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!!

Christmas time!!!

December 30, 2013

I am soo grateful that I was able to talk to my wonderful family on Christmas!! I was so happy to see your smiling faces and I just was filled with joy! I'm glad y'all had fun in Phoenix! I’m jealous!! That's great. I miss y'all so much! And I love y'all even more!! 

SO this week was great! On Christmas Eve, I committed Mary for baptism!! We have been planning to for a while now and it was so great. I was so nervous but I've learned on my mission to have your faith be bigger than your fears and just to go and DO IT!! So, I did and I asked her with such power! I said, "Mary, we want to invite you to act on your faith and your knowledge that you have. Will you be baptized by someone holding the proper authority?" and she said yes! It was such a great moment in my mission.  I felt so empowered and it was a feeling I’ll never forget. :)

Christmas was great! The greatest thing about it was that I got to talk to my family! It was so good to hear their voices again and see their faces. I got lots of great things from my parents! I got clothes, candy, yoga DVD’s (which I will use in my morning workouts :)) and I got a GPS because the roads out in Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky are RIDICULOUS!! So, it's kind of like an unspoken rule to have a GPS on a mission. It helps SO much. 

We visited people in the hospital and in the nursing homes on Christmas and it was so good to just spread joy on the wonderful day! The rest of the week, we have just done our regular thing with visiting people and teaching lessons.

This Saturday, we found out who is leaving, transfer info.  SOO, I’m leaving! Ahh! I'm getting transferred somewhere else and I won't know until Monday!! Ahh. So, I’m nervous because I won't be with Sister Cady anymore. It's always scary to leave your comfort zone but I feel so prepared. Because like I have said over and over, I’ve gained a confidence I’ve never had before in my life. I'm scared to go to a new area with a new companion...but I know the Lord has bigger things in store for me. I've grown so much. Sister Cady has told people that I have grown more than any other of the girls she has trained, and I’ve grown faster than any other missionary she has ever seen, which is a huge compliment to me because she really, really, really is such a phenomenal missionary. Like the best of the best. So I got the best trainer anyone could honestly ever have. So, I’m sad to leave her. She's amazing.  I've grown so much just as a person, knowing who I am and having the confidence to help people overcome challenges and concerns so that they can know the joy of the truth of this restored gospel on the earth.  

I can't believe how much my mission has impacted me already. I love it so much.  

Anyways, I am being transferred Wednesday. I'll let y'all know next Monday!! Pray for me! Ha-ha and wish me luck!

I just miss y'all so much!! I love y'all even more!!! Talk to you next week :)

Love y'all!!

Love always,

Sister Burr (:

December 23, 2013

Hey y'all!

Well, this week was great! We saw lots of people and just had great meetings and actually we had 2 baptisms this past Saturday! They aren't technically ours...but they are half ours because they lived half here and half in Kingsport, TN.  And their home is in Kingsport. So they have to have their records in that ward. But we taught them half the lessons and helped them grow so much! So, in my heart I count them as mine, haha. They are Debbie and Hunter. I have told y'all about them before, but they got baptized at our building and confirmed at Kingsport. So that was a great baptism! I’ve NEVER felt the spirit that strong when they entered the waters of baptism. It hit me like a brick wall. It was amazing. I could tell that she was forgiven of her sins and that God loves her so much! The church is great!

We have been seeing lots of people at the nursing home and hospital. For some reason our ward has been hit with a spell of cancer. So, there have been a few people that have been in hospitals and such. 

This is hard work. But it's so worth it. I've grown so much within this past week.  Just learning how to be more obedient, to be forward and just going off of impressions the Spirit leaves me, which is hard for me to just follow, but I'm learning. I know that through the power of the Atonement, all of our sins, hurt, and everything unfair in our lives can be made right. I'm so grateful for my Savior, that he suffered the ultimate and infinite sacrifice for me and for all of us. 

Oh, I forgot! Transfers are January 1st. So, we are pretty sure that one of us is leaving. We don't know who yet, but I will know this Saturday. We are pretty sure I’ll be leaving since this next transfer is Sister Cady's last transfer before she goes home. But we'll see! I love her. She's great. It'll be weird to get a new companion!

There is a Baptist church down the road that puts out a dinner once a month for anyone that needs a meal. The lady who puts it on is Maria. She is the sweetest lady and she really cares about others and she radiates love of the Savior to those who need it and she is so wonderful!

I love her so much :)

Other than that, it's just been a normal week of great stuff!

I love you and miss y'all so much! 

I can't wait to talk to you 12:15 your time mom!! It will be so much fun! I'm so grateful that I have a wonderful mother. You are literally the best mom. I don't know what I would do without you.

