1-10-11

This last week ended up being pretty good for us. Michelle was able to come to church with her family and they really enjoyed it. She is progressing so well right now and we set her baptismal date for Jan 29th. Her two sons Grady and Grant aren't too keen on the whole baptism idea but they are at least coming to mutual and really loving that. They'll come around one day, hopefully soon. Grant likes to claim that he's atheist but he's just trying to be different.

Valorie wasn't there at church yesterday which was a bummer. We had a great lesson with her on Sunday and she said that she was planning on coming. We're not sure what happened. We're going to be trying to see her today sometime to see whats up.

Rita and Robert have taken a turn for the worst it seems. Robert called us Saturday night to tell us that Rita had hurt her ankle and wouldn't be able to come to church. I was understandably devastated because that would mean her date would drop back to after I left and would mean that I wouldn't be able to baptize her like she asked me to. "That's not going to be a problem is it?" Robert asked"Well... to be baptized we like to see people come to church three times and..." I started"Well! Rita is offended about your lesson on Friday!......" And Robert just went off about how we offended Rita when we taught the word of wisdom. He said we were too pushy in asking to take their stuff and throw it away and that Rita didn't want to get baptized any more. He said he would talk to her and we should wait for a phone call. We're not so sure that I believe Robert. Rita had such a great testimony. I think it's more Robert not wanting to change and so he's stopping it all. Which is too bad for Rita. Hopefully she'll call us sometime and we'll be able to work this thing out.

Finally we got a phone call from Bro Mathis, who is the High Priest Group Leader, telling us that one of his home teaching families has an un-baptized child who wants to get baptized! We have an appointment tomorrow to start teaching her. We're super excited about that!

Well hope all is well on the home frontLove you guys.

Elder Harris

What a week‏

This week was pretty awesome! Elder Rangel and I found 6 new investigators and they are pretty awesome. Well almost all of them. One dropped us two days after we started teaching him, we dont' know why, he seemed really interested at first but we went to see him to make sure he was still coming to church and he handed us the Book of Mormon through the door and told us he wasn't interested anymore. Too bad, but the others are awesome.

First was a part member family, the Pratts. I told you a little of the story last week, but they are doing really well. They're progressing great! Unfortunately they were sick yesterday and weren't able to come to church :( but they're planning on coming this next week! We also started teaching a family of 3 that moved into our area. The other missionaries had taught them a little but they are awesome! Michelle, the mom, is excited to learn and loves the church. Her two sons Grant(14) and Grady(12) are pretty cool kids. They're still trying to figure out who they are and so they don't have a firm baptismal commitment like Michelle does but they'll come along. We have an appointment with them tonight.

Finally is a lady named Valorie. She was a former investigator that we found in our area book. I remember meeting her when I was with Elder Bliss and our first appointment with her was after transfers so I never got to actually teach her. We asked her what her experience with the missionaries was and she said that it was a good one. She said that she was at the point where they were going to come to church but they never did and the missionaries stopped going over. She then asked us what time church was, we showed her around the church the next day and she came on Sunday. She loved church! She is planning on coming back next week and is going to take her 14 year old son, Josh to mutual tomorrow night! She is awesome. She doesn't have a firm baptismal commitment because she doesn't want to just be flip flopping around religions, she wants to commit completely so she wants to study it a little more. We're seeing her tomorrow night as well. We're excited to have so many wonderful people to teach.

But thats not all. Elder Rangel and I met a few people tracting who had met missionaries in the past, have co-workers who gave them a book of Mormon, and are excited for us to come back and teach them again! The work is so good right now. God is just so good to us.

Well hope you all are doing well. See you guys soon.

Elder Harris

Christmas is Over-Back to Work

Hey everybody! It was great to be able to talk to you guys a few days ago.

Christmas was great but I'm excited it's over! Now we can get back to work.
Elder Rangel and I had a miracle yesterday. Elder Wallis and I had bee searching for a former investigator and we ended up leaveing a note on the door we thought was hers. Yesterday we got a call from a man named Robert who said that he was a less-active member of the church and that his wife was close to being baptized once but had a bad experience in Safford (I don't believe it) and so she had decided against it. Well they want to try again so we're seeing them today. We're really excited to be able to have the opportunity to teach someone!

Other than that, all our other investigators are kind of in the same boat. The Zarows are coming along really well. Roy is participating more and more in the lessons every time and Kathy is coming around too! We had Christmas Eve dinner with Gary and Janie and in a lesson a little before that Janie told us that she wanted to make sure she was getting baptized for God and not for her husband or us. We have some great investigators but they just want to be sure. Everyone comes at their own pace.

Well I don't have alot of time. We're with a member in a classroom at the university because the library is closed. He's a teacher here and was nice enough to let us come in here for a little bit. Love ya! Bye!

ELder Harris

Merry Christmas‏

Hey Everybody!

So transfers have come and gone and here I am once again with another greenie. His name is Elder Rangel from Idaho Falls, Idaho. He seems like a good guy whose excited to be a missionary. We should have a great time together, allthough I was sad to see Elder Wallis go. My dream of having 3 companions for more than one transfer was dashed but the Lord knows whats best for all of us.

Sunday night was really fun because we got to go to the Messiah presentation at the church. All the missionaries in Tucson were there and it was good to see them all there. The show was great, the music was really well done, especially for how small of an orchestra and choir it was. Also, on Christmas, President has invited everyone over to his house, so we're excited about that. We'll get to see a bunch of missionaries again there at his house. It's wierd that Christmas is allready here again. Time has cruised by this last year.

This year we're helping the ward out with some secret santa stuff for a few people in the ward. It's going to be pretty sweet.

Things are going well for us right now. We' still have the same investigators as before. We found out that Gary is already a member but we're still working with his wife Janie. The Zarows and Kathy are still coming along and Gail is doing great. The work here is good. I'm glad I get to finish my mission here.

Love you all. Talk to you soon.

Elder Harris

Happy Birthday!

Happy 21st Birthday Andy!!

We Love You.


Mom and Dad

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