Marcy- there is a brother in my ward that knows how to play the Ocorena

True story. #zeldajokes

So to start out this email, I wanted to share a funny experience that we had this week. In companion study, we do all sorts of fun things, like planning for the lessons we will teach, Preach My Gospel Activities, and reading the Book of Mormon in English to help my comp learn the language. I have fallen in love with a little game we play called "Preguntas del Alma" (questions of the soul), where we come up with questions or doubts that our investigators have, or commonly asked questions, and we answer it with a verse in the Book of Mormon. It is so fun.

But the funny story happened Tuesday morning as we read the Book of Mormon in English. We are in the part about Nephi's vision explaining Lehi's vision, and I kid you not, I COULD NOT EVEN REMEMBER HOW TO PRONOUNCE WORDS IN ENGLISH. At one point, Hermana Davila just said "Yeah, we can just read in Spanish if you want."

Que vergüenza.

You could say things are going well with the language :)

This week, I had many testimony builders of the power of hymns to invite the spirit. I have always known that, it's not a new testimony. And anyone that knows me knows that I am passionate about all types of music. But it all started with listening to Motab as a little girl whenever we ran errands with my mom. It's odd sometimes for me to hear the hymn sung normally and not how Motab does it. My crazy huge love for music started with the hymns, and it continues to grow.

One of those testimony building experiences happened with Hermana Dominga; a little grandma here in the ward that has been a member for forever, she is totally adorable, gives us lunch every Thursday (and its always tan rico), she is a gem. And Hermanita Dominga had a bad fall, is confined to her bed, and called asking if we could come to help her feel better.

Well, we honestly didn't know what we could do, so we just went with confidence that the spirit would guide us to know what to do. We chatted for a moment or so, shared a scripture about the Atonement (Alma 7:11-13), and then I felt that little nudge to whip out my little green hymnbook and sing a hymn together. Upon asking her favorite hymn, she said that she wanted to sing The Lord is My Shepherd.

I know, I know that missionaries always use cliche phrases in an attempt to describe the spirit, but it really is something that is indescribable. Something so celestial that we, as mere human beings, truly cannot describe it. The only way I can think to tell you all how it felt is to say that I could truly feel, at least a small portion, of the love that our Heavenly Father has for her. As we sang that hymn, as she silently cried and then bore testimony to us of the Atonement, it was just palpable. The spirit is so beautiful. And I always feel it strongest when we start singing those sacred, beautiful hymns.

Another experience that I had this week with the hymns happened at a zone baptismal service, called Noche de Blanca. We invited as many as we could to be baptized for one specific date, and we ended up with 8 people being baptized this last Saturday night. Oh, it was incredible! So many people in white. I just love that. And of course, as a zone, we did a little special musical number, singing Nearer My God to Thee (mas cerca Dios de Ti).

People...I sang a solo.

That has never happened before.

It was always singing the soprano part in a quartet of some sort, but never just me, alone, singing, without a microphone or anything.

OOOH IT WAS TERRIFYING! AND I DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT! AND I WAS SO SCARED! (and my mission president was there)!!!!

But I did it :) and my voice didn't even tremble :)

Now, the best part of it all, was that Saturday morning as we contacted in the street, Hermana Davila asked me "how many musical numbers I have done so far in my mission", since I am always singing in the pension and in the streets and she knows that it is something that I love doing. She was almost MAD to hear that I had never sung alone in front of a crowd before. She asked me if I would do it if someone asked me to or if I was assigned to do it, and I said yes, but only because I do what I am asked to as a member of the church.

So when we started putting together the musical number, an hour before the baptism, and the elder directing asked who would be comfortable (look, look at the wording! COMFORTABLE!) singing a solo, guess who volunteered me?

That little Nicaraguan rascal.

But I did it. Totally overcame THAT huge fear. Look at the things that I am learning in my mission ;)
And on the teaching front, things are going great. If you all could pray for our investigator Erika, her baptismal date is set for this coming Sunday, and she really is ready, but she is still feeling waves of self doubt. Satan is such a jerk, but if we could all just come together with prayer power, I think that we could just see a miracle.

We had a great experience with a less active sister this week named Lucy. It's a little difficult to get to her heart, or even to get her to just sit and let us teach a little something, so we had to think of other ways to gain her trust, and thus, give her a desire to listen to our message. So we offered to help her with her sweets business; she taught us how to make Alfahores and cuchufli, two classic Chilean numbers, and then we shared a short message with her.

And it was SO WORTH IT! As missionaries, we get so focused sometimes on teaching that we lose the big picture of HELPING others, and sometimes, there is a little something more that we can do, in addition to teaching the gospel, to help others. And after helping her, she truly wanted to listen. And we ended up hearing her testimony of the Book of Mormon, which is very strong and very outdated and in need of refreshment. And, in that moment when we could recognize her need and we KNEW  what it was that we could do to help, she had sufficient confidence in us to listen to OUR testimonies and accept the invitation to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover.

This work is the BEST EVER!

So be bold, stay rad, do what you do, and let your light so shine and put it on a hill for the world to see and bask in because YOUR LIGHT IS BEAUTIFUL AND YOUR LIGHT IS YOUR TESTIMONY!

Hermana Harkins

El sol esta lleno de esperanza

Well this week rocked :)

For starters, I'm sure you are all wondering how things are going with my companion. I have two words for you.

Belly laugh.

Every day.

(ok, four words, no se preocupe) It is one of the best things in the world to work in the mission field. And its the cherry on top when you are doing it with someone so delightful. Also, its getting hot again! Blue skies are smiling at me :) thus the title of this email. El sol esta lleno de esperanza- the sun is full of hope. I said that to my lil Hermana Davila yesterday as we left the chapel and walked out into the sun, and it was so impacting that we made little quote cards out of it. We are rad.

This week was full of strengthening experiences and funny moments and some straight up testimony builders. I'll start with the fun experience I had this week of being in divisions.

with...drumroll...Hermana Mittlesteadt!

My cute CCM comp! She is an hermana leader trainer now, which is basically an assistant to the president, but a sister missionary and not an elder. She happened to be assigned as my leader, and this week we went on divisions. And lemme tell you, it was CRAZY AWESOME to go out and teach in my sector and just look back at how far we have come. From crying together at night after a hard day of attempting to teach in Spanish to contacting together in the street and telling each other jokes in Spanish. It was what I call a face slapping moment, as we sat at the end of the day in my pension, swapping stories of mission experiences. Like, "wow. Look how far we have come." It was great :)
Also this week, as we left our weekly district meeting, we came across a box addressed to my comp and I, which was odd because we only get mail every other week now, and it was the no pouch week. But when we opened it, we found a CRAZY amount of mail for the both of us. Which can only mean one thing- my pal Elder Bertagna put all our things together and set them where he knew we would find them so that we could have surprise mail happiness. What a gem, right? Got a package from the cutie Katie Miller, chocolates from old companions, and letters from Marcy, Staycia (serving her mission in Costa Rica), and Steve (:D). Thank you, all, for your love. There is nothing like surprise mail to make a missionary giddy.

As for the teaching, we had some great experiences this week. The first was with a little family we are teaching, Norma and Francisco. We taught about the Restoration, which I am totally digging right now, don't ask why, but I am just smitten with explaining how the priesthood was restored. I truly do not know why, but Ill go with it :) as we explained about prophets, Francisco said "But I have a question...what about the papa? It seems just the same as your prophet."

(yeah, don't judge, I don't know if they call the Catholic papa "papa" in English...I hope y'all can follow my Spanglish...) And I don't know why, but I got all nervous and stuff! People can get a little touchy when you get the point of needing to explain that the person they believe is leading them isn't "the chosen".

But I can totally testify of the guidance of the holy ghost, and we were able to, together, testify that the Catholic papa is "a good man of God" (sigh, it sounds better in Spanish. Un buen hombre de Dios), but that we truly know that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and that he called prophets before, and in restoring His gospel, he will call prophets again. I know that, when we get the point of explaining the big differences in our religions, if we do so with love and with the spirit, we will not offend and we can help others know that what we teach really is the truth.

But, to balance it all out, we had another moment with a new investigator where he was absolutely floored to hear that there is a real life prophet! Alive! RIGHT NOW! His name is Jose, and we found him knocking doors. It was one of those contacts where we walked away feeling like it was too good to be true, because the conversation went something like  this:

Hello, we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Oh yeah, I've heard of you guys.
That's great! What have you heard?
Not a lot, but Id like to know more. Can you tell me about your church?
Maybe we could share a short message with you and your family?
We have visits right now, but you can come back tomorrow at 4:00 if you want.
...
Anyone who has served a mission knows that that is just a golden contact :) I love that! And when we came back the next day, he was there and expecting our visit and his family is totally adorable and they sat in on the lesson and when we got to the point of explaining that we have a prophet that guides us, he stopped us and was like "Wait, there's a prophet? Living? Are you for real?"

YES! YES! ITS FOR REAL!

Sometimes, I feel crazy blessed for being born in the gospel- what am I saying, I ALWAYS feel crazy blessed for being born in the gospel!- and just knowing my whole life that we have a prophet to lead and guide us, and that we can always trust him because we know that he is receiving revelation from God. But being here and teaching others about the gospel, and seeing the shock and joy that many feel upon hearing that YES, we have a prophet to lead and guide us, has strengthened my gratitude in this truth that I have always had at my finger tips, and the love that I feel, for and from, our beloved prophet.

