November 21, 2016
One funny thing about being a missionary is that people will literally tell you their whole life story. Sometimes this is really great because then you know how you can teach them for them to be able to understand the gospel. But sometimes we just get way too much information, and this week was one of those weeks, haha, don't worry I will not share with you all of the details, but it was a great week all around here on the coast, I love OREGON!
This last Pday was pretty uneventful, it was raining all day so we weren't really able to go do anything, but we were able to go shopping for a little bit, I found an Old Navy skirt at GoodWill with all the tags still on it! Score, and to do some emailing, so all in all it was a pretty good day. Sister Sheffel in the Ward is so nice and she does our laundry for us twice a week, I love members. After Pday we were able to go to dinner at a members house and when we walked inside she said oh we won't be having dinner tonight, so instead she gave us some money and we went to a Mexican restaurant here in town. We then had family home evening with the Applebakers and we shared a lesson on service and I was able to share Mosiah 2:17, and how important it is for us to serve to be able to help our Heavenly Father. We were then able to play a friendly game of Jenga and we got up to 30 layers of blocked until they would all tumble down. It was a lot of fun to let loose and be able to get to know the girls more, man they are CRAZY!
On Tuesday I was able to send home a little surprise that I have been working on in my free time, which basically means the couple of minutes before I go to bed. But a couple of weeks ago President Russell came out and said that we weren't allowed to send home name tags because they are of a special worth of our calling. And now that all made sense to me but a part of me was still really sad because I was excited to send a name tag home for the Christmas tree. So Sister Rhoton thought of an idea with a shrinky dink! And I think they turned out pretty great for being homemade!
We went tracting this week we met this one lady and she wasn't interested but she told us to go to her neighbor, normally when things like that happen I don't go because usually it turns out bad. Well we walk to the neighbors home and she literally came out of her house before we even knocked. She came out and said I just need to be honest I am an atheist, because who could believe there was a God, I mean Trump is our president! Then walked inside. Sister Dat and I really had to try hard not to laugh.
I met a really awesome lady named Sister Hendrix, apparently she had been inactive for over 20 years and is just recently coming back to church and she loves sister missionaries because they are the ones that would always visit. She lives right on the ocean and has a beautiful view, so I just sat there and watched the waves for a few minutes then didn't even realize she was asking me a question, seriously it was gorgeous. She is also an amazing lady just because of her personality, I hope to be like her when I am older, basically she is my spirit animal. She told us that she was asked to give the Relief Society lesson in January and she started freaking out! Apparently she hasn't taught in church for 20 years, at least she has the time to prepare! So we gave her some helpful hints in preparing lessons, including the book Teaching In the Saviors way that the church has put out.
So the other night Sister Datwyler and I decided to watch the Christmas Initiatives that the church has put out the last couple of years. Well we didn't think we would be using them for awhile until we stopped by an investigators home and she had just read into Luke and talked about the birth of the Savior. Sometimes the spirit tells you to study something even if you don't really know why. So we showed her He is the Gift and she really enjoyed that. I am so grateful for this time of year that we are able to focus our thoughts on the Savior.
So the Brookings Ward has a Book of Mormon class, and no one recently has been going to it. So we planned a lesson for that time instead. Well on the way to the lesson we got a call from them that told us not to go to their house because there was hail coming down. So we began turning around when suddenly we got a phone call from the Elders telling us that investigators were at the church waiting for Book of Mormon class! Heavenly Father works in funny ways sometimes. So we went to the class planning on reading 2 Nephi 31 and focusing on Baptism, but this one man said he wanted to read 3 Nephi 27 instead, well that talks all about Baptism too! So obviously we were partly listening to the spirit we just didn't get the full memo. It was a great study time with out investigators.
On Wednesday Sister Dat and I had the great pleasure of driving from Brookings to Port Orford, which is about an hour. Then we got in the car with the senior couple, Elder and Sister Sivula, and they gave us a ride to Coos Bay from there which is another hour. We did this so that we could attend specialized training and interviews with our mission president. Yes it was a very long drive, but let me tell you, it was beautiful. We were literally driving along the coast the entire time driving in and out of trees and then right next to the ocean, I wouldn't be upset living on the Oregon Coast. It is breath taking. Interviews with President Russell was so great, he is truly an inspired man. We were able to talk about Christ like attributes that we are working on, right now for me that is patience, everyone could use a little more patience in this world. And we were then able to talk about things that we struggle with, and the thing that I talked about was finding, I want to have a better attitude about finding new investigators, and guess what, all of specialized training was about finding! I can basically read minds. In specialized training they showed us a new way that the church wants us to find, and that is through FAcebook. Heavenly Father has given us so many tools to be able to use on this Earth and we should be able to use those. So the way that they explained it is with members. We sit down and we pray about the members friend list, and then the members go through the list and wait for the spirit to speak to them. We then help them compose a message for the person they are writing to. And in the end if the person wants to learn more about the gospel we are able to add them into a group message on Facebook and answer their questions, I am so excited about this!
