Elder Riley Harris

I just wanted to share with you that Riley is doing well on his mission and he has had quite an exciting week.  As you may or may not remember, he is serving in the Tupelo Mississippi area.  I am sure you have heard that name this week since it was hit hard by a very large tornado.  He was right in the middle of it.  Needless to say, we were on pins and needles waiting to hear if he was okay.  Thankfully, he came out of it, with 44 other missionaries, unscathed. 

Today, while at work, one of my nurse co-workers received a phone call from Sister Hanks - the mission president's wife of Riley's mission and this is what she said happened that day: 

I talked to Sis. Hanks, Mission President's Wife (MPW) in Birmingham, ALA Mission. She and President Hanks were with the missionaries at a quarterly activity washing and waxing all of the mission vehicles in the parking lot of a stake center in Tupelo, Mississippi. They were eating pizza, playing games etc. Their phones starting going off and they knew something was up. Sooner than later the sky started to go green per her report. They gathered all of the missionaries (44 total) and went into the middle of the building in the chapel. They were somewhat scared and decided to say a prayer. It was suggested that they sing hymns and so they began to do so. Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley. There is an Elder in the mission that loves music and wants to be a rock starJ Anyway, he ended up at the piano and they played songs such as “Master, the Tempest is Raging” and others that made them smile and less scared. There was a sense of excitement as they sang the hymns with respect, but an upbeat tempo and joy that was filled the room. They felt “a strength in numbers” and were later informed that the place they stayed the night before (Mission President and his wife) was totally destroyed. The devastation was within a mile of the chapel. They were without power and continued singing in the dark until they were informed by phone that they needed to evacuate the area and go west. There was a 3-hour window of opportunity to leave the area before the next tornado was likely to hit the area. No missionary was injured. Everybody left the building uplifted in the face of devastation and destruction.

I sure enjoyed hearing this from the mouth of the Mission President's Wife!

As you can see, we have a lot to be grateful for.  He was kept safe in a church building while everything else around him was destroyed.  I have attached a picture that we received yesterday of him in his Helping Hands t-shirt that became well known after Hurricane Sandy. His mission will be one of service now.  I am proud of him and so grateful that he and the other missionaries were kept safe during this time.  I am so grateful that he chose to go on a mission and to serve the Lord.  As much as I can't wait to see him again, I am glad he has had this time to grow and to touch other people in the States of Alabama and Mississippi.  He has touched my life in so many ways too. 

Sister Tracy Harris (mother of Elder Riley Harris)

Elder Riley Harris

January 27, 2014

This week has been pretty good for us as well. So Marquis who we met last week was committed to be baptized on the 15th along with his girlfriend Lene! They both came to the young men's young women's activities and they just soak up everything we teach! They are so prepared and the love we have for them is just unreal! He just told us flat out yesterday that he can't wait to become a member of the church! it's super exciting. Plus I will for sure get to see them baptized if they are baptized on the 15th. Then we had Justin and Tyler who we've been teaching for a while come to church as well. We had 4 investigators at church on Sunday! HOLY COW! I couldn't believe it. It was so overwhelming that I was a freaking out a little but it turned out great! The other elders had an investigator come as well so we had a total of 5 non members come to church. The work is just exploding!

Also this week we got to try a southern tradition thanks to Brother Bonds ( the member who made the tail lights) We got some moon pies and an RC cola and just sat back and relaxed one night. It was awesome. I was a little sick after though from all the sugar we had, but it's great. Tastes just like coke.Man I wish I could just take y'all everywhere I go so that y'all could see the things I see around here. The photos just don't do any justice to it.

OH! also one of the investigators from Boonville is getting baptized! IT'S FREAKING AMAZING! This kid said he was going to be baptized, but in two years because his dad is a pastor and he would,"have to quit his job due to the shame he brought on the family." Now he's getting baptized on the 31st! I'm hoping president will let me go.

February 3, 2014

The baptism this week was great! It was small, but the spirit was definately there.  I'm not sure if you remember the story of Taylor or not, but he was not going to be baptized for 2 years since his parents were very against it. His dad is a Baptist preacher and would quit his job due to the shame he would bring on the family by joining the Mormon church. It was a sad story and it's sad that Taylor felt that he had to do this behind his parents back. I am just glad that President gave us permission to go. It was really funny how he gave us permission. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive. There's also a rule that it has to be 2 hours away in order to go. So President calls and says, "it's a 2 hour drive right?" I responded "It's a little over 2" He then says "It's 2 hours right?" I got the hint and said YES! I love our mission president. We just drove down and back. May have barley made it before 1030 the night before but we made it. It was totally worth the trip. It made me miss Ol' Miss though.







March 3, 2014

We have had some crazy weather these last couple of months. It's a tad bit ridiculous. We have these perfect days where it's warm with a slight breeze, 70 degrees. Then today we wake up to 29 degree freezing cold days.  Our car doors were frozen shut due to the rain last night. It was like being home without the snow! Hopefully we'll get out of this cold spell soon. I'm ready for some warmer weather.

Other then the weather things are going good out here. We're workin harder then I have the last couple of transfers. It's a little sad to admit that, but we are. This area needs it. Plus I think it's easier to work harder out here since it's not a city. I love being out of the city more then anything. I hate that I had to leave some great people behind, but I love it out here. Plus I'm back in my home state. I feel more at home here in Mississippi then in bama. The only real place I feel at home in Bama is Scotty town. That seems a little weird since I've spent more time In bama. Oh well. I love the good ol' state of Mississippi.

