Dec. 29, 2020 -- The End of the Periodic Table

It was an exciting day, yesterday. We've been trying to get creative in order to find new people, and so we thought we would give a virtual Bible study a shot! We put out some Facebook ads, but when the time came, nobody had joined the zoom meeting. We were just about to give up when I got a notification that said, "'Random Guy' has entered your waiting room." I said, "No way! We got one!" and hurried to admit them into the meeting, only to see my companion's face on the screen. The jokester had jumped on the meeting on his phone.

Being on a mission can definitely have some ups and downs of emotions. We are teaching a family that was supposed to be baptized tomorrow, but they had to come to church in order to do so. On Saturday night, the son had gotten off work, and everything seemed good to go. Sunday morning we texted them early to make sure they were still good to come, and then we left our missionary correlation meeting to go have them follow us over. We called on the way, but still no answer. We got there and their car was there, but after a lot of knocking, they didn't answer. We knocked for half an hour and called them half a dozen times to give them every chance to come to church and get baptized. Finally the son answered the phone and said he had gotten called into work, and then they answered the door and had just woken up and weren't going to make it. We finally got to church late, and nobody else that said the would come made it either. Then they announced from the pulpit, "This week we are going have a baptism, right elders?" We just had to shake our heads. "Oh, sorry, nevermind." It was just kind of an awkward and discouraging morning. To top it off, we got home to change out of our suits, and when I went to turn on the lights, the last big chunk of the white Christmas lights that are only lights in the room burnt out. Sigh. Later we found out the family had been out late the night before visiting family that had been hospitalized with COVID, so they have definitely been going through some difficult times. They'll get there soon. I think that the occasional times of sadness and frustration that come as a missionary are because from our perspective, we can see how much the gospel will help and bless people and give them everything they need, but sometimes they just don't realize it. It truly is the recipe for happiness. 

But! There are always way more good times than bad. Our funny recent convert Andres recently got exposed to COVID, but had to wait on a test result. We asked him over text how he was doing, and he sent us a voice recording in a soft, weak voice that said, "Well . . . here I am . . . on my last breaths . . . Nah, I feel great!" He's the best. We did a videocall with his wife, who is in Guatemala and met her, which was awesome! Unfortunately, they live in a spot that is pretty far from the church. But he told us how he already showed her the gospel library app and has been reading the Book of Mormon with her.

We are living in luxury now. After weeks of persuading, my companion finally convinced me to let us get a new shower curtain since the old one was pretty gross. I was sad to say goodbye to our faithful periodic table shower curtain. I may never have a shower curtain quite so awesome again. But the new one is nice. And I finally retired my sacred (because they're so hole-y) sheets and bought some new ones, and they are mighty fine.

Maybe to make up for the sad Sunday, yesterday it started raining for the first time in months! It was so pretty outside and smelled like rain (instead of smoking), We jumped on our bikes with some english flyers we'd printed and went out to hang them up. It was some nice fresh air, and it is always fun to see how many Hispanic restaurants let us hang up the flyers. And to use any possible excuse to ring my new bike bell. We always try to talk to the people we pass by. We went by one Hispanic family at the bus stop and said hi, but then kept going. My companion after a minute said, "Elder, I think we should go back." It is always a little awkward, but they say that regret lasts longer than rejection. We went back and talked to this awesome young family that recently arrived to the States. Their three year-old son gave offered us a fist bump and we were able to talk to them. We talked to another older gentleman who showed us pictures of his old marathon running days and let us pray with him and set up a time to visit.

We also put another free english class ad on Facebook! They are crazy because we get hundreds of messages for days, so it makes us feel like a crazy, under-staffed call-center. But we end up sending referrals all over the valley and finding some for our own class, so that's really nice!

I love when you start to talk to someone in english, and they say, "No hablo ingles," confident that that will end the conversation. When a couple white kids say, "Perfecto! Hablamos español!" they are trapped and always look like deer in the headlights. You can always start a conversation just because they are taken off guard and can't seem to think of another rejection line. Once the opposite problem happened though, when my comp started talking to someone in Spanish and they said, "No hablo español." It was pretty awkward. 

