What a Week

September 24, 2013

Well, honestly, I don't even know where to begin!  This week has been a great one, and a long one, and a happy one!

So, let's see.  I went on Exchanges last week, so that was fun!   I went with Sister Bingham to her area, and with her new companion that she is training, so that was exciting!   Let's see, we have also had choir, which is going well, but we missed it today cause of the temple (which was FABULOUS by the way!!!)  Loved it!!  It was great! :)   So I am grateful that we had the opportunity to go!  It has been awhile for me, so that was a great blessing! :)

  

Let's see. Oh, so on Friday we had a Sister’s conference. We went and were spiritually fed and then we got to go "shopping."  People from all over our mission donated clothes, so we were able to get a few new outfits.  Also we learned about make-up tips, sewing tips, and we also all made skirts.  It was just a great time, and a great day, and I'm pretty sure it was like Christmas.  We got lots of new clothes.  Not sure what I'll do when I get transferred again, but I have high hopes that that won't be happening for quite awhile! :) but we will see!! :)   So, that was Friday.  

And I think that one of the greatest days on my mission thus far was Saturday.   Remember Rich?  I taught him in San Clemente.  I met him my very first night, and I may or may not have questioned if he would ever get baptized. Remember how just before I left San Clememte, I told you how Rich said that he had wanted to get baptized.... Well friends and family,  Rich is now a Mormon.  He is married too! :)  It was such a wonderful experience.  Probably the most spiritual baptism yet.  There weren't many of us there, just his new wife, (Jenn, who is a member, and I just love her!)  Her parents (her dad baptized Rich) then one of her sisters, and her two kids.  Cole, Jenn's son, and then Waverly, Rich's daughter.   And one of her friends, and a lady who is a life long friend of Rich’s.   And then us.  He was excited, and well, he was just ready.  It was amazing to have known him for so long, and to truly see the change that came about him.  After he was baptized, you could just feel the spirit, he was clean, and you could feel it!   It was so amazing, simply because I did spend so much time in their home. I could feel the love that God has for them, and it is a love that I have had for them.   So, it was an amazing experience, and I am glad that I was able to be a part of it!! :)  So that was truly the highlight of my week, then with the Sister's Conference, and then the temple today.  It has been a good week!

So things are going well.  We are still teaching Grace and Mackey and Trinity!  They are doing great!  And it has just been wonderful to be a small part of their lives! :)  I love that part of being a missionary (ok, well I love a lot of parts) But especially that I have been able to meet so many people, to share my testimony with them and to see what the Lord can and has done for them! It is a blessing, and I absolutely love it! :) I just love being a missionary!!

Things sound like they are going great at home! :)  Busy with school, and sounds like there has been a flood of farewells, which is just crazy!! :)  And great!   The Lord truly is hastening his work, and that is just a miracle! :) 

So, my trio. Sister Lang and Sister Putnam. I love them dearly!  We are all always together, and we teach together, it is the same as if there were two of us, there are just 3 instead, and it has been a great time! :)  

Tell Chad and Kristi congrats!   Crazy how time is flying, how everyone is getting older, I feel like, cause for me, real life has stopped, so I sometimes feel like it should be stopped for everyone else as well, but it doesn't, but it is so good to hear about family, and all the great things that are happening!! :)

Irvine is good!  Still pretty warm!   We have the car Tuesday to Friday, and walk the rest of the time!   Which some days is good, others it is hot, but I am just remembering to be grateful that I am serving in such a beautiful and wonderful mission, that I am still in America, and that I do have a car part time! :)  Our area isn't too big, probably about... hmm lets see, about 3 or 4 miles long, about 1/2 a mile or a little bigger wide.  It actually isn't that big, and when we do walk, we normally stay closer to where we live, so we don't end up walking the whole area every day! :)

Ah dad, I remember going to that football game with you! :) ah, happy memories!  So many happy memories! And so many more in the years to come!  And I am just so grateful that I am able to hear from you each and every week!!:) Kenna, you look adorable!  You are looking so much more grown up. You are beautiful!  And mommy, thanks for keeping me updated! I love all of you so much! You are simply the greatest!! :)

I hope that you have a great week!   Things should be good here, just trying to find more investigators, teaching the ones that we already have and just smiling and laughing every moment, because we do have great reason to rejoice, because we have this wonderful gospel!! :)

I love you so much!

I'll send pictures in just a second!!!  Have a great week!  Keep sharing the gospel online, and every chance you get!!!  I love you!!

Love,

Sister Taylor Burningham 

Hello

Hello Family! :)                                                                             September 16, 2013

How are you doing today?   On this fine Monday morning?  Things are going good here in Irvine! :)   We had 12 nonmembers in our ward yesterday, so that was really exciting!  And, dad, yesterday,  we got picked up by a member, and the wife was driving her husbands BMW, and M3 (no idea what that means, but he said that I had to say that when I told you) But, I rode in a BMW yesterday, so that was pretty exciting.  The things that you do when you don't have a car ;)   haha.

So, lets see. This week has been a pretty good one, pretty hot too.   So lets start at the beginning, last Tuesday was a really funny day.  We had a zone training, so no morning studies, which threw us all off. And then, we had a choir practice. Which was fun, but slightly embarrassing, we had to sing in front of everyone...ummm ya. Yay.  That was joyful.   And then the guy in charge told me that I'd never had professional training (uhhhh duh...I got invited to be in the choir...haha.) So that was joyous, and made me laugh.  But, the choir thing should be fun so I am really looking forward to that. :)

We started teaching Grace again, and so that is super exciting!  She wants to get baptized, and so that is great! And she was at church yesterday, and the only question she had was from Sunday School, about the plan of salvation, which we haven’t even taught her yet!  But she is excited to learn, and that is just so wonderful!!! :)

   

Hmmm, so that is Grace, what else happened this week... Oh, we had a potential investigator come to church and to a baptism on Saturday and yesterday.  So that was pretty great!   Let's see. Oh ya, we went to an interfaith event last Wednesday, and it was at our church, but very interesting. Very interesting to be able to feel the Spirit at times, and then not at other times.   So interesting how people have bits of the truth, but they don't have everything!  It is so great to be out here, being able to share with others the truth, and truly raise a warning voice, because there is so much wickedness in the world, but,  the Lord is real, and he does want all of his children to return to him!   And that is the most glorious part of the plan, that we are going to be able to return!! :)

It sounds like things are going good! :)  So that is great! :) Loved hearing about all the news, and I loved your dress Kenna, that is super cute!! :) You look so adorable!! :) I still can't believe that so many people I know are about to leave (or are leaving) for missions.  It is super, super crazy!!     It is so exciting to hear about everyone who is leaving, the Lord truly is hastening his work, and it is so wonderful to be a missionary at this time! :)    Wow, I can't believe that in Utah they are over 13 wards!!! That is crazy, sometimes I feel overwhelmed, and we are only over one ward!  That is crazy, but it just shows how different the work is in different parts of the world :)     But yes, advice to any future or current missionaries...love the people, love your companion, and the Lord will do the rest! :)   It is quite wonderful, but sometimes easier said than done. But it is doable.  :)  

  

Wow...Rachel, getting married on my birthday!   That is great! Tell her congrats!  :)   If you are able to get in contact with Katelyn I did get her letter, and I think I wrote back last week.  If I remember right...haha :)  It takes me a long time to write back to people, I have not a lot of time on pday, so I don’t write too many letters, there just seems to be more and more to do as my mission goes on, probably because it is becoming less about me, and more about everyone else!

    

Trio is still going good! I love these dear sweet sisters that I get to serve with at this time!   They are great, and we are able to talk and laugh and do the work together!   We are still working out how to teach in a trio, trying not to talk as much, so we can all help teach, and share our testimonies, but we are doing better and better each day.  So, yes, it is challenging, but it truly is a blessing and a great growing experience!! :)   

Our weather is still pretty hot, but that is ok, we are doing just fine.  The nights are getting cooler, and we try to avoid walking a lot at the hottest part of the day, so things are getting a bit cooler!  Which is nice.  It is also nice that it isn't too humid here in Irvine. :)

Hmmm so, I feel like my brain is a little scattered today, but really it has been a pretty good week, we have seen miracles, and I am truly enjoying being a missionary.   Though, it is so weird to me to be in the group of more experienced missionaries, and I've only been out 7 months. I still have so much to learn, and I hope many things to accomplish!  But, it has been a great experience so far, and I wouldn't change it for the world! :)

  

I am so grateful that nearly a year ago President Monson made the announcement that changed my life!  I feel so blessed to be able to be serving the Lord in this way, to be helping others come closer to the Lord.  Because He truly is the most important part of our lives, Him and our families! :)  I feel so blessed, and even on the hard (or hot) days, I feel His love, and I know that the things I share each day with others are true, and that truly, we have the good news of the gospel, so my question is, what are we doing to share that with the world?  :)  

I hope that all is going well! I hope that you are all still smiling and happy! I hope that life is treating you well, and that the Lord is carrying you in hard moments! :)    I hope that you keep doing good things!  And keep smiling! 

I'll send letters tomorrow! :)  I love love love love you!!! :)

Love,

Sister Taylor Burningham 

Look for the Happiness

Hello Family!! :)                                                                                   September 10, 2013

How are you doing???

