June 17, 2014 Miracles and Mysteries…

Hello everyone!
This week has been insane! A lot of plans fell through, but there were also a lot of surprises! 

All week, Sister Boyd and I have been working soo hard to find people to teach, help our investigators progress, meet new people, do service, and other things. It's really tough when you are working as hard as you can and can't see any kind of progress or success from it. It didn't help that one of our roommates, Sister Swapp was sick this week, so we were doing splits with Sister Livingston and taking turns 'Swapp-sitting'. So we didn't have a lot of lessons or contacts and it was coming up on the end of the week. Sunday rolled around and we needed 6 more lessons to reach our goals. 

Well, miracles happen! Not only did we get 6 lessons, but we got two new investigators!! It's amazing how the Lord blesses us when we are serving Him and serving others. One is Ernie and he is a really interesting fellow. He has no idea what he believes, but he is willing to take the lessons and just 'listen and learn'. But we're hoping he'll learn and progress and get baptized! The other is Jack and he's the son of a current investigator of ours. He has studied Theology a lot and just wants to study the Bible with us. So we'll see what we can do to help these people come closer to Christ.

Monday was amazing! It was a much needed trip to Santa Cruz!! We ate at Pizza My Heart, a pizza joint that is only near the coast (meaning not in Livermore). We all missed it so we just had to eat lunch there. We spent time on the beach and to our surprise, there were tons of other missionaries there too! It was a nice surprise that Sister Bassett was there because she's serving in Santa Cruz now! So we had a lot of fun just hanging out, catching up, and playing in the waves. After the beach, we went to the Mystery Spot. It's a place in the Santa Cruz mountains where the gravitational pull is different, so crazy things happen there! I'll try to send pictures! It was really trippy and awesome. 

It was great to go to Santa Cruz and spend time with some of my favorite people and just have a day to relax. I can honestly say that I am serving in the best mission in the world. (:

I have been at a really interesting and vulnerable place recently. I have been struggling with a lot of things and trying to figure out other things. This whole transfer so far has been a hard one. Possibly the hardest. On top of that, Sister Livingston is going home in three weeks and she has been like a sister to me for the past 9 months of my mission. But I've been finding a lot of comfort from the scriptures recently and it has helped me to realize that things are okay. 

There will always be more to discover, more to do, more to feel. There is joy in serving the Lord and in the grand scheme of things, this is a very short time. So I've been trying to make the best of it and take every opportunity I can to serve others and the Lord because I love Him. When you really break it down, nothing else matters. We do this because we love Him. And He loves us. I have learned on my mission to never take that for granted. We have a work to do here and our purpose is to help everyone to feel that love.

I hope everyone has an amazing week!
Mom and Dad, have fun in Belize! (:
Amo Jesu Cristo;

On fire with missionary work! June 9, 2014

Hello everyone! This week has been significantly better than last week!

We have been working so hard this week and the work is starting to pick up a little bit! I can just smell the miracles and baptisms that are going to happen soon!

We got ahold of Isabel this week and she said she wants to get baptized and go to church every week, but her family is in the way. Her mom is in town from Mexico and her sister has cancer and lives out in Tracy, so she's having a hard time and is really busy. Also, it's a miracle that my companion speaks Spanish because she can communicate really well with her.

Ali is still up the air about baptism. One day she wants to and the next day she doesn't. So we're still trying to encourage her and be there for her.

Things are going well here. Besides biking in 104 degree weather all the time, I'm happy and content. Livermore is probably the hottest place in the world. At least the hottest place I've ever been.

But it's okay! That just means that it's on fire with missionary work! At least it will be! I really do love it here and I'm loving the people in the ward more and more every day. I love them so much that I just want to help them with everything and teach all of their friends! haha!

Sister Boyd and I are doing really well. This week we went on exchanges with the STLs and it was so much fun! Exchanges are always great and I feel like miracles always happen. Our STLs are Spanish speaking missionaries, so we were eating at this restaurant and this man who works there just came up to her and they conversed in Spanish for no longer than 30 seconds and then she wrote down his phone number. Turns out, he just came up and told her that he had been reading the Book of Mormon and he wanted them to come and teach him. It was a miracle! I wish that English people were like that!

Anyways, things are great, we're working hard, and Livermore is hot.

I love you!

Sister Julie Catherine Harris

Missions aren't easy... June 2, 2014

Hello everyone!!

This week may or may not have been one of the most stressful weeks of my mission with nothing to show for it. It happens.

Taking over an area after 6 weeks isn't easy. But I guess you could say that missions in general aren't very easy. The Lord knows that we will go through difficult challenges, but does He make them easier? Not always. Most of the time He just makes us stronger.

That is something that I have noticed this week. This week my faith took a hit. Your whole mission people tell you that hard work and obedience bring miracles and my whole mission that has proved true. But then you have those weeks where you're doing your best and you're on your knees every morning and night and everything falls through and nothing seems to work out. It is times like that when the Lord is shaping and strengthening us to rise to the challenge. So I'm still rising. (: I know that great things are going to happen this transfer.

Enough with the complaining. Other than all of that, things are going well. We're trying our best with our investigators and others and trying to have a lot of faith. I cannot tell you how many referrals we have given to the Hermanas this week. Thanks to my Spanish-speaking companion! She's the best!

So I don't have a lot to tell y'all about this week, but I have been strengthened physically and spiritually. Between riding our bikes for miles every day and fast Sunday, I have been truly blessed. On Sunday I fasted for all of our investigators and also for my companion and myself(that we would be able to have the faith to see miracles). My testimony of fasting has been strengthened because I feel better already. I feel hopeful and ready for a new week. Come at me!

Even though this week was really rough, looking back, I can see the Lord's hand in it. I don't know the area and I don't know anyone here, yet somehow I was able to lead us around the area to people's houses and various places around town. I'm weak and have asthma but I was able to lead my companion up hills and across many miles. The Lord takes care of us. He won't make it easy, but it's not supposed to be easy. This week is going to be amazing; I can feel it. (:

I love all of you!

Sister Julie Catherine Harris

2 Ne. 31:20