Monumento Week 7

    

Hola!

First off, Happy Birthday Mom! I love you so much and hope that you enjoy your birthday present! You mean so much to me! I´m sure you all are wondering why I am writing on Tuesday. President changed our preparation days to tuesdays so that we will be able to attend the temple if we desire. I am very excited and hope to attend frequently. We can also go to the feria(there isnt feria on mondays) and get some fruit! We got about 6 pounds of oranges for 80 cents! 

This week is also the week of transfers. Elder Rackham and I will be staying together, so we are pretty excited. President decided to mix things up for his last year here. Normally we would have the whole mission transfer meeting together on Monday, but now it will be on Wednesday with the "greenies." It should be really fun. Elder Rackham and I will be doing divisions with some of them tonight. President is pretty creative and always like to keep us on our toes.

Elder Rackham and I decided to start contacting our neighbors in the apartment in which we live. We have found many incredibly prepared people. I feel so foolish for not searching there sooner. Everyone sees us leave everyday, so I think that we have some respect for us. I also have the theory that people are much less likely to reject you if they think that they have a chance of seeing you more frequently.

Ximena´s baptism will be this Saturday! She is so excited and can´t wait. She has some family who are members in a nearby part of the city. They have been a great influence on her. Our example is so powerful and affects so many people. Thank you mom and dad for your powerful examples to me.

We have a lot of investigators with potential. We are working to exercise our faith and show them love so that they may overcome the obstacles that prevent them from accepting the gospel entirely. I know that love is very powerful and that it speaks 100x more powerfully than our lips do. I love this country and the people who live here. Happy Birthday mom and have a great day and week!!!!

Love,

Elder Harries

Monumento Week 6

Hola!!!

Thank you all for the emails and love. I feel your preocupation and sincerity! I truly am grateful for the examples you all are in my life. I think and pray for you often. 

It was strange to complete a year in the mission. It doesn´t feel like I have been here that long. I think it is because we are so busy and focussed. The days and week all merge together like a stream of events, separated only by changes in companions or areas. I love the mission, I love the Chilean people, I love the Lord.

This week went quite well. We have an incredible investigator, named Ximena. She had previously taken lessons from the missionaries, but couldn´t get baptized because she was living with her boyfriend, but wasn´t married. Two years later, just as she decides to break up and start over so that she can have her kids back in her life, we show up on the door. She came to church this week in a skirt she made from pants that she cut up(she didn´t have money to buy one). It was so cool before Sunday, when she showed us. She had just read 1 Nefi 16, where Nefi breaks his bow and makes a new one out of a stick. We compared her to him and she loved it. She is going to get baptized on the 15th.

We had a special training meeting with President and Hermana Barreiros. They never cease to amaze and inspire me. I want to be a better and more diligent and dedicated person. I know that they were meant to be my mission president. 

I love you all and miss you! Thanks for keeping me updated...sorry these are all so short. But I really do love you!!!! Good luck in school and work Shanel, Nathan and Sydney!!!

Love,

Elder Harries

Monumento Week 5

Hola!

How great it is to hear from you!!! I love hearing about your stories and what is going on at home! I would lie if I said I miss normal life, because the mission is so rewarding!

Elder Rackham and I have grown even closer this week! I learn so much from him and he makes me want to be a better person. It is cool because he says he feels the same about me, so we are constantly progessing, instead of one dragging the other (or feeling like they are). He is very humble. 

We read a few talks during the week that explain how to exercise faith and another about consecration. Basically, we knew nothing about the two subjects. What we have learned and applied has changed us completely, and I hope we will continue being consistent.

To summarize things, faith has much to do with our mental work, not just our physical work. We esercise faith by setting a righteous goal and doing everything to acheive it. But for much of the time I was leaving our the mental work...that is constantly thinking about and visualizing and praying for our goals. We must do it constantly, not just frequently. We put alarms our watches and phone to remind us every hour to review our goals and visualize them coming to pass. 

