Week 50 - Brazilian Red Neck

Howdy everyone! This week I have seen countless miracles and felt evidence of Heavenly Father's love for me. It truly has been an amazing week! After some really hard weeks, God has blessed me immensely. It has reaffirmed my testimony that when you are going through a hard time, push forward with grit and persevere!

MONDAY

We taught Seminary this morning! The kids are so great. That evening we had dinner with the Bishop's family, then stayed for their family night. IT WAS SO FUN!!! I have not laughed that much in a long while. I love their family so much. We played games and solved riddles together. Apparently, the Bishop thinks my companion and I are geniuses and tried to get us to help him on a trivia game on his phone. His wife shooed us out the door "away from temptation" and held her husband back while he called after us to help him. It was hilarious.

TUESDAY

The Relief Society workout this morning was ridiculously funny. We did a Brazilian dance workout... Y'all, I make a much better Southern than a Brazilian dancer! That afternoon, we went tracting in a neighborhood Sister Scott felt inspired to go to. Turned out to be interesting because the first 7 or so people rejected us, and we also had 10 to 12 year old boys jumping on a trampoline and cat-calling to us. "Hey, you're pretty! Girl scouts, come sell us cookies!" And we found a guy on drugs. Yes, that all really happened. But then, on the last door, we found a very solid potential named Scott. He had a sweet Spirit about him, and I testified so boldly and felt the Spirit witness my words to him. #fourthfloorlastdoor (minus 4 floors)

Also, at dinner that name, a member made us awesome t-shirts with an inside joke on it: "I just want to travel the world and baptize cats). She's amazing, and we found out she is also in High School Musical 2! 

WEDNESDAY

We had exchanges with our sister training leaders here in Pace, and so man miracles happened! I was with Sister Call, an amazing human being, and we went to a lesson with Brother Tom. She followed the Spirit and invited him to be baptized on May 26th, and he accepted! We are so pumped! After our dinner appointment that evening, we got into the car, and this lady and her daughter were walking by. We made eye contact, and I instinctively rolled down the window. She walked up and asked how we were doing. I responded, "Chocolatey" (because I was eating a dessert I had taken from the dinner appointment). She laughed and offered us free facials. She gave us her number and we gave her a pass-along card. Now that's the best kind of missionary work: when they come to you!

THURSDAY

I awoke so excited and happy to go out with Sister Call. We went out tracting, and nobody answered their door. But it turned out good because then we were able to just talk about things I was struggling with, and she gave me good advice, but most importantly, she just listened. Listening doesn't mean that you listen to try to fix a problem. You listen to help them feel valued and understood. That evening, we went over to the ward mission leader's home for dinner, and it was soooo good! I ate so much I felt like I was going to burst. His wife told us the secret to her steak fajitas: she slow cooks the steak, then puts it in the frying pan after so it is tender and falls apart in your mouth.

FRIDAY

This morning a miracle happened with JoJo's lesson. Here is her whole story: Just over a month ago, we knocked on a door, and I had a Book of Mormon under my arm, but as we talked with her, I felt prompted to just share family history. We set a return appointment for 3 weeks later, which was when she would be the earliest available. Due to sickness, it got pushed forward another week. We finally were able to meet with her, and she was skeptical at first she would find any family names. I'd been praying for a miracle to happen, and it did! We found so much and she was amazed. We set a return appointment, and when we returned she had worked even more on it and had printed off documents. I knew the Spirit of Elijah had softened her heart. Well, on the second appointment, family search decided not to work. Convenient. So we asked her a bit about her religious beliefs, and in return, she asked us what we believed. We took the opportunity to share the Restoration with her and testify of the Book of Mormon. She is excited to read it and said she has been searching for something more, for a church she agrees 100% with, even though she likes the people at the church she currently goes to. She admitted after that she had agreed to come to family history so she could also learn more about our beliefs, and when Family Search wasn't working, she took it as a sign that she needed to learn our beliefs.

That afternoon, we had a lesson with Hayley, a friend of a young woman in the ward. We taught her at the park, and it was loud and distracting, but she wants to be baptized!

SATURDAY

Today I was a real redneck because we did service outside in Pensacola for 8 hours and I got BURNT. The thought had crossed my mind to put on sunscreen... well, I definitely learned my lesson for next time! We helped out at a food truck fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. I was helping out at a tent with some other missionaries, and the lady in charge had been asking some questions,  so I gave her a pass-along card and taught her the Restoration with another sister. Use every opportunity to testify! 

SUNDAY

Our investigator, Brother Tom, came to church! He really enjoyed it and said he would be back next week! Miracle after miracle, I tell you! The best part of missionary work is seeing how lives change as they accept the gospel. 

I know this gospel is true because nothing else brings lasting peace and joy. No where else will you feel as loved and comforted. Stand tall and stay true. Heavenly Father knows you, loves you, and will make so much more out of you than you can imagine. I know this because He is doing so with me.

I have a 6 week challenge for you, if you choose to accept. Pick one scripture to focus on each week that promises eternal life, and strive to apply it each day. You will develop a stronger relationship with God and your family, and you will have eternal life. As you show the Lord you are doing your best, no matter how inadequate you feel, I promise you that the Savior will make up the difference with His divine help. For it is by grace you are saved, after all you can do. In spite of what you can do. Here are some suggestions, but also search out your own versus: 2 Nephi 31:20, Mosiah 18:9, Alma 37:37, Alma 38:5, Moroni 8:48, Moroni 10:32. Email me how it goes at emily.burnham@myldsmail.net

Much love,

Sister Burnham 

Week 49 - Service to the Sick

Hey all y'all! I hope you have been reviewing general conference and applying things you learn! One thing I have been studying over is Elder Bednar's talk on meekness. My mission president pointed out to me that it is beneficial to study the footnotes of conference talks because it helps walk you through their thinking process as they composed the talk. He said that President Nelson has been known to have over 100 footnotes in just one talk! So I took the challenge and have been studying the footnotes to the talk and have learned so much more as I feel the Spirit teaching me too.

TUESDAY

Have I really been on my mission for 11 months? Doesn't feel like it! In district meeting this morning, we had a training on listening that really touched me. I am a terrible listener! I interrupt people when they talk, I assume what they are able to say, I think of what to say in response before they are finished... But that is going to change. In fact, I've already started working on it! I want to listen with love. I want to listen to understand and help people feel loved and valued. Not because I can "fix" their problems, but because sometimes people just need to talk. The district leader made everyone pizza for lunch, and that includes me! He found ingredients I could have!!! We taught Brother Tom a lesson afterwards, and he committed to come to church in preparation for deciding if this is the true church and if he wants to be baptized! It has been a slow progression, but is steadily moving along. We had also made cookies for JR, and so after our dinner appointment, we drove over to have a lesson with him, and he felt so loved. He had a smile on his face the entire time and may have teared up. I made him a journal to keep spiritual experiences in, and Sister Scott testified that an Apostle of Jesus Christ had looked at our pictures and sent us here because God knew we needed to meet JR. I am feeling deep in my heart that these are people God has sent me here to find. Friends I had in the pre-mortal existence. 

WEDNESDAY

Sister Scott had a migraine today, so we weren't able to go out until the evening to a dinner appointment and then to mutual. I felt bad that she wasn't feeling good, but I also took it as a tender mercy for me because I didn't have any pressing matters, and for the first time in a long time, I felt so peaceful. I got my companion cold clothes to put on her head and rubbed her back, and just tried to help her feel better. 

