October 21, 2013 - Excerpts from different letters sent by her

The work is always happy. I will by having my first baptisms on Oct 26. I am especially excited for Sister H... She's 24 years old and super sweet and cool. She's taken the missionary discussions a few times and she is so ready for baptism. It's so happy being around her right now.

Well, here is a picture of us with one of our new investigators. Her name is N.. and she's 11. Her mom is a less active. She loves the missionary lessons! I am so excited for her. The other kids are just some of our regular friends who always love to join in on our lessons. They are happy. The stickers are a hit! You can see MarJun, who is N..'s uncle kind of, showing them off on his hand. He is one of my favorites. He always has a smile on his face and it is the cutest. He followed us to church last week and attended all three meetings. He made me a flower bracelet. 

Well, that's all for now. I'm doing well. Thanks for everything. Love you.

Letter to her Brother and his family

Thank you so much for your letters! I love to hear how you're doing. I'm glad you two have strong testimonies of our Father in Heaven. I know it's because you keep the commandments that you've been given by Heavenly Father and you attend church every week and you read from the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is so essential to our conversion. We do not understand all things but as we immerse ourselves in the word of God and learn from the testimonies of those now past we can receive the guidance we need and we can understand what we have to do to obtain happiness. I know the Book of Mormon is a true account. I'm so grateful for your examples. God greatly values and finds great joy in the strength of your small family. You are a perfect of example of His work and His glory coming to pass. He will work miracles through you. The world may not view your family life on the television screen, but that is because they do not understand your worth and they do not understand true happiness. Continue! I am so happy for your.

I know this gospel is true. The love I feel for the people here is so strong I do not doubt in the existence of our loving Heavenly Father. I know it is Him who has given me this love and I know it is His love for His children. 

Here's a funny story while the picture is loading. Sister F... is another sister in our apartment. She likes to tease. The other day while I was having companionship prayer she put a cockroach on my back. She knows I have been really scared of them because they are like two inches long. Well then me and my companion were talking and then my companion screamed and I jumped up and started brushing my shirt and then it fell off. I'm becoming less scared of them cuz they're just everywhere. Anyways, that's my story!

An earlier letter to her brother:

Well, I hope you can get to Utah soon as well. I know B.. is intelligent and would make a great entrepreneur if it came down to it. Well, I hope you find the way. Our family is going to need each others' support in the coming years. These are truly the last days and I am always feeling concerned about my mga pamangkin (neice or nephew). But, I can already see in each of them that they have been prepared in heaven with amazing strengths to face the trials of the world today. Also, there is so much hope that we can find in the Book of Mormon about these times in which we live. In the Isaiah chapters, Christ pretty much just gives a smackdown on the wicked. They really have no chance in the end. We have the opportunity to overcome a lot of wicked and we will grow because of it. Christ is with His people and the gospel will only continue to grow. That is His promise. I think we live in one of the most blessed ages of the earth, really. But still, it won't be easy. We have the opportunity to be stretched to overcome intense trials and intense battles against Satan. Keep doing those things which keep you safe: scripture study, family scripture study, prayer, family prayer, etc and you will have the power and direction you need to overcome every trial. 

I love you so much. 

Love,

Sister Burnett

I asked her what she was eating and this was her answer.  

 Rice and meat. It's hard to be healthy but I'll manage. Apartment is fine. I bought bug spray last week and I'm slowly getting it cleaned up. I don't need my debit card.

Here is a picture of a typical trike. We ride these a lot.

Well, I'm doing alright today. I'm excited about some of our investigators and that motivates me to work hard. 

I'm so so happy about everyone's emails this week. Everyone sounds happy and that makes me feel so relieved, really. I'm excited for the future of our family. I love that the house is a Lark Rise house! So cool.

I don't get to watch conference til this next weekend. I'm excited.

I had my first exchanges last Friday and it taught me, first, that I am pretty good at sharing the gospel in Tagalog now and, second, I'm really grateful for my companion. She is easy going and we have fun together. She has been a good example of how to learn the language. You just say what you can and the point gets across. 

President Querido is awesome. His emails are so helpful.

Well my favorite investigator is named Jubille. He is thirteen and I think his family is really cool. I want them to join so badly! However, we can't seem to get him to come to church. We will have FHE with them today. It will be fun.

Well I have to go for now. Sorry there isn't much info but I'm out of time.

Love you!

