Thanksgiving 2014 at MTC

It brought the spirit so strongly and made me realize just how powerful singing is.... It opened my eyes to why I love singing.

Sawaadiikhaa!!!

Guess what today is????? DECEMBER FIRST! Which means that we leave for Thailand in exactly 7 days!! How unreal is that??? This has been the longest, shortest, and best two months of my life...so far. Especially this last week. It was full of amazing experiences. We got our flight plans on Wednesday so that was exciting, but besides that we had TWO Apostles come speak to us, just in the last week!! Also, Sheri Dew came and spoke to us for Relief Society on Sunday, and Vocal Point from BYU came and performed for our devotional Sunday Night!! Needless to say, this last week but definitely the highlight of the whole MTC experience.

Language

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I always feel like I wish I knew more than I do, but I know that there is only so much I can learn in two months. Lesson's are still going great. Sister Remington and I work REALLY well together. We are going to miss each other once we get split up in Thailand. I can't imagine having any other companion than her, so it definitely going to be a change. One of our last lessons with Phii Muu (Brother Chamberlain) went really well. Up to this point, we just didn't feel like he was connecting at all to the lessons. It was a little frustrating but honestly I know it is just role playing so it is hard to take it really seriously. I really try to though because I know it will help me more if I do. That was my goal this last week. To treat it like a real investigator. So our lesson on Wednesday went pretty well, but he still refused to commit. I can't remember why Sister Remington brought it up, but in essence she threw me under the bus and told Phii Muu that I was good at singing. Which made Phii Muu want me to perform for him. I was reluctant at first, but then realized that it couldn't hurt. So I told him I would sing at the next lesson. The only song I knew in Thai is the second verse of Come Thou Fount so that is what I sang. It brought the spirit so strongly and made me realize just how powerful singing is. By the end of the lesson on Saturday, Phii Muu committed to baptism and it felt so right. It opened my eyes to why I love singing. Not because of any personal recognition but because of how strongly I feel the spirit when I sing. It was such a great experience, and really helped me understand the importance of having the Spirit in lessons. 

Spiritual

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There have been so many this last week I don't know how I am going to choose one. For Tuesday night devotional we had Dallin H Oaks come and speak to us and that was so amazing. He is one intelligent man. Something I felt at the end of the devotional really struck me. This is what I wrote in my journal: "This Gospel is truly simple. Dallin H Oaks is a very sophisticated lawyer who held an office in the Supreme Court and he is teaching us the EXACT same principles we are teaching our investigators. He has been an apostle since 1984 and yet he is not esteemed any higher than the newest member of this church in the eyes of God. That is the beauty of the love of God." I truly know that is true. God loves all of his children equally, and just because we all have different rolls to play in this life, it does not mean that God loves anyone more than the other because of social status. Dallin H Oaks is an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and he is just as much of a representative of the Savior as I am. We all, in the end, have the same purpose in this life. To bare witness of the divinity of Christ. 

On Thursday we had Thanksgiving, obviously, which was absolutely amazing. As a choir we sang for the Devotional in the morning. We had DAVID A. BEDNAR and his wife speak to us!!! It was incredible. Before he spoke, we sang the Mormon Tabernacle Choir version of Come Thou Fount. It was so powerful and really brought the spirit to the meeting. Then Elder Bednar just kept it alive as we participated in what was essentially a giant Q&A with an Apostle! He had 100 or so cellphones passed out to all of us missionaries in the crowd, and we would text questions to his iPad that we wanted answered about anything at all. It was incredible to see the Spirit work through him as he answered really difficult questions. Yet he didn't even stutter once. He calmly read off the question, and went immediately into his answer. EVERY TIME. He did not even give it a second thought. Every answer was incredible too. It just blew my mind. I know that God has called modern day prophets to lead His church in these last days. I know that through revelation God speaks to these prophets and that they can receive revelation for the Church. I also know how real personal revelation is. I may not have the keys to receive revelation for the whole church, but I have the right to receive revelation for my personal life from God. I just have to be worthy and ask. I love D&C 9:7 - "Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me." I have found that when I have a righteous desire, and I ask God in faith through prayer. I will receive. I have experienced the reality of that promise every single day of my mission, and I know I will continually have those experiences because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He will NEVER stop guiding His children.

I love you all so much and I hope you had a GREAT Thanksgiving!! 

Rakmaag,

Sister Burbank 

P.S. Played Bump or Knockout or Lightning or whatever you call it. (Everyone has so many names for that game here). Anyways, I played 3 games of that for gym time on Wednesday with a bunch of Elders and won all three games. Dad, you would be proud! :)