"Called To Serve!": March 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

"He does not just give us fish, but teaches us how to fish!"

March 26, 2013
Hola mi familia!!!! I love you all so much! Thank you for your sweet letters and notes. They mean so much and are such a strength to me.

Everything is going great! We are progressing with our investigators and learning how to teach with unity in our companionships and keep the investigator involved by asking questions and switching off teaching, and sharing scriptures. I love learning! Are you all excited for Easter? I have a challenge for all of you. If you still have a copy of Jesus The Christ, I invite you to study as a family the last week of the Savior's life. I love learning about the Savior and everything He has done for us, and when we study His life, we grow closer to Him, receive more faith and love for Him, and we want to serve Him more by serving others. '

There are a few stories I want to share from this week. This week I learned that when it comes to our struggles, the Lord does not just take them away. He does not just give us fish, He teaches us how to fish, so that we can be sustained with His help, and then become fishers of men. I have been learning this for a while, but the Lord is very patient with me in teaching me how to help others. Last night, we had an opportunity to teach a TRC lesson. Instead of two twenty minute lessons, we had one forty minute lesson. We prayed to know what to teach about, but we were suppose to base our lesson on how to find revelation through the Book of Mormon. As we began teaching a sweet lady from Columbia named Maria, we found that she already knew a lot about receiving revelation from the Book of Mormon. We kept sharing our experiences and testifying about the power of revelation from the Book of Mormon, but then I felt prompted to ask when was a time in her life when she received direct revelation from the Book of Mormon. She shared a scripture that she opened to and saw right away one day when she was struggling. It was 2 Nephi 31:20 which talks about Enduring to the end. My companions each spoke and were both prompted to talk about enduring to the end. Then a scripture came to my mind that I have read that same morning. D&C 78:18. It wasn't from the Book of Mormon and for a second I thought, this is from D&C it has nothing to do with what our lesson is on, but I felt like I needed to share it with her so I did. It is a scripture that brings me much comfort because as members of the Church we have already taken all of the steps, and now we just need to endure to the end. I challenge you to read it. It is inspired! After I shared it with her, she thanked me warmly for the scripture and I could tell she was more touched than she had been before. Then my sweet inspired companion Hermana Peterson felt like we needed to sing Nearer My God to then in Spanish. We did and as we sung, the Spirit filled the whole room, and Maria began to cry. After, we felt like we needed to testify of the love that the Savior has for her, and my other companion Hermana Taylor, who is just as in tune with the Spirit, testified to her that the Lord was happy with her decisions. Sister Peterson ended the lesson with a prayer for Maria and her family, and the Spirit was so strong, We each hugged her and had loved her from the beginning of the lesson. I cannot descibe the gratitude that I feel to be able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands in touching the hearts of His brothers and sisters and bringing them closer to Him. The greatest thing we can do is testify of the Savior's love because that is what everyone yearns to feel. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and that this is His work. I know that He lives! His hand is in every aspect of our lives and He will help us through anything. I love you all, and hope you will join me this Easter week in remembering the Savior even more, reflecting on His life and mission, and doing our best to be worthy to lift others and bring them unto Him. I hope you have a great Spring Break! I am very jealous, but this is where I am suppose to be! Take care, and I will talk to you soon!

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Harris

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Faith vs. Fear - "Be Not Afraid!"

March 19, 2013
Hola Familia!!! How is everyone doing? I can't express how happy I was to receive all of your sweet letters! This week, my companions and I read a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland on fear. It is called, "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence." It is incredible! In it we learned how the adversary uses fear. I know that it is his biggest tool. He used it in the premortal life, and he uses it now. We must never lose our confidence in ourselves and our divine natures. Thank you for the amazing package! It was such a blessing. The pictures of the Savior are now hanging on my wall. I especially like the picture "Be not afraid" In it the Savior is lifting a little girl from the water, while holding on to a little boy. When I saw it, I immediately thought how that little girl lifted the little boy up to the Savior first, and then the Savior lifted her. I am going to be that little girl. I will always lift others first.

