Christmas Miracles!!!!

Helloooooo and merry merry merry Christmas to all!! 

This week has been absolutely incredible and it has been filled with real life ACTUAL Christmas Miracles!!

To start off, Ed Swenson-the grumpy old man-was baptized and confirmed this weekend!! It was the perfect little baptismal service for him. He has some social anxiety and large crowds make him nervous, so the small crowd of 10 people at the baptism was just right for him. It was short and sweet and the spirit was strong. It was actually kind of funny. Ed quite literally only speaks when he absolutely has to. When the service started, his wife, Renia, pulled out the hymn book and handed it to him for the opening song. He grunted and pushed it away and stared off into space for the song and opening talk. Then he was baptized and his countenance was totally different. He was talking to people and when it was time for the closing song, he pulled out the hymn book himself and started singing, which no one has ever seen him do. I think I might have even seen him smile at one point. It was awesome and Ed is a changed man!! Hahaha well, at least he's beginning to become a changed man. He's a funny one, that Ed. The spirit really does work in mysterious ways. 

Next big fat miracle! This morning we got a call from our bishop telling us that there is a young man in the ward who wants to be baptized as soon as possible!! He is in the Naval Academy and is at his grandfather's house for Christmas. His grandpa is in our ward and the young man, Kaden, would like for his grandpa to baptize him before he goes back to his Naval base. He has several LDS friends in his troop and they have been bringing him to church and he has a strong desire to join the church. We just have to teach him the lessons and then he can be baptized! Depending on the circumstance, we may even baptize him as soon as this weekend! We will start teaching him tomorrow and will probably go through all the lessons this week! I don't know what it is about this ward, but the miracles are flowing in. Stay tuned to find out what happens with Kaden this week!!

I have gained a very strong testimony that we just have to do what our Heavenly Father expects of us and thennnn the miracles will come. We do a lot of tracting in this area with little to no success, but we know that God wants us to be out knocking on doors, so we do! We knock and we ask for referrals from members and we work hard to do all that Heavenly Father wants us to, even though we don't really see anything come from it. Door after door is closed in our faces, but by being diligent we are seeing so many better doors open. The blessings may not come how or when we expect them to, but they do come. The Lord is amazing and the miracles that come from loving and living the gospel are incredible. 

I am so excited for my first (and only) Christmas on my mission!! You'd think that being away from family around this time of year would be kind of a bummer sandwich, but there is nothing as sweet as being in the service of the Lord. When you're working hard and you're devoted to your purpose as a missionary there really is no homesickness. I love this work and I love my Savior and I am so happy to be here sharing the light that comes from living His gospel. Jesus Christ really was the first gift of Christmas and his humble birth in a lowly stable was our Heavenly Father's biggest manifestation of His love for each and every one of us. 

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!! Take a little time to remember the Savior and to think about what His birth means to YOU! 

I love y'all!!!

Sister Harshaw

#ASaviorIsBorn 

This is Sara, my favorite investigator in Grand Junction.  I'm probably going to get to go to her baptism on the 1st, and I am so excited!!

We Come Bearing Candy Canes!!

DECEMBER 7, 2015

Soooooooooooo, can you guess where I am???! Hahahahahah I am now serving in Fruita, Colorado which is easily one of the weirdest places I have ever been in. My subject line is an actual thing that they say here. Like everyone in the ward said it to me yesterday at chruch. And they sell hats/shirts/stickers/magnets/cups/anything you can think of with that saying on it. Its hilarious. 

My new address is-

Sister Kelsie Harshaw

559 W Pabor Way #2 

Fruita, Co. 81521

Yeah, so the ward I'm serving in is the Fruita 2nd ward and it covers a huge part of Fruita, all of Loma, and all of Mack, Colorado. I am as far away from the mission home as I could possibly be and our area goes all the way to the border of Utah (pictures to come). It is hugeeeeeeee compared to my area in Junction. Its actually only like 15 minutes away from where I came from. And even funnier than the fact that I'm practically serving in Utah and I moved about 2 seconds away is that I took Sister Clarke's place here! She came here after she trained me, then I trained, and then she got transferred to Denver and I took her place here! I'm following in the footsteps of my mother! :'-) This area is super duper different than Junction. Its a whole ton of farmland and cows and sheep and middle-of-nowhere houses. They say that this is the place where people come to hide. Its right outside of Utah and all the Mormons that don't wanna be Mormons come here and move to the middle of nowhere because they think no one will find them.. BUT THEY ARE WRONGGGG. We find them allllllll. 85% of the ward is inactive and when we show up at their houses they're always surprised to see us and less than happy that we decided to visit. Its quite funny. 

