This week, the sister missionaries of Santiago Mision Oeste packed away the tights FOR GOOD

Must be spring time ;)

I am very excited for today's email, simply because I have my soul to pour out. Those are always the best forms of communication, from what I have been able to tell :) The week started out great; everyone in my CCM group got to go to President's house for a special year mark lunch (even though I have less than 5 months left...QUE ES ESTO?!), and it was great to see everyone and have that moment to catch up and share some experiences. We took a picture together as gringos, it was crazy to see how small our group has gotten. Talk about enduring to the end!

We also had a great multi-zone meeting, SO spiritual and fantastic. We talked a lot about El Plan Piloto, it's possible that that little experiment put on by the area presidency will be released to the whole mission work in the world! I hope so, it has proven to be very miraculous. We did a fun activity where we all had a number sticker on our badge from 1 to about 120, and at random moments, President would just call a number, and we would have to go up and share something about what we learned from general conference. I didn't get to share, but my comp and another hermana and I put together a special musical number in less than 10 minutes to sing for the meeting, so I still felt pretty good about the spiritual contribution ;)

Also, side note, I want to be just like my mission president's wife when I grow up! She is a mom of four, mission president's wife, speaks 3 languages as far as I am able to tell, is learning how to speak Latin, and President B made a comment about her learning how to make a new kind of bread this last week for a dinner that they were doing for some friends. I mean, it requires a super woman to be able to do all that! Did I mention that she is also the early morning seminary teacher in the stake where my mission President is also the STAKE President? That is nothing short of divine assistance.

So this week, let's just say it how it is, it is a struggle. I don't even know how to describe it without saying all that I have done before. The only difference is that it seems to be going downhill. In all of our tiring efforts, we are continuing to see next to no progress. It is a huge blessing that my comp and I are such great friends, that we have amazing unity and when we actually get to teach, we do it with the spirit and it's GREAT. But after five weeks of next to nothing, and putting a lot of effort into staying happy and positive, we both fell a little bit. We both had moments where we just cried.
Not crying because of the lack of success, really. But crying because we both started this change with so much energy to work and we still have a humongous love for this sector and everyone in it and we don't even KNOW all of them. And with all that we are doing, nothing happens. I know that we should suck it up and accept that the mission is just LIKE this sometimes, but it's hard. The mission is just hard and you cry sometimes. Saturday was the hardest. We got back to the pension and were just so exhausted, and that ugly little thought had come into my head that was so obviously of the adversary that said "how long do we have to suffer like this until something happens?"

Once that entered my mind, I immediately felt distraught and I pushed it way out. But I still felt alone. As much as I know that God loves me, that my family supports me, that my comp rocks, that I have those that I love and that love me all backing me up, I was not able to overcome in that moment the extreme feeling of loneliness that came over me. I went to bed after planning for the next day hoping that I could wake up and the feeling would have left, but it was still there when I arose the next morning.

But then came the Sacrament :) I just prayed to be able to feel less alone, to receive the strength to keep doing this and to continue on with this energy and love and endurance that I started out with and that I do NOT want to lose. I do not want to get frustrated or negative or discouraged. I only have so much time left to fully dedicate myself to the Lord, and I do not want to waste a moment of it. I just gave my soul to the Lord in that moment. Like taking off a backpack full of boulders.

Side note- for my baptism, some close family friends made a small, patchwork quilt for me that they explained to me was a representation of the gift of the Holy Ghost. I remember Kyle Wilson wrapping it around my shoulders and that being the first time that I recognized feeling the holy ghost, and it was warm and loving and beautiful. You better believe I cherish that patchwork quilt to this very day! Anyway, the point is that since then, the WAY that I feel the spirit has changed, but I have always remembered that first time just screaming YOU ARE LOVED.

And as I sat there in our little chapel in Chile, pouring out my soul to My Maker, I had that same feeling come. It felt like the first time since having the quilt wrapped around my shoulders and feeling the immense love of my Heavenly Father for me. It was just Him saying "you are loved." "you can do it." "you can make it."

I will quote Kim Harkins in an email she sent me a few months back- "Satan relishes in throwing us off track. WE CANNOT ALLOW IT. NOT FOR ONE MINUTE. THERE'S JUST NO TIME FOR IT."

Couldn't have said it better myself :)

And of course there were some great moments this week. It wasn't all blood, sweat and tears (literally.). We found more less active members that are just READY to accept the gospel again in their lives. We found a new investigator to teach, my companion contacted her when she was in divisions while I was at lunch with the President, and at first she said that she was NOT interested, but that we could come back because her husband is inactive. But when we came back and took the time to talk to and get to know them, she opened up more and we were able to share a message with them and invite the spirit into their home, and now she wants to continue listening. I of course am able to recognize all those little blessings. I just know that something wonderful is going to come from all this work that we are doing :)

Guys, the church is true :) I just know it ;) Be bold, stay rad, do what you do and let your light so shine!

Hermana Harkins

Spiritual Exhaustion

You know all those stories in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and prophets in general, where after they receive beautiful revelation and magnificent, celestial visions, they are just pooped? Wake up laying in the grass and aren't really sure how long they had been there? Lehi, Joseph Smith... just pure exhaustion from the crazy level of spirituality?

That's exactly how we felt after conference :)

So we had the blessing of being able to listen to it once again in English, although President laid down a new rule saying that we cant bring "buffets" anymore; little snacks for in between, but nothing huge and extravagant, like we gringos enjoy doing. That of course, was after we had passed some money over to a brother in the ward to do us a favor and go to a special grocery store where they sell Dr. Pepper...haha but we were obedient and drank it in between sessions, coupled with some dried fruits (pineapple and strawberry) and lemon alfahores :) I dunno why, but we just can't do conference without those special little goodies! At least ME, I did after all grow up with Kim Harkins ;)

My list of favorites...
Lynn G Robbins
D. Todd Christofferson (was it NOT the cutest when he said Buenos Dias?)
Deiter F Uchtdorf
Jiorg Klebnegat (his talk was like Alma 5 and 12...PALOS)
Henry B Iyring (the only one that made me tear up)
Richard G Scott
Carlos A Godoy
Jeffery R Holland (when he said Bien Hecho. What a chap.)
and of course President Monson :)

Honestly, I feel such a deep and abiding love for General Conference, much more so than before my mission. I was thinking about it...I have always listened to and loved conference, but I feel that I never truly treasured it until now. To go in with questions that I need answered, as I listened, scriptures came to mind and I was able to receive that beautiful, personal revelation that so many touched on, and it brought me peace and JOY! We are part of such a joyful gospel, and I feel so biased towards the three general conferences that have happened while I have been serving, and of the numerous things that I am thankful to my mission for, I am eternally thankful that it has enriched my appreciation for general conference. I hope y'all treasured it as well :)

And as for the work in El Manzano, we are finally seeing some fruits to all that tiring walking that we've been doing! (My comp and I have both broken some shoes!) We found a woman named Paula. She was receiving the missionaries before but doesn't remember very much, but she did say numerous times that she kept waiting and praying to feel that this is the truth, but that she never received an answer. She remembered that the other missionaries showed her lots of little video clips and taught a lot about the holy ghost, but she was never able to feel that burning in the bosom.

Thank goodness she said that we could come back! There are some situations like that when they just don't see any point to give it another try, but she decided to open her heart once again and let us come and share the message of the Restoration with her. When we got to the point of inviting her to pray to know if it really is the truth, we asked her what it is that she is expecting to feel. She seemed to be caught off guard, and it turns out that she didn't even know what it was that she was waiting for. "Just something magnificent." But that gave us the chance to share that little gem in Galatians 5:22-23 that talks about the fruits of the Holy Ghost. Better believe some of those yummies were present :D haha #missionaryjokes

We also had a touching experience in contacting. While knocking doors, we found an older man named Luis. It took a little while, but he accepted the pass along that we offered and told us that he believes in Christ because of the evidence, but that he does not believe in God. With a little coaxing and Christ-like love, he told us about how he had a family, a house, a car, and a good career. But that because of a mistake that he made, he lost all of it and is now living in this little "shack." He even wept, asking how we could know of such a surety that God exists if he allows such hard things to happen.

