Hey guys‏

Hey everybody. Sorry for the short letter last week. The guy next to me was looking at some inappropriate stuff and I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could.

Unfortunately this is also going to be a short letter. We went out to White Sands National Monument today for P-day (I'll send you pictures next week) and we're running short on time.

Love you all lots.

Miracles are happening here in Las Cruces

Love you lots

Elder Andrew Harris

Making alot of phone calls-District Leader

So late Monday we got a call from President Walker. Elder Vermillion and I are both staying in Las Cruces but he wants me to be the District Leader here. That means I'm in charge of 5 other missionaries all of them at least 5 months older than I am.

I make calls every night and report to the Zone Leaders on the progress of all the missionaries. Tomorrow will be my first time doing a training so we'll see how that goes, not much to report other than that, I attached some pictures too of the area here in Las Cruces.
Jesus is Lord basketball court

Freaky bilboard

Elder Vermillion

Harris Street

Love you all ~Elder Harris

Another transfer has flown by

Well it's been six weeks already and transfer calls are tonight. I'll let you know next monday if I'm still here in Las Cruces or if I'm off saving the world somewhere else.

Nothing too exciting happened this week.

We had one of our investigators tell us that he didn't want to stand spotless before God. We went tracting with a stray German Shepard, and we went for a return appointment with an investigator and he had moved out the night before.

Other than that a pretty normal week.

See ya next week

Elder Harris

Hey everybody!

Hey guys. another week went by here in Las Cruces. We had our zone training this week. In our mission we've started setting baptism dates on the first lesson. A mission in Ohio or somewhere started doing it and doubled almost tripled their baptisms! It's going to separate the wheat from the tares and help people progress. There have been some great experiences around the mission so far and we're hoping to see some great things happen here as well. Tell Nate to get ready because they'll probably be doing it in his mission as well.

Zone training is also when we hear the departing testimonies of all the missionaries. One of the Assistants and one of our zone leaders is going home this transfer. It's sad to see them leave because they're great missionaries. It's also crazy to think that I've been out here for 6 months already. Time is flying by and i have a feeling that Feb. 2011 is going to come faster than i want.

Things in the area are moving kind of slowly right now. We' haven't really been able to set a date on the first lesson like we've been trained. The only new investigators we've found since zone training said no to setting a date but we're glad that they are still excited to be moving forward.

Israel, one of the new investigators said that he felt like he was on the right path when he prayed. We're excited to find more people to teach and to set more dates to see more people baptized.

Hope you all are enjoying your summer, it's definetly summer here! Talk to you all later.

Elder Andrew Harris

Red or Green?

Thats the big question down here in Las Cruces, and brownie points for whoever knows why.

Well we had pretty fun week. We started teaching a man named Todd Horton. He ordered a Book of Mormon and when the MTC called to confirm that he got it he requested missionaries to come over. When Elder Vermillion and Elder Peebly went over there (I was in a different area on an exchange) he told them that he was friends with some members and that he had read about half of the Book of Mormon already and was watching BYU TV! They set up a time for us to start teaching him.

We started talking to his member friends and apparently he is an assistant pastor at another church. We were kind of nervous to start teaching him but when we started talking to him he mentioned that he was searching for truth. He accepted all the commitments we left him (read, pray...) and the soft commit! We're excited to keep teaching him.

Thats really all thats going on down here. Love ya all

Elder Andrew Harris

PS i can't believe it's almost been 6 months. This is going way to fast.

A Crazy Sunday‏

So yesterday was quite the Sunday. Having three wards back to back to back is insane. The first one started at 8:00 in the morning and we didn't get home until about 3:30 in the afternoon. Plus we didn't really have a PEC's to go to so we'll probably end up getting to church around 7:00 or earlier. I love church but I like to sleep too. The maddness didn't end there either.

We've been teaching a woman named Valie this last week. She committed to baptism and she came to church on yesterday. She's older and in a wheelchair but luckily one of the members has a van that accomodates her wheelchair. The down side was she didn't tell any of her children where she was going so when they came over to visit her and she was gone, they called the cops to help look for her. Everything worked out and the children were more concerned than anything but it was still kind of crazy.

We've been trying to decide how accountable she really is. She seems to understand what we teach her and she comprehends the scriptures but how much she retains and whether or not she really understands is a different question.

We've also been teaching a man named Manny. He was in a car accident and is also in a wheelchair. He also suffered some brain damage. Manny is amazing and has also accepted a date to be baptized. We're kind of in the same boat with him as we are with Valie, not sure how much he is comprehending but we're still pressing forward with him. When we stopped by yesterday to see him we were talking to him about reading the scriptures, he turned to his son JR and asked him, "Hey JR, do you know where you came from?" He answered no and Manny began to teach him about how he lived with Heavenly Father. It was so awesome. Then after that his ex-wife (don't ask) came out and started cussing us out and told us to vacate the premises in more or less words.

To end the night we went to contact a potential investigator to find out she doesn't live there anymore. Jesse, a man that was currently living there, had gotten one of the pass-a-long cards we left and wanted a Book of Mormon. We were way excited and when he came out he preached to us, in a non-confrontational way, for about 40 min and we had to practically walk away from him to leave. We got home just in time to make the second curfew (9:30).

...I love the sabbath!

Hope you all are doing well.

Elder Andrew Harris

P.S. if you were wondering about Curt... so am I. I let you know when I know

Another week gone by

What a week it's been. When I came into this area we had maybe a handful of investigators, but the Lord has really been blessing us and this last week we've found 6 new investigators.

We also just had the two wards that we cover, split into three wards. It's been a lot of fun serving here the past 2 weeks and I'm loving it here in Las Cruces.

Attached is a picture of my bike. I've been trying to think of a name for it so i'm going to let you all decide. If you have any suggestions post them on the blog and then Mom and Dad will send them to me.

Well hope everyone is enjoying your summer. Happy Birthday to Mom, Xavier and Xander!

Love you all.

Elder Andrew Harris