My new companion is Sister Ytac (pronounced E-Tack). She is from the Philippines and she has been out for 3 months, so I'm still the senior companion. She is a lotttttttt a lot a lot like Sister Clarke. She is so sweet and I love her a lot, but she struggles a whole bunch. President never called me to tell me what I'm doing here, so I'm still not entirely sure what that was all about.. but this area is struggling pretty badly. There is no one on date to be baptized and there are no progressing investigators and 85% of the ward wants nothing to do with the Church, so there is a ton of work to be done here. I'm really happy to be here and I am going to do my absolute best to lift the ward! They sure need it. 

Anywayyy, I don't have a whole lot to report as far as the work goes because we basically just met with a ton of new less actives this week. Its gunna take me forever to figure out the area since it takes like 30 minutes to drive all the way to the end of it, but I'll get there eventually! 

I hope all has been well with y'all and that everyone is happy! 

Go watch the Christmas video the Church put out if you haven't already! (and share it too!) 

I love y'all!! :D

Sister Harshaw     

DECEMBER 15, 2015

Hello family + friends + fellow citizens! First things first, I love you all sooooo much and I'm so thankful for all of the love y'all are sending my way! I feel it every single day and your prayers in my behalf are definitely felt! Y'all are the best!

This week has been absolutely nuts! Ya know how last week I told y'all that we had no one on date to be baptized and no one really progressing? Well scratch that. BECAUSE WE'RE HAVING A BAPTISM THIS SATURDAY. LIKE.. WHAT?

On Monday, Ed Swenson, this really odd old man the sisters have been working with for more than a year called our bishop and informed him that he would like to be baptized. His wife got baptized a little more than a month ago, but he really wasn't interested in baptism for himself even though he has heard all the lessons and comes to church every week. We met with him on Tuesday night and when we asked him about it he told us he wanted to set up a date. We thought he was still working on quitting smoking, but he told us that he quit smoking on the 31st of October and has not touched a cigarette since then. We asked him when he would like to be baptized and he said as soon as possible! So Ed will be baptized this upcoming Saturday the 19th at 2:00! We taught him about temples and family history last week and we think the prospect of being with his wife, Renia, for eternity really got him thinking. Ed is hilarious. I've met with him 4 times since I have been here and I have probably only heard him speak 10 sentences. He communicates mostly in grunts and inaudible mumbles. I have never seen him smile and he has the most dry sense of humor. He'll crack these jokes and you can't tell if he's joking because he doesn't smile, so you just kinda laugh because the fact that you can't tell if he is trying to be funny is funny itself. He and Renia live in a tiny little trailer out in the middle of nowhere Mack and he always smells like cows because he just hangs out with them all day. Also I'm not sure if he has any teeth. He is the grumpiest old man I have ever met, but he is hilarious and I love him a lot. When our district leader interviewed him for baptism this week he said, "Ed is a man of few words, but the Spirit speaks for him. His grunts and head nods were actually pretty sincere and he is ready to be baptized." So baptize him we will!! Its a Christmas miracle! 

