Sister Clark and I are doing AWESOME!

Servus :)

Another crazy week in Wien has come and gone! Sister Clark and I are doing AWESOME! We've had an incredible week with an exchange with Wiener Neustadt, Interviews with President Miles, and Stake Conference.

To answer your questions:  our investigators are doing great!  D has been praying about his baptismal date AND he received his answer!!! He was so excited! He said he really felt God talk to him and let him know when he was to be baptized.  He's been coming to church every week this month and he came to Stake Conference with us.  HE LOVED IT.  Every talk he was just eating up.  The Stake Conference was, of course, in German and so he had a headset on to translate it into English for him. Sister Clark afterwards was talking to him about how Stake Conference is a gathering of all our members in an area and hearing from those who lead us!  D  loved the talks, and the atmosphere and everything.  Afterwards, he quietly told us about how the organization in our church just made sense and that he just felt at home at church and whenever we teach him.  He told me on the way to Stake Conference, how grateful he was that I found him and began teaching him the gospel because he knew it was something that was going to change the rest of his life. I tried to push it off but, he just told me that he had been praying for God to lead someone, who knew the true church, to him. And then he just turned away and acted normal.  I just sat their dumbstruck because it hit me again! Man! Everyday we are led to talk to other people, I walked up to D and talked to him and now he's getting baptized and excited to prepare himself to enter the temple someday.

We have two new investigators this week Joy and Christina.  C is young and is studying here.  And J is from Nigeria.  One funny story with her in that, our first lesson. She got so excited when we brought up Baptism that she jumped out of her chair and started pacing.  We were both so surprised that we had to try not to laugh.  She kept saying hallelujah and was talking to loud. It was really surprising but, funny none the less. She really does have so much faith and wants to follow God.  We'll work on the reverence later haha. 

Wien 3 District with President Miles

Stake Conference.  President and Sister Miles spoke which was great and having D there was the best part.  Also, I understood most everything that was said. Ah yeah! German is coming :)  That being said I still have so much to learn. I really loved how Sister Miles talked about Christ-like attributes.  It's nice being able to pick one thing to work on and then the next month pick something else.  It gives me a solid goal to work towards and not feel overwhelmed with all the things I need to improve on! Baby steps still get us to the top of the stairs. :)

Speaking of languages, we have lots of Philipino members in my ward.  Aka they speak lots of Tagalog.  We have this less active sister that we visit every week with two active sisters in our ward.  The less active sister doesn't speak English so Sister Banban and Jovero usually translate.  Every Tuesday around 1 pm, I've been at this dear sister's house.  We were having a lesson with her in which the Philipino sisters had a conversation for like 5 minutes in Tagalog.  Sister Clark looked at me and asked me what they were talking about and BAM. I was able to translate their conversation from Tagalog to English. After another minute of this, the Sisters all stopped talking and just looked at me.  I didn't even understand why everyone was freaking out until Sister Jovero asked me in Tagalog if I was understanding her.  I said yeah and then they all died laughing. So weird. I guess I can understand Tagalog. Gift of Interpretations anyone? haha Now I can't wait till my German is like that!

Pday fun!

Other than that, my week was just teaching a million of lessons and helping people come unto Christ! My health is perfect, and the other Sisters are doing a-okay too.  

Love you all!

Sister Harman

We've seen alot of miracles and the Fall weather here is so beautiful.

Hey Fam!

 

This week has been really good!  We've seen alot of miracles as always and the Fall weather here is so beautiful. The leaves have really begun to change colors and it hit me this week that it is actually Oktober!  What the what! I swear I just got here and yet, it's Oktober already. before I know it - it'll be Christmas!

