Not so Hot Burger

                                                                                                  May 7, 2018

Hi Everyone!

 

Our week was action packed as usual! We had Zone Conference this week with President Rodriguez which meant a trip to Santa Cruz.

 

The Conference was great and we learned a lot about how to work better with the members. We also talked about how to minister and here is a quote I liked:

"An act of teaching is easily forgotten, but acts of ministering are always remembered."

 I would share more, but I am just about out of time!

That night we went to a huge restaurant called Hot Burger. I thoroughly enjoyed the food, but my stomach not so much. Our bus ride to Santa Cruz that night was one I will never forget haha.

The good thing is I am all better now and excited to work hard in the last week of Elder Vasquez' mission! We have been blessed to meet several great families these past few days. Also Paul and Joel went to church today, they are both doing super well and please pray for Joel that he can make a decision about baptism! He may possibly be baptized this week.

Love you all and have a great week! Be careful where you eat!

Elder Harris

Ball is Life

                                                                                                         April 30, 2018
Hola Family,

This week was pretty memorable!

Thanks everyone for all the Birthday wishes!! They made Thursday really special! My B-day started out pretty great during our District meeting when the Sisters took off running and came back from the kitchen with a cake! Here in Bolivia there is a sick, messed up tradition of forcing the cumpleañero to stick his face in the cake. They don't let anyone escape it.

 

Apart from that we enjoyed some delicious ice cream - mint chocolate chip with chocolate.

It was a fantastic birthday!!

 

We are working with a lot of teenagers here in Yacuiba, Joel and Fernando both went to church yesterday and are progressing well. We are also teaching Paul, a 16 year old young man who has some friends in the church. We watched the video of the restoration with him the other day and it was super powerful!

Saturday we organized a basketball game at the church. Here in Yacuiba there is a group of kids that know how to play pretty well and 12 non-members came to the church Saturday just to play some b-ball. Before the tipoff, we made a bet. I told them that if they won, we would buy soda for everyone, but if we won, they would give us 30 minutes of their time this week to teach them about Jesus Christ. 

We have an appointment with them this Tuesday at 6:00.

Sorry I am out of time, but know that I love you all and I am grateful for each one of you! This is the true Church of Jesus Christ! He loves us and cares about us! Everything that happens in our lives is because of that love and no matter what happens we should never doubt that. 

Love,

Elder Harris

Come Unto Me

                                                                                                          April 23, 2018

Hello All! 

 

This week was great, it got real hot again here in the Chaco which is good because I will be real tan for Hil's wedding. 

 

The English class was a little disappointing this week, but we met 2 new investigators and when we got to the church there were a ton of kids playing basketball. So we started playing some pickup since no one was there for the classes. One of them was a member and the rest weren't, so we have another game lined up for this Saturday in the church.

Grabbing a bite to eat on our P-day

We started teaching Apolo this week. He is an older man who attended the baptism and is really open to learning. He told us he has a desire to change and grow closer to God, but he didn't show up to church yesterday which was pretty disappointing.

 

We're also teaching Joel, a 17 year old who has been going to church almost every Sunday and said he feels bad inside when he doesn't attend. This week he accepted a baptismal date for May 5th and so we will be working with him to help him obtain a testimony this week.

 

Also Fernando who we found quite a bit ago...he is 14 and his mom is a member. They went to church yesterday which was great! The sad part is he is really shy and never wants to stay for the classes, so pray that he can overcome those fears!

 

This week I read some of my new favorite verses in the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi Chapter 9 verses 13-14. Here Jesus Christ is talking to each one of us:

 

"Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins,  and be converted, that I may heal you? Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me."

I know our Savior Jesus Christ loves each one of us and every day invites us to abandon our sins and come unto Him. His arms are always open to us, no matter how far we wander or how serious our sins may be. I love Him and I am so grateful for the chances He gives me to repent and come unto Him!

Elder Harris

Channel 5 and Exciting News of Baptisms

                                                                                                     April 16, 2018

Hello Family,

 

What a week!!

This week I was on national Bolivian television! (The national part is probably not true.) We were handing out flyers in the university again when a man walked up with a camera and took a strange amount of interest in what we were doing. So he interviewed me about the English classes for a good 5 minutes and I got to give a short commercial. In the past few days a few people told us, "Hey I saw you on channel 5," and some people who had never attended already knew the direction of the church. So all I can say is, "thank you channel 5!" Although sadly, no one new attended in the end...

 

And now for the REAL GOOD NEWS...  Simon, Sihomara, Sandra and Ruth were BAPTIZED!!

The baptism was amazing!!! There was a great turnout from the Ward and a ton of people came to support their friends and family members as they made a covenant with God!

Simon and Sandra both bore their testimonies on Sunday and they have such strong testimonies of the gospel. Sandra said she felt the Spirit so strong as she was baptized and confirmed and it couldn't have been better!

Oh I keep forgetting to mention that we didn't have transfers! You probably already assumed but Elder Vasquez will be finishing his mission here which means I will do the same! It is going to be a great next few months and I love this Branch!

I know God loves us and cares about each and every one of us. He sent His only Son to rescue us from death and sin. Jesus Christ loves us and gave His life for us because He is our friend. As we follow Him, we show our gratitude for what He did and we can be forgiven of EVERY single mistake we make.

Love you all!

 

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harris

P.S. Today I tried another food challenge and failed miserably. Sorry mom I know I let you down.

 

 The Burla Burger challenge  

 

 2 - 2 lb burgers: 2, Elder Harris: 0

 

Movie Night with the Flowers (Familia Flores)

                                                                                                           April 9, 2018




 

Hola Family,

What a week! It got real hot again here in Yacuiba (sorry Naperville people if this brings feelings of jealousy.) If it stays sunny and I dye my hair and eyes black and get better at Spanish people might  actually think I am Latino! Then again, maybe not!

