Christmas - Last Two December E-Mails

We spent a wonderful 25 minutes Christmas morning talking with Elder Harrison through Skype. It was great to not only talk with him but to see him face-to-face. He is doing real well. He can state this himself in his own words - below are his last two e-mails from December:

December 19 - This week went by super fast. I´m really starting to get into the schedule. And, I´m learning to enjoy the small spiritual moments teaching, or in my studying. We don´t have anyone particularly close to baptism, but we are working with lots of people and I´m am getting better and better and introducing people to our message. My companion is good. He´s the Zone Leader and has 1.5 years, so lots of experience. He´s kind of a big nerd in the science fiction kind of way. And is a little bit socially awkward - not as in "quiet" but as in how to interact with people. But I´m learning how to work hard and not get discouraged when people are blatantly denying the truth. I really like all the food. We´ve had some especially good steak and mashed potatoes from our mamacita who cooks for us 3 times a week in her home. I struggled in mixing the verbs orinar [to urinate] and harina [corn flour] at the beginning, and I sometimes let slip tú [familiar form], but overall it's going well and I´m improving my Spanish daily. I´m also gradually losing my ability to speak English! :)

This is the time of year to be continually reminding ourselves of the Savior, and I get to talk about it every minute with people here. But I want to share my testimony with you, that I know without a doubt that the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is directing His church. That the one and only true way to get happiness is to live the Gospel. And, that God our Heavenly Father is listening to our prayers, and will help us if we but ask. I´m tearing up just thinking of how sweet it is to know these things. And how powerful this knowledge is. I want you to know that I miss you, but this is something so much greater. And I hope to be able to save as many souls as the Lord will let me. Remember the people here in your prayers as well. And remember the gift of the Savior in your lives. Especially during Christmas.

Felizes Pascua

Con Amor

Parry

December 26 - Thanks so much for the packages, love and letters. It helped brighten up my Christmas, which otherwise was honestly the worst one I´ve had simply because we barely did anything to celebrate it, and it was very lonely and sad without my family. But, we did get to share a little more about Christ and His birth with the investigators and members, which was nice. And I am actually enjoying the day to day misionando. :) I´ve got to say that yesterday´s sacrament meeting was actually really good. The talks were great. And everyone spent 10 minutes after the meeting talking, getting acquainted, and wishing a Merry Christmas. It felt great to see a lot of ward unity and love. One weird thing about having Christmas in the Summer is that squirt guns are really popular gifts. Also, it's sad because a lot of parents are obviously much more into buying gifts than they should be. They buying things like ATV´s for 10 year olds! The consumerism here is really messing up their view of life.

About how much I speak English:  I´m kinda bad and speak English a lot more than I should, especially with the companion. But pretty much no one knows English except for the young ones, and them not very well. So I´m pretty much speaking Spanish to everyone else, or not speaking at all (because I can´t understand them). :)

We´re teaching a lot of people. None of them are particularly close to baptism, nor that amazed at what I´m sharing with them. But I have hope that two 16-year-old boys that we´re teaching individually will follow through on their date to be baptized. I´m trying to figure how best to help my companion by alleviating his burden of responsibility as senior companion, trainer, and Zone Leader. I´m trying to spearhead the interaction with the ward, for meetings, and having members accompany us in lessons.

The weeks are starting to go faster and faster which is good at this point. But according to my companions isn´t something one wants at their point in the field. Some days are difficult, but overall I'm good.

I forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago I got to do an exchange for a day with an elder in the zone. It was very interesting to see how a fellow nuevo (1.5 months more than me) taught. And how much success we could have without our respective senior companions. We actually found more people and taught more lessons that day then I had any day up to that point. It helped me see the work in a different way. And not feel so restricted to teach the way my companion does.

Overall I´m doing great. And while I miss you, I feel buoyed up by the knowledge of how important this work is.

Feliz Año Nuevo

Con mucho Amor

Parry

Waterloo with Food

I have yet to become sick. We drink water, and the milk is actually not as bad as I initially thought. They only have sugared juices, and we´re always offered soda. In fact the word for drink in Spanish is "bebida". Here it means pop. :) My companion has taught me how to work, and how to not take it too personally when people are not caring or accepting the message. We're nearly always contacting or calling at doors when ever we are not going to an appointment or trying to visit the less actives. For Christmas we´ve got an activity in the mission home the day before - a dinner and caroling, and we get to sleep in and visit members on Christmas itself. I just got the letters sent when I entered the field so snail mail really takes awhile. I recommend emails. Here there is a ton of problems with smoking, and a ton of immorality. It's common to not be married and live with someone. The girls usually have a kid at 17. The food is actually quite good. But yesterday I had my Waterloo with food. We were eating with a family and the main course was stuff on rice. It tasted good but was a ton. I could barely finish it and I was praying that there was something light for "postre". But then they brought out something that is like cream of wheat, and a lot of it. I didn´t like it, and was forcing it into my stomach because I didn´t have any more room. When I finished I was just thinking, "don´t throw up until you get out to the street". To make a long story short, I didn´t make it. All over the table... I was so embarrased. But there you go -- I´m in the mission field. I´ll write more next week...

