Transfers!

I got transferred.  I’m in a city called Sullana.  I’m in a little bit of the outskirts of  Bellavista.  It’s awesome, I love it here.  It’s very different from Talara... very different. IT’S HOT! They told me it’s the hottest part of the mission.  My new companion is Elder Soto from Tuaqucawapa Honduras.  We only have a couple hours together but were already good buddies. I know that this is going be a good transfer :)

As for our room... oh man. Well... a little worse than the other. Unfortunely, I don’t have pics.. but I’ll send some next week :) As for the area, I’m super pumped to work here. My good buddy Elder Beidleman came with me this morning to Sullana so I’m super excited about that.

As for this week.. we had a good one :)

We worked hard as usual.. not much happened.  On Wednesday night, I started feeling a little sick though. The next morning I started feeling in but Elder Melo and I decided to get going and leave for the afternoon.  Haha.  We were sick as dogs but we were trucking through making the most of it.  It was HOT and we didn’t have any success that day.. which made it a little longer.. but a good experience :)   When we got home, I was about to die I was so sick. I took a shower and went to bed. That night might of been the longest night of my life.  Usually our room is like 100 degrees, but I was so cold and I had like 3 blankets. I remember waking up and I had no idea where I was.. throwing up all night.. ahh it was horrible. 

Saturday was fun.  We had this service for this hermana.. basically we do work in her "yard", and then we get the reward of burning it. I don’t know if you’ve seen Cast Away but when he makes the fire he’s like jumping around the sand.. yeah that was us.  

That night, we received the news about our transfers. The next day at church, I gave my "farewell".  Seriously they asked me to speak at least 7 different times throughout the day.  After, I visited the families that I was the closest to... wow.  It was hard. I now understand what dad was talking about when he said it’s harder to leave your first area than it is to leave for your mission.  I truly love those people and consider them my family.  

One family bought me a great big chocolate cake... ahh it was amazing :) We had a great big party and then I was on my way.. we slept in a different Elders room last night because I had to leave Talara at 5 AM.  We took the 2 hour bus ride to Piura and then I got on another bus with the other Elders going to Sullana.. Elder Beidleman, Campo, and Eddington.  It’s about an hour and 15 minutes north of Piura.  I just barely got here so I don’t know much else... but I’m excited about this transfer. I’m going work :) I won’t let you guys down!

But for real, I’m glad you guys had a great week.  The pics are awesome, keep enjoyin’ it!

- Elder Harris

#missionaryswag

Family plus Cody!

hey hey, sounds like you guys had a pretty exciting/busy week :) i loved the pics... Cody looks looks great. And skinny! And wow that suit looks horrible... thank heavens  you bought him a new one :) All of  you look so dang happy, wish I could’ve been there for the big day!

For real though, this week was awesome.  Monday I printed some pics in Talara and I accidently left my memory at the print store.. I found out when we were in our room in Negritos and I had a little panic... so what did I do? Prayed.  :) We went back and it was right there! Who woulda known... prayer is real friends :)

Tuesday we had a district meeting... and Elder Melo asked if I would teach it... the morning of. Yeah so I just put it into overdrive and it actually turned out pretty well. :) I talked on how we need to find the needs of our investigators.

Wednesday... well Wednesday wasn’t the easiest day for me.  Obviously all day I was thinking about you guys and at what time he was gonna be there.  I kept saying to myself... "ahh…  he’s at the airport right now!!" and in reality, I really didn’t know.  But it was a  good day and I worked my butt off just to try and occupy my mind and we actually found some new investigators :) I think my eyes watered up.... but I wouldn’t tell you I cried even if I did.

Friday E Melo was sick. Not kidding, sick as a DOG!  Yeah so I had a good time playing "mommy" :) Later in the night, he asked me to give him a blessing and that was an awesome experience for the both of us.  We’re great friends right now but I felt our relationship grew that night.  It was a beautiful blessing, I only say that cause it was the Spirit speaking, not me :)

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a Valentine this year #missionaryswag.  So while everyone was with their "partner", I was stuck with a broom cleaning the church :) I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about the man that helps us clean the church every week... Policarpio Saavedra? He continues to impress me every week. Seriously one of the biggest examples to me out here. He’s 84 and blind and every week, he’s at the church working his butt off. No one asks him to do it, he just does it cause he loves the Lord.  It’s amazing.

Ahh get this... so Saturday night we were walking and this little boy ran out in the street and got hit by a Moto.  It freaked me out and I kinda froze but I think everything was okay.  We didn’t stay much longer.