(side note. Y'all should search for the picture of President Hinckley "dubbing" Elder Eyring with his cane, and the picture of President Monson high fiving a little boy. I am such a fan girl for prophets

:D)

Another great experience was Nancy and Roberto, inactive members that we have been helping for some time now. After the first visit with them with Hermana Davila, she said that she felt impressed to teach about Enduring to the End. I was impressed...at this point, it feels like we have taught every possible lesson from every possible angle, with a good amount of "Elder Holland Directness" as we call it, and after the first visit, she felt impressed to share, what seemed to be, the only topic that we hadn't taught them.

And we truly can testify of the power of following the promptings of that handy, dandy, still small voice, because we taught enduring to the end as we never have before, talking about the Atonement and repentance and the pure love of our Heavenly Father, and we were all left with tears in our eyes and they were saying"we have to go to church. We've just gotta go back to church."

Guess who came to church this Sunday :) I love that :)

Also this week, with our investigator Erika, we taught the importance of serving others, how it is part of our baptismal covenants to be examples of Christ, and part of that is serving others. But it was funny, we got to her house and saw the day old remnants of a birthday party strewn all around her patio. We immediately offered to help her clean it up before teaching, but she rejected the offer. Meh, its ok, I knew that after the lesson, we could offer again and she wouldn't be able to say no ;)

So we taught the lesson, wrapped it up with our testimonies about the importance of service, closed in the name of Jesus Christ,and then I said: "And NOW can we help you clean your patio?"

We LUAGHED :) And then we cleaned the patio.

And one last little story to finish off this week's letter! There is another inactive member that we are helping right now that has started coming to church after years of not coming, but she would only come if we stopped by her house to walk together. Yesterday morning, we had a meeting in the church and couldn't stop by to walk with her, and when I called, there was no answer. And we were a little bummed out, because we thought that she wouldn't come. But, as we finished up the opening prayer, here she comes, walking through the door!

When we went over to talk to her after Sacrament meeting, she told us that our call woke her up, and that, while she didn't answer, she knew who it was, and she knew that she had to get up and come to church.

I love that :)

Be bold, y'all. Stay rad. Do what you do.

Hermana Harkins

I wear socks under my tights because they have so many holes

I must be a sister missionary :)

Ok peeps, this week...it rocked...I cant even get over how much being a missionary ROCKS. There are some days in the mission where you are ok with the idea of it all ending one day...and then there are some days where you would be content with your mission lasting forever. Every day this week, I felt that beautiful contentedness and longing to just be a sister missionary for the rest of my life. I have the best job ever.

To start out, my new 'lil comp continues to be TOTALLY RAD. She is super spunky and positive and happyhappyhappy, she reminds me of Suz Cazanave. Contagious happiness, it is so much fun. We memorize two scriptures every day, one from the Bible and one from the Book of Mormon. We sing in the streets together (hymns, duh). She braids my hair. Yesterday was El Dia Del Niño here in Chile, in other words, Kid Day, and we decided to do a little party. We bought cookies and chocolate milk and put bows in our hair and drank the milk out of paper straws that I got in my care package from Camilly and sang primary songs. I dunno, just fun little details, but it is so much fun! Not saying that my other companions were Debby downers, but I mean, look at the facts! We drank chocolate milk out of cute, paper straws! She's a delight :)

We even ended up going on an adventure to Santiago this week; she has to do a special check up with the doctor once a month and give blood and everything, and I could tell that she was nervous and not looking forward to it. So on the way, we bought little packages of trail mix and bottled peach juice and talked up a storm on the subway, with one another and with others, to distract her. Took pictures by the temple, got the blood donating done quickly, and went on our merry way. It's not every day in the mission that your routine changes so drastically as to leave to go to the capital and to the CCM, and she wasn't particularly looking forward to it, but we made it fun. That's real success.

And as for the work, we had some amazing, strengthening, spiritual experiences this week. I will share three of them.

The first was with an inactive sister that is going through some tough financial and medical problems right now. To support her family and pay for the necessities, like food and bills, she runs a little shop outside her house, selling used clothing and toys, little odds and ends. We stopped by Wednesday afternoon and could tell that she was feeling very down, and she ended up crying and telling us that she hadn't had any success all week, and that she didn't have any money to even buy bread. We shared a message about the importance of putting our confidence in the Lord, and that when we do that, he will provide for us. The sharing of the message took, really, about 10 minutes. Less. But we were there for an hour.

An hour because, almost as soon as we starting teaching, the people started coming. And every time she saw someone come, her smile got bigger and she got more light in her eyes. By the time we could finally say the closing prayer, she had a small mound of coins and bills that all amounted to about 20 dollars. She told us that, every time that we come, she always has business. So much that she has even more than the bare necessities. And that for that reason, she knows that we must be representatives of Jesus Christ.

As we left her house, my companion told me that she wanted to do a little something more to help this dear sister. So that evening, we both went through all of our clothes and put together a good pile of things to give her to sell in her shop. When we went back to her house later in the week, and she saw us with our bags overflowing with clothes, she just started crying again. I just know that there is an infinite amount of ways to help people. Always, you can share the gospel. But many times, there is a little something extra that you can do.

