Week 60 – Tender Mercy of Tamales

Okay, this week was the best week so far this transfer! Thank you for all of the prayers. I worked so hard on not stressing about anything--as soon as it started to worry me, I consciously let it go, because a calm and relaxed missionary is an effective and healthy missionary. Sister Stites has been working hard on adjusting as well. Missions can be a huge adjustment, so we have both been greatly blessed by God, and we know He is aware of our efforts. Here are the highlights of our week: 

Monday

We went to Panama City Beach with the other Sisters serving there. Sister Stites loved it! The water is gorgeous, and we found a lot of cool shells. Haha, Sister Stites also got some funny tan lines!

Tuesday

Exchanges started today after District Council (for those who don't know, the church updated a few things in the online Preach My Gospel, and district meeting has been changed to district council). I went out with Sister Church, and it was the coolest experience ever! She is so loving and had great advice. When the people we planned to see fell through, we drove to a nearby park with beautiful scenery and talked about the stresses of training. While there, we had two miraculous contacts in which we were able to bear testimony of living prophets, and they ended up wanting copies of The Book of Mormon! It was such a tender mercy to know we were in the right place at the right time, and I really felt the Spirit strongly as I testified because I wasn't so stressed or burdened. 

Wednesday

I made Sister Church a scripture box for her scriptures, and she loved it! Everyone here seems to think I am a "master crafter," so I guess I take after my mom! Today's tender mercy came in the form of tamales. A member had asked us a few days ago what we wanted for dinner, and for some reason, we had really been craving tamales and a good Mexican meal. So we told her if it wasn't too much work, that's what we wanted. If not, stir-fry also sounded good. She responded that she had never made tamales before and all the recipes she searched online contained gluten and eggs. So basically, it was a no-no. We said, "No worries, stir-fry would be great!" Well, lo and behold, when we showed up, she had made homemade Spanish rice, beans, and tamales! She'd worked on it for hours and combined multiple recipes to make sure it was safe for me. IT WAS SO GOOD and we ate WAY too much! It meant so much to us... I know it sounds silly, but that one act brightened up our entire week (plus she sent us home with lots of leftovers)!

Thursday

We heart-attacked a member just to surprise them, and while in the area, we decided to try contacting a less-active. She wasn't home, but another lady let us in to talk with the 16 year old daughter that was there. Summer is super active in her church and loves the Lord so much. She has such a great Spirit about her, and we connected almost instantly. We've stayed in contact with her every day since, just being her friend and inviting her to church activities. That evening, the Relief Society had a Retro-themed party, so I let Sister Stites do my make-up to look retro! The ward is really reaching out to us: someone brought matching aprons for us, another made me a special dinner since I couldn't eat the other food.

Friday

We took Bishop's daughter with us to a lesson with our recent convert, Brother Harris. He is quite the talker, but so loving and spiritual. We invited him to bear his testimony on whatever the Spirit urged him to on fast Sunday. He was a little hesitant at first, but we talked about how we are angels when we speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, and that he would touch someone in the congregation with his testimony. A member took us out for lunch at a buffet, so just like a kid in a candy store, we got cotton candy! Plus it was the only dessert I could have... but I've learned that cotton candy and humidity don't mix well together!

Saturday

At the Methodist Community Breakfast, the man who plays the guitar, Earl, was away for a family emergency, so they were relieved when I showed up with the violin. Another LDS family was there serving, so I recruited them to sing as I played through some hymns (with the mom on the piano). I also played a few fiddle songs for them. Overall, the Spirit was there so much more strongly with our music playing than the songs they usually play, and everyone noticed the difference. One of the Methodist preachers told us, "We might just have to tell Earl to take an early retirement!" 

We had a bible referral that also wanted a copy of The Book of Mormon. We were able to go over this morning and teach him and his wife. They have the most adorable baby girl! We could tell that the husband is very sincere in his search for truth. It is quite amazing, in fact! He talked about wanting to prepare himself for when Christ comes again, because he has a feeling it will be soon and he wants to be prepared so he isn't left behind. Y'all, it's getting real. The Second Coming truly is coming soon because even non-members are being moved upon to prepare. The wife is a little more skeptical, but we will keep praying for them all! 

The funniest thing happened at bingo this afternoon! A lot of the old ladies are half deaf and can't hear worth butterbeans! So Sister Stites was calling the numbers, loud as she could, while I sneakily was crocheting something for her birthday, and the ladies were playing blackout, where the entire board needs to be covered. It was taking a really long time, longer than normal, for someone to win. At long last, Sister Stites called "B3!" and a lady called out, "Bingo!" Quiet so that no one else could hear, a relieved Sister Stites said, "Oh good, because I was all out of numbers to call!" She had gone through every single number, so everyone should have had bingo, but because of their terrible hearing, it took until the very last number for one person to finally get bingo. Those poor ladies and their terrible hearing!

Sunday

Sister Stites Birthday! She loved the simple gift I crocheted for her and the card I made for her. Church was amazing because the elders investigator showed up to church, and the ward was so friendly in reaching out to him. And then we got a new investigator too! Cool story: a member of our church was at Lowes looking at barbeque and was talking with this lady for an hour. Then he says, "Our church sometimes has barbeques, you should come sometime!" She agreed, so they exchanged numbers and he gave her the address to the church. Well, she came! She had been thinking about it all week and was so excited to come, but he forgot to tell her what time it started, and she thought, "Maybe I've been uninvited..." But he remembered in the beginning of the meeting and texted it to her and she showed up just a tiny bit late. She loved all of church and wants to know more and meet with us! We can see just how golden she is and how she has been prepared by the Lord. We now have an appointment with her on Tuesday, and she also wants to feed us lunch! We had dinner with the Willmores, and they made Sister Stites her own cake and got her presents!  

I am so grateful for the things I am learning each week on the mission. This is a quote that really stood out to me this week: "Get over your reservations and just love people!" I'm really good at over-thinking thinking and over-analyzing things, and sometimes I get so caught up in the "ifs" and the "buts." I think about why it's going to be hard to love a member, or a missionary, because of our differences. But with Jesus Christ, we truly can love everyone as He does. We just need to get over our reservations and love like our Savior. Love people for who they are. Love them as children of God.

Much love,

Sister Burnham