Transfers and my new assignment! (Week 54)

Dearest family,

How are you all? I love you so much! Well transfers are here again! And this is a crazy one! I am leaving and I have a special assignment! President is starting a new thing. I have been assigned to be one of the two traveling sister training leaders. So my new companion and I will just travel all over the mission and do trainings. How crazy!

This week I have been studying the talk the 4th missionary. I really like it a lot. The part that I think stood out the most is the part about charity. That is the difference between the third and fourth missionary. I feel like in this point of my mission I am learning a lot about charity and serving others happily and putting their needs before mine. I can see how the experiences I have had this transfer have been polishing me and helping me grow to reach my divine potential.  Here is a quote that I learned a lot from...

"The purpose and central blessing of life is change. It is to be changed to become more like Jesus Christ. It is to incorporate into your character, the qualities of His character. It is to move from one degree of intelligence and capacity to the next and from there to the next, until you see God face to face and know Him as He knows you....This process of change, this process of evolving, becoming, is the object of the gospel. Change is the design of faith in Christ, repentance and baptism. Redemptive change happens by the power of the Holy Ghost. But it happens only if and when your heart is right. It happens only if you do not fight against God. It happens only if you unconditionally surrender your will to the Lord."

I am working on giving my all to the Lord and serving all with charity, the love of God.

This week when we were looking for the chosen ones before lunch, we didn’t have much time this week cause my comp was sick some of the mornings. But one day we talked to a woman who was at the point of baptism when she was younger and never got baptized. She didn’t have time when we found her, but we are excited to visit her again!

Have a fantastic week!
Con amor,
Hermana Burr

The Chicken Man

Workout machines in the park 

A week of tender mercies and miracles :) (Week 53)

Oh dearest family that I love so dear,

Do you remember Jimena, from my letter last week; she was the reference from an inactive member. Well on Wednesday morning we taught her the restauracion, she was awe-struck! We invited her to be baptized on the 28 of Noviembre and she said sí! Well actually she said sí sí sí sí sí sí sí sí sí! When we left the lesson I felt like I was floating in the clouds I was so happy. She is most definitely a chosen and prepared of the Lord.  Yesterday we went to her house in the morning and went to church together and her friend, who gave us the reference, also came to church with us. It was her first time in many years! Jimena really liked church and when she was leaving she was telling everyone that she would see them next week! It also made her really happy that her two year old son, Nicolas aka Nico, did well in the nursery. I am so thankful to the Lord for blessing us with the opprtunidad to meet, teach, and help her.

Also yesterday when I was a bit stressed and the work wasn’t really going so great the Lord answered my petitions. He is so merciful and loving!  We had a wonderful contact! His name was Sergio. He stopped us in the street and we answered his question of why there are so many churches and which is the correct. We left him with a book of Mormon and the invitation to know for himself. He is here every other weekend so we are going to find him and teach him again the next time he is her and send the address of his other house   so missionaries can pass by there.

This week when we were searching for "a chosen one" before lunch we had a really great experience. His name is Pancho. We were talking to him about the book of Mormon. He took the book in his hands and said one moment please. He opened it and started to read. When he finished reading the page he looked up, with tears starting to fill his eyes. He said that someone once told him that is you take a bible and open it to a random part that it will have exactly what you need to hear. He told us that this is what he was doing and that he received the answer that he needed. This helped strengthen my testimony del Libro de Mormón. I know that it is the word of God. It answers the questions of our soul. The Lord guides us through his holy scripture.

I made pie de mora (mulberry pie) to celebrate the one year mark! How crazy is that! And we had the primary program here too! Little kids are so cute I love them! Oh also Nico the son of Jimena reminds me so much of little Carter Crosbie!
I am going to meditizar D&C 50:24!
Have a fantastic week!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Burr

At Church

Art in front of a house

Mulberry Pie -- 1 year mark

Milagros, milagros y mas milagros! (Miracles, miracles, and more miracles!) (Week 52)

Family,
This was a rough but rewarding week! We saw many miracles and I found much more happiness in serving the Lord. I know when we trust in the Lord and involve him as much as possible we see that his work comes forth and we are blessed to see his will and we find more happiness :)

The persona que tiene una fecha bautismal is Elias, (The person who has a baptismal date is Elias )10 years old. He is the sobrino of a menos activo. He accepted a fecha bautismal por el 28 de noviembre. We are excited to help him and reactivate his aunt and his cousin.