 

I had the chance to really think this week... okay. You've been out for a little while.  What have you accomplished so far? What do you want to accomplish as you continue working?  And the even more important thing.. what does the Lord expect from me?  I know that there is so much I can learn from being here and teaching these people but, what does the Lord really want me to get out from my time here?  This question hit me pretty hard because heck! I've been out for almost six months and I don't know how much progress I've made on the goals He's set for me!  So I took some time during personal study to really reflect on what the Lord wants me to learn and it was really eye opening! Prayer and study really does answer the questions of our hearts! So ask! ASK ASK! 

 

Cool story! One of the JAE in our ward, gave his farewell talk this week and man! It was so good! He recited D&C 4 from memory and I was so proud! We've been teaching him mission prep. and he's come so far! I really wish I would have memorized things like that before because it's alot easier to memorize things in German if I already have them down in English!  Both D and D, two investigators, came to church on Sunday and they LOVED the services.  We have the best Sunday School teacher on Earth and she taught literally the best lesson I have ever heard about the Spirit. The only hard part is we haven't taught the Plan of Salvation to either of them yet. But, no fear! They both loved the lesson anyways and are so prepared to hear the rest of it now! 

 

Anyways, I love you all and encourage you to really take time to find out what the Lord wants you to accomplish at this time in your life!  When you do, He will show you all that you need to be doing!

 

Love,

Sister Harman

It's great to be a missionary!

Fall in Vienna! 

Servus!

 This week has been good! My ratio was right around 1/10 people we talked to, wanted to hear more. Sadly, one in 10 of the 1/10 is an English speaker so it's hard sometimes to find potentials for us! haha that being said, we're been working really hard and found two new investigators this week! J is from Romania and Vincent is from Nigeria.  V came to 6 hours of GC, (I think I told ya'll about his last week. We had three lessons with him in three days because he just wanted to hear more and more.  At the end of our first lesson, I felt really strongly to invite him to pray about a baptismal date and WHAM! He prayed about the church, the Book of Mormon, Thomas S. Monson, and Joseph Smith! All after our very first lesson with him.  Just like James 1:5 promised, when we ask in faith, God will answer our questions! V came to the next lesson with a firm testimony that this church is the restored church of Jesus Christ on the Earth. It really was incredible to see how much one progress one person can make when they have the faith and are willing/ready to act on it! He then decided that November 23rd is the day, he would like to be baptized into our church.  We taught him all about the Baptismal Covenant and what that would mean for the rest of his life.  Meaning, that this is an eternal commitment, that we make to God to really change and decide to follow him the remainder of our lives.  He completely understood and said, that after he was baptized, he would like to return home to Africa and teach his friends and family about God's true church on the Earth, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Following that incredible lesson, we were fairly certain that there was no way we could have a better lesson with V! We knew he would be so excited to hear about any gospel lesson, we felt like he really needed to hear about the Plan of Salvation.  As we taught the Plan of Salvation, he was glowing! He just smiled the entire time and would ask all these questions about how he could help his ancestors receive these truths as well! We were winding down the lesson, talking about the degrees of Glory, when he started telling us about his dream the night before.  He was in a dark room all alone, when a door opened and he saw Sister Clark and I, dressed all in white. We reached out to him and he came through that door into a bright, beautiful room.  We took him by the hand and led him down a path until we reached a white veil. He talked about how happy and joyful he felt in this beautiful, white place and that he knew we were going to help him reach the kingdom of God. That what we were teaching him was the path that God wanted him to be on.  The Spirit was so strong. After relating the rest of his dream, we all just sat there and looked at each other.  It's incredible to really know that God will show unto ús the way, all that we need to do is ask!  It was at this moment that I knew I wouldn't be transferred because I needed to be here to help him prepare for Baptism and to really begin his journey to the kingdom of God.

