“The House of Harrison…….

Justin’s baptism!!

 

…shall be gathered together in the last days!”

That was Elder Dela Pena’s reaction to Sister Bangerter’s transfer call–she’s going to serve in Jewel Lake with…Sister Thacker!! Ah! My two little kiddo’s are going to serve together! Crazy, crazy!

And my transfer call…I’m going to Nome!! Can’t wait!

This week has been CRAZY. But so fun. Because of our transfer calls, we had a lot of people to say goodbye to, so we ended up with every dinner AND lunch full. I’ve never been so stuffed in my life. (: Worth it! I really don’t know how to explain how each goodbye went, but it was so fun and cool to feel how much LOVE I have for each of them. I’m going to miss them!!!

I also saw so many tender mercies with everything working out JUST right so we could see everyone we wanted you and have just enough time to squeeze everyone in. Even down to the silly details, like finishing my journal right at the same time I’m wrapping up here, God knows what little things matter to me and has been so abundant with them. (:

Justin also had his baptism on Saturday! It was great to attend and I’m so excited to see where his life goes from here! He texted us the next day and said he was still feeling SO good. Happy, happy. (:

Oh, so Elder Hamilton just reminded me, HE’S going to Nome, and apparently I’m going Home. Whoops.

I think I’m a little bit in shock and denial.

Well. This is it friends. To say I’m SO GRATEFUL for my mission doesn’t even BEGIN to cover how much gratitude and love I have for my journey in Alaska, and especially these people here. Getting to watch them grow and change has had the biggest impact on me.

I wish I could actually SAY all the changes I’ve seen on my mission, but I think what I’ve learned the most is that our character’s are built and changed one day at a time as we make ‘consistent, correct choices’ every day. And those choices are all in the little things. Repenting daily, and quickly. Praying ALWAYS about anything and everything. Taking time for scripture reading and meditation–being still and knowing God. Choosing to be grateful and smile when murmuring and giving up would be easier. Doing one more hard thing each day–whether that be knocking on a door or helping your companion when your struggling yourself. Being sensitive to those little, quiet whispers in your heart that lead you perfectly. And each of those things slowly builds and molds your character to be more like the Savior. I definitely feel like I’ve been molded and shaped to be more like Him, but since I can’t SAY every exact moment, I hope you can SEE the effect they’ve had. In fact, expect it from me, and please keep helping me on my path to perfection, like you’ve done SO well the past 18 months.

Love you so much, and I’ll see ya soon.

All my love,

 

Sister Harrison

Moses’ and Kane’s!

Funeral dinner with the Dennis’s

Sister Ross

I love the Christensen’s

Jack!

Christina!

Sister Mike at church!! (Bro Davis photobomb)

Cute snowflakes!

Dinner at Arctic Roadrunner with the Peterson’s! Love them!

Lunch with the Alborns

Benihana’s with the Willis’!!

I love Sister Ramos!

Mogi!

Apparently I’m actually leaving…

Mormon.org with the District!

District! 

Elder Dela Pena made us all DELISH Philippino food for District Lunch!

P-day adventure!

So gorgeous!

Walkin’ on water!

My Life and my Light!

Coolest experience ever the other day. Well, I mean lots of them everyday, but I got to Alma 26 in my Book of Mormon reading. That’s always been a great chapter, but more in the motivating me to keep going forward sense. THIS TIME, it was cool reading it from the perspective that Ammon was at–almost at the end. My favorite part was verse 3, when it talks about how the great blessing was being made into an instrument in God’s hand. That can differ depending on who you are, but becoming an instrument for Him is such a great blessing, which connects to my other favorite part, verse 36–“This is my life and my light, my joy and salvation”! I love being a missionary and my last year and a half SO much and I’m SO grateful I have a bit longer still!

That being said, I love the Book of Mormon so much!! I’ve had the best little experiences with it this week giving me the perfect insight, revelation and answers I needed. Just little, small moments, but we know those simple things can have a pretty big impact. (:

Other than that we didn’t have to many crazy things happen since Wednesday! We did get to go on exchanges Friday and it was seriously the best thing ever. Sister Watts is the CUTEST little ray of sunshine and we had the most spiritual day ever. We had so many great lessons where you could tell the spirit was in complete control  and we ALL learned–just the way it’s supposed to be!

