"Patience, Iago"

Hello out there!

This week was wonderful! A learning week by far. 

I was asked to teach a Christlike attribute at District Meeting on Thursday. I felt like I should teach on patience, so I had been studying that all week. Why is patience a Christlike attribute? In every story about Christ He shows wonderful, perfect patience. Others would not listen or even try to understand, but He still showed patience. They would turn their backs on Him or try to prove Him wrong, but He still showed patience. He loved them always and they could care less. I am in awe at how perfect of an example He is to all of us. How often do we get frustrated with life? Co-workers, children, roommates, Utah drivers and constant construction (I had to), and especially with ourselves? I realized this week that there is so much joy and freedom in Christlike patience. Life is hard, but when we have that patience for others and let them grow and learn, as well as give ourselves the time we need to grow and learn, we will have such happiness through all the chaos of life.  

The day before District Meeting we were able to have interviews with President Vellinga. (These happen once every three months...and I have the best mission president ever! Just in case you were wondering) I gained the strongest testimony this week that Heavenly Father knows me. He knows what I need even before I know. He will constantly guide and direct me in my life and help me see His hand as He does so. As I was sitting in my interview, President asked me out of the blue how I was doing with patience. What! Inspiration! I just thought I was studying for a district meeting, but it turns out I was studying for much, much more. We talked about being patient with the work, patient with the Lord, and patient with myself. 

I don't know about you, but as a missionary it's so easy to get down on yourself for not being the best or even get frustrated with others for not doing what you think they should be doing. Yeah, those thoughts are not good and are not from God. The Devil is sure sneaky and likes to pull us down one negative thought at a time. I found this week, that as I study the life of the Savior and rely on Him, those thoughts go away and the Spirit rushes in. The Lord wants us to be happy and, through Him, we can and WILL find it. 

Things that make a missionary really happy:

- A recent convert asking how he can share the gospel with his co-worker because he wants him to feel the happiness that he feels now

- A convert going through the Temple for the first time and excited beyond belief

- Letters in the mail! (Thank you Diane and the Harts! Just to name two.)

- Members that take care of the missionaries and call them just to make sure they're doing alright

- During nightly planning both of us at the same time get the feeling to visit an elderly lady in the ward. It turns out she just had surgery and was really wanting visitors. God knows His children!

- Taking a group on tour and feeling the Spirit SO strong! 

- Being able to testify on the Book of Mormon and the truths it holds

- Being able to serve a family in the ward who really needs it and not knowing how much before going over to their home

- Being a line for a lady in the ward who needs support and friends to help her through very rough times

- 70 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- New missionary name tag with "Historic Kirtland Visitors' Center" on it! Yeah, be jealous. 

- STAKE CONFERENCE!! Amazing talks, wonderful people. The work is going forward!

Things that don't make a missionary happy:

- MICE IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!! If anyone knows me, I'm terrified of mice. Yeah, there was a mouse in the kitchen. Old homes...not sure I'm okay with this. Haha

I love you all! Thank you for your love and support!

Sister Burns

 

MICE! It was sure hungry.

Pres. Vellinga

I Love to Read the Book of Mormon!

Hello all!

This week went by so fast! It's getting colder and I'm not liking that, but I'll survive! You know what's funny, without the news we really don't hear about things....Ebola? Yeah, we found out it was here like two days ago. Haha. Don't worry, Mom, we're all fine and dandy. 

We have a new investigator, Michael, and he's so great! He loves the Book of Mormon and the message in it. He's still reading and really interested in learning more. Our second lesson was such a spiritual moment. He talked about his faith in our Savior and how he relies so much on Him. My favorite part about serving a mission is meeting new people, teaching new people, and seeing the gospel change their lives. It's such a miracle. 

Meeting Michael was a miracle all on its own. We were stopping by his neighbor that we couldn't ever get a hold of. Ever. She was a referral from the Gladys Knight fireside. We stopped by her house again and he came out and sat on his front porch to let us know she wasn't home. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and he asked us to come back with one. We said goodbye, turned around and before we walked down his driveway, he was gone. Vanished without a trace! Dun dun dun. Okay, but really, it was like he was there for a few moments and then he was gone! Just something funny, I guess. When we went back the first time he was so excited to read the book! We came back again with a member from the ward (member missionaries are the best!!) and read some of the Book of Mormon and discussed the Restoration of Christ's Gospel. Before we even asked for a return appointment, he was asking if we could meet again tomorrow. So great! He is so prepared for the gospel and you can see how much he wants it. We have a return appointment with him tonight, so we'll see what happens. 

