Happy New Years Eve!

Hello all!

I had an amazing week! Christmas was fantastic, we had fun opening presents in the morning, and Elder Lowry got tons of stuff! I was nervous he wouldn't, but he is doing great. It is so much fun having a son. He is a fantastic missionary and it is a privilege to be with him. We have so much fun! He also works me to death. Unfortunately last night he was pretty sick, so he hit the sack early. Before that we had dinner with the Stake President and his wife. Fantastic and fun family. He did something super duper funny though! He pointed out how in the pamphlet we use, Joseph Smith looks like hes talking to Kirk Cobain and his twin brother! HE DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS THE STAKE PRESIDENT TILL AFTER! It was SOOOO funny! His wife said "Isn't that a little blasphemous"! So funny!

Our investigators are not doing so hot though. They are either out of town or waiting till February to meet with us. Its a real shame. Sooooo we have to be out and about tracting a lot. I don't mind it, but I would rather be teaching lessons. Please pray for us that we will be able to find more people to teach. That would be wonderful.

Its kinda hilarious how much chocolate we have. If you are so kind as to send me a package, I would ask that you don't put any treats in it. TRUST ME WE HAVE ENOUGH!

I have been reading in the Book of Mormon a lot lately as well. Just finished Mosiah. That story of Alma the younger is so amazing. I didn't really have a testimony at all throughout high school, sure I went to church and stuff, but my mind was always elsewhere. However being on this mission has really strengthened me and help me know who I am. and why I am here. I am so blessed to be able to share that with others.

Thank you all for being so patient and stuff with me back home. I feel like I was kind of a brat sometimes. I will make it up to all of you as best I can. I love you all! Have a great week!

- Elder Burt

Merry Christmas Eve!

Hello world!

Wow, what an amazing week. First things first, Elder Harris got transferred. What a great companion! He loves the Gospel and is a solid human being. What's funny is that he got transferred to the Clear View ward, and that is in my district! I am still a district leader, and I am over the whole Snohomish Zone, 10 missionaries! I love them all and they are great. It is not as hard as you would think. As the Prophet Joseph Smith taught "Teach them correct principles and they will govern themselves" and my district has been taught wonderful principles!

I am training Elder Lowery. He is awesome! I love him so much, he always wants to be out working. He is doing way better then I did my first few weeks, and it is great. We have found more people to teach and stuff, and it is wonderful, We have tracted whole neighborhoods already. How great is that! He has also brought me up to date on movies and video games, which is always good I guess haha.

Yesterday was a special invite Sunday. Me and Elder Lowery alone handed out 50+ invites and a ton of people came. Lots of less actives and people that were not even members. Brooks Bench, a man who has wanted to come back to church for many years, finally came. It was a special and amazing experience. He is a great man, and it was awesome seeing him there.

Needless to say I have been loving the Book of Mormon. I am in the Book of Mosiah right now, and man it reads so much like a novel I would read back home. Ruined cites, wars, ancient records, evil and righteous kings, but most importantly the fullness of the gospel!

I have sent my life givers some videos of me opening presents. I may have opened some from the other people haha.

GO TO THE TEMPLE ALL OF YOU! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

I love yall so much. Have an amazing Christmas!

-Elder Burt

Sultan Pass

Howdy everyone!

Welp, the Sultan Elders just got on the plane to go home today after 2 good years. Along with 28 other missionaries! How crazy is that. I am really going to miss some of them. The others, well, I'm just gonna be OK with them being gone.

Well, last week for Elder Harris in Woods Creek involved a lot of ministering. We said goodbye and stuff to a lot of people. We unfortunately did not have a lot of time to find people. That is OK though cause guess what! I am going to be district leader training! I am going to train a fresh missionary right from the MTC. In other words, I'm pregnant!

However, Sister Ballard is leaving my district and this makes me very sad. She is 5'1 and the most sassy human being I have ever met. She is so funny!

Saturday we went up to Steven's pass with the Sultan Elders to plan. It is on the very edge of our mission. The drive was amazing. I saw snow for the first time in months. 

This morning for P day we went to the Reptile Zoo and I was in heaven. I sent my mom some of the videos I took there and it was funny! I will probably go back with my new trainee.

