Sweet, Sanctifying Tracting

Hello Everyone!

I hope this week's been great for all of you. Mine has gone well, and has humbled me in a couple of ways.

The best news goes first though:

Ismael Ramirez was in Church again on Sunday and is doing super well! We've been learning a lot about how to "Start with the end in mind" with investigators and others, helping them to acheive a vision of not merely getting to baptism or activity, but also enduring to the end and receiving those key temple ordinances and really just preparing people to come unto Christ and stay with Him. We've been applying it like crazy with Ismael, and it's sticking really well. He's not just getting ready to get baptized or leaving behind bad habits. He's changing the entire course of his life, consciously and with specific goals in mind. He's excited to serve a mission in the coming year and is eager to get baptized so that he can continue on in the path. It's really exciting to teach him and strengthen his testimony.

That's the super good news. We had lunch with him and his mom yesterday, but she wasn't down for receiving the missionaries (though she's very grateful for all that we're doing for Ismael). We'll see what happens though when she sees her son get baptized. ;)

Other than that.... Oh, I guess I should mention that we also had a really successful Ward Night activity on Wednesday. It was really last-minute organized, but I set a commitment with the Bishop to organize solid Ward Night activities every other week, and so we had to come through. And we came through! It was just a game night that helped people get to know each other a lot better.

The week was difficult in one aspect because all of our plans were falling through and so we just had to get out and contact, which is normal. I've actually been doing a lot more tracting in this area than normal. The difference this week is that no one was letting us in. However, we were still able to do something, and I know that no missionary effort is wasted. There's something special about just keeping on and giving every single contact all that you can. It purifies you and just humbles you to accept God's will and the agency of others. If we keep on faithfully instead of just trying to bear through another difficult day, the contacting becomes purposeful and we're reminded why we're doing it in the first place. And that was a blessing the Lord gave us this week.

One thing that I forgot to mention from last week was that we had a super awesome conference with Elder Gonzalez of the 70! I loved it, and I'll send a picture from it.

But, that's all I can think to write for now!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Harris

Our Prayers Are Heard‏

Good Afternoon Everyone Out There!

I think I'll jump right to the point without further delay:

Ismael Ramirez came to Church yesterday! He was well-dressed and just ready to go, and it was so good to see him there. He fit in so well with the members, he participated in the classes, he looked just so happy. I was so happy also. So! As long as he keeps up his progress, he'll be baptized two weeks from Saturday!

I say that our prayers are heard because a lot of you have written me this week saying that you've been praying for Ismael, and I'm so grateful for it. Your prayers have blessed him and strenghtened him and God has heard them. Thank you!

Ismael is still definitely the strong point of this week. Other than him, we're still really struggling to find new investigators. I'm wanting to try some changes in the work to see if we can't involve the members a little better, though we do work with members (it's just not turning up many results....). We did have a random miracle happen this week though:

We were walking in the street just going about our day, heading to a plan we had, when a random woman just stops us and says, "I have someone I need you to visit that said she wants to receive the missionaries." I'd never seen this woman before, and when we asked, she told us that she's an inactive member from the other Ward (that lies in the South Mission), but her friend lives here within our boundaries. So, we went to visit her. It turned out to be a 19 year-old girl, so we're for sure taking male, adult members with us to avoid any possible awkward situations, but she turned out to be someone who's genuinely interested and feels a need to grow closer to Christ in this moment. Sadly, we haven't been able to find her again due to the fact that her sister is in the hospital and they go there very frequently to visit her. But I have faith! I think she'll be the next Ismael.

The Lord is very merciful. with us and He knows better than any other what we need. We're going into the last week before changes and I'm just preparing to do whatever He asks me to do. This is His work and His mission, and I'm just a piece in it. I know that if I serve my best in the circumstance He's put me in, that there will be results.

Today was a good day to get together with some other Elders and play some hardcore soccer. And eat super delicious lunch. 

I guess that's all for this week. Keep the faith!

I love you all.

Sincerely,

Elder Harris

Saving By Degrees‏

Hello Everyone!

