Mar 24...joy!

This week has been a week of joy. There wasn't any huge miracles, it was all the little things that happened that made it so amazing. We have decided as a companionship we want to work really hard and stay busy. This week there was some incredible lessons. The spirit has been so strong during them. Normally we only see people once a week but this week we have scheduled lessons with certain people for every two or three days because they are so ready for the gospel and ready to progress quickly. Another little miracle was the fact that the sun came out this week and it is turning into spring. The sun is out but it is still pretty cold.
On Wednesday I got a text message from my zone leaders saying I had a eye care package at the mission office. This was a miracle because I had just emailed Bishop Robertson on Monday saying I needed more and it came so quickly! I am grateful for all the people that are looking after me and taking care of my needs.
On Friday night we went to dinner and I sat down and when I looked to my left to see the pictures on the wall there was a picture that I had taken of the Ostler's. So I asked the sister we were eating with how she knows them and she is Delene's sister! Such a small world.

On Saturday morning I got a call from a missionary that I served around about 9 months ago and he asked if I could play the piano for their district in a talent show. That went really well and they all sound amazing singing "I'll go where you want me to go". Also on Saturday we had a baptism and it was supposed to start at 1:00 but everyone was running behind so it didn't start until 1:30. The baptism was for these boys who are cousins and one of them is 9 and the other 8. After the baptism they said they had some refreshments for anyone that wanted some and I thought they meant cookies but they had a whole meal prepared! On Sunday we went to their confirmations and the ward was getting a new Bishopric and it was so weird because I hardly knew the bishop and I was getting all choked up because it made me think that this is probably how is was when the Candy Mountain ward got a new bishop.

I have gave myself a 6 month challenge. I am starting to read "Jesus the Christ" and I hope to have it done before I come home. It's a pretty hard read, but I have learned some amazing things about Christ and his life. I found this quote and I love it, "When you choose to follow Christ you choose to be changed." -Ezra Taft Benson

                                               Kaylynn being introduced to food from Singapore

                                                   

Mar 17...walking area

So to be honest I don't remember a whole lot of what we did this week. I know that we did a lot of walking. Monday night we were walking home from a lesson and a huge wind storm hit and we were basically walking in place so it took awhile to get home. Then on Tuesday we woke up to some snow! I thought it was finally starting to get beautiful. On Thursday we had a district meeting to talk about goals that we want to set as a district and prepared for zone training meeting that we had on Saturday. The district meeting was very inspiring we started with sharing our testimonies of why we came on a mission. I think it is so amazing to look back on that because it keeps me motivated and knowing that I only have about 6 months left it makes me want to work my hardest and accomplish all that Heavenly Father has in store for me. There is a girl we are teaching right now who I taught in Spanish Fork and then she moved here to Provo. She got baptized in January and when we saw her this week she told us that she has been going and doing baptisms for the dead every Monday! We also have this 9 year old we are teaching right now who was baptized back in November and it was so amazing at the end of the word of wisdom lesson she bore her testimony and then her 10 year old brother who hasn't been baptized said he wants to start taking the lessons so he can get baptized soon. We had another miracle on Friday, we had just finished a lesson and we were walking to our next one and one of the relief society presidents was sitting on her porch with this guy who just moved here from Springville and he told us that we should start visiting him. I think lord knows I want to work hard and do my best so he is blessing me for it. I am grateful that I have the knowledge of the gospel and that I know God has a plan for each of us.

On Sunday we got to speak in a ward about missionary work (imagine that) but it was really cool because afterward a lot of the members went up to the ward mission leader and said that they want to start a family mission plan. So we are probably going to be doing some work with the members on that. I really don't know how we would do this work with out the members. 

So since I am in a walking area now I seem to always be hungry and always tired. I also decided to wear some shoes one day that I haven't worn almost my who mission and that was a bad idea because now I have huge blisters on the backs of my heels. I know its not much this week but like I said I forget a lot of what happened.:) 

Love you all!

                                                      Kaylynn and sister Wang

                               bowling international on pday with missionaries from China,     

                                                            Norway and  Chile

Mar 10...bound to happen

Monday night and Tuesday were so hard because I had to say goodbye to some really amazing people. Well I guess it is just see you later because I am only in Utah and visiting will be so easy after the mission.
So after serving for almost one year with always having a car, I was finally put into a walking area this transfer. Have been transferred to central Provo with Sister Wang from mainland China. Her English is pretty amazing, she studied in Australia for 4 years before she came on her mission. She is the only member in her family and she joined while living in Australia. My district is all Spanish speaking missionaries except for me and Sister Wang. So have a feeling I will be learning some Chinese and some Spanish this transfer. I help Sister Wang with her language study and it is making me realize how much English I don't even know.

