Mission Baby

Happy Tuesday! Sorry for emailing a day late. Don't worry, I'm alive!

I have officially hit 9 months in the mission, which means I'm halfway done! I remember when I was a brand new missionary and it seemed like my halfway mark was years away. But now here I am with just 9 months left! I don't know how the first 9 months went by so fast... and I hear the second 9 months goes by even faster... I just need to make the most of every day I have!

Well, William is still in the hospital. He keeps saying he should get out soon but then his time to leave keeps getting pushed back. This week we visited him in the hospital with two of the elders in our district. They gave him a blessing and we taught him a lesson. He really misses learning more about the Gospel. We can't wait for him to get well and get home so we can teach him again and he can start progressing again. 

So a couple weeks ago I wrote about this tiny Mexican bakery we went to and how we got into a discussion with the manager and he ended up paying for our tacos. Well this week we went to that same place to get dinner, and there were a couple Mexicans there that we started talking to about the Gospel. They asked us a lot of questions about who we are and what we do and why we do it. One of them noticed we didn't have drinks and he bought us peach juice, and the other ended up paying for our tacos before we could stop him and said "Parece muy bien lo que ustedes hacen y por eso ya lo pague" (It seems that what you do is a very good thing so I paid for it). We got their information and we have an appointment with one of them tonight and the other one tomorrow night! Hopefully they will both become new investigators!

Saturday there was a big Relief Society activity at the church to celebrate the birthday of the Relief Society. There were a bunch of fun activities and a ton of food (because what kind of Hispanic activity of any sort doesn't have a ton of food) and it ended with the broadcast of the women's session of General Conference. The whole thing was great. Our investigator Luz came and she absolutely loved it! She was taking pictures and videos with her iPad the whole time haha

Yesterday for Pday there was a special activity for all the sisters in the mission! It was in Morristown and it takes about 3 hours to get there from Toms River so it took up the entire Pday, which is why I am emailing today instead. It was Luau-themed and really fun! There were a couple speakers and games and we did hula and had a great Hawaiian lunch. It was also my first time seeing my trainer Sister Galvan in three months!! She goes home pretty soon :(

Easter and General Conference are both this weekend! Super exciting! The church has put out a new Easter video called "Because He Lives" and we have been given a ton of pass-along cards about this video to give to people. I know miracles can come from the holiday pass-along cards because I've seen them happen. That's how we first contacted golden Carlos- with a Christmas pass-along card. I am excited to see the results and the new investigators we can find using this video! Anyone who hasn't seen it yet should check it out! helives.mormon.org

 

 

Lakewood mostly has Jews and Mexicans, but apparently there are Ukrainians, too

 

The Relief Society Party!
The cake says SS because Relief Society in Spanish is Sociedad de Socorro

Mama and Daughter Reunited 

 

My daughter, my mama and me

Photo Booth! 

 

The Jersey Shore

 

On Monday for Pday we went to the beach in Seaside Heights with the other missionaries in our zone! It was my first beach trip in 9 months! Yes, it was cold and windy, and I was in sweats instead of a swimsuit, and I couldn't go in the ocean, but it was a beach trip nonetheless, and it was wonderful. It was so great just to feel the sand under my feet. We played Frisbee and ran around and took a lot of pictures. It was definitely one of the best Pdays I've had! I love the Jersey Shore!

 

 

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day, which was just a normal day except we wore green :p
 

Wednesday we were teaching our investigator Marlena and she randomly asked us if we are allowed to eat fish and we said of course we are. She told us her boyfriend works at a fishery and there was a Jewish lady who was going to buy a fish but then decided not to because it was too expensive. Marlena has fish all the time so she didn't want it and gave it to us. She said it was $66 worth of salmon!! So we've eaten quite a bit of that this week! It totally made our day!

 

This week we were knocking and a 12-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy answered the door. They had a lot of really good questions and we basically taught them the entire Restoration there on their porch. We gave them each a Book of Mormon and told them to read the introduction. When we went back two days later, they had read the introductions and were able to summarize the story of Joseph Smith to us! We also met their mom and she seemed really nice and totally okay with us coming over to teach her kids so that was great!

 

Our awesome progressing investigator William is still in the hospital. He would probably be on baptism date by now if it weren't for his accident. But he told us he should be able to come home from the hospital in a couple days so hopefully we will be able to start teaching him again soon!

 

Thursday we visited the Guerras, an amazing older couple. He is from El Salvador and she is from Cuba. They just got baptized less than two years ago and they got sealed in the temple just a few months ago and now he is the branch's Elders Quorum President! We went with the Roses. The Roses are a senior missionary couple serving in our branch and they help this branch so much. They are amazing. They both served missions in Peru when they were younger (that's actually how they met!) and Elder Rose had a cool government job so they've lived and worked in places like India, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela, and El Salvador. They also served a 3-year humanitarian mission in India. Then Elder Rose was a Stake President in Idaho for 10 years. And now they are here serving another mission. We work with them more than any other missionaries here right now. 

