I am just loving my time here. I have an opportunity to bare my testimony every single day.

This last week has been great! On Sunday, we got the special treat of watching our RC, Guitar, receive the Aaronic Priesthood and then baptize one of Sister Morgan and Sister Cott's investigator just an hour later. It was such a great experience! Knowing that he had just been baptized 2 weeks earlier makes it even more of a miracle. I love watching these RC's progress in the gospel! 

Besides that this last week was just super busy! I did end up getting sick on Friday, and was on bed rest the remainder of Friday and Saturday morning, but I am feeling a lot better now! I am not exactly sure why I got sick, but I was just super nauseous and everything was foggy. I just drank a bunch of water and slept and feel a lot better now. So no worries! 

Right now I am just loving my time here. I have an opportunity to bare my testimony every single day. Not just on Fast Sunday and it is honestly an incredible blessing. I feel the Spirit the strongest while I am baring my testimony, so every opportunity I get to testify I take it! 

A scripture that Rowland sent me in his last letter I really loved! I just want to share it real quick.

Acts 5:41 - "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ."

That is essentially how it feels to be a missionary! All day everyday, we teach, preach, and testify of Christ. That is what we are called to do, and everything we do everyday should reflect that. I know that Christ is our Savior, and that because He atoned for the sins of the world, we have the amazing privilege to repent. (Acts 5:31) I know that through repentance we can be made clean and enjoy more fully the companionship of the Holy Ghost in our lives. I love my Savior, and am eternally grateful for His eternal sacrifice.

I love you all! Have a great week. RIP Seahawks.

~Sister Burbank

P.S. Quote this week: "Obedience to God will not only increase your love for Him. But will increase your ability to more fully feel His love for you."

Tall Budda

Gong show

2 Meals a day in restaurants

Restaurant food costs only $1

Laundry. We have a washing machine but no dryer.

Our House

Inside our house

P-Lok Missionary District

I feel like this is my home now.

Here's to the new transfer! 

I am staying in P'lok with Sister Alley!! 

So happy about that honestly. I love it here it P'lok! I can't imagine living anywhere else. I feel like this is my home now. Technically we moved houses on Thursday at the start of the new transfer though because all of our four Elders from our district white washed out! AND 2 new sisters replaced them! So now we have 4 Sisters in this area, and 2 Elders! Which meant we had to switch houses with the Elders. (Yes, that is as scary as it sounds.) The house was absolutely disgusting. As Sister Alley and I were cleaning, we kept thinking about how it couldn't get any worse, and then somehow it would. I regret not taking a picture. Everything is nice and clean now though! So no worries. This house is actually a lot home-ier (if that is a word), and I am really starting to like it! I feel like this is going to be a really great transfer! The work is moving along, and we are trying our best to just keep everything organized this transfer.

I am so happy to be here. And to hear that Rina is in หนองคาย!! I am so happy for her! She sound's like she loves it. I love hearing her email's every week! We had President and Sister Senior come for special training yesterday, which is why our P-day is on Tuesday today, and I just love them. I just love Thailand! Sorry my letter is really short this week. We are just so busy here in P'lok! 

I hope everyone is happy! Love you all! 

Here is a scripture from my personal study this morning: 3 Nephi 22:7 - "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee." 

Life is HARD. No matter what. Life is going to be hard, and sometimes it even feels as if we are being forsaken. But I know that God loves His children, and that no matter how hard it gets, the feeling of being gathered by the great mercy of God with make up for the deepest of pain we have felt. I love my Heavenly Father, and Savior. 

~Sister Burbank

Roong-wrote and Guitar were baptized this past week!

This (first) picture pretty much sums up my whole week! I love these two so much and I am so grateful for their desire to be baptized! They are such great examples to me, and are just miracles in my eyes. I have officially made it to the end of my first transfer in country and I can honestly say that it was an ADVENTURE! พ่อRon: You were so right about that!! 

A mission is nothing I ever expected it would be, but it is by far the best decision I have ever made. I love it here. This experience means so much to me BECAUSE of how hard it is. Never be afraid of doing a hard thing. Delaney: "You can do hard things! (haha)"

I just want to end with a scripture I came across this week. I love it! 

D&C 64:22 - "And after that day, I, the Lord, will not hold any guilty that shall go with an open heart up to the land of Zion; for I, the Lord, require the hearts of the children of men." I love this scripture because it reminds me that God requires us to turn our hearts over to Him. To stop trying to do it on our own. To submit our will to His, because that is when the most growth is possible. That is when the fullness of His work and glory is being fulfilled.

