January 27, 2014

Dear Mommy,

Hey y'all! Well, I just want to say that I miss y'all A LOT this week. your emails make me SO happy, but make me miss you guys SO much. I can't even tell y'all. But I know i'm supposed to be out here, I don't know completely why YET but I will know. I've gotten the confirmation that I need to be out here. Thank you for being so great.

It makes me sad to not be at home. I am missing my siblings lives! ahh, It makes me really sad, But I'll be home in no time! I really miss Kylie, Ryan, Trent, and Carson. They are like my life support away from here, I love them SO much. And you too mommy! And dad. But man I miss those little munchkins!

Well, this week was good! We Saw Jeannie and tried to help her move along towards baptism! She is really come a long way. I've felt her testimony be strengthened as we have been seeing her and inviting her to read chapters from the BOM.  We are doing our best to work with her! We have made her baptism date for Feb. 8th!
We also had a great time with some non members over at a members house for dinner! We had them over for fellowship so they could know some people in the branch and get more comfortable with some people.  We have asked them to take the lessons and even taught the Restoration, but they said they don't want to take the lessons, so we are still working with them and hoping to have a good influence on them, and try to let the spirit work on them to take the lessons. 

I have been doing better about OYM! I am still not great, but practice makes perfect right? Oh and we were teaching a Chinese lady, Jesse, and we gave her a Chinese BOM and we met with her and it seemed to go very well. She called us the next day and said she's too busy to see us. We were really sad about that, but we are still gonna go over and see her and meet with her!

Other than that, it's been a pretty normal week! So I'm just trying to do my best! It's been a rough week, but a good growing, learning week! I just want to do my best and I've heard all my mission that I have such a huge potential to be so great, but I don't know how to get there exactly, still trying to figure that out. I'm growing lots and really relying on my Savior for help, because through trials, we learn and grow and become the person that Heavenly Father wants us to be. I know that for a surety. 

OHH! and for REALLY exciting news!! L. Tom Perry is coming to our mission this saturday!!! this is an email I got from my mission presdient today!

President Irion

We have an exciting opportunity this weekend with the privilege of hearing from Elders L. Tom Perry, Ronald A. Rasband, Ulisses Soares, Eric Kopischke, Rafael Pino, and Craig Zwick along with two of our Area Authorities Elders Meredith and Hymas!
Elder Zwick has informed us that there will be a Question and Answer Session. He asked that all Full Time Missionary questions be channeled through the Mission President so that we could provide a list of those questions to the brethren to help facilitate and allow questions from the congregation to come from the local leaders. Therefore, if you have a question you would like to have answered, please e-mail it to me today and I will prepare a list for the brethren.


So that is REALLY cool!! I'm SOOO excited! I get to see him in person now that I am in the Knoxville stake! they are broadcasting it to the surrouding zones in our mission and as well as the Kentucky, Lousville Mission!! SOO COOL! I'm super excited for that!!

Anyways, I love y'all so much! Don't worry about me! I'm doing great! I love being out here! I love my companions and this area! SO I'm doing good. Thank you so much for everything y'all do. It does more than you know. I miss y'all SO much and I love y'all even more!!

Love always,
Sister Burr

January 20, 2014

Hey y'ins! (So funny story. People say y'ins here! They say y'all too but y'ins is more in Knoxville! haha. Like y'ins be careful!)

Hello from Rockwood!

Well things are great here. The usual missionary work. No big deal. Haha. It's freezing here, but i'm managing.
I am happy Madre. I am learning and growing and it's very hard, but it's worth every second and I love it so much even though it's hard!

This week was pretty great! Every week is great because we are here serving the Lord! We saw lots of people this week. At the beginning of the week we saw Rick and Travis. They are sooo funny! Oh my gosh. I love them so so so so so so much!!  Deron and Leighann.  We taught them the Restoration.  We taught well. But they did say at the end that they don't want to be "Mormon". So we tried our best to help resolve that concern the best we could.  They are still friends and we are going to see them still to keep in contact with them, but I don't know if they are ready yet, but we did leave a Book of Mormon with them! And they rejected it the first time, but accepted it this time. That is a huge step! so I still have faith in them!  

Then we went and saw one of our potential investigators, Towana, and we set a return appointment with her for the Restoration.  We went by later that week and she wasn't home. So we hope to see her this week.  But we had a good lesson and she seems promising.  

And we saw Denise and she is doing okay.  She still doesn't have a sure belief that there is a God. I tried my best to testify and to read scriptures to help her and she isn't buying it. But she has other priorities right now, which we are trying to help with the best we can. There is lots of WOW issues going on. She does want a stronger testimony though. As long as the desire is there, it will grow!

Then we went to Spring City and got another new investigator! Pat P.  Her husband has been a member his whole life and he refused missionaries over because he wanted to teach her himself.  But we went over and asked her if we could teach her the lessons and she agreed! So that was a good success! 