Sept 22, 2013

To Dad

I am learning a lot. I have learned how to use the gift of tongues for one. It is dependent on what I have learned in my studies but it comes when I trust in Heavenly Father's ability to bless me and when I have a love and desire to share the gospel. I have had many personal conversations with Christ since I've been here. Obviously, I needed His help. One problem that I've always had is having confidence in my ability to receive correct instruction from Him. I didn't trust myself, but I didn't trust His ability to send me blessings. Now I  am working on developing that faith and hope. I have received very specific instructions from Him. It sounds like everyone is really appreciative that I am here on a mission. I am appreciative of their needs and want to be a blessing for my family. I will do my best but I have to follow the spirit in all things. The gospel should be something that changes our lives. I hope you all are striving to learn more about the gospel everyday. As you seek to find what change is possible in your life, you will realize what callings the Lord has to give to you. It is so true that Heavenly Father is involved in each one of our lives. Even in the Philippines I have met many members who bare the same testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and who are coming to know Him personally just like all of you are at home. He does live and His work is real. 

Well, I think of you often Dad when I'm walking around this place. We often have appointments in the countryside and it is very beautiful to walk past the expansive rice fields and to see the jungle-covered mountains in the distance. You would love it. The houses are mostly huts made out of cinder block or bamboo. They are all dirty, but the people manage to dress well. Everyone has t.v's and cell phones for the most part.

Everyone is very kind and welcoming to me. Yesterday in sacrament meeting I played the piano. I also got to accompany the Young Single Adult choir and my companion, who has an amazing singing voice, directed it. She sings like Adele. It's cool. We sang Our Savior's Love and I came up with a sort of rendition that made it sound nice. It was fun for me. People get really into events here. They begin celebrating Christmas in September. So yeah, it's Christmas here right now! Well for the choir performance they had us all match and they had green scarves for all of the sisters and the brothers wore red ties. They are awesome. They language is coming for me slowly but surely. It took me about a week to be able to understand their accents. 

Well, I'll talk to you again soon Dad. I hope all is well. Love you tons! Rely on the Lord. Go to Him and we will show you how much He knows you, loves you, and can personally guide you. Go to Him and He will utilize your personal talents.

Love,

Kell

Branch President and Wife

 

Sept 7, 2013 part 2

Braquel had just sent me a picture of she and her district.  I thought she looked really good and commented to her about it, so, this is her reply to my commnet:

I have lost some weight, I think. Which I think is a great accomplishment being in the environment I am. Some of my roommates have drawers full of candy and snacks that they either buy or are sent by their families. I'm glad I don't have that problem!!

Well, it's a beautiful day. I've got a lot to get done, so I need to get going now. I miss you so much. I wish I could see you right now as well. I will talk to you tomorrow though!

I love you so much. The Lord has blessed me a lot. I have grown in many ways. One way is that I have more confidence in myself and in my choices. I don't know why that hasn't been there naturally for me, but it hasn't. I am happier, for sure. I am often still tempted with discouragement, but I now understand why I can overcome it as well as how. Life is wonderful. God is great. Please tell of my siblings that I have a testimony of God and Jesus Christ and of the church they have established for us. It is true. It is the way to happiness and to fulfilling our purpose. Tell them I love them. I don't know how mail will work in the Philippines, but I hope I will still hear from them as often as possible. Thanks for everything!

Sept 7, 2013

Today is my last day in the MTC. It has been good. The only thing I will miss about the MTC, however, will be my teachers. They have been great and I'm sad to leave them. Also, being with my district and branch. I have loved all of them as well.

I have had many great experiences since I've been here and I've had my testimony solidified. I have grown so close to my Father in Heaven and to my Savior, Jesus Christ.

I am ready to get out there and get started. I know it is going to be really difficult. But, it will be so rewarding to just work and focus on other peoples' needs for awhile.

For our Sunday devotional last week, Brother and Sister Taylor spoke to us. He was the Philippines' MTC president for the last few years. They spent half of the time telling us all about the Philippines. It was cool. My district felt like their message was just for us, though it may have been somewhat applicable to all of the other missionaries there. Sister Debra Taylor is an amazing individual. She once traveled to Zimbabwe because she felt like she needed to learn about humility or something. She also mentioned that she has served with Mothers Without Borders. She and her husband bore great testimonies. His was classically prepared. He used a lot of emotion in his speech and he quoted from a lot of Isaiah verses. It was pretty cool to hear.

On Tuesday, we had Elder David F. Evans of the seventy speak to us along with his wife, sister Mary Evans. He was awesome. He talked about the progression of revelation on missionary work that has happened in the last year. First, with President Thomson's call for more missionaries and the age change. Then they had revelation to guide them in all the steps that needed to be taken to handle the influx of missionaries. They created 58 new missions this past year where normally they only create about 4 new ones per year. They changed the number of missionaries in each mission. There used to be a maximum of about 250 and now that is about the minimum. They reduced the amount of time each missionary spends in the MTC. They opened the MTC in Mexico which he said has been a huge blessing. And finally, another important revelation has been the creation of sister missionary training leaders. I guess they didn't used to have these. They are like zone leaders but are assigned to watch over the sisters. This is a blessing because zone leaders can't exactly take care of the needs of the sisters like sister training leaders can. 

Probably the coolest part about his talk was his telling about the general authority meetings that occurred before last October's conference. I will paraphrase what was said for you:

He said that Elder Holland taught a class about the doctrine of Christ. (How cool would that be to sit in on a lesson that Elder Holland shares with all of the other Apostles!) Elder Evan's said that afterwards Elder Holland came up to him and expressed how he felt he had not done as good of a job as he hoped and that he felt unsure of how he exactly delivered his address. I just thought that was a funny thought. 

The next day, they gathered again for more talks and lessons. This time Elder Eyring got up to speak. He told them how Elder Holland had provoked him to study the doctrine of Christ again in 2 Ne 31. He said he realized that the doctrine of Christ is really an expression of love between father and Son. Throughout the scriptures, Christ always references the Father, and whenever you hear the Father speak in the scriptures He always expresses His love for His son. I thought this was a powerful realization and it shows how much love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ possess for each other. They are one in purpose.

President Eyring also said he read on through the book of Jacob as well. He said he noticed something new about the allegory of the olive trees in Jacob 5. He noticed that all of the servants of the Lord up until the last one had asked for more time to do the work they needed to do. The last servant, however, calls for more servants instead of more time. The next day was when President Monson made his announcement. Cool huh?

Today and tomorrow will be very busy for me. I have to finish packing, do laundry, write a talk, and work on composing an accompaniment on the piano for a choir piece that my district will be singing tomorrow in sacrament meeting. I also will be going to the temple today and then I have class. I have confidence that Heavenly Father hears my prayers and will help me this day. One thing that I've gained a testimony of in the MTC is miracles. Miracles happen for me as I exercise faith in God and His ability to bless me. It really does work. He really does love us and desires to bless us. His ability to bless us, however, is conditional upon us asking Him. As we grow our faith, we will have the power to work miracles. I know this is true. The gospel contains all happiness. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

August 31, 2013

Well I've had another great week here at the MTC. Thank you all for the wonderful birthday gifts and letters. I loved receiving them!!

We got our flight plans yesterday morning!! We were all so excited. It almost felt like a Christmas morning. We were even more excited to find out that we will all be on the same flights together for the most part. I am so grateful that we will all be going to the same mission. We are closely bonded and I'm glad we don't have to be totally separated. We will be leaving Sep 8, which is a Sunday. Our first flight takes off at 6:10 PM in SLC. I can't remember the times of my layovers, but I will send those to you soon so you can know when to expect my phone calls. We have a layover in Los Angeles and in Hong Kong. It's going to be a very similar flight as my one to Singapore so I know what to expect. Lol. I am so excited to get out there! I thought I would be nervous but I'm not at all. I just can't wait to get going on everything. I feel like I've learned a lot of Tagalog and I will work really hard this week, but I think I am pretty well prepared, or at least as well prepared as I can hope to be. I just want to get out there.

I got to hear from another Apostle this week. I feel really blessed! The spirit was the same. I felt the reality of Heaven. I felt the presence of the Savior. Seriously, I think I know what it will feel like to be in Heaven, at least in part. The Apostles carry that spirit with them. I will at least be able to recognize the feelings I think when I get there as I'm sure you all will who have the church in you lives. I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life. It is God's true doctrine sent to us so that we might be able to find our way back to Him. I am so grateful to know what the purpose of life is and who I am and where I come from. An answer to one of my prayers this week was that for a moment I received revelation (in the form of a sort of feeling + idea) about the fact that Christ knows me better than myself because He remembers who I was before I came here. I know He has a specific plan and purpose for me on this earth. I am so grateful for that knowledge! I hope you can all feel the same and that you can all have the same revelation given to you. I feel very loved and okay with myself. I recognize that it is a miracle that I can even receive that kind of revelation. I am grateful that I have been put in the MTC and given the responsibilities that I've been given because they have forced me to follow Christ. And now I have such a greater understanding of Him and of His doctrines and why they are what they are. 

Oh yeah, so the Apostle was Neil L Anderson. He spoke about love and sacrifice. He said, "We sacrifice for what we love and we love what we sacrifice for." I know that I have been stretched to grow more than I ever could have thought I could since I've been on my mission. God intentionally makes life a little bit more difficult for those who commit to follow Him and for those who are faithful to Him. It is more difficult because the trials are greater, but easier because I have better access to His love and I know that I cannot fall very far for He is guiding me. I think of the Apostles of Christ who walked the earth with Him and I think of Christ Himself. They endured unimaginable trials. What I have learned, however, is that I am going to be grateful for the trials that God will send to me on my mission because I will then understand suffering better. I will have more compassion for the poor of the earth who suffer much. I will also have a greater appreciation for the suffering that my Savior went through for me. It is humbling but satisfying. I know I will have great trials on my mission because I have now received two priesthood blessings that have told me so. In my last one, the Elder said, "remember that as you endure through these trials, then the blessings will come." I was feeling really down Wednesday night after I had received this blessing. God let me feel the weight of the burdens that I will have to carry. I was sad and I was a bit confused because I wanted God to give me relief from burdens that I already had, not more to carry. I don't even know what these trials will be, but I just felt burdened already. But in my heart I felt a bit of comfort knowing that Christ stretches those who choose righteously on purpose and that because of my suffering that I might have to endure I will become stronger and more compassionate. One of the biggest struggles about being a missionary is that you have to overcome selfishness. There is no room for it when your life's purpose is to bring people to Christ. My life is for them now and so I have to be put on hold for a while. I will tell you all the truth. IT IS NOT EASY. In your prayers, please remember to pray for strength for me. I need it. Yet, through it all, I am happier than I have ever been before because I am so grateful for the wonderful lessons I am learning. I am learning about the secrets to life and how to find peace and happiness! I bear my testimony to you that God is real. We are His children. He has a plan for us. He loves you. We have the amazing opportunity to become better than we were before in this life. Don't let trials get you down. Don't let your mistakes make you feel guilty. We have a Savior who has atoned for us and who has demonstrated PERFECT LOVE so that we might be able to return to our Father in Heaven. There is no way around needing humility in this life. It is so much better to be humble. You will be more happy. Rely on your Savior. Learn from Him. He can teach you everything you need to know and He will most likely teach you through your experiences, so watch carefully! Take time to ponder and study. I promise He will speak to you.

I love you all. After Elder Anderson's devotional, we got to walk home in the rain. It was so fun! We were all soaked, but I was so happy and we just had a lot of fun. That was probably one of my favorite experiences that I've had here yet.

I think I need to head out now, but I will try to write soon. Sorry I didn't get a letter sent this week.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH,

Kell

Aug 13, 2013

As of tomorrow, I will have been her exactly two weeks.  The language is coming along pretty well and I am learning more than I ever have in my life about God, myself, and the gospel.  There is never an easy day here.  I work all day, every day to learn and grow spiritually in the gospel.  I have a few times realized that my first conversion must be my own and there are many ways in which I've found that I need greater conversion in.  The word conversion has come to mean to me "coming unto Christ" or "facing Christ".  I just want to ask all of you to do the same.  Come unto Christ by sacrificing those parts of you that need to be done away that you may more fully have the Lord's holy spirit in your life.

As far as the language goes, I feel like I'm not learning it fast enough, but I know I need to be patient because the other things I spend time on are important as well.  I am already reading Preach My Gospel in Tagalog and understanding it.

I have a great district.  We all get along well.  We have 4 elders and 6 sisters.  We all like to do activities together like play kickball or throw frisbees.  We have fun.  Right now we are playing basketball in the hallway of our residence.  It is our personal fitness hour right now.  We are using a ball made out of plastic bags and a small nerf hoop that was given to us by some sisters who left for the Philippines yesterday.

I know that through the power of the atonement we can be healed of EVERYTHING/ANYTHING. This power, however, is conditional upon us asking for it, desiring it, and seeking after it.  God does this because He is the master teacher and because every lesson he teaches is centered on us and our learning.  That is what we do as missionaries.  Every thought/idea/application must answer this question:  how does this help (investigator) come unto Christ?  We pray for them & study the gospel to find answers for them.  We love them and serve them.  It's a process that brings amazing joy and can also bring great heartache.

Love eveyone.  Be happy.  Continue to grow in the gospel.  Tell Danika I love her.  Tell the siblings to write me please!!!  Thanks
Love
Kell

First letter from the MTC

Well, Saturdays are my P Days. Now you can know when to expect emails. I will usually get on around 9AM.

 

The MTC is a fun place. I have the kind of schedule now that I've always wanted. I am busy all day studying, learning in class or on my own, and I get a good hour of exercise as well. I love the fact that half of my day literally consists of reading and exercising my brain while trying to learn a new language. It's nice. I have two awesome language teachers, Bro. Poole and Bro. Langer. They talk 99% of the time  in Tagalog. It's amazing how quickly we are able to pick up the language here. I can already carry on basic conversations, though I struggle with understanding everything that is said when I am listening to it still. I suppose this is because my vocabulary is still small. Bro. Langer set a goal for us yesterday that we should each learn 50 words a day and 15 phrases as well. He bore his testimony about putting your full effort into something and relying on the gifts of prayer, faith, and the gift of tongues to bring about real results. He promised us that if we do these thing we can be fluent by the time we leave the MTC. I like this challenge and am taking it up.

 

To give you an idea of the language, I will warn you that it has a lot of repeated vowel sounds. The longest word I've learned yet is faith: pananampalataya.

 

I felt like a robot the day I walked into the MTC and left Mom and Dad at the curb. I just had to keep my limbs walking. I want to thank you guys for everything you've done for me and I will put forth my best efforts into my mission. I love you guys!!!! Magmahal po Kayo.  However, many blessings have already come to me since being here. Sister Nally, the MTC President's wife, said that, "your families are apart of your mission." This is so true. And it is for this reason that I need to be diligent about writing to you guys and letting you know everything that is happening with me.

 

I am happy here as long as I focus on the work. I am surrounded by great people. I share a room with five other sisters. I like them all. They are all eager to learn how to be good missionaries and they all like to obey mission rules. We are all called to the Olangapo mission and we all have class together so that is nice. The food is okay, but definitely starchy. I usually go for the more organic meals like salads, etc. For breakfasts I usually go with cracked wheat cereal or eggs. I like the fact that it is there and ready for us as soon as we want it and there are no dishes to do! It makes life so easy because all I have to do is focus on my studying, which is what I love. :) My companion is a nice, quiet girl from Mesa, AZ. We get along fine. I am working with her to get more out of her. She doesn't usually add to a conversation unless forced. I like to force her. ;) 

 

You don't need to worry at all about me because we are well taken care of. There are always people around to help us and we have our schedules completely laid out for us all the time.

 

We taught our first (pretend) investigator yesterday in Tagalog. His name is Danilo Bulongbol. They let us take our notes with us and we were able to read from them so it wasn't too bad. I am grateful for the experience because now I know exactly what I need to work on. I got too nervous about speaking the language and understanding what he was saying that I couldn't feel calm or feel the Spirit. We teach our second lesson to him tongiht and my goal is to pray to understand what he is saying and to remain calm. I really believe that I can receive the gift of tongues as I put my whole faith into what I am doing and as I put forth my very best effort. It is not easy, but it is fun and rewarding.

 

I am wholly satisfied with my learning experience so far. When the Spirit is involved in learning as much as it is here, you are able to learn as you've never learned before. The only way I can describe it is that the lessons are REAL, the literature is REAL, and I can literally feel the truth of what I am learning around me. As you know Mom, I have always been fascinated about the subject of learning and education and so being here is a very rewarding experience for me. I am learning so much. Part of that learning is an increased testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration through Joseph Smith. This church is true. I can no longer have doubts because it is so real and the evidence is all around me. (Please pass my testimony on to everyone you can.) 

 

Alam ko po na totoo po ang ebanghelyo at ang palabayad-sala ni Jesucristo.

 

 

I love you all! Thanks for getting me here. I haven't taken any pictures yet but I will work on that. Since it's just the MTC I will probably send you my memory card just before I leave.

 

Well, I think I've covered it all for now. I'll send letters out today as well. You can post whatever parts of this letter you think is good to post on the blog.

 

Love,

 

kell