Family!

Hellooo!!!!  I"m alive, well, safe, and most of the time warm! haha- the other day we got only 3ish inches of snow, and we were grounded- meaning we had to stay inside our apt. and not drive. the roads were pretty bad. but ma, i'm tellin' ya, I LOVE MY BOGGS!!!!!! they are sooo warm, and soooo comfy!!! man, i can go anywhere in those things. i'm truckn' thru the slush-no biggy! gimme some more snow, show me what cha got!! haha. i seriously am in love! thank you over and over again!!! i get so many comments from the sisters who want them! hehe  and the other ward members. they like 'em! so thanks! 

I'm so excited b/c the other set of sisters that serve her in state college get to come and spend the night at our apt. on Christmas Eve! so today we went to Walmart and went shopping for goodies to eat! so that'll be fun! we have a little Christmas tree that s. Bradshaw's mom sent and there are some presents under it. cute! we've got Christmas lights up too! we're gettn' in the season! and I've put your tinsel up! and the ornaments! i love it all! thanks mommy dear! the ward members here are soo nice! this one cute older sister, sister norten is a retired CIA agent and her husband is one too! and the sisters tell me that she still packs heat!! haha. she's like in her 70's 80's? so cute! anywho, she gave each of us sisters a huge back full of goodies, i'll send you a pic. and a card w/ $20 inside! people are so kind to us!

 this last week has been great! even though most of the students are gone, we've still had some great lessons. we are teaching this one guy named, Chen Li- from Beijing. He is so cute and sweet. He said the closing prayer in our lesson, for the first time. he said thank you God for sending these sisters to me to help me not be so depressed anymore. he is so sincere. he brought us theses tassels from China as a gift!  

One of the new converts- Sanu from Nepal, has been team teaching w/ us, and it's been great to have his support and testimony. he gave us really pretty scarves from Nepal, so I'll send a pic of that too! it was awesome,  last night we combined w/ the other sisters in a lesson, and we had Chen there, and their investigator Adam, the one i told you about last time that pronounces Jeses "cheese" and gospel "gossip" so cute! they were there last night w/ us, and sanu, and it was so cool to look around the room at all the countries represneted: China, Nepal, USA, and Mexico ( Sister Villa, one of the sisters) felt like Temple Square! it's been great! 

so what do you all have planned for Christmas? ohh, wish i could be there w/ you! miss you! it'll be good tho, this next week coming up, we have a lot of service planned: The Red Cross, Old Folks Home, helping out in the ward w/ getting gifts for a less fortunate family, caroling, ringing the Salvation Army bell. i'm super excited! and really, this is what Christmas is all about, serving others and loving everyone. i'm excited to get to do this! yay!

well, i'd betta be going! i love you so much! and hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!!!! love you sooooooooo much! miss you!!!!!!!

love,
sister harris

Dear Family!

yesterday was crazy!!! we didn't really get a big storm it just rained all day, and church was canceled, can you guess why? rain you may think, that's nuttn'! haha! their rain freezes immediately when it touches ground or your windshield! no way! its so weird! and its really dangerous, cuz it just looks like regular rain, and when you look at the ground it just looks wet, but when you slide your foot on it, its just a pure sheet of ice. soo weird. never seen that before. so yah, we just stayed inside all day, i actually took a nap. my first, i repeat my first nap in 10ish months?? when i realized that i had time to sleep i was in shock. haha, i almost started crying. hahaha. it felt nice.

 the work here has been great. we've been working w/ a part member family, the husband is non-member and his wife is an inactive, they recently lost their baby SIDS- and the wife-Renae wanted to start coming back to church and now the husband-Justin has been taking the lessons. really a sweet family. we committed him to being baptized on Jan. 2nd. so we'll see how that is going. we are also working w/ anther lady who's been excommunicated- Deborah- she is dying of some disease- and so it makes is hard for her to come to church, she is such a kind lady who has such a desire to do good and to come to church,she usually gets rides to church but yesterday, she said-this time, i want to do it on my own. she's really making progress, unfortunately both of these investigators were actually going to come to church and then Church was canceled! sad, but they are showing their desire, and it just makes me so happy to see it, you really grow a love for these people and want them to happy, and to grasp the gospel, b/c you know how much it will add to their lives. i just love this work. 

oh funny! we did earlier this week get a big dump of snow, and for some reason the plow man decided to box our car in!!!! i took a pic of it so you can see! oh man! well, I'd best be going! i love you all so much! there are such good people here in state college! 

oh! we helped out w/ the Victorian Christmas- in Bellefonte, PA- they have all of these old Victorian Houses that are HUGE and gorgeous!!!! one of our less actives had us over for dinner, and she took us thru her whole house, man, reminds me of Pride and Prejudice hows its all done up, but as service we helped w/ tours at a members home. funny story- at this less actives house, we had dinner, and we were waiting for her hubby to come in from  working outside, we were starving from fasting all day :)  anywho, we' were soooooo hungry, food is on the table, we are just standing there waiting, husband comes in, goes upstairs, wife is tired and stressed w/ getting her house ready for the tours, she just takes off to who knows where, and there we are, waiting for literally 20 mins, starving, left by ourselves not knowing where they went, and we wait, and wait, we call out to them, no response, finally we said OK we are going to wait 10 more min, and we are leaving and buying a hamburger at some joint down town, finally  the man, comes in , says his wife is upstairs mad, so we are like uhhh akward, so we run upstairs and she's crying in bed, and we talk to her and comfort her and then we all come down stairs and eat. things are better, but man, it was such a funny situation and very awkward. anyways, thought i'd share w/ ya'll . love you sooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!! 

