August 1st

Hello Hello!

 

So many questions... So many answers!! Haha. Um..Yesterday, we had a slow day at church. We expected 4 or 5 investigators and only got 3. This whole week has been rough but its been a huge testimony builder that God will give us a good week and inspire us to be good missionaries and then test us to see if we'll be good missionaries even when things aren't going so well. We had a lot of cancelled appointments and Greg Henry was set for August 13th to get baptized but his parents are hard core against it so he didn't want to make them mad and he went to their church yesterday. He still wants to get baptized but because of the 3 times going to church rule, we have to push his baptism back. BUT, we set Josh Swope with August 13th as his day to get baptized instead! We told him we could do it either the 13th or the 20th and he said "the 13th. I want to do this as soon as possible!' So we started the Quit Smoking program with him on Saturday and he has to be clean for 14 days before he can be baptized and the 12th will be day 14.

 

It was actually rather shocking. Sunday morning in ward council, we told them about Josh's baptism and then in sacrament they announced they would be having the ward pool party and picnic the same day...we were like, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! I was really concerned about it but that night we ate dinner at the bishops house and as soon as he heard that he said, "We'll change the day of the party. We know our priorities." So that was super cool! We're actually going to try and see if we can do it Friday the 12th because Josh wants to do it ASAP anyways so that will be cool!

 

Oh, so that marking set you got me? It was like blue with a highlighter and pen in it? It is literally the perfect set for Preach My Gospel. I'm going about marking Preach My Gospel with the same fervor that I did the Book of Mormon in seminary. Its awesome. And I used Mosiah 24 and D&C 121 in a lesson about asking for help! It was super cool.

 

Its funny out here, Elder Christensen and I ate at a Mexican restaurant and on the front of the menu, it had a warning that basically said "Not all Mexican food is hot. It can be prepared like normal food." So apparantly the Pennsylvanians are so scared of spicy food, they need to be reassured its...normal? Ha. I actually eat all the spicy stuff out here. Its not near as weird as at home. I'm trying a lot of new things and I drink a lot of water. I'm losing weight but not enough to jack up my clothes. And Elder Christensen and I started a new "spartacus" workout. I haven't been this sore since the first day of wrestling when I was a Freshmen. And hes super gung-ho about it, very intense. He strongly desires six pack abs to the point where he rarely accepts desert anywhere...I really just want ice cream. Sigh. But hes convinced me to be a little bit more healthy...Sigh. I don't like it. But I guess its good for me.

 

We had one on one interviews with President Topham this week. I guess this is the third time he's toured the mission in like the last month! Crazy!

 

I love the greenie package you sent! I especially liked the water bottle and the floss things. I don't think I had ever seen those before so it was super awesome to get those. It just added to the heavy amounts of green I already see in the hills and the trees up here! The card in the package also made me laugh! And the little notebooks! Basically, if I could get one of those every few months I would greatly appreciate it! I love getting those! I also got letters from Lauraun, Matt, Linlea and Heath and...oh, Sis. Begay? Not Joan, but Karen. She talked about really liking to read my blog. So that was exciting.

 

Thats awesome about Shelby taking Organ Lessons! She could play in sacrament! That would be soo cool!! Its definitely one of those numerous things where Mom and Dad could say I told you so that every missionary out here (including me) wishes they could play the piano and a lot of them try to teach themselves. But skills like that are SO awesome to have! Its crazy to look back at all the things I've given up. Bummer. Speaking of raising children, so apparantly the Bishop up here made his son move out as soon as he turned 19... like, hes living with members and moving around to different houses paying rent and he just sent in his mission papers. And we heard the Bishop saying he would NEVER co-sign anything with his kids. We thought that was super harsh. Its crazy all the different parenting styles you see out here.

 

I don't know if I already told this story but its my only "memorable" story so far Haha. We knocked on this door and this guy came out and said we didn't need to bother, he was agnostic. And we said "Oh, ok. So you do believe in some higher power though?" And he said "I do not believe in some mythical being that controls the masses." We were stopped at that...he obviously didn't know what agnostic means. He started to turn around and I said "So you believe that people are successful in life based on their own decisions right?" And he said "Yes, just like I'm making the decision to close this door." And we said "Have a good day sir!" With big smiles on our faces.

 

We've also had people drive down and shout out "DEVIL!" or "SATAN!" My favorite response to that is "You too!" or "Thank you!" We're never really sure if they're just stating a fact or they have turrets... A lot of people think we're crazy or magic or magically crazy. I've heard stories about people who won't look us in the eye because they think we can still their soul and convert them if they make eye contact. There are like, 200 churches in Waynesboro and it is definitely not a big place! There is even one church called the "Otterbein" that actually teaches anti-Mormon seminars! I would be interested to know the route of the word Otterbein. Any ideas?

 

I actually enjoy the crazier people because hopefully they get to see that we're not crazy! That talk that you told me about sounded awesome! We're actually trying really hard right now to work on the ward council and invigorate member missionary work with them, helping them and giving them the tools necessary! I would love a copy of that talk if you feel so inclined.

 

We did 15.5 hours of "Finding" this last week. The usual goal is like 14. Its funny that we did like 8 hours last week and got 6 new investigators and 15 this week and no new investigators. I feel like maybe those numbers don't correlate. President Hinckley said finding is really just a last resort. The better way to do missionary work is through the members! I'm definitely grateful to have grown up in a missionary minded home but theres always so much we can do! People here are so afraid of ruining their relationships! If people cant get over the fact that you were trying to make them happier, then they're probably not great friends and if they DO accept the message, they'll be eternally grateful!

 

I love you guys and I've had nothing but good experiences thus far! The easy ones are exciting and the hard ones are rewarding! I did stub my toe this morning...that was neither exciting nor rewarding. BUT...mostly nothing but goodness.

 

As far as big hitting investigators, I was wondering if you guys could pray for 3 people specifically.

- Josh Swope: Quit smoking successfully and feel welcome at church

- Seanna Walker: Get an answer to her prayer and want to get baptized

- Greg Henry: Be able to soften his parents hearts or figure out a way to still get baptized

 

I would appreciate it!

 

I keep forgetting to bring my camera. I promise I'll email some pictures home soon. I just need to take some...Haha. I have quite a few from the MTC but not a lot out here. I'll try to take some this week!

 

I hope I answered all your questions and if not, definitely I'll try next week.

 

Thanks to everyone for the support!

 

Love you guys,

- Elder Harrison