November 3, 2014

Hello everyone!! I’m sorry this letter is coming in so late! We had some issues this morning... No! Not Elder Gilson and I. Our truck. We have a 2011 Chevy Colorado and I love it! Well, except that the cd player is broken and doesn't read most c.d.'s but that's what our voices are for! We usually just sing whatever is on our minds as long as it isn't too weird or anything ;) Well, we have vehicle inspections this Wednesday and we needed to clean out the inside of our car. So we went out and picked up some trash and took out some of Elder Gilson's clothes and got it all picked up. He went inside to finish writing a letter and I kept cleaning. I cleaned all the windows on the inside, wiped down everything that was a hard surface (and some soft places too that something spilled on) and even vacuumed!! We were going to go wash the outside after we finished the inside but our car wouldn't start.... For the past 45 minutes, we had had our key in the on position so we could listen to music as we cleaned (or so I could while I cleaned and Elder Gilson wrote his letter! lol) but we didn't actually have the car on, just the battery. Well, we killed the battery. And the unfortunate thing is, out here in Pima, EVERYONE works! And the only ones that don't work only don't work because they can't drive for one reason or another. So this left Elder Gilson and myself stuck at home trying to find someone to jump our car. We finally got a hold of Chad Kelliher after trying for 30 minutes. He told us he would be there in about 30 min. That was longer than we wanted to wait so we said that would work and anticipated calling up someone else to come jump us then call him and let him know we didn't need him anymore. It would have worked if we could have found someone else... 30 minutes passed and he didn't call or text or show up. 40 minutes passed and still, nothing. After an hour we called him and he said his boss told him he couldn't leave for another 20 minutes. He told us 30 minutes for sure this time. Right after we got off the phone with him, we talked to a couple named the Fletchers. I LOVE the Fletchers! They are an awesome older couple who works all the time in the Temple because of their love for the church! His name is C.B. and her name is Eddie. C.B. called us and said that he heard we needed to get our car jumped and that he would be over in 5 min. And he was! I realized right then how important punctuality really is. Lol! So that is why I am emailing you at 5:00 p.m. instead of 11 like I normally do, cause we spent our morning trying to get our car jumped!

I can't believe I've emailed you this many weeks and I never told you guys, I have stopped by the Norton’s twice now. They have the CUTEST triplet boys!! But not the cutest single baby boy, that one goes to Calvin. :) They are an awesome couple! We have tried lots of other times to stop by but they are rarely home unfortunately. But we will keep trying!

Transfers are this upcoming week. We get calls on Saturday night... There is only 1 thing that would surprise me and that would be if I didn't get transferred! I am completely expecting to get transferred...unfortunately.... I love it out here so much! And I have made so many friends! Especially Hermana Blackford! We are totally gonna be best friends when I get home! She is from Washington, just south of Camino Island where Elder Flake was from. Some place around there. Anyway, she is going to BYU Provo and we've decided that when I get home, we are gonna hang out all the time! We may or may not have a bucket list of things we plan on doing already including hiking Mount Timp. and having like 5 movie marathons! She will get home 1 transfer before me which is pretty great timing cause she will be going to BYU in June. We went on a pretty sweet hike to Red Knolls on Saturday Morning. There was Elder Gilson and I, Hermana Blackford and Sister Harrington, and our Recent Convert John who was being taught by the Sisters before he was baptized, so we are all pretty tight friends. But we got to Red Knolls at about 5:30 and up to the top just as the sun was rising. It was AWESOME!!! We got so many super awesome pictures! I'll attach some after I send this email off! :) But yes, I am probably getting transferred.

Halloween was kinda lame this year compared to last year. We went up to Fort Thomas for a Halloween party for the ward. It wasn't a trunk-or-treat though, just dinner and a few rooms that were decorated for the kids to go into and pick up some candy. It was supposed to go from 6 to 8 but at about 6:45, everyone that had come left... Including us! Haha We just didn't see a reason for being there anymore cause none of our investigators showed up. But that's okay! We went in that night around 8 to do our weekly planning but no one knocked on our door. I don't know what we would have given them if they did! Maybe a Book of Mormon, maybe a pass-along card, I don't know! But we didn't carve pumpkins or go trick-or-treating or anything. Just sat at home and planned. But Elder Gilson and I are getting along super great so it was totally cool with me!

For school when I get home, I am not quite sure what I want to do yet... I have 2 options that are in my mind. The first is sign up and register back up at BYUI to start back up in January of 2016 and just attend on my assigned track. This would give us LOTS of time to hang out and spend time together and go on some trips before school. :) That's option number 1. Number 2 is I do online school for the Fall Semester (R.M.'s can go to school for the track they aren't assigned if you come home a while before your normal track starts back up) up at BYUI and then either transfer somewhere or stay there and go to school on campus for the Winter Semester. What do you think? I don't want to start right away and move up to Idaho like a few weeks after I get home. I want to stick around and spend time with y'all and then see what I feel is right after that. I can't believe I'm actually worried about school already! Weird...

Oh! Really fast before I forget again, I want a Special Musical Number for my homecoming! :) There are 4 (kinda 3 cause one is a couple) people I've been thinking about singing for it: Dad, Shane and Jennifer Lee, or Chris Jones. Or all 4 of them! Or even just the men. I don't know. But I've been wanting to bring it up the past like 6 or so weeks but I always forget right when I start emailing and then remember right as I get off and back to the car. What do you think? Could we work something out with that?

This Sunday we had a Stake Conference with the whole state of Arizona! It was super sweet! Ours started at 9:30 instead of 10 because the Pima Stake was getting a new Stake Presidency. Turns out that President Tyler, the old Stake President, moved up to Mesa area about a year ago or so. For the past year, he has come down every weekend for his meetings and such. They are finally releasing him though! Everyone had guesses at who the next Stake President would be, but everyone was wrong! "Bishop Mark Beus has been called to be the Stake President for the Pima Stake in Pima, Arizona." President Beus was our bishop in Pima 1st ward and NO ONE knew he was going to be released from that called to be stake president! That means that this next Sunday, we are getting a new bishopric! There was a lot of talk about Missionary Work for the Adult Session on Saturday night. On Sunday, they turned off all the lights and so it was basically pitch black except for the little light that was coming from the projector. That made it almost impossible to write notes cause I couldn't see what I was writing. But the one thing that stuck out to me was something along the lines of "When we call each other 'brother' or 'sister', it is a one-worded testimony of the Divinity of God and His role as our Father and our relationship as siblings." I never thought about it that way, but it really makes sense and was really cool to hear and think about!

You have all been waiting for this... Hope Young. Unfortunately, nothing has changed.... She doesn't find out anything until about the 24th of this month. She won't go into Surgery until they do a scan to find out what they need to work on. So, if our prayers are answered (AND THEY WILL BE!!!) she will not have to go through the surgery on the 25th :) But I will keep you updated on how they are doing!

The Thomas family is just about one of my favorite families I've met on my mission! They are in Palo Verde Ward in east Tucson. There are both parents and 4 kids living at home. Sarah and Craig are the parents and then the kids at home (in order of age): Melanie, Graham, Zoe, and Tate. Tate is still pretty young, I think like 3 or so, but he loves me! I have visited them when I went for my doctor’s appointments in Tucson and he still calls me his favorite missionary! :) If you guys became facebook friends, that would be pretty sweet! I send my emails to them (Yes I mean you momma Thomas!) so if you look up her email in my recipients list and look it up on facebook, you might be able to find each other. :)

So this email is a little different than my usual one because pretty much everything that happened this week is already included in my email! Oh! Except I wrote a poem this week! 

Behold Your Little Children

Elder Kyle Harris

"Behold your little children"

the Savior humble said,

then gathered them around Him

and blessed them, every head.

"Behold" is not a simple phrase,

it means much more than "Look".

Carefully watch and listen to them,

study them like a book.

We can't just take a small glance

or just spend minimal time

because we need to learn from them

and their spiritual gifts sublime.

A child is meek and humble

and their love is sincere and broad.

For this reason they are the greatest

in the kingdom of our God.

"Behold your little children"

and watch their every move

Cause every single trait they have

are traits God wants for you.

Well there it is! What do you think? I really like it personally! Maybe it will be big someday, but probably not ;)

Well, I think that’s about it! We turned our truck over 70,000 miles! haha just realized that kinda sounded weird but I don't want to try to think of another way to phrase that! I hope it makes sense to you :P I am pretty sure that I've been here from when we hit 60,000 and now 70,000. We do a LOT of driving out here! Good thing I'm not on a bike! :) Well, I better let you guys get this email before you go to bed!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! NEVER FORGET THAT!!!

~Elder Kyle Harris