The OEM is on FIRE 🔥, literally.

August 21, 2017

Hey Fan Club! Hope you all are able to read this email and didn't go blind from looking at the eclipse this morning! And if you didn't get to see the eclipse you missed out! It was a once in a life time opportunity! Sister Lunt and I thought that we were watching it through our iPads and then there was a member that let us use their glasses, um no wasn't watching it the way I could have. But all of you people that drove to Idaho or somewhere else are crazy! It did get a little cold here and did get dark. But I thought it was going to be really dark, but none of that today. It was really cool, I am glad that fog could go away for a few minutes this morning so we could watch it (: This week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges two times with two different sisters in the zone! It is always so much fun to be able to work with these sisters and to be able to have them teach me so much, most of the time I think they teach me more then I teach them! I went to Sister Peck on Tuesday. She is from West Valley Utah and has been out for a little under a year and right now she is training a brand new missionary. It was fun because we went straight to work and we found so many great potentials and even some new investigators. One of the guys we found, his name is Terry, just moved here from the South. Well this whole week here in the Bay we have been getting a lot of wind (we usually have a lot of wind but this has been more then usual) well, my skirt totally kept trying to fly up while we were on his door step and he made it a joke which was good, but I on the other hand was freaking out the entire time. He has a Christian background and right now is trying to find a church that is a good place for him to make roots. We talked about the Restoration of the Gospel and he asked us to come back! That doesn't happen too often, so we have a return appointment for this week! I am excited to meet with him again! We had Zone Conference this week here in Coos Bay and the Roseburg Zone came and had it with us. So much fun. The spirit was so strong and we really were edified. I love Zone Conference and the opportunity that we have to learn form our leaders. Sister Lunt and I also taught at this Zone Conference which was a lot of fun. Always stressful and I always get nervous but it turned out really well. We had to talk for 15 minutes about Asking Questions. We ended up having them think about different times in the scriptures that Questions are asked to be able to prove a point or help people learn. It turned into more of a discussion which I really enjoyed. Then we read from Preach My Gospel and did a role play. I was happy with how well it went and President Orton said that we did a good job. So that is good! I really liked learning about companionship unity at Zone Conference. The Assistants that we have right now in the mission are probably the most unified missionaries that I have ever met. And they were able to teach the section and I really enjoyed it. They talked about how we can resolve conflicts and become more one in Christ. This is something that I wished I would have learned at the beginning of the mission but I am grateful to have that information now and for the future as well! Really everything was just so great and the spirit was strong. I am grateful for everyone that had a part in that conference, it was just too good! We had a lesson with our investigator Mary this week. She is an older woman who has some interesting views on life. Well the Elders had taught her the first discussion already so we went to follow up on things and to teach her the second discussion. Well we start talking about she tells us about the "Joseph Smith Book" and how we shouldn't have a book about him. I was confused about what book she was talking about until she pulled out her Book of Mormon. Then I began to tell her about the Book of Mormon and what it is really about and she was like "Wow, that really makes so much more sense, why wouldn't Christ come to the Americas?" Awesome, so then we started going more into the Restoration to go over what the Elders had taught the time before. Well then she started talking about Why would God come to Joseph Smith and not to the billions of other people that believe in him, and the Bible says that no man can or will ever see God. So basically she told us that she doesn't believe in the first vision. So we opened up to Acts when the apostle Stephan sees God the Father and His Son in a vision before he dies, and we asked her if she believed in that. She said no and that he was probably deceived by the devil. And then she told a long story about her life. But we were able to bring it back and she told us that she didn't have an open heart right now. But she said she would pray for an open heart before we come back next time. Hopefully we will be able to teach her next time and she will be a little more open to our message. On Friday I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Maddock who serves in the Coos Bay Ward. She has only been out for a couple of transfers so it was a lot of fun to go out with her and see the fire with in her. She is from Plain City, Utah and really loves Oregon so far. Within the first 20 minutes of Sister Maddock and I together we were able to find a young girl named Kaelyn. Kaelyn is 14 but she looks like she is 21, no joke. She has a Hindu background on belief so it was fun to talk to her and begin to understand what she believes. We asked her who she thought God was, she said that she believes there are multiple Gods and that God is within us. Well I began to explain the Godhead and who God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are to us. I think explained that the Holy Ghost is within us to help us be lead and guided. She really liked that. When I asked if she believed in Jesus Christ she said yeah, we believe he was in India teaching the people during the 11 