Book of Mormon Live

What up MOM!!!

How are my whipped brothers?
And my beautiful little sister?

Thanks for the pictures.  They were great!  :)  I love seeing my brothers wear my shoes - it makes me feel like I've got a good sense of style or something . . . #trendsetter

As for me, I'm doing great!  Happy, healthy and loving my life!  We had a great time at leadership meeting President taught us a few life principles and it was great to hear his counsel.  I always love listening to President.

While there, his daughters bore their testimony.  The first one in very broken gringa Spanish - but something she said really hit me hard during her testimony.   She said, "I'm very grateful that God gave me the parents that I have.  I'm grateful for their testimonies and example."  When she said that, I started thinking how I have the same love for my parents.  You two really are the greatest examples I have in my life.  If I could live the gospel half as well as you two do -  I think that I'll be alright.

His daughters were super friendly - just how you would imagine the offspring of President and Hermana Heyman.  Super awesome family.  #foreverfamilyswag

I got my package!!!  Thank you so much for everything!  It was great to see a bunch of familiar things and a few new things too.  I just made my birthday a little bit better than the apple pie we ate.  :)

Elder Sibaja and his toe are doing better!  He's still working normally and he actually baptized someone this week!  We wrapped his foot in Saran wrap so it wouldn't get wet.

As for Scott Jenkins - tell him he's a pretty smart guy.  (I shared a story that Brother Jenkins told in Sacrament Meeting.) That really is true and it's the same with missionaries!  If we're only doing half of the things right we're not going to get the results!  DUH!  So maybe I'll have to do a little teaching about that - so thanks!

Book of Mormon Live.  Let's see - I'm going to be very blunt with my answer, I hope that's cool?  To be honest, Book of Mormon Live was the greatest experience I've ever had.  Take away trek, campouts, firesides, testimony meetings, Sunday School, all of it.  Then there is Book of Mormon Live.  The reason why I feel this way is because Book of Mormon Live changed my life.  Literally changed my life! It's the reason I'm here in Argentina, the reason why I love the Lord, the reason why I'm a missionary!  I would invite everyone and their dog to go to Book of Mormon Live.  Seriously, the best experience you could have.  Just re-accept the truthfulness of the gospel!  It's what the Lord wants,  It's what the leaders of the church want  for us, it's what I want!  :)  Just tell everyone to go and if they don't want to - tell them to send me a letter.  :)

As for Braeden, I couldn't be more pumped for him for turning in his mission papers.  It's such a good time of life!  So great to be able to go out and serve the Lord.  I'm so excited that he got his patriartical blessing and everything else that's happening!  I'm sooo pumped for that kid and just like you mom, I can't wait to be in the temple with our entire family.

I love you guys more than you know!
Have a great week!

Elder Harris

This is Just a Big, Great, Marvelous Journey

Hey Family!

Wow it seems like just yesterday I was talking with you guys, but you know what they say . . . Time flies on the mission!  :)

Things have just been so good lately.  I remember Dad telling me before I left that in between the phone calls that the time goes so fast and time did go soooo fast!  Looking back it doesn't even seem like that long ago that I talked to you all on Christmas.  And yet, another phone call has come and gone and it might just be my last - depending on transfers and if they send me home in time to get into school.

In all seriousness, it was just so great to talk to you yesterday!  It seems like the entire family is the exact same - Ty and his jokes and Braeden . . . and all the funny things he does.  As for Kenzie - it BLEW ME AWAY . . . she has grown up SO much.  When I left she was this little girl and now she seems all grown up!  Like you said Mom, she really is becoming a beautiful young woman.

As for this week it was pretty mellow.  We got a lot of work done!  We went to the hospital with Elder Morin for his arm - the doctor checked him out and said that everything is great and the cast would be coming off next week!!  So he was super excited to hear that news.  His cast is decently big and it seems fairly heavy but he's a tough kid and this little trial has helped him grown into "who Heavenly Father needs him to be."

We did have a good exchange and every once in a while it's great to work with another companion - I love seeing how other missionaries teach and present the gospel.  I feel at times that I end up learning more from them!

This is just a big, great, marvelous journey that I don't regret starting.  Thank you for the picture of my baptism by the way.  It was super cool to see what my little 8 year old testimony looked like.  The one thing that I remember from my baptism is that a man spoke and told me that I would never ever ever forget this day.  And to be honest, I really haven't forgotten.  I remember stepping into the warm water with Dad and feeling this inner clean feeling - kind of like how I felt the first time I went to the temple.  The spirit confirming to me that what I was doing was the right thing.   I read a talk last night and a man said that when we feel the spirit really strong we should say a prayer and thank Heavenly Father for talking to us, for showing us His love and how much he really wants us to grow.

