Merry Christmas!

My Christmas was absolutely amazing! Thank you everyone for all the awesome presents and things I received. I promise if you sent me a gift card it's already spent and have been used for popcorn and clothes.

My favorite gift was the replica of Joseph Smiths ring I received from my mom. What's funny is that I thought I asked for it, but I guess I didn't. What's super awesome is that Mom was prompted by the Spirit to get it for me anyway. It has a black circle on it that represents eternity and the nature of man. 

Our on dates are doing great! We have a kid named Ethan being baptized this weekend which is super awesome. Totally came out of nowhere. I am looking forward to it and am so proud of him for making this decision.

Please pray we will continue to find success!

Love you all!

Smashing Couches!

I know it's not a traditional way to celebrate Christmas, but smashing couches at Habitat for humanity has been a fun and great way to serve!

Merry Christmas!

Raccoon Problems!

Howdy all!

It has been an amazing week! It has also been way totally weird. Elder Swindlehurst saw a nude person which is on par for Seattle. We saw a guy get tazed by 3 cops outside our apartment. Poor guy probably shouldn't have been breaking into apartments.

I had a pretty crazy experience with our alcoholic investigator. We were having a really deep spiritual conversation on the atonement of Jesus Christ and the power it brings. We talked about the cross and ressurection. He asked me what my testimony was. 

I looked him in the eyes, pointed at his half gallon box of wine and said "these chains that are binding you can be completely removed". He cried, and we had to go. Hopefully he will actually remember our convo.

We also have a major raccon problem on our back porch. I drilled one of them from 10 yards with my nerf gun. Hopefully my border control techniques will hold.

Love you all! 

A Wild Week

Howdy everyone!

We had a wild week! We started off Monday night by going by to see a women named rose Okullu. She has an unbaptised son named Barack Obama Okullu. We had a really spiritually intense convo and we cried as we prayed. She struggles so much being a single mom. We had a lesson with him, and put him on date to be baptsied. It was so awesome and unexpected!

Tuesday was pretty cool too. We were walking down the street and a van veered off the road into a driveway. There was a trailer in the middle of the road. Both wheels busted off the rusty old trailer, because he was hauling scrap metal. It was a Russian immigrant who was super nice. We found the wheels like 500 feet in a ditch in front of the wreck. We helped him out as much as we could to get the trailer off the road. He thanked us for helping and said we were sent by God. We gave our card, and told him to call us. We will see what happens!

We also had interviews that day and had the opportunity to personally interview everyone in our district. It was fun. 

I gave a District council on the importance of Temple Covenants. The Spirit was way strong, it was awesome. 

Later in the week, we put a man named Rodney on Date! He randomly texted us saying he wanted to meet, and then we had a sweet lesson with him.

I had a wack exchange with Elder Slack. We stayed up until 2 talking about deep Doctrine, I woke up, drank an energy drink, and we barely survived. It was wild. We tracked a lot, and found a goat that got loose. We tried taming it, but the owner came out and we ran.

It was crazy! It has been so awesome though. I love you all! If you are wondering what to get me for Christmas, I love Old Spice products and socks!

Love you all! 

Have a great week! 

New Area!

Hey all!

It has been a pretty crazy week. I have thoroughly enjoyed it! My last few days in Stillaguamish was fun, and I am so excited to be here in the Meadowdale ward! The Meadowdale ward is so great! It's like I'm back in my training area. Weed shops and drug abuse, it is an area ripe for missionary work!

On Thursday, we had a super awesome experience. We were out visiting potentials, and we ran into a man named Craig. He is an ardent Atheist. However, we managed to get on a conversation about the Spirit and how we can obtain more knowledge. We talked about the eternal nature of man and how every action we have has consequences. He was actually super interested in our message, and we are going to have a great conversation with him on Tuesday. 

Our apartment complex is awesome! We have an auto hot chocolate machine, and a sports complex underneath the building. I will be jacked ginger by the end of my mission 🏋️‍♂️

I hope y'all have a great week! My amazing mother is having surgery, so please keep her in your prayers.

