Tender Mercies

Parental Note: Amy will be speaking in church on New Years Day January 1, 2012 at 10:00 am in the Los Gatos Building on Rose Ave in Monte Sereno, California.

• Here we go….the final e-mail….






• Mai. You’ve changed my mission. More than that, you’ve changed my life. Thank you for being incredible. And human. I totally respect you. I look up to you so much and can not WAIT to see where life takes you…besides obviously hanging out. Thank you for the e-mail. You may NEVER know how much you’ve impacted how I live and the choices I make every day. Thank you so much!!!






• Sister Moisio….I am obsessed with you. Obviously. I hope you’re ready to be eternal friends. The Scandinavian way of friendship. Real friendship. You know. We went to Jade market today. I had to tell him about the Panda clouds. J We bought some in your honor.



• Jessica Walton! Hooray! I got word that you will be serving a mission in Portugal! Hooray for full-time missionary service. And hooray for JOY. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you. I know I’ll be sending you a letter or two, obviously. I have a testimony of those. And stickers. And the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.



• SHOUT OUT TO BIG MAC!! SHE’s the BEST niece in the world. Ever. If you disagree, we can settle the matter over a game of Scrabble or Scategories.



• I have the greatest family and friends in the world. Mom. Dad. Nicole. Brett. McKenzie. Lauren. Brett. Grandma & Grandpa Davis. Grandma & Grandpa Harmer. Uncle Dan & all the beautiful Davis family. Margaret. Bobbi. Tiffany. Lisa. The Knudsens. The Hodgmans. The McAdams. The Woodlands. And everyone in between….you’ve made these 18 months so special. Seriously. I am SO grateful for you all. Thank you.



• What’s the deal with the animal hats?? Honestly, we see a gazillion of those every day. You know the ones I’m talking about. Beanies disguised as animals. Sometimes, if Sister Mettra and I are serving in the Westgate booth, we get to see the whole zoo walk by. And this isn’t just 3 year olds. Grown adults. Maybe they are the style. Maybe I’m out of touch. Well, here’s a few of my personal favorites: monkey. owl. hot green pig. frog. bear. yogi bear. rabbit. shrek. wolf. ladybug. buffalo. shark. deer. kangaroo. monster with teeth.



• Dorothy…and Tanya. This phone call is probably one of the best in the past 18 months. In February I spoke with a woman, Jackie. Jackie wanted to know the directions to her nearest chapel. She shared with me that she was learning more about the church with her local missionaries. She told me how happy she and her family were as they learned with them. Before she hung up, I invited her to think about someone who would benefit from our message of hope. Without a hesitation, she told me about Dorothy, her mother-in-law. LONG story short, I called Dorothy and she did in fact, want to learn more about the gospel
  from the local missionaries. We called her and helped her learn a little before the local missionaries arrived. After she started meeting with them in Arizona, I didn’t really hear much about Dorothy…until this week. I called her back to follow up. And I started crying my face off. She’s doing fabulous. She shared with me that this has been one of the happiest years of her life. She was baptized. Has been attending church. Loves the scriptures. Received her patriarchal blessing. Preparing to enter the temple…in February. She’s got a
  beautiful heart.

Here’s what my week looks like. Amongst other things…some highlights:

• Thursday— Departing interview with President Holmes. Driving a sister to the dentist. Teaching Jacob the 20 year old astrophysicist in Texas & Osie in Ghana.



• Friday—Departing sister’s Temple Day.



• Saturday— Baptism of Sam, a recovering meth addict Sister Mettra and I took on a tour.



• Sunday—Sister Mettra is singing “O Holy Night”…she’s an incredible opera singer.



• Monday—Lunch & departing testimony meeting. Packing. Final choir concert.



• Tuesday—Fly home.