Con Amor

Parry

Two Weeks In

I´ve been here two weeks, and it´s been hard. The walking is really getting to me. We probably only go about 5 miles a day, but in dress shoes it's really hard. Also, it´s been quite hot here. It´s not really any more humid than in Utah, but it's just as hot, especially in Sunday clothes. I´m still in the sprawling city of Santiago, in a neighborhood and ward called Lo Prado. We live with the Zone leader and his companion. The other comp, Elder Gallucci, is from Argentinia and the two ZL´s are from the states: Elder Marrott from Texas and Elder Dearden, my companion, from Boston. It´s hard making sure I´m speaking Spanish all the time with fellow gringo companions. I met Tanner Barlow, a fellow class officer from Jordan High, at our celebratory day of sports today. We got the mission monthly goal of 79 baptisms. We had the baptism of a wonderful old man-Jose-yesterday. I´ll send picts next week. And, testimony meeting was great. To contact people we talk to everybody, on the street and "tocar puertas". The area is kind of like super lower class suburb so it's easier to see them on the streets and in homes. The people are almost always friendly, but very few actually want to listen. We´re in a transition phase right now, where we´re determining which investigators to try and keep working with and which to drop. We finally found some service in the garden of a Catholic "viajita", but she´ll need time to come around to our message. I try to talk a little each time, and when we actually teach formal lessons I talk a lot more. There are some Christmas lights and decorations up, but not many. The children are the cutest - to see 4-year-olds speaking rapid spanish is the cutest. We go to bed at 11:30 and wake up at 7:30. I´ve got to go, but I´ll write more next week...
Con Mucho Amor
Parry

E-Mails to Elder Harrison

I have an hour and a half for email on P-days on Mondays, so this is the best way for us all to contact each other. Especially because mail takes a couple weeks to get here. I´m probably going to change to one big email, and tiny ones addressing individuals. Just letting you all know.

Hope to hear from all of you,
con amor
Parry

First Week in Chile

So here I am. It's much different than I expected - the people, the country, the work. But I´m really starting to like it. The flight was long and I barely slept. The first week was hard. I´ve gotten a lot of blistering on my feet from all the walking, but luckily it's starting to callous over. I´m getting better with the language daily, but because the Chilenoes have such a different accent, it's very difficult to understand. The meals are really different - small breakfast, huge lunch and a small "once" or eleven late in the evening. The food is really challenging for me, because even though it tastes great, it is very difficult to eat so much. And they have salad with every meal and there´s always tomatoes, which I hate. They also like to give bananas for dessert, which is hard. The people are great. Our ward is our area and it's the strongest in the stake or zone. The Stake President and Patriarch are both from here. The saddest thing is how many inactives there are. There are about 120 actives and 750 inactives in the ward. So there is significant work trying to bring them back. I love the people, though. They´re friendly, they know of God, frequently funny, and know how to feel the Spirit. They definitely live in poverty, though. The main city is nicer, but the homes are usually quite small, dirty, and poor.  I love the people. I feel the Spirit when we teach. And while it's already so hard, I know this is where I need to be.

Con Amor
Parry

Today's the Day!

Today is the day that Elder James Parry Harrison flies to Chile to begin the heart of his mission. We are anxiously awaiting a phone call from him at the Salt Lake International Airport.
In the meantime, here is the last official e-mail he sent to his family last Thursday:

