Week 55 And a Happy New Year!

This week has been pretty cool. I loved caroling at the MCRD, and the luncheon at the Battalion was pretty cool, and there were a billion people at the temple, and then we had a few lessons. We've been talking to a lot of people. It's kinda scary sometimes. But it's good stuff. Haha. In fact, this morning we were shopping but the other sisters had the keys and they moved the car so we finally found it and wanted to put our groceries in the car but it was locked, so we sat there waiting for them and a homeless man walked up to us with his walker and sat down on it and just talked to us for a good 8 minutes (about how he can't walk...) until the sisters finally unlocked the car. It was pretty exciting. He said he used to be a mechanic, and he has a degree... in something, not sure what he said. But anyway, it's always an eye-opening experience. Heavenly Father has SO MANY CHILDREN. And He loves them all. It's cool to be able to feel that love. :)

Yoga dogpile?

We had a miracle on Saturday. This WHOLE transfer we've been trying to find these two families, and on Saturday we found BOTH of them! They were finally home! And we set up a return appointment with one and had a lesson and set up a return appointment with the other. :) It was pretty sweet. :)

The Battalion has been CRAZY busy. We had 1045 people come. (That includes the whole tour or just them coming on and deciding to leave... they do have their free agency after all.) :) It was so sweet! It's a little stressful but kind of fun too. :)

Oh and our Christmas Eve was fun. We went to this Carnival Market place and bought fresh tortillas and queso fresco and lots of delicious goodies, and then Hermana Bermudez and I made bunuelos. They were super delish. I know I said this already in the phone call, but this is my favorite story so here it goes again. That night we went to our less actives house. When we asked if we could share a message she said no. So I told her it was a family tradition to read Luke 2, about the Savior's birth. She said that'd be ok, so we read it, and then testified about Christ. She got a little teary-eyed, and then we prayed, and then the tamales were ready, so we went into the kitchen and she called everyone down. Now, keep in mind that her children are all athiest. So they're all grabbing tamales and talking and she says, "Callate. Sientate. Vamos a orar" then she turns to my companion and says, "Ora!" (Be quiet, sit down, we're gonna pray.) (Pray!) Yes ma'am! It was pretty incredible. :)

Oh man. I still cannot believe transfer calls are in a week! It's gone SO FAST. >_< Well, next week I'll know if I'm at the Battalion for the rest of my mission or not. Our directors are changing in 3 weeks, and the Afflecks are leaving in 5. :( One thing's for sure: change is just around the corner. I'm working on being excited about it. Haha! :)

--Hermana Harris

Week 54 Spreading Christmas Joy!

So on Christmas morning we're going to sing at the MCRD, and that'll end around 11, and then at 12 we have a luncheon, so I'll prolly call around 11. 11 here.. so 12 there? Then we have the luncheon, which'll include caroling in Old Town, then temple shift, then the area for a few hours. It'll be quite the day! :) Haha And on New Years Eve we have to be inside by 7. But that day is our pday and that ends at 6... and it takes 30 minutes to drive to the area where we serve. So... yeah. We'll figure something out. It'll be an adventure!

The District December 2013

Our Ward choir sang in Sacrament meeting. We sang our best for Him; pa rum pa pum pum! Haha... well the good news is that even though it was challenging, some in the congregation cried during the last song. So hearts were touched! That's the whole point! :) Ooh. I also got to talk on Sunday. I was super nervous. I basically ended up just teaching the Restoration and then telling everyone to shape up. I've never really been one to be bold but uh... it was pretty bold. I enjoyed it, haha! I also got to tell the first vision. I'm pretty sure that's my favorite thing in the whole world to do. :)

I led a tour last night with one of the new Sisters. She's so incredible. Anyway as I was doing the last bit, the part where we really testify, I had sorta planned to say something differently than I had said it before, and then it came out even more different... but it was really good. :) It turned out way sweet and was what I needed to hear! It was a very cool moment for me. :) These (Mormon Battalion) men were going through such difficult times, and yet they turned outward and served others the whole time. What an example! :)

Aww, yesterday our Ward mission leader gave us all presents and dinner. Awww! They said that they didn't think they were going to have enough money that month, but then the Lord blessed them with extra work so then they had more than enough, so they wanted to give some back to him by serving us. It was the sweetest thing! Their kids are adorable. They also have a 12 year old daughter, Joyce, with cerebral palsy. She's absolutely incredible and so happy and so wonderful. :) I love that family so much!

