I
would first like to start off my email with apologzing that I tell my
whole life story in my emails, apparently my stepmom found it was
hilarious last week and it took two sessions for them to be able to read
the whole thing. Hopefully this week isn't as bad. But thank you for
all of the love and support that everyone sends me everyweek. I love
reading all of the emails that I get and I love hearing about all the
experiences and blessings people at home are experiencing.
Last Monday was the BEST P-day. Sister Siepert in our Ward took Sister Nowell and I, along with Sister T (I don't know her last name, she's from Samoa) and Sister Payne who are in our zone, to Wildlife Safari! To all of you reading this email you may not understand how excited I got about this adventure that we were able to go on, the night before this excursion I was wide awake at 10:30 pm yelling at Sister Nowell, I was like a child on Christmas morning. Anyway for those of you unfortunate souls who do not know what Wildlife Safari is, it's a zoo! But not an ordinary zoo, it's a drive through zoo. So you sit in your car and are able to see all of the animals right up close and personal, it is so awesome! The major rule is you have to stay in your car, other then that you can roll down your windows, wear no seat belts and have a party! We were able to see elephants, camels, alligators, cheetahs, zebras, hippos, deer, elk,giraffes and even a Rhino. Seriously when I come back to see my mission after I go home, this is a place I will have to come back to. The only downside was its really dry right now so a lot of everything was dead but come back in the spring time and it will be awesome. Anyway there are a few couple of epic parts in this wildlife tour, one of which you can buy a cup of food and feed it to the deer that you see, ummm this was so fun. But guess what is also by the deer. The Emu. If you do not know what and Emu is go right now and look up a picture, better yet look up a YouTube video of them running. They are like prehistoric creatures in real time, and they are SO ugly. Well the Emus also really wanted to be fed, but they are bigger creatures and would try to put their heads in our car. Not cool Emu. Well at one point Sister Payne wasn't paying attention and an Emu came from behind the car and bit her arm! She screamed and her iPad went flying and she landed in my lap! Her iPad ended up hitting her lip and she started bleeding, don't worry by the end we were all laughing and just wishing that we would have gotten it on video. Another fun part was at the end of the safari ride you can go to the village and walk around, here they have a gift shop, restrooms and more animals to look at. They have a bird aviary where you can go inside and get a stick with bird seed on the end and feed the birds, Sister Nowell was able to get two birds at once, it was pretty cool. I on the other hand was freaking out at the birds flying around my head, a couple of birds tried to land on my finger and I would scream, obviously me and birds don't get along very well. We were so thankful to Sister Siepert and her willingness to take us, seriously it was a blast. One of the best parts at the very end was that one of our progressing investigators, Vickie, works at Wildlife Safari! So when we went to the gift shop we were able to say hi to her and really surprised her actually, but later we found out if we would've told her we were coming she would have gotten us in to feed the giraffes for free. Oh well, maybe next time!
We have a less active in our Ward and her name is Candy. Candy was baptized into the church a couple of years ago, she has some mental handicaps and it makes it very hard to teach her sometimes, she also has been through a lot of different trials in her life that have made it so she is a very sensitive person. Well this last week Candy got a phone, and since then she has been calling us once, twice, maybe even three times in a day. When I first came into the area we were teaching Candy once a week, but she wasn't keeping any of our commitments we left with her so we stopped going and seeing her. Well now she is calling us and leaving messages on our phone saying that we hate her and that we have forgotten about her. This has began to make Sister Nowell and I pretty frustrated, I am really trying to learn patience with Candy. Today we went over there to talk to her and she expressed that she felt like no one knew her at church, she did come to church on Sunday to our surprise. We then told her, in a nice way, that if you came to church you would know more of the people and more of the people would know you. The problem in our Ward right now is that everyone is burnt out from Candy, she is sort of a handful. Anyway as we kept talking Candy talked about how she really liked coming to the Mormon church that it teaches her a lot for her lessons. We being confused tried to get her to explain more. Come to find out that Candy has started going to another church down the road, one that gives out free donuts. But this church found out that she went to the LDS church this last Sunday, and they are now taking a sort of disciplinary action on it and she has to give a talk of some sort, but she is using the things that she learns from our church and talking about it to the other. Sister Nowell and I didn't know how to respond. We then asked her why she had to give this talk, then after lying to us 3 times she told us she had been baptized in that church. Wow. We then asked her why, and she didn't really ever give us a real reason. We were able to talk to her about baptism and the priesthood but I am not really sure what Candy was thinking that whole time. We don't really know what is going to come from that situation, so who knows.
