First Transfer Gone?

It's hard to believe that this transfer is almost gone but six weeks have come and gone and here we are on the verge of Super Week. I won't be getting another P-day for like a week and a half, on April 1st. I'll let you know if I'm getting transfered. We'll see I guess.

Right now we've hit a major road block with our investigators. Of the two that we still have (if you remember a lot of them dropped us). We had to cancel their baptism dates. Satan has been working hard and one of them fell off the map for a week and a half and the other is struggling to overcome an addiction to cigaretes.

The wards are getting along really well though. We just got a new Ward mission leader in one and he is way awesome ( he has MS too!) and the other ward is hammering out all the kinks in the ward mission plan. All in all the work on the ward level is moving forward.

I got to go on exchanges with both my District Leader and my Zone Leader. I was terrified because they both came into my area and I was supposed to be calling all the shots. Kind of stressful but it all worked out in the end and those days were both pretty good.

Hope everything is going well for you back home and wish you all the best in all your endevors.

Elder Harris

March 17, 2009 - St. Patrick's Day

(Andy's letter was a day late because the local college library was closed because of spring break)


Hey everybody, thank you everyone for the letters that I’ve been getting. I really appreciate them. I’ll try to get back to everyone but, I’ve lost some addresses and I don’t have alot of time to write on P-day, but I’ll eventually get back to you all...I promise.
This last week was alot of fun.
I jammed the heck out of my thumb while playing basketball. One of the APs spiked the ball(and my thumb) when I was going up for a rebound. I have pictures but I left my camera at home, I’ll send ‘em later.
My District leader went on exchanges with Elder Burt this last week and so I went into his area with his companion Elder Bliss, Elder Bliss came out the same time that I did and so it was an ultimate Greenie exchange. We had alot of fun and got a lot accomplished, we even set a baptism date with a girl who has been an investigator for a year or so.
We had a super lesson at a member’s house on Friday. It was a lesson with about 12 youth, two of whom aren’t members. It was a really good lesson and we are hoping that the youth will continue to investigate.
As of right now Elder Burt and I only have two investigators and both have baptism dates.
Norm is wanting to push his back and he’s been avoiding us lately. Alot has been put on his plate and satan is working hard on him. It’s frustrating because Elder Burt and I can’t help because we can't get a hold of him.
Kathleen is solid. She is giving up both smoking and coffee and is feeling really good about baptism. Her date is set for the week before conference. Seeing the change in her from the first time I met her has been amazing. She is so much happier and is loving the gospel.
Not much else to report
The Church is True
Joseph Smith is a Prophet
The Book of Mormon is the word of God
And Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the World

Love you all
keep in touch

Elder Harris

What a week.

Sent: Mon 3/09/09 2:49 PM

Hey everyone, this week has been mega crazy. We lost all but two of our investigators and now are on a huge finding frenzy.

This week Elder Burt and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning on Thursday so we could go and speak at a morning side at the local seminary. We spoke about the events leading up to our missions and what they could do to prepare for their missions in the future.

We also ran into an existentialist while tracting. He opened the door and was real excited to see us. We thought he had some sort of vision and would want to be baptized right away. Then he said "I've been preparing to talk to you guys for a long time." the conversation was kind of funny, most of it went right over Elder Burt's head, but funny enough, he almost got the guy to commit to praying.

I met a poor wayfaring man of grief this week as well. We had just been dropped and were heading back to our car to go and see another investigator when a man flagged us down. He asked us if we would pray for him to get home safely. He was heading way out of town and had been away from his family for a couple of months. He told us that he was a short a bus fare so I opened my wallet to see what I could give. I had exactly the amount he needed. At that moment a story popped into my head that Gary Wilde (a member of our ward) had once told me, about when he was working on a temple and a man asked him for money. Ask him to tell you the story, it's pretty kool. Anyways I gave him the money he needed, we prayed and parted ways.

Love you all tons, can't wait to hear from you next week.

Elder Harris

PS: How did the state basketball tournament go?

Under the Tucson Sun - March 2, 2009

Allright, So Elder Burt is from Idaho Falls, Idaho and has been
out for about 6 months. Like I said earlier he reminds me of
Doug and he's been a lot of fun.

It's been in the 90's all this week. In the mission we have two
seasons. Suit season and then summer season. The divider is
general conference. Since it's still suit season, we have to wear
our suits unless it's over 75 outside, except after 5 o'clock, and
on Sundays. Elder Burt complains alot coming from Idaho, this
is unbearable. Right now it feels alot like summer even though
it's only just past February.

We cover the Coronado and Casas Adobes wards. We are up in
the north western part of Tucson.

As for investigators we have 8 right now. Norm is an older
gentleman who is very religious and loves the church. He has
two sons, twins that are 9 and they love primary. Kathleen is
an older woman who left the Catholic church in the 70's. She
said that when she left she felt a weight lifted of of her shoulders
and that you shouldn't feel that way when you leave a church.
She loves the meetings and the spirit felt there. Both Norm and
Kathleen want to study the gospel more before making any
decisions about baptism, but both have baptismal dates set in
late March and are working towards that. We're teaching a
Marshalese family. Lee, Molly, and Maria. Lee and Maria are
married, and Molly is Maria's sister. They had a baptism date
but because they haven't been to church they lost it (you need
to attend sacrament meeting 3 times before you can be baptized.)
And then we have Herbert. He's originally from El Salvador and
is awesome. We haven't been able to have a formal sit down lesson
with him yet because of his work schedule but we're hopefully
going to set something up. Carl is investigating the church because
his fiance' is a member and likes everything but had a few concerns
that we're trying to work with. Finally we're working with a man
named Walter and he also has some concerns that we're trying to
get over. I'm really not supposed to go into details about our
investigators or their problems, sorry. Now on to some stories.

This one is for Viv and Jake. I walked up an escalator that was
temporarily stairs the other day.

Enos and Sam will like this one. I met a Druid while tracting the
other day. This guy was found by another druid on his deathbed.
He gave him a journal written in a druidic language and he
translated it and it gave him instruction on how to be a warrior
for Gaia. He is a protector and it is his job to end conflict, but only
that which he encounters, he doesn't actually seek it out. He told
us that there are only 13 of them in the world because whenever
there are more than that they get wiped out back down to 13. He
also said that Merlins staff that was just found was actually a druid
staff. His Girlfriend was also training to be Wicka. It was an
awesome contact. My favorite part was when he told us that he
still had 90 years left to live while smoking a cigarette.

While tracting at night in a less than friendly part of town, a car
stopped by us. The guy opened his door and yelled "Jesus Loves You!"
Oh and I got my first door shut in my face. Other than that it's
been a pretty normal week. The members here are awesome
and the food is great. Finally, someone get a hold of Melanie and
tell her to write me. She promised me frequent contact and I haven't
heard from her at all. Also, I need Todd's mailing address. And someone
get David to write me and tell me about the Conflux release. Also,
someone give Tami a Book of Mormon and tell her to read Mosiah 13:2-3.

Love you all. Talk to you next week.