Elder Harrison's first Thanksgiving in the mission field

This is Elder Harrison's mom writing.....

Last Sunday I got a call from a woman in Iowa.  She said that her name was Annette Deakins and that my son, Elder Harrison was serving in her area.  She called to ask what one of his favorite Thanksgiving dishes was. Their family was planning on serving all four missionaries in their area Thanksgiving Dinner.  I was so grateful!  I had been concerned about whether 'or not Jacob would have a place to go for Thanksgiving.  We sent her Willy's sweet potato with marshmallow recipe because we know that Jacob loves it.

Taking a break from playing Scrabble...one of Jacob's favorite games!

Elder Harrison, Elder Watts, Elder Hadfield and Elder Terris (Elder Harrison's companion)

The elders enjoy a game of Risk

Jacob takes an "After" photo every Thanksgiving....the tradition continues!

Six weeks in the field!

Email dated November 19, 2012

Hello everybody back home, the mission is going great. I can't believe
i'm already at my first transfer. I probably won't be going anywhere
because i'm still being trained but transfers usually mean that
everybody gets new companions and new assignments and new areas and
stuff. six weeks from now i'll get a new companion and maybe move
areas. That's a ways off though.

Things in Denison are going well we've got investigators and less
active members we work with and the work is moving forward which is
really good. We had alot of meetings last week so we were out of the
area for a while but the meetings were really good and the work picked
right up when we got back. Yesterday we actually did companion
exchanges and I spent a little time in another area with a different
companion. We met up at a member's house for dinner and had hawaiian
haystacks that weren't quite as good as my mom's but they were still
pretty dang good.

 We split up and then headed out to our places.
I had a really good experience, we were driving around with the ward
member who just fed us and he got the idea to visit a family who
hadn't been at church that day. we went over and they were really glad
to see us. it was an old couple and their ten cats. The wife has
battled breast cancer for a long time and the various treatments have
messed up her lungs pretty well and she has bad arthritis. the husband
is usually in good health but while he was visitting his kids in
chicago he had a 7mm kidney stone removed and the doctors also sound
blasted a 8.5mm one as well. they got him drugged up and the wife
drove home. He was in bed and pretty drugged up when we got there but
he was happy and laughing. they missed church so we gave them the
sacrament and i gave a spiritual thought from James 1 about being a
doer and not just a hearer of the word

. He asked for a blessing and we

gave him one and he suggested we give his wife one as well. He said he
was feeling a lot better after the blessing so he got right up out of
bed and helped give his wife one as well. they gave us cookies and we
left. I felt so good for having been able to use my priesthood to
brighten their day. Some people out here need our help but really
don't want anything to do with us but it makes me so happy to find the
ones that know we can help and ask for it.

One of the less active families we teach with the two sons that want
to get baptized told us something pretty cool this week. The parents
and the older son and his girlfriend all smoke alot but the son would
have to quit before he got baptized. The parents want them to be
baptized at the same time but they know it would be hard for him to
quit with them smoking around him so they made the goal to all quit
together. I've never quit smoking so I don't know much of how to help
them but I know Christ can help them and make it more achievable.

That's about all the stories I have time for but it's really cool to
hear about all the stuff about the Boise temple re- dedication and
stuff. I'm sure thanksgiving will be tough without my family around
but I'll keep you guys in mind and make it through. I've got to go but
I send my love and prayers back home and look forward to next week's
news.

Elder Jacob Harrison

"I feel tired at the end of the day, it's a good tired!"

This email was sent on October 29, 2012

The missionaries who covered the area before us were in what's called a zebra, which is a companionship that has one English speaking Elder and one Spanish speaking elder. The English speaking Elder is still in the area with us so he told us where the apartment was. The directions weren't very good and we didn't know the area so we didn't even know where to look. Then one day we were walking around knocking doors and we walked past an apartment building we had knocked a part of a few days earlier. The address on the building looked really familiar so we looked where we had written the investigators address and it was the same building. 

We went up to the apartment and knocked on the door. The guy who answered was in his early twenties and when we started talking to him we asked his name and it is Austry, which is pretty close to the name the English Elder gave us. He invited us in and we talked about what he remembered from the other missionaries that came and taught him. He said he remembered something about apostles, which is really good because the organization from the time of Christ is one of the big things that sets us apart from everybody else. 

We went over the first lesson with him again which is the restoration. When we asked if the other missionaries had given him a Book of Mormon, he got it out from a pile of papers. He hadn't read any of it yet so we told him if he starts reading it and praying about it he'll know it's the truth. Overall the lesson went pretty well, but he works a lot so setting up a return visit was hard but we exchanged phone numbers. 

