Apr. 26, 2021 -- Penthouse and Limos

So the same day I got reunited with Elder Gastelum after several months of other companions, we went and picked up all the brand new missionaries, which is a blast. After we had gathered them all and were taking them out to the vehicles (which were a truck and a van), they asked if we had gotten them a limo, and we jokingly said, "Yeah, we have a white one and a black one!" Then we walked out the doors to see parked right in front of us a white limo and a black limo, only to walk past them to the slightly less glamorous twelve-passenger van.

This week we showed up to our Spanish branch, and at eight minutes until the start time, the branch president came out and said, "Elders! You're just in time! You'll be speaking today! Make it about 10 minutes long." That was definitely the least preparation I have had for a talk before.

We listened to a devotional from the former executive director of the mission department, and he shared some incredible statistics about the hastening of the work in the pandemic. For example, he talked about in seminary as a kid filling out pedigree charts with a pencil and paper and thinking, "How on earth are we ever going to perform baptisms for everyone who has ever lived?" Now, we have family search, which has 1,000,000 new names added every day. Also, not too long ago, no missionaries had smart phones. As of January, 2020, all missions were approved to have smart phones. I guess my generation of missionaries could be one of the very last technology-free eras of missionaries ever. Times change and the clock ticks.

Another thing my companion mentioned that I liked a lot was that one thing a mission teaches you is how to be comfortable being uncomfortable all the time. All day every day you just try to talk to as many strangers as possible, even when it is awkward. You don't take breaks, and then to add to that, every couple of weeks you get a phone call that tells you which stranger you will live with in whichever place you have never been to. And then, that just becomes normal! 

We have had some miracles lately. A couple weeks ago, we were out walking in a neighborhood, and we saw a woman walking into her garage, we said hello and started talking, and she told us she was already a member of the church! It is kind of funny when you go out to contact people and you contact church members. But anyway, we got her phone number and later texted to say hi. In her first text she asked if we are allowed to come and eat dinner during COVID and invited us to visit her family. It turned out that she was the only member of the church in her family, but they fed us a great dinner and invited us to come back and share another message again! It was cool that this lady who has not gone to church for years still wanted to feed the missionaries. She told us, "If you ever don't have anything to eat, let me know, because I always have a lot!"

There was another lady I taught about 6 months ago who then lost contact with the missionaries who reached out on Facebook out of the blue and said, "How's it going? I know it's been a while, but I wanted to Bible study again. Learn new things like how to pray." She told us how she had been trying on her own, but just felt lost and wanted to meet up again!

There was another lady we helped move about a month ago. We texted her right after to see if she would be interested in doing a scripture stuy sometime, and she never responded . . . until now! It took her a month to respond, but she said yes and said she was grateful God put us in her life. 

We also visited a member who lived in the penthouse of a 20-story building. It was super fancy, and he had pictures he showed us with about half a dozen US Presidents and another several pictures with prophets. He served his mission in Berlin when the Berlin wall was up! 

In a final series of exciting events, we called someone who had been invited to be baptized and said yes, but then lost contact with us. The date she had originally been invited for was just two days away. We called her and she opened up a lot about some incredibly difficult family situations she has gone through. We then turned to the scriptures and read about Christ's suffering and Atonement and how he could help her. We then read the next verse, which talks about how we can access that power and show we are willing to follow Him by repenting and being baptized -- and the phone call ended. We thought, "Oh no! Did she get mad and hang up on us?" But we called back and it was just an accident. She jumped right in and said, "Oh yeah, so baptism! That is coming up this Saturday, right?" We hadn't been able to talk to her for weeks, but she still remembered! While she wasn't ready to be baptized this weekend, we invited her to prepare to be baptized on a date just a little farther out, and she said yes! First time I have invited someone to be baptized on the phone. We still had never met her in person, but we finally did the next day -- at a baptism we invited her to attend! The person being baptized was actually a little girl whose family was being reactivated that I helped teach. The lady we were teaching came to the baptism and loved it. She was introducing herself to everyone and is super excited for her own baptism. When we gave her the address for the baptism, she actually arrived several hours early to make sure she knew where it was and checked out the building before anyone was there. Then she went home and came back again for the baptism.