So after Interviews and Specialized Training Sister Datwyler and I ended up going on exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders, and I was praying so hard that I didn't have to take over the area after a week, well guess what, I stayed in Brookings and Sister Mills came down with me. Awesome. But that is okay, Heavenly Father gives us things in life so that we a stretch and progress. And that is exactly what I did with Sister Mills. All the exchanges that I have been on in the Mission Field have not really been that eventful, and actually I kind of hate exchanges, but this was a good one and Sister Mills really taught me a lot. Also she started her mission in Roseburg too! So we had a lot to talk about.
We started out the exchange with service at a store here in town and the lady there, Bobbie, gave us a fun job of decorating for Christmas!! I thought it was weird that we were decorating for Christmas but then I realized that Thanksgiving is this week... oops! But it was so much fun, Sister Mills and I were able to talk about traditions at home and stuff like that. It was a lot of fun. We then had 3 lessons planned for the day and all 3 cancelled of course. So I kind of started freaking out because I didn't really have a back up plan, note to self always have a back up plan. So we pulled over and pulled out my ipad and prayed. When I was done praying I opened up my ipad to area book and the first name that I saw I thought we needed to go see her. Well as we were walking to her house we met Jaime, who has recently been questioning her faith! And we set up an appointment with her! Heavenly Father is truly amazing folks! The lady who we were going to see ended up not being home, but obviously Heavenly Father had other plans in mind. You could say the exchange with Sister Mills was a successful one, I am glad we were able to do it. I love her!
So then Sister Dat came back from Coos Bay and we went straight to work. We were able to do more service at a Thrift Store here in town and while we were tagging some items the lady behind me began to talk about the Greys Anatomy Fall Finale. Ummm I totally freaked out and told her to stop. She was like why? And I was like because I can't watch it for another year! And she was like why? And so then that got us into a great discussion about what we do as missionaries and why we set apart this part of our lives, and the ladies in the thrift store were amazed! They thought that was so cool. Then this lady was like huh, maybe I should go on a mission, I mean I am baptized into your church. UH WHAT? We had NO IDEA! So we also found a less active through this experience. So cool. Also while we were there the ladies got really quiet and all of a sudden they were like ummm we have a whole box of mormon underwear and we don't know what to do with it.... so we took it. Its like a whole box of mens tops. Weird but kind of funny, we plan on giving it to Bishop Porter because we don't know what to do with it.
We had a great lesson with Catherine, a recent convert as of 3 weeks, and we were able to talk about a couple of things that have been bothering her right now in her life. Catherine met the missionaries and started receiving the lessons and was baptized within a transfer. But we were able to turn it around the things she was struggling with and talk about the temple and the work that we do in the temple. We recently got new pamphlets from the church, one talks about learning and serving and then the other one talks about temples and family history and man what a great tool those are with less actives and recent converts. But as we were talking about baptisms for the dead Catherine began to cry and asked if she could do that for her mom, my eyes then began to leak as I realized the love that she had for her mother. It was great. Catherine is amazing, she is one of the reasons that I love missionary work, to see the change in people. She told me that her Baptismal certificate is more important then her bachelors degree. She has waited for 40 years to feel of the love of her Heavenly Father. I love her.
On Saturday Sister Dat and I went to make lunch together, we decided we wanted tomato soup and grilled cheese. Well we realized that literally all of our plates, pans, silverware, bowls, cups, mugs, etc were in the dish washer. So we found a huge pot and a sandwich maker thing like a George Forman and started cooking. So we ate off of paper towels and out of Tupperware and I ate with a wooden spoon and Sister Dat ate with a tablespoon. It was awesome. And, random fact, we found an empty wine bottle in the deep parts of our cupboards when we were looking for clean pans, yes yes it was weird. Don't know where that came from.
So everyone decided to play a prank on the new missionaries coming in. When I first met the Sheffels Sister Dat told me that they were weird, and one of the weird facts was they ate with their hands instead of utensils, so of course I thought that was weird. Well we had dinner with them Saturday and they told us they were having spaghetti. I was freaking out about eating spaghetti with my hands. Well we got there and they decided to eat breakfast instead. So Spring got me two eggs over easy and sat them down in front of me as well as pancakes. We said prayer and I just stared at my eggs, I didn't know how to eat them. After a few moments of awkward staring Wayne got me a fork and they all just laughed. They thought it was funny, apparently my face made it all worth it.
One thing that President Russell suggested I do is buy a miracle journal and keep it with me all the time to always write down when Heavenly Father is touching my life. So that is what I am doing, I am so grateful for all the little things Heavenly Father does to show us that he loves us. I invite you this Thanksgiving week to be grateful for the Tender Mercies that your Heavenly Father is giving to you!
Also, you should all be so excited for this coming weekend because the Christmas Initiative is coming out. I am sure it will be out on Facebook, so watch for it and make sure you #LightTheWorld. Don't worry Sister Datwyler and I already lite up our apartment with Christmas lights! I love this season (:
I hope that everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving week! I am so grateful for my wonderful fan club that I have and the emails that I receive from you all every week. I know that our Heavenly Father has such a great love for every single one of you and I hope that you do not forget that (: Have a stellar week this week! And don't forget to be grateful!
Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,
Sister Harrison 
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