THREE MONTHS! 1/6 OF THE WAY DONE!!; October 14

well, this week has been a good week according to our stats and our area we are in. and we finally got a car. it's a 2014 chevy cruz. we got it with five miles on it. it's brand spankin new. we're spoiled. anyways, we contacted one referral and had 6 less active lessons! that's amazing! that never happens! the week started off rough. last monday we had an appointment with a less active named Ardith and we've been trying to get one forever and then she cancelled. but that's part of missionary work. then tuesday we got the car. wednesday our appointment the less active who was going to take us to lunch went through! we went to applebees. She basically finally got together with us to tell us her husband came back and so she's going to be moving now. her and her husband have been separated for many years. so we won't be able to get in contact with her anymore. that's okay. we got to leave a little spiritual thought at the end. also, a girl named stephanie that Sister Trower and Sister Carter worked with before i came out. moved back. they activated her and then she moved away and now she's back and back into her same life before she left. she's a sweet girl. all she needs is love and friends. so we visited her a few times this week. Thursday was my three month mark. I'm 1/6 of the way done. Friday we had zone meeting. It was really good. I also had my three month interview with President during zone meeting and it happened to be during training and practice so i didn't have to do role plays. i hate role plays haha we also met with Mollie twice this week. She really wants to go back to the temple but she needs to go to church and pay her tithing. so we talked to her about tithing. we watched Elder Bednars most recent conference talk on tithing and blessings and read her a few scriptures on tithing and she said she was convinced about tithing and was going to start paying it but she didn't come to church on sunday but we're not losing hope. saturday we were at the visitors center and a bishop called in and said he was bringing a co-worker in to tell him about the temple and take him on a temple tour. so since sister carter answered the phone we got to do that. his co-worker he was bringing was afraid he was going to be preached to and was worried about coming in so he just wanted us to give him the facts. so that's what we did. The guy was very receptive and asked a lot of good questions. after they left we got a call from that bishop saying that we did everything perfectly and asked how we did it without even knowing the guy and thanked us for going on missions and we're being great representatives. it was great! Then on Sunday it was sunny and warm! it was a miracle haha and we had an investigator at church! Her name is Lauren. Sister Carter and Sister Trower taught her once and we've stayed in contact with her.  She's in dental school and really busy for lessons but she came to church with her boyfriend so that was great! that was the week :) hope you all had a good week. love you :)

~Sister Harris

Longest Week of My Life; October 07

This week we didn't have any appointments. Mollie and Heather that we usually meet with each week both cancelled. We made cookies this week and had a ward missionary drive us and come with us to some of the less actives. She drove us in her red Hyundai Accent. It was the best thing of my life. Anyways, we had about 12 plates of cookies and all but three plates were given to someone in the house. I prayed to get at least one return appointment and by the end of the week we got a text from a less active named Mary and I met with her once at the very beginning of my mission but we haven't been able to get a hold of her again and she said she wanted to take us out to lunch on Wednesday so hopefully that goes through and goes well. We also got another appointment with a less active named Ardith tonight. Hopefully that goes well. We did a lot of tracting and contacting this week. Nothing else went on. The VC has been pretty slow because school is back in. Today we got together at the Johnstons and had a VC pday. it was really fun. There are a lot of new sisters in the VC and we don't really know each other and a lot of people have just been breaking down and falling apart. I think it's because the VC is so slow it's hard to keep us busy and it just gives us time to think of home. so we needed this day to get together with everyone and just bond haha we made pumkin waffles and pancakes for breakfast with chocolate chips. they were delicious. and one of the companionships in the VC couldn't handle each other for two more weeks so they had to have an emergency transfer and so that means one sister left the VC so we got a new one. Sister Farley! She's the one from Bountiful in Aunt Roni's ward. So that's fun. Conference was really good! I loved it! Each talk was amazing! I loved how on Saturday the big theme was missionary work and members and missionaries need to work together. Hopefully that'll get our ward excited again. Apparently the ward was a lot of help and excited after the mission president broadcast in June. Another thing that really stood out to me in conference that was said by Uchtdorf was "Doubt your doubts, before you doubt your faith." Faith is everything. If you don't have that sure foundation of faith, where are you at? I also like how a lot of talks were all about enduring and having a deep conversion. Just think about where you are in life and what needs to be done to be where you want to be. Life is hard, but we are promised it is so worth it to endure to the end to reach eternal life. Everyone has trials, but how do you face those trials? Head on with a happy countenace or avoid them and approach them kicking and screaming? You decide. You all have your agency. But i'd much rather take the happy easy rode. It seems hard but through Christ you can do all things and it's super easy. It's just using that faith and steping into the dark but everything works out. Love you all. I miss you. See you soon.

