Professional Bat Hunters!

Hey everyone! I hope your guys' Christmas was as good as mine was! But anyways, I guess I'll try to start at the beginning. So earlier this week, R. and his family (members from the ward here) stopped by to drop off a little early Christmas present because they were going out of town and won’t be back until I’m pretty sure after I'm transferred to another area. It was kinda sad because I love the crap out of them haha. But it was all good. We've been working a lot this week. G. from last week is still progressing really well! We talked to his parents, the ones who had heard a bunch of Mormon rumors, and they really opened up to us and to make a long story short Gabriel will get baptized tomorrow!

We've also been working with an elderly couple that we found a little while ago. The wife has agreed to be baptized; now we just have to work with the husband but it will all work out. They came to church with us last Sunday and loved it. The only problem is that some people found out that they were coming to the Mormon Church and went and talked a bunch of nonsense to them. But our investigators didn't really seem to mind. But we're gonna have to do everything we can to keep them progressing.

So anyways, on Christmas Eve we decided to celebrate by going out to eat at McDonald's (here that is really nice food) but it's usually really expensive so we don't go a whole lot but they were having some good deals. So we asked president to give us a ride to McD's and on the way there he pulled out 50 Reais from his pocket and was like, milkshakes are on me today. So we and a bunch of other missionaries went to McDonald's to eat. Then that night we went to some members’ house to eat dinner. They prepared such a good meal for us and we shared a really good spiritual message about Christmas.

Then Christmas morning came and turns out Santa Claus found our house! He brought a few presents for us all haha. Then Sister Soares invited us to eat lunch with her, the President, and their family. It was really nice, we ate well, and as I'm sure you guys all know by now, we had a beautiful view during all of it :) It was fun there because we got to know all of the family of President and Sister Soares. Even President's mom was there haha. They started talking about all of the stories of when President's kids (who are all grown now) were kids and all the stuff they did and even stories of when Presidente was a kid haha. So it was fun to see that side of them for a change haha. Then we came back to the office and skyped. It was so good to see the family! You guys all looked so good and it looks like Trey and Tagg are as humble as ever ;) I can't believe that that was already my 3rd skype call on the mission! The time is flying by!

So cool story for you guys. I don't think I've told you yet but we've had this bat living in our house for a couple of weeks now and every time we got home at night we had to pretty much turn on the light and duck and cover because he started flying around us. Then he always flew out of the window before we could get him haha. But not last night.... last night we were prepared haha. We all grabbed our little weapons and I grabbed a broom haha. I was waiting for him in the doorway when all of a sudden he flew right over my head! Then I saw him turn and come back and the next thing you know... WHAM!!!! I drilled that punk with my broom haha. Anyways, we're pretty much professional bat hunters haha. It took me back to the days when the high school vocational building was bat infested and we went in killing them with racquetball racquets haha.

But that just about sums it up for this week. I love you all! Have a great week! Thanks for everything! A igreja é verdadeiro! (as Colton pronounces it "halabrado" or something like that haha) ;)

Elder Harris

Pic 1 - McD's!

Pic 2 - Christmas Eve district selfie.
Pic 3 - Anther pic of the district
Pic 4 - Christmas Lunch!
Pic 5 - On our way up to Pres's house

Training a new secretary

Hey everyone! So this week was good. Super crazy and busy but good haha. So to start off on Monday Elder P. Araújo got to the office. He's the new secretary that I'll be training for a bit here. Man he's such a stud. It's gonna be a good couple of weeks with him and Elder Mehl. So like I said we had a crazy week with transfers and all but Elder P. Araujo's doing super well and is trying to take it all in haha. Poor thing, he got here right at the busiest time possible, I think it might have scared him a little haha. Jk jk, he's gonna be great. So because of the transfers we weren't able to get a whole lot of proselyting time but we did get a little bit. J. is still going strong and his friend R. as well but BOTH of their moms won’t let them be baptized! Both for the same reasons! Ugh it's so frustrating... J. and R. are so awesome! 

So Tuesday was a little bittersweet. It was the last dinner with the new arrivals at the president's house haha. I figured I had to make the most of it so I ate SO MUCH! Like I'm for real I pretty much rolled home. But it was all worth it ;) Then Wednesday came with all the missionaries who were going home. Pretty sure that just about everything that could have gone wrong went wrong like with flights and all that. Jk I wont go that far but there were a lot of problems so we were running around all day but it all worked out in the end. It was kinda sad because I was pretty good friends with a lot of the missionaries who went home so it was sad to see them go but at least I get to stay here haha.

