Temple trip

We've seen lots of miracles this week and have been working hard, along with going to the temple and all of our meetings it's been a bit crazy! Anyways we're just a bit tired!

The temple was awesome! It was fun, because we got to borrow the AP's van to drive up there so all the sisters in our zone fit. We listened to music and talks together. The temple was probably the best part :) I honestly wish we could go more than just every 4 months, but that's ok!  Afterwards, we took a bunch of pictures which I don't have yet, but will soon and went out to lunch at this Mexican restaurant that feeds the missionaries for free.  Gila valley loves missionaries. Then after that we all drove back. 

Wednesday we watched a worldwide mission broadcast. I liked it because it was a lot about going back to the basics of missionary work. I feel like it's really easy as missionaries to want to jazz up our message or add on a bunch of frills to make it not so bold.  However, I really liked how it emphasized teaching about the restoration first and basing all our contacts and lessons on that.

Wednesday was also great, because we contacted a former that one of the other sisters had taught when she was here.  She was really excited to see us and not sure why the sisters stop visiting her. We set up an appointment with her for Thursday, so hopefully that will go well!

Thursday, we started the test we are doing in which we can only speak Spanish all day every day.  It's actually really great! I was really nervous at first that it was going to be super hard, but it's been pretty easy. I realized I know a lot more, than I thought! We were also finally able to teach the Restoration to a family we have been trying to teach. It went super awesome! The spirit was super strong, and they all committed to be baptized! They're so cute.  At first the mother just wanted us to come and teach her children about Jesus, but we started teaching her too, and she really liked our message.  It’s super awesome that they want to be baptized. I'm super excited, because the amazing thing about the gospel is.  It’s all centered on families and how we know families can be together forever.  I can’t wait to see them take those steps to be able to receive all the blessings God has instore for us!

Then Saturday the hermano who is doing the study on our Spanish came out with us, and we were able to contact a bunch of people and have 3 lessons with him which was awesome! Not only did he have a lot of great suggestions for our Spanish, but also for how we can improve as missionaries. He taught in the Mtc for a few years and is planning to apply for a job there again in a year or two, so he knows a lot about being a missionary.

Sunday we were all over the place! I feel like it's never really a day of rest as a missionary. We had a bunch of appointments and ward counsel and by the end of it most of our appointments fell through! But that's ok!

Something cool that really hit me this week is that there is a reason that God sends us where He does. He know the needs of His children. It's interesting because there are a lot of people here who let us in and let us teach a little bit, but they never really accept our message. Sometimes it's hard for me to understand why they let us in at all, if they aren't actually interested. But I realized that just by a few seconds of testimony these people can feel the spirit and feel like they need to let us in for a reason they might not recognize. It's kind of like how the scriptures teach that some people are looking for the truth, but they just don't know it. Even if they don't accept our message right now, I know God wants us to plant seeds in these people so hopefully some day they will realize what they are searching for.

Also sometimes I really struggle with being afraid to speak and be bold, but I was reading the scriptures and these parts of the bible really helped me this week:

Romans 8:38-39

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord

 Matthew 28:17-20

17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 ¶Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

These reminded me that Christ is always going to be on my side, if I am doing my best to serve others. I love how His love is infinite and how He cares about us. He wants us to trust in him. When we do trust Him, we can do anything.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne

Sent from my iPad

I love my mission!

Hi! Transfers
were good! My new companion is Hermana Townley, she is pretty great. She
trained Hermana Child who came out with me so I already knew her pretty well!
We get a long really well which is awesome. We have a lot of the same ideas of
missionary work, and she's pretty easy to work with. We have a really great
area! I love it because pretty much everyone here is Hispanic, which is such a
blessing considering my last area was so hard to find people to teach. We found
4 new investigators this week and have so many potentials that it's hard to
keep track of them all. My Spanish is going to improve a lot! I just
feel so blessed!  Also it may just be best if you sent packages to the
mission office, at least while I am in this area. I will get them pretty easily
because our zone leaders live in the area of the mission office,
so they can bring them to me every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Our
apartment complex is a little sketchy, so I don't really know if it would be
best to send them there. But any letters are good! Thank you so much for
everything! You really didn't have to get me that much, honestly I keep
forgetting that it's my birthday this week because of how busy we are. Thanks
for everything though! You do so much for me and I am so grateful for that!




This week has
been a lot of fun! Its crazy busy here, so at times it's even a struggle to get
in all of our personal and companionship study. We have lots of great service
opportunities too. Each Thursday, we get to go help out at the food bank. It's
really awesome, because we get to meet so many people.  Plus it's a great reminder of how blessed I
am to have so much. I also like it because we get free food too, and they get
upset if we don't take anything. A few members from out ward work there too, so
I got to know them a little. Then we also have service with Joe every Saturday.
He is in charge of keeping the community clean. Anyways all of the Spanish
missionaries serving in the west or south sides of Tucson go to that, so I have
been going to that since I got to Tucson besides last transfer when I was on
the east side. I gave him a book of Mormon this past week. One of the elders I
serve around is from Nephi, Utah and Joe was asking where that name came from,
and I said you clearly just need to read the Book of Mormon! So then he asked
us to go get him one, and we showed him how Nephi is one of the first words in
1st Nephi 1. Then he had all the missionaries sign it, and told us he will
actually read it this time. He has been taught before and has tons of them, but
hopefully each time we give him one he gets more and more of it.




