A Day in the Life… April 28, 2014

Sister Berry and Sister Harris

 

Hello everyone! Things are going really well here!

This past week has been crazy. Absolutely insane. We have been crazy busy with missionary work; just the way I like it!

We have a new baptismal date with Isabel!! She's so awesome and is already so involved with the church. She's fittin' to get baptized on May 17th!! We're really excited for her. 

We should be setting a date with Allie soon because we feel that she is really prepared too. 

This week was great. We are working hard and ending every day sweaty and exhausted.

A day in the life of a sister missionary:

• Wake up at 6:25, every bit as exhausted as you were when you went to bed.
• Watch your companion exercise while you stretch.
• Fight with three other sisters for the one precious shower in the apartment. 
• Scramble to get ready on time for personal study.
• Study the scriptures, feel the Spirit, study with your companion.
• Go out and do service for two hours, then come back for lunch. (usually sweaty and sunburned)
• Hop on your bike and get to work. 
• Ride around for hours and contact every person you see, regardless of who they are or what they look like. Even if you've contacted them before, do it again.
• Teach, preach, testify and do it again.
• Eat a dinner or two with some families from the ward and get them pumped about missionary work.
• Make the best of the rest of your day until 9pm. 
• Plan, brush your teeth, and lay in your bed, exhausted.

I'm all about that life. Yes, it's exhausting, but it's so much fun. I love every minute of it. Even when everything goes wrong, it's what you do with your time and energy that matters.

We'll be judged based on how we used our agency in this life and my mission has been a testimony of that. Sometimes it's 8:30 and everything has fallen through and you just want to call it a night. But it's what you do with your agency at that moment that counts. The Lord will bless those who put themselves aside to assist in the building up of His kingdom. I LOVE IT.

Livermore is awesome. It's definitely taking some getting used to because the people here are so nice and I'm not used to that! It's soooo different up here than it is in the South bay, but I'm loving it.
Sister Berry is still amazing and we are learning so much from each other every day. She has taught me that missionary work can be fun, no matter what's going on. It's all about your attitude! We make each other laugh and that's what we both need right now.

So I'm really happy to say the least. Everything's going well and there are miracles just around the corner. I can feel it! 

I love y'all!

Sister Julie Catherine Harris 

New address!

Sister Julie's new address is:


3819 East Ave # 64
Livermore CA 94550




...incase anyone wants to send birthday wishes (her birthday is May 9th)!

Welcome to wine country! April 21, 2014

Hello everyone! I guess the big news is that I got transferred to Livermore! It's the northernmost part of the mission, so it's in the heart of wine country!

It's so beautiful here!

My new companion is Sister Berry and she is just the best. It's so much fun because we were in the same zone in the MTC, so we already knew each other and were friends. We have so much fun together! She's actually from Hickory, NC! She is still amazed that I've been there. haha!

The work is going really well here. It's soooooo much different than the places I've been my whole mission so far, so I'm adjusting to the culture shock. But I really do love it. 

We are on bikes most of the time, so that's an adventure. It's a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I've lost a few pounds and actually enjoy riding around town. Livermore is kind of a small town, so it's different, but fun.

We have a lot of investigators! During our weekly planning, we got really pumped and decided it would be realistic to have a baptism every week for the rest of the transfer! So we're really excited and we're working hard! One of our investigators is Allie. She's 13 and she's really sweet. We're going to challenge her to be baptized this weekend because we know she's so ready! 

Easter was absolutely wonderful. We had a wonderful sacrament program and three amazing dinners! I was really able to feel the spirit of the Atonement and Resurrection and was able to share my testimony with others. It was a wonderful Easter! I love Livermore!
 http://easter.mormon.org/ Here's a link to the best video in the world. I don't know if you've already seen this video, but this is what we showed to everyone for Easter. I challenge all of you to watch it and share it on facebook! I've seen it change lives and I've seen people have really spiritual experiences because if this video. Share it on facebook and help others to feel the spirit of Easter!

So this week was great. I have been able to feel the true essence of Livermore and it's awesome. I don't have much else to say besides I'm happy!

Y'all take care now. 

Love you!

Sister Julie Catherine Harris

Take one for the team! April 14, 2014

Good morning everyone! The first item of business today is that I'm being transferred! Let's be honest, it's because I totaled a mission car, lost my driving privleges, and had less then 10 lessons in a week. It's time for me to go. I'm content with it. I was praying to get transferred because the wonderful people in this area deserve so much more than two m.i.a. sisters spending all their time trying to figure out the bus lines. Someone fresh will come in here and boost the work in this area. 

I'm sad to leave, but excited for the new opportunities my next area will bring. 

Mom, in response to your question, yes. Things are looking up. The second and final week of our grand adventure was a lot better than the first. We got things figured out to the point where we could get to a few people's houses easily, so we ended up getting a little bit of work done. Our attitudes and faith have grown so much over the past two weeks. I wrote in my journal this morning some things I learned from this experience: "I learned that I can do hard things. I already knew that, but I needed the reminder. I learned to ask for help and rely on others in time of need. I've always been really independent, so relying on others for every little thing was a humbling experience for me." I learned to have faith and I learned that Heavenly Father isn't 'bothered' by seemingly trivial things. He will always help us and bless us because He knows what's important to us. My faith was strengthened because of this, so I'm grateful for it. Phillippians 4:13 once again seems to be a theme: "I can do ALL THINGS through Christ; which strengtheneth me."

