Dear Friends and Family,

August 30: Why is it that the week that school starts there seems to be a change in the season? Even though the weather has never been hot this summer, still there seemed to be a change this past week as school throughout North Dakota commenced. We were staying in Williston, ND, on Thursday evening, so we could attend an early morning seminary class on Friday, and as we left the hotel at 5:45 AM we walked out into a cold front that felt like winter was in the air. Nooooo, we don't want the cold weather to come yet. We were hoping for a couple of warm months yet in our future. I believe that everyone in Idaho, Wyoming Colorado have experienced the same change. I guess we never really want the long awaited summer to leave us but it is inevitable unless one lives on the equator.

One of the signs of summer in the Dakotas are the Pow Wows that are held throughout the reservations. Each town or city on the reservation holds a Pow Wow in the months of June, July and August. The Grand Daddy of them was held September 11th, 12th and 13th, on the campus of the Affiliated Tribes School Campus in Bismarck. The Branch President of the Ft. Yates Branch, who works in food services at the school, provided the food for 3,500 participants. He was supported with 45 family and church members, who gave up their weekend. Some of you will ask what a "Pow Wow" is? A Pow Wow is where the Native Americans participate in cultural dancing and rituals. The People prepare costumes throughout the year so that they can compete in the dancing. We do not claim to understand how everything works but we do know that it is very important to these Native People. We attended the Fort Yates Pow Wow and we were touched by the feelings of community. As we sat and observed the opening of the Pow Wow we saw the many dancers, young and old, male and female, parading in their best and dancing to the chants of the singers and drums. Each community has their own group of singers and drummers, who sit in a circle and chant to the rhythm of a huge drum that they beat simultaneously. Each group of singers is known for the songs they sing and they are as important to the Pow Wow as the dancers. As we waited for the competition to start, the announcer welcomed everyone to Pow Wow and then said, "I want to welcome the Mormons who have come a long way to be at Pow Wow." We did not know what to do so we waved our hands like the politicians and other dignitaries had done prior to us. We did not know if the man was being sarcastic or not but we noticed that no other religion was recognized. We knew that there were many LDS members in the crowd, even if they had not been to church for years. People know us, even if they do not know our names.

September 21, 2009: With the starting of school we also welcome the beginning of Seminary. This is our reason for being in North Dakota and we have been anxious for classes to begin. We do not have to describe Early Morning Seminary since most of you lived through the 4 years seminary when you were young. But we would like to tell you about "On-line Seminary". There has been a pilot program which has been going for two years, this year being the third. This program is to help involved students who cannot attend an Early Morning Seminary due to distance or in rare cases, health problems. With the advent of the internet and a computer in every home, it didn't take long for Church Education to put together an on-line program. The program covers English speaking stakes from Hawaii, throughout North America, England, and even in the United Arab Emirates. A stake teacher runs the class from their computer, and the students go on-line 4 days a week (any time convenient for them) and complete a lesson each day. The lessons are colorful, interesting, use imbedded videos and forums where all students can answer the questions and work together on an idea. Their individual responses can be seen by their teacher, who can reply back to them specifically. Then once a week the teacher gets the class together, either in person, on a Skype audio program, or by what they call here "Phone Bridge." We completed our second conference call class this past Monday morning. We absolutely love our class and can hardly wait for another class this coming week.
We have 8 students in our class. Most are on the western side of our stake (West half of North Dakota.) We drove around once to meet them, explain the program, and get necessary signatures from parents. This past Friday and Saturday we drove around to see them in person, encourage, and see how they like the program. One young woman was working in a cafe after school. We stopped and ordered milk shakes and then enjoyed a short visit. Two of our young men were playing football Friday night and we went to their game. (I think we drove 350 miles Friday—it was worth the drive!) Today on the way home we stopped at a few homes and saw the families and students. We felt so very welcomed in their homes. This is a great option for kids who live too far away from a daily seminary. We hope it will be successful in our stake (Bismarck North Dakota Stake). It keeps us busy each morning reading their responses and writing them back.