That all happened almost two weeks ago, we tried to visit a few times but he was never home. We got in and taught his older sister a little bit but she wasn't into it very much. Saturday he texted us and said "My sister said you came over looking for me?" We said yes and stuff then he texted "Si quisiera bautisarme, que necesitaria hacer?" 
which totally caught us off guard because it means, "If I wanted to get baptised, What would i need to do?" We told him he'd have to learn more about the gospel from us, come to church a few times, repent and forsake his sins and strive to live the commandments. He said, "I want to do it." Of course we wanted to meet with hime but he works a lot and has a schedule that is not set so we haven't met with him yet but we told him to read and pray every day in the meantime to which he replied "I'm already doing that." 

Elder Terris and I were tripping, this guy is the bomb. We only met with him once and he wants to get baptized and he is reading the little scripture assignments we text to him. We'll set him up with a baptismal date when we see him next. I kept trying to think of what we said that was good enough to give him that kind of faith but then I remembered that since I got my mission call I have been praying to find the people that are prepared for our help and that are ready to listen to us and have the faith it takes to want to change. I think I should keep praying for that, because it works.

The rest of the mission is going good, I'm fine with the schedule because even though it's hard and I feel tired at the end of the day, it's a good tired, a feeling of satisfaction about the work we did that day. All the sitting around studying alot is tough to stay focused but the things I am learning from the scriptures are amazing and I'm starting to really like reading. My Spanish is really improving, probably because all the prayers I say are in Spanish and it gives me a chance to say stuff that I'm not sure if it makes sense because the only person listening is god and he knows what I'm trying to say. Elder Terris and I are getting pretty close, he would sometimes hide around a corner in the house and ambush me with a rubber band but I got him back in the shower with some Ice-water. We're going to be together in Denison for the next nine weeks or so at least so we'll probably be pretty tight by the end.

The Halloween pictures are awesome. Daniel gets points added for hair authenticity but minus for repeating a costume. Sam gets points for having sweet glasses but minus for wearing my sunglasses. Caleb has to be the winner for this year, super cool, I thought he was Mumm-ra for a second. I approve of the wrappings, Couldn't think of a better use for the cloth I bought for my failed mummy costume last year. Well done to whoever did the face paint.

I got a bunch of letters from the primary kids and teachers which was super cool. Tell them that they really made my day. The letters from my family were cool too, I'll write some back today so You'll get them pretty soon.

The weather here has been descent and not super cold yet but with all that crazy storm stuff I keep hearing about on the east coast maybe we'll catch some of that here soon. I'm pretty tough and I'll have plenty of warm clothes by then but keep praying for me because I've never seen anything like what I'm sure is coming.

I've got to finish up the email now, I've got some other stuff to do today. I send my love again to all my family and friends back home. Thanks for all the love and support and prayers. Keep praying for me and the people I'm teaching that we can all get closer to Christ and become better disciples. So long for this week.

Sincerely,
Elder Jacob Harrison

"The schedule is pretty rigorous......"

       Hey everybody, life as a missionary in Iowa is pretty good. We are starting to get the hang of the town and stuff. Walking around it all day helps. The weather reminds me a little of Idaho, one day it'll be overcast and cold and the next it'll be pretty hot. I'm pretty sure it'll just be cold here in the next couple of weeks. Everybody says last winter was really mild last year so that probably means this one will be pretty crazy. The work is kinda hard on cold days because nobody wants to have their door open to the cold for very long but I've got a pretty hard working companion so it's easy to forget about ourselves and just go to work.

     The people are pretty cool here, there are small town white people who have lived here forever and have gone to the same church for forever and don't like talking to us but there are a few that will be nice and chat with us about church and stuff. The Hispanics are really nice here like they are everywhere, they'll always be nice to us and talk for a while most of them will even invite us in and listen to the whole first lesson. Sometimes they are too nice though, they'll listen to us and act interested and then flake on out follow up appointments which is kind of a bummer but it's a small town so we'll run into them again. We've been teaching lots of lessons and placing a few Book of Mormons here and there. There is a surprising amount of diversity here because there are two really big meat packing facilities around here, Tyson and Farmland, which both bring people from all over. There are Mexicans, Guatemalans, El Salvadorans, even Sudanese and Liberian people.  It's really easy for me to love the people here, even the ones that shut their doors on us.  

     The meat packing places sometimes make the air smell bad which kinda reminds me of home and sometimes the air smells like bacon which is pretty cool but makes us hungry walking around. There are hardly any members in Denison so we don't get fed very often but the members of the ward we go to in Logan were worried about us up here all alone so they bought us some groceries and frozen dinners and stuff which was so awesome and thoughtful. That'll make shopping today a little easier. 