So I’ve been beating my head against the wall, trying to summarize the past 18 months. Ironically, a greasy 17 year old helped provide the answers. While Sister Mettra and I were serving at the North Visitor’s Center desk, in walks a boy. He’s wearing a bright red sweater with “Nintendo” plastered on it—as if to say, “watch out, I’m a gamer”. Well, come to find out, he is preparing to serve a mission.

• Me: Really?! That’s great. Why do you want to serve a mission.



• D: Well, it’s actually pretty simple. I want to help other people know about the joy that comes from the restored gospel. Think of it this way… it’s just like the Book of Mormon. It starts and ends with mercy.



• Me: That’s interesting. I never thought of it that way.



• D: Yep. Check it out: “But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (1 Nephi 1:20).



• Me:

Honestly, I think that’s the best way to describe my mission. It started and is ending with so much mercy. So much. My sister had a precious, healthy baby. My Dad survived a car accident. Family and friends are developing strong testimonies. For me, the most tender mercies have been seeing my companions feel more confident than the day before….about themselves and their testimonies. Praying with Joachim in Ghana. Sipping on fresh pineapple drinks. Counting couples on Valentine’s Day, brides on the weekends or animals hats at winter. Bumping into hundreds of Danish people…and understanding what they say. Danish people understanding me. Walking by modern day apostles who are humble enough to acknowledge you and say hello. Understanding a scripture. Understanding a person. Understanding myself. Tender mercies I tell you. Tender mercies. My heart has been punched out like dough, expanded painfully and filled to the brim with the most lasting joy I’ve ever experienced. I know that God really is my Father. I’m really His daughter. He loves me. I know that He loves all His children unconditionally. Because He loves us, He’s provided a way to return to live with Him. That way is clear. The way is centered on the atonement of Jesus Christ . The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through a living prophet. I’ve come to know that this is all true. Through so many different experiences. Mainly me and God. The two of us. Through prayer, scripture study and personal experience. It’s beautiful. It’s all about JOY and ETERNAL happiness.

• Thank you all for your love and support.



• I’m not sure if I’ll ever write on this blog thing again. Who knows. Maybe if I travel the world. You’ll need to know about those adventures too, of course.



• Love you all so much.

I get home December 20th. Afternoon. Get in touch with me if you want to explore the Bay Area!

See you soon.

Bark Like a Dog

WOWZERS. Can you believe this moment is here? I will be flying home to San
Jose on December 20. Very crazy. After this, one more e-mail. Then...BAM.
H-O-M-E.

• Happy birthday Uncle Dan and Grandpa Davis!!!!!! Hooray!! Two of my FAVORITE
  people!! Thank you both for all of the support you've given me. Honestly, you two have been some of the greatest examples to me of charity, love and sincerity. THANK you for everything!! I hope you both get to celebrate with sunshine!


• Jacob in Texas is wonderful. Sister Mettra and I got to share more with him about the plan of happiness that God has for us. He's a little confused about Adam and Eve; subsequently, he presented us with a few questions. Well, he wanted to know why God would let Adam and Eve make mistakes, when he knew that they would be punished. To help Jacob understand, I shared a story about me + camping. (Lauren-you'll remember this one....) So, we were camping. The Quinns, the random Harmer, and loads of friends. Well, Marley, (Lauren's dad) says, "Harmer, take this dog collar, put it on your neck, and bark like a dog". What did I do? Of course, I take the challenge. And what happened? I put that collar on my neck, barked like a dog and got shocked. Surprise surprise. But that's the case with Adam and Eve. They knew what was about to happen. But they still had a choice. And there was a consequence. God didn't love them any less. If there was no Fall, there would be no need for a Savior. There is always a reason why bad things happen. As a side note, Jacob is from Texas. Jacob does not favor California. Oops. That's where we're both proudly from.


• Turner!! is hilarious. He's fabulous. And he is getting a trendy mullet cut.


• SPEAKING of hair cuts....Sister Mettra and I have had quite the day. This morning we woke up and went to The Original House of Pancakes and ate breakfast. After which...hair cuts!! We must look FRESH. Check. Lexie did a great job. And the pecan pancakes were delicious.


