Merry Christmas Week!!! 🎄🎄🎄

Where do I even begin for this week? Seriously I feel like I have had such a roller coaster of emotions for the entire week, but I have also seen how the Savior has helped me along with every step along the way. I have been thinking about my scripture on my missionary plaque a lot, and that is Philippians 4:13: 

 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

This scripture has never related so much to me as it has this week. I am grateful for the knowledge that I can do hard things, and as I rely on the Lord that he will help me through all the challenges that are set before me in my life, both mission life and life life. 

So Monday is a good way to start out with what happened this week. Sister Datwyler and I got a ride from a member from Brookings to Grants Pass, which was about 2 and a half hours. It was really nice because I was able to email a little bit on my ipad but then I was still able to take a little nap along the way. And I should have taken pictures because that drive is seriously the most beautiful drive. It is a very windy road and most people get sick on it, but it just shows that Oregon truly is the most gorgeous state. Seriously though. So then once we got to Grants Pass Sister Datwyler and I got on to the transfer van, also known as the Space Ship. We road the van to Roseburg, and then to Eugene. It is always fun on transfer day because we see so many missionaries, when here in Brookings we literally see no one except the Elders who we serve with in the ward. So Sister Datwyler got off at Roseburg then I went to Eugene. Well when I finally got to Eugene I was just so excited to see Sister Nowell that I couldn't hold myself together. I found her companion and she told me that my mom, Sister Nowell, was inside emailing. SO of course I ran inside to find her. As I was running inside I saw my suitcase of clothing and literally had a feeling that I should pick that up, did I? No. I was too excited to see my mom! So as you could imagine Sister Nowell and I ran to each other and just chatted and chatted, I mean I had SO much to tell her. When finally she told me that we needed to go do a couple of more things before our Pday was over. We go outside to get my stuff and my bag is no where to be found. You could say I then started to panic. So I called Elder Danely, the Senior Elder who was driving the van, and he said that he had a bunch of bags that people left so to call the Assistants to the President to figure it out. So I called them and let them know, and tried to just calm myself. Well we found out that the other sister who was training also lost her bag. So the Assistants called us at about 8:30 pm and asked us what our bags looked like. We told them, then a few minutes later we got a call from my Zone Leaders in Coos Bay asking me if I had seen a grey samsonite suitcase, I told them no. That was my bag. We didn't hear back from the Assistants until 9:45 that night telling us that my bag was in NEWPORT! The furthest north west corner of the mission. Some how it got on a members car and made it there! So I went 24+ hours without any of my belongings. So I learned a few things from this experience:

1. Follow promptings

2. Be grateful for the things that I do have

3. It is a good thing that Sister Nowell and I are the same size in clothing.

So speaking of Sister Nowell, I love her so freaking much. It was hard to be with her this last week though because I felt like I was intruding. She and I get along so well and so it just felt like things were back to normal almost. Although it was hard because she just got a new companion for this transfer so I felt like I was intruding on their get to know you time. So I tried not to step on their toes. But time went by so fast with her. It was good to get some advice from her about beginning to train, and I really think that I learned a lot from her in that short period of time. Also it was just fun to be able to laugh with her again. She is an amazing missionary.

While I was in Eugene I spent a lot of time street contacting people, or OYMing (open your mouth) to people on campus at the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!). It was a lot of fun because this is something that I haven't been able to do a lot of on my mission. And it was interesting because we met a lot of interesting people while we were on campus. For example some one offered us weed, um no thank you? Eugene is such an interesting place with many different kinds of people. We did have dinner with a member one night and she actually made us little ornaments and gave us bags of chocolate, um YUM! It was fantastic!

While I was also in Eugene I was able to spend some time doing service at a local homeless shelter and that was just so cool. In Eugene they have to give their name and information but they feed them a Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner! So we were able to help with the preparation of dinner which was really awesome. So many people were so just grateful for the help that we were giving them, and it was just something that I had never done before. It reminded me of the Light the World Video with Christ and how he was able to help those around him, I truly felt like I was serving his people that day.

So on Wednesday night we had a Trainers Training for all those who were going to Train this transfer. And honestly it was a little stressful to say the least. I think I was so focused on other things that I hadn't really had time to stress out about training yet. But there were two Sisters coming in this transfer, one was a Chinese Sister (who doesn't speak very much english) and the other one was a sister from Utah. So you could say that I was just praying to have the companion Heavenly Father thought that I needed at this time. In the training they talked about how we will need to be the best examples that we could be. We read a talk that is entitled "Responsibilities of Shepherds" by James E Faust. And in this talk it tells of a story of when President Faust was younger and his father gave him a baby lamb. He loved that Lamb. He raised it from when it was a baby and then continued to care for it as best as he could. Then one night there was a storm and he heard his lamb crying out for help, but he didn't want to get out of bed. The next morning he found his baby lamb dead and his father told him, "Son, couldn't I trust you to take care of just one lamb?" This stuck with me a lot. How important it is to take care of Heavenly Fathers lambs here on this earth. And for me right now to take care of his lambs I need to take care of my trainee. That night I made a promise to myself and my companion to be the most obedient that we can be. And since I have made that promise I have seen so many blessings that are coming our way here in Brookings. Seriously they are endless. It is important for us as missionaries to remember who we are and who we are serving. And when we do that it makes all the difference. Funny side note, all of the Sisters and Elders who are training this transfer came out with me. And the day that we met our trainees was our 6 month mark! Weird to think that I have been out for 6 months! Time flies when you are serving the Lord!