And that’s it for this week, sorry it’s so short! But we have an awesome week set up, so I’ll have some good stuff for ya next time. (: Until then, I love you guys SO much and am SO grateful for all your love and support! I seriously couldn’t do any of this without you. I hope you have the most BLESSED week ever as my thanks to you!

LOVES!

Sister Harrison

 

 

Bread wars!

Instead of stealing things from each others cars now, we GIVE each other things! Usually we give week old bread that gets donated to the mission office! Party!

 

Got to go on exchanges with cute Sister Watts!! Love her to death!

I wish that was a peace sign I was holding up, but nope, that’s two fingers meaning TWO fish I’ve killed now! The members we live with have (mm, had) two goldfish, but since they leave so often I ended becoming the official fish feeder–and I was very diligent! Morning and night! Or at least I thought so until one morning I went up and one of them was just chilling in the corner–DEAD! Ah! So I made sure I was EXTRA diligent taking care of other Mr. Goldfish, but we had the same thing happen again. Don’t worry, Sister Alborn told me that they were both on the verge of dying anyway and she was surprised they were even living still. (: Very tragic I know.

And THEN on my 18th Click day cute Mogi made the BEST lasagna EVER!!! Love her!

 

 

Elder Ballard and Jack’s baptism!

 

Bro. Fishburn and Jack!

WOW!!

I don’t even know where to start!

Okay, we’ll go backwards.

Today we got to be taught by Elder Ballard!! He was going to Asia and when he heard they’d be having an overnight layover here he said, “Well, we can’t go to Anchorage without seeing the missionaries!”, so we were taught by him and Elder Rasband for two hours. It was amazing. My favorite part was easily when we got to shake his hand. There was so much LOVE in his eyes, it was overwhelming. And what he taught, or I guess HOW he taught was fantastic. It was the most motivation, encouraging message I’ve ever gotten about being a missionary. He helped me feel like I could do everything he was asking us to do without getting mad at myself for everything I wasn’t doing.

The main thing he told us was to dedicate the balance of our mission time to the Savior. My balance might be running low, but I still got time to implement everything he taught us! And if anything, I want to use his example of loving boldness in helping people desire to change. He also told us a story about LeGrand Richards. Apparently, this man was always so happy and optimistic, so one day Elder Ballard asked him how he did it. He told him, “I let the Lord worry. It’s His church and His work. I let him worry about it, and I do the best I can”. I’ve definitely learned that principle on my mission–once I turn the worrying over to God, whether it’s a situation, training, or an investigator, it goes so much better, and even better I can be happy and stress free about it! Mm, it was so good. (: I was also grateful I got to be there at all–what a tender mercy to get to meet an apostle so sporadically before I finish up! God’s in the details. (:

Yesterday we had zone conference! We learned a lot and our district made the best Title of Liberty ever. It went all day and we were very grateful to Bishop’s family for bringing us dinner. (:

And now I don’t really remember the rest of last week, but I do remember it was pretty hard. We felt like we were trying to work through mud everyday. Not super fun, BUT worth it all because of JACK’S BAPTISM!! It was so happy! Everything went well and he’s just fantastic and the mud washed away for us as he was made clean! I’m SO grateful to have had the chance to know him and help him. He’s going to do amazing things!

Sunday was probably my favorite. So many good things happened! First of all, Elder Gullerud came back to visit! Well, he’s not Elder anymore, but whatever I have to call him now, he was there! I love seeing my missionary buddies! Then Jack got confirmed! It was also ward conference, and the Stake President wanted to meet with the YSA during 2nd hour, but our ward didn’t have any there. Oh wait, except us and Cemoni who came again! Oh, and Elder Gullerud! Wahoo! We got to be there for basically a one on one lesson with Pres. Fisher and Cemoni and it was wonderful and there was such a great spirit there. I know it had a huge impact on each of us, and hopefully mostly Cemoni! I love her! Then we got to sneak into Priesthood to see Jack receive the Aaronic Priesthood! Yay! And THEN we got to go to Airport Heights ward to see JOEY receive the Aaronic Priesthood!

