"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.