A Somber Goodbye

Departing Missionaries at the Taipei Temple

Dinner at the Mission Home

Bus ride to the airport

The Returned Missionary

She is back!!!

Welcome Home from the LA crew

Til We Meet

Dearest Family,

This is it! It doesn't feel like it though. Lumos got baptized :)
It was a BEAUTIFUL service. I'll just tell you about it next week.
I love you all
xoxoxo
複製

Move Call of Miracles

Dear Family,

This past week was so good! It started off with some really good exchanges with the sisters and then on Thursday we got to spend the day in Taizhong again with Mission Leadership Council. I love being able to hear the advice and council that President Blickenstaff gives. Every time we have meetings I feel so lifted and inspired to do better. We are working on a "No companionship left behind" week where we want to get 3 new investigators for everyone. I hope it lifts the unity of the zones. We are over two zones, seven companionship. So we have lots of traveling to do. Sister Johnson and I had a gooood fun week. Oh Thursday we had to wake up at 4:00 am to catch the only train that would take us to Taizhong on time. We were so sleepy and slept through the alarm and automatically woke up at 6:30 and realized what happened. We scrambled and got out the door in 7 minutes and then got to the train station. There was no train to take us to the meeting. We were dooomed, but then the train man looked at us and said "have you thought of the gao tie"? It's a super expensive fast train that can go from Gaoxiong to Taizhont in 40 minutes. Super fast. Look it up. We had no choice! We got on it and it was so expensive but we made it to the meeting on time. It was so classy. It was like an airplane and airport.

We have seen so many big miracles. Lin JM got baptized this last Saturday and Lumos is preparing for hers this next Saturday. IT's AMAZING. Her faith is so strong. She couldn't come to church because of work, but we have been fasting and praying with her and so has the ward and this last Sunday she came for all three hours and now she is good to go. Her faith was so strong from the start. In the Asian Area you need to go to church three times, twice for 3 hours in your own ward than you can be baptized. We thought about asking president if she could skip that requirement but decided against it because this was a chance where she could strengthen her faith and God could give her a miracle. And it happened!  Never take the shortcut or you might be skipping out on your chance for God to give you a miracle. I love you all and thanks for all the support!

xoxoxoxo

Sister Burr

Lin JM

So pricey ...

\(^o^)/

Dearest Family,

This week was so good! A lot of good things happened and a lot of good things were seen. First off I love doing exchanges. We got a chance to do two of them this week. I feel like I learn so much from these sisters. There is always something to be learned from the people you are around. The first one went well except that she is trunkier than me and she counted down the days for me. I haven't even come near to doing that, but oh well it's just the next step. We got to do missionary work in the pouring rain of a typhoon. Yes. The first typhoon finally hit, but it wasn't bad. There was just pouring rain and so much beautiful lightning and thunder. The next exchange was with a trainee who is just so cool. She stands on horses and does rodeos.

I was so sore this past week because last p-day Sister Johnson and I went to do Taekwondo for 3 hours with high schoolers. It was so fun! We met a Taekwondo teacher and he invited us to his gym. It was so fantastic but he was so crazy. This p-day I was able to see 2 of my old companions Sister Lai and Sister Rohlfing along with some people from Daya. It was so nice to see how Penelope has grown. She got her patriarchal blessing, is going to institute, and sharing the gospel with friends. I'm so amazed each time I see her. One perk of being on your last move call is you get to call all of your RCs whenever so I've been able to keep in contact with them a lot recently.

I've been reading in the New Testament lately and am in Paul's ministry. I read the part that talks of the people worshiping Zeus and Athena and all the Greek Gods. I love Greek mythology. Absolutely love it along with the history of Egypt and their beliefs but reading and studying about them never made me want to start believing in these religious ways. I was talking about it with my companion because she is the same way. A lot of people see religion as a culture thing or something interesting so they study and learn about it and just want to better understand what it is people believe and why exactly they believe it. That’s a big reason why a lot of people here will meet with us, but unlike Greek mythology and Egyptian culture when people learn about the Gospel they are able to feel the spirit (like Alex said!) and they realize

that this is something different. It's not just some western culture thing that teaches about Christ but rather it is God's teachings. Teaching the gospel has such a powerful effect on people it is such a blessing to be sharing it!

Lumos: Our darling Lumos had a miracle happen and she was able to come to church Sister Lin: getting baptized next week. She overcame her concerns about the restoration through sincere prayer and BoM reading. That's the trick every time.

Love you all,

Have a good good week

Love Sister Burr xoxo

This is Micky and Penelope from Daya. We went out to eat at this yummy pasta place today. They look like little cute girls! Micky will be coming to BYU in a year so that will be exciting to see her again.

We made Cinnamon rolls with these ladies. They kept saying "oh it's too sweet" but just gobbled them up.

New and exciting

Dear dear family,

Wow. Taiwan has been home for 15 months and it really feels like it. I love it still. San min is such a wonderful place. It's strong. It's a stake and it has families and a chapel and strong leaders. It's amazing. It feels so different from the branch I was in before and I atone that to priesthood power. I mean it! Places are just lighter and just have a glow about them when there are more worthy Melchizedek. It's somewhere in the bible I think but my Mission President once said, every time a worthy priesthood holder gets the Melchizedek priesthood and uses it worthily, Satan influence and power is that much less. It is such a contrast from my last place and I'm excited to see what can be done here.

Let me just tell you about my dear companion for a second.  She is amazing. Absolutely amazing. A pure angel in the literal sense. I feel like we have had some powerful lessons together. It's like I'm just sitting under a tree in the shade and just soaking in the influence of her spiritual power. She is such a powerful, real, concise teacher. The way she explains the gospel is so real and makes sense. She is just so amazing. I feel like she is teaching me in lessons. I'm so excited that I can learn so much from her. We were in the MTC together. I've been around trainees and 3rd move call missionaries since my trainer I forget what it is like to teach with older missionaries and do the work with them. It's just super powerful. It'll be a good last movecall. And it's already starting that way. We have some wonderful investigators that we are working with. One is named Lumos (yes off of harry potter) and has been prepared by good for the past 7 years or so. She brought a friend to church with her this Sunday! Also this 11-year old Tiffany who doesn't have a mom and is so mature for her age but seems pretty lonely too. She cried when we prayed with her because she was partly scared by the Spirit. It was really neat.

I feel like I've learned a lot about visions and goals this week. I was thinking a lot about expectations because everyone asks you what you expect from your mission and what you expect of this and that.  I learned that in order to have expectations we first need to have action. In order to expect miracles we need to be looking for the Lord in the work. In order to expect baptisms we need to find and teach. In order to expect answers we need to ask. In order to expect success we need goals. I love that because it shows that we don't blindly expect these things. We use the faith to get them and work.

Family. I love you lots.

xoxo

Sister Burr

1. We have sombreros in our apartment. This is our duanchuan. She is a 16-year old who did missionary work with us for a week and lived with us. Sooo tiring. Wow. But also I learned a lot from her and it reminded me what it feels like not being a full time missionary and sharing the gospel. I feel like it's easier in a way with a tag that everyone can see because when people see that they expect it from you. It's harder when we are just in our everyday lives, but it is doable or the Lord wouldn't have commanded that of us.

2. My dear dear companion and Zhong (he helped Penelope out when she was investigating). Sister Johnson permed her hair last p-day. The prettiest long hair.

Last move call

MOVE Call. It's the last one. I'm in San Min going out strong as a
sister training leader. I'm so pumped. It was sad to leave our
investigators and Jia Yi as always but there's new stuff ahead!

Lvoe you all
xoxox
4th of July eating  burgers

This is the Zhang family. They are fantastic and have helped us so
much with the work.

I am a man with girl appearance

This week was so good! There were so many funny little miracles and tender mercies. First off, Zoe. She came to church for the second time this Sunday and we thought it was time she wore a skirt so I brought one of mine that she could borrow. She HATED it. She hates skirts and walked out of the bathroom and said " I am a man with girl appearance". It was so funny, because she is the cutest girl but would rather just wear a t-shirt and stretchy pants. We ended up switching skirts so she could wear one she liked better. So not only do we need to get the investigators to church but I had to swap clothes with them. She is doing good. She is following some of the commandments now but is still nervous for baptism because she feels like her faith isn't enough. No problem. Commitments, pray, and reading should help her overcome that. It’s so refreshing to know what’s holding people back so we're just not shooting in the dark when we teach. 

Today we went on a hike with Stella which was super funny. She drove around in circles for about an hour first then decided it was time to eat lunch then took us to hike. I finally saw banana spiders (look it up) they are as big as my hand and so scary. It was good spending time with her. She has a big Jehovah's Witness influence but no Christian background because they'd visit her and just read scriptures with her. That time we hike she asked us about probably every commandment and it was so hard to explain it all to her when she hasn't been taught about the Plan of Salvation yet but it worked out. That's the lesson that really ties everything together. That's my favorite lesson to teach. It’s the one that answers a lot of questions and brings a lot of peace. I love the puzzle Tori sent of the Plan of Salvation because it helps people see how the PoS and Restoration fit in. Before the restoration we only had some pieces. We knew heaven, this life, and hell but after the restoration we knew about spirit world, resurrection, and the kingdoms, and judgment. It put the pieces together. 

We went to Sister Zhao's house to visit her husband. She is the other mother with husband opposition. Man. She is so solid! She is constantly asking her husband to meet with us and is constantly sharing the gospel with him. She reads scriptures out loud when he is nearby so he can hear. I love it. She's solid. We hadn't met her husband yet because he is always at work but last night we surprise visited them so we could just meet him once. He was sleeping so we just started meeting with her and then all of a sudden her sleepy husband comes out in his boxers and then looks at us and goes back in the bedroom to sleep. It was so funny to me! I thought it was so funny because that was our first time we saw him. Her testimony is strong and it is slowly softening her husband's heart. He said he just wants her to wait 2 months and then she can be baptized, so we will see. 

It was so easy to see all the blessings and tender mercies of the lord when I was looking for them this week and writing them down and thanking God every night . There really is true power in gratitude. 

I love you all sosososoosso much!

Love Sister Burr

I'm a frumpy sister missionary and I love it!

Hiking with Stella to Blue Lake (Lan Tan)

Sister Blurr and Sister Blancardi

My Dear Dear Fambly,

Pappi! Daddy! Happy Fathers Day! I'm so sorry I forgot. It's August 8th here (ba-ba which means dad and eight-eight so that's really cute) but that's no excuse.  I've been so excited to write you this week to tell you all that has happened. No Sister Chen is still having her problems and she told us she wants to "start over from the beginning" so we're trying to figure out what that means, but we'll figure it out because this week was SUCH a good week of leaning. Sososo good. 

First things first, let me tell you how American television has influenced the young Taiwanese school girls. Last Wednesday we went to an all-girls high school to answer their questions about American life. The things they asked were about graduation parties, the "cheerleader popular crowd"", and then I sang "Call, Me Maybe" to them. Yikes! I knew the words. It was super funny and I was just reminded how pure and good these people are. Man. I love them. They are so hard working.

Also, the most dangerous contact happened this week. We had just parked our bikes and it was on this platform probably two feet high. To get on it you need to go up a little ramp that is really steep. There was a lady next to me so I start talking to her and telling her who we are. She started riding off on her scooter saying she wasn't interested and missed the ramp and just completely dropped! Oh no. So she was okay. Just some scratches. We were able to pray with her and comfort her for a bit so that was good and she was off after resting for a bit. I've been so clumsy and my clumsiness is just rubbing off and I've been so lame!

And let me tell you WHY. I'm so lame without the spirit. I know without the spirit we can do the work and yeah we blow the mission standards out of the water, but it's exhausting and not so effective. Mission work is so hard without the spirit because without it we do the work we think needs to get done rather than the work that the Lord needs to get done. I know He has prepared people and it’s just our job to find them and we do that by listening to the spirit. It's like a chicken running around with his head. With the spirit we can know what to do and where to go. I've seen it COUNTLESS times. It happened just last night! We prayed to know where to go and the first house we knocked let us in and we taught a sister and her brother. So cool. I feel like these past few weeks or so I haven't had the spirit as much. I actually know I haven't because it was so hard to do the work. It's like swimming with weights just to show how tough you are. dumb. It's exhausting and there's no point to it. You just need to let go of pride and drop what's weighing you down.

One of the things was companion contention. Wow. Man. I didn't know where it came from but it was a complete brick wall hindering the spirit. It was like a two sided brick wall. I'd take down a brick and then my companion would put one up on her side and vice-versa so we couldn't get this wall down and there was no Holy Ghost for us. Yikes.

Elder Holand said this   "Unity is so crucial in this work, and if there is disunity, or a lack of harmony of any kind, any sort of break between a missionary and his companion, the work is crippled. We all remember the famous incident in the life of the prophet Joseph Smith, who, in the course of translating the Book of Mormon, had some little domestic tiff with Emma. I’m sure this was nothing extraordinary, something natural to most newly wedded couples, who in their particular case were under an immense amount of pressure, but we all know what happened the gift of the Spirit of translation ceased immediately, the flow of inspiration completely stopped, and the work was for a moment totally thwarted. For that moment, the adversary had won a victory. Now, rightfully and appropriately, Joseph and Emma patched things up apologized to each other for whatever the offense had been and the Holy Spirit returned, with it the power and privilege of translation resumed."

Unity is key. We worked on it! And it's so much better. Just love and trust. It's what we were lacking because I became a MISSION ROBOT. 

Oh no. I'm so ashamed I was an absolute mission robot and the song "human again" from the new Beauty and the Beast just keeps running in my head because I can't wait to be human again. What I mean is I was just tunnel vision on missionary work the way I wanted to do it and numbers. I forget to just "be still" and listen. Listen to self, companion and the Holy Ghost.

I love what Sister Holland says, "I believe we can find our steady footing and stilling of the soul by turning away from physical preoccupations, superwoman accomplishments, and endless popularity contests, and returning instead to the wholeness of the soul, that unity in our very being that balances the demanding and inevitable diversity of life".

WHOLENESS OF THE SOUL. Just being still. Anne morrow Lindbergh also said, " Not knowing how to feel the spirit, we try to muffle its demands in distractions... the problem is how to feel the soul".

How true and what I mean by that is to just acknowledge our human feelings and be human and further to feel the Holy Ghost in our lives. Be still and listen to Him. We were averaging 26 lessons a week and we were just back to back busy. It was so hard to have that stillness and that wholeness and just listening to self and spirit. MOM! And because of that we were “not so productive busy". It was just fluff that was muffling and getting in the way of the spirit. But, I'm coming back! I really just forgot to love and feel the love for the people I think. Relationships ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT. With self, God, and others. So this week was SUPER good with learning.

Emeleeyne - a miracle, she is a member from the Philippines who was looking for the church in Taiwan for 6 months! She found the address through Facebook but doesn’t speak or read Chinese so we had to go pick her up and I had to translate for her at church. SHE IS A LIGHT! There have been so many lights lately.  

Zoe- Doing good. She is trying to live the word of wisdom this week! She understands it all but is still working on feeling the truth of it all

Stella- We are going to Costco in a little bit with her and she is AWESOME. She recognizes tender mercies already. She is so prepared and sweet and kind. Man I love her. She is just a light and how the light. She has a goal for next month but her problem is work :/ she owns a breakfast store. 

Sister Chen - She hasn't picked up and just needs some time to sort stuff out. We have members friendship her.

FAMILY! It's all good. I love this work and I love you all sososososo much. Thanks for all the love and support. Remember in my setting apart when they talked about feeling the prayers and loves and supports from home, well it's real. I feel them and am so grateful. 

xoxoxoxo

Sister Burr

Family

My Dear Family,

Well. This little Island has been home for about 14 months now. Yikes! I can't believe Wyatt will be home this month. He is going to be the funniest RM. You're so lucky you'll see him like that!

Sister Biancardi and I tried to go shopping today and it was such a bust. I hate shopping. The music is too loud in stores and everything over 17 American dollars is just too expensive.

I was so clumsy last week. We went to go visit a LA that we are trying to reactivate. She has this tiny tiny shop where she cuts hair and as I sat down I knocked over her soup bowl which then shattered and it took down her phone/computer thing with it. Yikes. So that was a sad experience to have with the missionaries. BUT SHE WAS SO KIND. So that was okay, but I wanted to buy her a new cell phone case today but it was so hard. 

NO! Chen JM did something very silly. She told her husband that she is already baptized and he got so mad. He said that they were getting divorced and her mom said that she was going to disown her. WHAT? This is the trail we need to hurtle right now. That wasn't the Lord’s way of doing things, so we need to sort that out.

On a happier note we have more investigators than we have time for right now and one is Zoe and Stella. I love them. Zoe is looking for happiness and Stella saw the elders giving the sacrament to an old man in the hospital and was so touched she chased them down to meet with them. MIRACLES. It just goes to show you never know who is watching you. The Lord will use us to help others so we just got to do our best to be our best! That's all he asks.

Love you all,

xoxo 

Sister Burr

The Baptists also know God is Love

This week in pictures

We went to Fancyland again so it'll be said with pictures.

Highlights:

Elder Funk came and used Sister Biancardi and me in his talk. Yikes! It was about the Holy Ghost.

Chen JM is still working on her goal and so is Zhao JM whose problem is also her husband’s opposition. C'mon! It's rough but I know that faith is a real power so we will see what happens.

I hope you all have followed Elder Ballard's invite and got a PMG. Rescued one LA and working on 2 more.Yay!

Love you all so much. xoxoxoxo. Thank you for all the love and support! It's like that Bette Milder song about wings beneath feet or something.

Love you all

Sister Burr

Fancyland fun house

Love ice cream

That is a cloud. It's so hot and it just pours so quickly. The weather changes in a minute. I love it.

Pictures from the Mission Blog

Sister Blickenstaff does a great job on keeping the blog updated on a regular basis.  If you want to know what is happening in the Taiwan Taichung Mission, you will find it there.
http://taiwantaichungmission.blogspot.tw/

President's follow-up training in Jiayi for trainers and new missionaries May 2014

One transfer old missionaries and their companions

Sister Blickenstaff's famous cinnamon rolls

Happy sister missionaries

Happy Dragon Boat Festival

My Dear Dear Family,

Dragon Boat Festival is back! Wow. I still remember it last year. I'll tell you a funny story. This morning from walking out of our house for the 3 blocks to the church, we were given SIX zhongzi (the rice cake triangles wrapped in the banana leaves that are so good!) in less than 15 minutes. Isn't that funny! One was from our running buddy. She has been to church once and played the erhu at our fireside, but she's not willing to take lessons yet. We're still working on her. The other was our 91 year old neighbor (picture) who literally just pulled us into her house. What a wonderful people!  It's also so bai-baiy so it's all smoky and incense-y. I love Taiwan.

It was a very very good week in the work and with growth. Just absolutely fantastic. We blew the mission standards out of the water and we are seeing our investigators progression take up speed. Chen Yue Wen still has her family opposition so she still NEEDS PRAYERS. I was really thinking about how we can help her. She has been taught the lessons, and she has a goal for the end of this month, but we just have to help her overcome her family problems. As I was thinking about it more I thought that wasn't just it. She still occasionally drinks milk tea and will miss church now and then. Now this is one of the most faith-filled woman I know and Satan has worked on her so hard and we weren't positive how to really help her.  Then I thought of the role of a missionary with is to teach, invite, and support so really all we need to do is keep inviting to help her progressing the faith. There are countless stories in the Book of Mormon where when the people start strictly obeying God's commandments they are blessed. I know I just KNOW that if she strictly obeys the commandments the Lord will soften her family’s hearts. We have a God of miracles and I just know it can happen. It won't be easy. These last months will be miracle filled! 

We are teaching this other girl "little monkey" she is a Chen JM but every time we say Chen JM she replays "oh just call me little monkey" She is amazing. Complete turnaround. She used to drink, do illegal drugs, smoke, chew betel nut, and so much more but she has stopped it all! She pulled her strength from the scriptures and prayer. The work honestly just needs the Book of Mormon, prayer and scriptures and it goes forward. And missionaries to just invite and clarify. My testimony has been so strengthened of the Book of Mormon. Dearest family, that book is a book from God. I don't think I will ever comprehend the power and the divinity of it, but I hope to never take it for granted. It has helped so many investigators this week overcome problems. It's a book with a promise to let us know if it's true or not. How cool is that. In a world where not everything is certain, we have a promise that we certainly can know if that book is true which means Joseph Smith did see God and Christ and angels conversed with him and this Church is the church is God's authority and full gospel and if that's true then God really does love us and we are children of God. It all connects. 

I love you all so much. 

Sister Burr

Week of joy

Dear Family,

First off the happy news! Tina, one of my investigators from my former area is getting baptized this week. Oh I could cry. I love her. She said her big change was she knows now that she has a Heavenly Father. That's what it is all about. Once they know that, they progress like crazy.

I feel like this week I read over and over again in the scriptures, talks, and in school that keeping records and writing things down is super important and I didn’t do it and now I can't even remember what happened this week. It was so busy crazy. We had exchanges this week and I got to show Sister Adams around. She is an absolute angel. She looks like one and acts like one. The exchange helped me learn just what I needed to prepare for this week. Mainly being:

1. love your companion and serve her like crazy 2. follow the spirit and just step back.

Jia Yi is so busy. So many needs. I wish we had that time stopper thing Herminie has in the Prisoner of Azkaban so we can just have the time to do everything, but oh well. That's why we need to get members on board. They too are Christ hands. I didn’t realize it until Sister Adams pointed it out but our relationship with the ward has changed dramatically. She had been on exchanges here 4 months ago so she saw JiaYi 4 months ago and then this week. When I first got her just 3 months ago the relationship with the ward was pretty zao gao. There wasn't much trust and relationship. Well, my sweet companions and I worked hard. Met with leaders. Planned activities. Served. Did what they asked. Smiled and loved and hugged. And now Jia Yi is becoming more alive. There's a light here again. It's hard to explain, but there is just a light about this place now. It's getting ready and there's going to be some major kingdom building going on soon. You can just feel it! It's the Lord's Kingdom as some like to say. The Bishop is considering our advice and listening to us and helping us and working with us now. It feels so good!

Let me tell you about the sweet woman of faith Chen Yue Wen. CAN YOU PLEASE, PLEASE PRAY FOR HER? She is a true woman of faith. She is the mom we started teaching about a month ago. She has read the Book of Mormon every day and is now in Mosiah. It has helped her overcome all that stupid anti-Mormon stuff she read on the internet. I'd never been so angry with the internet the day she told us she looked up all this anti-Mormon stuff and temple stuff. Ah! Yikes. It was so rough. She said she couldn't believe Joseph Smith anymore. We told her to pray about it and read the scriptures and stop looking at that stuff. Then the next day we saw her and she had the light again and everything was okay. She said that she read the BoM and it said to stop rejecting the words of the prophet and so she did and she was okay. THAT is the power of the Book of Mormon. She came to all 3 hours of church yesterday. Her husband wasn't too happy about it. She is supposed to be baptized on the 31st. She is good, but her family absolutely opposes, but she knows it's what she needs to do. She can't be baptized without spousal consent and her husband said he'll divorce her if she is baptized. See this crazy mess? But she has this amazing awe inspiring faith and knows the Lord will help her. Tonight we are taking the Elders to meet her husband. Honestly, I'm nervous and a little scared but so excited to see what happens. She is amazing.

Next is our sweet Yang Mama. She is our running buddy. She also plays the erhu (look it up!). She came to church for the first time and loved it. SHE taught us about faith in gospel principles. Her and her husband's relationship is really zao gao, but she is excited to learn to make it better.

Also, remember crazy Ivy? She's back! She is the one whose parents I met in the hospital when I was there. She isn't crazy anymore! She wants to be baptized and came back because she said her life was missing something and she prayed and realized it was church. Cool. The Lord does work in his time.

Well my dear family. This week was so tiring, but so awesome it really felt successful and it was super rainy. I love you all

xoxox

Sister Burr

Try and guess what I'm saying with my eyes. The scarf is from a former investigator (Willy) from Gangshan (my first area) that came and visited today. The mask is from one of the other Gangshan members. I loved that area.

It's us at Cafe Grazie (or crazy because it's where I ate snails. fancy snails). Some Gangshan members came up today so we went out to eat.