It is not about the numbers--It Is About Bringing People to Christ!!

                                                                                                                 June 10, 2013
Hola mi Familia!!!!!!!! Como esta? Guess what??? Sis. L is now the newest member of the church here in Cauquenes!!!!!!!!!! Her baptism and confirmation were so incredible!!. It was a tough week because the adversary always works to discourage our investigators before their baptism, and this happened a bit, but with the Lord´s help, she conquered her worries and was baptized on Saturday (My half birthday!) 

We are also working with Sis. L's mom and have invited her to be baptized. She prayed about it and felt that it is right, but she lives in the campo and it would take 2 hours to get to church every week, so she doesn´t want to get baptized and then stop living the gospel because it is so hard to go to church. She wants to wait until her husband's health improves so they can drive to church together.  He is not a member, but we are hoping that he too, will be baptized. Please pray for their family!!  We are having wonderful experiences with lots of new investigators and look forward to teaching them the gospel. I am so glad to hear how everyone is doing! Thanks for all of your emails! 

Real quick, what I learned this week. my companion and I really want our new converts to remain active in the church, so this week we read a talk about the vision to baptize. We all say that we have the vision to baptize, but we learned what it really means. It means having all of our lessons focused on the Savior´s Atonement and baptism. And also inviting people to be baptized on the first lesson. I used to think that that was weird to invite right from the start, and we have had some members tell us that we probably shouldn´t do that. But in preach my gospel it says to invite no later than the 2nd lesson. I have been thinking a lot about this because i used to think it was way too fast too. But this week we realized that when we invite people to baptize from the beginning, then they have a goal and reason to keep all of the commitments that we give them. They have a reason to repent and start changing. We could teach them one thing at a time and have them commit to going to church, and have them commit to reading the scriptures and praying, and after they keep these and learn a lot more, finally extend the invitation to be baptized, but then they don´t have a reason to keep all of the commitments, and because of this they might not even keep them. But on top of this, if we invite them on the first visit, they have a reason to keep the commitments because they help them reach their goal of baptism, and they have the goal of baptism because they want to become closer to the Savior, and as they prepare for their baptism by keeping commitments, repenting, learning, and changing, they grow closer to the Savior and gain a very strong testimony of Him and the plan that Heavenly Father has for His children, and the restored gospel. If they have the goal to be baptized, then after their baptism they will have a unshakable testimony, and then they can have the goal to go to the temple, and then the goal to endure to the end valiantly in the Gospel. With Sis. L and Sis. N. this is what happened. They are going to continue to live the gospel because with the goal of baptism they have gained a true and pure and lasting testimony.

 

People sometimes may think that we are upfront in inviting people to be baptized right away. They might think that we are just here to get more people to join our church, or to have more baptisms so that we can count them as numbers. But that is not what we are doing. We are here to proclaim the truth, to help our brothers and sisters who we love to have a strong relationship with their Heavenly Father and their Savior. We are here to make help them get on the path, and to stay on the path, and we can do this by making sure that they have the goal to be baptized, and they have the goal to endure to the end, and they have the testimony to do so. We are not here to count numbers, we are here to change lives, bring hope, and help people come unto the Savior and ALWAYS walk with Him throughout thier lives. We want all of our brothers and sisters to return home with us.! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to proclaim the Gospel. It is my joy, and it is what  I know to be true, and I want everyonen to have the opportunity to find out the truth for themselves! THis is the true gospel of Jesus Christ restored to the earth. He is the Savior of the World, and He is the way that we can make it back to our Heavenly Father with our families! This is my testimony and I am grateful to be able to share it everyday! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week and enjoy the first few days of summer! I love you all!! 

It is Repentence When We Change

                                                                                                                              June 3, 2013
Hola mi familia maravillosa!!! 

I have learned so much this week, and I am so excited to share it with you. I have learned a lot about myself, but also about our Heavenly Father and Savior and their work. Sis. L is amazing!!! There is no one more prepared that she is. She loves everything we teach, and if she doubts at all she prays to receive a testimony of it. She is going to be baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!! We are so excited for her and her family!!!!!!!!! And we love teaching her. She continues to teach us and teach herself as she learns through the Spirit. This week is crucial before her baptism, so please pray for her! 

This week we also received many references from members and learned a lot about how we can work with the members to help our rama (branch). One reference looks very promising.  One Sister does not want to hear the lessons, but is deeply affected by music. My companion and I received inspiration that we can teach her the lessons through the hymns. We are going to try to begin this week. I love this work, and I know that the Lord sends the missionaries where He needs them and to find specific people. 

 

Ok real fast, what I have learned this week. I was reading in preach my gospel that when we challenge someone to change, we are asking them to repent, so every time we extend a commitment to one of the principles that we teach, we are asking them to repent. This is the process, and I don´t think I ever really realized it before. I knew that repentance requires change, but it is repentance when we change a little habit, or a bigger habit, either way it is repentance. I can´t really explain it very well, and you probably already all knew that, but I think it is so cool. When we think about calling people to repentance, we think about the prophet from the scriptures who called the people to repentance. But as missionaries, we are calling them to repent too by extending commitments of little change. And I love doing that, because as I do so, I learn what I need to change about myself, and I repent as well. We don´t have the authority to declare repentance like the prophets, but we can help people to repent as we invite them to change, and as we are examples to them. They will start to change just by seeing our examples and the light that we shine, and essentially, they are repenting. It is amazing!

