LOVE IS OUR MOTIVATOR!

                                                                                                                        Oct. 26, 2015

Oi Familia,

I´m going to make this letter a bit more brief than normal because I want to respond to a lot of you individually/send more pictures!! I am doing so well in Cotia!!! 

 

I had a recent experience with a recent-convert named Maria Fernanda (about 10 years old) that I want to share with you all!!

This past sunday at church was the Primary Program in which all of the children sang/spoke about Jesus Christ, and it was beautiful!!! Maria Fernanda had to prepare a talk about the Godhead prior to the program, so my companion and I taught her more about it in a lesson. While we were teaching her, the Spirit was evidently present, and Maria said something that I had never thought seriously about before. We asked her what she knew about Jesus Christ, and she responded that He was always obedient, and that He paid for our sins because He obeyed the Father´s will. But we told Maria that the purpose of Him suffering for us was much more than simply obedience--it was love for each one of us, and love for our Heavenly Father. I told Maria something along the lines of how we can´t be obedient without first having love for something/someone. This came into my mind, and is so essential in our lives: we must always remember that before everything else comes love. LOVE IS OUR MOTIVATOR in every aspect of the Gospel. This lesson struck my heart, and I continued to ponder over the importance of me serving a mission--it all began with love, and love for my Heavenly Father is what keeps me going every single moment of every single day.

 

I don´t know if there has ever been a time in my life when I have prayed as much as I do in the mission because I can always rely on my Heavenly Father to respond and help me through anything. Thank you all for teaching me the importance of relying on Heavenly Father and my Savior. 

 

As far as the other investigators I told you about, Leonardo, Bianca, and Geovana are having trouble keeping their commitments, but we are going to work on that with them!! We had to be bold with them to see if they really had a desire to learn about the gospel or not, and Leonardo and Bianca are going to keep learning, slowly and surely, and we don´t know about the desire of Geovana yet, but we are going to work with each one of them this week to progress towards keeping their commitments. Ivan wasn´t able to come to Church this past Sunday, but he has opened his heart and his feelings toward us as to why he has rejected having the missionaries teach him in the past, and he is still having trouble overcoming his smoking habits due to how difficult his job is. We are going to work with him this week, and testify of the truthfulness of the Atonement. 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! Have a wonderful week, and a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Sister Harris

When We Lose Ourselves in the Service of Others, We Find Ourselves!

                                                                                                                Oct. 19, 2015

 

Cotia is amazing!!! First off, I have been having some trouble speaking English...yes, as crazy as it sounds, my brain is switching over to Portuguese, and so forgive me, if at Christmas, I sound a little different haha.

Many members/nonmembers here try to speak English to me, and I automatically respond in Portuguese. For example, they will say thank you in English, and I´ll say, "de nada." One night a woman named Danielle wanted to hear me speak in English, but it took me a while to describe something as simple as my family in English.    

I want to share with you a quick experience I had with regards to trusting in the Spirit this past week.

One day I was teaching a lesson to Leonardo, Geovana, and Bianca with my companion, the third lesson, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During this lesson, I struggled with Portuguese. I was stuttering a lot, and I couldn´t express simple doctrine to our investigators in the language. There was a moment during the lesson when I just paused. Words were scrambling through my brain like rapid fire, and I was trying to translate in my head from english to portuguese and portuguese to english, and I thought to myself, I can´t do this. I really don´t know what I am teaching, and I am failing my Heavenly Father. The lesson was poorly taught on my part--so poor that the member who was teaching with us had to fill in the blanks of my sentences. I just remember walking out of the lesson feeling horrible about myself. Immediately after the lesson, however, we had another lesson with a woman named Daiane. This lesson was on the Plan of Salvation. I prayed like no other that I would be able to have the Spirit. That I would be able to focus on her needs, and not on my own needs in learning the language. During the lesson the Spirit touched my heart that I just need to listen. I need to listen with my mind and my heart, and not worry about what I am going to say. So, I did just that. I listened to Daiane, I listened to my companion, I listened to the member that was teaching with us, and I listened to the Spirit. When my turn came to speak, I testified with power. Portuguese words came into my mind in the moment that I needed them, and I walked away from the lesson feeling like a new person. I actually felt worthy to be a missionary. Yesterday, I put this tactic to use of simply listening to the investigator´s needs as well as the Spirit, and THEN opening my mouth as the Spirit fills my mind with spiritual truths, and it really works.

 

I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers. He will always be there for us when we need Him, and the Spirit will always guide our thoughts and our hearts to truths in the moment that we need them if we LISTEN. 

My companion and I recently received a referral of a man who is having some trouble with his relationship with his family, but he so desperately wants to do whatever it takes to come unto Christ. This week we are going to teach him the Plan of Salvation, and I will let you know how it goes! Ivan, the man who has some trouble with smoking, accepted our plan to diminish his cigarette usage to 0 within the next 2 weeks, and he attended Church recently!! We are going to help him this week keep his commitment, and hopefully his heart will be softened to progressing towards an actual baptismal date.

 

I LOVE YOU ALL!! Remember that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you!! When we lose ourselves in the service of others, we will find ourselves, and we will then see Heavenly Father´s plan for us!!! 

Sister Harris

My First Area

                                                                                                                       Oct. 12, 2015

 

   Well, I made it to the field!!! I absolutely love it here in Cotia, Brasil (pronounced Cochea)

    I didn´t think I would love being a missionary/teacher this much, but I really do!!

