How Silently The Wondrous Gift is Given

I'm just saying, Christmas as a missionary is THE BOMB. Merry Christmas, y'all. I hope it was as great for you as it was for me. Maybe it wasn't white...but, come on. How many times can you say that you were a missionary in Chile for Christmas? I can only say that twice. So thankful and so joyful to have been here in my Chilean Winter Wonderland. (And really, who wants to be cold when you can be getting a tan? not this California girl!)

A quick rundown of what we did for Christmas...Christmas eve we had the big Christmas dinner with a family in the ward that we have grown very close with in their process of reactivation. They invited us in OCTOBER, wanting to be certain that they had dibs on the sister missionaries. A few weeks ago, they asked if the other hermanas that we live with had been invited to have dinner with someone from their ward, and when they heard that the answer was a no, they invited them as well. Which was really special, one because we are really good, close friends after this short while of living together, and because they could also enjoy Christmas eve with this great family.

The tradition in Chile on Christmas eve is to do a BBQ. You better believe we just went ALL THE WAY with that BBQ. So delicious. They gave us chocolates and lip gloss as Christmas gifts and sent us home on our merry way laden with cakes and leftovers. Once we got back to the pension, we started in on a mini Christmas devotional that I had planned a few weeks ago, singing some of the Christmas hymns, reading in Luke, watching the He is The Gift movie and sharing our testimonies of Christ. We then opened our presents and went to bed, content. In the morning we made a gringa breakfast of french toast, muffins and bacon. Accompanied by lemon and triple stuff oreos.We had gotten special word from our mission President that we could stay in the pension till one that day, so we all sat down at the kitchen table and just took turns sharing our favorite scriptures. I just LOVE being a missionary and being with other missionaries, because how many times can you just sit with 3 of your closest friends and share your favorite scriptures with each other? That is a pretty unique thing, if you ask me.

Then there was skype :) That was just #joyful

And for the rest of the day, we power-walked like madwomen from house to house to house sharing He is The Gift and testifying of Christ's birth with as many people as we could in the short period of time of talking with our families and our missionary curfew. All in all, a delightfully jolly Christmas. I will miss being a full time missionary next Christmas, because this has been one of the most spiritually-centered Christmases of my whole life. I tried to wallow in it as much as possible.

I wanted to share with you all a very interesting experience that we had this week. Yet another experience in which we were able to get to know the Holy Ghost just a little bit more, to figure out how he works in us and in others. I will try to find the right words to describe exactly what happened and exactly how it made us feel afterward.

This last Wednesday, we were working in the allotted time that we had between our weekly district meeting and our Christmas dinner, and were blessed to have been able to visit quite a few people in "our flock" as Hermana Damian and I have come to start calling it. One of those was with a family that we are helping to come back to church. We felt prompted to share with them one of my personal favorites in Mosiah 18 that talks about the covenant and promises we make with God in our baptism, the specific things that we promise to do when we take that step into the waters of baptism. They all are members their whole lives, baptized when they were 8 years old, everyone else in their family is a member...they have been in this for quite a while, and yet, this last week was the very first time that they were brought to the awareness of what they had promised their Heavenly Father.

And let me just say, the spirit was CRAZY strong! It gave us the most wonderful opportunity to touch their hearts through testimony and really testify, of the love of our Heavenly Father, of the blessings that he has waiting for us, and that the sacrament is there to help us in our ever ongoing process of TRYING to keep our covenants. As Elder Holland said in his talk at last Conference, "(we) must do what (we) can" to serve our Lord and Savior and to keep his commandments and stay true to the covenants that we have made. I would dare say that it was one of the most spiritually guided lessons in my whole mission. We left feeling emotional and feeling triumphant, KNOWING that we made a difference for them.

