interested, just that he didn't have the time. We've run into him twice since meeting him.  He told us, because of the weather, his work got cancelled, and he wanted to go to chuch.  He actually went! It was really sweet because he said before coming he felt nervous about going, but once he sat down he felt a peace come over him.

The other was a guy who the missionaries before us taught and who's called randomly from time to time asking for them. He called Friday and said he wanted to go to church, and he went too! A member introduced us to him and he wants to start listening again.

Berenice was also at church and 2 of her kids. She's ready to be baptized pretty much, just needs to decide if she's moving or not. Her situation is a little complicated because she's separating from her boyfriend, but she's not positive where she's going to go yet.

Other things this week...

I celebrated my 22nd Birthday!!!  It was pretty normal except for lunch. We ate with a member who's husband ALSO had his birthday May 3rd.  They invited the other missionaries and put out little decorations that they had,  which was really cute.

One thing our leaders have been bugging us to do is ask for references. They've been telling us to be almost obnoxious about it and try and get the names of all possible people from them.

On Saturday night, we went looking for a guy who wasn't home that we'd contacted like 2 weeks ago and we met his neighbor (and sister-in-law) instead. We invited her to listen and she told us politely no, so then we proceeded to ask if she knew anyone who could benefit from our message. At first she said she didn't know anyone her, even her neighbors, because she's in the house all day. But, we kept insisting on who she knew who was passing through difficulties and she ended up coming up with the names of 3 of her neighbors.

The first was one we'd already met, the second wasn't home but has a super cute family that told us the next day we could come by and the third was a super awesome lady named Betty. We showed up at her house and met her son and husband who were super nice and let us in. A few minutes later she walked in and after we started talking to her a little bit she said what a miracle it was that we showed up right now in her life. She barely discovered that she had a tumor in her brain, and she said she's in need of comfort. All of her family (4 older kids that live with her) are really nervous about it too. We started teaching plan of salvation and she liked it a lot because she said she'd never heard about the pre-mortal life.

One thing that was disappointing this week is that we found Pedro passed out and drunk when we went by to see him. When we saw him later in the week, he confessed that he gave in and drank. With him, reality is starting to hit and I'm pretty sure he won't be able to get baptized super fast because his addiction is really strong. He has the desire though and asked if we could check on him everyday to help him not drink. Poor guy.

This week  we had to be in Merida again, THREE times!  Thursday they talked to us about a topic that I really liked. They said that the prophet and apostles had recently felt that as a church, we're missing something to strengthen our relationship with God.  In order to find out what that was, they all prayed and fasted together and all came to the same conclusion, which was how we're keeping the sabbath day holy. When I thought about that, it really is so true.  When I was younger, I always thought sunday was boring and how it was a chore not to get to do "fun" stuff on Sunday. I think a lot of times we feel like if we go to church, that's good enough, but it shouldn't be like that. A day is 24 hours and if you try, there's a lot that can be fun, but helps you feel the spirit too. One example I like is of charging a cell phone. If you let it only charge 10 minutes, the battery doesn't last very long. But if you leave it until its completely done charging, it lasts for days. The sabbath does that for us, gives us spriritual energy to face our week with an eternal perspecive in all our decisions.

The best news of this week...we just found out Elder Bednar is coming on the 22nd of may to speak to all the missionaries and members. And apparently he speaks Spanish. Cool right? So I’ll get to end my mission with a visit from an apostle!

Well, see you all in 3 weeks!
Love Hermana Harper

Hunucma - Week 8

Hello!

This week was SO long because every single day we had to be in Merida as a zone. We talked about eight missionary topics that you learn as a new missionary and review every year. This year was a little different because each companionship had a topic and got to teach it.  Sister Lugo and I  talked about the importance of having investigators at church, and it went pretty good I think!

One thing that wasn't too fun is that I got sick.  I think it was just food poisoning.  People here have told me that hot food and sun don't usually go really well together, and I'm starting to believe them! Tuesday I started feeling not that great and didn't feel like eating anything after lunch that day. Wednesday was the same, but I woke up feeling like throwing up and was going to the bathroom every little while. In the van on our way to Merida, luckily the van wasn't too hot and the chapel wasn't either during our meetings, so the sick feeling kinda went away. After we finished, we walked out by the temple with Hermana Pitcher and her companion and I all of the sudden threw up in the temple garden - gross, I know :( It was super embarrassing because we were talking, and a guy waved me over that was outside the gate and had a bunch of questions as to what we believe and everything. He was a SUPER awesome guy and I was able to explain a bunch of things, but right at the end the other sisters came to join me and out of no where I felt really sick and that's when I had to step to the side, and yeah. After that, I started feeling a lot better. I bought a bag of ice and held it the whole way home to Hunucma. Then, we went straight to eat with the member we were assigned that day, and since I didn't feel like eating, I slept in their hammock for about an hour. ( haha)

Besides getting sick, we did a lot of contacting this week. Thursday we didn't have much success, but I was happy because we at least had Pedro to go visit. But, he wasn't there when we went to visit. A miracle happened when we left his house - there was a group of guys drinking in front of Pedro's parent’s house and one of the guys called us over. At first I thought they were just bored, but the guy had real interest. He says he's felt really confused and wanted to know more what we believe and if we can answer his questions. He's a fisherman so he isn't home a lot, but wanted us to at least visit his wife and told us where she lives. All the next day we tried to look for her, but what he explained to us, where his house was, didn't make sense. The one good thing about that day is that we visited a new family and they were really happy to have us over. We spent two hours with them because they had a lot of needs. We watched the video with them "Because He Lives" and the mom and two daughters cried after. They told us about their family and how they struggle showing their love for their dad because he drinks and doesn't behave well when he's drunk. One thing we taught them at the end, to help strengthen their family, is family prayer. None of them pray they said because they didn't grow up doing it. All of them felt really happy after we prayed with them, and they committed to do it every day as a family.

