We'll do our best and let the Lord do the rest!

This week was such a good week! We were able to baptize F. on Sunday, the sweet old lady with the hurt foot who is a straight up champ! So we went to pick her up on Sunday to bring her to church with a wheel chair because she said that the doctor told her she couldn't move her foot at all so we got a wheelchair. We got to her house and she said she didn't even need it. So we walked for a bit because she lives in a really tight part of the ghetto where it's too small for cars to go in. So we went with her until we got to the road where we arranged for some members to give her a ride. She went to church, brought a few friends with her, and was baptized just a little bit after the meetings were over. It was such a cool baptism! We had to wrap her foot in a bunch of plastic, tape and saran wrap to keep the water out and Elder Mehl and I both had to get in the water to help. I supported her back while Elder Mehl baptized her. She started to cry afterwards and it was just one of those spiritual moments. She literally came out of the water a new person. You could see more light in her eyes and she is just much happier in general. And she was a positive, happy lady before! In fact her baptism was just what her grandson W. needed. We have been teaching him and some of his friends for awhile now and they have been coming to church for a few weeks but they weren't necessarily progressing towards baptism. F. kept talking about how great the baptism was and before you knew it. We were able to baptize W. and one of his friends, J. on Tuesday night! Once again they were such good baptisms! Unfortunately, F. couldn't make it because of her foot but we showed her the pictures afterwards. Haha turns out W. is pretty much ninja and so he was showing us all sorts of flips and stuff after the baptism haha. It was sweet. The Lord's hand has definitely been at work here this week. And actually, thanks to F.'s and L.’s, (who was baptized last week) examples, one of their friends that we've been teaching, Lo., also wants to be baptized so if she doesn't go out of town this week we will be able to have her baptism this Sunday Also one more 15 year old boy, A., has been progressing really well. The only problem is his parents but we'll do our best and let the Lord do the rest.

To be honest, that's about all I remember from this week. I guess those were the highlights. It's such a cool feeling to see how the work of the Lord is going forward and an even better feeling to be a part of it. I love you all! Have a great week! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

God truly does bless us when we show our faith.

Hey everyone! So this week has been really good! To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot because I didn't go through my journal last night like I usually do but I'll try to remember as much as possible. So Sunday was awesome. We were able to bring a few investigators to church. One of them is named L. She's a lady that we've been working with for a bit. She's come to church the past couple of weeks and loved it. Another awesome thing that happened is that we have been teaching an elderly lady, F. She's a straight up champ. For about two years her foot has been hurt and won’t heal. She walks with a cane but it hurts her pretty bad. Well she decided that she wanted to go to church with us. So we went to pick her up. She doesn't have a car or any other mean of transportation so we took off on foot slowly. You could tell she was hurting pretty badly but she had a smile on her face the whole time. Then all of a sudden a car that was passing by stopped and the guy asked if we wanted a ride. So he gave us a ride to the church, said he couldn't stay, and he took off. Now I know that if something like that were to happen in a place like Beaver nobody would think too much of it. But here, where nobody knows anybody, it's almost impossible for a stranger to offer a ride like that. It was so cool. God truly does bless us when we show our faith. We are working with her to hopefully be baptized tomorrow.

This morning we were able to baptize L. who I mentioned a little earlier. It was such a good baptism! She didn't want to be baptized at first because she had some problems with coffee and smoking but we have been trying to help her a ton and she quit drinking coffee and smoking. But even then she wanted to wait a little bit longer to be baptized but we told her that I would be leaving the area here in a bit and that I wanted to see her get baptized before I left. So right after the baptism she came up to me and was like “Now you can leave here happy!” Haha it was really funny.

To be honest, I'm sure other things happened but to be honest I can't remember. I hope you guys all have a good week! I love you all! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Pic - Elder Chipman got a package from home this week and it had double stuff Oreos... I almost cried it was so good.... it's been too long haha.

The experiences we have are priceless!

 Hey everyone! So this week was a good one. Not a ton happened so this email isn't gonna be super long but it was definitely a good week. So we had our leadership council meeting this week which was my last one as a secretary... at least I think haha. It went well. Elder Petter is getting the hang of all the secretary stuff. There is a lot to learn but he's doing a good job.

So earlier this week we had a pretty funny experience: We were teaching a lesson to an elderly lady who was really sweet. Well we finished and I was saying the closing prayer and she just went off mumbling her own prayer... whatever, like that actually happens a lot here. So I just kinda let it happen and went on with it. But then as soon as I said amen she flipped out and started yelling like an Indian like EIEIEIEIEIEIEIEI!!!!!! GLORIA!!! AMEN!! Man I couldn't contain myself haha. I busted up! I was dying. Hahaha man the experiences we have are priceless. I love the people there so much. You just have to get over the smell of marijuana and loud music while you're trying to teach but other than that, it's golden haha.

So we've had two missionaries staying with us this week because one of them is sick and he's staying here while being treated. We had to take a missionary to the police station to renew his visa the other day and it went well. I think it was my last one! Haha it's weird. I feel like I'm doing everything here in the office "for the last time". Haha speaking of which, we ate lunch at R.’s and his family's house today for the last time haha. It was bomb, I ate so much haha. I'll try to send some pics.

So as for the teaching aspect of life, it's been pretty good. We have been teaching a guy named A. for a bit now. He came to church last Sunday and will be getting baptized tomorrow. He's so cool and super excited for his baptism so pray that everything goes well! But to be honest, that's literally about all that happened this week. I can't think of anything else. I'm still just waiting for president to send me back to the field. It could be any day now! I'm pretty excited if you can't tell ;) But anyways, I love you all! Have an awesome week! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Pics - Our lunch today

Happy New Year 2016!

Hey everyone!!!! Happy New Year!!! I hope everyone had a great week! This week was pretty good. To start off on Sunday we were able to baptize G. The kid whose mom had heard a bunch of Mormon rumors but ended up liking us and letting him get baptized. He's such a funny kid haha. Th Hey everyone!!!! Happy New Year!!! I hope everyone had a great week! This week was pretty good. To start off on Sunday we were able to baptize G. The kid whose mom had heard a bunch of Mormon rumors but ended up liking us and letting him get baptized. He's such a funny kid haha. The baptism was awesome and all of his friends were there.

So we had a little bump in the road this week. Remember the old couple who we were preparing for baptism? Well in the first contact that we made with the man he told us he was married legally and everything. So we were set haha. Anyways we were filling out the baptismal forms with them and we asked for their wedding date... well as it turns out, the man is indeed married... the problem is that the lady isn't.... yeah, they guy married a woman who died a few years back and didn't get remarried to M. (the lady who he lives with). And he's not sure if he wants to get married to her because he feels like he would be betraying his late wife... man it's just a complicated situation. It's not easy for two elderly people who are taking care of each other to just split up but the man still loves this other woman who he married so I'll be honest... I don't know what we're gonna do there.

Anyways, we had an awesome New Years. We invited a few other elders to our house to have a barbecue. But that was pretty much it haha. This morning was spent deep cleaning our house which was in desperate need haha. But that's really about it for this week. Nothing else too crazy or exciting happened. Actually yesterday to usher in the New Year we figured we needed to have a good lunch so we ended up going to Sal e Brasa. That restaurant with all you can eat everything and about a million pounds of meat. Man it was so good. I ate so much! (like usual haha)

But anyways, sounds like you guys all had a good New Years! I can't believe 2015 is already over! 2015 was the only year of my life dedicated 100% to the Lord's service. Now I can officially say that I'll be home this year ;) Man the time is flying by! Gotta make the most of it! I love you all! Thanks for everything you do for me! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Pics: New Year's Eve Barbecue