We got a phone call a few hours ago from someone who said, "I don't know if you remember me, but you gave me a picture of Jesus Christ while I was at the bus stop several months ago. I've been going through a divorce and some difficult things and thought maybe I could call you guys to help me feel closer to God again. You're the young guys with shirts and ties and bikes, right?" It was such a cool thing to see that no effort is ever wasted. This poor man that I didn't even remember saved that card for months, and later, when he was going through some difficulties, remembered a few young men that talked about God. We set up a time to visit and are really excited. 

No te canses de luchar. 

Til we meet,

Elder Harris

Dec. 25, 2020 -- I'm Dreaming of a White Boy Christmas

I've been waiting to use that subject line for an entire year ever since Uncle Rob suggested it last year when I was in a different place that doesn't see snow, although back then I did stand out a little more for my less-than-dark complexion.

Last week on the night after P-Day, we were chatting under the Christmas lights just before going to bed when we got a mysterious phone call -- it was the assistants telling us that our son was getting emergency transferred the next morning! We were sad to see him go. Several missionaries have received news that they are returning to their foreign mission original assignments, which was part of the reason things were getting shuffled around. So for now we continue as a normal companionship with only an empty top bunk to remind us of Elder Shepherd. 

Last night to spread some Christmas Eve cheer, we took a bunch of Christmas cards we made and delivered them to a bunch of members and people we're teaching that we thought might be a little lonely. Sometimes when we knocked on the door, we heard some funny comments on the other side. One house we knocked on had some little kids come peer through the glass. There was a five or six year old girl that ran back into the house and squealed, "It's the missionaries! I'm so excited!" Another house had someone who wasn't a member answer and go to get his elderly sister saying, "The pastors are here." I think my favorite was when we heard a little kid push a stool across the floor and climb up to peek through the hole. Someone asked who was there, and he said, "I dunno . . . two guys. One of them is really tall!" 

Christmas has been awesome. A week or so ago we had a Christmas zone conference where we painted ornaments for someone we're teaching. There is a family here in the ward that brought us all Cane's chicken yesterday along with a giant stocking full of snacks. We are having a really hard time eating as fast as the members can cook. Today we also did a white-elephant and a ginger-bread house building competition with the district. 

Things are going well in our area. There is a family of four that wants to be baptized on the 30th, so we are really excited for them. We have continued to have our english class (even though it is online for now) and someone that came for the first time last week also came to check out church. It continually blows me away how much more open people are to accepting invitations after being served a little bit.

One awesome and kind of funny experience was when we went to a member's house. We had talked to them in our last appointment about sharing the gospel with their downstairs neighbor by inviting them to church or to a family home evening. They were excited, but a little nervous, as all their past conversations had pretty much been greetings in passing. We were going to follow up on how it went. When we walked in the door, though, they had their friend already in there and where explaining pretty much everything anyone could ever need to know about the gospel. They taught her about the restoration, the Book of Mormon, prophets, life after death, the temple, and a dozen other things, but it was just so fun to see how excited they were to share the gospel and how much it meant to them. When we introduced the Book of Mormon, I mentioned how it answers questions we have, such as what happens after we die. We read a scripture about it, which she liked, and then said, "Sometimes I also wonder, what is the purpose of life?" It was awesome just how perfect the question was and how easy it was to say, "The Book of Mormon also talks about that!" It was just a fun experience.

We also decked out a Halloween skeleton that Aunt Kathy sent a while ago with some Day of the Dead drawings and started using it as a zone travelling trophy. Everyone who wins the challenge of the week gets to decorate a bone. It is a lot of fun.

The other day we called a lady that we had met in the street. We asked if she was ready for Christmas. She told us that it was just going to be a normal day and that she couldn't wait until it was over. She sounded like she would spend it all alone and told us about a recent loss of a loved one she had experienced. We felt like we should share Mosiah 16:7-9, which are some of my all-time favorites about Christ and life after death. She seemed really touched and asked, "Where is that? I would love to study it on my own." We told her about the Book of Mormon and sent her the link to the app. She told us that it had brought her a little peace on an especially difficult Christmas. And I think that is what Christmas is all about. Christ is the gift. Because of him, we can all live again. We have something to hope for. And I think there is nothing that is more beautiful to share with others than that.

