General Conference

10/14/13

I got to watch General Conference this week! It was seriously so good. I can't remember a better General Conference. It was exactly what I needed to hear and wanted to hear. The leaders of the Church are unreal. I really loved Elder Dube's talk. And Elder Uchtdorf's and Elder Christofferson and Elder Holland's. They were all so good and I needed to hear all the things that were said. That was definitely the highlight of my week. Besides that I don't really know what else to say! We have had a lot of sunshine this week which has been the best thing ever. We are going to start working more with inactives because that's where our Mission President would like us to focus. I think it will be way good and I'm excited about it. We had a few good meetings this week and life is just marching on. I'm happy and healthy and doing well. I hope you all are too! Love you all so much! Love, Cectpa Harris

Snyeg

9/30/13

Guess what? This morning I woke up to snow! Crazy town. What the heck? Snow. I'm blown away. It's September and it's snowing. So, so crazy. But it's actually a lot warmer than the rain so I'm okay with it. The Russian word for snow is snyeg. I think it's way funny. Anyways, this week was good! We had a lot of meetings with innactives, mostly babushkas. They're so funny. I like them all so much. None of them can see so they have these huge magnifying glasses that make their eyes so big. It cracks me up. We're getting ready for another finding activity and I'm excited! This week will be the last English Group we have for a month and then another one will start. That's pretty much it for me! I'm happy, healthy, and trying to do good. A little frozen too, but this is Russia afterall. I love you all! Have the best of weeks. Love, Cectpa Harris

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Cold cold cold.

9/22/13

This week marks the first week that it has been legitimately cold. Oh my lands. St. George sun definitely didn't prepare me for this. I'm definitely learning how to stay warm: wear a ton of layers and walk really fast. You might say that I'm a little scared for winter considering it's only September and I'm already shivering. Good one, Mother Russia. Anyways, this week was good! We were in a threesome for part of the week and it was actually way fun. It was such a party all the time and we loved it. We had some really good meetings this week and I'm hoping more come of them this week too. What was way cool about this week was how much I felt my language skills get better. Usually someone talks at me and I'm like, ".... oh no. I have no idea what they just said. I hope it wasn't a question. I'll just nod my head and say yes." But this week I felt like I understood so much more and was able to make a coherent reply. Ooh! We also got to see Swan Lake this week. Holy cow. It was so good. I love the ballet. It was so cool to see a Russian ballet in Russia. Anyways, I hope you are all doing so well. I love you and miss you! Love, Cectpa Harris 

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Oh yeah.

9/8/13

Oh, yeah. As part of the new rules of Russia about emailing we are no longer allowed to send any pictures home. So I will have to show you all them when I get home! It'll be such a fun surprise. Haha. I feel like an undercover agent. Have a good week! Love you!

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Miracle time.

9/8/13

I'm way excited to get to tell you about my miracle last week. It's actually kind of bittersweet now but it was still a miracle and the fact that it is bittersweet makes it even more of a learning experience now. So here it goes:

Last week we went on Splits with the Sister Training Leaders-- they're like the zone leaders but in Sister form. The last time we had to go on Splits I hated my life because it was my third day here and I was so tired I thought I was going to throw up. But this time around it was way better. So we spent the whole day visiting some babushkas and then we decided to contact. Now, the thing about the Sister Training Leaders is that they are super intense, way good missionaries. They love Gospel contacting and they do think it's super effective. I'm different. I don't think it's super effective to walk up to someone on the street and be like, "Hey, have you heard about this special book? It's real good." I just don't work that way because I know I wouldn't feel comfortable if someone did that to me. So I like to make friends first, invite them to an activity we are having and then involve the lessons and the Book of Mormon. So, we talked about that all day long because the sister I was with loves contacting with the Book of Mormon. I told her I wanted to find something I was that passionate about and be able to use it on the street. She asked me what I loved most about the Gospel and to use that. I thought about it and the thing I love most about the Gospel is how happy it makes me. Through the Gospel we can be so happy, so full of light even if we just want to punch walls. So I told her that. I told her I loved the Gospel because it was the good news, because it was what made life okay even when the world is against you. So we kept on contacting but it was getting to the end of the day so we started on our way home. We got stopped by some kids our age who spoke English and knew the Elders so we chatted with them for a while. While we were chatting this lady came up to us and was like, "Oh are you speaking English?" I kind of turned so I was just talking to her. I asked if she'd ever seen our tags before and she said, "Yes, I have. And I've always wanted to stop but they were always men and I was too shy. I can't actually believe that I stopped this time." So we just kept chatting about her life, just being friends. Then she said, "You are so full of light. It just shines from your face. You are so cheerful." And then I had the opportunity to talk about the Gospel with her. I told her that it was my church that helped me to be that way. I asked her if she was searching for a church. She said she was and that for the last few years she had felt a lot of darkness and that something was missing from her life. I told her that I had felt those same feelings before, feeling lost and sad, but that's when I decided to turn to Heavenly Father. And that's where I found happiness. She said, "Now it is like you are telling me my thoughts. God wanted us to meet." AHHHH. It was crazy. So good. I felt the Spirit so strongly. I got her name and number and then we went home. It was the craziest experience and it reminded me that every missionary is here for a unique reason. I'm learning so much on my mission and about my purpose here. Yes, I am here to invite others to come to Christ like every other missionary but the how is unique to every missionary. The bittersweet part is that even after that way cool experience we haven't got to meet with her yet. I still have hope that we will but so far nothing else has happened. Anyways, that was my miracle. This week has been good too! Pretty routine, we still have English. We have two new investigators that have come from English. Way cool, huh? We're excited about it. Also, there are some new rules concerning emailing and I'm not positive what they are yet. They're having some issues with the Russian government and they think we are invading Russia's privacy by emailing. So basically my emails in the future will probably be very vague because we're not allowed to really tell anything about Russia. I'll keep you updated! I love you all so much. Have the best of weeks! Love, Cectpa Harris

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