Brian Email 7-7-05

Wow! Sounds like the trip to Yellowstone was pretty exciting and
eventful. We've had a few events here of our own... Last night we
committed two investigators to baptism. They chose the 24th of July,
which is as good a date as they could have picked. All they have to do
is come to church a couple of times, they know a ton, and their
testimonies are ripe enough. And this morning, my old companion Elder
Gordon called and he had just called my old area and found out that
there are two investigators with baptismal dates there as well, both of
whom I found! I was excited to hear that, even though it is pretty
wierd that he called me... So Victor and Luciano are supposed to be
baptized during this transfer! :)

As far as the area goes, it's still a confusing city, but I'm getting
the hang of it. I just have to look at the map a lot, and eventually
something sinks in. According to our maps, the roads are straight, but
compared to Charlotte, they just run in circles... I don't know what to
think of it yet. Winston-Salem is big enough to have two sets of
missionaries here, but we are the only ones. We used to have two sets
back in November-ish, but it was just too hard because all the members
live on the south side, but there is a huge Hispanic population on the
north side too. There are basically just two lodes of Spanish, with the
whole center of the city English. It's a little bit hard to split a
branch like the one here, so we're winging it by ourselves. It's also
hard to get up north, with limited miles, but we make it. I think the
tobacco thing has kinda mellowed, but everyone here smokes, just like in
every other town in the South. The Winston brand sells pretty well
though.

My companion is pretty cool. He listened to a lot of the same music as
I did, and had some of the same friends. He said he knows cousin Amy,
and that he promised to take her to a dance once, but he forgot and she
called him to take him up on it the night before the dance. Haha, I
could see her doing that. He has no experience with real missionary
work except for this week, so I'm taking him tracting and we're finding
out what it means to do missionary work. His old companion was so
trunky it makes me sick. He was an odd person anyway, so this is a real
breath of fresh air for Elder Mitchell. He has a good testimony, and he
likes to tell people about it. I think it will be a good and succesful
and enjoyable six weeks. He also loves Napoleon Dynamite. He has the
chapstick with Napoleon's face on it and the quote "My lips hurt real
bad". He won the BSU Napoleon Dynamite look-alike contest a few months
ago, maybe you can find a picture or something in the campus paper. He
showed me a picture and he looks exactly the same. With the haircut now
you can't really tell so well.

Well, that's all for today, I have to go to Wal*Mart to do some grocery
shopping and picture developing. I'll look forward to the dictionary
(Thanks Andy, you're the man!!) and the birthday package, it will be my
first package since the MTC... good times, good times. Hope y'all have
a blest day, be good.

Love, Elder Harris

P.S., when I get my mission plack thing will it still say Venezuela?