Eaten Alive

Hey everyone!

 

Tomorrow means it's been one year since I left the Mexico MTC and flew here to Jersey. It was nasty hot and humid when I got here this time last year. Now, after a long and terrible winter, summer is in full swing here again with tons of heat, humidity, and worst of all, bugs. Sister Bentley and I got eaten alive this week. We had to teach a few lessons outside this week because we couldn't go inside the house, and the bugs went to town on our legs :( Last time I counted I had 29 bites on me. Fun stuff!

 

There was a contest throughout the mission to see which zone had the cleanest apartments. The senior couples had to inspect every single apartment within a few days and judge the different aspects of cleanliness. Our zone won! For our prize, today we get to go bowling and eat pizza with President and Sister Taggart! 

 

On Tuesday I gave a training in District Meeting on having charity for the people we teach, which can be hard sometimes, especially when people lie to us/avoid us/don't keep commitments. After District Meeting, we had interviews with President Taggart. I always learn so much just from talking to him for about 15 minutes. He is amazing and he loves each one of his missionaries so much. That night I went on exchange with my STL Sister Rigby and wow she is so fun! It felt like we were best friends by the end of our 24 hours together. It did feel pretty weird being in an English area though. I'm not scared at all by contacting and knocking doors when it comes to the Hispanic people here, but doing the same thing with English-speaking people is a lot more intimidating to me. 

 

On Friday we went with the Roses (our senior couple) to try to visit some of the less actives in the branch. Nobody was home and we couldn't think of anyone else to visit. It was getting late so we decided to go home. I was a little sad that we hadn't been able to find anyone to let us in all day. But on the way home I got the thought to try a former investigator that we've been trying to find for a while. We'd knocked her door several times, but always during the day and nobody was home. I decided we should try to find her at home that night. We knocked the door, a lady answered, we said "We're looking for Isabel," and she said "I'm Isabel! Come on in!" So after a long boring day of getting rejected, we decided to try one more time and we got a new investigator!

 

Saturday was a pretty typical Saturday for us. We had 5 set appointments and only one of them ended up actually happening. When our appointments fall through, we end up either knocking doors in the area or driving to the homes of former investigators to try to find them. It gets kinda tedious sometimes. I'm definitely learning a lot about patience, that's for sure. But despite all the long boring hours in the hot sun, I am happy! I know I am where I need to be right now, and I know the Lord is proud of me. 

 

<3 Hermana Harris

 

At least the bites match my skirt and shoes, right?