It's a Threesome !!

dear family bizamily,

so i have two new companions, sister hite and sister Howard. seriously family, i have lucked out in the companion department, or maybe Malaysia just attracts really awesome people. but they are great, and it isn't even weird being in a threesome. it is actually kind of nice. sometimes when i have something i feel like i need to announce to the world, i can yell out, you guys!!.. its kind of nice. and talking to them has made me realize what an awesome family we have. i wouldn't change our family for the world. so i love you all, that is all i have to say.

on Sunday, it was fast Sunday, right? and so me and H and H decided to cook. curry to be exact. so the night before we happened up this tiny little market, just selling vegetables and fried food and stuff, so we bought a whole kilogram of raw chicken, and had them chop it up for us right there, we bought some curry, some potatoes, and on Sunday, we tried our curry experiment. I've cooked curry one other time with sister lim. so this time, instead of following the directions on the packet of curry, i decided to make up my own way (i mean, come on the packet didn't even call for coconut milk, what is curry with out it?) so we did it, cooked the chicken, curry, potatoes, added the milk, it was delicious!! it was so good, i can't wait to cook it for you when i get home!

sister hite always makes these rice experiments or tofu experiments, they always turn out pretty good. i hope you guys like rice, because that's what I'm going to cook for you. anywho, family, i gotta go, but i love you, stay awesome, okay?

sister Harrison

I'm in a Three some !?!

first off family, i apologize for not emailing you more last week, i was very frustrated because my computer kept turning off, and we had no time left, so basically, to heck with it. but a week has past and I'm over it, a lot has happened in one week. the first most important thing is, I'm sick. really, like i didn't know a human body could create that much mucus. (haha just kidding, i mean nosy stuff) and my voice is gone. but i think it is getting better, i had a fever for a few days, but I'm on the mend. Do you want to know something funny about Malaysia? the people here seem to get sick all the time, like every other week they're not at church because they have 'demum' which is a fever. its demum this and demum that. at the beginning i had no pity, what could possibly be making these people get sick, it doesn't even get cold here. they are afraid to get rained on because they are afraid of demum. but now i kind of understand, because they weather changes so fast here, its pounding heat and then rain and then heat again, i think it makes me sick to, i can't ever really remember getting a real fever before my mission, now i get them all the time. weird, I'm turning into an Asian!

in other news, missionary work in KK is awesome, i forgot how much i love it here. it is a really fun place to live, we take buses everywhere, buses to the airport, buses to the hospital, its awesome. the branch here is so cool, its big, and it has tons of young single adults, and it actually has enough people to fill most of the callings, unheard of!

oh yeah, i forgot to tell you, my companion, sister Goodwin, finished her mission yesterday. it was pretty sad to see her go. she would have fit right into our family, sometimes listening to her talk sounded just like Jamie or Tracy. AND, she used to listen to the same yellow tapes when she was little, you know the ones, standin' tall, 'Mr. Robinson Mr. Robinson!' 'what a terrible mess' 'i hit your window with my ball, and i've come to confess'......'i'm proud of you child, for you showed honor,' 'I told the truth!!' and she remembers lots of them too. what more can you ask for in a companionship that to be able to sing about "Captain Dependable" together? but now she is gone, and instead of having four sisters in KK we just have three now. so I'm in my first ever threesome on the mission, and I'm probably going to finish off the mission this way. Sister Hite and Sister Howard are their names. S. howard is from Seattle, and S. Hite is from North Carolina, but she went to elementary school in Utah, so we could reminisce about playing the Oregon Trail and even sing the Utah song together. its not exactly standin' tall, but it'll do.
i have mixed feelings about threesomes, first off, its going to be awesome (before i moved to KK i was kind of sad that i never got to be their companion, but now, here i am..) but its kind of hard to teach in a threesome, kind of overwhelming when you're knocking, and if you take a member its like a Mormon takeover. right now we're trying to get used to teaching together, so far the problem is our lessons are pretty long and intense because we all have been on our missions for awhile now and we all have things to say. and it is kind of dumb to finish your mission in a threesome, i feel like the third wheel, they just stuck me here so i had a place to be until i die. i hate feeling like that. but i know I'm supposed to be here, and if being in a threesome is a necessary evil, it couldn't have happened in a better place, with better companions and a better branch. it is awesome here! so it is worth feeling like Mormon takeover.