We also saw a less active member that  we haven't seen for a while and she has such a strong testimony! but her husband isn't a member and she wants to spend her time with him, while she can, they are getting older and uses that as an excuse to not come to church! it breaks my heart because she used to be in Stake leadership and I know she knows it's true.  She needs to come back to church. We are still working with her.  Then we saw Jeannie this week and resolved some concerns and she is going strong with baptism still! we are so excited for her! She doing so great! We are no longer teaching Megan. She said she's not ready. So we'll still see her. And she said she will read the Book of Mormon! so that is a great step.  

Then we got another new investigator from a member! He wants to change his life around from drugs! So he went to his aunt, who is on our branch, and she said you have to teach him asap! So that was a great tender mercy from the Lord! We are working hard out here! and the Lord truly blesses those who strive obedience, diligence and are happy during the journey.

So yeah, not too much. Just keep working with people! the Lord really loves me! that is what I have come to know! Me and my companions are doing great.  They are great missionaries. So I forgot to tell you. Sister Turner is from Kimberly, ID, by Twin Falls, and she's 21. Sister Hollis is from Palo Alto, CA and she's 34. Yes I know. I got the oldest Sister Missionary out here! crazy! But I love her so much! she goes home the same time Sister Cady does! In Feb.!! It's crazy. They are both so awesome!!

Well that is all I have for this week!! I just miss y'all and love y'ins so much!! :) haha I can't keep up with this southern terminology, so I hope you can :) haha. Have a great week and be safe! Be careful where and when you drive, be nice to each other because if anything happens to ANY of you. I'll just come home and kick your can with a possum! 

I love y'all SOOOOOO much and I miss you soooooooo much too! I love you guys more than anything.
Love always,
Sister Burr

January 13, 2014

Hey y'all!
I LOVE KYLIE'S PREFERENCE PICTURES!! They are so adorable. I tell everyone I meet out here that my sister and her boyfriend look like Barbie and Ken, and when I show pictures, they completely agree with me! It's so true! They are such a cute little couple! Tell the boys to stop growing! It's freaking me out! they are all going to tower over me when I get home!! Well, I guess, since Ryan is getting bigger, Dad will finally have his golf team that he's always wanted. haha. I'm so glad to hear that Trent is behaving so much better. That really makes my heart happy! He's such a good kid! I miss him a lot. And I miss all the other kids so much!!!!! And you too bubby!

Yes, I am in Rockwood, Tennessee. It's by Herriman, TN or Spring City, TN. It's west of Knoxville. Ya I can't believe I've been out 5 months tomorrow!! It's crazy!! I can't believe it!!

So this week was FREEZING!! it was the coldest it's ever been in Tennessee I guess! They closed down schools until Thursday. It. Was. So. Cold! haha.

The Trio is going good. It's been interesting trying to teach with 3 people, but it's going good. We all get along really well! 

Well this week was rather intense! haha. Hold on to your screen, it's about to get crazy up in this email! So, we had a great/scary week. It was great because we committed our investigator Jeannie H. for baptism for Feb. 1st. She's a sweet, old lady and it touched my heart because right after I committed her, we talked about the sacrament and how it's a cleansing feeling just like being baptized again.  Then she said I hope so. Because this gospel is what i'm looking for.  It's what i've been searching for. And I just burst into happy tears.  My heart was filled.  There really are people searching. Truly.  It's strengthened my faith.  If we, as missionaries, don't walk out the door with the faith that we will find those people, the Lord can't work His miracles.  The members are so awesome in this Branch! We get fed almost every night! In my last area, we rarely got fed. And it just makes me SO grateful to members who feed missionaries! 

We saw a less active member named Denice, she has had so much hard things happen to her, she's had a hard life.  She kept expressing she didn't know if there was a God.  I would bare my testimony that I know there's a God and she can know for herself.  She just kept fighting me on that.  She's very logical person.  It was very hard to teach her.  I kept trying to tell her ways she can know He's there and trying to help her.  But she kept fighting.  I felt like a failure because I felt like I was making it worse.  But it's okay that I failed. Sister Cady taught me that it's okay to fail.  We need to fail.  Failure's great! She's right and this experience just confirmed that for me as well. And so other people we're teaching, Deron and Leigh Ann T.  Sister Hollis and Turner tracked into them and we're trying to start teaching them lessons.  We're trying but they keep saying no, but we still visit them. I know they're ready. 

So we went on exchanges this week and Sister Weirich (why-rick) came and stayed with me and Sister Hollis. Sister Turner went to Knoxville for 24 hrs.  So we went and saw another investigator, Megan. And we invited her to church and she's like oh well my boots are all packed (they just moved) and so I probably won't make it.  Well I was wearing boots and I said Megan. Are you kidding me?? you won't come to church because you don't have boots?? Well take mine! And she's like oh no no! and I was like I'm serious. Take. My. Boots! and so she did and she was like ok, I'll come to church.  But lo, and behold, she didn't come. But we're seeing them tonight, switching back our shoes (she gave me her flip flops to wear home) and I'm gonna give her a whoopin'! ;) Gosh...but we'll get her! So yes, it's been an exciting week. 

OH and I spoke on Sunday. It was good..I was so nervous but it went well. So let's see...we had Zone Conference this week. It was a good meeting.

So yes, this has all been so exciting right? well JUST WAIT. The biggest event for the week...Saturday night we had all gone to sleep at 10:30, when we're supposed to and there was a loud banging on our front door. Then someone looked in our window. We were all freaked out! The banging kept going and Sister Hollis got the phone, called 911 and within a 60 seconds there were 2 cop cars there and we looked out the window and it was this HUGE guy with tons of tattoos and we're like ahhhh!!! Why was he knocking on our door???? ahhh! and then pretty soon, there was 5 cop cars and 2 ambulances outside of our house.  Then the police guy comes to our door and he's like well this guys is EXTREMELY drunk and he's most likely going to jail tonight. he was trying to get to the house 2 doors down.  And the sketchy thing was that there was blood on our door and the medics were trying to wrap him up, his arm and his head, and the police man was like he was just at the wrong house. And Sister Turner is like well, aren't you concerned about our safety or should we be? and he's like no, he just had the wrong house. Well thanks dude!! I feel SO safe now! Thank you! hahaha ahhh!! It was scary! But very exciting. They were outside of our house for an hour.  So it was kind of crazy, but I guess it's good he got put in jail? HA! oh missionary work...I tell you it's just great!

Anyways! it was a pretty great and eventful week!
Don't be worried about me mom! I promise I'm okay! And don't call the mission office...like. Don't be that mom. I'm okay. hahaha.

I miss y'all soooooooo much. More than I can even tell you! I am growing and learning so much!! and I'm going to continue to do so. Thank you for your support. It means the world to me. There are some missionaries out here that don't have any support whatsoever...it's really sad and hard to watch and I can't imagine what that would be like.

I love you guys SOO much. I miss you more than you know! I promise I'll be safe this week! haha I love y'all so much!!
Love always,

Sister Burr

Sister Turner, Sister Burr, and Sister Hollis

January 6, 2014 New Faces, Places, and Adventures.

Hey Mom!
Well I'm in my new area! I got transferred to Rockwood, Tennessee, in the Knoxville Stake. First of all, I want to say that I love my new companions! They are great! Yes I have 2! haha I'm in a trio. Sister Hollis and Sister Turner. They are the cutest girls!  And I honestly love this branch! The moment I arrived in Rockwood, I knew that I would have success here. I just got the feeling and conformation from Heavenly Father. I know this area has so much to offer and I can't wait to jump right in and do the work! I already see in my new companions what they have to offer for this area. Their strengths combined together have made great ground work with people they are working with and with me here, we can do great things. I can already feel it.  

We had lots of lessons this week. I basically went around meeting everyone they are working with.  They have GREAT potential investigators, Deron and Leighann, Jeannie, Miss Dian, and others.  We also saw lots of less active members and Teresea L. came to church after we saw her Saturday! and Flo K. came who hasn't come for 4 months or so, they are in the Elders area, but it was pretty awesome!
We are also going to try working with Megan M., she lives with Beyer family who are strong recent converts. So there is so much potential here and I already know we are going to do great things! I love this little branch! Brother Weyerman is great! He's the High Priest group leader. He is a great leader and advocate to the branch!

We have had a good week for our companionship. Getting used to a trio is different, but i've adjusted well so far. I think we are going to do great! But we all have been doing great and are continuing to strengthen each other.

Anyways. So this week. it was interesting. People here call me Sister Ice cuz of my name! ha! I like nick names! it's been very cold and stromy and icy and everyone is like "Sister Cold brought the storm with her!" haha very funny.

My goals for this area are just to get to know the potential investigators and try to teach effectively, and by the Spirit. I have gained a testimony of faith this past week. I have noticed that one of my companions is a great worker, but has lacked or maybe lost a little faith in this area, which is normal, so I do have the faith that what I say matters and that we can do great things here. To give the people here the encouragement and drive that this branch needs.  I think the branch maybe has lost sight or vision or becoming a ward and reaching out to their friends and family to bring them to the gospel. That it's not just about numbers, that these are people, children of God and that they do need our message and it's for the welfare our their souls.  I hope to be a good asset here in the branch. I have faith that I can do good things here with the help of my companions and especially with the Lord and the spirit.

I miss you so much and I love you so much!! I seriously miss you more than anything.

Love always,
Sister Burr

 Elder Crowell, Sister Burr, Elder Waring

 Chelsea and Sister Burr

 Sheela Robinett and Sister Burr

Sister Burr and Freida from the food bank where we volunteered. 

Sister Burr and Diana from the food bank. 

Sister Burr and Patty Akers 

 Sister Burr, Anna, and Jesse. I love Jesse SO much! He's Anna's younger brother. He's hilarious. I love that kid!

Sister Burr and Alysha (alicia) She's Anna and Jesse's older sister and this was later in the day because she was at the doctor.

Sister Burr and Sister Bedke. She was leaving for home that day! she completed her mission! She's so great. I love her! I went on exchanges with her once.

Last time with the Miner's!!

Last time with Sister Cady!!