One more transfer, One more time to move

Gosh, I love this sister so much. Training her was such a precious
gift and I'll never forget the memories that we made together! She
means the world to me and I know that Sister Wang will be such a great
missionary! I miss her already but I know that the Lord has great
plans in store for her and Brighton!



One last district meeting/lunch in Brighton with amazing
missionaries!



Sister Lowry and I!



AddI'm not gonna lie and say that someone painted a picture of me and
Sister Wang but it sure does look like the two of us ;) It's a great
painting representing missionary work!

 

The two cute Scottish STLs and Sister Wang and I. So sad to
be leaving them.



Such an amazing lady! She's the one in the purple and her little boy
is on the sofa chair. She is someone Sister Wang and I got to teach my
last day in Brighton and she is amazing! I have good hopes for her and
her family :D Sister Wang will continue to teach her with her new
companion.

Hello my dear family and friends! Who knew so much can happen in a
week! It was quite eventful and quite fun-filled with miracles,
laughter, and tears as well. Sister Wang and I debated on what to do
for our preparation day last week but didn't really have any clue on
what we could do. We talked to our district to see if we could do a
district preparation day but since there was so much to do, we weren't
able to, so we all decided that we'd be doing it the following week
(little did I know that it would be my last one in Brighton). That
evening Sister Wang and I had two appointments and really looked
forward to meeting with them but as traveled the two homes, one of the
people ended up not being home and the other person gave us a fake
address. Not to worry though because we did the best the make the most
out of the time we had and went to a returning friend's home. This
returning friend expressed interest in being taught again and we were
able to speak to him and his daughter. As we sat there in his home,
they had a huge German shepherd puppy that came up to us and barked
very loudly. Sister Wang nearly jumped out of her seat. The puppy was
looking to play with us so we had to ignore it but wow, his barks were
boisterous. We survived that evening without the dog wanting to jump
all over us and managed to talk to our friend and share some of our
message. That following day, before our last district meeting, we were
preparing a presentation on "Developing the faith to find" when
suddenly the phone rang! President asked me some questions about the
upcoming transfers and sled if I would be willing to help out and move
into a trio in Staines. It took me some time for my head to wrap
around the idea that I could actually be moving for my last transfer.
I told him, I'd go anywhere the Lord needed me to go and that was it.
I broke the news to Sister Wang and she was very sad. Poor girl, she
didn't expect it to happen just like me. We traveled to Sutton to have
our exchange with the sister Training leader, Sister Couper, and her
companion and it was bitter sweet. I loved the many different things I
learned on that exchange but it was sad to know that this was probably
my last time I would be seeing these two Scottish lassies. While on
the exchange, Sister Cassidy and I got to go and do service for a
member. We were able to help with some of the house and the Zone
leaders and us were able to assist in helping with putting up shelves,
etc. We came to find out that one of the Zone leaders would be moving
to the Staines Zone as well in the same ward so it made me feel better
to know that I wasn't alone and that there were missionaries that we
knew. The Brighton ward and district for me has truly become my
family. Sister Wang and I and the elders that served in the Brighton
ward grew and learned so much from the challenges that came our way
and also rejoiced together in the miracles that we saw. Our past
weekend ended with us missionaries holding a football/sports night and
we were able to have some returning friends and former investigators
show up which was really good! As I came to the Brighton ward for the
last time, I truly came to realise just how much I love these people
and how wonderful it was to be in Brighton for some of my mission.
Sister Wang and I saw so many miracles my last couple of days. We were
heading to the chapel to finish up the progress record and when we got
to the chapel, we saw a note on the door that said on the front,
"Important." In it, a guy had written that he was from Spain and that
He wanted to be able to speak with missionaries who spoke Spanish. On
the letter, it included his number and his address from Brighton. What
a cool miracle! Thanks to my two years of Spanish from high school, I
was able to pick out some phrases and got the idea of the message so
we called the Spanish elders and gave them the referral. I've never
really seen that before and it just goes to show at God is really
preparing people. On my last day in Brighton, we got to be able to
teach Philomenia! I'd been waiting for this day for some time. We set
up a teaching time with her and on Sunday, we asked the relief society
if any of them could come with us. One of the YSA sisters who had just
recently returned from her mission, raised her hand, and said she
could go with us to go and teach Philomenia. The best part about it
all was that Philomenia was from Ghana and this other sister was from
Ghana! The member joined us the morning of the teaching and Philomenia
was in. As we shared the message with her, Philomenia would ask us
some questions and she seemed to find answers to what she had asked
about. She was very open-minded, accepted the invite of baptism, and
said too that her daughter was pleading to come to church the other
day! Once again, God is truly preparing the heart of His children. I
was sad that it would be my last time to teach her but I know that
Philomenia can make it and I know she will continue to be taught by
Sister Wang and her new companion. I packed my bags, got everything
ready, and said a painful goodbye to my dear sister, Sister Wang. She
is an angel and I'm grateful the Lord gave me the opportunity to serve
with her. I can imagine that Sister Wang and I were in the pre-earth
life and eagerly anticipated the time that we got to serve together.
Within a blink of an eye, it's now over and I'm sad but I'm so
grateful that we got to learn from each other and grow from the
experiences that we had. As I got to Staines, I met my two sweet
sisters, Sister Manage from Sri Lanka and Sister Chand from Fiji.
Wanna know what that means?! I've now officially not had one American
companion over the course of my entire mission. I guess it's not
something to brag about but I think it's just so cool that all of them
are not even from the same place. I had Sister Schmidt from Germany,
Sister Hamann from Australia, Sister Nguyen from Vietnam, Sister
Fromgren from Norway, Sister Wang from China, and now Sister Manage
from Sri Lanka and Sister Chand from Fiji. I told all of them to let
me come visit them and they agreed so I think I might just be
traveling the world in the near future :) As I arrived to Staines,
everything was very familiar to me. They are familiar to me because
Staines is the first chapel I came to when I first arrived in the
field and also, we've had several mission leadership conferences there
so it wasn't all too foreign for me. That evening, Sister Chand and
Sister Manage told me that we'd be having a Philippiano enrichment
Night with the relief society and it was so fun. A member actually
ended up bring her non-member friend which was really great and I hear
that the Staines ward is very good to do missionary work. We have
several member referrals that we are actually going to be teaching
this week and I'm looking forward to being able to serve around these
people! Overall, this week has been so eventful but also so wonderful!
I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Burtis

