Sept 22, 2014

good morning!!

This week was pretty good! some more goodbye's... but it was alright! last monday for p-day we went to a monastary called mount st. bernadino's abbey or something like that, basically a place where monks live for their whole lives dedicated to god. it was beautiful! I'll send some pics in a few weeks of the abbey. 

This week we saw one of the coolest miracles I've ever seen on the mission.  I was on exchange with an Elder called Elder Bies. We were streeet contacting and we met a chinese giril named felicity. she was way cool, and we got a return appointment with her for saturday. nothing else really happened it was a pretty normal contact. However, the same night, Ivy called us from China, telling us that one of her best friends Felicity, randomly felt like she needed to tell Ivy about the event. She had no idea Ivy was a member, and she hadn't sent Ivy a message in a few weeks, but she opened up her message by saying, (according to the translation of Ivy, they are both chinese) " Hey Ivy, I just met 2 missionaries from America, I've been really sad the last few months and I hope they can help me change my life." Ivy quickly asked what the names were of the missionaries, and she replied. "The one from utah is Xie Ding- Long" Ivy was so excited to hear that she was talking about us. Ivy then preceded to share her testimony with her, and Ivy said to pay close attention to what we have to teach her. what a miracle! We taught Felicity on Saturday, she understood everything. She came to church on Sunday, and LOVED IT! It was the primary program, and that's brilliant for new people to see. After church I asked her how she liked it, and she said, "I'm going to tell all of my friends about this place because I feel great." haha I said, "Hey, that's what I do 24/7, maybe we can hire you!"  we showed her pictures of Ivy's baptism and she said that she really wants to join the church, we told her that we will need to teach her several more times so that she can know what she is joining, and she is looking forward to learning more. I wish things like this could happen all of the time for missionaries who are struggling. the crazy thing is, every missionary who talks to loads of people every day sees loads of miracles, and those who are not working hard cannot have these same experiences that will change their lives forever. I'm grateful for good examples in my life who have taught me to work hard and be able to have such memorable experiences. 

I said goodbye to Ariel, Alex, Anthia, and they are nearly the last of my godbye's, besides members. we still haven't received transfer news yet, we will tonight, so I'll try my best to let you know sometime tomorrow what's happening with me for my last area.  I'm really hoping to go to Wales as I have not yet served there and I think it would be a great experience. I've heard that it's extremely tough for finding people to teach, but I think I would love it! 

Today for P-day we'll be going to Leicester down town, and just hanging out for what should be my last p-day in the zone. 

On Saturday Alex and Ariel, and Jeff, (ivy's awesome boyfriend who we've only known for 2 weeks) took us to a cheng du style restaurant where we had hot pot. holy cow do I love hot pot. ask steve nickle about it, I'm sure he likes it as well.  it was a farewell dinner and I honestly don't like western food that much anymore. but I can't wait to bring you all to china with me in the future! gonna be sick! 

After church there was a little lunch prepared for us by the members who live in a small village called melton mowbray. We got talking to some of the members about golf, and found out that there are 3 members that are golfing regularly, but are not improving, and they've asked me if I can look at their swings haha, if I'm here for next p-day, I'm going to a sweet golf course called six hills. 

I love you all, another week has gone by... wow! 4 transfers left, leaving it all on the field! talk to you soon!

love, 

Elder Sam Harris. 

Sept 15, 2014

Hey guys! 

This week was legit, and very spiritual!! I feel like my testimony has increased loads this week. Finally our finding efforts have been paying off and we've been able to establish a better teaching pool, despite not being able to work on or near the uni, things are going ok! This week Ariel was baptised and confirmed, she asked me if I could perform both of the ordinances, and I was happy to! the baptismal service was incredibly spiritual.  Because Ariel is so shy, there were hardly any people in attendance, because she wanted it to be that way, however, each of the teams in Loughborough brought investigators that really benefitted from watching a baptism.  One of our investigators, Anthea, had a great experience- after the baptism, Elder Pogue and I went up to talk to her, and in her own words she said, "I feel like I want to cry!" she didn't look happy, so I asked her if she wanted to cry in a good way or in a bad way, and she said that she wanted to cry in the best way possible. She received her witness that being baptised is exactly what she needs to do! 

