April 14, 2015

Well, it's been an interesting week! on Monday we played football with our chinese recent converts in Loughborough, and then these Nigerian's asked if we wanted to play with them. they were so good and I am still terrible at football but it was so sick to play with them! it starting raining SO HARD! literally the hardest rain I've ever even seen in my whole life, and it was awesome! the rain drops hurt if they hit your bare skin, but playing football in the rain was a blast! I was so wet I just decided to take my shirt off which was a really weird feeling because I haven't been shirtless in ages but it was rad.  After we taught our new investigator Ike, he is really solid! we put him on a baptismal date for the 10th of May, and I think he will be able to make it.  

On Tuesday I had the oppurtunity to go to Leicester on exchange with an Australian in their accent (oz-strigh-lee-on) It was great. He is a new missionary, and his current companion isn't the most motivated to work hard, and so it was cool to help him see what the mission can be like when we spend the day working and having a laugh at the same time.  

On Wednesday we went on exchange again for just a couple of hours so that Jill could have her baptismal interview and so I went and worked with another new missionary for just 2 hours. I love being a zone leader! having the oppurtunity to help so many missionaries discover the potential they have is very special! we talked to 2 ladies for about 30 minutes about their spiritual journey's and how they were frustrated with how they were feeling with their church and with the leaders of their church, and how they were really questioning their faith, and really wanted to know if they would see their family members again that have passed away.  We shared with them the plan of salvation and now the other team of elders is teaching them.. I think I've mentioned this a few times but how crazy is it that 2 boys in their late teens can walk down the street and talk to people who they've never met before and talk about such serious and important things with perfect strangers! it's incredible. and I will miss it forever when I have to remove the badge on my chest.  

On thursday we did service for ages! we helped a really posh family in the ward with their front garden, they had golf clubs and a back yard the size of the whole town of loughborough so it's basically a driving range! I got to hit a few balls out in the field. I've still got it! We went by Jill's house on thursday to see how she was doing and she had smoked. I was not upset or sad that she had smoked, but it was devastating to see how torn apart she was that she had smoked. She was so disgusted in herself and I just wanted to give her the biggest hug ever. we all make mistakes! I just wish that she would realize that everything is going to be ok.  We told her she could still get baptized, but she doesn't want to until she's gone at least 10 days without smoking! so now we're shooting for the 26th!  it's her decision! 

On Friday we got to go to Gifty's baptism! I want to write about Gifty for a bit. She was truly my mother away from home for my 4 months when I was in Coventry. every single time I went to her home she offered me food, GOOD FOOD, and a nice drink, and she would always offer to drive us places and buy us everything, and she wouldn't let us leave her house if it was raining, and she truly does have that mothering instinct in her! I taught her over 40 lessons when I was in Coventry, and seeing her baptized was one of the best things of my mission. If I was to not be able to see anyone get baptized on my entire mission besides gifty and rosalyn, I still would have came in a heart beat, and it would have been successful! this lady really has changed my mission and I'm so happy that Elder Unice and Elder Ferrell we're able to help her into the waters of baptism. She will be an incredible member of the church and now her husband is investigating! she told me that she talked to mom on facebook! she is really shy and she said that she was nervous to reply again haha bless her heart! 

Saturday was a good day, a chinese guy got baptized from the sisters in Loughborough, and he bore his testimony on sunday and taught all of the members an awesome lesson on faith. it was great! 

yesterday was one of the best fast and testimony meetings of my life. It's cool to see that this ward is just super converted! some amazing members with incredible testimonies that you can feel vibe off them. Being a member of the church in a place where <1 a="" actually="" amazing="" and="" are="" around="" be="" but="" callings.="" come="" div="" don="" feel="" feeling="" fulfill="" get="" here="" home.="" i="" is="" it="" like="" me="" members="" miss="" more="" much="" nbsp="" of="" people="" really="" s="" sacrifice="" so="" something="" t="" the="" their="" to="" unity="" us="" utah="" when="" will="" wrong="">

Transfers are wednesday! I think that Elder Tuisku will be the next A.P. so I should be getting a new companion! I will keep you updated! today we are going to play football again and it will be great! later we are teaching a new investigator and a part member family! life is great. oh! and on sunday we found this sweet chinese guy named LAVA who is now on a baptismal date! wooo woo! 

