Day by Day

Hey family!!                         

Here is my week! I decided my week was too crazy to just give you part so here is the summary of the week day by day!

Monday: So normal p-day, of course, but at 5pm, we had to haul couches about a mile to our house. Lets just say the couches seemed pretty light until we had to haul them up a hill to our house. What a missionary will do to have their apartment be a little more like home! Then we had family night with Alicia, our golden investigator. We had an amazing time playing games and sharing a message about the tithing and offerings!! She is so ready to be baptized, but there is a conflict with her family that seems to be getting stronger and stronger each week. I feel like her mother doesn't want another one of her children to change their religion and her grandchildren's religion. But Satan has to find a way in every life to try to fight against the truth!

Tuesday: This day was our hunt for less actives. We got a ride from a member to an area that is very far walk and hit the streets. We found a lady and her down syndrome son who I felt just need a little push to get them back on the path then they will be running for the church doors in no time at all!

Wednesday:  We had a ward fashion show. It was an amazing presentation with all the ward members on how modesty really is the best route to go even in this heat. It was even better when my companion was asked to model last. I glitzed her up with hair and makeup. She looked amazing walking down that aisle like a true model!

Thursday: This week really was a huge adventure. Sister Hoko, a sister that I lived with and started my mission with, has been really sick. She has had a crazy allergic breakout on her skin. So, Thursday night, we drove to Guaynabo to President’s house. Her companion doesn't have a license and she was to weak to drive, so President asked me. Sad thing is that our driveway is literally at the worst angle in the world!! It just so happens that when Sister Hoko was backing me up I thought she was telling me that I was too close on one side so I turned a little bit to end up scrapping up the other side of the car. It turns out that Elder Eakle came by, our hand dandy car Senior Elder. And I have to pay $50, out of home funds.

Well after all that craziness, I did get to spend the night at President’s house. It was amazing to be in a 'real' home and with 'parents'. We talked to President for about 2 1/2 hours all about the mission. Best Thursday night in a long time!!

Friday: We woke up that morning having to drive with Sister Boucher to Caugaus to Sister Hoko's doctors appointments. It was crazy that we had to wait 3 hours in the doctor’s office to have a 5 minute appointment where they told her to just take allergy medicine that you can buy in any drug store with out a prescription. Lame right?? Waste of time... but Sister Hoko and I got really close!!

Saturday:  Saturday night, we all got invited to go out to dinner at Pizza Hut with our amazing Relief Society president, Ruth. We had a blast joking around and spending time getting to know her.

Sunday: Sunday was just a normal Sabbath day craziness. Taking the sacrament and learning amazing new things from the speakers and the teachers. That afternoon, there was two 8 year-old Baptisms. It was amazing to see how much support the families recieve when their children are getting baptized! Loved it!!

So that is my crazy week. I hope you all had a less hectic week and have an amazing next week!!

Happy Birthday Saydi!!

I can't believe that you are finally moving into the adult world. Welcome the real world! You may notice it is the same as life before. :) Hahaha! Jks! Jks! Love ya, loca and I can't wait to room with you in 6 months!!

Love you all and have a great week!!

Con Amor Siempre,

Hermana Harris

Exchanges & Blonde Moments

Hey family!!

Happy Birthday Aubrei!!!

Well I am so happy and grateful to have such an amazing big sister!! I am so happy for you, your new family, and life. Just know that I am sending all my love and hugs from Puerto Rico!!

For this week, I started to write down all the funny things that my companion says. So here are a couple of them:

"Hey I'm getting better at taking selfies.. it was like the training wheels of selfies."

"God bless the U.S.A Awwe that makes me miss my Boy- scout Troup."

"Do you ever have to sneeze while plucking your eyebrows?”

'Well, in Utah, we try to stay away from fish because we are far... Oh wait, I had a story going with that but I forgot.”

“Awe that's cute... how do you know that is Catholic?”

“Well some say thats a good thing.. oh wait it does say the street! Puertoricanos don't know how to get places!”

“When I smell hand-sanitizer… I think of cats getting declawed.”

Well, lets just say, I love my companion to death!! She is hilarious and super intelligent with a few blonde moments!

On the working side, we are been having great week. We had intercambios (exchanges), so I got to go back to Ponce! It was amazing to see all the people again. One thing that was better is that i truly feel that my home is now Juana Diaz. It was hard to leave Ponce but it was weird to go back. I just got the feeling that my work there was definitely done! It was a great feeling to go back to Juana Diaz and know that is where the Lord and the people need me.

We had a great lesson with one of our investigators! She has an amazing knowledge of the Bible. She is teaching us more about the Bible while we teach her and her friend about the Book of Mormon. It has been amazing. She has about 5 Bibles from different translations and reads from each of them to find out which one she feels has the complete truth. I was a great to show her how in the Book of Mormon and the Bible together you really don't need 5 bibles to know the testaments of Christ!

Well I can definitely say that I am loving my mission. I am beginning to love it here in Juana Diaz. It has been a drama free area. I love you all so much and hope you all have a great week!! hope you all are reading the Book of Mormon as couples, families, and by yourselves!!  Keep up the good work!!

Con Amor Siempre,

Hermana Harris

He is the Same

Hey family!!!