So Ryan is our one progressing investigator. He's doing pretty good. He's committed to live the word of Wisdom and as far as we know he's living it! We've also been trying to help him to remember to pray every night. He's 27 and feeling down on himself because he can't find a girlfriend. I only kind of know how that is because of high school. But then again, I was having too much fun in high school that I didn't worry about it too much... All we really need to do is help him realize what it means when he is baptized. He still wants to go to his church and come to ours every once in a while. We can help him out with that though.

We've also been doing a lot more finding out here. It's been nuts! The hardest thing is finding rides for people to church, since we live about 30 min away from our church and have only 4 active members/families in our area. We sort of live on the ourskirts of the ward. Our ward also has 10 missionaries! 6 that live in the town of Tupelo, 2 that live 20 min away in Ponitoc, and us 30 min away. We are right next to the West Point ward boundary! It's cool though. 

It's so weird to think I've been out 19 months. Elder Savage keeps telling everyone I've been out for an eternity. It doesn't feel like it though. Time has been flying by! Just yesterday I first came to Mississippi. A few hours before that I just hit the MTC. Time just flys by and before we know it everyone is home talking about it. 

March 17, 2014

There's a couple of experiences that I have had this week that have been interesting that I would like to share. So this week we taught Ryan again. He was telling us about how he didn't want to disappoint us and how he felt like he needed to go to his church. So we went over the restoration, teaching it the way that we had been trained on in zone training. It brought the spirit very strongly and we asked him what happened to the priesthood after the apostles died. He answered "it went with them." Then we asked "Do you think God would take it away forever?" He said no. Then we asked him how it would be brought back and who would have it. He said his pastor had it so we asked him how he got it. He said He thought some other pastors prayed over him. so we asked where they got it. He said he didn't know. Then we told him straight up, "Ryan, that's because they don't have it. They do not have the authority to run or set up Christ's church." We then told him that Joseph Smith got the priesthood from Peter, James, and John, and asked how he could know it. We got him to pray right there what church he should go to. So he did. We sat there for a few min. while he prayed and waited for an answer. Long story short he said he needed to come to our church and he didn't know why. We told him to come so he could figure out why. He didn't end up coming so we are going to drop him later today or tomorrow sometime. It's sad that we have to, but it needs to happen.

Another experience was on an exchange with the Zone Leaders up in Tupelo. We went on a church tour with a young girl named Hannah. She is 17 and works at Sonic. that's how the missionaries actually met her. So we went on a church tour and it became very obvious that she liked pictures. She was looking at all of them in the church! So since the new way we are teaching is to have them tell us what they see in certain pictures we asked her to tell us what she saw in them. This is very important because she came to a picture of home teaching. She say a family sitting around a table talking and she asked us what was going on in the picture. We told her it was a family at dinner talking with each other. She then asked us what that was like... My heart just broke. We then got to teach her and it came up that she had watched her parents go through a divorce and then get remarried, was living with her dad at that point, and never new what is was like to sit around a table and just talk with a family. We promised her that if she stuck with these lessons, that she would get to experience that. I feel that she is going to be baptized here soon.

That's about it for stories of what's happened this week. The only other thing that stood out is something we talked about during studies. It was interesting to the point that I want to share it with you. So we read in the scriptures that the amount of times it is required of us to forgive is 70 times 7. We also know that at the judgement day we are all going to have to look at all the bad we did, and I would assume all the people who we wronged, and be Judged according to the progress we made. It also says that After the millennium Satan will be loosed from his imprisonment and many will fall away. What could cause so many to fall away? What could Satan do that could make it so that many souls will fall away? What if at the Judgement bar we not only have to look at all the people we wronged, we also have to look at all the people who wronged us? We have to look them in the eye, Have Satan tell us everything they did to wrong us, and still be like Christ and say, Forgive them, for they knew not what they did? Isn't that what Christ ultimately did on the cross? aren't we asked to be like him? Isn't all judgement placed to the Son? Yet of us it is asked to forgive. Bless them that curse you, pray for those who spitefully use you. That would have to be what is so hard. Will we, at the judgement bar, be able to look at those who wronged us and tell Christ, Forgive them, I want to be with them in the Celestial kingdom. I don't want to lose my brother/sister. Nevertheless not my will but thine be done. That was something that just blew my mind this week. I have a whole new perspective on how things need to be. I just thought I'd share that with you though.

This week I also met with President Nolan of the mission presidency. We talked about what I'm going to be doing about school when I get back. Basically we decided that I am going to go to LDS Business College to start and then I'm probably going to transfer somewhere. That way I can get 24 credit hours at a cheaper cost, and not have to worry as much about my high school gpa. Plus  LDS Business College is an open enrollment and a free semester of college which would help give me a jump start with life if I can find a job in that time. He is emailing me more about grants and stuff like that. I also found out that technically I was supposed to register for the selective services when I turned 18. OOOOpps. Totally didn't know that. My bad. I'll have to do that out here. It was really good though. It gave me some direction and hope on what is going to happen eventually.

Enough of me on my soap box, It sounds like you are having a super busy week! I can't believe that so much can fit in such a short time! You'll have to let me know how the girls do at their lacrosse game. I miss the season and all the fun that you can have while being there. Plus the girls don't write me at all so you'll have to keep me in the loop.

Well I'd better go. I've got to email everyone still and I haven't even started my letter to president... I love you Mom! I miss you and hope your trip goes well! Stay safe and remember to pray often!

