Suffering = Good Week 16

I gave my first Mandarin tour this week. XD We just speak to the pictures in English and they talk to us in Mandarin. It's super weird but really funny. XD

This week was awesome! Zone Conference was super sweet. I was thrown off a bit by a last-second assignment to give the closing prayer, but I didn't die, so, there you go.

We met with a lot of members this week. Our district decided the week before transfers to go through the list of members and call/visit everyone. The 27 names my companion and I were given are still in progress. We didn't know when to do it, so we kept putting it off and putting it off. We finally tried to contact one yesterday and we called another one. I'm excited to meet the members and strengthen the ward from the inside.

 Also, I think our investigators are progressing! Well, they're still struggling to read, but they look so excited to see us when we visit! :D That's a great step. We went and visited this one lady, L, but she wasn't there, so we were visiting with her family, and when she got back and saw us in her house, she got all excited and said, "When are you going to come visit me again?" Sweet, sweet words to our ears! Her situation is so sad, and she's struggling with smoking, so we're going to talk to her about that tonight. I'm nervous! I've never taught that to a real investigator before. :O I guess as long as we have the Spirit we have nothing to fear though. :)

We're getting better at the whole 'navigating' thing. We don't have the gps anymore, so we're using the Tommy guide. It's pretty exciting sometimes. OH! We went to this baptism the other night and it was so amazing. The man, Ismael, is just the sweetest. Because of his medical problems, (he doesn't have a stomach...) we literally had to duct tape him so he could be baptized. He is so humble and willing to do anything for the Lord. He is such an example to me!

We've also gotten better and asking for references. It's funny, they are actually giving us references! However, they're usually outside of our area. Rats!

One of our members gave us her visiting teachees to visit, so we stopped by one on Monday. (She can't drive so she just called them, but wanted someone to visit them too, so we went!) This poor sister can't leave her bed at all. She has one of those hospital bed things where the head raises up? Anyway, she was incredible. She talked about how Jesus Christ suffered so much for us, and so we shouldn't expect anything less! She was so amazing. She's had medical problems her whole life but she's so happy and she loves her Savior so much. These people are teaching me so much.

This morning in my personal study I was looking for ways to support L tonight, and then after I found some great ones, I realized that they all apply to me too. Like I said, I was struggling with feeling inadequate and useless. Well, we're given these weaknesses so that we rely on the Savior, and as we do, we become like Him, and become stronger. I actually found a sweet sweet verse in Hebrews that talks about how suffering helps us be obedient to the will of the Father which makes us become like Christ/perfect. I knew that before but it was good to re-learn it. Suffering = good, because suffering = becoming perfect. XD Well, at least, if we choose to make the best of our struggles. :)

Life is wonderful! :D Love you all!! <3!

--Hermana Harris

Week 15 First Transfer! Speaking from the Heart

The Johnson's surprise birthday visit!!

Hello hello hello!

 Today is a wonderful day! I cannot believe that it's been an entire transfer! It's crazy! We get to have one of the new sisters stay at our apartment tonight, just like how I stayed with Sister Mendez and Silva my first night. I'm super excited! We're going to make her German pancakes in the morning. :)

This week has been amazing! We're still working with D, and she's still amazing. The biggest struggle we have with her right now is that the Spanish Branch has issues with reverence during the Sacrament. The kids are running around and she specifically told us that she goes to the Catholic church after our church so she can take of the Sacrament in peace and reverence. She's amazing, though. I think she really feels our love for her. :) It's such a blessing working with her. There are so many amazing people out there!

We had a sweet experience at the temple!! There was this awesome couple, and the lady said she just felt this huge desire/yearning to pray in the temple. We explained that she can't go in all the way, and we talked about what happens in temples, and how she can prepare to go in, and she was sobbing because she just wanted to go in and pray. They wrote down their info so we can send missionaries to talk to them. They're so ready!! It was incredible.

