April 7, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

What an amazing General Conference weekend!! I just can't seem to get enough of it. They spoke on everything that our investigators need to hear right now! I love how inspired Conference is. How amazing is it that twice a year we get to hear our modern day prophet and the 12 apostles speak?! Men called directly by the Lord to teach to the needs of the world as it is right now. It blows my mind! My favorite talks were by Elder Neil Anderson and President Uchtdorf (as per usual), but they were all incredible.

Sister So....s' birthday was this week! Thank you Mom and Dad for sending her a birthday package; she didn't get anything from her family, so it was nice that she still felt some family love on her birthday, even if it wasn't from her family. It was so fun all week just showering her with love and seeing members reach out and do nice things for her as well. I think that she really needed all of that :) She is an amazing missionary and an incredible daughter of God, overcoming a past that is far more difficult than what most people have.

We had an amazing lesson on the Law of Chastity this last week! We were a little bit nervous because it was with Ch....e (less active) and her boyfriend Ja....s, who have been living together for a while now. But it turned out really good! We taught by the Spirit and asked Ja....s to bear his testimony on Chastity. It was really neat and inspired...I think that some RM's just need to be reminded of what they preached on their missions, so they can have the boost and motivation they need to get back on track. Kindle the flame :) It's sad how many RM's I have met on my mission who are not living the things that they taught and saw miracles from on their missions. I don't understand it, and I hope and pray that I never understand that.

On Wednesday we had Mission Leadership Council (MLC). It's a six hour meeting held at the Mission Home. All of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders throughout the mission come down for it, and we receive training to present to our missionaries in Zone Training Meeting a couple of days later. It was neat to see a lot of the missionaries that I have known during my mission! At the end all of the missionaries who are there for the last time bear their testimonies, which was a little nerve wracking but it was neat :)

Well I need to head out, sorry to cut this short! I love you all :)
Love,
Sister Burner

 

March 31, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

Ju...e finally got baptized!! WAHOO!! She went to Dr. Pi.....n over a month ago (2 months?) for drinking and she was successful with that, but she put off quitting smoking up until 2 weeks ago, and even for a week after going to Pi.....n she still smoked a cigarette or two every day (which is a miracle after what she was doing before, but still!). Anyways, she finally quit and got baptized on Saturday!! I was so excited! It has been a long, hard road for her but the Lord has blessed her so much. She asked me to give the talk on baptism, so I got to go and see her be baptized. It was really neat :) A long time ago (in December?) I had made her promise me that she would get baptized before I left, and I had forgotten about that--but I guess she hadn't because when I went up to congratulate her after the baptism, she mentioned that to me. The Lord works through small and simple things!

More updates on Leeds investigators--Ju....l is getting baptized this weekend!! I can't believe that one either! His wife thought it wouldn't ever happen, but have miracles ceased? I say unto you, Nay! Also, S....e got a letter back from the First Presidency saying that he can get baptized!! He had an interview with President Ce...r again yesterday, and everything looks good for the week after next! And Jo... will be baptized the week after that!

I wish that my area now was exploding like Leeds is, but we are on the "building up" stage. That's alright though--I feel like that has been the story of my mission, but I have been blessed to stay close enough that I can go back and see the people I have taught get baptized. Tender mercy :) They don't count for my numbers, but they count for the Lord.

I just love, love, love being a missionary! I am so grateful that Conference is coming up this weekend. What an amazing way to finish my mission, getting spiritual insights for my post mission life through the words of men that I sustain as prophets, seers and revelators.

