Hello Everyone!!!
CONGRATULATIONS SYD AND DAVE!!!!!!! I
am SOOOO happy for you two right now! Calvin is truly blessed to have you two
as his parents! Oh my goodness he is so cute!!! I wish that I could be there to
hold him! But I don't feel extremely well either so maybe its better that I
don't hold him ;) I have been super-duper tired this week but I don't really
know why. We have been getting to bed around 10 every night and getting up at
6:30. Well most mornings.... We slept through our alarms twice this
week... So we now have 4 alarms that go off in our room all between the times
of 6 and 6:45. We won't do it anymore! ;) I haven't been able to sleep very deep
though... Any suggestions? I wake up a lot in the middle of the night. I have
cut down from sleeping with 2 pillows under my head to only 1 but I still sleep
with a pillow in-between my legs. I also sleep on my side so my back has been
hurting pretty bad. :P That is about all the complaining that I have I think!
This week was a pretty normal week
for us! Ben is one of the investigators we found last week. He is an older
gentleman who was super interested in the Gilbert Temple. We went back to his
place this week and met his wife at the doorstep. She told us that they were
pretty busy with remodeling their house and their yard. We asked if we could
help. She seemed really taken back when we asked but said no. She said that she
didn't want to become Mormon and that we could have a good day. Before she
closed the door, I said something. I don't really remember what but I said
something that made her keep the door open. We asked if she went to church I
think and if she read the Bible. She said yes and we said "Us too!"
She looked at us and said "No you don't. You guys have that other book.
Don't you?" We explained that we believe in the Bible to be the word of
God, and that the Book of Mormon was just another testament of Jesus Christ. We
explained that when Christ was resurrected and he told his disciples
"...Other Sheep I have which are not of this fold." He was talking
about the people that were here in America! The Book of Mormon is their story
about how they got here, what they believed, and how they came to know Jesus
Christ. After talking for about 20 minutes she said that she had to get going
to pick up her kids from the bus stop. We were starting to say goodbye and she
said, "Do you have an extra copy of that Book? I wanna read it." We
did OF COURSE and handed it to her. She seemed super excited :) We called them
this week and they said they wouldn't be able to make it up to the Temple Open
House but that if we called back on Wednesday that we could set up an
appointment to meet with them again! SO COOL!!!
We went over to see Mrs. Brown as
well. We had that appointment set up for Tuesday but when we showed up her
husband answered and said that she had to take off for a little while. We
started talking with him and he introduced himself as Pastor Brown. Turns out
that the Browns are Lutheran and he is the Pastor for the church! I have never
really met a Pastor before but he was super nice! He gave us his number and
told us to call this week and set up a time to come over and meet with them! We
will probably call tomorrow to set up a time with them.
Ben Melendez is another investigator!
He is 43 and super tight! He gave us 2 really nice trick bikes to give to some
kids in the ward that needed them. We brought it up in ward council yesterday
and they said they would keep an open ear but they didn't know of anybody who
needed a bike yet. Bishop said that he would talk to the surrounding wards and
see if any of them needed a bike. We were super close to dropping Ben however
because he isn't really interested in changing as much as he is in us as
missionaries. I guess that is a start! When Elder Jones was here, we went out
to dinner with him and talked about the Restoration. He loved it! I was hoping
we would go again but we lost contact with him all last week. He wouldn't
answer our calls or our texts. On Saturday he texted us back and told us that
he was at a camp and forgot to tell us. Turns out that he goes and volunteers
at some camp for the Catholic Church where grown men go and come closer to
Christ. They give up all technology and sing songs and learn from the
scriptures and come back the next week. It sounds a lot like a spiritual Clear
Creek! He loves it out there! He said that he hadn't felt so close to Christ
ever. Then to top it off he said that one of his employees for the car wash he
manages was on tv the other day. He is blind. Ben hires people to give them
second chances like guys who came out of prison or that are getting off of
drugs. And it has been 100% successful. Anyway he hired this blind guy cause of
the feeling that he had. It has been a year since he was hired and the news put
him on for some reason. Anyways, all of the CEO's of this car wash were like
"This is great publicity for us! Great job Ben." And he was like,
"I'm sorry but I don't care about publicity or really about getting this
company spread across the U.S. I care about that guy that needed a job and no
one else would hire him. I care about those guys who need a second chance when
everyone else turned them away." And that really is the kind of guy Ben
is. One of his employees said that he looked different than
everyone else but couldn't figure out why. Later on in the day, Ben received a
note from that guy saying that the reason Ben looked different is because of
the angel wings he had on his back. And in a spiritual way, I can see them too.
Ben has changed his life and is now helping others change. That is what I am
out here to do too. We met with him yesterday and he said that he wanted to
take us out again! We are going out to eat again on Thursday :) I don't know
what to teach him though... I guess that I will let the Spirit guide! :)
We invited Pier to church this week
but he couldn't make it because he didn't have a ride. He is married and has 4
kids. We sent a list around church and asked who could give rides. The most
someone could was 4... So we went over to talk to him about it and try to
figure something out. We were told that Pier works till really late each night.
9 or 9:30 is the earliest usually. They don't have a car though so he rides the
bus to the center of Tucson and then rides the bus back. But just recently, the
bus system decided that they wouldn't run busses after 6... So he has been
asking for rides from guys at work and sometimes he had to beg for rides off
the street. He had to walk home one night and it was like a 4 hour walk. He
doesn't have a cell phone and so his wife was starting to freak out just before
he walked in the door. They decided that it wasn't going to work
anymore. So they bought a car! It is a Ford Expedition that has enough
seats for everyone in his family! What a miracle! :) So we are going to get
back in touch with them later this week and invite them again. I hope they can
make it!
Elder Alder and I are getting along
great! A LOT better than Elder Jones and I. We walked a lot thought because
Elder Alder doesn't have a bike. He has the money for it but hasn't had to buy
one thus far on his mission. So we walked! Also Elder McNary (another
missionary in our zone) said he needed a bike for a little while cause his back
rim is shot... So I let him borrow mine. I gave him my lock and my key and as
well so hopefully all will go okay with that. :P I’m sure it will thought! He
promised that he would take really good care of it. :)
I don't think they have finalized a
location for the temple but I heard that they were thinking Skyline and Ina.
Don't quote me on that though. And lets not think about setting up a time to
come back yet cause I don't want to leave yet! Things seem to be getting better
here and the member trust is growing exponentially! We have only been here for
about 2 months and we have had 3 families say that they don't want us to leave
because everything is better than it was before! I am so happy they see that we
are trying and that the Lord is blessing us with success!!
I wish that I had more to say but
this week was just a pretty average week! Today looks like it is going to rain.
I hope it does!! I love you all so much!!! Thank you for your prayers and for
everything you do for me! Mom, I am running out of that special toothpaste
stuff so if you could get me some that would be great! If not then I have other
toothpaste I can use instead :) I LOVE YOU!!!!! Have a great week!!
~Elder Kyle Harris
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