Terrific Investigators and Mission Conference (posted by mom)

Right now we have some really great investigators!! It is really interesting how God prepares people to hear the gospel. I never get the feeling like I have prepared someone for baptism. I feel like we help them remember truths from their pre-existence, support them in living the gospel, and deal with the other technicalities. It is all about God and the Spirit.

Two investigators are preparing for baptisms. They have both really learned to rely on the Lord.

One of these brothers left his previous church because he started to see some things that he felt were not aligned with God's teachings; he also had been caught by the government for some things he had done wrong. At this time in his life, the missionaries ran into him on the street. He was so ready to accept this true, restored gospel and leave behind him a world of sin. We are really happy for him, and we cannot wait for his baptism.

Another, Brother will be baptized in the coming weeks. This brother is so prepared to hear the gospel. He has suffered from depression previously in his life, he feels the peace and joy that the gospel brings to his life. He attended a baptism this past week and told us that he can't wait to get baptized himself. When we met with him yesterday he told us that he had come across some challenges at work and that he felt that it was Satan trying to destroy his life. Elder Summerhays and I both knew 100% the answer we wanted to give. That morning we had heard a talk by Elder Holland about how trial proceeds or follows the blessings. He used the example of Jospeh Smith in the Sacred Grove. We read together from JSH 1:15-17 and shared with him our testimonies. The spirit was really strong and he said that he felt just as Joseph Smith did. That was a neat experience.

This past week we had a mission conference. We had over half the Zone stay at our apartment because we needed to get to the train station by 4am. I was impressed that the Zone went right to bed and didn't stay up chatting--I'm really proud of our obedient mission. Anyway, the visiting authority was Elder Jay E. Jensen. He truly is a master teacher. It was fun to have him teach us. It was a pleasant experience. He had so much control over the the teaching situation. He kept us involved and interested. I was very impressed.

Love, Elder Spencer Harris

Miracles (posted by mom)

I love this work, I know it is directed by God and as long as we are striving to do his will, he will allow us to be in the right place at the right time.

We have certainly seen many blessings here in Gangshan. This past week while we were at the church meeting with a recent convert, one of our investigators saw us and came in. He had a changed heart. We were able to bear testimony of baptism and help him resolve to read scriptures, pray, and come to church. He accepted the goal, and we sent him on his way.

We were shocked when the next day while meeting with a recent convert, another investigators passing by stopped in and sat down with us. I care about this investigator and until now, has not been willing to take the next steps toward baptism. We shared with him a scripture about how 'the Spirit will not continue to strive with man' and encouraged him to set a baptismal goal and keep the word of wisdom while the spirit was still striving with him. He accepted the goal and set up a baptismal interview, and now he is on track to be baptized.

Among our recent converts is a Liu family. The Liu mom finished the Book of Mormon about a week ago! We set a goal with them to go to the temple in a year to be sealed for time and all eternity. We are really excited for their family! They have two daughters and one grandson who are still not members. One of their daughters and their grandson live in our area. They are both busy, but one of my biggest desires right now is to help them accept the gospel and allow their new found family tradition bless future generations for eternity.

We are working hard, and seeing many blessings! Love, Elder Harris

You Can Fly (Posted by Mom)

I remembered a line from Jacob 7 today..."Our lives passed as though it were a dream." I often feel that way. (but if you look up the scripture, we were unlike those people because we did not mourn out our days...haha.) Waking up, biking around a little town, meeting every kind of person, challenging and testifying, declaring the divinity of Christ, bearing His name, baptizing, coming home, planning, following up, and sleeping...It sounds like a dream doesn't it? I thought about coming up on my year mark and I felt like crying, I started missing my mission really badly. Then I rememberd a few things: firstly, 3 months of the first year were in the MTC, and secondly every missionary in Taiwan extends one month!

On Tuesday we had a Combined District Training Meeting. It was really good. I enjoyed rubbing shoulders with the other missionaries and getting some fairy dust from the assistants. "YOU CAN FLY!"

Right now we have two really solid investigators. One is a dad, Chen baba. The gospel has really helped him fill some void in his life. He loves coming to church and meeting with us. He really feels the need to obey the word of wisdom--especially to show an example to his sons. He shared with us some spiritual insights he had over the past two days. His sons and family were able to hear his spiritual insights and witness their father kneel and in prayer acknowledge their Father in Heavens existence. How cool is the gospel! A father leading a spiritual discussion, showing the way by example, and witnessing his humility and reliance on God by kneeling in prayer. He has discovered those things that give one moral authority. We are praying for him and have a plan to help him be baptized! He still has some doubts and misconceptions but if he continues to remain humble and search spiritual knowledge he will be 'shown all things he needs to do'. The other solid investigator is Chen xiaojie. She feels that God helped her quit Coffee really pain-free. She has a testimony and she understands the importance of keeping the commandments.

