Sister Julia Harrison

  Kamusta y'all!         Although I almost forgot about Thanksgiving (because there's no Thanksgiving in the Philippines), this week has still been a week of gratitude. As I've been experiencing so many "lasts", my heart has been filled with gratitude to my Heavenly Father. How privileged I am that Heavenly Father has given me this opportunity to be a part of His great work. I have learned so much about myself, the gospel, and my Savior. I have been blessed to build so many relationships, and to learn how to see life differently. It has been so wonderful to share the gospel with so many people, and see the way it changes their lives.The Philippines really is such a special place, and Filipinos are so unique. I'm so grateful I've had the chance to be a part of their lives and be changed by them. And I'm grateful for all the support I  have felt from my family and friends back home. I have constantly been strengthened and encouraged by yo...

Kamusta y'all!      Sister Trinidad and I had a really cool experience while we were finding people to teach. On Tuesday we went to one of our appointments, but they weren't available when we got there. So we decided to find someone new to teach while we were waiting. All of our plans were in a different area, so we weren't sure where we should go. Suddenly Sister Trinidad just pointed to a road heading to a barangay(neighborhood) I'd never been to before. "Can we go there?" "Sure. Why not?" It wasn't very far, but we just didn't know anyone there. But we were excited to do some exploring. When we entered the barangay, we went up and started talking to the first people we saw. Three women who were decorating for the upcoming fiesta. We started talking to them, and once they knew I spoke Tagalog, they invited us to sit down and teach them. We taught them about Heavenly Father's plan for families, and how that knowledge was ...

  Kamusta y'all!     There was supposed to be a bagyo(typhoon) this last week, but it decided to go somewhere else. :) We just got some rain and a little wind, but it wasn't really a problem.      We had a really good week, and five of the people we're teaching came to church! We also were able to set a baptismal date with a sister we recently started teaching. Kathlyne used to come to church with her aunt and cousins, and she's just recently started coming again. Her mother is very supportive, because she sees how diligent and obedient her nieces and nephews are and wants Kathlyne to be influenced by them. But she herself is content in her own religion and isn't interested in coming to church with her daughter. We're hoping that as she witnesses the blessings in the life of her own daughter, and as Kathlyne shares her already growing testimony, she will become willing to "come and see."      What I really liked about her s...

Kamusta y'all!      We got to have zone conference this week, which is always fun. President Craig taught us about the importance of the Fall of Adam and Eve, and afterwards I felt like I understood it a lot better. But I didn't really realize just how important that would be until a few days later when we were teaching a recent convert. We were teaching her about the Fall, and she asked a lot of the same questions we'd discussed at our zone conference. Though before I felt I'd be able to explain that principle well enough, I really did need that deeper review and explanation in order to really answer her questions. I realized that the Lord, through His appointed servant, gave us a way to answer this sister's questions. He truly does give us a way to do everything He asks of us, we just need to have faith and act.      Aganad y'all!         Sister Harrison -pictures from our district service project har...

  Kamusta y'all!       This week was pretty eventful, though my roommate Sister Ward's week was even more exciting... She got bit by a kitten. And had to travel over an hour to Cauayan at 7pm just to get rabies shots... But she's fine, and she's got a story to go with it :)       The most exciting thing though was that we got to go hiking in the Banaue rice terraces. It was super fun. But what was really cool was that it really isn't just a tourist spot. It's not just something made to look cool or impressive. It's really their way of life. What for us was a hiking trail was actually the path to someone's home or field. It's easy to forget just how much variety there is in the way people live. Culture and language is impacted by environment and history. Everyone is built by where and who they come from.       One of my favorite things I get to teach people is that we are all a part of God's family. I might just be...

Kamusta y'all!    So transfers happened, which is always an adventure. But the good news is now I'm with Sister Trinidad! This is her second area and she's soo cool. And I get to be kabahays with Sister Ward! We've only seen each other in passing since the MTC, so it's fun to be together again. :)     We had a really cool experience this week when we went to go teach one of our recent converts, Brother Ricardo. We had called another recent convert, Brother Harvey to see if he could come to the lesson too. We tried calling a couple times, but he didn't respond. So we just headed to our appointment and started. As we were singing the opening song, Brother Harvey just walked right in. We hadn't left him a text or anything telling him where we were or what time we'd be there. He just saw that he had two missed calls, and because he wanted to be taught so badly, guessed where we were and showed up.       It was just made me thin...

Kamusta y'all!      It was a fun week to be in Alinguigan. We got to explore a new area, and we met a lot of members there. We also got to attend the other sisters' baptism on Saturday. This next week is transfer week and we got the news today. Sister Albalate will be leaving me! :( We've had so much fun together and made a lot of progress here, but I'm also excited to work with someone new.     I spoke in sacrament meeting this week (again.. that's nothing new). But I learned a lot as I pondered the messages from general conference. I ended up talking about something President Nelson said in the General Women's session.      "Part of this endeavor will require you to put aside many things of this world.... But truly doing so requires you to examine your life meticulously and regularly. As you do so, the Holy Ghost will prompt you about what is no longer needful, what is no longer worthy of your time and energy. As yo...

