Feliz dia de la mujer!

March 8th is Day of the Woman in South America. I think we need to acclimate it throughout the world ;) Go US!

So this week ROCKED! Ya know, adventura cada dia with earthquakes and Jehovah's Witnesses as new investigators and learning how to make sushi makes for some awesome adventures. But for real, amazing week, being a missionary is the best ever :)

This week, I was reading in Alma, and seriously just devouring it. I am totally obsessed with reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish, it just makes me so giddy to understand it all, and I read chapters 19-42 this week. Seriously. Devoured. You know that emoticon of the guy with a rainbow pouring out of his mouth? That's Hermana Harkins when she reads Alma. But my favorite of it all is Alma 26:11-13. Just read it. It's delicious. That's why I devoured it.

Something interesting that happened this week was that we taught about the Priesthood, something I had never done before, and we did it TWICE, and both times it was for men. Once for an inactive member and the second for Benjamin. At first it seemed a little funny for us sister missionaries to teach men about the priesthood, but I loved the opportunity to study it out and testify of its power, what an amazing privilege it is for a man to hold the priesthood and to act in the name of God.
When we wrapped up the lesson with Benjamin, and asked him how he felt, he said that he felt very unworthy, that he didn't feel like he is enough to have the power of God, that it is a lot of responsibility, he kept using the word "unworthy." Thank goodness for the spirit that tells missionaries what to say when they have no clue, because in that moment, Hna V and I explained that he is not unworthy- far from it, he was baptized a week ago. He is simply demonstrating how humble he is. There is a difference between unworthiness and humility. Humility simply makes you more worthy of the blessings and the responsibility because it means that you are more submissive to the promptings of the spirit, and that you are striving to be more like Christ. OH MY GOODNESS THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE AND I LOVE IT.

Our zone had the TOTALLY RAD opportunity this week to go on divisions with the missionaries from the CCM who are going to report to the field next week. I remember when I was in that stage at the CCM, feeling so ready and excited and nervous to get out and do missionary work and not sit all day studying Spanish, and I remember going on splits in the South Mission and thinking that the missionaries we went on splits with were SO cool and SO experienced, and I was really excited to give the little CCM greeeeeeeeeenies a good experience. I was a little nervous about being the comp with more Spanish, but my crazy excitement devoured it. Ha, devoured is the word of the day, yeah?
It was SO fun! They all had this air of intense excitement, it was like a mist that settled around them as they walked into the chapel. I am the only gringa that was there for the splits, so all 10 of the greenie greenies crowded around to ask me questions and direct them to the bathroom. I felt all popular and stuff ;) I ended up going with a little squirt (just kidding, shes taller than me) from Provo Utah named Hermana Hansen, she is going to the Viña Mission, she studied abroad in France, is studying to be an elementary school teacher, and is a Pinterest Missionary fashion-wise like ME so it was really fun. We were just contacting and knocking doors, but she was so thrilled to just be walking the streets of Chile and using her little Spanish and talking about being a missionary, and it was so infectious!

Funny little story- we had lunch with Bishop Calderon and his wife yesterday, and he was talking very animatedly with us about not-very-well-known Book of Mormon and Bible references, and at one point he stuffed a bite of Lasagna in his mouth and continued talking. His wife slapped his leg, hard, and gave him this LOOK that could kill. He made a little kid whining noise but stopped mid way when he saw her LOOK. He submitted and finished chewing before talking again. The Lesson? Sometimes the bishop, who has so much responsibility and power and is so awesome, needs to be reminded by his wife not to talk with food in his mouth. Men are children. Even Bishops, sometimes.
Also this week, Hna V and I got to teach in Relief Society; it was about faith and repentance, two things that missionaries can talk about just off the tops of their heads (Hello, Lesson 3, Doctrine of Christ), But we both enjoyed having the excuse to more thoroughly study it out and teach it to the sisters of the Los Errazurriz Ward. Alma 36:19-21. This was what we chose to focus on- that truly using the Atonement and repenting of our sins can be hard, it can be painful, and it is always easier to just NOT do it. To deny your sins and imperfections and just pretend that they didn't happen. But The happiness and peace and joy that we can feel when we KNOW that we have been forgiven of our sins is far more strong and powerful than the pain that we feel at remembering our transgressions and going through the repentance process. I love teaching and testifying of the Atonement because I know that it is very real and very powerful and that it testifies of the immense love that our Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ has for us. The Atonement is very real, and the happiness we have once being forgiven is more powerful than any pain and more satisfying than anything that Satan can try to offer us.

It was a week full of teaching new things and testifying of classic and powerful doctrine. I have been out 6 months, and I feel that I have been here forever, and that I could continue to do this, to teach and testify and love with such intensity, for much more time than just one year. I love being here. I love being a missionary. If you ask me how I am, the answer is always... "Feliz!"

Do what you do, y'all :)

Hermana Harkins