My new companions:
In the middle is Sister Manage-from Sri Lanka/(Also grew up in
Manchester)
On the right is Sister Chand-from Fiji!
So much fun :)

"Be not weary in well-doing..."

Hello everyone! Goodness, what a week it has been! I was just
discussing the events of the past week with Sister Wang and asking her
what happened last week and as I asked her about certain events, she'd
tell me...."No that was two weeks ago" but indeed, it was just a
couple of days ago. I guess that's always going to be the life of a
missionary. A day will feel like a week. A week will feel like a day.
We were able to stop by a few members last week and are really working
to build unity and increase the work here in Brighton. I loved the
emphasis of members and missionaries working together so we are
excited to continue to do that here in the ward. We got to work with
the young women and young women's president to help us reach out to a
13 year old that we are working with. Her name is Ajoa and she is
really nice! She has been coming to young women's for the past two
weeks now and we are working to teach her and her mom about this
wonderful gospel! :) For young women's, the group of the 6 girls,
us-sister missionaries, and the young women's president got to do
family history. It's been a while for me to do family history so when
we got on the website, I was the one asking the girls what the
different colours or squares meant on the family tree. I also needed
refreshing on all the rules of family history. It was quite fun! We
also got to play get-to-know-you games and it seemed to build a lot of
unity! The members are very good to reach out to the people we are
teaching and are good to friendship any who come to the ward
activities. For most of the week, we've been working to find through
activities. Activities such as young women's/young men's, YSA family
home evening, sports nights, etc. We seem to get a lot of success from
that. A lot of people we talk to hear about our chapel but have never
been to it before so they are quite surprised when they see the
church. Sister Wang and I traveled to a couple of areas this week that
we haven't worked too much in. There was an area called Portslade and
so we went Park finding and street contacting which proved to be quite
successful. There was a lady from Romania whose English was limited
but enough to let us know that she reads the bible and is Christian.
We pointed to our Book of Mormon and asked her if she'd like one in
Romanian. She smiled and said yes so we are excited to be able to stop
by her house this upcoming week and give it to her! We got to park
find and found some few people who were not all too interested but we
felt pretty successful in how many people we got to talk to that day.
As we walked by a tall fence, a soccer ball came flying toward us. We
jumped out of the way to avoid it and behind the fence, we saw two
young boys running up and shouting, "Excuse me! Can you get our ball?"
I picked up their soccer ball and smiling, we told them to be careful
because the next time that happened, there might not be someone to
pick it up for them. One of the boys shouted, "Throw it!" The other
boy yelled, "Kick it!" I thought about it and then decided to kick it
over the fence. I kicked it a bit too hard and it was much farther
past them and into the middle of the playing court. One of the kid's
eyes widened and he looked back where the ball had landed. He turned
back and as he looked to Sister Wang and I, he exclaimed..."That
was....AMAZING!" It sounded somewhat like the little kid on movie "The
Incredibles" when he sees something cool and says, "That was totally
wicked!" It made me and Sister Wang laugh and made our day. The week
continued to be great. We got to knock several streets and found great
success through that. At one particular house, a dad opened the door
and on his shirt, it said-"Proud dad." We smiled and knew how to start
a good conversation with that-- to which he opened up even more and
even got excited and showed us pictures of his daughters on the wall
next to the door. We asked him if we could come back and he said yes!
Miracle! As President Gubler and our mission has emphasised even more
on the season of miracles and a theme of #31, meaning a goal of 31
baptisms for the month of October which has 31 days, we suddenly felt
a greater opposition than we ever have before. We know that the
adversary is doing everything to prevent this work from happening but
we know now for sure that we are truly in the midst of the season of
miracles. This work is hastening! I can feel it! There were a couple
of days this past week where I seemed to have opposition as well.
There were trials and challenges that laid our way but with help from
leaders and people around us, we overcame them and still continued
this work. Following the days after the hard challenges and trials
that seemed like harder than ever before, Sister Wang and I felt
something. We felt the spirit guiding our paths, we felt a sure
knowledge that something great is going to happen! What a blessing it
is to be a part of this great work! Our mission president said it
perfectly, "When you're drowning in fear, doubt, or discouragement,
don't forget that your lifeguard walks on water. We should wake up
with an expectation that it will be a good day, because we have Jesus
Christ on our side!" The rest of the week proved to be wonderful!
Sister Wang got to give a talk on Pioneers this past week in sacrament
meeting and she did a great job. Being from China, she didn't know too
much about pioneers so the both of us got to work on her talk together
and it was a lot of fun. Not only did that happen in church but guess
who came to the Brighton ward!? Sally, the recent convert, from
Clapham! It was so wonderful to be able to embrace her in a big hug
and to see how everything was doing. The Lord does truly provide! He
loves all of us and He will never, ever give up on us! I testify that
this is His work! I love being a part of it and I want to be a part of
it for the rest of my life! Love you all!
Love,
Sister Burtis

Sharing the Love of the Saviour!

