June 28, 2010

HAY!!!!

Pues si, me encanta leer sus cartas en espanol! Muchisimas gracia por escribir. yo no sabia que su espanol es tan bueno como asi. pues tengo que escribir en ingles por todas las otras personas que la leeran esta carta, y tambien, no se si es bien dificil para ecribirme por medio de papeles, porque es super dificil para leer todas las cartas aqui en la biblioteca y yo quiero leerlas. Entonces no se si ustedes pueden escribirlas por la computadora y luego enviarles por el correro... seria muy bien!

OK!

This week had been awesome! Hermano Sandoval has completely stopped his drinking! yayayayay! Everything is going real well!! The Lord is really blessing us here in Monte Vista. We are always staying busy here. President Beck and his wife came and spoke in sacrament meeting. They both speak gringo Spanish pretty well. They really got the branch excited with missionary work. The branch is growing and the members are liking it. They just need to remember that when things look good its not the time to ease our labours. That is a pretty good principle of life. Missionary work is sooo much better with member help!! That's where the blessing are unleashed upon whatever ward or branch you are in.

I have been studying the conference talks a lot this week. This morning for personal study I read one by Elder Oaks about selfless service. It was awesome!!!!!! It gets you excited to just help other people. One good part I like was when he said "When we are judged we will not be asked 'how many positions did you hold?' but rather 'How many people did you help?'" I love that! It is all about selfless service. If we forget about ourselves and strive to make other people's lives better, we will be happy and satisfied with the way we are living our lives! yayaa

I must say, I love working with the assistants in the branch with us. They are such a good example and I love going on splits with them. They just love us and serve us. I was reading in Elder Crandall's planner and I saw a quote saying "You don't have to be a judge of Israel, just love the peeps!" Being a good example is the perfect way to lead. Calling people out and pointing out their faults may not be the best way to help people. Just love them and serve them. We don't have to tell them the million things that they do that are not perfect. Anyway... I thought that was awesome!!!

Well, we are doing great here and our companionship is really close. We are really good friends and we are working really hard. It is the perfect transfer here in Monte Vista. I might be moving because I will be done being trained this transfer, but also Elder Manning has been here for 8 months so who knows. We will find that out July 10. I love it here in Monte Vista!!!

Hope all is well. Write me by letter if you can because it is hard to read all the emails here in the library. You can just type it out, print it and send it if you want. That would be awesome!!!!!

Love you all,

Elder Harris

June 21, 2010

Well... this week was a little crazy. Finding out about grandma was kinda tough to do, being surrounded by people here in the library. I am so impressed with the faith of the family. Thank you for the emails of love, bearing your testimonies of the Plan of Happiness. It really helped me take in the news and the spirit really comforted me. I don't really feel like talking about my week, because I feel like it is irrelevant to the situation, but I know you want to here so here is a little story.

Yesterday was a little hard. We passed by the house of the familia Sandoval because they were not at church and they were not answering his phone. We walked up to the door and they had music blasting. We knock on the door and his wife opened the door. She had a disappointed look on her face. We saw Hermano Sandoval sitting at his table completely borrachado (drunk). We love this family so much and want the best. He just kept saying "I sorry, I sorry". He then took another one and just started drinking it in front of us. This was really hard for us. His 1 yr. old daughter was walking in the beer that was all over the floor. It was very sad to see the people we love like this. We took his beer and dumped it. His wife (Pregnant) was very serious and she feels like she is babysitting her husband. She wants him to stop drinking so bad because it is destroying their family. We expressed our love for her and explained to her that we want her family to be happy, and want the best for them. We told her them that we are there because we want to help them. She felt comforted when we talked to her. She wants the gospel so bad. We took the beer and threw it away. We are going by tonight to help him make some goals and to commit himself to prepare himself for baptism. It was hard to see this with the people we love, but Satan is not going to make it easy for them to enter into the mercy of Christ. It's all about loving the people, and having them feel you love for them.

Grandma and Grandpa I love you so much and I will be writing you this week.

Elder Harris

LETTER TO GRANDMA

Well... I don't really know what to say. I just read the news about grandma about three minutes ago. Grandma, I love you so much and your loving spirit toward your grandchildren changed our lives. I could feel the love you and grandpa had for me every time we met. I remember laying on your lap and you would drop bits of bread in my mouth like I was a baby bird haha. Grandma, without your love and example I promise you I would not be serving our God here in Phoenix. Because of you testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you have started a chain of salvation, and your our Father knows this. You love is powerful, I can't really describe it but I can feel it. I always felt it as a child and I am amazed at how much you love your grandchildren. I will be writing you and grandpa soon. I love you with all my heart.