There is one last family we are teaching where the mom is a member, but the husband is not. They have a daughter who is 10 and not yet baptized. It has been so cool to see the mom start to come back to church with her daughter. Last week we had a lesson with them and our ward mission leader's family because he has a daughter the same age. After the lesson, both the girls went to play with our ward mission leader's rabbits, which he has 17 of and always tries to convince us to adopt. Then, this week we had a lesson with them and members and missionaries from the ward they are assigned to, where we talked about the Plan of Salvation. We and the other missionaries invited them to help the daughter prepare for baptism. The daughter was so excited and looked at her mom, who said, "It is up to you!" She readily agreed, and right there we calendared out all the days and times for all the visits she'd need before her baptism. They had made us tacos to take home. Such a great family. 

Anyway, the field is white! You don't have to look very far for someone who needs some help. 

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris 

Apr. 19, 2021 -- Old Dogs, New Tricks

Here we are in my first ever branch on my mission. (Even though I guess we have one ward and one branch). It is definitely the place to be, though. 

On Saturday Elder Gastelum and I were estimating on whether we needed to get gas or not. We decided we were safe. On Sunday night, we got back to the apartment with three miles of gas left in the tank. Today we woke up and went to get gas, which was three miles away. It was a slightly nervous ride, but we made it safe. Despite watching the 'low fuel' light count down to 0 as we pulled into the gas station.

One awesome opportunity we had today was that all the missionaries got to meet up in a couple groups to go and see The Lamb of God, which is a recorded concert that is in theaters. Someone in the mission presidency in the other mission knows one of the producers somehow, and since all the theaters in Vegas are in casinos, they asked and were able to get special permission for us to all go and watch it in one of the church buildings. It was really powerful. It made me think about what the apostles long ago would have felt as they testified of Christ. "Look! Here He is! Can't you see?" It would have been so frustrating to understand Christ so well and to have so many not believe. But I think it made our calling as missionaries make more sense to me to. All we do is point people to Christ.

On one of our first days in the branch, we visited a member family, and he asked if we'd been vaccinated for COVID yet. We said no, and he told us, "I can take you tomorrow if you want!" He is actually the manager of a bunch of the giant convention centers here in Las Vegas, and he picked us up and gave us the VIP experience as he took us to his special parking, walked us past all the lines, and had an employee assigned to take us all the way through. So, we are part-way vaccinated now! Just have to go back in a few weeks for the next shot. As I was getting my shot, some members of the military who were there for the same thing that were members came up and started talking to me. The nurse asked, "When did you meet each other?" And we answered, "Oh, just right now." That is one of the coolest things ever about being a missionary. You just form and instant connection with people. 

As I have been a missionary, Facebook has evolved so much. It is amazing how it has grown as a tool for the work of God. We reach out to a lot of people, and sometimes they respond, and sometimes they don't. We sent a friend request to a nice looking guy, which he accepted. We asked how he was doing and if he was from Vegas. He told us how long he had lived here, and we responded with where we are from. We then asked what he did for work, and he just said, "It's the weekend now, so if you want to call me sometime we'll talk." We suggested a time, and he said, "Actually, just come by on Saturday morning." We got his address, and he lives just down the street! His assigned ward goes to our building! The conversation was seriously about three messages long before he invited us to his house. We went over and met him, and he told us his story and about his friends who are members of the church. He thought they must have sent us his way, which is why he invited us over. Anyway, he wants to come visit church and we are visiting him again soon! He was a total stranger on Facebook, and now we are friends and teaching him! It amazes me how ready some people are. We just have to look and reach out.

