Howdy y'all! Side tip: when you Westerners say "y'all," you have to swallow the L's. Well, lets see the adventures and things I've learned this week. I have a phrase I like to say when really crazy weird or crazy awesome things happen: "Only on a mission!" Some things happened this week that seem to only happen on a mission!
Tuesday:
We signed the journals of the departing missionaries, and I accidentally tried to marry Sister Stites off! One of the elders was going home, and he asked her if she had signed his journal yet (she was holding it, but didn't know it was his) so she said, "Ooohh!" when she realized it was his journal. We laughed at the sound she made and I tried to make a funny joke that the only thing she was going to write in his journal was "Ooooh!" and sign it with her name. But when I went to say Sister "Stites," I accidentally said his last name instead because they are similar sounding and I'd been looking right at him. Well, awkward because they both looked at each other and blushed bright red, and I felt embarrassed that I said the wrong thing, so I tried to joke it off and told him, "I guess you're getting married a lot sooner than you thought!" But that actually made it worse and he left to go to the other side of the room. Y'all, I am not looking forward to my future dating life! I can already see I'm going to have quite the stories to tell...
We also had cleaning inspections that afternoon by the senior couple, and ours was the cleanest apartment in the entire zone! Score! We'd spent so many hours cleaning yesterday! We played some fun songs and danced with the Lyles. They are so much fun and I'm so blessed to have met them on the mission. I also felt very strongly that I needed a priesthood blessing, and it was exactly what I needed. Elder Lyle really felt like a stand-in dad and gave me a big hug afterwards. I miss hugging my dad.
Wednesday:
We met with a girl who lives in our boundaries and strongly desires to get baptized but is worried her parents will kick her out of the house because they despise the church. It was sad to hear her story, but amazing to see her conviction and love for the gospel! That evening, our ward celebrated Pioneer Day by watching the old church movie "Legacy." They had a hard time getting the projector to play, so at one point they had 5 or 6 men up there trying to figure out what was wrong. Someone made the joke, "How many priesthood holders does it take to fix a projector?" After 30 minutes of this, bishop's wife comes over and gets it playing within 5 minutes! Women rule ;)
Thursday:
Boy oh boy! We took the bishop's daughter out with us for the whole day as a "mini-mission" so she could experience what life as a missionary is like. She is expecting to get her mission call within the week! However, every single set thing we planned to do today seemed to fall through! She was a real trooper and didn't mind tracting with us early that morning. She also took us out to lunch. We had a great time laughing and joking together. Then we went to do some contacting at a park so she could experience that. Now, every time you go to a park, you first have to swing for a few minutes so you look like you fit in ;). We had a good time talking to some friendly people, and as we were about to leave for our dinner appointment, this man sitting under a gazebo calls out to us, asking what we were doing. I took it as a sign to go talk to him, so we walk over and he starts talking about his life. At first, everything seems normal and he's just a really friendly, chatty guy. But then things started not making sense anymore. Politicians were trying to steal his "fire art" and the producer of Transylvania came to visit him when he caught a bat on his fishing pole to give him a prize, and he said to put it in a movie! And that's how the movie came to be... and a bunch of other insane things! We politely excused ourselves because we really had to get going. He continued to talk to us like we were right next to him as we were walking further and further away. Finally, when we were about 10 feet away, he calls out to us, "I'm still looking to get married!" We all started speed walking/running away with horrified looks on our faces! ...only on a mission!
Bible study that evening went really well, even though only 2 people showed up. It was exactly what one of the ladies needed, because she called us later and thanked us for being ourselves and letting our personalities show. She felt much more connected to us because she can see we aren't putting on a front, but are just being ourselves. It really touched me and testified to me that God calls His missionaries to certain areas to touch others by their unique personalities. We aren't supposed to change who we are, and there is no cookie-cutter way to be a missionary.
Friday:
I had a slight migraine this morning and had to rest for most of the morning. I just looked and felt terrible. But my companion was very supportive and we have grown a lot closer and have become more unified. We went to visit some members later that day, and they were hilarious! The way they met needs to be made into a movie! We had dinner with a new family that just moved in and we had such a blast! That was the most I've laughed in a while! Plus we had carne asada street tacos! Yum, yum, yum!
Saturday:
I have had hard time focusing during my prayers lately because of feeling tired, so the thought popped into my head to pray out loud. I found a quite place in the closet of our room, and it was very inspired and helped so much. I need to remember to pray out loud more often! Sister Lyle came over and joined us for our companionship study. Then they had us over for lunch, and I was working on printing something, and Elder Lyle called out to me by my first and middle name to get me to come eat. Haha, just like a real dad! And it worked, too. I came running asap!
Sunday:
We taught a great lesson second hour, and the missionaries did a great job with the combined third hour lesson. We discussed the Character of Christ by Elder Bednar and encouraged all the members to turn outwards in love and service, even as their natural man wants to take over. The Spirit was very strong, and we hope the ward will be more motivated to minister to one another. We were also able to swindle ourselves a dinner appointment with the Brignonis. They are so funny and also cook a lot for us. Afterwards, we went to try to find a less-active, but we couldn't find their house. We pulled over to pray, and in the middle of the prayer, I hear a man calling out to us. It freaked me out because I knew the doors weren't locked. But it turned out to be a nice guy asking if we were lost or needed any help. I took the opportunity to bear witness that we were praying to ask God who we could help, and then we invited him to come to church!
We also went to visit a sister whose husband just got home from the military. He is a nonmember and offered us alcoholic drinks and tried to tempt us to break our mission ruled... She was so embarrassed! But hey, it has to happen on a mission at least once, right?
I've been studying a lot about unconditional love this week. How often to you hear, "If you do this for me, then I'll love you even more!" or "If you don't do this, I won't love you as much." That kind of love is conditional and changing. It causes stress and insecurities. When you make a mistake or mess up, it makes you worried that you are loved less. I testify that we have a perfect Heavenly Father who loves unconditionally. He sees your future and your potential, and He loves you just as much in your weakest hour as He does in your strongest hour. There is nothing YOU can do to change the amount of love He has for you, and you don't need to earn it. You can't. It's just always there. I encourage each of you to love one another more unconditionally. Don't let another's shortcomings cause you to love them any less, and know that even when you fall short, there are those here on earth that love you regardless. The best thing you can do for someone struggling down the path of the gospel is to love them unconditionally, to give them an anchor of love that can become a life-line back onto the path of God.
Much unconditional love,
Sister Burnham
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