November 28th Letter

Goodbye party for Elder Brown

Hermanas of the mission

My mamita and papa Mono in Iquqiue and their family

Hna. Irene, Roberto, Yantamti, Analis

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Ah what a wonderful BIRTHDAY SURPRISE to open my email and see all the wonderful birthday wishes!!! Thank you all so much I don't think I have cried so hard before during emails :) Ah this week was really hard for me I had to leave Iquique and I really truly loved it there.. Especially my comp and my Family that served lunch to us everyday. They  became my family here and made my days always better. Anyways I am here in Copiapo, Copayupa  now I arrived here Tuesday at 11 am after a very long hot bus drive... My comp is Hna Vineyard from Ohio, she actually lived in LA area for awhile and went to one of the Northridge dances that I helped with. small world huh!! We live in a 3 bed ,1 bath apartment with two sisters hna Low( from the MTc) and hna Quintantilla from El Salvador. Its fun every once in a while but hard to stay focus.. For thanksgiving I headed to the doctor and got medicine for this dumb head cold cause it wasn't going away. So we took Thursday off to getter better and it worked for the most part, isn't sleep amazing. We didn't have to many lessons this week which was weird for me but oh well we did what we could.. The ward here is great  it has a pretty good mixture of different ages. We have one  investigator named Veleska, she preparing to get baptized this week.. This is way exciting cause she needs the gospel in her life.  Um the ward is great and throwing a baby shower for her on Tues .. That's whats so great about this gospel we are so organized and on top of always helping our members and non- members!!! The high light for me this week was this adorable little inactive girl name Thiare. We went to visit her and her brothers but only found her . So we shared a scripture and asked if she would come to church on Sunday and she said yes. As we leaving the house I had her on my mind the whole time, we went and got Veleska and then head to church and as I was greeting people I kept feeling I needed to run to her house and get her, but of course its not that easy as a missionary with investigators. After sacrament was passed , my comp get up and leaves. I'm a little confused but stay seated cause I can see her. I then watch her bring in Thiare. Ah I was so happy. During RS one of our counselors shared¨I saw this girl in the foyer and asked her if she wanted to come in¨she said¨yes and no¨he asked why ¨she said ¨i´m a little sick, but i  promised the hermanas I would come¨I don't know where they are though¨he asked what hermanas?¨¨ she said the misioneras¨¨ .. That's when he grabbed my comp.
 Ah how amazing is the young daughter of God to be a little sick and only 11 years old to come to church all alone because she made a promise and wasn't going to break it.!!
 This girl is my hero!! I challenge you all to start making and keeping the promises you have made to The Lord and to yourself. Attend church, read your scriptures, pray daily twice or more, attend activities. And I can promise the Lord will bless you all even more then he is right now..!!

Love hna Burnett

November 21st Letter

Antofagasta Chile Mission- funny pose

Antofagasta Chile Mission

Happy Thanksgiving Familia y Amigos!!

 Wow this week was great!! I had my first baptism Hna. Melania!! She is so great and I am so happy  that she has made this decision, I knew from the first time we visit that she was special and ready for this gospel at the very beginning. At her baptism we had a less active that hasn't come to church for a long time so it was great to see him. And we had an investigator!! The baptismal was beautiful we had the Hermanas from Bilbao sings a special number with us.!! Entonces....This week was a little hard a time with this dumb cold but I persevered with the Lords help. We found some new investigators that live in the Las Tomas which is the really poor however the people here are the most humble and appreciative ever!! I had the gift of the Spirit so strong during the lesson. I can´t even really recall what I taught because it was the home had the spirit so strong.This was Thursday, so we head to her home on Sunday and her cute cousin yells ¨Tia can I come to church too¨ ah how adorable!!! So yeah we took her and her cousin who are 10 and 11 to church. It was the primary program which they loved and then during primary class they had a little party to celebrate . The loved every moment!! Later that night we taught a lesson and after the mom told us she wants them all to go. and that she going to try to switch her work schedule to get them all there..
 So after three great lessons yesterday that night was transfer!!! so we invited the Bilbao hermanas(menghini and  mapa) slumber party. yeah the assistance didn't call till midnight!! ah it was the longest wait ever!! so Bilbao is staying and I´m totally thinking my comp is leaving and I'm going to run Playa Brava and celebrate my birthday here .NOPE.. Hna Burnett you are being transferred to COPIAPO!!! YEP AGAIN ! To the south a 12 hour bus ride!!! And your comp is another GRINGA!! ah.. How am I ever going to learn Spanish!! Ah anyways I will go were the Lord wants me to go.. So yeah no more beautiful beach or a my three Hermanas....

Love you all keep reading the scriptures and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Eat double for me!!
p.s. parents you are both fired for not writing during thanksgiving week!! p.s.s. sorry if this is unreadable- I lost track of time and reading the emails.

Con amor
Hna Burnett

November 14th Letter

HOLA FAMILIA!!
 Can I just started off with saying I had TWO AMAZING DAYS this week!! The Lord is truly blessing us each day! First thing thanks for the leggings and earrings and PEANUT BUTTER!! They were all what I really needed!! Thanks tons mom .
   So  this week we had 9 lessons with some really great less actives that just  need love from the members of the ward. We then had to work in three-somes again on Thursday and this was really hard cause our teaching flow gets stuck. However it was good . We then headed to a church downtown at 11 pm to wait for our bus with all the other elders from Iquique and Alto Hispico so I was able to meet new elders. At 3:·30 am we headed to the Tur bus to head to Antofagasta . We had a Mission Conference with all 153 missionaries because Elder Quentin Cook was coming to speak to us on Saturday morning with Elder Steven E. Snow from the Seventy, Bishop Keith McMullin, and Pres. Jorge Zeballos. It was AMAZING!! Friday night we got together and Pres Bruce talked with about the importance of Obedience which I believe to be very important and know that when my comp and I our obedient the Lord blesses us.
      So Saturday comes and wow it was great..  We got to go and shake all of these great men´s hand and their cute wives.. We then had 10 missionaries sings ¨How great thou Art¨in Spanish and then the Talks began. The first two where in Spanish and was a little  hard for me to understand and the The McMullin couple spoke and their talks were okay but then Sister Snow spoke and it was beautiful... She talked about all the great divine people we are and how blessed our families and future spouse and families will be because of the work we are doing. Ah she had me in tears. Then Elder Snow spoke about how great missionary work is and shared D&C 11. Then Sister Cook had as stand and sing and praised for serving. Then Elder Quentin Cook spoke how ¨Real growth in Chile is happening now¨¨ He shared how important this work is, and how we need not only to baptized but to fully convert these investigators and their whole family. We need them to become strong faithful members. That we need to help those Less Actives to find their needs and share the gospel again with them and reassure them of how great this gospel is  Elder Cook told us not to worry about our pass. Let go of all the things that we have done and move forward in this life. That no matter what is going on at home or with our families that us missionaries need to stay focused and work even harder. That this mission is the BEST place for us to be and that the Lord is here to help us each day.  (He said more great things but I left my notebook at home sorry.)
      Ah it was a great day , We took a whole mission picture and zone pictures and one with Old Vallenar. Oh and the elders that took our Torreblanca area baptized our red , hot , fire ,gold Alex!! They showed me a pictured and I bawled!! They baptized him the week after we left there so  I am counting him as my first baptism!!!
    Speaking of baptism, Sunday comes and I feel like poo I think one of the 100 elders hand I shook gave me the sniffles aka head cold. So we go to church with 2 great investigators and I am sleeping through most of church cause I feel like crud. Then we take a cute YW girl with us and teach a lesson and I am following asleep during the lesson. We then go to the next lesson and I am determined to be alert , which I am and we put a baptism date for the 26 of this month.!!! We then head to Melenia a cute recent convert´s mother who I gave the awesome first lesson too where the Holy Ghost just feed me all the words. We had to stop teaching her cause she was living with here Boyfriend. And the first thing she tells us last night is ¨I didn't smoke at all last week and  I just threw my boyfriend out this afternoon, oh and I decided I would REALLY LIKE TO BE BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!!!! Yep!! how amazing we go to check up on her and she like I'm great and oh I want you to baptize me this Saturday!! ah we were so trying not to jump out of our chairs and just scream!!! So I have a baptism this week!!! ah I am so excited! She is such a great lady and so ready to live this gospel!!! Ah the Lord has been truly blessing us here in Playa Brava and I am so grateful to be  here serving and watching these great miracles.

I know with out a doubt this gospel is truly and when we do our parts at worthy Latter Day Saints the Lord will bless us every day !!
Thanks for the updates mom and the great pictures I love the hat!! you rock it the best.. You don´t  need to send a hoodie Its turning summer here. Can you just send some black dress shoe sock from target  and small yummy state treats and  an a picture of you so I can hang up a recent one!! oh tell Cory and Bryon to make a laminate a picture of their baptism and a family photo cause everyone always wants to see the family and know about our baptism experience.

Love you all and wish you ah happy week!!

Con Amor
Hermana

November 7th Letter

Hola Familia!!

 I am so glad to hear that you all had a great Halloween ! I loved all the pictures thanks for sending them. I had a great Noch de Hogar with our mamita and papmono and there sister who isn't a member . It was great we talked about our talents we all have and how we need to share with others. We then made Carmel apples !! They were so yummy!! This week was awesome, The Lord blessed  us with many small miracles. We tried visiting this  hermano from the list and when we stopped by they told us he had passed away 3 months ago. We were in shock to hear this because nobody told us anything about this hermano who was only 30 years old. the gentlemen told us we could pass again to visit the mom though. So  we went back and the husband answered and said ¨my wife would loved to hear this she needs something to relief her pain, she visits the cemetery every day¨ ¨please pass by tomorrow¨. We where is shock and so excited, So we bought her some flowers and were planning to visit Tuesday  after district meeting, however this district meeting was different we went to the cemetery cause it was memorial day here. We went and did a lot of contacts about the plan of salvation. We were praying so hard that we would run into this lady that we have been looking for hermana Angela. After two hours when exchanging all of our referrals one elder told us he found her!!! how awesome. so we go Wednesday with the flower and she isn't there , however her daughter comes so we are able to leave the flowers with her. We finally get a hold of her and she is really opens, tells us that her kids are all sad and they need something to make them feel better. she told us her children are catholic and so is she but maybe its time for a change of heart.
  We were walking to pick her u from church when she told us she cant come cause her husband was sick. But no worries we will meet with her again. We got Carlito to attend church with us finally!! wohoo!!
   Yesterday I felt like we really needed to walk up to Las Tomas which is the poorest area the houses are made of random pieces, they are shacks . Its so sad. We walked up there trenching in sand and was able to find a less active family and they opened their home to us and can´t wait for us to return. the people in this area are so humble cause they have very little. Its amazing how wide of an economic spectrum we have in this sector. Its been great here in a Iquique I have finally learned to love the people here the same as my Vallenar.
 These last couple of weeks I have been teaching a certain lesson about Goals and desires to the less actives. We have them write on a sticky note all there goals for the future. We then have them share one , and I tell them that I like their goals and think they are great. I then take their papers from them and put them in my bag where i have other blank sticky notes. I take out one blank note at a time and say however the world disagrees , having a family isn't important and i then throw the blank note mimicking theirs on the floor. I do this for them each. I then stop and say however your goals are important right. they are your goals and God and  Christ think they are important. I share mark 11:22-24 and then 10:27. And then give back the original paper and tell them that with faith and action their dreams can come true cause with God all is possible.  Everyone loves this lesson and I know its because we are giving them a visual. We have learned over time that activity and visuals make a differences.

So I challenge you all to write out your goals and your desires for the future and place them somewhere so you can read them daily. You are all children of God, so you deserve the best , so set HIGH GOALS and DREAMS and with God you will be able to accomplish ANYTHING!!
I  LOVE YOU ALL and wish you a very HAPPY WEEK!!!
Keep reading, praying and serving the Lord in every way possible :)

p.s. Mom and Hayden feel better,so sorry your sick again! Mom I got the package but cant open it tell tomorrow so I'm super excited!! thanks . Dad what colored did you paint the room? Roland you start school again?

Con Amor
Hermana Burnett