"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

Whats up everybody!! I just got done putting in a cement patio for a guy in the branch. It was so sweet! He taught us how to do it Mexican style. He then made us food for lunch and we had a great time. The branch is doing great! We just found out that our branch is ready to become a ward! We were all way excited when we heard that yesterday. We are trying to get missionary work really going in the branch. Ward missionary work is how you get your investigators to keep their commitments. The work is tons more successful when the ward gets involved.

SO i have been teaching English classes this week. It is so fun. We are trying to get more people to show up but it's gonna be awesome. Having free English classes is a great opportunity for missionary work. All we do is get into a little "huddle" and we talk, and repeat, and have them say words and phrases over and over again, using hand motions and everything to get them to understand. The people receive their "Daily Dose" (that is what it's called) and then we get out of the room. We don't talk religion or anything. If the people want to talk with the missionaries then we meet with them. I guess it has been really successful in other missions and I think we might be the first companionship to start in our mission so its pretty cool. The only teachers are my companion and I because the assistants always have other appointments.

So we have been really stressing baptismal commitments. We were challenged to give one commitment a day, but we are trying to get one each lesson if the spirit allows it. We also try and have every single first lesson taught in the chapel of in the members home. This is what president Beck has asked us to do, and during the first lesson in the church, he said to take them down into the baptismal font and extend a baptismal commitment while standing in the empty font. hahaha. I guess people have had success from that so we are gonna start doing it.

A lot of people are moving because of the law. One of our investigators couldn't have a lesson with us because he was leaving Mexico at that very moment. He said goodbye to us and we told him that the gospel is still true in Mexico, and he waved to us goodbye. Crazy! I don't know what is going to happen in the future but the Latinos think Arizona is going down, economically, and all that stuff. Its pretty intense!

Bishop Bateman sent me the ward newsletter. That was cool to see that and see the names of the new families in the ward.

It is starting to get hot, but it is not really a big deal, you don't really think about it because you are always busy. A lot of people offer us water and stuff and think we are crazy for wearing our church clothes in the heat. We just say that we love it! Our mission scripture is D&C 133:29 "And in the barren deserts there shall come forth pools of living water" and our song goes "Arizooooona thirsty land (and shout thirsty land!) We'll serve the living water while we can! Oh my word i love it!!!!!!

So the other day there we saw soda cans flying out of the garbage can. We weren't sure what it was and then we saw a man jump out of the big dumpster. He was collecting cans and we had a good conversation with him while we helped him get all the cans in the trash bag. He was Mexican and said it was hard to feed his family with no work, so we shared our experiences and testimonies on how the gospel has blessed our lives, and how we can be safe if we build on a sure foundation of Jesus Christ. He felt the spirit strong and it was real nice. Then he just got up and left on his bike with his cans. It was pretty odd, but I know he felt something.

Anyway, thanks for all the letters I'm getting. It makes me feel loved! hahah. It was awesome talking to the family yesterday. Happy Mother's Day MOMMA!!!!

Love,

ELDER HARRIS

Week Two

Alrighty. I am here for my second week in AZ. Spanish is crazy! I am really trying to be a good listener and be able to understand their accent. It's a lot different than MTC Spanish haha. I love it! A lot of our area is like Mexico. Everyone has dirt front yards with those metal fences with the kids playing soccer in the front. I love it soo much! We have taught a lot of lessons with a soccer game on. It is hard for our investigators to listen when a game is on.

So the Monte Vista Spanish Branch is awesome. There is about 5 people there 5 minutes before sacrament meeting, and the chapel is 3/4 full after the sacrament lol. Everyone is super nice and being a greeny really stands out, but I'm getting a hang of things.

The food here is sooo good! I love it so much! It is interesting because i haven't had one meal when the family has eaten with us. They just have us sit down and eat and they watch us. It is really interesting, and every time we ask if they are gonna eat they say "we already ate". We get fed every night and get treated very well by the Branch.

Our branch is pretty big and my goal here is to make it a ward before I go. Things ahead are looking good for us and the Lord is really blessing us.

So i should be taking my missionary picture today for the plaque at home, i think its about time for that, and hopefully we can get some people to play some soccer. I have been craving it soo bad. I love walking up to the kids and saying !Pa'same la poleta! and i do a little trick for them haha. I love it so much!!

Everyone is willing to talk to us, but the hard part it getting people to keep commitments. Anyone will have a conversation about God, but not everyone will take the time to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. That is something that we need to work on is being more persuasive in showing the importance of reading and praying. Preach my Gospel is soo amazing. It answers every question. I love it!

Tom! i haven't got you letter yet.. I think something might have been mixed up.

Anyway, everything is going great! Companionship is amazing! I love my comp, he is soo funny. I am having a great time and i hope you all are doing well!

Send me a letter if you have time haha. It's best if its sent to the mission office, they foreword it to my apt.

Love you all!!!

Elder Kyle Harris