So on Thursday I was able to meet my trainee!! My daughter!! We started out the day with coming together with all the missionaries serving in the Eugene valley and having breakfast, but we had a little bit of a dilemma. We were in a winter wonderland. But not snow, ICE. Everywhere. Trees were everywhere in the roads because the ice on the branches had just gotten to be too much and trees fell everywhere. So they had to postpone the meeting a little bit so that some of the Elders could go out and help people in the area. I was scared to walk under any of the trees. But when we finally got to the meeting we were able to eat breakfast and then practice a musical number for the new missionaries. It is a tradition to see the EFY medley for the incoming missionaries, the Army of Helaman song. It was so cool to be singing with about 50 missionaries. The program had us singing that song, then the trainers getting up and reciting our purpose, the first vision, the standard of truth(this is what I recited), D&C 4 and then a bearing of a testimony. We then were able to receive some counsel from President Russell. We were then able to meet our trainee! *drum roll please* my new companion is.... SISTER HEATON! She is seriously so cute, she is from Murray, Utah (my birth place and the mother ship), she just graduated from High School this last year, and she is just so prepared to be a missionary. I love her already!

We didn't get back to Brookings until about 7 o'clock at night, so Sister Heaton and I were able to go and visit some recent converts and kind of get her used to the area a bit. It has been so much fun just to see how she is doing with this whole adjustment thing. So far so good, she is just ready to get to work. I told her that maybe if we get like 5 people on date for Baptism that President Russell won't transfer me next transfer, so we are just going to be super obedient and just watch the blessing pour down on us. It will be AWESOME!

One exciting thing since we have been back in Brookings, I told Sister Heaton that our numbers probably wouldn't be the greatest this week because we were gone for a lot of it. Well on Friday we had been so busy with service and meetings and stuff that Sister HEaton and I just felt like that we hadn't done a lot of actual proselyting. So at 7:30 at night, we bundled up and prayed that we would be lead to some one that would listen to our message. And sure enough Sister Heaton and I found her first new investigator! And it was awesome! His name is Richard and we are going to be meeting with him this next week!

Everything is going good here in Brookings! It is starting to feel more and more like Christmas but I think that is because I am beginning to focus more and more about the true meaning for the season. I am so grateful for the example of the Savior that we have in our life and that we are able to share his light with the people of Brookings. Training a new missionary is going to be hard, but through Jesus Christ, I know that I CAN DO HARD THINGS! And that makes up all the difference for me. 

To end my weekly email for this week I wanted to share the words to one of my favorite Christmas Hymns, it can be found on page 214, I Heard the Bells of Christmas Day:

1. I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

2. I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th'unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

3. And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

4. Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

5. Till, ringing, singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

I love in the 4th verse how it says "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men." I know that God is there for us. And there is good out there, sometimes it can be really hard to see it but our Heavenly Father is just waiting for us to reach out to his this Christmas Season. I know that our Savior lives, and he loves all of us so much. And this Christmas season I hope that all will be able to come closer to time in one way or another.

I love you all and I hope you have a Very Merry Christmas!!

#LighttheWorld

Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,

Sister Harrison 

"Remember who you are and who God expects you to become." --- Thomas S Monson

I'm going to be a momma!

December, 12, 2016

So the biggest news of the week is that I am going to have a baby!!! In mission lingo this means that I am going to be training this next transfer. Which I will be honest makes me want to throw up a little bit, but Sister Dat said that she thinks that is a normal response, so I think that we are all good here in Brookings! So in the mission my new trainee will be my daughter and I will be her mother and then my wonderful mother will be her Grandma! Really the mission family thing is a beautiful thing!

Other then that our week was pretty good here in Brookings, this morning we are leaving early to go to the transfer spot so we decided to come a little bit before we leave to send off some emails 😀 So let's just dive into my week shall we?

So last Pday we spent a majority of the day trying to find Sister Datwyler a bag to fit all of her shoes that she has accumulated here in Brookings, we were not very successful which is pretty weird since we went to SO many Thrift Stores. Its sad to say but I am pretty sure these are the greatsest thrift stores in the world, because you know retired people come here, then they get old, then they die. So then their clothes and items get left here! So most of the time we find some great finds. But don't worry, some how she was able to fit everything in her suitcases, Heavenly Father truly blessed us in that aspect! There isn't really a lot of things to do here in Brookings in the winter because it is literally raining ALL the time. So I think this next transfer with my trainee that will be one of my goals. To find new things to do on Pdays. Suggestions are welcome. We then went to dinner with a member on Monday night to a Chinese Restaurant and at the end of our meal Sister Dat and I opened our fortune cookies and there was NO FORTUNE! What the goodness! So then one of the members gave us theirs to try and compensate. Well we opened that one and IT WAS EMPTY TOO. So the members made jokes about how we were then going to have bad luck. Thanks fortune cookies.

For Family Home Evening on Monday night with the Applebakers Sister Datwyler and I decided to do a dramatic representation of CPR. CPR is a great lesson that I love to teach to families, children, old people, okay really I love to teach it to everyone. CPR stands for Church, Prayer and Reading. So just like our bodies need CPR sometimes, so does our Spirit. And so as we usually teach this I start out by saying, "What would happen if Sister Datwyler fell on the ground, right now and we couldn't find a pulse?" So at this point Sister Datwyler was sitting in a beach chair and just fell over in thebeach chair, it was hilarious. Late she found out that she got a rather large bruise, we won't talk about where the large bruise is, but lets just say its probably as big as a grapefruit. But the Applebakers thought it was an awesome lesson. We really had fun with it! It has been so much fun to teach this family, since they have been baptized they truly have gained a light in their lives and it just makes my heart melt. Later during the week we were teaching the Restoration and one of them said, "I have to learn all about this for my mission one day," okay so maybe I teared up after hearing that, It's fine, I am fine.

On Tuesday, literally all of our lessons cancelled, that being 4 of them. Our service called and cancelled. And no one showed up to Book of Mormon class. Our fortunes came true, thanks fortune cookies. On the upside we were able to go tracting and find a new investigator. Her name is Diana and she actually lives in the same apartment complex that the Elders used to live in so the Elders knew her and would visit her a lot. So we are excited to be able to meet with her again this week!

On Wednesday we were able to go to a Less Active home who are having some problems following the commandments right now. But they told us that they wanted to receive the lessons again, so we thought, man this is awesome! Well they wanted the lessons out of the Gospel Principle book, which is fine, but they literally just wanted to read it word for word and not really have a discussion about it, which isn't what we look for as missionaries. So at then end we finally got them to talk, next week we are going to try and have more control over the lesson! Not really what we planned, but still good.

Okay so this is funny. So we got a hold of our service that cancelled on Tuesday (stupid fortune cookie) and we rescheduled for Thursday. Well it was with Barbara and we were just helping her decorate for Christmas which was actually a lot of fun. Then we were talking at the end and she told us that the reason she had to cancel was because she had a plumbing problem under her house and it was a mess on Tuesday, and she lost her filling in her tooth and so it was just really a bad day. We told her that was okay that we were just glad to be there then! Well as we kept talking we found out that she went to the SAME Chinese Restaurant that we did on Monday she just went on Sunday, and she had NO FORTUNE either! I am telling you, all the bad luck that has happened this week has all pointed to the fortune cookies, even with Barbara.

On Thursday we were also able to teach a lesson to a Recent Convert and her husband who is investigating the church. The recent convert (Catherine) sometimes likes to go really deep into situations and really it makes it a little hard sometimes to teach her husband Danny. Well during this lesson we were teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, pretty simple, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. And the lesson was going really well and Danny told us that he loves receiving the lessons from us, he has really started opening up and it is really cool to teach him. He is a smoker, and he told us this night that he doesn't have the desire to stop smoking, that he like smoking. So we are really worried about that. But he did tell us that he believes the church is true and that smoking is his only problem. Well believing is one thing and conversion is another. So we will continue to work with him.

On Friday we had the wonderful opportunity to go to Coos Bay at 6:30 am. For those of my fan club members who do now know, Coos Bay is a little over 2 hours away. And on Friday, it was literally raining the entire way so it took us a little bit longer then normal. Well while we were in Coos Bay, we were there for a Zone Training Meeting. It was really awesome because we were able to have this meeting in the Stake Presidents home, which I guess is something that he likes to do every year around Christmas, and man it was the greatest view, don't worry I have pictures. But it was so nice of them to host 20+ missionaries in their home. Also the meeting was really fabulous and I was able to learn a lot and learn how I can strive to become a better missionary. And they provided pizza for all the missionaries. One surprise that came from this meeting is that the Assistants to the President showed up for the meeting! So a little intimidating but it was cool. But we asked them to take our ornaments to President and Sister Russell for us and they forget them. GRRR. Every year President and Sister Russell have us make ornaments for the tree in the Mission Office. So Sister Datwyler and I got some ornaments and filled them with sand, they were pretty cute, but they will get there eventually! Then we were able to drive back to Brookings and have dinner with the 2 senior couples serving in the Coos Bay Zone. The Sivulas are in our district so we see them all the time. But the Talbots are a little further away so we only see them at Zone Meetings. But the Talbots got word that they are going home a month early so that they can spend Christmas with their families, we are sad to see them go but we are excited for them at the same time. Very mixed emotions. So we were able to eatdinner with them one more time, and of course we had clam chowder bowls, there is nothing better on a cold rainy day.

But because we didn't know about them coming down to Brookings for dinner until the middle of the week, we already had a dinner scheduled with the Applebakers. So we had 2 dinners that night, you could say that man we were stuffed. But because it was Friday night Sister Datwyler and I were waiting for possible transfer calls. If you are being called into leadership then you will get a call on Friday night, if not then you will be getting a call on Saturday. So we warned the Applebakers that we might be getting a call, and sure enough right as dinner had ended we got a call from President Russell to tel me that I am training. So you could say I was freaking out. I kind of knew that it was happening but it just really hit me then you know? But then we also found out that Sister Datwyler will we follow up training (so finishing the training) Sister Orr in MELROSE!!!! I seriously was so so so excited for her. She is going to good old Roseburg! She was really sad to be leaving an area right before Christmas, but I know that all of the members in Roseburg will treat her so well. There were a lot of tears that night in the Applebaker home. Then after that we went to a members home to tell them our transfer news and they tried to get us to go sledding, for Sister Datwyler to leave Brookings with a bang, don't worry we didn't go, obedience is key.

Then Saturday we packed all morning, we didn't even change out of our pajamas. It was awesome. Sister Datwyler was packing and I was cleaning. So basically this morning when I was finishing up getting ready it was all done! We then went and treated ourselves to a Peppermint Oreo Blizzard, because why not! We then started visiting everyone on Sister Datwylers list to say goodbye too, and that continued on in to all day Sunday. It was really exhausting. On Saturday Sister Datwyler also wanted to visit the ocean for the last time, and it was a good day, so we got a little basic and started to have a name tag photo shoot. Don't worry I have pictures. 

But another fun thing that happened on Saturday was the Brookings ward had their Christmas Party. And let me tell you, this was the best Christmas party that I had ever been too. So you were invited to dress up in Biblical clothing (We didn't because, missionaries). So when you walked in you had to sign the census like they did in that day and they gave you some coins, and we went into the chapel and listened to come Christmas hymns for a few minutes, then we had a blessing on the food and went into the cultural hall. I wish I had pictures, they had us working so I forgot, but I am sureSister Rushton has pictures. The whole cultural hall was transformed into Bethlehem. And the food you had to pay with your coins you received and you were given a basket to put your food into. Food included, nuts (almonds and pecans), cheese, pita bread, olive oil, and fruit. Then for the sitting you sat on the ground or they a few chairs for the elderly. Then after awhile some music started playing and Mary and Joseph came in and started to look for room in the inn, then they left and a star lite up and a little boy dressed up as a Shepard came in and told us that baby Jesus was born, to follow him. So we followed him and went into the Chapel where they had a little stage in the front and they reenacted the nativity. And we sang Christmas songs and there was a wonderful musical number of Mary Did you know. Seriously this is the reason we celebrate Christmas. I guess there was some people that were mad that there was no Santa, not me! I love the Christmas season and the opportunity that we have to focus on Christ. I kind of starting freaking out on Sunday when I realized that Christmas is 2 weeks away. I love serving as a missionary at this time of year. 

So to end my email I thought I would just mention that on Saturday night we got a call for the Assistants to the President for our travel plans for this week. And they told me, "Well Sister Harrison, we are going to ask you to stretch a little bit this next week, and it might be hard, but we think you can handle it. We are going to ask you to stay with Sister Nowell until you get your trainee on Thursday." I seriously flipped my lid!!! I am so excited! So today I will be riding the transfer van up to Eugene and staying with Sister Nowell and her companion until Thursday then coming back down with my trainee!!! I am as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning to see my Mom before I get my daughter this week!!! 

I am sure there is more I could write about but we have to get going pretty soon here. I love you all so much and thank you so much for the love and support that I receive while I am on my mission. 

I just wanted to share Proverbs 3:5-6 today:

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

I just want to invite all of you to Trust in the Lord this week. Christmas time is upon us and this is the time of the year where we need to trust in the Lord more then every before. I love my Savior Jesus Christ so much and I am so grateful fo rhte opportunity I have to be a disciple of him, to be an authorized representative of him at this time in my life. I am so excited to meet my trainee this week! So many great things to come in the life and adventures of Sister Harrison. I love you all!! Have a fabulous week!!

#LighttheWorld

Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,

Sister Harrison 

Miracle can come in ALL shapes and sizes!

December 5, 2016

Hello my dear sweet fan club, I have yet ended another week here in Paradise, aka the Celestial part of the mission. There have been so many miracles that happened this week that I just can not wait to tell you all about, so with out further adieu, lets get started!

Last Pday was really great, we ate dinner at Sister Hendrix's home, she had been less active for years until now, and I ate bottom fish (which is what she like to call it- really I guess it is cod) and actually really liked it. She also makes everything way too spicy and I thought my mouth was going to die but that is fine. She literally said in like the same sentence as hello, oh by the way I put jalapenos in all of the food, well this will be an interesting dinner I guess! We then were able to go to the church to be there for Jessica and Emily's Baptismal Interview. It was amazing to see them growing closer and closer to baptism! During the interviews Sister Datwyler and I played dodge ball with Stephanie, the youngest daughter who had already been baptized. I hate running around in my skirt so I started to try and get out right away, oops! Then we went to the Applebakers and we made snowflakes for Family home evening, Jessica made Sister Dat and I tiny tiny tiny ones, so cute! It was so much fun to spend time with this family. I have loved teaching them leading up to their baptism, they are so much fun and their family has made such an amazing decision to be baptized this coming week!