 Sister Woolstenhulme made us strawberry shortcake (not actual shortcake, but a buttermilk cake that was incredible) the other day with real whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Sister Bement (also one of the older Sisters) made us orange rolls the other day, and she made them all crescenty! It made me so happy. :) It was super good. She just made the regular crescent rolls and then put orange glaze on top. Yum!  Just so you know, I'm feeling happier this week than last week. It's so much easier to just be happy. :) Hey we had this awesome activity the other day! It was for the Relief Society anniversary. They RS presidency put on this cute play and so many people came (including our investigator!) and we got to know the members better and help serve them. It was awesome. 

I get to stay with my comp!! :D She's just so amazing and forgiving and so selfless. I was watching her give the tour the other day, and she's adorable, and an incredible missionary. She is so tiny, her shoes fit inside of mine! I'm so glad to have her as my companion!

We've got an investigator that we met at the beginning of the transfer who still hasn't come to church. She has a hard time reading, because she isn't very well educated, so it's hard for her. :( We read with her and stuff, but she isn't coming to church so I don't know what to do. I don't want to drop her. She told us that the first time we met with her, she felt such peace and comfort, and she felt like God had sent us to her. It's hard that she can't see that she needs to do her part to understand all of this. Well, we'll just keep loving her.

I've realized something pretty important. When I'm in a lesson, and I'm worrying about how horrible my Spanish is, my Spanish is horrible. When I just try to ignore how terrible my Spanish is and just communicate the words from my heart, the words just come. It's hard, but I need to just focus on that. I can speak when I just let it come!

Well, I think that's about all. Oh, we had service again the other day. It was great to get out and work outside and get my hands dirty and help others see that we want to help! The people we were working with were so grateful for our help. It was so fun! I love doing service. :)  Well, I have to go, but I love you! <3! Take care! 
Hermana Harris

In the Attitude of Singing and Praising God!! Week 14

This week has been an adventure. I definitely feel like I'm on a roller coaster sometimes. To be honest I've been a little grumpy this week. I'm getting a little sick (my throat is being weird and my voice was almost gone on Sunday) and the work is frustrating... 

However I was reading in 1 Nephi 1, and it talked about how in Lehi's vision, there were numberless concourses of angels in attitude of singing and praising their God. So basically I realized that I can be happy, I can be in the attitude of singing and praising God always, even when I literally can't sing cuz my voice is gone. I can still praise Him always. I need to cheer up. So I've been working on that. :)

We had some more lessons with D. She just loves everything she learns. She's an amazing person. I can't believe all the things she's gone through and yet remains so happy and everything. She works so hard, too. Anyway, she came to church again with all her kids and it's just so sweet! Aaaaand she committed to be baptized! ^_^ Unfortunately there are some issues that we didn't know existed that we'll have to work through. >_< Oh well. It's not supposed to be easy, right? 

Oh! There was this lady we met ,L, one day on the street, and she was walking with her daughter, and they were talking about what they could do to help her son (the girl's brother) cuz he's going through a rough time. Well, right then we walked up and talked to them. The daughter said, "Where did you come from? It's like you came from heaven!" Well, we tried talking to Lolita later but she was always "busy." We saw her on Sunday night, and this time she was super receptive and wanted to talk to us! So we talked a bit, and she introduced us to her son, and we set another appointment with them. We want to get him involved in the youth activities, for sure. 

One of our investigators, E, still hasn't come to church, so that's a struggle for us. Hopefully she'll come this Sunday, because she also committed to be baptized, so she needs to come! Her son has a friend there so we know he's gonna love it if he comes. Hopefully she can just come so she can see how awesome it is. :) We've also been working with an 8-yr-old girl named V. Her mom has been a member for 2 years, but her father isn't a member, and nor are her siblings. They really get after her for considering being baptized. They told her that she's going to ruin her life if she gets baptized, and that it's a horrible idea. She's just 8. That's a lot to take! So we've been trying to be supportive. She feels pushed and pulled. :( I feel so bad for her! She doesn't want to make her dad angry but I'm pretty sure she feels the desire to be baptized. That is so hard! 

My comp is awesome. We made soup together last week. It was so fun! :) We just threw random stuff in and cooked it all up and it was pretty delicious. :D 

I've been feeling so frustrated with the language. I feel like I never have time to study it. :/ I need to be more diligent about only speaking in Spanish to my comp. I have been getting better at that. However, I still cannot talk to the people very well. I get nervous and freak out and all my Spanish flies out my ear. >_>

Time is passing so quickly! I have officially been here for a month! Well, it helps that February is shorter, but still.

