Sister Sydney Burningham

Don't know if you can read this but one night we got an extreme tornado alert, my companion was extremely scared so we spent the night in the bathroom, half of which we were in the bathtub under my mattress, haha, turns out the storm wasn't that bad but she was real concerned!

Mon, May 5, 2014 at 9:46 AM
Elder M. Russell Ballard is a hero.

Hey everyone!

This week has been wonderfully exhausting and great.  I just have to say, we've been studying some talks from M. Russell Ballard lately and I really am just inspired by him to say the least, he has been an answer to my prayers multiple times the last few days, did you all get the chance to watch the CES devotional last night?  It was remarkable.  The general authorities have a special place in my heart, they're so devoted and diligent and inspiring, they make me want to be better.

As for our week and the people we are working with, we had a great experience this week with one of our investigators, she's a single lady in her 30's we found her trying to contact someone else but then she wanted to read the Book of Mormon, which doesn't happen that often so it was pretty amazing.  She has been reading it and meeting with us.  She came to the baptism on Saturday for the missionaries in the other ward and loved it!  She wants to know it's true and she is working on receiving an answer to the prayers.  She has had a really rough life and to top it all off, her Grandpa, who is the closest thing she has to a Dad, passed away a couple nights ago, luckily the plan of salvation helps us understand that this life isn't all, and she has gained strength through it, the Lord led us to her and it has been an adventure! I love her so much.

I have learned a lot this week about being a dedicated, obedient, powerful instrument in the hands of the Lord.  We all know the way we gain the power of God is through being obedient to his commandments.  I had never thought that maybe promptings we receive through the Holy Ghost to change our lives and become better were specific personalized commandments for us.  I went on an exchange with this incredible Sister who actually got brought into our mission from the boundary change from the North Carolina Charlotte mission.  She shared with me her experiences from her first six months there.  It was apparent that she had a testimony of exact obedience, that includes following the promptings of the spirit.  There are good things we can do with our time, there are better things we can do with our time, and then there are the best things we can do with our time, we need to seek out the best things and those things always end up being the specific promptings of the spirit we receive in our lives.  There are many things on my mission that I have learned but perhaps one of the most important to me is that God's timing is PERFECT.  It is never wrong, or delayed or early.  He knows exactly what I need when I need it.  He knows exactly what you need when you need it.  He knows exactly what those that we serve need and when they need it.  This week has given me renewed courage to follow the promptings of the spirit courageously and without question.  I'm reminded of a quote by President Thomas S. Monson "Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God's approval."  So we stick out like sore thumbs sometimes, we're called a "peculiar" people.  I would say that that is the privilege we have as disciples of Jesus Christ to stand up for what is right.  It is the small and seemingly simple and insignificant things we need to change in our lives that will make the biggest difference, line upon line, precept upon precept, the more we follow those promptings, the more He can trust us, and the happier we will be. 

"Great and marvelous events seem to motivate us, but small things often do not hold our attention...Is our journey sometimes impeded when we forget the importance of small things? Do we realize that small events and choices determine the direction of our lives just as small helms determine the direction of great ships?" -Elder M. Russell Ballard.

I love you all, thank you for everything you do and the examples you've been to me throughout my life.  My mission means the world to me, I will be forever grateful for this opportunity to serve.  Again sorry for so many words!

Love,

Sister Burningham.

                  This is my companion buying us ice cream, it's the best in town!  Seriously we love it.

This is a cat we found with a red shirt on, not quite sure how that happened, but he was a nice cat, haha we got 

the biggest kick out of this!!  HaHa