Christmas miracles!!!

                                                                                                           Dec. 19, 2016

 

Hi Family,

So, this past week, I lost my voice again (I think it´s the third time in the mission) because I think I´ve been working too hard that my body can´t take anymore, and my immune system shuts down. However, I learned a lot after losing my voice. 1) I can sing a lot lower when it happens, and 2) I can´t stand not being able to talk in the mission. 

I feel as though I´ve changed a lot from the beginning of my mission, because I normally didn´t say anything at lunches to get to know the members, but at the end of the mission, it´s such a burden to lose my voice and not be able to share the gospel with others like normal, or find out more about their personal lives. I don´t think I´ve realized how much I´ve changed until now.

Also, please pray that I´ll be able to sing well this Wednesday in the mission talent show and regain all of my voice back. It´s almost completely healed, but it could be better. 

 

This past week, I saw so many miracles. I think that it´s only when we are most weak in our lives that we see Heavenly Father´s hand constantly extended out to bless us. This week, because I had a small cold, I really depended a lot on my Heavenly Father for strength. I saw so many miracles because of it. I could feel the Spirit testify to me of the love that He had for the new investigators we taught, and I could see them as He sees them. 

 

One new investigator we are teaching is Francielle, a young woman who is 22 years old. She was a contact that we made one day on the street, who happens to be the friend of one of our past investigators. One day, we hadn´t planned to visit her, but we had planned to visit someone near her, and she happened to live right next door. We clapped our hands and called out for her neighbor, but she told us her neighbor wasn´t at home. She then said, but if you want to visit me, you can. We then marked a day to visit her (this past friday) and walked away, knowing that she was prepared to receive the gospel. On friday morning before lunch, we visited her, and she told us that she was looking for Heavenly Father in her life because her mom had passed away suddenly in January, and her dad had passed away when she was 13 years old, and she was wanting to make things right with God in her life. From her appearance, she doesn´t look like someone who really wants to obey Heavenly Father´s commandments. She has a lot of piercings on her ears and nose, and mouth, and you can tell she smokes because she has really large bags under her eyes. However, the Lord doesn´t look at our appearance, but looks at our heart.

We taught her about the plan of salvation--how one day she could reunite with her mom and her dad, and how Jesus Christ knew exactly what she was going through. At the end of the message, she accepted baptism, and she said, with certainty, that she would prepare to be baptized on the 7th of January. She told us that the message we shared brought a lot of peace to her heart, and she gave a sweet closing prayer at the end of the lesson. She told us that she was anxious to go to church on Sunday. 

After walking away from her house, I felt the Spirit confirm the truth that she was being prepared to receive the gospel. Her brother is evangelical, and had been telling her that the only way to find hope in her life was to look for Heavenly Father, and gain a relationship with Him. She had humbly asked for our help to search for God´s love the day that she asked us to visit her. She needed to know that she was not lost. That there was hope. Natalia, her friend who was a past investigator of the church, had told her about our church and what a good place it was, and her friend had planted another seed in her heart. 

After many seeds planted, she had decided to change. She had decided to turn her life around, little by little, and depend on the Savior for strength. It´s the only option that gives us hope. 

 

Unfortunately, Francielle wasn´t able to come to church this Sunday, but we have hope that she will come this next Sunday. We are going to visit her soon to discover why she didn´t come because she had promised us she´d be there on Saturday night. 

 

Also, this past week we had a wonderful Christmas Ward activity and a lot of less actives came!! Bruna, and her whole family, including her Dad, who isn´t able to come to church on Sundays because of his job, came to the activity.

 

We were able to get a picture with Aurea, Bruna's mom, who looks so beautiful and modest in her new dress. 

Here is a picture of our Ward Christmas activity, where we are doing a skit. The Bishop's wife, Leticia is in pink and the man sitting near the pulpit is the Bishop, Bispo Oliveira.


 

Also, Ivone, an elderly woman who´s 84 years old, who isn´t able to come to church on Sundays as well because of her health (she fainted the last time she came to church) came to church with her sister who isn´t a member.

