Some of Janelle's pictures have not been posted on here previously due to a cantankerous computer. So, while the going is good, we'll try to get them on today. Enjoy!

 

 



 

Snow Angels!
 



Mission Conference in Salina, Utah- Sept. 2013
with Elder & Sister Bednar and Elder and Sister Clayton
(Hna Burner is on the right side, 3rd row)

December 16, 2013

Hola familia y amigos!

So I have an interesting story for you! When I was in Bloomington Hills, I was talking to someone about my gluten allergy and they suggested that I should go to this doctor, Dr. Pi......n because his specialty is curing allergies. They gave me a card and everything, but I just disregarded it. Anyways, so when I came to Coral Canyon I noticed that one of our bishops' names was Bishop Pi.....on, so I kinda wondered about that...and then after this transfer started, Sister Ri....a told me about how she had gone to Dr. Pi.....on, who was that bishop, and he had cured her of a meat allergy. So she pushed me into making an appointment with him today. Anyways, so we went this morning and it was one of the neatest experiences I have had in a while!

His whole field of study is so interesting. He studied under some research scientist about electromagnetic fields, which science has known for about 100 years has existed around each being. But he said that Joseph Smith knew before that--the electromagnetic field that science has discovered is evidence of how everything is created spiritually before it is physically. Anyways, so his work is kinda like magnets--he works with allergies in the body to make them like a positive to a negative magnet, instead of being like two positives facing each other, which creates repulsion.  Which is what the body does to reject an allergen. Anyways, so he had me lie down on my back with a vial of a substance in one fist, and then raise the other hand above my head facing away from me. He would push on that hand and I would resist, but if I was allergic to the substance in my other hand, my arm would become weak and I wouldn't be able to resist. Anyways, he did it with a few different substances, telling me what they were afterwards. I was able to resist Calcium, Vitamin C, citrus, and chicken/eggs/feathers, but when he put the gluten one in my hand and pushed my outstretched arm down, it shot down like a rock. I was like, "Wait! I don't know what just happened!" Haha he tried it one more time, and again I couldn't resist at all. It was super trippy! Anyways, he's trying to cure it now so he did something to adjust my electromagnetic field...it's hard to explain, but I had to have the gluten vial touching my fingertips, and then he ran a pulse thing down my spine.

Other neat thing though, he said that when he was researching and studying from the neuroscientist lady, he asked her why it had to be touching the fingertips, and she said that all energy is conducted through the fingertips. Like the Spirit working through the laying on of hands...it is done by touching the fingertips to the person's head. Also, after sending the pulses down the spine, he had to put this vibration thing against certain pressure points in the body: middle arm, between the thumb and pointer finger, between the first two toes, and the ankle. But the scientist explained to him that it doesn't need to be done to children under eight because for some reason their magnetic energy is already in balance...I wonder why it changes at age eight. Anyways, it's hard to explain everything, but it was so fascinating! Basically, all truth comes from our Heavenly Father, so it all connects. Science just more and more proves things that God has already told us. After this life we are probably all going to look back and marvel at how infant our knowledge was in comparison to God's knowledge!

So I have this vial of gluten taped on my shoulder that he said needs to be there for 24 hours, and then next time we will test out gluten. I'm a little scared of that, but he is a bishop so I know I can trust him, plus he has a doctorate in this stuff and has cured all kinds of allergies, not to mention that he is has cured gluten allergies hundreds of times. : )

This weekend is Be.....'s baptism!! I am so excited! I hope that everything goes well with it...we are going to invite our investigators to it as well :) Wahoo!

I am looooving being full-proselyting! My companion is so great, we have full study time each day, we get to go to the wards we cover for church every Sunday, we live in our area, we don't have to worry about appointments clashing with time that we are in the Visitors Center...everything is just so great! I am loving it. And we are working hard to set up lots of appointments so that we keep ourselves busy. Especially since there is still tons of snow outside! I am hoping that that will go away soon.

I can't wait to see/hear you all next week! Ahhh can you believe that Christmas is so close? And that it is my second Christmas on my mission?! Weird, right?

I love you all so much!

--Sister Burner

 

 
 

Who just happens to have an unused toaster in their new apt?! ME!! I can toast my gluten free bread instead of accidentally burning it in the oven! Tender mercy!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 After transfer meeting at the vc.

 

December 9, 2013

Hey everyone!

This last week has been pretty crazy! Starting Saturday it snowed like crazy, and now there is tons of it everywhere. Whoever said that it never snows in St. George, or that it is hot all year, is officially fired. But I am grateful that thus far all of the missionaries have been safe!

Saturday night it was pretty scary on the road, so after we went to a Ward Christmas Party at 6:30, we headed home, giving ourselves about an hour leeway because we needed to stop at the gas station to tank up. I drove super slow--about 20 miles per hour tops, and even that was kinda sketchy so I only did that on the most clear roads. And I took the back roads instead of going on the freeway. When we got to the gas station we started to pull in behind another car, but stopped because it was a bit uphill into the gas station and the other car started to spin out. For a couple of minutes there I was seriously afraid that we were going to get hit because it was spinning towards us and the wheels had zero traction. It all seemed to be in slow motion. Sister P..... asked if she should hurry and get out to back me up (mission rules, we cannot back the car unless there is a missionary outside to back us) but I was afraid that if she got out, the car would hit her, so I told her to stay there. The car was heading towards her side of the car, and there was one point where I almost told her to jump into the back behind me. But then the car stopped spinning and was able to come to a stop and pull forward into a parking space. All of that happened within probably 30 seconds. I am completely sure that there were angels there protecting us.

