Aug 26....just when I was getting comfortable

This week one was full of unexpected surprises!

 We had so many of our appointments fall through which left us with the task of finding people to teach. This sounds a little silly since that is what missionary work is but the past few weeks have been full of scheduled appointments which allow us to just go teach instead of find. We received quite a few referrals this week which just answered our prayers. I also thought of someone that my last companionship had been teaching so I asked him if he would be interested in having the lessons again but this time with his wife and he accepted. As we taught them it was amazing to see how much more open he was. It's like the Lord was softening his heart while we weren't seeing him for a few months. And I am sure that's exactly what it was. I think it is so incredible to see how many people the Lord is preparing for us. I have heard so many times that people get the impression to move to Utah but they don't know why until they find the Gospel then it is so clear to them.

 

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to do some service. We went and helped one of our less-active ladies with cleaning her house. Because when we went over there on Sunday she said she just wanted to give up. So it was quite the challenge we took on. But mission accomplished, and we saw her on Friday and she said her house is still clean!!! It makes me so happy to be able to help people. We also looked for other service opportunities this week since we haven't had any in a while. So one day we had a little extra time before our next appointment so we drove around to look for opportunities. We saw a moving truck full of stuff and a family moving the stuff so we pulled over and asked if we could help at all. Sadly they turned us down, I don't know if it is because we were in skirts or maybe they really didn't need help but I am glad we offered.

 This week we also started teaching an incredible girl. She just turned 18 and has decided to take the lessons because her whole life she has know that this church is the one she wants to join but her mom is a very strong catholic. She has such an incredible testimony already! She is waiting for a missionary and I can't image how he must feel right now knowing that she is taking the missionary lessons. This is also another example about how the Lord is preparing people to accept the Gospel. I feel so blessed to be serving the Lord. I have been able to reach out to so many people already and it has only been 5 months! I can't wait to see what the next 13 months will bring. I also am excited to see how much closer I am going to grow to my Savior.

 One day this week we got a call from the mission president. We were all really confused. Then we found out that Sister Fanene was needed in a different area. I was so surprised especially since it is in the middle of the transfer. But on a mission we must be flexible because we never know what is going to come flying our way next. The other day I was looking at a list of 10 things my stake president gave me, that I need to bring home from my mission. It is incredible to see how much I have already accomplished and it also showed me how much more I need to improve on. I hope everyone enjoys the beginning of the school year. I know that it has changed Orem a lot. All of the UVU students are back. I have to leave 20 minutes early to appointments due to school traffic.

Keep up with being examples to everyone. Be strong and firm in what you believe.

Love,

Sister Kaylynn Harrison

Aug 19...meeting and meetings and meetings!

Well I don't really know how to even describe this week. It was FULL of ups and downs. But it made me rely more on my Savior Jesus Christ. We set our goals high this week for how many people we wanted to bring closer to Christ and so many unexpected things happen that just threw us off. On Tuesday we tried going to the temple and it was sooo busy that day. We realized there was going to be an hour or longer wait and so we ended up leaving. On Wednesday we had to go to the MTC to check on Sister Fanene's visa and I ran into a very good friend, Elder Harrison Ostler. I surprised him quite a bit. When he first saw me he was in a bit of shock of why I would be there. And after talking for a few minutes I can tell he is going to be an amazing missionary when he gets to Brazil and those people better believe that they are getting blessed with a GREAT missionary. We then got to go to DTM(District Training Meeting). It was definitely an inspired meeting, we were able to talk about miracles that have happen and how we can help miracles happen in our current investigators lives.  Then to top off the day we had a missionary correlation meeting with one of our stakes. It was a good meeting and we were able to discuss a lot of missionary work. On Thursday we were blessed with Zone Conference and we heard some pretty incredible statistics. July 2012 there was 120 missionaries in the Provo Utah Mission and there were teaching on average 850 lessons A WEEK! July 2013 we now have 240 missionaries in the Provo Utah Mission and we are now teaching, on average, 2,200 lessons A WEEK! I was seriously surprised by these numbers but feel so blessed to be a part of the Lord hastening his work. Zone conference was 6 hours long! But the things that were taught there are so helpful! On Friday we went to the temple again and this time we went early so we didn't have to wait. We luckily got into to the 8:30 session and the spirit I felt that day was so peaceful and warm. Also on Friday we had our weekly planning. I wanted to start doing it a little different way that I was inspired to do from Zone Conference. Instead of focusing on what lesson was next we decided to look at what ordinance we want them to partake of in the near future, whether it is the sacrament, baptism or the temple. And then we planned lessons that would help them get to this point. I can't believe how easily we thought of the needs of the people we are working with. On Saturday we had a baptism. J***who is 13 has been going to church actively for a long time and finally decided to take the lessons and get baptized. Because he has been going to church already for a while he had a lot of people he wanted to participate in the program. So the program took about an hour and a half. If any of you don't know how long a typical baptism lasts its usually 30-45 minutes. But it was amazing to see how much support he is getting from his ward. The that night we got to go do a small fireside for some of the members. We talked about how our mission was using the tools that were provided in the Missionary Broadcast a few months ago. All of the meetings this week were great but I am excited to get back to teaching this week. Another amazing thing happening this week is my 5 month mark. I seriously can not believe it has already been 5 months. I feel like every month just goes by a little faster. But when you are busy with the work and having fun doing it, you don't have time to think about how long you have been out. I have felt so blessed for the past 5 months and I can't wait to see what lies ahead! D&C 31:13 "Be faithful unto the end, and lo, I am with you. These words are not of man nor of men, but of me, even Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, by the will of the Father, Amen" It's scripture like these that help me stay motivated! I love this work and I don't ever want to stop! LOVE YOU ALL

