Photos

Hna Voss after her dentist appointment last week. :)

saying goodbye to Elder Baker :(

when we all wear Mustard Yellow to church. :)

"I can't feel the left side of my faith!" - Hna Voss

Friends and family, 

Life has been crazy. So here's the rundown. 

Monday: We were in a trio with Sister Kaleopa all day, after we said goodbye to Hna Bittle. :( So sad. We had a good time in the trio, though. :) We got a ton of goodbyes said. We saw the Osorios, the Bugarins who were having an FHE with the Huertas, the Burrs, and the Rodriguez. Saying goodbye to the Rodriguez was the worst thing of my life. :( 

Tuesday: I was in a car, all day. Because I'm back in Denver! In my first area, actually! Which is super weird, but also super, super good. We didn't get to Denver until 7 pm. So I was quite literally in a 12 passenger van all day. #roughlife And I had to say goodbye to a lot of missionaries, that was sad. But mostly life is good. My new companion is Hermana Voss. :) This is only her second transfer speaking Spanish, so we're learning a lot. Which is good. 

Wednesday: We got our oil changed, which took all day. And Hna Chandler wasn't feeling well, so we hung out with them all day. It was so nice to be back with Hermana Chandler! :) Reunited and it feels so good! 

Thursday: We had our first District Meeting, and that was great. This district is weird. I miss my Montrose District. Who ever thought I'd say that? But I do. This District is cool though, and I finally get to serve around Elder Baker. So. That should be fun. Also we taught Lucero. :) She's my favorite. I'm so excited we're teaching her still.

Friday: Weekly planning. We're going to try a ton of formers, and we dropped a ton of people. Gotta get this area going again. 

Saturday: We had a meeting with our STLs about our goals and visions for this transfer. So that was good. Then we did musical number practice. I got to be reunited with Santiago, mi abuelito! <3 I love him! SO that was really, really happy. He was so happy to see me that he hugged me. Grandpa rule is a thing! :) 

Sunday: We were at church all day. From 9-4. I was reunited with a ton of my favorite people. But my favorite reunion was with Emma and her kids. <3 I love them! We ate dinner with the Hernandez family, and they made the best pizza of my entire life. SO good. 

Yesterday: Hna Voss needed to get a filling fixed, so we were at the dentist's office. We were sitting there, and come to find out that the dental hygienist has been reading the Book of Mormon. So we're like, oh that's cool. We'll send some English missionaries to you. She starts talking to us a little more, after the dentist leaves, and just tells us her story. Come to find out, she's a whole lot more comfortable in SPANISH! So I started talking to her. She was telling us about her sister, who recently had a son died. So I explained to her briefly the plan of salvation. Mind you, all of this is going on while Hna Voss is getting her tooth worked on. So awkward. But I got her phone number, her address, and an appointment scheduled with her. :) It was so great. Such a miracle. Then we taught Magdalena and talked to her about the Atonement, which she knew absolutely NOTHING about. (She's a less-active, who was basically inactive from the time she got baptized until now.) She loved it though. The Spirit was really strong. 

I'm mostly happy to be back in Denver. I love this ward, and there's a ton of really cool changes that are happening here. 

If you want to send me mail for the next 5 weeks, my address is:

7160 W. Cedar Ave #1 

Lakewood, CO 80226

If not, I'll be home at the end of the 5 weeks anyway. ;) 

Love and miss you all, 

hermana sherilyn harper

El principio del fin

This is the first day of my last transfer in my mission. Last night, I received my last transfer call. It's probably the weirdest feeling. 

The San Juan Branch is being whitewashed. Hna Chavez is going elsewhere (Steamboat...) to train a new missionary and be in a trio. :) She'll be great. As for me, all we know is that I'm going "east" which could be anywhere, really. President never tells me anything. 

This week has been really stressful. I've done a lot of thinking. A lot of crying. And a lot of praying. I don't foresee this week being any easier, but I'll be sure to keep you posted. 

I wanted to tell you about a funny moment that we had last night. Hna Chavez was wondering when the time is going to change again, because she still hates that it gets so dark so early. We had the following conversation:

Hna C: When is the time going to change again?

Me: Mmmm.... I don't know? I think maybe in March? 

Hna C: No. I think it happens before March. 

Me: Oh. You think it happens in February? 

Hna C: No. I think it happens in April. 

I'm really glad that my companion knows the months of the year. I laughed for a really long time about it. :) And it was good, because I really needed that laugh. 

Life feels weird now. Like it's not real. 

In your last 6 weeks as a missionary, you have the opportunity (by that I mean, you are forced into) to take this class called MyPlan to prepare you to go home and to continue progressing as a Returned Missionary. It freaks me out, but it'll be great. 

This week, MyPlan has invited me to read, study, and ponder my patriarchal blessing. And I would like to extend that invitation to you. It provided me with a few suggestions on how I could make that time be a little more effective. 

-Read your patriarchal blessing and write down your feelings and impressions. 

-Circle the words that describe you. Underline the actions that you should take. 

-Ask yourself, "What does my blessing teach me about the person that God wants me to become?" 

:) 

I love and miss you all. 