Til we meet,

Elder Harris

Pictured is a blurry picture of the Christmas star, me with a chameleon, and our awesome skeleton mascot.

Dec. 15, 2020 -- When Boys Become Men

Today we were at a park waiting for our district to arrive to play some spikeball. We started talking to a guy who asked if we would come sing a Christmas carol to his wife and say a prayer. They were nice and we were happy to oblige. As we were about to leave, the sister missionaries pulled up on the other side of the park. He asked, "Who are they? Are they your girlfriends?" 

"No, of course not," I responded, "those are my three wives!"

Just joking, I did not say that last part. It would have caused some confusion about church policies, haha, but I thought the joke was kind of funny.

So this week I had my last ever day as a teenager! I thought I needed to do something awesome to go out with a bang, but after much thought, the only things I could think of was to either do (A) a lot of pushups or (B) a lot of squats. I compromised and did a lot of pushups on my last day of 19 and matched it with squats on my first day of 20. I guess that is how you celebrate on your mission. 

The night before my birthday at around 9:30, the elders' quorum president called and told us that the next day the ward was doing a combined fast for the bishop, because he had just been taken to the hospital for COVID and was doing pretty bad. Now, I definitely shouldn't have, but at first I was kind of thinking, "Aw man! I was looking forward to some birthday food!" My big plan was to go to a pupuseria for lunch where they sell a dozen pupusas for $15. Now I wasn't sure how I was getting some pupusas. I wrestled with it for a little, but finally as I went to bed I humbled myself and figured, "Oh well, I'm sure if I fast, God will provide a good birthday."

So anyways, the birthday continued with the fast. And it was really good! The assistants called in the morning to sing happy birthday, and about a million of you guys sent me some awesome emails. Thanks so much! Lunch came and went and it looked like pupusas were going to have to wait for another day. We went to visit a member later on who asked us to come help with some service. When we walked in, they turned on, "Mañanitas," the classic Spanish birthday song, and they had a cake, balloons . . . and pupusas! Man, that family is the best. They were so nice. And so it was, that we both fasted and got pupusas! It is probably a lesson in humility for me. It is definitely very true that as we put God first in our lives, everything else seems to work out. And he uses normal people--like that awesome family--to bring little miracles to other peoples' lives. 

We continue to teach the super cool family with the dad and three teenage kids. They are super awesome and really want to be baptized, but needed to develop some better scripture reading habits. We decided that to help them, we would do a lesson where we just read and talked about Lehi's dream. We were able to read it and compare everything to their lives. The next day we called the dad to check up, and he said, "Hey, last night I caught my son reading the Book of Mormon by himself!" We were thrilled! We talked to the oldest son, and he had previously been probably the least excited about baptism. Now he is on chapter 11 of 1 Nephi and told us how he notices that he wakes up feeling better every day when he reads it. He is such a solid guy. Nothing is more exciting than when people read their commitments.

The dad has also had some miracles as we help him overcome an addiction. We decided to start calling him every morning to check in and help him out. The first morning when we called, he said, "Man, I got the goose bumps when you called! It was just at the exact right moment."

Lately they reimposed more COVID restrictions, so right now only people without the priesthood can come to church, which is a little disappointing. It was so much fun to help get the whole ward excited about going and to see everyone there. But! Soon enough, soon enough. 

The gospel is true here in Sin City.

Til we meet,

Elder Harris

Merry Christmas with my awesome LEGO nativity from Aunt Kathy, the Christmas lights from home, and the Christmas card we made.

Dec. 8, 2020 -- The London Bridge is in my Mission

So, it turns out, once upon a time, someone bought the London Bridge, took it apart, shipped it to the United States, and rebuilt it entirely in Lake Havasu, Arizona, which is in our mission. Who knew?

The other day we were joking that Andres, who got baptized just a couple weeks ago, is now more active in the church than we are. His Facebook profile has his CTR ring and a Light The World banner. He also went to a member's house for a family home evening without us yesterday. On Sunday, we asked if he wanted to watch the Christmas devotional with us and said we would come over at 8:00 to watch it with him. He texted us a couple hours early and said that he was already watching it live without us. We didn't even tell him how to find it, haha. He also was able to get the priesthood this Sunday, so we are so excited for him. He came with us to help in a lesson, and when somebody asked him how he knew the church was true, I was interested to hear that he said it was when we took him to visit different families in the ward. He could see that they had something special. 

