Apr 29...top ten!

So this week I am gonna tell you the top ten things that made up my week! It was a great week!!!!

1. We had a dinner appointment with a member who made us tofu curry which was the best and then her room-mate read our fortune based off of spirit animals and cards... apparently right now I am being lead by a dove to show serenity and needing to slow down... which made sense because I got sick this week... again... SHOCKER!!!! i swear i have not seen so much sickness as i have on my mission... its gross. 

2. Monday through Thursday we didn't have a car... so we walked... a lot.. The car had to be taken in from my car accident in November and we got the experience of knowing what its like to be in a walking area.... I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR MY CAR!!!!!! But with scabs on our heels and water in our shoes we made it through every hope this lovely Canada weather sent us through! WE DID IT!!!!!

3. So we have started teaching a LOT of the Cook family... which means we get to go over there a lot, which i LOVE! we are teaching three cousins, two nieces, and any random person who decides to walk through that door...its been a great way to find people and it gives me and excuse to see my favorite family!!!! and they are coming to church (one by one and slowly but we will convert the whole cook clan) It was Tori's birthday... so we got to go over there and celebrate that with her... saw five of our investigators by doing that and just enjoyed being able to celebrate and be part of their family.

4. Had to say good bye to the Johnsons... hardest thing ever! I LOVE them!!!!!!!!!! We had a big last dinner at their place, they said goodbye talks on sunday, and there are lots of tears and hugs and its hard but me and Mary Jane are determined that there are no such thing as goodbyes only everlasting friendships... and i believe her... she will be at my homecoming and shes not going anywhere! 

5. So service this week was fun! I love working at the foodbank... going through bags of clothes we are bound to find some gems... and we did... :) I think my favorite is going through baby clothes... HUNDREDs of JUMPERS that looked EXACTLY the same... but its okay they came in two colors... one hundred yellow ones and one hundred blue ones. Then we got to clean the freezers at the friendship inn.... how ANYTHING grows in -12 i will never know but we did it, we spent an hour, in the freezer, not dressed properly, cleaning off shelves full of frozen food, mainly meat.... made me appreciate the 1 degree weather that was outside a little more. 

6. So Thursday night i got pretty sick again to the point where i was taken home and put in bed.. i always seem to do that kicking and screaming. So when i woke up the next day to start off my day i got some good stern talking tos... by my companion, zone leaders, and district leader... i think they were ganging up on me. But my favorite argument was "Sister Harrison, your body is a temple, and even temples have days off." So i made a deal with the numbers trying to please them. I would get a blessing, take pills, and take a nap and they would let me go out that night... DEAL ACCEPTED!

7. The Eastons! They are the family we are working with and they are the best! This week we taught them the restoration and it went really good! At the end we asked if there were any questions and ryan (he is seven) was like ya... when are we going to come to church? Such a good question... so we set up rides for them to be able to come join us this week (got sick, couldn't come) and already have rides for next week. So excited to see them at church. 

8. We had a choir performance this weekend... it was all about Jospeh Smith and had some of the most beautiful pieces in it... (Kaylynn i snatched you the music so you could try it for me) But it was fun... We had Jerri Lynn come (she is not a member and actually helped give us a ride this week so we could go get our car, we work at the foodbank with her and she is the best) and we had two less actives come too... it wasn't as well attended as we had hoped but the spirit definetely was there and touched the people who did come!

9. So finding rides to church is one of the hardest struggles we face as a mission.... but this week me and sister mcphee were able to find rides for 20 people... all recent converts, less actives, and non members... unfortunately only six came but now we know that those other 14 have NO excuses for not joining us because we have the member power willing to step up to the plate. 

10. SPRING CLEANING!!!! this morning was spring cleaning so we get to start off our week with a spotless apartment... it feels nice! love it!!!!!!!

Love you all!!!!!! Mothers day is right around the corner!

pictures.... 

The toque i found at the foodbank... i look good in a mohawk eh? 

me and sister mcphee in the snow... picture might look a little familiar....

and it snowed today while we spring cleaned... apparently mother nature didn't get the memo that canada was suppose to have changed seasons too... OH WELL :)

Apr 21...crazy is best

So this week was CRAZY but it was seriously the best... 