As for the investigators, we have a few that are still progressing.  Victor and Sole are still planning on getting married but we don't have a date for the wedding yet.  Estella is progressing great!  And the same with the rest of them.  We're just working, smiling and loving every minute!

Have a great week!
Love you!

Elder Harris

My Birthday & Funny Stories

Hi Family!

Yup.  Today is my birthday and thanks a TON for all the birthday wishes!  It was such a good day!  We cooked up some tacos and played around a little bit.  It's a great time to be a missionary!  :)

I'll be getting my package in 2 weeks by the way - thank you so much for sending it when you did!  I am one of the last Elders to get a package before the change and we won't be able to get anything anymore.

It honestly sounds like everything is great in Utah!  The family seems really good and most of them wrote me a little note and I appreciated that - it's good to hear that Braeden is getting excited about serving a mission. I remember those days . . . definitely the best!

I have a bunch of funny stories to tell you this week:

So, Valentine, our convert received the priesthood the other day.  I recently was walking passed him and saw his "talking" to these two girls that were about his age.  So I decided that I would harass him a little bit about talking to girls and before I could say anything, he was like "Elder Harris, tell them!  I received the priesthood, right?"  And I was like, "Uhh . . . yeah!"  Clearly these girls had never even heard of the priesthood before, but I just thought it was interesting that Valentine was so proud to be able and worthy to hold the priesthood.  It was a thought that just hadn't ever crossed my mind . . .

Next, we have this family, the Oviedo's and they have this super cute 3 year old little boy and he's pretty chubby.  He always wants to take his shirt off when he's eating at the table.  So the other day, we were over and he threw off his shirt and started screaming, "I don't want this!"  It was so funny because he was talking about his belly!  Haha!  I just thought, yeah buddy - so do most people in the world . . .  :)

I love embarrassing my companion and he's pretty serious, a military guy and a pretty big dude.  So, we were over at this house one day and this little girl was just staring at his arms.  Out of no where she says, "So, do you work out?"  And he was so stunned that this little girl would ask him that he didn't know what to say!  Haha!  It was great!

This week it DUMPED rain.  While we were out walking on Tuesday, we saw this red car stuck in the sewer, kinda like the truck in Fontana.  So being the big hearted kid that I am, we went to help!  This car had "Gracias Gauchito Gil" written on it with tons of stickers.  (Gauchito Gil is an idol that tons of people worship here.)  So after about an hour and a half of pushing and pulling, we (Elder Valdez, 3 other guys and me) lifted the entire car and moved it out enough to drive.  I felt a little bit like superman, but I probably smelled like Oscar from Sesame Street!  :)

We had a really good week!  I love you guys so much!

Talk to you on Sunday.

Elder Harris

Poppa Harris

Hey Family!

I stay in GOYA!!!  I'm still the Zone Leader here and I feel a bit more pressure on my shoulders with our Elder Suarez.  My new companion is Elder Valdez.  He's from California, went to West Point and it's his first transfer has a ZL.  He's really obedient and we work well together - plus we're having lots of fun!  Elder Suarez left Goya to be the Branch President in a place that really needs his leadership and experience.  He's going to do great but he's pretty nervous about it.

As for my boys and their mission calls - that's great!  I'm seriously so pumped for Devin, Sterling, Jared and all the others who are starting out on this great adventure.  It's truly is the best time of my life.  So funny story about Elder Valdez - he just served in Fontana in the same area with the same companion (Elder Zivic) that I had before I came here! So we've had a lot of fun talking about that area and how it truly felt like an adventure.  He had some awesome videos that truly show what "Bartolome de las Cases" is really like.  Words truly can't describe that place.  :)

It sounds like things in Oklahoma are a little scary again with all the tornadoes.  There are so many amazing stories and I'm just super happy that the Lord blesses and protects his missionaries (me)!  :)

As you know, Jorge and Alicia got married last week!  Alicia and Sandra were also baptized that day and we're doing all we can to help Jorge get baptized at the end of this month.  As for the wedding, I ended up taking a TON of photos and we decided that it would be nice to print them out and make an album for them to remember their "big day".  So we printed off about 50 photos and gave them one of my photo albums with all their pictures in it.  I've honestly never seen a family more happy!  Plus, I think it might be the only family photo that they have . . . :)

And now for some bad news.  One of the Elders in my zone broke his arm and we had to go to the hospital on Monday night to get everything fixed up.  We spent about 2 hours there and had to go back the next morning at 7 for an Elder with a bad ingrown toe nail.  They call me #poppaharris

My companion and I got a reference from a member the other day and visited her on Saturday night.  We invited her to be baptized and to come to church on Sunday.  She came and I think we're going to be having a baptism pretty soon.  She literally has nothing that can stop her from being baptized!  :)

As for Victor and Sole' - they've decided that it would be a good thing to get married and obey the Law of Chastity.  They're working super hard towards that we're excited for them and their desire to be baptized.

