13 Months, 13 Miracles

8/31/15

Pues Buenos Dias familia!

Pues esta semana fue bien loca! Personas escondiendose en su casa por un huracan que no llego solo agua y brisa.. je je je...

Okay, Okay… my week was a little crazy!! We had people trying to hide from the hurricane that really was only a little bit of rain and wind. It was worse in other parts but for Juana Diaz it was a joke!! But they take it very seriously here… to the point that they put metal covers over their windows and doors. It looked like they were preparing for the Second Coming scariness to pass!! But your daughter is safe and sound!!

Our week was a little uninteresting actually. Because everyone was starting to prepare for the storms that was coming, no one was in the streets. Everyone we passed was telling us to buy canned food and water before it ran out, and to not be in the streets! I am glad that everyone was warning us about it, but seriously the skies all week were the most beautiful blue and white clouds. We still, of course, had to work for the Lord!!

Within the not so incredible week, we did come to find people. We saw lots of miracles! Well because I just celebrated 13 months in the mission, I will tell you guys 13 miracles that I saw!!

1. The biggest blessing to start out is that the Lord trusts me to teach his children here in Puerto Rico and help them increase in their own faith everyday!

2. I received three letters from Grandma Murphy! They always bring my mail a little late but hey they got here!

3. We had a family commit to coming to church the next week!

4. We have been looking for a less-active for about three weeks and this Sunday we finally found them! And we were able to meet a really sweet new family by asking for directions! New investigators!

5. The hurricane didn't come! And I didn't get wet at all!

6. Hermana Luz! When we lost power on Friday, she had a gas stove so she made lunch for us!

7. Of course, my family and my future niece or nephew that is coming!! Even though, I can't see you every week you all are still examples for me!

8. My companion! She is super sweet and a power house in the lessons with the spirit.

9. Jose Cruz, after Sacrament, came up to me and my companion and said “Thank you for being the light back into my life!"

10. When it was at the end of the month without money, we had someone each day offer us lunch or dinner!

11. Ruth is our Relief society President and was willing to help us when no one else in the ward wanted to.

12. We had gone to our less-active Jose's house to not find him there. We were able to teach his wife and really see her spirit come through. Then walking back found Jose in the street waiting for a ride from his daughter and where able to arrange a ride to church for Sunday!!

13. I gave a talk in church and everyone understood me, and I wasn't actually reading my talk, I was just preaching from the heart!

                                                     Our House!!!

As you can see, a missionaries life is full of blessings. I am so glad that I am able to be a servant of the Lord here! Everyday, I learn more and more about the Saviors love for each one of his children! I love Puertoricans!! They are the craziest, strangest, and sweetest people that I could ever meet!!! Yo soy Boricua para que tu lo sepas!!

Have a great week and excited to here what Aubrei and Aaron are having next week!! Love you all and always sending my love and kisses! Love ya'll!

Con Amor Siempre,

Hermana Harris

Count your Many Blessings

Hey family!!

This week really has been a week full of blessings!!

First of all, our huge blessing came Friday. We had a reference lesson early in the morning. We had to push our studies to the night to leave the house early to walk to the family’s house which is an hour walk. When we got there it just so happens that when I walked up to greet him, he said, “I know you". I keep looking at him like, uh no you are a reference from the elders and I have never seen you. But he is positive, I know you. Okay, so he asks if we work in an area called Guayabal.

Of course, we have because it is part of our area. Turns out that we have been teaching his wife in her mother’s house for the past month. Every time that we would ask the wife if we could visit her in her own house she said there wasn’t a point because she was always in her mother’s house taking care of her during the day. We had the most amazing lesson with her husband Pedro! He seemed so captivated to learn, so eager to grasp every topic. Those are the people that need this gospel. The Lord always provides away. The best part, more incredible than this experience is a rule of the mission, is that we can’t teach a husband without the wife and visa versa. We were to the point where we were going to have to drop Milagros, the wife of Pedro, until God showed us the way!!!

One of our other huge blessings were the families this week. We have been working really hard with two families that have kids, and how to teach them all together! This week, we decided to start reading as families too. It was amazing because we gave them the chance to get the kids to read and then draw above the verse something that stuck out to them! The kids were more and more excited to find what they could draw next and what was happening in their picture story. It was a great moment to see that there is always a way to teach the gospel to kids. Doesn’t matter if they can read, understand fully, or how young, all children understand pictures!

Another big blessing is Jose Cruz!!He is a less-active that hasn’t been to church in over 30 years. The amazing thing is that his faith in the Book of Mormon has never faltered. He has always had a strong belief that the Book of Mormon was true along with the Bible. He fell away for something else, we are still trying to figure out what that was. But he loved the church! He loved seeing everyone and knowing a few. God truly is looking and searching every day for a way to bring back his lost sheep! I am so glad I have the chance to be one of the Lord’s shepherds!

