Celebrating a Birthday in Cayman!

Yo what's up?! So this week has been a pretty good one! It sounds like you and I are having almost the same weather, which can't be a good thing at all!  Hopefully some snow starts falling soon! (on your side of the world, not mine!) So this week we had a baptism!  Da. was baptized on Saturday! It was a really good baptismal service.  Da. who is 6'9", was baptized by De. who is like 5'4"! It was awesome! Da. got on his knees in the font to be baptized, and he was still taller than De.!  So I need to be careful what I say about De. because he says that he reads these letters when you put them on Facebook, so this is a Shout Out to De. D. C.!! :) So Da. wears size 16 shoes too! It is going to be so good for his wife too, she is a member from the Philippines, so now they can work towards the temple!

So yesterday at church a record was set for attendance!! We had 151 people! Our entre overflow room was filled and they were lined down the hall.  Too bad there were only like 80 Caymanian members here still tho, the rest were tourists! So one lady that was visiting from Utah, Sister M., heard about how E. and R. B., and J. were planning on going to the temple soon.  E. and R. were the ones I talked about right before Christmas. J. is a recent convert from Cuba. Both of them are struggling financially really bad.  Somehow she heard that they have been wanting to go to the temple, but just haven't been able to cuz of money.  She then asked the branch president if she could pay all 3 of their ways to the temple! Holy cow, what a blessing to them!  She is such a nice lady for doing that. They are so happy!! It is going to be such a blessing to them!

So not too much else went on this week, just normal stuff.  

So the branch is having a branch FHE tonight, and I have to get to it right now, I hope that you guys start to get some moisture! Have a good week! Thanks for the birthday wishes too! There is no better place to have a birthday than Grand Cayman! Love you guys!

Love Elder Harris

Disney Cruise and True Dedication!

Well my weeks are quickly winding down in Cayman! I only have like 20 days left, man it is crazy!! I don't want to leave this place! There is no doubt that this is the best area in the world for any missionary to serve!! I have no idea how I lucked out with it!

So there is a quick story that I forgot to say last week.  So last week we had our usual PEC meeting before church and it gets over a half hour before church starts so that people there can go home and pick up their families.  So Bro A., who is our branch mission leader, was on his way back to the church and he saw a family of 5 walking dressed up like they were going to church.  He stopped and asked if they needed a ride somewhere.  He said that she almost apologetically said "Yeah we are going to the Mormon Church." He obviously was like, “Get in we are going there”, but the story behind it is this family got off of their Disney Cruise in their church clothes, thought they could walk to church with their 3 little kids, (they didn't know it was a 2.5 hour walk from the docks to get here), and then walk back afterwards.  They actually took a wrong street that is why they ended up close to where Bro A. lives.  They would have never made it if he didn't see them. After church he took them for a drive around the island to see all the cool things. Man it was dedication for them to get off that cruise ship and want to walk to church! 

Anyways the week started out pretty good.  On Monday we had an FHE with 2 families.  One was a member family and the other was a non member family.  Bro H. coaches his son’s soccer team and so he always has his 9 year old son invite his friends to church.  Every week about 4 or 5 of them come with him each week, it is actually pretty cool.  Even during the primary Christmas program during sacrament meeting in December there were like 4 of these kids who wanted to participate in it even tho they haven't practiced it so that was cool to get them involved.  So one of the kids his name is Z.. Every week he asks when he can be baptized.  We tell him well it doesn't really work like that.  He asks his mom the same question tho throughout the week so that has sparked curiosity in her.  W. H. asked her if we could have an FHE at her house and she said ya.  So we did.  We had a really awesome lesson on faith. Afterwards the mom was still really interested so she asked if she could come to church and if we could come back and teaches the family.  We of course were able to squeeze her into our week.  We went back on Saturday and had a HTBT (How to begin Teaching) lesson with them and then taught the restoration. The dad was very, very closed minded.  He will be the one to hold the whole family back, which is sad. They didn't show up to church like she said they would and I think he had something to do with it.  Hopefully we can continue working with them.

D. is getting baptized on Saturday! We are excited about that.  He wants to do it in the font at the church.  The font at the church is tiny tho and D. is 6'9".  He is perfect for the ocean but he doesn't want to.  The ocean doesn't impress locals like it does us!!

I did some baptism interviews for Turks and Caicos and Nassau this week.  The candidates from Turks were from Haiti and we had to have an interpreter. That was pretty cool.  I am expounding my culturalization from just Beaver lol.

