Tuesday, July 16, 2013

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

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

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!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

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

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

June 25: Hola!

Familia!!!


Thank you for the updates! Sorry this email is a day late, yesterday because of the crazy weather, the computers in the library didn't work and we didn't get to finish emailing. So here we are now! 
Answers to Questions:


"Did you get to watch the broadcast today? (Jasmine did the music; for the video clips). What did you think about the internet stuff and opening up the church buildings during the day? Dad and I think its great! We both had people ask if they could go to our chapel and pray during the day, for somewhere to get away from the world and have peace…when we said no, they would turn to a Catholic church that is open during the day. I’m curious to know how your mission will implement these new things.  What did you think of the bid MTC choir? Wasn’t it great?"

THE BROADCAST WAS AWESOME!!!! Wow I hoped you all learned a lot, and if you didn't watch it, you have to! I learned so much! I loved the clips--ESPECIALLY the music :) Thank you Jasmine :) I thought they were very moving and I especially loved the medley one. That's all it really is--it's simplicity. Just do what you know to be right, love others, and the Lord will work wonders through you. Just don't have fear (everybody read this scripture: D&C 68:6. It was my rock that first weekend here in IC). I thought that thing about the chapels was so very interesting. I wonder how it will all work out. I will let you know when I know for sure. Also, the facebook/technology stuff was cool too. I think that'll be mostly in the states for now...I doubt it'll be going on much in Argentina. But what do I know...? Nothin :) hahahahah. Oh I was so excited whenever they showed closeups of the choir, because they showed a couple huge closeups of missionaries that were in my MTC zone!!! It was so exciting to see them there singing and a part of such an amazing event.


"What are your meals like?"


So in Iowa we have breakfast, lunch and dinner. Usually breakfast is in the morning times right about 7-8. I usually eat cereal, yogurt, bananas. We have Personal study from 8-9, then comp from 9-11 (two hours because we're training, it'll go to one in a couple of weeks), then idioma from 11-12, then luncho from 12-1. They're really flexible with the hours, so if we have service in the manana, we'll just come back and study then. I eat lots of quesadillas and  green beans and apples and banans (no worries, I am being healthyish...) and most times we eat dinner with the members.



"How do you find people to teach?"


We try to talk to everyone, and occasionally we go door to door...The goal is to get it all done through the members. That is the most effective way, and really we're just here to assist the members in their ward. They're the main driving force and we're mostly supplementary (well, that's how it should be). So right now the bishop just changed and we're just trying to get the bus rolling. For example today, we're going on splits with the Sister Training leaders and mostly we're going to go visit members to gain trust and tell them how much we love them and all of our potential investigators that are their friends :)


 We had a goodbye zone conference this week with the Jergensens, and I learned so much from them. They are absolutely incredible and shared the pearls of wisdom that they have learned throughout their lives/marriages/mission stuff. They talked a lot about family, and it made me so much more grateful for the wonderful family I've got back nestled by the mountains (while I'm at it, please enjoy the mountains for me :). I don't know why God loves me so much to give me the best parents in the world, the cutest sibs ever, and James of course!!! I hope you all know how much I love and adore and appreciate all of you. Your love and support mean the world to me, and I think of you all practically every day :)

I have had the coolest experiences out here with the priesthood. IT IS SO REAL. Wow. I am incredibly moved by the Spirit and feel this thickness, almost claustrophobia-ness in the air. Every time I have been amazed how God literally speaks through these missionaries. I testify of the reality of God's love. He is so real that I cannot comprehend how anybody could reject Him. His love is everywhere, it is almost terrifying how well He knows us. And because His love is so grand, He provided a way, THE way, Jesus Christ for us to return and live with Him again! How marvelous is our God!! I will never doubt His love or His grace again in my life. It is almost impossible for me now to do so.


Church this week was awesome, as always. This man spoke and gave a gorgeous talk about humility. He has been coming to church for 6 plus years and just barely got baptized due to some incredibly humbling family/housing/medical experiences. He worked in the army rangers for 20ish years and here are some of my notes from his talk: "we can be both humble and fearless, courageous and humble. Being humble isn't about being the best, it's about doing what you can for your fellowmen and following His will. He gave an analogy about us all being on the same plane (the Church) and how it doesn't matter where we sit, because we all get off at the same place. If you're having issues and you don't think you can handle it, hand it to God because if you trust in Him and believe, He can make more of it than you can." He was a remarkable example to me, and again the Spirit testified to me of God's love for EVERY SINGLE one of His children.




Well, gotta run. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!
Have a fabulous week and don't procrastinate the day of your repentance!
Also, get involved in missionary work. It'll change you.,



Love, Hermana Harkness

Friday, June 21, 2013

June 17: Questions of the week

FAMILIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


My week was GREAT! I honestly LOVE it here (except for the humid days, yucky). Good to hear that you got that message :) He's really a great Pres, but they leave next week to go home and Pres and Sis Jensen will be coming. We're sad to see the Jergensens go but super duper excited to meet and welcome the jensens!!


