Dear Family,

This week has been pretty busy. A lot of ups and downs, power outs, and failed appointments. I'm enjoying myself though and time is ticking a little too fast for my comfort. This day marks my 19th month in the mission. What happened to the 18th? I'm not sure! We are working hard and setting goals to work harder. We don't care about numbers so much because we have faith that as we are working hard the blessings will come. President Sabey has told us he has no clue who baptizes the most people in the mission. He doesn't care! We all do care about the quality of those baptisms and we are working hard to insure that they are fruit that remain.

This week we did the normal thing everyday with the additional less active work. We actually had two of our less actives come to church yesterday which was a great blessing for us. They both used to be strong members who, due to certain circumstances, stopped coming and were both a little shy about coming back. I wish that I could shake them them into understanding that coming back will bring far greater blessings then they can even begin to imagine but the best thing for them is to have the local members do it for us. Brother Charles Mensah has been doing a great job and I hope it continues. We will continue to do the best we can.

We attended a wedding on Saturday for our goal candidates. Brother Edward and Sister Felicity were married civilly and should be sealed in the temple sometime this week or the next. They wanted a small wedding but nobody seemed to care what they wanted so the big wedding we attended felt very awkward for them. I could see that Sister Felicity really wasn't too happy the whole time. Normally we would not have stayed for most of the wedding but the Groom's camera man failed to come so we provided service by taking pictures of the ceremony and the reception after wards. There were a lot of stupid tradition things that I know they didn't really want but Ghanaians get so hurt about these things. God forbid they offend someone! I am glad that this experience will only make their sealing in the temple so much better. I wish that I could go with them to enjoy it but I can't.

Yesterday we got to watch two sessions of conference, the Saturday afternoon, and the Sunday morning. I love conference and I feel like they keep getting better as time goes by. My favorite story was the one about the little girl who had a long surgery and as she was slowly waking up, she could see members of her family who had passed away in the room with her. She said that all the children had angels surrounding them. I thought of my Grandma and others who have passed away and I felt a profound sense of peace in knowing they would do all they could to help me out. It's funny that I was so young when Grandma Kay died but I still feel close to her sometimes. I have no doubt that God loves us so much and I am grateful for the help He is willing to give.

I don't have too much else to report. I just listened to President Monson's talk in Priesthood session today. Both he and President Sabey are good at making us want to get married. I don't want to think about it too much but at the same time the Sealing ordinance is what all my work now is driving at. Everything I do should be in anticipation of the highest ordinance we take part in during this mortal life. Then everything we do after should be working to keep those sacred covenants we make. But enough of that! I still have five months where I don't have to think about it! ;)

I love you all! I'll call on Sunday later in the evening I think. I'll call and let you know. Can't wait to talk to you for the last time before I come home!

Love Elder Harris
ZOOMLION/WHITE TIGER
AKA. Just Keep Swimming