The Real Last Melon! February 9, 2016

Well. My heart is so full of joy. I don't even know where to begin. I am so so so grateful for this opportunity I have had to be a missionary for the last 18 months. I have been very weepy today and I am not sure if it is because I am ready to go home or not. We will see.

My friend Charlie the Llama

 

I have learned so much about my Heavenly Father this last week! I think that last major lesson he wanted me to learn this week was that He knows best. He sees the whole picture of our life. I always have a plan of how I want things to go and He has shown me that He knows what will help me the most. I need to remember to include Him in my decision making. I am so grateful for His guidance in our life and our ability to learn of Him and learn of His will for us.

Me and our beautiful truck!

 

We saw so many miracles this week! We have worked hard and tried to be as exactly obedient as we can and we are being blessed for beyond what we deserve! We finally got to meet with someone the Elders were working with before Sister T got here! We had supper with him, W, and his less active fellowshippers, the H's, and it was amazing! The wife wanted to make a cake for us and she asked what we wanted the theme to be so obviously we said Harry Potter. So she made us a Harry Potter cake and we shared a message with quotes from Harry Potter. I had a really cool experience that morning. Every morning I begin my studies with a prayer and I ask my Heavenly Father a question that I want answered as I read the Book of Mormon. And that morning I asked a question about how I could help the H's. And I didn't really receive an answer, which I thought was weird but I continued to think about it throughout the day and as we were teaching them that night I received my answer. I totally relied on the Lord and the Holy Ghost, and through them I was able to speak the words the Heurken's and Will needed to hear. It was such an amazing experience! The Lord always keeps his promise of "ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find" I had to seek for it all day and it was given to me!

 

The Harry Potter Cake!

Another cool experience about seeking and finding happened this week! I lost one of my name tags  two weeks ago and I was so sad because it was my first name tag that I got in the MTC. So I was praying so hard to find it. At first I was frustrated that I wasn't finding it, and I realized that I was not doing anything to find it but pray. So I started to act on the promptings I received to find my name tag. And I am happy to report that the name tag has been found and is back on my coat! Heavenly Father is so patient with me! He has to continue to teach me the same lessons over and over! Good thing He loves me!

Me and the W's!  I love them!

Me and Nana and Papa H!

 

J and D both came to church on Sunday and it was one of the happiest days of my life! That same day W passed the sacrament for the first time, J and D's son was blessed, and I was able to bear my testimony to the Cherry Grove Ward. It was an amazing Sabbath Day! Seriously we have been so blessed!!

J and D son N

J and D and their kids R and N with Sis. T and I

 

Well, I will close with my testimony. I truly know that my Saviour loves me! I know He is there and that He is strengthening me when I am weak. I have felt His redeeming power in my life and I have seen it in the lives of those around me. I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I finished it this morning and I received another witness of the truthfulness it contains. Wow. I have so much to say. But no time. So you will all have to hear the remainder of my testimony on Sunday in my talk.

Me and B, W and K!

Rebekah and I making crepes!

 

I love you all! I am so grateful for your support and love!

 

Love, Sister Burton

xoxoxo

The Second to Last Melon February 2 , 2016

Holy moly! I just continue learning more and more every single day! And seeing more miracles every single day! This week was amazing!

1 more week!

On Wednesday we drove out to Loon Lake to teach M and the B's. We had an appointment with M set up but we have been unable to get in contact with the B's. As we were driving into town we called M to get her address. As we were talking to her she asked if we could meet another day. We were not about to let that happen we drove an hour and a half to meet with her. So we just kept talking to her and told her we would pray with her and eventually she gave us her address. I am pretty sure that neither us nor M knew what had just happened, everything was totally led by the Holy Ghost! We had the most amazing lesson with her! The Spirit was so strong! She is so prepared! She is a First Nation, so we testified about the Book of Mormon and told her about her ancestors! She asked us to bring more Book of Mormon's to give to some other people of the Reserve! Yay!! Hopefully we can start teaching all of her friends out there! 

That same day, we finally got in contact with the F family. We have been trying to meet with them in ages! They are a part member family, the husband is a member and the wife is not. So we finally got to meet with them and ask E if she wanted to learn more. She said yes! She said she doesn't feel very comfortable at church because she doesn't know anyone! We told her we can fix that! We will start bringing people to the lessons so she can meet them! I love when people have simple concerns that we can help resolve with the help of the Holy Ghost!

Sis. To took over the reigns of to learn the area!

We were able to meet with so many people this week. The Lord was truly guiding us in where to go and what to do! I wish I had time to tell you about everyone! They are all so amazing!

Friday we were able to meet with the Bar's, J and D! We talked about happiness and how God didn't design us to be sad. So we need to be doing the things he has asked us to in order to be happy! And they set family goals! Their 6 year old daughter, R, came up with most of the goals with help from her dad. Haha :) They are amazing! 

