Ready To Make Changes

                                                                                                                    Nov. 14, 2016

Hi Everyone! Thanks so much for all your emails and support!

So I promise this wasn´t intentional, but the title of this email is quite fitting because this week is cambios. (Transfers)... 

My companion, Elder Sierra has been here in this Ward 10 and a half months so we pretty much know exactly what is going to happen. He will be transferred to a new area this week and I will be getting a new companion.

 

Elder Sierra has been an awesome trainer! I am grateful that I could speak to him in English while learning and transitioning to Spanish. He has a strong testimony of the gospel and has taught me

a lot. I especially appreciate his sense of humor, as he has kept me laughing. 

Although I will miss serving with him, I look forward to meeting my new companion and setting some big goals for this next cambio!

 

With this being Elder Sierra's last week in the barrio, (he has been here almost a year) our pensionista and Ward mission leader made him a cake. (and even added my name at the last minute hahaha).

 

They are the Nunez family and they are so awesome!!

This week I really came to realize how lucky I am to have these two years to be a representative of Jesus Christ. Only two years to spend my time loving and teaching these people 24/7 and without the distractions of the world. I love the wonderful people I meet each day!



Although most of our time, we are either studying, serving, or out teaching, occasionally, on our P-day (our day off), we get to participate in fun recreational activities.
Last month, Elder Sierra and I got to play soccer with a great group of guys.
  

This week we visited a cool zoo or aviary with parrots and toucans.
This is me pretending to feed it a mango.

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to go on splits with another Elder, Elder Santos.
We discovered mangos--a lot of them!!

Just as we want to share the sweetness of the mangos, we must realize how important it is to share the fruits of the gospel with our neighbors and friends.   

This week I was able to study the story of David and Goliath and learned so much. David was so young but had such an unwavering confidence in our Heavenly Father. He said "Who is this philistine to defy the armies of the living god?" The work of our Heavenly Father is going forth and there is no man, no matter how strong or mighty, that can stop it! This week we have been able to work with people that are trying to overcome their own personal goliath´s, and as they put their faith in the living god, they have been able to make changes in their lives.

Sonia is making amazing progress! She has not had coffee in more than 10 days and is smoking less and less everyday. She has also read up to 2 Nephi 3 in the Book of Mormon and told us she has a goal to finish the book before her baptism on the 10th of December! We asked her granddaughter what changes she has seen in Sonia in the past month and she told us that before, Sonia was very closed and wouldn´t listen to anyone. She told us we are the first people to have ever reached her and she is becoming a completely different person. Sadly, she couldn't come to church yesterday so please pray for her that she can come this week or she won't be able to make her baptismal date!

This week we found several great families and invited them to baptism in the first visit. The Lord is preparing so many people here to receive the gospel, but most of all Hermano Vaca Mendez. We found he and his family and he asked us to come and talk with them. He repeatedly told us, "Listen to me, I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be like this anymore. I am ready to change." He doesn't have a family and has a lot of problems with drugs and alcohol, but accepted the invitation to be baptized.  

It is a witness to me that so many people are just waiting for a message like this. The invitation to be baptized is all they need to change their lives forever! They are just waiting for someone to tell them they can!

 

As I leave my training and start with a new companion I am so excited to see more and more changes in the lives of heavenly fathers children! This is His work and He will not fail us, no matter how great our foes may seem!

 

Love you all and have a great week!

 

Elder Harris