March 24, 2014

Hello family! 

I'm sorry, this is one of those weeks where we are super busy and I don't have much time to write, but this week was pretty slow! we had 16 lessons cancel. 16! kind of crazy, but it's alright, we will continue working hard and striving to see miracles.  

our zone is doing better and better each week which is really exiting, this week we will do our first zone meeting and it will be my first training to missionaries! I'm a little nervous but mostly excited for the oppurtunity for me to learn and grow from teaching!

We have an investigator, Jill, who is really doing well. she is basically a dry mormon, her testimony is so strong! she will be baptized on the 9th of April, she went from smoking 40 cigarettes a day to now just 2. she's so close!

I will try my best next week to make enough time so that I can properly write you, but for today I'm really out of time.  I love you all so much! only a year and we will see each other again. let's go to cheesecake factory ok? I miss massive portions of delicious food.  Have a great week! 

March 17, 2014

I should have more time to write you this week! 

Alright. Well first, we'll talk more about the area! Loughborough is a university town, but without the university the city would be pretty pathetic, it's really small! it's beautiful! our area is absolutely massive and takes almost an hour to DRIVE out of it. I'm in a car!! woo woo! I hope I never have to look at another bike for the rest of my mission haha but whatever happens will happen. When I first arrived there was not much happening here. There have been Zone Leaders here for 1 year and they have only seen 1 baptism, which was 2 weeks ago, the saturdaybefore I came in.  So, I am exited for this oppurtunity I have to change the members and missionaries ideas about how missionary work is in Loughborough.  

We have 1 investigator we put on a baptismal date this week, her name is Jill! I think I might have wrote more about this last week, but she is in her 60's and is really solid! she will make it for the 9th of April.  We have been finding, and finding, and finding, I have never talked to so many people in my life! It is really good, however, sometimes it is hard to stay energetic after 4 hours of doing the same thing over and over! We were able to find 3 new investigators this week! 2 of them chinese! which as you know I was incredibly stoked about. The members seem really nice! they aren't extremely pumped about missionary work, but they are good members, and there are a few who will be key in getting the ball rolling here in Loughborough! In our zone we have 16 teams, so besides us, there are 32 missionaries that we look after. Our zone was one of the worst in the mission, but since January, we have been doing actually pretty well. It is my vision and sincere desire to bring Leicester zone to be top of the mission!

I love Elder Tuisku, he is such a hard worker! we haven't waisted a second of time since we've been together and it's been really enjoyable.  With some of the zone leaders you can't really have a laugh or mess around, but he has a great sense of humor and we do a lot joking around which keeps us sane!  

This week we were privileged to have Elder Jose Texeira, the President of the Europe Area, come to our mission! He presented a mission leadership council on wednesday that was brilliant! he spoke about his vision for us as a mission, and how missionaries create imaginary walls in areas, for example, something common we might here is "You got sent to _____, that sucks! you can't have any success there!" this is an illusion that we create in our heads. Nothing is to hard for the lord. That is my goal for this ward I am now serving in, to change the expectations, because when we have the hope and expectations to succeed, it will happen every time.  He also presented a zone conference in which he really elaborated on the saviors parable of the talents. he explained to us that Heavenly father has blessed us with a talent, our proselyting area, and we need to report back to heavenly father at the end of our time serving there, and ask ourselves, what this area better than when I arrived?

I am grateful to say that I have tried my hardest in Eastwood and Coventry, and have seen some incredible miracles on the way, and I hope and pray that I will be able to continue in Lougborough, that when I leave, I will be able to account back to Heavenly Father presenting an evidence of our dilligence and love for these people!  Everything in our lives is a 'talent' that Heavenly Father gives us. What are we doing with these things? I think it is evident that our family knows how to make things happen when we expect things to happen. So let's keep it up!  Elder Texeira is a man of God. I cannot deny it! the spirit was so strong in those meetings, and sometimes his countenance was that of President Uchdorf, I don't know how to explain it, but when he would speak, it was literally as if I was looking at President uchdorf, and hearing it in his voice. Maybe I didn't get enough sleep the night before, but I thought that was note worthy.

I love you all so much! I hope you have incredible weeks and that you will EXPECT incredible things to happen in your life.

Love you all, take care

Elder Bammer 

March 3, 2014

We've made it to March! how on earth did that happen so fast??

This week was Good!

On Monday we had zone p-day which is always good to get together with a bunch of missionaries!