So I talked about an awesome homecoming talk that we had last week in church, well we were able to have dinner at their home on Tuesday! They are amazing, seriously missionary work driven people. While at their house we talked about everything, from members in our Ward, to what we could do better as missionaries even down to dating life when we get home. The Oshitas are amazing people, they are getting ready to move right now and then they are planning on going on another mission. They are truly dedicated to serving. At one point Sister Oshita made a comment about if everyone in the church treated every calling they receive like a mission call, that the church would have more enthusiasm for all the work that has to be done. I loved this concept and it made me think about my own life and the attitude that I have had towards certain callings and I know that if I put that attitude towards all my callings in my life that I will be able to gain more from all of those experiences. It is important that we all remember and try to magnify our callings. The Oshitas also talked a lot about how it is important to focus on our successes more then our failures. So many times in our missionary lives we have doors slammed in our faces and people that tell us they no longer want to be taught. But as we focus on the people who are building their faith in Jesus Christ and the people that are keeping commitments, it will make my mission so much more enjoyable. And I will see success. After Sister Nowell and I left their home I truly felt like I was on a spiritual high, like I could take on the world!
We had dinner with the Rynearsons and taught them a lesson about temple work and genealogy. Cameron, our recent baptism, wasn't able to be there because he is spending some time with his Mom before school starts. But because his dad Ron was just baptized in February we were able to have this lesson with him. We talked about their upcoming trip to the temple, because Ron and Cameron are going to the temple for the first time for a youth trip to do baptisms in a couple of weeks. We talked about preparing to bring family names and the blessings that come from doing your families temple work. President Monson has said:
In my own family, some of our most sacred and treasured experiences have occurred when we have joined together in the temple to perform sealing ordinances for our deceased ancestors.
And in my mind it isn't just sealing ordinances that he was talking about, I know the times that I have gone with my family to do any temple work has been a really special time and it has strengthen the relationship that I have with my family. I am so excited for the Rynearson's to have those blessings. We also brought up preparing to go through the temple then preparing to also be sealed together as a family. Sister Nowell and I were then able to bear testimonies about our own families. We both have very different situations, her family is all adopted and now sealed together and I come from a family where my parents were divorced. But in both situations we were able to talk about how much temples have blessed us and given us strength through out our lives. I LOVE THE TEMPLE.
Sister Nowell has been having a hard time sleeping at night this week, and it all of a sudden hits her about 4 pm- which is known in the not mission world as nap time. We were driving out to the boonies on Wednesday and she almost fell asleep TWICE! I offered to drive, there are some things that she doesn't even remember talking about. Thank goodness Heavenly Father protects his missionaries. Once we got back to town we went and got a Coke and fries because we saw that it was just very necessary.
We were able to have a lesson with Vickie on the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an emphasis on Faith. We asked Vickie what she believed faith was and she was able to give an excellent answer about how when you have faith you believe in something, we then talked about that we are never given trials in our life that we can't handle, and that as we move forward in faith we are able to grow closer to our Heavenly Father. We talked about how faith leads to action, and one act that Vickie needs to make is coming to church. We were able to talk about some of the fears that she may be having and were able to dispel those feelings. She made the goal to come to church on September 11th, because she works the next couple of weeks. Coming to church is something that Vickie has never been able to do. She has been taught for over 2 years and it hasn't happened yet. Since I have been in the area the biggest excuse that she gives us is she has to work on Sunday's. Well Sister Nowell and I have really been praying that she could some how come to church, and we have asked Vickie to pray as well, sure enough Heavenly Father answered our prayers. Vickie was able to get a new job, a job that she has been trying to get for years, which will have her working Monday through Friday. Heavenly Father knows where we are at in our lives and is ready to bless us at any time, we just need to be willing to ask in prayer. As we finished teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ we turned everything back to faith. We really feel like Vickie is finally connecting the dots between things we are teaching her and things that missionaries in the past have taught her. Her success and progress that she shows us every lesson we have with her is truly amazing.
