Three Days of Exchanges

Monday Well it was p-day! That's kind of a happy day. I got some pictures printed because the computers don't always let me send them. Sad day. But our dinner appointment forgot we were coming. So we ended up sharing a message and ate dinner a little later. It all worked out. This week my stomach problems started back again. Not as bad but just a little painful. (pretty sure we've pin pointed what it is finally) Thank goodness.

Tuesday we had zone conference. Woohoo! We learned about what the church is doing for Easter. Check out this link to find out more http://www.mormon.org/easter/teaser The church did something similar for Christmas (#heisthegift) but this is going to be a year long one. so sign up for updates. Also we got to met with our investigator(Greg) and we got another one his friends (Jackie). Greg is set with a baptism date for the 28th. And Jackie wants to be baptized too. Holy Cow what a miracle. (this is when I realized why my stomach has been hurting...I'm lactose intolerant....funny right...NOT I love cheese and milk and ugh) Great time to figure it out. week 4 . . . too late to tell people not to feed it to me . . . Oh well, my stomach will just have to deal with it for now.

Wednesday exchanges (once a transfer). Since there are three of us, it takes three days to do exchanges. They are tiring. So I was in Johnstown which was really good. Although most of the appointments cancelled,  but we did get to go to an ASL class the ward does. Believe it or not, I remembered a lot from homeschooling. Woohooo! It was a good refresher.

Thursday we had a lot of cancellations. Seems to happen more on exchanges . . . not sure why. But we taught two lessons. It was a good builder for me to see that sometimes all you need to do is show those around you that you love them. Which has honestly been a little tough for me in Greeley. A lot of the people we work with don't want to change or don't do the things they agreed to at baptism. They want to smoke etc. I mean yes, I love them, but its hard at times when I don't know how to help them.

Friday I was back in Johnstown for day 3 of exchanges. We did service. We planted rose bushes. We also painted a bathroom. Tons of fun! Then we taught only one lesson but it was good. And the sister I was with said some things in that lesson I needed to hear. Later, we got talking and I felt like I could talk with her and be myself. We are sisters (we had the same trainer(mom) ) which is really cool. I started to see that I needed to be more of the change I want to see in others. I may not ever be able to change them but I can always love them and treat them how Christ would treat them. Even if they don't treat me that way or whatever. I got to see that I don't need to care what others think. I need to be myself and allow others to see the Savior through me at all times.

Saturday I got to go back to my area. Woohoo! But we had to take our car in and get the oil changed and tires rotated. I wanted to work in my area again! Then we went home. My comps took a nap so I read in the Book of Mormon (Alma -almost done) then we tired to start weekly planning. Fail. Then we had two appointments and we went then came home and quickly ate. Sister Fairbanks from my last area picked us up and took us to Melissa and Logan's baptism. Logan turned 8 the day before and is a super sweet young man. Melissa is just amazing and a very strong woman. I'm so proud of them both.



Sunday we went to church. We met with the ward mission leader about what all happened this last week. Good things are to come. We met with two families and ended our night with weekly planning. Altogether it was a good day.

Really good talk or feel free to listen to it.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/see-others-as-they-may-become?lang=eng

Pictures: Progress on the Fort Collins Temple!

Work Hard, Be Obedient

Holy smokes this week was crazy but so many good things happened. I'm not so sure where to start.

So Monday and Tuesday were miracle days where none of our appointments fell through. It was great!

Monday we had p-day which makes me happy but it's snowed the last 3 weeks so we haven't cleaned

the car. the inside is gross and sadly its been with sisters for a while . . .ugh. It has hair everywhere. It's sick. I hate sitting in it . . . but we obviously have to. (Today we are cleaning it because we have zone conference tomorrow and because I can't live this way)

We met with a recent convert but I'm pretty worried about her. She is great but struggling. Her boyfriend is on a mission and they broke up which makes him her ex but I'm not so sure whats going on. She is good friends with a less active. But has only been to church once in the last 4 weeks. ): WHAT TO DO!?

Tuesday, we met with a referral named Rick. He is in his late 20's early 30's. He smokes and says he's addicted to Pespi. I can think of worse things . . . nothing says we can't have Pespi. It's just a little funny. He wants to read from the Bible and Book of Mormon which is way fun. He's taken the lessons we teach but mostly just wants to read since he hasn't been reading since his dad passed away in September.