Albert is doing amazing still, but wants to slow down the discussions with missionaries. He says he gets really really attached, and is very sad to see Elder Harris go. However, the Bishop is looking to get him to go do baptisms at the temple. 

OK everyone, here is my assignment for all of you this week! GET READY FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT NEXT YEAR! The BYU has published a more up to date translation of the new testament. It is more accurate and easy to read. It also has amazing notes, go get it!

Have an amazing week everyone! Love all of you! 

Elder Burt

Light the World

Hello all!

First of all I would like to put in another plug for light the world. This last week was light the world, and this week is light your community. Me and Elder Harris did tons of service all week. It was so great. The church is doing a great job this year. 

We had a lesson with our new friend Sally. Unfortunately it did no go as well as we wanted it to. She found a book called "MORMONISM EXPLAINED". That book is about as retarded as you would expect. It just antied her up. We did a great job addressing her concerns, but despite that, she still had a hard heart and didn't listen. I felt pretty bad. Had we not talked to her, she wouldn't have such a bad image of the restored gospel. It's a real shame. 

On the plus side, Albert is doing super well and received the priesthood on Sunday! He wasn't one of those baptisms that goes inactive immediately. He is already one of the most dedicated members there are. I love that feeling! It makes the whole mission worth it! I love it. Thank you all of you for your prayers.

I also went on exchanges with Elder Haseldon. He is the well fed Elder from Britain! He is very smart and we talked the whole time about the Gospel and Guns the whole time. He is super awesome! Very good worker. It's a shame he goes home in 7 days! I am going to miss him greatly. 

We all had interviews with President Wilding. He is such a genuine and amazing man. We had an amazing and good conversation. I love him lots. He said I'm doing a pretty great job. I hope he's right! 

Thank you all for being so great! 

Go to the temple love you! 

Elder Burt

Cursed with a ghost???

Hello Everyone!

Well, this week was certainly and interesting one. We visited the Zuccati household. They are a super awesome family, however they have not been to church in awhile. We have been visiting them on a weekly bases to try and make sure the gospel is present in there home. Well, their daughter, tried to curse me with a ghost. I think it was a joke. I will let y'all know if anything comes out of that!

We have really enjoyed teaching Albert the new member lessons. He loved talking about the spirit world with us. He really is the sweetest and greatest guy. Keep praying for him to continue to wax strong in the gospel. We also showed him pictures of lots of temples and stuff. He really enjoyed it. Pray for him!

We have also started teaching a women named Sally. She is very strong in her baptist faith. She was super strong in her faith in Jesus Christ and Heavenly father. We actually managed to convince her that a lot of what we are saying is true, and we did it all by quoting from her King James Bible! We will be doing lessons with her starting tomorrow. We will be reading the Book of Mormon!

I hope you all had the opportunity to watch the Christmas devo that our wonderful first Presidency put on last night! That talk from our Prophet almost made me cry. What a great guy! I pray for that child that she will feel comfort and blessed. I'm sure she already is!

Well, I hope light the world is going good for everyone. I certainly enjoy it. Saturdays day of service was great as well. We helped a lot of people put up Christmas lights.

Well everyone! Have an absolutely amazing week! Marry Christmas!

Elder Burt

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello All

First a funny story! Every week, I account to the zone leaders about a personal goal that I have for the next week. This last week, my goal was to eat healthier. WELL, IT WAS THANKSGIVING THAT WEEK AND I KINDA FORGOT SO YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW THAT GOAL WENT!!! We ate at the Adamsons home again. They are a super amazing fantastic family! Me and Elder Harris love eating there so much! Sister Adamson put me into a food coma and let me use some of her essential oils to help. I think they helped? At first I thought it was a ponzy scheme every Latter Day saint women buys into but I think they work. I felt much better afterwords!

Thanksgiving morning was an absolute blast. We had a Nerf war with my district. I tell you what, these Nerf Rival guns are absolutely amazing, its like paint balling, but cheaper and more fun! Sister Ballard looks hilarious with my huge gun. She is only 5 feet tall! She kicked butt with it though and was kind of scary. Then, we played some board games with the Elders. The Turkey bowl was too far away for us unfortunately, but we had loads of fun anyway.

Albert, the best recent convert in all of Zion, is doing great! He is still adjusting too the culture of this church. In the Catholic church, you don't participate in discussions like you do here in our church. There you are just kind of preached too. We will be meeting with him tonight again. What a fantastic guy!

