I Love Lizzy

Transfers are this week, and we found out last night that Sister Ivie and I are staying together another transfer! I'm so happy! We are having so much fun together and working really hard. I'm excited to see what our next transfer together has in store. 

 

I seriously love Elizabeth so much. There are so many prepared people and the diversity is amazing. The majority of the people are Hispanic but there's a ton of people from other places too. In the past couple weeks I've met people from Syria, Portugal, and Estonia. This week we met a man from Bangladesh and started asking him about what he believed. He said he grew up in a Muslim home but now he is agnostic. We had a good discussion about God and how He loves us so much. We visited him again a couple days later and he said he is going through a tough time and, although he lost his faith in God about 10 years ago, he now is looking to find answers for himself and is open to believing in God again. It was a different than most lessons I've had because he didn't have a solid Christian background, but it was a really cool experience. We then gave his information to the English elders and they are teaching him now :)

 

On Saturday we parked at the church and we're going to walk around and try people who lived nearby. As soon as we walked out of the church parking lot, a man rode past us on a bike and we made quick eye contact and smiled. I remember thinking "If only he wasn't riding so fast I would try to contact him". Two seconds later we see him turn his bike around and head back towards us. He asked us what church we are from and said he wants to know more. He mentioned his wife died of cancer about a year ago and he is looking for answers and comfort. So we quickly set an appointment for the next day. Yesterday after church we visited him with Hermana Ortiz (an amazing Dominican member and the best team-up ever) and taught the Restoration. He had a ton of good questions and was so fascinated by what we had to say. He is going to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! He is so prepared and we are excited! His name is Gabriel and he is from Nicaragua. 

 

On Saturday night before the General Women's Broadcast, we had a little while to walk around and contact people. One of the first people we saw was a young man sitting on a bench with headphones in. As we walked up to him I saw him look at us, smile, and take his headphones out. Good sign! I was pumped to talk to him. When we got to him he asked us if we were Elders. I asked him if he had seen missionaries before and he told us he's a member! He was baptized in Ecuador less than a year ago and had just arrived in the US four days before we talked to him! He had been wanting to go to church and wondering where the nearest chapel was. We also found out that he just so happens to be temporarily living in the same apartment as our investigator Silvano! Crazy! So we invited him to church and he showed up to church yesterday! Sister Ivie and I were just blown away. He just barely moved here and was looking for the church to attend, and God put him in our path as we walked down the street so we could find him and tell him where the church building is. It wasn't a coincidence! I love the way God works.

 

Another person who showed up to church yesterday was our investigator Pedro. We taught him the Plan of Salvation this week and the Spirit was super strong. He loved church yesterday and he is progressing well! We are hoping to get him on baptismal date soon.

 

I was sad to hear about the death of Elder Richard G. Scott this week. I can't believe three of the Apostles have passed away since the last General Conference! I can't wait to find out who the new ones will be. Who's stoked for Conference this weekend?? I am!

 

Being a missionary is the best!

 

<3 Hermana Harris



P. S.  So there are these videos that new missionaries and trainers have to watch.  They are actual videos of missionaries teaching from forever ago (approximately 2006).  The dress code for sisters was a bit . . . different back then.  Sister Ivie and I decided to have a photo shoot and see what we would look like if we were serving back in the Dark Ages.
 

 

A Visit from An Apostle

The front door of a potential we were trying to visit . . .

I think they don't want visitors.

 

 
This week was busy and exhausting and full of struggles but lots of great experiences as well.
 
Tuesday morning we got a text from our golden investigator Eduardo dropping us :( He said he couldn't meet with us anymore because of his work schedule and that he is going to keep going to his Catholic Church.
 
Tuesday night was an awesome exchange with Sister Rogers, who is from Australia. I stayed in Elizabeth this time and Sister Rogers is an English missionary so I had to do all the translating. Even though she didn't know what most of the people were saying in the lessons, she testified to them in English and I translated and they were able to feel the power of her testimony even if they couldn't understand her language. We had 5 lessons back to back and they all actually happened instead of falling through, so that was awesome. 

Exchange with Sister Rogers, the awesome Australian

 
Thursday we were fed by the Realpes, an awesome member family. The husband is in the bishopric and the wife is the Primary President, and they've only been members for 3 years! She told us their conversion story. Long story short, she had been going through a rough time and prayed that God would send her some sort of sign of what she should do. A little while later, missionaries knocked on their door and they accepted the Gospel. Now just 3 years later they are super strong and do so much for the ward. 

Friday we went to Ellis Island again. I'm definitely getting more comfortable with helping people with the database there. This time around it seemed like everyone there was from either France or Italy... which made communication a bit difficult because I only know English and Spanish. But I did find an awesome family from Argentina and got to talk to them in Spanish and help them for a few minutes! I love all Latin countries, but Argentina has a special place in my heart because of my trainer. 
 