Kamusta y'all!      So this week was pretty much just the best... I guess mostly this weekend, but still! It all started with Brother Ricardo's baptism. Brother Ricardo's wife and children are all members, and are some of the pioneers here in the Alinguigan Ward. But for about 25 years, he was never interested in being baptized or attending church with his family. Now, almost a year after being paralyzed and blind, he's found his way into the gospel fold. He has entered the path of happiness and hope that means his family can be together. The years of patience, diligence, love, and prayers of his family have ultimately resulted well deserved blessings.      Right after the baptism, we watched general conference. And It seems that every general conference is better than the last. I'm not sure if they actually are getting better, or I'm just getting better at getting the most out of them. I found answers to questions I'd prepared, and even t...

 Kamusta y'all!       So General Conference happened, but we won't be watching it until this weekend. Brother Ricardo is also getting baptized this weekend, so we're going to be really busy, and really happy. :) Brother Ricardo's wife and children have all been members for a while, and now he's finally ready. He was paralyzed almost a year ago, and can't speak very clearly. This last week we sang Silent Night, and because he knows the words he started singing along. It was a really special moment :)       We had our testimony meeting yesterday in sacrament meeting. While one brother was bearing his testimony he forgot President Nelson's name. So he just said "I forgot his name, but I know we have a living prophet." That got me thinking about his confidence in his testimony. Even though he couldn't remember the prophet's name, he knew with absolute certainly that there was a living prophet. That's a blessing for our disp...

Kamusta y'all!    Well, it was just the last week of September which means Family Week in the Philippines. We were able to attend to the celebration on Saturday and it was so fun! Family Week is always the biggest church event of the year. It's a whole stake celebration with a parade, performances, and games. Last month I was told about how family week started, so I thought I'd share it with y'all.    In September 1995, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" was first introduced and church leaders in the Philippines presented the President of the Philippines with a copy of the document. He was so impressed that starting in 1996, the last week of September officially became known as "Family Week." While the occasion is most enthusiastically celebrated by Latter Day Saints across the Philippines, other organizations are often involved as well.     Having the opportunity to teach people how the restored gospel blesses families is ...

Kamusta y'all!     This week was our mission tour. Which means that half of the mission met together with Elder and Sister Smutz. (Elder Smutz is the area president over the Philippines) They taught us a lot about focusing on our purpose and the joy in missionary work. And I had a great experience with that this week.      Sister Albalate and I split up to work with the members. I was working in an area I'd never been to, so after a lesson with a recent convert and trying to find sister that had been referred to us, we ran out of places to go. I was working with Sister Richelle and two other brothers, and they suggested we visit some other recent converts nearby. We teach them often and I was hoping we could go somewhere new, but because I didn't have any other ideas we decided to go.      We arrived at the Balcaba family and started teaching the mother and two of her daughters who are members. The father, who isn't a member, wa...

We received an email from the travel department on Friday with her travel info. She will be leaving the Philippines on December 5th, flying through Tokyo, then Portland arriving in SLC on Thursday December 5th at 1:06 PM! Kamusta y'all!        So I've been transferred from one of the smallest areas to one of the largest areas, so that's been a bit of an adjustment. But I'm really excited to be in Alinguigan and my new companion, Sister Albalate, is so talented. We got to teach Sister Princess Michaela, and she is such an amazing example to me. We discussed her experience with living the word of wisdom. She said that as she's been learning about the gospel, her desire to do the things she did before is disappearing. When her friends try to encourage her not to live the word of wisdom, she just thinks about the sacrament. She thinks about how much she wants to go to church on Sunday and be prepared to partake of the sacrament. When she thinks about that,...

President and Sister Craig are doing something different for transfer time.  So right before Julia called us she got a text from them telling her she will be transferred this week, but she won't find out yet which means we won't find out until next week. Stay tuned... Kamusta y'all!      Well, we had a bit of a rough week. Sister Su'a sprained her ankle, so we weren't allowed to walk very much. (I'm not sure if you've heard, but missionary work usually includes a lot of walking.) Fortunately we had some nice members who would drive us in their tricy from appointment to appointment, so we did get some work done.      We also had a great district conference. It was a bit weird, because one of Burgos district's branches has just been transferred to a neighboring stake. I think a lot of the members were a bit discouraged, and wondering what was going to happen to the rest of our district. But President Craig shared a story about the miraculo...

Kamusta y'all!      Maligayang pasko!(Merry Christmas) It's already September, which means Christmas in the Philippines. So of course we started off our Sacrament meeting with a Christmas song. Because it's the rainy season it's also a bit cooler(mostly because of the typhoon), down to almost 70 degrees. So everyone here was a bundled up... I thought it felt great.      The past few weeks we've been teaching Sister Zhalimar and she's so cool!  She's been taught in the past, but stopped because she was busy with school, and wasn't sure she was ready to be baptized. When she came back home she prayed to know what to do, basically which church she should join. She asked for some sort of sign or assurance of how she could best serve God, and that's when we showed up at her home to visit her grandparents. She recognized that as her answer, and now nothing can stop her. Because she already has begun gaining a real testimony, she knows how ...