I have loved all the past weeks of my mission. This particular past
week however just really showed me just how much love you can feel for
Heavenly Father's children. We were able to go to our friend,
Michelle's, home last week. Having been a bit late already and missing
the bus that we were suppose to take, Sister Wang and I literally ran
probably a mile or two to get to Michelle's home. Not to
mention....there was a big huge hill we needed to try and run up. It
was tough. As we got to Michelle's home, panting and breathing heavily
like two dogs who hadn't seen water for days, we got there and
explained to Michelle that we just ran up "Heart-Break" hill which she
laughed at. It was all worth it though to get there at a reasonable
time so we could teach her. We got to teach Michelle about faith and
repentance and the spirit was felt strongly. Michelle-being an elderly
lady-has so much enthusiasm and energy when it comes to living the
gospel. We saw great miracles and Michelle did too. God is good and it
gave me a clear evidence of the power of faith. When we have faith,
anything can be accomplished so long as we are willing to act upon
that faith. A day later, we received a call from Michelle and she
wasn't too happy about something and she even went on to say that she
wasn't sure if she wanted to meet us anymore. You can imagine how
devastating that might have been for my companion and I. Sister Wang,
being out in the field for only so many months, came to realize the
importance of the love that you can feel for these people you meet.
Tears were shed and we felt a sorrow because of the love we felt for
our friend. I realize the sorrow that we as missionaries feel when our
friends might not accept the gospel is a sorrow that our Heavenly
Father probably feels everyday as He sees his children fall away. I'm
sure though that it is much bigger than what my companion and I felt.
I feel such a strong love for these people. It's grown and grown over
the course of my mission and I know that I would give up everything to
run and help these people just as the Saviour would do. The same day
that Michelle told us this, Sister Wang and I were about to get on a
bus and I realized that I didn't have my bus pass. We looked
everywhere and it was no where to be seen. Eventually I got a
replacement and it fairly cheap which was good. Before I got the
replacement bus pass though, we called Michelle and asked if she had
seen it. She mentioned she hadn't and said she'd look for it. An hour
or so later, she called us and said she had looked everywhere and was
worried that I couldn't find it. I told her it was ok and that I would
probably just get another one. Having the chat about the bus pass led
to a conversation on how she was doing. She had thought about it again
and she knew that she loved the gospel and didn't want us not to come
around and teach her so she apologized and we were able to set up a
return appointment! God truly did provide such a miracle that day even
though I lost my bus pass. It just goes to show that little things
that may make us stress or worried may all turn out for the better. :D
The week consisted of many small funny and miraculous moments. One
evening as my companion and I were walking to go and contact a friend,
it was getting dark and also rainy. One thing I've come to learn about
Brighton is that during dark and rainy moments, snails tend to come
out more. It's like the England version of a worm. More worms in Utah
come out when it rains and here, more snails tend to come out on the
sidewalks when it rains. It's probably worse though to have snails and
especially when it's dark. All you try to do is avoid stepping on them
because with snails, you know when you've stepped on one as you hear a
crunch sound. It just sends shivers up my spine just thinking about
it. Sister Wang and I decided to count how many snails there were in a
matter of two minutes on the sidewalk that we were walking on and we
counted 40! Some were in bunches of four, some in a bunch of
three....as if to scheme and say, "Hey guys, how do you think we can
get in the ways of people walking? Should we all get closer together
so they have no way of walking around us?" I've learned that here in
Brighton, I need to start talking a flashlight ("torch" as said in
England) every evening that it rains so I can avoid the snails. The
rest of the weekend, we got to see some great miracles. Sister Wang
and I decided to take an hour bus ride out to a place called
Portslade. This particular day it was raining so with umbrellas in
hand, we got off the bus and went to contact a less-active friend. We
walked for quite some time but finally made it to the set of flats
where they lived. As we rang the doorbell to her flat, we quickly
realized the doorbell didn't work. We rang another doorbell and over
the intercom, a lady said, "Hello?" We explained we were trying to
contact our friend and the lady knew her so she said, "I'll let you
in." She unlocked the main door for us and we were able to ascend the
the stairs and knock on the door of the person we were wanting to talk
to. Our less-active friend ended up not being home and a bit bummed
that we traveled all the way, we walked down the stairs and passed a
guy that was going up the stairs. Suddenly, I felt an impression to
stop him and so we did. We asked him if he knew who our friend was and
he said, "Yes. I'm her husband! She doesn't come home till later this
evening though so come back in the evening." The best part of it all
was that he wasn't a member but knew of our church and so we plan to
stop by again to visit the family which we are excited about! :) We
met some great potentials through street contacting, door knocking,
and banner contacting as well. We got to banner contact in a big main
park called the Level and a lot of people came up and asked us about
Christ and our beliefs. Sister Wang and I were able to meet a lady
from Jamaica and she wants to learn more so we have a return
appointment with her and I'm really excited for that. This lady has an
incredible faith in Jesus Christ and when we were talking to her, I
felt that she was truly prepared by Heavenly Father to receive this
message. What an incredible week. To top it all off, Sister Wang and I
got to do a hot pot night with the Chinese elders and some of the
friends being taught. We got to share the message as well afterwards
which went really good. Hot pot is hard to explain but basically it's
all this really good Chinese food put together in a pot of really good
sauce and boiling water. I was given compliments on the use of my
chopsticks so I think I seemed to fit in :) Sister Wang loved it too
because it made her think of all the food back in China. If the food
in China is like the food we had at this hot pot night.....I need to
go to China in the future. It was super fun to learn more about the
Chinese culture. I hope all of you have a great week! Love you lots!
Love,
Sister Burtis
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