The Harker's welcomed their daughter home from Mongolia on Thursday from her mission. Sister Nowell and I have known about this for over a month now, and we were genuinely excited to go, Sister Harker invited us to be there so her daughter would have some of her own people there, aka missionaries, when they pulled up. Well when Sister Nowell and I got there it was like the whole Ward was there, they were all very excited just waiting for the Harkers to come. Well Sister Siepert saw us and talked to us for a few minutes and asked us if it was hard for us to be there. We looked at each other and really hadn't thought about that at all, we just thought it was like anything else, just like a social gathering. Boy were we wrong. (Side note: There was also a sister there who served in this mission and went home 6 months ago! Roseburg was the place where she started out just like me, and her little sister is going to Riverside, California on her mission the same day Dallin goes into the MTC! It's such a small world.) Right as the Harkers pulled up Emily got out of the car and there was cheering and clapping and she had many tears of joy, well Sister Nowell and I got super teary eyed and suddenly we realized these were not tears of joy. We wanted to leave right away but because Sister Harker, since I have come to Roseburg, has told me that her daughter and I are twins she told us we couldn't leave until we got a picture. So we waited and finally got a picture. The only normal part of the whole evening was when we were actually able to talk to the daughter, Emily, it was like we were talking to another of our kind, she is seriously great. We look like we could some how be related, maybe, we have a similar laugh and smile and our life stories are scary similar actually. Anyway the drive home that night was pretty rough, many tears were shed, Sister Nowell was remembering how she has already one home once and how she never had that experience, while I on the other hand let my emotions get the best of me and realized I have only been in Oregon for 2 months and that I still have so much time left, but no need to fear, we are both doing a 100% better. We are pretty sure Sister Harker sent a picture home, so if she did you can probably zoom up and see the tear streaked cheeks. When we got home we ate ice cream to help with our emotional breakdown and to celebrate Sister Nowell's 7 month mark, we then had an awesome companionship inventory where we were able to set goals and make plans to increase our missionary efforts in our area and it was really good for the both of us. I am seriously so blessed to have Sister Nowell as my companion and trainer, I don't know what I would be doing without her.
We always have district meeting and New Missionary Training, or how Sister Nowell calls it, New Missionary Torture on Fridays. Next week we have interviews with President Russell which is really exciting! It is always really good to come together as a zone to be able to talk about our successes and things that we need to work on. Our district right now is just Sister Nowell and I then the Elders in our Ward. So we spent some time in district meeting how we can help our Ward become more missionary minded. Hopefully we can take these ideas to heart and begin to see change in our Ward, change is a word that our Ward isn't liking at the moment.
While we were out we heard about a family that are members who live right across the street from one of our investigators! Well come to find out the husband isn't a member, he has been coming to church every week for 20 years and he isn't a member of our church. Sister Nowell and I were baffled! So what did we do? Schedule a time that we can come back and have a family home evening with their family! Maybe he is his own kind of Brigham Young and it is just going to be a long time before he becomes a member, but we have a lot of hope and are excited to meet with them!
