Nov. 28, 2019 -- Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving in One

(Mom note: Abe's P-Day is typically on Monday, however, this week they switched it to Thursday so it would land on Thanksgiving.)

Hello everybody,

I had a crazy revelation the other day. We came home after church and I told my comp I was just going to run and change out of my suit and into my "church pants." In that moment, I realized that what I refer to as "church pants" - slacks - I wear every day EXCEPT for Sunday during church because that's when I use my suit. Holy smokes. What has my life come to. 

Things are going well down here. It is funny when I get a haircut, because all the hair on the ground is just black and then it gets a little sprinkling of yellow on top.

This week I FINALLY got my package from the family! It took two months, but the main problem wasn't the mail system, just the package sitting around in the mission office far away. Anyway, that was a lot of fun! We came home from a conference of all the missionaries in Oriente and that night I opened up the package. Included were like 40 feet of Christmas lights, so my comp turned on the Christmas music and I strung the lights up everywhere. We were sitting there admiring our handiwork in the soft glow of the lights to the gentle Christmas music and suddenly a firefly started flashing green and flying around the room! First firefly I've ever seen. Poor guy probably got all confused with the little lights everywhere. Anyways, it was just a kind of fun, magical moment. The mission is as fun as you make it.

The package also had Halloween pictures from the siblings, so I put those up with the Christmas lights even though I didn't get them until mid-November. And today is Thanksgiving, so we've just got a crazy mix of holidays going on. 

The other day we were talking to a member and there was a crazy lady next door. She started yelling things about the church but I wasn't really paying attention. Then she yelled, "They're thieves! They're going to steal your chickens! They're going to steal your goats! They're going to steal your pigs!" I had to use every bit of self control to not bust up laughing. The members don't even have goats or pigs. Apparently she also often yells that the Elder's Quorum president is the boss of MS13. Good times.

I had my first interchange outside of Jucuapa this week too! Usually I have to stay because Elder Peck is the DL and has to go and do interviews. But, I spent some time in El Transito. It was fun to look down the streets and see trees with red flowers, orange flowers, yellow ones, pink, purple, you name it. It is very pretty here. There're volcanoes in the distance with cloudy tops. My family is sending me pictures of snow, but here it is the kind of weather where dogs just lie down in the street like they're dead. A guy with a big dead lizard in his hand started talking to me in broken English, always referring to me as "White Boy."

Something weird I realized is when I went somewhere and saw a wooden door. That was weird. Almost never see those here. 

The other day I was thinking about how if you want to do or be something, you just gotta do it. If you want to be upbeat and have energy, you just got to decide to do it and get it done. Be who you want to be today. It is like the old Lomond View principal who in the announcments every day would say "Have a great day! The choice is up to you."

Pictured are Elder Peck and I in the multizone meeting. I also caught up with MTC comp Elder Gunderson there. I've also got a picture of me with some Gatorade in a bag. You can buy it in glass bottles, but it costs more, so if they pour it in a bag it's cheaper. 

See you all around,

Elder Harris

Nov. 18, 2019 -- Killing Elder Peck

My name is Abraham Harris.

I live in El Salvador, where I walk through the jungle and on dirt roads and drink my water out of bags. I wake up every morning and go talk to strangers all day in a language I didn't speak until four months ago. I talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ all day. I think about it all day. I live and breathe it. From 6:30 AM until 10:30 PM it is all I do. And I love it. Nothing else is as important. 

One thing I have learned is that missions aren't just magic. You don't leave on your mission and become a perfect missionary who has no struggles and knows everything about the Gospel. I don't know if anyone is ever really 'ready' before they go, but I do believe that anyone can be ready enough. God will help you. I can feel him answering my prayers and helping me understand the scriptures. This morning I was feeling a little discouraged about lack of success. I said a prayer to feel better and to understand why I wasn't crazy successful when I feel like I am out every day working my hardest and being obedient. Shortly after my prayer, my comp started listening to general conference talks in Spanish. I wasn't paying attention, but suddenly one line from the second talk in all of conference jumped out to me. "Sacrifice is more sacred than increase." That was what I needed to hear. Just a small experience, but I am sure God hears our prayers and answers them. We just have to listen. Maybe our efforts to build the kingdom of God, however insignificant, are more important than how successful we are.

I am officially a missionary out of training! First the MTC, then 12 weeks of being a trainee, but now a full-fledged missionary. Crazy. Time flies fast.

I am happy to report that the song "Feliz Navidad" is still a thing outside of the US. 

