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