So when Transfer calls came, it was no surprise because HEY! I'm staying in Wien for another six weeks! This'll be my fourth transfer here and I can't imagine a better place to serve for the first 6 months of my mission.  Wien is a city of miracles! :) And Sister Clark and I will be here to see them all! The other Sisters in my apartments are getting split.  Sister Lewis is headed to Switzerland and Sister Motto (Sister Clark's last companion) is coming here to work with Sister Judd.  It'll be cool to get to meet her because I've heard so much about her! Also, we're staying Sister Training Leaders (YAY!) so we'll get to do exchanges with all the sisters in our zone again this next transfer! I'm excited to get to meet the new ones that are coming! AND GUESS WHO ELSE IS COMING TO WIEN ZONE! Yep, you guessed it. The only person I know from before my mission, Elder Callin Christensen. So crazy to think we'll be seeing each other in missionary mode but cool!

As you can see, this week was as usual the best week ever!  We had Zone Training with our whole zone, set a baptismal date, found out about transfers, taught a million and a half lessons, R came to church, and are going to the aquarium today. It's great to be a missionary!

I love you all and hope you have the best week ever!

Love,

Sister Harman

Cleaning day, Mission Leadership Counsel and General Conference = Spiritual Week

Sisters Harman and Clark at the train station 

Servus!

I loved hearing how everyone is doing! I'm glad ya'll are still kicking ;)  This week has been great as ever! We had such an incredibly busy week with a cleaning day (exactly, like what you are thinking), Mission Leadership Counsel (MLC), and General Conference!  Safe to say, it was a spiritual week!

Cleaning day was just that! We spent all day Wednesday scrubbing down our apartment, getting rid of extra stuff and moving things around. First problem. We don't have a mop. Also, our floors were really dirty haha I got to spend like 2 hours on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor of our whole apartment.  I was laughing by the end, thinking shoot. I better get some blessings for this. Cleanliness is Godliness went through my mind like a chant! Anyways, by the time we were done - the apartment looked BEAUTIFUL. Elder Riser and Robins had said their cleaning day was the most spiritual experience of their week and we had laughed at them. Really though. With the apartment super clean, it really is a place of peace and a place where the Spirit will reside.  It was really cool!

Mission Leadership Counsel. Two blessed days spent in Munich, Germany. We had the chance to learn all about diligence and about how we can become more diligent in our missionary work.  It really hit me - am I working as hard as a I possible can? Am I really consecrating all my might, mind, and strength to this labor?  I definitely do my best but, I thought.. man! I can do better.  So my new goal is to become the most diligent I can possibly be.  Elder Robins had this cool idea to start counting every person I talk to everyday. And then count how many potential investigators I get. Make it a ratio... say 1 out of every 10 people I talk to will be interested in learning more.  So if I want to find 2 potentials in a day, I need to be talking with at least 20 people.  It just got me really excited to see what my ratio is. Do I pack a spiritual punch when I talk with people? Do I help them feel the spirit so that their desire to come to Christ will be realized? So. That's my lastest goal. We'll see how it goes! 

General Conference! What could be said about the sweet awesomeness that was General Conference! Listening to all the prophets speak was like Christmas. Literally, it was so cool being able to hear from the leaders of our church and really feel what God is wanting each of us to hear.  I really know that those leaders are so inspired! Here's a super miracle story! D, a member of the Wien 2 Ward, loves to go around and give out the Wien 2 Elders' cards. He gave one to a man and invited him to General Conference. This man, named V, gave the Elders a call and then came to the first session of General Conference on Saturday. I introduced myself and sat behind him during the session. The whole time he was riveted! He really couldn't get enough of the speakers and when I invited him to the following sessions on Sunday, he gladly accepted the invitation! He came to the Priesthood session and the Saturday Afternoon session! 6 Hours of General Conference! He said he loved what he had heard and would like to learn more. We'll be meeting with him today to teach him all about the Restoration of this church on the Earth.  It's so great to know that this restoration is what enables us to have prophets and inspired leaders here today!  It was just a testimony builder for me that conference really is for each person individually, even if there are millions of others watching!

LOVE LOVE LOVE you all and I'm excited to hear about all the missionary experiences ya'll will be having with all this member missionary work happening! 

