July 29

My dear dear family,

i love new missionaries an d new missionary training. I have a saying which is, "new missionaries bring new faith which brings new miracles to any area." i really believe it. my new companion is Sister Jeronimo. She is originally from michoacan mexico but comes from kansas city. She already understands english really well but i get to work with her on speaking it. I miss sister Zegarra a lot though. 4.5 months with her was a blessing but i am so looking forward to these next months with sister jeronimo. She was one of the first to be baptized in her family when she was 15. She's 20 right now and everything about her says humble, good, sincere, and compassionate. She is already my hero because she has the traits i struggle with. I love her already! Well, we went to church this last sunday. i honestly feel like this transfer has been a little bit of a culture shock. people aren't outside so when they are, we shout hello to them and start the conversation from down the street because we want to talk to them. The large majority of people are white and have money so they aren't as receptive. We went to church and there was about 75 people including children. It is a very very small branch that honestly, i think is struggling a lot. There are a lot of people that should be in the branch that don't come. They go to other wards because there are more people in other wards. In absolute honesty, I'm trying hard to stay focused on here and now with my companion and my branch. i'm trying to get my whole heart into it but I'm nervous right now. I have to retrain myself how to work in an area like this again. In new missionary training a new sister got up and said that our thoughts are a reflection of faith. I'm trying to push out thoughts of paradise, thoughts of home, and anything else to really really consecrate myself to this work. I'm working on it :) "work work work" seems to be the answer. There much more and much better things to think and worry about in my short time in the Lord's service. Please pray for me. That i will focus, that i will be happy and that i won't compare. I do have faith that this is the Lord's work and that i need to be here, now, with sister Jeronimo. I am excited to be here and looking forward to the work we do have.

So, the work! Frankie is awesome! he is the only investigator we have been able to meet so far. he is18 and he is from el salvador and has a lot fo good questions. he came to church last night and is going to night FHE tonight. please pray that his grandparents don't cause him grief. They already lie to us and if we visit there are already fights in the home. Frankie's sister is really interested but she is 17 so she is still a minor. We are focusing on Frankie to begin with and will try to teach yoselin after. WE are excited for him and the progress he is making. He has a lot of regrets and feels unworthy to pray. We have had some really good teaching moments with him but are anxious to start teaching in a home instead of the parking lot :) I love how missionary work is. Anywhere you share the gospel! Besides him, we haven't been able to contact the investigators the sisters had before us. We know the Lord will bless us and guide us! I will work to be worthy of those miracles and blessings! I will work to be an example to my new companion. She deserves a trainer that will bring miracles to her mission. She deserves the best and so do the people here! I love you! Hurrah for Israel! 

Love

Hermana Burrup

ps- mom, if at all a possibility, i was wondering if you could put some CD's of music in the package....we don't have anything but classical hymns which are also great! Also, my cherished alaarm clock that projects the time on the ceiling no longer projects the time only random lines on the cieling. my companions always tease me saying, "sister burrup i'm going to miss you and all but i'm REALLY going to miss your clock." it's funny but it'd be nice to have another if possible. Thank you mom for all you do. you are wonderful! i love you!

pss- dad, keep up the missionary work. Sounds like you are doing great. missionary work isn't quite as scary as we think if we just start speaking the words come! thanks for being my example!

President Neider, 

What a week! I feel like it was a bit of a culture shock. one of those, "sister burrup you are not in paraiso anymore." moments but still, i love this work! i love the Lord, and i'm detirmined to work my hardest and talk to everyone no matter how many times i might get rejected it doesn't matter because the message i share is true whether or not they accept it. Here it is harder to find people outside so we look hard and try not to lose the opportunities. I love sister Jeronimo and she is excellent! We had 2 youth with us on saturday so we did splits just for a 30 minutes while contacting people from the area book. She had such a positive attitude and a smile the whole time. i know i will learn a lot from her. I'm looking forward to these next months together! Thank you president for all you do!

Love

Hermana Burrup