We had quite a crazy first two days. I was told not to unpack because we would be moving houses the next day, moving houses required us to pack up everything in the apartment. There had been missionaries living there for 2 and a half years so there was a lot of stuff! But mission accomplished and the new apartment we moved into is quite interesting. It smells moldy, the walls are bubbly and soft because they probably are moldy. So we are having someone come check it out to see if it is even safe to live here. But for now I am so grateful to have a roof over my head since it has been really rainy here.

Something fun about my area is that about twice a week we get to go to the information booth for the new Provo city center temple and help people learn about it. So it is almost like serving at a temple visitors center. Me and Sister Wang want to ask president if that can be our full time area. We will be the Provo City Center Temple Booth sisters:) Just kidding we like going out and teaching people too. The story of the tabernacle almost always brings me to tears because I know that each of us individually goes through something quite similar. We sometimes have to be tried so hard so that one day we can be perfected and live in Heavenly Father's presence.

So ever since I have gotten to Provo there has been some crazy small world experiences. For example, the first dinner I had in the area was with this young family and the husband is originally from Idaho Falls, so I told him how I lived there while dad was working at the INL, he asked what dad's name was and when I told him he said he has talked to him before. Then the second day I was here, we were teaching a family that had just gotten baptized and when I walked in the little boy said I looked really familiar. We finally figured out why. I was the one that taught one of their friends in Spanish Fork and when she got baptized they were at the baptism.

The majority of our wards are all young married couples with babies. The youth groups are so small which is so weird because I am so used to our huge youth group in the candy mountain ward. It makes the rule of not holding babies kind of hard because they are all over! 

We have done a lot of walking this week already! It is a good thing that I have lots of shoe options. I am excited to serve here and I have a feeling I will run into more people I know. 

love, Sister Harrison

Mar 3...service and bruises

This week I managed to be clumsy and ended up hurting myself quite a
few times. I only came out with two big bumps, and four bruises! Don't
worry hopefully this week I can be a little less clumsy.
So me and Sis. Horne have been dying to do some service and so on
Tuesday, all three of us went and found a habitat for humanitarian
store and was able to get an hour of service in and then on Wednesday
we went back and did about an hour and a half. It was a good change
to add to our usual routine. We unpacked boxes, priced and organized
items. Then we broke down the boxes and then cleaned the store. It was
fun!
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were so warm and beautiful, it got up to
the 60's! Tuesday night we had an adventure, we were leaving the house
after dinner and decided it was time to take the garbage out, so we
grabbed our bags and the garbage and headed out and locked the door behind
us. As we were headed to the car I reached in my bag to get the keys
and they weren't there! We locked them in the house. Our lady lords
weren't home and we couldn't get a hold of them. So we started walking
and calling people. We were finally able to get a hold of our land
lords after about 35 minutes or so. And we were able to make it to all
our appointments on time!
We have so many people to work with but just have a hard time getting
appointments with them and after we decided to fast and go to the
temple for some answers about how to help the area pick up we decided
to stop by everyone's houses and get appointments. It is amazing what
we have lined up this week already! I mean why would God put more
people in our path if we aren't working with what we already have. We
also found out about some new move-ins and so we decided to be the
welcoming committee. And we have three new less-active families we are
going to be working with. So many people. how do we have so much work here
in Utah and my answer to that is they move here to hear about the
gospel, they just don't know that when they first get here.
We also had a really cool experience with some of our favorite
less-actives. We got a text on Wednesday morning from the lady of the
house and she was really struggling because her boyfriend won't make
the decision to marry her or move out and so she asked if we could
teach a lesson about moving forward and making decisions. It was
probably one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever had. You could
tell that they really felt like changing. I also committed them to
staying to all three meetings in church because usually they only stay
to sacrament.  And the little decisions help us practice for making
big decisions. We were in the ward that meets right before them and so
we were able to catch them after sacrament to make sure they went to
Sunday school. We stayed with them and I was so proud because they
participated quite a bit and had a lot of good things to say. I fasted
for them in hopes that it will help the boyfriend make a decision and
I will let you know how it goes.

So transfers are this week and here is what's happening... Me and
Sister Jones are both being transferred out of Spanish Fork. I don't
know where I will be going but I know it will be an adventure. I am
sad to leave because I really fell in love with the people here.