Mar. 29, 2021 -- For So Persecuted They the Prophets who were Before You

We have a super funny ward mission leader. We had a mission coordination meeting at 1:00 and we called him at 1:10 because he hadn't started the Zoom meeting. He answers in a really high voice and said, "HellooOOOooOOoo -- OH NO, WHAT TIME IS IT!!??" Another time we texted and asked if our ward had a yearly baptismal goal, and he just texted. "Yes, 1000. Yay!" Such a funny guy. 

Also, we were in a meeting recently and got a call about someone in our area that needed help moving. After the meeting, we ran on over in our suits and just shed the jackets. Things went pretty well until there was a really big box. Elder Stewart got on one end and I on the other, and I executed a wonderful example of lifting with your legs and not your back. Unfortunately, the stiff, non-stretch suit material was not quite as large a fan of deep squats and the stitching ripped open all the way up. After a shame-faced, backwards retreat, we were able to go and switch into some more flexible pants and finish the move. Now I have a holy suit from all this missionary work (haha, get it?). Luckily a member fixed me up. 

This week we also met a member of our ward who is 97 and was a POW in Nazi Germany in WWII. He has a non-member care-taker, and we went over and listened to some of his stories. He is an amazing guy. He was shot down in his bomber plane, and most of his crew was killed. He showed us the newspaper clippings of when he went missing and then was confirmed captive. He gave us each a copy of his auto-biography which is super cool looking (I'll have to read it next summer when that is allowed again) and signed it "You are on an important mission." He is a real hero. It is incredible how almost nobody can really comprehend what it would have been like to go through what he did. 

We were visiting an apartment complex to help someone move and were able to jump through the swinging gates just as they closed (almost as cool as a spy movie). We then heard a shout, "Hey! Are you representing your religion?" We looked around but could not see anybody through the fence and bushes on the outside of the gates. The cry was repeated again. Thinking it was an angry security guard, we replied, "Uhh, we are just helping someone move right now!" The other voice started to respond, and we finally peered through a gap in the bushes and saw that it was a guy just a little older than us yelling from his car. We said, "But, yes, we are missionaries and represent our church as well!" He said, "Hey, keep doing what you are doing! The world needs more people doing what you do! Lots of respect. If it gets hard or people reject you just [as he makes prayer hands] keep going!" We expressed our gratitude and shouted back through the 4-inch window in the bushes if we could get his phone number. We did! Later we called him and set up a time to meet. It was just a cool experience that someone street-contacted us instead of the reverse!

There's another woman that moved into our ward and had not gone to church for many years. She finally reached out and wanted to try again. We were able to videocall her and meet her young kids. She introduced to her two-year old and said, "This is the first time she has ever had contact with the church!" That is one thing that is so cool about being a missionary. You have a front-row seat to people changing their lives. 

There was another lady who is coming back to activity in the church that is the only member in her family. We have been doing some videocalls. When we first met her, she was a pretty bitter person. We keep leaving her parts of the Book of Mormon to read, and then we discuss them in our next visit, and it is amazing to see the changes in her life. I don't even know if she notices, but she had not read the scriptures for about a decade, and now when we talk to her, she is so much happier. We asked her the other day if she knew anyone that would like a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she said no. Then, she thought about it and said, "actually, bring me one in Spanish, and I will give it to my cleaning lady. And if you give me another one in Spanish, I will give it to the guy who comes to clean the pool. And if you have one in English, there is one of my daughter's friends that I would like to give one to." It totally blew us away! Her faith has grown so much.

Also, a young man that Elder Gastelum and I helped find and teach just got baptized in my old area! We had his family very close to baptism, but at the very last minute, their grandfather passed away from COVID and everything got crazy. They worked through it, and he just was baptized. It made me very happy. That kid has overcome all sorts of crazy challenges but would diligently read the Book of Mormon and even fasted with us although he is only 17. 

