We Are Called To Be Bold: 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.