Let me just tell you how awesome the Ward members are here. On Friday Sister Nowell and I realized we didn't have a dinner scheduled, which is fine we just planned on going to our apartment. Well part way through the day we got a text from Sister Harker inviting us to dinner. She is an amazing woman and is always looking out for us as missionaries. So we were able to eat with the Harker's which was fun because their daughter Emily just got home so we got to hear a lot about Mongolia. It was really cool to see what missionary work is like there and how the gospel really is spreading. Well after dinner Emily told us that she wanted to give us traditional Mongolian Candy, and told us not to smell it before we ate it, this should have been a red flag. Well this stuff is called Aruul, and I thought I was going to vomit. After a few minutes Emily told us we could spit it out and I was gagging in their kitchen, so gross. And for the rest of the night I could still taste it faintly, what is this candy you might ask? It is curdled goats milk that has been dried. What happened to normal Candy like chocolate? I don't know but all that I can say is that I have been cultured this week.
In Relief Society on Sunday we were looking at the talk called "Opposition in All Things" by Dallin H. Oaks this last General Conference. This was a beautiful talk and I invite everyone to read it, but I am going to share some of my favorite parts. In the talk it talks about in 2 Nephi 2:11: For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things... It talks about the Plan of Salvation and the Fall of Adam, and Elder Oaks does a much better job then I ever would on this subject. But at the end he begins to tie it back to our life on Earth by saying-
All of us experience various kinds of opposition that test us. Some of these tests are temptations to sin. Some are mortal challenges apart from personal sin. Some are very great. Some are minor. Some are continuous, and some are mere episodes. None of us is exempt. Opposition permits us to grow toward what our Heavenly Father would have us become.
Further in the talk he gives this quote.
President Thomas S. Monson explained:
“Some of you may at times have cried out in your suffering, wondering why our Heavenly Father would allow you to go through whatever trials you are facing. …Our mortal life, however, was never meant to be easy or consistently pleasant. Our Heavenly Father … knows that we learn and grow and become refined through hard challenges, heartbreaking sorrows, and difficult choices. Each one of us experiences dark days when our loved ones pass away, painful times when our health is lost, feelings of being forsaken when those we love seem to have abandoned us. These and other trials present us with the real test of our ability to endure.”
This reminds me of a saying that my dad says a lot, "Remember who you are and what I stand for" although after last conference my dad picked up on the saying, " Remember who you are and what God expects you to become," from President Monson. As we are able to see the opposition that we are faced with everyday, it is important to remember that we are children of God! And that our Heavenly Father loves us more then we can ever imagine. He gives us opposition for a reason and that is to test us so we can grow closer to him. Heavenly Father NEVER gives us trials that we can not handle and I know that as we turn to him during those trials in our life that we can become who our Heavenly Father EXPECTS us to become.
In Gospel Principles this week we had a lesson on Missionary Work, our favorite thing to talk about as missionaries! We had a great discussion going on and one of the members in the class talked about how a lot of time as missionaries you are here to plant a lot of seeds, and then you just have to wait for the rain to come and that is when the harvesting comes to play. Recently in Roseburg we have been having a hard time finding new people to teach, we have been tracting and tracting and nothing has come from it. But when this member talked about his conversion story it gave me hope. When he was investigating the church, he had been given a Book of Mormon 5 years before hand! Then he finally decided to let the missionaries in. Everyone takes time and right now we might be planting a lot of seeds. Another member gave a comment about her father who works in the forest department here in Oregon. She gave the idea of 25,50,25. Out of 100 trees being planted, 25 of the trees will grow on their own, and they will be able to flourish and be happy the rest of their lives. Then there is 50 that will just die, no matter what you try to do to save those trees there are going to be some that can't do it. Then there will be the remaining 25 trees that as you nurture them, water them and prune them, they will be able to eventually grow and become the trees we know that they can become. So goes missionary work. As we are able to find those people that can use our help in growing their testimonies we can strengthen them and help them find the happiness in their lives that they have been searching for.
