Lots of Baptism dates!

The first amazing thing is Monday night we were looking for someone to visit and it was getting a bit late, but we decided to go try this less active family that live up a really steep hill. Anyways when we got there we turned around because it was really dark outside, and we decided it might be too late to go and see  them, but as we were driving a still small voice popped into my head and reminded me of all the times when I didn't want to do something or felt a bit uncomfortable, but I did it anyways and it ended up blessing not only me, but the people we visited. Soooo we turned around and visited them, and it ended up being an awesome lesson! They even came to church on Sunday! It just goes to show that the most important things to do are the things we don't want to do, because it's just Satan trying to stop something good from happening.

Then Tuesday was super super busy! We had lots of lessons although a few fell through, but we were always able to find someone else to teach in that hour. That day we had two really great member present lessons. The first was with Rena. We brought the bishop’s wife with us who is a convert to the church, and she ended up having so much in common with Rena. Also the Spirit was so strong every time she testified of how she gained a knowledge of the truthfulness of the gospel. It's very unfortunate that although Rena has felt the spirit and knows what she needs to do that she's being very stubborn about it, but maybe someday!

Then later we went to go see the Limon family. Hna Limon just got married about 3 months ago to a man who isn't a member of the church, but his brother is actually a member in El Rio. It's super funny because we used to go to his house for dinner every single Saturday when I was there and also his son had left on a mission for Chicago about the same time I started my mission. Anyways it's super cool because the first time we tried to yeah him he was super shy and felt really uncomfortable because of all the pressure he was getting from his wife's family, but we went back and had a really great lesson and he asked us a lot of questions and was starting to feel a lot more comfortable! Later that week on Saturday we went back and taught him about the plan of salvation and a bit about temple sealings because his wife is super ready for him to join so they can get sealed one day, but he also wants to have the desire to change for himself. Anyways we went back and he told us he wanted to be baptized because he's already seen the change that having s member of the church in his house has brought and he wants to continue to have that. Soooo we set a baptism date with him for the 17th!

Then Wednesday we went over to the Arias family’s house for dinner. They are super awesome! Their son just got back home from his mission on Tuesday, so they threw a huge party for him and the cooked a goat that they had been keeping in their yard for a few weeks! All the food was super good and it was fun to be around all of the Ward. It's also funny because their son is always talking to either us or the elders. I think he missed his mission haha.

Then Thursday we had a lesson with Isabella and set a new baptism date with her for the 17th as well. We were super excited because we have been trying for a transfer to get her to church and Sunday she finally came! All it took was us waking her up at 7 am half ready for church and then finding her s ride, but she made it! I absolutely love her. I don't know if it's because she's around Natalie's age or because she laughs at everything dumb I do, but she reminds me lots is Natalie. I'm super excited to get to see her take that step of baptism next month!

Then that same day the elders suggested we go try a less active lady in our Ward who's related to a member up in Los Reales that they had worked with. Anyways we tried her and she didn't live their anymore, but we met an awesome lady named Nancy and had a full first lesson with her. She was so excited to learn and wanted us to come over the next day, but she had to cancel last minute because she got called into work, but hopefully we will see her soon!

Saturday we just drove to Patagonia to go watch cowboy Bob show the Boy Scouts how to ride a horse. Then we drove around trying about everyone we could think of without much luck, but we ended up teaching a few less active young women so that was good!

Thennnn Sunday was super crazy! At church we were all over the place. We were super happy because Liz came to church although she hasn't been feeling super good. Then we found out that a sister in our Ward had been bringing one of her non-member friends to church for a few weeks and we thought she was already a member so we are going to try and see her soon. Then Jorge showed up. We still haven't had a lesson with him, but he has come 3 weeks in a row and today we are planning on doing a family home evening with the Arias family and the elders so we will see how that goes! Also we spent the whole time running around trying to set up appointments for this week. It was pretty productive!

Later that night we went over to the DeWitt family’s house to go visit with the Lunderville girls. Their grandma who has been dying from cancer passed away last Saturday, so we shared a lesson with them about the plan of salvation. They really liked the idea that their grandma is in the Spirit world right now teaching others the gospel just like us! We also set a baptism date with Dylan for the 17th! We may have to change a few of them for other days, but from the looks of it the 17th of September will be a pretty exciting day!