Frogs, Squirrels, and Coyotes; Sept. 30

Alright, this week has been interesting. Actually, I don't know. I always have so much to tell you, but once I sit down and start writing I don't remember anything that happened the last week. Well Sister Carter and I had to teach in district meeting this last week on how to be organized. and in district meeting we always teach for about 15 minutes and then everyone is supposed to practice for 30. well how in the world are you supposed to practice being organized? exactly. well luckily or district leader talked forever about goals and such that we only had 15 minutes left. Just in time to teach. The Lord works in mysterious ways and knew there was no way to practice it haha 

On thursday, two guys came into the visitors center one after another who weren't members. One asked if he could go inside the temple.  I told him he could but he'd have to prepare first and showed him our temple display and the video on baptisms for the dead and what happens in the temple.  He told me he was agnostic and wasn't religious. and after i showed him one two minute video he didn't like it and left. but in the middle of the other guy walked in and walked straight up to us and after the first guy left I asked this guy about himself and if he was a member and he told me he wasn't but his daughter had friends that were and wanted to know more about it. and i don't know why i got these two guys one after the other. everyone else was goofing off somewhere else i guess. but anyways, since we were already at the temple display i showed him the baptisms for the dead video again and then he asked how our marriages were different from normal marriages. yes he said normal. and then i should him the sealing video. then he asked really good questions about the priesthood and prophets and apostles and joseph smith and it was really good. and of course sister melgaard came out and started butting into the conversation but it worked out well. and i told him about the book of mormon and moroni's promise and gave him a book of mormon and told him to read alma 32. which is on faith. i put a book mark in that chapter and i wasn't sure why and then we went on a temple tour on the grounds because he asked for one and we told him more about moroni and he asked if he could see the gold plates and then he would know for sure this was the true church. he is one that just wants a sign and he even said while on the tour he was a man of little faith. so hopefully he'll read alma 32. and when he left he told him to atleast read to alma 32 and he said he'd probably read the whole thing. he lives in hillsboro so who knows if we'll hear anything about that. but it was a really cool experience. especially to teach with sister melgaard because i actually got to talk. sister carter talks too much and i never get a word in. so that was nice. and on friday i had a melt down because there has been so much gossip going around in the visitors center about other sisters and people having problems with their companionships and i couldn't handle it anymore so i was the tattle tale and I told Sister Johnston. so hopefully things will be better soon. also, on sunday I was called up in third hour to talk about patriarchal blessings for five minutes and i don't know if it was five minutes but all my words were jumbled and i told about my experience on how and why i decided to go on a mission and i was praying i would at least touch one person and this kid that was from the singles ward slipped into the chapel when i was speaking because the YSA meet after us and he came up to me after and he told me that because of things i said he finally decided to go on a mission. Im so glad i talked to the one person i wanted to touch. That was awesome. well that's all i have for this week. oh ya, it's been pouring rain this whole week and frogs have just been hopping across the road ahha a little odd. and on a regular basis there is always squirrels running across the road. i live in a forest. and everyone tells us to watch out for coyotes because they're everywhere and roam the streets, but i haven't seen one yet. just some animals im not used to haha have a good week. love you all.

~Sister Harris

Lake Oswego; Septemeber 23

Well this week has been interesting.  It went by so fast I don't remember anything that happened. I feel like we had a ton of meetings. We had two visitors center meetings and we had zone meeting and President Morby was there and talked for awhile that means it went over and our proselyting time was cut short and we don't have much of that anyways because we're in the visitors center half the day. also, this week the other sisters in our ward/area got there car taken away. Not because they were disobedient but because an Elder that is in a biking mission hurt his foot and can't bike anymore got their car. That means we are sharing a car. So that means we are walking half the time. and of course when we start walking it decides to actually rain in Oregon. weird. I know. It's been raining in Utah and everywhere else a lot but not here haha but i loved walking in the rain. that means this week we have been doing a lot of tracting. We tried to get in contact with a lot of our less actives on Saturday and they all said they were busy and to come back later, but wouldn't give us a specific time. Imagine that.  Then that's when we tracted the houses around the less actives house. We were able to give out one Book of Mormon while tracting. That's fantastic for Lake Oswego. We couldn't get in contact with any of our potential investigators, but we won't lose hope. We'll keep trying. We have two investigators. One, Jackson we still haven't got a hold of him in two weeks. He's going through a divorce and doesn't have a phone.  And Heather cancelled our appointment with her this week but said we could come next week. So we just keep praying things will work out. But she did come to sacrament yesterday because it was the primary program and her kids were in it. It was awesome! She usually just comes to the last two hours of church and goes to primary with her kids. But the biggest miracle that happened this week was our Less active we've been working with, Mollie, finally came to church! AND she stayed for all three hours! It was such a huge step. On Friday when we met with her we really stressed the importance of the sacrament and the spirit finally pricked her heart and she came. Our prayers were answered.  This is another short email but i don't really have much else to say. Love you all! MIss you. see you soon.