I've been starting to learn the Spanish script. :D I theoretically know the introduction, but that's all...and I'm kind of slow at it. It's more than I knew last week, though, so, there you go. All I can do is improve, right? Poco a poco. Someday it will all make sense!

Our Zone had a service activity the other day. That was pretty awesome. I hadn't ever gone to an activity with the zone (besides zone meeting) so it was exciting to get to know the others in the zone. The only problem was I didn't bring a jacket and it was freezing... so that's how I got sick, I think.

We visited some members this week. That was so awesome! The first family was so sweet. It was good to teach about baptism/ the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a low-pressure situation. The kids were running around the whole time, so that was good practice too. Ha ha ha! The second family was so sweet too. :) We asked them for referrals too, and the dad told us about his brother in law, who is the husband of someone we've already visited a few times. (She's a less active.) So we're going to try to get him to come with us to a visit with all of them. I hope that will help soften their hearts.

Well, I can officially email anyone. So... feel free to email me I guess? XD I can't promise to respond but it would be fun to hear from you! :)

I love you allllll!!!!

--Hermana Harris

Pray always! Week 13

Hello hello hello! :D

This week has been much better. We've seen so many miracles! We were focusing on having member-present lessons, and in so doing we had a super awesome miracle. We took a sister with us to visit E, and when we were there, the member saw her great grand daughter outside the window! She knew she had relatives in the building but didn't know where they were, so we were able to go visit them afterwards.

Her grandson is dating a very nice lady named D, and she has 3 children and is divorced. They're so open to the message and so ready to hear it all! We had a brief lesson with them about the importance of prayer and they agreed to pray individually and as families, and then yesterday we had a FHE with them at the member's house. We weren't in charge of the lesson, which was frustrating because the lesson was long and confusing even for me, but they're still happy to meet with us, so we'll be doing so soon! They're just all so awesome!

We also finally finally finally met this lady M. We've talked to her on the phone 5 times, but we couldn't ever find her house (we definitely got lost last time (by which I mean we drove for like 20 minutes on the highway following the route on the gps... definitely outside of our area... and then when we got there the road we were looking for was like 500 feet long and had no houses on it and we were looking for an apartment...) but I finally found it on googlemaps, so we got her! We brought a member with us to that as well. It was legit! She's so ready and excited to hear everything! We taught the restoration and bore testimony and it was just so sweet. :) Her oldest son is really really cool too. He is only 11, but he's got some really good questions. They're so ready. :)

One thing I struggle with in general is just opening my mouth and talking to everyone, so this week we worked on that as well. So on Saturday we had a lot of referrals we were trying to contact, which meant lots of street contacting. Soooo I prayed for the courage to talk to people, and we did! It was so sweet. Now, admittedly a lot of people as soon as we said hi said, "Not interested" and walked off. However, it didn't bother me. I just felt excited to talk to people! It was so awesome. :)

My companion is so sweet. We're getting more used to the area so this whole driving thing is less scary. Navigating to new areas is still frustrating, but it's okay. :) I just keep praying and it'll all be good.

Whenever there are good things happening, Satan works extra hard to make me miserable. He's really been getting after me this week, but I'm trying to fight him. I feel like I'm finally understanding the whole 'pray always' thing. For sure. Pray always, that ye may come off conqueror, right?

Well, I feel much more comfortable with giving tours and everything now. I've been giving solo tours and not even messing up too horribly. There were some mess ups and awkward moments, but in general it's pretty good. I had a sweeet experience the other day! There was a man from Turkey that came into the Battalion!!! I learned a little Turkish back at the U of A. It's been a while, and I've forgotten most of it, but I was able to say a few things and I think it really helped him feel comfortable there. He said his sister is here too for a week, so he might bring her by to have a tour as well. It was so cool! Heavenly Father loves blessing us. It's so wonderful. :)

I think that's basically it. I want to start using family history as a way to help people find out about the church, so since I'm at the family history center, I asked them about getting some passalong cards. They said they'll get us some for next week! Woohoo! :D

Well, I hope all is well with you! Take care!
--Hermana Harris