Happy Belated Birthday, Marcy :)

I literally have no idea how to start this email, because we had SO MANY miracles, SO MANY blessings, and I want to talk about them all! But there is just not enough time...I will do my best.

Church is true.

First and foremost, I've gotta testify of fasting. On Wednesday we fasted as a zone of us missionaries in Maipu to find new people to teach, and in one day, we found two families to teach. In the whole week, we accumulated SEVEN new people to teach.

Guys. Seven people! Seven souls! Three families! Its amazing! SEVEN! Fasting works. I keep receiving more experiences to confirm this truth- fasting truly blesses people and it makes miracles happen. When we can show the Lord our devotion through this small sacrifice, he WILL bless us.

AAAH I just love the gospel!

Second, I have been blessed with the amazing chance to sing in a choir of 24 missionaries from this mission to do a special Easter Program, all throughout the Santiago West Mission. 6 missionaries to sing each part (SATB) were picked to sing hymns in Spanish and put on a musical program, and it is AMAZING! So far we have only practiced two songs, Beautiful Savior and In Humility Our Savior. It is so beautiful. The spirit is so crazy strong when we sing the hymns, we are so blessed to have a Heavenly Father whose heart delights in song. D and C 25:12. Boom. Church is true.

Third, I learned two very important lessons this week- Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel is all about Attributes of Christ, and I adore studying it, trying to figure out how it is that I can improve to be more like him. This week, two attributes kept popping up, kept getting up in my face and insisting that I pay attention and apply what I see and hear and put it into action.

The first is love. As I mentioned last week, I am in a new area. And it is astonishing to me how quickly I came to love everyone! I mean, it was so instant! I was a little nervous that it would be hard, with a new area and all, but I am completely convinced at this point that love is something that all missionaries must have, instantly, naturally, and strongly, in order to help people feel the love that our Heavenly Father has for them. Even the toughest people, the individuals with the biggest problems and the hardest hearts, I found that I could love them enough that my heart ACHED for them and their pain, and it made me want to come back, to study for them and find something to uplift them and let them know that we, but more importantly our Heavenly Father, loves them. Love is SO important in building up Zion.

The Second was Humility. Not that I am excessively prideful or anything, but I had many chances this week to be more humble, especially with my companion. Let me tell you more about her that I learned this week.

Hermana Marquez is from El Salvador, and is the second oldest in her family. She has 8 younger brothers and sisters, and her dad is not in the picture. Her mom has worked her whole life and Hermana Marquez has worked her whole life, as well. I asked her if she worked before the mission, and she laughed a little and told me yes, and rattled off a list of the things she has done to help her family, from selling chocolates in the street to nannying a rich family.

Because her mom always worked, and because Hermana Marquez is the second oldest and the oldest girl in the family, it became her responsibility to take care of all of her younger siblings. I heard her story of her devotion to seminary as we taught an inactive 16 year old in the ward, how Hermana Marquez had to wake up at 4:00 every day to have enough time to walk an hour to her church building to attend seminary at 5:30 in the morning, go to school at 7:30, then return right back home to take care of all her siblings, never getting to sleep before midnight. She had this routine all four years of high school, and before it was all the same, minus the seminary part.

I was a little nervous about getting a new companion, and Hermana Marquez is not exactly my very best friend in the whole world, like it was with Hermana Velazquez. But she is amazing to me. She is an example of a righteous woman, a humble woman, and someone who sacrificed literally everything to come on a mission. Studying to be a nurse, taking care of her family, her pure love of caring for her siblings...she is sacrificing so much to be here. And she is so incredibly humble that she would never say it like I, loca Hermana Harkins, would say it, but she is amazing. And she is going to get crazy blessed in the Celestial Kingdom.

I had many, many amazing experiences this week. I want to share them all. But right now, I just want us all to be humble like Hermana Marquez. To acknowledge how immensely blessed we all are. I know, I am such a missionary, inviting you all to strive to be more humble, but what can I say. It's naturally in me now to invite others to be more like Christ.

Do what you do, y'all :)

Hermana Harkins

I live on a street called Bagdad

True Story. Almost as awesome as finding a street called Texas and Estados Unidos :)

Well folks, the big day came yesterday that I had my very first change in the mission. I was in my first sector for 6 MONTHS, which is a lot, especially for a sister missionary. I had an interview with my mission president this last Thursday, where he told me that I am progressing wonderfully, he has heard and can see that I am a good missionary, and to prepare my suitcases, I have changes.

