Tomorrow starts the fourth week!

Familia y amigos!

 

It is crazy that it has only been four weeks. It feels like it has been a year here, but at the same time it feels like two days. It is crazy!!

So awesome stories for the week. We started teaching three "investigators," Lugo, Maria y Renato. Lugo y Maria have committed to baptism! Lugo we had an awesome lesson with him about baptism. We had sked him to read 3 Nephi 11 and to pray about the restoration. He read but had not prayed. So we prayed there in the lesson. The Spírit was so crazy strong. We all felt it. It was awesome how the Spirit works even when this is not a real investigator. The Spirit always confirms the truth. At first my companions and I (I am in a trio) were having a harder time preparing lessons because there are three of us and we all have different ideas! We have started to have a general idea of what we want to say, pick out a few favorite scriptures, then pray really really hard. It has made all the difference! This week I have gained such a testimony of the Spirit, and all I do is tear up now a days :) Renato is pretty hard to teach. We have not figured out how to help him yet, but I know it will come.

I have also learned a lot about faith. So our teacher had us teach an "investigator" (someone in the class) and they had a certain problem. Our investigators seven year old son had just been diagnosed with cancer. We had five minutes to prepare to help her. I looked up the scripture in Mosiah that talked about the people of Alma being in bondage, and how the Lord strengthed them. However, this did not answer her question. We all came up wtih "comforting" scriptures, and after a few minutes of teaching, we were all discouraged. Our teacher had us take a break and taught us a very important lessons after asking us a lot of why questions. Why does the Lord have us go through hard times? So that we can learn and grow? There must be something more. It is so that we can learn to have faith in him. So that we can learn to trust him. So that through our faith we can have access to the atonement, which can heal everything. If we have faith, then we will be comforted. We can not be comforted without faith. After that lesson I decided my goal is going to be to work on my faith.

I have had a huge change in perspective since then. I have always thought, "what would I say to the Savior if he was here?" And I realized after making my goal of having more faith, that I talk to the savior every time I pray. Now, every time I pray I imagine the Savior there sitting by me, listening. My prayers have changed a lot. We heard a quote from Bruce R. McConkie when he spoke at conference soon before he died. He said that he knew he was going to die, but when he goes and sees his Savior and kisses his feet, he will not have any more of a surety then than he does now of his Savior. I want faith like that. I have also been re reading the Book of Mormon, and every single story of Nephi involves his faith. I have realized what miracles can truly come if we have faith on the Savior. So I have put it into practice. I do all my language studying and personal studying (which there is never enough time for!) And when we go into a lesson, I pray and say I will say whatever you put into my heart as long as you help me say it. Some glorious way I am always able to say what I need to say, which is truly a miracle.

 

Another good story. So every Sunday for Sacrament there are six speakers, all of us in our district. The kick is that none of us knows who will be speaking. We simply get a topic and we all prepare a five minute talk in Spanish. Our bishop (I think that is what he is?) announces the first three speakers, then we have a hymn, then he announces the next three speakers. Well my name got announced. Our district leader told us the topic was eternal marriage. Actually, the topic was anything from Chapter 3 of Preach my Gospel. The first person got up and talked about faith, and I was pretty confused. Someone from my district got up and talked, but she mainly talked about keeping commandments, faith, and a little about eternal marriage. Well, my entire five minute talk was about eternal marriage. So I go up there and talkrd about my own personal experiences, how when I was younger I thought it was more important to have a happy marriage than have an eternal unhappy marriage, but now my perspective has completely changes. Apparently all the Elder were super happy because they had a joke going on and bets to see if anyone would talk about eternal marriage, but then I made it all serious. So yep. Thanks district leader for making me the laughing stock;) But it was all good.

 

We also got to go to the temple today, and good news, I understood about 25% of it!! I was so happy. I was telling my companion this and she was like wow, that is not very impressive but I am happy for you.

 

Well love you all soo much!!!

 

Hugs and kisses.

Hero Training Center... the CCM :)

Hola familia y amigos!!

 

So this week has gone by pretty quickly! There is so much to learn and to do. I am becoming friend with a lot of the hermanas and it is really great! They are going everywhere all around the world and it is awesome! Being here has definately buily my testimony about how the work is hastening forth as we are being called to so many different places to help so many different people. The sad part is having to say goodbye :( The hardest are the cute Latina sisters, which are only here for two weeks. One of the pictures I am going to send is some of them who left yesterday! The greatest thing happened the other day. So I was talking to them in my terrible Spanish and they were trying to decipher my meaning. Then something happened and I was like "oh my goodness!!" Then they asked me "Que significa en espanol es ohhhmygoodness?" and I could not figure out that they were saying oh my goodness. Mi compenera had to assist me, and then I had no idea how to explain it in espanol. So then I just made an oh my goodness face, and that is the face that we always would give to each other.

 

Some of the other hermanas we have become really good friend with are leaving in another week. It is sad to see them leave but it is so happy to know they are going forth to do the work!

 

This week we got to watch a devotional by Elder Holland. Here we have a devotional every week, and it is usually an old broadcast of a devotional that happend at the Provo MTC. Elder Holland gave an AWESOME talk about how we are here to change ourselves, and how we should never look back. This is "real life" and we should not be thinking about our old life, or ever go back to who we were before the mission. That completely changed my perspective, because God has sent me here on my mission to become my best self. What I did before or who I knew before does not matter right now, it only matters what I will become and who I will get to know. My maestra (teacher) also showed us a mormon message clip video thing from Elder Christofferson (I believe?) about how we are cut down so that we can become a beautiful tree (that was the idea...). If we weren´¨t cut down then we would never have that opportunity. So that is how I have decided to see things for the next 18 months.

 

I am definately am starting to adjust to the work pray work pray work pray eat work pray work pray eat work pray work pray work sleep routine. It is nice knowing that everyone else is doing it with you.

 

I finished the Book of Mormon this week! I am now reading it in Spanish and I am on 1 Nephi 8. I feel like I am 10 years old again trying to read the Book of Mormon. It is slow going, but when I understand a verse I get super excited. We also had an awesome District testimony night on Sunday. It was so sweet to hear everyone open up about their lives and testimony. One of the Elders is struggling a lot. I feel like I was meant to have such a hard time when I first got here so I could help him. Haha but usually I just feel useless when I try to help him. I suppose that is just how life goes though. The title, here training center, is from one of the Elders testimonies. He said when he was little he also wanted to be one of the "heroes" and so he he has remained this the hero training center  because we are so awesome. Haha it made me very happy inside.

 

So our first ¨investigator", Hermana Sol commited to become baptized! Yay. Then two days later she walked into our classroom, and she is our new teacher! I am so excited, I love her so much. Her real name is Hermana Young and she went to her mission to Chili. Our other two teachers are Hermanos, so it is nice having one girl teacher :) We are now teaching three "investigators," Renato, Lugo, and Maria. It is hard because we teach them completely in Spanish, but it is so good because every lesson I learn so much. Sometimes though it is hard because I will have no idea what is going on, and then I will say something that has nothing to do with the topic. It is pretty funny actually. My class is nice because it is the intermediate class so everyone is pretty smart and we can help each other out. Sometimes though it is terrible because someone will whip out some intense Spanish and it is just like "que?!?!" But it is good. I am learning, slowly yet surely. In my District there are seven hermanasa (ahh!! that is so awesome) and three Elders. In all the other districts it is the complete opposite! I am the only hermana not going back to the States.

 

So on Sunday we had our first normal Sunday since last week was General Conference. So the zone leader gives you a topic during the week, then you are supposed to write a five minute talk in Spanish about it. Then during Sacrament they call up three people to give a talk. Then we have a rest hymn, and three more people are called up. It is pretty intense.

Well this week I have definately gained a testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost and prayer. Prayer is so real. Before my mission Heavenly Father was lucky if he got two prayers from me morning and night, and he was lucky if they were more than two minutes. Now, it has completely changed. All my prayers are in Spanish, and I find myself kneeling at 10:30 right before bed and getting to bed at 10:45 because I was praying. Yesterday Hermana Young had us go into this little grove of trees by the track and we all got ten minutes to pray, and she said to pray about anything and everything. As I prayed I asked for a re confirmation of everything because hey, I am testifying about it all day everyday, so it is nice to have recent testifications from God. As I was praying I looked up and saw the sun through the tress, and the wind through the grass, and that scripture entered my mind from the Book of Mormon that "even the sun rising and setting each day testifys of me..." And it made me so happy. So even if you know, repray to know, because it will definately strengthen your testimony.

I have also been thinking a lot about the Holy Ghost, because it is so important for us to have him with us at all times, especially when we are teaching. As I was studying about him, I realized some things. First, he is a person and a member of the Godhead that has been promised that he can be with us AT ALL TIMES. We just have to live worthy of him. Why wouldn´¨t we want a member of the Godhead with us helping us? In the Book of Mormon it talks about how that was the people´s greatest desires, to have the Holy Ghost. Second, he teaches, and he testifys of truth. That is why people will commit to be baptized on a first lesson, even though they still know barely anything about the gospel. That is also why it is okay if I am still struggling at Spanish (at least that is what my teacher told me, maybe just to make me feel better :).