Elder Kyle Harris

June 14, 2010

I am back in action! Tuesday was first full day of work we had and we just killed it. Elder Manning and I were just ready to get out of the apartment. We just pumped it out this week. The Lord just put the people in our path and they just listen to us. I feel like God gives us hard times right before he gives us great times! So remember, when life is hard be excited, because something awesome is going to happen!

World cup started this week and everyone is inside watching the games. Everyone loves Mexico and is together in their houses watching the game. Some people wear team USA clothes so that they will look like citizens on the street.

We are trying to make sure we are doing everything right as a companionship. We are trying to stay on top of things! This means keeping up on all of our records (Area Book), keeping car and apartment clean/ making all of our phone calls/ calling in all our references/ praying early so we can be in bed on time/ etc. We are focusing on doing all these things and staying on top of everything so that the Lord will see that we want the blessings and we are ready to help his children enter into His way. Elder Manning says that Monte Vista is just waiting to explode. The Lord is just waiting for us to do something. Hopefully this is what we need to do to open the door flooded of blessings to bless the Monte Vista branch.

The mission will split soon and all the missionaries north of Prescott with be in the Farmington New Mexico Mission. Nothing else will change, we will only lose missionaries after this transfer. I think there are like 30 missionaries North of Prescott (All of Flagstaff and the reservation)

Everything is going great here in Monte Vista and I'm back and good to go! Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Kyle Harris

June 7, 2010-A miracle of a week!

Buenos Tardes!

These past few days have been pretty hard. Thursday night I threw up and stayed home all of Friday. Being sick as a missionary is one of the hardest things I have ever done. All you do is stay inside and sleep. No TV, no movies, no Mommy, just sleep and get better. It is so hard and all you want to do is get out and work. Saturday is started to feel better. We went out and went to a baptismal service. The Monte Vista branch is really being blessed. Turns out we don't know if we are becoming a ward yet because the Stake President wants to wait until everything with the new law is over. BUMMER!! Yesterday, Sunday, i went on splits with the Spanish assistant Elder Crandall. It was the best time I have ever had on my mission. It was also the hardest i have ever worked. We started out studying hope for personal/comp study. We learned in PMG that we should hope for something good to happen every day. This is the Lord work and if we put in our part, we will see miracles every day. We then penciled in brackets [ ] in our planners and prayed in every prayer that day that we would be able to fill those brackets with a name of a family that was ready to be baptized.

It was fast Sunday and after church Elder Crandall and I just tracted for 3 hours in 105 weather before dinner. The spirit was strong. We could feel it with us as we walked down the 95% Mexican neighborhood but most people were inside because it was a hot day. We taught a few lessons, trying to set baptismal dates on their porch. We were looking for this family and we KNEW that we were going to find them.

After about 2 hours, we could taste the salty sweat as it ran down our lips. I was starting to feel sick again. I didn't like it. We were not done. We still had to find this family. We walked into the shade and said a prayer. Elder Crandall pretty much said in the prayer the Lord's will be done whether it be to go home or to keep going. After the prayer he just looks at me and we were just like "Andele Pues!".

The very next door opens a man wearing a Lakers jersey. He lets us in and sits us down on his couch. It was nice and cool in his little apartment. (I'm telling you this place is Mexico). We start talking to him for a minute or so and his wife walks in. He says to us "I usually don't let people in my house, you guys are the first ones." We then asked him "Why did you let us in?" "I don't know" he replied...... We then taught him the first lesson. The spirit was stronger than any other lesson i have taught. After I say Joseph Smith's words of the first vision and explain it to him, Elder Crandall asked him "How do you feel right now?" he said he felt good and peaceful. He liked it. We testified that this feeling was the spirit testifying to him that this message is true. He and his wife really felt the spirit.

We lead the lesson into authority to baptize. We extended a baptismal commitment and he just sat there on his couch for awhile. His wife just looked at him, with a--aren't you going to say yes?-- face. He then thought for a sec and finally nodded his head and said yes. We extended a date and they both accepted it. They have 2 girls and a boy on the way. This is the family that the Lord has prepared for Elder Crandall and I specifically, on the assistant exchanges. The Lord blessed us after we worked the hardest we ever had on our missions. We feel so honored to be able to be on the Lord's errand, and to work on his behalf.

