Week 005 - Linden, Guyana: The Sound of Bugs, The Smell of Mud, The Word of God.

Dear friends and family:

Thank you for all of your wishes and prayers! I see all of your emails, and even though I can't reply to all of them, I hereby express appreciation for them.

This week was still hard; still trying to adjust and focus on the work, but I am getting better every single day. My companion and I stay busy, though. Our bikes have been so problematic, it's almost comical. We even spent a day on foot. Just, you know, walking through the jungle like it's no big.

It rains almost every day. Most people here don't like the rain, but I have been enjoying it. It can get pretty loud sometimes. The area is beautiful, and the people are great. I have really been enjoying my time here in Linden. What a great area in which to start the mission.

We have a baptism scheduled for this Saturday for a young man named Phil. He's great. He offered us worms to eat. White, fat, wriggling worms that looked super disgusting. No, I did not try one. Sorry, mom.

We have also been teaching a man named Singh, who is super prepared, it's crazy. He has been wondering about where he stands with God after his house burned down, and he is so receptive to what we are teaching. He is scheduled for a baptism in September.

We have been eating like kings, by the way. I touched on this a little last week. Our diet consists of peanut butter and jelly, pasta, cereal, mac and cheese, top ramen, grilled cheese, toast, and bananas. We will do better this week...maybe.

 

Lizard bai

Beautiful rainstorm

Neat birb

I held a birb

Look at this birb

More rain

River view

A monkey

Jungle view

Week 004 - Linden, Guyana: In the Jungle

Dear friends and family:

Greetings from Guyana, the land of many waters...and fires! They burn their trash right on the side of the road. Every street has a different smell. That was more common while driving through Georgetown, but right now I am in a municipality called Linden (the Mackenzie side of the river). Speaking of roads, if angels weren't protecting me constantly, I would be TERRIFIED to drive here. People often drive into oncoming traffic in order to get around people. Seat belts don't exist in the back seats of vehicles.

Linden is as deep into Guyana as the mission goes, and it is very green. Neighborhood streets are like 25% potholes (which are filled with water). It makes biking very hard, but my tire has a hole in it, so we have been mostly walking and taking taxis (and by taxis, I mean 
anyone who will pick us up and take us some place).

Fun fact: The missionaries had first class seating on all of the flights except for the one to Trinidad, where we had a layover.

Orientation in Curacao was a very stressful time. It was a lot of information to take in, on a very tight sleep budget. We climbed mount Christoffel, which is the highest point in Curacao, (I'm pretty sure). It was a difficult hike. The plan is that I will do the hike again on the day before I come home from my mission.

This week has been very difficult, dealing with homesickness and whatnot. I miss home so very much, but I don't think about it as much when I am out doing the work. The hymn book has been my refuge.

My companion's name is Elder Lopez. He is from South Jordan, Utah. He is a great companion, and we are getting along just fine.

We were warned about our apartment before arriving at it. Yeah, it was filthy, but we got it cleaned up a bunch. President Baird doesn't want missionaries there, though, so we may move before the end of our transfer if a new apartment is found. We are waiting for repairs on our washing machine.

We have been eating lots of toast, sandwiches, pineapple, and very small bananas! We got some more food today, though. We won't be starving, don't worry.

My shower is a pipe coming through the wall. Sometimes the water is warm; sometimes it is cold. I took a bucket shower at the apartment of the other Elders in Linden (on the Wismar side). It was cold, but there are worse things in the world.

I saw a monitor lizard! A kid chased it off before I could get a picture of it, though.

I had a very hard time understanding people at church (and pretty much everywhere, that is). It is a different English, that is for sure. I did get to speak in sacrament meeting, though. And by the way, it is a branch, not a ward. Some kids were trying to talk to me last night as we biked in the jungle, but I couldn't understand a word they said.

Here is some of the vocabulary I've learned:

Bai = boy

kyar = car

bore = hit (you head bore? = did you get your head hit/ are you dumb?)