In the MTC one of the ways we learn how to teach others is that we have the opportunity to teach people who come in and role play by pretending to be investigators of the Church. They are people who re-enact real life stories or situations that others may be going through so that we can learn how to teach. This week, we have a new investigator, his name is David. We instantly loved him as we started teaching him. The first lesson we taught, we could tell he just wanted more. The next lesson we really followed the Spirit while teaching, and invited him to be baptized on April 5th! We are so excited even though it isn't a real baptism. But David has struggled feeling confident because he has tattoos that people whisper about at church, and he just wants to feel the love of the Savior. I was inspired to share with him the scripture in 1 Samuel on how the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. We were able to testify of the love that the Savior and Heavenly Father have for him, and the Spirit was so strong! We also had more success with Ruby, another investigator that we have been working with. We were at a standstill for a while, because she wasn't feeling the Spirit and wasn't receiving answers to her prayers, so in the last lesson we asked her what she wanted to know about. She asked about faith, so we will teach on faith tomorrow. We studied Alma 32 for her, and while we were studying I felt like it applied to me personally. I invite you to all study that chapter together and share it with your friends. It is golden!

I thank the Lord for His never ending mercy, and for giving us trials to learn and grow. I thank the Lord for my call as a missionary and as a representative of Jesus Christ. I am so excited to bring others to Christ! I want to spend my whole life doing it! This is the truth, the Lord's work is rolling forth upon the earth, never to be stopped! Keep being strong! I love all of you! Thanks you for your prayers! Adios por ahora!

Con Mucho Amor,

Hermana Harris

Sunday, March 17, 2013

"All of us stumble, but the Lord will never let us fall!"

March 12, 2013
Hola mi famila! Como esta? I am so excited to write to you today! This week has been amazing! I was so excited to hear all of your good news this week! Thank you for writing me because I love hearing from you. Mail is such a highlight of the day. Your letters help me feel happy and blessed, and they strengthen me! I feel so blessed to have the most amazing family in the world! I love you all so much! Ok let me try to answer questions. I have two companions: Hermana Peterson from Mesa, Arizona, and Hermana Taylor from Salt Lake. Both sisters are so amazing and I look up to them so much. We all get along really well! It's such a blessing to be in a companionship with two new best friends. We are working on building others up. So at the MTC, we are assigned "investigators." They are teachers who take on the role of an investigator character, and we teach them the lessons according to their needs. Even though they aren't really investigators, we treat them like they are and we teach the lessons all in spanish.The gift of tongues is real! We are teaching a woman named Ruby, who has a young son and lives with her sister who is a member. It is amazing how the Lord guides us to teach her what she needs to hear. We are getting a new investigator this week, but will be doing a door approach so we do not know him yet. The teachers here are so amazing! I want to be a teacher in the MTC after my mission. We also have something called TRC, where we teach volunteer members who come in, and we pray before hand to know what to teach them. We teach them as themselves, and try to help them in whatever they are struggling with in life, by bringing them closer to Christ. It is so amazing! The days are busy, the Elders in my district are fun. One of them reminds me so much of Wesley, it's weird. He looks just like him. Relief Society in the MTC is amazing! We just have a huge devotional with all the sisters, and a guest speaker comes. This week was Carole Stephens, the first counselor of the Relief Society General Presidency. She talked about our role as women and how strong we are. I will have to look over my notes and tell you later, but in that meeting they had all the new sisters of the last two weeks stand up. There room just filled entirely with the Spirit as more than half the sisters stood up. And there were so many sisters there. I am in the the MTC Choir! It's so amazing to sing with all of the other missionaries! Oh, last week at the temple, we all went into the Celestial Room and there were about 30 missionaries in there. The whole room glowed, and I just had the thought enter my mind, This is the army of the Lord! The Lord's work truly is moving forward, never to be stopped again. It is real! Ok, i just wanted to share a few spiritual thoughts real quick. First to build us up, I overheard a sister talking about Peter when he faltered while walking on water. She said, all of us stumble like Peter did, but although the Lord allows us to stumble, He will never let us fall! I know that to be true! The Lord is always there, He knows each of us, and He will never leave us. I don't know if you read Wesley's experience with his first baptism, but if not ask nana. She can send it to you. It is truly amazing and just shows that God knows all of His children, and each of their individual needs, and will always take care of us. This week while studying the scriptures I read 2 Nephi 2:4 the last line says, " salvation is free" When thinking about it i realized, that salvation is free to us, but it wasn't free. Someone had to pay the price for salvation, and our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, willingly paid that price. We must always remember what He did for us so that salvation could be free. But we must also remember that salvation is not free unless we come to Him to receive it. We have already begun on the path to receiving it, but now we must help others receive it. 2 Nephi 2:8 exactly illustrates it, "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise." The Lord loves all of His brothers and sisters, and God loves all of His children. They want them all to return! Every single soul! Our role as members of the Church, and therefore as missionaries, is to work with the Lord to help every soul know Him, and be able to return to Him. We need to help people know that salvation is there, and it is free beacause the Savior made it free. All they have to do is come to Him. Sorry, I have to go, but I just wanted to share all that I'm learning. I love you all so much, and I hope that you have a great week! Can't wait to hear from you soon!

