The Last Melon...December 29, 2015

The Last Melon...Well not the very last. But Close!

Baaaa...My last transfer. My last area. My last companion. Crazy!  Luckily not my last email. I still got lots more!  Well folks it is transfer week and I have been transferred to......drum roll please.......Cherry Grove!
Where is that you ask? Good question. It is in the middle of nowhere 200 miles east of Edmonton, on the border of Saskatchewan. I have zero idea what it is like but I'll find out soon! It has literally been my whole mission dream to serve in Cherry Grove I have no idea why but it has! President called yesterday and told me that i was going to Cherry Grove and I had a little dance party and he said that because it is my last transfer he is going to send me where I wanted to go! Someone told him a couple of days ago that it was my dream. I can't figure out who. I think it was Elder B. :)

I am so super sad to leave Lakewood! It is so amazing here! I love the Ward and all the people I
have gotten close with. Six months in an area is so wonderful but SOO hard to leave.

District Pictures!

This week was so great! I got to see some people from Rainbow Valley!  On Monday we had lunch with A E and on Wednesday we got to see K C! I love both of them so much!! I hate goodbyes. They are gonna come visit me in Utah though!

Lunch with K from Rainbow Valley!

Sister H and I had a brilliant idea to make cookies and brownies for all of our investigators and less actives. It was a super good idea! But never trust the cookie recipes on the back of the chocolate
chips. Or just never let me make cookies. Or don't let the cookies freeze and refreeze in the freezing Canadian tundra. All unpredictable. All ruined our cookies and turned them into rocks. We
walked around holding these bags of cookies in a Walmart bag for three days and we only handed out like 4. Not having a car really adds so much time. Frustrating. But it was probably for the better that we didn't hand very many out because they were rock solid. Sister H and I got hungry and decided to eat a cookie and good thing we did.  Hahaha what a gong show.

But the rest of Christmas week was great! On Christmas Eve we went Caroling to an old folks home with 15 other missionaries and it was super fun. It was a gong show because we were all trying to sing the Christmas Carols a little different; Michael Buble style, David Archuleta style, Josh Groban style, and so on. Everyone knows the Christmas Songs they all just put their own little spins on
everything. Haha I got some really good laughs out of it! So did the old people. :)

We were invited over to M's house for Christmas Eve snack foods and good company. Most of her family was out of town so it was nice to spend a little while with her! Christmas Day was amazing! I have never felt the spirit of Christmas so much! We had breakfast at our Relief Society Presidents house with her family and skypeds from there! It was so GREAT to see my family!
After that we had the opportunity to spend some time at the old folks home we do service at every week! We got to eat lunch with a couple of ladies who weren't going to see there families. Then we had a little social gathering after lunch that no one came to so we got to talk to all of the workers instead. We had some really great gospel conversations! Then for the rest of the day we walked and bussed around; had two suppers, one at our Bishop's house, and one at the K; then we went to the S's house and guess who happened to be there?! R and M S from Sturgeon! R's parents are in Lakewood so they invited us over! It was such a great Christmas and we got to share the gospel as we walked around and brighten everyone's day!

The S's from Sturgeon!  I love them!

Fun fact: December 26 is Boxing Day in Canada! I don't really know what it is or what they do but everyone has work off! I do know that it is kind of like Black Friday just toned back a couple notches. They don't get as crazy here about sales as we do in the States ;) ooh ooh something super cool happened on Boxing Day. We got on a bus and had just sat down when the bus driver started talking to us. We had a really good conversation, got to know him, and talked about what we
believe. We talked to him all the way back to the Millwoods Transit Centre and talked as he waited at the Transit Centre. We made him late but he really enjoyed it. We gave him our card, and he texted us right then so we could have his number! He said that his dad might be interested and his wife and their 6 kids. It was a Christmas Miracle!!!

Pray for cool missionary opportunities and God will give them to you if you are ready

and look for them!
Well I hope y'all had a good week! And a very good Christmas!
Love you!!

Love, Sister Burton
xoxoxo



Some pictures from Christmas morning!

It's Christmas Time Again! December 22, 2015

Hey family! Can you believe it is Christmas time again? It is wonderful! It's the most wonderful time of the year!! We went on exchanges this week with the Bearspaw Sisters! They are a walking area and holy moly it was SOO cold on Thursday and Friday! and we walked all over creation. I thought my face was going to fall off and my hands and my legs. Haha at one point we were running to get
there faster and get our hearts beating faster. Haha :) but I survived and it wasn't even that cold compared to what it will get in January and February...