It was one of those situations where we couldn't have explained, even though we had the answer, because we knew that his heart just wasn't ready. He wasn't asking to get an answer, he was asking just to get it out. So we simply testified. I know that God is our Heavenly Father and that He loves us, and I know that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die so that the sting of the pains of life are not so unbearable. I know that Christ IS proof that God exists, and I know that God is aware of what Luis is going through, and that He desires that we can all come to Him through Christ so that we can have eternal peace.

He thanked us for our words and told us that it made his day more bearable. He wouldn't let us put down an appointment to come back and he wouldn't accept the pamphlet about The Plan of Salvation that we offered, but he did say that we touched his heart. And that is the most important thing.

So that's my two cents for the week :) Be bold, stay rad, do what you do and let your light so shine :)

Hermana Harkins

"Know what I need right now?" "Chocolate?" "Exactly."

My comp and I are so unified :)

So I feel like I have started out so many emails as "Let's just be honest..." But honesty is the best policy, right? Jesus says so ;) but for real, let's just be honest, this week was a toughie! Doing sector clean up and lots of unanswered doors and appointments that fell through, and my comp getting a stomach virus in the middle of it all...one of those endure-to-the-end weeks.

Now don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean that I don't have any little gems to share with you all, don't go fretting :) Thursday through Saturday we were confined to the pension with my companion's illness, but you better believe that Monday through Wednesday we worked our butts off, and then finished it off with a bang on Sunday! #bestjobever!

The first one that I want to share happened with an inactive sister named Victoria. As you may have gathered, we have been working in a basically white washed area and doing a LOT of contacting and door knocking and searching in the area book for references and that is why we are so pooped. The idea in all of this contacting is to find new people to teach, new investigators that we can help come to be baptized. But it's just interesting because, in these last two weeks, we have found 5 inactive members, just knocking doors. Members that never accepted the missionaries before, but now are choosing to open their hearts once again to accept the gospel. It's just ironic...we haven't found any new investigators, but TONS of inactive members. You can't tell me that that's not meant to be.

Anyway, I wanted to share about Victoria. She is a middle aged single woman, and once she invited us to come into her house, she called her two sons downstairs so that they listen as well. We were expecting two little kiddletts, but here come two teenage boys, 14 and 19. *ting future missionaries*! We start talking with and getting to know them, and we found out that they were pretty active after their baptism, but that when they moved to this area, they became less active, not going every week because they didn't know anyone, and then they went completely inactive. That was 10 years ago. It was time for a refresher. So we shared the message of The Restoration. Once we got to the end, both her sons were saying "we want to go to church! Lets go to church!" I love when we can recognize when people feel the spirit, because it makes them want to do something more to continue feeling it! SO AWESOME!

The second gem that I wanted to share happened with Rosa, yet another inactive sister that we found knocking doors, in our search for investigators. She was baptized a very long time ago, and openly admits to being baptized only because the elders that baptized her were cool and friendly. That's the thing, if we get baptized for the people, we aren't going to stay long. People change, but the Gospel is constant and true, always. She was even a little sassy, asking lots of questions that people ask to try and confuse us, lots of craftily worded phrases with the intention of befuddlement. About the priesthood, about prophets, about Joseph Smith...ya know. The works.

After about 10 minutes of questions of being interrupted every time we tried to answer, she took a breath and said "I just don't understand it all." We just smiled and I said "If you give us 20 minutes, we can answer all of your questions." She looked sceptical, and let us say a prayer and we taught her about the Restoration. She had a pretty hard-set face...up until we started talking about Jesus Christ, and how he established his church. That was when she lit up, started smiling, nodding her head in agreement. She even shared her testimony with us of Christ's love for us.

And it was just beautiful, because through that connection that she let us make, we were able to testify boldly of how Joseph Smith restored that same church, he received that same priesthood power, and that is how we know that the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Because it has been restored in its original power and glory, and there are millions of people who have read the Book of Mormon, pondered and prayed about its message, and testify that this is TRUE. This is REAL. We were able to clarify the answers to all of her questions, AND she felt the spirit testify to her heart that this really is the truth. It was a beautiful lesson.

