Week 89

Hi Everyone,

Well this was a good week as usual! Guyana is nuts but I love it! The only problem is they only speak one language but whatever.

My new companion is a guy named E. Birch from Idaho and he is a way chill guy! He has 4 months in the mission and this is his first transfer in Guyana. He is a hard worker and likes to have fun so yeah, we get along great. It’s nice finally having a companion that wants to work as hard as I do! It’s been great. But on transfer day I got to stay in the senior couple apartment with another Elder and took my 5th hot shower in my entire mission! #Blessed  Then we took a road trip all over Guyana to drop and pick up random elders and then my comp flew in and we went home. We had our district conference this weekend so we all went up to the Chapel downtown to do it. On Sunday we had a pretty good turnout but on the Saturday adult session there were only like 25 people there, including the 8 missionaries...... But Pres. Egbert was there! He didn't have time to do interviews but we were able to talk with him a little which was nice.

We also finally were able to have a lesson with Arifa's sister! She is 24 and didn't seem too interested because she would always leave and take care of her baby whenever the lesson started but we "happened" to stop by when Arifa wasn't there and so we cornered her and had a really good lesson! She had some questions about the plan of salvation because her mom passed away a few years back so we talked about that and the spirit was so strong as she learned about everything. She had tons of questions and agreed to meet with us again on Wednesday.  Arifa will be so happy!

But the work is really starting to explode out here! It’s so different here than the islands because there are a bunch of prepared people!!  It’s a fun change and I can't wait for this next week!

Love,

Elder Harsh

Week 88

Hi Everyone,

Well this week lots happened! Probably the biggest news is that my paperwork for Trinidad didn't process yet so I have one more transfer here in Guyana! I am glad I can stay but I do miss speaking other languages.

Yesterday we had Arifa and Krystal's baptism!! It was such a neat experience! Krystal's whole family except for her dad are fully active now and very supportive and the dad came out to the baptism! Arifa was super ready and participates more than any of the other YW in church! It’s been really neat to see her progress these past few weeks. The funny thing was that the water in Guyana is really dirty so when we filled up the baptismal font the water was green! That is normal for the people here in Guyana because they know their water sucks but it kinda destroyed the whole"clean again"imagery......BUUUUUUUT it was still great and we had a lot of members from the branch come which was good because we had to do it in the chapel in town because we just meet in a house and we don't have a font.

 In other news I learned how to make Roti and Pumpkin which is my new favorite food and it’s really fun to make!! We eat a lot of Curry and Roti because there are a lot of Indian people here (like from India Indians not Lamanite Indians) But it’s a really neat culture! I like it here the only problem is E. Alatasi got transferred and that’s kind of a bummer and I have no idea who my new companion is but he flys in Wednesday. Also last week we took a boat ride across the river and saw an alligator! I didn't get a photo but it was cool and I ordered a sweet gator skin cover for my scriptures. All in all it was a great week!

Elder Harsh

Week 87

Hi Everyone,

It’s weird to think we are already on the last week of the Transfer! Crazy how time flies! But at the same time the fact that I haven't had to fly out in a few weeks makes me feel like I have been here for a while!! But this week was great!

We are preparing for the Baptism of Arifa and Crystal which should be nice! Arifa is doing great! She has such a strong testimony and is getting baptized next Sunday! It was going to be Saturday but she can only have work off one of those days so of course she chose to take off Sunday.

It’s a lot different here than in the Islands! The problem is that baptisms come easier so the missionaries feel like they don't need to be as obedient. I saw that back in the DR as well. In the islands I was able to watch the old (DR) missionaries leave and E. Walker and I Trained almost all the newbies, and it was incredible to see the difference it made with the obedience and the work out in the islands. But here there is definitely work to do, but I'm glad that at least I understand that obedience brings blessings, and exact obedience brings the miracles I have seen out in the islands.

