What a week. The
first thing that needs to be said: J
IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! WHOOHOOOOO. He is a cool kid. We got to meet with him
after church on Sunday. He is 18 and took lessons from missionaries/went to
church for about a year. Then the wards split and he kind of got lost in the
mix. This is the first lesson we had with him, but we whip out the baptismal
questions and he's like . . ."Yeah....yeah....Yes.....yeah....ooohhhh Law
of Chastity, but yeah....yeah." Haha. Bless his heart. What a good kid. We are so
excited for him. And he is excited. Please,
please, keep him in your prayers. Once
people decide to be baptized the adversary works SO hard on them.
Hey Grandma Burnham, guess what, he is getting baptized on
Feb 15th! :)
Other than that, we had some other really good things that
happened this week. There are lots of really prepared people coming out of the
woodwork. What an exciting time to be a missionary!
We did have one slightly heartbreaking experience this week
with one family in our ward. They have a daughter on a mission, but they are
not active. Well, he is not active; she is not a member. We have felt a strong
need to work with this family because their daughter is on a mission and she is
doing exactly what we are doing. We
couldn't even imagine how she must feel about the whole situation. We have
tried to get in with them like 15 million times, but never could. This week we
went and knocked on their door and a little girl answered. She excitedly says:
"It's the missionaries! Dad, can
they come in?" She then excitedly proceeded to tell us that her sister was
on a mission. It was very obvious that Hermano O did not want us there. I
don't know how to explain it but to say that he was almost a little mocking of
what we were doing. It was just
heartbreaking, not because of us, but because he has a daughter doing the same
things. Well, we asked if we could share a message and he promptly left the
room, so we taught J, his daughter who was visiting only for the weekend. She is 10 years old. As we began to teach her,
a special spirit filled that room. We
read Christ blessing the children and then talked with her about how one day we
WILL be encircled in the arms of His love. She was so purely excited; so
faith-filled.
I feel like a great majority of my mission has been spent with
children. I have developed a testimony
on the command to “become as little children”. How
trusting they are. How pure they
are. How willing they are. How
obedient they are. How close to the veil
they really are. The command to become like them has taken on a whole different
meaning as I work here. In the O's home I saw this stark difference, like
day and night, between a jaded unwilling man and a pure little girl.
"But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the
kingdom of God." Luke 18:16
Might we all strive harder to become as little children – to
become more humble, more teachable, and more willing to heed the will of the
Father.
Much Love, Hermana
Alivia Burnham
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