Week 26: "I'm so special, Sister Burton"

  HELLO EVERYBODY! What a beautiful week! I hope you all had a most blessed Thanksgiving holiday! I loved seeing pictures of family and friends together on that special day :) With it being the holidays, it was somewhat hard to find people home, BUT we experienced miracles this week! We've gotten a lot of return appointments for this upcoming week, so we are excited to see what this new week brings. First off, let's start from the beginning.

 FRANCISCO and MINERVA: Ok, ok. So, we met Francisco last week outside of his apartment complex. We introduced ourselves and he said we could stop by anytime. We decided to stop by on Tuesday, just to see him and set up a return appointment. BUT NO, he invited us in to visit with him and his wife, Minerva. We sat down and chatted for a few minutes and then turned the conversation towards religion. By the way Minerva was talking, it was evident that religion plays a big role in her life, although she doesn't regularly attend church. We felt prompted to teach them The Restoration right then and there. The Spirit was so strong! As we asked questions throughout the lesson, Minerva appeared to be really grasping the ideas of our message. At the end, she told us that just the night prior, she had a dream that 2 people came to her to talk about God....That isn't a coincidence! I'm sure my jaw dropped to the ground. They're a sweet couple and we hope to go back and teach them more soon!

THANKSGIVING: was such a beautiful day! It was well into the 90's, apparently a record breaking high for Thanksgiving since the 1940's. It was blazing hot! I hope that's the hottest Thanksgiving I ever experience! President Golden gave us some direction for the day. We were advised NOT to  actively proselyte (knock doors). Instead, we tried to use our time wisely. We had our Thanksgiving meal around lunchtime with some members from the ward. He is from South Africa and made some DELICIOUS food! They gave us way too many leftovers though.( haha)! Sister Evali was amazed at how much food we have on Thanksgiving. (This was her first one). Because it was her first Thanksgiving, they wanted to give us even more food. As we left, Sister Evali turned to me and said, "I'm so special, Sister Burton". Yes, she IS! She gets all the special treatment, especially around the holidays ;)

   We then did some service in Anaheim, at the Honda Center. They had a big Hispanic meal/concert, so a large group of us missionaries went and helped to take everything down after the festivities were over! It was nice to be of service to those who may be struggling during the holidays. We then stopped by another member's home for a light dinner. They had the non-traditional Thanksgiving foods: steak, spinach artichoke dip, fresh veggies, etc. It was delicious! We then spent the remainder of our evening doing some online proselyting and getting a headstart on our weekly planning, which we usually do on Fridays.
 
  LIGHT THE WORLD: Yes, get ready, it's here! #LIGHTtheWORLD. We received some extra training on Friday before rolling it out. We didn't have any success showing it to people Friday, but we've had more successes as the weekend progressed. We've been showing the launch video and helping people to think about how THEY can light the world this Christmas. We really are trying to get people involved and get them excited! Everybody loves Christmas, so we hope that people will be more willing to talk with us when we show them a short video about the holiday season! We've had a few spiritual experiences while sharing it. We were able to connect with a former investigator and get a return appointment for this week. And we stopped by another former's house and shared the video with his family and the Spirit was SO STRONG. We are excited to see more miracles come from this over the next month!

  MARRIANE and SYLVIA:  They're the 2 ladies that came to church a few weeks ago. With it being Thanksgiving, they were pretty busy all week, but we were able to stop by and talk with them Saturday. Funny thing: As soon as we walked in, Marriane, (who is 84) gave us hugs and said, "Oh I just had a glass of wine. I probably shouldn't be hugging you." I was dying! She is such a sassy, funny lady! We talked with them about Light the World and got them excited for Christmas. They are excited to get involved with the various activities that are going on. Marriane, is a remarkable piano player, so we sang some Christmas songs before we left. And the best part? They came to church yesterday! We introduced Marriane to our choir director, because Marriane said she would LOVE to accompany the choir for the Christmas program! They just love the people in our ward and feel so welcome! It warms my heart! We hope to be able to teach them more and share more of the Restoration with them. It's slow progress, but any progress is good :)

I just love the holidays! Even though the weather doesn't feel like the holidays, I love being able to reflect upon the previous year and all of the things I have to be grateful for. I'm excited to LIGHT the WORLD this Christmas! I encourage each and everyone of you to participate! You don't have to do something big everyday, but I challenge you to do something everyday. I know that as we each Light the World, our testimony of the Savior will grow and that this will be your favorite Christmas of all! Please share how you're lighting the world and I will do the same ;) I know that as we strive to emulate the Savior  this Christmas, we will feel an increase of love for those around us!