"Well here I am. Off to the great big world... Today I got my shots and haircut, so I'm pretty much ready to go. I'm scared that I'm not ready to speak the language, but we'll see... :) This week, we had a wonderful devotional on Tuesday by Tad R. Callister of the presidency of the 70. It was very powerful and interesting. He talked about the Great Apostasy and Well here I am. Off to the great big world... Today I got my shots and haircut, so I'm pretty much ready to go. I'm scared that I'm not ready to speak the language, but we'll see... :) This week, we had a wonderful devotional on Tuesday by Tad R. Callister of the presidency of the 70. It was very powerful and interesting. He talked about the Great Apostasy and the the 10 evidences of it: 1. The Apostles were all Killed 2. Scritures testify 3. The Bible ends 4. Miracles gone 5. Teachings of Christ's church perverted 6. Ordinances changed 7. Simple manner of prayer changed(Satan breaking the communication with God) 8. Scriptures removed from common folk 9. None of the churches bore the name of Christ 10. The priesthood was lost. He used tons of quotes from world recognized authorities and from the leaders of the churches and movements themselves. It's cool too because he's the uncle of my favorite high school history teacher - Ms. Callister.  I have to say one of the things I've love the absolute most here in the MTC is the musical numbers at the devotionals and firesides. They are so powerful and the people are amazingly talented. This week I read through the sunday school version of the church history from 1850 to 2000. It was a ton of reading, something like 18 chapters, but it was so interesting to learn about how the church was forming and settling into its traditions. And, how the Church delt with the challenges. It's on lds.org. Just search "chapter thirty" and it pops up. Also, we watched a talk given by Elder Holland, on Sunday night, that he gave in 2006. It was really powerful.

A great poem he told,

"Come to the edge he said, no I said, I'll fall

Come to the edge he said, no I'll fall

Come to the edge he said, I came, he pushed me, and I flew"

God helps us, and we can only do somethings when pushed to the edge of our strength and testimony

Well, I'm ready to go out.... I know this is the Lord's work. That he's personally directing the church. That Joseph Smith restored this Church and all the power through revelation and the power of God. I bear testimony that prayers are answered, and that God micromanages this work(we hear that in almost every talk:) I love you all, and am so greatful for the support, news, love, and testimony I've gotten from you. I'll see you on the bottom side of the world....

Con Amor

Parry"

ELDER HARRISON FLIES TO CHILE ON NOVEMBER 21

I'm leaving the 21st and will be calling home from the airport around 12 noon. My Delta flight leaves at 1:50 and we stop to refuel in Atlanta at 7:20. We then get to Santiago at 8:20 in the morning. I might get to call to say I'm alright, but I'm not sure. I am on the same flight as Elder West, even though he's going to the neighboring mission.

MTC Musings

This past week Elder Harrison wrote:

This week, the most interesting and powerful thing that has happened was to hear Hermana Lucero's, one of my teachers, conversion story. She lived in Chiuaua (I don't know how to spell it :) Mexico. She was extremely poor, even for Mexico. She was 14. She and her siblings were in a parade and were all dressed in white. Later, they found out the missionaries saw them dressed in white and felt like they were ready to be baptized. She was walking with her friends and they shouted "hey handsomes" at the missionaries because they looked like such gringos. She felt horrible when she got home and they were there. Her family automatically accepted it but she was very resistant because she believed in the Virgin Mary. When she was 4 she was lost in the city for 10 hours. And a nice lady luckily found her and posted pictures and she was found. Her mom told her that she prayed to the Virgin and that's why she found her. The missionary shared a story of how a mom was giving food to her neighbor for her son, who was begging there but was too proud to go home. This is how God still answers prayers, even though they're sometimes directed to the wrong person.  She went on to tell how she had to quit school and work for 3 years, but really wanted to go to the church highschool in Mexico City. She finally earned enough money for the first semmester but didn't have any more. She trusted it would all work out and went anyways. She ended up getting a scholarship for good grades. When she applied for a visa to come here, she didn't have very much money and they don't like to give visas to those without many prospects. But when she said that she was coming to the U.S. so she could make a difference in her and her family's life, the officer just gave it to her. She was a great example to me of how we could change people's life so dramatically. It was touching and made me excited to get out there to help.

I finished "Jesus the Christ" today! It was an amazing and really strengthened my testimony and knowledge of the Savior. I'm excited to get my travel plans tomorrow :) Thanks for all the support and love.

Con amor
Parry

Latest from the MTC

Here is Elder James Parry's latest e-mail from the Provo MTC, in its entirety:

