Ponce!!

Hey Family!!

My last night in Humacao... with family Rodridges and Millie and the elders and a less active.

It has been another crazy week in the life of a sister missionary. I absolutely love Ponce! The people here are great. 

The only problem is the ward is not into missionary work, but I have the faith that we can change that.

So about my companion, she is amazing! I really feel like we are sisters not just companions. I have had a great experience learning all about her life. In two weeks, I already feel like I have known her for all of my life!

This week has been a great week for finding people. I never really thought this before but I am a tiny bit shy. I really have felt uncomfortable approaching people in the past. This week I have really seen the difference. I have started to be the one to say everything about our purpose and why we are talking to the people without my companion looking at me like it is your turn! It has been a great feeling to have the confidence in my Spanish to not worry when I am talking to people if they are understanding me or not. My spanish has really come a long way since the CCM. I am so grateful for my two latin companions to be able to be talking spanish all day long. 

Wow, this week has been great! We have been working really closely with a recent convert, Jose, to have him be a golden member. We have gone through all the lessons again and it has been great to see where his testimony is. We were contacting in his area the other day and found a new investigator, July. July is an fairly older fella but always is willing to talk to us. The only difficulty is that he does not know how to read. It was amazing to see how willing Jose is to help and read with July. Honestly this work as missionaries definitely doesn't work without the members. I truly understand that more now then ever. I have seen so many less actives and recent converts here who love the missionaries but when they get transferred the person goes inactive. It is sad that they didn't have the testimony to continue, but at times if a member had been their friend from the start then they would have stayed. 

I am so glad to be serving in Ponce 4th ward! They really are a strong ward and a great area of growth. My companion and I have been working really hard to continue to push the ward to help in the mission aspect because I know that it will help with ward growth hugely in the future!

Well I love you all so so much and how that you all have a great week!! I pray for you all everyday! 

Con Amor Siempre

Hermana Harris

It was raining and all the dirt was in my shoes! So I had the idea to walk barefoot and Sister Dominguez thought it was photo worthy...Hahahaha!

P.S. So I have one request for the next package you send... hahah Hermana Dominguez loves kisses. It would be amazing if you could send some!! Thanks!!

New Experiences

Hey family!!

So new area, new companion, and new experiences!! First of all, my companion is Sister Dominguez. She is from Panama. She is sassy, and an incredible missionary. Already, She has taught me so so much! Before in my different areas, we really weren't doing much teaching on the streets and instead, it was more of the normal sit down lessons. Sister Dominguez has really taught me how to teach a lesson the second that we start talking to them. It has been so amazing to see how well people react when we  start teaching right off the bat. I absolutely love asking people about their beliefs in Christ and ending up telling them all about my beliefs. It is really great to not only be able to talk a tiny bit to everyone but it is a way better feeling to be sharing a little bit of the gospel with every encounter. 

As you may have heard, I live in an apartment without any AC, hot water, a dryer, an oven, and even some of the plugs don't work, and with three latins. It is a little crazy but it is an adventure! Hahaha, it is really great. The cold water is really refreshing when it is always hot here. And in the morning, I am definitely awake after I take a shower! AC doesn't really matter because before we only used it at night so a fan basically does the same job. But hey all these are character builders!! I am loving living with three latins! I have been learning so much spanish in just a short amount of time. My companion speaks the most english out of the three of them which is great so when I don't know a word she is the fastest to help me figure out the meaning. I absolutely love her! We get along great! 

The hardest thing about this area is that we live an hour walk away from civilzation which is super sad. So the street that we live on is an hour walk from our main area. So every single day we walk two hours with no one in our route to and from our area. Great exercise, but not great for use of mission prime proselyting time!! 

This week, we having been working on finding as much as possible! Because all the investigators that the sisters had basically were baptised in the past month. We did a lot of contacting! Honestly, in my last areas that was my least favorite thing to do, but Sister Donminguez is changing my opinion. I have been just watching everything that she does everyday to try to learn much as possible!

