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