On Sunday we taught combined Priesthood/Relief Society about our Ward Mission Plan! It was really good! We had a lot of participation and I really felt the Spirit so I hope everyone else did. We watched a Mormon Message called "Reach Out With Love" and it is so good!! You should all watch it! 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages-for-youth/reach-out-with-love

Well that was my week in a very small nutshell. I want you all to know that I KNOW that our Savior loves us! He is there for us every minute of every day. I know that we are never alone! I have gained a huge testimony this week of the reality of our Savior's love for us! He is there! 

The signs you are driving into Cold Lake...

Cold Lake Air Force Base

I love you all! 

Love, Sister Burton

xoxoxo

Beautiful pictures of the Canadian Sky for y'all to enjoy!

There is always something to be learned! January 26, 2016

Oh man. So many things happened this week and I learned so much!!!!!!!!! I am so grateful for the many experiences that Heavenly Father continues to give me to humble me and teach me things I need for the rest of my life! I will try to tell as many stories as I can before I run out of time!

On Wednesday we had to drive down to Edmonton for a World Wide Missionary Training and a Zone Training Meeting. The Missionary Training was sooooooo good! They didn't teach us anything new, in fact they talked about the principles that we learn in the first 12 weeks of our mission, but I learned so much! One thing that stuck out to me was the Role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion. The Holy Ghost is the teacher not me, I am just his tool. I need to be a worthy vessel so that the Spirit can work through me. I cannot convert people, the Spirit can. So I need to be doing all I can to be worthy and ready to receive the promptings he gives me. Baaa it was sooo good!!

I had the opportunity to share my testimony at Zone Training Meeting because it was my last one, and I felt the Spirit so strong. I stood up there and bore my testimony that I know my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love me! I have never been able to say that with as much conviction as I could that day. My testimony has skyrocketed on my mission, but especially these last few weeks!

As we were driving home from Edmonton I had a really cool experience. We found a super old GPS in our truck and we didn't know exactly how to get back to Cold Lake.. So we plugged our address into the GPS and went. We started going the way that I have driven before so we kept going but then we just kept going east. I kept questioning the GPS but it is a GPS so it knows the area better than me right? No. We were totally going the longest way ever but we didn't know any other way s we just followed it. Sooo long story short. The way the GPS took us definitely the road less traveled. And we came to a stretch of road the was super snowy, dark, and curvy. It was so hard to see the lines on the road. Every time a car drove past I was blinded by their lights and terrified that I would go out of our lane because I could hardly see the lines on the road. I was praying so fervently and trying not to cry because that would make things ten times worse. Then a song came on and it said, "Don't be afraid, I'll keep you safe." I have heard this song a thousand time but it really struck me this time and I knew that it was my Heavenly Father sending me comfort and love. After that I was able to relax and keep driving and we were kept safe. <3

We have had quite a few appointments fall through in the last couple days and sometimes that puts us in a bad mood or we get frustrated. When that happens we just repeat to ourselves, "I'm excited, I'm excited, I'm excited!" If we are not yet excited we say it again until we are! Like my mom always told me as a bratty teenager, "Attitude is Everything, so pick a good one!"

On Saturday we woke up to a good foot of snow and of course when it snows like crazy you can't meet with the missionaries right? Yeah. Everyone cancelled on us on Saturday. As we were driving to stop by some people, J and D called us and invited us over. J is a less active member and he is married to D who is investigating. D has been investigating for 8 years and has never wanted to get baptized. A couple minutes after we walked in she asked us how soon she could get baptized. Hooray! She has decided to get baptized and she is soooo excited! She knows the Church is true and she knows she needs to be baptized but she would never make the commitment. I think speaking at W and K's Baptism really helped! So an Elder who served here a couple of years ago in going to come and baptize her in April! She is really excited and so is J!!!

Speaking of W and K they are doing so great!!! W got the priesthood last Sunday and they are going to be assigned to Home and Visiting Teaching soon! We went to their house yesterday to do FHE with them! It was really good. But it started out really funny. We started by singing "I am a Child of God" and Sister T, K, and I started singing and then W starts to say the words out loud. Not only was he speaking loudly he was waaaaaaaaay ahead of where we were trying to sing. It was throwing all of us off and you know me, I have a hard time controlling my laughter so I may have laughed a bit, well a lot a bit. Then K starts to try and get W to stop and the music keeps going and Sister T and I were laughing. Yeah it was a gong show. We will try again next week.. haha :)

Alright last cool story. So on Sunday no one seemed to be home and all our appointments cancelled, surprise! So we were stopping by some less actives that we haven't ever met and we came to the S's. Sister T had met them a couple of times and they always set up another time to meet but were never home. So we stopped by and we talked to the daughter S on the doorstep for about a half hour. Mind you it is Canada at 8pm...So we were talking getting to know her and about to leave and the parents walk in the door. They let us in and we had a really good lesson with them. The Spirit was so strong and they told us of so many spiritual experiences they have had! It was a really cool faith building experience!

Alright. That was my week! It was a really hard week but I learned a lot! I know that they hand of the Lord is every where we go! This is truly His work and we need His help to accomplish miracles!
"For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith." 2 Nephi 27:23

Love you all!

Love, Sister Burton

xoxo