Week 19: Tender Mercies

Hey y'all! So this week was full of tough lessons, but many miracles. This week I've been studying about diligence and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. My companion is very fit and can work hard for long periods of time. She loves running marathons and biking in 150 mile races. I wish I was stronger and didn't have so many health concerns. This past week I felt like I was holding us back from working super hard because I have to stop to eat and rest throughout the day. Then I got called to repentance a lot. 

     1. God created my body. He knows my weaknesses, and He still put me with Sister Palmer for a reason. 

     2. Don't compare yourself to others! We are each on our own individual and unique path back to salvation. 

     3. Part of being diligent is not running faster than you have strength. Mosiah 4:27 "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order."

     And the biggest blessing of all was that this week was seeing the miracle of us reaching our goal of seven new investigators. I got sick this week and felt like I slowed down the work. By the time Saturday came around, we had zero new investigators. But I decided to put full faith in Christ and expect miracles to happen that day. They sure did! By the time we came home that evening, we had seven new investigators! That was a confirmation from God that even if I can't work at as fast as a pace as I want to, He will not hold back any miracles or blessings when I put my faith and trust in Him.

A quick overview of my week:

Monday:

We tracted in the cold wind and rain for two hours because our appointments decided to fall through, and no one wanted to let us in! Lots of doors slammed in our face :). But then we had a tender mercy: we met with our investigator Alex (15 years old) and her mom let us come inside the house for the first time! Usually we have to sit outside on the porch. She is really softening towards missionaries and the gospel.

Tuesday: 

On our way to district meeting, we stopped to take pictures by the Florida sign. Sister Palmer decided to climb it! We also served at a foster care home, sorting clothes and supplies. That evening, we met with Johnny and Rhoda. Johnny has been too shy to pray out loud. We decided to talk about prayer, and Sister Palmer promised him that as he started praying out loud, his children would see his example and join the gospel. The Spirit was so strong. I also got to try boiled peanuts for the first time! A southern specialty. They were pretty good.

Me with Johnny. He is the cutest old man!

Wednesday: 

In the middle of the day, we were driving to an appointment, and didn't feel right about it. We pulled over into the nearest parking lot (happened to be a church, of course) and said a prayer. As we looked up, we saw the sign that said "Jesus is the Answer!" Well, our prayer was answered that day! We felt prompted to talk to as many people as possible in the next few hours before we had to go to a dinner appointment. We were able to meet a lot of potentials and gain referrals. That evening, we had dinner at a member's house. The soup was really, really good. That should have been the first clue that something was wrong. A while after dinner, my stomach started feeling weird. We went to a lesson with the Allen family, and the Lord sustained me through it because as soon as we left, I slumped over onto Sister Palmer and my stomach hurt SOOO bad. She drove me to get a priesthood blessing, and I felt slightly better afterwards, but was still very sick. The soup contained gluten (which must be why it tasted so darn good). 

Thursday: 

We weekly planned all day, but had such a wonderful experience that evening. We went to Rhoda and Johnny's home, and guess who offered the opening prayer? Johnny! After months of giving the missionaries a fit about praying, God had softened his heart. It was so sweet, and we couldn't help but smile. We also had dinner at the Foxes home, and because the mom had a rough day, she told us we were playing the card game Skip-Bo instead of having a lesson. It was a tender mercy for me because I still wasn't' feeling very well. 

Friday 

We had a devotional at the senior center. We watch a lot of Mormon Messages and sneak in Book of Mormon verses into the discussion! They truly love us coming and thank us every time for setting aside 18 months of our lives to bring people to Christ and to teach them every Fridaymorning. They are so sweet. We had dinner at another members house that night, and I completely forgot to let the lady know about my food allergies! I've been slightly out of it for the last few days and not feeling real well. I had some beef jerky and almonds in my bag, so I ate those while they ate the casserole dish. She felt bad even though it was my fault and said she'd start praying for my stomach so I can eat whatever I want. Her deaf nephew seems to like me a lot because I can sign with him (maybe a little too much).

Saturday: 

We met Rhoda's family and got to know them. They are all so prepared and told us we can come back. That evening, we went to Flomaton for a few appointments we had. They ended up falling through, but that left lots of room for miracles to happen! We contacted a lot of referrals and tracted into a lot of prepared people. This was when we received seven new investigators! We met a lady named Selena, whose mother had just passed away the day before. We gave her a hug and she started crying and said we could come back. That evening, there was a porch fest down our street! It was the first one to take place in Alabama! We went to check it out because there were tons of people. We had no clue who to talk to. Sister Palmer turned to me and said, "What do you want to do?" I told her we were going to walk to the end of the street, talk to someone, and then go home. Those words definitely didn't come from me because I had no clue who we were going to talk to, but we just started walking. About 10 feet later, this man waved us over to come talk to him. He was a police chief (off duty because he was drinking) that lived down the street from us. We had a good discussion with him (for the most part) and will have to talk with him again sometime, preferably when he isn't drunk. Then Sister Palmer decided to buy frozen cheesecake while I talked to this lady. She looked super interested, but her husband waved us away. 

 Me with Rhoda. She is a recent convert and has such a strong testimony. 

Sunday: 

We road to church with Rhoda and Johnny, and afterwards they took us to see the Allen family. They were supposed to be there at church. We can feel how prepared they are, and we had a strong spiritual impression that we need to be very bold with them and let them know we represent Christ, and God wants them to come to church and learn more, but Satan is attacking them. We stopped by, but they weren't there. We will go back next week and have a very bold and loving conversation with them about God's purpose for them. We tried to contact a head quarter referral named Jennie that wanted a Bible, but apparently there house doesn't exist. In a crazy mix up of names, we met a lady named Jean who seemed interested, took a Book of Mormon, and said we can come back. Then we met another referral Catherine. We pulled up right when she was about to go inside, and she told us she was not in the mood to meet with us because her brother had just died. We gave her a hug and comforted her. 

Side note: Johnny prayed twice today! He really is progressing and everyone around him has noticed the change in him. 

Funny Quote of the week:

We had a high councilman come speak during sacrament. He said, "Are we latter-day saints, or are we latter-day ain'ts? (Excuse my English)." 

Life in the south is great! I'm surviving love-bug season and learning a lot that I otherwise wouldn't if God hadn't called me here. I think my grammar is getting worse, but I still haven't developed a southern accent; really disappointing, I know! I live in a brick house in Brewton and get to drive a red Rogue with 1600 miles a month. Our area sure is huge! I feel many more tender miracles coming in the future and feel so much potential in this area!

Much love,

Sister Burnham

 Sister Palmer stole cotton from a field and here is a picture of us with it. IT'S SO FLUFFY!

We got to see Brother Kelley's "toys." He is the Branch Mission Leader. He told us he found a way to flood the work with the Book of Mormon: throwing them out of airplanes! I don't think my mission president will be too thrilled ;)