Alma 29:9" I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it...and this is my joy"‏

For starters,

A HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY TWO LOVED ONES! Daddy and Tori Happy Birthday. Both days during personal study I wished you both a happy birthday. Hoped you felt that influence and I can't believe you are both one year older and wiser too.

So what are you all doing for the Chinese New Year’s? I'll tell you what I'll be doing. Eating so much. I'm so excited. The members of Daya are the nicest and so kind to missionaries. From Wednesday of this week to the next we have dinner and lunch just booked! We have two dinners on one day. Yikes! There goes my figure along with chuaning the jiao. I hope we can really use this time to strengthen and just be with the members and just love them so much. I'm so excited.

Wow. This week was a great one again. This morning sister Rohlfing and I went over to the most gorgeous flower field and took Asian glamor shots. I hope you love that one. xoxo So Penelope got baptized this week. Wow. I want to cry just as I'm writing this because I saw the Lord so strongly in her teaching process. Not only that but I feel that teaching her was when I learned the most on this mission so far. Wow. She always asked why and really did want to know why. She was really searching for truth. She is so special to me. God was ABSOLUTELY involved with her. There is no other way her dang stubborn heart could've melt except for the power of God along with his love through the Holy Ghost. He is the Master Teacher. She had an interview with the Bishop this Sunday and was telling us after how she wants to prepare for the temple. Is there anything sweeter? It is the most humbling and beautiful opportunity to see the process of someone come unto Christ and thus come unto God.

My sweet family this is the work of salvation and our God is calling all of us to help in it (wow. sorry getting all sister missionary), but really I love calling repentance to people. LOVE IT. I love to let people know that they can change and there is a way through the gospel. Let me tell you about how the recent converts I've been blessed to know are progressing tremendously.

1. Wendy- She wants to serve a mission after she graduates college in a year. She brought her dad to a fireside and her friend as well.

2. Xie JM - she is a scholar in the scriptures. The members said they feel embarrassed because she has been a member about 3 months and seems to know it better than them. She was so fun to teach because she loved to learn and talk gospel.

3. Little Xie- She attended ward council with us and gave her input on how to share the gospel. She was the cutest and she said just ask them how it feels to hear the message and why it's important to know that this is true. Love them and care for them and make them feel at home. She was basically saying all the basic stuff we do as missionaries and we never taught it to her she just figured it out herself. She has been to the temple twice now too.

4. Pei Yu-  our Darling Pei Yu! She broke the Word of wisdom and drank wine. She was so distraught because she didn't defend heavenly father. She didn't use her testimony to stand up to do what was right and it just devastated her week! I love that breaking that commandment wasn't about oh now I want have the blessings of heath or wisdom, but rather it was she didn't defend Gods truth. Isn't that the cutest? And that's what it is about. We follow because we love God. She gets it. And don't worry we reminded her we all mess up. She spoke at Penelope’s baptism.

5. Janet- Our sweet earthy yoga friend. She shared a wonderful testimony about the Book of Mormon at Penelope’s baptism. We watched a video about the Book of Mormon yesterday for FHE and she just cried and said she didn’t know why and we pointed out the spirit to her again. She is growing stronger each day! I'm so amazed. She has a firm testimony of God as her heavenly father. In my opinion that is what brings convert baptisms and not just baptisms.

6. Penelope. Well she did it. And not only that but she is different. She is kinder, more open, and she believes in God now. She believes! Wow. The work of Salvation. I love it with all my heart. It never ends. I'm almost a year out (yikes) but what are years when you have that perspective of eternity right? I think it was Elder Maxwell that said “when one sees through the eyes of the gospel one sees for eternity". Love you all so much.

Happy New Year!

Love, Your Daughter

Penelope's Baptism

Taiwan Glamor Shots

Errand of Angels

Hey Guys,

It's manic movecall day! Thankfully with training, I know that we aren't moving so we can rest. Sister Rohlfing and I decided to go crazy for p-day and take a nap. It was the BEST thing. Wow! I'm telling you, I think I can sleep for a whole p-day and not even buy groceries and not mind at all. I love Sister Rohlfing sososo much. We laugh so hard all the time, my cheeks and stomach are always sore but we have learned so much about the work and have worked so hard together too. That's a fun companionship. Fun and hard work. I love it! It's super super windy here in DaYa and there are a lot of hills too. The other day we were riding up this hill out to visit one of our RCs and this humungous gust of wind just hit us and our bikes got all wobbling and we just started laughing and we had sweet potato fries and a fruit drink hanging on our handlebars and I was positive we were going to blow away and just hit a car and it just made us laugh harder and then we couldn't breathe so we couldn't ride up the hill and our fries flew off the handlebar and it was just so funny to me. That's how the days are usually. Things like that. So much fun but of course so much hard work.

We dropped in a couple families (Zhen, Wu, and Chen) this week and honestly I'm scared/nervous because they are FAMILIES. Real FAMILIES where husband and wife and kids want to learn. Wow! The Lord is so kind. It's the good scared/nervous though. It's the one that turns us to rely on the Lord and do it His way.