This sure is God's work and it's amazing what happens when we let Him take the reins and be prepared to follow. That's how all of life is, not just a mission. We all can see His hands in our lives if we look, turn to Him and open our eyes. He's always there, we just sometimes try to walk by ourselves and that doesn't always end the best way it could. Our district leader invited us to write down the miracles we see everyday. That's what God does -- miracles. If we look for them, we can see them. Even if they're small, they're still miracles and blessings from God. Anyway, I'd love to invite you all to do the same. I promise you'll be able to see the little things or maybe even the big ones. 

Alexandria and her family. Love them!

Happy moment of the week! Our recent convert, Alexandria, bore her testimony at the Kirtland Fireside we hold each month. Ahh, it was wonderful! Her testimony was so powerful and so strong. She still has questions about the gospel and she is wanting to grow more (which is and will come), but that's normal. God wants us to follow Him and continue to learn and grow. That's exactly what she's doing and the Lord is blessing her so much! Just rely on the little seed of faith and look how it blooms into something beautiful!

I LOVE THE SENIOR MISSIONARIES!!! Elder and Sister Ramirez

We went to a choir fireside...it was interesting, but a nice break. Haha. Remind me to show you a video in a year and a half when I'm home.   

Okay, Heavenly Father loves you all...no matter what. I love you, too!!!

Sister Burns 

*cough* *cough* Christmas is in two months *cough* *cough*

"God hears and answers me when I pray in faith"

Hello!

This week we spent a lot of time at the doctors for Sister Harrison's leg, but all is well! It's not a fracture so she doesn't have to go home! Prayers and priesthood blessings work. One doctor said it was a fracture and then when we went to the next doctor it was gone. Blessings! 

Another blessing of this week: If we pray to God for help and it's doing His will, He will help you!

We are really lacking in the investigator pool right now and there's so much joy in teaching, so we made it our weekly goal to pray more earnestly for investigators. That morning we went to visit a lady and she wasn't home, but we felt like we should go visit another lady in the same apartment complex. As we knocked on the door we waited, and waited, and waited, and finally she came to the door right as we were about to leave. (There are a lot of retirement apartments in Mayfield and this is one of them.) As we talked with her we shared why we were there and she wants us to come back this week. Blessing and answer to prayers. We were pretty excited about that. 

As the day went on, things were just going great! Not a single appointment fell through (missionary miracle in itself). Earlier that day we had stopped by a referral from the Gladys Knight Fireside, but she wasn't home. Before we traveled back to Kirtland for the night we decided to try once more. We walked up her driveway and hear her yell that we were going up the wrong sidewalk (missionary heart currently sinking....rejection...ugh). As we got closer we told her we were looking for Kelli. It turns out there were members right across the street and she thought we were wanting them. When she found out why we were there and we were there for her she was so excited!! She welcomed us into her home (missionary heart FREAKING out with joy!!) and we shared with her the message of the Book of Mormon. I loved seeing the joy in her eyes as we talked about it. We are going back this week and I cannot wait to see what happens. She is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Blessing and answer to prayers number 2! 

Days like that are what make missionary work all worth it. Sure it's hard, but the gospel is such a blessing and being able to share it with others...nothing else compares. I know that the gospel is a gospel of happiness. It's simple. People try to confuse it and make it difficult or weird. Sure, it can seem difficult to follow if you look at it that way, but when you look at it as a plan your Father in Heaven created for you so you can find happiness and grow, those other things don't matter. When you strive to follow Him, you'll see how easy it becomes. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it is there for us to grow closer to Christ and our Heavenly Father. I know that life is hard, but when we read that book we see life become more enjoyable and those difficult times become more easy to bear. I love being able to share this with others. I hope you all know how wonderful it is. God wants to bless us and when we choose to act for ourselves and follow Him we will see blessings pour out all around us! =) 

Not much time to write today, but I hope you all know how much I know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves each and everyone of us. I know He cares about what you're doing. If you don't feel like He's there, keep seeking Him. He's there waiting for you with outstretched arms. I promise you that.  

Love you all, 

Sister Burns

                                                         Just a picture I took. I love the Fall here! So pretty!

                                                           After a long day of work! Two new investigators! 

Walk as Christ -- Challenge accepted!

General Conference!!

I have never loved it as much as I did while being a missionary. It applies so differently when you're out here serving and when you're prayed for! (Yeah, coolest thing ever!) I love the power of faith and what God can do if you give it to Him. 

Favorite talk: 

President Monson's talk from the Sunday morning session. This talk hit me differently than I think most people took it. He discussed the difference between walking where Christ walked and walking as Christ walked. There are so many wonderful things that Christ did, and He wants us to learn from His example and follow Him. That's the gospel -- follow Christ's example and be happy. How simple is that? Are we serving enough? Loving enough? Praying enough? Are we going through our trials and always looking toward our Heavenly Father enough? We can ALL be better at these things. 

The point that came across my mind was what am I doing? I am in Kirtland. Christ was here, Joseph Smith walked here, Parley P. Pratt walked here, Joel Hills Johnson walked here (had to throw that one in!), so many saints lived the gospel here and I talk about that everyday on tour. What am I doing with this knowledge? Am I more excited to walk where they walked or walk as they walked? I am amazed at the stories of the saints and what they gave up for the gospel. My mind focused on what I'm giving or should be giving to the gospel. God knows all of His children and He notices when we reach out to help another person, obey the prophets, or say no to a temptation and He blesses us for that. Just a little something that came across my mind. It makes me view Kirtland differently and how I can learn from the past to be better now.    

Sunday morning session we watched at Patar and Uma's home. I loved it! Patar loves the gospel! He is still learning, but he wouldn't take his eyes off the TV. He had so many questions for us afterwards and He even started to sing with us doing the congregation hymn. (He's from Indonesia and hardly knows the hymns or English for that matter. Favorite moment of the day!) They were talking about going to visit Palmyra next summer and how exciting it will be to go to the temple there. We didn't even bring it up. I love seeing the desire to progress in the gospel and further their covenants with the Lord. You can see how the Spirit flows through them and fills their home. Uma always cooks for us, too! She's from Thailand and makes yummy Thai food. Thank heavens she holds off on all of the hot spices! I'd die. Haha. But I love Thai food. Yumm. 

Story time! Uma made divine dark hot chocolate (if anyone knows me, I'm slightly obsessed...) and she sent us with to-go cups full after Conference. I walked out and had no free hands so I placed the cup between my teeth thinking it would stay there long enough to dig through my purse and find the keys... fail. The cup dropped and splattered everywhere! Thank goodness we were already outside. I now have one stained cardigan and no hot chocolate. Yes, laugh and call me blonde. You're doing that anyway, I just know it! I'm now accepting replacement cardigans of any color and/or money donations to fill the WICINC fund. (Winter is coming and I need cardigans)   

We had so many member meals this week...and there were no worms! Whew! I love the members! We watched the last session with the Christensen's. They have a little girl who is four and reminds me so much of Bailey. It made watching conference feel more at home. And I had her tell me every time they said Jesus Christ....which was all the time! Overall, conference reminded me of the blessing of the Savior. He is our Lord and loves each and every one of us no matter what. He is there for us always and we just need to turn to Him. The gospel is so simple and easy if we just ignore the doubts in our heads and study His words. We will be able to see that and as we do, pure happiness comes. Missions are so hard, but I see that every day as I strive to study and learn more. Yep, the gospel is wonderful, Christ is wonderful, and Heavenly Father is, too. 

Oh! Sis. Harrison fractured (maybe) her ankle and shin! We're waiting for another doctor to look at her x-rays. Hopefully it's nothing too bad. =/

Have a great week! I love you all. 

Sister Burns

88,000 strong!

P.S. President changed our music, so we can only listen to Sacrament Meeting appropriate music (hymns and MoTab) and nothing from the Youth LDS page or EFY music. Help would be appreciated in this area since we have around two CDs we can listen to now. Haha

After a LONG day of exchanges. Sis. Mertlich. LOVE HER!!! She heads home in two weeks. =(

Wrapping trees with lights! Christmas is coming soon!!!!

Blessings!

Hello! 

I feel like I just was writing last weeks e-mail....time is a crazy thing. 

Elder Teh visited our mission this past week. We are just getting blessed right and left here! The conference was wonderful! I have never had more excitement or motivation to do more as a missionary and help the work move forward. I am so blessed to be a part of this mission at this time. It's such a testimony to me that God knows each and every one of His children and He guides us to where we need to be if we follow Him. It's amazing. When I look back over my life and especially the last year and a half, I can see God's hand in everything and I can see how it all led up to me serving here at this time. 

I don't know how many of you know why I'm serving....quick story. I knew a mission was always an option, but I never felt like I should or that I even had a desire to leave everything behind and go. So...Graduation came and went and my life went on, too. It wasn't exactly going in any direction I thought it would or that I wanted it to go. (Marriage...nope. Funny how God has a better and bigger plan than we do for ourselves). As I thought about life over the last year, I would pray to have a desire to go and nothing would ever come from it, so I just ignored the mission thing and found other ways to grow in the gospel. As I continued on in life I had the strongest desire to go through the temple...so I did. Best place in the world. Everyone should go. Because of the temple I felt so much closer to Heavenly Father and the Spirit (vital for life). One night (I wasn't even thinking about a mission) the Spirit hit me so strong and I KNEW that I had to go. Through every fiber of my being, I knew I needed to. I still didn't want to, but I knew that if I followed Christ and gave up my life to serve Him, my desires for my life would come back to me even better than I could ever imagine. That's how God works. =) So, now I'm here and I can see that God leads us to places we never thought possible. I could have stayed at home and been perfectly fine. There would have been amazing things that would have happened and God still would have been there...He's always there. But I know that because I'm following the plan He so powerfully showed that I should follow, I will and currently am being blessed.

 

This is how Heavenly Father works in all of our lives. We are all at different stages, we all need different things, and our stories are not all the same. But there is one underlying theme to all of our stories...as we follow Heavenly Father and strive to do our best, we can look back and see God's hands in our lives. It might take years to see...things that happened while I was a teenager and younger are playing into me serving...but we can ALWAYS see His hand. He loves each and every one of us. That is His entire reason for sending us here. He wants to help us be happy and He wants to pour out blessings to us...He is always pouring blessings out and we can always see them if we open our eyes and hearts and look. (Read President Uchtdorf's talk from last Saturday's Women's Conference. Illustrates exactly what I'm talking about)  

Okay, massive tangent. Pretty much, I just realized again that I'm supposed to be here and God will place people in our lives to help us see His plan. Elder Teh helped me see that again. I can't wait to see what happens over the next...few ish....months.      

On a happy note, Alexandria and Kayla (they were baptized the Sunday before I got to the area) finally got confirmed on Sunday. I love seeing the difference already! There were so many bad things that happened over the last month and they were having such a hard time, so church didn't happen. As they walked through the doors on Sunday you could feel a difference. They received the Holy Ghost and already there are so many blessings from that. Medical things that are not as bad as they thought, happiness in their home, peace on their street (they live in a not-so-great part of town). I love seeing the blessings all around us. Alexandria and Kayla see it too. They're going on the ward temple trip on the 18th and I can't wait to hear how it goes. If only we could go with them.... oh well. 

Okay, that was not what I was planning to writing this week, but there you go. 

I love you all! 

Sister Burns

(Ps, The leaves are amazing here! I will be taking pictures when there isn't as much green left. Gorgeous!)

Amen! Amen!