This week I was meditizando D&C 18:18. I put it in practice and we were able to see a lot of miracles. One day we were really struggling and weren’t finding anyone. We prayed to have a new or a good contact before we had to teach English class. We had the impression to cross the street, so we did, and in that moment a man walked around the corner and we contacted him. His name is Manuel. He said that his cousin is Mormon and had invited him to church with him and that he went. We wrote down his address and telephone. I know that the Lord answers our prayers and when we pray for things in specific that the Lord answers with specific things.

Also, on Saturday we received a phone call that a menos activo had a reference for us. They had talked to her and she had accepted to receive the missionary lessons. So we went to visit them. We set up a visit for the following day so that the reference could be there at their house. The following day we received the news that the woman was is Rosario and wasn’t going to be able to come. But we decided that we would still visit the family that is less active. Well when we knocked on the door of the less actives, just then the woman who was the reference walked by. She had arrived early and we were able to meet her. Her name is Jimena (he-men-a).  She is really awesome and prepared to receive the gospel. She welcomed us to her house at any time, she said that she is excited to receive the lessons we marked a cita to meet with her on Wednesday. Our hope is that she can be baptized in Noviembre.

Halloween was great. They don’t celebrate it here, but my companion and I carved little squashes to celebrate!

Have a fantastic week!
Con muchísimo amor, Hermana Burr

ola minha qerida familia! (Week 51)

ola minha qerida familia!

That is in Portuguese! I had a good week this week.  I am meditizando (ponderizing) D&C 18:18! I love it! This week we had special trainings and they were wonderful! We ate subway for lunch.  I was one happy camper!

The miracles I saw this week were many small miracles. In our contacts we were lead to talk to people who have some connection with the church. We contacted people who have accepted missionary visits before, people who have family who are members, etc. We weren’t able to teach any of them in the moment, but some of them accepted to let us visit them in their homes.

Yesterday were the presidential elections here so we had to stay in the apartment all day practically. But I had time to do a lot of studying which I loved.  I studied more about faith. I know that when we ask our Father in heaven with real intent he will give to us according to our needs all that we ask! He is so loving and caring and blesses us in so many ways!

 Have a fantastic week!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Burr

At Church!

Outside their apartment

With Hermana Do Rosairo at church. 

I love to meditizar (Week 50)

Dearest Family,

¿Como Están? I hope you had the most fabulous week! Last week I forgot to tell you the scripture I was meditizando (or ponderizing). Last week it was Ether 12:4. This week I am ponderizing Mosiah 28:3! I was going over my notes from general conference these past few days. And there were a few things that I thought I would share with yall!

FAITH + WORKS = ANSWERS
We must know that God will answer our prayers if we humbly ask Him. Then we must act to find the answer! We can’t just wait around for it we must do our part to obtain it. Faith is an action word.

Love is His greatest gift to us. Love is our greatest gift to Him.
I testify that our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ love us so much. And because they do they have given us everything to make it back to live with them and with our families for the eternity. Love is the greatest thing we can give back to them. When we show our love we put all of our heart, might, mind and strength into making it back to him and to helping others do the same as well. I love my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesucristo. I know I am in the Lords service and I couldn’t be happier anywhere else! :)

This week was rough because we had a hard time finding people and I feel like we walked around all over the place and nothing came of it, but I am ready to work even harder to see the blessings that will come this week. I learned that sometimes we just have to be patient and put  forth all of our efforts and continue in our patience and later the blessings will come.

Romina, investigador and her family had plans with us to come to church. When we showed up at their house her husband didn’t feel well and she had not prepared the children so she said they were not going to come this week but the next week. We talked about the ley de castidad (law of chastity) this week and they are going to be married, they are a bit hesitant, but are willing! We are praying all will go well!

Jesus, Juana and family. We had plans to visit them this weekend and when we showed up something had happened and they are in a rough family situation now. We are praying a lot for them!

We are helping una Hermana that is less active stop smoking! She is really awesome; I am proud of her for her good desires and is willing to stop smoking! I am so excited!!!

Have a Fantastic Week!
Con Mucho Amor,
Hermana Burr

My adventures that came all the way from... Brasil! :)‏ (Week 49)

Family!

I absolutely love my new companion! She is Hermana Do Rosairo from Brasil! She also has 11 months in the mission, we arrived together! We get along really well and I already love working with her so much!

So I haven’t cut my hair the since I have been in the mission and it was getting really ugly on the bottoms so I wanted to cut it. But I love my long hair and was sooooooo happy about how long it was getting!  My companion said she knows how to cut hair. She cuts her own hair and it looks good so I trusted in her to cut it! Well she trimmed off some. Then I had her trim off a bit more to make sure all of the dead and ugly stuff was off......then all my hair was gone! My hair is now as short as it was, or a bit shorter, than when I entered in the MTC! I worked so hard to grow that hair for nothing, but at least it has time to grow before I go home and it will be short for the summer which means less hot!

 This week we had the opportunity to help at a book fair in Moreno. The church had a stand. It was like an open house that is usually held at the church but at the book fair. It was a great experience. I love helping at things like this cause one has the opportunity to talk to a lot of people and share your testimony with them. At the fair also there was a stand of medieval armor. All of us missionaries had the chance to put it on, it was really cool. The stake president had us compare this armor to that of the Nephites in the Book of Mormon and the stripling warriors and how valiant and strong they had to have been. I really liked this because it helped me understand a bit more of how they felt even though they didn’t have the exact same armor.

Juana came to church again yesterday. She came with three of her daughters. That makes two very happy missionaries!

I really enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon this past transfer!  I got to thinking and I think the miracle that I had with this experience was my strengthened conversion. I have always loved and had a testimony of the Book of Mormon but this transfer I found a new love, devotion, and undoubtable testimony that the Book of Mormon is true!

Thanks for everything! Have a Fantastic Week!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Burr

Book fair armor in Moreno, mayonnaise pasta, and Haileys haircut :)

Conference...The Best time of the year! (Week 48)

Dearest Family!

I love love loved conference! It was sooooooooo good! I loved all of the talks. I had the privilege of watching it all in Spanish cause it wasn't working in English. They were going to have it in English for the missionaries but they couldn't get it working. I loved so many talks! But I think my favorite was by President Ucthdorf and keeping life simple through living the gospel. Really living the gospel is simple and it brings us the most happiness I am a witness to that. I also love the talk about "meditizar" (or in English ponderize!) my scripture to meditizar for the week is Alma 57:21! I love this scripture. The cool thing is that just before the conference I was thinking about starting to memorize more scriptures and then boom we were challenged by a general authority to do it! Yay! As a mission this transfer we are reading the Book of Mormon and I have found a new love for this book of scripture! I can say without a doubt it is my favorite book! 

Oh that reminds me transfers are on Wednesday and I am staying in my area but my beloved German companion is leaving me , que triste (how sad)! So we will see what new adventures the Lord has in store for me this coming  transfer! 

Here is an experience that helped build my faith this week. Yesterday night we were walking home in the dark. I had the feeling that we should knock  a house that we passed.  I said nothing and we continued to walk, but there was a fight in my head. It went like this... why should you knock on that door you passed it is night and people don’t like it when you knock on the door at 8:45 at night. Also I don't think they are home. And then this thought came, but what if there is someone home and they are praying for something and we are the answer. Well I couldn't keep walking so I told my compa and we turned around and knocked on the door. No one answered. We were just about to knock again, cause we always knock three times, and a car pulled up and it was the people that live in that house. The woman was really tired from her travels, but said that we could come back in another moment. I don't know if anything will come of this experience. If she will accept to listen to us or not, but maybe she knows someone that is prepared and ready for the gospel in their life. I don’t know, but what I do know is that I am 100% glad that I did not ignore the spirit. Sometimes it is hard to know if it is your own crazy thought to do something or if it is the spirit but President Hinckley taught that if it invites you to do good it is of the spirit and you should follow it. I have come to know the truth of this on my mission.  Also I like to think that the Lord tests us with small things to see if we will follow him, to see if he can trust in us to all things both big and small.  In the work of the Lord every act is a big act! There is no such thing as insignificant! 

Well I love you all! Have a great week! Remember to Ponderize, let me know what your scriptures are! Have a fantastic week! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Burr