This week has been a solid work week with no interruption! Actually, I guess there was one interruption, but it wasn't that big and was pretty productive. But I like getting out to work a lot. :)

I can't wait to tell you all about Ismael Ramirez! He's progressed beautifully this week! He just didn't go to Church. :(

We've had a few lessons, and he's been reading the Book of Mormon and all of the pamphlets. He learns very well, but he's a really humble learner, and that's what I love the most about teaching him. I've been trying to ask him lots of questions when we verify the commitments we extend, because he'd been pretty shy with us, but he's opened up so much this week. On Saturday, when we visited him, I asked him how he feels about his preparation for his baptismal date (which was the 4th of July but is now changed to be the 11th). He told us out of nowhere that since he started to share with us, he's quit drugs, alcohol, and is almost done quitting cigarettes (he's down to one a day instead of a pack a day). We didn't even know he had problems with any of those things! That was so cool! At the end of that lesson, we were walking out, and he asked us if he'd be eligible to someday serve a mission (he's 19 years old). We told him yes and explained the process of becoming a missionary, and he's excited for it! This guy is soooo great!

He wasn't in Church for something exceptional. But he says he will be there for certain next Sunday.

Other than that, we're still on the hunt for new investigators and looking out for unexpected inactive members. We've kept much more unified this week as a companionship and though we still hit turbulence every once in a while, we're doing a lot better. I think that my companion is feeling stronger now.

We had our first big Ward Night Activity on Wednesday this week! I called up some contacts I have from the office days and we scrambled together some popcorn and juice and had a movie night! We had a big projector and got someone in the Ward to bring 17 Miracles (which I had never seen before). We had a good turn out for a first time deal, and there were two investigators present (from the other side of the Ward), so it was a good success. I love that movie so much! It really is so sad and just rends your soul at some points, but has a wonderful message and ends really beautifully. I recommend it to everyone. Just watch it trying to get something out of it though, and you will. 

So, the week was a success in most respects. There's still so much to learn though, and I know that up until my very last day on the mission, I'll still have more to learn about how to find, teach, baptize, reactivate, and retain people. The beauty of this work is in the constant progress we give.

I was thinking about that, and I realized that even when I feel good about myself, I still view my situation or my area as dire in many ways, and that's pretty much always been true. I started to think about why and what I feel I could change about my outside circumstances to feel better about things and not feel like I'm hanging on a precipice, and I realized that so much is out of my control. I think the key to having a right perspective about our lives and situations is a work of salvation by degrees. Little by little, as we study the scirptures, the words of living prophets, as we pray and look to other resources our Father has given us, we adjust our perspective, and we humbly change. Little by little, we also take hold of our situation and change the things that we can. If we work with faith, never desparing, we'll see and be sure that what we have is not a desperate situation, but rather a blessing and an opportunity, that God planned out our success and progress in it and through it and over it.  I'm grateful for the challenges I experience, but I must recognize that I'm not in dire straits nor failing, but that there is work to be done, responsibility to assume, and blessings to be poured out upon those around me. If there were no pressure, no capacity to fail, none of those things would come to fruition. I cannot let my fear of failure chase me into corners or dead-ends in the laberynth of daily decision making, and that's something that I've been changing bit by bit. I love this Gospel because it teaches me how to learn these lessons.

Thank you all for your wonderful emails! You uplift and strengthen me. Pray for Ismael!

I love you so much!

Sincerely.

Elder Harris

A Matter of Choice‏

Bom Dia meus amigos!

That's Portuguese, for no reason! This week has been eventful, and I feel good about it after all that's been going on.

I think that the biggest even on which I can comment is the quarterly interview/zone training meeting, that lasted WAY TOO LONG! We got there at 11:30 am and left at 7:30. It's normally supposed to last like three hours, but interviews never take that short of time, so it was kind of inevitable. But I think that there were a lot of missionaries that were needing some strengthening. I hope that last week I didn't cause you all to worry about the difficulties that I've been facing. Life just needs to be difficult sometimes, but I'm going to write more about that later on. I wanted to tell you all now that those difficulties and discouragements are passed, and that my companion and I are working together with a great deal more harmony and peace. It was all a matter of choice really, and thanks to our wonderful Mission President, my companion was able to make a choice that has resulted incredibly profitable for his spiritual and general well-being.

We continue in our hunt for investigators! Until now, we have two, but a bunch of possibilities. One of the two that we have used to have a baptismal date for June 27th, but that fell because she didn't attend Church yesterday. She's Luciana Cristaldo de Guzmán. She's gone through a lot, and used to attend an evangelical church called CFA. Her husband has a degenerative disease called Multiple Sclerosis and is mostly confined to a special bed, and she lost one of her 22 year-old sons a few years back. But, she has lots of faith in God, and we weren't sure if she was really actually interested, because we couldn't find her all of last week. All of the sudden, two nights ago, we had a lesson with her, and she'd read in the Book of Momon! She understands well and now understands why pray about it. We're excited to teach her the Plan of Salvation today and see if it doesn't give her more incentive to attend church and keep up with us.

