Weekly Letter -- 12.14.2015

HELLO!!!

This week has been an amazing and humbling one! 

First off, I was transferred back to Shaker Heights! What are the odds of that?! I start and end my mission in the same ward. I'm with Sister Beck, an Oregon born New Zealander. No, she doesn't have an accent, but she's amazing! Holy cow, what an example she is! If only I could live the rest of my mission like her. Haha. There are so many added responsibilities to serving in this area...most humbling experience of my mission. But I know the Lord will help me accomplish all of the tasks He needs me to do. I'm so grateful for this time to serve! 

I have little time today, but holy cow, this area is on fire! I can't even count how many investigators we have right now! We taught the restoration so many times since Wednesday and found four new investigators! It's ready to harvest literally and I'm so excited to see more and more and more and more miracles! They are coming!! 

Connie's reaction to finding out I was in Shaker again....priceless!  

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I won't be on here for two weeks because of it, but know that I love you all. I know my Savior lives. I know my life without Him would be horrible. There is an indescribable peace that comes from knowing my Savior and feeling the love that He has for me. I know that the Atonement is for every single one of us. We can use it every day and find the happiness and joy that our Savior sacrificed everything for us to have. This is a time of year when we can all feel that love. It's amazing! 

#asaviorisborn

I love you all!!!!

P.S.....it's 65 degrees right now. Hahahaha. Merry Christmas!

Have a blessed day!

Sister Eleena Burns

7800 Kirtland-Chardon Road

Kirtland, Ohio 44094

Sister Beck and I!

The North Family. I just love them!

Weekly Letter -- 12.8.2015

Hello!!!

This week has had so much crammed into seven days! It feels like three weeks into one. 

We had Mission Conference last Tuesday! It was amazing! It started off pretty normal. We went to the visitors' center, watched #asaviorisborn (I'd highly recommend watching them and sharing them!), and looked at the nativity exhibit (which is AMAZING this year, by the way! We have 932 creches!). Afterwards, we went to the Stake Center and had lunch. President was rushing through everything during lunch and we couldn't figure out why because we had like two and a half hours blocked out for lunch. Anyway, we watched a slideshow while we were eating and then all of a sudden The Best Two Years started playing!!! We were all freaking out!!! Nothing is better than watching that moving with 200 missionaries! Haha. It was so good and so funny! I didn't get half of the jokes before my mission. So that was a highlight. 

*Commence quoting in the Ohio Cleveland Mission!* 

"Please bless that young man that he will call." *ring* "AMEN!" HAHAHA. Oh, it was so good!  

But I did learn a lot -- I can't waste my mission away. Miracles are just waiting to happen. When I show God that I am willing to do what He needs me to and ACT, I will be able to see those miracles! Renewed strength to continue to the end...check! 

The best part of the day was going to the Kirtland Temple. We had two hours to sing and share our testimonies. There is nothing more powerful than the temple packed with missionaries. The Spirit is so strong in that wonderful building. I love it. 

That night was sad though. Sister Fitzgerald has been sick for months, so she was sent home. So sad! Now Sister Sorensen, Holyoak and I are in a triple-up. Juggling two areas is always interesting, but a fun adventure. 

 

On December 3rd, I had exchanges with Sister Bird and we were able to teach Brenda, our seven-year-long investigator. She is the sweetest, but can't quit smoking. We had such a good lesson with her and she's on baptism date for January 2nd!! What a good birthday that will be. I'm getting transferred tomorrow so I wont be here for it, but I'm so excited for her and I know that God will help her quit smoking and make it to that date. I love missions and being able to see the atonement work in the lives of others. 

Christina, Deeanna, Tessa and Shania came to church on Sunday. One of my all-time favorite moments as a missionary is when a less-active member or an investigator comes to church. That night we had a lesson with Christina and Tessa. JD even sat in on the entire lesson and told us he wants to go to church next week. Ahh, I am so excited!! Anyway, Tessa, who claimed to be atheist, told us that she had a breakdown at school the other day. She didn't know what to do, so she decided to go into the bathroom and pray. It was so cool listening to her tell about that story and how she felt the need to pray and ask for help. I love seeing her grow and her entire family find greater peace and happiness as they allow God into their lives! I'm going to miss them so much, but I am beyond excited too for the new sister missionary who in coming to Solon and that she gets to meet these amazing people. 

This morning we had an adventure. We got to go to seminary at 5:50am! I don't know how the students do it. They are amazing! Anyway, they are studying Judges right now, so we got to come and judge their scripture chase. It was so funny. We had pins at the end of gavels and got to pop a balloon from the losing teams side. The seminary teacher is the funniest guy I have ever met. We all had a blast. 

Well, hopefully I didn't bore you out of your mind as you read this, but just know how much I love this gospel. I have had so many wonderful moments this week where I have been able to share my testimony with those around me. I know that God loves us. I know He lives. I know He is the author of happiness. I know it. I've seen it.   

I love you all!

Have a blessed day!

Sister Eleena Burns

7800 Kirtland-Chardon Road

Kirtland, Ohio 44094

SOOOOOOO MANY PICTURES!!!

Mission Conference

Shyanne. The cutest little girl ever with her new game that she was so excited about! 

JD, Christina, Esias, Ezekiel, Tessa and me!

Dee, Shania, Christina, Tessa. I love them all! 

Brenda!

Brother Vine!

A Christmas Miracle

 A reminder to help Sister Burns with her Christmas Miracle!

Hello Everyone!

I have a small favor to ask...and if you could ask others to help, too, (Facebook, Wards, and whatnot) that would be great! 

There is a member of our ward who is in a rehabilitation center. His family is in California, so he is completely alone and will be alone for Christmas. Anyway, he is the best person! He has a Facebook group where people who don't have family or things like that will request a card for the holidays. Last Christmas this Brother sent over 100 personalized cards out to those in need. Well, this year we thought we could give him something back! 

Here's how you can help -- just send a letter or a card to me at the address below and address the card to Brother Vine. Also, there are two more seniors in our ward that will be in the rest home alone for Christmas, too. Could you send cards for them, too? Sister Wolf and Brother Billingsly. 

Thanks for making this happen! You are the best!   

Have a blessed day!

Sister Eleena Burns

7800 Kirtland-Chardon Road

Kirtland, Ohio 44094

Weekly Letter -- 11.30.2015

Hello Family!!

Sorry that I didn't get a letter out last week, but I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I sure did! We were able to eat dinner with all of the seniors at the Visitors' Center. It was so yummy!!! Picture fifteen grandmothers coming together to create a completely blissful meal! It was wonderful! Best part: Sister Markers homemade rolls or cream pie or another sisters dressing (as they call stuffing here) that had apples and cranberries instead of celery and onions. It was so yummy! Not to mention we're still eating left overs. I was well taken care of, Mom. =)  

We had some great moments over the past few weeks! I don't have time to give a ton of details, but I'll try to give each story some justice. 

So I told you about Fabian, right? The deaf man we contacted on the street. So we lost contact for a while, but then he sent us a text right after Thanksgiving! He ran into Elders in New York and now has such a desire to learn more. He is so excited! I just love seeing God's hand in all of this! How in the world did he meet Elders during Thanksgiving in New York? There are so many people there at that time, but he "just happened" to run into Elders? Nah, that was a God thing. D&C 93:1. My most favorite scripture! It's so true! Sure, we might not see His face right now, but I'm for sure seeing His hand! The only sad thing is we found out he's just right outside of our area, but the Shaker Ward should be very happy they got him! But I'm okay with that, I'm just excited for Fabian to learn how much God loves him! 

Second miracle...Tessa prayed during our lesson! And it was so perfect! She prayed to know if God was real and to help her come to know for herself. It was so sincere. JD came in during the lesson and talked about how he can't see God, so He can't believe He's there. Sister Sorensen pulled an Elder Bennett and asked JD how he knew Africa was real. He had no answer. He had never though of God in that way. We don't have to see Him to know He is there. It's amazing to see that as we listen to those we teach and as we listen to the Spirit, it will be given to us what we should say in order to help them the most. JD and Tessa are coming along. =) 

We had the cutest lesson with Brother Billingsley last night! We read about Abinadi and how he died for what he knew to be true. We asked him what that meant to him and he proceeded to share the sweetest testimony on how it doesn't matter what happens as long as we keep strong and how beautiful it will be to see Jesus again. He isn't afraid to die because he knows it will be such a wonderful moment when he sees his Savior. There is nothing better than hearing the testimony of the Savior from someone you love so much!

Also, Sister Sorensen got the call last night! She's going to be training next transfer! Which means I'm being kicked out of Solon (pretty sure, at least). I'm excited for her though!

Next weeks Prep Day is on Tuesday next week. Just FYI. 

I love you all!!

Have a blessed day!

Sister Eleena Burns

7800 Kirtland-Chardon Road

Kirtland, Ohio 44094

Just for Daddy!

I got to see two of my recent converts at the lighting ceremony in Kirtland! Steve!

Sister H and Briar! I love them! 

Donald!

Janice! JB! Judy Bo! Lady J! Ahh, I love her!

One of my favorite members!

Hey, we got it!

Temple!

Bedford Town Square Lighting with the Rs! 

A Christmas Miracle!

Hello Everyone!

I have a small favor to ask...and if you could ask others to help, too, (Facebook, Wards, and whatnot) that would be great! 

There is a member of our ward who is in a rehabilitation center. His family is in California, so he is completely alone and will be alone for Christmas. Anyway, he is the best person! He has a Facebook group where people who don't have family or things like that will request a card for the holidays. Last Christmas this Brother sent over 100 personalized cards out to those in need. Well, this year we thought we could give him something back! 

Here's how you can help -- just send a letter or a card to me at the address below and address the card to Brother Vine. Also, there are two more seniors in our ward that will be in the rest home alone for Christmas, too. Could you send cards for them, too? Sister Wolf and Brother Billingsly. 

Thanks for making this happen! You are the best!   

Have a blessed day!

Sister Eleena Burns

7800 Kirtland-Chardon Road

Kirtland, Ohio 44094

Weekly Letter -- 11.16.2015

Hello Everyone!!

I just have a quick miracle to share! 

I might have told you about Fabian about two months ago. We were walking down the street and this deaf guy came up to us. We started writing notes back and forth and he said that God didn't love him because he was deaf. We told him that was the furthest thing from the truth! We gave him the Book of Mormon and a promise that if he read that book he would know that God loves him! We got his information and sent him a text a few days later. We waited for a response, but nothing came. 

Last Wednesday this text came in, "Hello Sister Hancock and Sister Burns. This is Fabian. Remember me? I'm deaf. I read your book. What's next? Text me back."

That was the best moment ever! From then on, everything worked out so perfectly! There is a member of the Kirtland Ward who is fluent in ASL and is going to come teaching with us. Fabian is so excited and ever eager to meet with us. I love seeing the Lord's hand in all of this. We weren't planning on walking that street at that time and we were down to our last Book of Mormon. We weren't even going to talk to him because we were in the middle of a conversation with another man. But God knows His children and He knows what we need -- even if it doesn't make sense to us or the rest of the world at that time. Miracles happen every day! 

I love this gospel and I love having the Spirit with me always! He truly leads and guides my every step when I let Him. I know that this is the Savior's restored church. I see proof of it every single day! It hasn't been easy getting to this point and to be able to see it, but it is so worth every step. Nothing is better than knowing my Savior loves me and every single child in this world. It's a wonderful thing!

Have a blessed day! (Everyone here says that at the end of everything! I love it!)

Sister Eleena Burns

Decorating the Christmas tree!!! I swear we just did this. 

Our 15 months on the mission!

It's the "city lights" setting on my camera. Haha

So at FHE Ron always sits in the corner in this chair with the red blanket that is always there waiting for him. This is how the sisters were when he came around the corner. haha. 

Ooops...and I just realized I left the city lights filter on. Oh well...

Weekly Letter -- 11.9.2015

Hello!! 

I have zero time to write this email! Oops!!

But I had to share how amazing this past weekend was! We were able to do a veterans program last Saturday and there were so many veterans that came! The miracle was that two weeks ago we sounded like cats falling down a chalkboard....no joke. It was horrible! 

Well, the day before, we had our rehearsal and we actually sounded okay. And then we sounded so good the day of. We all had speaking parts, too, and as a missionary we don't have time to learn a part, so we were all struggling, BUT we all did so good!! It was a miracle! So many of the people that were there had never been to Kirtland before. Awesome missionary tool.  

Sorry it's short. Know that I love you all!!

Sister Burns

                 A member brought us breakfast for dinner last night completely out of the blue! It was the best ever!!!!!!

Just some random train pictures I took one day. I can't decide which one is my favorite.

Weekly Letter -- 11.2.2015

Hello All!!

Well, this week has been a bit crazy! I got a new companion! Sister Sorensen! She might look familiar. She was my companion for two weeks a long time ago when I was still serving in Shaker Heights with Sister Call. Now we get to be companions for longer! 

