Moncton Corn Boil

Sister Coleman & Sister Burton and…..some other lil friends

Moncton

       Missionary work is nothing short of a miracle. Sister Coleman and I have been working hard to find people to teach, and to strengthen the Moncton ward. I am sometimes surprised at how involved Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives. On Sunday evening we were out knocking doors and it was time to go back for supper. We hadn't seen much success and we weren't exactly sure why we had felt inspired to knock that street. The very last house we went to was a woman named Tracy. As we talked with her we find out she's never heard of our church before but just before we knocked on the door she was having a conversation with her husband about how she wants to find a church to take their daughter to. She said they've been thinking of a few options but nothing has felt right. What an amazing experience to see how we were exactly where God wanted us to be at just the exact moment Tracy would be open to receiving missionaries into her home. Whether or not Tracy and her family accept the gospel it was amazing to see how much God loves and cares about her, and we became an answer to her prayers. 

I think it is easy as a missionary to get wrapped up in this and that and forget what exactly our purpose is, and who it is that we are working for. As I have quoted before Jeffrey R Holland says.. "Ours is not a feeble message, it is not a fleeting task, it is not hapless, it is not hopeless, it is not to be consigned to the ash-heap of history. It is the work of the Almighty God and it is to change the world." I am so happy I get to share the message of the Restoration with those here in Moncton. It is sad to see summer coming to an end but I look forward to fall weather and the approaching holidays. I am so lucky and blessed to be serving as a missionary! 

First Week on the Island

       What an emotional, and long  week this has been. Saying goodbye to New Glasgow was not easy. I love the people there so much. So much has changed over the last few days, it's amazing how fast things can happen. 

My new companion is Sister Thompson who is INCREDIBLE!! I love her so much already. She is a skilled missionary and is so sweet and we are getting along so well, which has definitely made the transition easier. I don't know what I would do without her. I have had a hard couple days because I miss New Glasgow. 

       The Island has been a hard transition for many reasons, I am certainly learning a lot. We do not have a vehicle, we are biking, which wouldn't be too bad other than the bikes are HUGE and my feet don't touch the ground (or even close) so I literally have to jump to get on and off, which makes contacting people really difficult. It also takes about 30 minutes to bike to the church and we have no way to get to the Mission Leader or the Bishops Home. In fact, the Ward Mission Leader is out of town for almost 2 weeks, which has made opening the area  little complicated. 

       The ward is good sized, which I think will be great as soon as I can learn all of the names. We are still working on getting an up-to-date ward list, which will help! There are no ward missionaries and they don't really have a ward mission plan. (both of which will be changing shortly I assure you) The drive to the island was BEAUTIFUL, we had to cross one of the longest bridges in the world. It was also neat to be able to drive through New Brunswick. Our apartment is nice, but since there were Elders living in it before we have a lot of cleaning to do. I can't believe May is almost over, but I am looking forward to June. We have a few investigators but mostly we will be doing finding, which is something I am used to. Downtown                Charlottetown is HUGE and there are people EVERYWHERE! Quite the adjustment from New Glasgow. I have met some incredible people here and I look forward to getting to know the area better. It is insane how many international people there are. Lots of people from Africa and Asia. Most don't speak English very well.  We have more Restoration pamphlets in foreign languages than we do in English (definitely different from New Glasgow).

         I know once I am adjusted I will come to love the island as well, it just might take a few weeks for my muscles to warm up to the idea of biking 50 kilometers a day, and getting to know the people here in Charlottetown. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here, I know that I am going to grow so much. (and probably lose weight) haha I look forward to all the work I can do in this area. It just takes lots of work, and prayer. Thank you for all your support, and letters... Til next week...

Love

Sister B.

5 Months and a Baptism

Happy Monday! 

