Looking Forward to Great Things!

What's up?!?  :)

I hope you're all doing super good!  It sounds like the week was great and you all look great too.  Ty and Kenz, congrats on the engagement pics.  You're just TOO CUTE  #coupleoftheyear  Then Brae!  So sick!  Your NYC pics couldn't have been better.  I hope you're enjoying every second of the pre-mish life before you hit up an even better time - the mission life!!!

And you're right!  Time really is flying by!  I can't believe I've been in Goya for 5 months now!  I still feels like I just got here but it's been a great time.  I never want to leave GOYA!  Not much is new here - just the same old same old.  We had 5 baptisms here this week (4 converts and 1 member) which was awesome!@  We had a super good time and enjoyed the torta (cake) as always.   It's still not as good as your chocolate cake mom.  :)

And yes, I am keeping a book - not so much about the funny things that happen here, but I do have a journal and another journal with some of my more spiritual experiences.  (I'm trying to be like Nephi.)  #crappymissionjokes

Ha!  It's funny that.  (I asked him if he even remembers his life before his mission.)  Elder Valdez and I were talking about what life was like before the mission, something that we NEVER do and it was weird.  We started talking about music and I don't even remember any of the good bands.  It's kinda sad, but a good thing too!  I can't believe how different my life is here on the mission.  It truly is like Christ said how we should live in the world but not be of the world - something like that.  :) You know, Spanish . . . . :)

It will be strange for you to have me and Braeden out on the mission at the same time and only have Kenzie left at home.  But I promise that it won't be long until I get home and you can talk my ear off all day long.  #makemyearsbleedplease

It's super crazy to think that so many people from our little ward are already heading home.  It feels like yesterday that I was picking up Melissa Devitt at the curb of the MTC and helping her inside and she's already heading home?!?!?!  WHAT??!!

As for teaching and speaking at church - I do have to teach Gospel Principles every once in a while, but not a ton,  just enough to keep me on my toes!  I haven't had to speak yet, but I'm sure I will sooner or later.  :)

As for saying our good-byes, we didn't do that quite yet.  This next Monday we have a mission conference where all the missionaries will get together to say good-bye to the Heymans.  They're enjoying every last second of being our Mission President and like Hermana Heyman said yesterday in her testimony - "Time just goes by way too fast."

So last week when I said that Ibaretta was taking over Goya - Elders Valdez, Zivic, Pacheco, Fuentes, Guajardo and I all recently served in Ibaretta so we have a HUGE part of the district that served there that are now serving here in GOYA!  Such great missionaries and this transfer we are looking forward to great things!

I'm glad that everything is going great at home!  We're just doing awesome - moving forward.  We are working really hard and just having a lot of fun.  It seems like we had a great week finding people - including a TON of families so we have really high expectations for this next week.

Enjoy the week!
Much Love!

Elder Harris

You're Never Going to Guess . . . .

You're never going to guess . . . I'm staying in Goya!  I'll be here for another transfer with Elder Valdez and we're super excited about this transfer and all the new missionaries we have.  Do you remember Elder Zivic?  He was my companion in Fontana and now he's in our district!  He was also Elder Valdez' companion a transfer ago!  We had a nice little reunion with him we have another Elder in our district (Guajardo) to is from Texas that served in our district when we were the DLs in Fontana.  It's just great to already know some of these guys and the Ibertta Zone is taking over Goya so it's great and we're excited to get to work!

Our District:


As for the change in Mission Presidents - I haven't given much thought to it but I'm getting pretty good at readjusting since this will be my 4th.  But change is good?  Right?

I saw a picture of Braeden that made me super happy.  He looks healthy, happy and full of joy.  It makes me super excited to see how good he's doing and you're right, maybe in a little while we can take another family trip to all the church history sites. I promise that I'll enjoy it a little more.  (Sorry about being a butt last time.)

As for Kenzie, my rule still stands!  Just because you're getting a driver's license DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU CAN KISS BOYS.  Got it?  :)  #overlyprotectivebrother

You know . . . it's funny because all day I've been thinking about what you shared with me and it's true.  People either choose to follow the Savior and THEN feel the blessings or not.  Sadly, many people choose the latter.  It's always hard to work all day and feel as if nothing is happening.  I had a little "Why is this so hard" moment this week.  After 15 months you'd think that I'd be used to getting turned down.  Sadly a few weeks ago all of our progressing investigators told us that they didn't want anything to do with the church and peaced out.  Since then, we've been contacting a ton of people and talking to a ton of people . . . but nobody seems to want to change.

(The sign says "Don't throw trash in the canal"!  haha)

One day when we had been contacting for a few hours we stated talking to this lady outside of her house and she gave us another lame excuse about why she couldn't talk to us so I asked her if she knew WHY we were called Mormons.  Then I asked her if it would be alright if I quickly explained  the question - mostly so I could leave her with some part of my testimony.  I pulled my Book of Mormon out of my bag and showed it to her and began to explain about the book.  She admitted that it was a book that testified of Jesus Christ but couldn't agree that it was true so we left her with the book and our testimonies.  I hope that maybe in a few years she will have some time to be prepared and that when another set of missionaries pass her way that she might be ready to accept the gospel.

Right after that, I don't really know what happened but that's when I just got so frustrated and broke down a little - asking why this work is so hard.  We work from sun up to sun down and still nothing.  On the bright side, we've heard some pretty good rejection lines.  I should write a book!  Here's one of my favorites:

So we helped this lady the other day.  She was kinda older and had these two buckets in her hands - so we helped her carry them and in return she agreed to talk with us on Friday.  As we were walking down the road she was outside buying gas from this man.  So we're thinking AWESOME!  She is outside, sees us, and is going to talk to us!  Well, she lifted the gas tank into her house and paid the man.  By the time we actually got close enough to greet her, the man had already left and she told us she couldn't talk to us because her arm hurt!  hahaha  We got a kick out of that one!

