Week 30 - Spirit Tracting and Dog Day

Merry Christmas, y'all! I had the most wonderful week! I am so excited for the special Spirit that comes around with this season. Like I keep telling everyone, “To catch the real meaning of the ‘Spirit of Christmas,’ we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the ‘Spirit of Christ.’" 

Monday:

I love getting to spend Christmas in a small town! The decorations around town are amazing! Sister Jarvis and I went around to get some fun Christmas pictures with the decorations. We also got to visit with Sister Longs and Alex.

Tuesday:

After district meeting, we tried to visit a lot of former investigators. None of the people we tried were home that afternoon, but we always knocked a few doors around them. A really cool experience happened because of this. As I looked around at all the houses by the former investigator who wasn't home, one of the brick houses seemed to shine, and I felt an invisible force tugging me towards the house. My stride lengthened and I walked up to it with so much confidence. We knocked and a 26 year old girl opened the door and came out to talk with us. She told us she was going through a lot of challenges, and I felt so much love and empathy for her. I testified to her, as a representative of Jesus Christ, that she would be much happier and at peace if she read from the Book of Mormon every day. She smiled and looked happier as we  left. 

That evening, we had dinner with the Belden family. I have felt that we need to go around and visit all of our active branch members this month, and last month we saved up almost 400 miles to go and do so. We scheduled to have dinner on Tuesday with them, and a miracle happened. Their daughter's boyfriend, Jimmy was there. After dinner, he said he felt this was the right path for him, and he wanted to know the steps he would have to take to be baptized. His trials have really humbled him, and he is so prepared. We taught the Plan of Salvation to him, and he cried. He had lost his brother a few years ago and never thought he would get to see him again. The Spirit was there so powerfully, and I felt so much love for him as I testified that his brother is very proud of the changes he is making in his life, and is helping to guide him down this path.

Wednesday:

A day for service! We were supposed to rake the yard of a potential we met last week, but she wasn't home. I decided we should just do it anyways and leave a note. After about ten minutes of rigorous raking, Sister Jarvis and I had a bad feeling, so I quickly scattered back around the leaves so you couldn't tell we had raked and we got out of there. We went down the street to visit our investigator Ceola, and she let us rake her yard! That evening we visited with the Wrights and watched part of Meet the Mormons. It was such an uplifting experience that reminded me that I am not in this work alone. Sometimes it can feel that way in a giant area with very few members. This truly is the Lord's work, and He is making so much more out of me than I can by myself. 

Me with CJ and Hunter during our visit with their family

Thursday: 

This morning during studies, I came up with this brilliant idea called "Spirit tracting." The longer I've been on my mission, the more I have come to dislike tracting. Not because you have to talk to strangers, but because it sometimes feels like a waste of time, and like you are intruding on people. We can knock 15 doors, and only two people would be home. And those two individuals may not be interested or are annoyed we interrupted them. Based on my experience on Tuesday, I came up with a plan for us to walk around a neighborhood and knock on the doors that stood out to us. It was cool to see that God led us to the right home to talk with a sweet mother of five who told us about all her neighbors (90% of whom were preachers). Not every door we felt like we should knock on lead to cool experiences (sometimes no one was home), but it helped remind us that this is the Lord's work, and that He knows the people that are being prepared. All we have to do is listen to His Spirit.

We had lunch with Sister Field, the Relief Society president, at a Chinese restaurant. We had a great time, and we told her all about the Bag Ladies. We are going to start it next week with the Relief Society! After lunch, we went to visit Sister Longs. We asked her about her conversion story, and it was amazing to see how strong her testimony is. She loves the new truths she learned and is so grateful for the Book of Mormon. Then she let us pick out some clothes from a big pile she has for free. She has hung them up to sell them eventually, but let us pick out anything we wanted. She said, "I'd rather have the blessing of giving than the money from selling." She also gave us sugar cane. Literally, a cane of sugar! Sometimes it hits me all over again that I'm in the South!

Friday:

I didn't feel super good after eating at the restaurant yesterday, but I trudged along anyways. Not much happened, except that everywhere we went there seemed to be a ton of dogs! I think I came into contact with 12 dogs that day, and at one house, 4 dogs jumped up on me at once, causing my dress to start to fly upwards. Yikes. One dog followed us around a neighborhood that we were tracting. He wouldn't leave us alone, so I decided that he was our guard dog. We also found a beautiful lake! That evening we had correlation meeting with Brother Kelley, and we talked about the importance of letting people know they are loved. They want to be hugged and know they are appreciated. How do you show others you love them? It's so important that people know we love them and don't just want to convert them. Like someone once told me, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Saturday:

Today was a wonderful day. My mom sent me a package full of Christmas ornaments to give out to the people in this area. This is exactly the miracle we have been praying for because we have been looking for ways to strengthen the branch and show that we love them. We also went out biking that day, and met some very interesting and rude people... But we took it all in stride and laughed and had fun anyways. As we talked with one lady, she said, "I can't understand how a young boy hallucinating in a barn started a whole religion." As we testified to her about Joseph Smith, she said, "I'm a psychology major, and I don't believe a word you are saying." I tried not to laugh because I'm a psychology major... Needless to say, we left shortly after that. We found a new investigator, Tommie. He was lost in his truck, and while we couldn't help him find where he was going, we shared that we were missionaries and he was very interested. Later that evening, we stopped by Ellen's house to drop off an ornament. She invited us in and said she had a present for me too! She gave me a big crocheted blanket! We were able to share "Light the World" with her and just talk and laugh together. After, we stopped by the Wrights and dropped off their present too. We then went with them to a Christmas event down at a park. They had a snow machine (actually just a machine that spit out soapy foam) and a train for the kids to ride around on. It was a fun and wonderful day!

The blanket Ellen gave me. I had mentioned how I had always wanted someone to crochet me something. She said she didn't crochet it, that it had been given to her, but she didn't use it and wanted me to have it to lay over my bed.

Sunday:

During our gospel principles class, our branch mission leader taught about ways to invite the Spirit into your home. Something he said really touched me. He testified that one way was by having the sister missionaries come into your home. He experienced this on Friday as Sister Jarvis and I went over for correlation meeting. He said it's like we walk around holding the hand of the Holy Ghost and bring Him with us into people's homes. Everyone in the room nodded and agreed. As I looked around, we had recently been in all of their homes: Jimmy, Sister Longs, and the Wrights. I guess I never realized what an impact we really have in the homes of members and recent converts, not just investigators. I love feeling the Spirit so strongly on my mission, and I don't want to take it for granted. 

Right after church, we went to the Belden's home to teach Jimmy again. He loved the message of the Restoration. As we taught the Word of Wisdom so he can give up dipping (something I just learned about on my mission having to do with tobacco...), he was so willing and ready. He wants to make all the changes he can in his life to be baptized and sealed in the temple with his family. He is so sweet and definitely a miracle. He has already seen how reading from the Book of Mormon is blessing his life, even though he has a hard time understanding it sometimes. Funny moment of the lesson: I was testifying how Jesus Christ could help him overcome his addiction to dabbing because of His infinite Atonement. Yeah, so I didn't realize until later that I had said dabbing instead of dipping... I grew up living a sheltered life! But we invited him to be baptized on January 6th, and he is so excited to prepare himself for that date!!!

That evening, we had dinner at the church building with the Potters. They made us a feast and gave us all the left-overs! We were able to give them a Christmas gift and share a message about how we can Light the World. Then we watched the Christmas Devotional in the chapel. What a spiritual and inspiring day!

The Spirit has testified to me over and over again that I am exactly where I need to be. I wouldn't want to be serving the Lord anywhere else in the world. I love the people and culture here, and I love being a representative of my Savior. Each day I get to become more like Him. Every week has its up and downs, but it's the attitude we approach it with that makes all the difference. Thank you all for the support and love!

Much love,

Sister Burnham