years of unaccounted life that we have of him. So then I brought up the Book of Mormon and how we believe that the Savior loves all of us and that he also came to the Americas to teach the people here. Really it went back and forth like this for awhile and then she asked us to come back to teach her and her mom! We are going tonight, it should be awesome! The rest of the exchange went really well with Sister Maddock and we were able to do a lot of great work together. She is an amazing missionary and I really look up to her! On Saturday our ward did this fun thing called the Bishops Bash at Bastendorff Beach here in the area. We got to invite a bunch of Less Actives to attend and some Non Members as well. We had a lot of members helping to get people there and we were able to go with one of our investigators, Pippi! It was a lot of fun to be at the beach with her and to play around in the sand and eat some good dinner. She also got in the water and I still call her crazy for that because I was dressed and freezing, so she is nuts! But it was a good activity to get more fellowshipping in the ward! There is this young girl named Addyson that the sisters were teaching before. Her mom is a less active and hasn't been coming to church but Addyson expressed an interest in getting baptized so her mom had her start taking the missionary discussions. Well her dad isn't a member and a member who works with him told us that there is a lot of potential there and to go and talk to them. Addy has been out of town with her active grandparents for the entire summer so we decided to stop by on Saturday and see if she was home. She was and she really wants to meet with us again. We sat down with her and her mom & dad and talked about it and her dad is all about commitment. He wants Addy to stick to it if that is really something that she wants. So he doesn't want her getting baptized really soon but he wants her to commit. So step #1 she committed to have a lesson with us in 2 weeks when her mom is off of work. I am so excited to sit down and meet with her! She is a cute little girl, and her dad has a lot of potential too so we will invite him to sit down and listen as well. Teaching families is literally the best! Well Fan Club, my mission is on fire, literally. We got a call from Brookings last night saying that they were leaving Brookings and going to Grants Pass because the air quality was so bad that they couldn't even leave the apartment. Everyone keeps saying there are a lot of fires going on but hearing that Brookings Sisters had to leave makes it a little bit more real for us here in North Bend! We aren't in danger here but please everyone say a good prayer for the firefighters out there and that the winds stay down so they can get control of those fires, it would be greatly appreciated (: This area is really starting to pick up speed in the Missionary Work and I am excited to see what comes this week in the miracles that we have been experiencing! Now that School is going back into session more people will be able to met more frequently and I really think there is going to be more success in this area of the Lords Vineyard! This week I was really struggling, you know we all have times that we struggle. But I felt prompted to open my transfer journal (basically it is a glorified missionary yearbook) and I saw that someone put a reference down to a scripture. That scripture can be found in Alma 26:12, it reads, "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." As I read this scripture I knew that I was relying on myself more then I was the Lord, but I know that the Lord can do all things, and with him we can accomplish anything! And that is my testimony to all of you, we can do all things with the Lord on our side. He promises never to leave us alone, all we have to do is let him in and he will carry us to safety. I want to send with a quote from Sheri Dew, she is basically the bomb.com! “Is it possible to be happy when life is hard? To feel peace amid uncertainty and hope in the midst of cynicism? Is it possible to change, to shake off old habits and become new again? Is it possible to live with integrity and purity in a world that no longer values the virtues that distinguish the followers of Christ? “Yes. The answer is yes because of Jesus Christ, whose Atonement ensures that we need not bear the burdens of mortality alone. … “Through the years I, like you, have experienced pressures and disappointments that would have crushed me had I not been able to draw upon a source of wisdom and strength far greater than my own. He has never forgotten or forsaken me, and I have come to know for myself that Jesus is the Christ and that this is His Church. With Ammon I say, ‘[For] who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy … ? Behold, … I cannot say the smallest part which I feel’ (Alma 26:16). I testify that in this, the twilight of the dispensation of the fulness of times, when Lucifer is working overtime to jeopardize our journey home and to separate us from the Savior’s atoning power, the only answer for any of us is Jesus Christ” -- Sheri Dew I know, with Sheri Dew, that the only answer for any of us is Jesus Christ, I am forever grateful for him and his love and mercy! Thanks so much for listening to yet another email from your favorite Sister Missionary, I hope you all enjoyed it! I'm so grateful to be in the Oregon Eugene Mission even if it is on fire (; I'm grateful to be one of the Lords servants in this area of his vineyard! I hope you have a great week and I'll hear from you next week! Lovely all! Work Hard! ---Remember who are are and who God EXPECTS you to become--- PS Next week is transfer week and I know that I will be going to the transfer spot because Sister Lunt is going home. So please send me your emails the night before and that would be great! Thanks so much! Love, Your Favorite Sister Missionary, Sister Harrison ️

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