Emily Burnham: Week 18: Hurricane Irma

Hey y'all!

This past week has been full of anticipation and preparation for the coming of Hurricane Irma! We’ve had so many conference calls and weather updates! I don’t think I even knew exactly what a hurricane was before now. Besides some very high wind speed and rain, my area is safe from the hurricane!

One of the exciting things that happened this week was I finally got a new planner on Tuesday! I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s so hard to stay organized as a missionary without one! Sister Palmer and I came up with a new method to remember to ask for referrals. For every person we forget, we have to do push-ups the next morning. Well, we have definitely got a lot better at asking for referrals, but I've also gotten a lot stronger this past week! Side note: people give the craziest referrals... "There's this man named Piwi who lives down the road on the left after the brick house." That is so helpful... "And I know this other lady on Glen Road who has a white house, a white car, and a white truck." We drove down that road very slowly and saw ten white houses. We think we might have found the one she was referring to, though! I've also learned how to use Family Search a lot more! We helped a recent convert try to find information for two hours. It was kind of like trying to solve a puzzle or mystery. I am really starting to feel the Spirit of Elijah on my mission as I testify to people that they have ancestors waiting for them to do their work.

Wednesday, we picked Scoponons (no clue how to spell it, but they are not normal grapes!) with our recent convert Diane for an hour. We also met with a lady named Ceola that afternoon, and we were 40min late coming from another lesson. She said she had almost given up hope that we were coming. She has a great knowledge of the bible and the gospel, so we gave her a Book of Mormon. She was very hesitant about it, and Sister Palmer felt like she should ask her about prophets. We were able to explain the Restoration and prophets, and she opened up a lot more.

On Thursday, we helped plant in Mary's garden. Sister Palmer had a great time hoeing. It was very straight, and she said it was because on the farm growing up, her dad would bury their rows and make them do it again if it was crooked. I got to sprinkle in all the seeds and bury them. The ones planted a week ago already popped up above ground. I was so surprised! I thought it was a miracle! Apparently it's because I'm from Arizona, the state where nothing really grows, and it takes forever.

Friday we had exchanges with the sisters from Gulf Breeze. I left with Sister Fletcher Friday morning to go to Gulf Breeze, while Sister Palmer and Sister Sant stayed behind. It was cool being in a different area and seeing the bay. We contacted a few people and got a new investigator. For dinner, a member took us out to a Japanese Hibachi bar! It was super fun to watch the performance, and the best part was mine got made in the kitchen to avoid cross contamination, so my food was all ready at the same time and I got it sooner than everyone else. I ate while I watched him prepare everyone's food. Afterwards, we talked with the people sitting at the bar table with us. We explained what we did as missionaries, and I gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She also told us how she was not happy with preachers because their last one had just got convicted of murder, and they found out his next victim he had planned to kill was going to be her son! Folks, these are the last days that are prophesied about in the last days! Crazy things go on, and a lot of people draw close to God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him! Late that evening at 10pm, we got the call that we weren't having zone conference on Monday because of Hurricane Irma, but that we were having it the very next morning at 10am, combined with another zone. The next 20 minutes was a crazy mess of phone calls trying to figure everything out. But their beds were very comfortable... I felt like I was the princess from "The Princess and the Pea" because they had so many mattresses and box springs.

Saturday! We left at 7:30am to drive to zone conference. I got to meet up with my trainer, Sister Wall and hear about how the people in Semmes are doing! I also got to see my MTC companion Sister Scott! It was a happy reunion. Sister Scott was so excited to see me, she almost tackled me with a hug. I love her so much! She told me lots of crazy stories... and said she had a dream the night before that I would be training next transfer in Brewton. Well, only three more weeks to see if her dream is accurate ;). In zone conference, we talked about the talk "Be Responsible" that was given at BYU. It was very good and taught me a lot more about justice and mercy. I love being surrounded by missionaries and being lifted up by their sweet spirits. That evening as we headed back to our area, Sister Palmer told me how they had found 10 new investigators on the exchange! Miracles always seem to happen on exchanges. I can definitely see how God is blessing us whenever we work hard and make sacrifices. That exchange used a lot of our miles, but it was definitely worth it. We are now teaching a family that is super interested in the message. There are 7 kids we are teaching and gave copies of The Book of Mormon to, along with their mom and uncle. They are excited to continue to learn more and read from it. They already see how this is going to bring their family closer together!

On Sunday, my companion and I had the privilege of speaking in sacrament meeting! I felt prompted to speak about the Restoration, which is what I had talked about in my last ward. Sister Palmer spoke on the enabling power of the Atonement. We also had a linger-longer after church! Everyone brought a ton of food, and members made sure there was food I could eat. It was great talking and getting to know everyone better. Plus we got sent home with a lot of food! Later that evening, we met up with a former investigator, DJ, who had texted us out of the blue and wanted to start meeting with us again. We started to teach the Plan of Salvation, but in the middle, he said he didn't believe in Joseph Smith, so we stopped and started teaching the Restoration to him. I have never been so bold and bore testimony so strongly in a lesson before. He was very irreverent in the way he talked about God and Sister Palmer got soooo frustrated with him. She stared him down and was very serious and kept asking the same question because he wouldn't answer it. We both talked about how weird we felt afterwards. Drugs had definitely messed with his mind, and we are praying to know what to do with him. I am grateful for a tough companion that watches out for me and protects me!

One lesson I really learned this week was that I need to have confidence in Christ—not in myself or in others. As I've pondered how I can do this, I've been studying about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and about the nature of Christ. He is perfect and can do all things. His words will all be fulfilled, because He cannot lie. Therefore, no matter how inadequate I feel, I can trust that everything will work out because of Him. Often times I put myself down, saying "I can't do that; I'm not talented enough." But I'm really starting to trust the statement in Philippians 4:13. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Of myself, I cannot do a lot of things. But I'm starting to have more confidence that I really can do all things with Christ's strength.

Fun fact: we are now teaching a CJ, a DJ, a KJ, and a TJ! This will be fun :)

Much love,

Sister Burnham