OCTOBER 19, 2015
Howdy, y'all!
So guess what! We got our transfer news this week! Sister Clarke will be transferred and I will be staying here... AND TRAINING A NEW BABY MISSIONARY!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO! I'm actually so excited about it! I have only been out for barely three months and I just finished my own training YESTERDAY, but if the Lord thinks I'm ready to train then I suppose that means I'm ready to train. Sister Clarke said that its actually really uncommon for missionaries to train as early as I am, which is kind of terrifying, but also awesome. I can't wait to start tomorrow! What better way to learn than to teach? I'll definitely be doing lots of learning right alongside my trainee. (:
Sister Clarke's birthday was yesterday and it was so great! We don't have a very big or active ward, but the ward members that do come are SO great. We went to three lessons yesterday that ended up being surprise parties and it was so much fun. I have never consumed so much cake in my life, and I feel kind of gross about it, but its fine. Being on a mission has actually ruined dessert for me. Hahaha like everyone makes us these big huge desserts and I feel bad if I don't eat them so I do and then I feel gross. Like I wasn't a huge fan of sweets in the first place and now its like HERE EAT MY COOKIES/CAKE/CHEESE CAKE/PIE/PUDDING/BANANA BREAD/HOMEMADE ICE CREAM every. single. day. Being a missionary is rough. Not really. But kind of. Hehe.
So highlight of this week (other than finding out that I'm going to be a mommy ((missionary slang for trainer)), was putting Sara Ramirez on date to be baptized! I think I've talked about her before, but she is so so so great! She wanted to read and pray more before she committed to a baptismal date or anything, but she has been making lots of progress and committed to a date! She will be baptized on November 7th, and I can't wait. She has been coming to church and she's been reading the Book of Mormon consistently and she said she feels like shes had a change of heart. She is truly a miracle. Stories like hers are unheard of. Tonsssss of people around here come to the bishop for financial help with no intention of looking into the church or even associating with the church past the help that is offered to them. But Sara is making so much progress and has new friends in the ward and I am so happy that I get to stay in this area to see her get baptized! In our lesson this week she was talking about how shes noticed that the people in the Church have a certain light about them that she wants. She says we glow and that the more she reads the Book of Mormon and the more involved she becomes in the Church, the more of that glow she feels in herself. I LOVE HER.
Anyway, that is pretttttyyyy much the sum of this week! Its been great and I love this work so much. I can't wait for the new opportunities that are coming my way with my new missionary tomorrow! I hope all is well with y'all! Be happy!
Love,
Sister Harshaw
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OCTOBER
Hello, friends!!
This week has been a gooooood one to say the least! First of all, my baby missionary, Sister Webster, is awesome! She is getting the hang of things quickly and definitely has the new missionary fire everyone talks about. She has been quite the good luck charm as well! We hit the standards of excellence this week and found 10 new investigators, which was an absolute miracle! I've only hit the standards of excellence twice since I've been out, and hitting them on the first week of the transfer with a new companion just never happens! She is willing to work hard and never has anything negative to say. She is already an amazing missionary and I love being her trainer. It took a little bit of getting used to, considering the fact that I'm barely more "experienced" than she is, but I think I'm getting it all figured out!
Our most solid investigator, Sara Ramirez, is doing wonderfully. We taught her about prophets and what they do and why we follow them and she had great questions. She has told all of her friends that she is taking lessons from us and is happy to talk about the gospel with others. She came to sacrament meeting on Sunday and enjoyed the talks given. She is on date to be baptized on November 14th, but we may move it back by a week so that she absolutely feels ready. She is incredible and we love her!
We have Trunk or Treat this weekend and guess what I'm going to dress up as... A MISSIONARYYYY. Woooooo hoooooo. Hahah Halloween should be an interesting night! We aren't really allowed to go out and work that night cuz it'll be crazy and I'm not necessarily in the safest area, so we're going to go to a member's house to help hand out candy. It'll be fun. (:
Its getting allll kinds of chilly here! I really hate winter, so hopefully I stay here in Grand Junction for the better part of the winter so I can avoid all the nasty snow in the monutains/Denver area. The leaves are all changing colors and everyone is feeding us soup (which I love), so I guess that means fall is in full swing!
Anyway, not toooo much to write about this week, but it was a good one! Hey, fam! Guess what! Only two months till y'all get to see my face via skype! Can't wait! (;
Hope all is going well! Be happy! Love y'all so much!
Sister Harshaw
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NOVEMBER 2, 2015
Hello, and a (late) Happy Halloween to all!
Funny/odd/strange story of the week...we parked our car for like 3 hours one day, and came back and found some "totally not drugged cheeseburgers" (see pic) on our car.... Welcome to Colorado, I guess? Hahaha no, we did not eat them. No worries, mother.
This week has been a slowwwwwww one for Sister Webster and I, but it was a good one anyway! On Tuesday all of our appointments fell through, on Wednesday the same thing happened, on Thursday we had a zone meeting that took up all of our good work time, on Friday we had our weekly all day planning session ("Planning of Death") and our ward Halloween Party, and on Saturday no one wanted to talk to us because apparently Halloween is an all day event here! We didn't get to visit all the people we hoped to this week and we didn't find any new people to teach, but it was still good!
On Friday 6 of the less active families and 3 investigators we invited to the ward party showed up and it was so great! We were able to get lots of good fellowship for them and hopefully they'll feel more comfortable coming to church in the future. We spent pretty much all evening at the church setting up and cleaning and mingling and it was actually a pretty fun and successful night for us!
Halloween on a mission is definitely an interesting thing. We had a meeting that lasted all morning and then went to lunch at a members house and then tried all afternoon to contact people and find new people to teach, but to no avail. Everyone is out and about and not interested in talking to you unless you're a small child looking for candy. It was kind of funny, actually. The first door we knocked was this lady with little kids.. We heard her say "TRICK OR TREATERS! YAY!" and then she opened the door, saw us, and said, "orrrrrrr not....." and she slowly closed the door on us as we tried to do our survey. Hahahah always a good time.. We went to dinner at a member's house with the elders in our ward and then stayed the whole evening passing out candy for them! We weren't really given any specific instruction as to what we should do on Halloween night other that we needed to stay out and be productive. We decided that being outside talking to people wouldn't be the safest thing in our area, so the Braden family took us elders and sisters in for the evening. They let us share a message with them and then do some service by being on candy duty! The members in our ward are so great.
Anyway, thats pretty much all I've got for the week! It's getting cold and I'm so glad November is here cuz that means its almost CHRISTMAS! WOOO! I may or may not already be listening to Christmas music.... hahaha some sister left a CD behind and it has 5 Christmas songs on it and I've been listening to it on repeat for two weeks already. I'm just really excited, okay?
I hope all is going well for everyone! Thank you for all the letters and emails! I feel sooo loved. (:
Love,
Sister Harshaw
