Sister Julia Harrison

  Kamusta y'all!     So it's been a bit of a crazy week, but it was pretty fun too. I was transferred from Ilagan to Solano which meant an over 5 hour bus ride. But now I'm here with Sister Anzano who is super awesome. I also have roommates for the first time.    We're teaching a sister named Marieta who is super great. She lives pretty far away, and she usually has a member pick her up to help her come to church. But this last Sunday she just came on her own. I know that when we make sacrifices to keep God's commandments, the blessings we receive will always outweigh that sacrifice. And I know that Heavenly Father has a way prepared for us to keep the commandments, we just have to show our faith by acting and trusting that He'll make everything work out.     Ingat y'all!         Sister Harrison 1. Goodbye Ilagan apartment 

Kamusta y'all!     We had a pretty great week this week. The best thing was definitely Brother Jerick's baptism! Everyone was super excited because this was the first baptism in our ward this year. There were so many members that wanted to be involved, and because of their contributions the service was a beautiful and spiritual experience. Sister Sy and I sang "Unang Panalangin ni Joseph Smith" because that's Brother Jerick's favorite song. It was especially wonderful to hear Brother Jerick's testimony.      It's so clear that the gospel really has changed him. His testimony was so sincere and so real. He's so aware of the blessings that have come into his life because of his decision to receive the gospel. I know that the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ will help all of God's children regardless of circumstance. Whenever someone is willing to accept and act on that, they'll gain a testimony of tha...

Kamusta y'all!    We had bit of an eventful week with our zone conference and then exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, and it was really fun. I learned so much, and we found a lot of ways to improve our work.    We've been talking a lot about accountability and goal setting. We've talked about how though none of us are perfect, we always need to be improving. We're never going to reach a point where we should stop changing. If we really understand the gospel of Christ and apply it in our lives we'll always be trying to become better. We set goals so we can see our growth, see where we are and where we want to be. But there's no mark we have to reach. When it comes to the gospel we "get credit for trying." We just need to be wanting and striving to become better. That's called "enduring to the end." In Tagalog it's "Magtitiis hanggang wakas." Not "Magtitiis hanggang bukas" (enduring to tommo...

Kamusta y'all!      So I got to give a surprise sacrament meeting talk again! Although this time I had a little more preparation because I found out Saturday night. So I spent that night studying the scriptures, and ended up collecting a handful I could share. Then I went through the latest General Conference talks to see if I could find any quotes that connected with my topic. And I found Elder Dale G. Renlund's talk "Choose You This Day". He used almost all of the scriptures I had found, so I kind of ended up copying him. But I promise I found the scriptures on my own! Hopefully that means I was kinda inspired. :) But y'all should read that talk because it is really good, and I wish I'd been able to spend more time studying it before I spoke in sacrament meeting.     I've got another story about Brother Jerick so get ready :)     This week we taught him about the purpose and importance of prophets, and about our living prophet. Aft...

We were able to talk to Julia again yesterday! She is doing so well. Her companion says she is a Filipino inside an American's body. She is doing so well with the language,  acclimated to the culture pretty quickly and she loves all of the food she has had even dishes that Americans usually don't like as well. She loves the people and loves serving and teaching them. Kamusta y'all!     Unfortunately Sister Sy has a curse, all of her companions experience some sort of injury to the foot. Fortunately for me I didn't get it as bad as her previous companion (who was on crutches for a month). I just stubbed my toe, and it hurt when I walked. But Sister Hiatt's advice was to limp along, so that's what we did. And we had a great week!    We had an appointment set with a family who'd been taught in the past, and they seemed really receptive. But when we got their only the kids were home. They told us their parents should be getting home soon, but in the...

We were able to talk to Julia yesterday!  We got a surprise phone call at about 4:15 which was about 7 am Monday morning for her. It was so fun to talk to her. She's not sure how often she will call but she was able to find out from other missionaries that she could buy a pre paid phone card and had to switch it to work internationally.  Not sure how expensive it was and the missionaries phones cut off about every 10 minutes or so to make sure they don't use the phone too much generally. Like when the district leader calls he'll have to call back. So she had to keep calling us back. She ended up calling us 7 times :) Kamusta y'all!     Sister Sy are having a lot of fun in Ilagan and we're learning a whole bunch together. We've also been doing a lot more walking than I was used to, but I'm getting the hang of it. In Diffun we had to take tricys a lot because everything was so spread out, but here in the city we can just walk everywhere. The only do...

Kamusta y'all!    So this last week has been pretty exciting, seeing as I experienced my first transfer... that wasn't transferring to a different mission. I am currently in Ilagan and assigned to the Ilagan 1st ward. I am here with Sister Sy (pronounced See) and she is super cute -not just because she's so short. (Once again I have failed on the pictures front, but I'll have some next week!)    So transfers included finding out Tuesday afternoon, hurrying up and saying goodbye to as many people as possible, packing all my stuff that night, and taking an approximately 3 hour bus ride. I definitely miss Diffun, Sister Manumaleuga, and all my friends there. But I do not miss the apartment and the lack of running water in the mornings.       Because the Ilagan apartment is really pretty. Our landlord is a member of the bishopric and also happens to be a baker. So sometimes he randomly gives us cake, or brownies, or other assorted d...