It's a Cornish Christmas!

Hello everyone! First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS! Can you believe it's here already? I can't. The time seems to zoom on by and I'm trying to run after it, shouting, "Wait! Come back!" ;) It's incredible as we have approached this week of Christmas, how much I have learned about the Saviour and have much I have truly come to realize the true meaning of Christmas. I love being a missionary at this time and being able to help others to discover for themselves the spirit of Christ. 

This whole week has been filled with many events, finding, teaching, and sharing our Christmas message. At the start of our week, our district met together and we got to play Soccer (or Football as they call it in England). We were blessed with great weather that day and so we played for a good solid hour or so and played some other games as well. I loved being able to run around in the field behind our chapel and kick the ball around. It's been a while since we've done that. With our missionary work, this past week has just proven to be so amazing! I can't even begin to tell you how many miracles we've seen this past week. Something I've really learned to do is to really just reflect and take a moment to ponder each miracle that has happened throughout the day. When my companion and I started to do that, we could come up with a big list of the most tiniest but most incredible miracles we've seen. The scriptures are so true when it says, "By the small and simple things are great things brought to pass." My companion and I are at the moment where we seem to be teaching not a whole lot of people. It's hard but it's helped us to grow. Despite the constant rejections and "not interested" statements as we go and find, there is something that has helped me and my companion to keep going. It's funny because a month or two ago, I would have become a bit frustrated within myself at the times people would reject us. This time, I've felt a change as I have really relied on my Saviour and have trusted more in him. Rejections seem to bounce right off of my companion and I and we are becoming better and better at talking to literally everyone on the street and having faith in Jesus Christ rather than the outcomes. We continue to see many miracles and I'm so grateful to be a part of the work. 

One of the miracles that we were able to see is that we were heading to a potential's house (Linsey) because we had arranged to see her and share with her our christmas message. We knocked at her door and she never answered. Sister Hamann and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and figured we would just continue to knock around her neighborhood. We knocked at the neighbor's door next to Linsey's house and a lady answered. Her name was Kayley. Kayley took the time to listen and told us that after Christmas, it would be a good time to stop by. We said our goodbyes and continued to knock on the other side of Linsey's door. Another lady answered and she was interested. We ended up finding 3 or 4 more potentials that we could work with and we were really excited! Not only that but as we got done knocking the particular street, we were walking back to the bus stop and a lady with her two kids was walking towards us. Sure enough, it was Linsey! Mere coincidence? No, not with the Lord and his work. We knew that this was a tender mercy of the Lord. She apologized for not being able to do that day and seemed really sincere about it. We got to continue to talk to her and re-schedule to teach her this upcoming week. We have met many others as well and we are really excited.

 

As for Christmas, lots of things have taken place. Sister Hamann and I were going around to all the different members homes this past week and sharing with them the church christmas videos, "A world without a Savior" and "Discover Why". Both of the videos are wonderful and I invite all of you to watch them. Many ward activites have taken place. The Redruth ward Christmas party took place and that was really fun. We got to see the primary sing Christmas songs and do a nativity for us. After that, we got to have pasteys and sandwiches and lots of christmas foods. What better way to celebrate a Cornish Christmas than with a Cornish Pastey :) Then after that, Father Christmas came and give presents to the little children. Geoffrey (our recent convert) came to the party and he really enjoyed it. He fits in so well with the ward and it's been great to see that and him being a member now! :) A couple days after the christmas party, Sister Hamann and I got to sing, "Angels we have heard on high" in Sacrament and that went well. That evening of Sunday, we did a christmas carol service where there was another nativity put on by the children, songs sung together as a ward, and mince pies for afterwards. What a wonderful week it has been, filled with Christmas celebrations! :) 

I love this work! What great reason we have to rejoice in our Saviour and Redeemer! He takes me and my weaknesses and has changed me to become stronger and  more converted. I am so grateful to know that because the Saviour was born, I was given my best friend, my brother, my Redeemer, my King, and my Comforter. He has never failed me nor will he ever fail me or let me down. He has shown me in one way or another that he is always there. He is standing next to me at all times, leading me, and guiding me. I invite all of you to take the time to remember the Saviour and think about those reasons and those blessings you've received from knowing that Christ was born. I love you all and wish a very Merry Christmas! 

