Day After Christmas...

Christmas was so many different feelings, things, and emotions. It was not along the lines of the usual Harker family traditions but it was also amazing and I loved it. I loooooved talking to my family and seeing them at last! I cried the whole time. I got that from mom. I love you mom!

I love how I was able to think about Christmas a different way. Growing closer to the Savior and learning more about Him made Christmas so much more meaningful. 

So many good things happened. My foot is healing! I now have more movement in my foot.  We made a gang members day by singing him happy birthday! He introduced us to his family. He promised he will go to our church. We will visit him soon. 

WE PUT EVELIN AND JR ON DATE. January 7th. Just need to talk to their dad now.  

We made gingerbread cookies.

I don't know why it is so hard for me to remember things that happen to me.

My sister Mia should be proud of me because I started doing my make up again.

I held the cutest and sweetest cat the other day. Didn't cry this time. She takes showers!

We have gone out caroling the past couple nights. We were having a lot of difficulties two days ago so we said a prayer to ask Heavenly Father to guide us. We went to this one trailer house. knocked, started singing, and the guy opened the door and closed it before you could say Sarsaparilla. We kept singing our two songs and left. We felt discouraged but my comp reminded me that we don't know what they were feeling behind the door as we stood there and continued to sing. She's a genius she is.

My next p day will be next Tuesday again for the holidays.

I started studying more about how I can understand myself so I can better deal with my weaknesses and strengths this morning. I dove into my patriarchal blessing and I have already found out so much about myself and where I came from.

I don't know if this is weird but I started thinking about my future angel babies. Like how they are watching me. I love them already.

I love my family so much. And yes I am also talking about my extended family. They have done so much for me and I love and appreciate everything they have all done for me and my companions. They love you too. I am so blessed to be a part of my family. I love you all so much. 

I have learned that family is so important. It is the main unit. The heart. And the reason why it is so important for us is because we all learn from one another and help and support each other. We can grow closer together by growing closer to the Savior together.

I love praying and talking to my Heavenly Father. Me encanto a hablar en espanol y ingles. No se como hablar los dos idiomas. Pero yo se que vive mi senor. Yo se que este evangelio es verdad y me encanta orar y hablar con mi padre celestial. Tengo un gran testimonio de oracion y paciencia. Estoy trabajando con paciencia. Es muy deficil. Pero esta bien porque tengo la ayuda de mi padres terenales y mi padre celestial.

Les amo y quiero mucho mucho.

Don't judge my Spanish.

Con todo el amor de mi corazon, 

Hermana Kiara Harker

Feliz ano nuevo! :) 

Peace and blessings, peace and blessings. 

Got new jammies from my grandma.

Saw a dead lizard in a cup full of water.

Saw some awesome Christmas lights.

One Week Till Christmas!!!

This is it. I cannot believe it is here. Christmas is almost here. Talking to my family is almost here and I am so excited!

Well momma you should be proud because I am leading the area right now with my companion. Every other day we switch off between speaking pure Spanish and pure English. Yanno I need help with Spanish and she needs help with English. It's super hard but we are both learning.

We moved into an elders apartment while they moved into ours. Lemme just say... ew. Ew like Jimmy Fallon's short. Ew. It was disgusting. Hair everywhere. Just super dirty and messy. And then they left a bunch of crap so it looked like they were still living there. But after a couple days of hard work cleaning and unpacking, it is starting to smell and look like how a home should. 

I was moving that cart full of church chairs this morning and one of them jumped off and fell on my foot. No cuss words. No tears. I'm a true woman. Dignified. But it is super swollen but we have no ibuprofen so that is the first thing to buy on the list for today. Pray for me.

Pictures will be next week. I apologize.

We haven't been able to do a lot of teaching this week with transfers and holiday things, but we are going to have a FHE with our less active named Luz and her nonmember kids aka our investigators tonight. Hopefully set them on date for baptism. Whoop whoop!