We truly have a lot going on in Goya right now and the branch has put a lot of trust in me and we're doing all we can with the little time that the Lord gives us here.  This area truly has been the shortest of all . . . 3 months have gone by like the snap of my fingers.

That's all folks.
Talk to you next week!

Elder Harris
#poppaharris

Weddings, Baptisms and Consejo

Hey Family!

It's so nice to finally sit down and relax for a second today.  So Jorge and Alicia were supposed to get married last Wednesday and baptized last Saturday but the doctor decided not to show up so the papers didn't get signed and we had to change the wedding until TODAY!  We talked to President Heyman and got things worked out so that we could have the baptism today also so I just finished running around all morning and attending their wedding and baptism.  It was a great day!

Yes!  Transfers are coming up and I hope that I can stay here in Goya with my companion (he's a lot of fun) for one more transfer but I don't know if that's going to happen.  I think that the entire mission is going to be seeing some changes.

I looks like you guys put some rocks in the back yard!  It looks great!  And Braeden looks great with his prom date!  I remember being a teenager and I miss it tremendously.  Just being relaxed and having fun all the time!  Those were the good ole days for sure!  Hot tub Tuesdays and Wendesdays, and Thursdays, and Saturdays . . .

Sterling is a Larsen, so I have no doubt that he will go somewhere Spanish speaking.  I'm feeling Argentina!  Just send him on down here and I'll take good care of him.  :)  If you can, go and see Brother Adams.  I told him when I left that "I WILL SEE HIM AGAIN" - so intend on seeing him again and I'll be praying for him for sure.

This week we had interviews with President Heyman.  Elder Suarez and I bought these chicken sandwich things for everyone for lunch,  It was a super good change from the usual pasta, empanadas or pizza!  He also had Hermana Oveido cook up some of her famous Banana/Dulce de Leche Flan.  YUM

My interview was great.  President said something that President Gottfredson said that night before I left and it made me feel that I'm doing when the Lord wants me to do.  I felt like President Heyman "fulfilled prophecy".  :)

We also had consejo on Thursday in Resistencia.  We had a little mix up with tickets and ended up taking a later bus to Corrientes and then a taxi to Resistencia (which ended up being cheaper than the collectivo).  We enjoyed another consejo!

On the way back, we got on the bus and there was this little girl with down-syndrome sitting next to me and Elder Jones and the Sisters that went with us.  So being missionaries we started talking to them and she had recently turned 15 and had a quincinieta (it's like a big party for girls when they turn 15).  She had two huge albums chuck full of pictures and it was so sweet!  After we looked at her pictures, another mom wanted to show me her daughters quencinieta too.  I looked through like 5 albums of photos and heard stories about people I've never met before but it was pretty fun anyway!

We also had another super good lesson with Alicia this weekend and decided to review the baptismal questions with her and at the end of the lesson she started to cry and through her tears she told us how grateful she was for all the changes that she has seen in her family since she found the gospel.  It was a great moment to be able to have the spirit testify to us of the reason WHY we do the things that we do.  It was definately a great experience!

We are working hard and trying to do everything er can to help others.  Doing what we should, right?

I love you guys, have a great week!

Elder Harris

Continually Preparing

I made it safe and sound up to Resistencia and back this week.  We went up on Wednesday and got dropped off in the middle of Corrientes - we also had a bunch of other adventures that I'm going to have to share with  you AFTER the mission.  :)

I don't know what you're talking about when you say that you can't believe that it's transfers again next week - that the days go by slow and the weeks are so fast.  To me, weeks feel like days and transfers feel like weeks!  I feel like I just got to Goya last week and it's been almost 3 months!  Ya - that fast.  Before I know it, I'll be home getting fat like my brothers.  :)

As for Rosa, unfortunately no, she won't be getting baptized this week.  She lives in LaValle and for every fast and testimony meeting, we meet in Goya.  It costs about 24 pesos for the trip and she couldn't afford it - so her baptism is being pushed back.

Last week I spent most of the day Monday preparing for district meeting on Tuesday.  I talked about the principle of preparation.  Like the Cub Scouts motto:  Be Prepared!  I shared an experience that I had in the MTC where I asked the teacher how I could help my district stay focused throughout the day.  He responded by asking me how do we stay focused throughout life when we can be distracted by responsibilities of wives, kids, work, school, church callings and everything else?  I've been thinking about that question for a year now - and this past week I received an answer.  We stay focused by continually preparing.

