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
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