Love you all! 

Have a great week! 

Brian Got Baptized!

Hey all!

Great week! By surprise, Brian got baptized! It was the most beautiful and tender baptism in my life. I bore the strongest testimony I ever have, and saw him cry as his new family embraced him. He went from smoking and working a worthless job to overcoming addictions and becoming more than he ever imagined. He is one of my closest friends, and I love him dearly. I am convinced he is one of the reasons I came out.

We were visited by Elder Pearson of the 70 at a half mission conference. It was amazing! He did not have a filter at all though, and told us how the brethren feel we can improve as a mission. He had a lot of fire. It was fun seeing some of my best friends there, including Elder Thompson and Elder Lee, for the last time. Today, they are returning home from 2 years of inspiring service to the Lord.

I am getting transferred out of Stilly. This has been a great ward, and I have learned a lot here. I am excited for the challenges and experiences being a District Leader in another area will show me! I am excited to instruct again, and I plan on being the best man I can be.

18 weeks to go. It has been awesome, I will do everything I can to keep it going. 

Love you all! 

Snakes

Hello all!

Fascinating week. We were able to do tons and tons of service, including digging up a cement fence post and moving it. Rebuilding the whole thing with good old hammer and nails. It was awesome, and I feel like I might actually be useful someday! Made me way excited.

On Friday we had a crazy fun service project moving hay and covering them with tarps so they stay dry. It's really teaching me the importance of good stewardship of that which has been delegated to you. It was a great and helpful reminder to me. 

I listened to a talk recently about snakes. I know, how does that relate to the gospel? The snake has many very widely varied interpretations in the gospel. Something fascinating to me, is that a very large amount of your brain is dedicated and designed to detect nothing but snakes. The lower half of your eye is tuned to detect snake camoflauge. Of course, this is due to our ancestors having to be very concerned about the genuine threat they posed to us.

Although we need to remember the fact that the scriptures are literal stories, we also need to acknowledge the fact that God communicates in types and images as well. Snakes are terrifying, they are unpredictable, and are opposite in almost every way to humans. They represent chaos, and the unknown. Adam and Eve of course were the first victims of beigg exposed to this chaos. Upon being exposed to the chaos of the unknown by the snake, they realized the postion they were in as helpless, naked humans. They needed to be together and rely on God, to escape the enevitable pain and suffering caused by the serpent.

They set a great example for us. Eventually, we need to band together as family's to defend against the assaults of the Adversary. 

Love you all! 

Have a great week. 

Happy Halloween!

Hey all

This week was pretty spooky! We were unable to go to the old people place which made me super bummed out. Everyone there had the flu. However, Halloween was super awesome. We played a super fun bored game called "Betrayal in the House on the Hill" which was hilarious.

We went up to Darrington and helped the Marsh family clean out their garage. I am really learning to appreciate service more and more as I continue to serve in this area. Unfortunately there is not a lot of finding new people to teach, so it is pretty unconverntional. 

OK Halloween morning, our car warned us that the tire was super low psi. We found a fat nail in it, took off the tire and put on the boot. It looked retarded. It was fun though!

Have a great week all. 

I love you so much! 

5 more months to go! 

Slow Week

Hello all!

Pretty slow week. We had a pretty good time driving around I guess. Unfortunately not a lot of people answered their doors. However I did go on exchanges to Arlington which was fun. We had an awesome lesson with a guy named Duston. He is progressing pretty good, and the Spirit was super strong as we talked about commitment. Hopefully he will end up going somewhere.

We also had a fun time at interviews with President Auna. He is so inspired. I love talking with him! It looks like I am going to be in Stillaguamish for the next 8 weeks. I look forward to it! I feel like there is a lot of work to be done.

Nothing much happened. We had another lesson with Fred, but we are not able to put him on date yet. Please pray that we will be able to put him back on date.

Love you all! 

Have a great week!

Brian is Being Baptized!!

Hello all!

