More June Updates

June 18

Changes!

I`m officially with another Elder Sanchez.  He`s a Chicano (Latino American) who flew down with me to Chile.  It seems like he`s a very hard work and we should get along well(especially because one of my goals and focuses in the mission is to get along with all of my companions something that has taught me patience and Christ-like love).  I`m still in Fontt, Colina. 

Thoughts from this week:

While I`ve been a little down this month as expressed in my last letter, I`ve realized something that can help aliviate that pain is the testimony of the Spirit.  We had a lesson on Saturday that was very beautiful for me.  We watched a short video of Reflections of Christ and then I had the chance to bear testimony of what I knew of our Savior.  It was a wonderful experience and elevated my spirit alot.  3 of the converts of Elder Garza through a little going away party and invited the whole branch to their small house for the event. It was touching to see the effect that one missionary can have in the lives of people.  And the love that is there. 

Now that Elder Garza is gone I`ll be responsible to help to lift the branch and find new people to teach.  It`ll be a challenge, but I have faith we can do it.  I`m reading a great book right now, maybe you`ve heard of it: The Miracle of Forgiveness :)  It`s quite inspirational and a must read for a would be missionary (one must have special permission to read it in the mission and it`s great for those preparing)  Something I really love in the mission is the desire and fire that I have to absorb everything possible about the gospel.  It`s exhilarating and something I intend not to leave in the field.

Sorry for the briefness of the letter, but I`ll work on more to write next week.

Mucho Amor
Elder Parry Harrison

June 11

Hey :)

This week has been ok.  I had the opportunity to have our district leader do an intercambio to see how I was working in the sector.  It went well.  My companion is suffering through some rumors that bad-intentioned members of the branch have been spreading.  Hopefully it won`t result in him being taken out of the sector.  We`ve been struggling through the realities of the people of Chile and their dispositions towards the gospel.  They`re a wonderful people but their lives are difficult, and their tendency to judge and pride is at times an impediment to our effectiveness to share the gospel.  We`re working a lot right now on helping to active and strengthen the branch.  Considering the long time my companion already has had here (over 6 months)  he already has had interaction and the inevitable settling of opinion on many of them.  So my hope is that with my new-mindedness(made up word I`m sure:)  we can re-extend our help and support to the lost sheep.  I`m been feeling a little overwhelmed with the dark clouds of logical depressive thinking of the difficulty of the work and the hardship of the lives of the people here.  But one tender mercy of the Lord was the attached talk. [Elder Holland] While listening, especially to end the end, I was crying from the testimony of the Spirit.  I hope you enjoy it as I did.

I want to express my love and gratitude for testimony and faith and example.  ‘Til we meet again....

Elder Parry Harrison

High June

Hey :)
Me and my companion have had an ongoing joke/discussion about whether there are 5 or 7 continents.  Thoughts?

Last testimony meeting was wonderful, in which a recent convert named Hugo a large man giving a powerful testimony. He got baptized in November and quit drinking and smoking 50 cigarettes a day to do so.  He is now our "leader missional", a wonderful man who is truly converted. We also had one of the young women converts from a family of 5 women/girls that got baptized in February. The 20-year-old got up and bore a powerful testimony of the need to stand up for what you believe and thanked the branch and the misisonaries for their support and help.  A funny end was when the "partner" of a member sister (they've been together 12 years but he can't be baptized until he gets divorced) started clapping at the end of the testimony!  A couple of others joined in.  He`s attended before, but it's just his personality. And me and Elder Garza have had quite a few laughs over it :) 

This last week I finished listening to a set of recordings of my Bestamor and Bestafar done by a family friend and an aunt.  They were great in two ways.  My my Grandma died almost exactly 2 years ago and I found a lot of inspiration in reflecting back on their legacy. I also recently read through quite few stories of my ancestors from Norway, which were very touching. It made me commit to doing the same with my mother and father and surviving grandparents when I get home.

Thought:  We finally found out where Carlos and Jaqueline moved to so we`ve begun teaching them but there`s very little hope of them getting baptized soon (even though they really want to) because of the need to get married first (problems with the "chanta" system of marriages here.  The soonest would be September.

Spiritual story: Two sister missionaries were on their way home after a day of work.  They had to go down a dark and dangerous street.  It was unavoidable so they said a prayer and continued praying throughout the way.  It happens that someone was murdered at that exact location that night.  In an interview with the killer on why he didn`t attack the sisters he said that he saw 4 men dressed in white walking behind the sisters. The Lord`s protection is real.  And this Gospel and power is very real and almost tangible. 

Revelations: We`re just reminding people of what revelations are. Purification and santification of through the baptizm of fire is distinct from the Gift of the Spirit, though related.

From Hugh B. Brown: "Men do not believe in God because they have proved Him, rather they try endlessly to prove Him because they can`t help believing in Him. The importance of the restoration of the church is not that the organization is the same (because it really isn`t exactly).  It is that God is speaking to Men in the earth again."

From Harold B. Lee:  "If a father[or mother]`s love for [their] son is strong, and from their infancy he has taken them into his arms and let them feel the warmth of his affection, I believe that such comradeship will ripen with maturity and keep them near when a crisis in a boy`s life requires the steadying hand of a father who understands."

Mucho Cariño
Elder Parry Harrison