Also, Cida, another less active member who hasn´t been to church for 6 months, came to the activity. The family that we have been integrating with Bruna´s family (Alessandra´s family) came to the activity and came to church this Sunday as well. Alessandra´s husband hasn´t been very active in the church, but he came to the activity, and then came to church on Sunday in a tux, and talked with Rogério, Bruna´s dad, in the Christmas activity.

Here is a picture of me with an Irmã in the Ward named Marlene
who has such a strong desire to share the gospel with others.

 

 

Unfortunately, Ernest and Eder won´t be able to be baptized because they really want their soon-to-be-wives in Haiti to come to Brasil so they can get married, and then be baptized. This is what´s truly right, and this is what means true conversion. Technically, if they commit themselves to living the law of chastity and getting married as soon as their ´´girlfriends´´ get here to brasil (because it takes a long time to receive a passport), they can be baptized, but this whole time we´ve been teaching them, I haven´t felt right about this. I´m glad they made the right decision to be married before getting baptized so that they don´t fall away from the church. They both have one 4-year-old daughter, and they really love their families. 

 

UNTIL SUNDAY!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!





We have the greatest message in the world!!

                                                                                                          Dec. 12, 2016

 

Hi Harris Family!! So, I´m super excited for this Christmas season!! It´s pretty hot here in Brasil, and it rains a lot, and I´m pretty tan, so it´s not my ideal Christmas season with a lot of snow and ice on the streets, but I´m loving it.

This past week I had the opportunity to go to the temple, and Heavenly Father told me that I had to be more unified with my companion and with the members in our Ward. This past week, I tried to see from the perspective of my companion. We decided to work more as a district to share messages with the members at lunch, asking them if they could strengthen less actives in the ward because we have been noticing that the visiting teacher program and home teacher program hasn´t been functioning as good as it should be, and that many less active or completely inactive members aren´t being visited by members, but only by missionaries. We are trying to change that.

This past week, I shared a message with a woman in our ward named Alessandra after lunch, who has been helping Aurea (bruna´s mom) come back to church, and has been integrating her more, being her friend, and always sending her invites to conferences/church.

I shared a message about service and how it is our responsibility to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ and serve as he would as members of the church, and then invited her family to think of someone who is less active in the ward, or who sits alone in the ward without talking to anyone, and is just going through the motions. I then asked them if they knew anyone who was going through difficulties staying on the strait and perfect path to eternal life, and they mentioned some names. The mom, Alessandra, grabbed pieces of paper, and had her children (her son and teenage daughter) write down some names on a piece of paper, and she invited them to send them a message on their phone that same day, saying how much they missed seeing them in church.

In that lesson at lunch, I learned a great lesson. We have to encourage one another, in unity, to unify our Wards and Stakes and world as members of the church. Enduring to the end, as Aurea told us this past week, is one of the hardest steps because it includes a sincere desire to change, and it includes the courage to stand up for what is right in a world that stands for what is wrong.

This past week, we had a mission tour with Elder Aidukaitis, one of the members of the quorum of the seventy, who is working here in Brasil. He visited our mission, and told us what we could do to improve. He focused a lot on just having courage and being bold. We have the greatest message in the world--that one day, if we follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and accept His restored Gospel, we can have eternal life and enter into the Kingdom of God. We can´t be afraid to open our mouths on the bus, or in any place we may be in. We have to be courageous in all that we do, and we have to stand for that which is true. This is the only true church on the face of this Earth, and I know it because Heavenly Father has told me so, numerous times through the Holy Ghost.

I love you all!! Fun fact: I´m preparing to participate in a talent show this Christmas in our mission Christmas activity! I´m going to sing with another Brasilian sister, Sister Pereira (who lives in our house here in Vargem) a medley of the two hymns, Come Thou Fount, and If You Could Hie to        Kolob. Our Christmas activity is on the 21st, and our ward Christmas dinner is this Saturday. So many exciting events going on!

Also, Ernest and Eder are preparing to be baptized on Christmas Eve. We are trying to work hard with them so that that can happen.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! Never forget I pray for you all often!!

Heavenly Father answers our prayers!

                                                                                                               Dec. 6, 2016

Hi Family!!! So, I don´t have too much time, and I´m sorry I didn´t write you all yesterday. I forgot to warn you all that today is my P-day because I will be going to the temple. Because the temple doesn´t open on Mondays, we had to switch work days. 
















