Conference in the Canaries

April 3, 2017

[Week of March 27 - April 2]

Tuesday and Wednesday - Well I had some more migraines and didn't really get to do much. I don't really know what the deal is with them but they come and go every once and a while. So we pretty much just chilled in Piso. I slept like 17 hours on Tuesday.

Elders Ward & Harris

Thursday - Today was awesome, we got to go and do service again at Paco and Nati's house. We are still working on the roofing and some clearing out of old stuff. It was really fun. I love that in this area we get to do so much service! This is my only area where I can say we've done service basically every week. After service we went home and did studies and went to bed because we have to catch a 8:30 flight to Tenerife.

House we're working on

Elders Harris, Pulotu & Douglas

Friday - Today we had zone conference in Tenerife. It was really great! We saw the new Easter initiative video, Prince of Peace. It is amazing! If you haven't seen it I challenge you to watch it. It has a great message and it isn't very long. As well, if you could share it on Social media that would be awesome. It's an easy thing to do, and it will help people to know that we are Christians and that we believe in the same Savior everyone does. Today was actually my first time in Tenerife and I loved it. The island is so green and beautiful. It's more humid than our island but it would definitely be worth coming back and trying to see the cool stuff on it.

Saturday - So today we caught a 7 a.m. Flight back to Fuerteventura. We had to get up at 5 a.m. and then try to catch a taxi to the airport because there is not a bus that early in the morning. We got to the airport at about 6 and waited to take off. I love that we get to fly around so much and try out all the other islands. It's a blessing of being on your own island. We watched conference today and it was Amazing! I don't know if I have a favorite talk but I really loved all of it. Seriously it was a spiritual feast for the World. I can't believe when I was younger I didn't like watching it or paying attention. We watched both of the Saturday day sessions today and tomorrow we will watch Priesthood and the other two sessions tomorrow.

Sunday - Today was really good as well, the sessions of conference were amazing. My favorite talk overall was Dale G. Renlund's talk. Although I also really enjoyed the talks by D Todd and Dallin H. Oaks. The whole thing was great and to hear the announcement of new temples was cool. If there was a general theme I would have to say that I think it is building personal testimonies of the basics and striving to become like Christ. There was also a lot of focus on the Holy Ghost. As well, Ulisses Soares talked and that was really cool because I literally just hugged that man like 6 weeks ago and now I'm receiving instruction from him in general conference. It was a very spiritually uplifting experience all around and I'm already excited for conference in October.

                                                            Drive from Antigua

Monday - Today we are having a really laid back P-day and just chilling. Next pday we will be hanging out with Jose Balaños. Oh, so my suit ripped. And I doubt we are gonna be able to fix it again. So to buy a new one I'll need about 100$ or a little more. It'll be a nice good quality suit from Zara. This could just be my birthday present if that's okay with you guys? I ripped my suit by literally bending over very slowly to pick up a pen. I was trying to be careful and it happened anyways. Today we made burritos for lunch and they were delicious. I actually really enjoy cooking and learning how to make new dishes. Maybe I'll be a professional cook someday. Haha! I would really love to see if maybe when I come home I can take some cooking classes...but, it would just be a hobby. I also really want to learn how to dance like they do here. Like the salsa or Bachata dances.

Beautiful Sunset

Love,

Elder Harris

Breaking Down Walls

March 27, 2017

[Week of March 20 - 26 ]

Monday - So today Elder Douglas and I hung out and it was a pretty chill day. We ate lunch at Burger King and then we played card games most of the day. The new Elders got here at about 9:45 tonight. Elder Ward is really tall. Me and him will actually be going home at the same time in November.

Elder Ward from Washington

Tuesday - This morning we did some pass-bys. Then we contacted for a good part of the day. As well we had a lesson with John. He told us his dad is coming the 4th of April for sure so hopefully we will have his baptism on the 8th. The lesson went really well because we read the Book of Mormon with him and we shared our insight and afterwards he shared his own insight and it was really good. It was cool to see that he understood what we were reading and that we were able to learn from him.

Island Antigua

Wednesday - Today as well was a good day for finding so we spent a good chunk of our day on the streets looking for some new people. As well we got lunch from Texenery like we do every Wednesday. It was some really good rice and meat.

Thursday - Today we did weekly planning for the morning. Then we went over to Paco and Nati's house for lunch. Then they asked us if we would be willing to do some service with them. They are building a house for their son out in a pueblo and they needed some help with the construction and demolition of some part of the shell of the house they have finished already. Today we broke three walls down and helped to clean out the interior of a house. It was super fun. You could say we were pretty sore afterwards though.