One day we do pure English to help Hermana Balcazar out and then the next we have puro Espanol to help me out with Spanish. It adds stress but it will pay off. Eventually. Hopefully.

All in all I love my mission. I love posole and corn tortillas. I wish we could walk more often but I don't think that would be good right now with having a foot that looks like an almond. and I'm a Mormon.

I love the Lord. I love my family and I love chocolate too much. Next month I turn 20. Food for thought. I hope everyone has a great week and a very Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad! Les quiero mucho!

Con todo el amor en me corathon, Hermana Kiara Harker
:)<3

--

Hermana Kiara Harker

California Carlsbad Mission

451 West Bobier Drive

Vista, CA 92083-1906

(for letters and packages;))

I apologize for the space I have had for my weekly emails. I have been going through some things and I was not able to write. This week has been awesome though. I am very happy about it. 

We had a Zone Training Meeting. Just training the zone. And we were trained on how to better our prayers. It was so freaking amazing. I felt like my prayers were already good and personal but this training made it even better. What we did is talked about the importance of prayer and everything. Then we went to the training. We applied it and practiced. They told us to have a personal prayer and to ask Heavenly Father what HE thinks about ourselves. It was so humbling and beautiful. But then we had to introduce ourselves to our companions as Heavenly Father would introduce us. Seeing yourself through Heavenly Father's eyes. It was insane and it makes me so excited to pray every day. I love prayer. I encourage all do try it out.

We found a less active named Luz. She has four kids. Two of them are baptism aged...;) hehehe!  We have been teaching them for two weeks now and they are so solid. Firme. Luz has been a less active for 14 years but she has gone to church the past two weeks. She cried last week because she was thinking about how she felt before she left the church. It was such a beautiful experience. 

I FINISHED MY TRAINING!!!  I am no longer a greenie. Kinda. I am no longer a trainee. To graduate from training we went to the Mormon Battalion in San Diego. Which was so awesome. I loved it but I have been so used to driving. I rode for the first time in 4 months as a passenger and I got car sick. I wanted to die. But as soon as I got outside I was fine. I'm such a pansy. 

A potential investigator we have is a border line atheist. Its super hard because he has a Christian background but not he says that he can't say there is a God and he can't say there isn't. He likes facts and debating. Its frustrating. We spent quite a long time trying to teach him and give him facts and talking about faith but he was so frustrating and started talking about history. And so I have been studying the Bible a lot and studying for him so I can smack him in the face with true doctrine. He will feel the spirit I know it. This is really testing me and helping me grow my testimony. He is trying to break me down but he is only making me stronger. We will see who wins. God always does. Muahahaha!

I have been so cultured. Gracias to my two fluent Latina companions. I learned two children songs in Spanish. They go like this (clears throat):

Song numero uno:

un elefante se columpiaba

sobre la tele de un arana

como veia que resistia

fueron a llamar un otro elefante

Song numero dos:

arroz con leche me quiero casar

con un senorito de san nicolaus

que sepa tejer, que sepa bordar

que sepa abriri la puerta para ir a jugar

con este si, con este no

con este senorito me caso yo

I love you all so much. I know all of you have impacted my life so much and I appreciate you and your example to me so much. Now enjoy some pictures.

Me and Peruvian hot cocoa.

This is Elder Wockenfuss and he is leaving tomorrow omg!! We call him Grandpa Wockenfuss. 

Just a freaking sunset here in Oceanside. Driving on Seagaze. 

I made ham and eggs for breakfast from left over Thanksgiving ham from bishop. 

Me and hot cocoa.

Our zone!

Hermana Balcazar and I riding home from the Mormon Batallion.

Letter to Mom

I got my package from Sister Crump!! (A sister that is in her ward that I met over Thanksgiving break. She delivered a package to Kiara from us.) I loved it so much. Thank you mommy. They said that I look like you! And I have dads same personality! We are going to have dinner with them tonight and have family home evening! We have 8 missionaries in our ward right now...its crazy and is hard for members to feed us sometimes. 

