December 20, 2014

Hey family! this was a crazy week. actually it was a really emotional one, but overall is was great!

We worked on transfers for most of the day- all day for sunday and monday, it's been a great experience both times. On Sunday we found out that Elder Higham would be going to Birmingham City Center for his new area, called Harborne, and that my new companion would be Elder Lu. Elder Lu is great! he's from Provo, he went to Timpview. Both of his parents are Chinese so he speaks it perfectly. unfortunately, there are no chinese students or chinese people at all in our area, but it's still cool.  I've really been impressed with him so far. 

On Tuesday we gathered all of the departing missionaries from the train station and had our last night with them. definitely my best friends in the mission, elders and sisters, were in this group departing, which made for a really bittersweet moment. One of the sad things is as much as we like to think we'll hang out after the mission, with missionaries from all over the world, and going to different universities, etc. It will be so hard for us to stay close! Taking them to the airport was especially hard and seeing them leave, but all of these changes will be for the better. 

Transfers week is always a bit hectic with our sleep schedule. Monday to Tuesday we got 2 hours of sleep, and we got about an hour and a half from Tuesday to Wednesday. I didn't mind because we were so busy the whole time dealing with the new missionaries incoming Wednesday morning, but we had a fun surpriseon Wednesday night. We had assigned for 3 sister missionaries to drive to Wales, 3 hours away, to get to their new areas. President decided that because one of them had never driven in the U.K, he didn't want her first experience to be on the free-way, the other sister didn't have her license, and the third has just gotten off of 21 hours of flying from Provo without any sleep, so Elder Lu and I got to drive to Wales on Wednesday evening. Every 45 minutes or so we made a trip to a gas station to fuel up on snacks and drinks to keep us awake and going. In the end there was no real problems drowsy driving or anything, and it was actually way fun! let's just say I had no problem falling asleep that night, or any of the nights proceeding. 

Thursday we got exciting news about a member referral named Simon. So a recent convert named Brett who's been baptized since June brought a friend to churh, and now were teaching him! He is a really great guy with a lot of real-intent. He loves the Book of Mormon and church, so that makes for a great opportunity for us.  We'll keep you posted with how he is doing.  

For P-day today, we are going to buy loads and loads of chinese food. Elder Lu is basically a chef. I have been SHOCKED by the quality of food he has made for us already in just a few days. He's also on a very strict diet, that he's asked me if I'll do to help him, I was already doing one anyways so it will work out really well.  

So... for Christmas, I will call you sometime between 10-11 a.m. your time! I hope that is ok. Please let me know if that's not ok. if anything changes, I'll let you know immediately. we will be skyping at a part-member family house. THey are great and were more than happy to let us use their computers!  

Well, the church is true. It still will be for the next 2 transfers but I'll probably keep reminding you all :) Especially in this amazing season, I am grateful for Jesus Christ. For his example, for his love, for his atonement, and for him reaching out in love to us, his brothers and sisters, and restoring the truth to the earth today. Have a great week!! 

Love, 

Elder Harris. 

P.S. I have received all of the Christmas packages, thank you so much! I'm waiting until Christmas to open them :) 

Dec 13, 2014

Hey family, I'm so sorry about the very short message this week, we do not have too much time today, with zone conference and transfers we've been so busy! 

for skype, I'll try to be calling you around 6 o' clock england time or so, which is 11 in the morning for you guys, I'm not sure exactly where I will be skyping at, but there are a few families who have offered. I'm really looking forward to that! 

dad- that's amazing you ran into casey! that's cool. 

It was crazy to see Paul Hatch. I can imagine he is such an incredible young man, he was before he left, and I'm sure the mission has improved him even more. I really look forward to hanging out with him. 

PERK IS ENGAGED!!!!!! nothing made me happier than receiving this news this morning from London. London and I are actually instant chatting right now which has been way sweet. 

Josh-- Therese is so cute!! stamp of approval 10x.  

Michael-- wow that's massive. 

