Monday, February 24, 2014

Now Is Her Time!

Dear Everyone! This week was really good! We had a baptism!! Sister K. was able to be baptized on Sunday morning! Her husband has been a member for like 10 years, and she has been taught off and on for that whole time.  I guess right now was just her time. She is super cool and her husband is super excited! He has been praying for this for so long!!
District meeting was good this week! I went on a trade off to the Constant Springs area on Wednesday and Thursday.  So you asked about my area and district.  My district includes missionaries from the 3 branches here in Kingston.  The Downtown branch has the office elders plus another companionship, our branch has us, a sister companionship, plus the Sister Training Leaders. The Constant Springs branch has the AP's and Zone Leaders, and one other companionship. The area we cover is up and down what is called the Washington Boulevard, so it reminds me of St. George a little bit. We have a nice house with all the appliances we need.  Sorry this letter is very short.  Not too much has happened besides that. It was a good week tho! Can't believe it has been 1 year!! Time flies!! Happy 18th Birthday Devin! Love ya man! Hope everyone has a great week!
Love Elder Harris
View of Downtown Kingston from mountains
 

Monday, February 17, 2014

Back on the Rock!

Good morning everyone! Well I am back on the rock! I got here early Tuesday, the flight back was fine, really quick.  Got here and went teaching with the zone leaders for the rest of the day.  We stayed at the AP's house and it was the night all the new missionaries got here and they stayed there too.  It was fun to see them, reminded me of my first night in Jamaica a year ago! Transfers on Wed were good, got to see a lot of missionaries! That was fun! Thursday was good as well, I went back to Spanish Town for the leadership training.  My new comp and I get along really good! The house I have is really nice too. I am starting to get used to this area now.  I am going to have to cuz if I were a betting man I would bet that I am training here next transfer. The branch just re did their leadership last month and so the new ones are excited and on fire.  It is going to be a really good thing.  There are quite a few hills here which are killing me on the bike! I've only been in really flat areas before so this will be new! 2 recent converts here in this branch are 2 that we found while I was here 6 months ago so that was really cool! One of the her name is S., the other one is M. if you remember me talking about him a long time ago.  We only started teaching S. tho cuz M. wasn't in our area. It is cool to see the progress that they have made, from seeing them the first day not having a clue about the gospel, to now a couple months later, the difference is so crazy! Well I think that is about it for now, I hope everyone has a good week! Love you all!
Love Elder Colton Harris
Leaving Grand Cayman

Looks delicious!
 
 

Monday, February 10, 2014

Leaving Cayman...so sad!


Dear Everyone!!!

Cayman has officially come to a close! I am going to miss this place so much! I love it here and all the people as well! I can't believe that I have been here for over 5 months now! I could do another 5 months here easy! I fly back to the Rock bright and early tomorrow morning! Saying goodbye to everyone here has been very hard the past few days.  Serving in a tiny branch you get to know everyone very very well. Man most people were even crying when we were saying goodbye to them. Missionaries mean so much to everyone in the branch out here! I don't know if they were crying because we were leaving, or crying because they are going to be stuck with sisters, I couldn't tell! JK JK! So my new area is going to be the Boulevard Branch in Kingston.  That is where I was for 2 weeks before I came to Cayman. My comp will be Elder Stuart, he has been out for 3 transfers. I am also going to be a district leader there, there are 12 missionaries in my district so it is pretty big.  The house does have a microwave I was told, I just hope they aren't lying to me! I would be so mad to get my dreams crushed like that!  I just hope that I don't have to move houses in my next area! So far I have had 2 areas and I have had to move houses both times! It is not fun cleaning out a house where missionaries have lived for years and years! And that is what we have been doing this week :(

The mission is going to be so different when I get back, I won't know very many people at all! I am excited to see some more Elders tho. It has been almost 6 months since I have seen an Elder besides Runyan.  6 months of never being out of sight or sound of 1 person ever is crazy! I now know that if I were stranded on a deserted island, that I could survive with anyone lol. So mom you asked about sisters... our mission is projected to 50% sisters by the end of the year.  They don't become their own zone leaders out here, the ZL area is being moved to Turks and Caicos now.  I am sure that sisters will eventually take over all of the islands.  My zone has also  doubled in size just since I have been here in Cayman.  It is crazy to see the change! When I first started my mission most branches had 1 companionship, a couple had 2 compships.  Now almost all branches have 3 compships and just a couple have 2 compships.