Seriously, it was SUCH a good Sunday. (: These people are SO amazing and are making such great choices that are bringing such visible blessings. We saw Jack yesterday and he definitely has a new light to him. I was studying this week about how when we follow the commandments of God, he helps us become our best selves, our real selves, and that’s exactly how’d I’d describe Jack’s change. He’s always been happy and funny, but now has an extra measure of it. It’s amazing to see and again, I’m SO grateful to be a part of it.

As I’ve been thinking about it, I’ve realized that the same thing is also happening to me, and so many other missionaries I know. It’s amazing to see the best of each of us come through as we spend all our time immersed in the spirit. I know I’ve found aspects of myself that I never would have known of if it weren’t for my time in Alaska, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world!

God leads our lives to greater places than we could have ever imagined, and that includes leading us to be better people than we could have ever imagined. All thanks to him and the Atonement of our Savior as we follow Him and put Him and His teachings first. (:

I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week! Hay Bay, GOOD GOOD luck with State this week!! We’re praying so much for you!!

Love, Sister Harrison 🙂

Plus us missionaries!

Sister Thacker came!

Thanks for the package!

There was a nice lady taking chocolate covered strawberries to our neighbors who gave us some! 🙂

No one was home on Valentine’s…so we heart attacked everyone!!

And then we had the BEST Valentine’s Dinner I’ve ever had made by Jack! Seriously, I told him he HAS to start a restaurant and I’ll fly up all the time just to eat there because he’s SO good!

Elder Gullerud!!

Long story, but once upon a time Dad you got mom these kind of roses, tiger roses maybe?, and I thought they were the coolest things ever, but I’d never seen them again…until now! Good thing Sister Willis’s husband got her some! 🙂

The AP’s are making this ‘courage’ video…I don’t really know why, but this was our district pic for it. 🙂

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Cool Moon!

In honor of my favorite Holiday, well, one of them, I have to take a second to say I LOVE YOU!!! I’m SO blessed to have you guys in my life and your support has literally made all the difference for my mission. (:

I’m so grateful we have a whole day set aside to celebrate all the people in our lives we love! Especially our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ…which makes me even more excited for Jack’s Baptism this Saturday! What better day to show Christ that you’re willing to follow him than Valentine’s Day?? Even I feel the extra love from God getting to be a tiny part in this whole process. He had his interview last night, so we’re all ready to go! But, please keep praying for him–I know they’re working!

Oh, I also know Brig has State Swim that day and Hay has Region I think? How cool we each are going through such big things together! I’m praying for you guys so much that all goes well! Brigham, I know you’re going to ROCK IT and do SO amazing!! I’ll be there cheering you on in spirit!

Okay, so this week was pretty rockin’. We got to see SO many people–we got in contact in some way or other with everyone we’d been wanting to, especially the people we haven’t been able to get a hold of lately!

We met with Joey and Mogi! He’s still doing so good–he’s actually allergic to alcohol now! Talk about gifts of the spirit! His cousin had been drinking and just smelling the alcohol made him sick he said! And Mogi’s getting excited for the 21st! We had a good dinner with her later in the week–she’s seriously so kind and giving and amazing. I’m so blessed to be around these amazing people!!

We also had a great dinner with a family in our ward with one of our investigators. We’ve been having a hard time teaching the investigator because her son is always a little wild and distracting, but this time the husband was able to take care of the kids and his wife was able to be there with us to share some AMAZING testimonies of how the Gospel helps with being a Mom. Missionary work seriously goes so much better when members help out–and we’re always SO grateful when they do!

And then we got to have an INCREDIBLE lesson with Cemoni! Oh my, I love her SO MUCH! She’s the cutest thing ever. She’d been having a rough day and told us not to come…but we didn’t get that text till we’d knocked on the door, so we got to meet anyway, and it was great because we got to help her with her tough stuff by teaching and testifying of prayer and scripture study. We had the Bishop’s daughter come with us and she did AMAZING–she’s going to be SUCH a powerhouse missionary. She even said that she’d give Cemoni a ride to church! It was so happy and fun to have cute Cemoni there with us on Sunday, and she had a wonderful time. So happy!!