 

 
 As for my surroundings, the streets are more like mountains I get the fun opportunity to climb up and down every day.

Let´s just say my calves get quite the work out every single day, so I use my physical activity every day to stretch! On top of that, it´s spring time, and REALLY HOT, so I´m burning calories every minute!





Also, many of the homes are colorful, and the apartments are white.

The people here are amazing, my companion is the perfect trainer for me, and the food is to die for (yes, I know, a bit of a problem...).

 

 My companion is amazing! She is from Rio de Janeiro, and she is exactly obedient, and organized in every way. I am her first American companion, so I´m pretty sure that´s probably a bit of a challenge for her. But she is absolutely patient with me, and we laugh about several things throughout the day together. She is amazing at giving analogies during lessons that are applicable to the people we teach, and she always teaches with sincerity and love in her heart for others; she never fights over doctrine, but defends the truth with grace and integrity.

 

We have three elect investigators named Leonardo, Bianca, and Geovana who are about 16 years old, and have accepted baptism for the 25th of October!!! I absolutely love them! They have a strong desire to read the Book of Mormon! My companion and I only had one book of mormon to give them the day we taught them about the Restoration, and they practically raced to grab it out of our hands because they were so eager to read it. We´re going to give each of them their own pretty soon haha. It´s so interesting that whenever I teach Brasileiros, they sit forward in their chairs and really have a desire to listen to me....it´s probably because I struggle a bit with the language haha, but I like to think it´s the Spirit touching their hearts.

 

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to bear my testimony in our Ward, Cotia 2, and I felt so much love in my heart for the members there, that I cried. The Spirit touched my heart, and I knew that the Church is the same everywhere. MANY members shared their testimonies in our ward. It´s incredible how strong their testimonies are here!!

 

During my first or second day here, we taught a man named Ivan who has always rejected the help of missionaries to teach him in preparation for baptism. He also has a smoking problem, and it´s very difficult for him to quit. A scripture came to my mind when my companion told me about him before we taught our lesson, and I shared it with him one night (my first lesson with him). In 2 Nefi 31: 5 (i think that´s the reference), it talks about the importance of Christ being baptized even though he was without sin, and how much more need we have to be baptized because we are imperfect. Anyway, he didn´t commit to a date for baptism, but he committed to let us help him in preparation for it!! BREAKTHROUGH!! We´re going to eat dinner/share a message with him and his family tomorrow night about the Plan of Salvation, and we´re going to create a Quit-Smoking calendar for him as well. Oh, and here in Brasil, we eat lunch every day with members--it´s amazing!!! The people here are so loving and kind, and I am loving every moment being here.

Although it is difficult at times to speak the language, I have seen the Lord´s hand in my life numerous times when I open my mouth and testify what´s in my heart during lessons. Somehow, my words are carried into the hearts of the investigators, and both me, and the investigators are strengthened.

 

EU AMO VOCÉS!!! I hope you are all doing well, and know that I pray for you every day!!!

 

MUCH LOVE!!!! SISTER HARRIS

Goodbye CTM-- Hello Mission Field!!

                                                                                                                      Oct. 6, 2015 

With Jesus Christ, the Work is Possible!

                                                                                 Sept. 30, 2015
 
Well, I can´t believe I only have a week left before I am in the field. I have been trying to only speak portuguese every day, but at times, I mess up or get frustrated because I don´t know enough, and then I remember that I can´t be perfect right now and that, with Heavenly Father´s help, I can speak the language better.
















Funny things that happened to me in the CTM so far:
I told an investigator that babies don´t have agency when I was really trying to find the word in
portuguese for accountability.... At the beginning of a lesson on a SATURDAY, I asked an investigator: Como foi Igreja ontem? (How was church yesterday),  and I honestly couldn´t remember what day it was for the life of me until I asked him if he was going
to go to church tomorrow (Sunday) at the end of a lesson... FAIL....

This past week I was trying to do everything perfectly well, and trying to only
speak portuguese because that´s usually how I speak better in lessons
(when I speak portuguese 24/7). I was beginning to get a bit
overwhelmed, however, because my district wouldn´t speak portuguese
24/7 which caused me to break my english fast as well, and I was just
trying to be as perfect as possible. Well, yesterday, I broke down a
little bit, and realized the Lord is on my side. I was thinking about
everything that I needed to get done in preparation for two
investigators´ baptisms soon before the field, and I was thinking
about everything that I was doing wrong as well. Needless to say, I
hit my wall yesterday. My companion stopped me when we were preparing
for a lesson, and asked me what I thought about what we should teach
this investigator, and I just broke into tears. I expressed my
feelings that the work is hard, and that I don´t want to have to speak
Portuguese all the time, and how I felt like I was being so prideful
because I wanted everyone to be exactly obedient to the schedule, and
to be quiet during their studies because it was affecting my work, and
my companion, Sister Hunsaker stopped me and told me lovingly that
Heavenly Father loved me, and was so proud of how hard I was trying to
do His work. She asked me if I know that Jesus Christ loves me with
all my heart, and I responded yes, in tears of course, and then she
encouraged me that with Jesus Christ, the work is possible. I really
needed to hear those words from her, especially because she is a
representative of Christ, and I have gotten so close to her recently.
After this talk, I taught a lesson to Wesley one of our investigators,
and I spoke with the best portuguese I have ever spoken.

The Lord is MINDFUL OF US!!!!

Love,

SISTER HARRIS