Well fam I hope you all did something you loved on Thanksgiving. I am sorry my emails are short lately. Lets just say missionary work is really predictable. Wake up, tract, teach, sleep. So if you ever wonder that I'm doing at any given time, its one of those.

I love all of you! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN LIGHT THE WORLD! IT IS GOING TO BE AMAZING!

Elder Burt

Seven Months!

Hello all!

Okay so this last week was pretty freaking amazing! A lot of really big things happened, and it might take a minute for me to write it all down. I am experimenting again with the speech to text thing on my phone, so I hope you liked it the first time because I'm going to keep using it!

First thing is first, this last few day was really really fun. We played Ultimate Frisbee and that is quite the game to help burn off some energy! I had an energy drink beforehand, so I was a total war machine. I was jumping up in the air knocking the frisbee out of the air, it was so much fun.

Tuesday was a giant Zone conference. We had two Zones, the Everett / Snohomish Zone, and the Lynnwood Zone. That's a whole lot of missionaries! It was super fun being able to see them, but sometimes it gives me anxiety. You never know when you might accidentally be breaking some little random rule that you'll get called out for! There's a lot of really cool instruction, but the thing that stuck out the most was this huge change that they are making with dinners. They want to make the finding time it our mission from 5 to 7. This means that anything scheduled within that time has to be cancelled. We thought that meant that they would move member dinners to after 7 or before 5. I was totally fine with this but then they announced that they are just canceling them all period. I really hope they give us a boost on our mission cards. It's going to be really really hard but I'm confident I'll be able to work it out.

We spent a lot of this week preparing Albert to baptized. Meeting with him has been such a blessing, going over to his house is awesome. He always has treats, and drinks for us. He is such a blessing to this world and to us! He loves the Gospel of Jesus Christ he says he feels closer to his greater than ever before. That's exactly what I wanted to hear :-) He was baptized on Saturday at 2 by Elder King. He is huge! Afterwards we went and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. 

Yesterday on Sunday he was confirmed a member of the church by Elder Harris. It was a super sweet and tender moment the spirit was super strong in that room. Keep praying for him, that his testimony will continue to grow as it already has been. He says the Catholic blood still flows through them, so he will have to overcome some traditions and stuff.

I love you all so much have a wonderful week!

"Eternigator"

Hello all!

This week has been very, very, very slow. However, there has been some exciting stuff! Being a district leader, I have the privilege of receiving two new missionaries into my district. One is Elder Haseldon. He has a British accent even though he lived most of his life in America. I also got Sister Northrup, who is in a three-pack companionship, with Sister Ballard and Sister Kannaphus. Elder Haseldon is in the Sultan area with Elder Teel. I am also in charge of the Snohomish Elders, who are The Zone leaders. It has been super fun accounting with them, and talking to them over the phone about missionary work. I also had my first instruction on Friday. I did not have an outline so I kind of had to wing it. Apparently it went really well!

Our best friend Albert, is going to get baptized this week hopefully on Saturday! For someone that has been a Catholic as long as he has, he has really progressed well in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He feels closer to his Savior than ever, and that's what this gospel, and this church is all about. He loves the temples, and can't wait to go inside, and receive the wonderful blessings and endowments from the Lord. 

We have also been teaching a woman named Dodie. Some would call her an "eternigator". And that's cuz she totally is! That's not a bad thing :-). She has a strong testimony of the Divinity of the Book of Mormon, and of the Prophet Joseph Smith. She also loves our current Prophet Russell M Nelson. However due to some personal issues, she has not allowed herself to be baptized yet. She is such a sweet soul, and I hope that as me and Elder Harris continue to drop by and say hi, eventually she will realize that this is the right path for her, and the right path for her salvation.

Well everyone, I probably already told you this a billion times, but that's because super duper duper important! Go to the temple very often. It is a miracle to me that God even gives us the time of day, let alone dedicate beautiful buildings to him. Please, please go and do ordinances for those that have died and are on the other side waiting for them. 

I love you all! 

-Elder Burt

District Leader!

Hello world and all who inhabit it!