     The schedule is pretty rigorous but I'm pretty spry so I'm handling it alright. Studying the scriptures for a few hours every morning is pretty cool when I can stay awake. I am really starting to understand the words when I read in Spanish. I've been reading a lot of Jesus the Christ which is difficult even in English but if I don't challenge myself I'll speak like  a gringo forever. I'm glad I had a little background in Spanish before and then got tons of practice in the MTC because I can communicate pretty well already. My companion didn't know Spanish well when he got to the field so it was real hard for him in the beginning .

     I'd really like to get some updates about everybody back home. How my are siblings doing in school and work and stuff. Who else is getting mission calls and to where. Who's getting back from missions and getting married, stuff like that. As you can imagine i'm pretty isolated out here, even from other missionTharies. We are on the outskirts of the mission out in the boonies. News of the outside world would be much appreciated.

I send my love to my family and friends back home, you guys are awesome and I wouldn't be out here without your help. Thanks so much for all the letters and emails I got in the MTC, don't be afraid to send some letters to me out here. Love you guys tons but my time is up, talk to you later.

Sincerely, 

Elder Jacob Harrison

       

We received the "Safe Arrival" letter from the Mission Home!

As a mom, I was happy to open the mailbox and find the "Safe Arrival" letter that the Nebraska Omaha Mission home sent to us telling us that Jacob had arrived safely in Nebraska.

Here are some quotes from the President Michael D. Weston, the mission president regarding Elder Jacob Harrison:  (moms love this kind of stuff!)

"We are impressed with his goodness and desire to serve the Lord.  His presence will lift the overall strength of the mission.............It is our focus to help your son fulfill his purpose as a missionary......Elder Harrison has been assigned to serve in the Denison area of the Council Bluffs Zone.  His trainer will be Elder Cade J. Terris; their current address is 1812 2nd Ave. South, Denison, IA 51442."

In the letter were two photos of Jacob; one with all the missionaries that entered the Omaha Nebraska mission on the same day and another with just Jacob and the mission president and his wife.

Elder Jacob Harrison's First Area: Denison, Iowa

We finally received an email from Elder Harrison, so we know that he arrived safely to Nebraska!

It is so exciting to hear about his first days in the mission field!

***************************************************************************************************************************

Email sent October 15, 2012

Wow, a lot has happened since my last email. We shipped off from the MTC early in the morning and headed to the airport. On the leg from SLC to Denver I sat by two missionaries so i didn't get to talk to anybody but after a pretty long layover in Denver we headed to Omaha and on the plane ride I sat by this woman and we talked all about her life and my life and her church and my church and Christianity in general. I didn't give her a book of Mormon or anything but it was a really cool conversation. We got to Omaha and met our Mission president, he's really cool and his wife is really cool too. 

We spent the night at a hotel then the next morning got a tour of the Mormon trail visitors center and other local landmarks in Mormon history.

After that we went to President Weston's house and ate then met a bunch of other missionaries. They wanted to get us right to work so they gave us all temporary companions and sent us knocking doors around Omaha. I went with an Elder Terris who has been out for a year, he must have learned how to find the right people because the very first door we knocked we started talking to this woman with a few kids and she invited us in. My companion took the lead of the lesson but at the end I bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and invited her to pray for an answer and I asked her to be baptized when she got one, that part was a little rough because I hadn't spoken Spanish for a few days but she said she would. I'm pretty pumped about that. Later after some get to know you stuff with the presidency and the office staff and everything we had a testimony meeting and then got our assignments. 

My first assignment is to Denison Iowa being trained by the same Elder Terris that I tore it up with in Omaha. The area had missionaries in it a year or so ago but they closed that area. Elder Terris and I will pretty much be starting from scratch in a town forty five minutes away from a chapel with like one member family. It'll be hard but it'll be awesome because like eighty percent of the people in Denison are Hispanic so we'll have plenty of opportunity to practice the language. Since the area is new when we got assigned they didn't have an apartment ready for us yet so we stayed in a teeny tiny little town in Iowa called Persia with some other elders in our district. 
Downtown Denison, Iowa
One of the days we were waiting for our area to be ready we had the opportunity to go to a Gladys Knight performance in a stake center in Omaha. The Persia Elders brought a few investigators and so did pretty much every other missionary around. The music was pretty unorthodox, really peppy gospel stuff and keyboard and base guitar and stuff. The members didn't really know how to react but some of the black ones were waving their hands in the air and saying amen and stuff. On the way home from that I hit my first animal, a raccoon ran across the freeway when i was going seventy, got my heart going but I've seen the end of Simon Birch so i didn't swerve or anything.