In our area, there are about 4 apartment complexes that have people walking around and you don't (necessarily) need an appointment to get in, so we spend a lot of time there trying to talk to people. In one, there was a guy standing by his door that saw us walking by and ducked to go back in. My companion shouted, "Hey, can I leave you with a picture of Jesus!" He paused his retreat but said, "Nah, I'm good." The elder I was with said, "It'll be really quick!" and kept walking towards him. The man said, "Well, okay," and we were able to have a great conversation and talk and laugh a little. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked if we could visit his family sometime, and he said yes! I learned something about how far a little persistence goes. 

Another time we were talking to people, and we talked to a man from El Salvador! As we finished our conversation, we walked about 20 feet and started talking to a woman -- from El Salvador! I don't know if either are that interested, but it was really fun to make connections and break out the Spanish again. And then, shortly after those contacts, we were approached by someone that worked there and promptly asked to leave and not come back. That was too bad, but as we drove out, I thought, "How many people have been cast out for Christ's sake? We just got thrown out for preaching the gospel! That is like Book of Mormon prophet stuff! Pretty cool if you ask me." Made me think of this scripture about the ancient apostles:

Acts 5:

41 ¶ And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Here we are, ceasing not to preach Jesus Christ. Life is pretty good. 

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris

Mar. 22, 2012 -- Driving on the 66

I made a really big mistake last week. We were at Walmart, and there was this colorful, exciting box of seasonal Marshmallow Peeps cereal, and I spent about $5.00 on it. Needless to say, I will not be buying it again. What was I thinking? I don't even like Marshmallow Peeps to begin with. Now it will probably sit there, above my fridge, staring down at me as a constant reminder of my foolish ways for another several months. 

Another funny thing has to do with hand soap. We have that cheap liquid soap that is the milk and golden honey . . . flavor? scent? variety, perhaps? Anyway, one of the elders took a sharpie to it, so now it says, "Buy Milk and Golden Honey without money and without price 2 Nephi 25:26." It is now one of my favorite household items. 

A couple weeks ago, we gave away one of the wards we cover to some other missionaries. There was a person there we had talked to in the street who seemed kind of evasive and never answered any of our calls or messages after we got his phone number. Then, the other missionaries called after we were gone and were able to start teaching him! He told them that we were all so persistent, that he took it as a sign God was trying to tell him something. 

Until now, I have never been farther south in the mission than an occasional visit to Henderson, but this week we took a trip! We had a zone conference down in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, so we took the two-and-a-half-hour drive down! It felt like a whole different world. Driving down, there was a lot of empty desert with sage brush and mountain peaks. I didn't realize how much I missed seeing some empty space. We drove through both Arizona and California, so I visited two states I haven't really been to before in the same day. In Lake Havasu, we took a picture in front of the London Bridge. I don't have any idea how they shipped it over and put it back together, but that was pretty cool. We crossed the Colorado River a couple times and saw a road-runner cruising along. After the meeting, we did some exchanges in Kingman, Arizona, which requires driving for just a little on classic Route 66! We left just as it got dark, and it blew me away how dark it got after being in a big city for so long. You can maybe see a handful of stars in Vegas, and there is just a lot of light pollution. But out in the middle of the desert, it was like re-discovering night time. On the way back home, we drove right past Hoover Dam, but you can't see it without driving up to it. We were really close, though. It was quite the American South-west road trip.

Yesterday we met a man in our ward who is 97 and is a POW survivor from WWII. He looks great! I would not have thought he was so old. We are setting up a time to visit to hear some of his life stories.

On Fridays, everyone has district councils, and we usually visit a couple beside our own. This week we bought some pupusas for lunch and headed over to my old stomping grounds in Paraiso for a visit. You may remember that several months ago while I was there, we visited a family who had just moved into the ward. We thought they were all members, and after the visit, we asked if there was anything we could do for them. The husband said that we could teach the missionary lessons to his wife because she wasn't a member. We were really surprised and were able to start teaching them shortly before I left the area. Their family was able to get married this last week, and the wife got baptized. It made me really happy to hear. What we have is just so good. Joy to the soul. 

