Jun 30...feast upon the words of Christ

So this week I have had a fascination with the Book of Mormon. Its what I have been using to keep me diligent and desirous to keep going because I am getting super tired. So I am going to share experiences this week with some of the scriptures that I was able to read and relate to what I am doing! They won't be in order of what actually happened this week, sorry thoughts and days are kind of jumbled this week haha!

1 Nephi 1:1"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents"

This week I am so grateful for my family, for my parents, and for the things they have taught me. Some days get really hard when i just want to go home and see the people i love so much but I hope my family knows that THEY are what keeps me going out here! YOU ARE EVERYTHING TO ME! I am so proud to be Sister Harrison to literally represent my family through that name!!!!! This week I got a blessing, which I'm sure I will bring up more later, but Heavenly Father reminded me of the love of my family and I am just so grateful that they are stuck with me for eternity! 

1 Nephi 1:20 "... the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

Now its time to tell you about the bug, the bug that saved our lives. I think the best way to describe this is by using the conversation my companion had with her mom.

Sister du Plessis:

We were driving and I was stopped at a light. Then the light turned
green, so I started to drive again, then this MASSIVE beetle landed on
the windshield and I didn't know if it was inside or outside, and
Sister Harrsion let out the most gut-wrenching scream I have ever
heard, so I was really confused and braked. And just as I started to
drive again this huge truck sped through the red light and missed us
by like three centimeters. This all happened within a couple of
seconds and afterwards I had to pull over to calm myself down. God is
good.

Her moms response:

Oh my flipping goodness!! God moves in mysterious ways and really
protects his soldiers. HOLY COW. I cant believe it.  All hail the bug.

My comments on that:

I agree with her mom... ALL HAIL THE BUG!

1 Nephi 11:17 "And I said unto him: i know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

So this week there was a lot of built up tension in our district! In each of our individual lives there have been a lot of things that we have all been bottling up and it was starting to get to the point where we were taking it out on each other. So we spent time doing a district inventory. Each week as a companionship we do an inventory where we talk about goals, strengths, and struggles so we decided it was about time to do this as a district. It was REALLY incredible. At first everyone was defensive, no one wanted to talk, and we weren't getting anywhere but then something happened in the room and we each took turns talking and the love that was in that room when we left was incredible! I seriously LOVE these elders, and my companion so much! they are INCREDIBLE and i am so grateful that i get to spend this time learning from them. At first we didn't understand why God would put us all together, but i guess just like Nephi we didn't know the meaning of all things but now we really know that God loves us, and that we love each other. 

1 Nephi 16:21, 23 "Now it came to pass that I, Nephi, having been afflicted with my brethren because of the loss of my bow, and their bows having lost their springs, it began to be exceedingly difficult, yea, insomuch that we could obtain no food...And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?"

So this week there were a couple of things that dealt with illnesses so i thought this scripture fit it pretty well since both me and sister bronson are just continuing forward. So we had exchanges with the sister training leaders this week and I got to go with sister bronson. It was weird we haven't spent more than a couple of hours in the same room with each other since the mtc so it was interesting being her companion for 24 hours. Well on the morning of our exchange she got sick so we took her to the medi-clinic and three hours later we have the pills that are needed and we had a lot of time to just talk which was nice! and she is such a trooper.. she didnt want to give up, she wanted to keep working, but unfortunately her pills make her drowsy so we took her home and put her to bed. But just like Nephi she kept going the thought of being sick didnt stop her and she always wants to fulfill her purpose! it was an incredible example to me. Then you have me. I had little bit of a shaking scare after a dinner appointment with a member one night and I got a blessing for it because I was literally vibrating (it was kind of funny) but during the blessing i was promised that I would be healed according to my faith and my willingness to do what i know i need to do! I am grateful for Nephi's example and I am also grateful for priesthood blessings. Now we can ask the question where do you want us to go!?

I love being a missionary! I love the Book of Mormon! and I am learning to LOVE Prince Albert!

Jun 23...short and sweet

So this week for my email i thought i would just fill you in on what i learned at zone conference! 

It was so much fun to travel back to saskatoon I LOVE IT THERE SO MUCH! But i think more then being in saskatoon i was super happy for the lessons i learned. 

They first started talking about hastening the work. I loved a definition that i heard about hastening. To hasten is to add momentum. adding momentum is something that i really need to work on since i am nearing the end to where i can see it! it kind of freaks me out a little bit. there was also a lot on endurance. There was a quote shared from an elder not in this mission that said 'if one does not endure to the end; faith, baptism, and the holy ghost are useless.' that put into perspective for me the importance of enduring. If we lack in areas of endurance we become vulnerable to defeat and despair. As a missionary this was HUGE for me. BELIEVE OBEY AND ENDURE thats my motto!

Then sister thomas gave a great portion on  carrying burdens. If we are too worried about the burden we are carrying we cannot focus on the work ahead. I felt this way a lot lately i have been worrying about stupid things and it makes it hard to focus so we learned that relying more on the savior will help you let go of what you are dealing with. I love what you wrote mom too about praying for the strength to endure. If things burden our thoughts they burden our actions and we need christ in everything. Then sister thomas gave another portion on shoes.. the footprints our shoes leave someone may try to follow so what footprints are we leaving? this really made me think. Are my feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace? do i need to put on different shoes? I loved two of the shoes we talked about, slippers (dont slip up on your prayers) and worn out shoes (wear yourself out in the gospel) It was so good! then we got a portion on marriage. by president thomas... haha encouraging us to get married... does that help a sister out who is going home soon, NOPE! haha but he had good insights. Marry inside the church! that was the biggest one he emphasized! It was such a good zone conference. I am sorry for the short email but I am happy, healthy, and getting in the mind set that I am going home! like kaylynn says... 101 days left. its weird! love you all! 

Jun 16...bigger than utah

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! sad i missed the baby blessing this week but i know i am where i need to be. 

Monday: For pday activity we played Risk again, and I dominated the world again! I love proving people wrong when they tell me I can't do something! Then we went to the YSA fhe and they did an incredible thought on scripture study. My favorite was when they shared Jacob 2:8  8 And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul. It was really what i needed to hear that day. It really made me happy to know that just reading the scriptures could heal a wounded soul. I am so glad that even though i am a missionary god still looks out for me and cares for me. Then we went and saw a less active who has the cutest five year old in the WORLD! On monday though he was acting a little bit more like a terrible five year old but thats okay, kids can do that. He didnt want to finish his food so his mom told him to finish it and it would help him grow chest hairs haha. So things to learn about parenthood, crust makes chest hair grow. haha!

Tuesday: we had district meeting and this week instead of KD party we had a perogie party. Decided to go a little bit more creative haha... not really but it tasted good. While we were eating (since we just make food at the church to save money) we played apples to apples. haha so funny and apparently your cards are what make up who you are. So i am lazy and unhealthy but its okay im feminine. :) Then we went and volunteered at the humane society again. My dog i got didnt like other dogs at all. So i spent most of the hour alone, with in sight and sound of course but off in my own world and it was weird to have that quiet time to think. It gave me time to just look at the green around me and just love what i saw, it also gave Sister du Plessis time to get covered in dog hair... LITERALLY COVERED! she had to go home and shower after that. I also got to do my first skype lesson. I got to skype with some less active girls from winnipeg that i use to work with when i lived there and it was so much fun to be able to see them again. We had a lesson on prayer and we even got them to agree to meet with missionaries in the area! it was super good!

Wednesday: As we volunteered at the foodbank some good country music came on! TENDER MERCIES OF THE LORD! It was so nice! Then we had a lesson with a part member family we are working with. We are trying to get the son baptized! So we decided to stick with the scripture power theme that is going on right now. We talked about the importance of scripture power by me SLAMMING A CAN ON MY HAND. Yep really did that, in fact in companionship study i practised it and i did it wrong and thought i broke my finger. but i didnt and was able to still smash it during the lesson so all is well. 

Thursday: Thursday was soo good! We had a lesson with an investigator who is hopefully getting baptized on july 5 about a loving heavenly father. There is a scripture in 1 Nephi 11:17 that talks about how he doesnt know the meaning of all things but he knows that god loves his children. As a missionary i feel that way a lot. I dont know the meaning of all things but i KNOW THAT GOD LOVES HIS CHILDREN. We also had two investigators from africa pray this week. They are thirteen and eleven and apparently its a big deal I am so excited to have been able to be there for that. Oh and you need to check out the new book of mormons they are making. They are putting captions on pictures and dates in chapter headings.. .its fantastic. 

Friday: friday was a full moon and it was friday the thirteenth, so we were so expecting CRAZY THINGS TO HAPPEN and did they. NO! We had a district pow wow on friday and it went really good! We realized we need to work better with the members but have NO IDEA how to do it. So we set some goals made some plans and now we are gonna get work done! Then we went and did icecream. We are also trying to find someone who speaks niranda so if you know anyone please let us know! We asked sister menlove about it and her response was, give me a second let me call the congo. haha sister menlove is the best! 

Saturday: During our service project this week we had to work with chemicals and mold. it was gross and it made me feel sick. we had a scone party with a member and the elders. It was super fun! then we went and had chinese food with a member. it just was all in all a good day! Question how do you help shy people get over being shy? 

Sunday: We did wake up calls again sunday morning. Sister du Plessis left the stick at home this time though. but they worked because we saw three investigators at church! Then we went with the elders to give sacrament to a lady in the hospital. She reminds me a lot of corrette and it makes me really happy to go see her each week. But i think they best note from the week was did you wish heavenly father a happy fathers day! I am so grateful for a heavenly father who loves me and is patient with me... I am also grateful for my dad! LOVE YOU DADDY!!!! 

Jun 9...day by day

So I think this week is a day by day letter kind of week! 

MONDAY:

Last Monday we played Risk with the Elders. It was so fun! They told us at the beginning not to take over Europe or Asia, because apparently that's too difficult, and what did we do? I took over Asia, and Sister du Plessis took over Europe. Then we teamed up with Elder Schmidt and took over the world! We are playing again apparently the elders want a rematch... THEY WANT TO LOSE AGAIN! Then after pday we went to FHE where we played do you love your neighbor. Elder Schmidt ripped his pants, Elders and sisters were trying really hard not to sit on laps  and the ysa were just laughing their heads off. People like watching missionaries squirm. 

TUESDAY:

we taught a 12-year-old boy the Gospel of Jesus Christ...by relating it to Halo. That was quite the experience, and I will probably always think of Halo when someone talks about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Faith: The game is possible, there is an end. 

Repentance: Respawning, you will always get a second try

Baptism: check points, like all covenants once you hit the check points you dont have to restart past that point. 

Gift of the Holy Ghost: the compass so you can see the bad stuff coming and feel peace

Endure to the End: actually playing the game and getting better at it as you go.

I hope those explanations made sense but the kid we taught really liked it, we of course went into more detail then i am over this email but we felt pretty creative. I was just impressed I remembered halo that much. 

After District Meeting we had a KD-party (KD is mac and cheese) and we made the biggest pot of KD I have ever seen. It was insane. I seriously had NEVER seen that much KD in one pot. It was five whole boxes. This week is a perogie party. Cooking at the church is cheaper then eating out and way more fun! We started volunteering at the Humane Society here. It's the SPCA, and we went over and got to play with the dogs and walk them and everything. It was a very theraputic volunteer opportunity and it was fun to see the elders play with the dogs and see Sister du Plessis get pulled by them. Then we have sports night on Tuesday so I still get my basketball in, its just a little different because the court here is tiny, but its still fun. 

WEDNESDAY:

We volunteer at the foodbank on wednesday which is always fun, and that means i have weekly access to the DIABETES TREASURE CHEST! Free chocolate! luckily now i am so sick of chocolate it makes me want to puke! with all the changes and stress and stuff i was eating a lot of chocolate. now i struggle looking at a chocolate bar, but for some reason oh henrys always get me. Sister du Plessis got sick and so we called it an early night and put her to bed with some pills that knocked her out... those are some funny experiences I will tell you about one day. 

THURSDAY: We also volunteer at a place called good as new. This week we painted, we decided to go with a light verses darkness theme which was horrible because we didnt have yellow or black... WHAT WERE WE THINKING! We had ward council... i think the hardest part of ward council was when someone flat out looked at the missionaries and said 'We dont need these people here' its really hard to serve in an area where people don't want you but hopefully some of these barriers will break down with time. 

FRIDAY:

Because Sister du Plessis was so sick this week, we got a text message on Friday morning telling us not to eat breakfast (they had called me the night before and told me all about it) but about an hour after the text Elder Schollars and Elder Fratcher showed up at our door and THEY MADE US BREAKFAST! Soooo kind and thoughtful. Elder Fratcher said it was all Elder Schollars, but I am positive that he had something to do with it as well. We got so much food from other people this week that we didn't even have to buy groceries. We helped a family move, A LOT, and it was hard work but we ended up finally getting it done (TODAY) they are a less active family and because we helped i think we are gonna be able to see them more! That would be so good! 

SATURDAY:

We spent this morning moving that family again. Seriously sooo much moving. then we just went and taught a lot! its always fun teaching and this area has a lot of lessons a week. 