So, let me just be frank. This week was tough. Those two experiences were amazing and spiritual and I treasure them, but this week was hard. Lots of hard effort given with not very many results, lots of contacts in the streets, many doors knocked, tiring hours...with not too much to show for it.

Thursdays, we do weekly planning, which involves companionship inventory. My comp told me that the only thing that I need to improve is that I can't be too hard on myself. That it is great that we both have so much desire to work long and hard and find those people that are ready and waiting for this change in their life, but that she can tell that I am putting a lot of blame for the lack of success on my own shoulders. She told me to just take it easy, and that it will all come in God's time.

I love that :) God's time :) That's the best time, right?

But by the end of the week, once my comp was able to get over her virus and we could finally leave again, we worked SO hard. And we felt SO great, coming back to the pension with aching feet and dusty shoes and our hearts were just joyful, to have been able to go out and do our missionary thing! I LOVE THIS GOSPEL! AND I KNOW THAT IT IS JUST SO TRUE!

Be bold, stay rad, do what you do and let your light so shine :)

Hermana Harkins

Feliz 18 de Septiembre! (in 2 ways, you know who you are ;))

Lemme tell you, Chilean Independence Day parties are way different in the field than they are in the CCM. Last year, I was just a confused little gringita in Santiago Centro, gaping at the culture shock, let's just say, it was a FUN week. We had a ward party, a special lunch (BBQ YES YES SO MUCH YES), cualquier empanada, everyone was playing traditional music really loud, lots of traditional dancing, it was just delightful. Estoy enamorada con Chile, nunca quiero salir de aqui!

As for the work week, let's just be honest, we still have our work cut out for us. We did a lot of prayer about who it is that is really progressing and who it is that we should really use our precious time for, and in addition to that , it was Independence Day. Not very many people were home, and if they were, they were...ya know...eating, drinking and being merry. In the end, we finished up every day literally limping, but we endured to the end of each day, not coming in any earlier than 9:00 (hashtagobedient), we had a handful of lessons and more street contacts than I have ever had in my whole mission. But we felt good by the time we made it to the end of the day, and then the end of the week, because we knew that we literally gave every single possible effort, no wasting any time, not giving up...I know that that is such a missionary thing to say. But it says in PMG that a successful missionary is one who works and gives the effort, not one who baptizes every Saturday and Sunday. We are EXHAUSTED, but we are happy :)

One good experience we had actually happened in choosing to stop visiting one of our investigators. It was kind of tough, because we don't have very many, but the spirit was so strong and so evident that we could not deny it. It happened with Jorge, I think I mentioned him in the last email. We had an amazing experience receiving revelation for him, shared Alma 34:32 which is just REALLY direct, and when we got around to sharing it, testifying, Hna. Salazar and I were just exploding with the spirit! IT WAS SO STRONG! We were crazy with our testimonies! But when we asked him how he felt, what he could understand from what we shared, he said "I don't know, I'm just thinking about other things." And then he went off on a rant about science. We have literally taught something about The Plan of Salvation in every lesson because he always has some doubt about it.

But it was just interesting because, as we listened to his rant and his questions, we both had the answers coming to our minds, where they are in the BoM or ways that we could explain it simply, but neither of us felt prompted to say anything. I didn't understand why, and at that point I still didn't have the whole story, but we ended the lesson, and as we walked away, I just thought to myself that maybe it's a bad use of our time. Then Hna Salazar said to me "I feel so strongly that we have to stop teaching him." We both shared our feelings of being prompted not to respond to his questions, knowing that it has all been explained to him numerous times, he will read any phylosefy (OH MY GOSH I CANNOT SPELL IN ENGLISH) book but not the BoM, and we just shared one of the most direct, face slapping verses in the BoM, and he didn't feel anything, while we just basked in the direct light of the spirit.

So we stopped visiting him.

