Lujan, Bikes, and a Brasilian Compa!!!! (Week 19)

Wow Fam it has been one crazy week for me!! Hey I got my envelope with socks! thanks so much, I have happier feet now :) Something ironic, I got it the day of transfers. You included a picture of a bike in the envelope, and now I am riding a bike!

We got transfers calls last sunday as you all know but we don't find out any of the details till wednesday in transfer meeting, so here are the details...my new companion is Hermana Passos! She is from Brasil! She is pretty cool! We live by ourselves. My new area is Lujan 1C and we ride bikes! I am slowly learning how to ride a bike in a skirt, have a sore bum, and keep up with my compa, and stay out of the way of cars! I usually feel silly riding around trying to keep my skirt down and having a big helmet, but it is one crazy adventure and I learning to love it!

Lujan is about an hour from the offices if you go on the freeway. It is more country and the people are more calm and chill which I like a lot. Our area is the center of Lujan so it is city. It is hard to descibe Lujan cause it is like city in the country, but it is cool. And you can see the stars really well at night which I really like! And the Basilica is in our area. It is a Catholic church and it is a gorgeous building! I will take a pic and send next week. You will have to research Lujan on the internet so you can get more of a feel for where I am cause it is hard to describe, but I like it.

As far as investigators go, I am still meeting and getting to know everyone but here is a bit of what we did this week....

This week we had the opportunity to watch the Joseph Smith movie with some of our investigators and recent converts. It was a spritiual experience to have them all together and to listen to one anothers thoughts and feelings of The Prophet Joseph Smith.

We have two investigators that we are really working hard with to be baptized this month, Axel and Franco. Axel wants to be baptized but needs permission from his mom who is a Jehovas Witness. But she told him that if he passes his language test on tuesday that she will give him permission. So we are praying that he will pass and she will follow through with her commitment. We are also trying to work with his siblings who are coming to church. Also, we want to teach the parents as well, but that will come with time. Franco is the brother of a recent convert Luclia. She is bringing him to seminary and answering his questions about the gospel. He has been talking to different recent converts about baptism. We are planning on inviting him to be baptized in our leccion today!

Any questions or comments you have let me know :) I know the Lord has a plan for each of us. We just need to keep going and learn to accept his time and his will for us. I always find it amazing how the Lord knows exactly what we need to help us and to learn and progress more. Have a fantastic week! Love you all with my entire heart! Good Luck Titans in your baseball tournament this week! I will be cheering from Argentina!

con mucho amor,
Hermana Burr

Hermana Burr and new companion Hermana Passos!

Old zone while serving in Padua

?!Que en el mundo...me voy!? (what in the world...I am going (or in other words leaving). (Week 18)

Hola Familia!

Things are crazy here! We got transfer calls last night, and I am going to leave Padua and my dearest compa Hermana Gerber! I love Padua with all my heart! I do not want to leave this area, the members, the investigators (even though they are tough at times), and my companion! Both Hermana Gerber and I were sure we were going to be working together again this transfer, so this news came as a big shock. I know I can't make this change alone and I need to rely on the Lord fully to make this change. But know that He is always there and He has a plan for me and all of you as well. He knows us and loves all personally and individually.

A scripture that my compa shared with me this week that I really really love is found in Doctrine and Covenants 98:1-3. It is about how our Father in Heaven hears every one of our prayers and he has promised to answer them! This is a really powerful scripture and I invite and highly encourage that you read and study it :)

This week we were really excited for Sunday cause we had six people that said they were going to come to church, for sure. We had plans to go and find them and arrive at the church together. Yesterday morning Hermana Gerber and I made the long walk before church to go and find them. We knocked and knocked on their doors but no one answered. At one house we talked with the mother of our investigator and she said she was sleeping and couldn't come cause she had to leave in awhile for something. So we made the long walk to church alone. One of the people that said they were going to come to church is Natalia. She is the daughter of Rosemary, a recent convert. Natalia showed up to church with her mother, Yay!! One of the many people that said they were going to come actually came. Also, at church one of our investigators, Luis, was asked to say the prayer in Sunday school, and he said the prayer and did a wonderful job! This was a neat experience because this is the first time he has every prayed in public (well as far as I know). He has only prayed in front of my companion and I three times. So this was a touching experience.

This week I learned more about the promptings of the Holy Ghost. The promptings of the Holy Ghost are really quite quiet and simple and sometimes we don't recognize them as promptings until after we act. There were two experiences. The first we were talking to a recent convert, Marco, and he was telling us how before our previous visit he was feeling down. Then we called to see if we could come visit him. Marco said this was the perfect timing and it was an answer to his prayers. The second experience is when we were walking in the street after an appointment and I had the thought to go and visit a reference from a menos activo we had recieved from the other hermanas. This was not in our plans. So I asked my companion if she wanted to go and find this reference and she said yes. So off we went. Her name is Alejandra. It turns out that she has been a member for many years, served a mission, and everything. She went inactive because of a problem with a member in her other ward and then her mother died. She was in a state of anger. She moved and has now been living in Padua for about a year. Last preparation day she saw the other hermanas in the super market and started praying again and then we came to visit her. She said we were an answer to her prayers and that we came at exactly the right moment. If we would have been a bit earlier or later she wouldn't have been able to answer the door (or something like that). We had a really spiritual leccion with her. And she said she wants to come back to church and wants us to help her. These experiences helped me remember how simply the Holy Ghost works and that even the simplest thought in your head to do something is a prompting from the Holy Ghost. Also, what miracles can come from these simple promptings. That we need to act on all of the little thoughts and impressions cause we don't know how big of an effect they are going to have. It is amazing how the Lord works. I know He guides me and my companion everyday. He is always there for us.