We have an obstical right now. That is, they are going to remodel the chapel--make it bigger. It's going to take a year to do. That means for the rest of my time and Elder Gillespie's time in Douliu we won't have a convenient place to meet with investigators and it also means that all our investigators will have to find a way to make the 45 minutes (by bike) trip to the next town on Sunday to go to chruch.

We are going to be praying, and working our hardest to get them there. We also are in need of a place to hold our Wednesday English class. I'm positive that God has a plan in mind for this area--chapel or not.

Loves!

Elder Harris

Pictures: 1) My companion doing some street contacting. 2)Bruce's baptism, 3) some super big youzi pomello... it is Douliu's speciatly

Baptize Brother Lin! (posted by mom)

President Bishop called me up and gave us the assignment to baptize brother Lin. Brother Lin is not a member but is married to a member in our ward. He got to talk to Elder Perkins (Area 70 presidency member for Asia) and he was touched. When Elder Perkins talked about his dad's conversion story (converting at an old age) his heart was touched and he felt the spirit. I know that Brother Lin, is being prepared. Elder Siebert and I prayed for a chance to share the gospel with him and a special experience happened. We tracted into their home and were able to have a good conversation with him. (We usually never go tracting. The first time we went, we knocked doors until it was time to go home -- unknowingly we stopped the house right before the Lin family. We felt that we needed to go back tracting that area and finally we got time do it. The first house we knocked was their home.)

I so love this work, it is truly divine and inspired. It is the work of God. I still have over a year left of my mission, but I feel that the time is far spent.

Love you all, Elder Harris

Happy Missionaries (posted by mom)

People often tell us, "You're really xinku" (hard-working), and we like to reply, "We are really xingfu" (happy).

We met two neat people the other day. One basically self-contacted me, and the other, his friend, said that he had always wanted to talk with a missionary, but they had never stopped to talk with him. We met with them last night; they both believed that Joseph Smith saw God and Heavenly Father. They really understood what we taught. Most people don't get the point that we have a current prophet on the earth, but in the closing prayer, one of them thanked God that he had again given us a prophet!

Yesterday was combined district training meeting. President Bishop was presiding. The feeling was completely different, but still really good. He will do a great job. He is really humble. He has assumed the mantle. It's visible. (President Bishop was my branch president in the MTC)

President Uchtdorf is coming on Saturday. A group of us get to sing for the mission conference. I'm so glad I get to sing for a prophet.

Another cool thing is we found a less-active member. We were looking for an address, it led us to the middle of nowhere. We were on this little road in the middle of an orchard. We came to a house and come to find out, there was a member living there. His original house was destroyed to make way for a new park. He found this run-down abandoned place and started living there. We've met with him a few times and got him coming to church again. It's good because now the ward now knows his situation and help him out.

Our families are still progressing toward baptism. We are diligently planning, teaching, following-up, and doing every thing we know how to help them make and keep commitments and receive a personal confirmation of the truth. We have faith that they can all make it.

The church is true. It changes lives, brings true happiness, and allows us to obtain eternal life. I love you all. Elder Spencer Harris

Baptism (posted by mom)

Dear family,

This past week, Zhang Jie Xin got baptized. He is 20 years old and is currently homeless. He loves the Book of Mormon. The ward is really willing to help him out. They want to help him get a job. The mission gave him and old missionary bike. He has a lot of future a head of him!

I'm really excited about some investigators right now. We have a Liu family, a Li family, and a Chen family. They each have their strengths and their weaknesses. We are doing our best to help them toward baptism and salvation, but ultimately it's their decision. It's sad when people make the wrong choices, but at the same time it's comforting to know God's eye is watching over them. He loves them. He wants them to return to Him and will give them every opportunity to make it home.

It's strange to have President Hoer leaving. He is so good. He makes a missionary feel like if they wanted to fly they could. There is no roof on this mission. He has given us a vision that is like nothing else. He expects nothing but the best.

I'm sure President Bishop will be the same way.

We are also having a mission conference this next month, and President Uchtdorf is coming. (He will pick up his two grandsons - one is in Taibei and the other is in Taichung.)