With Love,

Sister Burtis 

 I think he's trying to look for something.... So I simply tried to provide him the thing he was looking for.

A White Christmas

 I was brave and tried squid! It was interesting!

 Nativity Scene at the London Temple

Hello everyone! I hope everything is going great with the Christmas
decorating and preparations. December is passing by quickly and I
can't believe it's only two or so weeks away till Christmas. I have
had such an amazing week and I'm not sure where to begin so I'll just
start at the beginning at the week. We got to spend our preparation
day by traveling 5-6 hours to the London Temple. It was fun because we
got to talk, get to know each other, play games, etc. We arrived late
Monday evening and got to meet up with all the missionaries from the
western zone which was great. That was a 1/3 of the mission but we
still had a large group of us. The following day we got to explore
around the temple and go to the distribution center as well and that
was great. After doing that, we go to go inside the temple! Being
inside and even around the temple grounds just really made me realize
how much I just love the temple. I feel so happy and so joyful coming
to the house of the Lord. The London temple too is just absolutely
gorgeous and I can't wait to go again. The sad part of it was that it
just seemed to go by too fast. I'm counting my blessings though and
I'm grateful we were able to go during this Christmas season. There's
just something about going to the temple. There is always just that
feeling of peace and I love being able to do the work for those who
didn't have the opportunity of having the gospel in their lives. One
of the missionaries had actually brought some names for us to do and I
got to do someone from Scotland which was great. The temple trip ended
with us having a nice Christmas dinner and our mission president and
his wife spoke to us. It was wonderful and I was happy to be a part of
that experience. We soon took our travels back to our areas and then
days continued as we did missionary work. The week flew by so fast.
One crazy thing that I did was during last week. One of our members
had us over to have some dinner with her and her husband. Well, they
ended up making a full English breakfast and it was really good. The
member's husband liked to have black pudding with his breakfast meal
and offered us a piece of it. If anyone knows what black pudding is...
it's just definitely something that you'd hear about and say ewww to.
Well everyone from England and the northern area talks about black
pudding and I had never seen it nor tasted it. The same for my
companion so we both faced our fears, looked at this black pudding
sitting there on our plates, picked it up with our forks, and at the
same time, ate it just so we could say that we've tried it. It's quite
different and doesn't taste like what you would think it tastes like.
But for anyone who hasn't heard what that is or is curious to what I
actually ate....you could look it up online. I'm curious for my dad to
see if he ever had to try it on his mission in Scotland. Well for this
week, Sister Hamann and I have seen so many incredible miracles this
week. I'll start with some exciting news! Geoffrey, a friend, that
we've been working for quite some time got baptized! I remember
meeting Geoffrey (who had been already taught by missionaries for 1 &
1/2 year already) on day 2 or so of my mission and now he is a member!
It was incredible to be a part of his journey. There were many ups and
downs, challenges and trials, but I learned so much from teaching
Geoffrey. I learned that we need to trust in the Lord's timing. To
really be able to work as hard as we can and trust that everything
will work out according to our Heavenly Father's plan and not ours.
How grateful I am to be able to be a missionary! I have felt a greater
personal conversion on my mission than I have ever felt before. The
joy is immeasurable and I am so happy to be able to see someone
choosing to come unto Christ and taking that leap of faith. I wish
others could see the blessings that radiate from the gospel. It's why
we are continually searching for those who are prepared. We know that
God has prepared the hearts of people and now it's our calling to go
and find those lost sheep. As the work has progressed, we've had to
take a couple steps back. Sister Hamann and I were doing weekly
planning and had to trust everything would be ok so we started with a
clean slate. Many of our investigators that we had found were just not
progressing so we had to drop a lot of them and do a lot more finding
now. However, we have seen so many miracles resulting from this. We
were able to go and knock on several different streets. We'd pray and
ask if these places were where the Lord wanted us to be and if we felt
it to be right, we would started knocking. Often times, we'd have a
plan set in mind but as we'd go and pray about it, we felt an urge to
change our course and go a different route/road. Because we were able
to do that, we were able to see lots of tender mercies. On one
particular street, we were able to knock on all the houses and out of
the 13 or so doors, 11 of them opened up to us and we were able to
introduce to them who we were! We were also able to share with 3 of
them the Christmas video that the church put out this Christmas. It
was wonderful and we were able to receive many referrals, contact a
lot of people, and find many potentials. We are excited to continue to
find and although sometimes we're tired, we've learned that when we
keep pushing ourselves to be exactly obedient, we see far more greater
miracles. The lord's hand is truly in this work. I can testify of
that. I was so happy to be able to provide the Savior a white
Christmas with Geoffrey's baptism but I know that I can always be doing
even more for him. He's done so much for me and I know that all of us
can give him a gift this Christmas. That is truly what this season is
about....The Savior. I love you all! I hope your week is magical and
full of Christmas spirit!
With love,
Sister Burtis

Discover why the Savior is Born

Hello everyone! Can you believe it's already December? I sure can't.
The days are flying by so fast. Ok, so my explanation for why you
might have not heard from me last week. I had typed up a blog update
last week and saved it in my drafts but the it booted me out and my
draft got deleted. I think Heavenly Father is trying to tell me that I
should just go back to the letter writing days and forget about
technology ;) just kidding. The past two weeks have been very
eventful. Two weeks ago, Sister Hamann and I were able to visit lots
of our friends and less-active friends. They are all doing really
well. We can see the work progressing and that is good. It's not easy
at times and often times, there will be things that stops our friends
from progressing but we know that if we trust in God, rather than the
outcomes, it will all work out. I've learned a lot lately that it
really matters on how I feel I've done the work. If I'm doing all that
I can to be a consecrated missionary, than I know that despite seeing
the end results or not, the work will hasten on. At the end of
November, we were able to celebrate Sister Hamann's birthday. That was
a lot of fun. Because this would be her only birthday, I wanted it to
be great so as she was getting ready in the morning, I blew up big
balloons, put up a banner, and put out some candles for her. She
walked in and as she did so, I sang at the top of my lungs, "Happy
Birthday to you!" You could probably imagine what it must have sounded
like...me by myself singing a solo and just having woken up. I think
Sister Hamann got what I was trying to say though ;) The rest of the
day consisted of so many miracles and also lots of cake. We are
working with an investigator who is overcoming smoking and drinking
coffee and he told us that day that he had stopped doing both. It's
amazing to see people change their lives around as they learn more
about the gospel. We were able to put up some Christmas decorations up
as a service project for a member and then she fed us lunch and a
vanilla buttermilk cream cake. England knows how to do some really
great cakes. We then did some finding, teaching, and then went over to
another member's home for dinner and they also had birthday cake. So
at the end of the day, we got lots of cake. We were able to share that
with our friends because the two of us couldn't eat it alone. The day
after Sister Hamann's birthday was thanksgiving and our Bishop and his
family invited us over for dinner. Lori (Bishop's wife) was from Utah
and she knew that I would probably want to bring in some of my family
traditions and I mentioned to her that we usually had different pies.
Because she was so kind, that's what she provided for us along with
stuffing, Turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and lion house
pantry rolls. It was really good! So no worries there....I got to be a
part of the thanksgiving tradition :) :) This past week, we have been
able to see many miracles. Sister Hamann and I got to travel at the
beginning of last week to Plymouth and for pday, we explored around
the stores and got to see all the Christmas lights strung around the
big city. We then traveled to Redding and got to attend Mission
Leadership Conference. It was really good. We discussed ways we can
teach others on the streets and how we could best help them to
discover why a Savior was born. There is a great video that the church
put out on Christmas.mormon.org and I invite any of you to share that
with your friends. It's a great video of the children around the world
sharing of Christ's birth. I love it and could watch it lots of times!
After MLC, the rest of the week included us going finding, teaching,
and providing service. Just recently, we were able to weed for one of
our members and as we started weeding, it started raining. Well since
its wet and all, it was much easier to weed. However, as we got
weeding, little critters like worms and slugs (I don't think Utah even
has those?) decided to make a home in the dirt. So despite, the slimy
creatures all around, I pressed forward and accomplished the weeding
with my companion. The best news....I didn't die! :) Overall, I'm so
happy to be out here and to be on the Lord's errand. It's been great
to declare to others that a Savior is born and that we have a message
for them to discover why. Sister Hamann and I were knocking one day
last week and an older lady, named Margaret, opened the door. She
thought we were jehovah witnesses but after introducing ourselves, she
came to know who we were. She wasn't all too interested in the message
but you could tell that she loved talking to people. She loves Christ
and Christmas and was amazed that two young ladies were going around
sharing the good news. Margaret mentioned to us that she sees the
youth not even caring or having a purpose anymore. We just simply
explained to her that we know this message we share is true and that
is why we came out to share it with her. We asked her if we could sing
her a Christmas song and she grinned from ear to ear. We started to
sing "Away in a manger" and she started to sing with us. She mentioned
to us that this was one of the songs she'd sing to her kids when they
were little. We were all so touched and felt of the Christmas spirit.
What a great opportunity to declare of the Savior's birth. I'm
grateful to be able to experience a Christmas out here in England on
my mission. It's not easy having to find sometimes in the winds and
rains but it's so worth it. I love this season. Many more remember
Christ at this season even if they aren't a member or the church or
any church. Many more are happier. Families come together and
celebrate. I'm so grateful for this work. I hope as you prepare
yourselves for this upcoming holiday, that you remember the real
reason of Christmas. The word Christmas is nothing without Christ in
in. I love you. I hope all of you are doing well!
With love,
Sister Burtis
P.S. My ponderized scripture is Alma 5:60.
60 And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.

