We Are Called To Be Bold: Ba da ba ba ba...I'm loving LIFE

Guys, training is FUN :)

For starters, my new companion is a total doll! Monday afternoon we had lots of trainings, Tuesday morning we went to the TEMPLE MY FIRST TIME IN OVER A YEAR OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS SO AMAZING, and Tuesday evening we got our greenies. It was all a little nerve-wracking and gave me some crazy butterflies in my stomach. It would be nice to know before who your companion is going to be, her name, what she's like, how old she is...but President is very wise and he interviews all the new missionaries before assigning them to their trainers, he's great, isn't he? Then the way that it goes is that the new missionaries get the name of their companion and they have to come out and find us. We were all lined up outside the chapel with our backs towards them and they had to come out and search our tags to find their trainer.

And my comp, she's adorable. My first impression of her was a humongous hug and her squealing "I AM SO EXCITED!" Her name is Hermana Damian, she is 23 years old, from Peru (Lima, the capital), she is a convert as of 4 years ago, there are 6 siblings in her family and she is the second youngest, only one of her older brothers is a member, her parents are separated, her mom passed away a year ago from bone cancer, she is a very mature but fun-loving missionary who has the craziest amount of excitement for the work. It was literally the very first thing she told me, and it is the truth! We dropped her bags off at the pension and got right to work. We even had special instruction to work an hour later than usual, just to really get them broken in.

It was the best. She was just so excited to talk to EVERYONE. With every person we contacted, she launched right into "We are missionaries!" And then into her own little spiel of what it is that we teach. It was just the cutest thing, she was so excited to say that WE are missionaries and WE are here to teach and WE are here to help people come unto Christ. I now understand why people say that it is the best thing ever to have a greenie, because they just are crazy stoked to talk to absolutely everyone about the gospel. Or maybe I am just a prideful mommy and I think that my little Hermana Damian is the best thing ;) maybe it's a little bit of both ;)

And I'll be honest, at first I was a little nervous, wondering if I have what it takes to train someone how to be a missionary. Those normal self doubts that Satan always tries to plant in your head, you know how it can be. I felt a huge responsibility on my shoulders, and I did not want to mess it up. But almost immediately, I realized that she knows so much. She has been so well prepared. She has absolutely nothing to hold back, every time she shares her testimony, she just pours out her whole soul to the person. Every time we contact someone in the street, she recognizes their worth as children of God who NEED the gospel, and she speaks to them with such love and urgency to share the message of the gospel. It is a beautiful thing to witness. It is so cliche of me to say, but I really don't even feel like I am teaching her. She is teaching ME. I am simply an instrument in the Lord's hands in helping her to reach her beautiful potential as a missionary.

And it's just so FUN :)

And this week was full of some amazing experiences. It was our most successful week in this sector in my whole time here. We contacted almost 130 people! That is a lot of children of God! And it was a good first week for a new missionary; she invited a few to baptism, to come to church, we changed lesson plans once or twice because the spirit told us that what we had planned was not what they needed to hear, and at the end of it all, we have come out like those friends that say "Ive only known you for a week, but I feel like I have known you forever!" We are always talking and laughing and sharing our personal experiences and it's all just so mushy, I know, but I am just so happy with it all!
One of the greatest experiences of the week happened with a less active family that we have been helping for a while. On Saturday, we just went crazy teaching people, we wanted to do lots of short but powerful lessons about the Sacrament and the Atonement to motivate people to come to church the next day. At the last minute, Hermana Damian mentioned that we should visit this family. I hadn't thought to because we had an appointment with them for the next day, but we stopped by anyway. And almost as soon as we came into the house, we could tell that something was not right. The mood was very tense and we picked up on it almost immediately. We started talking with them and they confided in us that their car repair shop had been robbed earlier in the week, and that they were feeling all sorts of anger and frustration and sadness and worry and you know all those icky feelings that come (I know I do). We changed that lesson real quick, shared Helaman (is that how you spell it in English?) 5:12, the spirit was strong, it was a good lesson. Once we finished, the mom in this family told us that she felt that we were going to come by that day. That she had started to organize and clean the house because she "heard a little voice say" that the missionaries were going to stop by. That was when we told her that we had also heard "that little voice" telling us to stop by their house. It's just wonderful when we can recognize that God is in the little details of our lives, he knows and communicates with us, all that we have to do is LISTEN!

Well guys, my p-day time is coming to an end. Until next week, be bold, stay rad, do what you do and let your light so shine :)

Hermana Harkins