This week was a really hard week for me, but I know that my Heavenly Father is watching out for me and that in the end there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that life is not supposed to be easy. As we go through out our weeks we should be sure to watch for the tender mercies that our Heavenly Father is blessing us with. I love you all so much and thank you for everything that you do including your prayers, I know that I need them all of the time. Have a great wee
Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,
Sister Harrison
Last Monday was the BEST P-day. Sister Siepert in our Ward took Sister Nowell and I, along with Sister T (I don't know her last name, she's from Samoa) and Sister Payne who are in our zone, to Wildlife Safari! To all of you reading this email you may not understand how excited I got about this adventure that we were able to go on, the night before this excursion I was wide awake at 10:30 pm yelling at Sister Nowell, I was like a child on Christmas morning. Anyway for those of you unfortunate souls who do not know what Wildlife Safari is, it's a zoo! But not an ordinary zoo, it's a drive through zoo. So you sit in your car and are able to see all of the animals right up close and personal, it is so awesome! The major rule is you have to stay in your car, other then that you can roll down your windows, wear no seat belts and have a party! We were able to see elephants, camels, alligators, cheetahs, zebras, hippos, deer, elk,giraffes and even a Rhino. Seriously when I come back to see my mission after I go home, this is a place I will have to come back to. The only downside was its really dry right now so a lot of everything was dead but come back in the spring time and it will be awesome. Anyway there are a few couple of epic parts in this wildlife tour, one of which you can buy a cup of food and feed it to the deer that you see, ummm this was so fun. But guess what is also by the deer. The Emu. If you do not know what and Emu is go right now and look up a picture, better yet look up a YouTube video of them running. They are like prehistoric creatures in real time, and they are SO ugly. Well the Emus also really wanted to be fed, but they are bigger creatures and would try to put their heads in our car. Not cool Emu. Well at one point Sister Payne wasn't paying attention and an Emu came from behind the car and bit her arm! She screamed and her iPad went flying and she landed in my lap! Her iPad ended up hitting her lip and she started bleeding, don't worry by the end we were all laughing and just wishing that we would have gotten it on video. Another fun part was at the end of the safari ride you can go to the village and walk around, here they have a gift shop, restrooms and more animals to look at. They have a bird aviary where you can go inside and get a stick with bird seed on the end and feed the birds, Sister Nowell was able to get two birds at once, it was pretty cool. I on the other hand was freaking out at the birds flying around my head, a couple of birds tried to land on my finger and I would scream, obviously me and birds don't get along very well. We were so thankful to Sister Siepert and her willingness to take us, seriously it was a blast. One of the best parts at the very end was that one of our progressing investigators, Vickie, works at Wildlife Safari! So when we went to the gift shop we were able to say hi to her and really surprised her actually, but later we found out if we would've told her we were coming she would have gotten us in to feed the giraffes for free. Oh well, maybe next time!
We have a less active in our Ward and her name is Candy. Candy was baptized into the church a couple of years ago, she has some mental handicaps and it makes it very hard to teach her sometimes, she also has been through a lot of different trials in her life that have made it so she is a very sensitive person. Well this last week Candy got a phone, and since then she has been calling us once, twice, maybe even three times in a day. When I first came into the area we were teaching Candy once a week, but she wasn't keeping any of our commitments we left with her so we stopped going and seeing her. Well now she is calling us and leaving messages on our phone saying that we hate her and that we have forgotten about her. This has began to make Sister Nowell and I pretty frustrated, I am really trying to learn patience with Candy. Today we went over there to talk to her and she expressed that she felt like no one knew her at church, she did come to church on Sunday to our surprise. We then told her, in a nice way, that if you came to church you would know more of the people and more of the people would know you. The problem in our Ward right now is that everyone is burnt out from Candy, she is sort of a handful. Anyway as we kept talking Candy talked about how she really liked coming to the Mormon church that it teaches her a lot for her lessons. We being confused tried to get her to explain more. Come to find out that Candy has started going to another church down the road, one that gives out free donuts. But this church found out that she went to the LDS church this last Sunday, and they are now taking a sort of disciplinary action on it and she has to give a talk of some sort, but she is using the things that she learns from our church and talking about it to the other. Sister Nowell and I didn't know how to respond. We then asked her why she had to give this talk, then after lying to us 3 times she told us she had been baptized in that church. Wow. We then asked her why, and she didn't really ever give us a real reason. We were able to talk to her about baptism and the priesthood but I am not really sure what Candy was thinking that whole time. We don't really know what is going to come from that situation, so who knows.
