The Baptism on Saturday was Awesome

The baptism on Saturday was awesome, but at first we were sweating a little though. Because they are re-tiling the North Stake Center font we had to do it at the Tucson Stake Center. Because of that, our baptismal candidate didn't show up until half and hour late and the person baptizing her, Bro Andrews (who doesn't have a cell phone), didn't show up at all. Even though I know we told both of them to make sure they went to the Tucson Stake center and not our normal ward chapel. Because Bro. Andrews never showed Elder Wallis had to fill in. Thankfully there was an extra towel in the bathroom but he was a little wet going home because he didn't have an extra change of garments. Bishop Stewart was convinced that I made Elder Wallis baptize for that reason. He's been bugging me everytime I see him since then and I don't think he's going to drop it anytime soon. I really just wanted Elder Wallis to have the opportunity to baptize her. My intentions were benign I swear.

One of our investigators, Kathy was able to attend with a mutual friend of both her and Gail's named Joyce. Elder Wallis made an interesting observation last night. Apparently when he and Elder Elton started teaching Kathy, Joyce would constantly tell her not to talk to us because we were from the devil, but over time she's mellowed out and realizes that we're not too bad. Which is good because when she found out that Gail was going to get baptized she tried to convince her not to. But Gail was able to tell her that it was what she really wanted and so Joyce gave her blessing. She seemed really skeptical at the baptism but after Elder Wallis and my talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost, completely centered on Christ, plus the spirit that was there seemed to soften her. Kathy will be baptized soon and then it's a matter of time before Joyce is also baptized. I know it!

The temple trip this last week was also pretty awesome. I'm excited for you to see the Gila Valley Temple. It really is awesome. Tiny though, not much bigger than a stake center but still gorgeous inside.

Other fun stuff that is coming up here: President Walker invites all the missionaries in Tucson to his house on Christmas for a party so that should be cool. I didn't know that he did that because I was in Safford last Christmas. Also the North Stake is doing a presentation of "The Messiah". I heard them practicing last night and it was awesome. They have a 30 piece choir and 20 piece orchestra. It's a community thing and all the missionaries are going to be ushers and hopefully we'll find some investigators through it!

Other than that, not much else is going on.

Love you guys

Elder Harris

Temple Day

Wow what a day. Elder Wallis and I just got back into Tucson. We left this morning at 6:30 drove 2 hours, to go to the Gila Valley, went through a session, visited a couple of the missionaries there, and then drove the 2 hours back.... ugh I'm tired. The session was awesome. I was able to invite Terrell Taylor and it was good to see him again. He's excited about us visiting in February.

This last week ended up being really awesome. I don't know if I told you about Gary and his wife Jane, but my first or second day we met Gary on a bus stop and he invited us over. This last week we finally got a chance to teach them and Gary is really excited about getting baptized. His wife just got out of neck surgery and she's still confused as to why she needs to be baptized again. We're going over again tomorrow night to hopefully help them to understand. It should be good.

Then there is the Zarrow family: Roy and Erika (dad and mom), Jenny (20), Willie(18), Charles(17), and Uma(14). They'rea are such a great family. I haven't gotten to know them too much because every time we have a lesson set up with them I seem to be on exchanges. The Zarrows have been coming to church for about a year now and for the most part are ready to be baptized but for some unknown reason Bro. Zarrow isn't "ready" and so the family won't move forward without him. Willie is probably the most ready. He's really excited to serve a mission and has already finished the Book of Mormon once and he always speeds through his dinner so he can read to the rest of the family while they finish dinner! On Sunday night we had the great opportunity to teach the family with President and Sister Walker accompanying us. It was so sweet! We talked about eternal families and the restoration to accomplish the fact. The spirit was so strong, probably one of the best on my mission. After we left Sister Walker suggested a special fast for the Zarrows and so the 4 of us have been fasting for them. After we got out of the temple, Sister Zarrow called us and talked to us about how Roy might be ready to accept a baptismal date! We're seeing them tonight and we couldn't be more excited! God is so cool.

