Elder Harrison Temporarily Laid Up

Friends and Family:

Elder Parry just underwent surgery to repair a hernia-like condition. He is fine and will be back to work very soon. Trish talked with him yesterday (March 20) on the phone and he was in great spirits. He is expected to make a full and rapid recovery.

Sister Essig, his mission president's wife, sent us this brief note:

"Dear Brother and Sister Harrison and Brother and Sister Riggs,
I wanted to send you the picture of your son in the hospital.  He seems to be just great and anxious to get out and back to work.  They will be moving to a new apartment on Thursday, but I have instructed him that he can only lift the weight of a paperback Book of Mormon for the next 10 days until he is healed.  He looks great!  Thanks for sending your son to us!
Love,
Sister Mary Ann Essig"











We will resume normal updates next week.
Robin and Trish

More News from Chile

Hello :)

This week was great.  We´re seeing some real results from our efforts.  We found 5 nuevos this week.  And, we´re still working on putting those we´re already taught to get baptism dates. 

Right now we´re working with a family that's proven to be an eye opener for me.  We´re able to explain the whole plan of the eternal families from temple to baptism and it makes so much more sense.  There name is Zuñiga and the two children got baptized 1.5 years ago.  They´ve been inactive for awhile but now we´re teaching their parents, and they really want to better their family.

I love this work.  The mission is passing way too fast.  It feels like just yesterday I was in the MTC and now I´m nearing 6 months!

In answer to a question, there are about 50/50 latinos, and gringos. 

I really have enjoying this cambio with Elder Sanchez.  We haven´t worked our tails off as much, but we´ve definitely felt optimism, happiness, and the Spirit.  We´ve just started with out plans to help the ward, and the results should be coming in the next weeks.

Oh, and about the house.  Its been resolved and now we´re going to be moving to one just out of our ward with the other companionship in the ward.  Oh, fun fact - I recently made chicken parmesan, and today oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (this is my kind of mission :)  I´m really struggling knowing what I should write, so please send me questions to give me direction for the next week´s response.

Con Amor
Del abajo del mundo
Elder Parry Harrison

Weekly Update

Family and Friends,

Here are more answers to questions:

In response to the claim that "Restoration Churches" have authority without talking about the priesthood, I give my answer.  The authority to direct the church is tied to the priesthood and should be received as Aaron received it - with anointing.  Also, these churches don´t have 500+ pages of scripture to prove that they´ve received authority from God. In truth, it all comes back to the Book of Mormon.

Where I am:  I´m now serving in a barrio called "Conchalí 14."  It's to the northeast of where I was before.  My companion is great. While he´s been a member his whole life, you can tell that he´s been strengthened with the stories of the conversion of his own parents.  This week we´ve found 11 new investigators and are going to be working getting them to accept a date for baptism.

I´ve realized in my interaction with various missionaries up to this point in my mission that the key to a good companionship (and, really, any relationship in life) is communication.  And those that are poor communicators struggle because they or the companion don´t understand the feelings and problems that exist.

We´ve been working on a house to live in (that I´ve mentioned before) but unfortunately because of a disagreement between the Dad (owner) and the member and sister in the ward we can´t live there now.  It's a shame, but really sad for the sister because of the lies and selfishness that permeates her familys´ hearts.  But, we´re going to just have to deal with the 6 of us in the tiny apartment for now. :)

Remember to always base your testimony on the pillars of truth: the Book of Mormon, the Restoration of the Power and Authority of God, and the ability to receive Personal Revelation from a loving Father in Heaven. 

To close, I´d like to express my preoccupation with those in my family and my friends' families who have lost the truth and the light of understanding.  I pray that my efforts here have an effect on their testimonies, and that when I return I can help them see what they are missing without the Gospel in their lives.  There is a great talk on this theme by President Hinckley called "Reach with a Rescuing Hand."

'Til next week

Con Amor

Elder Parry Harrison