This past week Sister Salles and I saw so many miracles!!

5 of our investigators came to church, and we´re hoping that they keep coming!!

 
I have such a strong testimony of prayer!! If there is anything that I´ve learned from my mission, it´s that Heavenly Father answers our prayers when we pray with real intent, and with faith that he is going to bless us in whatever way he thinks is best for us.

 

This past weekend, I prayed so hard that our investigators could come to church. I prayed specifically for each one of them that we invited. I knew that Heavenly Father would provide a way for them to come, because they weren´t able to come last week. One of our investigators, a woman, we talked with on the street, named Maria, came because she was curious about the church, and, because she´s older, and doesn´t have the best of health, we arranged a ride for her from a member that lived close by, and she came.

 

Another investigator named Wilson is a man we taught only one time late at night, but that had been impressed by our willingness to leave behind our families for 1 year and a half just to serve the Lord and do His work. We found him on the street one night again, and talked to him. We had taught his wife as well, but he told us that she was really catholic, and that she didn´t want to change her religion. He told us that he wanted to visit the church in order to see how it is, and we invited him to the meeting. He told us that he would come if God wanted him to come. Heavenly Father certainly wanted him to come. He came with a huge smile on his face, and then realized that he knew a member of the Ward--a lady who cuts hair in our ward named Tai. He also met the Bishop, and told the Bishop that it seemed as though he already knew him--that his face was really familiar--yep, he already knew him from the pre-mortal life :) These two investigators had come before the meeting had started, but we had also invited Ernest and Eder (the Haitians) and Luis to come to church, and they told us they would come. I had prayed they would come and I knew that Heavenly Father wouldn´t let me down. He would provide a way. As I partook of the Sacrament, I continued to pray and pray and pray that Luis and Ernest and Eder would be able to come to church if it was Heavenly Father´s will. Shortly after the sacrament ended, Ernest and Eder walked in and sat next to me in white Sunday dress with big smiles on their faces. After the sacrament meeting, Luis walked in with a smile on his face. He didn´t have money on his card to pay for a bus, and he lives really far away from the Church (40 minutes by foot), and said that he came late, because he walked to church. Even though he knew he wouldn´t be able to make it for the whole meeting, he came on foot. He is one of my favorite investigators because of how little he has, but how big of a heart he gives to the Lord. 

 

Family, I wanted you to know that Heavenly Father ALWAYS provides a way for us to be happy in this life and to receive His numerous blessings. We have to trust that he is providing a way for others to keep the commandments just as he provides a way for us to accomplish the things which he has commanded us. 

Here are a few pictures taken on our visit with the Kostura family, a wonderful family in our Ward.




 



We have been finding a lot of new families to teach because we have been talking to everyone on the street about the church, and the light that Jesus Christ offers us :) Don´t be afraid to share with others your testimony of His goodness.

 

Funny fact: during the night this week, my companion heard me talk out loud in Portuguese this phrase: At the end of the lesson, could you all share your testimonies about eternal families? 

 

I didn´t know I dreamt in Portuguese haha

A Wonderful Baptism!!!

                                                                                                                  Nov. 28, 2016

Hello Family!!!

 

So, this past Saturday, Bruna was baptized! It was such a special occasion!

 

The Primary children sang, "I Like to Look for Rainbows," and Bruna´s Primary teacher gave a talk about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

 

The best part of the night, was the closing prayer that was meant to be given by Aurea, Bruna´s mom who is returning to church, but was instead given by Rogerio, her dad, who is a little bit less receptive than Aurea, and has been less active because he works on Sundays.

 

Also, Sofia, Bruna´s sassy 4-year-old sister, cried the whole night because she wanted to be baptized too. Tadinha haha. 

 

A sweet picture of Bruna and her mom

Bruna and Irmao Carvalho,
(a member of the bishopric who baptized Bruna)

Sis. Salles and me with Bruna's family



It was a wonderful baptism and we loved having
Bruna's mom and friend there. 

We had a wonderful visit this week from the Covey family. Sister Covey (one of the Sister leaders I have worked with) just completed her mission and her parents are in town picking her up. They visited Vargem Grande (where Sister Covey had also served) and were able to attend Bruna's baptism on Saturday. They were very helpful and sweet. They brought me treats and a card from home and I am very grateful! 