Hello family and friends! Did you rejoice like me as the countdown for General Conference happened? Each day as Conference drew nearer and nearer, I felt like a little kid waiting for Christmas to happen! This past week was filled with many opportunities to be filled with a spiritual feast. It began with Eastern Zone Conference. Sister Wang and I traveled down early morning to Crawley. There was a meeting for trainers and new missionaries so we went to that which was really good and then the actual conference began. During the trainer's meeting, I was really excited to be able to see Sister Fromgren. As she walked into the room, we both looked at each other with excitement, screamed each other's name, and embraced in a big hug. Reuniting with your past companions is the best. You've been through everything with them and you just truly come to recognise the eternal friendship that you made with them when you see them again after not having seen them for several months. I loved being able to see my old Zone, the Wandsworth Zone, and all the missionaries there. It was great to know that everyone was doing good in that area. Something that Sister Fromgren told me got me really excited. Back in Clapham, Sister Fromgren and I had been knocking a set of doors on a particular street and faced a lot of opposition that day. After many rejections, we had knocked on a door and a lady named Michelle had opened the door and actually let us in. Well later, some anti-Mormon material crossed her paths so she asked us not to come around anymore which was really sad. Sister Fromgren told me that her and her companion decided to try again just recently and she said she wanted to be taught! Apparently one of her friends started investigating so she was curious to learn more. The Lord does truly prepare! We never know to which seeds we may plant! All we can do is open our mouths and share the joy of the gospel! That's something that was really emphasised in our Zone Conference! We got to role-play many different situations and learning how to ask inspired questions, learning to listen, and, how to testify at the right moments. I learned so much and I'm grateful that I got to be a part of that Conference. That evening after Zone Conference, Sister Wang and I got to go to Young Women's because Philimenia (the lady that came to the "Meet the Mormons" movie night) wanted her daughter Ajoa to come. Ajoa came and the young women were so good to friendship her! They got to design t-shirts and it was really fun to be able to answer questions and help them. That evening, Ajoa got a lift home from a member and Philimenia texted us saying, "Thank you so much for the evening! My daughter said that she loved it!" We were so excited by this point and Ajoa plans to come this Thursday which we are excited about. 😀 This past weekend was General Conference and oh how I loved it! I had written some questions down and got many more answers than I had expected. I loved what Neil L. Anderson said about missionary work---> “I suggest that you stop feeling guilty about any insufficiency you think you have in sharing the gospel. Rather, pray… for opportunities. …Please don’t see your efforts to share the love of the Savior with another as a pass/fail test with your grade determined by how your friends respond to your feelings or invitation... With our mortal eyes, we cannot judge the effect of our efforts, nor can we establish the timetable. When you share the love of the Savior with another, your grade is always an A+.” There are many moments where I or other missionaries may have felt we aren't good enough or we can't do this work because of our weaknesses but it's true what Elder Andersen said...our purpose is to share the love of the Saviour with others! It's all my heart yearns to do. I can't wait for these next weeks to be able to share with others the love for this Gospel and what it has done for me. This General Conference is a boost to hasten the work. Members and missionaries can work together to unite and bring our brothers and sisters back home! What are you doing today to help the missionaries in your area? Most importantly, what are you doing today to help the Lord in His great work?  :) I invite all of you to pray for opportunities to seek someone who may be searching for the truth but may not know where to find it. Imagine being in their shoes, without the gospel, a world with no light, no hope, only wondering what will happen after this life. I know this work is true! Something that is crazy is that yesterday, I got an email from the mission telling me I had only 8 weeks left. I consider it the "dreaded" 8 Weeks email and all the missionaries have talked about it in the past. It was weird to get but It gives me a great hope and motivation to work my very hardest and do my very best! In all reality, I feel my mission has only begun. I know that the Lord has many things for me to learn. I'm grateful to be out here serving here in Brighton! I know the people I've met are the people I need to meet and the experiences I've had are the things I needed to experience. I love you all! I hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Burtis 

