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Merry Merry Monday!

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle. Christmas has come and gone. Snap! That's it. Bye bye. But let's be honest...it was a beautiful reminder. A great check point for the year. People seem a little nicer around the holidays. It was SO nice talking to the fam bam on Christmas!! You are all so ridiculous. "Umm...I don't really want to take up precious phone time, but Nicole, where'd you put the paper towels?" -Dad. That's the good stuff. That's what I miss on boring Tuesdays. Brett and Nicole, I'm stoked for Big Mac's new room. Lauren-hang in there. Just listen to lots of Bowie--Chhh--chhanngess!! That should help. And maybe The Buttercream Gang. Mom and Dad--you two rock my world. Love you. THANK YOU for making Christmas so beautiful and fun!! I am SO grateful for you all!!

One of my favorite stories this Christmas comes from my friend Evelyn. Evelyn is one of the homeless women who frequents the outside of Temple Square. One day, Sister Kinman and I were on our way to our apartment. Just as we were leaving the gates of Temple Square, Evelyn called us over. "Sisters! Come here. I have something for you". She reached into the newspaper stand (which doubles as her cubbord) and pulled out a bag with a smiling snowman on the front. In it, some fresh fruit. "I know it's not much, but I'm just so grateful for you sisters. You never treat me like dirt".
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We thanked her profusely and she insisted we keep the fruit. I love what she said, "Well sisters, it's much better to give than to recieve, isn't it?"

Evelyn understands what Christmas is all about. She gets it. She definitely taught me a huge lesson this Christmas.

I'm grateful for the reminder about Christ, the ultimate gift giver. I like Christmas time because I get a season to try to figure out what Jesus Christ's gift really means.

Thanks for everything!!! I love you all so much!!

Enter New Year's!! I love it.

ALSO....Funny story of the week= me trying to help Sister Fang from Taiwan learn how to plunge a toliet in the U.S. THAT was quite the experience. Yep. Hilarious!

-Sisterere Ameirini Harmeriski

HOLLY JOLLY ALL-Y.

Welp. Merry Christmas. Happy Festivus. Happy Holidays. And all the best...essentially.

Can you believe that I'll be home in one year? Time is skating right along. I suppose that's your warning. Kid proof all the cubbords, I'll be home before you know it.

So, Big Mac, eh? I'm stoked about that little one. I keep dreaming (ok, twice) that I am at the hospital wearing scrubs and a hair net. Then everyone is laughing and telling crazy jokes and Nicole is red in the face and chewing lots of ice. Haha! I want real pictures of that. Then I wake up and start laughing.

FIRST OF ALL---LISA ELIZONDO!!! You have really outdone yourself. Thank you SO MUCH!!! You are so incredible!!! The jacket fits like a glove. SO classy. So you. I will be thinking of you every time I wear it. AND the silly bands...incredible. I'm kind of obsessed with them now. Whenever tweens come to the square, I try to use the topic of silly bands as a hip ice breaker. Most of the time I get rolled eyes, followed by sighs, then sheepish smiles...BECAUSE they know how cool those bad boys are. And the rest was all wonderful reminders of LCE. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!! I MISS YOU SO MUCH!!! AND, I will be paper responding to you--in detail....

Just as a disappointing, but honest, claim...to Lisa and everyone else I ADORE, you know who you are...including the fam bam...I am not sending gifts this year. I have zero time. None. Zilch. I kind of stressed out for a minute, then got over it, because I knew you'd all understand. Next year we'll all do a nice holiday lunch. Go big. You know. Celebrate. Hygge. Sorry in advance for the lack of physical gifts. I know you'd know that I adore and love you regardless. December 2011. Get ready.

With that....here are two fabulous Christmas videos: KIDDOS & GIVING

We met a Jewish woman this past week. Amazing lady. She's from (of all places) good old Rohnert Park. We swapped some Sonoma County stories for a while, then talked a little bit about God. We all talked about those incredible pioneers who walked across the U.S. due to religious persecution, but amidst their trials, became familiar with their Heavenly Father. She could understand. She had recently been through a divorce. It seemed like a pretty painful divorce too, she started tearing up as she shared more with us. She said something that really meant a lot to me--she said that when our hearts are broken, they're really a little more open. Truth. Loved it. We all understood. I'm sure you've been there too.

Something else that I loved this week was a hip family. 2 adults, 2 teenagers, one tween (yep. the word "tween" just made the e-mail again). We took them through a presentation here at Temple Square called "God's Plan for Families". It shows the life of a family. You know, parents a little overwhelmed out about a new baby, young kids who want to play with busy dad, grandparents who die. But hey--here's the message of hope. Life is good. It's about those moments when dad says "Maybe we'll teach her how to sing...she sure has the lungs for it" or when mom can assure her kids that they can be with grandma again, after they die. Well, the hip family family we were with was wonderful. When we asked them what they thought about it, Mom replied. Through some tender tears, looking at her busy family, she told us how its easy to get distracted from what's important. Our focus can get altered so quickly. Agreed. I learned a lot from her.

Well, I hope that you all drink an extra glass of Martinelli's on my behalf. Cheers to Christmas hygge. That's really the best there is.

LOVE you all!!!
Sister Amy Prancer Harmer

Sneaky "Service" Projects

Hello world!