So we took that emotion and kept going, taking a chance and dropping in on a recent convert that went inactive almost as soon as she got baptized about 6 months ago. In my 4 months here, we have only ever spoken to her through the gate in front of her house or when we run into her in the street, she never seems too happy to see us. Always too busy or too tired or "just about to leave." But we keep trying, and wonder of wonders (#fiddler), she let us in! We were joyous! We had to promise a 5 minute message and that we would leave right after, but she let us in, and that was huge for us.
But it was so interesting, because almost as soon as we sat down, my mind went absolutely blank. It is something that has happened a handful of times in my mission, when I feel so potently that the spirit is not present. Something else that I have noticed is that, when we are accompanied and guided by the spirit, I am able to fluidly and understandably speak Spanish; something that was more cherished in the beginning of my mission when I struggled with the language, but still something that I acknowledge as the help of the Holy Ghost. And when I don't feel it, I cannot speak. I just cant. I forget words, I forget vocabulary, I mix up masculine and feminine forms...simple things that I overcame many, many months ago.

And that happened as we tried to share a message with this sister, but we both found it difficult to teach, the testify, even to speak. Even my latina companion was simply left with a blank mind and an empty mouth. D and C 84:85. It will be given to you in the moment that it is needed, but only if the spirit is present. We left feeling stunned.

As we discussed it afterward, we both admitted to feeling a little at fault; I mean, we are the missionaries. We should be able to bring the spirit with us wherever we go and touch people's lives, we study and prepare in every possible moment to minister to these precious sons and daughters of God, especially those who are recently baptized AND going wayward, we were finally able to enter in and have the opportunity to help her...but it seemed that the spirit just wasn't having it. But WHY?
Because sometimes, we simply cannot control the situation or we cannot control the choices that others have made or are making that make it possible for "the dear Christ" to enter in. Perhaps that is strong, perhaps it's not the most giddy mission experience...but I want to share with you all the things that I learn. And I learned so much about the spirit in that short time span of 45 minutes. When the spirit is not present, there's not much we can do. And when the spirit IS present, it is "glorious", as Elder Uchtdorf said. (can you tell I've been studying the General Conference Ensign?)

May we all do our part to allow the spirit into our lives. Be bold, Stay rad, do what you do and let your light so shine :)

Hermana Harkins

Es el Alba de la Redención; Dios por El nos dará Salvación

Well, this was one of the most spiritually fulfilling weeks of my entire mission! We will be honest, lesson or number wise, we were a Little low. Having the misión Christmas party and 4 choir performances in various parts of the misión made it a Little difficult to work as we would like in our sector. But let me tell you, EVERY MOMENT WAS COMPLETELY WORTH IT. I LOVE CHRISTMASTIME IT IS THE BEST EVER.

I'll start telling you all about the Christmas party. It was pretty classic, we were all to come dressed in red and white, we sang Christmas hymns, there was a big slideshow video of a bunch of pictures that we have all taken this last year; about a month ago, the assistants started emailing us all, asking for our best pictures from 2014. Then they put them all in a slideshow and we all had a good laugh at some of them. Half of the pictures were of food that we were all about to eat...ya know. Mish life. President and Hermana Barreros gave great talks about how He is THE GIFT of Christmas. We even had a special visit from the Santiago temple president and his wife, who also talked about the grand gift of Jesús Christ. We did a white elephant gift Exchange (I got a box of bon bons. Merry Christmas  to ME.) And we finished it all off with Silent Night. We do Christmas parties right here in Oeste.

And then there were the four Christmas Choir performances that we did...oh my goodness, people. It was the best experience that I have ever had singing in a choir. And I honestly didn't think that anything could top singing in A Capella choir my senior year. YEAH. IT WAS THAT GOOD. We sang (in Spanish, but for y'all, I will obviously write it in English) Worship the King (look it up, its great!), Far Far Away on Judea's Plains, O Come All Ye Faithful, Away in a Manger, Joy to The World, Oh Come Emmanuel, Silent Night, Oh Holy Night, and the First Noel. I just wish that you all could have been there, because it was one of the most spiritually fulfilling moments of my life. For REAL though. I love Christmas. I love music. I love those two things put together. On top of that, it was a choir of missionaries TESTIFYING THROUGH SONG.

It.

Does.

Not.

Get.

Better.

It was also just fun...the performances ended late so we had to do some sleepovers in other sister missionaries' pensions, and the first night, it was 10 girls. 10 CHOIR girls. So much fun. We made french toast for breakfast that morning. The next night, it was just 6. But we woke up and had the most delightful conversation of just sharing our testimonies and discussing the scriptures. I mean, really, what 19-21 year old girls DO that? We really are a very peculiar people. But it was delightful. Out of the many blessings that I have received due to serving this misión, one of them is the fact that I have made so many life-long friends. Life is beautiful.