Aug 12...a bit different

This week has been a little different compared to what I am used to. Due to the transfer I have a new companion, I am training, I have to help my trainee learn Hiligaynon which I have never heard before, I am the only one that knows the area. So I really had to step up and be an example. Which I truly love! Getting to know my two wonderful companions and I have a feeling we are all going to get along really well. We have had a week that has been different than most. We had two referrals given to us and these people were so prepared. One of them has actually been taking the lessons from missionaries in Salt Lake City and he just moved into our area. The other has been going to church with her husbands family and loves the spirit she feels when she is there. Another thing I learned this week is that the Lord has certain people prepared for each of us as missionaries. This week we were able to get into homes that I have been trying to get into for the past 6 weeks. I know that those people were just waiting for the companions I have now. I love my new companions so much. We know how to have fun while working hard. I don't have a lot to say this week. So I will try harder next week. I hope everyone is enjoying the last bit of summer. The weather here has been beautiful and I love the warmth. LOVE YOU ALL!

Aug 6....i love READING!

Okay so I know many of you saw this on Facebook already but let me explain a little more in detail of why I love reading so much, all of a sudden. So on April 4 2013 I started reading the Book of Mormon and as I went through it I circled every time it said faith. And I can tell you, from doing that I know that my faith has been strengthened! I have gained such a true faith for my savior Jesus Christ and all he has done for me. I know that as we are willing to put our faith in the Lord he will lead us down a path that will show us complete joy and happiness. I am happy to say that I finished the Book of Mormon way faster than I thought I was going to. I had a goal to finish it by August 4th and on the morning of August 4th I had 39 more pages to read and I seriously didn't think I was going to finish it. But I prayed with faith to my Heavenly Father and I feel truly blessed because I finished. He helped me reach my goal! So I am going to extend a commitment to all of you. Pick up the Book of Mormon and start reading it from the beginning and focus on something. It will make you love reading!

     Also this week I did have some other fun things happen. We got a new companion who is waiting for her Visa to the Philippines. Her name is Sister Fanene and she is amazing! She is from American Samoa and she has such a fun personality. Lately we have been doing a lot of singing to the ukulele. I will have to record my favorite song and send it to you! 

     This week I got to go with Sister Quist for a few days since her companion had to go do something. I think the best part was having to ride a bike in a skirt. It took some getting used to but I actually enjoyed it. I also had the opportunity to do a lot of service. I love service projects. I love getting my hands dirty and letting people know that we are willing to help them in any way they need.

     We were also blessed to use the new technology in a really cool way this week. Sister Harroff (my companion) is the only member in her family and we were able to use Skype and teach her mom and sister. And let me tell you, I have never felt the spirit so strong in my entire life. I know that being on a mission is not only blessing me and the families I am serving, but it blesses our family back home.

     I want you to all know that I am seriously loving my mission. And honestly there is no where I would rather be right now than serving Jesus Christ and helping families come closer together and be together for eternity.

 Love you all, Sister Harrison #2

PS  I totally forgot to update all of you on what is happening for transfers. So I am staying in Orem and Sister Harroff is going out to Eastern Utah to follow up train Sister Megan Neilsen. And I am staying with my new Samoan Sister and we are gaining Sister Wuitschick. Sister Wuitschick came out the transfer after me and so she is fully trained. But I get to be senior companion and I get to train Sister Fanene! so that is what's happening this week:)

July 29...an EVENTFUL week

So this week has been pretty awesome! We have had so many appointments this week. And surprisingly no baptisms, but that's okay. On Wednesday we got to be in Provo by 6:30 to help with the Temple to Temple 5K run. We were in charge of making sure cars were not going on the roads the runners were on. Once everyone had started the race (over 5,000 people) we got to start our walk to the new Provo City Center temple. I wish we could have ran it but we were in our proselyting clothes so it would have been a little hard. Also on Wednesday we got to do exchanges with the Sister Training Leader. I was with her companion Sister Bumstead in her area which is a Spanish area. It was really weird, I have never felt so useless, just because I can not speak an ounce of Spanish. But it was still fun and Latino people feed you like 3 times as much as the people I work with and they expect you to eat it all! So I had a stomach ache for the rest of the night. On Thursday I got to be in my area with the Sister Training Leader and we actually had an amazing day! One thing our area struggles with is having a true fellowshipper at the lessons, so Thursday we made it a goal to have a least 3 lessons with a true fellowshipper present. And surprisingly we had 4! It might not seem like much but for our area it was incredible! We were also able to go contacting and find some new people to work with. The past few days we have been busy trying to find new investigators since this month we have baptized all 5 of the ones we had. We have been knocking doors and found some really interesting people. For instance this one house said a Mr. Blue lived there and the house was very blue, the siding was light blue, the windows were painted dark blue so you can't see through them, and the guy inside was crazy! Or there was this house covered in animal heads and when we knocked on the door we commented on them and he invited us in to see his collection. Talk about a big time hunter, I wish I would have gotten a picture! But I am just lucky I am in Orem or else these people and places would probably be super sketchy! Well that was my eventful we and I am looking forward to the one a head of me! Love you all and keep the good news coming!:)