On Sunday, it was disappointing because Pedro wasn't there when we went to look for him in the morning, and Berenice and her kids left.  Those five, I was hoping I'd see baptized before I left, but I think their time will be a little more down the road. One good thing though it that Azucena (15 yrs, from sisal, recent convert) came to church after we committed her Monday. She brought her mom too, which is a huge miracle because the mom isn't a member, and before would always hide when the missionaries would come. I think she's starting to realize that she needs to support her daughter in good things.  Otherwise, it’s a lot easier for Azucena to fall into temptation with things she did before becoming a member.

That’s all for this week,

Love,
Hermana Harper

Hunucma - Week 7

Hello!

This week our P-day got switched up because we went to the temple this morning. Yesterday we spent most of the day in Sisal, but we didn't end up finding very many of the people we went there for. We did find one guy though, named Omar, that is really interested. There's a guy who just barely got home from his mission and he contacted Omar while he was in Sisal selling hotdogs with his family. Omar is super interested in what will help his family because it turns out his wife was unfaithful, but she told him asking for forgiveness, and he's trying to forgive her, but is struggling with it. They have 2 young boys together, so he really wants to fix things with him and his wife.

On Wednesday we visited a family (Hilda & Mario) that I hadn't visited before, at their house. Its kinda cool because their family makes shoes for a living. In their house they have all the stuff to do it, and when we showed up they were right in the middle of it and I got to watch a little. I think its so neat how a bunch of families here have some talent that they use to make a living off of.

Pedro, the guy I wrote about last week, we visited again. I told my companion he's my favorite person we visit because he's so sweet! The last time we taught him we got to know him and taught who God, Jesus and the holy ghost are. This week we started with the restoration, but focused more on prophets and that through prophets we have commandments like the word of wisdom. We wanted to make sure he was willing to stop drinking completely and he is! It was so cute because his parents live behind him, and since he wasn't answering when we showed up, we went around the corner behind his house and his dad was sitting out front. His dad was super glad that we were teaching his son because he loves listening to messages about God too. His dad sat through the whole lesson and really liked it. He kept telling us he liked how we would just say things like they are. One thing that was SO sweet was when I showed them a picture of the Salt Lake City temple, I gave the example of how God compares our bodies to temples. Then I asked if they thought it would be as beautiful if it had graffiti all over it and was abused- trying to explain that when we don't take care of our bodies its like if the same were to happen to the temple. Pedro didn't completely understand though and said really softly and sincerely like he always does, "if someone did that, I would take my friends and we would clean it all up."

Another sweet thing Pedro told us was that last week(when he went to church after having worked all night)is that after he ate the bread and water, he said he was so happy and wasn't hungry the whole day. He said how his mom offered him lunch, but he told her he wasn't even hungry after the bread and water he had at church. That really touched me because after the sacrifice to come to church, he recognized that as a small blessing.

From this week's studies- I read in Jacob 5 about the parable of the olive vineyard. I really liked how much effort the owner of the vineyard puts into his trees and all his careful planning and care to have good fruits. It makes me think just how much God worries and thinks about each one of us. There's a part where after all his work, he sees that the fruit is starting to go bad and he says "And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard wept, and said unto the servant: What could I have done more for my vineyard?"
I feel like in a small part I've felt like that with investigators...that frustrated feeling when you've put in all this work with someone but they don't appreciate all that you've done and won't embrace what you've taught them. You know how much it will help them and bless them, but they won't give it enough of a chance and trust that if they're patient things will change in their lives for the better. Even as members, God still is pruning us and trying to get us to change and be better, but a lot of times we don't put forth the effort we ought to. Even as a missionary, I know I fall short to a lot of God's council's for me. I love knowing that God really is so aware of us and especially aware of when we're not okay. One thing with the example of the harvest though, it that at some point the harvest ends. If we put things off too long- at one point its going to be too late. We have to be quick to respond to what God asks of us!

Until next week-
Hermana Harper

Hunucma - Week 6

Mileybi's Baptism

Hola!

Last night we got our changes- and it turns out we didn't have any! Sister Lugo and I will be staying together in Hunucma until I DIE. Hahaha. I'm glad nothing got switched up because so far we've been working well together.

This week they've been pushing us to ask the members for references. The goal is talk to at least 18 people either as a street contact or while we're with members and ask who they know that we could visit. So far we've been doing pretty good with the goal, even though it's a little hard sometimes when we're running from house to house.

We found a guy this week named Pedro.  He’s really amazing. We were knocking (more like yelling- that's what they do here) at the door of a less active, but she wasn't home. Pedro was passing on his tricycle and told us she wasn't home, and we took advantage of the moment and asked if he wanted to listen to a message about Jesus. Usually people say, "Sure, but not right now." but he told us "yes" and headed for the sidewalk so we could talk for a second. We sat on the curb with him to get to know him briefly and write his address down. I honestly didn't think much of it because I could smell alcohol on his breath, but he confessed he really wanted to listen and said we could come visit him the next day at 6pm, and he'd be waiting. I gave him a word of wisdom pamphlet and told him not to drink before the appointment with us, and he promised he wouldn’t drink (like many drunk people here tell us!). We went the next day, but got a little lost finding his house, so we started talking to a bunch of his neighbors, but no one knew him. At like 6:40 he showed up on his bike because he said he saw us and he showed us where his house was. I felt bad because he had 3 chairs set out on his porch and said he'd been waiting since 6:00 and hadn't drank any alcohol!!! We started with the lesson and asked why it was that he wanted to listen to us and he said he wants to change his life and do things right. He got all teary when he told us about his wife and how she passed away 10 years ago and how he really misses her. He has 3 boys that are 19, 20 and 22, so he must of have been the one to raise them without his wife. He accepted everything we taught him and accepted a baptismal date! The next day (Saturday) he said we could come again at 5 and we went, but he left us a note asking for our forgiveness, because he had to go to work. His little note touched my heart because NO one does that for us. They always just leave as they please and have some excuse for us the next time they see us. Pedro's note was so sweet because his spelling is like an elementary kid's level and he put so much care into tying strings on either side of the paper so it wouldn't fly away. The next day (Sunday) we passed by to see if he could still come to church with us and the poor thing had barely gotten off work from working all night, but agreed to come even though he was super tired.

Friday- we had Mileybi's baptism! It was at 12pm, so not that many people were able to show up.

Mileybi's Baptism

Everything went really well. On Sunday she got up and bore her testimony and opened up a lot more than I’ve ever seen her. She said that a year ago she didn't believe much in God and couldn't understand why her family prayed to all these different dolls pretty much. She said as missionaries started coming, and when she started to get to know the members, she started praying and has felt like the weak person she saw herself as before was starting to be stronger. Really, she was probably ready to be baptized sooner, but the missionaries before chatted more than taught, and never got to that point with her. It was cool because she wants her family to get baptized one day and says that little by little they'll get there. She brought a sister though who seems really sweet and interested!

One funny thing I wanted to share was Wednesday when we went to Sisal. We visited the less-active family that lives on the coast and we just talked with the grandma and her daughter's 3 little boys. At the end of the lesson, the son (uncle of the 3 boys) came out to talk to us. He'd been drinking and his mom explained to us that his wife left him like 2 weeks ago with his baby boy. He came to talk to us though and tried to swoon my companion! First, he brought us coconut drinks and sat down and quoted the Nefi scriputure mastery "I will go and do..." and grabbed my companion's hand and said he couldn't go back to church because things had happened but he needed us to shed our light to his family because they needed it. Then he randomly left, came back in, and wanted to leave us a blessing because he said he had received the priesthood of Aaron and of Melchizedek. But he just did it with words- he didn't touch us haha. Then he left again and as we were leaving, one of the little boys gave us a piece of styrofoam from him that he had written his number on. THEN, as we were walking out of the house through their jewelry stand he saw us looking at some of the rings and earrings and grabbed one of each and gave them to Sister Lugo and told her he never wanted her to forget him. Hahaha! He tried to give them to her in exchange for a kiss, but luckily she pulled away. I was laughing so hard the whole time, but I don't think my companion enjoyed it so much!

Well, that's a little bit of what happened this week. Everything has been going really well, especially with our extra efforts to be diligent. Hunucma still hasn`t ceased to amaze me!

With love, Hermana Harper

Sisal Beach

Jewelry store owned by one of the less active members

Sisal Beach

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Party

Hunucma - Week 5

Hello!

I Hope everyone enjoyed Easter/Conference weekend!

This week was definitely eventful! We did exchanges with the sister training leaders Wednesday. That morning we traveled to Merida, switched companions, and I came back to Hunucma with Sister Mejia. That same day we went to Sisal, our beach area, and had only 2 lessons, then had to come back for another lesson in Hunucma. In Sisal there were tonssss of people. A bunch of the youth in the ward were telling me that tons of Americans go and party there for spring break, and since its spring break here too, it gets really crowded. When Sister Mejia and I went, we saw the little carnival that was set up, and the booths, and it looked fun! We switched companions again Thursday after weekly planning, so those two days felt long, with all of the traveling!

Friday we did our special activity- The Easter Egg Hunt!
We took an idea from the Liahona on the page for kids, and hid pictures in the eggs that had to do with Easter.  The main "Sacrament Room" is where we all sat, and outside is where all the candy filled eggs were that we had hidden before we sat down.

I introduced everyone and explained the tradition we have in the US that the Easter Bunny comes and hides eggs the night before Easter.  We told them that we had invited the bunny to come that night, and he left us some eggs that they could find at the end of the activity. I don't think the kids quite grasped the concept until we actually did it, but they went with it!!! haha

To start, we called 2 kids up as volunteers, and one hid an egg with a picture inside and the other closed their eyes and had to find the egg.  Everyone in the audience was yelling "hot" or "cold" while they looked for the egg. Everyone caught on fast to the game so it was fun. Then after we saw what was on the picture, a missionary took a turn giving a mini lesson about the picture. I taught the second time around about what the sacrament has to do with Jesus and his sacrifice. Something funny, I had a volunteer read how the bread represents Jesus' body, and when I asked after, "What does the bread signify?" A little girl shouted out "food!"

For the actual egg hunt, we had maybe 20 kids there, so each got to find 2 eggs (they were all really  well hidden!).  We let the littler kids go first and find the easy ones, then after the bigger kids got to find the eggs that were left. We had the outside blocked off really well, so everyone was excited to see what was out there. Then after, we had ice cream and juice for everyone that the Bishop had arranged.

For Conference, we watched it in the prayer house. We thought originally that it wouldn't work because the internet and projector were giving us problems the night of the egg hunt activity, but it mostly worked Friday. The other sisters in the ward got there at 7am to get things arranged, but we didn't end up getting things working until like 45 min after conference started. To give people time to eat, we started the second session an hour late too. Sunday and the Priesthood session, however, were much smoother!

I enjoyed Conference, but this is the first year I've had to see it completely in Spanish- so I think I got less out of it than the last times. I did really like the talk about the relation of dance to the gospel and music to the spirit. It made me think how many times I've done things I ought to do as a member, but either don't look for or enjoy the spirit as part of that. Simple things like praying, or reading the scriptures are like parts of the "dance" as a member of the church, but without the "music" or the spirit, its just not the same. I feel like that motivated me to look for the spirit more and enjoy it.

Sunday night they notified us that we had a multi-zone meeting instead of regular district meeting Monday morning. It lasted until about 1pm and the president, his wife, and assistants talked to us about how to find new investigators and be more bold in opening our mouths. It was a really good meeting. After, we went contacting in parks nearby to practice. After that, since it’s the last P-day for one of the sisters in the ward (Hermana Hernandez), we talked the bishop into taking us to Sisal! We went and saw the beach and ate fish at a little restaurant nearby that a member owns. It was fun! :)

One of my favorite scriptures right now is in Luke 22:

31 ¶And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

I have it written in my Journal, but with my name where it says "Simon, Simon." One thing I've been struggling with is motivation because walking outside in this heat takes all my energy it feels like. I like those verses because to think that Jesus is praying for us, after all He has already done, is motivating. We have to be strong like He was and is, and help our brothers and sisters be strong too!

Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Harper

Hunucma - Week 4

¡Buenos Dias!

