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.

KEEP READING YOUR SCRIPTURES EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Hello everyone!

This week was kind of slow, but we saw a lot of awesome things happen! For one  our golden investigator, Michelle, is progressing super soundly in the gospel! We walk into our lesson and some awesome Miracles happened. Her only real concern was with the Trinity. She was concerned that in the Bible it says put no other gods before me. But how can there be three separate beings if the Commandment is worded like that? So in Genesis 1:26, it says "let's make men in our image" and she was astonished. Then she said she is seriously considering joining! I love her and hope to continue to meet with her!

I have been loving this wonderful mission! What is great about a mission is some of the funny stories you have! Last Tuesday for a service project we were out on a community farm plot weeding the tomato plants. It was quite serene and peaceful. We were surrounded by open plains and trees and you could see houses out in the distance. It was something out of one of those paintings you see in Deseret Book.

We decided to just randomly start walking to the train tracks in the distance. Lunch was in 40 minutes, and when we started walking, we didn't realize the grass was at least 5ft high! The hay was so tall we tripped on the grass, but it was so soft we just liked lying there! Then the bugs found us and started eating us alive so we made a run for the train tracks. Unfortunately we both fell in ditches! Luckily we dried off quick and all of our clothes are fine. When we got to the train tracks we found a bunch of engravings! They were pretty inappropriate hahaha. We made sure to leave a picture of Jesus there!

It is ok to have little adventures here and there, especially considering we have been working super hard! We have loved this ward and have been building a great relationship with them. I love this Ward so much and I am so happy I have been able to spend the first five months of my mission here. They feel like my home Ward! I have grown so close to all of the ward members. We have especially loved John Pedigo. He used to be a Stake President and is ultra knowledgeable and spiritual. We had the wonderful privilege of having dinner with him and his wife last night. We talked about guns, the gospel, and everything in between!

Have a wonderful week. 

Love all of you! 

Elder Burt

Read Your Scriptures!

Hello all!

This last week was full of fun experiences and miracles! Yesterday (And don't tell my Mission President) before we attended real church we attended The New Life Church. It felt like more of a tech conference and concert then a spiritual experience. They practiced tithing but not ten percent as it dictates in the Bible. They just passed around a bucket? What if someone steals the cash? As soon as we got in they tried selling camp outs and stuff to us. It felt like they worshiped the cross as well, and only saw one picture of Jesus the whole time I was there. They didn't teach any false doctrine but that is because the only doctrine they taught was "Jesus loves you" which is absolutely true. They didn't teach literally anything else though. It was a nice place and the people were nice, but our church is clearly true!

Our investigators are doing awesome! Unfortunately we were not able to meet with Raul again. His wife is having medical issues that need to be resolved. We dropped off a huge version of the triple combination for him however!

Michelle is doing spectacular. We taught her the plan of salvation and she accepted and loved it. However because of her Jewish background she still needs a testimony of Jesus. As we work with and meet with her I am confident her testimony of Jesus will grow!

I am loving this ward and all the wonderful things it brings. So many awesome and wonderful people are here. They have done so so much for the missionaries. They will receive so many blessings for everything they do.

President Nelson is coming September 15th to the mariners baseball stadium. Apparently it is not gonna be televised so it is a Washington exclusive! Over 30 stakes will be there. The missionaries get a section way up in the nosebleed seats. I am just grateful to be there! However, with the coming of the prophet, the adversary does his best to increase trial and delusion. I definitely see it. But when he comes this whole city will be blessed!

I love you all so much! Read your scriptures!

-Elder Burt

The Malleyboat

Hello everyone!

Another fantastic and super busy week here in Viewridge! I love this ward so much! It is full of wonderful amazing people. They have really helped me stay comfortable and feel needed and wanted and useful. It feels like my second homeward. Transfers are soon so I hope I stay just one more transfer. I have a great sense of thanks and respect for the people here.

As far as investigators go this week, we still have the same ones! We have Gunnar who is 12, Michelle, and Raul. Gunnar still very much wants to be baptized and bore his testimony in sacrament meeting. It was simple and powerful. I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach him and talk with him. We are meeting with Michelle tomorrow night and are going to discuss the plan of salvation with her. She seems open so we are both excited. We will also be teaching with John Pedigo again who is a spiritual powerhouse. Raul's wife got sick and we couldn't have a lesson with him, however we were able to drop off a big Book of Mormon to him so he can read it. Excited to report on that!

Me and Elder Hewitt are getting along great! We love our car which we have nicknamed the Malleyboat, and we are extremely grateful for it. It allows us to do missionary work far quicker than before and has helped us find many people who are now potential investigators. I am so thankful for Elder Hewitt's desire to work hard. It is awesome and keeps us spiritually focused on our purpose.

This week I encourage all of you to read 2 Nephi start to finish. I I have learned so much from just reading it this past week. Instead of trying to read it as fast as I can, I have been reading it with the intent to actually learn what it means . This means that I might only read a few verses a day because of how dense and packed it is of doctrine . However I'm getting far more out of it than I would otherwise .

Love you all!

Elder Burt