On Tuesday we were able to go to Barbara's early, to do service, because we were supposed to have a lesson with our new investigator Ginny, but she cancelled our lesson. But the great thing about that is that she wanted to reschedule! So we are planning on going and seeing her tomorrow to have a lesson with her!  At Barbara's we hung up some pictures and helped her vacuum, nothing exciting. Except one thing that you have to know about Barbara is that she is an amazing quilter, even now as she is getting older she spends as much time as she possibly can to sew. She literally has 3 rooms in her house dedicated to sewing, it is awesome. Well she has been experimenting with some things and she has started making these little garbage bags for the car, it is awesome and so cute! So I was able to pick out the fabrics for mine, and she thought I was crazy because I wanted black and white stripes, I am sorry Barbara that is just my personality, just ask anyone who knows me! After we left Barbara's we had a missed call from April, a recent convert in the ward here and she asked if we could come visit and so of course we said yes. Right now we are also teaching her 10 year old son, Eli. Eli is a very interesting person. He is a very smart boy and likes to go into deep doctrine and things, like in my first lesson with him he started to ask about seer stones, where did that come from? We don't know. He also asked us about what there was before God. Things like this come up all the time. So we have been having a difficult time teaching him. But when we went and saw April she wanted to schedule a lesson with him so we scheduled that for the very next day. After we were done at Aprils we had dinner at the Leavitts and apparently last time they ate there, their son Alex had his girlfriend over and they invited her to learn more. So awkwardly Sister Dat asked if she still wanted to schedule a lesson and apparently they broke up... so we will not be teaching her... it made the dinner a little awkward! Tuesday night we were then able to go to the church and have Jessica and Emily try on their Baptismal Clothing, and they look just amazing in white. It got me so much more excited for the baptism coming up, it felt like it was real! That night we then had our first correlation with our new ward mission leader, and let me just tell you, Heavenly Father knows who we are and knows what callings that we need to be placed in because man, Brother Johnson is AWESOME!

Oh my goodness fan club. Wednesday was just jam packed full of miracles. We woke up in the morning and had a lesson with Harvey out in the sun, you may not think this is such a big deal but honestly it has been so rainy here. And so as we were sitting out there I decided to take off my sweater and I just basked for a few minutes out there, and don't worry I did get a little pink on my shockingly white skin, but it was awesome. We then had a lesson scheduled Eli, we were teaching the Plan of Salvation. As we were teaching I was able to use the cut outs that I made with Sister Rhoton just a few weeks ago. And we got to mortality and on the mortality cut out it talks about the commandments and the gospel that we are asked to live while we are here on the Earth. So on that cut out it has a picture of baptism. As we were talking about mortality Eli kept staring at it and then we asked him a question, I honestly don't even remember the question, and he said, I think I want to be baptized. WHAT?!?! Last we heard he didn't want to be baptized until he was 21! So we jumped on that and put him on date for January 1st and we are so so so excited for him! After that lesson we had a lesson right after with a guy named Kyle, Kyle has now come to church twice just out of curiosity so we scheduled an appointment with him so that he could learn more! Well because he is of the male gender we had to find another sister to come to the lesson with us. We had been making phone calls after phone calls and no one had answered. Well, literally like 30 minutes before the lesson we got a text saying Sister Ryan could come! That was a miracle in and of its self honestly! So we had a lesson with Kyle, and he actually showed up (this was yet another miracle)! The lesson went really good I think, we taught the Restoration and he had a lot of questions about the Bible, so it was a good thing that Sister Ryan was there because she was able to answer a lot of those questions. In our mind we think that he is more just interested in what we believe in rather then actually believing in what we believe. But we scheduled another lesson with him on Saturday, and he didn't show up, so maybe we will see him at church sometime! Honestly he is kind of a sketchy young man. When we asked him where he works he said here there and everywhere. When we asked him for an address he gave us one, but it doesn't exist in Brookings, so the Elders think he is either a hit man or a drug dealer. Who knows! We will just let the Elders teach him from now on! You could say it was just an amazing day of miracles! So, it was a peppermint Oreo blizzard kind of day, so of course we went and got one! 

On Thursdays we do service at this place called Habitat for Humanity, and it was a lot of fun this week because we were able to help them decorate for Christmas. That is one thing that I have really missed about not being home, is decorating. So I am really glad that there are people around us who have really allowed us to come and help them in their efforts! But service was really great because the manager of the place, Bobbie, asked us a lot of questions about what we do as missionaries. So we were able to teach her in a conversational way, and honestly that is the best way to teach someone about the gospel. Later that day we had kind of a same experience to that in which we went to go get gas. When we get gas it asks for our odometer number, and our driver number. (Because you know in Oregon it is against the law to pump your own gas #lazyfactor #awesome) Apparently it also does that on business cars. So the man asked us if we were on a business trip and we said no and explained we were missionaries. So then he had some questions for us and we were in the end able to leave him with a card to watch Light the World. You could say that we will probably go back there to get gas to follow up with him   Thursdays are our planning days so we decided to go grab some lunch and plan on the beach because it was yet another great day! (Although on the actual beach it was very windy so we ended up just planning in our car) But we stopped at this Thai place and we ended up running into a member that knows one of our investigators! So we were able to then talk to him about her and see how we can connect with her on a better level. I am telling you. Heavenly Father is always trying to put you in the right places at the right time, and when you follow those impressions MIRACLES come. That night we were able to have a fire on the beach with the Sheffels. Elder Montague asked it as one of his wishes before he leaves Brookings (since transfers are next Monday!!!) The fire was so much fun, it was also really cold. We wore Pday clothes and it was still freezing! But we roasted hot dogs and did smores, it was seriously a blast, I love love love the Sheffels.

