Howdy everyone! I don't know why time seems to be flying by so fast! This Wednesday I turn 20, and then 10 days later I will reach the half-way mark of my mission. It's just crazy. And I've survived being sick for almost a month!
Monday:
Today was the start to a great week! We visited with a less-active, Sister Clark. She wants to be treated as an investigator and relearn things about the church. Well, we ended up staying over there for THREE hours because she had a ton of questions and stories. As she talked, I felt that her real concern was that she knew a lot about the church, but she never felt it was true because of her strict culture. It was great just getting to know her. She has three kids and has lived down here for almost a year. We also went and saw Dora afterwards, and her 8-year-old niece, Leila, was there. We all read 1 Nephi 1 together and discussed how it applied to them. Then I felt prompted to watch the 20 minute Restoration video with them, especially because Dora is a visual learner. She loved it! Afterwards, I asked if she believed that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared unto Joseph Smith, and she said, "Yes, I do." The Spirit was so strong. The only downside today was I lost my voice. That was probably a good thing so that Sister Jarvis had the opportunity to speak a lot more!
Tuesday:
My voice was somewhat back today, so at least I can talk and actually fulfill the command to "lift up your voice as with the sound of a trump, to declare my gospel" (D&C). We drove to district meeting, and I passed out notes of encouragement that I had made for the other sisters. They were touched and truly appreciated it because they have been struggling lately. We then visited some less-actives in Molino and Pace, and also tracted around some of their neighbors. Not everyone is the kindest to missionaries, but because we have the Spirit and are called of God, we will not be confounded.
Wednesday:
We helped the seniors at the nursing home make some Valentine Day crafts! A few are actually pretty talented with a paint brush. The best part was when I got to add a bunch of "bling" to some ladies' hearts they painted. They oohed and ahhed about how gorgeous it looked afterwards. Then we helped clean a trailer that a less-active is moving into. The previous occupants left it very dirty, so we had our job cut out for us. As we were wiping down everything with disinfect, her neighbor, Brian, came over to meet her. When he saw how we were serving her, he said, "Now that's a church I want to join. Where do y'all go to church at? I want to come!" We got to talk with him for a bit about the church, and set a return appointment for tomorrow. That evening we taught Dora the Plan of Salvation. We set up three days a week to see her regularly. She loved it! It brought her so much more peace and comfort about what will happen after death.
Thursday:
I got a taste of the "real world" today, and I don't like it very much! I finally buckled down and called the mission doctor and said I wasn't getting better, so he said to go to urgent care. We left and ended up being there all morning long. There was a TV blaring, lots of waiting around, and then we were alone with a male (doctor) in the back as he checked up on me. On the bright side, we taught him the Restoration in a few minutes! He had asked me if I did drugs, smoked, or drank. I kind of chuckled as I said "no," and he gave me a strange look. We explained we were missionaries for our church and didn't believe in doing those things. He asked some questions and we were able to answer a lot of false conceptions he had about our church. Because of this, we weren't able to visit Brian, but we'll catch him sometime soon! Once a potential is on our radar, we never leave them alone!!! ;) We did get to weekly plan for the rest of the day.
Friday:
After the bible devotional with the seniors (who love us and praise us to death, and especially love when I bring the violin to play), we went to the nursing home, and I played for some of the residents there. A few were kind of grouchy at first, but I think they enjoyed it. Others absolutely loved it and even danced or sang along. One lady is funny (and legit crazy). She always seems to try and bribe us to carry her out of there and take her home. She comes up with all these plots to escape, but we can tell she is not all there in the head. As we left one room, one of the workers asked what church we were from, and we shared a bit about our church and she said we can share more with her during her lunch break sometime. Our appointment with Dora that evening fell through, but we had some delicious (gluten-free) pasta at the Wright's home. Sister Jarvis felt SUPER sick all day, so we ended up going home and getting her to bed early.
Saturday:
Well, I think Lenda dropped us. We stopped by this morning to see how she was doing because we hadn't seen her in a while, and she was sick with a stomach bug and said she'd call us later. She didn't look very happy to see us. We got a text from her later that she enjoyed meeting with us, but we have different beliefs. I still have hope for her. She'll come around eventually! I don't know if I mentioned that our mission is getting smartphones and becoming a Facebook mission too. It will be so nice because then we can stay in daily contact easier with investigators and have lessons over Facebook messenger if they can't meet. One missionary who never fails to have daily contact with our investigators is Satan, so we need to have daily contact to keep them feeling the Spirit. I think that's a major reason Lenda stopped progressing. Then Sister Longs took us out to dinner (but it's actually lunch. I don't know why people here call "lunch" dinner) in Pensacola and she went grocery shopping after. It was a cool experience because we were able to teach Aubreyon (Dysane's granddaughter who also shares the same birthday as Sister Longs and I) the Plan of Salvation. We really bonded and she wanted to come to church tomorrow!
Sunday:
There were tons more people at church this week! I had a great insight in our gospel principle's class. We were talking about how the Spirit speaks gently and softly, not harsh or yelling. I asked something truly inspired, and I can't remember exactly what because it was by the Spirit. It was something along the lines of if the Spirit is present with all the words you speak. If you speak harsh and yell in anger, then the Spirit, who speaks gently and lovingly, isn't there. I asked if they would speak the way they do to family if the Savior was present. I've just noticed some of the times people speak to each other isn't the most loving, and it breaks my heart. I've been working on my language and communication as well. After church, Sister Potter went with us to visit a less-active. They knew a lot of the same people and talked for a long time! We just had enough time to go back to the church for personal study, and then head over to the Potter's home for dinner. It was delicious!
It's been amazing to take every moment to teach people the gospel, even unplanned opportunities in urgent care or the nursing home hallway. This past week I've been studying about commandments, and I've realized just how amazing they are! Preach My Gospel page 71 says that God has given us specific commandments to help us apply gospel principles in our lives. Think about it. The gospel, or doctrine of Christ, consists of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The commandments build our faith, help us know how to repent, renew our baptismal covenants, keep us worthy of the Holy Ghost, and give us strength to endure to the end. As we study the scriptures and pray, we build our faith. As we strive to follow the prophet or 10 commandments, we know what we need to repent of and improve. Going to church is where we partake of the sacrament to renew our covenants. Obeying the word of wisdom allows us to feel the Spirit, for how could the drunkard or addict feel the soft voice of the Spirit? Fasting helps bring out our spiritual side. Every commandment gives us strength and protects us so we can endure faithfully to the end. Always strive to obey the commandments. They are not strict rules, but a way of living that allows us to live the principles of the gospel and to return to our Heavenly Father.
Much love,
Sister Burnham
P.S. I'm lame and didn't get any pictures this week, so my companion and I took a last minute selfie to send home!
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