9-1-1

Hey there,

Firstly, thanks for the packages mom, and the rest of the family.  I must confess however that although I've cultivated an attitude of obedience for the mission rules I didn’t feel that the work would be adversely effected if I disregarded the wrapping on the Easter candy and indulged early, lo siento.  However, I am honoring the birthday packages and they are remaining a surprise until the seventh.  Also the extra ties and short sleeves were desperately welcomed, the heat is slowly climbing and short sleeves are a must. 

So after I emailed last week the day went down hill.  Our two best investigators, U and his girlfriend, dropped us because he was too scared to break with the traditions of his family and nor could he give up his saints.  After that we tracked a neighborhood and were stuck speaking to two Latino Jehovah Witnesses who wanted to bible bash all day and we had difficulty getting away.  I'll refrain from going into details but needless to say we were pretty annoyed by the end of the day.  We were however able to get our first baptismal commitments this week.  “L” and her two sons, “E” and “J”, accepted the commitment after having such a wonderful experience at church the week before.

Elder Boyer and I had to work on our own this week when Elder Samuel went on an exchange to Fremont, NE for a day.  We were worried about our abilities to handle the responsibility of finding and teaching because neither of us is rather adept with the language yet.  However, we prayed earnestly and frequently and the Lord definitely heard us.  We went tracting and with the promptings of the Spirit were able to almost immediately knock into several Latino families (this rarely happens).  One family was working outside on their truck and immediately put their work down to listen to us.  The father speaks little English, but the wife is bilingual so we would teach as best as we couild and then she would help clarify points to her husband, helping us communicate and she reinforced our teachings. 

At the completion of that day, the day of the greenies, we more than doubled our daily goals, showing the Lord helps those that ask.  A couple days later all three of us were back tracting in that same general area when we witnessed a fire.  We had just talked to an inactive member who had stopped us on the street, asking directions to the church, when Elder Samuel looked back and saw smoke coming from a house.  We ran over and were the first on the scene.  After calling 911 we asked how we could help but the family was too frantic to respond.  The fire was in their garage and they were worried about opening the door to get the motorcycle out, even though their house was run by gas and they were in immediate danger.  One man even tried to use his garden hose on the side of the house, obviously to no avail.  The fire trucks got their soon and the fire was put out with little effort.  No one was hurt and the house, all considering, didn’t receive too much damage.

Council Bluffs is a really poor, dying area.  There are some portions that are nice, but the majority live in near poverty.  That area we were in is one of the worst areas in town.  We often will see the effects of drugs in the area.  People will answer the door and scream in fright because of their high, others stare with blank eyes without much comprehension of the real world, and other bare the obvious marks on their bodies of scratching and clawing at their skin because the drugs make them itch and think there are bugs on and in them.  Other times, especially at night, we run into drunkards that make crude remarks and what not.  We were in that area at one point and we walked up to one young woman named "S" who looked like she was having addicition problems.  We began to speak to her about Christ, forgiveness, and help and she broke down into tears.  She expressed her desire for change, unfortunately we had to turn her over to another set of missionaries - she doesn't speak Spanish and would actually attend the YSA (young single adult) ward here, but hopefully they can help her make the commitment and turn her life around.

I was able to finish the New Testament this week.  It’s interesting to have read it completely and seen the direct correlations between Christ's established church and His restored church today.  The next goal for reading is to complete the Book of Mormon in Spanish. 

 I guess I'll take some final minutes to describe Council Bluffs a bit more.  Firstly, there are squirrels everywhere; mostly black squirrels and it's ridiculous!  They even have a small museum in town called squirrel cage jail.  Don't ask me what it's like I haven't been able to go since it's closed on Mondays. (Note: it's a historic 1885 jail with revolving pie-shaped cells inside a cage, providing maximum security with minimal jailer attention.  One of 18 ever built and only 3 story one ever.) 

There are also rabbits that run around all over the place.  Motorcycles are a HUGE deal here.  Every weekend night the bikes come out from the woodwork and there's no peace and quiet afterwards. 

I'm actually experiencing the first legit spring of my life - the trees (of which there's actually a decent amount) have been in bloom for awhile and everything's slowly making the shift to summer.  There's some good Mexican food in town.  There's one small restaurant that is run by Latinos and has all the native foods for a great price.

Not much more to say, sorry.  I love you all and can’t wait to hear how everyone’s doing,

Love Elder Harker