Finally, Gail is getting baptized on Saturday and everything is all set for that! Things are going so nice!

Hope everyones Christmas season is as good as mine!

Love you all

Elder Harris

BRRRRRRR. the cold is not very fun - Just Wait Andy

Thanks again for the package that you sent me. I went out and bought the stuff for chip dip and it's been like home munching on it. This year for Thanksgiving it was kind of wierd. We really didn't have any legitimate invites for Thanksgiving, just a bunch of people who said that if we didn't have anywhere to go we could go to their place. Kind of awkward. We ended up eating with the Sinema family. It was pretty nice but mostly we sat around all day and relaxed. It's been freezing lately though. Temps get down in the 40's at night and I've had to break out my sweater again. BRRRRRRR. the cold is not very fun.

Our investigators are doing really well. Gail is all set to be interviewed on Tuesday. When we taught her all the commandments this week she was all fine with everything. When we taught the Word of Wisdom she told us, "well whenever I buy coffee anyway, it takes so long for me to drink it that it turns into a rock anyways. I haven't had coffee in a month or more so that shouldn't be a problem." She really does have a lot of faith and it's great to see her accept the gospel.

Kathy is still dragging her heels. It kind of frustrating... :( it makes me sad.

We found a few new investigators this week too but we really weren't able to teach them much. We'll be seeing them here soon and so hopefully they'll start progressing soon.

Other fun news, Elder Wallis and I are going to the temple on the 7th so next week I won't be writting on the 6th. When we go to the temple, we have to move our P-day to whatever day we're going. So I'll talk to you all next Tuesday!

Love ya

Elder Harris

Thanksgiving Week

So these last few weeks it's started to cool down here in Tucson. It's usually in the 40's in the morning and evening and gets up into the 70's during the day. My companion has been making fun of me because I'm so cold in the morning/evening. I'm going to freeze when I get home.

This last week was kind of a fun, one of our investigators, Gail, accepted a baptismal date for December 11th! She's doing really well, she came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it. Also one of our other investigators, Kathy, who has been investigating for 3 months is starting to make some progress. She likes a lot of the doctrine of the church but still isn't sure if it is the ONLY true church. Mostly I think she just doesn't want to give up her coffee. We had a great lesson with her and her fellowshipper and during the lesson I had a thought. I looked at Kathy and in a serious but loving way I quoted John 7:17 and told her that she could NEVER find out if this is the truth unless she tried living the word of wisdom. I bore testimony and promised her that if she lived it she would get her answer. Her response was "Damn Good Argument." It was so hard not to smile. I was trying to be all epic and she had to make me laugh just like Kathy always does. Anyways, she hasn't smoked for a few days and we think she's giving up the coffee too. I love teaching Kathy. She's so much fun. I know she knows it's true but for what ever reason she wants more. She's getting close though. Elder Wallis is especially excited. He's been teaching her for the past 3 months and she was one of the first investigators that he found on his mission. I hope she gets baptized before he has to leave. Anyways Life is good.

Hope you all have a great thanksgiving!

Love ya!

Elder Harris

It's fun being back‏

It's good being back here in Casas Adobes again. The area is a little different because they added another block when they redid boundries and a lot of people have come in and a lot have left, but there are a lot of old faces that are good to see again. It's sad that they split the area though, Bro Nicodemus, the WML from Coronado ward, saw me riding around the other day, and chased me down to talk for a second, then last night at a fireside I saw a few families from Coronado that were excited to see me again but sad that I wasn't in their ward too. I'll at least see them on Sundays at church, so thats pretty kool.

The fireside last night was great. It was put on by a sister and I forget her name but she was the first of Joseph and Emma's direct descendents to join the church. She told of her experience and her and her husbands "mission" to reach out to the whole Smith line and try to bring them into the church. It really wasa great fireside. If you ever hear of it in Utah I would definitly suggest you go to it. Yesterday was also exciting because it was a regional stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake for all of Arizona. The talks were really good. Bishop Burton spoke on Gratitude, Sister Thompson spoke about the Book of Mormon, Elder Cook spoke on finding strength in the storms of life and President Monson spoke on Rescuing those who have wandered. It was a great conference.