March 31, 2014

This week we decided that we were going to try tracting again, LAME... anyway we knocked 3 doors and surprise, no answer. We went down this other street and saw this guy in his garage. We went to talk to him and he let us in his home. I was sick and tired of dancing around peoples questions so I just told him straight up how it was. We have a message that says that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, and he restored his church. Here's the fruit to test it, will you read and pray about it. He said he would. In a long round about way at least. It was funny because we got to get into a little black southern baptist shout session with saying, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ." It made us laugh a little after.

We also got a new investigator this week after much prayer and work. They are a refferal from mormon.org. HA it does work. They got on and requested a blessing from the missionaries. Oh the husband is a member. Well we went over after the other Tupelo missionaries went over their since they got the text with the request. So we went there on Sunday and they have a baptismal date for the 15th! We were excited. Well I was. Elder Savage was bummed that he is leaving and we had this happen.

Sunday we got to go to Mormon Springs. It's a place where the saints of Mississippi gathered before they were going to head out west. They planted some food their for people going through there in the future. They were also the first group of saints to reach the Salt Lake Valley! How crazy is that? If you ever find time to look them up I'd recommend learning a little bit about the Mississippi saints and Mormon Springs. It's really cool!

Aside from that, not much happened this week. Oh we did try and get Peggy to the women's conference. That didn't happen, but it came down to the wire. Hopefully we'll get her to watch conference.

I did get the letters this week. I'm going to try and leave a little bit out of this email so I have something to write about haha. You know how it is with trying to tell everyone everything and then you have to try and remember it when you write a letter. It's not easy but it'll happen.

It sounds like y'all had a pretty nice week. Aside from the snow that Dad said y'all got. I'm glad that we're done with snow up here. It's great for a day or two then that's enough for me. I'm gonna have to get used to it again when I get back though.

I'm glad that Ali let you know about transfers. It makes it easier for me, because then I don't have to type a note and send it through the cloud. sometimes it doesn't work, and I don't always have wifi.

So with your friend ... One thing that I've noticed is that sometimes it takes beating a dead horse to bring life back to it. Kind of like CPR. We don't share a message, or have a belief, that is dead. We hold the keys to eternal life. There is no other way to get back to our Father in Heaven than through the priesthood. You can't find it anywhere else. However whatever has offended her is very real to her.  All you can do is be a friend. A quote from the mission that I like is "aquaintences are at church, friends are at the dinner table." How true is that? There are people at church who you just talk to on Sunday and that's the extent of your relationship. Then you have those people who you would and do invite over for dinner or into your home. That's where friendships are built on trust and love. That's how you show someone you care for them. We use that to try and get members to allow investigators into their home to help us to teach, but it works with less active members as well. They won't always change over night, but it can. With God, anything is possible. Well that's enough preaching form me. I'll get of that soap box.

Elder Riley Harris

Elder Riley Harris

Jan 16, 2014

Other than that our week has been pretty normal. We dropped Michael because he has stopped talking to us and answering our texts. We've started helping this kid Marquise find a job by getting him involved with the church quick start job program, and we got back in contact with Justin and Tyler. Well Elder Orme has because he's a jock from high school but still we're back on track with them. So all in all I feel that it's been a pretty good week.

I just posted a picture on the cloud of how cold it was this morning. I'm not sure if you've seen it but it was 18 degrees! We had snow flurries and everything. The best part was that since they knew that bad weather was coming all the kids got to start school late. Also since it started to snow they let school out early. It's ridiculous! I remember having to dig a spot for my tires to touch the road just to get to school and these kids get out if there's any snow period! We get a good laugh out of it.

Haha I read dad's story about Rachel Neilsen. It was hilarious! She is a fun little girl to mess around with. They actually sent me a baptismal invitation to her baptism forever ago. I sent her a letter saying that I was happy for her and that she wouldn't regret it. Basic stuff but still thought it was cool that I got an invitation! Mike's kids coming into work was one thing that made working at Neilsens fun.

Dec 30, 2014

Mom,

It was great to see yall this week! I am glad we got to talk for 2 hours instead of just the 45 like we have in the past. Plus I got to take part in y'alls new toys! That was pretty cool! It's not often I get to do that. Plus we got it's fun to see most of the family aside from random comments made haha.

Good things are going to happen this week. I can just feel it. We have dinner with a less active part member family. This family we haven't really been able to get in the door with at all. Their daughters think we're funny and the coolest elders to show up lately (mostly because the over all coolest baptized half the family). We were even asked to share a lesson with everyone! It was so cool! I really do feel that we got in because of the service that we pushed for. We wanted to help them and we showed up with rakes and trash bags saying we're here to help. Service really is awesome!

Dec 23, 2013

This week we got to try and see Michael. I say try because it didn't happen. We were going to see him then the member who was going with us got sick so we told him we couldn't make it. He wasn't too happy. He kept saying something about being attacked spiritually by the devil. Well that's what we were able to gather from the texts that we couldn't understand. Something about ET phone home and calling all elijahs... It was weird. He came to church though so that's awesome! He also talked about taking part in a catholic church bleeding with a bottle of koshier wine... not sure what that is but if you know I wouldn't mind you filling me in :)

We also got to go to a couple of members houses for dinner. They gave us some gifts which was crazy! one member told us to wait till christmas and the next one, which is one of my favorite families in the ward, gave the apartment a waffle maker! It was so much fun.