Sunday. I had another talk :) Usually Igive a talk about every 3 weeks.  Anyways... I wasn’t super nervous UNTIL the first counselor of the mission and his possy stepped in on our Sacrament meeting.  It went well though, I wish you guys could’ve heard it :) I talked about Following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

During the second hour, not kidding SECONDS before Sunday school started, President Gutierez asks Elder Melo and I if we would teach the class. Of course we were happy to do it :) We whipped something together and went for it! 

3rd hour well... a member of the family of Pollicarpio Saavedra was sick.. really sick and she needed a blessing NOW.  So we left to her house and when we walked into the room... wow... she was sick. We gave her a blessing while she was just laying there in this rotted bed and it was amazing because the Spirit just filled the room.  I haven’t heard anything about how she’s doing, but I can imagine she’s improving :)

As for news this week:

We have been working with this less active member named Brad. He’s 18 and he’s been attending church the last like 5 weeks and yesterday we talked about a mission and he told us that he wants to do it.  His mom isn’t a member and his dad is out of the picture...  but were hoping that he will continue with his desires. Anyways we’re super pumped for him :) 

Well.. as you know.. our water shuts off occasionally.  I’ve been here for 4 months so I kinda know the routine. We have water for about 2 weeks and then it will shut off for about 5 days and those 5 days are MISERABLE. Anyways...our water shut off and we were pretty bummed... BUT it came back on within 2 DAYS! ahh you should have seen us.. we were jumping for joy we were so happy :) The miracles of The Lord :)

LOS SANCOROS. ahhh they’re horrible. Mosquitos. Not kidding, I bet I have 100. No joke. They EAT US ALIVE. Well me especially.  We basically have 2 options in the night. a) we open the window and have mosquitos or b) we die of a heat stroke in the night cause it’s so hot.  We have been trying EVERYTHING we can think of to get rid of these mosquitos.. so if you have any ideas... send them our way.  The Peruvians gave us incents that we light in our room... it’s weird and it smells bad but we’ve been trying it and it helps.. but.. I don’t know. Let me know if you got anything.

Ahh okay this is the best one, I saved the best for last :) We got some new neighbors... :) Where we live, there are 3 different rooms. Like there is one door we open, and then there is 3 more doors to other rooms. Okay? Anyways.. it turns out that our new neighbors are A CHURCH! Haha!  They’re called MMM Mundial Misional.. algo asi.  There is huge welcome signs everywhere.. it’s ridiculous. I think were goning to call president Rowley soon and see if we can change. 

Transfer are the end of this week.  We get the news Saturday night and we leave Monday morning. So.. we get about a day. I don’t know if I’m heading out... about a 50/50 right now  but by the time I write you next week, I’ll know for sure.

Alright give Cody a big ol kiss for me :)

- the only Elder Harris you have now

5 Months Today

Family

If you guys didn’t know, today marks the day that I’ve been out for 5 months.  I can’t believe it, I never thought this day would come.  I’ve already learned and grown so much in these past couple months, I’m excited for what’s to come.

Last week for p day, went to the beach :) no surprise there and played some soccer, and just enjoyed it :) After we went to this restaurant and they gave us..well.. in fact, I don’t know what it was. like tiny fried octopus.  Ahh speaking of weird food, this week.. I ate STINGRAY!  Like I didn’t even know you could eat that stuff. 

Overall though, it was a little slow this week. We had 16 appointments fall IN A ROW. ha  So we have been working with this list of less active members that we have.. and on Wednesday, we knocked on the door of 4 of them, ALL of them were dead? like... what? Dead.

BUT, we do have a goal as a zone to talk to 1200 people this week, and in 3 days, we have 462, so were working hard with that :)  In that same zone meeting, Elder Chapman said something that I figured Ii would share with you guys.  He said "perhaps unhappiness comes from sacrificing what we are working towards for what we want in the moment".  Go ahead, take it or leave it. :)

Ahh.. so listen to this,  it’s funny. This lady we teach lives in the boonies, right? And we gotta walk through like a 500 year old cemetery and we found this casket. An open casket.   Elder Melo and Harol were like "DUDEEE get in! it would be such a funny picture!".. and of course, my teenage Braeden kicked in and I was like yahhh you’re right! That would be a funny picture! I was just about to do it but then your voice came in to my head and said BRAEDEN! Don’t worry, I didn’t do it :) You’re welcome, mom :)

Things are great here.  My companion and I are getting along great. Transfers are in 2 weeks and I’m getting a little sad because I think I might be heading out and I don’t want to leave Negritos.  I love the people so much.. I truly consider them family.  