Monday:

We started doing online lessons with an investigator that we had lost touch with. She is so prepared its ridiculous but we LOVE having the chance to teach her because we wouldnt be able to without facebook... the down fall is its hard to get them to church, if they cant even really come in for lessons church is hard and being able to figure out where they are progressing to is not as easy to measure over typed words. Then we had family home evening... The missionaries were in charge of it and we thought of things we would want to do for fhe.... so the elders choose movie night, me and sister mcphee were in charge of inviting everyone and popcorn and we got special permission to watch Frozen... We even had a less active show up (she is starting to come back and it makes me so happy) but then everyone ended up going to dinner.... Our less active still really wanted to watch Frozen so we called and got special permission to stay and watch it with her even though everyone else decided not to come to FHE this week. It was a really fun experience and it really helped us bond with her, funny how god helps everything work out. :)

Tuesday:

We had lunch with Jenna Smith... she is seriously SO GREAT!!!! She is the first member i really connected with out here and I LOVE HER! It was so great! She fed us the best chicken dish... she cooks it with coconut oil... SOOO GOOD! Her cooking reminds me of your cooking mom (don't worry yours is better) Then we saw a recent convert/ less active that we havent seen in forever... She is having trouble with the whole trinity thing... which if you study too much makes sense but it really all boils down to one thing. I am glad that i know that Joseph Smith went and prayed and saw god the father standing beside his son jesus christ. that christs church has been restored to the earth! 

Wednesday:

We met with the Easton family again! They are so much fun to teach. We taught about love... thanks to President Monson and his INCREDIBLE general conference talk. It was fun... we used the parable of the good samaritan to teach the importance of loving people. Its fun to see little kids learn new things. 

Thursday:

Well... it didnt turn out like we thought it would at all... But we were able to go to the Johnsons for dinner.... I AM GOING TO MISS THEM SO MUCH! I still cant believe that they are going to be leaving. They are such a huge part of here they are really going to be missed. I am going to miss them. 

Then the weekend happened. It was such an incredible weekend. The entire mission was able to meet up in Regina to hear Elder D. Todd Christofferson talk, we like had a Q&A with him and it was such an incredible experience... i thought general conference gave me enough answers to get me through the rest of my mission but I learned so much from Elder Christofferson... it was a once in a life time experience and i'm extremely grateful to be able to be a part of it... AHHH I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Love you all... cant wait for mothers day

Apr 14...#footofsnow #melfort #mylittletirefriend

Okay so I like talking to you about things that happen each day so i am going to try that again... if you dont like it let me know.. i can change the layout a little haha 

MONDAY: ah pdays seem to not last as long as i would hope... if i could write a poem for pday it would be 

emails are read

skirts make us blue

the day does not last long enough

but pday we love you.....

yep that's how i feel about pdays... its a love hate relationship. 

Then we went to go teach the Cooks and it was NOT their day.. They were just talking and talking, not listening and making it extremely difficult to invite the spirit... so we told them we were going to say a closing prayer after being there for fifteen minutes and got up and left. It was hard to do but they need to know that our time is important and we have other stuff we could be doing. 

Then we were in charge of FHE.... which was good we shared the mormon message 'sharing your beliefs' then talked about the online work they could do... being an online missionary really make its easier for us to be able to help members with their online work.

TUESDAY: we got to sub seminary... WORST MORNING EXPERIENCE EVER!!!!!!! 5:15 wake up alarm+ mornings in general for sister Harrison= one very grumpy morning sister... but we made it through and seminary was super fun to teach haha, even that early in the morning,... but it made me EXTREMELY grateful for my in school seminary. Then we got kidnapped into this ladies house where she spent an hour telling us what we believed was wrong and only let us tell her the first vision.... it was interesting... its always weird when other people try to convert us but i don't think her church will ever get me.. they always make their girls wear skirts..... NO THANK YOU!!!!!! Then we spent dinner at the Johnsons... I LOVE THEM SOO MUCH... its so weird when people you come to love and know leave the area before you do... them moving is not my favorite thing in the world but I will always love them and there is no such thing as goodbyes... EVER!!!!!

WEDNESDAY:.........meh............

so on wednesday we had a flat tire.... luckily the elders helped us change it to a donut then we took our tire in and low and behold there was a NAIL in our tire... just chillin... wanting to be our friend... little did it know that WE DO NOT WANT TO BE ITS FRIEND!!!!! it made doing missionary work extremely difficult, but i learned i can change a tire in a skirt... adding that to my list of weird things i can do in a skirt because we ended up being stubborn and not asking for help to put the tire back on, BUT WE DID IT!!!! yay.... Then i don't know if you saw on facebook or not but i found out on wednesday how our woolf family name came to be according to familysearch.org.... i started really looking into stories because this one kid from utah added me on facebook asking me questions about a common ancestor we have that i updated information on.... weird... but it brought a neat opportunity to share about family history work online! 

THURSDAY: we did exchanges with the Wildwood sisters which means i got to spend the day with sister Hutchinson... unfortunately the day was full of unexpected surprises so we had to be on our toes... Wildwood sisters are walking right now because their car got totalled but its okay because we got the ride on the bus.... then we went on the wrong bus which extended our travel by almost TWO HOURS it was a little ridiculous we figured out we could have WALKED faster.... so we did.. for part of our travel... we walked twenty minutes to a remote suburb to stop by an investigator... who was home, but didn't answer... at that point i had to  pee sooooooo bad that we had to run and see if a member across the street was home so we could use their washroom, they took so long to open the door i almost went and asked the construction guys if the house they were working on had a finished bathroom but they opened the door and i was saved from a lot of embarrassment... thank you! and then we got transfer calls... I get to stay in saskatoon for six more weeks!!!! It makes me so happy, i love this area SOOO MUCH!!!!

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY: i'm combining them because it was kind of a one activity deal... we got the opportunity to drive for two hours to a remote city called Melfort to help with a food drive... there were forty missionaries who came and the city itself only has 5000 people so forty missionaries can seem a little overwhelming but they used us and got us out knocking on doors looking for donations for their foodbank.... unfortunately (even though i loved it) mother nature didn't get the memo so we got to do this in a foot of snow which NONE of us were prepared for... so our day also included a small snowball fight and some snow angels... it was so much fun! and we got to billet (or stay with) a bunch of non members in the community... IT WAS SOOO MUCH FUN!!!! The family we stayed with was the best... they made us cookies we talked forever and they told us to come back if we were ever in melfort... plus it was such a good way to help the community know more about missionaries without tracting. so neat! even with a horrible storm that came as we were driving home we made it home safe and sound to have a little bit of time before we all go to regina this weekend.... (Elder Christofferson is coming)

SUNDAY: i think the only sruprise to Sunday was a less active we have been working with that wasn't progressing not only came to church but went up and bore her testimony and told everyone she was back... not sure what happened but it makes me happy!!

I love you all SOOOO much! Mothers day is just around the corner. 

Apr 7...general conference week

So I decided to tell you about my week by coupling experiences with some of my favorite quotes from general conference. We will see how this goes haha!

"His ministry consisted of blessing people one by one" -Carlos H. Amado

So this weekend we got to watch conference with Jay and Sheila.... then we went to lunch.... Sister Johnson was being sweet when she commented on a picture of us saying that we had met in the pre-existence i could do nothing but agree! If anything i came on my mission to find Sheila and her family and I LOVE THEM LIKE CRAZY!!!! they are so amazing!

"He accepted these calls because of his faith" -Henry B. Erying\

I want you to know that I have LOVED my mission!!!! and even though i had accepted the lords call for a mission because of faith i have gained way more faith then i have put into it.... I think the lord kind of works that way... he gives us more when we righteously put in all we have. HE IS SO GOOD!!!!

"They simply loved me and loved heavenly father. Sincerley love, so they can develop confidence in God's love." -Richard G. Scott

I was just telling my mission president how much I LOVE saskatoon! This is his response  "There is real wisdom in leaving missionaries in an area long enough for them to start loving the people and the area. I know you love the people you serve and you will make life long friends in each area you serve. "I wonder if that is a hint that i have loved this area too much and now its time to move on or if i get to stay and love it a little bit more... guess we will find out on wednesday!

"Endings are not our destiny... in his plan there are no true endings only everlasting beginnings." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

We have had a lot of ward members tell us they are moving and a lot of investigators disappearing... it feels like endings are happening left and right but you know what?! its all good! because the people you love will stick around... and the people who you love in the gospel, who stay true to their covenants will never leave. ITS AMAZING!!!!! plus it really helped me deal with losing Corette... that was very hard for me and Uchtdorf brought me some peace. 

"Your four minutes have already begun, the time is ticking.... this is your moment to perform, his is you four minutes, the timing is now." -Gary E. Stevenson

Its been a year... like officially got into the mission the friday before general conference a year ago.... and man do i feel like the race is going... im in that part right now where you either curl up and die or your run until you can puke at the end.... my goal is the puking thing. my race has started.... and im running... and I LOVE IT!!!!!

okay last one

"Knowledge and intelligence are gained through diligence and obedience." - Boyd K Packer

A lot of people think that its the studies in the mornings that get the missionaries through the day.... for me its going out and doing things.... I am the student as much as I am the teacher and I LOVE LEARNING each and every day! being a missionary is so fabulous and I cannot wait to see what the lord has prepared to teach me this next week....

I love you all so so much! You are my rocks, you are my friends, and you are stuck with me FOREVER!!!!

So here are some explanations with the pictures... 

... Teletubbies came back to HAUNT ME... the food bank is a great place to have your age sneak up on you and realize how weird the tv shows were that you watched as a kid haha

..... so a recent convert, R***, gives us free dairy queen weekly... we had an appointment and we didnt want our shakes to melt so we decided to borrow someones snow bank... i dont think they minded.... 

..... decided i needed a sign like this... that way people always knew where i was... jk... but i do love the sign haha....

Mar 31...birthday week lasted forever

With both me and sister mcphee having birthdays this week it was like a never ending cake party for us..... I probably gained five pounds this week alone... one of them being a pound of meat... ya i have a lot to tell you about this week....

and even more pictures to send... so bare with the lots of emails and attachments its worth it.... 

On monday i got to teach the plan of salvation.... it was a blessing to be able to teach that after i heard about Corette passing away... such a testimony builder where God helped me realize that i know the plan of salvation is true and i will see her again one day! Such a blessing.

Then we got tricked into playing volleyball instead of teaching a lesson and we played basketball after that was fun and I LOVE the non members who are coming to basketball night... favorite night of the week!

Sister McPhee's birthday was on wednesday... I swear you are spoiled as a missionary on your birthday...,. the elders got sister mcphee the second best birthday card ever... (only because my card is the best, might be bias there but thats okay) also... got the BEST deal on sinus pills, picture this... a 22 dollar pill bottle for 5 dollars, yep that happened and it was one of our birthday miracles. We got to end the night with a lesson with the Eastons, they are the family we found the other day and it was so good.. they didnt want us to leave they kept just asking questions and wanting to read more and pray..... they are so good!!!!

Then my big old 22 birthday happened... yep im old we get over it... but it was one of the best days EVER!!!! We street contacted a guy who told us there were aliens here on the earth... they are apparently four feet tall and they look awkwardly out of the bus windows....i think they are actually called people who are good at avoiding.. but aliens work too. Then we got to go do service at the friendship inn.... Jay and sheila stopped by to wish me happy birthday and tried to steal me away, which didnt work, but it was good to see them. Then i got in the middle of a fight at the friendship inn and got food on me... thank you random person for making that lady throw her tray at you.... After words the elders decided to take us out to pound burgers for our birthday... did i pound a pound burger because i was mad an elder told me i couldnt do it... yes yes i did.... did i regret it afterwards... a little bit.... but luckily we have angels among us and a member who was in the restaurant gave us 120 dollars for lunch.. she called it paying it forward for what members did for her son and it was another birthday miracle. Then we stopped by ricah one of the recent converts here in saksatoon and she made me a cake... with my face on it.... yep thats right im famous.... and that was a birthday miracle because the cooks didnt have money to buy me a cake and they wanted me over for my birthday so we used that one... and i ended up getting my face in my face... cleo shoved my cake into my face and then we had a GIANT cake war..... SOOOOO MUCH FUN! food fights are the best! 

