Welcome to Brookings

November 14, 2016

This week has been so great, I can not even tell you how much I am loving Brookings, it is so beautiful here. It is really weird because one moment you will see trees, trees and more trees and a bunch of deer then you turn the corner and there is the ocean. This is very much not so Southern California, but I am loving it. One day this week Sister Datwyler and I had some free time and I hadn't been to the beach yet so we went to Harris beach here in town and it was amazing. Seriously coming back here someday and visiting. Sister Dat was saying that during the summer this place is packed but now since it is getting to winter time it is truly slowing down, it is kind of nice. On thing that you need to know about Brookings is that there are a TON of old people here. But there are also a lot of religious people. The other day someone told me that in this little town that there are 20 different churches, that is pretty hard to believe since there is really only one grocery store, lol. But I am seriously loving it here so much, and I love Sister Datwyler, she is from Sandy, Utah. She was in the MTC with me so we already loved each other before we were companions together. And I know what a lot of you are thinking right now, man Sister Harrison has served with everyone she was in the MTC with! And yes you would be correct on that one, people just keep telling me that President Russell must have confidence in us, I guess that is a good thing! The other day he called us the day after transfers and told us to keep the fire burning in Brookings, he said that he would like to pay for fire insurance on the mission home because of the fire he sees down here, lol it is going to be a great transfer. Although this will be a short one because it is only 5 weeks long!

So Monday was a crazy day, I would like to apologize for the short emails that I sent, I was literally in the car all day. Brookings is basically isolation for missionaries. The closest missionaries to us down here is a senior couple in Port Orford which is an hour away, so they come down once a week for district meeting but that is about it. I rode the transfer van from Roseburg down the Grants Pass Oregon, I was literally the only sister on the van, how awkward. I wrote letters the entire time, Elders can be crazy sometimes. So you could say once I got off the van and saw Sister Datwyler I was pretty excited. We waited in the Walmart parking lot for a couple of hours with some missionaries who were being transferred north. Once we were able to leave it was a 2 hours from Grants Pass to Brookings, but man it was a BEAUTIFUL drive. I have a time lapse of it, I should have recorded more but it was so pretty. It was a really windy road so people were offering me motion sickness pills and everything. But I just emailed and slept, it was kind of nice. Apparently, there are car accidents all the time on that road because of crazy drivers, luckily I had no anxiety over that because no one told me until after the fact. Also the drive is really cool because we drive into California a little bit! So weird, I was in a different state this last week! But in actuality Brookings is right on the border from California, so that is strange. We had recent converts drive us to the transfer spot and they are the Sheffels, Sister Sheffel has almost been a member for a year and Brother Sheffel for 6 months, they are AMAZING! And they are going to the temple for the first time the Saturday after Thanksgiving to do baptisms, Sister Dat wants to talk to President to see if we could go, if so that will be awesome! I am sure you will hear a lot more about them because apparently we see them a lot. On Monday night when we got back to Brookings we went straight to grocery shopping and finishing sending emails. Then we went to dinner and we had family home evening with some investigator, the Applebakers! The mom is Jessica then she has two daughters, Emily and Stephanie. And Stephanie was actually baptized only the Saturday before I came! She is awesome! And Jessica and Emily are on date for the beginning of December, they are so ready and they really are just a great family.

On Tuesday we went and did service for a lady named Barbra, she is so great! She isn't interested in joining our church but has a hard time doing things on her own so we help her with the little things. Like this week we helped her bake cookies for her church gathering this last week, lol. But they were so good! They were cinnamon chip raisin. She gave Sister Dat and I a bunch of them to take home, don't worry they are already gone. But she loves for us to share a little message centered on Christ so I was able to share from the Book of Mormon Alma 26 when it talks about:

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boastof my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I love love love this scripture, and I studied it the morning that we went to go see Barbra. It is important that when things are going good in our lie that we are able to turn to our God and thank him for all the things that he has given us. I love the Book of Mormon, seriously, you should see me talk about it in the mornings. Sister Dat is always laughing at me. But in all seriousness the Book of Mormon is the word of God and we can grow closer to our Heavenly Father everyday as we continue to study from it. 

We also went to go see this lady named Angie this last week who has received all of the missionary lessons then every time it comes to her being baptized something comes up. Well when we went and visited her she talked about how she wanted to figure out the information so someone could do baptism work for him in the temple... so then we had to explain that it is important to be baptized on this earth and everything, it was a really interesting conversation. Hopefully we meet with her this week so we can put her back on date for baptism!

