July 29: What's up familia?

Hola from Iowa City!! 

 

Things here are super duper as ever and this week has been remarkable. INCREDIBLE. I have learned so much and grown so much that I am almost 7 feet tall (be jealous, Nate)!! Just kidding. But really, it's been an incredible week!

It all started with the super-de-duper package from Momma!! Wowsa I laughed so hard at all of those cards, you have no idea :) I they are all currently in my talk binder so I can look at them, read them, and feel happy :) The socks are great and the mints tasted yum ;) So thank you muchisimas from the bottom of mi corazon!!!

I'm glad you're still enjoying the oboe while I'm gone. It is the best instrument, ya know ;) If I was watching it with you I probably would have cried too....but because it probably would have burst my ear drums hahahaha......

Ok lame jokes done. TREVOR I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! I sent a letter to you with the medical release thing that dad sent but I dunno if it'll get to you in time (So mom and dad please forward that to the MTC por favor...?). Basically I was just crying and writing you a letter and thinking about my favoritest Trevor in the whole world going on a mission and how I won't get to hug and see you until July 2015..... But I'll be brave, I promise :) Because MISSIONS ARE THE BEST!!! And you are going to make one fabulous missionary. I've thought a lot about you this past week and have tried to become better as a result of that. You are such an example to me, little bro and I know that you're gonna be incredibly amazing as a missionary. Enjoy the In-n-out and don't get too fat in the MTC. If you do get fat, don't worry, I'll still love you :) But get fat spiritually!!!

I didn't used to think that I would still be in the states for my bday, but here I am!! Wahoo for America!! Really I cannot think of anything I really need. The only thing I want is my quilt, but there aint no way that that pup could fit into my suitcase. So I'm fine :) But I would't reject any packages, that's for sure :) Thanks for your generosity, Momma. There's a lot of mommas out here that don't love their kids like you love us, and it's really awesome and humbling to me. So I hope you know how fantastic you are as a mother :)

Nate!!! Are you Micheal Jordan yet or what? Thanks for the card--it fit in hilariously into our week because we were all trying not to say "crap" that week. Everytime we said crap the other two would say "five" which would signify 5 crunches/situps that evening....Hna H and I currently have six packs.

Sissa!! Way to go on the license!! That is super duper sweeeeeeet!!! I'm so proud of you and your independence :) That was the sweetest day ever when I got to go drive by myself. NO TEXTING AND DRIVING EVER. No matter if Jazz and I ever did it....Just don't. I love you!!!

Good luck on finals James!!! And Jasmine--I LOVE YOU!!!

Questions:

"How are your investigators?"
We currently have 7 investigators.
Martin has been investigating the Church for about 3 years now and is barely progressing. He just won't come to Church. We're gonna make a HUGE push for Church this week and are doing everything we can just to bribe him and his wife Nancy to come. (By the way, church cookies are the coolest and they work!!! Just not for Martin and Nancy quite yet). Nancy is a member and is one of the 9 daughters of the Santos family (Matilde the mom has 11 kids and they're all in the ward. 8 are married and have kids and we're trying to get them all active and doing good things and whatnot). He is absolutely incredible and has TONS of faith in Jesus Christ. He has tried to quite smoking for years, and right before we got here he quit--solely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He's quite an amazing fellow!

Dawn and her two daughters Storm and Sterling won't come to church either!! They are the kindest people and as blonde as the sun. They are eager to learn and very ready to listen. Their scheduling is real hard, however.

Becky and Joe. It was a miracle that we found them! She has schizophrenia and it was cool to relate to her and tell her that I had an aunt with a similar condition that will also be perfect after this life. They came to Church, and a talk was given about mental illness. It was INCREDIBLE. The Lord knows His children so much and just prepares things up the wazoo so that they come unto Christ! The whole time she kept turning to me and telling me that she loves it here and that she's learning so much and it was cool to tell her that this was all happening because God loves her. That's the reason for all good things, folks! Because God loves you. They dropped us on saturday, actually. We invited them to a baptism, but they accidentally (we found out later when we dropped by) thought that we were inviting them to their own baptism. Hahahahaha aren't they the greatest?? We're probably going to pass them off this week. They're actually not in our area, and even though we got them approved, we feel like they should go to the second ward.

