Querido Familia y
Amigos,
Hi everyone! Another week down. I can’t believe it. I only have ONE more full week in el CCM. WHAT? Where does the time go? In addition to that, I have been in the MTC for a month! That means I only have 17 months left. How did that even happen? 17 months isn't enough time. But, that's what the phrase "make the most of your time" is for, right? There was so much that happened this week I don’t quite know where to start.
I guess I will start with a funny story. Luke, you’ll appreciate this one. You are, after all, the one who told me to have fun in the MTC. So, my district's girls and I all kind of made a game out of racing back to the residency every night. One night things got a little out of hand, haha. Before I even start this story, I want everyone to know that we have stopped racing, haha. So, H. Howard and I were in a heated foot race, with H. Draper and H. Woodward, back to the residency. They were just barely in front of us. I was several paces in front of H. Howard when we got into the residency hall. Now, our room is in this little alcove-y area. So, there is a fire door and then our little alcove where our real door is. H. Woodard was the first to reach the real door and H. Draper was blocking the fire door so that I couldn’t get through -- so that H. Woodward could get in first and they could win. Well, I’m pushing against H. Draper, but not trying that hard because we are in church clothes and I don’t want to hurt anyone, of course, but then I hear this war cry coming from H. Howard. Before I know it, I am flying through the air. FLASHBACK: H. Howard saw me not getting passed H. Draper and thought “Okay, good idea, I will just run and push against H. Burnham and that way we can both push H. Draper out of the way". BUT, right as she starts running at me, H. Draper steps to the side. So, I’m pushing forward already and H. Howard just PLOWSSS into me. I go flying through the air and land like 5 feet away from where the door was, with H. Howard on the ground just behind me. I don’t know if I adequately described how funny of a moment this was, but I could not move for an entire 5 minutes because I was laughing so hard. I then crawled into my room and laughed for another solid 10 minutes. It was so funny. I had some pretty gnarly bruises, too. It was great.
On a more Spiritual note:
This week was General Conference and General Conference was so good. Like, so good. My favorite talks were Elders Scott, Perry, and Bednar. So much good stuff, like, I don’t even know where to start. Can I just say that Elder Falabella’s talk was the sweetest talk I have ever heard? (Except maybe Elder Scott's a few conferences ago -- the way he talked about his wife! *tear* So sweet. So sweet. In Mosiah 15:11 it says: “Behold, I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord--I say unto you, that all those who hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem His people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are His seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God." General Conference is the coolest experience because we are receiving scripture. Imagine sitting at King Benjamin's address and carving notes into a stone or something; how cool would that have been? GUESS WHAT? WE GET TO DO THAT EVERY SIX MONTHS -- minus the whole stone carving thing. We get to hear the voice of God's prophets and listen (and then hearken) to their words. What a blessing.
Speaking of blessings, this week Hermana Howard and I were selected to be the missionaries in the "How to Begin Teaching" Demonstration. Every Wednesday they have these demonstrations for nuevo misionarios that come in. There are a couple different rooms and each has an investigator and they watch the missionaries contact and teach the investigator. There are nine companionships chosen in the whole MTC and we got chosen! WHAT A BLESSING. It was such a fabulous learning experience. We were a little thrown off and it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. The first investigator we were assigned was named Daniel. We were talking to the tech guy after and he said that Daniel has been an investigator here for years. He was an investigator back in the day when the tech guy was on a mission and he made his companion cry. Yes, we got assigned the hardest investigator in the entire MTC. I didn’t even think he was going to let us in the door and then at one point I was like 95% sure he was going to kick us out. It was terrifying. The whole thing was in English, too! (It was a little hard because we have never taught in English before!) MAN, it was crazy. And hard. But man, did we learn. WE can’t do anything by ourselves, even in English. I’ve realized the hardest part about being a missionary isn’t leaving your family, or teaching, or not having a phone, or not being able to speak the language, but it is the investigators. My heart and soul is invested in these people. It is heartbreaking when you know how much they are struggling but they don’t want to go through the actions to help fix it or can’t see how much we care for them. It is the hardest.
This week as a district we were talking about the difference between conversion and a testimony. I was hoping that whomever is reading this blog, if you would feel comfortable doing so, would mail me, or DearElder me (dearelder is a miracle people) me, his/her conversion story. Whether you converted or were born into the Church, each of us has a conversion story. Let me know what made the difference for you. I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts. If you don’t want it shared with anyone, let me know and I will keep them to myself. But, I would really love to hear; AND if you are reading this and aren’t LDS...call up the missionaries.
I love you all! La iglesia es verdadera. Que simple.
Amor mucho mucho mucho,
Hermana Burnham
P.S.: One last thing. Each P-DAY we attend the temple. Last week we (my companion and I) walked past this sweet, old woman who looks and us and says: "You just keep trying! Everything will be okay!" At the time it was kind of silly because we were both doing great and happy as can be. I have thought about that sweet, old woman and her inspired words almost every day since, though. "You just keep trying! Everything will be okay." Those words can move mountains. It isn’t just for missionaries; it is for each of us. “YOU just keep trying. Everything will be okay." Remember that.
