June 2, 2014 and June 9, 2014

June 9, 2014

Well we had a good week this week! It was a different week because we spent a lot of time trying to find new people and as well as meeting people on the directory that we have never met before. But we also had George come to church again this week!! 4th time in a row :) yay! and also the Lanes came to church!!! I can't even express my happiness!!! ahh! We were so happy :) It was a great Sunday and a great week! 

I don't have too much other to report this week because we have been trying to find new people and trying to help less active members come to church, like the Lanes and George. We have seen success this week :)

We tried to go see the new investigators we had last week and they went out of town and we found some other new people but we will try again this next week or coming weeks.

I know Jeremy Beyer will be reading this, so shout out to him. :) Because of him, I learned a very valuable lesson this week. I have learned even more the importance of forgiveness and becoming more like Christ and loving everyone and not judging them.

Me and Sister Shurtleff are doing great as always! She's helped me get through things and helped me  become who I need to become! she's fantastic!

I love you and miss you!

Love always,

Sister Burr

June 2, 2014

Well this week was great! We got 2 new investigators this week! Well, really, one new one but I'll explain that really fast.  So, we went to Spring city and Sister Shurtleff and I went back and taught her about the Book of Mormon and she said we could come back and teach her about what we believe and where the Book of Mormon came from! So new investigator! whoo! The 2nd one isn't exactly one yet, but we were helping Jeannie Hill do service this past Saturday, painting her house and after we left and there was a neighbor who asked how much we charged and Jeremy Beyer said we charge a lesson about our church. Jeremy is great. haha and she said that she would love for us to come over and help her for a little bit and she would love to hear more! So, it was fantastic way to find new investigators! So we are going there this Saturday and hopefully will be able to teach her! So it was a great week! We had good opportunities to find more people to teach and had some success with a less active family, Robbie and Kim.  They weren't at church, but Robbie got a job and he said he will really try to be at church this next week and we have seen a change in him since we helped them out with cleaning their house.

We will also try to see more of Al and Malika.  They have been busy trying to move and her moving her store. So, they have been really busy. But they are so ready for the gospel! We are hoping to get over there this week and teach them! They are so great and looking for a different church. She shared with us her favorite scripture out of the Bible, James 1:5 and we lit up while she read it. We told her that because of that scripture, it prompted Joseph Smith to go and ask. It was great! They are great people and have great hopes for them.

Sister Shurtleff and I are doing great. With last Sunday that happened, I wasn't on my game. I have learned that I need to focus on and work on patience.  I am usually a patient person. Sister Shurtleff is so great and works with me on the things I need to work with and she is honestly an amazing companion. She is loving, understanding, funny, knows her purpose here as a missionary. She is spectacular! I just love her to death! We get along SO great and work together so well. We are very unified as a companionship. It's so great. I love it! 

I'm doing great. I have a new found faith on making mistakes and having them help us to become better. I have a new testimony of that. No one is perfect. everyone messes up, it's not our place to judge. We are expected to forgive and love EVERYONE. I have truly found the importance of being a missionary. It's so important and I love it.

 

WELL, another day in the life of Sister Burr...it's very exciting let me tell you! NEVER  a dull moment in Rockwood! haha. you GOTTA love it!!

anyways, I love you and miss you!

Love always,

Sister Burr.

Tell the boys I miss them very, very much and I love them sooo much!

May Emails

May 26, 2014

Well we had a good week this week.  We were able to do lots of service this week and meet lots of new people and many potential investigators! We are excited to be working with more people.  We have the opportunity to go to a Rockwood City lunch this next Friday and there will be LOTS of people from Rockwood there, which will be so good. It will be a great finding opportunity.

We had Branch Conference this past Sunday.  We had Kaileigh come to church again today! Jaydon invited her last week and she came again this week! We asked her if we could teach her and she said that she would love it except her mom has no idea she is coming to the LDS church and she against Mormons.  So we were really sad about that, but we're still trying to figure that out. We are really hoping to be able to teach her. She is an awesome young girl! 

We have been struggling with people to teach lately, but we have been doing worth-while things and we are trying so hard to find more people. I want to teach more people and I know we'll find them, it just takes faith, enduring to the end, and working hard. 

Sister Shurtleff and I are doing so great! This past Sunday I offended a recent convert and it was not intentional at all...and it wasn't a good day for me...haha but everything is okay now, we got everything worked out and all is forgiven and forgotten.  It just really shows me what the Lord knows I can handle.  I've done lots of growing this week because of it. I've learned how to use the Atonement more in my life.  I'm grateful for the Atonement and the power that we are able to forgive ourselves for mistakes we have made and to help others to come closer to Christ.

Even though every area has ups and downs, I love my area, I love my companion. I love being a missionary! Wouldn't trade it for the world!

I miss you guys so much and I'm sad I'll be missing this summer with all of y'all! I hope y'all have a great week and keep reading the scriptures and praying together!

Love y'all!

Love always,

Sister Burr

May 19, 2014

We had a good week this week! Many unexpected things happened! haha. We had a slow week this week.  We are helping our recent converts stay active and great! We are helping them to continue working on their life long conversion! George came to church again!!!!! We were SO happy about that!! We have worked so long and hard with him! And he is coming back :) It is such a great feeling to help someone come back to the gospel! And with Sister Cady, I knew lots about that :) How great of an experience that can be! It really helps my faith grow that anyone can change. It just takes the Spirit! Honestly! that is the only thing that can change people's hearts and help them to feel the love of God!

We had a youth, Jaydon, invite a friend to church yesterday, Kaylie, and she brought her "aunt" (there aren't technically related but she owns her as an aunt) and her name is Robin.  They came to church and we brought Robin to Gospel Principles and the lesson was pretty much the Restoration! It was a perfect lesson for her! and there were many in attendance yesterday! It was great! (and just to church in general. There were LOTS of less active members that came!! it was REALLY awesome!). So anyways, she had so many questions and was a bit overloaded with information so me, Sister Shurtleff and Elder Hunt told her that you don't have to know everything right now and you can learn it for yourself! That is what we are out here doing! Helping people come unto Christ and learning of His gospel. 

Then we went to Relief Society and it started off good. They asked if she had any questions, because the Spirit World had come up, and remember, Robin has NEVER heard anything about LDS church before. So this is ALL new info to her. and she starts asking questions. At this point, Sister Shurtleff and I took her out and Sister Woods came with us, an excellent member, and we taught her the Plan of Salvation and helped answer her questions! It was very spirit-led! It was a crazy, great experience! Robin lives in the Elders area, so hopefully they get a new investigator out of that. and Kaylie, Jaydon Woods' friend, said she will DEFINITELY come back and she lives in our area! So we are hoping to start teaching her! So it was a crazy day yesterday but a great day!

We also hope to get back with Al and Malika this week! She invited us over for a lunch this week and we are planning on teaching her the Restoration! So we have good things happening this week.

Obviously we are still looking for people to teach. We are trying to see new people and trying to help the work speed up in our area.  

Sister Shurtleff and I are doing great! I just love her to death! She has taught me so much. She is a great missionary! We are both working on OYMing more this week and hope to find some new investigators! 

I'm doing well. I again have realized that you just have to make the best of what you go through.  Life is what you make it. Same goes for a mission. It's what you make it! And even though bad things happen, the show still goes on and you have to find joy in the journey!

Love always,

Sister Burr

May 12, 2014

We were able to have a great lesson with George and HE CAME TO CHURCH!! When he walked in, me and Sister Shurtleff were screaming for joy inside! He hasn't been to church since August when he was baptized! It was so great. Us 4 missionaries spoke in sacrament for Mother's day. It was great. We all did very well. We centered it around mothers but we also talked about things we knew our Branch needed help with! Sister Shurtleff talked about Christlike love and I talked about Forgiveness and Elder Hunt talked about Pride, and Elder Stanger talked about agency and obedience. So it was a good meeting. but we were so happy George came to church!
We are excited for this new transfer that is ahead of us! we are excited to continue to teach Al and Malika! 

And nothing went wrong and we saw lots of people and had progress with many! So we had a great week all and all. Me and Sister Shurtleff are doing great. I just love her so much! 

It was so great to Skype my family! I miss them so much! I forgot how weird they are :) hahaha. but that just means that I am that weird too! :) haha.

I still can't believe Kylie is going to south Africa....CRAZY!! i'm so jealous!!

Well I miss you guys so much! I love you guys so much!!

Hope you guys have a great week! Love you!

Love always,

Sister Burr

May 5, 2014

Well we had a great week this week! We don't have a whole lot to report on this week...we just did our usual thing. We saw basically the same people we do every week...which I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but we are working with lots of less active members. Oh, something great was that we saw our new investigators! Al and Malika! They are so great. They have been looking for another church to go to and they asked us lots of questions and the spirit was guiding us so much! it was so great! We have such great hopes for them! Great things are happening here!

I am staying in Rockwood for 6 more weeks! With Sister Shurtleff! We're both staying! It's a miracle! Prayers do get answered :) haha. I'm so grateful I get to spend another transfer here in Rockwood! I love Sister Shurtleff and I couldn't ask for a better companion! We get along so great and I love her so much! I am too blessed!

Something I realized, which is bad because I keep re-realizing that I can do this thing called missionary work! I get down about it, lose confidence, but then I realize that I have the Lord on my side. I can become who he needs me to become, who my companion needs and who the people or Rockwood need. Serving a mission honestly has been the best decision I've ever made! I love sharing the gospel and helping others come unto Christ!

MOTHERS DAY IS THIS NEXT WEEK!! I'm super excited to talk to my family!! haha. It will be great!! 

I miss y'all so much! I can't wait to talk to y'all on sunday :) I will send you another email about what time would work for you.

I love you and miss you so much! 

Good job on graduating, mommy :) Love you!

Love always,

Sister Burr

April Emails!!!

April 28

Well we had a great week this week! We went on exchanges this week. I loved being on exchanges with a Spanish sister because we got to say prayers in Spanish and have language study! I loved it. It was so much fun! Even though I sucked at praying in Spanish! It was so hard...haha oh boy.

We also witnessed a miracle this week! We were working with Sister Williams, less active member who we have seen a lot and said she knows the church isn't true as of 2 Saturdays ago, and we saw her this past Saturday and she changed her mind completely. It was honestly a miracle. We were shocked. She had talked with an active member who had had some of the same experiences as her and she said, "I plan on being at church tomorrow!" when she told us she was never coming back. Within a week, her heart was changed. I was honestly blown away. It just goes to show that the Lord knows His children. He knows what they need, who they need, and why they need it. It was amazing. And lo, and behold… they came to church yesterday! It was so great. It was a great testimony strengthener. 

We had a great Sunday service as well! Testimonies were so great! It was a normal testimony meeting! Which never happens in Rockwood :) haha So it was great. We had a good week. And we got new investigators yesterday!! It was great. We were helping them do some things with their new house and we asked if we could come back and share our message and they said of course! Because they said they have been looking for a church to go to. We are SO excited!! They are great! And we have really high hopes for them! We are so excited! It's a family of 4. Parents and 2 boys! Ages 13 and 11. We are super excited about that!

Me and Sister Shurtleff are doing great! I have learned so much from her and she is a fantastic person and missionary. I couldn't have it better, honestly. She's amazing!

But I'm doing great. I love being a missionary! I love this gospel! It's the best!

Transfers are on May 7th! They are coming up! So I think I will probably go to a new area. That is what I’m thinking...so who knows! We'll see!

I don't know what else to tell you! We just do our normal missionary thing! Oh the Elders in our area almost got their house broken into! So that was crazy! Nothing normal happens in Rockwood, Tennessee.

The Town's slogan is, "It's the place to be, in Tennessee!" haha it's great. Other than that...it was a pretty normal week! haha.

This is my spiritual thought though. Missionaries are like spiritual cowboys: they round up errrbody that isn't coming to church, they help the ward or branch members to like each other and get along and how they work well together, like the town Sherriff. They bring peace unto all the land :) haha just kidding! But really though, Sherriff Burr, how does that sound? Sounds pretty great to me :)

Oh and you should pray that I don't get blown over by any tornadoes... because apparently they are supposed to be coming around this time of year. I am petrified of them...so pray hard for me :) haha just kidding. I’ll be fine...but I am scared...ahh!

Love always,

Sister Burr

April 21

Just wanted to start off by saying Happy Easter! If you haven't watched the Because of Him video on lds.org….GO WATCH IT! It’s SO good! I loved it!

Transfers are May 7. So I may stay here. I may get transferred. I hope I stay. I love my companion, and my area! So, we'll see. I will most likely get transferred though. I don't know for sure.

So this week was....really crazy. It started off as a great week. And then Wednesday we ended up going to help serve a family and we were so exhausted!  But it was awesome to help serve. And we still had to go to Spring City which was like 20 minutes away and we met with people that day, but we were just so out of it. We were so done that day. Sometimes missionary work is exhausting and hard...but I wouldn't trade it for anything else! It's honestly the best. Even though we had a very exhausting week. It was so great! I love helping people and just teaching about Christ! I mean there isn't anything better I could be doing! And I have the best companion! SO, I’m not complaining. It's been an interesting week.

But yeah I’m doing fine! Easter was really good! We had great talks and it honestly was a good week, but just really tiring week!

Love always,

Sister Burr.

April 14

Well we had a great week this week!

We got a new investigator this week!! Her name is Ashley! She is so great! She is living with our recent convert, Jeannie Hill, and Jeannie has been giving her the pamphlets and gave Ashley her old Book of Mormon, because I bought Jeannie a Quad for her baptism. And Jeannie has been so great for her and Ashley is great! She didn't grow up going to church and doesn't know much about God and Jesus Christ, so we are working on her with that!! And we also had a great day finally meeting some less active members that we have never met before.

So honestly, it's been a successful week! We have been sharing a lot about General Conference and the importance in listening and heading the words of the prophets.

Me and Sister Shurtleff are doing excellent! We have had some great lessons with great companion unity and we work really well together. I don't know what it is, but we just mesh so well! She is fantastic. I can't even tell you how blessed I am to have her as my companion! She is just great :)

Although we are out here to convert others to the gospel, one of the most important converts to the gospel has been myself, and me being converted so others can see the impact that it has made in my life and I can help others to make the same progress I have made! I have gained a greater understanding about Christ's atonement and the sacrifice that he made for all of us.  I have been better able to understand my purpose as a missionary and learning how to be more open with everyone and not just teaching lessons to people but teaching people! When we understand the fundamentals of the gospel, we will want to share it with everyone! And being on a mission has made me want to share this great message of truth with everyone! Even after my mission, but we're not going to think about that day because that will be a dreadful day when I have to come home. I love being a missionary. It is the greatest thing I have done thus far!

Love always,

Sister Burr

April 7

Well let me just start off by saying General Conference was the best!! I love General Conference so much! It’s the best weekend in the world for a missionary!! It made my spirits soar! And I had all of my questions answered! I love it when that happens! I loved Elder Holland's talk, of course. Great way to start of conference!! One of our favorite quotes from GC is from Elder Anderson: "you are infinitely more precious to God than a tree." It is great :) We're gonna use that all week. hahaha. I LOVED Elder Richard G. Scott's talk! It was SO good!! "We need to serve the Lord FIRST! TRUST HIM. Find SOME WAY to trust him, but trust him. We all grow line upon line. We must keep it SIMPLE! That is the way that God designed it. Loved Uchtdorf's talk! It was a great talk about being grateful not just when everything is going good, but when it's not going good and to be grateful IN our circumstances! It is wonderful! "Let us cheerfully do all things...then let us stand still..to see His hand be revealed." -Joseph Smith. LOVED Elder Bednar's talk! He is probably my favorite apostle! And Erying is probably my other favorite! They are all just so great! He shared my favorite scripture to use about the Atonement, Alma 7:11-12. He taught it very well! I loved the analogy of the truck and the load. It's so true! And Thomas S. Monson's just blew it out of the water! About love! My favorite thing in the world! Charity is the pure love of Christ! He puts people in our path for a REASON. Only forgiveness heals! SO TRUE! L. Tom Perry's was great. Michael John U. The's was soo good! I loved that one! Then Christofferson just ended with a bang! Great general conference!!

