Baptism and Wayne's!

Hey everyone! So this week was really good. Cl. was baptized this week! Cl. is one of Ca.'s (the recent convert) cousins. It was so good and her whole family came to the baptism which was a miracle because it is almost impossible to get them to church! Unfortunately her parents didn't go on Sunday to watch her be confirmed :/ But we'll keep trying with them. I don't think I told you guys last week but last Sunday when we were getting investigators to go to church a couple called us from the other side of the road so we went to talk to them. They said they met missionaries in a another city and loved them but had to move and wanted to know if we could go visit them this week. So we were like for sure! We went there and they progressed super fast the whole week. They need to get married legally and they committed to do so. they accepted baptism too but we got there yesterday morning to take them to church and no one was home :/ I was super bummed. We tried calling and calling and calling but no one answered. so I guess we'll see what happened this week.
Today for Pday we went with the district to Wayne's. Which if you guys remember from Natal is super american burger place. It's pretty expensive but one of the missionaries we live with, Elder Chacón, is going home next week so it was kind of his farewell haha. It was so good. A huge burger, fries, barbeque sauce, ranch, and a strawberry smoothie. Man it was good. But that's about it for this week. I love you all! Thanks for everything! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Pic 1 - Elder Zylks, Sister Weatherford, and Sister Stadler
Pics 2, 3,and 4 Wayne's 

Happy Mother's Day!

Hey everyone! Happy Mother's Day mom! It was so good to talk with the family! I can't believe it was my fourth and final Skype of the mission! So this week was pretty good. I was in Natal until Tuesday when we came back to Mossoró. Natal was awesome. It was so good to see a bunch of the members there. Anyways, so I got back and Elder Zylks and I got right back to work. This week has had its fair share of both blessings and trials. We've been working closely with a few families but all of the parents need to get married. It's so hard to find an actually legally married couple here! They were all progressing really well until Sunday when pretty much nobody wanted to go to church. That's one of the most frustrating things here. Every Sunday we leave the house at about 7:00-7:30 (the sun is already beating down at 7:00) to go get investigators to take to church. We literally stopped by the houses of every one of our investigators and they were either sick, not home, or just too lazy. Well after about 2 hours with no success we finally made it to church. Church was good, then we went to lunch, and afterwards we went to Skype the family. The members whose house we went to are so nice! they are always so excited to help the missionaries with just about everything! But anyways, that's just about it for this week. I'm gonna try to get you guys some pictures this week haha. It's about time. I love you all! Thanks for everything! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Pic1 - Elder Mehl

Pic 2 - Elder Petter

Pic 3 - 2 generations of secretaries haha

Pic 4 - The district

Pic 5 - Elder Andrade

Pic 6 - Remember the twins Marcos and Matheus from Alecrim?

Pic 7 - Elder Carpenter

Pic 8 - Roosevelt!

Pic 9 - I forgot to tell you guys but we have a pet spider at our house haha. 

News so good that she couldn't wait!

Hey everyone! So this week was freaking awesome! To be honest I don't really remember too much about what happened earlier this week. I'm horrible at this stuff. All I remember is the really good stuff or the really bad stuff. But this week was just good stuff. So I think I told you guys about the family that we have been teaching right? The daughter was baptized a few months ago and we have been teaching her grandma, mom, sister, and cousin. Anyways they were progressing really well. On Thursday morning I was writing in my journal and it was funny because I was literally writing about this family and the potential that I saw in them when all of a sudden the phone rang. I answered it and it was the girl who was baptized a while back. She said she had some news so good that she couldn't wait. Then she asked if there was any way for her sister, G., is her name, to be baptized this week. We were like heck yeah! So we worked really close with her and this Sunday she was baptized. The whole family went to the baptism and it was awesome! Now we just have to keep working with the rest of them. It's cool to see their progress because when The first daughter was baptized the family wanted nothing to do with the church because they had heard a bunch of people talking bad about the church. But now that they actually know the church and the missionaries they are so much more open. I'm stoked for them all!
Anyways, last night I got on a bus and made the 5 hour trip yet again to Natal to renew my visa. The trip was good but the bus stunk so bad! But I made it alive so I wont complain. That night we chilled for a bit in the office and I went next door to the church where there were a few members. I felt right at home there, like I never even left. It was awesome to see everyone from Alecrim again. Especially R. and his family, and President Morais. Anyways, this morning we went to the police station to get the visa business worked out. It was different being accompanied rather than accompanying haha. The workers there were stoked to see me again. haha. Afterwards I went with Elder Carpenter who was also renewing his visa and we went with R. who took us to lunch and to do some fun things for Pday. It was so much fun! Then we came back and right now we are at President Morais's house sending emails and that pretty much sums it up for this week. I'm sorry I'll try and send pics but I won't promise that it will work. I haven't received photos of G.'s baptism yet because it was a member that took the picture cuz I forgot my camera. But anyways, I love you all! Have a great week! A igreja é verdadeira!


Elder Harris

My first real son!

Hey everyone! Well I don't have a whole lot of time but I'll try to get in the most important stuff. I got a call last Monday saying that I would be training. Haha my first real son on the mission! I've had two other step sons but this is my first real son. So I took a bus to Natal on Tuesday to pick him up. His name is Elder Zylks from Montana. He's super awesome. It's been a little different because he is still learning Portuguese but he's catching on quick. It's kinda funny, I think I've already said this before but like sometimes I forget how different things are here than they are back in the States because I just get so used to everything here. But I've been feeling kinda like a tour guide here too haha. Showing my comp all the good Brazilian snacks and the fun things to do haha. Anyways, everything is going good here and everthing is good with the investigators too. I had some more things to say but I literally don't have time today so I apologize for the lame letter and for the lack of photos. I'm almost 98.246% that this computer is full of viruses so I'm not gonna risk it this week. I love you all! Thanks for everything! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Trust in Heavenly Father! You aren't as great as you think you are by yourself!