One of this week's highlights was going to the temple! Tuesday morning we woke up at 2:30am and walked over to the others sisters house to wait for the bishop. He took the 4 of us and 4 other members to Merida (45 min away) so we could all go to the temple to do our family names. We rode in the back of his truck the whooole way, so that was quite the adventure so early in the morning. Our Zone's turn was the 5am session, but we went first to print off names, so we did other stuff in the temple until the 9am session. By the time we got back to our area, it was 1pm, so that took up our whole morning! It was fun seeing all the other missionaries though, since only once a month we have the opportunity to go.

Saturday, we intended to watch the conference, but the internet connection was failing, so we just saw little pieces. It was a bummer because we had investigators and a bunch of members, but oh well! It was cute because one of the ladies we brought that's investigating (Berenice) brought her 10 year old little boy and he kept asking me about what the conference was and thought it sounded so cool since it’s broadcasted from the US. He kept telling me "Wow! This looks so interesting! Hahaha. Sunday though, we tried again with the broadcast and were able to see it, just that less people showed up. My favorite part was the video of the families singing- maybe because I'm starting to miss mine! It just strengthened my testimony of how true this church is, because it really focuses on the family. No other church teaches about sealing families or confesses to have authority to marry after death. The sprit really bears testimony of it too because no other thing brings as powerful of a feeling as when you think of the love for your family.

As far as the work here, ay vamos. We've been losing some of our people that seemed really awesome, so that's a bummer. It’s so frustrating because what allllways happens is we start out with really great lessons and the people say "yes!" to all our invitations, but then Satan works on them and they don't read what we left with them, or they don't have the time anymore. Super frustrating!!! The one good thing though is that Berenice was a little like that, saying one thing but doing another, but this week she went to the conference, a baptism that the other sisters had, AND church! She brought her boyfriend too who is a Baptist, I think and loves the bible. I have high hopes for them, but they have to decide to get married first because they're living together.

The focus from here on out is the new video "Because he lives." We're all set up with our mini DVD players, handout cards, and goal sheets, haha. Its fun having something new to use with our normal contacts. Everyone here for Easter has "semana santa" which is "holy week." For 2 weeks no one has school and goes on their little vacations and do their "rosarios" which are their prayers to the virgin Mary.  Speaking of her- my nickname in this ward has become Asuncion because I look a lot like that Virgin Mary. Asuncion is another version of Mary- haha but don't ask me why there are so many versions of her!

Adios!
Hermana Harper

Hunucma - Week 3

3 weeks in Hunucma down, 3 to go (until the end of transfers)!

Well, this Tuesday we had our ward family home evening in the prayer house and the young single adults organized it. They did a good really good job too! It was set up as a discussion group and everyone that was there, participated! (people here are real good at participating, haha). They talked about loving the sinner, not the sin. I liked it because they mentioned how sometimes we're so quick to judge and only love the people that act how we think they should. But the thing is, how impressive is our love really? We haven't mastered loving others until we can love people that are difficult to love.

Friday my companion and I taught our little book of Mormon institute class and it went well. While I was looking over the manual, I found a quote that I really loved. We're still in the first part of the Book of Mormon and there was a quote about the experience where Nephi broke his bow. The quote said something along the lines of "often in moments when things seem ideal in our lives, is when multiple difficulties arise. If the difficulties aren't results of your disobedience, its evidence that the lord knows you're prepared to advance in your progression." Today I saw a real life example of that when we ate with Mari Pot and her husband (members we eat with every Monday). The wife has been a member for several years, but her husband just got baptized a year and a half ago.  I guess he used to always think it was dumb that she went to church and he tried to get her not to, and missionaries would come but he never paid attention to them. What made him change though, was that he had a dream one night that he read a scripture and the next day the elders shared that exact scripture. From then on, he looked at things differently and eventually got baptized. He told us today, that since he was baptized he's faced a lot of problems. For example, when he took the temple classes with his wife, the next day things got bad at work and his two little girls started getting sick. They pushed through though, and he said after they finally made it to the temple and were sealed things calmed down. He got called to be a councilor in the bishopric and he said with that calling things have gotten bad again. Today we shared with him in D&C 121 and 122 about Joseph Smith in jail and how God really tests us sometimes, but how its always for our good.

Another lesson we had this week was with Angel, who's the teenage of a member couple. The parents have been bugging us since I got here to visit their son and finally this week we got the chance. It was kind of a sad lesson because the son was super disconnected. He told us how he just plain doesn't want to listen and learn more because he feels happy with his life and himself. We were trying pretty much the whole lesson to ask questions to make him think, but he kept being super, superficial. His parents just sat there so sad and I felt so bad for them. After the prayer and everything the mom started crying because she didn't know what to do for her son, and we didn't either to be honest! The dad told us though that us being there helped him as a dad know what to do for his son and thanked us for it. He said that he and his wife for a while weren't very dedicated to the church and that's where they lost their son and now they're suffering the consequences, which is sad. They said they won't lose the hope though and have the desire to dedicate more of themselves to doing things that ought to be done.

Its so incredible being in a young ward like Hunucma because the members are so inspiring. There are so many converts that still don't know a ton, yet they're learning to dedicate themselves to the church and their testimonies. I love to see how so many are excited to share the gospel and how they know how to do it because they still remember how it was for them with the missionaries and getting to know the church. Haha, like for example, they understand that you have to pick them up on Sunday and teach them how to read the hymn book in sacrament meeting.

One exciting thing this week is that we contacted a member reference and found a really incredible family! The dad wasn't home, but the mom and 4 kids were. There's Alejandro (20 yrs) Haiti (13) Jared (10) and a little girl (2). All of them were excited to listen and willing to do the things we invited them to do. I was so impressed because you could feel how united they were as a family. Finding them was a huge highlight to the week! :)

One last thing- I read an article in the March Liahona that I REALLY liked called "Satan's Rebellion." If you haven't already read it, read it!

Love,
Hermana Harper

Hunucma - Week 2

Hola!

Things are really great in Hunucma. The people here never cease to amaze me. Right now we have 7 people we're teaching that are really interested, and we still have member references to contact! It feels like magic when all the pieces with missionary work,  work together.

We met a family this week that was a reference from Jose de la Cruz and the whole family seems interested. The husband (Nacho- his nickname) was the original reference, but the oldest son has taken a lot of interest. Both him and his step-dad came to church on Sunday!

