Hellooooo friends, family, and everyone in between! This week has been so super duper!!
We left the MTC on Monday and flew to Denver where we had an orientation thing all day long. It was kind of the worst because we had to get up at 2 and we had to sit in a classroom all day long listening to people talk about stuff that was rather boring, so we were all very sleepy to say the least. I met my mission president, President Murdock, and his wife and they're the best!! They're really nice and I feel like I'm going to get along with them justttt fine. On Tuesday we had the transfer meeting where I found out that I was going to be sent out west to the other side of the mountain toooooo.... *drum roll please* good ol' Granddddd Junctionnnnn!! hahah I knew I would be sent here. I'm in the Pear Park ward and my trainer is Sister Clarke! She is so great and I like her a lot! Its kinda funny though, she always tells me that I should be the trainer instead of her. She has only been out for 3 months and she just finished training herself, so she gets really stressed and feels like she has no idea what shes doing, but I just think shes great. She tells me I'm the trainer in this relationship because I'm always having to encourage her and keep her going instead of her doing that for me. But I love her and we work really well together. Grand Junction is.. well.... a very interesting place. My area is pretty small and its composed of mainly mobile home parks and old crusty apartment complexes. The people are so interesting and hilarious and I love it. We dont have very many solid investigators right now, but the ward has approx. 500 trillion less active people in it so we have lotssss of work to do. Seriously though, if all the less actives were active they would have to make a new ward. I'm pretty sure only like.. 35-40% of the ward is active. So we teach a ton of them and we have a goal in our mission to baptize/reactivate one person each month.
Finding people out here is really quite fun, in my opinion. We have this survey that we do where we ask people 11 questions concerning their beliefs on the family and their moral values. The survey doesnt actually go anywhere, but it gives us a good idea of their beliefs right off the bat. So we knock on a door, they answer, and we say, "Hi! We're just going around the neighborhood doing a quick 11 question survey. Would you be kind enough to help us out?" and then if they say yes we do the survey and after say, "Thanks for helping us out with our survey. As missionaries we do share a message about Jesus Christ. Can we share it with you?" and then if they say yes (probably happens about every 8 people we survey) we teach them the first lesson right then and there! We usually ask to go in their house because it makes for a better environment. But its awesome! And they encourage us to invite people to be baptized on the first lesson if it feels right, which is kinda hard but kinda great if it feels right and you just do it. For example, Sister Clarke and I were knocking this one street and we came up to this house with a tiny picket fence around their yard. We tried to open the gate and the door fell down and was really loud and we were gunna just leave, but we felt prompted to go in anyway. So we did! A 17 year old kid named Buddy answered and did our survey and let us teach the first lesson and was interested, and it felt right so I invited him to be baptized to which he said yes! (one of the requirements for baby missionaries on their first week is to extend the baptismal invitation. so woooo) We plan on going back to teach him more later this week and hopefully he progresses. So yeah knocking doors is kinda fun! I also got 2 doors slammed in my face this week, which in my opinion is pretty hilarious. I mean, first of all, a grown man or woman slamming their door in a couple of 19 year old girls' faces is just.. well.. funny. I dont know why but it makes me laugh every time. Its also nice just cuz we dont have to waste precious time on people who wont give us the light of day. I think a really big part of missionary work is just planting seeds. They say that for lots of people it takes an average of like 7 different interactions with a Mormon before they become curious, so if I'm just supposed to be one of those 7 interactions for these people, I'm okay with that! I'm like a little gardener, just planting seeds for future missionaries to harvest and take care of later on. Even if those future missionaries dont come for years, thats okay. I like planting seeds. (: We also have a lottttt of plans fall through. Actually probably most of them. hahaha people are just very "forgetful", but thats okay because it just means more time for finding people and planting seeds!
The ward, though tiny, is really great here and they treat us well. I already love them a whole lot! anyway, I'm loving it out here and I love being a missionary! There are alllllll kinds of people here and it makes for some interesting interactions and lessons. But theyre great.
I love y'all and hope everything is going well! Be happy!!:)
Sister Harshaw
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