Con Mucho Amor,

Hermana Harris

"The Characteristic of Christ"

March 5, 2013
Hola!! Como estan?? You will be happy to know that I know more Spanish now than I ever did from the 3 years that I took in highschool. Thank you for your letters and e-mails! You don't know how amazing mail is until you become a missionary. Mis companeras son muy divertida, y icreibles! Me amo a ellas mucho. The Missionary Training Center is amazing! It is truly the happiest place on earth because the Spirit is so strong all the time. I feel like I constantly have a blanket of warmth wrapped around me!
This past fast Sunday, we watched a talk given by Elder Bednar entitled, "Characteristic of Christ" It was amazing! But it was different from the one he gave in Conference. This one was given at the Missionary Training Center. He began by stating that the work is more about who you are and what you are, than what you say. He said, preach my gospel is not a manual, it is what you become. Then he turned to talking about the Savior. He said, there would have been no Atoning sacrifice without the characteristic of Christ. The characteristic of Christ is that Christ turns out when the natural man would turn in. He then gave examples from the scriptures about times in Christ's life when He showed this most important characteristic. When the Savior was being tempted by the devil, He was fasting and had His own adversity and temptation. But in Matthew 4:11 in the footnotes we find that although He had His own adversity, Christ sent angels to comfort someone else, John. When He was in the upper room and He knew that He would die, He prayed for others. In the Garden of Gethsemane, after suffering for all of our sins and pains and afflictions, and after bleeding from every pore. After, finding His apostles asleep and not with him, after being betrayed, He healed the guard's ear that Peter cut off. On the cross, He asked the Father to "forgive them for they know not what they do," and in concern for His mother, He made sure she was taken care of. On the cross, He also comforted the thieves next to Him, saying that they would be in paradise with Him. All of these are examples of the characteristic of Christ. He turns out, when all of us would turn in. Elder Bednar then stated that a testimony will never be enough. We need to be truly converted. The only way to be truly converted is to develop the characteristic of Christ. And if we are truly converted, we will never fall away. He said, the church is never not true, you are just not being true to the church. He gave an example of someone with the characteristic of Christ. A woman called him saying that 3 young women had been in a horrible accident and one had died but the other two were being transferred to a hospital. She asked him on the phone if he would go identify the girls. She was the mother of one of them. While he was on the phone he could hear that she was on the phone with the hospital and he heard them identify her daughter as the one that was dead. She immediately said to Elder Bednar, we need to call the other moms and tell them that their daughters are alive and are being transferred to the hospital. In that moment, she had every right to turn inward and focus on her grief, but she cared for those other mothers and turned outward. I just want to end by letting you know, and especially the kids, that we will never fall away or leave the church if we are truly converted and have the characteristic of Christ in our lives. We can do a little everyday by caring more about others than ourselves. That is what Christ wants us to do. If we care about others more, we will never need to worry about how strong we are in the gospel. Please always remember this, because I know it is true. I testify of it! and also, obey with exactness, not because you have to, but because you want to. Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles! I love you all! gtg! Adios mi family!

-Hermana Harris