After they got our apartment and furniture ready on Saturday we went to Dennison and started moving in we got everything settled and it's a pretty big apartment for missionary standards. The windows are all pretty drafty and there was a weird centipede in the sink one morning but other than that no wildlife yet. The gas wasn't on yet and still isn't so we have been without heat or hot water for two mornings, that's pretty fun.

We visited the Pacas family last night, they are an old husband and wife that have some grown up kids that aren't active. Brother and sister Pacas are really cool and will be the anchor for all the people we'll be converting in Dennison. It'll be hard to get anyone to church since it's so far away but we're going to work hard anyway.

I'm pretty pumped to be here even though I'm kind of in the middle of nowhere, Dennison has like 10,000 people and it's by far the biggest town for miles and miles. Me and Elder Terris get along well so far and he'll be a good trainer.
It is pretty cold in Denison!

Sorry I couldn't call more people at the Airport that card worked great and had tons of minutes but I could only call so many times and I used them all up. Christmas is coming sooner or later and I can call home then. Keep sending my mail to the address I gave for the Omaha office and they'll get it out to me.

My time is about up for this computer I'm using in the library so I'll have to sign off here. Keep us in your prayers so we can find lots of people and teach well. Till next Monday which is my new P-day, I love you all and I miss you. 

Sincerely,
Elder Jacob Harrison

"I'm going to stay at the top till I'm done with my work"

This is the last email I will send in the MTC! It's crazy to think that I'll be in Nebraska on Tuesday. Yesterday was what is called In-field Orientation which was just an entire day of learning more missionary stuff, how to find people to teach, how to work with members when we teach, what to expect in our first weeks in the field. It's all really exciting, which is an emotion I never thought I'd feel about Nebraska. Yesterday was our P-day but infield took that up so it got moved to today. Of course general conference is today General Conference so I get to do all my laundry and letter writing and all the other stuff I have to do before I leave between sessions. It'll be cool to watch general conference now that I'm more separated from the distracting things of the world than I have ever been. I'll get a lot more from hearing the words of the prophets this time around, plus I won't be watching from a couch with a blanket so it'll be easier to stay awake. 

I'm going to miss all the other Elders I got to know while I'm here, I met so many cool ones. Forgive me if I say the same things a lot when I email, my memory isn't so good. One that I think I forgot to mention was this elder I saw while walking the temple grounds I thought I recognized from somewhere. I started talking to him and it turns out he is the star of that Youtube video with the Mormon kid who just got his wisdom teeth out and was rambling about the church while on the surgery drugs. Also a little while before I got here my teachers taught someone you might know, an Elder David Archuleta heading to Chile, the teacher told us he was really humble and really kind and spoke really highly of him.

 During the infield one of the speakers told a story of how he was playing in the park with his family and he tried to throw a football over a tall pine tree but it got stuck in the top. He tried sending his seven year old son up the tree but he got up a ways and got scared so the father went up the tree after him and got him to go back down. The father climbed up to the top of the tree but couldn't find the ball. The tree was swaying a lot and he was a little worried and he thought of going back down. He was scratched and covered in sap but he realized he was already up at the top of the tree so he might as well stay up there till he found the ball. He compared the story to us being on missions. We are already out on our missions, way out of our comfort zones. What we are trying to find is more important than a ball, it's people to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is hard and it does take a little courage to stay in the tree or to just go up to people in the street or to knock on doors but I'm already at the top of the tree, I'm going to stay at the top till I'm done with my work.

 Thank you everybody for your support and for sending me letters and email, those are pretty awesome, keep them coming. I loved the big batch of letters from my family that I got the other day, I'll see if i can find the time to write back individually. I've got to go finish up some laundry and things before conference starts but I'll send another email during my first P-day in the field. Till next time, Elder Harrison.

"I got my travel plans today!

I got my travel plans today! I leave the 9th of October and fly to Denver then to Nebraska. I do have a bit of a layover in Colorado where I'll be able to call home. I'll be able to talk from like 11 something to 1pm. Make plans for a call then. I love the MTC but I'm so ready to get to the field already. I got a letter from my mission president and he said he's looking forward to my arrival. I can't wait to pack up my things and head to my new home. 

Everybody here keeps telling me they've heard Nebraska is nice, i looked the mission up on the lds website and there are more densely populated cities than I thought there would be. I also looked up my house in nampa but i got off the page pretty quick because i started to get homesick. Don't worry about me though, I'm having a good time and I've been carefully maintain my good attitude, which is easy because I'm doing the work of the Lord. The MTC is actually pretty empty right now, lots of people left this week. 

It's weird that there aren't as many people here as when I came but I don't mind shorter lines for food and for computers come email time. I love getting all the letters and emails from everybody, keep them coming, maybe a few more with good news. 