Remember how I mentioned about that purifying project that we are doing? Well, let me tell you a little more about it. Sister Rohfling and I just wanted to purify ourselves of anything that would distract from the spirit of the work. Then we read this talk called "Consecrated Missionary". Wow! Wake up call and so powerful (Baby bro, I'm going to mail that one and another your way). So we started our project purification but didn't really know how to do it.  Then that next week in Zone Training Meeting our Zone Leaders gave us this other talk called "Project Purification" where it tells you exactly how! Wow right? So we started. We fasted and prayed to know what we needed to change and to add in our lives and then wrote it down but wow! This past week everything I wrote on that list to drop, I did. I felt like this last week, I was just the worst spazzy unspiritual missionary, but I know that's not completely true. What really happened was I was noticing what needed to change. It was really nice and I know a lot of progression will come from it but man is it hard. I felt like the last week I was just messing up with it everywhere. Sister Rohfling had the same feelings so we voiced it and fasted and started over because I realized what happened. We were relying on ourselves. When we want to make changes like that we really need the Lord. It's like what it was in PMG when it says that Christ like attributes are gifts from God and we need his help to obtain them. We turned to the Lord and prayed for strength constantly and yeah the temptations are still there but it like we are more focused on our end goal and we can quickly avoid the temptations. It's awesome AND with that is coming the blessing of spiritual power. Wow! The work is going wonderfully right now.

So, Penelope. Our sweet miracle. Wow! Gospel truth, testimony and the Spirit really can  melt the  hardest of hearts. So, where I left off was we were meeting with her and she flipped a coin to know if she needed to get baptized (right after we had shared Alma and Corrihor and asking for signs to know God exists! c’mon!!). We humored her and let her do it. I picked heads and she picked tails and it landed on tails which meant she wouldn't take the goal of February 25 (I promise my work isn't always like this. All sloppy and crazy). We got the most peaceful feeling because baptism really was her choice. Her fate didn't lie in a COIN. Agency! The golden gift! She really softened right then and then she said she’d pray about the goal which is something she has never done. The next morning she called during comp study and I was so scared I threw the phone at Sister Rohlfing and had her answer it. I'd been rejected by that girl 6 times with the baptismal invite. We answered and said that on the 25th she wanted to get baptized! WHAT! Yes. We asked why and she said because she’s going to start following the feelings of her heart and stop using all the thoughts in her head. The past two weeks before that Wednesday night her heart was telling her to believe in Heavenly Father and be baptized to follow him and her mind was saying no, but in the end the spirit won. She passed her interview and now on the 25th she is going to use her faith and courage to covenant with her Father in Heaven. I love her so much and admire her bravery and faith. She is so, so scared. She doesn't completely know, but she feels it's true and she hopes. God knows every one of His children so well. The fights not over with her so please pray for her! Thank you. Man, I love her so much. You know how some people say they came out for just one person? She feels like that person to me. She met with missionaries in the past 3 years 3 times before. She told me "God is so smart because he sent me you" woof, and I just said everything I did was what God wanted me to do for her and he was just showing his love through me. Which is so true. He uses us as his tools her on earth. On mission and off mission. We sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives in sacrament meeting this Sunday and woof, was the spirit strong. Penelope ran out just crying because she was so TOUCHED! Touched by an angel. Wow.

Well that was a novel. There are so many other miracles to write about like the Zhen family who met the missionaries 10 years ago and still remember the story of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. They still have one! Wow. We are teaching them now. They listen so intensively it's amazing!

I love you all and hope you have a good week. WE HAVE A GOD AND HE LOVES US!

Love you all,

Sister Burr

Sweet Penelope

Sister Rohlfing is so afraid of kids. They were attacking her for the piñata candy. SO FUNNY. We had a piñata at our New Year Theme English party. She just became English leader today. After 9 months of being English leader I've given up the crown very graciously.

Purging to Purify 2 Nephi 33:6

Hi Sweet Beloveds,

This will be a shorter one. We went to Costco today and visited a Miao (Daoist Temple) with Penelope (the investigator who we have been working with since my first week in Daya so about 4 plus months and who is now getting baptized on the 25th after a series of miracles. wow. Our God is one of miracles. I feel so touched every time I think of the way he knows us all so dearly) so time is short but man what a wonderful day. My heart feels like it is soaring I feel like that is the only way to describe it.  2 Nephi 33:6 - "I glory in my Jesus."

Let me tell you about the little activity that has been going on in my mission life that I'm doing with my sweet amazing companion. If I could say there was a theme of my mission it would be Purifying and Cleansing. I feel like as I have come to understand my Savior and this gospel with more light and understanding I want to purge myself  of any ungodly attribute and give my all to God and rely on my savior in a way that has never touched my soul before. Like C.S. Lewis said.... "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time, so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you. All of you. I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man, but to kill it. No half measures will do. I don't want to only prune a branch here and there; rather I want the whole tree out. Hand it all over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me, give yourself to me. And I will make you a new self in my image. Give me yourslef and in exchange I will give you myself... my will shall become your will. My heart shall become your heart."