I MISS THE MOUNTAINS SO BAD!! Hahaha but really this whole flat thing with no hills is the worst. I never have any idea where on earth we're going and which way we're facing. If it weren't for our GPS, we'd always be lost. The river Dubuqe is totally flooded. TOTALLY. It's been flooded since we got here and flodded the main Dubuqe street and half of a park, and just basically everything in the area. I have some pictures that hopefully can give you a good idea :) It's been dumb because we need the Dubuque street to get to our area, so we have to go all the way around....But good news! It opened again last night--so the flooding is subsiding :) Yay!! Mormon Trek is the road that the Martin and Willey handcard companies took to go to UTah!!! Our church/stake center that we attend is located on the spot that they started from! How cool is that!?!?!?! Also, we'll probably get a chance to go to the Nauvoo Pageant!!! We'll see what the new pres thinks. 


Questions:

*How was church on Sunday? Did you go to a Spanish-speaking branch/ward?
Church was super duper!! The first week there wasn't too many hispanics there, but yesterday there were more! They're starting to love us and our horrible spanish. hahah Most of them if not all are from Mexico and are TINY. Like the men are 5 foot 3 tiny. But they are honestly the most beautifule people EVER!! Understanding them really isn't too bad...it's when they actually use tenses that I get lost....but for the most part I'm catching on. thanks to the Spirit I can mostly understand the main ideas in lessons. But I'm not terrified to talk to people in Spanish anymore!! Approaching the strangers...I'm still a little rough on that. But compare me now to my first weekend--Bam. You'd all be proud. It's really quite hilarous how I sound when I talk spanish :) Alll the mexicans just smile at me and nod saying, you speak good!! I've heard worse!...so comforting :)
There is this giant hispanic family in the ward called the Santos. They are so beautfiul and so cool!!!! Matilde (the mom/gma) and 7 daughters and 2 sons...or maybe it's six daughters. More about how cool they are in my letter today.

*How do you get around? Do you have a car or walk or bike?
We have a 2013 Ford Fusion. And it's gray, which is the best part :) We basically ahve the nicest car in the mission and all of the elders are crazy jealous. We can talk to it and tell it what song we want it to play from our ipods and stuff. It pretty much rocks!! We're probably gonna get bus passes real soon because there are a lot of hispanics in Coralville area and we've found a lot of potentials there. We have walked a couple of times just around Coralville (Boston way right by the mall, knowing you're gonna Google map it) and it was a SUPER humid day. I was sweating so much my face was liquid water. No joke. It was so gross. My garments are fine though. I really don't think the cotton ones would make a difference. It's gonna be hot either way :)

*How big is your area?
HUGE!! And we don't even live in it!!! That's the worst part and it's really killing our miles (we only have 1000 miles a month and we're 200 down because our car was driven from Des Moines transfer week for us--becuase we're opening a new area...hope that made sense :) So we live on Court street in IC (Iowa City) and our area is north of the 80. Dumb dumb. And it goes over to Johnson road, up to Linn Johnson road...and over for forever. If you go to the church maps, go to iowa city, and then find the one that's a rectangle that hugs the 80, that's us!!

*Are there other Spanish-speaking missionaries in the city too?
So there are two wards in IC for spanish. Us and the fourth ward (the gun-shaped one right below us). The hispanics just split between us and them. The zone leaders, Elders Andreasen (he went to LP) and Bates used to cover both wards, but now since we're here, opening the area for hermanas, we're in the first ward, and they cover the fourth ward. The ward is obsessed with us....I don't think that they know that I'm just a regular, tallish person from Utah with a really special calling. But without my calling/nametag I'm really not that cool. But whenever we go to dinner appointments the kids are all freaking out and their moms are so releived that we've finally arrived. hAHAH the ward members here are mostly young families whose husbands are residents. So yeah.

*How do you do your contacting? Do you knock on doors, find people on the street or in stores? Or do you get referrals?
We've done mostly member stuff. Like lots of the members are great, but not really all that active. Or they don't know any gospel principles. (the ones besides the medical student families). One member that we did some service yesterday on Hna H's birthday is a recent convert. Lucienne is her name and I adore her. She's around 50, lives in a trailer park, and has probably 8 cats. So...she has a lot of stuff in her house and so we went and did some service for two hours, folding laundry and picking up newspaper off the ground (two black bags FULL). I chucked this copper metal bowl thing into the trash (becuase I thought it was junk...it kind of looked like it should have been the bra on a viking breastplate or something) and I thought she was going to rip my ears off. Aparrently she had shaped that bowl herself from a chunk of copper and I was stupid enough to throw it away. Let this be a lesson to you all to never throw people's copper bowls away. Even if they look like viking bras.
We've witnessed many miracles this week as we've run into people at the oddest times and places. Like we went to go find this less active for the fourth time yesterday, and as we were walking back to the car (she didn't answer again) I felt like we needed to stay, but Hna H wanted to go. Just as we were talking about it, this man came out of a door right above us and was staring at us with his spiked lemonade in his hand and a sandwich in the other. I looked at him and knew we had to talk to him. So I said, Hola, and Hna P did the rest. I should have kept on talking, but I let my fear get the better of me--It is so much harder than I thought to talk to these Mexican men about the gospel. Tha's the other thing. I have no idea where all the women are hiding....we have all men investigators right now. Anywyas, he was interested,. We've had about four of these type of experiences this week. The Lord is helping us find the people He's prepared!!

