A Funny Baptism Story

its way crazy to think that riley is in middle school right now. that is sooo crazy! she'll like it though, it will continue to give her an extra challenge in schooling. so how has gabbys reading been going? i have been praying a lot about that.. oh so yesterday was an amazing day! i baptized a guy named Tim. hes a HUGE guy, about 6'2 or 3 and weighs 338 lbs! he has a lot of health and leg n knee problems, so i baptized him forward. but i had my companion in there with me to help since hes a big guy. so the first time i dunk him in the water and his head pops up. so i did it again one more time. people said it looked like i had jumped on top of him, like my shoulder and elbows were in his back and i nearly went under the water with him. (only like my whole body and half my face) so i was baptized with him, and then since hes so big there wasnt a jump suit that fit him so we had like a dress choir robe, that you'd see baptist singers wear or something, and while we were under the water his robes float up so my companion was struggling to shove his clothes under the water and he nearly jumped on him too. tim was under the water for like 4 or 5 seconds, it was so funny, we could not stop laughing! but yea im at 6 baptisms, and 5 more have a date right now. yesterday was awesome, a high councilman spoke at sacrament meeting and kind of rebuked the ward. basically saying its the missionaries job to teach, and not to go finding, and tracting all day. its the members job to find people for us to teach, the members need to be more missionary minded, etc.. it was awesome. everyone who has been baptized so far has been through missionary efforts though, so hopefully we can get the area even more rollin..
so how was treys farewell talk? what did he talk about? did he and bishop go on like a bro date to the temple the day before? and who was the other speaker? thats way cool that he had pres gillins play the same song, did he do it because it tied in with his talk as well? random questions i know.. so just let me know when your back online.. love ya

Be Exactly Obedient

hey you probably aren't online but i loved the rappelling pics! riley has gotten so pretty and gabby is growing up so much! i miss rappelling but id rather be doing what im doing.. so some new news, salt lake is making us change our p-day to monday, so its on monday again this week, and not next thursday. prez schaeffermeyer pretty much rebuked the entire mission at transfer meetings for not being exactly obedient, and thats this transfers focus is exact obedience. im pumped. its 'exact'ly what i need too. my new comp is Elder Oldham, from Orem Utah. He goes home in six weeks as well, so im killing again! so ill be here in wilmington for awhile. But like Gillman, Oldham is an ex Zone Leader, so i have been getting a lot of awesome training from the studs in the mission. I was talking to one of the assistants in the mission, he told me that the Lord is preparing me for something, and its extra important i learn as much as i can from these older experienced missionaries. im way excited. yesterday was a miracle day. so our day is pretty full as usual, we contact a former investigator. she usually drops appointments when give her an opening to. our ward mission leader called us and asked if we had confirmed the appointment and i said no. (i instantly had the feeling that if we called her to confirm an app, she would bail and drop us) he asked if he should call her and i said dont because she will cancel if we call, we just need to show up and teach. he said ok, he'll just meet us at her house. well about 30 min later, he calls us and said he had called and talked to her on the phone, and shes gonna have to push back the app another day. i was sooo frustrated, good thing Elder Oldham was talking to him, i was ready to give a not so friendly well why would you do that?!(way to go corey to let my pride settle in and choose to get mad) so i decided i needed to pray and ask for help. i immediately felt that we needed to go over to her house to teach her anyways, so we did just that. turns out she was just waiting for an important phone call for some property and we told her she could take the call at any time during our lesson. well we taught her, our member present wasnt there though, and she committed to come to church and we have another app set up to see her. the next app our 17 year old investigator Jocelyn (who reminds me a lot of Ashley) was asking about baptism, and she wants me to baptize her! so we set a date for her on Sep 26.

we took a very short break because we just felt like we were on a spiritual roll, we had a full night, but for some reason it fell through? dang, i hate dropped cancelled app's.