Me and Elder Bigelow

something in curacao

Mount christoffel from bottom

view from peak of mt christoffel

another view from mount christoffel

very tired boy

yayuhz

very tired after service project

Landing in Guyana

thinking of yall at home

Cool birb

green as can be

very small bananas

Me and Elder Lopez

Arrival

Joel and Anne received this note and photos from President and Sister Baird:

 

Your son, Elder Harris, has arrived safely in Curacao.  We are so excited to be serving with him.  He will have a couple of days of orientation and then will be headed to his assignment on Thursday.  He will find great joy in serving the people there.  We will be visiting him every six weeks.  This will be a life-changing experience for your son and will also bless your family.  Thank you for sharing him with us.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Baird

 

 

Week 003 - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Preparing for Take-off

Dear friends and family:

Today was my last day here at the MTC in the Dominican Republic. Since I am not yet in the field, I am not sure if the experience here has prepared me sufficiently. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it prolly was something that was necessary for me to experience before going into the field.

Would I repeat my MTC experience? On a scale from: What am I fighting for? to I hid myself while I repaired myself, I would give it a rock-solid: nevah

Yesterday when I watched The Testaments, my testimony of the Savior grew. Yesterday was a pretty uplifting day, in general, actually. mmmyup.

I might maybe have done just a little bit of proselyting at the university here to people studying English. I read a verse from the Book of Mormon, testified of its truthfulness, and got their name and number so the missionaries can contact them later. I did this for about 5 people. It was pretty cool, I guess.

My plan for tomorrow is leaving the MTC at 3:30 in the morning, and my flight takes off at 6:30. I have a layover in Panama, after which I am bound for Curacao. After that, I am not sure where I am going. Either Trinidad, Tobago, or Guyana prolly.

Week 002 - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Some things never change

Dear friends and family:

I am doing well! Here at the MTC there is just a lot of classes and devotionals, with teeny tiny details added for variety.

My companions love to listen to music. A lot. Whenever we are in our room for an extended period of time (lunch break/at night before bed), they are listening to music. It mostly consists of EFY and mutual albums and Piano Guys, and I have listened to You Raise Me Up as performed by Josh Groben more times than I can count. Sundays own because my companions take naps during free time while I stay awake and do whatever (write/ponder/etc.). It's the only time of the week where I can be awake and in silence simultaneously. Although, they like to play music while they take naps. It's quiet enough that I can't hear it if I put in my ear plugs.

We had a service project on Wednesday. We went to the park which is right next to the MTC and filled about 30 trash bags full of leaves in about 45 minutes. While doing so, we saw a ton of cool bugs - Centipedes, millipedes, spiders, and a ton of ants. I also got a piece of a pretty nasty weed embedded into my thumb. It hurt whenever a significant amount of pressure was applied to my thumb for about a day.

I have been learning the general stuff here in the MTC. But one thing that I have been learning personally is how to apologize. I've found that it takes a lot of heart to do.

The boys love to talk about poop while we eat meals (some things never change). It's kind of annoying. And when my companions and I left our key in the door, one of the elders (who is serving in my mission, but speaking spanish) took a dump in our toilet and left it there with a sticky note that said: "With love, Elder Jones." It was more funny than it was an inconvenience, but it stunk up our room for a bit.

Missionaries love Nutella. I saw a whole container of Nutella go in just one day. I found out that it does make a good pancake topper.

I leveled up and now I can do the ultimate handshake by myself. I would include a video, but recording is not allowed.

There is another Elder Harris here at the MTC, but he is serving in the Dominican Republic. His birthday is the day before mine. So when clarification is needed, I am the younger Elder Harris. I prefer "Neo Elder Harris" but it's whatever.

A lot of missionaries got sick on Sunday-Monday so I had to move down one floor for just one night. All the sick missionaries were quarantined upstairs so the healthy ones wouldn't get infected. Moving was kind of a drag.

A miracle: I lost one of my pens for about a day and then I got it back.

I had the opportunity to teach a real investigator. He came here to the MTC and yeah. It went pretty well I guess.

Today I went to the park (pictures included). It was a really pretty area. There is a section of the park with "exercise equipment" (or at least what the manufacturers of the equipment think is exercise (pictures also included)). We also saw a pretty cute lizard at the park. I bought some frozen yogurt at the store today. It was interesting making a transaction in a foreign country where they speak a different language. (picture of frozen yogurt is also included...)