The companions and I love the soap you sent a while ago. We got our apartment inspected this past week and we got a 10/10 and they said they want our apartment to be a sample for a picture or something. I don't blame them... our apartment looks and smells so good all the time! Everyone says it is homey. 

We had a baptism for a little girl in our ward this week! It was so cute! It made me think about Bubby. I have been thinking that I want to write him a letter and then you read it to him and everyone at his baptism as a surprise! And I know you will cry through the whole thing! I love you mom. I'm just planning ahead! Don't tell him! 

I forgot my camera so I will have to send you pictures next week I am so sorry! Or I will just send them later when I get the chance. 

I love you so much mom. You're the best ever. I love you!

Love, your missionary, Hermana Kiara Harker

Happy Thanksgiving mommy and family!

On Thursday we started the day off with tri-tip for breakfast with cheesy potatoes and apple cobbler. AND I GOT TO HOLD THE SWEETEST AND CUTEST KITTEN!!! I cried. Seriously. I was so excited and happy to see a freaking kitten and get to hold it that I cried. Especially after having a rough few weeks. I deserved that dang kitten. I'll send you a picture with me and the kitty. Well I love you guys so much and I miss you like crazy. Will you please send me the Banana Chocolate chip cookie recipe? We have some brown bananas yelling at me to be made into cookies. I love you!!

Love, Kiara:)<3

  (The kitty that made Kiara cry.)

A birthday party for a girl that was in our ward but moved out. We helped her and her family move a while back.

And us walking around before it started pouring rain! Crazy!

Te de canela (water boiled with a cinnamon stick sooo gooood!)

Thanksgiving Week

Nooooo max is getting so big! no!!!!!! I can tell from the pictures that he is going to have Bella feet. Big long L shape. I cannot believe Kate is married. Wow. Cow is so cute. Bellarie is gorgeous. I miss that book. (Pancakes for Breakfast)

Thank you for my package mommy. I loved it. It made me so happy. I'm wearing the pink sweater right now. 

I'm leading a discussion in our district meeting this week. All in Spanish...pray for me. 

Elder Oaks came and spoke to our entire mission!!! I shook his hand!!! It was so freaking cool!!!

WE ARE NOW IN A TRIO!!!  we have an addition to our companionship! her name is hna Balcazar she is from Bolivia and she is the sweetest. She's seriously a blessing. She is helping me so much with my Spanish and in return I will help her with her english! trade!

I will try to write you a letter later. I NEED MORE STAMPS!! 

I get another p day on Thursday for Thanksgiving. So I will email you more then.  I miss you so much mommy! 

 

A taste of Kiara's daily life in the mission field...

A normal day for me is as followed: Wake up at 6:20 (its not a rule to run every morning anymore and we can no longer work out in gyms:()but in our apartment complex we have a tennis court and basketball and soccer so we play and work out there with other missionaries. Get ready at 7. I eat cereal for breakfast (I love my Chex!), personal study at 8, comp study at 9, language study at 10, lunch at 11, and some training at 12. Then out going to appointments and contacting people and stuff from 1-9. We have member dinners pretty much everyday at 5. I love their food here.  The area where we live is pretty nice and our apartment is pretty nice too. We make it look cute and not like prison. But when we go out for the day, peoples houses range from down in the dumps with cucarachas to not too dirty. Cars are parked along all the roads in the neighborhood. Its hard to find parking. You can usually tell if the house we are at is housed by Hispanics because they have a broom and or mop sitting outside their front door. I love the people. Our kitchen is well stocked. Something I love to eat is tuna sandwiches with a fried egg on top. Wow, it is sooo good. 

I love you so much mama! Sorry I don't have very much time today, I miss you!

Love, Kiara 

Guerrita
Translation: white girl.

