We haven't updated this blog for a whole month. The last post was Elder Harrison in the hospital for his minor surgery. He has since fully recovered and is back to work with a vengeance. We are posting his last four e-mails, beginning with the most recent, sent this morning:
April 23, 2012
Hello,
This week has been good. We haven´t seen the success of weeks past but
we´ve been able to teach several people.
We´re working now on cleaning the Ward lists . . . and in the process
we´re trying to help reactive the lost sheep.
We´ve already found 3 new people in a family to teach in this
manner. We´ve also taken what we learned
in our Zone Conference this last Wednesday and tried to apply it in the
sector. The President and the Assistants
talked about a new mission-wide focus on members, “menos actives,” and
reactivation. It consists of helping members to think of people that could be
valuable references, reactivation, and teaching the part member families. I´m very glad to have this focus as it has
been an issue that has impacted me since I first started the mission.
I´ve been reflecting on what I´ve learned from
my companion, Elder Sanchez - a strong testimony and willingness to teach, but
with an ability to wholeheartedly laugh.
As the mission is one of the more difficult things that one can do in
life, it is extremely important to be able to laugh to diffuse the stress and
anxiety.
A revelation from this week: The primary
reason that there are inactive, unfaithful, or empathetic people in Chile, or
in any part of the world, is because they do not listen to the Prophets. Just as in times of old when those who didn´t
listen strayed, it is the same in modern times.
If you´re not listening, treasuring, and applying the word of the Lord´s
oracles on earth, you are not listening to the Lord. And you will stray. A challenge that I´ve given myself now and to
continue into after the mission is to listen to or read the modern word of the
Servants of the Lord every day. And I
extend the same challenge to you.
With love, and testimony
Elder Parry Harrison
April 16, 2012
I think my letter to the president sums up
this week well:
President,
This week has been wonderful. With the ability and energy to work with full
dedication and faith we´ve finally seen our efforts turn to fruit. We´ve encountered people to teach and have followed
through. It has required a huge change in outlook and great faith in the Lord,
but now we are reaping blessings.
One thought that came to me as we worked with
Assistant Nielsen this week: I´ve heard that in the past the Mission President
at times went out and worked with the missionaries to gain perspective on the
work and to animate them about the work.
I think that would be a wonderful teaching opportunity if you feel so
impressed to do it.
Those are my thoughts for this week. Thanks for the work and direction you give
us.
Elder Harrison
Other thoughts to my family:
We´re teaching the family Zuñiga off and on
[an inactive family], and they go through the challenges and temptations of an
investigator. We´re working on helping
them have the faith to plan a marriage date.
Also we have a 30-year-old recently married “investigadora” named
Elizabeth with a date to be baptized on May 6.
It´ll be challenging because she´s been smoking since she was 14, but
we´ll be working with her a lot.
Wednesday we had a day of pure success with
one unplanned lesson after another. And
in the end we had 1 with a member present, 4 others, 3 new people found, and 20
people contacted. It was also my first
rain in Chile! :)
Friday we got to teach a new woman named
Patricía. She has epilepsy and because
of this has lost custody of her 12-year-old son. It was really hard to see her suffering but I
could bear my testimony to her of the help that the gospel and the Savior could
give her helped her.
Quotes from conference that touched me:
“We can be active in the church but inactive
in the gospel . . . The point of the church is to help us live the gospel.” – Elder
Hallstrom
“A
religion that doesn´t require complete sacrifice doesn´t have the power to
sufficiently change us and save us.” – Elder Oaks
“Make personal sacrifices is, as in times of
old, when we go to the temple . . . Present action will prepare them, or
prevent them from future service opportunities . . . Of all sad words of tongue
and pen the saddest of these are, ‘it might have been.’ “ – Elder Hales
“No you can´t come to me now, but I can come
to you.” – Elder Baxter
“When
you are in the devil´s territory you lose the ability to reason because you
have lost the light of the Spirit of God.” – Elder Soares
Lots of love
Elder Parry Harrison
April 10, 2012
Hello,
I´m sorry, but they changed our P-day to today
because we got to go to the temple. It is beautiful inside and the session was
a very spiritual experience for me. I
really appreciated the opportunity to go after 6 months away. The other elders also found a puppy shivering
in the street. They were luckily able to
find a home for it with one of the members of the ward. We also had a pizza party at a place called “Pizza
Pizza.” While it’s not amazing, it’s not half bad pizza.
This week I want to bear testimony of the
power of a revelation journal. Elder
Scott talked about it in a Conference and in the MTC. And ever since I´ve
started writing down my spiritual and thought illuminating moments, I have
begun to receive more and then been able to reflect back on them. I challenge you to use your phone or a little
booklet to write them down, because the key is always having it with you so
that when the Spirit strikes you´re ready.
My letter to the Mission President this week:
President,
It’s been a much better week. Elder Sanchez and I have finally been able to
work. We haven`t had a lot of success
with the people but with our willingness and dedication to work we`ve improved
a lot. Our hope is to turn our efforts
into people and progression in the ward this week.
Couple of thoughts: Whitewashing a sector kills
investigators. When I left San Pablo we
had at least 12 people with real potential or dates. Not one has gotten baptized, not because we
didn`t prepare them or fill out their paper work. It is because when both
missionaries change the progression halts.
And it is very difficult to recover.
Also, I want to put in my strong support for Latino/Gringo
companionships. I think it improves
language skills exponentially and helps with teaching, communication, and
culture appreciation.
Well those are my thoughts for this week. Thanks for all you do.
With love, and prayers on your behalf every
night
Elder Parry Harrison
April 2, 2012
Hello,
Couple of thoughts: A couple of weeks ago I
finished the entire missionary library and the Book of Mormon. Now I`m rereading “Our Search for Happiness”
and starting the Bible. I love reading
again, and learning so much about the Gospel.
Last Tuesday was a little crazy.
There was a huge fire at a plastic factory in a nearby neighborhood and
for some reason it cut out the electricity.
The smoke was like when you throw a piece of plastic in a fire but on a
bomb looking-like scale. But all was
well. And the light came on in the
night.
We got to watch most of the sessions of
General Conference in English because one of the stake secretaries brought his
laptop and we watched online. The Internet
was a little slow so it was jittery at times but it was wonderful to hear the
actual voices of the servants of the Lord.
My breakdown of Conference: families, priesthood authority, and
reactivation.
While I had the intentions to begin this week
working diligently and with full dedication, because of my surgery and the
doctor`s orders we`ve had to take it easy.
But, the doctor said that I can begin normal work today and they`ll take
out the stitches tomorrow, so I look forward to the work and results that me
and Elder Sanchez will be able to do in the sector. I loved Conference and received great
strength and spiritual rejuvenation from the messages. I love my mission and try to let that love I
feel towards the mission and by nature the Savior, reflect in my interactions
with my companion and those I`m here to teach.
In conclusion, it’s been a bad week with
regards with my ability to work. (Not to mention that no one listened to the
talk in Conference about writing real letters to your missionary!) :) But
I`ve gained even more dedication and appreciation to this work and the comfort
in my knowledge of the Truth of this gospel.
Con Amor
Elder Parry Harrison
March 27, 2012
Hello,
I hope you are all doing well, and are feeling
the love of the Lord every day. Also,
that you are looking forward to General Conference.
Answers to questions: 1. Dogs are very
commonplace, but the attacks aren´t that common. 2. Laundry is usually done by the members for
no charge, although frequently we give them detergent to cover their cost. 3.
For P-day we have to get permission to leave the Zone (which is relatively
small). Within the zone we do things like go to the mall to buy our food for
the week at Lider (Walmart), go to a cyber to use Internet, and then stay at the
house. At times we´ve left the zone to
go downtown to the Plaza de Armas, to the museum of the Communist regime of Pinochet,
to a large shopping district called “Patronata”, to the AMM (Distribution Center),
or like the trip we´re planning to take this week to a large driving range (golf).
About this crazy week:
I woke up Sunday with pain and swelling behind
my belly button. I called the Mission President’s wife, who is the mission
nurse, and she told me to go to the mission doctor. I went Monday morning and
he told me to get it checked out at Indisa, a large family
hospital/clinic. I got an appointment
that day at 3:30 and went directly there. They checked it out with an
ultrasound then a different doc checked me. I freaked out when he told me I
needed surgery that night! It turned out that I had a hernia atascada. Cutting through Church red tape, I was
admitted to their hospital wing, and received the butchery at 10:30 that
night. After 2 days of terribly boring
recovery I was sent home. I shared my
hospital room with a fellow “cripple” missionary whose name was Elder Gonzales
from Argentina. While I was in the hospital my companion and the others moved
Thursday to our new house. After I checked out of the hospital on Saturday
night I got Elder Sanchez back as my companion for the next transfer! :) Sunday
night at 7 we had a 5.0 tremor, which was not my first earthquake but the
biggest and therefore the most exciting. :) That same night I started oozing fluids
from my incision, but it turned out they had just leaked into the space created
by removing my hernia, so all is well. I go back Wednesday to get my incisions
taken out. All in all, crazy week! :)
To the President:
This week has been one of the hardest I´ve had
in the mission up to this point. When
you come to the mission with the desire to serve and then get stuck under house
arrest with a companion who has chosen to complain, whine, and justify with
lies his failure as a missionary and as a convert to this gospel (Elder
Gonzales), it all begins to wear on you.
But, at least I´m improving in health, and me and Elder Sanchez are
dedicated to making a serious change in our direction of attitude and
willingness to take personal responsibility for our sector. I´m excited,
through the ability to repent, to change my view and work back to where it was
when I started my mission.
Well these are my thoughts this week, with the
hope to be able to accomplish my purpose as a missionary this next week by
loving my fellow men, and the greater command, the Lord.
I love you, and am grateful for your support
and testimony while I´m out here so far away, serving.
Tu Misionero
Elder Parry Harrison