Last night we were at the Quintana's, the family who gave us the waffle maker, and we just sat around talking the whole time. Bro. Quintana is a dummer :) so we have this weird, quirkey connection, and Sister Quintana is a nurse. So funny all the things I can talk about with their family. Well we talked for a while then she gave us this box and said that she is sorry for the hot pink color. It was really funny. We had a great time with them.

Finally the last thing we had this week was the Christmas party. We had a talent show that we got to take part in. Our zone did the Haka like from forever strong, and then we helped a sister who was making a spoof song about sisters from the tangled soundtrack. I would have recorded it but President was very strict on not taking video. LAME! It's all good though. We also got to watch Ephriams Rescue. It was a pretty good movie. It wasn't the best done church movie, but the story it tells is awesome! It's about Ephriam Hanks rescuing the Martin Handcart Company. It's like what happened during 17 Miracles. I'd say it's worth watching.

Now as for what's going on in the world. WHAT?!? That's just crazy! EVERYTHING happenes while I'm on my mission I swear. A tv show grows, dies, and makes a moral stand, the law changes for the worst, and then all the parties! Why do I miss out on all the fun? haha Jokes but it's still crazy. It just goes to show that Utah won't be uneffected by the calamities of the world leading up to Christ's coming. You can say that the Mormon bubble just got a small whole poked in it.

So on Wednesday we should be getting on skype around 12. I have the account written down so I can just jump on. I'm so excited to see yall! It's gonna be so great! It really feels like forever since I called yall. The way the space out the calls is terrible. I shouldn't complain though since I'm calling in like 2 days.

Love Riley.

Elder Riley Harris

Here is the latest from Riley.  He is doing well.  He is getting ready for another transfer this week.  He is not sure if he will be moving or staying in the same area.  As you can see, he has been engaged in quite a bit of service, some not so fun, but it seems like they mixed their own bit of fun in with it to make some good memories.  

We are proud of him and can't wait to see him soon, but if he needs to be away from home, we wouldn't want him anywhere else.

Nov. 18, 2013

I can't say it's been a slow week here. It's defiantly been interesting and at times trying but it hasn't been slow. We've meet these two kids who live in our apartment complex. They play basketball with us and we teach them while we play, and we teach them after we play. It's really cool too work with them. They aren't the best at basketball but they are still fun too play with. We also got to listen too them play some music. Justin play's the guitar and Tyler plays the Djembe, African drum. I got to play on it for a second which was awesome! I'll have too put the video on icloud too show you these two playing.

We haven't spent as much time at the jet pep so we haven't really talked too Gus this past week. It's sad but we just aren't sure how too move forward with him. We'll figure it out though. Our big goal with him right now is too see if we can't meet him somewhere before he goes too work. Teaching him at work is good but it's not the best. There is always interruptions while we teach because people needing gas... Lame!

Nov 11, 2013

This week was pretty fun. We did a lot of service for people which is always nice. Some of the service though.... I'm sure you could tell from the pictures that we had a hoarder. It was sooo nasty! I couldn't believe the smell. It smelled like urine and mold. We had too pull out clothes that had been sitting there for who knows how long, wet boxes filled with junk, and empty dog food bags. That project took two days to finish. That was even with us leaving early for other things. We also killed some rats. It was pretty funny watching that though. Elder West found all of them. He ran away screaming; Elder Price was jumping, screaming, and trying too get the rat; Elder Orme and I were screamin but actually chasing the rat. We looked like a bunch of idiots but it was fun.

We also got too give blood this week! That was fun since I didn't get to go back home. We helped a kid with his eagle project by giving blood. It wiped us out though. It was totally worth it.

So this week has been another abnormal week. We still haven't gotten much done due too what all is going on. We had Stake conference yesterday and Saturday which was awesome! I'll have to find my notes and share with ya'll what I learned. I think that the best experience though was that I got to see a lot of the members from the Scottsboro and Fort Payne branches there. The best though was that I saw the Saucier family. They were less active when I got too Scottsboro. We found them by randomly tracting a richer neighborhood that we never would have tracted. Sis Saucier answered and we were excited that we'd found a member. Well anyway after I left and came back we started really working with them and tried everything we could think of to try and get them back too church. Then I left and hadn't heard much from them at all. Well yesterday I saw them and Sis Saucier came up to me. She said I don't care if you don't baptize anyone on your mission, and you shouldn't either, because you got us back into church. That just made my whole day! I really did learn that no effort is wasted when it comes too working with people. You are making a difference every day with those around you. You just need too show them the love that Christ has for them! While you do that you will gain that love for them as well!

So now that we had that story here's one from today. Elder Price and Orme wanted to go fishing this morning but Elder West didn't. Since both Price and Orme have poles, I decided to stay with West and talk to him a bit, get to know him kind of thing. So we went to the golden arches and got some breakfast with the gift card Grandma and Grandpa sent me. Well, while we were there we talked, had a good heart to heart and then drove back. We found Elders Price and Orme sitting on the curb. Turns out they had been caught fishing without licenses and kicked out of the park. If we had gone with them we would have been in trouble too. It's funny how things work out! Well now we get too go to the DWR and have them sign some papers. It's pretty funny.

Riley

Elder Riley Harris

Sorry it has taken me so long to get you something from Riley.  He is doing awesome and loves what he is doing.  I still miss him like crazy, but I am proud of him for the decision he has made to serve our Heavenly Father.  He has become a great young man that has grown in ways I didn't know possible.  Anyway, this is a just a little bit from him. 


