I can't believe it's not butter? Week 21

By which I mean I can't believe it's almost summer! Wow. Transfers rolled around again today, but I remained unsquished! We're still in our cute little Logan Heights branch, thank goodness! I'm SO excited for D's baptism on the 11th! She is amazing, and she's making such amazing progress. She's even asked her boss for Sundays off so she can come to church every week!  :)

L is progressing as well. She's still smoking, but we can see a difference in her countenance. She's come to part of church twice and she loves it. She even dressed up a little the 2nd time! It's so sweet. She's even joking around with us a little and smiling so much. It's incredible. I love it! We just need to know how to help her get the desire to quit smoking. I think she'll get there soon. It's crazy to think about how different she is now from when we first met her. The first night we found her, she was walking along with her daughter crying because she wanted to help her son come closer to God. She has so many struggles and problems and we've been working with her for so long. She used to just talk about how she's so worried about everything and she's so sad and now she's smiling and laughing and she still has struggles but there's such a difference. It's the best. :)

 We're also teaching this man named F. He's so excited about learning, but he calls us at 12:30 in the morning to tell us about how excited he is. (We don't answer, but he leaves us voice mails talking about how he is just so excited that he met us and that he loves learning about the word and he feels so close to God and he's praying and things like that.) We had a lesson over the phone with him the other day (he was at work and couldn't meet with us but he called and asked if he could read the Book of Mormon with us over the phone). So we read Alma 32:28&41 and he totally got it and was explaining it to me about how it's just like a seed, and you need to plant it and it grows and how the word is delicious. It was crazy! We're going to see him again tonight.

I love this work. I love seeing people happier. I love seeing people smiling more. I love just knowing that I made even a tiny difference in someone's life.

I love you all!! :)

--Hermana Harris

Week of Awesomenicity Episode 20

Dear Everyone,

This week was the best week ever.

We had a lesson with D at the temple. It was a do-or-die lesson. Her baptismal date was set for the 20th of April, and we needed to know if she had an answer or not yet. So we got everything all ready and planned and we had a lesson with her and a member in the Waiting room of the San Diego temple. It was basically amazing. Oh, but the weird thing was we were on exchanges so I was with a different companion, Sister O'Neill, who happens to be Sister Amendola's trainer!

Anyway, it was basically the best lesson ever, and D was crying and said she felt so different and said she wants to be baptized! So we had her interview but she works on this weekend and the next and then the next weekend is stake conference so her new date is the 11th and 12 of May. I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER. She is just so happy! I love it! She's so strong and amazing. She has so much faith it blows my mind. She's an amazing mom and I'm so excited for her and her family and it's basically the best thing ever. Just saying. :)

We also had an awesome lesson on Sunday with a referral from the English elders in our area. We went to the address they gave us but it was wrong so the people there told us to try across the street, so we went there, and there was this huge apartment bldg, and this guy standing outside smoking. So we asked him if he knew C and E, and guess what? Turns out he's C. So he took us around and up and over to where his apartment is, we met E, and had the best lesson ever. It just flowed. It felt amazing. It was so fantastic! I can't really put into words the way we all felt. It rocked my world.

Oh, and the other day at the Battalion I was giving the very last part of the tour and there were two couples on my tour, and the man sitting on the front bench was crying and smiling and as I was talking I just felt this peace in the room, and everyone was just listening intently, smiling, and they all felt the peace, and it was amazing. I've been sooo blessed this week! I definitely don't deserve it.

Hmm well I was going to finish my letter but there's a story I want to share. Sorry. :) So we were working with this lady, M, and she's a member but doesn't go very often because she has no transportation and she's old and she feels like a burden on the branch. :( Anyway, when we visited her the other day she was super sad and told us she doesn't want to go to church anymore, and some other sad things. So we took her out with us one day to help us visit some people, and we had this crazy experience.

This kid answered the door, and said his mom wasn't there, so we started writing a note for her on one of our cards, and Sister Salinas was just making small talk with the kid, and then this huge shirtless guy got up off the couch and started yelling at us and threatening to call the police for talking to his kid and was cussing and getting all in an uproar. It was a little scary. Anyway...we left... and tried to move on. Well, when we visited M yesterday she said she keeps thinking about that experience and she said she felt so upset that she couldn't sleep all night, and that now she wants to just stand up and fight for her religion. She wants to defend what she believes in. :) She's got the fire again! So basically the point of this story is that there's always a reason for everything. We had to get yelled at to get M back in gear. :) It's pretty amazing.