• I really liked what Sister Paravato said this week in church. She said: "My
  mission didn't change me, Jesus Christ did".


• Just in time for Christmas....videos from the scriptures: this is the gift to the world...from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.


• Shepards: this is my favorite of the bible clips


• Gratitude: brings a calming peace. Love this one. This one's for you Dad. Hang in there.


• Next week, I think all I'm going to write about is what I've learned. It will be my final e-mail. It's really hard to boil 18 months into one e-mail, but throughout the week, I'll brainstorm and try to come up with a list. You know me + brainstorming + lists. Whew! Watch out world...

Love you all so much!! have a wonderful week!! Let me know if there is
anything I can do for you!

-Sister Harmer (for less than two weeks..

Happy birthday BRETT!!!!! It's your day!! TODAY!! Hooray!! Go by the BAY. Make some clay. Have a hay day. What do you say?

• First Presidency Christmas Devotional! We get to go to this very special night!! Hooray!!
  


• Savior of the World-- the Musical drama. Personally, I loved this performance. Sister Mettra and I went to the show last Wednesday night. We arrived to the Conference Center theatre with our tickets and no expectations. I enjoyed it so much! It was wonderful!! The music was fantastic. Costumes were charming. The Shepards were my favorite. I am grateful for them. And for Mary. Overall, just what I needed to kickstart Christmas.



• Inger the Dane. I spotted this lovely grandma on her way to the restroom. I was at the North Visitor's Center desk. In high traffic hour. Christmas lights were on. It was night. About a gagillion people. And she just strolls up to yours truly. Well...Sister Harmer knows a danish accent when she hears one. But without assumption, I asked her where she was from. B-i-n-g-o. Viva la Danmark!! I loved her! She came back from the restroom and proceeded to listen to the various choir performance, whilst knitting a sock. I asked her how long it took her per sock. 6 hours...if you were curious. She was ranting that people here in the US all love knitted socks



• Barbara and Joseph!!! Sister Moore says you were here! Sister Mettra and I would like to officially give you both cyber hellos. And to tell you that we adore Red Robin and the Christmas Club (but we were sworn to secrecy about the latter).



• Thanksgiving was incredible. Turkey. Rolls. Turkey hands. Fun. Pretty sure there was a little line dancing and limbo involved. And Beauty and the Beast. I saw the last half of How to Train a Dragon. I thought the dragon was adorable. I was too distracted to pay attention to the rest, but loved that sniffly, fierce dragon.



• Preston!! I'm sure Sister Mettra's blog will be a far better description of the Preston miracle. He's in Iowa. Seeking lots of answers. We kept promising him that he would only find truth on his own. We wouldn't be able to convince him about anything. But the refreshing piece to learning more about the gospel, is the promises from God. We are promised that if we seek, we will find. Preston had heaps of questions. And he found answers through personal study, prayer and experience.
  
  


• Pillow cases--Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the cozy pillow cases!! We love them! They go with our matching pajamas now!!! And the poem to match was just practically perfect. I'm very much looking forward to having our next fishing trip. We must catch up on about 18 months worth of life.
  30,000 visitors a day--that's the projected amount of people we expect here. 1 million over the course of 30 days. True life--I serve at Temple Square.
  


• Family--I think my FAVORITE people of the week would be a darling family. A mom. A dad. 4 little boys. Bundled in scarves and winter gear. We went through the family presentation here called God's Plan for Families. (Still my favorite). The whole time, the boys were SO respectful. Offering a "thank you" here and a "oh...excuse me" there. Holding the doors for the group. Just super sincere. And honestly, at the end, Sister Mettra and I couldn't help but feel what a solid family they were. I want that. Respectful. Sincere. Good.



• I feel like my experiences here at Temple Square are preparing me for a life filled with JOY!

Well. I love you all VERY much!!