James is moving on saturday, darn it all!! We found him roofing his house one day. We went to go find a LA and crossed the street and I felt to go talk to them. Him and his bud turned off their music and came down from the roof to talk. His bud asked a bunch of weird science questions that were fun to answer but James was genuinely interested. So I went back with the called-to-serve Sister Zimmerman and taught him about the BoM and the Resto last week. He accepted baptism but wanted to do his research first. He was so stoked to read the Book and it is incredible how much the BoM made sense to him. He just soaked up everything we said like it was 100% true and didn't question a thing. He had questions, but just loved it all! It was cool to witness what it was like to teach someone who is completely prepared. We're going back to teach him this week before he goes back to live with his dad for school this fall.

We're also working a lot with trying to get the members involved. Most of them are here for med school and are starting to get involved with the work. It's great!! We had a family of 4 get reactivated yesterday (4 times in a row to church) and I've never felt such joy!! It was like gettting four baptisms!! They are incridible. We first met them and basically she and her hub got baptized 2 years ago. one year later they were shoved into the temple and it terrified her real real bad. She was totally freaked out and they started investigating other churches. Now they're making goals to go back to the temple and they amaze me. Really I just wish you could meet them!! They are so kind and so full of faith and desire to do what is right!! Ahhhh!!! I love them!!!!!

"How is your branch doing?"
So we're in a ward. It's actually bigger than the 20th ward back home and has millions of screaming children that love to call us "sistew missionawies!!!" It's the coolest being a celebrity :) Over the past couple of years the baptismal rate has declined and the new bishop is pumped and we're ready to get those numbers up again. We're working hard with the members and the elders have like 8 dates set with investigators for el bautismo. We really have incredible leaders and I want you all to meet all of them.

"Tell me about how you teach people? What are you appointments like?"
So at first it was awkward teaching in a threesome but now it's the coolest!! We've figured it out and love it. So normally we start off with normal conversation (if it's a member) or just dive right into the good stuff if they're an investigator/potential. We keep it all focused on Jesus Christ and the plan of salvation (we're better with the former, and are working on the latter) and teach PMG lessons. We're focusing on concentrating our information and making it short, powerful, and ground shaking. Usually we'll share a passage of scripture or two and always end with a prayer unless Lucienne's cat has a seizure as I'm saying it (which actually happened!!!! Again, cats are the worst).

"What miracles have you seen this week?" 

Every day is a miracle here in Iowa!! We had the sweetest opportunity to be with two 17yr olds from the stake in a program named called to serve. They go out with us on mini missions and we saw miracles up the wazoo!! We first went to go to service in west branch and helped a family move. Then Bishop took us to McDs but on the way Hna H and P talked to this dude (anti mormon...) and I was on the phone gettign dropped by Becky and Joe (but thankfully we salvaged them that afternnon and we're still on track). Then we got to McDs and got anti-ed again!! This man walked up to me and said hey and we listed, bishop talked, and I stood up, shook his hand, said nice to meet you, and bore testimony of Christ and he left. Then we saw huge miracles that day--and I have no time left!! Arg. I'll write you a letter. Loves!!

"Have you guys been trained on what to do if there is a tornado?"

Yeah!! Go to the window and take pictures!!

"What can I send you?"

Love and prayers for the people of Iowa!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Hermana Harkness

July 22: Transfer #2

Hola familia!!!