There is this girl named Kaylee who is 14 and has been coming to church and has received all of the missionary discussions. But her mom won't let her be baptized. In church on Sunday instead of doing a Wednesday Night Young Women in Excellence the young women in the ward did a sacrament program, it was amazing. And Kaylee even spoke in it! So this week we were able to actually meet with Kaylee and her mom. And Sister Dat and I were actually planning on having a full blown lesson with them but every time we tried to we just didn't feel like it was right. We did a little bit of how to begin teaching and actually the most lesson stuff that happened was from Kaylee herself. So when we saw Kaylee at church yesterday we asked her how she thought that her mom took the meeting and actually it was pretty positive! She said that she was glad that we weren't so preachy the first time meeting here and that we actually seemed like normal humans (I know... Sister Dat and I are for sure not normal!). But we were so glad that we were able to follow that small prompting. Hopefully Kaylee will be able to be baptized, she is right now on date for December 23!

On Friday this week Sister Dat and I realized that we had been teaching a lot of lessons this week but that we really needed to go out and try to find some new investigators. So we drove down to Harbor, basically south Brookings and we picked the street Bay View Drive (because you know I am Bai... Sister Bai). And it was pouring rain so bad but we kept going and no one was letting us in, until we went to this one house. When she turn on her porch light there was a bamboo plant covered in Christmas Lights! It was beautiful! And when she opened the door she automatically let us in, which we thought was weird because usually only members let us in. Anyway we start getting to know her and she actually has a lot of family ties that are LDS and she told us that we surely do Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk. So then we told her that our purpose as missionaries is to help people learn How to Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk and guess what? We got a lesson with her scheduled this next week! Her name is Ginny and I am so excited about it!

On Friday we went to this place called Fat Irish Pub with the senior couple from Port Orford after district meeting and I had the BEST clam chowder bowl. Seriously my mouth is watering just thinking about it. And I had fish tacos last night for dinner and I didn't even vomit. I actually really liked it! So I think this Sister Missionary is beginning to like fish, weird right?

Also there is a family in the Brookings ward that has a bird named Bailey... but he is a he. And so that was weird. They kept calling for Bailey and I kept turning around... oops!

Someone told me that in Brookings I wouldn't get a lot of rain compared to Roseburg, but then someone down here told me that is it supposed to be a wet winter. It has rained every single day since I have been here. So theres that! I am seriously loving it, except for when the wind starts picking up, then it is not my favorite.

Okay folks this is all for now, I am loving the Celestial Part of the mission and I am sure I will have a lot to report on for next week. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,

Sister Harrison

 

 Sister Dat and I!

Sister Dat got a little too close to me and wow it actually turned cute!

 Hey Look! It's ME

 Da Beach!

 It's green all around the beach and I found flowers, it was seriously so beautiful!

 

 Harris Beach

 The Story of the Glitter?

Creepy Cat

Headed to the Celestial Part of the Mission: Brookings!!!

November 7, 2016

Well this week has been a long one. I didn't write about the transfer today because I will write about it next week. But I love you all! Thanks for all the emails, sorry this email was sent late but I hope everyone gets it!!

Sister Rhoton and I really celebrated Halloween with a bang. After we were able to finish emailing our families we went to the pumpkin patch to hurry and find a pumpkin for a pumpkin casserole that Sister Rhoton and her family always make for Halloween. We had to go to the pumpkin patch because we went to Walmart and they had NO pumpkins! We were like where are the pumpkins and they were like oh we have no more, you are a little late. So we drove out to the pumpkin patch with 30 minutes left of P day to score a great Pumpkin. We named him Pete and put him in the oven. Also as we were carving pumpkins as a Zone Sister Rhoton and I collected all of the pumpkin seeds because you know, they are delicious. Well when we went to leave our pumpkin seeds were gone with a note saying, "Thanks for the pumpkin seeds, God bless." We were so mad. We left the church and called the Elders who told us they hid them in the janitors closet. Sometimes I wish Elders would act like missionaries. So hopefully the pumpkin seeds can last a day in the janitors closet.