This week has been good. The Zone Leader's district, the ones who got in just before us, left on Sunday and Monday, so now we're the "oldest" ones here. It makes it seem even more like we've been here forever, and that we'll be leaving soon. We'll be getting our for sure departure date and travel plans around the 10th, and should be leaving around the 21st. I'm starting to feel nervous and un-prepared. Before I thought I was doing great, but now it seems like the field is coming up way too fast :/ So, I'm just going to have to work harder. I'm almost done with Jesus the Christ! I'm on page 550, and it has been amazing. I have learned so many things I didn't know about the Savior and His ministry. It's strengenthed my testimony so much. :) This week, for the devotional, we thought and hoped that we'd get President Monson because he was down giving a talk at BYU earlier in the day, but we got a 70 instead :/ Elder Craig Zwick. It was ok though, because he gave a great talk about prayer. He talked about his mission and how, when he was in Argentina under Elder Scott as mission president, he had to open up Bolivia for service. And he had to build a chapel in a tiny rural town on the border. They had to go 20 miles through the mountains with burros to bring supplies from a neighboring town. One day while going along, there was a  terrible thunderstorm and the river below the path turned into a raging mud torrent. One of the burros lost its footing and fell off the 200 ft. cliff in the river and was gone. He and his companion were so scared, but they knelt down and prayed, and the Lord protected them and gave him the most overwhelming sense of comfort and peace. We also had an amazing lesson on prayer from "The Trio" this sunday. They played the song "A Child's Prayer", and it was so touching. Oh, and also on Sunday we sang "We Are the Armies of Helaman", which was amazingly powerful.

I know that prayer works. I have prayed more here than I think I have in total since I was baptized. And it is amazing. I know that God listens, and that prayer can strengthen you, guide you, comfort you, and help you in innumerable other ways. I know this mission will change my life -- it already has started to. Thank you so much for the support and love you've given me and are giving me out here. I love the letters: the news, funny stories, and testimonies. I miss you, but wouldn't want to miss this for the world. Stay strong, and remember God Loves YOU.

Con Amor
Parry

"I Know That Christ Lives"

Thankyou so much for all the support and letters. I really appreciate them, though its a little hard to try and respond to them all :)  This week has been good, though there hasn't been anything particularly exciting. The best thing that has happened was to have Richard G. Scott at the devotional on Tuesday night. The talk was about feeling the spirit which was fine. But the best part was when he put his notes down and said, "I'm done with that and would like to speak to you as an apostle.  I KNOW that Christ lives, I don't believe, I don't hope, I Know." I'd always wondered if Christ appears to his apostles today. And, I'd been reading in Genesis about how The Lord would appear to, and walk with his ancient prophets, and I wondered If he does still.  When Elder Scott testified of that, I had the strongest overwhelming feeling of the Spirit that Christ lives and directs this church. I've been reading Jesus the Christ and it's been great learning in depth about his life.  My testimony has already been strengthened so much here. Also, I got my first "You've got to get married" talk from him too. Which frankly was kinda the worst time for me to be told this - I don't have to think about that for two years, and really shouldn't be anyways :)  I'm teaching in a trio with a sister and elder west now because her companions left to Guatemala. Its hard to teach in a trio, especially with a sister - she has a lot of personality, and is very sure of her opinions, but it's teaching me patience and is good practice for the different companions I might get in the field.

So now a second elder in my district might have cancer. First was elder Warren who has since left to the Guatemala MTC: He got a lump on his neck a few days in, and didn't get it checked til right before he left. They said it could be serious if it didn't go away in two weeks, and he left before we could find out the diagnoses... And elder dyches, in the trio and from austin texas has had some tiny moles on his chest that have really been hurting. He was sent out to the Doc and they took a biopsy. So we'll find out in a week if he's got skin cancer...  It's good though, I ran 2 miles yesterday in gym, I've relegated myself to enduring the food, and we get to have our room to ourselves for the next week because we didn't get any newbes yesterday. Life goes on, and the spirit is strong. Please keep writing, even though I might not be able to respond to the letters so quickly :)

Con Amor

Parry

Week Four in the MTC

As Elder Harrison embarks on Week Four at the Provo MTC there is clear evidence that he has really hit his stride. For example, he asked how Trish was doing "emotionally" (the difficulty of being separated from her oldest son, no doubt). He is also asking for news of each family member, "literal news" as he describes it. He understands the testimony bering and the spiritual sustenance that his parents try to provide, but doggone it, he wants NEWS! So, accommodating as we are, we filled the "DearElder" e-mails with news from home, news about the world, news about politics, and news about the Church.
Lest we forget where he is, he also reminded us that he wants the Book of Mormon edition of the Ensign as well as the General Conference edition when it comes out.
As far as his daily routine goes, he says that the "days have been pretty much the same." They have a "lot of personal study time in a small classroom. We have classes with either teacher where we learn grammar, teaching, and the Gospel." He still has challenges with the cuisine, calling his eating experiences "semi decent meals in a cafeteria." He is also committed to physical fitness. He is running, "doing pushups, crunches, curls" and playing basketball with his district, calling it all a "break from the monotony."
On Sundays they we meet as a branch of about 50, and then have a fireside with the whole MTC each Sunday evening. On P-Day, which is Thursday, his district goes to the temple in the morning and then does laundry and write letters in the afternoon.
He is also supposed to work with a program called "Technology Assisted Language Learning" an hour each day. He refers to this effort as "really boring and kind of waste of time."  :) 
He got his first haircut this week and claims it is "the shortest it's been in 6 years!" His roommates, Elders Smith and Warren, left for the Guatemala MTC this week, making it rather lonesome in their room.
After all is said and done, Elder Harrison bears his testimony at the end of each letter and e-mail : "I know the Church is true, and and I can't deny my testimony. Thanks for your support. :)

Con Amor"
We love and miss him very much!