"Meet the Mormons!"-A Success!!

Preparing treats for the activity.

Making dinner for my companion.

 

Hello my dear family and friends! What a crazy week it has been! Not
to worry though- I mean  crazy as in busy and also filled with some
stories to share :) The beginning of the past week was a lot of fun!
Our district went around to the University of Sussex and got to hand
out flyers for our "Meet the Mormons" movie night. Throughout this
past week, more and more students have been coming in for the school
year so it's been a great opportunity to share with them the Gospel.
Being at the university campus though takes me back to the memories of
myself being at Utah State campus. It's fun to be able to be on the
missionary perspective though and getting to worry about sharing the
Gospel than having to stress about a big scary exam or something. As
we got to the university, each companionship then split up from the
group and went to find. Sister Wang and I went to contact one of our
friends but she didn't end up being home so we went around and talked
to some people. One of the people we met was a guy named Will! Will
was actually working for his job and delivering pizza by the
university when we stopped and talked to him. As we shared with him
about the Book of Mormon, he pointed to it and said, "Can I have one?"
Sister Wang and I love that question! We were able to give him one and
set up a return appointment with him. The next day, we were able to do
some service and go to the Bishop's home. Sister Wang and I and Laura
(Bishop's wife) got to make popcorn balls with toffee sauce and also
melted marshmallows and it was very fun! We also texted everyone in
our phone to invite them to the movie night and got some replies back
for some who wanted to come! One of those miracles included a lady
named Philimenia. I need to share with you first how it was that we
met her and what the result of the movie night was :D  So our district
printed out many flyers and got the news spread out to all of Brighton
that we would be having a movie night. One day, we decided to go to
Churchill Square (the big shopping center) and hand out flyers the
week previous to the event. As we did so, we felt prompted to go and
talk to a lady named Philimenia. As we approached her, she smiled and
said, "I know you guys!" We recognised her as well and it turns out we
had talked to her a month or so ago and had given her a Book of
Mormon. We got to invite her and her three children to the "Meet the
Mormons" movie night and she was very excited! The evening of the
movie night approached and Philimenia called us asking us how to get
to the church. We were able to guide her there and her and her
children all got to see the movie! The amazing part of it too was that
her 20 month year old stayed pretty quiet the whole time so Philimenia
could enjoy the movie, her 6 year old wanted to know where the
children's class was, and her 13 year old daughter told us afterwards
that really enjoyed the film. After the movie ended, we turned to
Philimenia and asked, "How did you feel?" She replied, "I felt
something a lot and I want to know when your church service time is!"
What an incredible miracle! We know we are in the midst of the season
of miracles and that the Lord is truly preparing the hearts of His
children. The Lord is so good and He knew the efforts we made for this
movie night and we know that He truly provided. We were able to also
have some less-active friends show up and members there as well who
helped fellowship. The work is going great! We were able to see some
of our friends who have expressed their interest in coming out to
church. We needed to explain though that this week would be General
Conference and they sounded even more excited that they could be a
part of that. I'm excited to see what this next week has in store for
us. Sister Wang and I have felt ourselves getting better and better in
the different aspects of the work that we are trying to improve in. We
know that the season of miracles is here. Of course, there's lots of
opposition that we faced this past week but we saw that as we trusted
God, all the hard things become easier and we receive even an a
greater amount of blessings from Him. I love you all and hope you have
a great week! Thanks for all your support and love!!!!
Love,
Sister Burtis