THURSDAY

We went to Bishop's Storehouse this morning, then out to lunch with a member. I was feeling terrible afterwards, so I just had to lie down. I felt bad that I couldnt do anything, but my stomach hurt and I couldn't move my body. Everyone noticed I was a bit off today because I guess I wasn't smiling and as cheery as normal. Sister Scott returned the favor of serving and made me pancakes for dinner. She's awesome :)

FRIDAY

Interviews with our mission president. It was hard for Sister Scott because she found out the missionary she trained went home for medical reasons. She just felt so sad for her. We had a family history appointment that we had scheduled for a month before it finally happened! I prayed for a miracle to happen, and we were able to find a lot of information! She wants to keep meeting and is definitely feeling the Spirit of Elijah! We had another lesson with Tom. He has more light in his eyes than when we first started meeting.

SATURDAY

We went to a stake primary event and taught the kids about family history. We painted at a less-actives house for service, and they made a GIANT pot of soup for dinner. Like, the biggest pot of soup I've ever seen. We didn't even eat a dent into it, but we got sent home with soup for DAAYYSS ;).

SUNDAY 

I love musical numbers in church. We had two. A nonmember came to our gospel principles class with his girlfriend, and our teacher didn't know, so he started going into deep doctrine about the apocrypha and missing books. Fortunately, bishop was there and invited us to teach him the Restoration when we were talking about the Book of Mormon. Another tender mercy was that a family was visiting that day, and one girl had just gotten home from her mission a week ago, and was still in missionary mode and kept the lesson on track! We found out after that they are not actually in our area, but it was still a cool experience, and the guy hugged us both at the end of church.

If I've learned something on my mission, it is the importance of not giving up. Sometimes you question if things or people are worth it. It is. They are. Keep going and don't give up, no matter how many times you hit rock bottom or seem to have to start over again and again. I've also realized how much I really miss my family and loved ones. I really appreciate all the support I've been given and have really needed it this past week. 

Much love,

Sister Burnham 

Week 48 - Dobby and Baptizing Cats!

Hey, what's up family and friends! I have loved re-reading general conference talks. I'm catching so many things I missed before. It was amazing to hear Elder Cook bear humble and subtle witness that the Savior has personally ministered unto him. These men truly are special witnesses of Jesus Christ, who leads His church in person. 

MONDAY

We helped a member make flower crowns for her daughter's wedding, and she fed us yummy food afterwards. As we were about to leave the house, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye... the head of Dobby from Harry Potter! Of course we had to get pictures with it!

Me and Dobby... I tried copying his face... was I close? 

TUESDAY

Today I learned a great lesson on the importance of listening. I have a bad habit of jumping to conclusions, and the past week, I've been wrong time and time again. I need to learn how to listen differently and hear people out, so I made it a new goal. We had a great time at District Meeting, and on the way home, Sister Scott said that as we passed a particular apartment complex, she felt the prompting that there was someone there waiting for us to find them. That was so cool to hear, a referral straight from God! We had another lesson with Tuesday, and she sees so clearly how the Book of Mormon brings light and joy into her life everyday. I testify that the Book of Mormon is true and brings a light into your life when you ponder from its pages. We had dinner with a member. It is rare if we do not have a meal appointment. I braided a little girl's hair at dinner and now she thinks I'm the coolest ever! 

WEDNESDAY 

Brother Tom is progressing so well! We knocked on his door over a month and a half ago, and he has slowly but surely changed so much. He has much more light in his eyes and is happier! We had a lesson with him at our bishop's house, where we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. We extended a baptismal invitation, which he was very accepting about. He brought up the concern about already having been baptized. Throughout the whole lesson, bishop's wife had been making analogies to a cake, and so I was able to make that analogy connect to baptism. I told him that other churches had bits of truth, or bits of cake, and it was good and delicious. But he only had half the cake. By being baptized with the priesthood authority, he would get the whole cake. He really liked that image. After the lesson, he said he felt positive, happy, and more committed. We went to another dinner appointment. Members love me! I received lots of yummy leftovers. At mutual that night, we were able to talk with a sister in the ward who was having a stressful day. I felt a prompting to tell her she looked beautiful, and it really touched her because she'd been struggling with her looks (apparently you shouldn't trust your husband to cut your hair...). We chatted and laughed with her for almost 20 minutes, and she really warmed up to us. We then made a new inside joke that she's going to put onto matching t-shirts for the 3 of us: "I just want to travel the world and baptize cats!" 

THURSDAY 

Service is the best! We pulled weeds for a member for a couple of hours, and then she took us out to lunch. She told us the craziest stories about her time in the Navy... like when she kidnapped a baby from a hospital! Granted, it was a fake baby and she was on assignment... She is hilarious and had us laughing so hard! She grabbed the baby doll from under the nose of a nurse, kicked the back door open, and sprinted down the stairs with a doctor chasing after her calling in a resigned voice, "Ma'am, I'm supposed to stop you!"

FRIDAY

Sister Scott was sick today, so we stayed inside. Coincidentally (I mean, by God's divine design), all our appointments, including dinner, cancelled on us. My tender mercy was a member stopping by with lunch for us unexpectedly. I just found things around the house to do to keep busy, including updating records for hours...

SATURDAY 

We had a stake bag ladies event this morning! I got to see Chloe from Jay Branch again! When she saw me, she exclaimed, "Cupcake!" and ran to give me a hug. The other missionaries in the district came, and I felt very accomplished for teaching one of the elders how to crochet!

SUNDAY

I had a prompting to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting about how much I loved and appreciated the ward, and home I was grateful for the special bonds I had made here. It was so good to see so many large smiles on their faces as I looked out at them. They are like my family. That evening we had a dinner appointment with a member family and their non-member relatives. We got to share part of the Restoration and set a return appointment!

MONDAY

One of the members in our family found black mold growing in their brand new house. It was making their kids sick, so they rented the closest B&B while their house gets fixed. The nearest one was on Pensacola Beach, about an hour away. Her husband asked if we could go visit his wife today because she'd been so stressed. While down there we decided to get some pictures around the beach!

This week I've been studying about personal revelation. Our prophet has warned us, "Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost."

What will you do to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation? I promise you that as you strive to follow the prophet's guidence, you will feel the palpable presence of the Holy Ghost bringing you the answers and comfort you seek.

Much love,

Sister Burnham

The paper I was asked to make to hang on the ward bulletin board :)

Week 47 - Saintly Sisters

Hope y'all had an amazing Easter Sunday and General Conference! It was so exciting to hear about all of the changes taking place. The Lord truly is hastening His work because these are the last days!

MONDAY

For proselyting time, we had to upload paper teaching records into the phone, which is very long and tedious. I've realized no future missionary will appreciate what we are spending hours upon hours doing. At least the Lord does :). We also spent some time with our district, and I've gotten pretty good at lassoing! One of the elders brings them every p-day to the church.

TUESDAY

Y'all are going to be amazed and shocked. Today I played the piano in Zone Conference... and sang with my companion for a musical number! I was terrified all day, but I did it! I had a headache and sore muscles from being tense all day. My mission president was impressed because he didn't know I could play or sing, and when I got up from behind the piano on the last verse and started singing it, he was surprised and told me after, "I've never seen anything like that before!" Afterwards, we had a lesson with Tuesday (yup, on Tuesday) and it was so amazing. We brought a member that clicked with her so well, and we all were crying and pouring out our hearts and souls. I sure love her!

WEDNESDAY

So, I don't know why, but it takes me about a week or so to adjust to new people and be comfortable around them. Sister Scott and I were able to talk a lot this morning about expectations and communications, so I felt a ton better. We had a lesson with Brother Tom, and it was really good. We shared about prophets and invited him to come to Bishop's house on Saturday to watch it. He was excited to experience it, but since he is old and doesn't have a GPS, we agreed to drive over and have him follow us to Bishop's house. In the lesson, he came up with a tongue twister for us, "Saintly Sister Missionaries saving souls." He is really opening up, and I hope he continues to progress! That evening, we went to a member's house for a "girl's night out." She has a baby boy with a rare genetic disorder, so she can't always get out. She took us shopping at Publix and gave us money to spend on whatever food or snacks we wanted. She showed me all of the vegan and gluten-free items they have there. I had pizza and cookies for dinner!!! For the first time in forever!!! She is amazing. And we had invited another lonely lady in the ward to come, so it was so good for her too. Then we had mutual that evening and visited less-active young women. The girls in my group got a small taste of what real missionary work is often like: one of the girl's mom that we visited said she appreciated us, but she really wasn't interested in coming back, and that the church wasn't for her or her family. They were a bit sad as we walked away.

