July 28, 2014

Hello Family!!! Man, I know that I say this every time but this week flew by!!! And with the wind we've been having, I literally mean flew by. ;) I will tell you more in a sec. First and foremost....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you so much! You have always been an inspiration to me and someone that I can look up to. You have always helped me to know where to go and what to do to build up my relationship with my Father in Heaven. I was reading in 2nd Nephi 25:26 which says: And we talk‍ of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy‍ of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children‍ may know to what source they may look for a remission‍ of their sins." You truly understood this scripture. When we go to church and read our scriptures and pray with the family, it isn't for you. It is for your children. It is so that you show them through your actions how they can come to have a greater connection with our Lord and Savior. And you have fulfilled it with such amazingness! Thank you for that. :) I LOVE YOU!!!!

This week I have been reading a lot of out "The Infinite Atonement". I don't even know where to begin about that book. It is absolutely AMAZING!!!! I have learned so much about the importance of the Atonement and how it works and why it works. Well only kind of on how. I have realized that there isn't really very much that we know as to "how" it works. How did Jesus Christ take upon him all the sins of the world, and individually for that matter, in such a short time? How did he know whether we were going to make certain mistakes or have certain pains? How is it that he is able to make it so that no matter what things I do wrong in this life, I can be forgiven for them? There is just so much that we don't know but that is where faith comes in. Without faith in the power of the Atonement, everything else in this life is pointless. There is nothing that we can do to make it to Heaven again. But only through the gifts of repentance, grace and mercy will we be able to inherit all that our Father has.

We went on exchanges this week. I had Elder George, my District Leader, come with me. and we had a PACKED day! The night that we switched, Elder George and I got on top of our trailer and looked at the stars. Well, tried to. There were so many clouds and the neighbors had their porch light on and that was super annoying cause it's super bright but it was still awesome! We told secrets and stories and dreams and just talked for about 2 hours up there. Elder George didn't want to sleep on Elder Gilson’s bed because Elder Gilson doesn't really take care of it very well and it was gross and had dirty clothes all over it. So he slept out on the couch. I pulled my mattress into the front room as well and had a sleep over! We were up till 2 a.m. talking and laughing! I realized though why me and him get along so well and connect so well, he is exactly like Alexander Jones! I mean it is scary how much he is like him. They like the same kind of games, have the same personality, and even talk the same! Both are super intelligent and love helping everyone around them in any way that they can. So needless to say, we got along like brothers!

I always used to think that I would be so much better and farther in life if I hadn't made the mistakes that I did and just stayed on the path the whole time. But I have come to realize that I wouldn't take my mistakes back. Of course I regret doing those things and I know I would be home from my mission already if I had stuck close to my testimony but at the same time, I wouldn't have met the same people or had the same friends. I don't even know if I would have come to the Tucson Arizona mission! I have learned so much from my past and that has allowed me to reach out to people that are in the same kind of situation that I was in. I have connected with people that no one else has been able to. And best of all, I have learned to love and appreciate the Atonement more because of the opportunities that I have had to use it. I love my Savior and I know that I am here cause I was supposed to be here today, not 2 years ago.

There was a crazy storm on Saturday! We could tell that it was going to rain cause of the clouds that were coming in and the wind was starting to pick up. We were eating with Richard Christenson, Grandpa Harris' cousin. It was so great! He told me that he has a book (that unfortunately he had just lent out to his daughter for the week) that had a bunch of pictures of the Harris Clan. He also told me that most likely, there was a picture of me in there. I am going to go back and see the book when he gets it back but it is just so cool how the Lord put me into a place where I never thought I'd meet anyone I knew. Anyway, the wind was picking up as we were over there eating and it was starting to rain. It was no big deal till it started tipping over their trashcans and pulling some of the roofing off of their neighbors house. We had just sat down to give a message. We put our Mormon Messages DVD in to start off the message and suddenly, the power went off! The rain was pounding the house. The lightning lit up the room super bright and the thunder shook the house. It was intense! We knew the roads were going to be flooding soon so we gave a quick message and drove home. On our way home, we saw trees tipped over, houses with parts of their roofs blown off and even a trampoline that had blown over someone’s fence and landed right next to the road! We stopped to get a picture of that one. :P Luckily there was no damage done to our trailer. The power didn't even go off at our place. But Sister Despain, my grandma out here, had part of her car port roof torn up. And one of the families we are teaching who lives 3 houses down had a tree blow over. No one was hurt luckily but it was still pretty scary. The winds were an estimated 60 mph or so. It was intense! And this is actually a blessing in disguise. One reason is because it brought about an inch of rain to our dry home. Second is we have been looking for fellow shippers for the Hoopes family, they are the ones that had their tree blown over. Well, on Sunday, we got about 3 or 4 guys to commit to coming over to cut it up with their chain saws on Tuesday evening and get to know the Hoopes. Miracle!

There was another storm last night and the wind was pretty intense then too. It wasn't nearly as bad but it was great to get more rain. We really need it down here. Keep praying for it if you will! The Lord is blessing the land. :)

Elder Gilson and I are still getting along great! He is trying to get better at staying clean and organized and I'm trying to get better at not judging him for that. Elder Gilson got in a car accident that totaled the mission vehicle and so he is red dotted for the rest of his mission. This means that he can't drive anymore. That also means that I get to drive everywhere, all the time. I have always loved driving. I love the feeling of rolling down me windows and having some music playing. Well, I have kind of lost that drive to drive. Haha! It is fun to drive everywhere but also kind of a pain when it's too hot to have the windows down and when Elder Gilson doesn't like the windows down. :P But It's all good. We are working hard and getting a lot done. I love it!

Well, that pretty much sums up my week. Thank you for your emails and for your prayers. I love you all so much!

~Elder Kyle Harris