The tender mercies of the Lord!

Seven Sisters
 

Hello family and friends! I'm excited to continue to share with you
what has happened this past week. Our Brighton district and the
Eastbourne district got to go to seven sisters and it was a lot of
fun! I honestly felt as if I was walking in a painting. It all almost
seemed like a dream. It was made a reality though when all of us felt
the heat and humidity. It was very hot that day! It left us feeling
tired but we were able to get ourselves prepared to find the people
nonetheless. This week, Sister Wang and I have been pushing to find
new investigators and also invite everyone we meet to the "Meet the
Mormons" movie night. We are excited because it's going to take place
in a couple of days and many of the friends we have and potentials say
that they'll be coming and we have faith that they will! Sister Wang
and I were able to teach many people that we met about the restoration
and we got to set return appointments with them! One of my most
memorable lessons was with a lady named Annie! We got a member to come
with us to the teach and we were able to teach Annie and felt the
spirit strongly. Jamal, her little boy, was running around but he was
often keen and keeping silent for the important parts of the lesson.
What was cool too is that Jamal's dad was there and he took the time
to listen. We said hello to him and as we shook his hand, he told us
that he had met us just a week or two ago on on the Main Street next
to the shops. Our memory was brought back and Sister Wang and I
realized how small of a world it was and realized that we did talk to
him earlier! Super cool! It just goes to show that talking to everyone
is very important because you never know who you will run into again.
Annie has accepted to read the Book of Mormon and she is willing to
learn more! The Lord does truly provide. We were able to see a good
number of our friends this previous week and it's a week that I won't
forget. I've been able to see so many tender mercies from the Lord and
I know that He is truly watching over us. This week and past week has
been a series of a reflection over the course of my mission. It's
suddenly hit me that my mission is a lot farther than I want it to be
and I was sad. Being set apart from the world is great and I love it.
I hope to continue to give my all to the Lord in the time I have left
and I know I have much to learn throughout the course of these next
week! I love you all and remember that the time the Lord gives to us
throughout each stage of our lives is precious and we should always
treasure it!
Love,
Sister Burtis

Flood of Miracles :) :)

Nigerian Food

Hello Family and friends! I hope this current month is a good one for
you. For me, it's passing by with flying colours and I can't seem to
grasp where all the time goes. This week has been such a great one and
I'm excited to be able to share some of the miracles and adventures
with you that we got to see! To start out, Sister Wang and I got to go
and explore a palace looking place called the Pavilion. Apparently
it's this really posh and fancy palace that was King George the
fourth's. Sister Wang and I unfortunately didn't get to go inside and
feel majestic and cool because it cost £13 to get in and that was
pretty expensive for the two of us missionaries. We did get to explore
the grounds though because that's open for anyone to see and that was
really fun! The following day, our district got to use the banner
again and go banner contacting in a busy shopping/town area called
Churchill square. I think it's got to do something with Winston
Churchill. The first few people I got talking to included a guy named
Andrew and though he wasn't interested, he asked more about how
missionary work was and about the church. He then asked me if I was
from Ireland. Another person in a matter of two weeks who thought I
was Irish. Oh boy. I think I might be doing lifts or tunes with
particular words or something. I told him I wasn't and he said,
"Surely your parents or family must be Irish!" I laughed and said,
"Nope." I think maybe it's a sign I should move to Ireland or
something in the future. We did get to see lots of success from banner
contacting and we were able to invite lots of people out to a movie
event that we, missionaries, are hosting. We made flyers and got to
hand them out and a lot of people accepted them so I'm excited to see
how this movie night goes. We are planning to show "Meet the Mormons"
in two weeks time. :) I think that's something I've really loved
doing- is being able to help others come to a greater knowledge of
what the Gospel and our church is about. Lots of people who we talk to
say that they have heard of our church but don't know what we are
really about. This week, Sister Wang and I worked to find new
investigators and we did indeed, with the Lord's help, find some.
There were lots of tender mercies here and there from Heavenly Father
to show us how much he is aware of our needs. Sister Wang and I
traveled to an area called Whitehawk and went to contact a friend who
had been taught by missionaries before. We knocked on his door but no
answer. We decided to knock the doors of the side of his house and a
guy named Clive opened the upper house window of his house and looked
down below to where we were standing. "Hello there!" we said to him.
The conversation turned into him asking us to return and talk to us
more about our church and we got excited! Severals steps (or what it
seemed) later, we talked to a guy named Dave and he told us he had
heard about our church and said he wanted to learn more. We set a
return appointment with him and then bid farewell. A few feet away, we
met two more people who were really receptive! God does truly provide!
You can imagine by this evening how big Sister Wang and I's smiles
were :) :) We have so much to thank the Lord for. Throughout the
course of the week, we continued to meet 4 new people who said they
wanted to learn more. One of them was Annie. Sister Wang and I
traveled to an area called Moulscoomb and planned to contact some
friends who had previously met missionaries. We stopped by a lady
named Annie and Annie opened her door. We asked her if she would be
willing to hear our message and she smiled and said yes! Miracle! She
had put her son to bed already so we made an appointment for another
day and we were able to at least share with her some principles that
we believed in. Annie has such a special spirit about her and she was
one of those people that you just feel that this is why we are in the
area at this time. I know God has a great plan for all of his children
and it's all in the timing of Him. Another fun thing that happened
this week was Sister Wang and I traveled to the Sussex University and
stopped by a member and his family's home. This family was baptized in
Nigeria and then moved to Brighton. We knocked on the door and all of
them were home. Not only were they there but also a friend of the
dad's. At first this friend of theirs didn't seem too interested but
as we got sharing our message and doing an activity which involved
participation, we were able to see him soften his heart towards the
idea of listening to our message and eventually he joined in and even
answered some of the questions. At the end of sharing the message, we
got to give him a Book of Mormon which he accepted. The family that we
were visiting had us share the message and the wife invited us to stay
for some dinner. So Sister Wang and I got some proper Nigerian food :D
It was not fufu but something like that- made of wheat and then using
our hands, we'd roll it around and then dip it in a really good sauce!
We also got the traditional chicken. Going to Brighton, I didn't think
I'd be getting African food but England is so diverse and you can
still be a part of many different cultures wherever you go. This week
brought many adventures and lots of miracles! I just love, love, love
this Gospel. One thing I've recently just come to see more and more is
that the Gospel is all about becoming better. There is no getting
worse or having faults when we simply just turn to our Saviour Jesus
Christ and rely on him fully to help us overcome and improve on any
weaknesses. There are times where I may feel inadequate and feel that
perhaps I'm not good enough but without fail, the Lord provides me
knowledge that I'm doing enough for His work. I find joy in the work,
feel love for the people, and I know that I'm becoming what the
Saviour wants me to become and I know that's really all that matters
in the end. Inadequacies and failures in life come but they are just
there to help us to learn and to grow. It's just as I have learned
throughout the course of my mission, the Saviour will never give up on
us, so let's not give up on Him. :) :) Love you all! Have a great
week!
Love,
Sister Burtis

  Mission Adventures

 Old Steine & The Pavilion

Recognizing more of God's love for His children

Another week come and gone so quickly. I loved this past week just as
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