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris

Mar. 15, 2021 -- Life on the 9th Island

So, there are so many people from Hawaii that move to Las Vegas, that it is often referred to as the ninth island. Gives things a sort of tropical vibe. Here I am, then, living in Hawaii. 

It's actually been pretty cold lately! We had two whole days of rain! I haven't seen more than about 10 minutes consecutive since I got here, so that was really fun. We were out walking in the rain and trying to talk to some folks, which felt nice. Haven't had the 'wet hair sensation' in a long time. Then as we were driving the mountain tops had snow on them! Nice change of pace.

Today I cut my own hair, with some help from Elder Stewart for the edges. It reminded me of last time we cut each other's hair, though. We had dinner with the mission president and his family, and mentioned that we had cut each other's hair. The mission president's son said, "Wait, you cut each other's hair? I think Elder Stewart did a better job." We all laughed because he complimented and insulted both of us at the same time. I was both honored and offended. 

We had lots of moments where we saw some little miracles this week. We visited one member family that lives in a big apartment complex right of south Las Vegas Blvd. They lived on the 14th floor and had an incredible view. Now that I think about it, I don't know if I have ever been on a floor so high in my life. Also, they had us take off our shoes when we came in, which was totally fine, but I realized it was the first time in my entire mission where I've gone and done a visit and taken my shoes off. It was an odd feeling! We talked with them a little about sharing the gospel and had a good discussion. They mentioned their next door neighbor, who had asked once if they were part of the same church as another member in the building because she could see the same light around them. As we left, they were walking us to the elevator, and the woman they were talking about got out of the elevator we were getting on! We were able to say hi and invite her to come to our appointment that we were going to have the next week. It was just amazing how perfect the timing was. A minute earlier or later, and we would not have seen her!

We also had a super good phone call with a man we did not know. We found his record and decided to give him a call. He answered and told us he had been watching some basketball. His favorite team is Gonzaga, so I told him that I always love the BYU vs. Gonzaga games. After the phone call he texted us a picture and said, "I hope we can still be friends..." and the picture showed that BYU was playing Gonzaga the very next day! But anyway, during the phone call, he interrupted our basketball talk and said, "Wait a minute, I have a question." My companion and I looked at each other a little nervously, because often times when people say that, they start saying crazy things next. We braced ourselves and he said . . . "What makes your church different from other churches?" What a pleasant surprise! We explained a little about the Book of Mormon and living prophets. He said, "Ok, here's another question..." (another nervous glance) "...do you believe in Jesus?" We almost wanted to laugh out loud because his questions were so good. We assured him that we did. His next questions included:

"What do you believe in life after death?"

"Is it okay if I want to learn about your church, but my wife isn't ready to be a part of it?"

"Is it okay to just study and learn a little with you without joining first?"

and "Can I come and listen to a church service without participating and talking in it?" 

There really are people out there that are so ready for the gospel. We ended the call with him telling us he wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon and wondering if he could pick it up at church. He actually lives in Arkansas, in the same mission as my good friend Noah Stuart! We got him the information, and hopefully he'll be able to connect with the missionaries there. 

Another fun miracle was we just invited someone we had been messaging on Facebook whose church has been closed to watch the broadcast of our ward. They said yes, and after church said they would be willing to watch it again next week! It is pretty crazy how we can share the gospel with strangers online. 

Here is my last and favorite story of the week. Earlier this week we were on exchanges, and I was with one of the zone leaders. It was six o'clock, and we decided to go street contacting. This was unusual because it was already dark outside, and usually we haven't gone out street contacting at night because fewer people are out (and it can be intimidating to have two strange men come up to you in the night). But anyway, we set the goal that everyone we talked to, we were going to ask if they knew anyone else who could be interested in a message, even if the person we talked to was not. We went out, circled the complex, and had a few unsuccessful contacts with people that said they weren't interested (and that they didn't know anyone else who was interested). We were about to drive somewhere else, but decided to just take one more lap. As we did, we saw a man out with his dog and begin to talk. We introduced ourselves, and he said, "Hi, elders." We asked if he had met missionaries before, and he began to tell us his story. 