Meg-- you are seriously so pretty! I'm happy that dan is a legend and that you guys are having so much fun together! I'm excited to meet him :) 

I added another layer to make things not as cold but unfortunately it didn't really work.  haha 

This week was 4 meetings, and so we didn't really proselyte, we did get a couple of new investigators though, one is a muslim guy who is an absolute legend! he is very open to learn more about the church so that's exciting. we'll keep you posted on all other miracles. 

The Church is still true. 

Jesus Christ is the only way!

Elder Sam Harris. 

Dec 6, 2014

Welsh street

Elder Dryden (Sarah Bowles brother) and Elder Kerr, two of my favorite elders in the mission. 

Elder Higham and I this morning

Hey Family! This week was another crazy one, full of meetings and not much missionary work.  The highlight of the week was probably going to Costco with Sister Rasmussen. That has always been on my bucket list, and it happened! woo woo! 

In our area we had a cool miracle this week. We contacted a very sweet lady named Tamara during Wednesday morning, and she agreed to letting us drop off a "Joy to the World" DVD the same night. We had another appointment scheduled that night with a single sister, so we brought Brett with us to be a member present. Unfortunately, the single sister cancelled, but as we went to drop off the DVD for Tamara, because we had Brett with us, we were able to go inside, share with her not only the DVD, but the "He is the Gift" video, and share an introduction to the restoration. We are excited to teach her more in the future, and will keep you updated. 

On Thursday I FINALLY GOT TO GO TO WALES! It was awesome, we were in Cardiff, for the Cardiff/Merthyr Tydfil/Cheltenham Zone Conference. On thursday evening we spent the night until about 12 preparing for everything.  On Friday morning Elder Higham and I went running and it is a beautiful city! I really enjoyed seeing a new place, and being in a new country. All of the welsh people I talked to were extremely friendly, it makes me want to finish my mission there! 

The actual conference was great! President and Sister Rasmussen do such a good job, they are so sharp! It was CHRISTmas focused.  Christmas hymns are such a brilliant way to feel the spirit!! It was really great to see so many missionaries! there were 100 there, and we still have 2 more zone conferences to do this week. The departing testimonies are always my favorite part of zone conferences.  It's amazing what we hear when people have 2-3 minutes to highlight the things they have learned in the last 2 years.  The spirit is always so strong!  One of my favorite things I have recognized recently is the change of heart we receive as a result of feeling the spirit spoken of in Mosiah 5:2. After each powerful experience from the spirit my desires seem to change. Something that hit me yesterday during the conference, was that next time zone conference comes around, it will be my time to be up there giving the departing testimony. That thought came and it made me realize I better give absolutely everything for these last months, there is no time to waste. 

Today we are going to an awesome couples named the Fel's, they always feed us loads and AMAZING food, so we're looking forward to finishing our p-day that way. 

Next week we have 2 zone confences, and 2 other training meetings, so we're basically done prosetlyting for the rest of the transfer.  Our area is no where close to where it needs to be at the start of next transfer, but everything will work out.  

The pics-- us with Sister Rasmussen at Costco

Me in front of our mission sign, doing my thing

Probably my favorite sisters in the mission named their car after me! I was honored 

Love you all so much! 

Nov 29, 2014

So much food, and so much extra that's in our fridge at the moment! 

Elder and Sister Hall, two of my favorite people on the mission! I was there Zone leader while I was in Leicester, they are serving in Peterborough. If I ever make it to Victoria island in British Columbia I will definitely pay them a visit! 

He is the gift pass along cards for the mission. over 40,000! 

Mission leadership council, or Jedi council depending on the missionary. 

Probably my 3 best friends on the mission! Elder Debeikes, Sister Williamson and Elder Unice. I'm excited for you to meet them all! 

I took this picture to show you how many layers I'm wearing but it didn't come out like I wanted. Garments, Under armour, shirt, sweater, jacket, coat, scarf.  somehow it's still cold if it's wet haha 

Elder Higham got to drive Sister Rasmussen's Mini! 

Us at the thanksgiving feast we had for the senior couples.  

I'm really upset with this picture because it doesn't capture the words on the hat just behind the feathers that say "it's christmas time" but oh well. 