Oh I got my toenail removed again this week.  It was pretty bad.  I got a fourth of the nail removed and a bunch of skin around it.  He said he had to remove the skin or it would grow in again just like it did last time. I can tell you this, that I love 1st world hospitals so much more then 3rd world!! Man it was a night and day difference.  Speaking of hospitals I have heard that Elder Martin is doing very well.  (Elder Martin is a missionary serving in Jamaica who was hit by a car earlier in the month.)  It is a miracle that he is recovering this fast, let alone even being alive still.  Elder Walker (area medical adviser) said that at one point he had one foot in the grave and the other foot on a banana peel.  Truly a miracle in every form! He is planning on being released from the hospital within 10 days probably and then he will have to stay in Jamaica for a while longer before they will allow him to fly. Well I don't have my camera cord to send pics, sorry. Next week.  Hope you guys have a good week! Love ya!

Love Elder Harris

P.S. I read this talk this week and it is very good, everyone should read it!

The Inconvenient Messiah By Elder Holland

Best News Since the Restoration of the Gospel!

What's up!! This week has been good!! I can't believe that I have less than a month left in Cayman, it is so sad!! Well this week we ate the iguanas that we caught on Monday.  They were pretty good. I can't compare it to any other meat, but chicken would be the closest that I can think of.  Friday we had an awesome youth activity on the beach.  We had a really good turn out. We played beach volley, football, and had pizza and cookies so that was really fun! 

We have only been staying in George Town this week so we have been talking with a lot of new people that we hope to start teaching! BTW,, pres Brown just sent us a purchase order for a new car!! Best news I have heard since the restoration of the  Gospel!!! Man I hope we can get this thing quick, the heat is so brutal in Cayman!! The devotional was also very good last night! Man I wish that everyone in the world could have heard that!! Sorry it is short again. Gotta hit the bike again! Keep it real!! Love you all! 

Iguana!

On a bike in Cayman!

Iguana Hunting!

Alright well I have to be quick today.  This week was good. New Years was good as well. We hung out with our neighbors for awhile, they are members and invited over a couple other families in the branch for a while.  Had a pretty good time. The beginning of this week was really really slow as far as teaching is concerned.  Tuesday the sisters got here, took our car away from us! That was not cool at all. I do not like being on a bike here. I never realized how big Cayman actually is until I saw it from the vantage point of a bicycle! We stay in a lot smaller area then we thought we could take cuz it is impossible to cover that whole area.  It is so slow getting around as well. Bikes aren't very effective out here but whatever I guess. The bikes we got were the cheapest on the whole island. They were brought brand new but they broke a couple times the first half hour we were on them. Yeah they are terrible.  The work should have been picking up right now but it is still slow for us cuz of these bikes.  Anyways today we went iguana hunting again. We caught 4 pretty good sized ones. We went out in the bush and went crocodile hunter for a couple hours. We are going to cook them up and eat them tomorrow. G., who is a member here from Honduras took us.  They eat them a lot where he is from I guess. So I do have only a short time to email today.  Glad you guys had fun in California!!! Hope you guys have a good week!! Love you guys! And happy new year!!

Happy New Year!

Well I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!! I know I did. It was so good to see everyone and to talk to you guys! Well this week we have been pretty busy, running errands :(  The sisters are coming out tomorrow and it has been a joke getting stuff ready for them.  Hopefully will have a place to stay tomorrow. The sisters are taking our car too :( BOOO!!! They haven't made up their mind to see if they want to get us bikes or if they want us to walk. Either way it is going to suck. The way they want to split the area there is no way for us to cover it on bikes or on foot.  From our house to one side of the area would bean over 1 hour bike ride one way going at a fast speed. So yeah it is going to be quite the transfer.  So the question that you asked mom about if sisters are still needy I will answer in a different email just in case there are any tender ears listening lol.

So Christmas was good out here! The Ritz Carlton was so amazing!! I loved it! There was so much food and I couldn't even pronounce 95% of the things cuz they were way to fancy.  I wish I would have been more outgoing and tried all of the crazy exotic food, but I stuck with the most normal that I could get for the most part. Man they did not spare anything at that restaurant.  It is a 5 star restaurant and now I know why it cost $150 for my lunch there.  We ended up getting our little mission vehicle valet parked ya know cuz that's how we roll in Cayman!! Only the best! The valet parkers were quite excited to park our cute little car.  Ha our car is the biggest chick car, it's a Toyata Yaris and has a 0-40 mph of like 8.9 minutes. But as dad always says, "a crappy ride is better than a good walk any day."  I am feeling that way knowing that today is the last day with that little beaut!!! 

