Blessings at the Lord's Hand‏

Hello Folks!

I'm so happy about this week! I feel like I have a lot to tell you all about! But it's all about missionary work, so I hope that's what you were hoping for!

So, in this area, we've had a tough time finding new investigators. It's always been like you find one once in a blue moon and they're usually not actually that interested in following Jesus Christ even unto baptism. This week, we found somewhere around seven new investigators, a number of whom we were able to get second visits with and set baptismal dates. How did we find these investigators? Almost all of them were through tracting. I love the hope that that brings. I believe in the power of it so much! Just get out and open your mouth and it will be filled!

One of them was a young man, about 19 years old, who, when we contacted him, voiced that he wouldn't like to meet with us and really know more, and that he has very different opinions and he doesn't like listening to others. But, we saw a bit of curiosity, and so we bore really sincere testimony and left him with a Book of Mormon. Fast forward three weeks later (this last Friday), and we return to the house even though we've been rejected several times throughout the weeks by his mother, and he let us in first thing and listened attently. He accepted the baptismal invitation and we have an appointment set up for tomorrow. I love the power of God as He works through us. Our words, combined with the converting power of the Book of Mormon, softened his heart to be able and willing to listen.

Another one was a family I'd contacted with Elder Requelme, but who'd never received us. We found them with a little bit of extra time, and they let us in. They're a little more closed off because of deep Catholic roots, but they were equally willing to listen and very curious. We found the mom again yesterday and she accepted a baptismal date for August 29th.

And there were a couple of other people in there who just let us in from tracting them right there in the moment, and beautiful contacts with people who just wanted to know more about what we do as missionaries.

The biggest and most important new investigator is Ismael's aunt, Nancy. She received us on Thursday, after having seen Meet the Mormons as I'd said in last week's email, and that lesson went so well. She received the message of the Restoration with such gladness; it was beautiful. We visited her again yesterday, and she accepted a baptismal date for August 29th as well! She seems so sure about her desire to know more, to know if this is the right path for her, to know truth instead of opinion. I know that God will hear her and answer her prayers. I've felt it in my own life and seen it happen so many times.

There was a moment in the lesson when she just started to talk about the change that she's seen in Ismael, and I started to realize that he's not merely changed his life, he's literally a different person. When I first met him, he was CRAZY shy. He didn't really talk. He had a different air about him. Now, he interrupts me, makes friends in Church, jokes, and is open to life. He has his own initiative instead of being acted on, and he continually makes the decision to work for his good and future. I love this guy so much. I seriously cannot describe how much joy it brings to me to contemplate the blessings God has given him, and the fact that I got to participate. This work is amazing.

Last week, I had an interview with President McMullin so that my Temple Recommend doesn't expire before I leave, and we started talking about these last weeks, Of course, I plan on keeping more focused and working harder and just keeping strong, but he added something to it that I never thought about. He said that no one you teach ever forgets the missionary that gave them their first lesson. Even if he wasn't there to see them baptized, the missionary that gives them their first lesson always sticks out in their minds. I've actually been able to see that in other people in other areas with my companions.

Well, that was this week. I'm doing well and trying to work hard. I always note my own weaknesses, but I'm trying.

I love you all and hope that this message finds you well.

Sincerely,

Elder Harris

3 Gen. Fichero!

Receive, Accept, Listen to, and Adjust to Becoming Part of (And Meet): The Mormons‏

Good Morning Everyone!

This week has been really interesting, and it's had some great blessings. I would like to thank, first of all, my District Leader, Elder Nyberg, who has lent us his copy of the movie "Meet the Mormons" to use as widely as we can throughout the week this week. We have definitely put it to work!

We found a family of four (Momma bear and three teenage children) on Tuesday and had an odd lesson with them, and then on Friday we taught them about the Book of Mormon and they started to pick up some interest, and then on Saturday, we watched the movie with them and that's where they took on strong potential. So, we asked them if we could swing by Sunday morning to take them to Church, and they accepted. What's more, they came! I'm not sure how they received the meetings, it seemed to overwhelm them a little bit, but it was still awesome that they came!

We watched the movie at a family movie night on Friday with Ismael and a few members. His remarks afterwards were "Can I just get out on a mission already?" :) 

This guy makes my heart happy.