I'm going to be so sad when this is over. missionary work is fun and it fills you up, so much stuff to do and people to see, everyone always says they love the people, and you know what? they are right. so so many good people, just every day people. it makes you never want to be mean to anyone ever again. I'm so glad i came on my mission, have i ever said that? it was worth everything. all the riding bikes in a skirt, and the sweatiness and the ugly clothes, all the crazy things Malaysia does to your skin. it was all worth it just to have this little glimpse into people's lives, to come and feel like you are their family. I feel like this week, i had a glimpse into what real charity is like. i think in a lesson i was feeling impatient or annoyed with someone, i can't remember. and then i wondered why i was feeling that way and tried to get over it, really concentrate on the lesson and the people, and then, bam, i love these people so much! who are these people? their house is one room, and they were sharing just a bit about what the gospel meant to them. that's all, but it was so cool. this was sister Roslina, the one that came to church for the first time my last week in KK, a year ago! awesome.
i love you family! sorry if i overuse the word awesome, sometimes that's the only way to describe things!

rindu sama kau,
sister Harrison

I'm going Crazy and I'm Transferred

mom and dad,

well first off, my address is the exact same as it was when i was in KK last time, do you still have it? if i remember right
B7-12 Maria Court Condominium
Lorong Api-api
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah 88000
Malaysia

I'll let you know if i get the mail. oh, and if you have any question you can just send it to the mission office, and that will come right to me, too.

I'll tell you one thing, family, it was so so so cool to come back to KK. i went to church, and after the meeting started, a lady walked in with her two kids. my last day in KK last year, was her first day at church. i got to sit next to her in Sunday school, and she was answering all the question, and it was so cool. and now her sister is baptized, whom i had only taught one time, and it was so cool to see people that i had worked with a lot still there at church, gosh, i don't think very many missionaries get to see that, and I'm really grateful. i love the branch here. i felt bad, like i was betraying Kuching, but one week here, and i love the people so much, and there are tons of new people i don't know, and it is so fun. and so crazy to be back in the old area, taking the same buses i took a year ago, seeing the same people that worked at the bus terminal a year ago, I've been living in the twilight zone for the last week! Goodwin is a great companion, and I've already learned a lot from her. its so fun to be with her, she is from San Fransisco, already graduated in history from Berkley, into music and food, i really think that she would fit right into our family. sorry, Matt and lance, she has a boyfriend. but i invited her over when we are going to Matt's house for his graduation. we'll bring some Indonesian karaoke. and she wants to go rollerskating with us too. but enough about that. me and sister Goodwin got name cards made, just enough for the rest of her mission, and we got this brilliant idea that they should have our pictures on them, I'm sending one of these name cards, they are awesome. you will see. so we are having fun and contacting people like crazy. the work is definitely different here, but it is good to be back.

oh and guess what? we just got back from Mt. kinabalu today, the whole time i was here last year i wanted to go, so we just went, we didn't hike all the way up, but it was sweet. the tallest mountain in southeast Asia. anyway, parents, i love you, so much, I'm so excited!

sister harrison

PS. since I've been back here, people have said that I've gotten skinnier, I've gotten fatter, I've gotten taller (which i actually think may be true, if that is even possible, I'm a solid 5'6", maybe a little above, and before i never was, is that possible?!) I've gotten prettier, my hair has gotten longer and my legs have healed. pretty good. i'll take it. and in relief society, when they announced that I'd come back, all the ladies clapped for me, so nice, huh?

Transfers, baby

hey mom and dad I'm writing you from a new place!

i just flew into KK like two hours ago, it is crazy town. i never guessed that I'd come back here, never in a million trillion years. but here i am, my new companion is sister Goodwin, and she has three weeks left on her mission. haha, I'm killing of another missionary. but she's awesome, when i came into sibu at the beginning of my mission, she was in the same house, four sister in that house. and now, there are four sister in this house in KK, and I'm with Goodwin again! dang, it still doesn't seem real. i had to say goodbye to everyone in kuching, and it was so sad. i didn't know it was possible to feel that way. that is such a good branch. and as always, we have a baptism next week that i am missing, oh yeah. but KK is awesome. i can't believe i got to come back to sabah. it was exactly a year ago that i came here. i came last year on February eighth, and i came this year on February ninth. insane!!

so sad to leave sister lim, too. they are splitting up my old area, and bringing in two elders, so she has to show her new companion and two new elders around our area, and our area is huge! it is kind of a perfect time to split, though, kind of a miracle, we just started having good investigators in the area the elders will be taking, so they will have good people to work with right off the bat. very sad to give up good people though. one of them, Lidia, was so cute, she said to me at church that she was sad because she just barely started learning, (her family has been members for years) seriously, we've only taught her once, and now i have to leave. gosh, i like the people there so much.

but in other news, sulin and simbut made dinner for us before i left, and we ate jellyfish! you don't cook it, just put it in this spicy liquid, and it is delicious. the texture is just like really firm jelly, it was so good, and they said that they would make it again when you guys came, haha. but the interesting things i have eaten just keep racking up, jellyfish, chicken feet, pig's ear, pigs intestine, very good, by the way, if you know how to cook it. the sisters in sibu got feed dog by some of their investigators. oh yeah.

i love you mom and dad, being a missionary is awesome,

love,
sister 'i forgot it was winter in America, suckers' Harrison

Short and Sweet !

I'm sorry but this email has to be super fast because my time is up and we have to go home to go to this thing for Chinese new year! Chinese new year is absolutely crazy here. gong xi fa cai. I'll write you more in the letter.
today was such an awesome email day, shout out to mom, dad, lance and Kim! sorry lance and Kim, i will write you next week, but i loved you emails. i love my family!

today i will say that missionary work is awesome, we have met some pretty golden people recently. i used to think that golden people were few and far between, but then i came on a mission, and it seems like we are always meeting them! well, relatively always. a member brought his friend to church last week, and he was commenting in class, about how the holy ghost feels, and then we talked to him after church, and he says he really has wondered why there are so many different churches who teach different things, and then he texted us to set up and appointment. he wanted to meet on Sunday, so i said, how about we meet you right after church? all sly, and he said, yep, that's great, I'll see you at church. ! his name is elister. I'll send you a picture when he is baptized. haha. but i love it here, and guess what? already registered for summer semester, look out byu. I'm taking two dance classes. bad idea? we shall see. not very much selection, word up.

loveyou family, so much. maybe next week I'll have a new companion. we know nothing yet, but I'd be willing to bet a lot a ringgit. love you!

sister Harrison

I have a miracle Baby! (It's not what you think !!)

dear mom and dad,

good week this week. first off, sister lim is a miracle baby. do you remember when a car rolled over her hand and nothing happened? this week, we were riding down this neighborhood like road, she was going pretty slow because we were going to turn, and a car came and drove pretty fast around her, and as he came around her, his bumper hit the front wheel of her bike. it was loud, too. but she didn't even fall or anything, and nothing happened to her bike! the guy stopped up the road, and got out, all mad, we were just standing in the road, no way were we going over there, he checked his car and drove off. crazytown. haha, and then the next day we were going up a hill, and sister lim ran into a parked car! sister lim's balance isn't that great, and I've taken to riding behind her on the bike, just to watch her, and sometimes its kind of scary, maybe I'm just paranoid, but i feel like i notice a lot of close calls. not that much, but sometimes. but the other day we were coming back from an apartment complex that is kind of far. before we left we prayed for our next appointment, and as an after thought, i prayed that we would be safe. and then one minute later, we were waiting to turn onto this road, a car is coming, pretty fast, and sister lim starts going, aah! sister lim! I'm yelling, there is a car! she got across okay, she said he was in the other lane, but he wasn't, and it was way scary. I'm glad she's still here. sister lim is definitely a miracle baby, but lets not push our luck.

