it has been! It has been full of emotions, changes, and missionary
work. Last week, Sister Schmidt and I had an exchange with the sisters
from Exeter. That was a lot of fun! We got to ride the train over to
Exeter and I stayed with Sister Wood in that city to do some
missionary work while Sister Schmidt and Sister Valoskova went back to
Redruth to do missionary work there. Sister Wood is from Alpine, Utah
and she is very fun and motivated. We both learned a lot from each
other! The next day, we exchanged back. There is always something
about exchanges. You love doing them to have a variety in the work but
it's always great to reunite with your companion again. Sister Schmidt
and I got to exchange back and then as the Plymouth zone, we all came
together to have our district meetings and then have lunch as a zone
afterwards. The lunch was really fun. It was a pot luck and all of the
companionships brought a food item so we had a lot to eat. We then got
to share miracles that we experienced this past transfer in our areas.
The different miracles was neat to listen to. We are continually
teaching our investigators and that is going good. We are teaching a
father and a son and they are both so open-minded and ask a lot of
good questions. We got to teach the plan of salvation to them and they
really enjoyed that. We asked them to come to church and they said
they would. They do have a disabled son/brother that is hard for them
to get to church but they really want to come and we are excited to
continue to teach them. The finding has been good but we have had a
lot of traveling, teaching appointments, and lots of dinner
appointments so it has been a bit hard to use that time to seek for
more potentials. We want to continually find everyday however because
we know that there are more people seeking for the truth but know not
where to find it. This past sunday, Sister Schmidt gave her final talk
in the Redruth ward and then she played the piano, "Come thou fount of
every blessing", while me and two other sister members in the ward
sang. The ward loved that and the spirit was felt so strongly. This
past Monday, Sister Schmidt packed all her stuff and I helped her. It
was strange for the both of us and it didn't feel real. It almost
seemed like she was just getting transferred to another area but she
was actually heading home. We went to a member's home to have lunch
with them. They made us homemade Cornish pasteys and also English
trifle and it was really good! After the lunch, Sister Schmidt and I
grabbed her luggage and rode the train to Plymouth. From there, the
senior couple, Brother and Sister Mcbride picked us up and we went to
Newton Abbot and stayed with the sisters overnight. The next morning,
our district leader and his companion picked up Sister Schmidt and I
really early and we traveled for some hours to Crawley. In Crawley, we
met up with many other missionaries who were transferring to another
area, getting a new companion, or going home. I got to meet my new
companion Sister Hamann (hey-mann) and then that was the time I needed
to say goodbye to Sister Schmidt. It's then that it hit me that I
wouldn't see Sister Schmidt again. Tears were shed and we embraced
each other in a hug and thanked each other for the journey that was
made between the two of us. I truly
must have been given the first pick in heaven when I got to choose who
my mission trainer would be because Sister Schmidt influenced my life
immensely. I'm going to miss her so much and I know it'll take time to
adjust to having a new companion but I trust that I'm suppose to be
with Sister Hamann for a reason and know there is things I need to
learn from her just as I did from Sister Schmidt. Sister Schmidt
really demonstrated and taught me the importance of charity. She loved
everyone she ran into and she always was so diligent in helping them
to the best of her ability. I know that she was my trainer for many
reasons. It's amazing the people God puts in our lives. This week has
been a crazy, emotional, and eventful week but it has helped me to
learn a lot. I'm a bit nervous to have to lead the area (I'm still
serving in Redruth) and help my new companion understand where
everything is and who the people are but I know that with the help of
my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, all things are
possible.
With love,
Sister Burtis
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