How lucky that I got robbed and all my stuff was already packed ;)

But now I understand why we usually don't hear about changes until the Saturday night before - I had all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday to continue working in my sector with these people that I love with an outrageously huge love and think about how I have to leave it all. Leave this part of Chile that has come to claim my heart in a way that I did not think was possible...When it was announced in Sacrament meeting that Hermana Harkins was leaving and therefore is going to share her testimony, there was a joint gasp from the congregation.

Literally. They all simultaneously GASPED.

I am loved :)

I was very nervous the night before cambios, and on top of that, I got a cold. I remember when I was in my interview with President Starks to turn in my mission papers and he told me that missions are hard, and that we have to keep working even when we have a head cold. I know what it feels like now to be a mission persevering through the head cold. Initiation...every day I am more missionary :)
But here I am in my new sector, with my new companion, and I am already absolutely smitten. I am in the zone of Maipu, bustling city, SO MUCH LOVE OH MY GOODNESS I CANT GET OVER IT, and my companion is Hermana Marquez. She is 20 years old, from El Salvador, has 9 months in the mission, and while we didn't know each other personally before, we knew of each other, and both admitted to hearing good things about one another. She is about 5 foot and makes me feel like a giant. Also, we are in a ward with Elders Fowers and Warrick, both of which I knew before! Fowers was my first district leader and Warrick was in my district in the CCM. God is so awesome sometimes with putting it all together the way he does.

My new area is called El Abrazo.

Guys. It means The Hug.

It is just so ADORABLE.

Being in a new area makes me realize just how...well...ghetto I was working in before. Everyone told me it is super calm, but being in El Abrazo helps me to see clearly. And I love it! it is so cute! Its basically townhouses and little homes, lots of young families, and lots of people to visit and teach walking down the street or playing in the park...very, very different. And I'm not living with ten girls anymore! It is just me and my comp in a gloriously spacious and organized and clean two story teeny tiny house and it is in the middle of our sector...so blessed. So very blessed.

Yesterday after the meeting for changes, we had a little lunch in the pension and Hna Marquez gave me a small rundown of all the people that we visit. LOTS of inactive members. I have come to love visiting the inactive members and helping revive their love for the gospel. We got to work immediately after doing the dishes.

We visited 4 people yesterday, and it seriously amazed me how...quickly I loved them. I like to think that I am a lovey and lovable individual, but the love that I felt instantly was so strong and so huge! I have the belief that it is a gift that missionaries have- or SHOULD have- to love people instantly. This morning in personal study I was reading in Mormon 3:12, where he is pleading to feel the love that the Lord has for the people he was trying to help, and I love that. In the beginning of my mission, I got the habit of praying to feel the love that the Lord has for the people that I visit. Like my good friend Katie told me...the key is faith and love. Like my amazing mom always tells me, love is always the answer with people.

It's all true.

I am so blessed to be here, in "The Hug", serving these people as a missionary and receiving a portion of the Lord's love to help them realize the blessings that the gospel brings. I am so happy. I love being a missionary :)

In closing...funny moments...

This week, a member made me a lemon pie because she knew it was my favorite. She surprised us by bringing it out for dessert, and I was so excited. She set it down in front of my with a fork, and then came out with another for everyone else to share.

She literally made a whole lemon pie for me.

And then wanted me to eat it all.

You would think that after that, I would never want lemon pie again.

That is false.

Have a wonderful week :) Do what you do and be bold and stay RAAAAD! Abrazo de El Abrazo!

-Hermana Harkins

Life...is like a Pickle

That's a double quote of Marcy Wahlquist and Elder Bednar ;)

To be initiated into the mission field, my comp and I have concluded that you must be bitten by a dog, hit by a car, and robbed.

So this week, I feel that I was officially initiated into the mission field. Por fin, right?

We got robbed.

True. Story.

WOW, talk about humongous desafio! Sparing you all the details of how we found our little house broken into, who we think it was, the quick packing and sleeping in different pensions and being confined to houses and moving all over again and searching for a new place to live and all...let me tell you more about the challenges and blessings that came from this..."initiation." First, the challenges.