Another great learning experience that we had this week was with a brother in the ward. He has been an inactive member that we have been visiting for quite a while, and recently, I had honestly been considering taking him off of our list because he seemed to be doing so well; coming to church every Sunday, giving talks, he has a calling that he is fulfilling...on the outside, it all seemed to be peaches and cream.

But in visiting with him this week, we found that it was all exactly the opposite. Without giving all the little details, his wife passed away a year ago, he has three kids, he has been without work for six months, and has been trying to do all that he can to fulfill his church calling and help and serve others (we shared a message about the importance of service), and that he feels that he is completely alone. That he just wants someone to come and visit and talk to him, members or his home teachers or SOMEONE, and that he had gotten to the point where he has just decided that he doesn't want to come to church anymore. Really, he ended up venting for about 25-30 minutes. Without stopping. And loudly. Not with anger, just relief that finally, someone was listening.

And honestly, during the whole venting sesh, I had no idea what I or we could do or say. But I learned early on in my mission that we simply cannot fret over what it is we will say; we just need to listen with love and trust that the spirit will tell us what it is that we need to say. Because when we really listen, we will feel what they feel and we will feel the love that our Heavenly Father has for them, and that is when the spirit comes in and speaks through you to tell them what it is that their Heavenly Father needs them to hear and feel. And we were able to do that for him - and Him. To say the carefully chosen words that God had for this dear brother to give him the will to keep going.
(please...just do your visiting and home teaching...even if you think they are ok, everyone needs SOMEONE. TO. LISTEN.)

And the third experience that I want to share happened with Erika, our investigator who I just KNOW is going to be baptized this month. I just know it. We changed her baptismal date for August 31st this week and taught (con poder and autoridad...can't remember how to say that in English, y'all have google translate and i don't...) about the gift of the holy ghost. We really have been working so hard with her, to focus in on her doubts and teach according to what she needs, and yesterday, she said the most beautiful-and then the most crushing- thing...

"I know the church is true. I want to be baptized."

!!!!POR FIN!!!!

and then...

"But I feel like I'm just not good enough."

Satan is such a jerk.

But it gave us a wonderful opportunity to talk about how no one is perfect, before or after baptism, and that all of us, in one point or another, will fall or fail or make a mistake. But that it's OK because for that, we have the Atonement and the ability to repent and to partake of the Sacrament every Sunday. And that anyone who truly has a desire to be baptized is good enough. That was when we invited her for her new baptismal date, and she was honestly HAPPY AND EXCITED for it! And that's how we should feel for our baptism! HAPPY AND EXCITED!

Guys I just KNOW THAT THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!

Can't even get over it.

Be bold, stay rad, and do what you do :)

Hermana Harkins

So Exhausting and so WONDERFUL!

Oh my goodness. This week was so exhausting and so WONDERFUL! It's the kind of exhausting that comes from walking and contacting and teaching and doing it all with the spirit and crazy happiness - wonderful from doing it with someone who you click with immediately and so beautifully that the people you contact tell you that the only reason they stopped to talk to us is because they saw us smiling and laughing.

True story. They talked to us because they saw our UNITY. Best ever.

So let's be honest, I was feeling a touch nervous to be senior comp and lead the sector and all, but it turned out to be completely doable and enjoyable. We did a lot of contacting, a lot of teaching, a lot of inviting (for baptism, to come to church, etc.), and a whole lot of getting to know each other. Fun facts, Hna. Davila is a convert of three years, the only one in her family, she loves Diet Coke, her first boyfriend ever was deaf and she learned sign language to communicate with him, and her strongest missionary attribute is that totally rad ability to apply what we are teaching to what we know about the person.

Basically, I'm totally smitten with my comp. The moments in which we are not talking and laughing are few, we totally mesh and have a ridiculous amount of things in common, and what's more, we teach with unity and with the spirit. I had been praying that I could receive a companion that has a true desire to work hard, and someone that I could enjoy my mission with. I wasn't going in with any sort of expectation for her to be my best friend or to be a perfect missionary or anything like that. I know that God answered my prayer with someone who is delightfully what I wanted and truly NEEDED. It is the BEST to be able to work for the Lord with someone who you feel is truly your best friend.

One of those that we visited this week is Nancy. We simply read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with her, since we invited her a few months back to read the whole thing. Little by little she is accomplishing that goal, but we are always there to help her along the way. Somehow, it's all just a little more doable when you can do it together (total double meaning!) Honestly, it was just reading Mosiah 7 together, but it was amazing to listen to her think out loud and apply these simple verses to her own life, and to have the chance to testify that truly, when we read the book of Mormon every day, it will help us in our lives and guide us to know what to do to stay close to our Heavenly Father and be in his path. It doesn't matter where we are in our reading, I guarantee that we will always find something that will touch our hearts :)

Oh, btw, got the best package EVER from the darling lil Camilly X) chock full of USA sweets and candies, a cute banner, paper straws (swoon), scrapbook supplies, nail polish (freaking out), and BLUE TIGHTS. Oh my goodness. Talk about best missionary care package ever.

