July 27, 2015
I'm doing great!
Thanks for all of the letters and emails! Ok so about the bike, I probably
won't be on a bike especially as a Spanish sister since our areas are pretty
big we get cars. Also, I'll probably end
up being a Facebook missionary, but not for a while. It's pretty hot here, but
I don't really notice because we spend most the day in a car or houses.
My comp is great!
Her name is Hermana Budge, the Hispanics really appreciate our name combo haha.
Anywho, she is from the Virginia side of
DC, close to Fairfax. She's really quirky like me so we get along great! We have
a lot of crazy adventures. It’s fun! Yesterday,
we went to the church to go get baptismal clothes for a boy turning 8 in our
ward and the closet for the clothes was in the baptismal font area. We were the
only ones there so all the lights were out except for the woman's bathroom, and
she told me to hold the door to let in light while she went to go turn on the
light for the font which is in the Relief Society room. I ended up stretched
out between doors trying to hold both open, so she had light. She came back and saw me straddling between doors
and we both died laughing. Also on my
first day here she managed to explode cheese powder all over herself and the
kitchen and some other funny things. Anyways she's really great. I couldn't
have been blessed with a better companion!
We haven't gone
tracting yet because it's not as effective as referrals, but we probably will
later this week. Other than that we only really go outside when we're doing
service. For service we work at a farmers market on Thursday's which is fun because
I get to do the register. Then on Saturdays we paint or pick up trash or
whatever we are needed for.
This week we've
been visiting a lot of inactives and members. At the beginning of the week we
had no investigators, however we met with a referral named Laura. We committed
her to baptism August 22! It was really cool!
Half of the time
we teach in English and half in Spanish since some of them prefer English, but
it just kinda depends. They're all
really good at helping me with what I don't know. Yesterday, we had a really cool experience at
dinner with some members in our ward who are having some non-members that they
barely know from Mexico staying with them while the girl has her baby. We got
to share a lesson with them on faith, and I could feel the spirit super strong
during the lesson! I hope they could too. I was a bit nervous to be speaking to
people from Mexico in Spanish, because I was worried they wouldn't understand,
but when I spoke I felt my tongue loosed and could say what I wanted to say.
The gift of tongues is funny because it uses what you already know, but helps
you fit it all together. I feel like I learn to say the same thing in a new way
each time as my vocab increases!
It's a bit
rough here being in cars because I feel like we don't get much done since our
area is so large especially when the people we hoped to visit on one side of
town aren't there and we have to drive 20 minutes in the opposite direction to
get to our backups. But it's all worth it when you get to that one person’s
house that you know you needed to be at right at that moment. I especially felt
that this week when none of our referrals where home and it was getting late. We
hadn't visited with anyone, so we decided to go visit this lady with arthritis
in our ward. It was the most amazing thing. You could tell she just really
needed someone to talk to about all the trials she's been going through. She's really an amazing women, and I was able
to share with her Alma 7:11-13 and talk to her about the Atonement and how she
is never alone in her trials. The Spirit was so strong and you could physically
see her countenance change. Although we haven't had many opportunities to teach
non-members yet, there is still work to be done helping inactives and members
feel of Christ's love, and at the end of the day this is all about being
instruments in Christ's hands to do his work. We are just here to do what He
needs us to do and not what we think needs to happen. I am so grateful to be
here on a mission. I feel so blessed to be a part of God's work and sharing the
gospel with others.
If you have
time this week, I would really suggest reading a few conference talks one is
"Waiting on the Road to Damascus" by President Uchtdorf a few
conferences ago. I love how it says, " the most powerful promptings we
receive are not only for our own benefit, but also for the benefit of others.
If we are thinking only of ourselves, we may miss some of the most powerful
spiritual experiences and profound revelations of our lives." I love that
because it is so true. We need to focus on serving others and answering their
prayers, and as we do we are able to find answers for our own questions. I also
like how it talks about how believing comes one puzzle piece at a time and we
may not be able to recognize the whole picture at the beginning, but each piece
added will make the picture more and more clear.
One last
thing I am so grateful to be called Spanish speaking, because I get to be fed
Mexican food almost every single night.
The bad thing is that I am going to gain a lot of weight, the good thing
is it all tastes really good. We've had homemade tortillas, guacamole,
tostadas, and some strange soup that tastes like the ranch from Costa Vida, but
cooked and it had shrimp in it. I am still not sure how I felt about that
haha, but everything else is amazing and we get fed every night pretty much so
that's a blessing. Last Tuesday when we went shopping for groceries I realized
that I have never actually gone shopping for my own food before to live off of
for a week, so that was a new experience. I am sure I will figure it out!
Cooking is an adventure!
That's crazy what
happened to Zachary! (He was in what could have been a very serious car
accident with one of his friends) I'm
happy he's safe! Prayer is such an amazing blessing!
I love you all and pray for you every day! I hope you are
all doing well.
Hermana Burgoyne
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