We ate some super good tacos this week and we ate asado with a man who doesn't want anything to do with the church but invited us over after church on Sunday for lunch.  We brought Coke and ate meat until we were purple in the face!  4 plates of this stuff.  It was SOOOOO good!

More than anything it's was just another great week being a missionary in Argentina.  I love serving and doing what we do!

Love you,

Elder Harris

The BEST Week of My Mission

Family!  :)

I always love it when I get a minute to sit down and write to the best family in the world!  I've got a lot to say - so fasten your seat belts.

For starters - a HUGE congratulations to Braeden and his mission call!  PERU is Awesome!  He is going to love every minute of it.  Yeah, I'm a little bummed that I can't be there for this time of his life, but it's alright - I'll see him again.  :)

As for the week it sounds like you guys ran like crazy - just like us!  I can tell you right now that this was the best week of my entire mission.  I know that I used to say that every week - but it's going to be really hard to beat this one.

On Monday night we went to go and ask the branch president a question.  When we got to his house, he asked us where we were going that night.  So we went out and had a super awesome, spiritual night.  We visited a less active family and taught them about how we need to be valiant and true to the gospel.  Even if we live in a place like "Sodom" (or Barrio Esperanza) we need to be true!  We ended the lesson by kneeling in prayer in their humble home.  We definitely left feeling the Spirit.  We also stopped by Carlos' house and he was in a lot of pain from a dislocated disc in his back.  We gave him a blessing and continued on.

Tuesday I got to give the message in District Meeting.  I talked about Gideon's army of 300 soldiers that were worthy to fight.  How he started with 3200 and ended up with 300 (the whole story is in Judges 6-7, check it out).  I related it to how we need to be MORE than just men.  Like a quote I shared "You can't be a lifeguard is you look like all the other swimmers on the beach."

After district meeting, we went to LaValle on divisions.   I was with Elder Morin and we went hiking and had a good time.  Just kidding - but we did visit this lady who lived about 2 km from LaValle - so it felt like a hike.  The visit was well worth it and we had a good time together.

But now for the best part of the week.  So you remember Jorge and Alicia that got married back in April?  Well, Jorge never got baptized but he talked with President Heyman and on Thursday the President called me and asked if I was "ready for some good news?"  He told me that Jorge was going to be baptized on Saturday!!!

We got things all set up and on Saturday I have never seen anyone so excited to be baptized.  We told him to be there at 6 and he showed up at 5!  He just couldn't have been more excited and then he told me that when they go to the temple that I have to be there so I might be coming back to Argentina next year!  :)  The baptism was great and the most fulfilling moment of my entire mission.  The spirit at his baptism was burning the whole time and we had about 50 people there!

After the baptism, Elder Valdez and I were standing out in front of the church and E Valdez was calling the sisters in Bella Vista to congratulated them on the baptism they had that day as well.  As I was standing in front of the church I started to think about how crazy the world is I looked up to the top of the steeple and then down to the plaque on the front of the church and I had the most peaceful feeling come over me.  It was something that I've truly never felt before.  As I continued to look at the plaque - almost in a daze at the word "JUSUCHRISTO" - I felt this sound understanding come to my mind that God really does live, He wants us to change and progress and He makes it all possible because of His love for us.

I don't really know how to put this experience into words but I can tell you now, more than any other time in my life and without any doubt in my heart that I know that my Savior lives.  I love Him and He loves me.  And I couldn't be more grateful for every blessing that I have.  If you're reading this - you are one of my blessings.  :)

Love you all,

Elder Harris

Traveling, President Heyman & Spiritual Guidance

Family!

It seems to me that everything is going well at home!  You are all sooo blessed!! Give Brae a big hug and a kiss from his older brother and tell him that I'm proud of him.  Graduation and a mission call in the same week?  How cool is that?  Definitely someone to look up to!

Here's quick run down of my week:  Traveling, President Heyman and spiritual guidance.

To start off the week, we went to Resistencia for Consejo and learned a TON!  It was so great to learn from President Heyman on how to take control of situations and then see him teach and apply what he was teaching by correcting bad habits and things like that.

When we got back to Goya - Elder Valdez and I had the privilege to teach the zone all that the President wanted them to know.  We feel like it was a huge success!

On Wednesday night we jumped on another bus to go to Resistencia again.  We were at the terminal at 3:00 a.m. and the bus didn't come until around 4:20 - but we did finally to make it to Resistencia safe and sound.  We had a great training by President Heyman where he talked about the Holy Ghost - who He is, His role, His purpose, etc.  The President also answered a lot of questions that the missionaries had and very simply helped me understand the reason why we do the things that we do and that's to have the spirit with us.  It's kinda like the Sacrament - we partake of the Sacrament to have his spirit with us.  Super good training.

We also had the pleasure of hearing President Heyman again this weekend at District Conference!  Yup, 3 trainings in one week.  I have 40 pages of notes.  I think I have some studying to do.  :)

On Sunday he spoke about the worth of souls.  Our soul is our bodies and our spirits.  He told us that if we literally sold every body part that we would get about 10,000 for our organs but that our spirit is priceless. He talked about how we need to be more involved in the physical and spiritual welfare of the people around us.

So a funny story  . . . .

We knocked a door yesterday and I was on splits with Elder Castilllo (Elder Morin's comp) and this lady said "Um, I'm Jehovah's Witness" and then Castillo said "Oh, well we always believe in Christ".  As we walked away, we realized that JW's don't believe in Christ and we died laughing.  Soooo good.  #missionary jokes

Love you all!

Elder Harris

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