I skipped a page in my journal on accident and didn't know what to do with it but then I started writing the names of elders that I meet and really get along with. I've got like thirty names and I haven't even gotten to the field yet. Forgive me if when i get back i just spend a day adding elders names on facebook. 

My Spanish is getting better and better still and I'm starting to speak it most of the day, It's really easy to slip back to English but I'm trying and the practice helps a lot. The other day I was reading a Spanish hymn book and it was on "I'll go where you want me to go" which is "A donde me mandes ire". I couldn't remember how the song started so i asked a BYU custodian if she knew. She had no idea what I was saying and said she didn't speak Spanish and it took me a while to realize that i asked her in Spanish. If I can accidentally speak Spanish after a month and a half i can probably learn to speak Spanish well and on purpose before too much longer. 

I'm the same weight as when I left but I'm in way better shape, I even got a free shirt because an elder in my hall ate too much to fit into it. 

Since i fake baptized one of my investigators the other day the teacher became now acts like somebody else who is totally different. I actually like teaching now that I can say most of the stuff I want to. A teacher from down the hall came into our class the other day and taught us about how to connect the gospel to the needs of our investigators and it was really cool to see him make up a situation and demonstrate tailoring the lesson accordingly. When you know how to connect the message to the person you can really help them know exactly what it can do for their life.

I don't know how next week will go with email and stuff because of conference but I'll email next time I can. Until then, remember that I send my love and I pray for everybody back home missing me. That's about all I have time for this time.

Love,
Elder Harrison

"It's amazing how much I've already changed...."

The end of my stay in the MTC is steadily approaching and I'm very excited for Nebraska.

 I still get along with my companions and can teach pretty well with them but it's safe to say that I'm also excited for a new companion. This week in the TRC with member volunteers we get to give a forty minute lesson instead of two twenty minute lessons. We like that because our twenty minute lessons usually last like half an hour, not that we are long winded or really knowledgeable it just takes us a while to say anything. 

We are really starting to get the hang of the language now though, I can say a lot of stuff I want to and if I don't know a word I can usually just talk around it. I love the language, I can't wait to be fluent enough to really express myself and the gospel as well as I can in English, hopefully better. 

Wave and waves of new missionaries come every week and I love saying welcome to the MTC when I see their orange dots on their name tags. Hopefully I'll have a chance to be a new missionary host and show the greenies around campus. Now that we've been together a while our district is pretty tight and we have lots of fun together. 

 We're already talking about reunions after we all get back from our mission. Except talking about what we did before our missions or what we'll do after is kind of off limits because its super distracting, I sometimes look back or forward to who I was and who I'm going to become.

 I'm glad I'm better than I was and I know I'm going to be really different when I make it back home. I just hope I'm not too weird from never hugging or flirting with girls, I don't want to lose my game. I'll have to relearn that part of me but I'm hoping to keep all the good habits I develop while I'm working out in Nebraska and keep all the bad habits away. 

My mom would be happy to know that I fold my clothes and put them in drawers and make my bed every morning. I keep my shirts on hangers and my shoes shined in my closet. It's amazing how much I've already changed, and it's change for the better.
 I don't have a whole lot of time left this week but I send my love to my family and everybody back home.


 Thanks everybody for sending me letters and dear elders and keeping me up to date on everything going on back home. If I write letters to you and something I write sounds funny or is spelled weird it's probably because I started thinking Spanish and it tripped me up. I'm not a pro yet or anything but I'm starting to accidentally speak it which is probably a good thing. I guess that's what happens when you pray and study all the time and try your hardest to learn a language and then God helps you out with the rest. Until next week,

Love, 
Elder Harrison

Happy 20th Birthday to Elder Jacob Thomas Harrison!

Email dated 9/14/2012


This week was awesome, especially today because it is my birthday. Thank you to everybody that sent me something, I got some stuff yesterday and got a package today but I know there is some mail waiting for me I just can't open it till tonight. 
This week we will be saying goodbye to a second advanced district. They are the ones that speak spanish really weel and only have to stay here for three weeks, we work pretty closely with them and ask them questions and practice speaking, we get to make friends with them just before they leave. We should get another one before the rest of us go to the field so that'll be pretty cool. You get to meet all sorts of people you would never meet anywhere else.

 Last friday I participated in a tie draft which is when a bunch of elders get together put one of their ties onto a rack and then put their name into a hat. After all the names and ties are offered, an impartial elder starts drawing names and when your name gets picked you have ten seconds to pick a tie from the pot. Ten seconds seems like a long time to choose but it's a tough decision because most of the elders bring really ugly ties so there isn't much to choose from. Last week My name got picked like fourth to last so I got a really interesting one probably leftover from the early 90's.



 Yesterday our teacher showed us a really cool and mission applicable game where we have cards with gospel doctrines and other words on them and when he hands one to someone they have to start teaching about it. Everybody has to listen intently because when they talk for a while he hands a different card to somebody else and they have to teach what's on that card after somehow smoothly transitioning from one topic to the next. It's really helping my companions and I to teach as one and have a clear central message. Most of the stuff we do here is pretty monotonous but we try to keep things interesting by finding fun things like that to shake things up a little. I am enjoying my time here and am enjoying learning spanish, I'm not ready to go pro but if i keep working hard I can be pretty well fluent by the time I get to the field.

 I think I mentioned that I had an "Investigator" named Ronaldo in one of my previous emails. We've been teaching him for a while he's going to be fake baptised tomorrow. Since it's not real we won't really no anything untill we do our follow up lesson and see how he felt and how we can help him continue to progress. I can't wait to be in the field and doing this kind of thing for real, I'll face alot of rejection and disapointment field but I can't imagine how I'll feel when I really do bring a real person to Christ. I know that this work and this message will help people improve their lives or even help them turn their life around.

 I'm glad I had good parents and teachers and leaders to teach me the gospel and build my testimony because one of the big points they keep teaching us here is that you can't teach anything with power and conviction if you don't believe it with power and conviction. I do know this gospel is of God and I'm pumped to share that knowledge with other people and bring them the happiness and strength that it has brought me. I'm out of time for this week but i wrote plenty of letters so those will have a little more in them. Till next week, Elder Harrison.

"I am looking forward to serving with people from all over (the world)"

          

This email was sent by Elder Harrison on  9/7/2012:

This week marks the halfway point of my time at the MTC, It's weird to think that I've been here for almost five weeks and I have less than five weeks till I go to Nebraska. The food is still good, it's keeping me full and healthy, I haven't gotten sick yet, everybody cross your fingers for me. During lunch one day I started talking to a senior couple and it turns out the sister was born and raised in Nebraska, she gave me all sorts of advice on how to deal with tornadoes and other extreme weather I'll be dealing with while I'm there. She told me to get inside when i hear tornado sirens but i think I'll take some pictures really quick before I do. 

She gave me the scoop on all the cities that have rough parts and stuff like that. She said the members are really strong and will be good to work with, I'm looking forward to that, members make missionary work way more effective.

 My Spanish is coming along pretty well, I can hardly remember before i came here and could hardly hear or say anything I wanted to. I can't wait to learn more Spanish so I can not just talk but really communicate with the people. The spirit will help a lot with the communication i know but studying Spanish helps too.

 I'm pretty used to sitting around all day now except my butt gets sore sometimes. The gym times are good even though they don't allow Ultimate Frisbee, they are keeping me in shape and my clothes still fit which can't be said about some missionaries here. 

Fast Sunday here was good, the spirit was really strong with all the 2500 or so people here all trying to get closer to Christ, Dinner that day was a mess though worse than most days. I look around during meals and see tons and tons of missionaries and although the lines are long it means that there are a whole lot of people about to go out all over the world and bring even more people to Christ.

 There are so many people here from all over, there are elders next door to my classroom one from Brazil and a redhead from Spain. I went down a level in my residence hall and spent like five minutes and met a Frenchman with a Mexican companion and a Chinaman speaking Spanish and countless other foreigners with cool stories behind them. I'm looking forward to serving with people from all over when I get to the field. Maybe I'll even pick up a little of their different kinds of spanish accents and sound like I learned Spanish all over.

 Even though it's hard here sometimes I gotta enjoy the little things and stay excited about this great work I will be doing. Missionaries always face disappointment in one way or another but discouragement is a choice that I will not make. The scriptures have been really helpful, i keep finding stories about missionary work and love for the people you teach. Even more about patience and enduring to the end which is great for missionaries. The scriptures in Spanish are so cool, I really am learning to love the language, I'm sure I'll love it more as I get better at it. 

Thanks everybody for sending me letters and emails and stuff, it really perks me up to hear my name called when my district leader is handing out letters. I've been trying to find really exciting things to write home about but all we do here is spend 9 weeks changing from regular 19 year olds into bilingual men with more powerful testimonies. I'm sure the field will bring some more interesting news. Until next week, keep praying, Elder Jacob Harrison.

First Photos sent from the MTC!

We received a letter today from Jacob and he included the data card from his camera.  So finally we have photographic proof that he is actually alive and well in the MTC!  It was soo good to see these.  We have missed him very much.  Wow, 2 years....It is starting to feel like a long time and we are on month 1!