October 14, 2013

Wow all the things that will have too happen when I finish my mission. Luckily that's only... 9 months away... Wow I'll be down too one hand in no time. I'm actually really excited for this holiday season. I've been wanting too call ya'll really bad lately. That's why the second break in phone calls stinks. Instead of waiting 5 months we wait 7 between Mothers day and Christmas. That's real close now though. This transfer we have Thanksgiving and then the next we have CHRISTMAS! It's gonna get crazy from there I can just feel it.

So we got transfer calls on Saturday. I'm getting transfered again. I'll leave Wednesday and probably go back to 'bama. I'm thinking that I will have a total of 10 areas during my mission. That means I've got 3... well after Wednesday 2 more. Then with 6 transfers after that... Maybe I'll have 11. We'll have to see. I'm a little sick of moving but this move will be nice. I'll get away from some of the trials here. I'll admit, I've been a little worn down here in West Point. In case you couldn't tell with the meme that Haley posted on stream. It's been a struggle but I've done everything I know how to do and some stuff that I hadn't thought of before that The Spirit helped me do. All in all it will be a nice change of pace. I really wouldn't want to go back to a city though. I'm fine in the rural areas. I've just become too country I guess ;) haha right. I'm still a city boy. Just got a little country in him.

This week was definitely interesting. We went to that Halloween house on Wednesday. She canceled on us because she was sick but we still took pictures. She really likes too bash with us, so we were going to testify of the Restoration and see where things went from there. I wasn't even going too try and talk about the whole, "As man is God once was, and as God is man may become thing."  It's too hard to explain unless you understand EVERYTHING else about the gospel. It's one thing that's hard to put into words but it just makes sense.

We had dinner with the Huking family. She is 18 fixin' to be 19 in Nov. and she's been married for 3 years... yeah I know how that sounds. She's been married since she was 15. They are an awesome couple though. We had pizza with them and then burned some twigs in their backyard that they needed too get rid of. They're the family that we washed their dogs. Well I told them that I was leaving and they gave me their phone numbers and address. Told me to keep in touch. That made my night. I will have too come back and visit them when I can.

Oh we also got to mow Pauline's lawn this week. I've learned that a riding lawnmower isn't all it's cracked up too be. It's hard to guide it. It really doesn't turn very well at all. It was fun though. We flew through her lawn since we needed to be somewhere right after. I didn't do too bad of a job for how fast I went. Cranked that thing up as fast as it would go and flew. I think she had me cut it way too short though.

October 7, 2013

Mom,

Conference was awesome! They really focused on the family and women which is always awesome! Not that I'm looking to be married anytime soon but I'm taking notes for the day that happens. But that's far out in the future so I'm not stressin' too much about that. I didn't know about the women's liberation thing. It's crazy! Don't they have the Relief Society thing that men aren't allowed in? I don't know I'm still young and stuff like that but the responsability of the Priesthood is big. It's so us guys are kept in line. Also the revelation from that session is to help us as priesthood holders be better priesthood holders. They can also watch it later so it's not like there's anything that they really miss out on. Whatever, they can throw their fit and I'll just live my life.

This week I got to go on an exchange again. I went up to Columbus and helped out there a little more. It was filled with moving stuff and service. We enjoyed ourselves because one of the guys we moved was straight redneck. He had his slurred speech from bein' southern, all his toys and mowers, and he taught us how too break into a door when we lock our keys in. It was fun and we put a lot of time into it. Later we moved a couple of Piano's to a couple of houses. Like some big upright grand Piano's. Bigger than ours at home. It took a little bit of effort trying to load them into a moving van. Then getting them from there into the house. It was fun and we got dinner after that. We had people who bought us a lot of things that day. A lady bought us a coke, then Bro. Oja, the guy we moved piano's with, bought us a drink at Sonic and then we had dinner at his house. Then the next day Marty, the guy we helped move the day before, took us out to breakfast. We have been extreamly blessed.

So yesterday was an interesting day as well. So the pictures of the boys in our suits were Jacob Maloney, our branch mission leaders son, and Jonathen Edwards, our 9 yr old investigator who's mom has been holding him back from baptism. They were having fun and enjoying themselves. They wanted to wear our jackets so we told them that they could if we could get a picture. They agreed. Then the drumsticks actually weren't mine. They were Brandon Edwards, Jonathen's older brother. He's in drumline at the high school, so I don't have my drumsticks from home. I borrow his every now and then though. Well we messed around with them between sessions and had a good ol time. After conference though, was the interesting part. So we had an appointment with a potential investigator. We were invited for dinner (can you say score?). Well they called and said since it was raining they really didn't want too cook so they wanted too know if we would mind eating out... Yeah as a missionary we both were thinking no. However, we both felt that we should go because this was an appointment with someone who could potenitally go somewhere. So we ate out on a Sunday... Well I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to hell for that one so someone was a little wrong... I think you know who I'm reffering to. Anyway dinner went extreamly well and after we went and washed their dogs with them. It was so awesome being able to spend some time with dogs again and to play with puppies! I'm not sure what kind of puppies they were but they were adorable.