We spent P-day at a beautiful park- sutton park with our investiator Matte from Hungary. 

We got a massive triple combination for Sonia because her eye sight is terrible, and this is what we made for her on the front cover! when she saw it she was in shock and so excited!

Some owls we saw in Sutton Coldfield Town Centre. 

Good morning!! 

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL thanksgiving week! 

This week was really busy with meetings. On Monday we were up until about 2:00 A.M. preparing for Mission Leadership Council and cleaning the car-park that was so full of leaves and other things haha I've never slept so easily in my life! 

Tuesday was Mission leadership Council, we spent the whole day focusing on the He is the Gift initiative, and Elder Higham and I got to take part in that training which was loads of fun, I actually love presenting/speaking!  After we had a few short hours to proselyte, but they were great! we found a 21 year old Latvian named Jacob, who is really educated when it comes to religion and he understood the restoration perfectly, one of the cool miracles about that was that we got to teach him the first discussion in Sonia's home. (Our latest recent convert)  

Wednesday was our only day that we had mostly proselyting, until about 6. We were so blessed with the short time we had this week! we've established a decent teaching pool and all of my worries from the previous weeks have faded.  Everything will work out! 

Thursday President and Sister Rasmussen had all of the senior couple's meet at the mission office for a thanksgiving meal. It was great! there was about 35 in total, and there was probably more than 10 lbs. leftover of turkey and ham, which went straight into our fridge :) :) I'm not complaining about that! After the meeting We went to a Dinner appointment at the bishops house where they as well had us for a wonderful thanksgiving meal. To be honest It was one of my favorite thanksgivings I've had in my whole life. At the bishops home we went around the table and said what we were grateful for. I went first, and so I was trying to hurry and think of the things that were most important to me. It was a moment when it hit me like a ton of bricks how much I've changed on my mission. The only things coming to my head were directly related to the gospel.  thinking before my mission I would have without thought said things like Golf, baseball, girls, Halo, Madden, snowboarding, etc.  When it came time to say something I could only think of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, temples,  Abinadi, etc.  and I wasn't thinking those things because I felt like I had to, but I was thinking those things because that is sincerely what I am most grateful for in my life.  and of course, I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR MY FAMILY. that was said first haha.  It was a great day. 

Friday we had the follow up trainers meeting here at the office, it's always great to be surrounded by new missionaries who have so much fire and passion for the work.  

Today I bought all of the supplies for the families Christ package, I hope you enjoy it! I love you all so much! 

Elder Harris

p.s. I'M FINALLY GOING TO WALES THIS WEEK. Our zone conferences will be the next two weeks.  Starting this Thursday, we basically won't proselyte til the end of the transfer (The next 13 days-  so please pray for the people we are now working with because there is going to need to be some miracles to hold onto them without seeing them very often. take care! I love you all so much! 

November 8, t2014

Hey hey!! 

As I said to dad already, this was easily the busiest week of my life! On Saturday the baptism of Sonia was brilliant! She loved her experience, and the confirmation was very special for her as well. One of the most tender moments I'll remember forever is a prayer that she offered on monday, a prayer of gratitude to have been able to learn about the book of mormon, Joseph Smith, and especially about the atonement. She understands the gospel and gets repentance, it's been incredible to be a part of her teaching process. 

On Sunday we drove to Hereford to drop off Elder Dryden-he's the man! it was fun to spend a day with him, when we got back to Birmingham we spent the rest of the night finishing transfers. It was such a spiritual and uplifting experience to have been a part of transfers.  It was a shock to me how much of an influence Elder Higham and myself had on transfers. 