After we left, and set up return appointment for Tuesday and Thursday this week, we walk around the corner were no one can see us, look at each other, and FREAKED OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAH. We just hugged each other and said WHAT?!?! like 30 times haha. I have never been so happy before in my life. We just laughed and were amazed! It was exactly what we were looking and praying for. The Lord just put them in our way after we gave him everything we had. We gave a prayer of thanks and it was then time to head to dinner..... where I threw up twice..... before and after dinner..... and now I'm sick again.

Thanks for all your loving!!

Elder Harris

Every week i always forget to write things

1. Dad i never forget you birthday, i just forgot to write you HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON MAY 23!!! .... sorry about that

2. I guess the author of Twilight Stephanie Meyer... her brother is in our branch, he married a Latina lady, he doesn't like talking about his sister haha

Those are the two big things.... later... Love you!!!

June 3, 2010

ALOOOOHHAAA!!!!! - Transfer #2 - Elder Manning and Elder Harris will stay in Monte Vista

Hey guys! How is everything doing? I am at grand Canyon University in the library here writing you today because Monday was Memorial Day. Things are going great! The Spanish is bien suave and i feel really comfortable talking. I'm just about over that hump of basic fluency. I'm now trying to sound like the locals and mimic their accents. It is sooo fun, especially when you can talk loud and fast with the Mexican mom's who are telling jokes hahaha.

It's getting a little hot down here but not unbearable. President Beck said "It's never too hot to do missionary work... just be smart" so that's our guidelines.

I got letters this week! I have to write so many next P-Day! I got one from Allie, G&G Harris, Jim, Karen, Hannah, Austin Papritz, Karen Kleinman, Tom Vasicek, and sis. Brock. Ive got lots of writing to do this Monday.

Last P-Day we got everyone to play soccer in the gym from the branch. It was sooo sweet! We played with 4 teams of 6 in the gym. It was awesome!!! I get to juggle a lot with kids when we walk down the street which makes me feel at home. This is Mexico! Most people are from Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Vera Cruz, Chiapas, and Guatemala. Everyone comes here for work.

We are really praying hard that we can "find the people the Lord has prepared for us and extend baptismal commitments with a date". This is something we need to work on and we have really been focusing on it.

We ran out of miles for our car for the last week of may so we biked a lot. It was so nice! It's fun to just get out and talk to people on the street.

We are getting a lot more help from the members in the ward now that school is out. It is also a lot easier to set up appointments with youth to teach.

Anyway, we have an appointment so gotta go but ill see you guys later!!!

Elder (Kyle) Harris

May 24, 2010

AALLOOOOOOOOHAAA!!!!!!

How is everyone doing? I'm am doing awesome!! It is way good to hear from you Adam, with the accidents and the twin Nathan, and the investigators! Sounds like you are doing real well like I told you.

My favorite phrases this week are "Bien Suave"(such as - wow sir, your cowboy boots and white jeans are bien suave" and "Endele Pues!" ( later man! On with you!)

Thing have changed with me now. Now the things that are "cool" to me now are nice cowboy boots, white jeans, big belt buckles, nice cowboy hat, Mexican style! hahaha. Bien suave.

This week has been real nice. Our finding has increased and we are trying to lead people to the gate of the gospel, to get them on the path, though baptism. It is really cool to see all the success in our zone and the mission. I am learning so much, and the Spanish is real nice! I am really getting it down, but I'm still working on rolling those rr's.

One story I have happened right before an appointment with a young family we call Bernardita y Andreas. On our way to the appointment I look at my backpack and there is some white stuff on it. I look down at the floor and the bottle of sunscreen cracked open. It was everywhere, and it was on my backpack and my pants. I looked for some napkins or paper or something but i couldn't find anything! Our appointment was in 3 minutes and we were in a mess. My first instinct was to apply as much on my face as possible (It was about 7:30 at night). I lathered it up on my neck and face. I looked a little pale on my face and tried to rub it in. I still had a ton of sunscreen on my pants and backpack and on the bottle. I applied to my arms and it still didn't suffice. Elder Manning was cracking up as he was driving. I then looked at him in the eye, lifted up my pant legs and applied the rest to my white, white legs. I put A Lot of sunscreen on my legs and finally cleaned up the mess. I smelled "a sense of protection" as i taught the family. hahaha.

We took a family to the Mesa Temple on Saturday to see the visitors center and to watch the Joseph Smith video. It was real nice. They loved it and thought the life of Joseph Smith was really sad. We taught them that a lot has been sacrificed for the restoration of the Gospel. They are so solid! Javier needs to get divorced to a lady in Mexico and marry Ivania. This is taking awhile but we are doing all we can to hurry up the process. They are so awesome!