To end, I would like to share a thought with you all. I had a speaking part in the musical program where I was to quote the first paragraph from Jesús is the Christ...every single Word in that statement is beautiful and I am positive that they studied it out and planned it all and prayerfully pondered on how they shall Word exactly how they wanted to testify of our Savior...and my favorite part of what I shared was where it says that there is no other individual that has ever lived that has made such an impact on everyone who has and shall live.}

I want to share my testimony...

I know that my Redeemer lives. I know He loves me. I know He loves all of us. I also know that we have a very loving Father in Heaven who is so full of mercy as to send His only Begotten Son to live, die, resurrect and give us all the hope of eternal life. I know that Christ is my Savior. I know that he knows us. And I know that He is The Gift.

El es la Dadiva.

Feliz Navidad a todos...que recuerden a Cristo este año.

Entonces sea directo, permanezca radical, haga lo que hace, y sea una LUZ.

Con Amor-

Hermana Harkins

Me and my comp at the misión Christmas party

Me braiding hna hardens hair in the bathroom before a choir performance...ya know. mish life.

Friday morning...because of the choir, we had to do a huge sleepover in a pension in Talagante. This was in the morning...I am obviously Reading scriptures out loud as Hermana Durham is making french toast for 10 sister missionaries.

Christmas grafiti :) I love my Chile

Taking advantage of the short time that we had on Saturday morning to work in our sector...we literally knocked doors as I held my pillow in my arms. You get to a point where you just dont get EMBARASSED anymore.

Me with some choir friends and my comp :)

I found a Street called California!

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

We woke up pretty early today to make it to one of my Christmas choir concerts that we had in the morning, and I am way tired, but you know what? I am full of all sorts of Christmas cheer, and it makes it SO worth it. Also, the words to the hymns in Spanish are similar but don't always have exactly the same meaning, and I have really relished this Christmas season, pondering over the words to the Christmas songs and hymns that I just love so much. Ya know. It's just the most wonderful time of the year.

So this week, we have really cracked down and started sharing the He is The Gift (El es la Dadiva) with the entire world.

He is the Gift Video

And it is AMAZING. I am almost positive that all y'all have seen it, but I am still requesting that it be posted to my blog (please and thank you, parents of mine!). It gives me chills every single time we watch it, and at this point, we have watched it at least 50 times in our teaching and contacting and such. Guys, it is the BEST. We have found an amazing way to share the message that has proven to help those we teach feel the spirit of Christmas and also feel a desire to do something more than just decorate the house, eat yummy food and give gifts to their seres queridos.

We are doing a STOCKING FOR CHRIST.

For real. Keeping that good 'ol Harkins Home tradition alive and spreading it around our whole ward. We have a white stocking, we walk around everywhere with it and little index cards and tons of pens. We talk to EVERYONE about He is The Gift, we share the video (we have it on a little pen drive, we are radical modern here in Chile Santiago West Mission), and then we read in Matthew 2 about the 3 wise men and those classic gifts that they gave. The most precious, valuable, things that they could imagine to give to the Son of God. And then we explain how the stocking ties into it all. You write down on your index card a gift that YOU want to give to Christ...something personal, something that requires effort (like going to church every Sunday, reading your scriptures, being a better disciple of Christ, its between you and your Redeemer)...something precious and valuable that you want to give to your Savior for Christmas. And you put it in the stocking.

In my family, the tradition is that before we put our cards in the stocking, we take out our cards from the year before. And we read them to see if we had accomplished what we promised to do. Whenever we get to explaining that part of the stocking tradition, they always get really silent and serious. And that is when you can see on their faces that they are really thinking about what it is that they can give to Jesus Christ. It is in that moment that we give them the cards and the assignment to ponder and pray over what it is that they will give, write it down, and put it in the stocking the next time we come. When Christmas is over, we are going to store the stocking in the cabinet in our study room with instructions on how the stocking works, and that they are to pass all the cards back so that everyone can check and see if they completed what it is that they promised.