We had another big miracle when someone called us and said he is a member from Salt Lake and he was in town visiting his family. He talked to someone in the park, and asked him if he could have two of his friends bring over the Book of Mormon, and the man said yes! So then he called us, gave us the man's address and phone number, and told us to bring him a Book of Mormon. Now, that is some member missionary work. We went to the address we received and were welcomed in by a young man with two little kids who had recently had a small child pass away. We gave him the Book of Mormon, and we all shed a few tears as we talked about the challenges he has been going through and as we promised that he would see his child again. This humble man was so desperately in need of some sort of connection to God, and the bravery of one member who shared the gospel with a stranger was what changed a life and touched a soul. The man thanked us for coming and invited us to come back. 

Whenever I can catch a glimpse of the importance of the gospel, it just blows me away. The purpose of our life is to learn, have families and joy, and become like God. There is nothing that should cloud our lens of eternal focus, but sometimes we get worried about little things. However, every now and then you get a split second where the dots connect and things line up and you see things from God's perspective. And then you remember why this is so important! So, I guess that is the task before us. To remember. 

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris 

Apr. 12, 2021 -- Round Two (*ding*)

We have a whiteboard in our apartment where we write down our different workouts that we do, and one of them shows a cycle of exercises with "Repeat as Needed" written next to it. However, everyone who comes over thinks it says, "Repent as Needed." That isn't a bad motto, though, so we have kept it. "Repent as Needed."

I love the Hispanic community. We went out one evening to walk around apartment complexes and find people to teach, and we came across two Hispanic men grilling up some carne asada. We started talking, and one of them was from El Salvador! We had a great conversation and shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon. As we went to leave, they ask, "want a plate of food?" We readily agree, and they quickly went into the apartment and carried out a table and two chairs, two cans of soda, two water bottles, and then load up two plates about 6 inches high with carne asada. We ate and answered questions about what we do as missionaries, for how long, and whether we get paid. It was such a awesome experience. A couple of strangers just invite a couple of other strangers to eat. I think the world needs more people like that. 

We had a phone call with someone we have gotten to know on Facebook. He told us he was so glad he talked to us because he used to always try to avoid us and said he would turn the other way when he saw us because, "I knew what was coming. Or at least, I thought I did." But he loved just hearing about how we read the Bible and are Christians too. We shared 3 Nephi 11:10-11, which talks about how Christ is the light of the world and came to the world to save us. He said, "That kind of struck a chord." Isn't it amazing how powerful the Book of Mormon is? It can touch people you've only met on Facebook and reach their hearts over the phone.

We had another great experience contacting in the same complex when we went up to a young man who was holding a bottle of alcohol and just going into the house. We asked if we could share a scripture, and he seemed hesitant, but when we said it would be brief, he agreed. He appeared to be a couple years older than us and was a big Hawaiian football player with a very soft voice. We introduced ourselves and got to know him and then shared a scripture about prayer. As he listened, he carefully set the bottle of alcohol down behind a pillar as if to hide it. We asked how prayer has impacted his life. He told us that he actually had not prayed in a long time. Mostly because he didn't know how. As he talked, you could just see that he was the sweetest guy ever. Just a huge teddy-bear. We said, "would you like us to teach you?" and taught him how to pray. We then prayed together. You could tell he was very touched. We gave him a Book of Mormon with the story of Enos. He smiled a lot after and shook each of our hands several times when we said good-bye. And I think that is missionary work. People. Special, almost sacred interactions like that that you don't get unless you are looking. 

So, some crazy news this transfer. My Canadian companion, Elder Stewart, is heading down to Henderson. I'm staying, and the new assistant is . . . Elder Gastélum! He is one of my favorite missionaries ever. We have already been companions! We were zone leaders together and worked together on our online English broadcast and lots of other things. I am so excited to be with him again. We are keeping our English ward, but we are also picking up a Spanish ward called Desert Bloom! I am crazy excited to speak Spanish again. I met the branch president once because both wards meet in the same building, and he is from El Salvador.

So anyway. Great things are ahead!