Our adventure in the woods this morning.  We went hiking-ish!

We helped set up for a Filipino Christmas Party on Saturday! That was a lot of fun! We didn't get to go to the party but it looked like the were gonna have a lot of fun! We have been able to work with so many less actives! On Sunday evening we met with two new less actives! We were planning on stopping by a lot of people and the only two doors we knocked on let us in and we were able to share a message with them! It was such a wonderful evening! We had a cottage meeting this week! It was so great! It was at our Ward Mission Leaders house and we watched "A Savior is Born" and two
other videos and had a discussion about the Savior then played some games! We had quite a few less actives come and some Ward missionaries come! It was a nice safe place where less actives could meet members and mingle! I have trying to plan a Cottage Meeting for 8 months and it finally happened!! Hooray!

C is doing super good! She really wants to get baptized but she is still struggling to stop smoking so we asked her if she wanted us to go over ARP(Addiction Recovery Program) with us and she agreed They have ARP groups every week and she went to one but she didn't like all the people there. So we are going to have her come over to an ARP missionary's house and we will go over the program with her! Hopefully this will help her progress even closer to baptism! Shawn is doing really good too! :)

This is A.  She is one of the Less Actives we were working with.

She is sooo sweet.  She is from China but really likes Sisters over

Elders so the Mandarin Elders let us teach her.  She is moving

tomorrow :( but she is moving into Sis. R's area so she will be

in good hands!

This is N, the Ward Mission Leaders daughter.  We are best

friends and she has the same nightgown Rickee used to have

so I had to take a picture!

Well I know that a lot more happened this week but my mind is blank. The Lord loves us! He blesses us so much! Let's celebrate Christ's birth by sharing it with others! That's what I'll be doing! Happy
Christmas Everyone! I sure love you!

Love, Sister Burton
xoxoxo

Christmas Time is Coming! December 15, 2015

Hey hey! This week was super duper good! We had lots of miracles and lots of party's! We got to meet with C twice! She is doing so good! S sat in on the lesson again! I love that family so much!! N, their daughter is due this week! Too bad I can't hold babies.. Lame.

My favorite family!  We decorated the Christmas Tree with them.

I have never decorated so many trees in all my life, Holy Moly!

Sis. H, Sis. M, K and me!

At a Christmas Party!  Me, L and E

We were able to meet with P this week!! She came to the Ward Christmas Party and talked to the Bishop's wife for an hour! Our Ward Christmas Party was soooo wonderful! Lots of members brought their non-member friends that we were able to talk to! It was so great! Hopefully we will get to teach someone the people we met there soon! They had the gym decorated so cute and festive!

Ward Christmas Party!  Yay for so many people

coming!!!!

It snowed again this week! Hooray!!! But one downside to that is that it snowed the days that we did not have the car...we walked all over creation. We calculated how far we walked on Friday and Saturday and we went...drum roll everyone! 15 kilometers! Haha it really isn't that much but it fun to say that we walked that far in the freezing cold Canadian darkness. We had fun though! :)

We got a text from some other Sisters giving us a referral for someone named E. We called her and she was SOO EXCITED! We are gonna call her tonight and set up an appointment! I will let you know!

At Christmas Conference with President and

Sis. Manion!

I got to see my favorite people at Christmas Conference!

Sis. W and Elder M

We had Christmas conference yesterday! It was so great! I got to see all of my favourite mission people! Well all those that are still on their missions. Hah, Sister Wh, Sister W, Sister P, Elder M, and Elder B!! And guess what? I sang in 3 musical numbers! Haha! So two Elders wrote a song called, "In the Last Dispensation" that our zone sang. And we also sang a Joy to the World/Jesus the Very Thought of Thee Medley. And Sister T and I wrote a rap. And we rapped it in front of half of the mission. It was pretty sweet! President and Sister Manion loved it!! Maybe I will send the video! We'll see ;)

Well I love y'all! I hope you have a good week!

LOVE YOU!
Love, Sister Burton

December 8, 2015 This is not a video!