~Sister Harris

Oregonians; September 16

Okay, No one worry. Elder Hadlock is our newest zone leader. What? I know. Who knew when we were messing around in high school that we'd both be on a mission in the exact same place in the exact same zone. It's crazy. He has changed a lot. He is a great ZL. 

Well this week has been crazy. Our area has been slow and Sister Carter wrote her dad about it and he is the bishop of her ward at home and he said that the Mission President in that area where they live advised the missionaries to get a bishop blessing from the bishop in the ward they are serving in because he has the keys to the area. So that is what we did. One thing that stuck out in my blessing was that my happy joyous countenance will be a blessing to others. I know. You're all shocked. I am too. The thing I hear the most since I've been out here is your so happy. i love your smile. I know you are all collapsing reading that. At home everyone thought I was grumpy. I'm glad I'm seeing some change in me haha the gospel brings me so much happiness I hope it brings you all so much happiness.  Anyways, things finally started to pick up.  We went tracting on Tuesday and tracted into a former investigators house that we've been trying to get an appointment set up forever. She wanted to wait until school started and then she shattered her hand and she is just a mess. but we talked to her sister for awhile and she is a true christian and she has such a strong testimony of Christ and she has had so many spiritual experiences we just need to help her recognize the spirit and she will be baptized and be a solid member. She has never sat in on any of the lessons and she said she would. I'm so excited. Then our other investigator Heather we finally got to meet with and it was a little crazy with her 3 year old running around everywhere. She has taken the lessons before but since she has no religious background she needs the lessons again. She had them over a year ago. but she has been going to primary with her kids for over a year because her kids love it and she loves the simplicity of it. she'll finally be in sacrament next sunday because it's the primary program. and she told us her family has family prayer every night and when we went to visit her her three year old daughter gave the prayer. I love when little kids pray. And her daughter who is 8 goes to activity days and came home with a scripture chart and wants to start reading scriptures. so she wants to go through the scriptures with us so she can explain it to her children. she also wants to start doing family home evening but doesn't know how. she is super solid and is doing this all for her kids because her kids learn it in primary and all their friends do it. we just need to help her gain a testimony and realize how important baptism is. Yesterday, there was two baptisms for two kids in our ward who are Heather's daughters age and we called and reminded her about it and she said she wasn't going to make it and then she called back 5 minutes later and asked if it was too late to change her mind because all her kids want to go.  Kids are so great. Then with our less active, Mollie. I don't remember if I told you we are teaching her the lessons and getting her to come to church isn't working so we decided to start small and make her a scripture reading chart and get her into her scriptures. She's been keeping her commitments and reading. It's awesome! and the other day one of Sister Carters recent converts came in and had questions about the law of chastity and feels like she is trapped and sister carter didn't teach her about it. we answered her questions and told her bluntly and i sat there and listened most of the time because i have a hard time opening my mouth when im not comfortable and at the end i asked her why she got baptized and if she believes this is the true church and she said yes so i asked her why she was questioning all these things and got mad and yelled and said we don't understand because we're not her age and stormed off and said she was leaving the church. I felt so bad. That's twice now, when i get the courage to open my mouth I make the people mad. 

On Sunday, yesterday Sister Carter and I had to teach the Sunday school lesson. It was last minute and not many people were there and we didn't get much discussion going and my words got jumbled like usual and it was a mess. but things are okay now though. all those experiences are in the past and now we move on haha

One more thing. I don't remember if I told you we went back to the Welton's Mansion to eat dinner and their dining room and entry way is as beautiful as the outside of the house.  Their kids were so well behaved and well mannered and they are super smart. They have 6 kids. They must be doing something right to be that blessed and then that reminded me of my favorite scripture Mosiah 2:41.  They keep the commandments, they are humble, they know where that wealth really comes from and they are blessed not only spiritually but temporally as well. They are truly happy people. Not because of their wealth but because of the gospel. We can all be happy and be blessed if we just do the simple thing, keeping the commandments. It's a simple pattern but not easy to follow but I know we can all put the distractions of the world away and put God first and everything will work out. Love you all. sorry for the long email.

~Sister Harris

Septemeber 9 ; Just another week

well everyone. good news. Sister Carter and I are staying together and will be staying in Lake Oswego for the next 6 weeks. This week hasn't been real exciting. We had another lesson with Jackson on Tuesday and didn't tell his friend about. The lesson went great.  His friend did come up to our ward mission leader at church and told him that we were scaring Jackson away because we're too pushy with baptism. but Jackson is a grown man. im sure he'd tell us these things. He know he feels pushed so we didn't mention it in our last lesson.  We need to hear these things from Jackson not other people. It's ridiculous. Oh well. it's missionary work. We've also been meeting with this less active named Mollie and all she likes to do is chat. we finally got through to her and we're teaching her the lessons, but getting her to church is hard work. she hasn't been to church since she moved here two years ago because no one fellowshipped her but she doesn't like to come to church because people ask too many questions. so how do you get to know someone without asking them questions? it's a mess. That's about the only exciting things that happened this week. 60 primary kids came in to the visitors center on saturday and they wanted a temple tour and there were like a billion weddings so we had to dodge them all some how. it was a mess. it was fun though. anyways, on wednesday at district meeting i was asked to give the spiritual thought on patience. of course, because i need to work on patience. I get so easily irritated out here with everyone and i don't know why. I especially get mad at myself everyday. but we just all need to remember that everything is done in the Lords time. Everything works out in the end. We just have to be patient and enjoy every moment between or what you're waiting for won't come or won't be that enjoyable. Irritation and anger is of the devil and the Lord can't bless you when you are irritated and angry. He will bless you when you are patient and WILL give you your righteous desire when He feels you earned it. I love you all. Sorry for the short email. 

~Sister Harris      

Sister Jessica Harris with Sister Jessica Harris! WHAAT!?

Tender Mercies

So my friends, this week not much has happened. Tuesday we had a visitors center training meeting. The four sisters that met Elder Holland got to talk about it for a minute and I just bore my testimony on the spirit that was there. and the next day at the zone conference Sister McPheeters, one of the senior missionaries, told me how much the spirit touched her while i was baring my testimony and saying how i have everything figured out and together haha it really means a lot when people tell me that because im always afraid im not making any since but i really do have power in what i say. I just need to believe that for myself. and also at zone conference sister morby called me to lead the music hahahha that's funny huh? I don't know how to lead and im not comfortable standing in front of people. but of course the Lord knows how to stretch me in different ways and get out of my comfort zone. Then on friday morning a member in our ward invited us over because they were inviting a whole bunch of people over for a bbq and a lot of them would be nonmembers. we pulled up to their house and it was HUGE! i've never seen anything so big.  they basically had a water park in their backyard and had a sign in front of their house that said Welton Estates. that's their last name. some people haha and then on friday night i was just minding my own business at the visitors center and it was really slow so I was watching mormon messages i haven't seen yet and my companion runs and says "Elder Holland is here!" I get up and run out super excited thinking Elder Holland came in again and I see Elder Holland! my buddy Justin Holland!  It was so good to see him. Apparently in July when the mission split he was transferred to the Salem Mission and is the AP there. and then on Saturday he came in again. both times he brought a less active. On saturday we took his less active on a temple tour. everything i said shes like "I like that" "I like how you said that" After a rough beginning of the week things always turn around. Then on sunday we went to see one of our less actives and she only likes to chat. and then i asked her one question and that was to tell me about herself and she told me her whole life story and we got into talking about the atonement and we left her with a chapter to read in the book of mormon and a return

 appointment. that never happens. we usually just have to drop by. She we're moving somewhere with her hopefully. and when we were talking to her at the end she said "Thanks for going on a mission" I've been really struggling with my purpose and why im even here and that was an answer to my prayer. Also, a less active family with a mom that's kind of active. she goes to church to fulfill her calling and then goes home. but one day this week we ate at their house and left them with a message like we always do. we left them with d&c 84:61 its about being forgiven for your sins when you bare your testimony. i knew you could be blessed and get a stronger testimony when you bare it but i didn't know you could be forgiven of your sins and on sunday the mom bore her testimony. short and sweet and to the point but she did and it was great! people actually do listen to our message. then on saturday we were going to a stake breakfast and we were driving on the freeway and apparently Oregon state and Oregon university were playing and everyone was driving down the freeway with their flags on their cars and i was having football withdraws. i miss it. and then we were at a members house teaching a short lesson to get them involved in missionary work and we were talking about the 49ers and neither of us could remember the quarterbacks name. I always called him capricorn so i couldn't remember it and then in the middle of the lesson he yelled in out hahah it was so funny. he said he'd keep me updated on byu and the 49ers and austin collie haha ;) don't tell anyone. well that's all for this week. keep smiling my friends. love you.