Another miracle we saw from the baptism is Ariel's husband, Alex, loved it as well, and he told us that he is next in the font once he is able to quit smoking.  The other elders investigator, Aidan, a 13 year old boy, loved the service, and he's really looking forward to his baptism this weekend as well.  

We found some excellent new people this week! one of them is named Melanie. she is a sweet sweet woman in her late 20's, who is suffering from a Heroin addiction. She has 2 children, and she wants more than anything to be able to quit this terrible habit. She isn't your typical junkie drug user, she's a sincerely incredible woman who has unfortunately made a few choices in her life that she's had to suffer for, but we're confident that the gospel will change everything in her life. It makes me so sad to see things like this, but also so happy to know that through the atonement each and every one of her situations can improve. 

This is the last week of the transfer- a good chance that I could actually stay in Loughborough for another, which would make 9 months- by far my longest area. it's crazy to think that in less than 6 months I will have been finished with my mission. I don't like to think about it, but it's starting to feel real.  

How are Perkins, Jonny, Tyler, Bryson, etc doing? I miss those guys! I hope they are doing well! 

Please keep Alex, Anthea, and Melanie in your prayers, as these will be the investigators that we will focus on throughout the course of this week. 

This week was also absolutely emotinoal with 2 more terrible goodbye's- the goodbye's of Ivy and David. I love these people so much! I'm confident that they'll pave the way for the gospel to be brought to China as the prophets have prophesied. too many tears, but more than anything, I'm so grateful that God has placed people in our paths that have become some of my best friends in the world, people that I have loved more than I thought was possible to be able to love, and people who have helped me realize how truly lucky I am to be able to have the gospel. The best possible gift that anyone can receive. 

Well.. enjoy some pics that I'll send, I've finished another SD card so I'll send that soon ASAP. love you all so much!

Sept 8th, 2014

This week was all over the place! 

Monday was excellent. Barry and David both received their patriarchal blessings, and I've never seen 2 recent converts to excited!! They are going to do big things for the church in the future. watch out for Liu Di and Wei Shangkun.  Tuesday, we had mission leadership council, it was brilliant to be with so many of my mission friends. One of the coolest things was that Elder Pogue, Elder Debeikes, Elder Unice, and Elder Costigan were all there, serving as zone leaders in different zones. I've been blessed with incredible companions.  We are focusing on The Book of Mormon this month in our proselyting, and we were able to give some sweet training on Wednesday in Zone Meeting.  one of my favorite parts was we talked about patterns in the scriptures. the pattern of a prophet in 1 nephi 1: 4, 8-12, 18, and 20. a prophet prays, receives a vision, sees divine beings, receives a book, feels the spirit, teaches the people, and their life is threatened. seems quite similar to a latter-day prophet.. I love finding patterns in the scriptures! 

On Wednesday we had to say goodbye to Barry.. honestly the hardest goodbye of my mission. I know I've said that in the past, but seriously, it was awful. Much harder than the goodbye at the MTC, or any other in the past.  Ivy came up to me as we were all crying, I pull away in the car,  leaving Barry's home and she comforted me, and she said, "That's what's so amazing about the gospel, is we will be together forever." at that moment in time, my whole world just stopped and I've never been grateful for anything in my life as much as I was then, for the opportunity that I have to be here in England, serving a mission. If I came on my mission and got rejected by literally everyone I talked to, but was able to meet just one of these people, it would have been worth the 2 years of discouragement, however, having these experiences makes me excited to go and find more people who will be my future best friends.  

Thursday I went on an exchange with a missionary who is struggling very badly.  If hitler served a mission, it would be this missionaries companion.  He means no harm, but he's extremely obedient for the wrong reasons. We're going to focus this week on helping them as a companionship compromise and go forward. 