THURSDAY

We went to Bishop's Storehouse this morning, and it was the BEST EVER!!! Why? Because the Brewton Elders hitched a ride with Brother Wright, so I got to see him again! I literally had the hugest, cheesiest grin on my face all morning. It was so good to talk with him and see how everyone is doing. I just love the Wrights so much. I miss a lot of people from my last area, but hopefully I will get to see them at the stake activities coming up! The members that drove us to the storehouse took us out for lunch, but afterwards my stomach started hurting really bad, so I knew I must have eaten something bad accidentally... I was in a lot of pain that afternoon, so we had to cancel our plans and I watched the Restoration movie in bed. It's my favorite thing to watch when I'm sick. I felt a bit better that evening, so we were able to go to our dinner appointment and visit a less-active to wish her happy birthday. 

FRIDAY

We had a pretty open day, so we decided to drive up to the very top of our area to visit a less-active that no one has heard from in a long while. Well, his wife answered the door and informed us that her husband had converted to Catholicism when he married her, and politely said not to come around. But maybe she felt bad because she offered us some water. Even though I had a full bottle in my bag, for some reason I said, "yes." We waited there for a minute, and she brought be out a water bottle. I threw an arm around her in a hug of gratitude, and she was very surprised and softened up a bit. Letting people serve you is just as important as serving others sometimes. We tracted the rest of the street, and no one was super interested. We decided to walk back to the car and only knock on doors if we felt prompted. Well, as we walked back, we saw a group of people gathered around a trailer, so I said, "Let's go talk with them." It turns out the wife had met elder missionaries 17 years ago and still remembered their names because of how nice and caring they had been, but then she moved and lost contact with them. We were able to teach the restoration briefly to her husband, give him a Book of Mormon, and set a return appointment to visit them next Saturday. What a miracle! Those elders have no clue of the impact they left.

SATURDAY

We went to Brother Tom's house for him to follow us to conference, and when we got there, we were talking a bit with him, and then we asked him if he was ready to follow us. He said, "Saintly Sisters, I'd follow you anywhere!" Back in our car, Sister Scott said, "Even into the waters of baptism?" Haha, I hope so! Watching conference at Bishop's house was such a treat. His wife made us delicious snacks, and also lunch when she found out we didn't have any plans for lunch. She is amazing! And Brother Tom stayed for both sessions, so he was there for SIX HOURS! Wow! We had dinner with the Wheelers, and Sister Wheeler made me a cake! She is an amazing cook. 

SUNDAY 

The sisters serving in Milton had a baptism this morning that we went to. After the baptism, a random man walked into the building and said he had decided to spend Easter at our church because he was fascinated by the Mormons and wanted to learn more. The sisters taught him the restoration on the spot and he stayed to watch conference at the church building with all of us. What a miracle! For the afternoon session, we headed over to Bishop's house because we had planned on meeting up with a less-active, but unfortunately she was unable to make it. Sister Welty made us delicious snacks. We had Easter dinner with the Tucker family, and they are actually from my home area! We also picked up an easter basket from the lady who took us out shopping. It was full of all sorts of amazing goodies! I am being so spoiled here in Pace, and I absolutely love everyone! You can tell that the members are all trying to be like Jesus everyday.

I love how the church members are going to grow in their ability to seek, recieve, and act upon revelation with the new changes in the church! This is like the process we go through as missionaries, seeking the Lord's will for those we have stewardship over, because He knows them perfectly. I testify that President Nelson stands for Jesus Christ and is His living prophet and special witness here on earth.

Much love,

Sister Burnham 

With Sister Smith