Good gas mileage

Will this be all of us in a few years? Is that even how you ride a vespa? I guess it is if it's pink! Emily wanted a new post and this is the best I could do. I'm supposed to be doing Friday's around Franklin but I never can remember in time to take my camera out and about.

Winos!

These happy looking dogs are actually drunk or something akin to it. There's a tree in our backyard that's dropping thousands of berries and these guys are out there whenever I'm not looking. Sonic is the energetic drunk and Penny is the nauseated, depressed drunk. Needless to say I've limited their exposure to the backyard and the tree is coming down. Notice the berry stains by Sonic's eye and on Penny's foot.

Dad's new "outfit"

Kyle says that's what they call pickup trucks in Idaho. This is a 2009 Toyota Tacoma. Pretty basic, like a motorized wheelbarrow, Dad says. But it smells new and has a good radio. The AC cools the cab in a few seconds and it also has an awesome built in bed liner. It's already made one trip to the dump with the promise of many more to follow.

4th of July SPUD

Hill Cumorah, last June, 07




4th of July


Dear Fam,


I know it probably seems like I haven't written you guys for awhile, but our schedule has been shuffled around somewhat. Our P-day has been moved to the Fourth this week and it's all day. At first I was excited that we are having an all day P-day, but now I don't know what to do with all my time. I guess I'll write everyone that I know.





Well, my first transfer is over and I got moved to the Pocatello Central Stake. It's pretty busted in places, and our apt. is the exact opposite of the mansion Elder Barrow and I stayed in. My new companion is from Georgia and is named E. Ashcroft. This is his first time being senior, so it will be a good experience watching him make the adjustment and learning from that. Today has been boring, and I'm ready to go out and do missionary work.





Last transfer Elder Barrow and I had to do a lot of work from scratch-finding and teaching. We didn't even inherit any investigators from the last transfer before. But, we worked at it and we started committing people to baptism. There are 3 dates set, but 2 are with 9 year olds. What happens is you have parents, usually a single parent, who is inactive or something (we use the term"LARC's": less-active/recent converts) whose children aren't baptized yet. Those are kinda like gimmes. But we do have one with a man named Travis, and he has been prepared and he has become converted. It was amazing to watch. I'm definitely going to his baptism on the 10th. He's totally golden, and I'm sure he's going places in the Church. He's 35ish and single, so hopefully he'll find a nice LDS girl to marry.





So concerning LARC's. Convert baptisms, like Travis's are our purpose. There are resources devoted to LARC's (Home teachers/visiting teachers) and resources devoted to nonmembers (Missionaries) Some members think that missionaries are glorified home teachers. I admit I thought LARC work was part of missionary work, but it is only a tiny portion. Home/Visiting teaching is just as important as missionary work. It's easier too, and can be just as rewarding. you follow the same pattern too: teach, Testify, and Invite. It isn't a lesson unless we leave a commitment. The method we use is to 1. Testify, 2. direct question ("will you...?") 3. Promise blessings. Those steps can kind of interchange.








I testify of the importance of home/visiting teaching, and it is the plan set up by the Lord for maintaining the faith of all members. As you continue faithfully to fulfill your roles as HT/VTers, your faith will grow, you will be happier, and you will have more spiritual experiences. Will you do your HT/VT at least once a month, rain or shine, time or not? It will help out the missionary work in your area.








By the way, I'm really excited that you are Ward Missionaries, and I don't doubt you are fulfilling all your callings. I just wanted to show you how that technique works. Use it! It's pretty cool.





Anyway, I'm eating well. I eat chicken out of the can with butter and garlic, grapenuts without sugar, eggs (scramby) and my veggie pills. I take my vitamins and my thyroid pills. All is well with me (but not in Zion if you know what I mean). And the work is moving forward. I miss you both, and I love you both. I appreciate all you have done for me, and the letters and the pictures. God is real. The Atonement is real. Christ's Gospel has been restored in its fullness, and this is it.





Love,





Elder Harris


PS. tell Reid congrats and to write me!!


PPS. smash the dogs for me!

Some more SPUD for Reid C.