1. We finally ended up firmly in a pension in la Plaza de Maipu, a 30 minute bus ride plus 20 minutes of walking away from our sector. There are all together 10 hermanas living in this house.
10. Hermanas. Ten. Diez. Translation- lots and lots of girls. Its an adventure. We walk to the bus stop every day to get to our sector and wrap up our day a little earlier than usual so as to get to the pension at a reasonable hour. With the ten other girls that we live with. We sleep on the floor, but at least there's a mattress between us and the hard wood, right? THAT'S a blessing!

2. For 3 days, we were going back and forth from pension to old, robbed pension to another pension, driving with the mission Pension keepers and walking just the four of us, cleaning and packing and searching and there was a lot of time just sitting and waiting and not being able to leave and NOT WORKING. We finally got to leave to work on Saturday, and it was delicious to just read the Book of Mormon with an inactive member or teach The Restoration to a new investigator.

Now, for the blessings. I really love that I could wrap up all the challenges into two points. I like thinking positive ;)

1. We had a big meeting with President and all his assistants on Friday with 3 other zones for training and such, and he told us that us being robbed can be seen as a sign that we are good missionaries. He explained that we are good, hard working, obedient, happy missionaries, we have unity in our companionship, we have success in our sectors, and Satan knew that he could not attack us through a point in the mission work. He had to use an outside source and pull out the big guns. I love my mission President. He is delightful.

2. The four of us that were living in the pension are SUPER tight, we have been together for a long time, and we basically know each other's life story. Throughout this whole week, we were together in every moment, and this was truly a blessing. We were able to support and love one another and be frustrated or sad or cry and it was ok, because we all understood. It's much more than being robbed. It's the sense of insecurity and violation, and we could all help one another make it through the week without exploding or drowning in emotion.

3. With all the downtime, I read A LOT of the Book of Mormon. I feel like Alma 44:3 and Helaman 5:12 apply pretty well to our determination to keep enduring and being awesome missionaries :)

4. I have come to the realization, as well as my comp, that I have come to acquire patience. True story, believe it or not, in comp inventory this week, Hermana Velazquez told me that I was incredibly patient throughout this whole ordeal, and she knows what a remarkably impatient individual I am. I have been working very hard, especially these past few weeks, to be patient, and it is paying off in the moment when I truly need it.

5. On Thursday I asked for a priesthood blessing. Through that, my testimony of the priesthood doubled. It is amazing to me that a worthy Elder can be an instant instrument in the hands of the Lord to tell ME what He wants me to hear, what I need to hear to keep going and to trust in Him,
 to know He's there, to know that He loves me. It is amazing to hear words and phrases and assurances from my Heavenly Father that fit my exact needs, that make me feel more capable and less alone and MORE LOVED. The priesthood is real. I love that my testimony and love for the priesthood can keep growing.

So there you have it. I got robbed of a suitcase, all my jewelry, a purse with my sunglasses, and we are left pensionless and about an hour away from our sector. But we are BLESSED. We are safe and we are with those that we love, those that are more like our family than anyone else in Chile, and we are demolishing Satan's efforts to stop us from working in this marvelous work. Satan is such a jerk, but hes got nothing on me!

Stay rad, y'all. Do what you do. Be bold. Be happy you didn't get robbed this week :)

Hermana Harkins

Feliz dia de la mujer!

March 8th is Day of the Woman in South America. I think we need to acclimate it throughout the world ;) Go US!

So this week ROCKED! Ya know, adventura cada dia with earthquakes and Jehovah's Witnesses as new investigators and learning how to make sushi makes for some awesome adventures. But for real, amazing week, being a missionary is the best ever :)

This week, I was reading in Alma, and seriously just devouring it. I am totally obsessed with reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish, it just makes me so giddy to understand it all, and I read chapters 19-42 this week. Seriously. Devoured. You know that emoticon of the guy with a rainbow pouring out of his mouth? That's Hermana Harkins when she reads Alma. But my favorite of it all is Alma 26:11-13. Just read it. It's delicious. That's why I devoured it.

Something interesting that happened this week was that we taught about the Priesthood, something I had never done before, and we did it TWICE, and both times it was for men. Once for an inactive member and the second for Benjamin. At first it seemed a little funny for us sister missionaries to teach men about the priesthood, but I loved the opportunity to study it out and testify of its power, what an amazing privilege it is for a man to hold the priesthood and to act in the name of God.
When we wrapped up the lesson with Benjamin, and asked him how he felt, he said that he felt very unworthy, that he didn't feel like he is enough to have the power of God, that it is a lot of responsibility, he kept using the word "unworthy." Thank goodness for the spirit that tells missionaries what to say when they have no clue, because in that moment, Hna V and I explained that he is not unworthy- far from it, he was baptized a week ago. He is simply demonstrating how humble he is. There is a difference between unworthiness and humility. Humility simply makes you more worthy of the blessings and the responsibility because it means that you are more submissive to the promptings of the spirit, and that you are striving to be more like Christ. OH MY GOODNESS THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE AND I LOVE IT.

