Dec. 30, 2019 -- Living the High Life

Yes sir, we are living in luxury now.

The other day the bishop that always drives things around to the missionaries brought us a special surprise . . . beds! That's right, no more of this mattress on the floor nonsense. Life is gooooood. But, have you ever tried to connect the bottom piece to the head and foot boards without a hammer? Let me tell you, it is some work. We finally put our beds together after about 45 minutes of sweat and work in the night. We would stand on the little plate and bend the headboard and just try to lever it far enough over with our body weight and the floor, if that makes sense. Then when it was finally stretched out enough to where we could put the holes in the slots I delivered some wickedly powerful kicks to substitute for a hammer to ram it into place. Good times.

We had a good Christmas here in El Salvador. On the 24th, we got to call home, which was a blast, and then we went and visited people. We visited Hno. Morales, the chef, and got to his house right when he was serving dinner to two other families in the ward, so they rushed us to some seats and fed us turkey and mashed potatoes and other food. It was very very good and fun to talk and laugh with all the members. Then they had fireworks going all night, which was fun. Then on Christmas day I opened the packages I've been saving from Mom and Aunt Kathy. It was a blast to have something to unwrap. I got a pedometer from home to see how many thousands of steps I walk, haha. So far in these couple days my best is 15,500, but I am not sure if that is a lot or a little. Someone get me a distance conversion. Aunt Kathy also sent me a sweeet Ogden Made t-shirt. It is my new favorite by far. Representing the home turf. 

We got another free ride from a taxi driver we had talked to before today! It pays to share the gospel with taxi drivers.

I also got a bunch of red spots on my legs that itched like the dickens and I wasn't sure what they were. Turns out they were flea bites. I don't like fleas. They itch like 100 times worse than mosquitos and are just way worse. Yeesh.

Sometimes there are random concerts with giant speaker walls, and they are very loud, so you can hear it from far away. The other day I was studying and then they started playing Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. Took me right back to driving to the mountain bike trails with Noah Stuart with the windows down and that song among others rolling. I enjoyed that.

I am continually amazed by the impact little conversations have. The other day we invited some guy in the street to a ward Christmas dinner. Later in the week we went and met with an investigator and he said "Hey, you guys met Chele (the nickname of the guy we talked to)!" We asked him how he knew and Chele had mentioned that he talked with us in the alcoholics anonymous group that he went to and said we were very friendly. It always blows me away that even when you think the conversation ends right then and there, it often has impacts that go far beyond what you normally see. We had 17 nonmembers come to the Christmas dinner, which was super good. One lady arrived with an invitation I had written, but we hadn't ever seen her before. Someone else we had given one to gave it to her. Kind of cool the little random things that happen sometimes.

Pictured are a photoshoot with Aunt Kathy's sweet shirt, some Christmas LEGOS, Christmas Eve dinner, and first day with beds!

Have a great New Year!

Elder Harris

Dec. 24, 2019 -- I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Hello everyone! 

Turns out that in Latin America, Christmas is the 24th, which is why I am writing today. It is kind of surreal, with all the heat it doesn't really feel like Christmas. Kind of just like the randomly threw Christmas into the summer.

The other day we saw a middle-aged tourist couple. One was from Great Britain (shoutout to Elder Ireland, old British roomie) and one was from Holland. It was very weird to talk to people in english. It feels so strange to bear my testimony or anything in english. Spanish is just much more natural now, haha. I never used to believe missionaries when they said that. 

I was thinking the other day that just last year indoor track was starting up and I was part of it. That life seems so far away, kind of strange. Once I was watching General Conference with Boston and Avalon Marker and an apostle mentioned something about the "Ultimate Brotherhood" of the priesthood and Boston leaned over to me and whispered, "He's obviously never met the Weber hurdle squad." Haha, those were some good times. Boston and Brandon Jaskowiak and everyone.

The other day we were waiting for the bus on a jungle road and then out of nowhere I hear Star Wars! I turn around and in the little house behind us there's Luke on Dagobah with Yoda. Good old Star Wars. I think it should be added to the official church doctrinal material. If I'm an apostle one day I'll make sure that gets done.

I have a new comp! He is my first one NOT from Texas. Elder Arroyo from Guatemala. He is pretty cool and I like him. We get along well. He connects with people well. The funny thing is that out of everyone in the mission, my new comp is the elder that I had to share a bed with when we went to the capital for the Christmas activity. 

We also had another earthquake recently. I don't even know if this is newsworthy, because we have a lot, haha. But I enjoy them. 

Man, people say the mission is hard, and I don't know if I really believed that either until I got here. It is true. But I also just find myself really really loving it. I don't even know why. But it is a lot of fun. 

Today to celebrate Christmas we went to Wendy's for maybe my third time in the mission. Going to places like that or Pizza Hut is just super weird. It is like a strange teleporter machine that takes my from El Salvador back to the states. Everything is exactly the same, even lots of signs in english and stuff. They were playing American Christmas songs, which I enjoyed. Very surreal. If Wendy's feels so strange, I imagine going home is just going to be crazy.

Anyways, just living the life out here. Thanks for the birthday wishes. Merry Christmas tomorrow.

Elder Harris

Pictured is me with the age old Harris Christmas tradition of drawing Christmas pictures on Ritz crackers with Squeezy Cheez. Man. Best tradition ever. Also me with a giant toronja that we cut down from a tree. They are like giant oranges that are red inside. And the one and only Elder Arroyo.

Dec. 16. 2019 -- Funerals of Two Faithful Friends and Last Day as 18

Wow! It has been a packed couple of weeks. Let's get started.

First off, I always love the little random things I see here. I've seen a couple circuses with the big tents and everything. Also another BYU hat this week! Represent. I also saw a guy that was probably like 20 with an english hat that said, "This is what the world's best grandpa looks like."

Elder Peck and I like playing a game every time we make waffles called "What random powders can we add to the waffle mix?" We have tried things like Strawberry Nesquik  and chocolate protein powder. So far, so good.

We also just completely blew the budget this week and decided to buy REAL MILK. Wow, it was good. I haven't had that forever.

I also had my most enjoyable bus ride EVER. Usually they just blast rather worldly spanish music, but this bus was pumping the music from Rocky! Man, it was the best.

You know you are a real Salvadoreño when you prefer the pila (cement water box) and washing your hands in a sink feels weird. Thus is my life. Speaking of the pila, very sad news this week. Our fish, Flojo, passed away. He was a good fish and I will miss him. That was the first funeral from the subject line.

The Christmas Spirit is going strong here. In the park they have lights on all the palm trees and big light nets overhead. It is pretty crazy. Like the lights by Lee's but more. They also blocked off a whole street just to sell fireworks, so everyone is gearing up for the 24th.

It was kind of funny the other day when we were returning to Jucuapa in the bus. We were the last ones in the bus, and so we tell the bus driver to let us off at the next corner, which was close to our house. He then says, "Ah, you're going to the house!" And then drives us right up to our front door. Just a random bus driver in El Salvador. I don't know if I should be touched or unnerved that everyone knows where we live, but I am constantly amazed at how much people really pay attention to you and what you do. Your example means a lot. We also talked to a new guy we hadn't met before and he told us how he always saw us in the bus stop and would want to talk to us. People notice.

This last week was my birthday, and it was the best mission birthday I could have asked for! To start off, the day before my birthday (the 12th) was the mission temple trip, so I got to go through the temple in Spanish. It was very special and built my testimony of the temple a lot. It was just super peaceful and I could really feel the beauty of God's plan. You can almost physically feel the peace in the temple. It is a very sacred place. The church is the same everywhere you go. The baptismal font was crazy cool! Super big and the oxen looked awesome. My new favorite temple for sure. Outside the temple was just super beautiful too. There is a big circle of palm trees outside and the flower beds were full of poinsettias.

Heading back from the temple, we had to all go and stay in other missionaries' houses because we had crossed the country to get to the temple. As a result, I broke all kinds of personal records for fitting lots of people in little space. First, we fit 22 people in a 12 seater van. Then we fit 7 people in a 5 seater car. Lastly, we put 4 missionaries in two beds. A little crazy. I don't think I fell asleep that night. I just lay there looking at the wall until the alarm went off.

The next day (my birthday!) was the mission Christmas activity, so it was pretty awesome how that turned out. We got there (in this beautiful park with trees and grass and sports complexes) and we all got a stocking full of treats. Then Hna. Durán, the president's wife had me stand up and the whole mission sang me happy birthday, which was fun. Not something that everybody gets to experience. Then we sang Christmas songs and then went to play! We got to spend a couple hours playing whatever sports we wanted. I played some basketball and then football (American!) and it was a blast. It was super pretty. During that whole trip to San Salvador, it was really surreal to see things like carpet (in the temple), big buildings, grass lawns, American-style gas stations with gas station food, etc. Weird. Anyways, it was a lot of fun to spend my birthday that way. Oh, and a couple days later, Hna. Irma, who we buy lunch from every day bought an ice cream cake to help celebrate my birthday because her daughter's was close. It was very nice of her and very special.

Lastly, my comp, Elder Peck is headed off to his house! That is the second funeral. I am currently staying in a trio and living out of a suitcase and sharing beds again, which is never that fun, but I will get my first new comp in the field this Wednesday!

See you all around.

Elder Harris (now an old man)

Pictured are Elder Peck burning an old sock, getting together with some MTC buddies at the Christmas activity, Hna. Irma's ice cream cake, and the swimming pool in the sports complex that was super tempting but we couldn't use.

And one more of an example of a cool bus in El Salvador. And a super white person. Might be a ghost.

More pictures of the temple trip.

(Mom note: And here are two bonus pictures from the mission activity sent to me by a friend whose friend's son is in Abe's mission.) 

Dec. 2, 2019 -- Ice in El Salvador?

Hello everybody.

No, there was no ice in El Salvador. But! We did watch Frozen 2 in Spanish to celebrate Thanksgiving with the other missionaries in the zone. Little bit of wintertime cheer, haha.

I felt a little like Spiderman in the original movie (the best one) this morning as I was sprinting down the street chasing a bus when it pulled out right before we arrived. We ran for a long ways but it was fun to open up the throttle a little bit and stretch the legs.

The other day we saw some middle-aged white people that were off touristing. I have no idea why they were all the way out in Jucuapa. It was very surreal. The first white people I've seen that were not missionaries. And I saw a 70 once, I guess, but that´s it. 

Thanksgiving was kind of fun. It was P-Day, and that night we went to our teaching appointment with investigator Ronald. We've been teaching him for a while, and he's not there yet, but I am very confident that at some point he's going to get baptized. He is super cool and loves reading and studying the scriptures. Anyway, we got to his house and after a brief lesson he said that he knew that today was a special day for us Americans and brought out some chicken and a little meal for us, which was just super nice. It was fun to celebrate a little bit. There is a picture of us in his house with the Elders Quorum president Juan Yanes and some other folks. 

Also, this week we had our first baptism! Michell is 9 years old and just super excited about the Gospel. She memorized word for word the first vision story that is in the Book of Mormon with pictures for kids. She is super cool and loves the scriptures. Anyways, her family had been less active in the church for 8 months or so, and we started visiting them and helping them, and then they started going to church again! It was a very happy day. I´m sure she would have gotten baptized at some point without us, but we were lucky to be here and get to know their family and have a little part in their return to the church. Attached are pictures of us at the baptism with her family. Her dad, Hno. Noé baptized her, and they had cake and piñata, so it was lots of fun. They're a great family.

That's it for this week. Also pictured is a Sister Nichol's candy bar and two stalwarts of the church here, Hno. Morales who was the chef in the Joseph Smith building and cooks for us, and Hno. Eduardo, who was in the Elder's Quorum but is now in the bishopric after only 10 months or so in the church. He reminds me a lot of Adam Allred. Maybe it's just the mustache and muscles, but he's super cool.

Adíos,

Elder Harris