When Sister Rhoton and I came back to our apartment we saw a package sitting on our door full of Halloween treats! Halloween sure treated us well this year as missionaries and we had a great time studying in our apartment. It was weird to sit in our apartment and not be out doing work, I got really restless at times, don't worry we had our Mormon Tabernacle Choir pumped up. It felt a little like Christmas instead of Halloween. Surprisingly no little kids came and knocked on our door, from what I have heard trick or treating isn't very common in a lot of neighborhoods in Roseburg, which to me is crazy. But it was a very nice quite night.

This week at UCAN I was able to get my hydroflask water bottle for serving there long enough. I was so excited. I am so grateful for UCAN and the services they provide. Also Sister Rhoton and I sorted probably literally a ton of kiwis. Our backs hurt so bad we came home and during our lunch hour we just laid on the ground, it was great.

We had dinner at a members home this week and it was HUGE. They have 8 kids and they literally live off of a gravel road a mile away from the main road. They have a pond with canoes and a paddle boat. Also their house was beautiful, it had sort of a vintage feel and I loved it. Seriously I should've taken pictures. Also they had 3 puppies just running around. I wouldn't mind living there, Sister Rhoton and I decided that we were moving in.

So on Wednesday we had a big meeting up in Eugene at 9 o'clock in the morning. Half the mission was getting together for this meeting, which never happens, and literally no one knew what it was about except President Russell, so that was terrifying. But it ended up being amazing. President Russell made a few announcements including that in the transfer happening this week there will be missionaries in almost every Ward in the mission which is awesome! Also, we are now going to have interviews every 6 weeks with President Russell, which is awesome because it used to be quarterly. But another sad peace of news was that our temples trips are being changed from quarterly to every 6 months, sad. And we got a new Assistant to the President! There was a lot of announcements, but altogether the meeting was great. We first talked about the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and how that is our message, and as we focus our message on Christ we will be more successful. We were asked to read Alma 39 for this meeting and a talk about Self Mastery by James E Faust. The main part of the meeting was about Virtue and President Russell talked about how he had received an answer to prayer about how our mission can baptize more and find success. And that is becoming our own self masters by being obedient and working hard. It was really inspiring honestly. I know that President Russell is an inspired man and that a lot of missionaries in that room needed that message. Also he played the whole part from Mulan when they sing "I'll make a man out of you" we didn't complain, although it was weird watching it in the chapel.

So you all know the videos that the church puts out around Christmas and Easter right? Well this week at our meeting we were able to see the video that the church is putting out for Christmas just wait until you see it. The initiative is called Light the World. Sharing Christs light with everyone around us. President Russell told us that they are making an advent calendar for LDS.org and on There members of the church will be given ways every day of December to share the gospel. We as missionaries are so so so excited about this, we have already received pass along cards and we will have the video on our iPads starting November 25th, so watch out for it!

One of the best parts about going to this meeting was we rode with the Sister Training Leaders so I got to sleep in the back seat instead of driving, it was fabulous. Also we went to this place for lunch called Cafe Yum in Eugene, and everyone says that it is so delicious, yeah Sister Rhoton and I didn't like it. It also made us sick.

But really the happiest part of the meeting was seeing SISTER NOWELL, when she saw me she hugged me for like 3 minutes and started crying. I love her so much, I hope that we get to serve together sometime in the future!

We helped the young woman sew a bunch of pillow cases for the Samaritan Inn here in town. The Samaritan Inn is a homeless shelter in town for women and children who have usually been in bad situations. Last week Sister Rhoton and I went there because an investigator that we have moved in there, well we quickly found out that the Samaritan Inn does not like missionaries. So we quickly left kind of scared, Sister Rhoton says that Satan is the head of the Inn. But the young women are doing service for them. So we decided to help the young women and then we will go with them to deliver the cases, we thought it was a brilliant idea and in this case we will have them as back up!

So after the meeting with President Russell every set of missionaries got a new phone replacing the cell phones that we have now. Apparently the mission used to use Sprint as the wireless carrier and now they are switching to AT&T. Well when our Zone Leaders were passing out the phones they realized that they didn't have one for us. They then asked the Elder in charge and he looked at the list he received from the Assistants and it said no where on the list Melrose Sisters. This then put Sister Rhoton and I into a panic thinking that we were going to be transferred, which might happen. With new missionaries being brought into more wards we could be moved! We were freaking out until while sewing pillow cases Sister Harker told us that being on a mission means you aren't supposed to get comfortable, you are supposed to move around and find new people, so whatever happens, happens! We are excited, still a little scared, but excited!