I am going to be a district leader! Uh oh! This is going to be so much fun! I am excited for this. If you have ANY ideas for a good district council, please send them to me. I would really, really appreciate it! These last 6 weeks have been so much fun. I have really enjoyed the members of my district. Elder Bjork and Elder Teel serve in the Sultan ward right next to us. We do P day stuff with them a lot. They are so great!

So Albert has moved his date to 11/17. He wants to make sure he understands everything. Totally understandable! Keep praying for him. He is a great example to me. Albert shows so much faith. He has also given up coffee completely. Very brave and very bold!

I have been really really sick this last week. Halloween is when it really hit. We worked really hard Thursday and it just made it worse. So much to my dismay we had to stay in Saturday and Sunday. The Doctor and my companion made me do it. Such a shame. I feel really guilty about it  I feel kinda like I let God down. Its ok though, I feel a little bit better. Please keep me in your prayers.

Other then that not to much of note happened this week due to my illness. I love you all so much! 

- Elder Burt

More Facebook Posts

Unfortunately Brothers and Sisters, I am very, very sick. However, I am not gonna let that keep me from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

I have used this opportunity to study the Holy Bible, and I have found this amazing scripture in the Book of James.

James 4

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge

Do we speak kind words of understanding and compassion to each other, do we love and appreciate our brothers and sisters? Or do we often speak guile and evil towards them?

Just something to think about. Remember Jesus loves you!

Pic has no relation to post it just looks awesome!

11/03/2018

So, I found this picture on my Dad's Facebook page and I'm going to go ahead and steal it!

These are my 2 favorite people, my little brother Spencer, who I had the amazing privilege to baptize when he turned 8, and my awesome little dog Rex (the name is meant to be ironic) 😊.

I get an amazing amount of comfort when I think about being with my family for all eternity. I could not have asked for a more amazing family.

I would encourage all of you to grow closer with your family. Spend time with them, help them, and talk with them. They are our greatest gift in this life!

10/31/2018

I learned something amazing the other day. This Vincent van Gough painting is worth millions of dollars. I started to wonder why.

I remember back when I learned a fascinating thing about the human mind and our natural tendencys. Our brian takes objects that are familiar to us, and takes out the detail and almost literally replaces it with an icon, a shadow of what the object is without any of the detail.

I realized, that when we look at a painting of a flower, or maybe literally look at a flower outside our house or in the park, it might be the first time in a long time that our brian truly processes the true beauty of the object, as we take in the wide range of colors and shapes that this fragile and beautiful object has.

Brothers and sisters, how often do we appreciate the little things in life? Our Father has blessed us with numerous little, yet significant things. Tonight, I would recommend that when you pray, pray for help to recognize all the beautiful little things God has blessed you with. 

10/23/2018

Ah man, do I love bears!

Look at this majestic creature! So happy in his natural habitat without a care in the world.

I love God's creations, every single one of them. In the Book of Moses, we learn something amazing about the nature of God's creations.

Moses 7:30 And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still; and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever

Cute and cuddly brown bears are just the beginning of God's wonderful and infinite creations

10/18/2018

Mountain Dew & Donuts

Hello all!

This week has been amazing and I'm sure I start just about every email that way. That's cuz it's true every single time! I am loving the mission. I probably don't even need to say that. I bet you can probably guess what the rest of my email is going to look like based off of the consistency of great things happening. I am also trying riding my email with my voice, so if any words are misspelled, or come out the wrong way, it's because of my phone not because of me!

Our best friend, Albert, is doing absolutely amazing! As I stated last week he is currently on the Glorious road to baptism. He is set to be baptized this Saturday. I am lucky enough to be one of the witnesses. I am so grateful to come to this area and to teach such an elect and wonderful man. He is kind of like our Grandpa. Every time we go over he has Mountain Dew and donuts for us. But that is not why we go over! That is just a bonus.

In this Mission we have a challenge to teach 20 lessons in a week. I have not yet achieved this goal until now! We were barely by the skin of our teeth able to teach 20 genuine good lessons too many different people. We also found a new friend! His name is John. We went to a neighborhood that is infamous in our area for bashing with people. He pointed out that in the Book of Revelations, it says that you should not add to this book. We kindly pointed out that is specifically talking about the Book of Revelations. We had a very good cordial conversation and he invited us back.