Temple Trip

Jacob's original artwork adorning the missionary planner!

Jacob's shoes.  One of many pairs to come!

Week four in the MTC: "I shouldn't tiptoe when the Spirit says march!"

Elder Jacob Harrison's email dated: August 31, 2012

 Another week has passed, a week full of great devotionals and incredible talks. They just film all the general authorities that come and speak and show the best talks every week. They only let missionaries watch them but i wish you could see them, I've seen sides Holand and Uchtdorf and Bednar that you don't see in general conference. 

    



The devotionals are also really cool I have been singing in the choir, I miss the music of Babylon but hymns are really great too, especially in Spanish, the poetry and imagery is better in Spanish. There are even really good ones that don't exist in English. My Spanish is getting better, I have been praying so much for that as I study and try to teach in Spanish. 

Last week I think I mentioned that I was going to the TRC to teach people who volunteer to come and learn form the practicing missionaries. I was worried about it but it turned out to be one of the best lesson that we ever gave, and during it I spoke the best spanish I've ever spoken. I get to do it again today and I'm really excited to practice bringing people closer to Christ. 

Speaking of which I get to go to the temple once a week and it's really cool to be able to do that work, I love seeing the interesting names form other countries with dates from as far back as the 1600s. My companion and I continue to get along pretty well, he love to study all the time and that got him really good grades in school and a better start on spanish then any of us. He's a by the book, follow procedure kind of a guy which is good because sometimes I like to plan a little less and teach more by feel and by how the spirit directs so we balance each other out. 

One of our roommates moved to the Dominican Republic MTC to learn dominican spanish there so there are three of us in the companionship, our new companion, elder Mull is more of a by the seat of his pants missionary but he is getting better at Spanish and getting the hang of our teaching together.

 The first Lesson we did together was for an "investigator" named Ronaldo. He's an old man who has been married to a member for years and has heard so much from the missionaries so many times and is a little hard to teach because he doesn't think he ever feels anything. i keep wanting to be really frank with him and tell him this is exactly what he needs and I know he knows it's true and has felt the spirit. Being blunt and to the point with investigators is hard enough in English, Spanish is harder. I am learning that when I am prompted to say something I should just say it and not be worried about the language, I shouldn't tiptoe when the spirit says march. I'll have to always have enough guts ready to say whatever I am directed to say, no matter how scary it is. He is an old man after all, he could die before too much longer, I have to get him and his wife to the temple quick. I know the investigators here aren't real but they do a good job making it feel real and if I can love fake people then loving real investigators should be easy.

 I'm not sure how dear elder works but there is a Jarom Harrison here right now learning russian who gets my emails by mistake sometimes so be sure you send it to the right Elder Harrison.

 Lots of people here are getting sick including both of my room mates but I remain healthy for now, probably because of all the fruits and vegetables and other healthy stuff I have been eating. I'm so glad we have so much gym time, I don't know what i'd do without that release of wiggles.

 Give everyone back home my love, tell everybody thanks for the prayers and letters and emails, I really appreciate all of them. I'm looking forward to more of them, especially around the 14th, my birthday, I could use some more ties, but anything with love behind it would mean just as much to me. Till next week, so long for now.

This email was sent by Elder Harrison on 8/24/2012.

Another week gone by at the MTC, I'm pretty well getting the h

ang of things. I'm at the point where there is no new food, i've seen everyhting on the menu, thats kind of a bummer. I loved the letters and emails from everybody, they are so encouraging and there is no feeling like when your district leader says "one for Elder Harrison" when going through the mail. I got a dear elder from a woman named Jan Steed that i think Dad converted on his mission, i'd love to hear that story. I loved Caleb's drawing, about the empty sea. I miss you guys, keep the letters and dear elders coming. As far as my birthday goes,  don't bother with candy, they feed us well enough here so i'm not in the mood for sweets very often. On sundays the only breakfast option is cereal and the lines are always super long, a box of cereal would be fantastic in the next package, kashigo lean crunch or something else like that, also some sweet skinny ties, not so thin that they are radical but just enough to add some variety to my tie wardrobe. Daniel will know exactly what to get, something with color and stripes about the width of the blue penguin tie I brought. 

Today is our first time using the TRC, Daniel can tell you what that is. At first my companion did alot of talking in the lessons because he's really good at spanish but he's sort of started making me take more of the time which is good but will be hard at the same time. I guess thats how missions are, good for you but hard. It is hard but I'm really glad i'm not back at home working on the downstairs with you guys, that sounds pretty rough, I'm curios to see what it looks like when I get back.

