We Are Called To Be Bold: This is the change of all changes

That's what my comp and I keep saying, its actually really invigorating, we basically grunt it out once we finish our prayer to go out for the day :) I am loving where I am, who I'm with, and all that we are doing. And, I know that I've said this about almost all of my companions, but she really is like a best friend. But the difference is we can actually talk about things and then say "no worries, post mish I will take you there" or "once you get home we will go do that". LOVE having a gringa from Utah as my comp. We will basically be life time buds, no worries :) hakunamatata :)

So I figured out pretty quickly that my area is a little dry. Literally and figuratively. For real, it's started to get hot again, hallelujah, but there are also very few people that we have to visit, and I guess that you could say that we have our work cut out for us. But that's why we grunt CHANGE OF CHANGES multiple times a day. Because this is going to be the change where we change this sector. We will revive it. We are going to FIND the people that are READY. And we both have cualquier animo to do it, it's really awesome.

So a little more about my area; it's classified as country, and while there are some pretty humble and rural parts, we have some richies as well haha we have mansions and cardboard shacks, all in one sector. I have heard my whole mission that you get served a mountain of food from everyone when you're in the country, but I have found it to be the opposite; we got fed more in the city. But the people are more receptive and more loving, so it all gets evened out. And everyone is just a step higher on the humble scale, which makes them a step more accepting for a message about Jesus Christ.

I LOVE THAT.

We live in a pension with four hermanas which I LOVE and have MISSED. We are with Hna, Puchi from Chile and Hna. McQuin from Utah (she went to Alta but we have graduated so we can be buds), and McQuin is a greenie in her second cambio, so she's just the most adorable thing in the world. We have fun. We all go running together every morning. Then we have little smoothie making parties every night, it's the funnest thing on the face of the planet. My comp and I found out quickly that we have the same taste in music, but to stay obedient and not sing indie rock all day, we are doing covers of all the hymns in our jazzy indie singing voices and it is the best ever. I'm loving Peñaflor.

And even though there aren't quite as many people in our redil, we had some amazing experiences this week that I am STOKED to share.

The first was with a a little investigator family, Francisca and Luis and their little toddler, Juan. We taught them yesterday about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they were really receptive and great. Apparently Hna. Salazar and Hna Velazquez (still weird that my trainer was just here...) had taught them the same thing about two months ago but then were never able to find them at home again, so it died a little bit. We felt it was best to simply teach it again, and they even said that it made more sense this time. Then Luis says "we will have to tell Carmen that the missionaries are coming again." SO naturally we ask them who Carmen is. And he tells us that he works with a member of the church who suggested that he let the missionaries teach his family (translation- she was fulfilling her baptismal covenants and gave the missionaries a reference. hint hint.) and that this member lives in El Abrazo.

Radar up :) That's my old sector :)

I ask a few more questions, I find out that it was a reference that I had written down in my old agenda from two changes ago when Hermana Carmen Muñoz who lives in my old sector told us that she has a co worker ready for the gospel. And then I ended up teaching him yesterday.

That cannot be anything short of a miracle.

The second experience happened on Saturday. It was a little difficult that day because we had the stake adult session of conference (is that a world wide thing that the missionaries can now go to all of stake conference? It was awesome!), it was in the middle of the afternoon and far away, and when we left the chapel, it was cold and raining.

Well, pucha. (dang it.) We got back to our sector at 7:30, we have an hour and a half to work, our appointments fell through, and we found ourselves knocking doors in rainboots and umbrellas and being sprayed every now and then by a passing car. Potentially miserable, but this is the change of changes, so there was NO WAY that we were getting bummed out! And at about 9:45, we remembered a contact that we made with a seemingly less active member that had recently moved to the neighborhood that lived pretty close to our pension, so we decided to take a chance. Guys, I just KNOW that when we endure to the end, God blesses us!

Because we got to their house and their whole family was there, mom dad and three kids, 8, 5, and 3. They cordially invited us in, reprimanded us for walking in the rain when we should be cozy at home (but we are missionaries!), gave us hot chocolate, and upon getting to know them, we found out that they are not members at all. That his mom has been a member for years and would take the grandbabies to church and they LOVE it, that he has read the Book of Mormon, all the way through, TWICE, and that he just never got baptized because there didn't seem to be time.

Um, hello, talk about RIDICULOUSLY PREPARED FAMILY!

And the last experience that I want to share happened with an investigator named Jorge. He has a baptismal date, which is a big deal, and we are just working really hard with him. We had an amazing experience as a companionship during our study time where we basically received revelation for him as we shared the basic things we learned in our personal study, and we both felt strongly to change what we had previously planned for it and just go completely with what the spirit was telling us. It was AWESOME. Hna. S said that it was the best comp study she has had her whole mission. And the lesson with him was so powerful, all about faith and how baptism is required for our salvation, we had him committed to come with us to stake conference and everything.

And then he called Saturday evening and said that he wouldn't be able to make it because he was going to be out late on a date with some girl that showed up last minute. Hna S hung up the phone and was SO frustrated. I mean, I was frustrated too, but not like she was. Maybe it's because that has happened more to me in my one year than to her in her 8 months, maybe its because she has been working with him longer than I have, the reason doesn't really matter. But she was practically on the verge of tears.

But I assured her that that just means that she has Christ-like love for him and that we can turn the frustration into patience and charity and keep helping him. 2 Nephi 33:3, Nephi cried for his investigators, as well. It just means that we feel God's love for the people we are teaching, and that makes us successful missionaries. We feel driven to do everything in our power to help them enter in the gate, and that makes us successful. Not baptisms, not numbers. The amount of love and effort we feel makes us successful.

Guys, I just know that this church is TRUE. I will admit, I am exhausted. But I am exhausted from contacting, door knocking, lesson teaching, spirit following, belly laughing, and tearful loving. This is the mission. This is the change of changes. So just be bold and stay rad and do what you do, be a light that cannot be hid. (WHOA who just added to her slogan!)

Love y'all :)

Hermana Harkins