There’s also a lady I love that we haven’t been able to see for a while, and it’s hard to stop by because she lives in a locked building. But we really felt like we needed to see her, so we prayed we’d be able to get in somehow. As soon as we finished praying and got out of the car, a girl parked behind us, and I complimented her on her cute outfit, so we started talking and she was going to the same building as we were, so she let us in! Miracle! We got to see the lady we wanted to and it turned out she’s been stuck in a spiritual slump and we were able to help her feel the spirit and see some good, happy light again. God is so good.

We also almost got a gun pulled on us! Don’t worry, it wasn’t actually anything serious. Our district goes ‘caroling’ every Saturday night to invite people to church the next day, so we went to someone in the Spanish Branch’s area. We got to the house and she wasn’t there, but then her van came pulling up. She’s a single mom and lives in a somewhat sketchy area, so when she heard a bunch of noises coming from near her front door, she made sure she was ready! But once we started singing I am a Child of God, we were all good. (:

Overall it was a great, blessed week and I’m so grateful for all of it! I love being a missionary and thank Heavenly Father so much for each day I have to serve. I love seeing God fulfill his promise that these people are in His hands, and He will raise them up and take care of them (Alma 26:7). I just get the fun part of watching it all unfold!

Love you all!

Sister Harrison

It got SUPER windy this week!

 

JOEY!!

 

Sister Bangerter, Joey, Brother Moses, ME!

Eagerly waiting during Joey’s Interview

 

JOEY GOT BAPTIZED!!!

And confirmed. (:

It was the happiest thing EVER, and since it was such a big deal, we’re gonna go through his whole story.

The first weekend Sister Thacker and I whitewashed here, the Elders asked us to teach the Restoration at their baptism for Sister Sheppard while she was getting changed! I remember standing up there teaching it and seeing Joey sitting in the second to last row and feeling like all of this was for HIM and that he was ready to go for the Gospel in his life. I made sure to talk to him afterwards and he came to church a few Sundays!

Then we had the chance to teach Sis Sheppard her new member lessons, and every lesson we’d always get off topic because she had so many amazing stories about her families hearts softening in little ways. She said she felt a sense of urgency to help them right then.

THEN Sister B’s second weekend here, Sis Sheppard texted the Elders to tell them three of her kids were going to be at her house tomorrow, ready to be taught. Well, the Elders couldn’t make it, so we got to go instead! And there was Joey!! I was SO grateful to get to help teach him.

Joey is AMAZING. I seriously can’t even tell you. He had the STRONGEST faith in Christ from the very beginning. Once he started reading the Book of Mormon, he started reading a chapter every night, and if he didn’t understand it, he’d read it again. He went sober before we even taught the Word of Wisdom, and with a little help and love he quit drinking coffee too–which he’s been drinking since he was 13!! I feel like he is the epitome of faith leading to action, and he has grown SO much in confidence and happiness!!

The baptism itself was FANTASTIC. We had a little scare the day before when one of the members said they’d talked to Sister Sheppard and she said none of her family members was getting baptized. Ah! Luckily we got it all sorted out and Joey was still planning on being baptized. (: The service itself was perfect. From beginning to end the spirit was SO strong and powerful. That was everyone’s main comment afterwards and I’m SO grateful because we’d been praying all week that it would be something powerful and memorable for Joey to always remember. He bore his testimony afterwards–even though he was really nervous too!–and he talked about how he knows the Book of Mormon is true and he learns that more everyday and he knows this church is true. The room was packed full and I know that meant a lot to him. (:

The confirmation was also awesome. Mogi had found him a blue collared shirt and tie just for it. We’d been kind of worried helping him transition over to Airport Heights ward, but everyone talked to him in their testimonies about how excited they were for him and what a great decision he’d made and helped him feel so loved and included. Another prayer answered!

I asked him how it felt after, and he said it felt really good but he couldn’t explain it. The feeling I got from him was different from before too, and it is hard to explain! The best I can say is that he felt restored I guess. Like he’d finally been able to grow into who he’s always been meant to be. With more confidence and assurance and maturity. It strengthened my testimony of the GIFT of the Holy Ghost so much. (:

Also, Mogi needs some room on here too! She’s the best sister ever and so in tune. She thought about being baptized all last Monday, and she told us that she decided she does want to be baptized, but she wanted to let Joey have his own baptism and give him a chance to shine. She’s been so good and supportive to him. 🙂 So now you can pray for her baptism sometime this month!!

Thank you for all the prayers that helped Joey on his way to baptism! I know they had a huge impact. (:

So that’s the biggest news for the week, but here’s some other fun, quick stories:

There are two ladies in the ward we’re helping get to the temple who called and said they were doing scripture study if we wanted to join! We got there and they were joking about how they felt like it was the blind leading the blind because neither of them could see their scriptures, so we helped them out. How cute to see that even if they can’t see very well, they’re really trying to do what’s right and help each other along the way!

We helped at Project Homeless Connect and we got to volunteer at the ‘Prayer Corner’! Easily the best spot–people could come in and tell you all about their worries, and then you could pray with them. Kind of like the opposite of typical daily missionary work–instead of going out to find them, they just came to us! (: We met the sweetest lady Barbara who cried and cried and it was so easy to pray with so much love and compassion with her!!

So a couple weeks ago I think I told you the story about the YW we met with and I felt like there was a specific question I should share with her…I hope that rings a bell. Well, we had dinner with their family and they are doing AMAZING! Their having family scripture study, the one YW is praying and reading a chapter from BofM and D&C each night and the other is praying and is getting answers! She says that she doesn’t contradict things so much anymore, but is more willing to believe. They both want to go on missions!

Last but not least we had a great lesson with Jack–he’s doing so well right now! He prayed to be able to help someone, and two hours later someone he knew knocked on his door and asked if he could stay with him for a couple weeks before he could get home. Jack said yes! There’s another guy who called him and asked Jack if he could take him to come addiction recovery meetings and give him some support there. Both of these guys are members who haven’t been in quite a while! Jack’s not even a member, but he’s totally living what he’s about to promise to do the rest of his life. He gave the closing prayer and it was so sweet–he even prayed for Joey!

I sure love these people. How’d I get to lucky and blessed to get to meet them and be a part of their lives??

I feel so truly, incredibly blessed this week. By the things that have happened, Joey’s baptism, the hard things I was able to conquer, and just the good feeling that’s been underlying all of it. We got to go to the temple and the best thing I felt was just happy. Content and happy.

And that is what the gospel does!

Love you!!

Sister Harrison

PS Hay Bay, I’m praying so hard for you with your B-Ball stuff! You’re amazing!

 I broke through the tip of my glove! I am quite proud. 🙂

Still can’t get enough of these sunsets!

Temple!

New Planners!

Elder Hamilton asked me to make one for him–the theme was ‘Cute’. 🙂

 

This week was SO blessed!

I love this beautiful place!!

This week was SO blessed!

First, please pray for Joey, Mogi and Phil! We’re SO excited for their baptism this Saturday, but it’s going to take a few miracles for everything to work out completely–but I know it will!! Especially with all your fantastic prayers!! Joey’s so excited and it’s the cutest thing. Can’t wait!

Jack’s getting baptized on Valentine’s Day! We’re SO excited for him!!

We had SUCH an incredible lesson with Cemoni!! Bishop was able to pick her up so we were able to have a lesson with her at their house, and it was fantastic. She’s the cutest thing and we love her to death. She even said she’d come to church! It didn’t quite work out, but next week!!

Ah, there were so many other miracles and tender mercies that I don’t have time for! I’d say the main thing I felt this week was the BIGGEST outpour of love–on me and our amazing people. No matter how crazy or busy things got, there was the best underlying feeling of peace and gratitude for all of it, and each time something tiny would go so well, you couldn’t help but know God was smiling at us. And my favorite part was that even when things got a little tough for a minute, that feeling of gratitude STAYED! I sure just LOVE being a missionary.

Have an AMAZING week! Love you!

Sister Harrison

 

 

Dinner with the Trents! We had chocolate pancakes–aka they dumped in like FIVE packages of hot chocolate mix to the pancake mix!

District photos!

Our singing group! 

I just love these people!

District Family Pics!

Oh my, SO MUCH! I just love these people.

Justin!!! We got to meet with him for a minute, even though he’s in a different ward. He LOVED the letter from the fam, and it was PERFECT timing for some of the stuff he’s going through. His baptismal date is currently February 28, so please keep him in your heart and prayers!

Joey, Mogi and Phil–I love these guys. They’re so funny. We actually get to go meet with them, right after this! My favorite miracle with them–so I’ve been praying for them to move into our ward, just if it’s in the plan! Well, during our lesson the other day, they said that they got evicted! Ah! I almost died! Then they said they were taking care of it though, and they were actually going to stay. God really does answer prayer, in his own way! 🙂 Also, we taught them a commandment last week that they weren’t to pumped about, and we wanted to teach them more about it, but we don’t have much time before their baptismal date on the 31st. Well, lo and behold, the lesson in Gospel Principles was on the same commandment! Wahoo! “They are in the hands of the Lord of the Harvest”!

Brett!!! Okay, so this guy’s brilliant! His wife’s a member and we LOVE her, and we’ve been trying to get through to him for a while. Finally he asked his wife for a Book of Mormon, we took it by and he FINISHED the whole thing within like 2 days. We finally got to have dinner with them this week to follow up and have our first lesson with him! The spirit was SO strong and he was RIVETED. I LOVE when people have their hearts open enough to let the spirit be there so strong. We do the best we can to invite it–and we usually feel it–but there’s such a difference when their open to it as well.

Oh! One night we didn’t know what to do, so we said a little prayer and a family popped in my head. We went over and said hello and shared a thought about Book of Mormon reading as a family. They told us that they’ve been slacking a bit there and were so grateful we came by. Then they told us they are RARELY home before nine anymore, so that fact we caught them that night was a miracle! Thank you spirit!

Monday night was fantastic! We finally got to visit with a little ten year old less-active. Their babysitter let us come in, but she kept cleaning and doing dishes, and we watched The Restoration. Things were a little crazy because no adult was helping them stay focused, but finally we got to the part when Joseph prays. The cute little girl, Cailey, sat down next to me, and I whispered that this was the best part. She got really still and then whispered back, “Oh! Is God coming?” She was so in tune and watched that whole scene so reverently, and afterwards said, “Oh yes, I like that part. That is the best part,” and then went back to playing with stuff. The gospel is SO true, and so cool to see the power it can have in anyone’s life, even a four-year-old.

I also made a new best friend this week! His name’s Ezra Taft Benson. I started reading his SS book, and I LOVE him and his cute wife! They have the cutest story and his teachings are SO powerful! I know this church is led and guided by living prophets–fantastic, good men called of God to show us how to receive all of God’s blessings. And having prophets is one of them!

Most of all, I’m go grateful for all the fantastic people in my life. Whether it’s my friends in the scriptures, from home, missionary buds, or from my areas–and of course my family!–the people we have around us are able to bring some of the BEST blessings into our lives. Especially our loving, kind, wonderful Heavenly Father.

Love you all and have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Harrison 🙂

Cute Pinata from Sister J!

J-A-K  I-N-S!! Jakins, jakins, we want JAKINS! 🙂

Our ‘Mighty Fortress’

Yoda. I may have gotten a little bored watching ‘The District’ during 12 Week. 🙂

Funeral Dinner

We had a funeral dinner for Elder Williams at the Dennis’ and they died everything BLACK. It looked pretty nasty, but was really funny and creative. We also were planning on giving Yoda to Elder Williams, and some of the investigators and members got really excited about the idea and this giant box was the result! As well as like 20 boxes inside of it. Haha, it got a little anti-climatic, but hey, what can ya do? 🙂

P-Day Adventures!

