We love the gospel of Jesus Christ and are excited to serve the Lord!

 

Hermana Harris's friends soon to be Sister missionaries

 

I love the people of Chile!!

                                                                                                                                        May 6, 2013

 

Hola my beautiful family!!! I love you all so much! Thank your for your emails!!

 

                     I had an amazing week! Let me give you a quick update on our investigators:

We have Cristina, Marta, and Loreto who we were working with this week. We were praying and we fasted on Sunday that all of them would attend church. but only Loreto came. But it was a miracle that she came! Her husband had to work and she was afraid to go alone, but we visited her on Saturday and she said she would come. We also had a really neat experience with Loreto on Friday. We weren´t suppose to visit her until Saturday, and we were suppose to have a mini planning session after companionship study on Friday, but for some reason we forgot and went out to work an hour early. We passed by her home to tell her about a church activity the following day. She was on the phone and listened to us for a little and then we left to work. While we were working we got a phone call from our friend. He asked how our planning session went, we realized we had forgotten and hurriedly returned home. At the end of our shortened planning session we got a call from Loreto. She said she needed to talk with us urgently. We were so worried. We said a prayer that everything would be okay and then went over to her house. She was having a hard day and she said that she called us because we had walked by when she was having a hard time, and she had thought that that could not have been a coincidence. Her faith is incredible! We were able to share our testimonies, and help strengthen her immensely that day, and I know that it was because our Heavenly Father knew that His daughter needed His help and His love that day, and so He sent us. I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of that incredible experience.

So, Loreto came to church, and she loved Sacrament meeting. We promised her that if she brought a question or concern to church, it would be answered in that meeting. She did, and her question was answered! She loved church but still has some concerns. So, please pray for a miracle, we need her to come so that her baptism date doesn´t fall through. We are preparing to have two baptisms this month, but I know that as we increase our goals each month, and continue to work as hard as possible, the Lord will prepare a way for us to be able to increase our goals, and set the goals that He desires. Loreto wants us to meet with her Mom and Dad this week, so we are very excited for that. Her dad has read the Book of Mormon multiple times! I love all these people so much, and I know that the true gospel of Jesus Christ will bless their lives so much! I want to share it with everyone!

As branch builders, we are also working with less actives and I love all of these people so much as well! It is amazing to see their progress. We have the opportunity to organize a branch activity each week, which is sometimes difficult, but the branch is being very supportive and we are going to start meeting with the new branch president and new ward mission leader who were just called and work together closely with them.

We are having a Mexican night this Saturday, with fun games, and tacos, and each organization (relief society, priesthood, YM, and YW) are building a pinata this week because we are having a pinata competition. Last week we had Karaoke and a dessert competition and we had more people than at any of our other activities, but we are excited for the numbers to keep increasing. My companion and I have a blast serving together, and are always laughing, when appropriate of course. It has been fun to work with her. I will try to send some pictures of us.

This week, I have been trying to talk more, and it has been amazing to see how the Spirit helps me know what to share, and it touches the people that we are teaching even though it is in broken Spanish. I am excited to be more confident and more talkative this week!  I love you all and hope you have a great week! With all my love, Hermana Harris!

The Lord answers our prayers!

                                                                                                                          April 22, 2013

Hola mi Familia!!! My heart is so full after reading your letters! Thank you for all of your love and support! I am so happy to hear that you were able to all go to the temple in Hawaii. That is such a wonderful experience. I am so incredibly grateful to my Heavenly Father for the blessings of family!!

 

This week has been hard. I have been struggling with some silly worries that I am learning to overcome. I know that the adversary is trying to discourage me and I am so grateful for the power of the Holy Ghost that calms me and brings me peace of mind. I am learning to lean on the Lord for strength and to trust Him. I know that He loves us so much and that He will be with us every step of the way.   

 

I am so happy to hear that you are all learning about missionary work! It truly is the greatest work we can do on the earth, I want to do it my whole life. It is the hardest because we are on the front lines fighting in enemy territory, and so the adversary works the hardest, but we have the Lord on our side, and with Him, we cannot fall. I am excited for a new week to try harder, be better, and grow stronger in my testimony and in the strength of the Lord. I have the most amazing life! Who gets the opportunity to proclaim the gospel all day everyday? I am going to be sad when I don´t have my preaching certificate when I get home.

 

Let me give you a quick update on this week's adventures:

 

The baptism was amazing! It was Saturday night at 8, but Saturday morning we received a call that Nicole was having some problems with her mother and ex-boyfriend, and Pato was afraid they would interfere with the baptism. He wanted us to come visit her at work. We were already out the door, when we got this call, so we said a prayer on the side of the road, and fast walked all the way down town. What is usually at 30 min trip, took only 20 mins. We got there and greeted Nicole with warm hugs and prepared to combat whatever had happened. But then they said something in Spanish to the extent of April fools. It was just a joke that was Patos idea. I was really bugged because I had felt the Spirit as we were trying to get there, and I felt like we had needed to get there, but then it had just been a joke. I hate things that make me worry about the Spirit, and this was one of them. I was praying to Heavenly Father in earnest faith, because I needed to feel peace that it was His will that we had gotten there quickly. Then all of a sudden, the thought entered my mind that even though it was just a joke, what would have happened if we hadn´t run to Nicole. If she had been feeling any doubts from the adversary, which may have been hidden beneath the surface of the joke, and we hadn´t run to her aid, she may have not felt the love of her Savior, and her doubts may have become real. Heavenly Father knew it was a joke, but He helped us to get there quickly, so that the adversary would have no power or influence on keeping her from getting baptized. And then the thought came, we are representatives of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. They would have run to her even knowing it was a joke. I know that the Spirit led us so that nothing bad would happen. Heavenly Father and the Savior protected Nicole and us in this situation and answered our prayers for her protection. I am so grateful that they allowed me to realize this through the influence of the Spirit, and I am so grateful for the Spirit and His ability to teach us.

