Members are the Key to Missionary Work

Family,

Hey how are you!   We totally had a great week this week!  Numbers were not too high, but we did some solid missionary work, for which we are very grateful. We were able to reach Oyunjargal (our 16-yr-old investigator) and teach some great lessons to her.  But the sad thing is, she didn't come to church again this week because of school.  Postponing baptisms is terrible.  But all is well, and we will continue to work hard to help her.  She definitely has a testimony, but that "leap of faith" has just not come yet.  We found a new investigator too!   A 19-year-old guy named Bold.  He is a great kid, and just came to church with a friend.  We met twice, and totally "cliff-hangered" him after teaching him about the apostasy.   He actually said,  "There has to be only one true church! That only makes sense!"  More to come on him, but he is great, and he is the best kind of investigator to find...one who is talkative and is truly wanting to find the truth.   

Also, this week we worked tons with members, something that was hard for us for the first little bit, but now members are letting us in, and starting to trust us with their non-member friends.  I love that!  There is no other way for missionary work to be successful than through members.  So, this past Sunday my companion and I decided to write down 10 names of active members before we went to Sacrament Meeting, ones who we planned on talking to and get some lessons with.  I took 5 names, my companion took 5, and we got 7 out of that who confirmed to having us over to teach lessons during this past week.  We had some really great experiences with these families and we are getting referrals from them.   We will continue that this week.  At first, it was hard getting in member's doors, but we were really blessed this past week.

In 9 days, my companion leaves for the MTC in the Philippines.  Remember I told you that he hadn't been to an MTC yet, nor has he been to the temple yet.  He will do both while in the Philippines.  I don't know who my companion will be, but I am thinking another mini-missionary.  I feel like I will continue to be a Trainer for the next little while, as well as being a Zone Leader.  Please pray for our mission and our missionaries.  Satan is real.  We are low in numbers, about 66 missionaries total, but we are all working hard to press forward, even with the things being put in our way to stop us by the adversary.   More on that at another time.

During my mission, I have learned so much from President Benson and have gained a huge testimony about "Not Getting Offended."  Just know that I will give this sermon when I get home.  Please read, "And Nothing Will Offend Them," by Elder Bednar from October 2006. Wow, three words....Offense is Sin.

This week, let us all forgive our debtors, so we can receive forgiveness from our Heavenly Father.

Love you all,

Elder Harris 

Looking for the Fruits of our Labor

Hey Family,

How are you guys?  I loved your emails and pictures.  I am so happy to hear that you guys are all alive and doing well!  Looks like Idaho was fun!  This week was really difficult so this might be a short email.  We only have one investigator and we are having to push her baptism back probably about 2 weeks because she was "not able to meet" (a.k.a. burned us hard) with every planned lesson this week.  She also didn't come to church, so we need to find out what is going on.  We need to find out and understand her needs and why she is bailing out on us lately.  We are disappointed about it, but just trying to rely on the Spirit and the will of the Lord to tell us when and how to proceed.  Please pray for us to know how to help her.

Other than that, we have no investigators, which is a bummer. We are working hard, meeting with members and trying to find more investigators, but the fruits of our labors are not showing yet.  It is really difficult, as I'm sure you can understand.  It is hard to look at the other two elders in our Branch who are just soaring and teaching tons of lessons and investigators at church and not feel bad, or get down about yourself.  I am trying my very best to be a good trainer and not let my companion down, but that is sometimes difficult under the present circumstances.  We are working hard though, but sometimes I feel like my companion thinks we are being lazy seeing that we have no one to meet with as of late, and when I enforce rules that cause us to study for 5 hours a day, it makes it worse because then we are just in the house, the place every missionary hates to be.  We want to be out finding and teaching.  I am not as sad as this email might sound, just so you know. So don't worry about me.  I  am doing good, but we are just having a hard time.  Keeping positive is the only way out!  

Love you all,

Elder Harris

I realized that I took no pictures this week so I hurried and snapped this one of Elder Moore at the net cafe typing our emails home.  Sorry.  I'll do better next week.

Another elder shared this photo of all of us riding in a bus during Tsagaan Sar.  