We also are progressing beautifully with an investigator named Evelyn. This week, we were talking about how we find answers to our prayers through the holy ghost, and what we can do to feel that spirit. Prayer, scripture study, coming to church, ya know. All that wonderful stuff. She confided in us (almost immediately, it was rad) that she feels that she lacks faith, and that she feels that there is something missing in her life, but she cant quite put her finger on it. Talk about best opportunity EVER to bear testimony of how the gospel blesses our lives! It was all I could do to keep myself from bouncing up and down in my seat and yelling "I KNOW! I KNOW WHAT YOU NEED!"
I promise I was calm and dignified as I testified :)

Another great lesson that I re-learned this week; we were invited to have lunch at a member's house this week, and this dear sister is struggling right now. She lives humbly but never stops helping and serving others when she sees that they are in need. She has a co worker that was looking for a place for her and her three young children to live and couldn't find anything. So this sweet sister told her that she could come and stay at her house until she finds another place. Her house was already small and humble, but she didn't think twice; she saw that someone was in need, and she offered what she could. I think we can all learn a lesson. Sometimes we feel that we have so little...but truly, there is always something we can do or give to help someone in need.

Also, a GREAT story that we heard from one of our investigators this week. She was a referral from another companionship that was very excited to accept us in her home, and immediately told us the story of how the other missionaries contacted her. She was leaving for work one morning and was in la Plaza de Maipu, a very busy little city about 20 minutes from El Abrazo. She saw these two missionaries saying hello to everyone (as we always do), and that no one was stopping to even say hello (which happens a lot). She decided that she would be the difference. She was honestly in a bad mood, going through a hard time, but the hardness of everyone else motivated her to be different.
When she approached the missionaries and said hello, one of the missionaries hugged her. And it was so touching and so sudden and exactly what she needed. She hadn't even realized that that was all that she needed to feel better; to simply receive a hug from someone. She felt loved. And for that, she gave her information to the missionaries. Because she felt loved and wanted to continue to feel that same love.

Talk about BEST STORY EVER.

And to finish things off, a great experience that we had with our little pal the holy ghost. We have an investigator named Erika, who I honestly believe is going to be baptized this month, who has received almost all of the missionary lessons. We are to the point of teaching what is called Lesson 5 for us missionaries, which is 6 lessons that talk about temples, family history, service, and others. We had planned to teach her about temples, but as we studied, we both felt prompted to teach her about enduring to the end.

Bueno, we always follow the promptings of the spirit, so we planned a lesson about endurance and doing it with faith and using the Sacrament. But as we got to her house and began teaching her, the lesson evolved into talking about the holy ghost, and how it truly helps us to know the truth.

I just KNOW that this church is true and that our Heavenly Father communicates with us through the holy ghost. Be bold, stay rad, and do what you do!

Hermana Harkins

Guess who is a senior comp!

I'm moving up in the world ;)

So for starters, we received the news Saturday evening that Hna. M is needed in another sector and that she had changes. We spent the better part of the next day saying good-bye to as many of our beloved investigators and less active members as we could, some sad, some insisting that she rebel, and in every house, sharing 1 Nephi 3:7 and listening to her tearful testimony. After 6 months in a sector, you come to love everyone with a strong, Christ-like love (heck, with one change in a sector you love em!). Then came the longest night of every change; the Sunday evening of packing or helping your comp pack, and the treacherously long night's sleep, bombarded with the question of "WHO IS GOING TO BE MY NEW COMPANION?!"

But now, here we are in this dinky little Internet cafe, me and my new companion, Hermana Davila! 23 years old, 6 months in the mission, from Nicaragua, and with a crazy amount of excitement and love for the mission and bursting with girliness and squeals.

I love that XD

I am so excited to work with her, to keep taking care of this sector and continuing with the crazy amount of investigators that we have been finding, 8 in these past two weeks, and it is just so much fun when you can tell that your comp is a spunky little gem who is ready to WORK!

As for this last week in the work of the Lord, we had lots of wonderful experiences and were able to see the progression of many people that we are visiting. I love being here, I love being a missionary, I have the best job ever. No battle :)

One experience was with one of the new investigators that we found this week named Evelyn. She is a cute, young mom that we contacted on the bus, a little quiet at first, but I was honestly amazed at first at how quickly she confided in us once we went to her house and started talking about the gospel. She immediately confided in us about the stress she feels of trying to protect her two sons from the harshness of the world, and how she feels that she lacks faith, and knows that she needs to pray more to feel closer to God.