Well, I love you all and I hope things are well with you!!

-Hermana Harris

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has sent me letters and stuff. I'm sorry I haven't replied to any of them. :( You're all incredible. :)

We are in good hands! Week 19

Well, everybody, welcome to the Mormon Battalion Historic Site! My name is Sister Harris, and I get to write you an email today!

First off, we went to the temple today. :D I LOVE THE SAN DIEGO TEMPLE. It's so gorgeous! I finally got to go inside. The peace and love and joy that filled my whole body was just incredible. I love, love, love going to the temple.

This week went so fast! Yesterday was crazy. Two weeks ago we had planned to have FHE at a member house this week, because they live next door to one of the girls we're teaching. However, apparently their idea of FHE is 'invite-a-billion-families-and-all-the-missionaries-without-telling-Sister-Salinas-and-Harris.' We didn't find out until the day of that there were going to be 5 families there and two other sets of missionaries. We had to scrap our lesson plans twice in preparation because we kept finding out more and more people were coming and then we had less and less time for an actual lesson, so it was an adventure, but we worked it out. (We also got sort of lost on the way to the lesson. Woo-hoo!) The lesson felt awesome as we were giving it, and I just felt so good and peaceful despite all the craziness that had been going on. (It started half an hour late because some of the other families were told the wrong time.)

Oh man. We've been talking a lot about how there are so many different voices we can listen to. We were trying to visit a sister in the ward, but we were having a hard time finding her house (there are lots of people who live in houses connected to other houses or behind other houses down sketchy alleyways and such). Anyway, there was this person pumping some rap super loud and it was absolutely filthy and vulgar and I was dying (unfortunately it was in English, so I definitely knew what it was saying) and turns out that the owner of the music is also renting the house. We had to have our lesson with it blasting right next to us as we're sitting there, so we decided to talk about the Holy Ghost and how it speaks with a soft voice like a whisper. We read Helaman 5:30, and talked about how there is so much noise in the world, so many distractions and other things we could be doing, but that if we focus on the Holy Ghost we can have guidance and peace and tranquility amidst all the chaos of the world. So it turned out better than I thought. :)

We took a member with us to contact some of our references. She lives all alone and feels very very very lonely and doesn't want to feel like a burden, so it's perfect because she helps us and doesn't feel so lonely. She got along really well with one of our investigators too, so that was super sweet. :) It's cool how things work out sometimes.

We had a Charla Fogonera on Sunday! :D It was fantastic! :) It's just a fireside, in case anyone was wondering. It's just fun to say charla fogonera. There's a huge missionary choir and special musical numbers and recent converts bear their testimonies and they play Mormon messages. It's basically one of the coolest things ever. :) We also got to go to a baptism on Saturday for some amazing people. Our old Zone Leader that went home came back and visited for a few days, so that was pretty cool. It's weird to think I've been in San Diego for 2 months. >_> We were talking to one of our investigators about how we don't get to visit our families for 18 months, and they were freaking out. "Not even if they get sick?!?" It's neat, though, because the Lord really does bless us for this. I mean, I love and miss you all, but I know you're in good hands. :)

Stay strong!

--Hermana Harris

Week 18 Opening my mouth

Dear everybody,

Life is wonderful. General Conference was fabulous. My companion and I are having a blast, and we can see changes in the lives of those around us. It's an incredible experience! It's so crazy how you plan for everything to go one way, and then something happens, and all your plans are right out the window, and you do something entirely different, but it all makes so much more sense in the end. 

When we drive we have to log in with our TIWI card, and so we're not allowed to drive without it. Well, after a crazy hectic day, we were running to go to our interviews with the Mission President, when I couldn't find my tiwi card. >_< Ummm... and we were already late. Well, they let me drive anyway, and we had our interviews, and then we drove back, but couldn't leave cuz I didn't have my card, so we had weekly planning for the rest of the night. It was completely necessary though because we ended up having a much needed discussion and now things are going so much better and everything is working out. Then after everything was worked out, we found the card! It was super cool. 

This week I was reading in PMG in chapter 9: finding people. There were a bunch of scriptures about opening your mouth and speaking, and how the Lord is not pleased with those who don't speak, etc. I decided to try to speak more, and it's been pretty cool. I feel more like a missionary and less like the-person-who-stands-next-to-Sister-Salinas-for-moral-support-and-the-occasional-smile-if-I-have-a-clue-as-to-what-is-going-on. So I feel much better. I mean, it's not perfect, but it's better. I still don't know what is going on part of the time, but that's okay. I'm just trying to open my mouth more. It will get better with time.