Whew, this week was a crazy one! Gladys Knight was here and because of all of that our Preparation Day was moved to Wednesday...and then Thursday. I have never been more grateful for a P-Day. =) 

So much has happened and I don't know where to start. Gladys Knight was the biggest thing. She has a choir, the Saints Unified Voices, and they are invited all over the world to do firesides. They were here Friday and Saturday and were able to do four firesides during that time. Each time, the Stake Center was PACKED! Chapel, overflow, cultural hall, and the stage was filled to overflowing. We were able to go on Saturday night with two ladies from our ward. I could try to explain them, but my words wouldn't do them justice. Just picture two ladies that never stop talking and there are moments I would cry from laughing so hard. One of them, Sis. Evans, is in her 80's and is more spunky than anyone I know. Another one of those black spunky grandmothers that everyone needs! The car ride was not lacking in entertainment. 

Most of those in attendance were either investigating the church or were members of other faiths who were invited by members. There were some members and missionaries galore. It was amazing! There were people off all colors and faiths there and I have never seen a people more unified even though there were so many differences. Get it, Saints Unified Voices - well named. 

The moment the choir walked in the door I felt like I had left the Stake Center and was somewhere down South! Everyone was on their feet, clapping, and shouting gospel praises. Not going to lie, I LOVED it! This entire experience was such a wonderful missionary tool! The choir sang gospel songs and it was exactly what the audience needed and what they were familiar with. A member of the choir spoke and he explained how we are all related to Gladys -- how we are all children of Heavenly Father. He talked of Jesus Christ and what He means to us. I have never heard "amen" said so many times in my life. It was constantly coming from the audience. And then he talked of the restoration...I wasn't sure how they would take it. At first, the "amen"s weren't as loud, but never fear, the night ended great! Understanding has to happen first before testimony. 

Then Gladys' husband spoke next and the Spirit FLOODED the room. He talked about his background -- Southern Baptist from South Carolina. Everyone understood where he came from. He talked about how he was friends with Gladys and how everyone in the African American community knew she went crazy because she became a Mormon. (Laughs were constant during his talk!) But, he married her anyway. He knew she believed in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost and that was good enough for him. Eventually he studied the gospel out for himself. (How could he not when his wife had so many young men friends on bikes who would come over all the time!) He knew the Bible inside and out. As he read it he knew there was a need for the Book of Mormon, he knew the only church that could be Christ's church would be named after Him and would be organized how He would have organized it. He found his own testimony when He compared it to the Bible and found it to support the words of God and not try to be its own religion. He knew The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was Christ's true church restored (not new) on the earth. As he spoke you could feel the understanding coming to the audience. You could see how they were changing their views of the LDS church. Honestly, I feel like that entire night was a miracle.

After he finished, Gladys spoke. Oh wow. She talked about joining the church and about how she had to study it out on her own before she could know if it was true or not. She had heard so many negative things about the church, but as she studied, she came to realize those negative things were coming from people who didn't know a thing about the LDS church and most of the negative concepts came from people who had never even met a Mormon before. She talked about culture and differences and how that's okay and how we can all learn and grow from each other. If we come together, follow Jesus Christ and help each other grow towards Him, we will be amazed at the blessings the Lord has in store to give us. He loves all of us and wants us to follow Him. Through following the prophet and reading His holy scriptures -- the Bible and the Book of Mormon -- we can know this is His true church and it is the only church that is organized by Christ and ran by Him. As she ended, she stated how she knew that Heavenly Father had given her music and her talents to do these firesides. Everything leading her to that point -- touring around the world, fame, fortune -- it all prepared a way to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Gladys Knight and the Pips don't matter -- the gospel does.

She closed by singing "I Stand All Amazed". Ahh, we need more soul in our hymns. Haha. In the program there was a guest card and if the audience filled it out, the missionaries would bring them a CD with a couple songs from the night, a Book of Mormon, and the Restoration DVD. Over the four sessions we received over 500 (guessing, maybe more) request cards for our mission. Hasten the work!!!! We're still connecting with people, but I can already see how great this will be for Ohio.

As for the rest of the week....

The Visitors Center missionaries were invited to a steak fry for helping with a strawberry festival before I got here. Steak Fry = grab a MASSIVE and thick steak larger than my head, cook it yourself on the MASSIVE grill, eat MASSIVE amounts of food with said steak, and go home with MASSIVE amounts of leftovers to feed your for two more days. Ahh, yumm!!!

It's actually warm this week! Thanking Heavenly Father everyday. 

