Boosted My Testimony Of Fasting

Well Hello….

I loved seeing the pictures!!!!!! They was really cool… to see the pictures of the girls at girls camp and the pictures of Aubrei and John… (I am looking forward to being an uncle).

The name of my ward and the area I serve is called Mariscal Casceres. My typical day is get up at 6:30, pray, then jump up and down a little, scream at the top of my lungs, then head off to the shower.  Then get dressed, run down stairs and across the street. Eat breakfast which is one scrambled egg and some bread.  Then go right back to the room and study. First I study by myself for an hour, later with the companion for an hour, and then the language for an hour. After that we pray and head out to start the day. We are out there knocking on doors until lunch at 1:00.  We eat in a member’s house … usually rice and chicken… then we head out again to proselyte until 5:00. Eat a small dinner of pancakes.  Next run back out to our appointments in the night.  Come back to the house about 9 or 9:30 then we plan for the next day.  I write in my journal.  Take a shower. Sleep and start all over again. 

My companion is great.  He is really funny and likes to work hard, so we get along well. He is not new, he has 14 months. The Spanish is coming along really great… super fantastic.  I really like having the ability to talk in a foreign language.  I am super pumped to come home and talk to John in Spanish and have Aubrei not understand a thing. As of today I have yet to give a talk in this new ward. I did give an introduction of myself just like the missionaries at home do… but that’s super easy. You need to look at the food on the internet because I really don’t know what to say about it.

(Mom asked what he wanted for his birthday and this is answer)                                                 Well I was thinking about the next package. It would be nice to have some flaming hot Cheetos and Zours and well any of my favorite sour and hot candies. In my dreams of dreams, it would be nice if you sent my black ankle high boots. Then I could do some serious tracking, that would be incredible and the thumb drive.

Neat experience this week….

I was fasting for a family that we are teaching. The purpose of my fast was to help the mom of this family have the desire to be married to her husband. He loves the gospel and is coming to church but cannot be baptized because she doesn’t want to get married to him. The strange/best part is that they have been together for 25 years… amazing right?  So we went to teach them last night… so earlier I broke my fast at lunch. We entered the house and fantastic the whole family was together. This was miracle one. We always just teach him, the papa, and his daughter. We started teaching lesson three, which talks about getting baptized as the focus of the lesson. We arrived at the baptism part of the conversation when the daughter said something really interesting that I thought I would never hear leave her mouth. She is 22 years old and said “can you explain to me why my father cannot get baptized” the funny thing is we had explained this before… before I could respond.. She blurted out another question… “Is it ok for a Mormon and a catholic to be married?” We all laughed at little at her bluntness and her mother looked at her with a very scolding face. We then explained that there is no problem with a marriage between the two religions, that there is no rule against it. We then changed the entire focus of the lesson… about the importance of being married. The mama didn’t say anything about wanting to get married, but this was the first time that we had an opportunity to see her face when we talked about it. I think she felt a little of the spirit because the way we explained the importance of marriage. This whole experience really boosted my testimony about fasting. When we fast we are showing the lord that we have strength over our bodies, that we can humble ourselves, and live through the pains of hunger. Really it is a blessing that we have this opportunity. It may not seem that way while we are in the process of fasting… but I know that the blessings are reality. When we pray with specific concerns, we receive specific solutions.

Thank you all for all the time that you spend praying and fasting for me.  I really am able to feel the strength of the Lord and I know that I can give a little of the credit to you at home. I miss you all but know that there is no other place that I should be.

Con amor   Elder Harris

Took picture for the life-size cutout of me for the Aubrei's Wedding