November 7, 2016

I have been called this so many times this week its insane. I've learned that Hispanics call you nicknames by your dominant feature. so if your fat they call you gorrito and since in a Hispanic community, and i am one of the only white girls, they call me guerrita. and the u has the two little dots above it and its super cool. 

I learned and can now sing a song in Spanish. its called: Sabes. its technically against the rules because it is a super romantic song but hey it is for language study! and because of that i am learning things to say in everyday life. because my gospel vocab is pretty solid. but when people talk about other normal things is when i struggle. so learning Spanish songs help. 

We were playing soccer this morning and my companion kicked me in the shin. i about died. it hurts really bad  and i already have a killer bruise. its fine. 

Last night we experienced a miracle. everyone we were planning on bailed or weren't home so we were driving thinking about what to do. then at a stop sign i put the car in park and said a prayer(in English) and asked Heavenly Father what He wanted us to do and who needed us and asking for Him to guide us to who needs us. and as soon as i said "amen" hermana Mendez said a part active family's name. and it was insane because i was thinking the EXACT SAME NAMES!!! Church is true. testimonies are growing here people. lives are changing. right in front of my eyes. OH and then so we drive over to their house and Emy (member) answers the door and says "shoot you guys are witches!" she then told us she was just thinking about us and when she was going to see us next. and then we were there at her door step. Holy Ghost. its amazing how the gospel works. I love it. I have gained such an appreciation for the Book of Mormon and praying to my Father in Heaven. I love it. i know that God answers every single one of our prayers. they  may not be the way we are expecting or wanting or around the time we are wanting, but He always answers us. Keep your heart and Mind open. 

My favorite chapters right now: 

2 Nephi 4

2 Nephi 9

Doctrine. 

There's a difference between enduring something and enduring well. anyone can endure. but to endure well is enduring to the best of our abilities and putting our part and our all into enduring. there is no finish line. there is always room for improvement.

I know that God is always here and there for us. Whenever we may be alone or feel alone, you are not. Your loving Heavenly Father is always there. And He will never leave you. He puts you through the challenges and difficulties you have for a reason. Because He  knows you can do all things. You know you can too. Because you already saw and knew everything that was going to happen on earth  before you came down. and you were like "ya i can take this". God and Jesus Christ are reaching their hands out to you. All you have to do is TAKE THEIR HAND. And i know they will help you. Because i have seen it time and time again here. There is nothing easy about a mission. The things i see and go through here are so hard. And then dealing with home, my sweet loved ones, my family, my Talon, my friends. I think about them everyday. And it is so. Hard. Dealing with the two together at the same time, i don't think i could have survived as long as i have here, without prayer and the Book of Mormon, without the help of my Heavenly Father. Whenever i feel like i am alone, i know i am not. Because i have my Savior. And i love the blessings i receive through studying the scriptures and praying to my Father in Heaven. 

I love you all so much it hurts. i hope you have a wonderful day and an even better week. you all impact my life more than you'll ever know. i love you!

love, Kiara:)<3  

Tu No Comes, Por Que?

Translation: you don't eat, why?

i was asked this question this week at dinner at a members house. her name is Hermana Mejilla she is a sweet older lady and her son is a hoarder. dinner was a chicken leg, rice, beans, and tortillas of course. it was really good. but my stomach was hurting and i had started my period so i had bad cramps and i didn't want to continue eating. i also had just gotten a bug out of my guava juice. so my appetite was long gone. but thankfully after she said this to me her son came out of his room and started rambling on about whoknowswhat. i was so distracted and embarrassed by what she said i started trying to finish what was in my bowl. i felt so sick. i tried to eat as much as i could. i hope she doesn't hate me. but after that we were about to get in the car to leave, but then we saw Robert's mom outside (he is the potential gang member that does tattoos and is never home) and so we talked to her. turns out she has family members that are members of the church and her and us have similar beliefs and so we were able to connect really well. she was super nice. which is a change because right before i said hello and asked how this woman passing was, and she completely ignored me. so the Lord blesses us. He gives us the hardships but then when we endure it well, He blesses us. Church is true!

i have made it a goal to try to speak only Spanish when we leave the home (which is around 1ish) until we then return home (9). its super difficult because we get distracted and start speaking in English again. constant battle. I'm catching up with understanding what people are saying but still struggling with speaking. so many prayers. still trying. its crazy that I've already been here in Cali for a month. its going by so fast. i only have six more weeks with my companion and then she will most likely get transferred to another area. 

we got dropped again. we were teaching this joven (young teenager around Bella's age[15]) even though she had her own religion already. we had put her on date for baptism just as a goal but she dropped us and didn't want us to come by anymore. that was really difficult. she said there was another woman coming by to teach her (Jehovah witnessed again) but we are still going to teach her mom English. that might be awkward. oh well. missionaries are awkward. whatchagonnado. 

we were able to go to the San Diego temple this past Friday! it was freaking awesome! so beautiful! and there was an elder that needed some family names done and so me and hna Mendez and some other sisters helped him out and it was such a sweet experience. Gospel blesses lives and families. 

i love you guys so much and i am so grateful for all you in my life. 

always thinking and praying for the people back at home! love you!

you're welcome.

love, Kiara:)<3

i was not drinking beer. our investigator Jorge was and he set it down to clean up a table and chairs for us to sit on so we could teach him more about the Gospel!

Kiara in Oceanside, CA

Me being me in the morning

Stuffing my face with a wicked good sandwich

Leaving a house where we knew people were inside but didn't answer the door-missionary life

Our trunk in trunk or treat for a ward fall festival party

And us at lunch one day:)

We picked up lots of new investigators. we are supposed to have four new investigators a week and we picked up 6. whoop whoop. we also had zone conference this week and it was super cool. something very much needed. we have also been pretty busy. our schedule has been pretty packed and busy. got another person on date for baptism and she's a Jehovah's witness so we will see how that goes. church is awesome. I'm starting to understand even more Spanish. so that's good. last night we finally got into contact with Robert, the possible gang member. he was drinking a beer when we got there. he showed us where he does tattoos and gave us his card. he's pretty cool. he's the one that has the Chargers logo tattooed above his temple on his head. he seems very interested so we will also see what happens with that.

I have gotten hooked on tamales. from a van. the Palacios are a wonderful loving family that are freaking awesome. they feed us every Friday night. and we help do service with cleaning their house, putting away groceries, and cleaning their huge pots and pans they cook tamales and elotes in. but its pretty fun. I've gotten good at saying "tamales, elotes, champurrado" I love sweet corn tamales, they are usually eaten as a desert. and then Rojas. they have jalapenos and cheese, they are kinda spicy but freaking delicious. good thing we have to run every morning or else I would be unhappy with my body.

Something cool that happened this week is I've been studying Christ like attributes in Preach My Gospel. this week was patience. because I need more because I have been super stressed and anxious all week. it has definitely helped. but I still need more. I'm breaking out like crazy. my face hurts. have to have deep breaths and try to be calm. God is testing me. He is trying my patience. Have to be strong. pray for me.

My Spanish is coming, one step at a time (Jordin Sparks). pray for me.

Yesterday consisted of strange smells and bugs. we sat with Sofia, the woman that is large and makes her clothes out of sheets. she has lots of health problems. her house smells like urine. so we were there for an hour and a half and we smelled funky afterwards. at dinner she was frying chicken and so we smelled like cooking oil. gross. and then we smelled like sweat and beer from Roberts house. there were also so many ants in Sofia's house. she has food all over on the ground so there are hundreds of ants crawling all over the place, and us. fun. and then there were cockroaches scurrying all over at dinner as well. because her son is a hoarder. is was a interesting day to say the least. but I love the people. they make life so much interesting and adventurous. good stuff.

2 Nephi 4

Alma 32

good stuff.

