E-mail (Dated: 8/28/2017) MY FEET HURT!

Ha-ha, so I had two in grown toe nails this last week that I had taken out. What a great way to start off the week right? The doctor was like yup these are infected all right, and says I`m going to put them to sleep with some shots (4 per toe) and then said, “This is going to hurt!” I have some good videos of this for you all to see, so don`t worry. But yeah so on Tuesday we didn`t end up leaving the house, but I got back to work on Wednesday. 

This last week we had a lot of fun and spiritual moments. I would like to share some of them. 

We found a family of five this last week to teach, but in our appointment, we only had about 2 come to the lesson. Their names are Laura and Maria Juana and they are sisters-in-law. We decided to teach lesson one. I will admit it is probably the hardest one for me to teach and I get a little bit nervous teaching it. But not this time. If you all remember the last time I taught this lesson was with Anel in Silao. There was a similar spirit in this lesson. I started out and I no longer felt shaky, and the words I was looking for seemed to come to me easily and I was able to teach with power. Now when I say with power, it’s not the power of my own, but the power of our Eternal Father. His spirit entered the lesson and we were able to draw from it to teach these two about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Truly amazing, especially when we got to tell them about a young boy who at 14 years of age went exactly to where he knew he could find an answer, which is to our Heavenly Father. We will go back this next week to visit with them on Wednesday. I am getting excited. 

We then taught Daniela who is 26 and her parents are recent converts. She is married, but living with her parents because when she told her husband she wants to be baptized, since he is a strong Catholic, he told her that she had to make a choice to either be with him or be baptized. When we had the lesson with her, we had not known that about her husband. We taught L3 which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During the lesson we faced all sorts of distraction…dogs barking, alarms going off outside, phone calls, but just like with the baptism of Francisco, though Satan was trying to throw all things our way, we kept the spirit and taught a great lesson and invited her to baptism which she accepted and she will be baptized this Saturday. I just imagine what kind of faith it must take to be in the situation she is in to choose to follow the savior. 

Now, just a quick thing. This Saturday we will have the baptism of Juanita and Daniela. We are so excited and I ask that you can keep them in your prayers that they may be able to push through the week, as we know Satan will try to drive them away. 

I love you all and I am doing well. If you need anything let me know! 

With Love, 

Elder Harmon

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E-mail (Dated: 8/21/2017) CIMATARO

So, wow, a great week here in my new area. It is very different from Silao but good! We spent the week contacting and getting to know the area and also in lessons and doing service.

We actually had a baptism this last Saturday for a 9-year-old named Gael and it was really cool. He is a funny kid and his parents are recent converts. Elder Macias baptized him, but I had the chance to confirm him and bestow the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was my first time and I will admit I was a little scared, but it went well and the spirit filled the room.

Also, this week I taught the class on Sunday all by myself. That was new for me but it was good. Tears were shed by many, hearts were softened and most importantly the spirit was the teacher and I learned a lot myself.

The members here are very helpful, welcoming and they give us a ton of referrals. We are out and about teaching and preaching every night until almost 10 PM. Actually, we were out until almost 11 PM two different nights doing service and our zone leaders had to get after us, ha-ha. It all worked out though. I love the new area. Also, my companion and I are doing good.

I miss the people of Silao, but I will see them again, right now it´s my time to help those that are here.

My companion is Elder Macias and he is from here in Mexico in the city Juarez Chihuahua. He can understand a lot of English, but can´t speak English ha-ha. He is my friend from another other zone and a good missionary. He is the district leader here in my area.

Let me know if there is more I can tell you guys!

Love, Elder Harmon

P.S. I lost my fear of contacting completely. We contact around 30 people daily and actually 50 in one day. We split it up evenly so I have been learning different forms on how to talk with people, very cool! I also contacted 3 people that lived in the states!

E-mail (Dated: 8/14/2017) The Walk To New Things, And A See You Soon Then To The Past

Wow, six months in Silao and now it´s over. I feel very blessed for the time that I have had here. My testimony grew and I made so many strong relationships in this wonderful city. Now, I´m moving on to another trial and another journey of the mission.

This last week I had the chance to find four new investigators and one from the past. One of these is Anel, and the others are a family named Family Nuñez. We passed by Anel on Thursday to talk and to teach her. We taught lesson 3, and can I just say that Morales and I have learned to teach really well with each other. We taught not only with the spirit but also with testimony and unity. We got to invite her again to think about baptism and to make that decision when she is ready. I also told her that it was my last lesson I would be able to have with her. They were pretty sad to hear that. They gave us cake and milk and just talked with us for a bit. I have been teaching her for six months, so it was pretty hard to say goodbye.

