"Saying goodbye to Temuco......Saying Hello to Victoria"

"Hermana Sandra and Hermano Erwin. MIS PAPAS!"

"Saying bye to my good 'ol friends in Temuco:("

"Maria Jesus and her crazy little ones."

"Crazy Hermana Gladis! We sure enjoyed our time together:)"

 

"Los Angeles......going to hear Elder Oaks."

"Meeting up with Hermana Lozano."

"We have these lovely little slugs worm up through our floor:) so we kill them with salt."

"A train passed us and we almost died. Maybe we shouldn't walk in the train tracks." Hmmmmmm.

"Thanks for the hump day shirt mom!"

"Me and Hermana Mendoza. She's from Peru:) She is so cute!"

Elder Oaks

This last week in Temuco has been CRAZY! And yes people. Today is TRANSFERS! I am leaving my favorite little Temuco Cautin and Hermana Matias :( Where am I going........ VICTORIA!!!!!! I actually started my mission in this zone and now I am going back. I started in Curacautin which is an hour outside of Victoria. Then went to Temuco which is also an hour outside of Victoria. Now I am going to Victoria!! Isn't that crazy!?! I don't know what the north of the mission is like. Hahaha! And I am still about 4 to 5 hours from the mission office. I feel like I may never know what it is like to serve up north. But that's okay! I love the south :) And Victoria is one of the coldest parts of the mission! Victoria and Curacautin! Perfect because we are just entering winter.

So on Saturday we had a broadcast live with Elder Oaks!!! We traveled to Los Angeles early Saturday morning and the broadcast was with the missions Antofagasta, Santiago North, Concepcion, and Concepcion South. Elder Oaks was in Santiago doing the broadcast. It wasn't working really in the beginning and so President Bluth asked us all to pray. It was crazy because we could see all the other missions praying on the camera on Skype and right after all of us started prayer, the video started working perfectly! It was really cool and awesome to see the power of prayer. 

Elder Oaks talked a lot about how we teach and the most important things that we teach as missionaries. He said the most important thing we teach is that we come from a Heavenly Father who loves us. That we are literally His children and that He created us and sent us here. That was really powerful to hear. Then he also said the thing that we must teach first is how to pray. That if our investigators don't know how to pray, what is the point? That without prayer, they won't receive answers to their questions and won't progress. It was a very powerful broadcast. Then he got really stern and said that in the next year, the apostles and prophet will be talking A LOT about the sacrament. That in general conference, that was just a warm up and that we need to prepare ourselves to hear those messages. It was intense to say the least. 

I have absolutely loved these 2 transfers I had with Hermana Matias. They were the hardest 2 transfers that I have EVER had in my mission but the best. I learned so much from Hermana Matias and really don't want to leave her! It's so sad, transfers! But I guess life goes on. I am ready to go to Victoria!!! :) 

Con amor,

Hermana Burnham

 

 

 

 

"He Lives!"

Yes folks. I just hit my halfway mark!!! It was soooo crazy to hit my halfway mark. I feel like these 9 months just flew past me and yet, I feel like I just got here. I am now considered and oldie missionary in the mission. The newbies are gonna think I am so old!!!! I remember thinking that when I got here. But hey, 9 months more of awesome adventures :)
 

So this week was kind of a week like uhhhhh..... why can't we find ANYONE? There has to be someone out there wanting to listen! Then on Friday we were kind of feeling down. All of our appointments fell through and we were like, okay. Let's go try with this lady we contacted the other day. She lives in kind of a richer neighborhood where we NEVER have any success and no one ever opens their doors. So we knocked the door at 9:20 in the night and it was a young girl, like 22 years old. We asked if Oriana was there (the lady we contacted a few months before) and she said no. So we gave her a card and asked if we could come in to watch a 2 minute video with her (the new video from the church called He Lives) She said she would have to ask her friend because it isn't her house. So she ran up the stairs, came back down and told us to come in. I was honestly shocked! We hooked up our USB to a computer and as we were setting it up she told us her name was Camila. And then she said usually when the mormons knock her door, she lies and says she is busy. But that she opened the door this time and doesn't really know why. I was my awkward self and just kind of laughed.

So we watched the video and I have seen it about 4 times before, but I felt the spirit so strong this time. I had tears in my eyes! Then I looked at Camila and she was crying. A lot. The video finished and I asked what she liked about it. She didn't talk for a while and just cried. She then said she has been searching for Christ in her life and that just moments before we knocked the door, her and her friend were talking about Christ and that she wants to be happier in her life. That's why she opened the door. Camila then told us that she said this was her sign. That not just 2 little mormon girls knocked her door, but that Christ did. I have never felt the spirit so strong. We were all crying. Me and Hermana Matias gave our testimonies and wrote down her address to visit another day. Too bad she lives in a different area! :) Hahahaha!
 

Honestly though, this week we hardly had any lessons and no one new in our area. But I had the BEST lesson of my mission this last Friday. I will never forget how strong the spirit was and how I felt. I love being able to meet so many people and bring them to Christ. I am so grateful for my companion too and that we both followed the spirit that night and knocked that door. Looking for someone else, but finding the person God prepared. The Lord works in mysterious ways and a lot of the time, we will never know why, but we will know that the Lord has a plan and His plan is perfect.

I love you all so much! I know that our Heavenly Father loves you all and is aware of you. Look for Christ in your life and always pray. That's where the happiness is :)
 

Con amor,

Hermana Burnham
 

P.S. He Lives is an awesome video!!!! You all  need to watch it :)