Love,

Sister Harman

P.S. Tell Dr. Krueger when I get back I'm going to teach him auf Deutsch ;) 

This week has been a blur and it's General Conference time!

Hallo!

This week has been a blur.  I think I blinked and it was gone haha We had two exchanges this week so it was very very busy.  No, we haven't been able to watch the Relief Society General Conference but, they're playing it here on Saturday at 4.  We get to watch the Saturday morning session live... It's at 6 pm here and then we watch the Sunday morning live.  The rest are recorded and we get to watch them later.  To say I'm excited for General Conference would be a GROSS UNDERSTATEMENT!

General Conference, for those who don't know, is a chance for the world to watch and hear via television or online broadcast, from prophets of God.  I'm really excited to hear what great words of wisdom they'll be telling us. You're so right, I can't believe it has been a year since the age change. I never would have imagined that I would be here one year afterwards but, man! I'm so glad that I am!  Becoming a missionary is quite literally the best decision I have ever made.  I have been able to really study the gospel of Jesus Christ like I never have before, teach people the sincere truths from my heart and watch as the Spirit of God helps them really come unto Christ. I guess I always thought I would be a big part in someone else's conversion to the gospel.  The longer I am here, the more I realize, it has absolutely nothing to do with me.  I just open my mouth, and the Lord speaks. We will come out of lessons or even just finish conversations with people on the street and I'll think: what did we even talk about.  I love love love just watching as the Lord helps his children find faith and hope in his gospel!

Cool stories from this week!  Sister Woods and I (my previous companion)  had been calling this less active family since the week I got here.  Every week I would talk to this sweet woman on the phone and every week she would tell me she and her family were too busy to visit us or come to church.  We eventually created a relationship over the phone.  Every Friday around 12pm I would call and we would chat about the business of her week. Two weeks ago, I spaced calling.  The first time in 3 months.  I called her on Saturday when I remembered and she chastised me for forgetting haha.  She then called us on Sunday and said that she and her family had time on Wednesday to meet.  I was thrilled out of my mind and so shocked it took me a minute to tell her that, of course, we would be there!  We were walking to her house when we passed a flower shop.  I felt really strongly that we should buy some flowers. So Sister Clark and I did!  We then went to her house and I was starting to get a little nervous. Is it weird to give someone a plant on your first meeting?  What if they didn't want it? We walk in to their home and guess what she absolutely loves'?! Flowers/plants/shubbery. They have the cutest apartment ever and it is full of green.  She got so excited and made a spot in the center for our little pot of flowers. The lesson went great and the Spirit was so strong! And guess who we saw at church on Sunday! This family! MIRACLE!

Also, I went on exchange with both Sister Scoggin and Sister Judd and it was great! They're both super Sister Missionaries :)

Oh! And about Saturday, we had a Young Single Adult activity where we split companionships and went out contacting people with a member of the YSA (JAE). I was able to go out with a girl named C. She's cute as a button and wants to serve a mission! She turns 19 in two weeks and is preparing herself to go.  She was a natural and I got to speak SO much German. It was really good for me to only speak German to someone.  I'm kind of hoping that I get a native German speaker for a companion someday. That'd be really cool!  AND then on Sunday! Bishop Jshowed the Daily Bread videos by Elder. D. Todd Christopherson and those are incredible! Everyone should watch them... Mom you should put a link here!  Daily Bread Videos Watch it! It's SO GOOD!  Another cool thing, a young man from the 1st ward just returned from his mission in England and the Stake asked him to go to other wards as well as his own, and relate his mission experience.  It was way cool! I hope that when I get home I can talk in several wards in our stake and inspire more people to go on missions because they're the BEST.  

Anyways, I'm glad life is still chugging along and I wish you all a super week!  By the way, think of a question for General Conference! It'll help you get so much more out of conference!

Love,

Sister Harman

We were able to hit this week hard :D

Hey Ya'll!