We may have over flowed the font…oooops

Dwayne's Baptism

       What an amazing week it has been here in New Glasgow! I love it here so much! It was a busy week but it was also a very good week. Tuesday we had a few extra sisters staying at our apartment, Wednesday was zone conference (which was awesome), Friday we went on exchanges, and Saturday was Dwayne's Baptism!! Wahoo!!! It was so incredible!! His whole family came and we had a few of our other investigators show up as well. And we got a surprise visit from Sister Starkie and President Leavitt. Yes, they randomly showed up at the baptism! Sunday Dwayne was confirmed in sacrament meeting and I also had to play the piano.. which went alright. Next week will be 3 weeks in a row and I'm running short on hymns I know how to play, but am so grateful I have been able to help the branch out in whatever way possible. 

        There is a quote by Jeffery R Holland that says, "God doesn't care nearly as much about where you have been as he does about where you are and, with his help, where you are willing to go." We meet people everyday that have a strong desire to follow Christ. Unfortunately, not everyone is willing to do what needs to be done. It is hard to watch those who have received answers to their prayers, and confirmations that the Book of Mormon is true being unwilling to give up their time, addiction, religion, pride, etc. I think about the song Go the Distance on Hercules that says.."I know every mile, will be worth my while. I will go most anywhere to feel like I belong." The path that leads to eternal life is not an easy one, but it is the way to happiness. So many people say they have a strong faith in Christ but the number of those actually striving to do so is significantly smaller. The Savior spoke of this himself in the book of Matthew

 Chapter 21.

28 A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go ^awork to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, ^aI will not: but afterward he repented, and went. 30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and ^awent ^bnot. 31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first.

        I think about how often I find myself guilty of being the second son saying Yes I will do that.. and perhaps falling short of that commitment. I know that the Atonement can make up for the places in which we lack and that as Jeffery R Holland said, God doesn't care about where you have been. He cares about where you are willing to go with his help. I love that and I love being on the Lords side. Nothing brings more peace and comfort. I hope you all had a great week! Thank you for all the support! 

Love

Sister Burton 

Wedding Cake

Sister Burton taking charge and cutting the wedding cake

Tracting and a kind lady gave the juice boxes

Sister B making a wedding cake

2/24/2014

       Well everyone the results are in and I will be staying in New Glasgow!! :) Kind of to be expected as I am in the middle of training Sister Curtis but you never know so I am so excited I get to stay in New Glasgow for another transfer. It's crazy to think that by the time this transfer is over I will have been in New Glasgow for almost 6 months. I love the people here so much and am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here.

         The wedding on Saturday went incredible! I got to stand in as a witness. Not really sure what that means, but I felt honored and signed the papers anyway!! :) I was just so happy to see Dwayne and Crystal making those first steps to follow the Savior. Dwayne is so excited to be baptized. We went over the baptismal interview questions with him and he is solid! His baptism isn't until the 8th of March but it's still coming up pretty fast. Great news, his daughter Karolanne, who is 14 is now also on date to be baptized! We are working with the rest of the family as well, but they have not yet accepted the invitation to be baptized. Decorating the cake and the cultural hall was so much fun and Dwayne invited us over to his mothers house after (who is super catholic). We were really nervous but it ended up being just like our family parties. The people were so friendly and his mother even invited us to come back and talk with her. Which is awesome!! We had 3 investigators at church on Sunday, which is the most New Glasgow has seen in a very long time! Everything is going great here and I really just thank Heavenly Father for each day I get to spend serving in this area. I love being a missionary so much! 

           Oh funny story, we were street contacting and we were talking to this woman about the Savior. We had a good long conversation that went on for a few minutes. We talked about how through His atonement we can be cleansed from sin. She's like oh.. kinda like yoga? we were like what?! Yoga cleanses you from your sins? haha I wasn't really prepared to address that concern. we laughed about that forever. The things people say.. haha Anyway I hope you all have a great week! The weather has been awesome and so is being a missionary! I love this gospel! It truly has the power to change lives! :) thanks for all you do to support me, and missionaries throughout the world! 

Love

Sister B

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day last week!! :) Valentines Day.. the most awkward day to be a missionary. haha I was thinking today about how crazy it is that I have lived in New Glasgow for almost 4 months now. I love it here so much and I think we are really starting to make progress. The zone leaders called last night to discuss how our area was doing. We've had a few really great weeks and they said the New Glasgow Sisters are leading the whole zone in key indicators and lessons taught! Wahoo!  It's amazing to see the growth happening. I was talking with Elder Amaya (district leader) after church yesterday and in a recent letter to him, President Leavitt told him, "Sister Burton will be a power force to push this mission forward." Isn't that awesome!? Sometimes it feels like what I am doing won't ever be enough. Missionary work is stressful and relying on the spirit 100% of the time is not easy. but what is amazing is that the Lord uses our hands to perform his miracles. Jeffrey R Holland said, "When Christ comes, the members of His church must look and act like members of His church are supposed to look and act is we are to acceptable to Him. We must be doing His work and we must be living His teachings. He must recognize us quickly and easily ans truly being His disciples." I loved that because it doesn't just apply to missionary work, but to everything we do in life. 

A quick update on what's going on here.. Dwayne and Crystal are getting married at the church on Saturday! Hooray!  No worries, I pretty much planned their entire wedding. haha Karolanne, (their 14yr old daughter) is going to help us make their wedding cake on Friday. 2 weeks after that Dwayne will be baptized! He's so incredible! He even is sharing mormon.orgprofiles on facebook and inviting his friends to his baptism. I just love that family. Karolanne has started coming to young womens and church and we are really excited to start teaching her as well. The Frasers have started to call me "their missionary". I love that so much! Jessie is also doing so great! She is still working on her indexing and family history but she has also decided she wants to do Personal Progress. She is just awesome and still teaching gospel principles like a pro. I caught a glimpse of the screensaver on her Ipad the other day... it's a picture of me and her at her baptism! :) I loved that! I just love the people here so much! Things are going great here in New Glasgow. Thank you for all the prayers and mail, it makes my life so much easier. Have a great week everyone!  :) 

Love

Sister Burton

February 3rd Pictures

Not sure how to go about knocking this door :)

Bowling on P-day with Sister Curtis

Go Team Canada…no offense America

I LOVE being a missionary

This last week was so incredible in New Glasgow! On Tuesday the Sister Training Leaders came for exchanges and I got to work with Sister Pizzey. She taught me so much! I learned that I'd been facing so much discouragement because I was focused on myself. I'd been looking for ways to improve My skill level, so that I can help the work progress Myself. when things got tough I would turn inward wondering what I'd done wrong or why I wasn't good enough. But of course, the secret to success is to follow the example of Jesus Christ and turn outward, when everyone else is turning inward. I learned to instead focus on how I can build Sister Curtis, and how She can help the work progress. The difference that made in our companionship was night and day. It was no longer about me. We began to have fun, to teach in unity, and to really trust one another. Not only did we find more success within our companionship, but also with the work. This week our numbers (key indicators, lessons, and contacts) were higher than they have been my entire mission. Not only that but as we were driving home each night I felt absolute peace and happiness in my heart knowing I'd given my all to the Lord that day. 

Also, I have some exciting news. I received a call from the assistants on Saturday evening explaining there was a leadership training in Halifax this coming Tuesday for all the zone leaders and sister training leaders. He said that for role playing purposes they were short one missionary to make the groups even so they invited me to attend! Out of all the missionaries in Nova Scotia (about 35) they asked me, a new missionary serving all the way in New Glasgow. I am so pumped to be able to attend this leadership conference. Just to clarify.. I have not been called to any leadership position other than a trainer. They just needed one more missionary to attend. But I'm so honored they selected me! Sister Curtis will work in Dartmouth with the sisters serving for the day there while I attend the conference. I am a little nervous to role play and such with all of the leaders of the mission but am so glad Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity to learn and grow and to be able to bring back what I learn and apply it in my own area. Plus I get to see Sister Starkie :) 

I can't express how grateful I am to be a missionary. Nothing in the world can compare to the joy I feel as I'm learning to give my heart to the Lord. 

1 John 2:17

"And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."

I can't explain all I have learned since entering the MTC but it's more than I could've imagined. I've never prayed and studied the scriptures so much in my life, but I've also never received such clear and direct answers to my prayers. Every single one. James E Faust said, "The Holy Ghost bears witness of the truth and impresses upon the soul the reality of God the Father and Jesus Christ so deeply that no earthy power or authority can separate him from that knowledge." Nothing in this world can change the truth, or stop the work of God. I love that and I love what I have been called to do! I hope everyone is healthy and happy! :) Have a great week! 

Love

Sister B. :) 

Weaknesses becoming Strengths

I had an interview with President this week and he asked me if I had any fears. Being a new missionary and recently being called to train I said.. "Of course I have fears. I haven't been able to get a referral or a solid potential since Sister Starkie left." President replied, "and does that worry you?" Why yes, yes it does. I expected him to give me advice on more effective finding efforts, or increasing skill level, or even finding someway to become more obedient. But he bluntly responded. "Worry is prayer to the wrong God. Fear is the opposite of Faith." He went on to explain that just as Heavenly Father can turn our weaknesses into strengths, Satan turns our strengths into weaknesses. We become so preoccupied with worry from lack of skill that we forget the gifts that he's already given us. Our feelings of inadequacy drives us to work less effectively. Worry is mentally planning to fail, and as President Leavitt always says.. in this mission "Failure is not an Option."

I don't have much time because we have a lot to get done today but some exciting news is we have been teaching the Fraser family for awhile and Dwayne has accepted the invitation to be baptized on March 8th. He and his wife will be married by President MacDonald in February and their children have expressed interest in the youth programs. I am totally pumped about them! All other investigators are progressing slowly but surely. 

I am learning so much and love love love the branch and the people here in New Glasgow! I hope you all have a great week!! 

Love

Sister Burton 

Cha Cha Changes

Saying Hello to Sister Curtis 

Saying Goodbye to Sister Starkie

Lovin New Glasgow

Hello Everyone! 

This week brought on a lot of emotions and a lot of change. I am doing my best to adjust to the new challenges that lie ahead. You can bet I spend a lot of time on my knees. I miss Sister Starkie a lot, but I know that Heavenly Father has other plans for us now. It's just weird because you get so close to your companion, they become your best friend. But I am excited about the opportunity I have to make a new best friend.. Sister Curtis! 

Sister Curtis is from Alberta, and has a strong desire to serve! It is definitely an adjustment and it's weird because everything I do.. she does. haha It's crazy to remember what I was like 3 months ago. As a new missionary you have no idea what's going on.. you kinda just follow your trainer around. It's been difficult for me because I no longer have the help of an experienced missionary when we go knocking, or teach lessons. I am learning SO much!!! It will take more time to adjust for sure, but things seem to going fairly smooth. I love my new companion and am grateful to be in New Glasgow still. There are so many great people here! 

We FINALLY had an investigator come to church!! Wahoo!! Wendy, she is living with a less-active member but they want to be married and she wants to be baptized. It will probably be a few months, because they have to plan a wedding and everything but I am so grateful we've had the opportunity to teach her! We have some great lessons lined up this week that I am excited for. Things definitely are hard for me right now, as I am stretching myself to the limits trying to talk with everyone and find people to teach. I just feel so inadequate for the work that lies ahead. I love the song Brightly Beams Our Fathers Mercy:

 Brightly beams our Father's mercy, From his lighthouse evermore,

But to us he gives the keeping, Of the lights along the shore.

Dark the night of sin has settled; Loud the angry billows roar.

Eager eyes are watching, longing, For the lights along the shore.

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother; Some poor sailor, tempest-tossed.

Trying now to make the harbor, In the darkness may be lost.

Let the lower lights be burning, Send a gleam across the wave.

Some poor fainting, struggling seaman, You may rescue, you may save.

I think about the area that I am serving in, there are so many lighthouses in Nova Scotia and the ocean is never far away. I know that there are times when we all feel like we can't do things that the Lord knows we can. The 3rd verse helps me a lot when I'm feeling this way. I may feel like my abilities and skills are small and inadequate (because they are) but the song says to try anyway because there is someone who needs my help out there, and my feeble light becomes what saves them from the darkness.  And that's why I LOVE being a missionary. Even when it's scary, hard, and frustrating. The Work of God will go Forth. 

I hope you all have a great week!! :) Thanks for your support! 

Love 

Sister Burton

Transfer News

Well, transfer news came out yesterday and I feel like opening that email is almost like opening my mission call all over again. It's really strange as a missionary because you never know what the Lord will call you to do next, or where he will ask you to go. In my interview with President last week he warned me that though I wouldn't be training a new missionary this transfer, he felt strongly that I should prepare myself to train in the future. Well obviously Heavenly Father had something else in mind. Sister Starkie will be serving in Halifax and I will stay here in New Glasgow and will be training a new missionary straight from the MTC. I cried more yesterday than I have since I left home 3 short months ago. Here I am, a brand new missionary myself, called to train. I'm going to need a whole lot of prayer (and a giant caramilk bar) to get through this. I am so grateful to know that President Leavitt is an inspired man and that if this is what the Lord wants me to do than by golly I'm going to do it. And I'm going to do it with all that I have. 

I feel like reality hasn't sunk in yet. I can't imagine doing the work without Sister Starkie. There are moments where I feel similar to the way Christ's apostles must have felt when he calmed the tempest. "And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship." Christ was asleep and the disciples ran to wake him saying, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" And he arose and rebuked the wind and said, "Peace be Still". And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said unto them, "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" As I read the letter from President yesterday I was so afraid. I can't even keep my room clean, or walk down an icy driveway without falling over.. how in the world am I to teach this new missionary how to represent Jesus Christ? I've only been in Canada for 2 1/2 months, how could the Lord expect ME to be a trainer? Why would he trust ME to help one of His precious servants grow to love the work? The waves and the winds were beating on my heart as doubts filled my mind,and it hurt. It's a scary thought that I will be the one in charge, that someone will be looking to ME for guidance and counsel. But the famous quote from Uchtdorf came to mind. "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." Though the storm may rage, I am grateful to know that there is one who will calm the seas. For really, I am not in charge, HE is. I am not where anyone should look for guidance, HE is, and whom the Lord calls, he qualifies. 

Now were I to say I knew what I was to do, I'd be lying. I feel kind of like Nephi when he goes to slay Laban as he says "I was led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." There are a million things running through my mind at any given time and I seem to have a constant set of butterflies fluttering in my stomach ever since yesterday morning. It will be difficult to say goodbye to Sister Starkie because of the love and gratitude I have for her. She taught me the secret to missionary work is WORK! and that's the same principle I plan to teach my new companion when I pick her up and bring her back to New Glasgow this Thursday. 

The work is really moving forward in New Glasgow. We have 3 investigators that have agreed to be baptized, but each faces their own personal challenges. It's amazing to see their countenance change over time and instead of us begging them to meet with us again, they ask how soon we can come back. I know this is where Heavenly Father wants me to be at this time and though there are moments where I feel extremely inadequate and overwhelmed.. I find rest through my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. I know that He lives and that He loves me. I'm so grateful to be a missionary and know this coming week will bring many challenges, but also the opportunity to learn and grown and become the missionary that Heavenly Father knows I can become. 

Thanks for all your support and love and prayers, they mean more than you know! 

Love

Sister Breanna Burton