Brian Email 3-17-05

Hi dad,
Thanks for getting out of bed to write to me, your letters make a big
difference. It's good to hear your quartet thing is sounding good. I
miss being able to do stuff like that. I did a lot of small group
singing at BYU and at home, obviously. I don't get to sing as much here
as I would like. Have you ever heard a congregation of Hispanics
singing? It's really something else. I usually can only tell what song
we're singing by reading the words. Just listening I don't think I'd be
able to tell. It's really hard to listen to, but I love 'em anyway.

I talked to President Noel at Zone Conference last week and he says that
the Visa discussions aren't even happening right now. Things are pretty
tense between us and them right now, and they're having all sorts of
floods and stuff right now too, especially around Lake Maracaibo. I'll
be here for a while. I don't plan on leaving until at least after June
or July-ish. I like it here though. The trees are starting to get
white and pink flowers, and the grass is turning green again. It's been
a light tan ever since I got here, but we've had some rain, so
everything is livening up a little more. My companions say that it will
be breathtaking in about a week, so I'm excited for that. Also,
Charlotte has like 5 good disc golf courses, so if the weather is right
in the next few weeks, we might go spend a day out there.

We're expecting a baptism next Saturday, I think it's the 26th. Her
name is Nathly (said like Natalie) and she's been coming to church for
about three months now and is pretty much ready. She struggled to find
the courage to tell her parents, but she's got a good testimony. She'll
be a good strong member. She's 20 years old and Peruvian and has been
spending a lot of time with the Berrocal family in the branch, so she
has no real lack of support once she's baptized. The week after that,
we'll be baptizing Galo Vera, a 48 year old Ecuadorian. He talks so
fast and crazy. And every time we go over there, he greets us,
"Papacito lindo!" which kinda means "little pretty daddy"... He's always
excited and he has tons of energy. He's really crazy, but he's cool.
He was going to be baptized the 26th too, but he didn't come to church,
so we're pushing him back a week. Vicente y Maria are still waiting for
the legal divorce and marriage stuff to happen. Those two other
families I wrote about last week (or the week before?) didn't come to
church last week either. Miguelito begged them, but they had had a
party the night before with all their extended families, so they were
too tired in the morning. At least the kid knows what's up. He went to
scouts though, so that's good.

And as for emailing, I usually am in the public library which is a
little smaller than the one in Garden City. There are usually enough
computers available for all of us to be on at once, but not always. And
I usually only have half an hour. It costs a buck a page to print
anything so I have to skim over Daniel's letters and Grandma and
Grandpa's too, but I like to get them. I don't always have time to read
specific things, but I get a general idea of how they're doing.

Congratulations Andy on your BPA thing. I got 7th place too, my second
competition. And congratulations Michael for your NJHS nomination! Not
everybody gets one of those. And congratulations to Andrew too! That's
amazing to me about his scholarship to the UofU. That's stupendous.

The description of Stanley's teeth reminds me of North Carolina! I see
that all the time, one on top and two on bottom. They're usually not as
clean though. :) Keep 'em coming Stan!

Michael- good job on running track. Don't quit like I did, I'm all out
of shape now. My companion Elder Gordon was training for the Olympics
before his mission! He talks about running all the time, he'd be proud
of you :)

Well, that was kind of a long letter. It was good hearing from y'all as
always. Hope y'all have a blessed week. I pray for you every day and
I'm sure you're doing the same for me. I'm doing well here, especially
after Zone Conference. After my first one, I didn't know if they could
get any better, but it did. They're awesome, it's the same kind of
spiritual high that I got after listening to Elder Hales and Elder
Ballard in the MTC. I just finished the Book of Mormon, I started
toward the end of the MTC, so this was the first time as a missionary
that I've read it start to finish. It's a great book! What are y'all
studying as a family now? I love you all, have a good week!

Love, Elder Brian Harris

P.S. I've been out 4 months today. Wierd.