Sister Burton Takes on Anaheim!: Week 50: One ah-MAHSA-ing week

Hello friends and family,

Let me just start off by saying that this week is definitely on my top 10 list of favorite weeks of my mission, hands down. We saw so, so, SO many tender mercies and blessings this week that we very rarely lifted our jaws off the floor. Let's start from the beginning...

MAHSA: I met Mahsa last week at IVC. She has a strong belief in God, but doesn't know very much about Christ. She was eager to learn more about "the Jesus" and so we set up a lesson this past week and she CAME! We first started off with a church tour (since this was her first time ever in a church) and she loved it. My favorite part was when we went into the chapel and she asked about the hymnbooks. We decided to sing her "I Am a Child of God" and the Spirit was strong! After we finished, we asked her what she was feeling. She took a few moments and said, "I don't have any words. I've never felt this way before. It's a good feeling!" I was in AWE. Mahsa was feeling the Spirit! We then had a little lesson, reading from the Book of Mormon. You could see it in her eyes how excited she was to learn more about Christ. She had a family gathering come up or else she would've totally been there at church yesterday! Mahsa is a truthseeker!

MAEVE: We received a referral recently and decided to give her a call. Well, often times I've found that referrals 9/10 are not really interested. Maeve is the 1/10! We called her and she was so excited, that we set up a lesson for Friday. Maeve has a lot of member friends from High School, one of them, Emily, is a member of our YSA ward. Emily was happy to have us in her home for the lesson. Let me just say, MAEVE IS SO COOL! She was throwing around the terms, "FHE, mutual, temple sealings", etc. One of the driest Mormons I've ever met. She told us she is obsessed with the church and has been interested in learning more because our beliefs align most closely with hers. She mentioned that she's excited to come to church (although it won't be for another 2 weeks). We texted her after the lesson; she said she hadn't felt the Spirit that strongly in a long time. Wow, Maeve is just golden. She also said she'll be baptized, as she begins to act on our message!

We also had some amazing encounters at college campuses this week! It's super fun talking to people from all different walks of life. I talked to a guy named Marco. He mentioned he was questioning what happens after this life, especially with the recent passing of his father. He started to cry, which made me start to tear up, and we had this amazing conversation on the Plan of Salvation and how it brings us comfort and peace!
Another miracle was when we were actually walking back from the campus. Our paths literally crossed paths with a girl, Lily. She mentioned that she had been going through some hard times and knew that God placed our paths to meet on that day. We had a beautiful conversation with her and felt the Spirit so strongly as we talked with her. Even just these small interactions with people are tender mercies from the Lord!

TEMPLE GROUNDS TOUR: Saturday we got to take a good ole trip down to Newport Beach to the temple! We originally had several people slated to go, but many fell through. However, ANDRE, from 2 weeks ago, was able to come! The fact that he was able to make time in his busy schedule to be there shows that there is some improvement! The tour was wonderful! I just love being at the temple, if only on the grounds. The Spirit is SO STRONG there!

IRENE: Saturday evening, I witnessed the baptism of Irene! What a special day that was! I've never seen her more happy and excited! She truly was glowing and so prepared to make this next step towards becoming like our Savior! As soon as she got out of the water and the font was closed, we heard her yell, "I DID IT! I DID IT!" It's so true. It was a long process for Irene to get to this point, but the Spirit was so strong there and I was so happy I was able to witness it!

My heart is full! I love this work! It was super great to talk to my parents yesterday as well! Being able to talk about the miracles that I've seen, brings me so much joy! There is no place I'd rather be than right here, right now.

THIS CHURCH IS TRUE! Christ lives today! And we have every reason to be happy and rejoice!

Love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Sister Burton
2500 N. Bristol St.
Santa Ana, CA 92706