So on Christmas in the morning we had a nice breakfast before the Ritz at the A.'s house. He is our branch mission leader and is really cool.  We also had a bbq that night at the R.'s house. On Christmas Eve we also had a BBQ at the Rh.'s house.  So the 26th of December is also a holiday in the Caribbean. It is called 'Boxing Day'. No one can tell the meaning of it, they just know that they don't have to work.  People have told us a couple different reasons for boxing day and some say it is really just to box up all the Christmas stuff and put it away.  Wow that is quite the holiday. Well not too much else has been going on.  It is crazy to think that I only have 6 more weeks out here!! I hope everyone has a happy new year!! Love ya guys!

Love Elder Harris

Open your doors and your hearts to Him, not just a crack but all the way!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! Well this week was  good, as usual. This week was busy too, but with a lot of stuff other than teaching. People are either off island visiting family, have a lot of family on island, or are just way too busy with work.  It has been hard to get lessons but it will pick up next month. 

So earlier this week was pretty cool.  Our branch president’s wife told us about this Christmas Wish that a radio station was doing here.  She told us that we needed to email them about a family in our branch named the B’s.  We did that and told them the whole story surrounding the B. family.  Well R. and E. have 2 grown, unemployed daughters living with them.  Each daughter has 4 children that are also living with them ages 2 months to 21 years old.   All of them are unemployed, R. and E. cuz they are retired and also the 2 daughters.  Anyways they have their electricity cut off frequently, they run completely out of food quite often. The church helps them out a lot, but they were not going to have a good Christmas. R. and E. are just awesome tho, they try so hard to make their grandkids have the best life possible. They are solid in the gospel and converts of just a couple years. Both have health conditions that limit them.  I feel bad.  Well we emailed them, the next day we called Sister J. in the morning and had her put her phone on speaker phone up to the radio to see if they won, and they did! They called them on the radio, and while they were on the radio Santa showed up to their house with a Christmas tree, and lights, and many presents, and $500 to help with bills, and a new cell phone with a 1 month contract.  But it was so cool! We went over and they were all crying.  They literally have nothing, they are living in really bad conditions.  They have a lot of animals, like chickens and he saves the eggs that he gets and gives them to his neighbors who he says is less fortunate then he is. So generous.  He always is looking for ways to serve, he says if you do good, you get good.  I believe that is why they won.  They got nominated so many times that the radio station said they just had to choose them. IDK who else nominated them but they do have a very good impact on a lot of people even in the situation they are in.  

The Christmas devotional that was broadcast from Jamaica on Saturday was good. I know you guys watched it and it was probably freezing up like ours was but it was still good. That was from my chapel in Spanish Town by the way, almost 800 people were there live, plus it was broadcast to like 20 other areas in the mission so it was a good turn-out, and was a great missionary tool just like we hoped it would be :) A couple hundred nonmembers and less actives attended so that was perfect :)

We had our missionary Christmas fireside on Friday, that was good as well.

Saturday we had a Christmas choir concert here. I was in the chior so I'm kind of a big deal :) It was good as well.

Anyways have a Merry Christmas! Do those things to invite Christ into our lives.  I think about Mary and Joseph who went from inn to inn and they wouldn't open their doors to Him.  Sometimes we do that in our personal lives as well.  Make room for Him in our inn, he stands knocking on our hearts, don't pass Him up, let the Savior into our lives. Open our doors, open our hearts, not just a crack, but all the way, especially during this Christmas season. 

Love you all! See you on Wednesday!

Love Elder Colton Harris

Continue to center our lives on Christ!

Alright, well another week is in the books. Thank you so much everyone for the little note that you guys sent my mom, and then that she sent to me. I loved them! I am so greatful for all of you and for the great example and support you have been to me!! It really does mean a lot! There are so many people on both sides of the family and as I was looking at it I realized that even with there being so many people, that we haven't really ever had any big events, like bad things, if you think about it.  That isn't very common for families today, but I definatly know that we are being blessed as we continue to center our lives on Christ! Blessings like this are the promise of living the gospel.

This was a good week, but kind of a slow week.  People are getting really busy since it is the holiday season, and are either leaving the country to visit family or have family coming in so they are busy.  Either way it has been a little bit more difficult to see people, but we made it work.

So we are still working with N. and D., they don't seem as enthusiastic about the whole thing anymore, but hopefully we can continue to get them moving forward and fellowshipped good. 

Anyways, the Ap's just texted and told us to start looking at prices of bycicles, instead of cars. NNNOOOOO!! That would be terrible!   It would only be for a transfer for us, but even the sisters would have to have them when they make it a 4 sister area. Too bad, too bad.

So there wasn't much to say today. Nothing interesting is really going on, plus I'll talk to you in a couple days.  Love you guys!

Love Elder Colton Harris

Colton's Family and Friend Christmas Tree
Personal messages from each person are on the back of the ornaments!