Sacramento - Week 45

Due to the new security measures requested by the Mission leaders, the names of all investigators and people that Sarah comes into contact with will be replaced with the name of a well-known character from a children’s movie. This will keep the identities of people safe as well as make it easier to keep everyone straight. The name given is in NO WAY intended to reflect the personality, looks, or circumstances of the individual(s).

“Didn't We Just Do This?”

December 2, 2013

The weirdest thing about having your P-day on Thanksgiving is that 3 days later you have another one on Monday! So this will basically be a recap of Thanksgiving plus a few little miracles we saw in the interim. 

Thanksgiving was great. It started with our ward's Turkey Bowl. The missionaries all came. The Elders played and Sister Ward and I sipped hot chocolate and enjoyed the show. It was hilarious. Closest thing to watching football we will get this season. We had a lot of non-members there too, so we got to mix and mingle and nurse several bloody noses. Nothing like having a gospel conversation while trying to stop someone from bleeding. "Head down like you're praying. Great. Do you pray by the way? You should. God loves to hear from you because He is our loving Heavenly Father...."

We ate a super yummy dinner with one of our members' parents' house and her parents happened to be in the 5th ward so we also ate with Elder Seaman and Elder Hemingway. It was lots of fun and our member's less active sister was there so we got to finally make contact. She never opens the door for us, so that in itself was a Thanksgiving miracle. 

After the Pie Fight

Afterwards we stopped by the Munster's and the Frankenstein's. I have never eaten so much pie. Everywhere we went they fed us pie. I was exploding! And then I realized that this is just the beginning of a season in which I will be fed way too much pie. And so I put on my loose fitting clothes and soldier on. 

Elder Seaman and I, who do you think won the fight?

Returning from the pie tangent, we went to the Frankenstein's and Sister Frankenstein's parents were there and in town. It was so fun to talk with them. They kept thanking us for teaching their family and for everything we've done and I just kept telling them "It's not us." It really has nothing to do with us. Everything has to do with the Lord and His work. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ NEVER forget about us. They are always mindful of us, but they won't force us to do what's right. They guide us and give us every opportunity to return to the right path. When we are ready to make that choice, they are waiting with open arms to receive us. Sister Ward and I are lucky and blessed enough to be used as an instrument to help them return. It's so not about us, but I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father lets us be a part of it. 

Since Thanksgiving was an all day P-day, we met at the church that evening to play sports. During a spirited game of "Zombies", I accidentally opened a door on my companion's toe....it might be broken. In my defense, she was barefoot and accident prone. It wasn't her best plan. Luckily we are good enough friends that she didn't take it personally....we've had lots of fun making up stories for how it happened….

"We were tracting and they tried to shut the door on us!"

"We were biking and a coyote attacked us!"

"Sister Ward got really angry at me one evening and tried to kick me in the head. She forgot how hard headed I am and....." 

The evening ended with a slightly unplanned pie fight. Everyone was covered in pumpkin pie, and after such an amazing day off, we were ready to go back to work!

Saturday was a day of miracles. Several of the part member families we have been trying to see let us in! And we set up return appointments! It was amazing! It really is the season of miracles. We are in the midst of planning an epic caroling blitz. We are working with ward members to carol to their less active and non-member neighbors. We have a bag of goodies with a joy to the world pass along card and an invite to all the upcoming Christmas activities. Who can resist treats and Christmas carols?! No one! We foresee great success. I just love Christmas. 

Sunday we got to visit the Young Women and the High Priests to talk about missionary work. One of the High Priests said something that really stuck out to me. He said, "Sometimes I read the Book of Mormon and I think, how could they be so dense?! It's all written out for them and the prophet was telling them exactly what to do and they didn't do it! I don't want to look back at this time in my life and think, 'why was I so dense?!'" It's so true! We really don't want to look back on this life and kick ourselves, do we? We want to look back and see that we did everything we were asked to do to the best of our ability. President Monson keeps saying, "Now is the time!" Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but now! Now is the time to participate in the great work of salvation for God's children. 

Have a wonderful week! Remember the reason for the season! 

Sister Burchett