Final Installment

He's home... we picked him up last Wednesday (02/01). Enjoy the pictures of the airport. He speaks this Saturday night in Stake Conference... and on the 19th in our Ward. Other wards are already asking for him to speak so he'll be busy with that for a few months.

A little clowning before he arrived...

Excitement...

Our little Chaffeur...

Anxious and nervous, wants the first glimpse...

Some "Welcome Home" signage...

Introductions from the ones he's never seen...

There he is...

Mom gets the first hug (of course, Dad gets the last)...

Nephews...

Sisters...

Brothers...

Drew thinks he's gotten taller...

Joyous reunion... the nephews

And nieces...

Last...

Dad,

The time has come. 2 years is up and this is the last email of the mission. As I look back and reflect on the time, from going into the MTC in 2009 to the time now in 2012 of my service, I realize the blessings that have come from enduring trials and doing what I knew was right. I'm grateful to you and to Mom for "pushing" me back on a mission. As I think of the times that we would talk, when I was home for 6 months, about whether or not I would be going back out, I remember how defensive I got, etc., but I'm grateful for the perseverance of mother and her being ruthless and brutal in some cases on me to go back out on a mission. I've learned a lot out here... and I know it will benefit the rest of my life. I love the times that we have had when we come across members that have either served missions or have just gone inactive because I have realized the importance of "Enduring to the End." It's going to be a tough road, I know, but now that I have served a mission I am prepared to face it. With the Lord all things are possible..

The week went very fast. We have two solid investigators that we are working with. Sister Gamero came to church and is doing great. Her scheduled baptismal date is the 18th and I know she will make it.

Noel is honestly a boss! He is doing all that he needs to and is seeing blessings in his own life for striving to do what is right. The other night we went over to teach him and in the lesson before this one we had talked about the Word of Wisdom. When we went over this time he came outside and said, "All of them are drinking in there and so it wouldn't be good to go in there." We were proud of him because he wasn't in there drinking with them and instead he was out meeting with us. He also has been reading the Book of Mormon regularly which is honestly one of the most important steps to take. We have seen over and over again that when people study it and actually read what we give them or read everyday they progress a lot faster and they prepare for baptism. But the contrary is that when they don't read it they don't progress and a lot of time is wasted trying to convince them to start to read daily. Noel will be baptized the 18th of February as well. He came to church again this last week and loved it.

That is about all the investigators that we worked with this last week.

More stories to come...

Love y'all..... see y'all Wednesday...

Elder Harvey

One

Dad,

We lost a companion this last week. Elder Lindsay went home on Tuesday and it has been different with just two of us because we got used to having a three-some. But... we worked hard this last week and had some success as well as a few down falls with investigators.

The Perez family was doing great. We had them set with a baptismal date on Monday night and then we went back on Thursday or Friday - I can't remember which for sure - and took a member with us and had a lesson. They thought that they were being sneaky during the lesson and talking with the member about things that we couldn't understand, but thanks to the Spirit of discernment, we were able to discern their needs and call them out on it. Brother Perez said, "Oh you do understand." They've recently started attending an English class that is every night from 6-8:30 and their concern was that they wouldn't be able to meet with us and they didn't know how to tell us that. But they said that they will come to Church on Sundays and that after the English class they will be able to meet with us. Well they didn't come to church and then we tried to call them to see what happened and they didn't answer and haven't called us back. They weren't reading from The Book of Mormon anyways and so they weren't really progressing. It has been frustrating, but all good...

Yesterday at Church we only had one of our investigators out of the many that we invited and had said they were coming (Sister Gamero). She has been coming to church for many years and was married to a member but got divorced. She has recently made the decision to get baptized. We teach her only once a week but it is all good because she knows a lot of the church and will for sure get baptized on the 18th of February.

The other investigator that we've expected out was Noel. He didn't come to Church yesterday but when we visited him afterwards we had a pretty cool experience. He told us why he didn't come to Church and then out of the blue he was asked, "What time is the baptism on the 18th?" So we talked about his baptism, etc. It was cool to see that someone actually remembered their baptismal date and they were looking forward for it without us bringing it up. He is looking like he will meet the goal of the 18th as well, so we are excited about that.

As for other investigators and what happened this last week... we don't really have anyone else. We had a lot of appointments cancel on us but that is the work right?

I feel as if it is going to be a fast week this week because we should have a lot of great things going.

Have a good week. Love y'all!

Elder Harvey

Two

Dad,

Another week gone, and it was a great one. Elder Lindsay is going home tomorrow. We are dropping him off at the assistant's house tonight and he is leaving tomorrow morning. As he has been packing it truly feels like another transfer - that he is just getting transferred, but in reality, he's going home. I still feel the same even though my time is short. Maybe it is because we are giving it our all and the Lord has been blessing us with success and awesome families to teach and so it feels like the work is just picking up.

We had 7 at church yesterday. We were really stoked about it! The Perez family came for their second time. We taught them once this last week. They aren't really progressing yet because they haven't found the time to sit down and study the Book of Mormon daily but we re-emphasized that with them this last week and I think that it stuck. Their daughter, her name is Kelly, is truly one the the greatest young girls I've ever met. She is 9 and just loves us. She sits in all the lessons and when we aren't there some days she asks her parents when we are coming over. We gave her her own Book of Mormon and she brought it to church yesterday with her even when her parents didn't bring theirs. The Perez family is great. I love them a lot and care for them. They will be baptized soon there isn't a doubt in my mind about that. They just are going slower then we want but it is all about conversion instead of just getting them into the water ASAP.