Since we couldn’t do EM’s we had a crazy district adventure including Outback Steakhouse (we had a member give us a bunch of gift cards for there! Whoo!), ice sculptures (which really didn’t compare to the FBX ones, but hey, it was carved ice in Alaska), shopping, giant chocolate fountains and rock person, and helping the Elders pick out blue matching ties!

 

MIRACLES.

Sometimes the trees get all frosted over and look GORGEOUS!!

Oh my, this week was AMAZING! EVERY day was full of something amazing happening and I feel SO overwhelmingly BLESSED.

I don’t even know where to start. We got to meet with SO many investigators!!

Samantha–Oh my she’s so cute! We finally got to teach her again, and she came to church! She really enjoyed it!

Cemoni!!!–We finally got to have another lesson with her and she’s SO prepared!! Just can’t come to church cuz of work. But we’ll find a way!!

Jack–Met with him a BUNCH and he loved the letter from the fam. Thanks guys!

Phil, Joey, and Mogi! They’re doing so good, but are in a different ward we found out. So we’ve been helping them transition and are still loving and helping them any way we can.(:

ANDY!! Guys, SO COOL! We oymed this guy a couple of weeks ago, and it was amazing how it happened, but we kind of figured we’d never see him again. Well, guess who walked into church yesterday!? Yep, Andy did! I talked to him later and he said that he wanted to come to show me that every seed planted was worth it. Wow, I think HE helped me more than we helped him! Luckily, he was at God’s true church, so I know he felt the spirit and we’re going to keep in better contact now!

ZABEEBA! Alright, so a couple weeks ago, some members in our ward helped fix her car by just touching it–don’t know if anyone remembers that story. So we tried meeting with her a couple times bet nothing ever happened. Well, finally, by some miracle happenstance we ended up meeting with her! She’s Muslim and was SHOCKED by the fact that we have a LIVING prophet! It was so cool and she had us come back later that day to tell her friend! Her friend wasn’t actually that interested, but we got to eat some awesome Ethiopian food with them! Cool stuff. 🙂

Brian! We had dinner with a less-active and her friend was there. We were able to tell him a little bit about the church and he said that he’d be okay hearing more sometime. Yaya! God is preparing people left and right!

Jessica–We’ve been dropping by this returning member couple once every week, and usually end up just saying hi, nothing huge. Well, Last night she called crying and said she needed a blessing. We were able to get one and help her out. It was so cool to see that even stopping by helped her know we were there for her so she could call us when she needed help!

Nancy! Alright, we have another returning member who’s been struggling lately, so we stopped by and had a great lesson with her. Her friend was there cleaning and as we were leaving, she asked if we had any books with information about the church. YES! We ended up teaching her the restoration and part of plan of salvation, and it turns out she was baptized at eight and finally wants to come back! Our returning member was sobbing she was so happy. She’s been praying for this for so long!

The Trents. These two might be some of my favs.They are growing and changing so much as they’ve started applying the gospel. Living the gospel really does change us!

Okay, I don’t know if you can fully feel how big or amazing those miracles are, but for US they were huge and we feel SO, so blessed.

I’ve also felt that a lot of these have been in answer to so many prayers, not just ours, so thank you so much for the prayers you’ve been sending up for us and our wonderful little people.

 

Have a fantastic week!!

 

Love, Sister Harrison

Sister B and I barely ever take pics together so I made us take some.

THIS. WEEK.

The one benefit of things getting dark so early–gorgeous 4pm sunsets. 🙂

Oh my, what a ROLLER COASTER week! Some tough downs, but some INCREDIBLE ups.

Jack–He’s been going through a tough time, but he finally decided to go through some hard stuff in order to get to a better place–and now he’s pretty much back to his normal, happy self! So happy. And NOW his commitment is even BIGGER and BETTER and he’s really striving and wanting to become a man of God. (:

Phil, Mogi and Joey–Oh my, I love these guys! We had a great lesson and they each made a soft commitment to baptism! Joey came to Elder’s Q B-Ball Thursday night! Then we found out they actually live in a different ward. 😦 But then Mogi and Joey came with Sister Shepard to church clean up!! Then they didn’t come to church. Until the last five minutes and then they made it!!