COOL, RIGHT? Christmas is the best. I feel like I just didn't take advantage of the Holiday Season last December, we are just ChristmasChristmasChristmas here in El Manzano! Working hard with He is The Gift and with our little white stocking, and we have had all sorts of amazing experiences, helping others to feel the REAL spirit of Christmas.

One of those experiences happened this last Saturday night. It was 8:58, we were just about to our pension to finish up for the day, and we start talking to the family that lives in the house in front of us. Mom, dad and their son, all sitting together on their front porch swing, enjoying the cool evening air. It was awesome, because as soon as we said hello, the mom stood up and told her husband to go get the keys to open the door. We literally had barely said "hola", and it was as if they were just waiting for us to talk to them to share the good tidings! I LOVE that! So we go in, we get to know them and we explain our purpose as missionaries, and then we dive right into talking about Christmas. Their house had exploded with Christmas decorations; a tall tree, lights inside and out, lots of little Santa and Reindeer and Snowman decorations...you could tell that they are into the holidays.

We ended up not being able to share the video...interesting how Satan controls technology. First their tv USB jack wasn't working, then the Internet wouldn't connect, we even had our min DVD player that has a USB jack that usually works, but in that moment, it just wasn't happening. But that's OK! Because we have the scriptures and our testimonies, and that requires absolutely nothing from technology's wonders! HA! So we shared in Alma 7:10-13 and in Isaiah about the prophesy of Christ's birth. We had a great, open conversation with them about Him as our Savior, she being Catholic and he being Evangelist. But they were really eager to talk to us and to listen to the message that we had.

At one point, she said "You know, up until this very moment, the thought of Christmas celebrating Christ's birth never entered my mind. We get all hyped up for the tree and the presents, but we so easily lose our focus on the true meaning." Talk about WOW! I love when the spirit guides us to those that are ready, and then works so efficiently in their hearts to help them acknowledge the beauty of the message that we bring, and help them to WANT more. To want to listen not only to the message of He is The Gift, but to want to hear about the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, to feel a true desire to press on in this path, to enter through the covenant of baptism, to endure to the end and live in the presence of God.

And all because a loving Father sent His son.

Church is true, folks :) Be Bold, Stay Rad, Do what you do and Let your Light So Shine :)

Hermana Harkins

Is There a Place where The Savior can be Born?

Well guys, we are officially deep into that lovely time of year where Hermana Harkins goes Christmas LOCA. We are taking advantage of the fact that everyone has their heart open a little more, everyone is a little more willing to accept a message from the missionaries about our Savior Jesus Christ and the plan of Salvation that our loving Heavenly Father has prepared for us. I'm loving the Navidad, even more than usual. If you can imagine it. Only good tidings and RADICAL joy coming to you from Sunny Santiago :)

I want to start my email by sharing an experience that we had by sharing the glad tidings of the Christmas season to help one of our investigators. We went to her house with the great plan to teach her about The Doctrine of Christ (L3, my fellow missionaries), but upon entering, we quickly assessed that it was NOT the message that she needed. Her kids were going hog wild, she was upset with her husband's work schedule and the fact that he has been gone for over a month, it was hot, the baby was crying, her son had fallen and scraped his knee...and on top of all of that, "I have to put the tree up!" She had that exhausted craze in her eyes, and to top it all off, she felt that it was a burden to make Christmas magic.

Yeah...neither my comp nor I felt that she needed to hear about The Doctrine of Christ. So we helped her clean up a bit, got the tree up, and sat down to take a breather and lemme tell you, she had a lot to get off her chest. A lot of pent up frustration and hurt and even a touch of anger. There is a great quote in PMG by Elder Holland about the importance of listening to your investigators, and it's true. We listened. And it came to us that we needed to share a Christmas message with her. She had become wrapped up in the stressful part of Christmas, so we shared with her the real meaning of Christmas. It was great to see the stress melt off of her face and she SMILED! We shared Alma 7:10-13, it was simple but powerful.

