Dear Mother,

I got your package this week and it was sweet. I wrote a letter about it and sent it today. I also sent you a little present with it! Be excited! I ate the spam in a day. Same with the tuna. I was thinking, hmm...am I going to like this stuff? It was awesome! Who knew! The seasoning was perfect too.

Today we came to Cape Coast and played some kickball with the Cape Coast Zone. Afterwards we played football. I am sunburned:( I thought we were playing indoor games but I was wrong. It was still a lot of fun. P-day is the best day of the week cause I actually get to see other people. I'm also able to make new freinds down here away from Kumasi. One Elder is trying to get us to consider renting an apartment with him so we can go to UVU. It's just something to think about I guess. The good part is that I'm getting home in October so I'm gonna have to wait to go to school anyway (not sure what I'll do about insurance:/). I'm not thinking about home but the idea of being with a bunch of Cape Coast guys sounds cool.

This weekend we had a baptism for Brother Amos and his son Vincent and also a girl named Gifty. It was sweet except for the fact that when the Branch President was late we called him and he said he was on his way from Fosu. When we called him again the phone was switched off. He never showed up! It was ridiculous. We had to run to his house and pick up his keys so we could get the baptismal clothes out of the President's office. It was pretty stupid.

So even though we as a district completed the goal, the mission hasn't yet. That means that they could potentially send me a missionary who hasn't completed it yet and that would be bad. We really don't have any serious backups. We some people but they are always busy and one is flat out crazy. The hard part was the fact that Elder Buah has been in this tiny village for almost 9 months. He's seen everything and everyone. It was really hard to find new people but we did. We he goes (and he probably will), contacting won't be hard for my companion and I since we can basically start over. Elder Buah and I really don't have that many people to teach right now but we are still moving forward small small. We only have till the end of September to complete the goal. Transfers are the week before my B-day.

So are you gonna let Jeremy drive? That is one long trip from California to South Dakota. It would probably be a 3 hour plane flight;) I hope everything goes well along the way. I guess the wheather will be nice at that time of year.

So when I was transfered I was able to fit everything in my two smaller bags. That meant I could just stick the medium bag inside the big bag and instead of carrying three bags I only had to carry two. Yeah it was sweet. Don't worry about sending me random stuff. Random is my nature as you can see by the drawings I sent you. When I start drawing I have no idea where its going. I usually start with a nose and I just go with it. This week I drew a picture of an old lady and I stuck her way up in the clouds on a dark night. She was just begining to fall so I wrote: Gram Gram found herself in a tight spot. I also loved the jokes you sent that one time. The meat in the mashed potatoes was my favorite. Thanks for sending me the stuff I asked for it was awesome!

Well I'm going back to my Jungle. Back to Achiese the Fabulous Bush. I'm tired and warn out and ready to go to sleep. The weather sounds amazing back home. I would feel right at home! I love you all and miss you.

Love Elder Harris,

Song to be remembered: "Free me, Right now" -Foo Fighters

Dear Family,

It took 30 minutes to load up the site today. Man I miss the cafe in
Kumasi! It was right in the stadium and the internet was faster then
the one we had at home. Oh well, I'm in the jungle now so I should be
happy I even have internet!

Kory is home which is just feels ridiculous. It has now been a year
since I opened up my mission call. I'll never forget because it was
the same day Michael Jackson died. More then one person's prayers were
answered that day...(bad joke, sorry) Anyways it sounds like he had it
WAY rougher then I've got it right now. I had malaria last week, big
deal! I wish I could learn languages like he can too! What language
did he speak? Is there more then one in Cambodia? I have to assume
there is. We have at least 4 major dialects in our mission alone. The
only language I was ever good at was ASL and I've forgotten most of it
cause I don't know any deaf people! I still might want to do that for
a career but we'll see.

ANYWAYS, The World Cup ended last night with Spain as the victors.
Nobody really cared. We spent the night searching for more people for
the goal. It felt weird since it was our last opportunity to find
people. I'm nervous about this one. We really don't have a whole lot
of people. The hardest part was finding places Elder Buah hasn't been.
This village is so tiny. Our goal will probably be complete by this
week but I'm really afraid for transfers. The Lord will provide as He
has done so often in the past. It just amazes me sometimes.

We had a huge combined Zone Conference this week. Everybody but Kumasi
was there and it was really cool to see everybody again. I don't think
that there's a closer 4 people then the original Asokwa Elder's.
Elder Adjeifio only has 4 more transfers until he dies! President
Sabey's son Tyler just finished his mission in Argentina so he gave a
talk. It was pretty sweet. I'm not sure if he has even been home yet!
Elder Dunford and others gave their farewell testimonies. Elder
Dunford gave a talk about sacrifice and how pointless it is to give a
sacrifice that isn't from the heart. I really wish I could teach like
him. Elder Mason is also going home which is crazy cause he was on the
bus with us on the way from Accra to Kumasi. He was my zone leader for
7 and a half months. GO HOME, get out of here! I'm just waiting for
Akoki to leave then I'm out of here;) It was by far the best Zone
Conference I've been to.

I miss Murphy.

