Holy Moly!!! I can't believe I'm already a third of the way done.  Time flies.  We went to Zone Conference and we got an award called the "golden plates".  It's a license plate holder that says "Golden Plates #1 car in the zone". Basically, it means that we have the cleanest car in the zone, and we get extra miles as a reward...funny thing, all the companionships that won it (one per zone) were Hermanas (sisters). 

 

One Friday evening I got a call about 9pm from a counselor in the branch presidency asking me "how good is your Spanish"...NEVER a good sign.  My response was "well...I'm not ready to translate for General Conference, but I can hold a conversation..."  He wanted me to speak on Sunday because the speaker assigned had to cancel.  The topic? Charity and how we shouldn't judge others...basically a call to repentance...on my first Sunday with the branch.

 

Hermana Dilworth has truly discovered how disaster follows me.  We set the stove on fire...Don't worry, it was just a small one that was promptly extinguished...apparently there was oil left on the burner from making taquitos.  Our smoke detector...that goes off whenever we open the oven and says "FIRE FIRE FIRE" didn't even go off when there were flames!

 

We found a store that only sells root beer.  Pretty much any kind of root beer you can imagine.  AND they give missionaries a 50% discount.  We have taken it upon ourselves to try as many as possible.  While out calling on referrals, we got lost...if I were still on the ambulance I would say we were doing "map study" to the learn the area :)  We did happen upon a great nighttime view of the downtown area that was amazing!  Funny story...While we driving Hermana Dilworth asked for a gross work story to send to her family, so I gave her one...she hasn't asked for any more :)

 

We were sad to learn the food bank were we volunteer is going to close.   We loved working there and will be sorry to see it go.  Well, that is it for this update.

The work is fun and we are meeting many interesting and memorable people.  I love the work, I love the opportunity to serve and share the Gospel!

 

Os amo,

Hermana Hargis

Reyes, one of my investigators is baptized!

I'll try and catch up. New Year's Eve we were in our apartment by 6pm and in bed at our normal time.  Not much of a celebration but that was OK.  New Year's day we had a special zone conference. On the way to the conference the sisters that we carpooled with asked if I was playing the piano for the meeting. I jokingly said "they haven't told me I was, but I probably will...I've just accepted that I'm playing for every meeting I attend"... and sure enough about 5 minutes before the start of the conference I was asked to play.  Luckily, all my years as organist paid off as I can play just about every hymn with little practice (some I just play better than others). 

 

It's amazing what blessings come our way.  We were in Trader Joe's and started talking to the people in line with us and it turned out they members of the English speaking ward.  Long story short, they ended up paying for our groceries and giving us some of their favorite yogurt.  It made our day and helped stretch our budget!  We've had some fun with the various people we've taught.  We were knocking on doors in one apartment complex and weren't having much luck.  No one was answering their doors.  We were able to teach one family and the husband told us that we might have more success if we knocked on the door and said "no somos imigra, somos misionereas" which is "we aren't immigration, we're missionaries".  Apparently people don't answer the door when they see two white people standing outside their doors. 

 

I've had a change in companions due to a medical condition that prevented another sister from driving so things were changed around.  My new companion is Hermana Martinez and she doesn't speak Spanish, yet :)  She was transferred from out in the country and we are now in the inner-city of Seattle so a bit of a culture shock for her, plus now she has to learn Spanish. We get some strange looks when I speak in Spanish and she doesn't.  We did have an opportunity to volunteer at the local food bank.  They lady in charge doesn't particularly like Mormons but loves that we can translate for her and like having the help. Maybe we'll grow on her. It did take me all day to remember the word for carrots. 

 

I was so excited.  My second week in Washington I began teaching an investigator named Reyes. Well he was baptized in January and I was able to attend his baptism.  That makes all the frustration of the slammed doors so worth it.  Also an inactive sister that I had been working with has come back to church and is now fully active. These two people make it all worth it and remind me why I'm here serving the Lord.

 

Os amo!

 

Hermana Hargis

 

 

"Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away.  Live to see the miracles of repentance and forgiveness, of trust and divine love that will transform your life today, tomorrow, and forever.  That is a new Year's resolution I ask you to keep". Elder Jeffry R. Holland

Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year!  I love this time of year when we celebrate our Savior's birth. I love the music and the Church has some great videos that you might enjoy.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-10-067-the-nativity?category=bible-videos-the-life-of-jesus-christ&lang=eng

https://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HP_SU_11-29-2015_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly7c9scxB9I&list=PLq9T3v5R_q8s3PKfpND5SOh3lUZolLDMf&index=5&cid=HP_FR_12-18-2015_dMIS_fYT_xLIDyI-1_


