October 22, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos,

I hope your week treated you well. Below is a picture of our Family Home Evening that we had with Hermana Milagros (the mom), Valentina, and Antonio this past Monday. (The two kids were baptized last month, Hna Milagros wants to be baptized but isn´t married with the person she´s living with which means she isn´t complying with the Law of Chastity...Which means she can´t get baptized yet)

Part of the lesson was to list the blessings that we´ve received from Heavenly Father and then we shared one from our list. Well Hna Milagros started and said that a blessing was having the gospel in her life. She then started to cry explaining her gratitude and the change she´s seen in her kids and in her life. I almost started to cry but I was just so happy I couldn´t. It was a confirmation to me that I´m doing my job. I just sat there and smiled and then shared that a blessing in my life was the opportunity I have to be a missionary. This family changed my life. I´m blessed to have gotten to know them and share the gospel with them. I´m sure I´ve said this before, but I´ll say it again. I don´t know why I didn´t want to serve a mission before hand. I´m truly grateful for this opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people here in Perú.

Have a great week!

Love Always,

HERMANA HARBISON

October 15, 2012

Buenas Dias!


This week was as great week because we got to go to the temple! Here´s a picture of me and my companions outside the temple

Hermana Bermudez, Myself, and Hermana Giudice

Here´s a picture of the temple here in Lima.

As announced in General Conference, they´re going to build another temple in Arequipa which is in the southern part of the country. They´re also building one in Trujillo up in the north. It´s pretty great that there are going to be three temples here in Perú!

The work here in the field is going great. Yesterday I gave a talk in Church all in Spanish. Pretty sure my stomach turned upside down, because I was pretty nervous to convey my message in Spanish. However, I think it went smoothly and they understood... Hope everything is great where ever you may be, have a great week!

Love Always,
HERMANA HARBISON

October 8, 2012

Family and Friends,

Well how great was conference? I was lucky, there´s another North American Hermana in our Zone, so together we were able to go watch it in the English room. I was able to understand all the great words from the General Authorities. Hope you all enjoyed conference as much as I did. The words of the Prophet and Apostles are really inspired and can tell you just what you need to hear and how to apply it to your life. Well conference was really the highlight of the week. I´m learning lots of new things with my 2 companions each day. Love that about the mission, you learn so much in so many different aspects. Today the sun is out, for the first time in a while. Spring is really on its way, woohoo! Everything is going great here in Perú, I hope it´s going great for you where ever you may be!

Have a great week!

Love Always,

HERMANA HARBISON

October 1, 2012

Just writing to say that all is well here in the field. We're on a path to find new investigators right now. Right now I'm in a trio. One of my companions has been in the field for 10 months, Hermana Giudice and Hermana Bermudez is straight out of the CCM. Hermana Giudice is from Argentina and is really great. Hermana Bermudez is eager to learn and preach the gospel and she's from Trujillo Peru. They are both great and I'm learning a lot of new things with them. The fact that I have new companions is really all the exciting news I have. Our ward is great, love all the members. We're really working with them so we can have some references. Support your local missionaries, give them references. Period. Hope all is well where ever you may be. Write me if you need anything.

Until next time, have a great week!

Love Always,

HERMANA HARBISON

September 24, 2012

My dear family and friends,


I hope everyone had a great week and you all are enjoying the fall weather that´s coming your way.  All is well here in the mission field of Perú Lima Sur.  This week was the week of cambios (transfers).  This morning, my companion headed off to Pisco, in the southern part of our mission, and I recieved a new companion, Hermana Guidice.  Hermana Guidice is from Argentina, she started her mission the same time as my last companion, so she has about 10 months in the field.  We´re also going to get another companion from the CCM tomorrow, so we´re going to be a trio here in our ward.  We´re ready to work hard and find people to teach them the gospel.  Next week I´ll try and send pictures of the three of us.  
This week we had another baptism and it was awesome.

Here is my companion Hermana Riveros, Valentina (8), Antonio (13), Pepito (baptizer), Milagros (Antonio and Valentina´s Mom) and Myself.  It would take the whole hour to tell you the whole story of this family, but just know that I love them so much.  Hermana Milagros can´t be baptized just yet, but she´s strong in attending Church, knows that life´s better in the Gospel, and is ready to help her children grow in the Gospel.  Love them so much, pierod.  Funny story, when it was Hermanita Valentina´s turn to be baptized, she was a little scared to go under the water.  When she went under her little legs popped right up out of the water and we had to do it again.  It was sooo funny, but we did it again and she was baptized with success.

Everything is going good here in the field.  I´m excited to learn new things with my new companions this cambio.  Until next time, have a great week!

HERMANA HARBISON

September 3, 2012

Greetings from the mission field! Hope your week was great! This past week we had a bunch of meetings which was great because we learned a lot, but it also meant we didn´t get to teach as much as we would like to as missionaries. Last Friday Elder D. Todd Christofferson came to Perú and gave a talk, in Spanish (because he served his mission in Argentina), to all the missionaries in Lima and the CCM here. It was great to hear the words of an Apostle! Such a privilege! We also had 2 baptisms on Saturday. (I tried to put pictures up, but they won´t download here on this computer... Lame.) Two guys, Anthony who´s 21 years old and Jorge who´s 35. They´re great, super grateful that we taught them and helped them make this convenant with Heavenly Father. Now we´re going to keep working with them and the ward to make sure they stay active and are befriended. Other than that, nothing new here in Surco. Hope you all have a great week and hopefully next week I get a computer that lets me download pictures.