Every Friday, and I'm sorry if I haven't mentioned this before, we do service at the food bank. It is an amazing opportunity to help people who are in need of help, and practice the Christian lifestyle that we ask so many other people to live. I am so grateful for that wonderful opportunity.

There's something that has been on my mind a lot this week. I am slowly realizing that the Book of Mormon is not emphasized as much as it should be. It is an amazing book obviously, and it is another Testament of Jesus Christ. Please continue to read it and if you haven't, start.

Please pray that all of our friends will be able to make it to their baptism and that the friends that we are currently teaching will also be able to make it.

Side note, this morning we taught a lesson to our friend even though it's p-day. He is a theology major and he is very well learn it in the ways of the Bible. He is only in his early twenties. We had an amazing conversation about the Bible. We look forward to having more conversations with them.

I love you all so much! Have a great week! 

Elder Burt

Seven Months!

HELLO WORLD AND ALL WHO INHABIT IT!

I have been filled by the Holy Spirit all week! Me and Elder Harris have preached with much boldness in the Gentile land of Woods Creek. We have given many books of scripture away to those that are receptive to our message. We will be checking back with them this week! We testified boldly of the truthfulness of the lord Jesus Christ and His restored gospel on this earth today. We have taught a brand new man by the name of Brian. He loves what we have talked with him about so far. We got him reading the Book of Mormon and we will be talking with him about the plan of salvation next Saturday. He has been going through rough times lately, and I know the Lord will help him.

Thank the Lord God almighty! I had my first Baptism! Michelle is already one of the most solid members of the Church. We drove down to Everett to witness it. I was the first witness. An amazing experience, even if the picture does look dorky. Her son got up and bore a wonderful testimony. Keep in mind he is 7. "Hello, I felt like I should give a speech. You can call me James the Brother, or James Jesus Beliver. My uncle died from drinking to much firewater, and I know because of Jesus I will see him again. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen". WOW! He is filled with the Holy Ghost! God bless him! 

Our best friend Albert is doing amazing as well. He will be leaving the apostate fallen Catholic church and joining the true restored church on November 3rd! He loves it. He still reads the Book of Mormon and prays. He is very rich, but he is humble personally. Pray that he will make it to the holy waters of baptism.

The wonderful members the Hernadines took us to a Mongolian grill called Hot Iron. You basically load up a plate with whatever you want, they through it on a giant iron, cook it, and eat it! I got fatty bacon, beef, and noodles! Amazing.

This week I want all of you to work on your prayers. Please think about this. If you woke up tomorrow and the only things you had where they things you were grateful for, what would you have? Pray also for the Brethren families. We pray oft for the Elders, but they rarely see their families. Pray for their safety and protection.

I love you all! GO TO THE TEMPLE!

-E Burt

As Seen on Facebook

I love seeing Elder Burt's posts on Facebook during the week! It is just another glimpse into his life and thoughts as a missionary!

Loving the Mission & My Ward!

Hello all!

Loving the mission and my ward! The ward absolutely loved General Conference. They were all very receptive to the messages. I would highly, highly encourage all of you to go re listen to the talks now that they are available on LDS media and Gospel library.

A lot of funny things happened this week. Saturday was a service day, we chopped a lot of wood at a Catholic lady's house and she was very happy about it. Later we went to a less active lady's house to do some yard work and move concrete. We found a worm under a lawnmower. Well everyone surrounded me and made me eat it! Peer pressure is real. There is a video that I will get out asap.

We also did service at the food bank. What was fun is that I got 3 cartons of eggnog! I am a nogaholic now. I need to go to nogaholics anonymous. I have been clean for 3 minutes. 

The work is rolling on in Woods Creek. Unfortunately we did not find any new investigators this week, which is always a shame. However Albert has been great, and is not going to be Catholic for much longer! Thank goodness. He is probably getting baptized on the 3rd or 10th. He is basically a freeze dried member. Just add water! He still feeds us donuts and stuff when we come over, he is so kind. He is going to be one of the best members of the Church when he is baptized.

We had a Zone Conference this week as well. Very educational and talked a lot about the Spirit. I think there is a misconception within the Church that what we deem as "Primary answers" are not intelligent, and you should not say them as an answer to a question. I highly, highly disagree with this. Prayer and scripture study has brought me great joy. I have been praying a lot lately for things, and I am sure I will get my answer soon.

I love and appreciate your prayers for me. The Lord hears every one of them. Please, continue to put the names of those you love on the temple prayer roll. Everyone needs those blessings that come from the temple.

I love all y'all!

Elder Burt

WOW! What an Amazing Conference!

Hello Everyone!

I absolutely adore our Prophet! It seems that the Lord is rebuking His church, just like He did in the days of Moses. Thank goodness! We are all flawed and imperfect, and we need to be told that!

The Lord knows how to lead His Church people! President Nelson didn't decide this, this is from the big man himself! We should all find ourselves to know that as truth, and then follow Him! The Lord is perfect and knows what He is doing with His kingdom. I encourage all of you to re-listen and watch these talks these next 6 months. They will strengthen you. They are literal scripture. Please take them very seriously and with reverence.

Our area is doing super awesome! Our best friend Albert watched all 4 sessions! He already talks like a member. He says we are De-Catholicity him and after 60 something years of being Catholic he is ready to leave. He loves President Nelson! He went to Safe Co a few weeks ago and saw him. He loved it. Please pray for him to be able to make it to his baptismal date on November 3rd. He is also super excited about the Temples that are being built and plans on going to Conference next time down in Temple Square. He is retired and has tons of money to spend!

Me and Elder Harris are doing good. We get along pretty well. Training him has been really fun! We have pretty similar interests and likes and stuff. However me and him both have a long way to go. Please pray for us to continue to work hard in this area and grow as a companionship.

Funny story this week! So we have a bunk bed that we sleep on, and I keep waking up in the middle of the night and falling off it! One time I fell off right onto my dresser! I am defiantly gonna be more careful from now on about how I sleep! 

Unfortunately this week we had something really sad happen. We have a former investigator named Marvin. He used to be in prison for a while for drug smuggling and stuff. We stopped teaching him because he left a bunch of voice mails swearing at us and saying the Book of Mormon is a cheap knock off of the Bible. Last night he left voicemails saying he is going to commit suicide. He has threatened that before, and we let President know. He is homeless and we don't know where he lives now. Pray for him please.

God lives and knows our struggles. All of our struggles. He can relate to them. Please don't ever forget that no matter what situation you are in.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Burt

New Area!

Hello all!

What a week! First of all, I want to talk about View Ridge. Easily the best area in the best mission! So many wonderful, wonderful people in that area. I went around and said goodbye to all the members and investigators. It was sad, and me and Elder Hewitt did great work together.

Wednesday morning we drove down to the mission office to find out who my new comp is. It is Elder Harris! He has only been out 6 weeks and I am finishing his training. We are serving in the Woods Creek area and man oh man! There is nothing out here but sticks, trees, deer, cattle, and the occasional house! But wow do I love it. It's like I'm back in Idaho. What's funny is that I am in the same zone, our zone is just huge.

We live in a members house, in the basement. We have our own door and it is basically disconnected from the rest of the house. The members are Brother and Sister Grant. They are a Senior couple. Brother Grant is hilarious. He owns 20+ weapons, including a 50 caliber anti material rifle. The water heater is wood powered, so a few times a week we help him move chopped wood to the furnace. He made it himself. He has a generator that is EMP proof, and all the water comes from a fresh water source deep underground, and is completely pure. He's also a total stud. 

Me and Elder Harris have been doing tons of good work! We have a Rav4 that we use to run back and forth through our heavily wooded area. We had to drive up this huge hill once to visit someone, and we are sure grateful for all wheel drive! We drive an average of like 50 miles a day, which is the far cry from View Ridge which had half that.

Church here is pretty awesome too. The chapel is far bigger then the humble member built one in View Ridge. I love the feeling I get whenever I visit a meeting house that I have never been to before. Its like an outpost of Godliness in... well... Seattle!

We had a pretty funny experience at a members house the other day. We had dinner at the Adamson's. They are a younger couple with 4 kids. After dinner, Brother Adamson asked us if we could help him move his gun safe. it holds 30 guns and weighs 700 pounds! Sister Adamson kept saying "for just 200 dollars we could have had them move it professionally, but you are too dang stubborn and had to do it yourself!" It is something that was super familiar to me! I heard stuff like that growing up! Anyway we got it all moved and right where we wanted with the application of a dolly, ramps, and prayer!

