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 

February 11, 2013

Buenos dias, familia y amigos!

 

This week was so amazing. I feel like we saw miracles every single day. So, sorry if this email is a little bit all over the place, I just want to make sure I remember everything I want to tell you!

 

Thursday night, we had lesson with Ra... and Je...... (she is a less-active, and her husband is a nonmember). We are the sixth set of missionaries to teach them, and he told us that he could not see himself ever going to church or praying in front of people. So, we weren't altogether too hopeful about being able to help him progress. We decided before our lesson on Tuesday that we would decide that night whether or not to drop him, and we would decide based on whether or not we could get him to pray. We had a lesson on commandments, focusing on the basic 10 (reading them from Mosiah 12 and 13). We talked about how we obey the commandments that God gives us not because we can see that they are for our best interest, but because we love Him and deisre to do what he asks of us. At the end of the lesson, we talked about how God has asked us to pray to Him, and then we all knelt down for the prayer, folded our arms, and Sister Chase said, "And now, Ra... will offer the prayer for us." There was a pause for a few seconds, and then Ra.... began to pray. He offered an amazing prayer, and the Spirit was so strong. I feel like that moment was sacred--and I know that it touched Je......'s heart; I can tell that she wants to have the Gospel in their lives. It was the first time that she had ever heard her husband pray.

 

On Saurday, Sister Chase and I went up to Cleveland to have a lesson wth Ti...., but he wasn't home from work yet so we told Cy..... that we would come back in an hour. We got to the car and decided on one of our back-up plans to check in on a woman we hadn't seen in a while. As we approched the narrow road that led to her house, there was a car behind us (that doesn't happen very often here), so Sister Chase drove past it, and turned around. We ended up driving for a little ways, looking for a place to turn around, and just as we were turning around at a little 4-way intersection, we saw a woman walking her dog down the road, smoking a cigarette. We got really excited (maybe she was a nonmember!), so we drove to the other end of the road and started walking up the street, hoping to run into her. She wasn't outside anymore, so we decided to tract the doors up the street until we found her. The first few houses were members, but we didn't give up. We knocked on one door, and this lady answered and said that she was a 7th Day Adventist, and shut the door in our faces! It was so awesome!  Potential Investigator : ) We had no idea TWO nonmembers lived on that street! Anyways, we kept knocking doors and after a couple of houses, that lady we had been looking for answered the door. She was really nice and said that she was Catholic, and she was just visiting her in-laws who were members (less-active probably, because they didn't let us come in to share a message). She lives in Price, but we gave her a couple of mormon.org cards and invited her to check out the church. Tender mercies galore!

 

S.... stayed for all three hours of church on Sunday, and is way excited for her baptism a week from Saturday. She is so golden--she pretty much already believes in every principle of the Gospel, before we even teach them to her! She tells everyone we introduce her to that she is getting baptized on February 23rd. We have been blessed to find several fellowshippers for her! So many of the ward members came up and introduced themselves to her, sat next to her in class, or said that they would like to come to some of the lessons with her. Also, people have gone by and checked in on her, and a couple of her neighbors went over to her house to give her son a Priesthood blessing (he has a lot of medical issues). I love it when wards are so great with our investigators! We are a little sad that Sister Chase probably won't be here for her baptism, but we are going to take pictures with her before transfers.

 

We also had some not-so-spiritual but kind of funny events this week. We got pulled over for going 28 mph in a school zone (apparently they are 20 mph zones here in Utah). We had just eaten dinner with the cop's family a couple of weeks ago though, so he just laughed it off and said that we would need to stop speeding or else he wouldn't feed us dinner anymore (rude!). The unfortunate part was that he pulled us over in the post office parking lot, just as the Stake President was walking across in front of our car. Ooops.

 

Also, our toilet broke and President Si.............. (our landlord, he is in the Stake Presidency) came and had to replace the entire inside thing. He left a note on our table that said, "Sister Burner, please do not let Sister Chase take off the lid of the toilet tank again. I don't want to have to replace it again. Thanks : )" It was so funny. He is so great. While he was there he put ice-salt stuff on our walkway to melt the ice, and in the note he said he would try to find us another dresser, since he noticed that we just share one.

 

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

Love,

Hermana Burner

February 4, 2013

Hey Familia--

 

We finished everything we had to get done early today, so I have plenty of time to write! We are meeting the elders at the Huntington Stake Center to play basketball in a bit though.

 

I thought I would share with you a few of these spiritual thoughts that I share often when we run into a member or after dinner appointments : ) (BTW, I ate with Pres. Brown's aunt's family the other night!)

 

Ether 12:4 and 12:6--- We love to emphasize the word "anchor" and how faith in Christ is our anchor (compare Hel. 5:12)

 

Ether 12:27--- I always follow with this quote: "No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you, with an infinite love"---Pres. Uchtdorf. Smetimes even just knowing that God truly loves us is enough to give us the strength to carry on.

 

D & C 124:15--- I use this to talk about likening the scriptures to ourselves. I tell how I had this scripture printed out and looked at it often during high school to give me motivation.

 

Alma 38:9--- I love the contrast of light, truth, Christ vs. dark, lies, satan, and how if we let Him, Christ will light up our worlds.

 

A lot of times we just use various scriptures as the spirit directs, or something we have learned recently in our personal studies.

 

Remember how I mentioned in my e-mail about teaching Gl....? It has been so great. Her sister drives all the way from Castle Dale to join our lessons, and she had been going to a baptist church for the last year. And there is always one or two other random less actives or nonmembers who come. It's like we have a little class!

 

I love you all so much! I keep a family picture in my scriptures, and my favorite pen (I'm using it right now) is the one Grandma sent me that was custom made with our family picture on it. And I keep pictures next to my bed and on my dresser.

 

Have a great week!

----Hermana Burner

 



February 4, 2013

Hola Familia!

 

The other day, we were teaching a couple named the Le........s. They are 7th Day Adventist, but are always really nice to the missionaries and let us in. We were teaching the Plan of Salvation. It's a little scary because Brother Le....... is VERY well-versed in the Bible; he pretty much knows it backwards and forwards. Anyways, we were talking about how God is the Father of our spirits, and how He wants us to return to Him someday. We shared Hebrews 12:9, which compares our Heavenly Father to our earthly fathers. He then asked us, "If our Heavenly Father were like your dad, would you want to live with Him forever?" We both took a second to digest the question, but then we both said yes. It probably doesn't seem like a very powerful moment, but it really made me think about how great my dad is and how blessed I am that I have a dad who is such an amazing role model and example of a true disciple of Christ.  ...I'm going to leave it there because I'm starting to tear up in the middle of the library, but I love you, Dad : )

 

We have been teaching our friend A....'s mom (she just left on her mission a few weeks ago, and her mom is just starting to come back to church), mostly because she had a nonmember couple living with her that would sit in on the lessons, but also because President just gave us permisison during the last Zone Conference to start teaching less-actives (as long as it doesn't interfere with our goals for teaching nonmembers), and she really needs it. Anyways, during personal study I was starting to prepare our lesson for her, starting with the Restoration and focusing on the topic of love. After a while I realized that I was directing the entire lesson plan towards her, and not towards Ch.... and Li.... (the nonmenbers living with her). For some reason, I just felt that that was what I was supposed to do. When we arrived at her house for the lesson that night, she told us that Ch.... and Li.... had moved out and were living with her mom in Wellington, so it would just be her and her sister that night. I had no idea that that was going to happen, so it was just a testimony to me of how the Spirit directs our planning and teaching! I didn't know that it would just be Gl..... and her sister, but the Spirit did, so that is what He had me plan for. Amazing, isn't it?

 

On a lighter note, we were looking at some lists the other day that we got from the Stake Clerk, and one man had as his address, "Old Flour Mill." On official church records! Haha you know you are in Emery County when...! But it's legitimate; it seems like most of the houses around here don't have numbers on them, so a lot of people don't know their addresses.

 

I love you all! Tenga una bena semana!

Con amor,

Hermana Burner