Sisters, Sisters! There were never such devoted sisters! Week 25

Dear Everyone,

So this week has been a week! The trolley tour last week was a BLAST. San Diego is gorgeous and it was fun to see more of it than just the Battalion and my area. XD Surprise, more to San Diego than just a few square miles.

Happy Birthday Hermana Harris!

Yesterday we had a special sisters meeting, so they said we could email on Wednesday instead. So here we are. The meeting started out with some sandwiches and brownies, and getting to know each other by table. Then we all got together in a room and discussed the challenges we were facing as missionaries. It was pretty sweet, but did run a little long. It was neat though to hear from the other missionaries. I learned several awesome insights. 

One of the most prominent in my mind is about humility. Humility isn't thinking less of yourself. Self-deprecating comments like 'oh I'm so ugly' or 'I'm terrible at this'! but rather, think less often about yourself. Don't think about yourself but instead think about others. That has been super helpful for me! 

Another cool insight someone shared was something they had learned from an interview with a member of the 70 that had come to our mission a month or so ago. She said in the interview she said she felt like she wasn't a missionary yet. He asked her what a missionary was supposed to feel like. She said, "I don't know." So he said, "Well how do you know you're not already a missionary?" It was perfect for me because I definitely feel like I don't know what I'm doing yet. I have no clue how to be a missionary. But... I am a missionary. So I just need to keep doing what I know I'm supposed to be doing! 

The third thing that I loved was when we were talking about comparing ourselves to others. We all do it all the time, and it's a serious problem. It's a wonderful thing to be able to notice positive attributes in others, but that doesn't mean we have to compare them to ourselves. Comparisons are prideful. It means you feel like you should be the best at everything. Anyway, we all have two choices. We can either be the best 'ourself' that we can be, or we can be the worst 'somebody else'. And it's a lot easier to be yourself than to be somebody else. It's happier that way, too. So there you go!

Everyone loves a District party!

I feel loved! Muchas Gracias!

F. came to church on Sunday and he loved it! He called us the day before and told us that he bought a new shirt and tie just for church, because, and I quote, "If I'm changing myself Spiritually I want to change physically too." Whaaaat? Who IS this guy? He always teaches us something about being a true follower of Christ. After church, he told us that the time flew by, and that it didn't feel like 3 hours at all. He was participating in all the classes and is basically the coolest person ever. I feel so blessed!!!

Lucky Birthday Socks?

Well, I love you all, and I hope you know that you're all amazing and you all are YOU for a reason. So don't try to be your neighbor, your friend, etc. Just be you, but be more Christ-like every day. :) Keep working hard! I love you!

--Hermana Harris

Nom Nom!

Pictures Feb and March

my favorite blue dress

Week 24 Let us all press on!

Herro Everyone!  Sorry about the no-letter last time. I was writing it when the internets died.

 At the temple this week we met this man named Bing, "Like Bing chellies" is how he explained it to me. He also called me Sister Hallis. It was very cute. This picture is from him!

Last week we had our first baptism! V. was baptized and it was beautiful. She is so amazing. Sister Amendola and I sang "Lord, I Would Follow Thee" to the tune of "If you Could Hie to Kolob." (We skipped the last line and just sang the first two verses as one verse, second two verses as the 2nd verse. Tiene sentido?) And of course it was in Spanish. V. is so sweet. :) 

She was so excited and happy and when we visited with her the other day, we realized she's opening up to us so much. The first time we visited her she said two sentences. The whole time. But now she's laughing and joking with us and smiling and talking and answering questions and it's just so amazing. :)

F. is also doing really well. He finally got work off for next Sunday so he'll be at church for the first time. He's so excited about it! It's so funny because whenever he says 'bye' on the phone, he says it the way my companion does. She says hasta luego or nos vemos or adios, and then she'll say, "Bai!" really high, and so whenever he leaves us a message, he ends it like that too. XD It cracks me up.

Miracles happen when we listen to our leaders. Our district leader suggested we work on contacting our referrals, so we did the very next day, and the very next day we met this man named A. and he's met with missionaries before but lost contact with them.

Well, I love you all! Keep being examples and reaching out to lift others. :)

--Hermana Harris

P.S. Someone was telling me the other day that they were taking pictures at a temple, and some random lady offered to help. When she was taking it, she asked, "Do you want the lady in the gold dress in the picture too?" ... awkward. There's always an opportunity to teach. :D

Mother's Day Call Week 23

Well Dear Ones...

This blog post will be written by Julia's mom. We got to speak to her on Sunday and while she replied to my emails, she was pressed for time and did not send a letter per se, so I will try to relate the gist of our conversation.