My Spanish is great. . .better every day :) Ah this is funny. so this girl wanted her practice her English with me... so she started talking to me and I didn’t even realize it until like 40 seconds of talking. haha It’s like my brain can’t even decipher what language it is, but I know I understand it. 

Anyways.. that’s about all. I hope everything goes great with the family this week.  I’ll definitely be thinking about you guys.  Just don’t forget about me :)

Have a great week.. give Cody a big ol kiss for me! 

love you guys, miss you!

- Elder Harris

Interviews, Service Projects & Fasting

Family!

We played carnival as a zone this last week for our pday. Yes.. we filled up 500 water balloons and just went nuts :)

Wednesday we had interviews with President Rowley.  Things went fine.. just the normal catching up:) He’s seriously such a good guy, such a good example.  I really wish you guys could know him. Anyways.. we talked a lot about finding new investigators in the interview, por medio de contacting in the streets.

SOO Thursday I had an exchange with Elder Chapman…and we contacted 77 people on the streets!  I’m tellin ya.. we’re breakin RECORDS here. We made a promise with God before we left in the morning to help us find 75 people...and well, we did it :) 

Earlier in the morning, we had a service. We had to prune this lady’s trees..when we were finished, she asked us if we wanted to bag the sticks, or burn them. Hahaha!  Before she could even finish her sentence we both shouted BURN THEM! haha :) After she wanted us to "re-cement" her house.. like I don’t know who trusts 2, 18 year old boys to cement a house. Neither of us had a clue what to do, but we went for it and hey, turned out pretty good :) So hey if anyone needs some cement work, hit me up.

As a reward, she made us lunch. She cooked a chicken over the fire we had just made and well... let’s just say it wasn’t cooked..at all.  Yes, I’ve had diariah for the past week.  BUT, we worked harder than ever, like I said, 77 contacts in one day was exhausting, but never in my life have I felt more close to my Savior.  We were talking, and I said it was almost like we were touching.  Such an amazing experience.

Friday we had a comp inventory. Elder Melo was telling me that he’s never felt more obedient on his mission before. It made me feel good.. at least were doing something right :) We had an activity that night..just about invited every person in Negritos.. and well. we had a great turnout.  2 people showed up.  0 members and president and his family showed up 2 hours late. Welcome to Talara.:)

To be honest though; it was a horrible feeling: almost like all my motivation was drained: I went home and just went to bed.

Saturday we started our fast after lunch.  We were fasting that we would find some new investigators.  AND, the next day at church, we saw 2 women we didn’t recognize, and after Sacrament they came up to us.  1 was a member from Lima and the other was her sister that lived in Negritos. The sister, Flor, told us that she would love it if we stopped by her house so she could learn a little more about the church.  Elder Melo and I were shocked.,. but pumped! We have an appointment with her this Wednesday.. stay tuned.

A hermana in our branch got her mission call this week.  She’s the only member in her family, so I can imagine how hard of a decision it was for her.  She’s going to La Paz, Bolivia and were super pumped for her. The reason I’m telling you this is because when she was speaking, she started  crying and just said "I wish my family could have been here to hear me present my mission call".  It about broke my heart... so for that, once again,I know you’ve heard it a thousand times..but THANK YOU for all the love and support back home.. writing me every week. You’re truly the best family in the world!  

les extraño y les amo!}

- Elder Harris

PS: T-minus 10 days until Cody!!!!!!!

Striving to be Exactly Obedient

This week in Peru, they started CARNIVAL.  Ohh man. It’s NUTS here. Basically, every street is filled with kids and water balloons, water guns, buckets of water, EVERYTHING. It literally looks like World War III. It goes until February 20 too. They say every day is the same and it’s actually pretty entertaining! haha

Last week for p day we went to the beach called Lobitos. We just enjoyed ourselves playing football and soccer.. I’m sure you guys are jealous that I get to go to the beach every week.. well, I guess every day. :)

Monday we talked to this guy named Dennis. He’s 22 and he’s deciding whether or not he wants to serve a mission and so were working with him a lot to enocurage him to serve... it was awesome cause Elder Melo shared his story how he’s the 1st missionary in his family to serve with the hope that his children will follow in his footsteps.. and it was a perfect opportunity for me to jump in and say that I’m the 5th generation missionary in my family line. It was amazing to see Dennis eyes light up when he realized that it is possible.

