WEEK 40 - changes in their pension

Monday April 30, 2012

Oh and I guess I should tell you now cause by next week it will be too late but

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER!!!!!!

Hope you have a great Birthday and papi buys you something nice

Hey guys,

What’s up??

Sounds like everything is still busy as usual with you guys just work and play and school and games and everything in between. It sounds like you’re all doing well and just trying to juggle around this big thing that we all call life. I’m happy that you are all living in peace for the most part and that the Lord keeps an eye out for you guys is really comforting. 

It’s hard to hear that Grandma is back in the hospital but I hope she can get out soon and all will be well. It’s hard to hear when she goes in all the time but I love her and hope I will be able to see her when I get home. Send her my love and I’ll be praying for her. 

It’s been a weird week. So lots of changes and some pretty good experiences. I guess I’ll start from Monday after the email time. Anyway we had a good chill pday and then we decided like I said that morning we planned a FHE with a family and we did the parable of the push ups. I don’t know if you remember that story but it’s really good and we both felt we needed to help this family understand the atonement and we did the same thing. We bought some treats and went over that night and pretty much did exactly the same thing with 10 push ups a piece.  We decided Elder Richter would do it. It was hard for him and it was hard for me to watch him do it. He did about 250-270 push ups that night and I think we both left more edified than the family by doing it. The spirit was there for sure with everyone. Just about everyone was crying and feeling the real sacrifice it was for Christ to suffer through the atonement. It was hard for me to ask Elder Richter to do the push ups when I knew how much he was suffering to do them by the end and he would do one and then take a break every time. He was able to tell me after that the hardest part for him was that he did the push ups whether they said yes or no and it hurt him to see that they still wouldn’t eat the treat. It was sure a learning experiences and something I will never forget and something that really has impacted that family as well. It was great to really see just a bit of what the atonement was like. I encourage you all to go and read the story. 

Anyway then Tuesday morning was interesting cause we got a call from President and he called to say that 5 missionaries from the States would not be coming here because they are having visa problems and so some Elders are without companions and so he said Elder Richter and Elder Harker, you two are staying and the other Elders in our area/pension you are leaving and so they were reassigned to different areas and they left the next morning. So that day we had to get to know all their investigators and say their goodbyes but I think it all went well. Then the rest of the week was just a little weird not having them around but we’ve gotten used to it and we cleaned the pension so well today it’s the nicest I’ve ever seen a pension in this mission. It’s so clean!!!! I feel way good about it. It’s been an interesting week with lots of experiences. Our baptism fell through for this weekend again so it’s a test of patience now but we’ll keep working and do all we can to work hard. It’s been hard but the blessings will come as long as we stay obedient. 

But ya just an interesting week this last one has been but I’m excited to see what happens this next week. Tomorrow we are going to a camp ground with the Ward cause it’s like this Stake locro (stew type food) activity that they do every year and all our investigators are going so that should be a good time and we’ll be there for a good part of the day. We just have to ask permission to go first but the Elders have had permission for all the year previous so I hope we can go!! It will be a good week. We got a lot of work ahead of us and I hope that we can handle it all with now having to do the work of two companionships. I  know it will all work out in the end. It’s been a testing week but we’ll see what happens.

Well I guess that’s about all I have to say for now and I hope you guys keep having a good time back home. I am so grateful for you as my family. I hope you know that I love you all a ton and that I miss you. It’s been interesting about how much I’ve learnt about myself here and what family really means to me. I love the work here it’s a great day everyday but the challenge is making every day better then the last. I know this church is true and that I am here for a reason and soo for now I’ll talk to you later.

Love you tons!!

Elder Harker