Parading around

This week was a little slow work wise, but we worked really hard.  We had some really great lessons with Claudia and Isabel. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation, but didn't get too far because the member we were with just wanted to skip right to talking about the Spirit world, haha but it was good!

Tuesday we went and helped out at the food bank. They had clothes there that day too, so us and the elders chose out some really great outfits for each of us. Then we had a bunch of appointments that fell through. But we also had some less active lessons! It was crazy, because we got a referral for one family and then the other flagged us down. The cool thing is that a few weeks ago I was going through all the part member families that our ward has listed, because we are supposed to work with them.  I was disappointed because pretty much all of them in our area had moved, but I felt prompted that morning for some reason that the family who had flagged us down was one on the part member family list. I went and looked and turns out one of their daughters isn't a member, but we hadn't tried them because some former missionaries had marked them as having moved! It was really cool because they really want to be taught, and we've been looking for good solid families to teach! It was definitely a tender mercy. It was also funny, because when we went over we were talking to the mom and her youngest son came in who had just gotten baptized a few yrs ago and was like you're here for my sister aren't you? And I just laughed and was like no we are here for all of you!

Wednesday we had zone conference! It was super awesome, I love zone conference because I always learn something really cool. My favorite talk was probably by Sister Passey. She talked about the importance of using past experience/ testimony to support what we teach, then how we need to promise or give assurance of blessings, and invite people to act. It was really cool because usually we read from Preach my Gospel about inviting, commuting, and following up, but it was kind of a different twist on it, and something we can apply to ourselves. Then we talked about the 2 thousand stripling warriors, and how they demonstrated this by trusting in what their mothers taught them. We also have a challenge as a mission to teach the Restoration at least once every single day in March. I'm excited because I love teaching the restoration and I usually use it for everything! Also President Passey shared our experience with that lady locking the gate on us with the whole entire group haha. Anyways, it was good. I always learn so much from them!

Thursday most of our zone was in a parade for the Tucson rodeo! It was really fun, but it was so hot, and we were so exhausted after. But then we went out to eat with our zone to a restaurant in our area that's owned by a member, it was sooooo good!

Saturday was also super awesome because every single person that we had appointments with/ had planned to go visit was home! Also it was great because the ASL elders had asked us to come visit a former of theirs that was also a former of ours. It was a family who speaks Spanish, but one of the sons is deaf, so they teach him in sign language and can kind of communicate with the mom with it. Anyways we taught the Restoration with the ASL missionaries! It was a bit insane because Hermana Munk and one of the elders was teaching in English, and then I would translate to the mom in Spanish and the other elder would sign to the boy who is deaf, but it was super cool! We are going to start teaching the mom separately! Then the elders each had a baptism so we went to that! It was really awesome and so many people where there!

Sunday was a bit crazy. We were fasting so both Hermana Munk and I were dead by the end of the day, but we had 3 less actives at church. One of them we haven't even visited for a couple weeks! Then our investigator Ana was there too as always! So it was a pretty good week! Haha oh yeah also we were knocking and the first door we knocked on this lady just let us strait in, and we were a little confused. Anyway apparently they had been waiting for someone to come and tour their trailer, because they were selling it. They were a little surprised when they found out we were missionaries who just wanted to share a message with them haha. We have an appointment with them this week! 

We also got a church headquarters referral yesterday for a lady that I had in my area book for some reason when I was in Eldorado. It's funny because for some reason I had her marked on my map in my iPad, and I was thinking about visiting her earlier this week, but didn't because she's in the elder’s area, and they already have her progress record. But for some reason I had a different address then them. So we went to go try the address that the elders and the referral that we got yesterday had.  When we got there it turns out she had moved and her friend was living where she used to. The cool thing is she told us that she didn't know the new address, but she knew it was off of Mossman and turns out the address I had saved from Eldorado was off of Mossman! We weren't able to find it yesterday, but we will try it later this week! But it's just so perfect that I happened to get her actual address in my old area! Hopefully we can contact her this week and start teaching her, because she sounds golden! Also her friend is really interested in learning more and even pulled out her Book of Mormon to show us!

So although we had less lessons than usual this week, it was still full of miracles! And that's not even all of them!  It's funny to think at the beginning of my mission I was so scared to go talk to everyone, and now I just do it without thinking haha.

Anyways I hope you have an awesome week! I love you a lot!

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne

Hi!