Look mom! We made it to the border of Argentina!
We made a quick trip on our P-day.

 

This week we went to the university (smallest university I have ever been to) to hand out flyers for our English class. We handed out a good 80 flyers and had about 40 people that committed to go and a whopping 3 showed up. So it looks like we will need to hand out more flyers this week. But a few new high school kids showed up so it made for a good class! If you´re into musical chairs you don't want to miss next week's class!

On Tuesday we watched "The Testaments" movie with Familia Flores. (That's the Flowers family for you non-Spanish speakers.) I love that movie and Sandra and Ruth both felt the Spirit which was really special. The only thing missing was the popcorn.

The other day we were knocking doors and a little girl answered and asked "who is it?" I said "Elder" and she heard "verde", which means green in Spanish. She said "green???" obviously never having met someone with the name green. We went back a few days later and I fully embraced it and when she asked I immediately responded "Its Green!" I can only imagine her running to her dad yelling "Dad! Green's here!" 

Lots of miracles this week. Familia Flores, Sihomara, and Simon will all be baptized this Saturday! We are super excited! Simon finally made the decision and Sunday in church all of a sudden announced to everyone he was going to get baptized this week which shocked us because he hadn't told us anything! So this week will be great! We are proud of them and they are all so ready to take this step!

Love you all! Have a great week! 

Elder Harris

 

Still making friends wherever we go!

 

 

Happy April!!

                                                                                                    April 2, 2018

Hello Everyone,

 

It is already April! Wow time flies! It seems like just a few days ago we were in March...

 

I want to share a picture of the missionaries in our District. (Distrito Yacuiba)

I hope everyone was able to listen to General Conference! How amazing that there is a Prophet of God on earth today! I felt very blessed to be able to hear his words and the words of the other leaders God has chosen to help us.

One part of Conference I loved was Elder Robbins talk:

" Repentance is not His plan B, it is His plan!"

This week I was reading Alma 42 which teaches us the same principle. This life was always meant to be a time for us to repent, a time for us to change! Repentance is the process by which we put our lives in harmony with the will of God and is ultimately the whole reason we are here on earth! This is not a gospel of staying where you are, it is a gospel of rising and become more and more each day!

Here in Yacuiba, we were thrilled by the announcement that there will soon be a temple in Salta, Argentina! It is about a 5 hour bus ride from Yacuiba and will be much easier than going to Cochabamba (a bit ironic considering its in another country.)

Lots of investigators went to Conference and Sandra and Ruth are doing great! Sandra gained a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon. On Tuesday, she wasn't sure about her baptism, but we gave her a Book of Mormon and returned to see her on Friday. As we were finishing the visit and walking towards the door on Friday, she said, "When was the baptism for again?" We said, the 14th of April. She said "Yep, I am going to get baptized that day!" She is an awesome example of receiving a testimony and acting on it!

I love being a member of this church and a part of His work! Strive to change and repent this week and you will feel so much happier knowing you are accomplishing what He has sent you here to accomplish!

Love,

Elder Harris

Finding Peace in Christ - Happy Easter!

                                                                                                  March 26, 2018

Hi Everyone!

We had an action packed week, I will try my best to include everything.



This week we tried some new things to find young people to teach...we went to a few high schools and handed out flyers for our English class. None of the people we gave flyers to went. BUT, one of those kids gave their flyer to a friend and that's how Daniel came to our English class! He is 17 and super interested in English and the church and he even attended church yesterday! So we are excited to work with him!

On Tuesday, at like 8:00 p.m. at night, our appointment fell through and I remembered a basketball court where they play every night. So we headed down to check things out. They didn't think we could ball up in a shirt and tie, but we played for 15 minutes and met a really cool 19 year old named Juan Pablo who we got to teach Saturday! We are going to play a real game today, wish me luck. I told them I had seen Pau Gasol and Jimmy Butler in person and they all freaked out hahaha. Thank goodness I am from Chicago, that gets you crazy street cred here in Bolivia.

Friday we had Zone Conference in Santa Cruz. It was wonderful to be reunited with Elder Cohelo again. He was the first missionary that I trained, so in mission terms, he is my "son," and I am his "father." It was great to see him!


Father and son reunited once again

The Conference was amazing and I was reminded of our need for Christ in the most difficult times. When we can't find peace or comfort in other places, there is peace in Christ. Thanks to Him we can always feel peace because He went through everything we are going through!

Friday was also filled with delicious food- apple pie, papa johns, and bits and cream.

(Almost as good as Cold Stone)

Other foods we ate this week were not quite as delicious. I guess this is what you get when you buy a burger and fries for 75 cents.

As we stopped by to visit our Branch mission leader, we took a quick picture of his beautiful dog.

What a funny dog! Not sure we got his best side!









We also said goodbye to our good friend Benjamin who is on his way to Mexico to serve a mission.
 

One miracle we saw this week was Familia Flores. We met them yesterday at church. It is a single mom and her two teenage children, Joel and Ruth, who has been passing through a lot of trials lately. Yesterday in the afternoon we were able to teach them and they are so prepared! Sandra and Ruth want to be baptized the 14th of April, so we are super excited for them!

This weekend is General Conference. What an amazing opportunity we have to receive counsel and guidance from God through His servants! As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we believe that God calls a prophet and 12 apostles today just as He did thousands of years ago. This Saturday and Sunday we have the opportunity to hear those words! Please take advantage of it!

If you have trials or questions in your life and you decide to attend, you will be helped and guided in a marvelous way, so please don't miss this opportunity!

The work is great, I love Bolivia and wish this time wasn't coming to an end!

Happy Easter!

Love,

Elder Harris