So this couple we ate out with are Carrie and Lance Huking. Their story is really intersting. She had cancer at a young age and she was given 30 days to live, and had lost all of her hair. Well she decided too pray to God and ask him to heal her. She said that she read in the Bible that pork is unclean in the sight of God. She promised never to eat pork again and to do what he asked of her if she could live and get her hair back. Well guess what she lived! Her husband is a guy she met at church who was going to donate his kidney to her and bone marrow. Basically they are a perfect match when it comes to donating things to each other and for each other period. Well she graduated high school at 13 and obtained her associates at 15. She then got married 3 months after that. She is now 18 and her husband of three years is 24. Can you say wowzers? It's one of those fairy tale stories but It's really cool. They are super prepared too, so we are going to friendship them. Oh Carrie is also addicted too coke like you and I. She gave me 5 cans and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Another fun story is we went to a wedding this week. It was for Sam Luke's daughter. It was like a movie. She was FREAKING out. Those movies where the bride is so stressed about everything and even the smallest thing would set her off. Well that was what we witnessed. It made me laugh, which I felt bad for, and that only added to the problem. I just couldn't help myself. It's like, Holy crap this is actually real? It made me think I can wait too help with Haley's wedding... haha Hopefully she won't freak out like this girl did.

That's really all the stories that I've got for this week. I sure enjoyed it though. We were fed a lot by people too. It was a really good week. We pushed back a baptism and are hoping to get it too go through here soon. Nothing has really progressed with that sadly.

Elder Harris cutting the lawn

The Halloween House

Elders with tobacco they took from investigator

Elder Riley Harris

Elder Harris and Nu Nu at his baptism

Riley is doing awesome! He has been a little under the weather but it hasn't stopped him for working hard.  I am so proud of him and the testimony he has for the church.  I even got to talk to him at Missionary Medical a couple weeks ago as he was looking for a phone number for a different mission.  Don't worry, his mission president gave him permission and who am I to complain?  He sounds good and charged!! He is on the downhill slope now that we are past his one year mark and he is quickly realizing that his mission is rapidly ending.

He has had some great luck with investigators.  He even had a baptism a week and a half ago.  A little boy named Nu-Nu.  We are all very proud of him.  And we love all the y'all's we get with each letter.  He's my southern boy.  



Mom,

Alright so Saturday was an interesting day. We started by going to Columbus to work with an investigator I was teaching my first go around in Columbus. The visit went well and they even provided lunch! From what it sounds like the mother, who is a member, wants elders because she says it's the only priesthood she ever has in her home since her visiting teachers don't come visit her. Luckily there will probably be elders there next transfer. It would be cool if I could go back but I can live without going back. Then we headed on our way back to West Point. West Point was a very interesting day. Luckily we had found Nu-nu after they got kicked out of their apt earlier this week. We got the font filled and the program made. Well the program we were up till 12 am making... Yeah that was a real pain. Anyway the Zone leaders dropped us off at the church and went to see some people here in west point while we got the font ready. The font is the size of a bathtub by the way... Luckily Nu-nu was small. Well Nu-nu gets there and puts his jumper on, and I changed to my whites. 6 pm rolls around and hardly anyone has shown up. They showed up five min late if not a little later for some. Even then some of the people we were hoping would come didn't. Even a member of the branch presidency who was going to preside said if he didn't have to come then he wouldn't. LAME! Well we got Nu-nu baptized and it went really well. Except for his mom recording the baptism... oops forgot to tell her no. One of the highlights for me was when we went back to change again Nu-nu said lets do that again! haha I love that kid. Well our awesome branch mission leader and his wife threw together a little party for Nu-nu after the baptism at their house. We had brownies and ice cream. Something simple but it made it even more special for Nu-nu. Well the zone leaders who had joined us for the party took us outside and told us that they had given another one of our investigators an interview and that she had agreed to be baptized on the 24th of august! That's this Saturday! She even came to church on Sunday which was another miracle. I felt bad about this one because I ignored a prompting but luckily the zone leaders got the same one and went over to her house. They gave her a blessing and she got dressed and came to church! It was amazing. There have just been miracles after miracles here lately. I'm lovin' it! like McDonald's :)

It's been crazy this week if you can't tell. I have also thought a little bit about how weird it is that everyone is starting school again. What the crap?!? I just can't believe it. I leave for a year and the kids think they can have a summer break and go back to school without me? haha It's gonna be weird to have Haley and Britt starting College with me. I was so used to being ahead of them. Now they just jump right up and finish High school. I agree with you about Mic though. I have been praying for her to get over her anxiety. Has Dad given her a blessing for it? I am sure it would help but it's up to yall. I can't really make that decision from here.

I love you mom! I miss you tons but can't believe how soon I will see all yall again! Bentley goes home in February, then Alec in March! I'll have 5 months after that! So weird. The rest of this year is just going to fly by.

Love,

Riley

Elder Riley Harris

Riley is doing great!! We are so proud of him. He has been transferred a lot through his mission and he finds that frustrating as he feels he has had the opportunity to open many doors but not able to finish the work he has started, leaving it to other missionaries who come behind him. We keep telling him that he has planted the seed and that's what matters. We are proud of him and have seen much change in him over the year that he has been out. There have been a ton of changes in his area including a new mission president, President Richard Hanks (son of Marion D. Hanks), and several new missionaries. This past week alone, they received 32 new missionaries. Each mission is expected to reach 250 missionaries each. That's up about 100 -125 missionaries per area. It's exciting!! I love this kid!! I think you will be able to get a glimpse as to why. Here are some excerpts from his letters over the past month as well as his new address...again.