So for District Meeting on Friday I don't have a lot to report but about the conversation that we had. Our district leader asked us if anything cool had happened this week and we told them that our week had been just full of miracles! They were like what? Really? Maybe you could share some with us. So of course I pulled out my miracle journal and started reading them and they started protesting and saying wooah wooah wooah, that is not a miracle. But to us in our companionship everything that I had written down we could say for a surety that it was a miracle. So then we started debating it and I just want to tell my fan club today that miracles can come in all shapes and sizes. This week it was a miracle that we were able to sit outside and bask in the sun. But it was also a miracle that Jessica and Emily got baptized! I believe that a miracle is when you can recognize that Heavenly Father has helped you out in some part of your life and that you can recognize that he loves you for that. So the way that I have been trying to recognize my miracles more is by using a miracle journal. Every time something happens that I feel my Heavenly Father's hand in my life I write it down. And since I have started doing that I have realized all the little things that happen every single day. So I invite you all to do that same! Miracles are every where so watch out for them!

Um so you could say that Friday was also a miracle filled day because.... EMILY AND JESSICA GOT BAPTIZED!!!! It was so awesome to be apart of their baptism. The spirit was so strong. We were able to Skype with a Sister who also taught them before the baptism and they were able to bear their testimonies for her and you could just tell that they were so ready! Stephanie, the youngest in the family, was baptized about a month ago so she was able to watch her sister and her mom get baptized and it was an awesome feeling for her. At the end of the baptismal service Sister Dat and I were able to bear our testimonies on baptism. When ever I attend a baptism I am reminded of my baptism and how I felt that day. And I remember how happy I was and how clean I felt. And I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have that I can still feel that clean and that happy today. And we can do that by following and living the gospel of Jesus Christ. By having faith, repenting, renewing our baptismal covenants each week, by listening to promptings from the Holy Ghost and by continuing to do these things for the rest of our lives. I am so grateful for the love that my Savior and my Heavenly Father have for me. There is nothing comparable. And I am so excited for the decision that Emily and Jessica made on Friday! Sister Dat cried off all of her make up that evening, but it was seriously just a miracle of a day!  

On Saturday we were able to attend the Adult Session of Stake Conference, but because the stake center is 100 miles away they had to broadcast it to our building here in Brookings. This stake here on the coast is the most unusual stake I have ever seen. Because of the fact that it stretches about 200 miles North to South but then going inland it only goes about 50 miles. So it is a very far spread out. But Stake Conference was awesome this weekend and we were able to be taught about missionary work quite a bit. It was kind of funny because Roseburg had their stake conference right before I left, and I swear that the temple president and his wife gave the same exact talk, but don't worry I didn't tell anyone that. I still learned from it so that is all that matters! So when we were leaving the church building there was a car alarm going off in the trailer park next to the church (there are trailer parks every where in Brookings), and there was a member in the building that thought it was his car so he pressed his alarm button right as we passed his car, I swear Sister Dat and I almost pooped our pants and ran to our car. It scared us so bad, but later we couldn't stop laughing about it!

On Sunday we were able to attend Stake Conference, and again like I already said, that was pretty great. Then we were able to have a lesson with Catherine, who is a recent convert, and her husband Danny who is currently our investigator. It was a really great lesson until Catherine came back in the room because she started asking deep doctrinal questions, and honestly lessons go by so much easier and people understand more if we keep it simple. But that is okay, it brought up a good discussion, but then it made us 45 minutes late to our next lesson. So our investigator Heather luckily waited for us and we were able to talk about what she expects out of meeting with us missionaries and it was actually a really great short lesson. So then we were able to go to the Christmas Devotional that they were able to broadcast to our building as well. And it was just so amazing. I love talking about the season that we are in right now and talking about coming closer to Christ. And I don't remember his name, but he talked about how if we all woke up Christmas morning and we just looked at the presents instead of opening them. And it really got me to think about what aspects in my life am I just looking at in stead of partaking of. This could be anything, the atonement, Sabbath day church attendance, prompting from the Holy Ghost, reading of the Book of Mormon, etc. Our loving Heavenly Father has given us so many gifts and or talents on this earth, and we need to partake of these things. And I know that as we do that we will grow and progress to who our Heavenly Father wants us to become. 

I am so grateful for this gospel my lovely fan club! This week has been the best over here in Brookings, and honestly I am loving it more and more everyday. Next week is Transfers so if you want to hear from me email me Sunday night because we leave early Monday morning to go to the transfer spot. Thank you so much for all the love you have showed me this week, and for your never ending prayers, they are much appreciated! I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week!

Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,

Sister Harrison

Snap, Crackly, POP! My body!