I heard about the crazy weather, but I didn't know it was that crazy!!! But that really does sound like this past weekend was an adventure! But I am glad that all is well, that you are safe, and that things are drying up! :)   

Things are good here, this week has been a good one!  Lots of changes and new things though.  

Ok lets see where to start.  Hmm Mackey and Trinity.  So, we taught them on Tuesday and on Friday.  And on Tuesday, when we got there, Trinity said that she was already nearly done with First Nephi!  This twelve year old girl is just soaking up the gospel! It is a miracle!  It is amazing!! :)   So that was great.  So far, Mackey still wants to be baptized, but doesn’t without her husband, so that has been a little bit of a roadblock, but we are praying for him nearly all the time, and we will stop by tonight to see how they are doing! :)   We get to teach Grace this week, she previously disappeared, k well, not really, she just has been super, super busy! :)   But, we get to teach her on Wednesday, and I guess the Elders stopped by on Saturday and she told them that she was super excited about our appointment, so it should be good.  We will most likely be inviting her to be baptized!

Speaking of baptisms...3 weeks ago we learned about opening windows, and we did the next day, and met Lucia, at the park,  and we taught her, and have kept in contact with her.   And guess what!!! She was baptized yesterday!!  She called us and told us how happy she was! :)  So that was just an amazing thing to kind of be a part of! Miracles happen every single day!  All around the world!! The Lord is hastening his work! The elect are being found! :)    So, that was pretty great, even though we weren't able to go and see it, I am so grateful that the gospel is true everywhere!! :)

Hmm ok, so for the changes. For one, we started walking.  So, that is really different. But great, we are able to talk to more people, but I think once it cools down we will be able to talk to even more, but right now, there aren't many people out and about because it is still so hot.  So that was an adventure.  And our AC broke, again. But they fixed the motor, so we should be good!!!   And thank goodness, because it has been hot.   I'll be glad when we get the car again, but it will be fun to keep walking, and get to know the area better than we already do!!  Second thing that is different, I'm in a trio now.  And I'm not only training sister Putnam, I'm now training Sister Lang as well. She joined us here in Irvine on Saturday, from her first area that she had been in for just 6 weeks.  She was in a companionship that really was just too far gone to be saved, so we have her now, and that has been an adventure, training two people, but I feel that the Lord has prepared me, and that He really is holding me up, and giving me the words of direction to say, so that these sisters can be the Missionaries and the people that He intends for them to be.  :)   So, that is my week, new changes, but new opportunities.  I am learning so much from both of them, and I am so grateful that I have been given this opportunity to grow in this way!!

The Lord's work is truly amazing.  The gospel is true!! :)  We have so many reasons to rejoice, the fact that God has a plan for us, that there is a purpose to everything we do, that God loves us! That we are His Children!  That the Book of Mormon is the word of God. That babies are so cute!   haha, even though I can't hold them for 11 more months, that is ok!   haha.  But, things are just great!!   And so, this week, I really want to challenge you to look for the little things.  Look for the happiness.  The world is growing ever and ever darker, we are going to need to be the examples, and the sources of light to all of those around us.  There are many even within the church that are slipping and sliding, and falling into the dark.  We need to help them.  And that starts with us.  So, this week, look for the happiness, and I can't wait to hear all about it in your letters and emails next week!! :)  So, this week has been good, I've been looking for the happiness.  And I just love how much God is in the details of our lives.  I am so blessed to be serving in Irvine, to have the companions that I do, the mission that I am in.  It truly is exactly what I needed, and I am sure that everyday for the rest of forever I will know why this was the mission that I was called to serve in.  :)

I hope that you have a great week!  Be that light for someone else, share your testimony, share a smile!  Be courageous and proud to know that you are a part of the church of God.   Share that, because the world needs it. :) 

And, yes, I'm a missionary, so I am inviting you, just as we do with the members here, to strengthen yourselves, then strengthen those around you! :)

I love you all, I hope that you have grand week, stay close to the Spirit, keep smiling! :)

I love you!

Love, 

Sister Taylor Burningham

P.S.  I can wear maxi skirts now, so I'd like my dress at some point. Also, for Christmas and birthday...if Mika Rose has any skirts that are similar to the pleated ones I got before, that would be great... one or two, size small.  Hmmm…also, modbe white and black shirts, like the black one Kenna and I both had, those would be great. (I won't need them till Christmas, but just some ideas)  New shirts would be grand, I'm getting bored.  I probably won't come home with a lot of the things that I brought, just because I wear it everyday. So, that's all I can think of now. I'm actually pretty set on journals, there was a composition notebook sale (they were 70 cents...) haha.  But, one thing that I would love from EVERYONE is pictures, either in a scrapbook, or just pictures from the year, since I haven't been there, that would give me great joy! :)   So, there are some ideas!

Have a great week! 

I love you all!