Well lets just say it works. We had 6 investigators attending(an increase of 300%), 5 menos activos with assignment attending (an increase of 500%) and 91 people attending sacrament meeting(an increase of 150%). I know that God wants His children to recieve the blessings of the Gospel, but He requires our faith. As it says in Ether 12:12 "For if there be no faith among the children of men Godcan do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed nothimself until after their faith."

and Alma 32:40 "And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life."

I know that we deserve no credit for what happens. I feel bad for how much I stood in the way of Him doing miracles in the past, but I am so grateful that He allowed me to learn this powerful lesson now. I know He lives. He is our Father! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harries

Monumento Week 4

Hola!

First off, Happy Birthday Nathan!!!! I cannot believe how old you are! Just playing;) 

This week went quite well, and we had a lot of fun together. Elder Rackham and I get along really well and are striving to improve. We did a few divisions this week with some elders who are having dificulties...obedience is so important. I love 1 John 2, where it talks about how our obedience is the manifiestation of how well we know the Savior. It is a powerful chapter.

I have been striving to improve my prayers, and make them more sincere and meaningful. I never realized how crucial prayer is in changing ourselves and making us more like the Savior. I have made some personal goals to improve my prayers and be more diligent. I love this article, it helped me very much! 

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/answers-to-four-questions-about-prayer?lang=eng

Last night I saw something pretty disturbing...as I have previously mentioned there are many dogs here...cats as well. We were walking and saw two dogs chasings a cat. One was a rotwiler(dont know how to spell it). He got the cat and killed it by shaking it viciously. It was one of those moments where I didn´t want to watch, but I couldn´t not...if that makes sense. He carried it away and then dropped it on someone´s lawn. Then they followed us for like a mile, acting like tamed, docile pets (My comp and I were freaking out haha). I was pretty disturbed, and it made me start thinking about the value of life, and how the earthly life we have is so fragile. We never know when our time is up. I also thought about spiritual death, and the consecuences of sin. Satan wants to do to us spiritually exactly what the dog did to the cat, shake us, kill us spiritually and leave us completely alone. Many times, Satan will feign a docile, peaceful or innocent face, while inside he is a vicious killer.

On a happier note, we had some really powerful lessons. We have been striving to work better with the members, and have seen some incredible results from using the members to help teaching. Their testimonies are so powerful and much more relatable than those of two Americans. I love the mission work! I know that Christ lives and is our Savior and Redeemer. God is our loving Heavenly Father. I am so pleased to be his servant, although whatever I do, I will be forever an indebted servant!(Mosiah 2:20-25) I love and miss you all! Pray and read the scriptures! They are the key to revelation and personal development!

Con amor,

Elder Harries

Monumento Week 3

Hola!!!

This week went really well! We had the baptism of Hugo! Elder Rackham baptized him. He is a really great guy and want to go to the temple. I think we will go soon with him in his taxi! I love seeing the change in people and being able to see them come out of the water so happily! I know that the Priesthood power of God is real and exists in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

I have learned much in this short time with Elder Rackham. He is a really great Elder with desires to improve. We both wake up early(before 6) to do exercises and have more time for personal study. I love it.

As Zone Leaders we meet regularly with the Stake President to coordinate the mission work. It was incredible! President Barreros and the Stake president and a counselor and two 19 year old boys. I learned so much from the meeting...which lasted until 11:00. President Barreiros drove us home in his car and told us to go to bed and sleep 8 hours, even though it would be past 6:30. We woke up at 7, but it felt so weird. We then were invited to present some ideas to all the bishops early on Sunday morning. It was pouring rain, and we walked 30 minutes to the stake center. Luckily we didnt get too soaked...but we were pretty soaked haha.

I love the Lord and His Gospel. I am striving to be better and improve daily. I am very happy and love you all very much!!!! Happy Birthday Grandma Dorothy!!!!

Love,

Elder Harries