APOSTLES USE I-PADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hola Familia

How is everyone… it looks as though all is great and everyone had a ton of fun. I am super happy that all went really well and that there wasn’t any last minute stuff that stopped it. I am a little bit sad that there was only one picture. I was hoping to see a picture of my sister in her dress and now husband, or a picture of all the family that showed up. Well from the brother side of things I will be really honest. I was really down in the dumps this past Thursday because I really wanted to be there. I didn’t want Aubrei to feel bad to know that her brother really does miss her… but now that it is over… I really am sort of sad about the whole thing. I know that this is my calling right now and that I should be doing this because I am on the Lord´s errand but really I think that missing the wedding of oldest sister is and was the hardest sacrifice.

I am just going to tell you because I love you… WAIT before you make me an uncle. I want to be there for that.

Apart from my depression spell, I had a really good week. This week we baptized Isaac. He is really awesome. I was thinking that it would be really cool for you guys at home to know a little bit about him. Isaac like I explained in the past just showed up at the church one day… and really liked everything that we were doing there. As we began to teach him we ended up finding out more and more about him. A few times in the beginning when we talked about the Restoration of the gospel we would get really excited, and he kept on telling us that he had something that was the from the Mormons. One day he showed up very excited because he had found what he had been looking for in his house, and what was it……….. was a super old version of the book of Mormon in Spanish. It was super cool to see it because the book itself is huge; it is super thick, because it is made out of a different kind of paper.  There in the book he had some really old pamphlets, and we all had a great big laugh about how old he was because the pamphlets were in black and white.  He is not that old, he is 31 years old. He then explained to us that when he was 11 the missionaries came to his house and were teaching him the gospel. They came for three weeks straight and then never came back. He had always wondered why they never came back, we explained to him a little bit about how the mission works, and that sometimes the people change areas, and how in the past there weren’t very many missionaries in Perú. So now that I am thinking about it clearly, it is really fun to think that I picked up the work that someone else began 20 years ago. Some missionary prepared Isaac 20 years ago to accept the gospel so quickly and get baptized. I wasn’t even a player in the game, I was just sitting bench, and then played for two minutes that’s it.  What I am trying to say was that the game was already played, I just need to sit back and watch. I feel so blessed to have opportunities like this one my mission. I feel like the Lord really does prepare his children and even if it takes years for them to come back, he will send spiritual experiences that allow them to find the truth again. I am been thinking a lot about what are some of the blessings that I have had the opportunity to have just here on my mission. Well I have had some great companions. I have liked all of them… they have sometimes been hard to live with but at some point in our time together we have been friends. I also I have served in the super beautiful and hot jungle of the Amazon… I didn’t ever think that it was possible. I have had at lot success in my mission as far as the gospel goes too. I am super excited to say that in two weeks I think we are going to have another baptism. As far as life goes… it’s hard but the blessings outweigh the problems.

With lots of Love

Elder Harris

Just like every P-day we are going to play soccer. Let me just say that I am getting really good at playing soccer.

GEEK FACTOR

Hey something that was really cool that I forgot to tell you last week. In that talk that I got to hear from ELDER DALLIN H. OAKS (the apostle),while he was talking he raised his scriptures up to make a point, saying ¨when we read the scriptures we can receive more revelation from God¨.

ARE YOU READY?!!?!!!?!!!!?!!  Elder Oaks lifted up HIS SCRIPTURES AND IT WAS AN  I-PAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I KNOW THE GOSPEL IS TRUE CAUSE THE APOSTLES USE I-PADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, just kidding but how cool is that? 

A Time For All Things

Ok…

Well I am super excited that everyone is really happy right now even though it is really stressful there getting ready for the wedding. I can imagine that Aubrei is super stressed out too. Well I think that it would be really cool to see a picture of this card board cut out. I want to see how it turned out and all.

Well, something that I thought was really funny is that I was really wrong this last week. My companion is not from Guatemala, he is from Nicaragua.  I have been learning a lot about that place for the last 5 days.  From what I have learned is that the entire place is pure jungle. My companion lived in a little city in the middle of a really dense jungle in Nicaragua. I think that this is super cool because in reality he is from a little ¨Tribe¨. Ok, that is not exactly true, but super cool anyway.  He is from a family of 6 but he does not live with this family. He used to live with his grandparents.  He is in love with camping in the jungle and he loves it when it is hot outside. Which reminds me…the people think that it is cold here right now because it is supposedly winter. It just makes me laugh because it is not cold. I just walk around in my short sleeve white shirt while everyone else uses long sleeve shirts and coats. All the people in the ward have given me a nickname ¨el oso polar¨ or in English ¨the polar bear¨. My companion is always using his coat and all that jazz.

We had a really great experience this last week. We had one of the Apostles come this week to Lima. All of the missionaries in the different missions in Lima had the opportunity to hear him speak.  When we had the opportunity to meet with ELDER OAKS we were with only one other mission in Peru, that mission being Lima Peru east. The talk that he gave was awesome because it was more of a question answer session. He taught all of us better ways to rely on the spirit in order to receive clearer revelation. He made some really interesting points… one being that sometimes when we are looking for answers from God we look for him to respond in a way that we have pre-established. For example, let’s say that I wake up in the morning and I want to put on a pair of shoes. I have two pairs, one that is white and one that is black. When I get up and put on my clothes, to match and not look all that strange, I should put on the black shoes. In my mind I am thinking that I want to use the white shoes because they will be more of a statement. Yet in my wisdom I venture to ask you which pair I should use. You immediately say use the black pair. I then go out and put on the white pair because I liked them more. The moral of the story is this… if I was always wanting to put on the white pair… why would I go and ask you for your opinion if I already have in my mind that I will not follow you counsel. The same applies with God. Sometimes in life we come to God with questions like, where should I go to teach today, or what should I teach this individual? More than just that there are other questions, like father what should I study for this test or should I go this party? If in our minds we are not open to counsel because we are already set in our decision, why are we asking for help? The Lord will not respond to people that are insusceptible to the subtle whisperings of the spirit. We have to humble our minds in order to receive direction from the Lord. Another interesting point that he spoke about was that fact that sometime in the mission we will think about the future and what that will bring. Upon teaching us this topic he warned us that there is a time for all things. That as we approach that time and the Lord will revel to us that time… we can begin to think about the future. He made it very clear that for some people that this time is in the mission and that for others, it will not be until after the mission. He basically informed us that we need to stop being “Trunky” (ready to leave) and that we need to just have trust in the lord. That with time those blessings can be received if we are patient.  Ok I guess I should stop thinking about the future.

We had another baptism this week. Of a little girl named Lucero Milagros. She is super silly and reminds me a lot of Saydi because she is girly but has a wicked sarcasm. He mom is a member of the church but her dad is not. We are now in the process of teaching him… but it is going to be really tough because he is not married. I think if we can get those two married that he is going to be a really quick baptism. I am sending the pictures that I have of them they are a little silly cause no one likes to smile here.

I love you all a whole lot and I wish Aubrei the best of wishes. Aubrei just want you to know that I really do love you and I want to thank you for all the wonder conversations that we have had. You have always been a great sister and a good example for me. I know that now as you move away that you will start to make a whole storm of new decision. Please, please, please put you trust in the Lord. If we depend on his counsel we will live with this blessing. It’s Simple. I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have not promise.

I love you and miss you

Elder Harris

In the Hands of God

Bueno…

What a great week!