So for rescue night this week Sister Rhoton and I were able to attend a self defense class. The relief society President had been telling us that we had to go as missionaries, so we invited a bunch of less actives to come along as well, and it was actually really fun! They had soup for dinner and then a man came from a martial arts studio here in town. Sister Rhoton and I were able to learn some easy facts to staying safe, also there was a drawing to win pepper spray, but we didn't win, too bad!

Once upon a time this week Sister Rhoton and I were driving and decided to go tract an apartment complex that we hadn't seen before. As we were tracting we found one man who said he would love to talk to us but he was busy so we set an appointment with him, feeling pretty good we kept going and then we happened to come across people that the Elders happen to be teaching. Once we started talking to them we realized that the Elders had been focusing more on the mother then the daughter, and the daughter was the one we were talking to. As we talked we saw so much potential in her and she told us that she really didn't even know who Christ was. If we would've had more time we would've taught her more, but we didn't, so instead the Elders are going to start focusing on her. I love the spirit. Also this ladies little boy loves the Elders, he said that every time the Elders come over they cry (he's 3, his mom thinks he meant pray), the image of Elder Mafi and Elder Broshears crying in this lady's house is still funny to me.

On Friday we had our last Zone Training Meeting for the transfer and it was awesome. We read from 3 Nephi 11- the crowning event of the Book of Mormon, the moment when Christ himself appears in the Americas. I love reading this chapter over and over, it just testifies to me over and over again that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. This is also one of the many chapters that Christ declares his doctrine, faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I invite everyone to read this chapter, it is a great one. During our meeting we also talked about repentance and we talked about why we repent and why we as natural men don't repent. We also talked about the love of Christ, which includes our love for him and his love for us. At the end of Zone Training Meeting we went around the room and talked about a goal that all of us wanted to take away from this meeting to become better missionaries. I decided my goal is to make Christ be more in my work. To think of Christ right beside me as I go through out the day, to remember these are his sheep that I am gathering. I love missionary work and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here in the OEM.

After our meeting we had a Zone lunch where we came together to sign our transfer journals, basically missionary yearbooks. And as we were leaving the church I walked into a spider web, normal in Oregon, but what happened was the spider was climbing toward my face. So when I turned to Sister Rhoton she freaked out so I freaked out and dropped all my stuff and ran. It's fine. Had a heart attack, the Elders got a good laugh.

On a Friday a man in our Ward, Brother Benson, took us out to dinner. He took us to this yummy Chinese place in town called Chis, and then he took us to get frozen yogurt, you could say Sister Rhoton and I were stuffed by the end. But the crowning event was when Brother Benson gave us a group hug because we was sad that this could be his last dinner with him. Sister Rhoton and I had to hold ourselves back from having a freak out, it's fine.

So all Friday Sister Rhoton and I were waiting from a phone call from either President or the APs letting us know if we were being transferred or not. Well at one point I went into the bathroom and Sister Rhoton thought it would be funny to play Presidents ringtone. You could say I freaked out and didn't even wash my hands before coming out. She was then laughing hysterically so I smacked her with a pillow a few times and then threatened to pour water on her. I love our companionship.

We went and had a lesson with Sarah Goodfellow, mostly to tell her that we were leaving but to also get her to sign my transfer journal. She is doing so great. We were able to read with her 3 Nephi 11 and talked about Christ and how he has helped us through our trials. She asked a lot of questions about repentance, fasting and the Plan of salvation. Sister Rhoton and I were able to use our Plan of Salvation cut outs for the first time ever! It was awesome! We then got a picture with Sarah so I could remember her forever. I love being able to share the gospel and the happiness that it brings to me.

So Friday night we got a call from the Melrose Elders asking if we got a call from President about transfers yet, we told him no. Usually you only get a call on Friday if you are being called into leadership in the mission. Well he then told us to call the Sutherlin Sisters. So we called them and we found out that our area is being pink washed. So we found out early that Sister Rhoton and I are being transferred. Now we just have to wait for the call of where we are going to go. The wait is torture.

On Saturday Sister Rhoton and I got a call from Brother Benson in the morning and he offered to take us to breakfast, he was really sad to see us go. So he took us to Jack in the Box for breakfast, not my favorite but it was good to see him for one last time.

So for transfers our mission president has set aside the time on Saturday from 10-2 to pack and do laundry. Well we didn't get our transfer call until 3:30 on Saturday. We got the call and I found out that I am being transferred to Brookings! With Sister Datwyler who was in the MTC with me! I was so excited when I heard this news, she is really great, we are going to set Brookings on fire. Also for those of you Brookings is on the coast and from what I have heard it is beautiful. I will have pictures next week. But it is the celestial part of the mission because of the coast, so I am pretty dang excited!

Something that we have been doing for a dinner message lately has been sharing our plaque Scriptures and why that's the scripture we chose. My plaque scripture is Philippians 4:13- I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. This scripture has given me a lot of strength through out my mission. A saying that my family always says is we can do hard things, and I am so grateful for that. I never thought that a mission would be this hard, but because I have my Savior strengthening me, I am able to do anything that is put in my way. And boy am I grateful for that!

This weekend we were able to attend the both the Saturday night session and the Sunday session of stake conference in the Roseburg stake, and man was it a good one. Our mission president and his wife were also able to attend so that was a pretty cool experience. One of my favorite parts of the session was when President and Sister Russell were asked by the presiding authority to teach about how we can share the gospel in our everyday lives. Well they got up and decided to do a role play in front of the congregation, and man it was hilarious, but I think it was something this area needed. Sharing the gospel sounds like a very scary thing, but when it comes down to it, it is something that can be done in every day conversation. And that is exactly what President and Sister Russell demonstrated. I was grateful for the opportunity to attend both sessions, they were told on the session that Roseburg has the potential to have 2 stakes in the area, and I believe in that too! I am really going to miss Roseburg and everybody in it.

Well the rest of my time spent in Roseburg sure was great, I spent a lot of time saying goodbye to all the people that I love so much. I am so grateful for my mission and everything that I am learning, it is not easy but it is worth it. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,

Sister Harrison

 The Haka

In the OEM we lift!

Headed to the Pumpkin Patch

We found the

 Emily Harker was teaching us some Mongolian!

 We went to café yum because everyone kept talking about it, yeah it wasn't that great and it actually made us feel sick. It's fine we were still smiling by the end.

 Me and my momma! I love Sister Nowell so much, I couldn't leave with out a picture.

 The silly picture of the Roseburg Zone

The normal picture of the Roseburg zone.

The one time that Brother Benson took us out to frozen yogurt, yum yum yum

 Just hanging out in Walmart with Sister Dat.

 Aren't we so cute?

 The pumpkin before the baking.

 Pete after he had been baked, I have to say, it was pretty good.

 I was apprehensive but... it was delicious.

We had to take a selfie at the pumpkin patch!

We were a little spoiled this Halloween!

Happy Halloween

Oct 31, 2016

Well this week was a pretty good week, it had its ups and downs just like every other week, but I know that is life and this is how it is supposed to be. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father who continues to bless me everyday with the knowledge that I am a daughter of my loving Heavenly Father. Yesterday during a dinner message we showed the Mormon Message entitled, Our True Identity, in this video it has Dieter F Uchtdorf telling the story of the ugly duckling, a story that we all know and love. And during the video it talks about when we realize who we are and where we come from that we will feel love in our heart overflow. At the end of the video we bore testimony of this truth as we always do and I remembered a quote that my Dad always says at home. He used to say, "Remember who you are and what I stand for." Well my dad decided to change that when he heard President Monson say, "Remember who you are and what God expects you to become." Heavenly FAther gives us the challenges in life not so we fall, but so that we can be built stronger, to what he wants for us. So even though this week wasn't a picture perfect week, it was a successful one!

Well when Sister Rhoton and I finished Pday last week we went to dinner at a families home in our ward named the Oshitas, and I love them so much. They are the people that I am pretty sure will become general authorities one day. Anyway they have a daughter that has recently come to live with them and she is so great. Apparently she was inactive for awhile which honestly I couldn't tell. I want to take her out on lessons with us she is so great. The first thing that she had us do when we walked in was write out favorite scriptures on a chalk board for her room. She then thought that we were so crafty so she decided to pull out some knitting and told us to teach her how to knit. Well, I haven't knitted in a long time, so we took some yarn home and we are still working on it. If you have any tips please let us know. Anyway after dinner we felt spiritually uplifted from the Oshitas so we went out and started tracting even though it was very cold. Well we found a new investigator! She is one that says that she is going on a mission soon to South Africa sometime soon and asked us if Utah has any good land. We asked her if she had ever talked to Mormon Missionaries before and she then told us that she doesn't really believe in their lifestyle... apparently she didn't realize we were Mormons. But we got a return appointment with her! She wants to study the bible, and we asked if we studied the bible with her if we could study the Book of Mormon too, she said sure! When we went back she wasn't home, dang it. Well we will try again some other time I guess!

Another man this week told us that he has been doing some research and asked if we believe that Satan and Jesus are brothers, of course we said yes, he then began to tell us his beliefs while his wife literally came between us in the door way and told him to stop it. We might have walked away laughing, oops.

Sister Rhoton and I roughed it like true Oregonians this week and didn't wear a jacket, we will let you know if we end up sick from this adventure, lol.

I made the goal this week to finish the Book of Mormon before Christmas. I will literally have to be reading 3 chapters a day, which you know doesn't sound that bad, but as a missionary I take so much more time in the Book of Mormon then normal. So my lunch times will now have me reading the Book of Mormon, wish me luck. Also this week Sister Rhoton and I realized that we literally only have one more transfer then it is Christmas, crazy right?

This week we have suddenly come in contact with pictures of Elders in our Zone before the Mission. Well Sister Rhoton and I will randomly airdrop them to the Elders and it is seriously hilarious. We did it to this Elder named Elder Merkley. He has only been out for a transfer and when we sent it he was literally in shock and walked away and we thought he was crying. We felt so bad then suddenly he came back hysterically laughing. I am glad I was able to make his day instead of end it lol. This is a fun ritual that we may continue doing as people so us pictures from their past.

One day this week Sister Rhoton and I literally had 4 lessons planned and we were so excited to finally begin teaching again. The last couple of weeks has been a lot of finding. Well guess what. Every single one of those lessons some how got cancelled and we were left to finding again. But that is okay. The other day when President called us he suggested that we begin to teach the families in the ward. This way it will help us build a relationship with the families and once that relationship is built they will want us to teach their friends. This will also give Sister Rhoton and I some practice teaching people. It will basically be Role Plays in real life. I really hate Role Plays, so I am going to be positive, but I really would love to teach more people!

This week Sister Rhoton and I were so good about exercising. Usually we get up and moving around and maybe do some stretching. But this week we woke up right at 6:30 and went on a walk then did a 7 minute work out on the app. Seriously it made all the difference. We have also started doing calf raises as we brush our teeth, because you know our calfs are the only part of our body that people see on a daily basis. And we also tried doing squats while brushing our teeth, that one is a little harder, but it is good for us so we do it.

This week the Zollangers, a senior couple in our area. Came and checked our smoke detector in our apartment and when they walked into our apartment they couldn't stop commenting on how clean it was. And honestly we didn't think it was that great! But they told us about some of the missionary apartments that they had been in and they gave us a gold star, so we literally put a gold star sticker on our door. I don't like living in a messy house anyway.

This week we went and got our Plan of Salvation cut outs laminated and we dropped them off one day then picked them up the next. Well the general manager saw us both days and came up to us and gave a $5 off of $5 to help us with our spending habits, lol really we were just there to pick up our papers! But it was hilarious! So then we went and bought some sharpies with our coupon of course, he was a really nice guy and we gave him a Mormon.org card. Maybe he will get baptized some day.

This week for Rescue Night I went with a lady named Rayna Gausnell who is one of our Ward Missionaries. She is really great and we went to go visit some people. Well the first person we went and saw I didn't know they knew each other. So I literally stood there the whole time trying to get a word in and they just kept chatting which was fine. But the less active that we saw just got remarried and her husband isn't a member. But he went to his first week last week and he loved it! so we are going to have to keep trying to meet with him. We then went to go see Rayna's brother, who had just gotten home from a camping trip and he really wasn't very excited about her bringing over a Sister Missionary, so that was really awkward. Hopefully next week is better!

Well Sister Rhoton and I got a call on Friday Morning at 7:45 from a lady named Michelle Miller. We called Michelle just a few days before because we saw that she had been taught by missionaries before so we wanted to see if there was still interest. Well she called us very mad saying that every time she tries to call someone that it ends up in a 3 way call with us and a man named Fred Boyer. She then told us that Fred has the mind of a serial killer. That he was her neighbor and that he cut holes in her clothes, threw rocks at her car and said inappropriate comments. Well while she was telling us these things we realized we had knocked on this mans door when we were trying to find Michelle. He has the man that opened the little door and said, "No you can not speak to the wizard!" So then this really freaked Sister Rhoton and I out. But we are fine now. We rationalized all of it. But, you could say it was a weird phone call to get in the morning.

