Sister Burton Takes on Anaheim!: 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