Oct 15...once upon a time

Once upon a time there were these two missionaries and they were serving in canada....

I start my letter this week that way because i truly feel like im in a dream! We have been blessed so much and I cannot even show my gratitude for all the things the lord has provided this week! We have spent most of the days this week raking leaves with our elders for investigators, members, and less actives in our area! It has brought us a lot closer together and helped with the unity we were searching for! Not only that but the members have started to trust us more and invite us into their homes which is so great! We also had an incredible zone conference on thursday where we learned more about having faith in the lord to find. I cannot tell you how inspiring that was and how much i really needed to hear what president and sister thomas had to tell us! But then came weekly planning and as we talked about what we had accomplished this week according to the standards set by the mission we were both getting a little discouraged. We were feeling like we were working so hard but all we had been able to report on so far was one less active lesson in the week. We had met with lots of members and done tons of different finding things but none of that seemed to show and results that ended in numbers. I remember one night i was trying hard not to be discouraged and so me and sister fellows had a talk. We decided it didnt matter what our numbers were we both had prayed and felt good about our week and if god thinks we are good missionaries then thats all we need to worry about. Well apparently thats what was needed because then we were blessed with miracle after miracle. E*** is one of my favorite people in the st james ward. Him and his wife S*** and j** and l*** V*** are like my adopted aunts and uncles out here! they take such good care of me and they really care about me. They even pick on me.... ALL THE TIME.... but E*** is what you call an enternigator.... he has been investigating for close to three years and was determined he wasnt getting baptized when i first got into this area. S*** his wife got baptized a couple years ago and was just patiently waiting for him! Well this week he got baptized! He finally decided to take the plunge and he is now a member of the church. One year from now he and his wife will get to be sealed and it was SOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!! that was our first miracle for the weekend. One of the investigators we had been trying to meet with again, she is twelve, finally got back to us last minute on friday night and told us to come at 9 o clock the next morning. so we did! and We talked about baptism... we were nervous to ask if that was something she still wanted and she said maybe. We left it at that and kept working hard! She came to church with us the next day and after sacrament meeting came up to me and said ive decided yes. I was confused on what she had decided so i asked for more of an explanation and she said I'm going to be baptized!!!!!!!! i was so excited i almost screamed! We are setting a date with her on saturday and then we just keep going strong from there! But our fairytale didn't end there. The guy i told you about that we street contacted last week... his name is H***... well we had been trying to find him all week with no luck when we got a phone call saying he would be joining us at church... We prayed and prayed all week that we would see him at church and as ten rolled closer and closer we were getting nervous we werent going to be seeing him but low and behold there he come walking through the door! He even had the book of mormon we had given him the night we met him. I sat by him in sacrament while sister fellows sat by S*** and so i got to explain some of what we were doing to him and help him through scrpitures and other stuff to understand. He cried during the opening hymn saying that it was written just for him! Not only that but he loved all the talks and when i asked him how he felt at the end he just said i needed that you girls saved me that day you talked to me. We were able to set up a time that we could visit him this next week and he recommited himself to church saying next time i will be better dressed. He is so incredible and im so excited to be able to start teaching him! And it doesnt even stop there. We decided to go and see some formers before our dinner appointment with the Menloves (one of the senior couples in our mission) We went to this apartment complex we have tried a couple of times and buzzed, with no success.... Then we started talking to the neighbors that were hanging out outside. They said they knew our formers and that they had just went in... one of them let us into the building and lead us right to them. Their names are E*** and E***. We started introducing ourselves and offering our services, we werent even half way through when we were asked if they could have an appointment with us. We of course readily agreed and set up a time for this next week and asked if they had time there where we could share a short message. We had a thanksgiving message prepared for people we stop by and were able to share about gratitude! They were so excited for us to come back and we just felt blessed to be missionaries. Even though on friday we were determined that we weren't going to be able to report much we were able to find three new people who wanted to learn the gospel, two of our investigators showed up to church and one of them decided to be baptized! It was a dream come true for everyone and because its thanksgiving we even got some pumpkin with it too!

 

So in the pictures is me and sister fellows my companion! There is also a picture of my adopted st james family.... .... im so excited to have met them all!!!!!

 

 

Oct 7...general conference

This week was a great week! We seem to be struggling with cancelations and no shows still but its not due to lack of effort on our part. We make lots of phone calls and when we don't hear from them we stop by anyway and we love it! well trying to anyways we would love to teach way more! It will get there!

We were able to find two new investigators this week and we were really excited! Its from a part member family we have been trying to get into forever and they want the daughter to be baptized but the mom is sitting in on lessons... We see their potential and know that even if it isn't us who gets them there they will accept the gospel at some point! That's how a lot of the people we have been working with has felt like... that even though it may not be us they will get there... the spirit has testified to them now its just all up to gods timing!

We had the most incredible experience street contacting this week. I was stressed and so i just pulled over and said okay lets go were are going street contacting. Its not the most effective way but its a good way to get stress out and that's what i needed right then. We hadn't even walked five minutes when we passed the first person on the street (for this city being HUGE there isnt a lot of people on the streets) We stopped him and gave him a mormon.org card and instead of moving on like we usually do we decided to ask more questions. We asked him if he had heard of mormons... you would be surprised how many people up here have heard of mormons because of salt lake. Then he started off by telling us he was christian and he really appreciated people who knew christ and i got discouraged because thats the excuse we get when people don't want to listen to us... well sister fellows dislikes that excuse a lot and so she reminded me of what i'm doing by saying that's great your christian in fact we go around and show others how they can increase their faith in christ... do you think your faith in christ can be increased. He said yes. we told him the message we go around and share brings peace and hope to our lives and we wanted to share it with him. He was really excited by the fact that we were willing to stand out in the cold to teach him and was open to what we had to hear. We talked a little bit more about healing and peace and got his name and phone number. He really needs the gospel in his life we are excited to help him come closer to christ. Before he left i asked if i could give him a gift.... that morning i thought it was strange i had a book of mormon in my bag but not strange enough to take it out until this point. Now he was tearing up as i handed him the book of mormon and told him that this is where i have found my peace. He said he would cherish the book and was really excited to meet with us. We both knew at that point we could stop street contacting because god had shown us a miracle!

We also attended all the sessions of conference (except priesthood) in our stake building! Conference was so great... i wrote down some of the quotes that really stuck out to me and wanted to share them with you.

'doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith' Uchtdorf

'i gave him to you because i knew you could and would love him' Erying

'no one can be converted for you and no one can force you to be converted' Oscarson

'dont forget to look up' Ochoa

'your body is a temple of god, remember that when you look in the mirror' Nelson

I know that i am a daughter of a loving heavenly father! I know that Jesus Christ lives and is my savior and friend. I know that i was sent to be a Harrison because they would, could and have loved me and i am so happy i get to be with them forever! I have learned to look up and i hope to never change my view and i have become converted to the gospel more than ever before due to me serving my god! Its so great to be a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints but its even better to be me while doing it! I love you all!!!!!

Sept 30...my hands

So this week was a week of trials and errors thats for sure!
We tried really hard to find even though we were so low on kilometers we had to do alot of walking (bad planning i guess) but everything works out for a reason. We were able to place two books of mormon and that was a good positive side to this week. One of them was with a guy who tried to convert us and the other was with a guy who wanted to date us..... urch! We got to walk around a lot and we talked to many people but it just didnt seem like it was time for them to accept the gospel. We called our week an act of faith... although it is easy to get discouraged and down when things dont go the way as planned or when everyone seems to not want to talk to you its how you react to that that shows what kind of missionary you are. How easy would it be to give up, to go home and take a nap or eat your pains away.... but how much would that be letting satan win... IT WOULD 110% be letting satan win. He doesnt want this work to continue, he doesnt want people to come to know Jesus Christ for themselves because then he doesnt have to work that much harder to pull them away for himself. Satans goal in life is to make the children of men miserable like unto himself so when we let him do that he wins. Thats when the relief soceity broadcast and the canada winnipeg mission fireside came in handy. I learned that by keeping my baptismal and temple covenants i will be blessed, and by helping others come to make and keep theirs I am fullfilling mine. I was also reminded that through christ i can be healed of anything! His hands did many works and miracles while he was here and now he asks that we use ours to help while he is away. What do you use your hands for? Do you help uplift and encourage others? Do you wipe away tears for a friend? Do you hold those who are dear to you close and never let go? Do you build up the church through service and love? This week i had to remember what my hands were being used for as i serve here in the canada winnipeg mission! My hands are shaking the hands of strangers who may just need a friend. My hand is showing fellowship to a ward I have come to love and hold so dear. My hands are being used to hold the word of god as i proclaim it to all those who want to listen. My hands are trying to mirror the saviors as I tell others that his are extended in mercy for all those who need it. My hands and heart are here to do the work of the lord and I am so proud to be a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. I will continue to use my hands in this work until the lord needs me to do something else.... and I am so grateful for all the support and love i have been shown! You are all incredible thank you for all you do!

PS.

I got to see the Jacks this week... I was with them for my first tranfer and got to do lots of splits with them... they got permission from president so i could join them for dinner and that was SOOOO GREAT! I attached a picture of us! They are from new mexico and served a six month mission and so they are going home! its crazy six months have come and gone!!!!! It goes by so fast and weeks are starting to feel like days... how does time work for you all? does it seem like we have been out hardly at all or forever?

I really did get asked out on a date... to the pub in fact... second time on my mission... apparently i just need to wear a skirt to get dates (good tip for when i'm home ;) ) We also had a crazy dinner where the less active wasn't home and so her family (husband we aren't sure if he is baptized or not and some non member cousins) was who we got to eat dinner with... it was weird.... but they were respectful enough to remember we were religious people who liked to pray... ummm YA WE ARE!

got to help with a stake service project and see a lot of the people in my old wards... that was SOOO much fun!

Sister fellows is fantastic... she is sarcastic and funny which is making me loosen up a little... i've kind of become a tight wad.... (well i call it really spiritual and trust me its crazy the spirituality change i have gone through) I feel like a different person and being with a lot of people who have just come out i feel even more like i've changed to a point of unrecognizable... is that true? do you still know me?

It rained this week and its starting to cool off.... not sure how i feel about that but i'm excited my boots might get some use again! But my poor pepper plants had to move inside... they are still growing for the moment being but they will die from frost soon enough and I am not letting three months of hard work go to waste! oh how do you know a pepper is fully ready or grown!?

I got a blister on the bottom of my foot from walking for 7 miles one day.... have to say i wasn't even sure that was possible but sure enough it is!

I got to see sister hutchinson TWICE this week... its like a gift from above.

The st james ward really loves and takes care of me... they make me feel welcomed and needed and i love serving here!

People from gateway and london ward still remember who I am and miss me... that's always nice to hear!

all in all i'm doing good... i have more hope now then i've had for a long time and i am finally set in why i'm here and what my purpose is.... yes i've changed, but i've changed for the better and there is always a little of jessalyn EVERYWHERE!!!! love you all... !!!!!

Sept 23...street contacts, drinks and dunkings.

So this week was transfers and it makes things a little crazy but some many mighty miracles happened this week!

A couple of weeks ago we street contacted into this lady and commited her to come to church with us! We never saw her at church which made us a little sad but last monday we got a media referral, and the name seemed really familiar. We went to drop the bible off to the media referral and low and behold it was the lady we had street contacted into! She recognized us and invited us in and we were able to teach her more about the characteristics of God! She is from china and knows nothing of God and when we told her we believe we are children of a loving heavenly father she got excited and her face lit up and she said the sweetest prayer where she begged a God she barely knew to please help her become his daughter. It was a great experience thats for sure! We get to go back and teach her and we are SUPER excited. Unfortunately we also found out she did try to find the church but wasnt able to locate it so she went to a local church instead and feels like she shouldn't leave them right away.... thats okay we will change that soon enough!

