Monday, July 20, 2015

Here we are again! (Monday, July 20, 2015)

Dear Mom and ________, 

Well, this week my fingers are all better and my keyboard has all of the letters, so we're off to a great start! First the news: it has been six weeks again (has it really?) and transfers aretomorrow, and I will be staying here in Willits. My sweet companion Hermana Akre is off to Healdsburg, and my new companion will be Sister Peterson. I believe they are eventually looking to change Willits to an English area, but instead of simply throwing two new English Sisters into it, they have made it into what they call a "zebra" companionship, where one missionary is Spanish and the other is English. So it will be interesting to see how that works out. And, I will probably be staying here for at least one more transfer after this because Sister Peterson goes home at the end of this one, so that will make it a total of six months for me here in Willits. More news: we're switching cars and I will have to say goodbye to the Jeep (which I dearly love). Who knows why, but we're getting a truck instead. I still can't wait to see our investigators' faces when the two of us show up in this big truck. 

One of the great things about staying here in Willits is that I will most likely be here for the baptisms that we have set! We have four coming up pretty soon and I am so excited that I will get to share these special moments with these very special people. It was really hard to watch my companion say goodbye to the ward members here and the people we are teaching. Just when you think your heart has reached its full capacity, Heavenly Father opens it up even more and shows you that there is still room. 

Love truly is the center of this work- after all, it is the main motivation behind everything that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ ever do. No wonder it is considered such a sin to "harden your heart." Not much can happen if we don't allow God into it. Truly, the only thing we can give Him is our heart. Our time, family, friends, money, education, etc, all of it came from Him and is already His. The only thing He doesn't have and has promised to never take away is our heart and our will, so that is truly the only thing that we have to offer Him. And once we do give it to Him, He turns around and gives it back to us in better condition. He changes it and changes us to be more like Him, which is really why we are here in the first place. I am starting to realize this more and more every day, but as usual actually doing it is the hardest part. 

I've also been thinking a lot about self-discipline and self-control lately, especially because we just had an amazing lesson with one investigator about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity, and I was thinking about how President Packer was absolutely right when he said that "One who can control his thoughts has conquered himself" and that learning to be completely in charge of our minds and our bodies is another main reason we are here. Our bishop's wife shared something with us that a General Authority challenged her entire mission to do and I would recommend to all of you as well: Pick two things each day that you really want to do, and don't do them. Pick two things each day that you really don't want to do, and do them. It's not easy and sometimes as a missionary there are some things that really do not seem appealing, but one thing I have always admired about Dad is how reliable he is and that he always does what needs to be done, whether he wants to or not. I wish I had learned that lesson sooner, and I'm still working on it now, but better late than never. As Sister Alba (our former mission president's wife) always said, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." It's never too late to make a change! 

I hope everything is going well, and have a great week everyone!

Hermana Burton

Sometimes, I honestly have no idea what's going on... But that's okay (:




White deer (literally)

These are the white deer that were given to the Ridgewood Ranch (where
Seabiscuit lived) as a gift from a foreign country because of
Seabiscuit and they are only found here in the States. I had a feeling
that you'd like to see them Modge (:






Is this not one of the most precious things you've ever seen?

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