Well, this will probably be a short note, as I don't have too much time, as always. I've decided that missionary work is very much a routine, and yet you always have to be ready for anything. Nothing wrong with routines, though. I guess the other thing to watch out for, is getting too complacent with the routine and not relying enough on the Lord. That, in a nutshell, is what missionary life feels like. It's fun, though. Not at all a bad way to spend your day. Well, I've realized that this transfer we have had to do a lot of "rebuilding" as far as investigators go. Last transfer [a six-week period, I think] they had like 5 baptisms, and our pool was somewhat empty after that (except for the ever present "eternal investigators"). We are now halfway through the transfer, and we have started to drop the baptism commitment hammer on people. Most of the time they get uncomfortable and say they aren't ready, but they'll come around eventually. I don't get how a person can know that the Gospel is true, and not be ready for baptism. Maybe they think that we hold 'em under the water for a while. Anyways, it feels great to try to devote every moment to the Lord, and the blessings for this service are many. I know that this is the Lord's Church. I love and miss you both. I hope all is well and that the doggies are OK. Pass my love onto the rest of the fam. Thanks for the letters and the prayers!
Love,
Elder Kyle Harris

E-whats?

Here's some good emu shots. Who knew that emus made this unbelievably loud drumming sound, hence their genus and species name: Dromaius novaehollandiae. (10 cents to anyone who can pronounce that second word.) They are mean and spit, though we haven't experienced that yet. And they are ridiculously curious. When we first moved in one of them was constantly at the corner of our back fence looking in the house.

Be Glad for Gladiolas

With flowers like this in ones kitchen it's not hard to cook and do dishes in there! Haven't seen the horses or emus recently and the cows seem like they are in a differenct pasture.

THE ABCs OF ME

A- Attached or single: attached--husband and 2 corgis
B- Best Friends: My kids, Heidi, Linda, Liz, and my husband
C- Cake or Pie: Cake, especially dry white wedding cake
D- Day of choice: Saturday
E- Essential item: Toilet Paper? OK, Vaseline
F- Favorite color: yellow
G- Good movie: Dan in Real Life
H- Hometown: Cloverdale, CA
I- Indulgences: Monster Taco from Jack-in-the-Box, french bread
J- January or July: Well, in Texas I would have said January.
K- Kids: Somewhere
L- Life is not complete without: Mexican food and old movies
M - Marriage Date: April 27, 1974
N- Number of Siblings: 1
O- Oranges or apples: Both
P- Phobias or fears: non-organic butter and snakes
Q- Quote: "No, no Penny"
R- Reason to smile: grandchildren
S- Season: Spring
T- Travel: England, Hawaii
U- Unknown fact about me: I got the Bank of America Music Award as a senior in high school
V - Very favorite store: HEB Central Market
W- Worst habit: None of your beeswax
X- eXcell at: Leading music
Y- Your favorite food: Enchilada
Z- Zodiac: Cancer

Fog and flowers

There's normally houses and hills at the end of our street. Which lily color do you like best? Those are gladiolas on the bench. They get so tall that they fall over so I cut some stalks and stuck them in this vase. Then I noticed that there were little slugs here and there and chose to leave them outside.

Fridays around Franklin

I finally remembered to do this and took some pictures of (and along) Wilson Pike,a road that we travel on everyday. Everything's a pike around here. The high school is about 5 minutes from our house. Some of these pics I just grabbed while driving. I'm amazed they were in focus.

More from the recent SPUD

It's kinda weird being the new kid on the block, and not really knowing the investigators terribly well. We are supposed to contact them everyday but it's hard to catch them home. Anyways, mission life is fun but it sure takes tenacity. I'm constantly striving to build my faith more and more & my testimony is getting stronger and stronger.
Oh, yeah, the weather is so weird here. It's a little bit cool, as in the 60's and 70's which is nice, but the weather for the last few days has bounced between steady rain and completely overcast skies, to regular old sunshine every half hour, no exaggeration. Odd. At least it keeps you on your toes.
Now to finish off, I'll leave you with a bit of the language: "how come" as in "...and that's how come we don't got no more jackrabbits."

Cars don't have "glove boxes" they have "jackybox".

"trucks" refer to 18 wheelers, as in "I drive truck**." (no article) whereas pickups are referred to as "outfits."