Bro. Bas came to church again but we aren't teaching him regularly. We didn't even go by this last week just to give him some time to think and start keeping the commandments. We will go by this next week and see how things have been going.

Noel came to church also. Elder Lindsay found him about 3 or 4 weeks ago and he came for his second time. He has been reading The Book of Mormon consistently and we are continuing to help him work towards baptism. He won't set a date with us because he wants to read more and know for sure that this is what he should do. Which is OK with us because he has started his path of conversion.

We also had Lydia Gamero come to church. She actually has been coming to church for awhile because her ex-husband, who now lives with her, is a member, but we just barely started to teach her because she just decided that she wants to get baptized. She has a date for the 18th of February and I believe she will make that date for sure. She knows a lot of the teachings already and so we are just coming in at the right time when she had already made that decision.

This last week we had trainings on Wednesday and Thursday from 9-4 both days.. They went well. President Jones and the Assistants trained most of the time but we also did a training on Revelation through the Book of Mormon. It went well and we have been trying to apply what we learned and it really has made a difference.

The Valencia family (baptized in December) are doing great. He is preparing to receive the priesthood and move forward. President Haynes, our Branch President, met with him yesterday and we were real excited about that. They are doing great.

I have thought about what I want to do but I have 2 weeks left and we can discuss it when I get home. I have a lot of dreams and desires and so it is going to take work. But that can be discussed in 2 weeks.

That was about it for this last week. The work continues...

Love y'all!

Elder Harvey

Three

When I got this email from Chris it made me wonder if he'd gotten my post from this morning. I checked and had sent it to the wrong email address. I re-sent it to the correct email address, but was about 8-10 minutes after he posted this. I think he gave up and logged off. Hmmm... two weeks without word from home.

Dad,

Well this last week not much happened... We taught a lot of people and had real good lessons with them a couple times throughout the week. We were even expecting a lot at church but only Bro. Bas came. He was supposed to get baptized this next week but it isn't going to happen. He isn't really doing what he needs to (repenting) and doesn't have a lot of desire to do it... We will still be working with him as the weeks go on but he won't get baptized until he knows it is true and has completed the repentance process... It is frustrating but we have other things going on as well that will develop this next week and we are excited for this upcoming week.

That is honestly all that happened this last week... Have a good week. Love y'all!!

Elder Harvey

Four

Dad,

Well... I just had a very cool experience. We just got to the Apple store and I got to a computer to email. It was next to a lady and as I got on the computer she looked at me and said, "You're Mormon, right?" Well I said, "You bet! What gave me away?" We started to talk and she said that some Elders had tried before to talk to her but she never was able to, and also that she used to have Mormon neighbors. We talked for about 15 minutes about the church, eternal families (because her husband passed away about 3 years ago), and also about how church has been a blessing in my life. I opened up Mormon.org and showed her some great teachings and how she could request missionaries via Mormon.org. She sent for a request from the missionaries right there. I truly feel as if she will join the church. I really felt the spirit and so I know that she felt it as well. It is truly a blessing to have the Lord on your side. Even a simple thing like us coming to the Apple store to email home and He puts someone in our path that is humble, searching, and willing to listen. That was a real great experience!

Well yet another week has passed... It was a slow week, or so it seemed. We were struggling to find people coming off the Christmas Holiday and going into the New Year's Holiday. I'm glad the holidays are over because people go out of town and aren't available to meet or even come to church.

Our recent converts, Nacho and Maria Valencia, are doing great. The cool experience with them that happened this last week was that we went by to talk to Maria and have her sign a baptismal record and her grand-daughter was there and mentioned that she is going to church. At first we kind of shrugged it off because of course she is going to a church, but then, her grand-daughter went to get a "book". When she came back it was The Book of Mormon. Missionaries had just found her where she lived and started teaching her and her sister. It was just evidence and another sign that the Lord really wants this family in the church. We are going to work on getting referrals from them for their kids and what not this week. Just another cool missionary experience that happened.

Bro. Bas is still working on getting baptized this week. We are teaching him what he needs to know before baptism and hopefully we can get him in the water this weekend. He is ready and has a solid testimony. It was funny yesterday because of the time change of the services we went to 9am and after New Year's Eve a lot of people were tired. When I looked over at the Bas family during sacrament meeting every single one of them, all 5, were asleep. I laughed and gave them a hard time about it. They laughed as well..

Other than that we haven't really found anyone else this week. This upcoming week will be good though and we are excited, like I said earlier, that the holidays are over.

Hope y'all had a good New Year's. I love you all!

Elder Harvey

Family,

Not much else to report on since I just talked to everyone yesterday. It was good to hear from everyone and how they are doing. I loved the conversations of everyone because the majority was about coming home. The time is near...

Just the fact of the baptism this last week was a highlight in the mission. There were 9 baptisms in the mission this last week and 2 of them were from us. Here are some pictures of it... and of my companions.. and this last Christmas week...

Love y'all!

Elder Harvey