November 28, 2016

As a missionary I feel like I am getting older and older each and every day. From carrying so many copies of Book of Mormons in my bag I think I am going to have back problems for the rest of my life, lol. But one thing I found out this week, Brother Johnson, who is our new Ward Mission Leader, will do adjustments on us for free because he is a Chiropractor! This is awesome news and I am totally going there! Because right now I feel like a rice crispy.

This last Pday was less then exciting. We spent most of the day at the church even though what we should have been doing was be outside since it was the first day it had been sunny in like a week. I seriously love the Oregon rain, and I think I will like it a lot more now that I got a nice rain coat! And I got it cheaper then I thought it was going to be. On pdays we don't read emails or send emails after 5. But Sister Datwyler and I still needed to go to Fred Meyer (the only grocery store in Brookings might I add) to buy my rain coat while it was on sale. And we wanted to check our emails one last time. And we had 15 minutes. So we ran and we were so close and we made it back to the church 5:02, and we are obedient so we weren't able to respond to more emails. But I got my rain coat! Hopefully I will be able to try it out for the next few days. Sister Datwyler and I spent a lot of time on Pday making snowflakes to hang in our apartment. We are literally going to make it a winter wonderland, it will be right would of frosty the snowman. We made like 30+ already, it should be good. For dinner on Monday Sister Rushton was the only one home so she couldn't feed the elders in the home without another male. So she brought the food to the church. And she made this Caramel apple dessert, oh my goodness I will have to get the recipe for you. It was like fall in an apple. My mouth is still watering over it. Sometimes I wish members didn't feed us dessert because that is where we gain all the weight. But I just love love love dessert, oops.

So last week Sister Datwyler had it rough with our numbers because we were gone for basically 3 days, so on Tuesday we reached 3 of our weekly goals in one day, it was awesome. We literally had 5 member present lessons. We had a lesson with our eternigator Angie, an eternigator is some one who has been investigating the church forever and who just hasn't committed to baptism quite yet. Although Angie continues to talk about how she wants her parents work to be done in the temple, because she wants them to receive the blessings of baptism. Okay I have never met anyone in my life who isn't a member of the church want their families work done in the temple. Angie's testimony of eternal principles is powerful. So we wanted to talk about how she could do the work for her parents in the temple if she is baptized. Apparently she had a baptism date 3 years ago but she got cold feet. I really think we are going to be able to help Angie have those blessings in her own life as well as her parents.

We were able to do some service for Barbra on Tuesday which is always a delight. I found out how the sisters found Barbra and apparently her daughter is a less active member who isn't really interested anymore. But Barbra is a religious woman and needs some help around the house so we go and help her. And this week we were able to help her by peeling and chopping apples, and I got to zest lemons. It was a lot of fun since this year for thanksgiving I wasn't able to do any cooking. I miss that, but sometimes it is nice not having to make a huge mess in the kitchen. It was also fun because Barbra asked if our church still enforced food storage, which was kind of a funny way to ask it. But we talked about the importance of having things when we need them, she thought that was so cool and that maybe she needs a food storage!

I was able to test my rain jacket literally the day after I bought it. When we checked the weather Monday night it said Tuesday was going to have 100% rain, and man they weren't kidding about that. But I stayed completely dry all day thanks to my new rain coat! Gotta love these Oregon winters!

We had our first lesson with our new investigator Ginny finally! We were able to take a member with us, Sister Marks, and when we got there Ginny had Apple Pie and Mexican Hot Chocolate waiting for us. Although Ginny didn't know if we were allowed to have Chocolate or not so she was freaking out. But don't worry we were able to eat the Hot Chocolate and man it was good. We were able to talk to Ginny and she told us about her religious background and basically told us that she didn't believe in organized religion anymore but that she believed she was spiritual. Well the spirit kept egging me on to introduce the Book of Mormon and I didn't want to because I didn't think she would accept it. But the spirit kept saying go for it so I did and I used the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormon to explain the story line and I testified of how the Book of Mormon had blessed me in my life, then suddenly she said that we had sparked an interest inside of her and she wanted to find out for herself! It was awesome and she asked if we could come by the same time next week before we even tried to schedule a return date. I can't wait to see how that goes.

So after Ginny's lesson Sister Dat and I had to run to the dollar store because Sister Dat has been really sick and literally went through a whole box of tissues in a couple of days. So we went to buy more and we ran into a recent convert there! She thinks we are stalking her because we ran into her at the grocery store on Pday, but I know it's the spirit. She hasn't been answering our phone calls or texts so we were able to schedule an appointment with her! Heavenly Father will always put you in the right place at the right time.

This week we were trying to contact a referral that we received from a member, yes members are awesome here and give us referrals, seriously it is a blessing! And the referral didn't answer her door so we decided to keep going and knocking on doors, but please remember that this was the night before Thanksgiving, I swear no one wanted to talk to us. But we came to a house and met a man named Scott who just moved here from Coos Bay! Awesome! We were so excited. He wanted to hear more about the Book of Mormon and he has a family, so we will be going back this week for a lesson that we planned with him!

