June 28, 2021 -- The Wisest Men in the Village

Perhaps I confused one or two of you last week with this unfinished paragraph from my last email:

"I have always been pretty good at journal writing, but as of 2021, I have written a grand"

I intended to finish it by saying, "total of two times." That is pretty ironic that I could not even finish the paragraph talking about how little I have written in my journal. I am cursed.

But! Despite lack of journal writing, the adventure continues! I cut my hair again today, and we have the 1 and 2 blade attachments, followed by 6, 7, and 8. So as long as you don't need any medium-length hair, it works out okay. Usually I cut everything and then have my companion come and just cut the bottom line on the back, and only about 50% of the time have they said, "Oops, sorry, you're bleeding now..."

Last week we were able to attend a baptism of a couple that I taught a long time ago in my first area here. They asked me to come back and perform their confirmation, which was so cool. They first met the church when they would see the missionaries around and thought it was cool that there were young people doing good things instead of being on drugs or in gangs and things like that. They told their son to go talk to the missionaries and hang out with them. He did, and was baptized. Now they are too. I am so excited for their family.

The most fun we have had teaching lately has been with a nice young lady that came to our ward barbeque last week. She became best friends with a super nice grandma there who is a member, and now every time we invite her to something, she comes and brings the grandma with her. She came to our English class, which had 7 nonmembers this last week. We invited her to attend a baptism, and she was kind of on the fence about going. Later, the grandma that is helping befriend her called us to check what time the baptism is, and we asked about the lady we're teaching. She said, "Oh, yeah, she called me and said she prayed to God and got revelation that she needed to go to the baptism today." She actually went out and bought a dress because she didn't have any, but wanted to go appropriately. We were really excited to have her there. Later that day she sent us a big text saying thanks so much for inviting her. She said, "Thank you for your contagious faith. I know you are instruments for God . . . after you left the baptism, several hermanas (members of the church) came up and said that I have a lot of light, and I wonder if I looked that way before, or if it is just because I am closer to God now." She also took some sick leave from work in order to make it to a devotional for recent converts and new members. All the Spanish-speaking missionaries were invited on the condition that you bring a nonmember, recent convert, or returning member. It was an awesome devotional where several converts shared their story about how they knew the church was true. She is really excited to come to church and is doing really well.

We also had a really happy surprise when a couple who has attended our English class came to church for the first time! They stayed for both hours and seemed to really enjoy it. My favorite problem to have is having several people at church and trying to make sure they all have someone to sit by and find their class and feel welcomed. It is kind of stressful, but it is definitely the best kind of problem out there.

We visited a member family this week that got married last year and are expecting their first baby. We talked about sharing the gospel, and they both had experiences about sharing the gospel from earlier that same day! The brother said, "Yeah, I am the maintenance guy in the apartments here, so I know several families. I can set up appointments for you." We were stunned and happily agreed. He said, "and if they don't let us visit, we can just kick them out of the apartment complex!" That man has connections. The next day in church, he brings an entire family to church with him! Two of the daughters had been baptized, but the mom and two sons are not members. It was pretty incredible. Working with the members is really the way to do it. 

We also visited a family with about half a dozen dogs in their front yard. We had just met the dad briefly in the street, but we went over and visited, and he had four kids that he called in to join the visit! As we went to leave, they offered us burritos and we ate with them while their little kids chatted with us. 

Our elder's quorum president brought us pupusas this week, so it automatically had to be a really good week. We also got some rare Las Vegas rain for a few minutes, so that was fun.

We met a kind of crazy guy on the street, but he was very appreciative of the work we do and was a man of great faith. He said, "you are called elders. The elders are the wisest men in the village. Or their valley. They teach and guide their people." While I certainly am far from one of the wisest people in the church, I liked that imagery of us as the village elders teaching the people about Jesus Christ, the way to happiness.

So, I have one more week to be a full-time missionary. I have loved it so much. Faithful to the end. We will see what stories I have to tell next week.

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris

P.S. - pictured is probably the most powerful picture I have taken. Our mission president and his wife are in the middle, along with a rare gathering of all his current and past assistants outside the temple since three of us went together before returning home next month.

June 21, 2021 -- Carne Asada

This week I experienced possibly one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life. We were on our bikes and clipping along at a good pace on a wide sidewalk. I saw a jeep in a parking-lot off to our side. It was covered in bumper stickers, and I started reading them. Suddenly, to my great surprise, my bike had stopped and I turned my head to see what was the problem just in time to have an unpleasant meeting with the large, metal pole I had just run into. Yes, I literally just biked straight into a pole. I broke my little front reflector but came it with nothing wounded but my pride. I think I could have been one of the stars on a safety video about bad examples. "When, biking, scan ahead for obstacles and any incoming dangers."

