Monday, August 31, 2015

This week has been ok! It started off really slow.  The whole week we pretty much only saw 4 people besides our dinner appointments up until Saturday and Sunday. It was kind of discouraging, and we kind of started to doubt it would get any better until I was reading in Moroni 7:37.   This scripture talks about how miracles are only possible, if we have faith.  If we don't have faith, then miracles won't happen. So I decided that I needed to have faith even though the beginning of this week was really rough.  On Saturday we saw the miracle when we were able to see pretty much all of the people we wanted to see! It was amazing!

We are making progress with one of our investigators sort of. She's a 9 year old girl whose stepmom is an inactive member and dad isn't a member, but their uncle who is living with them is active! They have a really great family, and they all know a lot about the gospel.  It's just the struggle of getting the mom to church. This week we invited the whole family to church. The good news is the uncle was speaking in church yesterday and managed to get both the mother and his mom (who isn't a member) to come.   Sadly the girls didn't come.  But at least the step-mom came! She seemed to really enjoy it, and so did her mother in law who isn't a member so maybe we will start teaching their grandma! We are going over tonight to try and do family night with them. We went over to their house on Thursday or Friday for dinner and the uncle fed us and was telling us how much he wanted to start up family night with them.  He's a really great influence on them, so hopefully with some work we will get the 9 year old to get baptized. We pretty much visited their family 4 times this week because they were the only ones who were ever home. 

This week I have been studying a lot about charity. Probably because I have been reading in Moroni and that's like his favorite topic! Oh yeah, I finished the Book of Mormon! I read through Alma in the MTC and read Helaman to the end this transfer (clearly I slowed down a bit). Anyways I really like learning about charity. I've also been reading the Book of Mormon Institute manual along with it, and it's helped me learn and think about the Book of Mormon a little deeper. It talks about how charity requires us to forgive unconditionally and to assume the best of people. Charity is Christ like love. I decided I wanted to work on having more charity for everyone around me. Tomorrow I am going to start the Book of Mormon again and mark all of the references to charity.

Also apparently it was a really good thing that I took a marriage and family prep class this past semester. I don't think I've ever had a class that has helped me so much. It's so funny because we will be in lessons or talking to someone and they will bring up topics about the family proclamation and stuff about families.  It's helped me answer a lot of people’s concerns and questions. There was this one returning member in our ward who has been struggling a lot with something, and she brought up a topic about temples and I was able to help her understand something that has been bothering her for a while. It was so cool to see her countenance turn to relief right before our eyes. I am just so grateful for the guidance and knowledge I have been able to receive in this, because I am able to see how it helps others.
Also last night we went to go visit the Quijada family which is 2 families each consisting of 7 children.  It's a bit crazy, but we love it and go every Sunday. This week we sat down and listened to the grandpa talk for a long time. He only speaks Spanish and feels very alone because most of the grandchildren barely know any Spanish and everyone just speaks English all the time. He told us about how he can't really understand the Book of Mormon ever since the death of his wife, but that he knows that it is true. He also told us about his conversion story and I understood a lot of what he was saying. When the English Elders who visit them got there I was even able to translate for one of them and the grandpa so that was good, because half the time I feel like I have no clue what they are saying! He's a really funny person, and I was so grateful for the opportunity to talk with him last night and help him feel a little less lonely. I guess that's part of the job of being a missionary, ministering to those who need it, and being instruments in Christ's hands.

This week is transfers week. It's a bit sad because Elder Oviedo is being transferred to New Mexico, but I guess its ok.  He has been here for the past 6 months and probably needs a change in scenery. Luckily Hermana Budge and I will still be together since she's still training me!

Anyways I love you a lot! I hope you have a really great week!!
Love,
Hermana Burgoyne










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