Another great thing this week! There is the less active man in our ward that has apparently been causing problems for a lot of people in the ward. He creates contention and is quite frankly a big ol' meanie. He doesn't let his home teachers in, he doesn't like missionaries, and he hasn't been to church in years. We told our bishop that we were planning on seeing him and he basically said, "Well good luck with that one.." So we drive to his house and we say a prayer in the car that we will be able to get into his home and share the Christmas message  with he and his family. Right after the prayer, I heard the Spirit say (in almost an audible voice), "Bring him the candy canes." We had just gone to the store to get candy canes to bring to a family to say thank you for something they gave us and they were sitting in the back of the car. I picked them up and I was like, "Alright Sister Ytac. I don't know why, but the spirit just told me that this man needs these candy canes. So lets go find out why!" So we went to his front door and rang the bell and a few seconds later he answered. He looked less than happy to see us, but before he could say anything I smiled nice and big and said, "Hi! I'm Sister Harshaw and this is Sister Ytac and we're the missionaries in your ward! We come bearing candy canes and a short Christmas video that we're hoping to share with you and your family!" He looked at the candy canes I was holding out to him for about 10 seconds and then opened the door and told us to come in. He called his family down to the living room and they sat and watched the two Christmas videos that had and the Spirit absolutely flooded into the room. When they ended we asked what they like about them and the man said with tears in his eyes, "You know, we talk about Christ in our home every single day, but I still don't think my kids understand the true meaning of Christmas. That is why I invited you in today. When you were standing at the door something told me that you would bring Christ into my home and that I should let you in. And you did. So thank you." We were in their home for a total of about 15 minutes, but that was the strongest I have felt the Spirit in my whole entire mission so far. The Spirit knows what each and every one of us needs and how we can best help others. If we listen real hard, that still small voice will ring loud and clear and lead us in the right direction. I'm not sure if the candy canes are the thing that convinced him to allow us into his home, but I do know that I learned a big lesson on listening to the promptings of the spirit, no matter how silly they might seem. 

I hope that y'all are all doing well and that you know I love and appreciate you soooo much! I love being a missionary and I love the joy that living this gospel brings. I know that it really and truly is only in and through Jesus Christ that we are able to feel true joy and happiness. This gospel is amazing and I love my Savior.

Have a great week and be happy!! I love y'all!

Sister Harshaw 

So Grateful to Be a Missionary!!

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Hello, fam!! 

This week has been so great! Why, do you ask?? Wellllll, 

1. I learned how to fix tire pressure! Our tire pressure has been low and I've just kinda been ignoring it because I don't know how to do car things, but then I went on an exchange with our STL and she didn't think it was normal that I didn't know how to do that.. so she taught me! I'm learning all kinds of life things here in good ol' GJ. 

2. IT SNOWED ON THE MOUNTAINS... AND DIDN'T COME DOWN IN THE VALLEY (10 gold stars to whomever caught my song reference right there.) The temperature has dropped a whole bunch this week. I'm not a fan of winter and it hasn't even started. It snowed a whole bunch on the mountains all around us, but didn't go further than that. I am nottttt looking forward to snow. But I'm so happy that I don't have to deal with it yet! 

3. Our investigators are all superstars! We've made a lot of progress with all of our investigators this week. I've had the same 4 main investigators the whole time I've been here in Junction and it feels good to see them all progress so well! Sara, Erica, Patience, and Alaska are all on track to be baptized by the end of the year. They make me so happy to be a missionary. 

4. I'm going to play to the flute in sacrament meeting this Sunday! A lady in our ward majored in flute performance in college and I told her that I played for a long time and she was like "Sweet, lets do a duet!" and so a duet we are doing! I'm actually really excited about it! I've missed playing and I forgot how much fun it is! I think I'll pick it back up when I get home!

5. Miracles! Our miracle of the week happened yesterday! We needed one more new investigator to hit the standards of excellence and we only had 10 minutes before we had to leave for dinner and only one more house to knock on the street we were tracting. Both Sister Webster and I had faith that this last door would be a new investigator. We knocked and did the survey with a lady named Debbie, but she had no time for a lesson. We shared a very brief summary of the Restoration and then asked when would be a good time for us to come back and share more. She said she loved studying religion with people, but that she had no time to meet with us. We kept trying to set up a return appointment, but to no avail! Then she saw the name of the Church on our name tags and said, "Oh! I used to study with some people with your church! I loved that!" and so we explained that that was what we wanted to do with her and she understood. She had to go inside, but yelled out for us to come back at 1:30 next Saturday as she was closing the door and walking away! She was our new investigator! I know that our Heavenly Father was paying attention to us and that our faith helped us find Debbie. We see miracles every single day!

