Sister Burton

Sister Burton

Monday, September 22, 2014

1 Transfer Down!

Hello! I cannot believe that I am in my second transfer. That is strange. But this week was really good! 

On Tuesday half of the mission (about 120 missionaries) met together and listened to Elder Martino of the Seventy speak. It was sooo good! He talked a lot about members and missionaries working together! So you as members help the missionaries or let the missionaries help you! They are there to help you! :):) So Sister Budge and I are working with the Relief Society President, the Young Womens President, and the High Priest President. And the Elders are working with the other Presidents. It has been fabulous!

Sis. Leduc (mission medic), Elder Garver, Elder Bastian,
Sis. Burton, Sis. Budge, Elder and Sis. Minaker (office couple)
All the missionaries in the Sturgeon Ward!

We met with Charissa again and it was CHAOTIC. Her cousin was over and she has two kids, ages 2 and 8 months. So there were two 8 month olds and a 2 year old. It was crazy! We talked about Faith and Repentance but we are going to need to teach that again... haha. NUTS. 

WE GOT A HOLD OF DALLAS! On Friday a thought popped into my head to text Dallas instead of call her and she texted back!!! Tender Mercy! Hopefully we can meet with her later this week! 

Sis. Burton, Sis. Rush and Sis. Jones reunited!

On Friday we had a ward potluck and so we helped and ate :) Afterwards we were driving around going to a less actives house and the Elders drove by, we both parked and we chatted and they threw a bag of cookies from the Potluck in the back of our car. It was time to head home so we both left and then planned and went to sleep. In the morning Sister Budge looks at the bag the Elders gave us and said "What is this?" I said, "The cookies from the Elders." So she opened the bag.....THEY GAVE US A DEAD BIRD! How disgusting! We ran and threw that in the garbage outside and were about to call the Elders when we realized that that is what they wanted. So we didn't say anything. That night we saw the Elders at Stake Conference and they were holding in their giggles. They asked us how the cookies were. And we said that we threw them away. I told them that why would they give us cookies? They said we ruined the whole thing because we never texted them hahah our plan! Anyways they think that we don't know what was in the bag. Sometime we will tell them what really happened...haha Elders. Elders. All of the other Elders in our district have been asking us how the cookies were too. It is too funny! We wrote in their planners so I guess we deserved it, but really, a dead bird? hahaha

At Mission Tour we all met up again.  This is some of the people
that were in my MTC Zone.  Sis. Jones, Sis. Burton, Sis. Rush,
Elder Walker, Elder Campbell, Elder Moeller
(missing Elder Koochin and Elder Dodson)

So after that gross story here is a Miracle Story! After the Sunday session of Stake Conference some Elders walked up to us and said "Come over here and meet your new investigator!" WHAT?!? That never happens! A family came to stake conference the wife is a member and the husband is not. He wants to be taught and he is in our ward so we are teaching him! Hooray! That is so awesome! I can't wait to start teaching him! 

Well this week has been very eventful and I love you all! Have a great week!
Love, Sis. Burton XOXO

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Service, Singing and Chocolate!

Hello! This week has been great! The temperature has been a little cold still but the past two days have really started to get warmer. Still jacket weather though. But not freezing. I have worn my wool tights once. haha.

This week I went on exchanges! It was so fun! I was with Sister Speth in the Londonderry area! Still in the Edmonton area but east a ways. Sister Speth is fantastic! She went to Snow and we know a lot of the same people! Londonderry is a poorer part of Edmonton so that was neat to see something different because Sturgeon is very wealthy. It is very fun to see how other missionaries do the work. It was really good to get some more ideas of what we could do here in Sturgeon.

Sis Burton and Sis Speth on splits

This week we had another lesson with Adrienne and Kalen. It was fantastic! We taught about Faith and Repentance. We thought that it would be a short lesson because they pretty much believe the same things about Faith and Repentance but it was still like an hour and fifteen minutes. They are THE best! They invited us over for supper next week and I am super excited. Adrienne asked what kinds of food we can have and we told her not coffee or tea or drugs...haha. She said, "Can you have chocolate??" haha yes we can. They are too funny! Next time we meet we are teaching the last half of lesson 3; Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. I can't wait!