*Where do you live? Is it a nice place?
We live across the hall from some serious pot smokers. It smells wretched in the hallway, but our apartment is really big, actually. I absolutely love it there. I always feel safe, secure, and at home. The shower is gross, but when is a shower really ever wonderful except in Hawaii...? Yeah never.

*Do you have an address where we could send you a package if you need it?
Iowa Des Moines Mission
8515 Douglas Ave. Suite 19
Urbandale, IA 50322
Sorry I forgot this last week. Send letters here too :)

*How are your shoes? Did we pick good ones?
I get more and more obsessed with my blue ones each day. YOU HAVE TO GET A PAIR. They're wondermus. And really all my shoes are fabulous. Not perfect for Iowa, but still fab. They're made for lots of walking, and we have to drive everywhere...but my feet have never hurt, so that's super duper, no?

Well I've got one minute left here on the computer, so I love you all, thanks for the updates, and I hope you had a great father's day, dad!! I was thinking of you all day and I had cereal for breakfast for you :) I'm sending you my letter today.

Love you all soooo much
Hermana harkness

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

June 10: New Mission Address

For the time being....Hermana Harkness' mailing address is:

8515 Douglas Avenue Suite #19
Des Moines, Iowa 50322-2924
United States
 

June 10: IOWA!!!

(Hermana Harkness didn't receive her VISA in the MTC. She received a reassignment to serve in the Des Moines Iowa mission!)

Familia!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Iowa is the GREATEST EVER!!! Really, this has been the greatest time of my life and  if it were up to me, I don't know if i would ever come home :) Sorry :) We have had the most BIZARRE, I really mean bizarre when I say bizarre, last couple of days.

I flew with Hna Houtz. She is so amazing and tall!!! Double points! Anyways, on the flight to Des Moines we talked to this lovely lady Kate with her 11 month old Hunter. The whole time my brain is screaming--TEACH HER TEACH HER YOU'RE A MISSIONARY!!! So I'm thinking...oh yeah. I am. AAHAHAHAHAHAHAH GET ME OFF THE PLANE THIS IS TERRIFYING!!!!! hahahah good news...I stayed on the plane :) So I remembered Jesus and then it got all uphill from there :) Basically she told us how much she loves her family and how she's been looking for religion and she asked us a lot of questions about us and what on earth we were doing. We ended up talking about relationships and ....... yeah for like 20 minutes. Like why we believe in chastity and stuff. And she basically believes the same as us so that's good :) and then I was trying to think of something to be like, can we share what we believe with you? But I was freaking out in my mind and the Spirit wasn't giving me nothing and I was a lost little pup. I don't know if God wanted her to have the experience of talking first (cause that like seriously made her mission, she told me) or if I should have opened my mouth and exercised faith...no se. But I learned and am getting braver as we speak.....And then Hna H asked a question and BAM. Gospel lesson on the plane with squirmy baby and all. For an hour. She is SO PREPARED it's almost funny. She kept saying things like, "oh, i was thinking a lot about that in the shower this morning...or last week..." etc. And then she was like, oh, can I go to church with my kiddo? Is there one in Ft. Dougles (CO) and I was like YEAH THERE IS YOU CAN GO WHEN YOU GET BACK AND GET BAPTIZED Wahhoooooooo it was so fun and she loved it :) And at the end she told us she had no idea why she even opened up to us. Because you are prepared, I said. Ok not really...that would be super duper creepy. And then the Portuguese sisters flying with us had a english BoM and so we chased her down in the airport and gave it to her. Then later when I turned around and waved goodbye to her when we were at the baggage claim, I looked at here smiling with her child, and I had the weirdest feeling. Like I already knew her. She looked so familiar and it was like we were best friends. The spirit testified to me at that point that I am here for a SPECIFIC reason. A reason so specific and important that i cannot do anything but do my absolute best.

And I love you all so much!!! Olivia, I have a cool experience I will write you about--so keep your ears perked. This lady we had a din din apt with asked me about you....she was like, so you have a little sister? And I said yes. And she said, I know. I can tell by looking at you that she is praying for you and is proud of you. It was remarkable. Muchas amore to all of you :)

This gospel is so true. Never in my life has it become more true than now. And I know it will do nothing but become more true. People. Read your scriptures. Pray. Even though you fall asleep during your prayers, keep praying. You cannot do what God needs you to without His divine help. Then, when His help comes, accept it and don't complain that it came in the form of a Nissan and not a mustang. Even though the scriptures are boring, just read them. Once you read them enough, you will find out why reading them is a commandment. Jesus is our Savior, and through Him we can do everything!! I know that through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, all can be made right :)

Loves, Hermana Harkness

Oh, and I'm in a trio opening a new Spanish area in Iowa City, the first ward. We got food today--yay--and my comp's names are Phelps and Howell. They are wonderful to the max and I LOEV THEM SO MUCH!!!