October 6 E-Mail

I wish I could write you about all my conference feelings, but I left my notes in my room, and frankly you've watched it yourself. I do remember that I loved Elder Holland's talk from priesthood, and Elder Callister's from Sunday morning. Conference was kind of painful because we had to sit for 10 hours straight in pretty uncomfortable chairs. But, it was still very spiritual. And it seemed to be over just like that. I really do love listening to the prophets . . . 

Also, Sunday night we had a devotional where Chad Lewis, an NFL football player from BYU, talked. It was inspirational, and the best part was singing this great rendition of "Called to Serve." We start off quiet and then grow in power as if we're modern revelation. And the Spirit was so strong being here in the MTC. Singing the priesthood rest hymn with 2,000 missionaries brought tears to my eyes, arching over a hill, and it was so powerful and spiritual!

Some other interesting tidbits from the mish: There's an elder in our branch who looks a ton like Joseph Gordon Levitt from the movie "Inception." He's hilarious and cool, and kind of a stoner. :)  Also, we have two teachers. Hermano Notemayer is 4 months off his mission to the Dominican Republic. He speaks perfect Spanish and hates speaking english. Hermana Lucero went on a mission to Mexico and is from there as well. She's been here since January learning English. She actually speaks more English that Notemayer, who is from Wisconsin, which is funny and welcome.  :)  But, the classes are pretty much just in Spanish.

I haven't written you much about the daily doings here because it's frankly all the same and would be quite boring reading for you.  There's a ton of time to study, and hours of Spanish class each day, too.  We teach our teachers, who pretend to be investigators from their missions - which is actually really enjoyable.  It's exciting and spiritual and is great to try and teach in Spanish.

I'll close with a great quote from one of the devotionals or firesides I keep going to. It's from Elder L. Tom Perry speaking at the MTC: "Are some of you here because your fathers wanted you to be here? Just remember that Jesus came to earth and gave the atonement because his father wanted him to be here."

Thanks for your support, please keep sending letters!  :)

Con Amor

Parry

The First Three Weeks

Elder Harrison has not only survived his first three weeks at the MTC but he has THRIVED!

We dropped him off on the afternoon of September 21, 2011. We first went to lunch at an Indian restaurant in Provo. Joining us and Parry were Reid and Cyndi, plus Ellie and Hans. We then drove to the park across the street from the MTC, took some photos, and then all hopped in our mini-van and drove through the MTC gates to drop off our beloved James Parry. Trish, in her usual devil-may-care style, waved to all the groups of missionaries lining the drive: "Hello, Elders! Thank you, missionaries!" It was great!!

We arrived at the appointed spot and stopped the car. A swarm of Elders stormed the van, opening our doors and pulling Parry's luggage out. After one last hug from everyone, he was gone, escorted into the bowels of the MTC.

Since then he has written us at least three e-mails, the first of which were lists of things he had forgotten or otherwise needed. To remedy the situation, Trish has already mailed three packages to him, since you are NOT allowed to hand deliver anything down there.

Trish has a written him almost every day through a service called "Dearelder.com." You simply "e-mail" a note, they make a hard copy of it, and deliver it by hand to the MTC. It is even same day service, so Parry gets a note/letter from one of us virtually every day. Pretty cool.

So far, Parry has done very well. He has a great companion from Alaska named Elder West. He also knew him in passing at Utah State. He was a bit overwhelmed at first with the 24/7 Spanish but seems to have hit his stride now.

He has sent some photos (some will be/are posted here on this blog) and even two short videos. He says the food is tolerable but "messes with your bowels." He loves his classes, especially the role playing with "investigators."

That's it for our first blog entries. More to come!

Trish and Robin

Welcome to Elder Harrison's Blog

Welcome to the mission blog of Elder James Parry Harrison, hosted by his mother and stepfather, Trish and Robin Riggs. On this blog we will be posting messages from Elder Harrison plus photos and other items of a spiritual, temporal, and fun nature.

We invite all of our family and friends to keep up to date on all of Elder Harrison's exploits and to comment and send us any items you want to share.

Thanks, and may the Lord bless you all as we share in the joy of Parry's service.