After Adrienne and Kalen's we went to Tim Horton's (a cute cafe that they have EVERYWHERE here) to meet one of our less actives Sonia. She is from the Philippines living here to earn money. She brought the little girl that she nannies, Autumn, who is seven. Autumn is so cute! She loves us! I gave her a CTR ring and she loved it! Her parents are athiest but she believes in God and Jesus Christ. Sonia really wants us to teach Autumn's family and I think Autumn really wants us to teach them also!
Edmonton

On Friday we met with a potential named Dave. We took Sister Creighton with us.It was an interesting lesson. He is creepy. He was super bugged that Sister Creighton was there because she is an older lady and he kept hitting on Sister Budge and I. He is married and has a child. It was the worst. He asked us to come back and we said yes but we are going to send the Elders haha.

Yesterday I had the marvelous opportunity of singing in Relief Society...In a trio...I don't sing. This is the second time on my mission that I have had to sing in front of people in a small group. Not all Sister Missionaries can sing! Haha it was fine. Sister Budge reassures me everyday that I am not bad at singing (I sing a lot with her) but I know she is lying. haha.

Sis. Budge and Sis. Burton eating lunch in the church parking lot

Sis. Budge, Sis. Burton, Sis. Manion, Pres. Manion, Elder Garver and
Elder Bastain (Elder serving in Sturgeon with us)

On Saturday we had a New Missionary Follow Up Meeting on the southside of Edmonton. So I got to drive through the whole city! It was beautiful! I loved it! I got to see the Saskatchewan River that goes through the city and go over the famous bridge (I forgot the name of it.). I love Edmonton. Family we are taking a trip up here in the summer of 2016!

High Level Bridge in Edmonton
spanning the Saskatchewan River

High Level Bridge in Edmonton

We have a meeting with Charissa tonight! She has forgotten our last 2 appointments so hopefully she doesn't forget! But we are going to be talking about baptism because she is praying for a date! Hooray! She is amazing!

We are still trying to get ahold of Dallas. She is nowhere to be found. We called the Bishop that referred her to us and he works with her so he is going to talk to her. Hopefully she gets back to us this week!

Edmonton

We are on week 6 of the transfer! I cannot believe that! Next week is transfers! I doubt that I will get transferred but some of the Elders might. :( I only have 7 more weeks in training! hallelujah! I dont really love training. It is good but not the most wonderful thing ever. haha :)

This morning we did a day of service at the rock garden with our whole district it was so fun! A company came and did a day of service and so we know the rock garden inside and out so we went to show them around and talk to people. It was really good to get the name of the church out there and we gave a few pass along cards out with our phone numbers. That is the reason I didn't think I would be emailing today but we finished early so we were able to email!

Sis Budge and Sis Burton with two ladies we met at the Rock Garden
(Val and Christina)

Our District - Elder Taylor (Zone Leader), Elder Allen, Elder Bastian,
Elder Murray (Zone Leader),
Elder Larsen (District Leader), Elder Garver, Sis. Burton, and Sis. Budge

I hope you all had a great week! And I have a lot of pictures this week so get ready! Love you all!

Love, Sister Burton xoxo

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Merry Christmas! (Just kidding)

Merry Christmas from Canada today! It is snowing! It is also September 8th. We woke up today and Sister Budge said that it was snowing and I thought it was a sick joke. Haha she was right. Snow. In. September. I am in the wrong country. But other than that my week was great!! 

This is the snow we had BEFORE it really started to snow hard!

I finally met all of our investigators this week! We stopped by Angie's and she let us in (She lives in apartments so she just buzzed us up not knowing it was us) but she is not super interested. So we are going to give her one last try and then probably drop her. 

We had an appointment with Charissa, a 19 year old with a 8 month old baby. She is super interested and praying for a baptismal date! We are meeting with her again on Tuesday

And Emily. She is a mother of 3 girls and is going back to school to get her master's degree so she is quite busy! But she likes to talk religion. I don't know if she will ever get baptized because she has been taught for 4 years...but we will see! 

Canada is so beautiful!

We didn't get to meet with Adrienne and Kaelin this week because Adrienne was really sick but they rescheduled for this Thursday! And Dallas is a teacher and this was her first week back at school so she wanted to get settled then we could come back and teach her. 

The work in the Sturgeon ward is really picking up! It is amazing how many people are ready to here the gospel! We have so many potential investigators that we keep contacting hoping to set up appointments but most are never home. But luckily with school starting again everyone is coming home from holidays! 


Our new apartment (It's in a member's basement)

Sister Budge and I went to a potentials named Myrna and we spent 1 1/2 hours at her house teaching her to use familysearch.org to do family history work! She wants us to come back next week and hopefully we can teach her a lesson! 

This was on our way to the barn. Isn't it gorgeous!