Monday we had call ins with the zone leaders and spent the rest of the day in the office as usual. Staying up til 2:30 a.m. working on the travel arrangements for the missionaries getting transferred.  Tuesday we woke up and finished the travel arrangements, and then spent the rest of the day with departing missionaries.  The train station is about an 30 minute walk away from the mission office, and so we spent a few hours going to and from the train station picking up departing missionaries. As they had their departing interviews with president, we weighed their luggage to make sure they would be able to get on the flight without the 200£ fee if the luggage is over weight, and then, we participated in what is called, "Trunky night," basically we all go to the mission home and eat an incredble meal, go around the table and talk about mission memories, then we have a testimony meeting that last around an hour, and then they stay up all night reminising on the mission, until 3:00 A.M. when we wake up to get to the air port. Participating in this day with the departing missionaries was a crazy experience. It made me realize a lot of things. 1. There is an end to full-time missionary service. 2. The time we have is SO limited 3. I want to make it to that day, knowing that I gave everything I could to the savior for this short time of 2 years.. 4 months to go, I can't believe it's actually coming to a close in the near future. 

Wednesday we met the new missionaries, helped them, answered their questions for what the mission is going to be like, and gave them some good food. It's weird looking back to the first days of a mission as well, because I was also, very nervous, very afraid of what was going to happen, and aware of how long 2 years was. It's so crazy, because it's said all the time, but the second that we forget ourselves and let this become god's mission everything just seems to work out, we are happier, the work goes better, miracles happen. 

Thursday we had mission leadership council again, it was another great meeting. 

Friday we got to proselyte for the first time, for about 2 hours. The work is going incredibly slow at this point in time, but in the short time we've had to find new people, we've seen some miracles. We're now teaching a lady called Zamdi, she's from South AFrica, she obviously loves Jesus, and after we shared the restoration with her she said, "If this is true than it's the most important message in the world." she hit the nail on the head with that one.  

That's about it for this week. I can't wait to take a nap after I'm finished emailing! thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks which is crazy, and I'm excited for you all to have a wonderful holiday season! please know that I am in good shape out here, trying to soak in every second to set a foundation for the rest of my life to grow upon. LOVE YOU ALL!!! 

Elder Sam Harris.

Nov 1, 2014

Good Morning family!

First off... Marsh gets home on TUESDAYYYY!!! you'll have to go to his homecoming and take some pictures with him. He did it, Marsh has set the example for us to follow, what a beast! 

This week was way solid. We spent all day on monday preparing the reports for the 8 stake presidencies that the mission covers for convert baptisms. The mission covers the Merthyr Tidvill, and Cardiff Wales stakes, and then the Cheltenham, Birmingham, Lichfield, Nottingham, Leicester, and Coventry stakes in England.  

Tuesday was rad. I got to go on exchange with Elder Costigan, another one of my past companions. It was like we never seperated. Our unity while finding and teaching came back just like that!  A member in another ward, referred her friend who lives in the Wylde Green ward, so Elder Costigan and I taught him a first lesson, and the spirit was incredibly strong. He accepted the message and was unusually excited to read the book of mormon- no complaints there.  We taught Sonia in the evening about the priesthood, and she is SO EXCITED for her baptism tonight. We will send pics next week! 

Wednesday I read a talk called the challening and testifying missionary. It changed the way that I think about a lot of things. Go and read it! you can relate it to whatever you want in your life that is important to you. The main theme of the talk is this-- the best time to accomplish our desires is NOW.  It talks about how the second that we know someone is feeling the Holy Ghost, we are supposed to challenge them right there, let them recognize the spirit, and invite them to do something bold, talks about how we don't prepare someone for a challenge, because then it isn't really a challenge. I don't know, it's difficult to explain, but it was something that I am looking to apply for the rest of my mission/ life. 

As a result of this talk, the second that Elder Costigan and I thought that someone was interested, we would invite them to do something pretty crazy-- for example, Elder Costigan invited a former investigator who investigated 1 year ago to be baptised on the 29th of November. She accepted.. now this was on the street! Her name is Julia. Her mother is a Jehovah's Witness, but she made her stop investigating in the past, but now that she is 18, her mom is letting her do whatever she wants, and so now she is pretty adoment about joining the church. Another pretty massive miracle. I know God leads us to people who are ready to accept his message.  

Another one of our new investigators this week is Kati! she is from Hungary, and she is so sweet and nice. The way that she views life is incredible, probably one of the most optimistic people I've ever met. She's been in the U.K. for a week, has no job, a very interesting living situation, but she is so sure and hopeful that everything will work out- I'm sure it will! 

