Week 38 The glass is still halfway full!

Ok so the longer email hasn't happened yet. Well, Sister Mendez is leaving in a week. D: I'm going to miss her so much! She's an incredible missionary and a fabulous friend and stinkin' hilarious. XD

Sister Wells is one of our new Mandarin sisters. :) She's the sweetest!! :D (Plus she tells me that I look like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. XD That's always nice. Sister Romero tells me I look like Lumiere. The candlestick. Aww. How sweet.... XD )

Over a month ago we contacted a referral and taught her the Restoration. When we shared the First Vision, she literally laughed at us. It was kinda discouraging. And we didn't think it went over too well. We decided to go back and visit her again anyway, about a month later, and her daughter told us that she has been talking about us a lot. :D I guess the Spirit has been working on her! So we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she was hung up at first on the fact that the bible says there are only two roads, the straight and narrow, and the other way, so how are there 3 degrees of glory, but we shared 1 Cor 15 and she just said, "Oh. No sabia" and accepted it. She also promised she'll read the Book of Mormon. She's so much more open than that first day. It's amazing. :)

Hermanas Wells and Contreras with Elder Affleck

We made the blueberry pie. But the recipe didn't say to dissolve the corn starch in water before mixing it in, so I didn't know if I had to or not, and I was running out of time, and I didn't want to make it too watery, and so I just put the cornstarch right in the boiling pot and it just turned into giant white lumps and it was a really sad moment for me. But now I know to never ever ever do that again, so that's the good news. XD The pie tasted fine. Just has lumps. People keep asking what they are. I'm tempted to say "It's some Mexican fruit one of our members gave us. I thought I'd just throw it in to make it look cool." But that would be dishonest. So instead I just get embarrassed and say I messed up. XD Oh well. Someday I'll learn to make food. Someday.

I love you so much! BTW I love being a missionary here at the MoBat. It's the best. :) I love the other sisters here. It's such an incredible experience. I can't imagine having it any other way.

This is the last week of this transfer. I'll tell you next week what happens! :O

--Hermana Harris

Breaking Bread Week 37

So this week our RS President sent out a dinner calendar and had the members sign up. So yesterday we actually ended up getting fed THREE TIMES. That's like... how many times I got fed in total my first entire transfer. And those weren't set appointments but just when we got there they fed us. I feel like a fat kid. So many tortillas. XD 

We had a SWEET lesson with this lady on Sunday. We brought a member with us and this lady is so receptive. She has a lot of questions and is really searching for truth. :) It's incredible!

We also had a lesson with a 21 year old yesterday. We were trying to find her mom that we met on Sunday but she wasn't there. The girl was super closed for the first minute we talked with her but then all of a sudden she opened up and was super nice and eventually even started telling us about how she's having a hard time because she doesn't feel like she can talk to her siblings or her mom about spiritual things because they're just not very close and so she has no one to talk to about that. :( It really made me grateful for how the gospel has brought my family together, and that I can talk to my siblings and parents about the gospel and it's just normal. Anyway, she basically told us that she wants friends! :) Singles ward, anyone???

We had MTEs this week. That means a three hour training meeting and then a full day in the area, talking to soooo many people and seeing so many miracles. We had some pretty incredible experiences. We were finally able to gain the confidence of a less active enough for her to tell us the real reason for why she doesn't want to go to church anymore. We met a lot of people and just had an incredible day. :) Oh man. 

A sweet investigator! I think those a flautas...mmm!

We also had a lunch appointment, but we had already eaten with her once this month... and there's this rule that we can only eat with a member once a month unless there's an investigator there or something. So we were trying to get an investigator to come with us but none of them could come, so I was praying that we could find someone to come...and when we called before coming over she said that there were these two nonmember girls there with her daughter. 

So we came and chatted with them and they were super cool and then we ate and then their dad came and we had a Restoration lesson with him and he really listened. Like, really listened. It was super sweet because he's from Tijuana and he actually lived next to missionaries then, and they got along super well, but they never taught him. So...it was sweet. :)

I think that's about it for now. I love you all! :D

--Hermana Harris

The lighthouse! Set on a hill!

On the way to Coronado Island

A squishy surrey tour. 

Where's the camera?

Sweet is the peace the Gospel brings! Week 36

So this week we're only emailing for 1 hour so I don't really have much time left but I'll give you some basics:

-We were heading off to contact someone and there was this little girl that started talking to us. She told us her mom was home, which was random, so we asked which house was hers. So she pointed to it and we figured, well, why not? So we went and knocked and had a sweet lesson with her about prayers and how they're not some recitation but a personal conversation between he and her Father. She prayed at the end and it was so incredibly powerful. She was looked super happy and was just glowing. It was incredible. :)

-Yesterday Sister Contreras and I took a Spanish tour with these two people from Mexico City and 4 people from Spain. At the end, the lady from Mexico City was SO EXCITED. She wouldn't stop saying 'Thank you SO MUCH. Seriously. Thank you. You have no idea how much I loved that. It was a beautiful story. Mil gracias." etc. Eventually she even said "I'm just so full of joy and happiness and LOVE. Thank you!" It was super sweet. :)

BIG HUG!