We had a cool moment the other day. We had a voice mail from one of our investigators explaining why she couldn't come to conference (her tummy hurt... :/ ) and at first I was super disappointed, but as I thought about it later, I realized something. In the message SHE CALLED HERSELF HERMANA LO !!! :D It made me so happy! When we visit her she looks so much happier and I know we're making a difference, it's just hard for her cuz she's still smoking. We're going to start the quit smoking program on Friday, theoretically, so we'll see. :) Hopefully all will go well! She wants to be a better example for her son (who is only 15 and is already heading down a scary path) and she wants to be able to help her family. Anyway, we're working on that. :)

I think that's all for now. Thanks for all you are doing to help out your wards and those around you. Keep it up!

--Hermana Harris

Birthday Happiness with Ups and Downs Week 17

Dear everyone,

This week has been insane. I don't remember if this was included in the last email, but we had this lesson with D where we talked about prophets, and we had the Ward Mission Leader with us, and he bore his testimony about prophets, and it was so amazing. Then Tuesday was my BIRTHDAY and it was incredible, and basically my district/branch is the best. We had our studies in the morning as usual, and then we had a district meeting. 

Oh but first my companion made me pancakes for breakfast and gave me a beautiful necklace and some cool earrings and she made potato salad for us for lunch and brownies for the district meeting, and then after district meeting they brought out MORE brownies and a card and this HUGE Easter basket. Well, the basket was actually pretty small but it was literally filled to twice its size. So. Much. Stuff. Random toys (a slinky, one of those lizard things that you stick in water and it grows, a random egg that you put in water and the thing inside hatches [it's a duck, and it's almost out of its shell completely now. My companion thought at first I had just stuck a random hard boiled egg in a bowl of water and was really grossed out and was confused as to why one morning I said, "Es un pato!!" and was pointing at the egg... XD], little action figure guys, a paddle ball, a plastic gun, and tons and tons and tons of candy. The other sisters (Sister O'Neill and Amendola) also got me this mini pool table. It's like 6"x3" or something like that. So cute.

THEN we had our lesson with this lady L about quitting smoking, and she said that she wants to quit so she can be a better example to her wayward son, so that was awesome. Then at the Battalion D came with a cake for me and I gave her my first Spanish tour! I didn't do the whole thing but I did the introduction and some other bits. It was awesome! Then on Thursday there was this party the branch members were putting on for this member who's moving to New York, and we were able to help L come with her son! Aaaand at the fiesta, I had REAL MEXICAN FOOD.

It was incredible. I literally wanted to cry it was so good. These tostadas were unforgettable. So amazing. :D I need to learn how to make this stuff. :D And oh yeah. We had a meeting in the middle of the party, but after the meeting when we got back to the party, one of the members, Carla, came out and said, "By the way, yesterday was Sister Harris's birthday!" and pulls out this huge, beautiful hand-made cake that seriously looked like she bought it at the store. But it was homemade and amazing! They all sang to me, and then she gave me a present too! We took a billion pictures and gave a billion hugs and it was so fun. :D And L met a billion members. 

It was quite the adventure getting her there, though. XD Lots of phone calls and driving around everywhere and freaking out and more calls and dragging people out of bed, etc. No big deal. XD Oh yeah, and back on my birthday, in the Battalion, so many people sang to me and wished me happy birthday, and they gave me this bag full of random stuff (candy, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.) and some letters from the Elder couples and a photo book with notes from all the sisters and pictures of them and stuff. So cute! :D I feel so loved! :D It's wonderful.

We've had some disappointments this week, and some miracles too. I guess that's the way life comes, right? You can't expect everything to go as planned. We have to just keep going even when literally everything crumbles to pieces. We just gotta keep working with what we've got and doing our best. One of the characters in the tour talks about how even though circumstances were difficult, they decided to be happy. At the end of the tour we give a little spiel about something to take away from the experience, and on Friday or Saturday (can't remember which) I was feeling super grumpy and frustrated, and so when I said that part to them, I remembered, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be happy. I should start taking my own advice, huh? Life is good. :D It's quite the adventure. :) I love you all and hope everything is going well. Work hard, and remember to be happy about it. Cuz that's why we're here!

--Hermana Harris

P.S. I'd love to give a big thank you shout out to the Merkley family for the surprise visit last night. SO awesome. :

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