So I talked about an awesome homecoming talk that we had last week in church, well we were able to have dinner at their home on Tuesday! They are amazing, seriously missionary work driven people. While at their house we talked about everything, from members in our Ward, to what we could do better as missionaries even down to dating life when we get home. The Oshitas are amazing people, they are getting ready to move right now and then they are planning on going on another mission. They are truly dedicated to serving. At one point Sister Oshita made a comment about if everyone in the church treated every calling they receive like a mission call, that the church would have more enthusiasm for all the work that has to be done. I loved this concept and it made me think about my own life and the attitude that I have had towards certain callings and I know that if I put that attitude towards all my callings in my life that I will be able to gain more from all of those experiences. It is important that we all remember and try to magnify our callings. The Oshitas also talked a lot about how it is important to focus on our successes more then our failures. So many times in our missionary lives we have doors slammed in our faces and people that tell us they no longer want to be taught. But as we focus on the people who are building their faith in Jesus Christ and the people that are keeping commitments, it will make my mission so much more enjoyable. And I will see success. After Sister Nowell and I left their home I truly felt like I was on a spiritual high, like I could take on the world!
We had dinner with the Rynearsons and taught them a lesson about temple work and genealogy. Cameron, our recent baptism, wasn't able to be there because he is spending some time with his Mom before school starts. But because his dad Ron was just baptized in February we were able to have this lesson with him. We talked about their upcoming trip to the temple, because Ron and Cameron are going to the temple for the first time for a youth trip to do baptisms in a couple of weeks. We talked about preparing to bring family names and the blessings that come from doing your families temple work. President Monson has said:
In my own family, some of our most sacred and treasured experiences have occurred when we have joined together in the temple to perform sealing ordinances for our deceased ancestors.
And in my mind it isn't just sealing ordinances that he was talking about, I know the times that I have gone with my family to do any temple work has been a really special time and it has strengthen the relationship that I have with my family. I am so excited for the Rynearson's to have those blessings. We also brought up preparing to go through the temple then preparing to also be sealed together as a family. Sister Nowell and I were then able to bear testimonies about our own families. We both have very different situations, her family is all adopted and now sealed together and I come from a family where my parents were divorced. But in both situations we were able to talk about how much temples have blessed us and given us strength through out our lives. I LOVE THE TEMPLE.
Sister Nowell has been having a hard time sleeping at night this week, and it all of a sudden hits her about 4 pm- which is known in the not mission world as nap time. We were driving out to the boonies on Wednesday and she almost fell asleep TWICE! I offered to drive, there are some things that she doesn't even remember talking about. Thank goodness Heavenly Father protects his missionaries. Once we got back to town we went and got a Coke and fries because we saw that it was just very necessary.
We were able to have a lesson with Vickie on the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an emphasis on Faith. We asked Vickie what she believed faith was and she was able to give an excellent answer about how when you have faith you believe in something, we then talked about that we are never given trials in our life that we can't handle, and that as we move forward in faith we are able to grow closer to our Heavenly Father. We talked about how faith leads to action, and one act that Vickie needs to make is coming to church. We were able to talk about some of the fears that she may be having and were able to dispel those feelings. She made the goal to come to church on September 11th, because she works the next couple of weeks. Coming to church is something that Vickie has never been able to do. She has been taught for over 2 years and it hasn't happened yet. Since I have been in the area the biggest excuse that she gives us is she has to work on Sunday's. Well Sister Nowell and I have really been praying that she could some how come to church, and we have asked Vickie to pray as well, sure enough Heavenly Father answered our prayers. Vickie was able to get a new job, a job that she has been trying to get for years, which will have her working Monday through Friday. Heavenly Father knows where we are at in our lives and is ready to bless us at any time, we just need to be willing to ask in prayer. As we finished teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ we turned everything back to faith. We really feel like Vickie is finally connecting the dots between things we are teaching her and things that missionaries in the past have taught her. Her success and progress that she shows us every lesson we have with her is truly amazing.