Also, any time people try to guess our ages they always think I much older then my comp, Elder Peck. He is 20 and I'm 18, but they usually peg me as 23 or 24. I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Speaking of Elder Peck, he is in his last transfer and will be going home after this. I am his last companion, thus will be "killing" my own "father" in missionary lingo. Geesh. It is like Kylo Ren and Han Solo. Super sad, haha. Nobody tell me what happens in the new Star Wars. 

Also, I went to snag a pair of sweats and lifted them up only to find hundreds of little ants crawling on them. They had started a colony under the pants. That was disturbing. Lots of little white ant-larvae or something. I quickly deprived them of their home, chucked the pants in a bucket of water, and painted the town red with RAID. I love RAID. Faithful friend in a metal can. It's the best. The ants are gone now.

This week was earthquake number two! We were teaching a lesson and suddenly it just felt like when you are trying to balance on one of those balance boards on a little cylinder drum, as close as I can describe it. Lots of back and forth moving around for 30 seconds or so. They say it was a 5.6. Anyways, I enjoy the earthquakes. They are lots of fun. Spice up the day a little bit.

People here are super nice. We visited one family of investigators that we had only taught maybe one lesson to, and they just welcomed us in and loaded us up with pupusas and tamales. I love El Salvador. So pretty everywhere and everyone is so nice.

I also love hearing things we do come back around to us. We went and bought some pupusas the other day and the guy that brought them out (Kevin) told us he had seen us passing before and we were speaking english, and he said that everyone was like "Whoah! Who knows what they're saying." Another time this week we visited a less active family, and the sister told us that her aunt told her that a member of her Catholic congregation was saying how he had talked to us and that we were so pleasant and he enjoyed the message very much. He is very Catholic, so I am not sure that he'll progress much, but it was fun to hear that he had talked about our visit with other people and they had talked about it with other people. The things we do and the influence we have on people really do spread like crazy. People notice your example!

Things are going good here. If you feel down, read the Book of Mormon. It's the best.

Elder Harris

Nov. 11, 2019 -- THE DAY EVERY MISSIONARY WAITS FOR

YES, you heard the subject line right. This week I finally passed the 100 pupusa mark! I am sitting at a comfortable 107. I hope I haven't gained any weight, but I don't know because I have only seen a bathroom scale once in the mission office on the other side of the country. I think I'm maintaining even though, so that's good. Pupusas are great.

Also, I am unfortunately liking dogs less as a missionary than I did in the pre-mish life. Two different dogs got me this week. One grabbed my thumb as I was shutting a door and another bit my ankle (also while I was shutting a door). I guess the motto is to watch your back because they like to get you when you're shutting doors. Or just leave first so your comp has to get the door.

One snack I like down here is these little packs of peanuts baked in soy sauce that you can buy for a dime. They taste pretty good.

The other day we were walking and one of the drivers of one of the little three-wheeled moto-taxis gave us a ride for freeeee. It pays to talk to everyone and make friends, haha. Also, ride is the same word here. ¿Quieren un ride?

Man, I have realized how awful alcohol is. These poor guys that are addicted spend every day sleeping on the same dusty street corner in their drool. It is just a very sad way to live. Don't drink.

We got to church and they had a bunch of newspaper taped to the walls to protect it because they had been restaining the wood parts. They wanted to take the newspaper down so it would look good for the meeting, but it was way up on the ceiling and everywhere. The decided solution was to take the tallest person in the chapel, which happened to be me, and put me on a big stack of those plastic chairs they always have in the church buildings so I could grab all the newspaper. I could practically hear the theme song from Safety Zone playing, but it was all good.

(Mom note: The Safety Zone is a series of church videos missionaries are required to watch before leaving on their missions. The videos are, as you might suppose, all about staying safe on your mission.)

Everyone here is very nice. We were walking past the prison and they had the prisoners out in their white shorts and shirts and white crocs building a wall or something and one shouts, "The Elders!" and waves. Even if people don't end up progressing too much, lots of people are willing to talk and let us in to their houses to listen. Lots of people that even say they are in a different church and are uninterested will still give us a snack or some juice or something, which is very kind.

I have also hit the 4 month mark! Time just flies by. I am officially 1/6 done, which is crazy. Time on the mission is super short. Take advantage of it and enjoy it. Even the hard bits. One kind of funny thing is that the missionary daily planner has 24 holes in the binding and the title has 24 letters (in spanish, not english). Missionaries will tick off one every month. Included is a picture.

It feels weird to hear Christmas music or see people's Christmas lights while I'm sweating and seeing palm trees. It messes with my time perception. I still feels like it is the summer I left because it has just been constantly hot. ARRRGGHHHH I have to use every ounce of self control I have to not start typing in Spanish. Messes with your head to speak so much and then switch to english. It is funny when my comp or other older guys forget english words. Spanish is coming along nicely and I understand just about everything and can usually figure out unfamiliar words from context.