On Friday we had our last District Meeting before Transfers next week. It was really great. I love coming together with other missionaries to learn new ways of finding and to be able to learn together. This next week we have a meeting with President Russell in Eugene. Apparently its the whole north half of the mission getting together and this kind of a meeting doesn't happen often, at all. So we will let you know how that goes next week!

After our District Meeting we had a Zone Blitz in Newton Creek. Which basically means a bunch of missionaries go in a certain area to be able to tract a bunch of doors. It was pretty fun for Sister Rhoton and I to do. We met a lot of people that weren't interested. But we also met a lot of people that had potential we just met them at a really bad time. But it was a good time, we were then able to get together with our zone to had a lunch. yum.

After our Zone lunch Sister Rhoton and I went on exchanges with our STLs, but we only went out for 2 hours. normally it is a lot longer but this transfer has been really crazy so they only had us do it for 2 hours which was fine. It was nice to go out with Sister Rhees to do some finding. Originally it was supposed to be Sister Rhoton in our area but they changed it last minute because Sister Rhoton started freaking out about taking over the area, so hopefully I don't get transferred next week!

We had dinner at our investigators house this week. Elena and Zach, and we thought this would be a great time to do a lesson after the lesson. Well little did we know that they were actually planning on going to the Trunk or Treat at the Newton Creek ward! So we actually got in the car and went to the Trunk or Treat with them! It was so much fun to see all the kids dressed up. We were able to have a little taste of Halloween on the mish. All of the members kept saying, "Wow, you look like such realistic Sister Missioanies, where did you get your name tag?" It was hilarious. I loved it.

Friday night we got a call from President Russell letting us know that Grandpa Conover passed away earlier that day. I was grateful to get a phone call letting me know that. He talked to me about the Plan of Salvation and how happy that we can be with this knowledge. And I know that is true! I am so grateful for a family and can be together forever. He then asked if we could have a mission wide conference call to pray for our family, actuall I don't think he really gave me a choice. But it was nice, to have all the mission come together. Elder Larson from another area was able to pray and it was great. I love the OEM.

Well the next day we received Ice cream from 3 different people and them asking if we were okay. And we weren't going to turn down ice cream. And the Melrose Elders even got my favorite! UMPQUA Chocolate Peanut Butter, so no complaints here (: 

Saturday night we were able to go to a wedding reception of some members in our ward. And it was a Polynesian wedding, my favorite. It was awesome and the Elders were asked to do the Hakka, so of course Sister Rhoton and I went for support, but mostly to watch it and record it. But it was awesome and we really enjoyed ourselves.

During Ward council this week we talked about Elder Hollands talk from conference, he gave it during the Priesthood Session and I have already read it like 5 times, it is fine. It was about Home Teaching but I think that it can be applied to both Visiting Teaching and honestly just being a member of our church. I loved it and I invited everyone to go and read it, or listen to it! 

Last night as we were tracting we felt inspired to go down this one street that we hadn't gone down before. We knocked on almost every door and no interest was found. Until we went to one of the last doors on the street and we found a less active that I had forgotten lived on the street! When he answered the door we introduced ourselves as missionaries and began to introduce the Book of Mormon. Well he then told us that he has been a member since he was 12, which threw us for a loop. He then asked if we wanted to come in and share a message, but that right now wasn't a good time and asked if we could come by next Sunday! We were so excited and we then saw that he has a bunch of little kids. I love teaching the gospel to a family, its the best. So we are excited for that next week!

Also we had dinner at the Hennekes last night in our ward. And Brother Henneke told us that he told his wife that they were going to get married after the second date. I think that Sister Rhoton was really going to throw up, it was hilarious. They then told us from that date that they were married only after a couple of months, Sister Rhoton then said, "Mormons these days!" Good times at the Henneke home, also yummy food. They made breakfast- yum!

Well this week has been a pretty good week! Lots of work but lots of fun! Happy Halloween everyone! Also shout out to Zachary Farnsworth, Happy Birthday Bud! Today for Halloween the Zone leaders bought a bunch of little pumpkins that we were able to carve. We have to be in our apartment by 6 for safety reasons but it was fun to be able to spend a little bit of time with the zone. I am perfectly dressed up as a Sister Missionary this Halloween. Well family and friends I hope you all have a fabulous week. I love you all! Thanks for all the love and support!

Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,

Sister Harrison