one cool thing about missionary work, is that you get to see people from the start, and see how they change, and sometimes you can detect the thing that really opened them up, that made them excited about the gospel, and its different for every person. sometimes at the beginning of teaching people, they have the attitude of, okay, sure, I'll listen. but then something clicks and then they are all in, and eating up what you say and at church every week, its really cool. for simbut, she didn't even like listening, and only listened because her husband wanted to, but after she came to church for the first time, she loved it, and it was her answering the questions, and sharing the gospel with her friends. we are teaching this other lady, Emba, and she listened at first because she didn't have any other religion. but one day we brought a member over who shared her testimony and experience, and all emba needed was a friend with her. before she never would commit to come to church, but after she met sister Mellon and sister Ida, she really wanted to learn, and church was no problem. its very cool. we had a lesson last night, that was really cool. it was our first time meeting this family, a dad, a mom, and an 18 month old. they were so friendly. we asked them if they had ever heard of the bible, and she said yes, and got up to get it, and lo and behold she brings back a book of Mormon. missionaries had taught them a little a long time ago. we just shared a little about prophets and Joseph Smith, and about heavenly father, but what we said really touched Jenny, the wife. i think that was the opening point for her. we asked if we could come back and Sasok, the husband said maybe after Chinese new year (nooooo...!!! Chinese new year is two weeks long, ps) but then i asked them if we could meet once before Chinese new year, 'can we come next Tuesday?' i said, and jenny said, 'boleh, boleh boleh!' (can, can, can!) but I'm so excited for that family, they were so easy to talk to, like we had been friends for a long time already. and we just found them knocking, i think we only knocked like doors that day, we just had a little extra time, and i like them so much now, even after meeting only one time.

but changes are coming, me and sister lim can feel it, we've already been companions for five months now, can you believe that? it is seriously crazytown. i love the mission! and its going by in a flash. i love you family!

sister Harrison

PS i love sister lim so much. sometimes i get stressed out about numbers, and its bad, because that isn't really the important part. but we were singing 'let us all press on' (an awesome missionary song, PS) and she pointed out a good line for me, 'we will not retreat, though our numbers maybe be few....' haha! she's awesome

Singapore, it's still there!

hi mom and dad!

parents, things are going so good here in kuching. i just barely got back from visa run in Singapore, that is why i am late emailing you. there were three other sisters there, and it was really fun. we got to go out to lunch with sister lim's mom, and we got to see the 'merlion' which is like Singapore's mascot, and i got yelled at for drinking water at the metro station. apparently there is no eating or drinking on the metro, and i found out, hard, that it includes water, too. sheesh. Singapore put me on a little high because everyone thought i was so funny there. recently, i feel like I've been losing my sense of humor, but its back, baby!

oh here's a funny little story for you. of course, here, everyone tries to guess the transfers and who is going where and who is training who, blah blah blah. me and sister lim basically worked it out that i have to be training next time, two new sisters come at the beginning of February. I'm almost 100 percent sure one will come here, but we will see. so i was talking to sister hite, we were getting our bags out of the car, and i was saying something about how i was sad i never got to be her companion, because we get along really well (she thinks I'm funny, and so i like her). and so i say," when i get my new trainee, she'd better be fun" forgetting the whole while that my mission president is waiting just outside the car, and that i really have no idea if i am going to train or not. oops. i hope he didn't hear me. i tried to backpedal a bit, 'uhh, i mean, if, uhh, thats just what me and sister lim think..' oh gosh.

also while we were in Singapore, they had us sing songs from the children's songbook in Malay, so they could record them, make cds, and give them out to members. oh yeah. just one person singing their heart out. i sang four songs, a child's prayer, he sent his son, when i am baptized, and stars were gleaming. it was pretty scary, and he played your voice right back out to you, yikes. but we got through it, and i stopped worrying about how my voice sounded, because i was mostly stressed out about the pronunciation and stuff, and whoever laid down the music track had an odd sense of timing, there were definitely a few rouge formattas in there. I'll save a CD so you can hear my voice. lovely.

but i love you, mom and dad, there are a lot more stories, but they will have to wait. say hi to everyone for me!

sister Harrison