Ariel passed her baptismal interview on friday and we were really looking forward to her baptism on saturday. She called us at 5 on saturday, (baptism started at 7) saying that she was having some female issues that would last a few days, and that she forgot it was going to happen at that time, so we're going to have the baptism and confirmation this following weekend instead. because of the small language barrier, on the phone I could have sworn that I heard, "Can we reschedule the baptism? I'm in Paris?" when really it was, "Can we reschedule the baptism? I'm in PMS." sorry about the TMI. we both laughed about it and it will be fine. 

working without a uni (University) is so hard! I have no idea how I did it for the first 7 months of my mission.. I'm probably just preparing for my last area, which most likely won't have a uni either, but either way, we'll find a way to increase our teaching pool! 

I love you all so much! I hope that your week is brilliant and full with miracles!  

p.s. Dad- I got your package! It is brilliant :) we are constantly turning off all of the lights and playing glow in the dark football haha, and the additional mini hoop is always a good add. thank you so much! and for your heartfelt letter as well! 

Mom- I got the oils in the post! thank you so much! I'm going to have to lose some weight before I come home :)

also, there is a golf course that is only £3 for all you can golf! obviously the quality of the holes isn't great, but it should be fun to mess around there every few p-days. love you so much! 

Septembeard - Sept 1st, 2014

I wrote that as the subject because I forgot to shave today, and over the course of my mission this beard thing is getting serious! 

Well, I'll start off by saying I had a truly wonderful birthday! In China they have this tradition of eating noodles on birthday's, wishing you a long life, (long noodles= long life) so, for BREAKFAST, I had some dang good spicy noodles with pork and tofu shrimp. soooo good! that was the first great meal. Elder Pogue had to do his driving theory test in Derby, which was the city that we went to every p-day while we were together in Eastwood, it was so interesting to go back to the same place with the same person! we ate at the same kebab shop and it was still dang good! Later on during the day, Jill, one of our amazing recent converts, took us to the driving range, and we hit a bucket of balls! I'm a bit rusty but I'll hopefully be able to keep up with spence when I get back :)

After that, we were able to have a great lesson with Anthea on faith. I learned so much about faith that I had no idea about before teaching her. The spirit taught me that the biggest strides we can take in increasing our faith, come when we act on the unknown, when we act on the things we hope our true, but aren't positive that they are indeed true. I have a lot I can change as a result of this knowledge and I'm exited to apply it throughout the rest of my life.  After our lesson with Anthea we went and played basketball with loads of chinese people. With the University being off limits now- it's been extremely difficult to find new people, and basketball is the most effective thing we are doing as of late. 

As for the rest of the week- Ariel was all set for her baptism on saturday, when thursday night she texted us asking if the gift of the holy ghost had to be on sunday.  She found out that an emergency came up and she had to now go to London on Sunday, so now her baptism will be this week. Something amazing about this is that Ariel is part of the communist party in China, and she is leaving this part of her life to join the church, she's making a step up faith that will bless her life forever.  Hopefully Anthea as well will be able to join the church this saturday, she is about 50/50, but we know that whatever happens is the best for her!  

On Sunday, church was brilliant as always. We got to help our recent converts prepare for their patriarchal blessings, which is so interesting, Grandad Broadhurst emailed me this week asking about if they've had the oppurtunity to receive their blessings, and they will be receiving them tonight! we are buzzin' for them! and they are so exited as well. Barry was quite emotional yesterday as it was his last sunday in Loughborough, one of the members bought him a Quad scripture set, and he cannot stop talking about how much it means to him. I thought the best part of missionary work was seeing people baptized and confirmed. Don't get me wrong, it's excellent. The most rewarding part of missionary work is seeing your recent converts continue to feast after knowledge, when they truly do treat their baptism as the beginning of an eternal journey, and strive to improve each day! that's what the gospel is about, change.

I love you all so much! I'm sure loads of other awesome things happened this week as well but this is what I feel like writing this week! I love you all so much! 

Elder Sam Harris.