Santa Cruz and other news! July 31, 2013

Hello!
Sorry I'm not emailing until now.  It's been a really busy week! It's been awesome though! On p-day we got to got to Santa Cruz! We were only there for a few hours, but it was fun! I got to play my ukulele on the beach!

Life here has been good and the work has been picking up a little bit! We're working with a lot of less-actives rather than investigators, but I love it! I feel like it's really rewarding to bring someone back into the fold! So we've been having some really good experiences.  Can you believe this is the last week of the transfer? Crazy! Tomorrow we find out if Sister Ferrin or I have to train! Gah!

Hmmm let's see.  What happened this week? Well we had a really awesome lesson with an investigator named Allen.  He's technically not our investigator, but since he's YSA age, we get to joint teach him.  So we teach him with the Chinese elders, and we went in there to help them teach and they threw a curveball on us.  They said, "Allen, the sisters have an awesome lesson planned for you about the plan of salvation." We just kind of looked at each other because we definitely didn't plan on teaching the plan of salvation.  But it actually went really well.  The spirit was so strong and we did a lot of good teaching (not without help from the Chinese elders of course!).  So that was an awesome experience. I love being a missionary!

In case you were wondering, Mom I did get my packages! Thank you! I started reading Jesus the Christ and I love it! the other books are awesome, too so thanks! So the reason I was on an iPhone on a bus on Monday was because we went to Santa Cruz with Victoria and she felt really bad that we were there with her instead of doing our regular p-day stuff.  And luckily a zone leader was there, so when Victoria insisted that we use her phone for emailing, he said it was okay.  Victoria is such a sweetheart and she's doing a lot better.  We're seeing her almost every day now.  She's definitely one of our favorites. [:

But I love all of the people we're teaching.  Like so much.  Did you get my letter and the letter from sister Bodner? Debbie Bodner is one of our favorite widows to visit.  She lives in Las Gaddis and she is so sweet! She wanted to write letters to our families, so she did.  And I sent it to you!
Oh! Sister Ferrin and I are attempting to learn Spanish! We started reading The Book of Mormon in Spanish and English together! And I didn't realize I had a Texas accent until I tried speaking spanish. Haha. I'm terrible at it.  But we've made a couple of contacts in Spanish, and even handed out a Book of Mormon.  I'm pretty good at saying words like, Hermanas, Jesu Christo, among other things. 

It's funny though because there are more Chinese people than Spanish people here. I helped a Chinese guy take a survey- he spoke no English.  So I guess I'm getting pretty cultured while I'm here! Nehou!

But anyways, I have to go.

I love all of you! Stay strong and press forward!

Much love,
Sister Julie Catherine Harris
121 Saratoga Ave. #4202
Santa Clara CA 95050

Feel the Love... July 22, 2013

Yes, I'm getting some wonderful tan lines already.  Oh man, so much to tell you guys this week! We have met A LOT of interesting people! It seems like the only people who actually approach us are drunk people.  EVERYONE is drunk here. We also talked to a couple of kids that tried to challenge our beliefs.  We talked to a Jewish agnostic teenager while doing service the other day, and we totally taught him a lesson while we were gardening! We kind of graciously proved him wrong on a lot of points and when we left he said, "You guys are my first cult friends." In a loving way, or course. Haha.  The other one was a kid that was standing and preaching in the food court of the local college.  When he was done, we went up and talked to him.  We talked for about an hour and we talked about a lot of interesting things and at the end he told us to reconsider our choices.  He said that we're leading people astray and that we should do some soul-searching for the truth.  It shook us up just a little bit, but we pressed forward.

This week has been really interesting.  The one progressing investigator we had, got demoted to just a regular investigator, leaving us at zero progressing.  So the work is going a little bit slow, but we're doing our best.  This week I had crab and eggplant for the first time.  I didn't enjoy either of them, and neither of them agreed with me.  So I guess you could say I've had semi-weird food already on the mission. 