Wow it hears like you're all doing great!! Nate! Dude!!!! Congrats on the awesome bball news!! I don't understand how you even have time to eat and sleep between all these millions of tournaments you have going on! Sheesh! Keep up the good work and keep having fun. That's the most important part ;)
Liv Liv!!! Santa vaca little lady I just knew you'd be the best YCL ever!! You are incredible and are a HUGE example to me. I'm sure you made those girls' camp the best one they're ever going to have because of your love and support. Way to go! I'm so proud of you :)

Trev!! I could cry for excitement for you!!! I'm freaking out over here!! When do you enter the MTC? Which one? What's your farewell topic? If you don't write me while you're in the MTC...you just don't wanna know what's gonna happen. :) hahaha you're going to make the BEST MISSIONARY EVER!! I would give you advice, but I really don't think you need it. I wrote you a letter this morning that I'll send to you today sometime. Love you!!

Questions:

"How are you this week?"

I'm super duper!!! Thanks for asking!!! (More on that later..)

"Who are you teaching this week?"

That is a great question. One that I would personally like to know the answer to. Some of our investigators/less actives think it's funny to hide from us or only like to meet with us every other week. But over the past couple of days we have found some SWEET potentials that I'm pretty sure a couple of them will be baptized real real soon.

"Have you heard anything about the Facebook proselyting yet?"

Nope, darn it all!! We're very curious, but the fact that our president is so new I think is part of the reason why. He's still just trying to figure out how to wake up so darn early every morning :) Hah we haven't heard anything about anything, except the possibility of getting ipads, since the broadcast. We might be one of the first missions to get ipads (have scriptures, videos, our area book--EVERYTHING on it). I'll let you know when we find out more.

Entonces, this week has been superb!! I've given out a lot of Books of Mormon, and every time we leave the car and I grab one, the Lord always provides a way for me to give it away. We've had a couple of people really get pumped to read it, like one lady, "Wow!! I need to read this book!", and "so this is a book of revelation? I can't wait to read this!" So yeah, basically expect Iowa to be flooded next week so we can adequately baptize them all.

We moved last week! We moved out of our "bear shower" apartment (the shower never drained, and when it did it left all of our hair so it looked like a bear) into the old Bishop's basement. Good news--it's wicked awesome! Bad news--they have two cats and two dogs. I didn't realize how much I don't like furry little critters that lick you and pee all over things until we moved in with them. It's been a real blessing to live with them. They're actually gone right now and have been since we moved in with them. bro sheffield is a famous genetics dude (like you could google him famous) and so they're at a conference in utah and so we get to watch the animals!! One of their cats is crazy pants old and she told us to bury it when it dies haha. Two nights ago we got locked out of the house, so I got to climb on the roof (yeah baby in a skirt!!) and break in through their daughter's window. It was nearly pitch black and I couldn't find my way outta her room! For some odd reason she had a million doors in her room but no worries--I made it out eventually and saved my companions. it was a grand adventure :)

Transfer meeting was great! We're all staying here for 6 weeks and we got a new DL (he used to be a ZL in cedar rapids) and actually he Elder Winchester, served 6 months in IC at the start of his mission about a year ago and is on fire. We set baptismal goals for the District higher than the zone goals for the next three months. Expect some baptism pictures from me soon :) We got great news on the two elders in the bad car crash from a couple of weeks ago. i dunno if i told you but they got t boned at 50 mph and the one driving had serious problems (life flighted). He's doing better now--he got up and shot a couple of baskets and such and now remembers some of his family. A couple of days after the accident his parents were at his side and he could barely remember who his dad was--but now he knows his mom too!!! Yay!! We all wrote him letters last week and I sent one also to his companion, thinking nothing of it. then some random elder at t meeting comes up to me and knows my name and I forgot to read his tag for a while and was totally weirded out hahah  until I realized that it was the other elder. It was cool to know that a simple act of kindness had really affected somebody and I felt like an accomplished missionary that day :)

Last week we also got pulled over! Hna P was going 11 over in a construction zone and the officer let us off!! Instead of giving us a 260 dollar ticket, he gave us a warning! What a blessing! I forgot to pray until we started driving away (after he pulled us over), and I felt like a bad child. I learned the importance of the scriptural plea, "pray always" and how our every thought should be focused back to our Father in Heaven and in Jesus Christ. We always need His help and when those desperate times come, we need to be ready and worthy to pray.