Our zone had the TOTALLY RAD opportunity this week to go on divisions with the missionaries from the CCM who are going to report to the field next week. I remember when I was in that stage at the CCM, feeling so ready and excited and nervous to get out and do missionary work and not sit all day studying Spanish, and I remember going on splits in the South Mission and thinking that the missionaries we went on splits with were SO cool and SO experienced, and I was really excited to give the little CCM greeeeeeeeeenies a good experience. I was a little nervous about being the comp with more Spanish, but my crazy excitement devoured it. Ha, devoured is the word of the day, yeah?
It was SO fun! They all had this air of intense excitement, it was like a mist that settled around them as they walked into the chapel. I am the only gringa that was there for the splits, so all 10 of the greenie greenies crowded around to ask me questions and direct them to the bathroom. I felt all popular and stuff ;) I ended up going with a little squirt (just kidding, shes taller than me) from Provo Utah named Hermana Hansen, she is going to the Viña Mission, she studied abroad in France, is studying to be an elementary school teacher, and is a Pinterest Missionary fashion-wise like ME so it was really fun. We were just contacting and knocking doors, but she was so thrilled to just be walking the streets of Chile and using her little Spanish and talking about being a missionary, and it was so infectious!

Funny little story- we had lunch with Bishop Calderon and his wife yesterday, and he was talking very animatedly with us about not-very-well-known Book of Mormon and Bible references, and at one point he stuffed a bite of Lasagna in his mouth and continued talking. His wife slapped his leg, hard, and gave him this LOOK that could kill. He made a little kid whining noise but stopped mid way when he saw her LOOK. He submitted and finished chewing before talking again. The Lesson? Sometimes the bishop, who has so much responsibility and power and is so awesome, needs to be reminded by his wife not to talk with food in his mouth. Men are children. Even Bishops, sometimes.
Also this week, Hna V and I got to teach in Relief Society; it was about faith and repentance, two things that missionaries can talk about just off the tops of their heads (Hello, Lesson 3, Doctrine of Christ), But we both enjoyed having the excuse to more thoroughly study it out and teach it to the sisters of the Los Errazurriz Ward. Alma 36:19-21. This was what we chose to focus on- that truly using the Atonement and repenting of our sins can be hard, it can be painful, and it is always easier to just NOT do it. To deny your sins and imperfections and just pretend that they didn't happen. But The happiness and peace and joy that we can feel when we KNOW that we have been forgiven of our sins is far more strong and powerful than the pain that we feel at remembering our transgressions and going through the repentance process. I love teaching and testifying of the Atonement because I know that it is very real and very powerful and that it testifies of the immense love that our Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ has for us. The Atonement is very real, and the happiness we have once being forgiven is more powerful than any pain and more satisfying than anything that Satan can try to offer us.

It was a week full of teaching new things and testifying of classic and powerful doctrine. I have been out 6 months, and I feel that I have been here forever, and that I could continue to do this, to teach and testify and love with such intensity, for much more time than just one year. I love being here. I love being a missionary. If you ask me how I am, the answer is always... "Feliz!"

Do what you do, y'all :)

Hermana Harkins

I was gifted Dove Dark Chocolate this week and thought of my daddy :)

Surprise...

Hermana Harkins had her first baptism this week :)

Surprise...

Elder Evans of the 70 visited Chile and talked to the 4 Santiago Missions this Saturday. Yes. Elder. EVANS.

Missionary life is so rad :)

So let us start with the miracle that took place this week- BENJAMIN GOT BAPTIZED! We honestly didn't think it was going to happen, he called Sunday night saying he wanted to change his baptismal date, and we set up a time to visit him Monday evening after p-day shenanigans to talk to him. We went in having truly no idea what we could do or say, relying entirely on the spirit and with a bold scripture in Alma to share on baptism if all else failed.