Love Always,
HERMANA HARBISON

August 27, 2012

Greetings From Perú!
Let me just tell you all I´ve been reflecting lately and I think I´ve asked myself at least once a week why I didn´t want to serve a mission before. I really encourage all that can and have any desire to, to serve a mission. I learn new things everyday, about myself, about others, about the Gospel, about Perú, about my companion, the list goes on and on. I love the joy I feel each time we teach a lesson and can see that the person is understanding, applying and wanting to come closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know a mission is not for everyone, but it truly is the best thing I could be doing for these 18 months of my life.

Life here in the field is going great, no complaints. Hope things are going great where ever you may be. If you need anything let me know! Sorry this is so short...Next week it´ll be longer I promise.

Love Always,

HERMANA HARBISON


PS I wrote one week about sending me mail, if you do don´t put the Perú Lima South Mission on the letter because they think it´s a business and it´ll take longer to get here. That´s the word on the street at least. Thank you all for your love and support.

August 21, 2012

Hola World!

Hope your past week treated you well, because mine did.  We spent a lot of our time this week teaching our ward. On Wednesday we taught the Young Women about sharing the gospel with their friends and how they should bring friends to church and what not and the blessings that come from that. Then on Sunday we taught Relief Society about missionary work and how it´s important to share the gospel.  Hopefully we get some new investigators but we´ll see, they know that we need their help and missionary work isn´t just for us missionaries. Yesterday for dessert after lunch we had a chocolate cake that was to die for. The member taught herself how to bake and what not and is a master! People, I´m telling you I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life and all the food here in Perú is delicious. That´s all with that. We had a lot of people attend Church yesterday, which is the best!   I finally understand almost everything that people are saying in Spanish, the gift of tounges is thoroughly being developed little by little out here. Hope things are going well in your lives! Thank you all for the support! If you need anything let me know!

Love Always,

HERMANA HARBISON

August 13, 2012

Hola, me llamo Hermana Harbison and I love to recieve letters :):)


Here's my address:

Felicia Harbison
Peru Lima South Mission
Av. Jorge Basadre, 592, Oficina 604-A
Edificio Torre Azul, San Isidro
Lima 27 PERU
Or you could try dearelder.com and select the Peru Lima South Mission. That's just an FYI for you all,  thanks.

Nestor and Elizabeth were baptized by the Bishop (the one kneeling) on July 14th, 2012. The daughter next to me isn't a member and the daughter next to my companion is. This family is the best, I could really see the change that the Gospel brings to people's lives.


This week was pretty normal. A lot of our appoinments fell through BUT Sunday was the best. We didn't have many attend church like we wanted but here's what happened. I was sitting in Sunday School and looked out the window and our investigator, Antoni, was standing out side.  I was shocked and told him to come in and join us. At the end of class he told us he wanted us to talk with him. (Here's a little background, he had the lessons a long time ago and had a baptism date that fell through. A week ago he called us and said that he wanted to talk to us about the Church. We had an appt. and asked if he believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon was true. He said he had doubts, so we told him to read the Book of Mormon with the things found in Moroni 10:4 and he'd get an answer.) Well, when we sat down to talk, he recites the things from verse four of Moroni ten and asks what's next to be baptized? Hna. Riveros and I were totally shocked and said well we just have to review eveything and you need to continue to read and pray and attend church. He explained things to us that we should be explaining to him, like he doesn't need to have a perfect knowledge of everything but to have faith and believe and then how he was baptized when he was 5 and doesn't remember anything about it because it wasn't his choice and it wasn't with the correct authority. We then set the date for September 1st. We were totally surprised, but I can tell he's ready after we review things with him. Needless to say it was a great surprise. I know that the Lord prepares people differently, because he was taught by missionaries earlier and wasn't ready to be baptized then and he came looking for us to truly become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ.

That was the highlight of the week. Hope your week is going great!
Love,
HERMANA HARBISON

August 6, 2012

This week was a good week here in the field. As a missionary Sundays are the day that tells all when it comes to if your investigator is progressing or not. Because if they attend church they are fulfilling your commitments and really want to learn more. Here´s a description of the feelings I have as a missionary on Sundays


You walk out of ward counsel and are just hoping to see your investigators sitting somewhere in the chapel. Unfortunetly no one is there. You greet all the members you can and sit there in the pew and stare at the door looking at everyone who comes in, hoping to see the familiar faces of your investigators. The meeting starts and you barely sing the hymn because you have faith that the Lord has touched someone´s heart and they´ll come to church. Sit and stare, sit and stare. Then you see a confused look on someone´s face who´s walking in and there they are, there´s your investigator. Seeing them come in is like running down the stairs Christmas morning and seeing a huge present with your name on it. You are so excited and can´t to see what´s inside. The same with your investigator, you are so excited and can´t wait for them to feel the sweet spirit that is only felt at Church. Then you look at your companion and you both have a huge grin on each of your faces and you run to their rescue helping them find a seat and get all comfortable. Then you go on with the meeting with this joy that can´t be described and gratitude to Heavenly Father that you have investigators that are progressing.

If that didn´t hit the cheesy factor of life as a missionary, I don´t know what will... There you have it, as a missionary you find the joy in the littlest things. The two minute talk you had with the person in the bus, the lesson you had and committed someone to be baptized, the health and support you have to teach and help others.

Nothing really new here. It´s pretty cold here and it stinks because there´s humidity and so the cold just goes straight into your bones. I found out that my favorite dish here is Aji de Gallina, which translates to Chili of the Rooster. It´s this chili sauce with chicken, instead of rooster, and it´s soooo good!

Hope everything is going good where ever you may be. I´m here in Perú, but if you need something just holler!

Have a great week!

Love,

HERMANA HARBISON