 

I have also been thinking a lot about faith and miracles. I was reading the last chapters of the Book of Mormon and it talks so much about how miracles have not ceased. Miracles still exist, and we need to have faith in them. So that is my goal, to try to increase my faith and learn more about faith and miracles.

 

Well here is my novel for the week and I love you all so much!! I am sorry that it was so scatter brained. We have this big red clock looking at us while we write counting down the seconds so it keeps me trying to type extra fast!

 

 I am much happier this week and it has been going fast. You are all in my fifteen prayers a day :)

 

Hugs and kisses!!

Things I forgot to say

One more thing is that I have sent snail letters to some people and I think it takes about two weeks to send things. If you are planning on writing me back (which I would love :) just make sure it will get here before November 11th. I do not think that they forward the email once you leave. I can spend more time writing you if yo udo write me by hand because there is not an hour time limit per week :) Yay! My P days are on Tuesdays but my email seems to take a while to receive emails, so it may not be a good idea to email me the morning of, I may not get it? I just got Connors email this afternoon which I think he sent yesterday.

 

Well I love you all!!

 

And Daxton you need to write me to tell me all about your Shakespeare trip!

 

And Jesse or Typhena will you let my Dad know what I have been writing? I know he does not have email. I wrote him a normal letter but I know it takes forever to get there. I also thought I had Darens email but I do not think I do so that would also be helpful.

 

Love you all!!

During our darkest hour God shows us his most tender mercies

Hola familia y amigos!

 

I hope you all watched the little thing after conference about the Mexico CCM! It is exactly like the video. The food here is pretty good, and if you do not like it, there is always cereal or rice and beans. I am in a trio companionship with Hermana Hart (she is from Texas going to L.A.) and Hermana Lindford (she is from Spanish Fork going to Gilbert, Arizona). We got to watch conference is English and it was awesome!! If you did not get the hint, I think that the missionary work is being hastening forth. I know someone said to try to reach out to someone before December, so I challenge you all to do so! Invite someone to church, or another activity, or just talk about religion to someone. It is hard, I know.

 

Well a little about my week. It was crazy when we got here, and well it still is pretty crazy. It was good until Friday. Then I started feeling this sadness that I have never felt before and I started feeling so homesick. Which is strange because when I left I was so excited and I felt so ready. It was definately something that I have never felt before, and I hope to never feel again. It got worse watching Conference thinking about my family and everyone back home watching it. I was having a really hard time. One morning I got up and I went to take a shower. The showers here are strange, they have really hard water (is that how it is termed?) and they get hot REALLY fast. Anyways it was freezing so I turned it on, and it literally was burning me. I jumped out and then tried to turn the water off, which requires you to stick your entire arm back through the water, but it was really hot so I kept screaming. My hermana came and saved me though and turned it off for me. Afterwards I had red marks everywhere the water had touched. But during it a thought went through my mind, "that is how much I love you, as hot as this water is." So my red marks through the day was a reminder of Gods love for me. Ironic, I know. They eventually went away though. Later on I was listening to Elder Holland's talk about trials and he said "if the bitter cup does not pass, drink it." And of course I started crying because of what was happening. Then Elder Monson gave his talk and I cried more hearing our dear prophet talk about his hard time missing his family. Later that night I read one of Elder Holland's older talkes, Cast not Away your Confidences, and it made me understand a little about what was going on. Before my mission I had so many things trying to bring me down, but I held strong. Now that I am here, it is peaceful and there are no temptations really. Elder Holland talked about how before we are going to do a good thing, Satan comes. He came before Joseph Smith was about to pray. He came right after Moses had his great vision with God, and he comes right before we are going to do something great. He does anything and everything he can to bring us down, and it hurts. Monday I was feeling a lot better, but it was still with me a little. I was also feeling like why am I here? Did I really make the right decision? Do I really know?

My teacher was taking us out to talk to us one by one. We have two teachers, one is American, and the other one is native. The one who is the native does not speak a lick of English. So he took me out, and asked me how I was doing, and I told him a little about what was going on with my broken Spanish. He asked me why I chose to serve a mission. I told him why, and then he asked me to give him my testimony. I gave him my very basic testimony in Spanish, and I just started tearing up, because I do know this work is true, and I do know I am supposed to be here, and I do know that I need to be here helping others. Later I also got a letter from my dear friend Marina, who is about to leave for Thailand on her mission and she wrote me about how the Lord had pre ordained us and given us this work. She wrote me this letter about two and a half weeks ago and I got it in my very time of need. I got the strength I needed. This week has been hard, but as I have been having such a hard time the Lord has also showen me his greatest miracles and his greatest tender mercies. He has been with me every step of the way.

 

We have also been teaching an investigator, Hermana Sol. We have given her two lessons, both in Spanish. It has been hard, but it has been good. We have been praying in Spanish since about the second day. Every day I pray that this language will come quickly. I love sitting by the Latina hermanas, and they are awesome and so sweet and helpful.

 

There are also a lot more rules here at the CCM then probably on the mission. No music, no photos except P day, and a handful of others. At first I was resentful, but then I though if the Lord can trust me to do these few small things, how much more can he trust me with harder things. So I have been completely obedient. We also got to go to the temple today which was so great! It was all in Spanish!

 

Well make sure to write me because we print out all of our letters before we take our hour to write back so we can read them all. They bring me so much joy!

 

I love you all so much. Persevere on!

Beautiful Hermanas

My husband and I are Senior Missionaries at the CCM in Mexico City.  Even though your special daughters just arrived last week, I've formed a special bond with them.  They are happy, enthusiastic, and positive.  I thought you would enjoy a picture. 

Sue Jones

And here I am in... the beautiful land of MEXICO!!

Hello!!!

We just arrived here at the CCM. It is absolutely beautiful here and I already know that I am going to love it! The city is huge. Everywhere you look there are little hills with houses built super high up.

There was about six elders and four sisters who flew from Salt Lake to Dallas, then in Dallas there were about ten more who joined us. Two elders and one sisters are going to my mission. Yay! I am sad that so many of the people I met will be in different areas and I probably won't get to see them:( I already feel like we have made great friendships! A few are from Utah but a lot of them are from all over the place.

The most exciting part of the whole trip was driving through Mexico on a huge bus with the tiny roads. Some of the three lane roads didn't have any lane markers. I wanted to put my hand out and touch the other cars... but I resisted! There was also a couple guys walking in the road selling mangos. I wanted one SOOOOOOOOOOOO BADLY!!! But nope. None for me. Hopefully I will have many many opportunities to eat lots of mangos.

And I became the hero when I caught the moth that was flying through the bus scaring all the Hermanas and put it outside. I think Lacie (my super mountaineering neice) would be proud of me for being so tough :D

The plane rides were not bad at all. Because of how early my flight was I was a zombie and slept through both of them. And luckily both times I was sitting by two people who only spake Spanish so I took full opportunity to not talk to anyone, just sleep.

I also succesfully maneuvered my 140 pounds of luggage through the Mexico airport. I felt pretty tough/super skilled. Oh yeah!!

Well I love you all!!!! And I think this email is strangely slow so it might be a good idea to email me a day in advanced so I get it (even though I have no idea when my P days are?). I am sooo happy to finally be here. I have to say the entire time I was thinking yay! I am finally getting to go on my adventures.

Last Day in the States

Well everyone this is it!! I leave tomorrow morning at 4 am for my 6 o'clock flight to Mexico. I'll be in Mexico for six weeks at the MTC and then I'll be going to Honduras!

I'll be writing a group letter which my family will post here on my blog.

You can email me at katiemarie.harmon@myldsmail.net

or you can write me hand written letters:) yay! For emails I know there is a very limited time, but hand written letters I can write back at any time and I can give you a longer response. But I would like to hear from you no matter what!!

SISTER KATIEMARIE GABRIELLE HARMON
MTC
Honduras San Pedro Sula West Mission
Mexico Missionary Training Center
Ave 510 #90
Colonia San Juan de Aragon
07950 Mexico City, Distrito Federal Mexico

MISSION ADDRESS
Honduras San Pedro Sula West Mission
12 Calle Ave. Circunvalacion So.
Edificio Yude Canahuati
San Pedro Sula, Cortes
Honduras

Or you can write me for free (I believe) at DearElder.com. I've never done it myself but I have heard it is pretty simple.



Also, if you would like some more missionary readings, you can read my three other roommates or my two surrogate brothers blogs.

Sister Marina Peterson is in Bangkok, Thailand. Her blog is sistermarinapeterson.blogspot.com

Sister Emily Orton is in Tokyo, Japan. Her blog is http://sisteremilyorton.blogspot.com/

Sister Rachel Houldridge is in Asuncion, Paraguay. Her blog is http://ofgreenthings.blogspot.com/

Elder See II (Justin, who is in Guatemala) and See III (Connor, who is in Chili) have one blog http://eldersee.wordpress.com

Love you all!!!