After that, I was scared to pull into the gas station but two YSA guys stopped next to us and pushed our car up, then went on their way. I am SO grateful that God sent those young men to us--I don't know what I would have done! And as our car was filling up with gas, we were able to return the favor and help push someone else out of the gas station. But the drama continued--two people parked in front of us as we were filling up, so the only way to get out was for Sister P..... to back me down the hill that we had gone up. I went as slow as possible, but the car wouldn't move unless I gassed it. Thank goodness when I did that it only moved a little bit at a time. Poor Sister P...... was so afraid that she would slip on the ice and the car would run her over. But again we were protected by those not within our sight :) There haven't been very many times in my life when I have prayed so fervently in gratitude for being alive as I did when we were pulling away from the gas station and heading home.

On a different note, I am so excited for this upcoming transfer! I am going to the other half of the Washington East stake, with Sister Ri..... Sister Po..ter just finished training her there, and guess where Sister Po..ter is headed? Huntington! Anyways, so I already know and love my new companion :) I think that I have unfinished business in Leeds--I felt like that even when they switched us to Coral Canyon, so I am grateful that I get to go back there now! Sister P...... is staying in Washington East 2 and getting Sister Al.... as her companion. And Sister He..... is headed out to Kaibab! That stake covers Colorado City, so she is pretty scared of seeing so many polygamists. But she will do great! And she is going to be in my zone so I will see her at ZTM! Happiness :)

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe week!
I love you so much!

--Sister Burner

 

 

 

November 27, 2013

Hola familia!

 One of my favorite moments this last week happened yesterday. We are allowed to do at least 2 hours of service each week, so yesterday we went to a rest home in Coral Canyon and visited with the residents. Everyone was so friendly and excited to have visitors! And the nonmembers were just as excited to see us as the members. It just felt nice to have people so excited to see us because lately we haven't been meeting very many friendly people! 

I already mentioned this when I sent pictures, but I just love St. George in the fall! Every once in a while wind will stir up and a lot of the leaves will fall off of the trees at once. It looks like it is raining leaves outside. For the first second I'm always sad that the trees are losing their leaves, but then I get caught up in how magical it feels to have leaves all around me in the air! And I just love seeing colorful leaves everywhere. It makes me want to have a leaf fight or make a big pile and jump in it. But then I remember that I am a missionary and probably shouldn't do that! But still, the feeling here is so neat. Especially since we have our Christmas decorations up in the Visitors Center, and Thanksgiving will be here tomorrow!

Well, I hope that you all have a wonderful week, all things considered. Enjoy family time for what it is, despite the occasion :)

Send my love to everyone!

--Sister Burner

 

November 20, 2013

Hola familia y amigos!

I had some neat experiences this week. One happened a few days ago about 10-15 minutes before we were going to close the Visitors Center. I noticed a man and his young adult son sitting on the chairs right next to the door. They looked like they had stopped in just as an afterthought. I went over and sat next to them, and had a nice conversation getting to know them a bit. I found out that they had just moved here after their family had broken apart in Florida. They used to be members, but had fallen into inactivity. They told me that they believed that Jesus Christ existed as a person, but weren't quite sure about His divine role, or how that even applied to them now. They said that they couldn't imagine how someone who lived 2000 years ago would still be relevant, since they didn't have proof of Him. I had the opportunity to testify to them about modern revelation--although Christ lived thousands of years ago, what makes Him relevant now is that we can continue to come to know Him as our Savior through prayer and receiving answers through the Holy Ghost. They couldn't argue with that :) I hope that left them with something to think about.

Also a few days ago, my companion and I got a call during lunch time from an elder who had gotten transferred to SUU in Cedar this last transfer (or was it the transfer before? I don't remember). He told me that he had an investigator coming to the Visitors Center that day, and asked if I would watch for her and give her a tour. I said okay, and didn't think much of it. But after I got to the Visitors Center, I was talking to Elder Cam..... for a minute (he is one of the assistants to the president) and he mentioned Elder L...... (the elder that called me) wanting me to do his tour. So then it finally clicked that Elder L....... must have called the VC to find out who was on shift, and then called all the way up to the Assistants to get permission to call me, and then he called his last companion, Elder Da....s, who called  Sister He.... to get my phone number and then got it back to Elder L.......  ..so basically he must really have wanted me to give his tour! That made me feel really good.  Anyways, when the investigator came, she found me and asked, "Are you Sister Burner? Elder L..... told me to find you." And then when her fellowshipper came in, he said "Short, red hair. You must be Sister Burner. Elder L...... said that you are the best." How nice is that?