We met with a less active family. They were really nice. The dad is always gone so we didn't see him but the kids are great. 3 little boys. They are everywhere! They did good at listening to the message though.

Wednesday we had a crazy day . . . it started with service for a member. Which was fine. We helped her clean her house. We then had lunch and then had district meeting. District meeting was a joke. Its only us (3 sisters) and the Elders (2) so 5 total. we were all a little spacey. And district meeting went way over . . . and we were accused of hanging out with Elders . . . nope. The people who told the AP's didn't know our district was so small . . . what a joke. Ugh.

We had dinner with Mark and Rachel they told us they are getting married and Mark wants to be baptized. Holy Smokes!!! (Well he told us he was 70% sure - Read Sunday)

Thursday we started our day with studies and then service . . . good stuff. we went to Thrift Right. it was good. We then had lunch and went to visit a less active. She recently got into some anti stuff. So it was a good lesson to reaffirm truth. She told us she doesn't know everything but she knows the church is true!We don't need to know everything. I don't know everything, I'm positive of that. But I know the truth of the gospel and the joy and it brings.

Friday service again . . . you'd think its all we do but I love it and we do so much more. We met with sis Miller, she is a less active but she houses four Elders and she's getting sick of it. Its sad. I guess Elders aren't always clean. Ugh! She told us she wished she could house us. We met with another less active and her mom was kind of rude. Not so much to us but her daughter who also had a friend there. Her mom, in the middle of her prayer, told her she was praying wrong and to start over (she's 15 by the way).  I would have been so upset if I was her!

Saturday we skipped the Stake Presidency breakfast. Yes, to go do service! its was a vote and I was out voted. I would have rather gone to the breakfast because I knew we'd mostly be standing around at this service. They volunteered us over a month ago to do this so we couldn't back out but it was a 5k and there was only so much we could do. But it was good I guess. I just don't feel it was a good use of our time. And we had to cancel THREE appointments to go do it. That bothered me. We only taught one lessons and it was to the Bishop's family who had us for dinner.

I only know maybe 4 active families here. We don't see them unless they feed us we don't contact them (hate that!). But the bishop is great, he hasn't been bishop long but he loves missionary work and wants to push it more here.

Sunday we went to church and taught Sunday School (gospel principles) we had some non-members and some less actives and recent converts it went really good! The one non-member hasn't ever met with missionaries but he was totally feeling the spirit and crying during the video we shared with our lesson. It was so good. At the beginning of class Mark told us he wants to be baptized!! Holy Cow!! During the class he picked March 28th! So a baptism right before transfers.

After church a member came up and told me he made a Mormon.org account. And wants to learn how to make the mormon.org cards so I took the opportunity to set up a time to met with an active member! I'm so excited to get missionary work going here. And having the members be excited about it. (:

Day light saving is a bad idea....so who ever came up with it yuck!

We went home after four to do studies and both my comps fell asleep while I studied alone. We went to one last appointment and came home. They both slept and I read more scriptures. We taught 4 lessons, if you count Sunday school. It was a good day if you are dead tired and reading scriptures watching your comps sleep. I wanted to sleep so bad but I'm going to be obedient even if I'm out voted. I'm in Alma right now in my studies and I want to finish the Book of Mormon by the 31st. I just have to read 5 chapters a day (plus it helps to understand it) I've gotten so much out of it. Right now, being tested and reading about people being tested has given me the strength to keep going.

One of my favorite quotes is from Elder Holland “Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead—a lot of it—30 years of it now, and still counting. You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.”

Also here is a video the church made on the story from the talk:
http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/good-things-to-come-1 

Love, Sister Burden

The Importance of Working with Members

This last week has been crazy....sorry I can't think of any other words to describe it.

Monday we had dinner with a member. After dinner, the member was going to come with us to a lesson. When we finished eating she went to get ready and we ended up not even sharing a lesson with their family . . . I felt sick about this. I hardly slept Monday night because my mind kept racing back to dinner and what could have been done differently.

We spent the night at a members house since we were so far from home. And we lost the phone in the car and didn't have a alarm clock so we didn't wake up on time either . . . ugh.

Tuesday we taught the most lessons we've taught in a day here . . . I almost think I was put here almost as a punishment. I mean, maybe I got a little number happy in my last ward. The work here is different. I mean we just don't work a lot with members which saddens me. Had missionaries not worked with me, and helped me, and let me help them, I can't say where I'd be in my life. My testimony started to grow so much through the missionaries. So something is going to change. That's for sure. There is nothing wrong with working with Less-actives, and recent converts especially. So don't get me wrong.

Wednesday we had Zone Meeting . . . what a joke.(hated it) If anything someone told me I sounded just like my trainer . . . silly Elder. That's a compliment. My trainer was amazing! She is STILL amazing. Anyway we did service and that was nice. I love service. It's the one part of the day that makes me smile the most. We taught one of our best lessons yet. Where we all spoke and no one was left out. Trios are hard for teaching in unity. I don't take it for granted that the lesson was the Plan of Salvation. We passed around the paper with the Plan drawn out. Still, it was the best. We shared our testimonies at the end and it truly was the best. I wish every lesson could be like this one. Trio's are not easy. They take a lot of work. More than most would think but I know I am here for a reason.

Thursday we started the day with service. we only taught two lessons . . . ugh. Not my favorite day yet. But if anything, we were able to help those people. And we had cafe mexicali for dinner. I love Mexican food. Then we updated records.

Friday we did more service. We gave away food at GRC. (Global Refugee Center. ) We taught two good lessons. One of our Recent converts lost her job so we brought her ice cream and ate it with her.
Saturday we did service for a lady named Leslie....long story.

Sunday was good but I'm now out of time. talk more later!

Sister Burden

Like Everywhere, Bad Weather

Sorry Pictures Next Week!

Monday....well its always hard to say goodbye....luckily I prepared myself all week just in case. so for those of you who didn't read last week, I got transferred. I'm in Greeley in the Centennial ward. Sorry People from Bison Ridge who I didn't get to say goodbye to. I will for sure come back and visit.

Tuesday....first day in another new area. Not only with one new companion but two. Needless to say life was a little crazy. But no worries, I love them both! Sister Carbno has been out a while. She has 2 transfers after this. And Sister Waters came out with me. They are both incredible and I love them! We went straight to work as soon as we got to our area. We had some amazing lessons. One was with Marjorie. We sang a song even though none of us are singers. It went well. (: Then we taught enduring to the end. That went well too. She talks a lot and is older. She is less active and spent the lesson trying to teach us. She is a very nice lady. I'd love to see her come back to church.

Wednesday.....we had district meeting we played the "guess what's in my head game." A game Elder Bednar told us not to play....ugh Elders!!! Our district includes us (3) and our district leader and his comp (2) =5....needless to say, it's small. We also played hot seat, something else they tell us not to do. We need to get rid of the mild disobedience here.

Our service activity got cancelled (we didn't call so we didn't know...) ugh!!! -We should be more prepared and call the day before not the day of (or not at all). Drives me insane!! It will change especially since I have phone duty now in our companionship.

Thursday .....Well Happy Chinese New Year! Despite the weather, we did have 3 really good lessons with a less active, active, active. I've hardly met anyone who is active in this ward yet so Sunday I'm planning on not knowing anyone. That will change with time.

Friday we started our day at the food bank and packed potatoes into bags it was kind of nice. We were going to take a picture but all three of our cameras were dead. We still don't have a picture from our companionship. Next week. I finally got to met the bishop and we spoke with him about what he expects of us.I got to introduce "Check it Out" to him. Way fun I really hope that gets going here. I'd love that! I loved helping the youth in Loveland with theirs!

Saturday was a no driving day....ugh! another reason I hate snow! Since we don't live in our area, we couldn't walk to anyone's homes. It would have been an hour walk just to get into our area let alone to anyone's house. But a family did feed us dinner. How great!

Sunday we had a meeting at 7am. Church starts at 9am and at 9:45am we received a text telling us it was a no drive day again. Too bad, we already drove to church. The lady we live with fed us dinner. People are so sweet. My last companion taught me to always say yes to food. So guess what, someone offers me food, I say yes. I let others serve me so they can receive blessing. (:

Love, Sister Burden

Transferred

Monday was P-Day woohooo! We went thift store shopping I got two dresses for less than $5, Holy Cow how great! And they were the right length and all!! Its not every day you find a dress that covers your knee.

We spent our time after dinner with the Meadows and read scriptures. I love them. They make me sure happy.

Tuesday we visited with a member (she has a huge house) and we read from the Book Of Mormon with her and it went really well. She told us she'd have us over some time soon for some Moose. (Never had it but it sounds good.) We also met with a member who a year ago was having some health issues and was in the hospital because of it. She told us her story and dang I mean I already loved her but she is sooo sooo soooo strong!!! I loved hearing her story and her testimony of the Atonement. I was grateful to have heard it. If anything, I learned that when I'm going through trails, health ones or whatever, I need to focus on the Atonement and everything Christ did for us. She is a great example to me.

Wednesday we started the day painting! That was loads of fun! Then for lunch we ate in a grave yard. It was different but it was fun. We also taught one of our investigators and tried again to invite her for baptism and she wasn't against it but she wasn't jumping for joy either. She answered 'maybe' It just seems shes not willing to put forth the effort to find out if what we are teaching is true. -which can be frustrating.

Thursday we had district meeting and we might have spent a little time predicting what would happen with transfers... We also did service at Habitat Restore and that was fun. We invited one of the Part Member Families we teach to be baptized they are trying to figure out when the grandpa can come to baptize them....how exciting then.

Friday we had lunch with some amazing people at Panera. We also did weekly planning. and had dinner with one of our investigators who will be baptized March 14...as well as her son!!! 

Saturday its transfer doctrine day....I knew I was leaving from the moment I rolled out of bed. But we didn't get the call until 9:30pm....ugh we got the call and my gut was right. I'm headed to Greeley East. (Downtown Greeley) We did lunch with our STL. How fun!

Sunday was crazy busy trying to say goodbye as well as trying to get some packing done after we got home last night. But I got 6 visits in....there is never enough time. That's what tonight is for...tomorrow I'll be in a new area.

Love,
Sister Burden

Revelation and Growth

Monday we visited a family. Typically I just want to cry because this family is a great family but they are less active and the mom works with many members from the church and every time we visit with them her and the kids at some point will say "we are bad Mormons" or "they are better than us"......my thoughts, "we are not to compare so STOP IT!!!!"

Tuesday we had a lesson which Sister Brown (mission president's wife) came to. Then our ward mission leader came with us to another lesson with a less active family. Then we taught a family who moved here recently. The mom is less active and none of the kids are baptized. The the dad isn't a member. The kids are amazing and they have such a desire to learn. The dad doesn't seem to want to learn but he sits in on the lessons and makes comments. They love feeding the missionaries as well, they are a great family. The Fairbanks fed us dinner and they got us Mexican food -Cafe Rio was out of sweet pork ): but the place they got us food from was so good!

Wednesday we got to meet with Jackie and her husband and we taught the Plan Of Salvation. At the end, her husband said "I'll see you at church Sunday" He's not been in over 2 years! He didn't come but the thought was progress! We also met with Amy, a new mom in the ward who got called to young women's. We shared on of my favorite Mormon messages "Your not alone" She had to teach in young women's Sunday so we asked if we could help with the Laurels. She told us yes. So we prepared ourselves for a long day coming up.

Thursday we had district meeting which was amazing then our STL's wanted to go to lunch so we went to a cheap sushi place (gift card) and ate sushi -yummmm! Then we did service at Habitat for Humanity. Carmen is back in town and its so nice doing service there and feeling needed. I love how fast the time goes there. I feel like every second needs to count, there is always so much to do. After, we taught the member we live with (Debbie) she is super funny and with her husband are like another set of parents. They never had daughters so they always say we are there daughters (: -tender! Then we visited another family and had a slice of pizza for dinner. Needless to say we were hungry but we went on with our night and went to the RS meeting and learned how to use natural cleaners and how to organize things. Fun stuff.

Friday we never seem to have enough time to weekly plan ever. There is always a lessons to be taught.  We teach so many lessons. And there were so many good things that happened. One family asked us to teach their son before he gets baptized. His name is James and he is the cutest kid ever. We visited a family that moved into there home not even a month ago and (Tuesday) we are helping them paint. We also met with a member who was baptized about a year ago. They are amazing. They call us their daughters. (: We love them. (They gave us the gift card for sushi-they really do love me and we love them!!!

Saturday:  Okay, so literally I've knocked on the same door trying to find this girl since week 7. Finally, we got out of a lesson and I felt we needed to try this door again . . So we drove over to the house and knocked on the door. I was a little nervous as we waited on the door step. 5 minutes, no answer. Finally we hear people talking and then someone answered the door and it was her! She is a less active who joined the church when she was 12 and then got pregnant and doesn't really go to church at all. Sadly now she is gone to New York until Feb 17 . . . after transfers. Who knows, maybe I'll stay! But we were able to meet with her and get to know her better. I hope she remembers why she joined and continues to strengthen than flame.

Sunday we went to church. We taught gospel principles (Sunday school) and it went really well. A couple weeks ago a less active told us if we taught they'd stay for class. So I volunteered us to teach (by the way I hate teaching in class setting). Then we were joining the 16 -18 girls for young women's and helped with Amy's lesson. It went so good. I was glad I was able to stretch myself to volunteer to teach those lessons because I know before my mission I would have but my first month or two out I wouldn't have. We had dinner with these amazing families (they invited a family in the ward) so two families. it was super fun. We did service for one of them not too long ago and now they want to do something for us. People are so nice! Also best part of my day was in sacrament I decided to focus on the prayers and what I can do better this week .There was a family I felt inspired to talk with them about the temple. So a little after church we went and met with them they told us how he should be getting the Melchizedek priesthood soon! And they want to be sealed not to long after that! Holy Cow how great! This week was great! Also, I cut my hair . . . I'll send a picture next week. But I will say I have bangs again. (: woohooo! Also, this is my favorite talk . . . Take some time and listen or read it this week...even if you heard it before! -- 
Come Join With Us

Love,
Sister Burden

Service and Smoothies

This week went by so fast but felt so long...so lets get started!!

Monday we only taught two lessons...The picture is from Monday night dinner. The family invited three families from Sister Johnson's old ward. It was nice to have so many people. As you may guess we didn't leave within the hour. Dinner appointments shouldn't be over an hour....let alone two hours! I wasn't happy but how do you get out of a house when you haven't even shared a message? Ugh so it went over. We were able to met with a less active and that went really well.

Tuesday we had Mormon.org time. Every week we get 45mins to watch Mormon messages and so forth. I find it pretty fun. I mostly listen to conference talks and such. There are so many good ones!

We had service on Tuesday at Habitat Restore. We go once a week. I love it. This week I decided to get a mini blender so I can make smoothies in the morning. It was only 5$ with our discount Holy Cow how great! Now I can eat better and at least it will be easier. So if anyone wants to mail me some recipes for good cheap smoothies I can make at home I'd love that. Also we had dinner with this really great family they made us ribs. He's from Texas so you know it was good! We finally finished Mary's new member lessons. And it was so good. Mary is amazing. She is such a light and has grown so much this last little bit. Its amazing how she lights up every time we see her. 

Wednesday we went on exchanges -much better than my last one- I was with Sister Waite. I love her so much. I went with her last time. This exchange we both worked in our area -which I was so happy for. Sister Johnson wanted to go to a different area. But all went well. I mean if anything, something got done, we worked and accomplished much.

My companion goes home in April...so shes what they call "trunky". And isn't trying to get to know the people here. She's pretty open with other missionaries about this. So you can imagine how things are going. I love her and shes great at teaching. she is willing to work but I feel like at times I'm pushing or pulling.

Thursday we had district meeting to start our day and it was great! I love our district. 'll send a picture next week. We were able to follow the spirit and were lead to 4 people who needed us. Its so great to be there for others very moment they need you. Love it!!

Friday I had a migraine....ugh...I got sick during studies and felt terrible and Advil did nothing!! So all our morning things were postponed. I hated that the most!! We would have to do weekly planning another time and that killed me. but we got a lot done. Saturday we worked with more young women on there Mormon.org video. How exciting! We did service. Although my head hurt I pushed through.

Sunday, Fast Sunday....when you get a bigger headache from fasting. ugh. bad idea but great spiritual experiences. Total lessons 21 service 7.5 so lots was accomplished!

Love,

-- Sister Burden