Sister Bailey Anne Harrison: 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.