June 9, 2014
 |
Hermana Burnham's Zone
(Missions are split into Districts of about 4 - 8 missionaries)
(Zone consists of 3 to 4 Districts) |
What a joyous week from Houston, TX.
This week we had a Stake talent show. It was SO great. There
are many videos waiting on my camera to be viewed by the world of the Houston
West Stake talent. Some of that talent included D. (a youth in my
ward) and me playing a song that we composed for the Mothers'/ Fathers' Day
activity. He played Violin, and I played piano. It was a mash up of “Una Familia
Tiene Dios” (if that is a song in English, I don’t know what the name of it is)
and “Families Can be Together Forever”. It
went well and was fun to participate.
The best part of the night though was that it was a STAKE
talent show, so I was with 3 of the 4 wards I have served with in my mission. O. B. (Waller) was the first to see me
and then a few minutes later I hear his mom shouting in the hall: "Where are you!? You know who you
are!" We found each other and
hugged for a longggg time. Then A.
came in (Woodlands) and shouted from down the hall "HERMANA BURNHAM!"
I turned around, recognizing the voice immediately, shouting back "A.
NO WAYYYYY!!!!!" And then we both
hurriedly walking towards each other to hug, but then, realizing we couldn’t, go
for an awkward handshake. Oh missionary life--it is so good! (Hna Jensen caught
on camera me accidently running into D. during the talent show and like
spinning with my hands in the air to avoid touching him anymore then was needful,
hahaha; it is pretty funny). But, the
joy of seeing everyone was dampened a little bit as I
realized I also had to say goodbye to everyone. That was not so enjoyable. It
was a tender mercy from the Lord to be able to say goodbye to some of the
people I had grown to love the most here in Texas.
Other than that we had some MIRACLES happen! We have been
working really hard, here in this hot Texas ocean . . . I mean, air. We had 4
investigators come to Church on Sunday!! MEMBERS ARE THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN
MISSIONARY WORK. Does every member of the Church see that? I’m telling you,
people, without you we could do nada.
There is a super cute, newly married couple in our ward--Se
llama la familia Enciso. They are both newly returned missionaries and
have been married for 3 weeks. He was a teacher at the MTC in Mexico, and they
are both remarkable. The two families that came to church were both families
they had gotten to know and had called before church to invite. Do you think
those investigators came because of us? No! They came because they felt loved
and included by someone in the ward! (And hopefully because they wanted to come
to church to partake of the fruits of the Spirit.:) ) It was great!! You people are the key. Ask the elders who they are teaching. Ask to
go to lessons. Ask if you can give
someone a ride. Ask whom you could
invite over for dinner. Ask who you can
pray for. Ask what your Elders learned
in PMG that day.
The second miracle was with la familia C. They are
a family in our ward who has been inactive for quite some time now. They are a
married couple with two younger children. The last two Sundays they have come
to church and with complete devotion to stay. It has been amazing to watch
their return. Yesterday they invited us over to eat at their home. We ate a
good meal and then talked with them a little bit. The wife told us of how there
is a feeling that just leaves your life when you leave the Church, how
peaceful she feels every time she goes to church, and how life is just different
when you are fully active. We testified that that was the presence of the
Spirit, along with the blessings from Heavenly Father from keeping the
commandments. We talked about how the feeling is so hard to describe. The
hermano told us how he was so scared to go back because he felt like he would
walk in and the hermanos would look at him like: "Well look who decided to
come back . . ." He said: "The
exact opposite happened." With a broad smile on his face declared: "They
were so happy to have me back."
We all agreed that the feelings of returning to the Church
are ones that you cannot easily describe. It touched my heart to watch them try
to describe feeling whole once again as they described the joy that has entered
their family and individual lives once more. What happened next amazed me. The
hermano said: "I’ve have been
thinking of our friend, actually. We know how much he needs this. He is an
alcoholic, but he has 4 girls. He has told me he can’t change and that the life
he lives is just how he is, but I know that if he knows he is a person
who is important to God, that will change. We invited him to come to
church with us today, but he couldn’t. He promised he would come next week. But
you know what we should do--you should go to his house! Can we all go right
now?"
That is the power of the Atonement. In
PMG it says that once people experience the Atonement they want to share
the gospel (I wish I had my PMG on me so I could give you the page number to
that; I apologize). La familia C
is the perfect example of that! They have been back to church 2 times--not even
enough to be considered fully reactivated--and they are already reaching out in
a way that I have never seen on my mission—to share the gospel with those whom
they love and know it will help. How
amazing.
Is this the gospel of Jesus Christ restored to the earth or
isn't it? That is the question to be
answered. Has the gospel blessed your
life? Do you know that the Savior lives?
Do you know that God loves you and is your Father? Can your family to be eternal? Don't you want EVERYONE to have that same
knowledge? If you are scared, I stand beside you. I am scared and I
let people pass by me every day--and I regret it—every. single. day. Those that
pass me by? I see their faces in my mind’s eye every night as I kneel down to
pray and my heart wrenches that I lacked that courage. But, it makes me better.
Might we all try a little harder to be a little better. Might we all stand a little taller and be a
little bolder in declaring to the four ends of the earth that "Thy God
Reigneth". The calling to share the gospel falls on each of us, not just
those wearing the nametag.
I love each of you with all I have.
And if you aren't a member of the Church....talk to the
missionaries--they can help.
Hna B