We found a new investigator here as well. Her name is Dodie, and she was in the area book. She was meeting with the missionaries about a year ago. When we met with her, she told us she had read the whole Book of Mormon, went to the President Nelson devotional, has a testimony of Joseph Smith, and everything that comes with it. She wants to move at her own pace and doesn't want to jump in the water just yet, but I will keep y'all updated on what happens!

I love you all! Visit the temple and keep reading your scriptures!

Elder Burt

SIX MONTHS!!!

Elder Burt celebrated being in the mission field for six months with the traditional tie burning! (That was a nice tie too, couldn't he have picked an ugly one!)

We are so proud of his hard work and are so happy he is having so many wonderful experiences!  

A Magical Week

Hey all!

What a magical last week! Me and my companion both learned so much about trials and tribulations, and about the miracle of what happens afterward when we endure. 

On Wednesday me and my companion had dinner at this wonderful women's house and it tasted great! Unfortunately, it all came back out that night at 2 am. Me and Elder Hewitt stayed in and listened to talks and read scriptures all day cause we both had stomach bugs. We knew that the Devil knew the Prophet was coming, and he wanted to keep us down. That didn't stop us! Friday was awesome and we worked hard. 

President Nelson. Need I say more? His talk was so inspiring and fantastic. However, the day was just as interesting. That morning me and Elder Hewitt visited some members. The talk was at 6, however, between traffic and everything else, we needed to be at the stake center by 2:30. The Everett Zone and 3 others were all gonna ride a school bus down. On the way to the stake center, my glasses snapped. We raced back at questionable speeds to get my spares knowing God was watching over us, and raced to the stake center. We made it just on time. The bus ride there was so much fun! It was like a more consecrated field trip. We sang hymns while bystanders looked, wondering why a bunch of handsome well dressed people were going to a baseball stadium. Upon entering the stadium, we were ushered to the booths at the top. We sat with the Tacoma and Seattle missions. The first person to speak was President Eyring. What a soft spoken and humble man. He talked about how he misbehaved as a child during general conference, and would roll around on the floor while the prophet was speaking. It was so funny! I bet his mom would love to see him now! He talked about how we should gain a testimony of our leaders and not just blindly follow. Then Sister Nelson gave amazing insight as to how the prophet receives revelation. She says randomly she will feel a prompting at early hours in the morning and have to leave the room for 2 hours. Then she will come back and President Nelson will have a full note pad of what the Lord said to him. Amazing! 

Then the Prophet spoke. He spoke about many wonderful things that I and the other 49,000 needed to hear. The most important thing I learned however, is that he speaks on behalf of our Lord Jesus Christ. I had a testimony of his Divine calling, but at that moment I knew it. An angel didn't have to come to me and tell me. He didn't have to cure a blind man in front of me. He didn't have to speak in tongues. All he had to do was bring one of the most powerful spirits into my heart I had felt in a long time. He speaks on behalf of Christ. That is fact. He is not just an inspirational speaker. He is not just a powerful speaker. He is not just a spiritual man. He has direct and unbroken contact with that that is divine. He is a literal Prophet of The Father and The Son. 

I love him. I follow him.

I hope you can all gain a testimony of him. 

I ask all of you to learn these things for yourself. To not buy into the rumors and philosophy's of the world that say Jesus was just a good example. That say the Prophet is just another man. Pray and seek these things for yourself. 

I love all of you. Have a wonderful week! 

-Elder Burt 

The Weekly

Hello all!

What an absolutely amazing and beautiful week! I am so thankful to be here and to be able to witness all the amazing things I have been able to witness.

Let's start with the most important news! Michelle is on day to be baptized on September 29th! Me and Elder Hewitt are so incredibly excited for her. She already talks like she is a member, gets along with everyone and relief society, and really loves every single principle, Doctrine, and stance the church has. She is a wonderful disciple of Jesus Christ, and already lives and Incredibly christ-like life. She is so ready to make this next step in her journey. It is almost like we didn't need to be there! I am so happy I was though. She is one of the reasons I came out!

The rest of our friends are progressing, and the next step for them is to come to Church. Coming to church is so incredibly crucial for their conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When they come to church they can meet many other people who are on the same journey and path as they are.

I am so, so, so, dang excited for President Nelson to come to the Seattle area! 3 missions get to go. We get the nosebleed seats but I'm not even mad! I am so grateful to be able to hear the prophet of God in person, on my mission! I never thought that would actually happen. I am so grateful for him and for what he does for this church. He is absolutely a prophet of God and is amazing.

Me and Elder Hewitt had an interesting experience last night.  We were driving around and remembered this Pagan guy this lady told us about living in an apartment. We went and knocked on his door and he came out, and was super duper nice, and super duper drunk! He was actually really funny. He offered us a beer and we denied it, but told him to let us know if any missionaries do take a beer from him! He talked about how he grew up in Utah, and his thoughts on the Latter Day Saints. He doesn't agree with most of what we believe, but he was very nice and respectful. I wish more people were as respectful as he was.

I love you all so much! Read your scriptures every single day!

-Elder Burt 

I'm Loving the Mission!

Hello all!

We had a super blessed week this last week! We met with tons of super awesome people and had many experience that humbled us greatly. First the super awesome news! Our Golden investigator came to church with her son! Michelle seemed to like it and her son as well seemed to love it! He is seven and had great fun running around. We also had many less active people come to church that we visited this week. It is so great to seem them come unto Christ.

We had another interesting experience as well. Elder Hewitt felt a prompting to go tract an apartment complex we have driven by many times. We parked behind our favorite Taco Bell and started walking. While we were walking a guy in a really cool Chevy Colorado called us over. He seemed to be in his late 20s. He asks us about "John the prophet" and asked us about him. Of course he was thinking about Joseph Smith. We explained who we were and what we do. He seemed to be in a really unfortunate situation. He had a straw in his hand, and we are pretty sure due to his bloody nose he had just snorted coke. Very sad. He told us how he found out he had an STD and how he thinks life is meaningless. He knowingly spreads it because he doesn't care anymore. He told us how he knowing murdered someone and got away with it. I immediately judged him. He was easily the most wicked man I had ever met. However, once I started talking about who Jesus was and what he did, he seemed comforted. I gave him a Book of Mormon. He said "isn't this made up?" I said "No. What matters is that this book brings you closer to Jesus then any other book on earth. You need this right now. He loves you and we love you". He said thank you and we gave him our number.

We also have another new investigator named Dee. She also is a single mom with an awesome little kid. Catholic background and seemed very accepting of the restored gospel. She just needs to gain a testimony of it. She desires change in her life. We look forward to meeting with her.

I'm loving the mission and am looking forward to President Nelson coming on the 15th! Now I just need to find a cheap dry cleaner!

I love all of you! Keep reading your scriptures!

-Elder Burt 

It's Not Rocket Science

Hello all,

Another awesome week! We had an incredible zone conference. We talked so much about President Nelson coming to Seattle. What an amazing opportunity. I feel so incredibly blessed. I am hoping our investigators will make it as well. Many people not of our faith will be attending.

Seeing what he has to say and what revelation he has for this area is something I am very excited for and looking forward too! .

Our investigators are doing wonderful! We have started teaching a women named Kenya. She is great and has a wonderful background in church going. She was able to make it to church as well!

Our favorite Michelle unfortunately was unable to make it. We are unable to figure out why. We will be meeting her Wednesday to see how we can help her progress to baptism. 

Elder Hewitt is doing awesome! We don't always agree on things but we work things out and get a lot done. I love him to death! Apparently my trainer Elder Conk might be working up in Rexburg! Looking forward to see if he can meet my family!

I am doing awesome. I have been feeling a tad homesick lately, but as long as I take things one day at a time I am able to push through anything. 

My testimony grows every single day! Our Savior loves us and this is absolutely His church. I heard someone complain about the name clarification the other day at church. He said "Glad to see I am more proud of being Mormon than President Nelson". What a horrible thing to say! Mormon was a wonderful historian and record compiler. But make no mistake this is the Father's church, and we glorify him through Jesus Christ. So this is Jesus Christs church. It's not rocket science!

I love all of you so much! Remember where you came from and who you are! 

Elder Burt

Elder Burt and Elder Hewitt hard at work giving service

Knowing Elder Burt I can't help but think this is supposed to mimic holding a gun of some type???

  

Elder Burt is really grateful to have a car, especially since the zone expanded.