October 14, 2013

Hello Family!!! How are you all doing?? The mission is going so GREAT!!! I can't believe that 4 months have already passed and gone! I am 1/6 done with my mission. CRAZY!!!! I feel like it is flying so fast so I want it to slow down so that I don't have to worry about not having enough time but when I think about home, it doesn't go by fast enough. So just like you mom, I have lots of mixed feelings about time and having it go faster and slower.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!! I ran into an older lady the other night that made me think of you. She was super sweet and had the greatest spirit with her. She is a member and offered to buy my medicine for me for my cold. She was so nice!

This week has gone by super-oober fast! So we taught Edward this week right? I was really nervous going into the lesson. We had a member there with us that started the lesson off just talking about him. After about 15 minutes of getting to know him, we taught him about the restoration. As we got to the part about Joseph Smith, I looked him dead in the eyes and didn't take them off of his while I said, "Joseph Smith described his experience in his own words. He said, 'I saw a pillar of light, above the brightness of the sun, which decended gradually until it fell upon me...When the light rested upon me, I saw two personages, who's brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, "This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him."'" Last time, he freaked out and said Joseph Smith saw the devil and was deceived and so on but this time, the Spirit was super strong and I know that he felt it bear testimony that what I said was true. He then asked some good questions like "Where are the plates now?" and "Why don't we have them anymore?" and then accepted the answers that we told him. He really has had a change of heart! It is by far the BIGGEST miracle I will see my whole mission!

In district meeting on Wednesday, we were talking about "The Day". "The Day" is a day when the whole zone goes on exchanges and focusses on one aspect of the mission. For example, this "The Day" we will be focussing on getting members to come to lessons with us. Sometimes we may focus on finding or getting referrals. Every time we do this zone-wide exchange, miracles happen! As I was looking around at the guys that I could potentially go on exchanges with, I realized that I would rather stay with Elder Flake! We have grown so close and we really are just like brothers! He has such a strong testimony and pushes me to be a better missionary and a better example each and every day. I love going on exchanges though cause It allows me the opportunity to go out and get learn to work with all kinds of people with different personallities.

We got some shocking news this week... so on August 29th we happened upon a bible study. Rose is the mother of most of the people that show up. She was recovering from cancer in 3 spots in her body as well as bleeding in the brain. About a week ago, she came up to the sisters and said she wanted to start taking the lessons. We just got news on Thursday that she passed away. This was a big blow to the family. They all believed that she would have a full recovery and get better. But there is no doubt in my mind that she will accept the Gospel in the next life. She was prepared to hear the message. I completely believe that she was recovering because she needed to be willing to accept the Gospel in this life so that she would accpet it in the next. This will also be a great opportunity to teach the family about eternal families and how we will be together again.

On a different note, we ran into a lady on Friday. She would not stop complimenting us! It would have been fine if she didn't keep saying the same things over and over and over! Haha! She even complimented my watch and how I was wearing it! Weird... The she said that if she became mormon, she'd have to marry all the guys there cause she loved us so much. I told her I could help her with the mormon part and asked if she would be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ. She looked at me dumbfounded then said, "Oh hunny, I am Jesus Christ!" I just smiled and said, well its nice to meet you. Then told her we had to get going. As we rode off, I looked at Elder Flake and was like, "Sorry to burst your bubble but she was not Jesus Christ..." He just looked and me and was like "DUH!!" She was super nice though and it really boosted my ego about myself! ;)

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! Keep working hard and keep the Spirit!

~Elder Harris