It was a pretty wild week! We had tons of fun at the old folks home on Tuesday. I painted a pumpkin that I for one really enjoy. We talked to an old guy named Les, who loves painting as well. We talked to him about the church a little bit as well which was nice.

On Wednesday we had a sweet lesson with the Rusher Family. They are very knowledgeable in the Gospel even though they are new converts. I hope we will be able to help them come back to church. I also got a call from the Hollywood hill Elders that BRIAN IS BEING BAPTISED! I am so excited and will totally claim him as a baptism. He is so great, and has worked so hard to get this far. Hopefully it will go through. I have been asked to give a talk on the Holy Ghost at his Baptism as well.

While in Darrington Friday, thanks to wonderful GPS, we accidentally drove all over someone's property. A lady came out crying, and said we had totally ruined her day. Shows that not all technology is totally inspired. Also we are pretty sure she was under the influence of some substances. Saturday we had a lesson with Fred which was pretty awesome, and he asked us 14 questions, which were very direct and pointed. We answered all of them the best we could, and he said that he will be baptised if he feels the Book of Mormon is true.

I am personally doing better. Thank you so much for your prayers. 

Love you all!

New Comp!

Hello all!

I have a new companion. His name is Elder MacDonald. He is from the far away land of Beaver Utah. He is pretty freaking awesome. He is 6'5 which is pretty hype. He has been out for 10 months. It is odd being at the point in my mission where basically every missionary you talk to has been out less time then you, and in most cases way less time.

Stilly has been pretty wild. Same ol' running around the woods looking for less active people who probably haven't lived there in years. Still super fun though. We had a super crazy lesson Saturday morning where he was explaining how he believed all this doctrine from the Bible, and got excommunicated from his old church for believing in that doctrine.

We found out the he believes that the true church needs authority, that it will be Christs tool to usher in 1000 years of peace, and that we need to be baptised for the dead. 

We told him he's right and that he has found the true church. His name is Fred, and he will probably be baptized eventually. We will see how he is doing next week. 

Keep praying for me guys! 

Love you all and have an amazing week! 

General Conference

Hello World and all who inhabit it!

Conference was freaking wild! I loved it so much. It was incredibly revelatory and I had many questions anwsered. We got a few of our friends to watch conference as well which was super awesome. They really enjoyed it. We went to a members home to watch it with our investigator Fred. He was like "Woah, that guy is a prophet?" and I said "Absolutely, he has that calling and authority". He was blown away and wants to learn more about the church. He is awesome and has a huge interest in family history. Hopefully something good will come of it!

While tracting a few days ago, a man opened his door and said "GO AWAY!!". I politely asked "Is there anything we can help you with?". He yelled "WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT GO AWAY!!". I smiled and said "Have an amazing day sir. You will wished you would have listened to what we had to say." and then we proceeded to walk away. I am pretty fed up with human beings after 19 months. Pray that I won't get too jaded.

Elder Clonts is getting transferred away from me which is a real shame. Tomorrow however I will have a new companion! I am excited for next transfer and I feel like this area is just getting started. Hopefully I can continue to serve here for at least 2 more transfers.

I need you all to know, that undeniably Russel M Nelson is a prophet of God. He has authority to call himself a prophet and the authority to say "Thus saith the Lord". He speaks with him. He knows him. We would be wise to do what ancient Israel did not do enough, which is heed the words of the Prophet of God.

Next conference is going to be way to good!

Love you all! 

Trespassing

What a week! We got yelled at Tuesday for going up some guys property. He came down and said "YO I could have shot you! What are you doing?". We explained we were looking for a member of our church and he continued to freak out. We just smiled and stayed happy and it mad him mad. It was kinda hilarious. Later that day we sat down with a young man in our ward and gave him advice on being a missionary. Hopefully he takes it seriously but not to seriously! 

We have been doing good things. Yesterday we found 2 new friends! Hopefully they progress in the gospel, I am really excited to meet with them! I think I'm getting used to things around here a little bit better. 

Do any of you have advice on how to sleep better? I unfortunately have been struggling sleeping. Mostly my mind just races. I mostly contemplate my future. I usually just try and think about the Gospel.