But we both learned the importance of following the promptings of the spirit, even if it's hard.
Although, just because that happened doesn't mean that it wasn't a wonderful week. In our weekly zone meeting, our zone leaders asked us 20 or so missionaries to hand over our agendas that we use for planning and proselyting so that they could do surprise inspections, to make sure that we are using them and using them directly. At the end of the meeting when we got announcements and such, the zone leaders wrote on the white board "the good the bad and the ugly" of the agenda inspections, and Hna. Salazar and I got special recognition for having the most organized, legible, easiest to follow agendas in the whole zone. hashtaglawofconsecration pays off being an organization freak sometimes!

Saturday was our toughest day- we left at 10:30 and contacted till the end of the day, stopping only for lunch in a member's house. All the appointments fell through, no one was home, we got yelled at a few times and 3 people we contacted only wanted to debate. Even as a missionary with almost 13 (BLASTED) months in the mission with an equally experienced comp with 9 months, its tough navigating the debaters. By the end of the day, we were tired and a little defeated. Not enough to be bummed out, but just a touch deflated. And then, FINALLY, we entered a house and were able to teach. It was a less active family, and we taught the Restoration, which is literally the most taught lesson by every missionary on the face of the planet, but we were just so STOKED to finally be able to teach that we taught with our whole soul. We were laughing and getting along, serious at all the right parts, and they came to church the next day after a month of not coming. That's just got to amount to something.

I know this church is true. I love being here, in spite of how difficult it is, in spite of the exhaustion from this last week, in spite of all the little difficulties that I could focus on, I adore Chile and I adore being a missionary. There is absolutely nothing else that I would rather be doing. Sorry if this is short, I did the best I could haha so just be bold and stay rad and do what you do and let your light so SHINE!

Hermana Harkins

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

Countryside of Peñaflor

Smoothies in our pension for dayssssss

New companion, Hermana Salazar from Saratoga Springs, Utah

This is a short one

So...I have something to admit. This week was absolutely crazy, I had changes, I am in a new sector with a new companion, and I have a little book where I write down everything I want to include in my email for the week and I totally spaced writing in it. I also really wanted to take the chance to write good, chunky emails for the fam bam. Sorry y'all, but this week the email is short.

But for details, I am in the Peñaflor zone in the El Manzano ward. Its classified as a "campo" zone. For a whole year I was in the city, my beloved Santiago Maipu. Now I am going to get to know the country. Remember Hermana Velazquez, my beloved Argentinian that finished my training? She was here right before I got here. She squealed out loud when it was announced in the changes meeting that I would be reporting to her old sector.

My companion is Hermana Salazar; 20 years old, born in California but lives in Saratoga Springs, but her whole family is Mexican, so she looks Latina, speaks perfect English, totally hipster (we clicked instantly. obviously.) She has 9 months on her mission, and she is a total doll. I am excited to get started.

It was hard leaving El Abrazo; something that Hermana Barreros said in a meeting a few weeks ago that we have to think of the wards where we serve as OUR wards; our ward is not our ward back home. The ward where we are serving is literally OUR ward. We are listed in the member registry as members. We have to think of it as our ward. And El Abrazo really became MY ward. I was excited to see everyone come to church because I really love them, and it made me happy to see them come and partake of the sacrament. And I was sad when people DIDN'T come, because I really love them, and it makes me sad when they DON'T come to partake of the sacrament.

But I know that changes are good :) And I am excited to get started here in Peñaflor :) I know that this church is true and I am absolutely elated to be here serving my Heavenly Father. Be bold, stay rad, and do what you do :)

Hermana Harkins

p.s. sorry it's short!

Happy 27th anniversary mom and dad

My new companion, Hermana Salazar

I mean, come on, we are preaching the gospel! How could I not just be happy ALL THE TIME?!

Ok wow, awesome week, can I just say for the millionth time that I have the best job on the face of the planet?

So we will start out with the details of a MIRACLE that we stumbled across this week! Her name is Dana. And she is a gem. Allow me to elaborate.

This last weekend, a house caught on fire in our sector. The next day, we decided to contact the houses in that area, knowing that someone MUST be pondering the meaning of life after something so sudden and dismal.

And we found her. Her name is Dana. And she is a gem.

