Howdy all y'all! Hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
It's a great month to make a conscious effort to reflect on the blessings you recieve each day.
Monday
We went out shopping with Carly, a member, at the World Market. It had a lot of neat and silly things! Then she took us out for frozen yogurt and they had a dairy-free section (specifically for me, I know it!) We then went to our dinner appointment with the Ward Mission Leader's family. They are so fun. We got to help them make dinner, which was nutritious and tasty! I asked Brother Hart if he could give me a blessing after, and it was just what I needed in preparation for going home.
Tuesday
I got my bike fixed after district council, and we ran into the office elders there, which was cool! We then went down to the apartment complex where we had an appointment with a member. We had half an hour, so we decided to walk around (in the rain, of course) and find people to talk to. We ran into a man throwing some trash in the dumpster, and we walked quickly behind him, calling after him. She motioned for us to follow him up the stairs and into his apartment because he's "always down to talk about Jesus," but we told him we couldn't if there wasn't another female. He went up and left the door open in case we "changed our mind," then went inside. Sister Bench and I just looked at each other in confusion for a solid minute, but then I pulled out a Restoration pamphlet and walked up by the door and looked inside. There was another man sitting on the couch, and I asked him if I could give him the pamphlet. He slowly walked over and took it without saying a word. He started looking through all the pictures. I asked him, "What do you know about Jesus?" He still didn't say a word, just looked at the picture of Christ on the front. Then he finally bore his love and testimony of the Savior as he started crying, and he went in for a hug (awkward), and then asked if we had anything else to give him. I had just happened to write my testimony in a Book of Mormon a few days earlier, so I grabbed it from my bag and gave it to him. Unfortunately he is moving to Atlanta, GA in a few days. What was extra cool about this experience, though, was that we realized we were in the wrong apartment complex. The member lived in the nicer ones across the street.
The visit with the Turners was so fun! They are totally my people. He is going into psychology and counseling, so we had a nice talk about that. And after sharing a quote as a spiritual thought, he said that it would work perfectly in his talk on Sunday!
Wednesday
I got to have my very last interview with my mission president this morning! It was 30 minutes long, and I was surprisingly really excited for it. President Smith reminds me of the Savior because he truly does know and care about each one of us missionaries individually. He feels like a good friend of mine. We just talked about my plans for after the mission and he answered any questions I had. We weekly planned and went out to visit some returning members. We attended mutual that evening and then decided to stop by Waseem's home. The whole family was home, and we were able to sit down and teach the Restoration! And can I just say... it is so hard to teach people that don't have a Christian background! Everything in the gospel can be tied back to Jesus Christ and His Atonement, yet they don't believe He died or was more than a prophet. It's good though because it is helping me learn to teach in new ways.
Thursday
Sister Bench woke up feeling sick, but luckily we had a pretty easy day planned. We went down to serve at the Ronald McDonald House (where I got a picture by the statue) and it was FREEZING outside. You just can't keep warm in the humid cold, I'm tellin' y'all! Then we went tracting in a random neighborhood that we were led to by the Spirit, and on the second door we knocked on, the lady let us in out of the cold, and we had a great discussion with her and her daughter. My new favorite question now is when people ask, "Are you the Mormons?" because then you can take the opportunity to explain that the nickname comes from a prophet who lived in the ancient Americas and compiled together records of the people's dealings with God there... and go on to explain what the Book of Mormon and Restoration is so smoothly! And what a miracle... while everyone else on that street was not interested, they were so friendly about it and actually smiled at us!
Friday
Happy Birthday to my dad! First thing we did this morning was make a run to Walmart to pick up some medicine for Sister Bench. She is only getting worse. We had a lunch appointment at Sister Reynolds' home with the other two sisters, and by divine design she made hot chicken soup, which was so good for Sister Bench's throat. The rest of the day, we mostly had to relax and take it easy.
Saturday
We didn't do much today (comp still sick) besides go to the Relief Society's Super Saturday crafting activity. I'd been so excited for it because I've inherited my mom's love for crafting, but it was kind of lame. Not a good turn out, not enough supplies for some of the crafts. My poor companion just sat there in the freezing cold gym, shivering the whole time. We went home and rested for the greater part of the afternoon and evening. I made my comp some hot broth for dinner :).
Sunday
Brother Turner gave a great talk, and he actually did use the quote we shared with him. He even gave us a shout-out, saying everyone should have us in their home 
. We had a combined 3rd hour discussing the new curriculum for this upcoming year, and I for one am so excited! I know these changes are coming from the Lord and will strengthen us and prepare us for when Christ comes again. We had dinner that evening with the Wrights and they said they'd have us over again before the transfer was over for dinner and they'd bring a non-member for us to share a lesson with. How sweet! I love their family, and their kids are so cute!
Funny moment of the week:
An old lady saw us buying pizza in the frozen section and invited us to have Thanksgiving Turkey with her! Little does she know we've already been invited to 4 dinners already!
Spiritual Thought:
You might be wondering what the quote was that was so good Brother Turner used it in his talk on Sunday... It was in a conference talk in October 2009 called, "The Love of God" by Elder Uchtdorf.
"My dear brothers and sisters, don’t get discouraged if you stumble at times. Don’t feel downcast or despair if you don’t feel worthy to be a disciple of Christ at all times. The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to try. We must try to believe. Try to learn of God: read the scriptures; study the words of His latter-day prophets; choose to listen to the Father, and do the things He asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible—and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you."
It's a hard reality to face at times, but we are never going to do enough in this life to be worthy of salvation. In spite of all the good works we do, it is truly and simply by grace that we are saved (2 Nephi 25:23). However, what then is the point of doing anything if we can't save ourselves? Many people here in the South decieve themselves and say they are saved by faith alone. However, it is in the process of doing that we slowly become who God needs us to be. So just keep trying, no matter how often you fall short!
To really tie in the idea of doing and becoming, I recommend reading the conference talk, "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?" By Elder Lynn G. Robbins.
Much love,
Sister Burnham
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