Tuesday was
great because I got to meet our new investigator Ana. She is super sweet. She
at first seemed pretty set in her ways, but as we've taught her she has had an
increased desire to learn. Hopefully tomorrow we can set a baptism date with
her and her husband Manuel!




Thursday was
insane because we were able to bring a member out with us. Most of the members
here are kind of older, so we ended up bringing out Hermana Quijada. She is
super sweet and willing to come out with us which is awesome! Especially
because we ended up having to knock a bunch around this neighborhood while
trying to find a potential in the pooring rain. The best part is that Hermana
Quijada has to use a cane. So there we are out in the middle of a monsoon
knocking doors with this little old lady. She was totally all for it though!




Another
blessing about this area is there is a lot more member trust here, so we
already are getting a bunch of referrals. I think we got 3 or 4 just this week
which is a miracle because usually it takes me a whole transfer before we just
start getting referrals just given to us from members. I really love it here!







Sunday was
really great too. After church we were planning on visiting some potentials and
investigators, but our plans fell through because no one was home and the
member we had been planning to take out with us couldn't until after 6. We ended
up trying one of the less actives that we wanted to go see later that night. We
had been planning on asking her for a referral because she didn't seem all too
interested in returning to church, but we shared the restoration with her and
she had such a strong testimony of it! She just really opened up to us and now
we are helping her get back to church. I really felt like God sent us there
right then for a reason. Then it ended up working out perfectly because we were
able to visit Ana and Manuel with the member we had brought out with us. 
We also had dinner with the Cardenas family last night. It's funny because
Hermana Cardenas reminds we a lot of you mom. I think partially because she is
a seminary teacher here, but also because she just is always looking for ways
to help others, and she is so excited about helping people learn about the
Gospel. 




This week we
had to teach gospel principles on the final judgment. The thing that I think
stood out to me most is that we will be judged for our thoughts, words, and
deed which is kinda scary because I feel like I make a lot of mistakes, but I
think the beautiful thing about the atonement is that we can repent daily. God
truly wants us to return to Him. All we have to do is continually strive to be
better and luckily for us we can try again over and over. I am just so grateful
for that amazing gift :).




I hope you
all have an amazing week! Thanks again for everything! Also thanks for emailing
me.




Con amor,

Hermana Burgoyne

Transfer week

Sooooo this week has been crazy!  For one, we had transfer calls Saturday, and I am going to be serving in Los Reales.  It is just the southern part of Tucson, so I'm literally just making my way around Tucson. They are closing down my area in El Dorado.  Anyways, I'm excited and a little nervous, but hopefully it will be good! 

This week has been full of miracles!  We had amazing things happen every single day!

Anyways Monday: we had a rough day.  No one was home so we were kinda upset, but then we went to go do language study at the church, and we ran into some elders there who had a referral for us! Now we are teaching this really cute little boy named Aiden.  His uncle’s family are members, and he goes to church with him. He's literally the smartest 8 year old I've ever met!

Tuesday: we had our first lesson with Aiden. There was a really awkward moment when we were in the middle of teaching him and the elders showed up. Turns out they had gotten his referral 2 weeks ago, but hadn't gone to see him yet. So we got to teach him! Blessings from being quick to try out referrals! We were also able to finally have a lesson with Josefina, one of our other investigators. She's amazing! She had done all the homework we had left for her, and so now she is a progressing investigator!

Wednesday: we felt prompted to try a less active lady who is never home, although we had tried her the day before. Anyways, we got there and one of her friends was babysitting. Turns out she is from Mexico and the missionaries have been visiting with her. We ended up having a great lesson with her!

Thursday: we sent the English elders a referral for a less active in their ward that we accidentally contacted. When we talked to her she's like maybe it's a sign to come back to church. Then right after we sent the info to them apparently they walked into her, and she was like well I guess since you're like the 3rd pair of missionaries I've ran into I better come back to church. Anyways she went to church yesterday!

Friday: we tried a referral from one of our investigators. He turned out super interested! He is English. We also got a few other referrals, so that's awesome!

Saturday: I can't really remember what happened besides calls this day, but it was good!

Sunday: we had a lesson with our next door neighbor who is super baptist and not really willing to listen, but since both of us are going they both decided to ask us a bunch of questions, and we taught them a full on lesson! Angie is still kinda skeptical, but Wednesday, her mom, loves it! 

I'm so grateful for the chance to serve here.

Love you!

Love,

Hermana Burgoyne