 June 26, 2013 I think that it's awsome that you are doing so well at your job. I am so glad that you are somewhere that you not only love working, but also can take part in this work. It's so amazing and it's so true!!!! I can't express enough how true it is. In my studies in the morning I keep finding things that prove it's true. I can't doubt it becuase it's all right there in black and white. Also President Holzapful has been going off on how we are the only church that actually believes that our families can be together forever. Everyone believes otherwise but the churches they attend don't! They also believe that heaven is where we go and do nothing but sing praises to Jesus all day for all eternity. President Holzapful has said, "That's the very deffinition of Hell!" I can't agree more. We can become so much more! It all just makes sense!

July 8, 2013 We got to meet our new mission president this week. He seems like a really great guy! I loved one of the quotes he gave. It was if you were convicted of being a christian, would there be enough evidence. That one really struck a chord with me. It is such a good way to really think of life! 

July 15, 2013 So I heard some big news when it comes to missionary work... by the end of the year we are getting Ipads!!!! Yep We will be able to teach lessons and stuff with I pads and I phones. It will make things so much easier because we will be able to carry our area book, ward roster, scriptures, and videos all in a convinent tablet! There have been missionaries testing it and have actually been teaching lessons through skype to people. Like from here in the states to Australia! The big bug they are having is getting the missionaries in the area to the investigator. The work is definetly moving forward though! Well I'd better go. I love you Mom! I miss you tons! I also would like to let you know that I know this work is true. I know that this is Jesus Christ's church on the earth once again, and that it was restored through Joseph Smith. I know that both you and dad have tried to set the example in having us go to church and I will forever be grateful. I know understand why you both would get upset when we didn't go. It's the same way Heavenly Father feels when we don't go. I love all yall and I love the Lord with all my heart. God Bless!

July 22, 2013 This weeks been pretty good. As you saw from the pictures we got to light stuff on fire! totally against the rules, but when Sister May and Elder May say it's ok then we can do it right? It was a lot of fun! So yes I am being transferred again! I am really bummed this time too! We had just started making some serious progress with people and helping them be ready for baptism! There is this one lady named Kaycee. She is a newly wed, and has been taught for the past year. She keeps telling us that knowing if the church is true is a personal thing and when she feels she has done all the research to know if it's true then she will ask God. Totally backwards if you ask me so we decided to take a different approach this visit. We told here that we are really official representatives of the church so any questions she has she could ask us! We talked about the degrees of glory and how she felt like people could settle for a lesser kingdom because they would still be with Jesus or the Holy Ghost. We told her that if you were in a lesser kingdom that you would be able to have Jesus or the Holy Ghost visit you. The key word was VISIT. we also focused on how you would have that constant reminder that you could actually have better because of the visits from Jesus or the Holy Ghost. It helped her a lot and she has progressed a lot since then. We are really excited! David Lee decided to move his baptism. It will now be the 17th of Aug. He doesn't feel like he will be able to give up drinking and smoking for after baptism. We have got him to commit to going to addiction recovery classes to help him out with that. Hopefully it works. No it will work!

 July 25, 2013 Here's my new address 146 Commerce St. West Point, Ms 39773

I know that this Church is true and that Joseph Smith is the prophet God called to restore it. I also know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today. I am grateful for the sacrifice that the savior made for all of us, and am especially grateful that I've been able to see it work in others lives. The biggest thing I know to be true is that this is NOT a dead religion. We are all called to work WITH the Lord as missionaries. The second coming is upon us and we are to get as many people prepared to meet him as we can. It's time to nut up or shut up and get crackin' on bringing your friends unto Christ. We are to uplift one another as well. I know that even though no one is perfect in there lives we can be made perfect through the blood of Christ. We are to LOVE our neighbors, bless them that curse you, pray for those that dispitefully use you. If we are not united how can we win the war between good and evil? I also know that the bible is true. Even though it is just dead words on dead trees written by dead people that it still is good to read. We shouldn't stop listening to the Prophet or others of Gods chosen servants though because they are LIVING SCRIPTURE! Just like our LIVING CHRIST! We shouldn't be like these other dead religions that just act like they are good people on Sunday then turn around and back bite, and do evil things just because it's not Sunday. We are to be Steadfast in Christ and try to live as he would live! The tomb is empty and Christ is coming. Be prepared. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Riley Harris

May 6, 2013

So this week has been pretty fun. We gave one of our investigators a baptismal date! Well I wish I could be happy about that because there was some weird stuff happening with him since we did. I wish I could say weird as in him going through a rough time but I can't. He called us on the day that we had our appointment with him so we talked trying to be friendly when all of the sudden the phone just went dead. We thought nothing of it because our phone is a piece of junk anyway so we called him back. This women named Rita answered and said Kenneth wasn't there. We politely left a message asking him to call us back and left our names and number there for him. We thought nothing of it other then it was weird that only 15 minutes later he wasn't there and some girl named Rita answered. Anyway we go to district meeting and on our way back we get this text from another number. We ask who it is and it's a Rita. again we politely ask her how her day was and she answered very black by saying it was blessed so we asked her what we could do for her... She asked if we had a girlfriend. This is where we probably could have handled the situation better but we just asked her why she wanted that piece of info. She then talked to us like she was only talking to one and told one of us, Not sure who or do we care to know who, that we were cute. We told her thank you but we are representatives of Jesus Christ and don't have relationships for two years, Is there anything else we can do for you. Needless to say we got no reply from that. back to Kenneth though, ever since then he has called and set up appointments and with his car there he doesn't answer the door, he calls and it is dead silent when we answer, he avoids our phone calls... We have started to think that Kenneth is Rita... AWKWARD!!!!! We sure hope not but all signs are pointing to there is more here then we know about. We are going to try and see him again today and it will be a make it or break it situation.