Starting to break through the wall

Time-lapse video of tearing down the wall

Friday - Today we had district meeting in the morning. It was pretty good, and we talked about why it is necessary to have the Spirit with us as missionaries. Then we ate lunch in the Piso with the four of us. Then my companion and I had a lesson with Patricia. We are currently doing the new member lessons. She taught us the plan of Salvation and she did a really good job. She's been almost a completely more happy person since going to the temple.

Saturday - So today we got out of the Piso at 8:30 this morning to go with Paco and Nati to help them again. Today we were actually building the roof of the house. We had a winch to lift the cement up to lay it for the roof, but, that only lasted about 15 minutes and then it broke. So, it was up to the four Elders to carry the cement up there with a rope and a hook. It was pretty fun and we got quite a bit of work done. We had a really fun time as well and the best part was the members had a barbecue at the end and we ate so much food. Like each of us probably ate like 2 kilos of meat! After the service project we went and showered and then headed over to Yolanda's house for a noche de hogar. It was a really great day.

Sunday - Today was a good day. Today was the first time I've fallen asleep during sacrament meeting since being here. We were exhausted from the service project. After church we ate with Zenon's family. Then we had Correlation meeting. Then we went and taught Fernando. The lesson went pretty well and he's progressing pretty well. Then we had our studies for the day.

Monday - Today we are going to play Padel with the two new guys and we are super excited. I seriously love it! It may be one of my favorite sports. The WiFi is out in the Chapel so hopefully everything will work for our emails and everything. Today we also played football, like American football, for a little while. We threw around and it was pretty fun.

Visiting Surrounding Pueblos

March 20, 2017

[Week of March 13-19]

Monday - So like I said last week, we went with Jose Balaños and we got to see some really cool touristy stuff. As well, afterwards we taught a lesson to a new investigator named Sonia. After that we taught Patricia's husband. His name is Fernando. We'll see if maybe he's interested in listening and maybe they could go through the temple together.

Tuesday - Today we went to Morro Jable again. We visited with J-mex and we had a really good time. We were down there for about 4 hours and then we had to come back up to Puerto del Rosario. It was a pretty good day. We had a really good time.

Wednesday - So today the Elders from Lanzarote came over for intercambios. I went with Elder Pulotu. We had district meeting this morning and afterwards we did some contacting. We basically spent the whole day on the streets looking for some new people to teach. We found one lady named Charo but, it seems like she may have just liked the way Elder Pulotu looks, haha! We had a really good day. I always love going on intercambios with him because we were companions and it's fun to be with him again.

Thursday - This morning the other Elders were still here so I was still with Elder Pulotu. We had a street lesson and at the end the guy told us he was JW and not interested in our message. Haha! It was fun. Then for Medio día we ate lunch with Paco and Nati. Afterwards we went with Paco to a pueblo called Gran Tarajal. We visited with our recent convert, Nelido, as well we visited with a less active lady, Ana Maria. It was a pretty good day.

Friday - Today was really laid back. Elder Boyd is going home on Tuesday of next week so to clean off his IPad we had to start today moving all of the files over to his pin drive. Then we ate lunch in the Piso. Then we had studies this afternoon, and we had a visit with Yolanda tonight as well. She made us some really delicious lasagna. It was a good day.

Saturday - This morning we played fútbol with a bunch of military guys. We were on a team with the three missionaries and two members and we played against these teams that were way better than us but we actually held our own and we're competitive. It was really fun. Then after lunch we did weekly planning. 

Today we got transfer news! Elder Boyd is going home! Woah, no one was expecting that. Haha! Elder Douglas will be staying here, and his new companion is Elder Reese. I will also be staying here and my new companion is Elder Ward. He's been out about a year and a half. He's from Washington. He's gonna get here on Monday at 9:30 with Elder Reese. We're excited to be keeping four missionaries here. We've got work and hopefully we'll see some progress with the branch becoming a ward.

Sunday - Today we had stake conference. President Pack visited and spoke during the meeting. We Skyped in to the meeting which was actually held in Las Palmas. We had a visiting general authority which was Elder Paul V. Johnson. He's in the area presidency here. It was a good meeting. After that Elder Boyd got picked up by a member to head over to the airport to catch his flight to Madrid. 

Elder Douglas and I went to Zenon's house as always. Then we went to a guy named Isiais' house. He's a new investigator and he's got a lot of desire to hear about the gospel with the recent death of his father. We are super excited because he's a really nice guy and he's young and married which doesn't happen very often here. We had thunderstorms here which was the first time in like 10 years that Zenon could remember that! There was also hail. It was super cool, basically like being back home.

Monday - Today was good. We cleaned the Piso and then went to do some shopping. We ate Burger King for lunch. Then we did compras and now we just have some chill time to write emails and hang out before the two new guys get here at 9:30 tonight. We are excited for the opportunity to keep 4 missionaries here.