Angela

hey hey hey!!!! its me!!!!

well, things here are good! and extremely cold!!! it has been snowing the past couple of days, and the temp is below freezing, in the 20's? but it's a bitter bitter cold. oh man. we go running in mornings, and it hurts my nose to breath. this morning we stayed inside b/c there is so much ice on the roads.

 the work here is great! we've been working a lot w/ less active families or part member families, and our new converts. they had about 3 baptisms right before i got here, one guy from Nepal- Sanu and a real sweet quiet guy -Nick and a girl who totally reminds me of Corinne- her name is Megan. but it was really neat, they went and did  Baptisms for the first time at the Manhattan temple. it is neat to meet w/ them and to hear their testimonies- so simple but yet so powerful. it's amazing how the gospel changes you, and being able to see that change in others is so rewarding, I've only been here 2 wks, and i can't wait to see more of the growth that will take place.

 it was lots of fun, last night we went tracting- how we pick where we will go- we look at the city map, say a prayer, and then we'll say a couple of names of streets that have come to mind and we all felt good about Sandra Lane. so that's where we tracted last night- we found two families! right next door to each other. we sang them carols too, and that just totally added to it all, they really seemed to enjoy it.

 oh! speaking of singing! this last Saturday-was our big Christmas program that the student branch and the two family wards put on together. it was held at the spiritual center here on campus- its really neat, its just a big building that any denomination can come to and do their own worship, bible study, or whatever, it where we have our institute classes, and where we have a lot of our teaching appt. the branch pres. said that in feb. they are going to start having our sac. mtg there for the student branch, that way it is more open to having investigators come- right there on campus, so as we had our big Christmas thingy- in the next room over were Muslims doing their meditations, it was cool. so anyways, our program!--we had people in the ward that brought their nativity scenes and set them up on tables and then in the background on the side were musical performances going on at the same time, then we had  our missionary table set up w/ pics of Christ and DVDS and B.O.M. that we wrapped up for people to take, there was also a table w/ cookies and hot chocl. and apple cider. it was a really good atmosphere, and we had a pretty good turn out. we got to sing Silent NIght. we were the last musical number, and i sang the first verse solo! ahh! it turned out ok tho! :) so that was our big thing that we'd been passing out fliers for to everyone. 

 oh man, this last wed. we went out in front of the student library- and set up a table and we have B.O.M, dvds, pamphlets all sorts of stuff- and we stand there and ask people to take surveys- the surveys have questions about their opinions of GOD and the plan of Sal. just to get them to think, and then they have the option of leaving their info so that we can contact them, we usually get about 7-10 people that refer which is awesome- but man, i have never felt so rejected. SO different than on Temple Square! :(:(:(:(:(:( you walk up to people and you start to talk to them and they totally just blow you off. man, that was so hard to take, cuz i'm not used to that! haha poor me! I've gotta toughen' up my skin. some people are nice and take the survey, but there are others that do the complete opposite, but oh well. so yah, just thought I'd mention that, we do that every wed in the morns.

so yah, the broadcast was really good! seeing my temple square made me homesick for it! that my place! and that's our choir! but its good to be here!  well, I'm going to try and see if i can get the pics to work this time. love you so much!

fun to hear how everything is going! what are the fam's plans for Christmas? love you soooo stinking much!!!!
the pics- one is from the Christmas party- the family is one we are working w/, the mom is a recent convert- slightly inactive- the other peeps are her mom, and then her friend and boy friend and then the little kid by me is her son, he's a cutie. the other pics are me and my compies!!!! love you mucho!!!!!!!

hey hey from the LA in the PA!!!

i made it!!! i love it here! its just been a grand 'ol flag!! i got picked up by my mission pres. and his wife, the Summerhays-  i think my flight arrived kind of early b/c no one was there to pick me up. so i walked around for about 5 min. in and outside looking for elders? Pres. Summerhays? wasn't sure who was coming to get me, and then i said a little pray, and just decided to stay put inside, and sure enough sister summerhays, and her son and his wife and 3 kids walk up to me, and greeted me, and then coming down the escalators was pres. they are such nice people. they instantly made me feel very welcome and comfortable. and the 3 little kids even helped me w/ my luggage. 

we went out to dinner at a japanese  restaurant, that was fun, they cooked the food on this huge griddle right in front of you and do fancy tricks w/ knifes-throwing them in the air and fire, just lots of fun, i felt so special, then we drove to the mission home in Pittsburgh, had an interview w/ Pres. and talked about what to expect. i'll be serving in a trio until Dec. 17 when one the sisters goes home! and then its me and sister bradshaw from UT for the rest of the mish. Sister Sonderegger is from UT as well. both absolute sweethearts who are hard working and obedient. two things that i was worried about having being a problem, so i've been so blessed. we have so much fun together, get along really well. so transfers is actually today, and pres. had his board w/ all the new changes on it, and he let me look at it-haha, i felt so honored to be looking at classified info- except for the fact that it didn't mean anything to me, cuz i didn't know anyone on there, haha. so we finished up the interview, and then i went out and talked w/ them just casually for fun w/ pres and his wife and their son and daughter in law. they are so kind and down to earth. then i went to bed!  and i slept all by myself downstairs, so weird not having a comp! then in the morning,(i was just exhausted, cuz i lost 2 hrs) yikes! but in the morning, i got to sleep in-pres. was so nice to me! 

