Sister Burton Takes on Anaheim!: Week 76: "Start Everyday With a Grateful Heart"

Hello to all!
It's crazy to think that another week has come and gone so quickly! This week was full of meetings, lots of lessons that fell through, and miracles strewn through it all!
I just gotta say, I love the Goldens! They are such special people and I'm forever grateful to have them as a part of my life. I got to see them many a times this week and I'm grateful for every interaction with them! They imparted loads of wisdom upon us departing missionaries and we ate it up! Everything from gospel habits to finances. President Golden even said he could make us our own personalized mortgage chart when we buy a home in the future! What a blessing!
Lots of promising appointments fell through this week: Rosa got in a car accident and her phone is broken, so communication has been rough. Kelly had a lot of visitors in town so hopefully this week! And the Spanish lady we were supposed to pass off as well. I find myself feeling frustrated in these moments, but I realize that this is testing my patience and gives me a small glimpse into what Heavenly Father must feel with ALL of us. I just want people to know this gospel is true and embrace it. That's honestly what I want for all of my brothers and sisters here. Sometimes it just takes time, which I'm realizing a lot more recently.
We did get to have a little lesson with a sweet lady, Sister Murphy, who has been inactive for many years. She has had many excuses(she admits) as to why she doesn't come to church. It broke our hearts when she said she wants to settle for a lower kingdom because she doesn't think she's worthy to live with God again. We tried to convey to her that she IS worthy and that we all should aim higher! We made a goal for her to come to church early in December so we're hoping to help her make that!

Random, Miracles:

* We were walking the streets one day and a guy was approaching. I looked a little closer and noticed he had a cochlear implant. Sister Steele freaked out and started signing to him and he was ecstatic to be able to communicate back to her. I've run into 1 other deaf person on my mission, before I had Sister Steele as my companion. Now, we've run into about 3 or 4 in the past 7 weeks! Divinely inspired!

*Last night made up for a lot of the hardships this week. Like I've said before, it can be challenging finding people after dark. People get a bit skeptical when people knock on their doors. In fact, earlier this week, a man threatened to pull out his pistol because it was so late(I checked my watch and it was 6:05). BUT, we did have miracles of finding the people that need us.
Last night we met a man, Robert, who LOVED to talk about Jesus Christ. He asked us how we envisioned God and Jesus Christ and we had such a spiritually powerful conversation with him. He mentioned how busy he was that it would make it difficult to meet, but he said that he would remember us this week, as he goes about his work. He testified to us of how important the work is that we're doing and told us not to be discouraged. It was just so sweet to meet even just one person that notices the goodness of this message. It was very refreshing to hear!
THEN, as we were walking back towards our car, we noticed 2 distinct white, fluffy Huskies. We stopped in our path and realized we KNEW those dogs(and their owner)! DAVID! Flashback to the first week in October. We met this YSA aged guy that was super interested and Sister Thompson got his info. and was planning to send the YSA Elders over, but apparently that never happened.
Well, we approached him and said, "David!!" He remembered us too! He then said, "I've been waiting for someone to come by, but no one has shown up." We told him we could fix that! He said he's been studying The Book of Mormon and the Bible and has been receiving a lot of answers. YAY! Our hearts were so happy! David even walked us back to our car(which was a good 10 min walk) and we kept talking about the questions he's been trying to answer for the past 2 years. We set up a time to teach him this week....and then we'll pass him to YSA, so nothing gets lost in the translation.

I've been doing an awful lot of reflecting the past week or so. My heart is just so full! President told us how this is probably the point of our missions where we'll have the most mixed emotions, compared to other times during our missions. I've been realizing the growth that has occurred and the friendships that have developed, especially my relationship with my Savior. As I go into this Thanksgiving week, I have SO much to be grateful for!

ALSO, y'all should check out mormon.org
The new Light the World initiative is up and running! Check it out, share it, and commit to DO IT this Holiday season!

Love you all! Keep being awesome and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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