So we gave a talk in sacrament yesterday, it went pretty good.  The past couple of days I have never been so full in my life! Everyone tells us to come for dinner since it is our last few days, it is like Hey I wish we could have spaced these out better the past few weeks! We have gotten some going away gifts and valentines stuff and I just don't have room for it all!

So we also got out new car on Friday.  Just in time for the new sisters to take it! Finally, we have both been riding without brakes the past few weeks, that has been fun. Only a couple close calls tho. I also ate rabbit this week, it tastes like turkey. It was pretty good.  I get to go back to my homeland (Spanish Town) twice this week! Wednesday is transfers and Thursday is a leadership training.  It is going to bring back some memories.  Hopefully I can see some members while I am there! Oh our branch had a bowling and roller skating night on Saturday! That was really fun! I owned both of them! I ripped my pants while skating but that didn't slow me down! :) I am going to miss all of the activities that this branch has! There is an activity this Friday that I am already missing! All I know is that it is for Valentine ’s Day and that there is going to be a chocolate fountain! Don't think they will do that in Jamaica!

Well I hope you all have a good week! Love you all!

Love, Elder Harris
 
P.S. Make sure to send all mail to Jamaica now!
Elder Colton Harris
4 Garelli Ave
Kingston 10
Jamaica
Kissing his new car hello and good-bye!

Enjoying the pleasures of Grand Cayman!

Riding the Green Machine!

Bowling like a pro!

Roller skating Rock Star!
Panoramic View of Grand Cayman!

Another amazing panorama of Grand Cayman!

 
 

Monday, February 3, 2014

Sadly...my last full week in Cayman!


Well sadly this is my last full week left in Cayman :) I am so so so not ready to leave yet!! I love this place way too much! These past 4 transfers have just gone by way too fast! I can't believe it, just the other day I had 6 months ahead of me out here! It didn't set in until I just logged onto my email and the mission sent us our plane tickets! Dang no it has hit home! This week is going to go by so fast tho!!

Well this week was pretty solid! So I have been hearing about all of my friends and fam that are on missions getting all of this new technology and stuff (Iphones and Ipads) and I don't want to be left out, so I will let you guys in on some pretty exciting news that we got a couple weeks ago.  So our mission got approved by the area to get all of the houses in Jamaica a... bump da du dum!!!!.....  wait for it, wait for it! As of January (last month) our mission has started phasing in MICROWAVES to all of the houses in Jamaica!! YAY YAY YAY!! Boom, so while you guys are all on your new fangled devices, we are going to be able to warm up some food quickly and without burning my fingers every time I want to start our propane stoves with a match and it blows up on me!! Now I hope that you guys don't take this and become jealous, I just wanted to throw out my good news too.  So there ya have it, you guys can all rejoice with our whole mission! :) So hopefully my house has a microwave when I go back to Jamaica next week!
Well my birthday was good this week :) I am now officially twenteen!!!! Ha still a teenager.  We went to Subway for lunch, then Pres and Sister J. invited us over for dinner.  We had ribs, and chicken and a whole bunch of other things! It is almost like she knew what I always get on my bday, but I really never told her! I made it through almost the whole day then the sisters floured me (a Jamaican birthday tradition is to pour flour over someone on their birthday) when we were leaving!! Also the branch on Monday, we had an FHE and it was also bday party for me and Sis Tominey so that was cool.

The Sisters wrecked our car this week too.  They kick us out and put us on bikes, then they wreck our beautiful 4-wheeled luxury item! Man that is our luck!
On Saturday night we did some jerk at R’s house and he taught us how to do it!! We be professional now!! R. is awesome!!

Sunday at church testimony meeting was powerful! It was a really good meeting. Pres J. bore his testimony on Joseph Smith, and in it he talked a lot about Willard Richards.  After church, Willard Richards came up to Pres and introduced himself to him!! No joke, this was Willard Richards like 4th or 5th great-grandson, and he had a son named Willard as well who is going on a mission soon. He was just a visitor as well. It was crazy! Man some things that happen are crazy, probably no coincidence. 

Well I think that is all I have to write today, have a good week! BTW I called the Seahawks! 

Love Elder Harris

Elder Runyan, Elder Harris, Sister Tominey, and Sister Christiansen