The week has been an emotional rollercoaster! To start of the week, we walked and walked and walked… I felt like a pioneer child. Hahaha! I never thought that I would walk so many hills in my life! We are closer to the center part of the island, which becomes nothing but hills. We walk up and down hills so much that we can't see where it ends! But hey my calves are going to turn out great :) Hahaha!

We started out with a lot more walking then teaching this week. It was sad but it seemed that no one was in their houses or that no one wanted to talk to us but in times of tribulation, God sends the blessing! We have found the golden investigators of Juana Diaz!

Sad little Kitten we found, gave a bath, and got it some food.

First we found, or rather he found us, Luis! Luis stopped by us one day in his car and gave us his directions, number, and when we could come by. It was amazing! We were able to pass by and teach him just recently on Sunday! He and his wife, Mari, are incredible. They have just been searching for the truth in all the wrong places. I literally think they have visited about every single church in the area! But they said that there is always something that leaves them not feeling full or makes them want to just run for the door! We taught them about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. When we started to talk about Joseph Smith, Luis told us the entire story about how Joseph found the plates. He told us that after he past us on the street, he did his research. I know that sounds scary because usually people get to all the bad stuff before the good... But he literally told us everything that was true doctrine. He was super happy when we gave him and his wife each a Book of Mormon and asked them to read Moroni 10. He said yes and that he would read the rest of the book too! He and his wife accepted to be baptized if what they read and what they felt afterwards was the truth. Four days of walking made it all worth it in one short hour!!!

Our other golden investigator’s name is Yoan! She is a middle-aged woman that has tremendous faith in Christ and the Bible. So while we were teaching her the restoration, lets just say we definitely didn't finish there but we got a diving inspiration to teach the 10 commandments from Mosiah 13. I don't know if you guys have heard but after the new law was passed in the USA, the Pope 'received revelation' to change the ten commandments. He changed some of the most important. But on the positive note our investigator shared with us this information and told us her opinion on the matter. Her opinion was the same as ours that Christ came to not do away with his Father’s work but to fulfill it. We can't change the Commandments because the world is changing. It really doesn't matter how much the world changes, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. We still need to follow the same law and ordinances from the beginning of the world. In my opinion, we need it now more then ever! We need to be strong in our choices and our decisions so that we can fight this great battle that is upon us.

I really love you all so much and hope that you all have a great week. Please remember you all can strengthen your relationship with your Heavenly Father this week by getting on your knees and calling on him!!

Con Amor Siempre,

Hermana Harris

Juana Diaz

Hey family!!

Another week of more miracles!! I have an amazing companion! She has the best spirit in the world and is super funny. Wow, it has been so great to be in a new area again. It was super sad leaving Ponce because of all the time that I spent there. But it feels like I got back my greenie fire here in Juana Diaz!! I love having a fresh new start. New ward, new contacts, new investigators, and new less-actives that need saving. It really is a great feeling to leave an area knowing that the Lord has a plan for you in another part. I know that there are people that are here ready for me to come rescue them!

We literally have a golden investigator! Her name is Alicia. I just got here but she has already had about half of the lessons. This week, we taught her the Word of Wisdom and law of Chasity. She is the first PuertoRicano that has not had a single problem with the Word of Wisdom. She doesn't drink coffee, she doesn't drink alcohol, and she eats healthy food all the time! Literally, she is just a miracle in herself. The spirit was so strong in her house I couldn't stop myself from smiling at how amazing she really is!

Juana Diaz Dumplings!! Literally fried bread sandwiches!

So funny story, on my first full day here, we had all of our plans ready and were ready to go to an area that is a little bit of a walk. Short story, we got lost. We walked for about two hours without finding anything. The other sisters had to ask a member to come rescue us because we had no idea where we were. Hahaha! We have now learned that we need to be completely sure of where we are going before we make plans. I guess now we will never forget where that area is. Hahaha!

All dressed in Red, White & Blue for the Fourth

One huge miracle that we received was on the Fourth of July. Which by the way, The Fourth of July is just when everyone has work off and goes into the hills to go camping. No parades, no fireworks, and no bbq... so in other words lamest 4th ever! But a time for huge miracles. Because everyone was out of town, the streets looked like a ghost town! We started to hit up the ward list to see if we could find any less-actives. The first house we get to was empty. There are no numbers on the houses so we walked up and down the street trying to find someone to ask. The second house we find there is a couple teenagers outside working on the house. We asked if they knew the numbers, they were like, “Honestly, we have no idea but who are you looking for?” We said the Cruz Family. She got a huge smile on her face and says “Well, that’s funny cause we are Cruz Family.”  Come to find out that their mom and aunt are members who were baptized when they were 14 and 16 but then weren't active for very long. They completely accepted us into their house, feed us, and talked about Christ for a while. It was so amazing to see how much faith they have!

Cut these bananas from our yard!!

I really love that about Puerto Rico. The faith here is so strong. Everyone has a a knowledge of their Savior, Jesus Christ. It’s amazing to see even in these last days there are countries that still haven't run out of faith!

Well I love you all so much and hope you have a fabulous day!! Keep up the good work!!

Congratulations Aubrei and Aaron on the baby!!! I can't wait to be an Auntie!!

Con Amor Siempre,

Hermana Harris