June 3

My dear Family,

Sounds like it was incredible week in Washington. Christian i wish so badly i could be there when you go through the temple, christian. You will love it more with every time you go. From what I've been told you have already been able to gain a love and appreciation for the temple. Never lose it and you will receive the inspiration you need throughout your life. Really and truly, the temple is a place of revelation and teaching. Your mind is opened when you are in a holy place where you can feel strongly the Lord's presence. Where you leave behind your worries, and really ponder the things that God want and expects of you. Being a missionary, is a wonderful experience. Sometimes expectations are hard to meet. Expectations of your companion, other missionaries, leaders, members, investigators, The Lord. There are so many expectations and you want to meet every single one. It's hard sometimes not to ever drop a single ball. Really and truly though, the Lord's expectations are of the greatest importance. What does he expect? well it's right in Preach my gospel. There's a hundreds of pages but chapter 1 explains our purpose.  We must never get relaxed in fulfilling our divine commission as members of the church with a gift to be shared. Sister Neider shares a strong testimony every time she speaks. this week it has really been on my mind the importance of sharing a sincere testimony often. Anyone can say that they don't believe a principle or doctrine but it is difficult for someone to discredit your personal experiences, testimonies, and feelings of conviction. When we testify often and simply the spirit can testify powerfully and directly. The Holy Ghost is the key to conversion. I was asked to speak on the Holy Ghost in district meeting and I thought back to our Skype FHE where we made a map of our conversion. Really, every step we make in our personal spiritual progress can only be made possible through the Holy Ghost.  Every time we exercise our faith we are blessed with an increase in the spirit. What a blessing to have the gift of the holy ghost as our guide.

Well, to tell you a few things about investigators. Flor and Dionicio are really progressing. They come to church every sunday now. We invited them again and they acted like, "of course, why wouldn't we go? We always go." They are set to be baptized on june 29th. This week we are planning on teaching the law of chastity. They need to be married before they are baptized. They are a cute family. We feel so blessed to be able to teach them. We are also visiting a family: Fransisco, maritza, and frank. They dropped us last night...kind of. We shared John 7:17 with them and asked them to pray before they shut the door. Please pray that they will let us teach them again. We love them. They are cubans and i have never had such a hard time understanding Spanish but in this last meeting i really feel that the Lord helped me to understand.  The Lord is in this work and wants us to be successful. We must work and show our faith because it does make a difference! Also, Lisbeth has been progressing but she needs to quit smoking. And Esteban relapsed on the alcohol really bad and really hurt his wife emotionally. We are trying to help them both. Please pray for them as well. Dad, if you have some packets or worksheets for your patients to help them quit drinking or smoking, i would love it! 

Thank you all for your help and support. I love you very much. WE have a sunday bag taht we take to church for the kids and man do they love the puppets mom! Thank you!

All my love,

Hermana Burrup

ps- christian there is a sister here waiting for her visa. The first thing she said when i told her you got your call was, " tell him to put in his visa today!"

Pss- Jon, on an exchange last week, Sister Despain told me about a workshop you did where she wrote a letter to a high school friend of yours (probably kristin?) and then she ended up keeping the letter. She found it about 6 months into her mission and she said it changed her mission. Just wanted to let you know. Sure love you and thanks for your work there. you are helping lots and lots of people!

Dear President Neider,

Sister Zegarra and I have a lot of fun together while working hard. I've loved being here with her! She and i are almost done with the 12 week program and we've been working hard to keep the area book updated. It's been a huge blessing to plan using the area book as we were taught last Mission Leadership council. I am looking forward to this Wednesday as well to receive inspiration for the area and how i can better fulfill my calling. I'm grateful for this calling but i still feel like I'm figuring out how to do it more effectively. This last week i was blessed with opportunity to go on an exchange with Sister Wardle. She is very enthusiastic about the work. She really talks to EVERYONE! i was very impressed. She really came here to work. I think she is doing a great job. While together we worked specifically on the blessing contact. Replacing the, "we are missionaries" phrase with, "We are representatives of Christ sent specifically to bless you." I think that will really help her have more success in street contacts. We also worked on how to plan lessons specific to the needs of the investigators and based not on what's next but what will help them progress. I felt positive about the exchange and feel she is doing a great job.  Sister Oyanedel is doing her best and sister Wardle has been a great blessing for her! Thank you president for your help and example. We love you and appreciate you!

Love

Hermana  Burrup