He cut right to the chase and told us that he felt that he wanted more time, a year AT LEAST to continue investigating the church, that he had talked to his family and they wanted him to take more time, and that he wanted more experiences of feeling the spirit to reassure himself of his feelings.
It is no coincidence that Hermana Velazquez and I both have strong fathers who converted, alone, at young ages, like Benjamin. It was not simply luck that we could testify of the power of one, not just chance that we could both share the story of our fathers to show him that it is possible, it is hard, but you can do it. The spirit was very strong, Hna V was crying, I was started to tear up, and Benjamin was started to lose it as well.

Then we said the opening prayer- so much emotion and the actual lesson hadn't even started yet!
Upon finishing the prayer, Benjamin informed us "I am going to be baptized this Thursday."
Wow, ok!

We asked him what the change was, and he told us simply that he could feel the spirit as we were testifying, that it was stronger than he had ever felt before, and that it was something that he felt was too big for his body- that if he didn't "take action", he would "explode." He said that it was something that he could not forget or deny, and that he couldn't NOT be baptized. There is literally nothing more that a missionary wants to hear from their investigator than "I know its true."

Before leaving, we told him that in these three days before his baptism, that Satan is going to do everything that he can to stop Benjamin from being baptized, and to please remember how he felt in that moment. He told us "I can never forget this feeling." And it turned out that Satan pulled out his big guns and did seemingly everything that he could try to convince Benjamin that this is wrong- his family exploded on him, he got sick the day before, all sorts of little things...but his strength amazed me. He kept saying when we would ask him how he felt that "Satan has got nothing on me." Seriously! AMAZING STRENGTH! After his baptism interview, we asked him how it went. He told us about how in the beginning, Elder Zivic, who was conducting the interview, asked him to describe himself in three words. His answer- "I don't need three, just one- happy-" OH MY HEART! IT IS SINGING!

And the baptism was beautiful...his family ended up coming (minus his father), there were so many ward members there to support him, mutual was cancelled so that all of the youth could come, he bore his testimony after being baptized about the power of the holy ghost, and that he knows that "God put the sister missionaries in my path, and it wasn't a coincidence. I am so thankful for them." OH MY HEART! IT IS SINGING!

Then Satan tried, one last time, to get to Benjamin. On Saturday night, he called us, very emotional, saying that he felt just terrible, and that he couldn't feel that it was true. In that moment, my comp was in the shower, I was alone, and I had that old, greenie fear of feeling that I had nothing that I could say to help him.

But I shared with him the experience of Joseph Smith- that, right before seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ, that Satan tried to tempt him. That in our lives, right before something wonderful is about to happen, Satan is going to try everything he can to stop it from happening, because he wants us to be miserable like him. That the next day, he would be receiving the holy ghost, something important and wonderful and necessary to endure to the end, and that Satan knows the power that Benjamin can be and he does not want that for the church of God. That if he prays, and reads his scriptures, and just endures to the Sacrament meeting the next day, that everything will be a bit more bearable, because he will have the GIFT of the Holy Ghost, the ability to have the guidance of our Heavenly Father in every moment of need.

The next day, he arrived promptly to church (in a suit, that's a first!) and received the Holy Ghost and MY HEART WAS SINGING! We met with him afterward and asked him how he felt- he told us that he felt calm, he felt peace, he felt joy, he felt absolutely in the path that the Lord has set for us. He kept saying "I'm not an investigator anymore, I'm a MEMBER. I'm a RECENT CONVERT." He is so proud to say that, to say that he is a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Sunday night we had a fireside for investigators and recent converts with President Bajeros, and when we introduced Benjamin to President, he proudly announced "I received the holy ghost this morning. Im a member now." Wow. My Heart. Singing.

Speaking of Singing, I sang a solo in the fireside. Testimony through music, its the bomb.

Story number two, surprise HUGE meeting of the 4 Santiago missions with ELDER EVANS this Saturday, 4 and a half hours of pure gold from a disciple of Christ and wonderful representative of the church. Through pure luck Hna V and I somehow ended up sitting on the stand and being able to sit so close to him. I was thinking "you don't know me...but I know you...you're my boyfriends Uncle..." Crazy stuff, this mission of mine. But it was wonderful. He talked about A LOT of topics, I hardly looked up, I was writing so much, but what I loved most was the importance of being a disciple of Christ and trying to know what it is that God wants us to do.

I want you all to know that I have a testimony of trials- that when we think we cannot go anymore, that we cannot endure any farther, in that moment, if we endure just a little bit more, THAT is when we are blessed. THAT is when we witness miracles. I can now testify of miracles because I have witnessed one. I saw an 18 year old boy change right before my eyes, I saw him set aside that natural man that is inside us all and make the choice, alone, to follow Christ.