We had Zone Conference. It was super incredible. :) We learned SO MUCH and it was exactly what I needed. They taught us all about how to teach! Yay! :) We've been applying it and we've already seen and felt a huge difference. :)

Oh man. So we got to go shopping at this Mediterranean/International Market last Tuesday. We all bought a random candy bar from some other country. I bought a Criks. It was basically a kit-kat bar but SUPER DELISH. :) Sister Frampton got a banana something... it was like banana laffy taffy only coated in chocolate. (Mom you'd love it!) Sister Bermudez got something pastry-like and it was in arabic so we don't know what it's called, and Sister Benfield got a Lion. Lyon? I dunno but it was good too. We also bought pita bread and hummus. :) Yum! and bananas - 3 lbs for 1$! Today we're going to another random market like that. It'll be another adventure. :D I really love being with the other sisters. There's no room in the apartment but it's so much fun. :) I wouldn't have it any other way! ^_^

On Saturday we had a Mission Christmas Party! The ENTIRE MISSION was there. It was so much fun! We got to sing a bunch of hymns together and then President talked to us and it was super powerful. Then afterwards we had Battalion, and then we had to get an oil change on the car. As we were weekly planning in the park (waiting for the car) we talked to someone that apparently the elders have taught. He was going on about how he felt like only rich people could be "Mormons"... ha that's a laugh. So we had a sweet lesson with him. Then we had the ward Christmas party. TWO of our investigators came! They ended up talking to each other and it was super sweet, they even planned on visiting each other... and having coffee together... ok so it wasn't the best, but... they both came. So it's a step. :)

Tonight we're going to a less-actives home and we're having tamales! Then we're going to go caroling with the district. :) Yaaay!

Well, that's about all this week. I love you!

--Hermana Harris

Week 53 Caroling Caroling now we go!

This week was super sweet! We got to go to Old Town and do what was supposed to be a flashmob but got changed into us just caroling for the Chamber of Commerce meeting. It was pretty sweet. They seemed to enjoy it a lot. We also got to sing for all the people in Cafe Coyote. It was super cool; singing songs celebrating Christ. :) It's my favorite!

Seal of approval?

This week I've learned a lot about tender mercies. They recently gave us very strict and exceedingly small limits on our mileage, so we have to share the car with the sisters almost every day that we, so the sisters dropped us off and we walked around for 5 hours. We were trying to contact a former, and we had made this goal to talk to everyone. So... we were walking, and we missed the street we were supposed to take, but we figured we could just take the next one and backtrack, and as we went we saw someone outside talking on the phone. Well, we had that goal, so we decided that at least we could give them a card. So, we approached him and I tried to hand him a Battalion card. As I tried to, he told us his wife was inside, and told us to go in. ? We were super confused. But we figured, hey, why not? So we walked over to the house, and as we entered, one of the kids shouted, the missionaries are here! And they all welcomed us in. We were SUPER confused. Finally Sister Bermudez asked what her name was, and the wife said Hna Alfaro. OH. I've heard of them before - they're a family that lives in our area but attends in Logan Heights! Hahahah! So, it was our miracle for the day. Haha! One of those tender mercy things. :)

On Friday our branch had a night at the temple to see the lights. One of the members brought champurrado, (it was chocolate flavored. It's kinda like hot chocolate but thicker and not quite as sweet, and can be other flavors too) and it was super delish, and then they had us missionaries sing carols for them. It was pretty... uh... 'exciting,' especially since both Elder Day and I were sick, and had no voice. (Well, mine was super low and his got super high. Lots of jokes about how we switched voices). But we sang anyway and they loved it. It was pretty sweet. Also this week at the temple (during our temple shift) we met this super sweet lady from Damascus. She was so sweet and loved talking to us. I just felt an instant kinship with her. Not sure how to explain it. But I just feel like super close friends. It was a very precious moment for me. :)

We definitely need to add more people, so we decided to go street contacting for 2 hours in this apartment complex on Sunday. There were these two people walking and we tried to talk to them but they "didn't hear us" so we followed after them and they went inside, so we knocked on the door, and started caroling, and their son opened the door, saw us, and slammed it shut. So we finished the song, and left. It makes the words of the songs come to life, and makes the whole representative of Christ thing real. I'll never think of The First Noel the same way. After that we ran into my favorite Filipino lady, A. She's this grandma that walks around the apartment complex with her little push chair thing. She's the sweetest and I LOVE just talking to her. She taught us how to say I love you, but she said it's the true meaning of love, so it's very powerful. It's ini ibig kita. :) Another tender mercy.

Julia's mission stocking

Yesterday we went and had FHE with los Alfaro, and the Sandovals were there! They're a family from Logan Heights. :) It was SO sweet to see them again! They said my Spanish has gotten better. Yay! It HAS improved! :D It's good to know. For the lesson we talked about giving a gift to Christ. It went really well. :)

Oh! We have a Christmas "tree" in our apartment. It's definitely more like a bush, but it smells good and it's named Alfie. It can't stand up on its own so it's actually tied to the fan with Christmas lights. But they're on the wrong way so we can't plug it in. We'll try to fix that today. Ha!

