guess it's time to share the big news! Sister Hamann and I were about
to go out and go finding this past Friday and then we heard our phone
ring. It was President Gubler himself calling us to tell Sister Hamann
that she'd be staying in Redruth and that it was time for me to
continue my adventures in a different area. So....I've been called to
now serve in the WANDSWORTH zone in the city Clapham (you might need
to look it up to find out more information). I'll be arriving in
Clapham actually today and meeting my new companion. I'll still be
serving as a Sister Training Leader as well. So Clapham just happens
to be in South London. I think it's literally one of the closest areas
that you can get to London. London is not our area. It's just outside
of our area. However, we are able to get halfway to the Thalmes River
Bridge which the the boundary line for the England London South
Mission. So that means that we get to see lots of famous attractions
(like Big Ben) from a distance. So if anyone knows the United Kingdom
and where I've currently been serving, I'm in a completely country
side area. Going from the most west that you can get in England to the
bottom of London will be completely different. I've been told by many
missionaries how much I'll love the area, how many different cultures
I'll be a part of, to close my eyes and eat the food, etc. I'm really
exited to be able to serve in Clapham. I feel blessed to be able to
see the different areas of England. The city will be quite a change
and I'm going to miss my companion and the other missionaries I served
around in Plymouth zone but I also can't wait to serve the people in
the south London area. Also another exciting news, I'll be staying in
a 4 sister flat this time and my new companion, Sister Nguyen
(pronounced like wing) is from Vietnam! She actually a convert of a
couple of years and has been out for about 9 months or so. I'm
excited to serve with her. As for Redruth, I'm going to miss that area
a lot! The members and the friends were sad to see me leave and it was
hard to say goodbye. Sister Hamann and I got to do a lot of finding
and see lots of miracles. I've included one of the many we saw....In
Cornwall, there are many bus drivers who know us and refer to us as
the sisters. One of the bus drivers in particular just happened to be
a brother-in-law to one of our members. This bus driver's name is Mick
and he isn't a member. Week by week, we'd be traveling around our area
and continue to see Mick driving buses around. We'd always joke about
how we would be converting the bus drivers soon and that we were
simply planting a seed by continually saying hi to them. Well there
came a time where we were looking at the ward member list and decided
to contact a less-active friend of ours, Jacqueline. We had never met
Jacqueline before but we stopped by and knocked on her door. She
answered the door, smiled, and let us in. We were able to share with
her our Christmas message, share a Book of Mormon with her, and she
said we could come back and share more messages. Just as we were
about to leave, we asked her if she lived with any family and she told
us that she lived with her husband. In fact, she told us that he was a
bus driver and that they were both related to a member in our ward.
When she said that her husband's name is Mick, my companion and I were
astonished! He walked in at that moment and said, "Hello Sisters!"
What a miracle! It doesn't end just there. A few weeks later, around
New Year's Eve time, the bus services were ending early. We were in a
small town called Lanner which was about 45 minutes walk away from our
flat. We finished our work and prayed silently that a bus would come
by because it was starting to get late. One did come but it said on
the top that it was out of service. We simply waved knowing that the
bus wouldn't stop but just trying to be friendly to the bus driver,
whoever it was. To our surprise, the bus pulled over, and the bus
driver asked us, "Where to?" We looked up and it was Mick! We arrived
back to our area safely and We know that these many great miracles
happened because the Lord provided them for us. We know that although
Mick is not yet being taught, we are planting a seed that is bound to
grow! These are some of the many miracles we have seen and we know
that without a shadow of a doubt, the season of miracles is here! The
New Years celebration would pretty low key here. Sister Hamann and I
ended up just doing a lot of finding and teaching and then just
throughout the night, we'd be sleeping and often heard drunk people
yelling on the streets or music playing but it didn't phase us too
much and we slept pretty much through the whole night. New Year's Day
seemed to be another ordinary day for the people of Cornwall. You'd
hear the occasional, "Happy New Year's" from the people around us
though. It's starting to become much colder in Cornwall. Freezing
strong winds, lots of rain, but it was an adventure and quite fun! I
keep getting told that in the south London area, it doesn't rain as
much. Overall, this week has just been such a great week! I'm excited
for the new adventurers that are yet to come and I treasure the
moments that I've had already on my mission. I love you all and hope
you have such a wonderful week!
With love,
Sister Burtis
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