Being a missionary is the best and I love love love this work that I get to be a part of! I am so happy to be here. Thank you all for the love and support! I feel your prayers and I'm so thankful to the letters and emails I get each week! 

Have a wonderful week and don't forget to be happy!! 

Sister Harshaw 

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NOVEMBER 16, 2015

Hiya!

SO. This week has been fantastic! Elder Wilford W. Andersen of the Seventy did a tour of our mission this week and on Tuesday we had a big fat meeting where we got to go listen to him speak! All of the missionaries on the Western Slope of the mission met together and President and Sister Murdock drove over to speak to us as well. We got to hear from the Murdocks and then both Elder and Sister Andersen. They told us all about the Christmas initiative we'll be starting at the end of the month and how we can be better missionaries and about the policy change and a whole bunch of other fun things. It was a very uplifting meeting and I really enjoyed it! At the end some of the ladies in one of the wards here provided us with a super awesome Thanksgiving style dinner. It was a great day of speakers, seeing mission friends, and yummy food. 

Our most solid investigator, Sara, is doing so well! We went to go see her last night and one of the first things that she told us is that she has already given up drinking coffee and that she feels good about her decision to do so! We committed her to keep the Word of Wisdom not even a week ago and she is already keeping it. She is amazing. She was on date to be baptized this month, but last week we felt prompted to ask her when she would want to be baptized if she were to choose her date. She told us that she had been thinking about it a lot and that she would really like to be baptized on January 1st. She said that she wanted it to be a "new year, new me" kind of thing and that she really felt she would be ready by then. Sister Webster and I thought it might be a little too far out, but fasted about it and received the answer that her date of January 1 is the perfect date for her. She has told her friends and our bishop and is very excited. I am so impressed with her desire to change and become better. I have decided that my favorite thing about my mission so far is watching the gospel change people. It is an amazing thing to witness and I am so glad I have been here for Sara's whole spiritual journey. I cannot wait to see her enter the waters of baptism.

I got to play the flute in sacrament meeting yesterday and it was actually so much fun! I did a duet (How Great Thou Art) with Sister Simler, a lady in my ward who plays the flute professionally. It reminded me of how much I actually enjoy playing and I really kind of miss it! I think I might pick it back up again when I get home, but who knows. 

BAD NEWS. It snowed for like 5 minutes this morning. I am not fond of all this cold weather. I feel like when it actually turns into winter that I'm going to transform into Randy from A Christmas Story....  "I can't move my armsssss!" It should be a fun time... Also the fact that I'll most likely get transferred to somewhere WAY colder than Junction in January is terrifying. Oh well. Onward and upward. Speaking of transfers, we had interviews with President this week and he told me that Sister Webster and I will pretty much definitely be staying together for another transfer and then I'll be moved somewhere else. That means that I'll be here for Sara's baptism! Wooooo! I've really come to love Grand Junction, actually. The people here are soooo wonderful and I love them a lot. 

Anywayyyy, this week has been wonderful and I'm looking forward to another great week of being a missionary! I love this work and I love my Savior and I love all of y'all and I love life. Be happy and do something kind for someone this week! (: 

Love, 

Sister Harshaw  

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NOVEMBER 23,2015

Howdy, loved ones! 

This week has been a super duper great one! I feel like I say that every week, but that's mostly because its true every week! So oh well! 

Sara Ramirez, our #1 superstar investigator, is doing so well. She is living the Word of Wisdom, coming to church on a regular basis, making friends in the ward, and telling her friends and family that she is going to be baptized. She is truly becoming converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and I love being able to watch it happen. She will be baptized on January 1st for sure! What better way to start off the new year than to see her get baptized?? I sure can't think of one! 