Last night President  Rasmussen called us into his office, and we spent a few hours talking about the new transfer, and changes that we thought would be appropriate. I absolutely love doing things like that! One of my favorite things that I have learned from President is his ability to receive revelation. He just does what it says to do in the scriptures, he ponders, studies, and prays, and ponders, it sounds so simple! I think that is something everyone wants to be better at is understanding exactly how the spirit communicates with us. 

Right after emailing we are going to drive to Hereford, where we will pick up Elder Dryden, Sarah Bowles little brother, he will be on an exchange with us for the next 2 days. should be fun! Life is always good as a missionary, I have no complaints! As much as I miss you all, I believe with all of my heart that this is exactly where I need to be. have a great week! Love you!!!!!!!

Love, 

Elder Sam Harris

Oct 25th, 2014

Family!!

I will say sorry before hand, we have basically no time today but I will try to fit in as much as I can for this week. 

First off, I loved seeing pics of everyone, especially in Boise! I'm so looking forward to visiting the family soon after I finish my mission.  Seeing Spence and Mike golfing made me a little excited for the future.. WAY EXCITED. 

This week was a humbling week in a lot of ways, but we still saw some miracles. Sonia is definitely going to be baptised a week from today, which is absolutely nuts! She is great. One of the most lovely people I've met in my whole life, and she's just really sweet.  It rained this week.. A LOT. well, it rains every week, but this week it rained HARD. it rained so hard yesterday that on some of the streets, the roads were flooded so the water was halfway up the car when driving! it was like driving with faith haha because we couldn't see the lines, we just had to trust that we were in our lanes. it was good fun though and we got some good videos.  I'm so tired of the rain, but I can imagine that upon my return home each time it rains I will happily go and embrace it. 

We spent LOADS of time finding this week. We got loads and loads of return appointments, close to 30, but only a few of them stuck, which was really frustrating, but we are pushing through it. Besides Sonia and Matte, are teaching pool is struggling quite a bit.  One pretty fantastic thing that happened this week was the finding of 3 new investigators, PHillipus, Yanis, and danight. They are from Eritrea (add that to the list of people I've met on my mission from different countries) They are humble and love Jesus, so there is definitely some cool potential there.  

Today we're going golfing... AGAIN :) I love that my companion is a golfer. It's amazing to be able to relax for a couple of hours despite how frustrating it is that I can't chip or putt haha. 

Life is good, time is going by a little too fast for my liking, but it's all good. 

Enjoy having Marsh home on the 3rd of November! that should be fun. he's a good kid and I miss him like heck. 

Love you all, thanks for being awesome! 

Love,

Elder Sam Harris

Oct 18, 2014

Hey family!! 

Last week, Sue was baptised and confirmed, I'll send the pictures in another email to you.  It was a really great service! we had about 30 of the members come out to support her, and the spirit was really strong, as always. She is still doing awesome, she's working towards going to the temple in November, and it is always such a delight to spend time sharing the gospel with her! 

On Sunday we had Sonia come to church, she is doing AMAZING! We saw her on sunday night with the same senior couple I mentioned earlier called the Jolley's, and she has been reading and praying every day, she hasn't missed church since the first time we met her, and when we asked her how she was feeling about Nov. 1st, she said that she knows she needs to do it. We finished teaching her the commandments this week, and now all we have to share with her is about the temple and family history.  She is one of the sweetest ladies I've met on my mission, and she is going to be an outstanding member of the church! she was so prepared by the lord to receive this gospel, and it's amazing to look back from finding her a few weeks back, to how much progress she has made in such a short amount of time because she has been diligent in reading the Book of Mormon daily, and praying sincerely to know if it's true. 

Golfing was way fun! we're going to the putting green again today. I shot a 38, not bad for not playing in 18 months, but always room for improvement :)  

On Tuesday we taught a new investigator, Shauna, and we put her on a date to be baptised on the 15th of November! She has heard of the church in the past from a friend in college, and when I contacted her on the street she was pretty excited to meet with us. Please keep Sonia, Shauna, and Matte in your prayers!

