First few letters/emails from out in the field

Hello All:

Well, we received a letter from Kyle from the mission home. It said:

Well, I got here just fine. I'm sorry I had to end the airport phone call so quickly but we actually had to run down the terminal and they still had to radio and ask them to open the gate again so it's a good thing we hurried. On the plane from Phoenix to Pittsburgh I sat next to a traveling pilot and his daughter. Their names were Dave and Summer. It was a much longer ride than SLC to Phoenix so we lots of time to talk about a lot of things. At first when Dave realized we were Mormons he gave his daughter the "danger" sign, but once we got to talking they were much more comfortable. We got their address and told them we would look them up and I gave Summer a pass-along card.

When we got to Pittsburgh we drove to Mount Washington to look at the views of the city. When we pulled up, there were two guys outside the bridge to the city overlook and the assistants asked who was gonna go talk to them. At first, we were all nervous but then Elder Sowards and I jumped up. I've realized that I'm not very good at contacting, but every time I do bad, it makes me want to do better next time, so that's good.

I love you all!
Elder Harrison

We also received a letter after he'd been out a few days that told us that his trainer is Elder Christensen from SLC and that they get along great and have a lot in common. They are in Waynesboro, PA which is in the south central part of PA near Maryland. He also said,

"Elder Christensen and most everyone in my district are very health conscious. They drink protein shakes all the time. My goal to be more healthy was to drink fewer sodas so...I may be healthier than I planned." He said he'd taught several discussions and it was going really well.

Then today we received the following email with a picture of him and his trainer attached:

Hi Mommy!!

I don't have a stupid timer and Elder Christensen gets lots of email so this shouldn't be hard to write anything and everything at all!! We go to the Family History Center at the church so no one to bug us. No impossible time limit. I feel like I'm cheating some how, this is so good.

I'm glad you got all my letters and I'll definitely start putting dates on them. And I was bummed to hear that it takes so long to get my mail forwarded from the Mission Home. I'm desperate for some mail!

So, I'm in Waynesboro! I'm in the Fairview ward and...I don't know what else to tell you. You can google the chapel and stuff or anything. The roads are windy and up and down over hills. Its ridiculously green and I love it. People thought I would freak out because its nothing like New Mexico, flat and huge skies, but I love it here.

It's interesting because, I'm not really homesick because I'm too busy. I don't sleep very well and I do want to exercise so we get up at 5:55 every morning (not against the rules, we checked) and then we work all day. We have SO MANY PEOPLE TO TEACH. I think we have 6 or 7 repetitive investigators, 4 or 5 really solid potentials (people that we've talked to on the street who seemed really interested) and then two HUGE binders full of people who were former investigators (took some lessons) and promising potentials (just people who lost contact with the missionaries). There is no time to waste because this area has been really well worked over. The seeds have been planted everywhere. We just REALLY need to reap. 

Anytime I think about breaking a rule or whatever, my mind literally presents the thought "where does your heart really stand?" What are my desires? And I know that nothing is worth wasting this opportunity.

We talked to a German Baptist the other day. Kind of like a break off of Mennonites (Amish) but those religions are apparently different. But they all have black hats and beards. It was interesting, the man we talked to said that they didn't place their salvation in their beard any more than we placed our salvation in our ties. It was really interesting for me to think of it that way. We really connected. And he wasn't antagonistic at all, just interested in how we would answer his questions. He asked us things like do we believe in a Heavenly Mother? And do we really think we can become Gods? Polygamy. Etc. And Elder Christensen pointed something out to me. Because, in answering his questions, we went rather in depth with the doctrine we knew and were very honest because he wasn't looking for conversion. He was looking for information. And so Elder Christensen told me that if we had refused to talk about those things, it would seem like were ashamed of our beliefs but instead, now he knows that we have faith in the things we teach and are willing to do whatever it takes to help others come to Christ.

It's ridiculous that I've only been in the field for a week and I only hit my one month mark in two days. It feels like forever! I've lost 5 pounds since getting out in the field. All the walking and eating cheap. Not even eating healthy! I just don't want to spend any money on fattening stuff so I've lost weight. But I don't think I'm starving or dropping below the healthy eating choices. Elder Christensen is keeping a good eye on me. I think if I get really dedicated to exercising and not eating a lot of garbage, I could be in really good shape when I get home. Speaking of which, I tried to send you a picture of me and Elder Christensen, did it work?  I've already told him that I am by no means converted to his Pagan ways of eating and exercising, but I have learned a lesson in this area. When we got here, I was SO tired when I woke up and I'm still not sleeping very well. The first two days, I struggled to stay awake every second of the day. I was so tired, that I would wake up and then lay down to do crunches and fall asleep. But we were reading in the White Handbook and it said we were supposed to exercise and I realized I was being disobedient in not exercising. So I started exercising. And it gets my blood flowing and its so much easier for me to stay awake.

So Elder Christensen is from Salt Lake City, graduated the same year as me and just didn't go to school before. Been out for 8 months.

Here's a picture of me and Elder Christensen. 

I really like him. We're very similiar and I think we will stay friends for the rest of my mission and I definitely want to look him up when I get back home. I can't think of a lot of examples but all the time, I'll say something about myself or he will or we'll come up with an idea for a lesson and the most common phrase used for us together is "ME TOO." So we get along really well and have a lot to talk about while driving. In case I haven't said before, we have a car but we have limited miles so we try to walk as much as possible. There are only 2 bike missions in Pittsburgh. Also, while were in that area, I will try to find an Elder Nielson, but the Mission spans everything in Pennsylvania except Philidelphia I recently found out. HUGE spans of land and Elder Christensen said that he hasn't seen some of the guys he came out with the whole time, so I'll keep my eyes out.

Someone once told me that going on a mission is the biggest decision IN your life. But we don't think so. I think that GOING on a mission is the biggest decision FOR your life. The things you learn on your mission, the habits you develop, are the biggest decision IN your life. You and Dad helped me get to the point where I could to go on my mission and in so doing, you drastically effected the rest of my life for the better. There is NO WHERE I would rather be right now. I love the people we teach and I feel like I've grown so much just in the last month.

Speaking of my investigators, I never realized how heart breaking it is when one of them breaks their promise. We had an older woman named Trudy who we call Grandma Trudy and shes been taught by like, 6 or 7 sets of missionaries and shes finally making progress! (Sidenote: Thats kind of how it is with all of our investigators. I show up and they're just on the verge of finally progressing through no real effort of my own...I kind of feel like I'm cheating) But anyways, she said she would go to church on Sunday and I was so excited and we waited and waited...and she never showed up! It broke my heart. I wanted so much for her to keep moving and keep growing...and she stopped. I cant wait to get back, talk to her again and make sure shes still fired up...and if I feel this bad, I can't imagine how Christ must feel. We are much more connected in each others lives than we realize.

Lately, we've been having experiences where they feel like coincidences, but theres NO WAY things work out this perfectly. We were tracting and we saw a hispanic guy moving into his apartment (perfect opportunity. They cant leave their stuff so even if they say no to your offer to help you can still talk to them) so we started to talk to him and he kind of nodded his head but didn't say much. Finally, we asked him a question and he nodded his head... We asked it again and he kept nodding his head... "Do you speak english?" And he nodded his head. "Or do you just speak spanish?" And he nodded his head...He knew three words in English. Yes, Ok and Yeah. He was a very agreeable man, but we weren't really making any progress. We brought him a Spanish restoration pamphlet and when we left, we were fired up to either learn spanish within the next week or pray hard for the gift of tounges. We were determined to teach this man, whatever it took. Elder Christensen thought of a Less Active member who had a husband who spoke spanish. So we decided to go see if they could offer help. (Her husband wasn't a member, so we figured we could use him AND teach him). We started talking to her and she told us about how she hadn't been active since she was 18 because she never felt welcome. And then 4 TIMES, the missionaries had come by to talk to her, she had said they could come back and she even got EXCITED to talk to them and the missionaries NEVER SHOWED UP or even called her! It made me so mad! Hers this perfect woman, excited to learn things and they didn't follow through! We promised that she could call us, we would work through anything if we could come back, not even to teach, just to rebuild her trust in the missionaries.

The point we took away from that was that sure, it might be exciting to put together a lesson plan in spanish and we are still going to try and teach Antonio (thats his name) but that whole process was TOO PERFECT to be a coincidence. We are supposed to help Laura (the name of the Less Active member). We promised she could call us so we wont push her, but I wrote her name in the bottom of every day in my planner for the next week to keep her in my mind. I will NOT let her slip through the cracks. She deserves better.

I am so grateful for the guidance of the spirit. I know I could never do this alone. I want to do everything I can to make sure I'm worthy to follow the promptings of the spirit and find those individuals the Lord has prepared for us.

So...thats all I've got.

Ok. WOW! I just reread that. I can kind of see why we had email timers at the MTC. Although, it only took me 24 minutes to write... but I wrote alot! I'm sorry! If no one wants to read all that, I can definitely start planning my emails more so they can be more condensed. I know I ramble. I always try to answer all the questions I have so I think I did that...If theres anything else let me know.

Ya. Make sure you keep me updated on which one of my sibilings has a child first, how Shelby's doing in High School (once she gets there) and in sports. I brag about Shelby all the time. All the sports and instruments and stuff. Elder Christensen has a sister who wants to be a recording artist but I still think my little sister could beat up his little sister anyday...that needs to be a bumper sticker... And let me know about the fires. If I hear Albuquerque is on fire and you guys haven't told me, you will get the strongest worded letter AND email you've ever yet encountered.

Alright, I love you guys! Again...sorry I wrote so much. If theres anything that no ones really interested in, I can cut that stuff out. Or Mom, you can cut out boring stuff before you send it out.  And I love you Mom!!!

Ok, lots o love.

Bye!!!

Sincereiously,

Elder Harrison

UPDATE!!

So starting today, Kyle is officially in PENNSYLVANIA!


From here on out, only use the mission address located on the left hand side of the page to write to Kyle. You can still use the DearElder.com website that we talked about before, but it'll now cost $.44 each time, just the cost of a stamp.


Thanks guys! Kyle really appreciates your love, support, and prayers.

Last MTC Week!

Hello everyone!

Once again, that timer kills me! It ticks away so fast.

Also, writing letters really is complicated with everyone and dearelders and stuff because you guys can write faster so I answer questions in letters and then you ask again cause you can write faster. I just want everyone to feel loved! Oh well.

That’s a bummer about the fires. There are SO MANY! There’s a sister in my district who was talking about the fire in Los Alamos. Thats crazy about the Balloon Fiesta park thing. WHY WOULD THEY DO FIREWORKS THIS YEAR?!?! Crazy.

So, I'm sorry if I repeat myself in these emails or my letters. Its just hard because I don't have copies of the things that I sent so I don't know what I've said. But one thing I forgot to tell you last week was that my first Sunday (I think) we heard Elder Bednar speak about how to be a Preach My Gospel missionary and Elder Sowards and I sang in the choir. It was great. Always is to hear from an apostle!

And, I have seen Chace [Kyle’s cousin] and I've also seen 8 or 9 guys from my floor at BYU! That was really exciting. We're all going to take a picture together on Friday before I leave. It will be cool to see how much we all change in two years!

I've gotten lots of letters from people so that been great. And thus far I've appreciated every one of them. It makes me bummer that I can't write back more but I definitely understand the limit on communication. Just today, I've been trying to work out everything I'm going to write. I've been writing to Becca and then I got a letter from Chad that was really cool. And then I got a letter from Linlea. Again, I would love to hear about what Heath experienced being District Leader. I'm always curious if I'm actually doing a good job. For the last few days, I've been trying to talk to everyone individually and make sure that anyone who wants a blessing before they leave gets one, or if anyone just needs to vent, I'm trying to help them with that too.