The other day our trainee Elder Shepherd told us that several times he has woken up in the night to hear Elder Gastelum and I sleep talking in Spanish to each other. Man, we're some weird roommates. 

Most people are so nice here, but there are still those people that drive by and yell about those "(bad word) Mormons." It is so ridiculous. How crazy would it be if someone did the same thing to, like, some nuns walking down the road? Haha, it makes me laugh thinking about it. 

This week to keep the zone excited during the last week of transfers, we started a Book of Mormon challenge to see who could hand out the most from last Wednesday through Monday. The three districts ended up handing out over 200 copies. It was a ton of fun! We all tried different creative things. We set up a table in a park with Christmas music, hot cocoa, Christmas videos, and the Book of Mormon. It was a lot of fun, but only medium successful. Next time we're thinking about trying a busy street corner. It was kind of funny, though, because we set up next to a little walking trail, so people would pass us several times. I accidentally offered the same lady cocoa more than once after she had already given a firm no.

After that, we got creative and tied a Book of Mormon and nativity DVD together with ribbon and a candy-cane and gave out as many as we could carry. We jumped on the bikes and would give them out to everyone we saw. It was awesome how a little presentation made people just so much happier to accept it. Just felt like spreading Christmas spirit everywhere.

One other cool experience was with a family we are teaching. The dad was talking about how he wants to change his life. He said that he always notices the discipline the missionaries have. He mentioned that he could always see that we have our hair combed and clean socks, and you could tell we'd showered that day. He also mentioned our strict schedule that we follow. Little things like that made him want to change his life to have more of that. It is pretty amazing how even those really little things can have a big influence on someone. 

There is another guy we are teaching that is an older fellow, but he is just so cool. He was in the military and showed us a clip where he was filmed when he was 19 by a war photographer decades ago. He also studied thermo-nuclear physics and visited Chernobyl before it all went south. We had invited him to be baptized in his second lesson, and he accepted, but had a question about why we don't drink coffee. We only had time to give a very brief explanation, so we came back the next time ready to teach the Word of Wisdom in all its glory. When we were done and we invited him to live it, he said, "Oh, you see my coffee machine back there? I washed it out after last time, and I don't use it anymore." He just quit without us even asking him to directly after drinking it every day for years! It was an awesome experience. I love seeing how many people there are that are just so ready for the gospel, and just don't know where to find it. 

We got our transfer calls today, and we will all stay here in our trio! It'll be my fifth transfer here, which will put me at about seven and a half months here in Paraiso! It will definitely be the area I've been in the longest.

One last cool thing that happened was when we were passing out our Book of Mormon DVD combos. We went past a park, and a guy running around the track stopped and talked to us. He told us that he had been a missionary and asked if we had anywhere to eat that night. We asked what ward he was in, and he said he actually hadn't gone to church in a long time. But anyway, he gave us his address, and we went over. He was just the kindest man ever, and it was easy to see that he had just been terribly lonely. He only had one big plate, because he never has visitors. All he has for company is two cats. But he bought us a bunch of pizza and ice cream. We ate and watched President Nelson's gratitude message. Afterwards, he asked if it would be okay to have a blessing. We could tell that the visit was very meaningful to this lonely man that had not had any contact with the church for years. It was another testimony to me of how awesome God's plan is. If we had gotten to the park even thirty seconds earlier or later, we wouldn't have seen that guy. He really does put us where we need to be when we are about His business. 

Anyway, life is good, and God takes care of his children.

Till we meet again,

Elder Harris

And the pictures!

Including an awesome Christmas package from Aunt Kathy! Thanks so much!

Dec. 1, 2020 -- Pass the egg-nog! It's December!

Well here we are in December--one of the best months of the year! One of these days I'll finally get a white Christmas. Maybe not this year, though, haha. Last night we hung up the Christmas lights and set up our little fake tree that has been taking up all our closet space for the last year. We have a little nativity set too. I love picking up extra stuff old missionaries left behind. Las Vegas has some crazy Christmas lights, though! Even before Christmas people have their entire houses and yards and trees and bushes coated in lights. 