Have a great week everyone! 

Love from Thailand! 

~Sister Burbank

Old Wat (temple)

 Elephants!!!

Cleaning the font for the baptism! The water was still green though.

Elder Procter stealing my camera. He is our DL.

This is Guitar

Group picture for the baptism

Guitar and Roong-wrote getting baptised

Our two priesthood holders filling the font. Both are recent converts. And for one, it was his first time baptizing someone. Bro Gap is filling the font and Bro. Lucas is watching.

Bro Jew (super cute!)

Visiting Sisters

Staying dry

"...there's not a way to cheat this system..sorry."

This week flew by! I can hardly believe it's P-Day again. This week was absolutely incredible though. I am honestly just so happy! I could probably just say that and end this letter because that is the underlying message of this week. 

I AM HAPPY! 

Mission's are still hard. The circumstances really haven't changed that much, but I am just SO happy regardless. There are just so many reasons to be! 

1. I get to eat Thai food EVERYDAY! 

2. We had 13 lessons with a member this week which is up from only 2 last week! 

             --Side note: Prayer WORKS! 

3. We got balanced! (Which means we had: 2 investigators on date to be baptized, 2 investigators at church, 2 new investigators as of this week, and 10+ lessons! I know the numbers aren't what really matter but it's exciting when you make a goal and reach it! That's how we improve!) 

4. About 12 white people showed up to church from America and one could play the piano for sacrament!!! (Seriously made my whole week. 555)

5. Made Thai food for Dinner last night with a bunch of members. SO GOOD.

6. Personal Study has been SO GOOD lately. Who knew you could learn so much on a mission ;)

7. The Zone Leaders and STL's came this last week for training and they are just awesome.

8. Ran into an old investigator we dropped at Big C and he said he wanted to try coming to church again! 

9. Read an AWESOME talk by President Holland called "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence."

10. The cute little Ice Cream carts everywhere in Thailand. I don't like Ice Cream, but I do here because they put Sticky Rice and Condensed Milk in it!!! SO GOOD FOR REAL.

I honestly could go on forever, but I don't have a lot of time so I will stop at 10. But honestly those aren't even the biggest reason I am so happy. The reason I am so happy is because I am living the Gospel of Christ more exactly than I ever have in my entire life. I feel like the people did in 4 Nephi 1:16 - "And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God." 

That's the secret! Live the Gospel! That is what those people were doing. There's no quick fix, no instant happiness pill. There is just the back breaking, pain staking labor of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ and specifically enduring to the end. In verse 15 of that same chapter it says, "And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people." The question should always be: "How can I greater feel the love of God in my life [if that truly does bring the most peace and happiness--see 1 Nephi 11:22-23 --] And the answer is: "Do what God says will make you feel His love more in your life. Aka. The commandments." Common sense, right? They aren't a restriction. They are a recipe for happiness. I am proof, if you don't just want to take the scriptures word for it, that as you strive to live the commandments more exactly in your life you will experience the most happiness. Yes, it seems too good to be true, but you will never know for yourself unless you try and see. That is my invitation. Just try and see! Try doing EVERYTHING, (literally everything, there's not a way to cheat this system..sorry.), God says it will make you happy....see if it works. I testify that it will, and that you will begin to experience the kind of happiness I am right now in my very busy, very labor intensive life.

I love my Savior, I love my Father in Heaven. 

And I love YOU! I hope everyone's doing awesome! :) 

~Sister Burbank

Big Budda Wat (temple)

 Budda Temple

 More temples

Ancient Temple

 Old part of Temple

Eating Lizard, Elder Gettawong

 Visiting Leader - Wisan - in Chapel

Sis Hippo and Guitar

 Cooking Thai Food

Happy New Year Miracles

So it feels like it was just barely P-Day because technically it was. We are back on our normal P-Day schedule now. Every Monday! Since it's only been about 4 days since my last e-mail I don't really have that much to report. I have an incredible story about Sunday though so I think I'll share that. In order to fully understand the depth of my feelings though their might have to be a bit of back story so here it goes.

July 3rd, 1995

--------------------

I was born. 

      --

[Okay, maybe not that far back.]