Have a fantastic week! Love you all soooo much!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Burr

                                                   We recieved these photos from Cecila.

Hermanas Burr and Gerber in Soccer Jerseys.

Dough faces!

Hermanas and Cecila

On a ledge in Padua

Hola! (Week 17)

Hola Familia!

This week out district had a cosechan (harvest) in our area to help Hermana Gerber and I find buenos nuevos (good new). A cosechan is where everyone in your district comes and works in the same area, in this case, my area. It was a really neat experience for me. I was amazed at the miracles that took place. In just two short hours our district found 6 nuevos (new). This is going to help Hermana Gerber and I a lot because we currently don't have any investigadores progresando (investigators progressing).

We currently have one investigator with a fecha (date). Her name is Veronica. She was living with a member, but as of this week moved back to her house. Her family is the type of family that is usually drunk and has the music blasting in the street. She changes a bit when she is with her family than with the member. So we have been trying to visit her everyday to help her. But since she has been home she has not come to church. So we are going to work really hard to get her to come back to church.

We are working with a lot of recent converts and menos activos (less actives). One of the families we are focusing on is the family of a converso recien llamado (recent convert) Rosemary. She comes to church every week and reads and prays every night. She is strong. But her family is not members. We are visiting them with ward members. The hard parts is that they have crazy schedules and we can only visit them on Saturdays and Sundays. We had a leccion this week with her and one of the daughters and the spirit was muy fuerte (very strong).

We also had a leccion with a menos activo Ana and her maurido (husband) Marcello (non member). She has not been to church in como 1 anos (like 11 years). I have seen a big change in Ana. We had a leccion about the plan of salvation. When we were going to start the leccion her body language told us that she did not want to talk to us about anything dealing with religion. But after we talked about the reino celestial (celestial kingdom) the spirit touched her heart and reminded her of the turths she once knew. The spirit was strong in this leccion. She happily set a return appointment. When we showed up for the return appointment she had a smile on her face and she had interest in our message. Marcello was not there for this visit because he was sick. Because of this experience I have so much more love for this hermana and I have more desire to help her return to church. It made me really happy. It is amazing to see the changes in people.

We had a lot of lecciones where the spirit was present very strongly this week. I can see the hand of the Lord in His work and I know that this is His work and He is blessing us. Have a fantastic week!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Burr

Showing off her tan lines!

The sister missionaries made tacos and smoothies.

This picture was posted on facebook by Cecilia in Argentina. 

Carnival, Rain, and Capilla Abierta! (Week 16)

Como Estan? Thanks for all who wrote about how keeping the commandments has blessed their lives.

This week we ate some watermelon! Yum! Que Rico! When we were eating it I couldn't help but think about how much Ash loves watermelon! It made me smile :)

Also, this week we had a really rainy day. It was literally us and the dogs in the street! We were drenched! I am really glad that I have such a good rain jacket that kept half of me dry! We knocked on a menos activos door and they weren't willing to brave the rain to come unlock the gate and let us in so we kept on walking on to one of our investigators. They kindly let us in and gave us galla titas (cookie/cracker things) and something warm to drink. We then sang them a hymn and shared a scripture. We tried to talk about prophets but the partner of our investigator is catholic and she would not let us get a word in. Let's just say that the people in Argentina are chatter boxes, they will just talk and talk and talk! But they are really sweet and I love them!

Also, this week was carnival. But luckily carnival is different here than in Brazil. I'm not really sure what they do though. There wasn't much going on in these parts for their festivities. The ward did do an activity though. We attended the ward carnival activity for a little while this past week. We had a recent convert, Rosemary, that came and brought her three children that are not members. Two of them, Natalia and Celina, are old enough to be baptized. When we go and visit their house the two girls usually want nothing to do with us and do not listen to our message even though the effort is made to invite them. At the activity Hermana Gerber and I were able to play futbol with them and gain their confidence. The other day when we went to visit they listened to us! They didn't have a lot of desire to participate, but they did a little bit. I am very happy cause we are slowly making progress with them. Their dad, Alfredo, is also one of our investigators. The last two times we have visited he has left when we showed up and we couldn't find him to come to the leccion. Rosemary said that he likes it when we bring Hmo. Navorro and that will help him the most rather than bringing other members. So we are going to work with that.

It is a bit rough cause we have good investigators, but they are not really progressing. So this week we are going to focus specifically on a few and get them to progress.

This week we had the opportunity to help with the Capilla Abierta (open chapel, like an open house) in Moreno. We were in charge of taking the groups of people around to little displays and giving a brief explanation and testimony at each station. It was really good for me to be able to take part in this. It helped me gain confidence in myself and my abilities. It helped me understand that as we simply explain the gospel truths people can really feel the spirit and have the desire to be baptized. It was amazing, every person that attended, that is not a member of the church, left with a baptismal date! Wow! I think the number was about nine people!

This week I have had a bit of a cold, so that has not been too fun. This week during my studies I studied a talk about perfectionism and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This really helped me out a lot. I would like to continue to study more in this to help me to become a better missionary. I love to read the words of the living Prophet and his Apostles. I know they are inspired men of God and that they are called to lead the people here on the earth. As we live by their words we will find true happiness, peace, and guidance in our lives.

Oh mom, could you find the talk "For times of trouble" by Jeffery R. Holland and copy and paste it in an email for me. We listened to it this week, it was really good and I want to read it. Thanks!

I love you all! Hope all is well! Don't hesitate to write, have a fantastic week! :)

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Burr