We also used it in the baptism on Saturday night, just showing the story of the Fighter while people changed clothes (the other missionaries had a baptism).

Finally, we used it again last night at Ismael's house with one of his aunts, who was before unwilling to set a date to share with us during the weekdays, but who has now set an appointment with us for Thursday. I have a lot of faith in her as an investigator.

That was our use of the video this week! It's been really cool and really inspiring to see it so many times. It always brings into mind a call to be just what we really are: Mormons. People who know Jesus Christ for who He really is and have allowed that knowledge to influence in their whole lives. I hope that we can all live worthily to "be an example of the believers." Those people whom we saw weren't all that extraordinary, but by ever pushing forward to have the Spirit, follow His impressions, and live the Gospel, many of them are making extraordinary things happen. 

We also had a really good Zone Training Meeting on Wednesday. We got to minister some more with the Book of Mormon, which, no matter how many times we practice it, still teaches me more. Also, President McMullin's son, Preston McMullin, who had finished his mission three days prior to the meeting, was present and was the investigator whom we taught in the practices (he alongside his little sister, Erin McMullin). It was super cool to meet him, after serving in the office and seeing so many pictures of him and reading his stories. I've officially met the entire familia McMullin!

Elder DuFort received his birthday package on Wednesday, because on Friday he turned the big 19 years old! I was still at the university when I was his age........ It makes me feel old. He makes me feel old in general. But it's definitely fun to chow through his candy. ;)

I'm surprised at how fast the time is flying by. A lot of my mission has seemed really long, and not in a bad way, but this week feels like a blink of an eye.

But, everyone, I love being a missionary. I love preaching the Gospel and doing contacts. I love being in stressful lessons and relying on God to show me what to say and do. I enjoy praying fervently for those with whom we work, worrying about the Ward and the strength of the members, and fighting this war on the frontlines. I love seeing all the little miracles that shows that God is behind this work and He's doing something bigger than what we will ever realize. I love having the surety that very small, very simple acts and little details bring about miraculous things. 

I gave a talk on Sunday about why we share the Gospel, and how understanding the "why" changes how we share it. I invite everyone to pray sincerely about why they should share the Gospel, about what they can do to invite all to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through faith, repentance, baptism, the reception of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. That is your purpose as much as it is mine.

Love,

Elder Harris

Ripples In The Water‏

Hello Everyone!

I hope that my water reference told everyone what has happened this weekend! Roque Ismael Ramirez Fleitas was baptized on July 11th, 2015 and confirmed on July 12th, 2015! He's so happy and so changed. This really has been one of the most powerful baptisms I've every had. He's not only left behind so much, and he's not merely been baptized in order to join this Church, but really in his heart he was baptized to change his path and to make the Restored Gospel his entire life, and that's the greatest blessing to have seen. He has direction and clarity and we've helped him to know the reason of his existence here and what he must do to fulfill it. I'm so grateful to God that He granted me the chance to be there and help this, His son, come unto Christ.

There will be pictures. :)

But the baptismal service went super well! We have a new Ward Mission Leader, who had a tough time directing the service last time, so we created a guide and practiced with him to prep him, and he did so well! We got there early and Elder DuFort cleaned out the font super well (I more or less helped....) and then made some seriously American brownies. I kid you not, those brownies were just like my great aunt Betty Crocker used to make them, only these were from scratch. It was delicious.

So, before the baptism, our recent convert, Diego Montiel, gave a short talk on baptism. The baptism was done by Ismael's older brother, Iván, and after the baptism, the other Elders in the Ward shared about the purpose of baptism and the story of Adam's baptism in the Pearl of Great Price. After that, Elder DuFort and I sang an acapella duet of "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go," which turned out pretty well. A lot of testimonies and talks followed, and Ismael himself bore testimony. His family was all there, except for his father. And then everyone loved the brownies at the end. It seriously interested a lot of his relatives, and so we're trying to make some follow-up visits to see if we can't find an investigator amongst them. 

It's also helping the Ward get more excited and energized about the work, the fact that there've been back-to-back baptisms these past two weeks. There've actually been a lot of things going on:

Diego Montiel, our Recent Convert, was a witness in the baptism and blessed the Sacrament just this last Sunday for the first time. Along with that, they're really excited, now that Diego is using the Priesthood, to plan out their boy, Matías', baptism. That'll be really good for them. 