Matte is the Hungarian kid we mentioned earlier. He's a great kid, but we're not sure how much desire he has at the moment. 

To answer a few of dad's questions, I got pictures of me and my previous companions at mission leadership council, and we'll have plenty more where they'll all be there, we give training at the mission leadership council and at zone conferences, and at zone conferences I'll get to go to Wales, in Cardiff, and Swansea for the first times as well. 

A miracle we had was on Thursday, I street contacted a man who, with a giant smile on his face, asked, "Are you a mormon missionary?" turns out that this man, Nigel, investigated the gospel 30 years ago when he was in his teens. He just found his faith in Jesus Christ 10 years ago, and he asked if we could sit down right then and have a discussion about the book of mormon, because he thought it might make more sense to him now that he has a faith. As we sat down together and discussed the restoration and the Book of Mormon, he was so excited to read it. He promised me that he would read the whole book in the next 3 weeks, and we can't wait to follow up with him and see how he's feeling about the gospel. We're also excited because he is a lawyer, and has a family, and he's incredibly bright. He's a kingdom builder!-- not sure what's happned with the font style. 

love and miss you! let me know of any other questions you have for me! 

Oct 11, 2014

Good morning family!

This week was brilliant!

On Monday, we once again, spent all day in the office preparing for mission leadership council, and printing out the key indicators for the mission, as well as finalizaing the monthly report for convert baptisms that gets sent to the church headquarters. 

On Tuesday, Mission Leadership Council was great. I always enjoy seeing my good friends from the mission, each of my companions still on the mission were at the meeting. It was great to see Elder's Debeikes, Costigan, Pogue, and Unice.  After MLC I got to go back to COVENTRY! It was probably in my top 3 favorite exchanges of my mission so far.  First, we went and visited Sam and Sarah Bowles, and then, we got to go and visit Gifty! she is soooo sweet. I walked into the door, and she was expecting the missionaries that are currently there. When she realized it was me her face just lit up it was a priceless moment.  "HHHAAARRRRIIISSS!!!!!!" Sam and Sarah also made us breakfast, and then we went street contacting at the university there for a few hours, in the pouring rain. after an hour and half of being completely soaked, I was basically numb in most of my body so the pain was gone and we had more energy to keep going until we had to exchange back :) as much as it is cold and wet, while talking to these random strangers, every so often I realize how much I love being a missionary, and how much I will miss this when it's over. 

Wednesday we did a lot of finding actually which was a great change of pace from being in the office. 

On thursday we had zone meeting, and then sue's baptism interview. Sue will be baptised in about 5 hours, we're really looking forward to it, and so is she! we'll send pictures next week.  On Thursday we had an opportunity to teach in a members home. As we were waiting for an investigator to come to the appointment, we decided to street contact an old woman. Her name is Trish and she's a miracle. She is SO SWEET. She's extremely roman catholic. As we had the first lesson with her yesterday, she said before we said anything, "I'm not ever going to be a mormon." As we talked about the restoration, and especially the great apostacy, everything made sense to her, and by the end of the lesson she was so excited to read the book of mormon, to find out if God really does call prophets today.  It was a testimony to me that god puts people in our paths that are looking for the truth, even if we only have 3 mintues of finding time. 

Oh yeah, I was sick all week as well, every morning I woke up and felt like I couldn't move, but every day I was able to make it just to the end with strength sufficient to finish out the day before I would fall asleep regardless of what we were doing. I'm feeling much better now and have been using OnGuard on my chest and throat, I think it's helped heaps! 

After were finished emailing, we're going to pipe-hayes golf course to play 9!! woo! I'm stoked, even if I shoot in the 50's, it's going to be a blast to go out there and play. the deal is, 10 pounds for unlimited golf after 2, and because it's pretty cold and windy, I reckon hardly anyone is there! so, we might even get more than 9 holes in :) 

Know that each of you are in my prayers and I'm excited each time I hear from you. I'm glad that you're all happy, and I pray that you will be able to achieve the righteous desires of your hearts! 

Love and miss you!

Elder Samuel Harris.