Another memorable moment was Monday morning. It was super slow at the Visitors Center, so I was in the big middle room playing the piano. Another sister who was on Pday but there waiting for her companion to come out of a meeting came in and sat down to listen to me play. After a bit, in walks Am....--I don't know if you remember me mentioning her, but she is the lady that Sister P...... and I helped pack up her apartment so that she could move. As soon as she saw that it was me, she burst into tears. She told us everything that she was going through, and that again she felt that God had sent her to me (well, I guess last time it was me to her). The sister who was there with me happened to be going through a couple of the same things, so between the three of us (me, the other sister, and the Spirit) we were able to help Am..... to have a spiritual experience. We showed her Lifting Burdens (a really good Mormon Message) and by the time that she left, she was smiling. God is so good!

Take care! I love you all so much!

--Sister Burner

 

November 13, 2013

Hola!

This last week has been great! Friday night I found out that I was speaking in the adult session of Stake Conference the next day. Yikes. But it was just for a few minutes, so it was fine! No worries. They just had the senior companions of each set in our stake speak. And we also got to go to stake conference the next day, which was a broadcast from Salt Lake with Elders Oaks and Scott, as well as Sister Stephens from the General RS Presidency. It was all amazingly done, the talks where inspired, and much of it focused on missionary work which of course I like :)

The last two days we have had representatives from Salt Lake come to do early morning trainings with the Visitors Center sisters. We got special permission to wake up at 6:00 instead of 6:30 because the meeting started at 7am, but I'm not entirely sure I'm happy that we got permission for that. Just kidding! The trainings were great. It got me thinking more about working harder to help members who come into the Center to have spiritual, converting experiences as well as the nonmembers.

There is this man who often comes into the Visitors Center who is a member and I guess he must live nearby. I don't know exactly what his medical problem is, but he can't walk so he has a scooter that he drives around. He has some movement in each of his limbs, but it looks really hard to move any part of his body. So it is really hard for him to speak. Usually I just say hi and ask him how his day is going, but not much more than that because I could tell that it is hard for him to speak. He is always really happy when I speak to him even just for a minute, though. He always smiles as big as he can, and his eyes light up. I don't know why it took so long to dawn on me, but yesterday I finally realized that he must be pretty lonely because everyone must think the same way that I did about talking to him. Please understand that it wasn't that I didn't want to talk to him, it was just that I knew it was hard for him. Anyways, yesterday I decided that I was just going to spend some time talking to him, so we had a conversation for about 20-30 minutes, up until it was my turn to go in for dinner. We talked about missionary work, the gift of tongues, and how he has been trying for a long time to learn Russian (often he asks sisters to play the Christus in Russian for him). When I had to leave for dinner, he took great effort to tell me "Thank you for being patient with me." It nearly made me cry. I feel so bad that I hadn't just taken time to speak with him before. I guess I learned an important lesson yesterday. It's funny how you can go along thinking that you are being nice, but then if you just think about the situation differently--you pause to really put yourself in their shoes--you gain an entirely different perspective. I'm grateful that God gave me that realization and the opportunity to speak to that man while I am still here.

Thank you all for the amazing examples you are to me! I love you.

--Sister Burner

 

November 6, 2013

Hola familia y amigos!

Okay, I took notes this last week so that I would remember everything that I need to tell you about!

First, Halloween. Our mission had the same rule as the elders in Chico had; we all had to be in our apartments at 6pm. BUT, I was on shift at the Visitors Center that night, so we got to stay there and watch Ephraim's Rescue!! It was so fun! I didn't cry as much as I did with 17 Miracles, but it was still way good.

Funny moment of the week: Daylight Savings Time. Saturday night we got a text from the STL's saying something like, "Enjoy your extra hour of sleep tonight! Remember before you go to bed to reset your clocks!" Sister P..... read that and apparently they don't have Daylight Savings in Gu......, so she was a little confused. I tried to explain simply that the time goes back an hour, but we didn't need to change the cell phone because it automatically changes. We just needed to change the clocks. Anyways, the next morning I woke up to the door bell ringing and pounding on the door, which turned out to be Sister Du..... needing to get the keys since it was her turn to have the car. I looked at the clock and it was 7:07. So of course I had a mini spasm getting out of bed and running to start getting ready. I was super confused why our alarm hadn't gone off though, so I checked the alarm on our phone and it had changed to 7:30 instead of 6:30. Still confused, I tried to think through it out loud to Sister P....., saying that maybe the phone had changed time but the alarms hadn't changed with the time or something...which didn't make any sense. Finally Sister P...... says, "I changed the alarm last night. The STL's said that we got an extra hour to sleep last night". Oh goodness...!

Miracle for the week: This last weekend, I had TWO baptisms!! Neither one for our current area, but Hay... from Leeds got baptized, as well as ANN....... from Bloomington Hills!! AHHHH! It was the greatest thing ever! We got permission to go to both of them, and we just went from one straight to the other. Ann......'s was first. I loved seeing her in white!! And we were a bit surprised when President Center, his wife, and the assistants showed up for the baptism. Especially me because I was supposed to give the talk on the Holy Ghost, and I was planning on kinda winging it (since we weren't for sure that the baptism was going to happen until the night before). But it turned out really nice :) Hay....'s baptism was great too. I played the piano for that one. She is so cute!

