"Let me add a testimony, focusing on the word that was used in that passage we read from 3 Nephi 11 (v.11), where it said that He “suffered the will of the Father.” Suffer actually has several meanings: one of them just means that He yielded—He suffered it, He accepted it, He yielded to it. But another meaning is, He actually suffered because of the will of the Father.I hope that you don’t suffer too much on your mission, but I’ll be disappointed if you don’t suffer a little, because salvation’s not a cheap experience. This isn’t done on a lark; this is not done conveniently.
"Now that’s probably the wrong tone to suggest in our first teaching moment with you, and I don’t want you to be worried about suffering; I wouldn’t want your missionaries to be worried about it. But I wonder if that word wasn’t chosen specifically—that if we do the will of the Father, we probably have signed on for at least some suffering, at least a little. Kind of like the sacrament is a symbol, and temple ordinances are symbols, and other ordinances that have symbols. I guess there is a symbol in our missionary labors if there is a little suffering like unto the Savior’s" (emphasis added).
Before I talk about my week, I want to bear a second witness of this.The Savior was forsaken, even by Heavenly Father, to know what it would be like for those who don't accept His Atonement. At some point in life, to be more like Christ, we must travel the road He traveled, and suffer just a bit of what He suffered.
This week was hard. It was full of a lot of tears and soul-searching. At one point I received a prompting to ask for a priesthood blessing. The day before, a sweet ward member had reached out to us over text, saying she felt prompted to text us and asked if she could do anything. I was able to ask for a blessing from her husband, and it was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had. And his wife bought us flowers. I love this ward so much!
Friday was INSANE! We went out with a young woman preparing to serve a mission. We stopped by a potential from last week, Brother Tom, and he let us right in. We read from the Book of Mormon and he felt the Spirit. We invited him to our family history event the next night, and he came! After him, we tried a few more people, and as we were driving in a neighborhood, I see this old guy sitting on a stump outside a house that was for sale. I decided we should talk to him. We turn around and go back and see him in the back garage. He comes out when he sees us walking up, and I start testifying about the Book of Mormon. He says some weird, strange, creepy things while swinging this hammer around, chucks it in front of me, and says, "I wasn't doing anything, just looking around," and walks off like he doesn't live there. So basically we stopped a robbery by testifying of The Book of Mormon!
Sunday was amazing. I spoke in sacrament meeting about being special witnesses of Christ, and the Spirit was there so powerfully as I bore my special witness. I know it touched many people.
Fun note: Apparently I pray for the branch still! I'm so used to saying "branch" instead of "ward" that I don't even realize I have been calling the ward a branch until my companion pointed it out.
Exciting moment of the week: A member took us out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant and it was actually good! The service was amazing as well. I just love Mexican food!
Much love,
Sister Burnham
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| Flowers. I love this ward! |
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