Hey hey! Man it has been forever since I have written a mass email. I
kinda miss it. Oh well. Well, we got distracted by basketball today,
and by we I mean me, so I forgot to send this. But I am doing super
good! This week was great! We were able to meet with a lot of less
actives that we haven't seen in a long time!
We met with all of the laurels, all 2 of them, and shared an awesome
video with them called "Reach Out With Love" it is on youth.lds.org
and it is super good. And then we asked if the would like to come to
lessons with us! I love working with the young women it makes me
sooooo happy! They both said yes so now we are going to take them
Caroling Tracting with us, hopefully this week!
We had interviews with President this week! I sure love President
Manion, except I did not like this interview. All he talked about was
me going home. President...
We also reviewed the Plan of Salvation with Ashaya and Armani! It was
probably the cutest thing ever to watch Ashaya explain the Plan of
Salvation to us, don't worry I filmed the whole thing!
#thebeautyofipads
We also stopped by quite a few unknown less actives on our Ward list,
one of which was a huge creeper. He told us he was on the No Contact
List and we apologized for stopping by and he said, "Oh, it's okay,
you're pretty so that makes up for it." Then he went on to ask how
many people try and pick us up everyday. We left swiftly after that!
#creeperstatus
We had MLC this week! Super great! We talked about faith and the
calling down the powers of heaven! You should all definitely read an
article by Bruce R. McConkie called "Why The Lord Ordained Prayer"
from the January 1976 Ensign, super long but super good!!
We still only have the car half the week and it continues to be the
greatest thing! I LOVE bussing and walking, we get to talk to way more
people!! It is a glorious thing!
We did service at the Ronald McDonald House on Saturday and it made my
heart so happy! I love that place! Heavenly Father definitely had a
hand in creating that!
And Cheryl came to church again! And we went to her house on Sunday
night and guess what?!? Shawn sat in on the lesson! Ahhhh! It was so
amazing! Prayers are answered! God loves us!
Welp. This has been a super good week! This next week is gonna be even
better, we have so many Christmas Parties! Christmas is such an
amazing time of year because everyone is joyful and Christ is on
everyone's mind! If you haven't watched the new Christmas video on
Christmas.mormon.org, do it! It is so good! Explore that website there
are so many good things! I especially like the video called "Why We
Need A Saviour" or something.
I love y'all! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Burton

December 1, 2015 Thanksgiving

Exchanges with Sis. W in Mt Pleasant!

Me and my favorite kitty, Hallow.

Elliot's Baptism!  Isn't he the cutest thing ever?

Zone Thanksgiving lunch!

Zone Mama Burton organized the whole thing and took charge.

Everyone brought something to our Thanksgiving lunch.  I need

to stop bossing people around...but, hey, it worked!

After the baptism we realized that no one emptied

the font...so, guess who climbed in?  The first time I

went in with my boots...only too soon did I realize

that they are not waterproof.  So I took my soaked

boots, socks and tights off to climb in again.  The

font is emptied, all is well.

Happy Birthday Sis. Burton 11/29/2015

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS. BURTON AND SIS. HATCH!

A wonderful family in Kenzee's ward invited them over for dinner to celebrate their birthdays.  Sis. Hatch's birthday is November 28th and Sis. Burton's birthday is November 29th.

We feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in Canada taking such good care of our missionaries! 

Moving Day and SNOW! November 24, 2015

It snowed!!!!

We got little crowns out of New Years Poppers

when we were doing service setting up

Christmas Trees!

This is how we packed the car moving. 

And this was the second car load.

Remembrance Day November 17, 2015

Our sweet District!  We are Avengers!

Remembrance Day.  We went to the Butterdome at the University

of Alberta to was the ceremony!  It was soooo cool!  I love Canada!

Helping at a Ward Family History Activity

November 10, 2015

Sis. Burton and Sis. H on a walk

Me and C's cat, Hollow.  She is the cutest
demon kitty ever!

We were brave and got flu shots.  We didn't even hold each
other's hands.

The Gateway Sisters.  Sis. H, Sis. B, Sis. T, Sis. G

Millwoods West Zone after ZTM!

Beautiful sunrise from the Mt. Pleasant Sisters
apartment

Sis. M and I on exchanges!

Meetings and Poppies and Haircuts, Oh My! November 3, 2015

 

 

 

 

Pray for Our Investigators October 27, 2015

 

 

Temple Day October 20, 2015