We also got asked out for a beer... again... me and Sister Fellows were walking in our area when we started talking to a guy who was out by his truck. We talked for a good ten minutes about the gospel and why we are out here inviting him to learn more... when we told him we would call him to see how his book of mormon reading is going he asked us if we ever went to the pub.... i mean SERIOUSLY! Part of me was tempted to say yes only if you let us pray with you and teach you... but then reality set back in and we had to respectfully decline.... hopefully he still chooses to look into the book of mormon and we will still be following up on how that is going by calling him sometime this week.

E***...(he is one of the elders investigators that like everybody works with) has decided to get baptized... After two long painful years of investigation (painful for the elders due to his enormous amount of questions and objections, and long because it is overdue) he has decided to be baptized oct 12 at 7:00!!!! we are so excited and proud of him and are rejoicing with his wife who joined a couple years ago!

Now about my new companion! Her name is Juli Fellows and she is from utah! She is incredible and I like her a lot! We are very similar in a lot of things so we know this is going to be a fun transfer. She also is very sarcastic and stubborn so thats always a hoot too! I have a feeling she is going to work me hard and we are going to get things done this transfer. We have a transfer goal of 2 baptismal dates so if you can remember to keep that in your prayers i know that will help us!

Things are going fantastic here! I love the weather, the people and (i know i cant even believe im saying this but) the city... I really am learning a lot on my mission and i know this is where i need to be right now... I wish everyone the best week ever!

Sept 16...more miracles.

Looking back on my week and trying to remember what I did was hard! It has been such a quick transfer that all my weeks are blending together!

I do know that this week was a week of trials when it came to our appointments. We have never had so many cancellations and no shows on our entire mission and this week was full of them! It allowed us to really look into our back up plans and hope we followed the spirit and not just the natural man and 9:30 seems like midnight. We worked hard and never gave up and as much as we didn't see a random baptism or we didn't have 20 new investigators we both felt like we worked our hardest and the lord is pleased with what we did. Sometimes it is hard to not base success off of numbers or what others are doing but I have come to know this transfer that God doesn't work that way. I may be obedient and even though I am not perfect I am working my hardest to get better each and every day and yes I am being blessed for it. I may not have felt like all those cancellations and no shows are blessings but I know God has something big in store for me and my work here or I wouldn't be here. I cannot see the miracles as missionaries we expect all the time, because then they wouldn't be miracles... so I have found little miracles throughout each day and I want to tell you about them.

I as a St. James missionary do not go hungry... My ward has been my miracle as I have a meal appointment every single day with members and get to be in their homes and feel the spirit as well as practice my skills.... that is a miracle!

I got to sleep in a bed that is warm as it starts to cool off outside. We have a homeless guy who walks on our street a lot and every time I see him I consider my accommodations a miracle!

I have leaders who honor their priesthood and take care of us... that is a MIRACLE!

I get to go door to door in Winnipeg, a city I never expected to be in, and share what i know to be true! That is a miracle

I am finally seeing how I can best help the less actives I am working with and the direction I need to go there and that is a miracle!

I can still wake up every morning at six thirty and be studying by eight.... that is a MIRACLE!

So although i didn't see someone get baptized this week and we weren't able to find any new investigators I know the lord is blessing me and my efforts through the little things... the lord is in charge of my mission and if he didn't want me here I would be home! That is a MIRACLE! I will keep him in charge of my mission from here on out because i know he knows better than me!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week... You are all in my thoughts and prayers!

 

PS

So....

Here is what is going on with transfers....

I will be staying in the St James area and finish the training of sister Fellows who is currently being trained by my great friend and old companion sister Hutchinson! Sister

Christensen is going to my old ward Gateway to be in a tripanionship....

We are both excited and surprised by these calls... we were so sure I was leaving that I started packing my bags but it looks like the lord has something else in store for me! I'm excited!

 

Sept 10...let me tell you a joke....