We didn't have a football to throw on Thanksgiving, but we did have a basket-ball hoop shaped trash can! I felt pretty inspired and we went out to the back parking-lot and duct-taped the trash can to a big storage bin and played some old-school street ball. It was a lot of fun. The air outside's getting a little crisper! Then, a member brought us an awesome Thanksgiving dinner. It was super good. After that, another less-active member invited us over to eat, and after that Andres, our recent convert had us come celebrate his birthday and eat with them. By the end, I was pretty sure that if I didn't just sit still, I would probably throw up. It was a good day.

Being a missionary is pretty amazing. I can't think of anything quite like it. We visit random people that we've never met, and they just let us into their homes and often make us dinners and do all sorts of nice things for us, just because of what we represent. I don't know of any other position that fosters such immediate and powerful connection with people. It is an amazing work to be a part of. 

We met another super cool guy this week. He was a referral from a member in another ward. We had a lesson at the church with the member that referred him, and it went really well. He is an older guy that travelled the world as a government official for Cuba and also served in several wars in Africa. He invited us to his house for the next lesson, where, he told us, "I'll make you a famous Cuban coffee!" We managed to persuade him to do hot chocolate instead, haha. After the lesson, he told us "I just want your help so I can keep learning and be part of your congregation." That happens to be our specialty! We invited him to be baptized the day after Christmas, and he said, "With much pleasure!" He is just so ready for the gospel. Everything clicks. After explaining the Book of Mormon, he said, "Oh, so your church is kind of founded on this right? There are lots of churches that use the Bible, but only you guys use both. I think that is a good evidence for your church." Inside we were just like YESSS! If everybody just understood that connection, things would be so much clearer. If the Book of Mormon is true, this is the church of Jesus Christ once again on the earth. End of story. He also told us how if anyone tried to invite him to anything on Sunday, he would say, "No! I've already got a commitment to church."  He loved how reverent church was and that was what helped him want to be part of the church. I think it's amazing how quickly these new people that come to church can just feel of the truthfulness and recognize it. It also blows me away all the time how there are really so many people that do not have the truth, "only because they know not where to find it." God really is preparing many people for this message.

Another cool guy is someone we street contacted and got his phone number from. He is this middle-aged guy, but he is really big and used to be a luchador. He loves exercise and has his big gold watch and big rings. He has a funny way of talking. When we invited him to church, he said, "Well, you know, if I can make I'll make it, there I'll be, and if not, well you already know. There you go." I don't know if I can make the voice come across, but it's kind of funny. Anyways, he's come to church for a couple weeks now. Another guy we talked to on the street came to a chapel tour as well. It honestly amazes me that people we just meet on the street would actually come and do anything, but it works! It is super awesome to see. 

Every now and then for me it is easy to feel overwhelmed trying to work out my own salvation, help bring my companions to Christ, train a new missionary, find new people to teach, teach and help all the people we already know, build our ward and reactivate members in the midst of a pandemic, plus helping all the other missionaries in the zone work effectively and develop skills. All these teenagers are supposed to master listeners, question askers, scripture users, online marketers, planners, and religious leaders. It's kind of crazy how much responsibility the church is willing to give us! It feels like there is never enough time to do anything! One time when I was feeling kind of stressed out about all these different challenges, I read in Ether 12:27 where it talks about how if we come unto God, he shows us our weaknesses, and then if we are humble, his grace is enough to turn our weaknesses into strengths. It hit me, that when I realize my shortcomings and am humble, it is a sign that I'm coming unto God! My heart is open enough that he can let me know what I need to improve on, and help me change, repent, and improve. It was comforting to me to know that when we have weaknesses and feel insufficient, it can be a sign of our willingness to change as opposed to someone who is satisfied with complacency. So anyway, I still have a long ways to go, but at least I feel that when I am humble about these things, God is helping me along the path back to him.

Till we meet,

Elder Harris

Nov. 26, 2020 -- A Great-ful Week in Sin City

Happy Thanksgiving! It has been a great week. 