The English classes are going real well! We have had some people come who are not investigators and the other students befriend them and it is a great missionary tool in get people in the church building and feel the spirit. We took a man named Isaac into the church for a church tour. We showed him the rooms and the auxiliaries and everything. We then went into the baptismal font, i mean IN the font and talked with him about baptism. We extended a commitment and he accepted. It was way cool. The Lord is blessing us over here in Monte Vista.

I got to see the Gila Valley temple dedication yesterday. It was real nice.

The weather is still not bad. It hasn't been too hot yet. I think 100 was the highest so far....... BUCKLE UP!

Love you all,

Elder Kyle Harris

"Windows of Heaven"

This week has been great! The Lord has really blessed us and it seems to all be coming at once. It turns out we have been counting out key indicators wrong. Because so many people want to talk to us we made higher qualifications for lessons. However, the Zone Leaders have asked us to count a lesson as teaching 2 principles, a testimony, and a commitment. That changes things quite a bit. We used to count a lesson as opening and closing with a prayer, and teaching a pretty much full lesson. There are Elders teaching around 50 lessons a week or more.
We had a tough week last week with finding. I must say that our patience has definitely been tried, and the Lord has been molding us and giving us experiences where we learn and grow. It's nice when you realized what you have learned, and look back on how much you have changed. It has changed a lot in the optimism in our companionship. We are both really excited and working hard. Our companionship has grown a lot in this past week. Elder Manning and I are really good friends and we are coming closer and closer when we work hard and help each other out. I love this.

We are teaching a 16 year old kid named Eric from Vera Cruz who just goes to school and plays soccer. He has kind of a fo-hawk that goes all the way to the back of his head and he told us he has two girlfriends lol. He is the soccer stud around here I guess, but he is also really humble. I was really impressed for his desire for spiritual things and he has already been to church three times and we have only taught him once. He is always busy. It’s great now that he is good friends with the kids in the ward and everything. He is going to activities and wants to be baptized. The Lord kinda just threw him at us and we just were kinda like...... Thanks!!! He is a great example for us and he is just a way cool kid.

Javier and Ivania are doing swell. They are working on their divorce and we had a powerful lesson about families. They should be baptized right now, but Satan is making it hard for them to get a divorce and getting married. They loved the Word of Wisdom because Ivania's Dad was always drunk on the streets and would come back home dirty and he is a bum right now I think. It was really sad to hear her talk about it and she was crying a lot. We read the The Family Proclamation to the World and they loved it. Their kids are so obedient and nice, and also funny. This makes the atmosphere of lessons perfect. They just sit quietly. They are way less crazy than I was when Adam and I were young hahahaha. They are doing awesome.

We had one day where we were determined to find a family that was ready to receive the ordinances of the gospel and that we could recognize them and bring them unto Christ. We were looking for them all day and we made empty brackets in out planners like "New Family [ ] and prayed that we could fill those "Windows of Heaven" with the name of a family. We looked hard, knocked a lot of doors, talked to everyone. We then received a referral from President and we had just enough time to contact it before we had to be in. We went up and a guy ran out and shook out hands. He and his wife have been married in the temple and one of their daughters has been baptized but the others haven't. They wanted to meet with some Spanish speaking missionaries. We filled in our "Windows of Heaven" with the Gonzales Family, and were gonna' get'em to church and teach them and their children.

The lord really blesses us when we ask for specific blessings at specific times and places. We are planning out where we are going to tract, and at what times, and what we want. We then pray for a specific person to find, or family, that is Latino, and we then go and find them. This is awesome and I am really excited for the next week. God wants us to plan effectively and set good goals. If we pray hard, and do all we can to work hard and have the faith to find them, the Lord will do his part, and that is when his hand is revealed in the work, after you do all you can, and see Him push you the rest of thaw way. It is SOOOO COOL!!!

Anyway, today we are going to go golfing with the Branch Presidency. Oh! The branch is becoming a ward soon, but we are not sure how quick they are going to do it. I’m guessing within the next month or two. It didn't sound like it would happen right away. We are way stoked and the members are too. They are helping us out a lot and they are being blessed for it. That is the key to blessing a ward or branch, especially in these crazy times, is missionary work. The Lord blesses those who work in His behalf.

Okay I got to get going but I love you all! Thanks for the letters and everything! "You guys are awesome!" ~Malcolm Nichols

-Elder Kyle Harris