July 29, 2013

We are working with a guy named Joseph R. He's funny and knows a lot of church doctrine. He is catholic but knows our church is true! He says he can't pray to know if he should get baptized cause that would be going against his church. We are having dinner with him tonight so we'll just see how things go!

There is so much missionary work both outside of the Church and in the Church. We have this program called the "Willing and Brief" challenge. We are asking members to pray for missionary moments in their everyday life and then to ask the person they are helping if they would be "willing" to hear a "brief" message about ___________. (Insert: Our church, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith... etc.) Surprisingly enough, we have had SO MUCH success doing this. People are talking to their friends and getting more referrals for us than anyone anticipated. Just this week, we had 7 people call us and say their friends wanted to hear more about our church! This is truly the Lord's work and I am so excited that for 2 years I get to be apart of it. There isn't anything better than bringing the Spirit and light of Christ into people's lives. So if I could leave you with a challenge, and I do leave you with this challenge, try it out! Heck, just invite someone to a ward activity or young womens/mens. It is so simple and most people wont take offence to it.

We did this thing last night called mini-missionaries. So we drove to the west stake and showed up at some random house. When we walked in, we were paired with a priest aged kid who was going on a mission soon then split up to go teach some lessons. I was paired with a boy named Jake P - I think. He has blonde hair and really blue eyes. He has his call to Manchester England and leaves in 3 weeks. I have only been out a month and a half but I was senior companion so that was a great experience for me. We walked to both our pre-set appointments (they were at members houses). I was really nervous how the lesson was going to go but it actually turned out really great! Both of them. Jake has such a strong testimony and the Spirit was definitely felt in both houses. We just taught them about the willing and brief challenge and used Jacob 5 to help out with the spiritual aspect. I am super excited for him to experience this amazing work.

We had some let downs this week. We have been working with Vincent and his pregnant girl friend. They have been progressing little by little and we were going to ask them to set a baptismal date. But when we pulled up to the house, Vincent was really on edge. He opened his door and told us to look inside.... The place was trashed.... Someone broke in and stole his clothes, his money, and beat his dogs. He knew it was the guy he let sleep over that previous night so he went over 3 times and hit him each time.  He wanted to go again. There iwas more, but I won’t go into detail now.  This was serious business. I didn't know what to say so I said the most heartfelt prayer and told him that he needed to pray and read the Book of Mormon. Alma chapter 14 is what I asked him to read. I told him that 2 guys had to watch the members burn in front of their eyes and they didn't do anything to stop it cause the people would get their just deserts in the next life. I looked him in the eye and the Spirit overwhelmed me. I told him that the Lord had something that he needed to hear and started to cry as I told him that the Lord would bless him if he would pray and read. I have never been so overwhelmed by the Spirit and never loved someone I don't know very well as I did Vincent in that very moment. It was such a great experience for me to feel that Christ-like love for him. He started to cry when he saw me crying and I know he felt the Spirit. I don't know what has happened since. Its been 2 days since I've been able to make it over there. I hope we get to see him tonight...

This week has been a tough one but I have learned a lot. In my scripture reading, I have read to Alma 32. I'm trying to finish it by next Monday cause that is transfers. I am not sure if I will get transferred. I have mixed feelings about it. I love Elder Hickenlooper but I want to experience other training and teaching styles. I trust that the Lord will put me where I need to be and so I'm not worried about it.

Much love,

~Elder Harris