Its basically a dream come true, for me at least, to find someone who has a genuine longing to protect her family and keep it unified and safe, and then to know almost immediately what her need is. For all missionaries, we try and figure out the need in the first lesson, attempting to know how we can shape the lessons we teach to meet that need and answer the questions that they truly have in their heart. We were able to teach the message of the Restoration to meet her need, testifying of the power of prayer in not only knowing if the message is true, but to feel closer to God and know His will for each one of us.

Another great moment was with an inactive member named Jorge. He has been inactive for many years now, and whenever we share a message with him and invite him to church, he nearly cuts us off in saying NO. He is a sassy little thing, and loves talking to us and being our buddy, but whenever the moment came to talk about the gospel, he disconnected.

Until about three weeks ago.

Because he lots his job, and he is getting nervous.

So this last week, when his wife made us lunch, he came in to sit with us to drink his daily cup of tea, which never happens. He then began to ask us what we have to do to fast. How to start and finish, how long it has to be, if we have to pray or do something special to initiate it, that sort of thing. We explained it all, all the while with cautious excitement, and then asked him why.

He told us that he has come to the point where he has recognized that he has to start doing his part again for the Lord, and that he wanted to fast to show our Heavenly Father his devotion.

Well that is a humbled man if I've ever seen one!

We shared Omni 1:26 and shared our testimonies about the power of fasting, and then told him that we would fast with him. He came to church this last Sunday, and you can see in his countenance that the Lord is working a mighty change in his heart. It was beautiful to see how someone can be humbled to return to the Lord, and not angered to the point of rebelling against Him. Sometimes it takes a crisis, but it is always worth the blood sweat and tears so they can return to our Heavenly Father.

We also had a beautiful experience with an inactive sister that we have been working with for a while now named Luisa. Little by little, we have been hearing her story, receiving, line upon line, the sad details of her hard life. It's all very delicate and very personal, and we have felt such strong responsibility and, many times, God's love for her as we ponder and pray over what it is that we can teach and how we can help her. From the very beginning, we have felt to share about the Atonement, and the first time that we visited her, we gave her a picture of Christ in Gethsemane to help her remember that he is here for us, and ever since then, we have always taught something more about the Atonement.

Two weeks ago, she had a pretty serious operation and had to be in the hospital for four days, and is on bed rest now and for a few more weeks. But the first time that we visited her after her operation, she was so excited to tell us about an experience that she had the day after her operation. She was in a lot of pain, and was praying that the pain would go away, or at least be dulled. She was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but the pain was so strong that she was left with nothing to do but remain in her pain and exhaustion.

That was when she looked up and saw a framed picture of Christ in Gethsemane. The same that we gave her three months ago that she has had on her bedside table this whole time. Now, people, we are NOT in Utah. It is not the norm to have a picture of Christ in the hospital. And it simply is not a coincidence that she was in the hospital room with, not only a picture of Christ, but THE picture of Christ. And the thought came to her mind "the pain He experienced is stronger than yours, and he is with you in this moment."

And that is just the beginning.

Since then, we have been giving her big reading assignments, and the one that she has enjoyed the most was to read all the scriptures in the Guide for Scripture Study about the Atonement. When we visited her the day she read those, which was this last Thursday, she was practically bouncing up and down in her bed (which she shouldn't have been doing because she needs to rest and lay down on her back), ecstatic to tell us about what she read.

And the thing is, when we first obtain our testimonies, especially about the Atonement, there just aren't words to describe how we feel. She tried to put her feelings into words, but ended up saying over and over how huge Christ's love is for us. She realized that she never really had her OWN testimony of the gospel, and she is just barely going through the motions of obtaining that testimony.
It is beautiful to be here and to witness others receiving their own testimonies. It strengthens me and at times, it moves me to tears to literally see and witness the great change that is taking part in the hearts of the people that we are serving. When I got to this sector, it was pretty dry. And it was hard. But now, 4.5 months later, we are seeing beautiful progress. We are seeing sacred changes. And I am crazy excited to keep working, to keep helping, and to keep testifying, because seeing the change in others makes it all worth it.

I love you and miss you all :) Be bold, stay rad, and do what you do :)

Hermana Harkins

Ashlynne and Sister Marquez with the elders from their ward

Ashlynne and Hermana Parks

Ashlynne and her new companion, Hermana Davila

Ashlynne and Herrmana Rodriguez

Ashlynne and Hermana Davila on transfer day

Ashlynne and Hermana Davila with Elder Bertagna from the mission office

Esta lloviendo perritos y ghattitos

Well we had one of the best weeks everrr LLENO de milagritos and a handful of those little moments where I found myself thinking "wow...I am a missionary!" Maybe it was so fabulous because we couldn't leave all of last week...well look at that, our trials make us so much more grateful for the nice, little things :) wonderful how it all works, isn't it?