Mileybi is another investigator that is doing super well. She came to church too and even with cutting hair and studying for her nursing tests, she makes time for us. We watched the video of the restoration video with her and she said she really believes in everything we've taught her. Her baptism is scheduled for the 28th of March!

So- last week I didn't explain much of pueblo life- but I want to explain a little right now. For one, everyday I feel like I'm at girls camp, haha! think what most reminds me of girls camp though is washing dishes outside with buckets of soapy water and rinsing in clean water.

This week we visited some people on the outskirts of our area, and it was literally dirt paths with a house every few minutes of walking. I feel like it'd kinda be scary living like that, but I guess the people here don't know anything else. Another thing is that a bunch of people cook their food over fires and get their water out of wells and I think that's pretty neat. Obviously not every single house is like that, lots are still decently modern, but the ones that aren't are super cool to me, haha. Every few houses you find in the area that is more city, have roofs out of straw. It’s a nice things because it makes the house stay cool.

Other things- Tuesday night we had a ward family home evening. The other sisters in the Ward have been getting really excited about doing activities, so Tuesday night family home evening is now a new thing in Hunucma, haha. We played a charades and did the theme around the book of mormon. There were two teams and categories with points for people, events, principles, etc and each team had to act it out for points. It was super fun and I think the members all enjoyed it a lot.

Another thing about here that's different than my other areas, is that the missionaries teach institute. We arranged it so that the other sisters teach mission prep and we teach Book of Mormon. Also, every Sunday we've been dedicating to family history in the prayer house for the members. Then every other Thursday night, Debora (the american who lives in Sisal) got called to teach the productive living class for institute and I'm helping her. They've been asking for English clases one night of the week, so maybe we'll do that too as a way to introduce new people to the church. Who knows, its already seems like a lot haha.

Friday we had zone conference and I want to share one thing I liked from that meeting. One thing they mentioned with us is that our testimonies don't protect us. Kinda a weird thing to say, but after they explained that what really protects you is your conversión. It’s really true when you think about it. A lot of times we do things because in our head we know something is right, like go to church for example. Which is good, but what we really need to find is our personal conversion. Conversion would be going to church because your heart is in it and you look for ways to be involved and help others get involved too. I feel like even as a missionary I'm still not 100%, but that's what life is for right? And honestly that's what God need and expects of us as members of the church. This gospel is perfect and I know that when we really search and ask questions and stay involved, our testimonies are strengthened.

Love, Sister Harper

Note from Mom:  We finally got Hilary's travel information!!! :)  She will be flying home on May 26th!!!

Hunucma - Week 1

What a week!

This week I got sick, starting with last Monday night, during the night, I couldn't sleep because I had this pain in my chest. I kinda had it the last two weeks, but I wanted to see if it went away on its own, but that night it was so bad that I couldn't sleep. It was also weird because I threw up during the night, and the next morning after taking an acid reducer pill. We went to the doctor and he said I have gastritis, which is really common for the kind of food that's eaten here. So now I'm not supposed to eat lime, citris fruits, or chiles :( I've been feeling a lot better though, so hopefully it goes away completely soon.

Despite feeling sick, I've been super impressed with the ward in Hunucma! Several people have said they want to introduce us to their friends, so that's super exciting. My last ward didn't have enough faith in their friends, I guess, so we'd rarely get references.  Its a lot more fun having so many good people to teach.

An example of this was Tuesday, while we were eating, the mom (Tere) of the member that was feeding us stopped by and said she had news for us. Tere said she went out visiting her friends, with a friend and they ran into an old investigator (Berenice) who was really excited to see them. Tere asked if she wanted the missionaries to start vistiting her, and she said yes. Then Tere said she felt prompted to ask the baptismal question and Berenice accepted! A couple days later we showed up to visit her with Tere and she really is as great as Tere said. Her husband also has potential, so maybe we'll have a new family for the ward soon.

When I got here, there wasn't a single person with a baptismal date, because they all just gotten baptized the week before I got here.  Fortunately we have Berenice and one other that's gone to church several times, just never was asked to be baptized on a certain day. The other person’s name is Mileybi,  and she is super cute. She lives right next door to the prayer house, (Hunucma barely got switched from a branch to a ward) she is 23 and does hair,  and is in school to be a nurse!

Other things about the ward... I finally met the American couple! The husband got baptized 3 weeks ago and his wife grew up in the church and has been active most her life, but has been inactive for the last 14 years. She is really great though and I can tell had a lot to do with her husband's conversion. Neither of them speak Spanish, so I had to translate church for them. I thought it'd be a piece of cake, but it was harder than I thought. We also have the problem with the Preisthood hour because before there was an elder that spoke English in the ward, but now we have 4 sisters and I'm the only one who knows English. They are one of 4 member families that life in Sisal (pronounced like sea salt, without the "T"). To get to that part of our area, we have to take a little van and it takes about 20 mins.

Sisal is really pretty! I guess its just barely starting to get a little touristy, as of about 4 years ago. There's not much there, but it’s a cute little place. Haha! The first day we went was Wednesday, and we visited a family that lives right on the coast pretty much. They sell shell jewelry, so when I first got there we walked through their display and went into their little house. I felt like I was in a movie because the brother of the lady we came to visit handed us a coconut with a straw in it, and we sat and talked to his sister as she was cutting up a hotdog for dinner getting ready to watch her TV drama series. She has 3 younger boys who act like they're all teenagers and I can tell love their little life on the beach.

Love,
Hermana Harper

Brisas - Week 42

Hello to all my Friends and Family out there,

For the first time in 10 1/2 months, transfers have brought me to a new area! I'm in a pueblo called Hunucma. It's a cute little place and I'm really excited! This pueblo looks a little less authentic than others, kinda like the city look where I've been before, but its still neat. Actually, my "firstborn" Hermana Pinguelo was sent here when we separated and right now Hermana Suarez is here too, in the same ward as me. So 2 of my old comps have been through here. So far what I've heard about this area, is that the Bishop is really great and sells ice cream bars for a living and loves to spoil the missionaries with them! :) Also, my area is made up of 2 parts that are spaced out and the other half is on the beach. On the beach area, I guess there is an newly baptized American couple that don't really speak Spanish. Haha, It's convenient I'm here, because before now, other missionaries had to travel here to teach them and baptize them. I'm excited to meet them!