Our district leader told us that we need to get some baptisms for our area soon...but hey! I'm trying, but they keep switching me before the baptisms happen! I'm grateful that at least I still get to go to them :)

Tomorrow is my year mark! Crazy, right? One year ago today I was getting ready to go to the MTC! It really doesn't feel like it has been that long. A lot of things have happened since then but at the same time calling it a year seems funny.

Well, I hope that everything is going well for all of you! I love you all so much!

Love,
Sister Burner

 

 

October 22, 2013

Hola Familia,

Funny moments this week...I got out of the shower one night and Sister P...... told me that the STL's texted to tell us our study topic for the next week and that they love us, so she texted back that we love them too. I thought it was a little weird that the STL's would tell us what to study, so I checked the phone and saw that it was a mass text from the zone leaders, not the STL's. Easily confused, since we have a zone leader named Elder Larson and an STL named Sister Larson. Nonetheless, I realized that Sister P..... had just sent a message to the zone leaders telling them that she loves them! Oh gosh!! I started laughing, but then I realized that they could have thought that that was from either one of us...which made it not quite as funny, but still funny.

The other day when we were on shift at the Visitors Center, I went by the annex looking for another sister and right as I was about to head back I noticed that there were a couple of middle aged Hispanic women looking at the pictures and reading the Spanish descriptions. I went to talk to them, and we ended up having an amazing tour. I took them around to look at the pictures from inside the temple, and the Spirit was just amazing. We were all tearing up, and she asked me if there was somewhere where she could get a Book of Mormon in Spanish. Of course I said that I could just give her one :) Anyways, so I take them to the front to see the Christus, and they just about fainted. I've never seen the Spirit hit anyone like that. They were just overwhelmed, especially when they sat in front of the Christus and I shared my testimony about the Savior. They both took BoMs and gave me their information so that I can keep in touch with them. It is amazing how the Spirit works with people who are prepared!

We find out our transfers this Saturday! For sure they need two new STL's and two more VCT's, as well as 5 trainers. So things will be changed up a bit! Not necessarily for us because we are training, but it should be dramatic nonetheless. We will see!

I love you all so much and hope that you have a great week! Love,
Sister Burner

 

 

 



October 15, 2013

 

Hola familia y amigos!

I have tons to tell you all but my keyboard is being lame so hopefully I don't give up part way through. If sentences are rather short, that is why!

My birthday was so fun! I made a smoothie for breakfast with some strawberries, bananas and this super healthy orange juice that I had found at the store the day before (it had like 12 different vitamins in it! Awesome!) so that started the day off perfectly! We had DTM and my district leader, Elder Ch......, wrote "Happy Birthday Sister Burner" across the top of the chalk board. And I got to play the piano :) In our area, we talked to this less active couple and they asked us to teach them because they really want to come back to church. And we left a cute post it with a sweet message on it on a lady's door who had been all grumpy with us the day before...kill them with kindness! Haha I felt kinda sneaky. We had VC in the evening which was perfect because there are always more people there in the evenings! Aaand I was standing right at the front desk when in walks Br....... P......... with his adorable little brother and sister, one of which was holding a bag with mint chip ice cream and the other was holding a birthday cake that had a note on it that said, "Gluten free." How cute is that! Haha Br....... told me that my mom had said I wouldn't eat the cake unless it had a note on it saying that it was gluten free. My mom knows me very well :) It was just a fantastic day overall! Plus I got a package from Aunt Lisa in the mail that day, as well as a few birthday cards from members of our ward back in Chico. Beautiful!

Thursday we had companion exchanges, so I got to be with Sister Dav.... for a day! It was super fun, especially since she speaks Spanish. Not to mention that she is super nice and just a fun person to be around! We had an amazing first lesson with this teenage girl named Han...... We read 2 Nephi 31 and had an amazing conversation about how Han...... has felt the spirit in the past, especially when she went to Girls Camp. Wahoo! We were supposed to have another lesson with her last night, but she wasn't feeling good and had already gone to bed (it was at 8). But we gave a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet to her mom to give to her, which I am hoping her mom might end up reading as well!

Friday night we went to visit this man named St.....e. I can't remember if I have already told you how we met him...but a couple weeks ago we passed each other on the sidewalk, and I turned around and started a conversation with him about Joseph Smith as we walked him up to his house. We have been trying to catch him ever since, with little success. Until Friday!! He invited us in and we had a nice chat, which ended up turning into us teaching him the Restoration. We invited him to church on Sunday and set up an appointment for yesterday. Well, guess what!! He was at church! And we had our lesson with him last night and it went amazing. We recapped the Restoration and taught him the first half of the Plan of Salvation, after which I brought up baptism and invited him to be baptized on November 9th. He said Yes!! He also said that he believes that God sent us to him. How sweet :)

Sunday we spoke in the Mid-Singles ward in Washington. We agreed to do it since it's still in our stake and some of the members are in Leeds, so it would be good to get them all excited about doing missionary work up there. Anyways, of course we had the whole program to ourselves. So Sister Pha...... was a little nervous. But I helped her prepare her talk, and had her go first so I could just fill in whatever time was left. Well, when we got there we learned that they didn't have a pianist there that day, so I ended up filling in for that...prelude, opening hymn, sacrament hymn, rest hymn, closing hymn, and postlude. Oy. It turned out okay :) Kinda crazy going straight from the piano playing the rest hymn to the pulpit to speak! But it worked out. Passing the sacrament ended by 1:15 and my companion spoke for 12 minutes, so I ended up giving a 35 minute talk. Thank goodness for the Spirit!

Well my time is up, but know that I love you all and I am so grateful to have you in my life!

Love,

Sister Burner



 

October 8, 2013

 

Hola familia y amigos

 

.....Yesterday was kind of crazy.... I had accidentally assigned rides/dinners to both wards for next Monday, and neither for yesterday! So Sunday we called some of the people and had them move the date up.  It all went smoothly : ) But then about 10 minutes before our shift at the Visitors Center ended yesterday morning (it ends at 3, and our ride was picking us up at 3:30), Sister Cen....... (the mp's wife) texted us and asked if she could go out with us that night.  So we called our ride again for that night and canceled with her.

 

We didn't have much time in our area before dinner but we got to contact two people before we had to start walking over to our dinner appointment (our ride dropped us off in Leeds so we went from there by foot).  Guess what our dinner had?!  Gluten free Domino's pizza with pepperoni and olives!  I seriously thought for a second that they must have called and asked someone I know what to feed us.  It was so yummy! And they had Canadian bacon/pineapple normal pizza, which Sister Pha...... happens to like.  So it just was enjoyable overall!

 

After dinner, Sister Cen..... picked us up and we had an appointment with Hay.....  Which was aaamazing!  We taught her the Plan Of Salvation, and we covered the 10 Commandments as well, during "earth life."  We couldn't have had a better lesson--we followed up on her commitment, used How to Begin Teaching points from PMG, gave an overview, had a prayer, used visuals for PoS and the hand signals for 10 Commandments, bore testimony and promised blessings, had great participation and asked some inspired questions, gave her an age-appropriate PoS worksheet for her commitment as well as committing her to go to church, said a kneeling closing prayer, scheduled another appointment and asked for referrals.  And Sister Pha....... and I traded off pretty well on the teaching : )  It was so good!  We did everything that we are supposed to do in a lesson.  Perfect lesson for the mission president's wife to listen in on!

 

After that we went to visit some less actives and potential investigators.  We had good experiences with all of them-- we got in houses, scheduled appointments, and invited people to an activity that is coming up.

 

Huge sigh of relief!!

 

Conference was great as well; it always goes by way too fast!  We got to watch most of it, although at the Visitors Center we had to take turns being out on the floor (they had conference showing in the big theater in the middle of the VC) so we missed a few talks that we'll have to catch up on later.  Saturday morning session we were able to go watch with Hay....., her sister and her grandma!  That was way fun.  And we had a nice little lunch with them afterwards as well : )

 

Well, my time will soon be out--but thank you to those of you who sent me birthday letters, e-mails, and packages!  You are the best!

 

I love you all!

--Sister Burner

Mission Temple Day at St. George!
(Hermana Burner- front row, third from right)
September 25, 2013

 

  



October 1, 2013

Hola familia y amigos--

 



We had several funny experiences this week, and tons of tender mercies!

 

One tender mercy:  A man came up to me at church and asked if I liked gluten free waffles (uh, yes!)  He then told me that he had bought about 50 boxes for his daughter when they were on sale but then she moved away, so he didn't know what to do with them and was wondering if I would like some.  Score!! He asked me how big my freezer was and how many boxes I wanted so I just said like ten...so he runs home and brings me two grocery bags full of them.  How amazing is that?!  And he said to let him know when I run low because he has tons more.

 

The other day we had an amazing experience when we were tracting through an apartment complex that is in our area.  We had met this lady and her daughter briefly before, and when we went by this time, she was in the process of boxing up everything and moving out.  When we asked her if we could help, she looked a little doubtful and asked "do you really want to?"  To which I said, "YES!"  So she let us come in and help her box up a couple of bedrooms.  While we were packing she told us that she had received a notice yesterday that she had to move out of her apartment within 3 days.  Yikes.  We talked to her more and she told us about how another woman was moving away from the apartments at the same time, who had moved there around the same time that she had.  She felt that that lady had been brought there just to help her.  She also said that there was a missionary couple who worked with an addiction program that were about to be released that she felt were placed there just for her as well-- and then now with us showing up to help her just when she needed it, she felt overwhelmed with how perfect timing all of these things had.  I shared with her how I, too, had experienced times in my life where I felt that God was really watching over me, and setting things in my path to help me just when I needed them most.  It was a truly amazing experience, and more than one tear was shed and testimony shared.

 

On a lighter note, one night my companion and I had a few minutes before heading to dinner so we decided to knock a few random doors.  Background info, my companion is terrified of dogs and cats.  So I generally distract the dogs/cats while we talk to people.  Anyways, we walked up this driveway and were trying to figure out where the front door was when this big, mean dog runs around the corner, barking at us like crazy.  For half a second I contemplated whether I should stay and protect my companion, but quickly I decided that a better course of action would be to turn around and, well, get outta there!  So I turn and run like crazy, and my companion was just absolutely petrified so she was clenching on to my arm as I turned to run and took another half second before her wits came to her and she started running like mad out of there too!  We just ran around the corner into the street, and when we stopped I started cracking up.  It was just so funny! Oh gosh.  That will be a story for her to tell later-- "One day, this huge man-killing dog came to attack me, and my trainer just turned and booked it, leaving me to fend for myself!"  Haha not really, she was only a second behind me.  But you know what they say:  there is no need to fear dogs on your mission, as long as you know that you can run faster than your companion!

 

Another slightly less funny experience we had just yesterday--we had a lady come pick us up from our dinner appointment and drive us around for the rest of the night, then drop us off at the vc afterward (we didn't have the car yesterday).  I guess it all started when I called her earlier in the day to confirm with her.  I told her that we had an appointment at 6, and then after that we were just going to contact some referrals.  She offered that if we needed to we could come back to her house to contact the referrals, but I told her that we were doing visits, not calls.  Anyways, so she picks us up and we had an amazing lesson with Ha..... (we taught her the Restoration and put her on date for Nov. 2nd!).  The contacting went great; two of the people were home who we hadn't been able to catch yet!

 

Anyways, when we were done she said, "Well would you like to come to my house before we head back?"  I just figured that maybe she needed to pick something up to take down to St. George with her, so I said it was okay if we did that.  As we headed to her house I started to realize the real purpose for stopping by there.  She started rambling about how she had two sons still living at home--one was 25 with down syndrome, and the other one was 39 who had never found the right woman to marry.  Oh gosh.

 

So we get to the house and go in, and she tells us that we can wait there in the living room while she goes to get her family to come out and meet us.  While she was gone her 39 year old son, A...., comes in from the backyard and starts talking to us.  She came back and saw he was there, and then somehow disappeared again... after about 10 minutes she comes back with a family calendar so that we could "see pictures of the family," after which I said that we probably needed to be heading back.  Before we headed out, she turned to A..... and said, "A........, would you like to accompany us to St. George?"  To his credit, he looked a little confused and ended up saying he could just stay home with his brother.  Oh gosh!  This lady was totally trying to set us up with her son!  Oh gosh!  One, we are sister missionaries.  Two, he is almost twice our age.  Three, we are sister missionaries!

 

Oh goodness, I guess she is just a little desperate for her son to get married.  He looks more like 25 than 39 though, so I'm sure he will eventually.  But hopefully not to a sister missionary!

 

Anyways, I am grateful that there have been lots of tender mercies and funny experiences lately.  

 

Thank you for all of your prayers and support!  I love you all!

Love,

Sister Burner

 

 



Victorian House!

 

 

 

 

This would be cute if it weren't for the dog eating my foot!

 

 

 

Sister Pe.......(grand-daughter), Hna. Burner, and Sister He..... (daughter)

September 25, 2013

 

 

Hna Burner and Sister Nic...... - in front of St. George Temple

September 17, 2013

 

Buenos dias, familia y amigos!

 

Guess what! Guess what! Guess what! I am going to be a mission grandma!  I am so excited!! Sister He.... and are both training, so I am going to be a "mom" again at the same time as being a "grandma" for the first time!  I am going to be in a new area called Washington East 2, which is splitting off of Washington East.  So I am opening a new area and training at the same time.... no pressure!  At least I already know what I am doing at the Visitors Center, so I won't have that added on to it.  I hadn't heard of missionaries white-wash/training that much, but I guess I am just a magnet for it!

 

I just hope that my new trainee is as easy to train as Sister He.... was!  I am thinking that I will probably train a sister named Sister Sho........., because she is called Spanish Speaking.  But, you never know.  There are also sister coming in from Germany, Samoa, Guyana and South Africa.  And a couple of Americans :)  I think we are getting 7 VC sisters and a couple of full-proselyting.  But we only have 4 trainers in the VC, so some of the VC sisters coming in will head outbound first.

 

So, good news is, I will for sure see Ky..... (Emi....'s little sister) tomorrow!! She probably won't be my companion, since she is full pros, but she might serve around me!  And I will see her at the training meeting :) Yay! I hope she recognizes me because I am probably just going to run up and give her a big hug as soon as I get the chance to!

 

Our P-days will be on Tuesdays this transfer, which is slightly better!  And we will be living at the apartments right across the street from the Visitors Center which is super convenient.  Hopefully we will meet some people right away that will be willing to give us rides to our area.  But I am just going to cross that bridge when I get to it.

 

Sister Her...... is headed home! She came into the Visitors Center yesterday because all the people who are leaving have things that they do all day today before they leave tomorrow.

 

 I am excited for this new transfer! And I am super happy that I can go with Sister He.... to our trainers meeting and meet our new missionaries together.

 

I hope you all have a great week! Know that I love you sooo much!

Your Missionary,

Sister Burner

 



September 11, 2013

 

Buenos dias, familia y amigos!

 

Lots of things happened this last week!  Definitely the most exciting part was mission conference.  The night before, we had another sister (she is serving in Kanab) named Sister Don...... spend the night with us.  They came early so that it wasn't such a long drive for them the next day.  We picked her up before dinner and she stayed with us the rest of the night.  Oh, and we had an amazing lesson with Ann....... that night!  We met her at the VC with one of her fellowshippers, Sister Mor...... and watched the Joseph Smith movie.  The Spirit was super strong, and she bore her testimony as well as saying the closing prayer (that was the first time Sister He..... and I had heard her pray). She is so ready to be baptized!  The bishop met with her son yesterday so hopefully he will be able to baptize her within a few weeks.

 

The next morning we got up at 3:15 to get ready and leave by 4:25.  Our zone and central zone road in the same bus.  We slept a little bit on the way, and we got to Salina around 8.  It was really weird to be back there and see all the places that I am so familiar with from serving there!  The conference didn't start until 9, so we had a little time to see people from other parts of the mission before sitting down and reading our scripture in preparation for the conference to start.  We all stood up, of course, when Elder Bednar came in.  Also with him were his wife, Elder and Sister Clayton from the Presidency of the 70, the mission president and his wife (of course), and some other regional/area authorities that I don't remember the names of.

 

Sister Bednar, Sister Clayton, and Elder Clayton each had turns to speak for a few minutes before Elder Bednar started.  It was so neat!  It was more of a big discussion than just him talking to us.  We discussed the talks that we had read before the conference, how to follow the Sprit, inspired questions, etc, and then he had a little question/answer session.  I was too chicken to say anything, but I was absorbing everything all I could :)  Afterwards, they all lined up and all of the missionaries got to walk by and shake their hands. (Ahhh!!!) He said that they didn't want any talking going on though, so sorry Grandpa I couldn't tell him "hi" for you! He did look at my tag and say my name as I shook his hand though-- the people around me told me later that they were super jealous of that! Kinda made me feel special.

 

We got a mission picture with him as well, but they haven't emailed it to us yet.  Everything was pretty rushed, so nobody got a chance to take any other pictures.  I got a couple on the bus to send to you though!

 

Sister He.... and I spoke in 4th ward on Sunday.  Both of our talks turned out so good! I spoke last and had about 20 minutes to fill, but the timing was perfect.  Just when I had finished everything that I had wanted to say and bearing my testimony, I looked at the clock and it was 10:05.  Sweet! Our topics were "missionary work."  I started my prep for my talk by reading the section on our purpose in Preach My Gospel (page one).  I decided to go off of that --on page two it mentioned 2 Nephi 2:8, which I compared also with Alma 34:32, saying that we prepare to meet God by applying the Atonement to our lives.  In PMG it says that as we learn more about the Atonement, it strengthens our desire to share the Gospel.  I didn't summarize that very well.  But trust me, it was amazing :) I feel like that was the best talk I have ever given! Maybe if I have time I will write it out and send you a copy.  But the best part was that I was not nervous one little bit! I just got up there and felt so comfortable speaking.  The mission does great things!

 

After Sacrament meeting, one of the Bishop's daughters, Ma...., came over and gave me a big hug around my middle (she is 21 but she is quite a few inches shorter than me).  She has down-syndrome and considers me her celiac buddy (she is gluten free as well).  It melted my heart a bit when she wouldn't let go of me and she said, "Sister Burner, you are my favorite missionary!" It was sooo cute! I'll have to get a picture with her before I leave so that I can send it to you.

 

Today we went and spent some time cleaning the temple--just doing laundry stuff this time.  But afterwards they let my companion and I go up into the tower! That was pretty neat.   We also got to walk around on the balcony up there and see one of the apartment rooms that are on the 5th floor of the temple.

 

Well my time is pretty much out but know that I love you all sooo much!

 

--Sister Burner

September 4, 2013

 

Familia y amigos!

 

Lots of things happened this week, so I am just going to try to start at the beginning and go chronologically.  Hopefully I remember everything I want to tell you about!

 

Last Wednesday night Sister Center (the Mission President's wife) and Sister Watkins (the VC Director's wife) put together a girls night for all of the sisters who are working in the VC.  We all went over to the mission home, and they talked to us about how we should dress and how we should do our hair/make up in the visitors center.  They made it kinda fun though, with visuals and games and things like that.  They just want us to wear brighter colors and fix our hair nicely.  Sister Watkins always gets on me for wearing too much beige and black, but hey... when I came out, they told us to wear things that were conservative! She is completely welcome to buy me a new wardrobe if she so desires.  I won't even complain one bit if she does.  Not likely though.  Oh well!

 

I had a moment this last week that reminded me of Trey!  I was going out to check on the annex, and as I was walking over I noticed this cat was climbing Spiderman-style up a tree.  I guess he was aiming to eat some bird for dinner because a minute later theses two birds burst from the tree.  One fell to the ground with an injured wing, but it was okay because it was able to fly away a bit.  The other one, though, flew straight into the roof that connects the annex and the VC, and fell to the ground with a splat.  It was so sad!  Sister Lo.... ran out of the annex and grabbed the cat from running after it, and she took the cat to the opposite end of the temple grounds and sat it outside as I tried to get the injured bird into a safer spot.  We went out to check on it a few times throughout the rest of our shift and to the best of my knowledge, Trey, the bird was safe :) I kept on thinking about that time when a bird flew into Trey's head and he felt like it was his fault so he nursed it back to health! Oh goodness... I love that kid!

 

Saturday afternoon we had some interesting visitors at the Visitors Center! Two unkempt men came, one with a big cross and the other with a sign, and protested outside of the Visitors Center.  They were rather annoying.  We had a really good German tour (quite a few even took BoMs), and on their way back onto their bus one of these men went up to them and gave them a bunch of anti-Mormon flyers.  Good thing they didn't speak English!  I think he was trying to teach them how to pray as well... at one point he was kneeling on the ground and gesturing up to the sky or something.  Anyways, temple security came out and 3 policemen came to talk to the protesters, but there wasn't really anything they could do except to remind them that they had to stay on the sidewalk and keep moving around.  And they weren't allowed to approach people or jump out at anyone.  Oh gosh.  We just responded with kindness.  One of the sister passed by and he just went off with "This is a free country! I can be out here if I want to!  You can't make me go away!"  She hadn't said anything about that though, and she just responded with, "Well, is there anything that we can do for you?"  He didn't quite know what to say to that.  They left around 6 after being there for about 3 hours.

 

Ann...... prayed out loud for the first time!  We weren't even there though.  Ahhhh!  But I was so excited when we found out.  It was during their Gospel Principles class on Sunday (we were on shift at the VC so we weren't there).  Also we were talking to her fellowshipper later that day and she told us that during testimony meeting Ann..... had passed her a note that said, "BAPTISM?  September 28th?"  AHHH! She told her friend that the thought had just hit her during testimony meeting.  Awesome!! Ann..... has yet to tell us for herself though.  But that would be so amazing!  September 28th is her birthday (her fellowshipper didn't know that), how sweet is that?!

 

The other day I was working in the annex of the Visitors Center, where it just talks about the construction of the temple.  These two girls came in who said they were going to college about 45 minutes from here.  I just assumed they were LDS because they were dressed modestly, which isn't too common for nonmembers here in St. George (it's too hot for them here.... Mormon women are tough!).  So I gave them a tour around the annex, and we were sitting there chatting for a minute when it finally came out that one of them wasn't LDS!  Ooops.  But it was way good.  Maybe it was supposed to happen that way, because by the time I found out we had already established a comfortable friendship and she didn't have to feel like it was just because she was a nonmember that I was being overly friendly to.

 

Anyways, I took them over to the main part of the Visitors Center and showed them the Savior of the World room as well as the Christus.  The girl was catholic and had just started dating an LDS returned missionary a few days ago.  She was super nice, and I know for sure that we were all able to feel the Spirit super powerfully during the tour.  It is amazing how you can show the same pictures and exhibits to different people all day, but when the Spirit is there and the person has an open heart, the tour is completely different.  The Spirit definitely had me say some things to her that I had never even thought to tell anyone in relation to those paintings before.  It was incredible :)

 

I've gotten to use quite a bit of Spanish lately!  The other day I gave five tours in Spanish.  It was like there was just one after another!  They were all members though.  But it was just nice to be able to practice my Spanish!

 

Thank you all for all that you do for me!  I love you lots.

 

Your missionary,

 

Sister Burner

 



August 28, 2013

Hola familia y amigos!

 

The keyboard is a little temperamental.... so if there are grammatical errors in this email, know that it wasn't me!  Haha.

 

We just got finished helping clean the temple! It is closed for three weeks (we aren't entirely sure if that means that it will be slower or busier in the VC.... I guess that we will just have to find out!) for cleaning, and they let the sister missionaries sign up to help clean on our p-days.  Sister He...... and I were there for an hour and a half, moving chairs from the sealing rooms off of the celestial room on the second floor up to the assembly hall on the fourth floor (they are going to re-do the carpeting in the sealing rooms/celestial room).  All together we moved 78 chairs, and we were sweating like crazy, so we both felt like that was somewhat of an accomplishment!  They said that we could stop by again next week when we have more time, and they will let us go up into the tower : ) Cool or what?

 

Guess who came by to see me on Saturday?!  Sister Chas......! (Missionary trainer)  It was so great to see her!  She was on her way up to Provo with her best friend/trainer, Sister Madr..... (Bir....), so we were able to take a four generation picture!

 

The other day I got to take a German bus!  Well, kinda.  There weren't any German missionaries on shift, so sister Eyr...... and I took it.  We just introduced ourselves and shared a couple basic facts for the church (their tour guide was translating for us), and then Elder Cann...... got there (he is a senior missionary, they called him to come over to the vc as soon as they saw there was a German Bus) so he got to take the rest.  But it went so smoothly! They took like 14 Books of Mormon or something like that.  I don't really remember the number.  But it was a lot! And there were definitely a few people that looked like they were interested.

 

An rm who served in France came by Brigham Young's the other day, and he told the sister there that while he was in France, occasionally when he would knock on a door, the people would say, "Oh yes, we know about you!  We went to St. George!"  and then they would let them in!!  How amazing is that?!  Our little planting seeds work down here really is producing fruit after all : )

 

I hope you all have a great week!  I love you!

 

--Sister Burner