Well, seeing how I've written a "couple three" pages (or a couple four) I'm going to go to bed. I love you all and I miss you. Hope all is well for you all.

Love,
Elder Harris
**in the same style, I could say, "I preach Gospel."

And a colt, too

I actually don't know if this is a colt or a filly. I'll call it a colt til I know better. The pictures aren't too great. The little guy loved running through the pack of emus sending them fleeing in all directions. Must be a boy horsey.

The most recent SPUD

Dear Mom and Dad,
Me and Elder Barrow just got back from our day of attempted missionary work, and we just finished planning, and now we are chatting with our caretakers, Bro. and Sis. Wilson. They are terribly nice and like to hear all about our adventures. Missionary work is certainly an adventure, but sometime you have a day like today when most of your appointments fall through, no one is home, and the one you do catch says "we're moving so have a nice life." Not that I'm down or anything, I'm actually having a great time. I'm getting the hang of teaching the lessons, and my door approaches, and planning and what not. The basics of missionary work is very simple, and it doesn't take long to figure out "your job." However, the difference between doing "your job" and being a stellar missionary (or a Preach My Gospel missionary)is huge. Frame of mind, Spiritual preparedness, and all that. the details make a huge difference. I'm still working though. Health is good, I'm working out every day, and eating right. I get a home cooked meal every night which so far has been great. I even ate broccoli the other day. Miracles have not ceased in this day and age.

Sonic stuck in the strawberry patch

The previous owners had a strawberry patch in the backyard. Sonic and Penny discovered this and started supplementing their diet with some fruit-green or red-didn't matter. Jim wanted to keep them out so he put up a fence. Sonic, twice now, has managed to find a way in but then couldn't get himself out. I took these pictures of him "in jail". At first I couldn't figure out why he wasn't coming when I yelled for him. (night photos)

Cow meets corgi

Seems that we now have the cow family more often in the pasture directly behind our house. I was surprised that one of the cows nearest the fence instead of walking away from the ferocious barking corgis actually walked right up to the fence to make Sonic's acquaintance. Penny thought she was above "lowering" herself to fraternize with mere bovines. (I think she was a little scared. And what could be lower than a corgi?) How many calves can you find?

What's in a name?

Check out some of the names on the list for hurricanes in 2008: Arthur, Kyle, Nana, and Sally (Paige's mom). Kind of crazy, eh? Wonder which one of us will cause a ruckus, if any. Also on the list is Josephine, one of Emily's favorite names. If they have a Nana are they gonna have a PopPop? I didn't know Nana was a real name for anyone.

The Wonders of Spring

Will the wonders of Spring never cease? Hope not. This little guy was all by himself by our back fence until Mom finally showed up to claim him. Unfortunately, we didn't get a photo of the baby ducks lined up along a retaining wall in our backyard. And, sorry I forgot about doing the "Fridays around Franklin". I'll have to get out and take some pictures to post next Friday. There's a baby horse on the farm behind us, too, but he hasn't been close enough to take a picture of yet.

Wet horses and pig

One rainy day we had lots of visitors. See if you can find the eyes on the pig. It's really fun to feed him apples. He's very delicate despite his appearance.

A short recent SPUD

Dear Mom and Dad,
I'm packing to leave the MTC! It's pretty exciting to think that I'll be in the field in less than 24 hours. This will be my last letter from the MTC, so send yours to this address for now:
Elder Kyle Harris
Idaho Pocatello Mission
1246 Yellowstone Ave. Ste F3
Pocatello, ID 83201-4374
I'm afraid this will just have to be a short note, but I'll write more when I get to Pokey. I hear P-day is Wed., so that is in 2 days. I'll tell you everything about my last few days. Anyway, I have to pack. I love you all! All is well, and the Church is true. Love, Elder Harris

Texas can be beautiful, too.

Yes, Tennessee is very beautiful but Texas could be beautiful also. I remember taking these pictures around our house in Boerne right before we sold it and then discovering there was a fingerprint on the lens. Our house is now a women's treatment center: www.pachills.com You can see pictures of the house on their website under "accommodations." This is a bit of a painful post to blog so I probably won't go here again.