Another week come and gone!

This last week went by super fast!

Gary and Jessy are still doing really well. It's so good to see them progressing as well as they are! They are going to be baptized this Saturday at 5:00 pm, I'm super excited!

Last night we were able to have another lesson with the Jurados. Lexi is making baby steps towards baptism. She is still very resistant. Mostly because of her mom and sister. She wants to be her own person and she doesn't want to be like them. She's getting there. The spirit is slowly breaking through to her heart. I just hope it will be within the time that I'm still here.

We've run into a lot of potentials this week and hopefully next week's letter will have more awesome stories in it.

Today though we went to a place called Red Knolls. It's a really fun place with lots of caves and such to explore around. We had alot of fun. In one of the caves, there were some bats, with a lot of bat poop all over the ground. It was pretty gross. The Gila valley is so much fun.

There is so much to do and so many people who are ready for the gospel! But the best part is the temple. On the way back we stopped at the temple and we took some pictures. They are almost done with the construction and they are to the point of furnishing it. The spirit is so strong there. I miss the temple so much. I'm so excited for it to be finished!

Well I love you all super duper mucho!

Elder Harris

More and more changes

With transfers this last week we saw a change. I'm still in Safford but suprisingly Elder CLark has left us :(. It was way hard to see him go. He has been my favorite companion so far. I'm going to miss him. He was called to open a new area though. Sells, Arizona. I told you about it probably the first week of my mission. It was a big rumor of who would open up Sells. Sells is an indian reservation with only one active member who drives 45 min to Tucson to go to church every week. Elder Clark is a great missionary and he'll do great things in Sells.

My new companion? Elder Palmer! I'm training again! He's fresh from the MTC. He reminds me a lot of Isaac Smith. Really quiet and pretty shy. The apartment is super quiet compared to when Elder Clark and I were there. He's opening up little by little. We'll see how this transfer goes.

Kiana did get baptized on Saturday! She was pretty heart broken when Elder Clark had to leave. She was set on him baptizing her but she said it would be allright if I baptized her. The baptism was way powerful. She plugs her nose really wierd with her elbow sticking out funny so I had to hold her under a little longer so that she went all the way under. She accused me of trying to drown her. It was pretty funny. After ward, she bore her testimony about how she was glad that she did even though most of her family was against it. Her sister Lexi didn't even come. The mom, Lorie is kind of a pain sometimes and when Lexi is pushed she pushes back. Especially against her mom. I'm afraid that we've lost some ground with her but we're not giving up.

The Herrins are still doing awesome and we're excited for their baptism coming up. They both passed their interviews and we're looking forward to their baptisms.

Hope everybody is doing well.

Love you all!

Bro Cox (Ward mission leader) in a rocking chair made out of a wheel they keep telephone wire on.

Me making a chocolate pie at a members house!

Another transfer come and gone :(

Tonight are the dreaded transfer calls. We'll see what happens.

This last week was a really exciting one though.

Gary and Jesse are still progressing really well and are excited for their baptism on the 20th. We talked to them about moving it up but they had already planned a whole bunch of stuff around it so we're sticking with the 20th. It's going to be hard coming up with things to teach them here pretty soon.

Kiana passed her baptism interview and is all set for Saturday. She'll be baptized at 10:00am. Her sister Lexi is still being a little booger though. On Wednesday we had a really good lesson with just her because Kiana had gone to mutual. She opened up to us a little bit more and we were able to commit to praying about baptism. She said that she prayed for 30 min and nothing. I think she was expecting a Joseph Smith experience and missed the small impressions of the spirit. We had a lesson about the spirit and she understands and recognizes the spirit now but she still is stuck on wanting to be Catholic. It's very frustrating! We keep on praying for her so we'll see what happens.

My Testimony this week was also strengthened in the fact that the Lord puts us in the best place for us to succeed. We met someone this week named Steve. He called us over and he talked to us for a while. You could tell he had fried his brains with drugs and was a little drunk but he agreed to listen to us and our message. The next night we took Brother Villa with us, a recent convert who lived right down the street from him. Bro. Villas past is almost identical to Steve's, drugs and gangs and all. He bore a powerful testimony about how God helped him out and he was forgiven and so could he (Steve). I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of all of his children and provided for Steve so that he could come into the gospel. Steve can't get baptized right now because of probation and because of his past he's going to need some clearance from some pretty high up people before he can get baptized. I'll never see it happen but I hope and pray that it will.

That pretty much covers last week. We just got done coming back from Rock Hound Park again, this time with the whole district plus the zone leaders. It was a lot of fun and tonight Elder Clark and I are teaching the lesson at FHE over at our Stake President's house. He invites all the investigators in the stake to his house the first monday of every month. It's so awesome!

Hope you all are having a great week

Love you all!

Elder Harris

Another Crazy Week‏

Things are still going great with the Herrins. Bro Herrin cancelled an extra shift he picked up after we taught him Keep the Sabbath Day Holy which was awesome! He and Jesse are still excited to be baptized.

