One of the Best Weeks of my Life

Mother Dear, oh how happy I am to talk to you this week :)

Micah came home?? Has it been 2 years already? Wow! Cody’s the next one... are you counting down the days yet? :) I can’t believe less than a  month! 

A packag huh? Great, love you! If you could throw in my Jazz hat, and some FLAVORED WATER! Ya know, like those squirty things. I don’t need a ton, especially because I should be getting transferred in about a month and it’s a little difficult to haul it all. 

Ahh mom, you’re the best.! :) I loved the little sappy note. Don’t worry, I still love you too . . .  even if I’m 6000 miles away :) 

Hermana Hood spoke at stake conference?? Woahh!  But yeah, she’s super cool. We were only in the same zone for 1 transfer, so I didn’t get to know her super well. Obviously this is my first area so I don’t know what’s hard or not, but yeah I’ve heard it’s one of the harder areas as well. :) What else did she say about the mission? I’m curious to know! 

Yeah, my life is definitely a roller coaster here but I’ll tell ya mom, I truly am loving it out here. It’s definitely the best decision I’ve ever made. Thanks for all the support because my companion doesn’t have a lot. He’s a convert at the age of 20 and he’s the only member in his family. His parents didn’t talk to him for 2 weeks when he told them he wanted to serve a mission. So for that, thank you. 

We went a whopping 4 days without water this week. It’s still horrible, but I’m getting  used to it. The part I just can’t get used to is not flushing the toilet... ahhh it smells horrible. I wish I could capture it in a jar and bring it home so you guys could smell it! And for that reason, we leave the window open all the time and because we have the window open, we have MOSQUITOS. EVERYWHERE. Not kidding, I think I have 100 mosquito bites on my hands, arms, FACE. 

BUT, Elder Melo and I are getting along great. He’s hilarious, and he’s already taught me so much. But he’s got allergies up the wazoo so he’s literally sneezing 24/7. I feel bad for him. 

It’s been a tough week to direct and lead everything in the area, but nothing is impossible with the help of the Lord, right? :) 

Thursday, President Rowley and his wife came to our area to inspect our rooms. Luckily we had just cleaned it so we were safe :) 

Later in the afternoon, we were teaching this kid named Harol. He’s a recent convert and I guess his little brother wanted to sit in on the lesson but Harold was annoyed with him so we left to teach in the back room. What surprised me was what happened next. The little 12 year old boy had such a desire to listen to the word of God that he went outside and sat at the window of the back room so he could listen to the conversation. WOW.

That night was a little rough. We were teaching this Hermana and a great spirit was present. Within 3 minutes, her husband walked in and he started to bash, tear, rip everything we were teaching. He yelled and continued to stomp us to the ground for 5 minutes. It was tough. In the moment, I had nothing to say so we just told him we were sorry for offending him and that we just wanted the best for his wife.  Somehow, we were able to end the night on a spiritual high. I don’t know how, but I know that God had his hand involved in this one.

Friday we had a FHE with the family Celi. There dad/husband just passed away about 5 months ago, so we talked about the Plan of Salvation and where exactly their dad was. It was such a special spirit and to see the look in the little girls eyes was something I’ll never forget. Before we left, they gave us some food. It was like 3 little fishes... on a piece of bread. Like what??? I don’t know.

Sunday was BOMB! We had 11 investigators show up to church! Like what!?! That’s unheard of here. Usually we have 1 MAYBE 2. I also gave a talk in church yesterday... I talked about how we can become true Disciples of Christ. I felt a little unprepared because we’ve been so busy this week and I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare, but the Spirit helped me out and it actually ended up pretty good :) I wish you guys could have heard it!

This week has been one of the best weeks of my life. Never in my life have I worked so hard.  Elder Melo and I were talking last night that we just feel good. Accomplished.  It’s amazing that the harder I work, and the more obedient I am, the more Spanish I can understand. The gift of tongues is real.. but faith without works is dead. Right.? :)

Anyways, that’s about all. A great week for the both of us, I suppose :)

I hope you guys are doing great, I’m excited to hear about Skyler next week,

Love you and miss you! 

- Elder Harris IV