Last
Pday Sister Heaton and I spent most of the day shopping. We both lacked
the fact that we did not bring any kind of a hoody on our missions, so
we decided to try and find a Brookings hoody. Well we soon realized that
because it is the off season that NO ONE is selling Brookings Hoodies,
except one place and it was like $45. So I decided that I will have to
come back to Brookings when more of the tourist shops are open, deal?
Deal. But it was a good Pday nonetheless, and we were able to just relax
most of the day. I don't know if I have expressed these feelings before
by Pday is sometimes like my least favorite day of the week because
there is so much stuff to get done and not a lot of time. And it is the
only day of the week that we are allowed to nap and I HAVE NEVER BEEN
ABLE TO NAP. What the goodness. But that is okay, the hard working
missionary keeps going on!
On Tuesday we were
able to go up to Coos Bay, AGAIN. But this time we were able to make
that beautiful drive to be able to have interviews with President
Russell. And they were great. We were only really there for about an
hour then we had to drive back down to Brookings, but it was really good
to sit down and talk to my mission president. He always has something
good to say that I need to hear. We talked about repentance for a little
while and asked me what I thought it meant to repent. So we talked
about that then he told me that is what I am called to do. To teach the
people in Brookings right now about repentance and how they can come
closer to Christ through doing that. We as missionaries are called to
Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. And I love that. He then asked me
what scripture from the Book of Mormon has affected my missionary
service the most. And that was a really hard question to answer because I
feel like there are oh so many, I mean the Book of Mormon is wonderful.
But I decided to share with him Alma 37:6, which says, "by small and
simple things are great things brought to pass," and I love this
scripture because it is shows that by the little thing that we do in
this life we are able to become the people that we are to become. By me
teaching the simple things of the gospel I change peoples lives. By me
doing the simple things that my Heavenly Father has commanded me to do
everyday I am able to draw closer to him. And I love that. President
Russell then talked to me about training and he said that I was doing a
great job, I told him that I feel like she is training me more than the
other way around, and he just told me that I am doing what I am supposed
to be doing, which was nice to hear from him. All in all it was a great
interview. We also met with Sister Russell so she could go over our
Area Book, and she told us a few things. The biggest news is that at the
Worldwide Missionary Devotional on the 25th of this month the church
has made some adjustments to the missionary schedule that will be
announced. My first question was "Do we get to sleep in an extra hour?"
She laughed then said no. Darn it. But I am excited to see what our
leaders are changing. After we were done with interviews the senior
couple, The Sivulas, took Sister Heaton and I to lunch in Bandon, and
Sister Heaton had her first fish. I freakin love Cod, I don't know what
it is. I am beginning to crave it. I don't really know what is wrong
with me. Also we went to this little candy shop called Cranberry Sweet
and Sister Heaton and I tried Bacon chocolate, and it was nasty. But
they had A TON of free candy. So cool.
On
Wednesday Sister Heaton and I were able to have the opportunity of
finding a new investigator and then teaching this lady named Shelly.
Shelly was investigating the church this time last year until she was
diagnosed with Breast Cancer. And once she started going through chemo
she told the sisters that she had to stop meeting with them. But
recently Shelly has been coming to church! She has been going through a
lot of trials but she is seeing truly how the church is blessing her
life. She received a Priesthood blessing just a few weeks ago, and last
week when she went in for a scan, all the doctors were surprised to find
that she had no cancer in her body. SERIOUSLY. What a miracle. This was
our first lesson with Shelly and she has already told us that she knows
the Book of Mormon is true. She was at church yesterday and Sister
Heaton and I have plans to put her on date for Baptism this coming week!
On Thursday
Sister Heaton and I were able to teach a 14 year old girl named Kaylee.
Kaylee has received almost all of the lessons from the missionaries.
But the problem is that her mom has not given her permission to be
baptized. I hadn't really had a lesson with Kaylee yet so this was the
first time I was able to sit down and talk to her. And really ask her
what she thought we could do as missionaries to help her mom feel
comfortable with the church. Kaylee told us that she had this feeling
for awhile and that she hadn't done it yet. But that she felt like she
needed to invite her LDS friends over to the house so that her Mom could
get to know them better. I smiled and I told Kaylee that I know that
was a feeling that was coming from the spirit so we invited her to do
that during the rest of her Christmas break. She is so strong in the
gospel already, she has been at church every week and has even given a
talk in sacrament meeting. Seriously she is the greatest. I pray that
hopefully one day her Mom will give her permission to be baptized!
Something amazing happened on Friday.
Sister Heaton and I had a bunch of lessons planned with people and they
all fell through. But we decided to go tracting instead. And literally
the first 2 doors that we knocked on became investigators who were
interested in hearing more about the gospel. Heavenly Father is so
great! We have lessons scheduled with these people next week and we are
excited to see where things will go with them. We almost got 3 doors in a
row until we started to invite this woman to read the Book of Mormon.
Then she told us to get out of her house... awkward. She was so nice
before that happened! Then on Friday
night it was super cold and we didn't think that it would be best to be
out tracting so we were prompted to call a member in our ward who is
older and always loves visitors. Well when we got there we found out
that her non member husband was there! What?!!? Super cool. We were able
to share the video called "Shower of Heavenly Blessings" and talk about
how we have a loving Heavenly Father. He has some pretty interesting
views on things. But we are excited to teach him!
On
New Years Eve Sister Heaton and I decided to drive up river to do some
tracting, because it was the end of the month and we had some extra
miles! While we were up there we tracted into a member! Crazy how things
work out sometimes. And Saturday
was the day that Sister Heaton and I wanted to reach our goal of
Referrals for the week. Well the member actually invited us to go meet
his neighbors! So we were able to reach our goal on referrals as well!
The neighbors weren't very interested but it was good to talk to them
about what they believed in and we were even able to offer some service
to them whenever they need it!
This was probably the first New Years Eve in YEARS that I didn't stay up until midnight.
After we had dinner that night we were told by our leaders to be inside
for the rest of the night. So we were able to hear the fireworks and
gun shots from inside our apartment. Sister Heaton and I were even in
bed and almost asleep by 9:45. So you could say that was a good New Years Present for us!!
This
week before we went to dinner we had a few extra minutes so Sister
Heaton and I decided that we should tracted the houses around their
house. So we did and we met this one lady who just let us into her house
on the spot, it was AWESOME! We then realized that she was a Less
Active member who hadn't been to church in about a year. But it was cool
that we were able to be guided to her house and we now have plans to be
able to go and visit her next week! So cool.
On Sunday we were able to have the baptismal interview for Eli, who is getting baptized on SATURDAY!
We are so so so excited for him. So now we are just trying to get his
program and things together. He told us that he wanted his parents to do
literally EVERYTHING. Prayers, talks, everything. Well Bishop didn't
agree with that so we are now trying to find other people to do those
things (:
To finish off my letter I wanted to
share a scripture that I read this morning during studies. Because of
the New Year I made some goals for myself and one of them is to again
finish the Book of Mormon in 6 months,
so I am just at the beginning. But 1 Nephi 3:15-16 struck a chord with
me this morning. And it reads: "As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we
will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have
accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us. Wherefore, let
us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord" I put myself in
the shoes of Nephi when I was reading this scripture and I compared it
to my missionary work. I am not going to leave Oregon until my work is
done, and that is a fact, so I need to be faithful in continuing to be
obedient so that I will be able to return to my Heavenly Father one day
and tell him that I did all that I could. And that can go with anyone
who reads this scripture. At this time in our lives we are going through
whatever trial we may be going through. But I know that as we continue
living the commandment that our Heavenly Father has given us that WE
WILL BE BLESSED!
I hope that everyone is having
a fantastic New Year! And I hope everyone is keeping safe. Stay warm
and try to make some REALISTIC goals for the New Year!!! I love you all!
Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary,
Sister Harrison
Spring Sheffel and I, I just love her.
It started getting foggy and the snow started getting more wet so we decided to head on out!
We had it made under the canopy there was a heater and a little stove making us some hot chocolate, you could say I spent most of my time there!
The trees were just beautiful covered in the snow!
Carly Sheffel wanted to get in for a picture, too cute, it was just pouring buckets up in the mountains!
Cute Sister Heaton and I
I love the snow!!! I was in my happy place today
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| You can not even believe how excited this announcement made me. I have been talking about how much I want them to make Book of Mormon videos like the Bible videos, my dream is coming true folks!! But we have to wait until 2018 😢😢😢 |
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| I took a screen shot of this because if you look at Monday it says snow!! My prayers have been answered 🙏🏼🙏🏼 |
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| Seriously, So Close to California that it hurts! | People might have looked at us like we are crazy, it's fine! |
I am such a spaz and I am so glad that Sister Heaton just lives with it lol she loves me.
This was a Donut bun burger I ate the other day, it was not worth the price and it made me super sick. But the sweet potato fries 👌🏼
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| Every time we go up to Coos Bay we pass this Dinosaur Park and I always want to take a picture next to them, thankfully Sister Heaton made my wish come true!!! |
Sister Heaton caught this awesome Sunset on the beach last Pday, I thought all would enjoy
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