Included are links to photos taken today.. I got a ton of requests to access my photos, but these should be set so that anyone with the link can view. If you still can't see them...check my blog: deliciouseggbreakfast.blogspot.com

I will be happy to contain these in a more convenient manner as soon as I get access to google drive yeah I know it's ridiculous.

I would also love to provide commentary on all of the photos, but I can't even go as far as to rename them...and I apologize for any duplicates.

One last thing: I will be able to email you again on Saturday. One week from now, I will be in Curacao, and will not likely be able to email again until the Monday after next week.

Week 001 - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: *cries in spanish*

Dear friends and family,

It is with great pleasure indeed that I email you today! Rest assured, that even though the subject sounds sad, I am actually doing pretty well, even though leaving you all was terribly hard; far more difficult than anything I have ever gone through, even scout camp as a 12 y-o.

The missionaries who flew out together (there were about 25) had a great time getting to know each other and support each other. I sat on the plane next to an employee from google (who does business stuff, not engineering). I was also blessed to sit in the emergency exit row on the plane, giving me extra leg room. I slept for a little bit, which, surprisingly, supported me throughout the next day FAR more than you would think it should have.

At the Atlanta airport, I talked to two guys who were members of, like, an orthodox religion, and a bunch of us missionaries (including me) talked to them about some of their concerns. I said things that I didn't even know I had the ability to say. They said that they would read the book of mormon with an open mind. I guess time will tell if anything comes of that.

Leaving the country was actually really hard, but immigration went okay. I didn't even have to pay a fee. Seeing the country was a real shock to my...culture-shock-ness. Lots of graffiti. Lots of trash in the streets. Lots of poverty. Roads are small. Traffic lights hang low. I don't see much of that now that I'm in the MTC.

My companions are Elder Luis and Elder Pingel (we are a threesome),and they are both great, and we get along great. I actually like being in a threesome companionship. It gives variety to our conversations at night, and I feel like we are better friends for it.

We can see the ocean from the MTC grounds! I wish I could get pictures onto this computer, but it seems like all access to devices (including the device itself smh) is blocked.

There are about 6 of us in my district who are going to Trinidad, English speaking. And it turns out, going to Trinidad is actually a possibility, whereas I thought that I would only be able to go to Guyana.

The first two days were SO tough. So so tough indeed. My companions gave me a blessing, though, and ever since then I have been pretty much okay.

I have been learning a whole lot. I found out that I really like personal study, especially when I incorporate Preach My Gospel into it. Classes are long and can be hard to get through, but a lot of people here are extremely jealous of those of us going English speaking. I have also felt really supported by the prayers from my "fan-club" (you guys) from home, so thank you, each and all for your thoughts and prayers for me.

The kitchen staff only speaks Spanish, so there is a language barrier. I always want to respond to Spanish speakers in Japanese, but luckily, I am always able to suppress the urge. The food is mostly good! There is plenty of fresh fruit, MMMmmm!! We see a lot of cantaloupe, pineapple, watermelon (yay!), and mango, but not much of other fresh fruits. There seems to be a lot of meat, though. I'm not really used to it. .-.

President and Sister Gulbrandsen of the MTC are so kind and loving to the missionaries. They bring us treats in the evening. We even got donuts, and they were GOOD! One of the best donuts I've ever had, for sure. It was REAL.

My testimony of Joseph Smith grew on Sunday as we watched the movie for his biography. In fact, there have been a lot of instances so far where various aspects of the gospel were further testified to me.

Other fun facts:

Doors don't close all the way lol

Humidity is a thing

It rains sometimes.

I have worn all the ties I brought at least once.

Until next time.

  On the back row, my companion Elder Luis is the third from the left side. My other companion, Elder Pingel, is...well, if you look at the 5th person from the left on the back row, he is the one directly below him. Hope that helps. 


Edit: Photos added below

Week 000 - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: The first one ever.

Dear friends and family:

I have arrived safely at the CCM. For the amount of sleep I got on the plane last night, I am holding up surprisingly well.

My P-day will be on Tuesday. I love you all very much and I can't wait to tell you all that has been happening already.

Until next time