I love each of you. The work is going great. --Elder Spencer Harris

New Companion (posted by mom)

Today is move-call day. My companion, Elder Hofhiens, is going to be a Zone Leader in Jiayi. I'm staying here in Dakeng. My new companion is Elder Zheng. He will be the district leader. I'm excited, and a little worried because I'm the one who knows the area and so a lot of things that need to be done and remembered are now my responsibilty.

This last week we had a power week. That means we were out the door at 9:30am and back in the door at 9:30 to 10:00pm. We really wanted to set this area up for success this next move call. We also had a tripanionship for 3 days. It was a fun, powerful week!

One of our investigators is named Zhang. He his homeless and stays under a bridge. He has committed to find a job. He is living the word of wisdom. He loves reading the Book of Mormon. He loves the gospel. One of our new members is taking him to church every week.

My testimony of prayer is being strengthened. There is so little we can do without the help of our Heavenly Father. We are all mortal, and our ability to do good is limited. However through prayer and effort, He can help us become more humble, patient, and loving, etc.

I love you all, Elder Spencer Harris

A Missionary Sunday (posted by mom)

The work is great. I'm learning and growing (but not as fast as I'd like). Consistancy is everything and I'm starting to learn that.

We are helping as many people as we can come unto Christ--that is our purpose. We had 12 investigators at church this week! WOW! I was shocked. Sunday is "Game Day" as my companion likes to say. The most stressful part of the week is when sacrament meeting ends. Everyone gets up--and we try to invite them to stay to the rest of the meetings, confirm them for next sunday, set up appointments, and introduce our investigators to people they need to meet. As we sing the closing hymn, I just pray the members will help us take care of all our investigators so we can get to each of them before they leave.

With all my love, Elder Spencer Harris (posted by his mother)

Conference and Finding Investigators

Dear Family,

I love you all so very much. Conference was great. It is a little different over here. We rest only 1 hour between sessions. I was excited because we had 9 people to church over conference weekend:

Lai __ --He is very golden. He said his mom will not be happy with him if he gets baptized. He's asked us about the opportunity to serve a mission (he is nearly to old to serve though.) He always comes to church! He is so willing to obey God's commandments! Lai __ is preparing to be baptized this Saturday.

Xu family --a golden family that was a member referral (sister-in-law + family) of the stake president of the gaoxiong stake where I lived when I was previously in Taiwan...small world huh? They are working toward baptism. I'm so glad they came to conference this week.

Wu family --a husband and wife who have really connected with the first councilor in the bishopric's family. The husband and wife both have health issues.(The first councilor is a great missionary, he carries around contact cards everywhere he goes.)

Hong __ --he is a long time investigator who seems to have become humble and now is willing to work toward meeting the requirements to enter that small and narrow gate that leads to eternal life--baptism.

The Zhuang family wasn't able to come, but they are still on the path toward baptism. The Mom has cancer and is living in the hospital this week for some treatment.

This past Thursday my companion and I only had a few appointments so we decided we would each try to break our personal records for adding investigators in one day. (That means they give us contact information, set up a date to meet, and set a baptismal goal.) My previous record was 14-- (I don't remember that, but that's what my companion said my record was). My companion's previous record was 17. That morning when we woke up it was raining HARD. We kept to our goal and went forth in faith and were successful. I added 16 and my companion added 27 -- together we added 43 New investigators! The Lord blessed us even in the rain. We also ran into 4-5 investigators and less active members, I know Heavenly Father blessed us to run into these people so that we could follow up with them and boost their testimony and desire. Also, on that day at lunch, we ran into an investigator whose phone had stopped working and he got a new phone and number (he lost our phone number). We were able to get his new number and have a small little lesson over lunch.

I love you all so much.
Elder Spencer Harris
--Posted by his mother

Chinese Memorial Day

Today we had a special activity. We went and helped clean graves for the Chinese memorial day. On this day the people Clean Graves (Sao Mu) worhsip (bai bai)and give food and money to their deceased ancestors. My conpanion and I cleaned up a whole area of the cemetary: swept the walks, pulled weeds, and cleaned the grave sites of those who don't have decendants. It was a fun service. The press came out and got some of it. We actually made a difference, it looked a lot better.

My companion and live at the mission storage appartment. We stay upstairs and the storage area is below on ground level. We have a big garage door for our front door, it's cool. I feel like we are leaving a base or something every time we head out. Since coming to TaiZhong, we haven't taken time on our preparation day to go grocery shopping so we have been eating oatmeal every morning. For our other meals we buy bian dangs on the street--they are a box lunch with rice, meat, and veggies. They cost less than $1.50 US and we can eat until we are full. It is a quick and convenient way to go.