The Harker's welcomed their daughter home from Mongolia on Thursday from her mission. Sister Nowell and I have known about this for over a month now, and we were genuinely excited to go, Sister Harker invited us to be there so her daughter would have some of her own people there, aka missionaries, when they pulled up. Well when Sister Nowell and I got there it was like the whole Ward was there, they were all very excited just waiting for the Harkers to come. Well Sister Siepert saw us and talked to us for a few minutes and asked us if it was hard for us to be there. We looked at each other and really hadn't thought about that at all, we just thought it was like anything else, just like a social gathering. Boy were we wrong. (Side note: There was also a sister there who served in this mission and went home 6 months ago! Roseburg was the place where she started out just like me, and her little sister is going to Riverside, California on her mission the same day Dallin goes into the MTC! It's such a small world.) Right as the Harkers pulled up Emily got out of the car and there was cheering and clapping and she had many tears of joy, well Sister Nowell and I got super teary eyed and suddenly we realized these were not tears of joy. We wanted to leave right away but because Sister Harker, since I have come to Roseburg, has told me that her daughter and I are twins she told us we couldn't leave until we got a picture. So we waited and finally got a picture. The only normal part of the whole evening was when we were actually able to talk to the daughter, Emily, it was like we were talking to another of our kind, she is seriously great. We look like we could some how be related, maybe, we have a similar laugh and smile and our life stories are scary similar actually. Anyway the drive home that night was pretty rough, many tears were shed, Sister Nowell was remembering how she has already one home once and how she never had that experience, while I on the other hand let my emotions get the best of me and realized I have only been in Oregon for 2 months and that I still have so much time left, but no need to fear, we are both doing a 100% better. We are pretty sure Sister Harker sent a picture home, so if she did you can probably zoom up and see the tear streaked cheeks. When we got home we ate ice cream to help with our emotional breakdown and to celebrate Sister Nowell's 7 month mark, we then had an awesome companionship inventory where we were able to set goals and make plans to increase our missionary efforts in our area and it was really good for the both of us. I am seriously so blessed to have Sister Nowell as my companion and trainer, I don't know what I would be doing without her.
We always have district meeting and New Missionary Training, or how Sister Nowell calls it, New Missionary Torture on Fridays. Next week we have interviews with President Russell which is really exciting! It is always really good to come together as a zone to be able to talk about our successes and things that we need to work on. Our district right now is just Sister Nowell and I then the Elders in our Ward. So we spent some time in district meeting how we can help our Ward become more missionary minded. Hopefully we can take these ideas to heart and begin to see change in our Ward, change is a word that our Ward isn't liking at the moment.
While we were out we heard about a family that are members who live right across the street from one of our investigators! Well come to find out the husband isn't a member, he has been coming to church every week for 20 years and he isn't a member of our church. Sister Nowell and I were baffled! So what did we do? Schedule a time that we can come back and have a family home evening with their family! Maybe he is his own kind of Brigham Young and it is just going to be a long time before he becomes a member, but we have a lot of hope and are excited to meet with them!
Let me just tell you how awesome the Ward members are here. On Friday Sister Nowell and I realized we didn't have a dinner scheduled, which is fine we just planned on going to our apartment. Well part way through the day we got a text from Sister Harker inviting us to dinner. She is an amazing woman and is always looking out for us as missionaries. So we were able to eat with the Harker's which was fun because their daughter Emily just got home so we got to hear a lot about Mongolia. It was really cool to see what missionary work is like there and how the gospel really is spreading. Well after dinner Emily told us that she wanted to give us traditional Mongolian Candy, and told us not to smell it before we ate it, this should have been a red flag. Well this stuff is called Aruul, and I thought I was going to vomit. After a few minutes Emily told us we could spit it out and I was gagging in their kitchen, so gross. And for the rest of the night I could still taste it faintly, what is this candy you might ask? It is curdled goats milk that has been dried. What happened to normal Candy like chocolate? I don't know but all that I can say is that I have been cultured this week.
