Obedience, Faith, Confidence, and Love.

Snail Mail arrived today, 4 December 2010
Dear Familia!!!
Peru is a crazy cool place. It is really, really hot. I can go to class and as I walk down the stairs and down the hall to my class I am already sweating like a monkey.
I love my companion. I will send pictures soon of the both of us. Cool fact. The MTC or CCM is right in the middle of the city on the ghetto side. It is so awesome here. They serve rice at every single meal (Jaren has never enjoyed rice at home..lol). By the time you get this (snail mail) you will already know I tasted my first guinea pig and boy was it tasty.
It is fun to think about all the cool stuff that is so different here, namely the birds. The birds are so colorful. There are so many different varieties and all of them have crazy songs. The coolest and I haven’t seen what makes the sound yet but it sounds just exactly like a star wars blaster shot. Lima isn’t exactly beach tropical where I am because the MTC/CCM is 2 hours away from the Pacific Ocean.
Well a few more things that are crazy cool. First is first. Spanish just like in English is full of words that are used in areas specifically.. I mean Jargon. That’s what they mean when they say Peru has pure Spanish. It’s because they don’t have area jargon words, but because of that Peruvians speak extremely fast! It is really hard to understand them. I love it! Soccer is huge here! The Peru CCM has Astroturf field. It is really fun to play on. I love playing with the natives because they kick my butt and that makes it hard to be competitive (Jaren is very competitive!!).
I have met a few more people going to my mission, one of whose name is Elder Frank. Elder Frank is 6”9 and is super smart. Ya, Huge, blows my mind and best of all his companion is 4”11. It’s funny to see them together.
So Fuze-ball is huge here and during physical activity time and after meals we play. Here it is called Taka-Taka which is pronounced with the A sound as a Ah sound. I am getting pretty good.
I was listening to talk by Elder Holland, I loved it because he relates missionary work to going to battle. He said, “Your mission is war,” Yes, I know, War. Every day we fight that same war that was fought in the pre-existence. We must give more than 100% because how much would Christ give? He also said that you should not spend any time resisting the words “Preach my Gospel”. He says that you cannot have it your way and he literally says “This is not Burger King, we don’t hold the pickles.” I love him.

He is so powerful. Obedience is the first law in Heaven. What was the battle in the pre-existence over? That’s right obedience. Everyone knew the gospel once and we chose to accept it that why we got to come here. We are just reminding the people of something they already know about. It’s all about the choice. There are three choices. Your way, and God makes sacrifices. The middle way, where you and God make sacrifices or God’s way, where you sacrifice all. Not too hard of a choice. Our battle is so much closer while we are in the field. Almost like we are the archers and then we are moved to the front line. ..Ending up right at the front doors of investigators. This gospel is so real, so alive, so powerful. We just need to believe that we have the power and have faith.
(Side note) It is pretty nice to look out my window and see a bunch of really green, really big mountains..AKA..The Andes, mind bomb. So much is different here. Building are different, signs, buses, cars, words. It is really like stepping into a different world. Movies just don’t do it justice. (Side note finished)
So it is really cool to trace my priesthood lineage. It goes to Joseph Smith, Mathew, mark, Luke, and John and then to Christ. Blows my mind how cool that is. The things that make you a powerful missionary are simple; Obedience, faith, confidence, and love. That is all it takes and I need to master them all.
Con Dios todos es possible..With God all is possible.
Love ya =Con Amor = With Love,
Elder Harris aka..your son and brother