-We met this cool guy named K. He used to serve in the army but he left for a while. He's planning on going back. It was just really neat to get to know him. He said he's saved someone's life once, but the other times he was unsuccessful. He acts like a tough guy at first but he's an incredibly caring and loving individual. By the end of our discussion I wanted to adopt him as my uncle. He was so sweet! It just always amazes me how incredible all these people are. I love getting to know my brothers and sisters. :)

-WE HAD OUR FIRST INVESTIGATOR ATTEND CHURCH WITH US!! :D Well, last week C. came to a class, but this week T. came with us to Sacrament Meeting, and stayed for the first class! Afterwards he said he really liked it, and that it was different than he expected. He's such a good kid, he just really needs some good friends. (He's he 17 year old that told us that he sees himself in jail in 5 years.) C. came too but only to the first class, then she had to go.

-We went to talk to an investigator and afterwards saw this other guy outside smoking. My initial instinct was to get away asap cuz I hate that smell but instead we stopped and talked to him. He's angry at organized religion because he says it's caused so many wars and deaths. We just talked to him and had a good convo and at the end prayed with him, and after the prayer he looked so different. He thanked us for the prayer, but it was way more than just words. When he said it he was looking me straight in the eyes and I could feel that something had touched his heart. It was an unforgettable moment.

Well, I love you all! Have a fabulous week! :D

--Hermana Harris

PS>>>Journals are so important! We talk about that in the tour. There are actually almost 80 surviving journals from the men of the Battalion. That's why we can even have the museum - because they took the time to write down those precious experiences that helped their faith grow. :)

Week 35 Feeling my Heavenly Father's Love!

I've been trying to talk to people more because Elder Ballard told us that we can do more than we are doing. It's definitely true. There are so many people I've just walked right past. But I'm getting better. I even talked to this guy in the laundry place this morning who was shaving his face in the sink. He had a few tattoos and owns a shopping cart. His name is D. Anyway, it's been really neat because I just feel this love for Heavenly Fathers' children. As I talk to them I feel His love for them and I just feel like I'm surrounded by friends. I love it!

 1 Are you teaching anyone? If so who and how and what!

2 Are you working with ward members / less actives? How is that going? 

3 Any near fatalities on the San Diego craziness roads or is it pretty calm and relaxing to drive these days?

4 Do you email the mission president every week? If so what do you say?

5 Do you have a planner or are you keeping a journal (I really hope you are writing every day!)?  

1 We are teaching. XD Lots of people! We try to teach everyone we talk to. On Saturday we had exchanges, so I went with Sister Frampton to my area and my companion went with Sister Hall to Barrio 20. We had so many awesome experiences, but one that is super exciting to me is we finally met this family that the previous missionaries in Sweetwater were teaching for a while but dropped because the mom wasn't going to church. Well when we met them on saturday, the mom wasn't there but the daughter was, and she said her little brother won't let her read the BoM because he wants to finish first. XD He's been reading and praying and loves it. How amazing is that?? :D So we gave them another one and we're going back to teach them soon. :) So exciting! I love teaching families! :D

2. Ward members? Well there was a sister who went on a mission but had a medical problem so she just came back a few days ago and she came out with us and is amazing. She was with us when we met the above mentioned family. ^_^ Not so many less actives in our designated area, and the one we really want to work with will only meet with us on Saturday mornings and so when we have battalion then we can't even meet with her. And then she'll bail on us the other times. It's rough. >_>

3. No near fatalities. I've gotten used to driving here. There are still crazy drivers and people who switch lanes suddenly and pull in front of us w/o signaling and do stupid things but we're fine. :)

4. Yeah, we email him every week. I say basically what I say to you all, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. Just depends.

5. Yes, we have planners. :D I stinkin' love them and want to 'be that guy' who can't stop using them. They're awesome. and my journal is slacking. I write in it every....once in a while...... Well I wrote in it last night for a second. Funny you should ask, though, because this week one of our goals as a companionship is to write in our journals every day, even if it's just one sentence. So I'll be working on that. :) 

So here's a cool story. Today we're getting two mandarin Sisters. :D :D :D For the Battalion! Also, I don't remember if I already said this or not, but they opened an Arabic area and a Mong area in our mission. By the end of next transfer, we'll almost have our 250 complement of missionaries, and that's not including our senior couples. With them it'll be over 300. How incredible is that? :D I love it. ^_^

Mom I'm so excited for you and your pioneer trek stuff. You're being a member of the Mormon Battalion! :D There were about 80 women and children that came along. They all suffered so much. We were reading about them this morning from this book they have us read and it was talking about how from December 19-21 the Mormon Battalion marched 45 miles, without any water. They were on the verge of death when they finally reached Pima something-or-other and the Pima Indians helped them out. I can't even imagine. The point is that I'm proud of you. :)

Romans 8 is an incredible chapter! :) I memorized two verses from there when I was in seminary but I've since forgotten them.

--Hermana Harris