Feb 16, 2015

Hey family!

I don't really know what to write! This week was quite good. Our most progressing investigator is a newer Chinese investigator named Alan. He is way solid. He loves the church, as we invited him to be baptized on the 7th of March his reply was, "do I have to quit smoking by then?" we replied that of course he did, and he said, "No problem, 2015 is my year!" haha It was great. HE's really awesome. 

I love Swansea. I am gutted to the core that I only have 6 weeks here because of how much I am enjoying the area. This morning I woke up and as I was putting on my badge I realized that I only have 3 more weeks as a missionary. I was devastated. I will be fine, but I've never had to deal with anything so emotionally challenging! haha I'm pathetic I know.  

One of the highlights this week was teaching all of the people from the born-again church that we attended last week. None of them will even open the book of mormon, but besides that they are great, and I hope that we will develop a relationship that will last beyond the mission. 

I got to go to the mission office this week for a district leader training meeting, where I got to see some of my good mission friends... some of them for the last time ever as they live in various parts of Europe and the U.S. It was especially good to see Elder Costigan- he's serving as a district leader in Coventry and is experiencing very similar things to me as I served there. He loves it! 

  

tomorrow is Zone Conference, and I've been asked to give my departing testimony! I never thought that day would come, but it will be great! 

This week I will focus on focusing! haha I need to completely forget that there is a time limit and just smell the roses and soak in all I can. I love you all so much! thanks for being such an excellent support for me. Keep me and Elder Magda, as well as our investigators in your prayers. Love you!

Elder Harris. 

Feb 9, 2015

Good morning family!

It has been a solid week! 

On monday we were able to add another chinese investigator to our teaching pool. He's way cool, his name is Johnny, he loves snowboarding, and we talked about snowboarding for ages and were able to connect on that level.  During P-day, we were just walking to the shops and we felt prompted to stop a guy, the only guy we stopped during p-day. His name is Martin. He's been in Swansea only about 2 months. He prayed before he left his house that god would give him direction in his next step in life, and he ran into us 30 minutes later. He came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it! we're hoping that he is someone that we can help be baptized during the course of this transfer. I know that god knows exactly where his children are that are seeking for the truth. As President Rasmussen once explained to us, when the university in Loughborough closed down for proselyting and we had no idea what to do he said, "If  Jesus asked the apostles to cast their nets and they were filled with fish, won't he make it possible for you to cast your nets on a different side of the boat?" 

On Tuesday we had a feast at a less-active's house, his name is Helder. He's from Portugal. He game to church this week, and gave our investigator a lift! he is becoming really excited about the gospel, and I think he will be back in full activity in no time. 

The hills of Swansea are killing me! from being in a car for a year straight, to biking up these crazy hills is quite the dramatic change! ha I am definitely struggling sometimes, but at the same time it's helping me to get into good shape so that's good. I always heard the missionaries talk about the infamous "hills of wales" and I always thought they were over-exaggerating big time. They weren't. It takes us about 30 minutes to bike to church and about 7 minutes to get back haha. 

I am getting used to being a district leader. I really like it! I really wish I had the opportunity to serve as a district leader earlier on my mission, because of how closely we're able to work with the missionaries. I think it's the most important leadership responsibility in the mission. If all of the district leaders were extremely sharp, there would be no need for the other callings except for the administration. 

We went to an appointment with our investigator, Jean, and she asked if we could meet her at a community center. We met here there, and it was actually a born-again christian church service. They were simultaneously yelling prayers, speaking in tongues, and doing other things that I'd never previously been a part of, and it freaked me out. There was definitely a spirit that it brought, but not THE spirit.  I did love when they broke into singing though. that was good. 

This week we are going to find and find and find. I love finding in city center's! we have found that in the afternoon's the students are in the city-center, so every day from 2-5 we will be contacting. I can't wait! This week will be the last week that we can find people that can be baptized during this transfer, so it's going to be absolutely crucial! please pray for our success that we will find someone who can be baptized on the 7th of March! 

I love you so much! I love this work. I love Swansea! I love Elder Magda! I love Jesus Christ. 

Take care!

Elder Sam Harris

Feb 2, 2015

Family!!

As I'm sure dad has told you, I'm finally in Wales! I'm serving in Swansea in South Wales. It's on the beach, it's absolutely beautiful! it's also freezing cold, but that's not too much of a difference :) I forgot how much I love the ocean. I could just sit and watch the ocean for hours and hours and never get tired of it! Every single day since I've been here it has rained, hailed, and snowed, and been perfectly clear sky's. I've never had more bi-polar weather! it makes for interesting days though so it's all good. 

Dealing with transfers for the last time was bittersweet. One of my favorite things as a missionary has been working with President Rasmussen and especially when it comes time for transfers. I will forever be in debt to President and Sister Rasmussen by teaching me so much from their example in their selfless service. They work so hard, hardly get any sleep, deal with loads of complaining missionaries, and they never take a second to have a pity party, or to complain about their efforts. 

My companion is Elder Magda. He is awesome! He is from Hungary, he's been out for about a year, and he's ready to work! we've already seem some great miracles since we've been here. 

One of my favorite things about the area has been the fact that we are once again working with Chinese investigators. That is something that I have always loved and I forgot how much I really love them. We were able to pick up 2 new chinese investigators since I've been here on Thursday and I think that they will be really solid! Another investigator that we are working with is named Stephen. Stephen has severe social disabilities, but he is incredibly intelligent. He reads everything that we give him, and he asks questions that people would only ask if they were sincerely pondering about the gospel.  He texted us on Friday saying that he didn't want anything to do with the church anymore, because there were too many commandments. We asked if we could visit him just one more time that night. He agreed, so we did. We had a powerful lesson with him where we resolved his concerns, spent 90% of the time just listening to what he was saying, and more importantly what he was feeling. By the end we were inspired to share various principles that really helped him, and he came to church yesterday. Hopefully we will be able to put him on a baptismal date this week as he's been hesitant since this week.  Please keep Stephen in your prayers! 

On Friday evening we also had a ward activity, it was great to meet the new ward. Unfortunately it's really sad that I'll only be in Swansea for 6 weeks total, because it's an area with good members, good proselyting, good chapel location, etc. It's hard to be motivated to work with the members closely when I know that working with members doesn't produce instant results in less than 6 weeks, but I know that it's the right thing, so we will have to find a good balance.  

I'm sincerely getting anxious about coming home. I'm trying hard not to think about it, but it freaks me out to think that I won't be a missionary! I forgot how to be normal. I think I will be fine once I start playing golf, but other than that I'm going to be a lot of help. I will try my best to focus on the work for these last 5 weeks and leave it all on the field. 

I love and miss you all so much! I am grateful for an incredible family who has supported me all of this time, and that will continue to support me in my last transfer. I'll be excited to tell you about more new investigators next week. We are going to be finding our butts off. love you! have a great week :) 

Elder Harris.