Happy Birthday Ernesto!

                                                                                                    Dec. 11, 2017

Hi Everyone!!!

 

As you can tell by the title, today is Ernesto's birthday and there is going to be a huge rager at our house tonight apparently. They have invited the Bishop and a few other older couples from the Ward, so it should be a good time. Ernesto was born 72 years ago today. Wow!

As for us, our week was great! Really exhausting, but Rachael told me once that you aren't a successful missionary until you get home and fall on your bed after walking in the door without even brushing your teeth. (Or something along those lines.) So I guess that means we are doing a good job.

We have found a lot of great new investigators this week. Lots of young men and the Ward members are helping us out a ton which has been great! Yesterday, we taught a 22 year old named Alan who has a college friend that is a member of the church. We don't know her, but she sent us the referral. We asked Alan what made him want to learn more about the church and he said that he saw something different in her, something he didn't see in his other classmates. As disciples of Christ we have a special light and people see that!!! As we live righteously they will want to know why we are different!

This week Ana will be baptized along with Dulce and Fernanda, two girls who attend church with their mom every week. It has been a miracle because their dad didn't want to let them be baptized a few weeks ago, but our prayers have been answered and his heart is being softened little by little.

We are excited for Christmas! Although I doesn't feel like Christmas at all with the weather being so warm here, but what are you gonna do. For the moment I can't think of anything else to say so that concludes this week's letter. Here are a few fun pictures from the week...

 

Here I am standing in the streets of Santa Cruz, two days after a rain storm.

 

Enjoying nature...

Making cookies with Olga

                                                                                    

I love you all and encourage you to keep being an example! When we are truly living the gospel, it will show on our face!

Love,

Elder Harris

Election Weekend

                                                                                                  Dec. 4, 2017

Dear Family,

 

As you probably already know, this weekend was the annual Judicial Elections in Bolivia! I hope everyone was aware, it is something quite special that happened and only happens once a year so if you missed it, your loss.

Elections here in Bolivia are quite different. You are not allowed to drive without permission from the government on election day and there are also can be no meetings with more than 2 people. If you visit people and try to sway their vote you are taken to jail immediately.

So for those of you who are acquainted with missionary work, that meant we were seriously limited in what we could do Saturday and Sunday. There was no church yesterday, so we spent most of the day at home eating Olga's delicious food! But we were allowed (according to President) to go to certain appointments.

Things have been great with my new companion, he is really Christ like and that has made it really easy to adapt! We get along great and have been brainstorming a lot for Christmas.

 

We have to present a sketch as a zone for the mission Christmas dinner so we are busy writing the script for that and also coordinating other activities.

Highlights of this week have been:

- Raquel is really excited about serving a mission (woot woot)

- Her sister Ana still wants to be baptized the 16th but didn't want to come out and listen the other day when we visited them so she might be having an identity crisis

- Ariel and Angie are doing good, we are working with them on the law of chastity but the desire to be baptized is there!

- This week summer vacation started for all the children and teenagers of Bolivia so we are teaching lots of young men who are really open to learning and several have accepted a baptismal date!

- Our investigator Lucio has a talking parrot (see pictures)

 

I am really excited for Christmas! There is no better time to share the gospel and help people remember why we are celebrating! I am so grateful for my knowledge of and relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ and it is something that everyone deserves to have! So my challenge for you all this week is to think of someone who could benefit from the knowledge that Jesus Christ came to earth to suffer and die so that they might live with Heavenly Father again!

 

Next week if you each send me the name of that person, we will talk about phase 2!

Love,

Elder Harris

Departures, Teary Eyes

                                                                                                     November 27, 2017

Hello Family,

 

Today we had transfers! I will miss Elder Sierra as he heads home after 2 great years of selfless service. This week was a sweet end to the transfer!
 

 

 

Saturday night Franco was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! He was really excited and it was special to watch his uncle baptize and confirm him!

He was baptized along with three other converts in our District so it was a great baptismal service to witness.














                  Elder Sierra and I with Franco at his baptism.
 

Don't worry, we are not real gangsters!!















This week we were blessed to be able to find a lot of great people to teach! Also, last night when we went to visit Raquel, her sister Ana told us that she wants to get baptized. So her baptism is scheduled for December 16th! We also found a really prepared couple, Ariel and Angie, on our exchanges this week. They both want to get baptized and aren't married yet, but they have a date for the December 23rd so please pray that they can get married and attend church next week! They couldn't go yesterday because Angie sprained her ankle which was a bummer.

My new companion is Elder Matheson from Cedar City, Utah, He is a really humble guy and a really talented musician so don't be surprised if next Monday I know how to play the violin. I am excited for another great transfer in Lucero. It is the best Ward and the members do so much to move the work forward!

I hope everyone has had the chance to watch the Light the World video. There is no better time than Christmas to remember the Savior of the world and do our best to live as He did!

1 - Our zone activity Monday was a marshmallow gun capture the flag out in nature (how neat is that)

 

2 - Olga made an amazing goodbye lunch. (This was pretty much our Thanksgiving)

 

3 - The five of us that came together were finally reunited this week at Zone Conference!

 

4 - Elder Sierra and me with Oliver

                                        

5- Elder Sierra's final departure. He's got his bag of peanuts and he's ready to fly...

         

Love you all!

Elder Harris