On friday i got to look at all the facebook birthday wishes and realized what a privilage it was to have facebook... i really hope i can learn how to utilize this the way God wants me to.... but back track a little... while reading a talk i found a quote that i love... "Our everyday decisions will impact our live in significant ways. A seemingly small decision can have far reaching, even eternal, consequences." Elder Kevin S. Hamilton LOVED IT!!!!! Then we met Jessica... she is our new investigator and she is just looking to find what God wants her to do... so much fun. 

On saturday we found out we lived in a war zone... there was a car accident in the middle of the night which was scary and then i missed trying to throw a candy bar to the elders through the window.... talk about some dangerous stuff... screeching and flying chocolate are never a good mix. but it all worked out becaues I LOVED WOMENS CONFERENCE!!!!!!! so good... and mom... i sent you a smile (elder eryings talk) all the way from saskatoon... and just so you all know we might not be able to spend octobers womens conference together... not sure if that is real but i get home the day before general conference.... so ya haha... 

On sunday we got to start teaching jays oldest son jacob... he doesnt live with them but he came to church which is so so good... I seriously love the cook family...

that was my week.... pictures might say more but even if they dont i hope you enjoy... 

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Mar 24...the first exchange

So sorry but this week is going to be shorter than last week....

so we have been doing a lot of online proselyting which is fun! If you ever see a post or something that you like please share it, comment on it, and help me be able to do this right so we can use this time most effectively... Its weird to see things from everyones page but I know that this is going to make a HUGE difference!

Then we went to Prince Albert that was super fun!!!! We went up there for exchanges and on our way we saw a bear... just chillin on the side of the road... yep it was weird.... then we did some touristy stuff which probably isn't the best but it was super fun! then i spent a day with sister Du Plessis... she is from africa... but she's white... and came from Germany.... we got lost a lot but it was super fun and at their service opportunity they have something called the diabetes treasure chest... free candy and gatorade for missionaries.... LOVE IT!

But i think our miracle this week was S*** and her family.... they were a media referral and we are now teaching their family.... their little boy  said he wanted to get in time out all the time so he can read the book of mormon so cute! 

On saturday our primary did primary olympics which was fabulous... such a good idea... got some good ideas for fhe in the future... LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Mar 17...It's a # week

Okay so this week was full of so much more stuff than last week! It was fun... a little crazy but fun!!!! and me and sister Mcphee found hash tags and quotes that helped us explain our week, with some background stories to it too of course! 

Monday:

#whencompanionsbecomefamiliy#itsgenetic.... we got a phone call friday night telling us that one of sister Mcphees old companions is getting married... to another companions brother... so literally companions are becoming family... sister in laws to be more precise and its really fun! So we decided we are going to pull this cousin thing as far as we can... even though we are so far back it doesn't even make a difference in anything it makes a difference in our hearts... so we are family and that wont change... but that also means when anything goes wrong we can blame it on genetics. which means its genetics comes up frequently because nothing ever goes as planned as a missionary!

Tuesday:#B

We had district meeting and it was seriously one of the greatest district meetings ever! I swear they just get better and better each time. My new district leaders name is Elder Bee... when they told me that i thought the B was to stand short for something like Barton or something but no its Elder Bee... like a bumble bee... and this was his first district meeting... it was on patience and feeling the spirit which ended up being exactly what me and sister mcphee needed for the week... i love how in tune people are sometimes. So we talked a lot about district goals and then me and sister mcphee made some personal goals... Some of the district goals we made were to have seven lessons a week (our area seems to be a little different then the provo mission), baptise two people as a district this transfer, and study 15 min of the book of mormon as a companionship... the hardest one so far has been the fifteen minutes since it usually finds itself at the end of each day around 10:15 but we are gonna keep at it for sure. And then i made a personal goal to finish the book of mormon this transfer... I am in the middle of alma and think i can do it... i hope i can do it.... :P but my favorite part about districts is the fact that we are held accountable for our goals so this transfer we are going to "BEE" accountable to each other... get it.... bee... haha.... Then we went to basketball night and that is always a blast... and I couldn't even believe how ineffectively i was using that night... im really glad sister mcphee is helping me get better at that to really improve my missionary work at things like basketball night. 

Wednesday:#defectivedependentdelinquint

This day was a little slower than most... but I think my favorite part of wednesday was our family history center shift... I love finding stories and documents to help people get excited about family history work and the things that can happen there... this week i found a document for John Cunningham... not sure where he is on the line but he is there... and it put him in the Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent classes.... So THATS where that comes from! haha jk... that one definitely isnt genetic it just happened by chance!

Thursday:#T

We called Thursday T for tornado day...... and it seriously felt like everything exploded all at once it was fun! We had an entire morning of service which ended in me swimming to my car almost literally (where was a camera when you needed it, oh wait it was in the car) The water was so deep and i wasn't wearing my boots so i had to take of my shoes and wade in icy water to get to the car..... only in saskatoon does negative to positive so fast make it feel like you are noah in the ark.... but its okay we made it and we just kept swimming from there. We were able to go thirty minutes out to a small town called Warmen for dinner with a member and that was a blast. then we made it back into town in just enough time to find out the wildwood sisters got in a car accident.... 

-okay i think i need a side note to explain STL for a little bit.... a sister training leader is a lot like a zone leader... we are in charge of certain sisters in the mission and we do exchanges and stuff and we get phone calls for emotional needs so elders don't have to deal with that stuff..... So i am one of the saskatoon STLs which means i cover three different sets of sisters... wildwood and meadow green are in the city and prince albert is about two hours away and we love it when they call and stuff.... 

So we were able to meet them at the church and make sure everyone was okay... sister hutchinson wanted lots of hugs.... the best part was their story that came with the accident... apparently this HUGE truck totally crashed into them but did that stop the guys in the truck from asking them out to dinner.... NOPE.... so they had to turn down a free dinner and call the office to tell them that they no longer had a car...talk about a bummer night... 

Friday:

#21.1.22 We had an emergency MLC (mission leadership council) to talk about facebook... MLC has a lot of people invited now... and we do it by skype, which means we got to see newpawl, moosejaw, regina, thompson, winnipeg, kenora, and us.... talk about covering all the corners possible haha. and yes i now officially have facebook! But the meeting lasted about three hours maybe a little more and it was all about the guidelines with facebook.... but the best part of the meeting was the fact that the saskatoon zone finished hymns before anyone else in the mission... apparently we just like a better tempo up here in saskatoon. Then we just kept going from there.. i set up my account... we tried a couple of things... it was really nice when we got to see the meadow green sisters... we picked them up from their service opportunity and took them home (they are walking) it was funny because we have a ghetto area that both us and meadow green sisters work in so while we were waiting for them at the soup kitchen we started hearing people scream and shout... i was like oh man can we be jumped here... sister mcphee responded its okay thats why i locked the door.... we really arent in any danger but its nice to know that my companion has my back. its sad because we got to see the meadow green sisters again that night, and not for a fun visit this time either... one of our sisters moms died and it was really sad but she was doing so good about it and the dozen donuts we brought im sure helped.....it was nice to be able to physically be there for them even if we didnt do much. This is the first time thats been possible for the sisters. 

Saturday:

It seemed to be full of dangerous adventures again... we were walking down the street... and here in canada the people plug in their cars... it was dark... and we saw a lighted up plug and sister mcphee found a perfect hash tag.... #isthatabomb.... of course it wasnt and there was no way it could be but you can tell youre a missionary when its late and youre tired and a lighted up plug in looks like a bomb... we also had another you can tell when..... you can tell your old when facebook and online proselyting is scary... I did my first hour of online proselyting on friday and it wasnt as easy as i thought it would be... Facebook has changed a lot in a year and i still feel like im breaking rules even though i have been given the approval for it because i have been out for so long and it wasnt allowed for even longer than that... it will just take some getting use to thats for sure. 

Sunday: #love

 I learned how to say i love you in tagalog... that was fun... We also were able to go to choir practice (i love the music we are singing but theres so many high notes... they are hard to hit) Then we spent the evening with the meadow green sisters... she showed us pictures of her mom and talked about her family and i was so honored to be there with her. She said "I dont know what I did in heaven to deserve my family" it was so incredible to see such a powerful woman take such a great turn on a tragic event.... and it really made me reflect on how much i love my famliy! 

It was SUCH A GOOD WEEK!!!! im excited for the adventures of this next week!

                                          Jessalyn's new companion and distant cousin, Sister Mcphee

                                         Sister Hutchinson "back in the same city" reunion

                                          baking with sister McPhee