 

 
Yesterday there was a multi-stake conference in the Newark Symphony Hall to announce the creation of a new stake. They moved the borders of the already-existing Caldwell Stake, Scotch Plains Stake, and Paterson District (smaller than a stake) to form three stakes- the Soldier Hill Stake, the Scotch Plains Stake, and the Liberty Park Stake. Super exciting to see the growth of the church here! And Elder Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was there! He went to high school here in NJ, and he said that when he lived here there was only one stake for the whole state, and now there are three stakes just in this part of NJ! Wow!

Newark Symphony Hall. It's huge and gorgeous.

Reminded me of the Pantages Theater in Hollywood

 

After announcing the boundaries and leaders of the new stake, Elder Christofferson spoke to us. This was my first time hearing an Apostle speak in person so I was super excited. Here is some of what I managed to write down from when he spoke to us-
 

 That's Elder D. Todd Christofferson second from the left!

"I want to add my witness of the BoM, when I lived here in Jersey when I was a teenager we went to the Hill Cumorah pageant one summer. I thought this was the perfect place for me to have a confirmation. I went to the Sacred Grove. I was all alone there. I knew it was a special place. I took off my shoes and knelt down and prayed that the Lord would manifest to me in His way that these things were true. I was sincerely and diligently praying, but I didn't receive anything. I was disappointed and asked myself what I had done wrong make me unworthy of an answer. I learned an important lesson from that- You can't dictate to God and tell Him when and how to reveal things to you. We have to remain open for when it will come. The answer I was seeking came about a month later, when I was in my bedroom reading the BoM. Without asking, there flooded over me a communication of pure intelligence that comes from the Spirit that this book is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I was totally unmistakeable and came without words. The conversion that began earlier in life continues to expand in my study of that book. If you are seeking answers, don't stop; don't give up. Continue until you receive that witness directly from the Spirit, you don't have to be in any special place."

Another thing he said that I loved was "He could not love you or know you better if you were His only child." Wow. He has so many children, but he loves each one of us so much. I'm so grateful I got to hear and see an Apostle of the Lord in person. There was such a special feeling there.

I also saw a lot of the members from my first area, Union City! It was so good to see them after so long. Argus, who is the son of one of my converts and got baptized about a month after I left that area, recognized me and came up to me and said hi! He was also in the youth choir that performed for everyone and it was amazing. The Spirit was so strong throughout the whole conference and I feel so blessed to have been able to be there! I am so grateful that the Church is growing steadily in this part of New Jersey and that I get to play a small part in it. Miracles are real and the Church is true!

I love the Gospel. I love missionary work. It is hard, but it is so worth it!

<3 Hermana Harris
 
 

 I sat in front of Hermanas Campusano and Jerez from my first area!

 

Tick Tick Tick

Hello everyone!

 

We did some serious work this week. We had 7 new investigators and 4 investigators at church. One of them was an older Ecuadorian man named Pedro. We contacted him on the street my second day here. On Saturday we called and invited him to church, and he came and he loved it! I love Elizabeth. So many people are willing to listen and actually come to church when they say they will. 

 

We had two more exchanges this week. Tuesday I went to New Brunswick and Friday I went to Plainfield. Part of my job is to make sure that the sisters we work with are being obedient. It is hard for me to correct their behavior because I'm not a confrontational person and I don't usually feel comfortable telling someone they are doing something wrong. But that's something I've been able to work on the past couple weeks- correcting people in a loving way so they know that I'm only trying to help them. 

 

Saturday we had a couple hours without appointments so we took the ward directory and went in search of members we didn't know. Most of the houses we tried had nobody home. At the last house we tried, an old Ecuadorian lady opened up and let us in right away. Turns out she is a very active member and we just had never met her before (our ward is pretty big). She told us she usually goes to the temple once a week but that her recommend expired recently and she was trying to get an interview with the Stake President to get it renewed. She hadn't had any luck getting a hold of him and had been praying that someone would come help her. She said she knew we were the answer to her prayers. We are trying to get in contact with the Stake President to help her. 

 

The weather is being weird. The first couple days this week, it was disgustingly hot and humid, but by the end of the week it was chilly, windy, and rainy. On Thursday, Hermana Ivie and I were going to leave the apartment to walk to an appointment (we can't use our cars on Thursdays so we walk). We looked out the window and saw that it was drizzling but figured we'd be fine without umbrellas and rain boots as long as we had out raincoats. It was fine for the first 20 minutes or so of walking, but then the rain got heavier and heavier. Our wimpy little ballet flats were completely soaked. Luckily our iPads stayed dry because I kept them in my purse under my raincoat.  I don't mind the rain because the past four months or so have been so hot. Hopefully the summer is finally over (never thought I would say that, but Jersey summers are gross)!