Upon sitting in her house and talking and getting to know her, she told us that her neighbor's house fire had really startled her, and that she found herself meditating over how short life is, how quickly it can end, and that maybe, there is something more that she needs to do to. Something more that God has planned for her. I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING. And then she started talking about how she had been praying that our Heavenly Father could help her to know what more she needs to do to do His will.

And who do you think knocked on her door in that PRECISE moment?

I'm. Not. Even. KIDDING.

She's a gem. She was excited about the Book of Mormon, had lots of questions about President Monson, believes that Joesph Smith truly did what he did, and NEARLY came to church on Sunday. One of those investigators that is just ridiculously prepared and ridiculously golden :)

Another great "proud mother" moment that we had this week was with Evelyn and Marcelo. They are a wonderful pair, married and very loving towards their children, surprisingly mature in this aspect despite the fact that they are a pretty young couple. But the thing is, they both said from the very beginning "I don't read." And that makes it a little complicated when the key to knowing if this church is true comes from reading a book. But we challenged them to read it anyway, assigning here a little and there a little. And at first, they never read.

And then, this last Friday, Evelyn was very excited to inform us that she had read up to Joseph Smiths testimony. She was giving us an overview of Angel Moroni, where the plates were, how many times he visited Joseph, the whole spiel. We were pleasantly surprised, and Marcelo kept giving her a hard time, but we smashed his teasing with "Well she read! Now you have to catch up to her!" They called the next day to inform us that they read together up to 1st Nephi. Ugh I just love that.

Also, a great learning moment. We had lunch yesterday with an active member, and she had quite a crowd at her house; us, her brother who is one of our recent converts, three of our investigators that are living at her house, and a friend visiting from out of town. All adding up to a delightfully vast teaching pool and wonderful opportunity to share what we believe. And everyone seemed to enjoy our message, except her friend from out of town, Maria.

She put her guard up as soon as we explained about the Book of Mormon. She kept her lips pursed as we shared a scripture, and when we finished, she said "But aren't you going to share something from the Bible too?" And her eyes were saying "if you even HAVE or BELIEVE in the Bible." It was like a challenge. And for the first time, I was very thankful that my companion always has ALL of her scriptures with her. Yes. That includes the humongous Bible. We shared a scripture from the Bible, and she actually smiled. Said that we must be representatives of God, and said amen at the end.
And then we invited her to say the closing prayer. She smirked a bit and said "Fine, but I'll do it MY way." And sure, it was a different kind of prayer than I have ever heard (and in this year, I have heard a good assortment of prayers), but it was a prayer right from her heart. She respected what we had to share once we found common ground, so of course we are going to respect her and accept what it is that she will give us.

Also, something along those same lines, was when we were knocking doors and we came across a little Jehovah's Witness grandma. She got a huge smile on her face when she saw us and proceeded to tell us that she had just returned from preaching the word, told us to wait so that she could give us pamphlets, and told us where their chapel is and what time their Sunday services start. My companion was rolling her eyes a bit, but look; we knocked HER door to share what we believe with her. She tried to do exactly the same thing that we were doing, and a little patience and listening goes a long way. So we listened to her spiel. You better believe we gave her a pamphlet about the Restoration, but we smiled and listened. Honestly, I have learned that we should do that. We should respect others that are trying to teach what they believe, as we hope that people will listen to what we have to offer. It's good to respect and listen.

Funny moment this week; we were helping a less active sister in our ward make alfahores, they're cookies with usually dulce de leche in the middle and drenched in chocolate. But we invented one that we call The Gringo, because it's a cookie, peanut butter, cookie, jelly, cookie, and all drenched in chocolate. And it's called The Gringo because its like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which they just don't DO here. I posed the idea, and the sister named it. And it was delicious.

And, to end, another sister in my zone told me this week "Hermana Harkins and smiling just go together. Hermana Harkins and sadness just doesn't work." I just love that :) I mean, come on, we are preaching the gospel! How could I not just be happy ALL THE TIME?! Alright folks, I'm off. Be bold, Stay Rad, and do what you do!

Hermana Harkins