To be 100% honest that's about all I can think of for this week so I'm gonna cut this one short. I love you all! Thanks for everything! I'm super stoked to talk to the family on Friday! A igreja é verdadeira! Feliz Natal!!!!

Elder Harris

Pic 1 - Notice anything different about this pic? Yep that's right... for the first time in 8 months that's not me working on the far computer!! hahahaha
Pics 2,3 - New comp
Pic 4 - Last time seeing this for a while haha

Hacked by Elder Mehl!

Today is one day much special, my companion is best world, I like very much him, I want to be like him, the Best Missionary of Mission Brazil Natal.

I LOVE ELDER MEHL.

Well.... I hope you all loved that very special message from the one and only, Elder Mehl haha. We're still working on his English hahaha.

Anyways, this week was really good. First off, this Sunday we were able to baptize G. He is a friend of the Bishop's son. In fact since I've been here the Bishop's kids have introduced us to, helped us teach, and baptize three of their friends, just normal friends that they play with in the street that they invited to church. I'll send a picture of them all but it’s really cool.... You're never too young to be a missionary!

So this week we also had our mission wide Christmas Conference. It was really good. I learned a ton and it's always good to see all of the missionaries. It's crazy to think that my last Christmas on the mission is already coming up! I swear last Christmas was just a couple of months ago! So anyways, just like every other mission in the world we have been focusing on the campaign thing (I couldn't think of the right word haha) that the church is doing, Here it's, Nasceu o Salvado, in English I think it's A Savior is Born. Anyways, it's a really great video and it gets better every time you watch it so go watch it and share it with everyone!

So on to the big news... I'm pleased to announce that after 8 months of working here in the office........ a new secretary has finally been called who will take my place here! Wooo! He will be arriving tomorrow here in the office. I'm really excited. But a little nervous at the same time... It's gonna be weird going back to the field after spending so much time here. It's gonna be especially tough because I'll be leaving right in the middle of summer here so it's gonna be way hot and they don't have A/C in the field haha. But anyways, the new secretary will get here tomorrow but I'll still spend a few more weeks here training him before I leave. But the end is in sight... I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel... haha jk it's not that bad here it's just that I've been here for a long time and I'm ready for something new. It's gonna be awesome.

But anyways, that just about sums it up for this week. I love you all! Thanks for everything you guys do for me! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

All of the missionaries who arrived together in the field last October:

                                                                          Then...

Now...

Famous Brazilian Magician!

Hey everyone! So first off just let me apologize for the lame letter this is probably going to be. We don't have a ton of time today but either way, not a whole lot of craziness happened this week haha. We were able to baptize A., a boy I mentioned in my last email that we found a little bit ago and taught him and his mom and his brothers. We were able to baptize him last Saturday and it was really good. Unfortunately, his mom's boyfriend doesn't want to get married and doesn't look like he's going to change his mind any time soon. So I guess we'll just keep working with them. We have been talking to A.'s brother too and he wants to be baptized as well. Also the bishop's kids have been bringing a friend to church for a couple of weeks now, we went and visited him and he also wants to be baptized. So if everything goes according to plan (and I'm praying it does) we should have a pretty fruitful weekend. 

 
Last Saturday we went to the AP's area to help them out while they were traveling and I went with one of their companions Elder Gonzales. So we went to one of the areas there and we start talking with a few kids and I did that magic trick where you put a pen in your nose and it comes out of your ear. The one Brendan Cocker showed me how to do haha. Anyways, man it escalated quickly... before I knew it there was literally a group of about 40 or 50 kids all wanting to watch me do magic. Like I'm not even exaggerating! These kids were crawling out of holes, jumping out of windows, and I’m pretty sure a few of them parachuted in from the sky because they all showed up so quickly haha. So I did the three magic tricks that I knew and they all were interested until I ran out of tricks, then they all lost interest haha. But there for about 5 minutes thanks to Brendan I was famous in the Brazilian neighborhoods haha.

A lot of our week was spent in the office getting things ready for the Christmas Conference this Tuesday. I can't believe it's already that time of the year again! It flew by so fast! I'm excited for the conference and excited to see everyone. Last night we went and slept at the AP's house because Sister Soares wanted to take us all to have another special pday. Well actually the first one for most of them but it was my second because.... I don't know I’m just special like that I guess... Well it was awesome as usual. We went to a few beaches here and played soccer on the beach until everyone was just about dying of heat stroke then we called it a day and headed back. Anyways, it was a blast. I'll try and get some pics to send to you guys but that's about it for this week. I love you all! Thanks for everything! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Pics 1, 2 - P-day
Pics 3, 4 - My five minutes of fame haha.

His first marriage proposal!

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving this week! I sure missed it here haha. But I still wanted to have a special lunch so we went to a restaurant and me and my comp each ate a whole pizza... Pretty much the same thing as turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing right? ;) haha It was good. Plus that night President M. the stake president had an American Thanksgiving party with people from his English class and afterwards, he brought us some left over desserts... Cookies, chocolate cake, and... wait for it...... pumpkin pie! I almost cried. I'd never seen pumpkin pie here before, man it was so good haha. So that was my thanksgiving this year haha.

So this week was good, definitely a lot better than last week haha. Last Sunday we had stake conference and it was super good! We brought J. and his friend with us and they enjoyed it. But anyways, we were able to find quite a few new people to teach this week. We started working in a new part of the area which is more of the ghetto I guess you could say. The people are way more open and willing to listen to you there. There's always some weird random things that happens there haha. A woman asked me if I would marry her... Haha it was kinda funny. Anyways, we did find a really good family... well a 14 year old boy and his mom. we taught them and they both accepted to be baptized, the only problem is that the mom isn't married and is living with her boyfriend and he doesn't want to get married. So we'll keep working with them but the boy, A., is still super excited to be baptized here in a bit.

So earlier this week we were in Alecrim, a neighborhood here in Natal where they have a bunch of shops and stores and all that good stuff. There's this guy called Rambo of Alecrim. It's this guy who dresses up like Rambo with a big light up gun and stays by this one traffic light and every time the light goes green for the pedestrians to cross the road, he runs out into the middle of the road with a whistle and his big gun and starts yelling and acting like he's covering you as you cross the street. It's actually hilarious. We went to cross and he was like “LET’S GO MORMONS!!! I GOT YOUR BACK GO GO GO!!!” I was almost busting up so then we had to take a picture with him haha. We went to a guitar shop and I was looking at the guitars when all of a sudden one of the workers walks up to me and is like, you're a guitarist aren't you? And I was like uh... i guess so, I play a little bit... and he was like, I could tell by the way you were looking at that guitar... And was like whoah... that's pretty creepy but pretty neat haha. Anyways, I talked to him for a bit and he was really cool but he doesn't live in our area so I got his info and passed it to the missionaries who work there.

This morning we went with President M. and a bishop from one of the wards here to the sand dunes that sit pretty close to the ocean. It's the same place that Sister S. took us a little while back. It's so pretty there! Anyways, we left at 5:30 this morning and were back by 8. Definitely a good way to start the day. I'll send pics.

But anyways, that's just about it for this week. I love you all! Have a great week! Thanks for everything that you guys do for me! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Pics - Pday,and  Rambo de Alecrim

This week was just one of those weeks...

Well everyone, this week was.... well, it was just one of those weeks. On the mission you have the great weeks, the good weeks, and the not so good weeks. This one wasn't one of the better weeks we've had. First off, our investigator Z.’s baptism fell through. We went to pick him up to take him to his baptism and we found him with a huge black eye. We asked him what happened and it turns out he got himself into a little argument and ended up losing the day before his baptism. Well to make matters worse he also decided to move to another neighborhood which is really far from where we work. So we aren't able to visit him anymore. He said he would go to church on Sunday so fingers crossed, but I'm not too hopeful.

Also we went to talk with J's mom yesterday again about his baptism. This time we brought the ward young men's leader with us, Irmão D. He's one of those guys that is just super likable and all the young men love him. So we went there and after a little while she admitted that she really wants her son to go to her church instead of the church of Jesus Christ so even if it means she has to be disobedient to God she won't let him be baptized. I was like, “What?? Ugh!” Anyways, I walked away from both experiences a little disheartened... But we've just gotta press forward with faith doing everything within our power and the Lord will make up for the rest. It's one of those moments where you wish you could just force them to make the right decision that will help them but I guess that's why Heavenly Father gave us our agency. In a way I kinda feel like that's how Heavenly Father must feel sometimes. Sometimes the choice is so clear and I'm sure that God just wants to yell to us what we need to do and yet every once in a while we still make the wrong choices. Like Elder Holland said in one of his talks "imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be incredibly frustrating for Him but He deals with it; so should we."

So moral of the story, Choose the Right. Just do it.

So yesterday we had to help take all of the furniture and appliances out of a house where missionaries used to live and take it all to our house because that area closed. It was hot and I was sweating like no other but we got it taken care of. I again rode in the back of the moving truck and once again it felt like I was inside an oven haha. We passed through my old areas, Cidade do Sol, and Panatis on our way home and it was so weird seeing my old areas again. It feels like it was just last month that I was working there yet it's been about 8 months haha. Time flies when you're having fun haha.

We also had a family night the other night with a couple of families from the ward. Man there was so much food! Sometimes it's hard being a missionary because you just have to eat so much stinking food! Like they just expect that from you haha. #missionaryprobs hahaha. But it was good. I love the members here they're great. But that just about sums it up for this week. I love you all! Try not to freeze to death in all of the snow there! Man I'm jealous! I'm still soaking in the sun for all of you guys haha so when you're all freezing to death just try to remember Elder Harris sweating to death haha. jk not really cuz I'm in the office all day ;) Haha Have a great week! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

Pics of the staff (I didn't take any pictures this week so here are a few from a little while back)

Nobody was injured so that's always a plus!

So this week was good. We had the monthly Leadership council on Tuesday which went well. Nobody was injured so that's always a plus haha. So anyways, after that we were trying to get all of the missionaries back to their areas so I was at the bus station when a Hispanic elder came up to me saying that the workers there needed my help. So anyways, I was a little skeptical but I walked back into this little room with this Hispanic elder, a worker, and this other dude from Argentina who didn't speak any Portuguese haha. So the other Elder was translating his Spanish for us. Anyways, turns out that this guy needed to buy a flight ticket to get him from Natal to another city in southern Brazil called Foz do Iguaçu, which is actually where my last comp is from. But anyways they figured that with my secretary skills I would be able to help them because I'm always buying plane tickets hahaha. It was pretty funny but I showed them a few sites and helped them out a bit and it got all worked out haha. Just a random funny experience haha.

So I told you guys last week about Z., the guy we talked to because we were afraid he would assault us. Well anyways, he's been progressing really well and will be baptized tomorrow! He's 23 and the bishop wants to start preparing him as soon as possible so that he can have the opportunity to maybe serve a mission. Anyways, we're excited. He had his baptismal interview yesterday and it all went well. We're still working with J. and his mom and haven't been having much success with her... We stopped by his house last Sunday to take him to church and he answered the door and told us that his mom wouldn't let him go to church with us. So we asked to talk to her and she started denying it saying that he could go he's a grown boy he needs to choose for himself which path he wants to choose. So we brought up baptism. He's constantly talking about how badly he wants to be baptized but his mom still won’t let him even though he's a "grown boy who needs to choose his own path" she thinks it's too early. Ugh, people... but we aren't gonna lose faith haha.

So guess who we ran into yesterday... Remember B. from a few weeks ago, our "Elect" investigator who was progressing super-fast until her friends started talking bad about the church. Well anyways, we saw her yesterday. Apparently she's living in a beach house with a bunch of friends and has lost all interest in the church. I walked away feeling extremely sad. It's hard to believe that someone can make such a big turn for the worse in such a short amount of time.

But on a happier note, we started teaching a 17 year old kid named T. He looks really promising. We went to his house and taught him about the restoration and he loved it. The lesson started off a little shaky because his step dad was there drunk making all sorts of unnecessary comments but then his mom showed up and took him away. Haha it was actually pretty funny. She showed up like "Hey! You can't be hearing the word of God, you've been drinking! You're not allowed to listen to these things of God!" Idk, you just had to be there I guess haha.

But that's just about it for this week. I love you all! Thank you for everything that you guys do for me! Have a great week! A igreja é verdadeira!

Elder Harris

The Leadership Council