Hey everyone! This week was awesome! Let me just start off with the big news... Ra. was baptized! For those of you who don't remember, she is the one whose mom said if she was baptized she would kick her out of the house. Alright so let me give you guys a run down on how this all went down. Ra.'s mom is cousins with the mom of a return missionary (A.). This return missionary is in our ward but his mom isn't baptized but is super awesome. We told her about the problem we were having and invited her to teach them with us. So we got to Ra.'s house and and all of a sudden A. (return missionary’s mom) went in and called N. (Ra.'s mom) and started going to town on this woman! She was like, “N. get over here! Sit here! What is this that I'm hearing about you not letting your daughter get baptized!? That's a bunch of bull! Would you rather have her going to church or in the streets getting involved with drugs and all sorts of other things?! You can't tell her what to do especially because you don't even go to church! Satan is using you to get in the way of your daughter’s happiness!” Man she said so much more but I can't even write it all. All I know is that I pretty much sat there watching these ladies going off... My head was going back and forth like I was watching a tennis game... But to make a long story short... Ra. was baptized this Saturday by her cousin (the return missionary whose mom went to town on her mom) and received the Holy Ghost yesterday. Her baptism was so good. She even invited some friends to watch who we're going to start teaching.

All I know is that I have been praying so hard for everything to work out and Heavenly Father for sure answered my prayers. Actually last Sunday I decided to fast for her as well. It was my first fast for her and look what happened. It makes me feel kinda dumb because after over a year and half out here it seems like I still forget that Heavenly Father does help us when we ask for it! I feel like it's something that we can all get better at. Good thing Heavenly Father is patient. I feel like He must find it at least a little amusing watching us running around trying to resolve all of our own problems with no success but as soon as we humble ourselves and look to Him, He's like "Here let me help you with that... there, now was that so hard?" Idk that's just kind of what I imagine. So trust in Him! You aren't as great as you think you are by yourself!

So anyways, that's about it for my week.. Actually that's about all I remember from this week, it was the highlight of the week. I love you all! A Igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris
Pics – Random photos.

Another awesome week!

Hey everyone! So this week was awesome. On Monday we got on a bus and went to Natal for a leadership council. This was my first one that I've been to not as a secretary! It was so nice not having to worry about preparing a training or anything like that. It was cool to go back to the area where I spent almost 10 months of my mission. I really do kinda miss it there. The ward there was pretty much my home ward haha. Anyways, as for the actual council it was really good. We talked a lot about goals. One of the huge goals here as I'm sure it is for almost every other mission is to get a temple here in Natal. I can see it in the not so distant future.

After the council we came back to Mossoró. Wednesday we had a good zone meeting where we pretty much just talked about the same stuff as we did in the council. So last week I told you guys about the family that we were trying to reactivate. So we baptized the youngest daughter, E.on Saturday. It was awesome, the whole family went to the baptism and then to church on Sunday for her confirmation. Now the mom and dad just need to get married for them to get baptized. Anyways, E. was so happy. She's one of the cutest kids I've ever met haha. She just smiled the whole time haha.

Anyways, that's about it for this week. Thanks for everything! I love you guys! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

"The first and great eternal truth is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind and strength." Powerful stuff.

 Hey everyone! So I hope you guys all had an awesome week and an even better conference weekend! I can't believe It was my 4th and final conference on the mission. I loved it. But it wasn't exactly the most relaxing conference that I've had. We were so busy both days trying to get investigators to come with us and a bunch of other stuff. It was hard because Bom Jardim is so far away from the stake center and almost no one had cars to help us. So we had to pay a bunch of taxis to take them to conference. So I'm pretty much out of money and I have to wait until the 15th for the next allowance... woo fun stuff. But it was worth it. We took Ra. with us to the last session and she said that Elder Holland's talk was exactly what she was needing to hear. The phrase that struck me the most this conference was Elder Holland's when he said that the first and great eternal commandment is that we love God with all of our hearts, might, mind, and strength. But that the first and great eternal truth is that God loves us with all of His heart, might, mind and strength. Powerful stuff.

This week was pretty busy. I was able to baptize one of the sister's investigators on Wednesday. It was one of the most spiritual baptisms I've participated in. It was a man who has been fighting for months to break an addiction to alcohol, smoking, marijuana, and other drugs. The sisters stuck with him for so long and he was finally baptized on Wednesday. It was incredible to see how people truly can progress and change.

To be 100% honest with you I can't remember too much else of what happened this week. Actually the other day we were at the supermarket and I was buying some juice right? Anyways the line at the register was huge but I was next in line to pay when some guy pointed at a shopping basket that another guy was using and was like hey grab that basket for me. So I kinda just looked around thinking that maybe he saw a basket that wasn't being used but I didn't find one. The guy was kinda far away and I didn't want to yell so I just kinda looked at him like dude, the only basket here is being used. But he thought I didn't understand him so he started talking louder. By this point everyone was looking and in the midst of all this confusion one of the ladies at the cash register called out caixa livre! which means that the register is open. but I didn't hear her because of the other guy wanting his basket so the lady called out again and everyone thought that I wasn't understanding so they yelled out Free Box in English! which means caixa livre technically. I know it doesn't sound like much of a story but I was having flash backs to the start of my mission when I really couldn't understand anyone haha. But it all worked out, I bought my juice, and no one was hurt.

I think that's about it for this week. I love you all! Have an awesome week! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris