E-mail (Dated: 11/27/17) TRUST THAT GOD WILL LIFT YOU

This last week was full of opportunities! It was good. It started on Monday when we arrived at our appointment with Juan, Juantia, and Josefina. They were moving around their big home tv set/cabinet with all these things in it.  imagine this; this big dresser thing is as tall as me, and they are only half my height while trying to move it around!

Then on Tuesday, we helped Gustavo with making a table and painting a big room! It was a good experience.

Wednesday, we didn´t do service, but what we went with Cristopher! He is a cousin of a member. He attended church once, and we have had two lessons with him. On our second appointment, I invited him to baptism after my companion got done explaining the importance and joy that can come from the decision and he said.... YES! So, we have his baptism date for the 16th of December.
Now, Thursday! We went with Yampol and his mom and helped them move approximately 30 boxes down a three-story building. It was good to help them. They have had a lot of financial troubles and haven´t been able to pay the rent, but they found a good place to move into, as well as find work. However, the trouble is that they will now be out of our area, so we had to pass the reference to other missionaries. But I will still be the one to baptize him with my companion, it will just be in another area. But it was so sweet. They started crying when they heard that we won´t be the missionaries to come and visit them anymore and just sent us off with a wonderful heartfelt prayer.

Also on Thursday, we were invited by Blanca to have crepes with her and with a Hermana from the ward. It was a good moment to get to know her better and to gain her confidence. On Thursday, she asked us to help her iron a few shirts, which is big because it´s her business.

Anyways, a lot of good happened. We have planned Yambol’s baptism for this Saturday, even though it will be in another area.

Also, Josefina for this Sunday and Victoria and Cristopher for the 16th of December.
Anyways, it´s a bit late so I don´t have much time to write. I will inform you all a bit more this next week. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

LOVE YOU ALL

E-mail (Dated: 11/20/2017) LET YOUR HEART GUIDE YOU

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I will admit I forgot that this week is Thanksgiving. Hermana Williamson actually reminded me. However, it got me thinking about a couple things. This week we had stake conference and had a member of the seventy come and speak. I´d like to share a couple of the thoughts he shared, as well as some thoughts from a few of the others talks.

First off, I want to ask something. What are the desires of your hearts? When he first asked this, I will be honest that I was a bit perplexed. What does this have to do with this conference and the other themes we have listened to? After a bit of thinking and listening further into his talk, I figured it out! He mentioned that the desires of our hearts will guide us in this life and will also determine what we have in this life. We will take who we are into this life into the next. Not material possessions, but ourselves. Now you might ask what is my point.... Well to put this into the mission perspective and the eternal perspective…. What are the things we should be most grateful for? What are the things we should strive for in this life? I think each and every one of us can figure this out on our own, but I´m going to get in your faces a little.
We are here to become like our Father in Heaven. We are here to grow, personally, but as well as in family. We have been sent to grow in the gospel our Father in Heaven has given us. These three things if we let them will guide us to do and find good. Why? Because if we truly love our Father in Heaven, our family, and this gospel, we will follow the steps of our Redeemer. We will make good decisions. We will attend church. We will make sure that the temple is a goal within families and marriages.

I know families and individuals here and before the mission that have seemed to lose their way from this perfect path that has been placed before them. I think as members we sometimes, more than others, drift off into the dark and dreary for nothing more than curiosity and rebellion. Then, when we finally realize it, we are too ashamed to come back. But I want to extend an invitation, the same one that Jeffery R Holland gave, “COME BACK”. There are people waiting with arms open wide to love and accept you. Nobody can fall lower than the saving hand of the Lord’s atonement.

Now, for those think they are doing alright. Stop it! Never feel comfortable with where you are at. There is a benefit in seeing your faults, not to feel bad about yourself, but more to see where we all need to improve. I´m not saying that anybody needs to feel like they are a sinner, no. But that we need to always look to improve. How can I do this? Pray, read scriptures, attend church. These are the essentials, but another is to serve. Those who stop feeling progression do so because they have stopped helping others. God is constantly giving, and who are we if we are not giving? If we are to become like Him, we need to give like Him.

As a missionary I have been thinking a lot about what I am grateful for. I am grateful for all of you. Those that love me, those that I love, those that have always been there. But more than that, I am grateful for my Father in Heaven that has given me this all and for my Savior that gave everything so that I could have everything. I love this gospel and I love the mission and for my opportunity to serve.

I just want to end by sharing just a little bit of my experiences from this week. I went on splits twice this week and it was really good.  I got to be a Dad (trainer) for a day. I took one of the new kids that arrived this last Monday. That was cool, and it was my first time being with someone new. It was both a moment of teaching and learning. The kid I was with is from Bolivia and he is a little shy. I spent most the day teaching him words used here in Mexico, teaching him how to contact and look for references. It was cool. I didn´t know if he had a good time with me or not, but yesterday we had stake conference and his companion said that he couldn´t stop talking about me the next day. So that made me feel good.

Oh, and one of my favorite moments of this week was my day in the tianguis with the other missionaries (like a mall outside). I was there almost the entire day and I contacted over 200 people, and like 600-800 with the other missionaries. It was a cool experience to have. We had a good setup for drawing people in. The Mission President came, and he gave me a good compliment of how impressed he was with me. It was good teamwork between Elder Fillmore and Elder Cardenas and Elder Moncada and the Hermanas!

The last thing I´d like to share is the lesson we had yesterday. The boy’s name is Cristo and he is fifteen. The appointment was at 8:30pm and we brought Gustavo and his wife to help us in the lesson. We arrived with information that he is very catholic. We didn´t exactly have a plan before we arrived, just that we were going to get to know him. After talking we realized he has a lot of questions of why we are here and who God is. He shared some interesting thoughts and we were able to answer them. Then Elder Macias and Gustavo and I shared a bit of where we can from and why we are here. It was awesome and went very well.

I am just thankful for these opportunities and hoping that we can keep improving. I love you all! Have a very happy Thanksgiving and remember to give thanks for what we have and who we have in this life and remember what in this life will have lasting effect.

Love,
Elder Harmon

E-mail (Dated: 11/13/2017) TEACH ONE ANOTHER

Hello my fantastic family! I am grateful for the chance that I get to talk to you all every week. Isn´t it absolutely amazing what our Father in Heaven has given us in this life? We can send a message across the world in seconds, I think this is pretty incredible. Now, I want to apply this to the message that I´m out here sharing every day. To many of us (even missionaries), it seems hard. It seems like a distant task, one that we put off until we are closer to the spirit or have more knowledge. However, as my mission leader says, ¨There are things in life we want to start and there are things that need to start. What needs to happen is to START!¨ I love this, and it´s actually something that we have been focused on all week. Just like my analogy with the internet, we can share a message with others in moments if not seconds. Many think to share something we need to be experts, but it´s those moments where we are spontaneous that can bring miracles! So I want to extend an invitation to you all to remember what our Father has given us. Thank Him in prayer, but also I ask you all to be representatives of Christ. You don´t need a name tag to share with someone the gospel. But you also don´t need to call someone to repentance. Share a smile, show your standards, be an example, offer a prayer. Little things make a difference.

For now, I´d just like to share a bit about my week. We got to visit with a lot of families. We visited with Josefina, Juanita´s sister! It was interesting. She was participating and listening and all, but when we got to the end we tried making a commitment for her to pray, but when we invited her she just looked at the photos and she started talking about them, almost as if she wasn´t all the way there. It was a bit odd. Then Juan told us that sometimes she is in and out, so we will see with her. However, she is attending church and taking the discussions. We are hoping we can get through to her to be able to set a baptism date.

We also had the chance to visit with Erandi and Ilean. They do really good to pay attention and all, but it´s so hard to get them to church. They promise that this week they will come so we will pray that they will make it.

We saw Victoria and Yampol as well. Yampol wasn´t baptized as was hoped, but we have a new date which is the 25th. We are really pushing to get him to church. It seems to be the only thing that is difficult for him. As for Victoria, she is progressing and she is attending. She is a smart little 9-year-old. You´d think she was 16 or something.

Now, we found a new investigator as well this week and his name is Cristo. We have an appointment with him on Thursday. I´m excited! He is 16 and he came to church and we are really looking forward to meeting with him.

Blanca and Nayeli and Yaneli are still progressing, but they didn´t come to church yesterday. We are going to get in contact with them tonight and set appointments! We have a lot of work to do, but we are enjoying the process.

We also got to enjoy the week by teaching our English classes, which are going great. Then we got to go with our assistants for a bit, as well as with some other Elders today. We enjoyed the day.

Some funny comments this last week:

(Walking down a road to go meet up with some Elders)
- Wow his eyes are so beautiful!
- Will you be my boyfriend?
- He is so huge

(In the church)
-Do you play for the NBA? (other person) No he can´t play for the NBA, because NBA stands for Negros Bien Altos, and he is White (wuero).
- Dad: Look honey isn´t he tall. Daughter: WHOA!

Anyways, we have a lot that we are doing and really enjoying the time in the mission! I hope you´re all amazing and have an amazing week! Love you all!

-Elder Harmon

 

E-mail (Dated: 11/6/2017) RUNNING FOR SALVATION

You are all probably wondering why my subject this week is ¨running for salvation¨ haha! I have an explanation. On Tuesday I was on divisions with my zone leader Elder Vazquez! We spent about the entire day contacting, searching for references and going to appointments. When it got dark we decided to go to a park, and at nights there are almost always people doing exercise. Anyways, we arrived and there was this 20 to 25-year-old lady running with her big pit bull. Elder Vazquez goes, “well... Elder Harmon, it´s your turn!” So, I got in her path and tried introducing who we are and she said, “I don´t have time to stop.” So... I said, “that´s no problem!” and I started running with her, even though I was terrified that her dog would eat me😱 I shared a small part of what we teach as representatives of Jesus Christ and in this moment she went and hid behind a tree trying to juke me out. In the end, I finally presented her with a card and then let her go. Haha, I felt like the guy from the best two years! But this is what we do as missionaries!

We have a saying when we contact. 1st try is their salvation, 2nd try is our salvation, and 3rd try is just to annoy them! But I love it, I love the mission!

Anyways. You all probably want to know about what happened with our baptisms! So, they fell through... but the good thing is that we put new dates on the calendar!! Yampol and his mom just are going through a tough financial crisis right now and she wasn´t able to have work off for his baptism, and so we got a date that works, which is the 13th of this month!!! Then, for the Hernandez boys, we changed their date to the 25th of this month! Also for this month, we have another date for the 25th of this month for a girl named Victoria! In addition, we are setting 6 more dates this month, for Blance, then Elane and Elane, the other twins, and Juanita's sister! So, we have a lot of work to do!

We just had transfers as well and we stay the same! This will be good because Elder Macias and I get along great and we will be able to finish the work we started together. We just pray that we will have the spirit with us and that it will testify to these people to help guide them to this truth!

We also had a conference with Elder Pino from the Seventy and it went really well. He talked a lot about our callings and how we have been called. He also mentioned how success it not based upon your baptisms, your contacts or anything. It´s about your effort. If we are giving our best, if we are giving our maximum, we are having success, because it means we are giving it all to the Lord.

We learn not to glory in ourselves, but rather to give glory to our Father in Heaven.

I have been blessed this week to have prayed to my Heavenly Father for help and guidance, and I will say that he gave me just that. I also see that it isn´t just me, but you all as well! Thank you all for sharing your experiences and love!

I love you all!

Have a great and lovely week,

-Elder Harmon