Goal Setting, Organizing, and Changing

Dear Family,

Well this week there was nothing too exciting happening out here in Mongolia.  It is not super cold anymore. Haha!  But this past week, transfers took place, and I am still training Elder Bilgvvn and in the Sansar Branch.  This week I did an exchange with Elder Papenfuss and we laid down some amazing goals for ourselves for the time we have remaining on our mission, and for after the mission, regarding who we want to be for our whole life, and what kind of life we want to have (all in spiritual terms).  My new "goal" scripture is D&C 88:119:  "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."  I have also made a "mission statement" for myself, detailing very clearly what I am setting out to do.  I really love the opportunity we have to change ourselves on our mission.  It is not really explainable in words, but it is an amazing blessing and something only our Heavenly Father and our Savior could have divinely set up so many years ago. I was afraid of change two years ago, but now change is my being. Without it, we are flat lining, and flat lining in the medical field means death. Kind of harsh, but true!!!  We ought to always be changing ourself, improving, and our Natural Man becoming more like our Savior.  It is the pursuit of a lifetime, so we all better get started! 

Oyunjargal, our 16 year old investigator, will have her baptismal interview this Saturday!  She is so close!  Please pray for her!  We have many other investigators now, but the tough thing is getting them to keep their appointments with us.  We are just working hard on getting Oyunjargal baptized, but we are still working to get others on the same path too.  I'll have more to report next week about the rest of our investigators.   

Love you all!

Elder Harris

Here I am on exchanges.  Behind us is a huge statue of Genghis Khan here in Ulaanbaatar.  The statue is about 130 feet tall and is the tallest and largest horse statue in the world.   It is so awesome up close!

Tsagaan Sar

Dear Family,

"Amar baina uu? Taivan baina uu? Ond Mend targan tavtai orov uu?"  This is what you say to everyone when you "zolgoh" (special greet) them on White Moon.  It is so much fun to say this to the older people!  It means, "Are you peaceful?" and "Did you enter the new year fat and comfortable?"  Super weird English translation, but so normal in Mongolian!  Anyways, White Moon was so great and I am happy to report that I entered the New Year "fat and comfortable" (well not fat, but comfortable)!  There was no Buuz-eating contest as there has been in year's past, but I did push myself and put up a high number!  I ate 85 Buuz in 3 days, which was like 2nd place among American elders. Elder Higgs broke 100, but threw it all up afterwards so that doesn't count! Haha!  I felt pretty solid about it, but for a Mongolian, it is normal to eat like 150 in like two days on White Moon!  (Buuz is a Mongolian steamed dumpling filled with meat.)

So here is what we did:

Thursday morning we all went up on Zaisan Hill to greet the Sun, which is a Mongolian culture thing.   All the Mongolians loved us Americans in our Deelths.  People were staring and wanting pictures with us up there.  Zaisan Hill is where Elder Neal A. Maxwell dedicated Mongolia for the preaching of the gospel.  The stares and comments towards us throughout White Moon were great!  People told us we looked better than most Mongolians, and some taxi driver actually said he saw a picture of us circulating on Facebook when we rode in his taxi!

Thursday and Friday, we went around house to house to members and older people that we had met within the Bayanzurkh area.  Elder Higgs and his companion both served there too, so we went around with them and visited some great people.  More stories about them when I get home. We just ate and ate and ate, and people just loved us for loving their culture and taking it all in with no problems. 

Saturday we had a missionary party at the church. We all ate Mexican food, and had a tournament playing that ankle bone game.  I was like an 8th seed, won in the 1st round, then got beat by a sister missionary in Round 2.  I was ashamed, haha!  Then we all watched "Meet the Mormons!"  It was great!  What a movie!  I'm sure you've seen it! 

This week we only taught one lesson. Same goes for all missionaries since it was Tsagaan Sar.   It's a hard week for the Work, but great for memories! 

I love you guys!  

Elder Harris 

Welcoming the sun from Zaisan Hill on the first morning of Tsagaan Sar!

 American missionaries and some cool Mongolians.  We are on Zaisan Hill in UB, where Elder Neal Maxwell dedicated Mongolia for the preaching of the gospel back on April 15, 1993.

Elder Pap and I.  Cool fox hats, yes?

My companion and I. 

 This is another family we met with!  Sorry the picture is blurry, I just wanted to show you the house decorations.