 

The baptism went smoothly, we had started to fast half way through Saturday, so that we could have two investigators at church on Sunday, but my companion and I believe that the Lord helped the baptism work without a glitch, because we were fasting too. We didn´t have any investigators on Sunday :( but it wasn´t the Lord´s will. We are going to work hard this week and do our best, and then if it is His will, we will have 2 this next Sunday.

 

With Eufemia and Grace, we tried to contact them again, but they stopped answering our calls. they found work the day after they met us, and then were busy, but we planted the seeds so all is well! I know that one day they will receive the gospel. We found a new family that we are excited about. The wife is Catholic and the husband is evangelical, and we taught them the first lesson but have been unable to follow up because of busy schedules and they haven´t been home the last two times we stopped by. But we have another family. Raquel and Pedro. They have 4 children, and we taught them the first lesson. They were really receptive and the Spirit was so strong as I testified of the first vision, and told them about it in spanish! But, when we invited to baptism they accepted the invite but not the date because this is their first time have missionaries of any religion and they want to make sure it is the right one. I felt the Spirit leave the room as soon as they started having doubts. I could feel it, and so could my companion. We tried to not get discouraged and left them to pray about it and read the Book of Mormon. That was Saturday. We were hoping they would come to church, but they didn´t. Next week though! It is their little boys b-day tonight and Raquels as well, so we are just going to stop by and say hi. Please pray for them! Their family is so cute, I love them so much, and I know how happy they would be with the true gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. Pato, Angie, and their little girl Augustina who is young, probably 4 or 5, are still coming to church. They are so great and are helping Nicole. And Pato, whol is an incredible missionary is working on more contacts for us.

 

Miracle this week. I lost one of my badges walking in the street, maybe running, cuz we do that a lot to get to places on time, but a daughter of a woman we contacted found it, and the next time we passed by, she stopped us and gave it back. We hope to visit her soon!

 

This week is going to be full of miracles, I know it! Thanks for all of you sweet emails and advice. Heavenly Father, our Savior, the Holy Ghost, and all of you, my family, are my strengths and happiness. I love this work! Please pray for us. Love you all! Hugs!!

                                                               
                                                                                                                                     April 29, 2013
Hola from Chile!!! Thank you for all of your emails!!! It always makes my whole week to hear from you! A quick update on this week. We didn´t have a lot of time to work because we went up to Concepcion for two days for a new missionary training with President and Sister Humprey and the Assistants. It was amazing, I took so many notes, and am excited to put into practice all of the things that I have learned.

When we were trying to get home from Concepcion, we had to take a few buses, and we got behind in time. We knew we would miss the last bus from Parral to home, which is about an hour away. I really wanted to get home because Concepcion was really cold. I said a quiet prayer that if it was the Lord´s will, we could get home, but if not that everything would be alright. And as soon as I finished the prayer, I knew it would be. We were going to take another bus a half hour away to where some other sisters in our zone live and stay with them and so we thought that was the plan for a while, but a senior couple in the area volunteered to drive us the hour home. It was such a blessing and an answer to my prayer. I know that Heavely Father hears and answers prayers!

For work this week, we have a goal of two investigators in church each Sunday. This week we didn´t have any that we knew were coming. But during the opening hymn, in walked Sis. M and her family.  We taught about eternal families and the temple. She said she would pray last night to see if she should prepare for baptism. We will see tonight what her answer is.

We didn´t have much success finding new investigators until last night. We were doing weekly planning and had to decided our goal for baptisms for the month of may. I felt like we should have a goal of 3, which is a high goal. We said a prayer as a companionship and then felt like we needed to have that goal, and that the Lord would provide a way. We went out to work with great faith and decided to visit a less active man and his wife who isn´t a member. We had been contacting in a park by our house one night, and found him. I know the Lord´s hand was in helping us finding him. He wasn´t home when we dropped by yesterday, but his wife was. She invited us in right away. She had many questions about the church.  As we kept talking, we began to feel like she is golden. She told us that she had asked her husband what was going on n the Americas when everything was happening in Jerusalem in the Bible. He had told her about the Book of Mormon. When we pulled out the folletas or pamphlets to give her one, she said she had seen them before, but she had never met with the Elders before. She said she would read it and pray about it, and she would also pray about baptism, and if she received the answer yes, she would prepare to be baptized. We have a meeting with her tonight at 6:30 and are very excited!. Please pray for her.

We know the Lord is with us every minute of every day and we know He directs our goals and leads us to those that are prepared. I love you all and can´t wait to write you again next week. Please be safe and know that I love you with all of my heart and I know that our Heavenly Father and the Savior live, and that the Holy Ghost is real, and that this church is the true Church of Jesus Christ! Adios!