We found the coolest people ever on saturday!!!! We were trudging through Boston way, wakling back to our car and the spirit told me to go talk to this man on this porch. did I want to? no. But I did. turns out his wife has schizophrenia, they came to church, there was a talk on mental illnesses, and the lord knows his children so well!! We've seen miracles and continue to give thanks for them every day :)

time is out, and i love you all so much!! Have a great week!!!!

Hermana Harkness

Thanks for the gift card, mom!!! It is very much enjoyed here :)

Us, Elder Andreasen (zone leader that went to LP also that got transferred to Des Moines last week), Elder Schubert (our great little District leader that got turned ZL last week over a new zone) and our still faithful zone leader Elder Bates.

that is me. and a pretty lake.

TORTUGA!!!! Isn't he beautiful??

WE FOUND THE COOLEST TURTLE THIS WEEK!!! He was all scratching around in the window well during personal study and Hermana Phelps and I went and snatched him up!! Sooooo coooll!!!! That was friday--so the day that Hna Howell was sick and so we found critters and studied and I cleaned all day. We also found some frogs and a snake. We named him michealangelo (sorry i can't spell) and set him free in the grass. He was the cutest critter I ever did see!!

Week 6 in the land of corn

Familia!!

So the corn is getting taller...so much that I can't see over it from the car anymore. Cool huh?

Anyways, we've had a killer awesome week and taught 19 lessons (dangit I know I wanted 21 too...) but lessons fall through and people have their agency and it's not even about the numbers anyways.

But really I learned a lot this week and loved a lot.

So last monday night we had dinner with the Dallons--they have triplets that are three yrs old. Holy hilarious!! They have this table that has three holes in it and three little chairs that hang down for them to sit in...so they're basically just chillin' in the middle of the table and their little legs are just swinging and kicking each other. It's one of the most entertaining sights I've ever seen. Anyways, I got to sit next to them and talk/scream with them all through dinner. They kept saying the darndest and most absurd things, so I would make faces. Then one of them said, "you grumpy!!!" and a 5 minute chorus of "you grumpy!!!" ensued. I think the parents got a good laugh, and I convinced them that my name is Sister Grumpy.

We went on exchanges with the Cedar Rapids sisters on tuesday to wednesday (noon to noon). We went up there and it was INCREDIBLE. I learned a lot and had a great experience. I wanted to go in there and love the heck out of the people that we would visit and just do the Lord's will. That's what happpened!! I was able to witness the spirit working through me like insanely awesomely throughout the day and I'll share one of those experiences. WE went and visited (me with sis lloyd and oler) one of their investigators who is HUGGE into  quilting. Long story short, we were teaching her and the spirit was like, WHAM, liken the gospel to her through a quilt. So then I notices sis lloyd opening up to a scripture and I wanted to tell the investigator my analogy but felt to wait until sis lloyd was done with sharing her scrip. So I waited. And what did she share you ask? Well, the "liken the scriptures unto you" verse from Nephi duh!! Wowsas I was freaking out inside, giddy as a jelly bean, just waiting to share this analogy. and when I did, I thought the other two sisters were gonna scream for joy and the investigator just gobbled it right up!! Wow. The blessings that come when you are willing to love people, and you trust and follow the spirit.

So thursday I decided to be bold. Not me, actually, the spirit told me to be. We went into the dinner appointment thinking to commit them to watch the broadcast and nope. I full on asked them who we could teach in their home next week. And they had somebody in mind next week!! That question is one that Elder Zwick of the 70 promised our mission that if we asked that question (and some other things going on in ward council and such) that the baptisms would quadruple. So when I first read that promise 4 weeks ago I was all, Yeah right that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard...and what the heck--how scary would that be to ask a member for another dinner appointment??? Yeah so in the middle of the lesson with this family it came to me through the spirit ( to ask them that) and they were all for it!! Since then, we've asked tons of members that and we're getting the whole ward involved. We still have tons of members to visit and lay the law down (what our d leader calls it), but we're slowly going uphill :) Again, listen to the Spirit!

Ah sheesh the two minute timer just went off. Dangit all. Ok if I have time this week I'll write y'all about some more experiences.

Saturday we got a 40 second "transfer doctrine " call. We're all staying!! Our DL is going to ZL though. And we're super sad--he's incredible.

Love you lots, Hermana Harkness

We did some service a couple of weeks ago with most of our lovely zone. And Iowa is gorgeous, btw. :)

Us and Lucienne

July 8: Another Great Week!

FAMILIA!!!

First off, I LOVE YOU ALL :) Thank you for the emails, and I'm sorry to those of you whom I have not responded. The time is ridiculously short here at the computers.

Yay for good weather!! It's really gorgeous here most times, except when there are clouds, cause that's when it gets humid. Yucky. Nobody likes religious people that are sweating more than your average NFL player. Speaking of sports, watch some Wimby for me!!! We had a zone dinner at Chili's last week after zone conf with the new pres and  there were tvs EVERYWHERE. Funniest thing ever with a table full of elders and three tvs surrounding you all showing different shows of ESPN. You'd think they were getting translated or something. The zone conf with Pres Jensen was super duper fabulous! He's a world famous remote sensing geographist, but he is so kind and funny and he's gonna be grrrrrrreat! Here's some things I learned from that:

-Why wouldn't I be happy? (reminded me of Pres. Holland quote--you have every reason to stand tall and know that the Savior of the World walks beside you. look for the roses, folks. God didn't just create thorns).

-Sometimes people want the leaders of the Church to be sober, but I'm happy!

-A quote from one of the trainings of his at the MTC from Elder Perry about this time of missionary work: "This is as important as the Restoration. As important as the coming forth of the BoM. We need to step it up. He expects a lot from us." Wow. A prophet of God saying that this time is AS IMPORTANT as the RESTORATION and BOOK OF MORMON??? That got us all in gear, and I hope it does the same for you. There is no time more important that right now to get involved and get to work. That doesn't mean that we all go on splits with the missionaries every free second we have. The broadcast did a perfect job at depicting what to do and how to do missionary work. This is the LAST dispensation--wahooo! We don't have to end in apostasy this time!!! We end in the glorious second coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ! And we get to prepare the world (that is falling apart morally and physically and getting dirtier and worse each day) for Him to come. So thrust in your sickle with all of your might, so that you bring salvation to your soul, as well as those around you. When you labor to bring success and light into the lives of others, your salvation is put in order through  the Atonement of JEsus Christ. There is nothing goood about worrying so much about ourselves and crying on our pillows every night because you are the worst. Read D&c123:13-17. It's supremely wonderful and has taught me a lot this past week.

Trev--enjoy the temple!! It'll be a lot to take in, but just have fun, be chill, and listen/feel the Spirit. Wish I could be there, but I know you'll have a grand time :)

"How was your 4th of July? What did you do?"

We went to belle plaine and did a concession stand sponsored by the church for some local causes and such. I'll write about this in the letter--it was a cool experience and i have no time here.

"How are your investigators?"

They won't come to church, dang it all!! And they wont answer they're phones or return texts. When we have lessons they are golden--I mean like crying and huge great spiritual things--but then they just love sleeping on sundays so darn much. It's frustrating when they are so good and trying to make changes but just won't act in faith. Bless their hearts. I'm pretty sure we need more prayer.

"Is your mission making any plans for opening up your ward buildings for tours in the near future?"

No......that is a great question that I should ask someone....we give tours to investigators and such but for now the building is closed unless we open it with a key....so i dunno yet . lo siento!

Entonces, I love you so much and hope that you are happy and just doing superb :)

Love you lots :)

Hermana Harkness

The pic is me with Celeste, a beautiful investigator (she's 12) who was here visiting for two weeks, we gave her 2 lessons and a church tour, she accepted baptism and is my bestest little bud! Sadly we have to hand her off to the other missionaries where she lives because she lives 2 hours north of us! I love her and will miss her!

July 7: Happy 4th of July!