I miss y'all so much. I love y'all so much too!!

Love always,

Sister Burr

December's emails so far....

12-16-13

Hey ya'll!

So this week wasn't very eventful at all. The only exciting thing that happened, was that Sister Cady's parents got Chelsea and Jody scriptures for Christmas. They LOVED it. They were overjoyed. It was so awesome to see their faces and that they have their own scriptures now! We joke with them that they are "real Mormons" now.  We had a mission Christmas meeting this week and it was so much fun! We had to do a skit and we did ours and we got the only standing ovation. Ours was super awesome, legit and hilarious if I do say so myself.  So it was really fun. 

Sister Cady was sick again this week so we didn't do much teaching, but we still had a good week! Jody got the preisthood this Sunday and Chelsea got a calling as Young Womens 2nd counselor! She was soo happy to have a calling! They are seriously so great!

We had my Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Irion come to our church yesterday and it was just a great day yesterday!

Literally that is all that happened. Not much, it's still good and I'm still growing lots. Like I said before, I'm just trying to grow in my capabilities. I know as I realize my strengths, and weaknesses, and gifts, I will be able to be the missionary I'm supposed to be and the missionary the Lord wants me to be.

Anyways, I love ya'll so much! Can't wait to skype you! have a great week! Talk to you next week!

Love always,

Sister Burr.

12-9-13

How are ya'll doing? I miss ya'll so much! I can't even tell you!

I got the letter today with the boys' letters. I loved them so much! It made me miss them even more! They are so cute! and I love beetee, she's the cutest.

I got a package from Brandee and Dave, well from Darren actually. It was my Christmas present! I haven't opened it yet! Waiting until Christmas! haha Tell Darren I said thank you so much! But I'll write him a letter too.

This week was a great success! Chelsea and Jody got baptized!! It was the best baptism I've ever been to! The spirit was almost comparable to the temple spirit. It was powerful.  We had Chelsea's parents, grandparents and family friend. There were lots of members and non-members at the baptism! We had Jay Osborne baptize them and he was baptized in August! He was on fire and performed so well! He had to dunk Chelsea 3 times but did Jody flawless! He wasn't disappointed at all and he just knew that baptizing was such an honor and did his best! Me, Sister Cady and the Harlan Elders sang How Great Thou Art in all different parts. It was SO powerful! the spirit was speaking to all, especially Jody. He really felt the spirit and knew that this was right for him. It was an incredible experience. :) 

We also met with Mary, who we haven't seen for a while, and we taught the Plan of Salvation. She loved it and ate it right up.  We are going to teach her the rest of the POS and commit her for baptism. I know I say that every week, but I really feel like it's gonna happen this next week :)

We also sang at a baptist funeral. It was interesting. I've never experienced what they call here, "speaking in tongues". When a man was speaking, he started singing a baptist song, and this woman started LITERALLY screaming and wailing, at the top of her lungs saying, "OH JESUS, PRAISE THE LORD, OOOOOOHHHH WHY!! WHY! DEAR LORD JESUS TAKE ME INSTEAD, OOOHHH NOO, NO LORD JESUS, FATHER OH FATHER, JESUS, LORD OOOOHHH, AHHH!"

I literally thought the woman that had died was coming out of her coffin. It scared me to DEATH. Sister Cady said my face went WHITE. It was definitely an experience :)  We sang 8 songs at the funeral, all a capella, it was good, we messed up a couple times, but we stood strong! I've gotten a lot more confidence in my singing voice and am now pretty strong at just singing by myself with no piano or nothing. We sing to people A LOT!

Me and Sister Cady are doing so great! She has taught me a lot about being myself, opening my mouth, learning how to love others more fully and being selfless! She has all of these qualities.  She's just a big ray of sunshine :) I love her so much! We are still working on teaching in unity.  We are growing and progressing together very well.

As for me, I'm doing well.  Still just working through trying to find my strengths and use them in my teaching and bettering myself.  It's amazing what you can do if you just trust in the Lord. I've found a greater strength within myself to do what the Lord wants done.  I love it so much!  The real message of Christmas is the pure love of Christ, His infinite sacrifice, His eternal love for us, and the great message of humility, selflessness, courage, and submissive love. These are qualities I wish to strengthen in myself.  We are so blessed here, me and Sis. Cady.  The Lord has a plan for us in this area, and I hope we can follow His plan with all that we have.

Anyways, It was a great week! haha. I miss ya'll so much though. and I love you guys more than you know! I hope ya'll have a great week! love ya'll to death!

Love always,

Sister Burr

12-2-13

Hey ya'll! Awww those pictures seriously make me miss ya'll so much!! I can't even tell you how much I miss you guys!! It kills me! It doesn't help around the holidays! But I'll be okay. Now I really wish I quit my job last year so I didn't have to miss last Christmas with you guys! So that is 3 Christmas' I won't spend with you guys. ahh, so sad. But don't worry, i'm doing fine out here! I LOVE all those pictures :) they are so cute!

I don't know when I'll be on 60 minutes. Just keep a look out, maybe google it? haha i don't know. Norton, VA food bank? Something like that.

Thanksgiving was good, we spent it at the Bishop's house. There was us, the Miners (senior missionary couple) and another recent convert. It was good food and good time. Then we went black friday shopping after! It was crazy!! I got some footie pajamas! They are so cute, red with cheetah hearts! i've come to find that I really love cheetah. haha. We got those really nice, expensive pillows that are like $30 for $4! and we got some other stuff. I have ya'll's Christmas presents, so I'll be sending those soon :) Can't open them until Christmas!

Well it finally snowed here! and it's really cold! but the snow actually melted away and it's just cold here. It's like in the 30's about. sometimes 40's.

Well this week was great! We had the best lesson with Chelsea and Jody last Monday. It was probably the best lesson I have done thus far on my mission. It was so powerful. We had members there, one who had been baptized in August, and he basically taught half the lesson. His testimony was so strong, this is James, and he is actually going to baptize both Chelsea and Jody! We are so excited! We just had Chelsea's interview this morning and it went very well. She is all set. Jody's interview is tomorrow with Elder Waring. We met with them last night and they both got answers from church, they both came with a question to church, and Jody's testimony has strengthened and he now believes more fully in this gospel and isn't struggling or fighting it anymore. We told him he didn't have to know that these things were true, just that he believed if they were true. They are going strong towards baptism! They are getting baptized this next Saturday! There will be pictures next monday! We are so excited for them! They are both so great! We also just working with less actives and with our other investigator, Mary. We are seeing her tomorrow and we hope to commit her for baptism.

Me and Sister Cady are doing just a great as ever. Last Sunday we had a really good talk about just trying to figure out who we are. She has helped me realize a lot about myself. I think the world of her. She is such a great missionary. She really is exemplar. She teaches with sincerity, love, compassion, boldness and with the spirit. She is one of the best people I've ever met in my life. I know I can't and won't teach like her, but I can see how she does things and try to do them my own way, how the Lord wants me to do it.

I'm getting better at this. I think the thing I have learned this week is to follow each and every prompting I get. To just open my mouth and let the spirit fill my mouth.  I still struggle, because I feel like I get stuck and don't know what to say or what's coming out of my mouth. I'm learning how to just do it. Just trust in the Lord. I'm trying my best. Sometimes I don't feel like i'm trying my hardest, but I am working so hard. Because I want to get there more than anything. I want to touch people's hearts so that they can know the truth of this gospel, the joy and happiness it brings to the lives of everyone apart of this church. Satan really works on me every hour. It's a constant battle I feel that I am fighting, but I'm not going to let it get me down. I care way too much about my Investigators, and the ward members. I want to bring my all, and I'm not exactly sure how to do that fully yet. I want to so bad. and I feel like i just have to do it. So that is my goal this week. To give all I have, to learn how to teach more fully with the spirit and listen to Heavenly Father's promptings. Because this is His work. I know I can do great, hard things.

I'm just trying to do my best! and I know that is all the Lord asks of me. It's a slow progression, but it enables me to grow and learn the things I need to gain here.

I miss ya'll so much. I can't even tell you. I miss sweet beetee, dorky nyborg, fun, sweet trenters, and sweet cute little catsu :) haha. and I miss you mommy. SOO MUCH. But i've been our 3 1/2 months now! isn't that crazy? Jeez. it's really flying by. I am loving it! i am just learning still. It's hard but completely worth every second. I love ya'll so much. more than anything! I miss ya'll even more! I hope ya'll have a good week! i pray for ya'll every night! ya'll are always in my heart!

I love ya'll so much!

Love always,

Sister Burr :)

11/25/13

We had a great week! We saw Chelsea and Jody on Monday and Thursday.  We had a very powerful lesson with them on Thursday about recognizing the spirit and recognizing how the spirit answers us.  And they both came to church yesterday and we asked him to come to church with a question and reaffirmed him that he would receive an answer.  He did! he says that he sort of received an answer, but we we're like, "No! You so did!" He has come a long way and we told him he won't have a perfect knowledge of everything, he doesn't have to, all it takes is faith. He is progressing well. Chelsea would run to the waters of baptism if she could tomorrow! She is so great!

We have lots of other investigators progressing, Noah, Mary, Debbie and Hunte (they actually live in Kingsport but Irvan is Debbie's father-in-law, who is in the bishopric in my ward, and they have been coming to church up here). We had a very intensely powerful lesson with them after church yesterday about the Plan of Salvation.  It was a very simple, yet powerful lesson.  The spirit touched everyone in the room SO much! It was great! We plan to meet with Mary this next week and commit her for baptism. Debbie and Hunter were committed for baptism by the Kingsport Sisters so they are progressing well!

As far as Joe, he has been out of town for 2 weeks now in Atlanta, and we aren't sure when he's getting back but he should be back within this next week.  We are going to set a new date for him and help him with the Word of Wisdom.

Me and Sister Cady are doing great.  We did weekly planning and we had a good companionship inventory.  We were able to talk about how we can strengthen our teaching with unity and power of the spirit and teaching by the spirit.

I know I've come a very long way from when I got here, I've got lots more growing to do.  This week I was able to realize that I'm just teaching the same way to everyone.  I'm not teaching people instead of lessons.  If I want the spirit to be in my lessons and be led by the spirit, I can't just throw the lessons in their face.  I need to teach them, and their personal needs and concerns. Even though it still scares me to teach, I need to be thinking about my investigators, how I can help them, and the way I teach them, instead of just shoving doctrine down their throats. 

I can't even explain to you how glad I am that I came on a mission. I've grown in ways that I didn't know I needed to grow.  There isn't any other way I would have it. I love being in this mission, with all of these wonderful missionaries that are such unreal examples to me.

Umm other random things..We went jogging in a graveyard, we went to a baptism in Harlan, KY (they haven't baptized for a while so it was great! one of the most powerful baptisms I've ever been to!) So other than that...nothing else has happened.  It's getting freezing here!! Yesterday was sooo cold! and with humidity...it's like 4x colder.

We are going over to the bishop's house and 2 other houses for Thanksgiving...pretty sure I will gain like 17 lbs. No big deal or anything.

This week I received a letter from Dad's ward, and all the Young Men and Young Women wrote me their testimonies. It made me cry so much!

Mom if you could just forward the following to Sister Terry so she can read it off to the young women in church or something like that:

Sister Terry and young women and young men,

Thank you SO much for your testimonies and your signatures and that picture!!! It made me cry so bad! I LOVED it :) Thank you so much for all of your uplifting words. You ALL are SO much more prepared than I ever was to go on this mission. You all have such strong testimonies which is so inspiring to me.  Thank you for your words of love, joy and words that come from God.  I'm not kidding when I say I believe, no, I KNOW, that every single young women needs to go on a mission.  Young Women, If you are having thoughts about preparing for a mission, DO IT!! GO. I know from your testimonies that you would make such great missionaries. You faith and diligence in God is just remarkable.  Being on a mission is hard. I've learned so much about this church, Jesus Christ and about myself more than I ever have in my life.  I know with every thing I have in my soul that this church is true. Going on a mission is hard, but that's with everything that is worth anything. I didn't say it'd be easy, but i can tell you with 140%, that it is completely worth it. I've learned so much about love, self confidence, self-respect, trusting in our Savior, Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it is another testament of Jesus Christ.  I know that the Lord is hastening his work, that is why the age changed. All Young men AND young women need to go on missions. That is my testimony.  This is the greatest thing I have ever done in my life so far.  The only time that it talks about happiness in the bible is John 13:17. This is when Jesus Christ is washing the feet of his disciples and it says, happy are ye if ye do them.

"If we have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work."

D&C 4

If we serve God and others, that is when we are really happy. I've never been happier in my life than I have being on a mission. PLEASE. GO. PREPARE. :) I know ALL of you can do it. It doesn't matter what you've done in your life, you can be forgiven of ALL your sins, you can be endowed with power on high from the Holy Ghost and you are able to have eternal life.

I love you all SO much. Thank you for your testimonies and faith. You guys are the rising generation and I know that you have so much power and would make excellent missionaries. all of you. :) I love you all and don't think that I have forgotten about you guys! You guys are in my prayers daily! Don't let your testimony waiver. All you gotta do is the simple things. Read. Pray. Church. Primary answers right?? Exactly. That is all that there is to it. But do it with a sincere heart, and God will answer EVERY question, doubt, fear you have. I love you all! Thank you for your diligence and prayers :)

Love always,

Sister Burr.

Thanks mom :) you can put what I said to Sister Terry on the blog too. Whatever works.

I love you and miss you SO much! I hope you guys have a great week!

Love always,

Sister Burr.