He had been baptized about 15 years ago, and was very active in the church. However, after some really difficult family problems and some tough mental challenges, he lost a lot of his faith in God and didn't know what to believe anymore. He said he was just very broken and empty, and that he had been angry at the church for a long time. But then he told us how he thought our meeting wasn't a coincidence. He said that he had recently been thinking about the church again, and he hadn't for a long time. Then, the other day, he saw us driving into the same complex. Now, here we were talking to him. We mostly listened, and then shared a scripture in the Book of Mormon about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. We asked if we could visit him sometime, and if he wanted to give the church one more try. He said, "I don't know," and seemed kind of hesitant. he gave us his phone number, but seemed sort of non-committal. As we went to go, though, he said, "Wait! Do you have an extra copy of the Book of Mormon?" We gave him one, and asked that magic question of "Do you know anyone else who could use a message of hope?" He said, "Well, I guess my fiancée. Do you want to meet her?" We were somewhat taken aback with the answer but readily agreed. He went inside to ask her if it would be okay, and then came back out to get us. He said that she didn't really want to, but had agreed to say hi. We went in and met his wonderful fiancée, who speaks both English and Persian. We just stood in the front room and got to know them a little, and she warmed up to us quickly. We shared a little about what missionaries do, and a one-minute summary of the restoration. She asked us what the prophet's name was today and seemed interested by that. She has almost no background in Christianity, but told us she has some Christian friends that have been trying to show her a little. After a short and pleasant discussion, the member told us he had to start work, which he does from home. We excused ourselves after praying for them, and went into the night. We were unable to set a return appointment, but it was still pretty cool.

Miracle, right?

We walked away, and then I realized we hadn't looked at their address to write it down. We decided to circle the little block and then check what their address was. As we circled back from the other side, the member was walking towards us! He said, "Hey, my work cancelled. Would you like to come back in and share a message?" We were overjoyed! We went back in, and his fiancée was already reading the pamphlet we had left! We sat down and shared a short message about prayer. It seemed to suit the member, who was feeling very broken, and also his fiancée, who knew very little about Christianity. We had some great discussion, and the member really enjoyed hearing about his fiancée's experience with religion, and was surprised to learn that she often prays for him, which she hadn't ever told him. It was just a beautiful moment. Afterwards, she grabbed his hand and said, "Do you feel better?" He mumbled something about not being sure, but she said, "I think you feel better!" We gave then each a reading assignment in the Book if Mormon and the invitations to pray. We asked if we could visit again, and he looked at her and said, "Do you want them to come back?" She said, "Yes! They can come back." And so, we set the return appointment! They both seemed to think the message helped the other person. The member told us once again how it seemed meant to be. He wasn't even going to take the dog out, but his fiancée made him. 

I just think about how many things came together for that interaction. What if we hadn't gone street contacting in the dark? What if we'd given up and tried another complex? What if he hadn't taken the dog out? What if we hadn't been sure to ask who else needed some hope? What if we hadn't turned around to get the address, or if he hadn't come out to look for us? A lot of coincidences. And I don't believe in coincidences. 

God truly has such an amazing and specific plan for each one of us. It is amazing to see a little piece of what he sees.

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris

Mar. 8, 2021 -- Speedy Week with Fast Sunday

Another week come and gone, and we are officially down a ward! We are now in just one English ward. It was a little sad for us, but our remaining ward is really happy to be able to have a set of missionaries dedicated to just the one ward. As another bonus, Sundays are a little less crazy with half the meetings. 

Transfer week is always one that is a little crazy! We got up really early to take home the departing missionaries, and picked up the new missionaries, which I really enjoyed. We loaded them all in the van and had a trailer full of all the suitcases that we towed along behind us, and I managed not to get us into an accident. I think my proudest moment of the transfer was when we had to unhook the trailer and then back the mission van into its stall which requires a little bit of an s-turn. After backing it in, Elder Stewart told me that the elderly vehicle coordinators muttered a somewhat reluctantly surprised, "That was actually a pretty good backing job!" I'll rack that up in my list of successes.