The other we just had our second lesson with last night. His name is Ismael Ramirez, who's young, and has an older brother that lives in a different city who is a firm member of our Church. He (Ismael) wants to change his life, and he read the pamphlet that we gave him like ten times. It was so cool to teach him and see his understanding. He's just a little nervous when we're there, so we hope that he can relax and we can talk a little better.

In my interview with President, we mostly just talked about how to strengthen my companion and what I need to do to build him up. But I did share one thing. I talked about how emotionally unstable I often am. One day I'll feel great, but the next I'll get depressed. I always come back up, but I've always felt that there must be a way to not dip down so much or so frequently. And the answer is as it always has been: it's a matter of choice. I have realized so many times that happiness, true and lasting, should not depend on anything external. It doesn't matter what's going on around me, what all of the results of all my efforts are, or how my companion (or in the future, friends and family) are doing or treating me. My happiness must depend solely upon my decisions to follow the Savior and give my best. In reality, it should be centered on Him, who does never change. Therefore, in any given moment, we can be happy, or at least stable emotionally, because if we are doing something that isn't in accordance with our own happiness, then we can choose to change that and be happy knowing that through sincere repentance we will be forgiven. All of how we feel and react to the world around us is a matter of choice. It's this internal self-sufficiency. This isn't to be confused with indifference. We cannot just not care about what goes on. But we cannot let external things affect internal attributes. We must keep the external on the outside, and the internal where it should be. The Savior told us to weep with those that weep and mourn with those that mourn, not fall into the same despair that they might be feeling or give up as they may have. We can react and have the full array of emotions without compromising our own eternal hope and faith. That is the lesson that I've been learning, and it's something I hope we can all achieve. Have the Fount of Living Water within ourselves and not seek any other.

I love you all! I hope that this week goes wonderfully for everyone!

Love,

Elder Harris

Faith Through It All‏

Good Afternoon Everyone!

The Paraguayan Fall continues! We're supposed to be developing into Winter this month, but I have my doubts. Last year, the Winter was much warmer than Fall.

Proselyting this week:

Was a rough one. This is the part where one trial gets stacked up on top of another. We read in the Book of Mormon about how often the Lord is merciful to His people, but we sometimes overlook HOW MUCH they suffered before they were delivered. On one division this week, I was with our Zone leader, and when we clapped outside of the house of one of our only investigators, her husband walked out with the Book of Mormon and all of the pamphlets in hand. He handed them back to me, and very politely, with lots of love and friendship, told us that he and his family cannot continue receiving the missionaries, and that while he respects our beliefs, he differs on several accounts, especially that of baptism. That was a difficult one to take.

Then another one fell. She even told us that she'd love to continue and even follow Jesus Christ unto baptism, but that she cannot continue progressing in the Gospel path for now due to various circumstances in her life at this moment. We tried to help her see that those things are just obstacles and that she must overcome them, but it was in vain. So, we've had to leave her there.

And then we're having to drop Celia Mereles just because she doesn't progress well.

So we still have one investigator hanging in there, but we're needing to go and find a bunch more. This week was tough finding as well, not a lot of people were so interested.

But through it all, I know that it's just another week. I feel such great desires and such great frustration that I haven't baptized in six months, but I know that if I keep looking up and working with faith, trying to find things to improve and actually going out and improving them, God will grant us with His blessings. I've been thinking about it a lot. I feel like He does have success planned. I feel like there are baptisms to be had in the area, but I feel even more deeply that even if not, I will continue with just as much force, faith, and diligence. I love the words of Shadrac, Meshac, and Abed-nego who told king Nebuchadnezzar that God would deliver them, but that even if He did not, they would not bow down. That's how I feel. I feel that God will deliver us out of this difficult time, but even if there is no deliverance, it is worth it to serve Him and love His children.

On happier things, my companion and I are working better together. I don't feel any anxiety about that or depression ensuing. I feel calm and strong. Just anxious to have some success here.

I'd also like to include in the e-mail a reminder to remember the recently passed Elder Perry, and look up his biography on line. May he rest in peace.

I love you all! I hope that you're keeping strong and finding your own ways to have faith through it all.

Love,

Elder Harris