Something that really hit me yesterday was the thought that we are all on the Lord's errand. Although yesterday was crazy I was just sitting during the sacrament thinking about how amazing it is that I get to spend every single day serving others and although it may seem exhausting it's one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life. I have never felt so tired, but I feel super super happy! I am so grateful to have the chance to share that Joy and happiness with others and to watch them as they accept the gospel in their lives. I love you lots! Espero que tenga una buena semana!

 

Con amor,

Hermana Burgoyne 

 

Training

I'm doing awesome! I love training! My new companion is Hermana Delgado. She was born in Peru, but moved to Orem, Utah when she was 8. Anyways she's super awesome and excited to work! I absolutely adore her :). And I don't even need to teach her Spanish because she's already fluent!

Anyways this week has been really log and a bit crazy, but it's also been really good! Tuesday we had transfers. It was super weird saying bye to about half of the Spanish missionaries! All of a sudden our mission became really young!

 

I was happy to see all my friends because we ever only see the elders we serve with down here which is good and bad. We had a meeting and figured out who our new companions were. I was super excited to be with Hna Delgado. Then as soon as it was done we got going. We visited a bunch of people the first few days. It's a bit crazy training, because since we are Spanish we have 4 hours of straight studies and then we have to make time to visit people! 

 

We've been really lucky to be so busy lately. This week as the first part of Hna Delgado's training she is supposed to take lead in inviting our investigators to be baptized. Although none of the people we invited said yes we had some really neat experiences with it. The first one was with Rena Joseph. We've been teaching Rena for a few months, but hadn't invited her to be baptized for some dumb reason. I think it was partially because at first she totally hated the missionaries and we didn't want her to get offended, but I learned this week that we need to not fear inviting people to repent! Anyways Rena has a bunch of family members who are LDS. Turns out her brother was even bishop over a Ward in the small little town (I can't remember its name right now) next to Tooele, Utah.

 

A lady in our Ward met her at a garage sale and referred her to us, and at first she was shutting the door in Hna Sands and Lund’s face, but now she's gradually opened up to us. Now she even invites us over for dinner! Anyways Thursday we were trying to go visit her and for some reason I could not find her house although I had been there a billion times, finally out of the blue she called us to ask us if we could give her a ride somewhere. We said we couldn't, but then asked if we could go over to teach her since we hadn't been able to for a few weeks. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and explained to her how an important step of that plan is baptism. It was super cool because by the end she was able to recognize that the only way for her to get back to our Heavenly Father was through baptism. So we invited her! And the good news is she didn't totally say no, and I don't think she doesn't want to be, but she said she's worried that she won't be able to change her Catholic culture even though she's not super active anyways. We told her that God would help her along the way and invited her to pray about it. She agreed and we will see her again tomorrow!

 

Our second really cool experience came when our zone leaders invited us to do the same thing we did last March which was to teach the restoration to someone every day for a month. So it was getting pretty late one night, and we still hadn't taught it and we were a little stressed, so we just went home and thought we would just do it twice the next day. Well when we got there we had a thought to go visit our neighbor who had just moved in and a member of our Ward told us to go visit him. So we knocked on his door and gave him some cookies we had made, and he let us share the restoration with him right then and there! It was a cool reminder that when we try to be obedient and have faith in God he always helps us accomplish our goals.

 

Then last night we had a really cool lesson with Melissa. Melissa is the daughter in law of a really awesome member in our Ward named Hna Wright. Anyways we were sharing with her and her less active husband the plan of salvation. It was super cool because every single person there had lost someone in their family. Both of Melissa's parents had passed away in the past year, and also Sister Wright's husband had passed away a few years ago.  When we got to the spirit world in the lesson we for some reason ended up talking about temple work which lead to us talking about temple sealings. It was really cool because we were able to bare testimony of the fact that we can be with our families forever and that Melissa would be able to see her parents again. Sister Wright shared about how much hope that knowledge gives her because she knows she'll see her husband again, and I talked about how I know I'll be able to see my dad again because of the temple. The Spirit was really strong, and we knew that she could feel it too, so we invited her to be baptized and although she said no we know that someday she will be ready to accept out message. I love the scriptures in D&C 50:17-24

17 Verily I say unto you, he that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?

18 And if it be by some other way it is not of God.

19 And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?

20 If it be some other way it is not of God.

21 Therefore, why is it that ye cannot understand and know, that he that receiveth the word by the Spirit of truth receiveth it as it is preached by the Spirit of truth?

22 Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.