Beautiful. How much are we giving God? Is it a branch? Is it 3 hours on Sunday or is it our all? We are purging to purify. We are giving up ANYTHING that takes away from the focus of this mission and I've never been happier... and it has brought buckets of miracles. let me tell you of just one miracle that happened this week. There have been so many. 

Penelope. The best way to describe her is probably me, just without the Gospel in my life. I see me in her so much especially when I really didn't know who God was and His dear sweet relationship with me. I love her so much. Last Monday, this world renown hair stylist (yes really. not exaggerating) came to cut our hair (no he didn't dye my hair. that was Sister Rohlfing and me on a pday) but he is gay and has the strongest testimony of God's existence and love. Wow. The Elders had mentioned him to Penelope (who is struggling with believing in one God and accepting the law of chastity) a day before he came that Monday to Daya. He cut my comp's hair and we were leaving. On the way out, Penelope called us and wanted to give us fruit a customer gave her. We told her to come over and it was like fate because I had been hoping she could meet this haircuttinggaymemberwiththemostamazingtestimonyofgod. They talked and we talked with her after. She started crying! It was unlike her. Then that Wednesday we sat down to meet. And I had the strongest lesson of my mission that night. Wow. The spirit was working on her so much. God wanted her to feel His love so much. We shared of God and then we invited her for the 7th time to be baptized. She flipped a coin to know whether or not to be baptized. I picked heads and she picked tails!! And I'm out of time so I'll tell you the rest next week! Sorry for the cliff hanger, but know we have a God of MIRACLES.

Love you all,

Love Your Daughter

I ate some pigs foot today. Who knew that they were fatty things! Apparently it's good for the skin.

We went to a popular Miao in Nantun and Penelope gave us the 101 on the religion

Put It on the Alter

Dear Beloveds,

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wow! How did it happen? 2014. I always feel like the next year is just 2001. Well, I decided to finally do it. I kicked off the New Year with a new hair color. It all started because Sister Rohlfing and I went to Carrefore for the first time (it's like a Walmart) and we saw the dye and thought why not! I dyed it that red/brown that all the Asian pop stars have. I actually really love it. I've been wanting to do this color and now I just fit in more than ever before!

So we started a yoga class. Yep! Some people develop their piano/ukulele skills on a mission but I'm going to develop those yoga skills. Still got it. We hope this can unite the ward young and old! Who doesn't like a good stretch with music and essential oils in the air right? Also we are really hoping the members will bring their friends and we can get some good referrals.

I went on exchanges this week and Elder Holland's great niece came to DaYa and I got to show her around! It was a lot of fun with her around and it was during New Years and New Year’s Eve so we threw some glitter out of the window and jumped over 2013. I love exchanges. It gives you a chance to learn from someone who has been out longer and it makes you appreciate your companion more because they aren't there. Let me tell you what happened when we were on exchanges though. So we set up to go visit this LA (less active) who owns a flower shop. We pulled up and went to the side to say a prayer when Janet (the RC [recent convert] that got baptized about two weeks ago. wow. I love her so much. She was the one that didn't know if she really knew this was true before baptism but guess what, she was more ready than she thought) pulled up and we asked her to join us to visit this LA. The LA was definitely in panjiao apostasy state. She really didn't want us there and was pretty angry and she went off on the Church and I got scared because Janet just got baptized and wasn't sure of her testimony and I was worried of her getting all shaken up. Yikes! But guess what Janet gave her bold pure testimony that people will think what they want of Mormons and our beliefs and that's okay. What you need to do is know in your heart that God is your loving Heavenly Father and stick with it. WHOA. I wanted to cry right there because it was such a tender mercy to see her be able to share her bold testimony with someone who had their testimony shaken. Then Janet bought us flowers. Wow. It was so awesome to see her grow.

From that experience I was again reminded how God works. He's not going to baby us and life will have challenges and opposition that will shake us, but from those experiences we know how strong we really are and we know what our faith really is. I really saw Janet's faith that day and it helped me see how strong of a testimony she does has as she shared it. The world must be so scary for parents, but the opposition from the world will help us know just how strong our faith is and our testimony. We just need to make sure we are nurturing our testimony so when the time comes that its tried we can see how strong we really are and what we know.. It must be so scary for God in a way to see all his beloved children put into situations that will try their faith and could shake their testimony but he did it because he knew it was the only way! Isn't He great. Wow.

I love God and I am amazed at how every day I can be reminded so strongly of his love (Doctrine and Covenants 88:41-48). It reminds me of a favorite quote from a favorite book:

"Faith is a house with many rooms." "But no rooms for doubt?"

"Oh, plenty on every floor. Doubt is useful. It keeps faith a living thing. After all you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested." -The Life of Pi

I'm grateful for a 14yr old boy who doubted all other religions so he studied and prayed to find God's Church. His doubt in other churches led to the restoration of the one true Church. Doubt is a catalyst when we act to resolve it. Then we can find if things are true or not. Wow. Life is so fun huh? Doing well loving life. We need not fear when we have God! You Shen tong zai, suo shi dou neng zuo!

Love,
Sister Burr

Taiwan Hair Color

Good-bye 2013!