This week we did a district service project and we tore down a barn! It was so fun to get to know the Elders more and do service for a nonmember! I will ask Elder Allen if I can get the pictures he took of us and then send them!

For Rickee - These are "loonies"  (Canadian one dollar coin) and "toonies" (Canadian two dollar coin)
 The field is so white here in St. Albert and I see so many miracles every single day! No investigators came to sacrament meeting yesterday but I think this week we will have 3-4! I love you all so much! And can't wait to hear from you! 

Love, Sister Burton xoxo

The sunsets in Canada are amazing!

PS Thank you all who contributed to my package! 
Miriam- Thanks for the darling little pillow with my name on it! It is so cute!
Mallory-Thank you for the cute letter! I will write back to you soon!
Sheila-Thanks for the chapstick! They are so great! And ALEECE GETS HOME THIS WEEK! HOORAY! Give her a huge hug for me! 
Grandma Bird-Thank you for the food, book marks and necklace






! We are stocked for a long time! And I haven't tried the breakfast things yet we are buying milk at the store today! And thank you for the cute letter!
Grandma Burton-Thank you for the letter! It is so great to hear from you! 

And Thank you all for everything else. I don't know who sent what but thank you!!!! 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

What a week!

This week has been great! But nothing has gone the way we planned. It is crazy we had to resort to our back  ups back ups back ups plan..haha
 
Monday night we were invited to come to a little ward FHE and we played kickball skirts and all. It was way fun! My ward is absolutely amazing! They are so focused on missionary work and love the Missionaries. Because there are two sets in our ward. Me and Sister Budge and Elder Garver and Elder Bastian. I love those Elders!
 
Tuesday was nuts. We had so much to do but every thing fell through. We did service at the Rock Garden and place where special needs people can come and garden. It is so fun! Then we were going to see Ted but the Sister that was going to come with us cancelled so we couldn't go because of numbers. There always has to be at least 3 people of one gender. So Ted is a boy so we needed to take a girl with us to make 3 girls. Then all of our lessons cancelled except for supper, thank goodness! But none of the less actives or potentials were home. So we did a lot of finding that day.
 
Wednesday was about the same haha. Sister Stonehocker was available to come with us to see Ted so we went but he was already moved :( So we went back home ate lunch and cleaned our apartment up a bit. It had been lived in for 2 years by missionaries so it was very gross...And it collected a lot of stuff. That night we met with Adrienne and Kaelin!! I love them! They are so great! They ask really sincere, honest, curious questions! We took the Sharpe's with us a couple I absolutely adore. I would go to them for anything! Sister Sharpe is like my third mother. Sister Leduc being the second. haha.
 
Thursday was district meeting. I have the best district ever! They are all so great and we all get along so well! Actually right after emailing we are all going to go do service together! Then we had interviews with President Manion! I love him! He is the greatest and Sister Manion is so cute!
 
Friday everything fell through so we spent a lot of time Weekly Planning and getting ready to move. And Saturday. All morning we moved and then we had an appointment with Dallas Quinn. (Becca how weird is that??) She is amazing! She is so spiritual and really wants to hear what we have to say! I see a lot of potential in her! After teaching her we went back to the apartment to clean. Drove to Edmonton to have Supper. Drove back to St. Albert to clean. Then back to Edmonton to go to bed.
 
And Sunday. Sundays are great here! They are packed but great! We have church at 9. then ward correlation at 12-1 Studies until supper then tracting time. We met with a lady on Sunday night who I will never go back to again. After meeting with her I felt awful so we called the zone leaders and they gave me a blessing. I feel so much better now. I have learned so much being out on my mission it is amazing. The thing that really sticks out to me is how loving God is. He watches over us and blesses us in so many ways every single day. He is so mindful of our needs. And he has given us the priesthood to bless us. The priesthood is amazing! I cannot even comprehend God's love for us because of everything he has given us. We are so blessed.
 
Yesterday I finally saw the infamous bunnies everyone here talks about because they are everywhere apparently...I haven't seen them till now! I was sooooo happy they were so cute and large!
 
Hey one piece of advice. If you are writing me a letter please put dates on them because it takes so long for me to get them that I don't know when it was written.
 
I love being a missionary and I am so grateful for everyone of  you! I would love to hear from you! I have a lot of time to email so I would love to get emails from you! Love you so much!
 
PS. Read Moroni 8:3. So good and so true.
 
PPS If you wrote me an email and I didn't respond to you I did not get it. I have responded to every email I have received as of September 2 at 11:47am. Send it again and I will respond!  Love you all!
 
Love, Sister Burton