Staying in Sonoma! (Monday, February 15, 2016)

Dear Mom and ________,

Well, another transfer has come and gone and I will be staying in Sonoma with Hermana Gudmundson! I am really excited because our last transfer together didn't even feel like a real transfer because of so many different things that happened and all of the craziness, but I know this transfer will be better and I can't wait to just go out and work hard because I know there are people here who are ready to accept the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! We haven't been able to see many people in a while because of the interesting situation we had with our area and Napa and a missionary preparing to return home, but we already have a lot of set appointments this week with people we have been trying to get into contact with and I feel like something big is going to happen in these next few weeks. 

There's not too much to report looking back on the week because we had so many meetings and medical appointments and driving time in the car, but this week is going to be more productive. Just a heads up, my next email will be coming next Wednesday instead of Monday. Love you all bunches! Have a wonderful week!

~Hermana Burton

One of the coolest Samoans I have ever met

One of my favorite families in the world!

Another week has come and gone! (Monday, February 8, 2016)

Dear Mom and you,

Crazy week! Everything worked out though because the investigator that was being taught in Napa got baptized on Saturday and she is doing well! We also had Stake Conference this week and it was a pretty neat experience. Some of the other missionaries were in charge of translating the meeting from English to Spanish for some of the Hispanic members present and I haven't really had to translate much on my mission so I went up to them to see if I could sit near them and listen and then one said, "Sure! You're translating the opening prayer." So I did that, and then one of the other Hermanas was going to be translating the two female talks given but I asked her if I could do one of them. So I did. It was pretty fun. I was really nervous at first and pretty sure I was going to mess up a lot, and there were a few words I wasn't sure about, but the only way to learn is to try it and it actually went pretty well. It was only a very short talk and pretty simple too, but it was a good first experience and I'm glad that I decided to try. I know that Heavenly Father has really helped me learn Spanish, even without serving around a lot of Hispanic people, and I'm grateful for that help and I'm glad I was able to use what He has given me to help others. 

Other than that, the week was [not] too eventful. We spent a lot of time in the car driving back and forth between Napa and Sonoma, and we're still be covering both areas for one more week. That's okay though, everyone always works out. If there is one thing I have learned in my life, it's that things will work out. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Until next time!

~Hermana Burton

Serving in the Lord's vineyard. Literally. Now all of those parables make more sense...

Hiking with the zone! 74 degrees on February 8th!

Happy February! (Monday, February 1, 2015)

Dear Mom and everyone else,

Coming at you live right now from Sonoma, California- Happy February! Highs this week are in the upper 60s and we broke 70 one day last week... I hope you're all enjoying the snow! Update from last week, after "dropping" everyone last week and setting a goal to find at least five new people to teach, we reached our goal! Miracles are real folks, especially when you show your faith first. 

That's not the only news this week though. I have a new companion! And I still have the old one too! There are now three of us. At dinner on Friday President Wright called us and one of the Hermanas in Napa had to go home early the next day due to illness, so he was going to drop off her companion Hermana Sarvey with us the very next morning. Now she is with us and we are driving the half-hour back and forth between the two areas to cover both of them because they were working with someone preparing to be baptized and we still have people to work with here. It gets even crazier though, because my companion Hermana Gudmundson was in Napa before coming to Sonoma and her companion for three months before me was Hermana Sarvey, who goes home in two weeks! So now we're all in Sonoma but making things work between covering both Napa and Sonoma. Crazy life. That's okay though, I know it will all work out. 

More news. I finally attended a Spanish Branch! For the first time on my mission as a Spanish missionary (for a year as of this week), I finally attended a sacrament meeting in Spanish. Somehow I've managed to end up so far in all of the English wards/areas where Spanish Hermanas serve. I was really excited because I've heard how great it is from other companions and missionaries, but I have to be completely honest and say that it wasn't what my anticipation had built it up to be. It was a testimony builder to me though that I have been watched out for and put in places that would be best for me and the area. I guess that probably doesn't make sense, let me try to explain (my head is still scrambled up from all of the craziness of trying to figure things out so I apologize if none of this makes sense). We attended all of our church meetings first in Sonoma and I was so happy! People we have been working with came to church and we had a great sacrament meeting and we had quite a few people in our Spanish Sunday School group and I couldn't help but smile because I was with people that I dearly love and I could see them making progress. I realized how much I really do love these people and care about their families and their lives and I felt connected to them on a very personal level. Then we went to Napa right after our meeting to catch their sacrament meeting in Spanish, and I felt very out of place and uncomfortable. Not because of the Spanish, that part was wonderful, but because I didn't know the people and I felt no connection to them at all and there were too many other missionaries running around. I have nothing against it and to be honest I will most likely be in a Branch after I leave Sonoma because I've already been to all of the other possible places that don't have one, but it just showed me that Heavenly Father really is in charge of this work and that He placed me in Sonoma and each area that I have been in for a reason and I have loved working with all of these people on a very personal, individual level which isn't so easy in areas with more Hispanics and more missionaries around.

Anyway, life is crazy but that's okay because it's all for our good and I know it will all work out. I hope you all have a great week! Happy Groundhog Day tomorrow!

~Hermana Burton

Not to rub it in Mom, but....

I saw your snow shot so I ran outside the church to take a picture of
what it's like outside right now here in Sonoma. Happy February!

Feeling loved! (Monday, January 25, 2016)

Dear Mom and _________,

First of all, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! It was definitely a memorable day and I felt loved. It started out with a worldwide missionary broadcast, which was a good reminder to get back to the basics and let the Spirit teach. After lunch, my companion and I went to volunteer at the community garden, which is one of my favorite places in Sonoma. It was sunny! The middle of winter and there I was working in a garden with a short-sleeved shirt. After that, we had dinner with one of the greatest people in the ward here and she knew it was my birthday and they went all out for it. She had even invited some of the people we were teaching to come too, and they did! It was a sweet surprise. For dinner she made a great salad and then meat prepared in a special way that they only prepare for special occasions in Sinaloa, where she is from. She also made pasta, which of course I love. Then we had cake and they sang to me in Spanish, English, Samoan (one of the other missionaries at dinner is from Samoa) and then they had me sing it in French. They are some of my favorite people! It was a wonderful day, and as a very dear friend pointed out to me, Jesus Christ established His church on His birthday and I had the opportunity to help establish His church on my birthday too. One of the lessons we taught before going to the garden was about the Restoration of the Gospel and as I recited the experience that Joseph Smith had in the Sacred Grove, it hit me again how important that event was to me personally and the Spirit was definitely present during the lesson. 

Other than Wednesday, the rest of the week wasn't that eventful. We had long meetings on Thursday and then Friday and Saturday flew by. My companion and I have realized that most of the people who have been meeting with missionaries here aren't really interested in finding out if our message is true and acting on it, they just seem to like missionaries and let us in to share a nice thought and they don't progress or move forward. We know that there are people who are ready to accept it and act on it, but we haven't found them because we've been spending so much time with these other people who aren't ready at this point. So, we're pretty much starting fresh this week. We planned in a lot of time to go out and look for new people to teach and help. I know that there are people who are ready and waiting and I'm excited to see the miracles! It took a lot to take that leap of faith and decide to stop seeing people who we know will let us in for sure even though they won't act on the message in order to go out and find people who may or may not be kind and let us in, but we are both confident that our Heavenly Father will lead us and guide us and help us find His children who are ready to hear His voice. I'll let you know how it goes next week! I don't know that we'll find them all this week, but at least we'll get off to a good start. Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Burton

Pictures

We been gettin lots of rain. (Monday, January 18, 2015)

Dear Mom and everyone else, 

Before anyone tries to correct my grammar, that's a quote from "The Best Two Years," and it definitely applies to Sonoma right now! Side note, why isn't there a movie called "The Best Year and a Half"? Anyway, this week was pretty decent. Nothing too exciting has been happening, and things have slowed down a bit because of the rain. There was only one hispanic person who came to church yesterday out of all of the members and investigators, and he pops in every once and a while and then dashes out before sacrament meeting ends. 

We have been trying some new finding techniques lately too. We were going through our area book and discovered that we weren't teaching anyone named Maria and every good Spanish area needs at least one investigator named Maria, so we decided to look up every person in the area book named Maria who had talked to missionaries before. Ironically of the about 15 that we tried yesterday (out of the 50+ in the area book), we were only able to talk to one person named Maria. The rest either weren't home or had moved or didn't answer the door, and the one Maria we talked to was the very last one we tried at the end of the night. They were busy, but they did say we could come back another day and talk some more with them. Hopefully it works out! Then our "Maria day" was probably inspired, instead of just some crazy idea we had because nothing else seems to be working at this point. Good times. I am excited for this upcoming week though, we made some good plans and we have some great appointments scheduled and I know we're going to see more miracles.

Well, that's it for now folks, until next week! 

Hermana Burton 

"Opposition in all things" goes both ways! (Monday, January 11, 2016)

Dear Mom and wonderful people, 

This week I realized that most people think about the principle "opposition in all things" in the sense that because we have good times in life, we also have to have bad times. However, just as A+B=C and B+A=C, it can go both ways! When we have bad times, we know that we are going to have good times too because there must be opposition in ALL things, not just in the good things! There will always be evil to counteract the good, but there will also always be good to counteract the evil! I don't know, maybe that only makes sense in my head, but it seems like a more optimistic way to look at life and it makes me happier so I'm going to stick with it. 