Hermana Sherilyn Harper

"You know that everything that comes out of my mouth is racist." -Hna Harper

That quote is because I promised Hna Eldredge I would use it. I was talking to Hna Chavez and I said something racist and she acted all shocked. Even though I say so many racist things to her all the time. It's all just a joke though, everyone. I'm not actually racist. LATINOS ARE MY FAVORITE PEOPLE! :) 

Okay, onto the week. 

This week was crazy, and I feel like I spent entirely too much time in Grand Junction, but it made Hna Chavez happy so, we had that going for us. :) 

On Thursday we had a big meeting, a "mission tour" and we learned a lot about how we can become Preach My Gospel Missionaries. MOSTLY we learned about planning. So it was really good. 

On Friday, we had interviews with President Murdock. They were supposed to be at 10, but he didn't call us in until 11:30. Such is life. We had good interviews. We talked about our area, our companionship, and then we had individual interviews. But it was really good. 

So, I guess what you all need to know is that I'm going to be transferred. 

SO if you have letters or anything to send to me, please send it to my mission office! 

999 East Tufts Ave

Cherry Hills Village, CO 80113 

I hope that you all have an amazing week! Pray lots for me, please. I need it. 

Con amor,

hermana sherilyn harper

Happy New Year!

Hola familia y amigos! 

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I sure did! I got to spend it with some of my very favorite people. And I got to have some awesome phone calls home! 

 

This week was...well, it was a little bit of a struggle. Ha. I was really, really sick at the beginning of the week. We tried to go out teaching, but I couldn't hear anything that was happening. And I was kind of miserable because I couldn't breathe. So I wasn't able to participate really in the lessons. 

 

The good news of the week is: 

THE RODRIGUEZ FOUND BETO'S EX-WIFE AND SHE AGREED TO SIGN THE DIVORCE PAPERS!!!!!! So we printed out some divorce papers (at which point I further vowed to myself that I will never get divorced, because it's WAY too complicated) and helped him fill them out. (We filled them out on Christmas Eve.) Haha. But we're really excited about that. So Beto and Noemi will probably be getting baptized next transfer. Please pray that everything goes smoothly! 

 

Julian got baptized on Saturday. It was the most awkward baptism of my life, but we're really excited that he's a part of our branch and that he got baptized! When he was going to get dressed, he turns to his dad and says, "Papi! Tengo miedo!" But his dad reassured him that everything was going to be okay. And it was! 

companionship picture for Christmas. :)

 

Okay, I'll tell you about my Christmas! 

We spent Christmas Eve with the Schillers. They have a tradition of having Chinese food. And it was delicious. We had a white elephant gift exchange. And it was a really fun night. 

Christmas morning, we had with the Schillers. :) We opened presents with them and ate a "brunch". We skyped with our families at the Bugarin's house, and then we talked with them for a long time. It was basically the most spiritually uplifting thing of my life. It made me feel so much better about life. The Bugarins are fabulous. We ate dinner with the Archer family. And we caroled with Elder Pulsipher and Elder Scott. It was a lot of fun! :) 

 

I've been reflecting a lot on 2015, since it's ending this week. And it has been quite the crazy year. But I'd say it's been the best year of my life. 

In 2015, I have: 

-Served in four different areas (Denver 1 North, Eagle Valley, Glenwood Springs East, and San Juan)

-Had 7 different companions (Noakes, Hansen, Adair, Bauer, Moody, Salazar, and Chavez)

-Seen 6 beautiful souls enter the waters of baptism (Juan, Adamaris, Abraham, Dayanara, Dorothy, and Julian) 

-Met a lot of amazing people. I can't even list those out, it'd take entirely too long. 

-Most of all, I've learned a lot about myself, who I am, and who I want to be. I've learned how to deal with trials. And I've really developed a very close relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. 

I am grateful for all of the things that have happened in this year of 2015 and am SO excited for all of the adventures that lie ahead in 2016. :) 

 

I love and miss you all. Stay up until midnight for me to ring in the new year! :) 

 

Con mucho amor,

hermana sherilyn harper

Happy Christmas, Harry.

                   Star wars shirts.

"Yo soy tu padre"

Friends and Family, 

 

It's Christmas this week. My mind is blown. I have NO idea how time has gone by this fast. I'm still in denial that Christmas is in 4 days. It's basically not real. And I am officially in the single digits of how many weeks I have remaining in my mission. So everything is SUPER not real. So much denial. 

 

This week was okay. I've been sick. So that's always a delight. And I forgot my planner so I can't even do a list of things that we did this week. So I'll just tell you what I remember. :) 

Or maybe not. My mind is blanking on everything we've done this week. Too much pressure in my head and too much cold medication.. 

Okay, I know that we've taught Jose a few times this week. He's doing really well. Handling the fact that he has to post-pone baptism very well. We taught him yesterday and had a REALLY good lesson with him. We asked him what he wanted to talk about, and he said overcoming temptation. So we read a few scriptures to him and just talked about it. He told us he was feeling really down all the time because all of these bad influences from his past life are still here haunting him. We ranted to him about how frustrating it is that he can't get a fresh-start that he desperately needs, but that through reading the Book of Mormon and going to church each Sunday he can overcome those temptations and feel even happier. We talked to him about how he needs better friends and to stop hanging out with the people from his past. He agrees and doesn't even want to hang out with them anymore. It was a really good lesson. He told us how much he appreciates us and how much we've helped him change his life. 