We also did a lot more talking to people on the streets. Interestingly, I think most of the time when you imagine rejection as a missionary it is a pretty intense and angry thing, but generally we have pretty positive experiences even with people that say no. It is often just us asking if we can give them a card or share a message, and they say something like, "Sorry, not right now, but thank you! Take care!" and we wish each other a good day. Then there are the other people that won't even look at you or acknowledge they heard you, but it's not so bad.  

In the later part of the week, things were kind of tough just because we lost a lot of people we were teaching to the other ward, so it was a little discouraging. But if I've learned anything on a mission, it is that the sunshine is usually just around the corner when things are tough. So on fast Sunday we were praying and fasting that things would turn around and sitting there in church. The lady we met not too long ago moving furniture had said she would come when we had some members of the ward reach out and invite her, but she wasn't answering our calls or texts all of Saturday night or Sunday morning. We were a little worried that maybe we scared her away or something. We were sitting at the back while the meeting started, when suddenly in walked a few people. My companion elbowed me and pointed to one, and at first I didn't recognize her, but it was the woman we were teaching with her hair dyed bright purple! We started to our feet and helped her find a seat with a member we had introduced her to. We saw them whispering things now and then during the meeting and she seemed to really be enjoying it. Afterwards we said hi again, and she just loved coming to church again. The members have done a great job making her feel welcome and introducing themselves to her. We were chatting with her and the relief society president came and said hi, and then the bishop came over, who we had introduced her to last week, and she said, "I know you! You're bishop!" and gave him a solid handshake. It was funny because she is an older woman that's just full of personality and the comment seemed like something a member would say. Then she was asking us to make sure she had all her names and dates right between Joseph Smith and Moroni and Lehi's family and who lived when. It was just a great experience.

Then, we got a text from another man we are teaching who had watched the broadcast! We hadn't been able to contact him the day before either, so it was a really pleasant surprise. He talked about one of the testimonies that really touched him. Being on a mission has made me much more aware of how nonmembers feel when visiting. We always really appreciate when members talk and have a simple message focused on Jesus Christ and his teachings. Sometimes us members can throw in a lot of foreign vocabulary (even little things like "relief society," "stake," "mutual," etc.) or kind of give "Thank-imonies" where we just talk about people in the ward. And there is nothing wrong with that, necessarily, but it is very relieving when someone just bares a simple, straight-forward testimony.

Another fun thing on Sunday is that there is a family whose son always draws us a picture of a dinosaur during church and gives it to us.

Then, to top it all off, there is a family where only the mom is a member, and they have not come to church in a long time, but the relief society president invited them. The daughter who has not been baptized yet told her mom she really wanted to go, and they came! We met them, and they are a great family. 

So anyway. Things were looking kind of down, and then at church, things just turned around really quick. It doesn't take much for things to get better, so keep hanging in there! God loves us and loves when we do our best, even (and maybe especially) when it is hard. I love the line from the poem "Invictus" that says (if I remember correctly), "My head is bloodied, but unbowed." Grit is a Christ-like attribute that is worth noting, I think. 

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris

Mar. 1, 2021 -- 'God First'

I reached a strange point on my mission this week where I have fewer weeks left than I have months since I started. They always tell you that time goes by too fast, and they aren't joking. You really have to savor every day, even the tough ones or the boring ones, because if you are always waiting for something before you feel fulfilled or happy, you'll keep waiting until it's gone. 

We have transfers this week, and I am staying with Elder Stewart, but we are losing one of our two wards. We're really sad to see some of the amazing people we're teaching, as well as the great members we have there go, but it will be nice to not always be confused about which member goes to which ward. There were a lot of faces to keep track of! 

The other day we got some Chick-fil-a for lunch and ate it sitting on our tailgate outside the church in the warm afternoon sun. Somehow it felt very patriotic. Even Elder Stewart remarked that he felt rather American (despite being Canadian). 

