March 11, 2013

 

Buenos dias, familia y amigos!

 

This week has been SO great! And I kept a list of things that I wanted to tell you all about :)

 

Wednesday night, we had dinner with this couple up in Cleveland, and she had baked me gluten free bread! How nice is that?  It took me about 10 minutes to actually start eating dinner because I was just so excited and savoring the bread :) It was SO good. Her mother-in-law helped her with it, so all these people spent their morning baking special bread so that a missionary could have bread with her meal! They are so sweet! They even sent the rest of the loaf home with me, which was gone by Saturday.  It was such a tender mercy! Also, I got this big package of all kinds of gluten free goodies (breadsticks, rolls, burritos, egg rolls, and muffins) from my wonderful grandmother. I feel like I have been eating like a queen! God loves me a lot.

 

Funny moment--we were teaching this man that used to be a pastor and he was slightly boasting about how as a pastor, he had had the gift of tongues. And we had just come from an appointment teaching the Restoration to a man who doesn't speak a word of english. Pure Spanish. I just thought that was funny :) I didn't mention that to the man though.

 

Oh, I wrote down a few sweet things that Sister Kim told me this week! One was, "Sometimes I feel like you have been out way longer than I have. Mainly because of the way you teach by the Spirit."  The other, "In the middle of the lesson I just had this stupor of thought, and then I got the impression we should bear our testimonies of how we came to know that the Book of Mormon is true. Not even five seconds after I felt that, you did exactly what I had been impressed to do." Wow! It just made me feel like a good missionary :)

 

On Friday, we had a member and his son come give Priesthood blessings to Ti..... and Ke..... because they have really been struggling with addictions. It was SO powerful. Afterwards, we asked them how they felt, and they said that they knew that those blessings had come from God because they said things that only God would know about them. They know that the Priesthood is real. It was such a neat experience! I feel blessed to have witnessed that.  Ke..... went to all three hours of church on Sunday, and she even said the prayer at the end of Sunday School and asked questions in Relief Society. We have been meeting with them several times throughout the week.

 

It snowed a couple days this week! Oh goodness, I can't wait until spring gets here! The first and second of March were absolutely beautiful. In the 50's, I think. I hope it warms up again and stays that way!

 

Another funny moment--we called the Bishop of one of our wards, and his daughter answered (she's about 5 or 6). She went to find her dad but after a moment she returned to the phone and said, "um...He will have to call you back. He is having a cow." It was all I could do to ask her to have him call the missionaries and hang up before starting to crack up! Haha in California, I would have thought that meant he was upset about something, but here they mean it literally--that he is helping a cow give birth. Oh gosh. Where am I??

 

My companion and I gave talks in Sacrament meeting yesterday! When they have the missionaries speak here, they have them take up the entire time, which always makes me a little nervous (that's like 20 minutes! How do I keep everyone awake that long?) But it went really well! Mine was about Joseph Smith, which was nice because I have tons of practice telling the story of the Restoration. And one of our kid investigators, Li....., was there, which was really convenient because we were having a lesson on the Restoration that night! We asked her to be baptized on March 30th, and she accepted. Happiness!

 

Miracles: One of the bishops up in Cleveland had an 18 year old kid come up and tell him that he wanted to be baptized. Sweet!! We started teachig him Saturday night. He already has who he wants to baptize him picked out! Also, we got a call Friday morning from the Seminary teacher, who told us that one of his students had run back to him after class and told him that another student, Da...., had just told everyone that she wants to be baptized. We had run into her the day before and scheduled an appointment with her for Tuesday--how inspired is that?! She has already been to church, and has been in seminary this whole year. She sounds so prepared!

 

This was such a great week :) Love, Love, Love it! Being a missionary is such an amazing experience. I love you all so much. Have a wonderful week!

 

--Hermana Burner

March 4, 2013

 

Hola Familia y Amigos!

 

Tuesday, we had a lesson with a family we have been teaching (we've been teaching the four kids) on the ten commandments. We have tricks to remember each commandment, using the number of fingers corresponding to the number of the commandment (for example, for the first one we hold up one finger, pointing upwards, saying that there is only one God. For number six, we use three fingers on each hand to make guns, which we then put in our pockets, meaning that we should not kill). We got to number seven, which is do not commit adultery, and we explained it that when a husband and wife go to a party, they always come home together, not with anyone else--so they don't have any other boyfriends or girlfriends, just their spouse. Then one of the seven year old girls said, "My mommy did that!" And everyone looked at the mom and she looked super embarrassed...and then I was just like "Anyways...number seven is don't commit adultery. Number eight is..." Haha it was way awkward, but it blew over just fine and we continued with the lesson.

 

Wednesday we tracked a trailer park that we hadn't been to in a while, and we ran into this really nice lady named Ke....., who is even tinier than me! She must weigh about 50 pounds. Anyways, she was super enthusiastic and invited us back to have a lesson on Saturday. At our lesson on Saturday, we introduced the Book of Mormon to both Ke..... and her husband, Ti..... He used to be a pastor for a different religion, and it turns out that he has read through the Book of Mormon before and says that he couldn't find one speck of heresy in it.  It all compliments what the Bible says. (Amen!) They have been going to the Baptist church, but Ti.... told us that they quit going about a month ago because they were at a Bible study and everyone started bashing on the Mormons, and it really upset him, so he got up and called them all self-righteous and left. Wow! He ranted to us for a minute about how he has had Mormon missionaries come by several times, and he has never heard a bad word out of their mouths about any other religion, and he thinks that The Book of Mormon is good. He talked for a really long time, and I am surprised he didn't just talk himself into baptism right there! Ti.... and Ke..... have been attending an LDS 12 Step Program in Ca..... D..... for three years, and they think it is wonderful. We invited them to come to church yesterday, and Ke..... came! Ti..... didn't come because he is struggling with an addiction to alcohol, but we are hoping to get him out to church next week. Everything is looking so good, and I hope and pray that everything goes well with teaching this sweet couple!

 

Sister Kim taught me this cute trick for remembering our baptismal covenants. CTR--keep His Commandments, Take His name upon us, and always Remember Him. Isn't that neat?

 

On Thursday we had a really neat lesson with Ch...... on faith (Ch...... is the one that goes to church every Sunday, had a calling as Activity Day leader for 5 years, but hasn't been baptized). Ch...... is best friends with Je..... (Ad..... and Be.....'s mom) so we invited Je..... to come as well. So we had this really powerful lesson with Ch....., Je....., Ad... and Be....--which is awesome because that is a non-member, less-active, and recent convert lesson all in one! We talked about faith and hope and really made an effort to involve everyone, and then at the end we both bore testimony. The Spirit was there for sure. I hope that Je.... and Ch..... can really help each other to build their testimonies and faith in Jesus Christ.

 

I think that my favorite thing to teach is the Restoration. I love that moment after we share the First Vision, using a picture of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ apprearing to Joseph in the grove. For a minute we don't say anything; we just let the Spirit speak to those we are teaching, and then we ask them how they would have felt if they were Joseph Smith. It is SO powerful.

 

Time is running short, so I need to finish up...I love you all so much! Have a great week!

--Hermana Burner

 

February 25, 2013

 

Hola Familia y Amigos--

 

Sorry for not getting a very good e-mail out to you last week! Monday was a holiday and both the library and Family History Center were closed, plus P-day was absolutely crazy with Sister Chase's packing, cleaning the house, setting up a new dresser/bed sets, etc. And then Tuesday we just had a few minutes to e-mail President Leonard before we had to head to Salina. Crazy times! But Sister Kim and I came back to Huntington and dove right in. We have been doing a lot of contacting lately, since our investigators keep getting baptized, moving, losing interest, and just being busy. But we are doing our best so hopefully things will start looking up soon! S.... got baptized and confirmed this last weekend! WAHOO!! She was so ready. When we talked to her at her baptismal interview on Friday, she said, "I just want to be baptized already!" Haha, she is so cute. We are so excited for her, and her ward seems to be welcoming her in really well, so it's like she is already part of the ward family :)

 

Yesterday, at one of the wards we went to, these three boys sang a part in the choir number and one of them was this little redhead who reminded me so much of Noah! Plus I ran into that kid name Trey again this last week, so I have just been thinking of them a bunch! I miss all of my brothers tons. Even the ones who never write to me (eh-HEM, Avery!)

 

...... know that I love you all so much!!

 

Con Amor,

Hermana Burner

February 19, 2013

Hola Familia~

 

....This is just going to be a quick e-mail-- Sister Chase and I are headed to Salina in half an hour, where I will pick up my new companion and Sister Chase will head on to St. George! My new companion's name is Sister Kim, and she is English-speaking... which means that I will be teachng all of our Spanish investigators by myself : ( Scary!!! I am so tempted to just put them on hold for a while, but we already have appointments scheduled with them for this week so I guess I will just have to dive in!

 

But Sister Kim is so great. This is her first time doing full proselyting because she has been in the Visitors Center for the first year of her mission (English speaking sisters get more time there than Spanish speaking). In fact, she was Lead Train, which is like the zone leader over the sister missionaries. And Sister Chase loves her and is pretty jealous that I get to be her companion lol. So it should be great :)

 

Love you all--

Hermana Burner