As for the family Nuñez, our lesson was more accidental. We got confused with phone calls and the lesson was supposed to be canceled. I explain more in my recording. We showed up and the mom that we had made the appointment with said she had to go to work, but she would like for us to stay and teach her kids and friend. So, we decided to stay and talk. After getting to know them we decided it´d be best to teach about God and how he is our Heavenly Father and with that teach point number two which is the family. It turns out that the friend actually doesn’t believe in God. However, after we taught with clarity, conviction, promise and the spirit, you could tell that it changed their way of thinking. They want us to come back aka Morales because I am no longer there and to hear more. That was awesome and I wish Morales all the luck in the world.

Now as for transfers. I received them. I got called to the Queretaro Cimartario area with Elder Macias, who is my past district leader. I will admit the new area is a really a huge city haha. Very different than what I am used to. I had the opportunity to come here today and I have a lot going through my mind. It really is so different and I feel a bit overwhelmed, but I will be good.

I had to say my goodbyes and such on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday however, I mostly spent it with the family Ibarra. I passed by and they wanted to take us out to eat so we went to a little restaurant and then went back to their house and took pictures. To say goodbye was hard. I will admit I had a bit of water works, but I have no shame because that´s why I´m here--to bring people to Christ and also to give my heart to the people. I´m already missing my area and man am I looking forward to the day I can go back and visit.

On Sunday, we passed by a lot of other members. It was really a difficult day. I explain about every one with my voice recording but as for writing I´m just going to tell about one more and that is Francisco. I was helping him fill out his tithing slip and then Morales took that time to tell him that I would be leaving. In that moment, he said, “you´re leaving me?” and I said, “yes, I have to go”. He then leaned over and just wrapped me in his arms and said, “thank you, thank you for everything.” I am grateful to him and to all of those that I got to know. It is beyond hard saying goodbye to those I have become family with, but I hope I can continue that kind of experience in all my areas.

Well, that is the gist of the week. I love you all and take care!

Love,
Elder Harmon

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E-mail (Dated: 8/7/2017) SO GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?! FRANCISCO WAS BAPTIZED!

SO GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?! FRANCISCO WAS BAPTIZED!

I want to focus on Francisco's baptism for the first part of my message. We got up Saturday morning and got some stuff done and then at about 12:45 we went to the church to get it ready for Francisco's baptism. Once it was all clean we went to fill up the font, but no water came out. We searched and searched for ways to find out what was going on. Turns out the tanks were empty and the tank also was having some issues so it wasn´t filling up all the way. So, we literally found buckets and ropé and used the tank as kind of a well. We fished out the water and dragged it to the font. We did this for about one and a half hours and then we got news that the member assigned to pick up Francisco could no longer go pick him up, and he lives 45 minutes away. On top of that, it started pouring rain and the baptismal clothing was up on our roof drying after I had washed them:( So, we were just facing all sorts of odds and the water was still was very low in the font.

I decided to call President Williamson and asked if he was close enough to help. He said he was. He picked me up and we went together to get Francisco and my companion stayed with the President's son and friend to finish filling the font. When we arrived to pick up Francisco, he was there waiting for me. We got him in the car and I got to just talk to him one-on-one for about an hour and then we arrived and had the service. We had two great talks by Hno Pachico and President Williamson. I will be honest, when President started talking, I started tearing up because he started talking about how proud he was to see Francisco be baptized and how long we have all been waiting. I have 6 months here about in Silao and Francisco was my first investigator. I´ve never given up on him and I´ve prayed day and night for him over these last few months. When he entered the water and I pulled him out it was truly amazing. He was glowing and was so happy. At the end, he bore his testimony for the first time and it was just so cool to see the change from this first time that I arrived. You all should´ve seen him when he entered into the church yesterday. He was walking like a new man and the first thing he asked us is to how to pay his tithing. I know he will be a strong convert and I am so happy for him and so honored that I was able to be here and to perform the ordinance. I truly feel blessed.

Last week we visited a lot with the members. Those who have been less active and some with investigators but more with members. You know, I am going to miss Silao. I have a connection with the people here and I feel so blessed to know them all. This is my last week here and I know part of my heart will stay.

I went to the doctor in Queretaro and I have parasites and I got prescribed some medication so I hope to start to improve, but I´m good and I love you all!

Hang on to hope and remember if you have faith and are diligent and you trust in the Lord, quite literally anything is possible!

Love you all

Elder Harmon

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