Josh's letter 16 Feb 2009

Hey Family!

I love you all sooooooooo much. Dad, great talk, i have noticed that i love any talk on love, obedience, or humility, dont know why those are my favorites, but they are. and to let you know, yes, i did perform Larrys baptism. oh, and if you could include any questions you want answered on moms blog that would be a big help cause i cant really switch between the email i am writing and the emails you send, but i can switch to moms blog. about zone conference, i have no idea when the next one will be. i thought it would be the 25, but i found out saturday that i am being transfered. i am going to Arusha, which is in Tanzania, it opened just recently so the branch is still small, but i am very excited to go there. Mom, could you ask Ben what areas he served in? just so i can know for if i ever go to the same place, but i know he wasnt in arusha cause it wasnt open until after he came home. As far as Tyler Jacobs is concerned, i guess Spain, he was always way better at spanish than i was and he just strikes me as somebody that would go to europe (although i thought Greg would go to Europe too and he ended up in a way more awesome mission so i could be wrong), let me know where he ends up going, and when should Chad Jacobs get his call? also how is Brandon Basset? i dont know why but i have been thinking of him a lot this week, so if you could somehow get me his e-mail or something that would be great. Tell Sam that if he doesnt fill me in on this girl i will beat him silly while we are still at the airport when i get home, right after i give him a big hug and tell him how much i love him and miss him. Sorry to hear about your computer, i would suggest putting a password on it so that nobody can touch it without you knowing, most stuff like that happens because of viruses and things that come in through wierd websites, sorry to hear it though. I did take pics of Larrys baptism but i wasnt able to get the usb cord this week because of transfers, but i will get one when i am in Arusha and i will send the memory card as well so you can have all the pics from lately. So enough for questions, this week was preety good. Everything started to pick up this week, we had more lessons, return apointments, and all that jazz since i have been here. then saturday afternoon i was telling elder Baloyi that it all just seemed too good to be true, then that night we got transfer news. But i am happy that i am leaving the area better than i found it, one new member, progressing investigators, and many people coming to church again when they were considered less active when i first got here. Id like to say that Rongai is every bit as tough as everyone says, but since it was my first area, i still dont really know yet. But in the spirit of dads talk, i would just like to share the times i have felt the most love from God in my life. the time that stands out most to me was when i was driving with mom to a real estate thing the week before i left. She told me that she loved me, and that if i ever wanted to come home, she would be waiting for me with open arms. the next time was my second week here in Rongai, i was studdying about "the arms of safety" promised to us if we will keep the camandments (i had read the talk from the conference edition of the ensign about the arms of safety and then afterwards looked up all the scriptures). and while i was studying that same scene of mom telling me she would be waiting with open arms came into my mind, and as i thought about that more i thought about Christ, and how i am sure that he said something similar to all of us in the pre-existance, and is now waiting, and hoping for all of us to come home to him, so he can wrap us in his arms and tell us how much he missed us. The next memory that comes to mind happened at the Otterstroms, i was walking out the door with Greg when Dianna mom told Greg she loved him and he said i love you too, Dianna mom then told me that she loved me, i also replied "i love you too." I dont know if that was the first time she had said it to me (i doubt it was) but it was definitely the first time i really heard it, and knew that she meant it. The other memories of feeling Gods love in my life that stick out most involve reading letters that mom wrote to me (pre-mission letters such as ones that i would get at youth confrences on on my birthdays and such). There are many other times i am sure, but these are the ones that stuck out to me as i read Dads talk. it also helped to remind me of my patriarchal blessing where it says that i am like the stripling warriors, but the more i think about it, the less i think it has to do with me, and the more it has to do with having a loving mother (two of them for those of us that count Dianna as my second mother) who has raised me in the gospel and taught me to obey the lord with exactness. I love you all! Have a wonderfull week, i will tell you about Arusha next week. Love You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Harris