 

The Guerras and the Roses
 

Thursday was supposed to be the first day of spring, but instead, we got a snowstorm. :(

Yesterday there was an Easter fireside in Spanish at the stake center in East Brunswick. All the Spanish-speaking missionaries in the southern half of the mission went and performed songs and a couple of them bore testimonies. There were also a couple recent converts who bore their testimonies. Our returning member Juan and his investigator wife Elizabeth showed up so we were really excited about that!! It was a really great event. 

 

<3 Hermana Harris

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

A bunch of my Union City buddies who got transferred down south and were at the Easter fireside last night

Here Comes the Sun

Well first off, this was the first week in months that there was NO SNOW! Finally!!! It was still kinda chilly but the sun was out and I didn't have to wear my heavy coat all the time so that's a start. I just hope the weather keeps getting better from this point on. 

Tuesday we had Zone Meeting. And when transfers happened a couple weeks ago, Sister Stone got moved to the same zone as me so I got to see her!! We missed each other so much! I'm so excited to have her so close by and get to see her more often!

On Wednesday there was a mission conference with the whole southern half of the mission. We had a speaker who had been a seminary and institute teacher for 35 years and knew basically everything there is to know about everything. He spoke to us about what is referred to in the scriptures as "baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost" and how it's an ongoing process throughout our lives and it's not enough to merely be baptized and think that's all we have to do. 

Funny story of the week: On Friday we went to a house looking for a less-active guy who lives there. A guy we had never met before opened the door and said he wasn't home (seriously every time we go to this house, we meet a new person who we didn't know lived there. So many Hispanics live in one little house it's almost unbelievable). We talk to him and find out his name (Francisco) and ask if we can teach him. He does the typical "Oh I'm busy right now... come back another day" So we set an appointment for the next day. The next day, we show up and park in front of his house about ten minutes before the appointment, and we see him sneaking out of his house with a guilty look on his face. We just started laughing because we could tell that he was purposely leaving his house ten minutes before he thought we were going to be there so that when we showed up he wouldn't be home. Then we just walk around and contact people in the area and we end up in this little Mexican grocery store with a tiny restaurant inside. And who do I see sitting eating in the restaurant? Francisco. What a booger! He actually saw me and turned his head to make sure it was really me, and then slowly turned his head back towards the window hoping I hadn't noticed him. Then we leave the store and walk past the front of it (he was eating facing the front window) and we just smiled and waved at him through the window and the look on his face was so guilty and embarrassed! 

After Francisco left, we got tacos at the little Mexican restaurant, and while we were eating the manager sat by us and asked a bunch of questions and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he kept saying that we were just another church and he didn't need religion and all that stuff. Then we got up to pay for our tacos and find out that we didn't have any cash and the restaurant didn't accept cards (I should have known...) so the manager ended up paying for our tacos and said it was to pay for the Book of Mormon was gave him! It all happened so fast and he seemed pretty skeptical about what we had to say but hey we got free tacos out of it!

But something happened more important than getting free tacos: Nestor was baptized yesterday!! Teaching him has been different than what I'm used to because he has Autism. But he is really high-functioning and is honestly one of the smartest 14-year-olds I've met. He understands the scriptures so well; we even gave him a copy of Jesus the Christ for him to read! His family is great. His sister Maggie was baptized in November and his brother Andy was baptized three weeks ago. There are six kids in the family and Nestor was the only remaining one over the age of eight who hadn't been baptized yet. The parents love the Gospel and want to get baptized but can't at the moment because they are not married, and they can't get married at the moment because the dad doesn't have a passport and they can't get a marriage license. It's a difficult situation but we have faith that it will all work out somehow. At Nestor's baptism yesterday, his mom bore her testimony and said that she knows the Church is true and she is so proud of her three older children for being baptized, and that she hopes her younger children can be baptized when they are eight and grow up in the Gospel. She also talked about how she hopes her and the father can find a way to get married soon so they can get baptized. 

Our other progressing investigator William was doing really well this week. He has bad eyesight so he was unable to read the Book of Mormon until we finally got a large-print copy to give him this week. He read a couple different chapters this week and learned so much and loved it! But then on Saturday he slipped and fell down the stairs and cracked his skull and broke his shoulder. He's in the hospital right now and is not sure how long it will be until he gets out. So prayers for him to be able to heal and come back fast would be greatly appreciated!

<3 Hermana Harris

Nestor was baptized by Brother Titmas, who is in the English ward

​Us with Nestor, his mom, and his sister Maggie

More Pictures

Our District at P-Day activity last week

What the view looked like when we were snowed in on Thursday

​This is what our car looked like on Friday morning

​There was so much snow in the trees the day after the storm! It was like

something in a Christmas card... except it's March

Sand, Snow, and Chicken

Hello from Jersey! 