At least a transfer more for Christmas :)

Hello everyone! So you might have guessed it....I am staying at least one more transfer in Redruth, Cornwall. I'm really happy to be able to stay with my companion and in this area for the upcoming Christmas holidays! It's still my first area but I love it more and more as I continue to be here....maybe they can keep me here my whole mission ;) Sister Hamann and I are still sister training leaders as well so that'll be fun to be able to go to the mission leadership conferences. One thing that I'm really excited for is the temple trip that we have in about two weeks. As part of Christmas, all of us get to go to the London temple, have a Christmas devotional with our mission president, and also a Christmas dinner. One fun thing too is that since I'm still in the western zone which is the farthest away from the temple, we will be able to stay at the London Temple accommodations for a night. All of us missionaries are really excited about that! Well, the winter chill has been starting to pick up here in England and I can tell that it isn't the summer anymore. We are currently finding and teaching and the work is continually hastening. We have been able to teach Kathy, one of our friends, and she came out to church this past Sunday. She is a great lady and very nice. She'll always have us come over to have lunch and dinner if we go over to teach her a lesson. She is progressing and she is doing well! Our other friends are doing great as well. We were able to see more people come to our gospel principles class (a class that we missionaries teach on Sunday) and that was really exciting. Missionary work is not easy but it's so rewarding. There is just such a joy that is felt when I see others being able to experience for themselves the blessings of the gospel. It's like Lehi as he is partaking of the fruit from the tree of life and his soul was filled with exceedingly great joy. He then began to be desirous that his family should partake of it. Our happiness is great when we ourselves are able to receive the blessings of the gospel but our happiness can become even greater as we share the gospel with others. To see them receive that additional joy that they never knew that they could have is the greatest treasure of all. I love the work and this week as I was reading in the December 2015 ensign, I was reminded of the privilege and opportunity I have to be able to be out on my mission. Often times, days can be hard. It's not easy but I've learned to really trust in God and treasure those small moments on my mission and throughout life because time can go by so fast!  One really cool miracle that happened was last Monday. We spent our preparation day cleaning the flat, emailing, and shopping. We then ended preparation day right at 6pm like it says in our missionary handbook. With determination, we started going to work. We had set some finding plans for the evening but hadn't planned on the strong winds and rain that came pouring down. Despite the bitter winds, rain, and dark evening, we kept pushing through. We could have made an excuse that we were too wet or too cold to continue to find but we pressed forward. Knocking on some doors, we ended up meeting a lady named Lynsey who was quite interested in our message so we set up a return appointment with her. After taking some time to find, 8:28pm rolls around and we both had agreed earlier, we wouldn't end until 8:30pm. We looked at each other both knowing it would be so easy to start walking to the bus stop, but we didn't. We decided to knock two more doors these last minutes and something miraculous came out of it. We knocked at the two doors. The people behind the first door weren't interested. However, the second door opened up and a lady named Tanya looked at the state we were in...cold, wet, etc. and ushered us in. We didn't plan on her saying that, so you can probably imagine that shock that we experienced when she said that. We came in with our shoes trailing in puddles behind them and sat down at her dinner table. We then explained our message and asked if we could set a return appointment. Just as we were doing so, one of her best friends walked in. We were quite surprised to see that it was Lynsey, the lady we had just met previously and had set up a return appointment with. We looked at each other and back at them and after sharing what our message was about, we not only prayed with Tanya, but we got to pray with the both of them. After leaving the house, we  rushed to our bus and made it home. That evening and throughout this week, we've been able to find people who were interested and it just testified to us that with God, all things are possible. We know that this is the time for the season of miracles. Often times, the Lord wants to see how consecrated we are willing to be and as long as we are doing what he asks us to do, we can see miracles. Happy thanksgiving this week! Eat lots of pie and turkey. And not to worry, our bishop and his family are making us a small thanksgiving dinner so I'll be a part of the American tradition this week too :)  I love you all! I hope all of you are doing so great! 

With love,

Sister Burtis 

P.S. My ponderized scripture is Enos 1:27. Please look this one up. It has become one of my favorites! :)

Members, Missionary Work, and Miracles

Hello everyone! I hope you are doing super well. I can't believe that it's already the middle of November. Where does all that time go? Speaking of the middle of November, I should probably warn you that I have transfers coming up in a about a week's time. I should know by the end of this week if I will be moving or staying. If you have any letters or anything you need to send, send it to the mission office just so that it doesn't end up in Redruth and I'm not here or something. My companion and I are both hoping that we can stay together at least one more transfer for Christmas. I love my area and keep telling my companion that I wouldn't mind serving my entire mission in Cornwall. I don't think that could happen but hey....you never know! :) This past week has been quite incredible. We have got to meet so many more people and are currently teaching quite a few of our friends. The work is really progressing here. We are able to work with a lot of our members and they are very helpful. That's one thing that I've come to realize that it really important is members and missionary work. Without the members, we would be in trouble. They are so great in taking time to going out on teaches with us and having us over at their homes. If anyone is worried that I might be starving or not having enough food, you won't have to worry any longer. I think we actually have a dinner appointment with a member everyday for next week. The people here in England are very generous. This past week, I was able to go on an exchange with the Newton Abbot Sisters. I stayed in Redruth and Sister Holley (she's from Utah as well!) came over and did some missionary work with me. We saw many miracles and we were able to do a lot of finding. We went and contacted one of our investigators who is often hard to keep in contact with and when we went over to her house, her partner answered the door. Her partner never really seemed interested in what we had to share but we got a big surprise when he started to ask us about our religion and faith. He said he was interested to learn more and we made an appointment with him and our investigator. A couple days later, we came back to teach them and both of them were waiting for us to arrive! It was a really good teach and they asked some really good questions. Our investigator's partner expressed that he wasn't really looking to be converted and we aren't sure where our teaching with him will go but it was a really neat miracle to be able to share with him our unique message! The Lord provides such unexpected miracles sometimes and it's incredible to be a part of it. I love the missionary work. It's going great! The rain and wind have started to pick up a bit due to the winter weather coming in but it's fun and an adventure. I keep waiting for snow to appear but then have to constantly remind myself I'm in England. :) I hope all of you are all doing well. If you have any missionaries in your area, help them out as much as you can because you never know...you could be the reason for someone coming closer to knowing the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us. 

Love you all! 

With Love,

Sister Burtis 

This is Sister Holley and I. Sister Holley is from Utah and she came
over to Redruth for an exchange. :) We are riding a train in the
picture. Trains are great! :) :)

 

Why the fireworks?