So on Thanksgiving we were able to spend part of the morning sending text messages out to all of our investigators and members who do a lot for us to let them know how grateful we are for them, that was nice! Then we were able to go and contact some people, who really didn't have anywhere to go on Thanksgiving, to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving and to try to schedule a time with them that we could stop by, it was really nice to having to spend Thanksgiving morning cooking! We were then able to go to the beach for a few minutes because on Thanksgiving the wind was super crazy! It is really cool to look around at the things that our Heavenly Father has given us, I am so grateful for the beautiful world that we live on. I am grateful for beautiful Brookings where I am able to serve! A scripture that I shared a lot this week because of Thanksgiving was Alma 34:38, but really this is a scripture that we should remember every single day! It says. "live in Thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you." Our Heavenly Father is always giving us so many mercies and he wants us to partake of these blessings, but we need to be able to recognize those things. So I hope this Thanksgiving Season everyone was able to recognize the things that we are given every single day. One way that I invited people to recognize these things was by saying a thankful prayer to our Heavenly Father, only saying things that we are grateful for and not asking for anything. I invite anyone reading this to do this as well!

Other then that my Thanksgiving was pretty good! We ate at the church with 4 different families that came together and made a fantastic meal. The families were The Rushtons, The Hodges, The Halladays and The Shaws. It was a lot of fun and they even made the same type of rolls that we make at home! And they made Raspberry Pretzel Jello, so it was awesome!! It really wasn't the same, but I am glad that I was able to eat turkey with people that love me here in Brookings! After dinner we were told not to go out a proselyte but to go home a write a letter home then  weekly plan. We did that for a little bit but then we decided to go over to the Sheffels, and that was so nice. Sister Sheffel is very much Mama Sheffel here in Brookings, we all love her. She hasn't even been a member for a year yet! But we went over there and they made a bunch of popcorn and hot chocolate and we sat around and talked for a little bit. And then we decided to go down to the port to watch the waves coming in from the storm and that was a lot of fun. We also saw some seals! Although I found out that it is illegal to touch them, so we will not be doing that anytime soon. It was a lot of fun, I could call the first Thanksgiving in the mission field a success!

On Friday we were able to go help the Applebakers (our investigators who are getting baptized this week!!!!!) decorate for Christmas. It was so much fun, they had a bunch of Christmas hymns playing, because they knew we couldn't listen to anything else, and we just laughed and decorated. And then at the end we were able to share Light the World with them and what an experience that was. They all cried and were just so excited to see the advent calendar that is now up on Mormon.org! I am so grateful for this time of year that we have to go out and Light the World!

Speaking of LIGHT THE WORLD, if you have not seen the movie you better stop reading my email right now and go watch it because it says way more then I will ever say. Seriously, it touches me everyday. And the comments that we get everytime we show it to people is basically the same. They love how it shows things Christ has done and then shows people doing those things. And that my dear fan club is the purpose. Our purpose on this Earth is to return back to our Father who is in Heaven and one of the ways that we do that is to be more like Christ every single day. It isn't easy but I invite you to go to the advent calendar on Mormon.org and check out what is on there. And no you do not need to be a member to go there, this is for everyone, big or small. How are you going to Light the World this season?

This week we watched Meet the Mormons with the Applebakers and it was awesome. I have watched this movie so many times on my mission, but let me tell you, every time I watch the Missionary Mom scenes I cry like a baby, its fine, I am fine. lol

So on Saturday Sister Dat and I spent the day tracting wanting to show people the Light the World video. Not many people actually watched the video. But at this one house this young boy, probably 13, answered the door and said he would watched it and he actually started to cry. When he asked him how he felt he said that he felt really good inside, so we invited him to learn more about Christ and he told us to come back Sunday afternoon to meet his parents. So we came back on Sunday and found out that his mom had been taking the discussion and was actually on date for baptism. But she couldn't get baptized because her husband didn't want her to do that. Even though her husband is a less active! It was really sad, the boy looked so sad. I hope one day his dads heart will be softened. Light the World is going to change lives.

We had a pretty good first Fast Sunday in Brookings, I am pretty sure there wasn't a whole 30 seconds without someone who was bearing their testimony, it was awesome. I love hearing others bear their testimony, whether it is long and drawn out or if it is simple and to the point. Great things happen from bearing your testimony and I know that as you share your testimony with others that your is multiplied exceedingly. Also a young man got up and talked about how his testimony has grown from Seminary, here they go to early morning seminary, and he invited all of the youth in the congregation to attend seminary even if you lose a few hours of sleep. Because you know sleep is a temporal thing, I like my sleep a little too much to call it a temporal thing, lol. Anyway, Sister Dat and I were able to give the Gospel Principle lesson on prayer this week. And apparently I was the only one out of the two of us to read the lesson before Sunday morning so I ended up teaching a majority of the lesson. I always hated it growing up when people said they made the lesson plan, or talk that morning. Coming to church is so important and these people have come to be enriched with the gospel. So if you teach on Sundays I invite you to prepare before hand, but I do understand some circumstance don't allow for that but try your hardest. The lesson went great though and I hope every one felt the spirit.

Last night we were able to have dinner at the Sheffels and we made omelets in a bag, yum yum yum. it was so good. I love the Sheffels.

I had a pretty great Thanksgiving week! I am so grateful for all of you and everything that you have done to help me get out here on a mission. I love you and hope that your Thanksgiving was wonderful!

Love you and miss you!

Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,

Sister Harrison