I am so grateful for the Savior Jesus Christ, and for His loving sacrifice that allows us all to repent, and to continue to do so our whole lives. The amazing thing about the gospel and missionary work is that people may feel guilt but not understand why. When they start to live the gospel, and change, and repent, that weight is lifted through the power of the Savior´s atonement, and they come to know exactly who they are, and to feel clean and pure. He has the power to heal us all, and we are His hands in lifting our brothers and sisters and bringing them to know their Savior. I am grateful for the calling that we all share as members of the true restored church of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. I feel like I learned so much more this week, but this is all I have time to write and will try to share more next week. Thank you for your love and your prayers and your examples! I pray for you each night too! I hope you all have a great week! Chou!

The Lord Puts People in Our Path

                                                                                                                              May 20, 2013
AHHH I am so excited to be staying here with Hermana Call for another transfer. This transfer is shortened to 4 weeks so that the new Mission President won´t have to do transfers when he comes in 6 weeks. That means we have 4 weeks to find more people, and 4 weeks to become even better missionaries here in Cauquenes. It also means we will both be here for the baptism of Sis. L!!! We are so excited for her, and she is progressing so well. Please pray that nothing keeps her from being baptized and pray for us this week that we can find more prepared people to be baptized while we are here in Cauquenes. This week we have a goal of finding 2 new investigators each day, so please pray that we can do this. 

I am glad to hear about and to see all of my beautiful friends!! That was such a treat to watch those videos and see the pictures. Thank you so much!!! Please tell all of those girls that I love and miss them, and am so proud of each of them and the light they shine! I miss you all, but know that this is where the Lord needs me to be, and that you are all doing great! I hope this week has been good, and that everyone is well!

This week I have learned that everything is in the Lord´s hands. He puts us in specific places to meet specific people at very specific times. These are people that He has prepared, people that need us specifically for some reason that only our Heavenly Father and Savior know. My companion and I are here because there are specific people that need us, both of us, not just one. We were talking about this last night before transfers and she was saying that she thinks the people that we meet, are people that we knew in the premortal life and that we promised we would find them in this life, and we promised we would find them together. But this is not just in the mission field. We meet people everyday that the Lord has put in our path for a reason. We are to be an example them, help them, teach them, serve them, love them. We get to choose how we will influence them, will it be for good or for bad? On the mission we have been set apart to represent the Savior, and so we must be very careful at all times to only do those things that He would do. But every member and every Christian has this same calling. We are all called to represent the Savior as we follow Him, and we must be careful to make sure that we represent Him in everything that we do, say, and think. We never know who is watching us, who is learning from our example, or who is being prepared to received the Gospel and come to know their Savior. I challenged you all to remember that you are called as missionaries too! You are set apart from the world to stand as a witness of Christ at all times, and in all things, and in all places. He will help you as you pray for help to choose the right and follow Him. He has commanded us to be perfect like Him, and we know from 1 Nephi 3:7 that He gives no commandment unto the children of men save He shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which He hath commanded them. He can help us to become like Him if we ask for His help. I love you all and am so proud of your examples, and of you mission calls. Keep shining His light! I hope you have a fantastic week full of miracles! We are going to have one here in Cauquenes! Thank you for your prayers and support! Adios por esta semana! Chou!

It Is About Being Truly Converted!!

                                                                                                                             May 13, 2013
Hola Familia!!! I love you all so much, and am so excited to hear from you!!

Today I want to write about what I have learned this morning, from dad´s email to me, and also from personal and companionship study. It is about being truly converted. This morning during personal study we received a phone call from our zone leaders who wanted to get us more animated on working hard to reach our mission goals from baptism and also to achieve our vision for Cauquenes. We want Cauquenes, which is only a small branch with about 70 members, to become a stake in the next 5 years. That is a big vision, and our zone leaders asked us if we felt like we had worked hard enough this past week to achieve that vision. We said no. They asked us to study in preach my gospel during companionship study about how we can help our investigators keep their commitments. After the call i continued my personal study of reading in the Book of Mormon. I read 2 Nephi 33;3,4,9 These stuck out to me because it is the same attitude that I want to have about my investigators. I want to be just like Nephi and continually cry unto the Lord for these people, and only care about these people, with the knowledge that as I pray for them, the Lord will bless them. I know that I cannot have any hope for them unless I help them come unto Christ.

 Dad taught me this morning about verse 1 and 2 in the same chapter. He said that we are the means of bringing the knowledge UNTO their hearts, but that is not enough. They must have it brought INTO their hearts through the Spirit that testifies as we teach, and through keeping commitments. After personal study we studied the chapter in Preach my gospel that the zone leaders asked us to read. It taught us so much about extending commitments with a testimony, and with a promise, and then following up on these commitments. It taught that when we ask someone to make a commitment, we are asking them to repent, and as they keep these commitments, they will see the blessings that we promised, and their hearts will be changed as they feel the Holy Ghost testify of the love that the Savior and Heavenly Father have for them, and how proud they are of the choices that these people are making. I know that as representatives of Jesus Christ, we have the authority to not only extend commitments, but to also make promises from the Lord. And I know without a doubt, that these promises are real, and that the Lord will fulfill these promises.

I move forward into this next week with a determination to only care for these people, and to put my whole soul into helping them not only recieve the gospel, but to live the gospel. I know that this gospel is true! I know that it is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer. I know that He lives, and that He leads this church. I know that our Heavenly Father lives, that we are in His hands, and we see His miracles everday. I know that the Savior is the only way, and we must proclaim this to all of our brothers and sisters so that we can all return to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, and be sealed as families for eternity. This is what I want for all the people of Chile, and so this week I will go forth proclaiming "with every breath i breathe, with all my faith, He is the way!"  I pray that we can all work on being more truly converted to the Savior and His gospel, so that we can be the means of converting others through the Spirit, and so that we can be a part of the marvelous work and a wonder that was prophesied of in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon, and is being fulfilled today! I love you, and hope you have an amazing week! You are all amazing, and i am so proud of you. Love you, and talk to you soon!

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!