The work in the ward is going pretty good right now. We're working with quite a few people who think they believe that the church is true but for various reasons they haven't joined the church. One is a family of 7 who have been coming for a long time. The mom and two of the kids know for sure that it's true 3 more of the kids are pretty sure, but they're all waiting for the dad. He's dragging his heels on the matter. He has no problem with the others getting baptized but they are waiting out of respect for him. It really is a great family but it's too bad that they haven't been baptized yet. They are meeting with President Walker tomorrow night so we're excited about that.

We're going to be working hard to find some more investigators so we can keep this ward rolling. It's a great ward for missionary work. I'm glad to be back.

Love you all

Elder Harris

Guess Where I Went?‏

So transfers have come and gone again and guess where I ended up? I'm back in my greenie area. They've split it since I left but I'm back in the Casas Adobes ward! I'm so excited to be back. Leaving Camino Principal was really hard but it's good to be back home. On the way back to the apartment Elder Wallis and I stopped at Kathleen's house and she was so excited to see me. She's not doing so well and so we're going to help her to get ready to go to the temple. For no other reason maybe thats why I'm back. It was a bitter sweet transfer because I really loved being in my last area, but if I had to go anywhere, I'm glad to be here.

Elder Wallis is a stud. This is his 3rd transfer and he's actually from West Valley. He said he lives behind Valley Middle School. We're going to have a lot of fun this transfer. Other than that I'm not sure what to report.

I'm still here in Tucson so if you want to send the care package down with your friends they can just take it to the mission office and I can get it from there. The mission office is close and yes please send me more meds before Thanksgiving. As for Christmas, it might have to come early because transfers are on the week right before Christmas. I'm not so sure what I want. I know I need new garments for when I come home... last christmas my companion had a really awesome Christmas cd that we listened to all the time. It was by a group called Ocapella... I don't know what the name of the CD was though. Also Elder Patterson had a few "pillow ties" (Pillowtie.com) they were pretty sweet. Maybe a few of those for Christmas would be awesome. But other than that I don't need/want anything. I already have too much stuff. When I made this last move I stuffed my big suitcase with just I don't need to use the rest of my mission... I have too much stuff. Anyways. Thanks for everything.

I hope all is well with you. Love you guys

Elder Harris

Another week come and gone.‏

Hey Everybody!

This last week was a really good one. We got to go to a couple of Halloween parties and that was a lot of fun. The whole "Wow, mormon missionaries, great costumes guys!" Got really old really fast but thats ok. We got free candy and that was all worth it.

This last week we started teaching a really great couple, Ronnie and Baily. They're about 23 years old. Ronnie is a member but hasn't been in a long time. I think his parents let the ward know and so Bro Busby the EQP has been trying to get us in the door for about a month or two. We finally caught him and started talking a little about the church. His girlfriend Baily asked us if you needed to be baptized to go to heaven. We told her yes and she asked if we could baptize her... again we said yes. The big hurdle will be getting them married but hopefully it will happen soon and it will be a great experience for the both of them!

We also got a call from a lady named Kristen who wanted to be baptized. She came to church and we're meeting with her tonight so that we can teach her the first lesson and get her progressing.

Robert is getting really flaky, but we're still trying to help him to progress.

Other than that we're still just chugging along. We're going to have a great week, I know it!
Happy halloween, Happy Birthday Sam! and Audrey if Rora has an e-mail I'll send her a birthday e-mail next week.

Love you all so much!

Elder Harris

P.S. At an Albertsons type grocery store here in Arizona they had a deal where you could buy 10 lbs of potatoes for $1! (Limit 2) Elder Patterson and I each bought two and we're going to prank our Zone Leaders by filling their car up with potatoes.... I'll send you pictures next week.