Julia has been with Hermana Salinas for 3 transfers. She is a very loving person and an answer to Julia's prayer. She prayed she would have a companion that would teach her how to love people, and Hermana Salinas loves everyone! She will talk to anyone anywhere about the Gospel! Appearances do not matter one bit to her! So that has been helpful for Julia to get over her fear of talking to strangers. They will most likely be split up next transfer. Thank you so much Hermana Salinas for your tender watch care of our Hermana Harris!

Julia can have people visit her at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site, but it cannot be arranged ahead of time. She is at the Mo Batt either from 9 am to 3 pm or 3 pm to 6 pm. If I could (which I cannot) I would shoot for being at the Site at 2:30, that way either she is there or will be at 3. Her P-day is Tuesday, so she would not be there on Tuesdays at all. 

There is a cool Facebook page you can check out! It is not the official one, but it has pics and fun stuff!  My-Mormon-Battalion-Historic-Site-Mission   If you like it, "LIKE" it!

Julia is currently serving in the Logan Heights Branch. It is small, obviously, but close knit. They had a baptism of a girl named V... on Saturday, so that was Awesome!  She also had fun celebrating Hermana Amendola's birthday last week by making her crepes for breakfast and as a district went to a pizza place.

I will include a few of the lines she sent this week:

In regards to D..., she dropped us. She doesn't want to get baptized right now, probably not for a long time. She said she'll let us know when she wants us to come visit her again. >_> Basically Satan knows she'd be an amazing member and so he talked her out of her baptism. It's hard but we'll just keep plugging along.

It was so great to talk to you the other day. :D I thought I'd cry more but I was mostly okay until the family cheer at the end of the call, then I lost it. (...Me too! Our family cheer is "The Harris Family loves and serves happily! Hurrah for Israel!"...) It has different meaning for me now. I'm loving and serving happily as a missionary. Well. I need to work more on that whole 'happily' part. XD Like you said, growing is painful. If you're comfortable, you're not doing life right.

Julia writes to us from the Family History Library computer, which does not have a card reader, but now we know that, we are sending her a card reader this week,and so hope to get more frequent pictures. Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers! I know she loves all your support! Thanks!!!

Heather Harris

 Mama

Lets live up to our privilege! Week 22

Hello Everyone! I'm Sister Harris!  Welcome to the Mormon Battalion Historic Site!

 I'm definitely struggling to maintain composure over here in the computer lab. This week I've been thinking a lot about how family is so stinkin' important. I love the Family Proclamation. I love having the gospel in my life! Oh hey we taught the Plan of Salvation on Sunday to this couple C and E and I talked about how knowing the plan of Salvation helped me cope with Grandma's passing too. Isn't it interesting how difficult experiences in our life are what make us better, happier, stronger people and help us help others be better, happier, stronger people?

Temple work is amazing. I remember doing sealings with you and the ward before we came out here. It was beautiful and amazing and it's something I hope to share with all the people here!

There's this lady in our ward named M. She's severely sick and overweight, and she cannot leave her bed. I don't know how long she's been like that. Probably years. Whenever we visit her, she's so happy. She shares her testimony and never once complains about her condition, her pain, her inability to do anything. She just puts on a smile and tells us that Jesus Christ suffered, so she'll gladly suffer too. Anyway, we visited her the other day and as we were leaving we asked if there were anything we could do for her, and she said, "Please pray for me that I will be able to go to church. I just want to go to church someday." She would give anything to go to church. And yet every day of every week when we invite others to come to church they say, "oh, I'm busy." We have the ability. We have the responsibility. It just kills me that we don't all do all we can to do these things. Let's live up to our privileges!

 It's Sister Amendola's birthday on Friday. I want to do something for her, like make crepes or something, but she lives across the street so we'll see. Or I'll make rice podu Thursday night. Hmmm. :) Did I tell you that we went on exchanges again and that I got to be with Sister Amendola for a day? That was super fun. :)

On that exchange we met this man named A. He was singing at the top of his lungs with his eyes closed and facing the heavens and his hands held up in fists with his arms bent at right angles. Anyway, I felt like we should sing a hymn for him, so we sang, and he got all excited and was like hey I like singing praises to God too, and went off on the song and it was crazy. He said, "I have faith in Jesus Christ, and I'm not ashamed. I want everyone to know." It was intense.

Oh hey, One of our less actives has a loquat tree. Or the other kind. (kumquat like at the Stocktons:-) I don't remember the difference. The point is we ate a bunch of them and it reminded me of the 7501 house. :) Good memories. :)

Love you all! The work is true. :)

--Hermana Harris