Please tell me you caught onto some of the ups and downs there. We’re still figuring out what to do about them living somewhere else…I’m just praying for them to move into our ward for now. (:

Heather was a HUGE up. We got a referral for her with a Book of Mormon request on Mormon.org. Well, then we were looking at our ward roster and saw her name! She was a Do Not Contact! But we took it to her and she’s had a TOTAL change of heart and wants to read the Book of Mormon, come to church and go to the temple! HUGE miracle! She came to church and I think had a good time. 🙂

Katie! We met with her a couple weeks ago and she came to church, then things got a little crazy with the holiday’s, so we weren’t able to meet with her again till this week–but we did, and it went great! We had an awesome lesson, and we invited her to be baptized and she said yes and wants her daughter to be baptized too! Whoo! So cool! Then she called and said her sister just moved here from Hawaii and wanted to come to church. So they both came! We wished we could have done a little more prep with her sister cuz she was pretty tired, and stressed, but it worked out okay in the end!

We also were able to meet with some people we’ve been trying to see for a while and were able to have really good lessons with them. Good stuff happening! I can’t believe this transfers almost over. Time seriously goes SO FAST!! But it’s great and I love it!

I think my favorite thought I had this week was the feeling of loving challenges. I don’t know if loving is really the right word for it, but I think I saw some greater meaning to the need for my challenges and that without them, life would be kind of boring. It’s hard feeling discouraged or sad or unprofitable, but it also is better than feeling kind of blah and not doing anything. And you just get to feel extra close to the Savior during those times.

Hope that makes some sense, but basically I’m really grateful for the underlying peace the Savior and his gospel brings to me, even in the hard times. 🙂

Have a super week!

Love, Sister Harrison

Dippin’ Dots or Snow?

Christmas! And Happy New Years!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to visit a less active and they’d cut an extra little Christmas tree for their friends who didn’t want it, so they gave it to us!

 

 

District Caroling!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! Ours was pretty good!

We had an incredible lesson with a less-active young women and family. We showed He is the Gift and I had a specific question come to mind that I needed to ask them. I asked, “What does Christ mean to you?”. And they sat there. And sat there. And we had the coolest spiritual silence where you could SEE the spirit working in her helping her feel something wonderful and different. She finally admitted that she just had a lot of doubts, so we were able to help address that a little bit. It was SO cool to watch the spirit work in someone like that! “We are the conduits of the light, we are not the light”.

Christmas Eve and Day we just visited with lots of people! There was just a good happy feeling all around, and people were all so happy and nice. (: Skyping was SO weird! It just felt like a crazy dream, but it was great getting to say hello and chat in person a bit. (:

Saturday we had a MIRACLE! The night before the Elders texted us to see if we wanted to go to a lesson with a recent convert and her sons, who aren’t members currently. Absolutely! So we went and had a grand lesson with a WONDERFUL spirit and they drank everything right up! The best part, one of her daughters was there too! SO, we have THREE new investigators! Ah! So cool! They all came to church Sunday and in Relief Society, the daughter asked some AWESOME questions about family history and temples. By chance the person who was supposed to be teaching couldn’t make it, so someone else had to, and she happened to be an awesome return missionary, so she could totally answer the questions well for her! Miracles, I tell ya.

The best part, we were adding up our key indicators for the week and realized we’d set a goal for three new investigators! I remember when we were setting that goal talking about saying 1 or 2 new ones, but feeling like we needed to say three. The spirit really does talk to us and tell us what we can do to grow! It was great. (:

So that’s our happy little week in summary. (: Happy, happy New Year’s, and I’ll talk to you next year!

Sister Harrison 🙂

 

MOOSE!

Exchanges!

Got Yoda back!

White Christmas district party! 

6:30 AM Christmas present opening! Way to much enthusiasm for that early.

My blanket! Love it!

District matching Christmas outfits!

District Subway Christmas lunch (they finally made me go OUT to eat for once, but just for Christmas)

District bowling!

Love, Sister Harrison