And right as we finished the prayer, her 6 year old son got home from school. They had done Christmas crafts, and he came home laden with homemade ornaments made out of popsicle sticks and foam cut outs and lots of glitter glue...you know the type. He was happy to see that the tree was up and ready to be decorated with his masterpieces. And she just started crying. She told us that she had gotten so caught up in the Christmas of it all instead of getting caught up the the CHRISTmas. And her son coming home with a homemade nativity ornament for her was the icing on the cake to get thinking more about CHRISTmas than Christmas.

We also had a great experience with one of our inactive members that we are helping. We have been teaching her for a while, she has nearly come to church a few times, but every time something seems to come up. This last Monday we were knocking doors, our appointments had fallen through, and we started to contact. We had the idea to go find someone in another part of our sector, but felt prompted to keep knocking the doors in that particular street. And when we got to the end of the street, we figured out why.

We found this dear sister crouched in the shade of a tree on the corner, smoking a cigarette and crying. We asked her what was wrong, and she threw the cigarette on the ground and told us that her husband left her for another woman, and that she didn't want to go home and have to tell her sons that their dad wouldn't be coming back home. We consoled her for a while there in the street, and then we made our way back to her house so that she wouldn't have to go in alone, and we shared our favorite scriptures of comfort with her; my comp shared Mosiah 7:19, and I shared 1 Nephi 21:14-16. She thanked us for being in the right place at the right time, for helping her in the way that she needed.

It was just one of those amazing moments when we notice how the spirit guides us, and how important it is to ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS follow the promptings of the spirit. Even if we feel that it doesn't make sense, even if we feel like it won't make a difference, you do not know who you are going to find that needs you. You don't know the difference that you can make, simply by following that beautiful, still, small voice. YOU don't know, but God knows. And He needs you. He needs us to be good instruments.

And to end for the day, a fun miracle that we had with an investigator named Juana. We were honestly about to stop visiting her because she wasn't progressing...not reading the Book of Mormon, she didn't want to come to church, she accepted the invitation to be baptized but won't accept a specific date in which she can be baptized. In our lesson with her earlier in the week, my companion invited her to pray with a specific question in mind, open the Book of Mormon, and she would find the answer if she had faith and if she read with an open heart. So we said "Ok, if she did it and got the answer, we will keep working with her. But if not, we are going to have to move on."

So Saturday we go to visit her and we asked if she did the exercise. She was excited to tell us that YES, she did it, and she found the answer to her question. She wanted to know more about cherubs.

Yup, cherubs. Nada que ver.

And you know what she opened up to?

Alma 42. Where Alma is explaining to his rebellious son about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and how God put CHERUBS and a flaming sword around the tree of eternal life.

I LOVE how God answers prayers. It is the BEST EVER.

Well guys, my time is about up. May we all make room for Christ in our hearts. So be bold, stay rad, do what you do, and let your light so shine.

Hermana Harkins

A Thrill of Hope...The Weary World Rejoices

Guys. December first.

AND THE HERMANA HARKINS CHRISTMAS BEAST IS UNLEASHED!

I know that it doesn't have too much to do with missionary work, but I just wanted to describe to you all how awesome we are making Christmas in our little pension here in Chile. In my house, we always decorate the day after Thanksgiving. And I would not allow it to be any other way here. My mom sent the biggest missionary Christmas package ever that included a box entitled (Open the day after Thanksgiving). Ok, cute Christmas banners, ornaments, Christmas paper straws, tall Christmas socks, chocolate covered Christmas pretzels, drawn pictures from the kidletts...better believe we put on the Motab Christmas cd and decorated our tree and wallowed in the Christmas of it all! We bought a Chilean fruit cake and hot chocolate...it. is. CHRISTMASTIME.

Ok, now onto the work of Salvation :)

We had an AWESOME experience with a new investigator this last week; we were walking down the street after having an appointment fall through, and we saw a woman outside watering her garden and we started to talk to her. She was really nice and pretty receptive, and she let us in to share a message with her. Upon sitting down, we asked her if there was anyone else in the house, that our message is for families and we would like to share it with her whole family. She called her 21 year old daughter down to join us. And we were very surprised to find Nicole. Nicole is a girl that we contacted about a month ago that wanted so much for us to come and teach her, but she just moved here and didn't remember her address. She had given us her phone number, but it didn't work. The three of us were very surprised and pleased to find each other. It is so great how things work out like that!