I want to share a little miracle. Recently, I was at the Member and Missionary Fireside, I was able to watch the ASL Elders interpreting. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I still understood a lot of it. I studied ASL for 4 semesters in college, but chose to go through the paramedic program (that was paid for) instead of going through the interpreter program. When one of the Spanish speakers (not from my area) was bearing her testimony, I had to remind myself that I was called to the Spanish language and I needed to focus on that. I love both cultures so much! As I was leading the music at Zone Conference, I got to see the Elders interpret again. It got me thinking about ASL and trying to remember words. Once again, I reminded myself that I need to focus on Spanish (don't worry, I was only thinking about ASL during breaks and down time, I am fully committed to Spanish in all of my studies). ASL just kept popping into my head. I prayed several times for help. Then yesterday happened. We went to visit one of our former investigators, but she wasn't home. We met three young men from Africa in the parking lot and shared a brief message with them. As we were talking about their religious beliefs, I noticed that one of them wasn't speaking or participating in the conversation at all. I asked him where he was from, and one of the other young men replied "oh, he's deaf". I knew why my ASL had been "brought to my remembrance" so many times this week. I was able to briefly chat with this young man, then we were on our way. Yesterday, several times, we were unable to find the person we had planned to find, but every time there was someone else in the area that we were able to teach. I was so grateful that I was able to share a tiny bit of God's love with that young man. Like I said before...not of our experiences in life are "coincidences". We need to involve Heavenly Father in our plans so he can place us where we need to be to find the people he has placed there to learn. Yesterday just solidified even more that we have a loving Heavenly Father that is control of all. We just need to let go of the "control" we think we have and let Him work through us.

Sometimes the work is interesting. One person we approached to someone to teach, he announced "I don't want to talk to you because I'm not a Mormon and you're too friendly".  How do you respond to that? While I have been in Washington I've met people who speak Russian, Italian, Chinese, Farsi, ASL (American Sign Language) and of course Spanish. It's never boring.

From November 2, 2015-Happy Halloween

L to R: Hermana Brooks dressed as Hermana Hargis, Branch President Mayorga and his wife, Hermana Hargis dressed as Hermana Brooks

This week definitely had it's ups and downs! This weekend was full of miracles. At our branch Halloween party on Friday night, there were almost as many non-members as there were members. We had a part member (where the member is inactive) family come to the event and several less actives. There were so many people to meet and visit with we barely had enough time!

 

Halloween was the first day in the field so far that I was really frustrated and it was a struggle to stay positive. We had a normal morning of personal study, companion study, training, language study and lunch, and we left at the normal time of 1pm. We had to stay in after 5 pm because of the trick or treaters. So, we only had a couple hours to be out. We did manage to get Kit-Kats and Smarties (two of our favorite candies) from people when we were knocking who just thought trick or treaters were starting early.  We only talked to two people that day and both were members. In praying for help and studying/thinking about it I came to realize that those two people were important and we made a huge impact in their day. Hermana Brooks and I try to keep from getting frustrated when our numbers don't reflect just how hard we worked that day. We remind ourselves that numbers aren't everything and keep our eye on the positive. There are miracles in every day.

Narciso has been one of our miracles. We had just finished finding on one street and were leaving the complex when we ran into Narciso in the parking lot. He moved to the area a month ago and told us "no one has invited me to church yet". Don't you worry, we did! He invited us back to teach him and gave us his address. We went back a couple days later, but that wasn't his address. Again, as we were leaving the complex, Narciso came around the corner in his car, stopped, and told us he wanted us to teach him. We had to go to coordination meeting, but asked if we could come back after with a member of the ward. We were able to bring the Elder's Quorum president with us and had a great lesson on the Restoration.  I even shared the Joseph Smith story and First Vision in Spanish. He felt the spirit and wants to study it out in his mind and learn more. He came to the Halloween party!

At our Spanish Member and Missionary Fireside (only have them in Spanish once a year) almost all of the active members of our ward came to support the people sharing their testimonies: Evaline and Cristhian Chavez, who got baptized along with their son in July; and Victor who married an RM, but recently got to go through the temple for the first time. I had said hi to all the branch members beforehand, and saw a family that had a little less pigment that others there...it was the Bishops!!!! It was so good to see a familiar face! You could feel the spirit so strong at the fireside, it was a great way to end the week.

Diedre Bishop and daughter, transplants from Kansas.  It was great to see a familiar face!

 

I love the work and even in the discouraging times, I know that I am here at this time for a reason.

 

Till next time,

Hermana Hargis

From October 26, 2015

Spanish Speaking Missionaries at Conferencia Hispana

Our big event of the week was the "Conferencia Hispana" on Saturday.It was a state wide even held in our stake center. Hispanics and Latinos from all over the state came, had temple sessions, there was a fireside, and dinner, followed by a talent show where various wards performed dances and other talents from different countries. It was a BLAST!!!!! Although, I'm getting a little confused at what Mexican food really is...Friday night at Volleyball, the branch brought pizza, donuts, macaroni and cheese, and pretzels. Then the dinner at the cultural even was fried chicken and potato salad...

I have been asked to give a talk on November 15. I think it's kind of funny because I will be the "youth speaker". I've had a cold this week which has made tracting fun. It's not the most spritual message when you sneeze and hack up a lung mid sentence, but Hermana Brooks has been awesome at finishing my thought when it happens. I'm feeling a ton better, and I was blessed with the energy to still do everything we had planned, even though I was sick. God definitely blesses His missionaries.

 Spiritual thought to get you through the week: "A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide-even obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God"-President Monson. God has a plan for each and every one of us. In order to stay on that path, all we have to do is obey His commandments.

Os amo!

Hermana Hargis

From October 19, 2015

Friday we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. I was paired with Sister Sim who is from South Korea and speaks NO spanish. The first 6 doors we knocked answered!!!! And 4 of them spoke Spanish, so I got to practice my door approaches and 2 of them want to hear more.

Our very first door was a hispanic man that answered. He said he had just gotten home from work and was eating dinner and really hungry. He kept trying to leave, but Sister Sim was persistant to the point that he was starting to get angry. We wished him a nice meal and moved on.

 

Several doors later, we met this lady named Evonne in the stairwell on her way back from doing laundry. We taught her about the restoration and she wants us to come back and teach her and her family. I asked for her apartment number and it was the one with the hungry man!!!!! That will be fun!

 

Our mission does something pretty cool here. Every month, they have a Missionary and Member Fireside. People that have been recently baptized share there testimony, there are a few special musical numbers and the mission president and stake president that's hosting it that month give a few comments. It was REALLY cool!!!!! One of Hermana Brooks previous investigators bore testimony. He was one that told them the government was putting fluoride in the water to docilize our minds. One man found the church by an online dating site where a woman listed "devout Mormon" under her profile. He asked her what it took to date a Mormon. They got married a few months ago and her son baptized him the day he got home from his mission. Maybe President Schofield will let us all spend time on dating sites to find new investigators? I know we will find someone that is ready, it's just taking a LOT of effort to find them. We can feel that it's close, we just have to rely on the Lord to guide us. 

 

Interesting person of the week...Wesley. We found him while street contacting on our way home. We asked if we could share a message and he said only if he could teach us about aliens. So we agreed. He taught us that aliens are just trying to protect us from ourselves. They are really nice. All information regarding aliens was supposed to be made known this year, but the big minds of USA and Russia "with the red buttons" are keeping it quiet. I love being a missionary!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally in Washington

Update from Caitlin:

I've been assigned to the Crossroads Spanish Branch, which is in Bellevue, WA.  My trainer is Hermana Brooks and I LOVE her!

Our apartment is interesting.  Missionaries haven't lived in this apartment before us.  We walked in and the smell was overwhelming, and familiar.  Being a former paramedic I have been exposed to all kinds of smells, and I swear there was a dead body in this apartment before we moved in!  A can of Fabreeze later it began to smell better.  In order to open the oven door all the way you have to remove the door knob from the cabinet.  Interesting times :)

My first time knocking on doors was also extremely eventful. To sum up the experience, these next three people were consecutive doors that I knocked. Apparently I have a talent for choosing "special" doors. The first one was a teenaged asian boy that told us that he had prophesied of a dragon descending in a ball of fire and a few other things. We did not make a follow-up appointment with him. The next door was officially my first whiff of marijuana in this lovely state. The man that answered was extremely happy, but not quite there. We couldn't stop laughing after that...maybe we inhaled a little too much. THEN, the third door...the guy answered but just peeked his head out the door and was extremely out of breath and said he was "in the middle of something"...pretty sure he was naked behind that door. We left extremely quickly. We did NOT try to give him a pamphlet. Hermana Brooks knocked the next several doors.

Okay, now a little about our branch. After meeting with the mission leader and the branch president, we realized we have our work cut out for us. About half of the ward is either inactive or less active. Hermana Brooks and I were getting a little frustrated about not being able to find any new investigators, but we had the thought "if the branch can't keep any of their established members, why would God send us any new ones?" so we are working really hard on bringing those people back to church. Funny story...when we met with the branch president the first time, he gave us this candy from Columbia (where he's from). It was rolled in coconut so I was super excited! It was amazing...until the coconut went away and you were left with this toffee like substance that kind of tasted like a mix of chocolate, coffee and soap. I still don't know how I feel about them, but we have to eat one each time we see him. Maybe they will grow on me and I'll like them by the time I'm transferred.

 

I LOVE the members here. The member work is my favorite thing. Finding new people is a little frustrating, but I know it will be worth it. We are in the same ward as our district leaders, so we are splitting the work a little bit. Several times this week, members said how excited they were to have sister missionaries back in the ward.