 

We saw the Rodriguez. Obviously. :) We saw just Noemi on Thursday, I think. We watched Legacy with her. We didn't have it in Spanish. #outweststruggles But the good news is she understands English pretty well. #thankyoumissouri It was good, she loved it. We ate dinner with them on Thursday as well, and we talked to Beto a lot about why we don't worship the Virgen. He understood it, and it was really good. On Friday, Noemi had someone in her family pass away. So we wanted to cheer her up, so we printed out ridiculous pictures of ourselves, pictures of them and us, and put them in a photo-book. And we took her chocolate. She said she loved it and it made her feel a lot better. 

This week, we're having a baptism in our branch. A really adorable 11 year old kid named Julian. :) We're really excited, because he's really awesome. I'm sure you're all wondering why you haven't heard anything about this kid, and it's because we're not teaching him. It's this really long story, and kind of a sensitive topic. But he's being taught by some English Elders. But we're really excited to see him enter the waters of baptism on the 26th. :) 

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and that you truly remember why we celebrate Christmas! Take some time to remember and reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ and the true reason why He was born. 

 

I know that Jesus Christ is truly our Savior. That He loves us so individually that he suffered for every single one of us. For our sins. For our sadness. For our weaknesses. I know that through Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we are never alone. We can overcome all things in our lives. I know that He lives, that He loves us, and He wants us to be happy. 

Feliz Navidad a TODOS! Les quiero mucho, 

Hermana Sherilyn Harper

Alma 17:11

Whipped cream in my eye....

Oh my lovely friends and family. This week was crazy. But it was so fun! 

Monday: We saw Chelsey, and Alejandro sat in on the lesson with us! We watched the Christmas videos with them, and they loved it. We saw Eduardo, and Bro. Archer came. It was a good lesson. Kind of a struggle, because Eduardo wouldn't talk super openly. But it all worked out. We had a Family Home Evening with the Rodriguez. Beto gave the lesson. :) (It was great) and we played a lot of really fun games with them. :) (There may or may not have been whipped cream all over everyone's face, as well as cookie crumbs.) 

Tuesday: We did some service, we cleaned a house. It was crazy. So much laundry. We saw Eduardo again and Luis came with us. Eduardo actually talked openly with us. So it was good. :) Also we went to a Relief Society activity because we're trying to have a better relationship with the branch. So that was fun. We decorated cookies. 

Wednesday: We did more service. More cleaning! :) We taught Jose and Hno Barrientos came with us. We had a good lesson. Hno Barrientos got SUPER bold with him. It was great. And also scary. We had dinner with the Rodriguez. :) 

Thursday: We had Zone Meeting. It was good. REALLY long. But good. We saw Chelsey again and she's doing really well. She and her new baby are both doing a lot better. (There were complications and both have been sick off and on since the baby was born.) And we saw Jose. We talked to him more about prophets, why we have them, and all that good stuff. It was really good. We had dinner with the Rodriguez again. We planned to teach them something, but they went on talking about some random topic (racism, of course) and I was able to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon with them. (2 Nephi 26:33 if you're wondering.) It was really good. 

Friday: Weekly planning. We had dinner with the Rodriguez again. :) 

Saturday: We taught Hno Meza, and it was great. I love teaching him. When we do, I cease to exist for an hour or more. It's awesome. :) But he is really great, no worries. He's been making a TON of progress since I first met him. We helped the Rodriguez make tamales. :) They had to make like 200 or something ridiculous. SO they needed help. So we did it. And it was fun. And we got to eat some of them. Also they fed us, besides the tamales. :) I wasn't feeling well, so I laid down after that. But it was good. 

Merry Christmas!!

Sunday: Jose had his interview with Pres. Atkinson. We have no idea how it went. But he's going to have a really, really long process before he can get baptized. We had Branch Council and it was the most frustrating hour and a half of my life. Church was good though. Luis and Kevin gave talks. :) We found a new investigator, Francisco. WE taught Julian with the Elders in Spring Creek. We taught Maria Soto, and it was a really good lesson. We also went to the Stake Fireside, it was all music. It made me really happy! We finally didn't have dinner with the Rodriguez. ;) 

Monday: We had a Christmas luncheon at the Skala's home. (It's ridiculously huge. I felt so uncomfortable. I was like...Uhm....this isn't a trailer? What do I do here? It's too fancy. What if I break something??) But it was really fun. WE had an awesome meal. And the Skalas made some Black Bear and Elk for us all to try. We had Christmas Hymn karaoke. It was great. The Gunnison sisters couldn't get back to Gunnison, so they stayed with us last night. It was so fun. We taught the Rodriguez! WE talked about following the Spirit, and they loved it. 

This week, we're going to have an awesome week. 

I love and miss you all! 

hermana sherilyn harper