In relief society yesterday there was a woman and her son is leaving on his mission this week and she was crying the whole time. it was so sweet and it reminded me of you mom because you cry all the time :) I love you mommy:) and I know you love me!  please send me my health insurance:)

 

I love you guys so much and miss you like crazy. I hope you are having fun and being safe. I'll pray for you if you pray for me.

love, Kiara:)<3

-- 

Hermana Kiara Harker

California Carlsbad Mission

451 West Bobier Drive

Vista, CA 92083-1906

(for letters and packages;))

(This photo was sent to Wendy by a mom from North Logan, Utah.  The little boy is her son.  She also has a missionary and sent this cute picture of Kiara and Hermana Mendez.  It made her day!!!)

Kiara's district

This week i could definitely say was the hardest for me so far. I'm just being really hard on myself with the language because I'm still struggling with that. i know this is only my third week here and i shouldn't be fluent by any means. i just have a hard time getting my thoughts and points across in Spanish. but i can understand almost everything everyone is saying, but i just feel awkward sitting there because i never have anything to add to the conversation because speaking Spanish is difficult. but hna Mendez gave me a pep talk because i have received lots of compliments on my Spanish by members in our ward already, but just to tell me not to worry about it. it will take a lot of time for me to feel comfortable talking in Spanish. but we also went on exchanges this week. so i went to the area speaking English with the sister training leader. and that helped me so much with my confidence. because i was finally able to teach a freaking lesson! haha but yea it was really good. its what i really needed. because after we exchanged back we went into a lesson and i was able to teach so much better and it was so much fun. another struggle is just trying to stay happy. because we spend a lot of time studying and being serious, and I'm tired all the time and have little headaches from concentrating so hard on what people are saying in Spanish. i try to find little things during the day to keep me happy. or to remind me to be happy. like things i would say to my family. or punching Talon every time i see an out of state license plate or slug bug or yellow car. its the little things that get you through the day, right?

Something super awesome. we have two new people on date for baptism, November 5 and that is super exciting. so many little moments of inspiration that i don't think much about, but actually lead to huge blessings. for example: last night we were out of luck. all the people we were going to stop by weren't home. our appointments were falling through and all the people we needed to call were already called. after sitting there for a long time, i thought to look at our weekly goals and lessons and people we wanted to focus on. i came across the little family we are teaching: Alvaro, Mayra, and Bethany. they were scheduled earlier this week but had to cancel. they let us know via txt (which means they are actually interested because they let us know they couldn't make it). so i told hna Mendez we should stop by their house to see if they are home. true inspiration. because we drove by and they were! and we were able to teach them the Word of Wisdom and it was so successful. every time we go over there, they always offer us water or coffee and we almost always decline. after our lesson last night with them on the WOW, we invited them to try not to drink coffee and alcohol. they said that it would be hard but they knew they needed to. they say the same thing about baptism. which is amazing. they are truly elect. so they said they would! and they also told us they wanted to go to church with us that day but Alvaro had work. and they try to read the Book of Mormon whenever they have time. they are such an amazing and strong family. we have them on date for baptism this weekend as a goal, but they are living together and they would have to get married first so that will definitely postpone their baptisms. but i still think they are committed to it. and it makes me so happy. i couldn't stop smiling the whole lesson. and i got to teach them too! which is awesome! my grammar sucks but they understand the "international language" its not love, for all you Better Off Dead movie knowers, its THE SPIRIT!!! amen. 

Sorry this email is late, we went to Lego Land today because the YSA elders got tickets for our district. the whole time i was thinking about Max and how much he would love it. i wanted to get everyone souvenirs but they are so gosh darn expensive. its the thought that counts. those are the big things that happened this week. 

Other than my mom sending me my sick package in the mail last p day. i loved it and i love her so much. i also received my letter from Katie today, i love you guys so much. thank you all for your support and love. i miss you!

Love, Kiara:)<3