Sacramento - Week 67

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).

COUNTDOWN: 31 DAYS

“Something to Laugh About”

May 5, 2014

Hello one and all! 

This week flew by and even though I made notes of what I wanted to write about, I still feel like this letter is going to be a short one, but we'll see. 

This week was basically a whole lot of biking and sweating and people canceling their appointments. It happens. However, in every hard week there lies a miracle. 

We started teaching a family in Ripon! They are Ripon's first new investigators in......let's just say a really long while. The mom's name is Charlotte Web and she and her husband are from Hawaii. Her husband is stationed in South Carolina with the army right now, but will be home at the end of the month. We had our first lesson with Charlotte Web and her 3 children (8,5, and 3) on Saturday. I love teaching families because when children are involved, missionaries really think about teaching simply, which is what we are supposed to do with everyone anyways. It's been a great blessing on my mission to teach so many families with young children because my teaching simply skills have been kept up well. It was a new experience for the children because they haven't been raised with a Christian background at all. They knew who God was, but that was about it. Charlotte Web said that she really thought the Joseph Smith story made sense, and that the 8 year old, Fern, has been asking to go to church. They couldn't make it to church on Sunday, but hopefully they will commit to be there this week for Mother's Day. We're going to have a lesson this week on Jesus Christ - who He is and what He did for us and why we should follow him by being baptized, and then extend baptismal dates to Charlotte Web and Fern. It's exciting for Ripon! 

Lots of fun stories from street contacting people this week. Street contacting has become one of my favorite things to do as a missionary. You meet the most interesting people and truly grow to love your area because you feel like you know the people there. I contacted a young guy this week who was walking his dog. I started to tell him about mormon.org and the Restoration and he replied, "I'm an Atheist, sweetie."

I'm sure he thought that the fact that he didn't believe in God would really throw me, but I was much more bothered by the fact that he called me sweetie.....

We testified to him that God lives and loves us and challenged him to learn more. He declined, so I just said, "I know that God loves you, and that when you are ready to get to know Him, He will be right there ready for you. When you get to the point that you want to know if God is real, check out mormon.org, ok?"

I hope he does. 

Another guy we contacted while he was watering his lawn. He was also pretty young, probably 19, and when we asked him to check out mormon.org he said, "I've met you before. You used to come here all the time."

I knew I had never talked to this boy in my life, so I figured it was other missionaries, I said, "That was probably the sisters who were here before us."

He thought about it for a minute and then said, "Oh yeah. It was a skinnier blonde girl."

My companion was mortified but I started cracking up! This poor boy realized he had totally put his foot in his mouth and with a look of horror said, "Oh! No! That's not what I meant. I mean....you know...not that you guys aren't...the blonde one was just....uh....oh....sorry."

I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING! I was falling off my bike. After I regained my composure, I said, "Now you HAVE to check out the website." He agreed to do so. I'm still laughing about that one. At least he didn't call me sweetie. 

We taught a lot of families this week, which is always so fun. One of the kids told us, "Wow, you guys are hekka sweaty."

My companion was a little offended. I just said, "Thank you. Wanna know a secret? We're hekka smelly too." He thought I was funny, so mission accomplished. 

I just realized this email has basically just been funny stories. Well, it's been one of those weeks. These were the moments that kept me going when it got hard. I am convinced that when we simply choose to be happy, we can be, no matter the situation. God sends us plenty of things to laugh and smile about, we just have to choose to recognize them, and do it! 

I know my Savior lives! I am grateful for a wonderful, loving Father in Heaven who sent me to my amazing family and the best mom in the world. 

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there. I don't know how you do it, but I am sure grateful that you do. Find something to laugh about this week! 

Love, 

Sister Burchett