Here is a picture from our visit.

Sis.Covey's mom, Tammy, is at the far left. She and her husband know my mom as they went on the same study abroad program to Israel back in college. Her daughter, Sis. Covey (to the left of me) was a Sister Training leader and we have served in many of the same areas. She is a wonderful Sister and it is such a small world that our parents know each other.

 

So yesterday, was the Primary presentation at church, and I was a bit discouraged because none of our investigators were able to come to church. Something came up, or they made up excuses not to go, and I was pretty sad. During the whole sacrament meeting I was having a really hard time being happy, and I remember trying to pay attention to the children singing and giving talks, but I couldn´t get my mind off of the fact that none of our investigators could come, and that we have a lot of people marked for baptism this month. However, suddenly, the children began to sing about temples and how families can be together forever, and I saw Aurea, bruna´s mom, crying, sitting right next to me, and I realized that that was the miracle of the meeting. Aurea, after not coming to church for who knows how long, was there, supporting Bruna and Rafaella in the meeting. I felt the Spirit and began to cry. 



Funny highlight of my week: for the first time in the mission, I was bit on the leg by a dog, but it was only a little bruised and scratched, and doesn´t hurt anymore. It just shocked me haha because he was already on a chain, but he wasn´t secured by a member. Missions are full of surprises and adventure. But no worries--all is well!

 

Love you!!

 

Sis. Harris 

 

 



Lots to be Grateful for!!!!

                                                                                                                  Nov. 21, 2016

Hi Family,

Sis. Salles and me before church yesterday
 for Ward Conference. 

We have had a great week and I want to share some pictures with you...

Yesterday, we had Ward Conference, but unfortunately, only Luis (that one young man who came to church in the past) came to church. 

 

Bruna had bronchitis, and wasn´t able to come, but all is ready to go for her baptism on Saturday. We´ll have a little party thrown by the primary afterwards, and the primary is going to sing a baptismal song for her.

 

It will be a wonderful baptism, and the parents are excited. Hope they both come, and that they are able to return to church!!

 

 

 

 

 

The family who had wanted to come to church unfortunately didn´t come, but we are going to work with them. The mom´s name is Estella, and her husband passed away, but he was going to church, and receiving the missionary lessons before he passed away. They have never been to church, but we are going to invite them to come this next week again! 

This week we celebrated a birthday of a Sister (a recent convert to the church) named Laura. She turned 19 years old and wants to go on a mission. She is wonderful Sister, and goes with us sometimes on our visits with investigators.  



Fun Birthday celebration with Laura (middle)

Sis. Salles and I wanted to give Laura something special for her birthday.
So we made this picture of Christ and the temple and gave it to her to frame.

 

Also, we were able to attend Young Women of Excellence yesterday where we met a young woman named Lariane, who had come to enjoy the Young Women's program. We found out that her  parents are less active, but when she was young, she went to Primary. This week we are excited to visit her and are going to invite her and Luis to be baptized.

 

 

 One of the sweet young women gave us these beautiful flowers. 



 LOVE YOU ALL!! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

The Sweetness Continues!!

                                                                                                        Nov. 14, 2016

 Oi Family,

 

We had a wonderful mission reunion as we came together to hear Elder Nielsen, one of the seventy  speak to all of us in the mission. I loved seeing a lot of the amazing Sisters that I have had the opportunity to serve with. 

 

Here are some pictures from our reunion:    

 

Me with Sis. Salles and Sis. Caleira, my two daughters,
who I had the opportunity to help train. 



Me with Sis. Salles and Sis.Mariano who are both waiting for their visas
to serve in the Salt Lake Temple Square mission  

 



I loved seeing Sis. Cellurale, one of my past companions!

 

 

 

Sis. Oldroyd, another great companion I served with.

 

Sis. Hunsaker, one of my first companions

 

Me with Sis. Alves de Souza, who I went
on splits with as Sister Training leader

Me with Sis. Lockheart and a Sister from Casa Verde. 

So, this past weekend, we were invited as a mission by our mission president to fast with a specific purpose to know how we could be better missionaries--to recognize what we needed individually to be better missionaries in this work. I went into a bathroom at a member´s house at lunch yesterday to end my fast, and I decided to kneel and pray out loud (silently). As I prayed, I thanked Heavenly Father for several things in my life. I thanked him to be a missionary, and I remember talking to Him in a humble way, telling him I was ending my mission. I told Him I didn´t want it to end, and I immediately felt the Spirit. I told Him that I wanted to give the best of me that I could in order to end my mission the way He wanted me to end it. I don´t think I´ve ever felt so near to Heavenly Father, speaking to him in prayer, as I did yesterday. I began to cry, thinking that my mission was coming to a close. I love this work, and I don´t want it to end. I´m going to give my all EVERY SINGLE DAY to this work because I know that it sure wasn´t easy for Jesus Christ at the end of his mission. He had to rely more and more on His Heavenly Father in prayer for strength to accomplish that which was given him. I know that Heavenly Father is carrying me each and every day. Although my body aches, and this work is hard, it is so worth it. Just like the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, if we sacrifice ourselves and our natural man, because of love, it is all worth it.

 

Last night we had a wonderful family night with Bruna and her family!

 

Bruna is super cute, and she and her sister (who is a member) always write us letters telling us how much they love us. 

 

We made a yummy chocolate cake for the special occasion.

 

Bruna came to church yesterday and we are looking forward to her baptism!!

 

 

This week we found a young woman named Carina whose father had recently passed away. We were able to share the message of the plan of salvation with her. During the lesson, the Spirit was strong, and she cried as she shared with us that someone who she dearly loved had passed away.

 

She felt so much hope after the lesson, that she told us, from that day on, she prayed more fervently to Heavenly Father, and didn´t pray late at night (midnight) anymore, but that her prayers were REAL prayers. Her pastor picks her up to go to the church she is attending (God´s Assembly is the name of the church), but she has a desire to go to ours. this next Sunday hopefully she can visit with her mom.

Also we found another family who will come to church next week!!

 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Working toward baptism

                                                                                                        Nov. 7, 2016

Hi Family!!!

 

This past week, we marked a lot of Heavenly Father´s elect for baptism!! Miracles truly happened, and we are going to have a lot of baptisms pretty soon. 

Ernesto came to church by HIMSELF this past Sunday, and he got there right on time, and came in Sunday dress. We called him at about 7:30 in the morning to wake him up because he asked us to, and he almost complained on the phone because it was so early.

Later, he told us, that the Spirit told him on the phone to say that he was going to go to church. The Spirit had touched his heart when we called, and told him that he needed to go to church and wake up.

He has the biggest smile, and is super funny. We finally found out where he lives, and we taught him about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration (with a member who speaks Spanish that is from Peru), and we invited him to be baptized for the 27th of this month. He and Eder accepted baptism, but unfortunately, Eder couldn´t come to church yesterday because he had to work. They have such strong testimonies of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ because of their Haitian roots, and they are some of the happiest people I´ve ever met even though they have so little materially in life. 

 Also, Bruna, a young woman who had a birthday yesterday and turned 10 years old (we bought her a present of a butterfly coloring book) came to church, and this past week we invited her to be baptized in preparation for the 26th of this month. She accepted, and her mom gave her permission as well (her mom and dad aren´t super active in the church, but they really respect and love the church).

We ate a lot of cake because of her birthday, and we taught her and her family about the plan of salvation.


In some of the pictures, her sister, Sofia, is with me, and she is one of the sassiest little girls I´ve ever met. She´s super smart, and she loves spider man, and she loves sister missionaries haha.

 

Also, this past week we taught Neide, a woman who is 68 years old, and her grandson, Mateus, about the plan of salvation on Monday night. Neide was a woman that Sister Salles had talked to on the street who told us we could visit her, and on Monday night we did. On Monday night, my allergies were acting up, so it was kind of difficult to teach Neide and her grandson, and get to know them. However, we ended up sharing with them a little bit of the plan of salvation, and left with them the pamphlet about Heavenly Father´s plan. We didn´t think much of the lesson, but we marked another day to visit them.

 

In the second visit, we realized that Neide was really looking for the truth because she read some parts of the pamphlet, and things about the Plan were beginning to make a lot of sense to her. The Spirit was in our lesson, and we decided to invite her and her grandson to be baptized on the 4th of December. They accepted!!

 

On Sunday, Neide came to church, and she was super ready for the sacrament meeting, coming all dressed up in fancy church clothes--a nice blouse and nice black pants. We were running a little late on Sunday to stop by her house to pick her up before the meeting, and she had been waiting for us about 10 minutes outside, ready to go to church. Unfortunately, she had to leave early because her husband isn´t very well mentally and physically, and so she left after sacrament meeting, however, after each testimony, she said these sweet words "Amen," or "Amen Jesus." Tonight we´ll find out how she liked the meeting when we visit her and Mateus. 

This past week, Daiane didn´t come to church, but we are going to visit her with a member and invite her to come this next Sunday, and we are going to remark her baptism for another day. 

I am so grateful for contacts. They bring miracles in the mission. The mission president received inspiration from the prophet that if our mission did 21 contacts each day, and if we shared at least two principles of the gospel, and did more effective, slow, contacts, we would be able to double the number of baptisms in our mission.

 

A couple more pictures I want to share:

 

Beautiful flowers found here in Brasil. I love this color!!

A silly picture of Sis. Salles and me out visiting.

 

Love you!!

 

Sis. Harris

It's a "treat" to be a missionary!! Happy Halloween!

                                                                                                          Oct. 31, 2016

Hi FAMILY!!!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Today,
I´ll eat a lot of sweet treats for you all, okay?😉

SOOOOOOOO, yesterday, I had a really sweet experience. Sister Salles and I were walking towards the Church with a less active young woman because the meeting was about to start, and all of a sudden, a car honked, and I heard a man shout out from his car, "Hey!" The car pulled up beside us and guess who it was?? ROBSON and Valmiria from Cotia!!!!!!

I was so caught off guard, and so excited to see them, and I hugged Valmiria super tight.

 

She then explained that Sister Bezerra, my trainer, was going to get married before her and Robson, because they aren´t married yet. (this is true, she´s getting married soon to an Elder that served in this mission haha).

 

She commented that they just moved here to Vargem Grande, but that it was their first time going to church in the area. I couldn´t believe it. INSPIRATION for President Thomas to send me here to Vargem Grande. Unfortunately, we had other investigators to attend to, and after sacrament meeting, they left really quickly before I could get the chance to say goodbye or to mark a time to visit them. 

It has been SO LONG since I´ve seen them, and I hope to see them next Sunday too. Their kids weren´t there with them, but, what was important, was that Robson was there, and he looked like he was practically a member of the church already--he had so much light in his eyes.

Yesterday, at church, two men from Haiti came to our Ward. One of them was a contact that Sister Salles and I had contacted on the street who said he wanted to come to church, but he didn´t know where the church was, or how to get there. He had woken up later than he had intended to, and so we met up with him and his friend f(rom Haiti that apparently, the other set of sisters in our area had talked to on the street another day) in the middle of sacrament meeting (during the second talk), and walked with them to the church. Unfortunately, they weren´t able to take the Sacrament, but they loved all of the other meetings--especially the last meeting with the Priesthood and Relief Society combined that the Bishop taught, because it was about self-sufficiency. They have been looking for jobs lately, and at the end of the meeting, the Bishop pulled them in his office, and I´m sure he talked with them about how they could be self-sufficient in the church. They don´t speak Portuguese very well, but they are able to understand it for the most part, and their names are Ernest and Eder. Sister Salles and I had talked to Ernest on the street, and he´s super sweet. He looks like he could be from a film--he´s tall, African, and has a huge white small on his face all the time. Even if he doesn´t understand you in Portuguese, he´ll say, ´´okay, okay´´ haha. But he speaks Spanish, so Sister Salles and I are going to learn Spanish this week. It will help me get ready to speak with Elder Harris in Spanish on skype as well.

Also, Luis, an investigator who we are working with, also came to church. He´s 18 years old, and was being taught by the Elders here in Vargem Grande, but they discovered that he lives in the area that we work in, so we are teaching him now, and he accepted a date to be baptized for the 13th of November. He has already been to church three times now, and he is super educated and kind whenever we teach him. He came into contact with the church in 2012 by other Elders, but hadn´t really looked much into it until now. His parents are separated, and he just wants to make everything right in his family, and be a good example, and so he has a desire to follow Jesus Christ and become more like him (FUTURE MISSIONARY). This week we are going to follow up with him to see if he received an answer from Heavenly Father that the Book of Mormon is true.

This past week we taught Daiane and her family!! Her husband´s name is José, and they have four children, Laura, Nicholas, Vitor, and David, three of which are able to be baptized. Daiane accepted baptism for the 19th of November, but she is going to pray about the Book of Mormon in order to know that it is true in order to be baptized. She is a bit shy and her husband as well, and they didn´t go to church yet because they are pretty timid, and don´t want to have to go by themselves. This week we are going to have a family night with them in order to help integrate them.

 

Here are a couple of pictures... 

Being silly with this funny little baby doll...

 

A picture of me with Sister Freitas

 

Love you!!

 

Sis. Harris

If we turn to Him, we can rejoice in His love!

                                                                                                         Oct. 24, 2016

Oi Família!!!

 

So, I forgot to tell you all last week that I was released from serving as Sister Training Leader this transfer. The President had confused some decisions he had made, and I didn´t know until later. But, I´m still a mom to a wonderful daughter and enjoy training Sis. Salles.
 

 Sister Salles is incredible! She is super obedient and she is pushing me to work harder. We get along

really well.

 

Fun Fact: Everyone here in Brasil thinks that she´s American hahaha. In the last Sunday meeting, the Relief Society counselor asked her if she was able to read in Portuguese haha. We always laugh about this because she does really look American because she has a whiter skin tone.

 

Lately we have been having a lot of sun here in Brasil, so we´ve been getting tanner, and that´s been fun. She is one of the sweetest people I´ve ever met, and she´s overcoming some of her shyness and timidness by talking with EVERYONE on the street and talking more in lessons.


I love newby missionaries because they come out of the MTC with a desire to work and feel the spirit constantly. 

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to Stake Conference in Cotia.

A Sister who was visiting from Utah took our picture and emailed it to our parents. This Sister had a son out serving a mission and new what a treat it was for parents to receive pictures from their missionary.















This past week, we felt the Spirit teaching a less active member named Elisiane. Normally, the other dupla of Sisters in our house teaches her, but one day, we said hi to her in her shop where she works on the street, and she began to talk with us. She´s been trying to return to Church lately, and turn things around in her life. She and her husband had been fighting, and she had wanted to go back to the Northeast of Brasil to live with her parents, and separate from her husband because he hasn´t been treating her nicely. She began to open her heart up to us and told her that it would be hard to return to her dad because her dad had warned her about not marrying her husband because he didn´t trust him. She was young and oblivious to the consequences, and married him anyway. They had a child together, and now, she told us, the only thing that is good in her life, is her little boy. She lost her opportunity to study and work, and have a financially stable life because she was blinded by love that wasn´t really love.

 

As she was talking, the Spirit helped me remember the story of the Prodigal Son. How he had lost EVERYTHING in his life, and then went back to his dad to ask for forgiveness and start over. How his dad received him really well in his house, and rejoiced that his lost son had been found. After reading the Parable to her, she began to cry. She said, "I understand." The Spirit was so strong as Sister Salles and I testified to her that there was a way out of her misery. That if she asked for forgiveness from her Father--her earthly father, and her Heavenly Father, she could be comforted and be happy once again. We testified that Heavenly Father knows who she is, and could help her return home to Him if she let Him.

 

Sometimes in our lives, we are like the Prodigal son. We become beggars of Heavenly Father´s love and mercy and blessings, and we don´t know where to turn to, but to Him. If we will just kneel in prayer unto Him, and speak with him, He will rejoice with us, and will tell us that He loves us. 

This past week, we weren´t able to visit Daiane and her family because unfortunately, Daiane had to stay at the hospital for several days with her son who became ill. We are praying that this Wednesday we will be able to teach their whole family and invite them to be baptized.

