Baptism's and Good byes

Rafael's baptism was on Friday night. It was wonderful! He came an hour early and kept saying, let's just do it right now, we're the only ones that are going to show up any way. But a lot of members came and I know that he felt very loved. He is a great guy and has taught me a lot. He always calls me his "little brother" and Elder Graf is his "Big brother."

President Foote called this morning and I'm being transferred on Wednesday. In the past I would feel anxious and nervous for transfers. And when the call would come that I was leaving I would feel sad to be leaving. For some reason this transfer has been a little different. It snuck up on me so fast I hadn't even thought about it. And when the call came I felt peace. I think it's is because I know that I have done my best in this area. And I love the members here so much, but I'm not sad to leave them because I know that there is somewhere else that God needs me.

God has taught me a lot here in Lake Jodeco. I've learned to really trust in Him and to counsel with Him daily. Perhaps the greatest blessing was the time I spent serving with Elder Graf. Now, he is not perfect by any means and we had our days where we were butting heads so hard that we both came home with goose eggs. But he is a devoted missionary and a great leader. I think at times I was a little like Laman and Lemuel. I have been on a mission longer then him and I had to humble myself to be able to learn from his example and experiences.

Elder Harmon

1019 Marquis Way

Morrow, GA 30260

Pics:

1-2) Baptism

2-4) Lot's of exchanges

"Marriage Counseling"

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Thursday. I learned a lot from Elder Alade about Personal revelation. How comforting is it to know that we have a loving Heavenly Father? He wants to help us, He wants to guide us, and He wants us to enjoy ourselves and be successful! We just have to make sure we keep communication with Him.

On Friday we had an emergency exchange with one of the companionship's in the District. They needed "Marriage Counseling" as they called it. I've come to the conclusion that man and man just weren't made to live together. One of the hardest things of being a missionary is having a companion that is so different than you and having to work hard and work together. Not easy. But you sure do learn a lot.

I'll keep this one short. I love y'all and I know God lives! I've felt the Spirit, I've seen the blessings of following promptings and felt the regret of wishing I had. May we all make the time to talk with God and recognize his love and guidance in our lives.

con mucho amor,

Elder Harmon

1019 Marquis Way

Morrow, GA 30260

Just telling stories

A couple months ago when I first came into this area and was serving with Elder Jones, we helped out someone who had run out of gas. They were driving a suburban, had tried to turn off onto a side road and got stuck right in the middle of traffic. No one was stopping to help them so we pushed the car out of the way and helped her to get gas. Her friend, Anali also showed up with a gas container to help. And, lucky us, they both spoke Spanish. We were a little more focused in the driver of the stranded vehicle then we were her friend. We got her address and phone number and the address of Anali as well. I plugged the addresses into my gps.

Fast foreword... 2 weeks ago Elder Graf was just calling through all the numbers in the phone to see if anyone was interested and he called Ruby. We set an appointment and saw her twice last week. She's a little quiet, but she's smart and listens really well.

Yesterday, things went through and I wasn't really sure what to do. But I kept clicking on Anali's name on the Gps. Since we met her we had never gone to see her. So, we went. Turn's out she is the sister of Ruby, and she is awesome! We sent an appointment to see them both this Thursday. God is truly aware of all his children and there have been many times where I knew without a doubt that we were in a specific place at a specific time for a specific reason and that God wanted us to be there.

People update:

Rafael

He set the date of the 19th of September to be baptized!! He's still as funny as ever. But we caught him off guard one day and just stopped by. I think he was taking a nap or something because he was a little grumpy and kept correcting everything that Elder Graf said in Spanish. Then Elder Graf was a little grumpy and I just thought the whole thing was a little funny. Good times.

Sevilla's

They are still awesome! Gloria wants to send missionaries to her sister in Mexico. She is on point and understands everything so well. Still working on divorce so that she can get married to Jesus. It had been about a month where we lost contact with them and they weren't coming to church. But we met with them Saturday and we are going to see them tonight.

Lopez

You'll hear a lot more about them later. The parents are members that hadn't been to church in 11 years. They have come the past two weeks. Their daughter Yesenia is 18, and hasn't been baptized. So we are starting to teach her. We had a noche de hogar with them at the Paredes house. Lots of food, lots of fun. Yesenia has a lot of really good questions.

Sorry this email is a little long... Love y'all!

Pic:

Guess!

Elder Harmon

1019 Marquis Way

Morrow, GA 30260

Follow the Spirit

This past week went well. We been working a lot to find new investigators and people to teach. Monday night we planned to go to a specific trailer park to find people. On Tuesday we finished up some appointments and the time came to go to and find. I put it in the gps and we started out. Then I thought, but that is at the top of our area and we have to go to the bottom afterwards and we only have this much time. I pulled the car over and asked Elder Graf where else he wanted to go. He was very firm and set that we were going to go where we had planned. I blundered out my excuses and he told me again that we had been inspired last night to go to that trailer park and so we should go to that trailer park. Grudgingly, but knowing he was right we went to the trailer park. We saw an older women leaning out her porch door in a chair and grilling some carne asada. I wish I would've gotten a picture of it. As we talked to her, her daughter, Guadelupe, pulled up. We expressed the desire to say a prayer with them and Guadelupe readily offered to let us in the house. We told her we couldn't unless there was a man. Surprisingly she told us to wait, walked past us, and went around the back of her home. We stood there for a couple minutes wondering if she was ever going to come back. To our surprise she came back with Ricardo, a recent convert who hadn't been to church in a month. We taught the family with Ricardo and both came to church yesterday.

I learned the importance of following the spirit and following through with impressions no matter what. Elder Graf had had an impression to go to that trailer park and I am very glad that he listened to it instead of me. This truly is the Lord's work and not our own.

Elder Harmon

1019 Marquis Way

Morrow, GA 30260

Baptism de Pamela Padilla

Pamela got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday!! It was so special and she was so happy. After her confirmation she was grinning from ear to ear and just glowing. She has grown a lot. When we first started teaching her she told us that she couldn't say a prayer in front of people and she wouldn't. Yesterday she said the prayer in Sacrament Meeting and she did just fine. I'm very happy for her and excited for all the changes she is making in her life.

Yesturday was crazy.

Saturday Night:

 President Bishop called us and told us that the couple that he assigned to speak in Sacrament Meeting had just told him that they were going to be in North Carolina for the weekend. So he asked us if we could speak.

Sunday Morning

8am-9am: 

Spent preparing our talks. Most of the time Elder Graf just kept asking me how to say things in Spanish. I studied a little bit and was able to organize a couple thoughts.

10 am:

We had a meeting with the Branch Council at . During that time I remembered that we had to make what's called a "Progress Report" for a meeting we would be having after church. Usually we fill it out on Thursdays with Hermano Paredez, but we weren't able to do that. So, I quickly jotted that down while my companion kept writing his talk (we weren't very affective in that meeting).

11am:

 We went to Priesthood meeting where the teacher read us a talk in a nice monotone voice. My companion continued to write his talk and I remembered that the next class was Gospel Principles. Which we teach. Usually we prepare a little bit in the mornings for the class, but we were writing our talks.

12pm:

We round up everyone. I quickly look through to book to see where we are at. Fasting. We say a prayer and I teach the class on the fly. I hope that they all learned something.

12:50pm:

We all file into the chapel. Someone tells us to go talk to someone by Pre. Bishops office. We find a couple with a little two year old. The husband immediately begins to complain to us about how they had been waiting there for 2 hours and how they are starving and his wife is pregnant and they want us to do something for them. All this while Sacrament meeting is starting. We quickly round up the extra bread that wasn't used for the sacrament, which they really didn't seem that excited about for someone who was starving. We get back in time for the sacrament. Pamela receives the gift of the Holy Ghost. We talk.

2:15

Correlation Meeting with Branch leaders. Lots and lots of meetings.

Of course the day didn't end there but it was a pretty exciting start. I can remember listening to some leaders and thinking that they weren't very organized and that I could write a better talk or explain whatever they were trying to say in a better way. I now know that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes in leadership, and that it is extremely hard to take care of so many things. I have a lot of respect for all of my leaders, and especially for our living day Prophet.

Love ya'll

Elder Harmon

1019 Marquis Way

Morrow, GA 30260

Pics:

1-2) Pamela and Alex at her Baptism

3-4) Mystery soup. We think it was intestines. Not the best thing I've eaten so far... 

Re: A part of the Dance

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 11:14 AM, Levi Harmon <levi.harmon@myldsmail.net> wrote:

We helped Rafael trim his trees.

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 11:13 AM, Levi Harmon <levi.harmon@myldsmail.net> wrote:

This weekend will be the baptism of Pamela!! We are so excited for her. She has seen a lot of changes in her life already as she has been preparing herself to take this step. Yesterday we gave her a quad and she was so excited to have all the scriptures and she loves to read and learn. Her husband is going to baptized her as he just recently received the Aaronic Priesthood and it is going to be a special experience for both of them.

Rafael came to church for the first time yesterday and he loved it! We went and saw him on Friday with the Branch President and his wife. They were able to invite him to an activity the branch was having on Saturday where they went to a lake. He went, met a lot of the members, and really enjoyed himself. I think that really helped him to want to come to church and be a part of everything.

I don't remember who said it, but I remember reading a quote that said that we don't have to defend the gospel. It can do that on it's own. But rather it is like a song that we sing and share with others. When Rafael was able to go and see members of the church in action and to interact with them, he realized that he wanted to be with them. He can see them dancing and he wants to join the dance. All we have to do is teach him the steps and let him hear the music.

Pics:

1) The District

2) The District Leader. He is the same guy who broke the record at the BYU Invitational my senor year. He ran it in 47 seconds flat.

Elder Harmon

1019 Marquis Way

Morrow, GA 30260

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Elder Harmon

1019 Marquis Way

Morrow, GA 30260

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Elder Harmon

1019 Marquis Way

Morrow, GA 30260

The Noche de Hogar with the Alvarez Family went very well. A lot of members showed up and I think it was good for Eulogia to see all of the support she has from everyone. We watched the part of 'Meet the Mormons' about the man who is from Nipal. It showed how even thought he was baptized as a member of the church he was still able to respect and have a good relationship with his parents who were of another faith. Afterwards all of the members bore their testimonies and many of them talked about how they came from all catholic families as well and how their families had learned to respect them for their beliefs. It was AWESOME!

Pamela is good to go. She is learning so fast and just soaking everything up. She can literally see the gospel changing her life. It is amazing. Her baptism will be the 22nd of August.

 

Elder Harmon

1019 Marquis Way

Morrow, GA 30260