 LIGHTtheWORLD: mormon.org
 
  Have a most amazing week! Happy December!

~Sister Burton

Bowling last P-Day!

With my MTC sisters at the Thanksgiving service. It's rare when we're all together.

Picking up garbage.

A coyote!

TOO MUCH FOOD!

Met the cutest little dog, Mijo.

Week 24: Selemat Mengucap Syukur!🦃

  (That's "Happy Thanksgiving" in Malay by the way....my companion is aweseome!)

 WOW, this week was fantastic...truly! Sister Evali and I have really been praying for this area and been thinking of what we can do to help it! We've really had to think outside the box on this one, but we've made a breakthrough! Let me start from the beginning of the week though....

 TUESDAY we had exchanges! And this was the first time, in the 5 exchanges that I've been on, that I've actually left the area! I went to Brea with Sister Green for the day. We had a blast! We helped a lady move, had a lesson, found some people, and got some return appointments! The highlight of the day was finding this older gentlemen outside of McDonalds (which is where our lesson was...very interesting.). I saw him reading a book and asked what he was reading. He told us he was learning English and had recently moved here from Taiwan. We chatted with him for a minute and tried to share parts of the gospel with him. Such a sweet, positive conversation with him!

 Watch out folks, I'm about to be multi-lingual! Well, sorta. Sister Evali and I learned some Persian this week! There is a Sister in another ward that grew up in Iran and has been approved to teach some of the missionaries basic Persian. She actually is involved in translating D&C into Persian right now. She's amazing! We learned greetings, basic introduction of the church, and how to set up a return appointment. Sister Christensen said we're naturals ;) We hope to be able to use our Persian as we meet people around here, since there tend to be quite a few Persian people in Anaheim Hills.

  Speaking of different cultures, we found a Chinese family that said they're looking for a church! WHAT!? They were on our list of formers and so we decided to drop by. The parents didn't speak any English, but the high school aged daughter spoke English! She let us come in and we shared part of our message with her as well as the "Because of Him" video. She really loved it! She said she would talk to her family and see if they would be interested in learning more. We obviously would pass them to Chinese missionaries, but HOLY COW, what a blessing!

 Like I said earlier, Sister Evali and I have really been focusing on how to help this area. We've really been trying to reach out to the members, to have FHE with them or teach them lessons over again. Many members are constantly thinking about their friends that can benefit from the lessons. As we teach, we will not only improve our teaching skills, but we truly have faith that we will be led to those who are ready to receive this message. We just have a feeling that in these next few weeks, this area is going to take off! We are just having to think outside the box.

  Yesterday we were asked to teach the 16/17 year old Sunday School class. Boy, I sure don't miss that age....haha. We talked about "How can I prepare now to make good decisions?" We had them think about all the important decisions they will be making in the next 10 years and to think about what they can be doing now to prepare for them. I really loved studying the material in preparation for the lesson. Part of the lesson came from Elder Scott's talk, "Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer." I highly recommend everyone go read it! There are so many good things from it, I'd probably just copy and paste the entire thing. Here's one thing that stuck out to me though:
  "Be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before that answer comes. Your character will gow; your faith will increase. There is a relationship between those two: the greater your faith, the stronger your character; and increased character enhances your ability to exercise even greater faith."
  Sometimes it's hard to be thankful when Heavenly Father lets us struggle a little bit. But we must "study it out in our minds" and "counsel with the Lord" as we make decisions in our lives. One year ago this Wednesday, was the day I received a firm, strong answer to my prayer that I needed to serve a mission. Heavenly Father let me struggle for 3 years before answering that question. Even after I had given up in asking Him about it, He still answered it. Our Heavenly Father truly does love us and has our BEST interests in mind. It's for our eternal good!

  Well, as Thanksgiving approaches, of course I'm pondering more on the things that I'm grateful for. I'm so grateful for my family! You really do appreciate them more when you're not around them for a long time ;). I'm grateful for this knowledge of this gospel. Especially this year, since being on a mission, I've realized the importance and the value of the simple gospel truths that we sometimes take for granted. As I meet people who have no beliefs in God or in His plan, it makes my heart fill with gratitude for those beliefs that I've been taught from a young age. First and foremost, I'm grateful for my Savior. We truly would be nowhere without Him. He created this earth. He died for our sins and shortcomings. I'm thankful for His love and mercy!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that you continue to think/ponder about those things you are grateful for! As you show gratitude for those things, you will in turn show your gratitude and love for our Heavenly Father!

All my love,
~Sister Burton

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week, you'll just have to deal with a few selfies ;)

How Sister Green felt about being on exchanges with me....(just kidding)

.A Persian BOM!

.I've got the cutest companion ❤

.Service with a smile :)

Week 24: Fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever + ever.

Hey everybody! Another week has come and gone, and the Holidays are almost here! This week was a much better one! We've slowly (but surely) been settling into the area more. The weather here CAN'T BE BEAT! Seriously, SoCal is going to spoil me for the next year with this weather!

Here are some highlights of the week:

 ~ Ok, first off. I just want to go on a rant about how AWESOME this ward is! They truly are focused on "the one" and really want to work to help everyone feel the hope and light of Christ's love. We were able to meet with our amazing RS President this week and talk about things we can do to help the members and people that could use strengthening. She's basically the female Ward Missionary Leader. She served a mission, so she gets it. I always come away from those meetings hyped and ready to help people!

~Wednesday was AMAZING! We were able to talk to so many people! We had a lesson fall through in Friendly Village, but we decided to walk around because there were tons of people out. Sometimes it's hard to talk to people because when they see how you're dressed and the name tag you're wearing, they don't really want much to do with you. BUT sometimes you find those golden people who are nice and want to talk with you. We talked to a handful of Spanish people and it was SO fun to brush up on the few Spanish phrases I know. I haven't really used my Spanish since I served in Fullerton! The Spanish people were interested in learning more, so we passed their information along to the Spanish missionaries!

~This week, we had ZONE CONFERENCE! I always get so pumped to be instructed on how to be a better missionary! Best 7 hours EVER! We were also introduced to this year's Christmas initiative and I'm PUMPED! I hope and pray that people will have softer hearts at this time of year. We get to start using it on Black Friday. I'M SO EXCITED! Be ready for lots of Christmas posts on Facebook ;) This time we talked all about finding and how we should strive to have casual conversations with everyone and then relate it back to the gospel. We've really been practicing that and trying to perfect our skills. These past couple weeks, I've been really burned out from just street contacting for hours each day. President Golden talked about how all of our areas are different and we have to adapt to those areas. This is definitely an area where street contacting is challenging.  Another awesome source of finding is working with members! That is KEY in this ward. Sister Evali and I are trying to get involved with the members and think about how we can strengthen them while also finding others (whether it's their family or friends) that might be interested in our message!
  Another tender mercy of Zone Conference was getting to see Sister Greene again...even if only for like 5 minutes. Shoutout! :)

~On Saturday, we were invited to Peter Park's 30th Birthday bash! He is a sweet, sweet soul, who lives in our ward, but attends the YSA ward in Fullerton. He has been telling us for months about his birthday party and wanted us to mark it off on our dinner calendar. He had a taco truck and everything! We made an appearance and it made his day! He wanted ALL of the missionaries to come, but only 1 companionship was allowed to go...and he picked us! That was another highlight of our week!

~I'm a little more than half way done memorizing "The Living Christ"! I should achieve my goal of having it memorized by Christmas! As I recite these words everyday, my appreciation for the Savior grows and grows! If you haven't read The Living Christ in awhile, I recommend you go read it. Like, right now! I know that our Savior truly does love us! He descended below all things...ALL things! That means that no one is too far away to still feel the light and love of our Savior. He knows how we feel. As we continue to increase our faith in Him, we can be carried through our trials and challenges that seem helpless. Our trials are impossible for us to get through by ourselves. Are trials are POSSIBLE for us to get through WITH the Lord's help!

 I love you all! I pray for you all daily! I hope that you can feel of Heavenly Father's love for you everyday! As you continue to look for those tender mercies each day, you will know that He is ever near!

~Sister Burton

California Skies.

Trying to take a picture of said skies, but failing miserably!

Zone Conference with my cute companion!

Awkwardly- Gapped picture with Peter, the Birthday Boy!

Week 23: With God, all things are possible!

  Happy November! What?! It's almost Thanksgiving! It's actually starting to look/feel like Fall around here. I've seen a few leaves change color. And in the evenings, the weather is cooler. I LOVE it! Sister Evali is always freezing though! She's learned to bring her sweater with her everywhere we go ;)

 *FIRST OFF, crazy thing that happened last Monday. We went to dinner at the Burt's house and they had their nephew, Jonah, over. We got to talking about how I'm from Pennsylvania. Jonah said missionaries used to live with them in Ventura and one of the Elders was from Pennsylvania. Of course, Pennsylvania is pretty huge, but I decided to take a whack at it. I asked if the Elder was Joel Cook and he said, YES! We all sat there for a good 20 minutes, shell shocked that I knew "Elder Cook." Jonah called his mom right then and told her what was happening! What a crazy coincidence! Small world...and even smaller in the church!

  *A funny from the week. Tuesday, I felt a prompting to text Sister Wright, a member of our ward. She's a returning less active and I thought it would be nice to visit her. We texted her and asked if we could come to visit her and she said she would love it! We were excited! We decided to do some finding around her complex before seeing her. When the time came, we knocked on her door and no one answered. We called her and she said she was home. We went back and knocked. Nothing. Then, it dawned on me....we have 2 Sister Wrights in the ward! We were a few minute drive from the OTHER Sister Wright's house. So, we quickly drove there. I had no idea who this other Sister Wright was. As soon as she opened the door, I realized who she was. She's a very active member of the ward! She kindly let us in and we sat down. We visited for awhile. Luckily, we could play the "We're new to the ward and trying to get to know the ward members" card. She told us she was SO glad we texted her, because she had lost contact with the missionaries over the past few months. She hadn't been able to get to know the missionaries, so she was ecstatic to meet us! She said she would love to come to lessons and help us out! Even though we texted the wrong Sister Wright, it all worked out and she was very grateful we came by! Always follow those promptings, even if they may not work out the way you think ;)

  *This week was very challenging. Because our area un-split last week, we are only covering the Yorba Linda 4th ward. Therefore, our investigator pool got significantly smaller. At the beginning of the week, we really had no solid investigators to teach. Joshua, the guy we met a few weeks ago, basically dropped us. He is currently moving to Garden Grove. We've tried to reach out a few times,to let him know we can help and that the missionaries in Garden Grove would love to help as well. But he doesn't want us to help or visit at this time. We prayed about it and felt that right now isn't Joshua's time. We have faith that sometime in the future he will be ready :)

*We saw some miracles this week too! We have just been going through our "formers" list of those who were dropped because the missionaries weren't able to contact them. We were able to get a couple return appointments from that!! We knocked into a mother and daughter, Sylvia and Marianne. They apparently were taught a little about a year ago and were hard to get back with. They were so gracious to invite us in! They said they've been thinking about the church and have been wanting to come back. They said they would come to church on Sunday. As soon as we left, Sister Evali and I were SO thankful! We offered a prayer of gratitude, right there on the street. We had a difficult week, but we're so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord :)
  And guess what.....SYLVIA and MARIANNE CAME to church on Sunday. They came in and sat close to the front.  SO many of the ward members came over and introduced themselves. That is something the YL4 ward is so marvelous at: making people feel welcome. Sylvia and Marianne loved it! The testimony meeting didn't get off topic, so that was another blessing!! We set up a time to teach them Saturday and we're pumped! They've really been wanting to get involved with a church and to have better friends!

*JACOB and JOEY were baptized Saturday!! I was so happy to be there for yet another baptism in the amazing Fullerton area! Fullerton will always be my home :) Jacob's mom and Joey's dad were able to attend and it was SO sweet. I think I mentioned before, but Joey's dad has been less active for a long time, but seems to be returning to activity. He mentioned to Sister Greene how grateful he was that Joey had been coming to church and that she's now getting baptized! Sister Greene and I were able to speak and it was just beautiful! The Spirit was so strong there and Jacob and Joey just looked EVEN more prepared to follow Jesus Christ! They both gave solid, strong testimonies that brought tears to my eyes. Attending baptisms just strengthens my testimony that this ALL IS TRUE! This is the Church of Jesus Christ!!

*Another tender mercy yesterday! Ok, so about a week ago we were tracting in a complex. A lady got out of her car, we started talking and she invited us into her home. We taught her the first few principles of the Restoration and asked if we could come back. Well, WE WENT BACK LAST NIGHT! And, we taught their family! Swait (the mom), Drishti (a college student), and Vishel (the Dad). They believe in Christ and wanted to learn more about our message. We taught them the Restoration and it went SO well. The Spirit was so strong. They don't have a solid Christian background, so we have to teach more simply. However, they really are prepared. They all committed to read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and prepare for our lesson with them again in 2 weeks!
  Swati wanted to cook us traditional Indian food, so we had 2 dinners last night(ahhhh), but it was great! She made Choa?(this is when I wish I had google. It's a garbanzo bean dish. Anyone want to look it up and let me know what it's called? haha). She also made Nan and some yogurt/cucumber dish. It was good!
  Here's another funny. Just as I was about done with the garbanzo bean dish, Swati, began telling us what was in it. She then said, "I cooked it in black tea bags to make it darker." I instantly panicked inside. BLACK TEA?! I got really nervous and quietly offered a prayer for forgiveness to Heavenly Father. I'm sure He understands the situation....and hopefully, I won't die from breaking the Word of Wisdom....hahaha. Sister Evali didn't understand what Swati said, so she ate more. When we got out to the car, I told Sister Evali that it was cooked in Black Tea. She was shocked too! Maybe our Word of Wisdom lesson will have to come sooner rather than later ;)

* Like I said, this week started off really challenging for me. I felt overwhelmed and inadequate about my abilities as a missionary. But then I realized that I truly need to turn it over to the Lord. My testimony of the power of the Atonement was strengthened this week! I literally had to turn everything over to Him. Sometimes we must plead with our Heavenly Father for the strength to make it through our trials and challenges that come in this life. I'm grateful we have a Savior to turn to, during the good times and the bad. He, unlike anyone else on this earth, knows exactly how we feel and how to help us. Like in the poem, "Footprints," it says, "It was then that I carried you." We each have those moments in our lives where the Savior literally has to carry us through. But I know that He NEVER leaves us. He wants to help us. We must continually turn to Him! Satan really stinks and tries to get in our heads and tries to distract, especially during those times when we're in the refiners fire. Don't listen to him!  He just wants us to be miserable.
   Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. And sometimes we have trials that are too hard to bear. But I know that even during those difficult times when we think He isn't there, He truly is!  He gives us these trials to make us stronger, like I mentioned in my email last week.
  Heavenly Father loves you and wants you to succeed! Don't ever forget it!

  I love you all! Have a most blessed week.

~~Sister Burton

 Our last outing as a trio!

Saying bye to my Great Grandma, Sister Johnson

Us and our cute pumpkins.

Jacob and Joey on their big day!!

Celebratory Chick fil a lunch after the baptism!

You can't tell, but it actually rained 3 TIMES this week!

Out preaching the word!