Hey all y'all! I loved getting so see and talk to my family this week! This week has been a blast as I've learned the balance of being diligent. So far in my whole mission, I've struggled with overworking myself and running farther than I had strength. This past week I realized I wasn't doing enough. I've never wanted to be that missionary, and it's been hard not having people to teach. When I read about "diligence" in Preach My Gospel, a line stuck out to me. As you are diligent, you will find much joy and satisfaction in missionary work. Well, I was feeling stuck in a rut and struggling to keep faith to find the prepared. I realized I need to be more timely between studies and getting going in the morning, and being as productive as I can each hour, making sure I have my "fishing line in the water" as much as possible. Many miracles have happened because of this!
Monday:
I wrote 26 letters today to send out to people. It was all I had time for before I ran to bed and made it right at 10:30pm. Unfortunately, the mail lady didn't get them until Thursday, even though they sat in the mail box for two days, so they didn't arrive on time.
Tuesday:
I gave my training in district meeting about charity, and it was so powerful as we felt the immense love of the Savior. There were some tears and lots of new insights. It has taught me the importance of preparation and relying on the Spirit for revelation. As we follow the Spirit and truly take the time to prepare a lesson, God will lead you to know exactly what to say to bless the lives of those you are teaching. Many times we do things last-minute as missionaries, but making the sacrifice to really pray all week and listen for inspiration makes everything so much more personable and powerful. Later that afternoon, we had personal studies at our church, and I called an emergency planning session afterwards because I hate feeling stuck in a rut and not having people to teach. I love teaching, so it's been hard. We came up with specific plans to help the members and less actives so I would have something to work towards to see our progress. We scavenged the library and picked out some books for the Wrights to read that they might enjoy. We made goals to be more diligent, to make a better effort to be out more where the people are and talk with EVERYONE.
Wednesday:
This morning after studies, we went out to go tracting and really relied on the Spirit to lead us. People shut the door in our faces. People told us they weren't interested. The Spirit told us to avoid some houses. But I felt so good just to be out and about. I could feel Heavenly Father's approval as we kept going. I felt prompted to drive down one street and just tract. We planted a few seeds, and I was just so happy. I recognized this past transfer I got a bit discouraged because no one wanted to listen, and that led to me not having as much faith to find, which lead to me not wanting to be out and tracting very much. I've repented and feel so much happier to be productive, even if people literally don't even open the door and wave us away through the window. That evening we went with Sister Wright to visit Brother Ward. It went so good. He is very knowledgeable about the gospel and Sister Wright absolutely loved visiting with him. She kept gushing about it all night. I was so happy to see her happy.
Thursday:
In preparation for the Christmas half-mission conference tomorrow, we cleaned our car SO good in case it got inspected. The Kelley's (our branch mission leader and his wife) stopped by and gave us some Christmas gifts. We weekly planned and had a very good companion inventory. We both had lots of goals to improve and to be more timely. Then we went out to dinner with the Wiggins, a family in the branch. It was fun just to learn more about them and ask them what we can do to strengthen the branch. One big thing lacking is communication, since the branch members live so far away from each other. If you can get to church in less than a half hour, you are truly blessed!
Friday:
I had the best day ever! We met up in Pensacola with half of the missionaries in the mission for a conference. There were amazing musical numbers that made me cry because the Spirit was so strong. And our mission president made us all temple recommend holders that are beautiful! We had a talent show, and it was so fun to see the other missionaries using the talents God had blessed them with. I could just feel His love and approval for all the missionaries. President Smith talked about his mission and different lessons he learned from companions. Something he said stuck out to me, "You are in the best place in the world to grow as much as you can spiritually." I would not be able to learn the things I am and grow if I wasn't here serving a mission. And I played the violin in a band during the talent show. We also played tons of fun games as missionaries, and my zone won, so we received autographed pictures of our mission president!
Saturday:
We had an appointment with a Bible referral and were able to teach him more about the Book of Mormon. He is interested in learning more and coming closer to Jesus Christ. We were very bold with him, and I hope he can feel the truth of our message since he is very active in his own church. We had some extra time before we went to visit a sickly member of the branch, and I felt to talk to some random guys at a park. They said we could come back to the park next week to talk to them more. After visiting Sister Weaver, who has very bad health, we tracted a street randomly on the way home. The very first door we knocked on, a man named Larry answered and talked to us for over 30 minutes. He was so spiritually prepared and as he shared stories about when he felt the Spirit, he cried. I testified so boldly and lovingly to him. His eyes were full of the Spirit and he nodded to everything I said as I talked about the Book of Mormon and modern prophets. It was amazing to see that exactly after we decided to work more diligently and more faithfully, God has started putting the prepared right in our path. Scary story of the week: we went out later that night, and it was super dark. We decided to tract a random neighborhood. We knocked a few doors, when suddenly a car started coming our way. We got a terrible feeling, so I ran across a random person's yard to hide in their bushes, not caring if I tripped and fell in an ant pile. AND SISTER JARVIS COULDN'T FIND THE PHONE. After that, we decided to go home for the night and speed walked back to the car.
Sunday:
President said to spend a lot of time with members today and tomorrow. After our spiritual Christmas program, we went to the Beldens and talked with them. We learned that Jimmy and his girlfriend are going through a hard time, which is so sad because we haven't heard from him or seen him in a few weeks now, so I don't know how serious he is after all... Then we stopped by the Wrights for an hour and talked with their son, Jason, and CJ. Then we went to Sister Fox and Sister Adam's house. Chloe, who calls me Sister Cupcake, was so excited for us to come. And Sister Fox made me a sweet potato pie that I could eat!!! We had barbeque for dinner and played some games.
Monday:
We woke up, prayed, then opened presents instead of exercising ;). My family (okay, my mom) sent me a package full of lots of gifts. I loved each one and was just so happy and excited. Most importantly, I loved the conference talk my mom sent me called "Christmas Within You" by Elder Holland. It just reminded me that Christmas isn't about presents or family, but about Christ and His sacrifice so we can return to Heavenly Father. And I am so grateful to be a part of His work in helping others return to Him. Christmas on the mission is the BEST! We got permission to watch The Grinch, so we went over to Diane's house and watched the first hour of it, then paused it to have lunch with her and her family. Interesting fact: I ate pig stomach. Yup. Not my favorite thing, but definitely an interesting experience. Then I had some collard greens and ham. Gotta love Southern cookin'. We then got to skype home to our families. The time just seemed to fly by, and now it seems like just a dream. I loved seeing how much all of my family members have grown. I loved getting to share some experiences with them, and they met Diane, our recent convert! After the 40 minutes were up, I said goodbye and my mom started crying, which made me start crying. Bad, bad, bad. I didn't want to cry. But we went to finish the Grinch after, which was a good distraction. That evening we drove to Navarre to be with 17 other missionaries for a small gathering/party. We had a gift exchange and I almost ended up with a Sponge-Bob tie! That evening, we spent the night at the Sister Training leaders with four other sisters and watched Moana. Watching movies as a missionary is so funny. When the one guy's hook broke, one sister said, "Like when Nephi's bow broke!" Then when Moana was alone with the guy (Moui?), we were like, "Where is her companion? She can't be alone with a male!" It was such a wonderful day!
Tuesday:
We all went to the beach this morning in Navarre! It was so beautiful and breathtaking. We got some funny pictures. Elders are just so crazy! One found a dead crab that was featured in a lot of our pictures.
I love my mission so much and wouldn't trade it for the world. The hard days don't even matter when I think about all the amazing days and experiences. I love being with other missionaries and feeling like a part of God's bigger picture. I love feeling the Spirit so strong all the time. I want to always be a missionary and be involved in building up God's kingdom. I love y'all and will see you again for Mother's Day!
Much love,
Sister Burnham
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