 

 

It was crazy hot on Tuesday and two days later it was pouring!

 

 

Eduardo hasn't been able to come to church the past couple weeks because of work, but we are still teaching him regularly and he is progressing well. This week we taught him in the home of the Corzo's, a really awesome member family from Peru. Hermana Corzo testified to him of how the Gospel has changed her life and how she knows it will change his. We then explained that since faith is the first principle of the Gospel and he already has a lot of faith, he now needs to follow the second principle- repentance. We invited him to pray and repent of his past mistakes so he can prepare to be baptized and start a new life. He is always so good about keeping his reading commitments. We are hoping to get him on baptism date soon. 

 

This week Hermana Ivie and I also got our flight itineraries for when we go home in December. We're definitely having mixed emotions. I miss a lot of things about home but I am loving my time here and I'm not ready for it to end yet. I have just over 3 months left and I am trying my best to focusing on the work so I can give the Lord my all during this short time. 

 

I love Elizabeth and I love being a missionary! 

 

<3 Hermana Harris

 

 

 Rosa, who quit smoking to be baptized. Yes she is blonde and yes she is from Uruguay. Her parents moved from Poland to Uruguay to escape WWII

Giovanni, the cutest little 9-year-old

 

 

Big Days

This was easily the most stressful week of my mission, but also one of the most rewarding. Rosa was on date to be baptized on Sunday the 6th (yesterday), and Giovanni was going to be baptized on the 13th. But on Monday last week we got a call from Giovanni's dad asking if we could move up the baptism to the 6th instead. So Sister Ivie and I ended up having two completely unrelated baptisms to plan out, with two separate services and tons of details to figure out and keep track of. 

Another thing that made this week really busy was that we did our first 2 exchanges as Sister Training Leaders. For the first one, I spent a day in Perth Amboy with Sister Berry. It was really fun because she served in my area when I was in Union City so we are good friends. For our second exchange, I stayed here in Elizabeth and my companion for the day was Sister Robinson, an English missionary. That night we taught a lesson to a Cuban lady Ana who was chattering on in rapid-fire Spanish. Although Sister Robinson didn't understand a thing Ana was saying, she looked her in the eyes and bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith. It brought the Spirit so strongly and afterwards, Ana said she understood what Sister Robinson was saying even though she doesn't know English. It was a really powerful moment.

There are so many details to plan with baptisms -- who's doing the baptizing, who's giving the talks, who's saying the prayers, making sure there is enough clean white baptismal clothes, making sure the baptismal interviews get done, filling out the paperwork, etc. It's always a little stressful. Planning two separate baptisms for the same day just increased the stress about tenfold. We had printed out the baptism programs on Saturday afternoon and we didn't realize until about 8pm that we hadn't even asked anyone to give the talks at Rosa's baptism! So we had to scramble to get everything put together. 

Sunday morning we left the apartment just before 7am to go to ward council. While in ward council I was stressing out because the family who usually picks Rosa up for church wasn't answering the phone. I was afraid the baptism would have to be cancelled just because she couldn't find a ride to church. That would have been so sad. We ended up asking someone else in the ward to run over and pick her up. It was a major sigh of relief when we saw Rosa arrive at church just a few seconds before sacrament meeting began. 

Rosa was baptized right after church. She is amazing. She is from Uruguay but looks super white because her parents moved to Uruguay from Poland in the 1940's to escape World War II. She is one of the most prepared people I've ever met. She was a referral from Charlie and Nancy, who got baptized about 3 weeks before I got here. She had been a heavy smoker for 40 years but quit smoking right before I got here so that she could prepare to be baptized. It was so hard for her to give up that habit, but her desire to be baptized and enter the Lord's kingdom was stronger than her cravings for cigarettes. She was baptized by Charlie and was so happy afterwards. I feel so lucky to have been able to play a small part in helping her and I have learned so much from her example. 

Right after Rosa's baptism was Giovanni's baptism. He is 9 and his dad is Colombian and his mom is Ecuadorian but he was born here in NJ. His parents are both members but he wasn't baptized when he was 8 because they were waiting for his dad to be able to get the priesthood and baptize him. Since he's 9 now, the responsibility of teaching and baptizing him and filling out his baptism record fell to the missionaries instead of the ward. He is so cute and was so ready to get baptized. After his baptism, he bore his testimony about how he is going to be a good person and follow Christ and it was adorable.

I feel so grateful to have been able to watch these two children of God make a sacred covenant with him yesterday. Planning it was stressful but it was so worth it. I love being a missionary!

<3 Hermana Harris