One person that has been a golden find is Juan Ramon. We contacted him in the street and just began talking about Christ. He was very into the conversation and we stood there talking for an hour! We set up an appointment for later in the week and gave him a restoration pamplet to read. He called us the next day telling us that he couldn't do that day but the next woud work. He called us three more times after that to make sure that we could still do that time and that we were coming. This is really strange, normally we are the ones doing the calling, and investigators don't ever call us! We taught him our basic beliefs without going into big details. He asked all kinds of questions on to make sure he understood our beliefs and the things that he had heard from other people was not true! It was so amazing to see how much he wanted to learn. He agreed to go with us to an church activity this Friday. I am so excited to see how he progresses!! I have the faith that he will!!

I love you all so so much and am working as hard as I can here to make you and my Father in Heaven proud! 

Con Amor

Hermana Harris

P.S. Sorry! No pictures this week. We are at a members house because with the holiday, all the places with computers are shutdown and the church is not in our area. I will send some next week. 

Temple Work

Hey family!! 

First things first, I am getting transfered again! I am going to Ponce, Puerto Rico tomorrow with a new companion from Panama! I am nervous, excited, and ready to meet the new people that Lord wants to put in my path. I am a little sad to be leaving Humacao so soon but I know that the Lord has a plan much greater then I can imagine.

Well this has been a very difficult week. With Three Kings Day, everyone is having fiestas. Puerto Rico is literally one big island of holidays. I swear there is a different holiday every other weekend. But it means that the families are home together! 

We tried contacting as many of our investigators as possible this week. It was very difficult! We were able to visit Reina twice this week though, which went amazingly. We had the chance to really see where her testimony is and if she truly is ready to see where the Lord can improve her life through the gospel. The spirit that was felt was incredible. When we were bearing our testimonies on the gospel, she told of us of her continuous desire to not only be baptized herself but to go to the temple to do the work for her mother. I am so grateful that we have had the revelation of temple work. Through this gospel, we are able to not only do the work for our eternal salvation but the work for all of our ancestors. I am so grateful to have the knowledge that there is a life after this one and that through the atonement every single one of Heavenly Fathers children have the chance to repent and return back to him!

So this week was Sister Sanchez's birthday! Plus, I think we had more food this week from members and investigators then in my mission thus far! It was ridiculous how much! We had three cakes this week, dinner basically every night and people that feed us in between! Missions are hard just with the food that everyone expects you to eat. It is like everyone thinks that we never eat and that we are always hungry. At times, yes that is true but honestly I would like to eat a lot less then people give. I think a big diet is in my future and a lot more hardcore exercise in the morning. Hahaha!!

Random Fact: I love the song Siembra Gozo (Scatter Sunshine). It the best to sing to wake myself up and keep me going throughout the day!! :)

Con Amor Siempre

Hermana Harris

Ten Times Better

Hey Family!!!

Wow! So this week has been great, crazy, fustrating, but always full of miracles!!

Here in Puerto Rico, everyone is on holiday!! All the kids got out of school around the 15th of December and they don't go back until the13th of January! So it has become a horrible and amazing time to find people! Everyone is with their famiies and at home but because it is the holidays, no one really wants to spend time learning from us. It has, though, been a great time to focus on the investigators that we have!! 

This is Hermana Lourdes that we went and visited in the hospital!

So Reina, our investigator who is almost ready for baptism, expressed how much she really, really wants to go to the temple already to do the work for her mother. Finally, this week she told her husband that she wants to be baptisted, but he said that for her to be sure, he wants her to attend the church of his sisters (pentalcostal) before she is baptisted... So we have had to push back her baptismal date back which is sad but she still wants to be baptisted. It is great to see how strong her testimony has developed  as she is preparing to enter the waters of baptism! I am so excited to help her make the first step back to her Heavenly Father!

Also, our other investigator, who is very close to baptism, is Jaxel. Jaxel is still incredibly nervous for his baptism which is great to know that he knows it is a huge decision. The problem is, that at the same time, it is also scarying him to the point were he doesn't want to do it. So sad!! We are going to visit him tonight to help reassure him that it will be one of the best desicions of his life. I know that his life will be completely different if he takes the time now to accept the Savior in his life. 

This is Jaxel.

This morning, we had Sister Conference for the Caguas Zone. It was great to get to meet all the sisters in my Zone! We talked and learned about how being on a mission now and having companions really prepares you for the life ahead. I absolutely loved it! I am so grateful that the things that I am learning on my mission here will help me prepare for my future which basically is everything a mission does. It shapes you into a person that is ten times better then you could have ever been without the gospel!!

I love you all so much and miss you dearly!

Hermana Harris