All is well for us here in the city of sin. Lately we have loved turning on a general conference or BYU talk right after our exercise time to listen to in the morning while we get ready, and when we are winding down at the end of the day, we love jamming out to some Hymns at Home (Check it out on the Gospel Music app. If you turn off the lyrics, it is some mighty fine background/study music.)
The other day we stopped and talked to a guy in front of Cliff's Barber shop. It turns out, he was the owner! He said that he used to love hooking up the missionaries and they would come for months and months, but then somewhere the chain broke. He was so happy we came by and said to come next time for a haircut. We went in today, and it was the coolest little barbershop ever. Just these two old, bearded guys that are crazy good. One showed me his barber certificate, which was from 1968. They've been cutting hair for over 50 years! The barber shop was all old-west and was filled with the swinging saloon doors, guns and rifles, outlaw posters, bear traps, wooden furniture, animal skins, and a stuffed bear. They had old Lone Ranger episodes playing the whole time (which we avoided watching, but it still added to the fun atmosphere.)
You may remember last week's story about finding a young couple with the member husband and the non-member wife that moved here for school when we went out to look for the moon. They called us the other day and had just gotten a couch for their apartment and were wondering if we could help move it. We were so happy they trusted us enough to think of us when they needed help. They had a couch with one of the pull-out beds, so it was probably like 200 pounds--and they lived on the third floor. We did a little crazy maneuvering and hoisting to make it around all 6 stair turns and through their door, but it was a lot of fun.
Last week I got to go on exchanges with a Hawaiian elder that is straight out of the home MTC and played football at Princeton. He is super cool and was fun to be with. We had ridden to UNLV on our bikes to do some studies, and then we had to ride like half a mile back. Just on that half-mile stretch of road, we talked with 3 people that practically flagged us down and we got their phone numbers! It was super fun. One of them was a wiry red-haired kid on a skateboard that just graduated high-school and has some member friends. We talked with him and then had a lesson with him and the YSA sisters. He went to church that Sunday, which was super cool!
While I was with Elder Falatea, we also had what was really one of the most spirit-filled lessons of my whole mission. We were right outside our apartment complex to pick up dinner, when a car pulled up and unrolled the window. It was a guy we talked to from last week (the guy whose friend tried to enlist us in solar sales) and his member friend. He said, "Hey, sorry I haven't answered your texts yet. I have been working, but do you have time right now that we could have a lesson?" We were amazed and more than happy. He was still moving into his apartment and couldn't have the lesson there, so we suggested the church instead! We decided to meet there in half an hour. We ate our dinner in 15 minutes and ran to the church. His member friend brought him over, and we gave him a tour of the church. We had spoken to this guy once for like 20 seconds before, and here we were in the church with a member present too! Everything went so well. We showed him the chapel, and he thought it was super cool that the speakers are normal members. He also loved the idea of testimony meeting. We walked past the gym, and people were inside playing basketball. After we walked past someone jumped out and said, "You guys want to jump in?" We didn't, but the guy we were teaching thought it was awesome how friendly everyone was. Then we sat down in a classroom and taught the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. The spirit was so strong as we all testified. We did especially well asking questions, connecting, and listening, I think. He said that he had been interested in the church ever since he had seen us in his apartment complex and seen that we do missionary work all day every day. He had lots of sincere questions and was so open to learning. He loved that our name is "The Church of Jesus Christ." He said, "If there really are living prophets on the earth, it would have to come from a church like this that sends out people like you. You sacrifice so much." He said he knew that if he read the Book of Mormon, God would direct him. He then went to church that Sunday with his friend! Unfortunately for me in the english ward, but that was one of the coolest lessons I've had.
We taught another super cool lady on video call. She was Elder Parker's MTC teacher's cousin! His teacher referred her to us, and we were able to connect so well and share the gospel with her. She asked us questions like, "Is it okay to change religions? Like if I am Catholic and want to change to a different religion?" We assured her that God would direct her and that that wouldn't be a problem, haha. Very sweet lady and so ready for the gospel. At the end of our first appointment, she asked, "Is it okay if you guys keep reading the Bible with me?" It was an easy yes, and she asked if we could the next day! The next day we also included the YSA sisters in the call, and she told them, "After I first met with Abraham and Bryant (she only knew our Facebook names, haha) I just felt like, a peace. I felt like a burden was off my shoulders and I felt happy. That's why I wanted to meet with you again!" We were so happy. It amazes me that the spirit can even be felt so strongly over a videocall.
So, last week we found all those great english speakers! Now we need some spanish folks again for our area!
This week we also got a super exciting special directive. The zone leaders called us and said that some missionaries in our district had been having a hard time and feeling somewhat depressed because they just couldn't find anyone to teach. They had even called President to ask for a blessing. Then it got exciting. The zone leaders said that President talked with them, and together they decided to send Elder Parker and I into the other missionaries area just to thrash around and stir things up a little and to (cautiously and with great common sense) street contact everyone we could to find them some new folks to teach. We were very excited, because usually here, we can street contact if we happen to come across someone in route to an appointment, but that's about it. Now we got to take several hours in an unfamiliar area and preach the gospel! We felt like a special task force. So off we went, working hard and praying harder! We talked with everyone we saw. After about an hour and a half, we had gotten phone numbers from 6 super cool people as we biked around the neighborhoods! It was a little intimidating just to go up to people working on something in their garage or crossing the street and contact them in english, because I hadn't ever done it before, but it was so fun. We found some crazy cool people. 3 were spanish for those missionaries, and 3 were english for some other companionships. It might not sound like the most fun experience, but we just felt so free being sent to wander wherever and talk to everyone. It was awesome.
I also finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Spanish! I have gotten about halfway two or three times but started over for things like Come Follow Me and some other stuff. However, there was a challenge in the mission to read the whole Book of Mormon in 65 days (the amount of time it took Jospeh Smith to translate it) marking every reference to God and Christ and the doctrine of Christ. It was a lot of hard work to finish so fast. I don't know if I'd do it again (I prefer to go slow and dig out all the little treasures you can find), but it was an experience I will always remember. I know there is no way Joseph Smith could have made up the Book of Mormon in 65 days. It would be ridiculously impossible. He is a prophet of God. Now I need to find someone to give my copy to! It is all marked up and ready to go.
I guess I'll let you off the hook on the short novel I wrote this week. There are so many fun experiences out on the mission. Can't even write it all.
Shall we not go on in so great a cause?
Elder Harris
Pictured are me on exchanges with the other district elders, some Transformers robots, some pupusas, a Hudson Hornet (Cars movie), and my BoM.
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