"Red Egg Holiday" and Happy Easter in the U.S.!

Гэр Бүл Минь,

So this weekend was Easter in America AND General Conference!  I'll bet both were great!  I look forward to listening to General Conference next weekend!!   Easter in Mongolia, like Christmas, isn't really known or recognized at all except by the Church.  In Mongolia, they call it the "Red Egg Holiday," haha.  There's definitely no Easter egg hunts or Easter bunnies or talk of Christ's resurrection.  Only at Church and among Church members is there recognition and celebration about the true meaning of Easter and The Resurrected Christ.

This week my mini-companion and I did some great work!  We found two new investigators who both have baptismal dates set for April 30th.  One is a 19-year-old young man named O......, and he is really good guy.  He is the younger brother of the wife of a really strong family we have in the ward.  He didn't believe in God but he is praying and asking....and receiving his answers!   I love when Heavenly Father answers prayers!   The other is a woman named B........  Her story is great.  She is 32 and has lived in America, London and Korea for the last 10 years or so.  She used to believe in God, but stopped believing.  She feels like she has a curse or something of that nature dwelling within her.  She has really been searching for help for quite a while.  In America and Korea she had met with counselors and here in Mongolia she has met with Shamans and Monks.  They all say she is fine, but she feels they don't understand what she's telling them.  So she stopped believing and two Sunday's ago decided to Google "Christian Churches."  Well, the LDS Church was the first one that popped up and so she came to church last Sunday.  She has heard of the Church and even went to church in D.C. like 10 years ago.  Anyway, we taught her two lessons this past week and they were so great.  At the beginning, we were really prompted to talk to her about Priesthood blessings and the power in them. We offered her a blessing and she accepted.  We continued our lesson and at the end we gave her a blessing.  The things that I was prompted to tell her, promised blessings and counsel, is 100 percent a testimony to me of how the Spirit works with missionaries.  I don't really remember it all or what I even said, but the Spirit was so strong.  We met with her the next day for another lesson that lasted 2.5 hours... haha, but it was great. We taught her the majority of the Message of the Restoration and her understanding, questions, and desire to know is just amazing.   So that she could better recognize the promptings to find her answers, she asked all who were present at the lesson (there were 5 of us) how we all individually identify and feel the Spirit in our lives.  That was really powerful for us to bear witness of the Spirit in our lives to her.  She then asked me if I could feel a difference from yesterday's lesson and today's lesson.  I was able to tell her that I felt that she was scared to start believing yesterday and afraid to put her faith in God's hand like we asked her to do, but that today she was not.  I told her that I feel that she is seeking the truth and the Spirit is touching her.  She agreed and talked about how she prayed and asked if the Book of Mormon was true, which was homework we hadn't even given her yet!  We had told her to read 3 Nephi, Chapter 17, and learn of the healing power of Jesus Christ.  She did that, then went to the front of the Book and read the entire introduction, and the testimonies of the 3 and 8 witnesses, Joseph Smith's Testimony, and up to Chapter 4 in 1st Nephi.  She then prayed and asked if the the things we taught her were true and if the Book was true and went to bed.  I asked her why she prayed to know the Book of Mormon is true (because we hadn't asked her to yet)?  Her reply was, "Because the Book told me too!"  She also came to all three hours of Church again yesterday and to the Saturday Easter Musical Fireside and to the Sunday Book of Mormon Fireside. She is getting her answer, she said. She is doing great so please pray for her!!  She has been smoking for a lot of years and she is working on quitting, so pray for that too!  Praying for people individually this week has been such a huge strength to me. I have literally seen the hand of the Lord bless those I have prayed for individually by name.  Everything that is touching Sister B........ is a result of prayer in her behalf.  I feel your prayers here for me on my behalf Mom and Dad.  Thank you and I love you so much.

This week Mongolia started a six month Book Of Mormon reading schedule.  Look it up on Facebook: Friends of LDS Church in Mongolia and mongoliabookofmormon.org.  Check out the Facebook page though for everything that is happening in the church here in Mongolia!  The Easter Musical Fireside here this past Saturday was amazing.  I felt the Spirit so STRONG testifying to me again that He is Risen.  I truly love my Savior!  I look forward to the day (someday) when I will fall to my knees before him, then feel Him lift me and and feel His hug!   HE LIVES!  I bear witness.

Love,

Elder Harris 

Saying goodbye to my companion, Elder Bilguun, before he heads off the the MTC in the Philippines for 3 weeks.

Oyunjargal's Baptism

Family,

This week was just a great week!   Last Wednesday my companion, Elder Bilgvvn, left for the Philippines MTC, and then I became a threesome companionship with Elder Higgs and Elder Browning until Saturday.  On Wednesday, some missionaries got invited to sit in a setting apart for one of the other Elders who went into the MTC.  It was really a great experience.  The Stake President, President Odgerel, set apart two missionaries, obviously all in Mongolian, and it reminded me of my setting apart a lot.  It was amazing to hear the promises given through revelation to two different missionaries.  Both blessings were sooo different, and as I looked at the Stake President while he spoke I could just literally see that it was not him speaking.  He was speaking the words that just came to him through the Holy Ghost.  It was a special thing to witness. 

I got a mini-Missionary on Saturday!  His name is KhasBaatar and he is 18.  He was baptized last June and is going on a mission soon! Papers are almost done!  He is a really good kid.....shyer than shy!  He is loving mission life so far, though. He is my third mini-Missionary now, so I am used to it!

Friday was Oyunjargal's baptism and is was great!  She came with her mother and boyfriend and little sister.  She is usually a real "wear black" kind of girl.  She calls it her "rock" style, haha.    To see her dressed in all white and see her smile and the pure happiness that was on her face was priceless!    She has made a huge changes in her life.  The testimony she shared afterwards was so sweet, yet so strong, and I felt the Spirit so much. She was so ready.  We pray that her mother will start to investigate the church again. She's a great lady and would make a great member. Please pray for her, Oyumaa Egch. 

This week, since I was in a three-way companionship, I was unable to work in my area, so I taught only one lesson all week.  Yesterday in church,  however, answers to our fervent prayers came and we found two new investigators, and tons of our ALA's (less actives) came!!!  This week will be busy!   On Tuesday, we will meet with Narnaa, the 23 year old I told you about who lived in Oakland and in London.   She is super excited to meet with us and she wants the lessons taught in English, haha.  She said she is "Mongol Hel Myytai," which means she speaks bad Mongolian.  Her English is amazing....haha.  She's got the slang and gangster talk down like she lived in it her whole life!

Mongolia had it's first daylight savings time in like 15 years this week....That was soooo dumb.   We have been so tired all week.  Hopefully, we can catch up this coming week.   I am learning so much in my Personal Study and it has truly become a holy hour for me.  I have studied a lot about Prayer this week and I've learned so much from 2nd Nephi 33:1.  Through faithful prayer, we will be given the Holy Ghost and only through the Holy Ghost can we, the missionaries and the investigators, be edified at the same time.  I have thought much about this lately and have set a goal to improve and increase my personal prayers.  

Well, it's time to go. I love you all.  Until next week,

Elder Harris

Oyunjargal's baptism with her mom and little sister.  They are great people.

Oyunjargal's baptism with Elder Higgs, Elder Browning, and I.

 This is Elder Higgs, KhasBaatar (my mini-companion), and I with one of our favorite families.   They are very strong members.  The father is the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric.  They have us over for dinner a lot and we love them.

 Yes, this is an octopus.  There is a great story to this picture.  It'll have to wait until I have more time to write.  Here is Elder Higgs, me, Elder Bilgvvn, and Elder Browning in our apartment.

Reaching Goals Feels so Great

Dear Family,

First of all, I am happy to report that this week I FINALLY GOT MY BIRTHDAY PACKAGE YOU SENT LAST JULY AND ALSO MY CHRISTMAS PACKAGE!!  THANKS!!!!!!!  My birthday package only took 8 months and my Christmas box only 4!!  haha. I have no idea where they have been, but it was so FUN getting them and opening them up!  It was like my birthday and Christmas all in one!  I love you guys!  Thanks!  

Also, I'm sorry no pictures again this week.   The computers at this internet cafe are super ghetto and most of them don't have a connector.  I'll send pictures as soon as I'm at a good computer.

This week my companion and I hit our goal and taught ten strong lessons!   We are really happy about it.  Also, we will have a baptism this week!  Oyunjargal, our 16-yr-old investigator, will have her baptism interview tonight and I am sure she will pass!  She is super ready.  Her school exams and whatnot that she had to do in order to graduate are now finished and nothing is holding her back from coming to church. She is so excited and is going to be a great member! This week in our Zone, we will have seven baptisms!  We are so proud and excited, not to mention super motivated!  That means that this month we will have a total of 12 baptisms, one per companionship!  We set that goal last month as a Zone and we are reaching it.  Reaching goals feels so great!

We have a new investigator named Narnaa who is 23.  She lived in Oakland, CA for 7 years and then in London. She speaks perfect English and very little Mongolian...haha.  She moved away from Mongolia at a young age and just returned to Mongolia.   She knows tons about the Church and actually lives right across the street for our church building here. She feels every day that she needs to go inside and just check it out, but has been scared.  She has a son that she says she wants to raise in a religion, and she feels like God is leading her to our Church.  I taught her a lesson over the phone this week, and it was great.  Believe it or not, the Spirit manifests itself even over the phone!   More to come! 

I finished reading the New Testament this week, and am so grateful for the time I set aside to read it.  I learned so much from the life and example of Christ.  As I finished up, I read this scripture and it really hit me and gave me great imagery of the Savior and how He is with me always......It's 2nd Timothy 4:17, "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. "  Of course, the Lion is the adversary, and in the Bible it talks about how the Lion is trying to destroy us.  I know He is with me and He delivers me from the Lions in my life.  He strengthens me to do my calling and be a better Zone Leader every day, a calling for which I feel not always qualified for.   I know He is by my side and trusts me, and that is why I have been given the calling as a Missionary, a trainer, and a Zone Leader. I know He raises me higher than I could ever imagine doing myself.  I love the New Testament and I know I will read it again.

Well, my Companion is flying out to the MTC in the Philippines on Wednesday, so I will have a new companion for a few weeks, but as of now, I don't know who.  More on that next week.

I love you guys!

Elder Harris 

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!