This week we had two baptisms. One is a man named Eder that I talked about before and the other is a girl named Yamilet. I think that I explained a little about her before but it won’t hurt to go into a little more detail. She is a story and a half. We have been teaching her for 3 months literally. It’s been really great because I have really been able to see her progress. We first met her was one day when we were just knocking on doors in the street. We began to teach her and she was accepting the gospel very quickly.  We were so excited because she grabbed her dad and they both showed up to church that first Sunday. We continued with the lessons and they showed up the next Sunday too. After that she got called to a job, she graduated and is a stay-in-house nurse.  Like one of those people that cares for old people until they pass away. Well she got called to that job and she couldn’t say no so she basically disappeared. We could only meet with her on Sundays at night when she was super tired. So the going was really hard. The teaching became super difficult because the lady that she was caring for was catholic. This lady would force Yamilet to say all of the catholic prayers and go to church with her in the wheel chair every single day. Yamilet grew to be very confused. She was always asking us questions about the Catholic Church and we had to show her all of the answers using the scriptures for her to begin to believe. Finally we arrived at a point of climax. One day she just told us that she quit, that she had had enough of that old lady and that she didn’t want to practice the memorized prayer anymore. That was a good start.  She began to pray again the right way and to read the scriptures. A few days later she came to us super excited.  She told us that she had received her answer and that she knew that gospel was true.  We excitedly challenged her to baptism and she accepted. At this point new problems began.  She told us that she wanted the consent of her parents to make herself feel good about being baptized into a different religion. Her Father, a super great man, accepted her choice and told her that if she felt like that was the right thing to do then do it. Her Mom on the other hand is one of those who believe ¨my parents were catholic, and their parents were catholic, and their parents parents were catholic people,¨ so needless to say her Mother couldn’t accept her choice. Yamilet became super bummed out. She didn’t want to go against her mom but she knew the gospel was true. So we fasted. All three of us fasted so that her Mom would feel good enough to accept her daughter´s choices.  Well three days later her mom had an accident. Ok, let me just say that I don’t know what to think about this… I think that it was in the hands of God or… I just don’t know, but she fell from the third story of her house all the way to the first.  She broke her knee.  She has been in her bed not moving for the last 5 days or so. Yamilet took this as an opportunity to get baptized. She was baptized and this is the pictures that I am sending you, Pretty crazy story right?

The other man that we taught is really awesome. His name is Eder. Super close to Elder and I started calling him that because I thought that that was his name… until he corrected me.  He is about 28 years old and is madly in love with his girl friend. They are going to get married in a year in the temple.  They are super excited that I will have the opportunity to go with them. That’s something that I didn’t know until now.  When your converts are able to go to the temple, if you are serving in Lima at the time, you have the opportunity to go with them. This story is a little less full of drama… We taught, He read, He prayed, got His answer, has a testimony, and BOOM IN THE AGUA.

A little bit of news from the Mission aspect. Well the next change is tomorrow. I will be receiving a new companion… named Elder Cisnado… and here is another shocker for you…      HE TOO IS FROM GUATEMALA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That makes 5 of my 5 companions Guatemalans. I am on a hot streak.

The thing with the packages. Yes, it is a super good idea that you keep sending them in giant zip lock bags because the box never shows up. It is always a different box but all of the stuff shows up without any problems.

Loving life and feeling great

Elder Optimus Prime                              A.K.A. Elder Harris

I Love being here in Peru

Hola,

Well I can really say that I am super happy right now. I had a fantastic week, I spent a lot of time working and we are starting to see a lot of results. I am super happy that the family is  happy. How fun that we are going to get a Cafe Rio. I am super excited to eat there when I get back. It will be really nice because by the time I get back it won’t be one of the main attractions in Great Falls. Well I do have two things of news… I am just going to tell you straight up, I Love being here in Peru.  I realized that I just don’t take enough pictures and that I am always missing opportunities so… I have made it my personal goal to take nicer pictures. Second thing… the camera that I bought in Iquitos to be honest was one that was really cheap… and not very good. I felt really bad when I was taking those pictures in my suit coat because I couldn’t get a picture really awesome.  I went out looking today because we had a little bit of time and I bought a new camera. What I did was a type of trade. I trade in my old camera and paid a little bit more money and bought another. This was my birthday present to me. Just know that better pictures are coming.