My new comp is great.  I'm not in a new area.  I just got a new companion. Usually we stay in areas for at least 2 transfers, with the exception of my transfer in the El Dorado ward. Anyways, she's awesome her name is Hermana Munk. She's been out only 2 transfers more than me, so she's about the same age as me on the mission. It's interesting because her areas were mainly English before this one, so she hasn't had a lot of practice in Spanish. It's funny because this is the first time I know Spanish better than my comp. I'm going to have to step it up and learn a lot. It's a little scary, but it's really cool to see how much I've grown in the past few transfers! Also I've definitely felt like God has been helping me to communicate a lot better just in this past week.

This week has been so crazy and a little stressful. I think taking over this area is a lot harder than it was in El Rio, just because I was there a little longer beforehand. But it's good we've been blessed with lots of referrals this week! 

Funny story- the other day Hermana Anderson suggested that we try this former investigator she had been teaching when she was in Los Reales. Her name is Gloria, so we went to try her and this lady came to the door and told us that Gloria was there.  However, she was busy, so we should come back in 15 minutes. So we left and tried a few potentials we had around her. Then we went back to the house, and when we got there the gate was locked haha. It was hilarious, I have to give her credit for that one, it was a good way to get rid of us.

We’ve also seen some pretty awesome things happen. We had started teaching another former of Hermana Anderson the other week.  When we taught her, she told us she wasn't too interested, but we went back.  When we got there, we ended up having a really awesome lesson and extending a baptism date, and she said yes! She really wants to learn more! It was awesome :). It's going to be difficult getting her to church though because she goes to Mesa over the weekend with her son each week, but we will see!!

It was also funny, because we were helping set up a wedding with the elders on Friday, and I was telling them about how I've like never had someone call me and give me a referral in this area before.  As soon as we got home, we got a call from a lady in another stake, and she asked us to invite one of her friends to any of the Relief Society activities we had coming up. It was perfect, because we just happened to have one the next day! So we invited her and she really wanted to come, but she ended up getting called into work right beforehand so that was a little sad. But next time!

Also we finally had a lesson with Josie, the less active lady that flagged us down like a month ago. It was awesome.  She is so ready to return! She even told us she was coming to church the night before without us asking. Then the next day we got a call from her 10 minutes before church, and she told us her daughter no longer could give her a ride and so she wouldn't be able to go. It was really sad because she was so excited to go, and we weren't able to get her a ride right beforehand.  We got it all figured out for next week, so we are excited about that! Then we got another referral from another member of our ward. She turned out to be a less active too, but we are so excited about all the help we are getting!

Friday night we had a wedding to go to for one of the less active members in our branch. It was so pretty! We ended up helping out a lot with that.  Then the next day, we had the relief society activity too! It was a little crazy, but super fun!

This week I've been studying a lot about adversity, and how we have to overcome all the trials and temptations that we have in this life.  Something I really liked is when I was reading in Alma 42 today and it's when Alma is talking to his son Helaman about judgement, and I loved verse 29 that says "and now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance." I just really like that, because it reminds me not to worry about all the trials I am going through, and all the things that we will have to go through. Just focus on how you can be better and when you do that God will be able to help you through your trials.

Anyways I hope you all have a good week! I love you lots and lots!

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!! We didn't get too many valentines, just the candy they gave out at church. Not too much happens though as a missionary on Valentine's Day. I guess the youth had a dance the night before and so we stopped by to say hi to everyone, but besides that not much.

So this week is transfers! Some crazy stuff is happening in our mission! A bunch of areas are being closed and there are a lot of elders white washing areas, because so many people went home this past transfer due to sickness. So Hermana Townley is going to go to the Sierra Vista zone to be a Stl! She's a bit nervous, because she is ending her mission in an English speaking area. We were both surprised because we figured once you hit a certain amount of time as a missionary there was no way that you would be sent English, but just kidding because she's going to probably end her mission there! I'm getting Hermana Monk.  I've never actually met her well maybe once, but never really talked to her because she has been outside of Tucson her whole mission and I've been here the whole time, but she was companions with Hermana Flake before Hermana Flake came here. I've heard good things about her! She is also only like 1 or 2 transfers older than me on the mission which is different! Most my comps have been near going home! It's also going to be crazy because they are moving the zone leader area from the El Rio branch to Los Reales, so I'm basically going to be in the same area as my zone leaders my whole entire mission haha, but it's nice to have them.

Anywho, this was a really great week! Lots and lots of miracles like always! We were really lucky this week because we had 4 member present lessons which is amazing because the week before we had 0, and it's pretty hard to find members who can/ want to go out with us. But luckily, on Wednesday this Hermana named Hermana Vargas came out with us, and we were able to visit 2 people with her. It was awesome because she was not afraid to speak her mind and testify! We had a lesson with our investigator Isabel and her friend Claudia, and we were trying to explain the importance of baptism and priesthood authority.  They were really struggling with understanding why they would need to be baptized into our church, and Hermana Vargas just strait up told them that their baptism was invalid and respectfully explained it to them. They totally understood, and it was such a miracle because they didn't get offended and they finally got something us and other missionaries had been struggling to teach! It was a miracle!

We also had a really awesome lesson with Ernesto, the man who offered us water a few weeks ago. It was funny because I thought he wasn't all too interested, and we knocked on his trailer the other day.  His son answered and said he was in the bathroom, but to wait and he'd come talk to us. So we waited for like 10 minutes and we finally just decided to leave, but right as we went to leave he came out! We then read 3 Nephi 11 with him. It was super cool because he just really wants to involve God in his life, and he is always praying and seeking His guidance.  It's cool that we get to help him learn, so that someday he can be worthy to have the Spirit with him all the time! Also we talked to him about baptism because that's the first thing Jesus teaches the people. It was really cool because he was like wait so not just anyone can baptize? And we are like no they have to have power/ authority from God. Then he's like then who has this power? And so we got to explain the restoration to him, and he totally understood it. He doesn't feel ready for baptism right now, but we invited him to read and pray and hopefully he will want to be soon!

Something that I have been working on all transfer is not being afraid to invite people to be baptized on the first lesson. It's something I have been struggling with my whole mission because it's kind of a really bold invitation, but we are asked to try and invite when the spirit prompts us. The funny thing is I have been working on it, and finally this week I found myself in a lesson with one of our new investigators and just invited him, and I wasn't even afraid. It was really cool! I love that God's promise in Ether 12:27 is true. 

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

God has definitely been showing me the things I can work on as I go to him in prayer.  When I do that and humble myself, He does strengthen me. It's just amazing to me that the atonement not only makes up for my mistakes and heals me, but also strengthens and enables me to become better. I'm so grateful for my Savior and all He has done for me. He is my example, and I hope I can become more like Him every single day.

I love you and hope you have a really good week!

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne

Teaching a Preacher!

Hi! I'm doing super great! How are you?

My sad story of the week is that the baptism is probably not going to happen, because they didn't come to church the last Sunday. We invited them, even got them rides, and everything, but I think the date may have scared them or something. But that's ok, because each failed baptism date means we are one more closer to a successful one! We may end up dropping them, because we tried going over earlier this week.  They told us they were busy, and that they would call us when they had time. Such a bummer!

On the bright side though, we saw even more miracles this week! I'm not sure if it's because I've been paying more attention and counting my blessings a little better this transfer, or if this transfer has just had more miracles than the others.  However, I've seen something amazing happen every single day!

On Monday night we had an awesome lesson with this really cute couple we knocked into while looking for a less active in our branch. They are super sweet and the lesson went super well, even though I had a really sore throat and didn't feel so good from hiking that morning.

Tuesday was cool, because we had a lesson with a lady named Isabel. She is super awesome and totally ready for the gospel.  She is just a bit hard to get a hold of, but we had a great lesson with her and her daughter and grandchildren. We also went by to visit a former investigator who we had dropped a few weeks ago just to ask for a referral. The funny thing is she referred us to her 12 yr old daughter. So now we are teaching her! She is super duper cute and she looks like she is 15, but turns out she is 2 days younger than Natalie. I love working with girls her age. We actually had our first lesson with her yesterday. At first she didn't want to be taught or listen, but we got to know her and now she is excited about it and wants to come to the mutual activities!

On Wednesday two really awesome things happened! For one, we were knocking in the area of a referral we received when we came up to a house and this lady answered. She didn't seem very interested and told us she didn't have time right then. Then all of a sudden, she started crying and telling us about how something had happened to her daughter. We just testified of Jesus Christ's power to comfort us, and asked if we could pray with her.  After she opened up to us, and she asked us to come back and visit her this week! We didn't even have to ask! We also had a lesson with a less active in our ward and asked her for a referral.  She told us we should come teach her friend Reina who we had met at our dinner appointment last week. I had given her a Book of Mormon hoping that some good would come out of it, and it turns out she has been reading it!