FAMILIA!!!

First, to answer all your questions........

"So are you still in a 3-person companionship?"

 

Yes. And it is the greatest!!! I absolutely LOVE them to death, and am in awe of them every single day. They are huge examples to me of how to be Christlike and are patient with me....which is always a bonus :) Hahaha they are just wonderful. Just wonderful!!

"How big is the ward you serve in?"

 

Gigantic. Soooo huge. Like our ward times 1000. Not kidding!! If you go to mormon.org maps and go to Iowa and put the ward boundaries on, we are the rectangle right above Iowa City. We have most of Coralville and North Liberty. But because most of the hispanics are not in the boundaries, really, our area is just downright huge. :)

"Are the ward members in transit or are they more permament to your location?"

 

I'd say half and half. Half of them are residency peeps and the other half are full-blown Iowans.
 

 

"Are you keeping a journal?"

 

Yeah baby!! I'm writing so much in it I'm making myself nervous. Haha ok so probably at least every day. It is such a strength to me to be able to go back and read how the Lord has blessed me.

"Are you regularly teaching any investigators right now? Have any of them come to church yet?"

Yeah.....so there is Juan (which Juan/one?? get it? it's a joke :)hahahahah). He's the cousin of a Sis Acevedo (super duper awesome family that I am thoroughly in love with--and their daughters are the cutest things I've ever seen!!!) and he was the dude that we randomly found our second night here with the Zone leaders on accident when we were looking for someone else...and we found him and he had just gotten outta jail and had read most of the BoM and wanted to know what he could do to get baptized. WOWSA. So then we couldn't find him for two weeks (these peeps work so many jobs they are so hard to find). And then we were having dinner with Sis Acevedo one night this week and he just canters in at the start of the lesson and I had to stop myself from acting all crazypants excited and "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN" Mrs. Weasely on him. We're trying to get him to come to church....He came last week!! 

Then there's Martin. He's known the missionaries since Nov 2009 and has had four progress reports full of lessons. He and his wife are the cutest little couple (they remind me of Jasmine and James, except twice as small. I know, that's hard to think of someone smaller than Jazz, but it's the truth) and have such faith. He's such a stud--quit smoking for 2 months now. Wahoooo how cool is that??? And we've had two UNREAL lessons with him. 

And then I made best friends with our member friend's friends. Make sense? Lucienne, has Celeste (6th grade) staying with her for two weeks, and Tegan (Celeste's friend) too for a couple of days. We went over to see Lucienne, met the Veteran living in her house (she's very hospitable) and had a SWEET lesson with them about God and Jesus Christ and the Atonement (the Atonement has been our focus this week). Then we briefly met the girls. The next day we invited the girls to come to the Elders' baptism (Ashai--SO AWESOME!! I'll send that pic next week) and they came and I gave them both BoMs and taught them the restoration basically during the baptism. Then they came to Church with Lucienne and brought their BoMs and Scotty (the veteran) came too!!! He brought his son and at the end of every talk yelled at the top of his lungs, louder than everybody else, "Amen!!!" I loved it!! During the third hour we answered their questions and invited them to be baptized. One accepted, one did not really know what she wanted....SO HOW COOL IS THAT??? We are stoked and amazed that the Lord would bless us so much! We didn't think we really had a successful week until we did numbers last night and we taught 20 lessons this past week!!!....and we just opened the area 3 weeks ago!! So it's apparent that when you work and trust in the Lord and repent of sleeping through work-out time every morning, the work progresses!! Even though we are imperfect  :) This is His work and nothing will stop it!!

"Have you been asked to help out in your branch (teach lessons, give talks, play piano) or do you have enough members to do that?"

 

 There are a lot of good members in the ward that can do that. We have spent some time talking to the RS, YW and primary classes though. The ward is soooo excited to have sisters, it's awesome :))))

LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND I PRAY FOR YOU EVERY DAY!!!
THE GOSPEL IS SO TRUE!!!
READ THE BOM!!

HERMANA HARKNESS