This week has been a bit chillier and oh so rainy!  Sister Clark is feeling loads better so we were able to hit this week hard :D  Aka a super awesome busy week!  To answer your questions: it's not that chilly so we totally still go running in the mornings!  There's no good excuse not to do the best thing ever! I miss running so much sometimes.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to go running by myself when I get home.

Great story for this week:  we were going to an appointment with T. She's a former investigator, who has decided she's ready to make some changes in her life so BAM! We're teaching her again.  She has so much faith and has read the Book of Mormon through already.  She actually had a baptismal date before but, due to some struggles the date was dropped and she dropped the missionaries.  Anyways, things have changed so we were heading over for an appointment when we realized we were going to get there about 15 minutes early.  We figured we could walk around and talk to some people around her neighborhood until it was time for the appointment.  Just as we start walking around, the heavens opened up and I swear! It rained buckets and buckets and guess who forgot their umbrellas!  We did!  I just started laughing so hard!  Sister Clark just gave me the most intense look and said, 'This isn't funny!'  After that remark, I just started laughing even harder, all the while the rain is pouring down.  There is absolutely no one on the streets and we're just walking around looking for some place away from the rain. All the while, I'm laughing.   Finally, it's time for the appointment and what happens? The rain stops, the sun comes out and people are everywhere.  Oh and did I mention that T had to work late so she wasn't home yet.  haha Basically, I just kept laughing thinking... man! Now this is a missionary experience! Don't fear! We called up R and had a super appointment about the Law of Chastity instead!  Spirit hit like a freight train and everyone was smiles!

One cool story this week:  We went to a member's home today for lunch and while, it didn't apear like she was struggling at church. She really needed someone to come and just tell her that she was doing a good job! I forget sometimes, because we are so busy with Less active members and investigators, that we are here to help the members come unto Christ as well.  We really do get to mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and lift the hands of those that have fallen.  It's incredible to see the difference a friendly greeting or warm hug can really do to brighten someone's day!  I love it!

We had tausch this week with the Graz Sisters.  Sister Armstrong came up to Wien to work with me and we had a ball!  We taught lots of super great lessons to the coolest investigators in the world and were able to be in charge of a mutual activity.  We did a relay race through a missionary day.  6:30 wake up! Fruh Sport! (Exercise!) Run get dressed! (I brought some really ugly clothes I found in our apartment. Thank you, past Sister Missionaries! haha)  Eat breakfast! (Elders brought bread and water..) Scripture chase! Contacting someone and invite them to church! Take off the missionary clothes and BAM! Tag the next person in line!  It was really super fun and I've never laughed so hard.  Sister Armstrong is a champion. She ate the piece of bread in like .2 second and then Elder Abbott slipped and fell and man! We just had a really great time! Plus, there were two non-members there and now they know us! (The Elders got their numbers!) Woo. Solid day! Oh! And Sister Armstrong got to celebrate her year mark while in Wien! She's been out for a whole year. What a stud muffin!

Other than that, life is just chugging along.  Oh! and one more funny thing! I've decided I would be a terrible pioneer.  Our washing machine broke about two weeks ago and we've had to hand wash our clothes for the past two weeks. Man. I am so grateful for modern technology. It would be the worst not to have it and I firmly believe that I was put on Earth at this time so I wouldn't have to suffer haha  If you have free time, check out this awesome scripture that helped me this week! Romans 8:35, 38-39. So good! I'm glad everyone is doing super well at home.. Random fact! We had an Earthquake this week. It was small but cool none the less.  I'm excited to see how the missionary work goes forth with Elders and Sisters serving in Meeker. I'm sure it's going to be so awesome!  Give everyone hugs for me and know that I love you oh so much! :)

Love,

Sister Harman

P.S. I have two exchanges this week! It's going to be crazy! Wish me luck! :)

Another week bites the dust!

Servus!

