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 (:
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 (:
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