Aug. 10, 2019 -- The Defeat of the Iron Thieves

Let's jump right in...

So there we were, locked in what looked like might be eternal conflict. There are two irons on the floor, one next to our door and one on the opposite corner. For a while, all was peaceful. Then the Portuguese missionaries arrived. Our iron is obviously superior to theirs, but in an extreme show of disrespect the other missionaries stole our iron and switched it with theirs. We recovered what was rightfully ours, but they would steal it back. The iron changed hands multiple times every day. We knew that something had to be done. Finally our ingenuity prevailed and we padlocked the iron to our ironing board. That was the end of that. We emerged victorious. See Figure A:

I love hearing BYU’s bell tower whenever we’re outside. The bells play hymns and stuff every hour. Also, they are taking down the last old buildings of the MTC! Lots of construction. They’ve just been smashing one of the buildings with track-hoes, which is kind of awesome to watch. Also loud for studying.

Also, kind of crazy news, I am officially 1/24 of the way done with my mission! Kind of crazy. Also, I am going to El Salvador in eight days! I feel like I just got here, but I guess I’m just about done. A bunch of my English speaking friends that got here after me are gone, but this week I saw Jackson Allred, Jason Lawson, and a couple other people I recognize like Koby Pack. Always like seeing familiar faces. They're some good guys. And, small world, because I met someone who had Sam Allred as their HEFY counselor. Somehow I know lots of people that had him and they all think he's the coolest guy they've ever met. With all these new missionaries, though, the lines for meals and things are crazy long. We're talking wrap around the lunchroom and out the door, 45 minute kind of lines. I won't miss that in El Salvador.

Elder Gunderson got some Nerf guns and Noah sent me a hacky-sack, so we have some fun during our limited free time, haha. Elder Redford had his birthday the other day and some of the guys put balloons and streamers all over his bed and closet.

Also, very proud of myself, part of my running shoe on the top edge right where you put your foot in started pulling apart, and I sewed it back together! Looks pretty good if I say so myself. After 45 minutes of trying to get the thread into the needle, it was smooth sailing. (Why don't they just make the holes bigger? I don't know.) Look how self-sufficient I'm getting. It's ridiculous.

I hope somebody out there enjoys my stories. Lots of kind of strange or funny things just to keep it interesting. That’s kind of the fun stuff in the MTC, but just so people don't think we mess around all day, we have a lot of spiritual and meaningful things too.

For example, last week we decided to jump in with the MTC choir. They said things like “bases on the right and tenors in the middle,” which we did not understand, but we went and sat with the bases. We sang “Praise to the Man.” Choir is cool because we don’t just sing, but the director tells stuff about the song, and since this was Praise to the Man he told about Joseph Smith. The director is really cool. Reminds me of Uncle Mark for some reason. My favorite thing was when he was talking about Joseph taking breaks from translating to wrestle and he said “Can you image President Nelson standing up, stretching, and saying, ‘Come on, Dallin!’” Not sure if that is as funny in email form, but we thought it was great. Anyways, we sang it with a choir of 1100 people, and it was very powerful. Just felt a lot of love for Joseph Smith. He was a prophet. He was a good guy. Some people get upset because he wasn't always perfect, but I think it is really comforting. If God can restore His perfect Gospel through an imperfect man, surely he can help us have success in our little endeavors as we try to be better. We need to do our best, but God knows we'll make mistakes and fall short, and He can help us overcome that.

Also, we taught our first not-so-good lesson. We thought it was okay, but they do surveys after, and they marked bored and confused as their emotions. Too bad. Most of our other lessons have been pretty good though, so I guess it just shows that every missionary has his down day. It was a little frustrating, but prayer is a big help and I know Christ will comfort us even if he doesn’t take away our hard times. He has helped me to feel peace.

Here is a spanish joke to end, you know you're a pro if you can figure it out. (can't figure out how to get the accents, though)
Que hace el pez perezoso? Nada.

See you later,

Elder Harris