My companion has started making me do things (worst trainer ever [: just kidding).  So I'm now making phone calls, talking to people on the street and starting lessons.  It's a bit scary because sometimes she doesn't even help me.  Haha she totally knows what she's doing.  We're coming up on the last week of the transfer already! Crazy, right?? So Sister Ferrin and I may possibly be split up.  And that would mean that I would have to train! I just....ah. We'll see, though. 

Two of our investigators are going through a rough time with their families, so therefore have not talked to us in weeks.  Jose and Jacob are really having a hard time right now, and we haven't taught them in a couple weeks.  We're not sure how to help if they never get back to us.  Savannah is doing well I think, but we haven't actually gotten past the first lesson with her.  I guess working in a YSA ward is hard because everyone is busy all the time.  It's a lot of fun though.

Victoria is doing a LOT better.  She was in a really bad place the other day, but now she's in Minnesota and she absolutely loves it.  She's definitely turned over a new leaf out there.  She's coming back on Wednesday and she said she has a lot to tell us.  I'm really excited for her! The prayers and fasting for her have definitely paid off.  I can't even express my love for these people out here.  It's crazy!

I gave out a Spanish Book of Mormon yesterday! So I guess that was cool.  Haha.  I've been studying a lot in the Book of Mormon and it seems that whatever I study in the morning is always applied at some point throughout the day.  It's so cool how the spirit works.  Today I read about Abinadi and I got to thinking that he's the missionary everyone wishes they could be.  He was so bold and cried repentance up until the day he died.  He's always been my favorite, but I love him even more now.  I've really gained an appreciation for the Book of Mormon and I love it so much.

I can't believe how close I've gotten to these people.  Especially Victoria and Lilli.  I don't know if I've told you about Lilli yet, but I love her so much.  I really have developed a love for the people we're teaching and I'm really glad I am serving in the best YSA ward ever. 

I love you all so much!  Keep the pictures coming!

Love,

Sister Julie Catherine Harris

p.s. I totally saw Barry Bonds the other day.

Love you guys!

The Sea, Savannah, and Santana Row: Faith grows in Santa Clara July 16, 2013

Sorry I didn't write yesterday.  We were at the beach all day and President gave us permission to email today.  We got to go to Carmel and Monterey with President Watkins and his family!! It was so awesome! So yes, yesterday was amazing.  There should be some pictures attached to this message.  So anyway, it's been an exciting week! We got two new investigators!! One is named Jacob.  He believes in Nordic Paganism (like Odin and Thor and stuff) and right now he's mainly interested in just learning about our religion.  We asked him if he wanted to be baptized, and he said, "possibly".  Haha so that's exciting! Our other new investigator is a girl named Savannah.  We kind of picked her up on accident and I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know she's investigating the church.  She's a roommate of a girl in the ward who signed up to feed us last week.  We went over and ate dinner, and then for our dinner message we did the first lesson! Savannah just ate it up! She said she loves Mormons and invited us back anytime.  She's great.  We think she has a lot of potential. 

Cool story, so the other night, we were out contacting in Santana Row in San Jose (the classy, high end shopping center).  Sister Ferrin and I were really tired and we weren't talking to very many people.  So we're standing there, waiting to cross the street and this lady starts walking towards us.  Sister Ferrin said hi and offered her a mormon.org card and we quickly found out that she didn't speak English.  So naturally, Sister Ferrin whips out amazing Spanish, got her number, and successfully gave her the Hermana's number.  In Spanish! After this happened, I told her I wasn't aware that she could speak Spanish.  It turns out, she had taken one semester of spanish in high school, but didn't think she remembered it.  It was so amazing! The spirit speaks every language!

We have had a really cool week.  I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of this whole missionary thing.  But maybe that's just me being confident.  So recently, I've been doing the Bednar Book of Mormon thing where you read the BOM with a specific question in mind.  It has been so cool so far! My question is, How can I develop strong faith as a missionary? and I've been finding things in the Book of Mormon that I didn't know existed.  It's been amazing.  I would recommend it. 