I hope that everyone is doing well! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Burner

March 24, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

We had a baptism this last weekend!! It was for this kid named Sh...n, who is 12. His family situation is super confusing, but basically his mom was a member but she died in childbirth and his dad is not a member, but he lives with his step brother (who is 9) at step brother's grandma's house, and she is an active member, so he has been coming to church for a while now. His dad comes to his lessons to "hear what his kid is learning," but he has slowly been being converted as well :) He doesn't live in our stake though, so we haven't been pursuing teaching him until we can find out who the missionaries who cover his area are. Sh...n is super intelligent. Way too much so actually! His dad didn't know much about the Gospel beforehand as we were teaching them, and Sh...n would go off about outer darkness or the second coming or who knows what all! Haha but it has been great teaching them. His dad wasn't there for this last lesson that we had before the baptism, so he had grandma ask us if he could reschedule with us so that he could get the last lesson as well (he is SO interested!! And not just on his son's behalf!). Milagros!! At the baptism, An...y (the dad) gave the closing prayer, but before doing so he took a moment to tell Sh...n how proud he was of him, and how he knows that Sh...n is doing the right thing and is on his way to becoming a very good man. An...y's prayer was amazing. He didn't use all of the thee/thou/thine's, but his prayer was definitely the prayer of someone who has been/is being converted to the Gospel.

Sh...n's ward was the ward where Sister So...s and I spoke about the Restoration and sang a musical number, which I was really excited about because there were several less actives and nonmembers there supporting Sh...n. And, I just love any opportunity I get to testify of the Restoration of the Gospel!!

I am growing to really love the members here in this area. They are all so sweet and supportive! Especially the St....n family. He is our ward mission leader in Sh...n's ward, and the whole family is just so great! We have FHE over at his house on Mondays and he invites all of the less active and nonmember families that we are working with in his ward. They have a daughter on a mission in Florida, and their 16 year old daughter, Co...y, is the one that sang with me on Sunday. They are just the neatest family! OH, and another one of our ward mission leaders, Bro Mc...an, had us over this week for their daughter's mission call opening. They are a great family as well :) This area is just overflowing with amazing people! Did I mention that we ate dinner the other day with a lady who asked me, "Hey, since you are from Chico...do you know a lady that goes by Grandma Donna?" Boy did that stun me for a second! "Um, that's my grandma. How do you know her?!" Small world! I guess their daughter is a good friend of Me...a. What are the chances of that?

Can you believe that it is already week 4 of this transfer?! Craziness. I feel like I haven't been with Sister So...s that long...although I guess I haven't really, because we have been going on tons of exchanges! We haven't decided for sure, but I think that I will be going back into Washington East (Leeds!) tonight and tomorrow, and then we'll be exchanging with Livirkin on Wednesday and Snow Canyon on Friday. And then exchanges should be done for the transfer :) Wahoo! It will be nice to stay put for the last two weeks of the transfer.

Well I love you all and I am so grateful for each of you! Have an amazing week!
Love,
Sister Burner



March 17, 2014

Hola Family!

I got to go on exchanges with my babies this week! After Zone Conference on Tuesday, I went back to Kaibab with Sister He.... We spent the night in Cain Beds, and then spent Wednesday working in Colorado City. It was intense! We stopped at Craigos Pizza for lunch, and the workers were these women that were wearing polygamist dresses (they look Amish) with aprons over them. I felt like I was back in the 1800's! Cool and sad at the same time. We had a couple of really neat lessons though! They aren't allowed to teach practicing polygamists, but they can teach the ones that aren't practicing.

Wednesday afternoon I came back and then Wednesday night we went on exchanges with Sister Ph.....h and Sister Bie..., so I got to spend Thursday back in Coral Canyon! It was really fun. We had a lesson with Le..., who we had taught when I was there but then since I left they have only been able to meet with her twice. Sad deal. She and her mom were both super excited to see me and in the opening prayer Le... said, "thank you that Miss Burner can be here again" cute right! And I realized that my hair was covering my tag, so she had just remembered my name! Adorable :) Also, we went to see Sister Smi... and she wasn't there so we went to contact a referral across the street. They pulled up to their house as we were knocking on the door, and their little girl (Al...e, who has special disabilities) said, "Mom, look, Sister Burner is back!" Ahhh I just feel so loved!