 I have a haircut appointment today which im sort of worried about, the barbers here do around the ears really weird, I'll have to take some pictures of the result. Speaking of pictures, I have been taking alot, I'll send them to you when I fill up a memory card. Lots of my district mates and a few of my companion sleeping. Whoever is managing my facebook add my district for me. Elder William Bradley, Eric Peterson, Calvin Petersen, Ty Mull, Luke Spiker, Cahse Jenson and Zack, maybe with an h, Hulsey. They all went to BYU except Hulsey went to snow college and Petersen went to BYU Hawaii. If that helps you find them It'll be easier to tag them in my pictures of them so their families can see them. My district mates never cease to entertain me, they all get together at night and do a modified form of sit ups while eating. When eating jerky, jerk-ups. Popcorn is Corn-ups. When it's dried mangoes it's Mag-ups or go-ups, that one is still undecided.

 At lunches Elder Spiker gets everybody a round of "carbo" which is straight soda from the fountain drinks. Everybody who wants to puts their glasses together and yells carbo then chugs the soda water, which is really terrible. Maybe we should avoid the appearance of evil but we do have alot of fun together. Daniel can try that one if he dares. My time is up again so i'll catch you guys next week on p day.

Letter from Elder Harrison

We received this email today from Elder Harrison,  The first line shows that he has not lost his sense of humor!

Email sent 8/17/2012  @ 11:09

I met this Sister missionary named Sister Lewis and we really hit it off and are talking about marriage after we get back form our missions, just joking. Everything is going great, I am used to the schedule so i'm a lot less tired during the day, however sitting studying for such long periods of time is still hard. I love all the opportunities to read and to pray and learn spanish. I'm not a pro quite yet but after a week of working at spanish i'm alot further along than I thought i'd be. I guess that is the lord helping me be able to serve him better. The food is great, I'm eating lots of vegetables and green stuff that keeps me healthy and strong. All the exercise is good too, i'm glad we have that or i'd probably go crazy. My companion and I are getting along pretty well, he speaks really good spanish and I'm pretty good at knowing what our "investigators" need to hear so we make a good team. We taught a woman, a teacher who had assumed the identity of someone she met on her mission, named regina that was really depressed the first time we came over and after we started to teach her of God's love for us and the atonement she really began to change. I know it was simulated but the gospel really can change people, i can't wait to share it with real people in nebraska. We got a new batch of elders wednesday, josh franklin among them, and it feels good to not be the new guys anymore. I felt pretty wise and mature about the week under our belts then this Elder Mull guy (who is the brother of Brandon Mull writer of Fablehaven) went for a record at lunch and put thirty-five grapes in his mouth. Aside from our little shenanigans my district is really great, full of men that have great testimonies and know exactly what they are doing here. We went to the temple this morning and it was my second time, which was really good because I could focus more on my thoughts and feelings than the first time through.After the session we had an amazing breakfast in the temple cafeteria. Today is my first real P-day so while i've got alot to do, I will have time to relax a little here and there. When I got here all the other Elders told me the first week would go by slow and after sunday time would fly. The first week was pretty slow and I hardly knew where I was going but sunday's sacrament was great and we heard a life changing talk given to the mtc at christmas about the character of christ. After sunday time did start to fly and while i do miss everybody i left at home i think alot about what nebraska will be like and i'm really excited to learn spanish better and teach the people there. We get 30 minutes on p-day to read and write emails but we can get letters any time and write them all day on p day. All of the members of my distric have been getting letters and packages and i feel a little left out. there is a website called dear elder where you can write me an email and i'll get it like a letter which is really convenient. I send my love to my family and my ward back home, you guys helped get me here and i'm very grateful for that.

The night before the MTC

The family  ( without Elizabeth & Matt)

Jacob with Grandma Lael and Grandma Doris

Missionary parents

Supporting Jacob!

The Harrison boys

with Caleb

with Samuel

with Johnathan

Present and future missionaries!

The Harrison cousins.

Tuesday night, August 7, 2012,  Jacob was set apart (a calling-specific blessing)  for his service as a full time missionary by our stake president, Eric Asay.  Our family was joined by Grandma Lael Whipple, Grandma Doris Harrison and Scott and Jacque Harrison and their family, Brooke, Ian and Walker.  It was a very special experience.  Afterwards, we took a bunch of photos.  The next morning, Our family left the house at 5 am to take Elder Jacob Harrison to the Boise airport for his 6:30am flight to Salt Lake City, Utah.  From there he took a shuttle to the Missionary Training Center (MTC).  We will not see him or speak to him on the phone (except Christmas and Mother's Day) for 2 full years.  Fortunately, we can send letters back and forth and he is able to send his family weekly emails.  I will post his emails on this blog for friends and family, along with photos.

our last glimpse of Elder Harrison in the airport security line