January 23, 2017
It
has been a pretty good week here in Brookings! Everyone in their emails
to me this week talked about how much snow Utah has been getting, well
here in Oregon we have just been getting buckets and buckets of rain! I
seriously don't know where it all goes, I feel like we should be
flooding by this point or something. But the other night Sister Heaton
and I woke up to the rain/hail/wind/thunder/
So
many miracles happened this week! On Tuesday we were able to have a
lesson with this AMAZING lady! Her name is Shelly and she had met with
the missionaries about a year ago but then she was diagnosed with cancer
and said she couldn't meet with the missionaries anymore. Well a few
months ago she started coming to church with a member in our Ward. And
on Tuesday we were able to put her on date for baptism for February 12th!
And Sister Heaton and I are so excited for her and her decisions that
she is making. A few weeks ago she was going to go in for a scan to look
for the cancer and the member offered to give her a blessing, and we
she went in for the scan there was NO cancer found. We are so excited
for all of the great things that are happening in her life!
I would just like to point out that I had cod multiple times this week so I am a very happy sister.
On
Wednesday we were able to Coos Bay for Zone Conference. I was excited
for Zone conference because Roseburg was supposed to be at our Zone
Conference too! Well on Wednesday we had to wake up at 4:45 am 
we
were just a little bit tired. Also, we were having car inspections so
we were trying to keep our car SO clean. Well we were driving through a
storm so our car was not clean on the outside what so ever. It was not
very great. And when we finally got to Coos Bay we found out that
Roseburg wasn't going to be able to make it because there was a mud
slide, which was pretty sad, I was excited to see them! But all in all
Zone Conference was so great. We were able to talk about the Priesthood
Authority that is found in our church. And I think that is something
that a lot of us take for granted in our church. We forget that the men
who hold the priesthood that is can be traced literally from Jesus
Christ himself. That this power is real and that it can work miracles.
We also talked about repentance and about how we as missionaries need to
be continually repenting so that we can teach our investigators to the
best of our abilities. We learned about how repentance is a continual
process and it isn't something that just is a check list. President
Russell gave a step by step process for us to teach Repentance to our
investigators with a couple of extra steps then what we usually learn in
church:
- REDEEMER. remember the Savior always through out the whole Repentance process.
- RECOGNIZE. Realize the things that you have done wrong and the thing that you need to stop doing and the things you need to start doing.
- REMORSE. feel sorry for the things that you have done wrong. And not just sorry, but Godly Sorrow.
- CONFESS. it is better to choose to confess and to repent rather then being compelled to confess.
- RESTITUTION.
- RENUNCIATION/FORSAKE.
- REDEMPTION.
- RESPONSIBILITY. It is important to take the responsibility for the things that we have done wrong and be able to fix those things. The Savior suffered for us to be able to be made new again and to return to our Heavenly Father someday. I am so grateful for the repentance process and for all of the blessings that have been made possible through our Savior.
But
yeah, Zone Conference was awesome. I always love the times that we are
able to sit down with our Mission President to be able to learn
something new. Our mission right now is very focused on the baptism
goals that we made for the mission as a whole and is trying to put in
all of our efforts to make those goals a reality. This next week we have
our world wide missionary Devotional on Wednesday sooooo there will be
some changes so we are excited to see what comes from that.
On
Friday we were able to have New Missionary Training over Skype, which
usually isn't a big deal. When I was in training I hated having to do
the role plays. I gave it the nickname of New Missionary Torture. Well I
think this week kind of felt like torture for Sister Heaton. It is
really hard to do a role play with someone over a Skype Call. you can
never tell if they are actually listening because they aren't looking at
you and they just don't give much feedback. I think this is something
that I am going to talk to the Zone Leaders about just because she did
really good when we were practicing during the week but then it was
really hard when they tried to do it over Skype. Other then that Sister
Heatons training is going really really well. She is teaching me
something new every single day.
On
Saturday Sister Heaton and I were able to do something very special....
it was CUSTOMER APPRECIATION DAY AT DAIRY QUEEN! So we were able to get
1/2 priced blizzards, we had been working hard so we rewarded ourselves
This
week we were able to do quite a bit of tracting even though there was a
lot of crazy weather. I decided that all missionaries should come
together and put a book together of all the excuses that we get as
missionaries. I am telling you it is hilarious. The other day we knocked
on one door and this lady was like "well you know I have found Jesus
and I go to my own church, and you know I am a cancer survivor so I am
not interested" and closed the door. Like what the goodness. It just
keeps us laughing as we are tracting. But we were able to find 3 new
investigators during our efforts, so the work is still strong here in
Brookings!
The
best compliment I got this week is that a member of our Ward asked me
if I am losing weight! Woo hoo! I don't think that I am actually losing
weight but it really did make me feel good!
Last
night we were able to teach a lesson about the word of wisdom to a man
who has told us in the past that he has no desire to quit smoking. Well
yesterday he told us that it is going to be hard, but he didn't tell us
no either! He said that once he gets done with the stress that he has
right now that he does want to be baptized and that he is going to quit
smoking! Seriously this was such an answer to so many prayers that have
been given lately!
This week President has been telling us to study D&C 58:26-28
26
For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he
that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise
servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
27
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do
many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much
righteousness;
28
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And
inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
We
have the power to choose to act for ourselves. If we wait for the Lord
to tell us everything we should do, we will lose our reward. If we use
our agency to do things that bring righteousness, we will be rewarded!
And the reward is going to be eternal life, and as a missionary if I use
my agency correctly the reward is going to be seeing other people
accept eternal life. I love love love this scripture, this week I would
like to invite my lovely fan club to adapt it for themselves and see
what you can do better!
The
work is going forward here in Brookings. I know I said I was going to
go on a fun adventure this week, but because of all the storms we
couldn't go. Everyone always talks about this place called secret beach
and all the missionaries want to go. Apparently it really isn't a
secret, but we don't know where it is! So hopefully I won't get
transferred next week and I will stay another 6 weeks so I can go!!
I love you all, thanks for all your love and support this week (:
---Remember who you are and who God expects you to become.---
Sister Harrison
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