We were talking with Arifa and she started talking about the way she received her testimony and how she feels so good about this decision and it was one of the most powerful moments of my mission. I kind of suck at describing that kind of stuff but it was a really neat moment and it has been so great to see the change that she has gone through. She is very ready to make that covenant with the Lord and I can't wait! Also we try as much as possible to get members to baptize investigators but when we talked to her about that she said that she wanted me to do it and once again it made me feel so lucky! Being a missionary really is the greatest.

 It’s kinda short this week because E. Alatasi had the flu AND an ear infection so I was really bored for a few days. But I did learn how to solve a rubiks cube. I guess that’s how this one is going to end.

Love, Elder Harsh

                                 This is from a few weeks ago, during festival.

Week 86

Hi Everyone!

Man conference was great wasn't it?? I have found that not only does conference have the message that I need to hear it also has messages that are perfect for our investigators!! We tried to have it at the church, but this is Guyana so we ended up going to the mission office to watch it with just us missionaries.

Arifa was talking to us Friday about how it is tough with her parents divorced and her mom passed away and her dad is a Muslim but she knows that this is true and has the support of her brother, but she was talking to us about how it was hard. I had never felt so blessed to be from the family that I am from! But when I heard the one talk that talked about keeping strong when you don't have the ideal family I knew they were talking about that for her! But yeah, great conference!

Also we had a really cool experience with an investigator named Derek. He had been taught the restoration but couldn't accept the fact that Joseph Smith was a prophet because it didn't talk about him in the bible. He said everything necessary for us to learn is found in the bible. So we were in that and we didn't really know how to go about it so we just went and decided to listen to him so we could get a better idea of where he was coming from. We sat down and we started analyzing different scriptures from the Bible, some of which he would show us and others we would show him and had a big lesson on prophets. The spirit was so strong and after about 30 mins of the spirit testifying to him his heart was softened and we ended up introducing the Book of Mormon and he not only accepted it, but was so excited to read it that when we were on our way out, we were talking with his wife on the porch and he left and sat down inside and started reading it! He also was really excited to watch conference so I can't wait to go back and see how it all went!

Thinking about Jos going through the temple, I thought I would share a few experiences I have had out here in the mission field.  I have spent the last year around very converted people who would give anything to go to the temple. I have seen people break down because they wanted to go to the temple but they could only afford to go once for their lifetime and their husband wasn't worthy to go yet. I have seen a member who cried like a baby because when we were with him somebody answered his prayer by giving him enough money for a plane ticket to go to the temple. I have sat next to people in the Chapel long after church ended because they said that because this is where they take the sacrament, and this is the most holy place they will ever sit in this life, because they simply weren't able to go to the temple because they couldn't afford it. I could go on and on, but bottom line is, don't take it for granted that you can go through the temple like I did. It’s a big deal and I will never know how those people feel because I am lucky enough to live in Utah.

 This area is starting to get moving and I'm really starting to like Guyana. We eat curry and rice and Roti mostly and it’s pretty good! But that’s about all I can remember for this week!

Love,

Elder Harsh

Week 85

Hi Everyone,

What a crazy week it’s been! First of all it’s been a solid 3 weeks since I have been on an airplane and it feels weird!  haha also this week was full of a bunch of different traditions. There are Muslims, Hindus, and Christians here so this week we kinda got a little of all their cultures which was great!

 We got fed TONS of Curry! Duck curry, chicken curry and some other stuff that I have no idea what it was but it was good! Also last Wednesday was a holiday called Pawgwa. It is basically the hard core version of the festival of colors. The thing they do in Utah. It’s like that except they use that chalk stuff, paint, water, dyes, and basically everything else that ruins a white shirt, and the streets and just madness with everybody painting and soaking everybody. It was the funnest thing in the world! I'm white so I was obviously a big target and got COVERED in paint! So another white shirt bites the dust.....

So that was awesome and then Monday we had to change our P-day because everything was closed. It was the celebration for the Resurrection so the custom is to go out to the sea wall and fly a kite and have a bbq. So we went with some members and flew a kite and it was so fun! There was easily twice the population of Bonaire just around where we were and EVERYBODY was flying kites! There were literally thousands of kites in the air! I tried to take a picture but it didn't really work haha but it was way cool!