Hi everyone! Another week down. I can’t believe it. I only have ONE more full week in el CCM. WHAT? Where does the time go? In addition to that, I have been in the MTC for a month! That means I only have 17 months left. How did that even happen? 17 months isn't enough time. But, that's what the phrase "make the most of your time" is for, right? There was so much that happened this week I don’t quite know where to start.
I guess I will start with a funny story. Luke, you’ll appreciate this one. You are, after all, the one who told me to have fun in the MTC. So, my district's girls and I all kind of made a game out of racing back to the residency every night. One night things got a little out of hand, haha. Before I even start this story, I want everyone to know that we have stopped racing, haha. So, H. Howard and I were in a heated foot race, with H. Draper and H. Woodward, back to the residency. They were just barely in front of us. I was several paces in front of H. Howard when we got into the residency hall. Now, our room is in this little alcove-y area. So, there is a fire door and then our little alcove where our real door is. H. Woodard was the first to reach the real door and H. Draper was blocking the fire door so that I couldn’t get through -- so that H. Woodward could get in first and they could win. Well, I’m pushing against H. Draper, but not trying that hard because we are in church clothes and I don’t want to hurt anyone, of course, but then I hear this war cry coming from H. Howard. Before I know it, I am flying through the air. FLASHBACK: H. Howard saw me not getting passed H. Draper and thought “Okay, good idea, I will just run and push against H. Burnham and that way we can both push H. Draper out of the way". BUT, right as she starts running at me, H. Draper steps to the side. So, I’m pushing forward already and H. Howard just PLOWSSS into me. I go flying through the air and land like 5 feet away from where the door was, with H. Howard on the ground just behind me. I don’t know if I adequately described how funny of a moment this was, but I could not move for an entire 5 minutes because I was laughing so hard. I then crawled into my room and laughed for another solid 10 minutes. It was so funny. I had some pretty gnarly bruises, too. It was great.
On a more Spiritual note:
This week was General Conference and General Conference was so good. Like, so good. My favorite talks were Elders Scott, Perry, and Bednar. So much good stuff, like, I don’t even know where to start. Can I just say that Elder Falabella’s talk was the sweetest talk I have ever heard? (Except maybe Elder Scott's a few conferences ago -- the way he talked about his wife! *tear* So sweet. So sweet. In Mosiah 15:11 it says: “Behold, I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord--I say unto you, that all those who hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem His people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are His seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God." General Conference is the coolest experience because we are receiving scripture. Imagine sitting at King Benjamin's address and carving notes into a stone or something; how cool would that have been? GUESS WHAT? WE GET TO DO THAT EVERY SIX MONTHS -- minus the whole stone carving thing. We get to hear the voice of God's prophets and listen (and then hearken) to their words. What a blessing.
Speaking of blessings, this week Hermana Howard and I were selected to be the missionaries in the "How to Begin Teaching" Demonstration. Every Wednesday they have these demonstrations for nuevo misionarios that come in. There are a couple different rooms and each has an investigator and they watch the missionaries contact and teach the investigator. There are nine companionships chosen in the whole MTC and we got chosen! WHAT A BLESSING. It was such a fabulous learning experience. We were a little thrown off and it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. The first investigator we were assigned was named Daniel. We were talking to the tech guy after and he said that Daniel has been an investigator here for years. He was an investigator back in the day when the tech guy was on a mission and he made his companion cry. Yes, we got assigned the hardest investigator in the entire MTC. I didn’t even think he was going to let us in the door and then at one point I was like 95% sure he was going to kick us out. It was terrifying. The whole thing was in English, too! (It was a little hard because we have never taught in English before!) MAN, it was crazy. And hard. But man, did we learn. WE can’t do anything by ourselves, even in English. I’ve realized the hardest part about being a missionary isn’t leaving your family, or teaching, or not having a phone, or not being able to speak the language, but it is the investigators. My heart and soul is invested in these people. It is heartbreaking when you know how much they are struggling but they don’t want to go through the actions to help fix it or can’t see how much we care for them. It is the hardest.
This week as a district we were talking about the difference between conversion and a testimony. I was hoping that whomever is reading this blog, if you would feel comfortable doing so, would mail me, or DearElder me (dearelder is a miracle people) me, his/her conversion story. Whether you converted or were born into the Church, each of us has a conversion story. Let me know what made the difference for you. I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts. If you don’t want it shared with anyone, let me know and I will keep them to myself. But, I would really love to hear; AND if you are reading this and aren’t LDS...call up the missionaries.
I love you all! La iglesia es verdadera. Que simple.
Amor mucho mucho mucho,
Hermana Burnham
P.S.: One last thing. Each P-DAY we attend the temple. Last week we (my companion and I) walked past this sweet, old woman who looks and us and says: "You just keep trying! Everything will be okay!" At the time it was kind of silly because we were both doing great and happy as can be. I have thought about that sweet, old woman and her inspired words almost every day since, though. "You just keep trying! Everything will be okay." Those words can move mountains. It isn’t just for missionaries; it is for each of us. “YOU just keep trying. Everything will be okay." Remember that.
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