This e-mail is going to be a little brief. My sincerest apologies. I need to budget my time a little better! Oops a doozles.

With that...some highlights:
•Here is the scoop on my new life:
•My new companion is Sister Kinman. She grew up in Michigan (Kalamazoo), but she moved to Ridgecrest California a few years ago with her family. She's fabulous. Get this--she definitely did Destination Imagination as a kiddo. Go figure. Basically, we have a very creative companionship
•We share an apartment with Sister Frye (from NAPA, California!!) and Sister Fang (from Taiwan!) They're both fabulous. You know, they put the toilet seat down and label the food in the fridge. All the good stuff.
•Christmas Dinner
•This week, a few of us (like, 3 companionship's) had the sneaky pleasure of going to a yummy Christmas dinner at a local Hospice building. They SPOILED us. I even met Scott Goodsell's parents! Hey-o! It was disguised as a "service project", but when we arrived, the lady that coordinated the whole she-bang said that we needed to make sure that the 30 people that were there had water in their glasses all night long. Oh, and butter on the tables. She said that service is the only way we could have been there.Blessings...
Love you all so much!! Definitely there will be more next week. I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy holidays!!

Love,
Sister Amy

LIGHT OF LIFE

It really is the most wonderful time of the year. Cliche...perhaps. But grand I tell you. Simply grand. This week, I thought I'd give you a top 5 events of the week. I'm all about bullet points, don't get me wrong. But I thought I would "WOW" you all with a numbered list. Oh alright....and bullets too. Bullets will kick us off. They'll be the "misillanious thoughts" category.

• HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
  MAIRE MCCANISTER. Happy Day oh Happy Day!!! I know it was yesterday, but I'm sure you understand this whole, once a week thing. I love you so much Maire Face. Please eat lots of layer cake and call it a HC Andersen cake from La Glace. If only.... I love you lady!! Oh! And if you get the chance, make latkas (I hope I spelled that right...) with Garid! I miss you two!!! Happy happy birthday!! I LOVE YOU!!!
  


• Mama CHELSEA Denster. Happy day to you! I heard about the feeding pump for Nicole. Ha! You know us Harmers...real classy. Grade A. I hope you have the best birthday ever. Maybe we'll bump into you in San Francisco and maybe your dad will almost give himself a concusion again this year. Love you!!
  


• UNCLE DAN!!!! Happy birthday!! I love you so much!! If I were home, I would be calling you and asking about directions to get off the island of Northern California. :) I love you so much!!! I'm eating lots of pie on your behalf. LOVE YOU!!
  


• CONGRATS BRETT ROBERSTON!!
  HOORAY Fancy brother-in-law/my sister's baby daddy! Hooray!! I am so grateful that you are so fabulously you. I hope that you all have so much fun in Vegas!! (And P.S...I keep meeting Lehi HS students. Haha! It's pretty fantastic. I always say..."Oh yeah, Do you know Brett Robertson, the Ag teacher?". The responses are always very positive. You're a pretty hip dude apparently. I don't need no high school student to tell me that one. You are fabuloso.
  


• THANK YOU DAD and PAIGE
  for the pictures of the baby shower!!! I relished those!! It was so nice to get caught up. It helped me feel like I was there. Thank you!!!!
  Next Wednesday is transfer day, so I might have a new P-day...so Thursday I might not be e-mailing. Just a heads up.

ALRIGHTY here's some of the high lights of the week.

• Jimmy Stewart---Yep. Last night, my companions (Sister Fox and Sister Everett) introduced the movie "Mr. Kruger's Christmas". When I asked the crowd who had seen it before, about 1/2 of them raised their hand. When I said, "Well, get excited. Jimmy Stewart's in there", a tween from the crowd said, "Who's Stewart?". My heart sunk as I gasped for air. Ok. Maybe a little dramatic...but I definitely felt old. I almost asked him to look up, keyword "JIMMY or JAMES STEWART" on his cell phone. Oh man....
  


• Dallin H. Oaks---Yes. I definitely met this apostle. Here's a link to his Bio: Dallin H. Oaks. But in the most unpredictable of circumstances. The hour was about, oh 6:15am. In the morning. No sunshine out yet. A group of us were assigned to go wash the mission vans. He came up to us and shook our hands, asked us where we were from and thanked us for our service. Nothing crazy. And yes. We were in our sweats.
  


• Reggie from Alaska/Japan---awesome guy. When Sister Fox, Sister Everett and I shared with him the scripture from Moroni: (click here to see it), we told him that he could read the Book of Mormon for himself. And that he could pray to find out if it's contents are really from God or not. There's one part that says: "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not btrue; and if ye shall ask with a csincere heart, with dreal intent, having efaith in Christ, he will fmanifest the gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost" He couldn't stop thinking about Lauryn Hill's "These things, these things...." Love it.
  


• Carol from Temple Square-- (she's my friend, and one of the the homeless women that frequent here) She admonished me when I didn't have a heavier coat on. "Where's your coat young lady?" "Oh I'm inside for a few hours" "Oh. Well, that's just me being mother hen..."
  


• LIGHTS---CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO of the lights at Temple Square. It's a great preview of where I am right now and what I'm doing. (It's about halfway down the page).
  

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

TAKE CARE!
Sister Amy Harmerino