October 8, 2012

My dear dear family!

I'm so glad you loved conference too! i though of you many times throughout the talks. We watched general conference at the stake center and i just imagined our whole family sitting on the benches back at home with the new goal of always going to the church so that we would be able to focus better on conference....but i didn't think of it very long because then it was all missionary work. i just wanted to say thanks mom and dad for setting good examples and helping us as a family to set goals and work to complete them. Goals of excellence. I carry my "i am a Burrup" card with me everywhere we go along with my temple recommend. How i love you and how i love Las Vegas! I think by the end of my life i am going to have 12 homes. Washington is home, provo feels like home, and Las vegas feel like home. All three places hold sacred memories,  sacred discovering, and sacred changes for my life. Well, transfers are on tuesday and i'm super happy that i get to have at least another month and half hear in warm springs with Sister Oyanedel. I'm already heart-broken at the idea of leaving but i don't think about that because of what mom taught me, "don't worry about tomorrow or it will still my today and today, my life is great!" I share it with a lot of our investigators and members too because it is true. We have to take advantage of every day and not let worries of the past or future damage, taint, or rob us of the opportunities we have today and now. Coming out of conference i felt inspired, excited, and motivated. I took notes, of course, but i also had two post-it notes with post-conference checklists of things that i felt inspired to do myself or for our investigators. What a blessing it is to communicate directly with God and recieve revelation in return.

Christian!!!! are you going on a mission right away!? i didn't cry but i was thinking about it right after they made the announcement. Either way, you MUST prepare prepare prepare. They teach us " Proper Preparation prevents poor performance" and i promise you, you do NOT want your mission to be "poor performance." Either way, keep me updated on life's big decisions and keep your eyes on the mission. (you are still allowed to tell me about your dates though:) 

Elder Nash's talk was outstanding - is that the one that put Dad's name on the temple role? There is a peruvian women her in our ward and she always says, "Oh mis angelitos de dios, mis angelitos de dios. Mis preciosas...." and then she keeps going. It's kind of funny actually. Jon, are all peruvians super small and really sentimental? I think of you being called a precious angel every time we see her.  :)

As for the missionary work, it is going well. I don't know if you remember the Caballero family or not but they are the family of a recent convert, Martin. she's been coming to church for the past 2 months and really enjoyed it. We committed his mom to be baptised on November 17th. She basically told us she wants to be baptised as soon as she can. We chose that date for the whole family and focused on eternal families. We are praying hard that the other family member will also have the desire to make covenants on that day. We have faith that the Lord will still work miracles in their family.

Brenda, we have had 3 lessons with brenda but they have been super spread out. We hadn't seen her for several weeks, so we heart-attacked her door, and the next day she finally she opened the door.  We thought it was because we served her but she told us that she had actually had a dream that two young girls knocked on her door and she didn't open the door. In her dream she prayed to find out why she didn't open the door and God responded that he sent the two girls to her but she didn't want them. Brenda knows it is true and she has felt the spirit strongly. We are having trouble contacting her again. Please pray that her heart will be softened and that she will again let us teach her.

To finish off, i loved the song that said "weary not" i thought of missionary work, of course, but i thought of you my dear family. Thank you for never losing faith. Nicole and Jon, thank you for keeping your heads up and still smiling. I love you. Life aint for whimps as mom says it but these bumps sometimes pot holes in the rode sure do bring us great blessings and great joy. I love you all and admire you greatly! Hurrah for Israel!

All my love and prayers

Sister Burrup

ps- the picture is a zone picture attempt and then a picture with bobbi at her baptism. sister cedillo and i found her and had a really special experience doing the blessing contact with her then kept in contact...even though she's english. we love her

Dear President Neider,

Our leaders are so inspired! These last two weeks we studied Follow the Prophet, taught the lesson, and invited everyone to conference! The Lord really does inspire and reveal truths to these men of God. My entire life i have been blessed with the influence of righteous men of God who receive revelation and inspiration from the Lord. I think of my father, my bishops, home-teachers, now my district and zone leaders, i think of you, and without a doubt the general authorities and other leaders in the church and mission. Many did not come to the chapel to watch conference with us but i have faith that at least someone watched it or will watch the recordings online. We were very excited to see the Lopez family at the church though. They are an inactive family of about 20 years in the church. We have been working with them and they have the desire to return to church. We are so excited for them to also reap the blessings of the gospel. After Conference they asked us if they are allowed to go on missions. They are reading again in the Book of Mormon and we are praying that they will be at church this Sunday. It is so easy to see the difference in their countenance, their zeal for life and the gospel, and their confidence when they keep their commitments. I know that inspired men of God, our leaders answered not only my prayers but the prayers of my family and many more! Thank you President for being inspired to let me stay in Warm Springs with Sister Oyanedel. I'm looking forward to the next 6 weeks! May God bless you for you service! Hurrah for Israel!

Love

Sister Burrup