What a busy week! Sister Hamann and I were traveling a lot this week. We first started off our week by traveling to Exeter on a train and we got to explore the city for a bit since it was our pday. Exeter is a huge city and is much different from Redruth. Sister Hamann and I searched everywhere for winter boots and seemed to have no luck. We just couldn't seem to find out where the boots shops were or they just seemed too expensive. We determined that shoe shopping wasn't our favorite ;) After shopping in Exeter, we traveled with our Zone Leaders to Redding because we had MLC the next day. The Mission Leadership Conference was really good. President Gubler and Sister Gubler did a presentation and then we got to council together on what the next step in the missionary work is and how we can become even more consecrated. After the conference, we traveled back to our area. Sister Hamann and I got to stay overnight in our flat and the very next morning, we traveled to Plymouth for our District Zone Conference. Sister Hamann and I got to present some of the things that we learned in MLC to the district leaders and that went really good. Now it doesn't end just there. We got to travel to Exeter again after DLC because we needed to stay with the Exeter Sisters and then travel to zone conference which is in Poole. Zone Conference was great. We had 3 zones out of the 9 come together and we got to be taught by President Gubler, Sister Gubler, and the assistants. During lunch, some of the members from the Poole zone prepared us a crazy good England type thanksgiving meal. Turkey, stuffing, beans, corn, yorkshire puddings, pecan pie, etc. It was great! One crazy thing that happened was that my companion, Sister Hamann and I, got to sing a duet in front of everyone during Zone Conference. We were both shaking and it was rough at first but we warmed up eventually and were able to make it through the song and I think it turned out pretty well. We sang, Hymn #129, "Where Can I Turn for Peace?" Lots of missionaries came up afterwards and thanked us for singing that song. It was a neat experience. I guess it showed me that I can do anything If I can sing in front of more than 60 missionaries :) Overall, we had lots of travels this past week. When it came time for us to come back and work in our area, we were so happy and so relieved to be able to see our friends. The people we are teaching are doing good. The two main people that we are working with are Geoffry and Robert. Both of them come out to activities and to church. Working with the people of England is wonderful! Something that was exciting is that we got to see lots of fireworks. There was fireworks for Halloween, for guy forks holiday, and for Remembrance Day. That was fun to see. This past week we saw such an incredible miracle. It happened when we went to go meet one of our potential investigator friends When we arrived at her home, she didn't quite remember meeting us but she invited us in anyway. As she kept talking, she started to remember meeting us on the street so that was a relief. Anyhow, this friend loves to talk and she kept mentioning this video about Jesus that she absolutely loves that she never lets anybody borrow or take out of her house. She watches it all the time, and it is a tradition in her home to watch the video every Christmas Eve. We were being supportive and still trying to teach her the restoration lesson at the same time. Eventually her enthusiasm overtook her and she left the room to show us this video. We were slightly unsure about this video seeing that it came from her preacher in the Catholic congregation she used to attend and slightly worried that it would be a strange and sad story about Jesus Christ with a catholic twist or something. We had the shock of our lives, however, when she walked back in holding a 'Finding Faith in Christ' video. We had to make sure it was the same one we used in our church and sure enough, as we flipped over the video case, the words on the bottom clearly said: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. With haste, we pulled off our badges to show her that our church was the very same one that produced the video she held in her hand. It was incredible! We are now teaching this friend and she is doing well! My companion and I have been able to experience so many tender mercies and miracles of the Lord in this work and it seems to never cease! I love you all! Hope you have a wonderful and magical week!

Love,

Sister Burtis

P.S. Ponderized Scripture for the week is Alma 29:1.  

Trick or Treaters "knocking at the door sharing the gospel"

Hello everyone! I hope all of you are doing well. I can't believe it's
already November! Where has all that time gone? Anyways, this past
week was very spooktacular. See what I did there? ;) Happy late
Halloween! What a week it has been! Sister Hamann and I having been
running to and fro to different places in our area and we were able to
teach many of our investigators. This past week started out with our
pday and we got to go with our district to Truro and explore the shops
and the Truro Cathedral. It's pretty big! I had already been there
once before with Sister Schmidt but Sister Hamann and a couple of the
elders hadn't been yet so we went and explored around there. After our
pday, Sister Hamann and I got to do FHE with some members and their
family and that was a lot of fun. We,  the sister missionaries, got to
teach a little lesson to the family, sang songs, did an activity, and
then had pizza. I never realised how important family home evening was
until I got out on my mission. It really does strengthen the family
and protects them from the worldly distractions that Satan uses to
destroy families. The rest of the week consisted of traveling
different parts of our areas and getting to teach our investigators
and potentials. We were able to talk to some people on the busses and
although not many were interested, we did find someone who wanted to
come to know more about the Book of Mormon. Her name is Diane and she
was really nice and listened to the message we had. The people we are
currently teaching are either progressing or continually listening to
our lessons. One thing I really learned from the last week was the
importance of a testimony. Sister Hamann and I had an investigator who
we taught last week and the lesson went beyond what we had imagined.
We sat down and planned to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ but kept
getting our faith questioned and we kept getting asked why we would
need to pray, or read a book that tells us answers when we can just
know for ourselves already, etc. It was no easy lesson and it seemed
that everything we tried to teach her was argued against. I won't lie,
I felt a bit frustrated. After the lesson, I didn't really felt like
talking too much. My companion turned to me and asked me, trying to
cheer me up, "What do you think went good about that lesson?" I
wondered and wondered....what good did come out of that lesson? It
took me a time to ponder about it but I came to a conclusion in the
end. Towards the end of that lesson, I remember saying, boldly but
with love, my testimony. I told this lady that I know that my Savior
lives. I know that there is a way for us to return and live with him
and our Heavenly Father once more. I know that I can pray to Him and
that He will listen to me. How do I know that? Because of that divine
witness that I received when I first read the Book of Mormon and
continue to receive as I keep reading now. I realized that my
testimony is precious and something that no one could take away from
me. I know I needed to experience that last week because it helped me
to realize something very important. I often kept asking myself last
week why the lesson had to go the way it did. I know though that
Heavenly Father places things that may be at times frustrating and
hard so He can help us learn. A few fun things that took place was
that we had our district meeting with the elders of our area and the
zone leaders as well. Sister Hamann and I did a fun presentation about
how we should be willing to go the extra mile for the Savior. We had
all of the elders go outside of the chapel as well as ourselves and we
pulled out two chocolate bars. Two of the elders weren't able to run
because of an injury but the other elders eagerly and excitedly
started jumping up and down when they saw what we had for them. Elders
and food.....that's all I got to say. :) Sister Hamann and I just
simply asked if they'd be willing to run once around the chapel for
the treats. They agreed with no hesitation and when we yelled, "go!",
they took off as if something was chasing them, playfully pushing at
each other and trying to win. As they ran around the chapel, we
quickly handed the two candy bars to the remaining elders who weren't
able to run. We told them that they could eat the candy bars in front
of the other elders which they started doing. Soon enough, the other
elders came around the corner of the chapel, out of breath, and
excited to receive their reward. They all seemed to go into a state of
shock when they saw the other two elders eating the chocolate. One of
them exclaimed, "I knew it!" And another exclaimed, "What!?" Their
reactions were priceless. Sister Hamann and I tried holding in our
laughter as we simply told them..."Oops. Their is no more chocolate."
We proceeded to ask them however if they would be willing to running
around one more time even if we didn't have a treat for them. They
thought to themselves, shook their heads and said no. We hesitated and
asked one more question. "Would you be willing to do it......if the
Savior asked you to?" The Elders without hesitation realized what we
were trying to ask them and they said yes. I handed them a picture of
Christ and they held it and looked at it as they ran around. So what
was the purpose of the activity? To see if these elders will do
anything for food? No, the purpose and the thing we explained to the
elders was that, often times we need to go the extra mile for the
Savior, not for the lesser important things. What is our motivation
behind our actions? This could apply to missionary work but it could
apply to anything else as well. The callings we receive in the church,
the things we are asked to sacrifice, etc. As we focus on the Savior,
the things that tend to be hard become easier when we know that he is
with us every step of the way. Sister Hamann and I were able to
accomplish many things this week and we are grateful for the tender
mercies of the Lord that we saw. Something funny that happened to us
was that as we went finding in the evening of Halloween, people asked
us if we trick-or-treaters. Fair enough....I could see why they'd ask
us that. In all fairness....we do have a treat for them. The gospel.
:) I love you all and I hope everything is going good! Until next
week!
Love,
Sister Burtis
P.S. My ponderized scripture for the week is Psalms 18:2-3

2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

 3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.