just got ready and they had breakfast for me, and i took my study materials up to breakfast and studied and played w/ the small and adorable chilln's until my comps arrived! we chinned for a bit while Sister Summerhays finished up preparing the thanksgiving spread, and then we all ate! they actually seat us sisters in the kitchen just by ourselves while all the "adults" ate together, haha, there were a few other couples from the mission that came, yummy yummy food- not the same as the fun thanksgivings we had, but it was the next best thing. :)

then we got me packed up, and we drove the 3 hours to our area. so i wont' actually be serving in pittsburgh, guess where i'm at??? this might actually be more excting to dad, and joe, and maybe brent b/c its home of the Penn State Nittany Lions! haha- i'm in State College!!!!! good 'ol college town! we cover a family ward and a singles branch. this'll be lots -o- fun! eveyone was so kind and welcoming, and actually i'm the  home ward of one of the sisters serving at temple square! i met her parents yesterday, so that was fun to make that connection.

 the work here has been great. definately different by a bunch. at temple square, we are constantly on our feet, litterally ALL day, here, its the opposite, lots of the day is spent in the car driving from appointment to appointment. so that is a big change. one dif. that is nice about here is actually building these relationships w/ people and getting to keep them, follow up. and eating at members houses. you really get to gain a closeness w/ people which is so valuable when teaching them. 

 yesterday was my first day of tracting! we take turns who leads the convo at the door, and thankgoodness, my first one was a cute girl who was a junior in highschool. she was really nice. i had no idea what i was going to say, but said a prayer in my head, and said i'm putting my faith in you Heavenly Father, and i'm jsut going to open my mouth and trust that what i say is what needs to be said. i think it went alright. :) haha, i'm so glad that we teach "two by two" or in our case "3 by 3" to have that support, so that we can add thoughts so we're not by ourselves. but she said we could come back on tues. and talk to her again w/ her mom. so hopefully it goes well. 

 i've got 6 min. left and i want to put some pics on, so i'm gonna wrap it up really quick here, but i did want to say that--oh dang it, i'm not sure how to do the pics and i have just 3 min. now, and i don't want the comp to kick me off w/o saying a proper goodbye. well, i'd best be going. i'll figure out pics next week. mondays are the day of Preparation for me! i love you so much! thanks for your letter. it was fun to hear how the fam is doing! heres my new address. dont send anything to the other one i gave you.

LOVES!!!
10 Vairo Blvd. Apt. 245 C
State College, PA 16803

Written by Janet Harris: 

AJ's Outbound. She's going to either Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Florida, or Colorado.

Suspense....you've got to look at the next email...Tee Hee.  Of course our family has to do things this way!

Aaaaannnnd....Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!  She leaves early tomorrow morning.  She said she is nervous and to please remember her in her prayers.

hey family!!!

Well, things are going pretty good.  I an thinking that I will get my outbound on Monday. i'll actually get to email you to let you know! so stay close to your computer on Tues, and then if i go, i'll be calling you too, so then you'll at least know generally when i'd be calling you on wed. yay!! i'm probably going for sure. its my class that's up next. so i'm going to start packing. i'm going to try and send you a pkg. of things i don't need anymore. 

well, things this week have been good! just normal stuff i guess. nothing really out of the ordinary. just being a missionary!! we went to breakfast today, at the Nauvoo Cafe where we ate lunch when you came to visit, and someone had paid for our meal! what a sweet person! we don't know who it was, but it was some man the lady said. so we told her to tell him thank you! that always makes me smile! 

we have been having a Preach My Gospel Marathon-is what we call it, the AP's or the ZL's teach it. President Holmes wants us to be the most prepared and most educated mission in the world on PMG! so we get an hour set aside each day to study it even more than the 2 hrs we have in our personal study and comp. study. isn't that great?! and we've been doing service as well, so tomorrow we get to go the Jordan River Temple and do a session. i'm really excited!

 this last Sunday was a neat day. we got to take a VIP tour, w/ educators from Pakistan. they were really nice. neat to just be meeting people from all over the world! then we also took another tour in Hindi and Urdu and 3 guys from Brazil, and two the Brazilians referred! such nice men! The Gospel is for ALL of God's children all around the world! isn't it just amazing?! i just love being here, serving. its never perfect all the time, you're tired, hungry, aching body, problems w/ guests or comps, but when it all comes down to it, this is the Lord's work, this is HIS gospel, that everyone needs to hear, and i just feel so blessed and privileged to be part of it. i can't believe that i only have 9 months left. it really does not sounds like that much! my oh my! 

well, i best be going. i love you so all so much and thank you for your support and all that you do.  

i am staying warm. i just layer up. no worries about me! it's been cold but blue sky almost everyday. it did snow a couple of days ago, and that is still on the grass, but it's nice here! the lights are up on the Square and the Navitiy scene, its all so pretty!!! how fun and neat!!!! 

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!
love, sister harris!

ps, i'll buy 6 copies of the Ensign and send 'em home! haha. thanks mark! Ü

Sister Harris in the Nov '09 Ensign

Family,

 i'm sooo sorry, i left my adapter for the computer- so i have to pics to send to you this week. sorry. i promise i will next wk.  well, lets see, this week has been good! it's hard to think back to try and remember what's happened- everyday is the same, and the next and the next. haha. it just goes by so fast, altho, guess what?!!?!?!?! tomorrow-the 4th of Nov. i'll have only 9 months left!!!! can you believe it?!?!?!?  seriously, just nine months. woah, that doesn't seem like very much time left. 

yowza! OHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY GOODNESS!!!! I ALMOST FORGOT!!! YOU ARE GOING TO FLIP OUT. LIKE NO WAY MAN, WOAH HO HO!!!!!!! as soon as you get the new ensign- the gen.conf one, you might just want to look on  page 44.  hmmm....i dunnooo, you might recognize a certain someone on that page.hehehehehehheheheheheh ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ....anywho- just HAD to let you know! 

lets' see, what's been happening on the T to the Square Unit---- being w/ Sister Aslam has been lots of fun, we ran into a sen. couple that served in Pakistan while she was growing up and that has been neat. we also met these people that really have no connection to Pakistan, but she just fell in love w/ s. aslam, and then like a week later, we get this huge order of Pakistani food- amazing, so good. what a  kind lady.  dang it, i took a pic, but no adapter, i'll have to send you one next week.

 this last wednesday, we had a program for the youth in the surrounding stakes, its called "Called to Serve" to get them excited for serving a mission, i got to sing for it, it went really well, Heavenly Father really helped me out, b/c my voice was not quite there yet from being sick but i prayed really hard, and i think it went alright.

 on thurs, there was a big group of Vietnamese Buddhist Monks that came to visit on Temple Square. They didn't really speak English but i did  a little bow thingy and said hello. that was the extent of our interaction, but it was just so neat to look at them and think-this is the real thing, these are monks-dressed in their little outfits! and they are here on hallowed grounds, even though we can't speak to them-we don't have any sisters that speak vietnamese, i sure hope they could at least feel the spirit. 

ok, so remember my very first transfer here, and the story about the guy in the wheelchair flying passed me going down the ramp from the Christus Statue yelling weeeee!!!! well, he's a regular here, we see him a lot. his name is bob, and he was in a car accident many years ago, so he's trapped inside this body that doesn't work very well, but his mind is pretty much normal, its just hard to communicate regularly b/c of his body, so we were talking to each other, and i asked him what his plans were for halloween, and he said he was going to a singles dance, i'm guessing he's still in the singles ward, and he said that the janitor always gets mad at him b/c when he dances he his wheelchair leaves marks on the floor, and he said that's my "break" dancing! hahaha. get it? it made me laugh! he's a nice guy, always good for a laugh.

 oh another funny temple square story, we had a sister here from Japan, and her name was Sister Nishi- and the Japanese flag is just a red circle w/ a white background, and she asked a little kid if he knew where she was from, by looking at her flag- and he goes "TARGET!" oh my goodness it was funny, for those who may not know, target is a dept. store and it's logo is a red target. anywho, i had a good laugh.

Halloween was fun, we got off early, at 6pm, and we got to eat pizza, pop, popcorn, and tonz of candy and watch the movie, Emma Smith, and then a movie on Pres. Hinckley. so that was nice of Pres. and Sister Holmes. i wore my orange skirt and a black sweater w/ an orangey scarf that Jooge gave me. twas the best i could do for dressing up. the pics of the family w/ Halloween looked cute! yah, aubree did an amazing job w/ dereks face! 

well, today was pretty fun! just had the RC this morning, made lots of calls, and got lots of answering machines. yay! haha, but after that, we met up w/ s. aslams cousin and his wife and little daughter, and he took us to an Indian restaurant, for lunch, oh man, such good food. i didn't really eat much of a breakfast so that i could have lots at lunch. and i'm glad i did, it was a buffet, i've never eaten' so much, i was pretty proud of myself--haha, where have i been all these years w/o indian food! but then we went to walmart, did a tidge bit -o- shopping and now just go home and veg. the weather is beautiful! we've had a week straight pretty much of clear blue sky, i just love it!!!!!! well, i've better go. but i love you so much! thanks for your love! think about you lots and just feel so loved and thankful that i'm your daughter! love love love you!!!

love,
Sister Harris

Hi there fam!!!!

There is a Sister Brett who just got here this transfer serving here, and guess who she is related to and where she is from?!  Spokane, WA!  Caroline Brett's grandaughter!! Cool huh??!! Small world!  She is so nice, and I like her a lot. 

 It was soooo good to see BrianOwen!  My goodness! What a tender mercy. Heavenly Father is so good to me!! Mom, it was sooo good to see Brian! We just picked right up where we had left off, laughing and being weird and crazy as if we were the best of friends from the beginning of time!! 

Glad to hear Joe and Alli and back safe and sound and that they had a fun time together. So things are going to be ok for Jana and baby J? That's good to hear. When is she due?

 Things here are going good! It snowed today! For the first time! Today we had our zone conf. and we spent it doing service at the This is the Place Monument-Heritage Park- and I got to help clean Heber C. Kimball's home!  I  got to clean his room, just dusting. mom, it brought back memories of dusting at home, the job I really didn't enjoy, but it made me smile to think that's what I did at home. But it was neat to see his room, and I'm guessing the artifacts that belonged to him? There was an old piece of paper, that was someone's mission call that was signed by Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, cool to see their signatures.

 I sent some cool pics so you could see.  After the cleaning we all sat around eating and  just had fun, there was a keyboard , and this cute little sister from Indonesia was playing around on it, and all of a sudden, a hip hop beat music starts playing, and so we just ended up kinda doing fun dance moves, haha. Pres. Holmes and Sister Holmes were there too just laughing and watching us, they are so good, they were right there beside us helping us clean, throwing snow balls, just joking around. I just love it! What mission pres. and his wife do that? They are just so loving and down to earth. 

This new transfer has been good so far, we literally spend all day in the North Vis. Center, just contacting, It's up to us how we plan our day, w/ where we will be, contact w/in the center and then we are in the Referral Center. It makes for long days, esp when its slow and there aren't very many people, but it's still good. Just trying to enjoy it all. 

Sister Aslam and I had a neat experience. We were in the RC, and she got a page for a Hindi tour, and usually we aren't supposed to get pulled from the RC, that's last resort to take a sister out of that assignment, but since she's the only one right now on the Square that speaks that language we had to take it, which was good!  I love language tours! So we get there, and it's this young college student from India getting his PH D at UoU-and it turns out he speaks some lang she doesn't know, and he's like well, I'll just take it in English, and at first, my reaction was like ugh, we get taken out of RC for an eng tour that any other sister could have taken, And then I thought to myself, whatever we are doing, it's all the same work for the Lord, it doesn't matter. This ended up being such a good tour. He was so innocent, and pure, he said that he's studied other religions but didn't really know anything, so it was just so neat to really teach the basics, that we are children of God, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God , and why He came down to this earth, almost teaching him as if he were a little child. and really, that's how simple we should be teaching people- and he was just soaking it all in, just asking questions, and seemed so amazed. I loved being able to talk w/ him. I just felt so good being able to share my testimony w/ him. At the end of the tour, we ended in the South Vis Center and let him fill out the guest card. As he was, I was just praying so hard that he would refer. my desire for him to refer was not because that would help our numbers w/ our goals, or to say, yeah, we got a referral, but becuz i felt such a love for him, I wanted him to have the same blessing that I do, becuz i know it would bring him such happiness. He did refer, and that made me really happy. On his comments that he left, he said that coming to Temple Square-he felt that he had seen a bit of heaven, and that he was going to bring his friends here. What a great work this is!

 I feel that I'm coming to better understand why I am here. I need to share this gospel w/ my brothers and sisters. Heavenly Father has given this privilege to me! What a blessing to  be able to be here!

Well, I'll send you some pics so you can see our fun from today.
Much love to you, and thanks for all of your love to me!!!!!!!!!

pictures-
1. Me and Sister Aslam
2. Sisters at Heritage Ppark, in the snow
3.our first snow balls!!!
4. gross flies that we cleaned from the Kimball's house, and a Sister and I put our pile in the elevator and then pushed the button for the elevator so then someone would open the door and get a surprise!

dearest family  hellloooo!!!!!!

just to start off!, i am here in SLC still! no outbound yet. phewf! but man, i'm pretty sure that'll i'll be going next time or the next :( 

well, this last week has been a very rough one. i was sick for 4 days in a row. the doc. said it was just a bad cold, but man, it sure felt like the flu! fever, sweating, sweating, and more sweating, and then chills, bad cough, but never had sore throat, it was the deep cough that made my chest burn, i was in bed and just slept all day, the first day, i was even too sick to get up and drink my reliv, but i've been taking it for 3 times since, and i'm feeling much much better! there were like 13 other sisters that had the same thing. my poor comp.. was so kind and helped me and took care of me. so for the first 4 days of this new transfer i was just home, so i' guess i don't really have much to report ,

i'm w/ Sister Aslam from Pakistan! she is so sweet and we have lots of fun together. she is weird like me!  we have fun! and we are in the North Zone, I'm not district leader anymore.

i'm so sorry this is short. thanks again for everything. you all  mean so much to me. love love love !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dearest Mother!!!

Thank so you much for your email !! what a fun treat to get an email from you, and dad, and Derek and Aubee. please tell them hello and thank you! fun to hear about everyone and thinking about all of you and what is going on. glad to hear things are going well.

 it's been 1 1/2 wks since I've gotten to email you! I'll try my best to remember everything. this past wk w/ conference was great! super busy, lots n' lots of people! i saw Jake Adams and his new wifey poo, Courtney Samms! that was fun. she is such a sweet heart. oh yah!--i met this really nice Bishop, can't remember where he is from, but i gave him dads phone #- he is interested in getting an MBA and wants to move to Pullman area, he had such a sweet spirit about him. i told him about dad being more than happy to help him, and he just seems so thankful, he mentioned, "I'm glad you could help me, i felt prompted to ask you" his name is Ryan Risenmay. maybe he's called dad already. we'll see.

  oh man, this is a neat story, Sis.Fellmann and i met this guy from Belgium, super sweet, sincere, 33yrs old, here for vacation, looking for truth, had the most sincere questions, and we just met him sitting in front of the temple, he stayed and watched general conf. the Sunday afternoon session, the same session we got to go to - but anyways, it was just absolutely amazing how every talk answered all the questions that he had asking us, it was just like bam, bam, bam---everything he had a concern, it was answered in gen. conf. so i hope hope hope that he realized that- the last we saw him, was when we showed him where he could watch it in the NVC and then we had to leave to go to the conv. center,

 its just amazing  how inspired our leaders are. wasn't Elder Holland's talk amazing? he has such conviction, it just blew me away! look for me in the next Ensign!!!! man, those camera people were everywhere!!! ahaha, in yo face practically!!! w/ all the pics, i may get in at least one of them in  the ensign. hehe 

I met some old friends of U. Gaylon and Aunt Judy from England. i guess they just took a church history tour w/ them and told them to look for me, and lo and behold there i am, right when they come thru the west gate and i hear them asking other sisters, do you know a sister harris? crazy how the Lord allows you to meet people, just right at the right moment.  like, i also met Rob Buchanon! does that name sound familiar?  fun to make that connection, when ask where people are visiting from, and then you say where you are from, and then bodda bing bodda bing, oh we know each other!  also saw Jeff's buddies, Keeley, and Jared kunkel! fun fun!

 i just love people! everyone is so kind. this was the cutest thing, we were in the temple and this old woman sitting down stops us as we are walking by, and asks us if we have ever heard of the 3 nehpites, and we said yes, and then she goes, well I'm the 4th one! and she pulls out of her wallet a $2 bill and hands one to me and sister fellmann. and she said she always keeps them in her wallet to give to missionaries. what a sweetheart. i just love the old ladies in the temple, they always, give me hugs and are so sweet and always compliment me.  this church is amazing,  how it truly is the church of Jesus Christ. we are happy and kind, because that is the way the Savior is. as we become more like him, of course we are going to be happy, and love others!!! it can't get any better than that can it?! ÜÜ

I can hardly believe that this transfer is over, it seriously has gone by sooooo fast. the time just flies. i have no idea what is going to happen w/ me!! will i go outbound? will i be staying here? and doing what? I've been the DL in the fam. search for 2 transfers in a row--so i really don't think they'll keep me there again. who knows. I'm kinda of nervous for sure! just 2 more days and we find out! so maybe just maybe you'll be getting a phone call on wed. from me at the airport!!! woopie! 

well, I've gots to go. just love you so much!!! think about you and pray for ya and miss you all so very very much!!!!
love, sister harris

dear Family...!!! so surprise!!! today is my pday! which i just found out 2 days ago, b/c gen. conf. falls on  our reg. pday, so they gave it to us now. so i thought i'd just tell ya what s been going on lately.

 to tell ya the truth, not much really b/c one of my sisters in my district has been really sick-still, and so i've been at home w/ her taking care of her. she went to the hospital 3 days ago, and they couldn't find anything. shes been having really bad stomach pains, and then the pain meds shes on make her dizzy, so its just been hard for her. i haven't been on the square for a couple of days. i took her down to the Square to have an interview w/ Pres. Holmes- we had to walk down from our apts. and we had our arms around each other b/c she was so dizzy, which is totally "unapproved" -as we call it here, but what can ya do? we're are not supposed to have any PDA whatsoever to draw attn' to ourselves and make guest think anything about us. but for the way back to our apt. we picked up a wheelchair from the SVC and i wheeled her home. we had a fun time w/ that. shes a good sport, super funny, she's from Mexico city, and barely 5 feet. adorable! we had to go off roading a bit in the wheelchair b/c there was a truck blocking the sidewalk and we attempted 5 times to get back up on the cement from the grass, and i didn't realize it, but there were worker guys right there sitting in their van just watching me trying to push her over the bump, back up and retry, and repeat like 5 times. it was funny. he finally came out and asked if we needed help, but by that time i realized that i could just simply tip the wheelchair  back and do it that way.

 in the interview w/ pres. he gave her a blessing, and it was really sweet of him, and said a lot of nice things about me in her blessing, of me caring for her, -cant really remember all of it, i was just surprised that he mentioned me throughout the blessing so much. before that as well, he said that i was an Angel w/o wings. he is such a good guy. i just feel so blessed having him as a Mission Pres. he is so inspired, and i have the highest respect for him.

 this morning we just had a mission mtg. w/ all of us and Pres. Holmes talked w/ us in preparation for Gen. Conf. so it was good to hear from him. he talked a lot about obedience w/in our mission, and how critical it is to have that- that as we are disobedient we are being separated from the spirit and as a mission. that obedience unifies us as a mission as a whole. obedience has been a bit of a prob. w/ our sisters- so all together -well, in my zone, we wrote down a couple of things we felt we individually needed to work on, and then we committed to fast from those things in preparing for gen. conf. and as we pray each night, to be accountable to the Lord for our actions. its helped me a lot- you are def. more mindful of the things you want to work on, you are more focused and aware. 

so how is the family? anything new? any updates? i put Baby J's name on the prayer roll. so hopefully things will be ok.

i can't think of much else. i love you so much! i hope that you a & dad are safe and healthy and well. please let me know if there is anything i can do for you. are my letters ok? anything you want me to write more of? thanks for all you and dad do for me. pres. talked about how a lot of sisters here on the mission are having a lot problems back home: sick parents-almost dying, jobs being lost-unemplyment, houses almost lost, deaths in the family. --stuff like that, it just made me think about you and dad, and how thankful i am for you. i just hope eveything is going ok for you and dad. hopefully you aren't struggling w/ anything. I'll try my best to work hard so you can have lots of blessings. love you both so much.

~LOVE-Sister Harris

Dearest Family,

This week has been pretty crazy w/ lots of exchanges with the sisters in my district, and there is one sister who has had a lot of stomach pain that we don't know what is causing it, and so I've had to exchange w/ her and take her home.  I'm glad i can be of help where I'm needed.

 Things here on the square are good! i feel like i haven't been out there much cuz I'm home with the sick sister, but there are still miracles happening everyday. it. i was on exchanges w/ s. Stephen from CA, and we just had 2 amazing tours. i truly felt the spirit strongly as we taught, we slowed to our guest pace, followed the spirit of what to say, specifically to them and their needs. those were powerful tours. one man, had a prosthetic leg, and was w/ an inactive woman on our tour, and so we took him to the Christus w/ Christ in his resurrected state, and talked to him about how WE will have perfect bodies someday, and took, him to a painting of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane when he suffered and told this man that Christ knows everything that we went thru, and then took him to the Statues of Joseph and Oliver receiving the priesthood and told this man that he can have this power to bless his family and others, and this was not what we typically planned, but we changed it to meet his needs. i love it! he referred! and we were able to end the tour and the temple view and testify of the B.O.M. and how it blesses our lives. so anyways, i just wanted to share that w/ you.

 Finished reading the Book of Mormon yesterday! I'm going to try and see how many times i can read it here. we get to go to the conf. center for the Rel. Soc. broadcast. i'm excited! 

well, gots to drive the sisters to walmart. love you soo much!!!!!!

hello  dearest family!! 

Thank you for the email! fun to get all of those pics from elder harris, and see what kind of living conditions he is in. oh man, what a trooper, i feel so spoiled here! hope he doing well. oh i just love that boy, I'm so proud of him and miss him dearly. i miss you all dearly too!!!

 this last week at park city was the best. i had so much fun w/ S. Fellmann, and with Elder and Sister Taylor. they treated us like their own children, spoiled us galore w/ food and candy, and making sure that we had fun. i had no idea that jenny was there! just up the street!!!! i haven't been able to check my mail until today, and we didn't get any mail while we were up there-and i got a card from auntie jean and she told me to look for jenny, too bad :(  i could have easily gone and seen her. poo. we walked right past that area! maybe she saw me but didn't realize it was me. haha.  thats ok! maybe I'll get another chance. 

 on our p-day up there, we got to go to the Olympic Park and we watched the ski team practice-they skied down these wet pads, almost like a ski slope and then went off these jumps and did flips into the air and landed in a big swimming pool-w/ all their gear on! it was pretty cool to watch!. then we went to a farmers market, a HUGE one! and we just walked around, but people are so good to us, we got free jewelery and this lady told us to go to her booth and pick up some free corn and tomatoes from her son, but we got there, and i don't think he got the memo cuz he didnt act like he knew that- and i wasn't about to be like, so, your mom said we could have some produce for free. so uhhh,,,load us up. haha. that's ok, he did give us a free sample so that was nice, but people are always so good to us. i feel so blessed. it was fun to be in park city to see what it was like, so then i can better relate to the sisters that will be serving up there. its a really cute little family history center that is just warm and cozy feel like, and there are computers down stairs, but it has a big tree in the middle there, made out of old tires, and its a mold/replica of some tree in Provo. -no significance just like the look of the tree i guess.

 on Sunday- the Taylor's took us to a family ward for sac. mtg.. and then we went to the visitors ward and handed out programs and did some advertising for the family tree center so it was WEIRD to go to a family ward. very noisy and distracting. funny how you get used to a very quiet and proper sac. mtg. w/ all the missionaries and your mission president every Sunday.the feel you get for park city is very ritzy and upscale types, i liked it.....well, all of their nice cars. hahah! i wouldn't mind living up there!!! hehe. 

 at the center its self it was pretty slow all week. kind of a bummer, it would have been nice to do more, but it was still good, we had lots of time to get to know the taylors better and to have some really good conversations w/ them. coming back to temple square this Tuesday was woah weird! little bit of a shock, but we slid right back into the groove. probably that's what it will be like coming back from outbound. which by the way, I'm due for anytime now! exciting to think about! we find out on......MY BIRTHDAY!!!! outbounds calls are on the 12th of October and then whoever gets their call, they leave on the 14th-which is the 1st day of our new transfer. so if i do go, then pretty much, the only way you ll find out is me calling you from the airport. crazy!

it was really neat, i saw Margi last night!!!! i had gotten a page from one the sisters that my cousin was looking for me, and i was bummed b/c i didn't think i'd get to see her, and lo and behold, there she is when i come to the top of the stairs at the south visitors center! so good to see her, such a fun surprise, and she slipped $50 in my B.O.M.! what a sweetheart! i will have to write her a thank you.

well, I've gotta go. i love you so much! hope you are all doing well! miss you muches n muches!!! thanks again for all the pics and writing to me, and all of your support and love!!!!

love,
sister harris!

Hey Family!!! 

How are you?!?!?!?!  I'm here in Park City!  And my pday is today, Wednesday. So this Sat. I won't be emailing you until the following Sat. so this is going to be it for about a week and a half. 

Thanks for the email from Elder Harris. It's fun to hear how he is doing.

  I absolutely love it here is Park City. It is sooooo beautiful, and the Taylors ( the director missionaries over this area are so nice, and homey feeling, and they spoil us to the max!!!!)  haha.

 We are up here doing the same thing, just helping people w/ their genealogy, its been really slow though- but hopefully it will pick up so we can have some fun! It's it different approach than on Temple Square b/c people expect you to talk to them about religion, but up here, being a touristy town, when people walk in, they don't really know that the Family Tree Center is affiliated w/ the church, even though it says it on the outside, most people don't really notice tha. Plus, this isn't consecrated grounds like Temple Square, and so the spirit isn't as strong like it is at Temple Square, so we just have a different approach than usual and that is taking a little bit to get used.