I thought you might like to hear some rejections missionaries hear when going tracting:

No free time - - Mei3 you3 kong4
I'm busy - - Zai4 Mang2
I don't need it - - Bu4 xu2 yao4
I don't have use (for it)"--basically means no thanks - - Bu2 Yong4
Sometimes people invite us back to be nice but give us a fake number

The truth is none of these are good excuseses to avoid hearing the gospel; the good news!

There are many times I feel directed/prompted to do something and I get the distict impression that it is in answer to my prayers, and the prayers offered by family and friends back home. (it is sometimes a spiritual boost in the middle of the day, a prompting to talk to someone, a witness that something I read is true, and so on.)Thanks for your prayers in my behalf. I love you all so very much. Please keep the prayers coming and I'll keep praying for you too.

This week, we found out our baptismal candidate was already a member! I'm not sure what to think--I am happy he is a member though.

Currently we have an investigator named Brother Lai. He is in the Army--he is a big, strong guy, with a tender heart and a willingness to believe. We call to give him reminders and to follow-up like we do with our other investigators, but he is self motivated in coming to church, reading scriptures, and praying. (Missionaries call those behaviors "The Big Three" or "CPR"-Church attendance, Prayer, and Reading the scriptures.) I know if a person does these three things, God will direct their lives in the ways of righteousness. It is so easy to tell if an investigator has been reading and praying because they understand the doctrine. If they don't, they get confused about the simplest things pertaining to their salvation.

Thank you for the Conference Updates. I'm really excited. It seems as though the focus was families and parenthood--I think that's really good. In my last area there was a family that was previously really strong in the gospel, but all their children have fallen away from the church. We visited them a few times and they told us how proud they are of the freedom they gave their children. They did't set rules or teach them the gospel because they felt their children should learn things for themselves. I don't believe God ordained families so children could learn for themselves. I think parents have the responsibility to teach their children the gospel and show them the paths of truth. There is an eternal purpose to life and I'm happy that as a child I was directed down those paths of righteousness.

The church is true. I love you all, Elder Harris
posted by his mother

Baptism Day!

Our investigator Guan Hao was BAPTIZED!! What a neat guy! He is so firm in the gospel right now. He has been living values of the gospel for a long time already -- in a home and environment where those morals are not lived. He is so strong. When we called him the day of his baptism, he told us that it was one of the most important days of his life. His testimony after his baptism was so sweet and tender. After he was confirmed in sacrament meeting, I leaned over to him and said, "Right now, you are the newest member of the church". He got a really big smile and gave me two thumbs up! What a good kid.

Unfortunately Zhen Ying was a no show. He has things he needs to work out with his family. His parents do not approve of him joining the church.

We found another amazing investigator. He has had the Book of Mormon for a week now and he's in 2nd Nephi!! I also ran into some Philipino friends and they both added baptismal goals. We had 7 investigators at church today.

I love you all so much!

Golden Investigators

This week was really cold. The thermals came on, and the rain gear was a must.

We have two baptisms this Saturday!! Guan Hao and Zhen Xing. They are both awesome. I stopped Guan Hao on the street a couple weeks ago! He is SO GOLD! For example, he was already obeying the word of wisdom when we found him. Same with the law of chastity. When we taught him the law of chastity, he showed us a card from his wallet the signified he had already commited to live by the standards of that law!! He has done a good job meeting people in the ward and making friends in the ward all by himself! Zhen Xing is also awesome. We taught him the law of tithing and he LOVED it. He was asking a bunch of questions about how to pay it and how it exactly works. He paid his tithing for the first time this sunday.

We had 4 investigators at church. Really solid investigators, it's exciting to see.

Zone Conference was on Wednesday. It was a full day of spiritual power and training. The theme was our purpose--Chapter one of Preach My Gospel. So good! It was really fun to see my MTC companion and most of the missionaries from the MTC.

The day before the Zone Conference I went on a transfer to Zhanghua so that the zone leader could come out and do the baptismal interviews. He knows why he's on a mission. He has a really good system that works for him.

This week is a Power Week. We leave early and come in late and each day we have a focus. Today's focus is power cleaning. And our appartment needs it. I cleaned the fridge. I'm proud of the way it looks!

Thank each of you for your prayers, they mean a lot to me.