Morgan's Blog

Contest Entry!

2011-07-18T11:17:00.001-06:00

Just a little reminder that you can win a $25 Visa gift card if you go to THIS blog and follow the instructions in the video.

Paris!

2011-06-10T10:02:00.001-06:00

I don't post EVER, but I really want to win this contest by Oh Happy Day. Click the link and follow the instructions for a chance to win a trip to Pah-REE!

Click Here.

Men Detractor Tactic #1

2010-08-09T22:45:00.003-06:00

I went to the store today. Before heading out, my brother—wanting to join me—asked, "What are you getting at the store?" Really? You really want to know? I thought. With a smile, I responded, "Feminine hygiene products."

Cue silence.

So I headed to the store (sans the brother) and as I was walking past all the aisles searching for the loot, Typical Man Creeper #1 watched me with squinty eyes. Typical Man Creeper #1 (TMC #1) is described as thus: short, mustache with an occasional goatee, and usually slightly raises one eyebrow as you pass (attempting to be debonair and to get a better look). Yep, you've met quite a few of him.

I finally found the aisle and saw TMC #1 hovering at the end of the aisle. Now, having temporarily sworn off men, I currently don't want anything to do with the opposite sex—especially creepy members of that sex. So I devised my plan and purposely parked myself right in front of the tampons. Considering that section takes up about 200 square feet of shelf space in both directions, I knew it would work and it did. If TMC #1 had any guts or nerve, they were now gone. Guys—no matter how macho—just can't handle it. If I had any sexy qualities (in the sweatpants, no makeup and Mulan-style bun I was sporting), they were immediately eradicated. I then grabbed the biggest, most ostentatious box I could find and strolled past him with a smirk.

Problem solved: creeper detained.

I'm HOME!

2010-08-07T01:10:00.004-06:00

Ok, I've been home for OVER a week now.

Yep. I avoided the computer at first. Or at least tried to dabble in it for a few minutes at a time, but my interest-level never peaked more than a "mildly-disinterested" level. So...life goes on. I've updated my blog; that's a rather large step, I suppose.

I went to Disneyland with the fam for five (you heard me) five straight days. It was super fun and I love my family. And my niece and nephew. Dland is a whole new world with kids.

...and to top it all off: tonight I went in my finest, frumpiest Mickey Mouse sweats with my best married-friend (well simply, my best friend in general) ALEX to see ECLIPSE! Yes, it was amazing. It was romantic in the cheesiest sort of way. It....

...rekindled my lifelong unrealistic expectations for men.
Welcome to back to reality, Morgan.

Wrapping Up the Loose Ends

2010-07-26T11:11:00.000-06:00

Hello from Texas!

Wow, this has been an incredible week! Gosh, I love my companions Sister Farr and Sister Fifita. It has been a joy serving and learning from the both of them. Sister Fifita is just loud and proud and laughs like there's no tomorrow, so it really makes everything lighter. So fun. But she and I were talking and we both know that we have totally gained weight these past two weeks. It's hard to try get skinny around a Poly Girl. :) Also, last night, we all took a photo shoot that was hilarious, but I'll have to show those pictures later. Just wait though, they look good.

Oh and small world. The other day, Fifita was watching a video of she and her Poly friends singing with their ukuleles at the MTC and she suddenly said, "What the heck!? That's you, Burt!" And sure enough, there I was in my week 2 of the MTC, standing next to the Poly kids trying to covertly listen to their amazing songs. Haha, it was so funny. Actually, after a few days of knowing each other her, she said, "Holy cow. I know who you are!" Turns out, that we were introduced in the MTC by her companion who was actually a girl, Sister Hawks, who I swam with. Small world.

Well, this week just flew by. We worked and worked and worked some more. Our trio actually has been more like a quadruple because Sister Martinez is always with us to split the work. We call her our "4th companion." We have so many appointments that we just go on splits and two the "companions" will go to the lesson and the other two will go to the other lesson or go contact while they are teaching. It's really fun. I wish I would have done this a lot earlier int he mission. Oh well, you live and learn, right?

Another reason why the week just flew is because I haven't really been counting down the days. It's funny because before Chelsea went to the MTC, she would write countdowns in her letters saying, "Wow, 74 days till I go to the MTC!" Well, I had to tell her that I don't really understand the whole "days" thing as a missionary because just live day to day, doing the same thing. We are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. So counting things by days is pretty pointless. If we do count, it's in weeks because we are stuck on the "eternal 6 week transfer cycle." Anyways, as the weeks starting coming down, I tried to ignore it. But people kept counting down the days for me (such as, "Wow, 9 days till you come home!"), so it sort of hit me. I still couldn't get myself to count down the days, so I think that I subconsciously tried to avoid the whole situation because in my planner all last week, I just wrote down the days of the week, but not the actual DATE. I guess I'm trying to avoid the inevitable.

It was strange because the branch threw a going away party for me. I was so awkward and embarrassed about it because I've never been one to throw parties for myself. I don't know, but it's never been my thing. I guess I've always just assumed that I'm not cool enough and no one will come. So that's why I just satisfy myself with going to other people's parties. Hey, it's less work (more like no work) and I still get the enjoyment from the party. Anyways, they threw this party and all the details were a huge surprise (even though I could kind of tell that something was going down when we'd get random phone calls from Sister Calvo and Sister Farr would sneak out of the room). Well, it was just so fun and amazing. They decorated the whole church with all these paper flowers in honor of me because I ALWAYS wear flowers in my hair. Apparently, it's my trademark. But it was so cute and then at the end, all the members came up and said all these amazing things about me and I was just shocked. I really didn't think that I had made that much of a difference in the lives of the members, but apparently I had and it was another answer to prayer that the Lord was proud of me and the work I have done here on the mission. It's funny, we really don't have any idea what affect we have as missionaries. Sister Farr even went up and starting crying and told me how much of a difference I have been to her. How much I loved her and how that she has grown more these past 6 months that she ever has in her whole entire life. It was sad to be leaving her, but we'll still be friends afterwards. Also, haha, funny story. After a bunch of people had gone up, President Ramos said some stuff and then no one else was going up and he said, "Well, how about your sidekick?" as he pointed to Elder Arens. Elder Arens and I were sitting at two separate tables, but our chairs' backs were facing each other. We both just turned and looked at each other with a "What the heck" face. Haha. Elder Arens and I are GREAT friends and just joke around and all, but seriously, that's IT. Nothing else. Just friends. Solamente amigos. Nada mas. Haha, we just have the same type of humor and it makes the funny things in life, funnier. So yeah, we got a kick out of that later.

We found a neat family this week of 7 people: mom, dad, and 5 kids who are all of baptizable age! Yeah, seriously! They seem to have a lot of potential and the Sisters will teach them tomorrow after I'm gone. I've actually never baptized a couple or a family on my mission. It's sad, but I have learned to accept the Lord's will in all things. I know that my mission, every person I met, every baptism was because they were the precious souls that Heavenly Father prepared for me. They were active in their church in Harlingen, but two years ago, just stopped going. Now they live in Lyford and within the past year, started praying as a family and reading the Bible and, as a result, have seen SO many blessings. We talked to them for a while and helped them see that they can have even more blessings and even answered Sally's question about "after this life, will we recognize each other?" Only the Restored Gospel can answer those deep questions of the soul.

Well, I guess I'll give one last update on all the investigators you've heard about over the past few months--since this is my last email. Well, Angel (the "good looking" guy) we dropped, but he just kept coming back to church week after week (even though he would sleep and be semi-annoying during the whole thing. One day, he forgot what time the church started and got there at 6:30 am!) Anyways, he's still investigating, but "kicking against the pricks." We're still working on figuring out what his need is because he doesn't believe he needs to be baptized again and doesn't believe the restoration, but he comes still. Teresa actually dropped us last week. She finished the whole Book of Mormon, but he husband came down and didn't want anything to do with it. It was sad because she was learning so much and you could tell she was sad about it, but didn't want to mess things up with she and her husband since they've been split for 18 months. I know that in the future, things will calm down and she'll remember all that she learned and how she felt as she read the Book of Mormon. The "girls" Martha and Jessica, just stopped coming to church and random show up for activities, nothing more. There mom, Belinda, still uses drugs and drinks 34/7. We've even heard that Jessica, who is 11, has started drinking as well.... :(.

Last but not least is JOHN! He's set to be baptized on the 8th of August. I'm sad I won't be there for it, but I am grateful to have helped in the way that I could. He even went up at the ward party and thanked me personally in front of everyone for what I have done and how I have changed his life. He gets really choked up about it and says that he cannot find words to express how grateful he is. Gosh, I could just go on and on about him and his conversion story. He is so different, repentant, understands the scriptures, loves them, and when he came to the church, he described it very interesting. So he used to fight professionally and made a lot of money. Well, he said that before you fight someone, you can sense their "energy and power." You can just feel it. He said that when he came into the church, he felt the energy there. It was just so strong and he felt comfortable there and liked it. Yay. I am grateful that he is going to be baptized. He stopped drinking thanks to the blessing, has lost a lot of friends, but is still going strong because finally he has been able to see the fruit of his faith. It is springing up to the tree of life, which fruit is more desirable that all other fruit. What a blessing. His mom was baptized when he was 7 and he was never able to. Missionaries have come by there home who knows how many times over the past 30 years, and finally, the Lord prepared him to be ready now, when I am here, for me. I know that the Lord works in mysterious ways.

Wow. Not sure what to say. I love the mission. I love my companions. I love this work. I love all the people I've served with. I love who I have become. I know that this is the true church of God. That Jesus is the Christ and that he really did appear--with his Father--to the boy prophet Joseph Smith. Through him, He restored his Gospel in its fullness. We now are partakers of that today.

See you on the other side!

Love,

Hermana Burt

The Three Musketeers

2010-07-19T10:08:00.000-06:00

Wow,

So this has just been a crazy week. Well, as I mentioned in the letter that I sent, we got a call last Monday that there was an emergency transfer and a bunch of Sisters got moved around. SO...Sister Fifita is now in our companionship. It's pretty sweet because she is Tongan, but grew up in California. She is the FUNNIEST, most ghetto, black person you have ever met. Like, she talks black and she knows it and doesn't care, and I love it because she's totally her. She's always saying, "Giiiirl!" or "Oh Heck no!" etc, etc. It definitely has made this past week really fun. I get along with her REALLY well (I think she just gets along with everyone, to be honest), but I feel like I am more carefree and fun with her. Definitely more myself. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Sister Farr to death and will cherish our friendship forever, but I've noticed with all my companions, I haven't been able to 100% click and by myself with them. It's really been a testimony builder for me. Because like I've had random exchanges with a few other missionaries( like Sister Behrman, Fifita, Amitoelau, etc), where the work is just SO much easier because 1) I can be myself and 2) we just click personality-wise which makes a huge difference in the world. I think Heavenly Father is trying to teach me a lesson that, yes, while I can be happy with everyone, I need to make sure that I settle for THE ONE, the one person who I can be 100% me and comfortable. Because eternity with someone where you're always holding back isn't going to be much fun. Because trust me, all of my mission companions have been good and fun and I've learned the lessons I needed to learn from them, but sometimes I wonder what my mission could have been like if I was put with the people where it just clicked and was easy. But, I think that's the point. If it was easy, I wouldn't appreciate the success and now I can leave and apply that to my life. I don't want to have to work so hard the whole time to just "make it work."

Anyways, sorry for the random tangent, but since Sister Fifita has been here, it's just been on my mind. She's super fun and we joke around all the time. I don't think I've laughed more in a week than I have with her. She's just hilarious and a super awesome missionary. At first she seems a bit rough and tough at first sight because she's not a big, happy smiley person. But she's great. We've click and it's sweet. We've stayed up like 4 nights talking till 2 am because we just keep going and going and going. AND, she loves Bollywood movies (Poly's are into Indian stuff) so we talk about that a lot. Sister Farr doesn't really feel like a 3rd wheel though (we've talked about it), we're all super close, but I think it's the fact that she and I have been together for nearly 6 months--stranded in Raymondville with no other contact from anyone besides the 2 Elders--so someone new is exciting. If I knew that I could be with Sister Fifita still, I would stay a missionary for another 3 months because I know that we would just rock it together.

Anyways, the first day that she got here--actually like an hour before, the AC went out in the house. I was so embarrassed for her because we live in this BIG huge house, and then the AC breaks. So, the first night we tried to sleep through the heat (all we had was a ceiling fan), but it was miserable. The 2nd day, we moved our mattresses into the living room and borrowed two fans from people. IT was better, but still hot. Actually, the AC turned back on in the middle of the night, so we all work up FREEZING because we didn't bring anything other than our sheets. But the AC then broke again, so we slept out there. Finally, yesterday the Branch President came with the AC guy (yeah...we need to reteach the "sabbath day" to him), and it's all fixed now. So, no more slumber parties in the living room. I think it's good because Sister Farr likes her sleep, so Sister Fifita and I just talk all night long till we fall asleep, and so sometimes Sister Farr would get mad at us because she was in the middle of our mattresses. So we moved her mattress to the side, which fixed the problem and she could fall asleep.

I've never been in a 3-some before, but I've heard horror stories. If you can get it to work, they will work so good. If not, then it's just bad (drama, one sister feeling left out, etc). But so far we work really well. We had to get used to each other's different styles of teaching, but it's good. Melissa comes out with us and we go on splits--one set of missionaries and then the other with Melissa. So we're able to get a lot of work done. This is my last week and I want to make it the best, so we're going to push it.

Wow, what other news do I have. Sister Fifita was just the big news of the week. I feel like we're the three musketeers. Which reminds me, we're teaching this couple named Patti and Oscar and I don't think Oscar is all there in the head. His prayers are insane and a bit irreverent. At the end of his last prayer he said,"...and all for one, and one for all. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Yeah... it was random, but I had to hold myself from laughing. In another prayer, he said, "And now I'm going to close this with a rap." And seriously had the nerve to start beat boxing right there. They may not be investigators much longer....

But I haven't had time to tell you about John, so I will do that now.

John is our baptismal date for August. We found him WAY back in May. He was teaching Martial Arts to someone at the park. We stopped in the middle of the lesson and found out that he lived across the street and his mom was actually a less-active member. He's 40, divorced, and his life is for his little girl, Emme, who he has full custody of. He has leukemia, so he's just really skinny and in a lot of pain. At first we were teaching him, but we weren't really connecting with him. He also was working on Sundays at his job as a call center supervisor. As we started teaching him, he wasn't too fond of changing and the fact that repentance allows us to wash away all of our past mistakes and sins. He liked holding onto his past because--even though he admitted to doing some pretty horrible things in the past--his past is what made him who he was today. He didn't want to let that go.

Well, after teaching him for a few months, he started changing and being more open with us. He said that he wanted to go to church, so he started to look for a different job that didn't work on Sundays. His current job found out about him possibly leaving, so instead countered him with a raise and a better work schedule! Yay, so at the end of June he was FINALLY able to come to church after weeks and weeks of not being able to. But there was just one problem: this particular Sunday, church was in Harlingen for Stake Conference. He said the he promised us that he would come, so he did and had an amazing experience. Even though he was in pain, a recent convert came up and bore his testimony about how horrible of a man he was and that the Gospel changed him and now he's happy and at peace and has left all of that behind him. John really really liked that and just knew that was an answer to his prayer. That and a ton of other things that happened at the conference really touched him. He was committed to being baptized in July at this point, but still had doubts about the church and if the church was true and about Joseph Smith.

We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he said that would be a problem because he drink 8 cups of coffee and day, and drinks 8 beers a night. He was committed to doing it, but after 3 days of going cold turkey, he gave in because the pain was too much. In one of the lessons, his hands and arms were literally shaking from withdrawls. He kept trying to cut his beer and coffee intake down to 1 per day and was able to do it, until he just gave in and binged. It was sad because I think he finally realized that he had a big problem. Before he didn't care, but he finally realized that this wasn't what he wanted and he wasn't able to do it.

He also had a dream with both Sister Farr and I in it and in the dream, God (or someone) told him that he would find his answers in the book of John. So he started reading there to find answers. I was a bit sad because I thought it would take away from his Book of Mormon reading, but he actually was reading in both (a little bit more in John, but that's ok).

Well, after the big emergency evacuation zone conference, we learned a TON of new things to help us in our work. The very first person we tried them on was John and from that point on, it has made ALL the difference. In that lesson, we just first started talking and asking him a ton of questions about how he felt--especially focusing on church and the answers he's been getting. We were able to really get his feelings out and figure out his needs. Later, we asked him about his reading and he immediately started telling us what he learned in his study of John. "First off," he said, "I learned that we have to be baptized by water and by the Spirit. It's funny because I thought that to be forgiven, all you had to do was say your sorry and just be a good guy and God would forgive you. But here, it says that you need to be baptized." Good, good. "Also, I always wondered why Christians and Catholics sprinkled for baptism, but Mormons put you all the way under the water. Well, the reason is because that's how Jesus was baptized. Excellent, I thought, I should make all my investigators read the book of John. It was really cool to see him learn from the scriptures. Later we really focused on listening and PAUSING when speaking to investigators. That was something that they emphasized in the training. Well, it was cool because sometimes pauses are awkward but we asked him about the good feelings and changes he's been having and if he would want those always. He started talking about it and saying yes, but then he paused and I thought he was done speaking, but something was holding me back and saying, "Just wait." And so we waited for 5 seconds and he bent his head down and said, "Yeah, I really want that." To me, it was the most profound, spiritual, introspective point of the lesson for him. We never would have had that if we just plowed though after he was "done." So yeah, lots of other things happened in that lesson and it was turning point. We walked out of there thinking, "Wow, why haven't we done any of this before?!"

So he got a blessing from the Elders for his drinking problem and hasn't drank since. It really has been amazing. He thought the blessing would be a hit on the head saying, "You're healed!" but after the blessing, he just sat there and said he wasn't quite sure how he felt about it. The next day he said that he felt strength and liked the blessing because it wasn't "immediate", it still required work on his part. He had a LOT of opposition, from friends stopping by randomly to drink, but he said no every time. One time he even was outside and thought, "Wow, a beer would be so good right now" and a minute later his friend stopped by with a beer for him. But he's been super strong and it's great. He's seeing a TON of blessings from keeping the Word of Wisdom. He has been able to go jogging and have a ton of energy for the first time since he was diagnosed. He went to the Dr. because he's going to start chemo again and the Doctor was SO shocked because he's had an irregular heartbeat and a TON of problems, but the Doctor was so surprised because his white blood cell count had shot through the roof, his heartbeat was regular for the first time ever, and tons of other miracles. It was a huge testimony for him about how the Word of Wisdom is true and comes from God.

He's getting Sundays off in 2 weeks and then he'll be able to be baptized in August. I'm SO excited for him, but sad that I won't be there. But it's going to be great for him.

Well, I gotta go, this is my last week and I'm going to make it the best. I know that this Gospel is true and that if we just show our faith and go out with all diligence, the Lord blesses us. He blessed John. He's blessed so many other investigators and recent converts of mine. He's blessed me. To quote the happy Christian song, "God is an awesome God." It's true. He loves us so much and is always there for us. I love this mission and hate that it's the best at the end. I wish I could stay and just do this till Christmas. I know that Jesus is the Christ and I will follow him wherever he calls me.

Love,

Sister Burt

A Sharp!

2010-07-12T10:28:00.000-06:00

Familia!

Yikes, can you believe it's another week? Wow, this has been an interestingly slow week, but fast at the same time. Two weeks left and everyone is keen on bringing it to my attention. Even in church, they are planning a "going away" party for me and when they announced it at church, I was sitting by the piano and the second they said it, "I just shrugged down as far as I could go so that no one could see me behind the piano. Haha, I felt like Simba in the Lion King when Mufasa calls his name to give him a talking to and he is standing next to Nala and just sinks as far down as he can into the grass to hide. Yep, it was exactly like that.

So I got an email from "Stephen" and I was so excited because I thought that Steve had written me for the first time on my mission, but then I realized that it was in Spanish and was a bit confuse because it said (in Spanish), "Excuse me for my poor Spanish, but I'll do my best." Then I realized that it wasn't Steve at all, but rather my mission president responding back to my email. Bummer. Hey, I still have two weeks to hope that he writes me! ;)

I have this medallion necklace that Marilyn gave me that has the "Armor of God" on it. I decided to wear it again because I like it a lot, but I just got out of the habit of wearing jewelry. So yeah, I think I may stop wearing it because I've had numerous people (even church members) come up to me and say, "Oh what Saint is that on your necklace?" Oh gosh...I forget at times that I'm in Catholic territory where saints are, well, saints to them. So yeah, maybe to prevent further confusion (especially by people thinking that we actually believe in Saints as well), I may stop wearing it. Oh yeah and that reminds me. A while ago, I got this free sticker at Pizza Hut of this Maria picture (the classic one that you see everywhere) that also came with a prayer sticker to Maria. So, I didn't need it, so what did I do? I put it on the back on the Elders car. It was super hilarious. Don't worry, by the end of the day, they noticed and ripped it off. But they had NO clue who it was who did it. ;)

Wow, this really was the most amazing week. It was the most unique on my mission so far because we--for the first time ever--weren't focused on investigators as our first priority. Instead, we--the Raymondville missionaries--went forth with our plan to just visit ALL the inactives in the branch. As a result, we visited and taught a total of 18 member and less-active lessons. Yikes. But it was really really effective. I've noticed that there are two reasons why people leave the church: 1) they get offended or 2) they just stopped coming one Sunday and that turned to two, and so on and so forth. Reason number 1 is the most common here. It's really sad to see that people let other people come between them and their salvation.

Well, Sister Melissa Martinez has been coming out with us EVERY single day. She's an awesome, eclectic member who has been in Raymondville nearly her whole life. She's pretty amazing because she's an epileptic and has 6 children (5 of whom has disabilities such as deafness, mute, Bi-polar, etc). But she's very devoted to the church. Well, we started talking her out with us to visit other less-actives. In Raymondville, everyone knows everybody and especially more true, Melissa knows EVERYBODY. So it's a lot easier to get into home and less-actives because she's already their friend. Well, literally she would call us in the morning and say, "Sisters. I'm ready whenever you are." And we'd pick her up around 11 am or noon, and then she'd be with us all day until around 4, when we'd take lunch. Then after our little hour/hour fifteen minute break, we'd head straight back to her house to pick her up until 9 pm when we'd go home. She's great. We asked, "Are you sure you want to go out with us this much? You can say 'no' or just tell us to take you home whenever." But she replied, "Oh no! I LOVE IT. It helped me to get away from my kids" (hmm, not necessarily what we wanted...), "because they are so wild that I get so stressed out. But I am SO less stressed since I have been coming with you and my kids notice and they like it." So yeah, she likes getting out of the house because missionary work calms her jangled nerves and she has to take less medicine because of it. Haah, good times. She's great though. I wish I had the camera card so I could attach a picture. Oh well. But she is just a riot because she's crazy (in a cool way). I have so many quote from her, for example, yesterday. She and I were knocking a door while Sister Farr was across the street and this grey parrot was next to us and made his terrible shriek! She immediately said, "Sharp! A sharp!" To which I replied, "You know what note it is?" and she said, "You forget, Sister Burt. I took choir. 7 years of choir." Well, yeah... I'm not going to comment on the Raymondville branch's singing ability, but I just laughed at it. Yep. That's pretty much what our days consist of now.

As I mentioned before, all week, we focused on visiting less-actives and building the branch again. Well, the most exciting, memorable, and successful visit this week was to a member named Sister Mundy.

We've hadn't really heard of her before, but Tuesday night, we had 15 minutes before an appointment. We had been trying to visit less-actives up until this point and weren't having ANY success. I--to be honest--was a bit deflated. People don't' want to talk to us and even people who ARE members of the church don't want to talk to us, I thought. With 15 minutes to go, it would have been convenient to just go to the appointment early. But I then remember a letter I got a few months ago from a RM friend who wrote a random part (prefacing it by saying, "I have no idea why I'm including this random story, but here it is") where she talked about how she gained a testimony of "using every minute" on the mission. She told the story of how they had 15 minutes before a dinner appointment, but decided to use that time instead to work on their goal of meeting everyone (member or less-active) in the ward. By this point she had been in the same area for 10 months, so she already knew all the members and had moved onto less-actives. Anyways, she found this woman who just was wanting to change her life again and come back, to church. Well, this story went through my mind and I decided that 15 minutes was enough to try to find one more person.

We stopped near the home of Bro. Trevino--an elderly man who comes to sacrament meeting, but always leaves right afterwards. The Sunday prior, we tried stopping by his home, and even though his car was there, he didn't answer. So we decided to try again because we never had been formally introduced. Also, apparently--according to the ward list--a "Sister Mundy" (pronounced Mun-dee) lived there. Before leaving the car, I said the prayer and I think I said the most desperate prayer that I have said on the mission. I didn't say my thanks or the "thank you for this day" jazz, I just simply said, "Dear Heavenly Father, please help us to be able to find someone and that they will let us in. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." It really was a plea for help.

We knock the door and this woman answers and says, "Oh come in, come in, get out of the mosquitoes!" (Because since the hurricane, the mosquitoes have invaded south Texas and it is not a pleasant experience to be outside. We sat down and got to know who she was. She was so nice and open and really the friendliest person I have ever met. She just glows and her attitude is just contagious. Well, we started talking about who she was and she revealed that she hadn't been to church in 3 years. She was originally baptized in Raymondville in the 80s, but then moved to Idaho in the early 2000s and stayed there for 7 or so years. Well, I think anyone can decipher that an Idaho WARD is much different than the Raymondville Branch. She shared so many stories of how much she loved it, how she felt like she was "home" the minute she was there, the amazing story of how the women in the church helped her prepare her for her endowments, etc. But then she said the time came where she had to move back to take care of her father (Bro. Trevino) and moved back. She was so gung-ho to come back and change the whole place and help in any way that she could. But, week after week, she would try her hardest, but nothing would happen, the members would be stubborn and unappreciative, etc and finally, she just decided that she wouldn't come anymore. She'd been hurt too much that it just wasn't worth it.

Well, we shared with her and invited her to come back to church (I'm cutting a lot out of course). Sister Farr said, "We want to invite you to choose to come back to church." and she loved that because she loved the principle of agency and that we really do choose for ourselves. Well, we visited her again and I just loved my visit with her because she really is so special and fun. She committed to come to church and then yesterday...she did! And even before we could come up to her, 5 other branch members beat us to her and gave her hugs. The branch presidency has received some vigor recently and is extending a TON of callings and by the end of church, she already had been interviewed and offered a calling. :) It's really just so happy. She bore her testimony later in class that she always had this scripture come to her throughout her life when she thought that she was alone. When she stopped coming to church, she continued to read her scriptures and go watch talks online while everyone else was at church, she was doing everything except coming to church. She said that two weeks ago, she even stopped reading her scriptures and decided that she was alone, but then just a few days later, we came to her doorstep and she knew that God was watching out for her. And even when she came to church, that scripture (that God had always helped her remember in her times of need) was mentioned in one of the talks. She also left us a message this morning on our phone, thanking us for visiting her and helping her come back to church. It was really one of the greatest moments on my mission. I was so happy and I already have such a love for this AMAZING woman of the church, I'm glad she's back because everything about her is needed to help this branch. She helped me. It's funny because I told Elder Arens about her message this morning and he said, "See? It's ok that you didn't find any investigators last week. You brought an endowed member of the church back. That's like 5 baptisms." Haha, it was funny. But we really didn't do anything. We just came by and visited her. It's really not only about baptisms as a missionary. I've learned and gained a testimony this past week that missionary work is a LOT more that just baptisms.

It really was a great week. This has been the most interesting transfer of my life because the missionary work I've been doing has been so different that what I had traditionally doing in the past. We haven't been able to find very many people AT ALL and only have 3 investigators total...It's sad, but the ones that we do have are great. But at times, I feel like throwing my hands in the air with this place and feel like saying, "I give up. I can't do this anymore." But then that reminds me of two things. One, the talk that Sister Dibb gave in the General YW meeting of conference entitled, "Be of Good Courage." Then I also think more importantly of Jesus Christ. "Remember Him" as President Eyring said in his talk entitled, "Act in All Diligence." He said, "When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: “Remember Him.” The Lord is our perfect example of diligence in priesthood service. He is our captain. He called us. He goes before us. He chose us to follow Him and to bring others with us." Its true. As we remember the Savior and his patience with us, we are more patient with others and their faults. As we are patient and long-suffering, miracles happen. I know that this is the work of the Lord and that I am literally an instrument in his hands as long as I'm willing and worthy. I have been doing everything that I can daily to improve myself. My time is short, but I still have time to be effective and make a difference.

Well, I love you all. Stay true and faithful.

Love,

Sister Burt

Longest Week Ever

2010-07-06T13:11:00.001-06:00

Hey Everyone!

Well, since no one mentioned anything about me and the hurricane, don't worry. I'm ok and safe. Haha. Actually, this past week has been the LONGEST week of my mission. Seriously, last Monday felt like weeks ago! But before I go into the events of the past week, let me tell you some IMPORTANT NEWS that I stupidly forgot to mention last week:

Two Saturday's ago, we had a baptism! Yep, an awesome single mom named Clarissa. It was really special and she was very excited and loves the church. IT was great to see her progress as she first started off as a referral from the Elders in Harlingen. They were teaching her, but she emergency moved here and we continued with her and helped her work through her doubts and accept the Gospel. Conversion is really special and great every time it happens, no matter how many times.

Anyways, now I will go into the events of last week.

Monday: well pday wasn't very eventful as usual. And by this point, no one really wanted to talk to us because of Hurricane Alex. It was still projected at this point to hit south Texas, so nobody wanted to set return appointments because "the hurricane is coming."

Tuesday: Even more ineffective. But that morning, Elder Reilly came over and killed Sister Farr, Elder Arens, and me with a crazy plyometric work out that made Elder Arens throw up and made all of us so that we couldn't sit down without wincing for 3 days at least (But due to the hurricane and the events of the week, my workout plan just failed miserably). We drove around trying to find less-actives, recent converts, and members because everyone was boarding up their homes and skipping town. By this point we didn't really know if we were to be evacuated, so we were just sort of waiting. Our landlord called us and told us that she wanted us to get sand bags for the house and put duck tape "X's" on the windows, so we had to postpone working and get all that stuff done. When we went to go get sandbags, the Elders were there and had found a more effective use of their time: 3 hours of sand bagging. Great fun. We would have stayed and helped but we still had to grab all the stuff for our our house. We already had our 72 hour kits ready weeks ago, so we were set with that. Which was a good thing because the lines at Wal-Mart were crazy and no one had water. Well, Tuesday night we get the call that all the missionaries from the Harlingen and Brownsville zones are being evacuated, and have leave their homes the next morning by 7 am. So we hurried and packed a few clothes that night and then drifted off into dreamland.

Wednesday: Well, we got to McAllen to wait for all the other missionaries to arrive. The sky was dark and grey anticipating the hurricane or storms. I brought a lot of card games and such, anticipating a lot of "sitting around" as other missionaries who were here 2 years prior for Hurricane Dolly, warned me. Two days of just sitting around; yeah, sure, it's fun at first, but after a while it gets pretty boring. Well, to be honest, I was hoping that we wouldn't have to be evacuated because I honestly would rather be working and sharing the Gospel, not sitting around doing nothing wasting time. Well, luckily, it didn't turn out that way. On Monday, our new mission president and his wife--President and Sister Trayner--can in and the Miller's flew out Tuesday morning (those lucky ducks, they left right before the chaos happened. "Here President Trayner, you have the keys now. Good luck!"). The 6 sisters who were evacuated were to stay at the Trayner's home, while all the Elders were to stay in different Elders' apartments in the Mission and McAllen zones. Well, we head over to the Trayner's house around 9 am and all the sisters got to be one of the first ones to meet Pres. and Sis. Trayner. They are great people. One of the first things Sister Trayner said to me was, "Oh I've read your blog. I know you." Oh really? Haha, I guess she was talking to her daughter a month or so before she left and her daughter said, "Oh you get to meet the "famous one"" (referring to me and my blog). Famous? Hahahahah, not even close. They must not see me at the lunch table at zone conferences. Clearly not famous, nor popular. Either way, I thought it was funny. Well, instead of sitting around, President Trayner put us all to work and the two zones that had evacuated had a "Surprise" 4 day zone conference. Yep. 4. Days. Long. 10 am to 5 pm (at least). Apparently, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 Apostles are implementing a whole new system (sort of) for missionary work). I guess at the new mission president's seminar they rolled it all out and told the president's "Ok, so when you get to the mission, you may want to take a few weeks to implement this so that you can get settled in and familiar with the area, your new home, the mission, missionaries, etc." But thanks to Hurricane Alex, it sort of forced President to roll it ou within the second day that he was here: so I'm pretty confident that the Texas McAllen Mission is the only mission in the world that is already putting these new techniques for teaching into effect (well, at least the Harlingen and Brownsville zones). It's sort of a bummer to be getting all this training now, rather than at the BEGINNING of my mission, but I know that it happened the way that the Lord intended it to be. Apparently, I needed it these last three weeks left.

The church released a new "season" of "The District"--a reality show about missionaries doing their job and recording them teaching and working with their investigators (I saw the older one in the MTC). Also, with the new thing, the dress code for Sister Missionaries have been modified. No longer do skirts need to go to "mid calf" or longer, but rather, they need to be just below the knee and cover your knees when you sit down. A LOT more modern, in my opinion (because seriously, it was SO hard to find those darn skirts. So yeah, when I get off the plane, don't be shocked if I'm wearing a skirt that seems "shorter" that what traditional sisters have worn int he past).

Well, Wednesday night we stayed at the Trayner's home and Thursday had training till 5. By this point, the hurricane had passed and didn't do too much damage in Texas (it hit in Mexico), so all the missionaries were okayed to go back to their apartments, BUT the training would continue Friday and Saturday since we already started it. Oh yeah, the church is also getting away with the traditional "6 week transfer" cycle. Apparently, the missionaries are too "transfer" oriented, so they are getting rid of it so that the missionaries can better focus on their monthly baptismal goals.

So that's pretty much what happened this week. It was pretty much the most ineffective week of my mission. ZERO new investigators...no one at church. But we did have an AWESOME lesson with John, one of our investigators, immediately after one of the trainings, putting into place the things that we learned. It was one of the best lessons I've had on my mission. I would write about it, but my time is low. :( Maybe next week, eh?

Well, my time is up. It was really a rough week, but I learned SO much and am so excited to go out and apply it all. I sort of questioned myself at the beginning of these trainings thinking, "So the first presidency is saying that they way we were teaching and doing missionary work before was, essentially, wrong and not the best. But I've been doing that my whole mission, does that mean my mission was a total failure?" Well, of course not. That was just Satan trying to get me down. Was the old "discussion" way of preaching from the 80s and 90s (and maybe even before) wrong? No, the church learned and improved itself and provided a better way. That doesn't mean that what I did this whole time was wrong, I was fulfilling my purpose, "inviting others to come unto Christ" and it was the way the LORD wanted for ME. That's why I went on a mission a year and a half ago, and not now. If anything, I needed to learn this stuff, to make the last 3 weeks of my mission, the best possible. And even more, to apply them into my life when I get home. I know that however this work is done, as long as it's done the LORD's way, it is his work. I've definitely learned that if you try to do it your own way, then you can't do it at all. I'm grateful that even the church is learning, growing, improving and progressing. What an example for us in our daily lives. If I'm the same as I was a month ago, doing the same things, not progressing, then I need to repent and get better. In church, school, my scripture study, my visiting teaching, my missionary work, my calling...whatever it may be.

I love you all and can't wait to see you. Just help me endure to the end please. I don't want to get trunkie because I'm still not really and I just want to make these last three weeks the best!

With Love,

Sister Burt

P.S. Ok, yesterday the zone leaders and another set of Elders came up and we all played golf. It was a grand old time. We decided to split up into teams (we had 6 playing total) and play best ball. I was on Elder Petersen's team from San Benito (who is an AWESOME missionary, person, golf player, etc) and we won. It was grand fun even though my golf game has gone down the drain these past years. But he has the nicest shot of the tee ever--long and straight-- and then we'd usually play my ball off my irons because my iron game and chipping skills are my forte. Yay for teamwork.

Sending Pics Took Up All My Time

2010-06-28T09:42:00.000-06:00

Hey!

Ok, so I am sending a TON of pictures, so my email may be shorter as a result. Gotta love trade-offs. First thing, I took that melatonin like once. I didn't need it after that, which is good because I really don't like the idea of "sleep aids" but I was desperate.

Ok, so my 1st ever little mini, missionary crush on Elder Reilly ended after about 3 days--as do nearly all of my crushes. Yep, I got over it, which is good. He's still super awesome and we all have a game plan to help the branch get on it's feet. Also, he's also volunteered himself to become my trainer. My favorite was when a man yesterday told me, "Do you eat a lot?" "No." "Oh, it's ok because you're big girl. A beautiful one at that." Seriously?!!? I'm not even fat, just... Yeah, so apparently I need to get skinny or fit. So Elder Reilly developed this diet/meal plan for me which I'm starting today, and then he even decided to come over every morning with his companion and be our trainer to help us work out outside. Haha, so yeah, I'm not complaining about a free trainer.

Anyways, Zone Conference was this past week and it was sad because it was the last one with Pres. and Sister Miller. It was also the one where I gave my departing missionary testimony. It was interesting because it doesn't feel like the end. If just feels like another transfer. So weird, I thought the last transfer would just be a big whirlwind, but really..it's not. Just another day.

Well, I'm not going to waste time, so I'll just start talking about Theresa because that's really all the time I have. So Theresa is SO cool. We came over for our appointment and she read all the way from 2 Nephi 28 to Alma! She just fell in love with it and couldn't stop reading. She's accepting everything we teach her, except that she believes that her baptism was a baptism of faither and, therefore, valid in the eyes of God. As a result, she believes that she has the Holy Ghost. So, it's just a matter of prayer for her. We started a lesson with her and that's actually what she brought up, after a few lessons of us not talking about it. We actually had planned a lesson SOLELY on the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was amazing how since we were in tune with the Spirit, we were able to teach her what her need and doubt was. She's really doing quite well, but we can't really set a baptismal date with her yet. We helped her paint her house that she's building so that was nice. She loves us and everything that we teach her. She's receiving so many witnesses about what we're sharing to be true. So, she's progressing, but her daughter is going to Tennessee to spend July and August with her dad. So I hope that BJ being gone, won't but a wrench in things. But we'll see.

Love Sister Burt

Enjoy the Pics~

Pictures

2010-06-28T09:13:00.001-06:00

Sister Farr doesn't play golf. So she rented a cart and wrote letters the whole time.

Elder Arens...forgot his tennis shoes

Elder Reilly

Stuff

Love this sign

Golfing. No tee, so what do you use? An an hill. That's the Texas way.

Service in a skirt

Me and Sister Farr in the farmland

South Texas: miles and miles of farmland.

Easter tradition here: crack eggs full of confetti on your head. Great fun.

Riding Bikes

The old Raymondville district from when I first got here. Elder Given (the first one) reminds me a LOT of Marshall. It's great.

Lucy's baptism

We found a turtle while digging holes for service on day.

Gotta Love Tex Mex :)

The Boot Co.

Me walking

The Harlingen Zone Picture

Sister Satterwhite is pretty much the coolest member ever. Seriously, just look at her. :)

Linda's Lounge pretty much sums up Raymondville.

Our dog...Tink. Because she s"tink"s and "tink"les all over the place.

The Sr. couple--The Swayne's--fixing our fire alarm at apt. checks.

Martha and Jessica who were preparing to be baptized. That's been put on hold for a while...

Posing for the camera at our local lunch spot--Boot Co!

Laura Barrera at her $100,000 (not really) quicenera

The Tie Bale We Bought for father's day gifts.

Big Changes in Raymondville...Ok, actually, just one.

2010-06-21T09:46:00.000-06:00

Hey family!

Ok, to answer a few questions. The new mission president will come in on July 1st but we will already have had our zone conference the week before (our last one with President and Sister Miller). I will probably get to meet him once for interviews and then when I leave. So yeah, I'm not going to have much contact with him which is a bummer. My departing interview will be with a new mission president and it'll probably go something like this, "So Sister, I can really tell how much you have changed and grown over this past....month. You are a completely different person then when I first met you such a long time ago." Yep. It's going to be awesome.

What else happened? Oh yeah, the neighbors called the dog catcher on our "puppy" because she wouldn't always run in their yard and lie in their grass. Haha, it's ok, I would have done the same, but for some reason I couldn't find the number, so they did it for us. And...let's be honest, I was getting bored of her by like the 3rd day. Haha, pets aren't my thing apparently.

Well, like I said, transfers were last week and I'm staying in Raymondville. This is great news! Haha, well sort of. Elder Guillen (our old district leader) got transferred and we got a new district leader: Elder Reilly. If you don't remember, he was my AMAZING zone leader in my short stay in Brownsville (the one who is going to play football for Colorado State). Everything he said or did, was just...inspiring. I think he's every one's favorite person in the mission; seriously, he's Mr. Popular. Anyways, with that, he's also the only missionary that I've ever had a mini-missionary crush on (haha, you knew that was coming). So yeah, this will be an interesting transfer. But it's alright, I've already gotten over it (except that I was so embarrassed/nervous to talk to him at the beginning of the week, hahaha. I'm such a nerd, but I got over that). Anyways, he's really an asset to Raymondville because Raymondville is just very... interesting and tries to do things their own way. Also, our old district leader didn't really want to be a district leader (or in any leadership position), so he purposely didn't plan things for district meeting and such because he wanted to get taken out. But it's alright, I learned what I had to learn. But Elder Reilly is really intense and all about "finding solutions." He's involved with our investigators progress just as much as his own and really fires Sister Farr and up to step it up and be WAY better than we are. So yeah, I (and the rest of the district, because again, everyone loves this guy) are REALLY excited for this next transfer. Oh random fact about him: he's obsessed with working out and staying in shape, and so he lugged 600 POUNDS of weights with him up here, including a number of different weight machines he's accumulated over his mission. Pretty crazy.

But things have been going pretty good here in Raymondville. We didn't have the girls baptized this past week. I knew I shouldn't have wrote about it last week. I never write about baptisms until AFTER they happen because I'm always afraid I'll jinx it. Well, they had a great time at girls' camp, but then it came out that they felt like they were being pushed into being baptized. So after a ton of drama of some other mission leaders trying to convince us to go with it, we decided that they had their agency and clearly, if they don't feel ready or that they have repented of everything, then they're not ready! But a miracle happened after that: their mom, Belinda, finally approached us again, saying that she had quit drugs and really is interested in learning and changing again. Wow, there is a NIGHT and DAY difference with Belinda now compared to when she is on drugs. She's very smiley and pleasant now, before she had constant blood-shot eyes and was despicable. It's a big difference with the girls teaching them alongside their mom.

Well, Theresa came back to church after 2 crazy weeks where Satan got in her way and she couldn't go. She still is very interested and reading the Book of Mormon. She's in 2nd Nephi and loving it. She always gives us giant kisses on our cheeks (a cultural thing that they do here. Seriously, I was kissed more in my first MONTH alone of my mission that I ever had in my whole entire life! And it was all by WOMEN!). But she's still searching and trying to figure it all out. She keeps saying, "Well, I need to make sure this is right because it's my SALVATION. It's true. But I came across a good verse of scripture this morning that I want to share with her because she's focused on her salvation, the spirit and truth, Jacob 4:13: Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old.

It's true. She's very concerned with her salvation, so we need to help her connect with the Spirit and how it will ALWAYS lead us in the path of true. I'm excited for her progress during these next few weeks. We still haven't been able to set a date for baptism with her yet.

Well, other than that, I can't think of anything else to write because my time is us (I'm trying to be better about not going over the 45 minutes of email time. Most days we use up to an hour or even an hour and fifteen minutes). It's funny but here I am in my last transfer and I don't feel like it's my last at all! I feel like it's just another transfer. And the saddest part is that this past week, I have felt like I have become the best missionary that I ever have been: the lessons are so much more powerful, the investigators are getting it, I'm asking the right questions that I've never asked before. It's sad actually. I mean, I heard from many returned missionaries that that will happen: you'll become the best and feel like you finally got it and then...poof! It's over. So, I'm trying not to think about the "over" part because that's really sad and I have a ton more improving to do so that our investigators can receive the blesses of the Gospel.

My love goes to all out there, including dad for father's day. This gospel is true and I love it because the more you get into it, the happier you are. Isn't that the purpose of life? "Men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). If you want more happiness, live the gospel better. There's always things we can do to improve and the increase of happiness, prosperity and blessings (Mosiah 2:22-24,41) will ALWAYS come.

Love,

Sister Burt

The Dog Ate My Planner

2010-06-14T13:16:00.000-06:00

Hey,

This week has been a good week. Today we find out about transfers and I'm about 50/50 split about whether Sister Farr will stay or not. But this I do know, it's my LAST transfer ever. 6 more weeks to be a full-time missionary and serve the Lord. Yikes, it's a sad thought which impels me to want to work even harder than ever. We have a LOT of good people we are teaching right now, and the people we are teaching right now are the ones who will be ready for baptism in July so it's imperative that I continue working hard and don't slack off.

This was a bit of a crazy week. I lost my planner. I realized that it was missing after we had been working a street, then visiting a lot of businesses to fill up pass-a-long car stands. I noticed it when we were eating at our friendly neighborhood "Boot Co. Restaurant"--a local restaurant that feeds the missionaries for free. So we go once a week and enjoy the burgers, and..well burgers mostly because they're just so good! I noticed it and we started backtracking my steps. I couldn't find it. The next day we decided to go back to one of the streets we had been working the day before. We parked in the same place where the car was parked a day earlier and we saw all my pass-a-long cards strewn across a few yards. We tried to follow the trail, but it didn't lead anywhere. I retrieved probably nearly all the cards, but not the planner. I was bummed. So I had to procure another one (which is hard to do because they really don't let you have extras) from another missionary who had an extra. When we picked up all the cards, a few were all demolished with dents. At first I thought that a dog had eaten the planner and carried it away, but I realized later that it must have just been on the road and the cars kept driving over it and the bumps weren't dog bits, but rather the imprints of the little rocks and gravel on the road.

We had another dog encounter this week. We were planning in the living room one night at 9:30, and we heard this shriek. I thought it was a bat, while Sister Farr thought it was a mouse. Then we heard this scratching at the door and we both hopped up and peeked on the door while opening it. To our surprise, it was a little brown puppy! She was scared from the thunder outside. We gave her some water because she was so thirsty (she drank 2 bowls) and then just pet her for a while (while not letting her come inside). The whole time this was happening, the line from the white handbook kept flashing thought my mind, "Do not have pets of any kind." She has a collar, so she must belong to somebody. So, here it is a week later and she still is hanging out outside of our house. We gave her a bath too. But she's not our pet! Haha. We put up "found dog" signs, but I don't think people do that here in Raymondville. Too many strays to worry about it. So..we may have to call the pound soon. She keeps bringing ALL sort of junk into the yard and chewing it up. Even some poor girls flip flips are scattered in pieces around the lawn....

Oh, since I'm on a dog story kick, I must inform everyone that a few weeks ago, I hit a dog in the car while driving on the Business 77. It was walking with her owner and suddenly just jetted out into the street for no reason. I couldn't really do anything to avoid hitting old "Goldie." Her owner ran up and gave me the biggest stink eye, but it wasn't my fault she wasn't on a leash! She seemed like she was going to die. We said a prayer for her, but I don't think the woman had confidence in us. We happened to have hit it right in front of her pastor's home, so he came out and said a prayer and then the dog just hopped up and was fine. So either way, the power of prayer worked and the dog was able to walk home.

Ok, enough dog stories (seriously though, if you were in Raymondville, you would understand why the majority of the time, dogs are involved). We are having a baptism this week--Jessica and Martha. Their mom was Belinda who was at one point super interested, but then got back into her drug and drinking habit and now just yells and screams all the time with blood shot eyes. It's sad, but she's supportive of the girls. Although, certain members of the ward are not supportive and keep telling us that they're "not ready" and such, so it's hard when we've already gotten that confirmation from the Lord. But they're going to girl's camp this week, so they'll be on a spiritual high by the weekend when they're baptized. Yay girl's camp. It's just amazing and does wonders.

We were teaching machines this week. By Wednesday, we had 17 investigator lessons taught--and the Standard of Excellence for the mission is to teach 20 a week. So it was good. We were focusing on all the people who had attended church, but by the end of the week, Satan really got in the way and it was hard to teach them at the end. One of our investigators (Eva) is a lesbian (kind of, I don't think she really is, this is just her first homosexual relationship after MANY failed ones with men), so we decided to teach the law of chastity up front so that she would know it was a requirement for her baptism. Well, she seemed to understand and then that night came to our Movie Night with her girlfriend and kids. According to Elder Guillen, they were holding hands. Hm... I'm not quire sure she committed to live it. Then she didn't show up for church and we dropped by yesterday to see how she was and Sister Farr said that the front door was open and she could see all the way in the back of the house and saw Eva lying on her bed next to her girlfriend and then when she knocked, the door just closed. So yeah. Another one was just plain hard to catch and another one split up with his girlfriend after we taught them Law of Chastity. Yikes, missionary work is so stressful. Sometimes I just get so tired with everyone and want to just give up on them. But seconds later, I realize that Heavenly Father loves these people and that he would never give up on them. I just need to be more patient, loving and understanding. Usually after thinking that, I am able to keep going to help them. As Utchdorf said in his priesthood session talk, "Continue in Patience": "

As the Lord is patient with us, let us be patient with those we serve. Understand that they, like us, are imperfect. They, like us, make mistakes. They, like us, want others to give them the benefit of the doubt. Never give up on anyone. And that includes not giving up on yourself.

Recently, a recent covert for only 6 months--named Aurelio (or "Junior" to us missionaries)--was called to be the first counsellor in the branch presidency. Quite a shock at first, but I felt the Spirit confirm that he was the one for the job and had been prepared for this calling. He was preparing to be a Methodist minister at one point. But anyway, we teach him his recent convert lessons about every 2 weeks or so. He's great and will read anything you assign him. He said that the other missionaries never stopped by after he was baptized (which is NOT what they're supposed to do). So we taught him the lessons again, but definitely more in detail that you would anyone else (Teaching the Plan of Salvation took two parts and was SO much fun going into it). Anyways, yesterday after the lesson, he gave us both cards that he had made. He was thanking us for everything we had done for him. In mine, he mentioned, "I know that you have charity. I can feel it when you talk to others...one day I hope to have charity like you." I was touched. Sister Farr later brought to my attention, "How interesting that he mentioned charity because that's the thing that you have been working on your whole mission." In that moment, I felt like crying. I've been working so hard to learn charity and love others. Many many times, I've just been so frustrated with myself and wonder if I've really change at all! Or if I'm still the old, selfish, mean, bratty self that I used to be. It's hard to see the changes in yourself, especially when you tend to only focus on the negative things that need fixing). It's hard to step back and observe the beauty of the whole edifice, when your hunched over fretting about the chipped molding on the corner. But I was grateful for Junior for writing that. It really made me realize that I have grown and changed and improved over the course of this mission. I'm not the same person I was when I entered the MTC and I'm certainly glad that I won't be that same person walking off the plane. I still have a long way to go, but I'm grateful for the effect this mission has had in changing my heart.

I love you all. Have a great week everyone. Here's hoping that I stay in Raymondville for my last transfer!

Love,

Sister Burt

World Record Church Attendance

2010-06-07T08:53:00.001-06:00

Hey!

Thanks for the email and such! Yeah that sounds good about the Disneyland trip on the 1st-5th of August. That sounds like a super fun trip and Dior and kids should come too! Make it a whole family event! :)

Tell Steven "Happy 22nd Birthday" from me! I don't have his address or anything, so I guess this will do. I am sending something for Dad for Father's Day, so I'll include his part too.

I think my mission is beginning to mirror itself. During the first two months, I had the HARDEST time sleeping. Once I hit the field, I was fine. Now, I have two months left and, again, I'm having the HARDEST time sleeping. I usually don't fall asleep till between midnight and three. Yikes. So, I took some advice from Elder Guillen and I'm going to start taking Melatonin, some sort of vitamin that is a natural sleep aid. I need my sleep...

Well, update on some of our investigators. Theresa from a few weeks ago has been hard to catch, but her daughter was put in the hospital because he appendix needed to be removed and so we sent the Zone Leaders over there to give her a blessing. They also shared--very boldly--about the Book of Mormon and how it's convincing evidence from God that this is his true church. We're seeing her tonight. Marcos came to church yesterday with him wife and kids! They were excited to come, but had to leave after the first hour because she had to work a half our later and he didn't have a way to get home. But he's excited to come back this week and stay for all three hours so that he can get the real effect of it. So cool. We're hoping to set a baptismal date with them tonight.

But this week was an incredible week! From Friday on, we were streamlining from place to place. During those days, we found some very prepared people who came to church and we taught lessons with members present. We had so many people that wanted to come to church, that we spent 2 straight hours on Saturday, procuring rides for all of our investigators. Our our work paid off well and we had 14 people at church, but only of those 8 of those were investigators (the other 6 were an investigator's children, who all are above 8, yet we haven't really been able to "officially" sit down and teach the kids and make them investigators). Two of those investigators who we found on Friday, even went up and bore their testimony. It was incredible. I really felt that the Lord is beginning to pour our blessings upon us that there isn't "room enough to receive it." I'm not boasting, but I'm going to continue to do my best with all these people so that they all progress to baptism and don't fall through the cracks just because we have "too many people to see."

First off, is Eva. Friday, we went to an appointment with a flaky former investigator who always sets up appointments, but never is there when we come. We arrived and--figures--she wasn't there. We started heading back into the car when I said, "Why don't we just knock this street?" It was a short little street that we had done a while ago, but nothing came from it. Maybe there was someone there this time who hasn't home when we came the months prior. We started knocking and had no success until the 2nd to last house. We knock and this woman opens and immediately says, "Sit down." She gets some chairs outside and we sit and talk. Her name is Eva and she's had a really rough life: drugs, been in prison multiple times, abuse, 8 kids, married 5 times and a widow twice. Now she's clean and ready to change--very prepared. Before we left she said, "You know, I saw you two in the paper" and then later I saw you on your bikes and I turned to my kids and said, "Look! Look, it's the girls' from the paper!" But said to myself, "I really hope they stop by my house." Well a few days later, her prayer (in her head) was answered and we came by. She came to church, brought 6 of her kids, loved it, felt "really comfortable" in the church and even went up and bore her testimony! In between classes I was talking to her telling her about how the Elders were having a baptism after church. She asked, "How do you get baptized?" (wow, I just had a flashback of the Joseph Smith movie and they're translating the plates and Oliver Cowdery says, "How are we to be baptized?") I wasn't sure if she was asking "What is the manner of baptism?" or "How can I be baptized?" So...I gave a lame answer because someone else was trying to talk to me at the same time. But later we came back and I started the lesson by asking, "So, you want to be baptized?" And she said, "Yes." So that pretty much led the lesson and she accepted to be baptized on the 11th of July (actually, I accidentally said 13th, thinking that that was a Sunday, so we'll just have to correct that later).

The next person is Christina. She's very similar to Eva in a way. They actually live one street apart. Christina was an investigator from back in February and March. She saw us at HEB during the week. Yes, Sister Farr and I sometimes go to the grocery store to randomly get things for investigators or emergency type stuff, but don't worry! We always have permission to do so. But its' funny, every time we make a random trip to HEB, it always ends up helping us with our missionary work. HEB is the hub for everyone (everyone needs food, therefore whether you are rich or poor, you go to the grocery store), so it's a great chance to see a lot of people. Well, we were going and as we were walking in a woman yelled to us from her car, "SISTERS!" We went over and it was Christina who had moved so many times since being in the trailer on Durham that we no longer kept track or bothered her. Well, she finally came up to us 3 months later! We tried to set up a few appointments, but she was always gone. Finally, Friday after planning, an appointment fell through and I was just led to her house. We got out and she waved us inside. She told us that she is really stressed because she had to go to court on Monday (today) to see if she could get custody of her two sons. Immediately, I talked about "coming unto Christ" and fasting, by sharing Omni 1:26. She was shocked. "You know what?" she said, "I have been thinking about fasting for a long time, but I never told anyone about it. I know that God has been answering my prayers by sending you and working through you." She accepted to be baptized and came to church on Sunday--she also bore her testimony thanking God that we stopped by on Friday when she was so down and depressed thinking that all was lost. She is great and we shared last night about Faith and it was a great lesson. She's pumped to be baptized and really wants her boys back because she wants them to start growing up in the church.

Last but not least, Guillermo. He is a Spanish-only speaker and he is SO cool. He is really struck by us and always tells us that we are "buena gente" or "mujeres virtuosas." He sees the Spirit in us and tells us that he feels it every time he talks to us. This is one way he knows that what we share is true. We found him in the home next to an investigator, but he doesn't really live there, he actually lives in Lyford. We started talking to him and he was legitimately interested in the church--astoundingly so. He actually came to church back in 2004 and has a Book of Mormon; he remembers the headphones they use for the translation. Well, it's been REALLY rough getting a hold of him. He lives in Lyford and we always seem to have miscommunication about the time or place. We finally taught him outside of the place he stays: he lives in the guest house of these really rich, snooty people. We stopped by, taught him and later came back to daily contact him and see how he was. The owner and her husband were outside walking on their property and yelled at us that we couldn't go back to his little house because it was their property. We left her a little note for him, but he wasn't happy. We came back the next day and he was outside working. We talked for a good 10 minutes and then "she" came out again and yelled at us, "I already told you! Get off my property! I don't want you people here. I mean, I already have to deal with people like him!" It made me really sad about how mean this woman was. So, yes, Satan clearly doesn't want Guillermo being taught. Things always get in the way that's neither of our faults. Yesterday, we had an appointment with him at the park, but we thought he meant the park in Lyford. Turns out he meant the park in RAYMONDVILLE! So we missed each other.

Last night, we were one contact short of our goal and it was 9:05 pm. I decided to go home rather than get that last one. But as I was heading home, I rerouted and decided that we could get that last one. I decided to swing around the ball fields where some baseball games were going, but that didn't feel right. So I headed over to the HEB gas station for some reason and parked, talked to a man filling up on gas, and drove away. This whole time Sister Farr was talking to Guillermo, who had missed his appointment a few hours earlier. As she was saying, "Bye", I was pulling out from the gas station and onto the main road. I looked right to check if all was clear and realized that as she said, "Bye" the man 10 feet away on the pay phone said, "Bye" as well and hung up the phone. "That's Guillermo!" Sister Farr hopped out, backed me out and we talked to him for a bit. He doesn't have a car or phone, so he drives his bike from Lyford every day and apparently (we just discovered) he has been contacting us from pay phones (hence the reason his number is different every single time). I was grateful for the Spirit's prompting and that I followed it, even though I wasn't quite sure why or where I was going. I know that when we follow the Spirit, we get led exactly where the Lord needs us to be. It was a great opportunity to talk with him and answer any doubts or concerns, and also to bear testimony in person. From now on, his lesson's are at the church building. No more miscommunication. No more mean landlords. No more preventing him from receiving the blessings of the Gospel.

I love you all! Happy Father's Day Dad! Happy Birthday Steve!

Love,

Sister Burt

Diabetic Shoes

2010-06-02T10:45:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!

Happy Belated Memorial Day! Wow, holiday's really mean nothing to missionaries. It'll be weird to celebrate things like that again. All we really did was have our normal pday, I went golfing while Sister Farr sat in the cart and wrote letters, and then we went out at 6 pm (as usual because pday ends at 6) and taught some lessons. Oh, and I also got hair cut. Last Wednesday, Sister Calvo came up to us and said, "You look like you need hair cuts. Ok, Monday I'll come and take you to get your hair cut." I was semi-offended; did she think our hair was scraggly and ugly? Probably. Let's be honest, I just let my hair naturally wave and then by the end of the day (when she saw us), it's put up in a hot and sweat pony tail. So yes, we got our hair cut and the lady cut WAY more than I wanted, but whatever. That's what you get. You saw "between 1 and 2 inches" and you get three. What can you do about it? I was trying to just grow my hair out ridiculously long just for fun, but oh well.

Last week we mowed a neighbor's lawn in a skirt. Sister Farr changed into pants, but it was 7 pm when we started and I just didn't feel like changing, so I did it in my skirt. I'm sure I was a sight to see when the neighbors drove by. The grass hadn't been cut for ages (she kept saying, "Well it's been raining! I'm not going to cut my lawn when it rains!"), so it was at least 3 feet tall--5 feet in other spots.

I've started taking two showers per day because I realized how nasty it is to go to bed all sweaty and gross. After a few days of showing so much, I looked at the bottom of my tub and saw a ton of dirt that had washed off my body, just sitting by the drain (it hadn't drained down). Beeeauitful. Just thought I'd share.

Here's something funny, so the other night, I woke up in my sleep. Right when I did, I heard Sister Farr say something and I said, "WHAT?" and she said, "Que bendiciones ha visto en su vida?" (translations: what blessigs have you seen in your life). It was funny, but then I went back to sleep. Turns out that Sister Farr heard ME talking in my sleep while she was a asleep and so she replied back (while still being asleep), then she woke up right after and realized what she had done. Sorta funny. Yes, I know, my talking in my sleep is nothing new to the world, but Sister Farr is such a hard sleeper, she never hears it.

We went to an appointment the other day and the man, Paul, wasn't there. A young 20-something man was standing outside the door, but we had already talked to him before, so we just said, "Hi" and "Bye." Later, we were outside of the apartment complex and he came up to us and said to me, "Hey, are those diabetic shoes? They look real comfy." I just about nearly died laughing right then and there for two reasons: 1) That's just the most random way to start a conversation with someone and 2) Yes, I knew my shoes weren't the most attractive things in the world, but getting them mistaken for DIABETIC shoes. That one's a winner. I told him no they weren't, even though they were comfy. We started talking and he started spilling out all about his life and how he "knew Jesus" but wanted to change. Sister Farr was a bit skeptical about him because she thought he just wanted someone to talk to, but we went back to his real house later and had an amazing lesson with him. We've really been focusing on using the Book fo Mormon and relating it to people's lives, so in that lesson, we used a ton of scriptures to relate to him. For example, he talked about how we just wanted to have his family and be properous, so I shared a scripture from 1 Nephi that says, "If you keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land." This then led us to a conversation about commandments. Later he mentioned that he was in a gang and had lots of enemies, Sister Farr used this as a chance to read a section about the dealings of the Gaddianton robbers and applied their deeds to the ones that he had done in the past. We really "likened the scriptures" unto himself. We left him--Marcos--with Alma 36 (the story where Alma the younger is recounting his conversion story to his son Corianton) and invited him to read it. We came back and he had read it all TWICE and the intro, testimonies of the witnesses and Joseph Smith. He clearly read it all because he recounted all the stories back to us with such clarity. He had some doubts saying, "But your church was started in the 1800s or something. I want to follow Jesus who lived a long time ago." We came back and explained the Restoration (we left the Restoration pamphlet and he READ it all!). He even told us that he did what it said in the back and prayed to know if this church was true. He said that he was surprised that he got an answer saying that "Yes, it is." It was shocking. I know I shouldn't be shocked, but you'll be surprised about the HUGE gap with how many people we invite to pray to know and how many acutally do it; hardly anyone sincerely does. But he really was one of those who "asked God...with a sincere hear, with real intent, having faith in Christ." We helped him realize that since he recieved that answer from God, he needs to not have doubts and just go forth with faith. He got his girlfriend to come and listen and he is intent on going to church to "give it a shot" to find out for himself. I'm really excited to see how Marcos progresses over the next few weeks! And it's funny about him: initially, we ignored him and didn't re-talk to him. I'm grateful that he had the courage to come up to us and ask us question. Even if he had to start the conversation talking about my "diabetic shoes." :)

Marcos, Theresa, Lucy...all of them are true seekers or truth and knowledge. I was driving along a country road the other day and was surrounded by feilds of grain. The grain had grown quite tall, but I noticed something interesting about it. In the FIELD as vast as the sea, there were literally thousands of individual stalks. They all were the same height, except for every once in a while there was that stellar, exemplar piece that woudl shoot high about the rest by about a foot. I pondered this and realized that there were quite a few of these overachievers, but in comparred to the entire feild, their numbers were relatively few. I realized that this is like the elect of God or the true disciples of Jesus Christ. There are lots of claim to follow Christ, but don't have the works to follow him. There are many who believe in God, but don't want to change or accept the true. The members of the church who will inherit the celestial kingdom are like those tall pieces of grain. There are a lot, but very few comparred to the whole. As we drove, we passed other feilds: some feilds had more "elect" that the previous feild; some had very few. I thought about this as the geographical areas in which we live. I passed a feild with TONS of tall pieces and thought in my head, "Utah," but then passed another feild right after with very few tall pieces and thought, "Raymondville." I'm sure that some of those tall pieces start out thriving, but due to the hardships, the heat of the sun, the tempations of the world and Satan, they just wither away and die. No matter where we are, "the worth of every soul is great in the sight of God." We stand out above the crowd and need to be "steadfast and immovable." As the Savior said in Matthew 5, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

I love you all and thanks for your support. I hope everyone has a great week. Thanks for all the letters, updates, and kind words.

Love,
Sister Burt

"I wear these diabetic shoes!..becuase I have a bad case of the gout!"

Mall Trips Poop Me Out

2010-05-24T10:44:00.000-06:00

Fam,

Wow, I'm tired and really don't want to write this (that's a first). We decided to go to the mall because Sister Farr wanted to buy some new clothes. As for me, I'm beyond the point in wanting new clothes because I don't want anything to do with these tattered rags after the mission and I certainly don't want to spend money on more. I think once I hit my 9 month mark, I decided "No more" and I've stuck with it since. But not for Sister Farr. I tried to postpone our mall trip, week after week and I actually was successful for about 3 weeks, but I couldn't make up any more excuses so first thing this morning, we took the 30 minute drive to Harlingen (another reason why I didn't want to go) and we went to the HUGE Forever 21 (which I'm assuming is located in an old Mervyn's building beacuse it's the biggest Forev I've ever seen). She wanted to go there even though she'd never been, but (as I predicted) she was completely overwhelmed by it all and didn't really know that she wanted or where to start. After wallowing in the store for 45 minutes, she finally decided on a shirt. Then she wanted cosmetics, so we headed to Dillard's (which had a pretty scanty cosmetics department) and she realized that $14 for an eyeshadow wasn't her thing (I think she really wanted MAC because of me, but they didn't have it there), so we left.

I actually felt really out of place at the mall (another reason, I suppose, I wanted to avoid the institution). Looking at the clothes and styles made me realize 1) how completely unfashionable my current wardrobe is and 2) how I'm going to have no idea what to do clothes-wise when I get home. Yikes. Maybe the Peterson girls will have to fashion makeover me. Haha.

I got the graduation announcement from Marshall. Tell him "Congrats" from me! Wow, he's turned into a little stud. When does he have his Mexico trip? Is it still on?

Well, this was a good week. We didn't actually find that many new investigators (only 3), but the three that we did find were stellar! Two--a mother and daughter--acutally came to church. I got invited to go to Monterrey, Mexico by this old Mexican man. I declined. Sister Farr's new skirt got caught in her bike gears as she was riding. I was ahead of her and didn't hear her shout, "Sister Burt, WAIT!" until I has half a mile ahead and turned around and didn't see her at all! Poor girl, the skirt just got caught and kept pulling and pulling. I would't have been surprised if he whole skirt would have just gotten sucked into the bicycle like you see on cartoons. Haha.

I'm getting sort of sick of people telling me "Oh are you tired?" or "You look like you just woke up?" Well, first off, I have like permanent bags under my eyes that don't go away and second, if you'd been a missionary for 15 months, you'd look like me too. Haha.

The Investigator--Theresa--who came to church said something funny to me. There is another Elder here named Elder Arens and he usually teaches the investigator class at church. Well, after church, I was talking to her and she said, "Are you and him related?" I was a bit surprised because I didn't see any sort of family resemblance. "No" I said. "Oh, that's interesting, because you both talk exactly the same. You have the same accent. When you read the scriptures, you both pause in the same places, too." "Oh, that's funny, because we're both from Arizona." Haha, I never realized that I had an "Arizona accent" and I never noticed that he did too, but I guess when you put two of us Arizonan's together in Texas, it becomes a bit more obvious.

After Zone Conference on Thursday, we had plans to work in Lyford next to a former investigator's house. We got there, but haven't really had much gusto to work in Lyford these past few weeks, so we headed back to Raymondville. Well, as we got to Raymondville, we realized we had a call from the Ward Mission Leader, Bro. Abbey, telling us that he had purchased sunscreen for us (we had a discussion about how much I use and he's had skin cancer so he's very adement about using it). We decided to head the 5 miles back to Lyford and pick it up. Eventually, we were led back to where our original plans of working Main St. There were only about 6 houses, so I was excited to bust through them and get back to Raymondville.

We knocked and had no success. It was on the same street as an Apostolic church, so everyone was members of it. But we finally found a woman, named Theresa who felt bad for us about how hot it was. So only invited us in to give us water. Anytime you can get into the home, it's great becaue it allows the Spirit to come in which is something that they probably have never felt before. We started talking about fluff stuff when she brought up the church and such. We eventually talked about how there's a prophet today and that threw her off a bit. She is very Christian and grew up Apostolic with her mom, but then became Baptist when she lived in Tennessee. But after being annoyed with all the Baptist's rules and regulations, and thenn confusion about the other churches, she settled for a non-demoninational church, but hasn't been for a long time. She shared a lot about herself and her beliefs, but we gave her a pamphlet about the Restoration and she very firmly said that she would "study" it and pray about it.

We came back two days later and he let us in and her 11-year-old daughter Beatriz was there too. She mentioned some questions she had about the pamphlet, but said, "I'm going to be honest ladies. I stopped when I got to the page about the Book of Mormon. I don't need another book when I already can't handle what I got in here." she put her Bible in the air. She started talking about how much she cherishes the Bible and LOVES it and can't imagine going away from it. "I'm sorry ladies, but I don't think this is what I want and I probably don't want you back." I wasn't going to take that for an answer. Through using a series of questions about how she feels about the Bible and then bearing testimony about the Book of Mormon. We were able to open a discussion about the origins and contents of the Book of Mormon. You could tell she was a bit skeptical, but we read quite a few passages from it and finished off, by watching the last 10 minutes of the movie "Testaments"--which, personally, is one of my favorite ways to teach it because it depicts it visually and the Spirit is so strong at the end. After the clip, we asked he what she thought and she said, "Wow. Apparently, there's a lot more about Jesus that I knew." She committed to read 3 Nephi 11 with her daughter and before we left said, "You know, I was set about not believing in this and having you back, but when I heard her (meaning my companion), say that she knew that is was true, it really made me think and have to look more into it." I love that by just Sister Farr's simple testimony of "I know that the Book of Mormon is true," that that is what made the difference.

Also, I've grown accustomed to using short simple statements of truth. During the lesson, she said, "You know, like after this life, we won't have any recollection of each other." She pointed to her daughter and said, "like I won't know who she is and she won't know who I am." Taking this as a chance to share true doctrine and correct her, I said, "I know that this church is true. It's because of the Book of Mormon, that I now have the knowledge that my family can be together eternally after this life." After I said that she said, "Wait a minute, you said something there. That you family could be...?" "Together Forever." "Yeah, something like that," she said, "I've never heard that before. I just thought that after this life we wouldn't be." I'd never actually had anyone say that or be shocked that "our families can be together forever." It was really interesting and after she said, "Well, I don't know all about this, it's all new to me, but I'm willing to learn and look into it. I want to follow Jesus exactly the way he wants me. And if he wants me to follow him into Mormonism, then I'll follow him." She definitely is one of the most open people I have met. It's interesting that at the beginning of the lesson, she was set on us not coming back, but by the end, she was excited to read, pray, and learn more.

Theresa and Beatriz came to church the next day! It was amazing! Theresa was so shocked to learn that her aunt is a member. I overheard her talking to her aunt in between classes and she said, "You know, other churches always tell you to stay away from the Mormons. But I never knew that this Book wasn't another Bible or takes away from it, but it's just another Testament about Christ." I smiled as I walked away. I know that there was nothing I had done to help her understand that, it was just combination of a missionary's most powerful tools: the Book of Mormon and the Spirit.

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. At times, I've gotten carried away here on the mission, studying the Bible or other things, but really, I'm never as satisfied with myself as when I'm in the Book of Mormon. Like Elder Bednar said in this past April conference in his talk, "Watching with All Perserverance,":
The convincing and converting powers of the Book of Mormon come from both a central focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ and the inspired plainness and clarity of its teachings. Nephi declared, “My soul delighteth in plainness unto my people, that they may learn” (2 Nephi 25:4). The root word plain in this verse does not refer to things that are ordinary or simple; rather, it denotes instruction that is clear and easily understood.

The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on earth because it centers upon the Truth (see John 14:6; 1 Nephi 13:40), even Jesus Christ, and restores the plain and precious things that have been taken away from the true gospel (see 1 Nephi 13:26, 28–29, 32, 34–35, 40). The unique combination of these two factors—a focus on the Savior and the plainness of the teachings—powerfully invites the confirming witness of the third member of the Godhead, even the Holy Ghost. Consequently, the Book of Mormon speaks to the spirit and to the heart of the reader like no other volume of scripture.

I know that is true because I've seen it firsthand in my life, my mission and the lives' of my investigators. I invite everyone who is reading this to really ponder and pray about who they could give a Book of Mormon too. A missionary here was invited years ago to do just that and she just recieveed word that one of her best friends read it and got baptized last week. I know that there are people in all of our lives who also are waiting accept the Gospel.

Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Sister Burt

Dog Attacks Missionary..What Else is New?

2010-05-17T10:13:00.000-06:00

Family,

First off, I'm going to respond to April Farnsworth. :) Haha, I love you so much April. You're awesome. Ok, so a few things, I realized that after I sent that email, it sounding like "complaining" but it really wasn't. Haha, I'm SO excited that you are pregnant and want to be the first to congratulate you, but unfortunately, by now, I'm probably the 13,232th. Oh well. You are right that when you are last to have kids, you get last pick of the names. But, you both definitely have priority rights to use the name Nora. But I know that you're little girl will be just as sweet and caring as Nora was. Just as Nephi and Lehi in Helaman 5, were named after their ancestors, to remember that their works were "good", I know the same will happen for little Nora.

"Behold, my sons, I desire that ye should remember to keep the commandments of God; and I would that ye should declare unto the people these words. Behold, I have given unto you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were good." --Helaman 5:6

Well, this week was great. We taught 30 investigator lessons this week--even though the Standard of Excellence for the mission is 20 (which we consistently get). It was great. 5 people came to church, but they all left after Sacrament meeting. We went to a funeral yesterday--the uncle of a member died; it was the first funeral I'd been to since Nora's back in '97. It was interesting but gave me time to ponder the meaning of life and read Doctrine & Covenants 137 & 138 about death.

So in our area, the different parts of the area are color coded. So a lot of times, when we're thinking about where to go, we'll say, "Hmm, how about green? What street do you want to work there?" or "We haven't been in blue for a while." Well, when we were first here, we worked green--a LOT. We exhausted green. So we vowed to not work in it at all, but to work the other areas (especially Orange, which is the richest area, so we avoided it forever anticipating imminent rejection). It's funny, even though we didn't want to be in green, we kept GETTING investigators in green even though we were never even there. It was surprising that a few weeks ago, we had a sprinkle of investigators from there, then they turned into a lot--now, we've just given up and started working in green and knocking there and about half of our investigators are from that part of town. Interesting, to me, at least.

Funny story. We were knocking streets (having to start reknocking streets and retalk to the people who didn't want to talk to you before) and I walked up to a door. I heard this yippy little fraidy cat dog barking from underneath the car as I walked past it. I didn't pay much attention to it. The majority of those dogs are the coward ones, who will bark and bark, but run away if you start walking towards them, BUT they are also the ones who once you turn your back, they try to bite you. I ignored it as the owner came down the steps to talk to me. As he was coming down, this Pitbull out of NO WHEREcame and started coming towards me. He startled me and I screamed and the put my knee up to block him. He was on the attack and ending up biting my knee. Sister Farr was in shock but was trying as fast as she could to pull out her mace. The dog really didn't bite me thought, more like grazed the skin (I think because I stepped back), and the owner quickly grabbed him, pulled him away, and then yelled at his son for letting him out. It was kind of scary, but not really. I think the mission has desensitized me to "scary things" and situations. I'm doing fine though, don't worry. I just have a pretty neat bruise in the shape of teeth marks. :)

We talk to a lot of people, obviously. But sometimes, the people clearly hear the truth--or rather, the Holy Ghost brings it unto their hearts (2 Nephi 33:1), but not into--that's where their agency comes in. On two different occasions this happened, the first was to the owner of that pitbull and the 2nd was to another man. We'd be talking and they would be disagreeing and trying to justify their ways, but then we would bring up some true doctrine (usually about commandments and how unless we LIVE them, we cannot enter into God's kingdom), and they would just stop talking at literally, walk away. It was semi-hilarious because I knew that in that moment, the Holy Ghost was testifying to them about what we were saying, that it was true--but they choose to reject the message. It's ok, but sort of sad.

Well, not much to say this week, love you all and have a great week!

Love,

Sister Burt!

Smiley-Face Park, Plates & the Camper-Trailer Investigator

2010-05-10T10:35:00.000-06:00

Hello!

Wow, it was great to hear from everyone yesterday! It really lifted up and bolstered my spirits and got me pumped to keep going during these next few months. It was a "real treat" to get to talk to Chelsea too! Ah, family and friends are the source of happiness.

Anyways, I think I already spilled the beans for the upcoming week. And by "spill the beans" I really don't mean anything, because there's really nothing new to spill. Wow, that analogy just went horrible. But, alas, I'm too lazy to erase it, so just enough a laugh at the randomness that goes on in my head the majority of the time.

Well, I'll just share some random facts about this area. Every city in Texas has multiple water towers. I wasn't too familiar with water towers because I don't think we really have them in AZ (maybe we do, I was just too blind with life to pay attention). I don't know, I always thought that the ones I did see where antiques and "just for show." Anyways, the symbol of Raymondiville is a a water tower with a smiley face on it. Yep, a big white water tower with a blue happy face. It's great. It's right the base of the park, so most people give directions around town by saying, "Oh it's by Smiley-Face Park."

The Movie nights have been going well. We've had investigators at all of them except for the first one. We've been doing a progression of church history. First, "Testaments" explaining the Book of Mormon and the Savior's ministry here; next, the "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration", then "Legacy" (yes, an embarrassingly hilarious film about the pioneers and this week, "The Mountain of the Lord" which is about the building of the Salt Lake Temple. I'm enjoying it and I hope the investigators and recent converts are, too.

Ok, well, I told mom this story last night, but I guess I'll share with the rest. We had this investigator--Chano--who really didn't do anything except call us for food. So we dropped him. Well we hadn't heard from him in a while, even though we had seen him throughout Raymondivlle walking around (Raymondville is quite small, you see everyone). We think he was actually hurt that we dropped him. But anyways, we got a call from an investigator yesterday saying that she had "plates" for us. Now, PLATES are a very South Texas delicacy. Pretty much, people with Hispanic backgrounds, love to barbecue at any given opportunity: weekends, holidays, parties; so of course, Mother's Day was a opportune time to "carne asada" as they call it. Plates consist of heaping portions of rice, beans, mean (usually chicken, brisket, AND sausage), potato salad, and of course, 2 slices of store-brand (usually HEB) white bread. If you are eating a plate a party, HEB brand fruit flavored soda (such as strawberry, orange, etc) or cola is served. Gotta love South Texas. Anyways, she said that she had some plates for us all wrapped up and wanted us to pick them up. So we started heading over there. But as we were talking to her, we got a call on the other line from Chano, asking if he knew anywhere where we could get food to hold him over till tomorrow when he starts his new job. Wow, what great timing. We went and grabbed our plates, found him on the side of the main street (walking of course), and gave him one of the plates. You could tell that he was really grateful. He said he wanted to come to church again, but I told him that we had to stop coming because he wasn't really doing anything. I was fumbling over my words and he cut in, "You mean, I need to do my part too?" Exactly. But it's great to see how the Lord's hand is involved in our lives. I'm sure we were an answer to his prayer, and Angela was inspired to call us, so that we could serve him.

One Thursday, we had a LONG day. Thursday is the only day (besides Saturday) that we don't have something (like a meeting or activity). Oh, just kidding, now we have movie night. Oh well, still, Thursday's are rough sometimes. We looked at our schedule and realized that we had no appointments. Great. We usually ride bikes around 3-4 times a week (for exposure, exercise and to save miles). So we rode around and it was hot. We started knocking doors, in a more affluent (by Raymondville standards) and weren't having much success. In other areas, Thursday's were great days to do planned service activities, but we haven't been able to do that here because no one will let us. It also was hard to contact because we have hit the point where we have to start "re knocking streets." Meaning, literally, we've knocked on every door in our area, and have to start all over again. It's a big deflating doing it because you've already been rejected by these people once, and here you are on their doorstep again like you don't get the picture. Haha, but it's good because a lot of people weren't there the first time around, so hopefully you can catch them this time.

Well, I was just so bored out of my mind and started praying that someone would let us serve them. We rode to the other side of town (5 minute bike ride, tops) and were going to stop by an investigator. As we turned down her street, we saw three men moving a camper trailer (people commonly live in these here). We got off and asked if they needed help. They were a bit hesitant because Hispanics don't like women doing labor like that, but it was apparent that they needed a bit more manpower. We helped them move the camper trailer from one side of the lot, to the other. Although, they were sort of wimps about it and kept stopping every 5 minutes for a break. But, they had a harder job than us, so I can't complain. They asked us a few questions about the church and then we left. We came back to our investigators, and one of the young guys, Angel--who owned the camper trailer, from earlier was there. He's a good looking 20-year-old, who doesn't do drugs or drink because he sees the disaster that comes from it (his mother died from those things). He just wants to work and stay out of trouble. To me, he has an Orlando Bloom sort of look. Turns out he's good friends with out investigator , Belinda, and her daughters. We invited them to movie night and he came! After movie night, we taught him at the church and he's turning out to be an awesome investigator! He even came to church yesterday. All of that, just from a little prayer asking for an opportunity to serve.

Well, I love this Gospel so much. The more I learn, the more I love it and want to learn more. I was reading in the "Teachings of Brigham Young" manual yesterday, and loved this part: "President Young declared that as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we possess the “doctrine of life and salvation for all the honest-in-heart”. He promised that those who receive the gospel in their hearts will have awakened “within them a desire to know and understand the things of God more than they ever did before in their lives” and will begin to “inquire, read and search and when they go to their Father in the name of Jesus he will not leave them without a witness”."

As we learn, accept and act upon true doctrine, our desire to learn the mysteries of God and his kingdom grows. The Book of Mormon is a catalyst to that changing process idle member or investigator, to a truly active disciple of Christ.

Love,

Sister Burt

I'm Drawing Blanks for the Title of This One

2010-05-03T11:28:00.000-06:00

Family,

Hey Hey Hey! It's May! Can you believe it? A year ago I was in my first area with my trainer--now she's home, married, and pregnant. Yikes! Mother's Day is this Sunday, so I'm super excited to call you guys! I actually haven't really thought about it, it's cool and stuff, but not on my mind. My companion, on the other hand, is a different story! Haha. Does 5 pm your time on Sunday work?

So I just read the mini-email that you sent me and I'm 1) sad that Briggs is getting married a few WEEKS before I come home. BUMMER! 2) Sad that April is taking all of the good family names for herself (haha, just kidding. But seriously.)

and 3)...sad that Grandpa died this past week. :( I haven't heard of the news from my mission president yet, but now I know so it's alright. I'm sad, but not really actually because I know the Plan of Salvation. I'm not crying or feeling a heartbroken feeling about it--I know that is because through the Savior's atonement, all of our losses can be made up and he has taken upon him the sadness, sickness, and sins of the world. My testimony has grown so strong about it since I've been here on the mission. To quote president Monson this past conference after he quoted Job, "The empty tomb that first Easter morning was the answer to Job’s question, “If a man die, shall he live again?” To all within the sound of my voice, I declare, If a man die, he shall live again. We know, for we have the light of revealed truth." I know Grandpa is in the Spirit Paradise, resting from all care and sorrow. He is with his family and parents who have passed on and--even happier--he is with his precious daughter, Nora. :) I'm grateful for the Savior and that he broke the bands of death; that through him and if we are faithful to the commandments and ordinances of the Gospel, we will all be able to see Grandpa again.

Random question: So there are a TON of mosquitoes here. Is it true that vitamin b12 detracts mosquitoes and makes it so they don't' bite you? I hope so because if that's true, I'm totally doing it!

Well, another typical week in Raymondville. Both Sister Farr and I got proposed to (the man seemed desperate and didn't care which one of us it was. Haha), but at the same time, he was dead serious. Everyone who finds out I'm from Arizona is trying to talk to me about the law in AZ they're trying to pass about...checking id's or something or other. I have no idea what's going on, so yeah. Transfers are this week and I'm not expecting to get transferred. I have 2 transfers left (yikes!) and I hope to stay here will the end. I really do love the people here. And I mean, I just don't like getting to know new people/wards/areas all over again for my last 3 months, it just makes sense that I'll die/kick the bucket/be done in--whatever you want to call it--here in this area.

Well, Lucy was confirmed this week. We had the movie night which we promoted in the paper. No one except ward members come, which is sort of expected. But this week we had a family of investigators come. We watched the "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" movie (favorite movie EVER!) and they LOVED it.

So this family. The name of the mom is Belinda, who has 2 girls named Martha and Jessica. The dad isn't an investigator yet (even though he came to the movie night and loved the film), and I'm not quite sure what his name is yet. Haha, we always forget to ask. Belinda is super cool and actually approached us (sort of). So remember those trailers that we have been at for over the past 2 months, teaching EVERYONE who has lived or lives there? Yep, well they moved in a while back and didn't have time, but one day we went there with a member to pick someone up for church (who didn't wake up, of course), and she drove by in her car and said, "Hey once we get all moved in, I want you to teach my family." She always was the one I mentioned from last week where we got them couches and she drinks Vodka for breakfast. So it's been fun working with them. She really wants to change, and stopped doing drugs, but is still struggling with the alcohol. She lives in a horrible area and is getting no support from anyone around her, so it's hard. She drank on Saturday (her sister came into town and convinced her) and felt really guilty and bad, and of course, she didn't come to church--even though she was SO excited (and her girls too) a few days earlier. We're going to keep working with them though, they have baptismal dates but it's going to take a lot of work. So keep praying for them!

Well, I hope that I'm still here in Raymondville! Transfer calls will come later today, but I'm no worried. But whatever happens, I know that the Lord is in it. Well, I don't' really have that much more to say....I'm grateful for my Savior and the Plan of Salvation. This life is just a probationary state, a time to repent and prepare to meet God. We are just away from our real heavenly home, which is so much more marvelous than we can imagine. We just need to continue to be faithful and worthy of it.

Love,

Sister Burt

P.S. Maybe Chelsea will notice, or some RM, but has anyone noticed the multiple references/quotes I've made from the "Joseph Smith" movie? Haha, I don't think anyone has unless you've watched it and memorized it as many times as I have. But, yes, it's great. Tell Dad that my first Sunday back, that we're going to watch it together! :)

P.P.S I just found out from my companion that we have to change the time we talk to our parents. Does 6 PM AZ time, Sunday night work for you (8 pm my time)?

Feed My Mormons!

2010-04-26T10:42:00.000-06:00

Family!

Hey everyone! So yep, the newspaper article was printed and it's been hilarious. People recognize us all over now. The other day, we ran into HEB to buy some M&Ms to play a tithing game with our investigators, and all the workers totally were yelling our names and pointing to us like we were celebs. Ok, not really, it really hasn't been that big of a deal, but we frequently hear in door contacts now, "Hey, I saw you in the paper." Yep, you did. No real investigators have come from it and no one (other than members) came to the Open House and Movie Night we promoted, but that's ok. We have no idea what the effect will be, even if it just puts a positive perception of us in the minds of the people.

Bugs are crazy here. I put bug spray on every day. I think I have quite a few chigger bites too, which aren't the funnest, because they stay there forever! It'll just get worse as the summer draws on.

Quotes of the week:

"Nice Picture." --Random Guy (referring to the newspaper article and picture)

"We can tell people to stop having sex with no problem, but for some reason we can't tell people to stop saying bad words!" --Me

"We're coming back on Thursday at 6."

"I know, that's why I'm not going into work." --Us and our investigator, Matthew

"Feed my Mormons!" --the owner of The Boot Co., a local restaurant that feeds the missionaries for free, to one of the waitresses, 3 seconds after we walked in

After the baptism yesterday, we had a cool experience to serve. We knocked on a house and no one was there. But there was a neighbor in the next yard, so we started talking to him over the fence. As we were talking, the owners of the house--whose yard we were standing in---pulled up in a truck with a couch in the back. We introduced ourselves and they said that they saw us in the paper. They weren't really interested, but offered us water. We were both fasting yesterday, so I said, "No", but Sister Farr (not realizing the reason why she was so incredibly parched), said "Yes." They invited us in and we started talking. They mentioned that they were getting rid of the couches inside, for newer ones. Sister Farr piped in, "What are you doing with these couches? Do you have anyone for them?" I remembered then that a few weeks ago, in the crazy, drug trailers that we have--for some reason--always been teaching people in, that one of the newer families needed couches. This family said that we could have them, but were embarrassed by the state of them. I didn't think they were that bad, just a bit ripped on the side. They insisted that we wouldn't want them because they were in such a horrible state, but, we insisted that they'd work because the family who needed them didn't have anywhere to sit.

We left a note on the families door telling them that we found some couches. I peeked in the window and realized that STILL they were without anywhere to sit. We were at the church later in the afternoon (reason explain later) when the mom called us saying she wanted the couches. We then left with the Elders and the branch president. They came in, took the old couches out, put the new ones in, and left in a matter of minutes. The two couches were balanced one upon the other, as we were driving down the road. We pulled to the house and they family came out excited. The Elders helped put the couches inside and as we were leaving I heard one of the daughters say, "Wow mom, those are beautiful couches." They were really grateful. What is one families trash, is another families treasure. We are all blessed in different ways and in different amounts. This service actually provided us a chance to set up an appointment with the family. We've never taught them, but the mom stopped us in the street saying that she wanted to learn, but after they had moved in. We never really found a reason to go back until yesterday. The mom told us--straight up, without guile--that she is an alcoholic (which we knew when we saw her one Sunday morning with her "breakfast" aka bottle of vodka) and does drugs, but that she wants to change. So we'll be teaching them soon and we're excited.

So this week, Lucy was BAPTIZED! It went...well..we'll get to that. I'll start talking about the week that preceded the baptism. So, we went over there every single day (except for one), to teach, prep and pump her for the baptism. So never has had any doubts about anything--like I mentioned before, totally prepared. We were talking to her one day and she said that she was at work and a bunch of people were talking about religion and what churches they attended. She said, "Mormon" and instantly one of her coworkers said, "Oh, I don't like or believe in that church. They worship Joseph Smith." Instantly, without hesitation or fear, Lucy, "No we don't. We only worship Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith was just a prophet. We believe...." When she told me this story, my jaw completely dropped! I couldn't believe that she had such a strong testimony and courage to defend it. I loved that she kept saying "We believe" as if she already was a member and part of the church. I kept thinking of the "articles of faith" when she was talking. She has a super strong testimony; it's so amazing to see that because really, we did NOTHING. She retold this story in the Gospel Principles class (which is cool because she claims shes super shy and never likes talking in classes, giving prayers, or being called on...but over the course of just a few short weeks, she's completely changed and always makes comments. It's awesome!) when the Elder asked about the baptismal covenant and what it means to "stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places?" The other members were so impressed and this recent convert, Jo (who is incredibly STRONG himself), said, "Thank you for sharing that. You are an inspiration to me for what you did there." I know that it made Lucy feel good.

She was ready for the baptism after church and got in her clothes. Her little girl, Katrina, kept shouting, "MY mommy's getting baptized!" After the pictures, we proceeded. She got in the water to be baptized and I realized, "Oh no, we didn't go over the way you get baptized! Like bend your knees and plug your nose." I prayed that everything would be alright, I guess you can't be perfect, right? Well, she was baptized and Elder Arens put her under the water, and she wasn't plugging her nose and didn't really know what to do...oops. Turns out that her toe came out of the water and they had to do it again. BUMMER, it's not as cool when you have to re-baptize the person. We told her to plug her nose and bend her knees. As he asked her what her full name was, she said, "Lucy Salinas." I thought, "Hmm..I didn't think that that was her full name. Her name must be 'Lucille' or something." I know that this was a prompting from the Spirit, but I didn't say anything. "No, Lucy Salinas, must be her full name." She was baptized and it was all good. Katrina was so excited for her mom.

After the baptism, everyone had left (except for us, the Elders, and the branch president) and we were putting things away when Sister Farr came up to me and said, "I think Lucy has to be re-baptized." "What?" I said, "Why?" "Because they didn't use her full name." It hit me like a ton of bricks. I grabbed the baptismal record (which Sister Farr helped her fill out a few days earlier, while I was keeping Katrina in order), and noticed that it wasn't done right. I was so sad and embarrassed. "Great, we have to do it again. What if she says no? This isn't what we planned at all." Sister Farr and I sort of just sat there for a bit. Finally, we called her and explained and she was totally fine with it and said she'd come back in a few hours to redo it. The Elders ran to stop the font from re-draining. The water in this font only comes out cold, so we have to get these huge pots from members and heat up water ALL during church, so that the water is lukewarm.

Lucy came back and was happy. She didn't even complain. They baptized her again, but her hand came up. So they did it again and her hand came up again. Finally, on the fifth try, Elder Arens (who, this was his first baptism), pushed with all his might to get her all under. SUCCESS! After the 5th try, she was baptized. "That time it felt right," she said. And it was right. We need to be baptized the Lord's way, or nothing else. Doctrine and Covenants 22 says, "Wherefore, although a man should be baptized an hundred times it availeth him nothing." I gained a testimony even more about how true this church is. I don't really think that in any other church, they would have cared if they didn't say the full name; but rather, as long as they said the name, it'd be alright. Not in our church. The priesthood is order and perfection--just as our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are.

Love,

Sister Burt

Front Page News?

2010-04-19T10:58:00.000-06:00

Family!

How's everyone doing today? Sounds like it was a busy weekend in Arizona. Thanks for the ipod delivery with the conference talks. We're already loving it! It's super excited about the Suns (I'm not going to lie, I used to ask around and find out how they were doing. I hope they do well and then SMASH the Lakers when it comes down to it!)

To answer your question about the Provo, UT mission about Nick Wallace (tell his family Congrats from me!). That is actually an AWESOME mission. It not only covers Provo, but I think all that is south of it. At first when I used to hear people get called to Utah, I would think, "Ew, lame. How boring." But it's actually so superb. Our mission president told us that the missionaries are SO busy there, that they hardly ever have to "knock doors." All of their lessons and investigators come from referrals from the members. The members are amazing and make a huge difference, they help in all ways that members should be involved in missionary work. It's actually the highest baptizing mission in the world. So, I'm sure he'll have lots to do.

Anyways, new alert!...actually, it's quite literal. Stop the Presses! The other day, I was just sitting around thinking about how we could think of some more creative contacting ideas--because, quite honestly, knocking doors is the least effective way to talk to people. So I was sitting and pondering what we could do and I was reminded of a part in chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel that lists some ideas. The one that said, "Go to the local newspaper to see if they can print an article about your missionary service." BINGO! I thought it was a great idea. I've read that part a ton of times before, but the timing was never right. What would make Sister Farr and I different than any other missionaries that have been riding around Raymondville over the years? Well, that's exactly it: we're Sister missionaries. Sisters haven't been here in town for a long time (if ever!), so one of the first things people say to us is, "Wow, I didn't know that there were girl missionaries. How long have they been doing that?" So, after proposing the idea to Sister Farr, we stopped by the Raymondville Chronicle to test the waters and see if we'd get a bite. And boy oh boy, did they bite. Actually, one of the first things they said was, "There are girl missionaries?" So that led us into the discussion about why we wanted to run the article. Well, he told us to write something up, so I brainstormed and got permission to go to a member's home on Sunday to type it up and email it to them. This morning, right before we emailed, we stopped by the office to go over the article. The editor/owner, Paul, loved it and, impressed by my writing, asked, "Do you want a job as a reporter?" It made me laugh. He said that he wasn't even going to change a thing about the article. So, come the Wednesday edition (the Raymondville Chronicle prints only weekly), our article--complete with our picture--will be printed! I can assume that one Wednesday, you can go to www.raymondvillechroniclenews(dot) com and you might be able to read it.See, good things come to those who do what the scriptures teach us. When we have a problem, we first need to: ask in faith, study it out in our mind, be prepared to receive and follow revelation, and then go ACT in faith. Just as Joseph Smith asked, "Which church should I JOIN?" (rather than just, "What church is true?") and then he went to "ask in faith" (meaning to go and do), was he able to receive an incredible answer that changed the history of the world. I'm not saying I'm expecting this article to be world-changing, but at least it will help get the word out about the church.

Well, I don't usually like to count my chickens before they hatch, but....we are having a baptism this week! We are very excited. Lucy is so prepared and ready to take this big step in her life. I mentioned Lucy in previous emails, but everything we have asked her to do, she has accepted everything we've taught her: word of wisdom, chastity, tithing. No problem. It's shocking at times about how prepared she is. So we'll be stopping by every day this week to continue to teach her and help her prepare for Sunday.

Last week, we were contacting in Lyford and we met a man who was one the way out. He was not really interested (how could he be when we didn't ever get a chance to explain who we were?), but we set up another appointment for him Sunday at 12:15 p.m. Now, church finishes at Noon and usually, it takes a while to leave because we have to talk to investigators, set up appointments with members, etc. I remember thinking that this would be a hard appointment to be on time. We never set up appointments in Lyford directly after church because around 1 or 1:30, we have to drive to Lasara (9 miles from Raymondville) in the opposite direction) to eat with the Lopez family.

As we were driving to the appointment, I was still thinking, "He's not even going to be there. I don't think he's going to remember. What a waste of gas and time to drive here when we could have just stayed in Raymondville and done some legitimate contacting." Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't "murmuring in my head," just mulling the situation over. We pulled up to the house on the other side of the road, right as he left in his car (we were late), but then again, so did about 2 other cars (Sunday's a big family day). We sat there and we decided to go knock the house (maybe that wasn't him). Right as we did, I turned to the left to see a man in an electric wheelchair, hidden under the shade of some trees. He was a little ways off, but I decided that I might as well, "talk to everyone." While I went to talk to the old man, Sister Farr ran across the street to knock the door. As I approached the man, I realized that he was stuck in the mud (we've had an incredible amount of rain this week and the ground is so muddy and gross). I asked him, in Spanish, how he was doing and if he needed help. He tried to move his wheelchair, but he was embedded in the mud and couldn't move. I looked around and it appeared that the house he was at, was abandoned and no body was around. I began to wonder how long he had been stranded there. I asked him and he replied, "A while" (I'm still not quite sure what that means). I tried to push the back of his chair, but it and him were so heavy, it wouldn't budge. Finally, it moved a bit forward, up and out of the mud, but then he moved it back on accident into another muddy area.

I called Sister Farr over and we both tried to push, yet still, no luck. I got down low and my head was right next to the bag of empty beer cans that he was carrying--I just about went ill from the smell. I looked at the controls of his wheelchair, which he kept punching every once in a while. As I watched him do this, I realized that the battery of the wheelchair was completely drained. How were we going to get him out of here? I said a prayer in my heart and the pushed the buttons myself. Finally, it started moving for a bit and we pushed it as far as we could. In order to prevent him falling back into a sticky (or rather, muddy) situation, we pushed him around the trees and onto the main highway road that we were parked on. He made it and started trekking off in another direction, without a backwards glance. We started walking to some other houses, when I looked back and noticed that he was at a standstill in the middle of the road. I ran up to him and, of course, the chair ran out of juice. Now really, what were we going to do? We can't give people rides in our cars. As I was talking to him, immediately after a suburban passed and then slowed to a stop. "Yay. Help!" I thought. A woman ran out and said, "Papa." Turns out it was her grandfather. They were able to help him and get him home. They thanked us for helping him and we went on our way.

As we were walking away, I realized then, why were were in that spot in Lyford, at that exact time: to help a man in need. I don't think if we would have come by, that anyone would have seen him as he was stranded a ways back on the lot and under a bunch of trees. He didn't accept the Gospel, but I've learned from Sister Farr, that sometimes God puts us in certain people's paths to help them in their moment of need. We are answers to prayers, even if we don't recognize it. God didn't put us in his path knowing that he'd be baptized, but God put us in his path to help him. I'm grateful for the Spirit and that by following it, we are always led to do good. It will never lead us astray.

This week made me wonder if maybe this is what Clark Kent feels like: full-time reporter, part-time life-saving superhero. It's a good feeling.

Love,

Sister Burt

Always an Adventure. Always.

2010-04-12T10:59:00.000-06:00

Hey Family!

Well this was a great week this week. It's absolutely mind boggling to me how fast the weeks are going by now. Every week goes faster and fast. Yikes. Zone Conference was last week and it was amazing, as usual. It's always inspiring to hear from President Miller and receive personal revelation from the Spirit during those meetings. One thing that I'm grateful for is that on my mission, I have really learned how to recognize and follow the Spirit at all times. The more faithful, obedient, and diligent I am, the more I am able to feel it. Also, Sister Farr and I won the "cleanest car award." I was SO happy because I've never won it before (even though I thought my car was clean and we cleaned it every week). I always thought that the winners bribed the Car Elder or just did an incredible deep cleaning the day before (even though they probably hadn't cleaned or washed their car the whole transfer). But we kept our car clean, and detailed the inside and we won. I was so happy. Apparently the shape of the cars, as a whole, isn't that good because Sister Miller had to come up at Zone Conference and talk about how she is so displeased with the grungy interiors of the car (she did the car checks this time), and how if we don't shape up, the mission will lose a lot of the cars. Haha.

Quote of the week: "Do they have fresh coffee at church?" --The Dad of an Investigator. Um... no, no we don't.

We found of lot of new investigators this week and we even had one find us! We were going home at 8:55 at night and I really was craving a Dr. Pepper. So, since we needed to fill up on gas anyways, we dropped by the local Stripes to pick up a fountain drink. Now, Stripes is the local celebrity here in Texas. It's the local convenience store, there's really nothing special about it, except maybe that they all have "The Laredo Taco Company" inside them, which serves fresh tacos and Mexican food daily. It's kind of like the QT of Texas, but definitely not as nice and not as cool. Anyways, I was getting my drink when a lady came up to us. At first I thought she was this old investigator who kept avoiding us for weeks and moved away and didn't tell us where her new address was, so I was a bit confused why she was approaching us. This woman started talking and said, "You haven't come by for a long time. I haven't seen you." I realized (thanks to Sister Farr filling me in), that she wasn't Christina, but rather, PATTI, an investigator of the Elders from when we first got here. She wasn't progressing, or rather, doing much of ANYTHING. So we dropped her and told her that we couldn't come by anymore until she was ready. Well, she really wanted us to come back, so we set up an appointment for Saturday night.

We came by and she was excited to see us. We started asking her a lot of questions about why she wanted us back, what she wanted in her life, etc. We were committed at Zone Conference to share simple scriptures, to extend bold commitments and to ask more effective questions. The assistants talked about if we are teaching the same way, using the same scriptures, and asking the same questions that we did 2 months ago, then we need to repent. The Gospel is about constant growth and the minute we stop growing, we stop being effective. Those ideas really hit me and the thing that kept coming to my mind was, "We don't teach lessons, we teach people!" It's so true. How many times do I go into a lesson and think, "We're going to teach a first." Well first off, we don't teach a first, we teach about the Restoration, and secondly, what if that person doesn't need the Restoration right now? So we've been working on focusing on the PEOPLE and discovering their needs through effective question asking.

By doing this, Patti immediately opened up to us. She told us that she missed us coming over. That once we stopped coming over, the feeling we had with us stopped coming. She said she missed that and wanted it again. We told her that that feeling is the Spirit and that she could have it all the time with her if she was willing to do her part. We committed her to start repenting and making the changes in her life. She accepted to be baptized also. It was great. The next day we came back and watched, "Together Forever" and she was crying afterwards and said that she related to so many of the people in the video. I guess I really underestimate the effect the Spirit has on our investigators. We are just so used to having it with us all the time, that we don't even really realize it. It's just a part of life. But for the people we teach, it's new, exciting, and something they DESIRE.

We had had 4 people at church from 3 different homes. It was great. Church has always been the thing that I've struggled the most with, but during the past few weeks, the Lord has blessed us so much and people are coming. We had an investigator who came to Conference, but then he wasn't there for our appointment (he's a bit fickle), and so we didn't see him all week. We procured a ride for one of our other investigators who lives right by him, but David wasn't there. So we just told the member to go to church. But I remember that as I said it, I thought, "You should go visit Chano." I thought to myself, "Um...Chano's been MIA all week, I don't want to go pound on his door at 8:30 and wake him up if he doesn't want to go. He has his agency." Well, I should have followed that prompting, but I didn't... We talked to Chano no less than an hour after church and he said, "Where were you? This morning, I was all ready to go and even though I hadn't seen you all week, I still was waiting, hoping you'd come by." In that moment, I felt horrible for having ignored a prompting from the Spirit. I promised him that we'd come by every Sunday from now on, even if we see him or not.

So remember that woman, Mary, I told you about a few weeks ago? We had been visiting these trailers for a long time, until finally, she ran up to us wanting a "blue Bible?" Well, we started teaching her and set a baptismal date. We were excited, but then we came back to her trailer to find out that she had moved! She didn't have a phone so we couldn't find her. I remember her saying that she was moving somewhere on San Francisco street, into apartments that used to be an old store. Well, that wasn't too hard. We drove down the street and started checking off all the places she couldn't be living, "House...house...trailer...house." Finally, we came to a place that is a 24/7 garage sale, inside this large building. We parked and realized that this was the place. Apparently, they don't like strangers there, so everyone kept coming up to us saying, "Um, can I help you?" They didn't know Mary, so we went to the Land Lord's office/home.

I started laughing as I knocked the door. There was a sign posted that said, "Knock. If I don't answer BANG real loud because I might be upstairs in the bath." Haha, it was just the most random sign. We knocked and the people shouted from the other room, "Come in." We came in and saw this old woman at the head of the table (Olga); her grown, real-estate agent Nondenominational daughter (Yolanda) and this random, sign painter (Juan). We asked if they knew a Mary and immediately Yolanda spouts off the address where she moved. Thanks. We were about to leave when Olga asked us if we wanted some Avocado Salad. Wow, I was surprised. That was the first time that I haven't been offered something that's not fried, made in lard, or smoked outside on the BBQ. This time it was a salad? And a healthy one? So we sat down in the cluttered room at an even more cluttered table. There was an overflowing glass of orange soda that apparently someone had forgotten about. As Sister Farr sat down and was moving some things around so that she had room, Yolanda saw a cockroach and swiped it off the table in one clean motion (according to Sister Farr, the cockroach was in the process of having babies...haha). We ate our salad, and then of course we were offered more food. Orange soda that they kept refilling anytime we got halfway done. And then Yolanda said, "You like Tamales? Here we have some frozen ones, I'll go heat them up for you." I didn't even get to say "Yes" or "No" before she had rushed into the kitchen. Of course, we ate bread (you always eat random white bread with every meal if they don't have tortillas). We each had a half of an avocado as well to add into our salad. Crackers. Then after the tamales, she brought out "Pan Dulce" which is just like donuts and such. It was crazy, but pretty typical.

We started sharing about what we do as missionaries and Yolanda wasn't listening, but Olga was. Juan was an incredible interrupted who claims to be a prophet. Apparently, he prophesied--in jail--that something was going to come and destroy the prison because of the way the black guys in jail were treating him. He got out and a few months later, Katrina happened. We would get 3 words in and then he'd butt in and start talking about something else he foretold. He sang us this song that he wrote in prison and I wish I had my camera out, because it was classic. We wanted to sing a song, and then Yolanda left to "clean up." She claimed to be super religious and goes 4 times a week, but now was too busy for us. After the song, Olga said, "You know, Yolanda. This reminds me in the Bible when Martha and Maria were with Jesus. Mary listened, but Martha was too busy doing chores and cleaning just like you are." It was actually pretty insightful by Olga. "Oh mother. If I don't do it, it won't get done." Olga then said, "Do you see these two women" (by the way, the whole time this conversation was in Spanish) "Do you see the LIGHT that they have that you don't? You claim to follow Jesus, but you don't have that light. I see darkness." I was shocked about how bold Olga was with her daughter. Before we left, we said a prayer and walked out with 2 oranges each in our hands. It was definitely a night to remember. We were directed to Mary, the ORIGINAL person we were searching for, and she was grateful that we had found her and so am I--even if we had a little crazy adventure along the way.

Always an Adventure. Always.

Love,

Sister Burt

Speed Reading

2010-04-05T10:37:00.001-06:00

Hey Family!

Happy Easter! I know it's late, but still. Happy it was! Thank you for the little Easter package that you sent me! I loved it and the chocolate did not melt. YAY! And mom, how did you know I needed a new toothbrush! That package came just in time! :) Love the stationary and everything else! :)

It was a great week in the beginning and definitely as the weekend approached it slowed down. We were grateful that we were blessed with so many lessons at the beginning of the week, and we were expecting to reach all of our goals for lessons by Saturday, but--like I said--the holiday threw it off, unfortunately. Just like Christmas, no one wanted to listen. Here we were, messengers from God preaching about the Easter, the Atonement and Resurrection and people refuse. I don't think people even really care or KNOW what is the real reason for Easter. It's funny that yesterday was the day of Christ's resurrection--the crowning moment of the Atonement; it is the day that through belief on him, everyone could be saved from sin and death as they repent and obey the commandments. Yet despite this, I noticed that the majority of the world was actually breaking the commandments and making Christ suffer even more. As if they were throwing his suffering back in his face and mocking him just as the Jews did as he was trekking up to Golgatha.

Conference was AMAZING, wasn't it?! Wow. As the last session was coming to a close, I wanted to cry. I couldn't believe that it was over. I felt the Spirit speak to me so many times, witnessing to me of the divinity of the work, of Christ, of the speakers and of the message they so valiantly proclaimed over the pulpit. I loved every minute of it--even the hours where I didn't get really to hear the morning Session on Sunday because so many children were noisy and yelling. I loved those moments too. I learned a lot.

Last week we were back at the trailers that we seem to always be at. It seems that we have taught EVERYONE who lives there. No it's not a trailer park, just a random lot that has about 3 trailer homes parked on it. We started off with a referral, ended up teaching his sister, then him, then he moved away, then she moved away, then he moved back, then we taught his buddies, then he disapeared, then they all moved out, and it goes on and on. As we were leaving the trailer after finding that everyone had moved, I said hi to a random guy who is always there, but never was interested. He was just sitting his chair and I felt prompted to say hello. We hadn't really greeted him for a while, as he wasn't investigating and wasn't interested in us. After saying hi and turning to walk away, he said, "Hey, next time you come, I'll listen to you guys. I'm always here." Wow. We came back the day of the appointment, but a in the daytime (the appointment was at night). We talked to a different person and then saw David, sitting outside. "You'll be here tonight?" "Yep," he said. We were in our car with the keys in the ignition when I said, "We need to teach him now." I felt the Spirit prompt me to teach him now, while he was there and we saw him. So we did. It was a nice, short lesson. Later, 30 minutes before our appointment, we were on the other side of town and saw him pass. We went to the appointment with the guys and of course, they weren't there, but neither was he. I was really grateful that I followed the Spirit to teach him earlier when he was there--Heavenly Father knew that he would't be there at night, even though he's "always there." We left and as we were leaving the property, two little boys in red tshirts ran up to us from David's trailer and said, "HEY! Do you have a Bible?" And interesting thing to hear, let alone from two young boys that wouldn't be able to go on any of the rides at an amusement park due to their height. "Yeah, why?" I said. The mom walked out and said, "Do you have a Bible? One of the blue ones?" "Yes, let me go get it." I always carry around copies of the Book of Mormon with me, and I'm pretty sure she was referring to the Book of Mormon, but just in case, I went to the trunk of the car and got the Bible. I presented both to her and said, "Which one?" "Um.. this one," she said pointing to the Bible. But as I started fanning through the pictures of the Book of Mormon, she said, "NO, that one!" I gave it to her and explained that it was different from he Bible, "I know, I like this one better. I can actually understand it. I read it to my children at night but left mine in Georgia." Well, turns out that she is David's aunt who just moved here from Georgia where she was ALMOST baptized. She moved away a few days before her baptism. After we taught David, she came into town and he told her about our lesson. Then she sought us out to have us teach her. I know that by following that initial prompting to teach David earlier in the day, provided us with the opportunity to no only teach him, but to find his aunt. I'm grateful for the Spirit and that I am able to recognize its promptings so clear now and follow them.

I did something very interesting last week. An Elder in the district was carrying around a 1st edition replica of the Book of Mormon. I was intrigued as I have seen the image of that first printing many times on the Restoration DVD. I asked him if I could look at it and as I did, I was shocked to see that it had no verses. But rather it was like a novel: divided into the books of the authors, with a few chapters scattered about. I was especially intrigued by the forward at the beginning, where at the end, it says, "The Author." But Joseph Smith didn't write the Book of Mormon, I thought. I pondered the wording a bit and saw that on a few instances it mentioned him as the author, something that is different that the current version which clearly puts him as the translator. I gave it back to him giving thanks for letting me look through it. "What does it mean 'The Author.'" I asked. "Well, here's the thing Sister Burt, I don't care whether he wrote it or whether he simply translated it. All I know is that it's true and that's all that matters." I pondered it a bit in silence and soon after our district meeting started.

After the meeting, he came up to me and said, "Well, do you want to read it?" "What?" I said. "You can take it and read it if you want." "No, I'm ok. It'll take way to long to read it on the mission and it's yours anyway. You just got it, I dont' want to take it from you." He eventually convinced me to take it for the week. As I held it in my hands, I committed myself to read the whole Book of Mormon in a week. A task that I previously thought to be insurmountantable. I don't know if it was the competitive side in my that came out as he said, "Yeah, you can" or what. But as I was driving back to Raymondville, I started reading it's pages. I did some quick math in my head and determined that I would have to read about 84 pages a day to read all 588 by next District Meeting. So, off I went and I started reading. I read during breaks, I read during my personal study, I read in the car (my companion was driving), I read while I was cooking breakfast, and I read before I went to bed. After the first day, I thought, "Wow, this is going to be a lot of work." I apologized to my companion in advance for the silence that would emanate from me during the upcoming week. But, I read, read and read. And you know what? I finished it. I'm so happy and proud of myself. I remember when I was at BYU that a professor challenged us to read the first half of the Book of Mormon in two weeks. I remember that it was 20 pages a day and I struggled through the reading each night. Then before my mission, I wanted to read the whole thing in a month, but ended up reading it so quickly (as I had no job or anything really to do) that I finished it in 2 weeks. So I cut my time in half. A few transfers ago, I wanted to read the entire Book of Mormon in a transfer (6 weeks), but realized too soon that "missionaries don't have time to do that. We're just too busy." So I read half in a transfer. Well, I already had set myself up by saying, "It's impossible, it can't be done...ESPECIALLY as a missionary." But, turns out that if you REALLY desire something. You will find a way to do it--no matter what. The desires of our hearts are not reflected only in just thinking about wanting it, but actually DOING something about it. That's what showing our faith is: action. Upon reflecting on this event, I keep thinking of the quote from Utchdorf in October Conference:

"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."

That is true. I set my heart on it and completed my goal. I'm grateful that I was able to show faith, every day and in doing so was able to succeed. If I gave up one day, I would have really been out of luck and know that I would not have completed my goal because I barely finished in time as it was. That's faith, that's enduring to the end. I gained an incredible testimony of the Book of Mormon through this experience. I was able to see how the people, places and stories connect in ways that I never realized before. I know that it's true, for I have read it and followed Moroni's promise at the end. The Book of Mormon was written by prophets of God. I do know that there is no way that Joseph Smith could have written it, but either way, it is true and came from God. This I know.

Love,

Sister Burt

The King on His Throne

2010-03-29T10:21:00.001-06:00

Dearest Mama Mia, Papa Mia & Marshallonie,

Hey! How's it going? And yes mom, I got the shoes. They are adorable, but a bit snug. I forgot that I wear 9's in tennis shoes, not 8.5's... :( But I think they'll do ok. I'll just use them (because in the end, we're going to spend more on shipping them back and forth that they shoes are worth!)

Things are going absolutely amazing here! Seriously, last week was an incredible week, we were just so ecstatic. The thing is, that for a missionary, Sunday makes or breaks you: either people come to church and your thrilled or they don't and you crash. It's like the beginning of a roller coaster: during the week, you climb, climb, climb up in that car all the way to the top, so that you can get enough altitude and velocity to make it an incredible ride. If the investigators come, you start heading down for the ride of your life. It's amazing and thrilling. It pumps you up for the rest of the week. If they chose not to come (which usually is the case), then it's like the roller coaster stops right at the apex of the ride. You're in the front car looking down, waiting, expecting to go down, but the ride has shut down and will be out of order for the next who knows how long. When that happens, you are sad and deflated. But luckily for us, five people came to church and so we're thrilled! ALL of them have baptismal dates too!

So let's just get to business and start talking about this week. So up first is the amazing Lucy. According to my quick google search within my email, I have not talked about her yet. Excellent. Well, we knocked in on Lucy 2 weeks ago on a Saturday. We were searching to find the home of some peramgatures of the Elders, not really wanting to continue teaching them, but just to know where they lived in case we needed to find them in the future. We knew the basic area--across from Taqueria Lopez--but we weren't quite sure what apartment. So we started knocking. Now let me remind you that this was in the middle of when ALL of our awesome investigators were dropping us. But it's interesting how yet in despite all the hardship, in the middle of it, we found LUCY, who has been a great investigator for us. She works at the local prison known as the MTC (it's funny to go up to people and say, "Oh yeah, I spent 9 weeks that the MTC. Haha), she has 2 girls (one 4 named Katrina and a baby), she lives alone and is struggling getting by. She has a car, a nice place, etc., but she's doing it all alone, which is really hard. Katrina's dad stops by every once and a while to help out with the girls, but he's very unreliable and she can't ever count on him; sometimes he comes, sometimes he doesn't--essentially, she's alone. We taught her and she didn't know much about God, never went to church, etc. She was planning on getting her girls baptized, but not anymore because we taught her the doctrine of baptism and that he girls are perfect and innocent and don't need to be baptized...yet (because Katrina is a little stinker and rascal!). She was excited to go to church, but she works from 12 pm to 9 am, and church starts at 9. So last week she didn't go. We continued teaching her this week, taught her about the Book of Mormon, the Gospel, the Restoration, Sacrament, and she accepted a Baptismal date. She came to church yesterday (even though she worked ALL night and got off at 9. She rushed over here to the church as soon as she could). She didn't know hardly anything about faith and God, but she has been so valiant in showing her faith. She was all dressed up with makeup on and her daughter had a new dress.

I'm not going to lie, I get really stressed out when investigators come to church. It's just hard for me because I want them to have a good experience, good time, feel the Spirit. And let's be honest, the Raymondville branch is a bit crazy. English, Spanish, Tex Mex...oh my! During sacrament, I was sitting in the far back with Lucy and Sister Serrato's kids kept coming up to me asking me for gum, paper to color, then complaining because one of the markers wasn't working, one of them even threw a tiny basketball at Lucy's head "Wow, that woke me up," she said. She had a good attitude about it. Sister Farr went to the classes with Lucy and I went to the classes with her daughter (because supposedly 2 of the teachers were going to be gone and so I President Ramos wanted me to help). So I went on "splits." Turns out they didn't need me but it was cool to see Primary again. Wow, I hope I get called to Primary one day because it was SO fun and so many of the things I've learned on my mission, would be fun to apply to a primary class. Anyways, Lucy enjoyed herself, had tons of questions and even got really excited when she past the baptismal font!

The other four investigators were a recent convert--Joe Quintero's--nieces. I didn't even know they were there until after church. We had randomly knocked their door one day (they live rather close to the church) and were surprised to find that it belonged to Joe's mom and nieces. They were excited to have us back on Saturday, but weren't there for the appointment. But they came Sunday, we taught them with Joe present, and they all accepted Baptismal dates. It was really neat because Joe has changed SOOOO much (he used to be a crazy mean thug) and now he's on track to being the next branch president. So spiritual and insightful. Anyways, I call investigators that you 1) find during that week, 2) accept a baptismal date and 3) come to church "Super-gators." Well, these girls did that all in ONE day; my name for them: "celestial-gators."

Last night at 7:15, we were in Lyford. We had an appointment at 8 with a recent convert. By this time, we had already completed ALL of our key indicator goals for the week. We really didn't have any plans and I wasn't really wanting to contact. But we were thinking about were we wanted to go and we remembered the place we pointed out on the map a few days ago when we prayed about where we should go. We pulled out the map and saw the 3 random streets int he outskirts of the town. We drove over there to see if they actually were habitated and they were jam packed with trailers and homes. We decided to contact and boy oh boy and I glad that we did. In just 45 minutes, we taught 3 lessons and found 3 more new investigators! What a blessing for just continuing to press forward with faith, even though we already had reached our goal for new investigators, lessons, etc for the week. I personally believe that 2 of these investigators are going to be superb because they were taught before by missionaries in Arlington and were going to be baptized, but then they moved and couldn't!

Also, right after we taught those lesson (at this point it was 2), it was 8 o'clock and we were walking back to the car to drive to Louie's. As we did, we past this fence that was open and saw this old Mexican man sitting on his porch. He was just sitting enjoying the breeze (we saw him pull into his home earlier, yet decided not to contact him then). We saw us and we waved as we walked by and then he said, "Pasenles!" which means, "Pass." So, even though we had an appointment, we were sure Louie wouldn't mind. We walked in and he invited us to sit down. Immediately his wife came out and introduced herself. She said she was making tortillas and couldn't be outside with us, but he asked "Quiseran tortillas?" Well, I felt bad saying no because the people here are so nice. So we sat down and immediately the granddaughter came out, gave us a plate of beans and then kept bringing out fresh, homemade tortillas and putting them in the tortilla warmer. Then they gave us salsa and soda and so we just talked to this man for a while. He wasn't interested, but it was funny. I felt like he was a king sitting on his throne, being served whatever his heart desired as he ate his tortillas and talked with his new acquaintances. I finished my plate and he said, "You want more?" And when I finally, hesitantly said yes, he threw his hand into the air and said, "MARIA! MAS!" It was funny.

But that leads me into my next thought: this week was absolutely amazing! Two weeks ago, the majority of our investigators dropped us. It was heartbreaking and disappointing; we felt like we were whitewashing again, except the only difference was that this time around, we knew the area. We decided to do our best and "keep moving forward" (a favorite Disney quote of mine from the Man himself). We proceeded forth to continue contacting 20 people a day, despite the hardships that we were having. It really is a promise from the Lord that if we contact 20 people a day, we will receive the fruits of our labors--in his due time. "Whether by mine own voice of the voice of my servants, it is the same." We had a 27 day contacting streak and last Monday we broke it. We were disappointed, yet SO proud that we consistently contacted 20-a-day for such a long period. That habit is now ingrained in us and we still continue to want to keep contacting that many each day.

I relate our experience over the past week to the people of Alma, who were under the burdens of Amulon. At first they experience incredible burdens and hardships, even though they were following the commandments of God and doing "everything right." "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith" (Mosiah 23:21). That's what happened to us a few weeks ago when our investigators all dropped us. Yet, we "did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord" and continued working hard and contacting 20-a-day. The Lord was always with us. Although the following week was not a huge success, our "burdens were made light" and we were able to continue working. Finally, after the trial of our faith, the Lord did deliver us out of bondage and we received a great harvest with many sheaves upon our backs this week. Five investigators came to church without any forcing, pulling or tugging; people are progressing; we are finding many, many new investigators, many of whom are prepared and eager to learn. I do love the Lord and the way that he works--however, mysterious they may be. I am a better, stronger, more devoted servant of the Lord now, because of the hardships I faced during the past few weeks. I will forever be grateful for that trail of my faith, because I grew in the opposition and came out better and stronger. In other words, I "endure[d] it well."

Well, I love you all. Thanks for all your support and love!

Love,

Sister Burt

Contacting Cowboys

2010-03-22T10:12:00.000-06:00

Hey Everyone!

Glad to hear that the Spring Break was great! That Dad is doing well, etc. In comment to Marshall's Cancun trip, I would say to definitely go to Xel-Ha (the scuba diving refuge). That was definitely worth it and so fun. The ruins are a cultural site that makes the trip a lot more fulfilling. I heard that it's possible to get a LDS tour guide, which makes the tour WAY cooler, but I don't know if that's possible. And of course, jet-skiing is fun. Also, around that time, the turtles should be coming up and laying their eggs on the beach, so tell him to look out for that. But yeah, I'm excited that he gets to go.

Things in Raymondville are looking up. We were able to find a few new investigators that seem to have potential (but don't they ALL seem to have potential when you first find them? It's so interesting to me that sometimes during the first lessons, we meet people and they are so grateful that we are there. They tell us that we are "answers to their prayers" or "angels." Usually if they pray, they thank Heavenly Father that we were able to come and teach them. SO it's just interesting to me that people are like that initially, yet sometime down the road they loose their zeal, forget their focus or get attacked by Satan which makes them fall out of the funnel. It really is a straight and narrow path that leads back to God.

This week we were in Lyford walking on one of the outer streets. Outside of the main town, are just farms and country roads. We noticed a ranch with quite a bit of people and lots of horses. We decided to walk up the dusty road, until we reached the corral, so that we could talk to them. They were all cowboys--partially at least. I'm not quite sure how "legit" they actually were. The were on a 192 mile ride (on horseback, of course) from somewhere to Harlingen. They were stopping here for the night. It was funny because they were all crazy (at this point it was only 3 o'clock and, of course, they were all drunk. Everyone in Texas is always drunk). They had country music playing, but my favorite part was that the music kept switching back from classic twangy country, to classic twangy SPANISH country--something I'd never heard before. Oh course, they really weren't interested, but it's ok. We gave them all that chance. But it definitely was a contact to remember.

We found some neat investigators last week. We were contacting on a street Monday night and came to this house that was blasting obscene rap music--I mean BLASTING. We decide to knock it and this high school girl and her older Sister come to the door. We talk to them briefly and they were excited for us to come back to their home and talk to them and their mom (recently, there was a death in the family). We stopped by in their home in Lyford a few days later and Carolynn (the high school girl) was sitting there waiting for us with her little 11-year-old sister, Christine. The older sister, Criselda, was sleeping and wouldn't wake up and the mom was too busy getting ready for work. So we just taught the girls. It was a brief introductory lesson and we left them with a plan of salvation pamphlet. Right once we handed it to her, Carolynn grabbed a book from the counter called, "The Purpose of Life" and said the she just started reading it last night. She is really interested and searching and wants to know. She was brave enough to give the closing prayer and prayed right then and there to know if what we were sharing was true. She committed to read the pamphlet and continue praying.

We came back two days later to find both of the girls, ready and waiting, but also another surprise--their cousin Fernando. Carolynn told him about what we shared and he was so excited. He actually was at the house a few hours before we first visited and told us that he was so sad that she didn't tell him because he would have liked to have stayed. He's very cool, friendly and outgoing. He is a bit on the feminine side, has diabetes and so sometimes gets sad about his weight. But overall, he was very amiable and upbeat. We taught all of them the plan of Salvation, using Sister Farr's little visuals displayed on the floor. They loved it and at the end, asked us so many question--some relating to the plan and others not. Fern asked a particularly important question when he said, "My question is, why are their so many churches?" We told us that that is what we talked about and helped people come to know. We actually ended up leaving all of them a Book of Mormon. We have another appointment tonight and we're taking, Louie, a fellow classmate of theirs who recently was baptized.

Other than that, there's not much more news. This has been a huge recovery week for us, having to go back to ground zero to find new people. We contacted 211 people last week. Normally, you're doing great and reaching the Standard of Excellence when you contact 140. So yeah, we definitely had a lot of finding time last week.

But my time is up! It comes and goes so quickly. I love you all. I hope you have a great week!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Missionary,

Sister Burt

Pictures

2010-03-15T21:48:00.002-06:00

Me & Sis Farr. I did her makeup all pretty for Zone Conference

When we got here, our house was infested with cocroaches. This is just one cupboard. Look at all the dead roaches & roach droppings...sick.

It's a Dog Eat Dog World Out There

2010-03-15T10:46:00.000-06:00

Hey Everyone,

Oh dear! I 'm so sorry about Dad, first of all. Is he doing any better? Gosh, I hope so. I hope the Spring Break plans don't get cancelled.

Things here are going good in Raymondville. Well, honestly, what am I saying? Last week was a terrible disappointment. At the beginning of the week, we probably had about 20-25 investigators in our teaching pool last week and this week we are under 10. The week was pitiful. All of our VERY solid investigators dropped us. It was heart wrenching for most of them. Especially one man named Rigo, who was so excited for his baptismal date. He was ready to leave for church at 7:30 with a few of his kids when his wife came up to him and said that if he went to church, he'd be living in the street. "It's me or the church." It was really sad. He has a huge family and told us that obviously he can't abandon them. "I can just keep praying to God like I always have been, " he said. He and his wife were taught by the missionaries a few years ago, but she completely lost interest in the Bible and God and now wants nothing to do with it. It was hard because we never were able to actually meet her and invite her...I hope and pray that in a few months or years, her heart will be softened and the missionaries will find them again. That other family--Dora and Rigoberto--that we found, also called and semi-dropped us. We're not quite sure yet. We had an appointment on Wednesday, and they had to cancel because Dora had this test for work she had to study for; we rescheduled for Thursday at 8:30 pm and get there and she walks out and says, "Oh my goodness, I totally forget. I just got home and need to go pick up my kids from my moms. But I read the pamphlet, do you have any more literature to read? We were excited and gave her a Book of Mormon and told her that we were going to talk about it when we came again. Again, we rescheduled for Friday and then a few hours before, their daughter called us (10 years old) and said that they're family was leaving for the weekend. So...we'll see.

On a happy note, it appears one of my new talents is dog charmer. There are SO many dogs here in town and a few of the members/investigators have some pretty mean ones. Raul and Maria's home has a sign on the fence that says "Bewared very mean dog." (yes the "d" at the end of beware is not a typo) and also, "Bad Dog. Beware." Haha, well, this dog looks like Rex from Babe. He seems nice, but apparently he bites everyone and only like Maria and a few other people. I was determined to pet him, so after making friends with the pug (have you ever met a mean pug?) and the chow, I decided to slowly go towards "Gordo." After a few days of just walking by him on his chain, I finally went up to him and pet him. The same thing happened with Frances's Shar-Pei, whom she told everyone that he was REALLY mean and won't let you pet him. First off, Shar-Pei's are generally very mild tempered and I was confused. So after a while, I started going up to him and he'd bark and be mean. But eventually, he just needed some love and I got around to petting him. At her 16th birthday party yesterday, all the ward kids were over and the dog was playing with them all. The whole family was shocked because they thought he was mean. Not true. Haha.

Here are some quote from Raymondville (mostly from President Ramos):

"We have new Elders here in town." -Ramos
"Elders (referring to us), ladies first." -Ramos
In church: "Vamos a entonar el primer himno. En espanol, number one sixteen. And in English, sesenta uno." - Ramos.

Although the week was bad, as a whole, we had an amazing Saturday. We got up and were going to help an investigator move. Her name is Christina and she had to move out of her crazy drug house/trailer so that she could get her kids back. She needed to move into a "safer" environment--haha, yeah, I'm sure the druggies and the bar next door didn't help her situation. She broke her leg when he ex-husband came and pushed her down the stairs, so she needed some major help. We went over at 11 am, but she was no where to be found. We tried calling, but she never has been too good about answering our phone calls. So we just decided to go knocking for a few hours, until our next appointment. We did for a while, but weren't really feeling the street. We followed a prompting to go to another street where supposedly our investigators had moved. We went and ended up contacting a ton of people and taught a lesson and found a new investigator. Then, in the next few doors, we encountered Oscar and Patti--permagators from about October. They, of course, welcomed us in and had us sing for them (Patti thinks it's the greatest thing on the world when we sing, "OHHH! You sing so good! The boys never sang us songs." You meet a lot of interesting people on the mission and Patti and Oscar are definitely some of them. They met online and Saturday was their one-year-anniversary of their "finding each other." So romantic. We taught them a lesson, got a solid church commitment (like everyone in Raymondville. BTW, they didn't come to church) and then left. As we were leaving, we they invited us to their Carne Asada (Texas' version of a Barbecue) later that afternoon. As we were walking out, we saw that they had a mattress lying on the side of their home. Earlier that day, Christina's brother, Chano, called us asking if we had any sheets or an extra bed. He was rooming with Christina, but she was moving out and taking all the furniture (as it belonged to her), and now he and all the other guys were left alone in the trailer with absolutely nothing. Luckily, we had a lot of extra bedding and pillows from when we deep cleaned our house, and although we had thrown away most of the "junk," we decided to keep some just in case. We we got the sheets, pillow, and comforter all ready for him, but told him we didn't have a bed. Boy, were we in luck. This mattress was perfect! It wasn't a bed frame, but it would do. We called Chano, telling him we had the stuff, but we just needed to get ahold of someone to deliver the mattress.

We called us President Ramos, who said that he would be willing to help anytime. President Ramos is pretty much the world's biggest Cowboys fan. EVERYTHING in his home, yard, and on his trucks is Cowboys. I think the only time I've haven't seen him wearing Cowboys paraphernalia is on Sunday at church. He said he'd be wiling and for us to just give him a call.

We were about to go take a break, when we decided to take our break later in the day. We stopped by Christina's and she was finally home and packing up all sorts of things. She needed some boxes, so we left on a search to find some. We finally got ahold of about 8 banana boxes from HEB and came back. But by that time, she already was mostly packed up and didn't really need them. It was ok.

Then before our break, we decided to stop by a member, Sister Serrato, whose husband recently was put in jail because he didn't pay $1000 of child support. It's really sad, actually. She loves him so much and misses him a lot. She has 4 young kids, no driver's license, a car that is not legal to drive, so it's very stressful for her. She drives, but if she got caught, then the whole family would be out of luck. He recently was put in jail last week and so it's been pretty hard. We talked with her and shared the Gospel and it helped.

After eating chicken and veggies, and a quick 30 minute power nap, we got a call from Chano (actually, he woke me up from my nap, but it was all good because I would have slept over anyway). He told us that he missed our call. We told him about the stuff we got ahold of and he was SO grateful. "Dang! You got connections." We'd stop by later that day to deliver the stuff. We went to the Carne Asada, taught some more lessons, taught an awesome lesson with Rigo (now dropped... :( ) and the next thing we knew it, it was 8 pm. Presidnet Ramos was finally back from Harlingen and could deliver the mattress. We picked it up and dropped it off to Chano and he was super grateful. Turns out, that he and Ramos are old school buddies. It was a crazy long day, but it was really rewarding to be serving and teaching in so many ways.

I know that this week has really been a trial of my faith. Funny how I'm working on "faith" this transfer. The trial always comes and the witness always comes after the trial. I know that we experienced this week, so that we could appreciate the good. As Eve said in Moses 5:11, "AnWere it not for our transgression we never should have had seed and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient." It's very true. Without the fall of Adam and Ever, there would never be any joy or happiness because we wouldn't have known any better. I'm grateful for the hard times because they make me appreciate the good that much more. What a wonderful plan our Father in Heaven has created for us--it is perfect and really allows us to choose good or evil. We know the difference so that we can truly choose what we want.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Burt

Oh, An Intellectual

2010-03-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

Mom and Family,

Glad to hear that everything is going well. Ok, to first answer your question about the bale of ties from a few weeks back in Brownsville. I thought I explained this a few months ago, but I guess not. A "Bale of Ties" is literally what it sounds: a bale of ties. In Brownsville is the only place where you can buy them. They gather up about 200 pounds of ties and just bundle them together. The majority of the ties are duds, but in every bale there are quite a few amazing ones: nice patterns, silk, brands, etc. I guess they are just ties that the department stores or other stores couldn't sell, so eventually they trickle down the country until they make it to the very tip of Texas. They only cost $20 and the Elders go crazy over them. They all pitch in to by a buy and then just demolish through it to find the good ones. Elders in this mission are frequently wearing Burberry, Prada, Banana Republic, and many other brand names. Very vogue and posh. Haha, so yes. They Elders thought that we would want their left over bale (why, I'm not quite sure), and then gave it to us. We also have a rummaged through bale here in Raymondville that the Elders left in the garage when they moved. We've put them all in garbage bags and it takes about 6 big black garbage bags.

Anyways, things have been going really well here in Raymondville. This past week was amazing and we had so many wonderful, spiritual experiences together. Sister Farr and I get along quite great which is nice. Our home is finally clean and spirit-filled, which makes it relaxing on breaks or at night. I think that mosquito season is beginning because I'm getting bit like crazy. Luckily for me, I'm not a big itcher, so they bite me and it feels annoying, but I don't itch. Other missionaries, though, have crazy scars all over their legs, which is sad. Oh, if you kind of want to see what the town is that I'm serving in, go to Google Maps, and then click "Street view." It will give you an actual picture of every street and what the town looks like.

My camera finally bit the dust. It no longer takes pictures. I guess that's not quite bad considering it was a high school graduation gift--nearly 5 years ago. Don't bother getting me a new one. I just use my companions camera and then we exchange all of the pictures onto my memory card. I just want to save and get a super nice camera when I get home. :)

Raymondville really is such a small town. We'll be talking to members and asking them if they could come out to a lesson with us and they'll ask the person's name. We'll tell them and 9 times out of 10, they'll say, "Oh yeah, I know him." It's hilarious, but it makes it great for fellowshipping. We contacted this high school boy last week outside of his home and introduced ourselves as the missionaries. "Hey, we're the missionaries." "Yeah, I know. They talked about you at school." I was a bit taken back and asked what he meant by that, did they talk about or study Mormons in one of their classes? Or what? He said, "No, people have just been saying that there are new Mormon girls in town." So we definitely are noticed. I didn't think people would really recognize who we were because there haven't been Sister missionaries here for 20 years, but...apparently not.

We were working a street called La Jara in Lyford (the other small town that we also work), and I saw a boy all the way at the end of the street. We were walking to Sister Saldana's home to teach her, but I decided that I needed to contact him. He was walking down the street like Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" with his "nose stuck in a book." Hmmm...I thought to myself. An intellectual. I need to talk about the Book of Mormon. He'd love it. I ran up to him and had to tap him on the shoulder as he was turning into his driveway. Even though I was calling, "Hey!" from down the road, he couldn't hear me because he had his headphones in. As he turned around, I caught a glimpse of the title, "Making Out: A Tips and Tricks Guide." Oh brother. So much for my "he's an intellectual idea."

We met a really cool man the other day named Rigo. He lives in Lyford and has his own welding company. He is really neat and actually, looks exactly like the actor Liam Neeson--but with darker skin. It's crazy. But we met him and he was really excited for us to come back. Before our appointment, he called us asking if we "had one of those Mormon Bibles, but in English." Turns out that the missionaries taught him a few years ago, but gave him only a Spanish version. He came to church and some activities. So we taught him and he was thrilled to learn more. He accepted a Baptismal date on the first short visit and even before we left was asking us so many questions about baptism: what your wear, what you do, etc. It was great. We're visiting him tonight, and I'm really excited to see where it goes.

Last week, we were in Lyford and saw that the circus was in town. We were stoked to go on Pday because there hasn't been much to do here. Well, Wednesday night we had coordination with the ward and afterwards, the ward mission leader invited the missionaries to Dairy Queen (a weekly tradition). We had already accidentally scheduled an appointment at 8:00, right after and couldn't go. We started driving to the appointment in Lyford. This man was one of the new investigators that the old Elders found a week before we came. Since then, we hadn't been able to find him. It was 3 weeks and we were ready to drop him, but we finally found him and he was excited to see us. That's why we set the appointment for Wed. at 8 because he works a lot and that was the only time. We started driving there and noticed that the Circus was in full swing! We also heard news that the circus was only going to stay one day. Bummer! We were SO tempted to just stop by and look at the elephants and tigers--since we weren't going to get the chance later. But, we decided that that was NOT a good idea. We drove up to his house and it appeared no one was home. "We should just leave and go to Dairy Queen with the other missionaries. He's probably not even home." But I wouldn't allow that thought to last because that's what I thought about Charlie and Connie and they got baptized! We knocked and he was there. The whole family was there: mom, dad, and kids. All gathered around us in their kitchen chairs, eagerly listening. The wife--Dora--actually opened up to up and explained her frustrations about why there were so many churches. It was a great lesson. We left and went back to the car, so thrilled about our new family we found. We realized that Satan tried to put a lot of obstacles--one of them as big as a big top...literally!--to prevent us from teaching this family! I'm grateful that we were able to pass through the trial of our faith and diligence and reap the rewards.

Well, my time is up. I love you all. This has been such a great experience for me. I'm grateful for my Savior and that if we come unto him, he always has a better way prepared. 3 Nephi 9:13 says, "Repent that I may heal you." That is true is all senses.

Love you so much!

Sister Morgan Burt

2010-03-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

Family,

I'm stressed out right now because the computers here in Raymondville are lame and some of them don't have the right settings for the new MyLDSMail. Yeah, it's really getting me stressed out because we don't have hardly any time and pday and I already get stressed out enough as it is, but this is just throwing a wrench in my plans... ugh...

Anyways...things in Raymondville (have you noticed nealy all my areas have ended with "ville" haha) are doing the same. There's stilll about 5 million random stray dogs and cats all over, I nearly got bit by one, I contacted someone while he was giving another guy a tattoo. All in a day's work in Raymondville.

Ok, first things first. Remember that awesome old, golden couple--Connie and Charlie--that we found our last week in Beeville? Well, I was looking at "The Harvester"--the mission newsletter that we get each transfer at Zone Conference and it shows all the baptisms in the mission...and they got baptized in January! I was SO excited when I read it, I felt like crying. It's really cool to see and imagine them. I guess I wasn't the one who got the harvest, but Sister Call and I were the one who started cultivating the seed. I've heard news like this for other former investigators: Brenda and Maria (Margarita's daughters from McAllen, remember, the 10 year old who would read in the Book of Mormon all the time?), they got baptized! (Margarita, I guess is still waiting on getting divorced, but in the other Sisters visiting, the dad eventually started listening. Turns out, the reason he seemed uninterested before was because he's illiterate and doesn't know how to read.) So yes, the Lord's work continue's on, even though the missionaries leave.

So last Wednesday was Zone Conference. Sister Farr really has been wanting some highlights in her hair since she found out that Sister Bustillos (a professional hair stylist) gave me some in Beeville (which have long since grown out...yikes!). Well, she wanted to buy a box of hair dye and I was not cool of that because that's just not good for your hair. Then she wanted to go to a place to get them done, but when she found out that they would cost $45, she lost interest. Well, last Tuesday after District Meeting, we all went out to eat with a Sr. Couple--The Ott's--who were leaving for their home the next day. Right outside of Cici's Pizza Buffett was a Sally's. We ran in and bought a one time use supply of hair bleach. Then that night, she wanted me to give her blonde hightlights. Now, what is the problem with this situation? Oh yeah, right, I'm not a hair stylist, nor do I know how to give hightlights. I think I did ONCE, for Brittney, Alex's sister, where Alex and I (at the same time) gave her highlights. Haha, I had the left side and she had the right. I'm sure you can imagine how those turned out.... Anyways, I've had my hair done since I was 13 and so I have seen it done so many times before. I mean, in THEORY, I know how to give highlights. But then again, in theory communism works...in theory. But I just trusted myself: I was going to give her a partial and put extra blondness around the crown to brighten up her face. She already is pretty blonde naturally, so it wouldn't take that long to process. We bought 30 developer for the bleach. Alright, so I got our foils ready, got the little bowl of bleach all mixed up and started dividing her hair into three sections. Sides and then front. I started doing it and realized after the first one that this might be a little harder than I thought. I think I took about 10 minutes on the first weave. Yikes, at this rate, by the time I get to the other side, her hair on THIS side is going to be fried. But I hurried and finally got into a groove and got the hang of it. Now during this whole time, one of our investigators, (well, not officially) called us (it's around 9:45 pm) and started asking Sister Farr all sorts of questions. It was funny because he could hear the foil in the background and he asked, "What are you doing?" and she was embarrased to say that she was getting her hair done so said, "Making pasta." Haha, nice cover. Anyways, in the middle of this, I look into the kitchen and see this giant black thing skuttle over from under the stove to the fridge. I start freaking out saying, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh." Sister Farr immediately thinks that I had done something to her hair and says, "What did you do? What happened?" But I didn't have time to talk. I ran over and grabbed our "roach shoe."--an old shoe that the Elders left behind. Anyways, I thought it was a spider, but then again, it didn't move like a spider. I moved the fridge out--fearing that whatever it was was going to climb up my leg--and there I saw it: a GIANT 3 inch cockroach...probably the mother of them all. Well, I'm sure you know what happened next: I wacked that thing with the shoe and then hurried back to finish Sister Farr's hair that was still processing during this whole fiasco. Anyways, that's my story. And how did her hair turn out, you ask? Actually, she's OBSESSED with it and it looks SO good. Turns out knowing the theory DOES work in practice.

Yesterday Sister Farr and I were walking down a street that we had partially contacted. We finished it and started walking back. But I had something tell me that we needed to contact this one house. Usually, we contacts full streets and then move onto another street. If one house is on the street we are working on (perhaps a side door or something), but the front door or mailbox is on another street, we wait until later when we contact that other street. That's what happened with this little white house. It wasn't TECHNICALLY on the street we were one. But I said, "Let's go contact it." So we did and there was a couple with a baby inside. They invited us in and we taught them about the Restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon. It was just the last lesson we needed to complete our weekly goals. I was so excited and glad that I followed the Spirit's prompting to go knock it.

Earlier this week, we knocked on a door about 7:45 pm. I'm not a big fan of contacting people at night becuase to me--personally--it's a bit creepy to have two girls wearing coats standing outside in the dark on your porch (one member said that when he looked through the peephole, we looked like Jawa's from Star Wars). Anyways, we knocked on this woman, Maria, and she invited us in. There was something off about her house (and I'm not talking about the dog stench that she was apologizing about). We started talking a bit and asked if we could give a prayer. She said, "Yeah, I guess that's ok. I don't do it." Well, it became evident through asking her questions that she didn't believe in God. It was sad. We tried teaching her about how God exists and loves her. But when we asked her her feelings about it, she said, "Honestly, I'm frustrated that your trying to force your beliefs on me." We definitely weren't doing that. We left, leaving her a pamplet about the Plan of Salvation and an invitation to pray. Immediately after, we went and taught the Branch President and his wife and the difference in the home was SO different. It was evident what was missing in that other woman's home: the SPIRIT! She had completely distanced herself from God that she wasn't even able to have any sort of Spirit or Light of Christ in her home. It was sad and made me grateful for the knownledge that there IS a God. That he lives and loves each of us. As King Benjamin taught in Mosiah 4:9, "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

I know that God lives. He is our loving Father in Heaven. He has a remarkable and perfect plan for our happiness. The fruit of the Gospel is so good, if only we would reach out to grab it. I love you all.

Adios from Texas,

Sister Burt

Ok, I'm SUPER Happy Right Now

2010-02-22T12:05:00.001-07:00

Hey,

So first of all, the reason I'm SO happy and excited right now because the church finally changed their old, ancient myldsmail.net email server to a new one that is powered by GMAIL! So it's WAY fast, super sleek, and it looks, acts, and has all the features of Gmail. So yes, if anyone knew me before my mission, I was so obsessed with using all the computer shortcuts and extra features to make using the computer faster and easier. Well, FINALLY my dream has come true. I've spend the last 15 minutes here customizing my email to have all the features that I was used to before my mission. Seriously, this is going to make emailing SO much more enjoyable for me. :)

I guess first thing's first, Happy Birthday, Marshall! Wow, I can't believe that you are 18-years-old already. How did that happen? But, I'm super excited for you. No, I don't have a present for you (YET! I'm working on it) and, yes, I know that I still owe you that scooter from a few birthday's ago (you always remind me), but I hope that it's a good one! And know that I love you and miss you a ton.

Anyways, this week was been really good. Raymondville is a sweet place. I mean, coming to Texas, I couldn't have imagined or wanted anything else. Oh house is coming along, but we've sort of gotten exhausted from cleaning and lost our gusto. The cockroach problem is slowing down and honestly, the cockroaches have never bothered me. Compared to some of the people's homes who we visits--who have cockroaches crawling ALL over the wall, floors, and counters, ours is not bad at all. And ever since I saw WALL-E, and saw Wall-e's little cockroach friend, they haven't really bugged me. Haha. But anyways, we haven't lost our gusto for missionary work. This week, we worked so much harder that the week prior and we witnessed a lot of miracles and had great success.

We had a baptism yesterday, a woman named Maria Saldana. She was already ready to be baptized before we got there, but we still helped her these past two weeks to prepare and get ready. It was really neat and the branch was excited to have another baptism (they've actually had a lot in the past few months). The Elder who was in my area before me for 8 months had 16 baptisms, which is pretty remarkable to me. Oh, I just remembered, the last week of January we had a baptism: a young guy named Jesus. He had been investigating the church for a while and finally when I got there, I was pretty bold and upfront with him and he finally decided that he did want to be baptized. So even though my stint in Brownsville was short, I feel that it was very successful.

Last week I hit my one-year mark. It's pretty crazy that I've been out a year. It's gone by so fast and I honestly, don't even have that much time left. It makes me want to focus that much more and work that much harder. I'm super excited and I hope that I stay here and finish my mission here. I actually hope that Sister Farr and I will be together 2-3 transfers. I think that that most likely will happen though because we're both new in this area and I don't think that President would take one of us out so fast, but then again, you never know.

Man, I feel like I should just stop writing to you about all of my investigators because every time that I write about someone who I think is super cool, they fall off the face of the earth. I haven't even been able to see Dolly or Carmelo since the last email. But we found some more new investigators, so we'll see what happens.

Here's a cool story. We were walking on this street trying to find a referral. The few days before, one of our zone leaders was talking about the reason why the Assistants baptize so much, even though they hardly even do much proselyting (only from 6-9 at night, rather than the entire day). He was talking about it and wrote really big on the board, "Because the TALK to EVERYONE they see." It really hit me and I decided that I would start talking to everyone I saw, whether they were in their car, on their phone, "busy", etc. Well, we were walking to this house and I saw this old woman and man coming out of their scary, apartments (I honestly thought they were abandoned). I walked up to them and said hi. I saw that the woman, Sylvia, was carrying this giant bag on her shoulder and her husband was walking behind with a cane. I asked if they needed any help. She looked at me and said, "YES! Can you give us a ride to the doctor?" Unfortunately, we can't give people rides in the church's cars, so I said, "Well, no, but we can walk with you and I'll carry your bag." She was VERY grateful for it and heaped her bag on me. It wasn't that heavy, but it was loaded to the brim with TONS of groceries. She understood the reason why we couldn't give her a ride and actually mentioned, "Oh it's a church car" before I even explained. It was rainy, wet, dark day and we were sort of in a more abandoned part of town. But Sister Farr and I started walking with them to the doctors. "It's just across the road." We started walking and walking and talking about the church. They were interested and had lots of questions. We past the main street and started walking on the south side of town. We kept walking and walking and by this point, the bag was starting to get a bit heavy. She kept saying, "Wow, you are SO strong!" Finally, after about 20 minutes and crossing a few major roads, we arrived at the doctor's office. She gave us a kiss on the cheek and was so grateful for us. She said she wouldn't have been able to make it with all the groceries by herself. I know that even though that's a part of town we don't normally go to, there was reason why we were there that day and that time. We set a return appointment with them and will visit them this week. I felt like the picture of the two sister missionaries in Preach My Gospel Chapter 9 who are holding the groceries of an elderly woman. Service is a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel and open people's hearts to Christ. As King Benjamin teaches us, "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God (Mosiah 2:17)." They can feel the Spirit when they serve you or when you serve them, which prepares them to hear the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It prepares them to put their burdens upon the Savior, whose "yolk is light."

Well, I love you all and appreciate everyone's prayers and support. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I promise you that I will. I know that the best deterrent for discouragement is spiritual experiences. So if anyone is discouraged or down this week, do something so that you can have a spiritual experience. It will lift and bolster you and the Comforter will come in greater portions to tell you what you should do.

Love,

Sister Burt

It Smells Like Boy in Here

2010-02-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

Howdy from Raymondville! Yep, I’ve been transferred and Sister Farr and I are whitewashing Raymondville. My last area and branch had a few problems due to a MAJOR lack of Priesthood (it caused a LOT of problems), so President switched Elders from Raymondville to Brownsville, and Sisters from Brownsville to Raymondville. It’s a coincidence that I happened to move from the area that was closing to the area that was opening. But we are really excited!

Sister Farr and I were roommates in Brownsville, she was in a different area in Brownsville that I was and was companions with Sister Amitoelau. We got to know each other pretty well, but not that well. She is from Salem, OR and loves hunting. Her favorite animal is an elk (go figure haha). She doesn’t like spiders though; to quote her, “I don’t get it, I can kill an elk, but I can’t kill a little spider.” At first we sort of butted heads because we are kind of both stubborn and want our way, but we really really really want this companionship to work out and we knew that the little differences we had aren’t even that big of a thing. So we’ve made it a goal to talk very openly about all things dealing with the companionship. The first week was a bit awkward because we were getting it all out there, but this week, all the “little” dumb things are in the past and we are SO ready to get out and work. It’s been really good because I tend to be a “ball hog” at times and just prefer to talk and teach the whole lesson by myself. I guess I’ve kind of sort of had to do it because I’ve had some companions who won’t talk or say anything during certain times. I kept cutting her off or talking forever during lessons and that really bothered her because she said that every single one of her companions (besides Sister Amitoelau) did that to her. At first, when hearing things like this, the “natural man” (or woman, in my case) starts shouting up from inside me, getting mad and trying to defend myself. But I’ve really worked on being humble, honest, accepting feedback genuinely, and changing without being stubborn or putting up a big fight. So it’s gone both ways, but just by talking about it openly (she isn’t very confrontational and so with other companions, she had just held it in and it never got better—an attitude which is the opposite of me). So I have told her to just be open and honest and talk about it when it happens, and so that’s been really good for her and the companionship. Now don’t get me wrong, it sounds like we don’t really get along that well, but we actually get along SO great. Just the first week, it’s just the awkwardness of getting used to each other and how the other person teaches. But we are so unified, happy, supportive, respectful and dedicated to each other. That’s the way it should be.

We have really been focusing on what our desires our—something that our last Zone Leader, Elder Reilly (random sidenote: he plays football for Colorado State), taught us. He focused a LOT last transfer about what our desires are: to find out what they are do, if that’s really what we want, we will accomplish them. The human mind is such a powerful thing and if we really want something bad enough, we will do everything in our power to make it happen. That is true for both Sister Farr and I: we have desires to baptize lots of people here in Raymondville, to work the hardest that we ever have before, to be more unified as companions that ever, to build that unity. We have talked a lot this past week about what our desires and goals are and have written them down (because there is so much power in just writing the goal down to help it become actualized). We are EXPECTING to see miracles this transfer because we have faith in our desires, faith in Jesus Christ, faith that they can be achieved and faith that as we go out and show our faith—through diligent, consistent effort—that we will see results.

So more about Raymondville: it’s a small town with about 9000 people. There is one set of Elders and one set of Sisters here; they have the East side (plus a few adjacent small towns) and we have the West side (plus one other small town called Lyford). Everyone in town knows the missionaries. The first day that we were here, we went to lunch with the other Elders and as we were walking to the restaurant, everyone was saying “Hey Elders,” or “How’s it going, Elders?” It was funny: they aren’t members, but it’s such a small town that it’s easy to get to know who they are. I think it will take them a lot longer to recognize us and who we are because we don’t stand out as much (we actually wear colors and different outfits, rather than the same shirt and tie all day, every day). The people are really nice, it’s probably half Spanish, half English. I’m not quite sure. Our Zone Leader used to serve here for a long time and said that he believes Raymondville is one of the best areas in the mission. The branch is growing a lot and he said that he believes (and President, as well) that this branch will grow to become the strongest ward in the stake. They have a lot of faith in this branch because the members and the recent converts are absolutely amazing. So, that got us excited to. It’s been 15 years since Sisters were here.

The branch is pretty small. I’m not quite sure if it’s a Spanish branch or an English branch. Haha, seriously, it’s the most hilarious thing. I think it’s the Raymondville Tex-Mex branch. Sunday was a hoot. The branch president was speaking the greatest mix of Tex Mex you ever did hear. Then for the hymns, the people just sang them in whatever language worked best for them: you speak English, sing it in English; you speak Spanish, hey, why not, sing your little hear out in Spanish. Then one talk was in pure English, another in Spanish, another in Tex Mex. Awesome. Gospel Principles was English, but Relief Society was pure Spanish. It’s definitely probably the most unique branch in the church—at least, that I’ve ever been to.

Ok, so let me tell you about our living situation. So we live in a house that the Elders used to live in: 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage—it’s super nice. Well, in theory, it should be super nice…IF the Elders knew how to clean. We got in and it was so dark, dingy and dirty. The first thing I was said was, “Ew, it smells like boy in here.” The floors had stains, mud, dirt, junk all over them. My sink had layers upon layers of grossness and whiskers were everywhere. I cleaned my sink from all the whiskers, but then 5 minutes later, they all appeared again. The kitchen and bathrooms had rust, grime and mold everywhere. And oh…the cockroach problem…special. We got in and there were cockroaches climbing around in the kitchen every so often. We tried to kill them, but of course they keep coming back (it’s definitely a lot more under control now because of the major deep cleaning that we have started). We looked in all the cupboards and there were literally HUNDREDS of dead roach carcasses in them. That grossed us out too much, so we took out all the plates, dishes, utensils, etc and cleaned everything by hand; we bleached the cupboards; bought caulk to fill in all the gaps that the roaches use to climb up into and in between the cupboards. Cleaning this apartment has been a huge chore. At first it really bothered us because we couldn’t really feel comfortable in this home or the Spirit. So during our lunch breaks we clean; for morning exercise, we clean; before we go to bed, we clean; all day pday, we cleaned. We still aren’t done. The best thing has been the floors (we’re ALMOST done), but they are white tile, but they were so dirty, they looked grayish brown. So we got on our hands and knees and cleaned and scrubbed the floors like there was no other. It looks great! We have been organizing and gutting the place of random junk. The best part: it doesn’t smell like boy anymore! Now it’s a mix between cleaning supplies and girl. Oh and by the way, the Elders laughed really hard when we told them it smelled like boy. Later they told us that a few weeks ago, they had a cologne war. Some member gave an Elder this atrocious cologne and then another Elder got a Axe body spray kit, so they went around the house spraying each other with it. By the end of their fun, the stench was so bad that they had to open up all the windows to air out the house. Apparently, it wasn’t enough because the stench still lingered. Oh well, we’re taking care of it now. But don’t get me wrong, I really am so excited for this house; we really are incredibly blessed to have a house. I know that there are missionaries (and people), in remote places like Mexico and Africa who have to wash their clothes using a washboard and don’t have running water. I have no room to complain. But, I still have this stewardship that I need to take care of. It looks like we have 10 talents here, while others have 1 or 5.

The work here has been really great. The people are very open and accepting. We have focused on being BOLD, teaching with the Spirit and not wasting our time with the unprepared. Our time as missionaries is short and so we don’t have time to waste. We are here to find the prepared, not to find people to prepare. It’s been cool to sift threw investigators and potential investigators. We’ve taught lots of people already and in the past we would have counted them all as new investigators, and gone back to try to convince them. But we’ve really been focusing on seeing if they’re ready. Sure, people LOVE to invite the missionaries in and hear the word of God, but that doesn’t mean that they are going to believe it or do anything about the invitations we leave them. We still teach all that will accept us, but by the end of our short, powerful lessons, we are able to tell whether it’s worth our time to come back. We leave them with our number, the address of the church and a pamphlet, for that day in the future when perhaps they are ready to be “doers of the word, rather than just hearers.” (James 1:22).

We have some amazing investigators that we have found as a result. Two of them we found on our first day: Dolly and Carmelo who are brother and Sister. They are probably about in their 60s. It’s so funny to visit them because they live with their 96-year-old mother and all their other siblings. So there is this huge row of couches when your enter and she’s sitting there (completely out of it), and then all the other siblings (apparently, the older siblings, perhaps in their late 70s) are also sitting there out of it. Dolly and Carmelo are very coherent and actually interested. At first, we came and taught Dolly, and Carmelo was sitting in the corner, appearing as though he wasn’t listening. We came back and he was ready and said that he read “a little” of the pamphlet. Immediately he starts going into how he learned about Apostasy, had questions about where the plates were, Jospeh Smith, etc. His main obstacle is that he doesn’t believe that Christ’s atonement covers him. He is a Vietnam veteran and has so much guilt from all the killing he did that he doesn’t think he can be forgiven. It is going to be really cool to teach both of them.

Well, I’m overdue on time. I love you all and am excited to see miracles in this area. This church is true and missionary work is the greatest thing that someone could do with their time. As Hinckley says, “It’s the greatest investment you can ever make on your life.”…or something like that.
Love you so much! Till next week!

Love,
Sister Burt

Googley Eyes

2010-02-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

A Dog Named Pulgas

2010-02-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

Alright family!
Hey! Well things are going pretty well over here. We get transfer calls sometime today and the rumor is that President is taking Sisters out of our area and putting in Elders (because there is NO Priesthood in the branch). The Assistants called us a few days ago asking about the area and “if we were to split it,” where would it be best to be split?” So we may get split, or we may go. Who knows.

Well, I forgot to tell you a cool part about Barbie’s story. Ok, so in the beginning of the lesson with Sister Amitoelau, we were explaining the Book of Mormon. I walked over and handed her the copy of the Book of Mormon and right after she had it in her hands and put it on top of her Bible, the room got brighter. She was sitting underneath a ceiling light and it instantly got brighter. It was so cool. I took the moment to say, “Did you just see what happened to that light? I know that that is no coincidence that the light got brighter. That is exactly what the Book of Mormon does to our understanding about the Bible and Jesus Christ.” It was a really cool experience. They tried to say that “oh the light randomly does that,” but I made sure to help them see the connection. To me, it was not a coincidence, but rather, a manifestation from God.
So random stuff that happens here that I’ll share. We have an investigator who has a dog named Pulgas. “Pulgas” is Spanish means “fleas.” Haha, nice. We eat with a member couple every Wednesday called the “Castillos.” It’s kind of interesting because they live in Matamoros, Mexico but go to the Branch here in Texas. We go to a different restaurant (our choice!) each week. It’s pretty cool and they’re a really neat family. Also, people here eat Corn Tortillas with EVERYTHING and they eat them by the pound. At the beginning of my mission, I did not approve of corn tortillas, I thought they were too small and too bland. But now, holy cow, I can’t get enough, they aren’t bland, but rather “rica!” Seriously, I had a flour tortilla the other day and almost gagged, not delicious.

Anyways, Barbie is doing ok. We were only able to teach her once this week. She was able to get the better work schedule! Starting Thursday, she will be working in the mornings from 7-3 and not at night anymore! Yay, but then again, she said she might be working Sundays, so I hope not. I shared 1 Nephi 3:7 with her and explained that God wants her to come to church and that SHE wants to come to church, so that God will help her to obey this commandment. She was all excited to come to church, but said it depended on how she felt after work (she got out at 7 am), because she’s pregnant and really tired. She didn’t come on Sunday, but I still have high hopes for her (and Jessie, once he starts putting a little bit of faith into it). If the area gets split, she will go to the Elders, which is a bummer, but I’ve learned to not throw a fit about things because it’s all the Lord’s will. Just learn the lesson I need to learn and help the people I need to help, and all will work out.

Oh, here’s a random story. So last Wednesday, before eating with the Castillos, we were contacting a street called Katy. We saw this women dressed in a nice business suit, sitting outside with 2 men. The men were signing something, but we asked if we could come in and give them something. We started talking to her and quickly the men shuffled into the corner with their papers. We just assumed they wanted a little privacy, no biggie. Very soon after talking to her, the men came and said in Spanish, “Well, obviously, you think they are more important than us. We don’t want to rent the house anymore, we want our deposit back.” They grabbed the money back from her hand, shoved the clipboard to her and walked away. I tried to talk to them before they left to see if we could share something with them, but they ignored me as if I didn’t exist. When we started talking to the women again, and said that we were SO sorry about that. That now because of us, she lost her contract with those me. She said, “Oh no, thank you!” She then begins to tell us that she didn’t think these men were being honest with her and that they were lying about certain information to get the house. She actually didn’t even want to rent to them and that morning she didn’t even want to show up, but her husband told her to go. Then when she go there, she said that she was praying the whole time that someone would come and interrupt them so that she could leave. And right as she said that prayer in her mind, we showed up. I know that Heavenly Father answers all of our prayers. She didn’t accept our invitation to share the Gospel, yet she still recognized us as an answer to her prayer.

Anyways, I don’t have much time left. Sorry this has been a short email. I’ve just spent the majority of the time emailing the pictures (I would have just saved the other Hermana’s pictures to my memory card, but the Library here blocks that ability…). But this has been a really good week, I think that Sister Lopez and I will still be together because Sister Amitoelau said, “God has you stay with your companions until you learn the lesson you need to learn from them.” I believe that’s true and I haven’t really learned the lesson I need to from her yet.

I know that Christ lives and this is his true Gospel. I’ve seen it change lives and being a missionary, it still continues to refine and change me. That’s what I love about the Gospel. We can always become better.

Love,
Sister Burt

Pictures

2010-02-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Pictures from Morgan! Here they are in no particular order! Enjoy

Oh, the infamous Elder Palikiko-Fletcher (from Hawaii), we're not sure how we feel about you wearing tight pants and cowboy boots on pday....seriously....

our mural of Jesus.

That picture before was from when me and Sister Farr were sick...no fun. This one is of me!

Gotta love the end of transfer District pictures.

This one is I think my favorite.

I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to get sick of GIANT platters of meat...

Look what the Elders brought over...half a bale of ties...

Where's Sister Burt?!

I have the POWER!

Fight of the transfer: Sister Burt vs. Sister Amitoelau

Pics!

2010-02-01T12:32:00.001-07:00

I don't get this sign.

The Church we go to for Spanish branch. Yes, it's blue.

Elder Vera threw the keys on the roof before district meeting. He claims he was trying to avoid hitting sister Lopez. Seriously, this week and keys. No Good!

I accidentally left the keys in the house on exchange day with Sister Ami. This is her trying to use her ghetto skills to jummy the lock. Oh and FYI, later that week, I locked the keys in the car too. I blame the sickness.

This is the most random corner of our apartment. Our table: the hot sauce selection, the random Disney table cloth (plastic) that was sent to me, and our temple mural. Classy.

We're teaching a Barbie!

2010-02-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

Alright Family!

Ok, so this transfer has been the fastest (surprisingly), but this week was the SLOWEST ever! Gosh. I was SICK all week, on and off, and it was so disappointing. Ok, so remember how I told you I was all excited to work out, play soccer with the Elders, etc. So…apparently, I over-exhausted myself. I wake up at 6:00 am and work out, then one Monday mornings, we clean the apartment from 6:30 to 7ish. Alright, cool, no biggie. Well then, it was SUPER HOT outside and we went to the big rec park and played “Ultimate Sports” with the Elders. No one wanted to play soccer and run that much, so we created this game that is kind of like Ultimate Frisbee, but the field is way shorter (where the team benches usually are on a soccer field). You can pretty much do whatever you want, but you can’t move with the ball unless it’s on the ground. You can kick it, throw it, headbutt it, whatever. It was actually SUPER fun and I played hardcore—running back and forth—for 2 hours. Not to mention that before that, I ran a mile around this big water thing while we were waiting for the Elders, then played Freeze tag on the jungle gym with the Sisters. Let’s just say, it’s been a long while since I’ve been able to enjoy myself physically speaking, so I’ve been loving it down here.

Well, it was all too much of a good thing apparently. Later that pday, I started getting a cough. I thought it was just an “exercise cough,” the kind you get when you start exercising again because you’re lungs are used to all the exercise. Well, that quickly turned into—practically!—laryngitis and I could barely talk at all. I had this killer horse, dry cough that sounded like a dying old man. I couldn’t even sing because the notes were all too high for me. So lessons, I wasn’t too productive. I had a fever on and off, but not really. That first night, I couldn’t sleep till 1 am, so the rest of the week I took Nyquil to put me to bed because—let’s be honest—I need my sleep! I kept trying to truck though it, yet my voice wasn’t much better. It turned from no voice, to a “Patti and Selma”-type voice from the Simpsons (you know, Marge’s sisters who are hard core, chain smokers). Yeah, it was beautiful. By Friday, I was not feeling good at all and my lungs started hurting, I don’t know whether from all the coughing or what. So I stayed in that day. Sister Farr stayed with me while the other sisters worked in both of our areas. Honestly, I slept all day and then bought ice cream for my throat. So exciting. Then Saturday, I worked but any improvement that I made, left because it got really cold here—plus all the talking and singing was rough on my vocal chords. So Sunday, I still had the lung/chest pain (don’t worry, Friday, I got some antibiotics from the Doctor), so I just went to the Spanish ward, and then went on splits again and went to the Sister’s ward in the afternoon. Then I just stayed in because I didn’t want to risk it. It was a good thing. Sister Ami and I actually got a lot of projects finished and today, I feel nearly 100%. But geez, it started a week ago…Being sick is cool and fun off the mission, but on the mission, it is the biggest waste of time. I’m glad it’s over. So don’t worry, I won’t be playing sports today and I’ll be talking it easy on the exercise and such this week.

Well, I forgot to mention but Thursday we went on official exchanges with the Sisters. I wasn’t feeling that great on Thursday, but I was SO excited to work with Sister Amitoelau in my area, that I just plowed through. It was SOO fun and awesome. She’s been out one transfer less than me and is a great missionary. We had an instant bond and taught in such unity. It was like we had been companions forever! We taught one particular lesson which was so spiritual and powerful that it shocked us both. I really am grateful for that chance I had to learn and teach with her because it helped me a lot.

Alrighty, so I know that I promised the story about Barbie and Jessie, so here it goes. Usually, when I have a super awesome story, but put it off till the next week, the “super awesome” investigators, usually have dropped us, have major doubts, etc. and then the story isn’t as cool anymore. Well, not this time! It’s even better!

So we met Barbie one day while working in a little suburb called Olmito, just north of our Brownsville. We went looking for a referral, but the house number didn’t exist, so we just worked the street. It was all Spanish, but then we get to this one house and I notice a decal on the back of a red car that said, “Barbie.” I thought it was cute and moved on. Then her doormat said, “Go Away!” “Great…” I thought, “I wonder what type of person this is.” We knocked and Barbie answered, this cute 26-year-old girl who is pregnant. She invited us in and we talked for a bit. We found out that she and her husband just got married and they are Catholic. I kept feeling that we wouldn’t even be able to teach a lesson because she would say, “Yeah, we’re Catholic, no thanks.” But that didn’t happen (Oh me of little faith). Anyways, we started talking about Eternal Families and gave her a Family Proclamation. She then started saying that she and her husband got married about 6 months ago. But since she is a dispatch for 9-1-1 and works nights, they weren’t able to go to church for a really long time. So they just got married by the justice of the peace. They went back later to get married by the church, and the church said that they couldn’t get married by the church, neither could they take the sacraments because they were “living in sin” because they weren’t married by the church. They left feeling horrible; “I thought we were doing a good thing by getting married.” I immediately jumped on this opportunity to tell her about the sacredness of marriage. We started talking about Eternal Families and gave her a Family Proclamation. I told her that God is very proud that she is married to her husband because the purpose of marriage is to have children, but then I also told her that her marriage can last for time and all eternity. She was interested and had lots of questions. I made sure that she recognized the relief and absence of guilt after having heard this truth. I asked her how she felt about her church and it’s stance on her marriage and she said she wasn’t happy at all. They actually have been thinking about switching to a Christian church because they see how all their Christian friends are happier and more devoted to their religion—plus, she doesn’t like how strict her church is. So anyways, we left and made an appointment for the next day when her husband would be there.
The next day we arrived and they were both anxiously awaiting us. Jessie even made sure that he finished all of his errands to be back in time. We taught a first lesson, focusing on Authority—that God gives his priesthood authority to prophets by the laying on of hands. I use the “Gospel Art Book” in ALL of my lesson (seriously, it’s completely CHANGED my mission. People are such visual learners and it’s awesome to be teaching about prophets, Jesus, the First Vision, etc. and just whip out a picture of it right then and there for them to see). So I only showed pictures of prophets passing on the authority (Moses giving it to Aaron; Jesus to Peter; Peter, James, and John to Joseph Smith). They loved the lesson and had tons of questions and were definitely willing and open to learn and PRAY. They kept saying, “Wow, I never knew about Joseph Smith or all of this.” It was awesome. I left so ecstactic.

The next lesson we had with them was Thursday and Sis. Amitoelau was my companion. We followed up with them and the first thing Barbie said was that she didn’t buy Joseph Smith. She didn’t quite believe it. We thanked her and him for being so honest and open with us. It’s great when investigators tell you straight up what their doubts are. It makes things a whole lot easier. So we taught the Book of Mormon--something that we slightly mentioned and introduced, but didn’t teach in the prior lesson. We went pretty in detail only because they had questions and wanted to know. Sis. Amitoelau shared a very personal experience about how she was wayward and homeless (and I’m assuming, slightly involved in gangs) because she left the church, but then she prayed and God helped her. Then she prayed to know if it was all true and got an incredible answer. It definitely handled their doubt to “but you’ve been in this church since you were born.” We ended by doing something we never have done in a lesson before: showing the last 10 minutes of the movie “Testaments” when Jesus Christ comes to the America’s. The Spirit during the WHOLE lesson was SO strong and after, they kept saying, “Wow, I never knew about any of this. I didn’t know about these stories. I WANT to read it to know if it’s true.” So, we left, again ecstatic about their progress.

Then Saturday we were in the area again and stopped by. Just Barbie was there and said, “Oh good, you’re here. I have some questions about church.” She wanted to know which dress was appropriate. She said that even though she gets off work at 7 am, she is going to come to church at 9 NEXT SUNDAY (meaning this upcoming week) and bring her niece. Jessie is a bit more skeptical than her, so he said for her to go first and check it out and then he’d come. It’s really cool to see how they are prepared and willing. She even wanted to get her niece baptized by the Catholic church, but since the niece’s parents aren’t going to church or married by the church, they’re living in sin and so the daughter can’t be baptized. It’s sad. I just keep thinking of Article of Faith 2: We believe that man must be punished for his own sins, and not for Adam’s (or his parents!) transgressions. The niece is 8 and I’m positive will become a new investigator soon. So yeah, Barbie totally has read the Book of Mormon, compared parts in the Bible with Jessie and defended it to him. He said, “Yeah, I don’t believe it.” She said, “Well, do you believe this? (pointing to the Bible)” “Yes, of course.” “Well,” she said, “who wrote this. MEN!” And who do you think wrote the Book of Mormon? Men! Joseph Smith found those tablets an wrote this.” (I’ll have to double clarify with her that he didn’t write it, but rather translated it, but either way, she’s defending it nonetheless!) So yeah, she’ll be coming to church this week and I’m so excited!

So my commitment for you all, please pray for Barbie and Jessie this week. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted someone to be baptized more than this couple. They’re so awesome, and yes still have doubts, but they are actually willing and open which is nice.

Anyways, my time is running out, I guess. I’m glad I got to share that story with you, I know that miracles and great things will happen in the future—ending with me going to their temple sealing in a year from now! ;) But I know this Gospel is true and that it changes lives. I know that God is in the details of our lives and even though I was sick this week, the Lord helped both us and the sisters and we had one of the most amazing weeks ever!

Love XOXOXO,
Sister Burt

We Meet Again, Buzz Lightyear, for the LAST time!

2010-01-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

How’s it all going? Wow, this week went by super fast, didn’t it? Things have been pretty good. Sister Amitoelau and I have been cutting out all junk and stuff (except the things that members feed us), are on a pretty strict meal plan, and exercising like crazy in the mornings. I blame the soccer adventure from last week. It has been one week of it and we feel great! The only downside is that we drink a gallon of water a day, so we have to go pee pretty frequently, but what can you do?

So, hmm. Random info about Texas. So here, it’s a huge Mexican population, obviously. The people here are OBSESSED with Chile on everything. Super hot sauce is a staple here. At first, I wasn’t a fan because before my mission, I didn’t even salt or pepper my food, never ate chips with even mild salsa because I was just too lazy. Well, now, boy have the tables turned. All of us are OBSESSED and in our kitchen table, we have 5 different bottles of hot sauce that we use for every meal. It’s pretty funny, I’ll have to send a picture. Oh, the kids here LOVE flaming hot Cheetos and are always eating it (with a spoon out of the bag, go figure). I’d never tried them before because I always thought they were way too ridiculously hot. But I tried some the other week and they hot enough! I was disappointed. So what do you think I did? I went and grabbed the bottle of hot sauce and dumped it on it.

Alright, so yesterday was Stake Conference and Elder Pearson from the 70 came. Everyone knows how much I’m obsessed with 70s or any general authority, so I was pretty excited. Actually, I heard him talk twice in the MTC because he also has a calling in the Missionary Department. Dynamic speaker, Harvard grad, the works. Anyways, you better believe that I took some wicked notes to share with you all, so here you go:
• Someone before talked about Preach My Gospel. He mentioned that one time in General Conference a few years back, President Hinckley stood up and held up the scriptures and said, “This is the Word of God,” then he held up Preach My Gospel saying, “This is the application of the Word of God.” Every home should have a PMG. It really is inspired scripture for our day. Now, Marshall’s going on a mission in a year, and I would highly recommend starting to study as a family. I know we did that a few years ago, just a quick read through, but it requires an actual study: reading, discussion, application. I know that if you do this, it will bless both him and YOU, Mom and Dad. They reason I’m even mentioning this whole thing is because I know it’s Mom’s dream one day to go on a mission, if you want to do that, start studying now. Maybe take one chapter per month and study it. Chapter 3 is a good place to start, Chapter 6, Chapter 8—whatever the Spirit directs. A prolonged study on chapters will help you a lot. Anyways, so what Elder Pearson said I wrote down for both of you, “To Couples: if you want to increase the strength of your marriage, GO on a mission. You will learn to love each other more and will be happier that you ever have.” I know that’s true, the Senior couples I’ve met just have so much love and testimonies, it’s contagious being around them. Another interesting thing that he said was, “To Young Women: you should SERIOUSLY consider going on a mission.” It was really interesting to hear a General Authority say this; for years the church has dissuaded women (kind of but not really) from desiring to serve, so it was interesting for me to hear him proclaim this over the pulpit.
• “We should be the HAPPIEST people on earth—we have the restored gospel, we have Jesus Christ, we know that families can be together forever, etc”
• “Agency requires choice. Choice bring consequences. If you tie those two together, you have a destiny. Agency is given not to choose what we WANT to do, but to choose the RIGHT.”
• “Everything is hard until it becomes easy.”
• “If you want more revelation, study [the scriptures] more.”
• “The first law of heaven is obedience. Faith is a gift from God based on our righteousness. Obedience brings more faith.”
• “You aren’t born with faith. It is not a genetic gift, it is a spiritual gift and it comes from obedience.” He said this to a friend who said, “I’m just not born with faith like you.” I like this because we develop faith as a child because we are obedient in the little ways that we can. We pray and little, we read a little, we little by little are obedient and, as a result, develop faith.
• “You need to know WHAT to do and HOW to do it. Knowing what to do and how to do it is in the scriptures. The Holy Ghost is guiding us and the Holy Ghost will tell us what to do.” (2 Nephi 32:3)
• Outside of eternal life, there is nothing greater than having the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Anyways, those were just a few things that I loved from his talk. I hope they will help you in some way.
Well, unfortunately (for y’all ;) ) I wrote a super long talk to President this week and now have mo more time. I really want to write more because my companion would write forever if she could, but I have to be obedient about the time restraints. Haha, it would be pretty hypocritical to write all this stuff about obedience and then just ignore it.

Remind me next week to tell you about the AWESOME Couple, Barbie and Jessie, who we found RIGHT after Stake Conference. TOTALLY awesome.

I love you all!
Sister Burt

Pics!

2010-01-19T19:43:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know Tie Skirts are hideous, but my Mission President's wife makes one for every Sister in the mission. How could I say no? So this was my one wearing of it. (Sister Ami feels the same way...)

All the Sisters in the Brownsville and Harlingen Zones. Yikes!

Me and my cute little Sister Lopez.

Elder Merservy and I won the scripture chase game.

Me standing on the other side of the Border fence (don't worry, it's not the REAL border).

Eating at the famous Mr. Taco. Seriously, it sounds lame, but it's way good.

Can I Be Your Boyfriend?

2010-01-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Family!
Yikes, I’m sitting under an AC vent because this was the only computer open…and you know how I feel about being cold. Yikes, it’s chilly! Let’s see if I can handle this for the next 30 minutes.
Wow, another week has flown by. Yesterday was actually super fun, we had a Zone Activity and played soccer at this Park and Rec field. I know, it’s not that big of a deal, but after having been in Beeville for 6 months, where it took an hour to drive to Zone Activities (which is the reason why we’d never go), it’s pretty exciting. I’m not going to lie, I had sort of a bad attitude when I heard we were playing Soccer because that was the one sport where I just had no skills (Sis. Ami was a bit bummed too because she’s in the same athletic situation as me). But, it was SUCH a blast! Actually, just being able to run around for 2 hours and chasing people and such, was so exhilarating. I miss proper exercise…
Ok, I know this is random and weird, but the strangest thing has happened to me recently. My eyebrows have turned (partially) blonde! I’m SO weirded out by it because they’ve always been brown for the past few years, but they’ve turned this strange goldeny/bronzy color. I don’t get it. Oh well, I think I’m the only one who notices. And yes, I know that’s random.
So when I got here, I asked Sister Lopez for the Referral sheet. She had no clue what I was talking about, so I asked the Zone Leader, Elder Reilly, and he said, "Oh crap!" (He’s super informal...), "I have that from December and never got it to you. Ok. So we finally got it and I was surprised to see that there were over 5 sheets of uncontacted referrals! Some of them were even from April! I definitely gained a testimony about contacting referrals from Sister Call (among the many things I learned from her), and so right away I set to work on contacting them. It took a lot of organizing and figuring out things, but we set a goal to contact them all as soon as we could.
So creeper story of the week: I was filling up our water jug at a water mill (the water here is not drinkable, so there are these water stations one every corner) and I decided to contact this late-30-year-old man in his car while my companion was sitting in the car waiting for the water to fill up. He happily accepted me and I started talking to him about how families can be together forever. “Do you have a family?” I asked. “No,” he said. Hmm, apparently I didn’t follow the Spirit on that one, bad tactic. He then asked me if I was “Married,” and for some reason I said yes, but then corrected myself. “Oh cool, do you have a boyfriend.” Oh great, I know where this is going. I fibbed and said that I did have one in Arizona where I’m from, trying to emphasize that, “Yes, I’m not from here. I’m a missionary.” I kept going and switched gears to the Book of Mormon (That’s pretty universal, right?). He was keenly listening, but then at the end said, “Well, the reason I asked you if you had a boyfriend was because I would be your boyfriend.” Ok, conversation done. Haha.

Well, these referrals have turned out to be a huge success for us! Some were hard to contact: for example, some said, "Only home Saturdays," so we'd only be able to visit them on that day, but then come Saturday, we'd be so busy with other appointments, that we couldn't see them till the next Saturday. But we never forgot about them and kept on working for it. We found a lot of new investigators from these referrals. Even though I was embarrassed to visit these people who had requested items or missionaries MONTHS ago, we still did it. I thought that they would have forgotten about it, but all of them still remembered. We stopped by one woman, Gloria, "after 2" as the referral requested and instead we met her "friend." She asked a lot of questions, but refused to give us her address. We came back another day and she said, "Alright, you got me, I lied, I'M actually Gloria." She turned out to be SEARCHING and SO open to us--after we were able to get past the semi-rough wall that she put up. She kept saying during the lesson, "Wow, I never knew any of this before." and "I really want to know if this is true." Another woman was a referral from the Elders and graciously invited us in.

One of the Referrals was a "Jose Luis Rodriguez" who was only home on Saturdays. The referral said he lived in a yellow house off the main road. We pass it all the time, but never visited. Finally, last Saturday, we did. Turns out the yellow house is just the office to a trailer park that is SUPER hidden between from busy streets. Sister Lopez didn't even know that it existed. It's pretty run down and poor. When we went to the office, turns out there isn't any Jose Luis who lives in any of the trailers, but the office manager gave us the name of a Francisco Rodriguez who lived in #18. Well #18 was pretty abandoned, so we took President's advice and started working the area around it. The Lord gave us the referral for a reason: even though the referral may not be the prepared one, someone around them is and the way the Lord gets us to them is through the referral. We started working the trailer park and immediately talk this woman. Then we taught her mom in the next trailer. By the end of our short trip there, we had 5 new investigators, most of them related because this whole family lives in the same trailer park.

But probably my favorite experience from this family that we met almost before we left. We started knocking trailers and were going to do the right side first, then move onto the left later, or if we had time. No one was really interested in this side of the lot, but I saw 3 girls playing outside on the left. So, obviously these little girls aren't home alone, so we crossed over and knocked on their door. The little girls welcomed us and brought us straight to the door to talk to their moms. Immediately these two women answer the door and one starts asking us questions, "Are you the ones who don't drink coffee? Why do you do that?" We started asking her questions, but they fired question after question at us, and not in any sort of contentious sort of way. They really wanted to know. Quite soon after, their two older teenagers came to the doorway and started poking their heads out. The son said, "So can you listen to music in your church?" and the daughter said, "Is it bad to dance?" Apparently, they go to Christian church and the pastor preaches against worldly music of any kind (even classical) and dancing. This obviously was a big doubt and pressing issue on their minds because we would be talking to the parents and randomly the son would say, "Ok, so back to music." or she'd say, "So dancing is ok?" It was funny. I think I heard them ask that question reworded differently about 30 times. But after 45 minutes talking to them, we found out that they are cousins with the 3 other investigators that we just found 30 minutes earlier. It was pretty cool. They didn't actually live in that trailer, but a street away; they were just visiting ANOTHER cousin (who was also present for the conversation). It's neat to see how the Lord really does lead us by the hand. And all this came because we went to contact a referral.
Well, I’m glad to hear that everyone is well. Let me know how everything is going. The church is true, missionary work is hard, but worth it.

Love,
Sister Burt

Am I a Parrot?

2010-01-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

I would say that it was good to hear from you this week, but I didn't, but I'll just assume that everyone is ok. Haha.

So, let's get right to it.

I forgot to tell you last week about the other two girls that we live with. One is Sister Farr, from Oregon: she's blond, super into hunting, drawing, etc. She's pretty new; this is her 3rd transfer. The other is Sister Amitoelau (pronounced Ah-mee-toy-lou (as in loud)). Actually, that's the way we say it, I think the Samoan way of saying it is Ah-Mee-to-eh-lou-oo. Anyways, she's super cool, from California/Utah, super tall, played basketball and all other sports. I really like these girls. It's fun living with other girls, yet at the same time, I miss the peace and quite of just one other person. Hey, I guess I'll have plenty of that whenever I get married. Right?

Sister Lopez and I are doing great. It's really fun having a Latina companion. It's nice because she's very educated (a school teacher and studied at a University), and her accent is very crisp and clean. She doesn't muddle words and such, which is typical of Mexican Spanish. Not that one's better than the other, but you know what I mean. So who knows, I may come back with a really pretty accent. Because one talent that I might have developed here on the mission is the ability to mimic. I think it started with my Disney quoting adventures in the MTC. I would always quote things with Sister Call, and actually I would mimic members and our investigators all the time. She loved it! Well, now that mimicking ability (I think I'm turning into a parrot, perhaps), might actually come in handy because I just mimic the way that Sister Lopez says everything: the way she initiates thing, the way she emphasizes certain words, her pronunciation, words and phrases she uses, everything. It's pretty cool to see how my Spanish has increased just in these past two weeks together. And of course, I help her with her English all the time. It's pretty much the best situation you can have because we both have a pretty ok grasp of the languages we are learning and so I can say to her, "How do you say this?" And she's tell me. And likewise.

The only rough thing is that she was with her other companion Sister Kellett for 5 months and is REALLY attached to her--and even more so...the MEMBERS. It's kind of rough because everyone makes these pouty faces when they find out that she's gone. Oh well, it's the life of the missionary, I've learned. At first, I thought I was the only one who felt this way, but I mentioned it to Sister Amitoelau and she said, "Oh my gosh, I feel the SAME way! Everyone's always talking about Sister Behrman!" So, she and I are in the same boat, but in time, they will change and learn to love us for who we are.

Although, Mom, I know you want to know how my Spanish is doing, so I'll tell you a few things that people have said to me. First off, when I came here Sister Lopez said that I have a huge vocabulary. Next, one investigator said that "Her Spanish is much CLEARER than the other." And then a member said, "Wow, you are the FIRST Americana or Gringa ever who can actually pronounce the 'erre' (the rolled r)." I roll my rr's like CRAZY and I don't really know where I picked it up or when I learned it. It just happened.

Things are going well here in Brownsville. Even though the people are a bit more inviting, still the majority don't want to listen. There was a “freeze” here this week. During the beginning part of the week, everyone was warning us about the big freeze (it was supposedly going to be in the 30s or below). To be honest, I didn’t really believe it: Pssh. Texans. They can’t handle cold. Well, come Friday morning, Sister Farr and I were running and being a bit haughty by saying, “THIS is the big freeze. Please.” Well, that didn’t last long. By afternoon, the weather had dipped into the 30s and was so cold. I wore 4 pairs of nylons/tights because that’s all I had—and of course my coat. Sister Lopez wore about 3 pairs of socks, but it wasn’t enough for her tiny little body. We were contacting all day and stood to talk to this man. She found out that he was from El Salvador (her county) and got all excited. We talked to him for about 20 minutes. By that point, we started walking and she couldn’t feel her toes. Then she couldn’t even walk because she couldn’t feel her feet. It was SO sad. I almost had to give her a piggy back ride to the car because she was cold. We got into the car and dethawed for 20 minutes, but still. Wow, it was rough. I’m glad I didn’t send home my winter coat prematurely, because I almost was going to at Christmas time.

Anyways, I’ve been pondering a lot about what we teach as missionaries, which is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. Doctrine and Covenant 42:12 teaches us that we “shall teach the principles of my gospel, which as in the Bible and Book of Mormon, in which is the fullness of the gospel.” I’ve been thinking about the meaning of “The Gospel” because a friend of mine sent me some neat notes on the subject. But in the scriptures, when Christ says, “This is my doctrine (D&C 31:21)” or “This is my Gospel (3 Nephi 27:21),” he is referring to something very specific, the basics: the principles of faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. THAT is his gospel, everything else is just appendages to it. The Word of Wisdom, isn’t part of his gospel, neither is tithing. His Gospel is centered around his Atonement, the great sacrifice that he made for all men, the great act of love. 1 John 4: 19: We love his because he first loved us. We show our love by keeping his commandments (John 14:15). I love thinking about his Gospel and how we can apply it. When we teach and principle of the Gospel, we need to be able to tie it back into the GOSPEL and Christ’s atonement. If there is a part of the gospel that we can’t tie back, then apparently we don’t understand the principle enough. We don’t just live the word of wisdom so that we can say that we don’t drink coffee, tea, or alcohol. The reason is because, in doing so, we are able to feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost better and stronger. The Holy Ghost is one of the 5 principles of the Gospel. In our classes in church and in our teaching, we should always refocus the lesson on “How does this relate back to the Gospel?” I know that as I’ve focused on this, my lessons and studies have been more powerful. If we have a lesson on “The Saints Exodus from Nauvoo,” for example, it will be so much more powerful if we can tie it back to the Atonement of Christ. I extend an invitation to everyone to think about this. As I have, I’ve looked at different parts of the Gospel and thought, “Wow, why do I do this? Not just for obedience, but how does this related back to the Gospel?” It’s made a huge difference.

I also recommend Elder Utchdorf’s talks “The Way of the Disciple” from April General Conference and “The Love of God” from October’s General Conference. Read the April one first, ponder, and then read the October. The April is a bit more general and the April focuses and the one specific thing we can do as disciples of Christ. It’s interesting how incredibly connected his two General Conference talk are: as if the one in April was just chapter one, and October was chapter two of an incredible story.

I know that this is Christ’s true gospel. The only way back to our Heavenly Father is through Jesus Christ and his Atonement. Love needs to be “our walk and our talk.” I know that this earth was created for us, not simply as “our playground” as investigators have told me, but so that we can learn, grow, and love.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Con amor,
Hermana Burt

Transferred. Drumroll please...

2010-01-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hola Familia!

Haha, can you guess where I am now? Let me help you out. It's not Beeville, it's not in the north, and it's practically all Spanish. I got transferred to Brownsville, TX, which is in the very tip of South Texas. It is right along the Mexican-American border. Actually, something interesting, you can actually see the border fence from a certain part in our area. A street we are contacting on is on the border and you can literally walk up to the huge fence, see a row of trees, and then obviously behind that is the Rio Grande. CRAZY! It's pretty sweet. I'm excited for this area. We are SO busy, all the time. I don't really have time to think about anything other than missionary work. I don't really have time to eat. I'm lucky if I can remember to eat 2 meals a day, but right now I'm kind of just working off one (because I don't like eating after 6, so when we get home, I just prefer not to eat). It's pretty intense. Beeville was a bit more casual and laid back. Not in a bad way, I guess. But it's just WAY different. The people in Beeville are not really interested in talking to you. It's slammed doors all day long. No worries, there are prepared people everywhere and it makes it that much more fun of a treasure hunt to look for them.

My new companion is Sister Iris Lopez from El Salvador. So Mom, I know you have been not the happiest that I haven't been speaking Spanish or whatever, so apparently your prayers were answered. She came out a transfer behind me and is learning English, although, she's been in Spanish areas her whole mission and is learning it slowly than it takes the other missionaries to learn English. No worries. I hope one day she can go up north, but not now because she's super awesome. She is super petite and just a slender, skinny-framed girl. I heard Sister Call say one time that she told Sister Lopez that she dressed like a school teacher and Sister Lopez said, "Oh, thees es funny because in my country I am a school teacher." She's SO cute and an amazing missionary. We speak Spanish with each other all day long because that's easiest for her and it's not really a problem for me. So don't worry that I've been out of Spanish for 6 months because I really don't notice it. Maybe the first day was a little hard, but other than that...nope. No worries. I'm so excited, all ready my Spanish is getting way better just in this past week.

Well, can I just tell you a few things about the apartment here? Well, first off, in Beeville, we lived in a palace! It was just me and my companion, two bathrooms, super clean, etc. When Sister Call came, we completely gutted the place of all clothes, junk, supplies, etc. It's pretty barren now, but honestly, who wants old T-shirts with armpit stains? Or Jodi dresses from the 90s? No thanks. We would always have candles lit and classical music playing in the background; so peaceful, so peace and love. But when I got here...yikes! I felt like I had walked into a dungeon. The apartment is dark, dingy, DIRTY, cluttered, messy, random Mormon-ads slapped on the walls, NO room in the fridge to by the 3 oranges that I took with me, a bit smelly. I was not a fan. I thought I was semi-organized before my mission, but definitely being here on the mission, I've become ridiculously organized and clean. Personally, we were so comfortable and at ease in Beeville, because we could feel the Spirit so much. I believe that the cleaner and more organized that we are, the more of the Spirit we can feel. The Spirit is organized and clean and dwells in places that are likewise (as a result, we need to not only keep our bodies clean and pure so that the Spirit can dwell, but also our homes). I have such a testimony in stewardship's. Doctrine and Covenants 136:27 teaches us, "Thou shalt be diligent in preserving what thou hast, that thou mayest be a wise steward; for it is the free gift of the Lord thy God and thou are his steward." I love the principle that this teaches us. We are all stewards who have been given dominion over many things. If we have been given a house, car, family, etc, it is our duty to take care of that thing that he has endowed us with. If not, the Lord will not bless us and even will take it away. I believe this is true with the missionary apartments. So immediately over the past week, I have taken the majority of my breaks to start doing little projects, organizing here, throwing this away, fixing that. I guess some people say, "This break is my time," but what I learned from Sister Call is that there is so much joy in cleaning. It may take time initially to do, but the blessings and peace that come are lasting, desirable, and worth it. Today, we cleaned the apartment in the morning. I took on the responsibility of the kitchen. I started deep cleaning the stove and such. Over the week, I'd been telling the girls that I planned to completely "gut and clean this place" and asked that they not be offended in my doing so. They said they didn't care. Even as I started doing these little projects, they would walk in and say, "Wow, it's so much cleaner and nicer." They started helping to and slowly the apartment is changing. Let's be honest, this isn't the nicest apartment--think Raintree but WAY more ghetto (there are all these stray cats that hideously meow all night, our front door has a HUGE gap in it so you can hear anything anyone says as they walk by). Anyways, this morning, I was working on the burners, cleaning them, putting new foil on them because I'm pretty sure no one had cleaned the thing in years. Then Sister Farr came in and joined me. She started throwing away old food--well, it really ended up being ALL the food--from the fridge. People's food who had been transferred, old smelly tupperwear's of rice and beans. Who knows what was in there. We cleaned out the pantry too and organized and divided up the space so we could each have a shelf in the fridge and pantry. Wow, we threw away 5 garbage bags of old food. Pretty much, if it didn't belong to anyone, we got rid of it. I scrubbed out the fridge and wow, it's so clean and bright! I feel way better. We're ALMOST done with the kitchen (she and I are now reorganizing all the cupboards), and when it's all said it done, this place is going to turn out to be all right. I'm excited. It's a little bit of service that I can do for the Lord, the mission, and the future missionaries who will come here.

Well, the people here are SO cool. They want to talk to you and we--of course--want to talk o them. Even the white people are nice. I'm excited. The branch here is SUPER small. We meet in this strange bright blue building and there are about 20-30 people (including kids) that come. Probably about 7-8 families total. Crazy.

We had a baptism this past weekend of a little boy whose parents are less-active. I guess his brother was baptized the week before and his two older teenage siblings will be baptized in about 2 weeks. This household is very volatile and angry whenever we come (not at us, but that's just the tone of the home because the parents are having marital issues), but I know that through the baptisms of their children, they will grow stronger as more of their members of the home have the Holy Ghost to guide them.

We met a family named Garcia last week. It was really cool. In this area, no one is SUPER poor, everyone has homes, but some areas are SUPER nice (think White Wing or The Groves). Well, we had some time by one of these nice areas and started contacting. At first I was thinking, "Oh wow, here we go again, just like Beeville." But the first door that we knocked had an 18-year-old boy in it. We sat outside and talked about what we do as missionaries and started having a lesson with him. Richard really opened up to us and expressed that there was a death of a family friend recently which has been really hard. We started explaining about the Plan of Salvation when his parents and other siblings drove up. I was a bit worried that they'd say, "Why are you talking to these people? Get inside!" But they were so nice and gracious and invited us in right away. We started talking to the whole family and they were very interested. They never had heard about the sealing power or eternal families and said that they wanted to learn more. They are very happy Christian type of people who go to this family Christian church every Sunday. They are doing a 21 day fast (just liquids and the father is even doing it to give up coffee because he's addicted. Pretty sweet). We came back but we both were a bit scared to go back and teach them. I know that I sometimes have a tiny bit of anxiety about new situations, people, and places, but I immediately recognized this as Satan. So we went, but the mother was called into work and he said that she wanted to be there. We came back later that night (at 8:50, yikes!) and they were excited to learn. We shared part of the Family Proclamation with them and they loved it. At the end of the lesson when I asked them how they felt, she said "Peaceful" and he said, "Relaxed." I helped them recognize this as the Spirit. They said that they always pray that they can learn more about Jesus Christ and have their hearts open to them. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical about them because they were English, white, and lived in a nice home, but now I know that I need to repent for that. They are AWESOME and want a happier, stronger family. We committed them to pray as a couple and they were excited to do so.

So that's what's going on with Brownsville this week. I'm excited for the new Gospel Principles book for Priesthood and Relief Society. One reason I think there is a change for these next two years is because the first presidency wants a greater focus on member missionary work. The Lord wants all the members to learn and KNOW the basics so that when their friends ask them questions or they have missionary opportunities, they can readily share the correct information. I'm excited for it and I hope that everyone sets a goal to read the lesson beforehand. This is something that Elder Neilson of the 70 committed us missionaries to do once we get back from out missions. Jesus Christ even taught this to the Nephites when he said in 3 Nephi 17:3, "Therefore, go yet unto your homes and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and PREPARE your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again." I know that this is true and if every member did this before each Sunday, we each would be SO much more edified together. Instead of having to explain basics or read paragraphs, we could have open discussion in which the Spirit guides the lesson. I hope that everyone can set this as a goal and I can promise you that your Relief Society and Priesthood classes (also Gospel Doctrine for the Old Testament) will be so much better. It will be a joy for all in attendance and the Spirit will teach you so much. I know this is true and this is Christ's only true and living church.

I love you all, and I'm off to wash the car and get away from the smelly smoker man who's sitting next to me. Love you!

--Love--
Sister Burt

This Email is a Roller Coaster Ride

2009-12-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hello!

First off, I'm typing this on kind of a funky keyboard, so excuse typos and errors. Secondly, from a lot of past missionary emails that I've read after Christmas, they usually say, "Wow, it was great talking to you guys last week and I really don't have anything else to say or add." Is that the case for me? Nope! I have TONS to write about, so "off we go!"

Well, like I mentioned on the phone, Christmas wasn't as fruitful as I had expected. No one was really interested in talking to us. We felt like Mary and Joseph looking for an inn, yet there was no room available anywhere. It was sad because we told everyone that we were sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a wonderful Christmas message, since he is the reason for the season. Yet, despite this, we still received chilly responses and door slams. It really made me ponder on how Mary and Joseph felt. Mary was the chosen vessel to provide the world with a Savior, the most important guest of all we would ever have here on earth. It must have been disheartening for her to be shut out, again and again, knowing that she held within her womb. I gained a greater appreciation this Christmas season for Mary and Joseph and how they endured trials and rejection.

We decided to go outside of Beeville this week and work some more rural areas of our area. Country roads are always a treat. You get the crazy farmers who moved to the country because they don't like people, so they don't really want to talk to you even though you just walked a half mile up their drive way to get to their house. Haha, but it's the life, we've have some marginal success on country roads in the past and it was long overdue for another visit. One one of the roads, we saw a pasture with horses and since people were rejecting us like crazy, we stopped for a second to pet the horses. I had to climb through this pokey bush to get close enough to the fence to pet it, but I managed. The horses weren't that exciting, so after 15 seconds, we went back to work. Well the next day, I had all these strange scratches on my hand, that are actually still there now. Turns out the bush must have been some sort of poisonous variety. That's what I get for wasting the Lord's time, I suppose.

On another country road, we started walking and about a quarter of a mile down, we met this little black, shaggy, dirty Shih-Tzu. He was so cute and it was quite strange to see a breed like this as a stray. The most popular dogs here in South Texas--without fail are--1) Chihuahua's 2) Boxers 3) Pitbulls 4) Dachshund's. Then of course, a mix containing any of those four are also common. I've never actually seen a Shih-Tzu on my mission, so it was weird. We kept walking and this little dog just followed us. He followed us and followed us. It was hilarious because this road had an influx of dogs not penned up and throughout the three hours that we were working that street, a total of 11 dogs and 1 cat were caravaning behind us at one point or another. I think the largest number of critters we had were 6 or 7. Well, Sprinkles--because that's the name I decided to call her--followed us the ENTIRE time. We must have walked 2-3 miles total and I felt so bad for her little paws. It reminded me of when we'd take Louie for a walk and he's so lazy, that even a walk around the block is a painful situation for him which requires a 2 week recovery. We would just refer to the dog as Sprinkles and eventually the dog recognized it's name. Haha, it was cute. Then random these other two white stray Shih-Tzus started following us. When we got back to our car, we felt so bad for the dog that we wanted to take her home, wash her and take her to a shelter. But we knew that we couldn't do that, so we just got in our car and drove home. That's when the saddest part of the tale happened, Sprinkles started chasing after our car wanting to come with us. I looked at Sister Call and we were both teary eyed. Seriously, it was semi ridiculous because we were both crying because we had gotten so attached to the little guy. I started crying even more because I was laughing at the fact that we were crying about the whole thing--laughing so hard that I was crying because I was laughing, but laughing because I was crying. We both started laughing, yet still we are sad. Oh well, I hope she had a home or found one.

Well, I sort of mentioned this to Steve, but we lost two of our investigators because of church! It was so sad because they were SO cool and loved what we were teaching them, but when they went to church, they both had a bad experience (because the Beeville Branch is a little crazy and does what they want, let's be honest), that they dropped us. In case you were wondering, Washington dropped us for that very reason too--well, there were tons of other reasons: depression, addicted to alcohol, doubts...but all in all, it was a good situation for him. But Sister Call and I were a little sad about everything because Church is supposed to be the thing that "gets them." The thing that they love, where they can feel the Spirit the strongest and gain a testimony about this church. But, we prayed that more investigators would come and have a good time.

Well, that leads me right into my next story about Charlie and Connie. This is an old--73 and 70-years-old, respectively--couple whom we met about a week ago. We set a return appointment with Charlie, who was fairly interested. We came back and his wife (Conception, or Connie for short) answered the door and said that they didn't have time, nor had Charlie read the pamphlet we gave him. We set another appointment for last Monday night. We drove there on Monday and sat in our car for a bit. "Do you want to go here?" I asked. "Not really," Sister Call said. I replied, "Yeah, I just feel like it will be a waste of time. They are old and I don't think they'll even be there, even remembered our appointment, or will even care." We were getting ready to go drive away and go somewhere else when I finally said, "No, I think we should go. Heavenly Father put this return appointment in our path, we need to just go no matter what will happen or if we get rejected. Jesus wouldn't miss his appointments." Haha, so with that, we got out and knocked on the door. To our surprise, they both answered the door and were waiting for us. We were actually a half our later and they said, "We thought you wouldn't come." We felt so surprised and shocked that they were waiting. We got to know them a bit: they are an old Catholic couple, but they don't go anymore. Charlie is hard of hearing because he had a stroke a few years ago, so he sits really close to us with his good ear facing us (and he has a constant buzz in the other one). They have 6 kids, all whom were born 5 years apart from each other. They have a family picture taken a few decades back with them and their last three children whom they refer to as "the second crop." They read part of the pamphlet and we talked about parts of it and also just about the Book of Mormon. That's all we taught, Book of Mormon: we explained it, read a scripture with them, and left them the introduction to read. Honestly, we didn't expect them to read very much--or where quite sure they understood completely about it or about our purpose--so the intro was a good place to start. After the lesson, we got back into our car and were so shocked at what had just taken place. They were so open, nice, and interested. Imagine what would have happened if we hadn't gone to our appointment? :(

Well, we came back two days later and Connie warmly greeted us. The book of Mormon was lying on the table, a sign of obviously having read it. She grabbed it and put it on her lap. We sang a Christmas song (where she joined us), said a prayer, then began discussing what she had learned from reading the intro. "Well, I didn't get to read much." We assumed that she just got the chance to read a few paragraphs. But then she started telling us blow by blow what she had read. It all added up until she started talking about Joseph Smith seeing angel Moroni and receiving the plates. Ok, clearly she read all of the intro and then proceeded into the testimonies of the 3 and 8 witness, and Jospeh Smith. Wow. But then she started talking about Nephi and his family. Her "I just read a little" wasn't referring to the introduction, but rather the entire book! She read into the first few chapters of 1st Nephi and LOVED it! Charlie can't read small letters very well, so he didn't get to read it, but they decided to go to the Optometrist to get him a new prescription so that he could read it. We were shocked. We then taught them about the Restoration, how God has always called prophets as part of his ancient order and how we need prophets today. We asked Connie, "Do you think it would be important to have a prophet today?" She said, "Oh yes! We need a prophet today. We are so wicked in this world. You know what I just watched on the Mexican news? In Mexico City, they just passed a law allowing gay marriage. You could see two men on the TV kissing and embracing each other. It was disgusting. It's Sodom and Gomorrah!" Ok, awesome. She definitely understood the need for a prophet today and accepted that God has called another one. After the lesson, we were so excited.

We taught them Saturday night and were planning on teaching them the Plan of Salvation. We brought Lorenzo Gonzales with us--the old man whom I love so much--and it turns out that he and Charlie are old friends! Lorenzo knows or is related to everyone in Beeville (having lived there his whole life), so he's a great fellowshipper. The entire time, he and Charlie were chatting up a storm and so it was hard for us to teach a lesson because apparently it had been a while since they saw each other last. But while they were talking, we talked to just Connie about 3 Nephi 11 which we left her. She LOVED it and, of course, read more than what was assigned. She told us that when she was in the Catholic church, she would read the things that they gave her and pray about it to know if it's true, but she wouldn't feel a thing. But she told us that when she reads the Book of Mormon, or prays about it, her hear starts racing and she KNOWS it's true. She calls it the "lost books" from other tribes; she explained to us that she recognizes this as a true record written by another people about Jesus Christ. They ate up all that we taught them and accepted a Baptismal date for January 30th! Lorenzo was awesome and invited them to come to church the next day. They were both impressed that Lorenzo was a member and was baptized a year ago. They agreed to go.

The next morning, we got to church and saw that their red Expedition was in the parking lot. "Oh no, they're already there. I hope they feel welcome inside." We got out of our car and then our pop Charlie and Connie from their car--Charlie in a nice green suit and Connie in a pretty black dress with a scarf. They went inside with us and were greeted by EVERYONE. After Sacrament meeting, they had to leave because Charlie's ear was buzzing, but they told us that they LOVED it and can't wait to come back and see us again.

Wow, that was a really long story. I have so much else that I want to write, but we JUST got word that President called our district leader and said that we need to make sure our area book is updated because he most likely is going to whitewash our area (most likely with Elders).....Oh my gosh, I want to cry. We are both depressed. The reason is because there's this weird member who's on probation who I guess was standing outside of our apartment door one night creepily staring at our window (we had no clue) and our District leader came home and saw him and yelled at him. He also has tried to visit us at our apartment before. So...just like in McAllen, another member has ruined the momentum. Wow, I'm so sad, I'm sick in my stomach. I was SOOOOOOOO excited for Connie and Charlie because they are so golden and excited to be baptized.

Wow. I'm sad. I hope I'm with Sister Call still, but that's very unlikely... But, I know the Church is true. The work will go forward.

Love you...I'll most likely see you in Loredo because I can't go back south that's the only other part of the mission where I could go.

Love,
Sister Burt

Merry Christmas, Every One!

2009-12-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

Family!

Ok, first things first. I want to call you guys at 7 pm my time, 6 pm your time. Is that ok? I hope so...you may be at Grandma's, so if no one answers, I'll just call mom's cell phone? Kapeesh?

Beeville is great. I'm so glad that you got to talk to Sister Allred. She is super cool and I loved meeting her this past week. She said that she would call (she knows what makes missionaries' parents happy) and I'm glad you had a fun chat.

We had a baptism last week of a little 9-year-old girl named Belle. We decided to press forward with the baptism, despite her being the only one of her family ready to make this step. It was a good decision, a really good one. I had the opportunity to baptize a little girl in McAllen, but didn't feel it was right because I "didn't want to baptize just kids." But lo and behold, once I got transferred out of the area, I got word that the new missionaries went and baptized her anyway (and her sister who had turned 8 by that time). Missed opportunity, I guess, but I'm still so happy for those two little girls! They were so cute and the one was 10 and she was halfway through the Book of Mormon in just a month! But perhaps I'm too picky. But that baptism was good despite drama from branch members. President Ramirez forgot about it and walked in a half our late after many many phone calls. But the best part was that (nearly) the entire family was there! The grandparents, the mom (an investigator), and--the most exciting--the dad! He said that he would never step foot in the church. But it was great thing because he really felt the Spirit--I know it! During one of the talks, a member talked about the experience of her dad's baptism and how he used to shoot people and be a bad man, but when he was baptized, he came out of the water and said, "All my sins have washed away." The father's face was intense and watching her. During other parts of the baptism, he was so proud. Even his super naughty, 5-year-old, ADHD came up and sang "I am a Child of God" with his sisters and was an angel during the ENTIRE time and even during the ward Christmas party afterwards. I think that really impressed him. Despite all the craziness and starting late, I love baptisms. It really is true that in the "ordinances of the Gospel, is the power of godliness manifest." Not only to the investigators, but all present.

Let me tell you the story of a man named Washington. I was so excited to tell you last week about him, then his story got way better this week, but then it got sort of lame. BUT, I will tell you this story anyways (partly because I'm too lazy to write it down in my journal because it's so long, so this is an easy way to kill two birds with one stone). Alright, off we go!

Washington is this ex-Mexican mafia member from California. We met him one day while knocking doors in a city called Skidmore--a city which my old companion didn't like at all and refused to go back. SO!--the plus of having a new companion is that they don't have preconceived prejudices about certain areas. We were walking the meager streets and not having much success, until we found Washington outside of his house. Sister Call talked to him for a bit while I was knocking a few homes across the street (within sight and sound of course). I was done and came back and she was still talking to him. Turns out he just got out of rehab recently for drinking. He's a really big guy and probably wears a XXX-XXXXL. But he's really cool. We left because his daughter got dropped off--crying from being with her mom--but as we were talking, we both realized that we had the prompting to give him a Book of Mormon. We ran back and gave it to him (before we had just talked to him about it) and he was grateful. He was going to be in Houston for a while, but we told him we'd call him in 2 weeks.

Two weeks later, we called him and set up an appointment. But later that day, he saw us at Wal-Mart (it suddenly got SUPER cold and Sis. Call gets sick really easily so she needed to go and buy a hat really quick). He excitedly came up to us and talked for a bit--awesome. Later we taught him and he was so interested in the fact that there was a prophet today. He loved the Restoration lesson and was excited to find God again because he says that he has been searching for God his entire life and has been baptized in church after church after church, but has always fallen. He is really depressed about himself, he used to "have it all" in California and had so much money, yet it is all gone now and he is left with nothing but his alcohol. :( We left him a Restoration DVD to watch before we came back.

He called us a few days later telling us that he watched the DVD and totally related to Joseph Smith who was searching for the right church. That is exactly what he has been doing. He calls himself a "loser" and constantly tells us to "give up on him" because he's lost and going to hell. But, something told us not to give up on him and keep sharing the Gospel light with him. Occasionally, he'll call us when he's drunk and that's when he gets into "Wo is me!" mood. And of course, I'm always the one who answers the phone and talks to him for 20 minutes each time. I try talking him through things, but you can't feel the Spirit when you are intoxicated. So mainly, I just do it to not be rude and get him offended--because he's an entirely different person when he's drunk. Sad....

Once we stopped by for our appointment and he was drunk. We had another member with us and stepped in for 5 minutes, but were standing up on the other side of the room. Oh, I forgot to mention that he is no homeless because his wife as taken his home (which is "all bought and paid for") and doesn't let him see his kids rarely, if ever. But he's staying at this house with some girls who he was in rehab with, but they evacuated and deserted the place, but the landlord is nice and said that he could stay there till the end of the month. Anyways, the smell of alcohol penetrated every facet of the room and it made me sick. I've never been around alcohol ever, except at baseball games when they make you hand it down the rows to someone who bought it. Yuck...I'm always afraid it will spill on me. ANYWAYS, during that visit, he clearly was popping pill...there were his anti-depressant pills all over the floor and told us that he wanted to kill himself. Yikes. We got out of there as soon as we could. The Spirit URGED us to.

Anyways, when he was sober, we came back and he told us that we were like angels to him. That we sing and make him feel as if there is hope. He wants to change, but he's really getting to the lowest of the low. He didn't want us to come back, but we told him we were because the Atonement and Gospel of Jesus Christ could and WOULD help him if he just allowed it to. We taught him about the plan of salvation and he wasn't really paying that much attention. At the end, we were wrapping it up and I felt prompted to talk about baptisms for the dead. His whole family was involved in this mafia/gang/whatever, and he has had 13 cousins die. That is one of the reasons that he is so depressed: he doesn't understand why they all died, and he is literally the only one left. He feels responsible for it. After I told him about it, his eyes lighted up and his countenance changed. He had questions and was interested. Later he called us THREE times that night, telling us thank you for what we had shared about it. He said that ALL the other churches he went to, told him that his cousins were all burning in hell--that there was no hope. That's not entirely true and when he was brought the truth, the Spirit touched his heart and gave him that hope that will help him leave his despair behind. It was really cool for me because we really have to be in tune with the Spirit. We can't just teach a cookie cutter lesson to all because they all have different needs, problems, and worries. Once we discover what that is, we can then tailor the message directly to them.

Well, he came to church this Sunday. He shaved, got dressed, covered up his tattoos (including the one arm that is "dedicated" to all his family members). And he loved it and had lots of questions at church. He didn't even have enough gas to make it to Beeville, but I promised him before that if he would just come, the Lord would provide and way. And he did.

Well, we were so excited to visit him, until he called us drunk later that day....It's so sad. We don't really know how to get him to stop drinking. He doesn't even have money to buy it, just lame friends who talk smack about the church and don't want him to change. He ended up calling us three times that day drunk. During the second one, he talked about how it was that we could "really believe" all of it--the book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, etc. I told him how we could, but it was useless because it was impossible for him to be receptive to the Spirit in that state...but then he told me something that freaked me out. He said that the loves when "I" come over, specifically. That he is divorced and alone and that he feels God has sent me to help him, to comfort him. That when he was sitting next to me at church, he felt something. Oh dear.... so yeah, I tried to nip that in the bud by telling him that's NOT why we are sent as missionaries. That we are here to help him rebuild the relationships he already has--with his WIFE and kids. So yeah, he hung up and then called later saying that he didn't want us to visit, call, and that he couldn't come to church anymore.

SOOOO....I have no idea what we're going to do. He practically has the Bible memorized and accepts everything that we teach--when he's sober. That's the hard part. So...we'll see how it all plays out this week. Know this: I'm keeping my distance.

Anyways, I know the Gospel is true and that--if you really want it--it changes lives and WILL heal you. There are many called and few chosen, which is the sad reality of the plan of salvation. But, anyone can be one of the chosen if they just desire it enough: live the commandments and you will be happy.

Can't wait to hear from you all this week!
With lots of Christmas Love!
Sister Burt

Pictures from Zone Conference

2009-12-14T22:02:00.002-07:00

Awesome Sister Miller telling a Christmas story.

Me with the other Elders in the 3 zones who got the "President's Challenge" award.  Essentially, you have to memorize like 400-500 scriptures from Lessons 1-5 (really, you have to know the references for every single scripture in all the lessons) from Preach My Gospel.  Then you take a test during interviews, if you pass, then you get this gorgeous plaque that says, "Remember" which is one of the two words in our mission.

Santa and Me.  All the Elders got to sit on Santa's lap...but not the Sisters... :(

President and Sister Miller and me.

Us and the two other sisters in the "North."  They are in Loredo.

Sister Call and I doing our "secret combination" sign...aka...the sign from "The Little Rascals." I love her. :)

After 5 months of waiting, I FINALLY got my English name tag.

There are the infamous Christmas bells.

Have the Days of Miracles Ceased?

2009-12-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

Family!

Thank you so much for being awesome and an inspiration to me. I have everyone's Christmas package (and I'm SO excited for everyone to get it!) and should be sending that off this week.

So here's a funny story before I start things off. At the Branch Relief Society activity last week, it was a white elephant ornament exchange. I got these sweet golden bells, that are all connected on a chain. I think it's supposed to wrap around your tree, but I decided to wrap them all together and hang them on the door like we do back home. Well, they aren't the highest quality piece of work, let me tell you. They are plastic and most every time we shut the door--if I don't do it carefully, which I normally don't--a few of the bells will get stuck and break in half. The Elders stopped by this morning to give us something and as I was shutting the door, a bell broke. I said, "Every time I break a bell!" and right away Elder Buhler said, "...an angel goes to hell." Haha, it was so funny and a play off the quote from "It's a wonderful life." Ah good times. I hope that's not true though... :/ Because I've broken a few too many bells.

Last week we were blessed with a miracle of 14 new investigators and 144 contacts. Thank you everybody who prayed for that! There truly is power in prayer, I know that and I receive a greater witness and testimony about prayer every day here. It truly was a miracle from the Lord because the past few months, we have never been able to hit 140 and had between 1-4 new investigators a week (more like 1-2 every week, a good week was 4). It was bad, but I think that after being humbled to the dust, Heavenly Father had compassion on us and blessed us. We have a promise here in the Texas McAllen mission from our president call "20-20-2." Which means that if we contact 20 people per day, teach 20 lessons a week, then we will have 2 baptisms per month. I honestly can say that I've never had 140 contacts a week, while here in Beeville. White people are SO much different that Mexicans who just hang out outside and let you teach them. But, no matter. I know that 20-20-2 works because it is a promise from my mission president who is called of God, and "whether it be by my own voice, or the voice of my servants, it is the same." (D&C 1:38). I recommitted myself to actually live 20-20-2. The reason we aren't getting the two is because we're not doing the first 20! It's really not THAT hard to talk to 20 folks a day, I think I just make it hard. So I'm excited to see the fruits that will reap from my commitment to live this.

Zone Conference was this past week and it was amazing! Ah, as it always is. It was the Christmas Devotional as well, so there was a beautiful Christmas musical program that Sister Miller made. Sister Call and I sang, "Away in a Manger." Anyways, at the very beginning of Zone Conference, President Miller got up and started talking. He had Sister Call and I, and also another set of Elders stand up. We weren't quite sure what it was all about. Typically, the only time President makes people stand up is when they are in trouble and he's chastising them and calling them to repentance (haha, it's not a bad as it sounds, trust me). But this was quite the opposite. He was talking about 20-20-2 and saying that these 2 companionship's have not been experiencing the "2" of the promise even though we have been working extremely hard, teaching so many lessons, and "are very diligent missionaries." He started talking more and more and then promised us VERY specific blessings about what will happen to our areas in the next few weeks. He said that they are SO MANY prepared people here in Beeville that we will find and they will be ready. He promised us if we just keep working CHEERFULLY, that we will not only get the 2, but 3, 4, or even more. He also said that we had been called to serve with our companions for a very specific reason. In that moment, I had the revelation that I "will be in Beeville till the job is done. Till I have found and baptized those people who the Lord has prepared." It was very interesting because both Sister Call and I were forecasting that I would get transferred next transfer--seeing that I've been here 6 months. But I now feel contrary and am excited to see what the rest of this and the next transfers(s) have. I've had SPECIFIC promises from the Lord, witnesses by nearly all the missionaries serving in the North, and I know that they will come to pass.

As we followed his guidance and continued with a cheerful attitude--despite what was happening or had happened in the past--we were able to be firsthand witnesses of the Lord's miracles here in the Beeville area. Instead of the people we met being cold, rude, and uninterested, they were kind, inviting, and sincere. Doors flew open at nearly every street, usually the first doors that we knocked on a street were the ones that opened up. Definitely different that what I'm used to. What a miracle. I love the Lord and love his Gospel. All his promised blessing will come to pass--ones given in the scriptures, by the living prophets, and especially the ones given specifically to me--I know this with every fiber of my soul.

Last week was a miracle. Have miracles ceased? I say unto you, nay (Moroni 7:29).

Merry Christmas!
Faith. Hope. Charity.
--Sister Burt

Picture Time!

2009-12-13T12:42:00.002-07:00

Sister Call and I at church!   Oh I love her SOOOO much, you cannot even comprehend.Eating Dinner with the Ramirez. This was dinner #2 of 4.

Christian (pronounced Chris-tee-ahn) -- my favorite little boy in the world!
Cleaning Leandra's stove with Christian.  This pictures was taken after he had already cleaned the stove for a half hour in his UNDERWEAR!  This was also the day that it snowed here in Beeville, so it was 39 degrees outside if I remember correctly.
Cleaning again
He's really getting into it
THis stove I think had been outside for years...it had leaves all in it. There practically was a TREE growing in there.  But all we had was soap and water and rags.  You do what you can.
It snowed this week in Beeville!  Kind of.. it was just flurries and what not.  But still!  Here are the Elders enjoying it.
I sit next to this random white board when we study or plan.  And whenever we are talking about random things, I have to draw it out for her.  Can you guess what random converstations we've had over the past few weeks?  Those are my attempts to draw Moses, Ramsees, the new Disney princess Tiana, and other things from memory.  Random, I know.

2009-12-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Dang, I'm a bit bummed. I just spent 20 minutes attaching all these pictures to different emails and sent it. Then I looked in my sent mail folder and it says that they never got sent. Bummer. This email may be a bit shorter than the rest because I wasted so much time already.

Anyways, things are going in Beeville. Last week was super rough. Only 2 new investigators, one of them was the daughter of an investigator that we've been teaching for a while and the other was one that we discovered through our own finding efforts. It's been rough. I blame the snow. Haha, and yes, I'm not lying. It did, in reality, snow here in Texas. Here in Beeville it was just flurries and such, but near Corpus is actually stuck. I don't know. Maybe if everyone could just pray for me and my companion that we'll find new investigators this week...We really have had a drought for a few weeks now and it's been quite sad because we're doing our best.

So I think I'm going to talk about my companion, Sister Call. She's so awesome and we get along SO well. We are always laughing, smiling, joking, and enjoying each other's company. Definitely a good match. She is from Seela (sp?), Washington and has been on her mission 6 months. She is such a spiritual giant, which I love and appreciate because I'm learning SO much right now from her in all aspects of the work. At first glance, you would look at her and think that she's your typical sister missionary, but she's TOTALLY not. Oh wow, she's hilarious and FUN and funny and the best! We both have SO many things in common it's crazy. For example, randomly she said something that had the phrase "Far From Home" in it. And it reminded me of that movie that Steven and I used to watch by the same title. I started explaining how he and I used to LOVE that movie, but it was SO strange because it really wasn't an exciting movie for kids. She started freaking out because she and her brothers used to watch that movie all the time when they were little too. Haha, I don't think anyone else I've ever talked to even knew what the movie was, let alone used to watch it all the time. It was a great moment. It's funny because we say all the time that we had practically the same childhood because we have a lot of moments like that.

Our favorite movies' just so happen to be the same one: Pride and Prejudice which delights me greatly. It's funny, we are both obsessed with the soundtrack. And I actually have it here on the mission, but I have never been able to listen to it because we have limitations on the music we can listen to here in this mission. Acceptable music needs to be one of three things: Hymns, Mo-Tab, or Classical Music that is over 100 years old. P&P soundtrack is clearly not over 100 years old. But I was mentioning to her the other day that I had it and then I had an amazing realization: there is ONE song on that CD that actually is a song that's over 100 years old. The track is titled something like "A Letter to.. (insert composer of the actual song here)." It's the SAME exact song, but just the tempo is SUPER slow. The only way I know that is because I was listening to KBAQ one day and home and heard it and freaked out because I love that song. ANYWAYs, so after we made that discovery, we hurried and put the CD in, put it on track 8 on repeat and listened that same song the rest of the night. And we were both ok with it. Yeah, that's how big of nerds we are together...but I love it!

We watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas with Lorenzo and President and Sister Ramirez. Golly, do I love that movie. SO cute. My commitment for everyone this week is to watch that video for FHE (and yes, mom, you do have it. It's in the DVD cupboard on the bottom shelf ALL the way to the right in a brown paper sleeve/case thing). It's so cute and fun. It was funny though because all those people are older (60s/70s) and at the beginning it had the credits and flashed, "James Stewart" on the screen and they all started gabbing like little hens, "OH! James Stewart!" "James Stewart!" It was funny to me, I guess I'm just one generation behind to really be enthralled.

Well, time for me to go. Maybe I'll try to send the pictures again. But I love you all and I know that this Gospel is true. I learned a good lesson from my friend Laura in an awesome letter she sent me about D&C 121 and in versus 7 and 8 talk about "enduring it well." A lot of times, we think that simply "enduring it" means that we've come off conqueror. That trials make us better. But let's be honest, there are plenty of trials that I've had that I didn't handle the right way; I didn't grow at all. The key is enduring them WELL, as D&C 123:17 says to "cheerfully do all things." We knew before this earth, that life would be hard, that we would have trials, tribulations, experiences that would push us. But I have a feeling that when we found that out, we jumped for joy--we were excited. Same with anyone who goes on a mission, no one ever tells you that it's going to be easy. Everyone says that it's going to be hard and yet, despite that, we still say, "Yeah, I know. It's going to be ok." And you know, I've found that as I change my attitude, am positive and optimistic about the work and the future, and am happy...that it is. Everything is all right. I love it. This Gospel really is a Gospel of peace and the plan really is the Plan of Happiness.

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Sister Burt

4 Thanksgivings and a Funeral

2009-11-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

Hey!

So Thanksgiving came and went...we were invited to FOUR Thanksgiving dinners and it was quite insane. By the end of the first dinner we were so incredibly stuffed and not wanting to eat anymore. But, you can't really say no to the invitations (especially when investigators invite you to their dinner!), so we went and sacrificed. So, I remembered to mark down everything that I ate that day and share with all of you:

Dinner #1: Elda and Robert -- our investigators. They were SO happy that we came and kept thanking us over and over again for coming. Their whole family was there and it was just sort of a come and go affair, but Elda was super sick that morning (she's old and immobile), but she waited to eat with us. She tried to eat a little bit of potatoes, but ended up getting sick from it and going to the bathroom to throw up... :( It was sad. But Elda and Robert and Mexican, so this meal was mostly traditional, with a few unique touches. I ate:

a crescent roll, turkey, potatoes, raisin stuffing (all of those things were topped off with ridiculous amounts of gravy), sweet potatoes, some WAY over-concentrated punch, a slab of pineapple upside down cake, and this not very tasty cinnamon Mexican cooke.

Yikes. And the worst part was that they served me my plate, so it was SO much food. But we faired off pretty well. Luckily we were riding our bicycles all day to work off the food.

Dinner #2: Beeville Branch President Ramirez and Clan. This one was "cafeteria style", serve yourself (which Sis. Ramirez ALWAYS does and I LOVE because she doesn't force anything on you). So I ate way less, but still a lot because President kept bugging me to get some pie with TONs of whipped cream... So, dinner #2: a small piece of turkey and gravy, yams, green beans, cranberry sauce, potatoes and pumpkin pie. IT was a super small plate though.

Dinner #3: The Gonzlaes Family. We rode our "stallions" over there (as Brother Gonzales calls them). And they were already done eating, so Brother G asks if we were a "big hungry or medium hungry." We immediately shout, "Medium hungry!" glad that he was giving us an option. We should have said, Bite-size hungry because the plates he gave us were the biggest of the day! We ate: 4 huge pieces of turkey, stuffing, corn, potatoes, yams, and coke. Yikes. As I was eating the stuffing, he mentioned something about it that it had something special in it. I could already tell that it was made with something different so I just said, "Does it have kidney and liver in it?" He smiled and said, "Yep, and lungs, heart, and gizzard too. Yippee. Actually the stuffing wasn't that bad, but while I was trying to shovel down the potatoes, my body was just so full that it didn't want to eat anymore and I had to stop my gag reflex. Too much food and this was only dinner #3.

Dinner #4: Al and Nora Yziguirre. We went over there and at turkey, gravy, potatoes, biscuit, pumpkin pie, and yams. We got to pick what we wanted to eat, but I was just not feeling it at this point. SOOO full. Our investigator Tony was supposed to come with us to dinner, but when we went by his house to ride over with him, he wasn't' there. He called us at the beginning of dinner and said that he still wanted to come with Casey--his roommate who is a recent convert. Well, we gave them the address and told them to walk/ride down Hutchinson to the east side of town. We didn't' really think he was going to come, so didn't think much of it. We later stopped by and he said that he and Casey walked ALL over town on HUNTINGTON trying to find the address... :( Miscommunication. We both felt horrible.

But we survived and were really grateful for everyone and how much they wanted to serve us. It really was a Thanksgiving to remember.

I got rear-ended the other day by this lady in her truck. I was waiting at a stop sign to turn left and she just slammed into us. It wasn't that bad, the car's not in the best shape. My next and shoulder kind of hurts, but I don't know if it's from that or if it already was hurting. Hmm...

Well, let me just tell you about Tony real fast. So Tony just got out of prison in April. He was in there for assault or some kind. Well, he was roommates with Casey while he was investigating the church. He even was praying a few months ago that God would help him find the true church, then about two weeks later the Elders came by and he would RUN away from them. Every time the Elders came by, he'd bolt and avoid them. Then he and Casey moved into our area, and Casey said, "You know, the missionaries aren't going to go away. There are girl missionaries here." He was like, "Man, I can't get away from them." We stopped by to teach Casey one of his new-member lessons and saw Tony. We had heard from the Elders that he was super flakey and illusive, but we invited him to sit down and he totally did. That was the moment that completely changed him. Ever since, he has grown to love the Book of Mormon. He says that he reads it and the Lord helps him to clearly understand his word, clearer and easier than when he reads the Bible. He has a baptismal date for the 19th and is SO prepared. It's funny because he just wasn't ready when the Elders first stopped by a few months ago, but by the time we came around, the Lord had prepared him to accept the message of the restored Gospel. He was ready, he is excited to get baptized and knows that this Gospel is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It's exciting to see that there are prepared people everywhere, it's just up to us to show our faith and find him.

Well, I'm grateful for this Gospel. Nothing brings me more happiness than learning about it, studying, and applying it my life and seeing my investigators apply it in theirs. I know that it is true and is the only way to have lasting happiness in this life and eternal happiness with God and our families in the world to come. It's hard and frustrating sometimes when no one wants to listen, but as Holland said, "Salvation never was a cheap. It never was meant to be easy." It's true, but as long as we keep following the commandments, praying, reading our scriptures, and helping others, we will be blessed and realize that the Gospel really is easy compared to all the alternatives.

Well, my companion was sick yesterday and not feeling to well right now, so I gotta go! I love you all! Thanks to everyone for all the letters I got that the family wrote me at FHE a while ago. You are all the best and I love you all so much!

Have a great week everyone! Merry Christmas!
--Sister Burt

2009-11-28T11:51:00.000-07:00