One kind of interesting thing from a week or so ago was that President Rodarte asked the Spanish zone leaders for locations and times for all the different english classes our zones had started, because the next day he was having a meeting with Elder Soares, and that was going to be part of his report! It is kind of cool to think that one of the 12 apostles heard or saw something that we typed out. 

Our good friend Andres has come a long way on his journey in the church. He first met missionaries in another mission online in English classes, and afterwards we were able to start teaching him over here. I mentioned earlier that he said we were some of his best friends in the United States. We had a great time bringing him to different members' houses and practicing our song for the talent show that ended up getting cancelled for COVID. Anyway, this Sunday we had his baptism, and it was an awesome experience. A bunch of ward members came, and the elders quorum gave him a white shirt and tie. My trainee Elder Parker was able to come back to see the baptism. Our new trainee Elder Shepherd practiced hard and did a flawless confirmation blessing. At the end, Andres shared his testimony. He said that he finished his decision to be baptized the first time he came to church. He just felt so good and knew it was where he needed to be. He hadn't ever told us that before, but it was so cool to hear that someone could come to church just one time and already know it is the truth. I love that guy. 

Also, on the same day as Andres, another guy I taught got baptized! He was the brother-in-law of a member in our ward, and they invited them over to hear some messages from us. After we taught them a little, we were able to set them up with the missionaries over where they live. So anyway, my part was pretty small, but it was super cool to see someone that had their first missionary lessons with us get baptized. 

The English class we started has just been a miracle worker. I admit that a couple months ago, I just did not like the idea of teaching English classes. My mentality was kind of that I wanted to teach people the gospel and didn't want to spend a ton of time doing english lessons instead. But it has been awesome! We've brought about a dozen people to the chapel for their first time, and we had someone from the english class come to church already. Another guy had a chapel tour a separate day. It is just amazing how much a little friendly service just opens people to the gospel without us even bringing it up. I think very few of them would want to let a couple random missionaries that knock on their door in, but when they come to an English class, they suddenly are happy to stay for a spiritual thought at the end and often ask us questions about church. We texted one of our English students the other day to get to know him a little better, and he chatted with us and then said, "I am interested in knowing more about what a Mormon is." We were super excited. We set up a videocall with him, and in our first individual lesson, it just felt really natural to invite him to be baptized. He said he'd never really been a part of a church before, but that he thought that would be a good step to take and wanted to do it! After just three weeks of English class, I think those are some awesome results. Big testimony to me of service. I had to be a little more humble and realize the importance of doing good like that.

There is a family in our area that Elder Gastelum had taught when he was here about a year ago. They recently had some extended family get baptized, and we were just barely able to start teaching them again! The family has a single dad with three teenage kids. They are all so nice, and as we visited with them the first time, it was easy to see that they were just so humble. They were just looking for more happiness and meaning in their lives. The next time we met, we invited them to be baptized. They said they were willing to consider it but weren't quite committed yet. Then . . . we couldn't get ahold of them for a week. Finally we made them some cookies and delivered them and were able to get in touch again! When we had our lesson, we walked in, the dad sits down on the couch, and the first thing he says is, "Well, we've been talking about baptism and decided we'd like to go ahead and do it." We were so worried after not being able to contact them forever, and their openness was just a huge miracle. The members have been awesome helping out with them. One family brought them some cinnamon rolls, and the ward helped get their family a turkey and potatoes and a bunch of food for Thanksgiving. There is definitely a difficult journey still ahead, but we are so excited.

They just announced that in Nevada they are putting in some more restrictions again, which is too bad. Now at church only missionaries, nonmembers, and people that don't have a priesthood holder in their family can come (at least in our ward). That'll be too bad, because I always loved seeing the whole ward come out on Sundays. 

In other news, we've started keeping a multi-day score tally on Boggle, which we sometimes play during lunch. So far I have the edge on my companions. We'll see how it goes.

As a last Thanksgiving tribute, I have much to be grateful for. I have such an awesome (and giant) family. I had the best group of friends (many of which get these emails) ever. A bunch of solid guys with high standards. And my awesome ward at home that has helped me grow up in the gospel. So anyway: thanks! What a blessed life we all have who are part of the work of the gospel and the business of God. 

Elder Harris