Well, Shengdanjai kuaile! According to Sister Wells, that's how you say Merry Christmas in Chinese. I have no idea if it's right or not, but there you go. :) Feliz Navidad and all that. I think my favorite Christmas song is still What Shall We Give. It's a good question. :)

Hermana Harris

Week 52 The Zoo, life and everything

Elder Seegmiller told me that Davis County got a big winter storm. :) I still remember last winter, all bundled up, making shapes in the snow in the middle of the storm.  It's been pretty cold here, not as bad as where you all are though. Yesterday I wore Sister Benfield's knee-high grey socks and had pants on under my pioneer dress and I was still cold. Haha! I forgot to wear a shirt under too. Next time. :) It's a wet cold, so it just pierces through all the layers. But it's still not as bad as Utah, right? It warms up in the sun. :)

So yesterday at the MoBat a group of RMs came in and said they just got back from serving in Buenos Aires. I asked if they knew an Elder Stockton, and they all replied in the affirmative. >_< I didn't know what to say after that. Haha! They said to tell him "The Crew" says hi. So... if you talk to him, you can tell him that.

Hermana Benfield drew a picture of us at the Zoo!

So the zoo was a blast! :) I left my camera at home so I can't send you any pics this week, but it was fun. :) Saw lots of animals. I think some of my favorites were the Secretary Birds, these cute monkey things, and the red pandas... or the camels. The rhino was super sweet too, and we saw some two-humped camels. Man. Those things are super ugly. Hahahaha... saw a llama too. I wonder how many times that poor llama gets called Tina. Hmm. Reminded me about Joshua Giraffe. They're trapped in a zoo with buffalo.... well anyway they were NOT next to the elephants but not too far.

So there is this sweet family in our ward. Hno Lopez and his wife have their son living with them, with his wife, and their 3 kids. Their oldest child, a daughter, had her birthday party on Saturday. It was Monster High themed. In case you don't know what that is, it's a t.v. show with a bunch of zombies and vampires and werewolves and mummies that all go to high school together and have very interesting fashion. Anyway. The birthday girl is 6 years old. So... anyway the good news is that they told us to come because they invited a friend they want us to talk to. So we got to meet them and at first they were a little wary but they warmed up to us. It's a good start! :D

We had a SWEEEEET restoration lesson with this lady. We invited her to pray about what we talked about, to know if it's true, and she said "I already know it is." So... where do you go from there? Haha but we're going to go back see her more this week. She also told us she wants us to teach her daughter, and her other daughter, and her husband. :) So things are looking up! :D

And we officially gave J. to the other sisters. Done. When we switched areas he went to them but we were going to give him to the YSA sisters but he said he doesn't feel like he belongs there, so I guess he's staying here, so we had to hand him off. It's weird but we're happy for him and we think he'll start progressing more. :)

Whoooo! I hope you all saw that Christmas devotional! Super sweet! Afterwards we had ward choir practice. It was our first and last time we will be able to attend, but it was super cool. J. came and sang too! The choir is trying so hard! They're full of so much love and devotion. It makes me super happy. :)

I love this branch. They're the best! ^_^

That's about it for now.

Hermana Harris

Week 51 Giving and Thankfulness!

Well we're going to go to the zoo so I only have a few minutes left. So here's the basics:

Turns out we're sharing an apartment! Yes, it's the same size as the other apartments but now there are 4 of us. Still one shower, but at least there are two 'bathrooms.' So... it's been a little crazy. My claustrophobia isn't getting any better  but it's okay, I think we'll survive. It's actually pretty fun. :)

Thanksgiving we had a lesson with J, had district meeting, then went and visited M. She had a friend over, and they fed us a TON. We had a short lesson with them, and the next day M. told us that her friend, after we left, said she really liked us and that she really felt the Spirit when we talked. It was pretty cool. :) After we visited a member and then went and tried to fix up the apartment a bit. (8 suitcases+ of stuff everywhere...)

Remember how we switched areas? Well, J. is actually in the other sisters' area. So we're transitioning him over to them. We'll make the switch sometime this week. So... hopefully we'll have a miracle!

Our favorite less active is really starting to like us. :) Hearts are softening! She's also really excited to make tamales with us on Christmas eve. :) We're excited too! :D

Fast Sunday went well. We had a meeting with our Branch President and Branch Mission Leader about some ideas we have for how to kick up the missionary work in the branch. :) We'll see how they all come together but so far it sounds pretty exciting. :) Good stuff coming!

Yesterday we had a sweet miracle. We've been trying to teach this lady for a very long time. We received her as a referral through church headquarters (she requested a dvd) but whenever we went by she told us to come back later. Anyway we saw her outside of the apartments on Saturday and she talked to us and eventually told us she was going to have her house fumigated and she needed to take everything out so we offered to help and she was super hesitant but we convinced her to let us, so we came by on Monday and helped her out and she opened up SO MUCH and told us the story of her life and we talked about it and the Atonement and she was crying and it was a super sweet lesson and a super sweet miracle. :)

So it's been a great week! :D I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! :D I love you all!!

--Hermana Harris