Dear Family, December
2, 2013
As you heard, or saw, from the
picture from Bishop Galland, I'm now in Laguna Beach! It is another
beach city (obviously) and well, I love it so far! I am
companions with Sister Kimball and Sister Morgan. And…I got called
to be a Sister Training Leader with Sister Kimball. So that should be
exciting! We are planning to have a lunch at the mission home
with all of our sisters this Saturday and then...lots of transfers, and lots more
meetings. This is my life right now...at least a third of it is spent in
meetings, and the rest...finding and teaching and baptizing! :) So, that
will be exciting. I was kind of expecting it, but I didn’t know until
transfer meeting when President Orgill said it. So...it should be
good though I don't think it has really hit me yet. But, something new, and to keep me busy.
So. I'm in Laguna Beach, and
really, it doesn’t feel like December AT ALL!!! Which is weird, but ya
know, makes it easier to not think about the usual things that we do around
this time of year, since it literally felt like July yesterday!
Crazy. But, this area is
really awesome. So Sister Kimball was already here, which is nice, so no
white washing, but just working hard. We have a lot of investigators
here! And lots of work to do!
:) One of our investigators that we met on Wednesday, is Brian. And he got baptized yesterday! So
that was great to attend, and get to know him a little bit before he was
baptized. And we are excited to
teach him and his wife Kristy the new member lessons, as well as teaching their
kids, Giselle and Ethan, and hopefully the kids will be getting baptized in the
coming weeks! :) So that is pretty great! We have more
investigators, but I haven't met any of them, so I can't really tell you about
them yet! :)
It sounds like thanksgiving was
great! :) We had it at Bishop's house, and he has 8 kids. Some of his wife’s family was there, so
there were about 28 of us total, and it reminded me of being home, so that was
a good familiar thing! Though, it really didn't feel much like Thanksgiving to
any of us (me and my companions) we haven't figured out why yet, but it just
didn't. But we were taken care of!
And I'm glad that you had a fun Thanksgiving, and that you were able to
start getting things decorated. We
don’t have decorations (yet) for our apartment, but we are excited for
Christmas, I live in an apartment with 2 other sisters as well, so there is 5
of us, so that is fun and crazy, but it will be good! And I'm excited to spend Christmas here, Kristy and
Brian already invited us over for Christmas, so we'll probably be skyping from
there. :) So, that is good news!
This ward is great, the chapel is
small, and funky shaped, but it is a great ward from what I've seen so far, so
I'm excited to be in this area! Plus, I feel like everyone I meet, I
already know. It's kinda weird,
and I haven't figured out why yet, but it is good! :)
So this week has been good, just
trying to get adjusted to new things: new area, new companion, new apartment,
new ward, etc. But things are really going well, and I'm grateful for the
change, and for the opportunity I have to meet with more people and help others
progress in the gospel!
Hmm what else? Let’s see, yesterday we went contacting
and that was fun. We talked to
about 80 people in an hour, welcome to a beach city! haha,
we ended up teaching 2 lessons during it as well. And with one of them,
we invited the girls to the baptism last night, and they wanted to come,
but didn't show up. Sad, but they
both have book of Mormons and mormon.org
cards. So If they have questions,
or if God has that in His plan for them, they will find missionaries again. But it was really cool how we found
them, just shows that God does know each of us and he will put us in places
where we can help people! :)
OK, so about my companions.
Sister Kimball has been out a month longer than me, and she is from...all over
the place, she actually left from Switzerland to come on her mission, but her
family has since moved to Highland, Utah. :) She is great, and we
get along well. She had a feeling the other day that we'll be companions
for a while, which would totally be fine! And then Sister Morgan is
great also! She is from Texas, and
just finished getting trained! So we are all excited to work together! :)
So, things are good, the work is
great! And things are just
progressing! And, I have an invitation for you! Set a
goal as a family for how many gospel conversations you can have this week with non
members. Then pray everyday every prayer to have opportunities to
share the gospel. (Talk about a doctrine, bear testimony, teach a simple
truth) and you don't have to force them, they will come as you open your mouths
to share. I promise! So will you
accept? I'm excited to hear how it goes. And also, they don’t have
to be people who are ready to be baptized, it can be anyone, and about
anything! Even if you are just planting a seed, it is missionary
work! :) And that is all that God is asking us to do! we have
the most amazing thing out there! think of ways that you can share it this
Christmas season! :)
I hope things are going
well, sounds like the week was pretty good! :)
Have fun dancing this weekend Kenna!
:) You'll do great! :)
Keep smiling, keep thinking of
our Savior! Keep doing good things!!!
I love you all!!
Love,
Sister Taylor Burningham
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| This explains my last companionship...I'm crazy ;) |
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