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

One Day More... June 25, 2013

One Day More! 

From:	Julie Harris (harris.julie@myldsmail.net)
Sent:	Tue 6/25/13 9:49 AM
To:	Sandy Harris (sandyharris1029@msn.com); Brad Harris (brad_harris@byu.edu)

 

 

Hello everyone! This past week at the MTC has been going very well.  You know, just the usual: crying during class, lessons, and pretty much everything else, awkward almost-hugging elders, district sing-alongs, etc.  I don't even know if I can say all that happened this week.  In TRC, we taught(well actually just talked to) this really wonderful old lady named Nell.  She was so nice and she told us her whole life story pretty much.

Teaching is getting a lot easier and I think I'm much more confident at it.  And can I just say how very grateful I am for the priesthood?? All of the elders in my district are so wonderful and worthy to be here and hold the priesthood.  Mom- as promised, here is some info about my district.  I don't know if I can shorten each person to a one-word explanation, but I'll do my best.  So of course we have my companion, Sister Britton.  She's funny, gullible, and only half-asian.  Haha no really but she's awesome.  Then we have Sister Scott.  She was quiet at first, but she always just says the funniest most blunt things.  She's hilarious.  Her companion is Sister Lallis.  I have no words to explain how great Sister Lallis is.  She's such a great example to the whole district and she also speaks in a British accent like half of the time.  Then there's Sister Porter.  She is soo sweet and compassionate.  No wonder she has like six guys waiting for her at home. (: Last, but not least, is Sister McGinty.  She's sarcastic and hilarious.  Every moment I've spent with her has either consisted of hard laughing or spiritual crying.  Love all of them to death.  If I talk about the elders, I'll probably start crying.  But they're all so great! Unfortunately though, all of the sisters besides Sister Britton and I left for Arcadia this morning.  We woke up with them at about 3am to send them off and it was so hard! And now our room is so empty! Sad! So we're way tired today and both of us feel really sick.  I hope we're not sick tomorrow when we leave!

Let's see, what has happened this week? Well, we had the worldwide broadcast on Sunday and that was amazing! But here's the thing: I wasn't in the choir because at choir practice they had too many people there.  So they said that everyone sitting below a certain point was not in the choir.  So that's a bummer.  It's not like it stopped me from singing though.  It was a great meeting.  I loved all of the talks and that video with the montages and music was the death of me.  Sister McGinty and I were a mess. 

Oh, Mom! Do you have my camera charger? I forgot to bring it so therefore have no pictures.  Luckily Sister Britton has my back and has taken tons. 
Speaking of tons of pictures, we had a goodbye party with our district in the laundry room last night! Everyone brought all the food they had and we just had a good time all together.  Let me tell you, it has been soooooo hard not to hug the elders.  I just love them all so much and I feel like a handshake doesn't really represent my love and gratitude for them.  But, what can you do?

So whenever I can, I'll send pictures. 

This time tomorrow, I'll be on a plane to San Jose! The MTC has been great! Anyone you ask will say that they hated and loved it at the same time.  Gotta love the place.  It's going to be great to be out there in the field! I cannot wait!

I love you all!

Sister Julie Catherine Harris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To earth with love from the MTC
June 18, 2013

Well, it happened.  I'm here at the MTC! It's like a different planet here.  It's incredibly stressful and I have absolutely no opportunity to be by myself like ever.  But it's wonderful! At least my companion is awesome! Her name is Sister Britton and we're like the same person.  Life at the MTC is awesome! We get to teach people and do spiritual things all the time! Lifetime goal of being a nun = fulfilled.  Haha no but really.  It's great.  I got my flight information the other day and I'm heading out of here on the 26 of June at 4:30 am.  Yay!

I'm so glad I got to see you guys on Father's Day! That was so special! And that letter you sent me the other day.  I literally read it like 6 times.  It made me so happy! So thanks! This past almost week I have been more grateful for a few things.  One, mom's cooking.  The food here isn't exactly being good to me.  Two, I'm an english speaker.  I love the place, but I'm glad I'm only here for two weeks. 

Days at the MTC are longer than days everywhere else in the world.  There is so much that we get done in one day! Honestly I wouldn't even be able to tell you what we've done each day.  So much studying and work! But I love it. 

A funny story from this week.....well at TRC yesterday we helped a man named Daniel plan a birthday party for his two year-old son because he didn't want to hear our message.  We bore our testimonies anyway and then he kicked us out.  Planted a seed anyway, right? Another funny tidbit: I don't think there's been a day here where I haven't cried.  And I got my first spiritual headache.  I can't even say enough how much I love it though.  It's sooo different from anything I've ever done, but I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing an I'm so grateful for this opportunity!

Today, Sister Britton and I got a couple cheap copies of the Book of Mormon to give to people on the way to San Jose.  We are such good missionaries! I am so in love with all the people here.  The first day we got here, we were all a little bit weirded out about how happy everyone was.  Everyone was shouting at us like, "welcome to the MTC!" And I was just wondering how they all got so happy and when that would happen to me.  Brothers and sisters, it's happening. 

Oh! I feel like I should tell y'all about the people I'm spending 100 hours a day with.  So there's Sister Britton, my companion, and then we share a room with 4 other sisters.  Sister Scott, Sister Lallis (sister training leaders), Sister Porter, and Sister McGinty.  There are all so great.  I love them to death.  And then there's the Elders.  This is going to sound weird coming from me, but I now see the value of marrying a returned missionary!

Well, anyway, I love you all and I love being on a mission!

God Bless!

Sister Julie Catherine Harris

till we meet again. June 11, 2013

So this is it. One day more.
June 11, 2013

I wanted to make my first post on this blog my last post before I got set apart.  I wanted to leave you all with my testimony! So listen up!
This church is true.  I know it.  This process of preparing for a mission has made me so much closer to my Savior.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve my best friend and brother for 18 months.  I already wish it was longer honestly! I have a testimony that this church is 100% true.  Christ loves you.  Whoever is reading this, don't EVER forget that.  I know that He atoned for us so that we all could live with our father again.  I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  If you haven't read it, what are you waiting for?! It's true! Read it.  As I've been preparing for my mission, I've gained a testimony of the temple.  Those of you who were at my farewell already know that.  Haha.  I know that it's so so so important to make the temple your goal.  It will bless your life.  I am so excited to serve the Lord and the people of California.  I know that missionary work gets hard, but I know that with help from my Savior, I can do it (Philippians 4:13).  I'm looking forward to the many adventures that await me and I cannot wait to tell you all about them.  I'm so HAPPY.  I love this wonderful work.  I love you all and I know that this next year and a half will be the best time of my life.
All of my emails will be posted on this wonderful blog, so stay tuned.  You should be excited! I love everyone and I love my Savior.  The church is TRUE! See you in 18!
Love, Sister Julie Catherine Harris