                                                            Shrimp Soup!!!

I love being a missionary and having the chance to see so many miracles everyday!! Praying for you all daily and hope you all are doing well and putting the things of God before yourself!!

Con amor siempre

Hermana Harris

New Challenges

Hey family!!

This has been another crazy but great week! First, we had to combine the two areas of the sisters then we had to divide the area into three with the elders! But, hey that is missionary life: dividing areas and taking on new challenges!

I love my companion! She is super funny and kinda like a little kid! She knows more about Disney then Aubrei does!! Crazy right?? I love it because we can sing the songs to each other in Spanish and English and learn the words. Hahaha! But we do really work well together as a team!! It has been great seeing her testimony really shine through in the lessons! We haven't had a single problem yet and I can't imagine us even having one!

My miracle of the week is Wanda Gonzales de Jesus! She is a recently activated member that is, just well, I guess incredible! Yesterday, it was pouring rain and we happened to not be smart enough to bring umbrellas. Wanda invited us in, made us dinner, and started talking to us. She told us all about her life and her conversion. Really it is people like Wanda that I hope to find.  More people like her here in Puerto Rico!

Wanda was a patient of ovarian cancer and has spent the rest of her life taking care of all of her nieces and nephews and their babies! She really spends all day serving everyone else but herself. She lives by herself and treats every missionary as if it was her child! She is the most sarcastic and hilarious Puerto Rican I have met! She calls me Loci!! Hahaha! Because I am always doing something silly to make her laugh! :) That is something I have really learned on my mission to make every little moment a fun acquisition. We can be walking for hours on end with no success and my goal is to make my companion not stop laughing. I have created a famous Hermana Harris saying "Que es la tema de hoy?", or what is today's topic? I love learning about my companion and talking about the craziest subjects or having long deep doctrinal conversions. I have really learned to love life. Sounds a little weird right? Walking all day working the hardest I ever have worked in my life but loving life. It really is something that I learned from the Savior. He was always telling his disciples to come as a little child. I have learned that is one quality of little children that I want to always have. Taking happiness out of the little things, like a child with a candy, or a missionary with her Book of Mormon, a Puertoricano with their rice and beans!!

Alma 41:5 “The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil; for as he has desired to do evil all the day long even so shall he have his reward of evil when the night cometh.”

So my new challenge to you all is make this week a goal to be happier, smile more, laugh more, and take the little things and roll with it!!

I love you all. Hope you all are reading and growing closer to your Savior everyday!! 

Con Amor Siempre,

Hermana Harris

Changes

Hey family,

First of all!!

Happy Birthday Jaren!!!

You are an amazing brother and we are the luckiest 3 sisters in the world to have a brother like you! Thank you always for your example and your love! Love ya big bro!

It is transfer time!! How crazy right?? I feel like time is just flying by! I am staying in my area, thank heavens, but I have a new companion! I get a Latina again and her name is Sister Melgar! She already lives in my house. Yay! Hahaha! So our mission just got a ton of elders to come in this transfer but the sad thing was that we lost more sisters then we are gaining. So, we are now, in my area, going down two sisters and up two elders! So, we are bringing our two areas together. What i know about my companion is that she is from Honduras, she just finished her training so she is super greeny in the mission. She is 19 and has a heart of a 6 year-old, and I love playing games on her! :)

To answer some of mamas questions: I live in a house about a two minute walk from the church on a huge hill. It has three bedrooms, one bathroom, and a fairly big kitchen! We live right next to a huge hill so there is nothing in front of us and we only have old people as neighbors so super safe!!

On the language, I am absolutely loving it! I have people everyday ask if I am from Mexico, South America, or Spain (Spain, I don't get because their accent is super weird). I feel very comfortable but, of course, I can always be learning more! It was strange to have a Gringa (Greenie) companion again. I have to say I am happy to not have the laziness to speak in English with my new companion though. It was definitely difficult at times to remember that she is still starting her mission and that the she always needs to be practicing. But now I will get back on track and learn so much more with my new companion!

This week was a huge change for the area! To be honest, we have definitely not had the best transfer. It has been a lot more walking then finding. But, I really have learned a lot this past month in a half. I feel it was the time that I really needed to learn the most, to humble myself, and learn a great lesson on the worth of souls. It really has been a great time to know that really every single decision of effort has its own consequence. Some are good, some are okay, and some are not so great. I have seen little miracles everyday like getting a ride very far away, having someone offer us water, someone accepting baptism, and people that are kind and loving. Little things like that make a missionary’s life so much easier! I really love the work! I cannot wait for the new trials. I am ready to make these last 4 transfers the best yet!! Wish me luck and pray for the people here in Puerto Rico!!

Love you all so much and have a great week.

Again Jaren have an amazing Birthday!!!!

Con Amor Siempre,

Hermana Harris