We are going to go in a nice, random order :)

1) this Saturday, we had a meeting in a city in our mission called Republica. It's about an hour away from where we are working in El Abrazo, and getting there required multiple bus and subway stops and changes. When we received word that we would be having this meeting, my companion said "I don't know how to get there." But I told her that it's all good, because I do.

Moment number one of "WHOA I am a missionary!"

I know that it is something small and seemingly insignificant to know how to get to one of the meetinghouses in your mission. But I'm just saying, the first time I used the subway system here in the field, it was to get to Santiago, and I remember following Hna. Ortiz like a little lamb and thinking to myself "I am never going to figure out this system!" (I can't like this!) and then, here I am, guiding not only my comp and I, but a group of about 20 elders that we ran into on the way that didn't know how to get there either.

Progress, people :)

And the meeting was great, lots of great personal revelation received for myself, our companionship, and how we can help people in our sector. Plus, we got pendrives with all the conference talks from the last two general conferences to use in the work, and lemme tell you, we all just flipped out. Missionaries are such nerds for that kind of thing, it's the best ever.

2) In our meeting with our ward mission leader this last Friday, he brought up Jesus The Christ, ya know, the HUMONGOUS book with beautiful details about the life of Christ. I told him that I had never read it, and he loaned me his copy. But with a challenge. He told me that if I could read up to page 200 by this next Sunday (July 27th), I could keep it.
Challenge accepted!

Then my comp chimed in and said "But she reads really fast, that's too easy." So he bumped it up to page 250.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

I'm at page 119 :)

3)We put on a little FHE for an inactive member's family where he is the only member. It was about something really simple, how the gospel blesses families and the things that we can do to feel the presence of God in our lives and in our homes. Simple stuff. It's just that the spirit was really strong, and this family, that usually doesn't even acknowledge us when we come by, were smiling and laughing and participating with us. THEY were bearing testimony to US about how much God loves us! It was AWESOME! And it was one of those moments where I found myself thinking "I just never want my mission to end." It is so great to see people progress. It is so great to feel the spirit testify of how much God loves each one of his children. And in that simple little FHE, oof. I felt it.

4) In another lesson this week with an inactive family, the 16 year old teenage daughter came down wearing a Justin Beiber t-shirt. Hna. M and I gave her the hardest time for it, and she insisted that he is crazy beautiful and talented. As we left the house after the lesson, my comp said to me "I just don't get it. Justin Beiber is whiter than white flour." It doesn't even translate correctly to do justice at how BLASTED HILARIOUS that moment was. Perhaps it was the timing, perhaps it was the fact that my companion is a little shy and super sweet, but it was wonderful. Missionaries can laugh too!!!

5) We have an investigator named Cesar, the husband of a pretty inactive sister. He is a huge jokester, always brainstorming a sassy comment to make and a way to lighten the mood and talk about...basically anything but the gospel. We have been pestering for about 2 weeks now for a time when we can come by and teach them about the Plan of Salvation, passing by their house, calling and leaving voice mails, leaving little sticky notes on the gate of their house saying we had stopped by...lots of little pester tactics that we enjoy :) And FINALLY we got an appointment set up for yesterday in the evening.

As he opened the door, he greeted us with "Here they are, the most persistent sister missionaries in all of Chile!" We laughed it off and let him kid a bit before getting down to business and teaching about the plan of salvation. And at first, he meant it all as a joke and was just trying to get under our skin, but as we finished the lesson, we both testified of WHY we are so persistent in being able to come and teach them.

We are persistent because we know that the message we have is TRUE, and that it will bless their lives, and when we can't get a hold of them one way, we will try another and another, until they tell us that they aren't interested, because when we teach about the gospel, we truly are teaching about our salvation.

I mean, do you GET that?

WE ARE TEACHING GODS PLAN OF SALVATION, PEOPLE!

We have the knowledge of what it is that we need to do to be able to return to Gods presence and live with him and our families forever. THAT is what we are here to teach. And so you better believe we are going to be a little persistent, you better believe we will leave voice mails and notes on your gate and continue asking when we can come by, because we have glad tidings of great joy and we don't want a single person to miss out on it!

*deep breath*

6) We are continuing to teach our golden investigator, Juan. This week, we taught all about the Doctrine of Christ. And it was SO RAD, when we taught about the Atonement and the repentance process, he talked about the need to be humble and that really, we can't repent unless we are humble. And its like, we KNEW that, but it was so impressive in that moment!

I mean, you will hear many a returned missionary talk about how much they learned from their investigators. That they learned patience, charity, diligence, a bunch of those awesome, Christ like attributes...that they learned how to teach depending on the person, how to teach clearly and precisely, all sorts of good stuff like that. But you never realize how much you can learn doctrinally from someone who is hearing about the principles of the gospel for the first time, to hear THEIR thoughts, what it is that THEY are picking up and learning from our message.

And Juan learned about humility in repentance. And WE learned about humility in the service of God. That, even as missionaries, the "experts", (nada que ver!) we have SO much to learn. Oh my goodness, the mission is just the best ever.

Be Bold, stay rad, do what you do :) till next week!

Hermana Harkins

p.s. I will be writing on Tuesday because we have changes this coming Monday, so don't be alarmed when nothing comes Monday. I will write Tuesday, with maybe a new comp and/or new sector! WHAAAAT ADVENTURA CADA DIA!

hay gozo delante de los ángeles de Dios por un pecador que se arrepiente

So this one time, I got sick for a whole week.

Pretty sure it's one of the hardest things that can happen to a missionary that actually wants to work- is to get sick and not be able to leave. But lemme tell you, I learned SO MUCH this week, I can hardly even handle how much I have learned, I am so stoked to share it with y'all :)

Let's just be honest and down to earth here; I was SO frustrated at first! It seemed to be just a good old fashioned cold, and I'm like, come on people, I'm a missionary and missionaries endure to the end! Lemme put a pack of cute tissues in my pocket and a thick, warm scarf and lets go work! But many insisted that I should not leave- from members to my companion to mission medical. "Just stay in the pension for a day, sleep it off, and we will see how you feel tomorrow. It should end in a day or two."

That went on the whole week.

And I was FRUSTRATED! I wanted to go out and work and bless people, I just didn't feel like I could do that in the house. I felt that there was literally nothing that I could do to help those in my area by staying in the house doing nothing. And to make things worse, I just couldn't sleep. Everyone told me to, but I have become so adjusted to the missionary schedule of it all and I spent many, many hours trying to sleep and with no success. Which just left me with my thoughts. My thoughts of "LEMME GO OUT AND WORK."

It became evident very quickly that I needed a little attitude check. So I continued studying my conference ensign, and talk about finding EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED in Elder Uchtdorf's talk, I mean, WOW! My companion and I had a beautiful heart to heart about it all- how, for the world, for the "natural man", it just is not logical to be happy when you are sick and not able to do what you want to do. It is naturally frustrating. But as we truly strive to be happy IN EVERY SITUATION, we can kill that statistic and be the difference, and we can have testimonies of the possibility to be happy in any and all situations. So for about 2 days, I was frustrated and a tad miserable. But after reading that talk, I worked really hard to turn it all around. And it made all the difference.

I tried to see how God wanted us to work in our sector- something that my comp told me is that God works in our sector when we literally cannot, but that there is still so much that we can do to help the children of God that are under our care here in El Abrazo. My study of the Conference Ensign and the Book of Mormon and The Bible all changed drastically once she said that. Instead of reading them to help myself be happy, and read them with our investigators and less actives in mind, trying to discern how it is that we can help them through these beautiful words that I have been reading. And when I stopped thinking about me and thought about them (and not in the woe-is-me-we-cant-visit-anyone form), you better believe I found a mountain of beautiful revelation for these people that we are helping. And it made all the difference.

Twice, we were able to do divisions with other Hermanas. Hna. Marquez left with Hna. Arzola and I stayed in the pension with Hna. Busby. She has about two weeks left before she goes home. so I helped her address invitations for her going away talk so that she could invite all of the people she has come to love here in Chile. I asked her what her advice is for me, someone who still has a good amount of time left on her mission. And she told me something that has literally changed how I think.

"Just do your best and forget about the rest."

Because sometimes, almost ALWAYS, we are put into situations that we cannot control. But we can control our reaction, we can control if we can still be happy and charitable and GRATEFUL in any situation, no matter what else is going on. And if we can look back and see and know that we gave all that we could, we will be happy with whatever the outcome is, because we can be content knowing that we truly did all that we could. It has changed how I think, and it has made all the difference.
So that is how I made it through a whole week in my mission of being sick. I went from Alma 53 to Moroni 6, Matthew 24 to Luke 22, and I finished the Conference Ensign. But what is most important is that I learned from it. I was able to change how I think, and even though I wasn't able to leave and work in my sector how I wanted to, I can look back and know that I really WAS helping; through my slow and steady recovery and studies, I am ready NOW to go out and just work and teach and testify like nobody's business.

And yesterday, I was finally dubbed healthy enough to leave. My comp made fun of me as I bounced in place, greeting everyone as they entered the chapel, and some looked a touch alarmed at how happy I was as they came into the church, but I was just SO HAPPY to be out! I was SO HAPPY to see them! I was grinning the whole time that we walked and walked and walked (pioneer children HA) and contacted a lot, and I was joyful as we finally found people to teach and we could help others come to Christ and I could finally testify of this crazy joy that I have to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You never notice how much you love and must testify until you dont do it for a whole week after doing it every day.

I know, I am totally rambling, I dont know if any of this made a lick of sense, but you guys, I just love being a missionary. I am joyful in my calling. I love being here and just want everyone to know it.

Stay BOLD :)

Hermana Harkins