Brother Amos came to church today with a tie on. I laughed because
just a few weeks ago he wasn't coming to church and he said he would
NEVER wear a tie. It's too much like a rope around the neck. Now's
he's getting baptized with his son on Saturday and we are trying to
work out the baptism of his wife. Their other son is also coming to
church. That makes me happy! lol

We had a small fire in our kitchen this week. One of the electrical
outlets blew up burned up the wall. Luckily we were still around or
else we probably would have lost the kitchen. It's all fixed now so
there's no worries.

I forgot to mention the family goal. It was completed last Sunday with
Elder Jeppesen. What I didn't know was that with four weeks to go 33
missionaries still hadn't baptized their family. With three weeks to
go 33 missionaries still needed a family. If you were to ask anyone
who is familiar with missionary work if 33 missionaries could baptize
a husband and a wife at the same time in three weeks, they would
probably tell you it is impossible. The Lord provided though and we
completed it. I'm extremely grateful for the Lords help in completing
their goals. If I'm learning anything on mission it is that NOTHING is
impossible with the Lord.

I'm sorry I have to run. Hopefully I'll write more next week. I'm
sending your pictures today so be excited! I love you all and miss
you!

Dear Family,

Today is Monday. We got to hang out and play football with Abura Zone. We got killed but I actually didn't play too bad today. Nobody is faster then me that is sure and I'm the only one willing to sacrifice everything to get to the ball. Its funny cause when I'm running I still here my Dad yelling HUSTLE HUSTLE HUSTLE in my head. It's pretty sweet cause we get to hang out with Akoki and Adjeifio more often. President's son played with us. He just finished his mission in Argentina (sorry, they were just eliminated) and he's visiting for a few weeks. I'm not sure if he's even been home yet.

So I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this woman named Esther in Kumasi. She was found by Akoki and White months before I came and we were still working on her when I left. Well, SHE'S GETTING BAPTIZED!!! I don't think I've ever been more suprized on my whole mission. This woman was NOT anywhere near baptism. She was a liar and never came to church. But now, she has finally come to church. I'm just afraid that she will fall away but I'm sure the Elders there know what they are doing. Elder Ekaette told me watch, after you leave she will be baptized. I laughed at him then.

This week we committed Brother Amos for baptism. To our suprize he and his wife with their children came to church. I've never seen her before but Elder Buah says they used to teach her. Their son Vincent is super smart and will be baptized with his father on the 17th. This will wrap up the football goal for Elder Buah and I. Now I'm only afraid for transfers.

Transfers came this week and nobody in Achiese is moving. There are plenty of changes in Foso and Praso though. Poor Elder Stats was complaining about his area and was begging President to move him and now he's training in UST. That's why I told Briana that she should never even ask for a new area cause you'll get screwed. The Lord likes to make you realize that your situation really wasn't that bad. So I'm with Elder Buah for one more transfer at least and I'm pretty sure he will leave. At the end of this transfer he will be 9 months in the village. That's a really long long time!

Well some small sickness has hit the apartment and Elder Buah and I were down for most of this week. Don't worry it was nothing big. We are all fine now. We really didn't do anything this week at all! Ghana lost to Uruaguay which was really sad. Nobody was dancing outside our house this time. Still they did do pretty well for an African nation. Now I'm rooting for Spain or the Netherlands but I don't really care all that much anymore. We only have some small time left to contact so we need to work hard. President put it a good way today: We need to be in a position where we know we tried our hardest. Even though we pretty much have our goal finished, you never know what could happen!

As for the family goal, the deadline was yesterday. Every missionary in the Ghana Cape Coast Mission was able to baptise a Husband and Wife family. ALL OF THEM! THAT IS AMAZING!! Now I don't say that to boast. What I'm pointing out is what the Lord can do when he commands and we obey. He has done so much for this mission that I can not even begin to describe it all. I am extremely gratefull to Him that I have had the opportunity to be part of such mighty miracles!

Well I'm looking forward to our Zone Conference this Wednesday. Four zones are meeting together which is something that rarely happens. I'm both excited and nervous to see what happens.

Independence Day sounds like it was fun if not very exciting. Are you guys not going to have your reunion thing anymore? Say hello back to the Morrison's for me. If you see them I guess:) I love the Hollywood Bowl. I got to see the Police, The Who, and Radiohead there. Radiohead was the best one only because the crowd wasn't old. The Police pretty much changed what kind of music I was into for the next year and even now. What's wrong with the pot smoking? You should have been at the Radiohead concert! There was one guy yelling ACID ACID ACID. I killed him.

Sorry for the band thing. That's what happens when you only get ONE song. Sometimes you just need to get warmed up and that takes a little time. Playing on your guitar with no amp in the back just doesn't cut it. Oh well. At least you have an opportunity to be on stage still! Oh my day will come again.

So I'm in Cape today. Hopefully next week I'll mail those pictures! Yes you should be excited. I just hope the DVDs work. Maybe I'll get a chance to test them at the church this week. They got this nice new computer for records and stuff that nobody knows how to use. These villagers expect the missionaries to do everything but I refuse. I won't do anything I know they are perfectly capable of learning themselves. I'll help them out from time to time but I won't become the assistant clerk. It's not my duty.

Well I wrote a lot letters this week. They all went out today so be excited! Briana leave's this week so I sent one to Matt and the family. Hopefully it gets there!

All right, thats all I have this week. I love you all!

Love, Elder Harris

Ps. Jordan's a stud!!!