I am super hyped for general conference! 

Love you all so much! 

Elder Burt Doesn't Do Drugs

Whole Lotta funny things happened this week. It has really been raining a lot!

On Wednesday we had a lesson with the Hyde family. They are less active, but super awesome. The boyfriend - practically husband is not a member. We have been teaching them for a few weeks, and Elda (no hard R) Clonts almost put him on date! He said he would love to be baptized eventually. We will keep working with him.

On Saturday we went to Darrington. After almost getting mugged by a biker gang, we went to a lesson with the Olsen family. The people /group we were teaching offered me weed half way through. I respectfully denied. It was hilarious. 

It has been raining and I love it! Elder Clonts is adjusting OK. We also had the opportunity to instruct the young women on missionary work and why it's important. 

I love you all so much! If you wanna show me love, just email me memes. 

Elder Burt

Ether 12:27

Hello all!

What a fun week. We had zone conference on Tuesday which was super fun. We were instructed by the assistants and President. We were taught and spiritually uplifted. The zone leaders had a good instruction where we went from room to room in the stake center to different stations, where we talked about and discussed particular topics.

We had a good time driving in the deep woods looking for less active members. We were pretty sure we were going to be attacked by Indians and/or bears. That would have made for a good email but no such thing happened. However the less actives were not interested in coming back or removing their records. I mean do one or the other but maybe I'm just to judgey. 

We also visited some awesome members named the Anglins! They have a dream setup, and we shared a quick message with the Dad and son. They have a modest house, a trout filled pond and a shooting range. They have a dream setup. Kinda made me trunky but I'm good! I just really miss shooting guns.

We went down to Darrington again and had dinner with the Mauldin's. They are so awesome! Darrington is a fun town and we had a lesson with a non member family called the Olsens. They had a really good question about why bad things happen to good people. I read 

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Ether 12:27 

and they were like blown away. They loved it! Elder Clonts is doing really well! His teaching skills are really improving, and I am proud.

I love you all! Please attend the holy temple as often as possible.

LOVE YOU BYE!

Ambushed by Horses

Hello all!

This week has been pretty hectic and fun. We found a man named Scott. He has been living "on the lamb" for awhile now. Due to very complicated and private reasons, he will not be able to join the church in this life. He is a very kind man though, and it was humbling to see him in the situation he was in. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Blue. He has only been out six months. We had a great time running around and baring testimony to random people like we always do. We also ran down and explored a river, and during a lesson that night we got ambushed by horses! It was a fun exchange, and we were talking politics and thew gospel the whole time.

We had a really dope training meeting on Friday! It was good to see Sister Simonson, Elder Wright and a whole ton of other missionaries. I love President! He is truly really loving.

I was reflecting on the the lamp stand in the ancient tabernacle in the old testament. It represented the holy ghost and required to be burned at all times. We too must require the holy ghost to always be present in our home.

Love you all!

Stillguamish!

Hello everyone! It was pretty sad leaving Hollywood Hill. I am going to miss the Bothell zone. So many good memories were made. I have grown to love (for the most part) the people in Bothell. Being a zone leader was pretty fun I guess!

I got word on Tuesday that I was double training. I ended up getting Elder Clonts and Elder Cahoon! Elder Cahoon left for Italy on Friday. It was fun being able to teach him how to missionary. Elder Clonts has been really fun too, I already see improvement in his performance as far as tracting goes. I love being on the front lines of missionary work again! We are in an area and ward called Stillaguamish. We have enormous ward boundaries, and the country vibes are definitely there.

We got to our apartment and it was total trash. We spent an hour cleaning it up and making it look nice. When we were done it really helped bring the Spirit in.

I loved Come Follow Me this week. Baptisms for the dead is a really cool topic to me. That reminds me, please go to the temple!

Funny story this week. So we were driving back from a lesson with a member and decided to get a drink at 7/11. Some drunk guy came in and started yelling all sorts of funny stuff. He was like "You represent 666! Theirs three of you so take that times 3 and thats 666!"