In Relief Society on Sunday we were looking at the talk called "Opposition in All Things" by Dallin H. Oaks this last General Conference. This was a beautiful talk and I invite everyone to read it, but I am going to share some of my favorite parts. In the talk it talks about in 2 Nephi 2:11: For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things... It talks about the Plan of Salvation and the Fall of Adam, and Elder Oaks does a much better job then I ever would on this subject. But at the end he begins to tie it back to our life on Earth by saying-
All of us experience various kinds of opposition that test us. Some of these tests are temptations to sin. Some are mortal challenges apart from personal sin. Some are very great. Some are minor. Some are continuous, and some are mere episodes. None of us is exempt. Opposition permits us to grow toward what our Heavenly Father would have us become.
Further in the talk he gives this quote.
President Thomas S. Monson explained:
“Some of you may at times have cried out in your suffering, wondering why our Heavenly Father would allow you to go through whatever trials you are facing. …Our mortal life, however, was never meant to be easy or consistently pleasant. Our Heavenly Father … knows that we learn and grow and become refined through hard challenges, heartbreaking sorrows, and difficult choices. Each one of us experiences dark days when our loved ones pass away, painful times when our health is lost, feelings of being forsaken when those we love seem to have abandoned us. These and other trials present us with the real test of our ability to endure.”
This reminds me of a saying that my dad says a lot, "Remember who you are and what I stand for" although after last conference my dad picked up on the saying, " Remember who you are and what God expects you to become," from President Monson. As we are able to see the opposition that we are faced with everyday, it is important to remember that we are children of God! And that our Heavenly Father loves us more then we can ever imagine. He gives us opposition for a reason and that is to test us so we can grow closer to him. Heavenly Father NEVER gives us trials that we can not handle and I know that as we turn to him during those trials in our life that we can become who our Heavenly Father EXPECTS us to become.
In Gospel Principles this week we had a lesson on Missionary Work, our favorite thing to talk about as missionaries! We had a great discussion going on and one of the members in the class talked about how a lot of time as missionaries you are here to plant a lot of seeds, and then you just have to wait for the rain to come and that is when the harvesting comes to play. Recently in Roseburg we have been having a hard time finding new people to teach, we have been tracting and tracting and nothing has come from it. But when this member talked about his conversion story it gave me hope. When he was investigating the church, he had been given a Book of Mormon 5 years before hand! Then he finally decided to let the missionaries in. Everyone takes time and right now we might be planting a lot of seeds. Another member gave a comment about her father who works in the forest department here in Oregon. She gave the idea of 25,50,25. Out of 100 trees being planted, 25 of the trees will grow on their own, and they will be able to flourish and be happy the rest of their lives. Then there is 50 that will just die, no matter what you try to do to save those trees there are going to be some that can't do it. Then there will be the remaining 25 trees that as you nurture them, water them and prune them, they will be able to eventually grow and become the trees we know that they can become. So goes missionary work. As we are able to find those people that can use our help in growing their testimonies we can strengthen them and help them find the happiness in their lives that they have been searching for.
This week was a really hard week for me, but I know that my Heavenly Father is watching out for me and that in the end there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that life is not supposed to be easy. As we go through out our weeks we should be sure to watch for the tender mercies that our Heavenly Father is blessing us with. I love you all so much and thank you for everything that you do including your prayers, I know that I need them all of the time. Have a great wee
Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,
Sister Harrison
Sister T, me, Sister Payne and Sister Nowell at Wildlife Safari this last week 
Yes Sister Nowell and I are matching, we couldn't decide
what to wear so this is what happened, same skirt and stripes.
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