Also, this week we found two elect young women named Emili and Natalia. Emily is 12 years old and Natalia is 16. Their brother is unfortunately in prison, so that was a touchy subject for them, but we taught them of the plan of salvation and invited them to be baptized, and they accepted, if they knew that our message is true. We just have to mark them for a specific date because the are going to travel pretty soon, but Emili wants to invite two of her friends to go to church with her this next Sunday. Hope all four come!!! 

The last picture is of a less active member named Ivone who is 84 years old that we teach. She has a heart of gold, and only can´t come to church because of her health, and she ends up fainting. We´re going to have the sacrament sent to her every Sunday.

Love you!!

Sis. Harris

Feeling so blessed in our new area!!!

                                                                                                           October 17, 2016
OI FAMÍLIA!!!!!

Sooooo, I will just say that I love Vargem Grande!! It is the complete opposite of Ferreira, and a lot like Cotia, but even more of a rural area. The people here are super receptive to the gospel, and they actually stop to listen to you on the streets instead of just saying they´re in a hurry or not even looking at you.

My new companion is Sis. Salles. She is serving here while waiting on her vista to serve in the Salt Lake City Temple Square mission. She is super sweet, and from Bela Horizonte, Brasil.



Sis. Salles and I visited a family that owned baby rabbits.

You can see them here in her lap. They were adorable!!

We live with two other sisters in our house named Sister Nunes and Sister Pereira--all Brasilians.

We made a yummy stroganoff meal for lunch one day.

 We also made an amazing dessert that´s called Palia Italiano.

 

One day we got lost trying to find our lunch appointment. We were practically in a jungle stepping over rivers. haha 

So yesterday, I got to talk in Church AGAIN on the first Sunday haha. This time, I had less time to prepare--2 minutes to think about it before sacrament began. It´s a blessing to talk in sacrament, but because it happened to me AGAIN on the first Sunday in a new area, I feel like I´m cursed haha. I actually should have seen it coming because I had asked the Bishop in the morning if there was anything else that I could do for him, and so I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting.

 

I spoke about personal revelation and the Holy Ghost because next week we´re going to have Stake Conference (in cotia--so I´ll see some members I know!!!!), and he wanted to prepare the members to receive revelation. I felt the Spirit as I spoke, and I shared with the members a few experiences I´ve had in the mission receiving answers to my prayers. 

One of them, was this past Wednesday. Sister Salles and I had prayed to find a family. That day, we were doing contacts on the street, and talking to everyone we saw. We decided to talk to two women who were sitting on the street talking to each other one afternoon. One of them, is the wife of a member, and has already been to the Church. Her name is Wanda. The other woman´s name is Daiane, and she hasn´t ever been to the Church before. We talked to them, and got their addresses, and marked a day to visit Daiane. We marked the following day to visit her, but, unfortunately, it rained, and we weren´t able to visit her because we got lost trying to find a member´s house for lunch one day. The next day, we found her daughter on the street (we didn´t know it was her daughter at first), but we talked to her, and she said we could visit her and her mom the next day. The following day, we went there, and Daiane told us that she had stopped going to her church because she had been offended by some of the people there. She said that she also really wanted to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost because she wanted to find more peace in her life. She told ust that the day we had talked to her on the street, she was talking to Wanda about our church, and wanda, who had already visited the church, had been talking to her about the church, and how she could find so much peace and comfort there. It wasn´t just a coincidence that we found her that day after she was talking to Wanda. 

At the end of the lesson, Sister Salles said the prayer, and asked that Daiane could feel peace in her life. Daiane began to cry during the prayer. Tonight we are going to visit her entire family, and we are going to invite them to be baptized. Miracles are real. She has a wonderful family, and she´s already married to her husband. 

 

Here are a few more pictures I want to share:

There are tons of frogs on the street
when it rains at night. (yuck) 

 

A picture of me with an Irmã in the Ward
named Taiana who is a hairstylist and
will soon cut my hair. I liked her shirt. 

Me with Vinícius and Maria Rita, two cute kids
of a family we are working with.

I´m loving Vargem Grande because it´s SO BEAUTIFUL!! I get to have an adventure every day here in this area. I love working with Sis. Salles! She has such a desire to baptize in this mission. She´s super optimistic, and together, we are seeing so many miracles in this area!!