  I received the package… I love all of you so much. I got it three days after my birthday. That’s ok though, because I was working really hard that day anyway. I got everything and the new memory card does work for my camera… so no problems there. The most surprising thing  was there was all that peanut butter (in the care package). Let me just say that I have been having this craving for peanut butter lately and to see all that deliciousness there, I just about started to cry tears of joy.  So thank you!!!!!! Another thing that I think was awesome was those sour dots… holy smokes those are really good. I was very excited for the new ties too, I really like the paisley tie.

Cool thing that happened this week.  Something that I don’t think that you aware of about South America or maybe you do … is that all of the movies and the video games are pirated here really early. We were walking through an open market when I saw a man selling videos.  There before my unexpecting eyes was a big TV screen and on the screen was Transformers 3. I want you all to know that I was tough… I could have spent two seconds and watched a little bit, but right there on the spot I knew that I had to 1.) Be firm in my deal with Dad and 2.) Be firm in my deal with God.  To be honest thoughts of the deal with Dad came first… Dad you know I love ya so stinking much and I respect you more than you can comprehend for keeping strong on our deal. You will always be ¨the man¨. (Dad made a deal not to go to the movies while Jaren served his two year mission)

The Spiritual Experience.

This week we had one of our baptismal dates fall. I was pretty sad… but herein lay the story. We have a wonderful lady named Silvia that we are teaching.  She loves her family.  She is a single mother of four daughters. Her daughters are 24,  20 and the other two are 7 and 2 years old. This sweet lady is of very humble birth.  She was born in the jungle in a little place outside of where I served in Iquitos. That was our starter point… my companion and I have both been to Iquitos and she knows that place very well. As we have been teaching her ,she has been doing everything that we tell her. We say read and she reads; we say pray and she practically falls to her knees right there and prays. She is super prepared for us.  She has one of the most powerful testimonies of the gospel that I have ever experienced in someone so new. She latched on to the gospel like ¨a fat man running to eat some cake¨. I love this woman, and her desires to help her family and to give to her children the way to return to our Heavenly father.  This week we entered her house and she was very upset, very sad. We began to talk to her and she explained to us that no matter how much she wanted she couldn’t be baptized. She really believes in the church… and she knows that to be baptized is to receive the true remission of your sins. She explained to us that for her to get baptized she needs to leave a lot of bad things that she has going on in her life. Namely this… She doesn’t work, so to pay for her house she depends upon the father of her littlest child. The foul man lives in another part of Lima with his other wife and kids. He uses her, as a means to escape his other family when he is upset with them. She tried to talk to him about this whole life style and he got all upset and told her that if she didn’t do what he wants when he comes to the house, he would stop paying for all her things. If he does that she won’t be able to pay for food and water and light for her kids. She is so sad… and what I have learned from her is one of the things that I will never forget. She told us that in this time of pure low and depression… she just needs to stop doing things her way and start depending on God.  The love that this woman possesses seriously is bar none the highest level of dedication I have ever seen. Instead of just giving up on this whole problem… she fights everyday day to keep all of the commandments so that God can give her thr relief that she seeks.

She is one of my Heroes.

Con Amor Elder Harris

Pictures

1. A really big dog attacked me playfully in the street

2. On my birthday they smashed my face in my cake lol

3. A cool picture

Like the Talons of an Eagle

(Jaren’s Birthday is this Friday, August 12^th)

Well I feel really strange that I am going to be this old. I feel like I really shouldn’t be this old, 20 years is a lot for me I guess.

 We had a fantastic week… we had the opportunity to baptize four kids that I really love. Their names are Kevin (13), Michael (12), Lucero (10), and Justin (8). They all belonged to an inactive member family that we reactivated and now they are all members… YAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was really hard teaching all of them because like I explained before I think sometimes It is really difficult to keep the attention of a bunch of little kids., but we got though it all without any problems.

One really fun side note is that when Justin (8) was ready to enter the water he got really, really scared. He just kept whispering to me that he didn’t know how to swim. I persuaded him to just enter the water.  He put one foot into the ICE cold water and said ¨ I don’t want to get baptized.¨ I laughed a little to myself and said to him that he was tough and that he could do it. He then grabbed my forearm and I lifted him into the fount. Shivering like someone strapped to a vibrating machine, and a vice grip to my arm like the talons of an eagle, I got him under the water. I pulled him up quickly and practically (with him in my arms) leap out of the frozen freezer water. I gave him a big huge hug and we both felt a little bit better.

I haven’t received the package yet, the reason being that my leaders have not been to the mission office so I don’t know if I will receive it before my birthday, maybe or maybe not.

I have some other news that is a little bit interesting. Today, by my count, is day 300. Which means that I almost have one full year here in Peru, how crazy is that? I cannot believe how quickly time flies. I feel like I gage time with the amount of occasions that I come back to this same internet and write to you guys.

We have four more baptisms planned and we are really excited for all of them. Let me introduce you to them.

Isaac:

This last Sunday we were in the church and he just showed up… we were so excited because he really liked being there.  We taught him that same day and he accepted the invitation to get baptized. How crazy cool is that?

Silvia:

Is a 40 year old mom that has three girls and lives solo. She is awesome.  She loves her family so much and wants all of them to go to the temple some day. She wants to get baptized real bad… but she wants to wait for her girls.

Eder:

He is 28 years old and is madly in love with his return missionary girl friend. That should explain everything, but for real he has a very strong testimony of the gospel and likes to be in church.

Yamilet :

Is a young girl about 23 years old that we have been teaching for some time. She has been off and on because she has not received an answer to her prayers. Last night she called us up and BAM!!!!!! She wants to be baptized and all that jazz. She talked to a member and he helped her realize that the answers she had been receiving were specific to her and that she had already received them. She then noted her own emotions and found her answer. Later she got the permission of her super catholic mom and now she has a baptismal date!!!!!!!!!!!

Know that I love all of you and that I miss you and I pray for you.

Elder Harris

I Miss My Sisters!

Well, this week was a good week. We have been spending a lot of time with a family of less-actives and we came to find out that almost all of the kids that they have… haven’t been baptized. Next week we are going to have a baptism of four children. It has been really fun teaching them all because number one we have to teach really simple, and number two we have to teach really simple, and number three we have to really teach: I think you know what I mean. This has been a really rewarding opportunity because it has really helped me think about the basics of the gospel and has helped me to be more interesting as a teacher. Sometimes it’s really hard to hold the attention of the kids, but they are learning really well.  I know that they are all going to be ready for their baptisms this Saturday. I have been thinking a lot about Dad´s mission and how I really don’t know anything about it. I just know where he went and ….. Yah that’s it. I think that it would be really cool if you can send me something. I would really like to read about it.

We have been really focusing on the people that we are teaching right now and well it hasn’t been all that easy to help them understand the importance of the gospel. We spend of our time with our investigators teaching to what they need and this has really helped us understand the perfectness of the plan of salvation and the restoration of the gospel. I really like the way that sometimes I can enter a lesson and have no idea what I am going to say but leave the lesson feeling like the person has understood. One of the greatest privileges of being a missionary is the fact that we are so directed by the spirit.  I discover at times that I don’t know where the words are coming from just that it all makes sense. One of the experiences that have really marked my life was once when I was explaining the Atonement and the power that it holds for us in the final judgment. As I was explaining, I came to a conclusion that allowed the investigator to really understand why Jesus did what he did. I had no idea that I held the capacity to explain the Atonement the way I did… I realize that the spirit inspires us to say the un-say-able and do the un-do-able. The Lord uses his servants to harvest the vineyard; we need to humbly comply with his will, trusting in his wisdom and plan.

I have been thinking about Saydi and Haleigh and Aubrei. I realized that I have never been the perfect brother. I have never stood up for you like I should and I have spent more time making you all mad than happy. I humbly seek for you forgiveness. I really do love all of you. I am not just saying that. I would never change you for brothers… or for any other sisters. I understand that each one of us is a little different but without us kids in the family we aren’t the Harris that everyone knows. I want you Girls to continue family tradition of being great examples. The people that we meet in this life can change when they see the impossible in action.

The Easy: we already did it

The Hard: we get done like it´s easy

The Impossible: we might be a little late in finishing, but it gets done

I Love you all and I hope that you have happy birthday Saydi!

Con Amor, Elder Harris

Asking With Faith

Wow it seems like the whole world is good right now.

We had a fantastic week. We have been working with some really great families and well, this week they all decided to come to the Church. We were so happy. We had ten people come. That’s a record for me.  One time when I was with Elder Paiz we had 12 people come, but we had two wards, so that doesn’t count.

Something fun that you don’t know is that every single day I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with two other missionaries other than my companion. The ward that we have is really big so we need four missionaries in the area.  The new missionaries just came.  One of them is a greenie from Missouri named Elder Frost. I have been having fun helping him learn Spanish. He is not very good at pronouncing the words.  It’s little by little at first. It’s been fun to think that I am not a Greenie any more. I am starting to get “old” in the mission. Not super old like 20 months, but wow, in like 15 days I will have 10 months in the mission. Sort of hard to believe that now I have served in the mission longer than I worked the summer before. I felt like that summer was the longest in my entire life. I guess I felt I was still pretty new in the mission but when Elder Frost came… I realized that I have a little bit of time in here. The real big gage we use here to know when you have served a lot of time is if you have served in the Jungle. It’s been fun to tell him, Elder Frost, all about the different things that we do there in the jungle and how the people are. I got him really excited to go there.

Oh, before I forget I don’t know how I am going to get another pink tie but I will try and I promise that this next Monday I will send the pictures that you want. I have a secret to tell you. I saw the blog. I was talking to Noe, my convert, and before I could do anything he opened it up.   Well, I saw it all, and wow it’s really cool. I liked how you put the picture of my zone up on the front and the part that has all the names of my companions.

The Zone conference that we had was super great.  I had the opportunity to see all of the guys from my group.  We swapped stories about where we had all been. It was really lucky that 5 of the 6 of us were there and all of us have served in different parts of the jungle. We all shared our experiences like we were experts in our part of the jungle. A cool part is that I served the longest in the jungle, that’s because I wasn’t as sick as they all got. All of them had to return to Lima because they were really sick. I think all of that praying we all did cashed in. 

Something that I have been learning really well here in the mission is that the missionaries are normal people too. All of the things that I have been teaching I have come to realize can be used not just here in the mission but in all of my life. Ok, I know that this is a little corny but here is a good example. I have been in a lot lessons now.  Every single time that we teach someone new, they always want me to pray. I have been praying.  I ask for normal things like bless the family with good health and with knowledge, bless them with work, and bless them with food on their table… lots of really normal things. I have been reading in Preach my Gospel Book and I found something really interesting that burned me pretty bad. There is a part in the 10^th chapter in the Spanish version that talks about how we should pray. Specifically says that we need to pray with a precise purpose.  With a precise purpose that the investigator will understand what we are saying through the power of the Holy Ghost. The lesson that I learned is this… A lot of times I just have been thinking in my head that the Holy Ghost will come and help me because I am teaching, but we need to ask for the blessing before he can give us his power. In our lives we just expect sometimes the blessings from the Lord.  We need to spend more time asking with faith.

Learning Working and Slowly Progressing, Elder Harris

Church with Noe