The moment that we say "I'm good enough" is when we become not prepared.  I shared about how the prophets are always preparing and how we need to use our most important hours of the day preparing.  In the missionary manual it says that the most important hours of the day are before 10:00 because that is the time we use to prepare for the day!  I shared a few personal experiences and things that we could do to help us to prepare better.  It was a good district meeting and we felt the spirit of the Lord teaching us as we learned together.

LaValle had a baptism on Saturday (Elder Morrin) and we helped out with that.  We also got to eat some torta de dulce de leche that was super good!

That's about it and I'm out of time!  Love you guys!

Elder Harris

Moments that Matter Most

Family!  How is everyone today?  I hope it's all going good!  Especially with the big news this week!  And a big CONGRATULATIONS to my little sis who is the newest CHEVALIER!  So excited and so proud.  #cryingmanlytearsatthemoment

The divisions were great!  We had lots of success, taught well and a lot of people.  We had the blessing of talking to about 25 people combined on both of the exchanges.  The Lord is just throwing people in our way to teach!  And yeah, it's always good to go on exchanges and have a change of pace.  Plus, I love not knowing how the other companion teaches and learning new things from them because after awhile you just get used to teaching with the same person.  :)

I feel like my time here in Argentina has gone faster than my time in Oklahoma too!  I'm loving every minute of it and I'm sorry that I didn't bring my camera today.

To be honest it sounds like your lives are great, relaxed and blessed.  What else do you need???  I do have a challenge for each one of you!  While you are on your trip this week you should try to share the gospel with people!  I promise that your testimonies will be strengthened and you will be shown the love the Lord has for them.

As for this week, I have a few special moments that I'd like to share.

So this past Monday I was preparing for district meeting - and last week  I shared my thoughts about the Atonement and what it means to me - being the "most important thing".  I started to think about something that dad told me before I left.  He said "You've had 19 years to prepare, 2 years to serve, and the rest of your life to think about it."

So this week when I started to think about the idea of "Moments that are the most important" - I decided that I would share some teachings from the Sandlot.  In the story of Benny and Babe Ruth there is this quote "Heroes get remembered, but Legends never die."  Everyone gets one moment to do something great - some people never take the chance - some because of fear, others because they don't realize that it's staring them in the face!

I thought of how this relates to a mission.  How these short 2 years are truly some of the "Moments that matter most".  Since I was 5 years old we've been singing the song "I hope they call me on a mission" - it's what we've been working for all of our lives.  Yes, I admit that there was a time in my life where I had no intention of serving a mission - but the decision to serve has been, is, and will always be the biggest blessing of my life.  We truly have the authority but have to work to have the power - spiritual power - through diligent study, obedience and the love of God and all men.

So I shared this idea and it was nice to feel that spirit testifying that this is what I needed to share when I prayed and asked on Monday night and also on Tuesday afternoon as I was sharing it.  We also had the birthday of Hermana Skirvin so we got to eat a torta!  :)

Right after district meeting I took off to Lavalle with Elder Castilla (he's from El Salvador) and we worked hard!  We spent some time cleaning their pench and the ate a ton on milanesa!  While we were in Lavelle we had a lesson with a woman named Rosa.  It was super spiritual and at the end when we were teaching her about Joseph Smith she stopped us and said, "Jesus is touching my hear and he's speaking but I don't dare say it."  She motioned to give her a piece of paper.  I gave her my pen and a page in the pamphlet and she wrote "El Bautismo 17".  She wants to be baptized on the 17th!  It's a Thursday, but hey, I'm not going to say no to Jesus!  :)

As for conference I've just got to say that Elder Rasband has now told me that President Monson loves me, is praying for me and is thankful for me twice!  Once in person and now in General Conference! It was such a blessing to have been a part of that!  I hope that everyone is doing better in Oklahoma.

I will say that I learned a ton this conference!  These are a few quotes that hit home for me:

"He did all this, and is buried in a small, humble grave."  -Eyring

"We don't step up, only forward and backward in the service of God."  -Oaks

"Teachings have no purpose if we're not willing to change."  -Hallstrom

"When you are where you are, be where you are."  -Ridd

"A family picture, a family dinner, and a session in the Salt Lake Temple."  -Stevens

"I've never felt regret by being too kind."  -President Monson

I really loved conference and received a bunch of revelation.  So quick story - during the talk of Elder Stevenson when he was talking about the Olympic athletes that helped out the snowboarder - Elder Morrin said "That's a true athlete" when he referred to someone who wanted to succeed and also wants the success of others.  I learned a big lesson from Elder Morrin - a true missionary isn't a missionary that only wants to have a good mission but also wants to help other missionaries have a good mission too.  Developing the character of Christ each day of our lives!

Enjoy your vacation on the big boat!  Share the gospel with others!
You never whose life you might change - forever and for the better!

I love you!
Be safe!

Elder Harris