No time online 4-24-09

Dear Mom, Dad and everyone-

Right now my district is watching the Joseph Smith movie, so we had to cut emails short so we could get there on time.

Life here in Tucson is awesome. It's getting hotter here. This week it got up to 104*! That just happened to be the day that I was on exchange in my District Leader's area, which is an all bike area. It was pretty awesome, we were biking all over the place and I'm pretty sure that Elder Lybberts area is all up hill. It was a long day but something really cool happened while I was there. We were visiting some people on the less active list and we visited a family where the mom and dad were inactive, the children are unbaptized. Elder Lybbert and Elder Bliss wanted to start teaching them, so we tried to set something up. The mom, as it turns out, was recently diagnosed with MS, about the same time that I was. We started talking about the disease and the various treatments. Despite her husbands initial objections, she agreed to have her family hear the missionary lessons.

Elder Lybbert is convinced that I was the cause, that I had opened the door for those lessons to begin. I knew that the trial of having MS would be for my benefit, but I never realized that it would help me with my missionary work. Out of trials and hardships the Lord has provided miracles.

Thank you all so much for your letters and I'll try to get back to you all soon. Take care everyone.

Andy

Another Baptism!‏

So this last week we had another one of our investigators enter into the waters of baptism. Norm was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was a really spiritual baptism, even though there were only like 7 people there.

Also on Saturday, Elder Burt and I got to see one of Elder Burt's old investigators be baptized. We sang Come thou Fount of Every Blessing with the Sister missionaries at the baptism and it was awesome.

Now that the old people are baptized (Norm is 71, and Kathleen 67) we are working with the youngins. Right now we are teaching 3 children, ages 8,9, and 10. Makenzie and Curtis Kuster are 8 and 10 years old and come from a part member family. Their mother is a member and their father isn't. They used to live about 45 min outside of Des Moines Iowa, and because the church building was so far away they never went to church. Now that they have moved to Tucson and are about a mile from the church building there is no excuse and so we are teaching them. They are scheduled to be baptized on the 9th of May. We would love to be teaching the dad as well but he is a truck driver and is gone all the time and isn't exactly too keen on religion. He goes with them when he is in town but only for the sake of their marriage.

Alex Anderson is 9 years old and his mom was just baptized in August, his dad has been a member all his life. Alex used to be an altar boy in an episcopal church and missed carrying the candle. His mom didn't want to push him to be baptized, but when we mentioned that, when they go to the temple in August to be sealed, he needs to be baptized or else he cannot be sealed with them. She decided now was a good time to take the lessons. He is also scheduled to be baptized on the 9th of May.

Any ways we have a few other strong potentials that we are trying to get going towards baptism but they are hard to get a hold of sometimes. I'll keep you posted on them.

Hope you all are enjoying your Spring it's about 93 degrees today. The picture attached is one I took after a rain storm here a week or so ago.

Love you all.

Elder Andrew Harris

No Time to Write Ah!!!!!

Hey guys, don't have a whole bunch of time to write. Everything is going good, Kathleen was confirmed and Norm is being baptized this saturday.

(Jan is speaking next Sunday on our missionary) As for the talk on sunday, tell them everything is going awesome. And tell everyone to get involved. Ward missionary work is the best way to get stuff done.

Sorry I don't know what else to tell you. Love you all.

Bye!

Yea Finally Some Pictures

Allright so I figured that I better finally send you some pictures.
First is a picture of my MTC district in front of the Provo Temple.

Second is a picture of my jammed up thumb (I think I told you about that)

is a picture of my companion, Elder Burt

Then we have a picture of the hairy rat pigs that roam Arizona. (we lured them to us with old spaghetti)

and then finally Kathleen at her baptism on Saturday
Conference this year was amazing. It was a spiritual feast of epic proportions. Elder Hollands talk was by far my favorite, but close behind was Elder Anderson's. Elder Burt and I were talking about the new apostle a couple of days before conference and I called it. I was so excited to hear that Neil L Anderson was called to be an Apostle.

But on top of everything we had the baptism of Kathleen. It was a really powerful experience. Elder Burt Baptized her and I'll be confirming her this coming Sunday.

Not a whole lot else to report this week. Hope everything is going well for you.

Elder Harris

One transfer gone??

Wow that transfer went by really fast. Well we got our transfer calls and both Elder Burt and I are staying here. Which is good because we have a baptism this Saturday!!!!

Her name is Kathleen and she is awesome. Just seeing the change that she has gone through since we started teaching her has been amazing. She is getting baptized in between sessions of conference, which is going to make the day a spiritual smorgasbord. I'll send you pictures next time.

So I'm still here in Tucson until the middle of May at least.

Things are going great, and I'm loving every minute of it. GO ON A MISSION!!!!

Not much else to report, love hearing from you, thanks for all your letters. God bless you all and hope you have a wonderful day!

Elder Harris

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