We were able to go and teach the woman who we met moving furniture last week. She wanted us to show her the gospel library app so that she could sing the hymns at church, and we also were able to teach the Book of Mormon along with a priest who was on his first ever visit to teach a non-member with us! She would say, "Ok, so Nephi..." and explain back the story after we explained it. It was a lot of fun. By the way, before my mission I just thought the pictures at the front of the Book of Mormon were just some sort of random selections, but they could not be ordered more perfectly for explaining what the Book of Mormon is. It starts with Christ (definitely not a coincidence), then has Joseph Smith, Nephi's family's journey to the Americas, stories about people obeying and rejecting prophets, Christ's visit to the Americas, and finally the plates being buried. I love explaining it using the pictures. 

We have done a lot of bike contacting lately, which I am a big fan of. We go outside and start biking (which alone makes it fun), and then everyone we see, we go talk to. It is way better than walking because you are just in and out and fly around. Are you interested? No? We're already gone! You can overtake people walking away from you, and people walking towards you don't have the long, slow walk where they try to look anywhere but at you while you slowly approach. Anyway. Bikes. Tool of the gospel for sure. 

Our approach is usually just to have some pass-along cards, and then we go up to someone and say, "Excuse me, we are giving out some pictures of Jesus today, could we give you one?" If they say no, we wish them a good day and continue on, and if they say yes, we talk to them a little and ask if we could call and share a message sometime about whatever topic we think they could be interested in. One poor lady we passed told us she was not interested, so we continued past her, but then we kept stopping and talking to other people on the side-walk just long enough for her to have to walk past us and then for us to pass her again before stopping someone else. It was kind of humorous. 

We talked to one young fellow right outside our church building as we passed it and we said, "Hey, do you have a church you go to?" He said, yeah, look at this! And with no warning pulled his shirt up to his neck to show us the tattoo he had across his entire chest that said, 'GOD FIRST' in giant letters. He was very proud of it. 

We also have been trying to teach people on Facebook. The general strategy is to find groups with people in Las Vegas, and friend all of those people. Then, if someone acepts the friend request, we send a message and try to start a conversation. We have done it for a while and have met some cool people. We sent one man a friend request, and he accepted it and then messaged us first saying how he had just broken up with someone or something and had been going through a rough relationship, and right then our friend request came through. He saw it as a sort of sign and texted us his whole life story and how he wanted to come to a church! The next day we did a videocall with him and the missionaries in the other mission where he lives, and were able to teach about the Book of Mormon (Again, haha. Hands down my favorite thing to teach about. Also hands down for favorite chapter to show people is 3 Nephi 11.). As we were wrapping up, the other missionaries (who had done the call from their church building) asked if they could bring him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He said, "Yeah. Wait, is that a church you're in? Like a church I can go to?" They said yes and told him where it was. He replied, "Oh, well don't come over! I'll just come to the church and you can show me around and give it to me there! I'll be there in like 5 minutes!" It was a super fun experience. He had some crazy stories to tell, but it is amazing how many people really are looking for something more and just don't know where to find it. 

There is a family we are teaching with a wife who hasn't been active for years but recently got really excited about coming back to church. Her husband is not a member, and he has come every week in a row for three weeks now! We texted on Saturday to see if he would be able to make it, and he said something like, "Well, my wife is helping my niece recover from her surgery, so I don't think they can come." At this point we were like, "Aw, man!" He isn't coming this week. But then he said, "So, it might just be me by myself if they aren't going to make it." He had never come to church in his life before these last couple weeks, and it made us so happy that he liked it enough to come by himself, even without family support. 

Anyway. There are so many little stories and occurrences that there aren't time to tell. Sometimes people say things like, "I'm so sorry that you have to be a missionary right now!" which honestly irritates me just a little, because there are so many good things happening! God's work certainly has not stopped, and there is so much work to do. There is nowhere else I would ever want to be. 

Tomorrow we are taking some departing missionaries to the airport, and also picking up the brand-new missionaries! I am actually really excited to go and welcome them to Vegas for the first time; it'll be a lot of fun.

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris