Monday, April 25, 2016

I Love to See the Temple

This week was fun! Tuesday was awesome, because we got to go to the temple! Usually when we go up the elders all ride in the transfer van which fits 12 people in it and then there is a car or two of sisters.  This time the zone leaders decided to mix it up so that we would be with people that we were less likely to talk to, so we could feel the spirit. It was good. Hermana Parker and I ended up taking a car up with 3 of the elders in our zone. We had a good time. One of them is a professional cellist and put out a cello album that he used to pay for most his mission. We listened to it on the way up. The temple was awesome as always. Since we were separated from everyone else we ended up waiting until after the session to go get lunch, so instead we got to go do initiatories. Later that night we went back and had a lesson with a less active member who just moved into our ward who wants to be reactivated!
Wednesday we had district meeting and all went out to lunch together. There's this restaurant in our area that is owned by a member who gives us all half off every time we go. Then we had a lesson with Ana. We talked to her about temples and family history. She was so excited about it! This week we are going to go to the family history center to help her work on hers!
Then Thursday was really fun! I got to go on exchanges with another Hermana down in Nogales. It was cool finally getting out of Tucson for a day! I like it down there a lot. It's actually green and it's super hilly. Also it's right on the border, so you can see the wall and everything. Hermana Lund and I visited a few people, and she introduced me to this lady named Grandma Duke. She's super sweet and has an English accent. It was cool finally meeting her, because she's talked about a lot by other missionaries. She was super sweet and gave us ice cream, soda, and then paid for us to go get lunch! Then we tried to visit a few other people, but ended up going to a member’s house and cleaning for them. They gave us homemade bread and honey.  It was super good! It was a really fun exchange :)
Then on Friday I ended up getting a bit of a cold, so we ended up staying at home for most the day, but I was fine by Saturday! 
Saturday, Hermana Parker and I decided that right before the Elder’s baptism we were going to go out and knock and invite someone to the baptism. So about an hour before it we chose a street and just started inviting people. I don't know why, but for some reason I was super nervous, but it ended up being a really cool experience! We found 3 potential investigators in 30 min and one actually wanted to go, but couldn't because she couldn't drive herself. Then we tried pretty much everyone that we knew, but no one was home, so that was a little rough.  We even knocked for a while and no one answered! But we kept on trying, and finally we decided to go home and reevaluate everything. So we changed our plan and right when we were leaving to go try two less actives I waved at this man, and he pretty much contacted me! Turns out he had gone to church before in Nogales and really liked it. He asked for some information, and then we got his address so we can try him his week!
Then Sunday we had a huge miracle! So there's this family in the ward who has 3 sons. One of the sons is already a member and has a girlfriend named Julie that comes to church with him every week.  One of the sons was the one who got baptized on Saturday, and then the other is still learning about the gospel. Anyways I didn't really know them too well before this week, although I've been here for almost 4 months now. Anyways the first Sunday I got to this ward the elders came up to me and told me that I should go ask Julie if she would be interested in taking the lessons with us, so I tried to talk to her, but she didn't seem super friendly so I kind of gave up. Then at church yesterday one of their family friends who was visiting came up to me in the middle of sacrament meeting and told us that we should try teaching Julie, because she's never taken the lessons before, but she is always at church. She also told me that Julie is super shy which explains why she was scared talking to us. So I told Hermana Parker, and we decided we were going to talk to her. Anyways we got to know her boyfriend and his family a bit during gospel principles and at the end we asked her boyfriend if he thought she would be interested in learning more. He got so excited about it and told us he would ask her and let us know. Anyways he asked her, and she said yes! We ended up setting up an appointment for next Wednesday! We are super excited, because she seems super solid and ready to learn! Also I've been praying for a miracle like this for weeks and here it is!
Anyways something that I noticed this week is how important the temples are. It was kind of crazy, because I felt like every single thing we taught related back to the temples and how we can be with our families forever. I feel like my mission has really taught me how sacred temples are. They are truly a place of peace. I'm so grateful that I have such a wonderful family, and that because we have temples I can be sealed to those I love forever. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father's love and for the Atonement of Jesus Christ that makes it all possible. I know as we strive to become like them we will be blessed and worthy to receive all the blessings that have waiting for us. I hope you have a good week! I love you lots!

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne 

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