There's so much I want to tell you, but first of all, I don't really remember everything that's happened this week (I have been writing in my journal though!). And second of all, I don't have a lot of time. 

I'm sure Sarge did awesome on her farewell talk (You're gonna be AWESOME:] ).  I wish I could've seen it!

Being a missionary is awesome.  I can't even express the love I have for this place, this work, and the Lord.  My relationship with Him has grown so much stronger since being out here.  I've developed a testimony of prayer and fasting, and I'm starting to develop genuine love and concern for those we teach.  I love it here. 

Anyways, I love you all so much!

God Speed!

 

Sister Julie Catherine Harris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snail mail to the rescue: a little more from Sister Harris July 11, 2013

Hey family!
How's everyone doing? I'm doing great here in very sunny and very hot California! Everyone is saying that this is the hottest San Jose's ever been.  So that's...great. I feel like I haven't been going in-depth with my emails, just because I can never remember what has happened during the week.  Oh and mom, I'm not sure why you sent my phone charger, but thanks I guess.  I'm assuming you couldn't find my camera charger?? That's alright. Anyways, my mission president is great.  He has 5 daughters, so he has a special place in his heart for sisters.
So I found out the Winchester House is in my area! We might go there on a P-day! Our mission president said that if he calls us on a P-day and we're not doing something fun, he'll be a little upset.  So we're planning on Santa Cruz soon. 
Being in a YSA ward is a lot of fun. We get to meet the most interesting people... Tracting isn't allowed in the mission.  We do mostly referrals and street contacting, which is actually pretty fun.  We talk to a lot of drunk people and people that are high.  Its a little bit funny. Service has been fun! We got to help out at a Senior Center, a HUGE community garden, and today we're going to a soup-kitchen type place. It's been great.!
Last night, we ate at our home-away-from-home, the Leslies.  They have two daughters in our singles ward, so they have us over a lot.  They're very nice people and they have a really cute dog.  Everyone has a dog here.  And 90% of those dogs are little dogs.  Everyone is just so ridiculously wealthy.  The other day we atre at a restaurant next to Apple, so that was cool.
My trainer is awesome.  She says she doesn't know what she's doing, because she's only been out 6 weeks, but she's great.  She can quote movies like nobody's business.  She quotes "What's Up Doc" all the time! Haha! She was thrilled when she found out I had seen it too! She's great. We're very similar and we have a lot of fun.  We also work very well together.  Being the Junior companion is great.  I get to back the car out, send texts, and man the GPS.  I haven't eaten anything weird here, we just eat a lot.  We had two dinners again last night, and I'm getting better at pacing myself.  It's still hard, though.
The people here are wonderful! And Danny, you're right.Everyoone says, "Las Gaddis." Haha. When you guys come here to pick me up, I nees to take you to this hole-in-the-wall place in Las Gaddis called Oriental Garden.  The best Chinese food ever. Oh, and di I mention how many Asians there are here? We were contacting at DeAnza College, and the Vietnamese elders had to rescue me a few times because the people I was talking to didn't speak English.  In fact, it was hard finding people who DID.  Sometimes I feel like I'm in a different country. In the trunk of our car we have copies of the Book of Mormon in at least 20 different languages.  it's crazy. Anyway, that's the update.

Love from Sister Julie Catherine Harris

p.s. the letter you wrote me with stories about the kids in it was hilarious! Jordan and Kaiya are so funny! Send pictures! I love y'all so much!!

Sister Harris's new place in Santa Clara!

Too Short! Must be busy! July 9, 2013

That's so exciting (about Kiara and Brita's mission calls)! I love all the pictures! We drive a Toyota Corolla and I don't get to drive yet, but maybe soon.  We'll see.  I'm a little terrified to drive here!

We've taught some pretty cool lessons.  The other day we had the Sister Training Leader with us and she had this awesome idea.  We were teaching a less-active named James and the lesson was God is our Loving Heavenly Father.  We had him shout out a few characteristics that a Dad would have and we talked about dads for a little bit.  And then we connected those characteristics to God and pointed out that they are all the same.  It was really cool.  Also remind me to tell you about Victoria next week.  She's a really interesting Recent Convert.  I love you guys!

Do you know the way to Santa Clara??? July 1, 2013

Hello everyone! I'm excited that it's P-Day again! It's been 6 whole days! Haha no but I love it here! Let me tell you a bit about my area: I'm living in Santa Clara, which is I think northwest of San Jose? But my area is called Monta Vista and we're over a YSA ward, so our area is HUGE! It's been awesome though, because we get to work with so many different kinds of people.  We're mostly teaching less-actives and stuff, but we have one investigator! His name is Jose and he is very much too smart for us.  Every lesson ends with a "I'll get back to you on that." Haha he asks so many crazy questions. He's been coming to church though....as well as synagogue on saturdays and meditation on wednesdays.  He's just investigating a lot of different things right now. 

Okay, so I'm pretty sure this area has more Asians that Asia itself.  Haha every restaurant has Asian letters on it and I got yelled at by some crazy Japanese people my first day contacting.  But it's okay.  My companion's name is Sister Ferrin and she's an excellent trainer!! She's from Provo (everyone in this mission is from Utah...pretty much.) and she's really funny.  She's only been out 6 weeks so we're kind of training together haha.  But it's cool because we live with her trainer, who's also training a greenie like me.  So it's fun.  Our apartment is very nice and is wedged nicely between two huge car dealerships. 

My first night in my area, we had two dinner appointments.  The food was so good, but I felt so sick.  Haha we have dinner appointments like crazy.  I think I'm definitely going to gain weight here.  The bishop has given us an entire list of people in the YSA ward that either aren't members or aren't active and we've been driving all over to visit those people.  I'm pretty sure that not a single one of them has answered their door.  And yes, we have a car! [:

One of the people we tried to contact was a guy named Tyson.  We went to his house and this HUGE mexican guy with a Chihuahua answered the door.  The dog was going crazy, trying to eat us, and the man didn't look much different.  He didn't say a word, so it was a bit awkward, but we asked if Tyson was there and he said no and then slammed the door.  Haha so I guess that's my first California story.  And also last night we had dinner at this woman's house named Debbie Darling.  She was a classic California girl.  We had to walk through the pool to get to her apartment, and then once we got there, she had three huge surf boards in the corner of her living room.  We had fresh fruits and waffles for dinner and she told us about surfing and how much she loves healthy food and exercise.  That pretty much captures the essence of California people right there.  Haha.  I love it here, though.  It's so awesome to finally be here!
My mission president is President Watkins and he is way laid back and really just a very nice guy.  I feel like we're a lot alike.  Like if I were a 50 year old man, I'd probably be him.  He has like 7 cars and a garage full of shoes for missionaries who need them.  He so generous to all the missionaries and his wife is wonderful!

I'm loving it here so much! It's definitely different from Utah, but I love it! Okay, so funny story, Sister Ferrin and I were making an attempt at contacting in downtown Sunnyvale and we really weren't finding any people because there was hardly anyone there.  We saw this family walking towards us with smiles on their faces and we thought they would be perfect.  When the grandma of the family saw us approaching, she was like, "Oh, no." She proceeded to tell us that their family was from Utah and that no matter where they go, they can't seem to get away from Mormons.  Haha I thought it was funny.  They were nice people though.

So how's everything going with the family? Everyone here seems to know where Lindon is...it' a bit odd.

Anyway, I'm doing well, the work is going well, and I'm excited to see what this next week brings!

Sister Julie Catherine Harris 

Julie's mailing address is:

Sister Julie Catherine Harris
121 Saratoga Ave. 4202
Santa Clara, CA 95050