This week was falling under the category of "bad things," but in the midst of the negative and difficulties we were able to find good things, even miracles! It was the first week of the new transfer with a new companion (and Hermana Gudmundson is wonderful, by the way) and aside from all of the craziness of the new way the transfers are handled, there was even more added stress because of additional circumstances and both she and I were feeling a little blue and it was hard for us to have the motivation to get out and work. When we did though, we were definitely able to see the hand of God in our lives and we made progress with the people we have been working with here! We decided to talk to the less-active Hispanic church members about the Book of Mormon because that is what we are studying in Sunday School this year, and it opened the door to allowing us to getting to know them better and seeing what their needs are. 

There is one Hermana in the ward who has been feeding the missionaries and used to come to church pretty regularly, but she hasn't been coming in a while and we weren't really sure what was going on with her. Apparently missionaries only went over to her house for dinner appointments and shared a quick message then, but no one had been trying recently to just go and visit her without the expectation of a dinner so my companion and I decided to just stop by one day and talk to her about the Book of Mormon. We were planning on just making sure she understood what it is and why it is so important and we weren't sure if she was even going to let us in, but she let us right in and jumped up to grab her book and wanted to start reading right away! Then in the middle of the chapter we were reading, out of nowhere her husband ran into the room and grabbed a book and started reading with us too! It's been even longer since he has come to church or showed interest in doing anything, and he came in on his own and jumped right in! And it gets even better! They told us to come back and keep reading with them, and even told us to make sure we came on a certain day because that's the husband's day off and they both wanted to be there and they are going to keep reading together until then! She told us that she hadn't left the table after dinner and she had just been sitting there feeling a little down and almost waiting for something to happen, and then we showed up on her door. This was the second time that happened that day, because we had showed up at someone else's house just in time when they were feeling a little down too. The real miracle though is that all this happened on a cold and rainy door when both my companion and I were feeling blue and discouraged, and we were able to help these wonderful people and cheer ourselves up in the process. Heavenly Father really is in charge of His work, and He watches out for all of us!

Anyway, sorry that was so long but just remember that even though there is a lot of darkness and bad things in the world, there are also many great and wonderful things! As one of my previous companions would say to anyone having a rough day, "Cheer up, buttercup. Things aren't as bad as they seem." Love you all! Have a wonderful and cheery week!

~Hermana Burton

Pictures!

I have never found a street with my name before! Also the bottom
picture was yesterday... We were out walking and I was thinking to
myself, "Well, isn't this a nice spring day!" Then I remembered that
it was January 10th, the middle of winter... Finally we had a warm
day! It has been cold and rainy, but yesterday the sun came out for a
bit. Winter here is overcast and between the time spent in the car and
in people's homes, that's probably why I don't have much vitamin D.

Staying in Sonoma! (January 4, 2016)

Dear Mom and everyone else,

Well another transfer has come and gone and I'll be staying in Sonoma again! I am really glad because I know there is still a lot of work to be done here. It was crazy with all of the holidays, but I'm glad things are settling back down and I'm grateful for this fresh start. My dear companion Hermana Figueroa is leaving and I will miss her dearly! She taught me so much and I really enjoyed being her companion. We laughed quite a bit. My new companion will be Hermana Gudmundson and I already know her! It's actually an in-zone transfer so she's just moving from Napa to Sonoma so I've already spent some time with her. She is really sweet and a really hard worker and I know we are going to see miracles. 

Speaking of miracles, week-six miracles are real! This week we were finally able to meet a family that my companion has been trying to meet for 4 months and that we've been trying to see since I got here six weeks ago. They were home and they let us in! They are members of the Church, but they haven't been coming in a long time. Well, they said they want to come back! I'm excited to be able to work with them. There were also a lot of hispanic members who came to church on Sunday who haven't come in a while and who we haven't been able to see and that made me so happy and gave me so much hope! I really want to work with them and get to know them, because I know that the most effective missionary work is with members. That's why we saw so much success in Willits because the members were involved, and I want to apply what I learned there to the work here so we can get it moving forward. It was cool because we got to see some of the results of our work on Sunday because we haven't seen it much over this transfer, and I know the next six weeks are going to be great and that we are going to work hard. 

Did I ever mention that New Year's Day is my favorite holiday? I love change and fresh starts and moving forward, and all that is possible because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Today is the first day of the rest of your life! Embrace change and move forward! Life is good. Lots of love from Sonoma!

~Hermana Burton

FB post this week

Investigator Marbella

New Year's Eve finding activity in Napa

Sister Wright