And the best part was when we started talking with them to get to know them and what they believe, and Nicole said "But tell us, what do YOU believe?" I just LOVE that question. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. We shared with them the message of the Restoration, and they were both excited- EXCITED!- to read the Book of Mormon and pray and accept an invitation to be baptized. I love when we find these people that are ready for the gospel. Many times, we find people that are receptive, that are kind enough to accept us in their homes, or that only want to obtain more knowledge...but they don't have intentions of changing. It is the best ever when we find the people that are looking for that missing part of their life and then we come, just in the nick of time, and your testimony is strengthened of how God is in the details of our lives and OH MY GOODNESS THE GOSPEL IS JUST SO TRUE!

We also shared a touching moment with a less active family that hasn't come to church in about 6 months. They have a few excuses, and we are working on strengthening their testimonies to help their desire to return. We invited their 12 year old son to give the opening prayer, and he was eager to do so. And it was one of the most tender prayers ever, mostly because he gave so much thanks for the Atonement of Christ. When he finished, we praised him for the sincerity and spirit of his prayer, and he told us "That's just how my mom taught me how to pray, so that's how I always do it."

Well, you better believe that that brought tears to our eyes. Especially for his mom. In that instant, we changed our lesson plan from The Doctrine of Christ to Alma 56:47-48. You know, the 2,000 stripling warriors, and the knowledge that they had in the faith of their mothers. You better believe that those mothers "let their faith show" (Elder Nelson, General Conference, April 2014), and that they did all that they could to give their sons an example of how to trust in God. I love how the family is in the center of God's plan, because it is always just the thing to touch people's hearts. The gospel is so simple yet so essential, and when we are living the gospel, we touch people. This little 12 year old boy touched our hearts with a simple but honest prayer, and it gave us missionaries the perfect opportunity to testify to his parents of the importance of their example of letting their faith show.

I just love the gospel. It is SO true.

Another great experience we had was with another inactive sister that we are working with. We wanted to really focus in on the Book of Mormon with her and help her get a head start on reading it daily. We got to her house and asked her where she was in her reading, and she bashfully replied with "1 Nephi 1." So we read it with her and simply talked about it, what we understood and how we felt that we could apply it in our lives. She ended up sharing an amazing experience that she had a few weeks ago...

She was outside pruning her bushes and a companionship of Jehovah's Witnesses came up and started talking to her. She was kind, but was direct in telling them that she is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (she even said the whole title! That's somethin!). They began asking her all sorts of questions, mostly about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon. She answered them all calmly and adequately, explaining that he translated the plates of brass, that he restored the church, and that we worship God. They had tried to tell her that it was impossible that Joseph Smith could have received revelation from God to restore the gospel, and started going on a whole rant of the ordeal.

But she was firm and steady in standing up to them and saying that "I KNOW that The Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, and nothing you say can sway me. I know that the restoration of the gospel was inspired of God, and that if we accept the restoration, we accept God. And I ACCEPT Him."

Um, WOW. Alma 17:2-3. Alma 4:19. Talk about power and authority in the testimony of the members of the church! We were so impressed in that moment, and praised her for how she handled the situation; some would have ranted and raved and made a scene, happy to have a chance to "prove their point", but she did just the right thing...she shared simple testimony of the things that SHE KNOWS. And she did it was such simplicity, yet such preciseness, that she literally left them speechless. May we all share our testimonies! With the whole world! AAAH THE CHURCH IS JUST SO TRUE!

Well y'all, that was my week. We are doing well here in Chile. So be bold, stay rad, do what you do, and let your light so shine. (light=testimony)

Hermana Harkins

The box and my planner open to the day after Thanksgiving :)

Our feast

Me and my comp in our Christmas socks...and of course I have my filthy animal shirt!

Christmas Christmas :)

Our tree...we put some paper straws on paper clips and cute cardboard swirlies out of...drumroll...toilet paper rolls. We are so eco friendly. And that is a mexican doll on top, courtesy of hna McQuinn's friend serving in Mexico. We. Rock.

Me with my trainer and my greenie- hna Velazquez goes home TODAY! crazy!

Training meeting

Sister trainers

Sister trainers