Things here are going well. We're doing this Veterans Day concert this coming Saturday. It should be good! Sister Sorensen, Call and I are singing this amazing song. It's called "Inscription of Hope". The words come from the wall of a cellar in Germany and were written by a little girl who was in hiding during World War II.  

It has made me realize how truly blessed I am. God loves us so much. He is always there during the hard times and will strengthen us even when the odds are against us. Heavenly Father loves each one of us. I am so grateful to know that. 

Alma 7: 11-12. One of my favorites. 

It was Halloween this week.....we forgot until that night. Oops. I guess that goes to show what's really important on the mission. But, I am happy to say that candy is now on sale and it's Preparation Day! Wahoo! 

Oh! I have a HUGE favor to ask anyone and everyone. We are teaching a few kids and we are running out of creativity. Is there anything in your head, Pinterest or anything like that that can help struggling, old, missionaries? Haha. We have the classic Restoration Cups and things like that, but we'd love more ideas. We did a "magic trick" with one girl and now she wants them every time we go over. So we need help. Anything is appreciated! Games, visuals, activities, more magic tricks. Haha. Anyway. Thanks!

Alright, I have to end on a Spiritual note. 

So my Ponderize scripture last week was 3 Nephi: 21:10

"But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil."

I loved this scripture so much especially since I am currently serving. But really, if you think about it, we are all serving the Lord. Heavenly Father cares about us all so much and His wisdom is greater than anything we are going through. Sure, there are going to be hard times -- we are going to "be marred" through things -- but He will help us. He will heal us. This is such an amazing promise. It has brought so much comfort as I was studying and ponderizing it. There are so many blessing from the scriptures. So, what's your verse?

I love you all! And happy November!

Sister Burns 

Ohio is pretty....and I really like the leaves here...if you can't tell. 

Weekly Letter -- 10.27.2015

 Hello All!!

Sorry that I didn't get a weekly letter out last week. We went to the temple and it was so amazing!!

We got up at 5 am and left Kirtland at 6 in the morning. Shockingly, I wasn't that tired. I was so excited! We made it down to Columbus with time to spare. (I guess that's what happens when the seniors don't have Tiwi in their car...luckies.)

We were able to attend the morning session of the temple and then Ron met us there for baptisms. It was so wonderful! The neat part about it was that we were there for the recent convert/returning member session for baptisms. There were so many people there for the first time and so many missionaries! The Columbus temple is tiny, so it became a bit chaotic with so many people. But through it all, there was such a special feeling with so many amazing people all doing family file names.

Ron was one of the last to go, which was nice because the baptistry had almost cleared out by then. Sister Gough, the ward mission leader's wife, was able to be baptized for Ron's wife. It was the sweetest thing. Ron was so happy even through the earlier chaos. 

Miracles happened so much this week!!

So there is a family in our ward and I don't know if I have written home about them or not. Christina and JD recently lost their two year old son in an accident. Christina has been less active for seven years, but because of recent events, she has this great desire to come back to church. So, we have been visiting with her and she came to church for the first time two Sunday's ago. It was such a good thing! She brought her mother, sister, and daughter who all aren't members. Her sister LOVED it and was given a part in the Primary program. She went home and invited everyone! She even invited Christina's fiance who hasn't attended a church service of any religion for over 15 years. The miracle is that they ALL came to church last Sunday. Because of it, we are now teaching Christina's daughter and mom. Soon, I'm sure, we'll be teaching her sister, too. 

It's interesting to see how God can take one tragedy and can use those events to bring us closer to Him if we keep our faith and follow Him. We taught them all the Plan of Salvation last week and it was completely wonderful! There is so much comfort and peace that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and knowing God's plan for us. 

Alright, I hope this all makes sense. Email me if you have any questions. I might have missed a key piece to the story. I've come to re-realize that I'm the worst at writing stories. Haha. 

I love you all!

Sister Burns 

Ponderize: 3 Nephi: 21: 10 

I don't remember if I have sent this one home or not. Sister Guinn and I at 14 Months!

Chardon, Ohio in the Fall. 

Just a leaf at the Morley Farm.

Morley!

Witness Tree....this tree is over 200 years old...meaning it was here when Joseph Smith was.  

Elder and Sister Ramirez at the Morley Farm!

Fall!

District Picture. 

We went to the Zoo today with Sister H and her daughter. 

ELEPHANTS!

This giraffe acted completely like Melvin from Madagascar. So funny!

Baby!

Ahh, I just love these Sisters!!