Thursday, I ate a habanero!  It's wasn't too bad. That night we also got referred to go visit a preacher. He let us right in and we should have suspected it, but then he just started bible bashing us and telling us how we need to actually talk to God. It was really intimidating, but I just felt prompted to share with him Moroni 10:3-5.  It was basically what he was saying all of a sudden the Spirit just rushed into the room. It was really cool. I was reading earlier this week in Alma 31 which is one of my favorite chapters because it's all about pleading with God for help when we feel weak and we can't keep going.  My comp and I were both feeling that way since we've been working hard and have tons of people to teach, but none of them are progressing towards baptism. Anyways, it helped me a lot. But I also love verse 5 because it teaches us that the word of God has more power than the sword, and I found that to be really true during that lesson.

Friday we went to go try Isabel again. She didn't have time for a lesson, but we met her friend Claudia! Isabel was explaining to her how we teach her about God, and she showed her the pamphlet we had left with her to read. Right away Claudia walked over and said that she wanted to read it and learn more! We have a lesson with them both tonight! It was crazy because she even told us she wants to learn more, even if Isabel isn't there.

Anyways that's just a few of the cool things that happened this week!

I hope you have a great week! I love you lots! Let me know if you need anything!

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne

Another Week of Miracles

his week has been crazy, but lots of miracles! The family I was talking about last week is still getting baptized! So the exciting thing is this past week we got to visit them a few times and actually extend a date to them. They are all scheduled to be baptized the 5th of March! They are a little nervous about it, but that's what we are working towards.  The problem is they have yet to be able to come to church. We love them though! We are actually teaching the Mom, her two kids, and one of their cousins who is the niece of the primary president in our ward, so that was a funny coincidence! Their names are Carmen, Deyra (daughter), Luis (son), and Ilene (cousin). They are super awesome, and like I probably said already they get so excited for us to come over.  It's super awesome. Their mom is super awesome too because she is not a member, but we will be teaching lessons and she will agree with everything we say and try to explain everything we teach to her children. It’s cool because she was one of the Hispanics in Tucson who almost shut the door on us because they are Catholic, but now she is totally open and it's great!

There are also some other neat things that happened this week. We were trying really hard to find new less actives to work with in our area, because we don't know many.  We have just been going through our ward list searching for people who for the most part have moved. The cool thing is that although we haven't been able to get in contact with the people we have been looking for in specific we ended up finding others to teach whether it was another less active who had just moved into their house, or a new potential investigator who is willing to learn. One of the best miracles this week was when we had been walking back to our car from a less active’s house and this lady walking around with a stroller just smiled and waved at us.  I didn't think too much of it. Then we drove down the street a little bit and there was the same lady who had been walking her stroller.  She just waves us down and was like hey! Are you missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? Of course we said yes, and went over to talk to her.  It turns out she is a less active member who just got baptized a year ago and had kind of fallen away, but she really missed the church and just needed help returning.  She asked us when the soonest we could come over and visit with her was, so we have an appointment with her tomorrow.  We are super excited :)

The last miracle for the week is we were trying to visit some of our investigators, but they weren't home.  We started walking back to the car, and this man from behind us calls and asks us if we would like some water.  We turned around and went over to go talk to him.   It turns out he had felt a prompting to ask us if we needed water. It was cool because at first he didn't seem too interested in our message, but we talked to him about the Book of Mormon. He thought it was the coolest thing that Jesus visited the Americas after His resurrection. It was really awesome. God has definitely been leading us to people who are prepared to hear his message.

Yesterday, I got to give a talk in sacrament meeting about following the prophets. It's kind of funny because I have been on my mission for almost 8 months, and I still have yet to give a talk besides when I was in the MTC so that was really fun. I used the talk from October 2014 by Sister Mcconkie. It's really good and tells the story of Elias and the women who gave him the last of her food. I talked about how the prophets are God's servants and how they ask hard things of us, but when we do them we will be blessed so much. It's also really cool because I spent most of my personal study yesterday preparing for that, so I didn't have much time to prepare for our other lessons.  However, I ended up being totally prepared! I was even able to share some scriptures that I had been studying that totally fit in with our other lesson on obedience and being willing to keep God's commandments and the Spirit was super strong during all of our lessons yesterday. I am just so grateful for the help God gives me and that we can be worthy of the Spirit at all times to guide and direct us!

This week was Hermana Anderson’s Birthday, so I made her a cake and got to smoosh her face into it. It was really fun, I will send you the video, don't worry she was ok and actually she wanted me to do it.   We went on a hike today for p-day.  I will send pictures!

I love you lots and lots! 

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne