Sister Burr's Missionary Blog: 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