May 20, 2013

To update you on the whole Kennita situation. He texted us again. Only this time he said it was Kenneth and it was on Rita's number! Haha busted. We tried talking to him but he ended up just being weird again so we told him we don't have time to play his games. We will talk to him if he wants to hear the gospel but otherwise he can't talk to us. He told us to have several seats... We don't get it at all but whatever. He's done and if not then he will be. Don't worry president is being informed about all of this so he knows. I've written it in my weekly letters to him so he knows all the details.

May 27, 2013

This week was rough. We had a lot of doors shut and people told us they weren't interested. A couple of investigators dropped us, an investigator's mom won't let her get baptized, and some less actives have been pains. It hasn't been all bad though. We had a less active family, Jimenez family that consists of a Mexican dad and a Chinese mom, come to church, Ashlin is still going strong, and our branch President is up for trying some new ideas we had! We are going to try a "pancake night" with the youth to see if they will bring some friends. We will have pancakes and share a quick spiritual thought to invite the spirit at the end then we will all leave. The other one was were were going to get the youth together to draw something on the street in chalk, Like the plan of salvation, to see if anyone in the community would come up and ask us about it. President Bennett seemed up for both! It was exciting to see that.

Oh the fun story this week is we went looking for a referral we got from a festival down here somewhere and we knocked on this door. This little girl answered, probably 15 years of age, and talked for a little bit and then when we looked like we were going to say something she looked back at her mom and said, "Come here Mom." she responded with, "No it's alright you got it, you can take care of it." We were both thinking that she was going to try and bash. Since we didn't want to totally destroy this girl we just asked if she knew the referral and left. We had a good laugh at it later. Then last night we meet a boy named Luke. He was just walking by while we were biking down the road and I faintly heard him ask if we were church people. So I stopped and said yes we were. He asked us if we burned up while wearing our church clothes all day and biking. We of course said no and then talked to him for a little bit. later we heard his mom tell him to come home, you should know we found out he had a little disability but what that is we don't know, and his little brother came out to get him and asked him questions like what did you talk to them about? We heard Luke talk about it and then say, "They were really nice." That made my whole night!

Elder Harris

Elder Riley Harris

Riley is currently serving in Scottsboro Alabama and loving it.  He is currently the District Leader and is learning a lot.  He is overwhelmed with how many sister missionaries are entering the field.  Alabama made history with receiving the most sister missionaries in one transfer which was 22 sisters and one elder.  Riley's mission President does a wonderful blog that keeps us up to date as to how each of the missionaries are doing.  If you are interested, check it out at http://alabamamissionupdate.blogspot.com/ .

Here is some of the last letter we received from Riley today, April 29, 2013.  He mentions Unclaimed Baggage in his letter.  This is his favorite hangout on P-Day.  As you can tell by the name, it's where all the unclaimed baggage is sent if it is not claimed.  It's the Deseret Industries of Scottsboro.

So we got our transfer calls today......... We had to wait until around 1145 then the phone finally rang. We answered and hear that ... Elder McKay and I are both staying in Scottsboro!!! Things are going super good here. Like I cannot tell you how super excited I am. I'm freaking out I'm so excited. This week has been a really good week for us. I will include a little more but I just have to say again how excited I am about finally staying in an area more then one transfer and having the same companion for more then one transfer!

"Alright so this week started kinda rough. We had a few people we tried to meet here and there but they all just fell through. Nothing too solid. We met with this guy named brad who is a newly converted catholic but is extreamly open to listening to us. We will hopefully see him today, but he is always out and about helping people. His biggest problem is that he feels like he loves everyone else more then himself. Like that he doesn't love himself. We are going to try and fix that for him and show him that Heavenly Father loves him.

We also have Kim. Kim is super awsome. We met her at unclaimed baggage. She works there and is super friendly and could talk your ear off if you let her. She has a 6 year old son named josh and her husbands name is zach. He is actually friends with the former bishops son. It's super exciting to be able to see that she is prepared and she doesn't really know it yet. We were really excited to hear from her that she goes to a baptist church but she doesn't consider herself baptist which was great! She got sick and cancled her appointment with us but she is wanting us to come by. We brought her cookies and ended up meeting her husband because she wasn't home. He seemed really nice and offered to take us fishing sometime! They seem super legit!!

We also met Harli at Unclaimed. She doesn't work there like Kim does but running into her was a fun story. Elder McKay is a guitar guy who loves to play when they have guitars in. While looking at the guitars Harli came up and asked for the Ukelele. She doodled on it for a second while Elder McKay was holding the guitar and said Y'all should start like a string band or something. She responded by saying I don't think they could keep up.... Now Elder McKay is not one to pass up a challenge so basically we both asked to see her skill and then Elder McKay would play. She never did but we ended up talking about some of the things that we believe. She was interested because she is trying to learn about other religions. When she found out we were Mormon then she wanted to know everything. She is just full of great questions but she told us if she listens to us then we need to listen to what she beliveves. A fair trade but we look forward to talking to her more this week.

Finally we have andrea's friends mark and Nina. Hopefully we will be able to meet with them this friday but We will see. I can't say much about them because we met them in passing really. We just taught them because they were there but now they are intrested and want to hear more.

Riley's address is different from what is on the annoucements at church.  He is currently at:

307 Kirby Street

Scottsboro, Alabama 35768.

Thank you to all who have sent him letters.  He mentions them often and is very grateful for them.