I have always been pretty good at journal writing, but as of 2021, I have written a grand 

We had several 116 degree days this week. One day, the low for the entire day was 100 degrees. As in that was the coldest it got even in the middle of the night. With all the sun, I have been feeling pretty confident about being a little more tan. At least my watch tan-line and collar mark would attest to the fact. I even have the faint beginnings of a line on either side of my ear from my bike helmet. But, we were talking to another woman we are teaching who looked at me and said, "You never tan, do you?" Oh, well.  

Also, right on the front page of the church website is an article titled something like, "Church Welcome Centers Help Immigrants Live Better Lives." It is all about one of our buildings in our mission where we teach English classes and other classes in the Hispanic community! We were so excited when we saw it on there. We go there every Tuesday night to teach English. So, that was pretty amazing.

One of our roommates had his birthday today, but he has spent the whole day in the hospital because of a foot infection. His foot is very large and colorful. We got the poor fellow some soda, candy, and a t-shirt to hopefully brighten his day a little bit. 

This week, all the missionaries who will be going home got to go and do an endowment session in the Las Vegas temple with our mission president and his wife. It was such an incredible experience. I have not gone for a year and a half now, and it was so refreshing and peaceful. I also got to go with a lot of good friends like Elder Stewart, one of my previous companions. It was such an exciting day and definitely set the spiritual tone for the week.

We also are back to normal church starting this last Sunday! We get to fill in all the rows and things are pretty much the same as before, which is so exciting. 

Our ward also had a big party with carne asada and volleyball. (After all these carne asadas I thought to myself, "Wow, that will be fun to go to a carne asada with my home ward sometime," before coming to the sad realization that I am exceedingly white and will probably no longer be invited to many carne asadas.) We were able to have three of the people we are teaching come and meet the members and enjoy lots of incredible food. One we are most excited about is a younger woman. We invited her to come, and she said she would love to. She then asked us, "Will there be a lot of people like me? That still aren't baptized in your church? But are interested?" It is always a really good sign when someone brings up the word baptism before you even do. She came to the party, and we introduced her to a member family and had her sit with them. She and the grandma immediately became fast friends and even took pictures together. She seemed to really enjoy it and gave us these awesome things called Huicholitas that she brought from Mexico, which are kind of like little figures that are dressed like a native group from part of Mexico, but the body is a bottle of a special hot sauce that they make there. It was pretty awesome.

Later, we called the grandma that became friends with the person we're teaching to ask for her help setting up a teaching visit. The grandma informed us that the lady we're teaching is already coming over to her house for a meal, but that we could come too. She then told us that at the party, the woman we're teaching asked her lots of questions about how we do baptisms in our church. She was able to explain that we get baptized the same way Jesus does. We were shocked and amazed at all this good news and were able to set up a videocall where we talked about Jesus Christ and His atonement. We then invited her to be baptized, and she said yes! She is currently praying and reading the Book of Mormon in order to know for sure, but she was really excited about it.

Also, yesterday I had a huge surprise when some missionaries from one of my old wards called me to tell me about a couple I had taught months ago who is now getting baptized. They remembered me and asked if I would come perform the confirmation. We were able to get permission and are going down later tonight. I am very honored and excited to go and see them again. 

So, anyway. It is just such a happy time to be alive. Whenever I write these emails (or lengthy epistles, as some may mutter under their breath), I am filled with lots of gratitude for the little miracles we see almost daily. Life is sometimes hard, but it is so worth living.  

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris

June 14, 2021 -- Old Dog Sees a Stealth Bomber

You know you live somewhere hot when you go outside in 102 degrees and say, "Ah, it's not so bad today!" I think this week we will be up in the 110+ range most the week. It is a great time of year to be in a bike area, haha. 

Living near the air force base, we see a lot of cool aircraft. Today we saw the Thunderbirds out flying in formation. Recently we also saw several B1s with their deafening roar and fiery afterburners tracing a trail of light through the evening sky. The coolest ones in my opinion were the B2 stealth bombers. They are the big, black, triangular planes that look like a big bat. They have all sorts of alien looking anti-radar plating. 

The other night we were talking and blending up some milkshakes with the two companionships in our apartment, when I thought I felt a piece of lint or something blow across my foot. I casually brushed it to the side, but I felt it again, and looked down to see a half-crushed, two-inch cockroach on my bare foot. It was pretty close and I leapt away before one of the other elders smashed it with a pop-tart box. It was pretty gross with its hairy-looking legs waving in the air, but luckily it is the only one I have seen so far. 

From the foods mentioned in that above paragraph, you may also guess at the incredible cooking skills I have learned as a missionary. Here is a comprehensive list of the things I have learned to cook as a missionary:

- cereal and milk

- protein powder 

- quesadillas (Thanks, Elder Parker.)

- cookies (but only if it is the kind you just take out of the package and heat up in the oven)

Last week, one of the missionaries in our apartment went to his original assignment in Bolivia, so now we are only four missionaries in the same room! We were sad to see him go, but it is nice to have a little extra room. 

Also, a very proud moment this week was when we were talking to a Hispanic lady on the street, and she asked me if I was from a Spanish-speaking country. There has been a small handful of times where a native Spanish speaker thought--at least for a split second--that I might have some Hispanic blood (despite my less than tan complexion). So anyway, that is always the best. 

The clock keeps ticking faster and faster in my time left as a missionary. I don't think it really felt like I would ever get here until this last transfer. We bought our milk today, and it expires after I will be at home. I also got a terrifying email that said, "Welcome to the Provo Utah YSA 8th Stake!" One thing that we found out yesterday, though, was that those of us departing missionaries will get to go to the temple before we go home! Nobody has been able to take part in that tradition for 15 months now, so we get the great blessing to be the first missionaries to go back. I've never gone in the temple here and haven't been able to go to the temple at all for about a year and a half now. I am really really excited.

But, this old dog isn't too old to still see a couple of miracles! I liked something another missionary said a lot about street contacting. In a meeting, someone mentioned, "If you are out street contacting and you go past someone, repent and plan what you will do better next time." Someone else got up and said, "I would add, have the faith to turn around." I love that thought, which I think perfectly applies to repentance. Sometimes it is hard or embarrassing to turn around. To admit you were wrong and go back. You may remember a story I mentioned last week about a man who walked past us who we then called out to and started talking to even though he had already passed us. We were able to have a great conversation and set up to visit him again. 

So, we went to our next appointment and sat out on his porch with him. He told us that he had actually met with the missionaries before. We asked what he expected or hoped to get out of meeting with us. He said, "well, I want to start reading the scriptures again and go to church, and maybe even get baptized." That was when we entered one of those beautiful moments where you know God is in charge and you are just riding along on 'take your child to work day.' He is so spiritually mature. Talking with him feels like talking with a member. We opened the scriptures and read about Jesus Christ and how through repentance and baptism, we can start again. The spirit was very strong, and he agreed to be baptized. To make the story even more complicated, about one hour after we met this guy in the street, the missionaries who used to teach him before he moved and lost touch with them finally gave up on contacting him and referred him to the English missionaries in our area (which coincidentally, are my trainee's trainee and his trainee). They called him and set up a lesson, but he thought it was us setting up the lesson. Anyway, we got it sorted out and all went to the second lesson. He then came to church on Sunday and to a special multi-stake devotional for recent converts and nonmembers later that same night. He is doing really well. 

I think one thing I learned from the experience is that God's plan is perfect. You can never say the wrong thing to the right person. Our friend that we met was going to be offered the gospel at this time when his heart was open whether we were the ones that did it or not. If we had never met him, the English missionaries would in all likelihood have had the same experience we did. But, I think that even though God has all these grand plans for people, what is left to us is to choose whether we would like to be a part of it. If we hadn't opened our mouths, we never would have had this humbling experience that was one of the happiest of my life. 

We had another miracle where a lady saw a Church ad on YouTube and requested to talk with the missionaries, which was us! We met her on Saturday and talked about how the Book of Mormon helps us find answers in our trials of life. The next day, she came to church with her young daughter! I think seeing someone come to church for the first time is maybe the happiest I have ever been as a missionary. When someone gets baptized, you kind of see it coming, but someone coming to church for the first time is sometimes kind of a surprise or a mystery. It is really exciting. Anyway, she sat with us and a member family at church and seemed to like it. Several times during the meeting she told us thank you for inviting her. At the end, we asked, "so, what did you think?" She said, "I loved it! I loved it so much! I have gone to a lot of churches, but I felt so much peace! Thank you so much for inviting me!" It is very true that someone's conversion happens when they feel the Spirit. We just have to get them there! We then invited her to come to the devotional I mentioned earlier for recent converts and nonmembers. She said yes!

Later that same night we met her again at the devotional (this is now the second day we have met this lady) where several recent converts, some stake leaders, and one of the mission president's counselors spoke. One of the recent converts talked about his experience accepting the Word of Wisdom, and she whispered to us with wide eyes, "In your church you don't drink coffee?" We explained a little, and she nodded, and whispered, "I'll get off it then." Later in the devotional, the stake president said, "For those of you who have recently taken the step to be baptized, I can promise you that it is the best decision you will ever make. For those of you who haven't been baptized yet, I encourage you to do so as quickly as possible." We were just smiling huge old smiles with all these nonmembers in this very spirit filled environment hearing that invitation. 

One last miracle was that right after sacrament meeting, we went to Elders quorum and to our astonishment, someone we were teaching was there! We had thought there was no way he would come to church, but he came without telling us. We hadn't seen him come in. One of the counselors in the elder's quorum taught the lesson, and after, he gave the man we were teaching a heart-to-heart motivational speech about some difficulties he was going through. Both had gone through a divorce and lost everything. I was so grateful for members of the church. They are the best. 

Have the faith to turn around.

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris

June 7, 2021 -- Ice Packs or the Chills

Well, we have a pretty tall apartment. There are two other guys that are my same height, one that is two inches or so taller, and my companion is probably the shortest at about 5' 10". There aren't many places with so many tall people sharing the same bedroom.

My current area is really close to Nellis Air Force Base here in Las Vegas, so there are always a lot of jets and planes screaming through the air. We were in a meeting in the church building and the whole room started rumbling and shaking a little bit as a particularly loud jet flew overhead. 

You can tell we all live in sunny Las Vegas based on our incredible watch, shirt, and neck tan-lines. They are looking mighty fine. A couple people in our apartment have even developed the legendary "bike helmet chin-strap tan-line." It was up around 108 this week. One day had a high of 108 and a chilly low of 95. 

We were biking down the street a little later one evening, and a middle-aged man with a pink mohawk stopped us and said he wanted to talk to us. He said he'd like to talk to us more in the future and asked for our phone number. Then he said, "so, how often are you out on your bikes like this?" We said, "every day from about 11:00 am to 9:00 pm." His eyes got really big, and he said, "two white boys in shirts and ties on bikes in North Town!? All day? I got the chills when you said that! Be careful out there!" Got to love the safety rating of someone who has been arrested over 100 times. It makes me happy, though, being right in the heart of Las Vegas.

We did a video-call with a sweet older couple that comes to our English class to practice English. Afterwards, we were going to share a short scripture, so we held up the Book of Mormon and asked, "Have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon before?" The husband reached out and picked up something next to the computer and held it up. "Is it this?" Sure enough, it was the Book of Mormon. The English missionaries that overlap our area (Which coincidentally are my trainee's trainee and his trainee. So in mission genealogy, that is my grandson and my great-grandson.) had given him a copy just the day before. 

We had a couple really cool experiences lately with people recognizing the Holy Ghost. The last week I spent in my last area, we were visiting a family where the mom is the only member. After our lesson, she said, "maybe in your next visit we can talk about the Holy Ghost. After your last visit, Tabitha (her teenage daughter) said she felt the chills several times while you were here." I think there is nothing that could make me happier than being part of someone's first experiences with the Holy Ghost. It was really special. 

Another time, we were sweating and pedaling along and came across a younger man sitting outside and smoking. We shouted hello and asked if we could pray with him. We did so, and he shared with us a little about the recent loss of one of his family members. We shared a scripture about the resurrection from the Book of Mormon and left it with him to read before we pedaled away. It seemed like a pretty ordinary interaction for us, but when we went back the second time, we got to know him a little more. We asked about what he hoped to get from our visits or why he let us come over. He said that the day he met us, he just felt really stressed. When we came over, though, he said, "I felt like someone put an ice-pack on my forehead. My mind was just clear and calm. I can't explain it." Sometimes we are around the Spirit so much that it's like a fish in water. We forget what it is like without it. It is always really cool when you interact with someone who hasn't felt that. It is a large contrast. 

There is an awesome family we started teaching with the parents and 5 kids at home. After we had gone about three days without a visit planned, they texted and asked us if they could have us come over the next day. That almost never happens! They are so cool. In one of our visits, we talked about how the gospel blesses and strengthens families. I shared about how I learned a lot about the importance of the scriptures from Grandpa Harris who would call and read with me every day. Several days later, when we visited again, the dad told us thank you for inspiring his family and said that he had gone out and bought several copies of the Bible and his family started doing family scripture study. Is there anything happier than that?

I also found my first person door-knocking this week! We knocked on a door of a member, and it turned out the member had moved. There was a really nice mom there with her young son, though, who asked us about what church we went to. She said that she studied with several churches before, but she had never brought her kids to one and thought that now was the time to do it. We set up another visit to come back and teach her whole family. 