Love you guys.

Love,

Elder Harris

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, Boats, Buses...

March 13, 2017

[Week of March 6 – 12]

Dear Mom, Dad, & Sam:

Tuesday - Today at 9 in the morning I caught a flight to go to Gran Canaria for intercambios with the Zone Leaders. I went on my own so I actually got to travel by myself which was pretty weird because I'm so used to having a companion now. Haha! I got there and took a bus on my own for thirty minutes to where I was gonna meet with the Zone leaders. We had a meeting with some people in their ward and then we headed to their Piso to eat lunch. After that we had some lessons and then we had a Noche De hogar with a family there. It was a pretty good day.

Wednesday - So today we woke up and I was the guest at their district meeting. It was pretty cool I actually got to prepare a part about how to share the Book of Mormon in contacting situations. Then we ate lunch with a guy named Juan Faber. We ate lasagna that was amazing and then we went to do some contacting. Then, we had a meeting with the high councilman in charge of missionary work here in the islands. We talked about how we can better work with the members and as well the leaders of our congregations. Then the same high councilman drove me to the airport to catch my plane back to Fuerteventura. We got to the airport and I walked up to get checked in and then the man told me there was no more flights to Fuerteventura that day...WHAT?! So I told him that yesterday when I was checked in that the woman in Fuerteventura told me that my flight would be returning tomorrow night at 9. He said sorry but that's not true. It was fine, it just meant I was going to have to spend another night there in Gran Canaria and catch either a plane or a boat in the morning home. Well, I took the next bus back to where the the zone leaders are and I spent the night there again. Haha! I worked it out with the office Elders and I will be taking the 8 a.m. boat home in the morning.

Thursday - So, what I didn't know yesterday when I made plans to catch a 8 a.m. boat ride back, was that it meant I was going to have to wake up at 5:30 to get ready and catch a bus and then a taxi to the port. Haha! Also...did I mention that the boat ride was going to be 3 hours long? Haha! So that was another adventure all together. I found a seat that could recline and I knocked put for a couple hours. Then I started talking to this guy from Ireland named Ian. He was a nice guy, when I walked up the first thing he said was "don't talk to me about religion but, if you want to talk about sports, we can do that". Okay, I can handle that. Haha! We talked about soccer for like a hour. It was pretty fun. Then we landed.

I actually went to the city of Morro Jable which is a two hour bus ride from where we live in Puerto del Rosario. The other Elders met me there and we got to work. 

We stayed there the whole day. We went to lunch at this place called Simon's Kitchen. There is a less active member that works there, his name is J-mex. We got these Cheeseburgers called the Kill-Bill. They were out of this world good. Everything in the restaurant is home made including the ketchup and mustard and everything. It was Amazing! 

Simon's Kitchen "Kill Bill" Cheeseburgers

Carrot Cake on the House!

Then we went home later after visiting a couple from Granada in the Peninsula. Their names are Adrian and Denise. They have lived here in Fuerteventura for a year now but this is the first time we have visited them or that they had seen other members on the island. They have goals to get married in the temple this year so we are gonna try and help them get that done.

Friday - So this morning we had our district meeting. Then Elder Douglas and I went to do service at Zenon's house helping to build kitchen cabinets for the new addition they are building onto their house for their daughter and her husband. It was a really good experience and we had a lot of fun singing songs by Queen while we were working with them. That was our day because we were there for the whole evening.

Saturday - This morning we did weekly planning. After that we had a lesson with a guy named Julio. He's a less active member, and he was actually a bishop in Chile before he moved here. He like 70 years old. He's funny because he is actually part of the indigenous tribe in Chile called the Mapuche. He's teaching me some of there language. It's funny because, for the effort I'm putting in to learning it he thinks I have Native American in me so he just calls me Cherokee now. It's pretty funny. Then tonight we were craving burgers again do we made some for dinner. I used Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to season them. I've actually turned into quite the cook since being here! The burgers were really good.

Awesome burgers I made

Sunday - So today we had some good church meetings. Then we ate with Zenon's family for lunch. Then we had Correlation. Then we did some studies. Then we had our Noche de hogar with Yolanda as always on Sunday nights. She made us some really good food. It was a dish called Tortipizza, it's pretty much Tortilla de patata with Pizza stuff and cheese on the top. Let's just say I may have found one of my favorite foods. It was really, really good.

TortiPizza with Chicken Wings

Monday - Today for P-day we went with Jose Balaños. We visited a place called Agua verde. Then we went to a town called la Oliva. Then we went to another place called El Cotilló. It was a ton of fun and we got to see some really cool touristy stuff. It was a great day.

TOUCH OF NASHVILLE IN SPAIN!

Well, THAT'S something you don't see every day here!