So there has been a lot of learning happening this week and although I absolutely would not choose to go through this again, I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

Another miracle: we got a new investigator this week! Her name is Arianna and she just turned 13! She is so sweet and so solid. She's been coming to church for a few months and no one cared to introduce her to us, so we found out about her on our own (seriously?). But I'm glad we found her because she is so ready to be baptized! She had a big list of questions that she wanted to ask-like deep, doctrinal questions about the gospel. So we were really excited! She believes and accepts everything and her mom is super supportive about the whole thing. She's going to girl's camp this summer! We're really excited for her! I'm bummed I can't teach her more, but I know she'll be baptized.

Justo is doing really well. He completely accepts everything we've been teaching him and wants his children to have the gospel in their lives. He's really prepared as well! Whoever the new sister is that comes in here is a lucky duck!

So I'm doing well. Things are changing and I thrive on change. So we'll see what the next transfer brings.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter! Think about Christ and everything He's done for all of us. Easter is a time of reflection and is a perfect time to study about the life and Atonement of Christ; so I challenge you guys to do that. You'll build a stronger relationship with Him and have a more meaningful Easter season.

I love you all!

Fetaui Atili! 

Sister Julie Catherine Harris 

Trials, Smiles, and Public Transportation... April 7, 2014

Where to begin? To be frank, this week was a trial. An absolute whirlwind involving my mental, physical, and emotional health.

So to begin this exciting story, let's start at last Monday. Last Monday, we took our car into the shop to get fixed from the hit and run that happened during an appointment a few weeks ago. While our car was in the shop, the elders graciously let us use theirs. So Tuesday, we have to car for less than 24 hours. We had the wonderful opportunity to go to the temple on Tuesday morning for the 11 session. We started heading out at around 9:30 to the church building because that's where our ride was. On the way to the church building that is less than a mile away from our apartment, we got in a car accident. Yes, my first ever car accident. Air bags, smoke, the whole works. Needless to say, the car was totaled and the other car was totally fine. We were so blessed though! Although we were in a state of shock, we were both perfectly okay! Yes, we were a little bit sore, but we were spared. It was one of the scariest moments of my life even though I don't remember the crash itself. And the most ironic part about it..it was on April Fools day. Seriously? 

So my whole mission was changed in the split second of the car accident. On Wednesday, we got bikes and were given a ride to our area (we cover three wards and live 5 miles outside of our area). It was shortly we were left in Mountain View with our bikes that my companion tells me she doesn't know how to ride a bike. It's harder than you may think to teach an adult how to ride a bike.  I tried my best to teach her for two whole days, but every day, we just ended up walking our bikes which was slowing us down. So we called the mission president to let him know that our situation isn't working. He told us to look into public transportation. Well, that's a whole new adventure in itself. Thursday and Friday were spent experimenting with the bus lines. We were taken to Cupertino and almost to Palo Alto a couple of times. On top of that, we've given up on the bikes and are now on foot. The cherry on top is that I have lost my driving privileges for the whole rest of my mission.

This week has been a crazy whirlwind and has tested my faith and desire to do the work. But I'll have you know that Sister Tuala and I have the attitude of champions. We figure you can either laugh or cry, so we try to just smile and press forward. 

Luckily, we still got to go to the temple on Tuesday and we barely made our session! It was good even though I was still in shock the whole time. It was a sweet experience though because once we got to the celestial room, I just broke down. I was a complete mess on the one day I decided to wear more makeup than usual. The sweet part was that there were three zones of missionaries all there at the same time. I looked up and saw everyone's smiling faces and I knew that they were all there for me. And Sister Ferrin was there! 

There have been soooo many tender mercies this week. Even though it has been a massive trial of my faith, the Lord continues to remind me that He's there and that He loves me. In those times when I start to wonder why this is happening to me, I'll receive a small blessing, reminding me of His love. Those blessings included nice bus drivers giving us free day passes, wonderful members that gave us rides, and just good people everywhere we go. The Lord is with us.

General conference was awesome! I really enjoyed every minute of it. It reminded me that I am a servant of the Lord and that I have a testimony of Him. I'll never let others shake that because I know what's right and I know the standards that He's set for me. The world can go down, but I won't go down with it. Conference is always amazing!

So in the midst of the crazy whirlwind that was last week, my sore, blistered feet, my totaled car, and my emotional trials, I have been blessed. And I've been blessed because of my foundation on the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was blessed because I wouldn't let the whirlwind shake me. As my mission president says, bite off more than you can chew and then swallow it. Story of my life this week. No matter what is thrown at you, remember the Savior and His love and sacrifice for all of us. 

Ever onward! 

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Sister Julie Catherine Harris