November 28, 2016 Lots of ups, and little downs

Well, this week had a lot of good things, but some hard things too.. I will start out with the hard things first to get them over with. Tuesday night i couldnt sleep.. I had a high fever, so we went to the doctor the next day and sadly its Malaria.. i dont know how! i take medecine every single day to prevent it, and i even sleep under a net every night.. But, somehow i have it now! It basically means that im always cold; even when we walk around in the blazing heat, i feel freezing! I also have never sweat so much in my life.. i have head aches, thrown up a few times, and most of all i get really tired really fast.. But, it doesnt mean that i cant work! I just had to take things easy this week, and hopefully it can fade away this week..

One thing that has made these past few weeks is the missionaries that we live with..  I wish That the fact that they're dirty was the worst if it,  but it got serious this week..  The American Elder and my companion got into a yelling fight. The American Elder almost punched out my companion,  but luckily it was just yelling.  He said some very very rude things to my companion. Things I couldn't ever imagine a missionary saying!  But,  it is what it is.  Me and Elder Malala pray for them every morning and night,  so hopefully the lord can help them have the spirit in they're companionship..  Even though I disagree with most choices the other companionship makes,  I hope they Can learn to feel the spirit in theyre missions, and in theyre lives!

Okay! Even though w have had hardships, this week was so amazing! Me and my companion got invited to go to another church on friday night, so we went and it was so fun! We sang and danced, and yelled AMEN and HALLELUJAH at random times! I will never ever forget that experience!

This last week was also thanksgiving! So we left the sector just a little bit early so we could cook a huge dinner! We picked a bunch of chicken, and as we were walking to our house, our neighbor stopped us and asked why we had so much chicken! I went on to explain that it was a big day in america, and we wanted to eat a big dinner! He asked if he could come over to Celebrate with us and of course we said yes. But when he showed up, he had a 24 pack of some good ol Bud Lite.. We laughed, and began to explain that we dont drink alcohol, and while we cooked dinner, we taught him the Word of Wisdom! Now, him and his brother our now our newest investigators! They ended up leaving before dinner was even ready, so me and my companion ate way more than we should have that night! It was truly a night that i was grateful for everything i have..

Sunday was also a great day! We have been teaching this Mama in our area, andshe was ready for baptism! So after church on sunday i got the opportunity to do that! But we also had to do it 3 times... She was so scared to go all the way under the water! The first and second time i put her under the water, she flailed he body and we had to do it a third.. But its okay, i am so glad that it was finally done right!

This whole week me and my companion have been erally good at praying together as soon as we wake up, and right before we go to bed. We had some problems in the past, but we have been having so much fun working together! He has also been very good at Mothering me while i have been sick! Hes truly my best friend, and i hope we can work so hard for the last 4 weeks that we have together.

I just want to end off with a small testimony. I was able to give a talk on sunday about the book of mormon. i shared a quote that Elde Holland said "No wicked man could write such a book as this, and no good man would write it; unless it was true and he were comanded of God to do it"I hope everyone that reads this knows that i know with my whole heart that the Book of Mormon is true. I hope you do too.

Thank you all for the prayers. I couldnt do this without you! I love you all!

Elder Harris

November 21, 2016 Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! One really sad thing about Africa is i feel like they dont have holidays.. so we will just have to make the best of this thanksgiving! They do have christmas though, its very small, and not much happens but thats okay! Christmas in french is Noel, so thats kind of cool!

Not much happned this week.. On thursday it was pouring rain, but we had lessons, so we taught all day soaked! It was actually really fun, and felt soo good! But it gets super hot when it rains, becuase the clouds trap in all of the heat.. but no one could notice the sweat because i was already soaked! 

The one thing that is really hard for me here is the other missionaries.. They are just so crazy sometimes! But i like the people that i live with. I live with an elder from the Congo, and his companion is american! Theyre nice and i like them, but they re hard to live with sometimes.. i feel like i cant trust them most of the time. All of my food is stored in my closet becuase otherwise it gets stolen.. and we always have to lock our door when we leave just in case. its sad that i cant even trust missionaries sometimes.. But its okay! Maybe they just have a diferent dream of what a mission should be! Im learning to look past peoples differences, and accept them. Even though most of these missionaries arent even worthy to be here, im glad that they are here. I dont agree with a lot of the stuff they have done, and do every day here, but i am glad that they are out here serving! 

Teaching english is hard.. Im starting to realize how dumb english is! But its fun teaching the people, they want to learn so bad and i love it! 

The one really hard lesson to teach people here is tithing.. Because they are all so poor! We had a lesson with Jacque about tithing, and he had such a hard time understanding.. But we shared lots of scriptures, and both bore very strong testimonies, and the spirit testified to him that it was true! And by the end of the lesson; he was okay with tithing! Jacque is my favorite! I wish i could talk with him all day.. 

Even though tithing here is hard to teach, i love talking about it because it takes true faith to accept it. If you pay your 10 percent, whether its 1 dollar or 10,000 dollars, god will bless you the same! People here ask why.. why is tithing so important.. and i always ask them if they think god needs money! and obviously not, so why.. I think, that tithing is an obedience test. Heavenly father wants to know if you will give 10 percent for him! So if you dont know why we do things in the church, like drinking tea or coffee, or tattoos, or whatever it is, just be obedient. Do what the lord has commanded and he will bless you. I also love in Helaman 14 verses 29 and 30, it eplains that if we believ in christ, and love him we will be saved! Its all your choice 

If you really want to return back with Heavenly Father, then follow him! And if for some reason you dont, then you have no one else to blame but yourself. Choose to follow christ and you can have never ending happiness! Your salvation is in your hands. 

Im Thankful for you all this thanksgiving. Thank you all for the support, and love! 

Elder Harris 

1&2 This is Jacque, we are in front of his little store that he runs!