Hola!
Fishing in Iquitos!!!
I went fishing this last week in a small pond basically outside of my pensionista´s husband´s mom´s house. I had a blast. I sent a picture with my giant fish. It was really different to fish here. I don’t know if you can tell but the pole in the picture is literally a really thin but strong piece of bamboo and just tied to the end of it is the fishing line. Fishing where we are from is with a artificial fishing pole with powerful line and bait that we buy in a gas station. Here we had to find the worms before we fished. We found some other really interesting plants too. (I am sending you the video) We had to buy our line from this crazy story. You cannot buy it in a package like at home but by the meter. We didn’t fish like we do at home. We had to just throw out our line. The second that we felt something touch our line we had to pull up with a flick of our wrists. It was super fun almost like playing a video game and not fishing. All of the fish were super small but really, really hungry. This is what brings me to my spiritual thought. We had two baptisms this week… One of the most powerful analogies that our Lord Jesus Christ used was that of the ¨fishers of men¨. Let me just tell you it is a whole lot easier to fish for little fishes in the pond than for men in Iquitos. This week we baptized Francisco. He is the little the little chubby guy. Jim is the tall thick guy. Jim is a story and a half… he first came to church to pick up on girls. Ya, he is 50 years old… weird. After we went through almost 8 weeks of attending church… and when the fruits of honest repentance could be found, we had the opportunity this last Saturday to baptize him. I love that guy. Super strange but I know that he was be a power member of the church. Francisco is complicated… he has had lots of problems with the Word of Wisdom. He finally gave it up… got married and now this week we baptized him. I love the picture were we are all wet right after we left the water… good thinking to snag that photo. To be honest it may be easier to fish in a pond but you can never catch that same level of joy that you can get from a baptism. I use the word joy for a reason because in reality it is more than satisfaction or contentment… it is that which I know God feels. Pure… raw… overwhelming JOY!!!!!
This brings me to my latest news… I have received a change. I will be going back to Lima this Tuesday. I don’t know where yet because they just told me that I was going there and nothing more for information. So in other words I will be writing you from Lima next week… with new companion info and area info. I know that the Lord works in very mysterious ways… because just like my first change my companion is changing too. Elder Paiz is also going to Lima and he too knows absolutely nothing. We are hoping that we are in the same zone. I guess we will have to see. The chance of being in the same zone is very, very small… We can dream.
What have I learned here in Iquitos…there is a huge difference between living the church and living the gospel. So many members here don’t know what the real responsibility of a church member is, that responsibility being to spread the love. Spread the gospel to the entire world. We are as the army of Helaman. We have been taught in our youth, and We will be the Lord missionaries to bring the world his truth. No part of that song says that you have to be 19 or 21. Every member being a missionary is a divine calling from the Lord. Our daily example should be a testament to others of our difference… because that which is of the world is never of God. The world fights against god… berating, defiling, and tarnishing his sacred name. The young women´s value is applicable; We must stand as witnesses of God in all times and places. The Lord is our example… Perfect this example was, in other words there is no reason to change that which is perfect. Come unto Me the Savior said and let us in his footsteps tread. He loves you and wants you to bring more sheep to the fold.
Elder Jaren Harris
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