Man, this Gospel is so true. Stick with it. It is worth everything. I wish I could put into words the happy feeling in my heart I have when I read the Book of Mormon and think about the Gospel. It sounds a little silly typing it out here, but it is very true.

Pictured this week are the planner, a dragon I drew just for fun, and a beautiful soccer field that is in the middle of a tiny outskirt jungle town. There's also an El Salvadoreño sunset and moonrise. This is Reynoldo Barrahona, a super cool guy in the ward that makes violins and guitars for a living. He plays very well and I like talking to him. Pretty much every older man in El Salvador dresses the same way with a shirt with one button done. Also a large spider in the sink.

Thanks everyone for the letters and emails. It always makes my day just to know someone was thinking about me.

See you all later,

Elder Harris

Also, here are pictures from last week that I couldn't attach because I didn't have my camera. That is me with the Halloween haul and my decked out planner. Feeling that holiday spirit. Also me with the new missionary, Elder Taggart, during our day together. Wooo that was a lot of Spanish brainpower and focus we used because we were on our own, haha. I also found a "Men at Work" piece of construction tape on the street and took that home because it applies nicely to us.

Nov. 4, 2019 -- Happy Halloween...?

Hello everybody.

I forgot my camera. A little sad about that. No pictures this week. 

This week was Halloween! Nobody down here celebrates Halloween, but I did not let that stop me. I went to the store last P-Day to prepare and bought all the over-priced American chocolate that I could find, along with some spanish cookies that had pictures of ghosts on the package (thanks to a little treat-yourself money that Bro. Stuart had sent with me to the mission). I just ate myself sick on chocolate when we came back home for the night. It was great. Best night ever. Nobody celebrates Halloween, but they blocked off a whole street to sell flowers for their Day of the Dead, which is sort of like Memorial Day.

COOKING WITH ELDER HARRIS:

Here is a comprehensive list of everything I have cooked on my mission:

- Powdered milk

- Strawberry Nesquick (with the powdered milk)

Those things I make a bunch. Here are two things I only have made once so far:

- Waffles. We happen to have a waffle iron, so that's great. I must admit that I am a master at waffles. I even mixed some cinnamon into the batter to have some extra flavor. 

- Eggs. Scrambled some eggs. After doing the one-handed egg opening.

That is everything I have ever cooked on my mission so far, haha. Professional tip, though, when you are putting the water in the milk jug to make powdered milk, it is much easier when you cut the top off a water bottle to use as a funnel. This tip may only apply when your water comes in little plastic bags that you rip open. If you have a sink, don't worry about it.

Last P-day we were writing in a little computer lab thing where you can rent computers. They must have had missionaries there before, because when we came in they switched on the church music! Started with "If You Could High to Kolob," so that was a lot of fun.

This is a little crazy, my youngest sibling, Starling, has now lived more of her life without me than with me. 

I was with a Panamanian one night, and he was confused at my Crest toothpaste. That doesn't exist down here, only Colgate. I guess I will have to do a brand switch when my next tube runs out. 

Elder Peck and I went with two of the young men in the ward to visit someone, and they showed us a leaf that looks like a tiny fern. The bottom is covered in a white powder, so you can slap it on your arm and have a super cool exact copy of the leaf there. Then you just rub it off when you're done. They did it and it looked super cool, but then I tried and it almost didn't even show up on my white skin, so we had a good laugh about that.

This week I had to direct the area without my comp for almost three days. At first I was with Elder Taggart, the new Elder, so our combined knowledge of Spanish was all we had going. It worked out alright though. Then the next day I was with one of the zone leaders, who is a native spanish speaker, so I was on full spanish mode. I can talk about the church super easily, but I tried explaining something about the Olympics and couldn't figure out any of the words I wanted, so that is kind of funny. Phew, I am always tired after directing the area because I have to make all the plans and know where everyone lives and have all the backups, so it's a little crazy.

I would like to illustrate a spiritual thought with three short experiences:

- First, we went to teach an older lady, and her grandson was there. When he saw us, he said, "I know you guys, I saw you on the bus!"

- Then we went to a house we hadn't ever been to to see if a reference was at home. A lady answered the door said, "No, he's not, he left just after you guys walked past the house earlier!"

- Later we were talking to an investigator and a drunk guy was there. He said, "I know you guys, you were talking to an old man up in El Chaguite and I was inside listening."

Anyways, the point is that we had no idea these people had ever seen us or known who we were. It really is true that people are always watching you and see your example. Hopefully they saw us and were impressed so they could be more receptive later on. People notice the little good and nice things you do, and also when you don't do what you should. Ye are the light of the world. Be good examples.

Elder Harris