May sakit kasama ko :(

Kamusta y'all!

     Well, this week has been unusual. My kasama has been sick all week, so we've been to urgent care and had to take some sick days. But she's on the mend so that's good :)

     On Wednesday we had zone conference, which was excellent! It was so fun to meet so many missionaries, and I learned so much from President and Sister Lee. I'm definitely going to miss the friends I've made here. After zone conference we had tradeoffs with the Sister Training Leaders. I got to spend a few days in St. Augustine with Sister Redford who is so awesome. She's from West Point, Utah and we're both obsessed with theater. It's crazy that we had to come all the way to Florida to meet each other. I loved learning from and with her. Being away from St Johns made me realize how comfortable I've gotten here. Because coming back felt like I was coming home :)

    Because Sister Topham was sleeping a lot, I had plenty of time to prepare for my talk on Sunday. I was speaking about missionary work, which is a topic that's kinda been on my mind lately. While I didn't enjoy speaking in Sacrament Meeting, I loved studying and I learned so much. When we help bring others to Christ we are blessed with more joy than anything else in the world! (D&C 18:10-16) Speaking in Sacrament Meeting was kinda scary, because I was the last speaker. There were 4 speakers, but two of them were youth speakers. But I managed to speak for 15 minutes with a talk that I thought would last 10. I mostly just used the scriptures and preach my gospel to prepare my talk. I also quoted from President Nelson's message from the worldwide youth devotional. I could have used other resources from the gospel library and lds.org, but I really didn't need anything else. Sister Topham thought I did a really good job, and I guess I felt okay about it. I'm glad it's over with and I won't speak for at least the rest of this transfer. Also I'm halfway through my first transfer! That's crazy right! When did that happen?

   All of the lizards live here. All of them. Ask Emma about the baby lizard that tried to move in. I see at least 15 lizards every day. And that is a conservative estimate. Also we have cockroaches here. There was a cockroach in my kasama's shoe the other day. Also, I woke up to her killing a cockroach in our house last night. At least these are not the flying cockroaches of the Philippines that bite your face in your sleep... that's a real thing, Sister Barnett has already killed one.

  We drive more than we bike, but we have a limited number of miles we're supposed to use each month. Sometimes we bike to nearby areas, and sometimes we drive further away and then bike from there. But we always have a car, unlike the elders who have to trade off.

   Most of the time my kasama takes a nap during language study. Sometimes I teach her a lesson in Tagalog, and then she tells me I did a good job. Mostly I read from my grammar book, missionary pamphlets, and Ang Aklat ni Mormon.

    I'm honestly just really excited to get back to work. I still don't know how long I'll be here, or when/how I will know when I'm leaving. But I want to do absolutely everything I can with my time here. I know I'm going to miss the St Johns ward, my district, my kasama, and the Florida Jacksonville Mission.

    Kita Kits!

  Sister Harrison