He Will Deliver Us From Our Bondage

One difficult week

I have a confession to make… I have been having a lot of problems with my companion. Elder Vasquez and I have very different personalities and styles. I like to do things the way I have learned and have been taught, and well sometimes not everything works out like he wants it to. I have been having a lot of problems with him for quite some time now. We haven’t been really talking about it all that much because we both cannot come to an agreement on a lot of stuff. Well, this last Thursday, I just couldn’t take it anymore and I exploded.  I expressed all of the little things that have been bugging me.  He explained to me all of the little things that I do that bug him. We talked for more than 2 hours. We talked for so long about all these little things that we had to get ready to leave or we would have been late to lunch.  We are doing a lot better now… we are coming to understand a little bit better the perspective of the other person so that we can come to agreements. Many times in the last few days I have thought about what this experience has taught me and how I really am grateful for a companion that has been a little bit hard for me to handle. I can imagine that what I have learned now will be a great help to me when I am married and I how to come to agreements with my future wife. I don’t think that I have fully mastered the technique… but in all things, if we put our trust in the Lord, he will deliver us from our bondage. Well I am not saying that a future wife is going to be a burden…more that feelings of remorse and frustration are a heavy burden to bear all day long. Yes, I think, I am learning here on the mission.

I had an interesting experience happen to me the other day. I was working in the area of my district leader for a day. Sometimes we do exchanges like this so that he can see how we are working. My companion was with our district leader in our area and I was in his area with his companion. They have a family that they have been preparing for baptism. The Family has the Mom, Dad and a older daughter. Their daughter is a Mom too, having a little girl that is 9 years old. So if anyone is counting that is four baptisms. Elder Quispe, the companion of my district leader, was verifying who was going to baptizing who. I was just sitting there letting him do his thing. He asked the Father first and the Father said, “Elder Peña” (my district leader).  Then he asked the Mom and she said, “Elder Quispe.”  He asked the other mom and she also said, “Elder Peña.”  Then he turned to the 9 year old girl and asked her. She sat there thinking for a minute or two and then pointing at me she says ¨HIM¨. I couldn’t help but laugh… I exclaimed, but you don’t even know who I am, this is the first time that you have ever seen me. BUT…SHE HAD CHOSEN. She would not let anyone else convince her, it was me or nobody else. So this Saturday I baptized the little girl. I am sending pictures. I would give you more of the story but to be totally honest I have no idea how to explain. I felt like I had seen her before and she had seen me. I guess that’s just how things work out sometimes.

We also had another sudden baptism this week. One of the ladies in our ward has a son that turned 8.  She asked us if we would baptize him and of course we did!

Well I was doing some thinking about the future again. Let me just tell you that there is lots of time to think here on the mission. There is no TV, music and all of that other stuff to keep you constantly distracted. The only things we think about are the people we teach, the gospel and the future. Well, anyway, the future… I was thinking about what I want to be… I am seriously stuck between three things…Doctor, Lawyer, and FBI agent. That’s serious… I don’t know what to think yet. Give me some feedback.

Love ya, Elder Harris