We had a good week this week. It was slower than it has been in a while. We still had good quality lessons though. So it was good! We had good lessons with some recent converts: Jeannie, the Beyers, George. We had another powerful lesson with George, and he was going to come to a session of General conference at the church, we called him the night before and he was SO sure that he was coming. He asked us like 4 times when it was, and he said that we were going to have to put our number in his phone and he sounded so sure that he was coming. Lo and behold, he didn't show up. We thought for sure he would come. We were saddened, but we won't stop there! We also wanted one of our investigators, Dian, to come watch General Conference at the church, but she didn't come. We helped her out at her Baptist church this week.  They do a version of a food drive every 4 months and so we helped bag up bags of food. It was a great service opportunity and for people to get to know us and have people see who we are. It was a good experience. Her preacher loved us and said he was very impressed with us! So, that is good :) haha.

We are hoping to commit Dian for baptism in the next coming weeks. We have taught her the Restoration, and Plan of Salvation. She doesn't fully understand the Priesthood because she knows Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, but believes that Bill Graham is a prophet too...and so we're working on her with that. She also has been baptized before and so going along with the Priesthood, we will help her to understand the importance of baptism with the proper authority.

We got to help Travis out with his Prom endeavors, (he owns a florist shop) and he made a batman corsage! It was the coolest thing ever!! haha.

Oh Sister Shurtleff hit a possum last Monday. It was SO funny!!! hahaha. Sister Turner popped into both our heads, "you never swerve for an animal!" She would always say that. So she attempted to swerve, but she didn't and then we hit it. It was so sad, but we were laughing SO hard!!

Me and Sister Shurtleff are doing so great! We had some great lessons this week that were very companion unified! My love for her grows and grows! She is such an exemplary missionary! She is fantastic! She has taught me so many things! She has taught me the importance of loving the people we see, teaching doctrine simply. She is just great! She's hilarious! We’re always laughing, having a good time, but also having spiritual times! She's just great! I love her lots :)

I am going to try to have more faith. That is something that I noticed a lot of during General Conference, if we have faith, the Lord WILL take care of us, and provide every needful thing.  It is only through faith and courage where we will be able to conquer our fears and grow into the person that we need to become!

I love being a missionary! I love serving the Lord! I love the things I'm learning, the people I'm meeting and this wonderful gospel! We are SO blessed! That is why it's so important that we are out here helping those who don't know where to find the truth! And don't know that they are looking for the truth! ah! I just love this gospel! It's the greatest thing that ever happened!

I miss you guys so much! I love you guys more than anything, annnnnd...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK!!!! I hope you have an amazing birthday this week!! I love you SO much. I'm so grateful for you mom! You're the best mom in the WORLD! And I’m not just saying that! You're amazing in every way! I wish to be more like you! You are a fantastic woman and such an amazing mother! I am so glad Heavenly Father gave you to me! You are the best! I love you more than anything and am so grateful for all you have done. All the sacrifices you've made and the love you have for all of us crazy kids! I love you so much mommy!

Tell the kiddos I said hello and I love and miss them!

Love always,

Sister Burr

We made some pens with some members! it was awesome! So I made this pen! :)

Sister Eckles, Me, Sister Eckman

Me and Elder Crowell

Me, Elder Antileo, Sister Shurtleff

Me, Sister Turner, Elder Hunt, Elder Bradshaw (he went home because he broke his foot playing soccor :( so sad!) and Sister Shurtleff

Last ShurtBurner picture!

color run!!

Travis!

awesome Batman corsage! it's one thing! haha. he's great.

Elder Stanger, Elder Hunt, Elder Warhurst, Sister Turner, Sister Shurtleff, Me.

This is our cute little area. We spent lots of time together. They are great. :)

March 24th and 31st

March 31

Well this week was good! We had a good week. It was a slower week. But it was good!

We got to do a color run this week!! We got to throw the chalk on people as they ran! It was so fun :) It was great!! haha.

The Women’s conference was SOO good! I loved it! It was great to see all the women gathered together!! It was awesome :)

We saw lots of people, which is good! It was sad because we didn't have Sister Turner with us! Everyone misses her a lot! And we miss her a lot, too. We love her! So, it has been an adjustment not having her here, but we are still doing great as ever. I love Sister Shurtleff so much! She is such an inspiration to me! She is a great companion and a great teacher! She's just great!

We were able to do lots of service this week in the community and help some less active members with service and we had a great lesson with George! The spirit was so strong, it was definitely spirit-led, and we were very unified as we were teaching! It was a great lesson!

We are striving to find other people to teach. We have found through members some potential investigators and some old records of people we could teach. We are teaching Miss Dian (the sweetest Baptist lady you could EVER know) and JJ. He's 10 and we have a baptismal date, but we will have to push it back because he isn't ready yet. So we will continue to work with them. We have made some great transfer goals as a companionship and hope to be even stronger as a companionship.

I'm still working on becoming a better leader and how to have unity with my companion and with the people I teach.

I'm very excited for this transfer. I love my companion, my area and the time I have to serve her. I hope to be a more effective teacher and companion!

Sorry this email is short! There wasn't much that happened this week! There are points where your mission goes by so fast and then so slow! It’s just the ups and downs of a mission! Just like life!

I love you so much and I miss you so much! More than I can express! Hope you have a great week!

Love you so much!

Love always,

Sister Burr

March 24

I am sad to see Sister Turner leave! She is being transferred to a new area! I love her so much.  She will continue to do great things on her mission and in her life! I will miss her dearly.  I am excited to stay with Sister Shurtleff, though. She is so great and we're not picking up a 3rd companion. So it's just gonna be me and Sister Shurtleff! It is the end of Sister Shurtburner haha… all of our names put together. Pretty much the most legit companionship name ever :) haha. :)

We had a good week this week! We went on exchanges this week with Sister Malloy! She is great.  It was a very successful exchange because we were busy all day and had lots of great lessons! I learned from Sister Malloy different ways about how to teach the Plan of Salvation, reading the scriptures, and about prayer.  She is a great missionary. I love her a lot, even though I spent 24 hours with her! We just have so many great missionaries here in the Great Tennessee Knoxville Mission!

Zone meeting was great! I loved all the trainings that were given. I like the different approaches that they took to help us apply the trainings. So it was a good day!

We are now teaching JJ, helping him toward baptism. (Denise's son). He's 10 years old. He is set for April 12.  He was asking Jeremy Beyer (a awesome member) about his desktop screen on his computer and it was the Plan of Salvation, and he was asking where his dad was because he died last year. Jeremy was able to answer some questions and suggested he meet with us and so that is that! It's great. I've never taught a child before, and it's been interesting.  It really makes you simplify your teaching even more, which it should be in the first place! So, it's been a great learning experience so far!

We have lots of potential investigators that we are going to see this next week. And the work here in Rockwood is going great! We are also working with lots of less active members.

I am nervous about this next transfer, not because of my companion at all! I'm not worried there. I am worried because I've never been one to take the lead, and now I feel like I have to step it up. I feel bad that I am not that way. I think it put some stress on my companions for me not taking the lead.  I want to work better about that. I want to be an outgoing missionary. So I’m working on that. I want to be a leader, to help my companion and the people I’m serving here in Rockwood. I want to be a blessing and not a burden.  I love it here in Rockwood and I hope to be more of a leader this next transfer.  I have seen miracles on my mission so far and I know that if we have faith, trust in the Lord, ANYTHING is possible. I know that.

But honestly nothing else has happened! I'm doing good. I'm growing and learning lots. Just another week. Missions are the longest, fastest experience you will ever go through. It's hard. But it's so worth it! I'm a completely different person that I was before, and that is a good thing. I'm becoming who the Lord wants me to become, and trust me, that isn't easy. It's been a hard 7 1/2 months, but probably the best in my life. Missions are hard for a reason. And it's the best thing I've ever done.

I hope you all have a great week! I miss you and love you more than you know!

Love always,

Sister Burr