This week we taught a lot of the less-actives that live in our area. We spent more time in cities south of where we usually are. There are so many cool places in our area! There's so many cute little seaside towns with charming names like Bayville, Beachwood, Seaside Heights, and Point Pleasant. 

We also taught Nestor (the older brother of Andy who got baptized two weeks ago) three times this week. He is ready for baptism and is scheduled to be baptized on Sunday the 15th!

Wednesday was Sister Daines' birthday so I took her out to dinner at Chick-fil-a (our dinner appointment cancelled on us) although maybe I partly took her there because I missed it so much. I hadn't eaten there since my last day of working at BYU's Chick-fil-a in April! I don't know how I went almost a year without it!

Also on Wednesday we were driving around looking for former investigators in a part of our big area that we don't go to very much and we got lost and ended up at a frozen lake. It was a really foggy day and it was just before dark so it made for some sweet pictures!

Thursday there was a freak snowstorm. It snowed nonstop all day. I couldn't believe how much snow there was! I thought that when March started winter would start to go away. Nope. We were told not to use our cars that day so we were basically snowed int. Luckily it was our weekly planning day so we had to stay inside and be as productive as we could without leaving the apartment. 

We had a bit of a scare on Saturday when our progressing investigator William called us and told us he had made a last-minute decision to move to New York the next day. He feels like he doesn't have any reason to stay here except for his sick mother who he has to care for. We asked him why he wanted to move to New York and he just said "Because New York City is the center of the universe." Haha. He's funny. Anyway, we were so afraid that he was going to move away. His eyesight is bad so he hasn't been able to read the Book of Mormon. Last week we ordered him a large print Spanish Book of Mormon and it should be coming tomorrow. We were so worried that he would move away before we could give him the large print Book of Mormon so he could finally read it! But then when we called him this morning he told us that he was unable to find someone to help care for his mother after he left, and he took that to mean that "The big man upstairs doesn't want me to leave yet and it must be for a reason." Thank goodness! So he's at least staying for a couple more weeks now, and hopefully by then he'll be over this "New York is better than New Jersey" nonsense...because Jersey is obviously better ;)

Saturday we visited a member that lives in Seaside Heights, which is such a cute little seaside town. It's actually on a long skinny island off the coast from the mainland; we had to go over a pretty long bridge to get to it. After the appointment, we just had to stop for a minute to check out the beach. It was my first time standing on a beach since I left CA in June, and it felt so good... although it was completely covered in 6 inches of snow from the storm a couple days earlier. I never thought I'd see a beach covered in snow... apparently that's a thing here? It's not La Jolla but I'll take what I can get. 

I feel so blessed to be here. Being a missionary is awesome!

<3 Hermana Harris

Three Days of Snow

Another transfer has come and gone! But Sister Daines and I are both staying in this area for at least one more transfer. 

 

This week we had a couple different investigators drop us for various reasons. But because of that we were able to focus more on our other investigators and get them to progress more. 

 

On Saturday we were teaching the Saavedra kids (the family with the 10-year-old who got baptized last week) and I was talking to the oldest kid Nestor while Sister Daines was playing a church game with the rest of the kids on the other side of the room. Nestor is a really smart kid and we had an extra copy of Jesus the Christ in our apartment so we gave it to him earlier this week. So when I talked to him on Saturday I had him read the part about when Jesus was baptized. He's only 14 but he understood what he read perfectly and explained it back to me- that Jesus didn't need to be baptized because he didn't have any sins, but that he was baptized to show us the example that we need to follow, and that it is really important for us to follow that example by being baptized. So then I asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he paused for about 30 seconds then smiled and said "Ok. I'm ready." He said that he thinks he can be ready by March 15th! So we're super excited about that. 

 

Also we have this Puerto Rican investigator named William. He was a referral from some members who live in the same house as him. We've been teaching him for about a month now but hadn't made much progress until this week. He talks a lot and we've had a really hard time teaching him simple Gospel truths because he never lets us talk. But this week we visited him with the Roses (a senior missionary couple in the branch here) and we read the introduction of the Book of Mormon with him and it was by far the best lesson we've had with him. Then he came to church yesterday and after church I asked him how he liked it and he said "So what do I have to do to become a member?" So I was pretty excited and just said "Well you would have to get baptized!" and he asked what he has to do to get baptized. So we explained to him that there are still things we need to teach him and then he can have his interview. His main barrier right now is that his eyesight is really bad so he can't read the normal-sized Book of Mormon. So we ordered one in large print from the mission office and hopefully we'll be able to get that to him this week. We're excited to help him progress further!

 

Other than that not a whole lot happened this week. Once again, the weather was really bad a couple days this week and we had to cancel some appointments and stay inside because it wasn't safe to drive. It's March now but it doesn't look like the weather will be getting better any time soon :(

 

<3 Hermana Harris

 

A random Mexican grocery store in the middle of a largely Mexican neighborhood