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

 

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Happy Monday! It's definitely winter here in Jersey! A couple weeks ago, the weather had been getting warmer and there hadn't been any snow in a while. We thought maybe the worst of the winter was over and spring would come early this year. Nope! There was so much snow this week it was ridiculous. It has definitely been slowing down the missionary work around here. Sometimes our leaders will tell us that the driving conditions aren't good enough so we have to keep our cars parked. The roads here are already really old and bumpy, and the snow and ice makes it that much worse! So we are being really careful.

On Thursday we had interviews with President Taggart. He is so sincere and it's easy to tell he genuinely cares about each of his missionaries. The Spirit is always so strong whenever he's around. 

So we've been working a lot with the Saavedra family. They are from Mexico and they have six kids with one on the way! They are some of the most sweet and humble people I have ever met. They have so little but they share everything they have and whenever we are there they insist on giving us food. Their 13-year-old daughter Maggie got baptized back in November. The parents would have been baptized a long time ago, but the problem is that they're not married and they can't get married at the moment because of birth certificate issues. It's pretty sad. Anyway, we have been working a lot with their 10-year-old son Andy and yesterday he was baptized! Now we are going to be working a lot with their 14-year-old son Nestor, who has said he is open to getting baptized but wanted to wait until after Andy's baptism to decide. They have 3 other kids but they are not old enough to be baptized yet. 

Andy's baptism yesterday was great. He was baptized by Elder Rose. The Roses are a senior couple assigned to the Spanish branch here. They both served missions in Peru so they speak Spanish really well, and they do so much for this branch! Pretty much the whole branch was there at the baptism yesterday and everyone brought SO MUCH FOOD. It was great. Hispanics turn any event into a reason to eat a ton of food! So basically every baptism also includes an all-you-can-eat Mexican buffet. Definitely not complaining about that. 

Besides the Saavedra family, we have a lot of other investigators but not very many of them are progressing. Now that Andy is baptized we are going to be focusing a lot on these other investigators and getting them to progress, and dropping them if they don't. 

Also good things continue to happen in Union City. I left a little piece of my heart in that ward. Sister Stone is doing great there. Yesterday Carlos' 16-year-old son Sebastian was able to baptized his little brother Argus! Also last week Evelyn (an 8-year-old girl that we worked with so much in Union City) finally got permission from her mom to be baptized and her baptism was last week!

There are so many blessings every day!

<3 Hermana Harris

​Snow+Cemetery+Sunset=Beautiful

​This looks like a field but it's actually a frozen lake

​We tried to build a snowman but the snow wasn't sticky enough so we just made snow angels

Andy's baptism yesterday!

Best Valentine's Day Ever

So first off I have an announcement: I officially know what it is like to have your hair freeze. My hair was still a little wet when we left the apartment this morning and it was 15 degrees and the wet part of my hair froze on the walk from the apartment to the car. I'm definitely not used to that haha.

This week was good. We have a 10-year-old investigator Andy who is getting baptized on Sunday! His 13-year-old sister Maggie got baptized back in November, and now Andy feels like he is ready too! He has seen how happy Maggie is that she has made that decision and now he is following her example. 

We have this other really cool investigator Janet. She is from Mexico and she is so smart! When we were teaching her about baptism she said "I was baptized Catholic when I was a baby, but that wasn't even my decision. And then a few years ago I was baptized into a Christian church, but I don't really feel like it counted because they didn't have any authority" I was just amazed that she had that insight about how priesthood authority is needed to baptize when she hadn't even had the Restoration Lesson yet! That is one of the main points of the Restoration lesson- how the proper priesthood authority was lost during the apostasy  and how that authority has been restored and is necessary to baptize. So then we taught her the Restoration a few days later and she understood it so well! When we taught her the part about the apostasy and she said "So that must be why there are so many churches right?" There are so many people that just don't get it but she does!

Tuesday I went on exchange with Sister Shiman, a sister training leader here. For dinner we went to this place called Eat a Pita: Kosher Israeli Grill. Everyone there was an Orthodox Jew except for the two of us and a random Mexican worker haha. I still can't get over how many Jews there are in Lakewood!

Saturday was the best Valentine's Day ever! My Carlos and Sebastian from Union City went to the temple to do baptisms for the first time, and I got permission to go! Sister Daines and I drove up to Union City, where we met up with Sister Stone and her new companion Sister Parker. Sister Daines joined Sister Parker for the day to cover their area, and Sister Stone and I got to go to the Manhattan Temple with Carlos, Sebastian, the bishop, and two other members of the Union City ward. Carlos had done some family history work and got some family names (including his father) that he wanted to do baptisms for. All our group did confirmations, and Carlos and Sebastian did baptisms. It was so special to get to watch that! They loved their first time in the temple! It's just so amazing how truly prepared they were for the Gospel and that they were able to accept it so quickly when we found them in December. Now they already have temple recommends! <3 

Yesterday wasn't quite as exciting. Church was cancelled because it was so cold and there was so much snow. So we stayed inside most of the day watching missionary videos and reading Ensigns.