SUNDAY:

Church happened, i finally got to meet my ward, that was nice! And we had a lot of people I met during the week show up so I already knew them which was even better but i think my favorite part was Sister du Plessis wake up calls... she carries around a stick and yells at people in german as we go wake up investigators and less actives so they can get to church. She is seriously so funny! 

LOVE YOU ALL!

Jun 2...we put the PA back in party.

So before I get into my week and the craziness that I call this week let me explain my subject line. The first night I got into Prince Albert our kind neighbor decided to leave his radio blaring, ALL NIGHT! So its eleven o clock, I already am having a hard time sleeping because I am in a strange area, in a strange bed that they tell me is now mine and I hear gangdum style come on... yep thats right, haven't heard that song since before I left on my mission but that was my melodious tune that I got to listen to. Then the announcer says "thats right we put the PA back in party", at this point both me and Sister Du Plessis (my new companion) are BURSTING laughing and then a dear tune comes on to remind me of home. The cotton eye joe. Yep that song that use to be played every half time at my junior high. With a smile on my face I was finally able to think about sleep. Thank goodness for the tender mercies of the Lord. 

   Well since its transfer weeks I should have expected craziness to happen but this transfer seemed to be like transfer weeks on a full moon. I was suppose to leave the area on wednesday to head back up with my new companion and start working in my new area, so i started setting up appointments to say goodbye to the people i have learned to love so much that i call them family. Then tuesday night we get a phone call from our zone leaders. "sisters we have good news and bad news which one do you want to hear first?" first off.... why would you start a conversation with sisters like that we always assume worst case scenarios. Did someone die? Do i have to leave the area earlier? Did someone get our transfer calls wrong? oh the scenarios that were running through our minds. So we choose bad news and the bad news was sister mcphee would no longer be traveling to regina to go to the temple or pick up her new companion. ???? so whats the good news? Sister harrison you get to stay in your area until friday at five o clock because your new companion sister du plessis will be driving down to regina to pick up sister bronson. BEST NEWS EVER!!!!! i get more time to see people and only have to unpack a little because it tried to make sure i was mostly packed and put away all my clothes. So I continued to say goodbyes and LOVE the extra time i had in the area. Then ten o clock on thursday night i get a text message saying sister bronson had safely arrived to regina. WAIT! She wasn't suppose to be there until friday afternoon. I called around and found out i was actually leaving at ten o clock the next morning. I went into panic mode... i still had goodbyes to say.. still had people to see and still wanted to get LOTS OF HUGS! So we made a couple more phone calls and i got permission to stay in the area as long as i wanted . Tender mercy of the Lord! So i got more than enough time to say goodbye to my saskatoon family. My goodbye with Dallas a little girl that i taught ended with her picking a baptismal date :) best goodbye ever! June 28!!!! Then the cooks, eastons, sam, adrianne,sister wanner, wilsons, ricah... all of the people and more that will have a permanent spot in my heart! and to add on to the family in saskatoon i got to see the Johnsons. They came up for stake conference so it was nice to be able to spend a little bit more time with them since they left us about a month ago now. 

   Now I am up in Prince Albert Saskatchewan and I am settling in nicely. My new companions name is Sister Du Plessis. She is FANTASTIC! She is German but she was raised in South Africa. She has been out about six months and has been in Prince Albert for three months, so we usually dont get lost. She is the oldest of three kids, she has two little brothers and her favorite color is blue. She has a great accent and she is super funny. We are going to have a fun transfer together. Prince Albert is way smaller then Saskatoon so I am already learning my way around the area. Since it was stake conference we didnt have a normal church so I havent met many of the ward members but apparently a good sixty members come out! But it was a really good welcome into PA with a baptism of someone the elders had been teaching. She is an amazing woman and I am sure i will get to know her better but the evening I was put on skype duty so missionaries who had just been transferred who had taught her could join us for that special occasion... oh the pros of technology. But it was good to spend the time getting ready for the baptism to meet my new district. My district leader is elder schollars, he actually came out with me and his companions  name is elder fratcher. Then we have elder schmidt, who is hillarious, and he is training elder neillson who is from raymond alberta. Its a weird mix of a district but i am so excited for the things we are going to learn from each other. I still miss saskatoon and I think I always will but now its time to put the PA back into party!!!!! Love you all! 

I have attached a picture of my new companion, She is driving and she is on the wrong side of the road... for her, she is driving on the right side of the road for canada but i love her to bits and pieces. then a picture of daidis... man i am going to miss that dark curly haired boy... and a picture of some of the crazy things we do as missionaries, like teach a bunch of children outside with chalk! I love being a missionary.