Harvesting

First of all, thanks for all of the letters and packages! They mean a lot to me. Especially thanks for the 12 days of Christmas package. I opened day 11 on day 1, and I'll open day 1 on day 11. Thanks for everything!

This week from my study in the Book of Mormon I have been reading in Alma, near the end. It's a bunch of war chapters. One thing that I noticed that I am going to try to apply to my own life is that the 2000 stripling warriors are obedient because they have faith: "according to their faith it was done unto them." So even though it's hard to be 100% obedient in everything, I know that if I have faith and rely on the Lord he will help me do it. Also, in the same chapter, it states that faith is a gift from God, and if we pray and sincerely ask for it, then he will bless us with an increased testimony and greater faith.

Probably the greatest spiritual experience I had this week was on Monday. We were harvesting after helping install a printer for a member, and we were both doing our best to make the harvest session meaningful. We only received two blessings, but I felt the spirit very strongly and I want to do my best to have the same sort of experiences every time we harvest. Another time this week, we harvested into a husband and wife - the husband was stuck in bed because of a car accident, and the wife had to work to provide for the two of them. That blessing was another spiritual experience, and it really increased my faith that the miracle of healing can happen through faith.

Transfers are this week, that's why my P-Day is a Tuesday. My companion and I are both staying, but we live with the zone leaders and one of them is going home this week. The other is returning at the end of this next transfer. So I'll find out who the next zone leader is tomorrow, who I'll be living with.

The ward I'm serving in is going to split at the end of this year. When it does, we will be going to both the ward and the branch that is splitting off. So each Sunday we will have 6-7 hours of church. Add in our 3 hours of studies somewhere, an hour of harvesting, an hour of round up, and an hour between the two meetings, and that's our day. Busy, busy.

The language is coming slowly, but it is coming. I understand much more today than I did a month ago, but I still have a long way to go before I can actually speak Haitian Creole fluently.

A funny harvesting experience: this week after we said the prayer, we all stood up and the person we were praying with ripped his pants while he was standing. That was awkward.

We had another exchange this week. The difference is that I took over the area, while my companion went somewhere else. I drove for the first time in Miami. I was terrified, but I didn't crash and I didn't make any huge mistakes. I was more than ready for that transfer to end - I wasn't sure what to do at any given time.

We biked a while yesterday because we've used a lot of miles this month. Then we locked the keys to our car in the car's trunk, and the car was locked. A senior missionary had to drive down from the mission office in order to unlock it for us. That was fun.

Now I'm out of time.

Thanks,

Elder Slade