I love being a missionary! Miracles are real!

<3 Hermana Harris 

Mama and Daughter Reunited for Valentine's Day <3

You can't really tell in the picture, but that's Juilliard behind us

 At the temple with Carlos and Sebastian!

 

 

 

Sister Shiman and I eating Jewish food.  Pretty good!

 

Sister Daines and I with our super cool Peruvian investigators, Cesar and Luz

Gas is under $2 right now!!  :O

 

 

 

Trekking Across Antarctica

Well this week started off super cold. But what makes it colder is the wind. There were a couple snowstorms which made it super hard to drive because I could barely see. We were late to a lot of lessons because it took so much longer than usual to drive. And then we would open the door of the car to get out and there'd be a huge gust of freezing wind. And the snow looked like something out of Frozen because it was just blowing in circles like when Elsa is singing Let it Go haha. After the snowy days were over, there was still tons of ice on the roads and sidewalks. So we were very careful with walking and driving!

 

Our area is great. There are more Hispanics here than I thought there would be. Pretty much everyone here is either Jewish or Hispanic. Most of the Hispanics here are Mexicans. Something random I've noticed about Mexicans is that they usually paint the inside walls of their home bright colors. You can just tell it's a Mexican's house when the walls are turquoise or orange or yellow haha.

 

There were quite a bit of Jews in Union City but they refused to talk to us. The Jews here are nicer and actually talk to Gentiles. This week we actually had three different Jews try to flirt with us from their cars. Weird. 

 

There's this family we teach all the time. The 12-year-old daughter was baptized two months ago, and she has two brothers that are old enough to be baptized. They all come to church every week and they are open to getting baptized eventually but just haven't progressed as fast as their sister, which is why she was baptized two months ago and they still haven't been baptized. But we know that they can both be baptized soon and we are going to continue working with them a lot!

 

So guess what? Convert Carlos from Union City continues to be amazing. This week Sister Stone told me that he just accepted a calling in the Young Men's Presidency of the Union City Ward! And he's only been a member for 6 weeks! Also he got his temple recommend this week, and on Saturday he is going to the temple to be baptized for his deceased father. And guess what? Sister Stone called President Taggart and got permission for me to go!! I'm so excited to see them and go to the temple with them!!

 

Sorry this email is kinda short on words as well as pictures. I will take more pictures this week to send home!

 

I am cold but I am happy! Missionary work is awesome!

 

<3 Hermana Harris

The Gathering of Zion

Well where to start? I have been in Toms River for about two weeks now, and now that we are done moving into the other apartment, we actually had time to do real missionary work this week! I am getting to know the members and the area better too. 

 

So we live in Toms River and our chapel is in Toms River, but we spend most of our time in Lakewood because that's where most of the Hispanics are. Lakewood is an interesting place. I've heard that it has the highest concentration of Jewish people anywhere in America. So a lot of the missionaries here jokingly call this place Zion because of all the Jews. About 45% of the people in Lakewood are Jewish, and about 30% are Hispanic. So we still have plenty of Hispanics to find and teach. The largest groups here are Mexicans and Peruvians. 

 

There are soooo many trees here. Very different than Union City haha. A couple times this week we drove to areas other than Lakewood and Toms River to visit some people, and out there it's just endless trees on both sides of the highway. I actually had a couple of deer run out in front of the car while I was driving! Whereas the extent of the wildlife in Union City is pigeons and stray cats haha. 

 

Our area is one of the biggest (I wouldn't be surprised if it was THE biggest) in the mission and we spend a ton of time in the car. We drove 300 miles this past week. 

 

It snowed a lot this week. There were a couple days when we were told we couldn't drive cars because of the icy conditions. 

 

So there's this Puerto Rican lady in the branch named Titi. She is 83 years old and she was just baptized two years ago!  She is so cute and sweet! She always says "the only thing I don't like about the Church is that the missionaries always have to go." She doesn't like it when the missionaries here get transferred out haha. We visited her this week and she is just the sweetest thing ever haha. 

 

Biggest miracle this week: A lady showed up at the church building and found the wife of the bishop of the English ward and told her she was an inactive member who wanted to return to church. She gave her information to the bishop's wife who gave it to us because she is Hispanic. We visited her on Saturday to get to know her better. Her name is Ana, she was born in Colombia but grew up in Venezuela and has lived in America for 45 years now. She said she was baptized in the 80's but stopped going to church a long time ago. Yesterday she went to church for the first time in 20 years and she loved it! She told us that she wants to be completely active again and participate in everything. She was already making friends with the people in the branch when she came yesterday!

 

This mission is awesome!

 

<3 Hermana Harris

 

 

 

Pics From My Last Day in Union City

This is what your shoes look like when you spend 6 months in a walking area

Mama and Daughter <3

We went to Noches de Colombia and when we got the check we found out

someone there anonymously paid for our meal!

Bergenline is the coolest street ever.