December 8, 2014

Hello everyone!! Welcome to day number 544 of my mission! In 4 days, I will be out 18 months... I guess I could count it in like 2 days cause my proselyting license expires on June 10th. I think that means that that is the day that I will be coming home! 6 months... I don't know where the time went these last 18 months but it's disappearing somewhere faster than the lines on the freeway going 100 MPH!! (Not that I would know what that's like at all....) But I am definitely trying to make the best of the time that I have left and make sure that I don't come home with any regrets! That reminds me of a story that I need to tell you about Elder McKenna and I making up raps! :) I mine as well tell you now then.

So our area is pretty big. To bike from one side to the other, corner to corner, it takes us about 30 minutes. Its all basically one big hill here in Sierra Vista with little ups and downs that people call "bumps". Psh, those are big bumps! We've found that it's actually better for us contacting-wise if we just walk around. This allows us to talk to people on the street without being creepers and stopping on our bikes to talk to them. We have a new method of contacting for this month using new pass-along cards. They are for the "He is The Gift" video on mormon.org. If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, DO IT!!! It's amazing!! So we go around and ask people if we can give them Christmas cards and most people gladly accept them. We then say something like "On the front is says 'He is The Gift' cause he is our ultimate gift from God. We just want to help everyone remember Him this Christmas and try to build up their relationships with him better. On the back there is a little website (christmas.mormon.org) that shows a video on Christ's humble birth. If you get a chance, I think you would really like it!" or something like that! And most people are really receptive to it! It also gives us an in to to talk to them about their beliefs and ask them more questions to get them to open up to us! We have had a lot of success with this and have had 3 people, without us asking first, say "You guys can stop by anytime! Here is my number and address." And all 3 of them live in our boundaries!! Miracle, I think so! :) Anyway, so we using this to contact people but sometimes we are just walking to an appointment with no one there to talk to. We know quite a bit about each other and can't think of questions to ask anymore, so instead we make up raps (or you can call them rhymes with a beat if you'd like) about what's around us, our thoughts, our desires, etc. Just anything really! It is awesome! We get a lot of kicks and giggles out of it. Recently, our songs have been about girls and we say like

"I miss girls, you know its true and Its hard for me to describe,

the feelings that they give to me, it make me feel so fly!"

or something lame like that! We even have "Rapper Names"! His is M.C.Kenna and mine is Sirrah or K.Bastian. :) It makes for good memories and laughs!

This week wasn't all that exciting or active unfortunately. We tried to do a lot of work but it was mostly just service and random appointments here and there. We did service for a less-active guy, Glen. Glen is a single father, his wife passed away about 3 years ago leaving him with her little girl she had from a previous marriage. Both he and his wife got baptized and then she passed away about a year later... He isn't active in the church (hence why I said he was less-active) but has very strong morals and a testimony of the church. He just doesn't have the motivation to get up and get going, plus he's very forgetful. We were over on Tuesday doing service for him, helping him clean up his yard and chopping down some bamboo and dead branches that are dangling over his tin roof. Funny story, I was using a hatchet to cut the branches in the tree. I set the hatchet down in a safe spot where it wouldn't fall, well where I thought it wouldn't fall. I was shaking a branch loose that I had just cut from some other dead branches and I guess I was shaking too hard cause the whole tree was shaking. This caused my hatchet to fall out of the tree and land in the dirt about 10 feet away from Elder McKenna. He got worried about me being up in the tree and that I was going to drop my hatchet on him as he was standing under me. So to ease his worries, I got down and we broke up the branches into smaller pieces that I had already cut down. Sorry, tangent. Well it turns out that Glen's daughter, Gracie, is 9 years old and not baptized but she really wants to be! So we are going to go over this week and do more service and teach her and him both the lessons cause he doesn't remember them a whole lot! Part member families are awesome tools! Are there very many of them in the ward you live in now? Who are the missionaries over there? Do you see them in the congregation often? See if you can find some and befriend them! Or invite them to a party in the ward or something like that! :)

We also did some service for the Froehlich's. She is the one who sent you the picture mom of us making gingerbread cookies. We went over and put up Christmas lights on Tuesday after we helped out Glen. She had a brilliant idea on how to put up the Christmas lights on stucko though! Instead of buying clips and trying to find somewhere to put them, you use a hot glue gun and just glue the lights to the house! Then, when it's time to take them off, you use a blow dryer to warm the glue back up and then it just peals right off! Simple, cheap, but hot glue is dangerous on your skin, just an FYI. I only got a few blisters, like 5 or 6. No big deal. But it was really fun! :) We also went over on Thursday to put up the rest of the lights but IT WAS RAINING!!! So we didn't dare get onto her roof. Instead, she asked us to help her make gingerbread cookies. So we made cookies for about 2 hours while listening and singing to Christmas Music! My favorite artists for Christmas music are still Male: Frank Sinatra; Female: Kelly Clarkson. They are just fantastic! And now I can make gingerbread cookies :)

Update on peoples!

Hope is doing great! He pain meds are still giving her a few problems but not as much as before. She is recovering very quickly actually and even though she wont be at full strength for about 4 months or so, that is still better than the 6-8 months they told her! She is giving all the credit to God and know's that He is watching out for her. She also says that when she feels sad or down, that as she reads her Book of Mormon, it really helps her out. That is the power of the Scriptures!! :)

Terrick... Terrick Terrick Terrick... It has been over 2 weeks since we've heard from him. We just recently found out that he did make his way down to Texas and lost his phone down there. That's why he hasn't been answering his calls or texts. He does have an app on his ipod though that can text and one of the McKnight boys, his closest friends in the ward, was able to get in touch with him there. But he is keeping very distant for some reason... We are definitely worried about him but we know that he isn't going to make too dumb of decisions. Before he left, he was hanging out with some of his old friends here in Vista. They are from his old gang that he used to be apart of. It was like 2 in the morning and they were driving somewhere. On the way to their destination, they handed him a gun and said that they were going to rob some lady and he was going to have to hold her at gun point while they did their business. He dropped the gun and said no and asked to be dropped off right then and there. So they pulled over after some debate and finally let him out. He called the McKnights and asked for a ride home. This shows me he isn't going to make super dumb decisions! But I just hope that that sticks with him in Texas. Please keep praying for him!

Well, I think that pretty much sums up everything. Oh! I did get the little envelope in the mail! Thank you!! I haven't got the other one yet but thank you for sending it!

Gavin, I hate that you have such amazing facial hair!! You are such a stud, I can't even believe it! How does every girl in the school not just bow at your feet and beg you to only look upon them and tell them they are beautiful! Haha but seriously, all of the Elders here are asking if you are a model or not, I tell them you were going to be but turned down the company :) You're welcome!

Well I love you all! Have a great week and know that no matter what, God is watching over you! :)

~Elder Kyle Harris