Oh, awesome news! So I have been working with the Bonds, a less active family, since the first week that I arrived here in Grand Junction. The mom and three kids were not attending church at all and honestly had no desire to start coming back. The dad of the family comes regularly and is fully active. He asked us to try our best to get them to come back to church because it was breaking his heart to watch them fall away. Sister Clarke and I set up dinner appointments with Cameron, the dad, and would go over and get to know them and enjoy each other's company and then share a quick spiritual thought before we left. We did that for a few weeks to build trust and then we started just popping in every few days to see how they were doing. We became great friends with Misty, Brenna, CJ, and Ashlyn (the mom and kids) and we eventually started teaching them the missionary lessons once a week. They finally came back to church and have been coming regularly for a little over a month now. Yesterday our bishop told us that the three kids are officially reactivated!! I am so excited for them! Misty still has some Word of Wisdom problems to overcome, but we will get her there. She is making lots of progress. I love the gospel and I love seeing it make other people happy. Rescuing the Bond family has definitely been a miracle and I'm so glad they're becoming firmly rooted in the gospel again. 

I'm soooo excited for Thanksgiving this week! Sister Webster and I are going to spend a big part of the day at our favorite member's house. We're going to go over and help cook and clean and get things ready, and then we're going to have a feast! The elders and their recent convert and Sara and an awesome lady from our ward are all going to be there and its going to be so great. We're pretty much going to spend the day house hopping and eating a lottttt of food. I'm way excited. 

We got to go to a Hymn Festival thingy that one of the counselors in the mission presidency put together last night and it was wonderful! He is a professor at a college and he teaches music and directs some orchestras or something like that. There was an orchestra and a big choir and they performed all kinds of awesome hymn arrangements! I really miss live music and just music in general, so it was nice (even though they were hymns) to be able to attend the concert. (:

Anyway, thats pretty much how the week went! We're teaching and working hard every single day and the blessings that come from this work are amazing. I love the gospel and I love being a missionary and I love life. (: 

Have a wonderful week and be happy, y'all! 

Love, 

Sister Harshaw 

This is Jetta.  She's 11 years old and is the only Latter-day Saint member in her family.  She's read the Book of Mormon 23 times!!

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NOVEMBER 20. 2015

So! First things first! I'm being........... 

TRANSFERRED. 

I was notttttt expecting that at all!!! President Murdock called us on Saturday night and let me know that I will be leaving and that wherever it is that I'm going really needs me there, whatever that means. He also said that he has something for me to do, but that he will talk to me about it in private later.... I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THAT MEANS EITHER. I'm really sad to be leaving Grand Junction because I was just about to see some amazing things happen, but I know that wherever Heavenly Father needs me is where I'm going to go! I asked my sister training leader what president might have meant, and she said that I may be getting a "special assignment", which means I would be working with a sister that is struggling. So who knows!! 

With that being said, if you were planning on sending me something in the mail, hold off until next week because I don't know where I'm going! If you already sent something, Sister Webster will forward it to me. So no worries. (: 

Anyway, this week was so great!! We spent Thanksgiving at the Elijah's house, one of our favorite member families. We helped make a TON of food, and then some people from the ward and the elders came over and we ate and ate and ate! It was way fun and nice to be able to spend the day with my ward family. I love the Pear Park ward and I'm so sad to be leaving it, but I'm so happy that I've been able to spend the first four months of my mission here! 

Sara Ramirez is doing wonderfully, per usual. She is developing a strong and sturdy testimony of her own and I feel so lucky to have been able to watch her progress. We taught her about tithing and fasting this week and she was more than excited and ready to begin paying, even though she is struggling financially right now. We were reading the scripture in Malachi to her and she said, "Yes! I agree with that 100%. I believe that when we do good things like that, that we are repaid for it in ways that we can't even understand!" She is always more than willing to do what we ask her to and she loves the gospel. She opened up to us in our lesson and told us that when we initially started teaching her that she was skeptical and was mostly just being polite. But then she came to church and saw how much the members of the ward actually care for one another and she loves the way the church is run. She said, "I am so excited to be baptized. I love the way the Church actually takes care of its members and that people know my name when I walk in the door. I want to watch my boys grow up in this church." I love Sara and I love her desire to serve the Lord and follow Him. I am beyond sad that I will not get to be here on January 1st to see her finally get baptized, but I know that she is going to be in good hands! 

Anywayyyy, I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving! Don't forget to be grateful every day and be happy!! :D 

I love you all!

Sister Harshaw