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.

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