Another week bites the dust!  This week has absolutely flown by, I feel like I say that alot but, seriously it's true!  I blink and then it's P-day again!  I keep thinking oh my goodness. Did I give my everything last week? Did I really consecrate myself to this work?  And then I recommit to make this next week even better!  I mean if my whole mission is going to go this fast, it better have been the most productive, efficient, meaningful, 18 months of my life!  

Cool things that happened this week! Flash back! Sister Woods and I started teaching a former investigator a couple of weeks ago.  We went by for an appointment and T (the former.. now investigator) had forgotten we had scheduled an appointment so she had friends over.  Luckily, she still invited us and then proceeded to invite us to share a message to her and her friends.  One of the friends, D, seemed really interested. We gave him a Book of Mormon and got his number in hopes that we could start teaching him too!  Flash forward to this last week,  I called up D and he answered (he hadn't answered weeks previously) and we scheduled an appointment.  We met and taught him all about the Restoration of our church.  Especially about Joseph Smith and how God answered his humble prayer. (A couple months ago, I decided if I was teaching in English I better have the 1st Vision memorized in English) So I then related to him the First Vision and the Spirit just hit like a wall.  No one spoke for nearly a minute.  Then D looked up and said that he knew God answered Joseph Smith's prayer. I felt like I should ask him about Baptism even though we had only just met.  He then related how he had been searching for the 'true baptism of God' and how he felt this was the answer to his prayers.  There is so much power in relating the words of the Prophets directly to those we teach.  That is one of the reasons, I'm already getting excited for General Conference!  It's a chance for all of us to hear really the word of God directly for us in modern day!

Another cool thing,  we're going to start teaching Mission Prep. to all the young men in the ward!  We have a bunch 17/18/19 and all are getting ready for missions so we figured we should help them out!  We'll have super awesome joint teaches and they'll be more prepared for their missions! Three birds, one really large stone! haha (Now you're probably counting what the third bird will be right?)  It'll be fun! I love missions and I'm excited to help others get as excited for their missions as I am for mine!

Last cool story, P.  We've invited him to church loads of times but, he plays football on Sundays and says he never has time.  But, when we met with him this week, you could tell he really felt the Spirit and something clicked! He committed to coming to church! So Sunday rolls around and P doesn't show.   I called him up to see where he was and he had gotten lost.  I gave him directions and he walked into church riiiight as Sacrament meeting ended. Bummer right?  But! We took him around and introduced him to all the members who then invited him (and us!) over to lunch at their house.  He LOVED it! and Having the lesson inside the Banbans' home was SO great.  Sometimes the Spirit the members bring is something that can't be replicated!  They're so great!

Funny story.... hmm I've decided if any woman ever has self-esteem issues, she should definitely come to Europe.  I have never in my entire life (grand total) had so many people tell me how attractive/beautiful I am.  The culture here in Europe is just different!  It's totally normal for guys to start conversations this way;I imagine that they find great success with this method.  We also find great success as missionaries responding to their method haha  They start conversations talking with 'Du bist sehr schön!' and we answer with the 'Danke! Es ist das Licht Jesu Christi! Glauben Sie on Jesus Christus?'  aka Thanks! It's the light of Jesus Christ! Do you believe in Jesus Christ?.  So funny. Their reactions are always priceless and I suppose they don't usually get that response when they hit on girls.  Sometimes they're interested in hearing more and sometimes not! Either way, I figure someday it'll make a really great story over the pulpit when one of our admirers gets baptized! (Don't worry, we always refer these guys for the Elders to teach!)

Life is going well, and despite, Sister Clark being sick this week, we've had a great week as always! I'm glad life is chugging along in Colorado and that the work is going well in Meeker! Tell the Sisters hello for me! and Remind them that Sister Missionaries are the best! haha (Mostly kidding! I'm not one of those Sister Missionaries... yet ;))

LOVE YOU!

Sister Harman

P.S. I had a daydream about your lasagne the other day..