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Gifty and the only thing she really struggles with is the reading commitment, so we found out a way that she can listen to the book of mormon for 5 minutes every day as she's walking home from school! we will see! I love her so much, and I would like to ask for all of you to concentrate any prayers you may have for Gifty and Rosalyn. They are so close! After we had a dinner appointment we met with Cathy and Louis and Long and Zed. They all loved their baptisms and we're bearing testimony of the gospel and the difference it has made in their lives and it was sooo good!

Wednesday we had a really good lesson with Albert where he told us he doesn't have much of a testimony of the plan of salvation because of the belief in reincarnation that the chinese have. We retaught the plan, and then invited him to pray about it right there in front of us, and he said he felt really peaceful and happy and he knows it's true. He came to church yesterday and he is really looking solid for baptism on the 15th!

On Thursday we had a really spiritual District meeting. all of the missionaries in our district have agreed that this is easily our favorite district we've had. we are all best friends and we love each other, and that is why we have seen so much success! because we have brought unity to the ward and to the district. in most of the big cities in the mission, the missionary companioships are really competitive to see who has better numbers, but that is definitely not the case in Coventry at the moment. We bore our testimonies and there were some incredibly spiritual thoughts and feelings shared and it was way sweet. One of the more special moments of my mission that I won't forget.  After that Elder Hall and I went on exchange and had a way good time! we taught Nora, Sheri, Gifty and Rosalyn, and took an investigator to a dinner appointment. 

On Saturday we played football, and then went to city center and street contacting with some of the youth in the ward that had never done any sort of missionary work before, so it was sweet to see how nervous they were, and to realize how much I have grown as a missionary! a year ago I couldn't imagine stopping random people on the street! but I love it! After street contacting one of our investigators took us to dinner at a really good buffet because it is probable that I will be transferred on wednesday :/ I'm really nervous and I don't want to be transferred at all but whatever happens will be what needs to happen.  After the dinner, a member in our ward's dad is a general authority, Elder Dryden. He wanted us to come over to their house so he could ask us questions about how we are having success and what we are doing. It was an honor to spend time with a general authority, and for HIM to be asking US questions. it was crazy. We both loved it, and we wish we could have had more time. We got to honestly express our feelings of how the mission is good and anythings we would change about our experiences and it was just really good. 

Sunday was great! Elder Unice had the runs so church was miserable for him hahaha. not that funny but looking back it is actually pretty histerrical when I think about when I would look accross the room and see how uncomforable he looked. We have a kind of relationship that it is ok that I make fun of him for it. So we didn't get to do much yesterday because he was feeling really sick.  But he is feeling much better this morning which is good! we will go to a buffet and then we will get haircuts, and then we'll see what happens! tonight we'll find out whether I stay or whether I go.  Have a great week people that I love!

Mom- I loved your blog post today! I smiled ear to ear many times while reading. I'm not completely when or why but yeah. the idea for the gathering every year is BRILLIANT! I'm not sure what to call it. maybe the hammerhead shark? or the bottlenose-dolphin? let me know what you think. or maybe YOLO-SWAG-DOPE. just spitballin'. anyways love you all! Look forward to hearing from you all next week!

March 10, 2014

Hello my family! I am so sorry I know I have so much to write but I don't have a lot of time to do so! so I was called to be a zone leader in the Leicester zone this week, however, my area is actually called Loughborough, it's at the tip of the zone and the surrounding cities to it are Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester. It's a good area! there is a Uni, but hardly any off-race students. mostly people born and bread in the U.K. and pretty posh from what I can gather. It is the most famous university for athletics! everyone is always outside playing football or rugby or something else! at the moment our teaching pool is really small, however, this week Elder Tuisku and I were able to find 40+ Potential investigators. we spent HOURS finding, and finding and more finding. I really enjoy the feeling at the end of the day when you know you busted your butt and had fun as well. So Elder Tuisku is the name of my new companion. He is from Finland, and he is such a beast! he is a great worker, and a really nice guy, and he's also way funnny! we have gotten along really well so far, however it is difficult to tell because we have only been together for a few days!!  

We have an investigator who we put on a baptismal date the day after I got here, her name is Jill, she is 61 and she is highly addicted to smoking! please keep her in your prayers and that she can make it for the 9th of April. It was devastating saying goodbye to all of my loved ones in Coventry. It was an incredible area, maybe my favorite 4 months of my entire life! I truly loved it. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to everyone I wanted to, but it's ok because I will  be able to go back for the baptisms!

I will send pics next week, I PROMISE. also I will share some cool miracles that happened next week, as I am really running out of time.

Know that I love you! Know that I pray for you and miss you all everyday! I'm so stoked to hear about all of the great things going on back home!  Have a great week!

Take care!

Elder Harris