Elder Harris. 

P.S. I am a bit jealous of Seattle. however, I know that I will be with you guys in such a short amount of time that it's alright! we will party hard in March of 2015! love you all so much! 

April 7, 2014

well hey guys! 

This week was alright! for zone p-day we played basketball which is always so much fun and it's great to run around and exercise for a few hours. I failed to eat breakfast or lunch, and played basketball with basically nothing in my system, resulting in a massive migraine. from 5-9 I couldn't really move, I was in a lot of pain! I learned my lesson for sure though, I will never skip a breakfast again no matter what!

We saw Jill nearly every day this week considering this is the week that she is stopping to smoke! she has now been cigarette free for 6 days! she is sooo exited for her baptism this saturday! she watched all 4 sessions of general conference, and she called us after each session so we could talk about all of the different speakers and how she learned something relevant for her life in every one!  that was so cool and it's amazing to see someone who has truly become converted through the book of mormon.  

On Tuesday we had Mission Leadership Council with all of the zone-leaders and sister training leaders, it was a great meeting! we received really good training and we're pretty stoked to apply it to our work and to help the other missionaries grasp the vision we set for the mission. There was a missionary who was a zone leader for only 3  transfers, and then president felt prompted to drop him to be a senior companion, and he is tearing it up and really helping his whole district a lot, and so president has made a rule that no one will be a zone leader for more than 5 transfers unless he feels prompted to keep them there, so I will be back on a bike eventually! I'm actually quite excited for when that time comes, so I can just focus all of my time on proscelyting again.  

I know it sounds terrible, but I am so tired of talking to English people! they are just normally not that nice, except for the members haha, I just want the Nigerian's and chinese and ghanian's back! speaking of ghanian's, I heard from Elder Unice in an email that my old investigators gifty and rosalyn will be baptized on saturday, which makes my whole mission!  they are the investigators I've wanted to accept the gospel more than anyone else, and I love them like heck!!  I will get to go back to Coventry to attend the baptism. It will be INCREDIBLE.  

I got to go on exchange with a portugese elder named Elder Silva! that guy is awesome. we stayed up talking until like 2 in the morning so I had to drink a red bull the next day cause I was exhausted. 

We did loads of driving missionaries around this week. there is a sister from Northern Ireland who is going to get the surgery that I need (for her nose) because the growth in her nasal path is starting to cause her a lot of pain, she is 37, so I probably won't have to worry about that for a few years! so she went back home for the operation and we drove the 90 minutes to the mission home and 2 1/2 hours back because of traffic, so we basically got nothing done all day which was frustrating.  

General conference was spectacular! it's kind of silly how excited us missionaries get for general conference, it's comparable to little kids on Christmas Morning.  My favorite talk was probably Dallin H Oaks talk in Preisthood, because I learned a lot, and President Uchtdorf's on Sunday morning because I felt the spirit so strong!  Elder Bednar, Elder Scott, and Elder Holland also had exceptional talks as well. 

Now it's P-day! we will be playing football with an investigator and some of the recent converts at the university and it should be fun. it's supposed to pour down really hard so that will always add a bit of interest! 

I'll be honest, I haven't fallen in love with Loughborough like I did so quickly with Eastwood and Coventry.  It's the hardest I've worked on my  mission and not the most success, and I'm frustrated a bit, not discouraged, but frustrated. I wonder what Heavenly father wants me to learn from this rough patch. I shouldn't be complaining, I should be grateful like President Uchtdorf says. it is possible that 4 of my investigators on saturday will be baptized, so that is absolutely crazy!  but for Loughborough, I feel like I'm just expecting everything to happen as quickly and smoothly as it did in Coventry because of the work we’re putting in, and it just hasn't happened like that before. I'm open for any advice!! the next April General conference we will be watching it all together :) that was weird to think about.  Sorry that this last paragraph has been venting haha.

I love you all so much. have an amazing week! 

The pictures are 1: of my bald head and 2: the elders in my district, taken about 3 seconds ago!