I still can't believe I've been out here two weeksish. It's been so much fun and time is going by so fast! This week was filled with so many fun and spiritually uplifting experiences. It started with doing lots of service, we went to goodwill and Samaritan and sorted through things for them, it was super fun. Then we went and visited one of our investigators named Tammy and work and we showed up in our pants and shirts from service and she freaked out. She was like, "What are you wearing?! That's not a skirt!" and then since we needed change to go to a car wash after, we had to buy something first and I bought a sprite and she was like, " I thought you can't drink soda!" and were like, yeah we can drink soda and she said, " You can't drink soda, you can't drink coffee, you can't smoke, can't drink tea, oh and by the way, will you be baptized?" It was so funny the way she said it kind of making fun of us teaching the Word of Wisdom, but it was fun talking to her about it more.
On a more spiritual note, we had zone conference this week and Stake Conference! It was so great! Elder Villarreal of the Seventy came and spoke to us at both and he is so cool. He talked about our desires and how we can use our desires for our investigators to help us teach to their needs and focus on them. He also said, "Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles." I feel that this is so important to remember, because when we are obedient, we are also humble and striving to be like Jesus Christ and that is the example we want others to see. He went on to say that you can be perfectly obedient without being perfect and that we should be striving to be that way. Then in stake conference he talked about the story of the Red Hen and how it compares to us. When we accept all of our callings (say yes to helping plant the seeds, harvest the wheat, and cook the wheat) and do the Lord's work then when Heavenly Father calls for us to come and eat the wheat we will be able to say Here am I and he will let us in. It takes effort and desire on our part to be willing to work towards eternal life, but as we work hard Heavenly Father will bless us along the way. Don't say not I, say Here am I instead. I just loved this and thought it was so cool to think about. :)
Something super cool that happened was I gave out my first Book of Mormon!! I spent one morning going through a Book of Mormon and highlighting everything that I thought would be good for an investigator to hear and then we were out tracting one night, I felt the need to go knock on some other peoples doors. The last door we knocked on this young guy answered and we started telling him about our church and invited him to stake conference, but then we told him how our families can be sealed together in the temple and he thought that was so cool. So I asked if he's ever seen or read the Book of Mormon, and he's like everything he's heard has not been good but he said he tries to avoid that and I was so happy about that and said, well would you like one? He said yes and took my Book of Mormon. Aah it was so cool how open he was to learning more and how willing he was to hear our message, it was such an amazing experience for me and I'm excited to share it more with others.
Another awesome experience we had was after we had an appointment we went to a park and rode a bikes talking to everyone we met. Although when we first started riding around the people we met were all members so we're like why are we even here if everyone is already a member? But then we met a lady who was walking her dog and she was so open to hearing everything we had to say. She was so curious on what we believed and we walked with her and taught her the whole restoration. It was really fun getting to answer all her questions and help her understand what we believe more. I love the people out here! They are amazing and the work is so great!
My testimony has grown so much because of these experiences and for being able to share the gospel with those who honestly have no idea. I am so happy to be able to be a missionary and to be with my wonderful trainer sister Tillotson. I continue to learn each day and I love it! I hope you all have an amazing week!! I love and miss you all so much!
Arkansas is doing fantastic :)
Love, Sister Burton
Comments
Post a Comment