~Fast Forward~

December 12th-15th(ish), 2014 (Aka. First Week in Field)

-------------------------------

ROUGH. As you all know. The first week in the field was a hard time in my life that I am pleased to say will never happen again. If there was a way to accurately let everyone experience what I did in that first week I would do it just so you could all understand what I mean when I say I NEVER want to go through that again. I'm sure almost every RM can agree with me when I say that the first week in the field is the most loved and hated week of their mission. Because it shows you who your true self is, what you're made of, and what you are willing to do for your beliefs. And sometimes you don't always get the best results or like what you see. Regardless, it is 100% necessary to go through, but probably one of the most miserable times of life. Now that I've established exactly what I was feeling that first week. You have an idea of why inviting people to come to church in the circumstances I was in seems irrational, but again necessary. 

~Fast Forward again~

January 4th, 2015

---------------------------

The first Sunday of the month. So you all know what that means: Fast Sunday. Which I have actually grown to love. This particular Fast Sunday was a little different for me though. I was not feeling good at all. The last few days of inviting had been terrible and NO one was interested in coming to church. Almost all of our investigators had dropped us at this point, and we currently had no progressing investigators or people on date to be baptized. Going into a Sunday with having no investigators come to church can be potentially discouraging but I was so exhausted from the day before that I was past feeling. I show up to church and resume my position on the piano where I begin to practice random hymns (since I don't actually know what hymns we are singing in church until about 5 min. before the meeting starts. Maybe I should start telling them which songs I can actually play?? Random Thought). Anyways, the Branch President even gives me a shout out now before the meeting starts. "With Sister Burbank on the piano!" I almost wish he wouldn't say that because of how awful it goes every week. No shame though. 555 Wow, I've gotten really distracted. Anyways, back to the point of the story. No one comes to church. Not even one investigator of ours is in Sacrament meeting. We called everyone and no one could come. It was a little depressing to be honest. There's not much else you can focus on when you are a missionary than the work, so when you try hard to get people to come to church and no one does that sucks, because you know how important it is. So by the end of sacrament, I am hungry, tired, confused (because I still don't know Thai), and just kinda sad to be honest. However, I just push all these feelings out because I know that when it comes down to it, my success as a missionary is not defined on how many people I convince to come to church. As I keep myself fixated on this thought, I can be happy and have peace in any situation. I truly believe that. But as I was having this mental battle with myself, a man walks in with a white polo shirt and sits down in preparation for Sunday school. One of the Elders come up to me and say that he is one of our investigators. I looked at him confused, I didn't recognize him at all. After church though we got the clarification I had been seeking. I didn't recognize this man because we hadn't actually got any of his information. He claims we gave him a pamphlet in passing about 3 weeks ago (hence the back story to my first week here), and at the time he was one of the many who were completely uninterested in learning about our church. Little did I know that 3 weeks from the worst week of my life would result in this man walking an hour from his house in the outskirts of Phitsanulok in order to come to church with us. We asked him if he could meet us after church so we could introduce prayer and the Book of Mormon. He agreed. Little did we know this short introduction would lead to a huge gospel discussion about the Restoration. I say discussion because it could hardly be called a lesson with how much input and interest this man gave. The short introduction led to a full length lesson which then led to a question I was never expecting. 

"So when can I get baptized?" 

*What?* 

That's the only word that was in my head as I struggled to know if I had misunderstood his question. I hadn't. This man who was seemingly uninterested just 3 weeks prior had taken the pamphlet we gave him and walked an hour to ask that one question. My mind was blown. 

No one can tell me that is not a miracle. I am still dumbfounded at the fact that something like that actually happened. I have heard stories of it happening but things that that only happen to other people on their missions. Not me. My companion and I just looked at each other shocked. What if we hadn't forced ourselves to invite that first week in Phitsanulok (it was miserable trust me)? What if we hadn't gone to that specific place we did, at that specific time, in order to give that uninterested man a pamphlet? No matter how miserable that first week was; miracles happen. No effort is wasted when it comes to sharing the gospel. As hopeless as I felt that first week all I really needed to be able to do was give them the pamphlet. Give them some kind of exposure because I have no idea what could come from that in the future. I probably will never know, but that isn't the point. I am not here to see miracles. That's not my goal in life. I am here to serve because I love my Heavenly Father that much. Because I am eternally indebted to my Savior, Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice which enables me to be able to repent, and become clean again. Now if my faith in God results in seeing miracles then so be it. But that isn't what I seek as a missionary. They confirm and strengthen my faith that God is mindful of all of His children individually. He knows the desires of our hearts. It is as simple, and as complicated as that. And I will forever be His witness. God lives, and so does His Son. 

I love you all! I love my mission! I love Phitsanulok! I love Thailand! 

สวัสดีปีไหม่!!!!!

รัก,

~Sister Burbank

On the roof of the church

Dunk?