Monday, February 29, 2016

Happy 5th Birthday to Me!

Hey everyone! First off thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! I can't believe I'm already 5 years old! I'm getting to be a big boy I know hahaha. Anyways, this week was good. To start off, last Monday we received a phone call saying that Elder Webb and I were being emergency transferred. So Elder Webb went to an area here in mossoró and is now companions with Elder Durê, who was with me in the office. And I was transferred to another area here in Mossoró too. It's about a 45 minute walk from my last area in Belo Horizonte. The area I'm in now is called Bom Jardim. I'm excited to start working here it should be really good. My new comp is Elder S. Cardoso. Another new missionary who I will be finishing his training. He is really good so I'm excited. I'm gonna miss Elder Webb though. We spent hardly any time together haha. But anyways, as for teaching things were pretty slow this week. We spent a ton of time in the sisters' area helping them out and now this week we're gonna really focus on getting our own area whipped into shape. So last night we went to a little barbeque at a member's house in Elder Durê and Elder Webb's new area. Then afterwarcs they brought out a little cake and sang happy birthday to me which was really cool. Tonight I'm gonna head back to Belo Horizonte for a bit to visit some recent converts and some investigators. They were planning a surprise birthday party for me but when I said I was gonna be transferred they told me about it so I told them I would go back today to see them haha. I'm excited to see them all. But that's about it for this week. I hope you are all doing well! Have a great week! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris





Monday, February 22, 2016

This week was awesome!

Hey everyone! So this week was awesome! To be honest I don't remember too well what happened earlier this week. But yesterday was super awesome! So last week a lady named A. came to church for the first time in a while. Her son has already been baptized and served a mission but she never had too much interest in the church. Well anyways, we invited her to come to church last week and she accepted. She went and felt the spirit a ton and decided that that was what she wanted in her life. We worked all this week with her. It wasn't necessarily too hard because so many missionaries have already taught her so she already knew most of the stuff we talked about but this time was different. She starting making and keeping commitments and this Sunday she was baptized by her son. It was such a special day for everyone. Plus we were able to bring Am. to church this week too and we are working towards his baptism as well. I'm excited for this week. It should be really good. But that's about all I have time to share this week. The church is true! I love you all! Thanks for everything! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Pic  - my comps artistic abilities plus random pics of the district




Monday, February 15, 2016

Have the courage to open your mouth!

Hey everyone! So this week was pretty good. Not a whole lot happened. We worked a ton and had a bunch of investigators progressing but on Sunday not a whole lot of them came to church unfortunately. We've been working with a man named A. He's about 60 or so and his wife is super Catholic so she doesn't like to talk to us a lot but we've been teaching him and he's already been to church three times but he doesn't want to be baptized yet which is tough cuz he's so ready and he knows that it will bless him but I think he's a little nervous about what his wife will think. Plus he always talks to his neighbors and people don't always say the best stuff about the Mormon Church. But he's already been and knows how it is so we're gonna work with him this week to finally take the big step. Pray that it goes well! We had interviews with President this week and they went well. It was good to see president again after so long haha. It's kinda weird not seeing him almost every day haha.

So they asked me to give a talk in sacrament meeting this week because here they have a Sunday of missionary work every second Sunday of the month. So I talked and I think it went well. I talked about having the courage to open your mouth. I was the last speaker and they left me a ton of time. I talked for about 20 minutes or so with almost no notes so I was pretty proud of myself and people cried so I think I got through to them. Hopefully they'll be more excited to talk to everyone and then get the referrals to us. I'm excited. But to be honest that's about all that I can remember that happened this week. Sorry I know it was a lame letter, I don't even have any pics for you guys this week. But I love you all! Thanks for everything you do for me! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Monday, February 8, 2016

I'm just about to start my six months to sexy!

Hey everyone! So sorry for the short letter this is gonna be but this week was awesome! But extremely tiring. We had two more baptisms this week. which were really cool, two brothers, J.and B. The other brother was also supposed to be baptized too, Je., but he lives with his grandma and she wouldn't let him go to church that morning. But we'll keep trying with her and it will work out. We've also got quite a few other investigators who are progressing. They just need to quit smoking and drinking coffee and they'll be ready. We had an awesome zone meeting this week. I can't believe how fast time is going by! Sister Baker, who got to the mission at the same time as me, is in my zone and she is already on her last transfer! It's crazy to think about because I still feel super new in the mission! I'm just about getting ready to start my six months to sexy haha ;) So the other day Elder Petter called me from Alecrim and I was able to talk to one of our recent converts F., the lady with the hurt foot. It was so good to talk to her! She's still going strong! It was really awesome! But anyways, That's about all I've got for you guys for this week. I love you all! Like I said sorry for the short letter but I"m short on time. I love you all! have a great week! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Monday, February 1, 2016

I HAVE OFFICIALLY BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM THE OFFICE!!!!!!! WOOOO!!!!!

So as I'm sure some of you may have noticed I am emailing on a Monday which means.......................... I HAVE OFFICIALLY BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM THE OFFICE!!!!!!! WOOOO!!!!! So I was transferred to a city called Mossoró which is about a 5 hour bus ride from Natal to the interior. And man let me tell ya..... I thought Natal was hot but I was wrong... Here in Mossoro I have learned what hot actually is... Oh my goodness I literally cannot bring myself to believe that you guys back home are actually getting as much snow as I'm seeing in the pictures that you guys sent! Today we played soccer with some of the other missionaries from the zone and I almost died. I think I sweat more in ten minutes of playing here than almost ten months of working in the office! In fact I am sending this email in a soaking wet t-shirt because of the sweat haha. But other than that it’s awesome here. They told me that Mossoró is the second biggest city in the state of Rio Grande do Norte behind Natal. It's a pretty decent sized city. My new comp is Elder Webb and he's a complete stud. I'm his step dad which means I'm finishing up his 12 week training. He's from St. George. I was a little worried when I found out I would be with a new American because I didn't want to lose my Portuguese but he already speaks Spanish so he's catching on to the language quickly. Plus we live with two more Brazilians so it's not even a temptation to speak English. This is my first companion of my mission who isn't Brazilian. But man he's a stud and a hard worker. We get work done together. I was also a little worried about the transition from office life to normal missionary life again but it hasn't been too tough. This week we were able to baptize 3 people that Elder Webb and his other comp had been preparing so I got here right at the fun part. It was good cuz I was able to hit the ground running here in the field ya know? It was a really good Sunday :)

Anyways on Tuesday we were able to receive the new missionaries and eat MY LAST dinner at president’s house... I know, I said last transfer that it would be my last but now it really was my last haha. Then Wednesday morning I got on the bus and drove 5 hours to get here. Elder Durê my first comp in the office was also transferred to Mossoró so it was good to travel with him and catch up with him haha.

I wish I could send you guys some pics but I forgot how annoying it is to have to use internet cafes to send emails but I'll try to get some to you next week. Just know that everything is well here! I am absolutely loving the field. I do kind of miss some of the things from the office... like AC... man do I miss AC... and my companion’s from back in Alecrim but it's all good because we talk on the phone quite a bit. That's just about it for this week. I love you all! Don't die of cold there and I'll try not to die of heat here! I love you guys! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

My last pic from Alecrim with Elder Mehl, and Elder Petter