May 5, 2014

Oh my gosh we've MAY'd it! heheh This week was great! our zone is doing excellent and it is fun to be a missionary in Leicester right now!  I am really getting used to Loughborough as I think I have said last week, the ward, the people, my companion, my district, and my zone, they are all great!  

Last P-day we just played volleyball with the sisters in  Loughborough, and then we were able to teach Virginia and Jill!

Elder Costigan and I have been trying something new with our university student investigators, when we first GQ them, we let them know that our lesson will only be 10 minutes, and then when we meet with them we stick to our ward, share the restoration or plan of salvation or whatever we feel prompted to, in less than 10 minutes! many of our investigators have wanted to have return appointments because they know it's not taking a lot out of their busy schedules and it's finals right now!  

On Wednesday morning I was having a really good personal study and feeling the spirit really strong, I felt prompted to study patterns. God works in patterns in our lives, and he wants us to be able to pay attention to what has been effective for each of us in our lives and to continuous evaluate and improve our efforts in whatever we choose to be important in our individual lives.  I was looking at the people that I have been able to teach and baptize and I realized that these were all people that were way more an actual friend than an investigator-missionary relationship.  Love breeds conversion!  obvious statement but it hit me over the head and I felt silly for not thinking about this earlier on.  We prayed loads about what we needed to start doing in companionship study to bring more people into the gospel, and we thought that we should try visiting loads of less actives!  We spent probably 15 or so hours visiting less actives this week, and only got in with 2 of them.. but we saw SO many miracles on the way!! 

On the way to a less active, we have found some incredible people, and have gotten to meet a really cool part-member family that we are going to start working with. If we can't retain the people that are already in the church, why would Heavenly Father give us more people?? 

We committed 5 people to come to church, and the morning of, we received 5 text messages of why they couldn't come any more, and we were a little bit discouraged, we prayed that we would be able to see a miracle and have someone show up to church. 10 minutes before the meeting started we got a phone call from our chinese recent convert, hannah. She was so exited to tell us that she was bringing a friend to church and that we needed to fellowship her! her friends name is legitimately meow-meow. chinese people rock! haha she is really great and we will now be teaching her! 

Jill is really progressing!! she is so exited for her baptism on saturday and in her own words, "nothing is going to stop me from being baptized. If I have to wait in the font until someone comes in to baptize me for a couple of weeks I'll do it!" she is incredible and we are so blessed to be able to teach her. it's about time is all I can say though haha. 

So.. Sister Kear in Loughborough ward said she'll be swimming in our pool sometime in June?? tell me more about that! I told them that mom would be able to give their daughter a great deal on real estate, so mom, hook it up for some people that are taking great care of me on my mission! they are 2 incredible people, with the most adorable grandchildren in the world! I'm exited for you to meet them. I could see dad and brother kear becoming great friends!  

I Will be skyping on Sunday at around 4 o clock! so... 9 o clock your time?? I am looking forward to seeing you all! I can't believe it's been a year since I have skyped you on last mothers day. absolutely mad.  

Well, I sure love you all so much! I'm so grateful for this experience of coming on a mission and the difference that it has made in my life and the lives of others, I cannot say thank you enough mom and dad for letting me come out here and share The saviors gospel!! 

Talk to you soon! :) 

Elder Sam Harris. 

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! 

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