well turns out a couple weeks ago we had a texted media referral that i never knew about. my zone leader (Elder Bertrand) called me and said we needed to update this referral. well we decide to contact this guy, we called him, he wanted us to come over right away! we taught the entire first lesson, and it was so spiritual! we nearly gave him a baptism date! we see him again tomorrow, and he has an uncle who is a member of the church in south philly.

and then another miracle, all of our app that had dropped came back! and we gave another baptism date to another investigator, and re contacted a less active who wants to get a patriarchal blessing! way amazing day, we didnt get back til 9:30, and we were physically and spiritually exhausted! Elder Oldham said he has never had an area like this, with so many awesome people. i love being a missionary. blessings pour out when we are diligently seeking to do good, and being exactly obedient.

i received an email from prez from my last email to him that he was going to be watching me very closely. im way nervous but stoked at the same time. well that was my day yesterday, we are going to be playing some basketball today, and i want to thank you guys so much for all that you guys have done. i miss and love every one of you. sorry for any short comings that i have.

all my love, Elder Harris

ps dad, when im going through trials, and always tired and i need an extra boost, the best medicine is to pray. pray for strength. i promise it will work ;) love ya

The Kid With The Mowhawk

i would like tyler to study D&C 58, carefully, and prayerfully. its somethin i just studied and i was taught by the spirit so much in what i can improve on. (Alma 32 would also be highly recommended) its exciting to hear that ryan has been actively working [with the Elders], and being busy. when i talked to President Schaefermeyer i felt so much better and knew what i needed to do. i had breakfast the other day for dinner by members! waffles, eggs, hash browns, bacon, yum! it was awesome. its exciting to see riley starting middle school! i will NEVER forget my first day at Keller, i was scared to death, seeing the kid with a mohawk haha.. its alright that i havent been written, im supposed to leave behind all other personal affairs at home, and i know that as long as im obedient and faithful, everything that is supposed to happen will. so thinking about what friends are up too. gone. it doesnt matter to me anymore. i find im more happy doing the Lords work that worrying about unnecessary things. im glad to hear mom that youre feelin better, and that dad has a sweet job i am so pumped for you! shirt and tie just like me. guess what, i get to talk to thugs all the time, (i just dont get paid) lol love you guys, miss you so much, hope everything is goin great, tell the family i said hi :)

Mom's Note: Transfers are this week but since Corey's companion has finished his mission and is going home Corey will most likely stay put for 6 more weeks. Also, Corey wanted me to delete his facebook...so I did. No more tagging him so friends can see how he's doing. Guess he wants letters if you want to know how he is doing, lol.

Also, Corey's first day of 6th grade was a funny story. We had JUST moved back home to Vegas from Wilmington, NC and Corey had been concerned about Vegas gangs and wanted us to assure him he would be safe at school. We told him he would be just FINE!!! So as we dropped him off for his first day of 6th grade, as he got out of our car, a tall kid, with a big mohawk and piercings and chains hanging off him got out of the car next to us. Corey looked back at us like, "ARE YOU SURE I'M GONNA BE SAFE HERE?!" and all we could do at that point was smile and drive off. Well, that and feel guilty for the rest of the day for leaving him there because we knew how nervous he'd been!

Unexpected Philly Trip

hey, there, i don't have too much time, i'm in philly right now! but we stopped at the library down the street from the rocky steps. we wet to the masonic temple, pretty sweet. good week so far, we have two baptisms this sunday, and a couple more with some dates. sorry this is very quick, good to hear everything is goin good! hey check out http://boncom.com/mormon/ it is really good, and alex boye is on it as well. its a new missionary push the church is trying to make, and philly mission is one of 9 areas to test it. i love you guys a whole lot, and of course miss you. next week elder gillman will be spending a lot of time packing so i'll have a lot of time to write letters, that stinks about the wedding ring. and home snacks, idk i like em all...surprise me if you want! :) there were some things i wanted to share but have no idea what it was... i'll be on around 11 next week for sure, today's philly trip was last second because gillman hasn't ever been here or served before. adios!!
love ya bye tell the fam i said hi!