Never seen THAT here before! [Jack Daniels Brewery is just
south of Elder Harris' hometown in Tennessee]

Beautiful Agua Verde

THIS IS A GOAT FARM!

It's so Beautiful Here!

Three Musketeers

March 6, 2017

[Week of February  28 – 5]

Tuesday - Today I went on an intercambio with Elder Boyd. It was pretty fun. He's only got about two weeks left now and he's stressing about it, but, he's working hard and setting a really good example for me for when I get to that point in my mission. We did some contacting and actually taught a street lesson. It was pretty cool.

Joking Around -- "Elder Boyd is Dying"

Wednesday - Well, today was very interesting. My companion received a phone call from President Pack in the morning and he's actually going to be going  home on Saturday. We've known since Sunday but, I didn't want to write anything until it was for sure.  It's no coincidence that I was his trainer. It was a really cool experience because now I feel like I've gone full circle as being the Elder with the problems and needing to go home, to being the Elder that helps his companion get ready and make a plan to get back out onto the mission. We had some really good talks throughout the day and he was super grateful that I was his trainer. To be honest, it makes all the stress and other things worth it to be able to help someone get through the process and get to where they need to be.

Thursday - So, today we hung out with Elder Monks until about 1:15. Then we dropped him off at the airport. Now I'm in a trio with Elder Boyd and Elder Douglas. It's super cool because we can enter into any house and visit any people. It's going to help a lot because we a traveling to pueblos and it's very hard to get members who are willing to help us out there. I'm really excited for the chance I get to be comps with Elder Boyd, because, he was the Elder in my dream and I feel like I've got a lot more I can still learn from him. As well his kid Elder Douglas is a really good example and is going to be a really good missionary by the end of his mission.

Sometimes you just have to wear a wig from Carnaval

AWESOME STORY OF THE WEEK

Awesome story of the week is that Elder Perez called me today. Our recent convert Patricia went to the temple this week for the first time and he asked permission if it was possible for him to go and see her. President said yes and so he went. He said that when he saw her she just started crying because she was so happy that we (he and I) have been so worried and trying to help her the whole way through the process. She told him that on her first day which was Monday she went in and was waiting in the waiting room. She said she heard a voice as clear as me talking to you tell her to go and read the scriptures. The first scripture that she read answered one of the questions she had. Then after that she said that she felt the Spirit so strong telling her that everything she was doing good was correct and that she knew that the church has got to be true. She's hoping her ex-husband will give her permission soon to have her kids baptized. Overall, she's been super happy recently and now with temple on top of all that she's gonna be a super strong member of the church. She's awesome! Plus, like I said before, I think she is one of the main reasons that I came here.

Friday - Today was the first full day of us being in a trio. This morning we did weekly planning to combine the companionships into one. Then, we had sandwiches for lunch. Then after that we had English class at the church. We didn't have anyone that came so we made some new posters and put them up around town. Then we had a Noche De Hogar with the Roberts family. Bill is the dad and he is from Manchester in the UK. His wife Margarita is from Colombia and they have 4 sons. We invited John to come with us and we had a really great time. We played BOP IT at the end as the fun game activity.

Bowling - TioGringo 

Consequence - Zenon Lost Bowling

Saturday - Today we were supposed to have a baptism. But, what happened was that when John's dad was supposed to come he missed his flight by like 5 minutes meaning they had just shut the gate and then they told him they would let him on anyways! But then, after checking the plane they found out they had overlooked it and told him there was no way possible for him to go and that if he wanted he could pay the 500€ upgrade to ride first class. He said no and so, we postponed the baptism until the original date of April 1st. Instead we ended up doing some contacting and other finding activities. It was a pretty good day.

Sunday - So today we were faced with the awkwardness of telling everybody that my companion had gone home. It was kind of funny because a lot of people thought that we had just left him in the Piso because he was sick or something. Church was really good though and afterwards we at Zenon's house as always. Then we had Correlation meeting and following that we had our studies. Then we finished our studies and went to Yolanda's house for our normal Noche de hogar with her every week. We talked about our branch mission plan and how we can use it as a group to help the branch to become a ward. By the looks of it, possibly by the end of the year we could be a ward. It's been an absolute pleasure serving here in Fuerteventura but I think my time is coming to an end here. I love it, and will most definitely want to return for a vacation someday! The people here are the pioneers of the church in the islands and they are so faithful and such good examples to us.

Monday - So today we are going to being hanging out with a couple YSA guys and playing mini golf. We dont really have any crazy plans, just that -- and hopefully things will go well. Oh, and Dad, it's not likely that I will need money for a suit for a little while. The seamstress lady guaranteed me at least 3-4 months. She said it was one of the worst rips she has ever seen though. Haha! I've got a big butt.

Love,
Elder Harris