So Mom, you want to know what a normal day is like? I'm not sure! Haha. We were talking about this in our DIstrict and we got here at a weird time. This Sunday will actually be our first normal Sunday schedule. But usually, its filled with eating, going to 3 hour chunks of class and Zone teaching where we pretend to teach others in our Zone. Speaking of which, I had a very humbling experience yesterday. In Zone teaching, (seeing as how I'm an ACT-TOR, I always think I'm really good at being a pretend investigator) and yesterday, we taught two Elders who have only been here for four days. One of them came in very cocky and I figured I would humble him with a challenging investigator. So I told them my concern was that I had a problem with painkillers and didn't intend to stop. This Elder immediately started in to accuse me, asking where I got them and if I knew I was breaking the law! I immediately countered with raising my voice, furrowing my brow and saying, "Excuse me? Are you here to judge me or bring me closer to God? I don't need more judgement and if thats what you're here for, I don't want you here." The cocky Elder immediately shut down and the other one had to take over, giving a very generic Word of Wisdom lesson. At the end, the Elder began to cry, stating that he had seen the deadly effects of drugs in his life and he knew that wasn't the way to get closer to God. I felt awful. I apologized for overreacting but wanted this to be a teaching opportunity. I told him that his testimony was so powerful and he just needed to make the investigator feel loved, not judged. But I felt so bad for going so hard on him and it made me realize that I have weaknesses too and there will be people that are hard for me to help. I still see that Elder all the time and we're good friends now. He's doing ok and I know we both learned a lot from that experience.

  

I know I'm jumping around, but I only have ten minutes left. This is like the hardest test I've ever taken.

So last week, somebody mistook Elder Resse's bag for theirs and took it. So he had to go to Zone teaching WITHOUT HIS SCRIPTURES!! It was the most terrifying thing ever. For the next week, I took my scriptures everytime I went to the bathroom or to get water. I'm so terrified of losing my scriptures...pray for me on that one.

   

Oh dang! Quick story, so on Sunday we heard from Jenny Oaks Baker who is the daughter of Dallin H. Oaks and shes a professional violinist so obviously I though of Shelby. She has such a strong testimony of the gospel and it made me think of Shelby because Shelby has always taken on any challenge of difficulty with impossible faith. I always struggled with that and I'm so proud that she can continue on with faith unwavering.

So, I learned to shave really fast because if I start shaving at 6:20 (before people should be getting up normally and the showers are all empty) and I get done at 6:25, EVERY SHOWER IS FULL...The MTC is SO crowded. Whats up with all these people wanting to serve the Lord? And don't even get me started on the Laundry room!

I love President Topham! I feel like we don't have much to talk about because he's an engineer but I'm sure I'm going to love him! He was so nice and loving.

  

Also, I only have 4 minutes left but there was a time in class when I was teaching and we were supposed to focus on teaching by the spirit and my teacher kept stopping me and I was getting so frustrated. Finally, I just said only whatever came to mind, ignoring the textbook answers I knew and then I got emotional. He took me outside and told me that I had taught by the spirit! I couldn't get my emotions under control and I said, I'm sorry I'm such a pansy and he said always be grateful for that gift! Crying is the spirits way of telling you and everyone around that the HOLY GHOST IS IN THE ROOM!!

It was so great

  

I love everyone and I'm so grateful I have such a supportive family! Remember, after this Sunday, send me letters at the mission home address instead of the MTC!! Ok, byue!!!...Byue....dang it...lets see...B-Y-E!!!!

Week 1 in the MTC

Hello everyone!!

I only have 30 minutes to write (literally there's a timer going...it's like mission impossible.) So I'm trying to get through everything but if I run out of time, I'll make another list of things I want to say next time!!

The MTC is crazy. Its crowded and busy and crazy, filled with ridiculous people. Some ridiculously spiritual. Some ridiculously annoying. But I've had a great series of spiritual ups and downs. One of the best things I've experienced (I think I wrote about this before but I can never remember) is when our District was sharing our testimonies and a Sister started to cry and then I started to cry because I had been feeling like I didn't know what I was doing. Then in my heart and in my mind, I kept feeling the same phrase over and over again. "There's a reason I came out here." And I know thats true. A Branch President in our Zone was speaking in sacrament and he said "Why should your selfish desires rob someone of their experience with the true gospel?" And thats true. I might be homesick and discouraged sometimes but that thats nothing compared to the suffering that Christ suffered for me and I owe it to him to work as hard as I can.

So surprisingly, I mentioned there being two talkers in our Pittsburgh group and it ISN'T ME! Elder Reese and Elder Sowards never stop talking about trucks, guns, everything hickish and in addition, video games. Elder Bennet and I sit awkwardly in the cafeteria and stare at our food. But we've all been trying to eat as a District so we've all been getting a lot better. We also go out during Gym and play games together. We're bonding and I'm leading the bonding. They're the glue but I'm the orange tip! There's an object lesson in there, right?

It was funny, one night Elder Sowards said he wanted to go to a pawnshop when we got to Pennsylvania and buy a guitar. I told him to look on the corners and he didn't care to respond... I think I confused him.

Everything is moving so fast! I keep saying "the weeks will feel like days and the days will feel like weeks!" Every day takes forever but I feel like everything is moving so fast, and the other Elders walk SO SLOW!!

Last night we had a Devotional from one of the seventy and he said that we need to love our mission president. And then Brother Stice (of my Branch Presidency, who is exactly like Brother Steele) but anyway, Brother Stice said that his son made the decision to follow and support his mission president NO MATTER WHAT! And that we can't go wrong when we follow him and I'm so excited to start developing that relationship. Also, that same President in Sacrament talked about a missionary who didn't tell his companion he was going home until the day he was scheduled to leave. That's cool!

Ya, I have a huge list of stuff left and only 18 minutes! I won't finish everything, but I guess I don't need to!

  

I feel so bad for not writing to Heath and Chad more now because being in the MTC, I've realized that getting letters is like crack!...but not the bad kind of crack...its like candy...but very addictive candy... but no bad side effects. Ya. I feel so prepared because I had Chad, Dad and Heath all helping me out, but there’s nothing that can prepare you for the literal assault on your soul you feel whenever you feel anything that sets you back. In class the other day, we were just practicing invitations to read the Book of Mormon and I literally couldn't say anything because I was on the verge of tears. My tongue was literally bound. But the class all took a break and one of my teachers, Brother McQuay came and talked to me and showed me 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 about Paul feeling week and trembling. It really helped me realize that I don't have to be perfect. The importance of this work doesn't rest on my shoulders, but thousands of missionaries and the specific testimony and teaching will come only through the spirit.

I feel like I've changed SO much in just a week, I can't imagine what I'll be like in 2 years. I'm very excited. I'm always trying to work as hard as I can and be a good example to my District, but sometimes I lose sight of whats really important. We were watching a movie with the whole MTC about the testimony of the apostles. It was the one from way back when, when they show up all over the world and Neal A. Maxwell is in it and then at the end they're all standing by the Christus. Right after the movie, I tried to get Elder Sowards to get up so we could leave and get to planning early but he said "we shouldn't leave before the prayer" and up until that, I had been so anxious all day. But I sat down feeling stupid for thinking we could leave and the feeling of knowing that I was where I was supposed to be, I felt fine! It was great. I love Elder Sowards and all the experiences I'm having.

I'm running out of time, but I have just a few more things.

There's an Elder in my zone named Elder Fakai who is a professional Rugby player from Australia. I thought Dad might find that interesting. He told me he eats Americans and asked if I was an American and I said unfortunately, I was a Pittsburghian, so he would have to find his dinner somewhere else. He talks to me a lot now, so thats a plus...or maybe hes just sizing me up.

  

I love everyone and I'm so excited for everything I'm getting to do. I can't wait to get out in the field and experience real teaching. We were supposed to experience our kind of first lesson tomorrow but the Elders ahead of us in line at the TRC took 40 MINUTES TO TEACH!! They had better have gotten a baptism out of that guy, because we had to miss our appointment.

Also, to answer your question about church, its usually separated into Branches but last week was Mission Presidents Seminar and next week is Fast Sunday with MTC Conference, so I'll only see one or two normal Sundays in the MTC so I cant really explain it that well!

  

Ok, No time.

  

I'll talk to you all real soon! Thank you so much!

Love,

- Elder Harrison