It was a good week! Love you all!

 

 I asked Elder Burt about his favorite pose for pictures, he said it comes from his favorite emoji:

The "thinking" one

Transfers!

Hello everyone!

We had a great week this week. We had tons of interviews on Wednesday. My testimony of President Auna is so strong! He is so inspired. He also loves quoting the Doctrine and Covenants, which is the same as me. I love Doctrine and Covenants! Everyone needs to read it.

He told me that I am double pregnant. I am training 2 new missionaries on Wednesday. One of them is waiting on his visa. I am so excited! I am getting transferred as well which will be so awesome. I have loved it in Bothell! But I think I'm ready to go. I am off to be a dad.

We had a huge training meeting on Friday which was fun. We had a great day Saturday morning where we went to 21 acres and we had great fun... weeding.

Pray that everything will go well! 

Love you all! 

Lamborghinis!

What a good week! Tuesday we spent all morning with Brother Kearsley, who is a less active member. He is super awesome and we did service for him a few weeks ago! It is was fun. We also picked like hundreds of plums.

Wednesday I went on exchanges WITH Elder Hansen. He is a great Elder. However, I did not eat or drink anything until 2:00, when I promptly carb loaded and drank to much water. It put my body into some kind of shock! Whoops. I managed to hand out a Book of Mormon though! We worked super hard and had a great lesson with a guy named Berry. 

Friday we had 21 acres in the morning where I promptly went to war with black berry's. It is my favorite hobby.

Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Garbett. We went to Woodinville days, and the first guy to talk to us was like "you have some nerve coming and proselyting here" and we were like "thank you!". We tried bringing a sign and we got kicked out immediately, so we handed out pass along cards to people that drive McLarens and Lamborghini. it was awesome! We helped someone move their stand, and we got free chocolate out of it. It was a great exchange! 

Have a great week everyone!

 

Chopping Wood

Well, this week was fun. We went to a much needed Red Robin dinner on Tuesday which tasted great. Then we went out and worked our butts off the rest of the week! We did not find anyone new to teach however. We have some interesting responses to our approach

"Hello! Would you like this picture of Jesus! It fits right in your wallet and a great reminder of your Savior!"

"No, I'm already Christian."

????

No joke that is always the response. The answer doesn't seem to line up with the question? We are so confused. 

We chopped wood for some members in our ward which was nice! Elder Hemenway felt pretty proud. We also did a lot of service this week in the way of helping people move. 

In the North Creek ward, there was a Baptism for a guy named Josh. He saw a coworker help someone out, and decided that he wanted to be a member of the church. Took the discussions, now reads the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants daily. What a great example for the rest of us! 

Have a great week yall! 

Red Dawn

Well, the title should explain a little of the drama in the zone right now. I don't want to go into detail, but let's just say we have had to do a lot of babysitting with just one companionship. 

We have had a stellar week however! We had MLC which is always a spiritual Roller Coaster. I was able to bare my testimony in front of the MLC. It was super fun. President Auna was very Spirit filled. I straight up cried being filled with the Spirit. It was awesome.

Me and Elder Eatough had an absolutely amazing exchange. It was a simply sacred experience. I can't even put it into email, but my view of the Atonement has been fixed into my soul. My testimony has increased. I will definitely be talking about it in my homecoming talk in a few months.

I love you all. I would recommend reading D&C 86.

Love you all! 

Tall Redheads Rule the World

Bothell had 2 more baptisms this week! I interviewed Sam Wolff to be baptized. She is so awesome! I am so happy for the good decision she has made that will bless her in the eternity! Elder Kelly came up to baptize Richard in the Bothell ward. He is an old guy but he has now made the decision to be saved by the grace of Christ through baptism!

We also instructed in zone conference on the blessings of obedience. The Relief society room where we instructed in was BOILING hot. I was sweating super hard the whole time. Everyone made fun of me! It was like freaking sea world. It was hilarious! President Auna even thought it was funny. It was a great conference!

I have been studying a lot in the Doctrine and Covenants lately. Section 132 is heartbreaking. I hope we can all remember the great sacrifice the "best blood of the 19th century" made.

I love y'all! Have a great day! 

Elder Burt

Lion Statues

Hello all

We tracted a ton this week! We only have multi Millionaires in our area, and we noticed a lot of places have lion statues and we take selfies with all of them! In fact my new profile picture on Facebook is a multi millionaire who got mad at us, so I took a dope picture on his bench out of spite! We actually had success though! One man answered and took the Book of Mormon saying he will pray about it and learn more about Christ. He was just visiting and normally lives in Lynnwood, but we referred him to the Elders up there. We will see what happens!

We also had transfers. We have 2 new Russian sisters, and due to gender, we barely fit all of their luggage in our car. That is not including the luggage in their car. I also got to see my son and a lot of other friends! I love Elder Lowry, he is so legit.

Our friend Amber came to a relief society activity which was super awesome. Our ward has been so great at fellowshipping her and set a good example as to what a missionary minded ward looks like.

Come follow me was super hype this week! DO COME FOLLOW ME THE PROPHET SAID SO!

I love all of you! Keep being awesome! 

Elder Burt

 Sisters Luggage - He grew up with the girls and I always packing a lot - I don't know why this surprised him! :)

 His "son" Elder Lowry

 More fun with dogs!

Bring Out Your Dead!

Well this week was definitely something special! We had MLC on Tuesday which was breath ta-kingly awesome. It was super spiritual and amazing to observe President Auna take the reigns and keys of a mission President. We talked about obedience and studied the Doctrine and Covenants.

We spent a lot of time with Winget, Hatch and Kelly for dinner and such considering they are super dead. As you read this they are home. It was a surreal experience watching them go away permanently to the real world. I doubt that will ever happen to me!

We had a great lesson with Brian last night! He has not read the scriptures in weeks due to his insane amount of jobs. We read 2 Nephi 31 all about baptized. He said he would love to be baptized! We have a long road ahead of us as far as cigarettes and other stuff but he has that goal!

It has been an awesome week. I love you all! Also I will be staying in Hollywood hill another transfer. I am so excited! Love you all!

Elder Burt

Keep America Great

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a super dope lesson with Amber! She is doing great and we cannot wait to be with her again to read the scriptures. I love helping others come closer to Jesus Christ, and I cannot wait to do that for another 8 months!

Fourth of July itself was kinda rough. It was really fun in the morning as we all shot each other with Nerf guns and stuff which was awesome. I love the fourth of July itself because of fireworks, however as a missionary you cant exactly do that. A lot of missionaries made very poor decisions as well and it caused me a lot of stress. I hope I can get the concerns resolved. 

I also went on exchanges with Elder Hatch again which was super fun. He's a very intelligent guy and we had some awesome conversations about the Gospel. He is going home with a group of 30 missionaries in a week, so I was getting some old missionary advice.

We had some awesome dinners! We had dinner with the Barrows who are multi millionaires and gave us financial advise. Then we had dinner with the Noriss's who know the Adamson family in woods creek! It was a fun dinner. 

I read the first chapter of saints 2 and geeked out the whole time. I love church history.

Have a great week! 

Elder Burt

Hawaii Rules the World

Well, this week we said goodbye to President Wilding. I love him to death! Easily one of the greatest human beings alive. I am grateful for his forgiveness, charity, and love that he led this mission with. I have no doubt he will be an apostle!

We met with President Auna this week! He is super legit and is from the big island of Hawaii! He used to be a family judge, and has helped save marriages and children from abuse situations. He also drove President Nelson around the big island when he was visiting. He used to be a 70! Easily him and his wife are the most loving people ever. 

We were able to talk with Brian again, and that is still going great! He absolutely loves the Book of Mormon. We showed him President Nelsons talk about the Book of Mormon and Jeffery R Hollands Safety for the soul. He loved it and the church tour. It was sacred spiritual experience. Next step is putting him on date to be baptized! But first he has to overcome smoking. 

It is going to be a great week! Love you all so much! 

Elder Burt