23 And that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness.

24 That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

 

I know that as we teach by the Spirit according to people's needs that we will be able to help them feel the Spirit too. As long as we use Him those we teach will feel it too, it's just up to them to follow those promptings. Although sometimes people receive that confirmation from the Spirit it's always hard when they say no, but we just have to remember we all have agency. And who knows maybe that seed we planted in her will someday grow into a great big tree! It just may take a little longer than we hoped. I know his church is true. I know that God loves us and wants the very best for us even if we may not understand His plan perfectly. I'm so grateful for the gospel and the chance to share it every single day. And last of all I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and all He has done for me. I love you so much! I hope you have a good week!

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne

Sent from my iPad

 

We got a new car!

This week has been really good! Probably one of the best of my mission!

First off Tuesday we were a bit upset, because we were really struggling with how some of our recent converts had been acting which was stressing us out especially since we were planning on going to the temple with them on Saturday. It was really unfortunate because we didn't think it was going to happen. Also a bunch of our appointments cancelled, and yeah. Then out of nowhere we got a call from the vehicle coordinator in our mission, and he asked us when would be a good time to pick up our new car from him! Anyways we were really excited so we did some family history at the church and rushed up to our apartment to get our brand new 2016 Nissan Rouge! We were pretty excited about it. I mean I know it's silly, but it really brightened up our day.

The rest of this week was really busy, yet not at the same time. I'm not even so sure what we were doing, but we didn't end up with very many lessons. Not a lot of people were home which was really sad, and we were kinda sitting there all bummed because we have almost no investigators and we didn't think we were going to go to the temple on Saturday, but then Friday night we went over to see Liz to see if she was planning on going to the temple and to our surprise she said yes!

Anyways Saturday was awesome! We got up at 5 so we could get ready to leave bright and early and we drove all the way up to Mesa with Liz and our ward mission leader! It was super fun, partially because we were excited to go out of mission boundaries to a different temple, and also because the temple is amazing! So we got there and wandered around the visitor’s center for a while and then a little later we went and did baptisms. It was a super cool experience. I was really happy because I was able to bring 11 family names with me to be baptized for, and also because we actually got Liz there! As we were waiting in the baptismal room for our turn, I met another 2 girls who had just been baptized a few months ago and were doing baptisms for the first time. It was just so amazing to me to think of how the gospel really does bless our lives. I was so happy to be there surrounded by people I love doing the Lords work. I'm so grateful for how the gospel brings us all together and makes us all happy. :)

Then after we went and had lunch with some members in our Ward who went to get their endowments for the first time which was really cool! Then I took a nap all the way home.

Oh and the second awesome thing that happened on Saturday was we got our calls for what is happening next transfer/ tomorrow! Soooooooo I'm going to stay down here and train! Then Hermana Sands is going up to Tucson to finish training another sister in El Dorado! We are both super excited, but also super nervous to train! I'm really sad to see sister Sands leave, but I'm also super excited to train! It's so crazy how fast these last few weeks have been! It's a bit sad because about half of the Spanish missionaries go home on Wednesday, so I'm saying bye to people I've served around for the past year!

Then one last miracle of the week! Sunday I was a little sad because since we hadn't found that many people like we had hoped to this week I thought we would have no investigators at church, but I had been fasting specifically that this coming week God would send us some people who would be ready to accept our message! So we got to church and it was crazy because a part member family that we had been trying to get ahold of came to church! We have an appointment with them tonight. Then we walked out of English sacrament and one of the Spanish members brought his friend Jorge up to us to meet who isn't a member, and we ended up having lesson with him during gospel principles because the teacher wasn't there! It was so perfect because we have been looking for Spanish investigators because we kind of run low on those in our area. He seems pretty interested! He doesn’t really have a religious back ground , but we will see what happens! Anyways we are going to go and see him this week!  Either way it's amazing how God provides! Then last of all we went to Spanish sacrament, and  it was super cool because our English Ward mission leader had referred us to one of his old students that we contacted a few weeks ago who just happened to be good friends with a kid in the Spanish Ward. Anyways we had talked to the boy in the Spanish Ward and he told us he would bring his friend Luis to church. Well guess what! 2 weeks later Luis came to church! It was super cool! Also he helped put away the sacrament after church. 

I'm so grateful for how God blesses us especially when we are really struggling and least expect it. I know as long as we rely on Him and do our part by being obedient He will always provide!

I love you! Have a good week!

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne