Monday, April 7, 2014

Earthquake Scare - "I Love General Conference!!!"

                                                                                             April 7, 2014
Hola Querida Familia y Amigos!!! Wow, this week went by so fast, but so many things happened, and each one seems like it happened forever ago. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying Spring!
 
Isn´t it amazing! We are enjoying fall here, because it is not so hot. Good news! It didn't rain this week! Let me start at the very beginning so  that I can tell you everything that happened or as many things as I can remember.
 
So, Tuesday was April Fools Day. In Chile, they don't celebrate it, they celebrate el día de inocentes, which is another day of the year.  But I was watching out just in case anyone tried anything. Ha ha  
 
We worked all day with success and then returned home. After planning, we received a call from our zone leader that there had been an earthquake up north and that it might affect us at around 11:00 p.m. so we had to be ready. It was 10:45 p.m. so we had to act fast. Hermana Blau does really well in emergency situations. So under her direction, we packed our backpacks with lanterns, matches, candles, water bottles, some food we had, and other needful things, and then we changed into really warm clothes, skirts of course haha. I put on my boots and was ready for action. Our plan was to get under the metal door frames if it started, and if it got worse we would get out. All ready and with time to just wait we began to get anxious. And what do we do when we get anxious, well usually we eat. so we started eating whatever we could get our hands on. Really not the wisest haha. Not going to do that again. When nothing happened at around 11:30 we decided to go to bed. So we slept in our clothes ready for action if anything came haha nothing happened. I was pretty convinced that maybe it was an April Fool's joke that our mission president was playing on all of us, but sadly the next day we saw on television that there was an earthquake. We felt so blessed  to be okay. I know the Lord was watching over us, and I pray that the people in Arica are doing well. Im glad it wasn't a joke because it's not very funny to joke about earthquakes in Chile. 
This week was General Conference weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited here! I love Conference so much! We worked hard to get investigators, less actives, and new converts to come to listen to Conference. We had 4 with a baptismal date in the Sunday morning session!!!
Cesar, Carolina, and Carolina came and their baptism will be this Sat. the 12th of April!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited! Please pray that everything will be okay and that we can get everything ready and finish teaching them the last couple of things. Please pray that Cesar can get off of work so he can be baptized with his family. I know the Lord answers prayers and that everything will be perfect!
 
We also had Eugenia in church. She is a little abuelita who we have set a baptismal date for the 29th. We taught her and she really wants to be baptized, but in the past she has shared with missionaries that she only wants to be baptized to have financial help. We are trying to teach and help her have spiritual experiences so she can love the gospel and want to be baptized for the right reasons. Conference was perfect for her, because she is passing through a ton of trials. She has diabetes, and is almost blind, and she is struggling financially and with her family. We are going to keep teaching her, but please pray that she will want to be baptized for the right reasons. 
Speaking of Conference, what were your favorite talks? I had about 7 questions that I needed answers to, and the Lord answered them all!!! Prayer totally works! I loved all of the talks, but I especially loved Elder Uchtdorf´s talk about gratitude, and the Prophet´s talk and all of the talks about loving people more and being a true disciple of Christ. The most important thing  we can do as disciples of Christ, is love others just as He did. Not with a superficial love or liking, but with a deep true love. This is something I am going to be striving to develop for everyone. We talk to so may people every day, but I want to love them more deeply, and help them to feel that love so that the can receive the true gospel and have the joy that we have! I love this gospel!!! It is so amazing!!!!!
 
I am grateful for a living prophet through whom we can hear the sweet words of our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. I have never cherished Conference so much as I have on my mission, and I will always cherish it this way forever! We are so blessed!
 
Something I heard the other day, a member was teaching the gospel principles class and he said, if the bible disappeared, how many church organizations would fall apart? And if the Book of  Mormon disappeared, would we fall apart? No, because we have a living prophet who receives direct revelation from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The church will never fall because they guide and direct it through their servants. I love this church and this gospel! I know it is true with all my heart! We must love others and help them find the truth too, through our actions and through our words. 
Last night we had some interesting ways to serve. As we were working after conference, (it ended around 7) we were contacting by some houses. All of a sudden we see a cat attacking some small animal like a rat or a mouse. As we got closer, we saw that it was a hamster! I frantically shooed away the cat and tried to pick up the hamster who was so frightened that it was scrambling everywhere and when i got it, it would jump out of my hands. I finally caught it, and I wonder how weird Ï must have looked scrambling around for the hamster. Hermana Blau could not stop laughing. We knocked on the nearest door, and I weirdly explained the situation, that we had found a hamster being attacked by a cat and we wanted to return it to its owner. The lady told us it was her neighbors. So we went to the other house, and Hermana Blau was still laughing haha and I explained the situation again and returned their hamster haha and then, I contacted them and asked if we could return another day to share a message about Jesus Christ with them. They said yes and we wrote down their information and went on or way.
 
A little while later, we were talking to another woman, and her cat escaped. We chased it and brought it back and while talking, again it escaped. So we chased it and caught it and gave it back.  She said we could return as well. Haha such weird ways of finding people. By catching their pets and giving them back, but it is a way to serve  It's also just a funny moment of the week.
 
We had some strange encounters this week with a few drunk men. One man was asking about our church while he was really drunk and we kept walking in front of him. We turned and went another direction, and about a block later he was beside us again talking about the church. He was really creepy and moved really fast. We quickly crossed a street and lost him. We will have to be careful and to only talk to them when they are not intoxicated.  
Today for preparation day we went to play soccer for a zone activity! It is so much fun! I love playing in Chile!  This week was so amazing and we are excited for the upcoming week and that Easter is getting closer. This time is a great time to teach about the Savior and His restored gospel! I love my mission so much! I am so grateful to be here and I am so grateful for all of you and your prayers! I hope you have an amazing week and know I am praying for you! Love you!!!! Hasta luego!
Love, Hermana Harris

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