Tomorrow I will be going on my first exchange where I stay in my area, so I am a bit nervous! We cover 11 wards, and the people that we work with are pretty spread out all over the stake, so that is a lot of streets to navigate! But it should be good :) I'll be with Sister Don....n, and she will be patient with me. She's a sweetheart. I wish I knew my area better, but it's hard not being there all of the time. Sister So...s quizzed me on our maps the other day and I did really well, so at least I have made progress. I can get around within wards pretty well, but it's the getting to a specific ward part that is kind of a challenge.

Overall things have been going well! Just adjusting to my new area, my new companion and my new calling. I love it all so far though!

Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Sister Burner

March 10, 2014

Hola familia!

Week one of this transfer went so great! It was sad to say goodbye to Sister Da..la when she left on Tuesday. But, I was super excited to take her place being companions with Sister Sor...s! Sister Ri...a's new companion wasn't getting here until 6 on Tuesday so we were a trio for part of the day, which was fun! Sister Sor...s and I have been getting down to business pretty fast. We went to two ward council meetings on Sunday in addition to church and coordination meeting. As we've gone around to meet the Bishops, I've managed to get us two speaking assignments for March 23rd (I hope that Sister Sor...s doesn't hate me!). We also already went on an exchange--Friday night to Saturday night I went to Kanab with Sister Cisn...s, who is waiting for her visa to Brazil, and Sister Chi...n came to Washington Fields with Sister Sor...s. These first couple of exchanges I'm going to the other areas because I still don't know where things are in Washington Fields lol. I'm getting to know the area pretty fast though.

I'm really excited to get to know the sisters that we work with. We mostly just have the sisters in our zone, but we have two companionships from nearby zones as well. The other day one of our sisters texted us because she was having a really hard time with serving in the Visitors Center. She is Spanish speaking, so she didn't come down to the Visitors Center until her 6th transfer (same as me!) and she hasn't adjusted to it very smoothly. We went over and talked with her for a while (and took her ice cream) and I think that she is feeling better now. Poor thing! It feels really nice to be able to help sisters come to love missionary work more :) I just feel like I have all of this experience, and I have learned so much on my mission, and I want to use it to help other sisters! So basically I am just really grateful that I can be an STL for my last transfer. I just want to be able to do all the good possible while I am still here! I want to help everyone in every way I can, and make a positive difference in the lives of everyone around me. I wish there were about five more hours in a day!

Tomorrow is Zone Conference!! I am way excited. Afterwards I am going to Kaibab with Sister He...! Colorado City here we come! Not going to lie, I am a little bit excited to see all of the polygamists. No worries though, if Sister He... hasn't gotten stolen yet, I won't either ;) And I am also excited to have one more day with my mission daughter! I really wish that my camera was working!

Well, I hope that you all have an amazing week! Remember that I love you.

Love,

Sister Burner

March 3, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

This last week was so great! Sister Ri...a and I had tons of appointments, and many of them actually didn't cancel! Haha. It was fun being busy and running around from appointment to appointment. It makes us feel productive as missionaries. Tuesday we went and did a service project cleaning the temple (and they gave us lunch and let us go up in the top of the tower :) ), on Thursday we had Zone Training Meeting, and on Friday we went to Cedar City for a Spanish Zone Conference. Saturday we went to a baptism for the Coral Canyon sisters (Al...n and Pha...h). It was a man that both Sister Ri...a and I had taught while we were in that area, so it was really neat.
 

Here is a quote that I liked from Spanish Zone Conference:

"Introverts recharge their batteries by being alone. Extroverts recharge their batteries by being around people. Saints recharge their batteries by doing service." Isn't that so true? I've noticed lately that every time we get to do service--yard work mainly lately--I come away feeling so refreshed. I have found myself saying, "Sister Ri...a, wouldn't it be so great to go on a mission where all you do is go around serving people, all day?" She always tells me that that is what we do, but I mean like physical service :) But it's nice that she reminds me of that. I just want to make people smile though, and most of the day we get frowns from the people that we are serving spiritually, not smiles. But a couple of times a day we get a smile, which is nice :) Smiles from spiritual service are about a million times better than smiles we get from physical service.

We had been getting a lot of dinner appointments, so all Sister Ri...a and I got for food this last pday was things for nachos and sandwiches (we had a picnic with Sisters Ni...ls, Fro..t, Da...la and H..e after ZTM so that's why we got sandwich stuff...I still don't like gluten!) but then a lot of our dinner appointments didn't work out this last week, and we didn't have food to eat! Kind of unfortunate. So I had a muffin for dinner the last two nights but I only had time to eat a little one cuz they took a while to bake. So, moral of the story is--today we are going to make sure to actually buy enough food, just in case! Haha :)

I love you all so much! Please pray that everything goes well for me this next transfer--I am super excited, but it will probably also be pretty hard.
Thanks!

--Sister Burner

The Tabernacle!

Zone picture

 

 

February 24, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

This week went by so fast, I have no idea where it even went! And I know that this week will go even faster--our planners are already almost bursting with appointments for this week. It is going to be really good, I can feel it!

We spoke in Washington Fields 6th ward yesterday on the Plan of Salvation. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! I've had lots and lots of practice on that one! Sister Ri...a and I broke it up so that she taught the first half (pre earth, creation, earth life, Atonement) and I taught the second half (death, spirit world, resurrection, 3 kingdoms). By the way, during weekly planning on Friday I noticed that I was coming close to the end of the Book of Mormon, so I set a goal to finish it before the end of the transfer but then after today I only have 11 pages left...so I think I'm going to finish it way before the end of the transfer! Haha I guess I can get back to the New Testament after that. I'm almost done with that, and then I'm half way through the D&C...haven't really touched the Old Testament too much, but maybe I can finish the NT and D&C before my mission is up :) Happiness!

We had a neat lesson with La...y the other day. We planned to teach him the Law of Chastity (especially since he has a new online girlfriend...oyy) and then when we got there and followed up with him on his reading, he reminded us that we had given him a reading assignment for Baptism and Confirmation, which is what we had originally been planning to teach him the next time. OOPS! I had completely forgotten that--I have no idea how that just completely was gone from my mind. Well, actually I have an idea of how. Anyways, we told him that we would go over that next time, but this time we wanted to talk to him about the Law of Chastity. I've become pretty blunt with teaching that--we had a very spiritual yet bold lesson and it went great! At the end I asked him what he thought of the Law of Chastity, and he said, "You know, it's neat that you wanted to talk about that today. I've been thinking about that all week, and I think this is just what I needed to hear." Beautiful! Thank you, inspiration!

Cr...g is still doing great! He is on Mosiah 9 now--he has listened on audio up to Mosiah 26, but he is going back after he listens to it (he listens to it while driving ...he works for a towing company) and reading/studying it over. He is so great! He is also reading from the beginning with his wife, Ma..y, and trying to get her caught up. She is only on 1 Nephi 14 though. It's hard for her. We are praying that one of these days the same thing will snap in place for her that did for Cr...g! She has yet to come to church. Cr...g has dropped from smoking 3 packs a day to smoking 1 pack every 3 days. Not perfect, but getting there! I don't know if Mar..y has made any real progress with quitting. They weren't there when we stopped by one time this week, so I left a note (attached in the pic) on their porch table where they have their cigarettes. Cute? I noticed the next time that they had put the note up on their fridge where they can see it :)

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

Love,

Hna Burner



 



We just learned this trick to teach faith...they have to have faith that this isn't going to burn their hand! The paper floats away before it burns you : )

February 18, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

This last week has been so great! We've had fantastic lessons, a baptism, Valentine’s day, all kinds of fun stuff :)

S.....e had an interview with the mission president to see if he can get baptized, so now we are just waiting on hearing back from the First Presidency. Hopefully all will go okay with that, but whatever happens I am sure will be what is meant to happen.

We had an amazing lesson with Jo.... on Tuesday. We taught the Plan of Salvation, which I thought he would have had a lot of questions about, since he has had a slightly "devil's advocate" kind of attitude in the past. But he loved every bit of it, we were able to answer the very few questions he had, and President Pr....e (the last branch president) was there and was saying all of the right things at the right moments (sometimes you worry a lot about what fellowshippers will say!). Jo.... even brought his fancy camera so that he could take a picture with his missionaries :) I think that is a good sign! We are meeting him at the Visitors Center tonight, which I am really excited about. It is going to be really good, I can feel it!

Cr....g is doing fantastic. He is beyond reactivated. He has his sights set firmly on going to the temple, and it's like he can't get enough of reading the scriptures, going to church, and meeting with us! He is the only person who shows up for Priesthood with the entire lesson read through and thoroughly annotated. When we went to his house on Wednesday for our appointment, he was outside waiting for us--almost jumping up and down because he was so excited to tell us the news that he was asked to be a home teacher! He ran into the house to show us his home teaching assignment list. He is so great! We asked him to help us fellowship one of our investigators, La....y, who hasn't been able to find any friends at church. You would have thought we had asked him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, he was so honored! I'm excited :) This will be good for both him and La....y!

Ju....e is on day 12 of being sober! She is doing so great. Now she just needs to stop smoking...which hopefully will happen really, really soon! Sister Ri....a went over to her house while she was at work on Valentine’s Day and worked on clearing the leaves and sticks and whatnot from her front garden area for about an hour, but I'm not sure if she noticed it or not because she didn't mention it. But at least we know that we did something nice for her, so when she goes to clear it out (she mentioned needing to do that the other day) it won't be as big of a job.

On Thursday, we also had an amazing Plan of Salvation lesson with Ju...l! He reacted about the same as Jo....--he had a hard time getting into the Restoration lesson, but he just loved the Plan of Salvation! Apparently for their anniversary last week, he and Do...a went out to dinner and he gave her a card that said something like, "I want to be with you forever" so his wife turns to him and says, "Well, if you want to be with me forever, you need to get baptized first." He responded, "Yeah I know...but I just like coffee too much." to which the brilliant woman says, "Which is more important to you? Me, or coffee?" Hahaha isn't that so great? He said, "Uh...I hadn't thought of it that way before." So maybe that was why our lesson when so well a couple days later! I hope that he continues to progress.

For our dinner appointment Friday night, the 10th branch (they are a retirement branch, so only 65 and older or something like that) invited us to their Valentines Dinner. I figured it wouldn't be as weird as a normal ward Valentine’s Day thing, because they would all be too old to be overly romantic, which was true, except that they had this guy singing old love songs accompanied on his guitar. I felt SO awkward! The man sitting across from us said, "Not exactly your kind of music is it?" When I responded with, "Yeah, I'd rather listen to hymns" he had a surprised expression, so I think he was thinking more along the lines of Justin Bieber or something. But I'm a missionary, not just some youngster! haha. It was kinda funny because we were thinking entirely different things! We excused ourselves after the first song or two because I just couldn't handle it, I felt so awkward!

Well, I hope that you all had a beautiful and less-awkward-than-mine Valentine’s Day!

I love you!

--Sister BurnerBottom of Form

 

February 10, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

Milagros, milagros, milagros! Last Monday night we had a lesson with Pey....n (the ten year old girl we are teaching). We asked her to be baptized a couple weeks before, and each time we met she would say that she hadn't gotten her answer yet. But Monday before we went in we prayed that we would see un milagro. We even went ahead and brought a baptism program with us for her to fill out. After teaching the lesson (I can't remember what it was), I said, "Sooo...February 15th?" She kinda laughed and said, "yeah." Sister Ri...ra says, "Will you be baptized on February 15th?" And again she says, "Yes." Wahooo! So we showed her the baptism program and how to fill it out and I think she was just about bursting because finally she said, "By the way, I got my answer." Haha :) She is so cute! She told us that after we had left the time before (when we had conveniently had a lesson on how to recognize the Spirit) she had felt so happy and good inside that she almost cried, and she knew that that was her answer. Cute! So, we are going to have a Valentines baptism this weekend!

Meanwhile, it has been worse than pulling teeth trying to get our investigators to go see Dr. Pi....ton! Finally Ju...e went on Thursday to be cured for drinking. She has been an alcoholic for 6 years, and couldn't go a matter of hours without a drink. She went in to the doctor with a craving, came out without one, and hasn't had a sip of alcohol in 4 days :) She felt so good when she woke up that one morning she got up and drained all of her alcohol into the sink and threw away the bottles! Wahoo! She is going to go back in soon to quit smoking, and then one week after that she can be baptized! Now, why is it so hard to get people to go in and get cured?! Sister Ri..ra and I decided that it is just like the people of Moses with the fiery serpents: "He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished." 1 Nephi 17: 41. Craziness.

Quotes of note:

"Satan is a loser and he will give up, but Jesus won't." --Brother Ba..d, our new Ward Mission Leader...he is way cool. Bad-kid-gone-good type of guy. Super funny!

Me: "Why do you think it is important to write things down when you study the scriptures?"

Pey..n: "So that you can remember the things you feel."

...Where did she come from?!

Well, I hope that you all have a great week!
Happy Valentine’s Day! I love you!
--Sister Burner

January 27, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

I took some notes this last week, so hopefully I will be able to remember an adequate amount of things to write to you all this week!

Pey..n, our ten year old investigator, is so cute! We meet with her twice a week. On Monday, we asked her to pray about being baptized on February 15th. Then when we met with her again on Wednesday, we asked her how it went and she told us that she had prayed about it twice since we saw her but that she hadn't gotten her answer yet. But she really wants to be baptized :) Also, we had shown her how we mark our scriptures with different colors to mean different things, and then when we went back the second time she showed us how she had made a little color coding system in the front of her Book of Mormon, and she was super excited to show us that she had already marked two scriptures! Haha it was SO cute! I really hope that everything works out for her to be baptized the day after Valentines. That would be adorable.

We have been teaching a less active couple, Cr.... and Ma... (I think I told you last time about her having a seizure while we were there) since way back when I was in Leeds with Sister Pha....h. But they have never gotten up the courage to go to church! It has been driving us slightly crazy because we have tried everything we can to get them to church. They love meeting with us, and tell us that they really want to get back to church. Anyways, Cr.... finally went to church yesterday!! Ma... didn't go yet, but we were practically jumping up and down when we found out that Cr.... had gone! I consider that a huge success in my book :) He stayed for all 3 hours and apparently had a good time. We weren't able to go to his ward, but our Ward Mission Leader gave us an update at Coordination meeting. We also had 3 investigators attend that ward yesterday! Wahoo!

Cr.... and Ma... have been doing a lot better with reading the scriptures, but their comprehension isn't as great yet so we have been going over and reading with them every once in a while. This last week when we went Cr.... got off on a tangent about how we know that the Church must be true, he ended up saying something to the effect of, "There are only two true churches, Ma... Either you are Catholic, or you are LDS." Ummm I think we have a little more work to do!

The other day we had a lesson with Ju... in the middle of the day, but she called saying that she was too busy at work (we usually meet her at her work office during the day to have lessons), so we rescheduled to do it that evening at her house. When we got there she was somewhat of an emotional mess--work had been challenging that day. She runs a machine repair shop, which she took over when her husband passed away a few months ago. So when we went to see her, she was crying and said that that day had been one of those days that she just wished that her husband was there to show her how to do things. I have no idea how she figures out how to fix all kinds of machines--she is a tough woman! Anyways, she asked us if we could make our meeting short that night. We just read a chapter with her, but the Spirit worked miracles that night because by the time we left we had her laughing and smiling, looking completely peaceful and content, opposite from the state she was in when we came. God watches over His children! I'm glad that we could help her to feel better.

Our talks in 3rd ward yesterday went alright. Sometimes I just find it super distracting when it's so noisy in there! I feel like no one is listening. But the Spirit is always there, regardless of how many children are screaming. We spoke on "the Godhead," and of course I tied a little bit of missionary work in there, too. :)

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! I love you.

Love,

Sister Burner

January 6, 2014

Hola familia!

 

Sooo, I have some stories to tell about this week! BUT, I also have a semi-lame keyboard, so this will be an experiment to see how much patience I have :) So if my sentences seem abrupt, that is why!

 

There is a less-active lady that we have been visiting lately, named Je..n. Her daughter, Ta...ya, is not baptized--so we were hoping that as we meet with Je..n, eventually her daughter will be home and join us. Anyways, we scheduled to share a Christmas message with her on Christmas Eve, and then this last week we scheduled an appointment to meet with her again. We planned to introduce the Book of Mormon and talk about prayer--our standard first lesson that we have with the people we teach. Her daughter wasn't there, as usual, but oh well. We started talking and she brought up how neither of her kids were baptized, and then she says "In fact, I don't think that I was ever baptized, either." WHAT? We had been counting her as less active lessons, when really they were other lessons! And we had been thinking of involving her with fellowshipping La...y--it's a good thing that we didn't! Haha. Anyways, it became clear during the lesson that, although she loves us, she isn't the biggest fan of Mormonism. She pulled every complaint in the book--"Why do you need another book?" "Why can't everyone go in the temple?" "I think that this is a cult" etc. But she just wouldn't really listen to our answers, so eventually I just bluntly said, "Je...n, I think that your problem with the church is deeper than any of this. Has someone in the church offended you?" And of course, someone had.  So she told us the story (I've grown sooo insensitive to those...honestly!).

 

At the end, she said "I'm sorry, but I just don't believe in your Book of Mormon." I think that my response shocked her a bit--I said, "Well, of course you don't! I wouldn't either, if I had never even opened the cover or prayed about it." Definitely not what she was expecting. Needless to say, we committed her to praying about the Book of Mormon that night, and she said that she would.

 

On Thursday night after planning, we got a text from one of the Bishops in Leeds saying that he had someone that needed to be baptized on Saturday. No big deal. WHAT?! It turned out to be this 11 year old, Ca.......n, who had had missionaries for a long time but his dad wouldn't let him get baptized until the dad was worthy enough to perform the baptism. The kids all go to church with their mom, but getting Dad worthy has been a problem. Anyways, the family was moving Sunday morning to another state, and I guess the dad decided that it was finally time--so he called the Bishop and told him that he was finally ready (the Bishop has been working with him for quite some time). Anyways, we hadn't taught him all the lessons yet--Sister Ri....a had taught the Restoration, but that was it (sisters before us had taught them) We went over on Saturday morning and within 40 minutes taught him the Plan of Salvation, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Word of Wisdom, Chastity, Sabbath Day, and reviewed all of the baptismal interview questions. Good thing they already knew pretty much everything from going to church. After the lesson we all went over to the church and met our District Leader (Elder He.......t) for the interview. He and his brother Ca....on (who is 8 so he didn't need the lessons) were both baptized and confirmed that night. Craziness!

 

Well, I need to get going! Sorry to cut my stories short. Love you all!

--Sister Burner

 

New Years zone activity

 

 

 

 

 

Skyping with family on Christmas!

Christmas program at the St. George tabernacle!

 

 

 

 

Christmas district activity

December 30, 2013

Hola familia!

This week was pretty slow with teaching. In fact, when we did our weekly planning on Friday, we hadn't been able to teach any of the lessons that we had planned. Everyone was out of town for Christmas, or cancelled for some reason or other :( Sad day! But we were able to pic up a new investigator, Larry, and teach him a few times! Yay! And we have seen a couple of our investigators since Friday. We are really praying that this next week will be a lot better and that everyone will be back in town!

Story behind Larry--it was actually a set of elders in our district that found them! Elder Da...y and Elder Le...e came to our Zone Activity on Christmas super excited about a new investigator that they were going to have a lesson with that night at the VC. But, that night we got a call from them and they told us, "Hey, so that new investigator that we got...actually lives in your area. Would it be okay with you if we taught him?" As you can guess, they got a big NO on that one. Poor guys. It went something like this:

Them: "Hey, so that new investigator that we got...actually lives in your area. Would it be okay with you if we taught him?"

Me: "Have you seen him more than one time?"

Them: "Well, no, but he really opened up to us!"

Me: "Well, seeing as you have only met with him once he most likely has no critical emotional attachment to you. So I see no need for you to teach him. I strongly believe that we have been placed in this area for a reason, and we are the ones who are supposed to teach those who live within our area. But we will let you know if we have a problem that necessitates your teaching. What was his address?"

Haha those poor elders! Sister Ri...a was trying to practice saying what I had said after we hung up the phone. I have no idea where all of this boldness comes from. I'm definitely not as passive as I was before my mission!

We contacted La...y the next day, and set up an appointment for the following day, which went great! And we had a member that lives nearby give him a ride to church on Sunday. Next appointment is for tonight! I am excited to see this man progress and change his life as he strives to center himself on Jesus Christ.

I love you all and hope that you have a fantastic New Years!

Love,
Sister Burner

 

December 23, 2013

Hola familia y amigos! Feliz navidad a todos, espero que tengan felicidad y amor por todo esta semana :)

This has been an amazing week! B..n's baptism was yesterday and it was incredible. By far the most spiritual baptism I have been to. This kid is...amazing. He has so much potential! Tons of people from his "school" came, as well as people from the ward. You probably remember the situation--Bishop Ah.....n owns this facility for troubled youth, and he noticed a spark in B...n. B..n would always talk to the returned missionaries that were on the staff about the Gospel. So then we started teaching him, and he fell in love with the Book of Mormon. I'm pretty sure he finished the whole thing in a matter of 8 weeks or less. Each week he would tell us in animated detail about where he was in his reading.

The baptism was performed by Bishop Ah....n. As the two of them stood there in the water and Bishop Ah....n got ready to say the prayer, he paused for a second because he couldn't speak. Tears were coming down both of their faces, and I'm sure many faces of those watching. After a minute, he baptized B..n. As they were getting ready to come back out, we sung "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" and "I Believe in Christ" to keep the Spirit there. Afterwards, B..n got up and bore his testimony. He is such an incredible young man; I know that he will do great things! He is planning on leaving on a mission as soon as he can.

The other day as I was getting ready for bed I was thinking about Christmas coming up, and I had this realization that I am slightly embarrassed hasn't occurred to me before. I was thinking about how, yeah, the birth of Christ is great, but the Atonement is what is most important. But then I realized that what we celebrate at Christmas has slightly more to do with our Heavenly Father than it does with Jesus Christ; "For God so loved the world, that He gave is only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him be saved." (John 3:16-17). God knew perfectly well what He was sending His Son to do here on Earth; He knew everything that He would suffer, and the sacrifice that He would make. I guess we could liken it to a mother sending her son off to war--the hardest part is the good-bye. At Christmas time, celebrating the Savior's Birth, we are celebrating the sacrifice that God made in sending His Son to the world. Or at least, that's what I would like to think :)

And just as I said last Christmas, I feel blessed that as I celebrate God's greatest gift to us this year, I can be giving others the second greatest gift that I have power to give.

On a lighter note, last night we had our Missionary Christmas Program! I was super excited to be in St. George area this year so that I could participate. All the missionaries in Washington County met at the Tabernacle and sang. The Tabernacle was pretty much full! It was really neat. I took pictures, which I will send to you :)

After the Christmas program, I was out in the audience saying goodbye to a couple of the other sisters before heading out, and this little 9 or 10 year old girl ran up and gave me a huge hug and said, "I found you!" I was slightly confused how I knew this girl, but it was really cute! Her mom was a little confused as well, so she asked her, "How do you know her?" And she replied, "The primary activity!" I guess that she was one of the 1000 primary kids that came through the Visitors Center a few weeks ago, and she was in one of the groups that I did--amazing that she remembers me! How sweet is that?

 Know that I love you all so much, and I am excited to get to speak to some of you in two days!

Love,
Sister Burner