Week 14: "I've saved lives, but wouldn't saving souls be even better?"

^^^^Robert Juarez' comment during our Plan of Salvation lesson. Seriously golden. He is so converted, it's fantastic!

AHHH! This week was so bomb! It was so, so hot, but we survived! It helps to have an air conditioned car! I have so many funny/great things to share with you. Hopefully, I can at least partially convey the AMAZINGNESS of these stories!! I'll try my best!

Funnies:
-Both of our funnies happened down in the Little Mexico area (which is most definitely not a coincidence). We went there the other night because we had a return appointment (which ended up falling through, but that didn't stop us!) There are always so many people out and about. As we were crossing the street, we saw a young man walking his dog and he started to go in the opposite direction. Sister Greene yells out, "WAIT!". He stopped and looked at us. Sister Greene turned to me and said, "That's Edgar, right? (Edgar is the young man we were supposed to have a lesson with). I told her it was not Edgar. As we were having a discussion about who this young man was, he started to walk away, obviously confused as to why we would ask him to "wait." We decided to strike up a conversation with him anyway! We started by talking about his dog and then eased into the gospel.We ended up giving him our card. This probably doesn't sound as funny as it was in the moment, but we were laughing about it afterwards!

 - About 20 minutes later, we had another funny encounter. First off, I guess I should preface this. I thought up this game and we call it, "Alpha-Tract." The idea is that as we're preparing to approach someone on the street, one of us calls out a letter in the alphabet. The other one has to strike up a conversation with a word starting with that letter. For example, if one of us says,"Q," the other one might begin the conversation by saying, "Hello! Quite a nice night, huh?" Anyway, the game is still in its trial period. I'm sure I'll have more funny stories to share as we get better at it! Sis. Greene gave me a letter as we were approaching a group of young women. I only had a few seconds to think of something and my mind went blank. So, Sister Greene jumps in with, "Hey! Have the missionaries called you yet?!" The young women started mumbling to each other in Spanish and they looked so confused. I thought Sister Greene was pulling an Aragon on me, (right Dad?). I just wanted to bust out laughing! Sister Greene then said, "Oh, they haven't? Well, they should be calling you soon!" Still, the young women looked so confused. As we were walking away Sister Greene exclaimed, "That was Marisol!" Marisol was a lady we met in a different Little Mexico a few days ago. We gave her  El Libro de Mormon and told her the Hermanas would be getting in contact with her soon. So, Sister Greene thought this was THAT woman! However, it most definitely was not Marisol. We laughed ALL the way back to the car! Eventually, we realized that we did give this lady a card the other day, so Sister Greene wasn't completely crazy!

-Also, it POURED yesterday!  ABSOLUTELY POURED!! We were at Bishop Vreeken's house for dinner and when his daughter opened the door, it was pouring rain! This is the first time I've actually seen substantial rainfall since I've been here! It was beautiful!! Bishop and his wife went out and dried off our car for us before we left. It was so sweet! I loved the post-rain feel. It felt just like home :) The smell, the humidity, and the slightly cooler temps.

 - After leaving a member's house Saturday night it was dark, but as we were driving out of the neighborhood I noticed some round things sitting by the side of the road. I hit the brakes and asked Sis. Greene to get out and check to see if they were watermelons. Much to our excitement, THEY WERE! They weren't attached to vines or anything, so we took one. It actually tastes pretty good. Hopefully, those watermelons were placed there for people to take. (haha)

Progressing People:
-We are so blessed to have about 5 really progressing investigators at the moment. We've been teaching each of them about once a week and they are all moving in the right direction. It is so awesome to see!! I'll share a few highlights about them from this past week!

-JACOB and JOEY: Joey, was the only girl in her family that wasn't baptized growing up. She and her husband have been coming to church for months, just because they were "thinking about joining." They recently returned from a trip to CT, so we taught them again this past week! The lesson went so well! We taught about the Plan of Salvation and they were much more involved in the lesson this time, than they were the first time we taught them. They had such great questions and were really interested in learning more. We invited them to be baptized and Joey said, YES! Jacob wants to be baptized, but feels he needs to find someone he trusts to baptize him. Anyway, they're progressing and are so, so awesome! We're excited to see what happens with them this coming week! Stay tuned.

-ROBERT and DIANA: Again, so, so awesome! We taught them about the Plan of Salvation after Book of Mormon class on Wednesday. Sis. Greene and I both felt a little off during that lesson and a little scatter brained, but we still walked away enlightened, because the Juraez' are so amazing! When they share their thoughts, it seems like we're talking with people who are already members of the church. They truly are converted! They'll be baptized really soon!

Miracles:
-The other day in Little Mexico we were trying to find an apartment complex where we had a return appointment scheduled. Buuut, the apartment complex didn't exist. As we were walking away, we noticed a woman walking around a neighboring complex, which we've visited a few times. We went there trying to visit with Madalin, a potential investigator, but haven't had any luck catching her home. We ran over to the woman and asked if she was Madalin and SHE WAS! The Elders taught Madalin several months ago, but were never really able to teach her again. Madalin said she's been waiting for them to come back! She sounded interested to meet with us and asked if we could bring something for her daughter, because her daughter is starting to ask questions too! WOW! We set up an appointment for this coming week, so we'll see what happens!! The Lord placed us on the street at that moment for a reason...even if our original plan fell through!

BEAU: Beau was being taught by the Elders, just before we arrived in the area. We've tried a few times to reach him, but have never really gotten through. Recently, we've been texting him and he's been asking us questions about God and how we know He really exists. On Friday, he texted: "I'm headed over to the church. I'll meet you there in 15." Good thing we weren't doing anything super important at the time. We ran over to the church and had a lesson with him. He really has a desire to know God. He is working through some things right now and is wanting to change for the better. We needed to start with the basics and it will probably be slow progress, but he already has a solid desire to learn more. We invited him to church and at the last minute he said he couldn't come.....BUT then we received a text from him right before church and he said he was coming to Sacrament Meeting!

  He floored us yesterday at church! He walked in and started talking with everyone! We followed him into the chapel and he marched right up to the front and sat down. He was also the second or third person to bear his testimony!! He got up there and introduced himself and said, "I don't really know anything yet. I'm just checking this out. But I don't like the way my life is headed and I want to change it." It was beautiful! Many people thanked him for his testimony and said they truly appreciated it. After Sacrament Meeting was over, he asked, "So, what's next?" We didn't think he'd stay longer, but he DID! Everyone was fellow-shipping him and making him feel welcome. The lessons, the people, it was everything Beau needed! He even stayed for the 3rd hour! YESTERDAY was so GREAT!! We can't wait to see how he progresses as well!

Testimony
 This week during our dinner appointments, we've been sharing Alma 5:26. The whole chapter is amazing and contains many questions which cause self-reflection. Verse 26 says,
   "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"
  We can take this verse in many different ways. One way, is that we've all felt the song of redeeming love (the love of Christ). Sometimes in our lives, trials become too great and we are slow to remember our Savior. At such times, we tend to forget the times we've seen God's hand in our lives. It's important that we often reflect upon our testimonies, to help us through the good and bad times in our lives. Christ is always there! His love never fades! Please don't ever forget that!!

I love being a missionary! I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for us this week!

      LOVE,

~~Sister Burton

A few Cool Street Signs

Only in Anaheim

97% of the time, Sis. Greene and I,  unintentionally match.

A treat from the Korean Market!

Our Watermelon!!