Yesterday, we visited Ismael to give him a big congrats and teach him his first lesson as Recent Convert, and then he came out with us to work for an hour preaching the Gospel! He loved it.

Elder Walters had a baptism the week before of a Priesthood-aged man also.

They have a couple of baptisms lined up for this weekend.

All of these things are like rocks falling in the water. They create ripples that in return interact with the other things sitting in the pool. All of this activity is having an effect on the members, helping them wake up. It's also helping me feel the ripples bounce off and return, making me realize the good that we're doing. I'm also working to help build up my companion, see the good that he does and strengthen him in all that I can, and that too creates a ripple effect. I guess all of the good that we do towards other people makes ripples, because even the efforts that seem wasted often disturb something else in the pool, and our good keeps giving in ways that we don't realize. We're trying to do all we can to keep our pool moving and keep the Lord's work active. All of you have your own "pools" your spheres of influence that the Lord has trusted you with. I invite you all to disturb the waters: make ripples by helping and building up those around you. When you do good, don't seek glory, but help others see the good that you're producing. Or better yet, find ways to help them benefit from the good that you do to others. It leads to brighter circumstances and more powerful hope.

Those are the most important developments this week! Enjoy the pictures!

I love you all.

With great sincerity,

Elder Harris

The Cool Part of The Action Movie Where Two Heroes Fight Back to Back‏

Everyone!

This week has been awesome! I'm just really happy about how this last change is going to go. We had the first five days with my new companion in the same area, and it's just really enjoyable. So, who is my new companion???

His selfie is included below. I dunno if he'd like me to send it, but sent it I have!

Elder DuFort, from Roseville, Sacramento, California! He comes into the mission with a whopping 10 months in the field and 6' 1". He's been progressing well and it looks like he's ready to take the next steps forward as a missionary. He's been thrown into this area that he'll get to make his own as he works through here. We've been enjoying our time together a bunch! 

One of the biggest things that I've noticed is the unity. Unity is a crowning principle that we too often ignore in our lives. We get focused on ourselves and lose sight of working with those around us. It's so difficult to acheive though, because it means that everyone's humble, everyone has the same desires for what's best and accepts the same criteria. They don't always have to agree to start with, but as they go along with that meekness, they seek God's will and take unanimous decisions, supporting one another when one gets the right impression first. It's essential in missionary work and the degree of unity or harmony that we have determines a lot of the quality of the work, and the Spirit's ability to work through us (a good scripture that reminds us "If you are not one, you are not mine."). Elder DuFort and I aren't perfectly united, but we are working with much more unity, and that brings so much peace to my heart. There are things I'm going to learn from him, and he has a lot to learn as he's heading into the midpoint of his mission, but I'm confident that we'll both leave this change a lot stronger and more capable to face the challenges that present themselves in the hereafter.

The rant about unity also describes the subject line: that's what lessons feel like now. 

So, I'm feeling great!

The work is moving along. We witnessed a baptism this Saturday. Hector is one of Elder Walters' investigators and he was baptized at 6:00 Saturday. It was nice, but few people attended. He's got a wonderful start in the Church though.

Ismael is so getting baptized this Saturday! It's going to be soooooo great! I'm excited for it. He's worked really hard for it too. He's started to invite people and we're preparing a good program for it, so hopefully you guys get to hear about the best baptism yet!

We're striving to find new families still, as always, and there are some potential people, but I'll write about those who remain next week. The hope is that we have a marriage baptism before I'm done here!

The work is beautiful and wonderful and seeing the change that people bring in their lives with the Gospel is the most satisfying thing I've ever experienced. I'm so grateful for those who've fulfilled that role in my life. It's funny how all I'm doing is really paying it forward. Other people built me up, helped me gain my own testimony, helped me be strong enough to get out in the field and let the Gospel change my life. Other people showed me how and walked with me along the way. All I'm doing is trying to do and be what they were for me for others who really need it. This is something I want to ask everyone to do. Think of the great examples in your lives. Think of the people who changed your lives and what they did to change them (for the better of course), and then go and do it for someone who needs that.

I love you all and hope that this week goes well for every single one of you.

Love,

Elder Harris

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