More than likely I'll end my mission here with this companion, and that's okay with me. My companion has about 8 months in the mission and is from the Dominican Republic. She's tall and about the same build as me, so we made a good pair! Haha. She doesn't know a ton of English, but really wants to learn, so hopefully I will be able to teach her a lot while I am here.

Saturday we had Pilar's baptism. When it started, I don't know what was up with me, but I felt frustrated because Pilar was SO happy, yet I felt like nothing was special about the little baptismal service. The talks and everything weren't bad, but I felt like everyone was in robot Mormon mode and a lot of the people in the audience weren't engaged. After the ordinance, the Ward Mission Leader wanted to just end it with the welcome from the Relief Society President, but my comp kept bugging me to have one of her kids talk, so her son came to my mind, and we asked him really quick and it changed the whole Baptism. Her son is less active as of 3 years ago, but is really great and used to be super involved. All his kids are active and were at the baptism too. He got up and cried and said he wants to come back to church and that he felt so happy and everything he said brought tears to each one of his kids eyes, and his mom's too. It brought the spirit so strong because you could see that he really felt it and really loved his family a lot and wanted to be united again. I was so thankful that my comp followed the spirit and that we acted on it.  

I'm excited for the changes,  but I'm feeling really sad to have left Brisas and my companion. Yesterday, we didn't have appointments with investigators, so we visited recent converts and members I wanted to see one last time before I left. We visited Henry's family and he said he bought a whole computer system of some sort and he can video chat free to the USA. He said he bought it with us in mind. That last day kinda sucked because it's so hard to really love people and know it has to come to an end. Obviously not completely, but things definitely change when you get switched out of the area. Love really is the essence of the church though. (Or ought to be at least!) I just feel SO blessed to have met such good, real, loving people here. I feel like their love has made me love them so much, and right now it just kinda hurts. I know this will be a good change though and that I'll learn a lot. Hermana Lugo and I were talking about how much transfers stink, but really they're necessary to learn and grow. And its true. We exist to grow up to be like our Heavenly Father and we'll only do it by testing ourselves and having new experiences.

Love you all!

- Hermana Harper

Pilar's Baptism

My  new Companion - Hermana Lugo

Brisas - Week 41

Good Morning!

Today I'm writing early because our meetings were cancelled and now we have the whole day to do something fun!

This week we didn't have the baptism we were planning on because Pilars mom got sick and she had to take care of her. BUT, this Saturday we're on for the baptism! It'll be right before the transfer ends, so I'm glad I get to be here for it.

I can't believe the transfer is almost done. I'm pretty much already "dying" here because I'm only going to have 12 weeks left! We'll see if I stay more time in my area. I rrrreally don't know anymore because the president told my companion he wanted to keep us together as long as he could, but if I stay much longer, I'll almost complete just a year here. Hopefully if I do stay, I'll at least get to spend my last transfer in a pueblo or something, because I think they're so cute!

This week we had a lot of success with one of our less actives, Felipe. He finally made it to church this week and brought a friend who is interested in learning more. Unfortunately, the friend doesn't live in our area. Felipe knows lotsss of people so, we're hoping if we keep working with him we'll find some really prepared people.

Love you all,
Hermana Harper

Brisas - Week 40

Happy Late Valentines day!

This week was pretty fun! Tuesday we had a mini miracle, all thanks to Heavenly Father's perfect timing. We have this member,  Cristian (18 yrs) that introduced us to his friend Jordan and we've been teaching them. We went to Cristian's house, but his friend had cancelled, so we just decided to visit with his parents. His mom loves the missionaries, a lot,  and has had some drama with the members, so decided to take advantage of the time and try and help her out. The drama was that her and her husband have been taking the sacrament (they're still not members because they're trying to finalize the wife's divorce with her ex in order to get married) and the bishop had asked them not to and some members had said stuff too. Long story short is, they felt bad and had their minds set on not returning until they would be able to get baptized (they've already waited 8 years!) and mean while would go to other  wards. Well, we'd asked for the Bishop's help with them, and without even planning it, he showed up while we were still there visiting them. Right as he got there, some people showed up to install some stuff in their house, and there was A LOT of commotion, but we were able to sit down and the Bishop explained the sacrament and how he was trying to help them. He said very lovingly how he needed them to progress towards baptism because it's so crucial, and without plans and goals, that privilege had to be taken away. The parents did really understand, especially when the Bishop put it into the perspective of eternal families and the temple. It was neat because the wife is a really stubborn person, but the spirit pricked her heart ! :)

A few days later, we finally had our lesson with Cristian and his friend Jordan and the lesson melted my heart. The two are really good friends and Cristian is a really faithful member and wants more than anything for his friend to accept the gospel. Jordan isn't closed off to it, but he also feels a pull to the catholic church because that's what his family and ancestors were, yet he's not active in that church either. Christian spent a pretty big part of the lesson just sharing his testimony and love for his friend and how he'd felt prompted to share with Jordan right now. One thing Cristian said that I really liked, is that really soon he'll be leaving to serve a full time mission and he said he couldn't leave to share the gospel without having shared it with someone really important to him. That's really the spirit of missionary work! Sharing something that's important to us, with people we love and care about.

This week we also found 3 people with tons of potential. A member in another ward gave us the reference of a less active in our area (who just moved here a few months ago), and from this less active we received the reference of his friend Gabriel. Gabriel is divorced with 2 or 3 little kids and he's pretty sad. He's a radiologist at the little hospital in our area, and he says when he can't distract his himself with his kids or work he turns to drinking,  and he hates it. He says he feels like he's doing all these dumb things and knows they're dumb but something pushes him to do it.  He says he wants something more wholesome to replace the drinking. He believes in God and is willing to make whatever change is necessary. We barely talked to him, so we'll see where he goes. He would have gone to church, but the member that introduced us to him didn't wake up to go with him. :(

The other new investigator is Rodrigo, who DID go to church on Sunday. His mom is less active and I've been trying to get her to go back to church pretty much since I got here. Rodrigo has been really busy with school and stuff, but all the sudden decided that now he's ready to listen and see if all this is for him or not. Our ward mission leader was super impressed by him because he's really engaged and really sharp. In gospel priciples class, he was answering all the questions!

The last is Felipe. Hna Pitcher contacted him on the bus, and he's willing to listen because he's had a lot of problems with his wife leaving and kids too. He wants his wife back more than anything, and is worried because he feels like his wife's family is against him. Its looks like the wife still loves him though, but she wants to see a change in him. We explained that that's what the gospel does and how we are positive that if he trusts God, he'll get his family back because families are really important to God. That lesson was intense because the spirit was so so strong. I felt like my companion and I always knew what to say and when, and that it was really what he needed to hear.

Our Valentines together was fun :) We bought ourselves a balloon with candies from an investigator that was selling them. Then we bugged a member that helps us a lot to get us flowers, and he did! That morning we also made pancakes- which we always do for special days haha. And that's about it!

Love,
Hermana Harper

Brisas - Week 39

Hola!!!

Well, this week  we officially didn't find Hermana Pilar's baptismal record, so she can get baptized again! I called the elders in the offices, and they called Salt Lake, and apparently she has records in the church, but not as a member. It’s called a leech record, or something like that.  So, she was probably blessed as a baby, but never baptized. We were going to have the big day this Saturday (Valentines Day), but we couldn't get in touch with her and she slept in Sunday morning, so more than likely in 2 weeks we'll be doing it. We're hoping our other, Leticia, will be ready by then too because she said she has the papers she needed for her divorce. As far as baptisms, that's all that's really very sure. Our 2 others who've said they want to get baptized have just been being kinda flaky!

On Sunday, Henry's family made it to church, all of them, AND on time! I was so proud :) The two little girls really crack me up. There's this member named Moroni that we take with us to visit them and he also has passed by to bring them to church, and Betzi has been starting to confuse him with "Mormon" and calls the book of Mormon the book of Moroni, hahaha. I think it confuses her too because in primary they were taking about the Angel Moroni, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, so she gets it mixed up a lot and I think its really funny. One thing that Henry's wife (Suzi) told us once,  is that her 2 girls like to put on their little dresses and pretend they're missionaries. She says they'll round up their parents and have them read the scriputres and ask the parents questions and stuff. Too cute!! Hopefully they'll both be future missionaries when they grow up!

Our recent convert, Ricardo, is doing REALLY well! We had him accompany us with visits and he seems like he's been a member all his life. We only began with his like maybe a month and a half ago, so everything is still pretty fresh. We visited Juan Enrique, and right now he's just starting- exactly where Ricardo was a like a month and a half ago. We laughed afterwards, because Juan Enrique was just like Ricardo when he started.  Like for example, when we taught Ricardo to pray, in all our lessons he'd always pull out his Book of Mormon and read the 4 steps on the back first. When we asked Juan Enrique to say the closing prayer, he automatically pulled out his book to see the steps and I saw Ricardo smile. Its cool that Ricardo was in his place not that long ago, yet has already come so far and gained so much confidence. It makes the mission so rewarding to see that. I just wish all our investigators could be so ready like he was!

This week we had interviews with President and Zone Conference. Zone Conference was in the morning and long and boring as usual haha! Interviews were fun because it took our whole day! The president really needs to learn to plan interviews better because he puts someone at every half hour or so, yet he takes like 45 min - 1 hour with everyone. Mostly he just talks and asks random stuff too. In the interview we looked at how our personal family history is going and how we're doing with developing Christ like attributes. I found that where I need to work more is expressing love more. I guess I'm not very verbal about it with a lot of people, so that's what I'm working on!

One thing that was pretty cool is that we found a new investigator named Joel. We were in the bus with a member and starting talking to him because he was with his uncle who looks exactly like a less active in our ward named Carlos. Turns out they're brothers (the Uncle and Carlos) and we made appts to see both of them. The uncle wasn´t there when we went, but Joel was home and he's a really sincere guy. He's younger and divorced, with a little boy and more than anything he wants to be a good example for his little boy. He accepted the goal to be baptized!

I learned how to make one of the foods here! I'm actually suspicious if it exists with a different name in the US (potato salad?), but here its common! Its called ensalada rusa and its really easy. All it is, is chopped up carrots, potatoes, onion, peas, and chicken with pepper, mayo, and media crema. Everyone just eats it with saltine crackers and its really good. We made some Wednesday with a member to take to a couple leaders who help us a lot. We have another appt with her to learn to make empanadas, so I'm excited for that!

Love,
Hermana Harper

Brisas - Week 38

Febuary. Wow!

This week's highlight...Ricardo's baptism. He was SO happy, so that was so neat. The day before (Friday) we had his interview in the mission offices, so afterwards we walked right next door to the temple with him. It was just starting to get dark, so we talked to him about all he has to look forward to. He has the goal to get married in the temple one day and hopes his little daughter chooses to follow his example instead of his mom's. At his baptism, his mom and cousin came, who are both members! We didn't have any idea his mom was a member, but that was cool. At the end she bore her testimony and I think it meant a lot to her son. I was a little disappointed by the turnout of members honestly, but Ricardo didn't seem to mind, and that's what's most important!

This Sunday we also had the farewell for Israel, the guy who was baptized a year ago and is the only member in his family. He leaves tomorrow and is SOOO excited. He is so humble and so sincere so I know he'll have a lot of success. Both of his parents came to his farewell (in the evening) and I think that's the first time they've ever set foot in the chapel. We're hoping their hearts were softened that night, because so far they haven't been very interested in listening to anything from  another church.

At church we had 2 investigators, which means hopefully 2 baptisms soon! We're starting to count Pilar as an investigator because we haven't been able to find her baptismal record. It's funny because we first found her through her grand kids that live with her, who are members, but didn't know that their grandma was a member. Haha, the first day we met her we asked her to be baptized and that's when she came out with her little secret, that she is already a member. But now, we may end up baptizing her! The other investigator that came is Leticia, her husband was less active, but now the two of them have decided to invest in the church :) Her date isn't set because we're waiting for her to sign on her divorce, but it's supposed to be like this week. Or so they say haha- we've been waiting a month already :( But we're choosing to be hopeful!

Henry's family didn't make it to church because the baby got sick which seems to always happen, so it’s a little frustrating. As far as less actives/recent converts at church though we did have one new one! We met a random guy at the store a while back and he said he was a member, but hasn't gone in like 10 years. When we wrote down his info, it turned out that he lives in our area, so that was cool! We've visited him the last 3 weeks and finally this Sunday he was able to make it. His name is Italico, and he's divorced, so we're looking into our older single adults for a future girlfriend for him because he's super lonely.

Also this week we met a lady who has the saddest story! We met her walking past her house one day. Her and her sister listened to us and we really interested, even though I could tell they didn't probably understand quite everything. They said yes to being baptized, and a couple days later when we saw them again the one sister (Isabel) told us her whole life story.  She grew up with abusive parents and pretty much raised her 7 sisters. She grew up and got married, but she´s never let go of her fear of her step dad. Her youngest sister lives with her (20 years old) and she took 2 of her nieces under her wing because her other sister abandoned them. So living with her are her own 3 boys, a sister, and 2 nieces. She's really incredible because she's so happy and so bubbly. You'd never know she has a past like she does. We're trying really hard to get them to come to church, but Isabel is worried her husband won't be okay with it :(

Until next week! Hermana Harper

Brisas - Week 37

¡Hola!

So, right now in the mission we're focusing a lot on family history. Tomorrow, actually, we get to go to the temple with our recent converts and help them to do the work for THEIR family. Tomorrow we're going to take Gabriel (Hermana Pitcher and her last comp baptized him) to the temple and he's really excited. We found 9 names for him to do, so that's really exciting!

I can't wait for Saturday, because we're having another baptism: Ricardo! He is SO ready and so happy. I can't remember what I've said about him, but he's 23 and has a little girl. His uncle is a member, so that's how he heard about the church. He started going originally because he liked a member in his uncle's ward, but he only went to that ward for 2 Sundays and the missionaries handed him over to us. From the beginning he's been amazing. He said his interest in the church started for a crush, but now he's really in it because HE wants to be- and we can totally see that. He already seems like a member because he's going to all the activities, has friends, and has all the books and everything downloaded onto his phone, haha. I'm really happy for him!

Something interesting this week was that Betzi (Henry's daughter that got baptized) told us she had a dream right after the baptism. She said in the dream an evil force came and was trying to break her family apart and was pulling away her mom. In the dream, I guess Betzi pulled back, and fell over because the evil force let go. The parents said they felt like it was probably the adversary who wasn't happy with what they had done as a family. It's crazy because it really was a battle getting the family baptized, and shows there are always those against us, but luckily we're fighting on the stronger side!

Ricardo also said he's had some scary dreams, but we showed him a couple scriptures that say flat out PRAY to conquer Satan. And it's really as simple as that :) It strengthened my testimony of prayer from hearing about all that, because prayer really is a power that we can always, always turn to.

Other random things from this week: I left Brisas this week for the first time! I went on divisions with the sister training leaders in their area, and one came here with my comp. I think being away just made me miss my area because we didn't have ANY success while I was there. Everyone was a little colder and stuck in their lazy ways. Also, Saturday night the councilor in the bishopric came and asked me and my comp to speak Sunday, and we have services at 8am. I heard from several members that that isn't that unusual. Haha, so that was my 2nd time speaking in the mish!

Bye!
Love to all of you,
Hermana Harper

Brisas - Week 36

The impossible happened... Transfers? I didn't have any!!! I'm STAYING in Brisas! By the end of this transfer I'll have completed 10 1/2 months here. More than any other sister I've heard of in the mission. But, I'm really happy about it! I love my companion a lot (despite our differences sometimes!)  and this ward and these investigators are feeling more and more like family to me. For this next transfer we have 4 baptisms that are pretty sure, so that makes me excited!

This week was super special because Henry, Suzi, Doorly, and Betsy all got baptized!!! We had the baptism Thursday and not a lot of people could make it, but everyone who needed to be there was there.  Hermana Pitcher and I gave the little talks before the ordinance, and after Jesus (convert from Garcia Gineres) came and bore his testimony about the Holy Ghost. The bishop baptized the 4 of them and I think that made him really happy. Everyone who was there seemed in awe that a WHOLE family was being baptized together,  so that was really cool :)

Other things that happened this week were exchanges with the sister training leaders. Haha I stayed, for the 6th time in my 6 transfers!  We visited some less actives and 2 investigators- Ricardo and Juan Enrique. Both are doing so well! Ricardo's baptismal date is set in stone for the 31st and Juan Enrique just needs to come to church so we can give him a realistic date. With him, he just hasn't been able to get out of work on time to be able to go.

Today we didn't have district meeting, so we spent our P-day in Centro. We met up with Hermana Pinguelo and Hermana Hobbs in a Mayan bookstore and bought some little touristy things. The weather has been PERFECT lately, so it was fun walking around Centro today. We also ate at a popular restaruant here called Los Trompos. They´re known for their meat al pastor, so we got one of their specialty pizzas and split it :)

On a spiritual note, during exchanges I learned something from Hermana Smith that I liked a lot. In 3 Nephi 20 there's a verse that we recite a lot with people. Verse 8:

"And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled"

We talked about the verse and what could be our personal, spiritual "hunger" or "thirst." Everyone has things they long for: patience, a stronger feeling for God's presence, happiness, love... When we do the things God has asked us and strive to be worthy to partake of the sacrament, this longing or emptiness is filled. But, when we choose to not fill our longing with the right kinds of things, the result is frustration, being annoyed easily, anger, sorrow, depression, etc. I really like the promise that through the sacrament and remembering what it really represents, we can be filled. Filled with the spirit and with that have our spiritual hunger fed . Obviously, it's not an automatic thing though- we really should be preparing all week long by not justifying bad decisions and repenting when we need to. When we do that, the very best that we can, we have God's promise.

Love, Hermana Harper

Israel - He will be leaving on a mission in February!