We met with a referral and she really wants to talk about the gospel and build her faith in Jesus Christ. I'm so excited to see where things go with her. She is beyond adorable! 

And to top off my week.... We went to dinner at a members house. We had brownies for dessert and they gave us the extra brownies to take home. As I was eating my brownies, something was sticking out of the piece I was about to put in my mouth. As I pulled it out I realized it was a WORM!!!! Yuck! There was a worm in my brownie. (See attached video) Who would have thought I'd be eating bugs on my mission in Ohio. Haha

This isn't everything that happened this week, but it gives you something. =)

By the way, I love Kirtland! I get to feel the Spirit every single day! I get to see why the Saints did what they did in the 1800s and see how it has changed so many lives -- how it has changed my life. I am so grateful for their faith in our Savior and in His church. I am grateful for the temple and the opportunities we are blessed with that we can do work for our ancestors. It's a cycle -- we're all helping each other get to the Celestial Kingdom. =) So, umm, I can't go to the Temple while I'm here. I'm thinking you should all go and tell me about it! Invitation given...ready. set. go! 

Love you all!

Your worm eating, hallelujah shouting missionary, 

Sister Burns

Padded elevator at a retirement apartment complex.

SUV and Gladys Knight!

One month!

Hi!!!

I've already been out one month. So crazy! I still feel like a baby here, but that's okay! I'll wait till next transfer when we get new missionaries. =)

The mission is wonderful! We're having a hard time finding more investigators in our area since all of ours got baptized a few days before I got here....what a dilemma to be in. Ha. We'll keep searching! We did have a cool experience the other day during lunch. We stopped at a park to eat and there was a group writing uplifting thoughts with sidewalk chalk for suicide prevention week. They asked us if we'd like to write something. Of course!! Scripture time!! I wrote Philippians 4: 13. The cool part was as we were finishing a guy stood next to me and was reading the scripture. As we started talking I felt like I should give him a pass-a-long card. I was originally looking for the card for a free DVD about Christ. I knew there were some in my bag since I had just put some in there moments ago, but I couldn't find them. All I could find was a Book of Mormon card. I figured I'd just give him that instead. We talked for a moment, the entire time he was just staring at the card. He said, "You know, I actually already have this book. My grandpa was a Mormon. He was the coolest old man." Score! We talked to him and he is more than willing to meet with us. They all thanked us for the scriptures and we left. I loved that God knew exactly what card this man needed and he helped me find it. After we left, all I could find were the DVD cards. Small and simple things. =)

Sites were amazing this week! An older sister came in. We found out she had joined the church in the 80's and we didn't think much of it, just that she lived close and wanted to come see the sites again. But as we got to know her, we found out that she had fallen away from the church and had just started the process of coming back and coming to Kirtland was her first step. She was amazing! She had been in a car wreck and couldn't really walk,so we only made it to the main floor of the Whitney Store. We talked with her about her journey and her faith in Christ. You could see how much she has gone through and how grateful she was for a Savior who would never turn His back on her and was there with open arms when she gave up those things holding her back and returned to Him. Wow, she was such an inspiration. I love talking to people like her.
​ 

A tour we took yesterday was with a couple from Boise, ID. They had never been here and said people thought they were crazy for stopping after visiting Palmyra since it was so far out of their way. As we walked through the store she asked about Christ showing Himself in Kirtland and knew it happened, but wasn't sure. We told her He did and in four places in Kirtland. She was beyond happy. We didn't tell her more since we were about to walk into the School of the Prophets and would talk about it there. The moment we walked through the door she started to sob. She said, "This is one of the places, wasn't it? I can feel it." Ahh, the Spirit was wonderful and we had such a wonderful discussion on the Lord's love for His children! I know that God loves every single one of His children and He wants us all to be happy. The entire reason for the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for our happiness. I feel it every day here. Such a blessing to know that and not be lost or confused and to have that guidance in this crazy life. I know that we can all know that through study and prayer. It normally doesn't come fast like turning on a light, it's normally slow like the sunrise. The key is noticing that it's getting lighter. (See Elder Bednar's Patterns of Light. So good!!) 

Thank you all for your love and support. I couldn't do it without you. =)

Love your favorite missionary, 

Sister Burns

My cute little grey house!