Us at a Bayanzurkh grandma and grandpa's house.  At every house during White Moon, you will see meat on the table, usually sheep or goat.  This one has the head placed on top.  Another thing you will see in every house is a stack of fried bread bricks called heveenbov.  They are usually topped with candy and sweetened white dairy products to symbolize the purity of the White Month.  

 A close up of the meat that was laid out on the table. You just cut off the meat you want to eat.

Us at a shaman's house.  They loved us.  The man on the left had me write him a letter with my signature on it.  Cool story for when I get home.

 Naraa came to UB all the way from Choibalsan for Tsagaan Sar!   So great to see her!  She's doing great!

 Another member's home....a grandma and a little baby girl.  Isn't she so dang cute!  Notice her little boots, I love them!

Excited for Tsagaan Sar this Week!

Dear Family,

So the white-wash blues are getting better.  Members are becoming a better help to us, slowly but surely.  Please help the missionaries in our ward!  Missionaries need member's help so much, no matter where we are.  Without them, we can't do anything. 

This week we only taught 4 lessons again. It's really hard getting into people's homes or even scheduling any appointments this time of year.  But our 16-year old investigator is getting baptized on March 6th, and we are super excited about it.  She is doing great.  She comes to church every week, and is doing great about reading from the book of Mormon, so please pray for her to continue the way she has been!  Her mother is struggling a bit with lack of time to meet with us.  She's super busy with a ton of responsibilities.  We will continue with work with her.   Other than that, with Tsagaan Sar this week, (White Moon, the biggest Mongolian holiday), NO meetings will take place, so we will just be patient and will try our best to get many referrals.  

So, as I said, the big Mongolian holiday is this week!  Tsagaan Sar, or White Moon.  It will be a lot of fun, and I am really excited to experience it.  Today Elder Papenfuss and I bought Mongolian cowboy hats to wear because it will be too hot to wear our Fox hats all day.  I also bought a horoog (the bottle of "smells" or fragrance that people share with each other) and I am really pumped about it!  I haggled pretty good for it :)   Because of the holiday this week, we will go out a lot with Missionaries in our Zone all day, and go to members and investigators homes for buuz (Mongolian dumplings) and whatnot.  I am not 100% sure what will be going on, because this is my first White Moon, but next week I promise a full description and pictures.

I'm so grateful to be here in Mongolian and to experience the things I'm experiencing and to learn the things I'm learning.  I learned something this week from President Benson that I have thought about a lot......I have been given these two years to become the best person I can become, and to acquire good habits that will carry me through the rest of my life.  President Benson likened missionary service to a master violinist who played for 10,000 hours over a life time to become a master.  I will serve for only two short years and I have the opportunity to become a Master in Christ-like attributes, reading and applying the scriptures in my life, and to develop an unbreakable character, in that short amount of time.  As President said, "The battle is really between the natural man, and our ability to be disciplined in choosing what is right."  I am starting to realize that as I change through the atonement and develop good habits, I am not just putting off the natural man, but changing the natural man into a more obedient and disciplined man, one who does not desire the things I once did.  I love that, and I love learning these lessons that President Benson teaches.

Not too much else this week. Not too many crazy things happened besides the random men yelling at us on the bus, then getting more mad when I understand them and talk to them, or people at the Market trying to rip me off because I'm an American and they think I can't communicate with them, and then I haggle them down just because I can...haha.   Also, a new Senior Couple came this week, and I am so pumped to be friends with them. They are from Idaho, Rupert, I think.  They are the Harpers.  They are ranchers, so I am looking forward to getting to know them. 

I have a really good story to tell you guys about something that happened this week, but I am saving it for when I get back home. Wait patiently please :)  Sorry, I know that is a major cliff-hanger.

I love you all!  I love my Area and I love my calling!

Elder Harris 

My companion, Elder Bilguun, and I.

 My Zone Leader companion, Elder Higgs.

 Elder Pappenfuss and I just chillin'.

District Meeting Shenanigans!

 KFC Monday!

Valentines left on my desk from Elder Higgs!  haha 

A Hard, but Great Week in the Mission!

Dear Family!

Hey, so even though this week was hard, I still had great time!

Elder Higgs, Sister Jagii, Sister Bolor (the two Sister Training Leaders), and I represented our Zone in Missionary Leadership Council this week with President Benson. It was great, and we learned so much being with him for 5 hours.  President taught me how to make the best pancakes and he was so proud that I was able to learn his technique.  Pretty funny baisan!    We took everything we learned from MLC, and then on Saturday passed it all down to our Zone in a 2-hour Zone Training Meeting.  I conducted, along with Elder Higgs.  The two Sister Training Leaders did great in their parts of training the Zone.  We are so blessed to have THE best Mongolian Sister Training Leaders in OUR Zone.  Our main focus was about Personal Study and the foundation it sets for the mission and for the rest of our life.  President Benson said something that hit me really hard.  He said, "When you look back on your mission, you won't care about being an AP or ZL or Branch President or how many baptisms you had.  You will only care about the habits your developed on your mission, and the things you learned to convert yourself."  I loved that.  I kind of made a quote for myself about what he said.  "I need habits that will take me to the grave, carry me past the judgement seat, and stay with me throughout the eternities."  HABITS. That is all it is about.

My companion and I had many, many investigators this week.  When we called them, they all accepted to meet with us.  But then when we hung up, they must have all laughed and said, "SIKE!"  Yea, they all burned us!!   I told my companion....Welcome to missionary life!  We were blessed to get four lessons in, though, mostly  with the 16-year old girl we've been teaching.  With Tsaagan Sar (the big Mongolian holiday) right around the corner, her mother is still very busy, so we never were able to meet with her.  The daughter is great, and it looks like she has about two weeks left until baptism. Please pray for her!

Well, I love you guys!  Have a great week.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Elder Harris

This is our entire Zone at our Zone Training Meeting.

A "Selfie" of Elder Olivas, Elder Higgs, my companion Elder Bilguun, and me before church on Sunday.

Elder Bilguun, Oyunjargal, and me.  Oyunjargar is sporting her Vegas t-shirt!

P-Day basketball at the church!

This is my area....just chillin' outside the Like Hotel! 

Another shot of my area. 

A Good Week in UB

Dear Family,

How is everyone! This week was good, even though the effects of white washing an area is setting in hard.   This week, we pretty much only met with the mom and daughter of the family we are teaching. We had originally set a February 13th baptismal date, but through fasting and prayer we are deciding to push that back.  They could be ready for a baptismal interview this Saturday and then be baptized on the 13th, but we would be rushing it and not truly allowing the Spirit to work or allow them to truly gain a testimony through faith and learning precept upon precept.  I was continually reminded this week of a quote by Elder Holland.  He said that our investigators are not just numbers and lifeless objects to count as a baptismal statistic.  I have felt that we need to give them the trial and test of waiting until past Tsaagan Sar (a big Mongolian holiday) for their baptism.  Most nonmembers drink tea and alcohol over that holiday, so that will be a huge test for them.  Some may think to baptism them before and then take care of a problem after, if something happens.  But I feel the complete opposite.  I have to testify that I have received this through the Spirit and not just relying on my own knowledge and opinion. They are progressing great, though. The mother works in a jewelry store in this huge fancy mall in downtown UB, kind of the equivalence of The Forum Shops in Caesars Palace.  Well she's been super busy all week and so she invited us to teach her at the store.  That was something new!   Something that many missionaries across the world do (teach in public places), but we usually do not.  We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ right there in this store and our Witness was the store Bodyguard.  It was great....and spiritual to say the least.  She is nervous to pray in front of us, so pray that after we address that issue tonight with her, she will feel comfortable and have the faith to pray.

We have a few other referrals that we have been able to contact and schedule lessons with, but they keep burning us. Please pray that we will find more investigators. We are trying really hard to work with the Branch and get help, but they have been not too helpful.  Pray that the white wash blues will go away soon! 

My companion is doing good.   I must admit that training a new elder is hard, but things are good.  I'm enjoying where I live and the elders I live with.  I love living with Elder Higgs especially.  He is a true buddy!  Things I'm enjoying here in UB that I didn't have in Choibalsan is eating at KFC and being able to play basketball, soccer, etc. with a ton of other missionaries on P-day!  Don't worry mom and dad.  I'm being careful with my knee. The only weirdness I feel in it is when I walk across a sloped plain, if that makes sense.  When my "bad" knee is on the upper end of the slope, I hate it, but it is fine...just weird.  

I love you guys!  Have a great week!

Elder Harris