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris

Apr. 5, 2021 -- God's Boys

Missionary life doesn't get much better than when we have General Conference. So amazing how we get to hear so much from a living prophet and the Lord's apostles. I heard a joke this week that went like, "Catholicism promotes papal infallibility (or that when the Pope speaks about faith, he is perfect and cannot be wrong), but no Catholic believes it. The Church of Jesus Christ proclaims prophetic fallibility (or that prophets are normal people with errors too), but no member of the Church believes it." We certainly are blessed with amazing leaders. 

We introduced ourselves to someone the other day (Elder Harris and Elder Stewart) and they said, "Harris and Stewart! Sounds like a couple of detectives!" 

The Church has something called IMOS (Internet Mission Office System) that we have access to in order to do things like adjust area boundaries and things, and when using it, I noticed it has a tab that defines commonly used terms on the page. Most are technical and computer terms or terms about missionary organization. One that I found very interesting, though, was the definition (according to IMOS) of 'missionary.' It said, "An elder or sister called by the President of the Church to teach the gospel." Isn't it amazing to think of the weight of our charge? Being commissioned by a prophet of God to go and labor. Anyone within the geographical area you cover that wants to come unto Christ by baptism into His Church must do so through you. There is nobody else that has that authority. That is a pretty awesome responsibility. 

We are getting better at finding people to teach on Facebook! We found three people to teach in the last five days. It has been interesting to see it evolve from "who on earth would ever try and do that" to an actual common finding method. Definitely did not see it coming in El Salvador. Anyway, we met this really cool guy and had a videocall with him on Wednesday. Then we had another one with him and the missionaries in his area (which is just a little north in our mission) on Thursday. And a third call on Friday! It is really odd to teach him because he is just so normal. He is like the most normal person I have ever taught. Seems like he is already a member. In one of my first interactions with him he talked about how he feels like God is our loving Heavenly Father and just wants what is best for us. He just sounds like he is already a member! In our most recent videocall he thanked us for reaching out with a random Facebook message. Such a strange way to make such an awesome friendship.

Another person that is pretty amazing is a guy that was taught here a long time ago. He called some other missionaries whose number he had and asked what time church was. They let us know that he had called, and we reached out but couldn't really get in touch. Then one day out of the blue, he texted, "Can you text about God please." We were of course more than happy to and sent him a scripture about Christ's Atonement. He asked what the atoning blood of Christ meant, and we told him it talks about how Christ suffered and bled for us so we can be clean of our sins and live again. He said, "Do you really think we can live again?" We assured him we can and asked if we could send another scripture, to which he said, "Sure please. I would like 2 know more." We sent him one more scripture about Christ and life after death. His next message was, "Can you please send me the Book of Mormon in the mail." Anyway, long story short, we dropped him off the Book of Mormon and he watched General Conference (Afterwards asking, "What is the prophet's name again?" When he got the answer back, he responded with a simple, "Yes, Russell." Already on a first name basis with the prophet.). If we just try to be available and keep our heads up, God really blesses us to find those who need the gospel. 

I went on exchanges with a missionary who is about to return home who is actually from El Salvador and is a convert to the church. We had a lot of fun speaking entirely in Spanish (although for poor Elder Stewart it wasn't as fun because every time I saw him I would get mixed up and speak to him in Spanish too) and talking about El Salvador. But anyway, as I spent the day with this humble missionary, I just had a strong impression that "THIS is a missionary." Some missionaries joke around a lot. This one spoke about our Savior a lot, and the spiritual power showed. We had three lessons together (and one was just a phone call) and in all three, the people we taught cried. He goes home in a week, but I thought to myself that there goes a missionary who understood his purpose. He had a powerful example. I hope to one day do the same.

We talked to an old man who was a tattoo artist and car detailer. He wasn't too interested, but thanked us for our work and told us to keep going, saying, "Even an old biker like me knows when I see you on the side of the road that those are God's boys."

So, off we go. God's boys. 

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris