Week 3 - Marshmallow Handshakes

Dear Family and Friends,

I will be saying y'all before you know it because I leave this Tuesday at 3:30am for Florida! I am excited to start teaching real investigators and to meet my trainer, though my time at the MTC has been great. Something really exciting happened... during lunch on Tuesday, my companion asked who we thought would be coming for the devotional that night. I randomly said, "What if Elder Renlund came?" I had no idea why that came out of my mouth, but lo and behold, that night, Elder Renlund spoke to us with his wife! Afterwards, they wanted to shake every single missionary's hand, so we stood in line for about 20 minutes and he shook my hand! It was so soft and squishy, like a marshmallow. It was a nice handshake. Later that night, an elder that had transferred into my district because he was being reassigned said that when he shook Elder Renlund's hand, the apostle looked him in the eye and said, "You're on reassignment, aren't you." 

If there's one thing I learned about the mission field, it's that change is constant! Our Sister Leaders and their district left on Monday, and on Wednesday, we welcomed 8 new sisters and 2 elders into our branch! Another thing I learned is that the Lord truly does strengthen me here. Some days I feel exhausted, but somehow can still teach with the Spirit and know exactly what to do. I know the Lord is sustaining me in my efforts because I am serving Him with all my heart, might, mind, and energy! 

Funny moments this week: My companions and I were discussing our worst teaching moments in the MTC. Once while teaching Yui, a young Japanese woman who believed in multiple gods and wasn't familiar with the Bible, Sister Ward testified that God loves us so much that He blessed us with families. Yui then said, "but I don't like my family." It was so awkward because we had just assumed she had a loving relationship with her family, and that was definitely not the case. Then in the middle of the lesson, when she was questioning universal truth and one God, I felt that we should switch from teaching about the apostasy and talk about our purpose here on earth, and what will happen after we die. I turned to my companions and said aloud, "I'm feeling the Plan of Salvation." They both just looked at me with shocked expressions for saying that to them in front of Yui, who had no idea what I had meant.  Sis Scott's worst teaching moment was in a role-play with one of our teachers. She was trying to ask an inspired question, but it kept coming out wrong, so she said, "Never mind, abandon ship!" At least hers was just during a role-play, because Sis Ward's and mine happened during an actually lesson (but we knew Yui was already a member who was pretending not to be). Seriously, everything is much funnier as a missionary because there's not much for entertainment besides the silly things we do, and I am lucky to have a very entertaining trio-companionship!

Friday felt like the longest day ever because we had Infield Orientation from 8am to 5:30pm. I already knew most of what was taught, so I'm feeling very prepared to get out on the mission field!

This morning I woke up early with my companions to attend the temple at 6:40am. After an endowment session, we did sealings as daughters. It was my first time, and it was a really cool experience. I will miss being able to go to the temple every week once I am in the mission field, because there are no temples in my mission.

Well, next time I email you, I will be in Florida... or Alabama or Mississippi or Georgia! Can't wait to find out where my first area is!

Much love,

Sister Burnham

My district and our teacher, Sister Hanshaw

Mission field bound with Sister Scott!

The Sisters in my branch

Me and my companions with Yui, a TRC investigator

Week 2: Getting Cozy at the MTC

I can't believe that I only have 10 days left at the MTC. So much has changed in the last week! I love teaching and learning, and I absolutely love being a missionary. But this past week has been so hard. Not because I'm homesick or having problems with companions. My district and zone have been through so much heartache this past week, starting on Monday. One of the sisters had to go home because of medical problems. I felt a lot of peace about this, but I definitely have missed her sweet spirit being here. This means that I am now in a trio with Sister Scott and Ward, who are both amazing! It has been a great experience learning to teach with both of them and learning new teaching styles. 

On Tuesday, our district leader decided he was going home as well. This was a huge surprise to all of us, but he said he didn't feel ready. I don't know what was going on with him, but this was hard on all of us, especially since a sister had just left the day before. Here at the MTC, my district has become my family. We spend so much time together (8+ hours a day). I never knew I could grow to love them all so much in such a short time, especially the elders! I don't know why two people left from our district, which I heard is rare, but I feel a lot of peace and know the Lord is preparing me for something great. I know this will enable me to help others. So we officially have two trios in our district.

Wednesday was exciting because a new district arrived in our zone! We have four new elders and sisters! I love them already and had fun talking at meals and getting to know them. The new elders are so sweet and will take our trays after meals for us to the dish-room. That night, something crazy happened in the boys’ dorm. Two of them thought that the third had been "possessed" and were freaking out. That elder has just had a hard time sleeping here and was just acting out his dreams (night terror), but the other two started spreading rumors and freaking everyone out. Seriously though, the MTC is a very safe place and I have felt the presence of angels here protecting me. God truly does watch out for His missionaries! It also snowed today, which was a weird thing to have happen in May!

Thursday, Elder Zoolakis got called as our district leader. He is very silly and sweet, and I'm glad he was called as our district leader.

On Friday, we got a new elder in our district, Elder Hughes. He was assigned to serve in Japan and has been at the MTC for 9 weeks learning Japanese. Due to health issues, he was recently reassigned to serve state-side and was put in our district since we had a missing elder. He has a crazy backstory, and apparently he used to be inactive and worked at a bar, so he knows how to mix drinks. This lead to him showing us how to mix drinks in the cafeteria by density. It was so fun, and we called them "rainbow" drinks. Additionally, we found out that a sister in the new district had her mind set on going home after being here for three days. I felt prompted to share what had happened in my district about the sister and elder who left, and how hard it was for us. I shared that she should really pray about it and that we were all here for her and loved her so much. She was very grateful, but I think her mind is still set. She says she feels like she just really needs to go home and has prayed about it. I don't know what will happen yet, but I trust her and the Lord. I don't know why the Lord would prompt someone to serve a mission, and then a week into the MTC, prompt them to leave, but I know everything happens for a reason.

Making rainbow drinks in the cafeteria

Today, the power all over the MTC went out for over an hour around 11am. We had just gotten back from a temple trip. It was scary at first because I was in the dorms with my companions and suddenly the entire building goes pitch black. Fortunately, Sister Ward had a head-light, so we used that to get around. We ended up just taking a nap until the power went back on. Because of this, we had to wait to do emails (no wifi) and laundry, and lunch became sandwiches and chips in the lobby of the MTC because they couldn't cook any food. I also am singing in church tomorrow with my two companions! There are so many opportunities here to share and develop your talents.

With Sisters Ward and Scott

Overall, I have learned how easy it is to love others, and how hard it is to lose them. I know I will be experiencing a lot of this on my mission with investigators and the Lord is preparing me. As a result of these hardships, though, our district has become so close. I have more respect for everyone. I feel like my companions are life-long friends, and we all work so hard to reach out to each other and make sure we are all doing okay. There are so many moments of laughter and jokes I can think of. I've cried a lot this week, but I've also laughed so much. If this is the start to my mission, I am so excited because I have so much to learn and a lot of fun to look forward to even if times are hard. I know the Lord loves all of us and is constantly stretching us so that we can become even better!

With Leila, her fake investigator

Week 1: Arrival to the MTC

May 13, 2017

The first day at the MTC was so crazy busy because I had gotten at most 5 hours of sleep and so was already exhausted. By the second day, when I had more sleep, I started to like the MTC more. Plus, my companion, Sister Ward, is very friendly and nice. We get along well, even if we don't have a lot in common. The other two sisters in my dorm room are Sister Beecroft and Sister Scott. I love all of them so much and although we've known each other for less than a week, we are so comfortable with each other. I love the outpouring of the Spirit here at the MTC. I don't think I've ever felt it so frequently and so strongly. I can tell I am going to love being a missionary because I will get to have this feeling throughout my entire mission as the Lord guides me to do His work. We have already done some role playing and teaching. I wasn't actually nervous because I've had practice before now, plus I just followed the Spirit. I know I still have a lot to improve, and have learned the value of evaluating afterwards, even if you think it went well, because there is always something you can improve on. 

Also, I absolutely LOVE the cafeteria because it is all you can eat, and they have a special diet room for those with food allergies, which means that I can eat healthy, as much as I want, and don't have to make it! Also, the MTC isn't super crowded because boys in high school still haven't gotten out. This means there are only around 800 missionaries here, but in June this will increase to 1200 I believe. I love learning about the gospel all the time, though I get very tired throughout the day and so probably don't absorb as much as I should. Yesterday I had a headache all afternoon. But I am surviving! I got to go to the Provo temple this morning with my zone (8 sisters and 8 elders). The elders in my district are pretty crazy and entertaining!