Monday, September 30, 2013

HOW GREAT THOU ART!!! September 30, 2013

Mom!! I saw you on tv!! And then I cried the rest of the broadcast because I knew that both of us were singing at the same time!! It sounds pathetic, but it happened.
So anyways, this week was the best week of my mission so far! I have seen so many miracles around me and within me!! Marcella got baptized on Saturday and she asked me to play her violin at the baptism!! It was so wonderful to be able to play again.  It didn't sound as good as it used to, but it touched some hearts.  We played How Great Thou Art and Sister Palmer's investigator started sobbing during the musical number.  Afterwards, she asked Sister Palmer what the song was and she told her that it changed her life.  The baptismal service was so beautiful!! 
Marcella is so happy! We got to stand right next to the font as she got baptized, and we were both crying!! I'm so proud of her!! We went with her back into the changing room and she was speechless for a whole minute because she was so happy.  We were all just crying and laughing and hugging each other! It was a really sweet experience.
Everyone was so good to her at church yesterday, too. She was afraid that she wouldn't have any friends in the ward, but yesterday, the whole ward just fellowshipped her and became friends. There is so much love in the Monta Vista ward!!
On Friday, we went to De Anza College to go contacting and luckily, Sister Livingston had sidewalk chalk.  So we decided to draw the Plan of Salvation in the middle of campus!! It was really successful! Everyone who walked by stopped and asked questions.  We met a Burmese man named Tun and we talked with him for awhile before we had to leave.  We got his email address and set up a time to meet with him.  He met us at the church on Saturday and we gave him a church tour while teaching him about the Restoration.  He saw the name of the church and he asked what it meant.  I explained to him what "Latter-day Saints" meant and he understood.  He asked about the church logo a few other times too, and once he said, in broken English, "This is right. The name of your church." So we went on, and he kept asking really good questions about things he saw around the building.  We went in the primary room where the font is, and we asked him to pray with us.  We knelt down, taught him how to pray, and then he did it.  In his prayer, he asked God to show him the way and where he needed to be. After he prayed, we asked him how he felt.  He thought for a moment, and then said "peace. I feel peace." With an adorable smile on his face. Later he said, "God answered my prayer. This is it." We were so happy! He is so prepared to hear the gospel!! He came to church on Sunday and loved it.  
So things are going well here in California.  I am soo outrageously happy.  It's outrageous. 
I love all these people and I'm growing a lot closer to the ward members.  I love all of the precious people in this area!! 
I'm so excited for General Conference this week! On Wednesday we get to go to the temple!!! And it's Sister Livingston's birthday!  
I'll send pictures of the baptism when I can! 
Read 1 Thesalonians 5:16
Love all of you!
Sister Julie Catherine Harris

Monday, September 23, 2013

Life is like a box of chocolates... September 23, 2013

Hello everyone!!
How are y'all doing? This week has been absolutely crazy.  Like crazy.  
It's all been good, though.  I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Livingston! She's great! We've been having a lot of fun, and yes, I am still in the Monta Vista ward.  It's going well.
I'm so excited for this week because guess what's happening? Marcella's getting baptized on Saturday!!! I'm so excited.  She may or may not let me play her violin for her baptismal service.  So that would be exciting.  So that's a good tidbit.  
Also, we're having a sisters retreat with Sister Watkins this Thursday!! That'll be a good break.  
I realized this week just how much we need to be guided by the spirit as missionaries.  At times when you don't have the spirit with you, it's just 'whatever' and it's simply not fulfilling.  But having the spirit with you and remaining worthy of his companionship makes all the difference! We were contacting the other night and we gave this woman named Deborah a mormon.org card and walked away.  We ran into her later and both felt prompted to ask her if she wants to learn more.  So we talked to her and she seemed really promising.  Then we both felt prompted to give her a Book of Mormon.  It was awesome because we both just felt so guided by the spirit and we got close to 100 contacts that night!! It was great.
There have been a lot of changes this past week.  I got a new companion on Tuesday, and then Sister Palmer got her trainee on Thursday, so there have been a lot of trips to the mission office! It's been good though, there are a lot of fun people in the apartment!! It's VERY different, but still good. 
We're doing a lot of good work in the ward, and things are starting to look up.  I have developed a deep love for the singles in this ward, and if it wasn't weird, I would move back here after my mission and be in the ward.  But that would indeed be weird.  
I have had a few opportunities to contact people in German this past week!! Those three years in Junior High definitely came in handy!! I love all the Germans we meet (even though they all speak fluent English).  It's fun to be able to speak a tiny bit of their language.  
Anyways, I love all of you and hope you are doing well.
I'll write more next week when there's more to write about, but in the meantime, Adios!
Love, Sister Julie Catherine Harris
Kirche Jesus Christi
Der Heilege
Der Letzen Tage

Monday, September 16, 2013

Jammin' at the park - September 16, 2013

 
Hey!
Sorry I'm emailing so late! We spent the morning and afternoon in Santa Cruz, living the dream! It was a lot of fun! There are some places I need to take you guys when we come back to visit! 
So here's the update: Sister Ferrin is getting transferred and I get a new companion tomorrow! The transfer text came during our nightly prayer, and we heard the other sisters read it from the other room.  But I kept on praying, and then we started bawling when it was over.  I'm gonna miss her. And also, I don't know how I'm going to hold down the fort in Monta Vista without her.  But it's alright, I've got the Lord on my side! 
So how's everything at home? Maddie is engaged???? What the? Tell her congrats for me! Weird! 
This week has been good but crazy.  We've been using the Ukulele for contacting and it's been a surprising success! We went to a park and pulled out the ukulele while we just sat on the grass.  Neither of us knew how it would work, but we both felt prompted to go contacting with the ukulele in Sunnyvale of all places.  So we went to the park, sat down, and started playing.  And then, these high school boys with a guitar shouted to us and asked if we wanted to jam! We said yes and went over to talk with them.  We played them a song and they started talking to us and asking questions.  It turned into a mini version on the restoration and we gave away 2 Book of Mormons!! It was a success! Everyone loves the uke here! So thanks for sending it! 
We've had a lot of good experiences this past week! It was really slow because our whole ward was in Lake Tahoe and the people who weren't in Tahoe flaked out.  So We were working really hard to focus on our purpose and be productive.  It was a challenge to fill our days when everyone we planned on fell through, but it worked out.  I feel like we did a lot of good anyway.  It's amazing how the Lord guides us and teaches us in His own time and His own way.  We were guided by Him so much this week! It's been wonderful! 
One of our Zone Leaders, elder Lambdin, is going home this week and we're really going to miss him! He was a wonderful elder and he'll do great things after his mission.
Tonight, we are teaching the FHE lesson for the ward, and we're pretty much calling everyone to repentance.  It's about missionary work and we're trying to get them motivated to do it! So pray for us and wish us luck! This has been the last full day with sister Ferrin, so it's a little bittersweet.  And we'll find out tomorrow where she's headed.  
Things are happening in this mission and I'm so excited to see the Lord's plan for the California San Jose mission!! 
I love all of you so much and I'm grateful for you! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers and keep them coming! 
God Speed! Hurrah for Israel!
Love, Sister Julie Catherine Harris

 
P.S. To answer your questions about my last letter...
1. So everyone in California is ALWAYS late. Like all the time.  And since I was always taught to be punctual, it bugs me sometimes. haha.
2. People are SUPER flaky here. You give them an appointment or something to remember, and they'll forget if you don't remind them 5 minutes beforehand. It's a little crazy.
3. Homeless people ask us for money all the time. It's kinda sad.
4. It's definitely not a good idea to walk around after 8 anywhere in our area. People are already drunk and they look at you differently.  We've DEFINITELY been protected by divine power.
5. Everyone here, despite their flakiness and lack of punctuality, is so cool! I just love them! And I don't think I can even tell you about all of the cool experiences I've had with the wonderful people here!
6. Sacrament meeting in any YSA ward is an adventure.  Ours almost never lasts an hour.  We usually end up not having sunday school because people just keep talking.  It's a little bit outrageous. And most of the time they get really off-topic too. haha
7. Since we're in a YSA ward, dinner appointments aren't always sitting down to enjoy a nice meal.  We've had pizza delivered to our apartment, we've had to walk with a member to get pizza, we've had dinner/lunch in a classroom in the church, we've had first discussions for dinner messages, and all sorts of stuff.  We seriously never know what's going to happen at dinner appointments.  It's fun though!
So I haven't sent pictures because the cord that I received is the wrong one! So I'll try my best to send you pictures! I sent you a few forwarded from Victoria. 
Love you so much!
Love, Sister Harris
 
 
             Sister Ferrin, me, and Victoria

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Just some thoughts about California... September 10, 2013

Hello! So the library was closed again yesterday! I hope they don't make a trend of this! Anyway, this week has been great!!
Sister Ferrin and I worked really hard this week and we got our numbers way up! We taught 19 lessons and had 140 contacts!! So the work is going well.  We are trying to keep up the good work! Transfers are coming up soon though, so we don't know what's going to happen!
Wow.  Has it really been 12 weeks already?? At then end of this week, I will be done training! Weird! I am loving all of the people we are teaching and I'm so excited for them! Lilli, one of our less-actives, is getting a temple recommend soon! And a patriarchal blessing!! We're so excited for her!! It's amazing to see how the Lord is hastening His work and how we can be a part of it! 
We had our Sister Training Leader with us on Saturday.  It was so much fun! It was nice to have a Hermana with us, because we don't know Spanish! It came in handy a couple of times! 
Things have been going well and the weather is cooling down a lot, so now I can handle it! Some things I learned this week:
1. There's Mormon standard time, and then there's California standard time.  
2. People here don't remember a thing. ever. 
3. There's always something going on somewhere.
4. Everything people do involves alcohol.
5. People always ask us for money. 
6. Don't walk around after 8.
Among other things.  This week has been very educational and very interesting! We've met some cool people and had some fun experiences.  Some perks to being in a YSA ward:
1. Do you like pizza?
2. Free food. all the time. 
3. Sacrament meeting is always an adventure.
4. You never know what's going to happen at dinner appointments.
And sooo much more.  Haha. Can I just tell all of you how much I love it here? I probably sound like a broken record because I say that every week, but it's true! This is an incredible area and it's absolutely where the Lord needs me! I know there are people who are prepared and I'm so excited to go out into the drunken streets of Campbell or the chinatown-feel of Cupertino to find them!  I love California.  I love my mission. I love the Lord.
Love you all!
Sister Julie Catherine Harris

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Culturally Aware in California‏ - September 3, 2013

 

Hi everyone!
 
All of the libraries were closed yesterday so we couldn't write! But here I am today at the library!
I have some very exciting news for y'all: First of all, we have two progressing investigators.  They are great! Second, one has a baptismal date! Her name is Marcella and she's SOLID.  Cool story about this one:
So the Los Gatos elders have been so good about giving us referrals.  They're honestly our favorites.  So they referred us to this girl named Marcella and they were really excited about her. So we went over, planning on teaching the first lesson (The Restoration).  During the opening prayer, however, I just had the strongest prompting that we needed to teach Plan of Salvation instead.  I looked at Sister Ferrin after the prayer and I half-whispered, "We are going to teach Plan of Salvation, okay?" She looked at me funny and then I just went for it.  It ended up being a really good lesson and the spirit was so strong! The member that was with us was really good, but his dad was even better.  He invited her to be baptized and she said yes! We asked her if she thought all of this was true and she said yes without a doubt.  Last night we taught her the restoration and she said that she would pray about the 28th of September for her baptism.  We're so excited for her! The Lord truly is hastening His work!
So that's the exciting story of the week.  In other news, we made an amazing cultural breakthrough! We were contacting in a park one day and we felt prompted to go talk to this Indian lady who was just walking around.  We went up and talked to her and gave her a Book of Mormon in Hindi! She looked genuinely grateful when we told her she could keep it and she thanked us as she walked away.  Man, I just love all the diversity here.  
This week, we had dinner with the Chinese elders and half of their branch.  It was a really cool experience to meet all of the faithful Chinese saints and to see the love they had for the gospel.  Although it was sad that we got their hopes up.  When they saw us there, they all asked if we were the new Chinese-speaking sisters in the branch.  We loved spending time with them, although the food was a bit interesting.  It was a pot-luck, so we didn't feel like we had to try everything, luckily.  But we decided we should at least try one new thing, so we dished up some curry-ish stuff called fish balls.  It was honestly the first time I actually gagged on my mission.  But the company was so good, that we didn't mind all that much.  
We've been doing splits this week with members of our Relief Society and it's been a really good experience! Even though most of the time, the less-actives we visit don't answer their doors, we still get to know members of the ward better.  It's been a great week!!
Last funny story: so the other night, we had a couple of hours of free time, so we decided to get caught up on our street contacting.  We went to downtown Campbell and decided we would talk to everyone.  We had gotten only about 15 contacts when we ran into this woman named Carolyn.  We gave her a card and she seemed interested, but we should've kept walking when she told us to hold on for a second while she bummed a cigarette.  After she took care of that, she sat us down at this bench and started telling us this plan she had to start a music camp for "the babies".  She wanted a religious atmosphere and she wanted our help.  We patiently listened, while she blew smoke in our faces and called us babies.  She asked for suggestions of what to call her camp and we threw out a few.  When we would say something she liked, she would respond with, "Ooh that's good, baby, write that down!" Haha! She was talking to us for 45 minutes.  We literally had to go home after talking with her because it was late and we were scared we would run into her again.  
Gotta love good times on the mission.  I'm loving it and there will be pictures on the way soon!
I love all of you, and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
Love you,
Sister Julie Catherine Harris
p.s. read Mormon 9!