And now, he will never be alone again.

And that is what I am here to do.

Church is true :) I just love it will all my heart, that's all :)

-Hermana Harkins

He Knows I Will Follow Him, Give All My Life to Him

We walked out of our house this morning and I could feel that delicious and familiar chill of Autumn.

So. STOKED. Time to break out sweaters and scarves, a few of my favorite things! So ready to be done with this crazy Chilean heat! Pero toda via...me encanta Chile y me encanta ser aqui como misionera para dar el mundo la verdad!

So let's be honest...this week was a toughie. I had many, many moments of feeling insufficient in my contribution to the work, feeling like none of these seeds that I am planting are ever going to sprout, woe is me, no baptisms, investigators not wanting to listen anymore, and lots of very sad and helpless tears. Maybe its a bummer to read this, but I want to be honest- missions are tough, and sometimes I truly just don't have amazing experiences to share every week. I wish I did, but sometimes you just have a dud week.

But, being ME and trying to follow my mom's example of always looking for the positive things in life, I have taken note of small but significant blessings in my life right now.

To begin, I have a best friend for my companion. It is truly amazing to me that two people from different countries can have such similar upbringings and opinions and senses of humor and styles and that we can truly read each others MINDS at times! That we can have the most amazing, uplifting conversations with one another and truly feel this beautiful connection with another. I am completely convinced that we were buddy buddies in the premortal existence, and that we are together for one more change, truly a miracle, because right now, the mission is hard. And at times, only specific people can truly love and help you in the way that you need it, and Hermana Velazquez knows me so perfectly and she has helped me so much in this dud week.

We are very, very blessed to be in a ward that is anxious and ready to participate in this work. I have felt the love very strongly this week of the members of the Los Erazzuris ward for us sister missionaries, and how they truly confide in us to help them, as well. We had some wonderful conversations with the Relief Society president this week, Hermana Fuentes, and we can feel that she wants our opinion and help in strengthening the sisters of this ward. For the bajillionth time in my life, I was thankful to have my mom be the ward RS president and see her example and help the sisters here in Chile by sharing her ideas and ways of helping the sisters in our ward back home in Utah. Also, we were waiting to visit a less active member yesterday with the bishop, and he was ticking off all of the less actives that he saw in Sacrament Meeting that he knows we are visiting. After listing them off, he paused a moment and said "Hermanas, sometimes we don't know the fruits of our labors, but they are always there. And we can truly see the fruits of YOUR labors." Its amazing how prayers and answered through people sometimes, and I am thankful for people, like Bishop Calderon, who are in tune enough with the spirit to answer our prayers, sometimes without even knowing.

But more than everything, I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon. My life has changed, my mission has completely changed how I look at and cherish the Book of Mormon. It never ceases to AMAZE me how every single story and example and verse are there to help us. They all apply to our life. People say that there is not a book to tell you how to be a good parent or how to be perfectly happy, but its not true. The Book of Mormon has it all. I will be reading the Book of Mormon every day for the rest of my life because how could I NOT? How could I not just devour this blessing, this revelation from God of how to live successfully in the eyes of the Lord? How could I not testify of this every day in my mission and invite others to wallow in this blessing like I am? How could I not?

I have a testimony that trials strengthen us. Sometimes we are presented with a boulder to try and move, and while we try and give the effort and do everything that we possibly can to move it, we feel that we are making no progress. But in the end, we are stronger, more reliant on ourselves and on the Lord, and this is the true success. I have heard a lot this week about planting seeds. Sometimes, they wont bud for years. Sometimes we just need to be content with planting seeds. But so long as you are doing the Lords work, you will be blessed. As long as you put in the effort that you know you are capable of, our Heavenly Father will be happy with the work that we have done.

This week was hard. But I am stronger for it.

Church is true, folks :) Do What You Do!

-Hermana Harkins

Mosiah 24:14-15

Alma 26:12

Feliz Dia de los Enamorados!

Happy Valentines Day! It is just about the same in Chile as it is in the United States, a lot of big balloons and teddy bears and chocolate, and the good stuff only comes from the people that actually know you and know what will make you happy. On February 14th, I woke up to find a note taped to the floor next to my flip flops saying "Hermana Harkins, follow the arrows". The arrows taped to the floor lead to our table where Hermana Velazquez, my valentine (who would have thought I would have a 22 year old Argentinean for my Valentine in 2014? Not me...), had set up breakfast!

And ya wanna know what we had for breakfast?

LEMON. PIE.

A very happy Valentines Day :)

Later that evening I made her brownies. We know exactly what to do to make each other happy. We basically rock at being Valentines.

I don't know if y'all remember a few weeks back when I mentioned that Hermana Velazquez and I taught an investigator of some other elders in our zone who had a problem with the priesthood and wanted to talk to "girl missionaries". Well she got baptized this week :) we got permission to go to it and it was so wonderful to finally see her work through the insecurities and put her trust in Christ. 

Baptisms. They rock.

Something that I learned this week is that while most time, as missionaries, it works really well to be very personal and loving and all those lovely things. But sometimes, we have to be transparent, like a jury. Sometimes we have to abandon our feelings and our opinions and just let people yell it out. A part of our calling as missionaries is to help less active members come back to church, and we are working with a 23 year old young woman who has some very deep drama with members of the ward and who refuses to enter the chapel because she doesn't want to see everyone being "fake" and "pretending to love each other." Hermana Velazquez and I tried every loving and patient attempt to get her to talk to us, we gave every personal example and scripture that we could think of, and still she gave us sassy and immature and offensive comments as to our efforts. In that moment, that is when you need to just be transparent and not let it all hurt your heart.

And then that is when you can be BOLD!

After working hard to be transparent and soak it all in and breath it all out, we just came right out and told her to come, ignore all the "fake" people if that is what she has to do, and focus on the Sacrament. Focus on the speakers. Focus on the classes. FOCUS ON THE SPIRIT BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT WE COME TO CHURCH TO DO. We don't come to church to socialize, we don't come to church for the people, we come to church because it is so necessary to renew our baptismal covenants, to partake of the Sacrament, to be clean again, to endure to the end, to prove to God that we are devoted to him and the covenants that we make with him. And we get it, Hna. V and I have not wanted to go to church sometimes, but you DO IT ANYWAY because God is more important than the rest of them.

We were bold.

She came to church :)

Also this week, I witnessed my first big fat miracle, the kind that you tell your kids about years after, the kind that you never ever forget.

We were visiting, yet another, less active member, reading the Book of Mormon together to help out her testimony, and her 23 year old son, Fabian, came in and started chatting with us a bit. We hadn't even said a prayer, so we invited him to sit with us and read, if he would like. He was very excited and launched into this story of how he was always so happy when the elders would come when they were teaching his mom the discussions, how he always felt their tremendous love, and he ran up to get his own copy of the BOM.

While he was doing that, we asked Hna. Violeni where she was in the BOM. She told us that she was just starting to read 2nd  Nephi 31. And for all those returned missionaries out there, you know that this chapter is magical. The Doctrine of Christ. Hna. V and I were exchanging glances, pure excitement in our eyes. "OH MY GOODNESS LETS BAPTIZE FABIAN" Is what our eyes said.

So he came back down and was all excited and ready, we prayed, read the chapter, and asked him what he felt. He told us that he felt something very strong, something too big for his body, something flowing through his veins. He then gets very serious and proceeds to tell us "I know that this book is true. I know that it is the word of God." He tells us how, when the elders were first visiting their whole family, when they were all taking the discussions, that they invited him to read and pray about the BOM. And how when he prayed, he felt this same sensation- a very strong feeling in his heart and flowing through his veins, and that when he felt this, he ran outside and was stopping everyone and telling them "this book is true! This is the truth! This is the truth!"

So obviously we invited him to be baptized.

I MEAN REALLY, HE KNOWS THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE AND ITS OUR FIRST LESSON WITH HIM!

He starts to cry, and tells us that he is scared that he will be baptized, make this tremendous promise with God, and then mess up. He kept saying "I'm only human, I'm only human." We explained about the Atonement, the power and love that we can feel through it. Seriously, never in my life have I felt the spirit as strongly as I did in that moment. It was something tangible, it was something that everyone was feeling and everyone knew that it was the spirit, and that is something truly beautiful.

I know that this church is true. I know that the spirit is something very powerful, it is something that changes lives. I am so thankful to be here, to be a missionary, and to be an instrument in Gods hands to help people know of his love. There is nothing I would rather be doing right now than to be here, in Chile, helping in this marvelous work.

Be bold, everyone :)

Hermana Harkins