February 2nd, 2015

Hey Fam!

My week has been pretty awesome. Life is pretty dang good right now! I got a great area and a great companion! This was one of the hardest working weeks of my mission. We didn't stop for lunch or dinner almost at all. It was just crazy.

We had a lot of miracles happen and we have been blessed to increase our teaching pool by a lot. My highlight of the week though was when we went to contact a referral and it was a family: a mom, a dad and 3 kids. The mom was not there yet so we taught the dad and the kids the restoration. Towards the end of the lesson when we were teaching about the Book of Mormon, the mom walked in. So we kind of had to recap everything but it was alright because they were ready to here a message like this. They were telling us their past experience with churches, the dad imparticular had an uncle that was a preacher and he just noticed a lot of things in the church that didn't match up with what the bible taught. They had already witnessed the evidence of the apostasy so the message of the restoration was exactly what they needed. Anyways, i'm just really excited about this family so please keep the Burnett family in your prayers.

Our zone, unlike the other zones I have served in, is pretty compact. We all serve pretty close together so it makes it easy to go out and gets your hands dirty with some of the other missionaries in their areas. We went on 2 blitzs this week in southaven and in orangemound. I just love the way it feels to be able to go minister. It sounds crazy but when you are out just serving and trying to help other people all the time the Lord just really opens your heart. I meet some people out here on the skreets of Memphis that I never met before and when i start talking to them i just feel such a strong desire and almost anxiety for them to accept the message of the Gospel. I never thought I could love people I never met before but Missionary work is exciting and fulfilling when you try to see people as they can become. I know I have been talking about that a lot but its been a big deal for me lately. We don't realize how much people can change when they accept and live the Gospel. But if we tried to see and treat them that way it would be a lot easier for them to change. Anyways, I am just grateful for this area. We got some sweet people we are working with. Also pray for Tomika! My companion Elder Brown is a stud too! Mom and dad I love ya! And I really want to thank you and dad  for being those examples! Thanks family!!