Well, gots to go. love you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister AJ

This week has been wonderful and crazy and busy!! I'm still here at temple square! I'm still the DL for Family Search, and there's a change, each companionship will go to Park City for one week! so i go this next week! the 8th -15th! I'm sooooo excited! and my new companion is Sister Fellmann from Switzerland!!! She is amazing! we have lots of fun together! she speaks German and French, and already-we've been able to take many tours in those languages, it's been really fun! I'm really looking forward to this next transfer, it will be lots of fun. we just had our first Dist. mtg this morning, and it went really well, the sisters are really sweet, and I'm excited to get to know them better. sorry, this is going to be short. l hope you like the pic of me and sister fellmann, she has a British flag too! bye!!!!!

Hey Family!!!

 Ü well, this week has been really good. it's gone by soo fast! i seriously can't believe that this transfer is almost over. I'll be in my 5th transfer!!! no way baby!!! hehe! well,, this morning i gave my last district mtg. :( i had made a little collage w/ pictures of Jesus Christ, and then i cut it into small puzzle pieces, then i wrote on each of the pieces things like-"share your testimony of the Savior", or how has being on your mission strengthened your faith in our Savior- and so each sister went around the table and share their thoughts on the Savior and their mission, and put their puzzle piece in the middle of the table and then we were able to see at the end a big collage of Jesus Christ. it was really neat to hear each individual testimony- and the special thing was, that they were all different, but the same-b/c you could feel the spirit, and how we need to make Christ our Anchor and rely on him, to have that relationship w/ him. 

 its just so neat, all week, nothing really came to mind what i should talk about w/ this last dist. mtg, but this morning, as i was preparing i prayed so hard to have the guidance-to prepare something that these sisters needed to hear. and i truly felt that i was able to  do that. it was really neat- this week my testimony that God really does hear and answer our prayers has been reconfirmed to me many times this week.

 In the Referral Center, i felt so guided as i was calling people and with the words that i needed to say. i just relied on the Spirit of what i should say, i didn't think about what it was that i needed to say before hand, one thing we've really been focusing on is listening to our guests, and then relying on the promptings of the spirit w/ what we should say. and it is true, it works. I've seen it over and over and over again. so much success happens, and i owe it all to the Lord. you cannot do this work alone. I'm so grateful for our Savior. for his love, that he cares, and that he wants us to be happy. i just love it.

 This last Sunday, we had the privilege to go the Oquirrah Mountain Temple Dedication. it was really good. we sat in one of the oldest chapels in SLC. it was def. a ward w/ lots of old people! haha! cute! Being here on a mission and testifying over and over of Jesus Christ and of Prophets -it means so much more to me now- and getting to hear Pres. Monson speak-he is so inspired and i was just trying to soak it all in, what he was saying, b/c i knew that it was inspiration. 

so this last Tues.....i have  a confession.......i got kissed........by a 70yr old man! ha ha. i was on exchanges w/ s. Stephen from CA- we had been helping this old couple-i was w/ the husband and she was w/ the wife- and they were just so thrilled that we could help them, and anyways- as they were leaving, the old woman gives s. Stephen a hug, and i thought in my head, oh no, i hope that he doesn't try to hug me, cuz yah, know, we aren't supposed to- and then lo and behold, he goes in, and so i did the hug! haha- i didn't want to be rude, and if that wasn't enough- he kisses me on the cheek!! haha! and then he hugs my comp. and plants a big one on her cheek too!!!! and it was all in front of the security camera!!! oh well, it was cute.. 

so it was neat- this last Wed. i got my first referral at Family Search!! I'd been praying really hard, and that day, i said another prayer as i was there at FAM. Search- and i was at the top of the stairs where we usually wait to greet people- and it had been a pretty slow night- and these two guys walk up the stairs to leave- and i asked them if they had had any luck finding names and they said no, and i said oh, well did you get any help while you were here? and the guy said, no not really, they just helped me to a computer, and i said well, would you like me to see if i can help you? and he said sure! so we went down and we spent a good while and we were able to find a lot-he was really excited- it's fun, b/c i get excited too! but he was needing to go, and i just simply invited him- i don't even remember what it was that i said, but i asked him if  he'd like to learn more about families and temples and he said yes!! it was just a sweet experience, 

And then yesterday, i had an older couple from North Carolina-they had been here for a tidge on vacation, and got to see the MOTAB and just said that was the icing on the cake-and then being here at FAm. Search and we were able to find  a lot for them and that too was the icing on their cake- i really relied on the guidance of the spirit, of what to say, what to ask- and we were able to build a good relationship w/ eachother talking about their religious background and  their families, and at the end i showed them the referral card and asked if they would like to know more about the importance of why

we have temples and how they bless our families- and the lady - man she filled out that card! they were so gracious! i just have felt so blessed by the Lord. he has been so good to me. I've really been struggling w/ this area in inviting people and seeing results but it has just really been special to feel the hand of the Lord.
well, i love you so much  thanks for your support, and all that you do! i miss you very much. you are always in my thoughts a prayers and just wish that you could be here to experience all this neatness w/ me!! Ü LOVE YOU BUNCHES! do you have Elder Harris' new address?? hope you like the pics!! 

1. i was making beans and cheese and a tortilla, and the tortilla fell out of my hands! sick! look where and how it landed! isn't that funny!??!
2. My roommates- S. Pachecho (Brazil) and S. Agiar ( Argentina) make us dinner- it was delish! authentic foods!! YUM!!!!
4. My district!!!
5. Eating cereal after our last district mtg. today it was Cin. Toast Crunch and Honey bunches -o- oats!