Lexi is still not wanting anything to do with the church which stinks but what makes it worse, shes now telling Kiana not to be baptized. Kiana is also getting alot of smack from some of her Catholic friends about how they don't want her to be baptized. It's so sad to see the prejudice that has been passed on through generations. At only 13 and 14 and people are already hell-bent against the church and are trying to convince Kiana not to be baptized.

The only other thing to report is that my bike got stolen. Elder Clark and I had to leave our bikes out side and normally we take to seats off to prevent people from stealing them. The one time we don't, someone comes and steals my bike. I have no idea why my bike. Elder Clark's is much newer but for some reason they took mine. It'll be ok though. Here in Thatcher there is a shed full of bikes that missionaries have left. I'm just going to pick up one of them.


Love you all hope all is well!

fun stuff‏

This last week we had a couple of really funny experiences too.

They finally decided to give us a car. unfortunately it's in pretty bad shape. A lot of missionaries don't take too good of the mission cars. Bro Taylor in 2nd ward tried to help me fix it but no dice. :( but that's OK because The Elders in the area next to ours lost their driving privilege so we ended up getting their truck. We have it until Elder Ricks gets his license all worked out or until new missionaries come in. I like having a truck. We don't really need it but that's OK, it's still nice having it. I feel bad for Elder Ricks and Elder Christensen though because their area is huge and mostly dirt roads out in the middle of no where. Not very accessible on bikes.

Elder Clark and I were trying to visit a part member. We knocked on the door and from inside we heard him yell "come in!" The screen door was locked and so we yelled back in. After a couple of exchanges through the door he came and opened the door. He looked at us and said "Oh, I don't want YOU to come in" My companion looked back at him and said "Well good thing the door is locked then isn't it?" He slammed the door and we went off chuckling. One of those moments where you don't mean to say what you're thinking but it turns out really funny.

Also, at a dinner appointment, in the front room was the coolest things ever. This lady had taken and old bath tub and turned it into a bed (see picture) it was so comfy I don't know if you have any old bath tubs lying around to make one, cause if so, you need to do it!

Then for dinner one night we had a shepards pie. It was so good. Instead of mashed potatoes though, they used tater tots. It was heavenly.

Anyways, love you guys~

Elder Harris

Pics from Mount Graham

Butter my butt and call me a biscuit, look what happened!‏

We worship a God of Miracles!

This last week Elder Clark and I were abundantly blessed. We found so many investigators and many of them are truly prepared for the gospel. The first is a family that has been coming to church since August. Lorie (mom) was baptized a long time ago and recently decided to come back to church. She has been bringing her two daughters with her, Lexi (15) and Kiana (14). A neighbor finally asked them if they were ready for the lessons and Lorie said yes. We went over on Friday and were able to teach Lexi and Kiana. Kiana(Key-ah-na) has a date for March 6th. Lexi is being a little more difficult. She is definitely more in tune with the spirit than Kiana but, she doesn't want to be baptized. Her dad, who died about 5 years ago was Catholic and so she is bound and determined to stay Catholic. When we went over to teach the first lesson her mom called her down and after making a scene and leaving, she came back, and left, and came back. Her mom told her to stay or leave and she decided to stay. During the lesson she was involved and her boyfriend even called twice but instead of taking it she stayed and listened. I asked her to pray and ask God if she should be baptized. She said that if God told her she would do it. I asked her again last night if she prayed and she said no. I asked her why not, she said because she didn't want to be baptized. The spirit is working on her though and soon enough she will be baptized also.

On Sunday Elder Clark and I decided to fast an extra fast for the new investigators we were finding and also to continue to help us find more. After church we got a call from Sister Herrin, a part member, letting us know that her step-son wanted to get baptized! We went over to teach Jesse and committed him for baptism on the 20th of March. We had tried to teach his father Gary but he had been resistant. I asked him again about baptism but he said no. We went over last night and with his son's good example he wants to be baptized with him! It was such exciting news. He was asking us about the temple and when he could go to that and be apart of that. We have 2 more dates right now also.

James is a kid we met on the side of the road. We taught him and committed him for baptism there on his porch. We haven't seen him since but we're not giving up on him.

The last investigator's name is Andy.... yeah weird... He lives with a member and is going through a divorce right now. His friend called us and wanted us to come over and teach him. Andy grew up going to seminary and stuff but the time never presented itself for him to be baptized. Now the time is right and he is preparing for the 13th of March!

We found a few more that didn't accept dates but we're gonna keep on working with them. It was an incredible week.

To finish it off, yesterday we went up to Mount Graham (about 9000 elevation) and played in the snow. It was so nice. Snow up to your knees but warm enough out for shorts and t-shirts. After playing in the snow Elder Clark and I took our shoes and socks off (because they were soaked) and it wasn't even cold on our feet. It was awesome. Elder Torres is from the Philippines and has never seen snow before. We built a snow man which I then tackled. It was a lot of fun.

Love you all~

Elder Harris