Wednesday, Elder Melo went to Piura for a district leader meeting so I went with Elder Merrell (Pocatello). The funniest thing happened.. so we were out working and we knocked on this door and the lady was like hi, good afternoon. Elder Merrell just stood there.. literally like 8 seconds. Then finally looked at me and was just like "let’s go" in English. I asked him what happened and he told me he.. "froze". He didn’t know what to say so we just left her standing at the door. But just wait, the story gets better. so like 15 minutes later were talking to this guy on the street and I don’t know why but Elder Merrell starts telling the story of what had just recently happened.. and at the end of the story, he was trying to say "I was so embarrassed"! but he said "yo estoy tan emberasado" which actually means “IM SO PREGNANT”! hahahaha! I seriously could not hold it in.. I just busted out laughing.. don’t worry, I felt bad after.

Thursday we watched the Testaments with a less active member, Alfredo. At the end of the film, when Christ comes to the Americas and heals the man’s eyes, I looked over at Alfredo and I watched tears run down his cheek. After the movie, he told us that he knew that this was true and that he knew that Christ lives. It was beautiful. 

Friday, a recent convert Maria Riofrio gave us some food. I didn’t recognize the meat, but it was suprisingly really good. Something I had never eaten before. After I finished, I asked her what it was. She told us it was conejo -- aka BUNNY. Like what???  What makes it worse, is that she has 20 bunnies hopping around her house as pets. She invited us back another time to eat some more... we accepted :)

Sunday.. well a pipe or something broke in the church and so when we showed up.. it was flooded. We ALWAYS have problems in that building, my word. Anyways we rolled up our sleeves and went to work as fast as we could before everyone arrived. It turned out... well... we still had the meeting so count it as a plus :) We also had 50 people show up to church this week. I’m serious, people just kept on flooding in.. hahaha flooded. :)

That’s about all I did this week. We’re working hard over here, striving to be exactly obedient :) I’m glad you guys had a great week too.. . 

I love and miss you guys! 

- Elder Harris

PS - 3 weeks until CODY!!!!

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

New Companion News

Famliaaa!!!

To be honest, our area is struggling. It feels like everyone that we are teaching right now just isn’t pulling through. It’s a little frustrating, but everything is possible with faith, right? :)  Oh and by the way, at 2 o clock, I’m studying Spanish :) Just in case you were wondering.

Yes, transfers were this week. My new companion is Elder Melo from Guayaqui,l Ecuador. He’s amazing! He was the Elder that I went on splits with the first day I was in the mission... who would have known we would be companions!   It was nice because we already knew each other.  :) I can tell that were going to work hard though... he’s not here to mess around.  I could not be more excited:) He’s a little older than me.... but hey. No biggie :) He’s 26!   We slept in the ZLs room last night again and everyone thought it was really funny that he was baptized when I was born. So yeah... 

There are about 6 Elders left in Talara. My old companion Elder Martinez is the new ZL in Paita, and my friend Elder Hanvey from AF got transferred to Talara so you bet I was happy to see him.   :) We had a lot of catching up today :) 4 of the 6 Elders that left Talara are now ZLs so yeah wow go Talara.

Also, I think I told you last week, but my camera screen broke.  I can’t see much - almost nothing. What do you think I should do? Also, 4 MONTHS!  I can’t believe I’ve been out here this long. It feels like I just left!

This week was great. Last p day we went to the beach of course.. but this one had a pier so we walked and sat on the edge and just enjoyed the view of the ocean for a while. :) We even saw sea turtles!   Hahaha!  So listen to this . . . there was this sand hill by the beach.. and we walked to the top and found this board so what do 8 - 19 year old boys do? SANDBOARDING! As you can tell, I miss snowboarding :) 

Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Merrell from Pocatello. We worked hard, of course. They have some great investigators with some great questions in their area. For example, we asked this lady how her reading was going. She told us she had just finished 1 Nephi and she was excited to get to the part where God and Jesus Christ visit him in a grove of trees.  A little embarrassed, we kindly explained to her that Nephi and Joseph Smith were different people. Then to make things worse, in the closing prayer, she was like "thank you for sending me these Jehova Witnesses to teach me".... I was shocked. After the prayer, we explained to her that we were actually MORMONS.

Saturday was bomb. We had a dinner with some members but this dinner.. well... it was a little authentic :) We made a fire on the side of their house and cooked a chicken. It was something I had never done before, so of course I loved the adventure :) It’s a good thing I had so much practice making fires up the canyon! Haha!  I smelled like smoke for the rest of the night and I didn’t even care! ha!

That’s about all I did this week. We’re working hard, teaching hard and preaching the good word. 

I hope everything is great at home! I miss and love you guys!

- Elder Harris IV