On top of that Arifah came to church and loved it! She likes to talk a lot and that night when we passed by all she could talk about was how much she loved it! Also we reactivated a family and their 9 year old daughter wants to get baptized so we are really starting to get the work moving along in this area!

Besides the fact that it is only one language I love it here!

Love,

Elder Harsh  

Week 84

Hi Everyone,

Well another week has gone by just like that!!

 To answer your questions its pronounced Guy-ann-a and they speak  English, if you could call it that. It’s like what you would picture Jamaican English but worse and with less grammar.  People here only speak English but a few days ago we had a tender mercy of the Lord and we contacted a guy from Cuba! E. Alatasi starts talking to him and to every question he kept saying "good" and then tried to walk away. I asked him if he spoke English and he said a little and from that accent I got really excited and started speaking Spanish to him and 30 Mins later we were best friends and E Alatasi was lost. haha It was so nice to talk Spanish again and it was cool to hear what a Cuban accent is like.

 Other than that this week was pretty normal for Guyana. E. Alatasi had a bad habit of not making appointments with people and just showing up so I have been trying to beat some sense into him so that we can actually have people to teach instead of just walking around aimlessly. At first he was kinda against it but after we tried it for a few days he was blown away by how well it worked. We have a really good investigator named Arifa. She is 18 and we recently started teaching her sister and sister's husband as well. She has a Muslim dad and a Chistian mom that died a few years ago and she is loving the gospel and is really studying it out. Like she literally writes reports on the chapters and stuff we assign her. Who does that?? It’s going very well with her and she has a lot of faith.

 Also tomorrow Pres. Egbert is coming with the Church Historian and we are going to have a conference so I am pretty excited about that! The only bummer is Pres. Egbert decided to have interviews today, which basically ruined our P-day....

But that’s about it for this week!

Elder Harsh

Week 83

Hi Everyone!

Greetings from South America!!! Man this place is cool! It is kinda like the DR but the culture is way different! I like it and there are TONS of people!!  Maybe it’s cause I am used to tiny rocks in the ocean but I feel overwhelmed when we go to the town center and I see the entire population of Bonaire walking about! Pretty weird!  

My companion is a big Somoan dude from Australia and he is way cool! I am a district leader because President says he needs my help down here but the zone leaders need to know the area to drive around and stuff so he told me he wasn't able to keep me as a zone leader, which I had NO problem with! Less responsibility :)  haha anyways I got to Guyana and the airline lost my bag with all my clothes and underwear and I just barely got that today so that was fun.

 On my first day somebody was burning trash on the other side of the house that we were teaching at and it lit this entire field on fire and we had to go and dump buckets of water on it to try and control it. It ended up getting way out of control but we were able to help enough so that the house didn't burn down and then the fire department came and did the rest. Pretty great first day! Also funny thing, Elder Atkinson (my companion from Bonaire) lives in the branch I am serving in! So that was cool to see him and everything. You can't drink the water but we always have running water and power so its better than the DR! The accents are hard and they speak broken english so just when I thought I could get transferred without having to learn another language/dialect I was wrong! But it’s pretty humble here and the people are nice.

To end I want to tell a story from my last Monday in Aruba. We had a family night planned with one of my favorite Venezuelan families and I was really excited! It was my birthday but they didn't say anything about it so I assumed they didn't know. They came out with a big cake and surprised me and sang happy birthday and I was really touched because they are really poor and to buy a cake must have been tough on them. So we cut it up and I thought it had sprinkles in the middle of it but AFTER I had finished my piece I noticed that the inside was MOLDY.  I thought meh, what is a little mold gonna do? So we said goodbye and as we were biking home my stomach exploded and I puked up all of the cake and dinner right there on the side of the road! Happy Birthday. The best part was E. Nance didn't want to be sick and so after seeing me puke he forced himself to puke so we were puking together on the side of the road! We bonded that night. Anyways,  hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Harsh