We still have lots of interaction with our young Elders in all these locations. Last week we were able to help our Bismarck Elders teach a lesson in our home. We have district meeting every week we are here, and feed them afterwards. We still check the missionary’s apartments and cars and then take them to breakfast or lunch. They are great young men and we admire their understanding of the gospel and priesthood government. They seem so much better prepared than we were at that age. We see in many of them the leadership that will be required for the future. We also want to plug seminary at this time since we see a remarkable difference in those missionaries who graduated from seminary from those who did not. If there was ever a reason to attend seminary this is one of the big reasons.

We are also involved with a man, a few years younger than us, who keeps asking for baptism. He is hard to miss since he comes to church with a big black Stetson, blue jeans and cowboy boots. He looks great and is one of the better dressed in the branch! He is now taking the lessons, which he walks a couple of miles to attend. Reggie is very faithful with church attendance and seems to keep the word of wisdom. Each week he asks to be baptized. We are planning his baptism for the fourth week in October and he would like to have Pot Luck afterwards.

He tells us that he has been in three different movies or TV shows. He also tells us that he was one of the Native Americans in "Dances with Wolves". (It is hard to believe that "Dances with Wolves" came out almost 20 years ago.) . We are working on the Bismarck Stake Young Single Adult Conference, set for October. YSAs will come from several stakes for a 3 day conference here. They will come from Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, Fargo, ND and Canada. The main focus of this conference will be the Bismarck North Dakota Temple. There will be plenty of fun and dances but with the Temple being 10 years old we will enjoy attending or working on the temple grounds.

Priesthood Service: In the past month we have had numerous requests to visit the hospitals in Bismarck to provide a blessing or contact to a member from out-of-town. These blessings have also included the blessing of the sacrament, blessings of strength, or comfort, or healing. These requests have come to be, in turn, a great blessing to our Elders and to us. All of these requests, so far, have been to visit members, or their loved ones, who comes from the Reservations in North and South Dakota. One man had been beaten by a gang of young men and left for dead. Another was a woman giving cesarean birth to her child. One brother was dying and wanted a blessing of comfort for his last days. Elder Harris has given blessings to people throughout his life but he tells me that there is a difference in the blessings given to these Native People. What seems different to him is the strength of the spirit that comes on behalf of these Lamanite people. Some of these people are inactive members, living hard lives, contrary to the commandments of the Lord and estranged from the Church. Nevertheless, great blessing are pronounced upon their heads. We have seen the priesthood manifested in power and authority.

The brother who had been beaten and left for dead had been unconscious for two weeks but awoke within the hour that the blessing was given him. Over a period of three weeks we watched his recovery, both physically and spiritually. We asked our missionaries to visit him and they were able to teach him the gospel, of which he seemed to have forgotten. From the day he awoke he took the Book of Mormon that we left and started to read. There was never a time when we visited, always unannounced, that we did not interrupt his study of the Book of Mormon. He received the sacrament for the first time in years. He was excited and happy. This past Sunday we were asked to visit a young man (30 years of age) who is dying. He is not a member of the church but his uncle, a faithful member, asked that we visit and, if possible, give him a blessing. When we entered the room we saw his mother and sister sitting with him. He sat in his bed, watching a football game. We could see that he had lost both of his feet from the effects of his illness. We visited briefly and then asked if there was anything that we could do for them. The mother said that they would appreciate a prayer. Elder Harris said, “We know we are not of your faith but can I give you a blessing?” The man said yes. Elder Harris asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ. The answer was yes. Elder Harris then placed his hands on the head of the man and pronounced a blessing of comfort, pouring out words of love from Heaven above. We then left the room. We were both so nervous; nevertheless once again a great blessing had come forth. Just today we learned that after we left the room the man turned to his mother and said, “Did you feel that? I have never felt such a feeling in my life.” The blessing was nothing that came from us but from power and authority unseen.
We never hear what happens when they return home to the reservations but we know, and bear testimony of, that the Lord’s blessings were poured out upon them when they acted in the slightest bit of faith. We have seen this over and over.

Now, if you have reached the end of this update then we congratulate you. We know that it is far too much for busy people to have to read. We leave you with our testimonies of this great latter-day work that is taking place throughout this world. We are happy, physically well and healthy and excited for each day of work that we are given. May our Father in Heaven bless each one of you.

Elder and Sister Harris