I  am always not sure how to start my letters to you.... I dont want them to seem like a list and im not interested in being super tactful so what i am going to do is tell a joke....

why could none of the mormons eat dinner....?????

anybody anybody

Because moroni hid all the plates! hahahahhahaha

This week has been fun! I have learned more about the atonement this week and especially gained a testimony of the importance of taking the sacrament! I've decided there is no such thing as a perfect week for a missionary because there is opposition in all things and while this week had some incredible miracles is also had some rough patches.... but you know what? thats okay! how in the world could we enjoy the miracles if we didnt have to trudge through the mud a little. plus i've never been the kind of girl to be afraid of a little mud. :)

We were able to find three new investigators this week which was a miracle in itself. When you do hard work the lord finds a way to bless you and even though none of the new investigators seemed to be from anything we did, they seemed to just fall into our laps, we know thats the lord blessing us for our hard work and our obedience.

We also got to participate in a baptism this week. L*** got baptised! She is 15 and she is the girl who comes to church on her own all the time. We finally got some elders in her area teaching her and her baptism was saturday! She is so beautiful! and we are all so proud of her for making this decision. Her baptism was incredible and everyone was so loving. She asked me to give a talk on the holy ghost which was such an honor. She also always asks me to sit by her at church.... I have learned that one of the people i have come out here to meet is L*** and i hope she continues to stay strong!

We also had dinner with one of the members of our bishopric yesterday and we taught their family about repentence. They have three little kids under the age of eight and they are adorable. As we left they all were surrounding the door waving, saying we love you we love you! We later got a text message saying how much our visit was appreciated. I dont think i ever realized how important being in a members home was for a missionary. Its stability and the spirit is present and there are many times where that isnt what we deal with all day. When we get yelled at or doors slammed in our face the members loving us and caring enough about us to want us to come over really makes it worth while to have one more door slammed in our face!

I love being a missionary i really really do! I have a great companion and i work in a fantastic ward! I have a district leader who deals so well with us and I work with elders who really help encourage us to be our best. This may be the hardest experience i will go through but i can tell you right now it is one of the most rewarding! I couldnt imagine what i would be doing if i wasnt here and i dont want to because here is where i belong and here is where i am able to serve my lord and savior! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!! thanks for everything... and helping me become who i am today... im excited to one day show all of you who God has helped me become out here!

Love Sister Harrison!

Sept. 3....miracles

So this week we had a lot happen and I was planning on telling you
every boring detail about everything when i realized that the most
important day of the week actually happened yesterday!
Yesterday was our day of miracles. President texted me in the morning
asking me to call him after studies and i was nervous.... it kind of
feels like being called into the principals office whenever president
calls even though i know that he loves me! So i prayed and prayed and
prayed to know why i would need to call president... and after i said
amen my district leader called me (i just want to point out that all
my district leaders have answered my prayers through a phone call). We
have a beautiful fifteen year old girl who wants to get baptized we
just aren't sure what ward to baptize her in because she has a support
system in our ward but she lives in another ward and so president just
wanted my opinion on that matter since i know her really well and was
the one to make sure she was taught by missionaries. So either this
week or next week we will be having a baptism in our ward!!!! I am so
excited! and i get to help her with the prep work and preparing for
the baptism and she even asked me to give a talk at her baptism... i
love this girl so much!
MIRACLE
Then we had pday which was different then most pdays because we had
time do things because EVERYTHING was closed for labor day... so we went
with the ysa sisters went to sushi and then went to the church and
played basketball.... it was great! and then back to missionary work
We had a lesson with one of our investigators that tanked... it didnt
go like we thought it would at all. But we were able through that
lesson find a direction to take to best help her! MIRACLE
Then we went to a less actives house who kind of shewed us away last
time we were there and we were both determined to have a miracle and
reach our goal of one less active lesson for the night... she was
outside almost like waiting for us and asked us if we wanted a drink...i
quickly agreed so we could get in and talk to her and she allowed us
to share a message and even stop by again!
MIRACLE
Then we needed to find a new investigator... there was this one guy we
tracted into that we commited to read the book of mormon so we decided
to stop by and see how that was going! He was home! not only that he
had questions for us and invited us to come back next week to
hopefully answer some of them...
MIRACLE!!!!!!!!
God works miracles in all of our lives... he is there for us and
watches over us but more than that he cares for us unconditionally...
look for the miracles God has put in your day because I can promise
there are some there! I love you all!!!!!