One last cool experience was when a pleasant-looking fellow walked past us. We said hi, and he said hi, and kept walking. He had gone a couple steps farther, but I said, "Hey, quick question!" We started talking to him, and he told us that he had actually met with the missionaries before, but had stopped. He said, "but I want to read the Book of Mormon again and go to church!" And to think that he would have just kept walking. Fortune favors the bold. 

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris

May 31, 2021 -- Back to the Bike

Las Vegas as it is meant to be: sweating on a bike in the 100 degree summer weather with my very attractive watch tan-line and collar tan-line in good development. I'm here enjoying my new area in North Las Vegas. We cover the area between Las Vegas Blvd and the I-15 above the strip. It is such an amazing place. Over half of the people you talk to out on the street speak Spanish, and stores, restaurants, and signs are about half Spanish as well. The streets are always busy and it is right in the 'hood' of Las Vegas. I love it a bunch. Back to some good old streets with broken glass. To picture what a lot of it looks like, imagine a lot of really small houses that all have a chain link fence and a gate in front with a terrifying dog inside. If you put all that in the hot desert, there we are. A lot of the scents and scenes remind me a little of El Salvador, so I am actually just really happy to be here!

My new companion is named Elder Buxton and is from Nebraska. He is super nice and has been out for a little less than a year. We live in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with another trio of missionaries, so it is pretty packed. We have two bunk beds with just enough room between them for a cot. I love all the guys we live with, though. They are a great, goofy crowd. We are all in bike areas, so our porch is loaded with bikes, and all the action is out on the streets, so we aren't inside very much anyway. 

On transfer day, I said fare-well to Elder Gastelum. I will definitely miss working so closely with President and Sister Rodarte. I learned a lot from being around them. The new assistant is the only missionary in our mission who speaks Swahili, so he has spent his entire mission in a ward that has a large percentage of members that speak Swahili. He is one of the coolest guys ever. Now they combined that area with our old Spanish area. Elder Gastelum certainly doesn't speak any Swahili, and the new elder doesn't speak a word of Spanish, so they are in for an adventure. 

Our other responsibility is managing the moderating for the ads we have on our Facebook pages for our Centro Hispano and all our English classes. There are about a dozen chapels that offer English classes, and one also has classes on family history, employment, emotional resilience, and lots of things like that. This Tuesday we will be there, and I believe there will be also some people from Congress coming to see what is happening with it.

So, we have been out on the streets trying to spread the good news of the gospel. There was one day this week where we talked to about 40 people, and nobody wanted to hear anything. I think this week I definitely had more rejection than I ever have had before on my mission, but on the other hand we also found more people to teach this week than I ever have before in this country. I suppose sometimes to get to a lot of good you go through some equally high hills of tough. When Elder McKay came to our mission, a big thing he talked about was that every time we talk to someone who rejects it, we can count it as a success because we got a prompting and followed through. 

One hot day after several lessons fell through, we decided to pray specifically for guidance as we continued on our way. We talked to some more uninterested people, and then Elder Buxton felt like we should go down a certain street. We pedaled along and out of the corner of our eyes saw a couple sitting on their porch as we biked past. It would have been easy to keep going, but we decided to turn around. We asked them if we could pray with them, and they said sure and had us pull up some chairs! As we got to know them, the wife said, "It's interesting that we saw you today," and told us about some challenges her family has been going through. She said that her grandma was a member of the church and asked us some questions about John Smith and the tablets he found in the ground. This caused some confusion for her poor husband who thought that we were talking about the discovery of the iPad for a minute. But we got it straightened out and shared a scripture that seemed to bring them some peace. They applied it to their lives really well. They told us to come back and that they were open to learning, and when we did, they had three of their kids their too! They were between 13 and 17. There are relatively few times in my mission that I've taught a complete family before, so it was so much fun. They are so ready to hear the gospel. It was definitely an answer to that prayer. 

We also met a man from the Philippines and had a cool conversation with him. He mentioned questions about why we are here and where we go when we die. We shared a scripture about the resurrection. He said, "Wow, the same body! Like the same face, the same hands, the same you? That would be cool!" Moments like that just make you so grateful to be a missionary.

Another cool little experience happened last week on my last Sunday in our English ward. The brother giving the Sunday School lesson mentioned a quote and said, "I was just on Zoom, but somebody said that in church a few weeks ago and it hit me like a ton of bricks!" It actually happened to be something I had said in a short testimony on fast Sunday. It made me really happy that something I didn't think really had any influence on anyone had stuck with this member. I think we often have moments like that in our lives, where people remember things we say or do. We don't always get to see it come back around, but it sure is amazing when you do.  

'Til we meet,

Elder Harris